Saturday

Saturday

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

The Saturday after the resurrection had to be hard.  It was a day of mourning.  It’s the in-between day.  The day after the crucifixion and the day before resurrection . . . you hope.  You remember that Jesus said that after three days, he would be resurrected, but maybe you are not so sure about that on Saturday.  On Saturday, you are just hoping what he said was true.  If you even remember.  Sometimes, we forget what God said when we are in between Friday and Sunday.  Between crucifixion and resurrection.  But your enemies didn’t forget.

            The chief priests and the Pharisees didn’t forget that Jesus said that he would rise again on the third day.  Even though they were the ones who got him crucified, they really didn’t forget about what Jesus said.  And I’m guessing, they needed to cover their bases.  So they sealed the tomb and put an armed guard in front to prevent what they thought would be a fraudulent attempt of his disciples to steal Jesus’ body to act like he rose from the dead.  So they made the tomb as secure as they knew how. 

            I want to stay here for a moment. I’m not going to get into the resurrection yet. Today is Saturday and if I am a disciple, I don’t know if what Jesus said about raising up on the third day is true yet.  I might not even remember what he said because I am in such mourning and shock over how his death went down.  I might be thinking, what was it all for?  I just spent three years of my life following this dude and now he’s dead.  I thought he was a king.  I thought he was going to rule.  How is he dead?  What am I supposed to do now? 

            I think we all have times in our lives that feel like Saturday.  More often than we might desire.  You have a promise from God, but it doesn’t look good.  There is nothing that would give you any indication that this thing will actually come to pass. It’s Saturday.  And to top it off, your enemies have done everything to make sure that this thing doesn’t happen.  They have killed your hopes and sealed the tomb.  And just to make sure no funny business happens, there is a guard outside of the tomb.  They have made the tomb for your hope as secure as they know how. 

            The only thing we can cling to in these moments is what God said.  The only hope we have is in God not being a liar and the power of God being stronger than anything we could ever think of, including any work of an enemy.  I know that in certain areas of my life, its Saturday.  God said something, but it looks like this thing is dead and buried and there is no hope for it ever happening. Even my enemies have seemed to take extra steps to make sure that these things stay buried.  But my hope is in what will happen on Sunday.  I fight to remember those words, and have to have faith that Sunday is coming. 

            Maybe you feel like its Saturday for you.  And your enemies know the word that was spoken and have sought permission to make sure your hope stays dead and buried.  But trust and believe in what you have already heard.  Saturday won’t last forever.  Believe in Sunday.  Believe in the resurrection of whatever your hope is.  If you got a word, it is true.  Enemies are doing everything they know how to keep the reality of Friday and Saturday alive and the truth of what happens on Sunday buried in the tomb.  And isn’t it just like God to make sure you know that whatever He has spoken will be undoubtedly something that only God could do?  After everything is done that is known how to do, there can only be one reason why a resurrection happens.  It is God’s doing.  God will ensure that no one gets the glory but Him.  Our lives are lived to glorify God.  And that means we have to go through some Saturdays.  Even when its hard.  But trust and believe that Sunday is coming. 

           

Good Intentions

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Good Intentions

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.” Matthew 26:31-35 NIV

            Well, we have made it to Good Friday.  The very day on which Jesus Christ was hung on a cross and died, all to make sure we have a relationship with God. That’s a very simplistic way to put it, but you get the idea.  It is a good Friday, only because we know about Sunday.  If we were living during the actual events, it may not have been such a good Friday.  It would have been awful, actually.  It would have been the day that you watched your teacher, mentor, friend and Lord get beaten, bloodied, bruised and nailed to a tree for all to see and treated like a criminal. All the while, you know that he did nothing wrong.  You watched him love people in a way that was amazing.  You saw him perform miracles that blew your mind.  You watched as he stood up to the bully religious leaders in the towns and put them in their place.  This is your homie.  Your friend.  Your confidant.  And to top it off, you are one of the ones that he chose to spend the last three years of his life with.  He chose you.  Such an honor.  This is the man you think you would give your life for, basically because you know he would do the same.  As a matter of fact, he is going to give his life for you.  But at this moment, you are not ready to do the same.  You just think you are. 

            When Jesus held the Passover meal with his disciples, he knew them better than they knew themselves.  He knew that when the time to be crucified was to come, his buddies would be nowhere to be found.  He knew that he was going to be lonely.  He knew that this was something he had to do alone.  But the disciples didn’t know that.  I think maybe it is because they could not fathom what Jesus was talking about when he kept telling them that he was going to die.  Maybe they figured that Jesus could escape death, like he did when he was about to be stoned before and just slipped through the crowd.  Maybe they figured that nobody could get past their entourage of disciples who thought they were pretty tough.  Maybe they thought they were so down for the cause that they could take a stoning like a champ.  But could they have ever imagined that the man who walked on water, gave sight to the blind and cast out demons could ever be taken down by anybody?  I don’t think they were ready to see that.  It’s hard to watch someone you admire, love and respect go through a completely vulnerable moment.  Sometimes it’s too much.  You can’t bear to watch.  And this is what happened to the disciples.  They couldn’t bear to watch.  So they abandoned Jesus in his final hours, just like he knew they would.

            I don’t think any of them would have thought that they would leave Jesus for any reason.  They had no reason to. They had stuck with him through so much already.   What could have possibly made them abandon him now?  In our minds, we are a lot tougher than we are in reality.  In my mind I can take a lot.  I can gear myself up to handle anything I can imagine.  But then the rubber meets the road, and the truth of who I am comes out.  And I’m not as tough as I think I am.  I’m not as loyal as I think I am.  I’m not as committed as I think I am.  Even though I want to be.  I have every intention of being the best everything I can be in life.  Even the best Christian.  In my head, if there was ever a time when I would have to defend my faith before a firing squad or under severe persecution, I think I’d be all about it.  I love Jesus.  I could not see myself denying my faith in Him.  But I’ve never been in that situation before, so the truth is I don’t know.  Even though I have seen Jesus’ miracles in my life, the power of believing in him, I don’t know if I would ever deny him.  I just hope I wouldn’t.  But there is no guarantee. 

            I think we need to approach our faith with a little more humility than we do.  I hear people talk all the time about not being ashamed of Jesus and standing up for the Word.  But truthfully, what I normally see is people standing up for their own ideas of morality, not for Jesus.  The person of Jesus, when the rubber meets the road, is what we need to be able to stand for. Not just our ideas of what that means.  I mean the man Jesus, who was innocent of any crime and is being persecuted for you.  The one who is your hero, but is completely vulnerable right now.  Can you even look at that?  Can you just be there for him in this moment?  His original disciples couldn’t.  What makes you think you are any better?  Why are you so tough?  You haven’t even seen what they saw and somehow you think you won’t abandon Jesus when times get tough?  I hope I’m not that arrogant.  I know it’s in me to walk away.  But I also know that it’s in Jesus to forgive me for it.  Walking away won’t destroy me, but it will make me feel bad. But I can’t let it keep me from moving forward.  All of the disciples, with the exception of John walked away from the cross.  But they all came back to Jesus.  I find it interesting that John was the only disciple not to be martyred.  I wonder if his ability to see the cross up close and personal gave him a pass on being martyred later.  I’m just speculating. Don’t preach that. But have some humility when it comes to saying that you won't deny Jesus.  Jesus already knows if you will or not.  Peter was adamant about his commitment.  But he was also recorded as having denied Jesus three times.  I wouldn't be so adamant if I were you.  Just say, "Lord, you know." And in time, I'm sure you'll have a chance to really prove it.    

The Haves and Have Nots

The Haves and Have Nots

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”  Matthew 25:28-29 NIV


    This week is not going according to plan exactly. My intention was to follow along the days leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection and write about those moments.  So by Thursday (today) I would be at the night before Jesus’ crucifixion and move right into ‘Good Friday’.  But that is not what seems to be happening.  I keep getting stuck in certain places.  I guess that’s a good thing.  There really is a lot in Scripture to seek out. 
    Today I got stuck on Matthew 25. The second parable in the chapter is the parable of the talents.  Many people use this verse as a justification for investing. And I can see it. I’ve used it for that, but there is so much more here than just making your money make money.  In particular, the verse above where Jesus says, “Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”  This portion of the chapter struck me today.  How is it possible for someone to have taken from them, something they never had?  Look at the verse again.  It clearly says that whoever has will be given more.  Ok that makes sense.  But then it says that whoever does not have will have what they do have taken from them. Well, if I don’t have something, what is being taken?  So it got me thinking.  What does it really mean to have?
    In the parable, Jesus tells the story of three servants given money by their master, who then went away on a long journey.  It was expected that while he was away, the servants would do something profitable with what they were given.  Two of the servants did.  The third, just buried the money in the ground being afraid to lose it.  He took no risk at all.  That alone is a good lesson to learn. Risk taking in life is expected by God.  Playing it safe is not being “holy”.  In the words of the lady on the train in Coming to America, “Go on honey! Take a chance!”.  But that is not the part I want to focus on today.  The servant who buried the money got what he was given taken away and given to the one who doubled the five bags of money he was given.  But the text says that the one who does not have will have what they have taken.  Again, how do you get taken what you do not have, when clearly the master gave the servant something?
    Let’s look at the dictionary definition of the word have: To possess, own, or hold.  Ok.  So which one of these applied to the lazy, risk adverse servant?  Did he not possess it, not own it or not hold it?  Or some combination of all of those things?  It seems like have means two different things here.  My conclusion is that the master gave the servant something to hold, which in essence was something he had present possession of, although he did not own that thing.  It still belonged to the master.  Then, it was his responsibility to use that thing that he was given to create more so that everybody could “have” abundantly; the master and the servant.  But the servant took what he was given and did nothing.  Therefore, his temporary possession of the money could have resulted in him “having” something more, but instead it was given to the person who knows what to do with what they are given. 
    Implications for us today: We all “have” something.  But we don’t all possess it to the point that we can reproduce what we have been given to please the master.  We don’t “own it”.  Whatever it is that we have, we need to own it to the point of making it fruitful for our master.  If we don’t, we may see those things being taken and given to those who know what to do with it.  Have you ever seen someone sit on their gifts and do nothing with them, only to find that they start to lose it after a while?  We have something to work with.  But we have to work it.  From this chapter, it would appear that we are all given something.  But we don’t all “own it”.  And if we don’t those who seem to be the most gifted ones, will gain more and more, while others lose what the have.  Seems sad.  But can’t say we haven’t been warned.  Own whatever you have and make it fruitful. Translation: stop being a punk!  (I’m talking to myself.) Everytime we use what we have been given, we set ourselves up to receive more.  Maybe it would be helpful to identify what we have been given.  We can start with time.  What have you done with your time?  How about relationships?  What do you do with those?  How about skills?  How are you using them?  How about money?  What do you do with that?  How about opportunity?  What do you do with that?  How about education?  A home? A car? a job? Your ability to read? Your ability to see?  To hear? To think?  To write?  To speak? To sing? To dance?  Your salvation? What are you doing with that? If you think about it, we have all been given a lot.  No matter what your circumstances.  We just don’t own it.  We just bury it in the ground.  If we are not careful, we may easily move from a have to a have not. 

Proper Attire

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.  So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:8-14

Day 3 of Holy Week devotions.  Today, my reading had me hone in on verses 8-14 of Matthew 22.  Jesus, here is telling a story, a parable as it is called in the Bible.  Instead of always explaining everything he means, he tells stories to the people to help them understand what he is trying to say.  Parables have several layers of meaning.  There is of course the surface level meaning, but everytime you read it, you may actually get a deeper understanding.  Today, the phrase that kept jumping out at me was “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?” 

There’s a lot happening in this short sentence for me.  The king couldn’t get the people he originally asked to come into the wedding feast, so he had his servants go and find random people in the street and invite them to the wedding feast.  There were good people and bad people al together in one place.  But regardless of who the people were, they must have all known how to dress for a wedding.  They would have known not to show up to a wedding in sweatpants and a tee shirt.  Even though they were not the original guests, certain things were apparently universal knowledge.  And the king had an expectation that these people, even if they were not the original invited guests, would know protocol.  So much so, that he tossed this guy out for not following protocol.  The text never says that the servants had to instruct the people on the proper protocol.  We can’t assume that they gave instructions.  They were instructed to give the invitation only and to invite the good and the bad.  It sounds to me like some things are just supposed to be known. 

The question I am asking of myself from this passage is, what is proper attire, exactly?  What should I be clothed in?  In the text, most scholars agree that Jesus was referring to the Jews as the ones who refused the invitation and the Gentiles as the ones who were invited to the banquet.  Since I am a Gentile, I say thank you for the invitation.  I know that I have been invited into the wonderful experience with God.  And I answered the invitation.  I just don’t know if I’m dressed right.  And this has me wondering about what exactly proper attire is in the presence of the king. 

I tend to be a somewhat liberal Christian these days.  I’m not hung up on a whole lot of rules and regulations the way I was as a new Christian.  With maturity comes another level of understanding.  Much like children, we need to develop discipline in our Christian walk, and we often need the rules and regulations early on, because we may have been too reckless before.  But I do know that ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit that we learn to depend on for  guidance instead of trusting in the rules.  I also know that certain things are just not appropriate.  And I trust that the Holy Spirit will guide me into these truths.  But what is it exactly that is inappropriate?  I wonder this for myself and I am guessing that over time, the Holy Spirit will show me when I need to know.  But I also am asking this question as a minister and a servant of the King.  Because I am wondering if I am spending too much time instructing people on what proper attire is, when that is not my assignment.  If we only instruct people on the rules, when do we allow space for the Holy Spirit to move and be their guide?  As I type this I am wondering if that was part of the point here (maybe another layer).  To make the invitation and keep people relying on what has already been given to them inside.  And maybe I need to look around at the other guests and make sure we are all dressed right.  Maybe we need to do more self-correction and not depend on the servants to give us instructions.  If we see that one of our fellow guests is not dressed properly, we should help them out.  Somebody had to see that this guy wasn’t dressed like the rest of the guests.  Did nobody say anything?  They just let him sit there and then get kicked out. 

Maybe this is a reminder to me to always offer a covering to my fellow brother or sister in Christ.  And a reminder, as a servant of God, to ensure that people learn to trust in the Spirit more often.  That may be more relational and loving than focusing on making people follow the inherently known rules.  I don’t know really.  I’m just asking questions. Welcome to my brain.    

The Lord Giveth . . . and the Lord Taketh Away

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ ?“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” Matthew 21:42-46

It’s Holy Week in the scriptures for me.  I’m going through Matthew for my journey his year.  In reading the above passage, I can’t help but to think about all of the nice guy images that people paint of Jesus so often. You have probably seen some of those images on TV.  I have heard that the images in the History Channel Bible series don’t necessarily portray that, which I applaud.  I haven’t seen it yet (gave up TV for Lent), but I plan to catch it later.  But when you think about it, nice guys don‘t stir up the religious leaders to want to kill him. 

When Jesus was “nice”, it was usually to the “sinners” whom everyone else condemned.  When he was . . .stern, it was to the religious people who were supposed to be teaching the people the ways of God.  When he spoke to the religious folk, he said stuff like what is written above. The kingdom of God will be taken from those who will actually be fruitful with it.  And the religious leadership (Pharisees and chief priests) knew he was talking about them.  Well they would have none of that!  This guy has to be stopped!  Who does he think he is saying these things in front of people who need to know that we are the true rulers of them?  No way will we lose power to this guy and his people.  But, yes way.  Once people awaken to what Jesus really does for them, you realize that no one but God has power over you.  And many who are in power never want that to happen. Because then you are free. Truly free.  You realize that no one has ever taken your power from you.  You gave it to them.  But Jesus came to give it back to you.  He came to give it back to the people who have been fooled into thinking that they are powerless.  Because when Jesus frees those people, they produce for him.  They tell people about the truth.  They are free and they free others, because only free people can free others.  You can’t teach me to be free if you are in chains. 

Economically speaking, this is the argument of many government leaders about giving tax breaks to the wealthy.  They say that if you give tax breaks to people who are already poor, it does nothing to stimulate the economy because they will just waste the money.  Rich people know what to do with money when they get more of it, so give it to them and the country will thrive.  In the kingdom of God, the "poor" are the rich ones. God says, rich people and people in power don’t know what to do with their freedom.  They lord it over others.  So give it to those who will be fruitful instead.  Take it away from the people who have used it simply for their own personal gain, and give it to those who will use it to free others. Not those who will enslave others.  

During this week, take some time to reflect on your own relationship with God.  Are you using it to become fruitful for the kingdom or are you using it for your own personal gain? Let's not fool ourselves.  Much of what is happening in the world today reflects a shift in who is bearing fruit. Religious people do not like it at all.  I pray that God does not take his presence and all of the benefits of the kingdom away from me for lack of bearing fruit. May I never use my power or authority to keep people in bondage. Amen. 

KIngdom Come

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Kingdom Come

“Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. “ Matthew 21:18-19 NIV

            It’s the day after Palm Sunday.  I was sitting at my computer and realized it had been months since I’d written a blog post.  Sorry about that.  I’ve had so many other projects going on that this one got neglected.  No real excuse though.  But I wanted to make up for it by posting during Holy Week.  This is arguably one of the most important weeks in the Christian calendar.  It’s the week leading up to the resurrection.  A time when we celebrate the miracle of a man being brutally murdered on a cross, buried and then coming back to life again.  We worship Jesus for that.  But this whole week leading up to Resurrection Sunday was filled with events.  I wanted to look at scripture and follow some of these events as my own personal devotion this week.  I just happen to invite you all in to join me. 

            Today, I was disturbed by something I read.  After Palm Sunday, where all the people were singing Jesus’ praises and waving palm branches and pronouncing him the Son of David, Jesus does some things.  The above scripture says that he went into the city and was hungry, so he looked to a fig tree to get something to eat.  When he found that the tree didn’t have any figs on it, he cursed it and the tree withered.  Seems kind of unfair to me.  Especially because at that time of the year, figs were not supposed to even be on the tree.  The fig tree was doing what it was supposed to do at that time of the year.  It had leaves on it.  What was Jesus’ problem? Why was he so angry at the tree? Was he letting the hype of the people from the day before get to his ego and he just went around exercising his authority in places all over the city?  Just the day before, Matthew says that he cleared out the moneychangers in the temple, chasing them with whips.  Was Jesus smelling himself? 

            I was disturbed by this, as I mentioned, so I called a friend to talk about it.  It was in verbalizing this scene that I started to understand something about why Jesus got upset.  And it also convicted me at the same time.  When Jesus shows up, seasons don’t matter.  Whatever the natural course of activity is in a particular place is irrelevant when the creator of it is present.  When eternity breaks through time, time must bow down to it.  Eternity is greater than time, not the other way around. 

            For the fig tree to not have bowed to Jesus’ authority, but to continue on its natural path, it was irreverent. Whatever plans the fig tree had of continuing to let its leaves shine until a few months from then when the editable fruit appeared should have been adjusted.  Time and seasons are like a babysitter, waiting on the kingdom of God to appear.  And in Jesus, it does appear.  But the fig tree didn’t get that memo.  And so, it was cursed. 

            Jesus wasn’t ego trippin’ when he did this.  He was just being himself.  And because he knew who he was, he knew that he held a certain authority that the fig tree was not agreeable to.  The scripture said that Jesus was hungry.  He had a need.  And there was a perfect opportunity for the fig tree to provide for that need, but the fig tree was busy with its own agenda.  It was in the middle of its green leaf season, not its fig producing season.  Even when the author of time was present. 

            Let this be a reminder to us all.  We are created to bear fruit, so when the creator shows up, we can fill needs. You were created for a purpose.  If you are too busy on your own natural course of action to recognize who is before you, it is only mercy that keeps you from being cursed, never to produce fruit again.  Jesus will show up and interrupt whatever you are doing in life and regardless of what your plans were, they need to adjust.  The kingdom has come to you and has need of you.  It is an honor to be asked by God to do anything, especially to feed him or his sheep. 

            I said that this convicted me.  It did.  Because I realize that Jesus is always with me.  So, what right do I have to create my own plans based on what I feel a natural course of action should be at this time in my life?  God can break into time at any moment and introduce me to eternity, which is bound by nothing.  He gives women babies at 90, impregnates virgins, raises people from the dead, parts seas, rains down food, heals sick people, gives sight to blind people and a whole host of other stuff.  If Jesus shows up, forget what should naturally happen in this moment.  The kingdom of God is here!  And let us not forget that I am writing this on a snowy March 25^th day in Philadelphia when most people say we are supposed to be enjoying the beginning of spring.  Maybe these little weather anomalies are another reminder.  The kingdom has come.