What Did Jesus Do?
…he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5.16
A Roman centurion observed of Jesus that he was “a man under authority” (Matthew 8.9); recognizing that the Lord both exercised authority, and was accountable to authority. Jesus himself acknowledged that he operated under the authority of his Father and that the works he did were not his own works but God’s. (John 14.10) But his Father was in Heaven, how did Jesus keep in contact with his Father, and so continue to operate under his Father’s authority? He prayed.
If you don’t stay in touch with “headquarters” you will soon be guilty of acting on your own authority. Even Jesus, the Son of God, who said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28.18) scrupulously avoided acting independently, on his own authority. And so, Jesus prayed: early, often, and, often times, alone.
Pray Early
Does your day ever have a tendency to get away from you? I know mine does. There is just so much that always seems so pressing, that needs to be done. And many are the days when evening comes, and I know I have been busy for 8, 10, 12 hours, yet I can’t really account for having accomplished much. Either that, or my accomplishments amount to much of little consequence. I had a boss who used to warn us not to fall into the trap of “majoring in the minors,” expending time and energy on things that would not move the business forward very much. Jesus, who knew well that he had only so much time to work with, made sure he made good use of his days; after all, one needed to get all one’s work done while there was light. (John 9.4)
And so, Jesus was of the habit of rising very early, while it was still dark, that he might pray to the Father and receive guidance for the work that was to be accomplished that day. The Lord was not about to allow anyone to succeed in accusing him of acting on his own initiative for so much as one hour, let alone a whole day.
So, what do you think? Should we rise early enough to have time to go and talk with the Father each day before we undertake to begin our work? That’s what Jesus did.
Pray Often
Jesus did not confine his prayers to the Sabbath, much less to the synagogues. And his prayer early in the day did not bring his communication with the Father to a conclusion for 24 hours. Throughout the course of a day Jesus would lift up his eyes, look up to heaven, and hear from his Father.
What about our prayers? Are they reserved for an hour on Sunday morning? Are our prayers one and done, and then it’s on the run for the rest of our day? Or do we heed what the apostle Paul instructed the Thessalonians, and maintain an openness and readiness to, “pray without ceasing”? (1Thessalonians 5.17) It is not so much that we are to pray 24/7, but that we are ready and willing to pray 24/7. That’s what Jesus did.
Pray Alone
Prayer is high priority communication. Often it is privileged communication, in that what passes between the one who prays, and the One who is prayed to, is just between them. Distracted prayer is hardly prayer at all.
This is not to say that public prayer is wrong. Jesus prayed with the twelve, and with the five thousand. But in the Lord’s own personal prayer practice, private prayer predominated, and so the Gospels note Jesus removing himself to mountaintops and other desolate places to pray alone. (Matthew 14.23; Mark 1.35; Luke 5.16) And when he taught his disciples about prayer Jesus stressed the importance of solitude. (Matthew 6.6)
Do we have prayer “closets,” prayer gardens, or any other place, it need not be desolate or a mountaintop, to remove ourselves to and find some quiet peace alone with the Father? That’s what Jesus did.
Right, Responsibility, & Privilege
You know, it isn’t just anybody who is granted private audience with a king. A king grants that right only to those he will suffer to listen to, and those who have that right may approach the king boldly. And, when a king tells his subjects that he wants to hear from them regularly, it is their responsibility to report to the king often. Even more than a right and responsibility, the daughters and sons of a king have the even greater privilege of speaking intimately, not just to the king, but with their father.
For all who follow Jesus prayer is an irrevocable right, a solemn responsibility, and a great privilege. We should esteem prayer as such, and practice it early, often, and alone. That’s what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
The Hour, The Advent, The Need, The Call
What Did Jesus Do?
Jesus Testified.
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is
at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.
Mark 1.15
Most folks think Noah’s flood was about as cataclysmic a deluge as could ever be imagined. But destructive tides have risen and swept away countless millions of souls ever since the days of Noah. The danger of this flood may be greater now than at any other time in history. But I am not thinking of any deluge of water, but rather a rising sea of words in which all the world is awash.
Words are powerful. All too often the destructive and deadly power of words, especially words that are hateful and untrue, flow unchecked to sweep away livelihoods and lives, families and communities, nations and peoples. It should not be any wonder to us when we consider that from the very beginning Satan has employed the deadly power of lying words to ensnare and destroy man, and to assault and dishonor God.
When we think about the state of our so-called “Information Age” with its ever rising tide of cell phones, internet, 24/7 cable and satellite radio and television, it is enough for us to begin desperately searching for an ark to take shelter in. But the way to counteract the deadly threat of empty, lying, and destructive and deadly words is not silence. Rather it is the carefully chosen, divinely inspired, painstakingly preserved, and eternally gracious and true Word of God. Of all the many words we hear and read daily, the relatively few words contained in one book, the Bible, alone have the power to transform, to save, and to sustain.
In Jesus’ day the world was already quite full of deceitfully deadly words. Even those who had been given the Word of God had so mishandled it as to all but render it empty and powerless. But Jesus came into the world to testify. And testimony, if it is to be of any judicial value, requires words, words of truth. The thing that is so amazing, especially in our modern world that is all but submerged under seas of printed, broadcast, and cyber communications, is that so very few words of truth have all the power necessary to completely and radically restore all things.
Take the Gospel of Mark, and the first words the evangelist reported Jesus as saying when he began his public ministry. Fewer than twenty words provided all the testimony necessary to change lives, to change the world. All that was needed was that the words be heeded. The testimony of Jesus was sufficient then, and it is sufficient now, if we but receive it and respond to it.
In the eighteen words Jesus spoke in Mark 1.15 the Lord announced the Hour, proclaimed the Advent, declared the Need, and issued the Call. That’s quite a lot for so brief a statement, but it was and is all that is necessary.
The Hour
“The time is fulfilled…” Have you ever taken an exam and, before you had answered all the questions, heard those chilling words, “Time’s up! Put down your pencils”? I know I have experienced that sinking feeling that comes when you are convinced you have just been torpedoed by a test. When you are out of time there is no turning back the clock, “Pencils down!” time to meet your fate.
Fortunately for us all, the time that Jesus announced was the hour of deliverance, not destruction. At least it was the hour of deliverance for everyone who would be delivered. The world would have no more time to cast about for any other means of salvation, though it has tried. Decision time had come. The hour was arrived, the Savior had appeared. It was, as the saying goes, “Now or never.” Either people would receive Jesus in the hour of his revealing, or they would miss the boat, so to speak, and be swept away in the final cataclysm.
This is not to say that we are all two thousand years too late. Jesus’ hour is not over, there is time, though it slips away every second, to come to Christ. But anyone who thinks there is time to wait for someone or something other than Jesus that will be able to save them, has simply not heard what Jesus testified, “The time IS fulfilled.”
The Advent
“…the kingdom of God is at hand…” Advent means coming, arrival. Jesus testified that the kingdom of God had come; it had arrived in a manger in Bethlehem. And from that lodgment in Bethlehem the kingdom of God would expand its boundaries and grow to reach the ends of the earth and span all generations to the end of time.
Many other kingdoms have risen and fallen in the two millennia since the time of Christ. And many still would presume to challenge the reality and extant of the kingdom of God. But it remains that all other kingdoms are passing away, while the kingdom of God alone endures.
It is a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Jesus testified that it had come. The question implied, and we all must choose how we will respond to it, is, “Don’t you want to be a part of the kingdom?”
The Need
“repent…” Jesus announced the Hour and proclaimed the Advent, he also declared the Need of the world and everyone in it—the need to repent. Repentance is a much misunderstood word, probably because it so out of fashion and little used nowadays. In a post-modern world of relativity an uncompromising and exacting word like “repent” seemingly is out of place. But it was the very word that communicated what people needed to do in the time of Jesus, and, regardless of how much more sophisticated and smart we imagine ourselves to be than our ancestors, the one thing we need has not changed.
We need to be transformed. We need to do a one hundred eighty degree about face. Our minds need to be completely renewed. We have to experience nothing less remarkable than what occurs when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Repentance is not mere apology or feeling sorry because we have been caught in the wrong. Repentance is the admission that, to borrow a term from Reformed-Calvinistic theology, we are totally depraved. There is no good thing in us. We need the Holy Spirit to come and fill us with the power of the living Christ. Nothing else will do, that is our need. No mere cosmetic surgery, but an extreme and complete makeover from the inside out. That is repentance.
The Call
“…believe in the gospel.” The Hour, the Advent, the Need. What else was necessary to make the testimony of Jesus complete? The Lord had to issue the Call. Hearing that the time had been fulfilled, that the righteous kingdom of God had come, and that absolute and total repentance was needed would have been chilling testimony for guilty sinners to hear. It would have been a pronouncement of doom. The natural, and in fact the recorded, response of many in the Gospels, was to throw up one’s hands in despair and desperately ask, “What can we do?” Fortunately, Jesus had the answer; he called everyone who heard his testimony to believe it.
Only by believing in the testimony of Christ can the words of doom to sinners become “good news” for those who would be saved. By believing the testimony of Jesus we are lifted out of the rising flood of deceiving and deadly words, and safely delivered to the Rock that will forever stand above the peril and destruction of the world.
Now, many witnessed the testimony of Jesus and believed him. Many more heard and saw, and did not believe, and turned away and rejected him. The many who believed were saved. The many more who did not believe were destroyed, and suffer still. The Call—“believe in the gospel,” the good news of Jesus Christ, and be saved.
Testifiers Wanted
Each and every generation since the time of Christ has needed testifiers, people who not only accept and receive the testimony of Jesus, but who will take it up and make it their testimony, regardless of the cost. None of us would be believers today if there had not been testifiers whose words of truth helped bring us into the kingdom of God. Each one of us who claims to be a disciple of Jesus has the choice each day to testify or not. Considering that the Hour has struck, the Advent of the kingdom of God has come, the Need is clear, and the Call has not changed, there is a great want of testifiers. Will you be one? Testifying. That’s what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Jesus Testified.
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is
at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.
Mark 1.15
Most folks think Noah’s flood was about as cataclysmic a deluge as could ever be imagined. But destructive tides have risen and swept away countless millions of souls ever since the days of Noah. The danger of this flood may be greater now than at any other time in history. But I am not thinking of any deluge of water, but rather a rising sea of words in which all the world is awash.
Words are powerful. All too often the destructive and deadly power of words, especially words that are hateful and untrue, flow unchecked to sweep away livelihoods and lives, families and communities, nations and peoples. It should not be any wonder to us when we consider that from the very beginning Satan has employed the deadly power of lying words to ensnare and destroy man, and to assault and dishonor God.
When we think about the state of our so-called “Information Age” with its ever rising tide of cell phones, internet, 24/7 cable and satellite radio and television, it is enough for us to begin desperately searching for an ark to take shelter in. But the way to counteract the deadly threat of empty, lying, and destructive and deadly words is not silence. Rather it is the carefully chosen, divinely inspired, painstakingly preserved, and eternally gracious and true Word of God. Of all the many words we hear and read daily, the relatively few words contained in one book, the Bible, alone have the power to transform, to save, and to sustain.
In Jesus’ day the world was already quite full of deceitfully deadly words. Even those who had been given the Word of God had so mishandled it as to all but render it empty and powerless. But Jesus came into the world to testify. And testimony, if it is to be of any judicial value, requires words, words of truth. The thing that is so amazing, especially in our modern world that is all but submerged under seas of printed, broadcast, and cyber communications, is that so very few words of truth have all the power necessary to completely and radically restore all things.
Take the Gospel of Mark, and the first words the evangelist reported Jesus as saying when he began his public ministry. Fewer than twenty words provided all the testimony necessary to change lives, to change the world. All that was needed was that the words be heeded. The testimony of Jesus was sufficient then, and it is sufficient now, if we but receive it and respond to it.
In the eighteen words Jesus spoke in Mark 1.15 the Lord announced the Hour, proclaimed the Advent, declared the Need, and issued the Call. That’s quite a lot for so brief a statement, but it was and is all that is necessary.
The Hour
“The time is fulfilled…” Have you ever taken an exam and, before you had answered all the questions, heard those chilling words, “Time’s up! Put down your pencils”? I know I have experienced that sinking feeling that comes when you are convinced you have just been torpedoed by a test. When you are out of time there is no turning back the clock, “Pencils down!” time to meet your fate.
Fortunately for us all, the time that Jesus announced was the hour of deliverance, not destruction. At least it was the hour of deliverance for everyone who would be delivered. The world would have no more time to cast about for any other means of salvation, though it has tried. Decision time had come. The hour was arrived, the Savior had appeared. It was, as the saying goes, “Now or never.” Either people would receive Jesus in the hour of his revealing, or they would miss the boat, so to speak, and be swept away in the final cataclysm.
This is not to say that we are all two thousand years too late. Jesus’ hour is not over, there is time, though it slips away every second, to come to Christ. But anyone who thinks there is time to wait for someone or something other than Jesus that will be able to save them, has simply not heard what Jesus testified, “The time IS fulfilled.”
The Advent
“…the kingdom of God is at hand…” Advent means coming, arrival. Jesus testified that the kingdom of God had come; it had arrived in a manger in Bethlehem. And from that lodgment in Bethlehem the kingdom of God would expand its boundaries and grow to reach the ends of the earth and span all generations to the end of time.
Many other kingdoms have risen and fallen in the two millennia since the time of Christ. And many still would presume to challenge the reality and extant of the kingdom of God. But it remains that all other kingdoms are passing away, while the kingdom of God alone endures.
It is a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Jesus testified that it had come. The question implied, and we all must choose how we will respond to it, is, “Don’t you want to be a part of the kingdom?”
The Need
“repent…” Jesus announced the Hour and proclaimed the Advent, he also declared the Need of the world and everyone in it—the need to repent. Repentance is a much misunderstood word, probably because it so out of fashion and little used nowadays. In a post-modern world of relativity an uncompromising and exacting word like “repent” seemingly is out of place. But it was the very word that communicated what people needed to do in the time of Jesus, and, regardless of how much more sophisticated and smart we imagine ourselves to be than our ancestors, the one thing we need has not changed.
We need to be transformed. We need to do a one hundred eighty degree about face. Our minds need to be completely renewed. We have to experience nothing less remarkable than what occurs when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Repentance is not mere apology or feeling sorry because we have been caught in the wrong. Repentance is the admission that, to borrow a term from Reformed-Calvinistic theology, we are totally depraved. There is no good thing in us. We need the Holy Spirit to come and fill us with the power of the living Christ. Nothing else will do, that is our need. No mere cosmetic surgery, but an extreme and complete makeover from the inside out. That is repentance.
The Call
“…believe in the gospel.” The Hour, the Advent, the Need. What else was necessary to make the testimony of Jesus complete? The Lord had to issue the Call. Hearing that the time had been fulfilled, that the righteous kingdom of God had come, and that absolute and total repentance was needed would have been chilling testimony for guilty sinners to hear. It would have been a pronouncement of doom. The natural, and in fact the recorded, response of many in the Gospels, was to throw up one’s hands in despair and desperately ask, “What can we do?” Fortunately, Jesus had the answer; he called everyone who heard his testimony to believe it.
Only by believing in the testimony of Christ can the words of doom to sinners become “good news” for those who would be saved. By believing the testimony of Jesus we are lifted out of the rising flood of deceiving and deadly words, and safely delivered to the Rock that will forever stand above the peril and destruction of the world.
Now, many witnessed the testimony of Jesus and believed him. Many more heard and saw, and did not believe, and turned away and rejected him. The many who believed were saved. The many more who did not believe were destroyed, and suffer still. The Call—“believe in the gospel,” the good news of Jesus Christ, and be saved.
Testifiers Wanted
Each and every generation since the time of Christ has needed testifiers, people who not only accept and receive the testimony of Jesus, but who will take it up and make it their testimony, regardless of the cost. None of us would be believers today if there had not been testifiers whose words of truth helped bring us into the kingdom of God. Each one of us who claims to be a disciple of Jesus has the choice each day to testify or not. Considering that the Hour has struck, the Advent of the kingdom of God has come, the Need is clear, and the Call has not changed, there is a great want of testifiers. Will you be one? Testifying. That’s what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Thursday, March 11, 2010
"S.D.G."
No, those are not the initials of “Sammy Davis Greenbaum.” They actually represent the signature of Johan Sebastian Bach, who signed each piece of sacred music that he composed, “S.D.G.”
Now, Bach did not write under an assumed pen-name. But he wanted everyone who heard and/or played his music to know very clearly who the music was written for, and who is honored every time it is played. S.D.G. stood for the Latin phrase, “Soli Deo Gloria,” “To God alone be glory!”
Now, sadly, though God himself is the creator of music, and created it for his glory and pleasure (And our pleasure too.), there’s a lot of music that does anything but. This is not to suggest that all secular music dishonors and displeases God. Music doesn’t have to be “sacred” to honor God. The chorus of birds in our yard every morning glorifies God, but has never been sung by a church choir or played on an organ. I believe well written popular music can glorify God along with sacred music.
Bach himself did not limit his signature S.D.G. to sacred pieces only, it can be found on the reverse side of the manuscript of the last fugue of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I. John Butt has opined that this is just one example of Bach’s “musico-centric” view of the cosmos. (Butt, The Cambridge Companion to Bach, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 54-55) Butt explains the term as indicative of Bach’s understanding of music as both reflecting and embodying the ultimate reality of God and the Universe. S.D.G., not a bad signature for any artistic or literary expression intended to honor God.
With due homage to J.S.B. I believe I will use it myself.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Now, Bach did not write under an assumed pen-name. But he wanted everyone who heard and/or played his music to know very clearly who the music was written for, and who is honored every time it is played. S.D.G. stood for the Latin phrase, “Soli Deo Gloria,” “To God alone be glory!”
Now, sadly, though God himself is the creator of music, and created it for his glory and pleasure (And our pleasure too.), there’s a lot of music that does anything but. This is not to suggest that all secular music dishonors and displeases God. Music doesn’t have to be “sacred” to honor God. The chorus of birds in our yard every morning glorifies God, but has never been sung by a church choir or played on an organ. I believe well written popular music can glorify God along with sacred music.
Bach himself did not limit his signature S.D.G. to sacred pieces only, it can be found on the reverse side of the manuscript of the last fugue of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I. John Butt has opined that this is just one example of Bach’s “musico-centric” view of the cosmos. (Butt, The Cambridge Companion to Bach, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 54-55) Butt explains the term as indicative of Bach’s understanding of music as both reflecting and embodying the ultimate reality of God and the Universe. S.D.G., not a bad signature for any artistic or literary expression intended to honor God.
With due homage to J.S.B. I believe I will use it myself.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Daring to Hope, Daring to Touch
What Did Jesus Do?
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him…
Mark 1.41
There are things that it is simply dangerous, sometimes even deadly, to come in contact with. There are things that can hurt us and kill us. “Don’t’ touch!” is one of the first lessons parents teach their young children. Some of us probably remember painful lessons from our toddler-hood when we found out why mom told us not to go near the stove, and never to touch it. There is a good chance that more than a few of us are likely to carry scars as reminders of times when we touched when we shouldn’t have. From avoiding the stove, to never petting a stray dog, to keeping away from strangers, no few lives have been saved by the lesson, “Do not touch!”
When we grow up we may learn other lessons about using potholders, putting on gloves and goggles, wearing masks, and handling such safety equipment as to be able to approach something dangerous with a barrier of protection to keep us from coming into direct contact with that which could harm us. Important lessons; lifesaving lessons. It can be costly to touch.
When Jesus was a boy I am sure he was taught about the danger of getting too near things that could hurt him. When he was little I am certain that Joseph and Mary would have taught Jesus about the danger of fire. And stray dogs were no doubt as much a danger back then as they are now, and Jesus would have been taught to stay away from them. Jesus would also have learned at an early age about avoiding someone who was “unclean,” specifically the pitiful creatures who were stricken with leprosy. “Give them a wide berth, Jesus. And whatever you do, never, ever touch a leper!” And Jesus would have undoubtedly grown up seeing how scrupulously everyone, including his own parents, stayed clear of lepers. In fact, the Lord would have surely observed that lepers were outcasts, forbidden to actually enter Nazareth; condemned to remove themselves to desolate places to live out their miserable and tragic existence beyond the boundary of human society.
Of course, the lepers were taught the same lessons. “You are unclean. You must stay away from all villages and towns, never entering in to the sphere of human society except for the company of other wretches like yourself. And never, ever touch anyone who is not a leper!”
But when you are the Son of God, and word gets around that you can exorcise demons, and remove fevers with the touch of your hand, and heal many diseases, well, you are going to attract all kinds of desperate people. Mark tells of one such man, a leper, who, daring to hope that Jesus was able to cure even his incurable condition, came to the Lord and begged him, if he would, to make him clean.
Now, Jesus had surely not forgotten all he had been taught about never touching a leper. Furthermore, as the Son of God he had sufficient authority and power to simply speak a word of healing, and the leper would have been cleansed without any need of touching him. But Mark tells us that, moved by pity, Jesus dared to stretch out his own hand, to cross any and all barriers, and touch the man who had dared to hope, and with a command, “Be clean!” the leprosy left the man instantly. That touch crossed a forbidden boundary to not only cleanse the man, but to restore him to human society.
Then an interesting role reversal occurred. Though Jesus directed the man to keep secret how he had come to be cured, the man nevertheless went about telling everybody what Jesus had done for him. And, for the first time in many years, the man did not have to shout at people from a distance, but was able to freely enter into the midst villages and throngs of people to share his good news with them. The outcast was an outcast no more. Daring to hope had restored the man to human society.
But Jesus, who had dared to touch an untouchable, was forced to avoid villages, and to skirt towns, and to keep to desolate places for the crush of people who now sought him had become overwhelming. Daring to touch had forced Jesus to distance himself from human society.
There are no few people today who exist on the margins, whose lives, for many reasons, place them, if not entirely out of bounds, at the very boundaries of human society. Economics, health, race and ethnicity, even age, can be reasons people are strictly segregated today, and, overtly or covertly, lessons are still taught and learned about who to avoid, and who not to touch.
But those who are desperate still today often continue to dare to hope. And their hope often rests with those of us who seek to follow Jesus, and who have a choice whether or not to feel pity and act compassionately, and dare to “stretch out our hand” and touch one who needs nothing so much as that contact to be restored to fuller participation in human society. The challenge is to dare to touch. That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him…
Mark 1.41
There are things that it is simply dangerous, sometimes even deadly, to come in contact with. There are things that can hurt us and kill us. “Don’t’ touch!” is one of the first lessons parents teach their young children. Some of us probably remember painful lessons from our toddler-hood when we found out why mom told us not to go near the stove, and never to touch it. There is a good chance that more than a few of us are likely to carry scars as reminders of times when we touched when we shouldn’t have. From avoiding the stove, to never petting a stray dog, to keeping away from strangers, no few lives have been saved by the lesson, “Do not touch!”
When we grow up we may learn other lessons about using potholders, putting on gloves and goggles, wearing masks, and handling such safety equipment as to be able to approach something dangerous with a barrier of protection to keep us from coming into direct contact with that which could harm us. Important lessons; lifesaving lessons. It can be costly to touch.
When Jesus was a boy I am sure he was taught about the danger of getting too near things that could hurt him. When he was little I am certain that Joseph and Mary would have taught Jesus about the danger of fire. And stray dogs were no doubt as much a danger back then as they are now, and Jesus would have been taught to stay away from them. Jesus would also have learned at an early age about avoiding someone who was “unclean,” specifically the pitiful creatures who were stricken with leprosy. “Give them a wide berth, Jesus. And whatever you do, never, ever touch a leper!” And Jesus would have undoubtedly grown up seeing how scrupulously everyone, including his own parents, stayed clear of lepers. In fact, the Lord would have surely observed that lepers were outcasts, forbidden to actually enter Nazareth; condemned to remove themselves to desolate places to live out their miserable and tragic existence beyond the boundary of human society.
Of course, the lepers were taught the same lessons. “You are unclean. You must stay away from all villages and towns, never entering in to the sphere of human society except for the company of other wretches like yourself. And never, ever touch anyone who is not a leper!”
But when you are the Son of God, and word gets around that you can exorcise demons, and remove fevers with the touch of your hand, and heal many diseases, well, you are going to attract all kinds of desperate people. Mark tells of one such man, a leper, who, daring to hope that Jesus was able to cure even his incurable condition, came to the Lord and begged him, if he would, to make him clean.
Now, Jesus had surely not forgotten all he had been taught about never touching a leper. Furthermore, as the Son of God he had sufficient authority and power to simply speak a word of healing, and the leper would have been cleansed without any need of touching him. But Mark tells us that, moved by pity, Jesus dared to stretch out his own hand, to cross any and all barriers, and touch the man who had dared to hope, and with a command, “Be clean!” the leprosy left the man instantly. That touch crossed a forbidden boundary to not only cleanse the man, but to restore him to human society.
Then an interesting role reversal occurred. Though Jesus directed the man to keep secret how he had come to be cured, the man nevertheless went about telling everybody what Jesus had done for him. And, for the first time in many years, the man did not have to shout at people from a distance, but was able to freely enter into the midst villages and throngs of people to share his good news with them. The outcast was an outcast no more. Daring to hope had restored the man to human society.
But Jesus, who had dared to touch an untouchable, was forced to avoid villages, and to skirt towns, and to keep to desolate places for the crush of people who now sought him had become overwhelming. Daring to touch had forced Jesus to distance himself from human society.
There are no few people today who exist on the margins, whose lives, for many reasons, place them, if not entirely out of bounds, at the very boundaries of human society. Economics, health, race and ethnicity, even age, can be reasons people are strictly segregated today, and, overtly or covertly, lessons are still taught and learned about who to avoid, and who not to touch.
But those who are desperate still today often continue to dare to hope. And their hope often rests with those of us who seek to follow Jesus, and who have a choice whether or not to feel pity and act compassionately, and dare to “stretch out our hand” and touch one who needs nothing so much as that contact to be restored to fuller participation in human society. The challenge is to dare to touch. That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Vulernable Longing
What Did Jesus Do?
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often would I have
gathered your children together…and you would
not!
Matthew 23.37
Jesus cared. Not just for friends like Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. Not just for Peter, James, and John and the other apostles. Jesus cared deeply for all of God’s people, even those who, like the city of Jerusalem, had violently rejected the prophets and other messengers God had sent to her. Even as the Lord lamented the fate that awaited Jerusalem and her people, he knew that he would be the next prophet she would kill. Of course, though Jerusalem believed she was merely ridding herself of a troubling and rabble rousing prophetic rabbi from Nazareth, it was the Son of God she hung on the cross. His compassion and love for Jerusalem and her children made Jesus so vulnerable as to willingly lay down his life for the very ones who sought his death.
Though, like a hen, Jesus had many times desired to safely gather in and protect Jerusalem and her children, it would take his “wings” being spread wide on the cross to make a way for the lost, not just of Jerusalem and all Israel, but throughout the whole world and through all generations, to come to him. No one present in Jerusalem could even begin to comprehend how much Jesus cared, how much God cared; that the Father would require the Son to lay down his life, and the Son would obediently and willingly do so, and for the very ones who rejected him.
The world still cannot, or will not, accept or grasp the truth of God’s great love in the person of Jesus Christ. But God’s love for the world has not diminished in two thousand years. Neither has Christ’s longing to gather to himself the children of God. The longing of the Father and the Son for the salvation of their people is as strong as ever. Jesus cared, and cares still, enough to sacrifice all for the love of those who love him not.
How far would we go, we who profess to follow Jesus, to care for someone who not only does not love us, but rejects us? How much would we be willing to sacrifice for those who would persecute us, and utter all kinds of evil against us falsely because of our faith? Would we lament over the fate of those who turn their back on God? Would we bless those who curse us? Would we comfort those who hurt us? Would we long so for another’s salvation that we would make ourselves vulnerable to their enmity and rejection? Would we care enough to go all the way, even to the cross, for “Jerusalem’s children?” That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often would I have
gathered your children together…and you would
not!
Matthew 23.37
Jesus cared. Not just for friends like Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. Not just for Peter, James, and John and the other apostles. Jesus cared deeply for all of God’s people, even those who, like the city of Jerusalem, had violently rejected the prophets and other messengers God had sent to her. Even as the Lord lamented the fate that awaited Jerusalem and her people, he knew that he would be the next prophet she would kill. Of course, though Jerusalem believed she was merely ridding herself of a troubling and rabble rousing prophetic rabbi from Nazareth, it was the Son of God she hung on the cross. His compassion and love for Jerusalem and her children made Jesus so vulnerable as to willingly lay down his life for the very ones who sought his death.
Though, like a hen, Jesus had many times desired to safely gather in and protect Jerusalem and her children, it would take his “wings” being spread wide on the cross to make a way for the lost, not just of Jerusalem and all Israel, but throughout the whole world and through all generations, to come to him. No one present in Jerusalem could even begin to comprehend how much Jesus cared, how much God cared; that the Father would require the Son to lay down his life, and the Son would obediently and willingly do so, and for the very ones who rejected him.
The world still cannot, or will not, accept or grasp the truth of God’s great love in the person of Jesus Christ. But God’s love for the world has not diminished in two thousand years. Neither has Christ’s longing to gather to himself the children of God. The longing of the Father and the Son for the salvation of their people is as strong as ever. Jesus cared, and cares still, enough to sacrifice all for the love of those who love him not.
How far would we go, we who profess to follow Jesus, to care for someone who not only does not love us, but rejects us? How much would we be willing to sacrifice for those who would persecute us, and utter all kinds of evil against us falsely because of our faith? Would we lament over the fate of those who turn their back on God? Would we bless those who curse us? Would we comfort those who hurt us? Would we long so for another’s salvation that we would make ourselves vulnerable to their enmity and rejection? Would we care enough to go all the way, even to the cross, for “Jerusalem’s children?” That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Caring Incarnate
What Did Jesus Do?
Let us go to Judea again
John 11.7
When we care we sometimes mail a card. Sometimes we send flowers. A lot of us fill and send off shoe boxes. When we have the financial resources we will put a check in the mail. Often we find someone to send instead of going ourselves. But, in the end, a lot of our caring is removed from the person or cause we seek to care for. Not so with Jesus, he was the incarnation of caring, caring, if you will, in the flesh. The Incarnation of Christ was itself a demonstration of how much the Father and the Son cared for the world, and it was caring up close and personal.
Christ’s decision to return to Judea was a costly one (11.8), but the Lord cared so much, so completely, that nothing could have restrained him from going at that point. And it was not for the sake of Lazarus alone that Jesus went once more to Judea, to Bethany, the home of Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, and then on to Jerusalem.
The raising of Lazarus would reveal the glory of God to Martha and Mary, and to the Lord’s disciples, and in seeing Lazarus rise and walk out of the tomb they were witnesses that Jesus was who he said he was, “the resurrection and the life.” (11.25, 40, 42) With the crucifixion just days away, a far greater demonstration of the Father’s love, and how deeply the Son cared, would soon be given to the world.
But, for the time, those present at the home of Lazarus and Martha and Mary, would see how moved the Lord was by the grief of his friends, how indignant he was at the wailing of the mourners whose performance had something of the aspect of the perfunctory, and how agitated he was in anticipating the coming confrontation with death, first for the life of his friend Lazarus, then on the cross for us all. Thus we see the fully human Jesus touched by, and sharing in, the grief of all who mourn the death of a loved one, and at the same time we see the divine Son of God marshalling the power and strength of his spirit for the great final confrontation with sin and death. Jesus cared, and it would be his very own flesh and blood that would be sacrificed in the greatest act of caring the world will ever know.
What cost are we willing to pay for the sake of caring for others? What sacrifices are we willing to make that someone in need, someone hurting, or homeless, or hungry, might be comforted? To what degree are we willing to spend and be spent for the lost? Unless we are truly devoted to those we claim to care for, we will likely find that there are real, even greatly constraining, limits to our compassion. Just how far are we willing to go to follow the Lord’s example of caring? Jesus certainly did not hesitate to tell us that we must even be willing to take up our own cross if we would follow him.
Are we willing to go hungry in order that another may eat? Will we endure cold so that a brother or sister may be warmed? Sacrifice sleep so that someone else may rest? Risk our health to help another be healed? Surrender our riches to help another out of their poverty? Would we willingly, “go again to Judea,” to a place of certain personal danger and sacrifice, out of care and concern for the souls of others? That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Let us go to Judea again
John 11.7
When we care we sometimes mail a card. Sometimes we send flowers. A lot of us fill and send off shoe boxes. When we have the financial resources we will put a check in the mail. Often we find someone to send instead of going ourselves. But, in the end, a lot of our caring is removed from the person or cause we seek to care for. Not so with Jesus, he was the incarnation of caring, caring, if you will, in the flesh. The Incarnation of Christ was itself a demonstration of how much the Father and the Son cared for the world, and it was caring up close and personal.
Christ’s decision to return to Judea was a costly one (11.8), but the Lord cared so much, so completely, that nothing could have restrained him from going at that point. And it was not for the sake of Lazarus alone that Jesus went once more to Judea, to Bethany, the home of Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, and then on to Jerusalem.
The raising of Lazarus would reveal the glory of God to Martha and Mary, and to the Lord’s disciples, and in seeing Lazarus rise and walk out of the tomb they were witnesses that Jesus was who he said he was, “the resurrection and the life.” (11.25, 40, 42) With the crucifixion just days away, a far greater demonstration of the Father’s love, and how deeply the Son cared, would soon be given to the world.
But, for the time, those present at the home of Lazarus and Martha and Mary, would see how moved the Lord was by the grief of his friends, how indignant he was at the wailing of the mourners whose performance had something of the aspect of the perfunctory, and how agitated he was in anticipating the coming confrontation with death, first for the life of his friend Lazarus, then on the cross for us all. Thus we see the fully human Jesus touched by, and sharing in, the grief of all who mourn the death of a loved one, and at the same time we see the divine Son of God marshalling the power and strength of his spirit for the great final confrontation with sin and death. Jesus cared, and it would be his very own flesh and blood that would be sacrificed in the greatest act of caring the world will ever know.
What cost are we willing to pay for the sake of caring for others? What sacrifices are we willing to make that someone in need, someone hurting, or homeless, or hungry, might be comforted? To what degree are we willing to spend and be spent for the lost? Unless we are truly devoted to those we claim to care for, we will likely find that there are real, even greatly constraining, limits to our compassion. Just how far are we willing to go to follow the Lord’s example of caring? Jesus certainly did not hesitate to tell us that we must even be willing to take up our own cross if we would follow him.
Are we willing to go hungry in order that another may eat? Will we endure cold so that a brother or sister may be warmed? Sacrifice sleep so that someone else may rest? Risk our health to help another be healed? Surrender our riches to help another out of their poverty? Would we willingly, “go again to Judea,” to a place of certain personal danger and sacrifice, out of care and concern for the souls of others? That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Monday, March 8, 2010
Caring Converted Into Action = Compassion
What Did Jesus Do?
…and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Mark 6.34
There is caring, and then there is compassion. We can care a great deal about the people of Haiti who are homeless, and without adequate clothing and food as a result of the terrible earthquake, but we lack compassion if we never convert our caring to action to relieve their suffering, and our caring amounts to little.
I would imagine that most of us care about such problems as illiteracy, but unless we actually commit ourselves to help address the issue, we shouldn’t be surprised, and have little room to complain, that the number of adults who cannot read or write continues to climb. Then there are the lost. Within a radius of a mile of wherever we are when we read this it is likely that there are dozens of people who have never received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. But without doing something to reach the lost it would be hard to make a case that we actually care very much that without Christ they are doomed to destruction and eternal suffering.
Jesus cared. And Christ’s caring was compassionate in that it constantly compelled him to act. I rather imagine that the eager compassion of the Son might have led him more than once to ask the Father, “Now, do I go down now to save them?” only to have God the Father say, “Not yet, Son. The time will come soon enough.” When the time came for his earthly ministry Jesus looked with compassionate eyes upon the sick and suffering, the lame and the lost, the poor and the perishing, and he cared enough to act.
There was the time Jesus had sought to provide for a little “R&R” for his apostles after he had sent them out two by two on a preaching and healing mission. (Mark 6.7-13) Crossing Galilee in a boat, Jesus and the twelve headed for a lonely place of solitude, only to discover as soon as they stepped out of the boat that the desperate crowds had observed their course across the water and run ahead of them to be waiting on the desolate shore! (Mark 6.30-33) Did Jesus have Peter and the others turnabout and shove off again? Not at all, he had compassion on the crowd that looked like nothing so much as a flock of sheep wandering in a wilderness without a shepherd.
Recognizing how hungry the people were, Jesus fed them, first spiritual food for their souls, then bread and fish for their bodies. He certainly would never have responded to the one need and ignored the other; his great compassion caused him to put his care for all the people into direct and concrete action.
It must be noted that all the cares of Jesus directly related to his concern for the kingdom of God, and his desire to help as many as he could find and follow the one path into the kingdom. Where does concern for the kingdom fit on our personal list of cares? And, we all need to be honest here, claiming concern for the kingdom of God and for the lost as a top priority, while doing little or nothing about it, reveals a definite lack of compassion. If we never convert caring to action it is necessary to ask just how much we really care. Pray. Donate. Volunteer. Go and make a difference in someone’s life. Caring that compels always produces acts of compassion. That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
…and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Mark 6.34
There is caring, and then there is compassion. We can care a great deal about the people of Haiti who are homeless, and without adequate clothing and food as a result of the terrible earthquake, but we lack compassion if we never convert our caring to action to relieve their suffering, and our caring amounts to little.
I would imagine that most of us care about such problems as illiteracy, but unless we actually commit ourselves to help address the issue, we shouldn’t be surprised, and have little room to complain, that the number of adults who cannot read or write continues to climb. Then there are the lost. Within a radius of a mile of wherever we are when we read this it is likely that there are dozens of people who have never received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. But without doing something to reach the lost it would be hard to make a case that we actually care very much that without Christ they are doomed to destruction and eternal suffering.
Jesus cared. And Christ’s caring was compassionate in that it constantly compelled him to act. I rather imagine that the eager compassion of the Son might have led him more than once to ask the Father, “Now, do I go down now to save them?” only to have God the Father say, “Not yet, Son. The time will come soon enough.” When the time came for his earthly ministry Jesus looked with compassionate eyes upon the sick and suffering, the lame and the lost, the poor and the perishing, and he cared enough to act.
There was the time Jesus had sought to provide for a little “R&R” for his apostles after he had sent them out two by two on a preaching and healing mission. (Mark 6.7-13) Crossing Galilee in a boat, Jesus and the twelve headed for a lonely place of solitude, only to discover as soon as they stepped out of the boat that the desperate crowds had observed their course across the water and run ahead of them to be waiting on the desolate shore! (Mark 6.30-33) Did Jesus have Peter and the others turnabout and shove off again? Not at all, he had compassion on the crowd that looked like nothing so much as a flock of sheep wandering in a wilderness without a shepherd.
Recognizing how hungry the people were, Jesus fed them, first spiritual food for their souls, then bread and fish for their bodies. He certainly would never have responded to the one need and ignored the other; his great compassion caused him to put his care for all the people into direct and concrete action.
It must be noted that all the cares of Jesus directly related to his concern for the kingdom of God, and his desire to help as many as he could find and follow the one path into the kingdom. Where does concern for the kingdom fit on our personal list of cares? And, we all need to be honest here, claiming concern for the kingdom of God and for the lost as a top priority, while doing little or nothing about it, reveals a definite lack of compassion. If we never convert caring to action it is necessary to ask just how much we really care. Pray. Donate. Volunteer. Go and make a difference in someone’s life. Caring that compels always produces acts of compassion. That’s what Jesus did.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
