Reflection on Matthew 24:26-44

Jesus has this dream.  It is not the type of dream that you have at night in which a clown with monkey print pajamas rides a pony right through the rear door of the church into the middle of worship (do not even ask), but rather, it is the type of dream that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had when he imagined a future America where “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners" could "sit down together at the table of brotherhood,” a future in which his four children are judged not "by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”  It is that sort of dream. 

It is in line with the dream that Isaiah has where the Lord descends into Jerusalem in order to teach and judge all the nations and all the peoples, and the result is that the people: “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”  It is a dream in which nations no longer “lift up sword against nation,” neither do they “learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4).  It is a dream where the people are awake to the ways of God and do not get lulled into the deep sleep of the violent and unforgiving ways of this world.

Jesus has this dream where he will return to the earth and his people will be awake!  (Shout “Awake!”)  I once shouted that while preaching in my internship congregation.  In that congregation, there was this man who sat toward the back of the church and unfurled his newspaper at the beginning of the sermon, sort of as a visual statement to the student pastor that said, “I don’t have to listen to anything a kid preacher is going to say.”  Well, when I shouted, “Awake!” that paper went flying over the top of his head and landed in the face of the poor lady sitting behind him.  They were both awake.

And, that is what Jesus wants for his people.  He hopes that when he returns, his people will not be found, refusing to be the people of God.  He hopes that they will not be like the students who use the classroom as a playground when the teacher needs to step out.  He hopes that the people of God will not be like the employees who take an extra long break just because the foreman is not on site.  He hopes that he will not return and step through the door of his surprise party, only to turn on the lights and find that all of the guests had fallen asleep with blow whistles hanging out of their snoring mouths, inflating and deflating with every snore.

Instead, Jesus desires more than anything to be pleasantly shocked when he walks through the door and voices surround him shouting, “Surprise!”  Jesus desires more than anything to get to the job site and see that all of his people are hard at work, showing love to others and forgiving as he forgave.  He hopes that he does not see a single sword in our hands, but rather that the swords have all been transformed into something useful like plowshares which cut into the soil so that life may thrive.  Jesus desires more than anything that the students be at work, teaching each other as he steps back through the door of the classroom.  Jesus desires more than anything that we not be lured by the temptations of the world, but rather stay awake to the love of God that we see in Jesus Christ.

So, here is the deal.  It is a dream.  It is an aspiration.  It is a hope.  And, it is not something that even Jesus’ own disciples were able to pull off. 

Just a handful of days after Jesus teaches the disciples to stay awake, Judas is lured by money to betray him into the hands of the officials. 

Just a handful of days after Jesus warns the disciples to not be like the generation of Noah who went about their days, without a care in the world, and suddenly were swept away by the flood waters because of their wickedness and their murderous ways, because they were asleep; Peter and the disciples fall asleep three times in the garden when asked to remain awake.  Even worse, upon awaking and seeing the soldiers who have come to take Jesus away, one of them grabs a sword and tries to use violence in the name of Jesus.  

Jesus has a dream that when he is present with us, we will be awake.  He does not want us to be swept away by the raging ways of this world.  He does not want only one woman to remain in the field, working her holy task as the other is swept away by the ignorant and violent ways of this world.  He does not want any one of us to lose all the love that has been poured into us because a thief has come in the middle of the night and stolen it all.  “If only we had been home to thwart the thief!” we would cry.  “If only we had been awake!”

The man caught me in the frozen food aisle.  Standing next to the frozen peas was not my preferred spot for pastoral counseling, but sometimes I do not get to choose.  The tears were pouring out of the guys eyes.

“I knew that I should not have gone.  I knew to stay away from the bar.  She warned me that one more time would be one too many.  And, when I came home this morning, all that was left was a note.  No kids.  No money.  Just a note that said, ‘that was the last time.’”  The man knew he should stay awake, but like the disciples, he could not.

No one knows when Jesus will arrive.  No one knows when Jesus will show up to be with his people.  No one knows.  Lots of people on TV will try to convince you that they know, and sell you a book on top of it, but they do not.  As Jesus says, “about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36). 

But, there is one thing that I do know, Jesus hopes more than anything that we can be the people of God, even when he is not around.  He hopes more than anything that his life of love continues on in us, even when he is away; because “where two or three and gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).  Wherever there is love, Jesus is there.

That seems like a nice “wrap up sentence.”  I supposed that I could just take a seat now and let you all ponder.  Maybe, you have some shopping to do?  Maybe, the ways of the world are pressing in on you, and this teaching is all a little too inconvenient?  Maybe, the sort of shaming that just came from the preacher’s mouth is just the preacher also slipping into the dismissive and passively violent ways of the world?  Maybe, I fall asleep just like the disciples, and that man who came home from the bar, and you?  Maybe, God has slipped something into the Bible to help us all.

God has put something there.  You can find it all the way at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew.  It is the story of Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father.  If you remember, when Joseph finds out about Mary’s pregnancy, one which he knows he took no part in creating, he too slips into the sleep of a passive sort of aggression.  He resolves to quietly throw Mary to the streets.  But, while asleep, the Lord sends an angel to Joseph who says, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”  The angel then tells him that the child’s name will be “Emmanuel” which means, “God is with us.”  And then the Bible says that, “Joseph awoke from sleep.” 

Joseph awoke from sleep!  Given the gift of a reminder from someone else, an angel, Joseph awoke from his sleep and “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.”

I hate to imagine what would have happened to Mary and the child if Joseph had not been awakened by the angel.  But, we do not have to worry, because an angel came to save the day and woke Joseph up from his sleep.

And, that brings me back to our gospel reading for the day, our good news reading for this morning, because when you look at the word for “Keep awake” in Greek, you will find that it is a verb in the present active imperative, second plural.  Wahoo!  Let us hear it for the present active imperative, second plural!  You know what that means, right?  It means that, like Joseph, we do not do this keeping awake stuff alone!  The plural part of this word is the important one.  “Keep awake, all you’all!”  “Together, as a community, keep each other awake!”  Joseph was given the gift of an angel to wake him up, and we are given the gift of one another to keep each other awake to the Lord.

On the days when I am falling asleep to the Lord and falling asleep to the ways of love that the Lord desires me to live, I have the gift of you to wake me up!  You can say to me, “Do not be afraid to do what God hopes you to do.” 

And on the days when I see that you are drowsy, falling asleep to God’s ways of love and peace, I have a divine duty to wake you up, that you might not be swept away, that you might not miss the arrival of the Lord. 

Jesus Christ has drawn us together into a community of love and forgiveness that cannot be snuffed out by the darkness of the world.  Oh, the world can try to snuff us out when we are alone, but when we remember the gift of each other, when we are together, “where two or three are gathered,” the Lord will be present.  The Lord will come.  And the love of the Lord will rule the day.  Love will win.  Christ will come.  Keep each other awake to the gifts of love given to us by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reflection on Luke 23:33-43

 

“Let him save himself!” the religious leaders scoffed as they stared up at the man hanging under the sign which mockingly read, “King of the Jews.”

“Save yourself!” the soldiers yelled as they joined in the mockery.

“Save yourself, and us!” one of the criminals derided, as if he had any moral pedestal for mockery as he hung on his own cross.

“Save yourself!” the world tells Jesus.  It is no surprise.  The people of this world expect one another to “save themselves” all the time.  It is a part of our everyday language.  “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps,” the world teaches.  “Take some time for yourself,” they plead.  “Save yourself, and us!”  “God helps those who help themselves!”

Did you know that last one is not in the Bible?  “God helps those who help themselves,” is quoted constantly by the religious as if it were in the Bible, but it is not.  Unfortunately, I fear it is a better known phrase than John 3:16:  “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.” 

The two phrases could not be any more different from one another.  The one that is actually from the Bible, John 3:16, tells us about how God saves us through faith.  The one that is not from the Bible tells us that we need to be the ones who take the initiative to save ourselves. 

“Be the author of your own story.”  “You can do it.”  “Trust in yourself.”  “God helps those who help themselves.”  “Save yourself.”

To tell you the truth, those of us who are “of the world” take great pride in our self-made accomplishments.  Those of us who are “of the world” can clearly see that if it were not for our own hard work, we would be nowhere in life.  And, maybe we are right.  Maybe, we care a lot about making our way in this world, and we have accomplished exactly that.  Maybe, pampering ourselves has been our focus in life.  Maybe, that is what drives our life.  Maybe, at the end of the day, all we care about is saving ourselves…or more graciously, ourselves along with our friends and family. 

“Save yourself,” we whisper to ourselves when the times get rough.  “Save yourself,” we whisper to ourselves because we are too afraid to be a burden to anyone else.  We refuse to lay our burdens on anyone else’s shoulders…even Jesus’ shoulders…so we shoulder them all.  We are tough enough, right?  “Save yourself,” we say into the lonely night as we twist and turn and try to figure it all out before the sun comes up.

Do you know what Jesus did not do?  Jesus did not save himself. 

Jesus did not focus on his own life.  His own welfare was not the center of his own actions.  Instead, the Bible tells us again and again that Jesus’ attention was turned toward healing people who were blind.  He found people who were lost.  He ate with people who were tax collectors and sinners.  

This does not sell lots of books.  “Hanging out with known sinners is not how you get ahead in life,” parents reiterate to their children around the entire world. 

I know of a faithful member of a church who was given a harsh warning from the pastor when he was seen hanging out in the front yard of some “unsightly” neighbors.  You know, the ones with the beer in hand, playing shoot the squirrel, sitting on the old, rain soaked couch in the front yard.  I have mentioned this before in church and someone came up to me afterward and said, “I think you just described my extended family.” 

I apologize if I have labeled someone close to you as “unsightly.”  But, it is because we have all learned from an early age that “you are who you hang out with.”  The world teaches us that if we care about getting anywhere in the world, we will not follow the Lord’s example and hang with people like “them.”

But, Jesus does hang with people like “them.”  Literally.  On the cross, he hangs with the unsightly.  Throughout his entire ministry, Jesus hangs with the “unsightly.” 

Jesus hangs out with the wrong people all the time.  The Bible constantly says that Jesus made his friends with tax collectors, sinners, and terrifyingly broken people…think of the wild man living among the tombs.  The Bible is clear that Jesus hangs out with the wrong people and hangs in the wrong places all the time.  And, on top of it all, he winds up sitting on the wrong throne.  Christ’s worldly throne, is not crafted out of granite or gold, but is rough hewn wood nailed in the shape of a cross.  No one builds and commands armies so that they can be the one to sit on that throne.  That throne, the old rugged cross, is placed in the middle of a kingdom of dying criminals.

Those who taunt Jesus, spitting the words, “Save yourself,” do not actually think that Jesus can save himself.  They do not think that he is a king as the sign mockingly declares.  It is a display of mockery for the benefit of all who pass by on the road into the heart of Jerusalem.  But, these people who mock Jesus do end up saying one thing that is absolutely true; “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” (Luke 23:35).

“He saved others.”

Yes, that part is absolutely true.  Jesus did save others.  Jesus healed others when other people could not or would not.  Jesus guided others when other leaders refused.  He accepted and loved others when other people refused.  “He saved others.”

And, Jesus is going to do it one more time before he dies.  You see, Jesus, our King, may refuse to use his powers to save himself (after-all he is not a king of this world) but, he will go to any length to use his powers to save others.  One of the two criminals hanging with Jesus at the very end of his life, refuses to join with those who taunt.  Instead, that criminal admits that he wasted his opportunities in this life. 

“We indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,” the man admits.

In the end, this man was not able to help himself.  In fact, it appears that he actively destroyed himself.  He is a man who deserved his cross.  But, he is also the only person in this scene who turns his head toward Jesus and asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

That man is the man who Jesus chooses to save that day.  Jesus does not save himself.  Nor, does Jesus dramatically save someone who was found deserving.  Instead, Jesus saves a broken man who asks. 

"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise," Jesus promises.

Jesus did not save himself, but he does save others. 

All those who ask will find that they are welcome in Jesus’ kingdom.  That was true on that last day, and it is still true today. 

Come to the cross with your burdens, you need not bear them alone.  Come to the cross with your sins, Jesus offers to remain next to you.  Come to the cross with your pain, Jesus desires to heal you.  Come to the cross and worship your king; a king who understands pain and the temptation to sin; a king whose throne is a cross of shame; a king who helps those who are unable to help themselves. 

Come to the cross. 

Come.

Reflection on Luke 21:5-19

 

The soldier fired a shot from the riffle and then dropped back down into the trench.  Bullets soared overhead, embedding into the ruins of buildings behind.  He looked to the church behind the trenches, which too was being battered by its share of ammunition.  The church and its shattered stained glass windows served as a sort of grounding for the man during the bloodshed, which literally soaked the soil upon which he walked.  When the danger increased, and the fear intensified, he would take a glance at the church and a sense of peace would fall upon the man. 

This time when he glanced at the battered, but holy structure, he saw a man, rolling rubble and stacking stones in the form of steps so that the faithful might access the grand entrance of the church.  The man must have been insane.  This was not the time for rebuilding, this was the time for civilians to stay far, far away.

The soldier had seen this before, a form of shock that renders a person temporarily unable to grasp the danger of their situation.  The man obviously was not acting rationally as bullets whizzed by.  But, in this crumbling world of war, was anyone really acting rationally?

It was as if this man who was stacking stones, who was making sure the people had access to God, lived in another world.  It was as if he stood on a different ground from the blood soaked soil upon which the soldier stood.  It was as if the man had a deep trust in something or someone beyond the natural need for self-preservation.  The world was crumbling apart, but this man’s world was not.  This man was obviously standing on the solid ground of his Lord, Jesus Christ.

If there is anything that we have learned in the past couple of years it is that even the strongest, most rock solid institutions that we build, can crack and crumble.  Democracy is not a given.  Peace is not assured.  The preservation of peace and order is something that needs to be defended because it can all crumble and fall.  Everything that humans make and create, no matter how wonderful, can crumble and fall, even the most sacred and holy of our institutions.

As Jesus and his disciples gazed upon the massiveness and magnificence of the holy temple in Jerusalem, some speaking about the beautiful stones and gifts all dedicated to creating a home for God here on this earth, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”  Everything that humans make and create eventually crumble and fall.

His sharp words, echoed against the stone walls of the holy temple, cutting in a very deep, deep way.  I do not think that we quite appreciate how traumatic the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem was to the people of Gold.  The temple was everything.  It was their focus.  It was the place where God chose to touch earth and meet the people.  The temple was the garden of Eden in the middle of a barren land.  It was where God could walk with humans and humans with God.  Without the temple, where would you find wisdom?  Without the temple, where would you find forgiveness?  Without the temple, how would you touch the divine and how would the divine touch the people?

“When will this be?” they asked Jesus, anxiety dripping off of their lips.  “How will we know?”  “What will be the sign?” 

These questions which cause our breath to quicken and our blood pressure to rise are always the questions on our lips when our world starts to fall apart.  When the cancer diagnosis first drops from the doctor’s lips and our minds wander away from the doctor’s words, our hearts racing, we ask, “When will this be?”  “How will we know?”

When the words first drop from the lips of the spouse that they think that maybe it is time to spend some time apart, the heart races and the questions arise, “When will this be?”  “How will I know?”

When the notice comes that the job will soon be over, or the money is about to run dry, our hearts race and we ask, “When will this be?”  “How will we know?”

Things fall apart.  Jesus is very clear that things fall apart.  “Not one stone will be left upon another,” Jesus predicts.  “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” the Lord reminds, as if we needed the reminder.  Earthquakes, famines, and plaques are all ways that people’s words fall apart and threaten to prove to us that death always gets the last word.  Betrayal by “parents and brothers, by relatives and friends,” the people who are supposed to stay by our side, is a reality in this crumbling world.   And, in the middle of all of this destruction and death, the words that are literally written right in the middle of this story, bookended by a list of all the ways that the world crumbles apart, are the divine words of Jesus, “Do not be terrified.”

“Do not be terrified.”

You stand on the solid ground of a different kingdom.  Bullets may be flying all around, but your job is to rebuild the steps of the kingdom of God.  Your trust is not in the institutions and temples built by humans.  Your trust is not in the governments we construct.  Your feet are not planted on the blood stained soil of this world.  Your feet walk upon the firm ground of the kingdom of God.  Your trust is in Jesus Christ. 

When your world falls apart, and they come and arrest you and persecute you, and hand you over before those in authority, you put your trust in Jesus Christ.  He is your foundation.  Jesus promises, “I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.”  When threats are all around, we trust that Jesus Christ will provide.  We rest in his love.  We seek his provision.  We walk on his sacred ground, no matter how great the threats that loom.

Just before his talk of the temple’s destruction, Jesus directs our eyes toward an old woman.  Among the clatters and clashes of great amounts of money being poured into the metal collection horns in the temple, Jesus directs our ears to listen to the two small clinks of the last money that the woman has.  Jesus tells us that she gave all she had.  The scene is as crazy as the man stacking stones for the entrance of the church in the middle of bullets flying.  How will she survive?  But, she lives in a different kingdom.  She lives in a kingdom where she puts her trust in God, not in her money. 

Like that woman in the temple, and like the man rebuilding the steps, Jesus has drawn you into his kingdom.  It is a kingdom of love and forgiveness in a crumbling and hate filled world.  It is a kingdom with rock solid walkways through the bloody soils of this world.  It is a kingdom where not a hair of your head will perish. 

To be clear, your hair may fall out.  The bullet may find you.  Your body may suffer, and you may face the reality of hate.  But, you will not perish. 

Death cannot win.  Sin cannot have the final word.  When you live in the kingdom of the one who rises from the dead, Jesus Christ, death will not ever have the final word.  God will ensure that God’s people endure forever.  And, the followers of Jesus Christ will continue to live on this earth as if their souls are eternal.  The people of Jesus will live as if love and forgiveness cannot be destroyed.  The people of Jesus will live as if God has come down to be with them, not in a house made of stone or curtain, but in the body of the one who walks with them and loves them to the end: Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Do not be terrified.”  You are people who walk through this world on the pathways of eternal grace paved by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reflection on Luke 6:20-31

 

Welcome saints of God, on this All Saints Sunday.  You heard me right; I called you the saints of God, because it is true.  Sure, we are surrounded by the images and the spirit of those who have gone before us: those who have led us in the faith and shown us the love of Jesus Christ in very real ways. 

But the saints of God are more than the religious superheroes of the Church universal such as Saint Michael, the angel who will battle Satan at the end of the age; or Saint Jude, who spread hope throughout the lost world by sharing the gospel and is still regarded as the saint of lost things…like my other set of reading glasses; or Saint Francis of Assisi who chose of life of poverty, like Jesus, and preached the good news of Jesus Christ, even to the animals he loved. 

Of course, we still remember those great saints of the church on this day, but today is intended to remember and celebrate so many more people.  It not only celebrates those who climbed up to spiritual heights, but it is more appropriately symbolized by this: a down arrow.

That is right, one day a religion professor drew a simple down arrow on the board in the front of the classroom and just stood there, waiting for the message to sink into the students.  “All of Christianity can be summed up in this one symbol,” the religion professor declared.  After a moment a student joked, “We are all going to hell?”

“No,” the professor answered.  “It means that God always comes down.  God comes down to meet us.  God comes down to heal us.  God comes down in the form of a human, Jesus Christ, to heal us and save us.  God always comes down to us as a gift.  At no point do we need to figure out how to climb up to God.  God always comes down.”

And, that was the lesson.  God always comes down.  We do not need to prove anything to God to earn God’s love.  We do not need to accomplish a long list of tasks in order to earn a place at God’s table.  God always comes down to us, welcomes us, and sits at the table with us.  God always comes down.  And, everyone that God gathers together when God comes down is considered a saint of God.  Those who Jesus came to, who now trust in him, are all saints of God.

I know that this flies in the face of so much that we are taught in our culture.  We are taught to work hard, and if you work hard you will discover the joys that can only be found when you have clawed your way to the top and found success.  Nice houses, boats, vacations to exotic places, someone to clean your house for you even though the four children keep messing it up every single day, it can all be yours if you climb your way to the top.  This is the image of what we are taught: a man climbing a mountain.

It is only natural that this image of success creeps into our religious lives.  It is only natural that we would gaze up and set our sights on the spiritually successful, the saints of old: Mother Theresa who ministered to and changed the lives of thousands of poor people, and Martin Luther King Jr. who fought for equality and justice for all.  Again, the accomplishments of these saints are truly commendable, but we do not celebrate them because they somehow figured out a way to climb their way up to God.  Rather we celebrate because in them we see in very real ways that Jesus Christ has comes down to dwell with us.

God always comes down, not the other way around.

Do not take it from me and you certainly do not have to take it from some anonymous religion professor in a sermon illustration.  Let us take a look in the scriptures themselves.  In fact, let us take a look at the Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain.  You find this in Luke, Chapter 6, but before we dig into what Jesus says, let us set the scene. 

Jesus has just gone up a mountain to pray, and while up there he gathers his disciples and chooses 12 of them to be his apostles.  Those 12 go from being learners, which is what a disciple is, to being an apostle, or a representative of all that Jesus is about.  They are 12 people, set apart to be bearers of Jesus and his love. 

Now, here is the important part.  The Bible says that Jesus “came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.  They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.  And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them” (Luke 6:17-19).

There is a teaching that is so simple in this story, yet it is so profound, that it is the basis of all Jesus’ ministry.  And, this simple, but profound teaching is found right in those words, “He came down with them and stood on a level place.” 

I know it seems like this is just the throw away part of the story, but it is the essential part.  Jesus came down.  God always comes down.  But, more than that, those who are to follow him, to be like him, to share in his power (the Apostles), “come down” with them.  And to where do they come down?  A level place full of people in need.

This story could have been told a different way.  It could have been told like it is told in Matthew where Jesus goes up the mountain to teach everyone, like a new Moses giving a new law to the people.  But, this preacher, Luke, deems it essential that we know that Jesus comes down to a level plain, and there he ministers to the people, healing them and teaching them. 

Jesus comes down and gathers with us, normal people, on a level place.  It reminds me of my favorite teacher in the entire world.  She was my second grade teacher.  She was kind and loving, like many teachers, but the one thing she did that was different from my other teachers was that when you called to her for help, she would come and kneel down, getting to your short, child level, and look you in the eye and lead you to the right answer.  The other teachers would tower over us and give us directions from above, but she came down to us and it made a difference.

And, the Bible says that Jesus came down to a level plain to be with us.  And, while he is doing that, Jesus teaches us who is welcome to be a part of his kingdom.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven…” (Luke 6:20-23).

So, here is the picture.  Jesus has come down the mountain onto a level plain with a bunch of his disciples and his 12 newly minted apostles, he heals the masses of people upon whom he descends, then he teaches his disciples that these very people, who he chose to come down to, are the people of the kingdom: the poor, the hungry, the grieving, hated and excluded.  These ordinary people are the saints of God.  The saints of God are those people to whom Jesus comes down.  These people who have been touched by Jesus are the children of the kingdom.  God always comes down.

That is why we remember and celebrate ordinary people of faith today as saints; both those who have died who we remember today, and you who are gathered here in this place.  Those to whom Jesus has come down are the saints of God.  Those who have been touched by Jesus Christ are the children of the kingdom.  We are saints, not because we are great, but because Jesus is great.

Are you poor?  You are still a saint.  I want you to know that one of the most faithful and loving people of God that I have ever met in my life was an old neighbor lady who owned very little, but gave all she had to her neighbors.  She took the little money she had to splurge on a couple of poor college students, taking us to the Chinese buffet to feast on the stories of Jesus and to feast on the sugar donuts.  They were really good!  She was poor, but so was Jesus!  She was poor, but she was a saint.  Jesus comes down, and because he does, we are all on a level plain.

Are you grieving?  Are you weeping?  Are you at your end?  Are you lost and in need of healing?  Are you unable to climb up the hill?  Are you unable to even climb up a single step?  The Bible has a promise for you also.  Jesus has come down to you.  He has met you on the level place and promised that you will be brought to a new day where you will laugh once again.  He has come down and welcomed you to the kingdom.  Find your new life in Jesus Christ, O saint of God.

God always comes down.  Jesus always comes down, and when he does, you will find yourself face to face with eternal life and eternal love.  God always comes down, to you.  And, that is what makes a difference, O saint of God.

Acknowledgement: "God Comes Down" is a concept thoroughly explored by Kelly Fryer in her book, "Reclaiming the L Word" from Augsburg Fortress Press