San Diego First United Methodist Church’s Daily Devotion for Monday, 26 May 2014 – Sunday, 1 June 2014 Week 5 - The Way - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus by Adam Hamilton

San Diego First United Methodist Church’s Daily Devotion for Monday, 26 May 2014 – Sunday, 1 June 2014
Week 5 - The Way - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus by Adam Hamilton
All-church Study (May 4-June 8, 2014)
Sinners, Outcasts, and the Poor
Few of us succeed in being as open to undesirables as Jesus was. We can't "flip a switch" and move from prejudice to the kind of genuine openness that Jesus displayed. But we can and must grow in that direction. 
Read by Sunday, June 1:
Pages 111-133 - The Way - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus (Book)
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Monday: Read today: 
Pages 117-122 - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Friends in Low Places
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,
    to proclaim release to the captives,
    recovering of sight to the blind,
    to deliver those who are crushed,
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”(Luke 4:18-19)
Jesus’ first sermon in his hometown of Nazareth was very short—only eight words. After reading the text for the day, Isaiah 61:1-2 (quoted in the passage above(, he said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Isaiah’s words defined Jesus’ ministry. He was born a king, but he did not look, dress, or act like any other king the Jewish people of Palestine had ever known.
Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, born in a stable, and brought up as a son of a handyman in a town that was considered “the other side of the tracks.” His father Joseph was in fact a carpenter, but in a day when homes were built of stone, a carpenter was in fact a handyman—building things, making tools and furniture, repairing farm implements. And with regard to his hometown of Nazareth, Nathaniel captured it well when, upon hearing where Jesus was from, he asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
In his ministry, Jesus was most often drawn to the poor, the sick, and the sinners. He had special compassion for the nobodies, the ne’er-do-wells, and the socially unacceptable. It was this compassion that captivated my heart and led me, as a fourteen-year-old reading the Gospels for the first time, to want to be his follower.
This King had “friends in low places.” He humbled the proud and lifted up the lowly. He reminded us that the truly great must play the part of the servant. He taught that when sitting as a guest at a party, we should take the least important seat. He demonstrated concern for the lost and great compassion for those who were considered lowly.
Those who follow Jesus find ways to show compassion, seeing others as Jesus sees them—as dearly loved children of God. In the process of building relationships, reaching out with compassion, and demonstrating love in tangible ways; we actually become more human, more the people God intended us to be.
I think about Gerry. An executive with a large telecom company, Gerry had an idea (The Bible might label it a “vision”) of starting a Bible study for men in prison. God kept putting people and events in his path that pointed in that direction and reinforced his idea. So the following year he stepped out, worked with a nearby prison, and began befriending inmates and mentoring them. Today the program has grown to include more than two hundred church members who are engaged in building relationships and mentoring and discipling men at Lansing Prison and Leavenworth Penitentiary. Lives are being changed through this ministry—not just the lives of the inmates, but also the lives of our members who have been blessed by the relationships they’ve established with the prisoners.
Jesus befriended sinners and taught about a God of second chances. Have you made friends in low places? Are you learning from them and offering hope?
Lord, help me to see others through the lens of your grace, and to always remember that you are the God of second chances. Amen.
Tuesday: Read today: 
Pages 123-126 - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Friend of Prostitutes
“One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment.  standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.”(Luke 7:36-38).
I love this story and what it teaches us about Jesus and his way. It seems that he was eating in the home of a Pharisee named Simon, which tells us that he befriended Pharisees as well as ordinary sinners. As Jesus ate, a known prostitute from the town interrupted the meal and entered Simon’s house. This in itself would have seemed scandalous to Simon. Remember, the word Pharisee meant “separated”—Pharisees sought to distant themselves from sin. Yet a prostitute had entered his house! She carried an alabaster jar of ointment, which likely was the most precious thing she owned. Perhaps she had been saving this scented oil for the day she would be rescued from her life of prostitution by a man who would love her, not simply use her.
Had she heard Jesus preach earlier in the day? Had he healed her of some affliction or set her free from some oppressive force? Had he helped her experience hope and forgiveness and love? All we know is that Jesus’ impact upon her must have been profound: she brought her most precious gift to give him, and wept at his feet.
We see in this supper scene two very different ways that religious leaders might view a prostitute. If you continue to read the story (verses 40-50) you’ll find that Simon was offended that Jesus allowed a prostitute to touch him. Jesus felt differently. He saw her anointing of him and the tears that went with it as gifts, expressions of the woman’s gratitude for the grace he offered her. Jesus asked Simon a telling question: “Do you see this woman?” Simon saw what she did for a living; he did not see her as a human being, a beloved child of God.
A number of women who were drug addicts and prostitutes worship at the church I serve. Most are a part of a ministry called Healing House, led by a remarkable woman named Bobbi-jo, herself a former addict and prostitute. Being around Bobbi-jo and the woman at Healing House makes me more Christian. I have had the joy of baptizing some of them and their children. One of these young women came to me after church recently to tell me, with tears in her eyes, how grateful she was for the church and how God had worked through it to welcome her. Her sincerity and tears reminded me of what it means to be the church.
Simon saw in the woman with the ointment a prostitute who had no business interrupting his supper and touching a fellow rabbi. Jesus saw her as a human being, loved by God, and need of grace. Are you more like Simon or Jesus?
Lord, it is so easy to judge others. Teach me to see people as you see them, and to love them as you loved them when you walked on this earth. Amen.
Wednesday: Read today: 
Pages 127 – 130 - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
The Invalids
“Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them, so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, injured whole, lame walking, and blind seeing—and they glorified the God of Israel.”(Matthew 15:30-31).
There are passages in the Bible that seem utterly out of character with God. One of them is Leviticus 21:17-23, in which God commands that no one who “has a Blemish” or “who is blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or limb too long, or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a blemish in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles” shall come near the altar of the Tabernacle. (The Tabernacle, representing God’s earthly tent or dwelling place, was the predecessor to the Temple.) To do so would be to “profane my sanctuaries.” This passage prohibited anyone with a disability from serving as a priest, because it would in some way offend God. Such persons could eat the holy bread but were not to set foot near the altar.
Jesus, by contrast, offered a very different picture of God, and Christians believe that Jesus’ picture is the clearest and truest image of God. This was in part the reason for his coming: he would be the “Word made flesh.” God’s Word incarnate! Jesus said, “When you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” Among those with whom Jesus spent his time with were the lame, the blemished, the blind—the very people Leviticus had excluded from approaching God’s holy place.
Invalid was once a common term for people who had disabilities or persistent illness. They were “invalid”—they didn’t count. This is a term that seems to fit with the message in Leviticus. But when we read the Gospels and see how much Jesus spent ministering with “invalids,” it seems clear that God does not see his children with disabilities as in-valid! He is constantly reaching with compassion towards them.
This last week I stopped by a fall harvest party in the Student Center at the church I serve. The party was for our Matthew’s Ministry—our ministry for children and adults with disabilities. The party was awesome. We have 140 children and adults with special needs, and I love them all. Some were dressed in costume. Buzz Lightyear was there, as were Zorro, a host of angels, and even Uncle Sam. When I walked in, I was greeted with hugs and calls for me to “guess who I am, Pastor Adam!” Fifty volunteers made the evening happen. It was the picture of the Kingdom of God.
Our ministry to those with special needs started nineteen years ago with a little boy named Matthew Joiner. Today it includes one or two parties a month, a scout troop, a hand-bell choir, Bible studies, mission service, a bakery providing jobs for some of our adults with special needs, and more. Matthew Ministry [For more information about The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection’s Matthew Ministry, visit www.cor.org/ministries/care-and-support/special-needs-matthew’s/.] participants come to the church weekly to help load 1,400 backpacks with nutritious snacks for children living in poverty to take home over the weekend so they have enough to eat. Hardly invalids!
Churches and Christians who are intentional about welcoming and including people with special needs are walking in the way of Christ and continuing his work of saying, “You matter to God,”
Lord, help me (and my church I’m a part of) to see persons with disabilities the way you see them. Help us to discover the joy of welcoming all people into your church.
Thursday: Read today: 
Pages 131-134 - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
The Women in Jesus’ Ministry
“Soon afterwards, he went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of God’s Kingdom. With him were the twelve, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; and Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others; who served them from their possessions.”(Luke 8:1-3).
We typically think of Jesus traveling with his twelve disciples as he “went through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1), but Luke tells us that women traveled with him, too. So many of the Gospel stories involve Jesus’ ministry with women! It is clear that he valued women, had compassion for them, saw them as beloved children of God, and, by his interest in them, demonstrated the value God places on women.
Jesus’ attitudes toward women stood in contrast to the cultural and religious traditions of the period. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian wrote: “The women, says the Law, is in all things inferior to man.”[From Flavius Josephus, Against Apion (translated H. St. J. Thackeray; Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) 2. 200-201.] Women were treated as property of their husbands and fathers. Yet Jesus treated women with value and respect.
Notice the kinds of women who were following Jesus. Luke tells us they had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities. What kind of infirmities have they suffered from? The Gospels report that these included internal bleeding, fevers, and maladies then thought to be caused by demons, though now these are often associated with mental illness. We also know that Jesus offered grace to prostitutes, women caught in the act of adultery, and a woman divorced five times and living with a man who was not her husband. We also know that Jesus was concerned not only for Jewish women, but also for Samaritan and Gentile women as well.
The women Luke describes were more than followers. They provided support for Jesus and the twelve out of their own means. We learn in the Gospels that it was the women who stood at the foot of the cross while the male disciples, with the exception of John, were in hiding. It was the women who went to the tomb while the men continued to hide. And it was to Mary Magdalene that Jesus first appeared after the Resurrection. She became the first person to proclaim the resurrection of Christ.
I don’t know where I would be without the female disciples who have entered my life. My grandmother was the first to share Christ with me. My mom took me to church. Two women encouraged me to be a pastor. My wife has been my partner in ministry, and most of the best of my ideas I ever had were really hers. In the church I serve, half of our leaders—lay, staff, and clergy—are women. Our aim for equality is not an effort at political correctness but at congregational effectiveness. Women mad possible the ministry of Jesus in the first century and they make his ministry possible today.
Lord, thank you for these women who have come into my life. Thank you for demonstrating the value of women in your ministry and, through them, teaching us how you value women today. Amen.
Friday: Read today: 
Pages 135-138 - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Where Are The Other Nine?
“As he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance. They lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ As they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan. Jesus answered, ‘Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this stranger?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.’”(Luke 17:11-19)
In today’s Scripture, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, where he knew that a cross awaited him. Yet, even as he drew near to his own suffering, he was mindful of the suffering of others. Perhaps it was this awareness that kept him from being overwhelmed by his approaching fate.
As Jesus entered a village, ten lepers approached him. The lepers were both Jews and Samaritans, bound together by their common affliction. Leprosy (which included a variety of skin disorders) was the most socially isolating disease of ancient times. Fear of contracting the disease kept people away from lepers.
Lepers were the untouchables of Jesus’ day. The Law of Moses required them to keep their distance from others and to declare, “Unclean!” when others approached (Leviticus 13:45). Seeing the ten lepers and knowing the isolation they experienced, Jesus showed them mercy, telling them to go to the priests, as the Law of Moses commanded, and they would be made whole. (The story is reminiscent of the story about the healing of Naaman, in 2 Kings 5.)
To visit the priests, the lepers had to make a seven- or eight-day trek to Jerusalem. Just as they set out, the lepers discovered that they were healed. This, it seems, was because they had demonstrated a measure of trust in Jesus’ words. However, only one of the ten returned to him to give thanks, and this was the primary point of the story. The leper was a Samaritan, an outsider, who came back to thank the Lord.
Expressing thanks is important, and yet we often fail to do it. Worship on Sundays is about pausing to count our blessings and give thanks to God. Daily prayer is an opportunity to pause and give thanks. Cultivate the practice of giving thanks, and you will find a greater sense of well-being in life. That’s what researchers Michael McCullough and Robert Emmons learned in their well-known study on gratitude. They found that people who regularly give thanks are as much as 25 percent happier than people who do not.[See Robert A. Emmons’ book, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier (Houghton Mifflin Company,2007).] 
John gave thanks. He suffered from a blood disorder that meant having regular transfusions, as well as a host of unpleasant symptoms. Every time I saw him, however, he would tell me he was blessed and was grateful for every day of his life. John lived far longer than the doctors had expected, and I am convinced it was because he sincerely and persistently gave thanks.
Ten lepers were healed, but only one returned to give thanks. Which leper are you?
Lord, thank you for the blessings of my life. I specifically want to thank you today for…. (Name five things you are grateful for today.) 
Saturday: Read today: 
Pages 139-142 - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Why He Came
“He entered and was passing through Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’ He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, ‘He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.’”(Luke 19:1-10)
On his way to Jerusalem, where crucifixion awaited him, Jesus stopped in Jericho for a divine appointment. As he walked past a sycamore tree, he looked up a saw a man named Zacchaeus in the branches, where he had climbed to get a glimpse of Jesus. Jesus called to Zacchaeus and asked to stay at his home. The request was shocking to the townspeople, for Zacchaeus was well known in the region, not merely as a tax collector but as a chief tax collector. He was wealthy, and his wealth had come by collecting more taxes than was due. Watching Jesus, the people grumbled and said, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19:7).
But notice the response of Zacchaeus. Dumbfounded by Jesus request, he decided on the spot to give half his possessions to the poor and promised to return anything he had wrongfully taken from others. And note what Jesus said to the crowd that day: “The son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). 
I have asked my congregation to memorize that verse. It captures the heart and ministry of Jesus the way few other words do. He said that the reason he came—his purpose—was to look for and offer deliverance to people who have strayed from God’s path.
We in the church sometimes forget this; if the church is the body of Christ, as Paul taught, than its primary purpose must be to “seek out and save the lost!” Jesus did not do that by preaching at Zacchaeus. He did not share a gospel tract. Instead Jesus asked Zacchaeus if he could have supper at his house. He befriended Zacchaeus, in spite of knowing that the townsfolk would consider it a scandal.
How would your church do things differently if its primary mission was to “seek out and save the lost?” 
Who are the people you are building friendships with who are non-Christian or nominally Christian? Is there anyone you believe God wishes to invite for worship in the next few days?
Lord, help me find ways to befriend and share my faith with people like Zacchaeus, and to be used by you to help others see your light and love. Amen.
Sunday: Read today: 
Pages - The Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Week Six
The Final Week
Jerusalem
“They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road. Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’”(Mark 11:7-10)
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First United Methodist Church
2111 Camino del Rio South
San Diego, CA 92108
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