JESUS SPEAKING

            “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the just and the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mathew 5: 44-48.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             Many people who were listening had been taught incorrectly.  Jesus is correcting them with the authority given to him when he says, ‘but I say to you.’  They had misunderstood who God was and what His will looked like.  God is in control of the sun and the rain, and all of the miracles of nature that allow men and women to survive from the increase of their harvests.  God also controls true love; unconditional love; we cannot cause the sun to rise, nor the rain to come, but we can love others in the same way God loves them.  The reward doesn’t come from doing what the rest of the world does, but from doing greater things than they do.  The world only knows how to love its own; those who do not know God are only capable of providing a love that is defined by boundaries and limits.  The thinking is, ‘if you love me, then I will love you back, and when you act unloving then I will take back that love I had given you.’  But as children of God, we are rewarded for doing his will, and his will is to love everyone just as he has loved us, and just as he loves them.  Jesus picks out evil doers as an example of how the world loves.  He compares tax collectors to the ‘Sons of God.’  Tax collectors loved those who loved and greeted them, but they were ungodly men, who stole and extorted from the people to gain wealth.  Doing only as they did would only make them blend in with the evildoers around them; and God would not be represented.  Most people are cold toward everyone except those they are familiar with and know and love.  The children of God however cannot love merely those they know and love them.  The perfection of God is seen in loving acts that don’t make sense in this world.  To love the stranger doesn’t make sense.  To love those who hate you, doesn’t make sense.  To give to those who are ungrateful and who don’t do anything in return doesn’t make sense in this world.  To do good acts in secret doesn’t make sense in this world either, because those who don’t know God cannot benefit from this type of action if no one is around to see it and to praise them.  When a person knows God they seek to please him, and they stop striving merely to please those for their own gain, as God is now watching them and they are rewarded when he sees these good deeds.

             Jesus uses the Father/Son illustration because in Jesus we see who God really is.  He is the son of God, because he does exactly what God does.  Therefore, we are commanded to do the same if we desire to be God’s children also.  There is no better illustration to give of how God’s love is manifest than in the final day of the life of Jesus.  He was beaten and spit on, teased and mocked and not once did he return a single blow to those who struck him.  He not once replied in anger to any of the shouts and insults hurled at him.  Not once did he curse those who were cursing him.  Rather, he prayed for them as he hung upon the cross saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not what they do” (Luke 23: 34.)

             Today, this practice of greeting and loving those who are lost, and those who are mockers, and those who profane the name of the Lord, and who devise evil against us is probably the more difficult of all of the teachings of Jesus Christ.  All our lives we have been taught that love has boundaries.  We have been taught that there are socially acceptable ways of interacting with people, and many are afraid of breaking through these boundaries.  Offering to pay from someone’s meal or cup of coffee is one way to love the stranger; but it takes courage.  Most people accept the offer, after wondering somewhat skeptically why you might be doing it.  They, like us, have been trained to be skeptical of love from people they don’t know.  Another way to practice this love is to ask a stranger about themselves and then listen to them as they talk, just as God listens to you and I without interruption.  You can return grocery carts; you can attempt to do something good for that family member you might not get along with; or for the person who has been cold to at your workplace.  You can pray for those who hate you, and who have wronged you, and who have taken something from you.  There is no end to the good that we can do all around us, but we must be willing to overcome the fear of not blending in.  Love that is Godly is not a common love.  As children of God we will be different, but it will be love that makes us different; an abundant love; a love that overflows and touches those around us; a love that is strange to some, but common to God; may we be Son’s of God, and do his will, that ‘we may be perfect, just as our heavenly father is perfect.’

            “Lord Heavenly Father, we ask you now to give us opportunities to do good to those who hate us, and to love those who have wronged us.  Lord, help us to overcome the fear of being rejected, and the fear of not blending in.  Help us Lord to love just as You love.  Give us Your Heart to love, for without You we cannot love without boundary, and without condition.  Challenge us today, and every day, to strive to be perfect and loving just as You are perfect and loving.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”

JESUS SPEAKING

            “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mathew 11: 28-30.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             During this time, the average people were being made to engage in ritualistic behaviors they couldn’t possible complete.  For example, on the Sabbath day, you couldn’t carry anything because that would constitute work.  When Jesus had healed a man who had been crippled, the man was carrying his mat, and the religious leaders scolded him for this.  He said, ‘the man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and go.’  They wanted to know who it was so they could go and scold the person who told him this, but the man did not know it was Jesus.  The religious leaders required so much from the people, but themselves were unwilling to do anything other than keep themselves pure and knock other people down who broke one of their rules.  Jesus presents the people with the solution to this problem.  The first thing he requires is that they come to him, and not the false teachers and those who were claiming to be Godly.  He is not giving them another ridiculous rule to follow to maintain a pleasing status with God; rather he is the thing that makes a person pleasing to God.

             Beasts of burden were usually yoked in groups of two.  When one oxen died, they would begin to train a new oxen.  The yoke was a harness for two.  As the mature and trained oxen plowed correctly the new oxen would be steadied and would only need to stay connected to his partner to stay on task.  He didn’t need to worry about doing it correctly, he just needed to stay in unison with the ox next to him.  Jesus wanted them to know that when they connected themselves with him, it would be their relationship with him that would make them disciples.  They needed only to be willing to walk as he walked, and to do as he did.  He wanted to teach them, and he wanted them to be teachable.  Jesus also wanted them to know that those who had a guilty and unsettled spirit could find peace with him; such as those who felt the weight of a lifetime of sin upon them; they needed only to yoke themselves to him, and he would take that sin upon his shoulders, and carry it.  He reminded them that he was gentle, in that he did not wish to harm them if they made a mistake (like the religious leaders were doing), but rather, he was approachable, loving, peaceful, and patient.  He is making the relationship between them and God no longer predicated upon rules and rituals, but upon a relationship.

             Today, Jesus is still calling out to those who are heavy laden and burdened down.  Many people are attempting to follow some set of rules, believing this will bring them closer to God.  They have not yet figured out that coming to Jesus is the only way to know God, and that it is our relationship with him that makes us more Godly.  Jesus is in heaven, but we are yoked with him in the form of the Holy Spirit.  In this place, we become more like him, each and every day, as we grow closer, and closer to him.  As we pray daily, as we talk with him, as we read his words, and let them move us in our actions, we are being transformed in to his image.  When we feed the hungry, when we love others, when we give without asking in return, it is because we are bonded to him, and we are his disciples indeed.

             “Lord Heavenly Father, we ask that You would help us to have this rest You promise.  Give us the lowliness in heart that You have promised us as well.  Give us Your burden, however light it may be.  Help us to learn from You, and to grow closer to You, and to become more like You each and every day.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

 JESUS SPEAKING

            And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” 

            So they said, “Nothing.” 

            Then he said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in me; ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’  For the things concerning me have an end.”  

               So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”  And he said to them, “It is enough” (Luke 22: 35-38.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             Here Jesus gave them a command that enabled his disciples to provide for themselves in his absence.  Jesus protected and provided for his disciples; when they had no food he made bread and fish from nearly nothing.  When they needed money, he provided that in a miraculous way.  When they needed shelter he produced willing persons who allowed them to stay in their’ homes.  Jesus is either telling these men that they need to protect themselves, or he is simply adding in large knife to the list of things that a man on the run may find handy, perhaps in the wilderness.  The Greek word for ‘sword’ is better translated as ‘dagger, large knife, or small sword as opposed to a large sword; used in sacrificing animals or cutting up meat’; something like what a butcher might use.  Jesus tells them to take a money bag, which anyone would do if they were leaving home for a period of time.  The same thing is true of the knapsack, which is referring to the type of bag a Sheppard would carry when he journeyed out in to the wilderness.  The dagger as well could be referring to an essential tool that most men who were traveling would have carried, for many uses. 

              Why might Jesus not be talking about using the swords against others seeking to kill them?  When the guards came for Jesus, shortly after this event, one of his disciples pulled out the sword and hacked at them, and cut off an ear of one of the guards.  Jesus responded to this action by saying, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword shall perish by it.”  He even heals the man’s severed ear.  We see then that his intended idea of what the swords would be used for may not have included striking out in violence at another human being.  On the other side of the coin, it is entirely possible that he might have been telling the disciples to use the swords to protect themselves.  Scriptures like these do present a challenge to anyone who reads them.  The meaning in light of all of the teachings of Christ presents a view of nonviolence; however this scripture taken simply, clearly sounds as though Jesus wanted them to use the swords to defend themselves.

              The meaning of this passage is not entirely clear.  The temptation is to make it say something it might not say.  Uncertainly is a frightening thing, and this fear causes many people to try to force a clear meaning where there is none.  Humility is the ability to accept a lack of understanding and clarity and be okay with that.  This scripture is a lesson in accepting a lack of understanding.  Many cults begin when a person believes they know something that no one else before them has known; as if God has given them the answers to a question that has been unclear since the beginning of the church.  God has not promised to allow us to understand all of his ways, nor every scripture that he has laid out in his book.  He has promised to provide us with a wonderful ability to know him.  God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit do provide us with all that we need today, and often times we don’t need to know.  And to those who are seeking answers, sometimes God provides humility instead of clarity.  He makes a person’s heart okay with uncertainty, and gives them a peace and a rest in the absence of complete understanding.

“Lord heavenly Father, we come before You today and we ask and pray that You would provide us with humility, that we would be able to accept not knowing and understanding all of scripture.  Help us to accept what knowledge You have given us as being sufficient, and allow us to feed off of Your spirit daily, in our hearts.  Give us more of Your Holy Sprit, and more of Your truth today Father.  We love You Lord, we thank You and we praise You and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.