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.
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....
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....
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