Monday, May 09, 2011

Sacrifice

There are great themes in the life of Jesus. Themes that broke out of promises, prophecies and psalms of the Old Testament to become living in the life of Jesus. Grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, hope and acceptance became incarnate in the flesh and blood that was woven around the Son. Throughout the Gospels we see the very character of God, his "personality", take "words" and make them flesh. We see Jesus, in every encounter, showing us what it means to be a follower of God. Jesus final statement was the word sacrifice; "Not my will be done". This choice must move our worship out of our comfortable Sundays and into our days, weeks, months and years. We are challenged by his life to live a like that is a sacrifice to this unconditional and unmerited grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, hope and acceptance. Just as these words became flesh in Jesus we must, by grace, endeavour to make them flesh in us. This will require sacrifice: "not my will, but yours".

This week the Australian Government has made cruel and heartless decision on refugees. Our Democracy is a representative Government. In essence what we see in our politicians is a mirror of who we are and are becoming as a nation. I would like us to consider this in terms of our worship: our response to Christ. When Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus found out that they had become enemies of the state they fled into Egypt and God showed us, as follows of his son, just who we were following:

Jesus the refugee.

I pray that this is worthy of some thought. Perhaps "sacrifice" may take on a new meaning.

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