Puzzle Pieces

"So Joseph also went up from Nazareth to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David... He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  And she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their sheep by night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.  And they were terrified! 

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people!  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.  He is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you:  you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  Suddenly a great company of heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and singing, 

"Glory to God in the Highest

and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests!"

When the angels had left them and went into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child...

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

 (Luke 2:2-19)

The story of the first Christmas is familiar to me as I quietly sit reading it once again.  Yet this time there is a verse that keeps pulling at me, tugging at my thoughts and beckoning me to stay a bit:

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

I imagine on that first Christmas so long ago, Mary had much to treasure up...

            ...all that the shepherds had told her about the heavenly chorus singing because a Savior had been born. 

            ...the words from the Angel Gabriel 9 months earlier, telling her she had found favor with God; that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, the power of the Most High would overshadow her and she would give birth to a child.  

           ...this child would be called the Son of God.  He would sit on David's throne and His Kingdom would never end.  

 Mary had been told great and marvelous things about this little one she had just delivered, certainly many things to treasure up!

But we are told she also "pondered them in her heart".  To ponder means to think deeply and thoroughly about something, to meditate on it.  It's like taking many different pieces of a puzzle and trying to fit them together in your mind to give you a sense of the big picture.

Mary had much to ponder because it would seem that none of the puzzle pieces of all she had been told were fitting together.

Consider her situation:

Heavy with child, she travels 80 miles with her fiance because Caesar has issued a decree. When they arrive in Bethlehem they find no one has room for them.  Far from home, about to deliver, the trauma of being refused a place to lodge - she goes into labor in a dirty, filthy stable. 

I cannot imagine she was expecting this.

When Almighty God Himself plants a child in your womb you would think things would go a bit smoother.  If this child is the Son of the Most High God born to reign on David's throne forever, then what is she doing in this smelly manger with Joseph, her baby and some dirty shepherds who had been living in a field?  She had been called "blessed" by the Angel Gabriel and "highly favored".  Yet little of her present circumstances seem blessed or favorable; here she was, shunted off to a barn to deliver the Savior of the world.

Mary, indeed,  had much to ponder...many pieces of a puzzle that didn't seem to fit together.

Sometimes life is like that.  

How is it for you?  

Are the pieces of the puzzle of your life fitting together, snapping into place easily?  Or does it seem it would take a sledgehammer to make a piece fit?  Maybe you are thinking there are just too many pieces of the puzzle missing; life is not turning out as you expected...

        ...a loved one passed away this last year and this is your first Christmas without her.
        ...one you love is given a diagnosis of cancer and you wonder if the treatment will work;  will he be here for next Christmas?
       ...the lay-off notice you were fearing is now a reality, just in time for the holidays.
       ...your spouse has had an affair and you wonder if you will ever get over the pain and rejection.
       ...you are more connected than ever:  internet, Facebook, Instagram.  Yet you have never struggled more with loneliness and depression.
       ...you raised your child from birth to know Jesus; now as a young adult he has chosen to walk a different path.

When the pieces of the puzzle of our lives don't seem to fit together we, like Mary, do well to ponder, to think deeply about what it means that God chose to come as a helpless baby born in a stable to a teenage girl in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, so that he could be "Emmanuel - God with us.'"

He is not only God with us - in the really good times when the puzzle pieces seem to fall easily into place or the deepest darkest times of life when nothing seems to make sense - but he is God for us, the Apostle Paul tells us.

"And if God is for you who can be against you?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?...Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation..."

not illness - not cancer or depression - not loneliness or divorce or separation - not loss of job or loss of home - not even the loss of a loved one - nothing

"...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 8)

What do you need from him this Christmas?  No situation is too great, no heart too hard, no budget too little, no marriage too lonely.  God is with us, God is for us and nothing can separate us from his love!

He is calling us:  ponder the story!  Not the Christmas story we celebrate these days with so much busyness and things to do.  Ponder the story of that first Christmas, when none of the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together.  When the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Eternal and Almighty One, chose to leave his heavenly throne and come to us; God...wrapped in cloths and lying in a dirty manger.

Where could that puzzle piece possibly fit?

It fits right in with the cross of Calvary.  

We cannot separate the precious little baby lying in a manger from the spotless lamb who would hang on a cross so that, by his blood, he can forever be "Emmanuel, which means God with us!"  Oh how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ!  He who did not spare his only son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  This is our God - with us!  He is the one piece that will help you make sense out of the puzzle of your life!

This Christmas may you find that one piece of the puzzle that makes everything else fit: Emmanuel, God with us.  May he be what we, like Mary, treasure up and ponder in our hearts.

       

Thanksgiving Reflections on Hanukkah

 

This year Thanksgiving falls on the first day of Hanukkah, the 8-day Jewish Feast celebrating the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C.

Hanukkah's theme is one of miracles.  The central figure in the story is the Menorah, or Golden Lampstand, which stood in the Holy Place in God's Temple.

In 167 B.C. the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes was passionate about unifying his kingdom, including Judea, into one monolithic Greek culture.  Because he saw the Jewish religion as an obstacle to his goal, Antiochus made practicing Judaism a capital offense.

He set up ritual prostitution in the Temple.  

Possession of the Hebrew scriptures was outlawed.  

Whole families were executed for observing the Sabbath.  

He ransacked the Temple and offered pigs on the altar of God.

Finally a small band of Jewish outlaws led by Judah Maccabbee successfully revolted.  Against all odds, this small band of guerrilla warriors defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, driving the Greeks from the land, reclaiming the Temple and re-dedicating it to the worship of God.

They tore down and rebuilt the defiled altar.  

They made new instruments to be used in worship. 

People came from all over Judea to celebrate the re-dedication.

But when they went to light the Menorah which was to burn continually before the Holy of Holies, they discovered there was only one jar of sanctified oil remaining which had not been desecrated by Antiochus;  one jar would last only one night.  It would take eight days before more oil could be consecrated according to God's law.  What would they do?  The lit Menorah was central in the Holy Place; there was no other light.

They decided to use the little oil they had.  They were so eager for the light to be restored in God's Temple that they did all they could do, without violating God's Law...

...and waited for God to intervene.  

He did.  

The Lampstand miraculously continued to shine its light for 8 days, enough time for a new supply of oil to be made and consecrated.

Today many Jewish homes have a special 8-branched Menorah with an elevated ninth branch in the center.  This ninth branch holds the shamash, or servant,  candle which  is used to light each of the other candles.  Every evening a candle is lit from the flame of the shamash candle until the 8th night when all are aglow.  Then the Menorah is usually placed in a front window so all passing by may see the light it sends forth.

The Temple Menorah is a beautiful picture of our Messiah Jesus.  He is the Light of the World who came as the Shamash, being light to those around Him as He served.

This Thanksgiving as we recall the pilgrims who came to our land in search of religious freedom, we are reminded of God's people thousands of years ago who also sought freedom.  It is a precious thing the Lord has bestowed on us.  How, then, should we respond?

"You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 

 In the same way, let your light shine before men, 

that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  

(Matthew 5:14-16)

(If you are interested in a few ideas for a Thanksgiving devotional using some imagery from Hanukkah, message me your email and I'll forward what I'm putting together for our meal)

Here I Am

This coming Fall our women's bible study is gearing up for the Old Testament book of Jonah - you know, the story with the BIG FISH.  Actually its more than just a fish story; it's a story of prejudice, of desiring personal comfort over the spiritual need of others, of not wanting God to be gracious to our enemies.  Check it out.

In the first chapter we see God giving Jonah the task to preach to the wicked Ninevites to repent.  Ahhh, but Jonah doesn't want the Ninevites to repent because then they might receive forgiveness from the Lord.  He doesn't think his arch-enemies deserve God's graciousness.

Three times in the opening chapter we read that Jonah 'flees from the Lord's presence.'  He is a very reluctant prophet!

In the end, Jonah did what God called him to do, but still with a reluctant, petulant spirit.

This summer I have been considering the Hebrew word Hineni.  (Hebrew is the original language of the Old Testament.)  It means "Here I am".

It is the word Abraham used when God called to him on Mt. Moriah...and Abraham said Hineni, here I am.

It is the word Jacob used when God called him to go down to Egypt and not be afraid...and Jacob said Hineni, here I am.

It is the response from Moses when God called to him from the burning bush...and Moses replied: Hineni, here I am.

It is the reply of the young Samuel when God called him...Hineni, here I am.

It is the response of Isaiah when he got a vision of the heavenly throne room of God...Hineni, here I am.

There is so much more to this Hebrew word than just 'being present'.  It is being present with all my being, physically and spiritually, with my heart wide open to hear and obey whatever it is God is calling me to do.  It is saying a total yes before even knowing what the task will be.

And oh those tasks...

"Abraham, offer your son Isaac..."     "Jacob, leave this land I've promised you and go down to Egypt..."     "Moses, go up against Pharaoh and lead my people out of the fiery furnace..."     "Young Samuel, tell the Priest Eli that I am about to bring the dreadful curse against his house and all his descendants will die young..."     "Isaiah, speak to these stiff-necked people and tell them what I am about to do.  But they will not listen to you..."   

What different hearts than the reluctant heart of the prophet Jonah!

And yet... 

too often I find myself more like Jonah than Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and Isaiah.

I know I am not alone.  As I was praying for our women leaders this week I prayed that we would be 'Hineni Women',  fully committed before we even know what the task ahead will involve, what difficulties might lie ahead as we seek to obey God's call on our lives, how the enemy might attack...  

And I wondered...

Did God every say Hineni?

Oh what joy!  Hear the word of the Lord:

"Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; 

you will cry for help, and

He will say:  Hineni - here I Am."

Isaiah 58:9

What a comfort to our ministry as we go into this year, praying to be less like Jonah and more like "Hineni Women".  The great Hineni - here I AM answers us when we call on Him.

If you live in the Visalia/Tulare area and would like to join us as we study this little book we would welcome you!

Tuesday 9/3  9:15am-11:15am

Wednesday 9/4   6:15pm-8:00pm

Nursery:  Birth-3 years old

Elevate Junior:  3-5 years old

contact:  sarah@tularecommunitychurch.com

   

Standing At The Crossroads

This is what the Lord says:

"Stand at the crossroads and look; 

ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, 

and you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16)

There once was a country Rabbi travelling from his home town to Jerusalem when he got lost and was confronted on the road by a Roman Soldier.

"Halt!" said the Soldier.  "Who are you and why are you here?"

The Rabbi thought deeply for a few moments and then replied, "Sir how much do they pay you to stand here and ask those questions?"

"A denarius", replied the Soldier.

"Sir, I will pay you double if you will stand at my door and every day when I enter and leave, ask me those same two questions."

Who are you and why are you here?

Have you thought about that today?

When The Stars Burn Down/Perseid Meteor Shower

I love watching the night skies deep in the middle of the night.  

Early this morning, 3:30 a.m., I turned off all the outside lights,  arranged my lawn chair, my music (Phillips, Craig & Dean: "When the Stars Burn Down") and coffee and prepared to view the Perseid Meteor Shower.  This was to be the perfect time to view it in all its glory.

I was a bit disappointed.  Although I got a 'taste' of what was going on in the heavens it was less than I expected.  Light pollution, ( artificial light) being produced by our dense populations has dimmed our night skies, making it more and more difficult to see the vast display of the Creator's hand in the heavenlies.  Consider this verse from the Psalmist:

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge."

(Psalm 19)

The heavens in all their glory speak to us of the vastness of God; of the creativity of God; His sovereignty over it all.

Yet -  

the light pollution manufactured in the urban areas where we live obscures and dims the display of His handiwork throughout the heavens.  Do you miss it?  Do you even know its there?

There are other things in my life that diminish and obscure what God is doing.  It's not brought on by manufactured light pollution, but by manufactured life pollution.  It's brought on by busyness, selfishness, worry, my next purchase, my next project...things that are attractive to me...things I desire. 

Things that overshadow and diminish the Light of Christ in my life.

Just as the manufactured light in our urban areas diminishes the light in the heavenlies, the manufactured life I sometimes live can surely diminish the Light in my life.

Lord, help me surrender to you.  To seek You early in the morning and let Your light guide me during the day.  At night when I have opportunity to see a vast array of the stars in the heavens, let me remember that when You took Abraham outside to see the star-filled sky, You told him that so would his offspring be.  I delight to know that one of those stars lit then was representing me!

What Melvin Taught Me About the Good Shepherd

  (My friend and bible study sister, Su DeGroot, sent me an email and I asked her if I could publish it here.)

Meet Melvin, one of two little lambs born earlier this week.  Melvin has had a tough go of it in his short life.  He was born first in a little stable but then his momma decided to walk across the field before delivering his brother.

Something went wrong.  It was her first birthing and she was confused.  In the natural order of things, the ewe bonds with her lambs beautifully.  She is always near them,  protective as they drink and cuddle with her.

But Melvin was rejected by his momma and we had no idea why.  We looked it up online and found it has something to do with smell.  If a lamb gets separated during birth, dries off and loses its initial smell that the mom identifies it with, she will think it belongs to another and reject it.  Sometimes a ewe is just a bad mother; she gives birth and walks away.

Melvin spent his first hours cold and baaa-ing for his momma to come feed him.  It was heartbreaking to hear.  He got weaker as his brother nursed and got stronger.  Eventually he collapsed and was quiet.

We took him into the barn, dried him off, warmed him up and fed him from a baby bottle.  The next day we put him back in the pen but every time he got near his momma she would buck him with her head.  Now what?  Back to the internet...

"Lambs that have been rejected will go from ewe to ewe trying to steal milk to survive, usually nursing from behind.  Typically a ewe lets her lamb nurse by her side.  She smells the lamb to make sure it's hers and any intruder will get a swift butt from her head.  Together they develop a communication that helps them distinguish and identify with each other even if randomly placed in the midst of a thousand other lambs and ewes." 

"The rejected lamb will be on its own to survive.  Often you can pick them out of a fold because of their dirty heads.  They resort to stealing milk while a ewe is relieving herself and thus end up 'getting marked'.  To the lamb this is a small price to pay; he knows he must steal or die.  The lamb spends its early years craving nutrition as its stomach is never full.  It can never rest for a moment and lives with the reminder of rejection every time hunger calls.  Since the lamb is marked, it is rejected by the rest of the flock as well."

Why share this with you?  I think it is such a visual picture for us, the sheep of His pasture. 

We've all lived with rejection and experienced a gnawing spiritual hunger.  Like Melvin,  we can try to fill it on the sly, getting marked in the process.  What Melvin needed most of all was for someone to adopt him, marks and all, and nurture him.  He needed acceptance, healing, love, restoration.  Do you know a Melvin?  Perhaps you have been a Melvin.  You are not alone.

Jesus understands rejection, loneliness, hunger.  He knows what it feels like to be a 'marked man'.  Yet He chose to carry the shame and hopelessness of us all to the cross.  He chose to give His life so that we would not have to live as orphans.  He rose again so that death is defeated.  And until He comes again, He calls us to live in flocks and nurture and care for each other - no head-butting!

"Know that the Lord is God.  It is He who made us and we are His;

we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."  Psalm 100

I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me...

and I lay down My life for the sheep."  John 10

"His unchanging plan has been to adopt us into His own family

by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.

And this gave Him great pleasure."  Ephesians 1

Lord, may our own marks lead us to nurture those who feel rejected and lost.  Give us compassion for them and passion for You!

Worship Warrior

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 

 The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world.  On the contrary,

 they have divine power to demolish strongholds." 

 2Corinthians10:3,4

This past week we were in New Mexico with our eldest son and his family.  One of the highlights when we visit is the opportunity to worship with them on Sundays.  Mike plays drums for his church's praise team.  It's always a special treat to sing to the Lord with Lil and our three grand daughters by our side, as Mike worships on the drums.

One of the men at church mentioned he believes Mike has a spiritual gift for worship.  Like a warrior preparing for battle he beats the drums, proclaiming victory over the enemy.

I loved seeing and hearing that visual picture of victory and it got me thinking about some passages in scripture regarding praise and worship.  They are indeed weapons with divine power to demolish strongholds.

Remember Joshua and the battle of Jericho?  "...at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed..."  In biblical times the trumpet was used as a warning of approaching danger, to signal a time of meeting, to proclaim a new king in Israel.  But is was also used as a celebration of God as King over all the earth (Psalm 47).  Trumpets were a source of praise to the Sovereign God.

There are many stories of battles being supernaturally won in scripture:  Jehoshaphat's victory over the vast armies of the Moabites and Ammonites (2Chronicles 20) and Gideon's battle against the Midianites in Judges 7 are just two.  God's people were facing overwhelming odds and almost sure defeat, when they stopped focusing on their circumstances and instead lifted up praise to the God who rules over all the nations.  There was victory over the enemy again and again.

In the Book of Acts, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison.  About midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God (Acts 16).  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains were loosed.

Psalm 149 says this about God's people, "Let the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands."  This is our battle stance:  our focus and praise on Sovereign God and the double-edged sword of His Word in our hands.

I enjoyed watching my 'worship warrior' son pouring out his heart to God as he played the drums and I thank the Lord who has brought him to this point.  He and his family have faced difficult struggles in the past and I'm sure there will be more ahead, as there will likely be for all of us.  I pray that the God who deserves all our praise continues to be his focus and his delight.

Oh - and this little extra about praising God in the midst of battle:  When the 12 tribes of Israel were in the desert, the Lord instructed them to march in a certain order.  The tribe of Judah always marched out first.  In Hebrew the word "Judah" means "praise"!

Forgetting My Father's Language

                                                               

I correspond with a brother-in-the-Lord, an American national living in a foreign country.  He is married to a woman from that country and has two young children.  Our correspondence has been entirely through email, as he has been incarcerated overseas for almost two years now. 

Recently I received an email from him that he has given me permission to share. 

"I just want to talk to my children.  Over time away from my family my son has forgotten the English language.  Every so often he comes to visit me here.

I so enjoy those visits.  I love him so much.  Being six years old and a normal kid, he has remembered how to ask for a toy.  Never do I say no and I happily authorize his new toy every time.  He's my son and I love him!  However, I do wish we could speak together about heavier and deeper things than the next gift; but he's forgotten his father's language from lack of use.

The sadness from not being able to talk to my own child, my own flesh and blood, is sometimes overwhelming.  That sadness is often offset by my joy at seeing his pleasure in receiving a gift that I send him.  The joy it brings me is the reason I say yes when he asks.  Sometimes I send him things that will bring him joy before he even asks.

I think of my heavenly Father and the parallel between my relationship with Him.  Jeannie, do you ever feel the same about your relationship with our Lord?  How many times has our Father been thrilled to give us what we shallowly ask for simply because it gladdens His heart to give joy to His children.  How many times has He sent us unasked-for blessings because He is happy to do so?

When I am reunited with my son he will assuredly become proficient once again in my language and I long for that day.  How much more my heavenly Father must long for me to communicate proficiently in the language of heaven.  It is a language of love, spirit, hope, the written word, and joy.

As I will teach my son English when we are reunited, God will teach us the language of heaven when He comes.  But we need not wait.  The language and love of heaven can be in our hearts today.  The Spirit of God longs to put it there.

Our Father longs to hear from us; even if it is only to ask for a toy.  Talk to Him today!"

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  Or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will our Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

Luke 11:11-13

Learning My Father's Language

"The wisest man I ever knew taught me some things I never forgot.

And although I never forgot them,

I never quite memorized them either.

So what I'm left with is the memory of having

learned some very wise things that I can't quite remember." 

(Unknown)

I like to memorize long passages of scripture.  I realize that with free and easy access to the written Word of God via book form, I-phones, I-pads, memorization is becoming a lost art. 

So I wonder when the Psalmist says, "Thy Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" how do we hide it in our heart if we don't know it for ourselves?  As the unknown author quoted above says, "I've learned some very wise things that I can't quite remember."

This morning as I'm struggling to memorize Psalm 119, I came across this verse:  "With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth."

I love that.  I am speaking with my lips the words that God has spoken through His mouth.  I am speaking His language!  Like a child learning to talk, I look to my Father to give me the words.  It is our early morning conversation!  He speaks to me through His Words; I repeat them back to Him until they sink deep into my heart.

Of course we don't just memorize for the knowledge.  This same Psalmist studied to obey and then to teach (Ezra 7:10).  Psalm 119 is all about the beauty, wonder, glory and eternality of God's Word.  It is my favorite Psalm.

If you want some helps in learning to memorize, I can share with you what works for me.

Until then "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in Your Law."  (119:18)

A Parable on Reconciliation

There once was a king who quarreled with his son.  In a fit of rage the king exiled his son from the kingdom.  Years passed and the son wandered alone throughout the world.  In time, the king's heart softened and he sent his ministers to find his son and ask him to return.  When they located the young man, he answered them that he could not return to the kingdom.  He had been too hurt and his heart still harbored bitterness.

The ministers brought back this sad news to the king.  The king told them to bring his son the following message, "Return as far as you can and I will come the rest of the way to meet you."

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."  (Matt. 5:9)

My God, My God, Why...?

Now the earth was formless and empty; darkness was over the surface of the deep...(Genesis 1:2)

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt - darkness that can be felt."  So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. (Exodus 10:21,22)

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.  About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Matthew 27:45,46)

Darkness...

     heavy,

       crushing,

         so thick it can be felt...

A loud voice crying out...

     piercing the darkness,

       "My God, My God, why?

         Why have You forsaken Me?"

From the depths of His soul Jesus cried out to God.
It is the only time in the gospels He did not use the intimate term 'Father'. 

"Why have You forsaken Me?"

It wasn't a whisper.

It was a scream.

The full weight of sin - all of it - on His shoulders.

My God, My God...Why?

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish

but have eternal life."

John 3:16

The Full Extent of His Love

"It was just before the Passover feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love... He got up from the meal, took off His outer garment and wrapped a towel around His waist... poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him."  (John 13:1-5)

John's gospel is my favorite.  In it I discover a deeply intimate portrait of the love of Christ, especially as John writes about the Passover meal Jesus shared with His disciples in the Upper Room just hours before His crucifixion. 

Did you know that John never referred to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved" until after Jesus washed his feet that last meal?  Penning his gospel decades later I think John grasped it - the full extent of His love - as he remembered this last night with our Lord.  Jesus, knowing His death was imminent, chose to kneel before His disciples and wash their feet.

Picture it with me:

Jesus removes His outer garment - the one with tassels all Jewish men wore symbolizing God's authority.  In its place He wraps the towel of a servant around His waist.  Kneeling before each disciple He washes their feet, drying them on the towel.  As He does this He transfers the dirt from each of them onto Himself.

Perhaps John's experience in the Upper Room that last evening brought him to a deeper realization of the full extent ot Jesus' love.  After all, it would not be until he looked back on the evening after the crucifixion that he would realize Jesus also washed the feet of the one who would betray Him - Judas.

A few hours later Jesus would do for us what He had, in a sense symbolically done for His disciples.  The Sinless One who had taken off the robe of a king and put on the garb of a servant willingly transferred the dirt and filth of our lives onto Himself, hanging on a Cross to die, paying a debt He didn't owe, so we could be washed clean by His blood.

"The disciple Jesus loved..."  a simple yet profound identity.

When you stand in the grace of God, that is what you are too...

...the disciple Jesus loves...

The Wonderful Cross

"Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all."

(Isaac Watts)

When the Apostle Paul wrote to believers in the city of Corinth he told them he resolved to know nothing while he was among them but Christ, crucified.

I wondered about the imagery his statement must have brought to mind to these early Christians living just a few decades after our Lord's death on the Cross.

Crucifixion was invented by the Greeks and perfected by the Romans.  The historian Josephus tells us around the time Jesus died there were over 900 crucifixions in Jerusalem that year alone. That's about three each day.

Where Rome ruled, crucifixions happened.

Crucifixion was a very graphic picture of the most obscene, cruel and horrific execution known to man.  It was evidence of man's total depravity to even conceive of inventing something so utterly crushing to use on his fellow man.

And yet this is what our Lord chose as His message...the Cross:

"...foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

(1Corinthians1:18)

Today we cherish the Cross.  We wear it around our necks.  It adorns the walls of our homes.  We treasure it as the symbol of God's great love for us.  But did you know that until about the 4th century there was no depiction of the Cross in art?  Perhaps the awful image of what crucifixion actually involved was too close a memory for the early church.

Today we celebrate the Cross, as we should.  But in celebrating the work Jesus accomplished for us by His death on the Cross, don't miss the awful cost of a love so amazing, so divine.

It is said in heaven the only man-made things are scars and nail prints.

Passover

Tonight at sundown Jews all over the world will celebrate the Feast of Passover.  It is a festival of remembrance of what God did for Israel when He brought them out of bondage in Egypt by His mighty outstretched arm.  When God saw the blood of a sacrificed lamb covering the door frames of their homes He 'passed over' that household and did not strike down the firstborn as He did throughout the rest of Egypt.  He led them 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.  The people forgot He is a holy God who demands to be first in the lives of His people.  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 hard as bronze.  Where was their great Jehovah?  Had He abandoned them? 

When Israel cried out, "The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me!" God responded through the prophet Isaiah,  "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 49:15,16 emphasis added)  If a nursing mother forgets her infant her body automatically responds with sore leaky breasts because she bears the reminder of the baby in her body.

So it is with God.  He says He will not forget because His people are engraved on the palms of 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 pass by the beauty of this meaning.  Our Rock, Jesus Christ, redeemed us on a long-ago Passover.  The same arm that stretched out the heavens in Creation now stretched out on a cross.  Men took a hammer and with it they 'cut' into His hands.  For you.  For me.  We are engraved on His hands.  Just as a nursing mother bears the reminder of her child 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 and walked away, chasing 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 Israel 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 might see your name is engraved there also.

A Parable of Cows

Somewhere deep in Africa there is a village tradition to determine the value of a prospective bride. When a father deems his daughter old enough to be married he announces it to the village.  Over the next week, young men show their desire to marry the girl by tying cows to the father's fence.  The one who ties the most cows to the fence marries the girl.

Of course the more desirable the prospective bride, the more cows a young man offers.  Usually the price for a bride is 2 or 3 cows, but once a young man actually offered 6 cows for a bride - it was a record!

One young man insisted he would marry only when he found an 8-cow wife.  His parents thought he was foolish and would remain unmarried.  There just weren't any brides that valuable.  Yet the young man continued to search, even going to far-off villages.

Finally he sent word home to his family, "I am married.  Found an 8-cow wife in the Village of Honto!"

His parents were puzzled and so were the rest of his village.  They knew all the young women in that village and none were worth 8 cows.

When the young man arrived back home with his new bride, they all wanted to know how he had found an 8-cow bride.

"It was simple", he said.  "I found a bride and then I paid 8 cows for her."

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold

that you were bought...but with the precious blood of Christ..."

1Peter1:18, 19

An Offering of Brokenness

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness" let 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 days a clay vessel became impure if something unholy or unclean came in contact with it.  The only way it could be made pure again 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.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the early church in Corinth that God made His light to shine in our hearts -  treasure in jars of clay.  He was speaking of our earthly bodies.  We have this treasure in jars that are broken and chipped, cracked by the hurts and concerns, the failures and disappointments, the sins and shortcomings of our lives.  We wonder, perhaps, if God would even want to use us with all our flaws. 

Yet this is where He - the Creator of the Universe - has decided to dwell!

Cracks and all.

Perhaps this Season of Lent is a time to reflect on our brokenness; a time to offer that brokenness to our Lord and ask Him to put us back together. 

And if those cracks and chips of our lives still show when the Light shines through?

Don't you know that light will shine more brightly through your vessel than one that has never been broken at all?