May the mumbling commence!
May our prayer always be to be teachable for the living
Spirit of God. May we be like moist clay
in the Great Potter’s Hands. Read from
Jeremiah chapter eighteen:
The Lord
gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, "Go down to the shop where clay
pots and jars are made. I will speak to you while you are there."
So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump
of clay and started again.
Then the Lord
gave me this message: "O Israel, can I not
do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are
you in my hand. If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is
to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. And if I announce that I will build up and
plant a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong and great, but then that nation
turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I would.
Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all
Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster against you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is
right.'" (Verses 1-11)
It’s simple.
Return to the Lord. Discard your
evil ways. Do what is right. It’s simple, yet so difficult. Form us in Your hands, O Lord, so that we
might be blessed and so that we might do what is right in Your eyes.
And this path means that we need to focus on our own
personal sins – not the sins of others.
We need to focus on our communities’ sins – not the sins of other
peoples. It’s a harsh light sometimes,
but it’s a light that heals. Let that
light shine on us! Read from Matthew
chapter nine:
That night Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be
his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other
notorious sinners. The Pharisees were indignant. "Why
does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples.
When he heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy
people don't need a doctor – sick
people do." Then he
added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.'
For I have come to call sinners, not
those who think they are already good enough."
(Verses 10-13)
These tax collectors and sinners needed the healing
touch and relationship with Jesus. Most
of them knew their need, too. It’s a
need that the Pharisees were unaware of… for themselves. They thought
they were good enough.
Jesus pointed them to their error. He told them to go and learn. They didn’t already
know it all. They needed to learn the
value of mercy over sacrifice. We will
tend to be more merciful and understanding to other people when we remember we
are sinners too.
May we seek to come to the Lord with our own faults at
least twice as much as we focus on the shortcomings of people around us.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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