Monday of Holy Week: Follow the Leader

Today's readings: Matthew 21:12-13, 18-19; Mark 11:12-18; Luke 19:45-48; John 12:20-50
 
As I sought the Lord about the word He had for me today from Monday of Holy Week, I noticed many interesting things about these passages. I noticed that there was a lesson from the withering of the fig tree. I observed the obvious missional message of the coming of the Greeks signaling Jesus' "hour has come". I saw the sad truth that many fail to confess Him because they "loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." But none of these, I sensed, were His word to me.

Here's a secret about teaching and writing: There is a constant temptation to read Scripture for lesson preparation and God's Word to "them" - whoever the audience might be at a given moment. This morning, as I dialogued with God about Monday of Holy Week, I was reminded of a basic lesson that the Teacher taught this teacher: If I'm not digging into His Word devotionally and studiously for myself, just for what He wants to teach me, then I have nothing to say to you or anyone else. One of the earliest prayers He taught me to pray over my teaching was "Lord, make the lessons that I teach manifest in my life." He has never failed to do that. I'm convinced one reason Scripture tells us that teachers incur a stricter judgment is just this very principle. Nothing will shut my mouth faster than realizing I'm about to say something that I only know academically. Because God is far too faithful to His body to let me get by with that one. So please, pray for your teachers and pastors and church leaders. You can rest assured that God won't let them get by with an abstract understanding of truth.

So - back to today's lesson. As I processed all of the above yet again, I told God to show me what the lesson was for me. What I needed to be reminded of in these familiar words. Two verses jumped out at me:

John 12:26: "If anyone serves me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if any one serves Me, the Father will honor him."


John 12:49 "For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak."

When I read these I immediately thought of Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God Bible study. One of his key teachings is that God is always at work and invites us to join Him in His work. That's key because it's His work, not ours; we don't invite Him to join us, He invites us to join Him. I should look for where He is at work and join Him. The first passage reminds me to follow Him - where He is, His servant should desire to be. The second passage tells me that He models what He expects of me; He spoke not on His own initiative but the Father's.

All of this reminds me of the childhood game "Follow the Leader." I am in a season of rest following an intense focus on getting a master's degree. I don't know what God has next for me, but this is yet another remind that He wants me to let HIM be the leader. I have to trust Him.

Here's the beautiful thing about this level of submission: Colossians 3:3 tells me, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Yes, I am not "the leader". But in that death to self, I am in the most secure place possible. As Corrie Ten Boom described it, Christ cups me in His hand and God cups Christ in His ... so I am doubly-covered.

It's a lesson that I can never learn enough!

Palm Sunday of Holy Week: Do we recognize His presence?

Today's passages: Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:1, 9-19

For over a decade now, I've set aside whatever Bible study I've been doing, pushed the pause button on wherever I am in my on-going read-through of the Bible, and pick up my Parallel Gospels to focus on the happenings of Holy Week. Each day, I read through all 4 Gospel accounts of the events leading up to Jesus crucifixion. This practice has helped me stay focused on the cross, fully feel its crushing blow to the disciples, and rejoice on Resurrection Morning as I realize afresh why the message of the early church was, "He is Risen! He is risen indeed!"

Another habit I've developed in conjunction with this is praying for God to reveal something at a deeper level each time I read the now-familiar passages. I don't want to check something off a list. I've learned that Scripture is like an onion with many layers and as we seek to know and obey Jesus, the Holy Spirit will peel back more layers. As I prayed that prayer this morning, I began to see a theme throughout the Palm Sunday readings: Do we recognize His presence? The passages give us several portraits of individuals at various points on a spectrum of awareness that can be instructive to the church today. I pray that the Lord will use these portraits in your life and in the life of your church or small group as we seek Him during this most significant of all weeks on the church calendar.

Clued in: The owner of the colt and Jesus' 2 disciples. (Mark 11:1-7; see also Matt. 21:1-3 and Luke 19:29-34)

(Mark 11:1-7 NASB) - As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. "If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' you say, 'The Lord has need of it'; and immediately he will send it back here." They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it.

On our spectrum, these individuals are as aware as they could be prior to the day of Pentecost and the eye-opening Holy Spirit. What strikes me the most about these individuals is their unqualified obedience. The 2 disciples, of course, had been around Jesus and realized that He could make some, shall we say, unconventional requests (see: Loaves and Fishes, Water to Wine, Mud for healing blind man). What intrigues me about these disciples' obedience is that as far as we can see in Scripture, there is no questioning or second-guessing. While the disciples certainly felt the freedom to ask questions - Scripture records numerous occasions - by this point these two disciples apparently had learned enough to just go along. They were clued in to His presence enough to know that if He asked them to go do something, He had a reason.

The owner of the colt also exhibits a high level of "clued in". We don't know any more about this man other than an important quality: He surrenders what he had to the Lord. Did he know "the Lord" was Jesus? We really don't know. But for nearly 2000 years his obedience has set a high bar for believers in Jesus. Like this man, anything in our possession should be available if "the Lord has need of it". 2 Corinthians 8:12-15 provide our best understanding of how this might look in our lives: God wants us to meet the needs of others with our resources. If we have more than our basic needs, then "if the Lord has need of it" through the needs of one of His people, we should be willing to supply.

Interestingly, neither the disciples nor the owner of the colt are named. Like so many shining examples of the faith, they remain anonymous except in His eyes. It didn't matter that we know their names. What mattered is that He knew they were willing to obey ... and that they were clued in to His Lordship.

Getting a clue: The crowd. (Matthew 21:8-17; see also Mark 11:8-11; Luke 19:35-40; John 12:12-18)

(Matthew 21:8-17 NASB) - Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee." And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS ' DEN ." And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?" And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Further down the spectrum we find the crowd that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem, the Triumphal Entry that fulfilled prophecy. This crowd always intrigues me, since we know that it is likely many of the same people who, 5 days later, will be calling for Jesus' crucifixion - people in Jerusalem for the great Passover feast. In that, the crowd represents our human condition and the fickleness that we have toward those in whom we place great hope. But today, I see something different in the crowd. I see glimpses of understanding. I see a group of people who don't completely realize the significance of what they were doing, and yet who still present a picture of praise.

The crowd gets a lot of things wrong. They have Messianic expectations that are focused on political solutions - treating Jesus as a king coming to overthrow the Romans and retake Jerusalem. They readily recognize Jesus as a prophet, but fail to submit to His unqualified Lordship as the disciples and owner of the colt do. They praise God for the miracles that Jesus had done and continues doing even in their midst as He heals the blind and lame in the temple. John tells us that many were drawn to the gathering after hearing that He raised Lazarus from the dead (see John 12:17-18). Their focus seems more on what He can do and what they hope He will be, than on who He has revealed Himself to be. From the vantage point of 2000 years, we could pick apart their theology for hours. And yet ...

Jesus does not condemn the crowd. In fact, He defends them. When the Jewish leaders call for Him to rebuke the crowd in Luke's account, Jesus responds: "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:39-40). In the passage above in Matthew, when the leaders are indignant over the children's worship of Jesus, He pulls out a passage from the Psalms and defends their praise. In Jesus' reaction I see both the obvious - He was the Messiah, and He was being very public about it - and the subtle. He doesn't condemn them not only because what they are saying is true, but because He is the Messiah who, in the words of Isaiah, does not break bruised reeds or extinguish faintly burning wicks (Isa. 42:1-3). He doesn't condemn us for our less-than-perfect understanding, our faltering faith, or our human errors in methodology. He knows when the focus is on Him, and when our eyes are rightly focused and our hearts willing, He can teach us and correct us.

Don't get me wrong. Sound doctrine is critical within the church on essential matters. When we have the full counsel of God's Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit, we should not be easily swayed (see Ephesians 4). However, I see the crowd as more like those who are trying to understand, who have a limited awareness of Jesus because they come from a background where He wasn't known or if known, not honored and His Word not taught. Even within the church, our awareness of Him should constantly be growing (compare 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and rejoice!). But especially for seekers and new believers, I believe it's important to point toward Jesus as the object of worship, and the Holy Spirit and Word of God as the tools for revelation. If those with the Ephesians 4 gifts (apostles, evangelists, prophets, teachers, pastors) consistently teach and speak God's Word and point new believers back to it, helping them learn to discern the Holy Spirit's voice, those early errors will quickly be corrected. When dealing with those 'getting a clue', let's learn to match the gentleness of Jesus as He defends their imperfect praise.

The clueless: The Pharisees, the chief priests and the scribes. (Matthew 21:15-17; Luke 19:39-40; John 12:10-11, 19).

Jesus' words of rebuke are leveled at the religious leaders who, in their minds at least, knew the truth. Never mind that Jesus had made clear early in His ministry that they sought the Scriptures but missed Him (John 5:39-47). These "leaders" clearly had their own agenda already; they determined to put Jesus and Lazarus to death after He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:53 and 12:10-11). John 12:19 reveals the heart of their concerns: The Pharisees therefore said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him."

"The world has gone after Him." What a clueless reaction. Of course the world would go after Jesus - the Messiah, the Savior, God incarnate. They had tried unsuccessful to thwart His ministry and now, on the day of His triumphal entry, failed to stop the praise that He was rightfully due. Their plan to kill Jesus now begins to gather steam and it will culminate later in the week.

What a rebuke to the "religious elite" whose focus lies everywhere but Jesus and who, by their actions, try to stop what God intends to allow. We see it every day: established churches critique a new start-up; denominational churches denounce non-denominationals; non-denominationals judge denominationals; we hold up this or that method and verbally blow holes through it; and on it goes. Again, I'm not talking the fundamental doctrines of the faith. So much of this happens over non-essentials, preferences, even cultural issues like whether to use African drums in worship! We fail to take a step back and see if we can recognize His presence in a non-traditional format. We fail to examine whether the unfamiliar paths lead to the cross.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be "clueless" - I want to be "clued in". Hopefully I'm at least "getting a clue", because I don't want Jesus to say to me, as He said of Jerusalem in Luke 19:44, "you did not recognize the time of your visitation." May we always recognize His presence.

See previous Palm Sunday posts here and here.  

Eager for Holy Week!

I came into this Resurrection Week feeling more ready than ever before for the perspective it will bring.

For years, I've spent Holy Week re-reading the narratives about Christ's last week of ministry, on the day of the week they occurred (as best we know). It's always great to get a fresh look at The Greatest Story Ever Told. Each year I grasp something new, something I haven't seen before.

But never before do I recall being so eager for Holy Week. Take the tragic shootings this past week (at a nursing home and an immigration center), add an increased awareness of the suffering throughout the world, and throw in the general hopelessness many seem to feel -- I came to today needing to be reminded afresh of the firm reality of The Story.

My first reminder came this morning as I read the Palm Sunday narratives. Jesus' Triumphal Entry - so profound, fulfilling prophecy, yet so different from their human expectations. There was so much He could have done there among those people, those who were waving the branches and welcoming Him, those who were correcting them. But He chose instead to spend time in the temple. One of the things He did there grabbed my attention this morning:

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. (Mt. 21:14)

The "blind and the lame" didn't have a great reputation in Judaism. We first encounter the phrase as a unit in 2 Sam. 5:6, when David goes up against the Jebusites to take Jerusalem. David was warned "the blind and the lame will ward you off" - as the people proudly thought their city was undefeatable. David takes the city by going up through the water shaft and attacking "the blind and the lame" - likely not literal individuals, but statues of Isaac (blind) and Jacob (lame) that guarded the city and were thought to provide divine protection. Whatever the details, this episode led to a saying in Israel that "the blind and the lame" were not welcome in the king's house. (Despite David later reaching out to lame Mephibosheth, this saying prevailed beyond his lifetime.)

By the time Jesus came, this saying had been extended to "the house of the Lord" and there were additions to the temple laws of Scripture ... restrictions that severely (and unbiblically) limited the circumstances under which individuals who were disabled could enter the temple. For example, those whose disabilities required padding (for their stumps) were restricted because of potential uncleanness, though this was not mentioned in Scripture. These people frequented the gates of the temple looking for alms, and some who were partially mobile could enter the temple courts.

But we see Jesus not only healing the lame and blind in his interactions in the countryside, but also in the temple - in the gates and court areas, most likely - we see Him revealing God's heart and showing yet another way religion got it wrong. David had reflected this heart when he had Mephibosheth at his table. He showed that God's heart is not to restrict us but to welcome us - even if we have to be carried to the table (see 2 Sam. 9).

So today, The Story has reminded me that He is ready to receive me in my broken state. It has reminded me that He went out of His way to show God's heart to the "blind and the lame".

Much more awaits this week. This is the perspective I need in light of the sometimes harsh realities of this world. He isn't just a Savior for the afterlife; He is the Transformer of my here and now. But it all starts with His death and resurrection.

I am ready to feel deeply the crucible of Calvary and enthusiastically run to see the empty tomb. Will you join me there?

Monday of Holy Week: "We Wish to See Jesus"

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
(Joh 12:20-33 ESV)

This passage confused me for a long time. The Greeks come asking to see Jesus, and He talks about His pending death. I wasn't sure if they ever got their answer, or if they got to see Jesus. I eventually saw how their coming was an indication of God's timing, but the pieces failed to fit in a meaningful way.

But as I read it this morning, I saw it in a new light. [Side note: Try asking God for new insights each year on these familiar passages. Wow!] Suddenly I saw Jesus' answer to the Greeks. They wanted to see Him; He revealed the cross.

We can never see Jesus apart from the cross. We may wish to see Him as a Babe in the manger, as a Healer, as a compassionate man whose parables drip with pearls of wisdom. We may wish to see Him as a curiosity or as a friend. But we can never see Him apart from the cross. Any other image of Him is not only incomplete, it is deceptive.

The resurrection we will celebrate Sunday is vital - essential to our faith, in fact. But we only get to it through the cross.

"We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross."

- Pastor and author C.J. Mahaney

"Why Did Jesus Have to Die?"

That was the question posed to our church from a pastor 10 Easters ago. We were challenged to write an essay on the subject. Although I was raised in church, I had only recently started walking with the Lord, and the question reflected one that had burned in my heart throughout my life.

So, I took the challenge and added my own twist: I would read through the Passion Week accounts in a parallel of the Gospels - chronologically, on each day reading what occured that day of Passion Week (beginning with the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday, ending with the Resurrection on Easter Sunday).

It's a challenge I highly recommend. I ended that Easter with a new appreciation for the Resurrection, and a depth of understanding to that nagging question that no sermon could have given me. Wrestling with the Scriptures, I managed to write an essay that essentially focused on the judicial aspects of the crucifixion; Romans 3 was a key text.

That was accurate of course, but in the decade since my understanding of the Passion has grown significantly. C.J. Mahaney says, "We never move on from the cross - only to a deeper understanding of it." One resource that has helped deepen my knowledge is The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper. Piper writes devotionally of 50 reasons why Jesus came to die. The reasons include my initial judicial understanding - to absorb the wrath of God - but also reasons that have nothing to do with me ("To please His heavenly Father"). He covers eternal, spiritual reasons ("To deliver us from this present evil age" as well as down-to-earth, practical ones ("To destroy the hostility between races"). For the past 5 years, reading through this as a devotional for the 50 days before Easter has been a tradition for me as well - one I highly recommend.

It's from The Passion of Jesus Christ that I draw the quote below. Writing about a reason dear to our hearts - "To obtain for us all things that are good for us", Piper heads straight to the heart of the challenge that sometimes bad things happen. Referencing Phil. 4:12-13, Piper observes:

It says we can do "all things" through Christ. But notice "all things" includes "hungering" and "needing." God will meet every real need, including the ability to rejoice in suffering when many felt needs do not get met. God will meet every real need, including the need for grace to hunger when the felt need for food is not met. The suffering and death of Christ guarantee that God will give us all things that we need to do his will and to give him glory and to attain everlasting joy.

What "need" do you have that seems unmet? Reread the quote above. Trust that God will meet whatever your REAL need may be -- and if you're like me, half the time you might not know what that is. But rest assured that HE does. He will always act for your good.

Spend some time this Lenten season reminding your heart of that truth!