Clear as day…

Jesus took the Twelve aside and said, “Look, we’re going up to Jerusalem, and everything written about the Human One by the prophets will be accomplished. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. He will be ridiculed, mistreated, and spit on. After torturing him, they will kill him. On the third day, he will rise up.” But the Twelve understood none of these words. The meaning of this message was hidden from them and they didn’t grasp what he was saying. (Luke 18:31-34, CEB)

Jesus went with the 12 and told them as they were going, we are going to Jerusalem and the Human One will have everything done to him that the prophets said would happen. He will be ridiculed, mistreated, and spit on. After torturing him, they will kill him. On the third day, he will rise up. But the disciples were thick and didn’t get it. Now is it they didn’t get that Jesus was the Human One, the Son of Man? Or did they not understand what Jesus said to them?

Did they know Jesus is the Son of Man, the Human One?

Did they just not want it to be true?

Sometimes we ask for a clear statement like this from God and when we get it, we don’t get it either. But I think it is usually because we don’t like what we have heard so we act like we don’t get it.

Clear as day, yet we still don’t understand. But God still loves us.

Loving People. Loving God.

Anti…

Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. But by going out from us, they showed they all are not part of us. But you have an anointing from the holy one, and all of you know the truth. I don’t write to you because you don’t know the truth but because you know it. You know that no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? Isn’t it the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father, but the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, what you heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you will also remain in relationship to the Son and in the Father. This is the promise that he himself gave us: eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are attempting to deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains on you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you the truth. But since his anointing teaches you about all things (it’s true and not a lie), remain in relationship to him just as he taught you. And now, little children, remain in relationship to Jesus, so that when he appears we can have confidence and not be ashamed in front of him when he comes. (1 John 2:18-28, CEB)

Anti is a word that shows what a person or thing is against. We try to make it look better by doing Pro instead of Anti, but what is the Pro word here that means Antichrist?

Antichrist is the one who is the opposite of the Christ. The devil maybe or maybe not. Many want to say that the emperor was the antichrist. Anyone that leads us away from where Christ is leading us is technically an antichrist.

So what is the Pro word? Would it be Pro-satan? Pro-devil? Pro-selfish?

Right because the one we all know and have heard arguments for is Pro-life. Which is actually anti-abortion. And it is possible to be Pro-life and Pro-choice. Pro-choice is not pro-abortion. But it seems we get caught on these.

What we need to remember here is the passage above where if one is anointed and teaches and professes Christ they are not the anti-christ. They are a part of the kingdom. They are a part of the inheritance that is for all of us.

So be pro-christ not anti-christ and love as you go.

Loving People. Loving God.

Opened

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!

Loving People. Loving God.

Nard me?

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.

Loving People. Loving God.

better for one to die

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?

Loving People. Loving God.

worry…

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.

Loving People. Loving God.

Trust

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.

I trust in the Lord. No matter what happens.

I trust in the Lord.

Do you trust in the Lord?

Loving People. Loving God.

Focus

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.

Change your focus. Love like God does.

Loving People. Loving God.

Worship God!

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.

We need to worship God.

Worship God and loves those who are loved by God.

Loving People. Loving God.

Hallelujah

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.

Know that God is in control.

Loving People. Loving God.