How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. It is the free gift of God so that no one is left out if they believe Jesus Christ.
John 9:22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
The disciples of Jesus were kicked out of the temple. They would find it hard to find work among their Jewish brethren. They were hunted down like criminals just for believing that Jesus was their Messiah.
John 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.
Repentance leads us back to the place we belong: God’s presence.
Returning to God isn’t just a reaction to bad circumstances; it is a response to His merciful, loving character and the promise of restored relationship.
That's what repentance offers: homecoming.
Today, Jesus offers restoration to all people who believe in Him. He teaches us to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17), and after His resurrection, He instructed "that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations" (Luke 24:47). God's forgiveness is truly available to us all … and it begins when we wholeheartedly return to Him. First5
This week we are talking about the gift of Grace.
And the good news that the power of this gift, is that it is not wired to (or confined by) a specific script. With grace, we let the script go.
The Celtic church gives us a word for such grace moments (doorways). They called them thin places. "A thin place is anywhere our hearts are opened," writes Marcus Borg. "They are places where the boundary between the two levels becomes very soft, porous, permeable. Thin places are places where the veil momentarily lifts, and we behold (the ‘ahaah of The Divine’) all around us and in us."
Yes, and amen. Arms of healing and value and safety regardless of the absence of certainty about creed or destination.
I suppose that the only prayer—reached only after all the pleas for grace or for some specific gift have been uttered and laid aside—is ‘Give me to be in your presence.’ This is really just about what George Harrison, the Beatle, sings in the hit song of the moment: ‘I want to know you, I want to be with you.’ Simone Weil says, ‘Absolute attention is prayer.’ And the more I have thought about this over the years, the truer it is for me.
We are aware of God only when we cease to be aware of ourselves, not in the negative sense of denying the self, but in the sense of losing self in admiration and joy.
And I do know this; such moments make all the difference in the world. Reminders of the healing arms of the sacrament of the present moment.
Gracious God,
when the struggles of life hem me in on every side,
open me to the freedom of your presence
that can help me see beyond every restriction, every limit that binds me.
O God, give me the wisdom to see the subtle ways people can be enslaved and the courage to speak for those who have no voice.
I ask this for the sake of your love.
O God, when we wake to yet another day of wonder and joy in the beauty of your creation,
give us the heart to keep our needs simple, our desires soft, our wills pliable,
so that we never participate in the exploitation of the earth, which is the work of your hands.
Amen. Sabbath Moments
Luke 6:20-23
20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. The New King James Version
Though Jesus was speaking to the entire crowd, the beatitudes of verses of 20–23 were directed to the disciples.
Blessed means “happy,” referring to the special joy and favor that comes upon those who experience God’s grace. In general, the disciples of Jesus were not wealthy. They were poor men who had come humbly to trust in God. All of the promises of God’s rule both now and in the future belong to such disciples.
The reason for the hunger and poverty is persecution. Jesus promised that God would provide the disciples with all the sustenance they needed. Any present suffering will be turned into joy. Here is the cause of the disciples’ precarious condition: persecution for the Son of Man’s sake. Identification with Jesus usually leads to rejection and hardship, but the disciple who has left all to follow Jesus understands what placing Jesus first means. He or she also recognizes that God is aware of all suffering. The NKJV Study Bible
In Luke, these beatitudes focus on the socioeconomic conditions of first-century Palestine.
Blessed are those who weep refers to those who mourn over the brokenness of the present world and the suffering it causes. They will experience great joy when God’s kingdom arrives in full, upon Jesus’ second coming. Jesus praises both those who suffer for the sake of doing what is right and also those who experience persecution because of their allegiance to Jesus Himself. Throughout Luke’s Gospel, Jesus contrasts earthly and heavenly rewards. Faithlife Study Bible
Matthew 5:3–12
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted…
1 Peter 4:14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
Acts 7:51–52 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
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