Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 22.13-23 and John 6.41-51
I recently
watched my daughter-in-law execute one of her many excellent parenting skills
on one of her three daughters. In order to get the attention of the
six-year-old, she said, “Listen to me…look at my face!” My granddaughter
looked at her mother’s face, and believe me, she DID listen.
In today’s
passage from Jeremiah, we see one of many descriptions of how the people of
Judah did not listen to God. God speaks in verse 21 “I spoke to you in your
prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen’.” We can only imagine God’s
frustration with his children, similar to what parents today experience with
their own. But as evidence of God’s goodness and love for all, God sent his
son, Jesus, to help us listen. Jesus said, “Everyone who has listened to
the Father and learned from him comes to me.” (John 6:45b)
Jesus
Christ is the face of God. The children weren’t listening, so God sent
Jesus; as if to say, “Listen to me… look at my face!” This Lenten season
as we look at the face of Jesus on the cross, let’s listen.
Dianne
Schayot, Chancel
Choir, Alleluya
Ringers, New
Koinonia Class, United
Methodist Women
