MAY 9, 2023

 “Our identity rests in God's relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ.”  

― Brennan Manning, Abba's Child

1 KINGS 19-20

1Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”3Elijah was afraid^a and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

JOHN 2

6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^b7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.8Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”11What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 

JOURNAL 

Here I see the compassion and involvement of God in the worst of us and in what would seem to be the trivial aspects of life. Elijah becomes fearful and flees...a wedding party drinks all the wine.  Yet in both of these the heart of God is deeper and more sensitive than what I would initially think.  

God sees and tends to Elijah right where he is and Jesus tends to the situation at the wedding right where the people are...no rebukes of gluttony and no shame for Elijah in how he could be so cowardly.  God is all-powerful and yet tender and sensitive to the needs and hurts of big moments and small ones.  To know that this is the God that I worship is just so amazing. He is the tender shepherd and the mighty warrior all in one.

This is beautifully represented in the relationship between Jesus and Mary.  The humanity that Jesus needed was from his mother. That humanity was the tenderness of a mother's love. Yes it is ultimately all from God...but it doesn't negate the importance of the flesh and blood connection with his mother. From birth to death Mary never left him, that's such a beautiful picture of love...the perfect Jesus being cared and loved by the imperfect. 

Thank you father for the amazing imagery of love through the care and love of a mother...no matter how far we roam a mother's love is always searching and waiting...

12“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. 

Matthew 18:12-14