pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Monthly Archives: April 2014


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The Master Gardener

Perhaps it was no coincidence that Mary Magdelene mistook Jesus for a gardener.  In many ways Jesus was and is a gardener.

Jesus taught and continues to teach through stories, parables, examples, and healings.  Within each are little seeds that are planted in our hearts and minds.  Each time we read the Bible we glean insights from his words, often times a new insight from a passage we have read before.  One day these seeds will sprout.  In the meantime the gardener works the soil, tending to it so that one day it can nurture good growth.  The gardener continues to turn over our soil with His words, making us into the soil that will produce a crop.

As we grow, He prunes us as well, to shape us into the best disciple we can be.  Sometimes the gardener prunes off parts of us that hinder our growth as disciples, cutting off a little pride here, a little jealousy there, a bit of anger right there…  At other times He prunes to encourage growth in our faith lives.

All the while He is also teaching us how to garden.  Through His example and work in our lives, we come to understand how we can help others on their walk of faith.  We can share the stories from the Bible and from our own walks of faith.  We can tend the soil and encourage growth in those we know.  We can also prune when needed.  But the greatest lesson we learn from Jesus is to garden with love.  It is to produce growth and to encourage that the seeds produce a crop in our garden and in the gardens of those we meet along the way.  Happy gardening!!!


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To the Galilees!!!

When do you think, if ever, Mary and Mary Magdalene asked the question, “How will we move the stone?”  Clearly they have emotionally moved at least a little past the immediate shock of Jesus’ crucifixion.  They were cognizant enough to observe the Sabbath – or was it just so deeply engrained in them that they just naturally did this?  They were thinking clearly enough to gather up the requisite spices to prepare the body for burial after it had been stored in the tomb.

Matthew reports that an earthquake moved the stone.  Surely they would have felt it, but maybe not have known its purpose.  An angel (or two if you are reading Matthew) tells them not to be afraid and proclaims that Jesus is risen.  He is risen indeed!!  As they turn to go they encounter Jesus.  They clasp his feet and worship him.  He repeats the instructions to go and tell the others.  His words are to also to us – go into the Galilees of our world and share the good news:  He is Risen!!


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A Good for Thanks

I wonder what went through His followers that day as they watched Jesus die.  Were they simply full of despair and could not think of anything past His pain and the hurt of losing Jesus?  Were they full of doubt and questions about who He really was – if Jesus was God’s son how could He die this way?  Were some even mad at Jesus for not calling down an army of angels to establish His kingdom right then and there?

2000 years later we look back on the scene and we know the story, we know the outcome.  Our perspective is different.  Even though we know the outcome, it is still good to sit in the moment for a bit, to remember the day Jesus died.

What goes through our minds as we look back at the crucifixion with our 20/20 hindsight?  As we look back do we see the brutal beating He took as he bore the stripes of our transgressions?  Do we recognize the stripes that stand for you and for me?  They are there, on His body, because He died for all sin – past, present, and future.  Do we see His blood running down his head, hands, feet and side as they nailed Him to the cross and pierced His side?  That blood is the new covenant that washes away our sins.  Do we see Jesus’ human body breathe its last as it hangs broken and battered on the cross?  Do we see in it the body that is now the bread of life to us?  Today is a good day to remember and to offer our thanks to our King and to our Redeemer.


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The Master’s Sandals

John 13:34 – “A new command I give you: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Ephesians 4: 32 – “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

 

I loved the show “Undercover Boss” – anyone else?  It was a great show.  If you’ve never seen it, the basics of the show was that the owner of a company would take an entry level position that usually involved some pretty basic ‘grunt’ work – and it was often dirty and disgusting and physically requiring.  Sometimes the boss could not even do the job and was fired!  But without fail the boss ended up seeing how important and hard-working these ‘lower’ level employees were and how underpaid or disrespected they were.  It was usually a very humbling experience for the company owner.

As Jesus knelt and washed the disciples feet, many of them must have felt very uncomfortable.  It was always the disciples who would wash the rabbi’s feet – never the other way around.  It just wasn’t how you do things.  But Jesus had a point.  The point is for us as well.  Serving others has no limitations or requirements or hierarchy.  None!  Just like the lower level employees in the TV show, all people are important.  All people matter.

True service is much more than helping out a good friend.  It is much more than taking the time on a lazy Saturday afternoon to help out at the thrift store.  A true servant’s heart does anything at anytime for anybody.  When we truly love one another, then we are walking in the Master’s sandals.


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The Call of Jesus

Judas betrays Jesus first in his heart, then later in action.  Was he forcing Jesus’ hand to prod Jesus into becoming the powerful, earthly king that Judas longed for him to be?  Maybe this was Judas’ goal and he cared little for 30 pieces of silver.  Or was Judas filled with greed and saw this as an opportunity to make a little money?  Maybe part of Judas thought Jesus would get out of this jam too. Either way, Judas was guided by Satan, the great deceiver.

But how could one so close to Jesus come to betray Him?  How could one of the twelve think that Jesus had come to sit on an earthly throne?  How could… But each of the twelve does deny or betray Jesus in the end.  Even Peter, the Rock, flat out denies Jesus three times in the courtyard.  All of the disciples scatter and go into hiding after the crucifixion.  Most don’t even go to the hill of Calvary to see Jesus draw the last breath and to die for the sin of the world.

Maybe this was just the lot cast to Judas, cast by powers far beyond him.  We know that Judas doe snot live long afterwards.  Was it guilt or remorse that drove him to take his own life?  Or was it him wanting to be reunited with the risen Lord?

When I think of my life, I realize how often I deny or betray Jesus.  I do every time I say that I want to be the one in control.  I do ever time I won’t fully hand over the reigns to Jesus.  I do every time I turn away from one I could help.  I do every time I choose not to see Jesus in the eyes of those in need.  Yes, sadly the list could go on. What does your list of denials and betrayals look like?

But thanks be to God!!  His mercy and love and forgiveness never fail.  God is right there to pick us back up, to dust us off, to give us a little hug and pat on the back, and to send us right back out there to be His light and love in our world.  May our eyes and ears and hearts be better attuned to hearing and answering the call.  Thanks be to God!!


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Jesus is Waiting

In John 12, Jesus is at Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’ house.  It is a place Jesus visited often.  But in this case, He has just raised Lazarus from the dead (after 4 days in the tomb).  The place must have been abuzz – with the actual event plus all the visitors who were coming to see both Jesus and Lazarus.  The religious authorities are plotting to end this Jesus before things really get out of hand.

It is in this setting that Mary does something extravagant for Jesus.  She anoints Jesus’ feet with some expensive perfume and dries them off with her hair.  The perfume was worth a year’s wages.  I can’t even begin to think about giving something that valuable to or for another, never mind actually doing it.  Could you?

Yet Mary felt led to do this for Jesus.  True, He has just raised Lazarus from the dead – for this she was surely grateful.  Mary, Martha, and Lazarus had long had a special relationship with Jesus.  He often visited their house and taught there.  She probably considered Jesus a friend and a teacher.

But is makes me think – could I do something so extravagant?  I too have a special relationship with Jesus.  I too am grateful to him – not for raising my brother but for my redemption that He bought with His blood on the cross.  Jesus will one day also raise me to eternal life.  I too spend time with Jesus and like to learn from him.  How about you?  Do these things apply to you as well?  Then it is probably: we all have a relationship, we all spend time, we were all bought.

Maybe Mary sensed that Jesus’ death was drawing near and that this was all she could really offer.  A simple but very loving gesture.It is written that Jesus will return like a thief in the night, that the time and hour in unknown to all but God.

Do we live out extravagant love for Jesus and others?  Do we offer our best every day like each day is it?  Do you want to be standing there with a jar of perfume in your hand when He returns?  During this Holy Week, may we take the opportunities that ARE there to offer our best for Jesus!


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Into the Fray

The ‘Prince of Peace’ came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, symbolic of a king entering in peace.  The crowd welcomed him with shouts of praise and songs of joy.  But the week ahead was anything but peaceful.  The week ahead caused turmoil and stirred things up in Jerusalem.  Just in case any of the religious leaders missed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the next thing he did was head to the temple and he cleared it out.

Although Jesus does bring us peace, once we begin to walk with Him, He also causes a great deal of turmoil in us too.  His Spirit stirs us up and causes us to live and act differently.  We do not see the world and all of its hurts, pains, and injustices the same.  When we begin to see with Jesus’ eyes and to feel with His heart, the turmoil begins.  We cannot see and feel without becoming a part of it.  We are called to step into the fray and become a part of the turmoil.  As much as it can be uncomfortable and unknown, we know that we do not step in alone.  He is there too.

As we head into Holy Week, as we walk alongside Jesus his week, it should cause some turmoil and some clearing out in our lives too.  May we see the example that Jesus sets before us and fearlessly enter into the world He calls us to.


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Jesus, Our Superhero Model

Jesus was an amazing combination of real human and heavenly God.  He was like a superhero – normal person most of the time – yet now and then demonstrating the amazing.  And true to superhero code – He never used his powers for his own good!  But more often than not, Jesus was a humble servant – to any and to all.

We most often live in the ordinary.  Just a simple person, getting by day after day.  Yet once in a while we have the chance to step into the amazing.  We have the opportunity to live beyond the human limitations.  Sometimes we find it in a time of prayer or perhaps during worship.  It is that amazing moment simply being in His presence.  Sometimes we find it when we step out of our own comfort zone and into another’s world to engage them where they are at.  This idea is what awes me about Jesus – he accepted all he met at face value and offered what he could to them.  So often when we do for others, they are certainly helped but it is us who has gained the most.

In John 10:10 Jesus promised, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  Got your cape and tights ready?  Where will you find and give life abundantly today?


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Our Words

Isaiah 50:4 reads, “The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.”  God’s word is a guide to us too and can also be a mean of holding us accountable.  His word is always true.

Our words can be both good and bad, truth and lies.  We can use our words to teach about God, to encourage and bring hope, to counsel and correct.  But we can also use our words to bring conflict, strife, and disagreements.  Because our words are so powerful, we must choose them carefully.  The expression “Think before you speak” comes to mind.

Despite the power of our words, our actions often ‘speak’ louder.  Anyone can talk.  Anyone can say almost anything they want.  But most think that what we do is more indicative of who or what we really are.

The reality is that for all of us, both our words and our actions must mesh, must come from the same source.  The Word of God is that source.  To matter in our world, as Christians we must act and speak the words of love, healing and justice all the time.  The message of Jesus needs to come through loud and clear in all of what we say and do.  In order to speak and act on God’s word, we need to be in the word.  Happy reading!!


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Standing on the Rock

Throughout the Bible we find God using the unlikely or the outcast or the rejected.  From shepherds to elderly women, from the child sold into slavery to the child left to float down the river, from the prostitute to the wandering prophet, God used them all.  From the lawyer to the waitress, from the rancher to the teacher, from the oil field worker to the stay-at-home mom, God wants to use them all.

When we look at Jesus and the men he chose to be his disciples, we see the same concept – a widely ranging group of men.  Some simple fishermen, one a despised tax collector.  When we look at who Jesus ministered to, we see that concept expanded.  Jesus ministered to all who came to him.  Jesus met each person with no pretense and no hint of judgment.  He met people where they were, loved them and accepted them.  Then Jesus most often found a way to move them along in their faith.

The church in general, and many of us as Christians, would do well to better follow Jesus’ example of who to love and minister to.  All were His neighbor and all are our neighbor as well.  To think or even say that some people do not ‘fit’ in because of race, ethnicity, class, education, and so on is in error.  To think or say that someone is too big a ‘sinner’ to be welcome is so far away from right that you can’t event see ‘right’ from there.  The church was and is built for the lost and the broken.  It is who Jesus loved and who we need to love.

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118).  Many years ago the Pharisees missed Jesus standing right there in front of them.  Today the church and sometimes we as Christian miss Jesus standing right in the midst of our lives.  May we learn to see Jesus and to be like Jesus.  May the stench of judgment and the sting or rejection fall away like rain.  May the love of Christ and the heart seeking to serve rise up like the morning sun, bringing light, love, and hope to all that it casts its rays upon.  May we come to stand on our cornerstone, our rock – Jesus Christ.