Lent 2018 Devotional: Day Thirty-Nine

"Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover." --John 18:28

When Jesus' enemies take him to Pilate, they have no problem sending him to be killed. Instead, they are concerned with maintaining their own ritual purity, so that they may continue to attain the benefits that come with it (eating the Passover). To become "defiled" is to give up power. Jesus had no fear of impurity; he touched and healed lepers and welcomed all manner of people into the kingdom of God. Those in power fear the breaking of taboos, even to the point that killing those who challenge them is preferable.

But by Jesus' death, we are freed from this cycle of fear of defilement. By his sacrifice, Jesus opens the way for all to be drawn to him, to be healed, regardless of their public standing or apparent "defilement." The church is most the church when it recognizes this truth--when it welcomes, as Jesus did, the prostitute, the poor, the marginalized, the "dirty," fully into the kingdom of God. When the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Christ--opens the eyes of the "least of these," it is the duty of the church to welcome them home to God. To accept them as new members of the body, washed clean in their baptism. To offer their full gifts to God.

Are there any groups that your church does not see as fit for the kingdom of God? How is Jesus calling you to challenge this sinful separation? Who is Jesus calling you to welcome into the body of Christ?

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