Good Morning Friends,
Sometimes we put too much emphasis on numbers and what we have done, when the focus needs to be on love and the Spirit and what God has done. God gave it all to us and frankly when we count all the good stuff we do and what we might consider the bad stuff of others, we may be misjudging God and making false assumptions. We have a choice in how we will approach God and others realizing that being secure and comfortable is not the be all and end all of living the Christian life. So, Are You Being Motivated By Faith To An Action Of Love Despite The Risk?
Scripture: So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people, so that I may know how many there are.” Joab reported to the king the number of those who had been recorded: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand soldiers able to draw the sword, and those of Judah were five hundred thousand. But afterward, David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.” So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, “Shall three years of famine come to you on your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.” Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into human hands.” So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from that morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, “I alone have sinned, and I alone have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17 (NRSV)
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching.
Mark 6:1-6 (NRSV)
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:45-46 (NRSV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NRSV)
Message: Ok, there are all sorts of reasons to be discerning and sometimes cautious, and certainly we need to count the costs, but we also need to risk enough to step out in faith. This one thing is critical to salvation and the Christian life and honestly it is one of the reasons I am an ambassador for Immokalee. It is a place like Nazareth that people could easily despise and is often discounted because it is decentralized. Yes, in some ways it is in the backwoods and out in the sticks… a small village. In the eyes of more educated and urban populations, the populations of these places like Immokalee are often judged as ignorant at best and perhaps as simple-minded sinners at worst. But what we learn from today’s scripture is that prejudice need not be external. False judgement can occur if we take our focus off God and fail to realize that the world has changed when it comes to our prejudices. Today’s lectionary text touches on the whole idea of how people can misjudge by the numbers and even by being too familiar. And we see it played out in the census of David when he was king, and the census of Emperor Augustus during the time of the birth of Jesus, and we do so want to know the numbers of places like Immokalee and Nazareth. But what is our motivation? You see, a census is a tool for centralizing power and places like Nazareth and Immokalee are decentralized places. The purpose of a census has evolved but originally it was to see the potential for raising an army and for raising taxes. Its focus was and is control by the numbers and it can easily be devoid of relationships of a personal nature. Now let us face the reality of our world today. People want to walk by sight and not by faith. The 2020 Census has begun in an election year. And people want to know how the numbers balance out. But the real sin here is trusting in some virtual idea of man’s power. Friends, when we stop believing in God’s power we lose. When Satan stirred up David’s heart in pride to assess his military strength, rather than simply continuing to maintain trust in God, the focus shifted. When the people of Nazareth discounted Jesus, the disbelief stifled miracles from happening. The result of both even after repentance is judgement. No, we cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube. But we can realize that we cannot reduce a person or even a place down to a set of data. We need to realize that knowledge is a relationship with people not a relationship with statistics.
And So, reason why the people of Nazareth reject Jesus in Mark 6:1-6 has never been entirely clear to me. I am more familiar with instances where a small town celebrates, even exaggerates, the success stories of locals who have made it big. Still Jesus did heal some. Maybe they thought him crazy smart or just crazy. Maybe they decided his authority was demonic. Maybe they had fixed his status and questioned the legitimacy of his father and the limits of his lowly status as a laborer. Maybe they had too much baggage relying on their cemented thinking about the Messiah. But what I think is happening is the formation of new allegiances that supersede tradition. So, in reflecting on today’s scripture I think it is calling us to believe in the possibility of a faith that leads to hope and abides in love without fear. Still, ultimately, we will interpret what happens in retrospect. A miracle in our lives and in the scripture today is not just an event, but it is an interpreted event. For if Jesus is not regarded to be capable of healing, any healing that does happen will not be attributed to him. Perhaps there is nothing here to see. But hold on, the one who changes everything is at work in our midst. Jesus’ whole ministry calls us to live a life victorious, to experience with optimism and share the more excellent way, to bear the fruits of the Spirit, to be filled with the fullness of God through the eyes of love guided by the Spirit. Our motivation must start with a vital connection with God and be a response to the simple fact that Jesus is worthy whether we are doubting or acting out of faith…whether the Spirit is convicting us or comforting us. Friend’s love is the chief motivator for the Christian and sometimes it is tough love and sometimes gentile but it all should move us in the direction of glorifying God. Doubt is not the opposite of faith here. Friends, unbelief is the opposite of faith and God does not condemn us for inner uncertainty. Those struggling with God are demonstrating a sure sign that the faith they have can grow. Believing is hard work and is sometimes filled with trials. John the Baptist had doubts. Peter had doubts. Doubt can be the prelude to a growing faith. But people need to believe in the power of love if we hope to have a better shot at how this is to be done, even at the risk of failure in the face of then numbers. So, to anyone who would consider themselves a great leader, know this, it requires character, perspective that is focused, and courage, but also the strategic favor to love effectively in a way that glorifies God.
Pray we learn to trust God. Pray we receive and share a perfect love that casts out fear. Pray we realize that acts of control stifle the work of the Spirit but that disciplining, and trials might be the prelude to spiritual growth. Pray we live a victorious Christian life. Pray we realize that acts of control stifle the work of the Spirit. Pray we realize that without faith it is impossible to please God. Pray we realize that success is having a relationship with God. Pray therefor that we act to restore proper relationships with God and others as an act of faith. Pray we stop being so prejudice. Pray we are not counting on our strength so much as we are looking to God for strength. Pray we welcome Jesus into our lives and homes and communities. Pray our eyes are fixed on Jesus. Pray our motivation is to glorify God. Pray we too preach tot Good News to the poor. Pray we too help to heal the brokenhearted. Pray we too proclaim liberty to those enslaved. Pray we too comfort those who morn. Pray we too see the beauty in people even if they have been rejected. Pray we connect people who are hurting to the joy of Jesus. Pray we overcome the funk of our existence and learn to praise God in all things. Pray we too encounter the pleasure of Christ and his divine acceptance of us. Pray we are instilled with a deep desire to please God because Jesus loves us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 