Mar 30, 2014
Big Idea: Jesus identifies with us in our human condition to accept, forgive, and heal us.
You have probably heard it before. It is a saying commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette, the Austrian princess who became queen of France after marrying Louis the 16th. Legend says that when she was informed that her subjects, the French peasants, were starving because they had no bread, she naively answered, "Let them eat cake!"
She has come to symbolize a person who is spoiled and privileged, and out of touch with common people and everyday life-like a queen who would assume that someone who has run out of bread could eat cake instead.
It is a common failing of the rich and powerful. Someone who has been raised in a wealthy family may have trouble understanding what it is like to work hard and still not be able to make ends meet.
Politicians and presidents are sometimes lampooned because they don’t know how to use a grocery store scanner, or because they're caught without cash in a sandwich shop. And then there's the rest of us. We get an overdraft notice or a shutoff notice, and we wonder if there’s anyone who really knows how bad that feels. Someone treats us like dirt, and we sense there’s no one else who truly understands how that feels. We doubt ourselves, disappoint ourselves, and think that no one could possibly identify with us. If any of that is close to what it feels like to be you, you are not alone today. In fact, you couldn’t be less alone because of what God has to say to you through His Word today.
Today we begin a series of messages and worship experiences called "Who Do You Say That I Am?"