Category: Personal Relationship

Is God Calling?

Focal Passage: Mark 3:13-17

“God moves in mysterious ways.”

I found out today, after 72-years of my churchgoing, Sunday School teaching, Bible reading life, that those words cannot be found anywhere in the Bible.

You will find the words expressed, not in scripture, but in an old nineteenth century hymn by William Cowper. It is based on scriptures like the one in Isaiah 55 where God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”

Whether from the old hymn or a passage of scripture, the way God moves in and through our lives is indeed mysterious. Often, however, when looking back over decades of life, the mysterious becomes a memory book of God’s grace in and calling for our lives.

The Sunday School lesson I taught this week included a passage in Mark 3 where God selected his 12 disciples. He called those men for a specific life and a specific purpose.

As a nine-year-old boy at First Baptist Church in Ropesville, TX, God called me to be one of his children. I made my profession of faith at that time and decided to follow Jesus.

God calls us to salvation, but the call does not end there. He also calls us to serve others in various ways, whether through our work, the church or in the everyday context of community.

The act of selection by Jesus is profound, underscoring his intention to empower ordinary people like you and me to carry his message and ministry to a lost and hurting world.

The passage in Mark seems such a straightforward verse about a specific event in Jesus’ ministry, but it is rich in nuance and meaning for the callings in our lives.

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that he might send them out to preach and have authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3:13-15)

When scripture speaks of disciples, it can mean one of the 12 men closest to Jesus. It can also be any of the many followers of Jesus.

A disciple, by definition and practice of the first century, was a “student,” “a learner.” that’s pretty much how education worked in the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds of the first century. A young man attached himself to a rabbi or teacher, with the intent of sitting at his feet, learning from him, walking beside him, listening to what he said and watching what he did. The idea was to think like, act like and become like the teacher.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus had dozens and dozens of disciples, people who were his students. Who learned from him. Who following his teachings. Who listened and watched what he did.

On that day on the mountainside described in Mark 3, Jesus called 12 men from among those many  disciples to be his apostles.

An apostle by definition is “one sent,” a representative with authority from the master. It was these 12 men, eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, who would go on to become foundational leaders of the Christian faith and of the early church.

There’s more to this passage than meets the eye, however. More than a simple list of those Jesus called to be his apostles. An idea, I think, that has deep implications for you and me about our calling.

Look back at verse 13.

Jesus “called to him those he wanted and they came to him.”

The Greek word “proskaleo” is the word Mark chose for “called.” It means “to be summoned.” “To be invited with intent and purpose.”

Jesus did not just look into the crowded of disciples and say with a wave of his hand, “I need 12 of you to come with me.” His choice wasn’t random. It was intentional. Purposeful. They choice of his apostles didn’t start with the disciples. It began with Jesus.

These men didn’t qualify themselves by anything they did. They didn’t fill out a job application.  They didn’t volunteer. Jesus chose them…specifically…individually.  This is consistent with the broader biblical theme found in John 15:16 where Jesus tells his followers,

“You did not choose me—but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit…”

Jesus called those 12 men to be apostles, sent representatives on his behalf to preach the good news of Jesus. He gave them authority to do the same kinds of things he did throughout his ministry.

Here’s why I think that’s important to understand. When Jesus calls you and me, it is not random. He has a plan and a purpose behind the call, whatever it may be. Just as God takes the initiative in our salvation, he also takes the initiative in calling us to service. It is not random. It is intentional. It is purposeful. There is reason behind the call, even when it feels somewhat mysterious and out of character.

Note also that Jesus called them “to him.”

Again, this isn’t Jesus just being a coach and saying, “Okay, men, gather up. I’ve got something to say.” Think relationship before responsibility. Mark tells us earlier in this chapter that the crowds that followed Jesus, these many disciples, came because of “everything he was doing.” They were curious, in need or interested in what he was saying and doing.

As Jesus chose these 12 men, it was a call to move beyond interest to intimacy. From being a part of the crowd to being a part of the committed. Jesus called them to a deeper relationship with him. To know him more personally and intimately. To know his heart. To understand his way.

Jesus called them to know before they could be. Before they could be what Jesus needed them to be, they needed to know him, truly know him, in a deeper, more personal, daily fellowship with him.

Our call feels no different. When Jesus calls us to himself, it is for deeper fellowship. Deeper understanding. To know him and his heart. To become more like him as he equips and enables us to do the work to which he has called us.

You and I don’t have the privilege of literally walking in the footprints and shadow of Jesus like those first apostles did. They could hear his words. The tone of his voice. See the look on his face as he challenged the Pharisees or touched the eyes of the blind man. Those men could sit around a campfire late into the night, asking the Lord of the universe their burning questions as they probed for understanding. Can you imagine?

Yet, we really have the same access if you think about it. His spirit dwells within us. It gives us the same opportunity as we read through scripture to walk in his footprints and shadow. To hear his words and the tone of his voice. To see his face as he challenged the religious establishment and touched the blind.

We have the same chance to sit down with him in prayerful conversation and scripture reading to ask the Lord of the universe our burning questions as we probe for understanding. We don’t have to imagine it. We can live it.

God’s call in our lives is not only intentional and purposeful, it is a call to deeper fellowship and relationship with Jesus.

There is another phrase in this passage that I really love. It says Jesus called to him those he wanted. The Greek word for “wanted” used in this verse is “thelo.” It is an expression of his will, desire or preference. He wanted these particular men for a particular task.

Look at that list of men chosen. Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon, the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot.

Each disciple was chosen individually because of something Jesus saw in each of them. There was nothing outstanding about any of them. We know next to nothing about most of them. The things we know, we mostly infer. There were fishermen. A despised tax collector. One the Romans viewed as a terrorist. One who would eventually go off-rails and betray Jesus.

None of them were impressive by the standards of the world, but Jesus knew their hearts. They were teachable and willing. Open to the possibilities of what God, through Christ, might ask them to do. Jesus saw who they were deep inside and knew he could tap into their potential to accomplish and finish the task God had laid before him.

That’s what I want you to understand. God intentionally called you to be in relationship with him, to grow deeper in your relationship to him, based upon what he saw in your heart. He wanted you. Chose you. Intentionally and purposefully. He called you because he saw something in you that he could use to continue to accomplish and finish the task God has laid out before you.

The pairing of the words proskaleo and thelo…summoning and wanting…is important, I believe. Mark used these words to emphasize God’s personal invitation and his sovereign choice. He invites you. He chooses you. He has a point and a purpose for you.

If you have not yet responded to his salvation call, I pray you will. For that desire to accept Jesus for what he did for you on the cross comes before the call to serve.

I also don’t know what God has called you to do, but I believe he’s called you to a deeper relationship with him and an intentional and purposeful calling that extends well beyond a career. Pray that he will make clear that calling whatever it might be.

Until we meet him face to face, I don’t know if God ever stops calling us to serve. There is always a place for everyone called to God’s service. The call may change during the seasons of life, but it never ends.

God’s call is intentional. It is a call to relationship. In his sovereignty, he chose you. You can hear the call, but refuse to heed it. You can count the cost and abandon it. Joy comes, however, when you embrace it.

When Jesus called to him those he wanted, notice what comes next. Scripture says, “they came to him.”

I’m certain none of these 12 men fully understood what the call of Jesus really meant. I sometimes marvel in a disbelieving way how they so often failed to comprehend what Jesus was trying to teach them about who he was and what he came to do. It took his death and resurrection to drive the point home. That’s when they began to shine.

I’m equally sure there were times when the cost of discipleship seem too high a price to pay. They paid it anyway.

Reflecting on Mark 3:13, you and I are invited to consider our own responses to God’s divine call in our lives. Those times when we feel especially drawn to a purpose or mission. We need to be open and willing to follow where we are led. The verse challenges us to think about those decision points that determine our path through life.

That God chose these ordinary men as apostles should be a source of encouragement for you and me when we feel incapable or overlooked. Our unique gifts and experiences can work in concert with others to tell a broader story…to reach a wider community. We are called to demonstrate his love and compassion by embracing the roles we are meant to play.

The amazing act of Jesus calling his disciples invites us to reflect deeply on our ow lives and our willingness to respond to the beckoning finger that calls us with intention and purpose.

I don’t know what God has called you to do. What I believe for certain is that he called you to serve. He’s chosen you. He wants you. If that call is something unknown or something that seems outside your comfort zone, just know that God moves in mysterious way–but always beside those he calls.

That leaves us with one question. When Jesus calls you, will you come?

Thinking Points

Where in your own life’s story can you look back and now see God’s mysterious ways as moments of calling?

 

In what way is Jesus inviting you to move from interest to intimacy—moving you from the crowd to committed?

 

What aspect of the call you feel right now seems random right now? How might your feelings change if you trusted God’s call as intentional and purposeful?

 

What has God place within you—your temperament, experiences, gifts—that he may be choosing to use in this season of your life?

No Better Advocates

Focal Passages: Romans 8:26-34 and Hebrews 7:25

Isn’t it funny the things we remember and what brings them to the surface.

I declared public relations as my major at Texas Tech over 50 years ago without knowing much about the field. I sat in the back of the lecture hall, as was my custom, wearing my cloak of invisibility, hoping to never be called upon to share my limited understanding of the discipline I had chosen for my career.

The professor ambled slowly into class that first day wearing what I soon realized was his daily uniform–a rumpled, gray suit, that I suspect he had worn every day for the past 15 years. He opened his lecture by telling the class, “There is an old joke that defines public relations as the art of putting your best foot forward while lying about the other.” He laughed so we laughed with him.

I learned over the course of that morning and for the next four years that nothing could be further from the truth. A good public relations practitioner or spokesperson will not lie. The role as taught frames the message in a way that reflects the organization’s intentions, values and strengths, even when acknowledging mistakes that may have been made. The spokesperson speaks when the leadership team the pr professional represents is unable or hesitant to speak.

In his explanation, the professor said, “It is the pr practitioner who intercedes with the public on behalf of his or her client or organization.” It was the first time I had heard the word “intercession” outside of the church.

This week, in preparation for a Bible study class I’m teaching at my church on the Nicene Creed, I read these verses in Romans 8.

In the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for but the spirit himself intercedes for us with wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

This passage about the spirit’s intercession was familiar to me. However, in my head, I never linked it to the far more familiar verse that followed.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I kept reading. Paul continues to talk about believers being called and justified by God, secured in relationship to the father.

Who will bring a charge against those God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one! Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. (Romans 8:33-34)

Again, this passage feels overshadowed in my head by more familiar verses that followed.

Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35, 37)

It’s that word interceding that intrigued me this week. The Holy Spirit’s interceding is familiar to me. His indwelling presence allows him to speak to God on behalf of his client…me…and you…when we don’t know exactly what to say or how to say it. My divine public relations specialist.

The Greek word Paul used to describe or define the Holy Spirit’s intercession is a word I cannot begin to pronounce…hyperentygchanei. Hyperentygchanei looks like it needs to buy another vowel or two. A few more consonants wouldn’t hurt.

Its root entygchano means to appeal or petition. Its prefix, hyper, can mean on behalf of or as a substitute for.

Paul says, in effect, the Holy Spirit petitions or appeals to the one who knows our hearts (God, the Father) in a strong or urgent way. Literally, to intercede for us with intense pleading, substituting his divine understanding and language for my feeble human insight and futile and ineffective words.

By adding hyper to the root, Paul stacks intensity into the word. This is not casual prayer language. It shows the Holy Spirit stepping into human weakness, translating the inarticulate into divine communication, pleading on our behalf the language of our hearts that we may not even fully understand.

It’s not that the spirit helps us pray better. The spirit carries our weakness into the presence of God and personally advocates on our behalf with divine depth and purpose which is to ensure that the desires we may not fully know or that we can’t fully express align more perfectly with the will of God (vs. 27).

The spirit intercedes for us even when we don’t know what to say or when we can’t see what’s next. Despite not understanding it all and because of the Spirit’s intercession, we can rest in the assurance that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Vs. 28)

I find this connection between the intercession of the spirit and God working for the good most comforting.

Still, here’s the twist that I never saw coming. Jesus also intercedes on my behalf…not just the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus took his place on the right hand of God, I always thought of it as a vindication of his death, a declaration of his victory. God honored him and gave him a name above all names. His presence at the throne of God demonstrated his exalted status as Lord and Savior. I assumed it meant his work was finished…and to a point, that’s correct. His work on the cross is done. The salvation for those who believe in his name has been bought by his blood.

However, Paul opens up a new perspective in verse 34. I’m sure I read the passage in the past, but I’m not sure I ever truly saw it. Jesus, my savior is sitting next to God the Father, speaking words on my behalf. Interceding on my behalf.

The word Paul uses in verse 34 about the intercession of Jesus uses the same word without the hyper prefix used to describe the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit. Here Paul uses just entygchanei…to speak on behalf of another, to appeal or petition for another.

Jesus is still at work on my behalf and yours. He sits at the right hand of God, but not with his feet on a ottoman, sipping a glass of iced tea, while some angel waves a feathered fan in his face. He is interceding on my behalf and on your behalf…still.

The writer of Hebrews paints a picture of Jesus as our High Priest, whose job in the Old Testament was to offer atonement for the sins of the people. To serve as an intermediary between God and those who belonged to him.

Jesus is our great High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and gives us confident access to God’s throne of grace. (Hebrew 4:14-16)

His access to God is our access to God through him.

Hebrews emphasizes how Jesus actively intercedes for believers, every time for the purpose and process of salvation. Here’s where the theology gets deep for me. Jesus’ work on the cross, his death and resurrection, made salvation possible for anyone who would confess his name and believe that God raised him from the dead. (Romans 10:9).

Hebrews tells us that for every believer, that work of Christ is done.

He offered one sacrifice for our sins forever and now sits on God’s right hand, his intercession flows from a finished atonement. (Hebrews 10:12-13)

…Intercession flows from a finished atonement…

Here’s what I think that means in a simplistic way. When the spirit convicted me of my sin and I turned to Jesus, the one who offered his life in payment for my sin, I gave my life to him. The finished work of Jesus’ atonement was that moment when he Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God, whispered in the Father’s ear, “Yes, I died for Kirk. His debt has been paid.” Because Jesus interceded on my behalf, God’s poured out his grace on me.

Christ’s intercession for salvation seems pretty straightforward to me. This next part takes me deeper.

Jesus’ intercession on my behalf doesn’t end at that moment of salvation. It continues through sanctification, that beautiful church word that means the process of being made holy…the ongoing, Spirit-enabled transformation of a believer into Christlikeness.

It is that work for which Christ continuously intercedes on our behalf. Hear this word from Hebrews.

Therefore, he is able to save completely (literally, to the uttermost, to the end) those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

Did you hear that?

…he always lives to intercede…

Christ intercedes to sustain our life in Christ to ensure we don’t collapse under pressure. To guarantee that repentance remains possible even after our failure to live up to his calling. To ensure our continued spiritual growth even amid our own weaknesses. Simply put, Christ intercedes to ensure that our standing with God remains intact while we are being transformed.

This is not a second or recurring atonement. It is a picture of Jesus remaining our advocate, presenting his finished work on our behalf, ensuring that our access to the Father never ends. After I am saved, I still sin. I still need forgiveness in real time. I still live in a broken world. Jesus stands in my corner as my advocate before God, pleading my case.

Hebrews 7:24 is a clear statement of Jesus’ continuous intercession. His work covers the full scope of salvation, not just our initial forgiveness and our becoming more like Christ, but our ongoing security and relationship to God for all eternity.

Maybe the concept is more simple than I first thought. The Holy Spirit’s intercession is experiential. He is at work within us, helping us in our weaknesses in prayer and aligning our hearts with the heart of God. Jesus’ intercession is positional. He represents us before God, securing our standing with him based upon his finished work.

As a former public relations practitioner, I understand the intercession of the spirit and of Christ a little more clearly than I once did. The spirit is my spokesperson who speaks on my behalf when I am unable or unwilling to speak for myself, even when I’m not sure what to say.

Christ speaks for us both when we fail to do things right and when we manage by God’s grace to follow him. He frames our lives in a way that reflects the intentions, values and strengths of Christ himself, even while acknowledging before God the mistakes we’ve made. Both the spirit and Christ, intercede to help us grow in our relationship to God as they transform us into the image of Christ.

We could ask for no better advocates.

Thinking Points

Most of us have found ourselves unable to pray because we did not know what to say or what we should ask for? What has happened once, will happen again. How does Romans 8:26-27 bring comfort in those moments?

How does the Holy Spirit’s intercession help you trust that God is working for your good, even when circumstances feel unclear or painful?

What difference does it make to know that Jesus is not only risen and exalted, but also actively interceding for you?

How does Christ’s ongoing intercession shape your understanding of forgiveness, sanctification, and your secure relationship with God?

In what ways does the image of the Spirit and Christ as advocates deepen your confidence as you approach God in prayer?

Dip Your Toe in the Jordan

Author’s Note: I wrote this article 10 years ago in the months after my retirement as superintendent in Pasadena ISD. As our church shared its baccalaureate ceremony last Sunday, I was reminded again of what it felt like long ago to have all my life ahead of me as today’s graduates now have. It seemed again a good message to share with them. Feel free to send it to the graduates in your life. KL

Focal Passage: Joshua 1:1-9

I walked on stage this year again as a part of yet another high school graduation. After a 30-year career in public education, I’ve participated in one form or another in more than 120 commencement exercises and watched roughly 65,000 young people end their high school careers. That means I’ve seen my share of beach balls. Heard my share of air horns. Watched my share of impromptu dances across the stage.

The faces of these graduates as they received that cherished piece of parchment paper reflected a mixture of joy and excitement, tinged with an underlying sense of dread. Each of them undoubtedly realized in the hours after they walked the stage that they faced a future that remained largely unknown despite all their plans and dreams.

As I watched the evenings unfold each year, the ceremony always reminded me of my own graduation from high school. The scope and venue were certainly different–NRG Stadium in Houston compared to my high school auditorium in Ropesville, Texas. Standing among classes ranging in size from 450 to 1,000 students compared to my class of 33.

The graduation ceremonies, regardless of time, place and size, meant the same today as they did in our yesterday. Each graduate ends that which is familiar to begin a future that will unfold before them in unexpected ways, taking them down paths beyond anything they can truly imagine. It will be confusing and chaotic. Exciting and exhilarating. Filled with joy and pain. Some will thrive amid the challenges of life. Others will wither under its pressure.

So, we watch these young people graduate from high school with a prayer on our lips and hope in our hearts that God will lead, guide and protect them through each day of their lives. I am certain, whether they know it or not, they will need his presence every step of the way.

Our culture calls it commencement. A beginning. I like to think of it as a commissioning. A challenge set before them to be all God needs them to be in whatever call of life he sets before them.

He faithfully served his God under the leadership of Moses. Chosen among the leaders of his tribe to sit among Moses’ council of advisors, Joshua played a significant role in leading the Hebrew people into the promised land. As a spy, Joshua refused to see the land of Canaan as a place of unconquerable giants and impenetrable fortress cities as others did. Rather, Joshua saw the land God promised as a land of milk and honey.

Because of his trust and faith in God, Joshua was given the task originally assigned to Moses. I picture him dipping is toe in the slow current of the River Jordan, staring across the value in the direction of Jericho. It is three days before he would give the command to his people to cross the river and enter the land of promise.

If he was anything like most of us, and I suspect he was, he fought an internal battle with his doubts and fears, voicing a prayer for strength and wisdom he felt he lacked. Joshua surely understood his future would be at times confusing and chaotic. Exciting and exhilarating. Filled with joy and pain. A future in which he could thrive amid the challenges and stumble under the pressure. Like our graduates today, I suspect the butterflies in Joshua’s stomach seem as large as eagles.

God chose that moment as his commencement. His commissioning. The Old Testament tells us that God gave his charge to the leader of his people as he stood with his toes in the Jordan. As a commission to those he calls to serve, it can encourage our graduates equally well as they prepare to encounter life after high school. And, it is good news indeed.

God said to Joshua…

“Be strong and very courageous. Obey the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them and you will be successful in everything you do. Study this book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed. I command you…be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7-9)

To those graduating from high school or college, know that God has a purpose for your life, just as he did when he told Joshua, “You will lead me people to possess all the land I promised to give their ancestors.” His plan is unique to you. To the heart he has given you. The skill sets you have learned and the talents you acquired along the way. I can almost guarantee you the plan will take you places you never thought you’d go. Watch for the doors that open and don’t hesitate to walk through them.

Following God’s path will not always be easy. Life will hit with cold reality that will lead to disappointment and discouragement. Yet it will also bless in glorious ways. God encouraged Joshua to “be strong and very courageous.” The door he opens may not be a threshold you wanted to cross. Step across it anyway with courage, conviction and confidence in the Father. A door may appear at times to be blocked. Overcome. Persevere. Rest on the promises of God.

God reminds us in this passage that success is contingent on our understanding of and obedience to the word of God. We leave high school and home desiring to exert our personal independence, to make our own choices and chart our own course in life. That’s the whole point of growing up.

Free of someone who wakes you on Sunday morning for church, it will be easy to sleep in…to set aside your faith. A word of caution. Now is not the time to express your independence from God. As you enter college or head into the work force to establish a home of your own, you will choose whether to abandon the relationship you have with Christ or to draw more deeply upon it. You have that choice.

God reminded Joshua not to stray from the teachings of God. To hold the word of God close to his heart. To mediate upon it. To study it. To draw from scripture the wisdom of God that enables us to deal with both the good and difficult times of life. This is the key to success.

Be careful also to recognize success through the eyes of God and not the eyes of the world. Success hinges upon your ability to stay focused and obedient to the plan God has for you. When we walk in his steps we walk on firm ground, able to experience joy and contentment in a life of service to the Father and to others.

As you can imagine and as the scripture tells us, Joshua and his people had to fight for all that God promised. The path God chose for Joshua as not easy. The hardships and heartaches were real. The difficulties must have seemed insurmountable at times where Joshua struggled with which way to turn and what he should do. He must have felt terribly alone at times.

You will almost certainly face hardships and heartaches throughout your life, hopefully in the measured grace of God’s blessings. You will face some of life’s hardest decisions, uncertain about which way to turn and what you should do.

Know this. God promised his presence. “…the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” It is a promise as true today as it was when Joshua stood with his toes in the Jordan River. Trust the promise. Trust in the one who made it. God will be with you wherever you go.

So the message of Joshua speaks these four things as clearly to me today as it should to you as a high school graduate.

God has a plan and purpose for each of us…in every phase of life.

He calls us to walk with strength and courage in obedience to his plan and purpose regardless of where it leads us.

We find that strength and courage and discover his will and wisdom only when seek him and immerse ourselves in his word.

Despite the difficulties that will most assuredly come, we can rest each day knowing that he will be with us wherever we go.

Here’s the thing I’ve learned and the one of which I am reminded with every graduation I attend. The challenge of graduation isn’t a one-time event. After you’ve tossed the cap and hung the tassel from the mirror of your car, you will take the next step in the life God has planned for you. You will dip your toes in the Jordan and step into the land his has promised. From that day forward, you will find another Jordan to cross. And another. And another. And another.

To every graduate out there, whether with the Class of 2026 or any class back through time, celebrate this special day. When it is over, dip your toes in the Jordan. You can’t imagine what God has planned for you!

Thinking Points

The following reflections are applicable to graduates as well as those of us who crossed that stage long ago. God is still asking all of us to dip our toes in the next Jordan. 

Where do I sense God opening a door in front of me, and what step of courage is He asking me to take as I cross my own “Jordan?”

 

How will I stay rooted in God’s Word as I step into independence, so that my success is shaped by His wisdom rather than the world’s expectations?

 

What current season of transition in my life feels like standing at the riverbank, and how is God calling me to be strong and courageous in it?

 

In what ways have I seen God’s faithfulness in past crossings, and how might remembering those moments strengthen my trust for the next one?

Resurrection Faith

Focal Passage: John 11:1-44

Just as the sun was setting, a breathless messenger found Jesus sitting among his disciples after another day of teaching and ministering to people on the east side of the Jordan River. The messenger, most likely a man Jesus had met previously while visiting in the home of Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary.

The message was simple. “The one you love is sick.”

What sounds a little cryptic to us was clear to Jesus. His good friend Lazarus was seriously ill. Martha and Mary just knew when Jesus heard those words, he would stop what he was doing and hurry to Bethany to heal their brother, a man Jesus loved like his own brother.

Jesus spoke to he man and the disciples offering a quick word of reassurance that the sickness would not end in death, but that God, and Jesus himself, would be glorified through it.

Then, in a move that may have surprised the messenger, Jesus stayed where he was for two more days, continuing to minister to all who came to him.

After that second day, Jesus began the day’s walk to Bethany.

As he neared the village, Martha ran to meet Jesus. Through scripture we hear an emotional conversation that becomes one of the greatest Easter messages of all time. Listen to the words between Martha and Jesus.

“Lord,” Martha said, “If only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:21-26)

There is incredible truth in these few words of scripture than drill into the core of Christianity.

Across most of the Christian world, we just observed Easter, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to some estimates, church attendance across America on Easter increases between 50-75 percent.  However, a 2022 survey conducted by Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries revealed that slightly over one-third (34 percent) of all professing Christians question whether the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus actually occurred.

This exchange between Martha and Jesus foreshadows Jesus’ own victory over death and underscores the power of living in resurrection faith.

This passage offers three aspects of the story that really speak to why the resurrection matters today.

Mary and Martha get word that Jesus is near, so Mary, the reflective one, remains behind while Martha, the one that always has to be doing something, runs to meet Jesus. She expresses sorrow and perhaps a little frustration that Jesus didn’t arrive in time to heal her brother.

Look at verses 23-26…

Martha’s words seem less a challenge to Jesus’ late arrival as an expression of sorrow over what might have been. Jesus doesn’t explain. He just offers reassurance.

“Your brother will rise again.”

Mary responds with the only resurrection she knows. The prominent Jewish belief among the religious Jewish priests and people was in a corporate resurrection of God’s people at the end times. She states what she has been taught and what she fervently believes. “I know he’ll rise again in the last day.”

It is here that Jesus speaks words that auger not only his own death and resurrection, but a truth so embedded in the gospel that it resonates 2,000 years later.  

“I am the resurrection and the life…”

Hear that carefully because it is an astounding promise that is the heart of the gospel.

The resurrection changed lives. The disciples when from timid and fearful to tenacious and fearless in their proclamation of the good news. It wasn’t that they just decided to go on the offensive. What they saw and what they experienced when they saw the risen Christ, changed them.

The resurrection is not an abstract belief or just another fact of history. Dr. Jeremiah Johnson, author of Body of Proof, reminds us that the resurrection is A PERSON. Jesus IS the Resurrection and Life.

I don’t know if I ever thought of the resurrection in that exact way.

All the other “I am” statements Jesus makes in the Gospel of John are clear metaphors:

I am the good shepherd.

I am the bread.

I am the light.

I am the gate.

I am the way.

I am the true vine.

Metaphors that share essential truth about Jesus, his nature and his role.

When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), it feels different. He’s not just using a metaphor—He’s making a powerful claim that he is the source of resurrection and life, both here and now and after we die. He is the agent of resurrection. Resurrection is not just something He provides, it is something found in Him and only in him. Resurrection is who he is.

It’s as if he is telling Martha, “Resurrection/Life is standing right in front of you. In me, there is no death.”

Because Jesus is the resurrection, it ought to change our outlook on life.

Go back to the initial words of Martha, and for that matter, the first words of Mary when she greets Jesus.

Vs. 21–If only you had been here, my brother would not have died (Martha)

Vs. 32–If only you had been here, my brother would not have died. (Mary)

This was something they talked about in the dark hours after Lazarus died…a feeling they shared. Jesus has demonstrated healing in the past. They had undoubtedly heard of those miracles. They may have even seen his healing power demonstrated in person with others they knew.

The sisters certainly knew he was capable of taking the sickness away. That’s why they asked him to come in the first place. They knew, based on where Jesus was at the time, that he could get to Bethany in two days. Jesus waited under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to reveal something far greater than his healing power. Both Martha and Mary said, “If only…”

Why didn’t you come when you first heard? Why did you wait? You could have done something? He died because you weren’t here to heal him? These are emotional words spoken in loss, uttered by sisters who are hurting.

“If only…” How many times have you and I said the same thing after experiencing a loss of someone we love?

In his book, Johnson urges his readers to turn our regret-filled “if onlys” to a faith-filled “if Jesus.”

If only says it’s too late. It looks backward at what didn’t happen rather than looking forward to what Christ can still do—even in situations that seems final.

“If Jesus” anticipates what can happen today because Jesus is who he is. “If Jesus” tells us that nothing and no one is ever too gone. If Jesus is in our lives, things can still happen. It may not be everything we were hoping, but if Jesus is present, he will bring good from it. Martha understood it to some limited degree…”but even now…”

Seeing Jesus as the source of life, gives us a resurrection outlook that moves from regret to expectation. From a past-perspective to a future trust. From finality to possibility and hope. From spiritual and physical death to abundant life now and for all eternity.

If Jesus is at work in my life, he can still restore, redeem and lead me forward. That’s resurrection outlook.

Experiencing that resurrection outlook matters because it is not dependent on:

  • timing (Jesus arrived after Lazarus died)
  • circumstances (The tomb was already sealed)
  • human conclusions (Everyone else thought it was over)

There is one final thought that we must overlook. Resurrection is personal.

Listen to the next few phrases in vs. 25-26.

“He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

At first glance these statements seem to say the same thing. Commentaries suggest these phrases subtly complement each other.

The first phrase…he who believes in me will live even though he dies…refers to physical death of a believer followed by resurrection. There is a real, future resurrection life. Physical death is temporary. We may die physically, but we will live again. We move from physical death to spiritual life.

The second phrase…whoever lives (in me) and believes in me will never die…refers to never experiencing eternal death or separation from God. Literally, in the Greek, (emphatic and forcefully stated) “he will absolutely never die at all.” This phrase explains what death ultimately cannot do to a believer. It cannot separate a believer from the presence of God. Death is powerless.

Jesus is purposeful in stating these phrases in this order. Jesus acknowledges that death is a reality then he emphatically redefines that reality for believers…death isn’t really death. It’s a gateway to life eternal for the believer. Because we believe in him, we will never, ever be separated again from God who loves us. So, what he says is not repetition, it’s revelation.

These words should be a source of immense comfort to us. This promise is not reserved for a select few but is extended to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

When you look back at the scripture, Jesus made his declaration. He explained its meaning. Then, looking straight into Martha’s eyes, he posed the only question that really mattered. In is in this question that resurrection becomes personal.

Look at the end of Vs. 26. “Do you believe this”?

By asking this question, Jesus made it personal for Martha. Martha believes in the Jewish doctrine of resurrection; She knows the dead will one day rise. That’s been taught to her all her life.

Jesus called her personally to take the next step and believe in him as the resurrection in order to:

  1. To deepen her faith before the miracle. He did not want her faith to rest solely on seeing Lazarus raised—He wanted it grounded in who He is.
  2. To reveal His identity clearly. This was one of His strongest claims, I AM THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE. Now that you know who I am, what will you do with that knowledge?
  3. To invite a confession of faith. Martha responded with one of the clearest statements of faith in all of John: “Yes, Lord…I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God.” She believed in him for who he was, not what he might do for her brother.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead he demonstrated and validated his claim about being the resurrection and life. It is guaranteed by his empty tomb on that first Easter Sunday. Jesus’ resurrection is the seal for our salvation and our assurance of eternal life.

Paul reminds of that truth in several ways.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

He (Jesus) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ is raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…your faith is futile and you are still in your sin…But Christ has indeed been raised…(I Corinthians 15:13-14, 17, 20)

A Christian lives and dies with that truth and hope expressed by Paul.

That, my friends, is an act of resurrection faith.

The question is, do you believe it?

Thinking Points

How does seeing Jesus not just as the giver of resurrection but as the Resurrection Himself reshape my view of life and death?

 

Where am I still living with an “if only” mindset instead of an “if Jesus” faith?

 

How personally do I take Jesus’ question, ‘Do you believe this,’ and what does my life say about my answer?

 

 

Walk and Be Blameless

Focal Passage: Genesis 17:1

It was one of those Facebook posts you see all the time. Boldface words on a solid yellow background. The post was a single passage of scripture from Genesis. I don’t remember who posted it originally. I only saw the post that one time, but for some reason, the passage kept skipping through my mind like a smooth stone flung across a calm lake.

When Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1)

It is a verse that gets lost in the personal, covenant language that follows as God promises a new relationship with Abram and his people. Like any covenant or promise, it lays out the responsibilities of both parties. God explains in the following verses what he will do. Yet this first verse captures in a nutshell what God expects of Abram.

I heard it all week every time the stone skipped over that water. I am God Almighty. (Skip) Walk before me. (Skip) Be blameless. (Skip)

The words pushed me to slow down and look more carefully at the language itself. The more I looked at the verse the deeper and richer it became. Let me show you what I mean.

The Hebrew word for walk used in the passage is halakh. It’s not like God is telling Abram, “March! Get moving!” Rather, halakh, in one sense, speaks of wandering. Not walking in a straight line. Roaming back and forth.

If that sounds like the aimless meandering of someone who doesn’t know where they’re going, it’s not. It suggests the idea of consistent, purposeful movement. In other words, make a habit of… Develop a pattern of life…

When God tells Abram to walk, he’s saying, “As you go about your life…” or “Wherever life takes you…” “In everything you do, no matter where you are…” For one whose life took more than one unexpected turn, that resonates with me. “In the daily routine of life…”

This idea of walking doesn’t end with Abram. The New Testament picks it up and deepens it. Our walk becomes one of the primary ways Paul and John describe our life in Christ.

Paul writes in Ephesians:

I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1)

Our walk, according to Paul, is our daily conduct. Our moral direction. It is all about aligning our relationship with Christ with everything we do. Paul encouraged the followers of Christ in the Ephesian church to make sure their life reflected the life and love of Jesus everywhere they went and in all they did.

John also used walk to describe authentic faith.

If we say we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth…but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another… (I John 1:6-7)

What does that walk look like? Genesis 17 offers another word to guide us. Be Blameless. It’s another skip of that rock we’ve tossed across the pond.

The Hebrew word of blameless is tamim. We can relax a bit because it doesn’t mean sinless or morally perfect. Thank goodness!

Tamim means complete. Whole. Undivided. Think faithful, not flawless. David was called a “man after God’s own heart,” yet he sinned. Even so, he was tamim. A man with undivided loyalty to God.

God tells Abram so we can also hear him. “Live your life consistently with an undivided heart, whole and complete. Don’t withhold any part of your life from me. Give me your all. Live it all before me.”

Pause with me here.

Have you ever studied a passage of scripture, thinking you had it nailed down tightly only to have the nagging sense that you were missing something important? That was me last night. Walk. Be blameless. What was I missing?

Here’s what I noticed. God tells Abram to walk or live out his life, but he says walk before me. The phrase before me expresses a nuance I had not considered. The most literal translation from Hebrew translates before me as before my face.

Before whose face?

I am God Almighty. Walk before me…

At first glance in feels like a foreboding call to obedience because God always has his eye on us, just waiting for us to trip up so he can punish us.

I was a good kid, I think. If I’m honest, I was probably better when I knew my parents were watching. That’s human nature, I suppose, but I just don’t think that’s what God is saying here. It makes obedience a fear response. I’ll walk the straight and narrow because I don’t want to get in trouble.

When you look deeper, God Almighty is calling Abram into a covenant relationship with him. A call to personal relationship. God tells Abram wherever you go in life, whatever you do, do it in my presence. “Be with me. Let me be with you.”

There it is. That’s the amazing thing I missed at first glance. God Almighty wants a personal relationship with me. He wants to walk with me wherever I go. I find that far more comforting than uncomfortable.

Jesus made a similar connection in his last intimate message to his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion

Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

Can you see how this ties so well to Genesis 17? God tells Abram to walk before him. Jesus tells us to remain or abide in him. To dwell in his presence. To live in him. It’s relational. It’s mutual. It’s Jesus’ way of saying live your life continuously and consistently in the presence of God.

Doing so, allows me to not only be in fellowship with God and others, but to bear fruit…to reflect the life of Christ so others can catch a glimpse of who he is and what he promises.

I am God Almighty.

Walk.

Before me.

Be Blameless.

It is a call to live a Christ-like life in every area of life wherever that life takes us. And always in the strength of our God Almighty.

Not perfect. Just present.

Not flawless. Just faithful.

Not alone. Just alongside.

Maybe that’s where this new covenant takes root. Not in the grand spiritual moments, but in our daily walks with undivided hearts in relationship with an almighty God who delights in walking with us.

Maybe that’s why I still keep hearing it, like a stone skipping across the water again and again and again.

Thinking Points

When you hear God’s words, “Walk before me,” do you experience them more as an invitation to a relationship or as a call to performance? Why?

 

What areas of your life you tend to keep compartmentalized—places where your heart may not feel completely “undivided” before God?

 

How does understanding blameless as “whole” or “complete” change the way you think about faithfulness?

 

What might it look like for you this week to live more consciously before God’s face—reveling in His presence rather than fearful of His scrutiny?

Ambassadors of Reconciliation

Background Passage: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Matthew 29: 19-20; Matthew 5:9

One can imagine the sense of trepidation felt by John Adams as he stood outside the chambers of England’s King George III in 1785 shortly after being appointed by President George Washington as the first United States Ambassador to Great Britain. Washington desired to restore the damaged relationship between the two countries and establish commercial ties by persuading Britain to open its ports to American goods.

In his writings prior to the Declaration of Independence, Adams said that George III had “plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people.”

Because of his past words and his personal involvement in the fight for independence, Adams was uncertain as to how he would be received by the king, Adams wrote to Secretary of State John Jay, “It is not to be expected that I should be cherished or beloved.”

Despite his misgivings, Adams accepted the appointment and traveled to England.

As he presented his credentials to the king, Adam’s offered a prepared introduction, expressing the hope that he could be an instrument in “restoring an entire esteem, confidence and affection—or, in better words, the old good nature and the old good humor between people, who, though separated by an ocean, and under different governments, have the same language, a similar religion and a kindred blood.”

The ensuing conversation leads to the first steps toward reconciliation between the United States and Great Britain. As the direct representative of the one who sent him, reconciliation of differences is often the first order of business of any ambassador from one country to another.

In our focal passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul said that as Christians “we are Christ’s ambassadors.” As a result of his experience on the road to Damascus, Paul felt commissioned by Christ to reconcile the differences between Christ and the world, especially the Gentile world, as his direct representative.

At the beginning of every ambassador’s tenure of service in a new country, the ambassador must meet with the country’s leader and present his or her credentials, his authority to speak on the leader’s behalf, just as Adams did with King George III.

Every Christian, according to Paul, carries the title of Christ’s ambassador. What are our credentials? What is our authority to speak on behalf of Christ?

Take a look at our scripture passage.

For Christ’s love compels us for we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore, all died. And he died for all, that those who live shall no longer live for themselves for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, a new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here.

All this is from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry to reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God was making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. For God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

It is, Paul says, the love of Christ that compels us or urges us to persuade others that Christ died for the sins of the world. He died for all. That his sacrificial death leads us to live for him rather than ourselves…to offer others the opportunity to also live for Christ “who died for them and was raised again.”

We are able to do that, according to Paul, because we no longer see others through our eyes. As we live in Christ, we are transformed into something new, one with eyes that view the world through the eyes of Christ.

Paul’s Damascus experience shaped him into a new creation. His physical blindness an apt metaphor for his spiritual blindness. He could no longer see Jesus as he did before. Now, when he opened his eyes, he saw the price Christ paid for Paul’s life and gave him a new life reconciled with God through his relationship with Jesus Christ.

To find our credentials as an ambassador of Christ, we need look no further than his great love that led him to the cross and the change he has made in our lives as the old gives way to this new creation within us. This is our authority from God to speak words of reconciliation to a lost world.

It does us little good if we never extend those credentials to those to whom God has sent us. If Adams had stayed in France rather than taking a boat to England when commissioned as an ambassador, his ability to restore the relationship between the United States and Britain would have been compromised. So it is with our call to be Christ’s ambassador. If we fail to take our commission into the world, we limit our effectiveness as Christ’s representative.

If that makes sense, then what is our mission? Jesus gave us our marching orders in Matthew 28:19-20.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus called us to make disciples and teach them a life of obedience to the commands of Christ. Paul took the Great Commission and further defined it as the ministry of reconciliation.

Washington sent Adams to restore the relationship between the U.S. and Britain. To re-establish the trade and commerce between the nations. That was his message of reconciliation.

Christ sends us into the world, according to Paul, with a message of unparalleled importance. That God reconciled the world through Christ’s death for the purpose of not holding the world’s sins against them. Christ took my sin and yours upon himself. Offered his life as atonement or payment for our sin. That, Paul says, is the message of reconciliation. That’s the word we are to share as his ambassadors.

I love the conviction and emotion that I can hear in what Paul wrote. Look at verse 20-21 and hear the sense of urgency and longing in Paul’s voice.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled with God…become the righteousness of God.

Think with me about this idea of reconciliation. It is not a complicated message. It is grounded in the very real death and resurrection of Christ. It is about Jesus. We can share our testimony. We can talk about sin and forgiveness and throw in a smattering of heaven and hell. Until we talk about Jesus and what he did for you and me, we’re missing the core of the gospel story.

In this passage, Paul talked about how his opinion of Jesus changed. Paul once opposed Christ, seeking to imprison or kill his followers. When Paul encountered the risen Christ, all that changed. When he understood the purpose and meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus, it changed the way he saw Jesus and it changed the way he saw everything and everyone else. The message of reconciliation is about Jesus and his love for us…his desire for us to be made new and made right with God.

It’s the difference in a caterpillar and a butterfly. The metamorphosis within the chrysalis turns the thing that was once grounded into a new creature that can now fly. God took the initiative through Christ to give us that path back to him. To provide a way to restore the broken relationship. To take what was wrong in our relationship to God and make it whole and right again. To make the old us into a new us.

That’s why Paul’s words sound so desperate when he urges us to be reconciled with God. He knows what is at stake for the lost soul.

That takes care of the relationship between us and God, but the ministry of reconciliation has one more facet to consider. I thought about this last week as I taught a lesson on the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes unveil the character demanded of those who desire to be a part of the kingdom of God. It speaks of the poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And, it speaks of the peacemakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace and yet we are too often at war with one another. Unreconciled with each other. The broken relationships, the societal divisions, the political acrimony, the racial bigotry drive a wedge between God’s people and the rest of the world, It can also drive a wedge between God’s people when we aren’t right with him.

Blessedness or Contentment comes to those who find ways of bringing people together in the love of Christ, reconciling others to God and to one another. These are the peacemakers. The reconcilers. This statement promises the peacemakers will be called “Sons of God.”

I hope that makes sense to you because I like that connection. We are called into this ministry of reconciliation as his ambassadors, his peacemakers, to bring people into right relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can’t do that That ministry is made more difficult if we’re not right with one another. Blessed are those who are peacemakers and work to bring people together as one in the body of Christ.

Washington entrusted Adams with a mission of great importance to the future of our country. God entrusts an even greater mission to his ambassadors.

This is a world that needs to be reconciled to God through Christ. A world that needs to hear our message of reconciliation: That Jesus died on the cross and was raised to new life for the sins of every man, woman and child. They must hear about Jesus. That all one has to do to be reconciled to God is to seek his forgiveness, turn away from the sin in his life and accept Jesus as Lord and savior.

For those who have not placed faith and trust in Christ, hear the urgency in Paul’s voice: Be reconciled to God.

For those of us who have made that personal decision, maybe it’s time we accept his commission as an ambassador to the world by embracing this ministry and message of reconciliation.

It’s my prayer that we might become ambassadors of reconciliation.

A Hidden Treasure

Background Passages: I Chronicles 4:9-10; Jeremiah 33:3

The Antiques Road Show on PBS has become our default television program when there is absolutely nothing else to watch. If you’re not familiar with the show, hopeful people bring an item to an appraiser in hopes that what looks like a throw-away might actually be treasure.

I find most intriguing the items bought in a garage sale or sitting in the family attic for years. Some pieces are trash. Some pieces prove to be worth far more than expected.

On one recent program, a Corpus Christi family brought in a painting that hung behind a utility room door at his parents’ home for decades. Purchased in Mexico around 1930, the artist was a teenaged Diego Rivera, who would become one of the most influential Latin American painters of the 20th century.

Purchased for pesos, the painting was appraised at the Antique Road Show for $1 million.

It may be a lesson for everyone who bought one of my recent watercolors for a paltry amount. Hang it behind a door in your utility room, but don’t let your grandkids throw it away. It might be worth something 75 years after I’m gone. Another garage sale throw-away that turns out to be a hidden treasure.

I suppose that’s why I’m also drawn to the parenthetical tidbits I discover in scripture…those short, almost throw away passages hidden within the context of a broader story. I often find that the small tidbit becomes spiritual treasure.

I discovered another of those gems this week as I glanced through the early chapters of I Chronicles. Buried in the middle of a list of begats and begots that begin with Adam and end with David, you’ll find a parenthetical statement about a man named Jabez…a prayer of a righteous man hidden among the branches of an extended family tree between the sons of Helah and the sons of Kelub.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory. Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. (I Chronicles 4:9-10)

While this scriptural insert tells us a little about Jabez, it tells us more about God. It tells us of the connection between the man and the God who blessed him. I find it instructive in my life.
Within these two verses, one can find three characteristics of the kind of life that a gracious God chooses to bless.

First, we see that God blesses those who walk the path of righteousness.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.

Little else is known of Jabez or his family, but clearly his brothers missed the mark set by those recording the genealogy. Their lives served as a footnote to the spiritual maturity of their brother. The honor attributed to Jabez seems spiritual in nature…not so much in the physical, financial, social or political realms.

Jabez was a godly man whose moral character, convictions and conduct stood out from those around him. Jabez was honorable, living his life in right relationship with God.

Honorable doesn’t mean perfect. However, if God had a spiritual destination in mind for Jabez…an idea of who he was now, growing into the man God wanted him to be…Jabez was headed in the right direction. He walked a path marked by righteousness.

David could have been talking about Jabez when he opened his Book of Psalms.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

Jabez chose to ignore the advice of men who lived only for themselves. He chose to avoid the life of intentional sin. He refused to mock God or those around him. Rather, he found joy thinking about and living according to the law of God. As a result, his impact on others yielded fruit of the spirit, finding success in the work God called him to do. Jabez was honorable.

The passage shows us that God blesses those who remain faithful through the pain life brings.

Did you catch the meaning of his name? In the Hebrew culture of the day, a male child received his name when he was circumcised eight days after he was born. It must have been an extraordinarily painful childbirth for his loving mother to give him a name that means “pain,” “grief,” of “suffering.”

The name evidently proved a predictor of the hardships experienced in his life. That his brothers were less honorable might tell us that Jabez suffered hardship at the hands of his family. Maybe he had to assume debt his brothers incurred. Maybe their dishonesty brought shame on the family name. Perhaps Jabez endured health issues that impacted his ability to live as he desired. I’m guessing he struggled and suffered in much the same way we do.

Whatever the cause of his suffering throughout his life, we see in vs. 10 Jabez prays that God would protect him from harm so he would finally be “free of pain.” He longs for a time when pain and hardship are behind him.

God has a way of blessing a life scarred with pain. The Rev. H. B. Charles, Jr., wrote that “Candles must be burned in order to give light. Wheat must be ground to make bread,” he added. “We must experience some pain to experience true blessedness.”

Turning to the Psalmist again we find these words.

It is good for me I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. (Psalm 119:71)

Charles wrote, “Pain is not the blessing, but it sets us up for blessing.” Puts us in position to be blessed. Opens our hearts to the lessons God can teach us through our experiences.

The final trait in the life of Jabez shows that God chooses also to bless the life of the one who talks to God regularly about the concerns of their hearts.

Jabez was a godly man with more than his share of pain throughout his life. In the middle of all of that, he prayed for God’s blessing. He talked to the source of all blessing.

Can’t you relate to Jabez? Scripture does not praise him for the things the world values. Things like wisdom, strength or wealth. Jabez is not celebrated for being gifted or accomplished. We’re not even told what made him honorable or the depth of pain he experienced. Scripture singles him out simply as a man who prayed for that which God laid on his heart.

You see, Jabez learned what we all need to learn. God answers prayer. Prayer is our connection to God who wants nothing more than to bless his people.

The famed pastor Charles Spurgeon said, “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the hand of omnipotence.” We receive our greatest blessings after we pray within his will. For his blessing in my life, not my blessing.

This obscure snippet about Jabez teaches us a little about the life God chooses to bless. It also tells us that God’s blessings come in the form of his provision, his presence and his protection.

Look at what Jabez asked of God.

Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory. Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so I will be free of pain.

Jabez asked that God’s favor would fall on him (bless me) and his situation (enlarge my borders). God knows what we’re going through. God cares about our struggles, needs, dreams and fears. Just as Jabez prayed believing that God was ready, willing and able to answer his heart’s cry, we, too, need to pray for God’s provision with expectation of his blessing.

I initially read the passage and thought Jabez was praying for greater territory and wealth. One commentary suggested his honor would have precluded that. The writer suggested that the enlarged border would strengthen the influence of Jabez to share of his relationship to God.

That makes some sense to me. As God continues to bless us, we ought to be using all he provides to extend our influence with others as a way of testifying to the world of God’s love for them through Jesus Christ. To ask him to give us a platform to share the grace of a loving God.

Jabez asked also for the blessing of God’s presence.

Let your hand be with me…

It is a sentence that speaks to the powerful presence of God in his life. As such it complements the previous request for his expanded influence. Jabez wisely knew that God’s provision and his presence presents a problem. Incapable of managing God’s provision on our own, we need his presence and power.

It’s the Psalmist again who reinforces this truth.

Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. (Psalm 119:173)

Finally, God’s blessing is found in his protection.

…keep me from harm so I will be free of pain.

One commentary suggest that a more apt translation of the Hebrew is to “Keep me from doing wrong so I might not cause suffering in my life and the life of others.” In other words, protect me, God, from me. My own bad choices. My own hardheadedness. My own ego. Keep me from hurting myself and those you love.

What a blessing of protection that would be?

Every little segment of Antiques Road Show ends with the appraiser sharing with the owner what his “find” is worth. More often than not, during the show, the owner is overwhelmed by the moment when the throw-away item becomes treasure.

We may attempt to live an honorable life. Not perfect, but over the course of life walking in the general direction God desires for us. We may remain faithful through the inevitable suffering. We may even engage in the kind of deep conversations with God concerning the desires of our heart. Those things open the doors to God’s blessings.

The real treasure I needed to discover this week is found in vs. 10. Look at it.

And God granted his request.

You see, the point is not so much that Jabez was honorable, that he experienced the same kind of pain we experience or even that he prayed. The real treasure is that God answered his prayer…just as he will answer ours.

I’m grateful for a man pulled from the pages of obscurity to remind me that God is a God who looks for every chance he can to bless me with is provision, presence and protection.

I find rest in that thought and the words of God to the prophet Jeremiah.

Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (Jeremiah 33:3)

Way to go, Jabez!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Raise the Bar

Background Passages: 2 Peter 1:5-9; Galatians 5:16 and Philippians 3:10-14
The streak of laziness that runs through my bones was never more evident than my high school track career. I tried out for every field event in an effort to escape any serious running events. While I had a small measure of success in the shot put, my efforts at the broad jump, high jump and pole vault might be classified as dismal.
I found the sand pit too far from the foul line and the pole vault abjectly frightening. I really wanted to do the high jump, but my technique and general lack of skill ended that dream.
A few years after my high school efforts, my cousin Paul advanced to the Texas state championship in the high jump and eventually took his skill to college where he set a personal best of 6’10”. He fell just short of the world record…had he been jumping in 1937. (I hope God will forgive me for that family dig even if Paul doesn’t.)
I don’t know for sure how high the bar was when the competition started back when Paul was back in college. I’d be stunned if they started the event at 6’10”. Paul most certainly worked up to his personal best in incremental steps. Each jump built upon the success of the preceding jump. Chances are my cousin never would have cleared his personal best without raising the bar along the way.
I found myself wondering this week if that’s what Peter had in mind as he began his second letter to the early Christian churches. To grow in our spiritual maturity, Peter said we need to be willing to raise the bar along the way.
Peter tells those early Christians and those who follow them, that God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. We just have to keep raising the bar of excellence and spiritual maturity. Read his words.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and brotherly kindness, love. 
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But, if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from past sins.” (2 Peter 1:5-9)
Because God has given us everything we need to live a godly life, we must keep pushing ourselves toward a deeper faith…a deeper and wiser spiritual maturity. We’ll never make that move if we keep the bar low.
Peter says we make an initial leap of faith in our trust of Jesus Christ as savior. We learn in Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith it is impossible to please God. “
Far too many seem to think that’s all that is required…and it is to a point…a true expression of faith in Jesus as savior puts you on the list of God’s redeemed.
That’s a little like clearing the bar at its opening height. Elite high jumpers have little difficulty clearing that first jump. Had any of them been content with that first jump, they might not have tried higher heights.
Placing our faith and trust in Jesus as savior is a great first jump. Staying at that height does not grow our faith. It does not allow us to stretch our understanding of who God is and what he asks of us.
Read through that list of character traits Peter shares. Nothing within them suggests a random order. Each trait builds upon the preceding trait. He says make sure you add to your faith a life of goodness. Making right choices. Virtuous. Pure. Live a life that reflects Christ in you. Letting God’s way be your standard. That seems a natural evolution of our faith commitment. Declare your faith then live a life of virtue and purity.
As you begin to live a life that reflects Christ, you gain knowledge into his teachings, discerning what is right and what he requires of those who follow him. You gain an understanding of the nature of God and thus the nature he desires for us.
Paul’s words to the Philippians would reinforce this thought.
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)
As time passes and we invest ourselves in God’s word, we gain an understanding and knowledge of how he lived and the words he spoke. Such understanding enables us to deepen our faith and expand and enhance the good we are doing.
Then, we raise the bar higher. Finding the self-control or discipline to resist our former way of life and the temptations that will surely come. It is getting a grip on our passions in order to stay focused and committed to what we’ve been taught in God’s word. This, then, leads to a stronger faith, a goodness that seldom wavers because we continue to grow in our knowledge of his will and way.
Perseverance speaks to the ability to stay the course when days get more difficult. To persist in our pursuit of godly character even when it is hard to do so. It is the patience to keep exercising our faith, goodness, knowledge gained and discipline to remain strong during hard times. The ability to fight off the temptation to abandon what we believe and know when circumstances don’t go our way.
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross… (Hebrews 12:2-3)
Raise the bar yet again because as we stay strong in the face of hardship, we are demonstrating a deep respect for God and his love for us. The call to live a life of godliness suggests a faith that is practiced and practical. It is simply the faith we put into practice. We determine to be more and more like him in pursuit of the godliness…being Christ-like…in the way we live and relate to those around us, especially those who are outcasts.
James put it this way in his brief letter.
Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)
It is this raised bar of Christian living that demands we love those who persecute us. Insists that we love the sinner but reject the sin. Encourages us to wrap our arms around those society pushes aside.
Jesus raised the bar for his disciples when he told them that the evidence of their godliness is in the gentleness, kindness and grace extended toward our fellow believers. In their love for one another.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:35)
It is a picture of grace and forgiveness within the body of Christ that builds up the church rather than tearing it down. Our brotherly kindness and love is the light of Christ reflected through the church that invites the unbeliever to consider a life with Christ. It is this light that opens the door of salvation to a lost world.
It is the love that allowed Peter and Paul to embrace the faith of the Gentile believers. It is the love that forgives the hurt caused by our fellow believer so that church continues to model God’s love for the world. It is the love that makes a church a church.
“And, now, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13)
Peter raises the bar one last time in this passage. Read the words again.
…add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and brotherly kindness, love.
Peter goes beyond brotherly love when he suggests that we will reach new heights when we learn to love each other as God loved. This is agape love. It is a love abounding from our hearts by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the spark that compels us to go out of our way to share our faith, to love those who others deem unlovable. To reach into the community to meet needs expecting nothing in return.
May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all men, just as we also do for you. (I Thessalonians 3:12)
The list Peter shares may seem daunting. Who could live a life like this other than Jesus Christ? Each characteristic he asks us to pursue reflect the character of God himself. Take a look at verse 4 immediately preceding our primary passage in 2 Peter 1. Peter declares that God gave us his gift of salvation and his promises so that we might “participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world…”
These traits of our heavenly father are the traits he wants to see evident in the lives of those who believe in him. The list Peter shares is not a “how to,” but rather a statement about what is possible. That a focused and committed life can keep raising the bar of excellence as we become more Christ-like. It is a process and is something to which we can strive. Peter is giving us a picture of what we can become if we make spiritual maturity a priority.
I’ve lived almost seven decades on this earth. I wish I could declare that I’ve cleared the bar set by God. I’m certain I have not. It is a growth process, even until the day we die.
Christian growth and maturity is neither automatic nor a matter of time. Growth occurs as we consistently and obediently seek to grow…as we hurdle each bar…with the power and help of God’s spirit and the faithful study of God’s word.
Peter offered us both an encouraging word and a warning in 2 Peter 1:8-9.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But, if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from past sins.”
We said earlier the reason we seek after these traits is to understand the character of God and participate in that divine nature. Then, we must consistently demonstrate these traits in our lives in increasing measure each day we live. To be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus.
To simply let that initial faith commitment slide suggests we’ve forgotten what Jesus did for us on the cross.
I’ll make one last connection. Peter’s choice of character traits in his second letter to believers is similar to the fruit of the Spirit Paul discusses in some of his letters. Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 as the qualities God produces in us through the work of the Spirit.
The key to manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians 5:16, is to walk in the Spirit. A spiritual lifestyle choice. This passage in Peter tells us how to walk in the Spirit, constantly jumping the higher bar of spiritual maturity.
I want to know Christ and the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…Not that I have attained all of this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead. I press on… (Philippians 3:10, 12-14)
I hope you will join me in making that thought a commitment in the days to come. Maybe we can clear the next bar together.

Finding Your Mephibosheth

Background Passages: 2 Samuel 9:1-7 and Galatians 5:22-23, 25

Small acts of kindness can make a huge impact. A smile, a thoughtful word, a warm muffin found on a desk, or a hug can make the sun shine brighter and the day seem better. That’s the premise behind the idea of Random Acts of Kindness.

Started in Denver, Colorado, in 1995, the idea behind Random Acts is to somehow make the world a better place by making kindness a part of our everyday lives. It’s a nice sentiment. The world needs to be a kinder, gentler place.

As one who has received these random gifts of kindness throughout my life, I understand the impact. To limit kindness to a blueberry muffin, however, diminishes its impact.

Those who study words tell us that “kindness” has its origin in the Middle Ages. In the language of that period “kind” and “kin” were the same. It seems to suggest that to demonstrate kindness was to treat someone like kin…like family. That presents the term in ways that can hardly be random.

As often happens, the idea of kindness has bounced around my brain for a couple of weeks. I was recently asked by my church to share a thought on the character of David at our Wednesday night Bible study. In the course of preparation, I rediscovered the story of David’s interaction with Jonathan’s disabled son, Mephibosheth. The story reveals much more about kindness than any random act.

For years the schizophrenic and paranoid King Saul chased after David to eliminate the one whom God had chosen to take his place. He saw David as a threat. Despite numerous opportunities to do so, David could not raise a hand against Saul or his family because of the deep bond of love and friendship David developed through the years with Saul’s son, Jonathan.

In a particularly difficult time in David’s life, Jonathan went behind his father’s back and told David of Saul’s plan to kill him. David pledged to always look after the family of Saul and Jonathan. Years later, Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. It now appears that all of Saul’s male descendants have died.

Now king of Israel, David felt the emptiness in his life without Jonathan. Hear David’s heartfelt plea in 2 Samuel 9:1.

“David asked, ‘Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?’”

“The kindness of God.”

The choice of those words struck me. Why not just, “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness.” David’s kindness. A random act of kindness. Instead, the phrase reads, “kindness of God.”

Let’s go back to the definition. In her book The Kindness of God, Catholic theologian Janet Soskice made the link between “kind” and “kin.” She wrote, “To say that Christ is ’our kind Lord’ is not to say that Christ is tender or gentle, although that may be implied, but to say that he is kin…our kind.”

It’s an interesting twist if indeed to be kind meant to be kin. The kindness of God within this context means that God became my kin…my family…my father. Through Jesus’ sacrifice and my faith commitment, I become part of the family of God.

David’s desire to show the kindness of God indicates his wish to find someone whom he could love and treat as family. As the story unfolds in 2 Samuel 9, David finds a sole survivor…Mephibosheth, a young disabled boy, hiding in fright in a remote village on the other side of the Jordan River.

David had the authority, power and historical permission as the victorious king to put Mephibosheth to death. He didn’t do that. When he found Mephibosheth he called him to Jerusalem, not to enslave him or kill him, but to extend God’s kindness to him.

“Do not be afraid for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” (2 Samuel 9:7)

David did not extend a token gesture. His offer was extravagant. He gave Mephibosheth all that once belong to Saul and a place in his household. What an extreme act of kindness and grace!

What he did demonstrated love toward someone who did not deserve it, could never earn it and would never be able to repay it. His kindness or kin-ness made Mephibosheth a part of David’s family…someone invited to sit at the king’s table.

If this idea of kin-ness is at the heart of kindness, then it seems to require us to see others in the image of God, worthy of our honest connection, regardless of life’s circumstance. It seems the ultimate act of kindness and kin-ness is to invite people to be a part of God’s family…to welcome them to the table.

Kindness, then, is more than a random act. It is that thread of unfailing love that ought to be the lifestyle of any child of God seeking to live as the image of God in a cruel world.

The amazing thing is that God, through his indwelling Spirit, gives us the capacity for exactly that kind of godly kindness. Paul points out that the life of a Christian ought to reflect the character and nature of God as revealed by his Spirit.

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-23, 25)

The thing about the fruit of the spirit is that, unlike the gifts of the spirit which are given to each of us uniquely and individually, God doesn’t give us different fruit based on our personalities. He does not allow us to pick and choose which fruit we get to live out. He expects us to live out each one…each day…in every circumstance of life…to live by the spirit and keep step with the spirit.

Sadly, we live within a cultural pandemic of condemnation and judgment, characterized by a lack of kindness. Those who live a life of kindness, of kinship, look every day for the next Mephibosheth. They look for someone to show “the kindness of God,” not just as some random act, but as an intentional choice to let someone sit at your table. To build relationships. Meaningful connections. To create opportunities to show the love of Christ in the things we think, say and do for them. To be kind, to be kin, is to love as Christ loved.

Don’t you see, God is kind because he cannot be otherwise. It is his nature. When we give our lives to Jesus and open our hearts to God’s spirit, kindness becomes a part of our new nature. It is the make-up of that “new creation” that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:17, a reflection of God in us.

The English poet Roberts Burns said, “It is the heart benevolent and kind that most resembles God.” David’s innate and God-inspired kindness was one of the reasons he was called a “man after God’s own heart,” God’s choice to be Israel’s king. His kindness made him a great ruler.

According to Mark Twain, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” I suspect it is a language that will make even those who find it hard to walk in the presence of the King leap for joy.

What about you? Is there anyone out there to whom you can show the kindness of God? If you keep asking the question, God will bring you one Mephibosheth after another who needs your kindness…your kin-ness.

God simply asks that when we find our Mephibosheths, we invite them to eat at our table.

Who Are You Looking For?

Background Passages: Matthew 16:13-23; John 18:3-8, John 20:11-16

It is an essential question for Resurrection Sunday. One that demands an answer.

Jesus had been crucified and buried. The heavy slab of granite rolled into the dugout trench, locked his body inside. From Friday until early Sunday morning, those who followed Jesus lived in a state of shock, numb with fear.

Not knowing anything else to do, the women who were closest to him, returned to his tomb to finish preparing the body for burial. Something Sabbath laws had not allowed them to do when he died. When they arrived, they found the stone rolled away, the burial cloth neatly folded and the body of their teacher nowhere to be seen. In a panic, they ran back to tell Jesus’ disciples.

As the sun burned away the morning dew, Mary Magdalene, compelled by grief and overcome with sadness, returned to the empty tomb. She failed to recognize the supernatural aura of the day. Two angels sat inside the tomb their identity lost in her confusion. Still clutching the burial ointments she had brought with her that morning, they asked her…

“Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

Mary heard the rustle of robes behind her. Jesus stood before her, but again in her misery, she failed to recognize the one she loved. Echoing the angels, Jesus asked…

“Woman, why are your crying?”

Then, he got to the heart of the matter.

“Who is it you are looking for?” (John 20:11-15)

There it is. Jesus cuts the soul of everyone who would believe in him as savior and Lord. The fundamental question of Easter. “Who is it you are looking for?”

Easter is the most revered of all Christian Holidays. According to the Pew Research Center, 45 percent of Christians worldwide say they attend worship services on a monthly basis. That number typically increases to about 70 percent on Resurrection Sunday. So, if your church averages about 500 people in attendance every Sunday, you might expect 675-700 people in attendance for Easter services.

Whether you attend church every Sunday or whether your church experience is limited to Christmas and Easter, this is the critical question of we need to ask ourselves. When you walk through the doors of the church, for whom are you searching? Who do you seek?

Just for a moment cast yourself in this story as the thirteenth disciple. Where they go, you go. What they see and hear, you see and hear. What they feel, you feel.

I’m not sure if Peter and the other disciples could have answered that critical question with 100 percent certainty on that first Easter morning so long ago. They had just seen their teacher, their Lord crucified. Their worlds turned inside out and upside down. Little made sense that day. Things had certainly not turned out the way they expected.

It was just a few weeks earlier that Jesus walked his disciples north out of Galilee and into heartbeat of Roman worship. Caesarea Philippi, a Roman city north of the Sea of Galilee, served as the home of a temple to the Roman god Pan.

Needing to get away from the crowds to teach his disciples what would be an unsettling truth, Jesus ventured into a place most Jews would never go.

Can you see them? Jesus and his disciples sat on the side of a hill overlooking Caesarea Philippi, cooking a few fish over the glowing embers of their campfire. Looming below them were pagan temples carved out of the solid sandstone cliff. Torches cast tall, eerie shadows upon the cliffside as the pagan priests scurried to deliver their burnt offerings to the gods.

The muted but friendly conversation of companions fell silent when Jesus, staring down at the temples, asked a simple question.

“Who do men say that the Son of Man is?”

“They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’”

They waited for Jesus to react, the moment growing more uncomfortable for them as Jesus stared into the distance. Then, Jesus turned to face his dearest friends and in a quiet voice and with eyes that bore into their souls, he asked,

“But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

(Do you recognize it? It’s that Easter question in another form. “Who is it you are looking for?”)

The Jewish crowds considered Jesus a new prophet, perhaps John the Baptist, Elijah or Jeremiah returning to set their people free. Jesus needed to know that his disciples understood the truth. “Who am I to you? Who are you looking for?”

With all the pride he could muster, Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

Jesus offered a word of measured praise and a prophecy.

“Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.“ (Matthew 16:13-18)

To his credit Peter knew who Jesus was. He was the Messiah. God’s anointed one. God’s son. To his shame, he still didn’t fully understand.

Scripture tells us in the next passage that Jesus, in the quietness of that evening, began to tell the disciples that he would travel to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal at the hands of the religious elite. He told them he would be killed and raised again on the third day.

Slightly horrified, Peter, the one who just declared Jesus the Messiah, tugged on his master’s sleeve, pulled him to the side to rebuke him. This was not a casual “tsk-tsk.” This was a strongly worded criticism, expressing Peter’s sharp disapproval of the content of Jesus’ lesson.

“Never, Lord! This shall never happen!”

Jesus narrowed his gaze into Peter’s eyes raised his voice so all the disciples could hear, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:22-23)

The Jews desperately pined for the Messiah to come as a conquering king to drive the occupying Romans from their lands. Peter and the others had a hard time getting past the old narrative. He recognized that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, but fail to understand the nature of God’s redeeming work. He viewed Jesus in political and personal terms. He got the identity right, but not the intent.

Who are you looking for? Jesus asked. Peter was looking for someone different. The wrong kind of Messiah. Looking for the wrong kind of savior.

“Who is it you are looking for?”

Travel now to the Garden of Gethsemane. The hour is late. The disciples are bone tired and weary. Not just from the tiring journey from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem, but from the troubling events of the night. The supper shared in the upper room went from celebratory to somber. Jesus’ actions unsettled everyone. Washing the feet. Calling out a betrayer. Launching into a heavy conversation about death at the hands of the civil and religious authorities.

Amid the olive trees, the disciples struggled to stay awake. Jesus knelt farther up the hillside, in fervent prayer. The disciples faded in and out of a sleep induced haze, until they heard the stomp of marching feet. The clatter of sword against shield cutting through the midnight hour. Wide awake now, the disciples form a protective ring around Jesus as a band of soldiers being led by no other but Judas surrounds them, swords drawn.

Jesus gently pushes his way to the front and stands face to face with Judas and the Roman centurion.

“Who is it you want?”

(There it is again. The same probing question. “Who is it you are looking for?”)

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.

Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go…Then, the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people. (John 18:3-8)

Other passages of scripture tell us that Judas greeted his master with a kiss. Judas joined the disciples, attracted by the message of inclusion and freedom. He heard the words, but never quite got the message. Growing increasingly disillusioned by Jesus’ passive approach, he felt compelled to act. Still believing that Jesus was the man who would start the revolution, Judas tried to force his hand.

The kiss. Perhaps a wink and a slight nod of his head. A lift of the eyebrows. Judas had just created the opportunity to light the fire of rebellion if only Jesus would comply with his wishes.

“Who is it you want?” Judas recognize Jesus’ power. He had seen it in action. He knew Jesus, but he didn’t know his heart. Judas wanted a savior he could manipulate to do his bidding. He wanted to unleash that miraculous power to meet his own desires. Judas didn’t want a savior. He wanted someone he could control.

“Who is it you are looking for?”

Now, let’s go back to the tomb. Hours later in the timeline of Jesus’ life on earth. In the garden outside the tomb, a distraught Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. Unable to recognize the one she loved so dearly, she heard him ask,

“Who are you looking for?”

In the brief conversation that ensued, Mary’s grieving heart took her the only place her distress could go. With a heart burdened and disoriented, she cried out to him,

“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him.”

At some point in this conversation, Jesus sought to reassure her. He called her name,

“Mary.”

Something in the sound of his voice broke through the despair and the heartbreak. In that moment of clarity, Mary found the one for whom she was looking.

She fell at his feet and cried.

“Rabboni.”

This Hebrew form of the word is personal, informal and intimate.

“My Teacher.” (John 20:15-16)

Mary understands who he is and acknowledges him as her risen Lord.

You see, when Mary Magdalene ran to tell the disciples that the tomb was empty, she had all the facts right, but she jumped to the wrong conclusion. Peter had done the same in Caesarea Philippi. Judas the same at Gethsemane. Her facts were right. The tomb was empty. She just drew to the wrong conclusion.

We often do the same thing. When faced with troubles and unexplainable tragedy, we mourn. If we understood who we were looking for, we wouldn’t weep at all. Consider this. If Mary had gotten her wish and she found a body in the tomb, we would have no reason to celebrate. There would be no Easter.

The truth of Easter demands an answer from each of us.

“Who is it you are looking for?”

Maybe you’re one of those believers like Peter who initially put your faith and trust in Jesus at an early age. When you think of Jesus, you think of him as savior. You have his identity right, but not his intent. Being saved is more than a point in time reality. Salvation is so much more than that moment in time decision to follow Christ. It’s more than that initial decision you made to trust him. Being saved is knowing Christ daily. Growing in him daily. Making every effort to live a more Christ-like life every day. Letting him be the boss of your life today and always.

Who is it you are looking for? Look for Jesus and make him Lord of your life. Every day.

Maybe your understanding is similar to Judas’ “genie in a lantern” concept of God. Rub the lantern and get three wishes. God is there to answer my prayer. Give me what I want when I want it. There are those who try to mold God into their own image rather than letting God mold them into his. When we try to make God into our own image, he will always disappoint us. Why would we trust a God who is no more perfect than us?

God’s plan for your life is far better than anything you can dream on your own. He wants the best for us. Thank God for the unanswered prayers because he knows what’s best. Thank God when God makes us wait on him because his timing is best.

Who is it you are looking for? Look for Jesus and trust him to meet your needs. Every day.

Maybe this Easter celebration will be meaningful because you get it. Jesus died on a cross as a willing sacrifice for your sins. He rose again. A living Lord. In difficult times, he is your strength. When you don’t know which way to turn, he is your guide. You’ve embraced his presence in your life and recognize that he is still your Rabboni. Personal and Intimate. Your Teacher. Those closest to Christ know that he is still teaching you daily how to live like him.

Who is it you are looking for? Look for Jesus, your strength. Your companion. Your teacher.

Statistics tell us Easter Sunday will draw many to worship. That is my hope and prayer. Every person who walks in the door should be blessed.

I pray that everyone who walks through the sanctuary doors will look for Jesus in all his fullness. It is a choice each of us can make, but it won’t happen unless we come with that question on our hearts.

It won’t happen, unless I am willing to ask the question as I enter to his presence in worship.

“Who is it I am looking for?”