Readings for today: Luke 4-5, Psalms 114
We live in a world that is rapidly spinning out of control. A tsunami of pain is about to hit our shores, if it hasn’t already. Our children are losing any sense of healthy identity. Mental health crises are on the rise. Suicide rates are trending upward. Substance abuse is skyrocketing. Our culture is filled with an increasing amount of rage and anger. Death threats are now common against those with whom we disagree, including two assassination attempts on a former President. It seems like everything is taken to the extreme. It makes for a very hostile and dangerous environment especially for those living in marginalized communities. So what’s next? Are we doomed to live the rest of our lives under threat? Constantly drawing our relational boundaries ever tighter in order to protect ourselves and those we love or perhaps withdrawing altogether? Surely there has to be a different way.
First century culture in Palestine was little different than our own. Pharisees. Saduccees. Essenes. Herodians. Roman collaborators. It was a fractured society where different religious/political factions dotted the landscape. Each having an agenda. Each vying for power. Each seeking supremacy so they could eradicate their opposition. Each seeking to bring about the Kingdom of God in their own strength and according to their own wisdom. This was the world into which Jesus was born. This was the world in which Jesus launched his ministry. And what a ministry it was! So different than all the rest! Jesus welcomed the outcast. Ate with sinners. Spent time with the ritually unclean. He lifted up women. He cleansed lepers. He restored the isolated and lonely to community. As his fame grew, many people came from all over to bring him their sick. Their diseased. Their hurting. Their wounded. The demon-possessed were set free. He healed all their afflictions. And this only drew more hurting people to him, the Kingdom of God drew near, and Jesus’ fame increased.
What if the church took a similar stance today? What if the church made it her aim to serve her community? To share the good news of the gospel? Bring healing in Jesus’ name? Freedom in Jesus’ name? Hope in Jesus’ name? What if the church was known as a refuge? A place of safety and security amidst the turmoil and violence of our world? What if the church was known for love rather than hate? What if she were known for grace rather than judgment? Faithfulness rather than hypocrisy? What if we made space for people to come as they are? Wherever that may be? What if we committed to walk beside anyone…anytime…anywhere…for as long as they will let us? Would not the fame of Jesus increase? Would not people be drawn to the care and comfort we provide? What if we laid aside our agenda? Our internal ideological squabbles? Our insider theological tussles and instead linked arms to serve? What if we stopped stabbing our wounded in the back and instead embraced the Jesus way of life? What if we put aside our need for political/social/cultural influence and power and instead sought to prayerfully engage across these various spectrums? What if our posture were humility rather than pride? Peace rather than war? Kindness rather than outrage? Service to others rather than to self?
True followers of Jesus are known more by what they’re for than what they’re against. Jesus was certainly against many things in his day but he was known more for his love and compassion and ministry among the poor. The outcast. The sinner. Thankfully there are many churches who follow his lead. What about you? What about your church? How can you represent Christ in your community more faithfully today?
Readings for tomorrow: Luke 6-7, Psalms 115