Brothers and sisters, we have confidence that we can enter the holy of holies by means of Jesus’ blood, through a new and living way that he opened up for us through the curtain, which is his body, and we have a great high priest over God’s house. Therefore, let’s draw near with a genuine heart with the certainty that our faith gives us, since our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies are washed with pure water. Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable. And let us consider each other carefully for the purpose of sparking love and good deeds. Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other, especially as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:19-25, CEB)
When Jesus died on the cross the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn and we were all allowed access. It was opened by the blood of the lamb. We now all have access to God. No longer do we need an intermediary.
Confess what is wrong and boldly live in the love we have from God. Spreading it everywhere you go!
Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters hosted a dinner for him. Martha served and Lazarus was among those who joined him at the table. Then Mary took an extraordinary amount, almost three-quarters of a pound, of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus’ feet with it, then wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house was filled with the aroma of the perfume. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), complained, “This perfume was worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would take what was in it.) Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone. This perfume was to be used in preparation for my burial, and this is how she has used it. You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me.” (John 12:1-8, CEB)
I have always had an issue with this passage. Mainly because it paints Judas as a criminal. Which he might have been, and he might not have.
But there is also this part about always having the poor. There will always be poor around, but I will not always be with you. But isn’t Jesus always with us? And if the poor are always here, why do we do anything to help those who are poor?
We do not do things that make sense to the world or are logical all the time. We follow Jesus and go where he leads us.
Jesus knew that he was going to die soon and the gift that Mary gave him was a precious gift. One that should not be retained or taken back. We need to look for those moments where we touch the divine in mysterious ways.
Know that Jesus is not physically here, and we still have the poor. But Jesus is here and is leading us to use our nard on the poor.
Therefore, many of the Jews who came with Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called together the council and said, “What are we going to do? This man is doing many miraculous signs! If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our people.” One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, told them, “You don’t know anything! You don’t see that it is better for you that one man die for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed.” He didn’t say this on his own. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would soon die for the nation— and not only for the nation. Jesus would also die so that God’s children scattered everywhere would be gathered together as one. From that day on they plotted to kill him. Therefore, Jesus was no longer active in public ministry among the Jewish leaders. Instead, he left Jerusalem and went to a place near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. It was almost time for the Jewish Passover, and many people went from the countryside up to Jerusalem to purify themselves through ritual washing before the Passover. They were looking for Jesus. As they spoke to each other in the temple, they said, “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival, will he?” The chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where he was should report it, so they could arrest him. (John 11:45-57, CEB)
Spock said, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” in The Wrath of Khan.
I find it interesting that Caiaphas said that it is better for one to die, than the whole nation perish, not of his own, but because he was prophesying what God had shown him. That Jesus would die for the nation to bring back those who had been scattered, and yet he still proceeded to plot his death like it was his duty to kill him. I understand why he would want Jesus dead after knowing this because as Chief Priest you would want the nation to be together. But as one who has studied the scriptures, you would know that the way the community interprets the prophets isn’t always the way God meant it.
Caiaphas played a role he had no clue he was playing to help the world see love, through death.
What would you have done if you were Caiaphas?
How is Jesus’ death loving and helping for the whole world?
I think it is also necessary to send Epaphroditus to you. He is my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier; and he is your representative who serves my needs. He misses you all, and he was upset because you heard he was sick. In fact, he was so sick that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him—and not just on him but also on me, because his death would have caused me great sorrow. Therefore, I am sending him immediately so that when you see him again you can be glad and I won’t worry. So welcome him in the Lord with great joy and show great respect for people like him. He risked his life and almost died for the work of Christ, and he did this to make up for the help you couldn’t give me. So then, my brothers and sisters, be glad in the Lord. It’s no trouble for me to repeat the same things to you because they will help keep you on track. (Philippians 2:25—3:1, CEB)
When we haven’t seen someone for a while we can worry. And when we hear that they are unwell, we can worry more.
But what does our worry do?
Does it help the person we haven’t seen or know is unwell?
Does it help us to worry about something we can not possibly change?
We should turn our worry into actions, into prayer. We can not effect change on a situation by worrying about it, but we might change it by praying. And I know we will change ourselves. We will be focused on God and not the situation and we will not have negative energy flowing but hope and resolve.
So when you start to worry, stop and pray.
That way we can love those around us and have a brighter outlook on life.
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to see you soon so that I may be encouraged by hearing about you. I have no one like him. He is a person who genuinely cares about your well-being. All the others put their own business ahead of Jesus Christ’s business. You know his character, how he labors with me for the gospel like a son works with his father. So he is the one that I hope to send as soon as I find out how things turn out here for me. I trust in the Lord that I also will visit you soon. (Philippians 2:19-24, CEB)
This is Paul saying, “If the good Lords willing and the creek don’t rise…”
If it is in the will of God soon this will happen.
When the apostles returned, they described for Jesus what they had done. Taking them with him, Jesus withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. When the crowds figured it out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about God’s kingdom, and healed those who were sick. When the day was almost over, the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can go to the nearby villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.” (They said this because about five thousand men were present.) Jesus said to his disciples, “Seat them in groups of about fifty.” They did so, and everyone was seated. He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. Everyone ate until they were full, and the disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. (Luke 9:10-17, CEB)
We have no more than five loaves and two fish. No more than…
So do they have five loaves and two fish or is it less than that?
And they were worried that the food wouldn’t be enough. Haven’t we all really been there? Just last week I was at an event the person who made the food was worried there wouldn’t be enough food. She prepared enough for 100 people and there was over 100 there. But we all ate and there was food left over, not like the twelve baskets above, but no one went hungry.
We see scarcity when we should be focused on the love of God and the overflowing abundance that comes with that.
Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Favored are those who have been invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb.” He said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said, “Don’t do that! I’m a servant just like you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to the witness of Jesus. Worship God! The witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy!” (Revelation 19:9-10, CEB)
We should not worship another human, for all of us are on the same level. We are all brothers and sisters, children of God.
After this I heard what sounded like a huge crowd in heaven. They said,
“Hallelujah! The salvation and glory and power of our God! His judgments are true and just, because he judged the great prostitute, who ruined the earth by her whoring, and he exacted the penalty for the blood of his servants from her hand.”
Then they said a second time,
“Hallelujah! Smoke goes up from her forever and always.”
The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who is seated on the throne, and they said, “Amen. Hallelujah!”
Then a voice went out from the throne and said,
“Praise our God, all you his servants, and you who fear him, both small and great.”
And I heard something that sounded like a huge crowd, like rushing water and powerful thunder. They said,
“Hallelujah! The Lord our God, the Almighty, exercised his royal power! Let us rejoice and celebrate, and give him the glory, for the wedding day of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. She was given fine, pure white linen to wear, for the fine linen is the saints’ acts of justice.”
(Revelation 19:1-8, CEB)
What does all this mean?
Where is the smoke coming from?
Who are the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures?
How does a crowd sound like rushing water and powerful thunder?
The vision from Revelation seems meant to scare us more than it helps us relax. But it is supposed to help us trust that God has all of this and us in hand and will see us through. No matter what comes, God is in control.
All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable:
Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ Then the father divided his estate between them. Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living. “When he had used up his resources, a severe food shortage arose in that country and he began to be in need. He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from what the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, but I’m starving to death! I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Take me on as one of your hired hands.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.’ Then the older son was furious and didn’t want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him. He answered his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you’ve never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ Then his father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, CEB)
The story above is the story we usually refer to as the prodigal son. But is this story about the son? And if so which son, because there are two.
And we refer to this chapter as the chapter of repentance. And if you remember from yesterday’s devotion, there are some bad jokes about sheep and coins repenting. I’ve been baaaad and I promise I’ll change. But even those stories are not about the lost sheep or the lost coin. They don’t begin, there was a sheep who had 99 other sheep under the shepherd, or there was a coin who along with 9 other coins belonged to a woman. There was a shepherd who had 100 sheep and there was a woman who had 10 coins.
And today’s story doesn’t start, there was a man who had an older brother and a father. No. It begins, there was a man who had two sons. The story is not about the younger son, but about the father.
Now the younger son gets the credit for this story because he wants his father dead so he can have his money. Then he goes off and spends the money. And how? He wasted his wealth through extravagant living. He had parties and bought expensive things. But then he came to his senses. But again this is not a story about a son, but a father.
A father who heard his son say I wish you were dead and instead of saying get out, he loved his son and divided his wealth and gave what would be the younger sons to him. And then he let his son leave. And then the father just believed his son had died? No.
The younger son came to his senses and knew that if he returned home he could ask to be a hired hand on the family farm because the servants have plenty and there was room for him. So he returned with his planned speech for his father. But the reading says, “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him.” His father was not sitting in the house waiting, he was out looking for his son, walking the edge of the property, in my opinion, watching and waiting for his son to return. And when the father saw the son coming, he ran to him. The father ran. Men of this man’s stature would not run, they had servants for that. But he humbled himself and ran and kissed his son because he knew he would return and he did.
This story reminds me of the film Finding Nemo. Where Marlin goes out looking for his son who was taken. He goes and hangs out with sharks and sea turtles and faces the East Australian Current. He faces all kinds of dangers because he knows his son is out there and needs him. And that is what the father does for the son. He knows the son needs him, even when the son doesn’t know that.
And let’s not forget the older brother, who throws a royal hissy fit when he finds out the fatted calf was slaughtered for a party for the freeloader who is now going to weasel in on more inheritance. He doesn’t like that his father has accepted the return of the brother, and doesn’t get it. That the love of the father is all-encompassing and goes to lengths that none of us are prepared for.
You see the Loving Father is a better name for this story because the father here doesn’t care what anyone else thinks but is willing to love his children no matter what. And the father here will humble himself and disregard what the world says he would do as a man in his station of life. He side steps the rules of engagement and dishonors himself so many times.
Giving the younger son the money
Allowing the younger son to want/say he id dead
allowing the younger son to leave
allowing the younger son to return
Running to the younger son
Giving the younger son a robe (This was one of the father’s best robes)
Giving the younger son sandals (This was a mark of being a member of the household and not a slave)
Giving the younger son the ring (This was a signet ring, one to seal documents for the family)
Leaving the party for the younger son to talk to the older son
God does all of these things for all of us. God is ready to run to you and love you where you are. Know that no matter what you have done or where you have gone, God is always right behind you ready for you to be loved.
All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” (Luke 15:1-10, CEB)
This man eats with and welcomes sinners. If we would all do so well.
This is the beginning of chapter 15 in the Gospel of Luke. It is known by many as the chapter on repentance. Because verse 11 starts the story most of us know as the Prodigal Son. The younger son who wastes all the money his father gave to him. Then the young man comes to his senses and goes home and repents. But is this chapter really about repentance?
There was a shepherd who had 100 sheep and one of them is lost, so he leaves the 99 and goes to look for the lost. And when he FINDS it, he rejoices and celebrates. And there was a woman who had 10 coins and she lost one, and she turned the house over and when she FINDS it she rejoices and celebrates.
Is this chapter about lost things that repent, or about the people that find them?
If it is about lost things that repent, how does a sheep repent? And how does a coin repent? The sheep says, “I’m sorry I’ve been baaaaad.” And the coin says, “I promise I’ll change.”
No this chapter is about the actions of the one who has lost and searched for the thing that was lost. Tomorrow we will hear the difference in the Prodigal Son story, which is a bad name.
aSacredRebel 