Day 252: Urgent Inclusiveness: The One Which Is Lost
Read: Luke 15:1 - 7
The truth is that listening really is not always easy, especially when the messages are deeply
challenging and not always in fullest agreement within the hard and
fast expectations of today's contemporary culture. Some people just do not want
to listen to what other people have to say because it just does not
jive with their understanding of how things are truly meant to be done.
Radical ideas are not easy for anybody to listen too because it will probably require a radical response on their part - a radical shift of gears from a place of full speed ahead to an explosive shift into reverse. Transmissions do not last long when we do that. Such is the consideration of just who are really the lost ones!
So, let's take some time to reread these Gospel verses: 'Now all the
tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2
Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man
receives sinners and eats with them.” Thump! Did you feel the thump? The thump of the Pharisees as they beat their chests with their fists to keep themselves from going further? Why were these Pharisees so close to the action? Were they tracking Jesus from a distance that they might find the one thing to trap him? They really liked to do that you know. Did Jesus
care that they were there? Do we care if they're there? Then all the
tax collectors and sinners come.
These Pharisees had their religion and that is probably thought all they ever needed. I do not guess they came to listen with good intentions in their hearts.
They all have their own traditions and interpretation of Mosaic Laws.
Stiff necked as they might be they were still God's children, God's
creation and Jesus still had to bring them along (John 10:16-17). You
all know who these individuals are today within your own life's circles. Question: how do we who are those despised tax collectors and chief sinners include the Pharisees in the work of God's kingdom? How do we cajole them into the fold to share God's full bounty? Guess what? We can't! We don't! Jesus does with Parables!
Proverbs 16:1-4: Trust not in the ways of man but trust in God, Jesus
Christ and the Holy Spirit. All Jesus did was tell a story. Has there
ever been a storyteller quite like Jesus? He had such a simple and lovely way of expressing the hardest truths into the hardest of hearts, the very deafest of spirits. In the Parable of the
Lost Sheep, Jesus confronts those who are lost deeply within their own
pride, within their own religion, those who passively listen from a distance, those who choose to exclude themselves. The message is this: God does not play favorites, has no desire to play favorites. It is come: God loves all of us. Nothing is more urgent than a lost soul in the eyes of God!
Let we who are at table with Jesus, the Tax Collectors, the ultimate
sinners, pray on behalf of the Pharisees who are yet grumbling on the
outside looking in. Let we who are the Tax Collectors, now stand in the
doorway of the house where Jesus is now feasting with us. Let us look at
the Pharisees and let this be our example to them. Let this be our appeal, God's invitation to them. Our Collective Prayer To The Pharisees:
In the name of God, I AM THAT I AM and in the name of the Living Christ within me,
I am sorry for allowing my heart to harden through harsh life
experiences or through fear or non-forgiveness. In the name and for the
sake of Love I choose to bid each of you welcome. Please come inside and
let me be your servant at the table of our God.
I ask for
forgiveness for all the times in my present and past lives where I have
acted insensitively towards others and I have hardened my heart because
of experiencing rejection from others. Please feel like God's home is
your home too. As much as you may not trust me to include you, please feel like God is including you in all His work!
Merciful God, help us to have an open heart and mind, to allow God’s
love to flow in me and through and out to others. Let my arms be made
wide open as Jesus upon His Cross. Let me be as inclusive, and as
welcoming as Jesus in the work of Your kingdom. Let Your story be told.
Let Your Love and Acceptance of all unfold. Let it be said, as well as,
let it done according to our God’s most holy and divine will. Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/
Read: Luke 15:1 - 7
The truth is that listening really is not always easy, especially when the messages are deeply
challenging and not always in fullest agreement within the hard and fast expectations of today's contemporary culture. Some people just do not want to listen to what other people have to say because it just does not jive with their understanding of how things are truly meant to be done. Radical ideas are not easy for anybody to listen too because it will probably require a radical response on their part - a radical shift of gears from a place of full speed ahead to an explosive shift into reverse. Transmissions do not last long when we do that. Such is the consideration of just who are really the lost ones!
So, let's take some time to reread these Gospel verses: 'Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Thump! Did you feel the thump? The thump of the Pharisees as they beat their chests with their fists to keep themselves from going further? Why were these Pharisees so close to the action? Were they tracking Jesus from a distance that they might find the one thing to trap him? They really liked to do that you know. Did Jesus care that they were there? Do we care if they're there? Then all the tax collectors and sinners come.
These Pharisees had their religion and that is probably thought all they ever needed. I do not guess they came to listen with good intentions in their hearts. They all have their own traditions and interpretation of Mosaic Laws. Stiff necked as they might be they were still God's children, God's creation and Jesus still had to bring them along (John 10:16-17). You all know who these individuals are today within your own life's circles. Question: how do we who are those despised tax collectors and chief sinners include the Pharisees in the work of God's kingdom? How do we cajole them into the fold to share God's full bounty? Guess what? We can't! We don't! Jesus does with Parables!
Proverbs 16:1-4: Trust not in the ways of man but trust in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. All Jesus did was tell a story. Has there ever been a storyteller quite like Jesus? He had such a simple and lovely way of expressing the hardest truths into the hardest of hearts, the very deafest of spirits. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus confronts those who are lost deeply within their own pride, within their own religion, those who passively listen from a distance, those who choose to exclude themselves. The message is this: God does not play favorites, has no desire to play favorites. It is come: God loves all of us. Nothing is more urgent than a lost soul in the eyes of God!
Let we who are at table with Jesus, the Tax Collectors, the ultimate sinners, pray on behalf of the Pharisees who are yet grumbling on the outside looking in. Let we who are the Tax Collectors, now stand in the doorway of the house where Jesus is now feasting with us. Let us look at the Pharisees and let this be our example to them. Let this be our appeal, God's invitation to them. Our Collective Prayer To The Pharisees:
In the name of God, I AM THAT I AM and in the name of the Living Christ within me,
I am sorry for allowing my heart to harden through harsh life experiences or through fear or non-forgiveness. In the name and for the sake of Love I choose to bid each of you welcome. Please come inside and let me be your servant at the table of our God.
I ask for forgiveness for all the times in my present and past lives where I have acted insensitively towards others and I have hardened my heart because of experiencing rejection from others. Please feel like God's home is your home too. As much as you may not trust me to include you, please feel like God is including you in all His work!
Merciful God, help us to have an open heart and mind, to allow God’s love to flow in me and through and out to others. Let my arms be made wide open as Jesus upon His Cross. Let me be as inclusive, and as welcoming as Jesus in the work of Your kingdom. Let Your story be told. Let Your Love and Acceptance of all unfold. Let it be said, as well as, let it done according to our God’s most holy and divine will. Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/
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