Rejection and Reception

  

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:10 – 13.

 

While the world rejected Jesus Christ, while “His own” rejected Jesus Christ, there were those who received Him. At any given time there is rejection and reception happening around us. In another sense this is also happening within us, we are either receiving or rejecting the Word of God.

 

As we see in both the Gospels and Epistles, “His own” were not all “His own” and those who were not “His own” were “His own.” Hence we have Jesus Christ “declaring the Name of the Father to His brethren,” whether Jew or Gentile (Hebrews 2:10 – 13; Ephesians 2:10 – 22; Romans 9:6 – 8).

 

Are we receiving Jesus Christ? Are we receiving His Word? There is more to this idea of “receiving” than we might think. In the Parable of the Sower the good soil “hears the word and understands it” (Matthew 13:23), are those who “hear the word and accept it” (Mark 4:20), and “are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast” (Luke 8:15).

 

Then the idea of birth is introduced “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” In the next verse the image of birth is continued, but this time it is not our birth from God that is spoken of, but rather the eternal generation of the Only Begotten from the Father that we see.

 

Peter writes that, “…you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

 

That which Jesus Christ has, Light and Life, He gives to us through a new birth, a wonderful and mysterious miracle in which the Life of God comes into earth, the earth of our bodies, our souls, our spirits - joining us to the Holy Trinity (1 Cor. 6:17; Hebrews 2:11; Ephesians 5:31 – 32; John chapters 14 – 17).

 

We are as utterly and totally dependent upon God for this birth as we were dependent upon our parents for our first birth. This second birth is “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” As Jesus teaches Nicodemus in John Chapter 3, we must be born again of the Spirit of God.

 

In our receiving Him we also receive our birthright, our coinheritance in Jesus Christ, and this inheritance is that of the children of God, the sons and daughters of the Living God (Romans 8:12ff; Galatians 3:23 – 4:7; Ephesians 1:3 – 14).

 

Well now, what do you know of your birthright in Jesus Christ? Are you living in that birthright?

 

Are you receiving Jesus Christ as your daily source of life?

 

Have you experienced the miracle of being born of God in Jesus Christ? Is the life of the Trinity abiding in you?

 

Looking at the characteristics of the good soil (see above), what do those characteristics look like in your life? In the life of your congregation?

 

How are you cultivating the soil of your soul?

 

If you know the glory and mystery of new birth in God in Christ, are you growing and maturing in Jesus Christ, is His image being progressively displayed in you? In the life of your congregation?

 

I think these are things worth pondering and speaking about with one another.

 

What do you think?

Perceiving and Receiving

 

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:10 – 13.

 

What do you see as you ponder the above?

 

The Creator is among those who He created but they do not recognize Him. The Messiah, the Son of David, the Descendant of Abraham, is among His subjects and brethren “according to the flesh” but they do not recognize Him. The Word walked among us and we did not know Him nor receive Him. Do we know Him walking among us today? To be sure, just as Jesus Christ walked among the candlesticks of Revelation, He walks among us today – but do we have eyes to see and ears to hear?

 

Throughout the Gospels we see John 1:10 – 13 being played out. We see Jesus recognized and received, rejected and finally crucified. How do people perceive Jesus Christ? How do we perceive Jesus Christ? How do we know Him? Are we perceiving and receiving Him?

 

Questions we, the disciples of Jesus Christ, ought to always be asking ourselves is, “How are the people around me responding to Jesus Christ? Are they receiving Him or rejecting Him? Are they receiving His Light or living in darkness? What is their response to the name of Jesus Christ?"

 

There isn’t a chapter in the Gospels that isn’t being played out in some fashion today – whether it is at work, at school, at home, in our neighborhoods, in our civic organizations, in our leisure time – in every sphere of life the Gospels are being replayed – God’s People are either living in Christ and as Christ or they are not; others are either receiving Him or they are not.

 

If we read the Gospel as something that only happened “back then” then we are to be pitied. If we preach and teach the Gospel as something that only, or primarily, happened back then, then we and those who hear us are to be pitied.

 

Can you see yourself in this passage (John 1:10 – 13)?

 

Can you see yourself in John1:3 (compare with Psalm 139)?

 

Can you see yourself in John 1:4?

 

Dear friends, as long as the Gospel is outside us, the fulness of Christ will not be inside us.

 

Light

 

“The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [overpower] it.” John 1:5.

 

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil, hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:19 – 21.

 

Throughout John’s Gospel the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness opposes the Light, but the darkness can neither understand nor overcome the Light. Appearances can be deceiving, for there are certainly times in the Gospel when it appears as if the Light is being overcome, whether it is when many turn away from Jesus (John 6) or the Crucifixion, things are not as they appear – Jesus Christ is victorious.

 

Have there been times in your life when things were not as they appeared? Have you had the experience of Christ brining victory out of apparent defeat? Perhaps even as you read this you are experiencing great difficulty?

 

Since we are called to live with Christ and to live as Christ, there are times when we may cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me!?” We ought not to be surprised when we encounter suffering, nor should we be surprised when we don’t understand all that is happening to us; but we can learn to trust our kind heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ through the vicissitudes of life, knowing that the darkness cannot overcome the Light that lives in us, the Light that has redeemed us, the Light which holds us in His everlasting love (see Romans 8).

 

The fact is that “men love the darkness rather than the Light for their deeds are evil.” As you look at John 3:19 – 21, what do you think this looks like? What does it look like in the Gospels? What does it look like today?

 

Here, once again, appearances can be deceiving; we should be careful in judging by outward appearances.

 

Someone reading John 3:19 – 21 for the first time might be excused for thinking that the religious leaders would flock to Jesus and accept Him. They might be excused for thinking that those who attended synagogue regularly would follow Jesus. They also could be excused for thinking that those who were not religious and whose way of living was outside accepted religious norms would reject Jesus and want nothing to do with Him.

 

Yet, what really happened? Who ensured that the Romans would crucify Jesus? Who sought to destroy Jesus throughout His ministry? On the other hand, who made up a significant element of those who followed Jesus? Looks can be deceiving.

 

Have you ever been deceived by the way things appear? Have others ever surprised you by their openness and thirst for Jesus Christ?

 

Do you treat people differently according to their appearance? (See James 2:1ff).

 

How did Jesus relate to others?

 

I wonder what I can do to guard against being deceived by appearances.

 

LIGHT

 

“And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:23). “And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 22:5).

 

“No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light; and your God for your glory [or beauty!]. (Isaiah 60:19).

 

Continuing with the above passages:

 

Why do we settle for lesser lights? Why do we walk in the light of other people rather than live in the Light of Jesus Christ?

 

It is not unusual to be around professing Christians who spend their time talking about this Christian teacher or that preacher or that author, and they seldom, if ever, talk about Jesus Christ. How can this be?

 

It is not unusual to be around professing Christians who never miss a “Christian” TV or radio program by this or that leading speaker, but who do not fellowship with Jesus Christ in His Word and prayer. How can this be?

 

It is not unusual to be around professing Christians who know more about such and such a popular teacher than they know about Jesus Christ. How can this be?

 

Now for sure God has placed teachers in the Body of Christ, but He has done so to refract the image of Jesus Christ and to draw us into a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ; God has not placed teachers in the Body to be substitutes for His Beloved Son – as the Father made clear to Peter.

 

Godly teachers do not want to be substitutes for Jesus Christ, they want to faithfully manifest Jesus Christ to others and to bring others into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. In the eyes of others, of those who listen to them and read their books, they want Christ to increase and they want to decrease (John 3:30).

 

But often well-meaning teachers are used as substitutes for Jesus Christ, and while this may have always been a danger in times past, in our celebrity culture it is more so – and sadly, I suppose there are those teachers and preachers and pastors who began their callings in humility but succumbed to the celebrity culture themselves. Most of us have egos and our egos can be seduced. We should not be surprised at scandals among teachers who have been given celebrity power in a church infused with a celebrity culture.

 

Is Jesus Christ the Light of our life?

 

LIGHT

“And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:23). “And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 22:5). 

 

“No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light; and your God for your glory [or beauty!]. (Isaiah 60:19).

 

Can you visualize the above passages? Take a moment, close your eyes, what do you see? Often we have to close our eyes to the world around us in order to “see” the other world around us, for we live in a world of shadows and types and hints of what lies beyond the veil of physical sight. As we learn to live by faith and not by sight, we learn to see beyond what the natural eye sees, we learn to see Him who is invisible. (See 2 Kings 6:17 for an example of how we might learn to live).

 

Peter made the mistake, as understandable as it might have been, of putting Moses and Elijah on the same level as Jesus Christ, and the Father made it clear that, “This is My Beloved Son; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5).

 

We are called to live in the Light of Jesus Christ. Are we doing this? Are the above passages in Isaiah and Revelation working themselves out in our lives today?

 

What do the above passages look like in our lives today? Are they real to us and in us?

 

Describe what they look like in your life.

Light

 

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [or overpower] it.” (John 1:4 – 5). “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (John 1:9).

 

While few professing Christians actually share Jesus Christ with those who don’t know Him, at times those who do witness lack compassion, love, grace, and an identification with humanity; they often see themselves as separate and apart from others. This is the opposite of Paul, who identified himself with his audience. For example, in Athens he said, “…for in Him [God] we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’” Paul not only identified himself with his audience in their common humanity, he also identified their common humanity has having its origin in God.

 

Since Christ gives light to everyone, even in our fallen condition, we have common ground with everyone. This common ground may not always be readily apparent, because often our differences are the things that jump out at us. Our challenge, indeed our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ, is to find common ground with others, it is to find the shared light and understanding that we have with others, and to communicate to others on the basis of that shared light. Of course to do this we have to listen to others, to pay attention to others, and to put others before ourselves.

 

What might this common ground look like? It could be love of family. It could be a sense of social justice. It could be a love of nature. It could be a love of sports – yes sports, God loves playtime, He loves the joy it brings – of course when we make it a god that is different, but play is good for the soul. It could be vocational fulfillment, the satisfaction of a job well done.

 I once asked a coworker, who dearly loved his son, where a love like that came from; from there I was able to share about God our Father and His love for us in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

What common ground do you share with your coworkers, neighbors, and others? How might you use this shared light to share about the true Light that gives light to us all and promises a fuller Light and Life to those who come to know Him?

Light

 

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [or overpower] it.” (John 1:4 – 5). “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (John 1:9).

 

In Romans 1:18 – 23 and 2:12 – 16 Paul shows that all men have an inner knowledge of God, no matter our culture, no matter our education, no matter our external condition, we are all born with an awareness of God; doesn’t this make sense since we are created in the image of God?

 

Of course, we are also all born as sinners; we are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners, Paul makes quite the point of this in Romans Chapter Three. As we’ll see later in John’s Gospel, when we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ we are no longer sinners, but rather saints.

 

So on the one hand Jesus Christ gives everyone light, and on the other hand we are all born sinners – so we struggle with this dichotomy, even after we come to know Jesus Christ and are living the unfolding fulness of His Light, we are still on pilgrimage of living increasingly in the Light.

 

What has been your experience of living in the Light of Jesus Christ? How are you learning to see life in His Light? Are your days getting brighter and brighter?

 

What does Proverbs 4:18 say to you? “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.”

Light

 

Light

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [or overpower] it.” (John 1:4 – 5). “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (John 1:9).

 

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk [live] in darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12).

 

What do you see in these passages? What does this tell us about how we see life? What does this tell us about the only way we can really understand life?

 

Consider these words of Jesus in John 9:39, “For judgement I came into the world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” To help us understand these words, ponder their context in John Chapter 9.

 

Recapitulation Continued

 

Comparing John Chapter One with Genesis chapters 1 – 3:

 

How is the image of God portrayed in these passages?

 

How do we see the Holy Spirit?

 

What do we learn about birth?

 

What role does light play?

 

What do we learn about sin and death in these passages?

 

What do we learn about redemption?

 

Might there be a sense in which, if Genesis is our initial Creation Story, that the Gospel of John is our second Creation Story? (We might style it, our New Creation Story).

Recapitulation

 

Do we see that John Chapter One is, in many ways, a recapitulation of Genesis chapters 1 – 3? However, it is more than a repetition, it also has elements of transposition, moving the story to a higher level, to a redemptive level.

 

What do you see that these passages have in common?

 

What are the differences?

 

How does John Chapter One give us “the rest of the story” that follows Genesis Chapter 3?

 

Christ as Creator

 

“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” John 1:3

 

John makes it clear that Jesus Christ is Creator (see also 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:1).

 

Do we think of Christ as Creator? Do you think of Christ as Creator?

 

Do you hear people speak of Christ as Creator?

 

How might thinking and speaking of Christ as Creator help us see Him better?

 

How might remembering that Christ is Creator help us better see the world around us?

 

How might knowing Christ as Creator affect our discipleship? Our perspective on the life we are living?

 

How does Christ being Creator relate to, “In the Beginning…”?

In The Beginning (John 1:1ff)

  

What do you think “In the Beginning” means?

 

Does it mean “time”?

 

Does it mean “place” or “space”?

 

Does it mean “Person”?

 

Might it primarily mean “Person” and out of that also mean time and place?

 

Should we have an upper case “B” or a lower case “b”? How might we understand this?

 

 

Considering that “In the Beginning was the Word…”

 

When society calls “good evil and evil good” we not only have the repudiation of notions of right and wrong, of good and evil  - beyond that we have the repudiation of language, that remarkable gift of God to humanity.

 

Not only does language not mean anything anymore, we’ve made a game of this insanity. We laud those who can “spin” a message, a set of facts, a situation – we rejoice in the destruction of language.

 

During my last few years in the corporate world, more than once I had to direct advertising and marketing people to rework ad copy because it did not represent the facts of the products we were marketing (in my case these were apartment communities).

 

When language ceases to be language, all we can do is grunt…or use Twitter. Sustained thought seems to have escaped us.

To repudiate language is to repudiate the Word, that which was given to us out of eternity.

 

What do you see in those first few verses in John’s Gospel?

Not Just How We Finish

 Not Just How We Finish

I do love Deuteronomy! Moses is preparing his people to possess and maintain their inheritance – even though he can’t go with them. This leads me to consider that while how we “finish” is important, that it is critical how others finish. 

What does it matter if I finish my race well but others don’t? Crossing the finish line alone is hardly a reason for rejoicing. 

What have you learned that you can pour into the lives of others today? What mistakes of yours can others learn from? What have you learned as you have been transformed into the image of Jesus Christ?

How can you help someone behold Jesus Christ in His glory?

Who is crossing the finish line with us?

Mythical Identities

 

I love the early morning, spending time in communion with our Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; meditating in the Word of God, praying for friends, family, and others. I love listening to creation awake, the birds singing. I love watching the first hint of sunshine reflecting off trees and flowers.

 

As I write this I’m reminded of a morning in Daytona, Florida in February quite a few years ago. I arose early that morning, as I normally do, and decided to walk around Daytona International Speedway. In just a few hours the racetrack would roar to life as the command, “Gentlemen start your engines,” was given, then, after some warmup laps the green flag would wave and the Daytona 500 would begin – NASCAR’s premier race. At the beginning of my walk all was quiet around the outside of the track, but by the time I returned to my father-in-law’s RV where we were staying, the racing community around the track was waking up and I could hear stirrings inside the facility.

 

The capacity of the speedway is listed at 101,500, and it seemed as if all of those people were in RVs and campers parked around the track, though I knew Daytona’s hotels were also full of race fans, as were accommodations in surrounding towns and cities. The thing about race fans in campers and RVs is that virtually each vehicle had at least one flag flying, and that flag represented the race car driver who the occupants of the RV identified with and wanted to win the race. Many vehicles had more than one flag because often a husband would identify with one racer and a wife with another. Some of these flags were modest, but others were huge.

 

NASCAR fans not only fly the flags of their favorite racers, they wear shirts and hats with the racers’ car numbers and names – and they speak of them as if they know them personally, generally using their first names, even though most fans have never met those whose flags they fly, and if they have met them, it was only for a brief moment – perhaps to obtain an autograph.

 

Whether it is a fan of a racer car driver, the fan of a singer or musician, or of an actor, or of an athlete in another sport – when people strongly identify with someone popular or famous they often derive a measure of their identity from that person. People can become obsessed with details about a celebrity’s life, thinking that they personally know the celebrity. The same can be true with identifying with sports teams. It can be true with politicians. It can be true with ideologies. It can be true with cultural practices. It can be true with our view of history.

 

In one way or another, much of what we identify with is myth and image, it is not real, it does not match the reality of the person, the political movement, the history or the culture or region or country – when we idolize others, when we idolize images, we gloss over the fallenness of mankind, we ignore sin, and we look to others and images as our saviors and redeemers and source of wholeness.

 

College sports is a particular reminder of this for me; here in Virginia many of my friends identify with either the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech – and when their team is winning all is right with the world. They wear hats and have stickers on their cars indicating that they identify with the Cavaliers or Hokies – this is part of the “identity culture” here in Virginia. However, this uncritical identification ignores the reality that much of what transpires in these universities is hostile to the image of God, the Gospel, and the commonsense moral and ethical health of their students. Parents and grandparents don’t really want to know what is taught and practiced in the colleges they send their children to and pay tuition to -they would rather subscribe to mythical images. The same is true for our public schools – it is easier to root for the high school football team than it is to critique what is being taught in classes and to evaluate the (a)moral and (un)ethical practices inculcated in our children.

 

Because of the media tools at our disposal, the power of myth and image is so much stronger today than it is has ever been in history, it is what a friend once called “electronic cocaine.” Our attention spans are shorter than previous generations and our capacity for critical thinking is diminished more than they have probably ever been.

 

When we have culture clashes and disputes over the reading and interpretation of history, much of it is about mythical identities rather than the truth – for the truth puts us on our faces, for when we see the truth, as fragmented as our vision may be, we have to acknowledge deep moral and ethical failure in humanity. We are angry when others challenge our myths, we are afraid to see our myths for what they are, and we are most afraid to question our mythical identities – whether they are cultural, ethnic, racial, regional, national, political, or having to do with religious tradition.

 

For sure we should beware of seeking to unmask the mythical identities of others while leaving our own untouched – for unless we know something of the pain of confronting our own myths, it is unlikely that we can communicate with others in such a way as to help them see their own.

 

Perhaps this is one of many reasons why the message of the Bible gives us hope, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – this means, in part, that none of us is measuring up to God’s original intention for us. The Cross is the great leveler of humanity, “there is none good, no not one.” That means me and it means you, and perhaps more importantly in the context of mythical identity, it means “us.” We are all infected with mythical identities. It is only when we discover our true identity in Jesus Christ that we can begin to shed the mythical identities that have encumbered us.  

 

By God’s grace I have encountered mythical identities in my own life, and that is one reason I refuse to use words such as liberal, conservative, progressive; it is why I don’t care for the words clergy and laity; it is why I much prefer Mere Christianity to a franchised brand that would distinguish me from other Christ-followers; it is why when people do coalesce around labels, or attack labels, that I try to understand what they really mean…and have found that often they don’t know.

 

I have been appalled at the mythical identities that I have worn without question.

 

Can you identify mythical identities in your own life?

 

Galatians 2:20; 6:14

Roofs and Ceilings and Doors

 

Our trouble, though you might not see it this way, is that we are much too cautious about tearing up roofs and we hesitate to rejoice when folks step through ceilings. Consider a roof that was made into a door two thousand years ago, and a ceiling that was made into a door only just a couple of days ago – while two thousand years separate these two doors, this ceiling and this roof, they are close together, in fact, as I ponder them, they are the same door; one created by passionate and determined friends, the other created ostensibly by accident.

 

This past week a contractor who was in our attic put his glorious foot through our ceiling. It happened toward the conclusion of a long hot day. We had spent hours out of the house so that the contractor could perform his work and we were minutes from returning when we received a call that there was a hole in our ceiling that would have to be repaired.

 

I feel certain that this was an accident, and yet it wasn’t – it was deliberate, it was purposeful, and it was glorious. I will admit that I did not consider it glorious at the time, at the time I said, “Really?” When we arrived home the contractor was apologetic and before leaving our house made arrangements for another contractor to come the following morning and repair the ceiling (our contractor with the glorious foot which made the glorious hole was not in the drywall and paint business). Have you ever put your own glorious foot through a ceiling and needed someone else to fix the damage for you? It is good to have friends.

 

The following morning Christian arrived – yes, his name is Christian; I am not John Bunyan and this is not Pilgrims Progress – though if you have not read the Pilgrim’s Progress I encourage you to do so for it contains much–needed perspective for our myopic vision of life. Christian’s smile was large and his command of English was small and he got right to work. There is something to be said for the language of the face, words can deceive us, but faces? Smiles? The light of the eyes? The position of facial muscles? We communicate in more than one language at any given time – life is grand when the strings of our piano are tuned and we live in balance and harmony in Christ, but when we produce cacophony…when our hearts and words and faces aren’t playing the same music…well, that is the antithesis of Biblical shalom.

 

After showing Christian the glorious hole in the ceiling, (I did not yet know that his name was Christian), I asked him if he would like coffee or water and he said no. With that I left him to his work – I leave folks alone when they are working, I want them to concentrate on what they are doing.

 

What do you think of the story in Mark 2:1-13? The one about the four friends who carried their paralyzed buddy (that’s a “mate” for you Aussies or a “homeboy” if you are from Philly) on a stretcher to see Jesus? When they arrived at the house where Jesus was teaching, the crowd was such that they couldn’t even get close to the door. What to do?

 

Well, these boys had carried their mate too far to give up. Plus, there was the consideration that if they gave up, they’d just have to carry him home again. But really, they had carried their friend this far and they had no intention of not seeing things through to the end, they had come to bring their friend to Jesus for healing and, as an old hymn goes, “they would not be denied.” Isn’t it good to have friends to not only repair holes in ceilings, but to carry us when we can’t carry ourselves, when we find ourselves in a moment of time or a season of life when we can’t put one foot in front of another?

 

What do you do when you can’t get through the door to see Jesus? What do you do when it seems impossible to accomplish your goals? What do you do when people are in need and there are obstacles to you helping them? What did these homeboys do? They did what any true homeboys would do, they carried their friend up onto the roof and commenced to dig through it, making a door. Mark writes that, “They dug an opening.”

 

Imagine the reaction of the people around them. Those on the outside of the house…what were they thinking when they saw the four friends carrying the stretcher onto the roof? What were they thinking when they saw the roof excavation commence? What about those in the house?

 

When the contractor stepped through our ceiling in 2021 making a glorious hole, blown pink insulation came pouring through the ceiling and into the room below. As the four mates were digging through the roof 2,000 years ago, dirt was falling into the house where Jesus was teaching. Dirt was falling onto heads, it was getting into beards, it was irritating eyes, it was causing people to cough – where were the face masks? What were the people in the house thinking and feeling? What would you have been feeling and thinking?

 

The religious types in the house were no doubt highly irritated, as religious types tend to be, at the disruption and the lack of respect and decorum. Others may have been wondering if they should leave the house just in case the roof caved in. But here is what I think Jesus was thinking as He watched the reaction of those around Him, “This is going to be good. This is going to be really good.”

 

Jesus had a surprise or two for the religious types before this was all over, and He had forgiveness of sins and healing for the paralyzed homeboy. As you read the story for yourself don’t miss this in verse 5, “And Jesus, seeing their faith…” Jesus saw the faith of the four friends. Sometimes we not only need others to carry us, we need others to believe for us; and this means that there are times when we need to believe for others.

 

Now if you are one of those dear people who understand the mysteries of the universe and are convinced that we must always believe for ourselves and that there is something wrong with us if we don’t have faith in a given situation, let me give you a gentle piece of advice, “Get over it.” Sometimes we need to carry others and sometimes we need to be carried – this is the essence of life in Christ, of koinonia, of fellowship, of community.

 

When we create doors in roofs, wonderful things can happen.

 

Christian did a great repair job on the ceiling, both with the drywall patch and painting. As he was putting his tools back in his truck, I stood next to him and asked, “When I think of you and the great work you’ve done, is there something I can pray for you or your family or a friend? I love praying for people, what can I pray for?”

 

Recalling that Christian’s smile is large but his English is small, he didn’t understand what I was asking. However, when I put my hands together as if to pray and looked up to the sky, his smile got even larger and his eyes lit up and he said, “I’ve been waiting for this. I will go and get paper and write my name and the name of my son.”

 

When he returned from the truck with a small piece of paper with the names Christian Montes and Josias Montes, I took the paper, read it, and then extended my hands to him, enclosing his right hand in my two hands…I prayed, we prayed…and Jesus was saying the whole time, “This is going to be good. This is going to be really good.”

 

[Many thanks to my dear friend Earl Cutlip of Strasburg, VA who, when I shared about our glorious hole in the ceiling, reminded me of Mark chapter two – he said something like, “God is still tearing up roofs.”]

Technical Housekeeping

 

To subscribers of my blogs:

 

There have been two ways to subscribe to my blogs, one is to have the posts emailed to you, and the other is via RSS feeds.

 

The firm that has been supplying the widget for email subscriptions will no longer support this service – this will happen sometime in July.

 

Therefore, if you are currently receiving blog posts via an email subscription you will need to sign up for an RSS feed – there is a widget for that in the lower right column of the blogs.

 

Otherwise, I hope you will check the blogs regularly to see what’s going on.

 

Because different browsers may have different ways to subscribe to RSS I’m not going to try to explain this, plus, I am not that familiar with the process.

 

Blessings,

 

Bob