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| The Wednesday I went to Portugal |
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I spent last Thursday evening engaged in one my favorite activities, hanging out with a cadre of young folks at RFC United (a.k.a, Youth Group). I had to rush from the airport to get there in time, you see just the night before I made a brief trip to Portugal...
Thursday night began with the clip from " Finger of God" movie where the young man from Africa is giving his testimony about being raised from the dead. The story goes (if you haven't seen it - and I'd have to ask why?!?) that one night while he was greeting guests at their meeting hall, four men approached him and began to beat him. The told him they came to beat him to death, and they left having apparently succeeded. But while the man's body lay in a hospital, his church family prayed, and the man returned to life! The only words he spoke that night were, "Forgive them." The next day, as he lay recovering, the police contacted the church - they had detained one of the four men and wanted someone to come press charges, but the church refused, saying they had forgiven the assailant.
At that moment, the young man in the hospital was miraculously, completely healed!!! He then went to the police station to insist that his attacker be released. As you can imagine, this created quite a stir! You don't just forgive a murderer and insist he be set free! (Tho I wonder how easy it would have been to convict the man of murder since the victim was no longer dead, but I digress). Did these people not understand the law?!? I believe they did, and they lived accordingly.
This week we've been reading from the beginning of John 9, where the disciples are questioning Jesus about the cause of a beggar's blindness. Sin and punishment, cause and effect, these are the laws they clung too - who's sin caused the man to be blind? They've missed the point, says Jesus. There's a greater law - a law that says Jesus heals the blind, gives life to the dead, forgives sin. That Sabbath morning a blind beggar awoke to yet another day of darkness, oblivious that THIS day he would run smack into the Kingdom of God and all the rules would be broken - he would leave healed!
So what did all this mean to me this week? Well, Wednesday I went to Portugal. Okay, I didn't actually GO to Portugal, but I DID stand on Portuguese soil. You see while I was in Washington DC, I went for a walk with a friend down Embassy Row. We stopped at the Embassy of Portugal, walking up the driveway to check out the sign. And in so doing, we technically crossed into the territory of Portugal! You see, under international law, diplomatic missions enjoy extraterritorial status -- they are exempt from local law and are in almost all respects treated as being part of the territory of the home country (see Wikipedia).
So, Wednesday I touched Portugal. And technically, when I did, all the laws changed. Just like the day a dead man was raised, a murderer was set free and a blind man was healed! They touched the Kingdom of God, and all the laws changed!
The law of the kingdom of the world says an eye for an eye. The law of the Kingdom of God says forgive and you will be forgiven! The law of the kingdom of the world says that death is final. The law of the Kingdom of God says that Jesus has overcome sin and death! When Jesus encounters the blind beggar, He teaches the disciples what should happen when citizens of the world encounter the Kingdom of God -- all the laws change -- blind eyes see, dead men live and sins are forgiven!
You see we ARE the Kingdom of God in the midst of the kingdom of the world. Under spiritual law, our mission too is given extraterritorial status -- we are in the world, not of it. We are embassies in a foreign country. All around us the laws of the kingdom of the world may prevail, but within us, the laws of the Kingdom of God RULE! And when citizens of the world run into us, they are running into the Kingdom of God! We have the sanctuary they seek, the provision they need, the power to overturn the laws of the kingdom of the world!
Just call me Ambassador...
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| To add a comment to "The Wednesday I went to Portugal" |
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| January 27, 2008 |
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| wow girl this is so true! i hope you had a wonderful time on your little endeavor. i love you. |
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| January 27, 2008 |
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| KAREN...... I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!! |
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| January 28, 2008 |
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| Preach it, Sister! |
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| January 29, 2008 |
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| This is awesome and another insightful way to help us "change our thinking" so that we can know what "world" we really operate out of. I love this post! Thanks! |
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| February 05, 2008 |
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| That was awesome! |
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