The Gathering

Sundays at 11am in Downtown Lafayette

Tag: Scripture

  • Mercy and the Unforgiving Servant

    Mercy and the Unforgiving Servant

    Going forward, I am going to offer a weekly blog post on our new website. It will be centered around the scripture for our Sunday Gathering. This week we share a parable from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 18:21-35) where Jesus calls his followers to show compassion and mercy. It’s the story of a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants. And he confronts one of them who owes him a great deal of money. But since he was not able to pay, the master, following the justice of the day, ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. But the servant begs him for mercy and for more time and help.

    “And the king, having his heart reached, forgives him and lets him go free. But then, this same rescued servant turns around and confronts people who are beholden to him. And he finds out that they, too, have debts owing to him. So he orders them to be taken prisoner, tied up and held captive. When the king heard about this, he was livid because after the mercy he showed to the servant, then the servant turned around and showed heartlessness and wickedness to those under him.” 

    You don’t have to be a scholar to understand this teaching. God is merciful to us every day. We in turn are called to follow this standard. We are to be merciful to others around us. How are we doing by this standard? We see cruelty in our country and throughout the world by people of power. But for people of Christian faith, we are called to follow the example of Jesus every day. Cruelty is all around us. This teaching by Jesus is clear and obvious to us and we find ourselves in this parable every day. Before judging others we are called to search our own souls. Am I acting with mercy and forgiveness? Am I merciful and compassionate? Do I model the mercy of Jesus with others? It may not be an easy standard, but it’s not complicated. Even a rudimentary understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ shows us the path to walk and talk. And as we look around our world, it is distressing to find the cruelty and the absence of mercy everywhere. What we can do is model our lives against this clear teaching and be the merciful one.

  • A Reflection on Romans 8

    A Reflection on Romans 8

    When approaching the Scripture ask two questions: What did it mean then and what does it mean now? I am grateful for the content of yesterday’s scripture at The Gathering. We continued with Paul’s message in Romans 8 emphasizing our freedom from the law. The essence of the teaching is that we become perpetually distracted trying to follow the law and the activities that demand our constant attention. We lose focus on what matters, which is faith! It was a challenge for the people in Rome at the time and remains a central issue for us today. And I decided it was distraction away from the simple truth of faith and being consumed with worry and obligations. The essence of the Gospel is to retreat from these distractions and keep our focus on the core simple truth. Faith alone! Thank you Jesus and Paul! Stay focused and at peace in God’s care!