JACKIE SMALLBONES
  • Home
  • LIVE THE STORY
    • READING the BIBLE for all YOU’RE WORTH
    • READING the BIBLE TOGETHER for all its WORTH
    • Tell me a story and put me in it
  • Read Your Bible
    • Lent and Easter 2022
    • Lent 2022 Introduction
    • Advent 2021
  • Spiritual Practices
    • SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
    • RETREATS >
      • Next Retreat Date
      • Personal Retreat
  • Sacred Sagas
    • Smallbones Saga 2021
    • You just need to be thirsty
    • Power the Jesus' Way
    • Response to Jan 6
    • Binding the Strong Man
    • Come, everything is ready
    • Help my Unbelief (Mk 9:14-29)
    • Off with your shoes
    • Psalms and prayer
    • Praying in Ugly Times
    • The Messiah we Want
    • They have no wine
    • Why I can't vote for Trump
    • Worship & Discipleship
  • About Me
  • Contact

4th Friday in Lent, April 1.  “Receive the kingdom as a little child”

3/31/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Prepare to Listen.  Still your inner noises then pray: Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 18:15-17
15People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it.  16But Jesus called for them and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.  17Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Jesus came, Mary sang, to bring down the powerful and lift up the lowly (Lk 1:52).  Children are among the lowly.  They're weak, vulnerable, often exploited by unscrupulous adults.  They represent the bottom of the social and economic scale.  They have no power.  They are the lowly Christ came to lift up.  Jesus’ disciples, in this scene, represent the powerful as they “sternly ordered” the parents to stop bothering Jesus.
 
Jesus was quick to bring down the powerful, his disciples, with a sharp rebuke, “Let the little children come to me.”  And he was quick to lift up the lowly, saying, “it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”  To children, and to all the lowly, those at the bottom of the economic and social scale; those exploited by the greedy powerful; to all the disenfranchised and marginalized no matter how old, to such belongs the kingdom of God.
 
It was shocking to advance the lowly, such as children, as examples of who is in and who is out of the kingdom.  But this is Jesus’ social program, the way of the kingdom.  In him the powerful have been brought down and the lowly have been raised up.  And we, who claim to be followers of Jesus, are expected to live this way, becoming vulnerable, siding with the least of the least.  Because, said Jesus, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
 
Prayerfully Reflect
Who are the lowly among you and how could you lift them up?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord Jesus, you came for the least and you want me to be on their side, giving up my power.  Teach me how to receive your kingdom as a child, in humility and vulnerability.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Side with the lowly.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I began reading my Bible when I was 8 years old.  I loved it then (albeit didn't understand much) and I still love reading and studying it.  I may understand a little more but I keep learning new stuff, seeing things I missed for years.  This journey with Luke during Lent has been another new learning experience for me, deepening my relationship with Jesus.  I pray it will do the same for you.

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Books Available

Picture
SEE MORE BOOKS
Picture

RETREAT OPTIONS

Picture
SEE RETREATS
Picture
Contact Jackie Smallbones
Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their STORY
(Psalm 107:2 (TNIV))
© 2016 LiveIntoBeauty. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • LIVE THE STORY
    • READING the BIBLE for all YOU’RE WORTH
    • READING the BIBLE TOGETHER for all its WORTH
    • Tell me a story and put me in it
  • Read Your Bible
    • Lent and Easter 2022
    • Lent 2022 Introduction
    • Advent 2021
  • Spiritual Practices
    • SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
    • RETREATS >
      • Next Retreat Date
      • Personal Retreat
  • Sacred Sagas
    • Smallbones Saga 2021
    • You just need to be thirsty
    • Power the Jesus' Way
    • Response to Jan 6
    • Binding the Strong Man
    • Come, everything is ready
    • Help my Unbelief (Mk 9:14-29)
    • Off with your shoes
    • Psalms and prayer
    • Praying in Ugly Times
    • The Messiah we Want
    • They have no wine
    • Why I can't vote for Trump
    • Worship & Discipleship
  • About Me
  • Contact