And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent. – Luke 20:20-26

This morning I’m struggling to pack a lot of detail into a busy day. At the same time, I’m conscious that this is “Holy Week,” and I want to be deliberate about living with a conscious awareness of what it means, so that I won’t stumble into Good Friday and Easter weekend without fully engaging this critical moment in the story of redemption.

Essentially, after Jesus rode into Jerusalem to such excitement and acclaim, every situation highlighted the stark contrast between “The New and Living Way” and “Business as Usual.”

Bottom line, Jesus was disruptive to the way of life that characterized First Century Jerusalem. The uneasy balance, the walking on eggshells peace, the brutal reality of the Pax Romana, the relentless religious code that not only gave the Jews their identity as a people but kept them at rules-length from God.

Jesus stood in the market, the temple, the busy streets, the gathering places; he sat at people’s tables, the places of teaching, under the shade of a tree; and he poured himself out over those last days, teaching, observing, healing, listening… being.

So I’m wondering out loud here, with you – my readers – looking over my shoulder; how does Jesus disrupt my business as usual? How should Jesus disrupt my day-to-day life?

It’s already Tuesday; but there’s still time. I’m inviting you – all of us – to be a radical for the next few days. But here’s the twist: Don’t be radically political… or radically loud in your “witnessing;” don’t be obnoxious for Jesus… Instead try being radically kind, exorbitantly generous, prodigiously loving, enormously humble, outrageously peaceful, boundlessly self-sacrificing, extraordinarily submissive – radically like Jesus.

Instead try being radically kind, exorbitantly generous, prodigiously loving, enormously humble, outrageously peaceful, boundlessly self-sacrificing, extraordinarily submissive – radically like Jesus.

Let love be your guide this week. Fall in love with Jesus, and become a prodigious witness to mercy and grace.

– In love, and because of love – DEREK