Okay, I’m going to be frank with y’all. I was super excited for this whole Jesus Blog thing at the beginning. And I still love the idea; I just for some reason have had difficulty keeping up. Like, a lot of difficulty.
I promise I’m not saying this just to eat up word count for our requirement.
Anyway, yeah. I have been having trouble staying focused enough to write a good blog at all. And it’s been following me around, causing a significant amount of stress and even guilt. Like I’m not a good enough student to finish my assignments on time, or like I’m not a good enough Christian to think of something worthwhile to say about Jesus, or some nonsense like that.
So right now I just decided to let all that go and just write what’s been on my mind. As it relates to the scripture, obviously. But yeah.
So here it goes.
Our reading this week from scripture was:
Luke 14-18. Jesus talks about the kingdom, including the “lost” parables, our role in the kingdom, and the coming of the kingdom.
Matthew 13. “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear”. Parable interaction with the disciples, teaching them about the nature of the kingdom and their role in it.
Mark 2-4. Jesus heals, hangs out with the broken, and tells people about the kingdom.
Luke 8-10. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” The same parables from the Matthew section plus healings and the calming of the storm.
Matthew 28. Jesus is risen, and he commissions his disciples to live out the kingdom on Earth.
What do these verses have in common? Well, for one, they all center on Jesus interacting very personally with his disciples and followers. He tells them parables, explains them, heals people, and even visits his disciples after rising from the dead.
But even more importantly, I think, is the fact that he centers his teachings about how to live in the kingdom even in this life. He explains the nature of the kingdom of heaven with a focus on our role in it.
So I’ve been listening to this song a lot this week. It’s called Dogs Like Vultures by Haste the Day. Yeah, I know, I know… this isn’t the bible… but just stick with me. The lyrics seem to relate:
I will protect you
From these dogs like vultures
I know they’re small
But their teeth are sharp
We’ve been sent with eyes to see them
And ears to hear their steps
Our hearts are softer than the sheep
We’ve been known to calm the storm
And silence the ocean
With the strength to spare you from their teeth
The dogs, it would seem, are those temptations that we’re so used to hearing about. But the message of the song, to me at least, came as a surprise. Yes, their teeth are sharp, and they’re dangerous, and yes, they’re small, and they’re hard to see, but I’m used to hearing this sort of talk about my demons. What comes off to me as a challenge and a surprise is that, though our hearts are softer than the sheep, we have the strength to overcome. The eyes and ears mentioned in this song are the very eyes and ears Jesus talked about while on Earth.
And so this is the message about the nature of the kingdom on Earth that I walk away with. It isn’t a constant struggle to stay pure, as many portray it to be. It isn’t that we are weak and our role here is just to fall down and be helped back up. God gives us what we need to overcome and to lead. We are not only called to purity, we are made with the strength to calm the storm and silence the ocean. Being a part of the kingdom doesn’t give you any special privileges over other people, but rather being a human being ensures you the power to overcome what you never knew you could. We are constructed in the image of God, and there is hope for us to triumph over evil just as he does unfailingly.
And being a part of the kingdom means you have the obligation to acknowledge and uphold this human right. Sure, we all make mistakes and we need God’s grace and guidance. But we don’t need him to do everything for us – it’s through his mercy and goodwill that we have the ability to overcome whatever might be ahead of us. Not only by him, but with him.
austin--this is really, really good. I really like the line "being a human being ensures you the power to overcome what you never knew you could". I think that the more we know Jesus, the more human we become. To be fully and wholly human is to release the power of Christ (who is human and divine) in our life. We are not called to be divine on this earth, but instead to be human. I appreciate how your music, your scripture readings, and your thoughts all came together here.
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