Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Monday story Monday, December 6, 2010 Luke 5:17 One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed ... What do you think will happen next? Jesus has work to do. On a Monday morning like this, what comes first? What brings hope and dreams and fire and light? What would Jesus do? What will Jesus do? What did Jesus do? Move him to Washington DC: the House Committee on Homeland Security has summoned Jesus to testify. Ambitious friends of a homeless cripple want to reach him but are stopped by security. They find their way into the Congressional conference room and raise a ruckus when Jesus appears. Will Jesus make his way to the table set up by his lawyers, adjust his microphone and prepare to speak? Or will he open his arms and receive, touch, perhaps heal the paralytic? Actually Jesus found a way to do both. To the Pharisees he said, "That you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins ..." And to the man who was paralyzed he said, "I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home." Nothing like this example on a bleak winter Monday morning. My hopes rise. People, even powerful people, respond to love. And of course, Lord, we also respond to fear. What a smart mix you offer us of both. "O kings, be wise, be warned. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son ... blessed are all who take refuge in him." -- Psalm 2 "; Add      Edit    Delete