OCT. 17, 2013
Barrier-Free
Love
Read: Matthew
23:37-39
O Jerusalem . . . ! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not
willing! —Matthew
23:37
Not
long ago I heard the distressed chirping of a bird coming from the side of my
neighbor’s house. I discovered that a nest of baby birds was inside a vent
covered by a screen, placing a barrier between the mother bird who was trying
to feed her hungry chicks. After I told the neighbors, they removed the screen
and took the nest and chicks to a safe place to be cared for.
Few
things are as heartbreaking as a barrier to love. Christ, the long-awaited
Messiah of Israel, experienced a barrier to His love when His chosen people
rejected Him. He used the word picture of a hen and her baby chicks to describe
their unwillingness to receive it: “O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem . . . ! How often I wanted to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were
not willing!” (Matt. 23:37).
Our
sin is a barrier that separates us from God (Isa. 59:2). But “God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus took care of the
barrier to God’s love by His sacrificial death on the cross and His
resurrection (Rom. 5:8-17; 8:11). Now He longs for us to experience His love
and accept this gift.
My heart is stirred whene’er I think of Jesus,
That blessed Name that sets the captive free;
The only Name through which I find salvation,
No name on earth has meant so much to me. —Eliason
Through His cross, Jesus rescues and redeems.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
