Jesus is not a conductor punching tickets for a train ride to heaven. Christian hope is not about getting from earth to heaven, it’s about getting heaven to earth. Jesus is not a lawyer to get us out of a legal jam with an angry judge. God is not mad at sinners. Jesus told Mary to tell his disciples that his Father was their Father too! Jesus is not a banker making loans from his surplus righteousness. Modern people love economic metaphors, but these inevitably produce bad theology. Jesus is a gardener! A gardener cultivating resurrection life in all who will come to him. The conductor,
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