[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 561, Pentecost 3, 6/17/07

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Pentecost 3 -- June 17, 2007

Psalm 5:1-8
1 Kings 21:1-21a
Galatians 2:15-21
Luke 7:36-8:3

“How Would It Be If…”

The Old Testament lections tell us that God will not tolerate evil, and 
the New Testament lections tell us that faith in Christ will free us 
from judgment -- revelation on a collision course.

Ahab is a cowardly sinner, but Jezebel is brazen. They are both beneath 
contempt in the eyes of the biblical author, partly for their own sakes 
and partly for what the Northern Kingdom might have been. These are 
God’s chosen people, after all, who are being ruled by a “surfer girl” 
 from the Mediterranean coast and all her “new age” priests. (I can hear 
the “Beach Boys” singing in the background.) Ahab is a babe in the 
woods when it comes to politics, but Jezebel shows him the way called 
“disinformation” in the lexicon of propaganda, a euphemism for the 
better Anglo-Saxon word “lying”. She was a political advisor from the 
Baal Foundation, a Phoenician political think tank. Her plan is clever 
without being wise. Like most political stratagems, it works for the 
immediate objective but fails the test of time. Elijah arrives to pass 
that judgment on from God.

What Jezebel and Ahab did was venal and common as dirt. How far back do 
you have to go in your local newspaper to find an unscrupulous land 
deal reported? That is not the issue. The issue is “Can they be saved?” 
Can they turn, repent, believe in Christ and be saved? As much to the 
point is this: “Do you even want them to turn and repent and start 
attending your church?”

There is something in our hearts that would rather keep the “bad guys” 
bad and the “good guys” clearly identified with us. The Gospel looks 
beautiful in print, sounds great in sermons, plays well when I am the 
one being saved, but is a real challenge in general practice. But what 
if Jezebel had met Jesus? Could it not have been she weeping at his 
feet? And how might she have met Jesus, if no one could visualize her 
forgiveness, if everyone were pleased to leave her in her role as the 
villain, pleased to let her die like a dog in the end? How is it then 
with the Gospel entrusted to your church for Jezebel's sake? What might 
you do or say as the body of Christ that would stir her heart and bring 
her to salvation? How might it be at your next covered dish dinner if 
she were there for the Gospel feast?


May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
(an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at
http://www.webspawner.com/users/McGregorPage/

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  --Copyright 2007, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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