I AM: Clean Week Two - Day Four: Jesus Cleanses And Calls
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With this new focus on empathy, I hope that we can seek to understand ourselves and others, and I pray we will be for one another on a journey out of the dirty. To be able to do that well, I think we need to take some time to listen to Jesus’ story, to seek to understand who He is, what He thought of himself and others, and pray about what we’re supposed to do next because of that.
Jesus grew up in a Jewish home. We don’t really hear much about his life from birth to 30 years old except for in Luke chapter two when we get a glimpse into Jesus’ life at the age of 12. He spent days at the temple sitting with the teachers, listening, and asking questions. When His parents realized He wasn’t with them, they went searching for Him, found Him, and told Him they had been worried, His reply in verse 49 was “Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?” That little sentence, which gives us a glimpse into a small moment in time helps us know that Jesus knew who He was, He was God’s son. That certainty was foundational for Him, and that certainty is foundational for us as God’s daughters! 1 John 3:1 says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Let’s add that to our affirmations list!
As Jesus began his ministry at the age of 30, it became clear that He would talk to people who were deemed dirty in society, He associated with dirty “others.” The examples of this in the Bible are too great to account for, so I will mention just one, but I would encourage you to research the many that exist. This one, I think will reveal what Jesus thought of others and why he associated with them. Mark chapter two tells us about the story of Jesus having dinner with a man named Levi; they were joined at that dinner by many tax collectors and “sinners” along with the disciples. The Pharisees (religious group) were furious that Jesus would surround himself with such people. When Jesus heard them talking about it, here was his response in verse 17. “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” He came for the dirty “others.” And He calls us to do same. I want to share with you some words from Jesus so that you can hear from him on this topic. Here is a prayer that Jesus himself prayed before he was arrested and then crucified. He had been praying for himself and then the disciples and then He prayed for those who believe in Him, check out His words in John 17:20-23 (parenthesis are my explanations):
“My prayer is not for them alone (speaking of the disciples), I pray also for those who believe in Me (all believers including us) through their message (the disciples message), that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one; I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”
Jesus knows that the Father loves Him, but He also knows that the Father loves everyone else the same. And this is what Jesus is asking of us and praying for us, that we would be brought to complete unity to let the world know that the Father loves them.
All of us at one time or another have been a dirty “other,” the lost, the unrighteous, the sinner. If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Savior, that is no more.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
You are clean! For those that haven’t made that decision, I want you to know that Jesus came for you, He died for your sin and your shame. He is for you, we are for you! We are not in VERSUS because we are all in His VERSES.
A reminder of our focus verse this week:
“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24
Some affirming truth today; I have a redemption story in Christ Jesus! You may have seen me singing on a stage at Church and thought…wow, her life must be awesome. You may have felt about me the way that I have felt about others, wondering, why Lord, why does everyone else have it awesome and my life is so terrible? I’ve been there; I can empathize with that. But my life hasn’t been all gumdrops and lollipops. I’ve experienced horrible loss and hurt. I’ve lost my father to heart and lung disease. I’ve lost my brother to a brain tumor. I’ve lost a baby to miscarriage, been homeless, divorced, sexually abused, emotionally and verbally abused, the list goes on and on. And even though I have a life shaped by loss, ultimately my life is defined by the cross! And friends, so is yours!
You may have a life shaped by loss, but ultimately your life is defined by the cross!
You have a redemption story in Christ Jesus! We are clean, we are redeemed, and we are called to share that with others.
I want to invite you to join me in tomorrow’s reading about an incredible redemption story in the Bible about a woman who had an illness that plagued her for 12 years until Jesus healed her in a moment. She was dirty, others saw her as dirty, but she was clean in the eyes of Jesus and made clean by his healing power. Her story is my story and is your story. We are clean!
Before I pray, I wanted to share the words from the song I sang in my teaching video because the affirming truth in them is powerful. The song is “Clean” by Natalie Grant:
I see shattered
You see whole
I see broken
But You see beautiful
And You're helping me to believe
You're restoring me piece by piece
There's nothing too dirty
That You can't make worthy
You wash me in mercy
I am clean
What was dead now lives again
My heart's beating, beating inside my chest
Oh I'm coming alive with joy and destiny
You're restoring me piece by piece
Washed in the blood of Your sacrifice
Your blood flowed red and made me white
My dirty rags are purified
I am clean
Lord, we thank you for Your redemption, we thank you for the hope we have in You, for the truth of Your words and Your life. It sets us free; it sets others free. We are clean; we are alive in You. We are restored. We are Your daughters, called according to Your purposes, held by Your promises and called to tell others that beautiful truth. Give us boldness and bravery, wisdom and strength to do that in Your name Jesus, Amen.