The 24th Sunday After Pentecost:
Scriptures: Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
Key Verse: Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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“Do you have anything that needs to be washed?” That’s the question my husband asks me every Friday evening. Instead of me doing the laundry, he is doing it. As I've gotten fatigued more easily in recent years, he has been doing more housework, including cooking and cleaning the house. Whenever I am up for doing more housework, I feel a sense of fulfillment, which, unexpectedly, even makes me feel dignified. Nonetheless, I appreciate that doing housework doesn’t bother him at all. For him, it is an opportunity to take a break from work.
In our personal and professional life, we use the phrase ‘instead of’ all the time such as instead of A, we choose B. It can be conveyed verbally or nonverbally when a choice is made. And whatever choices we make, it gives a message of comfort or disgrace to anyone who is involved. Like in my case, instead of me doing all the housework, my husband takes on more responsibilities. That’s the choice he makes out of his love for me. Knowing that comforts me. However, he could undignify me by redoing or fixing any housework that I did without me knowing or not allowing me to do any of the housework just because he believes or assumes that his way is the only and the best one.
As I read this familiar story in Luke 23, I wonder how many choices Jesus had made until the point of being nailed on the cross out of his love for all. Instead of condemning the vulnerable and broken humanity, he took all the blame and died on the cross to dignify us. When one of the criminals asked to be remembered in Jesus’ Kingdom in verse forty-two, Jesus gave the assurance of welcoming him. What an extraordinary hospitality that Jesus showed us as an example for us to follow. Are there any against Jesus’ choice to welcome him into God’s kingdom?
What stories in the New Testament told us that Jesus victimizes or undignifies those who believe in him and commit to the Kingdom’s works? I can’t recall any. Out of his love for all, he welcomes whoever is willing to welcome others. He commissions whoever is willing to do the Kingdom’s works. Jesus didn’t use a magic wand to make a broken world into a utopia but entrusted all gifted believers to make this world a better place. Being welcomed and being trusted for the Kingdom’s works, do we feel dignified?
There are moments when we are not strong enough to carry all burdens and responsibilities. That’s why we have Jesus. Jesus is always with us when we are confused, lost, or messed up. Instead of setting us up for failures, Jesus has saved all from drowning in guilt, shame, or any overwhelming emotions. That’s the gift of our baptism that we all have received, the extraordinary hospitality, through which we are dignified as welcomed ones through faith by God’s grace.
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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