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haring the love and generosity of the Divine with those gathered around him, a group of Pastors and Elders from local churches heard what he was doing, so they came by to demanded his credentials.<\/p>\n
As they approached, they tried to shout Jesus down and cause the crowd to turn against him, \u201cWhat Seminary did you attend? Give us the names of your Professors. What theological tradition do you follow? What Denomination are you ordained with? Which Denomination holds your papers? Show us your paper work, proving you\u2019re qualified to preach.\u201d Jesus smiled and kept talking with those around him about the amazing love of the Divine. But the Pastors and Elders wouldn\u2019t stop asking for his credentials. Finally, Jesus stopped and looked at them and said, \u201cReally? You want proof? I tell you want, I\u2019ll ask you\u00a0a\u00a0simple little question, and if you answer it for me I\u2019ll gladly tell you what you desire to know; deal?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pastor and Elders looked at each other and agreed, \u201cDeal\u201d they said.\u00a0So, Jesus sat down on the steps\u00a0in front of a house\u00a0and said, \u201cLet\u2019s start with a little background information. Do you remember John, that guy who went around baptizing people in the river?\u201d<\/p>\n
They looked at him and said, \u201cSure, we remember John.\u201d \u201cPerfect.\u201d Jesus replied. \u201cSince you remember John, let me ask you the question, \u2018Where did John get his authority?\u2019\u00a0What\u00a0Denomination gave him permission to speak, or was it the Divine?\u201d<\/p>\n
They looked at each other and darted off\u00a0around the other side of the house to talk\u00a0over the possibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we say John received permission from a particular Denomination,\u00a0we are going to be in hot water with those who are not part of that particular Denomination. Everyone sees John as a great voice of the Divine, no matter their particular Denomination.\u201d said one group of Elders and Pastors. Another group said,\u00a0\u201cIf we say that John received permission from the Divine, Jesus will say something like, \u2018Than why are you questioning me?\u2019 No matter how we answer this question, we\u2019re screwed.\u201d\u00a0After a few minutes, they came back from around the house, Jesus was laughing with those around him. Jesus welcomed them back with a hug,\u00a0and kind words.\u00a0Jesus looked at them and asked\u00a0if they could answer his question.\u00a0They looked at each other and answered the question as any good Pastors or Elder would, they said, \u201cWe\u2019re not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus smiled, and sitting back on the steps\u00a0said, \u201cThere you go; now I don\u2019t have to answer your questions.\u201d The Pastors and Elders looked confused. Jesus started to laugh because he understand their confusion. The Pastors and Elders were not happy about Jesus laughing, so\u00a0Jesus said, \u201cLet me see if I can help you figure this out.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, Jesus\u00a0told a story, \u201cThere was a hard working single Mom with\u00a0two children, an older Son and a younger Daughter. One day, the Mother was running late for a Doctor\u2019s appointment, but\u00a0she needed to open her store. She looked at her Daughter and said, \u2018Honey, I\u2019m running late for my Doctor\u2019s appointment, can you please run over and open the store?\u2019 The Daughter looked at her and said, \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to. I have other things to do.\u2019 The Mother was disappointed, so she\u00a0turned to her Son and said, \u2018I have to run to the Doctor, can you please open the store.\u2019 The Son replied, \u201cSure Mom, I got this. Don\u2019t worry.\u201d But the Son didn\u2019t go and open the store, he just went back to playing his video games. Soon, the Daughter started to rethink what she told her Mother. She decided to grab the keys, head over to the store, and open it for her Mother.\u201d Jesus looked at the Pastors and Elders, and he noticed the confusion on their faces. Jesus smiled, and added,\u00a0\u201cThe question becomes, which of her children did the right thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pastors and Elders thought about it for a few seconds and answered, \u201cThe Daughter.\u201d Jesus looked at them and said, \u201cPerfect answer; it was the Daughter. She did what the Mother asked, even thou she refused at first. You see, the Divine is more concerned with those society has pushed to the margins, the hurting, the homeless, the broken, the misguided, those you wouldn\u2019t touch to save your life. In fact, I will tell you right now; those people will be in the presences of the Divine long before you. You see, John came to make a path for me, kind of set my journey out on an open road. You didn\u2019t believe in him, you still can\u2018t figure out who he was, or who sent him, or even why it matters. But these people, the\u00a0hurting, the homeless, the broke, the misguided, the marginalized, people you would not even give the time of day, knew John and who sent him; they are the Daughter, doing what the Divine asks of them, even though they refused at first. You simply ignored the Divine, and play your games. Incase you\u2019re wondering, you\u2019re the Son.\u00a0You were asked by the Divine to care for these, and you told the\u00a0Divine you would, but you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on Matthew 21:23\u201332<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Jesus was s haring the love and generosity of the Divine with those gathered around him, a group of Pastors and Elders from local churches heard what he was doing, so they came by to demanded his credentials. As they approached, they tried to shout Jesus down and cause the crowd to turn against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2697,"featured_media":656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,11,13,19],"tags":[33,38,40,50,56,59,61],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-grace","category-love","category-new-parable","category-story","tag-church","tag-discernment","tag-evangelism","tag-grace","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-mercy"],"yoast_head":"\n