13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2nd July 2023
Lectionary Readings:
Jeremiah 28 v5-9; Psalm 89 v1-4, 15-18; Romans 6 v12-23; Matthew10 v40-42
‘Slave owner’ maybe, but not a ‘taskmaster’.
“Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God. I am using these everyday examples because in some ways you are still weak. You used to let different parts of your body be slaves to your evil thoughts. But now you must make every part of your body serve God, so that you will belong completely to him”. (Romans 6 v18,19).
The thought of God as a ‘slave owner’ is not one that is easy for us to accept, living as we do in the 21st century. But we must remember that slavery was commonplace in the 1st century.
Paul is using, as he says, ‘an everyday example’ to challenge his readers (us included) to think about who it is that we are obedient to.
Are we true to our calling, to be the sort of people God desires; people who will help build his kingdom on earth? Or are we happy to leave it all to God, seeking to satisfy our own desires, paying lip service to the notion of discipleship, which is really the same as being obedient to the demands of apathy.
Can we, as disciples of Jesus, really be content to live in a world where issues of injustice, poverty, and damage to the environment are so obviously harming God’s creation?
God will succeed in reconciling heaven and earth, but, he would rather do so with our help. God is not a ‘taskmaster’, he is not going to force anyone to do something against their will. That is not God’s way. God is waiting patiently for us to respond, in kind, to his overwhelming love for us. Waiting for us to realise that being a ‘slave’ or ‘servant’ of God is about ‘obedience’ in the form of loving service to the one who truly loves us.
When we do something for someone we love, we do so willingly, as a token of our love for them.
Actions motivated by love for another is what God desires of us, (see Micah 6v8) and as Jesus taughthis disciples. (see Matthew 25 v35-40).
Choosing to live a life motivated by love, is, as Paul points out, the way to a better life, a life inGod’s presence.
Hymn writers, John Bell and Graham Maule, invite us to reflect on the ministry of Jesus and our call to discipleship. (Singing the Faith 251 v1, 3, 5).
Jesus Christ is waiting, waiting in the streets; no one is his neighbour, all alone he eats.
Listen, Lord Jesus, I am lonely too: make me, friend or stranger, fit to wait on you.
Jesus Christ is healing, healing in the streets, curing those who suffer, touching those he greets.
Listen, Lord Jesus, I have pity to: let my care be active, healing just like you.
Jesus Christ is calling, calling in the streets, ‘Who will join my journey? I will guide their feet.
Listen, Lord Jesus, let my fears be few: walk one step before me; I will follow you.
Bible quotations taken from the Contemporary English Version.