Were you there...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few thousand words for this Good Friday.

Christ on the Cross, Michelangelo

     Paschal Cycle-Alexy Pismenny

Crucifixion-Boris Vallejo

                             Crucifixion-Emil Nolde

Christ of St. John of the Cross

Salvador Dali            Cruxifixion Corpus Hypercubus

 

 

 

 



 

                   Christ Crucified-Diego Velazquez

 

The Iseneheim Altarpiece-Matthas Grunewald

This last image is particularly moving to me.  As you can see, Christ in this image has sores on his skin resembling severe skin diseases.  The piece was originally painted for a monastary where the monks were known for treating plague and skin diseases.  The image of Christ on the cross in great pain also suffering from similar infirmities to the patients was a reminder of the words of Isaiah "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

In Good Hands

“Father, Into your hands I commit my spirit”-Luke 23:46

For six hours Jesus had been hanging on the Cross, and now we get a last look at His suffering face. His whole body is drooping and shivering with the last chill. His breath is growing feebler and feebler – until He gives one long, deep, last sigh – “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Jesus was always submitting Himself to God, and when He died, He died just as He had lived. We too are told to “Commit our way unto the Lord; trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” The Christian may (like Stephen in Acts 7) cry with his last breath, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.”

During the last year of the Civil War, a man paid a visit to the battlefield of Chickamauga, where on the 20th of September, 1863, the Union army was almost destroyed. The battlefield was not then, as now, a beautiful place with stately monuments rising among the trees. It still bore the scars of battle. Over one of the newly made graves, the visitor saw a man on his knees planting flowers. The visitor said to the man, “Is it a son who is buried there?” And the man said “No it’s not a son” – and he went on to explain why he was there to decorate the grave.

He said that he had been drafted into the Confederate army, but just before he was ready to say “good-bye” to his wife and family and report to the training camp, a young man came to see him and said, “You have a wife and family, and when you are gone, you’ll be unable to support them, whereas I am unmarried and have no one depending on me. Let me go in your place.” The offer was accepted and the young man went off in his place to the training camp. At the Battle of Chickamauga he was mortally wounded. The news of his death had drifted back to the southern home of the man whose place he had taken. And as soon as he had saved enough money, he made the journey to Chickamauga, and there he found the grave of his friend with its crude marker.

 

The visitor was deeply touched by the narrative, and then went on his way over the grim Battlefield. But on the way back, he passed this same grave again. It was now well covered with flowers and on a rough board, at the head of the grave, were carved these four words, “He died for me.”

 

It is these four words that express the great truth centered in the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary.  He died for you.  Scripture says "...all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."  Then we to can commit our spirit into His hands, and what good hands they are.

How Complete is Complete?

“It is finished”--John 19:30

“It is finished.”  Everything foretold about, and necessary for our salvation is complete! With reference to the attainment of the promised eternal salvation, no works, no penance, no blood, no money, nothing!- is necessary unless one does not believe what “finished” means. As comforting as it is to believe that Jesus has paid the full price for our salvation when He died upon the cross, how sad is it when people remain comfortless and burdened because they believe that they have to complete what Jesus already called complete.

Our Savior Jesus Christ said to His disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.”  “It is finished” tells us that Jesus is true to His Word. We, the redeemed who believe the Word of Christ, and trust in His once-for- all completed atonement are numbered among those to whom Psalm 22 makes reference.  “Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it.”

Wilhelm Besser wrote in The Passion Story,  “They who waste their energy in labor designed to add to or complete the work of Christ, they who, instead of accepting in faith the work of God that justifies the ungodly, they create a Savior according to their own fancy who is to make the virtuous more righteous, or to make penitent sinners gradually purer. They destroy for themselves the blessed message: 'It is finished!'" 

 

The faith that saves is not built upon personal effort, however sincere.  To pridefully try to complete what Christ called complete, as if Christ actually did not complete what He said He did, is calling Jesus a liar. Being people of flesh and blood who “daily sin much” the penitent sinner relieves an accusing conscience, not by trying harder to do what he can never do or even has to do, but by simply believing  “It is finished!” In believing Christ's words, the child of God respects the Word, and gives Christ and His cross due honor.

In this context Luther said, “ My penitent tears do not justify me. Christ alone has taken my sins away. He cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. This is my defense, a defense which rests upon: ‘It is finished.’”

People who appreciate art do not add another brush-stroke to the painting of a master. It is unthinkable. Why then should the sinner for whom Jesus died, and in whose behalf He declared, “It is finished,” even entertain the idea that the accomplishment of His salvation calls for an addition to what the Master has declared complete?

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.  Thanks be to God!  It is finished.

All Who Are Thirsty

"I  thirst"--John 19:28

 

“I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.”

If we want to know the enormity of our sin, we need only to sit at the foot of the cross and recognize that these words from Psalm 22 are a reflection of what our Savior suffered.  When originally offered the drink of myrrh and gall that would have alleviated His suffering and hastened His death, Jesus refused to receive it.  He had to be in full control of His senses and drink deeply from the cup of suffering.  For only by doing so could He satisfy the demands of the Law which prounounced death upon the sinner.  to have done less would have left fallen man still under condemnation of eternal death with all its indescribable horror and suffering.  But when He had endured it all, and had fully paid the price, the Son of God desired to see His Father.  He was ready to die.  It was His time, the time selected by Him.  Unto the end Jesus remained in control of all things in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.  "The put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst."

Now He says, “I THIRST.”  The thirst that He felt was not uncommon for someone in His circumstance. A parched throat often accompanies death. But His thirst was more than a dry throat. He thirsts for those for whom He died to come to Him and drink of the refreshing water of salvation. By prophecy, Isaiah 53 says, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;” After the toil of His soul, the Savior finds satisfaction in every soul that has been redeemed, and who has by faith grasped salvation in Him. Each time that we hear this word, “I thirst” we should appreciate what it is that He suffered, and at the same time daily bring Him satisfaction through our word and action, as well as our living faith and hope. In that manner we declare that Jesus did not thirst in vain. May we satisfy the thirst of the Savior by saying with David, “I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.”

Humanity's Cry

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"--Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34 

I am struck by the anguished tone of this expression compared to the first three words of Jesus. This cry is from the painful heart of the very human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions and family.  As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark even has his loved ones "looking from afar," not close to him as in the Gospel of John. Jesus feels separated from everyone, but especially his Father. He is now all alone, and he must face death by himself. Jesus lives the maximum of human experience and the ultimate pain in death, and by doing so, frees humanity from the clutches of sin.

His fourth word is the opening line of Psalm 22, and thus his cry from the Cross recalls the cry of Israel and of all innocent persons who suffer. Psalm 22 of David makes a striking prophecy of the crucifixion of the Messiah at a time when crucifixion did not exist: "They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all my bones.” The Psalm continues: "they divide my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing."

There cannot be a more dreadful moment in the history of humanity as this. Jesus, who came to save us, is crucified.  He realizes the horror of what is happening and feels the full measure of what He is now enduring. He is being engulfed in the raging, unrelenting, unrepentant sea of sin.  Evil triumphs, as Jesus admits to the pharisees and scribes as they arrested Him: "...this is your hour—when darkness reigns."  

But it is only for a moment. The burden of all the sin of humanity for a moment overwhelms the humanity of Jesus.

But doesn't this have to happen?  Doesn't this have to occur if Jesus is to save us?  It is in His death that the Divine plan of His Father and Himself will come to fruition.  Evil is defeated by an evil act.  the foolishness of God is His ultimate triumph, the very "power of God" as Paul writes to the Corinthians.  For it is by His death that the unimaginable, unbridgeable chasm between God and humanity is bridged, not by our deeds or our power, but by His.  "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men."

That is how much He loves us.

Taking Care of His Own

“Woman, behold your son…Behold your mother.”--John 19:26, 27

While the crowd mocked and jeered, it is good to know that there were those present who really cared.  Jesus looked down and saw His mother standing near the cross.  By her side was the disciple John.  This little group of sympathetic and bereaved souls furnished a striking contrast to the rest of the mocking crowd.  Jesus lifted his voice and said to his mother, “woman, look at John, from now on he will be your son.”  And then to John He said, “from now on, she will be your mother.

In these words, we learn that our welfare is an abiding concern of our Savior.  He knows our pain and sorrow, even in the midst of his own.  He also demonstrated that he helps, strengthens and encourages us through one another.  At the cross we learn to appreciate the mutual love and care that exists within a community of believers as well as the responsibility that members of the body of Christ have to one another.  If in his deepest suffering He loved his own so much that he would provide for their mutual welfare, how we should also care for and love one another.

I can't help but turn back to to what Mary was experiencing.  Try to hear the thoughts and emotions of Jesus' mother's heart.  His disciples had deserted Him, His friends had forsaken Him, His nation had rejected Him and His enemies cried out for His blood.  But His mother stood sorrowing at the foot of the cross.  Surely she remembered the words of the righteous man Simeon who spoke these prophetic words to her when Jesus was presented at the temple as an infant.  "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too."  As she saw her beloved firstborn son in such agony, surely the nails pierced her heart as much as they pierced His flesh.

               

               

Is This Fair?

“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”--Luke 23:43

We don’t know much about the men crucified with Jesus, one on his right and one on his left.  Matthew and Mark call them robbers, Luke and John:  criminals.  But whatever their crimes, they were guilty of them and they were heinous enough to merit the most notorious form of execution devised by man.

As the gospel recounts:  “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:  ‘Aren’t you the Christ?  Save yourself and us!’  But the other criminal rebuked him.  ‘Don’t you fear God’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.’  Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’”

 

"But that isn't fair!" some may say.  "Where is the justice in that?"  After all, this guy is no good, right.  He is a bad person, undeserving of heaven, just look at what he has done. 

 

But, wait a second.  What had Jesus just said to all the "good" people just before all this?  You know the ones.  The religious authority who very carefully observed the law and did everything "right."  The soldiers who were just doing their job.  Pilate, who handed Him over to the crowd just to get Him off his back.  The crowd of righteous people who shouted "crucify him!"  Jesus pleaded that they be forgiven:  "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."  If his grace extends to the "righteous" who have placed him on this cross between these two men, why would we think for a second that it wouldn't extend to the "sinner" who pleads for mercy?

Jesus response should be a comfort to us.  This man did not plead his works or any righteousness of his own.  How could he?  He had wasted away his life in crime and was now receiving the just reward of his deeds.  If ever there was a testament to the fact that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works, this is it!  Salvation is not earned, but given—the debt paid in full by Jesus on the cross!  Instead of wondering how this criminal could be shown such grace, let us marvel in the fact that God’s grace is so rich to include him—and even to include us, whose souls are also stained with sin and crying out for a savior.  As one church father observed, “I do not ask for the measure of Paul’s grace.  I ask not for Peter’s portion, but I fervently beg to receive what on the cross you gave to the thief.”

Let us hold to this truth that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  Let us realize what good news that is!  We cling to the cross, we hold on to Jesus in repentance and humility and say, ‘remember me, Lord!’ and in response he says ‘you will be with me in paradise.’

Any Last Words?

Jesus' final hours were excruciating, a new word created to describe the type of pain that crucified men endured, which litterally means "out of the cross."  Still, in His agony, Jesus had more to share.  Each of the last seven phrases that Jesus spoke from the cross have significance for us now.  Over the next seven days of lent, I want to share them with you.

“Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing”--Luke 23:34

It was not unusual for crucified men to speak while hanging on the cross, but their words were usually wild expressions of pain and pleading for release.  They would shriek and curse and spit at the spectators.  But Jesus, though suffering untold agony, neither cried out for pity nor cursed his crucifiers.  Instead, he lifted a prayer of intercession and forgiveness. 

He prayed for the Pharisees and teachers of the law who condemned him, the crowd that shouted ‘crucify him,’ the soldiers who mocked him, beat him, and nailed him to the cross.  These things can seem rather distant from us.  After all, we did not hold the hammer that pounded the nails.  Our hands did not weave together the crown of thorns and place it on his head.   Nor did they hold the whip that scourged him.

But we cannot forget that in that moment he also prayed for his betrayer, the denier, his disciples who fled and hid.  Perhaps these sins don’t feel so distant from what we ourselves have done at various times of life.  Perhaps if we’re really honest with ourselves, we will realize that our sin was felt in his wrists and feet when the nails were pounded in.  Our sin was placed on his head and beaten into his shoulders.

Jesus was in fact praying for us as well.  So often we do not know what we are doing.  Our sin was as present upon the cross as the sin of the soldiers or the crowd, the Pharisees or Judas.  So we pray ‘Lord, forgive us!  We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.’  And still, the words of forgiveness echo from the cross to us today:  that we are in fact forgiven.

Good Eeev'ning

Today, March 12, is National Alfred Hitchcock Day.  I can't really figure out why March 12.  It isn't Hitchcock's birthday (August 13), anniversary of his death (April 29) or anything important to his life as far as I can tell.  But still, I couldn't let the day go by without giving the most famous director in Hollywood history a little attention.  He still has his critics who say he was over rated, etc., but I don't see how anyone could say that.  Not only are his films vastly entertaining, they are visually and thematically rich as well.  The man truly was a genius and a true film innovator.  Everyone working in the movies today owes him a debt.  We would do well to have movies of the caliber that Hitchcock produced coming out regularly today.

One of his truly great, and to many his greatest film is Vertigo.  This last year, respected British film magazine Sight and Sound's poll of critics that is done every ten years named Vertigo the greatest movie of all time, demoting long time champ Citizen Kane to second place.  It is ironic that one of Hitchcock's financial and critical failures upon its original release is now considered by many to be the greatest movie ever made anywhere, anytime.  Because of its lack of success at the time, Hitchcock did some distancing from it, naming Shadow of a Doubt as his personal favorite of his own movies, though many suspected that Vertigo actually held that title.  All that said, the film is truly remarkable.

I am going to tie this all in to lent, believe it or not, but without giving too much away for those who have never seen Vertigo, I want to focus on some of the story.  It is about a former police detective, "Scottie" Ferguson (played with surprising subltety by the great Jimmy Stewart) who suffers from a crippling fear of heights because of a major accident on his last day on the job.  He is hired by an old college friend to follow his wife to find out what she has been up to during the day, just to make sure she's safe.  You see, this old chum, Gavin Elster, believes his wife Madeline believes that she is being posessed by the ghost of a dead relative who committed suicide and is afraid that Madeline might do the same.

So there is lot's of following and mysterious happennings eventually leading to Scottie and Madeline (played by the stunning Kim Novak) fall in love.  But still, Madeline runs to the top of a mission tower and Scottie, suffering from crippling vertigo, is unable to follow her and sees her jump to her death.

Scottie is haunted by this deeply and soon starts seeing Madeline wherever he goes.  Then, one day, he swears that he actually sees her and approaches a young woman named Judy.  Except for her hair color and clothing, Judy is the spitting image of Madeline.  Scottie then becomes obsessed with remaking Judy into the image of Madeline, buying her clothes and jewelry and eventually asking her to dye her hair blonde and put it up like Madeline used to.  I'm not going to give away more.  If you haven't seen the movie, you must see it.  It's a great film and a powerful meditation on obsession, love and acceptance of people as who they are. 

But, I think we can be a lot like Scottie in our relationship with God.  We would rather He fit into our concept and be made in our image than be who He is.  We can fall in love with a God who does what we ask and can be controlled.  The omnipotent, untamable God of scripture is big and even scary sometimes.  But, God will not be changed.  But, we must stop creating God in our image or casting Him as we hope He would be.  The more we know God for who He really is, the less we want to change Him and the more we want Him to change us. 


Not in some false fashion like Scottie changed Judy into Madeline.  Instead, God changes us to be who we really are, how He created us to be in the first place.  He made us to be stripped of fear, idolatry, jealousy, contempt and clothed in compassion, mercy, righteousness, grace.  What joy it is to let go of changing God, who cannot be changed, and allowing Him to not change us, but make us new and remake us daily into who we are meant to be. 

The Fourth One Is Real Shiney

Over the past several years, I've seen a lot of Veggie Tales.  Then we had kids and I watched them even more often (he-he-he).  For the uninitiated, Veggie Tales is a series of videos that tell Bible stories and Biblical moral lessons using animated vegetables.  That may sound wierd, but they're actually really well done.  In fact, I just realized that 2013 marks twenty years of Veggie Tales.  Okay, that makes me feel a little older than I felt a few minutes ago.

Anyway, one of the classics is called Rack, Shack and Benny, which is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the firey furnace from Daniel chapter 3.  The scene is transplanted to Nebby K. Nezzer's chocolate factory where Rack, Shack and Benny work making chocolate bunnies.  Mr. Nezzer decides to erect a giant statue of the bunny and, when he says so, everyone will bow down and sing "The Bunny Song," which is filled with lyrics that the boys know are wrong.  Well, as you probably guessed, the boys don't sing and are thrown into the firey furnace.  Mr. Lunt, the foreman then remarks, "Hey, there are four guys in there, and one of them's reeeeeaal shiney."

So, fun stuff and a memorable way to remember the story and the lesson it teaches about faithfulness to God.  But today, as I was thinking about the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as told in Daniel 3, I realized something was missing.  I hadn't thought about it before, but there is something very conspicuous by its absence.  Where's Daniel?  He is in every other chapter of the book, but is not mentioned once in chapter 3.  Why is that?  There are a couple different possibilities.  This particular story could have taken place in a different part of Babylon; Daniel could have been away on an envoy to another nation.  The most disturbing possibility is that he was not only present when this happenned, but was one of those who bowed to the giant image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had constructed.

Whether or not this was the case, we don't know, but imagine for a moment that it was.  Why would he do it?  Well, I know if I was there, there would be a certain amount of something called, I don't know, fear that might grip my soul.  Remember, no one knew the end of the story at that time.  Daniel may have thought "what good would it do me to serve God in this country if I'm dead, burnt to a crisp?  I won't really be bowing in my heart and God will know that."  I can also imagine that after the end of the story (if this is in fact what happenned) the immense guilt Daniel would have felt for compromising when he knew he should have stood with his friends. 

It's an interesting speculation. Whether Daniel bowed the first time or not, we can learn from the idea that he may have. I can certainly say that there have been times that I have compromised, that I have bowed to other gods. Over the years, my idols have had various names: music, popularity, girls, money, career...etc., etc., etc. You can probably name some of the same and perhaps others.

Now, compare Daniel 3 with Daniel chapter 6, usually known as "Daniel and the Lion's Den."  The two chapters are strikingly similar.  There is a new king who doesn't know about previous events and orders that he is to be worshipped as god.  Anyone who worships another god will be torn apart by lions.  Well, this time, Daniel does what he knows is right and worships God alone "as was his custom since early days."  He then faces a "firey furnace" of his own and is thrown into the lion's den, but is unharmed.

Praise God that He is forgiving.  He is the God of the second chance.  Think of the Biblical examples of this:  Cain, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Jonah, Peter, Mary Magdelene, Zaccheas, etc. and etc. and etc.  When we fall, He helps us back up.  If we learn from our mistakes, the next time the opportunity to bow comes along, we would rather face a horde of lions than do it.

Overcome!

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
                                             --Matthew 5:10

When I think about persecution of Christians throughout time and throughout the world today, I have to stop and thank God that I have been so blessed to live in the place and time that I do.  The early Christians living in the Roman Empire had to face the sword of the soldier and the gladiator, the claws of wild beasts, and the tyranny of an insane emperor who lit believers on fire to light his banquets.  In the world today, many Christ followers are forced to meet in hidden places and worship in hushed tones for fear of the state, their neighbors, and even their own families.  Imprisonment, torture, exile, and even death are still prevalent in some parts of the world as though the Roman Empire still reigned.  (If you have a strong stomach, google images of Christian persecution.  It is shocking!)  To stop for a moment and pray for believers and those sharing the gospel around the world is always appropriate.

The persecutions we face here at home seem small in light of world history and current world affairs, but they are still real for us here and now.  Almost every day, we hear of some twelve year old girl being sued for talking about her faith at school, a nativity scene being torn down, a beauty pageant contestant being ridiculed for standing up for her beliefs, and on and on and on.  We experience less freedom to talk about faith matters in the workplace and various public arenas.  In light of current trends, do not expect things to get any easier.

So, whatever trials you're dealing with; whatever persecutions or hardships, remember these words from Jesus' brother and leader of the first century church in Jerusalem, James:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance...Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." (James 1:2, 3, 12)

And so we see that the crown of life, the kingdom on heaven, will be given to those who perservere through trial, persecution, hardship. 

And again, Jesus does not ask us to do what He is not willing to do.  Think about this.  Jesus was thrown out of His hometown, his brothers thought He was crazy, threatened with stoning, tried in a circus of a trial, denied, deserted by His closest friends, beaten, mocked, spat upon, unsulted, and nailed to a cross.  Now those are trials.  Did Jesus perservere?  Absolutely!  And praise be to God He did because not only does the kingdom of God belong to Him, but, through His trials, He has opened the kingdom of heaven to us.  And He Himself will bestow the crown of life to those who perservere the trials.  I for one, will gladly take on the insults of men to hear the words "well done" from Him. 

For Those in the Back, That Was Peacemakers

"Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God."
                                       -Matthew 5:9

Often when I sit down to this keyboard, I'm not really sure if I'm going to have enough to say.  Today, I have the opposite problem; there are so many things I could say, but I have to narrow it down.  Over the past several years, the church I was working at immersed itself in material about this very subject.  The time I spent studying and trying to practice being a peacemaker have been invaluable and has changed so much of how I interract with others.  So, I'll just share a few thoughts on peacemaking today that I hope will be helpful.

So what's up with the title?  I'm sure some of you already know.  It's a reference to Monty Python's The Life of Brian, which (after a brief prologue) begins with a group of people standing at the back of the crowd at the sermon on the mount and not quite hearing thing fully.  Thus the line, "what did He say?  Blessed are the cheesemakers?"  But, I urge you to hear well the words of the Great Rabbi, they are for us all.

As the Great Rabbi, Jesus is quick to practice what He preaches throughout the gospels.  When it comes to being a peacemaker, He not only lives it, but embodies it completely.  In Abba's Child, Brennan Manning writes, "If we search for one word to describe the missionand ministry of Jesus Christ, reconcilliation would not be a bad choice."  And reconcilliation is the ultimate goal of peacemakers.  Reconciliation means to restore the relationship.  Jesus does this by taking on the "very nature of a servant and becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2) 

Jesus purpose on the cross was to reconcile us to God.  This is the ultimate act of peacemaking, for, in our sin, we are estranged from God farther than we could be from any man, but through the cross, we are not only reconciled, but made children of God, and partake in the fullness of the inheritence He has for those who believe.  And He didn't wait for us to be good enough or sinless enough or faithful enough because He knew that would never happen.  God, being fully aware of the magnitude of our estrangement from Him did the unimaginable:

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)

What news!  No wonder it's called the gospel!  The God spell!  The good news!

So, we are to then go and do likewise.  As God has performed the ultimate act of reconciliation, we are given the ministry (since all who believe in Jesus as Lord are ministers) of reconciliation.  This is not easy. From the very beginning, peacemaking has not come naturally to mankind and still doesn't.  To share with the gift of peace in a warring world is radical, counterculteral if you will.  And this radical movement all starts with one person making amends with another.  It doesn't matter if the fault was mine or not, I am responsible for my part in making peace.  One of my favorite thoughts lately is if the other person is resposible for 98% of the conflict and I'm responsible for 2% of the conflict, I'm still 100% responsible for my 2%.  So, take on the ministry of reconciliation, be a peacemaker, be a child of God.

Pure Purity

"Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God."
                              --Matthew 5:8


We like thing pure, don't we.   Here are just a few:  pure romance, pure silk, pure cane sugar, pure water, pure gold, pure chocolate, pure joy, pure oxygen, pure organics, pure dog food, pure laughter, pure imagination...and I'm sure you could add many more.  So, what are we looking for when we're looking for something that is pure?  We are looking for something that is ALL one thing with nothing else mixed in with it.  As He does throughout the sermon on the mount, Jesus is placing a very high standard when he says to be pure in heart.

Think about it, He is asking our hearts to be centered all on one thing with nothing else mixed in.  Zero impurities, zero focus on anything but righteousness, zero sin!  These are the ones who will see God.  As we see elsewhere in scripture, nothing impure will be allowed into the presence of God.  Sin, even the smallest sin, is intollerable to God.  No one with any sin in them will see God. 

Wow, do you feel as dejected as I do at this moment?  If I am to be free of impurity in order to see God, I'm in trouble.  I've been aware of my sinfulness for a long time.  I am very aware of the gap between my sinful self and the incomparable holiness of God.  The older I get and the more I grow in my faith, the larger I realize that gap really is. 

Matthew 5:8 is echoed later in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:48 when, after raising the standard of righteousness well beyond what the teachers of the law had taught, Jesus says "therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

As we are all very fond of saying "nobody's perfect."  Jesus went so far as to say nobody is good except for God.  So how are we to "be perfect."  Some might say He meant for us to become perfect, as in move toward a state of perfection.  But that is not what the scripture says, it says be perfect; as in live now in a state of perfection.

So, how on earth are we supposed to do this!  Ah, how on earth indeed.  There is no way on earth, but there is a way in heaven. 

We will always be sinners while we live.  As the apostle John says "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)  But Christ has made away. Martin Luther is often attributed as using the simile that we are like "snow covered dung." It's a funny picture, but a strong one as well. We are sinful, broken, gross if you will, but we are covered by the purity of Christ.  By His sacrifice on the cross, we are covered with His righteousness, His purity, His perfection.  Since He lived a life completely satisfying to God's law, He is the only pure sacrifice (there's that word pure again) for us, and He was happy to do it so that we may see God. 

Have Mercy

"Blessed are the merciful,
For they will be shown mercy."

There are two sides to the coin of the gift of salvation.  On one side is grace; on the other, mercy.  Grace is getting what we don't deserve; Mercy, is not getting what we do.  For us to show mercy to others is to lay aside our right to revenge, anger, bitterness and instead to forgive.

The best illustration of mercy that I've seen recently is from a very unlikely source:  the television show American Horror Story:  Asylum.  The story over several episodes has many facets, but the most interesting to me was the story of Sister Jude (played so well by Jessica Lange), the particularly cruel administrator of an insane asylum in the early 1960's.  One inmate in particular goes through various forms of beatings and harsh treatments at her hands, though he has been incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.  Eventually, Jude herself becomes a patient in the institution mistreated in unimaginable ways and the innocent inmate is found to be innocent and released.  After some time, he is able to track down Jude and release her from the institution into his care.  In the meantime, she has gone truly insane and is not a particularly pleasant houseguest.  But, through patience and love becomes a loving, merciful person herself, taking on the role of surrogate parent to her former inmate and surrogate grandmother to his children.  It was surprising to me that such a beautiful picture of mercy and grace was shown on current television, especially on a show like American Horror Story. 

Of course, the ultimate example of mercy is Jesus Christ Himself.  The level of mercy that he shows to those He encounters in the gospel narratives is unparalleled.  And still today, He shows us so much mercy.  Those who know Him need not fear the grave or hell, truly what our sin deserves, but we are shown grace by sharing in His inheritance, being made sons and daughters of God through His mercy on the cross.  Even from the cross, He showed unbelievable mercy in the words "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."  What words!

The question is often asked, "why do bad things happen to good people?"  It's a fair question.  But if we look honestly at ourselves:  our shortcomings, our sin, our lack of compassion, our worship of the gods of money, fame, sex, work, even good things like family, anything that comes before the true God, we seem very dark in His light.  If we're really honest with ourselves, the question should be "why do good things happen to anybody?"

The answer to that question is this:  because of His mercy and its brother grace.  As we have been shown great mercy, so should we show mercy.  As we have been given great grace, far beyond what we can imagine, so should we show grace.  The next time the thoughts of unforgiveness enter your mind, take the thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.  And remember the words He spoke from the cross were not only spoken to those who drove the nails, shouted the insults, and swung the lash, but to each of us as well.  Lord, as we are unmerciful "Father forgive us, we know not what we do."