{"id":2126,"date":"2022-11-10T07:08:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T12:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2126"},"modified":"2022-11-10T07:09:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T12:09:10","slug":"standing-where-jesus-stands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/10\/standing-where-jesus-stands\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing Where Jesus Stands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>.

Standing Where Jesus Stands<\/strong>
 
There once was a florist who had a really bad day. 
 
He mixed up two orders.  One flower arrangement went to a guy who was opening a new business.  The other went to a family that had just lost a loved one. 
 
The business owner came into the floral shop fuming. \u201cHere it is, my opening day, and you send flowers that say, Rest in peace.<\/em>\u201d  The florist answered, \u201cYou think you\u2019re<\/em> mad?  You should have seen the people who just left.  A bouquet was delivered to their family\u2019s funeral that said, Good luck in your new location.<\/em>\u201d
 
It\u2019s important to avoid serious mix-ups. 
 
That includes how we identify with the key players in various Bible stories.  Such stories beckon us to place ourselves somewhere in the picture.    
 
So who are you in the first 11 verses of the eighth chapter of John? 
 
Do you identify with the woman brought before Jesus \u2013 someone who is beginning to hope against hope that you can actually survive a calamitous personal situation, and that your life isn\u2019t over? 
 
Or are you someone who picks up a rock every time you think about your business partner who deceived you\u2026or the building contractor who ripped you off\u2026or the lover who betrayed you\u2026or your parents who mocked you\u2026or that monster who stole your sexual innocence? 
 
As you imagine this story, are you willing to come over to Jesus\u2019 side \u2013 to stand where he stands and see what he sees? 
 
Some of us cannot fathom asking for God\u2019s grace to change our hearts, so that we might forgive those who have hurt us.  But a wonderful thing happens when we put down our rocks \u2013 when we surrender our claims to get even.  We ourselves are healed of wounds we don\u2019t even know we are carrying around. 
 
Jesus urges us not to get mixed up.  None of us is called to join the Morality Police. 
 
All of us are called, however, to recognize how much we personally need his gift of absolute grace \u2013 and to recognize that that doesn\u2019t mean God has rescinded his call to absolute holiness.  The drama of being lifelong learners of Jesus is to discover, in every new situation, how Jesus\u2019 Third Way can help broken people experience restoration.  And how we ourselves can help make that happen.
 
Author Jim Wallis remembers the time that his father, who was the chief elder in his church, was called to an emergency meeting.  Two teenagers had crossed the line sexually.  Now the girl was pregnant.  What should the congregation\u2019s spiritual leaders do? 
 
Most of them declared, \u201cBring these two up before the whole church, and we will denounce their behavior.\u201d  Wallis\u2019 father objected to such a harsh strategy.  Why would such a thing be necessary?  People need to know where we stand, the elders declared.  Do you think anybody doesn\u2019t know where we stand?  Wallis answered.  But these two need to know how wrong this was, said another elder.  Does anyone here doubt that these kids know they\u2019ve made a major mistake and are now in a major mess?
 
Because a majority of the elders continued to insist on a public rebuke, Wallis finally consented.  His colleagues were surprised that he gave in. 
 
Sure, he said.  \u201cLet\u2019s bring them up in front of the whole church and declare their sins before everyone.  Then let\u2019s bring everyone else up, too, one at a time, and declare all our sins.  And since I\u2019ve done so much counseling with so many of you and the families of the church, I\u2019ll make sure nothing gets left out.\u201d 
 
Jim Wallis writes, \u201cAt that point, the plans for confronting the young couple were dropped, and a discussion followed about how to support them in their perilous situation.\u201d
 
Guided by the humility that comes from knowing that all of us stand before a holy God only because of his grace, we can be part of a new kind of community.
 
We won\u2019t get mixed up if we let him turn hearts of stone into hearts that beat with his.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Standing Where Jesus Stands There once was a florist who had a really bad day.  He mixed up two orders.  One flower arrangement went to a guy who was opening a new business.  The other went to a family that had just lost a loved one.  The business owner came into the floral shop… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[531],"class_list":["post-2126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-judging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2129,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126\/revisions\/2129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}