Be Available 9-07-08

“B” – Our Theme for the next few weeks

I’m not talk about hepatitis B, Aunt B, or Killer B’s, BB King, Beyonce or Scooby dooby do, not R&B, a B&B or the B52’s. No not, Barbie, or that deer Bambi. Not a beacon of light, not a bebop artist. We will not be discussing how you can, “Be all that you can be”, beefeaters, beepers or Beanie Babies. No not beer guts, bbq or the BBC news. Not BF Goodrich, B movies, Vitamin B, the B&O Railroad, or your next B-day celebration. I would like for you to receive, though, a degree, a B.A., in what it means to be…be what? you ask. Our nature is to do…but I ask for you to consider "being".

Be Available - 9-07-08
Be Comforted - 9-14-08
Be Committed - 9-21-08
Be Decisive - 9-28-08
Be Determined - 10-5-08
Be Obedient - 10-12-08
Be Patient - 10-19-08
Be Satisfied - 10-26-08
Be Skillful - 11-02-08
Be Strong - 11-09-08
Be Holy , while Being Human - 11-16-08
What does Jesus Christ have to say about these B’s? That’s what we will discuss.


Week 1 - Be Available - I’m not talking about being obtainable, accessible and ready for use or service, no, I asking for you to consider being open, ready and willing for heart change. I am asking for your heart to be available for reconstruction.
Prayer: for the weeks to come and hearts to be open to Jesus.

Love and Justice meet at the Cross of Christ. There, Jesus hangs with outstretched arms, aching for a prodigal (extravagantly wasteful) world to return to him.

There are three crosses on this day of crucifixion, not just one. There is Jesus, but there are also two thieves being crucified who hang with him, one to the left and one to the right.

Both we are told, are thieves, of what? We have no idea. But there crime is great enough to warrant the cross of death. Teetering between life and death, between Heaven and Hell.

Teetering, One thief hurls insults at Jesus and the other thief reaches out to Jesus in faith and says, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” These words were the last kind words spoken to Jesus before he died, spoken not by a religious leader, nor by a disciple or even his mother, but by a common thief.

But this is not the whole story. This is the account of the interaction between Jesus and the thieves in the book of Luke, but if we take a look at the book of Matthew we see a different perspective of the same story.

Read Matthew 27:38-44
Read Luke 23:32-43

What is going on? Is this a contradiction in the Bible? Did we find a mistake? No, on both accounts. Then what? I believe that we have two different perspectives of the same story and two different reasons for writing and retelling the story for the audiences of which each book was written. But more importantly we found a nugget of hope in the Bible meant for us to find. We found a heart being available.

Something happened to this thief.

He met the eyes of Christ.

Some say the Eyes are the pathway to the heart.

In those eyes the thief saw no hatred, no condemnation, no judgment, He saw only one thing…forgiveness.

Do you remember Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Maybe the thief saw what Peter writes about later in the Bible about this moment.

"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." - 1 Peter 2:21-23

Just before Jesus died, he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

This is what the Thief saw. Then he knows he is face to face with a dying God.

His heart was changed because his heart was available even when he was on his death bed. More importantly, when Jesus is faced with an Available heart, salvation, paradise is given freely.