Angelic Commands

 April 9, 2023

Today is Easter! Christians all over the world have gathered to sing and pray, to hear the Gospel proclaimed, and to shout, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” Joyous celebration is the order of the day even in the midst of heartache, suffering, injustice, and disappointment, for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the beginning of our own and the assurance that death and destruction have not the final say.

The fact that people today greet one another with these words rests upon two women who in their grief, trudged their way to a garden tomb to prepare a body for burial. In Matthew’s gospel we read that an angel appeared and said to the women,

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” 

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.” —Matthew 28:5-8 

The angel gave two commands: “Come and see,” and Go and tell,” words that are still instructive for us today. Had they not obeyed these words, there would be no Good News today. The Gospel is held by this thinnest of threads. 

In their fear, the women might have declined to come and see, in which case, they would have had no reason to go and tell. Or they might have looked into the tomb and merely wondered what this all meant. Instead, they did exactly as the angel commanded, and when they did, something wonderful happened: they met Jesus along the way.

We come to church to meet Jesus, but often come away disappointed. The music wasn’t to our liking, the sermon was dull, the people unfriendly. Or any other excuse we may care to mention. We read the Bible, pray, and sing, and yet our hearts are still cold and stony. We wonder why this is, while the answer lies before us all the time. We didn’t actually come and see. We were looking to the music, the sermon, the friendly greetings to fill the emptiness of our souls; in other words, the focus was on us, not on Jesus. We came to church, but didn’t come to Jesus. 

And if we actually came to Jesus, we left, but never went to tell someone else. The message died with us, and because it did, we never gave Jesus the opportunity to meet us on the way. I’ve discovered that often it’s while I am on the way, obeying the angelic word to go and tell, that I meet Jesus. 

If you worshipped today and came home feeling that somehow it all passed you by, listen again to the angel’s commands: “Come and see.” Look to Jesus. Then “Go and tell.” Jesus will meet you on your way.

Answer the Door

 April 7, 2023

This morning I woke with the heaviness of past sins weighing upon me. The thought of lost opportunities, forfeited spiritual power, compromised labor haunts me. In one word—regret. Juxtaposed on that regret is the sure knowledge of forgiveness. I remember all too clearly what God says he has forgotten: “I will remember your sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34). If Jeremiah didn’t make it clear enough, that promise is repeated twice in the New Testament (Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17).

“But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

—II Corinthians 6:4, 10 

Jesus himself taught us to forgive as we have been forgiven. We usually apply that to other people, but sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. Yet we are commanded to do so. Forgiving ourselves is not optional; it is commanded of us to let go of all that is past so we may live for today and eternity. St. Paul said it well: 

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended (or “arrived”); but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

—Philippians 3:13-14 

Paul had persecuted Christians, rounding them up and sending them to jail and death. If anyone would have reason to live in regrets, it would have been Paul. Instead, he lived in joy. How, you say? He knew that in Jesus Christ, his past was wiped out so completely that it was dead to him. Listen again to his wisdom:

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” —Philippians 3:7-11 

As far as Paul was concerned, his old life was dead and buried. He was raised with Christ to new life:

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

—Colossians 2:13-15 

Tonight I am so grateful to know that God has wiped away the record that stood against me. Sure, the devil keeps knocking at my heart’s door, trying to remind me of my past. When he does so, I just ask Jesus to answer the door. When he does, no one is there!

Blessings

 April 6, 2023

“God has blessed me so much!” How often I’ve heard these words; how often I’ve spoken them myself. It’s true. I feel at times like I’ve led a charmed life, except for the fact that such a statement borders on the occult. What is interesting to me is how we use those words to describe situations we deem advantageous. We are blessed if windfall money comes our way, if we narrowly escape an accident, recover from serious illness, or enjoy a healthy family life.

I can’t remember anyone saying they felt blessed when their house burned to the ground, they became disabled from an accident, or were robbed and beaten by a thug. I have heard two people describe their serious illness as a blessing. I recently watched a video of David Ring, an evangelist who was born with cerebral palsy and sees it as God’s gift enabling him to reach people “normal” preachers cannot. My son has described his cancer as a blessing, drawing him closer to Christ than ever before.

But most of the time, difficulties are seen as the work of the devil, or at best, roadblocks God puts in our way to correct us. In what we know as the Beatitudes, Jesus redefines “blessing” for us.

“Blessed are you poor… 

Blessed are you who hunger now… 

Blessed are you who weep now…

Blessed are you when men hate you, 

And when they exclude you, 

And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, 

For the Son of Man’s sake.”

—Luke 6:20-22 

When was the last time you considered ridicule, ostracism, criticism, and slander to be a blessing? Jesus’ way of looking at life is quite different from ours. Much of contemporary Christian teaching extols the “blessings” of prosperity, of success and popularity. Being a laughingstock, getting assaulted for standing up for the unborn, or targeted for simply stating biological fact that DNA is what determines one’s sex, while it may be considered a badge of Christian honor, it’s rarely seen as a blessing. 

I am grateful for the blessings that encourage and edify me, but I am also praying to be able to see more clearly as Jesus sees, and to look for the kind of blessings of which he spoke .

Stones

April 5, 2023

Nearly 20 hours on the road yesterday—a trip with son Matthew to Moneta, VA, delivering the old Harley 45 to Resurrection Cycle Works for assembly. It’s a small company operating out of the owner’s garage. Steven LeMay, the owner, lived outside my hometown for years, and has been working on these old bikes since he was a kid, following in his father’s footsteps. On top of that, he is a Christian, as might have been gathered from the name of his company. His website has as much space devoted to the Gospel as it does to bikes. 

Matt and I had a great time together, with times of both conversation and quiet. It was a tiring day, but O, so worth it!

Today’s reading came from Matthew 4, the Temptation narrative where the devil attempts to seduce Jesus into abandoning his calling by settling for a lesser, less costly “salvation.” Jesus of course, refused. May we do the same.

The incident begins with Jesus’ 40 day fast, which is more than enough to make anyone ravishingly hungry if it hasn’t killed him first. So the devil’s first foray pressed Jesus where he at the moment was most susceptible—hunger. “Turn these stones into bread,” the devil slyly suggested. As I read these words this morning, in my mind the scene changed. It wasn’t just Jesus who has been offered this dodge; it’s you and me.

How often I’ve tried to turn stones into bread! I’ve tried to satisfy the hunger of my soul with the stones of this earthly sphere. I’ve tried filling the ache within me with distractions—TV, scrolling the internet, accumulating stuff that promises much but delivers little. I’ve used work to give life meaning, hobbies, activities, people, places, things…all stones, while the Bread of Life sits on the table getting stale with disuse. Every day I am offered stones to eat, and too often, I’ve broken more than a few teeth on them. 

Lord Jesus, you are the only Bread of Life! By refusing this temptation, you proved yourself worthy and able to fill hungry hearts with good things. Had you yielded to this temptation, your salvation would have been as gravelly and worthless as the stones beneath our feet. And if I yield to it, my offering to this broken and sad world will be as hard and unyielding, as lacking in nutrition as those same stones. but in you, we have, and we offer life to the world!

 

An Ordinary Day

 April 4, 2023

The storm that downed trees and took out power for many in our area did little more than deposit a few dead branches in our yard. A half hour’s work, and it was pretty much cleared up. One of my bee colonies that seemed to be doing well enough over the winter was a dead-out when I checked it today, courtesy of a local mouse who thought my hive was a perfect place to build her nest. The weather being quite cooperative today, we loaded up the old Harley parts preparatory to taking them to, of all places, Resurrection Cycle Works in VA. Linda and I enjoyed coffee and supper on the patio, hopefully the first of many such times this year. 

All of this to say spring is in the air, which means summer work is just around the corner. Inflation means the annual servicing of our tractor is going to cost a very pretty penny this year, but we are blessed to be able to afford it, even if we don’t like paying it. I like paying someone who knows what they’re doing more than I like doing the job myself.

A few other tasks filled up the day, culminating in worship team rehearsal and Men’s Bible study tonight. 

Why mention all this ordinary stuff? Because this week, like so many others, will look ordinary to the outsider looking in, but it is extraordinary from the inside looking out. I know less about how this week will end than I know about how that last ordinary week in Jesus’ earthly life ended. Other than the parade of Palm Sunday, Jesus’ last week on earth was pretty ordinary—preaching to the crowds, irritating and agitating the religious elite, but it turned extraordinary on Friday. Our own lives can turn on a heartbeat, as we discovered last year about this time when son Nate got sick.

Extraordinary and ordinary have been jumbled together this past year in ways we never imagined as the year began. That’s just the way life happens. We’ve been reminded to look for the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary because God meets us in the intersection between the two. 

So I have enjoyed today, an ordinary day infused with extraordinary potential, if only I have eyes to see. I am looking intently, expectantly. God is on the move!

Fickle

 April 2, 2023

Today is Palm Sunday, commemorating the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the crowds cried, “Hosanna!” (God save), “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord!” They were shouting the ancient hope of a Redeemer who would set them free from all oppression, a hope that has existed in the hearts of people for thousands of years. 

But less than a week later, the crowds were shouting a different demand. “Crucify him!” How is it possible to go from joyful acclamation to angry condemnation in such a short time? This isn’t a rhetorical question; Scripture wasn’t given to satisfy our intellectual curiosity or to answer psychological inquiries. It is critical that we know the answer to this question, lest we fall into the same trap. Many who have claimed the name of Christ have fallen by the wayside, sad, empty shells of the faith they once professed. If you were to ask them how it is that they have abandoned the faith they once proclaimed, most would tell you that Jesus disappointed them, didn’t measure up to their expectations, failed to answer their prayers.

I suspect the real reason is a bit deeper than that. When in his gospel Matthew tells the story of the Triumphal Entry on that long-ago Palm Sunday, he makes note of a particular question that was on the mind of the people, and of the answer the cheering crowds gave.

“And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.””

—Matthew 21:10-11 

The question is legitimate, the answer insufficient. Prophets are praised one day, vilified the next. It’s human nature and the nature of the business. If Jesus is merely a prophet, he can be followed, ignored, or persecuted. If he is who he claimed to be—Lord and Savior, it’s a whole different story. 

A lot of people come to Jesus, expecting him to straighten out the mess they made of their lives. We expect Jesus to make us happy. We pray, expecting God to do what we ask. We would never say it aloud, but we act as if we were God, calling the shots, and he were the servant, waiting to do our bidding. We have it backward. God is Lord and Savior; we are here to do his bidding, to give honor to him by how we live our lives. If we recognize Jesus for who he really is, it becomes difficult to walk away when things don’t go our way. If Jesus is Lord, omniscient and loving, I won’t quit when I don’t understand what happens in life. If he is only prophet, I can find another more suited to my own plans.

When Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say I am,” it was the most important question anyone could hear. It still is. Prophet won’t carry me through tough times. Lord and Savior will.

Merciful Justice

 April 1, 2023

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.” —Matthew 1:18-19 

Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus has an intriguing phrase: “Joseph…being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.” What intrigues me is the juxtaposition of justice and kindness, something we don’t see everyday. We usually think of justice as adherence to the letter of the law, but here it is demonstrated by mercy. 

Joseph’s tender kindness towards Mary is a precursor to Jesus’ life story. The narrative continues:

“But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

—Matthew 1:20-21 

 

Merciful justice has salvation as its goal. Exactly how this will be accomplished, Matthew doesn’t yet tell us, but he makes it clear that what we need is salvation, not reformation or education; and this salvation we will soon learn comes only through Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. Mercy and judgment kissed at the cross as Jesus paid a terrible price for our salvation. 

Holy Week begins tomorrow. Matthew doesn’t give us the details here, but from the very beginning, the cross (and the resurrection) is in view.