Disdain for the Opposition
Another day has passed and here I sit before You once more, Father. It’s hard to believe that five and a half years have gone by since I started this adventure. Thank You, Father, for the inspiration to continue to move forward. Bless and multiply Your gift to me! Use it as You will.
Luke 23:50-56 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the most disturbing things about the culture in which we live is that we are extremely divided. And to make matters worse, many feel free to share their preferences and utter disdain for those who disagree. Another bad aspect of this mentality is that we have a great tendency to throw everyone in the same pot.
For example, regardless of one’s political affiliation, we have nothing good to say about anyone that associates themselves with the party that opposes our party. We don’t care to know them. We just automatically dislike them!
The same goes for collegiate competition. Pick your team and there is going to be a rival team who many would have absolutely nothing positive to say about them. It’s crazy to me but many of Ohio State University’s fans lump the entire state of Michigan onto their “bad” list simply because the University of Michigan has been a major rival for years! (And to beat all, some OSU fans took offense at me thinking that that isn’t really something they should be doing!)
In today’s passage, for the very first time, we meet Joseph of Arimathea. He was a good and righteous man but (GASP!), he was a member of the Jewish high council i.e., the Sanhedrin. “What? But those are the bad guys! They opposed Jesus at every opportunity! He can’t be one of them (said with dripping disdain) and be a “good guy”. That’s just not possible!”
Well, if that’s what you think…then you’d be wrong.
Now throughout Jesus’ ministry, Joseph might have been a “secret” follower, but when it really counted, he stood straight and true. (Make sure you don’t miss the fact that for the most part, those closest to Jesus – those who had followed by His side for years, His nearest and dearest friends – were nowhere to be found!)
Though he was affiliated with those who opposed Jesus, he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come and he had not agreed with the decision and actions of the other religious leaders.
Regardless of what it might cost him, Joseph took the chance and spoke to Pilate about giving Jesus a proper burial…no one else did – though remember that his compatriot Nicodemus helped him in his task of love and respect for the Man who had truly shown them the ways of God. (John 19:38-42)
So, as we find ourselves in the midst of divisions and strife, don’t automatically throw everyone into the same pot. Guilt by association is not something a follower of Christ should apply so readily. Remember Jesus was a friend of sinners (Matthew 11:16-19, for example) and we should follow His example. Amen?
Jan 14th, 2021, 8:21 pm
No More Curtain!
Well, Father, I’m grateful that You know what is going on! We trust ourselves to Your eternal love and care. May we keep our eyes fixed on You. Amen.
Luke 23:44-49 (<<click here to read the passage)
After Karen and I had been dating for some time, I would occasionally stay at her home when school was not in session. My home was several hours away whereas she, being a local girl, commuted from about 15 minutes away.
I shared a room with her brother, Chuck, who was still in high school at the time. I didn’t stay there too often because Chuck would often yell out in his sleep and when he did that, I couldn’t get back to sleep.
One incident that took place when I wasn’t there – thankfully! In the middle of the night, he got to dreaming that he was trying to lay hold of a calf that had gotten loose! When all was said and done, he had pulled his curtains clean off the wall! Too much excitement for me!
That would have been startling for sure but that was nothing compared to what took place in the Temple in Jerusalem the hour Jesus breathed His last.
After 3 hours of darkness when the sun was obscured – that would have been a terribly scary occurrence all by itself! – and right before Jesus exclaimed, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” …the veil [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two [from top to bottom]. AMP
The word veil in our understanding in no way communicates what it was like. It was by no means a thin piece of cloth. Chuck Bumgardner, of the Orchard Keeper blog (<<click on the link to check out the entire post) put out these statistics according to the research he had done on this “veil”. Interestingly enough the Bible gives no specifics on the veil (the curtain) in Herod’s Temple but Bumgardner’s research took him to several sources of Jewish documentation of antiquity. Here are some of the interesting facts.
It took three hundred priests…to draw the veil (of the Temple) aside.
…the thickness of the veil was a handbreadth (that’s about 4 inches or so)
It was woven of seventy-two cords, and each cord consisted of twenty-four strands and was wrought in 72 squares
It was forty cubits long and twenty wide (Roughly 60 by 30 feet)
…it was made by eighty-two young girls, and they used to make two every year
and it took three hundred priests to immerse and cleanse it.
That was some curtain! Nothing could have torn it in two [from top to bottom] but the very hand of God!
So, what is the significance of it? Basically, in the Holy Place of the innermost part of the Temple, the curtain cordoned off the Holy of Holies. In this Holy of Holies one priest once every year would enter to present a sacrifice to the Lord for the sins of all the people. It was so sacred that according to Rabbinic tradition they tied a rope around his waist in the event he was struck dead for some offense while performing his duties, ensuring they could pull his body out!
That’s pretty serious stuff but upon Jesus’ death, the curtain no longer served a purpose. Since that day we all have access to God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for us all! No more curtain! Amen and amen!
Jan 13th, 2021, Wed, 8:00 pm
Seeing Clearly
We put our hope in the Lord.
….He is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
….for we trust in his holy name.
Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
….for our hope is in you alone. Psalm 33:20-22 NLT
Luke 23:32-43 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the stories my father has told me from his youth is that early on in school he struggled with reading the chalkboard. His teacher kept moving him closer to the front and finally suggested that maybe he needed corrective lenses.
Sure enough, after his parents took him to an optometrist, they discovered that he needed glasses. Shortly thereafter he got them, he stepped out on a clear night, looked up, and asked, “What are those white things in the sky?” They were stars! His vision had been bad enough that he had never seen them before!
Of all the people, good and bad, that witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, only one could see. Blindness was rampant throughout the crowd that day. Some were blinded by hatred, others by pride, or power, or possibly fear or grief. Some gathered there had known Him from the day of his birth. Some had walked with Him day in day out for over three years. Some had regularly clashed with Him. Yet not one of them, at least at that point, perceived what one single individual saw. And of all people to see what was going on, it was one of the two thieves hanging on his own cross by Jesus’ side. Who knows if their paths had even crossed until that very day.
The one thief was blind like all the rest and kept hurling abuse at Jesus, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us [from death]!” v39 AMP
But the other thief rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? We are suffering justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” vs40-42 AMP
He saw himself for who he was, and he saw Jesus for who He was. He honestly acknowledged that he was getting what he deserved for the life he had lived. He also plainly saw that Jesus was innocent. On all counts, he saw clearly.
The note in my Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation rings true.
The dying criminal had more faith than the rest of Jesus’ followers put together. Although the disciples continued to love Jesus, their hopes for the Kingdom were shattered. Most of them had gone into hiding. As one of his followers sadly said two days later, “We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel” (Luke 24:21). By contrast, the criminal looked at the man who was dying next to him and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” By all appearances, the Kingdom was finished. How awe-inspiring is the faith of this man who alone saw beyond the present shame to the coming glory!
Lord Jesus, open our eyes that we see ourselves for we are – criminals (sinners) guilty and deserving of death but most importantly of all may we clearly see You for who You truly are – our Lord and Savior!
Jan 12th, 2021, Tues, 9:23 pm
Clueless
Father, please direct my thoughts and actions. It is way too easy to allow my own thoughts and actions to take over…and that is never a good thing. You “must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” John 3:30 NLT
Luke 23:27-31 (<<click here to read the passage)
How many times do we go through the motions of what we think is the right thing to do, when in truth we are clueless?
When I was fresh out of college, my first ministerial opportunity was as a Minister of Music at a nice-sized congregation in suburban St. Louis. (My degree is in Church Music.) It was a wonderful opportunity! I had a great choir, lead congregational singing, and coordinated special music. You get the picture.
I hadn’t been there quite two years when a big point of reality set in. The senior pastor had big ideas for where he felt the Lord was leading the church but there were quite a few congregants who felt it was the wrong direction to go.
I had grown up in the church and my father was a pastor, so you think I would have figured it out. But sometimes youth is not all it is cracked up to be!
It came down to a congregational vote. One member suggested that the proposition be tabled so it could be looked at in more depth. The pastor was leading the meeting and decided that everyone would vote by standing. So, the first vote was to approve the delay – I thought it was a good idea, so I stood, and boy was that the wrong decision! Needless to say, things went downhill from there! Eventually, the pastor resigned, the youth pastor stepped down, and I left shortly thereafter – sad but true.
As Jesus is trudging along toward His pending execution, He stopped to speak to women who were a part large crowd of the people who were following Him. Some of these women were mourning and wailing for Him. He said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”
There were doing what was socially acceptable. They were doing the right thing. But in truth they were clueless. Some may have known Jesus. Others, we might call ambulance chasers – they didn’t know Him, but they knew it was an awful situation in which to find yourself.
Now Jesus was doing the right thing for the right reason and by no means was He going through the motions. No one else saw the reality of it all…but He did. He admonished them not to weep for Him but for themselves.
It looked like His time was soon to be up but what they didn’t realize was that sooner than they realized their time would be up – along with all of Jerusalem and all of Judea. Within 40 years, Jerusalem and the Temple would be utterly destroyed by the Romans.
Jesus’ last recorded statement here is, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
In essence, He was saying, “If the innocent has to suffer what will happen to the guilty.” (Amplified Bible note)
He was suffering unjustly as, truly, He was innocent of all accusations…all sin. But what would happen to those who were truly guilty?
We are in the same boat. We think we’re doing the right things in life, but we are clueless. Only by falling in with the Truth – Jesus – can we have any assurance. We may not know when and where our life will end but we can know what will happen to the guilty, if and only if, we have surrendered our lives to Him. May it be so.
Jan 11th, 2021, Mon, 6:65 pm
Walk Humbly
Father, I’m grateful that You are in charge! There is so much going on in our world. Around every bend there is pain and suffering, there are anger and bitterness. There are violence and hatred. Relying on ourselves, we are hopeless. Even those who claim to follow You can be tripped up and run full steam ahead thinking they are in the right when they have wandered so far from the truth found only in You. Help us! May the scales drop from our eyes -we are blinded by our pride! – may our ears be cleared of plugs and pollution – we think we are following Your still, small voice but our bellowing egos drown You out! May we humbly place ourselves at Your feet, seeking Your mercy and forgiveness. I pray that we will allow to get it through our thick skulls that You are our only hope!
It was not my intent to go this way but there have been several parts of this day that have been less than encouraging – and on top of that our world is a total mess right now! Tensions are high – pandemic, elections, separation, loneliness – all have made contributions to where we find ourselves.
In looking up prayers of humility in Scripture, I came across a couple of prayers of humility that spoke to me on crosswalk.com (<<click for the entire post) .
Prayer to Walk Humbly:
Father,
In Micah 6:8 You say, “O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Today we choose to walk humbly with You. We choose to live by Your Holy Spirit and to follow Your lead. Help us to hear You clearly, for we do not want to walk by pride or self-sufficiency, we want to walk with You.
In Jesus name, Amen
I like how the Amplified Bible puts that verse from Micah.
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion),
And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]? Micah 6:8 AMP
Prayer for Humble Spirit:
Father,
Today we ask for Your help to walk humbly with our brothers and sisters. It is all too easy for us to fall prey to our flesh and to walk in arrogance, but pride causes division and we desire peace. Lord, help us to humble ourselves in order that we do not let the lies of the enemy overtake us, rather, help us to count ourselves as equals with one another. It is then that we will stop attempting to be better than others, and we can love their hearts for the unique person You made them to be. Help us to value one another in this humble spirit so that we may live to the fullest.
In Jesus name, Amen
Lord Jesus, help us all! We are all capable of stepping off the path You have set before us. May we take these prayers to heart. Prompt our hearts to read them not just today but in the days and weeks ahead. Amen.
Jan 10th, 2021, Sun, 5:55 pm