This Generation

First of all, allow me to say that "I'm home!" I think you probably already knew that, but perhaps you didn't. Either way, feel free to call me or email me so we can chat face-to-face. That's what the church is all about! This morning I was reading either Luke 11 or Matthew 12 (I don't remember which), where Jesus says that "the men of Ninevah will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here." (NIV) I then went out on a run. As I ran I started thinking about a cartoon that I found on Facebook. It shows a Sunday School teacher at the whiteboard. On the board is what looks like a long family tree. At the far end, one of the dozens of lines is circled. The teacher says, "This is where we came along and finally got it right." One of the students says, "Isn't Jesus lucky!?" As I ran, this idea of denominational division began to clash in my mind with Jesus' rebuke to "this generation." When He said that, he was speaking to a mixed crowd. Some were Sadducees, convinced that they were obeying God's law. Others were Pharisees, who looked down on the Sadducees because of their incomplete interpretation of the law. Surely they, the Pharisees, would stand proudly at the judgment day as God rebuked the Saducees for their lack of faith. Then there were the zealots who believed that God wanted to use them to free His holy people from the sinful Romans. In addition, there was every brand of average Joe who was trying hard to please God as he saw fit. Little did they know that, on that day, they were to witness a preview of the Day of Judgment. Jesus didn't waste time with their quarrels and disputes and heated debates about the finer points of Jewish theology. Instead He said, probably with anguish in His voice, "You are all so busy with your religion that you are missing God!" God doesn't want us to prove that we are right so that He can stand us up at the judgment day and say, "Look at my faithful servants who figured out My Words." No! He holds us responsible for our generation. We ARE the church. All of us. Together. With all of our differences of interpretation and practice.* To each of us and all of us He has given the exact same challenge. He expects us to follow it as individuals and He expects us to encourage, support, and exhort one another to embrace that challenge, including those in other denominations. True religion is very simple. Love God with everything you are and everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself. Those two things will keep us busy enough for our entire life. May we, as the entire body of Christ, repent and pursue God before we miss Him entirely! *obviously I'm not including Jehovah's Witnesses or other groups who deny the deity of Jesus or other basic elements of the Christian creed.