Father Snort

The beginning of the Gospel for Mark is not Jesus' birth, but his fulfilling of Isaiah's prophecy that God was returning peace, Shalom, to his people. Jesus healed people, forgave people, and then paid the penalty for all people on the cross.

As we await Jesus' return, then, Peter tells us to be people of shalom (peace, love, heart to heart connection and reconciliation). We are told in Psalm 85:13 that Jesus pathway is the way of peace. When we seek and live shalom, we are making pathways for Jesus to walk with us.

Trusting in him and accepting his peace, we find a return to Eden, walking with God as Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden. That is just the beginning of the good news, according to Mark.

We joyfully anticipate Jesus' return. Advent is the joyful season of preparation in which we prepare for Christmas and in which we prepare our hearts for Jesus' return. Folks in scripture were often joyful at the thought of God coming, of the Lord's coming / return. They often had enemies, an "other" from whom they wanted God to save them.

We feel the same way about Jesus' return. At the same time, we must be aware that we must may be someone else's "other" because of whom they are joyfully awaiting Jesus' return.

Jesus' return is a joyful time and a time of fear and trembling. We should honor both. We should look into our hearts to see why we should have fear and trembling. We should repent of those ways.

At the same time, we get to joyfully anticipate Jesus' return, the day when he will put all things right.

In the mean time, we get to partner with Jesus in restoring creation. We get to serve others in Jesus' name. We get to seek Christ in all people. We get joyfully to anticipate his return.

Jesus told a parable about people who used oil lamps to see at night and some took just enough oil for their lamps. Others took an abundance of oil. Surprisingly enough, those who took just enough didn't have enough.

As disciples of Jesus, we don't take just enough oil of discipleship. We don't say, "I've done enough discipleship; I've done enough healing; I've done enough reconciling. I'm good, and I don't need to do that anymore." That's not who we are as disciples of Jesus.

As disciples of Jesus, we take with us an overabundance of the oil of discipleship as reconcilers and healers. We trust Jesus that he has made us into reconcilers and healers, and we practice our discipleship every day, trusting in him. We then don't worry about doing enough discipleship. We simply become his disciples and live naturally as his disciples as reconcilers and healers.

We are blessed by God. He has declared us his children. As we trust in God, we live more fully into our identity as God's children and the righteousness that dwells within us. The saints of God, those who have died and are still alive with God in Christ, help us to live into our identity as blessed and beloved of God.

God's love transforms us...if we let it. If we believe that God has already transformed us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, then we can begin to trust that God's love dwells in us. We are his children, brothers and sisters of Jesus, sent by the Holy Spirit to help heal people, sharing God's love and the light of Jesus.

That is the heart that was given to Paul, who had been a first century Jewish terrorist, gathering up Christians to be executed. He met Jesus and became an apostle of Jesus, loving so much the gentiles to whom he was sent, that he shared not only the Gospel of Christ, but his own self. It was not a burden for him but a joy. He was simply trusting in and living out his transformed self.

When we become disciples of Jesus, we put on "a wedding garment", meaning we adopt Jesus' life and his way of life. We often lose our focus and sometimes are distracted, take Jesus for granted or in other ways choose to take off that wedding garment, i.e. we stop living as Jesus taught; we stop truly believing in Jesus and his teachings.

Keeping the wedding garment on, we continue in the joy of life of Jesus, described as a wedding banquet. As Paul writes: Rejoice in the Lord always...let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything...and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The trap of the Chief Priests and the elders was that of holy living, but with contempt for those who didn't share in holy living. Jesus and John, on the other hand, judged those in need of repentance (e.g. the tax collectors and prostitutes) as needing repentance, but they judged them with compassion and love. For them, seeing people turn around and begin life anew was more important than punishing them for their misdeeds.

Unlike the chief priests and elders, through Jesus and John the Kingdom of God was being lived, proclaimed, and received. Our challenge as the church is to live and proclaim the Kingdom of God in such a way that it is received by those who need it. We too judge when people need repentance, not to condemn, but to acknowledge the need for repentance. We do so with fear and trembling on our part, never presuming not to need repentance ourselves.

We avoid the trap of the chief priests and elders and live and proclaim the Kingdom of God so that it will be received. We keep the same mind in us that was is Christ Jesus.

God is not fair. He gives generously not because people particularly deserve his generosity, but out of love for his children. We too are unfair, but our unfairness tends to favor the giver or those with money and influence. We do give grace to those whom we know, but those with money and influence are more likely to receive leniency than someone earning $15,000 / year.

Our economy determines that those at the very top of organizations earn more than they would need in 50 lifetimes (approximately), while those at the bottom of organizations often earn not quite enough to get by.

Disciples of Jesus at the top of organizations, if they are living as their Lord taught, would not have this be so. They would voluntarily give up much of their salary and pay those at the bottom more...not because of some stupid law passed by congress to muck things up, but because they believed in God's unfair generosity, rather than humanities unfair selfishness.

That is life in God's kingdom.

Jesus preached a lot about forgiveness. He also said blessing those who curse us will be like heaping burning coals on their heads. I believe that is in order to refine them like silver is refined in the fire. The purpose is to open our hearts to love God and each other more. The song, "Oceans", by Hillsong United (http://hillsong.com/store/products/music/united/oceans-ep) describes faith, trust, and reconciliation with God through Jesus. Resting in God. That is the point of forgiveness.

Jesus taught on the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. Indeed, without forgiveness and reconciliation, there would be no Gospel, and we would not be reconciled to God. There would also be little love within the church.

A church without love is not truly the church. Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another and told them others would know them as his disciples by their love for one another. Without love, we are not the church.

Even if a group of people gathers for worship ever Sunday and believes in Jesus, but they also hate each other, that is not a church. As James point out, "even the demons believe."

Forgiveness and reconciliation, and the love they bring about are essential for our faith and hope in Jesus to be truly alive in us.