One of the most famous verses of the bible is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." This verse can be summarized as God Loves; God Sent; and God gives.
God Loves -- Love is at the core and center of who God is. Whereas the Mesopotamian gods were looking to humans to become slaves and fulfill their whims and wishes, the God of the Bible is categorically different. He is not a taker, but a giver. He sets us free and gives us gifts. The book of James tells us that every gift comes from the Father.
God Sent -- Jesus came into the world as a child at risk. He was born to poor parents and under threat from King Herod. Into a world where fathers could refuse to raise their own child and force that child tothe streets, Jesus was born.
God Gives -- Life, eternal life is what God offers. When asked about eternal life by a religious leader, Jesus told the story about The Good Samaritan. The message was acting neighborly to whoever crosses our path. Christmas is about the Kingdom of God. It is a message of Good News and Good Works.
May you rejoice this Christmas Season.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I remember studying the parable of the good Samaritan years ago in a Bible study at the United Methodist Church in Thief River Falls, MN. We were being pretty honest about the fact that the people we considered being neighborly to landed very squarely within our personal comfort zones--nice looking, clean and neatly dressed with good social skills. One of the women in the group kept a prayer journal and claimed that God spoke to her directly when she did so. She wrote down God's responses to her questions and thoughts, so her journal was her documented conversation with God. I thought she was sort of flaky, but with the parable in mind, I told God that if he was willing to communicate in a truly present way with me, I would like Him to show me who truly is my neighbor.
ReplyDeleteSome time later, I was driving in town with my 18 month old son, Nigel in the back strapped into his car seat. It was a very cold, windy and rainy day. As we drove past the VFW, I spotted a middle aged man who was obviously drunk staggering down the sidewalk through the rain. He was shaking his leg a little as he walked, as though he were trying to get rid of something in his pants, and I soon saw what the problem was. The entire inseam of his pants was running with diarrhea which had soaked through to the outside. He had to be completely miserable! I said to God, "I can't possibly put this man in my car with cloth upholstry and nothing to put down to make a barrier from this mess he is going to make. I need to protect my child. Don't ask me to help him." I kept driving.
A couple of months later, I was really running late driving around on errands back and forth between town and home. I got a fast food meal for lunch to save time and spilled a drink in the back seat next to Nigel's car seat. In my haste, I didn't clean up the spill and forgot all about it. Later that afternoon, on the way out of town, I saw a nice looking, clean young man walking along the highway. He wasn't hitching for a ride, but still with the parable in mind, I said to God, "O.K., this neighbor I think I can handle." I stopped and offered him a ride, which he accepted, hopping into the back seat with Nigel. We chatted and I found out he knew my older brother from school. I was thinking what a pleasure it was to help this guy. We reached his destination and he thanked me for the ride. As he got out of the car and walked away, he was tugging at the seat of his jeans uncomfortably. I recognized to my horror the exact pattern of wetness on his jeans that I had seen on the drunk man's pants. Only this time it was me who had "messed this guy up" with the spilled soft drink in my car. I was trying to help myself (make myself feel better) by helping him and ended up messing him up. I said, "O.K., God, lesson learned."
Whether my neighbors are "clean" or "messy" I know I need to worry less about how I might get "messed up" by them and worry more about how I might "mess them up" with selfish good intentions.