Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 27

Friday, Day 27                                  

Reading for today:
Mark 12:41-44
Luke 21:1-4

What a contrast from what we read yesterday. Yesterday Jesus excoriated the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, telling us how they put on a show of being religious but devour widow’s houses....

And today he gives us a glimpse into giving all. Only he would have known that what the widow gave was all she had. The lesson in this isn’t about disparaging what the wealthy gave – but the contrast. In reality, if all she had left was a fraction of a penny, she wasn’t going to live long on that anyway –  but what this gift reflects is an attitude and a model for us. Truly all we have is the Lord’s – a gift from His hand. We are stewards. Our resources –  whatever they are – are to be at His disposal – or else we make them our security and our god. It is ‘living on the edge’ when we submit all to Him.

We are saved by grace – but we are saved to do good works. True religion helps orphans and widows in their distress. True religion heals wounds and binds up the broken-hearted. True religion feeds the hungry and clothes the naked. Love is not a suggestion.  It is a command.  Love is an action verb. Love responds to God’s call – whether it is to go or to give. That’s why I prefer Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27 over Matthew’s quote in Matthew 22:37, as he leaves out the last component. Both Mark and Luke challenge us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The strength part is the action. All the others are internal.

In my 38 years as a Presbyterian, one of the many things I loved was the charge given to us as we were commissioned each year to serve in our various capacities. Our charge and resulting promise was ‘to serve with energy, imagination, intelligence and love.’ It was a wonderful annual reminder that we were about the Father’s business, whatever area we were serving in. 

Jesus was doing precisely that. He is walking toward the cross – and beyond that toward Resurrection – but the reality of what he will have to endure is on his mind. Giving all is on his mind. He could have focused on the reality that if the widow gave her all she would be going home to die. He didn’t. He focused on the gift. The same is true for Him. He could have focused on his death. He didn’t. He focused on the gift and on Easter morning – His story didn’t end with death, but with resurrection.... Ahhhhh...I keep getting ahead of the story.

Humor for today:
The company’s boss was complaining in a staff meeting that he wasn’t being shown proper respect. Later that morning he went to a local sign shop and bought a small sign that read “I’m the boss!” He took it back to his office and taped it to his office door.

Later, when he returned from lunch, he found a note taped to his sign. It stated, “Your wife called. She wants her sign back.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 26

Thursday, Day 26                                           

Reading for today:
Matthew 23:1-39
Mark 12:38-40
Luke 20:45-47

The statements from Mark and Luke are concise – and practically identical. They do the ‘Cliff’s notes’ version – but Matthew was there. His story was not passed down. It is worth paying attention to the reality that John was also a dedicated disciple – and he doesn’t record this indictment at all.... It is also notable to me that some manuscripts of ‘original texts’ from Matthew include the majority of the statement made by Mark and Luke – but it is not printed in Matthew as text, just as a footnote.

What is clear is that those who make a show of their ‘religion’ but don’t demonstrate a right relationship with God by the way they treat others will be judged severely.

This is a ‘house-cleaning’ chapter in Matthew. Remember who he was before Jesus redeemed him – a tax collector. His former profession linked him to two worlds, and I believe it is for that reason he takes to heart all of the woes declared to the Pharisees and teachers of the law and carefully records them. It is a bit of the ‘but for the grace of God, there go I....’

It is a hard chapter to read when I think of it in personal terms. I would be crushed to hear these words, but Jesus only has a short time left on earth – and He is trying to get through to these ‘leaders’ who are pursuing Him trying to find something to kill Him for. In reality, the only people Jesus was ever hard on were ‘spiritual leaders’ who were religious phonies. These were men who professed to stand up for the teachings of the Torah – and for the laws passed down through oral tradition.  Lots of laws.  They taught ethics – but didn’t practice them, obviously. Their walk and their talk didn’t line up. Jesus calls them out...not their followers, but them, personally. He was able to do that because He could look into their hearts.

They are beautiful china cups on the outside – and full of sludge and grime on the inside. They are the ones who ‘speak for God’ to their generation –  and they are whitewashed caskets – clean-looking on the outside, and dead inside. They do not represent God well. In fact, they don’t represent God at all. Jesus words to them are brutal.

Jesus can say that. As I said, He looks at their hearts – and He looks at ours. What does He see? It’s all about what is on the inside – not what people see on the outside.

I am wounded by the cruelty expressed by some who claim to be followers of Jesus. When I saw a report on television of people holding placards who were declaring to grieving families that the deaths of their sons in the war was God’s judgment I was appalled. Jesus would never have done that.

I’ve been approached by people carrying placards near the Puyallup Fairgrounds.  I’ve been informed I was going to hell for celebrating 'Easter' (instead of always calling it Resurrection).  These radicals’ behavior discolors all of Christianity for those on the outside.  They come across as angry. I don’t want to reflect the same trait in my interactions.

We are told to speak the truth in love. I Corinthians 13 tells us what love is. Love would lead us to pray for those who despitefully use us. Sometimes love must also speak up – but love is not spoken through castigations on a megaphone or bullhorn.

If we want to assess if the Spirit of God is in someone’s life, we only have to remember the list of what will be portrayed. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience (longsuffering/forbearance), goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. I find that is enough challenge for me to work on in my own life...and I believe our lives speak a lot more loudly than words.

So, since I am sensitive today for the Body of Christ  – the church which meets in buildings that we also refer to as ‘church’ – I will just say: I am glad to be part of a body of believers – a segment of the church universal – who call ourselves Christian (Christ-ones) and who sincerely try to honor God by living intentionally for Him in community. A church that knows it is people who are the church – even though the structure has been gifted with the same name. A church that has a ministry that reaches out locally, and reaches out around the world globally. A church that is comprised of people who love and serve the Lord, who make a difference in the world for Jesus Christ. Some plant. Some water. Some harvest.

The reality is, I am out of my comfort zone often in the body of believers I worship with – but that’s O K. Someone asked me recently what I like about my church, and my reply was “That they offer HOPE along with help.” That hope is extended both locally and long distance. It is a clear hope in the reality of a Savior who cares.

Some in the body are further on the path toward becoming whole and healthy; some are broken and being restored; but the Word of God is proclaimed, lives are touched.   Some are healed physically; many are healed emotionally and spiritually; the Holy Spirit’s presence is evident. They (We) are by no means perfect – but what I see is a lot of love poured out: nurturing, caring for, reaching out. Some are called to ‘go’ and some are called to support them – but we are all called to be His light to our hurting neighborhoods and a hurting world, and our faithfulness in responding to Jesus’ commandment to serve touches others’ lives.

No one lives to himself. When one part of the body hurts we all hurt. Those going through a horrible battle with cancer touch my life in their commitment and faithfulness to the Lord in the face of extreme challenge.

Those who give up ‘normal’ life and go to foreign mission fields touch my life with their ‘sold-out’ commitment. Those who stay when they’d rather go because that is what God directed them to do touch my life. Those who take food to someone who needs it touch my life. Those who serve in the food bank touch my life. Those who serve the children, or keep the bathrooms clean, or type the weekly bulletin touch my life. We all have a part in the body wherever that body meets when it meets in Spirit and in Truth. God’s body is huge – and universal – and there are many parts.

I hate to hear about one part of the body pouring lye on another part. It is ultimately self-destructive. There is so much hurt in the world to address. We are called to minister to the hurting, not hurt the helping. And – we don’t have God’s ability to look on the heart, so we have to be very, very careful about trying to step into His very capable shoes.

There is a little song I learned as a child that says: “You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don’t mess with Mr. In-between.” Positive encouragement. Positive reinforcement. And being very, very careful about trying to be someone’s Holy Spirit.... When He does ask me to speak, it is done with fear and trembling...and very personally.

I love Jesus’ compassion portrayed from His heart after all he said. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing....” Just like a mother hen who will sacrifice her life for her chicks, sheltering them under her body to protect them from fire, soon He will demonstrate His love in the most palpable way. His analogy using a mother hen as his example is not lost on me.

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Already Jesus is foretelling his Second Coming!

Lord, come into our hearts in such a way that our segue to eternity will be seamless. Lord, there is so much to be done to turn men’s hearts to you. Help me be faithful in my part of Your story. Help me to do to/for others what I would like to have done to/for me, to faithfully follow Your leading and be obedient to Your call on my life. Thank you for Your amazing love and grace.  Amen

Humor for today:
A Sunday School teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead. She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would grasp the drama. Then she asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?”

One little girl finally broke the hushed silence. “I think I’d throw up.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 25

Wednesday, Day 25                                  

Reading for today:
Matthew 22:41-46
Mark 12:35-37
Luke 20:41-44

Today’s passages are a reminder for me that the Gospels were first translated to Greek – then to English – and that those who translated these passages relied heavily on the Greek. At least that is the assumption I draw from their use of the reference to the promised Messiah as ‘Christ.’ Christos was the Greek word. I don’t understand why the word used is not Messiah – or Meshiach....  It’s a triviality – but Jesus was talking to Jews. Jews who knew that Messiah was to come...so logically, I presume His actual question referenced Messiah by the name they would identify with....

In this passage, He doesn’t state His claim to the title, He just asks them whose Son the Messiah (the Christ) is. They are Scholars of the Pentateuch and the writings of the prophets from the written ‘scriptures’ – what we now refer to as ‘The Old Testament.’ There is no hesitation in their response. Messiah is the Son of David.  In other words, the promised Messiah will come from David’s line.

Then Jesus asks them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord.’ ”

He challenges them to think deeper than they have ever thought. They are stymied. He is setting the stage. Very soon He will live out the reality of being Messiah.

He is also providing future readers a reminder. We already know from His prior questions to Peter: “Who do people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?” that Yeshua/ Iesous/ Yesu/ Isa/ Jesus (by whatever name we know Him) is the Messiah/ Christos/ the Christ – the promised One. We know He is God/ YHWH/ Jehovah incarnate. The Great I Am; the One who was and is and is to come; LORD, The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and The End. In this age of Grace I take Him too much for granted. He, the LORD of Glory, allows us to come to Him as Abba – Daddy.

He leads me into Truth – His Truth – and His Truth is revealed most clearly with His incarnation – His being willing to come into the world He created to redeem what was lost through the separation that occurred in the garden, when ‘man’ decided to take matters into his own hands instead of being obedient to God’s one restriction – and we’ve fought God ever since with defiance and independence – a self sufficiency that says, “I can handle things on my own;” or even more insidiously, “I have a better way.”

That ‘better way’ claimed by many has led to the creation of most of the false religions that have come into being since His time of living on earth. To be a religion of Truth, it must teach that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life – the only way to God; and that Jesus was God incarnate  – ‘in the flesh’. All other religions are false – and the greatest ‘lies’ are the ones with the most truth mixed in. Satan is a liar, and he appears as an angel of light. He doesn’t care what people believe – as long as they don’t believe the Truth and the One who is Truth. Jesus is the complete representation of God. God Himself took on the form of man, and dwelled among us. Jesus was fully God and fully human. He was everything He claimed to be.

Many people – including false religions – will say that Jesus was a good man, or a prophet – but no more than that. Good men do not base the premise of their entire existence on a lie – and if Jesus was not who He professed to be, then He was the greatest liar of all time. It hurts to even write that – because HE IS TRUTH. It is Lucifer, the one who was created as a beautiful angel of God’s making, who defied God, and became the Great Deceiver – the ultimate Liar and Father of Lies. What a horrible title.

Lucifer/ Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants God’s place. He will tolerate Atheism, but what he wants is worship – and one way he gets that worship is through false religions that do not place Jesus in His rightful place. It breaks my heart to see that deception  – yet, I will confess, I am not brave enough about sharing my faith, and sharing the Truth. I am far too aware of ‘offending someone’ or having them reject me along with the message, I suppose. Why else would I not tell those I love that Jesus loves them – and that He is the only Way to God?

We just recently had Missions week at church. Listening to the missionaries was a poignant reminder that there are people throughout the world that know accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior is a death sentence in the societies in which they live. Yet – when He is introduced to them, many hear the Truth and accept Him, knowing they will die for their faith. In reality, they probably would have been willing to die for the religion they left as well, so now that they know Truth, they recognize it as something truly worth dying for.

We live in such a different world in America. We don’t have a clue what it is like to truly be persecuted. I pray we never have to find out – but I also know I need to be more faithful to pray for the persecuted church.

Very soon in our journey Jesus will pay the price to become Redeemer. And He wants to be our Lord – but we are the only ones who can give Him that place in our lives.

Humor for today:
A Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Johnny interrupted, “My Mommy looked back once when she was driving, and she turned into a telephone pole.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 24

Tuesday, Day 24                                         

Reading for today:
Matthew 22:1-14 & 15-40
Mark 12:13-34
Luke 20:20-40

Matthew 22:1-14 is another of Jesus’ messages to the religious leaders – but there is a definite application to us. God (the King) invites us to a wedding banquet as well. But, as was the custom 2000 years ago, He also provides the wedding garment we are to wear. That garment is accepting Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior, which is the one and only way to be accepted to the banquet. The message here and elsewhere is clear: some will insult the King by trying to come in their own clothing, by their own good deeds if you will....and they will be thrown out of the banquet. The invitation is to all, but the only ones who can enter the banquet hall are those who have chosen Jesus the Messiah as their Lord. His righteousness is imputed to us in that act of submission.

Matthew and Mark both report the portion of the story I want to focus on for today. My posts get too long when I try to tackle every story! I like Mark’s version best. A Pharisee comes to Jesus, and asks, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Mark reports Jesus’ response as, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

In one simple forthright response, Jesus condensed the 10 commandments to two: Love God with all you are; and love others as much as you love yourself. Simple – and practically impossible without the Lord’s help! I love that Mark adds strength. We are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind – and strength. With passion, spiritual intention, intellect –and energy. Mark’s report of Jesus’ statement doesn’t leave us in the ethereal, it includes what we do:  expending our energy to demonstrate our love.

Then he adds ‘to love our neighbor’ – and knowing that Jesus calls the despised Samaritan’s relationship with the wounded Jew as one of ‘neighbor’ status we know this is not exclusive. It definitely goes beyond our comfort zone. We may have a neighbor in our neighborhood who challenges us in this area  – but it is far more than that – our neighbor is the world. Our neighbor includes those who hate us and/or our country. I love deeply – love my family, love my friends, love many people in many relationships – but what about the young man who murdered my husband’s brother? Could I honestly say I love him? What about those who molest children?  Or those do other heinous crimes?  

What a relief it was to me to learn that this is not referring to warm, fuzzy love, but to doing the right thing. It is a love of action. It is taking care of the unlovely by providing for their needs in the kindest way possible. It is extending courtesy and grace. I don’t have to rely on my emotions, but on my behavior and my actions as my demonstration of love. I know I can only achieve this through the power of the Holy Spirit – but love in this case is an action verb. We demonstrate God’s love to the world. We learn to see through His eyes, and to be His hands extended offering HOPE!

Of course, Jesus does narrow the playing field to begin with – and clarifies that the Lord is One. God is not ‘they.’ I heard someone refer to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as ‘they’ recently – and it stunned me. While each of those are aspects of God, God is One.

When I was a girl the way it was explained to me was that God was like a family of 3 who all share the same last name. Wrong! Another person in church said God was like an egg: 3 parts – yolk, white and shell – but they all make up one egg. Still not an adequate example. The example I believe God inspired to me was that of H2O – most familiarly known as the symbol for water. Water, ice and steam are all H2O – but they are in very different forms, and each form has its own purpose. God is One, whether He is in the form of Father, of Spirit, or of Son. It is a mystery beyond our total grasp for now – we just have to accept it on faith....

Humor for today:
THE CHILDREN’S BIBLE IN A NUTSHELL (part 3 of 3)

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of the New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn, too, because my mom is always saying to me, ‘Close the door! Were you born in a barn?’ It would be nice to say, ‘As a matter of fact, I was.’)

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so terrible that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. The Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyway, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

The end....

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 23

Monday, Day 23                                         

Reading for today:
Matthew 21:28-32 & 33-46
Mark 12:1-12
Luke 20:9-19

I will pre-warn any readers that we are going out of sync in the Bible texts the next several days to excerpt some portions ‘out of sequential’ time to tackle some of the stories surrounding Jesus final days. Then when we get to the sequential countdown, we will catch up with Him again and follow what he did his final days on earth while He – fully God – walked clothed in the garment of humanity.

Jesus’ parable of the two sons is straightforward. No need for explanation. I want to be like the obedient son who followed through. Jesus was making it very clear to the elite Jews that they in essence promise to work for God –  but never follow through – and that it is the riff-raff of their society who are hearing the truth and accepting it.

The other parable for today is repeated in all three synoptic gospels. A man buys a field; gets it all prepared for production; then rents it out to farmer-tenants. And the familiar story unfolds. As soon as Jesus was done with the story, the religious leaders understood immediately that Jesus was talking about them. The field is symbolic for their own country – and the multiple servants that were sent were all of the prophets who had come before. Now, at last, the Master of the land sends his own Son – and the tenants conspire to kill him. They understand what He is saying – but rather than consider whether He might actually be the promised Messiah, the Son of Man, the Son of God – they seethe with anger and look for a way to arrest him. He is laying the foundation for what is to come – and providing a framework for those who come to believe to see that He was indeed who He claimed to be.

But – even though He was fully God – the rejection hurt. He experienced the same pain we do, but even more intensely than we feel it, for in all of our troubled times, we have One who walks with us through the storm. When we fall at His feet – and fall on Him, the Stone the builder’s rejected – we will be broken…but in a good way. And He takes the clay of our lives, remolds it and makes a vessel He can use for His glory. Like the line in the movie ‘Dances With Wolves’: good trade.

Humor for today:
THE CHILDREN’S BIBLE IN A NUTSHELL (Part 2)
(This was purportedly written by a child who was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible.)

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name is Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharoah’s people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them his Top Ten Commandments. These include: don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance or covet your neighbor’s stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses’ best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were some Major League prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some Minor League prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them.

[Part 3 next time]

Journey to the Cross 2017, Fourth Sunday of Easter

The Fourth Sunday of Easter                    

Reading for today:

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 deed of 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. And 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 wrote a children’s musical titled A Letter From G. O. D. that God gave me to write. It was at the top of my ‘bucket list’ for completing for a couple of years, but one delay after another kept it from being ready for publication.  During that time I was at the mercy of some other peoples’ promises which never materialized. I got discouraged and frustrated – and began to doubt whether I was wrong when I heard God directing me to follow through on it...and then I came to this reminder, and I realized it is absolutely imperative to listen carefully for God’s timing and what He is doing in this process. While I needed to pursue what He called me to do, I also needed to submit the opening of doors to His hand. My plan would have had it done a lot sooner than when it was ultimately done...and I pursued getting it finished pretty intently for over 2 years.

So – I had to submit the timing to God in its initial coming to fruition and now, again, I have to submit to God’s timing to see what He chooses to do with it.  The point is, when we know we are doing what the Lord has asked of us we have to keep asking, keep pursuing, but not lose 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 aha! moment.

Humor for today:
THE CHILDREN’S BIBLE IN A NUTSHELL (part 1)

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....

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 22

Saturday, Day 22                                                      

Readings for today:
Matthew 20:29-34
Mark 10:46-52
Luke 18:35-43
Luke 19:1-10

Luke is the only one who bothers to tell us about Zaccheus, yet this is one of the most familiar stories from my childhood. We sang about him frequently in Sunday School:

“Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.  He climbed up in a Sycamore tree the Savior for to see; and as Jesus passed that way he looked up in the tree and he said, ‘Zaccheus! You come down, for I’m going to your house to eat. I’m going to set you free.’ ”

Zaccheus believed and obeyed. Jesus did what He promised. Happy ending. I like happy endings.

Today is a day of happy endings in our reading. But in their real world, Zaccheus’ role as tax collector – not just tax collector, but chief tax collector – meant he was a Jew employed by the Romans to bilk his own people out of their hard-earned money. As long as the Romans got their required amount, the tax collector could add whatever amount he wanted to what they required, for his own gain. Talk about riders and pork projects! Men who accepted that kind of filthy job were greedy and not the kind of guys you’d want to be related to.

In 2010 when I originally wrote this, I was concerned about how high taxes would go in our country with the trend toward leveling the playing field with Socialism.  (As of 2017, that concern has only been proven to be valid.) When you consider their plight from that vantage point you can begin to understand some of the fears about Roman rule. (Except that they didn’t have a welfare state benefiting the Jews at all in mind, so there was no underlying supposed intended good for ‘all the people.’) The Jews who were employed by the Romans as tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews – so when they accused Jesus this time of eating with a sinner – that was practically a compliment in comparison to what might have been stated.

Zaccheus, short in stature, and therefore unable to see over the heads of those around him, wanted to see Jesus so badly that he climbed a tree just to get a glimpse. I wonder what hope he held...but whatever it was, he got more than he could ever have asked or imagined. Jesus met him at the level of his need. When Zaccheus promised to give half his possessions to the poor and pay back four times what he had taken, he was undoubtedly giving up everything – trading his ill-gotten wealth for a clear conscience and full heart. I really do love this story.

Our other story today is one of those prime examples of the proof that the Bible is true. We are gifted with 3 versions of the story. Was it going into town or going out of town? Was it one blind beggar – or two? The collective memory on this one is a little like hearing different perspectives of an auto accident – but for me it adds to the proof that the Bible is true is because if the Bible was just an intentional concoction by multiple authors to deceive, they would have done a better job of lining up their stories. In spite of their differences all of the authors share the one thing that leaps out most to me: Jesus question – “What do you want me to do for you?” It seems that the answer to that question would be obvious. He was blind! But, Jesus looks on the heart. Blindness wasn’t the only issue. The blind weren’t just inconvenienced by blindness – they were defined by it.

He asks us that as well. “What do you want me to do for you?” I, for one, intend to answer that question! Lord, there are some things I want today – desperately want. Let me tell you....” And like the formerly blind man in the story.... I will follow!

Humor for today:
A man was walking along a Washington beach beside the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and came upon a very interesting old-looking corked bottle. When he finally succeeded in pulling out the cork a very large and formidable genie appeared.  The genie thanked the man profusely, explaining that he had been a captive of the bottle for over 1000 years, and that to show his gratitude the man could have any one wish he chose. 

The man, who was terrified of flying, had always longed to see Hawaii, so he said, “I’d like to have a bridge that goes from here to Hawaii.”

The genie looked at him in disbelief and said, “That’s a really hard one. Can’t you think of something else?”

The guy thought for awhile, then said, “O K – I’d like to understand my wife.”

To which the genie immediately replied, “How many lanes did you want that bridge? Four, six or eight?”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 21

Friday, Day 21                                 

Reading for today:
Matthew 20:17-28
Mark 10:32-45
Luke 18:31-34

An early bunny trail: In Israel – no matter where you are traveling from – you always ‘go up’ to Jerusalem. (In our Western minds, we always think ‘up’ is north – at least I do. From where I live in Western Washington I go up to Seattle, down to Portland....) That isn’t the case in Israel, and that phrase is still commonly used today. I noted that when I was there. So, even though the route Jesus and his followers journeyed was primarily south – and then across...they were headed ‘up to Jerusalem.’ (I love little tidbits of trivia.)

Jesus’ destination is definitely on his mind. Now, in reality, I don’t know the exact timeline. I could easily be off by several days for this portion of the journey to the cross and to Easter. Only the last 9 days or so are pretty explicit – but He did have to get from Capernaum to Jerusalem. We know He was ‘across the Jordan’ on that journey – and some of the other specific locations he will travel through. I just want to clarify that this timeline is general, not specific...yet.

In today’s reading Jesus tells his followers the third time that He is going to die and be raised again – but He is far more specific with what that is going to entail. Mark tells us Jesus will be betrayed and then the Jewish religious leaders will condemn Jesus to death and turn him over to the Gentiles (aka the Romans), who will mock him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. Dr. Luke adds ‘insult.’ Matthew is specific in telling us Jesus will be crucified.

Luke is the only who explains that the disciples didn’t understand any of this  – that the meaning was hidden from them – and they didn’t know what He was talking about.

Right after that pronouncement, Mrs. Zebedee, the mother of the ‘Sons of Thunder’ – as Jesus called them – took her sons to Jesus and asked for Him to place her sons in roles of esteem in His kingdom. I grant you the timing is terrible, and it is pretty obvious she didn’t hear any better than her boys or the other disciples how the reality of Jesus’ true Kingdom was going to play out. It seems incredibly selfish and self-serving – but in contrast to that reality of human nature, Jesus teaches one of the most salient principles of Christianity and of being Kingdom-dwellers: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” In the world’s reckoning some people are elevated to positions where ‘getting their hands dirty’ would be unheard of. Not so in God’s kingdom. Willingly serving – no matter how seemingly unsavory or trivial the task – is the true CEO position in God’s kingdom.

I know people can self-elevate or allow themselves to be put on pedestals by others – and it is a temptation all Christian ‘leaders’ have to resist at some point or other along the journey. It is so common that I pay attention to the tender moments when I see that is not true. One summer when I saw my pastor as he came upon a crying child at VBS, comfort the little lad, then take him by the hand and stay with him until he was no longer fearful, it touched me. When another of our pastors used his home for a garage sale fundraiser for a man who was dying, it touched me.  Recently when I was in a very large church for a Celebration of Life and afterward while we were seated around tables eating together, the Lead Pastor noticed I didn’t have a drink, and insisted on getting me a glass of water.  Humility personified in every case. 

When I see people who are the ‘pillars of the church’ be hands-on and minister at the level of whatever the need is:  participating in fish ministry – canning fresh fish to send around the world to people in need; caring for folks through our food bank; helping with a garage sale; washing dishes; or doing manual labor on clean-up day:  it touches me. When I see people go – and do – and love in Jesus name, it touches me. There is no hierarchy of ‘too good to do’ any job that needs to be done in Kingdom living. Lines are blurred. People are blessed. Jesus is glorified.

He is our model. “...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The Lord of Glory – God Almighty took on human flesh – became fully man as well as fully God – then humbled himself to...oh, yes – I keep getting ahead of the story.

Humor for today:
“Mama’” a little girl cried out excitedly as she came home after going to Sunday School, “I learned God’s other name today.”

“God’s other name?” the mother inquired.

“Yes, it’s Andy.” She proclaimed. “We even sang a song about him: Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 20

Thursday, Day 20                                         

Reading for today:
Matthew 20:1-16

Today marks the official halfway point in our Lent journey to the cross. 

I discovered that my original reading list has some flaws. I thought it had used all of Matthew in the process – which is important to me   – but find it skipped this story. So I will insert it for today, and do some readjusting....

Life is so like that. Plan. Adapt. Readjust. But no matter what it brings, we live with HOPE! Yesterday our church had a Day of Prayer from 6 a m to 9 p m.  So many heartrending issues to pray for written on prayer request cards and placed around the sanctuary, with tables with various prayer focuses throughout our city, country and world.  Monumental concerns – but every one of them is tinged with the hope of what God will do in meeting the various specific needs.  Hope springs eternal when God is part of the equation. 

My redirected reading for today brings me to Jesus’ story of the workers in the vineyard. It is simple and straightforward, and needs no explanation, but its message is one we should not miss, and it has implications for far more than is stated.

Bottom line: some accept Jesus very young. Their gift: eternal life. Some come to Him as adults. Their gift: eternal life. Some will squeak into eternity accepting Jesus with their last breath. Their gift: eternal life.

The application filters down even to the tangible blessings during our life on earth: God blesses some people with a lot; some with a little; some to be blessed by others through whom His blessings are to flow. (And some people ‘bless’ themselves, end up in terrible debt and then wonder why God let it happen.)

In another way of stating it: He gives 10 talents to some, 5 talents to another, 3 talents to yet another, and only 1 to some. The foundational message is that He is God and we are not. We are not to compare, but to thank Him for His provision, and His faithfulness to keep His Word to us.

It is also imperative that we recognize God’s greatest blessings cannot be measured in monetary equivalents.  Ministry giftings, medical expertise, artistic and musical talents, ad infinitum, are far greater ‘blessings’ than the financial wealth we associate as being ‘blessing’; and, in fact, for some financial security is a curse and the greatest detriment to spiritual well-being. Ultimately, the greatest gift is what we celebrate at Easter – forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus....  I know – I keep jumping ahead!    

I once knew a man who had a reputation for being unfaithful to his wife – and not long before he died, he accepted Jesus as his Savior and started attending church. I was thrilled for God’s merciful forgiveness! My husband – who does not share my faith – didn’t think it was fair. He didn’t think the man should be forgiven. My husband has been ‘good’ and has ‘done the right thing’ his whole life. It is hard to be practically perfect and see your need for a Savior. He doesn’t believe it is fair for murderers or rapists or anyone else who has done awful things to have a chance for forgiveness. The truth is: forgiveness isn’t fair. That’s why it is so amazing.

Looking back on my childhood, I suspect I think of myself as being more perfect than I probably actually was – but then I messed up – and for all of the sins I committed during that 2 years of time away from God, He forgave. He paid the price. And – He took away the guilt of my sin. God has granted me opportunities to share my story so others could know they too could receive forgiveness, and that redeems the bad and changes it to being used for good.

An additional aspect of His redeeming the past is that I am far more understanding and compassionate that I would have been had I done everything ‘right’....  I can proclaim His forgiveness while still being called to speak the truth in love. 

Humor for today:
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to touch –  and never to ask her about.

For all these years he had honored that, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man came across the box – and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed it was time he should know what was in the box. When he opened it he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

His wife explained, “When we were to be married, my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was never to argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”

The little old man was so moved he had to fight back the tears. Only 2 precious dolls were in the box, so obviously she had only been angry with him 2 times in all of those years of living and loving.

“Honey,” he said, “That explains the dolls, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?”

“Oh,” she replied, “that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 19

Wednesday, Day 19                                             

Reading for today:
Matthew 19:16-30
Mark 10:17-31
Luke 18:18-30

I looked up each passage in my Bible and read it – and find I need easier access for comparison, rather than flipping back and forth through my Bible, so this is a good time to introduce you to Bible Gateway if you aren’t already aware of it. It is an amazing tool. I have it saved as one of my favorites – but it’s easy to access – all you have to do is type Bible Gateway into your browser. Click on ‘Passage Lookup’ then just enter the info, choose which version or versions you want, click search – and you have it all in front of you. It’s a very user-friendly site. When I am studying a specific passage of scripture, I often look the passage up in multiple versions: NIV, KJV or NKJV, ESV, The Message – sometimes others as well, and this site saves me a lot of page-flipping!

For today, since I am typing in multiple passages, I used the ESV to begin with, then went back to the top and changed the version to NIV to review another translation. (Just a plug: I am a fan of both the NIV and the ESV.)  Bible Gateway is a great way to compare translations and get a broader picture. The truth is, when translating from old texts, often it is not just words that are hard to translate, but concepts, so reading more versions helps gain understanding – and the Holy Spirit is amazing at helping us grasp what we are to learn in the moment when we begin our perusal of God’s Word by asking for God to open our eyes to see and our ears to hear what He wants for us on a given day. I have heard other people say this – and I can tell you from my own experience – I can read a passage, and it seems I have never seen it before. Reading and studying the Bible is not a ‘just reading’ but ingesting it...and no matter where we read, God can speak to us and make it fresh...every time.

Yesterday we saw Jesus across the Jordan blessing children. Today we watch as he interacts with a man who wants to know what he has to ‘do’ to have eternal life.

As a Christian I know that there is nothing I can do to earn eternal life. I know that salvation is a gift. I accepted that gift as a child (1954); walked away from it for a couple of years in my early 20’s – and was restored to faith – a fully committed faith – in the Fall of 1970. It’s not about what I did or do, but about what He did. We are in a walk toward the cross where He ‘will’ do that. In our unfolding story, it is yet to come.

I know that once we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have to be intentional about allowing Him to be Lord. We learn to release more and more of our self to more and more of His guidance. We yearn to know Him more, to be obedient to His will and out of our love (which comes in response to His) we are called to a life of service – service to God through service to others.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that this man in Matthew 19 – who ‘had it all’  – elevated his possessions to be in the place of ‘God’ and we can easily do the same. If our security is in the 401K, the portfolio, the success of accomplishments and position – if our security is in anything but God – we have placed that thing in His position. Wealth in and of itself is not sinful. God blesses many to be a blessing – and that’s the point – they are only stewards through whom His blessings can flow. Everything we have is His, is a gift from His hand, and is to be at His disposal at his bidding. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. This story challenges me and prompts me to be careful to pay attention to what God is asking of me.

The reality is that if everyone followed the letter of this message we’d then be the poor...so it isn’t a lesson for precise observance for everyone, but it is a lesson to observe. Some will be called to give everything – tangibly; and others are called to support them in ministry as partners. We are all called to answer His call – whatever that means for each of us.

I find it very interesting that when Jesus told the man to follow the commandments, and the man asked which ones, that Jesus only recited the six of the original ten that dealt with relationships to man. He skipped the ‘God should be first in your life, no idols, not taking God’s name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath’ commandments.

This was an impressive man – even to be able to say he had kept those 6 commandments – but the problem was, he wanted to gain salvation by what he did instead of what Jesus would do. Jesus was on his way to the cross. He, LORD and King gave up everything for us...whoops, jumping ahead of the story again.

The reality is, it is absolutely impossible to keep every one of the commandments perfectly. If this young man truly believed he had, he was deluding himself – and if not he was lying. And – beyond those basic commandments there were all kinds of sacrificial laws that had to be kept. The law is our teacher. It teaches us we can’t possibly do everything perfectly enough to deserve eternal life. This man came a lot closer, apparently – at least in his own eyes – than I ever could...but that sheds the light on the biggest problem of all:

The greatest sin of all is a self sufficiency that says, “I don’t need God.”

The problem is: no matter how wealthy or how poor, we all walk through death to get to eternity, and we take nothing with us from this side – except our faith. Faith in Him ushers us into joyous eternal life. Faith in Self is one of Satan’s most insidious lies, and it leads us to the same place as all other lies lead us. Every day we have a choice. Every day our life reflects what or whom we live for. What we do speaks louder than what we say – and the young man exposes me. I have to look inside, be laid bare, re-examine, realign my priorities for today to His bidding.

Lord, have mercy! Thank you that through you all things are possible.

Sandwiched between my years in the Assembly of God church, I was a Presbyterian.  In my 38-year-journey of faith-walk in the Presbyterian Church, I grew to love the phrase ‘saved and being saved.’ It is so true. Jesus saves us when we initially come to Him and ask – but every day of our life we are in process in our relationship to Him – and being saved is a perpetual process.  In my childhood church that was referred to as Sanctification – but that is such a church-speak word.  That is indeed the process:  Redemption, then Sanctification, but I prefer Saved and being saved for clarity.  Saved from and saved to….  I need to be about the Father’s business!

Humor for today:
Bubba applied for an engineering position at a Lake Charles refinery. That same day a Yankee applied for the same job, and since both had exactly the same qualifications, the Manager asked them both to take a test.

The manager came back to the men, explained that they had both gotten 9 out of the 10 questions right, and thanked Bubba for his interest – but told him they had decided to give the Yankee the job.

Bubba asked, “And why are you giving him the job? We both got 9 questions right – and this being Louisiana, and me being the Southern boy, I should get the job!”

The manager responded, “We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but rather on the one question you both missed.”

Bubba then asked, “And how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?”

The manager replied, “Bubba, it’s like this: on question #4, the Yankee wrote “I don’t know.” And you wrote, “Neither do I.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 18

Tuesday, Day 18                                         

Reading for today:
Matthew 19:13-15
Mark 10:13-16
Luke 18:15-17

Jesus is ‘across the Jordan’ and our story today is of Him blessing little children. Were there Dad’s…or just Mom’s...or perhaps even some grandparents in the mix of those who brought the children to Him? Whomever the adults were, they were drawn to Jesus, and placed complete trust in Him, as they laid their babies in his arms, and nudged their wee ones toward Him to receive a blessing. I love this mental picture – especially now that I am seeing it freshly in His journey to the cross.

It is a moment so tender that the indecency of the disciples’ reaction is an affront. The disciples rebuked those who brought them. They thought Jesus was far too important to be bothered with little children. Jesus was indignant. His rebuke of his disciples was swift – and his affirmation of the children immediate.

The problem is that the disciples had their priorities in mind, not His. How often am I in exactly that same spot – too consumed with my own thoughts to hear/see what is right in front of me – what is truly important in that moment. How often do I mismanage priorities?

I loved this story as a child  – and still love it. I love the pictures I’ve seen with Jesus holding and playing with little children. I was 8 years old when I came to Jesus, accepted Him as my Savior, heard His precious voice of love for me, and became His child. I was thrilled to learn that Jesus loved me. Of all the facets of relationship with God, I love being God’s child most of all. I still need to crawl up into His lap and let Him bless me. I’m not too old to ‘become as a little child.’

I wonder about these specific children’s lives later on. Did they learn more of Him? Did they become His followers?

Lord, may the children in my life know Your love and know You – and may each of us become as little children, simply trusting, simply accepting, simply believing...in your incredible love for us. Lord, take today, and make it Yours – and Your priorities for it mine.

“Jesus loves the little children – all the children of the world...all are precious in His sight.”

Humor for today:
A nine-year-old was asked by his mother what he learned in Sunday School that day.

“Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge while the Egyptian army was on it, so they couldn’t get to the Israelites, so all of the Israelites were safe.”

The mother was shocked. “Is that really what your teacher taught you?” She asked.

“Well, no, Mom,” her son replied, “But if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 17

Monday, Day 17                                         

Reading list for today:
John 11 (especially verses 45-57)
Matthew 19:1-12
Luke 17:11 

[Disclaimer:  This was originally written in 2010.   In this post I have revised the statement saying that it was my first time doing a Lenten spiritual journey....]

In John 11, John doesn’t keep things sequential. Since he is writing in retrospect, his identification of who Mary is jumps ahead of the story.

This chapter apparently covers almost 2 months of Jesus’ life. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead about 2 months prior to his own death on the cross – and it was at that point that the Jews became serious about trying to find a way to kill Him. The end of this chapter tells us a bit more about where Jesus spent some of his time between leaving Capernaum and ultimately going to Jerusalem ... precisely to stay out of the path of those who sought to kill him.  He knows his destiny and he knows the timing that has to be maintained for it to all be in the timeline of God’s perfect plan.

Because we jump back in time more than a month here, we observe that Martha’s proclamation of Yeshua as Meshiach (Jesus as Messiah, the Christ) precedes Peter’s similar proclamation.

I’m just going to take a little side-trip here. I am on a journey to the cross –  and beyond – and I want to provide an explanation for those who join me.  I have had the joy of going to Israel twice – once in 2006, and again in 2011.  When I went to Israel in 2006 the tour was led by a Messianic Jewish Rabbi. I knew that Jesus’ given name at birth was Yeshua, but that trip cemented that more solidly in my mind.

Yeshua translated directly to English is Joshua, which means Savior. The translation journey of His name, however, passed from Hebrew to Greek ‘Ioseos’ and then to English ‘Jesus.’ We don’t name kids Jesus, like they do in Mexico, but we do name them Joshua. I have a son-in-law named Joshua. Anyway, his Hebrew name (actually likely Aramaic name) written as we write (since theirs is in hieroglyphics that I cannot read) was Yeshua ha Meshiach, which, if translated directly to English would be ‘Joshua the Messiah’ but since it went through Greek first, which translated it Ioseos Christos – Jesus the Christ – the name that is most familiar to us is Jesus. When God said, “... and you will name the child....” the name He gave him was Yeshua. I use them interchangeably. Both are dear to me.

As a child in an Assembly of God church in Wilder, Idaho, I learned a little African chorus and in it he was ‘Yesu’ –  and in 2010 when missionaries were here from Algeria, I learned that Jesus himself appeared to an Algerian Muslim man in a dream, and identified himself as ‘Isa al Masih.’ Jesus the Messiah identifies himself in every language! That’s what is exciting – but I just wanted you to understand why I occasionally use Yeshua. That’s what his parents called him – and it’s what disciples and peers called him....

2010 was the first time I ever followed a disciplined reading plan taking me to the cross. I noticed a lot more details about the journey in that process, including that  just 2 months prior to his own death, Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

And Martha replies, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

A total aside here: Because we live in such a liberated society, we fail to pay attention to how much time Jesus gave Martha – a woman. She sat at his feet. She learned from him. He was her friend. Jesus was the one who elevated women to a place of equality and dignity. All of western civilization has him to thank for that honor. As genders we each have appropriate roles, and that is important to acknowledge, but they are roles of respect, not roles of dominance. Thank you, Lord! Lest any male read something into this that I am not saying, my husband is head of our home, and I have incredible respect for him in how he handles that role – but he doesn’t need to ‘dominate’ to fill his rightful place. I think it is worth paying attention to. Jesus lived in a male-dominated society where women were not equals. Yet he honored Martha in his life – and other women as well.

OK – back to the point of what Martha stated. She recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah – the One – and there is only One. “There is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved.” The Bible makes that point very clear. Only one Savior. Only One who came to take on the weight of humanity’s sin. Only One. We can either accept Him or reject Him – the choice is ours – but there is only one way. That’s why it is narrow. We can’t have salad-bar options for truth. He is Truth. There is no other. His journey to the cross reiterates that over and over again.

My sequential reading for this journey has primarily been through Matthew; however, from here on, in my effort to be sequential and share His journey to the cross and beyond, my reading list includes portions of all of the synoptic gospels...with some other sporadic additions along the way.

(The verse in Luke just corroborates that ‘on his way to Jerusalem’ Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.) It’s actually hard to be logical-sequential bouncing back and forth between different authors of the New Testament – but let’s join Matthew again.

One of the points I wanted to make from our portion of Matthew for today is that Jesus was leaving his chosen town of Capernaum for the last time. He was the only one who knew that. It changes the rest of the journey, seeing it through His eyes. He is giving ‘final messages’ and healing people, and instead of being ‘converted’ because of the witness of Jesus’ wonderful deeds, the Pharisees are still intent on trying to make a trap of words.

The specific issue Jesus is challenged to respond to is divorce, and Jesus responds with a reply that is repeated in most Christian marriages. Jesus’ explanation makes it clear that divorce was certainly not God’s desire. He created man and woman – and intended faithfulness. As part of sin that plan became broken.

I’ve been divorced. I know that divorce breaks God’s heart. I also know His forgiveness. Eons ago, I married the wrong person for the wrong reasons, and paid the price. I wanted so desperately to be loved. I had been ‘in love’ my Senior year of High School – and turned down an offer of marriage because I wanted to go to college – but I didn’t want to be an old maid. I got a little too caught up in that fear by my Sophomore year in college because I hadn’t had many dating opportunities.

My standard for dating was really specific, so there weren’t many people I could date in high school. The first item on my list was that they had to be a Christian. I met guys at church camp – and youth rallies – and had a couple of long-distance ‘boyfriends’ through the years, but there weren’t really any true ‘dating’ relationships until my Senior year. I would have married ‘him’ later – but not right then. I really, really wanted to go to college! ‘He’ was bent on finding a wife – and did! I set myself up for believing I had lost my one and only wonderful opportunity to be married.

Most of my friends were being asked out on frequent dates my freshman year of college. Meanwhile, I wasn’t asked out on any. Only a couple of us were ‘left behind.’ So, the next fall when one very ‘fun’ young man singled me out as the one he was interested in I fell in love with love. I ruined what could have been a life-long friendship by marrying him. We were engaged longer than we were married. During the time we were engaged, I tried to give ‘the ring’ back to him more than once – but he convinced me that it was just pre-marriage jitters, and that God had shown him we were meant to be together.

Hello! God was showing me something different – and I didn’t have enough security in hearing His voice to ‘hear’ Him. Even the day I was married I told a high school friend, “If all of these people hadn’t come I’d back out.” Dean Dan Pecota drove all the way from Seattle to Parma, Idaho to marry us. My friend from Baton Rouge, LA that I met on an Operation Mobilization Mission Trip a year before came up for the wedding. Relatives and some very special college classmates from other states came. I felt trapped. I made a conscious choice that day to ‘live through my children.’ I deliberated about talking to Dean Pecota – but I didn’t. I believed my future would be better than my past and that I could pull it off. I loved my fiance’s family and thought that would be enough. The happiness of ‘being in love with love’ was brief. I deluded myself that I could play the role – but that illusion lasted only a little while.

One beautiful child was born to us – and a year later I miscarried, and that plummeted me into the worst period of my life. I live with the consequences of that sin. I am not implying divorce fixed my original mistake. It doesn’t. I lost out on God’s best plan for my life, and sometimes that still stings. But God forgives. I learned from my mistake – my sin – and God had Plan B (and, Plan B is a good plan!) I know that in some people’s lives He has to go to Plan C and D and beyond the alphabet.... before they get to the end of their rope and let Him be Lord in their life.

Remember the last chapter and the huge lesson of forgiveness. God does not ask us to forgive and then be unwilling to Himself. And, wonderfully, God uses our mistakes for His glory. They are redeemed when we can help someone else walk through their journey and lay their burdens and ‘mistakes’ (AKA sins) at the foot of the cross and accept the forgiveness God so generously offers through the blood of His Son. I am a child of God’s grace – amazing, amazing grace.

When I was a Health Educator – and when I was a youth leader – I told kids they should never have pre-marital sex, but I also told them, “I was a virgin when I got married, but I saved it for the wrong person. If you have doubts, don’t get married.” Breaking an engagement would certainly have created some upset and tears – but I am convinced we each would have found the person who was right for us without the horrible pain our divorce has caused – pain not just for us, but for so many other people, including that sweet boy we both call son. I’m not sharing this to cause further pain – and I’m not telling the story of how it all played out. But – I know there are others who have experienced this pain, and that knowing God forgives is important. That’s why I’m sharing the skeletal information.

When people ask me why we got a divorce, my stock answer is, “We were both guilty of being 22.” The continued pain, of course, is the effect on my son; and the fact that his father walked away from the Lord, and I have not heard anything indicating that he has come back. I know God’s grace is there for both of us – but we each have to accept it....

I also know the reality of God redeeming what has happened in my life by His using it to help others, so I cannot walk past this passage without sharing some of my personal journey.

I learned the hard way that being single is not the worst thing that could have happened. Being married to the wrong person is far worse – because the loneliness that comes from being alone inside a marriage hurts more than any other loneliness ever could hurt.

Jesus calls some people to be single – but it is a calling. Some people are single by default – and long to be married – and I am praying for several people in that place in life right now – that God will miraculously bring the right ‘other’ to be their other half.

It makes such a difference reading these passages, knowing where Jesus was in his own life....  Every ‘final word’ is significant! He’s counting down.

Humor for today:
Little Johnny and his family were having Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. As soon as Johnny had something on his plate he started eating.

“Johnny, you must wait until we say a prayer!” His mother exclaimed.

“No, I don’t have to,” replied Johnny.

“Of course you do,” his mother replied. “We always pray before we eat.”

“That’s at our house,” Johnny explained, “But this is Grandma’s house, and she knows how to cook.”