Good Morning! Please continue to pray for the folks on the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts and along the lower Mississippi River. We in Minnesota have been very fortunate this past year with our mild weather. Our hearts go out to all of those who are being touched by this hurricane.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets often pronounced very harsh judgments on the descendants of Abraham. While the prophets often condemned the behavior of the people and their rulers, none that we know of were crucified for their words. Why do Jesus’ teachings inflame the people so greatly that they want to kill him?
Some people would describe me as a “birthright” Presbyterian; that is, I was born into a family that identified itself as Presbyterian and I attended a Presbyterian Church from childhood. I really don’t like that expression. Some people might even describe themselves as “birthright Christians.” No one is actually a “Christian” by birthright. Our relationship with God is a little more complicated than that primarily because our relationships with one another are a mirrored reflection of our relationship with God. And our relationships with one another are very complicated!
The “children of Abraham” believed that they had a “birthright” guarantee to a special relationship with God. God offered that to them, but time and again they turned away from God and disavowed their special relationship with God by the way they behaved toward God and toward one another. And that brings us back to what Jesus said that upset them so much that they wanted to kill him.
He told them that they no longer were the children of Abraham. In today’s Gospel reading he tells them: “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.” Then he told them that Satan was their father, not Abraham!
These people believed that just claiming a blood lineage from Abraham down to themselves was sort of a rabbit’s foot in their pocket. No matter what they did to one another or no matter how they corrupted the worship of the Lord, they had this “get out of jail free” card from God just because of their ancestry. Jesus told them that God was no longer on call for their convenience.
They didn’t want to hear that.
Have you ever met someone who called themselves “Christian” based solely on the fact that they had been baptized and sometimes (perhaps even frequently) attended church? They didn’t believe – and didn’t want to hear – that if they were truly Christians then their lives would change. They just wanted to claim their so-called Christian faith as another free pass that would give them passage into some king of eternal paradise. Like the people who were angered by Jesus, these same folks today can get pretty angry if you try to tell them that God expects something from them that is life changing.
Well, the great news is that we are redeemed through Jesus’ life and sacrifice. We have been made children of God through the grace of Jesus Christ. We enter into God’s eternal kingdom here and now through faith! But “faith” isn’t just a word. “Faith” isn’t just an intellectual concept. “Faith” is made real and comes to completion in the moment-by-moment, day by day, workings of our lives.
Prayer: Graceful God, open our eyes and ears and minds and hearts so that we who share a faith in You may see the world as You see it. Let us rejoice in the things that bring You joy. Let our hearts be broken by the things that break Your heart. Give us the strength to faithfully live out Christ’s mission of love and reconciliation among all your creation to Your glory. Amen.
Today’s readings are Job 12:1, 13:3-17,21-27; Acts 12:1-17; John 8:33-47; Psalm 26, 28, 36 & 39.
May all of God’s blessings be yours this day to share with all the world.
Pastor Jim
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