Bryan Sherwood

A Lesson On Love

I've been reading in the gospel of Luke this week.  I finished chapter 7 tonight.  I've also been reading Tom Wright's little book called Luke for Everyone.  Although it's a fairly compact book, it's packed full of great stuff.

In Luke 7, Jesus heals the centurion's servant and a few verses later, we read about Him raising the widow's son from the dead.  Healing a servant who is ill is one thing but raising someone from the dead, that is quite something else!  It would be a mistake, as Wright reminds us, to read these miracles of Jesus without considering Luke's larger narrative.  Just the chapter before, Luke tells us of Jesus spending the night in prayer and then calling the 12 apostles.  He gives a powerful sermon in the Beatitudes.  Jesus teaches about this new way of living which we quickly learn is a way of love.  It's not warm, mushy, flaky love - no, it's extravagant, outrageous love for others.  That's what the people of the Kingdom are like.  Jesus reminds them and us to love your enemies . . . to bless those who curse you . . . to give to everyone who begs from you . . . and to be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.  I can only imagine how strange those words must have sounded.  They seem backward or upside down.  Those same words must have been fresh on the minds of the disciples when Jesus heals the centurion's servant and raises the widow's son from the dead.  Jesus makes sure his disciples catch a glimpse of what this kind of love looks like on the ground.  As N.T. Wright puts it, "with God's love going out in new, unexpected healing generosity."  

I think there's a lot for all of us to learn from Jesus in Luke 6 and 7.  The mark of the Christian is love.  It's a love that permeates regular life.  It's a love that turns people's heads and makes them to want to know more about Jesus.  This passage in Luke begs the question:  Who am I loving?  How am I showing outrageous love to those in my day to day life?

I'm convinced that by loving others, we'll see more people become disciples of Jesus.  The way I see it, that's a pretty good thing.

Peace.

  

Being On Mission In Today's World

On rare occasion, I listen to Christian radio. I was driving back to work today and flipped my radio station over to one of the local Christian radio stations which happened to be doing a news story. The news story was about a franchise of Christian gyms which provide a family-friendly atmosphere, Christian rock music, and offer a variety of classes including a "Yo-god" Class (instead of yoga). I'm being serious. They really do.

At first glance, you may think "well, what's wrong with that?" Good question. I'm glad you asked.

My biggest concern by far is this notion of creating a Christian subculture in the midst of today's world. In other words, instead of interacting with the people around us, us Christians tend to create our own little Christian world. We go to the Christian gym, we take Christian cruises, the list could go on and on. Of course, we see those things as being "good" and proper for Christians to do.

However, if I understand the Gospel story correctly, I should be on mission. I don't mean going door to door and trying to get people to receive Jesus on the spot. No, I'm talking about something more doable, more natural and in my opinion, more effective. I engage in mission by making room for people in my life. That can look a lot of different ways (throwing parties, helping someone do yard work, etc.).
It really boils down to making the time to love and care about others. This past Sunday's gospel reading from Matthew 9 was about Jesus eating with "tax collectors and sinners", those people who society looked down upon. We should follow His example.

This radio news story came at an interesting time for me since I've been thinking about mission in my own life. I'm trying to figure what that looks like for me. How has God gifted me and how can I best use those gifts to love other people?

There's no doubt, I need to do a better job making room for others in my schedule and in my life. How about you?

And just in case you're wondering, NO, I won't be joining a Christian gym anytime soon.

Pax.