What if what Jesus meant by "love your neighbor" was to actually love your neighbor?

Jesus said, "Come and See."

We take a look at Jesus' Baptism in the Gospel of Matthew.

Psalm 146:5-10 NIV

5 ​Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

​whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6 ​He is the Maker of heaven and earth,

​the sea, and everything in them— ​he remains faithful forever.

7 ​He upholds the cause of the oppressed

​and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

8 ​ ​the Lord gives sight to the blind,

the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

​the Lord loves the righteous.

9 ​The Lord watches over the foreigner

​and sustains the fatherless and the widow, ​but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 ​The Lord reigns forever,

​your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Isaiah prophesies of a King in the line of David who will rise up and bring justice and compassion to the land. Under his rule and authority, the imbalances of power and the barriers which separate the rich/poor; weak/strong; prey/predator will be eliminated and there will be peace. Through prayer, we as a community long for Shalom and ask God to bring it to reality in the here and now.

"Unexpectedly" We await the first coming of Jesus with his words on his 2nd coming. He will come (He comes) unexpectedly. As his people, we are called to active waiting. To live lives prepared and alert for the Kingdom of God to come in our midst in power. Practical app: Prayer is a powerful way of waiting actively in hope.

Genesis 17:1-16 "Named and Claimed." God changes Abe and Sarai's names along with reiterating Covenant. God knows who we really are and gives us names and calls us to live into them. We find life and promise in knowing our true names and orienting our lives according to that which we are called, in faith. We cast off our old identities and live into the Covenant, a dependent discipleship relationship with God. God claims his people and gives them identity markers (circumcision) which is to set them apart. It is important to note that this identity for Abram and his family included being "immigrants" and strangers in this new land.

Genesis 16:7-16. Hagar is the servant of Abram mistreated by Sarai and forced to run away from harsh treatment. Though God's plan involves an heir for Abram through Sarai, God pursues Hagar going to where she was and blessing her. Hagar names God "El Roi" because He sees. God sees you in your deepest times of rejection and outcastness. God sees the rejected and outcast around us. He is "El Roi" the God who sees

In our journey we worry and have anxiety: "how is this going to work out for good?" God's says to us "Do not Fear."

God calls Abram to pack everything up and Go. Go to a strange land. Go from all that is familiar. To be sent, to move outward here is the counter-motion to what we had at Babel. God scattered as a preventative measure, God’s covenant with Abraham is the amelioration--a plan for blessing all nations through one nation. We will take a deeper look at moving past what is safe, what we know, what is comfortable, in order to “Go” and be sent where God is leading. Where is God leading you to “Go?”