Proper 6 / Pentecost 4 / OT 11
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
... You received without payment, give without payment.
-- Matthew 10:8
What was it that the disciples had received without payment? At its most basic level, reflect on what you have received from God without payment. There are the normal gifts of life, health, friends, family, country, and class of birth, as well as our natural talents and intelligence. If we have any of these, it is clear that there are equally deserving people who did not receive these in life. Add to these gifts the gifts of prayer, scripture, freedom to worship, and a church community. As you look out into the world, you can see many people who hunger for what God has given us without payment. But transcending all of these benefits, the disciples also received the gift of God's undeserved love as experienced in Jesus' calling them to be disciples. Note who the disciples were -- Peter the impetuous, James and John the status seekers, Matthew the tax collector, Thomas the skeptic, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the betrayer among others. Notice also that Jesus invited them to respond to this gracious love of God without first asking them to either change their ideas or their behavior.
For many of them, though not all, such change would come later, but first he asked them to be his disciples. Then he asked them to go out and spread the news of God's gracious love that could result in miraculous transformations. He asked them to do so without preconditions. As he led them in that ministry, he introduced them to strangers. He first invited them to share with the strangers among them, but later he would encourage them by his own ministry to reach out to the Samaritans, the Gentiles, and all the excluded of God's world. The only reason you and I are part of this community of love is because Jesus led his disciples to reach out to the stranger beyond them that eventually included Gentiles like us.
-- Matthew 10:8
What was it that the disciples had received without payment? At its most basic level, reflect on what you have received from God without payment. There are the normal gifts of life, health, friends, family, country, and class of birth, as well as our natural talents and intelligence. If we have any of these, it is clear that there are equally deserving people who did not receive these in life. Add to these gifts the gifts of prayer, scripture, freedom to worship, and a church community. As you look out into the world, you can see many people who hunger for what God has given us without payment. But transcending all of these benefits, the disciples also received the gift of God's undeserved love as experienced in Jesus' calling them to be disciples. Note who the disciples were -- Peter the impetuous, James and John the status seekers, Matthew the tax collector, Thomas the skeptic, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the betrayer among others. Notice also that Jesus invited them to respond to this gracious love of God without first asking them to either change their ideas or their behavior.
For many of them, though not all, such change would come later, but first he asked them to be his disciples. Then he asked them to go out and spread the news of God's gracious love that could result in miraculous transformations. He asked them to do so without preconditions. As he led them in that ministry, he introduced them to strangers. He first invited them to share with the strangers among them, but later he would encourage them by his own ministry to reach out to the Samaritans, the Gentiles, and all the excluded of God's world. The only reason you and I are part of this community of love is because Jesus led his disciples to reach out to the stranger beyond them that eventually included Gentiles like us.
