Verse 2: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”
Photo credit: Nathan Dumlao
This week’s Epistle reading comes on the heels of one of the greatest passages about the power we find when we choose to live our life in Jesus Christ. Paul has passionately built the case for faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Romans 8 is one of the most convincing and moving arguments for choosing Jesus as Lord that can be found in the New Testament.
After completing this passage, I bet Paul felt drained. He poured his heart and soul into those words. Concluding that section, I can picture him letting out a big sigh, accompanied with a “Phew!” It was truly a monumental effort. And then his heart and mind turned to the great number of Jews who refused to see Jesus Christ as the Messiah, who refused to believe anything about having a saving faith in Christ.
In verse 2 he writes, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Paul is heartbroken over the peoples’ refusal to even consider Jesus Christ as the Messiah. His compassion for his own people is so great that Paul would gladly be “cursed and cut off from Christ” if the people of Israel would just come to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as the Son of God. That is a deep compassion.
Is there anyone in your life that you long to see come to Christ? Is the someone for whom your soul aches and your heart longs for because of their refusal to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? For most of us, the answer to both questions is “yes!” Through our prayers and through our witness may we bring these before Christ.
Prayer: Lord, help me to be more intentional about how I am Christ to those who don’t quite know you as Lord and Savior. Use me in whatever ways necessary to draw these to you. Amen.
Verse 2: “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.”
Today we pair yesterday’s reading from Genesis 29 with Psalm 105:1-6. By doing so we see a broader picture of God’s love and goodness and faithfulness. The Psalm is a corporate encouragement. It invites all of God’s chosen people to remember what God has done and to praise God: Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.” The psalmist invites his readers then and us today to remember the wonders and miracles as well as the judgments of God, connecting all the way back to Abraham and Jacob, two of the greats of the Hebrew faith and story.
Abraham and Jacob were two of many people that God used who were far from perfect. We could include Sarah and Rebekah and Laban in this list. They too were flawed and human, sinful and selfish. When these imperfect people’s stories are read alongside Psalm 105, we are reminded once again that God’s plans and purposes can be and will be accomplished through very human people. That’s good news for you and me!
As we considered Leah and Rachel yesterday, thinking of how their role in God’s story might have affected them, today we recognize that God chose them specifically for this part of God’s story. And we recognize that God continued to work in their lives, long past the place we find them at in Genesis 29.
If God chose and used and blessed men like Jacob and Laban and women like Leah and Rachel, then God definitely can and certainly will choose, use, and bless people like you and me. If you love the Lord and praise God for all that God has done and will do, then there is a place for you in God’s ongoing story. Thanks be to God!
Prayer: Lord God, I am grateful that you choose anyone to be a part of your story. It reflects your love for all of us – even for those who maybe don’t know you well or even at all when you choose them. The width of your love is amazing! Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Verse 11: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
In today’s text we first see Matthew being called by Jesus. Hearing a simple “Follow me” he gets up and leaves that life. We do not know what led Matthew to respond as he did. All we know is that he did follow. News must’ve spread. By evening Jesus and his disciples are at Matthew’s house for dinner. Many “tax collectors and sinners” are gathered there too. The crowd that was gathered drew this question from the Pharisees: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” They took offense over who Jesus breaks bread with.
Jesus does not take offense at either the question or the crowd that sits at the table with him. It is quite the opposite. Using a medical analogy, he first tells the Pharisees that these folks are exactly why he came to earth. Again and again, throughout the gospels, Jesus repeats this message about coming for sinners, not for the righteous.
As Christians we can get stuck where the Pharisees are. As a pastor and as a church we can become happy with the status quo. I’ll prepare a nice little sermon and we’ll gather on Sunday morning, happy to see our friends once again. We repeat it Sunday after Sunday. What would happen if we extended the offer of Jesus more regularly? What if we cast the net a bit wider, being more generous with our invitations to follow Jesus?
Wouldn’t it be awesome if our neighbors started asking the question more and more: Why does your teacher/pastor/church eat (or worship or fellowship) with the sinners? That leads to the question: Is anyone welcome at your church (in your home)? And that leads to the thought: Maybe I’m welcome there too. May it be so.
Prayer: Lord God, remove first the fears of rejection and if being judged by the company we keep. Replace these fears with an open and generous heart, with a kind and compassionate soul. Open our hearts and the doors of our churches. Amen.
Verse 16: “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”
Photo credit: Josh Calabrese
We begin our exploration of 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21 with the first two verses. These verses are really about how we see and treat one another. Each verse addresses what we could call a group of people. Here we need to be careful with our labels. They can too easily take on an “us” and a “them” feel. On the surface level, the implied groups are people outside the church and people within the church. If it were this simple there would be the folks in our churches and all others would be people we want to add to our churches. This would mirror how Jesus saw the world – either you believed or you were someone he wanted to bring to belief.
When Paul writes, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” he is encouraging the church to see as Jesus sees. He is calling them to drop the judging and comparing that easily comes with labels. To Paul it did not matter if you were rich or poor, young or old, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, Roman or Greek… What mattered was if you knew Jesus or not. Like Jesus, Paul saw all people as beloved children of God. Some just hadn’t become a part of the family yet. The goal was to change that.
In verse 17 Paul describes why this is the goal. Here he writes, “if anyone is in Christ” – if anyone becomes part of the family of God – “he is a new creation; the one is gone, the new has come!” Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, one is changed. The old desires of the world become desire to love, to serve, to learn and grow in the faith. Hope abounds and joy flourishes as one sees and lives as Jesus did. Again, this is the goal for all people everywhere.
So here it is: how are we and how are our churches doing with meeting this goal? Would anyone and everyone that walks into your life or into your church feel that their salvation was clearly and far away the main goal?
Prayer: Lord God, continue to hone my vision. Continue to guide me to see more as you see, to become better at seeking to connect others to you. Shape my words and actions to draw others to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Verse 12: “Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes”?
This week’s gospel lesson is the second in a row from Jesus that focuses in on how he is rejected. They are stories of greed and arrogance and selfishness. These two parables are aimed at the religious leaders in their original context, but they certainly have application for us today.
As our passage opens, Jesus is clear that this parable compares the kingdom of God to a wedding banquet. Jesus begins by explaining that those originally invited refuse to come. A second invite is rejected as well. This time those invited mistreat and kill the servants. A voice had called out in the desert. Some came and heard the call to repentance. They were baptized as a symbol of readiness for the coming kingdom. But John’s call fell on many deaf ears as he ministered in the wilderness. Jesus himself came with a second invite, calling the Jews to really love as God commanded. Jesus’ message centered on the two great commandments: love God with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. The religious leaders refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah, so the call or invite extended past the Jews. Anyone that can be found will be invited to the wedding banquet.
The religious leaders went out and heard John’s call. They hung around and heard Jesus’ words, saw the miracles. Showing up is something about anyone can do. There are folks that show up on Sunday mornings. Simply sitting in a worship service does not make one into a practicing Christian. In our parable today, a man comes to the banquet, but he is not prepared. He chose to hear the call, but failed to ready himself. In Jesus’ day, to attend a wedding, one must dress in the required wedding clothes. These clothes were special and required effort and preparation. But this man just showed up. He was simply there to consume and indulge, not to really be a part of things, not to celebrate with the bride and groom. The Jews and the religious leaders in particular had received the invitations. They still showed up for the Sabbath, thinking they were honoring God simply be being there. They went about their lofty rituals and wore their fancy clothes. They loved these things, not God. They were arrogant and selfish, loving only self and not the many neighbors who needed both physical and spiritual care. They lived inside their self-constructed walls.
We too do this. We do it on Sundays when we show up and go through the motions instead of being open to and looking for God’s Spirit to change us on a Sunday morning. We do it each day when we rush off into our day without first connecting to God in word and prayer. We do it each time we think ourselves a Christian and then ignore the poverty, oppression, and injustices of our communities and our world. Simply put, it is easy to talk the talk. It is much harder to always walk the walk. May we all better learn to walk the walk as we seek to follow Jesus Christ, loving as he first loved each of us.
Prayer: God of all, help me to more fully love you and all people. Turn me from selfishness and self-righteousness, becoming more and more willing to give myself away, becoming more and more willing to risk for the gospel. Use me as you will. Amen.
Verse 2: “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given me for you”.
Paul experienced God’s hand in a powerful way. He had not always been Paul though. He was born Saul and was raised in the Jewish faith. Saul excelled at learning the Law and eventually became a Pharisee, one of their religious leaders. He was very devout and followed the Law inside out. When the Christians began to try and spread the good news of Jesus Christ, Saul made it his personal mission to persecute them, to stomp out this new religion. Saul was enemy #1 of the early church.
And then, one day as Saul traveled to Damascus to arrest and persecute the Christians there, he met Jesus. In a jarring encounter, Jesus changed Saul forever. The #1 enemy became the #1 evangelist, travelling all over the known world preaching about Jesus Christ and His love. Saul took on the name Paul, the Gentile version, and became the apostle to the Gentiles – all who were outside the Jewish faith. His conversion story is what Paul is writing about when he writes, “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given me for you”. His name alone struck fear into Christians; now, by God’s grace, he was one of them!
As I think about and reflect on this mystery, I am convinced of the fact that God can and will use anyone for His glory. He chose Saul. That means that God can do anything with anyone. God can turn the hardest-hearted atheist into a preacher of the gospel. He can take the most vile criminal and turn them into a leader in a church. God can grab ahold of the one we least expect and use them in amazing ways.
Yes, we are all within reach of God’s grace. We are all available ammunition in God’s battle with the evil and darkness in our world. God desires to use us all for the building of His kingdom of love and grace. Thank you God for using even me.
Prayer: Lord, you call me by name. You ask that I lay down my selfish desires, that I take up my cross, and that I follow you. May it be so. Use me as you will, O God. Make me fully yours. Amen.
Think about the groups you belong to. Some are social, some are work-based, some are faith-based, some are by interest or hobby. Now, think about why you are a part of each group. Membership and participation are choices, so why do you belong to these groups?
All humans have a need to belong. If we do not feel welcomed or included when we first try something out, we are very unlikely to go again or to remain a part of that group. Once in a while we will give a group a second chance if we see real value or significance in belonging to that group. Our sense of belonging is very important.
Belonging gives a sense of worth, a sense of support, a sense of strength or togetherness. Belonging brings with it a sense of security and a feeling of being loved and cared for. I would guess these are reasons we all belong to groups or the reasons we long to be a part of a group.
In our passage today Paul is addressing a group. But this group is experiencing some disunity and discord. The church in Corinth in identifying with different leaders and this is causing division. Paul is calling them back to the only true leader of the church: Jesus Christ. In reality, Jesus is the only head of the church. All else is secondary to Jesus and His love.
At times, we today allow things to divide us. By “we” I mean the church universal. Christ is what still binds us all together. All Christians believe in one God and in Jesus resurrected and alive. Unity in the church universal is needed more today than at almost any time in our history. May we as part of the global church follow Paul’s advice and go forth hand in hand with all brothers and sisters in Christ, seeking to make God and His love known in all places.
This must of course begin in each of our own churches. We must be groups that anyone can be a part of. And by ‘anyone’ I do mean anyone. So I ask, can anyone from your community walk into your church and feel welcomed, included, loved? Anyone? If our answer is not an honest and robust “YES!” then we have work to do. Jesus began the church based on love and acceptance of all. May we be Christ-like in this practice too.
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