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Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

Fulfilled, Finished, Accomplished

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , on August 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 17:5
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” [Jesus prayed]

Think about this! He finished the task that was laid out for him. He didn’t need more time. He didn’t ask for more time. The teaching part was finished. The community work was done. The message was sent. He was successful.

How many of us would have thought Jesus had done everything he had set out to do? Surely, if he would have stuck around another ten or fifteen years, we would have known more, understood more, accepted more. Or would we?

Apparently, the message was simple enough and the right people heard it (not too many, not too few). He finished the job.

It made me think about the “six degrees of separation.” Jesus touched the lives that needed to be touched “in the big picture.” Jesus healed the ones who needed to be healed to accomplish his overall purpose. Jesus faced each moment, checked with the Father, and acted accordingly. The miracles, the lessons, the parables, the witnesses… it was all part of the economical use of his time.

Those on the receiving end of his message, they also had a purpose: to carry the message of salvation and everlasting life to others, to tell the story of Jesus, the Son of God. It all worked quite well until some of the folks decided to mess with the message. It’s like the old game, “whisper down the lane,” where the first person whispers into the next person’s ear and by the time it gets to the end of the line, the message has changed. We hear what we want to hear. We fix what we don’t understand. This phenomenon is discussed in some detail in a wonderful book I’m reading, “Why We Make Mistakes” by Joseph Hallinan.

The point for me today is that every person I meet, every circumstance, every day is part of my story and now, ultimately, Christ’s story. I’m not saying I’m supposed to stuff the name of Jesus down everyone’s throat. But being me, an authentic me, must reflect Christ within. Anything less and I’m “whispering down the lane.”

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Grief in Change

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on August 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 16:6
“…Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief…”

It couldn’t have been easy listening to Jesus tell the disciples that he was leaving. If they were grieving, they were also believing… he wasn’t kidding. From their perspective, the most amazing experience of their lives was ending.

They were so disappointed. They were not so savvy (in fact, far from it), to be able to see the big picture or expect it could possibly be better than it had already been with Jesus. Not possible!

Grief is one of the strongest emotions that humans feel. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes, it is so intense that a person becomes numb, removed from life and unable to carry on daily activities. Grief is a reaction to loss. Grief is a reaction to change.

On this occasion, the disciples were feeling “anticipatory grief” which strikes in the face of an anticipated loss or change. Jesus was helping them identify what they were feeling. He was also trying to prepare them for the next phase of their lives as his followers.

God is about change because God is creative. And so is life. When we hold too tightly to what is now, we will find change more difficult. We will dig in our heels and try to slow down the process.

There is nothing inherently wrong with grief. It’s the emotional process of accepting change in our lives. But we cannot remain there or we’ll miss the next stage of our life’s trajectory.

I embrace change and I embrace the feelings that go with it. It’s my personal “creation” story.

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WWJD for Dummies

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , on August 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 15:20a
“Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master….”

For anyone out there who hasn’t seen the flexible wristbands, t-shirts, or bumper stickers, and other “Jesus Junk,” WWJD stands for “What Would Jesus Do.” (In actuality, this phrase was birthed in an old book entitled In His Steps by Charles Monroe Sheldon back in 1896.

The idea behind the phrase is a sort of “imitation of Christ,” and the challenge is to ask (and answer) this question before taking any action or making any decision. In my view, if people could do this, there would be a lot more saints by now. There are only a few ways that anyone could begin to answer this question authoritatively…

  • Know the scriptures, particularly the words of Jesus thoroughly.
  • Know the culture and historical context of Jesus’s time period.
  • Lay the groundwork for actions by establishing his norms: poverty, self-sacrifice, love, inclusion (for example)

If we can’t do these things, then it’s pretty unlikely that we’ll have much luck with the WWJD mentality.

Instead, I’m thinking I’ll go for a more general guideline, like WWJFD (what would Jesus’s family do)…

In ancient times, when kings and wealthy householders died, they often buried the household with them. The idea was clear, what’s good for the master is good for the family and servants. This is good enough for me.

And so I envision myself in his circle of friends and family. If we could just work together on this process, we would all get further along. Jesus promised that we have the potential to do the works that he did and get the rewards. Jesus also promised that we have the potential to suffer as he did. Jesus recommended we do this as a community.

Answering the WWJD question as an individual will rarely work. Let’s get together.

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You Know the Way

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

John 14:6, 8a
“…You know the way to the place where I am going…. I am the way and the truth and the life…”

For many years, whenever I thought of Jesus as the way, I always assumed it meant “accepting Jesus as Lord of my life.” I thought of Jesus leading the way, beckoning me to follow Him along a very narrow path. He was, then, more of a guide, than anything else. He was the leader.

And I think He is all of these things. But I think there is more. The way of Jesus is a process. We are not just to follow Jesus but to be like Jesus. We are to interact with the world the way he interacted. We are to see, feel, and touch others, the way He did. It’s the same kind of understanding that Paul had as he wrote in Philippians 1:21, “…to live is Christ…” The way of Jesus is a lifestyle.

But the challenge today is that so many people, particularly Christians, have already determined what the “Jesus lifestyle” is, often due to many long held traditions as well interpretations of the scriptures themselves. Every denomination is a description of the way of Jesus. Every Christian book is a description of the way of Jesus.

Woe to the young believer who is trying to find his/her way.

And yet, Jesus told the disciples that they knew the way. They did not and would not necessarily know the destination. They had to trust that Jesus would have that part covered. They just had to operate in the way. This is a paradox for western culture. We are told over and over and over again that we must have a goal, a vision, a result. How else will we know we have achieved or arrived?

But apparently, this is not the way of Jesus. Every day, every moment that we are in the way of Jesus, we have arrived at our destination. It’s now. We can choose today to act, to react, to speak, to touch, to love, to accept, to bless… and we are in the way of Jesus. The way is moment by moment, hour by hour, and day by day. Today, we can know the way and live it.

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Betrayal for Everyone

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on August 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 13:21
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”

And Judas didn’t bat an eye. He saw the whole thing differently than everyone else. In his mind, it wasn’t betrayal. He was helping move things along. He thought he had the “big picture.” He thought the stars were aligned and Jesus needed to step up his game.

Can you imagine, with this mindset, what he must have thought when Jesus turned to him at table and said, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” [vs 27b] He probably viewed that as the “go-ahead.” Jesus was going to take the challenge and show everyone. He would reveal himself. He would become their king. He would overthrow the Romans. On and on his mind would have clamored.

Haven’t we all, at some point or another, justified our own actions in the same way? We convince ourselves that our choices are the right choices for the moment. From adultery to lying to theft and more, our reasoning allows it. In reality every sin is a type of betrayal against the other. If we commit adultery, we betray a spouse; if we lie, we betray the trust of the person receiving that lie; if we steal, we betray the owner… and so on.

Confronting the truth of betrayal means confronting ourselves and our motives. Betrayal is all about “me.” Judas ran from his betrayal and killed himself. This may have been his greatest sin of all. A betrayer can be redeemed but only with confession.

I have betrayed and it grieves my spirit today. I call on the love and grace of Christ Jesus to wash me in forgiveness. My only hope.

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Who Sent You?

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

John 12:44-45
Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.”

We are all ambassadors for someone or something. We may not even realize it but it is true. People meet us or talk with us and sooner or later, they associate us with others. It could be that we end up representing our workplace, our nationality, our family, our religious affiliation, our political party, our church, our town, our state, our school, and so on. In the end, we do not enter any situation alone.

So, how are we doing? Are we good representatives? Are we authentic?

Jesus reminded people all the time that he was sent. He wanted them to see/hear/feel the One who sent him. He wanted people to remember. Do we? Or do we try to hide our affiliations (for whatever reason)?

My old friend, Tom, who ultimately introduced me to the things of God some 30 years ago, tried to hide his affiliation with Christ Jesus and all kinds of wrong assumptions were made about him. He hid his faith because he was afraid no one would like him. But they didn’t like him anyway… because he was hiding.

People around us can sense “hiding.” They may not know what we are hiding, but they know it’s something and it makes us seem untrustworthy and even suspect.

There is an old saying, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” But of course, we all know, in ancient times, that is exactly what happened. If the message was “bad news,” the messenger would suffer. Is our message “bad news” or is it our “telling” of the story (through words & behaviors) that distorts the truth? As a follower of Christ, we are asked to be true to the message and the One who sends it.

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Hiding in Plain Sight

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , on July 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 12:36b
When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

I couldn’t help but wonder what this hiding would look like. It certainly wasn’t “hide and seek.” It’s not like he hid behind a column and peeked out to make sure no one saw him before he bolted out the back door. And where were the disciples? Did he say, “I’ll meet you back at the ranch,” and then disappeared from them as well? Why did John even bother to mention this small fact?

The basics are that Jesus walked away and once he had entered the crowd, he became unnoticeable. His appearance was ordinary. He could melt into a crowd. He was there but no one recognized him.

When I was younger in my faith, I used to pray that Jesus would manifest before me. I wanted a supernatural vision so I could ask Him, “What is it exactly you want me to do? Speak plainly.” I sounded just like the people in the temple. And what did I expect his manifestation would look like: white robe and sandals?

We do not see Jesus because we have created our own mental model of what it means to see Jesus.

In His days of walking on the earth, He walked among the poor, destitute, and blatantly sinful. Isn’t it logical that He would do the same today? In Matthew 18:20, Jesus is quoted as saying, “…where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” And in Matthew 28:20, He is quoted again as saying, “…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus is here now. Look!

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