Luke 11:29-32
Signs, sign, everywhere signs. Picture it, Hollywood (Florida) 2010, we are parking the car for a pleasant dinner with Mom and Pop. We all read the parking sign, walk away and return an hour or so later to find a parking ticket on the car. Doh! we say, I guess we didn't read the sign carefully enough. We all read it too. Uh-mahzing eh?
We are a people accustomed to a multitude of signs. Perhaps we are inundated with them. Speed, parking, restauramts, street names, auxiliary street names, danger signs, changeable road signs. It's tiresome.
Many years ago my Dad had to go to Colorado on business. He told me that he came across a sign there that read "slow, curve, 15mph". He told me it should have read: Slow down! Sharp curve, no faster than 5 mph! It wasn't until I made my own trip to the roads outside Denver that I realized he was right!
We are so accustomed to signs, how do we know when to really pay attention? Because we are so used to people giving us signs, I think we may have lost our edge at common sense and figuring out the rules of the road (or life) ourselves. Could we wiggle out of a speeding ticket by saying "sure the sign says 55 but everyone is really going 70".
Jonah was a sign and apparently the people of Ninevah recognized it and changed their ways. Jesus told a parable of a man who had it all while he was alive and wound up in the fires of hell. The condemned man wished to save his family from a similar fate and Jesus said, you had the prophets, Elijah and Moses and you did not listen to them, why would they listen even if a man should die for their sins?
Jesus is our sign. He is a sign in every respect. He was a sign by example as he walked the earth. He lived the love of his father (our father), he lived inclusion, empathy, compassion and love for all. It's not like we really don't know this, right?
Once again, use this Lent as an opportunity to embrace your humanity, who you are and Jesus as your Lord and savior. Now is the time. Can we argue later we didn't see the sign? Here's Jesus, here's your sign.
Signs, sign, everywhere signs. Picture it, Hollywood (Florida) 2010, we are parking the car for a pleasant dinner with Mom and Pop. We all read the parking sign, walk away and return an hour or so later to find a parking ticket on the car. Doh! we say, I guess we didn't read the sign carefully enough. We all read it too. Uh-mahzing eh?
We are a people accustomed to a multitude of signs. Perhaps we are inundated with them. Speed, parking, restauramts, street names, auxiliary street names, danger signs, changeable road signs. It's tiresome.
Many years ago my Dad had to go to Colorado on business. He told me that he came across a sign there that read "slow, curve, 15mph". He told me it should have read: Slow down! Sharp curve, no faster than 5 mph! It wasn't until I made my own trip to the roads outside Denver that I realized he was right!
We are so accustomed to signs, how do we know when to really pay attention? Because we are so used to people giving us signs, I think we may have lost our edge at common sense and figuring out the rules of the road (or life) ourselves. Could we wiggle out of a speeding ticket by saying "sure the sign says 55 but everyone is really going 70".
Jonah was a sign and apparently the people of Ninevah recognized it and changed their ways. Jesus told a parable of a man who had it all while he was alive and wound up in the fires of hell. The condemned man wished to save his family from a similar fate and Jesus said, you had the prophets, Elijah and Moses and you did not listen to them, why would they listen even if a man should die for their sins?
Jesus is our sign. He is a sign in every respect. He was a sign by example as he walked the earth. He lived the love of his father (our father), he lived inclusion, empathy, compassion and love for all. It's not like we really don't know this, right?
Once again, use this Lent as an opportunity to embrace your humanity, who you are and Jesus as your Lord and savior. Now is the time. Can we argue later we didn't see the sign? Here's Jesus, here's your sign.
When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!
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