journey onWord with us

Each day is filled with a myriad of people, activities, thoughts, expectations and a good dose of the unexpected. How often have you thought to yourself, “This day certainly didn’t turn out the way I had planned”? It’s interesting to me that in the midst of all the twists and turns of each day, I can easily miss lessons from God … moments with Him and miracles from His hand. It’s easy for me (and you) to want Him to part our Red Sea, write His will in the sky or dramatically heal someone who we love. And in the process of wanting Him to fit into our plans, we miss moments and miracles from the Father’s hand. Just this week, my wife Genel caught wind of a miracle that happened, which we almost missed.

About six weeks ago, she was called to her aunt and uncle’s home due to a serious illness. Her uncle was taking care of his wife who was at the end of a nine-year battle with cancer. He couldn’t handle the physical part alone any longer and reached out to Genel. Her first visit to the home lasted about forty-five minutes, and was very stressful. Later the same week, Genel spent another couple of hours in the house preparing to receive a hospital bed and organizing things for her aunt to come home. A few days later, her aunt fell and Genel spent the night on a sofa beside her. I am sure many of you reading this article have done the very same things, but helping a family member was not the miracle of which I am speaking.

If you knew my wife well, you would know that she is highly allergic to cats. She can be in a room with a feline for as little as five minutes and be stuffed up and sneezing with her eyes watering. Do you relate?  Genel’s aunt and uncle have always loved cats and two of them rule that house!  I had expressed concern to my wife about her severe allergy, but we both knew Genel was going to go anyway.  The cats even seemed to take a liking to her.  On the evening she spent the night beside her aunt, Genel awoke with a cat actually lying beside her head and the other on a close-by chair. Amazingly, during that stressful time, when Genel had to be taking the lead on serious life issues, her allergies basically went away!  No sneezing!  No itching eyes! Nothing! But in the emotion-filled days before her aunts passing, we missed seeing the marvelous protection and provision for Genel.

On Tuesday of this week, Genel visited her uncle in his home … with the cats. Within five minutes of her arrival, her eyes began to water, she became stuffed up, and then the sneezing started. She had to get out quick! It was then that Genel realized what God had done during that critical time when God needed her to gift grace and help to her aunt and uncle. After living her entire life with cat allergies, Genel knew God had given her a miracle, when He needed her to be available.  And we almost missed it!

You may call it a coincidence or no big deal, but for my wife, it was nothing short of miraculous.  And in God’s timing, the allergy returned. Never forget that He is in control! No detail is beyond His gaze or ability to provide.  He wants us to see Him in the myriad of activities, stresses, and unexpected twists of life. Nothing is too small for us to sense His presence, and see His miracles. Note the words of encouragement written by Frederick Buechner in his book, The Alphabet of Grace.

“Morning, afternoon, evening—the hours of the day, of any day, of your day and my day. The alphabet of grace. If there is a God who speaks anywhere, surely he speaks here: through waking up and working, through going away and coming back again, through people you meet and books you read, through falling asleep in the dark.”

Look for God’s power and presence in every aspect of your life!

We here at Journey onWord want to extend a special thank you to our colleague Mark Robb for the exceptional articles this past Holy Week.   His thoughts were a wonderful help on our path toward Easter Sunday.

It’s the day after resurrection Sunday, and life goes back to normal. For us, often it’s difficult to give proper emphasis to what the cross and resurrection really mean… and then to extend that beyond resurrection day. I can only imagine what the days following the resurrection meant to the closest followers of Christ. The resurrected Lord made different appearances and ministered along the way. He showed care for a “doubting Thomas” and restored Peter. He commissioned His disciples to go and make disciples. A new day of ministry was upon them, and that ministry is alive and well today.

I Corinthians 15:3-5
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.

In these verses, Paul is giving us the essence of the gospel, the good news. Christ died and rose again for our sins that we might be justified. But on this first day after resurrection Sunday, are the implications still vibrant and new in our lives? Or have they already dulled and blended into the routine? Consider the experience of Dr. Robert W. Dale, and contrast that against your own resurrection response.

Dr. Robert W. Dale, one of Great Britain’s leading Congregational pastors and theologians, was one day preparing an Easter sermon when a realization of the risen Lord struck him with new power. “Christ is alive!” he said to himself. “Alive-alive-alive!” He paused, and then said, “Can that really be true? Living as really as I myself am?” He got up from his desk and began to walk about his study, repeating, “Christ is living! Christ is living!” Dr. Dale had known and believed this doctrine for years, but the reality of it overwhelmed him that day. From that time on, “the living Christ” was the theme of his preaching, and he had his congregation sing an Easter hymn every Sunday morning. “I want my people to get hold of the glorious fact that Christ is alive and to rejoice over it; and Sunday, you know, is the day on which Christ left the dead.”

Taken from, “Be Transformed” by Warren W. Wiersbe

You’re probably not going to be comfortable walking around verbalizing, “Christ is living!” But you can choose to live it in front of others today, and make it the theme of every day that God grants you. For without the cross and resurrection Sunday there would be no hope. History tells us that Christ lives. Saving faith reveals that Christ is living in me. Let each day reflect the love of your resurrected Lord. The Father wants those who know Him to spread the word of His peace and love because His Son is alive-alive-alive!

If you are not certain of your faith in Christ, or are struggling to find the power of the resurrection in your everyday life, send us a note.  We would love to share the reason of the hope that is within us.

HE IS RISEN! … and I hear you echo back, “HE IS RISEN, INDEED!”

The bright, brilliant Light has broken through the darkness on Resurrection morning, and He is Risen, as He said!  While the redemptive work of Christ was finished before sundown Friday, on Sunday morning, the stone was rolled away, Jesus walked out of the tomb, and everything changed!  O grave, where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting? (I Cor 15:55 KJV)  It’s the BEST NEWS EVER, right?!

Come with me to the scene of the tomb on that amazing Resurrection morning.  A group of women were on their way, bringing spices to anoint the body of Jesus.  At some point during their trip, they begin talking about the stone that seals Jesus’ tomb, and who was going to roll it away for them.  A small detail right?!  I’m a little more than slightly stunned at the stories of these central characters in the life of Jesus.  These characters He chose, who do things like argue multiple times about who will be greatest in the kingdom.  The ones who are there every step of the way, listening to Jesus’ stories, yet continually ask, “now Jesus, can you explain that one to us again?”  The ones who make plans and gather spices for a trip to the tomb, yet are just now thinking about that massive rock that stands between them and Jesus’ body!  I’m only stunned for the briefest of moments until I realize that sounds so much like me!  And then I thank God that He chooses people like them, because that means He chooses people like me.

Arriving at the tomb, the women discover that the massive rock (they had just been talking about) has already been moved.  The tomb is open, and they walk in.

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. (Mark 16:5 ESV)

Alarmed?!  No doubt.  A young man in a white robe?  Interesting.  They are visibly afraid, and this “young man” seeks to calm their fear.  Calm their fear, and then share the BEST NEWS EVER.  Jesus is not there; He is risen as He said!!  The young man then continues with an instruction that begins with two simple words. Go, tell... (Mark 16:7 ESV)

Jesus gives the same instruction to his disciples only a short time later as He meets with them before returning to the Father.  Go, tell.  We all share this responsibility with the women who went to the tomb, and the disciples who gathered on the hillside that day.  Go, tell.

I think it’s proper on this day of celebration, to take a few brief moments and reflect on the response of the women to this central command.  I believe it is much like ours.  I know it has been much like mine at times.

And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:8 ESV)

Trembling and astonishment seized them, and they said nothing to anyone … does that strike a resonant chord with you personally?  Have you lived moments like that before?  “Yes” and “absolutely” for me.  I can think of so many times when my opportunities to go and tell have failed because of crippling fear.  Perfect love drives out fear, and oh how imperfect mine has been in the times I’ve been seized by fear.  I’m fairly certain the purpose of Mark telling this story was not to comfort us with the truth that the people closest to Jesus were overwhelmed with fear in the face of “Go, tell.”  But I believe we should see that in this story.  See it and be emboldened in our own opportunities to “Go, tell.”  Father, help us always, and especially in those times when fear seeks to seize and silence us.  May we go and tell with boldness the life changing truths that your Son died for us and that He is Risen, just as He said!

I am naturally curious about what “today” was like in the lives of the disciples, Mary and Joseph, and the other followers of Jesus.   How did they honor the Sabbath in the shadow of a day that was unlike any other they had experienced before?  Scripture repeatedly says the disciples didn’t get it when Jesus spelled out the plan of His death and resurrection.  So it seems obvious they would be experiencing deep grief and loss today.  Were there any among them that spoke of hope or life?  Whatever was happening, scripture is completely silent.  Not even a single word about this sacred Sabbath.

For today, let’s embrace the silence and become quiet in the presence of God.  Let’s rest as creation did after exerting forces so violent that “…the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” (Luke 23:45)

As you rest, be sober and vigilant … Resurrection is coming!

Passion Friday has become far more than a brief respite from the rhythm of work in my life.  It is no longer a tepid or timid remembrance of Christ’s willful giving of his life for me (and you!).  It has become a sacredly solemn and deeply meaningful day in my intentional walk through the last week of Jesus’ earthly life.  This is a day when there is no shortage of things to draw from in writing.  The problem becomes more of how to focus.  What event, what person, what detail, what emotion would be of profit to share?

This year, on this day, my mind is fixed on a curtain; a curtain that must have been a “seventh wonder” sort of thing to behold.  After researching it, I can only imagine what it was like.  No vibrant and descriptive words, or skilled artist’s rendering could do it justice, of that I am sure.  I was unable to find a definitive source, but common descriptions note the veil as 40 cubits (60 feet) high and 20 (30 feet) wide, with a thickness of a man’s hand (4 inches).  One particularly vivid description (from the writings of Josephus) noted the curtain was made of “Babylonian tapestry, with embroidery of blue and fine linen, of scarlet also and purple, wrought with marvelous skill  … the scarlet seemed emblematical of fire, the fine linen of the earth, the blue of the air, and the purple of the sea.”

Beyond its awe-inspiring form, it had a sacred function.  It was hung to mark the distinction between the sacred center of the temple and the Holy of Holies.  It was a barrier that only a single person could pass through on single day after a strict and significant ritual of preparation.  On the Day of Atonement, and only on that day, the High Priest entered the dwelling place of God with a sacrifice of blood to make atonement for the sins of the people.  There was a curtain that separated God and man.

The Bible says, And it was the third hour when they crucified him. (Mark 15:25 ESV)  And so began a grueling six-hour period of time when Jesus hung on the cross, suspended by a single spike in each hand and one through both feet.  And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. (Mark 15:33 ESV) … a span of three hours that were unlike any other in eternity past or future.  For three hours Jesus drank from the cup that I believe He was speaking of in the garden the evening before.  The cup that He desperately wanted to be removed; the cup He submitted to because it was the will of his Father.  For three hours God the Son was completely and utterly separated from God the Father.  It makes me wonder if it was during those three hours that  the sins of all for all time were quite literally born in His body.  God cannot look on sin, and for three hours He turned his back on his Son.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (Mark 15:34-37 ESV)

In the moment immediately following His final breath, the temple curtain tore in two.  The 60 foot, by 30 foot, by 4 inch thick curtain was ripped as if a piece of paper.  The only force equal to that moment was the redemptive force of the willing death of Jesus.  At that singular moment, the barrier between God and man was forever torn open.  On that one last day of atonement, one single Man walked up to the curtain, tore it in two and left it forever open for us in His wake. My God, my God, what can I possibly say in response to that?!  I think the Bible has an answer…

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39 ESV)

The veil is gone.  Jesus said, “It is finished!” And it is. Thank you Jesus, for finishing your Father’s work and making a way.  Thank you Jesus, that I have believed, and your sacrifice has once and forever redeemed me.  How about you? Have you believed?  Thank you Jesus, if you have.  If you haven’t, don’t wait another minute!  Call out to Him, and He will answer.

We stand in this place and expectantly wait.  All of creation and God’s Word goes silent after Jesus is taken down from the cross, and the stone is sealed on His tomb.  But it does not stay so.  Resurrection day is coming!

This second post of the day is an estimated timeline of Friday in the last week of Jesus.  It’s being posted this afternoon to draw your attention to the very beginning of the timeline that notes the Passover Seder Jesus shared with his disciples.  It’s something to consider as you sit down to dinner tonight.

I also hope this is helpful as you prepare for bed tonight, wake tomorrow morning and travel through your Friday.

Thursday (our definition of the day)
6:00-11:30pm
Passover Seder – Jesus and his disciples
11:30-1:30am
Garden of Gethsemane

Friday
1:00-1:30am
Confrontation in the garden; Jesus arrested.
1:30-3:00am
Trial 1: Annas, former Jewish High Priest for 16 years; Jesus receives initial physical abuse.
Trial 2: Current Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin Court; Jesus bloodied by abuse.
3:00-5:00am
Imprisonment at Caiaphas’ palace.
5:00-6:00am
Trial 3: All the Jewish elders, including the High Priest, scribes and whole Sanhedrin. They decide to ask the Roman government to kill Jesus.
6:00-7:00am
Trial 4: Hearing before Roman governor Pilate, who declares, “I find no guilt in this man.”
7:00-7:30am
Trial 5: Hearing before Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great who had jurisdiction over Galilee; Jesus refused to answer any questions so Herod returned him quickly to Pilate.
7:30-8:30am
Trial 6: Pilate repeatedly tried to release Jesus but the Jewish leaders continued to object. Pilate physically tortured and beat Jesus beyond recognition seeking to satisfy the Jewish leaders. However, the Jews still demanded that Jesus be crucified. Pilate resists but eventually gives the order to execute Jesus.
8:30-9:00am
Pilate’s Roman soldiers take Jesus into the court (“Praetorium”) and continue to mock and torture him, including driving the “crown” of thorns into his skull.
9:00am-12:00pm (the “third” hour)
Jesus forced to carry his own cross to Golgotha
Crucifixion
Jesus and the Criminal
12:00-3:00pm (the “sixth” hour)
Darkness covers the land
Jesus hangs on the cross for 3 hours separated from his Father.
3:00pm (the “ninth” hour)
Jesus dies.
Earthquake, temple veil torn in two
Soldier pierces Jesus’ side
before sundown
Jesus is buried.

I love language.  I hold a strong belief in the power of words, and I have a particular affinity for poetic prose.  There is a specific phrase from a single translation of today’s paramount event that makes my heart soar.  In the words of the NIV, Chapter 13 of John’s gospel begins this way …

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world…

The sun had gone down on Thursday afternoon in the life of Jesus.  What that meant to He and his disciples, was that Friday had just begun.  But in our definition of a day, there were several more hours before our Passion Friday would begin.  The disciples were gathered in the room Jesus had sent a few of them ahead to prepare earlier in the day, and He was about to begin the sacred Seder.

What comes next are some of the most powerful words of the Holy Week narrative.

he now showed them the full extent of his love.
John 13:1b (NIV)

After reading the last word, can’t you just feel yourself swelling with expectation, bracing for what comes next?  Well, here is what comes next …

Jesus gets up from the table, takes off his outer clothes, wraps a towel around his waist, grabs a basin, fills it with water and begins to wash the feet of his disciples.

Wait … hold on … what?!  This is the full extent?  This is love?  Yes and YES … and for all the other questions, YES!  This is a Jesus-sort-of-kingdom moment.  This is the sum total of His last-shall-be-first teaching.  This is the King who was born in a feed trough in a stable.  This is the King who rode into his coronation parade on the back of a young donkey.  This is the King who was anointed by an unnamed woman in the house of a leper.  This is the King who broke the power of sin and conquered death itself by walking the cross road and willingly giving His life as a ransom for ours.

In removing his clothes and taking this posture, Jesus Christ showed us the standard for His kingdom.  To belong, you must become a servant.  When Jesus had finished washing his disciples’ feet and returned to His place at the table, He spoke a strong and clear message to them and to all of us who choose to follow Him…

So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. (John 13:14-15 MSG)

Last year at this time I issued a challenge.  Were you a reader then?  If you were, did you act on the challenge?  I’ll repeat it again this year … Before resurrection day ends, find someone, and wash their feet.  Seriously, do it.  Do it as Jesus did, and in His name.  We don’t still wear sandals as our primary footwear, and our streets are not composed of the same grit and substance as those of the ancient’s. But Jesus’ command was never about dusty roads and dirty feet.  He commanded his disciples and all of us, because He knows how it can change us and make us more like Him.  I can confidently say that it has changed me.

Jesus showed his disciples the full extent of His love.  Will you also show it?

There is little recorded about this “central” day in the last week of Jesus.  Central, in the sense that it is a small point with seemingly little activity that marks the transition of the crescendo of the triumphal entry, temple cleansing and marathon teaching to the descent towards betrayal and crucifixion.  Wednesday in the life of Jesus is a tipping point.  Emphasized in Mark’s language as he begins chapter 14, “It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.”  His words seem to set the stage for the primary action which is soon to come.

The use of that word (central) is also purposeful, as it is illustrative of an interesting literary technique that Mark is known for.  It’s called the sandwich technique and involves the writer taking two smaller, related stories and breaking them up with a larger, seemingly unrelated story.  This larger story usually has big action or significance which would represent the meat in the sandwich.  While the two smaller, related stories act as the bread.  On further analysis, the central story has elements that tie the other stories together and, in a certain sense, create the “sandwich.”

Our two pieces of bread are the silent but substantive nudge that sends the snowball that is the plot to kill Jesus on its way down the hill towards crucifixion.  The religious leaders need a way to get to Jesus, who is seemingly at His peak of popularity.  Judas shows up and in him they find their way.

But before the action goes any further, Mark narrates the story of a significant meal and an unnamed woman.  A story that Jesus declares as central when He says, “And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”  (Mark 14:9 ESV)  This woman did something risky and supremely sacrificial.  We are not told of her motivations in anointing Jesus, but they can’t be anything short of Spirit-led.  She approaches the table as the guests were reclining after dinner.  She breaks open a bottle of highly valuable perfume and pours it over Jesus’ head.  The reaction to her actions was one of shock and anger that Jesus was quick to rebuke.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
Mark 14:6 (ESV)

After quoting from the Old Testament text in Deuteronomy 15:11 to remind them that the poor they seemed so worried about would always be with them, while He would not, Jesus said these words…

She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
Mark 14:8 (ESV)

God knew … Jesus knew … that a criminal’s body was not ceremonially prepared for burial after their death.  God knew that his Son would die a criminal in mans eyes.  God would not allow man to have that say and made a way for a proper anointing.

And I love the words, “She did what she could.”  On this side of eternity, I want my Savior to say those words of me.  Our perpetual offering to our God and Savior should be to do what we can.

For as many years as God allows me to share thoughts with you during Holy Week, I will join the chorus of voices that proclaim what that woman did for her Savior.  May we live broken and poured out in service to God.  And before we stand before Him with the desire to hear “well done, good and faithful servant,” may our Savior say of us, they did what they could.

On this specific day in the final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry, all those who were within earshot went to school.  From the early morning lesson involving the fig tree that Jesus and the disciples passed leaving Bethany until the last lesson of the day centering on a fig tree and His coming again, Jesus is in full-on teaching mode.  And with precious few exceptions, He teaches with story.

Last year on this day, I shared my love for Jesus’ kingdom stories.  You know … the ones that start out, “the kingdom of God is like…” or “the kingdom of Heaven is like…”  In my post, I shared a story I had heard a couple of years earlier that painted a beautiful picture of what I have come to believe the kingdom of God looks like. After writing that post last year, I admit to thinking I wanted to include that story every year.  But how good is God that only a few days later He would gift me my own kingdom story to tell.  It’s a story that I may struggle to tell coherently, because it’s so wide and deep that I might be tempted to run down rabbit holes and lose you.  But it was a gift from Him, so it’s more than worth it to try.

Last year on March 26^th, I was copied on an email from a two-week old friend.  No, my friend was not two weeks old, but rather I had just met him two weeks earlier 🙂  Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone new because you both shared a person in common?  And you happened to both show up at the same place on the same day because of that person, and within minutes of randomly being paired together, you felt and acted like life-long friends?  Yes, well … that was (and still is) my friend Scott and me.

Scott’s email was an invitation prompted by an emotional phone call he had received from a dear friend.  The invitation was to attend a memorial service for a homeless veteran, Sam, at an inner-city Detroit church/mission.  That inner-city Detroit church/mission? … It just happened to be the site of my “same day, same place” meeting with my new friend Scott just two weeks earlier.

Scott provided a link in his email that told Sam’s story, and the desperate search for anyone that might have known him.  The article began like this…

If you knew Sanderious Crocker, please read this.

He died.

He was 67. Folks called him Sam. He was living in poverty in downtown Detroit. A Vietnam veteran who was seriously wounded, he’d been homeless for a while. He struggled with alcohol. Maybe you know this. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you lost touch. Maybe you wanted to.

Whatever the case, you should know that Sam’s body had been sitting at a Detroit morgue for a week before a friend called me and asked whether there was a way to find his family — any family — because a soldier shouldn’t die alone and neglected.

My fifteen year-old son joined me that Friday, and we met up with Scott and a couple of his friends in the parking lot of a local restaurant to share a ride together.  I cannot possibly share all the sacred details of that day, but there is one more important detail to share before I go any further.

I met another new friend in the parking lot that day.  His name was John, our driver for the day.  John, like Scott, was a Vietnam veteran, and I would later learn of the amazing things he was doing to heal both his wounds and those of others via service projects in Vietnam through the D.O.V.E Fund.  John had brought a personal memento from his time in Vietnam, which he felt had significance to where Sam had fought.  He intended to give it to Sam’s family, a very small measure of which had been found as a result of the newspaper article and the power of the internet.  I learned a forever lesson about the power of healing in simple acts of selfless love from John that afternoon.

The trip to the church was short.  As we exited the highway and turned the corner on the street where the church stood, I was completely overwhelmed with what I saw.  Something close to a hundred motorcycles lined the street next to the church, all with American Flags proudly flowing in the breeze behind them.  There was also what seemed like hundreds of people milling around in the street.  I was so moved, I couldn’t speak.

It was an amazing service, with all the ceremony of a military funeral.  I fought back tears as scores of veterans paid their respects walking past Sam’s casket.  There was music, moving words from people who served at the church/mission, and a beautiful message delivered by the current pastor of the church.  Sam was a close friend of the founding pastor and had been a resident at the mission several times over the years.  From the stories that were told, it was apparent that Sam was well-loved, had a happy childhood, a bright future, and fell completely off the grid in returning from Vietnam with a body, mind and life that had been ravaged by his experience in war.

In the couple of days preceding it, I began to feel a prompt to prepare words for the service.  I fought the prompts and struggled with their source and reason.  I didn’t know Sam, and had no earthly idea why I should be prepared to say something at his memorial service.  Yet, in the most ordinary of activities (like mowing the lawn), words began forming in my mind.  Those words found their context and resonance when we turned the corner that afternoon.

What I saw in that formation of motorcycles, and continued to see in the sacred souls who had gathered for that hallowed occasion, was a vivid image of the kingdom of God.  Nameless people from every corner of life simply showed up because a soldier shouldn’t die neglected and alone.

In finding an appropriate spot in the order of service, I chose to be obedient to the prompting of the past few days.  “Sanderious never knew my name, and I was only introduced to his a few days ago.  This section of the service reads, ‘Remarks …. Family and Friends.’  You might be wondering what right I have to be standing here right now.  What I was thinking that motivated me to stand and speak.  I would quickly and confidently answer that although we did not know each other in life, I stand up for Sanderious today because we are brothers in the kingdom of God.  Sam believed in Jesus, and that makes him my brother.”  I went on to share how the images of that day were a loud and clear reminder to me of how we should all act as members of the kingdom in the here and now.  The simple act of showing up for one of our brothers or sisters … it isn’t any more complicated than that.  And with my last few words, I shared how I thought it was divinely fitting that we were all gathered together on Good Friday.  To remember a precious child of God, and what Christ did for him, and us all, in dying on the cross.

I apologize if my narration of this story sounded disjointed, or carried on too long.  I wish you could have experienced it with me!  And I’ll be quick to draw attention away from my own words and actions, because they are not included for the purpose of inserting myself into God’s story.  All the attention and glory goes to the One who made it all possible, and who gifted that day to me, my son and all my brothers and sisters who attended.  All I hope to say, is …

The kingdom of God is like … the memorial service of Sanderious Crocker.

One of the great joys in really reading and experiencing the Bible, is having moments when you are reading along in a familiar passage and suddenly feel compelled to put the Good Book down, sit back, and say or think the words, “It’s like I just read that for the first time!”  Another, is coming together with brothers and sisters around the Word and having someone share what God has spoken into their life and seeing with new eyes a truth of Scripture.  The post today has both of those elements at its source.

Since reading Mark 11:11 like I had just read it for the first time, my view of Monday’s major event in the last week of Jesus has been fixed on the measured and intentional nature of Jesus’ temple cleansing.  To know that He was there the day before and “looked around,” casts a whole new light on what could look like a “reaction” to something Jesus was seeing for the first time.  And while this truth remains a core part of this story, a friend shared something with me during last year’s lent season that has come back up in conversation many times since.

A few weeks ago, I felt a strong leading to talk with Dennis and ask him to consider collaborating with me on today’s post.  Please come together with me around today’s passage in Mark 11 and share in what God has spoken into my friend’s life…

I must confess, whenever I read the story of Jesus’ cleansing the temple, I feel my own heartbeat quicken and the adrenaline pumping in my veins. Jesus is angered and indignant over what is going on in his Father’s house. In my mind I see the tables flying, the coin scattering, the animals scurrying about, and people stepping out of his way. It feels good … “Get ‘em Jesus.” But more recently, I have come to see that I really have missed the whole point! Jesus’ anger and indignation truly is for his Father’s glory, whereas mine is for those who have frustrated my plans or belittled my purposes.

I have also come to see that Jesus’ concern for his Father’s purposes is larger than I had first thought. I see this in His words to crowd around Him when He says “Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? (Mark 11:17)  While Jesus’ actions were showing his devotion to his Father they were also showing his devotion to the love of his Father for all people. You see, the outermost court of the temple was called the court of the Gentiles. This was the place that God had provided for the people who were not allowed in the temple proper, to come and worship God. And many biblical scholars believe this was the site where all this took place. The people of Jesus’ day, the chosen people, were saying in effect as they worshiped God, “we don’t care about you”. This breaks the Father’s heart and, in-turn, the heart of Jesus.

I’d like to be able to end here and send you off with an appropriate biblical quote or a wise snippet, but I can’t. For you see, at times, I have been that money changer. I have set up shop in the court of the Gentiles. I have done that every time I have ignored, put off, or just been indifferent to someone, because I didn’t think they were worth my time or the interruption they would cause as I ran off to worship or serve my God!

But our God is gracious, and loving, and forgiving. What He did that day was an act of love toward those money-changers, those in the temple that bought and sold, those who had forgotten the true purpose of worship. What He did that day was for us. In everything that God says and does, He is redirecting us back to the center, to His purpose, to Himself. He does not want us to get lost in the outward trappings, schedules, and busyness of worship and service. If we are sensitive to His leading, He will help us keep all things in proper order as His love flows through us to the people around us.

So today, as you walk with your God, enjoy all the people who He brings into your courts.  And if after stopping to spend time with someone, you find you didn’t accomplish all that you had planned, it’s okay … God said so!!

“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere”. Enjoy Him!!