Law & Order: Very Special Victim

We all watch them.  The CSI's, the Law and Orders.  I don't know what the appeal is.  Right over wrong.  Does it satisfy the bad boy/girl in each of us.


In the book of John, chapter 11, we read about a meeting of the church leaders:


Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
   “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
 ⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 


Funny, have been to some tough committee meetings, but not one quite this subversive.  This is written immediately following the raising of Lazarus and Jesus had become a person of interest, to say the least.   Until I read this, I did not realize how complicated and pre-planned the death of Jesus was.   They probably had spies observing friends and family.  They knew that Judas was the one to approach for the betrayal.  He was the weak link, the one greedy enough to take the bait.  They not only had a populace to incite to riot, but a government to manipulate.  They had no jurisdiction so the very entity they were worried about upsetting was the very one they would have to upset to their advantage.  Took a lot of fore-planning and work behind the scenes.


This was a pre-meditated murder,in the literal sense.   How ironic!  One man to die to save the whole nation.   No truer words were spoken by no falser lips.   Because it was not only a pre-meditated murder, it was a pre-meditated salvation.   One man would die and the world as they knew it would be give the greatest gift it would ever receive.  Not only the present but future generations would benefit from their underhanded, wicked, destruction.  An innocent slain for the guilty.  God had planned for this evil from the beginning of time.   


These words are in the Bible because there were men, such as Nicodemus, who would realize the truth.  They would add these words as another testimony, another prophesy coming true.  Another bit of encouragement to a group of fearful, guilty, and troubled disciples, wondering if the person they followed, the man they gave their lives to, was in fact the Christ.


And the resounding answer is YES!  


Hope is not in our circumstances, but in the One that knows before our next breath what will happen in our lives and the lives of the ones we love.  Is He worthy of my faith - yes!  Is He worthy of my love - yes!  Is He worthy of my hope!  There is none other!

Too Little, Too Late

I am reading the Book of John for a Bible study I am in.   The chapter I read this morning is on the crucifixion of Jesus.  Part of me says, "Wait, I haven't even done Ash Wednesday yet!", but the material calls for me to read it, so I do.  Do you see a pattern here? 

Anyway, the text today that jumped out at me was immediately after the death of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus go to Pilate and ask for the body, that they might bury it.  I knew this, read through it many times before, but the words that came to me this day were, that they were followers of Jesus in secret.  Secret, that is the word that kept coming back to me.

That word at the same time made me sad and angry.  Angry that men of such wealth and influence followed him in secret when perhaps that power might have protected Him in some way.  I am not getting into the whole atonement issue, just that it made me sad and angry that their concern or care was too little too late

But was it?  The tomb was not that of a pauper, it was probably the tomb Joseph had bought for himself or a family member.   Nicodemus would not have 75-100 pounds of burial spices just lying around. Herodotus, the Greek historian, states  in his writing that one of the spices,  aloes wood at that time was worth its weight in gold.   It was more than likely the anointing spices Nicodemus had set aside for his own burial.  So, no, too little is not the problem.

Let's look at too late.  Yes, it was too late in the fact that Jesus was dead.  Any possible sway they might have had with the Sandhedrin was past its use.  The only homage they could pay would be what they were doing right now.  Too late?

No!!!!!  That is alot of exclamations points but it is true.  We do not serve a dead Saviour, but one who was resurrected and to this day lives.   I really wish that one Easter we might start at the resurrection and work our way back.  Because, this day, I see that the Messiah, the very Son of God, did not plan to die, but to live.  Not only live, but to be glorified by the resurrection, ascended into heaven, and to literally breathe fire into the hearts of His disciples.  Wow!  

I think tomorrow as I attend Ash Wednesday service, I will be literally quivering on my knees in anticipation of all this Holy season of Lent has to offer. 


He is risen!  Alleluia!

Still You Do Not Know?

My focus has been the Ascension this week.  This is odd in itself since I have never really had a need to go to those scriptures in Acts.  I have studied them but I have never been an
"Acts" person.  It was never one of my "go to" books of the Bible.  Kind of dry, I guess. 

Our pastor, however, is doing a sermon series on the beautiful stain glass of our church and the Ascension is by far one of the most beautiful.  Jesus is showcased in a billowing, white cloud.  So since my class is more or less a discussion forum of the sermon text, to those scriptures I had to go. 

I was really surprised to realize there were some nuggets of gold there.   Looking back, I think I felt less than qualified to dig into such a divine and mysterious part of the Bible.  But isn't that exactly what God wishes us to do.  To delve into His divinity so that we might understand more and more this divine/human partnership our Savior died to create?

The part that drew my interest  in this story focused on Jesus sitting, eating with his disciples minutes away from his Ascension.  It was not unlike the meal he took with them prior to Passover, other than he was dead and he bore the nail marks from his crucifixion.  That would be a little disconcerting to say the least.   But after this much time had passed, I am sure they were more or less at ease with it. 

The disciples ask him, "Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"  Now the phrasing here is not the same as another meal when James and John were trying to get one-up on the other disciples, feuding about the heavenly seating arrangements. the one-upmanship of James and John.  The wording here indicates that they had all discussed this previously and collectively wanted to know what was going to happen.

I have thought about the disciples during the trial and death of Jesus, even at the cross.  I had even tried to put myself in their places, sitting around in the upper room, fearful and guilty. But after Jesus appears, I have never given them another thought.  Just 50 days to Pentecost - Hurrah!

What was going through their mind? Our leader is so invincible, he conquered death!  He is sitting here, evidence of the world's worst marked on his hands and feet, and we are his posse.  Remember his words?  We would go on to greater things, performing even greater miracles than he?  Jesus raised the dead - what in the world tops that!   We are going to get some kind of supernatural power with our own ghostly superhero as our leader.  Wow!  What a head trip!

I wonder what Jesus thought as he heard the question.   Did they yet again not grasp that his kingdom was not of this world?  That they would be martyrs not minions.  Did they not realize the scourgings, imprisonments, grisly torture and deaths that awaited them.  

How sad it must have made God to realize the centuries invested in a people, the people of Israel, would end like this.   He loved the people of Israel, He always would.  But He would now place His very essence in these clay vessels.  Not so far removed from His flawed Israel.  And the word would not be contained within a people, but in a soul.

These rag-tag group of men would soon hold His unquenchable flame.  Their feet would carry them to places not defined by boundaries, nor color, nor sex, nor even faith.  The Spirit would speak, love, act, and baptize in His Name.   And nothing could stop it.  Because as one vessel died, another would pick up the flame, and another, and another because the flame would not be extinguished.  It could not.

Praise be to God!

Evolvement of Otherness

When you are young, your work ethics are more or less determined by environment, authority, and the desire to achieve and/or please.  If less than desirable, consequences come into play, you learn from those as well. 

As a Christian, this almost parallels our journey.  We are involved in church, our relationship with God progresses, and the desire to please God is foremost.   As we grow older, we find new and more efficient ways to do our work.  At first they are for us.  To give us more time, to simplify our frustration.  But little by little we see that what we do affects others.  That one step on our part eliminates a step for someone else.   That our customer, client, or patient is put at ease by our small effort to make our service more personal or to make them more comfortable.   That is the Golden Rule in action.  That we extend or sacrifice our needs for the other. We take time so they do not have to.  As we mentor the young, whether in life or work, they will pattern us, but until they transform on the inside, they will not find “it”.  The feeling of accomplishment perfectly melded with compassion.  We have to let them know the work is not skin-deep.

Trust and Obey

Last Sunday in church, we sang the old gospel hymn, "Trust and Obey".  Hadn't sung it for awhile and it brought back such fond memories.  Sitting in a starched voile dress, layered over a
mountain of petticoats.   That scratchy lace at the collar and
the white button at the wrist gloves. The nylon socks and white patent shoes topped, make that bottomed the outfit.  Standing by my parents holding onto the old hymnal, singing in "fellowship sweet".  

The words became an automatic duo to me.  Like love and marriage or Batman and Robin.   Trust and obey.   As an adult, looking over my life, I realized it was a little more complex than that.  I really had an anxiety issue as a kid and young adult.  In fact I remember in a small group saying I would give anything if there was a store where you could purchase faith.  That faith Paul talked about in Philippians - the kind that created a peace that surpassed all understanding.   The one that could calm my jitters, worries, and fears.  

The title of this beloved hymn came from the words of a young may attending a revival meeting of the great Dwight L Moody, evangelist at the turn of the 19th century.  He stood up, I assume at the altar call, and said " I am not sure, but I will trust, and I will obey".  When I read that this week, I thought, that is it! The key to faith.  First of all confessing that we are not sure.   You see, I think we see trust as something we do, but in essence it is God's work.  It may come through a series of events we have no control over or it may be a light bulb experience where you are moved to say what that young man said,  I am not sure.

Then the next step.  But I will trust.   I give it up or over.  I lay it all down.  I pry the fingers of my control away and give it over to what I know of You and I leave it there.  I walk away.  I relinquish what I think is mine.  What hold I think I have.  What skills I think I bring to this table.  All nothing in light of the overwhelming power and presence of the Mighty God!  Duh!!!

I will obey.  Obedience is the thing we put first, in most cases.  Because we think obedience is our part of the pie.  It is what we do.  We make that conscious effort to do what we feel God would have us to do. We take the path, or choose the way.  But don't you see.  If we truly admit our ignorance and relinquish our lives, obedience is the natural next step.  We can do none other.  Like sheep, we have no resources and we can only listen to and be led by the shepherd.  He knows where the pastures and waters are.  He is aware of enemies and protects us from them.  And He will never forsake us, even providing a home with Him forever and ever.

Trust and Obey!  Duh!