Shift - Sermon Preview - 2-16-25
Shift
Do you ever purposely try to get a new perspective on things? Anybody stand on their head or on their hands to do it? Think for a minute about ways you have, or might try, to get a different perspective on something.
I’ve been a senior pastor in churches for a long time. And I really am always trying to see things from a new perspective. Living that way isn’t always easy or comfortable -- it often feels as if everything in life has been turned a little upside-down. But trying to see things from a different perspective helps me. I think it can help just about everyone .
This week's Bible reading from Luke 6:17-26 is a perspective-changer.. There's this man named Jesus -- familiar with him?
Jesus loves to turn things all "topsy-turvy." And this week's reading isn't out of that character at all.
Jesus took commonly held thought and turned it upside down. The poor have God's neighborhood and the rich have already received their reward. The hungry will be full and the full will be hungry. The weeping will laugh and the laughing will weep. Finally, the hated and despised have reason to rejoice and the well thought of have shouldn't see that as a good thing.
The idea that Jesus showed favor on those whom society looks down on isn't present only here, but it seems present throughout Jesus' ministry. I guess it's not even that profound to think about, since restoration, forgiveness and unconditional love are such a part of what we believe as followers of Jesus.