Jesus Didn’t Go Along to Get Along

Meditations in the Season of Epiphany 

February 7, 2022

Jesus Didn’t Go Along to Get Along

What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.

Luke 6:22

Read: Luke 6: 12-26

Jesus picked his team. He would give his time and attention to train these twelve apostles. When Jesus launched the Kingdom, these twelve were charged with the responsibility of taking the Kingdom into all the world. We know the last one on Luke’s list of the twelve did not make it to the Great Commission.

After choosing the twelve, Jesus spent time ministering to the needs of the large crowd that followed him. Then he turned to his disciples, which included the twelve apostles, and began teaching them. What follows is Luke’s version of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-6-7) Jesus’ charge to his Apostles is quite simple: four blessings followed by four warnings. The warnings make clear that there was then, as there is now, opposition to God’s Kingdom. Those with power and wealth are not particularly interested in loving their neighbor as they love themselves.

I recall hearing a church leader proclaim his desire for his church denomination to become culturally relevant. Jesus wasn’t concerned with pleasing the prevailing culture. Jesus was explicitly focused on announcing God’s Kingdom and calling all people to repentance and obedience.

My Takeaway: Most people don’t like conflict. Most people want to go along so they can get along with others. Today’s passage asks us what epiphany, what awareness or manifestation of the presence of Jesus do we need to convince us to choose God’s Kingdom over today’s culture? For me, I recall kneeling, with a heavy heart, for the Eucharist just a few days ago. I recall experiencing anew the presence of Jesus in my life. For me, that’s all the epiphany I need.   

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.