What does to minister love and grace mean – I guess it could be seen a snappy soundbite that goes with the other Ms in the series

Yet each one of us is called to minister – in the places we find ourselves throughout the week as scattered church. Often we think that we minister in church – it’s a rather churchy word – he’s gone into the ministry – it makes it feel a bit like it’s something ordained folk do– but I would propose that each of us as part of our Christian discipleship is called to minister.

 If we think that minister means this

minister(verb)

attend to the wants and needs of others –

The choice of both wants and needs is interesting but the other in this definition is not defined.

The parable of the Good Samaritan begins with the questioner trying to define who the other is – who is the neighbour that I am called to love and show grace to.

Jesus response was to say that our neighbour is the one we encounter. By using the man from Samaria Jesus was deliberately using someone who was considered outside – but the Samaritan wasn’t used as the example of the one who we need to show love to – rather he was used as the one who teaches us what it means to love our neighbour and who our neighbour is

The Samaritan attended to the needs and wants of the man who had been attacked where others looked to ignore. Those who ignored the man perhaps for good reason, it was inconvenient and awkward to stop, but the man from Samaria ministered love and grace in the location he found himself in. It didn’t appear he set out to go into ministry that day – he didn’t complete a training course on how to show love and grace – he was going about his day and saw the need – there was no badge – no licence – no title – there was simply a man who saw the need of his neighbour and met it. A man who ministered love and grace.

Jesus final statement to the lawyer who asked the question about who his neighbour was, was to go and do likewise – this was a challenge because it made the him question how he saw things – showing love and grace was not and is not an optional extra for followers of Jesus where we can pick and choose how we show it and who we show it to.

What are the challenges that we find this week as we are called to go and do likewise? On our frontlines this week how is it a challenge – are we too busy, too worried to notice those who God is calling us to minister to. Are we expectant that God will provide us with chances – it can be that this occurs, but we aren’t expectant? Perhaps we don’t see we are called to minister – it may be in the shops – noticing the other – in our families – as we encounter those we work for or with. It will probably not look like the situation that encountered the Good Samaritan, but it is the calling to notice those we encounter and see those as God sees them – loved and precious

Love doesn’t have to, grace doesn’t have to – but they do – the reason Jesus does what He does for each of us is not because He has to but because love and grace and obedience to the Father’s will compels Him. Jesus is our example and he ministered love and grace to all he encountered and calls us to do the same

On our frontline this week may we follow His calling and minister love and grace