The Return of Jesus

Mark 13:24-27, NLT -  “At that time, after the anguish of those days,

the sun will be darkened,

    the moon will give no light,

the stars will fall from the sky,

    and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory.  And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.

 

                I remember as a child in Sunday School learning about the details in the reading above.  Someday, Jesus will appear in the sky and everyone will see Him.  His army of angels will gather all us Christians from everywhere an take us to heaven to be with Him forever.  I also remember constantly being reminded that this could happen any day.  Even now, decades later, I think about those images anytime I take time to notice the clouds and sky.  I find myself rehearsing what I was taught all those years ago; “it could happen any day.”  I also think about the fact that Jesus’s followers have been doing the same thing I’ve been doing for two thousand years now.  Someday, we will all be together with Jesus. 

                Jesus used imagery from the prophets Isaiah and Daniel to paint this picture of His return.  In Revelation, we have another version of how the return of Jesus will happen that uses quite different imagery.  Other visions of the return of Jesus have been offered throughout the New Testament as well. Even more writings were offered that never made it into the Bible. Though the details across all of these accounts vary greatly, they all end with the same result.  Jesus and all His people will be gathered together.

                Even as a child, I wondered how everyone all over the world could see Jesus in the clouds at the same time.  But to think that way misses the point.  The point is that we all get to be together with Jesus someday.  This is where history is headed no matter what it might seem like in our uncertain times.  Though I still think about Jesus every time I look toward the clouds, I don’t care if the result comes about in exactly that way.  I just work at reminding myself about the end of the story.  I work at trusting that the God who will bring it all about is moving it toward that glorious ending. 

 

Question:  What is the picture that you hold in your head and heart regarding the return of Jesus?

 

Prayer:  Lord, come quickly.  Help us to trust you in the meantime and be ready when You come to gather us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the people of Turkey in the wake of the disastrous earthquake a few days ago.

 

Song: The Great Day – Michael W. Smith

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo_BPNEGBgU&t

In Between Harvests. . .

Mark 4:26-29 - He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

 

You do not have to know how something works to benefit from it.  Millions of people use cars daily to quickly travel long distances who know almost nothing about they work.  People turn on their kitchen sink faucet in the morning with no clue about how that water just “magically” appears at their fingertips.  Smartphones. . . forget it. . . almost none of us how they work, including many of the people working at Apple.  We all use and benefit from hundreds of technologies that we have no way to explain. 

Jesus says the kingdom of God is like that.  We are encouraged to “work the soil” of it without so much as a clue about how the growth actually happens.  We watch for the growth and then we harvest when it comes.  It’s so simple, right?  Just keep scattering seeds.  Get the sickle out when the plants have reached maturity.  Plant and harvest. . .that’s all you need to know, right?

Implicit in this story is that the farmer actually knows much more than that.  She knows that seeds need water and so she waters the ground.  She knows that there are times of the year that seeds will never grow if they are planted then.  She knows that once the sprouts break up from the ground, they will need sunlight, so where she plants the seeds matters.  Likewise, you need to know much more than how to use the brake and accelerator pedals to drive a car.  There is a learning curve to farming, driving a car, using a smartphone, and navigating the kingdom of God.

Unlike a car and a smartphone, farming and the kingdom of God have elusive mysteries to their inner workings that may not be “figured out.”  Even the most technologically advanced 21^st century farms have bad harvests that they cannot explain and get surprised by unusually good harvests as well.  The inner workings of the kingdom of God are even more unknowable.  If we are to get to the harvest, we have to trust that God will make it happen in ways we will never understand.  The idea here is to trust the mysterious processes of God in those times between seeds planted and harvests reaped.

We’re in one of those periods right now.  We were in one before pandemics, wars, hurricanes, and economic upheavals occurred so the process is even more invisible now.  It’s hard to imagine how or when the next great harvest will come, but it will indeed come.  Trust the process. . . or more accurately, trust the One in charge of it.  Keep planting and watering.  The Lord of the Harvest will do the rest, even though we will never understand how.

 

Question:  What are the things about the kingdom that you do know despite all the things you don’t?

 

Prayer:  Lord, we sometimes strain to trust that You are bringing the next harvest.  We confess that struggle in the same breath that proclaim our trust that You will indeed do it.  Increase our hope and faith and show us the things we can do right now to participate in the process.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those running for public office right now, including those you are not planning to vote for.

 

Song:  Hand of Providence – Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2HbrNcfmYs

“Concerning the Sabbath. . . and Way More Than That”

Mark 2:23-3:6 - One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.  Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.  Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

 

These two Jesus teaching stories that Mark groups together are, of course, about the Sabbath.  But they are also about more than the Sabbath.  Let’s talk about the Sabbath first and move out from there. 

There were many rules/laws governing the Sabbath.  It was to be a regular day of rest where one would refrain from working for a day.  Over the centuries since the Sabbath was a law, hundreds of thousands of pages have been written to further elaborate on the particulars of this day of rest. What constitutes work?  Exactly when does the Sabbath start and end? How do necessary things get done on that day without working?  What if an emergency requires you to work on the Sabbath?  These are just a small fraction of questions covered by the countless volumes of commentary on the fourth of the Ten Commandments. 

Don’t get me wrong; these questions aren’t insignificant.  But it is easy to get so bogged down and distracted by the endless questions about the Sabbath that one can lose sight of the very core purpose of the Sabbath. In the first story above, Jesus points out that this is exactly what has happened.  Jesus and disciples are simply feeding themselves on the Sabbath and what the Pharisees see is that they have violated one of minute interpretations of what constitutes work.   

Jesus points out two problems with this accusatory question.  First, the Sabbath was intended as a lifestyle structure that would benefit the people who followed it, not a law that would require unquestioned obedience to the point of going hungry until the next day.  Building a time of regular rest and renewal into the weekly grind is a healthy practice and part of that practice should include worship of the God who is Lord of All.  To worship is also a healthy practice that benefits those who do it regularly.  Neglecting regular rest and worship has natural consequences that ultimately diminish a person.  But Jesus and his disciples were not neglecting rest and worship.  They were hungry and so they ate. ““The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”

The second problem is pointed out in the second story.  It’s clear that the Pharisees are looking to use the Sabbath rules to actually cause harm to Jesus and His ministry.  They are more concerned about catching Jesus “breaking the rules” than they are about a man being healed of a horrible malady.  Mark doesn’t have to include any commentary here to show how ridiculous it is that the Pharisees are planning to use the healing of a man against Jesus.  The commandment to observe the Sabbath was never to be used to persecute others; that is evil and Jesus slyly suggests that in his rhetorical question. 

If you’ve read any number of my gospel reflections, then you know that my encouragement is to always put ourselves in the place of the Pharisees in these kinds of stories.  It’s much too easy to simply make them the “bad guys.”  When Jesus exposes pharisaical misgivings, He is also exposing universal human tendencies to misunderstand, misuse, and even mistreat others using the very guidance offered by God for our benefit.  I’ve gotten into trouble for breaking a rule in order to help someone, but I’ve also quietly judged others for doing the same.  I, too, have gotten so distracted by the need to find fault in another’s actions that I was willing use a “technicality” to malign someone with good intentions.  I don’t like admitting that I can be like that, but my observation is that most people I have ever know can be like that.  The first step toward becoming better is awareness of the need to be better.

 

Questions:  In what ways am I guilty of misunderstanding, misusing, and mistreating others with the guidance of God gives me for the benefit of myself and others?

 

Prayer:  God, show me the things in my spirit that are keeping me from the life you want for me, the life that truly is life. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Continue to pray for the people in SW Florida, particularly Pine Island and Matlacha.   Pine Island does not get the media coverage that places like Sanibel and Captiva do.  The island will be mostly uninhabitable for at least the next several months.  There are still many people missing and feared dead.  The situation there is dire.  Pray hard.

 

Song:  Lord, Have Mercy – Michael W. Smith (ft. Amy Grant)

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

Judas and the Blood Money

 

Judas and the Blood Money

 

Matthew 27:1-10, NIV - Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”  So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.  That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.  Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel,  and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

 

It is striking the way Matthew draws comparisons and contrasts between the chief priests and Judas in their reaction to Jesus’s innocence.  Both Judas and the Priests are complicit in Jesus’s fate.  Both at least admit Jesus’s innocence.  And they both pronounce sentences.  The priests, of course, doubled-down on their complicity to kill Jesus and turn Him over to Pilate who is the only one with power to execute. And Judas, overwhelmed with guilt for his role in this tragic plot, pronounces conviction and death sentence on himself for betraying an innocent man.  These are the similarities.

Within those similarities, Matthew has highlighted some stark contrasts.  The judgement of the chief priests have nothing to do with justice; they are simply trying to eliminate what they believe to a threat to their power and position.  Judas suicide is an effort to mete out justice upon himself for his crimes.  Judas gives up the money he was paid for his betrayal because he wants no benefit for his duplicity.  The priests, even though they know it is blood money, use it for their own interests while skirting the regulations that govern the use of such currency. 

Both the priests and Judas were wrong in their actions.  The evil of the priests is more apparent for their self-interest and their blatant disregard for justice is obvious.   They absolve themselves of all responsibility for their treachery and they make schemes to get around the regulations governing them to accomplish their dark goals.  Judas takes the matters of judgement into his own hands, a power he has not been given by the law or by God.  Confessing his sin and trying to make amends (return the money) were the right things to do, but killing himself was not.  Both the priests and Judas left God out of the equation.  The priests made a mockery of God’s justice and Judas denies God’s mercy, forgiveness, redemption and love. 

But here is the most amazing thing about all of this; God’s providence is seen even in all the betrayals of God’s justice and redemption.  The priests unknowingly participate in the plan of God by their turning over of Jesus to Pilate.  Their use of the blood money unknowingly fulfills prophecy made hundreds of years before by God’s messenger Jeremiah.  The treachery of the priests is a tool in the hand of God for the redemption of all people.  And though Judas carries out capital punishment upon himself, there is even still, the possibility of his redemption in eternity by a God whose “yes” is stronger than any “no.”  Though God would never condone suicide, God’s love is capable of superceding it.  The priests and Judas cannot thwart the providence of the Almighty. 

Let us resolve to avoid the mistakes of the priests and of Judas.  Let us not take the justice of God into our own hands.  Let us not presume to know the limits of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.  Let us accept that God’s plan will prevail whether we cooperate with it or not.  Let us let God, and God alone, be God. 

 

Questions:  Have you ever acted as if you knew better than God what was necessary in a given situation?   Have you ever pronounced a sentence upon yourself with no thought God that somehow, God could bring redemption from even the worst of your mistakes?

 

Prayer:  Sovereign God, forgive us when we leave you out of the circumstances of our lives and relationships.  Help us to more fully trust your providence, justice, and love.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the souls and families of those who have taken their own lives.

 

Song:  Hand of Providence – Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE2xpEl9XkI

Now I Have a Question. . .Watch Out!

 

Now I Have a Question. . .Watch Out!

 

Matthew 22:41-46, NIV - While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,  “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:

    “Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

    under your feet.”’

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”  No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

For the last few reflections, we have observed different religious groups taking turns trying to stump and discredit Jesus with the crowds in the Temple after Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem.  In three days time, Jesus will be hanging on a Roman Cross outside the city in part because of the collusion of these very groups.  The questions have been handled brilliantly by Jesus and if fact, have backfired on His questioners.  The crowd is more impressed than ever.  It is the religious leaders who are looking bad about now.

Jesus makes things worse for them when He turns the tables and asks them a question – a question that they will not be able to answer.  As we will see over the next few reflections, this is only the beginning of the misery the religious leaders will endure.  In Matthew 23, Jesus unleashes a torrent of indictments upon them that will fuel their quest to get rid of Jesus.  But for now, let’s consider Jesus’s question:

“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

Jesus knows what they will say because the answer they will give is not wrong.  As expected, they say that the Messiah will be a son of David, meaning that the Messiah will be a human descendant of David.  However, this is only the setup question. 

“How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’?

Jesus then quotes the well-known messianic Psalm 110 to them to support the legitimacy of His question.  Jesus then repeats the question. . . just in case they forgot.  David does indeed address the Messiah as “Lord.”  There is a long silence.  The crowd looks over at the religious leaders, waiting to see how they will answer.  A longer silence.  Crickets.  They don’t even have a guess.  

This is one of those times when the readers of Matthew’s gospel (that includes you and me) have information that the people in the story do not have.  The religious leaders don’t have an answer for Jesus’s question and neither does the crowd.  At this point in the story, even Matthew himself doesn’t have the answer, for He writes this Gospel that we are reading decades later.  But we know the answer, don’t we?

Jesus is a Son of David.  Matthew established that in Chapter 1 with the genealogy of Jesus.  We also know that Jesus is the Son of God, for that has been established multiple times in the Gospel though Jesus often tells folks to hold that under wraps.  If Jesus is a son of David AND the Son of God, then David can address Him as Lord.  We know that and Matthew lets us enjoy the fact that the people who should know better than anyone else do NOT know.  Jesus is now going public with the secret He asked people to keep until now – the secret that we already know.  Jesus is Lord and Messiah because he is both the human son of David AND the divine Son of God. 

The real question for us is not whether we know the answer to Jesus’s riddle, but do we sincerely believe the answer is true?  And if the answer to that question is “yes,” then there is an even more poignant question:  How then, shall we live?

 

Question:  If you believe Jesus is the divine Son of God and the promised Messiah of all people, how does the way you live reflect that belief?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, thank you for revealing Yourself to us.  Help us represent You to others by the way we live each day.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know from other faith traditions than yours.

Song:  Build My Life - Michael W Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jYMEJ0QNcw