Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, July 12, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The human incarnation of Jesus is no longer here for me to see. Or is he? I subscribe to the notion that Jesus is, in fact, alive and well in every single human being. That, having shared embodied humanity with us and gone to hell and back in solidarity with us, Jesus now resides at the very center of the personhood of each and every one of us. Even the people we don’t like. Maybe especially the people we don’t like.
Having accepted that Jesus resides in the personhood of each of us, and loving him with an indescribably and glorious joy, then it follows that I can and should love every single person I encounter (and those I don’t) with the same completeness.
Except I don’t, of course. Just because Jesus is present at the center of my being doesn’t make me Jesus. I’m still human, still flawed, still frustratingly judgmental of others who disagree with me or treat me poorly or don’t use their turn signals… Yeah.
It’s a goal, to be sure. A state of being to aspire to. A living hope, if you will. May God open my eyes to the Christ-centered personhood of all people that I might respond with love.
Where do I see Jesus in my day to day life?