What Does That Mean?

S - Mark 9:1, 9-13 (NLT): "Jesus went on to say, "I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!" … As they descended the mountainside, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until he, the Son of Man, had risen from the dead. So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by "rising from the dead." Now they began asking him, "Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?" Jesus responded, "Elijah is indeed coming first to set everything in order. Why then is it written in the Scriptures that the Son of Man must suffer and be treated with utter contempt? But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and he was badly mistreated, just as the Scriptures predicted.""

O - They had certainly received an "eye and ear full" in the trip up the mountain with Jesus.  The problem for Peter, James and John, and for all of us, is to understand what Jesus was/is saying.  The issue's not the words themselves but the combination of words and the context of Jesus' life and the context of their own.  They did not understand what he meant by rising from the dead because this combination of words had no foundation in their messianic mindset and very little in their life experience (the widow's son, Jairus' daughter, Lazarus).  Isn't this the same "problem" which allowed the people/leaders to miss and badly mistreat the Elijah who was to come?  These three did not recognize John the Baptist, nor did they understand rising from the dead at this point in the timeline of their lives.  They would, however, come to fully grasp this and through them the world would see what Jesus meant.  Clearly, accurate information alone is insufficient.  What was the "game changer" for them?  Experiencing the words of Jesus. This is the intended game changer for us all … experiencing the words, the teaching, the theology, the presence of Jesus again and again.

A - The Kingdom and the King are fully interactive.  Without ongoing exchanges between my very little life and his incomprehensible life I can't understand the meaning though I can grasp, repeat and even postulate the words.  The context of all of Jesus' teaching, of all the Scriptures is the ongoing relational reality intended from the first man and first woman. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Corinthians 4:20).  Flesh and blood do not inherit it and neither can such understand or reveal it.  It will always take the interface, interaction of the Spirit.  This underscores the stark distinction between religion/ culture and the Kingdom.  Culture wants me to be right and the Kingdom wants me to be near.

P - Living Word, Only King and Only True Friend of the whole world,
Thank you for including us in your ongoing life, not just your history.  Thank you for wanting us near more than wanting us to be right.  Thank you for letting us partner with you but never allowing us to go solo … for flesh only gives birth to flesh and we are called (along with the whole world) to be people of the spirit.  Thank you for calling me/us to speak, to live and to embrace the reality that you still must reveal it.  Thank you for insisting that we love, believe and follow.  Lord, I'm not sure I'm right about several important things … but I am sure I'm near.  I'll stay close … the rest is up to you.
Loving, thinking, believing and following,
Steve

Don't Miss Sorrow's Transformation

S - 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT): "For God can use sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation. We will never regret that kind of sorrow. But sorrow without repentance is the kind that results in death."

O - Sorrow is what we don't want and cannot avoid.  Even the most careful life will have sorrow thrust upon it.  Then of course, there's the sorrow that we do inflict upon ourselves.  Sometimes knowingly and oft times unknowingly; but the result is the same, sorrow (luvph: sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance, affliction; of persons mourning). The scripture (God's written voice) is telling us that in sorrow of all kinds God is purposeful.  He is working everything for good, not just every good thing for the good.  Ultimately we won't be able to prevent all sorrow but we do possess the determining factor in how our sorrows end.  What makes the difference is our response to the sorrow regardless of its source.  Repentance (literally the changing of our minds) is the key. If I change my mind and believe that God is working for the good and will be purposeful in this, then my life's course is altered.  I turn from anything or anyone leading me away from God AND turn into him and all that he is and is doing.  Since he is life, this repentance is all about life and he will ensure that life is the end of the difficulty.  Thus the sorrow ends without regret even if it started so full of regret that it was spilling out of every pour of our existence. By turning into him instead of death, it ends in life; instead of hurt, it ends in help.

A - To quote Jesus, if the Scriptures are true and cannot be broken (and it is so), then this one is a doozy.  Sorrow, which is so painful, debilitating, brutal and toxic can be transformed into that which is helpful and life producing.  The real player in this awesome metamorphosis is God for whom nothing is impossible, too difficult or too wonderful.  Yet I am the decider in how it ends.  Well, this season has produces a fairly serious and long-term amount of sorrow.  God is working it, will I work with him?  I don't have to work it for him.  I'm not the changer of circumstance, I'm the "truster" through it.  I am the one changing my thinking so that I'll be in alignment with all that he is doing in and through the sorrow. Instead of wondering what's gone wrong I am to be the one wondering how great all this will be when the Lord is finished working it for good.

P - Lord who loves us and a challenge,

I re-present myself and my sorrow to you.  I want to work with you in it and see it become everything you intend … every good and perfect thing which will produce life in me and cause your life to flow through me.  Lord, enable me in my tired and frayed humanity to repent … to change my mind and bring my thoughts, heart and actions into alignment with you and your will on earth.  Lord, I welcome your will here like they do in heaven … completely, trustingly and with joy.

In them,

Steve

Does Jesus Really Love ALL the Children of the World?

S - Matthew 15:22-28 (TLJ):" A Canaanite woman from that area came out and began shouting, "Lord, Son of David, please help me! My daughter has a demon inside her, and she is suffering very much." But Jesus did not answer her. So the followers came to him and said, "Tell her to go away. She keeps crying out and will not leave us alone." Jesus answered, "God sent me only to the lost people of Israel." Then the woman came over to Jesus and bowed before him. She said, "Lord, help me!" He answered her with this saying, "It is not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs." The woman said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces of food that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus said, "Woman, you have great faith! You will get what you asked for." And right then the woman's daughter was healed."

O - The ethnic tension in this exchange seems quite high; people of Israel, Canaanites, masters, dogs, and tell her to go away. Why did Jesus respond like he did? Is he having a bad day and one more pushy person asking for help has finally shoved him over the edge? Does he really have no care for Canaanites and no concern for a little girl?  Since faith and not ethic origins is the essential element in pleasing God, what's really happening here? Maybe he's doing something beyond healing the daughter … maybe he's looking to start the healing process in the social fabric (culture and world view) of the Mom and the Disciples. Helping only "your people" and counting the "others" as dogs was the standard response of group to group.  It wasn't just that the Jews consider the Canaanites dogs, the Canaanites "returned the favor" with equal intensity.  Jesus’ first three responses to the woman echo the current culture.  First he simply ignores, then he isolates and finally disqualifies her.  Her faith, like God's kingdom and family, overcomes the hard hearted bias of culture.  Having identified how culture (Jewish and Canaanite) would have responded to such a request  Jesus responds to her, her faith, her daughter and offers healing to the Mother's heart and culture … and maybe the Disciple's too. In Jesus' family all are welcome; there is always more than enough for all!

A - I used to see this passage as only a "test of faith." Now, having had the privilege of a lot of international travel and first hand experiences with the tensions and bias of culture and world views, I see it very differently.  The beauty for me is the way the woman's desire and faith leap over the barriers.  She agrees with the Lord's finding … that culture to culture is more than problematic … and then she says the words which start the healing on all levels … "Yes, Lord". This is the response I need to have in all settings and situations.  I want my social fabric, my world view and culture to be consistently transformed by the irrepressible life of Jesus. He really does love the whole world and calls me to join him. 

P - Lord who loves,
Today I have the privilege of being near you and loving and working with you.  You always start at love, lead with mercy and then face the facts of our lives and our world.  Thank you for your interest in more than our immediate needs.  Thank you for wanting our complete healing and transformation.  This is beautiful and you are beautiful. Today, my primary assignment is to love … Lord I welcome you, your love and your will on earth and in me like they do in heaven; unqualified and unrestrained.
Yes, Lord,
Steve

Forget the Timing … Believe the Experts

S - Mark 15:44-45 (NIV): "Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph"

O - Jesus is full of surprises and this one is curious to me.  The Romans had crucifixion down to both an art and a science.  Clearly Pilate's expectations of duration for this turbulent Jewish Rabbi's execution were playing out differently than he thought … pretty much like all the events of the last few hours.  Jesus won't defend himself, the people won't let him release their "king" and Jesus doesn't last as long on a cross as most folks do.  This surprise concerning his death will be verified by an expert witness before he grants the request of Joseph.  Of course the surprises won't end there.  Three days later an even bigger surprise greets our world.  The duration of Jesus' death, like his dying, would defy all expectations as well. This too would be verified by experts, by those who would really know if it was Jesus raised from the dead.  Why not believe the experts on both counts?  As the Scripture asks (Acts 26:8): "Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?"

A - Like Pilate I'm just about always off when I try to figure out the timing of Jesus and God's will on earth.  Most things take way longer than I think they should and then there are others which speed along … some of which are painfully difficult.  The beauty is that resurrection life is the point, is always present … if 2 or 3 gather in my name … I am with you always to the end of the age.  My assignment is to believe, to wait, to stay near and trust because nothing is impossible, too difficult or too wonderful for him who is life.

P - Lord who lives,
Thank you for this day on planet earth … a day that you hold, shape, govern, steward and work according to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness. Jesus, help me in my very little mind and thinking to calibrate to you and your kingdom which is so near … to repent!  Help me start with you and then move to my world and circumstance so that your kingdom will come and your will will be done in me and through me like it happens in heaven.  Today is my day to stay near, to trust, to believe and to work with you in that which you already have in mind to do.  Touch my eyes, my heart, my mind unto the life that is really life.
Believing,
Steve

Easter Amnesia

S - Luke 24:1-8 (NIV): "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' “Then they remembered his words."

O - The last sentence of this passage notes that "Then they remembered his words." My question is how could they have possibly forgotten? I would think when someone you love and consider to be God's Christ tells you he'll be tortured, murdered and then rise again three days later you would kinda 'make a note of it.' How is it that not one of the original band of followers approaches the tomb of Jesus with the expectation of resurrection?  Temporary amnesia, grief, doubt and disbelief are the only recorded responses carried by this group of Jesus' most intimate followers.  Apparently resurrection is an easier concept to embrace when not directly and immediately associated with someone you've been following for three or more years.  On the other hand, could this very human reaction be at least one of the reasons for the presence and the message of the angels at his tomb?  Could this amazing capacity we have to completely miss the point be a reason for God giving us Scriptures as well?  One thing is for sure, he really does know how we are made and he is tender toward us and (as Jesus proves) ruthless toward our enemies (i.e. sin, death and the devil).

A - Romans reminds me that the Holy Spirit WANTS to intercede for me because of my weakness and God's will on earth (Romans 8:26-27). I am loved and wanted at my worst, my dumbest, and my weakest by God Almighty.  This is the message of Jesus, the Scriptures and the abiding testimony of all who come near.  Heaven is not offering us amnesty but adoption.  God is not tolerating us but loving us.  Today, I don't need to be confident in me but in him.  I don't need to fear failure but to come near and stay near his person … even if I don't remember or understand.  Today I will rely on the love the God has for me.

P - Father of the how much more,
Thank you for wanting me/us no matter what.  Thank you for calling us near no matter where we've been or what we've done.  Thank you for demonstrating your love in the person of Jesus so that we would know that we are love and not just well resourced or legally absolved.  Today you want me to receive your love and to be an ambassador of it. Please, let your life and love come into and flow out of me.  Jesus, please keep revealing the Father to me so that the love the Father has for you will be in me/us and you yourself will be in me/us.
Staying near,
Steve

Getting What You Want or What You Need?

S - Mark 15:42-47 (NLT): "This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, an honored member of the high council, Joseph from Arimathea (who was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come), gathered his courage and went to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body. Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman military officer in charge and asked him. The officer confirmed the fact, and Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth, and taking Jesus' body down from the cross, he wrapped it in the cloth and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus' body was laid."

O - The Roman Empire and her soldiers were experts in torture, crucifixion and death.  The confirmation to Pilate eliminates all doubt about the Lord's physical status and Joseph may have what he has requested because the Religious Leaders got what they wanted--a publically denounced, brutally humiliated, and torturously dead Jesus.  Not only did they "end" the madness of this "Messiah's" teaching and miracles they sent a message to all other would be Messiah's.  Don't mess with us … we will decide who is and who is not the Messiah.  The disposal of this particular messiah had come off quite smoothly and ended as so many others before him had ended. Or did it?  The ultimate proof of Jesus' identity does come through his lineage, teaching, miracles or sacrifice.  It comes in his resurrection from the dead. God's Messiah would be of God's choosing and he would decide the terms and criteria of his Christ.  Jesus taught, lived, died and rose again in and under this reality.  The world (secular and religious) was not able to keep what it wanted but it did get what it needed a savior who really is Lord of all.  "But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord (1 Corinthians 2:8)."

A - Jesus is life, but not life like this world.  He is real, resurrection, irrepressible life and this is the life he gives to all who come near.  My assignment, in this day and each day, is to live in the reception and anticipation of this life expressing itself, offering itself, to any and to all.  This is the life I not only receive "by faith" but I experience in my spirit AND in my world.  Why should anyone consider it incredible that God raises the dead?  Why would any followers of Jesus live like resurrection life was reserved exclusively to future events when he is present in us and with us today … if two or three gather in my name?  Think of the possibilities today holds!

P - Lord who is the Resurrection and Life,
I am so often caught in the maelstrom of what I want and what I need.  The want is apparent and often the real need is not.  I thank you for always engaging me and the whole world according to our real need.  I welcome you into all of me and my entire world … unto resurrection life, hope and expression.  Thank you for all you've done, are doing and will do because you are life and love and light; and you have set your affection on us and refuse to change your mind.  Lord, breathe into me, my Jan, my world your irrepressible life.  I yield to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness.
In them,
Steve