Matthew Devotion 26:25

"... then Judas, who was betraying him..."

Sacred Moments often bring out the worst in us.

As a fire boils up the issues to the surface of the broth, so does the Presence of God raise our rebelliousness to our hearts' surface. For our God is a consuming fire. In him all things are revealed, brought to the surface through the loving conviction of the Holy Spirit.

But the mere revelation of our impurities is not enough. For in our design we have been granted a certain risky freedom. Once our impurity has boiled to the surface we have the ability to release it into the rising steam, or recapture it - hurling it back into the the caverns of our tomb and seeping it all the more-so, as a demonic toxic spice, into the boil.

Why is it that our most sinful elements are revealed in our most holiest moments?

It is the Lamp of God, revealing that which he desires to heal, restore, or forgive. The fact that such abominable motives (and sometimes behavior) surface in the Sacred Moments is a given. The real question, however, is, "What will we to do with that which has been revealed?" Will we release the thing, assuming God brought it up for a Purpose? Or will we, like Judas, fully stripped in the All Knowing Mind of God, use the revelation as proof to justify our own twisted, hidden agenda?

Revealing our inner betrayer is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.

Rabbi, is it I? The same question rang from both the lips of Peter and of Judas - not unlike the same question, "How can this be?" rang from both the lips of Zacharias and Mary as they, too became unravelled in the Presence of the Revealer. Peter and the other 10 were humble. They were willing to be pierced with the conviction of their own human frailty. Their questioning was open. They were willing to acknowledge the fact that they may be carrying the DNA of a betrayer. But Judas? His questioning took on a different innuendo. He asked that same question - Rabbi, is it I - to justify the validity of his rebellion; or, perhaps worse, to assure God's blessing on it.

 If God showed it to me, I must be right.

Later Peter, when hearing the crowing rooster, repented. In a mass of wailing, tears, and acknowledgment of harboring the thing he regretted most, the thing revealed was released (perhaps cast off?) into the Revealer of Things. Judas, however - though remorseful - did not repent. For him the thing revealed became self-integrated, returning to the depths of his system with double the hellish intent - so much so, in fact, that it killed both he and his Lord.

The secret here, I believe, is to walk into the depths of these Sacred Moments with sort of a "hold on loosely" demeanor. These moments happen to us daily. In the Scripture here, it happened at the Eucharist. But it can happen almost anywhere, especially in times of praise and worship, or in times of intimacy with the Lord.

When these things surface we need to choose to believe them. We need to look at our "broth" through the Lens of Light, seeing it for what it is, agreeing with our Lord - in all humility and contriteness - and, in that same moment, be willing to surrender the thing into the one who loves us and is the only One in Creation to redeem us from the cords of death and freely restore us in the  Purposes of the Godhead.

Is it I, Lord?

Matthew Devotion 26:28

"... which is shed for you and for many..."

The Blood has not yet reached it's full potential.

For us it has, of course; for we have received the Gift of redemption. But there are those who have yet to appropriate the Blood in their own life's and allow it to pave their Way into Eternity.

There are the Judas' - he was seated at the table when Christ initiated the New Covenant and still became filled with satan, right there at that sacred moment! - people who sat with Jesus as friends yet have hardened their hearts with the appetites of the flesh, perhaps so much so they themselves have forgotten the sweetness of the Fruit they so once enjoyed.

There are those in foreign countries who have yet to hear the Good News. This Blood is for them, too. "For you and for many for the forgiveness of sins," as the Prayer Book reads. These are the outcast, the clueless, or the mentally challenged who will never be able to make a stand, lift a hand, or give public testimony to "Jesus as Lord and Savior."

The veins of Christ's Blood run deeper than the skin of religious protocol.

Christ's Blood - for many - flows un-endlessly from the Cross, flowing from the mountain and penetrating the deepest, darkest, caverns of the human condition;  from CEO's to kids with needless stuck in their arms, from the redeemed to the not-yet-churched. The Blood is runs hard and violently from Golgotha, splitting rocks, ripping trees from their roots, snapping chords of generational sin, dislodging demons, and freeing anyone - everyone - of a forever in hell; anyone who merely gets a drop of It.

Such is the wonder working power of the Blood!

Recently I was celebrating the Eucharist and, as I lifted the silver Chalice above my head in offering it to the Lord I saw, in the Cup there - in the distorted circumference of it's reflection - the faces of the people standing there around the altar with me; each face reflected in and from the Cup of Grace. Yet, if Truth be realized, the whole of humanity was reflected in that Cup. I just couldn't see them. If I could, there would be so many faces - too many to number, too many to comprehend - in that Cup.

Such is the precious Blood of Christ who washes away our sins, nourishes us with his Life, empowers us with the Divinity to take up our Cross and rise with him the Golden City my means of an Ancient Way which is eternally stained with his Crimson Life.

Everyone we see, every tribe we study, every person in the late night bar, every person at the Easter's Sunrise service; all of humanity - past, present, and future - even if they were to be doubled in size, still would not shake nor exhaust the the Almighty power and Living Presence of our Father, in even one drop of the Blood.

For you, and for many.

Matthew Devotion 26:7

"... and she poured in on his head as he sat at the table..."

Jesus did all things right, which infuriated the rightness of one who was closest to him. Our sense of what Jesus should be doing, and who Jesus should be doing it with, often flies in the face of what he's really doing and who he's really doing it with.

That's why we need to continually pray, "On earth as it is in heaven" - not so much as to make it happen by our words, but to be able to bless it with our hearts.

Three things lead Judas, one of the 12 (meaning one of his closest, most intimate brothers), to blow a gasket and turn Jesus into the Chief Priests. First, they were in the house of a Leper. Simon had been healed by Jesus previously, but still had the social stigma attached to his past life. Jesus was able to dine freely at Simon's table, and enjoy the fulness of his presence, hospitality, and healing. Then, a woman poured a flask of very expensive oil on Jesus' head - right there at the table. The future King was seemingly humiliated by the actions of a woman who, aside from children, ranked lowest in status. Finally, Jesus turns around and justifies her action - calling it an anointing for his burial, casting concerns about the cost of the event to the Wind, and sets this woman up as an everlasting example of worship throughout all time.

Sometimes the most awkward events - the things that run against the very core of our sensibilities - are actually holy portals revealing a Deeper Sensibility.

When these portals appear - and they appear daily - they often arouse a contrary passion that keep us from seeing through the thing and cause us to rise up against the thing which is seen.  Jesus, no doubt, in his humanness, may have been just as surprised as Judas with the actions of that evening. Yet he was able to get past his misunderstanding of the event and see through it.

"This is a bit out of the box," he may have thought. And then, with an opened heart, freed of personal bias and social correctness, "What are you doing here, Father?" While Judas - in his overly righteous responsibly in who knows what, was deadened from seeing anything but what he saw.

Yet Jesus affirmed the event. He engaged in it. He honored it. He had the eyes to see what God was doing through the event (which no doubt infuriated Judas all the more). Jesus was not held captive with lists and protocols of what was right, wrong, politically correct or otherwise. He took Life as it came and sought the Deeper Sensibility within it. He knew from experience there is always a Deeper Sensibility.

So he blessed it. And, in so doing, others were blessed, too. And the home was filled with the fragrance of his mercy.

Simon - an outcast from society - was affirmed in his healing and love from God. And this beautiful woman - perhaps thinking she had done something stupid and, only realizing it afterwards, felt condemned and shamed - she was affirmed in who she was, what she did, and forever memorialized as a an example of her actions.

Lord, give us the grace to see through our day to a Greater Day, to see through the irks, puzzlement, and senseless actions of this life into your Deeper Sensibility.  And, once there, let us turn to bless, affirm, and heal based on what you are doing beneath the surface, based on what we see the Father doing, and not merely what we see in our flesh.

Matthew Devotion: 24:46

"... blessed is the servant whom his master, when he comes, will find still doing..."

At the end of the Day - and there will be an end of the Day - we want to be caught by surprise, doing the things God has called us to do.

Many people spend so much time thinking through End Time scenarios - as if their salvation depended on it - they're missing out on the blessing of simply serving others in his Name. They perhaps think that once they get their minds around the "correct" eschatological time line, they will be blessed. But it doesn't happen that way. Jesus didn't say we'd be blessed if we knew the countdown. He said we'd be blessed if we're serving others in his Name at the time of Liftoff.

We need to rest. He knows the the order of events and that's all that matters. He has told us beforehand (v.25).  Some of the events have been fulfilled.  Roman Governor Titus, for example, has entered the Most Holy Place and had a stature of himself set up where the Ark should have been. People reading this Gospel would have known about that and been encouraged that the Son of God really knows what he's doing.

Other events have yet to come. It's tempting to be distracted and caught up in the catching up of the Saints. It happens in every age because these events touch something deep within us. They foreshadow our Sure and Certain Future and scents all we know in barely tangible ways. How can we not be tempted into getting caught up in its phenomenalistic addiction?

Yet we are not called to figure it out. We are called to know that it's coming is as certain as anything we know and then, with that in mind, be all-the-more-so about the Father's Business.

Life which hangs it hat on the latest End Time heart-beat becomes anemic, hollow, formula-driven, and a weakening witness to the ones around us that need God's Love to meet them in their fears and weaknesses. A life that carries on with joy and passion, however - in the shadow of that great and terrible Day - will be blessed to everyone.  Jesus told us these things would happen beforehand to ease it for us, to label it for us so that we wouldn't need to be distracted from serving him and - heaven forbid - loose our blessing.

A surfer, when paddling for a wave, would be foolish to stop paddling, sit up, look back, and examine the face of the wave, it's break, its height, or even turn to paddle closer for a better study. No. The surfer continues paddling towards the Shore, all the time aware its imminent coming, all the time doing his duty, doing the thing that needs to be done.

The Wave will come - regardless of his precise knowledge of where and when it will break. Be sure about that.

But, this way, he is sure to catch the Ride and rise above the jagged edges of the Reef below.

Matthew Devotion: 23:15

"... woe to you..."

For Jesus, there is a big difference between the body of theological substance and the Substance of his Body.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were whiz kids when it came to the substance of theology. They knew the Law and created a system wherein people were fooled into believing that, in following the tenets of that system to perfection, entrance would be granted to heaven - as righteousness had finally been achieved.

But they missed it.

It would have been different to be as dogmatic and self-righteous with lessor things - such as cooking, exercise, or even gardening. But they were bucking up against the Very Issues of Creation. God had created them in his image and now they were recreating him in theirs - and telling his children to do the same.

God puts up with a lot. But he will step in when injustice or falsities are proclaimed that run in conflict with who he is - especially when the ones proclaiming those falsities have spiritual influence or oversight over his beloved children. Better a millstone tied to his neck then to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

Jesus steps into their world and slams them - and their system of religion - for falling short of Knowledge and Truth in four ways:

Creating and imposing their own standards of righteousness on otthers. It's been said that Christians save people from the Law and then infuse so many new customs into their life that, the latter work of keeping the Law - now a "Christian Law" - is worse than the first.

Not seeing the Big Picture. They were swearing on the gold in the temple, or the temple itself. Jesus reminds them that there is so much more happening around them. Lift your eyes, ask for the revelation to see beyond what you see, to see through what is seen. In so doing, the little things wont become burdens to you anymore and the Big Thing will become your saturating reality. (By the way, one can see the Big Picture and not understand the Big Picture, and be content with that.)

Selective Spirituality. It was easy for the leaders of the Law to highlight one passage of Scripture over another to justify any given cause. Are there really weightier matters of the Law - sections of the Word that exclude lessor priority - not unlike the hand saying to the head, I have no need of you? The Scriptures are an entire Body of the Word, complete, giving us everything needed for salvation.

Inner/Outer Congruence. On the outside they were beautiful. On the inside they were filled with dead bones and uncleanliness.

I once had a vision on the way to church. I had been asking God to give me a word to give to the congregation. As I was driving in, I saw a picture of a beautifully manicured Cape Cod-styled home - white picket fence, shutters, swing off the oak tree - the whole nine yards. As I entered the gate I saw the backside of the fence was unpainted and rotting away. In fact, as I looked closer at the house, everything was dead on the inside and in need of immediate repair. The house was perfect on the outside, but the owner of the house knew its true state. And, in this case, the owner of the house was me. This vision was one of many revelations which lead me to a season of rest and restoration about a year ago.

All the same, Jesus would rather have the inside and the outside of the house living as one, honestly and transparently, humbly and gracefully being on the outside who we are on the inside. He knows we can easily fool ourselves into believing a lie - believing we really are that glistening cup and dish, when the Truth is not in us.

This spirit of the Law is alive and well in us today. It is everything the Living Christ came to free us from. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Lord, give us the grace to be real with you, to shine forth your glory, not from a cosmetic spirituality that seeks to stealth our unstealthable hypocrisy, but from an inner glory that witnesses the anchored residence of the Son of God. 

Matthew Devotions: 22:29

... but we [will be] like angels of God in heaven..."

Heaven is our final destination. But make no mistake, we will no more be angels there, as we are here.

People make the passing from this life to the next life everything but sacred. They argue whether we sleep until the Second Coming, or we immediately raise to be with Christ the moment of the passing. While interesting, these discussions take away from both the Sacredness and Vocation of the Second Birth.

Soon we will understand that there are many categories of creatures in heaven. There are all sort of angels - each with rank and role - all sorts of beasts, all sorts of beings. And then we will arrive, too - separately distinct from all others, joining with them in the ongoing activities of worship and work in the all Eternal Plan of God.

Jesus slammed the pharisees on two accounts (vrs. 29). One: that they did not know the Scriptures. They had accumulated knowledge of the resurrection - from myth and tradition - but had watered down their actual belief in what the Scriptures actually said. For them, the Scriptures were a nice body of information that had their own little world, or reality, about them - whether true or false - not unlike Narnia. They were distant in heart with the Texts who described who they were and their sure future.

He also slammed them for not knowing the power of God. They were unable to grasp the immense New World awaiting those on the Other Side. They had not experienced the power of God through the Holy Spirit (though had witnessed it in Jesus' ministry) and thus based their worldview on the ground of their being, not in the sky of his footstool. For them, the idea of resurrection itself was a myth.

But we are different. We see things from this side of the Tomb. We have a foretaste of the Resurrection Life in the joy we often experience when we worship or pray. We believe the glorious power of Heaven's Love swelled so much for us that - as an old wineskin bursts forth with the inertia of the New Wine - it could no longer be contained and blasted forth from the tomb in violent torrents of Living Water. The stone was the finger in the dike. And no finger can hold back that kind of power.

For believers in Christ, heaven is as real as anything we see, for we live in that Stream.  One Day we will be completely caught up in it - indeed, swept away in it.  One day the  torrents flooding forth from the Tomb itself will not be able to hold back the overwhelming back-flow of Love that God has for us. The rocks will turn to sand and the Rock of Ages will appear, with one - and only one thought in mind - being with you and me!

He will descend from the Throne of Love and escort his Beloved into a New Life - a life of activity, a life of work, a life untainted by sin or the power of the devil where we will join with all of the gloriously redeemed, a motley crew, gathered from all time and places where, I believe, we will to continue on with the good work of proclaiming His Glory and Witness across the unreached creature-groups in the Universe and Beyond, eventually winning all Creation to that same Heaven.

You perhaps were thinking we'd just be strumming harps and singing in choirs?  Wake up, dude. This is not your grandparents' heaven.

Matthew Devotions: 22:3

"... he sent out his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast..."

As servants of Christ, our role is to fit those who have been called with their wedding garments.

Christ calls everyone to join him in the Feast, yet not all come. Some have excuses, others are procrastinators. Still others make light of it and think it's a pipe dream. Still he calls - still his servants are instructed to gather, proclaim, and to usher. And still his servants find very few people actually willing to go.

It's rough being a servant. Servants - if not wholly focused on their mandate from on High - may sometimes think they are not performing like they should, or that there is something wrong with their performance.  If they were doing all things right then everyone would hear them, confess Christ, and want to wear a gown, they think.

But that's not true. People have their own wills. They choose their paths, we cannot do that for them. Many will turn away and that is not our problem. Our priority is to be ready for the ones that will come, the ones that God has drawn into the Feast. That is what the Father is doing. That is what we are about. Only that.

"Friend, how did you come here without a wedding garment?" (vrs. 12). In the old days it was the King's responsibility to provide the wedding garments - so the man in this story had absolutely no excuse for not having one. We cannot speak to that. Yet, as servants of Christ, we are all about the business of fitting those who have decided to freely purchase a Garment for their sure, future Feast.

"Fitting others" comes in a lot of ways. What can be done to hem the robe for a tight fit? What can the servant do - through loving, nurturing, teaching, modeling, and blessing - that which will sure up the Garments of those he has called us to serve? When they walk into that Room we want them to shine with the luster of Bridegroom. We want them to radiate and reflect the love of the Day, without blemish or wrinkle.

So how do we do that? They are heading to a feast that we have already attended. They have only smelt the savoring meat and faintly heard the New Song riding on the Wind through the windows of their souls. But we have tasted of the meat, drank of the New Wine, and even danced before angels before the Throne. We have been there and thus know how to sure up the Garments of Grace. With that knowledge - the knowledge of their sure future - what can the Servants of Christ do in order to completely fit them for the Feast?

Servants take whoever is called and, knowing what they know, empty themselves upon the Called - fitting them with the Garments which will grant them access to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

Matthew Devotion: 21:41

"... who will render him the fruits in their seasons..."

In times of inactivity, remember: the ebb and flow of the intensity of our walks with Christ may not so much be the product of your own doing, but the result of a natural "season" in your life.

If you are born to bear fruit - fruit for the Kingdom that will last - and you are - that, in itself, negates the thought that your spiritual vibrancy will be at 100% full throttle each and every day of your life.

For a tree to bear fruit there needs to be seasons. There will always be those times when the fruit is sweet and people will cluster to your Vine. Conversaly, there will always be those times when the Vinedressor will till the soil around your roots, prune your branches, and prepare you for the Greater Harvest in Spring.

Leaning to accept this spiritual ebb and flow - season of fruitfulness to seasons of preparation - is difficult for us. In seasons perceived fruitlessness it is easy to think, "Where has God gone? Where are the glory days?" And sometimes, in seasons of intense fruitfulness - when the sparks are flying and the Witness is sure - we think, "All I want is a little peace and quiet!"

But God knows. He is the Manager of All Seasons. He knows your potential and prunes you so that you display his absolute best fruit - Fruit of the Vine. In "spiritual lulls" you don't need to wonder if there is anything good left in you. Rather, know that he is gardening. He is faithful. His Word never returns void.

The bearing of fruit is the one thing - perhaps the only thing - that is seen and handled by others for the Witness of the God's Love. John cries in the wilderness, "Bear fruit worthy of repentance!" In other words, "Let me see something in your life that shows me something of the interior work of repentance in your life." Jesus said, "By your fruit you will be known." In other words, "Others will know you by the actions, lifestyle, morals, and spiritual fortitude you display."  And Paul writes, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."  These are not standards of conduct or morality - these are fruits of the Spirit. They are natural displays of the one who is grafted into the Vine from Heaven, Jesus Christ.

If you are in him, you will display these things - without even trying.  They have little to do with what you do and everything to do with who you are in Christ.  You are made to bare fruit - naturally. If you are walking with God good fruit will follow. Period. The most you can do is nurture the plant, fanning into flame the gift that is in you by blessing whatever the Vinedresser is doing at any particular time in your life.

So in your times of barrenness, in your times when you find yourself wondering "where have all the flowers gone?" remember that the Vinedresser is quite busy. He continues working working the soil, pruning your branches, maybe even uprooting you and placing you in another field.  He has a Plan. He sees ahead. You cannot.

Bless your season. Rest assured that you have not been forsaken. You have not run dry.  This time is a planned time, a preparation time,  wherein the Vinedresser is working and waiting for the precise time to produce in you a glorious, fruitful future wherein many will taste and see that the Lord is good!

Matthew Devotion: 21:14

'... then the blind and lamb came to him in the temple, and he healed them..."

When the Temple is cleansed, miracles of God abound!

In this Palm Sunday passage three notable things happened:

• the great multitudes laid their cloaks before him
• Jesus cleared out the sin and purged the blockages between God and his people
• there was a big healing service

I mentioned the first point in the last blog.

Most important here is to note the righteous rage that Jesus demonstrated when he saw the religious barricades preventing the Children of God from worshiping the Father in Spirit and Truth. And, even today, he is still in the business of tearing walls down. Why? In order to restore us to a right relationship with the Father. In the story, Jesus is cleaning the Temple in Jerusalem. In our life's, he is cleaning the Temple of our hearts.

We can be very clever in devising walls and barriers that set us up for a limited intimacy with God. We procrastinate, we sin. We seek to manage God. We tell ourselves God forgives us but then refuse to believe - outside of some self-sacrificial self-righteous act of self-indulgent penance which needs to really hurt - he has really forgiven us.  We even have been known to establish religious protocols in our devotions which do more to work us away from Intimacy with God than to gracefully and quite easily, simply receive the Gift.

(Many churches lack the manifest experience of the Father - the joy of Heaven, the healing, empowerment, the gifts of the Spirit - because of religious clutter in their gatherings, as well.)

Jesus knows there is nothing more on the Father's heart than to be with his kids. And he knows how happy we would all be if all the clutter was cleared from our Temple Courts.  So - being a God of Love and an enemy of all things bad - he strategically destroys anything that would get in the way of that. Conversely, he builds up everything that would enhance that. In this sense, he is a bit like his cousin John, who levels our mountains and fills in our valleys to prepare us to encounter the Way of the Lord.

Must run in the family.

If you ever sense he is driving out all those who are buying and selling in the the Temple of your heart; best to go with it. Who can stand before his mighty blast? It is all for Love's Sake anyway and you'll only pull a muscle clinging to that which will only hurt you in the log run anyway.

It is when this happens - the clearing of the Temple - that healing breaks forth. Or, perhaps the clearing of one's Temple and the healing of the blind and lame are both one and the same event?

Regardless, it was when all the clutter was removed from the Courts that the Lovingkindness of the Kingdom became manifest. Healing happened. People were set free to dance and worship their God, just like they had always been made to do, just like they have always dreamed of being.