The one who assumes my cause

Hear my prayer, O God;

Give ear to the words of my mouth. Psalm 54:2

 

Read Luke 16:1—9

Look at the shame this shrewd fellow avoids. He won’t dig. He won’t beg. He won’t give up his white-collar status. Better to turn to white-collar crime and hope to get away with it than descend to the depths. Anything is better than to be shown up. It’s about shame, shame, shame, and in a shame culture people will descend to any subterfuge rather than be shown up. In my case — I may be wrong — I think Jesus is getting my attention. ‘You see the lengths some people will go to to avoid exposure? What a lot of trouble! They’ll wheedle their way out of a pinch if they can. Now, about you, my dear one, let’s come clean. Surely it’s as important to you to be freed of complications, freed from shame, to let me own you fully, for you to own me in return, and not be trapped in unaffordable debts.’

 

Dear Lord, left to myself my life is so complex that I am trapped in my own schemes. But I am not left to myself. When I pray to you I come to the one who has assumed responsibility for me. You have not left me to pay my own debts, to justify myself, to restore my own reputation. All this is done because I have you. By the will of the Father you are my redeemer. You are my champion. You are my righteousness and my dignity and my delight. In you I am free.