This hurts

My son is sick. I am sitting in ICU in his room. My daughter-in-law is here. We are both a long way from our home. My son, her husband, has been working out of state since November last year. The unexpected consequences of our society’s reaction to Covid. He needed work and the work was here.

Now he is sick. Seriously sick. All through his life his mother and I have tried to take care of him. When he was sick, we took him to the doctor. There was something we could do.

He’s an adult now and I sit at his bedside as someone else - doctors and nurses - work to bring him healing.

I know that healing is of God, and I see His work through their hands. I see God’s care through their care.

We had a scare last night. We thought we might lose him. He’s in his 40s but he is still my boy. I cannot recall ever struggling with so much fear. It was an hour before we knew anything definite. 

It hurts when your son is sick. It hurts when you don’t know when he’ll get better. It hurts when it looks like you might lose him. It hurts when you are far from home when all this is happening.  

I am grateful for the care my son is getting. I am grateful for the technology that helps me stay in contact with my family and friends. 

I am grateful to the God in whom I have put my trust. 

But this still hurts.

“In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.” (Psalm 25:1)

Mercy

What would it be like to have the worst things we ever did be the only thing we are ever remembered for? What if our lives were changed to be more like Christ, but our past errors, as serious as they be, are all that we are remembered for? 

Will we be remembered as a drunk like Noah or remembered for our faith that God would save us? Will we be remembered as a liar about our wife like Abraham, or remembered as one who trusted in God to keep His promise? Will we be remembered for playing favorites with our children like Isaac and Jacob, or be remembered as trusting God in settling a new land? Would we be remembered as a person with anger issues (including murder ) like Moses or remembered for overcoming his fears to lead God’s people? Will we be remembered for our life of sexual sin like Rahab, or remembered for putting our faith in the God we have only just learned of?  Will we be remembered as a David who committed adultery and then murdered the husband of the woman he wanted, or remembered as the man after God’s own heart?

When we remember those who have gone before us, will we be examples of forgiveness and reconciliation and mercy, or will we be examples of vengeance?

As the Lord has said, “So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.” (James 2:12-13)

Choose mercy.

Resurrection - What is most important

The happenings and stories on that Sunday morning were difficult to grasp. The Gospels uses words such as afraid, alarmed, trembling, bewildered, not believed, wondering, fright, did not understand. Not exactly the descriptions we normally associate with the empty tomb on the first Easter morning.

But then Jesus appeared. His followers saw Him in the flesh standing before them. Believed, overjoyed, amazement, filled with joy, worshipped.

Jesus was once again with them. No matter what happened after those moments, His followers would never be the same.

It is important that Jesus died for us and was buried. It is important that He rose from the tomb on the third day. And it is important that He appeared again.

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

For us, we do not see Him in the flesh but we see Him through their words, and through our faith in what Jesus has done and that He is with us still in our hearts.

He is “Immanuel,” “God with us.” 

And Jesus has risen, appeared, and is with us until the end of the age.

Holy Week Saturday - Together in the dark

I don’t know if we can ever fully comprehend how the followers of Jesus felt the evening and day after He was crucified, died, and buried. We’ve read the next chapter. We know what’s about to happen. But they were living that day of darkness, and dreams were crushed.  

The book of Job gives us a glimpse of their despair:  “when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness” (Job 30:26).

The Gospels tell us very little of those dark hours. Yet the few scriptures there are reveal something special about them - they were together, almost never alone.

“The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” (Luke 23:55-56).  

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:13).

“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus...he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds” (John 19:38-39)

“...the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders...” (John 20:19)

The women came together. Two disciples traveled together. Joseph and Nicodemus buried Jesus together. Even after abandoning Jesus in the garden, the remaining apostles came together.

Even in the darkness, they understood the need to be with each other.

Perhaps, even with knowing the rest of the story, that is what we can learn when darkness comes. We need to be with each other.

Good Friday - Holy Place

Have you ever stood in a Holy Place?  Moses did before the burning bush. Joshua did before the commander of the Lord’s Armies near Jericho. Mount Sinai was a Holy Place when God met with Moses. There were others like the inner courts of the Tabernacle and in the Temple.

Even today, we may find places that seem Holy. Many battlefields, the sites of blood shed for freedom and for liberation of a people, have that feeling of Holy. Kneeling down and touching the ground at such places and you realize that the trees and grass there have been fed by the blood poured out here many years before.

One other place. Golgotha. Calvary. The place of the Cross.  

Tradition and oral history before that, and archeology point to a rocky site, formerly just outside of the walls of Jerusalem and now within the walls of a church as the site of this Holy Place.

It was here that Peter tells us, “Jesus himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

The blood of the son of God was shed here on the Cross, poured out as the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

An outcropping of that rock still exists today, weathered and cracked.

Whether this is the actual rock on which blood was spilt is unknown, but it is very much like the place where Jesus died on a Friday. 

That place was Holy because, “Jesus entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

At a Holy Place very much like this, God has brought us near to Him. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

Holy Week Thursday - Taking Care

I used to travel often for work, spending many days or weeks away from home. As the last day of the trip arrived, the routine became more significant to me:  “This is the last time I will walk this path this morning. This is the last time I will see this view. This is the last time I will drive this road in this country.”

I knew what day would be last at those locations and so I savored each last moment and action.

If we knew which event, which day, which time would be our last, what would we do? Who would we spend it with?

On the Thursday of what we call Holy Week, Jesus knew that day would be the last full day of His ministry. The last full day before the day of His death. How did He choose to spend that day? 

The Gospels tell us that Jesus spent the evening eating and talking with His closest friends.

“And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” (Luke 22:15).

And not just any meal, but a meal of remembering. Looking back to the God’s liberation of His people from enslavement. And looking forward through the bread and the wine, Jesus prepared His friends for the sacrifice He would soon make to liberate all God’s creation.

Jesus prepared His friends for what was coming. He washed their feet to show them how to serve each other. He spoke to them to be ready for the difficult times ahead. Jesus comforted his friends, He promised them they would never be left without God’s comfort and presence, He prayed for his friends.

In short, Jesus spent His last full day taking care of His friends.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1)

Holy Week Wednesday - Remembered

Recently with an online gathering of friends, we discussed some of our ancestors and how we remember them. In some cases it was our own experiences with our ancestors (like the grandfather and his practical jokes) and other times it was the stories passed down to us. There was the adventure of the two brothers who had once been tried for murder (and acquitted), possible American Indian relations, tales of traveling on foot or wagon to new towns. We remembered the ancestors who fought is past wars, both for the winning sides and for the losing sides. The lawman who gave his life for his community. The ancestors who farmed land that later became part of one of the largest cemeteries in the region, and who were buried in the land they had once farmed. 

We then talked of how we might be remembered by our grandchildren and their grandchildren when they see our faces in the old pictures, or carry-on the stories that have been passed down.

On what may have been the Wednesday of Holy Week we have a story of Jesus returning to Bethany for a meal with his friends. During the meal, a woman came into the room and anointed him with an expensive perfume.  If this sounds familiar to our Saturday story (the one John tells us in his account of the Gospel), it may be the same incident placed at a later time during the week by Matthew and Mark, or it may be a similar but separate meal and anointing (middle Eastern writers often wrote thematically rather than chronologically).

In either case, Jesus responded with grace to her act of sacrifice for him.  

“She has done a beautiful thing to me...She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Mark 14:6,8-9)

We may not know the name of this woman, but we remember what she did. She is remembered every time we tell the story of Jesus.

Holy Week Tuesday - Stones

“Some of Jesus’ disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).

Back in 2017 we had the opportunity to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. We stood near the base of the temple complex, walking alongside and touching the great foundation stones that were placed to support the platform on which Temple stood.

We also were later able to walk on the Temple platform itself, seeing the buildings and mosques built many years, decades, centuries after the Temple was destroyed.

The stones that provide the foundation that supported the Temple are still there for us to see. As for the Temple itself, as Jesus had said, not one stone of the Temple He and the disciples saw was left standing, and the rubble was later removed and newer places built.

On that Holy Tuesday, Jesus didn’t just speak of the soon-to-come loss of the Temple. He also taught his disciples about being wise and preparing for the final days. He taught them to be faithful to God and to what God was entrusting to them. Jesus taught his followers to take care of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the needy, the sick, the prisoner. Jesus gave of himself for his followers to build on His foundation. 

A foundation that would last long after the teachings of the leaders of that time had crumbled.

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

Holy Week Monday - Burdens

Remember, “two weeks to flatten the curve”? That was 55 weeks ago.

One of the images I recall that, for me, symbolize the change this brought on us is this one. Celebrating our granddaughter’s birthday via a technology few of us had ever heard of before March 2020. Zoom.

And what about Easter 2020? Skipped, Zoomed, Live-streamed. If ever there was a year that we needed Easter it was 2020. Perhaps that is why when Christmas-time approached after months of “flattening the curve”, so many began celebrating with decorations many weeks in advance. We longed for joy and for the times when it easier to approach each other and to celebrate our Lord and Savior.

When Jesus entered the temple on the Monday before Passover he saw the selling of lambs and doves for the sacrifice, and the exchanging foreign currency for the local Temple currency. The area of the temple for this activity was dedicated for non-Jewish followers of God to worship. And it was through this section that the Jewish followers of God had to pass to reach the courts closer to the Temple.  What Jesus saw was an activity that while perhaps intended to help the public, was putting up obstacles, putting burdens on them as they sought to worship God.

Jesus said to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Are our choices, expectations, requirements creating obstacles to God? Or are we helping make the burdens light?