Don’t glance over this. Don’t assume you learned it in sunday school, so you move on by. There are really deep, hard, and challenging issues here. We use them in sunday school because they are that important. Alas, let’s review.
It starts out, as Andrew Mclean and I refer, with some “Ownage of Pharisees by Jesus.” They again try to catch Jesus screwing something up, only for him to reply quickly with a speech about the old testament and David. finishing with “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Oh Dang! Owned! He straight up told them he was the boss of the holy day and he will set the rules. Love it.
Moving on to Jesus healing. It is interesting to note, that as Jesus notices people waiting for him to heal on the sabbath, he asks the man to stretch out his hand. We know he didn’t have to do that to be healed. That’s Jesus’ way of seeing our faith and action. Are we willing to stretch out towards him in order to be used, healed, called, directed, etc?
for a curious note, when he called the 12 disciples, he “chose from them 12.” How many were there? Who got cut? What did it take to make the cut? Ordained? pre-destined? crazy
Love your enemies. No, seriously, love them. I love when Jesus speaks to “those who hear.” Are you listening to God? even trying to? IF you are, it’s clear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who abuse you. How tough is that? Really? To really do that seems impossible. Think about someone you don’t get along with. Or can’t stand to be around. Or who makes it tough to “love” them. Can you do it? Can you swallow your pride? On a daily basis, that adds up to real tough.
Jesus even says if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? I love that. He calls us out for hanging around our safe church bubble of friends. Our “hey everybody is happy and easy to get along with here” crowd. Break out people. Break out Cody. Give yourselves opportunities to love those who hate you. or don’t like you. or who don’t want to get along.
Judge not, and you will not be judged. forgive, and you will be forgiven. simple words. easy to gloss over. hard words though. Judging is very difficult not to do. That’s a blog in it’s own right. think it already is one. but probably due for another one.
Don’t let these messages miss you. They can deeply impact your life, the way you live it, and the way you let yourself be challenged.