Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. Matt 21:31b Jesus understands passion. He understood the woman caught in adultery, the woman who had five husbands at the well, Mary Magdalene, and the woman who washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. The people who did not understand passion were the religious rulers of the day and many religious rulers of today. Maybe it was because the harlots had soul and the religious, only deadness. Jesus forgives the harlot but with the religious, he quarreled. It seems that when we go to church though, we are told to follow the rules and not the heart. It seems the church does not really understand passion and freedom and the quest of the heart. In order to experience the love of God in Christ Jesus, we must have yielded to passion and come to Christ for forgiveness for being all too human. The Pharisee was a passionless, self-righteous bigot and Jesus knew it all too well. If we are human, we will sin. If we are inhuman we will keep the letter of the law which kills and not the Spirit which gives life. The gospel message may be summed up by saying, “if you are human, you are bound to fail. But when you do, you can go to Christ who is acquainted with our weakness, having been tempted just like us, and he will forgive. Then he will give us the Comforter to help us overcome the flesh.” The religious rulers only saw the sin not the sinner. They did not love nor understand passion the way Christ did and thus crucified the Lord. Only those who have experienced the love of God by truly being born again understand passion and the mercy of God like Jesus. Be a soul person not a religious bigot and the people in your sphere of influence will experience love like Jesus had and they will know the truth and the truth will make them free. Amen |