Ordinary Time

It's ordinary time. The Easter season has finally passed and there is plenty of scripture to read and life to live. Take a peek at the Church calendar book this season. :)

An Exhortation!

We've been hinting at and talking about a lot of brokenness that has bubbled up under our spiritual skins, making us sore and achey for relief.

I'd like to claim this 50 day season as a time to take note of beauty, resurrection, re-creation, renewal, hope, and encouragement. Christ is risen and we are living in an age where the dead can rise and the old does not define and the new is available.

This Wednesday, I might mention a resurrection I'm seeing in my mom's life. I don't know how long you've seen a situation of "dying" or "pain," but I witnessed her die inside for a solid 10 years. I'm getting an opportunity to see something that I prayed for with absolutely no faith or desire, but my lack of enthusiasm didn't stop God from the re-creation process. She is alive again and I am happy for her! My love for her has been resurrected as well. Take note of His power and goodness! Seriously! :)

A Good Friday Reflection

 So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”  Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

-Matthew 27:24-26

            It is Good Friday. On this day we remember and embody the story of our Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. While reading the traditional scripture passages for this day, I am struck by how beautifully upside-down God’s kingdom works. Who wins a war by dying? Who heals people by suffering? Who gives life to others by bleeding? “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:25). In Christ, God once and for all dismantled human notions of power and wisdom.

            The Passion story is heavy with irony. For example, as Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he is hailed as the Messiah, the King, the One who will overthrow Rome and reestablish Israel’s superiority. The irony comes in that these people are half right. Jesus is their king. He is their Messiah. But he is not the kind of King that they were expecting. He is not the warlord king who will perpetuate human pride by winning through strength of arms. No. Instead, he is their suffering king.  He is their servant king. He is their suffering servant.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed… Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great. (Isaiah 53:4-6, 12a)

Jesus is a true king only because he lovingly serves. He only has power because he triumphs through weakness. Another example of the irony is in the sign nailed above Jesus’ head on the Cross: “Hail, King of the Jews.” Again, the sign is truth. What the Romans and chief-priests intended for mockery and slander is in fact a statement to the whole world that Christ is the king they’ve been waiting for.

            Matthew 27:24-26 contains a profound example of this great irony. Pilate, knowing that Christ is innocent and blameless, publically “washes his hands” of the situation, a gesture that would have legally ensured his innocence. In response, the bloodthirsty crowd cries, “His blood be on us and on our children!” In other words, “we will take responsibility for his death; if there is guilt attached to this act, let it fall on us and our descendants.” How interesting. They claim Christ’s blood as a means to an end: his death. They claim their own guilt and condemnation! “They lie in wait—to kill themselves! and set an ambush—for their own lives!” (Prov. 1:18)

            But Christ’s blood is accomplishing exactly the opposite! His blood is procuring their salvation, not sealing their damnation. He pours his blood willingly. We know from the Old Testament that blood symbolizes life. When given in sacrifice it consecrates, sanctifies, atones, forgives, cleanses, etc. This crowd, which is an embodiment of humanity’s total and disgusting depravity, is willing to heap condemnation on their heads just to see Jesus killed. However, in doing so they are allowing Jesus to pour on them the blood of salvation. Now, of course, Hebrews 10:29 warns that there is great punishment for those who have “profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified.” But isn’t it amazing the way Jesus is subversively “winning” in the midst of this evil? Jesus did not come “into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him!” His blood speaks a better word than guilt, condemnation, evil, murder. His blood speaks the word of salvation, of cleansing, of renewal, and of freedom. Praise God that Christ’s “blood be on us and our children,” because “even though you intended to do harm, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today” (Gen. 50:20).  

Holy Week

My church from home just tweeted a few thoughts and links about Holy Week and I wanted to share them with you guys...

One of the beautiful pictures of Jesus that we find in Scripture is that of the Suffering Servant; the God|Man who lived in flesh and blood, felt the struggles of being human, and demonstrated God's love to us in his suffering and death. Henri Nouwen put it this way in his book, Compassion:

 

The mystery of God’s love is not that he takes our pains away, but that
he first wants to share them with us. Out of this divine solidarity comes
new life. Jesus’ being moved in the center of his being by human pain
is indeed a movement toward new life. God is our God, the God of the
living. In his divine womb life is always born again...The truly good news
is that God is not a distant God, a God to be feared and avoided, a God
of revenge, but a God who is moved by our pains and participates in the
fullness of the human struggle.

Like our Hebrews chapter says, God disciplines us because we are His children and to be a legitimate child, we must go through discipline. God wants to walk with us through that discipline even though it is hard. "He first wants to share [our pains] with us..."

May we finish this week learning to struggle well in our fasts and experience a wholeness with a God who came to earth so that He might suffer with us in our struggles. 

Also, this is a link to a Holy Week timeline that BibleGateway.com put together. Its interesting. I'm going to try to read through the passages each day and keep up with what was actually happening in Christ's life during the week leading to the cross. Feel free to do that too if you want :) 

http://bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/holy-week-timeline.png

Love you guys. Can't wait to see you on Wednesday!

Today's Readings

I really liked the pairing of Psalms 6 and Hebrews 12:1-11 today. First I came to the Lord in my devotions, and then I was exhorted as to why I was coming by Paul.

Ideas that I treasure:

• That Christ pioneered my faith and that He will perfect it as I live.
• That to live as Christ is to resist sin to the point of shedding blood. Phew.
• That the Lord disciplines His children. I am His child.
• That I am promised righteousness and peace.

Psalm 101 Friends

As I read Psalm 101, I was reminded of the "Psalm 51 woman" concept. Psalm 101 tells me how to deal with others in my search for holiness. It tells me that I shouldn't be in relationship with people who practice sin. It also infers that I should challenge people that I am in relationship with when I see negative things come out of them. I should prepare myself to be challenged likewise.

Don't look with approval at vile things (that people do)
Don't love what faithless people do
Don't associate with the perverse of heart
Don't associate with what is evil (that people do)
Don't stand silent in the presence of gossipers
Don't practice tolerance with the proud or haughty
Don't be hospitible to liars

Lent is for real.

I read Heaven Is For Real yesterday, and I got excited thinking about the reality of heaven. The reality of God hit me over the head and the realization that He will become SO much more real to me after I die.

I was reading our passages for today and thinking about the promises God gives those who love, glorify, and obey Him. What great assurances. What real assurances from a real God.

Therefore let all the faithful pray to You while You may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance... Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!


Remember to continue in your reading, fasting, devotions, and memorizing! God will meet you, convict you, encourage you, calm you, and answer your prayers. He's real like that.