As I started reading John 14, tears sprung to my eyes and trickled down my cheeks. My soul swelled with grieving gratitude. It sounds like an oxymoron, but it is the only way I can describe what I am feeling in this moment. Jesus was giving them His final pep talk, and they were clueless. I am incredibly grateful for the insight into that last conversation in His journey to the cross, but grieving for Him, and for the disciples, for what was soon to come.
He just told them He is going away - and they cannot come yet. And He cautioned that Peter would deny Him - and then He tells them not to let their hearts be troubled. Well, that... followed immediately by the reason why they didn't need to have troubled hearts!
"(You) believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going."
Thomas - transparent & confused, queries, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"
And Jesus responds with the oft-memorized response that we quote as John 14:6! "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." Verse 7 adds to His claim, "If you had known me you would have known the Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Jesus' absolute claim of being God couldn't be clearer. He and the Father were - and are - One.
He didn't come to earth to demonstrate a simple way of living as one dear pastor tried to tell me a few years ago. He came, God incarnate. God-in-the-flesh. He came to fulfill His own requirement that sin be punished. He, God, took on human flesh to be that sacrificial Lamb. And now, in the last hours He had with His disciples, there in the upper room, in the darkness of night and the simple light of a few faintly flickering candles, He poured out His heart to those who would carry His light to the world.
Even after Jesus' clear statement of identification, Philip still can't make the connection. "Lord, show us the Father...."
And Jesus clearly repeats what He has already stated, "...Whoever has seen me has seen the Father...." Could it be any more clear? Jesus goes on to explain further, coming in that explanation to the issue of the works that He performed while on earth. So many works that if they had all been written down it would have taken volumes and volumes of books to record them all. We are provided the record of just enough of them to validate the miraculous power Jesus demonstrated in His walk among mankind....and the miracles were not to end! In verse 12-13, Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
So - at 7:33 a m this morning, as I was reading these words I prayed for 2 specific miracles. I prayed for a young woman named Kirsten, who suffers with debilitating arthritis; and I prayed for a friend from my youth named Duane Jordan, who just had surgery for stomach cancer, for whom a good outcome on this earth doesn't sound promising at the moment outside an absolute miracle.
And just now, at 8:11, I stopped to pray again. I don't know God's immediate will - but I do know His heart. Ultimately He will heal, even if it is not on this side of heaven, but I want healing for them now, and I want Him to receive the glory. There are others whom I pray for on a regular basis, but these two were the first ones who came to mind this morning.... I would love to hear that at 7:33 a m Pacific Standard Time each of them felt the healing touch of the Lord. But I will not be discouraged. I will pray without ceasing. I will pray without giving up.
Jesus did what He saw His Father doing. I want to be so in sync with Jesus that I am 'doing what the Father is doing' too.
Lord, I boldly ask for miracles. The 'greater works than these' could just mean greater in number, because You have so many followers reaching out to a hurting world...but help us to hear you clearly, and respond with Your hands extended.... You alone are the miracle worker. You are the Great Physician. You work through outright miracles that astound and defy medical probability, and You work through medical skills that You have gifted. But, specifically, right now, I am praying for the former.... As a witness to Your power, and for Your glory, in Jesus' Name! Lord, I lift Kirsten and Duane to You.
And in everything I beg of You, I submit to Your will.... Just as Jesus prayed, Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done....
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