Food Chains
Good Morning Friends,
Well Pope Francis has announced as the liturgical year is coming to an end that he is planning to come to America and to Philadelphia in particular, but it is my hope that he would come to Immokalee. But first I would hope he would watch the film which is being released this weekend. For just as the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus are connected in this season of Christ the King with a double meaning, so too is our experience of the grace of salvation and the judgment of Jesus’ return. The name of the movie is
Food Chains.
Scripture: Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
7 ‘And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of the holy one, the true one,
who has the key of David,
who opens and no one will shut,
who shuts and no one opens:
8 ‘I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
Revelation 3:7-13 (NRSV)
Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by. When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?” Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.” Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”
Luke 19:1-10 The Message (MSG)
13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah,* the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter,* and on this rock* I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:13-18
Message: There are two sides to every door and with God’s grace you will find Jesus on both sides. The key in relationships is to drink and eat the strength and glory of Christ in the relationship. We are to spend time with Jesus when he knocks at our door. When he invites us to dinner. We are to spend time with God so He can help us to help others see the Jesus in each other. So if you are going to point a finger of blame, point the finger in the mirror. Today’s scripture…today’s world should make us a little uneasy. And in this tension…in the binding and the loosing of whatever God has already willed in us, He is revealed. In our obedience to His will His message is proclaimed…God’s rule is made known. Friends, through leaders in faith and in the ordering of common life Jesus has established a rule over us as a Shepherd who calls us and cares for us and bids us to celebrate with thanksgiving the comfort of the coming reign of Christ and the completion of creation. This Sunday will be Christ the King Sunday, the culmination of the liturgical year… but it is not the end. Thanksgiving, just next week, is followed by Advent. But I urge you not to rush through this time glossing over something important to get to the “feel good” time of the “Holidays.” Here we are to linger just a bit longer to better understand the two Messiahs… the Servant and the King. …Ben Yosef and Ben David. Friends, life is full of questions. They are everywhere and run from the mundane to the heavenly. But as Christians I am convinced that we need to be asked and we need to share answers to some basic questions and even some difficult ones. So who do you say Jesus is? Today we ask if we are ready to climb a tree without shame in order to see Jesus. Today we ask if the chains are for connecting in communication of something important or chains to bind people into servitude.
Pray we think very, very hard about our Christian life. Pray we realize that there is life threatening danger in a lukewarm heart for God. Pray that our hearts be pure and our actions glorify God. Pray that we not dwell on the mistakes of our life so that we fail to live. Pray that we seek God with our whole heart, that we place our heart in His hands. Pray that we do what is right even when we think we have been wronged. Pray that we do right even when we feel unappreciated. Pray that we do right even when it does not make much sense. Pray that we do right even if it requires sacrifice. Pray that we serve God with a perfect heart. Pray that our thanks be our actions in our eyes and with our hands not just in our prayers. Pray we allow God to be God in us, with us, together joined as the called out for worship. Pray that we experience Him with awe and wonder and pray that we want others to know Him too. Pray that we pass it on. Pray that we find ourselves in the newness of relationships with one another because our relationship with Jesus Christ is constantly being renewed. Pray that we be moral in an immoral world. Pray that we take up the challenge of revealing God’s truth in us. Pray we have the courage to make a commitment.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 