Jesus in the Neighborhood

One of the concerns a family has when they contemplate moving to a home in a new location is, “What is the neighborhood like?” It is important who will be living next door and across the street. They ask about the schools and churches and shopping, parking and safety and drainage. The neighborhood matters to the new family.

What the new family may not think about is that the neighborhood is checking them out too! Will the newcomers keep their grass mowed? Will they be quiet after 10:00 p.m.? Will they park in front of their house instead of mine? The neighborhood matters a great deal to the folks who are already there too!

“The Word [the Son of God] became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son.” (John 1:14, emphasis mine) When Jesus came to our “neighborhood,” the world, He wasn’t just checking it out to see if He wanted to stay here. He had already decided that He would live among us and die for us, although the people “next door and across the street” were a mix of good and bad and really, really bad.

The neighborhood was checking Him out too. The Son of God? “I don’t think so.” And so most people didn’t believe. But still there was that glory, one-of-a-kind, and love and mercy like no one had seen before. So some did believe."

A loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we'll move right into the neighborhood!” (John 14:23, emphasis mine) If we love Jesus and obey His words, He and the Father will move in with us—now that is truly unbelievable! What a difference it can make if Jesus lives on the street where we live. That doesn’t make all the problems go away, doesn’t fix broken curbs or run-down vacant lots. But if a loveless world is without sight, that must mean that a world with love in it can see. If Jesus lives at your address and mine, then there is at least that much love and light. We lament the troubled state of affairs in our world and perhaps in our own communities. But don’t spend all your time grieving. Let Jesus move into the neighborhood.

Old Chinese proverb say: "Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness."

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com