Life off the Fence
Matthew 11
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So Jesus just gets done telling people that they are gonna find opposition, they will face trials and persecution. Timely as always John the Baptist sends out his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the messiah. Seems like an odd question at first glance, but keep in mind, Johns in prison about to get his head chopped off. Johns getting a little worried here, I bet he was thinking something like this "I'll my disciples to Jesus so he wont forget I'm about to face the guillotine, and he'll come and save me." Thats what I would think if I were in John's sandals.
I doubt that he expected the reply that he got. Jesus goes on to say 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."[niv]
Jesus says, " John, I am the christ, and you are going to die." In a less offensive way Jesus says "I know your not comfortable with your current situation, but don't let that deter you." Here is John, counting the days before he dies, getting a message from Jesus saying "your work here is done, go be with the father." I still dont find it very comforting. I cant imagine Johns response to that. I imagine it was something like this : fear mixed with anger, acceptance followed by depression, then peace and extreme joy.
This is a prime example of how God will not fit to the mold that we have for him. God does things that we don't expect or understand not to confuse us, but to help us. This is not an easy example to practice. I have a really hard time living this out. I'd like to put Jesus in a box and define what he can and cant do. I "naturally" keep my churchy friends with my churchy talk and my churchy attitude. But when I walk into the real world, I change gears from churchy, to worldly. When an attempt to merge the two happens to stumble around, I'm met with worldly ridecule for my churchy views. But God has no boudries or definition that we can comprehend. He rules over the churchy and the worldly.
I'm done trying to restrain God.
ok
So Jesus just gets done telling people that they are gonna find opposition, they will face trials and persecution. Timely as always John the Baptist sends out his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the messiah. Seems like an odd question at first glance, but keep in mind, Johns in prison about to get his head chopped off. Johns getting a little worried here, I bet he was thinking something like this "I'll my disciples to Jesus so he wont forget I'm about to face the guillotine, and he'll come and save me." Thats what I would think if I were in John's sandals.
I doubt that he expected the reply that he got. Jesus goes on to say 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."[niv]
Jesus says, " John, I am the christ, and you are going to die." In a less offensive way Jesus says "I know your not comfortable with your current situation, but don't let that deter you." Here is John, counting the days before he dies, getting a message from Jesus saying "your work here is done, go be with the father." I still dont find it very comforting. I cant imagine Johns response to that. I imagine it was something like this : fear mixed with anger, acceptance followed by depression, then peace and extreme joy.
This is a prime example of how God will not fit to the mold that we have for him. God does things that we don't expect or understand not to confuse us, but to help us. This is not an easy example to practice. I have a really hard time living this out. I'd like to put Jesus in a box and define what he can and cant do. I "naturally" keep my churchy friends with my churchy talk and my churchy attitude. But when I walk into the real world, I change gears from churchy, to worldly. When an attempt to merge the two happens to stumble around, I'm met with worldly ridecule for my churchy views. But God has no boudries or definition that we can comprehend. He rules over the churchy and the worldly.
I'm done trying to restrain God.
posted by Its not about Perfection, Its about Progress at 5:04 PM
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