Immersed in Christ: February 20, 2021
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:9-14; Psalm 86; Luke 5:27-32
Our Creator? Or Our Father?
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners. Luke 5:32
Didn’t Jesus come to call everyone to metanoia, a “change of mind”? If “those who are healthy do not need a physician,” does that mean relationship (interaction) with Jesus isn’t necessary for people leading good, morally healthy lives?
Everything depends on whether we see God as Creator or as Father.
If we see God as Creator, “righteousness” means to live according to human nature. “Sin” (hamartia, to “miss the mark”) is anything subhuman, less than the Ten Commandments.
If we see God as Father, righteousness means to live according to the nature of God our Father. Metanoia is conversion to the expression of the new life “in Christ” proclaimed by faith: a continuous reform of thought and deeds directed at an ever more intense identification with Jesus.
For Christians “sin” is anything less than divine—less than the New Law modeled and taught by Jesus the Son (summarized in Matthew, chapters 5 to 7). If God is our Father, to live according to human nature is sub-Christian.
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). And seen how to live as a son or daughter of the Father.
That is the metanoia, the change of mind to which he calls us.
We all need Jesus for that.
ACTION: Read the Sermon on the Mount. Compare it to the Ten Commandments.
PRAYER: “Lord, teach me to live as a son, daughter, of our Father.”
Comments