Daily Devotion for Lent - Day 13

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:1-25

What should the church look like?

As we remember Luke's Gospel was written to a Gentile community, we are seeing the expansion within today's reading.  We start with breaking gender boundaries with the inclusion and importance of women within the movement.  Luke emphasizes women more than the other Gospels - it is where we have the stories of Mary, the mother of Jesus which includes Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.  We see today that women sustained the ministry of Jesus financially.

We also see that family moves beyond our biological heritage as we hear the response of Jesus to his mother and siblings.  To see others as members of our family is vital to our willingness to forgive them and continue to be in relationship with them.  Some parts of the church have embraced this by referring to one another as "brother" or "sister" along with the name.

Of course, a variety of people means pushing at the boundaries of how we organize.  What are the values that we hold and what are the values that can be influenced by other cultures?

Preparing soil can be hard work.
How do we prepare ourselves to
receive others in the faith?

Some of our cultural traits may be dearer to us than the ethic of love.  In this instance, we may find ourselves becoming the hard path or the rocky ground or the thorny soil which keeps people from coming to grace.  In order to reach a hundredfold, we will undoubtedly be challenged.  Anytime we reach beyond what we know, there will be a challenge to our identity.

We may think of a growing church as one without problems, but rapid growth can also cause a lot of storms.  As we find difficulty in unforeseen places, we may discover that we are on the boat with the other disciples, saying, "Master, master, we are perishing!"

Jesus may be responding to us as well, "Where is your faith?"  If it is grounded in love, it is grounded in Christ.  This is the ground where the seed may grow.

Prayer for the day:

God of the nations, I must confess that I have my preferences for how I like things done at my church.  When change is in the works, I am tempted to cry "heresy!"  Help me to prioritize Jesus Christ in my faith and in my responses.  Help me to cast the seed wide regardless of the consequences!  I pray these things in the name of the Christ who inspired someone to sow seed in me.  Amen.

Photo by Vegansoldier via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.