Spirit-Centered Moment: by Emily Pardee

Written by Emily Pardee

Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Mi-Wuk Village, CA

A response to this week's Gospel text, Luke 14: 1, 7-14...

It occurs to me that whether as guest or host, Jesus instructs us how walk toward Christ-likeness along the path explained by Athanasius, (293-373) Bishop of Alexandria (296-373), who said,

“God became human so that humans might become God.” (refer to John 10:34) (Martin Luther preached on this Athanasian quote.)

Let’s consider for a moment.

Our inclination when we head into A Big Event is to crowd immediately up to the front. We want to be Where The Action Is. Don’t we deserve to be there!

“Nope,” says the Christ. “Find your action at the back. If you get invited to the front, so be it.” Isn’t that the story of Jesus’ ministry? Finding His action in the background until he was invited to be in the platform party?

Be Like Jesus.

Or. You plan a grand luau and make sure all the folks you owe and all you want to impress are invited.

“Nope,” says the Christ. “Instead, invite all the folks who never thought for a minute they’d ever get to go to a luau. And don’t worry. You’ll get your blessing.” Isn’t that the story of Jesus’ ministry? Inviting all of us into the feast He is hosting. We who can never return the favor?

Be Like Jesus. Grow in Christlikeness…