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John calls us beyond insurance policy religion, but Jesus calls us still further into participation in God’s radical generosity to all the world.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Jesus (Page 11)
Jesus’s abolition of “us” and “them” categories is so radical that it seems almost impossible for us to comprehend and put into practice.
It is human nature to think that our ways are God’s ways, and so to shun those whose ways seem alien or disgusting to us, but Jesus calls us to recognise God at work in others, however different.
In Christ we are one with all flesh and blood, and so our struggle is not against any other people, but against the spirits and powers and forces which would divide people and make them enemies.
If God seems unjust, we can and should question God’s integrity, for God welcomes our questions in order that the falsehoods might be stripped away and the truth revealed.
Like the disciples, we stumble, but we too can pick ourselves up and re-orient ourselves to the transformed landscape that Jesus is slowly mapping out for us.
The Church is one body, sent into the world to live the life Jesus has begun, a life of love, reconciliation and mercy.
Jesus invites us into a new relationship with God and with one another based on love and friendship instead of power and rivalry.
God evaluates us only in terms of our growth to fruitfulness, expressed as Christ-like love, and such fruitfulness comes only from our interrelationship with Christ. God deals with us in whatever way will lead to further growth – sometimes that is gently, sometimes it is harshly, always it is for the same purpose.
The foundation of our faith is in a living Christ who enables us to understand the Bible, rather than in a Bible that enables us to understand a dead Christ.
As difficult as it is to imagine, God is shockingly present with us in Jesus.
Though we get caught up in violent rivalries like Herod, God breaks through with the promise of a new kingdom where all are honoured.
Our anticipation of new life in Christ, though not removing all grief, allows us to find hope in the mercy and love of God.
Jesus recognises that there are different ways of interpreting the Bible that lead to different understandings of God and of following God, and he demonstrates the principles by which he would have us read it.
As creatures made in the image of God, imitation of God is the pathway to fullness of life.
The self-emptying of Jesus reveals both his divinity and the pathway to our full humanity.
The coming Christ will do whatever he can to get through our defences.
A sense of shame can be God’s invitation to accept healing and new life.
Jesus sends the Holy Spirit as a Defence Counsel to defend us against the demonic accusations that trouble and disempower us.
The glory of Christ’s love is seen when it perseveres with those who shun it, betray it, or abuse it.