Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

"I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish
it were blazing already" (Luke 12:49).

Author Rob Bell asks us to ponder the mysteries of the
Gospel. Mysteries which include the dusty, messy, bloody and unexpected stories about this man, Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus who touches lepers, whom no one else would touch -- who hears the cries of blind people who had been told to be quiet -- who dines with tax collectors, whom everybody hated -- and talks with a thirsty, disreputable Samaritan woman who he wasn't' supposed to talk with. Over an over again we see Jesus going to the edges, to the margins, to those in trouble, those despised -- those no one else would touch -- those who were ignored.

Over and over again we see him going to the weak, the blind, the lame, the losers. He moves toward them; he extends himself to them; he reaches out to them and meets them in their place of pain, helplessness, abandonment and failure. He is living, breathing evidence that God wants everybody, everyone, to be rescued, renewed and reconciled -- to ourselves, our neighbors, our world -- and our God.

(Excerpts from The Staff and editors of Sunday Sermons Online )