Living in the Spirit
October 15, 2015

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 5:1-10

Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place,
‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’ –Hebrews 1:6

Often we do not deal gently with those we consider to be the ignorant and wayward. We actually set them up as examples of what we do not do ourselves. Thus, we grant ourselves absolution for our own sins because we think someone else is surely fairing worse than us in the sin department. We see this all the time. For example, a teacher recently told one of her students that the student was going to hell because she was left handed based on the teacher’s understanding of the Bible. I guess being right handed is not a sin?

Some in Oklahoma City have been trying to clear the streets of panhandlers. I suppose, their presence on the street is an embarrassment to some. It probably should be. We should take better care of them than we do. Oh, that is not the reason being used for outlawing panhandling. It is dangerous for them to be so close to the streets and they could get killed or cause a wreck. I think it is interesting that in all the discussion I have yet to hear an example of that happening. We have had some accidents that involved joggers and bikers, but we build set aside lanes to protect them.

God did not call us to be hypocrites. We do that already all too well ourselves. God granted us the example of Jesus to follow as one who lived his love with each and every wayward person he met. We are called to do no less.

Prayer: O Lord, free us from our need to place others in a hierarchy of grace when your love knows no bounds, including loving us even when we are being hypocrites. Let your love so infuse us that we no longer need our self-made hierarchies of grace. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.