28 March 2013 - feet of humility

28 March 2013 - feet of humility

“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”

Surrendering to Jesus means accepting the humility and intimacy which he shows us.  We don't have a problem surrendering to a mighty king as much as we do to a loving servent.  Why is that?  Surrendering to a mighty king allows us to imagine that we are still mighty.  Surrendering to humility and love means laying down such illusions.  

We are called to surrender to a humility which knows no bounds.

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, 

that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, 

took bread, and, after he had given thanks,

broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.”

What love is this?  He becomes food, apparently inert, to be chewed, dissolved by saliva and stomach acid, and digested.  There has never been and will never be humility so great as this.  This ultimate humility of Jesus is what allows for his supernatural availability.  It allows him to be taken up as the source of life by each individual throughout the world. 

For on this same night I will go through Egypt, 

striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,

and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!

In his giving of the Eucharist and his washing our feet the LORD executes judgment on the false god of pride.  Our acceptance of these gifts marks the doorposts of our souls.  Just as the bood of the sheep represented a sacrifice of self that the Israelites were unable to make, so to does accepting these gifts open the door to a humility we could not have any other way.  He draws us to accept his humility as our own by the very love he shows us.

He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.

So, during supper, 

fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power 

and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 

he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.

There is no humility so great as for God to not insist on his own glory and honor.  Any human act pails by comparison.  For him to remove the outer garments of divine prerogatives is an inimitable act.  Yet it is by the love he shows us in this act itself that he calls us to appropriate his own humility and thereby to follow him.

The world is flipped now.  Power and honor don't mean what the world tells us they mean.  But the path is being opened.  The way that we must follow is being made clear.  The love and the grace that enable us to walk it are being poured out.

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, 

you ought to wash one another’s feet.

And in response to all this love we have nothing of our own to give.  We can only offer back the gifts he gives us.

How shall I make a return to the LORD

for all the good he has done for me?

The cup of salvation I will take up,

and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

27 March 2013 - zeal commitment

27 March 2013 - zeal commitment

I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

With our culture and our nation moving in the direction that they are this is a reality for which we need to be more and more prepared.  We must be so zealous for the house of the LORD that we don't care how the world sees us.  As the world becomes more darkened it will understand us less and less.  It will prejudge and condemn us with less and less basis.

Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak,
I looked for sympathy, but there was none;
for consolers, not one could I find.

But we shouldn't be empty at such times. We shouldn't feel as if we are relying on our own strength or that it is us versus the world. The LORD wants to fill us with zeal to give us the strength to make it through such times.  Zeal holds fast to the knowledge the God is righteous even when the whole world is moving in the wrong direction.

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

How do we relate to the world in such times?  Should we wall ourselves off from them in self-imposed ghettos?  No.  We should follow the example of Jesus who bears all the insults of those who blaspheme God more profoundly than anyone.  He extends intimate table fellowship with even the most egregious of the offenders up until the very last.  He is always ready to extend forgiveness:

“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.

He doesn't push sinners away even when they trample his rights.  He prefers closeness to the sinner to insisting on justice.

I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.

As for ourselves, we often aren't as innocent as we'd like to think.  We can't consider ourselves solidly on the side of the zealous and the righteous.  For example, if we try to use Jesus as a convenience, a way to improve our own lives, this can be the same as selling him for silver.  In the end our motives are always mixed.  We maintain fellowship with him at his table, but without the purity he desires.  He hungers and thirsts for us but we don't respond in the way he truly desires.

Rather they put gall in my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Fortunately, the LORD has the same heart for us that his does for all sinners.  Let us not be like Judas, unrepentant  but instead turn to him for mercy.  We will then see that he does not spurn the poverty of our broken human nature or the bonds of our own sinfulness.  He will hear us.  He will deliver us.  Let us praise him in song!

I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

26 March 2013 - kingdom architecture

26 March 2013 - kingdom architecture

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.

The LORD wants to teach us not to judge our success or failure by human standards.  We usually judge our efforts successful when we build sandcastles that manage to last for a little while.  The LORD is interested in seeing the kingdom built, which only happens on foundations of rock.  He is interested in the ways in which eternity can break into this temporal order in which we live.  Jesus knows this.  His cross seems to be the ultimate human failure.  Yet it is the ultimate divine triumph.  

Jesus says he is glorified now, in the midst of his passion, not just at the resurrection, because he knows how to regard success and failure:

“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.

This lacks all the marks by which we normally judge something successful.  There is no happiness.  It is not comfortable.  There is pain and emotional turmoil.  But Jesus knows that the kingdom is being established once and for all.  He can see the kingdom success amid the temporal failures.


And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!

He can see the plan the underlies the pain.

I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

He is able to keep sight of this because he knows who he is and from where he comes.

The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.

His Father's purpose and will for him allow him to see past all the obstacles in his path.  His vision beholds not just the cross.  It beholds not just the days in the tomb.  It sees those, yes, but as vitally necessary preludes to the resurrection.

On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.

His obedience to his Father's plan and purpose for him brings him eventually to the kingdom's success, a victory more glorious and permanent than anything the world can propose.

I will sing of your salvation.

25 March 2013 - reeding the signs

25 March 2013 - reeding the signs

Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

This is counterintuitive.  How can one who is so meek and humble command such attention?  The celebrities of the world are typically the ones who loudly flaunt and commoditize themselves.  Who then is this gentle one?  What is it about him that makes the world hold its collective breath to hear him teach.

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;

The anointing of the Spirit is a draw and an appeal that is very different from the appeal of the world.  Let us pay attention to this difference to learn discernment  The subtle invitation of the Spirit respects our freedom in a profound way.  The world's attempts to draw us are more like manipulations.  Any means will do.  The Spirit is a still small voice but TV commercials prefer to have a louder volume than the surrounding programming to make themselves harder to ignore.

Our circumstances press upon us in a way that is consistent with the world.  They do not invite, they demand.  Their demeanor shows that if they could force us they would.  But even when they press in thus the Spirit still speaks, inviting us to trust.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust. 

We are called to trust the voice of the Spirit even when circumstances seem insurmountable   Even (especially) if we are just one man and they are an army we must trust.

When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.

The necessitates of the kingdom are different than the necessities of the world.

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 

If we let the circumstances dictate to us their pressing concerns we might miss the wonderful fragrance of this oil.  Trusting the Spirit in how he wants the oil to be used we may thereby indicate the absolute primacy of Jesus over the circumstances of the world.  The Spirit's anointing, symbolized with this oil, may seem to fly in the face of due regard for the armies of circumstances such as poverty.  But it does not.  The battle is in the hands of the LORD and his resources are sufficient.  Let us not look to the armies that happen to be the loudest.  Teach us, LORD, to know your voice and to trust in you always. We believe your in your promise.

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

24 March 2013 - word to the weary

24 March 2013 - word to the weary

The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.

We are weary, so let us listen as the LORD speaks. Let us listen as he enables his people to minister to us with words that build us up. But it is hard to listen to anything when we feel abandoned.

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

It is important for us to realize that it is OK to have this feeling. It is just that in the midst of feelings like this we must always call to mind the truth which is true regardless of how we feel.

I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you

To hold fast to this truth we must hear him speak it. On our own we struggle to listen but we need to have ears open to hear him.

he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.

Even when we feel abandoned his truth is accessible to us. When we feel that we don't have any attention to give him due to our suffering he wants to open our ears. He wants to give us the grace to know his truth and so to follow him steadfastly with our faces like flint . The truth is that Jesus is the LORD of all, king of the universe.

Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

So even as we suffer let us hold fast to this truth. As we are emptied of ourselves let us cling to God with obedience. In doing so we know we walk the way of Jesus, who loves us more than he loves his own life. This inspires confidence that our suffering too will eventually reveal deep meaning.

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;

And one day we too will experience the lasting and abiding joy of which we now only have a foretaste.

“I tell you, if they keep silent,
the stones will cry out!”

23 March 2013 - one shepherd

23 March 2013 - one shepherd

He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

Without the LORD we can't live in harmony with one another. We seek our own interests, scarcely aware that there are other sheep in the pasture. This among the reasons it is so necessary to listen to the voice of the shepherd. Without him we have the tendency to scatter. We are prone to discord. True unity and harmony are not possible.

My servant David shall be prince over them,
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;

Jesus is our shepherd. If we listen to him we won't go astray. We will be able to live in harmony with our brothers and sisters. There is only one truth and that truth speaks with one voice. We can therefore have great confidence as we follow him.

Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

The world should be able to see that the LORD is amongst his flock. Even if they can't see the shepherd they should be able to tell by how peaceably and harmoniously the sheep live that there must be a shepherd. Sheep, after all, aren't smart enough to live this way on their own.

Our shepherd goes to great lengths to make this unity possible. The real barrier to unity exists in our hearts before it manifests in the world. He takes this selfish and self-directed nature to the cross and puts it to death.

he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

As we open ourselves to the victory of the cross are able to experience the joy that he wants for us as our hearts are opened and transformed.

I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

22 March 2013 - stone deaf

22 March 2013 - stone deaf

“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”

Because he is God his works are perfect and therefore the standard by which all works judged.  Human works can be dismissed fairly easily.  Circumstances and cause and effect can explain most of it.  People are fortunate or unfortunate based on the lives they've had thus far.  And we know that no matter what the appearance of perfection everyone struggles in his or her own way.  It prevents anything from being too lofty and therefore calling us onward and upward.  And it prevents anything from being too grotesque and revealing rebellion within.  But God does not afford us these options.  He acts with goodness because he is goodness and therefore wills goodness.  In every perfect action he reveals the standard of judgment.  Hence he says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (cf Mat 5:48). And that is why works which should inspire joy and hope instead move the Pharisees to stone him.  

But let's be honest with ourselves.  Jesus isn't always so easy for us to accept either.  Stoning him is done to attempt to silence him and we ourselves aren't always quick to listen.  We make judgments about others.  We entertain anger.  We focus more on our needs than the needs of others, thereby using them as means instead of treating them as ends.  God asks us to love in our daily circumstances and yet we withdraw to an imagined neutrality like Pontius Pilate.  Yes, I'm afraid that we're guilty too.  And we're somewhat shielded from knowing our guilt because it isn't as direct as stoning.  But that can make it even harder to change and find repentance.  Find repentance we must, for the fate of those who pursue the path of silencing goodness is clear.

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

The only way to respond to Jesus other than this is by surrender.  A human effort to respond to him inevitably fails.  The very grace he gives us allows us to hear and answer his invitation.  Without it we find ourselves not much better than the Pharisees.  Trusting in him by the grace he gives us we stand fast and the enemies of sin will not overtake us (and since we are not overtaken they will not use us to attempt to silence Jesus).

My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.

Let us take consolation in the disposition of Jesus toward those who would stone him.

If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

He doesn't give up on them.  Even though they are closed to the truth of his words he is willing to go to extremes to get their attention.  He wants them to recognize that there is something here from outside their experience.  There is something here which defies their attempts at classification.  No worldly expectations are applicable.  Just understand, he pleads, that this is something new and unheard of.  Let it hit us with that revelation full force.  And when it does, the true gravity of the whole situation will be made manifest.  Seeing the invitation and its full implications we will be in the best position to respond fully to the grace he offers.  Then, with the Psalmist we will be able to say.

In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.