Daily Readings for Saturday, April 2, 2011
- Morning Psalms 43; 149
- First Reading Jeremiah 13:1-11
- Second Reading Romans 6:12-23
- Gospel John 8:47-59
- Evening Psalms 31; 143
I'm struggling to find a topic today. Jeremiah is about loinclothes (and wet ones at that!) - no thank you. Romans continues to talk about the "wages of sin" and the "gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ" (Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."). And John's gospel continues to have Jesus reveal his true identity to a people whose hearts continue to harden and who cannot believe in his words.
Jesus is claiming that he is different than Abraham, greater than Abraham. In fact Jesus claims "Before Abraham was, I am." This is John's gospel which begins with the intro - "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God." It's important to the author of John that Jesus be linked to God in the beginning of creation. So it makes sense that John's Jesus says that he was before Abraham.
I guess what I find interesting about this exchange is how difficult it is for those who question Jesus to hear his words and to come to their own conclusions. It seems to me that they have already made up their mind about this Jewish Rabbi (that he is a blasphemer and a threat and must be eliminated) and there are simply unable to hear the truth about Jesus Christ and who his is.
And I wonder, do I have similar weaknesses? Do I have my own preconceived notions of who I think Jesus is, shaped by my cultural context and the world around me? How much of who I am do I bring with me to my understanding of Jesus? How much of who I am gets in the way of listening to Jesus' words today?
The folks questioning Jesus (who actually pick up stones to kill Jesus because of this claim to be before Abraham) are the established religious institution of the day. The are the authorities and those who hold power. And they cannot accept Jesus as God's son because they are so caught up in doing things the way they have always done them.
I am proudly part of the Presbyterian Church, but at times I wonder if we (and myself included) have become so comfortable with our understanding of the way God works in our world and for us that we are unable to hear anew the message of Jesus and God's spirit. I don't want to think of myself on the side of disbelief and doubt when something new happens. But I think that change is happening and it is difficult to always make sense of the new directions. Institutional change happens slowly (and I think that is a good thing, most of the time). My hope is that those of us who love our institution can be open to new movements of God's spirit in ways that continue to build up the body of Christ in the world.
Dear God, open my eyes and ears, my heart and mind, so that I am ready to hear new expressions of your love in the world. Give me a willing and ready spirit to follow you as you lead. In Christ's name - Amen.
John C
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