Master of the Heart

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Jesus Ushers in the Reign of God
Jesus Teaches Compassion for the Poor

Deuteronomy

Luke 16:10-18

The Message

God Sees Behind Appearances

^10-13 Jesus went on to make these comments:

If you’re honest in small things,
    you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things,
    you’ll be a crook in big things.
If you’re not honest in small jobs,
    who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
    He’ll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
    You can’t serve both God and the Bank.

^14-18 When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: “You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance.

What society sees and calls monumental,
    God sees through and calls monstrous.
God’s Law and the Prophets climaxed in John;
Now it’s all kingdom of God—the glad news
    and compelling invitation to every man and woman.
The sky will disintegrate and the earth dissolve
    before a single letter of God’s Law wears out.
Using the legalities of divorce
    as a cover for lust is adultery;
Using the legalities of marriage
    as a cover for lust is adultery.

15:7-11

For Reflection

The risk of following your heart transformed by the Grace of God is that you will be accused by the common folk as being hopelessly out of touch.  Is that so much to give up? 

Pray

that you will revel in the accusation that you are hopelessly out of touch in service to God.   Pray for the courage to face your accusers in your quest to answer God's invitation to struggle for distributive justice here and now.