Sunday, March 18, 2018

March 18 sermon notes, Jer. 31, Heb. 5, John 12

March 18-We would see Jesus. That was emblazoned on many pulpits over the years.March 18-Jer 31,The heart was a way of speaking of the center of one’s life, not only emotions or sentiment. It is clear to when we say the heart of the matter. It is an inner shift, where we would not need an external discipline; god’s way becomes part of us.It is not being forced to do something, but to wish to do it,
When God will write God’s law upon the hearts of the people, their hearts will embody and empower the true relationship they share with God and one another.  it unites and renews the community as God’s people. In her book, The Body, Lisa Blackman …the body is not bounded by the skin, where we understand the skin to be a kind of container for the self, but rather our bodies always extend and connect to other bodies,.
Heb.5:5 Heen-“Perfection,” in Hebrews, then, was not simply given to Jesus nor is it a “moral” category. Jesus became “perfect” only because he continued to trust in the goodness and mercy of God while suffering the full power and depth of evil. This way of salvation fulfilled by Jesus had, however, been prepared by the Word of God. “... Scripture had revealed that God is the God of life and wellness. The heroes of the faith (Chapter 11) had exhibited elements of a faith that was “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).We do well to maintain our stunning faith cliam :in Jesus Christ we encounter god as a human,with a witness to the vulnerability of the man Jesus, who suffered a difficult life and a painful death. These two elements o (divine/human) set side-by-side, remain in paradoxical tension.. The vulnerability of Jesus “in the days of his flesh” reveals a gracious God. As Hebrews states: “Having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey [or trust] him, We would see Jesus within. In the deep of the self,beyond measurement, beyond fathoming is a potential that emerges at times but often goes unexplored.

John 12:20 Salmon-The seeking Greeks wish to see Jesus.  John makes clear that the body of Jesus will be lifted up on the cross and in resurrection. We will see Jesus in our lives, our very human lives.
The ability to see what is not accessible to ordinary sight is a theme in John. Also, it is not necessary to see in the literal sense in order to believe. This gospel concludes with Jesus' words to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (20:29).  Perhaps the seeking Greeks represent those of us for whom this gospel is written. They do not receive a personal audience with Jesus, but the truth is revealed to them, along with us, in Jesus' speech foretelling the meaning of his death.To see whole-truly-fully I keep going back to Mother Teresa seeing the body of /christ in the desperately poor she attended. It is my fervent belief that all American adults deserve hell to pay for our treatment of the mentally ill for a generation. What if we saw them as extensions of Christ? Would the violence we inflict on each other be so constant? Would the everyday incivilities and put downs be so apparent, especially in churches? That becomes the magnetic attraction of Jesus. From the hear tof our being, we are drawn to Jeus and the paths set before us that lead to him.

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