He Always Loves Us

by David Lins  |  02/03/2019  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

Years ago, I drove the best vehicle I ever owned. It was a used hunter green extended cab F150. I loved that truck. Thing was, I never noticed how many F150s were on the road until I owned one. Suddenly, they seemed to be everywhere. We tend to recognize the familiar.

The only reference to Jesus as a physician (“physician, heal thyself”) is in the Gospel of Luke, written by Luke who happened to be… wait for it… a physician. How many of us project whatever makes us comfortable on Jesus? What do we want? I’m sure he wanted it too!

Many see Jesus as being a single step shy of a full-fledged hippy. He’s all about love! (True.) He’s all about forgiveness! (True.) He didn’t judge. (Untrue.) The whole episode where Jesus took his time making a whip and flipping tables in an effort to drive corrupt from the temple was just an outlier. (Also untrue.)

In Luke 4, Jesus gives his first sermon in his hometown. He warned them in a very blunt way that they were in trouble. He brought up the stories ofElijah from 1 Kings 17 and Elisha from 2 Kings 5. When he did, his hometown quickly ceased cheering him and decided they wanted to kill him. Why? They wereboth stories of the people of God who were so messed up, that the blessing went to pagans instead.

To recap: Jesus went to his hometown and said, (paraphrasing here) “You are so messed up in every way that if you don’t make some changes, nonbelievers will receive more blessings than you.”

Let’s be clear: Jesus doesn’t always approve of our actions and he doesn’t always give us what we want, but he always loves us and he always gives us what we need.

Questions? Comments? Email David at dlins@oloj.org.