Said

"I did not come to judge the world but to save the world," John 12:47.

That's Jesus. What he said. What he also said, in the very next line, was: Whoever rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. Wait! Who's that judge of the last day? The very word that Jesus spoke. The judge is his word. Jesus, light of the world, shows us God. The one and only God sent Jesus out into the world to shine into the darkness of human lives so that people could see the God who sent him, and hearing Jesus' words, could hear the words of the God who sent him. And so that people seeing him and hearing him, and receiving him, that is, believing in him, would have life. Life that goes on and on into unimaginable glory. Sky kingdom.

So, when we receive a brother or sister today, we do share Jesus' sure word and see God. And, together, we give thanks for this savior, bearer of light, of word, of salvation, of life. The eternal kind.