This is the second part of a series of posts entitled, "uneasy". I first introduced the idea by confessing that there are aspects of a life of faith in Jesus that really make my skin crawl as well as topics in the Bible that just don't sit well with me.
The short version of that post is this... Jesus said some really uneasy things about living a life that is characterized by significance according to God. You can read that first post HERE (uneasy: he said what?).
However, Jesus did not just talk about these things... He lived them and that's where we are going to continue this conversation. Let's get back into it, shall we?
Prophets for centuries proclaimed that a messiah or a christ would someday come from God to establish a new kingdom on earth. The word "christ" means "the anointed" or "appointed by God". The Jews believed through the prophets that this christ would bring about a revolution that freed people from the affliction of bondage.
Enter Jesus.
Jesus' birth and early years were characterized by numerous instances of the fulfillment of these prophecies. The authors of the first four books of the New Testament- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John- went to great lengths to enlighten the Jews and all who would listen that this Jesus fellow who claimed to be sent by God, who claimed to be the Son of God, who claimed to be "the Christ" actually was and is the promised messiah, the deliverer, the anointed one.
Time and time again throughout the accounts of Jesus life, Jesus told everyone that He was God; not that He knew God but that He IS God. This is really important to understand. This is why Jesus was killed. Jesus claimed that He re-presented God "in the flesh." He called Himself the Son of God and He proclaimed that God was His Father. In fact, according to the eyewitnesses, God announced at Jesus' baptism, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22)
To prove to any potential doubters that He was God, Jesus performed amazing feats of healing the sick, diseased, blind and crippled citizens of modern day Israel. Furthermore, Jesus cast evil spirits out of possessed people, brought people back from the dead, walked on water, controlled the weather with His voice, could multiply food, turned water into wine, could read people's minds and knew the motivation of their hearts. This is only scratching the surface of what Jesus did to "prove" very concretely to everyone that He was God.
Jesus taught in the Jewish "churches" (known as synagogues) with such authority that people would ask, "Who is this man?" He spoke as one who had actually seen heaven, the afterlife, and who had seen God. The religious teachers, called Pharisees (Jewish priests), were the most educated and devout followers of Jewish customs, laws, and rules. They knew the Bible (Genesis through Malachi) better than anyone else and yet they couldn't even win an argument with Him about spiritual matters or the teachings of the Bible. Jesus constantly stumped them. No one had ever been able to do this to these very well educated "teachers of the Law."
Jesus' "resume" looks a lot better than mine. He brought healing to a broken world and re-established a disconnected humanity to their loving Creator through his life and death. His life fuels my passion to follow Him with my entire heart, mind, soul and strength; to be reconciled to, reconnected to, re-accepted by God through Jesus. However, it is not His numerous accolades that make me uneasy... it's how he lived His life.
Jesus was famous for telling people to "come, follow me," (Matthew 4:19; Matthew 8:22; Matthew 9:9; Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24; Matthew 19:21; Mark 1:17; Mark 2:14; Mark 8:34; Mark 10:21; Luke 5:11; Luke 5:27; Luke 9:23; Luke 9:59; Luke 9:61; Luke 14:27; Luke 18:22; John 1:43; John 10:27; John 12:26; John 21:19; John 21:22). What does it mean to "follow" Jesus? What implications does this have for my life? What is the cost?
Jesus showed us what living a life in perfect connection to God is like; this is what makes me uneasy.
Jesus did not live a life of comfort. He did not live a life of acceptance. He was not successful by today's standards. In fact, by our American standards, He failed and failed miserably. Just look at His life. He came to start a Spiritual revolution and ended up getting killed. That's not good. Granted, He came back from the dead... and that's pretty good by anyone's standards. However, He left the fate of His entire movement in the hands of fishermen, tax collectors, and cowards.
Jesus was...
homeless (Matt 8:19-20)
rejected (Luke 9:22-23)
beaten (Matt 27:30)
mocked (Mark 15:20)
flogged (Mark 15:12-15)
arrested (Mark 14:45-46)
overwhelmed with sorrow (Matt 26:38)
abandoned (Matt 26:55-56)
betrayed (Mark 14:41-42)
killed (Luke 23:44-46)
Sometimes I read this short (incomplete) list and I think, "Well, He was God. He can handle it," but that would deny Jesus of His humanity. While it is true that Jesus was/is God, He was/is also a human. A real, live, flesh-and-blood human. All too often I read the Bible with super heroes in mind; like Jesus was Superman or Neo or Peter Petrelli. I am pretty sure that this affliction sucked and that Jesus felt the full weight of the pain that He suffered. Think about it, when was the last time you sweat blood during a prayer? Hmm? Me neither.
In fact, it is this topic that had me thinking the other day... "If Jesus was God's son, then by our typical way of thinking He should be the favorite, right?" How many times have we heard our friends or own family members tell us that "so-and-so" is the favorite son or daughter or grandchild or niece or cousin? Haven't we all heard this before? Maybe you were the favorite. Maybe you weren't the favorite. Where do you think the saying, "Redheaded stepchild" comes from?
We play favorites. Let's just be honest about that for a moment. We all hate it but yet we all tend to do this. It may be subtle and we may be able to hide it by being socially proper, but the truth is that we all play favorites. Doubt it? When was the last time you hugged a random stranger? When was the last time you hugged that nagging person that makes your skin crawl who hates you and who always insults you? When was the last time you hugged that person who always asks for money on the street corner? Me neither. We're in the same boat. We love the people who love us. (see what Jesus had to say about that HERE.)
Here's the point.
The Bible clearly states that when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is God and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead that we are then saved from eternal separation from God are then made right with God through our trust (faith) in Jesus. The Bible goes on to teach us that we become adopted sons and daughters of God. How awesome is that! This is great news, but this gets to the crux of my dilemma. Look at how God allowed His own son to be treated. He allowed Him to suffer and endure pain; a ton of it. I don't know any human who would actually choose do endure such pain and suffering unless there was something more to the story. How about you? Luckily for us, there is more to this story... but more on that later.
Let this marinate in your heart and mind if you are someone who is choosing to live a life of faith pursuing Jesus- why should our experience be any different than that of Jesus' (in regard to pain and suffering)? Why would we expect to live any differently? What must you do to passionately pursue Jesus even if it means enduring pain and suffering (i.e. social uneasiness, financial uncertainty, relational stress, etc)? How should you adjust the trajectory of your life to better match that of Jesus'?
Next up, a lesson in truly embracing this calling of Jesus- a look at what the disciples did. Stay tuned...
The short version of that post is this... Jesus said some really uneasy things about living a life that is characterized by significance according to God. You can read that first post HERE (uneasy: he said what?).
However, Jesus did not just talk about these things... He lived them and that's where we are going to continue this conversation. Let's get back into it, shall we?
Prophets for centuries proclaimed that a messiah or a christ would someday come from God to establish a new kingdom on earth. The word "christ" means "the anointed" or "appointed by God". The Jews believed through the prophets that this christ would bring about a revolution that freed people from the affliction of bondage.
Enter Jesus.
Jesus' birth and early years were characterized by numerous instances of the fulfillment of these prophecies. The authors of the first four books of the New Testament- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John- went to great lengths to enlighten the Jews and all who would listen that this Jesus fellow who claimed to be sent by God, who claimed to be the Son of God, who claimed to be "the Christ" actually was and is the promised messiah, the deliverer, the anointed one.
Time and time again throughout the accounts of Jesus life, Jesus told everyone that He was God; not that He knew God but that He IS God. This is really important to understand. This is why Jesus was killed. Jesus claimed that He re-presented God "in the flesh." He called Himself the Son of God and He proclaimed that God was His Father. In fact, according to the eyewitnesses, God announced at Jesus' baptism, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22)
To prove to any potential doubters that He was God, Jesus performed amazing feats of healing the sick, diseased, blind and crippled citizens of modern day Israel. Furthermore, Jesus cast evil spirits out of possessed people, brought people back from the dead, walked on water, controlled the weather with His voice, could multiply food, turned water into wine, could read people's minds and knew the motivation of their hearts. This is only scratching the surface of what Jesus did to "prove" very concretely to everyone that He was God.
Jesus taught in the Jewish "churches" (known as synagogues) with such authority that people would ask, "Who is this man?" He spoke as one who had actually seen heaven, the afterlife, and who had seen God. The religious teachers, called Pharisees (Jewish priests), were the most educated and devout followers of Jewish customs, laws, and rules. They knew the Bible (Genesis through Malachi) better than anyone else and yet they couldn't even win an argument with Him about spiritual matters or the teachings of the Bible. Jesus constantly stumped them. No one had ever been able to do this to these very well educated "teachers of the Law."
Jesus' "resume" looks a lot better than mine. He brought healing to a broken world and re-established a disconnected humanity to their loving Creator through his life and death. His life fuels my passion to follow Him with my entire heart, mind, soul and strength; to be reconciled to, reconnected to, re-accepted by God through Jesus. However, it is not His numerous accolades that make me uneasy... it's how he lived His life.
Jesus was famous for telling people to "come, follow me," (Matthew 4:19; Matthew 8:22; Matthew 9:9; Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24; Matthew 19:21; Mark 1:17; Mark 2:14; Mark 8:34; Mark 10:21; Luke 5:11; Luke 5:27; Luke 9:23; Luke 9:59; Luke 9:61; Luke 14:27; Luke 18:22; John 1:43; John 10:27; John 12:26; John 21:19; John 21:22). What does it mean to "follow" Jesus? What implications does this have for my life? What is the cost?
Jesus showed us what living a life in perfect connection to God is like; this is what makes me uneasy.
Jesus did not live a life of comfort. He did not live a life of acceptance. He was not successful by today's standards. In fact, by our American standards, He failed and failed miserably. Just look at His life. He came to start a Spiritual revolution and ended up getting killed. That's not good. Granted, He came back from the dead... and that's pretty good by anyone's standards. However, He left the fate of His entire movement in the hands of fishermen, tax collectors, and cowards.
Jesus was...
homeless (Matt 8:19-20)
rejected (Luke 9:22-23)
beaten (Matt 27:30)
mocked (Mark 15:20)
flogged (Mark 15:12-15)
arrested (Mark 14:45-46)
overwhelmed with sorrow (Matt 26:38)
abandoned (Matt 26:55-56)
betrayed (Mark 14:41-42)
killed (Luke 23:44-46)
Sometimes I read this short (incomplete) list and I think, "Well, He was God. He can handle it," but that would deny Jesus of His humanity. While it is true that Jesus was/is God, He was/is also a human. A real, live, flesh-and-blood human. All too often I read the Bible with super heroes in mind; like Jesus was Superman or Neo or Peter Petrelli. I am pretty sure that this affliction sucked and that Jesus felt the full weight of the pain that He suffered. Think about it, when was the last time you sweat blood during a prayer? Hmm? Me neither.
In fact, it is this topic that had me thinking the other day... "If Jesus was God's son, then by our typical way of thinking He should be the favorite, right?" How many times have we heard our friends or own family members tell us that "so-and-so" is the favorite son or daughter or grandchild or niece or cousin? Haven't we all heard this before? Maybe you were the favorite. Maybe you weren't the favorite. Where do you think the saying, "Redheaded stepchild" comes from?
We play favorites. Let's just be honest about that for a moment. We all hate it but yet we all tend to do this. It may be subtle and we may be able to hide it by being socially proper, but the truth is that we all play favorites. Doubt it? When was the last time you hugged a random stranger? When was the last time you hugged that nagging person that makes your skin crawl who hates you and who always insults you? When was the last time you hugged that person who always asks for money on the street corner? Me neither. We're in the same boat. We love the people who love us. (see what Jesus had to say about that HERE.)
Here's the point.
The Bible clearly states that when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is God and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead that we are then saved from eternal separation from God are then made right with God through our trust (faith) in Jesus. The Bible goes on to teach us that we become adopted sons and daughters of God. How awesome is that! This is great news, but this gets to the crux of my dilemma. Look at how God allowed His own son to be treated. He allowed Him to suffer and endure pain; a ton of it. I don't know any human who would actually choose do endure such pain and suffering unless there was something more to the story. How about you? Luckily for us, there is more to this story... but more on that later.
Let this marinate in your heart and mind if you are someone who is choosing to live a life of faith pursuing Jesus- why should our experience be any different than that of Jesus' (in regard to pain and suffering)? Why would we expect to live any differently? What must you do to passionately pursue Jesus even if it means enduring pain and suffering (i.e. social uneasiness, financial uncertainty, relational stress, etc)? How should you adjust the trajectory of your life to better match that of Jesus'?
Next up, a lesson in truly embracing this calling of Jesus- a look at what the disciples did. Stay tuned...
|
composed by
dave
|
