Day of Praise

Fr, 05/23/14, Easter Day #34, "Day of Praise"

Luke 9:3 - "And [Jesus] said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.'"

Today is, in essence, the start of Memorial Day Weekend. It has been said to me that Veterans Day celebrates the heroes who came home. Memorial Day celebrates the heroes who didn't come home. In essence, all these heroes took one thing and only one thing into battle, namely, a willingness to die for their country, coupled with the belief that earthly freedom was worth the price.

In today's Bible verse, Jesus sends out the disciples and basically tells them to take one thing and only one thing into their mission field, namely, a willingness to die for the kingdom of God, coupled with the belief that spiritual freedom was worth the price.

Do you see the parallels?

You could say that there's at least an implicit charge here from Jesus to us, as many are travelling on this long Memorial Day weekend. Jesus sends us out as disciples and basically tells us to take one thing and only one thing on our trip, namely, a willingness to die to self for the kingdom of God, coupled with the belief that spiritual freedom is worth the price. This dying to self will happen when we use the time this weekend with family and friends to remember, speak of, and celebrate both those who have died for our freedoms and how those sacrifices have blessed our lives.

Many military personnel have died for our earthly freedoms. Many a missionary and Jesus Christ himself, most of all, died for our spiritual freedoms. Let us be found using our time this weekend to remember, speak of, and celebrate both those who have died for our freedoms and how those sacrifices have blessed our lives.

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson