Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Minister in the opposite spirit

Monday, April 11, 2011

John 8:4-8
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

I read this recently about Jesus:

The living collision of opposites we call Jesus ... is the very template of total paradox: human yet divine, heavenly yet earthly, physical yet spiritual, possessing a male body yet a female soul, killed yet alive, powerless yet powerful, victim yet victor, failure yet redeemer, marginalized yet central, singular yet everyone, incarnate yet cosmic, nailed yet liberated, resolving the great philosophical problem of the one and the many.

(Jesus invites us) to see the same truth in ourselves and all of creation. Jesus is the microcosm of the macrocosm, which might be one way to describe how he "saves" us. What we will not capitulate to, the Christ totally "recapitulates" within himself, naming it as true and possible "for all and in all." This is surely why Jesus keeps saying "Follow me." (Richard Rohr,The Naked Now, p. 147)

Jesus found a way not to choose between the girl and her accusers. He did not accuse anyone. His point of view was new and encompassed the perspectives of both sides. Because he started from love he showed everyone there how to love.

My friend Patti recently described an important moment in her life. Remembering at just the right moment what YWAM's (Youth with a Mission) Loren Cunningham* taught about "ministering in the opposite spirit," she was able to befriend an enemy, someone who had deliberately made her feel small and hurt. Things turned around. And just as importantly, this way of loving became more solid and permanently clear in Patty's mind. Do it like this. Over and over again.

It gets easier. A lot easier. Can I ever love the ugly hypocritical abusive men who ignore their own sin, take out their lustful rages on a young girl, and then call it righteousness?

Jesus, only Jesus, shows me how.

When you see greed, Lord, you become generous. When you fight evil, you fight it with good. Flowers in the barrels of the guns. Your spirit calls out, "Follow me. Do it like this. Over and over. Don't stop." This energy seems more powerful than a flood, Lord. Nothing's gonna stop it.

* Listen to Loren at:
http://www.lionshare.org/FathersoftheFaith/TheFathers/LorenCunningham.aspx

Devotions Archive

Minister in the opposite spirit

Monday, April 11, 2011