What a kiss!


It is my favourite series of parables—Luke 15.  Three stories of being found.

The Lost Sheep is found.

The Lost Coin is found.

The Lost Son is welcomed home.


You might recall the great text of the younger son coming to his senses: Luke 15:17-20 (NIV) “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.


He came to his senses and decided to head back home and ask his father for a job.  It seemed reasonable to him, after all; he messes up pretty badly.  While he was a long way off, his father, apparently looking and waiting for him, sees him. Luke 15:20 (NIV) “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.


Imagine the scene.  Stinky, emaciated, dirty son comes home, and father runs and kisses him!

What a kiss!


“Christ is the kiss of God given to all humanity, indeed to the entire universe.  It is a physical embrace, not withheld as a future reward for a life well lived, but an embrace that interrupts the trajectory of human history.”  Vincent Pizzuto;  Contemplating Christ:  The Gospels and the Interior Life p 73


Has your life been interrupted with a Kiss?  Maybe a series of Kisses?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breath Prayers

    Abba — I belong to you. Be still and know that I am God. Come, Lord Jesus — come. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Holy one—heal me. Holy Wisdom—guide me. I belong to YOU, LORD! Jesus be the Centre. Jesus —let me feel your love. Jesus, lead me into joy. Know that Jesus is Lord—cease striving. Lead me, LORD, I will follow. Lord Jesus Christ —be formed in me. Lord Jesus Christ, Thou son of God .   Have mercy on me. May God be merciful—and bless me. May God ’ s face smile with favour on me. O LORD, show me Your way. Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening. The LORD is my Shepherd—I shall not want Compiled by Peter W Cusick Beside Peaceful Streams 
Read more

Learning to hate your sin

Image
   John 5:13-15 (NLT) 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.   Lord give me grace, power, and effort to maintain a resilience against sin.  Sin is ALWAYS a dark path. It ALWAYS pays wages.  The wage of sin is death.  Sin will always hurt, always destroy, always wound—you, relationships, stuff, goals, etc.  It is a killer.  It is a wound-er.  It is a consumer of all that is healthy, strong, good, and perfect. Learn to hate sin. Learn to fear sin. Learn to run as fast as you can away from sin. Search deeply for hidden sin. Be disgusted with your sin.  Repent, repent, repent daily for your sin. Be afraid of your sin. Be petrified of your sin. Be worried ab...
Read more

R.I.P

Image
About a week ago I had breakfast with a dear friend of mine who is a missionary in Russia.  He told me the following interesting story. His daughter was involved in street evangelism in Russia.  She, along with other youth, carried clipboards and were doing surveys.  One of the questions they asked was this: “Do you believe in heaven and hell, and if so, where will you spend eternity.”  Ninety-five percent of the people interviewed responded along these lines:  ‘Yes I believe in heaven and hell!  I will spend eternity in hell because I am such an awful sinner.’ Now this same daughter moved to Canada and organized the same kind of outreach doing the same thing, asking the same question:  “Do you believe in heaven and hell, and if so, where will you spend eternity.”  Ninety-five percent of the people interviewed responded along these lines:  ‘Yes I believe in heaven and hell!  I will spend eternity in heaven because I am a go...
Read more