The Lord is kind and merciful. The Lord is kind and merciful. God redeems our life from destruction. However, this life free from destruction may look very different than the life we would imagine. As Jesus notes in the gospel reading, a life following him will not follow general conventions about “the good life.” As Jesus teaches over and over again, we must give up our focus on building our own lives to fit our own desires in order to enter the abundant life that he wants us to enjoy with him. The challenge each day is to be willing to give up the place to lay our head and the burying of the dead that distracts us from the greater purposes to which he is calling us. Yet we still do have day-to-day tasks that are part of our calling and our life of love. I know in my own life it is easy to allow my days to become destructive for myself and for those around me when I focus on the anxieties of tasks that seem overwhelming and the need to have everything under control. I need to pray, today and every day, for help in redeeming my life from this destruction – to help me to focus on love and service rather than accomplishment and control. I want to follow Jesus with abandon – whatever that means today. Our concern about redemption from destruction needs to look beyond our own life. As followers of Jesus and sons and daughters of Abraham we should be working and praying to redeem others from destruction as well. The story of Sodom reminds us of the importance of intercessory prayer for others. What situations in our communities, our nation, and our world need more of our intercessory prayer? Do we trust that prayer makes a difference? In what other ways are we called to do our part to help redeem individuals from destruction that comes from individual choices and unjust social structures? As followers of Jesus how do we work each day to redeem others? Thankfully God is kind and merciful. God knows our natural tendencies and wants to help us redeem our lives and the lives of others in our world. The Lord is kind and merciful. |