22 October 2016 - open wide the doors of your hearts to Christ

[ Today's Readings ]

Grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Jesus gives us gifts of grace. These are not trivial. They are not just for fun or pleasure. They are meant to enable us to live our destiny in Christ.

And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the Body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith
and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood
to the extent of the full stature of Christ

We also note that the gifts given are specific and identifiable. They aren't vague feelings. They are things we can use for the work of ministry. Without them we are "infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming."

These gifts are the fertilizer by which Jesus enables us to bear fruit.

He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also, 
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 
it may bear fruit in the future.

The gifts build the body of Christ. We are able to enrich society as a whole in such a way that it is not liable to the judgment experienced by the Galileans at the hands of Pilate or those on whom the tower of Siloam fell. We may reasonably infer from the state of our nation that we are not yet putting these gifts fully to use. But the gardener is patient. There is yet time.

Rather, living the truth in love,
we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
from whom the whole Body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
with the proper functioning of each part,
brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.

Let us open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ so that we may receive his gifts. With them we can live the truth in love and grow into unity with Christ our head.

I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.