Cross Eyed

What do you see? That is a question that can shape everything that happens in your life today.

You see perspective and outlook can shape your view on what is happening. Think about your life and where you have been and where it seems you are going. Now this week think about Jesus. (We should think about Jesus every week, but this week is Holy Week.) Think about what he had gone through with the ridicule and think about where He is going… He is the final days and hours from the cross. He knew where He had come from, the throne room of the Creator of the universe. And he knew where He was headed, to His death and not a quick death, a slow agonizing death after going through a beating that would have killed an ordinary man. Perspective is everything. Jesus gave up of Himself to bridge the gap between us and God. So what is your perspective?

Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

The author of Hebrews tells us to look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. We need to fix our eyes on Him. And become Cross Eyed. In your life your perspective is everything and what you focus on can greatly effect your day. Make sure the cross is center in your vision. If you can’t see Jesus, you need to adjust your gaze.

Going to Jerusalem…

A Jewish businessman in Chicago decided to send his son to Israel to absorb some of the culture of the homeland. When the son returned, the father asked him to tell him about his trip.

The son said, “Pop,I had a great time in Israel. By the way, I converted to Christianity.”

“Oy, vey,”said the father. “Vot haf I dun?”

He decided to go ask his friend Jacob what to do.

Jake said, “Funny you should ask. I too sent my son to Israel, and he also came back a Christian. Perhaps we should go see the rabbi and ask him what we should do.” So they went to see the rabbi.

The rabbi said,”Funny you should ask. I too sent my son to Israel. He also came back a Christian. What is happening to our young people? Perhaps we should go talk to God and ask him what to do.”

The three of them prayed and explained what had happened to their sons and asked God what to do.

Suddenly a voice came loud and clear from Heaven.

The Voice said,”Funny you should ask. I, too, sent my Son to Israel. . . . .

Quiver of God!

Have you ever felt like you weren’t doing that thing that you should be doing?

Thought about changing your  career?

But is career in my thought is not vocation. Vocation is calling from the Latin for voice, and that is why we say that those in the “ministry” have a vocation. And in my thoughts and my understanding we all have a calling a vocation, and that is what our ministry is. That is our part of the mission of God…

You can do something and make money and that is a career, but what you do with your life in and through how you live and show forth God’s love is your vocation. Now they can be one and the same, but they may not be…

But what ever your calling, God gave that to you! He speaks of this through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 49.  Isaiah speaks of a creator that has planned on your existence long before you were ever born. Isaiah speaks of how God hides you in the shadow of His hand and protects you from everything that could harm you. Isaiah calls you a polished arrow, created for a specific purpose and hidden away in God’s quiver until the needed time. That is such beautiful imagery, and speaks to the depth of God’s love for each and everyone of us! God has a plan for you, and He is saving you in His quiver to shoot you into the mission field at the right time so that you might do that which He needs you to do to fulfill the plan that was set into motion long before you were a glimmer in your mother’s eye. God has everything in His hand and uses His creation to show forth His love.

Live as one God called before you were born, who was named in your mother’s womb, because you are! a golden arrow in the quiver of God!

Fountain of life…

Have you ever heard of the fountain of youth? Wondered if you could ever find it? And what would you do if you found a magical fountain that would make you young and live for ever?

Well maybe the fountain of youth is not as far fetched as we think it is. It is however different than we think it is. It is not a magic elixir that makes you 25 for the rest of your life. It is not a way to stop aging or to make you be the perfect person.  You see you actually already are the perfect person you can be, the way God created you.

And we all have access to the fountain of life, the one whose wings we can take shelter under, the one who is the light for us and pushes the darkness away. He is the one that will give us the fountain of life that will cause is to live forever the way we were created – perfect in His way.

So hide under His wings and live in the light that He shines on us. God gives us all the shelter, feast, a home and is always faithful in everything. He is our light in this dark world, and He is our fountain of life.

What do you need?

I’m sure we have all heard this question before. And I’m sure we have all heard that there is a difference between what we want and what we need. Sometimes there is an overlap, but sometimes what we want and what we need can be polar opposites.

And if you are one who follows the lectionary might be wondering why I’m talking about need and want. The main Gospel reading for today is the Passion narrative from Mark. Well today is Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  I think we have watered down our faith to be about what is best for society. We have turned today, the day of the triumphal entry into a day we have to share the Passion because people aren’t going to come on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. They will only hear the triumphal entry story and the story of the stone rolled away and the resurrection. So rather than not allow people to hear only the good parts of the story, we make those who will be at worship to listen to the story on Sunday and again on Thursday and Friday.  As you can tell, I think we should focus on the triumphal entry…

So I’m talking about need and want because of the text we read for Palm Sunday in year B of the lectionary, Mark 11:1-11.

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” just say this, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” ’ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
‘Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus is coming into Jerusalem and needs to fulfill the prophecy of riding on a donkey, but that is not the best part of the text in my opinion. You see in the Gospels and actually all of the scriptures there is only one thing that it says Jesus ever says He needs.  And that is in our text today. In today’s text it is a colt, in Matthew it is a donkey and a colt. But the message is clear, the only thing that Jesus says He needs is a donkey. What do you need?

Jesus is entering Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna by a group of people who will only days from now call for His execution, and He needs a donkey. Jesus has endured the people chasing after Him to heal there illness, and fix their lives, He has had to ward off the Pharisees, and the Jewish leaders.  He has put up with the disciples not getting it year after year, and yet all He needs is a donkey! Our TV goes out and we have to have one. We get upset when the internet is not working on our flight. We whine about the littlest things, and Jesus is entering Jerusalem, the city in which He will be killed, to the shouts of a crowd that He knows will turn on Him and knowing the physical beating and agony He will endure and all He needs is a donkey. And when you boil it down the only reason He needs this is to fulfill prophecy!

So what do you need?

‘What do you want me to do for you?’

What would you say if Jesus said to you,  ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

Hold on just a minute I’ve got that list here with me, let me pull it up, it is in my dropbox and I’ll be able to tell you…

Can you think about what it is you would want from Jesus if He could do anything for you?  Because you see the thing that is “most obvious” is not what Jesus thinks we want. For instance see our reading for today from Mark 10:46-52.

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

When Jesus heard the blind man calling He told the disciples to get him and bring him to Him. Now I bet that Jesus knew the man was blind. And if He knew this wouldn’t you think that the thing the man would want would be to be able to see? Or maybe the blind man needed to ask for what he wanted… But Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” This makes me think that maybe there was something else Jesus saw in him that needed to healed, or forgiven or done for him. Wouldn’t being able to see be the best thing for him? What else could be better?

I am not blind and hope I never am, but there are many things in my life that could be better, and if Jesus could let me know what they are, maybe I would know to ask for that part of my life to be healed, or for the better thing that He sees I need.

Maybe the most obvious is not the best thing, but Jesus still heals him and tells him to go, and his faith has made him well. The blind man was healed because he believed that Jesus could give him his sight, and that is what healed him. The fact he knew Jesus could do it… What if we all truly believed that Jesus could do the thing that we want, what would you ask Him to do for you?

work out your own salvation!?!?!?!?

Am I the only person on earth that has a problem with this statement? Or am I the only person on the planet that is not weirded out by working out my own salvation? I mean I am Lutheran and there is nothing I can do, to the point that most of us Lutherans do nothing because it is already taken care of. And while that is a topic for another post, the point has to be made that Ephesians 2:8-10 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” We are saved by grace and can not earn our way to heaven, but we were created to do His works. So we need to get off our butts and do something, not for what it will get us, but because of what we have already been given!

But working out our own salvation?!?!?!? Really? Here again as my Roman Catholic friend will point out we stopped reading too soon. Ephesians 2:8-9 is his beef, because if you leave off 10 you don’t get that we are created for good works. And if you stop at work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, you miss the best part – “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God is working in you! He is enabling you to will and to work and do His good pleasure.  God is working in and through you to make His mission happen in this place at this time.  He is helping you work out that salvation in fear and trembling. Fear and trembling because of what could happen, or the life we would have to live on our own…

And Paul goes on as usual to hash this out a little more for us.  We are to “do all things with out murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.” If we help others and give of ourselves freely and do what God has prepared for us to do without grumbling the world will see God through our lives and will be drawn to Him.  We will shine like stars in the darkness of what is the world we live in. We need to be beacons of hope because this world needs to see God for who He is. Their creator who loves them enough to give up His only Son so that we could all be in a relationship with Him.

So all God to work in and through your life, making you to shine like a star and give light and hope to this world trapped in darkness. Allow God to fill you with His Holy Spirit and lead you in working out your salvation so that other see Him through you and drawn to Him.

Make my joy complete…

What does Paul mean when he says “make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” What does this mean? Does he mean we all have to believe and think the exact same things? That we have to love exactly the same way? Does being in full accord and of one mind mean that we have to think the same things and understand things the same way as everyone else? Does this mean that the disciples drove a Honda? Because they were all of one Accord… (sorry bad joke, but I had to…)

If so I think we are all in trouble, or at least I know I am. Sometimes I have a hard time agreeing with myself or always thinking the same thing about a subject for more than 3 seconds.

I believe what Paul was saying in the be of one mind and in one accord was explained in the next part of Philippians Chapter 2: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Regard others before yourself! Do nothing that helps yourself, but rather do the things that will lift others up and by that you will be feeding your own soul and life. If we can think of the other before we worry about our own needs, then we will be of one mind and work in one accord.

Then Paul unpacks this statement even more in the next verses which is better known as the Christ Hymn. This section of Philippians was thought to be an early hymn that Paul used to talk about how Christ was. How he gave up His own life, not thinking about what He was going to go through, but rather what it would do for the other. What His sacrifice would do for you.

Paul is telling the Philippians that they are not the center of the universe! The world does not revolve around them. That there are other people that matter more then they do. And if we can understand that, then our lives will be richer and filled with such love and grace and mercy that we will wonder how we lived before.

So think of the other before yourself and give love, grace and mercy to everyone freely, because Jesus will give you more when you need it, and more when you don’t because that is how He is. And that is how He wants you to be as well!

Who is the judge?

Have you ever heard anyone tell you “The Bible says do not judge.”?

And what is your response?  We try not to judge because we think that the Bible tells us not to judge, but that is not true. The Bible says in Matthew 7 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” It does not say don’t judge, it says don’t judge unless you are ready to be judged by the same judgement you give. The splinter we see in the eye of the other is akin to the log we have in our own eye…

But I find it interesting that in John 12:34-50 Jesus talks about why he came. We will say that we are not to judge because the Bible tells us not to, and because Jesus it the judge. Yet John 12 tells us something different. In John 12 Jesus says:

 “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

Did you get that? Jesus said “I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” I did not come to judge anyone who does not hear my words and do them. I came to save the world… So Jesus is not the judge. But he tells us next who the judge is, His word. We will be judged by not hearing what Jesus said and doing it. I am actually more scared by this than by Jesus judging me.

How many times have I failed to love my neighbor as myself? How many times have I put myself first and thought about my own needs before the needs of the other?

Who is going to judge us? The words of Jesus…

Spirit induced

Have you ever seen something that you couldn’t explain? Somebody understanding something they shouldn’t be able to understand? Something that has no explanation and science seems to say ‘that can not happen’?

Peter told us in Acts about how the chosen spoke and people heard the word in their own languages. They spoke and others understood who should not be able to understand…

God spoke through the prophets that things would happen that people could not explain. Things will happen that should scare us senseless, but here is the kicker – God is in control and causing these thing to happen so everyone will come to know Him.

So next time something happens that has no explanation thank God that you get to play a part of His wonderful master plan.