TWENTY-ONE DAYS TO EASTER
Reading for today: (Sunday, March 14)
John 11:45 - 54
Jesus went about doing good: healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, casting out demons, restoring relationships, bringing hope, teaching, loving, being present - and for all those crimes, culminating with his unforgivable good in raising Lazarus from the dead, He who knew no sin became a liability to the political balance of the day - enough so that he was targeted for termination.
I mean, really....doesn't it sound preposterous? All he had ever done was good. The only castigations ever uttered from his lips were against those who pompously paraded their phony religiosity - and it is this collection of religious leaders who unite behind one cause: to do away with the one individual who is upsetting the balance of things as they were. Their fear is a political one. But what a horrible trade-off.
Verse 48 reports their fear: "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." All they cared about was their position. They had no vision - and, even though they were the supposed spiritual leaders, they had no grasp of the many prophecies foretelling their Messiah. Yet, they were acting out their 'scripted' roles in perfect rhythm.
For Jesus at this juncture, it is 'time to get out of Dodge' and John tells us he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim.
From this passage, we know that in the last couple of months of Jesus' life, he stayed away from Jerusalem. We know from earlier reading that he spent some time in Capernaum. We know he was 'beyond the Jordan.' We know he was in Jericho. We know from this passage that he was in Ephraim. He stayed away because of timing. He had a keen sense of God's will - and also knew precisely when the drama had to play out to fit into prophecy, and to fulfill God's perfect plan.
In real time, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead about 2 months before his own death - so we are stepping back in time just a bit to focus on the plot to kill him . . . but it deserves our careful consideration, and helps confirm where he was during these weeks before he came back to 'face the music.'
I have a children's musical God gave me. It is at the top of my 'bucket list' for completing - - but one delay after another keeps it from being ready for publication. Even the first edition which was performed April 2008 - the Westminster Edition - is incomplete for being ready to be published, in spite of many promises. I get discouraged and frustrated - and begin to doubt whether I was wrong when I heard God directing me to follow through on it....and then I come to this reminder, and I realize it is absolutely imperative to listen carefully for God's timing and what He is doing in this process. While I need to pursue it, I also need to submit the opening of doors to His hand. My plan would have had it done a long time ago...and I have pursued getting it finished pretty intently for the past couple of years. So - I have to submit the timing to God...keep asking, keep pursuing, but not losing faith in His timing. Unlike Jesus I do not have the ability to see ahead to know what the purpose is in God's timing - - but I do know I can trust it. It's an ah-hah moment!
Humor for today:
THE CHILDREN'S BIBLE IN A NUTSHELL
In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness and some gas.
The Bible says, "The Lord thy God is one," but I think he must be older than that.
Anyway, God said, "Give me a light!" and someone did.
Then God made the world
He split Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.... I'm not sure what they were driven in, though, because they didn't have cars.
Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.
Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.
One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.
to be continued....
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