PROPER TREATMENT (11)
Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, Luke 15:12-32
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Proper Treatment (11)
Lectionary, Year C, Lent 4
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
We started discussing God's will last week in terms of applying God's priorities to our lives, our choices, our decisions, and our actions. How we engage others is inextricably linked to following after God's will in our lives. If we would love God, it is obvious from so many texts that we must love everyone around us. All too often, however, it is the very people around us we seem to have the most trouble treating with dignity, respect, and grace. How can we possibly follow God's direction without treating one another properly, without valuing one another's full humanity, without honoring one another after the ways God has treated us?
Grace does not seem to be a particularly easy concept for us to embrace and apply to ourselves, or to others, for that matter. We seem to have some deep-seated desire to relegate grace to a lesser place in our lives than God would desire. In today's passage, the more visibly religious people were grumbling about the relationships Jesus was building with people who did not measure up. Tax collectors, who worked on behalf of the hated Romans, often extorting their own kinsmen for profit, were among those who could readily be found around Jesus. Others readily deemed sinners were also part of Jesus' retinue. The more visibly religious folks were not so much against Jesus' teaching, as they were concerned that Jesus was relaxing condemnation and judgment in favor of grace. After all, Jesus was giving these people of no account as much or more attention and care than they were receiving!
How dare Jesus be a religious leader, a prophet, and then consort with all manner of unworthy folk, when he should be spending his time and energy propping up, comforting, and encouraging those who had devoted their lives to seeking after God! They weren't so much against Jesus as wanting him all to themselves and others like them. They figured they sh ...
Lectionary, Year C, Lent 4
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
We started discussing God's will last week in terms of applying God's priorities to our lives, our choices, our decisions, and our actions. How we engage others is inextricably linked to following after God's will in our lives. If we would love God, it is obvious from so many texts that we must love everyone around us. All too often, however, it is the very people around us we seem to have the most trouble treating with dignity, respect, and grace. How can we possibly follow God's direction without treating one another properly, without valuing one another's full humanity, without honoring one another after the ways God has treated us?
Grace does not seem to be a particularly easy concept for us to embrace and apply to ourselves, or to others, for that matter. We seem to have some deep-seated desire to relegate grace to a lesser place in our lives than God would desire. In today's passage, the more visibly religious people were grumbling about the relationships Jesus was building with people who did not measure up. Tax collectors, who worked on behalf of the hated Romans, often extorting their own kinsmen for profit, were among those who could readily be found around Jesus. Others readily deemed sinners were also part of Jesus' retinue. The more visibly religious folks were not so much against Jesus' teaching, as they were concerned that Jesus was relaxing condemnation and judgment in favor of grace. After all, Jesus was giving these people of no account as much or more attention and care than they were receiving!
How dare Jesus be a religious leader, a prophet, and then consort with all manner of unworthy folk, when he should be spending his time and energy propping up, comforting, and encouraging those who had devoted their lives to seeking after God! They weren't so much against Jesus as wanting him all to themselves and others like them. They figured they sh ...
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