Don’t Just “Do” Church

by Ruth Wilkinson

Doing Church – Introduction (Matthew 16:13-19)

For several years in the early 2000’s, my husband and I didn’t ‘go to church.’ We were two of many, many people, particularly in North America, whose imaginations and whose hearts were caught up by the ‘Missional Church’ movement.

That movement was fueled by an increase in Christian bloggers, which provided people like us, living in a smaller town with not a lot of internet access up to that point, with a greater awareness of other opinions, traditions, and perspectives. It gave us some insight into ancient writers like St. Ambrose, John Chrysostom, Ignatius of Loyola, and Hildegard Von Bingen. These writers had a passion for Jesus, as well as insights and ideas that we found inspiring.

Alongside that growing awareness of other Church traditions, seeing what was happening in our world (watching TV and reading the newspaper (back when that was a thing) and seeing the impact of our culture’s shift into post-modernism) meant taking a deep look into ourselves, and at the Church’s place in the world and saying, “We’re not in Christendom anymore.” Our world had changed.

At the same time, in reaction to the post-modern movement of our broader culture, the Evangelical Church was creating a subculture of music and books and rules and vocabulary. Some of us started to wonder whether we were trying to turn Christianity into a sort of gated community. Someplace where we could feel safe. Some of us started to ask ourselves, “Are we supposed to feel safe? Are we supposed to even be safe?”

The Missional Church movement helped my husband and me to put a finger on some frustrations that we both had with our church experiences, especially around dealing with people who were ignoring the way the world had changed, and who wanted to keep doing things the way they’d been doing them for decades and for centuries. We had butted heads with people whose motto seemed to be what is jokingly called The Seven Last Words of the Church: “We’ve always done it this way before.”

Postmodern, Missional, Christian writers—bloggers and authors like Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch—were not only pushing back against stodginess within the church. They were also pushing back against the secular religiosity of consumerism. Of cynicism. Of vague spirituality. Of worshipping the tiny little gods of individualism. These writers pointed and pointed and pointed to Jesus, and they helped people like us to find our way through some of those frustrations while keeping our eyes on Jesus.

They also refreshed our desire to see God do something amazing. They urged us, in the parlance of the conversation, to not just ‘do church,’ but to ‘be the Church.’

They wrote passionately about being the Church that was created and empowered by the God who was the original missionary,

• The God out of whose real self flowed all that was good to create the universe to create us
• The God who waded into the shallows of three-dimensional space to walk with Adam and Eve in the garden.
• The God who chose to reveal His power, His glory, and His love to humanity,
• The God who became one of us who embodied himself as a human so that He could deliver His message in person.
• The God who, after His death and resurrection, filled us with His spirit and sent us out to do the work that He had begun—of restoring our relationships with him, with each other, and with our planet.

Missional writers urged us to be that Church—to be the Church that was established by the God on whose mission we had been sent. They urged us to be the Church that was founded on Peter’s testimony:

You are the Christ. You are the Son of the living God.

To be the Church that is on the march against the gates of death. The Church who hold the keys to those gates because we’ve been handed them by the one who infiltrated the kingdom of death and opened the gates from the inside.

These writers urged us to reimagine the Great Commission, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel, making disciples…” not simply as a willingness to leave our home and to go to some other part of the world where maybe they hadn’t heard about Jesus, but also as “You’re going into the world anyway. You are going into the world every day. Wherever you are, as you are going, be preaching the good news of Jesus.”

We heard fantastic stories—like the church that was planted on the Pine River in Australia by a guy who was a waterskier. He went waterskiing one Sunday morning and prayed with somebody. He went waterskiing the next Sunday morning and told somebody about Jesus. And they slowly built a church of waterskiers who met on Sunday morning on the bank of the river: who worshipped and ‘did church’ together as a bunch of waterskiers. We loved those stories. They’re so exciting.

Those ‘Missional Church’ years have left their fingerprints on the way church planting is done today, continuing to engage with the principles and ideas fleshed out during that era. It was a good thing. It was a powerful thing. It was an important challenge and, I believe, a correction for the way that many of us had been doing church.

And I loved it. I don’t regret a single second of missing church on Sunday mornings for the years that we were doing the work that we were doing.

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However…

I have to confess.

I have to confess that, in my excitement of seeing God do amazing things as we went into our day to day world, I and others fell into a trap: of looking over our shoulders at the brick and mortar churches from which we had come, and being just a little bit prideful.

Being a little bit arrogant.

Because we said, “We’re ‘being the Church.’ They’re only ‘doing church.’ They’re only showing up on Sunday morning for an hour, singing the same songs they’ve been singing since 1940, following the same formulas, putting their money in envelopes and into a plate. They are stuck in the past. They do their hour on Sunday morning and then they go home. Back to ‘real life.’ They’re not really living their faith. They’re not really ‘being the Church.’ Like we are.”

That is the trap that we fell into. And that is a thing of which I have had to repent.

Not because churches can’t get stuck. Not because Christians can’t forget to live out their faith out in real life and as they go in the world. We are all capable of doing those things.

The reason why I have to repent of that attitude is because I came to understand that those things that we do in that hour on Sunday morning really matter. When we pray together, when we sing together, when we learn together, when we share baptism, when we sit side by side, rubbing elbows. When we do those things well, we are doing things that Jesus himself did and/or commanded us to do. And when we do those things together well, we are fed. We are healed. We are encouraged. We are humbled in ways that empower us when we go out into the world to ‘be’ preaching the gospel we need those things.

They are an inescapable, inextricable part, a necessary part of living our lives of faith in Christ. They are a necessary part of living in—and living out—the mission of the missionary God.

Where our vision fails, where we start to get off track, is when we start to think in terms of ‘being the Church’ and ‘doing church’ as two different things. It’s not either/or. It’s not binary.

We ‘be the Church’ by doing the things that Christ has told us to do. We ‘be the Church’ by engaging—yes!—with Him in a personal relationship, and also with how He moves through our world.

We ‘do church’ by being the Church: by coming together, being together, worshipping together, then going back out into the world and embodying the good news of Christ, because we have been fed and healed and embraced and encouraged (and sometimes corrected) by our brothers and sisters.

We need… us.

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During this series, we’re going to come back a few times to Acts 2:37 and following. This is moments after Peter has preached his first sermon, and people in the streets are asking him, “Now what?”

So the people, when they heard [Peter’s sermon], were cut to the heart and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers and sisters, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” …Those who embraced his message were baptized and about 3000 were added to the believers that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, to prayer, and a sense of awe came over everyone, and the apostles performed many wondrous signs. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and their goods, they shared with anyone who was in need.

In that passage, we see the Church doing church: gathering, worshipping, baptizing, sharing communion at the breaking of bread, praying, learning, teaching, giving. These are the things that we do when we ‘do church’ and these are things that we must do well. Because Jesus has told us to do these things.

So… for a few years in the early 2000s, I didn’t go to church on Sunday mornings, and I do not regret a single second of that adventure. I don’t regret a single second of that schooling and (I gotta be honest) there are times when I miss it. Because it was an adventure.

But I have come back. I have come back to the brick and mortar church. I have come back to this hour on Sunday morning. I have come back to do the things that we do together when we ‘do church’ because I have come to understand that you can’t ‘be the Church’ if you can’t ‘do church.’

We can together stay grounded in our shared history. We can together stay grounded in our forms of worship. And we can—absolutely—have the adventure.

I am here to ‘do church.’ I am here to do it well. I am here to ‘do church’ in a way that shapes me, informs me, and changes me in a way that makes it possible for me to live out—and to live in—the mission of God.

I am here to invite you to join me in doing church together in a way that equips us for being that Church.

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Ruth Wilkinson is Pastor of a CBOQ (Baptist) Church in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada and appears here most Fridays. Her sermon blog is Pastor Percipia. Click the title of this post for a link to the original article and a video sermon of which this is an excerpt.

Do You Have Faith to Walk on Water?

While not quite breaking our six month rule, we’re back again with the blog titled Being a Pilgrim. The writer simply goes by KorgRocker and is currently in a series of studies in the Gospel of John. Click the title below to read this on the blog and then it’s easier to decide to read some of the other installments from John’s gospel.

Jesus Walking on Water

“But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!”
John 6:17-21 NLT

The scene opens with darkness falling, and a small boat with several men in it in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, struggling against the wind and waves. Having been in a small boat in very rough seas, I know that this can be terrifying, but these were mostly seasoned fishermen, so being in a Galilean storm would not have been an unknown experience to them.

Matthew records what happened next, “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water” (Matthew 14:25). I personally don’t doubt for a minute that Jesus did walk on the water, but sometimes I wonder about the physics of this. Were His feet in contact with the water, or was He floating slightly above? Was He bobbing up and down with the waves? Did He get His feet wet?

But when the disciples saw Him, the account in Matthew grips our imaginations – “When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”” (Matthew 14:26). Well, we would be terrified as well wouldn’t we? It is not a common occurrence after all, and our minds would naturally flip into fear mode when something inexplicable in these circumstances happens. But the disciples were stuck in the boat, so flight, running away, was not an option. By the way, I think Jesus would have been walking in His own space on the water, with stormy mayhem around Him, but peace under His feet.

What happened next was another example of the “fear nots” in the Bible. Jesus often had to calm the fears of His disciples, and this was one such occasion. Being around Jesus must have been an unpredictable and often unnerving experience, prompting His occasional loving responses – “Do not be afraid”.

The account of Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee is something that often catches people’s imaginations. It is a well known story, taught often in Sunday Schools, but it bears further scrutiny as to why Jesus chose to reach Capernaum that way. It was of course the most direct route, as the land-based route around the North side of the Sea was quite long.  He could have course asked another boat owner to ferry Him across the next day. But Jesus chose to do this for several reasons, one of them being that it was an important learning experience about faith for His disciples, and, consequently, for disciples ever since.

What happened next wasn’t recorded by John, but Matthew wrote it up. “Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus” (Matthew 14:28-29). How remarkable is that? Impetuous Peter with the courage (foolhardiness?) to step out of the boat onto the rough water. With his eyes firmly fixed on Jesus he managed a few steps, but then his natural mind took over and he started to sink into the water. Jesus’ response is well know – “Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” (Matthew 14:31). John never mentioned this episode, perhaps because he was ashamed that he didn’t have the courage to follow in Peter’s steps.

I suppose we pilgrims perhaps look at this episode in a detached way, acknowledging the miracle but accepting that we don’t have the faith to follow suit with something similar. But it graphically illustrates what is possible if we have faith. We know, of course that, ” … it is impossible to please God without faith” (Hebrews 11:6a). But faith to walk on water? Jesus taught about taking small steps of faith, as we read in Luke 17:6 “The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!“”

Faith starts as small as a mustard seed, but as we exercise that faith in doing God’s work, it will lead to bigger things.

Father God. We confess before You our poverty in faith. Please forgive us, we pray, and help us to grow more and more. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

False Prophets in Peter’s Day and in Ours

Today we’re going to randomly dive into the middle of a long series of blog posts from 1 Peter. How long? Here’s what the author says:

…I love to spend time digging deep into God’s Word. I have learned more in these last years than I have ever learned before. I spent a year writing about Paul’s letter to Ephesus, and now a year on 1 Peter. I plan on doing 2 Peter, then 1 and 2 Timothy…

Did you catch that? One year on each!

Today we’re introducing you to a new blog, Abundant Joy written by Kimberly Minick. Click the title which follows to read today’s devotional at source. Then you’ll be in a good place to click the home page, which, if you’re reading this when it’s published, immediately shows you the start of the series on 1 Peter.

2 Peter 1:19-21

“We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Peter continues here with the thought he started in verse 16. “For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ…” He told them about being an eyewitness (along with James and John) of Jesus’s majesty at the Transfiguration. He has had a glimpse of Jesus as the glorious King he is. It has given him confidence of Jesus’s future return.

He continues here with hope for all his readers. “We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” The prophetic word is the Scriptures, as we read in the next verse. He will go on to explain how the prophetic word is strongly confirmed in the next verse and I will cover that when I get there.

Peter says that his readers would do well to pay attention to it as to “a lamp shining in a dark place.” This could be a reference to Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”

We live in a world darkened by sin. Douglas Moo writes, “In the darkness of this present world, God’s word casts light on his purposes and plans and so enables believers to live as those who are ‘in the day’ (see Rom. 13:11-12).” Let’s look at those verses in Romans. “Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” 

Both Peter and Paul write about the day being near. Peter writes “until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” The day of the Lord refers to Christ’s second coming. The morning star is a reference to Jesus. We read in Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the Root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Peter is saying that we need to pay attention to the Word of God. Read it! Study it! It is the light that will illuminate our way in this dark world. And we are to do it until Christ returns.

Peter continues. “Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Peter is reassuring his readers that Scripture is inspired by God. Paul puts it this way. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Kenneth Gangel writes, “The Scriptures’ human authors were controlled by the divine Author, the Holy Spirit. Yet they were consciously involved in the process; they were neither taking dictation nor writing in a state of ecstasy. No wonder believers have a word of prophecy which is certain. And no wonder a Christian’s nurture must depend on the Scriptures. They are the very words of God Himself!”

Peter began this section with his experience- the Transfiguration. But he concludes with the Word of God, which he says we would do well to pay attention to. On David Guzik’s Enduring Word website, he writes, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed: Peter’s experience at the transfiguration was amazing. But the testimony of God’s Word about Jesus was even more sure than Peter’s personal experience. The fulfillment of the prophetic word confirmed is a certain, reliable testimony of the truth of the scriptures.”

There are at least 332 Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah that Jesus fulfills. Peter Stoner was the Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College. He figured out the mathematical probability of one person in the first century fulfilling just eight of these. This is how he put it. “We take 100,000,000 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly… Blindfold a man and tell him… he must pick up one silver dollar… What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have of writing… eight prophecies and having them come true in one man.”

My purpose here is to show you that the Bible is divinely inspired. There are so many other ways to go about that (archaeological finds, cohesiveness, etc.) but, Peter is writing about prophecy, so I will stick with that.

I am going to end with what we will start with next time–false prophets. Notice that Peter writes “no prophecy ever came by the will of man.” He is referring to the scriptures here, but the prophets wrote the scriptures. There were examples in the Old Testament of false prophets.

Ezekiel warns, “This is what the Lord God says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing…They saw false visions and their divinations were a lie. They claimed, “This is the Lord’s declaration,” when the Lord did not send them, yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message. Didn’t you see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s declaration,” even though I had not spoken?” (Ezekiel 13:3,6-7). and Jeremiah said this. “This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord’s mouth” (23:16).

We have false prophets today just as Peter did in his day. We even have a group that teaches that there is an office of “Prophet” as well as “Apostle.” I have two blog posts on this if you would like to read about it. Prophets – Abundant Joy; Apostles – Abundant Joy. These groups teach that prophecy is something that can be taught, that doesn’t have to be accurate, and should always be positive. Does this sound like what we have been reading about? If prophecy is indeed by God, which I believe it is, it will be 100% accurate. We will get more into this as we move into 2 Peter 2.

My encouragement for you… is to stay in the Word. Read through Psalm 119. Notice how every verse is another way of referring to the Word of God! “How happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk according to the Lord’s instruction!” (vs. 1)

Grace be with you!

 

Casting Crowns

Revelation 4: 1-11 (NLT)

Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. Twenty-four thrones surrounded him, and twenty-four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit of God. In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty
the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,

“You are worthy, O Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power
For you created all things,
and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

I can’t remember her name.

I can’t remember the context.

But as we were in a group of people discussing the above passage in Revelation, she suddenly blurted out, “Oh! That’s where Casting Crowns [the band] gets its name! I thought it was just a random band name.”

The phrase itself is not found in our Bibles but appears as “…cast their crowns before the throne…” in the NKJV, NASB, ESV, etc. though other translations have “place their crowns;” “lay their crowns;” and even “throw their crowns.”

I would expect that in the splendor of heaven, being at last in the presence of God is the reward, and whatever else was part of the journey that gets us there, those acts of service pale in comparison to the time we confessed our sin and asked God to place us under the covering provided by Jesus on the cross.

…The line “casting crowns” however is not original to the band by the same name, but was taken — appropriately enough, if you look back to the text above — from the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Some hymnbooks may have,

casting crowns before thy throne around the glassy sea

[Rabbit trail #1 – Note that this verse is omitted entirely in the initial Google results you see. Never trust Google as an information source. It’s a search engine, and a terrible one at that.]

[Rabbit trail #2 – Sometimes the phrase Holy, Holy, Holy is mentioned in discussions of the role that time has in eternity; the idea that we will live without time; to which the phrase, with its repetition and rhythm is used to counter that concept. I would dismiss that argument entirely, because in scripture when something is repeated three times it’s done for emphasis. I would argue that in John’s vision, he perhaps heard a continuous other-worldly singing of “Holy” and expressed that in the manner available to him in his day, and a form that is consistent with all the other word repetitions in scripture.]

We now return to our regular program.

So how did get here today?

I was posting something this morning on Facebook. I’ve included it below, removing the local references…

Last night our town held its annual civic awards ceremony and some well-deserving people were recognized for their contribution to local non-profit organizations.

Each year however, I can’t help but think of the people who serve faithfully through the churches and parachurch organizations which make up what we call our local Christian Network. I wrote about them originally in our April 9th newsletter, not by name of course, because these people serve quietly and in humility. I wrote

Think of this in terms of some of the individual organizations that make a difference in our corner of the world… But you can also think of it in terms of the volunteer community as a whole, because some of the same people who you see in one context are often back at it the very next day, helping out another organization.”

Their work is largely unrecognized by our municipal governments and perhaps even misunderstood. Ruth told me early this morning that during the winter, our Mayor said that the people who were serving the people in the homeless community encampment are “part of the problem.” (She’s thinking of getting a t-shirt that proclaims that!)

There is however an awards ceremony coming up to recognize those people. It will happen in a time and space beyond the present. And knowing what I know about them and about the foretelling of this event, those people will then take their awards and lay them at the feet of Him for whom they willingly served.

Matthew 6:1-4 NIV

[Jesus:] “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

 

 

The Ending to the Sermon on the Mountain

There are many reading here who have memorized the Blessed are… (Beatitude) portions of the Sermon on the Mount, but two chapters later, there’s still a lot going on in the last half of the last chapter, Matthew 7: 13-27.

¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell^[*] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. ¹⁶ You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ¹⁹ So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

²¹ “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. ²² On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

²⁴ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

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*or road that leads to destruction

There are three primary images in this section:

• a gate
• a fruit tree
• a house (or if you prefer, a foundation)

However, there are five actual word pictures created in this text.

The Gate

There are many entry points that lead to destruction. You’ve heard people say, “there are many roads that lead to God,” but it’s more accurate to say, “there are many roads that don’t lead to God.” (Tweet that!) Our pastor took this one step beyond the text, but I believe you would agree that this works. He drew a funnel and pointed out that if your entry point is the broad one, as you dig down, that life becomes increasingly constricting. Then he drew an upside-down funnel and pointed out that the entry point is narrow, but as you move down, there is increasing freedom. Extra-Biblical visual, but true. Do I correct people when they say, “all roads lead to God,” or do I let the comment pass unchallenged?

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

This only appears in one verse, and the NLT subtitles consider it part of the fruit tree analogy. Still, it’s an excellent bridge from the section before to what follows and the visual image would be quite laughable were it not taking place all around us. There are many false teachers out there seeing who they can deceive by dressing up false doctrine to look authentic. Is my discernment meter on so I can identify false teachers? Have I ever through carelessness said something that might lead someone astray?

The Fruit Tree

Most tree trunks look the same to me, and since I’m not an expert on leaves — nor can you see distinguishing detail from a distance — it’s ultimately the fruit that makes you say, “apple orchard” at one scene and “orange grove” looking at another. Our lives will be marked by fruit — love, and eight other fruit of the spirit — and marked by an attitude of humility. Our testimony will be, “I once was lost, but now am found.” The source of our joy will be what Christ has done for us. And yes, spiritual fruit can also be interpreted to represent those we lead to faith; spiritual children. When people look at me, do they see a trunk and leaves that make me hard to distinguish from anyone else, or is spiritual fruit evident in my life?

False Disciples

This is really the core of the teaching, but it does produce a visual image. One pastor used lips. The passage describes people who do not possess what they profess. This should arrest us in our tracks. Am I giving lip service to a faith that is not real inside me?

The House / The Foundations

The houses in this section are actually identical, but one stands because its foundation is sure, while the other caves in because it’s foundation is shaky. This challenges me because you really don’t know what your response will be until you are in the middle of the situation. Jeremiah 12:5 (GW) asks, “If you have raced against others on foot, and they have tired you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in open country, how can you live in the jungle along the Jordan River?” We need to not only have a solid foundation, but we need to watch for cracks in that foundation. When the rain and winds beat down is my foundation Christ, or am I trusting in some other external, or my own abilities?

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As I typed that last line, I was reminded of a worship song that God is greatly using in congregations around the world, Firm Foundation. Here’s a softer version of the song which is more like the version I first heard when it was sung at the Asbury Revival. It will be familiar to many of you, but if not, click and enjoy.

 

Reeds Blowing in the Wind

Today we have a new author to introduce to C201 readers. The author is, I think, Alex Oram; the site is James1Seventeen. (I had to see what that verse was! It’s, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” NLT). Click the title below to read this at source.

Reeds into Rocks

I heard it on the radio one morning. I wish I could have gotten the name of the host giving the sermon / encouragement. He said, “Jesus can turn a reed into a rock.” I don’t think the point was that Jesus called Peter a rock, etc., or any of the implications that come with that line of thinking or teaching. Side note, on that particular story, this is the best explanation I’ve read, coming from the book, “A God Named Josh” by Jared Brock:

“Yehoshua (Jesus) uses this Petros-Petra combo for
a tidy wordplay pun in Matthew 16:18, saying, “And I
tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.”

The joke isn’t any good in English, but it works in
Greek. “You are Petros and on this petra I will build
my church.” Sadly, billions of Christians have not only
missed the joke but also the meaning of the
sentence. In fact, it might be the most widely
misunderstood verse in the entire Bible. Read the text
and context in Matthew 16:13-17. Nearly all the
ancient greats from Augustine to Ambrose to
Chrysostom to Jerome agree: Yehoshua is not
building his eternal church on a hothead fisherman or
the hard ground of Caesarea Philippi, but on the
bedrock foundational truth that Peter has just
expressed: Yehoshua is indeed the Christ, the Son of
the living God.”
-Jared Brock

As far as turning reeds into rocks, I do like the analogy. The language of reeds is not something Jesus is unfamiliar with using. He used it in telling who John the Baptist was and was not:

“And the messengers of John having departed, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: What did you go out into the desert to gaze on? A reed shaken and swayed by the wind?”
‭‭—Luke‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

And now in a more obscure passage, pointing back to a prophecy out of the Book of Isaiah:

“A battered reed He will not break, And a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, Until He leads justice to victory.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭20‬ ‭AMP‬‬

What’s wild is the fact that Jesus does not deny the reality of reeds being broken. In this day and age of “You Do You,” “Upgrading,” and the worship of Self, as if we are naturally “good” and simply need to become “better,” Jesus comes to us as a Realist, showing us we are not simply reeds, swaying in whatever direction the wind blows, but also battered, bent, and broken to the core. But not without hope. Made for more.

Battered by the prince of the power of the air (Satan), bent by sin, sin’s effects, and sin’s stain, and broken… often by the world’s demands.

What’s comforting is that Jesus encountered many a battered reeds. I like the rendering of this passage that the Amp Classic translation uses. “A battered reed He will not break.” Jesus didn’t come to kick a man down. But when he “saw a man down, he put a hand down,” as someone recently told me, and encouraged me to always do.

We see it in the Samaritan story Jesus tells. “See a man down, put a hand down.” And the part about the smoldering wick? This is fire. I’m a millennial, that’s what we sometimes say when referring to an amazing thing. He will not quench a smoldering wick. He will not come to douse our barely burning fire with water but to stir it up again, igniting it all over. So is the Spirit of God trying to get your attention today? I have never known Him to overstep His bounds.

He pursues.

Those circumstances are not “coincidences.”

Jesus is the Name above every other Name.

Come to Him. He will not reject you!

 

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Christianity 201 has no product to sell you, no Patreon to ask you to join, and collects no referral fees from other websites. It’s a free gift to you, and has been for 14 years. Enjoy!

I Need Patience, and I Need it Now!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…  – Galatians 5:22a CEB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance… – same vs. NIV

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But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently. – Romans 8:25 NCV

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.– Colossians 3:12 NLT

A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.- Proverbs 15:18 NIV

Love is patient… 1 Corinthians 13:4 various

This is our thirteenth time featuring the writing of Chris Hendrix at Devotions by Chris. You can learn more about his story through his About page which you can link to through the link in the blog’s title, or the one in the devotional title which follows.

The Fruit Of Patience

One of the Fruits of the Spirit that we don’t like to talk about is patience. We like to talk about love, joy, peace and kindness, but we tend to forget about patience being one. Have you ever thought about the fruit that patience and impatience yield in our life? When we’re impatient things escalate and complications arise. Our vision of the future gets clouded and we make dumb decisions. Impatience also comes with negative feelings that create negative behaviors for which we have to apologize.

However, patience yields a different crop in our life. By being patient, we develop endurance and resilience. We Also build up future success because we learn to have delayed gratification. Finally patience creates better relationships. Would you rather be around an impulsive and impatient person or a calm patient one?

There were plenty of people in the Bible who were impatient.

■ Think,of King Saul who couldn’t wait for Samuel to do the sacrifice. His impatience cost him the kingdom.

■ Abraham and Sarah grew impatient waiting on God’s promise of a son and created a work around. That decision is still causing wars to this day.

■ Also, the Israelites got tired of waiting for Moses to come down the mountain and created a golden calf causing God’s anger to fall on them.

Even though we have these examples, we also have examples of patience.

■ Look at Job. He was patient through his trials and God restored everything he lost and then some.

■ David patiently waited to be king even while running for his life. He became the most famous king of Israel.

■ There was also Hannah who was barren. She continued to pray year after year and God answer with a son named Samuel.

Psalm 40:1 says, “I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry” (TPT).

What crop do you want to grow in your life? Both patience and impatience create long lasting results. A moment of impatience can cause a lifetime of sorrow. If God hasn’t answered yet, keep praying and believing. If you’re waiting on God to fulfill His promise, don’t jump the gun. He will do it in His time, not yours. I know the clock may be ticking, but switch your focus from the humdrum of the ticks and tocks to His Word. Watching the time yields the fruits of impatience, while His Word reminds us of His character. Let the fruit of patience grow in your life as you wait for God to come through.

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The key verse in today’s devotional reminded me of a song which we first featured here back in 2010. This is from the Psalms Alive project by Maranatha! Music.

I waited for the Lord on high
I waited and He heard my cry

He pulled me out of my despair
He showed me where to walk
From fear into security
From quicksand to a rock

There’s a new song in my heart to sing
A new song praises to my King

I’ll sing to let the people know
That I have been restored
And they will kneel and understand
To return and trust in the Lord

by Bill Batstone © 1982 Maranatha Praise, Inc. (Admin. by Maranatha! Music)

 

Who Would You Say Jesus Is?

A longtime contributor to our daily devotionals, Jack Wellman writes at the site Rhetorical Jesus. His daily thoughts include a graphic element that you may use on social media with a link to the article for that day. Click the title below to read this one where it appeared first, and then take some time to look around.

Who do people say that I am? Who do you say I am?

Mark 8:27

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?

Who Is Jesus to You?

This might seem obvious to you. Jesus is God and Man; but He is also the fulfillment of the prophesied Messiah, Who came to save us from our sins. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah Himself (Matthew 16:15); and only someone who has been given the Holy Spirit can say such a thing and mean it (1 Corinthians 12:3). Jesus said that God the Father and He are one and the same (John 10:30), signifying His deity. Jesus declared that He existed before Abraham did (John 8:58), signifying His eternality. He is declared to also be the Creator God Who made all things (Colossians 1:15-17).

He Is Lord

I once heard an old preacher say that Jesus is Lord of all or He is Lord at all, but what I think he was saying was that He is Lord for the person who has been saved. Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings to even those who don’t know Christ and who have not yet bent the knee to this God-Man who is coming to judge the world (Revelation 20:12-15). Someday every single knee will bow and acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, including those who are under the earth (now dead) and who are alive at His second coming (Philippians 2:10); and every single tongue of all who have ever lived will confess that Jesus is Lord and God (Romans 14:11).

Who Is Jesus to the World?

Most of the false religions believe and teach that Jesus was a prophet and a good Man but that He isn’t or wasn’t God. But what a person believes doesn’t affect what is true. Mankind used to believe the earth was flat; they believed it because they could see with their own eyes that it looked flat to the naked eye. But today we know that it’s a sphere. The point is that just because they believed the earth was flat didn’t change the reality that it wasn’t. Since Jesus declared His divinity and it was written that He came and lived in the flesh (John 1:14), He was either telling the truth or was lying; and since we know that Jesus was sinless and that God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18, Numbers 23:19), then He must be Who He claimed Himself to be.

A Closing Prayer

Righteous Father, thank You for offering to us Your sinless Son, the perfect satisfactory sacrifice to atone for my sins, which enabled me to have a personal relationship with You for all eternity. I give You thanks for such a sacrifice for me, an unworthy sinner, and in Christ’s Precious Name I pray.

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Second Helping

Here’s another recent article by Jack Wellman with an interesting title:
If I saw a homeless man on the street, what do you think I would do for Him?

 

There’s No Such Thing as a “Nominal Christian”

“The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren’t actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.”
― Kyle Idleman, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus

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“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46 NASB)

The mechanism by which the hammers strikes the strings in an acoustic piano was, in its day, a revolutionary invention. To that point, no matter how softly or heavily one engaged the keys, the sound would always be heard at the same volume level. When this new keyboard action was created, the resulting instrument was called a pianoforte which literally (in Italian) means “quiet-loud.” An oxymoron.

A few years ago at Thinking Out Loud, we looked at the idea of a “nominal-Christian.” After I write an article, I usually come up with a sentence or two to promote the piece on Twitter, and sometimes those ‘teasers’ have an extra level of clarity. I said,

“I’m a Christian, but I’m non-observant.”
Theologically speaking, that makes no sense at all.
And yet… there are people for whom this fits.

Truly, Jesus doesn’t give us the option of half-hearted service.

I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! (Rev. 3:15-16NLT)

A pianoforte can be quiet or loud and even both at the same time, but the Christian has no such luxury of spiritual ambiguity. To push the analogy to its limits, we need to be loud all the time!

Mark Batterson posted this summary of his 2013 book All In on his website:

The Gospel costs nothing. You can’t earn it or buy it. It can only be received as a free gift compliments of God’s grace. It doesn’t cost anything, but it demands everything. It demands that we go “all in,” a term that simply means placing all that you have into God’s hands. Pushing it all in. And that’s where we get stuck―spiritual no man’s land. We’re afraid that if we go all in that we might miss out on what this life has to offer. It’s not true. The only thing you’ll miss out on is everything God has to offer…

…The message of All In is simple: if Jesus is not Lord of all then Jesus is not Lord at all.  It’s all or nothing. It’s now or never. Kneeling at the foot of cross of Christ and surrendering to His Lordship is a radical act of dethroning yourself and enthroning Christ as King.  It’s also an act of disowning yourself.  Nothing belongs to you. Not even you…

In the book he also writes,

We all want to spend eternity with God. We just don’t want to spend time with Him. We stand and stare from a distance, satisfied with superficiality. We Facebook more than we seek His face. We text more than we study The Text. And our eyes aren’t fixed on Jesus. They’re fixed on our iPhones and iPads – emphasis on “i.” Then we wonder why God feels so distant. It’s because we’re hugging the rim. We wonder why we’re bored with our faith. It’s because we’re holding out.

We want joy without sacrifice.
We want character without suffering.
We want success without failure.
We want gain without pain.
We want a testimony without the test.
We want it all without going all out for it.

and

There is a fine line between ‘Thy kingdom come’ and ‘my kingdom come.’ If you cross the line, your relationship with God is self-serving.

You aren’t serving God. You are using God.

You aren’t building altars to God. You are building monuments to yourself.

In a 2011 book, Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman emphasized that Jesus is looking followers not fans. Many who heard him teach were fans, but when the going got tough, the tough got going. Scripture tells us that many walked away. The ominously verse-referenced John 6:66 says, From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (NIV)

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. (James 1:22 NLT)

Yet many of those people could have been said to have a fairly good knowledge of what Jesus was teaching. (In fact that was the issue, some of them knew exactly what he was teaching, and exactly what this was going to cost them.)  Kyle writes,

Fans have a tendency to confuse their knowledge for intimacy. They don’t recognize the difference between knowing about Jesus and following Jesus. In Church we’ve got this confused. We have established systems of learning that result in knowledge, but not necessarily intimacy…

…Now don’t get me wrong, studying and learning from God’s word is invaluable. Jesus referenced, read and quoted all kinds of passages from the Old Testament, ample proof that he had studied God’s Word with great care and diligence. The problem isn’t knowledge. The problem is that you can have knowledge without having intimacy. In fact, knowledge can be a false indicator of intimacy. clearly where there is intimacy there should be growing knowledge, but too often there is knowledge without a growing intimacy. …Knowledge is part of intimacy, but just because there is knowledge doesn’t mean there is intimacy.

And of course intimacy is developed over time and time involves an investment. Kyle also notes,

For many Christians the concept of denying themselves was not part of the deal. They grew up with the message that such a radical decision really isn’t necessary. So they signed up to follow Jesus, but if denying themselves was part of the explanation, it was definitely the fine print. That’s especially true of American Christians. In part, this due to the collision of Christianity with American capitalism. It has created a culture of consumers in our churches. Instead of approaching their faith with a spirit of denial that says, “What can do for Jesus?” they have a consumer mentality that says, “What can Jesus do for me?”

…One of the reasons it’s so hard for us to deny ourselves is because the whole idea seems to go against our greatest desire in life. Most everyone would say that what they want more than anything else is to be happy. We’re convinced that the path to happiness means saying yes to ourselves. Indulgence is the path to happiness, so to deny ourselves seems to go in the opposite direction of what will make us happy. The right to pursue happiness seems to be in direct conflict with the call to deny.

…That’s what the story of the Rich Young Ruler is really all about. It’s not just about giving up money and the things that money can buy; it’s about giving up, period. That’s what it means to deny yourself and follow Christ.

 

 

 

 

Don’t Make Jonah’s Mistake

This article by Ruth was in our archives. She returns to her regular place on Fridays next week.

Jonah and the Psalm

A while ago, I posed this question as an informal Facebook poll: “Did the story of Jonah happen literally as it appears in the Bible?” The majority said yes. No surprise. The Church has been defending the story’s miraculous nature since the early Church Fathers. For many, it’s even a test of faith in God’s sovereignty; can you believe God didn’t do it, without believing God couldn’t do it?

People often say that it “must have happened—Jesus says it did.” Fair statement, but one that needs some thought. What is the relationship between Jesus and Jonah?

Let’s assume that the event literally happened to Jonah, son of Amittai, prophet to King Jeroboam. That Jonah’s psalm in chapter 2 was his prayer, recorded as he prayed it.

Why would Jonah sing his gratitude to God in the middle of this mess? Why does Jonah never expresses remorse?

And where does Jesus fit in?

Now the Lord had appointed a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights. Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish.

Matthew records Jesus saying: “…For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” Matthew 12:40 (HCSB)

Both events involve a prophetic man who comes back after three days of being given up for dead, but in all other respects, narrative contrasts are greater than similarities.

• Jesus is in conversation with God all through his approach to the grave: Jonah is silent until he can’t stand it any more.
• Jesus laments God’s turning His face away; Jonah is the one who turns his back.
• Jesus enters his grave as an act of submission: Jonah embraces death as part of his defiance.
• Jesus, as God, returns by an act of power and of will: Jonah as vomit.

I called to the Lord in my distress, and He answered me.
I cried out for help in the belly of Sheol; You heard my voice.

Jonah finally breaks his silence. Some suggest he’d been unconscious, others that Jonah physically died and was resurrected, based on Matthew’s “sign of Jonah,” and the reference to Sheol.

For Christians, “Sheol” can bring to mind medieval pictures of Hell, but to Jonah himself the image was very different. Sheol was beneath the earth, the farthest place from Heaven, where the dead descended to (or were raised from if God opened the gate). Those who entered it became silent shadows, without knowledge, passion, or hope. Yet God ruled there, and in the Messiah’s day the righteous would be released to joyously participate in His kingdom.

Some see a connection here with 1 Peter 3:18-20 and Ephesians 4:9 but there’s no real support in scripture for the idea of Jesus “descending to Hell.” Peter speaks of earth, and Paul of the past, not of metaphysics. Instead, they drive home for us the understanding that Jesus overcame time and space to walk in the dust, and “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.”¹

You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas,
and the current overcame me. All Your breakers and Your billows swept over me.

For modern songwriters, switching ‘voice’ mid-song is a no-no. Not true for the Psalmists who switch from addressing God, to His people, to the writer’s own soul and back again. Jonah moves from speaking about God, to direct, dramatic accusation.

Jesus also recognizes God’s hand in directing his path, but He does it with an attitude of humility and submission that culminates in His prayer, “If this cannot pass… Your will be done,”² modelling not blame but trust and obedience.

But I said: I have been banished from Your sight,
yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.
The waters engulfed me up to the neck;
the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

Jonah has what he wanted—to be far from the face of God—and realizes he should have been more careful in his wishing.

He’s bound and suffocating, tangled in something beyond his strength. He echoes Psalm 88: drowning, God’s wrath, an innocent sufferer, accusation, demands for rescue, loneliness.

At His loneliest moment, Jesus draws instead from Psalm 22 and its anticipation of praise in better days. Like Jonah, Jesus grieves God’s absence. Like Jonah, He identifies Himself as an innocent. Unlike Jonah, He actually is one.

At least Jonah is looking in the right direction—back where he came from.

I sank to the foundations of the mountains;
the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever!
But You raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God!
As my life was fading away, I remembered Yahweh.
My prayer came to You, to Your holy temple.

Jonah continues to deny the cause of his trouble—his own choices. But something has changed.

He’s run as far as he can but still has a connection to the One from whom He ran. He knows to whom he speaks, how he will sound in those ears and what the response is likely to be.

In the darkest place possible, his heart and mind turn toward the brightest. In the grip of the worst monster, he looks toward the most loving Father. At his farthest from home, his mind turns to the Holy of Holies, the centre of all Creation.

To “remember” is not just to recall, but to be intentionally mindful. Of the past—what God has done. Of the present—where He meets us. Of the future—in which He awaits.

This is where Jonah comes closest to Jesus, who in His own climactic moment on the cross contradicted His own sense of abandonment and declared the words of Psalm 31:5, “Into Your hand I entrust my spirit…”…trusting God to “…redeem me, Lord, God of truth.”

Jonah, weakened and lost, cannot save himself but Yahweh-remembered can and will. Jonah is freed from the pit.

Those who cling to worthless idols forsake faithful love

Has Jonah learned anything? Has he changed? He hasn’t admitted his guilt. We see no contrition. Instead, he condemns “those” who forsake faithful love which comes from the God that Jonah fled. So who is he talking about?

“Those” sailors whose misfortune it was to give Jonah a ride? They’d been pagan until they met with Yahweh. Afterward they’d sacrificed and made vows to the LORD, a step toward becoming “Hebrews.” But Jonah didn’t see that happen. He was already underwater and sinking. All Jonah knew of them was that they were “those who cling to worthless idols.” Perhaps he assumes they’ve lost their chance.

“Those” Ninevites, violent and cruel people? He’s endangered his own life to scuttle their chance at receiving the faithful love of God. Is he hoping that this proverb is a promise?

All that’s left is himself—the prophet who clung to the idol of his nationalistic hatred, forsaking the faithful love of God. Jonah’s not the only prophet to object to his assignment. So did Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He is, however, the only one who upped sticks and ran. The others spoke honestly to God and received His response. Jonah built a wall of silence and refusal between himself and God.

Jonah and Jesus again part ways. Jesus didn’t only accept His role, He chose it. “…He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men.”

One rabbinic writer said:

“Jeremiah sought the honor of God and the honor of Israel;
Elijah sought the honor of God and not the honor of Israel;
Jonah sought the honor of Israel and not the honor of God.”

One might even substitute “Jonah sought the honor of himself…” Jesus sought the honor of the Father through obedience, pursuing and rescuing those who clung to their idols and could not, on their own, find the freedom of letting go.

…but as for me, I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanksgiving.
I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the Lord!

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

The fish has been carrying around 180 extra pounds of ballast. Enough is enough. The LORD lets her off the hook. It’s time for Jonah to head inland.

Three days of petulant silence, followed by a burst of eloquent gratitude, and either hypocritical self-righteousness, or an excuse to head to Jerusalem instead of Nineveh. No wonder she was sick.

Jonah heads reluctantly to Nineveh, wanders around—in silence for three days—before delivering his message.

But Jesus spent His ministry reaching out and being available to not only men like Himself, but to enemies and invaders, strangers and rejects, women and children, heretics and hypocrites. After His resurrection, He allowed only moments to pass before reconnecting with the people He’d come to save.

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However… what if instead of Matthew’s rendering, we look at Luke’s record of the same statement: For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. Luke 11:30 (HCSB)

Despite the fact that Luke wouldn’t have heard it first hand, his understanding of the Jonah/Jesus parallel seems better grounded: just as Jonah’s message of God’s grace toward Nineveh had “overturned” the city, so would Jesus’ overturn the world.

The verb in Jonah’s message to Nineveh seems intentionally ambiguous. Throughout Scripture, it’s translated as demolished, overturned, overthrown, transformed or turned around. Those who (eventually) heard it inferred a threat of destruction, creating fearful repentance. But was this true prophet of Israel not also used to point to an alternative fulfillment?

Nineveh was beautifully, life-givingly “overturned.”

So, yes. Jesus wanted us to remember this story. He wanted us to learn from it.

I’d argue that the least important question about this story is whether it “happened.” What matters is that we learn from Jonah’s mistakes and are free to not repeat them. That we learn from Jesus’ example and are free to make it real in our lives.

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1 Philippians 2:8 HCSB

2 Matthew 26:42

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More about Jonah: Here’s an article by Ruth that’s also about Jonah which appeared here just a few weeks ago.

Ruth Wilkinson is a pastor in south central Ontario, Canada.

Paul’s Example in Living the Christian Life

…”I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee…”
– Paul in Philippians 3:4-6 NIV

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished…”
– Paul in Acts 22:3-5 NLT

…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
– Paul in 2 Cor. 5:17 NLT

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ
– Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 NIV

After the Gospels, the New Testament proceeds to give us a glimpse of what following Christ will look like after He ascended and after He sent the Holy Spirit. Much of this was written by Saul/Paul who is personally completely absent from the gospel accounts.

What we know about his life can be instructive.

The Apostle Paul:

Shows us what following Jesus means when you didn’t see it firsthand.

In a way, Paul is a stand-in for all of us. There’s nothing in either the gospels or Paul’s own writing to suggest he was part of the crowd when he taught in Capernaum or Bethsaida or Sychar or Bethany or performed miracles in those places. There is a natural skepticism when you didn’t see something extraordinary up close and personal. Even Thomas doubted after following Jesus for three years. Paul would be in this category. Because he never met or conversed with Jesus, in I Cor. 15:8 he goes so far as to call himself “one abnormally born.”

Shows us what following Jesus means when you follow an other religion.

Paul is an example of what it means to convert (verb) or become a convert (noun.) Here was no nominal Jew, but a man steeped in religious training who knew his faith inside-out and would go on to boast about this aspect of his life even after committing to Christ. He in effect becomes the poster boy for conversion; his life allows the possibility for anyone to walk away from their spiritual past into a new chapter.

Shows us what following Jesus means when you are an intellectual.

Even if Paul had never boasted about his training, the grammar and sentence structure of his writing betray his thorough education. I personally believe that the “Philippian hymn” which is set off as poetry citation in most of our Bibles could be an example of Paul quoting a popular early Church song written by someone else or it could be Paul quoting Paul, since training in music was part of that classical education. Today we see objections from people who think they are ‘too smart’ to believe the Gospel, but Paul showed that formal education doesn’t make one too sophisticated an intellectual to reject the simple concepts of faith.

Shows us what following Jesus means if you were formerly opposed to Christianity.

It’s one thing to be atheist or agnostic, or to follow another faith, but if you’ve been particularly vocal about it, you have to be willing to swallow your pride and say you were wrong. Most biographers of Paul characterize what happens to him in the wake of the Damascus Road encounter as being a dramatic, 180-degree turnaround. This is the simplest definition of repentance: ‘My life was going in one direction and then, in a moment, I changed trajectory and started walking toward a completely different objective.’

Shows us what following Jesus means when you are being spiritually formed.

None of any of the significant events in Paul’s post-conversion life happens until after he has been inactive while undergoing a time of discipleship and spiritual formation and simply considering the claims of Christ in a world about to be turned upside down by the life of Jesus. Some put this as a three-year period, while others have it as high as 14 years, though the latter number might have some overlap with early ministry. This might have been a tough period of Paul who would have been anxious to share his post-Damascus testimony, and it shows us that just because people aren’t entering into high-profile Christian service right away, it doesn’t mean their life hasn’t been dramatically changed.

Shows us what following Jesus means while you are suffering.

We can only speculate as to Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” though some commentators are more certain than others. There can be little doubt that it dogged Paul continually, three times bringing him to a point where he either enlisted the fervent prayers of other or spent time apart crying out to God to take the condition away. If anyone had time to wrestle with the question as to why God allows suffering, it was him. And let’s not even talk about being hungry or shipwrecked. He is convinced that when we are weak we are made strong.

Shows us what following Jesus means when you are now the one facing opposition.

From a literary perspective, the story comes full circle; the man who opposes the teaching of Jesus ends up facing the same type of opponents; the proverbial shoe is now on the other foot. Many of the epistles are called “Paul’s prison letters” because he spends a section of his life under house arrest. A faith in Christ needs to be anchored firmly and be resilient in the face of challenge.

Shows us what following Jesus means … period.

From Paul’s famous love chapter, to the fruit of the spirit, to his message of economic, ethnic and gender egalitarianism, to his imagery of living the Christian life as one running a race, to his theological treatise in his letter to the Romans; in all these things Paul shows us what it means to live the Christian life.

Sin Offerings and the Profit Motive

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. – Hebrews 10:1 NIV

During the pandemic lockdown, Ruth was busy uploading fresh content each week for the YouTube channel of the church where she was working. They aimed to have four new elements each week; she did a short devotional video and a song video; and the pastor did a short sermon and one of his pre-lockdown messages which had never been uploaded before was added to their channel.

She asked me if I would consider doing a devotional. Despite producing content in written form here on a daily basis, video teaching wasn’t something I had ever considered.

When asked to do something like this, I think it’s important not to try to take on the mantle of deep theological exposition, but rather, to begin with (a) what you know or (b) what you’ve experienced.

One passage which has always stood out to me is Hebrews 10: 11-12.

¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God  NIV

The main point is these actions had to be performed on a repeated basis, as seen in contrast to Christ’s ‘once for all’ sacrifice. He said, “It is finished.”

It’s hard to read this, with its vivid description of priests performing the same sacrifices on a recurring basis and not think of the time Jesus intersected directly with those facilitating worship in the scene we normally call, “Jesus cleanses the temple;” or perhaps a progressive translation might use the header, “Jesus throws a fit.” It’s not pretty. He was truly going up against “the sacrifice industry.”

The story is told in all four gospel accounts. (each of those 4 words provides 4 links for those who wish to compare.) The synoptic gospels place this toward the end of the story, while John places it in chapter two. Does this mean this happened more than once? Some Bible scholars say yes, others say that John wanted to introduce the story earlier to demonstrate the “clout” or “authority” with which Jesus ministered.

I mentioned in the video I recorded that among the other things we do, my wife and I own a Christian bookstore. Many of these sprang out of what were called ‘Christian supply stores’ with a variety of materials for sale to facilitate worship. Today, the focus is more on books and music, but a few vestiges of those days remain, and one staple for the last 50 years, has been disposable communion cups.

They come in a box of 1,000 which at the time sold for $19.99 U.S. That means that every time a church of 100 people had a communion service, the store made a $2.00 sale. For a church of 50 people, that would be $1.00. Not exactly high finance. [Not that I’m letting the Christian publishing industry off the hook; there are other stories to be told, like VBS which is a multi-million dollar industry just in itself.]

Perhaps I fret too much over this minuscule profit.

However, what was going on in the temple was closer to robbery. Most people who grew up in the story know this it as “Jesus vs. The Money-changers.” If you’ve ever traveled, you know all about currency exchange. In this case, visitors who came a great distance, and weren’t able to bring a lamb with them would buy one, only after converting their money to temple currency. They would see the money-changers to buy local currency and then buy the lamb.

But what about the people who lived more locally and were able to bring a lamb with them? Were they equally ripped off?

The lambs were supposed to be without spot, wrinkle or blemish. I heard someone teach on this passage asserting that those in charge would look at those lambs and find them to be somewhat lacking. They would find some reason why it doesn’t pass the “spotless” test. They’d smile and say, “But we have one which is perfect we’ll sell you instead.” I don’t know how much give-and-take happened at this stage, since the families would have chosen their lamb with great care, but eventually, weary from travel and up against a system they couldn’t fight, they would cave in.

But later, the lamb that they bought — which wasn’t deficient — would be sold to someone else.

The spotless lamb of course is a type of Jesus, who was without sin.

[Pardon me for one brief tangent: If you grew up in church you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘without spot, blemish or wrinkle’ used in reference to the church. How does the description switch to us when it’s supposed to be about Him? The answer is that this is what it means when God imputes to us the righteousness of Christ. The phrase occurs in Ephesians 5:27 and is referring to sanctification. We now return to our devotional, already in progress.]

So Jesus does what Jesus does, and he clears the temple in what is called a prophetic act. The whole system, or to use the language I’m using today, the whole sacrifice industry is about to come to an end, and (in the synoptic accounts, speaking just later) Jesus says as much when he says, “It is finished.”

[But even there, if the timing in John’s gospel is right, it starts up all over again; a sort of microcosm of what the passage in Hebrews intends.]

And then in the economy of the language used in the Book of Hebrews, we’re reminded that this ended in him sitting “in the place of honor” (NLT) at God’s right hand.

Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. – Hebrews 7:27

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So I ended up making the video she requested. As I was wrapping up what you just finished reading, I said that would normally be the end of the story, but it occurred to me that YouTube being what it is there were possibly people who have never come under the covering of what Jesus did, and I encouraged them to contact the church hosting the video.

Of course, the internet being what it is, there may be people reading this here who have never asked God to include them under the covering of his sacrifice. If that’s the case, use the contact form (lower part of the page) here so we can help you discern the next steps you need to take.

Whatever Happened to Truth?

Once again we are highlighting In My Father’s House, the blog of Mel Wild, senior pastor at Cornerstone Church and director of Radiant School of Ministry, both based in Wisconsin USA. Although the blog has been inactive for nearly a year, this devotional is needed more now than it was then. Click the title below to see it where it first appeared.

Revelation-Light

Like Alice in Wonderland, we seemed to have fallen down a societal rabbit-hole where truth, or even how we understand what is true, is being assaulted on all fronts.  At the risk of mixing metaphors, this Orwellian nightmare we find ourselves in is celebrating the Emporer’s new clothes. Tragically, it’s only producing a sickness to our collective soul.

“Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool.” (Wikipedia: synopsis – “Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Anderson)

Likewise, the citizens or our “city” pretend that the narrative being foisted upon us by the radicalized constitutes enlightenment and progress, but all we experience is increasingly regressive darkness and despair. We live in a time when virtue-signaling is called virtue and tolerance and inclusion mean that we will tolerate you as long as you agree with us. To make matters worse, social media algorithms have programmed the gullible into a form of mass hysteria, polarizing us beyond anything formally thought possible.

Of course, if we were to be brave and say that this “Emperor,” this current cultural construct, indeed has no clothes, we face the wrath of the woke inquisitors who have the power to lock us away in their dudgeon of the silenced (if we let them). So, many of us just keep our heads down as we watch this mad parade.

The problem is, this compliance through fear of excommunication does not produce liberty nor freedom; quite the opposite, it produces bondage and despair.

And it can only do so, because when you make truth a social construct, you have cut your mooring to what is real and have descended into something very sinister and dark. To experience it is to experience a hell on earth.

While we can agree that there are many ways to perceive or interpret what is true, a thing can only be true or not true. For instance, it is true that we exist. We’re not a social construct, and to deny common sense about us that is true can have disastrous effects on our lives, even leading to our death.

So, it’s incoherent and foolish to believe there’s no such thing as truth, or even that we cannot know the truth. We prove that we can know truth every day we live and breathe.

As it turns out, knowing truth is really a heart issue. In fact, everything really important is a matter of the heart. Because we humans tend to believe whatever we want to believe. And the only real way of knowing if we’re not just deceived is to see the fruit, or effects, of what we believe.

And this is good news! We can know the truth! When we open our heart, we open our understanding and thereby expose ourselves to what is true.

According to Jesus, it’s the truth that makes us free (John 8:31-32). Indeed, Scripture reveals that truth is revelation-light to our soul. Embracing this revealed truth heals and frees us from the lies we believe. We become whole human beings.

I like what Paul said to the Ephesians about this:

 Whatever the revelation-light exposes, it will also correct, and everything that reveals truth is light to the soul. This is why the Scripture says,

“Arise, you sleeper! Rise up from your coffin and the Anointed One will shine his light into you!”

(Eph.5:13-14 TPT)

The Greek word for “correct,” φανερόω (phaneroō), literally means to “become illuminated,” which also means to be laid bare, to appear in its true character. This revealing can be negative or positive, depending on what’s being illuminated.

What I see here is that when we drift away from this relevation-light that frees our soul, we descend into a form of darkness. But when we open our heart to the truth, this light begins to flood our soul, which reveals our true identity. We “arise” from our spiritual slumber as the Anointed One shines His healing balm into our soul!

Now, I understand that some may not agree with me. Especially, if you don’t value Jesus or His word. And, of course, there are other ways to know the truth. My only question is, how is what you’re believing working for you? Again, we can know by the outcome. Does your life’s trajectory produce love, joy, peace, kindness…self-control…or something else?

You can know a tree by its fruit.

 

Catching the Little Foxes, and Other Fox References in Scripture

I’ve mentioned before that while we don’t get a lot of reader comments anymore, a November, 2019 post on punctuality and lateness apparently continues to resonate with readers. For some of us, that person who shows up five minutes late for church each week is simply mildly annoying, but for that person it might be an ongoing nagging character deficiency that they struggle to overcome.

Sometimes it is these “little foxes” which sneak into our lives and do serious damage to our spiritual confidence and our outward witness. We read more about people struggling with gluttony or addiction to adult content online, but a thing like always being late is very real to the people affected by it, especially if they continually are met with defeat in their efforts to triumph over this deficiency.

When scripture uses certain words, the usage is usually consistent, but word study breaks down in the case of the word “fox.” As I thought about the “little foxes” passage — see below if you’re unfamiliar with it — I decided it was time for an encore presentation of this Bible study from July, 2013.

Biblical Foxes

Vulpes thaleb, or Syrian fox, the only species of this animal indigenous to Palestine. It burrows, is silent and solitary in its habits, is destructive to vineyards, being a plunderer of ripe grapes. The Vulpes Niloticus, or Egyptian dog-fox, and the Vulpes vulgaris, or common fox, are also found in Palestine.[Text: Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Image: http://www.canids.org]

As a general rule, there is a consistency in scripture where a particular word, idiom or phrase is used; but in other cases, a word may create an overall picture but the passage applications are quite different. One time our pastor quoted a verse in Nehemiah that got me thinking about the way foxes are mentioned in scripture. Knowing I was a cat-lover, someone once told me, “The cat is the only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible.” It took me awhile to have a comeback for that, but I finally came up with, “Yes, but the dog is never cast in a positive role.” Since the fox and dog are cousins (I think) it’s not surprising that Biblical foxes aren’t portrayed favorably.

It’s The Little Foxes That Spoil The Vines

While I often repeat this phrase, the exact rendering of Song of Solomon 2:15 is

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” (ESV)

If you read nothing that follows, this principle is an important one to grab hold of if you haven’t heard it before.  Switching the analogy, sometimes in life it’s the obvious boulders that trip us up, but more often it’s the little pebbles. Small things work over time to erode our relationship with God, even the very core of our faith.

Of course, interpreting Song of Solomon isn’t easy. On a more contextual, literal level, the Reformation Study Bible notes:

The foxes are the one negative element in the otherwise ideal spring setting of vv. 10–15. The imperative with no specific subject is like a passive (“May the foxes be caught”), and the whole verse is a wish by the lovers that nothing should be allowed to interfere with their lovemaking.

Matthew Henry goes for the broader application:

…the little foxes, that creep in insensibly; for, though they are little, they do great mischief, they spoil the vines, which they must by no means be suffered to do at any time, especially now when our vines have tender grapes that must be preserved, or the vintage will fail. Believers are as vines, weak but useful plants; their fruits are as tender crops at first, which must have time to come to maturity. This charge to take the foxes is,

1. A charge to particular believers to mortify their own corruptions, their sinful appetites and passions, which are as foxes, little foxes, that destroy their graces and comforts, quash good motions, crush good beginnings, and prevent their coming to perfection. Seize the little foxes, the first risings of sin, the little ones of Babylon (Ps. 137:9), those sins that seem little, for they often prove very dangerous. Whatever we find a hindrance to us in that which is good we must put away.

2. A charge to all in their places to oppose and prevent the spreading of all such opinions and practices as tend to corrupt men’s judgments, debauch their consciences, perplex their minds, and discourage their inclinations to virtue and piety. Persecutors are foxes (Luke 13:32) Ezek. 13:4. Those that sow the tares of heresy or schism, and, like Diotrephes, trouble the peace of the church and obstruct the progress of the gospel, they are the foxes, the little foxes, which must not be knocked on the head (Christ came not to destroy men’s lives), but taken, that they may be tamed, or else restrained from doing mischief.

Foxes Have Holes

This occurs in Luke 9:58 and Matthew 8:20

And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.  (KJV)

We live in an area surrounded by nearby woods and ravines where you often see foxes at twilight, and I’m sure that their activity increases dramatically after dark. But in the daytime you can walk through the woods and never see them. They are nocturnal and have a place to sleep that is safe, secure and invisible.

The nature of Jesus’ itinerant ministry didn’t necessarily assure him a place to sleep. We know that Jesus often stayed in the houses of his supporters, but there was no base, no ministry head office.  Your new word for today is peripatetic. Dictionary.com defines the word as “Traveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods.” So not exactly roaming like a nomad, but just a step up from that.

The Message translates the Matthew passage:

²⁰ Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”

The call to follow Jesus may mean not knowing where the road is leading. You might get what AAA called “a strip map” showing part of the journey, but you may not get an atlas showing the journey’s big picture destination.

Herod, The Sly Fox

Jesus engaging in name-calling? Almost. It would certainly give us a different snapshot of the way Jesus spoke with his disciples and it happens in Luke 13:

³¹ At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

³² He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ ³³ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!  (NIV)

Again, the Reformation Study Bible:

The Jews used the metaphor of a “fox” to mean worthless and sly. Jesus is unmoved by Herod’s threats and says He will continue with His ministry.

A Fox Could Knock The Wall Over

This is the passage I referred to above. It’s from Chapter 4 of Nehemiah:

Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, ² saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices?  Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”

³ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”  (NLT)

Sanballat and Tobiah are trying their best to discourage Nehemiah from rebuilding the wall. They use a series of five questions to try to get them to quit the project:

• “What are these feeble Jews doing?
• Are they going to restore it for themselves?
• Can they offer sacrifices?
• Can they finish in a day?
• Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?” ;  (NASB)

And then the final insult about a fox being able to cause the wall to crumble. But Nehemiah isn’t discouraged:

 Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have  demoralized the builders.⁶ So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a  mind to work.
⁷  Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the  repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry.

Basically, the people refused to allow the doubting questions and the fox-insult to stick. They stick with the task and build the wall with tools in one hand and a swords in the other.

Don’t let the enemy stop you from whatever task God is giving you to do.

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Further Reading:  A few days before this appeared here the first time, Ben Nelson had written on the “little foxes” text. A year later I decided to cycle back to Ben’s commentary. Have a look at his study on the passage from Song of Songs aka Song of Solomon aka Canticles at this link.

The Time Jesus Blessed the Food, But Didn’t Stay to Eat

The First Supper – Emmaus Sunday (Luke 24:13-33)

by Ruth Wilkinson

Of all the theories that seek to explain the identities of the two disciples on the Emmaus road, it makes the most sense to me that it was Cleopas and Mary, a married couple who apparently had kids old enough to have been finding their own way home after Passover. Mary and Cleopas were empty nesters, mature adults, who’ve lived their lives together for decades. They’ve raised their kids. They’ve discovered Jesus. They’ve been following Him closely enough to be present with Him in Jerusalem on that final Passover. They may have been present at the Last Supper. They may have been present in those days of waiting between Jesus’ death and resurrection. But now it’s over and it’s time for them to head back home.

These are just two ordinary people, among the crowds and clusters of pilgrims streaming out of Jerusalem in every direction after Passover. Cleopas and Mary would have been heading westward, towards their own 4 walls, towards their own lives, where things actually made sense, where they knew who they were, they knew which way was up, and they could start wrapping their heads around the fact that… It was over.

Right?

From Jerusalem to Emmaus isn’t a bad journey: about 3 hours on foot, mostly downhill. And they had the advantage of the Roman roads that had been built from Jerusalem out into the countryside. Roman roads were engineering accomplishments. They were level and straight, paved with interlocking flat stones. Maybe Cleopas and Mary, as they walked that road, thought that the Romans – they build good roads. But that’s about all you can say for them. Especially now. Especially after what they’d done to Jesus, because now… It was over.

Wasn’t it?

There was no reason to stay in Jerusalem, no reason to not return home to their regular everyday. They had no reason to not go back to their life of worshipping Yahweh God, and of waiting and praying for the Messiah.

So that Resurrection Sunday morning, with everything so confused and up in the air, they gave everybody one last hug and melted into that crowd of pilgrims heading away from the city and down that Roman road. They must have been surrounded by crowds of fellow travelers who had just celebrated Passover, and were feeling joy, and gratitude, and looking forward to next time.

But Mary and Cleopas… They were in the fog of feeling the void that He left behind. They knew what everyone had lost, because now… He was gone.

Right?

But as they walk, This Guy comes up from behind. He’s been eavesdropping, apparently, and they don’t notice Him until He interrupts them: “Hey, so what are you talking about there, guys? Sounds pretty intense.”

And they stopped walking and looked very sad. (Luke 24:17)

Cleopas answers: “Well… That whole thing with Jesus of Nazareth! You know? That whole thing? He was a prophet but He was crucified. We were all hoping that He was the Messiah and He would redeem Israel.”

(I can imagine Cleopas asking Him, “How do you not know this? What, have you been, like, living under a rock or something?” And This Guy kind of smiling and saying, “Well, yeah, kinda sorta.”)

Cleopas continues, “But then we went this morning to His tomb and His body was gone! It’s just not there! We don’t know where it is. We don’t know what happened. And there were some angels—like actual angels—that said that Jesus is alive. So some of the guys went and checked it out and it matched what the women said, but we don’t know what’s going on. He’s just gone.”

Cleopas pauses for a breath and This Guy says, “Oh, that! Oh, right. That. Yeah. Wasn’t that amazing? Wasn’t it amazing how all of the prophecies came true? Wasn’t it amazing how they pointed to exactly that? To the Messiah having to suffer and die?”

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the scriptures about himself. (Luke 24:27)

This Guy starts walking and talking. Mary and Cleopas follow. Maybe they don’t even realize they’ve started walking again, but they have to hear what He is saying. He’s telling them:

• Genesis points to the Saviour’s ultimate victory over the enemy.
• In Exodus, the Passover lamb dies in the place of the eldest son in every Israelite family and the nation of Israel is saved.
• In Leviticus, the image of the Passover lamb is perpetuated for generations as a remembrance and as a substitute.

And This Guy is walking and talking and they’re just following Him and listening as He talks about:

• Isaiah, who prophesied that the Saviour would be born of a virgin; that He would be a stumbling stone, tripping up people who just didn’t want to get it.
• Jeremiah, who says that the Messiah is going to establish a new covenant between God and humanity.
• Ezekiel, who says that the Messiah will be a shepherd.
• Daniel, who says that the Saviour will govern an eternal Kingdom.
• Joel, who says the Spirit is going to be poured out on all people, (and then maybe He pauses for a second and says, ‘Oh, wait, that hasn’t happened yet. Just you wait, guys. You’re gonna love it.’)
• Then the prophet Amos, who said that Gentile believers from every nation will serve the eternal King.
• Jonah, who creates a picture for us of a prophet who will be entombed for three days.
• Micah, who says that the King will be born in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah, who says the King will arrive riding on a donkey.

And Mary and Cleopas are just soaking this up. Because This Guy… He is opening their minds. He is opening their eyes to things that they had not seen before, had not understood before. And they are starting, I think, to remember some things that Jesus had said about himself.

As they walk and talk and listen and remember, suddenly they discover they’re at their front door. They’re home.

Mary says to This Guy… ‘Listen, we just want to thank you for your time. This has been great! Come and stay with us for the night. Come and crash on our couch. We’re happy to have you for the evening. Just to say thank you.”

He steps back a pace or two and says, “Oh, I couldn’t impose. I’m just gonna keep going.”

But Mary and Cleopas aren’t having that. They’re thinking, “We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know who He is. We haven’t even got His name yet. But whatever this is… We need to hear more. We are not done with This Guy yet.”

I can picture Mary grabbing Jesus by the elbow and saying, “No you don’t. I insist. It’s nearly 7:00. The sun is going down. You’re going to stay. Yes, you are. We brought some food with us from Jerusalem. It’s nothing fancy but stay. I insist!”

They all go in the house. Cleopas and Mary have been gone for over a week. So they’re picking up the mail from the front mat. They’re opening the windows to change the air. They’re getting out the food for supper. They’re setting the table. They’re chatting and catching up, and thinking of questions to ask This Guy. (Maybe a neighbour sticks their head in the door to say ‘Hi, you’re back. Good to see you guys. Who’s your company?’ Mary whispers, ‘We don’t know. Go away. I’ll explain later.’)

Then they sit down—to the First Supper. The one that Jesus chose to sit down to after His resurrection, with people he loved.

While He was reclining at the table with them, He took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight. (Luke 24:30-31)

And they’re sitting there, with the bread in their hands, staring. “Ok… You saw that right? It wasn’t just me. He… He just disappeared. Poof!”

It takes a moment for them to gather their wits. They start comparing notes: “It was Him the whole time! It was Jesus the whole time! That makes so much sense, because our hearts were burning within us. We were hearing everything that He was saying, and it was just making so much sense and it was perfect and it was true and we didn’t want to let Him go and it was Jesus the whole time!”

After those first few moments of shock, what do they do? They get up. They leave the mail unopened on the kitchen counter. They close the windows. They lock the door. They ask the neighbours to feed the cat, and they head back up that Roman road to Jerusalem to find the others.

Question: why, after all that time together, did they finally recognize Him in that moment?

Because Jesus chose—in that moment—to remove whatever mask he’d been wearing, or whatever blinders had been on their eyes. He chose—in that moment—to reveal himself, to be recognized, and to say, “I am here. Here I am.”

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Jesus reveals himself to us as we share Communion, remembering that Last Supper, just as He did to Cleopas and Mary at that first supper.

Our response to Jesus can be one of any number of different kinds of response. Our response to recognizing Jesus, to realizing who He is, can be like the response of our sisters in the garden that resurrection morning: they literally fall to their knees in surprise and in confusion.

Our response to recognizing Jesus can be like Peter, out in that fishing boat: a moment of joy and recognition and friendship, as he jumps in the lake and swims to shore because he sees Jesus there. I can see Peter laughing as he gives Jesus a great big, wet hug.

Our response to recognizing Jesus can be like the apostle Thomas, the final one of the eleven apostles to recognize Jesus: he speaks those words of awe and humility, “My Lord and my God.”

Our response to recognizing Jesus can be like the apostle Paul; when he realizes who Jesus was, when he recognizes Him for who He is, Paul changes his mind. He changes his thinking, and he begins to live his life in a new way.

Our response to Jesus in that moment of recognition depends on who we are. It depends on where we are in our life journey. It depends on what happened yesterday, and what we think is going to happen tomorrow. It depends on our unique emotional landscape, our own brain wiring.

I go more in the intellectual direction. That’s just me. There are folks in my church whose response to Jesus is to raise their hands and to shout, “Hallelujah!”

Jesus meets us each uniquely and individually, but He calls us each to respond. When we recognize him, when we see Him for who He is, we are called to respond. To act, to react, to live forward, beyond that moment of recognition.

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Ruth Wilkinson is Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada and appears here most Fridays. Her sermon blog is Pastor Percipia. Click the title of this post for a link to the original article and a video sermon of which this is an excerpt. Ruth returns in two weeks.