System Overload
Their spiritual processors could not run the “Jesus application.” Their programs just couldn’t recognize a man who made it a habit to connect with the sexually immoral, physically unclean, and ethnically impure.
This would often send the religious leaders’ spiritual hard drives into a system overload as they desperately tried to make sense of Him. The ease with which He floated from the temple to the countryside, from the synagogue to the sinners’ districts, raised eyebrows and ignited plenty of gossip. He broke their rules about first- and second-class citizens. He was not acting “righteous” in his associations. His credibility as a spiritual leader was eroded by His dubious itinerary. The Father, on the other hand, was rejoicing saying, “That a way Son!” Exactly!” God’s Son was moving the kingdom not just in shady back alleys of first-century Palestine but also in every other place where those starving for acceptance were found.
Jesus did not blend with the contemporary religious simply because he made His grace available to all. To be this way, He could not be codependent with culture, racial caricature, tradition, or the pseudo holy practices of exclusion. To deliver God’s grace on earth, the criteria was this: honest need. When He found this, he would jump in the boat and make it over to that person’s shore. “Jesus unplugged” is a story of grace in motion — dangerously attractive, inviting, and controversial. And God’s dream for us is that we be the same.
Father, I know that without risk there is no need for faith. You have given me everything now help me use it.