Eastertide

May 21, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 14:23-29

Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Our society is becoming dedicated to putting our words in Jesus’s mouth. I am fascinated by how many actions/behaviors are not covered in the Bible but quoted as absolutes delivered straight from God, while the foundation of Jesus’s whole ministry is routinely ignored. We make easy exceptions for behavior that has become normalized in our society like adultery and even idolizing greed while over-reacting to actions like wearing a mask to prevent the spread of a virus that has now killed over a million Americans. I think Jesus would have classified wearing a mask as loving your neighbor as yourself.

I fear people are giving up on God when we need to lean on God the most. The further we slide from following Jesus’s commands to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves the more we think God has given up on us. We are the ones that moved and like our ancestors in faith are headed for exile.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we feel the need to overrule your plan for us. Help us to turn back to you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.