Jesus speaks
here of those who are “blind, lame, lepers, deaf, dead and poor.” Each one of these people are identified as
being blessed by the ministry of Jesus.
As we
continue to get closer to Christmas, we must continue to look at our
weakness. We must see how we, too, are
blind, lame, a leper, etc. Of course,
these physical ailments point to something much deeper. They point to the spiritual ailments that we
all encounter.
Jesus also
says something quite interesting. He
says, “And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
Why would we be offended by Jesus?
Interestingly,
I read a report that came out today on the growing number of “nones” in the
US. According to a survey released
Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, this group now constitutes 29% of American
adults. That’s up from 23% in 2016 and 19% in 2011.
“If the
unaffiliated were a religion, they’d be the largest religious group in the
United States,” said Elizabeth Drescher, an adjunct professor at Santa Clara
University who wrote a book about the spiritual lives of the nones.
Even in
their personal philosophies, America’s nones vary widely, according to a recent
poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. For example, 30% say they feel some
connection to God or a higher power, and 19% say religion has some importance
to them even though they have no religious affiliation.
About 12%
describe themselves as religious and spiritual and 28% as spiritual but not
religious. More than half describe themselves as neither.
Nearly 60%
of the nones say religion was at least somewhat important to their families
when they were growing up, according to the AP-NORC poll. It found that 30% of nones meditate and 26%
pray privately at least a few times a month, while smaller numbers consult
periodically with a religious or spiritual leader.
Most of the
people cited in the article disagreed with some doctrine of whatever faith
practice they previously had, with the highest number of the disagreements
relating to sexuality, or a resistance to basic truths that make them
uncomfortable.
One of the
people interviewed said, “As a kid, I used to think of God up on a throne, with
a white beard, passing judgment, but that has totally changed. My higher power is the universe... It’s always
there for me, if I can get out of my ego’s way.”
I found this
statement to be particularly interesting, especially the last sentence. His “higher power” will only be there
for him if he can get out of his ego’s way. I think that’s a sad way to look at
life. As for me, my higher power is
God…He’s always there for me, even though I have trouble at times
getting out of ego’s way [Isaiah 45:6-25] [Psalm 85:9-14].
Jesus is
perfectly direct and honest. In fact, He
obviously speaks nothing but pure Truth.
The hard part is that, at times, the truth can hurt. We can go through life thinking that we’re
healthy and well, spiritually speaking, and as a result, we can tend to think
that we don’t need the truth Jesus came to preach. In that case, when we are confronted with our
sin or any truth we struggle with, we can be offended by Christ, or in the case
of the “nones”, those who follow Him.
It would do
all of mankind well to reflect upon how completely open we are to the full
truth of the Gospel. Are we ready and
willing to listen to everything Jesus proclaims? Are we
ready and willing to accept the full Gospel in our life? We can let Advent be a time when we deepen
our resolve to listen and heed all that our Lord wants to say to us. And if we see yourselves “offended” in any
way, know that the area of offense is most likely the area we need to work on
the most.
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