Monday: They Cared with Prodigal Love
WEEK 40
MONDAY
THEY CARED WITH PRODIGAL LOVE
Matthew 27:3-4
We are studying in the mastery of non-caring. When Judas threw down the thirty pieces of silver before the high priests and cried that he had sinned in betraying innocent blood, they replied with a sneer, “What is that to us? That’s your problem” (Matt 27:4). Sin doesn’t care. The Christian does.
In Acts 27, in the account of the shipwreck, the sailors attempted to get off in a boat to save themselves, leaving the passengers to perish. Paul thwarted their attempt, thus saving the whole company and the sailors. He cared about everybody, for he was a Christian.
This spirit of caring runs through all of Acts as an undertone. They cared for the sick, and healed them. They cared for the guilt-laden, and preached good news to them. They cared for enemies, and prayed for them and loved them. They cared for slaves, and freed them. They cared for the outcasts, and brought dignity to them. They cared for the alien, and made family of them. They cared for those of another color, and brought them into a kingdom that was colorblind. They cared for the unclean, and loved them into cleanness, wholeness, and fellowship. They cared with prodigal love. They knew the truth of these lines:
Say not that in life’s flow and ebb
Your brother need not your behoof;
For in this wondrous human web,
Through his life’s warp runs your life’s woof.
And if it’s good, or if it’s bad,
Both you and he are in the loom,
For fair or foul, for sad or glad;
You both will share a common tomb.*
Only they changed that and made everyone share, not a common tomb, but a common glory. They didn’t merge themselves downward to humanity; they got people to come up to them in God. They shared what they had—God. And that infused hope and life into the withered views of hopeless people. This shower of caring went over parched souls and bodies, and in its wake spring up life and hope.
O Jesus, you are the Divine Refreshing, and you bring times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, for you are the Infinite Caring. We thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: In a loveless situation I shall love, and where needed most shall love most.
*Lorin Webster, “The Web of Life,” Chips from a Busy Workshop (Boston: Gorham Press, 1919), 51.