"... then he released Barabbas to them..."
My name is Barabbas, I have sinned great sins of death
I have lied, cheated, stolen and robbed - I've got murder on my breast
What is this before me? Well, I have been set free
God has caused my sin and shame to fall upon a man from Galilee
I'm not sure of the festival or time of the year
On the day of my trial my heart was filled with Godly fear
A life I'd sown in sin and shame was now a nightmare of my past
Harboring its just reward, as before the jeering crowd I was cast
I looked down towards the masses, and then to Pilate's side
I was a wretched stinking criminal in chains and blinding Light
The crowd grew angry - not to me - but to a new man they brought forth
A broken-hearted bleeding man stood trembling before the court
Pilate rose addressed the crowd to what the verdict be
Shall I free this killer, Barabbas? Or this king from Galilee?
Deep inside I had a hope, a glimmer oh so dim
Save my life from my due death, oh Father, redeem my sin
That's when the crowd sang
Give us Barabbas! It's him we want set free
Give his punishment and just reward to the King from Galilee
What? I couldn't believe it
Give us Barabbas! It's him we want set free
Give his punishment and just reward to the One who thinks he's King
When the final pronouncement came I had been set free
I hoot and hollered, "God be praised! He has heard my sincere plea!
But then I looked across the patio into his loving eyes
Above the roaring crowds he whispered - deep into my heart
For you, I'll die.
Did my ears deceive me" For he seemed to want to die
I tried to get a second look but they pulled him from the light
Later on that evening I sat staring at my wine
When the haunting words of the afternoon swirled round and round my mind
For you I'll die.
My name is Barabbas, I've sinned great sins of death
I've lied, cheated, stolen and robbed - I've got murder on my breast
What is this before me? I have been set free
God has caused my sin and shame to fall upon a Man from Galilee
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Matthew Devotion 26:75
"... So he went out and wept bitterly..."
Jesus knew Peter's heart. He knew there would be a day when this young optimistic apostle would pass through a tunnel of torment and feel so rotten about it afterwards that he would doubt his Call and his Place in the Kingdom. So he sought to comfort Peter - way out in advance - not only to prepare him for the ordeal but to remind him that, as he himself would prove, there is Life on the backside of the Cross.
“Simon, Simon," Jesus told him once. "Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31)
(I can see Peter looking to heaven and thinking that sort of thing could never happen to him. "Sure, whatever, Lord." But it did. Just like Jesus said it would. Only then did the Holy Spirit remind Peter of what Jesus was really saying.)
We oftentimes misunderstand what the Lord is saying to us until after the affair. Before the betrayal we may hear his warning - along with his absolute assurance of restoration on the other side - but we don't really take it to heart. We make light of it - even turning it into something spiritual or parabolic. What nice words, we think. Perhaps somebody needs to hear those words. Our Jesus is such a nice Shepherd. He is filled with such a great big, gushy love! Sweet, sweet Jesus! But it's only after the the betrayal when we realize the thing deafening us to God's Word in our hearts was at the very heart of our betrayal.
Humility is a wonderful thing, isn't it? It's the stuff of Biblical Heros. What you thought you were perhaps exempt from the process? Think again.
In the story above it's important to remember that Jesus was far more interested in Peter's recovery - his return to ministry - than what took him out. Betrayal takes a heavy toll on a person, regardless of the circumstances. Jesus is aware of that. He walks it through with us, pours out the Father's love to us, and reminds us there is Life beyond life. All the same, Jesus is insistent: Peter needed to know that, after all was said and done, he still had a call to ministry, he still had Purpose and, indeed, he was still to play a crucial role in the Plans of God.
Peter's sin, as rotten as it was, did not cause God to run and hide in a closet. No, Jesus is a Friend of Sinners. He drew closer to Peter. He singled him out and used the denial for a Future Glory - a glory perhaps greater than could have been previously.
Gods Word never returns void. He's not going to let a speed bump take us you of the Race. He has much bigger fish to fry.
A few days later, on the beach, Jesus says nothing about Peter's sin and says everything about the original Call on his life. "Do you still love me? Then, let's get on with it. Feed my sheep"
What? Even when I've sliced off the ear of a solder and you had to heal him? Feed my sheep. What? Even after I've denied you three times before others who need to know the Love of God? Feed my sheep. What? Even when I've suffocated the your Fire by warming myself around the fires of my own comfort and misplaced passion? Yes, dude, feed my sheep! As I've told you before, when you are restored, strengthen your brothers.
A well-healed limb is often stronger than the original. What is it with our God? He not only restores the years the locusts have eaten, but he makes the remaining years even more fruitful so that the glory of yesterday is shadowed in the glory of the Day.
Such is the power of God's forgiveness in a heart of flesh.
Jesus knew Peter's heart. He knew there would be a day when this young optimistic apostle would pass through a tunnel of torment and feel so rotten about it afterwards that he would doubt his Call and his Place in the Kingdom. So he sought to comfort Peter - way out in advance - not only to prepare him for the ordeal but to remind him that, as he himself would prove, there is Life on the backside of the Cross.
“Simon, Simon," Jesus told him once. "Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31)
(I can see Peter looking to heaven and thinking that sort of thing could never happen to him. "Sure, whatever, Lord." But it did. Just like Jesus said it would. Only then did the Holy Spirit remind Peter of what Jesus was really saying.)
We oftentimes misunderstand what the Lord is saying to us until after the affair. Before the betrayal we may hear his warning - along with his absolute assurance of restoration on the other side - but we don't really take it to heart. We make light of it - even turning it into something spiritual or parabolic. What nice words, we think. Perhaps somebody needs to hear those words. Our Jesus is such a nice Shepherd. He is filled with such a great big, gushy love! Sweet, sweet Jesus! But it's only after the the betrayal when we realize the thing deafening us to God's Word in our hearts was at the very heart of our betrayal.
Humility is a wonderful thing, isn't it? It's the stuff of Biblical Heros. What you thought you were perhaps exempt from the process? Think again.
In the story above it's important to remember that Jesus was far more interested in Peter's recovery - his return to ministry - than what took him out. Betrayal takes a heavy toll on a person, regardless of the circumstances. Jesus is aware of that. He walks it through with us, pours out the Father's love to us, and reminds us there is Life beyond life. All the same, Jesus is insistent: Peter needed to know that, after all was said and done, he still had a call to ministry, he still had Purpose and, indeed, he was still to play a crucial role in the Plans of God.
Peter's sin, as rotten as it was, did not cause God to run and hide in a closet. No, Jesus is a Friend of Sinners. He drew closer to Peter. He singled him out and used the denial for a Future Glory - a glory perhaps greater than could have been previously.
Gods Word never returns void. He's not going to let a speed bump take us you of the Race. He has much bigger fish to fry.
A few days later, on the beach, Jesus says nothing about Peter's sin and says everything about the original Call on his life. "Do you still love me? Then, let's get on with it. Feed my sheep"
What? Even when I've sliced off the ear of a solder and you had to heal him? Feed my sheep. What? Even after I've denied you three times before others who need to know the Love of God? Feed my sheep. What? Even when I've suffocated the your Fire by warming myself around the fires of my own comfort and misplaced passion? Yes, dude, feed my sheep! As I've told you before, when you are restored, strengthen your brothers.
A well-healed limb is often stronger than the original. What is it with our God? He not only restores the years the locusts have eaten, but he makes the remaining years even more fruitful so that the glory of yesterday is shadowed in the glory of the Day.
Such is the power of God's forgiveness in a heart of flesh.
Friday, February 25, 2011
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?
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?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
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.
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.
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