Day 34: Outside the Gates
Passage: Hebrews 13:12-15
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

Just before the armies of Babylon arrived, Jerusalem was happy in their comfort zone; the walled city; and they didn’t feel the need to uphold or share the Law they had been given. They became insular, greedy, and distrusting of anyone that wasn’t them. And only when God smashed their very foundations were they forced to live among those they had despised, those whom they had hated, those whom they didn’t know.

As humans, we tend to construct a city for ourselves, a city made up of us and ours, with walls and gates built not as a sanctuary for those who seek life, but as a bunker for those we think deserve to live. But when the city, shelter, bunker is threatened, then that illusion of a calm haven is shattered. We fall into despair, or worse, lash out and fight to protect what’s ours. We are just plain scared by what might lie outside of our comfort zones beyond the gates of our lives. We forget that the people who we might not like or don’t agree with are also made in the image of God, sinners just like the rest of us.

In Hebrews 13:12-15, apostle Paul tells us that Jesus suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem in order to set apart a people through his sacrifice, which means that we should willingly suffer for His sake since we are not citizens of our own cities, but of the city of God.

Jesus suffered outside the gate by hanging on the cross and died. He was buried and raised to life by his Father in order that we might become heirs to his Kingdom, his everlasting city. Through Christ, we might be able to live forever with His Father as our Father, as co-heirs of Jesus’ inheritance. We must deconstruct the city we have built on our own and get to know the people around us outside our city walls. Befriend them and bless them because it is an opportunity for you to encounter Christ in the world. Be around them, get to know them, learn to love them.

Because only by suffering with people, those outside the gates of your city, will you see Jesus Christ and offer people hope, peace, and joy.