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Posts Tagged ‘Christ’

Witnessing a Miracle

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 3:15
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. [Peter to the crowd in Solomon’s Colonnade]

There is some responsibility that comes with witnessing a miracle. A miracle is not a particularly private matter. It is most powerful and amazing for the beneficiary of the miracle, of course, but there is also power in the story. The witness must tell what he/she saw, heard, or felt. This testimony spreads the wonder of that miracle.

Miracles are not accidental. They are intentionally divine.

How can we know why a miracle occurs one day and not the next? We cannot. It’s not our job to figure that out. It’s just our job to report.

When the disciples witnessed the living Christ after Calvary, they could not stop themselves from telling the story. They told everyone they encountered and eventually, those stories cost them their lives. After some years, all of those firsthand witnesses were gone and the next generation of followers were telling the story second and third hand and on into the hundreds of thousands of retellings. We will never know how embellished the stories have become … or worse, what fantastic elements of the story have been lost. In any case, the essence remains the same: Christ died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

One of the reasons the Jews continued their traditions of feast days and holy days was to relive, retell, and remember the miraculous stories of their own captivity and salvation.

If we don’t speak the stories, they are lost. We forget. Even a great miracle, over time, can become lost.

In my own life I have survived automobile accidents inexplicably; I have seen dramatic healings; I have received money “in the nick of time” to meet a financial need; I have heard prophetic utterances that revealed truths out of my past that could not have been known otherwise. In most of these cases, I confess, I have stopped telling the stories.

Forgive me Lord. From this day forward, I accept the responsibility of the witness. And when the next miracle blazes across my path again, I will remember. I will tell the story. I will be faithful to your trust.

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Path of Joy

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 2:28; Psalm 16:11
You have made known to me the ways of life; You will enrapture me [diffusing my soul with joy] with and in Your presence. [Amplified]

David spoke as Jesus and Peter speaks for both. In either case, the path of life is laid out before them and in it there is promised joy. The trick is staying on the path.

If I had to pick words that typify my life, I cannot say that “joy” would be one of them. I cannot blame anyone but myself for this. I have strayed from the path of life many times. Of course, these course corrections are only evident in hindsight. At the time of choice, there is only that, my choice. I’m not sitting there thinking, “oh, I’m getting off this path of joy and striking out on my own.” No, I’m thinking I’m still on the right path for me.

Please don’t misunderstand me. The path of life… the path of joy… is not without struggle and even pain. The path is best known for our abandon to God’s way, a divine destiny. I’m not sure we are even aware of the true path, not really. Just calling oneself a Christian does not necessarily mean we are on the path of joy either.

Am I in God’s presence? Am I engaging God in my life? Am I including God in my decisions? Am I sharing my way with others? Am I really interested in experiencing joy?

Joy is not “happy.” Joy is contentment and conscious companionship with God in Christ.

I have always wondered what it means to pray without ceasing… today, I wonder, isn’t it really just Christ consciousness without ceasing? God is with me. Christ is in me. I am not alone. In this place, there is joy.

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Out of This World

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on September 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 18:36
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

If one of us from the 21st century was catapulted back in time, we might encounter some small understanding of the differences between Jesus and the “world” in which he found himself. His appearance in human history was a great turning point. His ministry time was spent trying to explain, through teaching, stories, actions, demonstrations, miracles, and transformations, what his kingdom was like. For some people, it continued to be a “foreign language.”

Becoming a true follower of Christ requires some “out of the box” thinking. I think we have really downplayed his supernatural Self. What would happen if Jesus showed up in our century? How would he convince anyone that he was not of this world… that He was the Son of God… that he was the king of another kingdom?

The first thing he did was live among the people for some thirty years. He learned the “ways of the land.”

In the end, he did a very simple thing: he built relationships and told stories. He accepted people where they were and shared his insights with them. He even healed some of them. And each one, either through a story they heard, a touch, or a healing, each one was sent out to tell what he or she had heard, saw or felt.

We all respond differently to what we experience. Each story, each testimony, each image, and each word we share is part of the tapestry of Christ’s presence on earth. Jesus’s kingdom is all about potential: a mustard seed, a treasure hidden in a field, a mystery, a fisherman’s net, a small child, a banquet. Each one is a word picture for another way of living… another kingdom.

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Joy, Suffering and Holiness

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 17:13-14; 17
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they [followers] may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world….For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”[Jesus praying]

Three promises are embedded in these passages: joy, suffering, and holiness. These are part of becoming a follower of Christ.

I believe Jesus had joy because he completed his task on Earth. He accomplished what his Father had sent him to do. He was faithful. And out of his accomplishment and faithfulness comes joy. His joy is available to us because HE did the brunt of the work. As Julian of Norwich says, “All will be well…” Despite our circumstances, joy is available. “It is finished!” But we continue to struggle… we continue to make our own joy.

I believe Jesus understood his own suffering and anticipated his followers to experience suffering as well. Jesus was outside the norm of the day. He challenged the religious leaders of the time. He promoted actions and thoughts of paradox: love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, etc. But these teachings are no better understood or walked out today. Most Christians are uncomfortable with the idea of suffering for an ideal like the lion and the lamb dwelling together. Jesus world and our world are not that different, both worlds are equally violent. Perhaps the biggest difference is that we, in the West, have more to lose. Which bring us to the challenge of holiness.

I believe Jesus offered his followers a holy life by walking outside the the ways of the world. In order to know this life, we would have to willingly step away from our consumer lifestyle. Sanctification (holiness) comes from casting ourselves fully at the feet of Christ. It’s submission to the way of Jesus. It’s humility for the sake of the other. It’s letting go. It’s living sacrificially.

Oh, most patient Lord, forgive me for looking for my own joy, for running from suffering, and fearing holiness. Show me the narrow way.

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Follow the Rabbi

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on July 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 12:26
“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

People in Jesus’s culture understood what his call of “follow me” demanded. He was offering his rabbi’s yoke; he was asking them to acknowledge his authority as their “master” (literal translation of the word rabbi from Hebrew).

This is not so easy for our modern day culture, particularly here in the West where rugged individualism is the norm. Most of us don’t trust anyone who would be called the master. It conjures up all kinds of negative images. My mind immediately goes to the idea of a “slave-owner” — not exactly a role model or a yoke I would want to take on by choice.

But Jesus is the epitome of the benevolent dictator. That’s another word that will turn everyone off: dictator. In our age, we have seen power corrupt and that’s all. The idea that anyone could be powerful and benevolent is an oxymoron.

So, following Christ Jesus, is no easy decision. It is a decision of humility and trust. This is where faith begins. And truthfully, most of our lives then are spent in struggling with this relationship. We keep testing and challenging him: Is this really what is best for me? Is this the best you can do for me? If I give up everything, what will be left for me? Eventually, we figure out the first lesson: it’s not about “me.”

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No Kidding. He’s the One.

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , on July 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 10:24-25a
The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe….”

I mean it, the book of John, so far, is this same message over and over again. He’s the one, no joke. Jesus said it, the disciples said it, the blind man said it. Even the Pharisees were saying, “he said it” which is why they wanted to kill him.

As I think about it, this is the whole point. I mean, we can talk about love and mercy and grace and all those other warm fuzzies, but none of them pile up to anything if we don’t acknowledge who he is. Either Jesus is the son of God, or not. Either he is the Messiah, or not.

This was the thing I encountered that fateful Christmas Eve, 1979. I started with just that one truth. The issues I didn’t understand or didn’t believe or didn’t want to accept came later.

Jesus was unequivocal. He asks the same of us.

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Eating and Drinking Christ

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 6:53
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you…”

In chapter 6 of John, Jesus says, at least five times, “I tell you the truth…” Now, I have always been taught that anything repeated several times in scripture is important. And so, this morning, I have been meditating and dozing on this (I am trying to follow His lead here and tell the truth: meditating can be a sleepy business).

Why does Jesus keep saying this? Clearly, it’s because he suspects they don’t/won’t believe him. What he is saying is too fantastic or difficult to comprehend. He’s expecting their reaction to be, “You,re kidding, right?” No, He says, “I’m telling you the truth.”

By the end of this chapter, we are told that many of his disciples (the unnamed ones who followed him around for awhile and got a few free meals along the way), left him after this instruction. Apparently, He convinced them that he meant what he said. And, because He convinced them that He was telling the truth, they rejected his message… intentionally.

And what was the hullabaloo about? Eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Since there has never been a tradition of cannibalism in Judaism, He wasn’t talking about a barbecued ribs. But He was talking about consuming the life force of Christ. There is something to be said for cannibalism as a sacred practice. In primitive tribes, to eat someone was to become one with them. They ate the bodies to take in a person’s essence, strength, and soul.

Accepting Christ is serious business. It’s not just an idea. It’s a process. It’s breathing in. It’s consuming. It’s transforming. It’s energy. It’s eating. It’s nourishing. It’s life-sustaining.

And without Christ, we die.

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