Grace Blogspot

Jesus is laying into the establishment in these readings! All those in authority or those who felt they were the insiders, the devout, are shown time and again to be the ones to reject Christ and be on the outside. Over time, they tire of hearing it and begin to plot against him. However, there is a joy and heat at the same time in Christ’s passion for those who are the outsiders. In our world today, there are those inside and those outside . . . . who is Christ calling us to bring in today?

This set of readings has a lot to do with how we understand our place in the universe relative to God and to those around us. It seems that we tend to lean towards extremes . . . either picturing ourselves winning the Oscar Award or being so down on ourselves that we find it hard to move through our day. God challenges us to remember that even on our worst days we were worth Christ’s life . . . . and that we are to take that joy and lift up those around us!

Jesus expects something from us.  We may beat ourselves up about our inability to meet those expectations, but they are there nonetheless.  Jesus gave his very life for us.  Grace comes to us from God in freedom . . . . but there is a need for us to respond.  We respond in gratitude towards God for this undeserved gift.  Our response to God is shown most vividly in our love towardsw those whose lives are hardest . . . exactly as Jesus did.