Luke 20:45-47

The Discipleship Journal Reading Plan that I've been following has several aspects I appreciate.  One is that the Gospels are not divided into chapter chunks as in most reading plans.  Instead, the gospels are subdivided into smaller units of meaning, breaking down into narrative segments or units of speech.  Some plans I've read have you read the gospels several times a year to create a sort of equal weight and emphasis.  I appreciate the smaller bites of this plan as they become something like perpetual reading of the psalms or proverbs; something that washes over me again and again, each time leaving me bits that remain that I can ruminate upon and examine from this light or that.

This morning's "bite" from Luke 20 reminds me that, yes, it is no delusion or distortion to think that social justice issues are huge to God.

Social justice in the Gospels 101:

These [men] who confiscate and devour widows' houses, and for a pretense [to appear devout] offer long prayers. These [men] will receive the greater [sentence of] condemnation."  Luke 20:47

Jesus was pro-widow.

And then, looking through the notes on this passage, there are so many tie backs to the prophets. 

TSK Cross reference: devour: Isa_10:2; Jer_7:6-10; Eze_22:7; Amo_2:7, Amo_8:4-6; Mic_2:2, Mic_2:8, Mic_3:2

This sense of social justice is through and through the prophets and passages listed above.

I look forward to my journey through the prophets in the months to come and recognizing this facet of truth in them--to turn them round and round--a prism through which we see a fragment of a larger truth.

Jonah has emphasized for me this time around that God loves all people. He meets the Ninevites "where they are at," none too far away, none too far gone. The Lord makes that clear to Jonah, to us.

I'm also struck by the way that portions of the scriptures cross check and deepen each other. As a younger Christian, my understanding of this cross-referencing was more wooden--what is predicted in the prophets that happens later in the Bible kind of thing.  

Lately I am seeing more of the "big vision" that all portions reference, a bigger unified character and purpose that transcends the limits of time and space, the here and now.  It's not that the smaller bits just reference the smaller bits; it's more that they all point to Him.  Our God.  The Father.  The Christ. The Spirit.  He is not fragmented or partial---not in character, not in action, not in His purpose or His plan.