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“Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.” Thomas Aquinas
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At Anchor, we have spent the last three years studying every single chronological section of the life/ministry of Jesus, and today we reached our 100th message within the sequence. So, in a rather ecstatic echoing of John 1, I today offered just some of our learnings-together, and thought they'd be a joyous "charge" for our Monday:
100 messages into the life and ministry of Jesus, what do we know of Jesus? My friends, Jesus is not only prehistoric—the founder and inventor of Time and history—He, simply, is. Before there was even a notion such as being (or to be), He already had-been-being. “Beginning” began with Him, you see. He was sitting there next to the Father, giving Voice (His voice) to the whole of Creation. For He was—He is—God. If you want to understand and plumb the depths of the definition and the mysteries of the God of the universe, look at Jesus. And what will you see? You will see the most wondrously creative, brilliant, imaginative, joyful Personality you could ever hope to encounter. You will see a One so powerful, so glorious that—apart from the life He is—everything else is a nothing. Meeting Him, you will have met… LIFE. That life—so wonderful to behold in Him—so magnificent in the fact that He offers it to others—is of the most illuminating quality. It is a life that, fundamentally, is light; is alight. It is sheer wondrous luminescent brilliance. And, let’s see… what else? Oh, how about that—from the beginning of the Beginning—He’d already decided upon making a personal visit into our midst?! And, how about that—even if we should be foolish enough not to receive Him, or pay Him notice—He relentlessly would keep on loving us?! And, how about that—for those who’d simply turn His way and even begin paying Him attention—He would do the following: teach us how to follow in His footsteps; seat us NOW at the family table; and, most astonishingly, impart to us His own Child-of-God nature and inward experience?!! PURPOSE—BELONGING—IDENTITY: He says, You got it! But how in the wide-world-of-seeming-impossibilities would He actually render such a radical experience to fools and idiots like us? Oh, I’m so glad you asked! He became our Friend. Closer than a brother. He took on flesh to insure everything I’ve already said. He simultaneously showed the absolutely-human side of His “withness” while, at the very same time, overwhelming us with His absolute-Godness. He, day by day, lavished His friends and family, everyone He met—strangers, even His enemies—with grace upon grace. In fact,—in His person—in His personal living-breathing, walking-talking Way of life—He did something so unexpected you’d never expect it… He, personally, fulfilled His own holy Law. Then… demolished it. Then, personally, He lived and taught and exemplified a New Way of Relating to God and Man… and then put all that within us. My friends, have you ever thought: If only I could see God, really know Him, hear from Him, then I’d have everything that was necessary? Well, here’s the goodest of the Good News-es of the Gospel: You… already… do. Having Jesus… you already have EVERYTHING. 130 He teaches about the coming of the Kingdom Luke 17:20-37 LATER, JESUS WAS ASKED by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he gave them this reply: “The kingdom of God never comes by watching for it. Men cannot say, ‘Look, here it is’, or ‘there it is’, for the kingdom of God is inside you. . .” * * * Not so many days later… PETER STEPS OUT THROUGH the doorway into the bright Jerusalem sunlight. The whole crowd below turns and looks up. From this parapet, he can see across the rooftops to the Mount of Olives. The gnarled trees of Gethsemane are visible. The foot-trail that winds up from the Kidron, past that run of untended grapevines, is visible too. He can see the place their feet trod together: he remembers the feeling of going up…and then going back down.
He looks down at the crowd beneath him. A strange, uncity-like silence is ascending. A warm west wind is blowing out of the wilderness, carrying scents he smelled on those days when he and the others once baptized… The silence below awaits… And as he steps to the rail, in harness now to the Presence that lives inside him, clearing his throat, letting the words within him arise and coalesce, Peter is suddenly conscious of one final thought—like a whisper to his spirit on this morning of the day of Pentecost: “The Kingdom of God is within you, Peter.” “To anyone who studies the book we call the Acts of the Apostles it becomes quite plain that the Holy Spirit is not a vague influence for good, not even just a powerful Wind of Heaven, but a Person with a purpose and ideas of His own. The earth was once visited for a few years, visibly, audibly, and tangibly, by God in human form, but thereafter it was (and of course is) continually subject to invasions by the Spirit of Jesus. Happily, the Young Church was sensitive, alert, and flexible, and we can read for ourselves to what miraculous triumphs the Spirit led them. Again, if we are to regain the buoyant God-consciousness of New Testament Christianity, we must not only accept afresh the planned Personal Visit, but be ready for any number of subsequent invasions of the Spirit.” J.B. Phillips
New Testament Christianity Remember: The faith that initially led you into relationship with Jesus is the same faith that still encounters Him and will, ever after, lead you onward. The Holy Spirit, within, is the spirit of faith to trust Him ever more; the same Spirit that, day by day, led His own heart in intimacy with the Father. For Jesus Himself told us how this works:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. You see, Jesus, in His desire that you should know Him, asked the Father to send their own Spirit—the Spirit of truth—that you might approach Him from within. When you read of all the miracles and adventures of the Early Church, all the ins-and-outs of their daily exploits “in the Name,” you are reading the tale of never-ending encounter with the Living Jesus--by the Holy Spirit. So may the Spirit who endued those men and women with their unconquerable spirit, and gave them consistent experience of the Risen Savior, give you a heart aflame with love, joy and the passion of Jesus Himself in the conduct of your days! That, as one of its members, you will show the Church the heights and depths of what’s possible in Jesus so that the whole—the Body—will be reanimated and reenergized! Let us, together, open our hearts and minds to so encountering Him! Let us so open our hearts and minds this day! “You cannot know times and dates which have been fixed by the Father’s sole authority. But you are to be given power when the Holy Spirit has come to you. You will be witnesses to me, not only in Jerusalem, not only throughout Judea, not only in Samaria, but to the very ends of the earth!” When he had said these words he was lifted up before their eyes till a cloud hid him from their sight. While they were still gazing up into the sky as he went, suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them and said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the sky? This very Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come back in just the same way as you have seen him go.” (Acts 1:7-11) * * * One is reminded here of Elisha peeling his eyes to see Elijah taken heavenward: he truly believed that seeing that sight would assure his attaining a spiritual “double portion.” And now I’m reminded that keeping our eyes on the eyes of Jesus—watching His face as He ascends—is thusly knowing the One who sits upon the throne of Heaven. Our own “double portion” is to possess His Spirit (here, within us) and to “know the one in whom I have placed my confidence” (there, seated, forever).
Our eyes are unto your eyes, Jesus! The Kingdom of Heaven is just like Jesus: always looking for the lost. It quickly comes to terms with those ready to be redeemed. They are chosen by Him and sent out to do His work. Out there, they find themselves increasingly surrounded by other rescued ones He’s rescuing. (Some of His choices are surprising in revealing His graciousness: there is seemingly no accounting for His taste in people.)
The Kingdom of Heaven pays out what He offers: His personal presence; a calling throughout life; eternal life as the final reward. Our work for Him will be as valuable to us as our present awareness of His presence is: we may experience eternal life, not “someday,” but right now. Alas for the ones who waste their lives in gradating royal brothers and sisters! Blessed are they who enjoy that particular wealth of the Kingdom today! (from Mt. 20:1-16) X.269 Nothing can compete with the splendors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let nothing compete with the splendors of the Kingdom of Heaven!
X.270 The Kingdom of Heaven is an attaining unto joy; attaining to the Kingdom of Heaven is to be possessed by its King’s joy. X.271 The Kingdom of Heaven is its seekers seeking it—then finding that they were already found before they found it. X.272 Only one “selling of a soul” is needful here. X.273 The Kingdom of Heaven is broader than you can imagine; yet narrower, and narrowing, as its catch is drawn, hand over hand, toward shore. X.274 (We will never understand all that Jesus meant; means. And this is alright.) “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30)
Consider the import of these oft-quoted words: When a man or woman comes to Jesus of Nazareth, takes the rest He is offering, finds His yoke to be light and easy, learns from Him, that man or woman then enters into a load-sharing, mutually-yoked work that is ALL Jesus, ALL the time, along His RESTFUL Way. No longer does that man or woman require the self-justification of pointing to their religious exhaustion as proof of their self-salvation. They can simply turn their head a little—under the yoke with Jesus—and absolutely delight that He is actually doing it all. He is pulling the whole weight of the whole Christian life. He is carving out new fields for simple planting of seeds. He is showing us how to plant those seeds most fruitfully. He is teaching us to take our noonday meal in the shade of yonder tree. He instructs us as we take each step-by-step. He is laughing at the mistakes we make along the way. He is pointing back over our shoulder at the work almost unconsciously done. And He’ll turn us for Home when the work is, at last, completed. In other words, Thank You, Jesus! His Kingdom is a kingdom of glorious suffering, unrecognizable to the world whose broken ways He came to right: He will spread His arms to call all, to embrace all, to welcome all into the arms of the God who has always loved them.
His yoke, light and easy, rests upon His shoulders just as perfectly naturally as did the crossbeam which He carried up Golgotha’s hillside. He staggers not under the weight of your sin. He walks upward, heavenward, carrying it. His Holy Spirit trails along behind Him wherever He goes. Joy lights the path of this conquering King. His Kingdom conquers the world by His own perfect adherence to the will of the Father. In other words, “It is finished.” God, in his foreknowledge, chose us to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers. He chose us long ago; when the time came he called us, he made us righteous in his sight, and then lifted us to the splendour of life as his own sons.
In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not hesitate to spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need? Who would dare to accuse us, whom God has chosen? The judge himself has declared us free from sin! Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us! Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of us know the truth of the ancient text: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’. No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us! I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 8:29-39, Phillips) This week, at Anchor, we considered how the Vineyard-owner from the parable of Matthew 20 might be hinting at something like the following:
“Isn’t it wonderful,” Jesus asks, “that just as I was wonderful to you, I’m always choosing to be wonderful… to everyone?! Look around,” He says. “Look at all the people I’ve got you rubbing shoulders with, every single day: these are the highest work of your work in my fields.” He smiles even more broadly. “Or were you starting to think that the moral-of-this story was only your personal morality, your self-righteous hardwork, or, even worse than that, promise of eventual reward. Oh, my friend—it is so much more than that! Back when I called you—back when you and I understood together where all this was going—did you misinterpret what we were doing? Yes, I sent you into the world; yes, I sent you into my vineyard—but what did you think we were doing there together? We were in the vineyard—you and I, together; shoulder to shoulder—not to talk about its fruit, not to be knowledgable about its potential eventual crops; even to constantly point to the fruit as if the fruit was the thing. The fruit is a part of the thing, yes. But the fruit, my dear friend… is not the thing. “The thing… is my calling you… your coming along with me… our going-together into the fields of this vineyard. The thing… is us… together. Just you and me, as we’re walking out every single moment of the moments that are making up your life: the thing… is our life together… together. “And do you wanna know what’s especially wonderful? “That the more you come to terms with just how wonderful what we’re doing together is…the more you’re celebrating being part of this glorious work-with-me… well… in the midst of enjoying the work, delighting in me, doing this together… that’s the moment when others start to wonder--these people doing their lives around you--why YOUR life is so full of wonder. As you’re walking around with me… learning to see the world like me… you’ll start to look, to others, like me. “And, you see,” He smiles now with the greatest affection it is possible to conceive of, “that is the thing. That’s why I called you in the first place. That’s the whole of the Kingdom of Heaven. My friend, that’s what we’re doing, here, together: living our whole lives together, so that everyone may have life in me.” “The kingdom of God never comes by watching for it. Men cannot say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘there it is.’ For the kingdom of God is inside you.” (Luke 17:20,21)
Over this last week, I had the pleasure of going through all four Gospels and then simplifying, then collating, every single thing that Jesus ever said about the Kingdom of God. So, by way of reminder, everything you're about to read is, according to Jesus, now, permanently, today-tomorrow-forever, temporally and eternally, IN YOU. WITHIN YOU is a Kingdom that Has arrived; is the Good News; is still, and always will be, arriving; is a perpetual feasting; is pure power; and pure potential kinetic energy. INSIDE YOU is a Kingdom that is subtle and yet always growing; small but destined to become mighty; proven out by its final outcomes: a Kingdom of goodness, immeasurable value, the intensive seeking of which is also its joyous finding. THE KINGDOM WITHIN YOU is after every single person upon the earth; is the best of all that’s been—currently is—and all that’s to come; is utterly gracious; wide-WIDE-open; extremely intense; but also generous—like a living-breathing invitation. (An invitation to what, you might ask? Oh, I’m so glad you did!) Because WITHIN YOU is a Kingdom—a Kingdom of Heaven, don’t forget!—that is the wildest, most joyous, sort of PARTY! This KINGDOM INSIDE YOU is a perpetual call to attention; the pointing-to and arrival upon God’s secret; pure growth and pure growing, at one and the same time: it is right here, right now; a message entirely its own; requiring of your all; a worthy place to set one’s heart and closest focus. And, almost best of all, this KINGDOM WITHIN YOU has been given-to-you for your real-time experience—that is given to you; never, ever earned!—it is Paradise RIGHT NOW; it operates from the freshness of a twice-born spirit; brought to bear, in fact, by the Holy Spirit; meaning you yourself are holy, otherworldly, even as you live within this world! My friends, today, and all week along, and every moment until you draw your final breath, the Kingdom of God is inside you! “The new revelation of God in Jesus Christ, the new way of approach to the Infinite Father manifested in the appearance of the Son, had created for the primitive Christians a new life and had illumined them with a new light. It gave them a new insight into the relations between God and man, and a fresh manifestation of the bonds uniting our Father in Heaven with His children on earth. It made them see with new vividness the way of God’s salvation and the duties which God required of man.” Thomas M. Lindsey The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries I love these descriptions of the “early days” of the Body:
Jesus was their new revelation; the new way of approach to the Father; their new life; their new light; a new insight: He was the fresh manifestation of the new vividness of the way of God's salvation. What if you and I lived that new, new, new, new, new, fresh newness all week long, this week, so that others might get a glimpse of Him? Sounds to me like quite an adventure! “Now if Christ does live WITHIN YOU his presence means that your sinful nature is dead, but YOUR SPIRIT becomes alive because of the righteousness he brings with him. I said that our nature is 'dead' in the presence of Christ, and so it is, because of its sin. Nevertheless once the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives WITHIN YOU he will, by that same Spirit, bring to your whole being new strength and vitality.
“So then, my brothers, you can see that we have no particular reason to feel grateful to our sensual nature, or to live life on the level of the instincts. Indeed that way of living leads to certain spiritual death. But if on the other hand you cut the nerve of your instinctive actions by obeying THE SPIRIT, you are on the way to real living. “All who follow the leading of God’s Spirit are God’s own sons. Nor are you meant to relapse into the old slavish attitude of fear—you have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with A FULL HEART, 'Father, my Father.' The Spirit himself endorses our INWARD conviction that we really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in his suffering we shall certainly share in his glory.” (Romans 8:10-17, Phillips) Remember, as you encounter this week: Jesus lives WITHIN YOU. He has already made YOUR SPIRIT alive. The power of the Resurrection is likewise WITHIN YOU. THE SPIRIT of Jesus is your ever-available Guide through life. By the Lord's work, you, right now, may enjoy A FULL HEART. For your INWARD sense, of His perfect love, is perfectly correct! “Jesus Christ signifies God, not without man or—which would be even worse—against him, but God with man, and indeed for him, as his Friend and Helper and Saviour and Guarantor. Jesus Christ signifies God Himself becomes man’s Neighbour and Brother, akin and alongside in order in his stead to redeem his ruined cause. Jesus Christ is in person the faithfulness of God which draws near the unfaithfulness of man and overpowers it as God Himself not only confirms and maintains His covenant with His creature but once and for all leads it to its goal and secures it against every threat. He is the reconciliation of the world to God which does not merely look and go beyond the sin of man but sets it aside. He is the effective justification and sanctification of sinful man, and indeed his honorable vocation to the service of God. He is the kingdom of God which with its comfort and healing has approached and invaded torn humanity suffering from a thousand wounds, and put an end to its misery. He is in the deepest sense the reformation, i.e., not merely the restoration but the disclosure or manifestation of the purpose and glory of all creation. He is the gift of what it has not merited, its liberation by the free love, the free grace and the free mercy of God in the purity of His will and with the superiority of His power. In a word, He is the goodness of God…” Karl Barth
Church Dogmatics IV.3.2 54.21 We labor and strive because of our hope; not toward it. Our living Hope is already beside us; with us; within us.
54.22 The Kingdom knows no hierarchy, no classes, no ages, no statures; only abiding in Jesus, union, unity, oneness. 54.23 Let your speech, life, love, faith, and purity be His, for His are what our Heavenly Father recognizes. 54.24 We end by absorbing what absorbs us. 54.25 The salvation of Jesus rides out upon my day today. 54.26 Give a great and growing attention to yourself, and you will quickly learn how fleeting are these particular diminishing returns. 54.27 Give only a sliver of the same, offering the rest to anyone/everyone: how great shall be your days! 54.28 Caring even a little leaves room for infinite growth. 54.29 (Not caring: a choice for death.) 54.30 Speak seldom of what you somewhat know. Speak never of what you know not. 54.31 Be reasonable. 54.32 Don’t be less fun than Jesus. “There is a kind of listening with half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient, inattentive listening, that despises the brother and is only waiting for a chance to speak and thus get rid of the other person. This is no fulfillment of our obligation, and it is certain that here too our attitude toward our brother only reflects our relationship to God. It is little wonder that we are no longer capable of the greatest service of listening that God has committed to us, that of hearing our brother's confession, if we refuse to give ear to our brother on lesser subjects. Secular education today is aware that often a person can be helped merely by having someone who will listen to him seriously, and upon this insight it has constructed its own soul therapy, which has attracted great numbers of people... But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together “Abandonment to God is the fruitful way to experience good under God. It means relinquishing ‘our way.’ It means not being angry or resentful when things do not go our way. It means that in God’s hands we are content for him to take charge of outcomes. And in that posture we make way for him to occupy our lives with us, and achieve what is best for us and for others far beyond anything we can even imagine.” Dallas Willard from the collection, Renewing the Christian Mind * * * Now to him who by His power within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or imagine—to Him be glory in the Church through Jesus Christ for ever and ever, Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21, Phillips)
From James 1, with a few thoughts:
The one who simply hears [the message] and does nothing about it is like a man catching the reflection of his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, it is true, but he goes on with whatever he was doing without the slightest recollection of what sort of person he saw in the mirror. This is one of those times where a metaphor is so immediately memorable, so “picturable,” that there’s a danger we’ll not internalize its literal meaning. So, what is James saying to us? That the “word of the Gospel” is meant to be the place in which we see ourselves, come to see the change God is effecting in us, and constantly check-in for reminders and “re-reminders” of His view… of us! In essence, it is a constant reflection of the very face of Jesus. And, as Paul has it, in 2 Corinthians 3, the more we gaze on this mirror—and live out the ways we see that Face in its reflection—the more we see our own faces looking like Jesus. In fact, that’s the heart of how James continues in the next verse: But the one who looks into the perfect mirror of God’s law, the law of liberty (and freedom), and makes a habit of so doing, is not the one who sees and forgets. He puts that law into practice and he wins true blessedness. (James 1:23-25) So, according to James, what are our two necessary actions? Simply: To gaze upon Jesus and to do as He does. Or, I’ll put it to you this way: Only those receiving a constant love tend to constantly love. Only those enjoying the joy of the Lord tend to impart joy. Only those at-peace with the heart of God tend to spread peace. Only those so grateful for the long-suffering patience of God are persistently, steadfastly patient with others. Only those enrapt by His kindness find the gear to be and to live likewise. Only those receiving of HIS goodness tend toward activities of constant goodness. Only those full of faith tend to, in the end, live a life that’s faithful. Only those knowing the gentle heart of God prize the heart of gentleness. And, only those coming under the direct control of God tend toward the beginnings of self-control. Do you see what I did there? Do you see what’s in the mirror? It’s the ways we receive the fruits of the Spirit—the literal inner life and personality of Jesus—that defines how we put into practice, by that Spirit, those very same fruits. We receive… and we then give away. A rhythm of experience and of offering. What a way to live in our New Year! A Christmas Carol
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago. Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day, Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay; Enough for Him, whom angels fall before, The ox and ass and camel which adore. Angels and archangels may have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; But His mother only, in her maiden bliss, Worshipped the beloved with a kiss. What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart. Christina Rossetti c. 1872 “My heart is overflowing with praise of my Lord, my soul is full of joy in God my Savior. For he has chosen to notice me, his humble servant and, after this, all the people who ever shall be will call me the happiest of women! The one who can do all things has done great things for me—oh, holy is his Name! Truly, his mercy rests on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has swept away the high and mighty. He has set kings down from their thrones and lifted up the humble. He has satisfied the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away with empty hands. Yes, he has helped Israel, his child: he has remembered the mercy that he promised to our forefathers, to Abraham and his sons for evermore!” (Luke 1:46-55, Phillips)
As we spend these next eighteen days meditating on the grandeur of the Incarnation, let me challenge us to mirror the posture of the mother of Jesus: OVERFLOWING with praise! FULL of joy! DELIGHTING to be noticed! HUMBLY serving! HAPPY with the heart’s true joy! EXULTING in His goodness! REVELING in His mercy! WATCHING IN WONDER all He can do! LIVING-INTO His plans! SATISFIED with His provision! ACCEPTING His help! REMEMBERING how He remembers EVERY SINGLE promise He’s promised! Never forget: WE are the ones privileged to SHOW THE WORLD that Christmas is, in fact, REALITY! 100 He visits Mary & Martha in Bethany Luke 10:38-42 AS THEY CONTINUED their journey, Jesus came to a village and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house. She had a sister by the name of Mary who settled down at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was very worried about her elaborate preparations and she burst in, saying, “Lord, don’t you mind that my sister has left me to do everything by myself? Tell her to get up and help me!” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, my dear, you are worried and bothered about providing so many things. Only a few things are really needed, perhaps only one. Mary has chosen the best part and you must not tear it away from her!” Just after… A MAN FINISHES a meeting on the other side of town, shakes his counterpart’s hand, walks out the door and into the freshness of the evening air. He takes a deep breath in; lets it out.
As he walks back home, he is at first totally unaware of the loveliness of the sunset: how its pinks and purples linger over the western hills and rises. But all at once he notices. He turns his full attention to the poetry of the night’s encroaching over the town: men and women are returning through the warm-lit doors of their homes; food is cooking; children play in the street, unconcerned. He is watching as he winds along through the alley into the straightaway that runs right up to the door of his shared family home. His sisters are standing outside at the open door. They are talking to a stranger. Both their faces are lit by a lovely warm glow. Even at a distance he can see that their eyes are moist. The stranger nods his head as the two of them pass by each another. “Who was that man?” Lazarus asks his two sisters, arriving home. “Come inside,” they say, “and we’ll tell you all about it.” As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9, ESV) * * * "The Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not come to the world in order to bring a doctrine; he never lectured. Since he did not bring a doctrine, he did not try by way of reasons to prevail upon anyone to accept the doctrine, nor did he try to authenticate it by proofs. His teaching was really his life, his existence. If someone wanted to be his follower, his approach, as seen in the Gospel, was different from lecturing. To such a person he said something like this: Venture a decisive act; then we can begin. What does that mean? It means that one does not become a Christian by hearing something about Christianity, by reading something about it, by thinking about it, or, while Christ was living, by seeing him once in a while or by going and staring at him all day long. No... venture a decisive act; the proof does not precede but follows, is in and with the imitation that follows Christ." Søren Kierkegaard
Judge for Yourself! It is early in the day on a Monday—you’ve just woken from your sleep wrapped in your cloak—you and the other disciples, most still sleepy, all very hungry, start to realize that Jesus is nowhere to be seen. You had spent the night camped out a little distance from the main road; the only roof over your heads was the wide-spreading boughs of the tree above you. The morning breeze now faintly flutters its leaves; you and the others rise to go and look and find Jesus, wherever He happens to be.
It doesn’t take very long. He is just over the nearest rise, sitting and facing away in the direction of the western horizon. He, as so often in the early mornings, is perfectly still. You know that He is talking with His Father. Just the sight of Him there—so sitting and still and talking and, even, at times, smiling—is enough to make you wish for exactly what He has. So, today, you walk right up to Him. He opens His eyes; sees you. And, without missing a beat, you ask the following question: “Lord, John used to teach his disciples how to pray. Would you teach us how to pray?” Oh! how His eyes light up! how His lips take on the grandest loveliest smile you’ve ever seen! And looking you directly in the eye, and with the same beautiful smile, He says, simply: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. |
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