What if Diana Ross was really on to something? What if I stopped ____ in the name of love? What if I stopped hating in the name of love? You know, like Muslims? Or God forbid, terrorists?
Do I have to hate to bring about change? Jesus told us if someone slaps, turn the other cheek and let him go at it again. If someone forces you to walk a mile, then go two miles.
I don’t think Jesus was being allegorical.
He put an ear back on a Roman soldier after his disciple, Peter, whacked it off with a sword. I know the gospels sounds like the greatest story ever told, but what if it that kind of radical stuff really is the key to God’s Kingdom on earth?
Or, what if in the Name of Love, I stopped ignoring the marginalized. I cried last night while watching Undercover Boss. I am sucker, I know. Or maybe, it’s because I am near menopause.
Undercover Boss featured a CEO buying a house for a janitor who was once homeless and addicted, I wept. One person who was working hard cleaning bathrooms and fixing up an old building got the dream of a lifetime. He’s clean and sober. And now? He has a place of his own.
I think Jesus, who seems unemployed in heaven now that he finished his work on the cross on earth, would have time to cheer over this type of stuff. I know the Bible says he is seated at the right hand of God, the Father. But maybe, just maybe, he stands, and gives a fist pump when the poor get a leg up. Or, does Jesus do a victory lap when someone scratches their head and thinks,”Uh, isn’t enhanced interrogation just a euphemism for torture?”
Of course, Jesus might just as well be happy that I am not eating boxes of Cheez-its. I am trying to eat less, because I think I should stop overeating, for starters, in the name of love.
Amen!!!!
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“unemployed in heaven now that he finished his work on the cross on earth” – now I never thought of that one! I guess you don’t need unemployment payments in heaven.
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That thought was not entirely original. My friend had some angst about what does Jesus do in heaven. I naturally concluded that he was unemployed. After all, he said, It is finished.
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I like to think that Jesus spent his time here showing us how to live in God’s Kingdom — a Kingdom that is here right now — and then turned it over to us to continue his work. I am not certain what we have done pleases him. I certainly fall short — a lot. It is reminders like yours that should get us back on script.
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Steve, I know I fall short. I not even sure if I should write at all about God’s Kingdom, but I like it. I believe too we are to continue doing his work.
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I often cry at undercover boss too…it is one of the few shows on TV that celebrates people helping people. Laurie, you won my photo book! I just sent you an email!
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I loved last week’s episode as the boss went an amazing transformation. All he cared was about making money in the first part of the show. Then, he met all the little people that make his company function, and he had a complete change of heart. I sent an email back to you in regard to your book.
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