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First things firstSaturday, April 21, 2001
Mark 16:9-15 The disciples' faith was tested. Found wanting. Jesus told them about it, prayed over them, and sent them to free others from their own faithlessness. Jesus is a master at identifying and inspiring wounded healers. When I speak out of my own strength I feel great ... but what do hurting listeners get out of that? Jesus said so little when he appeared. He let the others do the talking. It's what they needed, to speak their minds, to share their anguished thoughts aloud, to show their fear. The light and heat of Jesus' attention, his awareness of their pain without accepting their self-pity, and finally his words of rebuke and encouragement brought healing. Jesus listened a lot, spoke a little. His words then became magnets for the minds of those who listened to him. They kept every word and changed the way they did things. Their lives changed because Jesus heard them first the way they were and only then gave them something new. Jesus uses two verbs in his commission. "Go," that is, find hurting people, listen to them, get to know them, put myself in their shoes, understand their problems and their points of view. And then "preach," that is, speak softly and clearly, first with actions and then with words, about God's love, Jesus' victory, his alternative to the embrace of the world, his forgiveness, his freedom. Lord, thank you for sending me on such exciting expeditions. Give me the words to share when it's time to say something. And keep my ears open until then. |
Jesus never wastes me with his condemnation. He rebukes, he corrects, he sets me off in a great new direction. Every time, my sin becomes the embarkation point for yet another unimaginable journey put together by a travel Agent that knows no human limits.