The Tender Christ
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-17
Meditation
A widow. A tax collector. Crying babies.
They’re different and yet they’re the same. Though they’re from different social classes, at different stages and ages of life, with different circumstances and needs—they’re all the same.
They’re vulnerable.
She’s defenseless. He’s broken. And the babies are helpless. But each of them needs the touch of the Tender Christ.
The widow needs the Tender Christ’s favorable fist of justice.
She’s just lost a loved one. She’s mourning. She’s alone. Added to the grief and the loneliness is the burden of an adversary. Worse, she has no advocate. As she struggles with her adversary, no one stands next to her. No one speaks up for her. No one fights on her behalf.
“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ ”
The unjust judge looks away from the widow’s plea. He doesn’t care if some adversary is taking advantage of her. It’s not his responsibility to be her advocate. She cries,
“Grant me justice!”
Annoyed, he orders,
“Get her out!”
But when people have nowhere else to go, they don’t go away. They stay put. They persist. They sit where they are until they’re heard. Finally, the judge grants her request. It’s not because she’s won him over but because she’s worn him out.
Jesus assures his disciples that if an unjust judge with a cast iron heart and an iron fist breaks down and gives justice to a persistent widow, how much more will the soft heart and the favorable fist of the Father bring about justice?
“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”
The tax collectors of the world need the Tender Christ’s touch of grace.
For the tax collector, the exposure of his sin brings humiliation, brokenness, and alienation. Others stand upright in the temple, praying pious prayers and pointing to him as an example of what they are not. As they look at him, they look down.
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ ”
But the Tender Christ will not break this “bruised reed” and he will not blow out this “smoldering wick”. (Isaiah 42:3)
Instead, he binds up and ignites. The tax collector’s cry for mercy is answered with the tender touch of grace. Once he was the downcast one in the corner, standing at a distance, humiliated and broken over his sin. Now, he is the exalted one, lifted up by the hand of grace.
The babies and children of the world need the Tender Christ’s welcoming wave. They’re the helpless ones and needy ones. They’re the littlest. Because they’re the littlest, they tend to get looked over in a crowd. The world assumes that the biggest people have the biggest needs and the littlest people have the smallest needs.
In a crowd, where there is an important man and eternal things being discussed, the disciples think that there’s no time for these little ones. After all, the little ones make the biggest mess. They generate the greatest amount of noise. And they require the largest amount of work.
“People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ ”
The Tender Christ doesn’t want the little ones to be kept away. He waves his hand, welcomes them with a smile, open arms, and pats on their heads. As they come, he blesses them.
The kingdom belongs to the “little ones”.
When the world looks away from the pleas of a widow, looks down on the sin of a tax collector, or looks past the needs of the “littlest ones”, the Tender Christ responds. He reaches down, opens his hand, and gives a tender touch.
His fist is justice.
His touch is forgiveness.
The wave of his hand is blessing.
Prayer
Father,
Your Son has strong hands.
He raised his hands and storms were stilled. He opened his hands and thousands were fed. He stretched out his hands and the sick were healed and the dead were raised.
Strong hands.
But your Son also has soft hands.
He’s the one who wipes the tears off the face of the widow. He’s the one who bends down, forgives, and lifts up the spiritually broken. He’s the one who calls the little children, sits them on his lap, and pats their head as he blesses them.
Soft hands.
Into a tough world you gave to us a Tender Christ. When others look away from our plea, look down on our sin, or look past our need, your Son looks over us. He welcomes us like little children, extends his tender hand, and touches our lives with his justice, forgiveness, and blessing.
During this day, I want to experience the touch of the Tender Christ.
As I struggle with an unfair adversary, I want to know the favorable fist of my Christ’s justice. In the brokenness of my sin, I want to know the healing of his grace. In the rebuke of the crowd, I want to see the welcoming wave of his blessing hand.
In his tender name I pray. Amen
Reflection
In what way have you been treated like the widow? How have people looked the other way and left you defenseless?
In what way have you been treated like the tax collector? How have people looked down on you because of your sin and left you without grace?
In what way have you been treated like the little children? How have people looked past you and left you helpless?
How has the Tender Christ touched your life with justice? Forgiveness? Blessing?
All Scripture references in the meditation are marked by italics and are taken from the Gospel reading for the day (Luke 18:1-17). Those verses quoted outside of the chosen reading for the day are noted in parenthesis. All Scripture quoted on this site is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
