Borrowed

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea name Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.  He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.  Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb and went away.  Matthew 27:57-60

Jesus of Nazareth borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem.  He borrowed an upper room to have His last supper.  Jesus borrowed fishes and loaves to feed 5000 people.  He borrowed a coin to teach a lesson, He preached from borrowed boats and was born in a borrowed manger.  Jesus borrowed a cross to carry and was even laid to rest in a borrowed tomb.   

Why would the Creator of all things have to borrow anything?  He had no money, no assets, not even a place of His own to lay His head, and He died at just 33 years of age, this seems foolish!  Today in America being blessed means wealth and longevity, yet our blessed Savior had neither on this earth. “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.  He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.”   1 Cor.1:27

Throughout the entire Bible, we read of how God makes something out of nothing, just to show HE IS GOD!  Certainly, far from foolish, that’s power.  He makes beauty from ashes, He raises up the weak to make them strong, He makes the lame to walk, the deaf to hear and speak, sinners become saints, and the nobodies are somebodies in God’s eyes.  

So how should we respond?  Do we sell everything we own and live off of borrowed things like Jesus?  No, to be most like Jesus we, as followers of Christ, are to humble ourselves and love like Jesus did.  Love without hypocrisy, love without judgement, love without receiving, love without expecting.  We are to give, and when we give, lend like we are lending to Jesus.  From the marginalized, the forgotten, the helpless, the hopeless, the widowed, the destitute, the sinner and the saint, that is when we are most like Him!

“Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?”  James2:5

                                Kerri House