Responsibility

West Wing, Season 5. Leo claims that he and his friend had the duty to act with integrity and responsibility on behalf of the men that died to save him and his friend from their situation; being stranded in a jungle in the middle of a war.

Duty. Integrity. Responsibility. If I was told to be a better person because someone died being better than me (sound familiar) I don't think it would work. Look at him...your turn! He was the best at loving people. Now you've seen Him love people, you must. Now you've seen Him look after the poor, the sick, the dying, the outcast, the lost; you must.

An undying message that because he did I really should. Only that doesn't help me. It generally brings me to despair. Of course if I'm meeting the standards being represented, it doesn't lead to despair, but pride. So I either, by looking at another persons 'example', feel guilty, or proud.

I don't think those are good results. There is another way. Rather than look at how He cares for people; now you've seen it do it. It should be told: He cared for people much more than you ever would. His life, death, and resurrection was a fulfillment of all care for all time. So now you can. You CAN care, because He cared to the end.

He looked at the broken and loved them whole. Then, at the end of his ministry, he was broken beyond anyone had ever been, He was rejected by every friend and enemy, even by His Father, experiencing and absorbing all the brokenness ever experienced, and in His resurrection, He defeated brokenness forever. And in Him anyone who looks at and worships Him, can bring wholeness to the broken, and healing to the sick, and the outcast can come home, because He already did it. It isn't a Duty. It's a joy. It's a responsibility because we, who know Him (Jesus), want to do more than theorise. And integrity is a gift as we further increase, in our hearts, the understanding the He has done it.

What part of finished don't you understand?