... is their layers.
Keith found a great layer in the Gospel for Sunday during his meditation this morning and shared it with me. I'll paraphrase here.
Gates - The Kingdom of God is open gates. We build walls, but why? To keep ourselves in or to keep others out? But we never build a wall without a gate. It seems that the ministry of Jesus was to run around opening gates. The gate in the wall of the sabbath is opened as he heals the man with Dropsy. The gate in the wall of the religious law keepers is open in the parable of the great banquet. The gate in the wall between rich and poor is open in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Ultimately the gate in the wall between God and man will be open as the curtain is torn in two as Jesus breaths his last.
Then my buddy Bill sent me an email with a reflection on the centrality of the chasm in the lesson; not necessarily between the haves and have nots, but the chasms we create daily. His thought comes from the idea that Lazarus was at the rich man's gate. He sees Jesus commenting on how we keep those closest to us at arms length; ignoring them for any number of reasons. And, he ponders, "we carry that burden if Jesus is serious when he says "what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven" Just how in control of our fate are we?"
I love how open the Scriptures are to us. I love that they are alive in our hearts and minds as the Spirit shows each of us where they impact our lives directly. Woo-Hoo for Spirit-filled interpretation!
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