9/18/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“And when Jesus came down from the mountain [after teaching the people on the mountain], the large crowds followed Him. A man with leprosy ame and knelt before Him saying, ‘Lord if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out and touched the man as He said…I AM willing.” (Matthew 8.1-3a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

While I am praying and listening for God’s Spirit to direct my purposeful reflection on the Sermon on the Mount teaching found in Matthew, I wanted to share a word of “direction” for today. Many consider that Monday is the first day of the week. They think that because the training of the industrial revolution world wants us to focus on what is secondary instead of primary. Work is important. We are all called to work and to labor in our respective “fields.” The purpose of our work is not to make a living, however. That is, of course, what the “labor” unions would love for us to believe. Is it, additionally, what the labor bosses would love for us to believe. In fact, they would love for us to believe it so much that we find ourselves in conflict. While the unions say they are preserving “workers’ rights,” and we most certainly need them protected, it would seem that those who a “labor leaders” may desire more to “be the boss.” The conflict arises as to “whom shall we serve.” Shall we serve the labor bosses who are “looking out for us”? Are we serving the leader bosses for whom we “must look out for”? This competition of “who is the boss” has created far more disputes than settlements. Could it be because we forgot “who is the True boss”? We would do well to remember Paul’s word to the Christ community of faith in Colossae, “Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men. Do so because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward [your true payment.] It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Whoever does this wrong will be repaid for that wrong as there is no favoritism.” (Colossians 3.23-25) I can’t help but think of the 60s distaste for “working for the man, man.” That cry for independence and a pulling away from “subservience” placed man against man (woman against man, etc). What it was speaking to was the seemingly heavy-handed leadership which “told” you what to do, enforced your doing it, held you accountable for doing it and punished you for not doing it. The list of “man” identities exist today and probably has grown as the culture and climate has usurped authentic freedom and replaced it with entitlement freedom. Most of all, from this perspective, it worked and works diligently to take our focus on who we truly work for. As Paul declared nearly 2000 years ago: we work for the Lord! A calling back to that central teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Doing this right allows you to see the provision He is making on your behalf meeting the needs of your life so that you will not want.” If only we had been more carefully taught how to be “those laborers in our respective fields” which form and shape the culture and climate of the authentic community! Instead, we are taught how to be laborers in the field of man, working for “the man” and hating being someone else’s man. We have been lured into being “our own man” and working for ourselves. If you think I am lying, trust the numbers which we have seen on the rise since the era of Covid-19. Those who work from home and for themselves (do they really?) is on the rise. The clamor for unemployment is “down,” just ask any politician who claims they are “working for you” and thus “employment numbers” are up. I suppose we can work the numbers to say just about anything we want them to.

So, where does that leave us on this Monday, the second day of the week? Well, for emphasis, I offer the passage of scripture which immediately follows the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus has finished His teaching to a throng of people rivaling that of the later(?) story of “the feeding of the 5000 men [20,000+ people],” He went right to work. Teaching wasn’t His work. It is was labor of love. It was seeking first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness so that the people, all the people, would know of the baseline understanding for God, God’s Kingdom, God’s righteousness and those who would claim them as their true identity. If you didn’t understand this baseline parameter and adopt it as your rubric for making “good” decisions, then you would really struggle with anything else Jesus said and did. His “work” was doing the will of His Heavenly Father. That work was preaching the good news of salvation. When it is the key focus and impetus of our lives as believers, everything else would generally fall in two lines. The first line is “what God would do for us.” The second line is “what others would do to us.” And in those three simple verses, I would draw your attention to one important difference to consider for today as you “go to work.” In all other instances when a leper is involved in the story, the people are in fear and dread of the disease and the diseased. Jesus is questioned as to “consorting” with such sinners. But, in these verses, we hear none of that because Jesus would have none of that. His Father’s work did not hold one’s sin against them. Jesus came to put an end to such petty thinking. Those who thought that way were themselves becoming “the man.” What a terrible thing to be as it places one against God. Let’s ask Satan how that is working for him, shall we? So, as we go into our “fields” today, let us remember who we are supposed to be working for and trust Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind as we love our neighbors (co-workers) as ourselves.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.