Signature Assignment

Signature Assignment: Where to Serve?

I remember my grandmother explaining who Jesus was to me when I was a child. I wasn’t too sure about the details, but I knew that Jesus was who I should pray to when I was scared. I knew he offered some kind of protection. My grandmother made sure I attended Catholic mass every Sunday and completed eleven years of catechism. As I grew older, I knew that Jesus was the son of God and died for our sins on a cross. In catechism we memorized the prayers, but I never explored the bible for more than its literal context. As an adult I strayed away from my Catholic upbringing and began to look for something more. I fed my spiritual needs by entering into a more intimate personal relationship with Jesus. I began

In the U.S., more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year (PBS, 2009). Fresno is no exception. Fresno has one of the fastest growing homeless populations in the state. Jesus would be supportive of his followers helping the poor and homeless. If Jesus was directly involved in this avenue of service we would expect him to divinely provide the food for those who were in need. He very well might react in this way. But, miraculously providing food for the hungry doesn’t fix the reason why they are hungry in the first place. The uneven balance between the wealthy and the poor, the prison of drug abuse, and mental illness are the real issues. Jesus speaks against the lust of money and greed, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 (NLT). Jesus makes it clear that having the wrong treasures leads to our hearts being in the wrong place. Instead, Jesus calls for our life to be a reflection of the love of God. Jesus exclaims, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:16(NLT). In The Upside-Down Kingdom Kraybill describes the poor in the bible as the members of society that were oppressed. These are the first people Jesus shares the Good News with in Nazareth. “They are the down-and-outers, the outcasts who can’t defend themselves. Living on the fringe of society, they depend on the mercy of the powerful” (Kraybill, 2011). It is these outcasts of society that suffer on a daily basis. Jesus himself was a suffering servant. In this context is how Jesus expects us to serve one