Broken Vessels

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness'

made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge

of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay..."

(2Cor.4)

There once was a rabbi who had two large clay pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck down to the stream every day to get water.  One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect.  At the end of his long trek from the stream to his house, the perfect pot was full while the cracked pot only arrived half-full.  This went on each day for two years.  The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishment, always being full; but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.  After two years of bitter failure it spoke to the rabbi at the stream.  "I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."  The old rabbi smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path but not on the other pot's side?  That is because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path.  Each day we walk back from the stream, you water them.  For two years now I have been enjoying their beauty on my walk.  Without you they would not be there for everyone who passes by to see their glory."

In Old Testament times, a clay vessel became impure if something unholy or impure touched it.  The only way it could be made pure was to break it; then it could be glued back together for service.   Of course the cracks and chips would most certainly still show, especially when held up to the light.

Paul writes in Corinthians that we have Jesus the Light of the World,  in jars of clay (our temporary, earthly bodies).  We have this treasure, this Light, in jars that are broken, chipped, cracked by the hurts and concerns, the failures and disappointments of our lives.  And we wonder sometimes if God can use us with all our flaws.  And yet this is where He - the Creator of the Universe - has decided to dwell.  In us, cracks and all. 

Don't you know that a light shines more brightly through a broken vessel than a whole one?

The Sound of Grace and My Sister Tillie Tuls

Recently someone said to me:  I wonder what Grace sounds like.  I had never imagined that Grace might have a sound until that conversation.  But it does, you know.

"You shall make a veil...and you shall hang the veil from the clasps.  Then you shall bring the

Ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil.  The veil shall be a divider for you

between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place."  (Ex. 26)

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

by a new and living way opened for us through the veil, that is His Body..."  (Heb. 10)

In the Tabernacle in the wilderness and then later in the Temple in Jerusalem,  God had commanded His people there should be a veil separating the Most Holy Place (where He dwelt) from the Holy Place (where the priests ministered).   Only one day a year, the Day of Atonement, could the High Priest alone enter behind the veil into the Most Holy Place to sprinkle the mercy seat with the sacrificial blood.

The veil in the Temple of Jesus' day was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and twisted linen.  It was approximately 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and 4 inches thick.  It was said that horses tied to each side would not be able to pull the veil apart!  Yet we read that at the moment of Jesus' death - when He breathed His last - the veil was torn in two from top to bottom.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that now we can enter boldly into that Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus:

"...by a new and living way which He consecrated for us

through the veil, that is His flesh."

The veil being torn in two when Jesus breathed His last is a picture of His flesh being torn for us so that now we have access to God through the sacrifice of His Son.  What a joyous and triumphant occasion for us!

But in pondering this ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, I began to wonder how it must have been for God the Father to view His Son's body being torn.  And I was reminded how a Jew in deep mourning would tear his garments.  Did you know that the Rabbis in Jesus' day referred to the Temple veil as the 'tunic of God'?  I just had a picture of God, in deep mourning and agony, crying out and ripping the veil in two as a Jewish father would rip his tunic over the death of a child.

What must it have sounded like in the heavens at that moment when Jesus died?  At that moment when God ripped the Temple veil - His tunic - in two?  How the howling lament of the Father must have thundered across the creation; so much so that it shook to its very foundations; that the sun was darkened, the earth quaked, the rocks split and the graves were opened!  What must His pain have been like to see the death of His Son on the Cross for the sins of the world?  This is the Sound of Grace.

In the Talmud it states that if one person is present when another 'breathes his last', that person must tear his tunic in mourning.  "One who stands near the dying, at the time when he breathes his last, he is duty bound to rend his tunic."  (Bava Meitza 25a)

Listen to these words from the Gospel of Mark on the death of our Lord:

"And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed His last.

Then the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom."

Mark 14

This morning my sister-in-law Tillie will be removed from a ventilator that she has been on since suffering a massive stroke last week.  At some point she too will breathe her last.  And we will mourn.  But she will enter into the Most Holy Place.  And at that, we rejoice.  Thank you Jesus for making a new and living way for us through the veil, Your Body.

Engraved on His Hands

Tomorrow at sundown Jews all over the world will celebrate Passover.  It is a celebration, retelling and remembrance of what the Lord did for them when He brought them out of Egypt, the land of slavery, with a mighty outstretched hand.  When the Lord saw the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorframes of their homes, He 'passed over' that household and did not strike down their firstborn as He did throughout the homes of Egypt.  Then He led them out into the desert where they would learn to worship Him.  It was the birth of the Nation.

The Old Testament is full of stories about what happened next.  So often what happened next is that the people forgot He is a holy God Who demands to be first in the lives of His people; He will not share His glory with another.  And yet time after time we read that His people turned their backs, walked away, chased after other gods.  There was a price to pay for such rebellion.  There was suffering, defeat and cries that went up to a sky that seemed hardened as bronze.  Where was their Great Jehovah?  Had He forgotten them?  Had He abandoned them?  The words from the Prophet Isaiah tell us 'No!

But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me,

 the Lord has forgotten me!"

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have

no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.

Isaiah 49

Ask a nursing mom if she can forget her baby.  If she does forget for a time, her body will automatically respond with sore, leaky breasts because she bears the reminder of the baby in her body.

God says through the Prophet that we are engraved on His hands.  The Hebrew word for 'engraved' is "haqaq" and it means to 'cut, take a chisel or a hammer and cut, as into a rock'.  I hope you don't just pass by the beauty of that meaning.  Our Rock Jesus Christ redeemed us with His mighty arm on a long ago Passover; and the same arm that stretched out the heavens in creation now stretched out on a Cross - and men took a hammer and with it 'cut' into His hands.  For Israel, for you, for me.  We are engraved on His hands, and just as the nursing mother bears the reminder of her baby in her body, our Lord's resurrected body also bears the reminder of His children on His hands.

Do you feel forgotten?  Abandoned?  Have you, like the Israelites, turned your back, walked away, chased after other gods.  Do you wonder if you can ever come back, if you'll be accepted after yet another failure?   Do you cry out as Zion did:   The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.  

 The Cross beckons:  'Come back; see I have not forgotten you; you are engraved on My hands.'  There is no time like now - this Season of the Cross - to return to those hands.  Or come for the first time; you just might see your name engraved there also.

A Rabbi, A Scorpion and A Cross

There once was a rabbi who loved the Lord with all his heart; he was a righteous man but he wanted to get closer to the Lord so he decided to climb Mt. Sinai, thinking:  "Perhaps if I ascend as Moses did I will feel closer to God."  So he went out into the wilderness and started climbing in the heat of the day.  When he had climbed a few thousand feet he sat down on a rock to rest.  A black poisonous scorpion crawled onto the rock next to him and to the rabbi's great surprise, started talking to him!  "Put me on your shoulder and take me up to the top of the mountain with you", said the scorpion.  "I will be company for you on the long trip up."  The rabbi said:  "No!  You are a poisonous scorpion.  If I were to do that you would sting me and kill me!  I would be a fool."  The scorpion replied shrewdly and seductively:  "Now why would I do that?  If I hurt you I would only be ruining my ride to the top of the mountain.  Surely I will not sting you."  So the rabbi, thinking the companionship would be nice on the long arduous trip, picked up the scorpion, put him on his shoulder and resumed climbing.  When he had gone almost to the top the scorpion stung him on the neck.  As the deadly poison seeped into the rabbi's body he looked in confusion at the scorpion and said:  "Why did you do that?  You promised you wouldn't!"  To which the scorpion replied:  "You knew what I was when you picked me up."

My name is Jeannie and I'm an alcoholic.  Like the rabbi I too love the Lord.  And like the rabbi I've had a particularly difficult climb recently.  One where I felt hot and tired, diminished by the heat and all alone.   One day I too picked up my 'scorpion'  thinking it would be company for me and make the climb a bit easier.  It did not; before I knew it I was feeling the sting and the poison was seeping thru my life.  I was back in Egypt spiritually - in bondage to alcohol once again.  A wise woman told me this:  "Sin takes you farther than you ever wanted to go; it keeps you longer than you ever wanted to stay; it costs you more than you ever wanted to pay."  She was right. 

But there is a solution.  It's called The Cross and it beckons me back.  Even though I live on this side of Calvary and am under God's marvelous gift of grace, there are some things for which I need to return to that painful place.  So I did and received grace and mercy in my time of need.  There is peace at The Cross.  There is restoration there.  There is Jesus.

How about you?  Do you have a scorpion on your shoulder?  There is room for you at The Cross you know, whether for the first time or a return time.  The Season of the Cross is upon us; there is no better time to come than today.

(Check back - I hope to write more on restoration later in the week.  Shalom.)

Who Do You Say I Am

Master - Lord - Son of David - Son of God - the Christ

Rabbi - Teacher - Messiah

King of the Jews

All titles of our Lord; all used by His disciples and others, whether in acknowledgement of who He was or in derision of who He claimed to be.  But there was one who simply called Him "Jesus" without any other title attached; one who probably never witnessed any miracles of His, never heard any teachings of His, never saw His compassion on those who suffered:

"Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
(Luke 23)

There is something about that most intimate moment when the thief on the cross realizes who Jesus is and what He offers that no one else can:  Jesus saves.  And in those last few moments on the cross, when the thief came just as he was - with nothing to offer but everything to gain - he was the first to call Him by the name of a friend.  No titles, simply 'Jesus'. 

"Just as I am, thou wilt receive

with welcome pardon, cleanse, relieve

because thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

(Wm. Bradbury)