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This one goes out to all those who are outcast, disenfranchised,
oppressed, ignored, left out, and those labeled different, sinner,
untouchable, all by a world and a church that have the arrogance,
at times, to live by two different standards of comparison. Remember, Jesus found His greatest welcome among the sinners and outcasts of His day, and no wonder that disenfranchised shepherds were the first to hear the good news of great joy of God ’s birth in this world. Jesus was drawn to those in darkness and who suffer, as they have a better perspective on their humble need for hope and healing. Jesus did say that one ’s vision clears when the blindness of self importance and self sufficiency is removed by the recognition of the poverty of the soul. This sheds light on a danger that I have found in the church as we have a tendency to see Jesus as a reflection of ourselves instead of the reflection of God ’s love for the world. Is Jesus really white, with blue eyes, middle to upper middle class, clean shaven, a member of the in crowd and OUR church? Is Jesus really Lutheran, Catholic, non-denominational, Baptist, Mormon, Jehovah Witness or Methodist? You see, I would say yes to all of those and MORE, as Jesus is bigger than human reason and Jesus finds His church wherever His children are found; so we find Him in the homeless, among the suffering in Africa, sitting with a frightened Muslim family in Iraq, among those of the homosexual community, wandering the halls of our government, in a bunker in Afghanistan, in a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, sitting with the poor and the rich at the same time, in the lives of the physically or emotionally disabled, of sitting with those on death row? Christ is not divided - for all of humanity is created in the image of God. If we cannot find Christ in the lives of our brothers or sisters no matter who, what, or where they are, then we have lost our vision of God. We like to clean Jesus up to make ourselves feel more comfortable. We can be offended by his nakedness, his homelessness, his poverty, his alienation, his argument with religion, and his very human and wounded broken body at the crucifixion. We even have a hard time thinking of Jesus ’ humanity as if we can ’t imagine Jesus laughing at a good joke or struggling with a decision. As someone once said, Jesus was not crucified on a gold cross on an altar between two candlesticks; He was crucified on a garbage dump, naked, between two criminals. How dare we condemn the sinner and outsider when Christ was one of them and took upon His flesh the iniquity of us all? |
If we cannot find Christ in our lives redeeming our sinful selves, then we
have lost our humility and are in denial of our brokenness. We
are so quick to cast stones at the sinner that we forget we are all part of
the same race of sinners, yet all created in God ’s image. As Martin
Luther once said,“We are all beggars, this is most certainly true.” If we keep the sinner out of the church, then we keep Christ out as well. Keep the sinner out of the body of Christ and then the churches would be empty. If we see all of us as recovering sinners, then we can begin to find the kingdom in our midst as God does His best work in the dark and with those who simply cry out, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!” You will find God ’s greatest revulsion upon those who pray, “Thank you Lord, as I am not like that disgusting sinner!” God takes no pleasure from those who are self-sufficient for He desires for us to find our sufficiency in Him. If Jesus took on our humanity and our brokenness and our sin, then we have a God who knows our pain and has overcome, granting salvation unto our brokenness. The resurrection of Jesus ushers in a new reality of love and redemption that opens the kingdom to all people. Let ’s pro- claim God ’s reign and let the Holy Spirit work on the lives of people as we celebrate God ’s vision of humanity and not our own. So, for me, I will seek to model my life after Jesus. My Jesus is not afraid of guilt by association, so why should I? He rolls up His sleeves and gets His hands dirty in this world, so why shouldn ’t I? My Jesus is compassionate and merciful and will do anything to find His lost children, even give up His life, for He loves His children, so why shouldn’t I? I believe Jesus is most comfortable with those who are outcast and oppressed for they have the humility of heart to listen to redemption. Let the church follow Jesus and be a merciful community and less a judgmental, self-righteous institution.
In Christ, |
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