Gives worth to the worthless: women, children, sick
Jesus is the kind of guy that believes in the worth of every person, sadly much more than most of his current followers. Jesus stood up for women, who were not quite considered equal back then. [unlike today when they make the same amount as men...wait a minute] When little children flocked to Jesus his disciples attempted to send them away, but Jesus said to let them come. More so, Jesus said that if we wanted to enter into the kingdom of heaven we needed to look through the eyes of a child, have the heart of a child, the faith of a child. Jesus also reached out and touched those who were in pain and diseased. People who had to walk down the street proclaiming, "Unclean, Unclean,' Jesus embraced and healed.
A woman dead to rights is set free; A man is lowered through a roof and healed; Lazarus is raised from the dead
Let's get deeper for a moment. Jesus came across a woman who had been caught in adultery, and true to the Mosaic law she was to be stoned for her offense. [notice that the woman is about to be stoned: where is the man who she was with?] Jesus comes and starts writing in the dirt and tells the group of men [?] that the person who is without sin may cast the first stone. They walk away, and Jesus tells the woman to go as well.
Then there is a story about a man who was so sick that he could not move, but his friends cared about him, and so they cut a whole in the roof of the building where Jesus was and lowered their friend down to him. Now, I don't know about you, but if a piece of the ceiling was cut away and a bod was lowered down to me, I may just run away. Jesus on the other hand heals this man.
Jesus also sheds tears for a man he is about to raise from the dead. Not because of his pain, but because he saw the pain that others had felt, pain that had he been there he could have kept from them. Jesus is the type of person who wants to eradicate all unnecessary pain.
Jesus speaks about loving your friend and your neighbor and your enemy; Jesus speaks about faith in God being attached to how we treat others; Jesus talks about loving God and self and neighbor, and people want to kill him for it
Jesus speaks about love of friend and neighbor, and then he speaks about loving his enemy as well. He tells us that if we love only those who love us we are doing nothing more than any other person, but we are called to more, we are called to love all, and not the easy kind of love, but the love that is willing to lay down our lives for another.
Jesus commands us to love everyone but then decides to take it a step further, to equate how we feel/treat/love/forgive others is wrapped up in how we are treated/loved/forgiven by God. Wait! What? I am only forgiven by God if I am willing to forgive others? I am loved by God when I choose to love others? What kind of crazy notion is that? A Divine One.
It's not really a wonder that people wanted to kill this man who spoke of love. Because the kind of love Jesus spoke of was a revolutionary one. This is not an eye for and eye kind of guy, this is a go ahead and give them both eyes if that is what it takes to love them. This is a not power in the traditional sense, and it is not love in the traditional sense.
Jesus dines with sinners who know they aren’t worthy as opposed to the religious elite who ‘had it all together’
The important part of the above statement is 'know they aren't'. In Jesus day, as opposed to the current day [haha], the religious elite thought they had it all together and portrayed their perfection at every turn. They spoke long flowery prayers so that people would know how spiritual they were. They contorted their faces when fasting so that people would know how pious they were. They had very clean cups, on the outside, but internally they were a mess, but an unacknowledged mess.
The 'sinners' that Jesus hung out with, the ones he ate and drank with, the ones he had sleepovers with were not perfect, and were under no illusion that they were. The made poor decisions, spoke incorrectly, and didn't have the scriptures memorized. Their prayers were short, if they uttered them at all. They didn't fast, because they didn't see the point. And they cups were dirty inside and out, and they knew it.
Jesus isn't looking for perfect people, who want you to think they have it all together, he is looking for the messy people who will admit their mess.
The story of Easter is one about the oppressed, the prisoners, the blind, and the year of the Lord's favor.
It is a story of freedom and opportunity. It is a story of forgiveness and a new day. It is a story that continues in our hearts and minds if we want it to. We have been prisoners of our sins and our mistakes and our regrets and our anger and our hatred and our memories and our... And we no longer have to be. We have been oppressed by friends and coworkers and family members and bullies and the systems and the... And we no longer have to be. We have been blind to the possibilities and the freedom and the grace and the forgiveness and the... And we no longer have to be. Because it is the year of the Lord's favor. We live in a continual Jubilee, a continual time of life and newness. All we have to do is open our ears to what God is saying, open our eyes to see how God is moving, and open our hearts to know what God wants of us.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
No comments:
Post a Comment