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Advent 3 - Friday
By Pat Lee | December 19, 2008
Friday December 19, 2008
We are greater than John
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11: 7-15
Scripture Verse: Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.” Matthew 11:11
No one ever honoured John more than Jesus did with the above praise, but Jesus’ next words were “…yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Anyone—including us—who even imperfectly grasp what God did in Jesus is “greater than he.”
John preached what we must do. We know what God did.
We have seen much more than John. Jesus went on to not only reveal the true nature and agenda of God but also to bring us the love of God that reclaims us and redeems us sinners. Jesus’ death and resurrection showed that the power of God’s forgiving love for us is the strongest force in the universe…stronger than sin…stronger than death. When we fail in our “little repentances”, we can turn to God, confident in his promise to forgive us when we confess. Sin and death are defeated and God’s Holy Spirit is with us.
But does our complete reliance on God undercut our resolve to “repent” as both John and Jesus preached? Does “forgiveness” give us an excuse—an easy way out? Does all that God did negate what we need to do?
The answer is “No.” If we keep before us the images of Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering and death, we see how the sin we do hurts God’s dream that His Kingdom, begun in Jesus, is done on earth as it is in heaven. That Kingdom is now built through the Spirit acting in and through even the least of us in the Body of Christ, Jesus’ church. We do not want to impede that and so we remain resolved to repent.
Prayer Heavenly Father, though we are offered peace with you through Jesus, help us to never be at peace with our sin. Amen
Topics: Advent |