Human is fascinated with the supernatural; the miracle; the “believe it or not;” and the impossible.
As followers of Jesus, when we expect signs, examples, miracles, events, and the impossible to prove God’s existence or that God really cares, we miss God.
God is in our midst all the time. This is true, because God lives within every believer. God lives in every unbeliever, although the imago Dei is clouded, calloused, and un-regenerated. Therein lays the exciting journey of being one remembering, telling, and living the way of Jesus.
The psalmist writes that “the poor are despoiled…the needy groan.” Because of that, the psalmist makes the claim that God “will place them in safety.” How?
God will use followers of the Son of God. Really? That’s what the Bible’s mission is. Because the Bible’s mission is God’s mission.
We can no longer pass by, look over, and dismiss the poor and needy. They are the signs we’re looking for. The poor and needy are the signs that God is alive and at work.
Looking for a sign? Take the homeless, hungry, and needy seriously.
Jesus is a banged up savior. And we, those who identify as Christians, are to be like Jesus. How banged up are we? How banged up is the church? And I’m not referencing the appropriate disruption that the post-Christendom era is causing.
Praise God that the crutches of state and culture have been removed.
We are free not slave. It is an intricate relationship between Hagar and Sarah; Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; and slave and free. We must be in dialogue, relationship with humility and tension, all at the same time.
The time is now. Signs are in our midst. The Suffering Servant will prosper. The Suffering Servant lives, moves, and heals in and through the church.
Let’s get on with it!
Scripture readings are taken from the two-year daily lectionary cycle which follows the liturgical calendar and begins on the First Sunday of Advent.
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