Good Morning. Wherever life responds with compassion, we
see the power of resurrection. We must
thank God for the ways in which the people of Boston have responded in the face
of such tragedy even as we continue to pray for the comfort of those who must
mourn.
In today’s Gospel reading
Jesus says: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God … for I was
sent for this purpose.” Jesus came that
everyone might hear and see the news of the God’s kingdom, perhaps better
translated as “God’s rule.” He came to
bring the news that everyone – rich or poor, powerless or powerful, sick or
healthy – was welcome to join Him in living our lives in a place where God’s
rule was supreme. It begins when we
ourselves welcome God’s rule into our hearts as the first rule of our
lives. Like Jesus, we can then live
under God’s rule and share God’s rule – God’s kingdom – with all the
world. That’s the first fruit of
faith: knowing in all confidence that we
have been freed to live here and now under the rule of God and responding with
gratitude, love and courage.
The epistle reading today
says: “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the
Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” This is no mere intellectual exercise. Intellectually we “believe” in a lot of
things that never really touch our lives.
To believe in Jesus is not an intellectual exercise. To believe in Jesus is to have Jesus within
us. To believe in Jesus means that we
have allowed Jesus to change our lives. What
be believe and how we behave are
inseparable.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke we
read the same things that Moses said in Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. [Luke
10.27]” Heart, soul, strength,
mind: do you get it? Faith and the way in which we live our lives
cannot be separate things. The way we
live is the confirmation of our faith.
And the way in which Jesus lived is the pattern of life that God invites
us to follow. There lies the rule of
God. There is the way into the
Kingdom. The door is open, but it takes
a faith that encompasses my heart, my soul, my physical strength and my mind in
order to have the confident courage accept God’s rule in my life and to walk
into God’s kingdom today.
Let us pray: Lord God, bring comfort and courage to us
all. Let us know that life with Christ
in us is offered to us right now, today.
And that as we allow Christ to overtake the influences of the world in
our lives we step closer and closer into the life You have always wanted for
us. Let us feel Jesus as our brother in
suffering as well as in joy as we work to spread Your rule throughout the world
and await with ever growing anticipation His return in final triumph and
glory. It is in His name that we
pray. Amen.
Today’s readings are Daniel
5:1-12;
1 John 5:1-12; Luke 4:38-44; Psalm 38 and 119:25-48.
Blessings.
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