Isaiah 26:1-6
Psalm 118:19-24
Matthew 7:21-27
I have been a Christian since my baptism when I was a very young child. Not until I was in my twenties did the implication of God’s free gift of salvation really begin to take hold of my life. A transformation began in my thinking and feeling that was dramatic. I began to realize that I needed to take seriously some of the hard words of Jesus such as those recorded in Matthew 7:21-27. The purpose was not to assure me of my salvation or to pile up credits in some future life, but to respond to God’s grace, to accept the implications of my membership in the family of God.
The words of this lesson are indeed difficult, and sometimes disturbing, for Jesus may be speaking to us. We need to understand that Jesus’ words are not suggesting that our salvation is dependent upon our good works. He clearly implies that these do not make us right with God. Jesus insists, however, that those who abide in God’s grace must respond to it in terms of hearing and doing the words and will of God.
To do the words and will of God and be transformed is to work at a transformation in our relationship to the world, to the poor and dispossessed, to the violence in our society, to the idols in our culture. As Jesus bore the cross on our behalf, so we have been chosen to bear a cross on behalf of others in our world.
Sue House