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| From the Rough, jfd+ 2010 |
Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees and their minions shows him to be the direct opposite of who and what the leadership had become. For the last few days in our reading from Matthew the Pharisees have been trying to trip Jesus up...trap him. Jesus has been teaching about the kingdom of God, and how different that kingdom is (and ours can be) if they (and we) would just listen. Instead of listening and living into the kingdom, they plot to get rid of him, because he is challenging the way things have "always" been. Jesus, of course, does not fall for their lack of genuineness and ends today's session with a teaching about love.
So many people model the plotting of the Pharisees and not the direct nature of Jesus, as a way to live in our world. We have to get to "B", but we can't let anyone know that is where we are headed from where we now stand at "A", so we will go left, right, turn around, jump up and down, spin and spin, and eventually get to "B". Jesus' model is far more direct...and can make us much more vulnerable. Unless people trust us, see us for who and what we are, that love-thing Jesus preaches about all the time is difficult to attain. Being genuine, vulnerable, truthful is how Jesus is directing us to live in the world.
Fraught with danger today...but worth the risk.
jfd+
Copyright 2012, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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