Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 19 – Err on the Side of Love

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

In the gospel of Luke, chapter 15, there is a famous story about two brothers and their father. One brother takes his inheritance early and goes off, wasting his money on prostitutes and hard living to the point where he was so down and out he would have eaten the food being given to pigs. He realizes his situation and returns to his father who greets him with open arms and a big welcome. On the other hand his older brother is jealous.

Often in this story we focus on the wayward brother because the title often given to the story focuses there – “The Prodigal Son”. But Jesus’ audience is the Pharisees and the scribes and in the story they are represented by the jealous brother and it is them he is correcting – he is challenging their attitude towards the fact that he welcomed sinners and ate with them. Such people gathered round Jesus and listened to him.

Too often our moral sensibilities create a cocoon that shuts some people out of our lives. Christianity is known to many as the religion that condemns people – prostitutes, drunks, those living together but are unmarried, solo mums, the gay community, the mentally ill, those who have had an abortion, those who don’t dress as we think they should and the list goes on. We pass judgment easily and it is our judgment that is too often seen as the measure of what it means to be Christian.

What if we welcomed those who offend the moral sensibilities of some? What if we weren’t to pass judgment and instead, just loved – embracing with open arms? What would it mean for us to leave ourselves open to being accused of welcoming those that others perceive as sinners and what if we ate with them?

Let’s be known for our unbiased love rather than our quick condemnation around things that offend us – let’s be slower to be offended and quicker to show love.

Pray

Jesus, help us to err on the side of love rather than offense.

Amen