Why Does Jesus Have to Die?

Mark 15:42-47, CEB - Since it was late in the afternoon on Preparation Day, just before the Sabbath,  Joseph from Arimathea dared to approach Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a prominent council member who also eagerly anticipated the coming of God’s kingdom.)  Pilate wondered if Jesus was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him whether Jesus had already died.  When he learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, Pilate gave the dead body to Joseph.  He bought a linen cloth, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been carved out of rock. He rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.  Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was buried.

 

                In the reflection on Jesus’s death, we noted that one of the issues Mark was addressing was the rumors shortly after Jesus’s death that Jesus didn’t actually die.  This matter continues to be addressed in the recording by Mark of the specific details of the burial of Jesus’s body.  Furthermore, this account of the burial also confronts other rumors that Jesus’s body was stolen which would explain the empty tomb three days later.  These “theories” persist even in our time thousands of years later. 

                The custodian of the body was Joseph of Arimethea, a member of the Sanhedrin.  This was the same Sanhedrin that played a critical role in having Jesus crucified.  Joseph had opposed the plan, but kept his belief in Jesus secret until this point. This why his action of asking Pilate for the body was described by Mark as “bold.”  His allegiance to Jesus would no longer be a secret.  He is a case study in brave faith in the face of dangerous opposition. Thank God for people like this lesser-known Joseph. 

                Once again, the death is confirmed to Pilate by a Roman Centurion before the body is released to Joseph.  Joesph handles all the burial arrangements quickly before sundown when the Sabbath began.  Nothing could be done after that.  The tomb sealed with a large rock (it’s size is noted in Mark 16).  This was witnessed by the two Mary’s. 

                Why is Jesus’s death so important?  The quick and easy answer is resurrection isn’t resurrection without a real death.  The resurrection is not a conspiracy, elaborate hoax, or outright deception.  The victory over death is only victory if the death really happened.  But the importance of Jesus’s death goes much deeper than this.  It speaks to the deeper and more relevant question?  What does Jesus’s death accomplish?  This is what theologians call atonement.  To make the question even more precise, how does Jesus’s death save us?  Perhaps millions of pages have been written on this very question, so I begin by saying  that I offer no definitive answer.  This theological debate concerning atonement continues today and I have no aspirations to somehow “solve” it.  I simply share my most basic and overarching convictions about.  I invite you to read others’ opinion on this core question of Christian thought and practice.

 

                First, this was a sacrifice to end sacrifices.  We are meant to look upon God’s Son being violently and crudely murdered on a Roman cross and see just how hopeless our proclivities as human beings are.  If humans would sacrifice even the very Son of God for others’ sins, who would not be submitted to the same?  Christ’s battered body and His shed blood are meant to convict humanity of intractable guilt.  This is why we remind ourselves of these details every time we conduct the sacrament of communion.  We can’t be delivered from these proclivities until we see them exposed for what they are in graphic detail.  This why all four gospels all include them. 

                Next, I see in Jesus’s death the limitless nature of God’s love for humanity.  God voluntarily makes a shocking sacrifice instead of simply condemning humanity for its intractable sin.  We are meant to see this and turn from our self-destructive ways.  When we do so, we find God waiting to help us live a different love-driven life.  As more of humanity is brought into this way of living, the world is transformed and redeemed. 

                Taken together, Jesus’s sacrifice exposes the root problem of our world and offers an alternative path of redemption and deliverance.  Jesus submits to death to expose just how corrupt and unjust humanity has become.  Jesus’s opponents meant to scapegoat their own violence by sacrificing Him.  His death, however, served to accomplish the opposite.  They, and their system of scapegoating, is condemned.  The nail in the proverbial coffin of this system is driven when Jesus’s rises from death.  Death is defeated along with all the “dealers” and “systems” of death.  A revolution began on the day Jesus died.

                The revolution continues even now this new approach to humanity’s flaws is lived out by others.  Gandhi submitted non-violently his oppressors to expose the evil of their regime. Gandhi may not have been a Christ follower, but he emulated Christ’s approach to injustice.  Non-violence becomes the very vehicle to expose and convict the perpetrators of violence.  MLK championed the same approach to resist the injustice of systemic racism.  Countless examples of from history abound.  Heroic love and a refusal to respond to sin with more sin is the how the world is changed.  We are invited to join the revolution. . . the revolution that began when Jesus really died.

 

Question:  How do you understand Jesus’s death to be an essential part of how we can be saved?

 

Prayer:  God, we unknowingly, and sometimes knowingly, participate in systems of scapegoating and death.  You died to help us see that truth clearly.  Show us the way forward.  Deliver us from habits that simply exchange one sin for another. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are imprisoned unjustly for crimes they did not commit.

 

Song:  Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me) – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqrqPGt11bA

Secrets Seldom Heard

Mark 4:1-20 - Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.  He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:  “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.  Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.  He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables  so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

    and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

 

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?  The farmer sows the word.  Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.  Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;  but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.  Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

 

This is a longer scripture reading than we normally take on, but it’s important to read it as a whole.  We are introduced to the idea that Jesus often taught in parables, we hear an actual parable, and then we get a discussion about why parables are used. Finally, Jesus gives an interpretation of the parable we heard.  All of these “sections” provide insight into what is going on here.  I encourage you to say a quick prayer asking God to speak to you through this text.  Then read it again, listening for meaning. 

I only add a few quick ideas from my own time of doing what I asked you to do just now.  First, I am impressed by Jesus not being impressed with large crowds.  I do get impressed by large crowds and when I hear that large crowds are going to hear “so-and-so,” it makes me want to hear them too.  We live in a society that values speakers, artists, musicians, and others who attract crowds.  The fact that it is possible to make a good living now simply making videos on Youtube or posts on Instagram is witness to this.  Jesus was not impressed by His own ability to draw crowds and the parable He tells explains why.  Jesus knows that only a fraction of those present will ever take His teaching and do something fruitful with it.  I can’t help but think there is even a little sadness in Jesus about this realization. 

When the disciples ask about the use of parables, Jesus explains that this lack of fruitfulness is not a new problem.  He quotes Isaiah where Isaiah is told that while, he is sent to God’s people with God’s message, the people will not really hear or understand the message, much less do anything different as a result. 

This sober truth continues to play out today.  I have been part of more than a dozen Christian congregations in my lifetime.  The large majority of people who attend these congregations live lives that look remarkably similar to the lives they would live if they never attended church.  I don’t say that to be hurtful or judgmental.  It is just the reality that Jesus described.  But here is the hope in Jesus’s teaching here.  The small minority of people who are authentically transformed by the teaching of Jesus tend to have exponential impact on the world around them, “some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times” the seed that was planted in them.  Jesus has faith in the power of the that small group of the transformed to change the world forever.  He faith has proven to be well placed.  Jesus doesn’t seem to care about numbers; He cares about fruit. 

One final encouragement.  This parable is not given as a way to classify others as one of the four kinds of soils described in the story.  I see it as a self-awareness tool given by Jesus to see our own tendencies more clearly.

 

Question:  What kind of “soil” do you most resemble? 

 

Prayer:  Show me my heart, Jesus.  Help me prepare it to more fruitfully receive Your Word.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend time just quietly listening for God to speak into your life today.

 

Song:  Here’s My Heart Lord – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkSBmRAVXNc

The Pandemic - 2 ½ Years Later

Mark 2:18-22 - Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.  But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

 

March 2020, when the pandemic caused a worldwide shutdown, seems like such a long time ago.  As I take a few minutes to try and remember how things were back then, it is difficult.  If someone back in January 2020 described to me in detail all that was going to happen over the next year and half, I would have thought they were certifiably crazy.  What’s more, the pandemic and the fallout from it continues.  What is clear is that we are still in the midst of humongous shifts in our world that we can’t even begin to predict how we will live on the other side of all these changes.   We have some hints, but I’m sure we’re in for even more surprises.

 

Faced with all of this uncertainty, how do we cope? It seems that everything is different.  Schools are different.  Work is different in almost every sector of society.  Church is different. I know my tendency is to try and hold on to the familiar – routines, ways of doing things, activities that provide comfort.  There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but I know intuitively that many of those old ways of doing and being will cease to provide the comfort they once did (if they haven’t already).  I have heard many authors, preachers, and teachers use Jesus’s sayings above about patches and wineskins to try and caution me about this tendency for old structures not being able to support the new ways of being, but Jesus’s words have never hit me harder than they are now. 

 

I don’t know much at all about this “new wine” being poured out right now, but I know my “old wineskins” won’t hold it.  I see some epic wine spills coming and there is already a mess on the floor.  I have no tools to describe what our lives will be like even six months from now, because I’m too busy looking for new tools to handle what is happening right now.  As I re-read the last few sentences, it seems a bit over-dramatic for a pragmatist like me, but it does describe my current experience.  From conversations I’ve had lately, I know I’m not alone.

 

There is good news in all this.  God is still good and Jesus is still Lord.  A lot of things have and will change, but I know that God is still good and Jesus is still Lord.  I know that because I’ve experienced God’s sweet goodness many times over the past two years. Many of those moments of goodness have come from exchanges I have had with you all.  Some have come from exchanges with people I didn’t know before the pandemic started.  I’ve been reminded that Jesus is still Lord because I’ve watched needed resources seemingly appear out of thin air.  I’ve gotten solutions dropped in my lap to address a problem I didn’t even realize I had yet. Yes, we will have to find new wineskins (and clean up all the messes) in order to make it in the future, but our good God/Lord Jesus will be with us. 

 

Prayer:  Lord, help us to breathe when we feel out of control and unable to face the future.  May we feel your Sweet, Sweet Spirit in that breath.  May we trust in your goodness and Lordship. Amen

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for first responders, recovery/rescue teams, engineers, and other disaster response professionals as they try to get in and begin their work in southwest Florida in the wake of utter devastation of Hurricane Ian. 

 

Song:  Just Be Held – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53R3aj5pfc

The Revolution Begins

 

Mark 2:13-17 - Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.  As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

“The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” 

This is a quote that I’ve heard all my life, and often, it is invoked when one speaks of the above passage.  An updated version of the pithy saying replaces “museum” with “harbor.”  Either way, the saying is intended to remind those within the church that the church has a mission that mirrors Jesus’s own mission to reach out to those who are not already inside the fold of the Christian community.   `Though I am generally not a fan of reducing scriptural truth to pithy sayings, I do have to admit the effectiveness of this saying making the intended point. Further, it is a point that has continually needed to be made for as long as I have been a part of it. 

 If you have ever had the misfortune of being present with a crowd of people who you mostly didn’t know, who talked about things you don’t readily understand, and who make very little effort to help you understand and feel included, then you know what’s it’s like to attend far too many Christian churches.  As uncomfortable as that situation may be today, it was even worse in Jesus’s time.  We see this in the religious leaders’ reaction to Jesus.  They are objecting on the basis of Jewish law that looked down upon Jews dining with those who don’t follow Jewish traditions and laws. 

To be fair, there is a kernel of truth in the teachers’ concern.  There should be a difference between the way Christians live and the way those who haven’t made such commitments do.  Jesus Himself called people to live differently.  The revolution in Jesus’s teaching here is that living that way should not isolate you from those who live differently.  In fact, Jesus’s assertion here is that there is no way we can help people see the value of living differently if they never see someone living that way themselves. 

But there is something even more revolutionary going on here.  Jesus is not just changing the way God’s people interact with those outside the community.  He is recruiting people from outside the community to become leaders of the community.  This would have been unthinkable in Jewish circles.  And worse yet, it’s not just run of the mill “sinners” Jesus is recruiting; it is the “worst of the worst” – tax collectors.  We will talk about this issue later in Mark, but we have to point it out now.

All of this begs the following questions that deserves honest answers.

 

Question:  Who is genuinely welcome (meaning who would you actively invite to your dinner table?  Are there people that you would not accept an invitation to go eat with if you were asked? How do you feel about being led by someone considered the “worst of sinners?”

 

Prayer:  Jesus, show us our attitudes towards those who live differently from us that we may see the ways our attitudes are not like Yours.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to bless people you know who don’t ever attend church.

 

Song:  Jesus, Friend of Sinners – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJXIugwiN7Q

The Connection Between Healing & Forgiveness

 Before I begin the devotional, a quick program note...

More often lately, I feel like I'm in the position of having to apologize for missing a day on these posts.  This is because my implicit promise to all of you is that I would publish these devotionals five days a week.  While that remains my goal, I do want to stipulate that sometimes I will not be able to make good on that and I will miss a day.  I'm working at giving myself some grace when that happens and not feeling pressure to use my off-days to make up posts I miss.  I'm asking you to give me that grace as well.  I thank you in advance.


Mark 2:1-12 - A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.  They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.  Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?  Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?  But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man,  “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”  He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
 
This is not just another healing story.  There are several places in this gospel where Mark says something to the effect, “and Jesus healed many people.”  But it’s important to pay attention when we encounter a healing story with all the details, for the details hold truth that Mark is trying to point out. 
So in this remarkable story, Jesus is speaking to a house so jammed full of people that no one can get in or out.  So the four men carrying the paralyzed man realize that the only way they are going to get to Jesus is to lower their friend through the roof.  They do just that, and as they do, Jesus says something very peculiar.  Or maybe to be more precise, he DOESN’T say what we would expect in this case.  He doesn’t say, “you’re healed,” to the paralyzed man. 
Instead, “he says, “your sins are forgiven.”    
This ruffles some feathers, but we’ll come back to that in a minute.  Why would Jesus forgive the sins of a man in need of healing?  Could it be that the healing the man needed would come from first being freed from the guilt that had literally paralyzed him?  I have read of many people who have been healed of physical ailments and diseases after finding a way to reconcile and redeem the mistakes of the past.  In some cases, it was the afflicted person finally being released from the guilt of the past.  In other cases, it was the afflicted that found a way to forgive something in the past that seemed impossible to forgive before.  In both types of situations, the spiritual healing of the past led to physical healing in the present. 
Back to the ruffled feathers.  The religious leaders present at this event take issue with Jesus’s authority to forgive sins.  Their objection that only God can forgive sins is valid.  Jesus knows this and He addresses it by something else only God can do – He heals the paralyzed man.   More accurately, he tells the man that has already received healing to get up and walk. 
The crowd responds by saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
By “this,” they don’t mean the healing of someone.  For they have already seen Jesus heal many before this day.  The reason the house is packed full of people is that Jesus has already gained a huge following by healing many people.  What the crowd is amazed by is not the healing, but that the healing that came through the forgiveness of sins.
Here’s something even more amazing.  We have this same power when we forgive.  Sometimes, the brokenness of the past literally takes up residence in our bodies, sometimes even festering into diseases and/or other physical maladies.  Let me be clear;  I am in no way willing to claim that all illness and physical brokenness can be traced to unforgiveness.  But I have simply seen cases where this is the case.  Mark is telling us about one such instance today.  So when we are able to let go and forgive, it has the potential to bring restoration and health beyond just our spirit and emotions.
 
Question:  Is it possible that brokenness in your past has taken up residence in your body?
 
Prayer:  Jesus, sometimes we know in our heads that you have offered us forgiveness, but for whatever reason, we have not been able to accept that gracious gift.    Help us let go and allow the healing to begin.  Help us share the healing power of forgiveness with each other.
 
Prayer Focus:  Pray for the people of Cuba who are right now experiencing a dangerous hurricane.
 
Song:  Set Me Free – Casting Crowns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2HwtWLokSc

Love Never Gives Up

Romans 8:37-39 (NLT) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT)  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 

God never gives up on us.  God’s love never leaves us.  Other people may leave us or just withdraw for a while.  We may even give up on ourselves.  But God never will.  I have to say that the longer I think about that, the more I don’t understand it.  I give up on people a lot and even feel justified in doing so.  Sometimes I feel like I have to withdraw sometimes out of self-preservation.  And I when I fret about my poor ability to keep loving, I often tell myself that God can keep loving long after I stop because after all, God is God and I’m not.  This is true.  But this scripture won’t let me off the hook.  I still feel called to persevering love (and by that, you know by now that I mean loving action).

 

The reality is that sometimes I’m “all out of love” (a reference to what you many would find an extremely cringe-worthy Air Supply song).  What I notice about myself in those low moments is that I am not only unable to love the other, but I am also woefully out of touch with God’s love for me.  I also notice that some of the times I have been able to love someone even when it’s really hard have also been times when I felt God’s love the most.  Those two things are connected.  Actively loving others actually draws us more fully into God’s love AND connecting with God’s love helps us love others when it's hard.  

Today concludes our series on Faith, Hope, and Love.  We will begin a new series tomorrow.  No, I’m not telling you what it is.  You’ll just have to wait and see.  Until then, I love you all!

Question:  Do you think there is a connection between our connection to God’s love and our loving action towards others?

 

Prayer:  God, thank you for never giving up on us.  Help us to see that there is no one that you ever give up on.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for world peace.  I know that’s a cliché’ but there are mounting tensions between nations right now.  The last thing we need right now is yet another war.

 

Song:  Casting Crowns (w/ Steven Curtis Chapman) Listen to Our Hearts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxqHo2Pvfm0

More Than What You Believe

Proverbs 3:5-6 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

    do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do,

    and he will show you which path to take.

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,

    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

 

We’re going to do things a bit out of order today.  I invite you to listen to the song before going further.  Go ahead. I’ll wait until you come back

Song: Casting Crowns - Here’s My Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkSBmRAVXNc

This song/prayer makes me cry every time.  I think it’s because it helped me hear the above Psalm in a different way.  For most of my life, I have heard as a prayer to ask God to point out my sin.  To be sure, it is that and we need to pray it that way. But it is more than that; the words are “point out anything in me that offends you.”  And listening to “Here’s my heart,” I realized that more than just sin offends God.  When I think that I’m trash (yes I have thought that before) that offends God because God did not make me trash.  When I think that I’m stupid, that offends God for the same reason.  When I believe what others say or think about me that I am somehow not good enough for whatever, God is offended because God wants me to believe what God has said about me. What God thinks about you is more important than what anyone else says. It’s even more important than what you think about you. Just in case you didn’t hear that let me say it one more time; what God thinks about you is more important than what you think about you.  Faith is believing what God says is truth. And here is the truth of God about you: You are found, You are God’s, You are loved, You’re made pure, You have life, You can breathe, You are healed, You are free.  You are more than enough.

 

Prayer: God help me to believe what you think about me.  Help me see that the insults I may hear and the insults that I sometimes inflict upon myself are just as offensive to you as my sin.  Here’s my heart, Lord. Speak what is true.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for our country as we enter another election season in the midst of multiple crises.

 

Bonus Song: Psalm 139 Far Too Wonderful - Shane and Shane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmsgYY-INf8

That You May Not Perish. . .

 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

A pastor friend gave me an insight into this extremely popular verse that I hadn’t heard before.  The word translated “perish” in this verse is the same word that would be used to describe food that has gone bad or spoiled.  When I think about it that way, the verse reads something like, “whosoever believes in Him will not become spoiled, but have eternal life.” 

Moving to the word life, it means something specific for the writer of John. In John chapter 1, John states this about Jesus; “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” (1:4).  Life for John is life with the Light.  Then in John 10:10, Jesus himself says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Your faith in Jesus is a daily decision to foster the light that Jesus brings to you.  I have had too many people in my office whose lives have “spoiled” because they had no or very little faith to guide them away from danger or carry them through the difficulties that the world throws at them.  I don’t want that for anyone.  But I, nor anyone else, can keep that from happening. Other people can only help a person’s faith when that person is making daily decisions to walk toward the light and not the darkness.

I want the abundant life for you.  That life is a life where faith is strong and is a daily priority. 

The spiritual disciplines are the way to tend the light daily.  Not long ago, I watched a sports documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1990’s Chicago Bulls.  What has been most striking about it is that Michael didn’t become as great as he is on native talent.  His father said his older brother was the better basketball player growing up.  Michael got cut from his high school basketball team.  He became one of the greatest ever not on natural talent but deciding to work harder than anyone else every day.  He committed to discipline. By committing to discipline, he decided not to do a hundred other things that other players were doing.

A strong and growing faith is a daily decision to do light-tending.  What does that look like for you?

 

Prayer:  God, help us see the ways that we can keep faith in you a priority.  It’s hard. We need your wisdom and guidance. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who once had a strong faith, but their faith is perishing right now.

 

Casting Crowns – God of All My Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYkZE8AogDE

Forgive and Remember

 

Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 8:12 (Both NIV) - “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

 

In both scriptures above, God is speaking. The author of Hebrews is actually quoting Jeremiah.  This scripture forms the basis for the assertion that one should forgive and forget. After all, if God does both, shouldn’t we? 

There are multiple problems with this prescription. First, let me say that I do not for one moment believe that God literally forgets human sin. The phrase “never again remember” can also be translated “wipe the slate clean.”  The idea being conveyed here is that when God forgives, the books are erased.  God chooses to eliminate the possibility of the offense being used against the forgiven again.  The scripture is trying to communicate that God doesn’t hold grudges.  Human beings need not worry that God is going to say to us someday, “remember that day you used my name in a profane way; it’s time for you pay for that.”  God chooses not to “remember” sins in that punitive way. 

Furthermore, even if God did, in fact, forget offenses, to do the same would be a very bad idea for humans. A parent who forgets that a child has a pattern of repeatedly making the same mistake would not be able to help the child adopt a different and healthier pattern.  Because Dad knows the Junior has snuck cookies from the pantry many times before, Dad might choose to put the cookies out of reach.  Even if it were possible for Dad to forget about the cookie theft, to do so would be to invite more cookie theft.  It’s good for Dad to forgive Junior, but it’s irresponsible to forget.

“Forgetfulness” of this sort could even be dangerous.  Indulge me in this thought experiment. Imagine a young girl named Sara that has no short-term memory.  Five minutes after something happens, Sara cannot remember it.   Now imagine Sara is bullied by an older girl Mara at the bus stop each morning.  Mara has learned about Sara’s condition and takes great advantage of it.  Sara arrives at school each morning with no explanation for the bruises on her arms and her missing lunch money.  Because Sara has “forgotten” what happened, each day she returns to the bus stop for more cruelty. 

While Sara’s victimization is fictitious and the details are unlikely, it illustrates the problem with “forgive and forget.”  While Sara can forgive Mara, it would be much safer and healthier for her to forgive and remember.  The Hebrew idea of remembrance is to bring the past into the present again.  It is precisely this idea that we invoke when during communion, a pastor quotes the words of Jesus, “do this in remembrance of Me.”  These words are meant to bring what Christ did for humanity in the cross into the present again.  His broken body and His shed blood are tangibly brought into the present in the bread and wine/juice.  While this a powerful use of “remembering,” doing the same with past offenses perpetuates the pain.  When Jesus, on the cross, asks God to “forgive” those who put Him there, He is asking God to “remember their sins no more.”  The slate is wiped clean.  God has not forgotten our sin.  He simply chooses not to use it against us.  The sin is “dismembered” instead of “remembered.”  This is what our goal in forgiving is as well, but we’ll talk about that at a later date.

 

Question:  What does it mean to you that God has chosen to “remember your sins no more?”

 

Prayer:  Lord, you know all of my mistakes.  I marvel that knowing all of that, you still love me as if I had never sinned.  Thank you for choosing not to use my past against me.  Help me live into a much better future where I more closely follow your perfect ways.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for victims of unjust violence today.

 

Song:  East to West – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnkkZLdjf9Y

Forgiveness is Not Approval

 

Forgiveness is Not Approval

 

Colossians 1:21-22, CEB - Once you were alienated from God and you were enemies with him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions.  But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame.

 

I was called up for jury duty several years ago.  I reported to the assigned place at the assigned time and was directed to a waiting room.  After a bit, a bunch of us were ushered into a courtroom and after some formalities that I cannot recall, the lawyers for both sides of the case began asking us questions.  The case that they were working to form a jury for involved a man accused of stealing money from his employer.  This was evidently not his first time being accused of such a crime and it seemed to me that this fact was something very important to the lawyers.  I was in the second row of potential jurors and they questioned us in order, so I heard many questions asked before they got to me. It was clear from the questions asked that the lawyers had at least some basic information about each of us.  When it came to be my turn to answer questions, there were just two.  Question 1 was to confirm that my occupation was that of a pastor. 

“So you believe in forgiveness right?,” was the follow-up from the prosecutor.

“I do,” responding before I knew that I had just eliminated myself as a potential juror.

“Ok, thank you,” she said as she moved on to the next person.

I can’t be sure of the precise train-of-thought that the well-dressed woman charged with getting a conviction of this accused thief, but one thing was clear to me from our exchange.  She was not looking for someone who “believed in” forgiveness to serve on the jury.  Forgiveness, in her mind, would stand in the way of her doing her job.  Consequently, I was not chosen for the jury.  To be honest, that had been my hope when I arrived at the courthouse that morning, but I left that day sad about how my wish had come true. I was sad because I realized that the prosecutor was not the only person who had no use for forgiveness. 

In my work, I had encountered many who expressed no desire to forgive things done to them by others.  The reasons that are often given betray a tragic misunderstanding of what forgiveness is and what it is not.  So that is where a discussion must begin. Once forgiveness is understood for what it is and what it isn’t, it will not only seem much more useful, it will prove to be an essential spiritual, emotional, and relational technology.

First of all, forgiveness is not approval.  I don’t have to approve of what you did in order to forgive you.  In fact, approval and forgiveness almost never coincide when referencing a harmful act.  I say almost never because I can imagine one scenario where one has done something to me that is harmful, but at some point, I realize they knowingly harmed me in order to save many others from harm.  If I can get to a more mature understanding of the larger context, I may in fact reach the point where I could say that I approved of what they did. I might even applaud their ability to make such a hard decision.  However, even if I approve of their action, my approval does not constitute forgiveness.  Approval and forgiveness are two different things.

If I have to approve of what was done to harm me, I might never forgive. To my knowledge, the exception I described above has never occurred in my life.  A similar exception has occurred though.  I have been rejected as a candidate for a job for which I was applying.  The experience was painful.  It was indeed caused by the decision of the hiring manager.  I did indeed hold the manager responsible for my pain (and I still do).  Over time, I was able to forgive him. Part of what helped me in the forgiveness process is being able to realize that he was genuinely trying to make the best choice for the job he was responsible for filling.  I forgive him the pain he caused me, but I still don’t approve of what he did.  It is very possible that I’m wrong, but I still believe I was the best person for the job. Once again forgiveness and approval are not synonymous. 

This should be good news for many.  If I could have explained this to the prosecutor in my opening story, she would have known that I would have had no problem finding the defendant guilty of theft if the facts of the case had supported that verdict.  The victims of all kinds of violence never have to approve of the brutality leveled at them.  Those who have suffered every kind of injustice never have to approve of their oppressors’ actions. However, it is possible and I argue, beneficial for all those I just mentioned to forgive their offenders’ actions of which they will never give approval.  It is never necessary to approve of an action in order to forgive it.  

God does not approve of our sins. Our sins do break our relationship with God.  Because of that, it is necessary for those sins to be forgiven.  That is exactly what God has done.  But we do not mistake being forgiven for those mistakes as God saying it was alright to make them.  Forgiveness is not approval.

 

Questions:  To what extent has the line between forgiveness and approval become blurred for you?

 

Prayer:  God, I acknowledge that without your forgiveness, You and I could not have a relationship.  Thank you for your gracious gift of forgiveness.  In response, I will strive to live a life that meets your approval.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those who are struggling with the consequences of failed relationships

 

Song:  Jesus, Friend of Sinners – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st3CaUMH8zI

Jesus's Death: Shock and Awe

 

Jesus's Death:  Shock and Awe

 

Matthew 27:50-54, NIV - And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

 

Oh to see what is described in this passage!  It would have been terrifying, awe-inspiring, and faith-building all at one time.  I have been around to witness miracles before, but nothing like this.  It’s as if the death of the Son of God, Jesus, caused such a metaphysical disturbance that all of creation reacts by life springing up elsewhere when death claimed Jesus.  Creation testifies that Jesus is the Son of God and the centurion and other guards simply state the obvious. 

These events are the “proof” that the chief priests and other mockers of Jesus were taunting Jesus in his dying moments.  They dared Him to prove that he was the Son of God by coming down from the cross.  Ironically, Jesus “proves” the true nature of God by NOT escaping the cross, but submitting fully to death.  The violent reaction of creation and the resurrection of others who had died gives witness that it is the death of Jesus that is where God’s power is truly seen - not in escaping death by supernatural power, but in God’s sacrificial love for all.  Death is not conquered by physical miracles, but by Miraculous Love – the Love Incarnate whose name is Jesus.  N.T. Wright puts it this way:

“A new sort of power will be let loose upon the world, and it will be the power of self-giving love. This is the heart of the revolution that was launched on Good Friday. You cannot defeat the usual sort of power by the usual sort of means. If one force overcomes another, it is still “force” that wins. Rather, at the heart of the victory of God over all the powers of the world there lies self-giving love, which, in obedience to the ancient prophetic vocation, will give its life “as a ransom for many.” Exactly”   (The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion)

People have been missing this point ever since Jesus died.  Supernatural Love, not supernatural force, is the greatest power in the universe. 

                When we follow Jesus, we invite this Power to be at work in our lives.  This power doesn’t rescue us from suffering and death.  We all still suffer and we will all one day die.  But when Love is at work in us, our suffering and death has power just as Jesus’s suffering and death has power.  It is precisely the power of Jesus’s suffering and death at work in us!  Our suffering accomplishes things that cannot be accomplished any other way and our deaths are but an entrance into eternal life.   

 

Question:  Have you invited the power of God’s self-giving love in Jesus to be at work in your life?

 

Prayer:  Lord, we are impressed by miracles, but we are transformed by your Love.  We invite the power of Jesus’s suffering and death to be at work in us.  Amen,

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to transform the suffering of those you are led to pray for today.

 

Song:  The Power of the Cross – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6LhbNTsDgo