Reflecting on Luke 3:1-6
"And all people will see God’s salvation." (Luke 3:6)Is God’s salvation for all people, or only for some?
For the Jews of Jesus time, they understood salvation as for them.
They understood God’s election, being set apart, as a special privilege.
All the nations had their gods, and Israel had YHWH God as theirs.
God was their God, and they were God’s chosen people.
On the one hand, this was partially true.
God had chosen the children of Abraham out from the nations as a special people.
“If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)
Included in these words is a statement of purpose.
They were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
To be holy was to be set apart; to be a priest was to be a mediator.
The priests were not set aside for a special privilege.
The priests were set aside for a special purpose and responsibility.
Their job was to connect the nations to God, to mediate salvation.
This is evident in God’s original call to Abraham:
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
The people of Israel were blessed to be a blessing.
They were saved in order to bring salvation to all people.
They saw salvation as for them; God saw it as for the world.
Many today have fallen into this same trap.
Salvation has become individual: how I get into heaven, how I am saved.
Once saved, many christians develop an us/them mindset.
They see the world as a threat to their salvation.
They see ‘others’ as ‘enemies’ to be saved from.
This is not God’s will and desire.
In John, and in Jesus, God shows us how we bring salvation.
We bring the fullness of God’s blessing and love.
Baptism is a symbol of this immersion in love; so is Jesus.
Our message is forgiveness, and all who desire it receive it.
To repent is to reconsider our stance before God.
Not to think of ourselves before others, or as better than others.
This is the sin we need to be saved from: self interest and self love.
The Jews thought of themselves as better than others.
So did the Romans, the Greeks, and all other groups.
They were seeking their own salvation (comfort, prosperity, happiness).
They did not think about others; this is what they needed to rethink.
To repent is to re-think (literally), to change the way we think.
When we become God and other-focused, we are saved by love, for love.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
God is the Father/Creator of all humans.
All people are His image-bearers by creation.
Yet all of us lost our way, our God-and other-focused way.
This is why our world is such a mess, and we all need salvation.
In Jesus we see God’s salvation for all people.
In Jesus all people can see God’s salvation.
As Jesus followers, we can definitely enjoy this blessing.
But part of enjoying it is sharing it with others.
We prepare the way for others to experience God’s love in Jesus.
We immerse them in the forgiving blessing of God’s love.
We invite them to live in and out of that blessing and love.
We are God’s treasured possessions, with a purpose statement.
We are sent into the world to show all people how they are treasured too.
I do not want to be a self-centered christian.
I do not want to see Jesus as how God makes me great again.
I do not want to use Jesus to treat others as enemies.
I want to be baptized in the fullness of God’s love.
And I want to baptize others in the fullness of God’s love.
We are called to bless Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, and other christians.
We are called to bless pharisees and prostitutes.
We are called to bless teachers of the Law and tax collectors.
We are called to bless evangelical conservatives and mainline liberals.
We are called to bless rich and poor, popular and outcasts.
We are called to bless all people, so they can all see God’s salvation.
This is our role as a holy (set apart) kingdom of priests.
Are all people seeing and experiencing God’s salvation through me?
Or am I treating salvation as a privilege, rather than a responsiility?
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, if people do not experience Your gracious love through me, then I am not living out my calling to be a blessing. Use me to help others experience God's salvation for themselves.
The Lord God has blessed me and I need to share that blessing to those I meet and greet. By my words and deeds others need to se Christ Jesus living in me. I need to be an instrument of His peace.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.