Left everything…

Afterward, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed him. Then Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home. A large number of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them. The Pharisees and their legal experts grumbled against his disciples. They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.” (Luke 5:27-32, CEB)

What would you do if an itinerant teacher came to you and said follow me?

Jesus sought students from unlikely places. And here we hear the story of Levi/Matthew, the tax collector.

Jesus saw him and knew he needed to come along, so he invited him. And Levi got up and followed Jesus, leaving everything behind. Then Levi used the money he had made to throw a great banquet for Jesus. Jesus ate with other tax collectors and probably other prominent people in the community.

So then the religious leaders asked why Jesus would go to these places and be with these people.

When we have the air of superiority, we can not do God’s will. We will think we are too good to go places and that people are beneath us. But Jesus came to show that no one is beneath anyone else, and we are all the same to God.

Go to all and tell them they are loved as they are.

All need to hear that God loves them.

What do you need to leave behind so you can follow Jesus?

favoritism

Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, and I took Titus along also. I went there because of a revelation, and I laid out the gospel that I preach to the Gentiles for them. But I did it privately with the influential leaders to make sure that I wouldn’t be working or that I hadn’t worked for nothing. However, not even Titus, who was with me and who was a Greek, was required to be circumcised. But false brothers and sisters, who were brought in secretly, slipped in to spy on our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus, and to make us slaves. We didn’t give in and submit to them for a single moment, so that the truth of the gospel would continue to be with you. The influential leaders didn’t add anything to what I was preaching—and whatever they were makes no difference to me, because God doesn’t show favoritism. But on the contrary, they saw that I had been given the responsibility to preach the gospel to the people who aren’t circumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. The one who empowered Peter to become an apostle to the circumcised empowered me also to be one to the Gentiles. James, Cephas, and John, who are considered to be key leaders, shook hands with me and Barnabas as equals when they recognized the grace that was given to me. So it was agreed that we would go to the Gentiles, while they continue to go to the people who were circumcised. They asked only that we would remember the poor, which was certainly something I was willing to do. (Galatians 2:1-10, CEB)

The community at Galatia had an issue with circumcision and inclusion. Someone was trying to get them to circumcise every male to be a part of the community.

They were falling back on the covenant with the Israelites and not seeing the new covenant, where there is no need for this.

Paul spends the whole of the epistle telling the Galatians that circumcision is not needed, and God shows no favoritism to anyone based on circumcision.

All people are included because of God’s grace, not because of circumcision or anything else.

Do not think what you do gets you right with God. God loves you because God created you, and that is always enough.

good news…

Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the gospel I preached isn’t human in origin. I didn’t receive it or learn it from a human. It came through a revelation from Jesus Christ. You heard about my previous life in Judaism, how severely I harassed God’s church and tried to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my peers, because I was much more militant about the traditions of my ancestors. But God had set me apart from birth and called me through his grace. He was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach about him to the Gentiles. I didn’t immediately consult with any human being. I didn’t go up to Jerusalem to see the men who were apostles before me either, but I went away into Arabia and I returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. But I didn’t see any other of the apostles except James the brother of the Lord. Before God, I’m not lying about the things that I’m writing to you! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, but I wasn’t known personally by the Christian churches in Judea. They only heard a report about me: “The man who used to harass us now preaches the faith that he once tried to destroy.” So they were glorifying God because of me. (Galatians 1:11-24, CEB)

Paul here tells the Galatians he preaches a gospel of good news, not of his own creation, but one that is a revelation from Jesus.

When we preach what we want to hear, we are not preaching the word of God.

When we only appreciate hearing what we already believe and are not challenged or pushed to be more loving and caring, then we are trying to put God in a box, and God does not fit in our boxes.

Seek to be molded by God’s word for the betterment of the whole world.

You are a conduit of the love of God. Share that love in everything you do.

With Jesus…

At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?” Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast. “No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.” (Matthew 9:14-17, CEB)

So we can not mourn while the groom is with us, and we can fast when Jesus is no longer with us.

But is not Jesus with us even now?

So there were 3 days, from the time of his crucifixion until Easter, when we could have fasted and mourned. Jesus told the disciples on the mountain that he would be with them always until the end of the age, and he sent us the Spirit and is always with us.

So, can/should we fast?

Jesus is always with us, so we should not mourn but rejoice always.

impossible

The Law is a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the real things themselves. It never can perfect the ones who are trying to draw near to God through the same sacrifices that are offered continually every year. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered? If the people carrying out their religious duties had been completely cleansed once, no one would have been aware of sin anymore. Instead, these sacrifices are a reminder of sin every year, because it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4, CEB)

Because it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The law and sacrifices under the law will never appease for the sins we have done.

God, though, is possible to do anything, and what is impossible for us is possible for God

We are redeemed by God, not the blood of bulls and goats.

all are welcome

An angel from the Lord spoke to Philip, “At noon, take the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he did. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian man was on his way home from Jerusalem, where he had come to worship. He was a eunuch and an official responsible for the entire treasury of Candace. (Candace is the title given to the Ethiopian queen.) He was reading the prophet Isaiah while sitting in his carriage. The Spirit told Philip, “Approach this carriage and stay with it.” Running up to the carriage, Philip heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “Without someone to guide me, how could I?” Then he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him. This was the passage of scripture he was reading: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent so he didn’t open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was taken away from him. Who can tell the story of his descendants because his life was taken from the earth? The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? Is he talking about himself or someone else?” Starting with that passage, Philip proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. As they went down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look! Water! What would keep me from being baptized?” He ordered that the carriage halt. Both Philip and the eunuch went down to the water, where Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Lord’s Spirit suddenly took Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Philip found himself in Azotus. He traveled through that area, preaching the good news in all the cities until he reached Caesarea. (Acts 8:26-40, CEB)

The good news is for all people.

Here we read the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He probably chose to be a eunuch for his service in the court, and he was in charge of the treasury of the Ethiopian Queen, a person of prominence. He was reading the scripture from Isaiah. And Philip came alongside him and accompanied him on the journey and brought the scripture to life through the story of Jesus.

Then, when water was found, the eunich was baptized to show that they were included in the promises and claimed by God.

God’s Spirit works through the world to call and equip all to be beacons of God’s love. So welcome all and share the good news that all are welcome.

What are you looking for?

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is really greater than me because he existed before me.’ Even I didn’t recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him. Even I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this one is God’s Son.” The next day John was standing again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking along he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?” They said, “Rabbi (which is translated Teacher), where are you staying?” He replied, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ ). He led him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). (John 1:29-42, CEB)

What are you looking for? Jesus asked the disciples of John who followed Jesus.

What would your answer be if Jesus asked you, “What are you looking for?”

And Jesus answered when they asked where he was staying, Come and see!

When we follow Jesus, our lives should change, and people will see this and might ask why things are different, or why we have a different outlook on life or the world. And when they ask, what will you say? I suggest you follow Jesus and say, Come and see.

What are you looking for?

Jesus invites us all to come and see.

What have you left?

One day Jesus was standing beside Lake Gennesaret when the crowd pressed in around him to hear God’s word. Jesus saw two boats sitting by the lake. The fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets. Jesus boarded one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, then asked him to row out a little distance from the shore. Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he finished speaking to the crowds, he said to Simon, “Row out farther, into the deep water, and drop your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing. But because you say so, I’ll drop the nets.” So they dropped the nets and their catch was so huge that their nets were splitting. They signaled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They filled both boats so full that they were about to sink. When Simon Peter saw the catch, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Leave me, Lord, for I’m a sinner!” Peter and those with him were overcome with amazement because of the number of fish they caught. James and John, Zebedee’s sons, were Simon’s partners and they were amazed too. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on, you will be fishing for people.” As soon as they brought the boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus. (Luke 5:1-11, CEB)

We are all familiar with this story, it is in both Luke and Matthew, and it seems like an old story that has been told again and again.

Today, as I read this passage, I was struck by the last statement, “they left everything and followed Jesus.”

And it made me wonder, what have I left to follow Jesus?

I have moved 7 times to seminary and different calls to follow Jesus. I have given up friends and places I have loved. I have made my kids move away from friends and face new schools. I have moved away from family and friends.

But honestly, I would do it all again. I have been blessed over abundantly more than I have given up.

What have you given up to follow Jesus?

Promise of the Spirit

Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom. While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:1-5, CEB)

This is a second edition written by Luke. Or the second part of the Gospel of Luke, which always made me wonder why the people who put the New Testament together put the Gospel of John between Luke and Acts. They are books meant to be read one after the other.

But here after Jesus rose from the tomb, and before he ascended, he told the apostles to wait in the city until the Holy Spirit came on them.

You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will receive the Spirit in your very lives and be anointed to go into the world and share God’s love.

You have been anointed and called as a child of God to go and share God’s love.

You have received the promise of the Spirit.

Go, and love.

What?

I’m amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow another gospel. It’s not really another gospel, but certain people are confusing you and they want to change the gospel of Christ. However, even if we ourselves or a heavenly angel should ever preach anything different from what we preached to you, they should be under a curse. I’m repeating what we’ve said before: if anyone preaches something different from what you received, they should be under a curse! Am I trying to win over human beings or God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be Christ’s slave. Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the gospel I preached isn’t human in origin. I didn’t receive it or learn it from a human. It came through a revelation from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:6-12, CEB)

Normally, I agree with Paul. And this is the actual Paul, or at least most scholars accept Galatians as an authentic letter from Paul.

But I wonder about this statement, “if anyone preaches something different from what you received, they should be under a curse!”

What if we have new documents that show us what we were taught is no longer correct? God changes; consider Abraham and his negotiations with God over the number of righteous people found in the city. So to say that what was taught from the knowledge we had is the only thing we can teach from now on is not what God wants us to be or do.

Now, Paul goes on to say we are supposed to seek God’s approval and not teach a message that goes along with what people want, so we get people’s approval. But when I preach the gospel, it may not be what you learned before or what was preached before, but that does not mean it does not please God.

So please God, and speak truth even when it will not be accepted.

God calls you to stand strong. And speak truth in love.