Holy Week Readings, Friday, March 21, 2008

John 18:1 – 19:42, Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest... I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death..." (Psalm 22)

The cry of the Christ is so very often our cry, perhaps not with the same intensity of anguish, but with the same sense of lonliness. It seems that suffering is a lonely business. Even when we walk through it with someone we love, at the deepest points of suffering we are by our self with our questions... My God! Why have you forsaken me? Where are you? Food is like gravel in my mouth, I lay awake anxious at night and fret during the day... what is the answer? Where have you gone? Why have you left me in this dark night of the soul?

And yet within the anguish of the Christ, and our own... there is something calling from deep to deep... from the pits of our souls, out of the pits of our hell, to the reality of our God who is enthroned and able to save... even when we aren't relieved of our suffering. How many stories in scripture and our life experience does God enter into? How many times does he come and fill us with his peace, and comfort... in the midst of suffering... how many times does he bring from the crosses that we bear a new life and vitality? He hasn't left us to write our story alone...

Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them.But You, O LORD, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance. (Psalm 22)

Holy Week Readings, Thursday, March 20, 2008

John 13:1-17, 31b – 35, Exodus 12:1-42, Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19.

Holy Week Readings, Wednesday, March 19, 2008

John 13:21-32, Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 70.

Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; who has a case against Me? Let him draw near to Me. 9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them. Isaiah 50:8-9

It’s so easy for us to take up an offense. We are a people who offend living in a culture of offense. We have a “right” not to be mistreated. We should get what’s coming to us - the good stuff. I just finished listening to short argument between two of my sons about who should get the next orange… “You’ve already had two, you shouldn’t get another one!” “It’s not fair!”

Jesus simply didn’t spend any time, or so it seems, worrying about getting “His due.” He never got his “due” which would have been reward and honor because by anyone’s account he was a great man who put others ahead of himself. The prophesy of Him says, “I gave my back to those who strike me, my cheek to those who pluck out my beard; I didn’t cover my face from humiliation and spitting… because God helps me.”

I wonder how I can keep this ever before my eyes when I’m not getting my way… or feeling particularly appreciated. Where were His “rights” in the beating… the plucking… the spitting? Who have we become?

Holy Week Readings, Tuesday, March 18, 2008

John 12:20-36, Isaiah 49:1-7, Psalm 71:1-14.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (Jn 12:23) “You are my servant, Israel, in Whom I will show my glory.” (Is. 49:3)

The glory of which Jesus speaks and of which Isaiah prophesied is a strange sort of glory indeed. Jesus, to be sure, is speaking of the crucifixion… it’s coming. He will be glorified. He’ll soon be wearing a crown… made of thorns; He’ll soon be wearing a royal robe… of mockery; He’ll soon bear a scepter… applied repeatedly to his back; He’ll soon be lifted up on a throne… made of rough sawn wood; He’ll soon be lifted up and spread His arms wide before His people… and be pinned by crude nails in that position.

Holy Week Readings, Monday, March 17, 2008

John 12:1-11, Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 36:5-11.

There is no small irony here that Jesus is being prepared for burial by Mary while people crowd around to get a look at Lazarus. How often does the side show religious stuff keep us from what matters? I don't mean that Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was in itself a side-show, it was a miracle and a wonder to be sure, but the people came "not only for Jesus' sake, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead."

I'm struck by all the layers of drama and confusion in the few short verses of the John text:

• Mary loves and is anxious to honor Jesus.
• Judas is spoiled by greed and thinking only about getting hold of the money already... and always I suspect, he can't get past the money and greed shaping his heart.
• Jesus is looking toward and foreshadowing his coming death... which no one seems to hear in the hustle and bustle around the moment.
• The Jewish people are just trying to figure this rabbi out.
• The Jewish religious leaders are just trying to shut this rabbi up! They're willing even to commit murder ("but the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also") in order to put a stop to this guy.
• The Jewish leadership is intent on keeping leadership and cannot bear to see that "many of the Jews are going away and believing in Jesus."

Is everyone missing the point at the moment except Jesus for whom the cross looms large?

I guess I'm not much different from the crowds really. I want to honor Christ, but am pulled every which way from the pressures of my day to day existence. Pulled by the pressure of having the money to meet the obligations of clothing, housing, feeding, educating, and transporting three busy boys through life - maybe not falling into abject greed... but not immune from the pull of the dollar, anxious to "see God at work" in amazing ways and probably missing Him at work in a million ways; missing Jesus in the midst of serving Him; concerned about my own place in the world to the point that I sometimes begrudge others their place; being pulled at times to do what I shouldn't do to get what I probably don't need...

Come near Lord Jesus, and draw me to yourself.

If we don't believe... He stays true!

I've been reading The Adventure by Jerry Sittser who will be the speaker this year at "Setting the Mind on Fire" at Moses Lake Christian Academy. It's not profound, but it's good, my son, a 7th grader at the Academy, is reading it in his Bible class.

Sittser quotes Hudson Taylor the great missionary and hero of the faith who started the Inland China Mission, as struggling with his lack of faithfulness! Hudson Taylor... struggling with lack of faithfulness and falling short? Who would have guessed it. Nevertheless as Taylor struggles through the question of his own faithfulness he is suddenly reminded of the elementary truth... I'll give it to you in his own words... a journal entry to his sister:

"But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful one: As I read, I saw it all! 'If we believe not, he abideth faithful!' I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that he has said, 'I will never leave Thee!!' 'Ah, there is rest!' I thought, I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has not He promised to abide with me - never to leave me, never to fail me?"

Isn't it true... it's not difficult to lapse into the dulldrums of self-pity and condemnation because we're not measuring up. The truth is if we ever get to the place that we think we are measuring up we're probably in trouble. We only measure up because HE MEASURED UP! The reason that we can rest in that is because it never changes. I suppose there is a danger of just becoming lazy in our discipleship and saying, "It doesn't matter what I do, it's all about Him." We're called to be shaped, to draw near, to obedience, to faithfulness, and all the rest... to walk the narrow path. I want to press on, but in his finished work, not my daily busy work. Thank God - He is faithful when I struggle to believe!

White as Snow

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

-Isaiah 1:18 (NASB95)

It snowed a ton here in Moses Lake yesterday... the snow clouding your vision as you looked out the window sort of snow... I really love it. I'm guessing that we got just at 5" of new snow. The snow reminds me of this text in Isaiah, "though your sins are as scarlet; they will be as white as snow." Through the winter months it can be a bit dreary around here. We don't get enough snow to make it beautiful, the desert winter is just brown and bleak. Or we get just enough snow to skiff the ground and not completely cover the grass and grime. I don't mind it terribly, but there's nothing like a new snowfall to cover all the grass, dirt and grime. It gives a new view, a new landscape, it clears the air and covers the ground.

God's faithfulness to give us new starts is amazing to me. He tells us that his mercies are "new every morning." "The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him." Lamentations 3:22-24 (NASB95) He is long-suffering and forbearing with us to a degree that is mind-boggling. Forbearance is one of my favorite words... when you boil it down it pretty much means "to put up with." God just puts up with us; our weakness, our weirdness, our faulty and at times insincere worship.

These musings clarify two thoughts in my mind. 1) When I'm feeling like I'm worthless and not accomplishing much; when I know that I'm falling short in some area of my life, and particularly in my devotion to Him, He's faithful and forbearing to me. Though I fall short of giving myself in a way that He's worthy of he bridges the gap in coming toward me. 2) The world would be a vastly different place if we humans treated each other in the same way that God treats us; giving each other new chances, putting up with each other, loving each other and bridging the distance when someone falls short. We're so often actually the opposite. Rather than giving each other new chances we say, "Sorry, that was your last chance!" Rather than putting up with each other we say, "I'm done with you!" Rather than building bridges we tend to build walls. But it's a new day... and His mercy is new today... we can start over and make a difference. Today I want to work a bit harder to give another chance, put up with someone who surely isn't any worse than I when it's all said and done, and build a bridge.