Jesus reframes the misconception that bad things only happen to bad people. Bad things happen because there is evil in this broken world.
Even faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can grow and spread beyond what we can imagine! Faith requires the humility of acknowledging we need God’s help, His forgiveness, and His leadership.
#NewTestament #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #postchristianworld #postchristian
Video:
Message Notes:
In Jesus’ day, people believed bad things happened only to bad people so Jesus reframes that.
Jesus explains that bad things happen to good people because this world is broken and that evil has power for now which is why Jesus mentions Satan when talking about the woman whose back was curved. This does not mean that she was possessed by a demon or that all medical illnesses could be explained by demonic oppression. She probably had scoliosis, and Jesus healed her.
That means good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people, but all people have the opportunity to let God bring good out of the bad when we surrender to Him and trust Him. God wants to be with us to comfort us through the bad times in life, if we will let Him.
Jesus also mentions that it only takes faith the size of yeast or of a mustard seed to enter the Kingdom of God and that faith can grow and spread.
Jesus shared that the Kingdom of Heaven has a narrow door and few will enter it. He weeps over the fact that so many in Jerusalem have rejected this New Kingdom.
You see, it’s human nature to want to earn our place in the New Kingdom. It’s human nature to decide to figure it out all for ourselves. Typically we want to be able to say we do more good things than bad things. In our pride, we think we deserve to be at the great banquet Jesus describes.
Instead, genuine faith requires humility. To enter His New Kingdom we need to simply acknowledge we need God’s help. We simply need to ask for His forgiveness and acknowledge we need what Jesus did on the cross to count for me and my sins, my mistakes, my evil choices, and for all the times I did things my way and rejected His way.
