Saturday, May 19, 2012

Well, What are We Waiting For?

S - Luke 17:11-19 (NIV): "Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well.""

O - Jesus makes no distinction between the Samaritan and the Jews at the request and the release for healing. We don't even know there was a Samaritan among the ten until the very end of this exchange. Jesus made no distinction and leprosy made no distinction either.  In fact, for these ten outcasts leprosy had dissolved all cultural/religious biases.  They were "together" in their misfortune and illness.  Leprosy took from them the luxury of social status, bigotry, disregard for others, disgust and pride.  Hardship had melted away all these categories and they were simply together in their humanity, need and hopes.  In the end, Jesus calls attention to one of the human categories to make the point that faith doesn’t make distinctions either.

A - What if our world didn't wait for famines, tsunamis, foxholes, terrorists, dictators and thugs to efface these barriers? What if we/I didn't wait for tragedy to provoke in us/me what love already calls us to?  What if I categorically refuse all categories and consistently start at and stay in the superlatives (the greatest commandments)?  When the tragedy passes we tend to retreat to our biases.  Love remains … it doesn't fade and so if I will … I can refuse, day by day, the categories and reasonings of earth which bring division and ultimately destruction and death.  Today … I can get up and get moving because faith, love and hope have made me "well". 

P - Lord who is the Gospel, Love, Hope, Faith and the exact representation of God,
Thank you for this … for this insight and assignment.  Thank you for not only giving it to me but for being so willing to help me live it out loud, grow up in it and be one through whom this life-giving reality can flow.  Lord, I thank you for your defiant mercy, relentless love and amazing grace.  I thank you that you have assigned me the superlatives as my purpose and believing as my work. Today, while it is called today, I choose you, your ways, your kingdom come in me and through me like it happens in heaven.  Lord, I return to give praise to God!
Believing,
Steve

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