7 July 2013 - moved by hope

7 July 2013 - moved by hope

Today Jesus is trying to teach us about sharing the good news.

We are to be like Isaiah, with sufficient hope to proclaim the coming joy of the kingdom even in a world marked with suffering.

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;
exult, exult with her,
all you who were mourning over her!

Hope is essential to the proclamation of the Gospel.  We won't even set out without it.  We will just mourn for our Church as the Israelites mourn for Jerusalem.  In order to believe in the difference that sharing the good news can make we have to have the supernatural hope that comes from God.

When the LORD gives us a mission, whatever the size, there are many things which cause us to slow down and turn aside.  We will have to let go of some of these distractions if the LORD is to work through us.

Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way. 

We tend to overcomplicate things.  We often spend so much time figuring out what approach would be best that we are paralyzed.  We never get around to delivering the message we've been entrusted.  The LORD warns us against this.  When he opens a path to us we are not to turn from it.

Do not move about from one house to another. 

We have to put others first.  Even if we have forego some comforts and pleasures we shouldn't let this distract us.

eat what is set before you,

What we have to tell the world is so important.  When we really open ourselves to God and his mission for us he will confirm our words with signs and wonders.

cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’

It won't go to our heads as if we're special somehow.  It is precisely because we care about the one thing worth caring about that the LORD can work through us.  Things that divide us are no longer relevant.  It is empty to boast the LORD does mighty deeds through us.  One thing matters: "a new creation."

Let God fill our hearts with the hope that comes from him.  The world cannot give this hope.  In fact, it tries at every opportunity to extinguish it.  We only need to read the news for confirmation of that.  If we receive this hope and act on it the kingdom will spread.  This is how prosperity is spread over Jerusalem.  This is how Satan falls like lightning from the sky.   Seeing this, we rejoice in our God who has wrought it all.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!”