GOOD FRIDAY

Something is stirring in me today. "I come that they may have life, and have it to the full", John 10:10. This statement has long stirred me, but until 2005 I gave little thought to this. I think I gave mental assent to the statement, an academic "Yes", and filed it away. I never embraced this truth from my heart, the wellspring of life. But then, I'd never been given the full story of my heart, our hearts.

On Maundy Thursday (yesterday), I spent some time slowly reading John's extensive account of the Upper Room Discourse found in chapters 13 - 17 of his gospel. In my opinion, these chapters are among the richest passages to be found in Scripture. I was struck by some phrases that give some meat to the idea of John 10:10 life.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me." 14:1

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." 14:6

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." 14:27

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain n the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." 15:4

"I have told you this so that my joy may be complete." 15:11

I know there are other phrases, but these seem to capture some of the hallmarks of an abundant life: joy, peace, bearing fruit (love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control) and an untroubled heart. Who wouldn't want this kind of life? How do we access these truths and all other truths spoken of? 

There appears to be four separate times Jesus spoke of a Counselor to come: 14:15-18, 14:25-26, 15:26 and 16:5-15. In these passages we learn the role the Spirit of Truth will play in living abundantly, but there is a mystery of our faith, the Spirit dwells within us, in our hearts, the wellspring of life.

How is this possible if, as some point out, our hearts are not to be trusted? Ezekiel 36:26 tells us we will be given a new heart of flesh to replace the old heart of stone. It is this heart of stone Jesus spoke of in Matthew 15:19 that many will quote to show us not to trust our hearts. Jesus tells Nicodemas in John 3:3 that a second birth is needed. Paul tells us we are new creatures in Christ. This can only be true if we are given new hearts to hear, to listen to the Spirit of Truth.

More importantly, the new heart is necessary for the Spirit to dwell in us as this indwelling could not be possible in the old heart of stone. Put very simply, living the abundant life offered by Jesus is not possible if we hold our hearts at arm's distance in suspicion and fear.

Jesus' death we commemorate today makes everything else He taught possible, including our new heart. This death opened up the door so that we can whole-heartedly embrace the deep mystery of unity with God found sprinkled throughout the Upper Room Discourse. Jesus states plainly in 14:20, "On this day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you". We can only embrace this truth fully if we learn to live out of our new hearts bought for us on the cross.

Thank you Jesus for coming for me and making me a new creature with a heart of flesh designed to hear You. I can now know You and know Your voice guiding me.

LAKE

We are nearing the end of nearly 6 days at our friend's lake house on Lake Koronis near Paynesville, Minnesota. We came here often when we lived in Minnesota for seven years. Back then, with children now in their late 30's and early 40's, I didn't appreciate the early morning stillness on this deck overlooking the dock and rippling lake. This week, this early morning tableau has called to me.

The stillness calls me out in the morning. A stillness I choose to not sully with inattentiveness. To not notice the depth of peace upon this still lake would profane it's offering, and the voice of the One who invites. It would be akin to giving no response to a best friend's wedding invitation. Lack of notice would dismiss the gentle call to celebrate morning.

There is something holy, "other", to stillness offered by created nature; this lake, a forest, snowfall. If you are able, let those moments in those places be remembered. Out of created nature we can hear otherness, holiness, a cosmic echo from Elijah's cave, the gentle whisper.

Awakening mankind mars with the drone of mechanized life; boat, automobile, coffee maker, even the nearly imperceptible hum of a toaster. This activity, marked by noise, subtracts from stillness found in this created silence where we can hear Abba's heart.

An overflying plane captures me with the motor drone. My interrupted attention causes disruption of shalom's silence, pregnant with promise and depth.

Simultaneously, I am fed and hungered in the moment by Him. Grace upon grace with grace-full-ness.

Judas

I mentioned Judas in my first post concerning Jesus and the disciples in Bethany at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. John had recorded Judas' objection to the nard Mary used to anoint Jesus' feet; the nard should have been sold and the money given to the poor. John wrote Judas had been the treasurer of the group and had taken some funds for himself from time to time. I wonder if John had first hand knowledge, perhaps he'd seen Judas slip himself a few coins. John does not seem like the type to offer anything but his own first hand knowledge. If he knew of Judas' thievery, did he mention it to Jesus?

I wrote then that I'd get back to Judas, so here I am. He presents some problems for many as they try to figure him out, try to understand Jesus inclusion of him into that group. Was he just a pawn who had no choice about what he did? To be clear right at the outset, I don't really know about some of these deeper issues. I am only trying to look at his situation from what we do know.

While I don't consider our record of that week as a story, I will say we tend to like stories that have a villain. We tend to put Judas in this role. From the little we know, he tends to fit it well. But I've been thinking about this and thought I'd share a few thoughts.

First, because of what John writes in chapter 12, we know Judas has some deep character flaws. Money seems to be at the root of most of those flaws. Why then would Jesus have him be in charge of their funds? We can only speculate about that "Why" question.

Judas had a front row seat to all that Jesus did during those years of ministry. He not only saw Jesus heal, cast out demons and preach, but he was part of that intimate group that probably sat around fires at night and were taught deeper truths. Others from those front row seats certainly were changed by that experience. It appears Judas was not. Did he just sit back and listen with a calloused heart, or could there have been times he was pierced, but his pride kept him from a deep surrender to the truth being played out in front of him?

As we move into that last week we can speculate that he probably sought out the Pharisees and made his deal on that silent Wednesday. What did he think would happen? Matthew alone writes of Judas' confrontation with the Pharisees where he returns the 30 pieces of silver. He realizes Jesus is innocent. We are never told why he took matters in his own hand and sold Jesus out.

So, I am left wondering about this man. I can't just simply put him in the "villain" slot and leave him there. I think his character flaws, combined with pride kept, him from submitting to Jesus as the others were able to do. I want to think this was a silent war that raged in him and the only thing that quieted that war was to pocket coins for his own use. This may have been his "go to" when he felt the pressure that sin brings. Sin sometimes does that for us though, it quiets momentarily moral conflicts.

It may have been greed that moved him to make the final deal with the Pharisees, or it may have been an internal justification on his part to try to curtail Jesus' inflammatory rhetoric that was causing some to fall away and question who Jesus was. Again, we don't know.

John tells us something interesting in 13:27, "As Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him". We now have the true villain, Satan, our mortal enemy. Judas is not without culpability, his pride that may have kept him from true submission, kept the door open for Satan. And Satan waited until the last moment, the most pregnant moment, to enter and move the chess pieces into what he believed were in his favor for a final checkmate. At that moment, the act of betrayal was complete, but not yet played out to the end.

If we circle back to Matthew's account we see how diabolical Satan is. He completely abandons his pawn, leaving Judas engulfed in remorse and guilt and blackness. He feels he has no choice and hangs himself.

At this point many offer a silent cheer, he got what he deserved. I no longer see it that way. I see a tragic end to a man I believe Jesus loved. I wonder what might have happened if he could have held out against the blackness that engulfed him long enough for resurrection? What might have been his story of redemption?

Some may say I've gone a bit too far in my speculation. Perhaps, but grace offers us something other than what we deserve. Paul tells us Jesus died for us when we were still his enemies. Could not Judas be included in that group that were redeemed by Jesus' death?

I am writing to point out first who the real villain was, Satan. And I'm also hoping we can see Judas' life as a cautionary one. If he withheld submission to Jesus' love, we also need to be careful about those areas we all carry that we may not have submitted under his love. John in his first letter tells us explicitly what to do when we sin, we confess and let Jesus, through his love and forgiveness, heal those areas that need his touch.

It is not easy to decipher Judas' culpability in the role he played, but I see him as a tragic man, one who was privy to Jesus and yet could not bring himself to give over to Jesus who he was.

Just some thoughts to think about this week after resurrection.

Resurrection Sunday

Resurrection Sunday

I may be a little late in posting this, but He is risen, He is risen, indeed!

I have received many texts on my phone this day expressing this sentiment, one we use on this day as a greeting to one another. It is so good to at least have these text messages giving us a bit of connection to those that hold this day in the utmost esteem.

I think this social distancing that we are practicing is a mixed blessing. Most of our usual practices have been stripped away, especially those that involve crowds of any size.

Gone is the music of the church – choirs and orchestras – that help to stir up awe, wonder and joy as we celebrate resurrection. Perhaps you are missing this, I know I am to a certain extent. I’ve always enjoyed those rousing traditional hymns that allow us to vocally lift up loud voices to express our joy. Newer musical compositions have the same uplifting effect and lend so much joy to this day.

While I miss the usual experiences of the season, I do want to point out the blessing of a quieter, more reflective celebration. Without all the usual prompts and queues leading us to worship, we are left with the choice of intentionally and personally rejoicing. Please choose to enter into a non-traditional, more personal joy for this day.

In consideration of what I am asking you to do, please consider, what might have been the celebration of this day been like, one year after Jesus’ resurrection? I am suspecting it was small, personal, intimate and reflective. In the minds of those early followers steeped in the culture and practice surrounding Passover, I am sure there was a strong and new connection to that celebration. They had witnessed the complete full circle of God’s redemption that had started upon the exodus out of Egypt and ended a year earlier in Jesus’ death.

When I place myself there, trying to observe and reflect as it might have been, resurrection, so improbable with nothing corresponding in the Passover celebration, becomes a lightening rod memory. For those remembering with fresh, one-year old memories, resurrection still must have seemed so fresh, so unexpected, so…… I simply don’t have a word or phrase to capture what that fresh memory would stir up.

All these 2000+ years later, we’ve just lumped it all together and usually rush into the celebration of Jesus’ coming back to life. We almost take it for granted. This year is different, isn’t it?

Our loss of communal celebrations during this peculiar time allows us to approach Easter in a new way. Maybe we can have a fresh appreciation for those early believers.

On Friday, I asked you to stand at the cross. Yesterday I asked you to sit with those who felt such dark grief, not knowing what was to come.

Today, may we not try to capture our own joy in the midst of our loss of community, but to sit with the joy of those on that first year anniversary of resurrection. May we see this day through their eyes. Let yourself be encompassed by their joy, their witness of the impossible and improbable breakthrough Jesus’ resurrection truly is.

We are alive in a way not possible without resurrection.

He is risen, and so are we.

Saturday

Saturday – Day Before Resurrection

I am struggling to find context for this day in my own experiences of death. Every person in the generation preceding me on both my mother’s and father’s side of my family have been swallowed up by death. In my wife’s family there are still three remaining, her mother and an aunt and uncle from her father’s family.

While all of those deaths have hit with varying degrees of grief, two stand out as I sit here thinking and typing. My cousin Darrel, younger than I, died suddenly of a heart attack several years ago. His death preceded both his parent’s death. Nothing I know of predicted his heart attack. It was sudden and very hard for his immediate family. I was asked to preside at his funeral. While an honor, it still was hard since I’d known him his entire life.

The second death that has emerged in my attempt for context for today, was the death of my friend Cliff. He was my best friend as well as one of my wife’s best friends. It was a joy for both of us as he stood as my best man at our wedding almost 46 years ago. He died in an automobile accident a few months after the birth of his daughter in 1978. Fortunately, his wife and daughter survived the accident, but it was a breath-taking blow to hear that news. I still miss him to this day.

None of these experiences offers context to help stand alongside those grieving on this day after Jesus died. Those thoughts we’ve all experienced at the loss of a loved one, (“if only”, I can’t believe this”, “this can’t be true”, “only just yesterday he was here”) are poor echoes of the darkness and grief I believe those men and women were experiencing.

They had been changed by Jesus. They knew physically his touch, the sound of his voice, his smile, his eyes. They loved him. More importantly, they knew he loved them deeply. They had been taught richly of God’s kingdom by his words and actions. He held an authority they had never known from other rabbis. They thought they were going to follow him a long time.

This time after his death had to be nothing but crushing darkness. A darkness that held no light to pierce the confusion, the pain, the loneliness.

Yes, I am sure some remembered Jesus had predicted this would happen. It was a grace of kindness that he did that. I believe it may have softened the blow his death would be, into the realm of “barely tolerable”, but the darkness had to be suffocating.

Were they scattered and alone? Did John sit with Mary in her grief? Was Peter huddled somewhere, curled into a ball of shame? We don’t know.

I do know, I don’t have a good context for the loss they felt. As with my thoughts of yesterday, I think it important to not rush to resurrection. I think it important to sit with these men and women who grieved the loss of their Messiah. They are our forebearers of the salvation we now have.

May we sit with them for a while.

Good Friday

Friday – Good Friday 

“Spoiler Alert”, we often see these words in articles that discuss television shows or movies. They are meant to warn the reader the content includes details that tell how the movie or show is going to end, or at least, give details that one might not want to know ahead of time.

I think this issue of “Spoiler Alert” alters how we view this day of Holy Week. We know about Easter, we know how this week ends. That makes it a little difficult to enter into what this day is all about – death.

My friend Bill taught me years ago a large part of worship is remembering. We are told to remember in scripture often, so it makes good sense to employ intentional remembering in our worship services. The Lord’s Table, Eucharist in many church traditions, is a perfect example of this.

Remembering that Friday can be hard since we do know the end of the story. In fact, my own church has abandoned a corporate service on Friday for sober reflection, and now has a rousing baptism party.

As we rush to Easter prematurely, I think we do this at a great loss. We certainly can set aside one hour a year for reflection of the cost paid for our adoption into God’s family. If we don’t corporately gather for some sober remembering, I believe we cheapen Easter.

So, let’s try to set aside Easter Sunday for now. Read through one of the gospel accounts of this day and try to be present as this death of redemption unfolds.

Using your God-given gift of imagination; you are in the Garden of Gethsemane. You’ve sleepily tried to stay awake to pray with Jesus but have failed.

Suddenly you hear a loud group approaching and you are now fully awake. Your heart hammers in your chest. “What is happening?” screams in your mind.

The group sent by the Pharisees have arrived with torches and swords. To your astonishment, Jesus hands himself over to this armed group that have come to arrest him. They really are thwarted though, Jesus willingly, almost eagerly submits to them tying his hands and goes with them. You don’t know it, but that is the last time his hands will be free until they are carrying the cross and then stretched out to receive the nails of crucifixion.

In fear, you scatter. You don’t want to get caught up in these events. Later you learn that John and Peter follow along and are as close to the illegitimate court proceedings as they can get. You also learn of Peter’s denials. Jesus had predicted this, but Peter is crushed under his guilt.

You are shocked to learn the verdict, death by crucifixion. Will you go and witness the cross? Can you stand by and watch this incredible man’s life drain away? Evidently only John of the twelve could do this.

Who else was there witnessing the cross? A crowd jeering, throwing insults. A small group of women grieving uncontrollably at the sight of Jesus hanging there. Pharisees smiling and smug at the thought they’d finally managed to rid themselves of this troublesome rabbi who threatened their power and position.

There may also have been a party going on, a party in the dark heavenlies. Partying, thinking they had won. Jesus was at last dying and the plan had been disrupted. They think they've won.

We pause on this day to remember this cost, to stand in solidarity with those grieving that day. Yes, we know the ultimate outcome of these events, and we will rejoice. But let us set aside some time to remember soberly the cost. Let us add to the tradition of remembering, even if we cannot do it corporately.

Let us stand at the foot of the cross. 

Maundy Thursday

Thursday

Many of us have heard this day in Holy Week referred to as “Maundy Thursday”. I wasn’t sure what maundy meant so I looked it up. Here is what I found:

noun. the ceremony of washing the feet of the poor, especially commemorating Jesus' washing of His disciples' feet on Maundy Thursday. Also called maundy money. money distributed as alms in conjunction with the ceremony of maundy or on Maundy Thursday.

I found it interesting the first statements noted above refer to the washing of feet, commemorating Jesus’ washing the disciple’s feet. This is the area I want to focus on for this devotion.

We read in John 13:1-5, “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (NIV)

This is the opening of what is often referred to as the “Upper Room Discourse” found in detail in chapters 13-17 in John’s gospel. These chapters are very rich, very comforting and very accessible. Jesus’ final night before his death was an important evening for his disciples, and for us. Much can be learned with a careful reading of these marvelous chapters. But, as with Tuesday’s passages, there is too much to cover in this brief writing.

I would suggest an hour minimum, to slowly read these chapters, letting the rich imagery Jesus used, call you to a deeper intimacy with him. Perhaps, if you are inclined, use your imagination to place yourself there that night and try to listen to Jesus’ voice teaching the depth of what we have in him. Let something “shimmer” for you and let it soak in.

Let me move on, though.

Good teachers or public speakers know they need to start strong to capture the attention of their audience. Jesus takes an interesting turn that night.

As noted in the cite above, Jesus was well aware of the timing of this night. He was closing out his earthly ministry. He fully knew what the next day was bringing. Jesus knew his position the father had given him; all things were under his power. He knew he came from the Father and was retuning to the Father. In simple terms, he knew his position and could start this last evening with his guys in any way he wished. Anyone who wielded even a tenth of this kind of power would use it to their advantage.

What does he do? He strips off his outer clothing, essentially Jesus has stripped down to his biblical BVDs to begin this last evening with his guys.

He then takes a good-sized towel and wraps it around his waist. Perhaps at least one of those gathered is thinking, “Good thing he got that towel, he’s really stripped down here. What is going on?” But Jesus is not done yet.

He takes a basin and pitcher of water and begins to wash the feet of those gathered. He then dries their feet with the towel, his temporary clothing.

Imagine the time it takes to wash 12 pairs of dirty feet. Imagine receiving the loving embrace of Jesus’ hands unexpectedly but intimately on your feet. What goes through your mind?

It is my understanding that culturally, in that time period, having one’s feet washed upon entering a home was common. What was not common was to have someone in authority do the washing. This was servant’s work.

We no longer have this custom. We’ve relegated it to certain “religious” services. If I knew ahead of time, I was going to attend a service that involved foot washing, you can count on it, my feet are going to get a good scrubbing, and my nails trimmed!

I often employ foot washing unexpectedly from time to time in small events I lead. The atmosphere of the room completely changes as people wash one another’s feet who have never met before. Barriers fall and a sense of community emerges.

While culturally these men gathered probably were accustomed to having their feet washed, but not by Jesus. They were far along in their belief in him as a rabbi, teacher, perhaps Messiah. While they do not grasp the scope of who Jesus is yet, (that is to come in just a few days) they certainly hold him in high enough esteem to be shocked and humbled by this act of foot washing.

I suspect, after receiving their washing at Jesus’ hands, they were open to what he was about to tell them.

My question for myself tonight as I write and think about that evening, “How open am I to what Jesus wants to tell me?”

Maybe a more basic question would be, “Am I open to having Jesus wash my feet?” "Am I open to that degree of intimacy?"

We are entering into our own time where we normally would gather. This will be a different weekend for us, won’t it? If I were gathered tonight with close friends, I think I would want to ask that question, “Am I open to having Jesus wash my feet?”, then begin to wash my friend’s feet. Certainly, I am not Jesus, but we can be his hands and feet.