Home Tools for your Journey Dec 6

Saturday, December 6

So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said.
—Luke 20:20

Whatever you believe about Jesus, one thing is clear: he said things that got him into trouble. In calling the people to remember the widowed, the orphaned, the strangers in a foreign land, he pushed the envelope and challenged the status quo. He never left well enough alone and called upon everyone to honor and cherish all among them. No wonder he was crucified.

How often do we live into the image we are called to be in Jesus? How often do our words and actions get us in trouble? When was the last time our actions so challenged those around us to see the holy in everyone that we were ostracized, outcast, spied upon?

I know that in my own life I try desperately to love as Jesus loved. I reach out to others, challenge my community to love those that society likes to forget, and read and study authors that help me see the world through the compassionate eyes of God. But expanding the boundaries of my heart is difficult, downright impossible at times, and I often feel as if I am swimming against an impossible tide.

But the older I get, the more I realize that Jesus was not concerned about the pressures around him. He knew who he was and out of that clear identity he was able to love others, challenge others, and be the person that God desired as the one who would redeem us all.

Isn’t that what we are called to be in the world? Should we care that others may spy upon us, trying to catch us in our words and actions? The answer is a clear no—we should not. We are to love as Christ loved—that’s it. And when we do, the boundaries of our heart expand toward the soul of God.

It’s time to get in trouble.

Jesus, show me the pathway to your life and grace, that by loving myself completely, I may expand the boundaries of my heart toward yours, and in the process, love others in your name. Amen.