At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
Jesus gave the ordinary extraordinary power as he prepared them to do his work. A massive decentralization of power. (Even the demons submitted to their authority, v. 17)
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Jesus didn’t say to love everyone the same. He said to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s not as crazy as it sounds if you think about it.
- Jesus took power away from the somebodies.
- Jesus took position away from well-positioned.
- Jesus took hospitality serious and dropped bombs on those who didn’t.
- Jesus removed barriers to getting involved in the messiest of ministry.
- Jesus weeded through the fans to find the followers by raising the bar, not lowering it.
- Jesus used priests and levites as the butts of his jokes.
These were the observations and learnings of my high school small group last night. Reading the Bible, out loud, and in community… it’s pretty powerful.
This post isn’t a commercial for Community Bible Experience, but if you want to try it… CBEmini is a free 9-day taste of CBE walking your small groups through Luke-Acts.
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