Sometimes it takes just the right combination of moxy and compassion to get along in the world. You have to have the guts to "go big" in life, while remembering to have empathy for those in the "go big" circumstances.
In the last week, the word compassion and many references of it seems to keep approaching me. In the lessons I was working on, in the stories I was reading and even in a service project I organized for our youth. Compassion was the lens that demanded I see the world through.
There were also moments of frustration with some status quot circumstances that were nagging away at my motivation and moxy to live in a place of compassion. So on Sunday, my ears were called to attention as in the gospel reading in Luke 13, people surrounding Jesus were trying to push him into the path of their agenda and plans...
Luke 13:31At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."
32He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'[b]"
I love how Jesus says...in the I'm not playing kind of tone....(in my own paraphrase) "Go tell that fox that no matter what he says or does, I will keep going today, tomorrow and the next day!"
How did I read this story before without picking up on Jesus moxy tone?
So moxy and compassion do go together after all, it just took hearing Jesus saying it to help me know I can (no matter what) keep going today, tomorrow and the next day. There is moxy compassion bread to keep me going as long as I release the fear and doubt to the open hands of God.
That is good bread to hold on too indeed!
In the last week, the word compassion and many references of it seems to keep approaching me. In the lessons I was working on, in the stories I was reading and even in a service project I organized for our youth. Compassion was the lens that demanded I see the world through.
There were also moments of frustration with some status quot circumstances that were nagging away at my motivation and moxy to live in a place of compassion. So on Sunday, my ears were called to attention as in the gospel reading in Luke 13, people surrounding Jesus were trying to push him into the path of their agenda and plans...
Luke 13:31At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."
32He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'[b]"
I love how Jesus says...in the I'm not playing kind of tone....(in my own paraphrase) "Go tell that fox that no matter what he says or does, I will keep going today, tomorrow and the next day!"
How did I read this story before without picking up on Jesus moxy tone?
So moxy and compassion do go together after all, it just took hearing Jesus saying it to help me know I can (no matter what) keep going today, tomorrow and the next day. There is moxy compassion bread to keep me going as long as I release the fear and doubt to the open hands of God.
That is good bread to hold on too indeed!
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