Thursday 11 June 2009

Continuing on with this notion of Jesus expending everything we continue from yesterday.

In so doing, Jesus was not simply being a great ethical teacher; one is impressed by the impracticality of what Jesus commands. if you give everything you've got to the poor, eventually you will have nothing to give. And how does self-giving better the lot of the poor after they have consumed everything that you have given? Will such liberality only produce character flaws in the poor? If you so thoughtlessly give to the needs of others in this way, you will eventually be used by others who will take advantage of you. Take to the extreme, it could lead to your death.
But then Jesus says that this is exactly where this should lead. "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). Love, as Jesus embodies love, is reckless self-expenditure. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).

I came to the end of this piece and I wanted to do exactly what the rich young man does - walk away dejected. Jesus is all about life and that means he is all about death. There is no holding back and making secure what I want to secure and then handing over a part of my life to the Reign of God. It is a whole life adventure. This is where I begin with the "yeah, but..." "yeah, but..." And yet, Jesus is not interested in the qualification I use to keep from picking up that cross daily and being a follower of Jesus. Whew! Jesus' love being defined as being "reckless self-expenditure" is as radical of a statement about the Reign of God as can be made. It goes right back to this love of God for us that is truly the beginning and end of all things. Nothing more can be added - it is out-of-the-box living that counts on the power of the Spirit of God to swirl around us again and again as we move on down the road.

Connection: All I can say is "whew." Then we begin the day.

When we are overwhelmed with the love that greets us with each breath, O God, continue to remind us that you continue to be the breath of life that will encourage and sustain us in and through all things. Amen.