Day 090: Seeing God's Face

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."  Colossians 1:15

Here is the Good News.

When reading the Old Testament, especially the time period from the Exodus before the era of Judges, you can get an image of a community with a lot of angst.  There are many commandments coming from the God who liberated all of Israel from slavery in Egypt.  Not only that, but those commandments are only coming from Moses, the only person allowed to see God, let alone interact with God.

When Jesus came into the world, though, we now have a clear image of Almighty God.  We can see Jesus in the flesh.  We can hear Jesus in a language we can understand.  We see another human to whom we can relate, teaching us the Way.  It is a good thing, for we are all invited to participate in the divine.  Jesus gave us the Eucharist, and now we have a way to commune with God.

When I thought about this verse, I thought about an old hymn, where one of the verses says, "I see Thee face to face and live!"  And that's what we have now!  We see Jesus face to face and live!  We have so many things to be thankful for, and the chief of them is that we can come so much closer to God than ever before.  Love, which was once something concealed and confusing, is now something we can understand with many examples from Jesus Christ.  We have all of his teachings to guide us.

When we read the bible, when we pray, when we take communion, we are seeing God face to face, and we, indeed, are living.

Day 015: The Good News

Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  Matthew 10:5-6

When Jesus was carrying out his ministry, there were many people who were wondering what was going on.  People wanted guidance, and Jesus reassured them in this way.

Each time I read this, I hear Jesus speaking in a way that is very excited but poignant at the same time.  It's intense.  He raises his hands as he's listing out what's going on.  He's saying that so much is changing.  And that's a good thing.

Any reading through the gospels reveals that there were many outcasts in Jewish society.  If one wants to read more about that, just go to Leviticus to read about how many more people are supposed to be put off to the side in order to sustain the early Jewish society.  The blind and lame were just that, sitting off to the sides.  The lepers were people you wouldn't look at, because your parents told you that their sins brought them there.  The deaf were people who served no purpose.  The dead were eternal, and the poor didn't deserve the gospel.

Jesus came into the world in order to bring together all of the outcasts!  Jesus came to overthrow all the corruption that society had condoned, and Jesus came to bring wisdom and discernment to everybody.  Jesus is here to change all of our lives, and blessed are we who are not offended because of him.

Blessed are we who are not offended because: the poor can have houses; the sick have doctors and healthcare; those who look different aren't ostracized; God's mercy extends to everybody, even those we don't like; our prejudices are proven wrong; God's love reaches to the heavens and God's faithfulness stretches to the skies; God's love extends to all colors, races, sexual orientations, genders, gender expressions; God calls all the faithful.

Jesus made us think in ways that are still difficult for us to comprehend, but he understands that and is willing to work with us, to change us, and bring us closer, so that we may all walk together, in the same direction, hand in hand, with one accord, in the Spirit.