Belonging

S - "Jesus knew he had come from God and would go back to God. He also knew that the Father had given all things into his hands. So during the meal Jesus got up, removed his outer garment, and wrapped a towel around his waist. He put some water into a large bowl. Then he began washing his followers’ feet and drying them with the towel he was wearing. But then he came to Simon Peter, who asked, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You don’t really know what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “You will never wash my feet!” Peter replied. “If I don’t wash you,” Jesus told him, “you don’t really belong to me.”" John 13 TS

O - Jesus is doing more here than teaching, though teaching he is.  This activity is more than an example, but wow what an example.  Jesus is engaging his followers with the terms of belonging.  His terms engage earth at its weakest and worst, not just its strongest and best.  The facts are irrefutable.  All humans end up with dirt which needs to be washed … refusing the washing or pretending there's no longer such a need torpedoes the truth of our condition and the dynamics of real relationship. No pretend here. Heaven is fully prepared for earth and earthlings at their worst.   

A - Jesus came (and still comes) to clarify the person and purposes of God.  We are wanted and loved at our worst not just our best; and at every point in between. Fully and continuously expressed in the person of Jesus, God's relentless love and defiant mercy abound.  Rooted in himself and the reality of love, we're invited to follow in a real relationship; one where no pretend or cover up is allowed.  Our acceptance is based solely on unconditional love. It's the deepest form of belonging one can know.  I am very grateful to be loved and to belong. All that's required is the cooperation of real relationship - my willingness to respond.  Yes, Jesus … I need you to wash my dirty feet.

P - Dear Jesus,

Thank you that in the full recognition of your own person and place, you didn't give a lecture but love. You didn't call humans to better performance but to the reality of relationship.  Thank you for wanting us at our worst … amazing!  I am available to you with all my dirt, not just all my best.  I do love you back.

Steve

Heaven's Invitation to Earth

S - "I won’t leave you like orphans. I will come back to you. In a little while the people of this world won’t be able to see me, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live. Then you will know I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you. If you love me, you will do what I have said, and my Father will love you. I will also love you and show you what I am like." John 14 TS

O - The original language here is quite precise.  Those who are following Jesus will NOT be left to live life on earth as orphans (those who must rely only on themselves for everything related to existence on earth). Also, the followers actually do what Jesus has instructed and here he has repeatedly identified his instruction:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Finally, he will "show you what I am like."  The showing is not an intellectual composite drawn from passages of scriptures or stories or teachings others have told. It is a personal and literal relational dynamic.  Jesus himself will disclose himself to those who are following. This is how the followers know what he is like.   

A - The problem for us humans is that we've been taught to say we're the children of God but to live like functional orphans.  We've been taught to obey … but love is rarely the point of the obedience earth is asking for.  Finally, the knowing which is presented by earth is not experiential and personal from Jesus.  It is a composite given by clergy, academicians and historians.  Jesus invites us to himself, not to historic and scriptural glimpses inspiring us to "make up in our heads" what he must be like.  We get to know him, not just know about him.  I am so very grateful to be experiencing his self-disclosure.  The result is refusing to live life as a functional orphan and to do the one thing he has asked:  to love others the way I'm being loved by him. 

P - Lord who still comes to us,

Thank you for wanting us to know you and not just know about you.  Thank you for inviting us all as children to live day by day in you and with you.  You are still amazing to this very day and I am saying yes to you and everything you already have in mind.  Love to all is always the first on your list.

Loving you back,

Steve

Following Whom?

S - "Whenever you stand up to speak with God, you must forgive what others have done to you. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your sins." Mark 11 [TS]

O - This is one of the nine times the scriptural record quotes Jesus identifying the only way one can know that their sins are forgiven. The confidence and affirmation heaven offers to all people is not primarily theological but relational. The religious are quick to offer theological, historical and formulaic dynamics in gaining assurance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is so emphatic on this relational reality that immediately after teaching us how to pray he says "If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven will forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your wrongs." Matthew 6

A - "Jesus told the people who had confidence in him, “If you keep abiding in what I have said, you truly are my followers” (John 8)." It’s amazing how few people who say they’re following Jesus know his answer to this important consideration (and many others as well). Since he himself is heaven’s message to the world (7.7 billion and counting) his insight and instruction is paramount. If someone is following Jesus shouldn’t his answers be their answers? If someone is teaching others how to be Jesus’ follower shouldn’t they be teaching what Jesus taught? The record on this is really clear. If my answers are different than the answers of Jesus I should have the integrity to stop saying I’m following him or that I am his disciple. I accept his invitation given to all people: "Follow me." His answers are/will be my answers. His thinking will be/become mine. 

P - Lord who is the beginning and the end,

Thank you for sending Jesus to clarify your person and your purposes. Thank for the invitation to adoption, to following, to knowing you and not just knowing about you. I accept your message in Jesus. 

Glad to be included and following,

Steve