This has been a hectic week. Vacations tend to make the following week busy. And since I downloaded Internet Explorer 8, it's messed up my pasting into this blog. Time burns faster than fuel.
In this lesson, we spent time talking about Jesus breathing on the the disciples, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosover sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained." To forgive means 'to let go.' Does this mean we are in control of giving out God's forgiveness or our own? Some thought letting go of the wrongs others commit against us brings us peace and unburdens us of the wrongs we feel others have done to us or their neighbors. Some thought forgiveness was more for our benefit than the benefit of the forgiven. This may be true, but Luther said that the giving of forgiveness is not for the benefit of God, the church, or the individual, but for the receiver only. To know the offenses you have committed against someone are completely forgiven is more likely to make you return to that person to attempt a relationship than if you felt there was something you owed.
Isn't that what might attract more people to God - to hear they are forgiven without qualification, without payment, without obligation to pay back once you got in the door? Why aren't more people attracted to the church today? Is the church an image of forgiveness?
Brother Martin says our only law is love. There are too many Lutherans who disagree with him.
Thomas is known and minimized for his doubting attitude, but is that the point? After all, the other ten disciples had seen, heard, and touched Jesus a week earlier, and this was the only reason for their belief. Thomas simply asked for the same evidence. Maybe Jesus wanted a teaching event because he wouldn't be able to hang around for two thousand years - especially since he was fully human - so everyone could see him.
And yet, we do see, hear, and touch Jesus in tactile ways now through the body of Christ and its members. That's why it's important for us to share the times we know Christ's presence in and through each other - so people will hear us talking and claiming to have seen him, and they will also want to see him. People are blessed when they believe without seeing, but Jesus seems willing to comply even with those who want evidence. Just ask.
Luther pointed out that Jesus does not break down doors to get to us. By this he means he doesn't change the outward affairs of government or nature, but in orderly appearing to us. Jesus never forces his way into our hearts.We come to him because we have heard he is kind, able to help us, and willing to help us. As the body of Christ, is this the image we are giving?
Peace in Christ - PWM
Thursday, June 18, 2009
John 20:19-31 Jesus Appears to his Disciples & Thomas
This has been a hectic week. Vacations tend to make the following week busy. And since I downloaded Internet Explorer 8, it's messed up my pasting into this blog. Time burns faster than fuel.
In this lesson, we spent time talking about Jesus breathing on the the disciples, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosover sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained." To forgive means 'to let go.' Does this mean we are in control of giving out God's forgiveness or our own? Some thought letting go of the wrongs others commit against us brings us peace and unburdens us of the wrongs we feel others have done to us or their neighbors. Some thought forgiveness was more for our benefit than the benefit of the forgiven. This may be true, but Luther said that the giving of forgiveness is not for the benefit of God, the church, or the individual, but for the receiver only. To know the offenses you have committed against someone are completely forgiven is more likely to make you return to that person to attempt a relationship than if you felt there was something you owed.
Isn't that what might attract more people to God - to hear they are forgiven without qualification, without payment, without obligation to pay back once you got in the door? Why aren't more people attracted to the church today? Is the church an image of forgiveness?
Brother Martin says our only law is love. There are too many Lutherans who disagree with him.
Thomas is known and minimized for his doubting attitude, but is that the point? After all, the other ten disciples had seen, heard, and touched Jesus a week earlier, and this was the only reason for their belief. Thomas simply asked for the same evidence. Maybe Jesus wanted a teaching event because he wouldn't be able to hang around for two thousand years - especially since he was fully human - so everyone could see him.
And yet, we do see, hear, and touch Jesus in tactile ways now through the body of Christ and its members. That's why it's important for us to share the times we know Christ's presence in and through each other - so people will hear us talking and claiming to have seen him, and they will also want to see him. People are blessed when they believe without seeing, but Jesus seems willing to comply even with those who want evidence. Just ask.
Luther pointed out that Jesus does not break down doors to get to us. By this he means he doesn't change the outward affairs of government or nature, but in orderly appearing to us. Jesus never forces his way into our hearts.We come to him because we have heard he is kind, able to help us, and willing to help us. As the body of Christ, is this the image we are giving?
Peace in Christ - PWM
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