Matthew 11:20-30
Next Jesus let fly on the cities where he had worked the hardest but whose people had responded the least, shrugging their shoulders and going their own way.”Doom to you, Chorazin! Doom, Bethsaida! If Tyre and Sidon had seen half of the powerful miracles you have seen, they would have been on their knees in a minute. At Judgment Day they’ll get off easy compared to you. And Capernaum! With all your peacock strutting, you are going to end up in the abyss. If the people of Sodom had had your chances, the city would still be around. At Judgment Day they’ll get off easy compared to you.”
Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”
Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:55 pm
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” - I love this translation.
Just as I was reading this email, my doorbell rang. I guessed it’d be someone offering cheap windows, reduced electricity bills or pet charity reps encouraging me to give 10 quid a month to cats! Actually, it was a couple of Christian students with a questionnaire. As my attitude to this intrusion(!) changed and we got chatting, I realised that we are a part of an amazing, unique family - a family with love at the centre and Love as The Head.
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Not that there’s anything wrong with giving £10/month to cats! ;-)
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Hey Rob - I know what you mean - about the cats, but also about this realisation that we are all in this together.
I had a wave of it today. I have been hard on myself and my faith community - feeling like we are at odds with each other. That somehow I was on the outside looking into it. But, this reading (and a few other bits of love) broke through that harshness and I am feeling quite different about the potential for my place in community. Here is the place for me to find God and recover my life.
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I just love this translation of this passage.
Fellow Dreamer Ricahrd Lyall has done a lovely animation for it too at http://craftycurate.blogs.com/pilgrims_progress/2007/01/the_unforced_rh.html (wish I knew how to put proper hyperlinks in comments!)
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
I particularly associate with the ‘unforced rhythms of grace’ bit, as I sometimes feel (maybe naturally - as a designer - I think I can sense when something feels ’right’) that I have an intuitive understanding of some of the rhythms of ‘the world’, but just miss out on the rhythms Jesus talks about here. I know that when I first became a Christian 8 years ago, grace was a massive concept to understand and I really knew the peace that Jesus talks about. I think I sometimes forget how big a deal all this teaching is and that I really need to allow myself to follow Jesus more and not ‘force’ things myself.
February 4th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Yet again, i see the common misconception of ‘nice-guy’ Jesus being challenged here. The change from disapointment in disbelieving cities to thanking God that he works in ways which are understood by the average Joe- i had to read this a few times to make sure he isn’t praying in thanks that the ’sophisticates and know-it-alls’ DONT so easily see God in the world. Revolutionary Jesus, supporting those most in need. Not quite, but almost like Robin Hood eh?
February 4th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Actually on second thoughts i think history would probably argue that its Robin Hood who is almost but not quite like Jesus, not the other way round. =]
February 4th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I heard some excellent jazz on Radio 3 yesterday. As I was jammed in rush hour traffic at the time, I found myself transported away into the music, which was a kind of musical expression of the unforced rhythms of grace … structure and freedom, melody and improvisation, but underneath a strong guiding rhythm to keep it all together.
How about this for a quote? Says it better …
“A rhythm of life should be exactly that, a rhythm, not a full concerto with every instrument written up, but rather the background beat that keeps everything else in order, that calls things back on track when they deviate, that reminds us of the type of music we are wanting to play, or perhaps more accurately, what type of lifestyles we are wanting to lead.”
From a document cited on http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/2007/01/rhythm_of_life.html