Twelfth Day of Lent

Twelfth Day of Lent

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

From that time on, Jesus began to preach, “
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:17

It’s so easy to hear what I want to hear, not necessarily what the other person is saying! I remember a professor stressing the importance of even one letter for communication. He showed us how a conversation can become completely unintelligible if we changed a “u” to an “r” thereby changing “house” to “horse.” If he said “house” and we heard “horse,” nothing he said that followed made any sense! You bought the “horse” to live in? Never! We need to be sure we hear what is intended!

Jesus said kingdom, and his followers heard Davidic rule, with Jesus enthroned as King David had been, with all the trappings of a royal monarchy! We know that’s true because they argued about which one would get to be “Secretary of State” one the kingdom was established! So what about us? Do we understand? Or do we just let the word slip by without thought since we know so little about living under a king’s rule. We are free! We don’t have kingdoms here!

He does indeed mean that he will be a royal king, sitting on a royal throne. He will reign in authority. The problem is that we barely hear him when he names his new kingdom. He calls it HEART – the kingdom of our hearts! He intends to sit there in authority, in a heard that has yielded authority for its government to his rule! Isaiah said that “the government will be upon his shoulder.” The government of all yielded hearts!

I’m pretty sure that they didn’t understand what he was saying. I am very sure that I don’t always!

Prayer: Father, help me to do as the hymn says, “to bow in humble adoration,” as you sit on the throne in my heart. Amen.

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator