June 5th

“Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” Luke 10:25

whether with a scroll
or using our tablet,
we want to test this
itinerant preacher
with the same question,
‘what must i do?’
do we really think
God’s love is ink
in the lines on a ledger,
or that grace is confined
to very narrow margins?
do we imagine we
will be pinned like butterflies
in some divine display case
on the other side of life?
so, pay attention,
because Jesus, with that
always irritating patience
simply takes our question
and tosses it like the chaff it is,
scattering our always
irritating need to somehow
earn
what is simply a gift.

© 2025 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman