Joseph - Reflections (7) Postscript

 

Joseph – Reflections (7) Postscript

 

Perhaps I should clarify two things from my main posting this morning, the first has to do with seminary and the second with vocational ministry. I may expand upon them at some time, but let me make some brief comments right now.

 

Regarding vocational ministry, especially pastoring, this is a tough place to be right now for men and women who love Jesus and the flock of the Good Shepherd. It is tough because there is such confusion within movements and denominations, such pressure to conform, and such pressure to produce. “Christians” compare churches with one another, and we are such consumers that we’ll just go elsewhere if our needs are not met, we don’t actually care all that much about denying ourselves and taking up the Cross and following Jesus. Pastors are bombarded with “how to” material that will make their lives better, attract more people, retain more people, increase offerings, etc.

 

Pastors used to be charged with the care of souls – not too many congregations care all that much about this anymore. As I’ve said elsewhere, whatever the remedy might be, it always must begin with me, with you, with us, with our local congregation…if it isn’t beginning with us we don’t have hope.

 

This tyranny to produce can be especially difficult for pastors, for they and their families may be literally out in the cold if they displease a congregation, a board of elders, or a power family within a church. This is a scandal that we don’t talk about, but it is ugly. It is even worse for youth pastors. A few years ago the average tenure for a youth pastor was six months – hard to believe, but true. Not long ago the average tenure for a pastor within a large denomination was less than three years. How would you like to have a job with those numbers? How would you like it if you had a family?

 

We have built our own prisons and I don’t see how we can escape, we can’t do it without the Living Jesus Christ in our midst.

 

Regarding seminary, in my main post I wrote that, looking back, I wish we had talked about the tension between natural wisdom and spiritual wisdom, the wisdom of man and his ways and the Wisdom of God. I’ve written before that early on in my pastoral ministry that I realized that I had been so well trained in preaching that I didn’t need the Holy Spirit – this frightened me. This is the kind of thing that I wish we’d discussed.

 

I could have raised the question in class, but I didn’t. So in one respect this one is certainly on me, I could have brought the dilemma up for discussion. I don’t think I had one professor who would have taken offense at my concern, I think they all would have invited discussion. On the other hand, I do think that this is such a core issue that it needs to be part of a seminary curriculum – the scribes and Pharisees knew the Scriptures, but they couldn’t see Christ (John 5:39). We are foolish boys and girls if we think this is not a danger to us…to all of us.

 

I’m still not certain just what seminary is supposed to be. Is it to be an academic experience or a spiritual experience in Christ? Are the faculty and administration to focus on loving Christ or loving knowledge? Either way, do we recognize that “knowledge puffs up but love edifies”? I have seen instances in seminary where it appeared that Christ Jesus came first, and then I’ve seen times when academia and the institution came first. When we try to measure up to the world’s academic standards there are inherent challenges, I’m not sure we help ourselves by ignoring them. Again, I don’t have answers to the tension other than perhaps if we acknowledge it, talk about it, pray about it, admit it…then maybe in Christ we’d be better off.

 

Vickie and I loved our time at seminary, so don’t misunderstand me. Yes, I’ve had to unlearn some things and some habits that were meant to be helpful, but isn’t this the same wherever and however we travel through life? You can only cover so much in three years of study, and all seminaries have their limitations – some more than others, some not as obviously as others.

 

Every generation has its challenges, including ours.

Joseph - Reflections (7)

 

 

“The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions, to imprison his princes at will, that he might teach his elders wisdom” (Psalm 105:20 – 22).

 

“That he might teach his elders wisdom.” Here is a man who was sold as a slave into Egypt, who then had a position of high responsibility in Potiphar’s house, who then was cast into prison, who was then given responsibility in the prison system; who, after many years, interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, who has now been exalted to the right hand of Pharoah, and who is now charged with teaching wisdom to the elders of Egypt.

 

It isn’t as if the Egyptians were ignorant, without deep understanding of many things, were not able engineers, were not efficient administrators, did not have an effective military – the Egyptians were hardly stupid. Yet, it was Pharoah’s purpose that Joseph teach wisdom to the elders of Egypt.

 

What would you think of Jospeh teaching you wisdom had you been an elder of Egypt? If you had risen through the ranks of Egyptian society and government, if your family could trace its Egyptian lineage back generations? What would you think had you been embedded within Egypt’s religious system at the notion that a Hebrew, worshipping a God that not only could not be seen, but worshipping a God who could not even be represented by images, was going to teach the elders of your people wisdom?

 

What would we think of the idea that a man who had been both a slave and a prisoner was going to teach us wisdom?

 

Perhaps Pharoah saw something in Joseph that he knew his elders needed. Pharoah could look around and see able administrators, engineers, artisans, priests, generals, agriculturalists, and educators, but he could not see what Joseph the slave and prisoner had – a depth of wisdom whose roots lay above and beyond Egypt.

 

“Now in the morning his [Pharoah’s] spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh” (Genesis 41:8).

 

My sense is that Pharoah saw something in Joseph that went beyond being able to interpret dreams, and that it went beyond seeing someone who could provide wise counsel to Pharoah; Pharoah saw someone he could trust, we might say that he saw “an Israelite in whom is no guile.” Perhaps there was a sense in which Pharoah “saw” much as the centurion of Matthew 8:5 – 13 “saw.” The centurion saw something “other” in Jesus, Pharoah saw something “other” in Joseph.

 

How is it that Joseph’s brothers saw a threat to themselves, saw a reason for jealousy and a pretext for murder, while Potiphar, the chief jailer, and Pharoah all saw something “other” and unusual in Joseph, so much so that they trusted him? Joseph was not only an ethnic foreigner, Joseph was in many respects a foreigner to this world, he was “a child of another world.”

 

The reaction of Joseph’s brothers to Joseph’s dreams was much like the reaction of the people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue (Luke 4:14 – 30), they wanted to kill him. A prophet is not without honor except among his own people.

 

I really don’t think that the Son of Man will ever find a place to lay His Head in this present age, why can’t we see this? Why do we keep seeking a home in this age?

 

It seems to me that we know little about wisdom, such is the tyranny of the pragmatic and the monetary. We evaluate life based on money, return on investment, on whether something will “work” or not. We do not value Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, nor do we honor the woman with the box of precious ointment who breaks the vessel and pours it (wastes it!) all on Jesus. “Sell it!” we cry. “Sell it! Do something practical with it!”

 

In 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 31 we see that we are not to use “cleverness of speech” in our preaching lest we should make the Cross of Christ void. We also read that the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, and that God has said, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.”

 

Paul writes, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:20 – 21).

 

As I read this passage, I wonder where I have placed my trust, I wonder how I have preached and taught. Have I relied on cleverness of speech? Have I trusted in “persuasive words of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:4)? Have I relied on methods, on the pragmatic, of the world’s communication practices?

 

“Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:22 – 24).

 

Perhaps we could say that the Pentecostals and charismatics are seeking signs, and that other traditions are seeking wisdom? Are we all seeking something other than Christ Jesus? Can we not see that Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God – that all of life is to be found in Him and in Him alone?

 

“Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30).

 

Joseph had a wisdom, the nature of which was not that of the Egyptians, it was the Wisdom of another Age, another World, another Person.

 

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory” (1 Cor. 2:6 – 7).

 

Therefore we read in Colossians 2:3 that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Indeed, Christ is the Wisdom of which we read in Proverbs Chapter 8, God’s Wisdom from eternity past into eternity present and flowing into eternity future.

 

Joseph’s wisdom was a wisdom formed through suffering, abandonment, betrayal, and trial; this is the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of the cruciform life – a wisdom that makes no sense to the world or its powers. In Revelation, which among other things is a revelation of wisdom, it is those who lay down their lives, who do not love their lives, who are victorious. It is those who say “no” to the short-term rulers of this age, and who say “yes” to the Lamb who has been slain, who will overcome and prevail. It is the lambs who are led to the slaughter who are super overcomers (Romans 8:31 – 39) and who know the depths of the love of God.

 

The Wisdom from eternity lived in Joseph, Pharoah recognized this; to some degree Potiphar recognized this – which is one reason (I think) that he didn’t have Joseph executed, but rather put in prison, Potiphar knew Joseph was innocent.

 

I do wish that in seminary we had discussed the tension between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. I wish that we had pondered the “cleverness of speech” in 1 Corinthians 1:17 and the “persuasive words of wisdom” in 1 Corinthians 2:4 in their context. We may not have reached any conclusions, but perhaps it would have stated a conversation that needs to continue until we leave this life.

 

Most, if not all, of what I see in the world of vocational ministry and in church growth, much of what I see in Biblical interpretation, relies on methods that anyone can employ; that is, we do not need the Holy Spirit, we do not need revelation, we do not need supernatural wisdom. I’m not saying that God cannot use these things, I’m not saying that God doesn’t use these things; I am questioning whether we are truly relying on Him and whether we know that in Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

I wonder if we have not become sociologists and therapists and communications specialists and marketing experts and entertainers and textual critics…and whether we are no longer apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor – teachers. I am reminded of Matthew 7:28 – 29:

 

“When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

 

As Peter writes, “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God” (1 Peter 4:11).

 

There was something different, of a higher and deeper nature, in the wisdom of Joseph that Pharoah recognized. Does the world see wisdom of the Divine Nature in us?

 

Are we discovering all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus Christ?

 

If so, are we sharing them with one another?

 

Confrontation in Nazareth (11)

 

 

In order to capture, or rather be captured by, Luke’s portrayal of Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth in 4:16 – 30 we need to read the passage again, and again, and again; ponder the passage, see ourselves in the passage, consider Jesus, consider the people (who he had grown up with), and think about the content of His message. It may be helpful to read different translations or paraphrases to refresh our minds, sometimes a different word or another way of expressing the same thought or sense of a passage can jar our minds with new beams of light. We want to assimilate this passage to the point that we could reenact it on stage if given the opportunity.

 

Why does the congregation react so violently to Jesus?

 

There are two elements to their reaction. The more obvious is that they think, “Who does He think He is?” The other is, “Who does He think we are?”

 

We tend to think that “Who does He think He is?” is focused on His claim to be the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1 – 2, but I think that is only part of what it means. It is better expressed, “Who does He think He is by telling us who He thinks we are?”

 

There is a similar passage to this in the Gospel of John which takes place in Jerusalem toward the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry, it is John 8:30 – 59. Due to space limitations I will not quote it in full, but I will refer to it and compare it with Luke 4:16 – 30.

The first thing to see about John 8:30 – 59 is the way it begins and the way it ends. “As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him…Therefore they (these same people!) picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:30 and 59).

 

In Luke 4 the hometown folks gave Him the book of Isaiah to read, no doubt with welcoming expectation, but the passage concludes with them being “filled with rage” and attempting to murder Him. “But passing through their midst, He went His way” (Luke 4:30).

 

What incites both groups, one in Nazareth and one in Jerusalem, to go from welcoming Jesus to attempted murder?

 

In both instances the people refused to acknowledge their need for God, but rested in their religious, national, and racial/ethnic identity. In John they tell Jesus, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” (Jn. 8:33).

 

In Luke, the congregation rejects the notion that they are the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed of Isaiah 61. In other words, they not only reject the idea that Jesus is the Anointed One of Isaiah 61, but that they are the ones to whom He is sent.

 

I realize that many of us think the reason Jesus breaks off His public reading of Isaiah 61:2 in mid verse is that “The day of vengeance of our God” has not yet come, but I don’t think that is the case. I have two reasons for this.

 

The first is that to evoke a portion of a passage is to evoke the entire passage. To call up one verse is to call up the context of the verse, the flow of the passage in which the verse is embedded.  For example, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” evokes the entirely of Psalm 22, the narrative of abandonment, suffering, mockery, death, resurrection, a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying and bringing forth much fruit, of God completing and perfecting His work.

 

In Isaiah 61, “The day of vengeance” is in the context of the theme of comfort, salvation, and restoration, what begins in 61:1 – 2a continues in 61:3 – 7. That is, 61:2b is not an abrupt stop in the passage, if anything it is an interjection that during the time of salvation and restoration that there is concurrently judgment.

 

As Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in the synagogue, He is offering His hearers salvation and restoration, if they will not accept this offer, they will face judgment, Isaiah 61:2b is implied in Jesus’ reading, just as is Isaiah 61:3 – 7. The people of His hometown synagogue can either choose to see themselves as the poor, the captive, the prisoners, the blind, or in rejecting Jesus they can experience the day of judgment and vengeance.

 

We see this in John 9:39, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Also, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains” (John 9:41).

 

In John Chapter 9, while the man born blind sees Jesus, both through physical healing and spiritual healing; the religious leaders who claim to see continue in both their blindness and in the judgment of God, “For judgment I came into this world.” That is, the “day of vengeance” of Isaiah 61:2b is not held in abeyance but rather played out in Messiah’s ministry on earth. For sure, all of Isaiah 61 has an “already -not yet” dimension, it is fulfilled, it is being fulfilled, and it will be fulfilled in greater fulness.

 

As we read Luke 4, John 8, and John 9, can we see that the Cross brings us to the end of ourselves? Jesus will not allow us to trust in our self-righteousness, He will destroy all elements of self-reliance and self-righteousness, He will leave nothing for us to boast in, other than in Him and His Cross (1 Cor. 1:30 – 31; Gal. 6:14).

 

We get angry and want to murder when the basis for our identity and righteousness is attacked, when it is suggested that our religious or ethnic or national identity is as filthy rags before our holy God. When it is suggested that we are blind and enslaved and poor and that we need healing and deliverance and to be set free from our prisons, we want to attack and hurt others and defend ourselves – why we even want to kill Jesus…will we admit this?

 

Let us make no mistake, not only will Jesus not let our attitudes slide, He will bring them to front and center, hence He reminds His hearers of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:25 – 27). Why couldn’t He leave well enough alone? Why pour gasoline on a fire already burning hot? He knew it would cause a violent explosion – yet He purposely threw accelerant on His message.

 

O dear friends, I hope you will ponder Luke 4:14 – 30 and John 8:30 – 59, considering the dynamics, both 2,000 years ago and in our own time and lives. John Chapter 9 also has a role to play in our reflections.

 

Had I been in the congregation in Nazareth (Luke 4) or in the crowd in Jerusalem (John 8), or in the synagogue of the blind man (John 9), how would I have responded to Jesus?

 

How am I responding to Him today?

 

We will return to these passages in the next post in this series, the Lord willing.

 

 

 

Joseph - Reflections (6)

 

 

“The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions, to imprison his princes at will, that he might teach his elders wisdom” (Psalm 105:20 – 22).

 

2 Corinthians, 1 Peter, and Revelation are three New Testament letters that especially focus on suffering for Christ and others. As Peter moves to his conclusion he writes:

 

“But resist him [the devil], firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pt. 5:9 – 10).

 

Paul writes that we suffer with Christ, “so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:17 – 18).

 

As an element of Joseph’s exaltation was to rule in judgment, so does Christ Jesus in His exaltation judge the world; Joseph is a picture of Christ. As members of the Body of Christ we participate with Christ in judging the world.

 

“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? …  Do you not know that we will judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:2 – 3).

 

God’s People, the Church, the Israel of God is to have, “The high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written; this is an honor for all His godly ones. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 149:6 – 9).

 

Jesus says, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father” (Rev. 2:26 – 27; see also Psalm 2:8).

 

Whatever all of this means, it is beyond me. Whenever that Day comes in which these things are fulfilled, I will look to Jesus and brothers and sisters far greater than I am to teach me the Way I should go. There may be a measure of this happening today, there may have always been a measure of this throughout history, for certainly God gives words of judgment to His saints to speak into the world. Sometimes these words are public, sometimes private. Sometimes people claim to speak God’s Word of judgment, but rather than it being a Word from God it is a word of their own imagination, a word of their own emotional and mental confusion. Let us remember that all of God’s Word is Christocentric.

 

My sense is that it is generally presumptuous to declare God’s specific purposes in world events, the reasons for disasters – man made or otherwise. We may discern our sin and foolishness, we may see (to one degree or another) things in the realm of the Spirit, we may have insight granted to us as individuals or groups to help us through seasons of life; but I think until our exaltation in Christ is fulfilled that we continue to “see through a glass darkly.”

 

I think that when we have a sense of judgment or warning, that more times than not it is for our own instruction and for those immediately around us. When we hear grand pronouncements, sweeping in scope, from Christian “leaders,” they are typically an embarrassment to those with eyes to see and ears to hear, flowing from speculation.

 

This is not to say that we don’t need prophetic messages calling us back to the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ – and perhaps herein we may find the validation of true prophetic messages, that which points us to Jesus Christ and His Cross is likely to be valid, that which does not is to be suspect. Messages of judgment ought to come from broken hearts, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, as did Jeremiah, Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses pleaded with God to judge him rather than blot out Israel, Daniel bore the sins of his people in intercessory prayer. Haughtiness and pride have no place in a message of judgment.

 

I touch on this image of judgment because it is in our text, “to imprison his princes at will,” but let’s note that the story of Jospeh in Genesis provides no example of Jospeh disciplining the princes of Egypt. This isn’t to say that Joseph didn’t do this, but it is to say that the Biblical narrative focuses on other things.

 

We will pick this back up in our next reflection in this series, the Lord willing.

 

The Missing Persons of Noah's Ark

 

 

Have you ever been saved from doing or saying something stupid? Have you ever stopped yourself from doing something really dumb?

 

“Where are the people with Noah’s Ark?” I asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Vickie replied.

 

We both looked through the room in which the Ark was displayed but could not find the wooden figures of Noah, his family, and the two-by-two set of animals. We had seen the two small daughters of our friends playing with the figurines, where could they have put them?

 

Prior to our friends coming for dinner, Noah and company had been in their usual place, on a shelf outside the Ark in our sunroom; the same place they had occupied for years. Now they were gone.

 

Surely the girls did not take them home with them. Surely not.

 

We looked in the living room, which was adjacent to the sunroom, no Noah.

 

We looked in the office adjacent to the living room, no Noah.

 

We looked in the hallway adjacent to the living room,  no animals.

 

We looked in the bedroom off the hallway, no figurines.

 

We looked all over the sunroom again, we looked in cabinets, pulled drawers open, looked under furniture – no Noah, no Mrs. Noah, no two-by-two animals.

 

What to do?

 

Should we call our friends and ask them to ask their girls if they know where Noah and the animals are?

 

Surely not.

 

What to do?

 

Have you ever been saved from doing or saying something stupid? Have you ever stopped yourself from doing something really dumb?

 

We knew that calling our friends would not be the best thing to do.

 

When you are accustomed to seeing something in a certain place and then it’s gone, it can feel strange – the place is suddenly empty. The Ark looked isolated, alone, abandoned. No Noah, no Mrs. Noah, no animals standing two-by-two. No elephants, no giraffes, no cows, no hippos.

 

“If they don’t turn up, maybe we can find replacements,” I said.

 

I am, as many of you know, not the brightest. Sometimes it takes a while for me to catch on, and when I do catch on it isn’t so much that I’ve figured it out, but rather the result of perseverance, of turning all the pieces of the puzzle over and trying each one to see what fits.

 

An hour or two after our search for the missing people a thought mercifully came to me, an impulse more than a thought. I went into the sunroom and over to the Ark. I lifted the roof of the Ark and looked inside…and there were the missing persons with their animals.

 

When the girls had finished playing with the figurines, they put them where they belonged – not outside the Ark, but inside it.

 

What might we learn from this?

 

For sure this is a reminder of how children can teach us if we will only pay attention to them. They can convict us, challenge us, encourage us, and call us back to the simplicity, awe, and wonder that God created us to enjoy. Chesterton wrote that all he really needed to know, he learned in the nursery – as a child. Right and wrong, good and evil, grandeur, the numinous, love and kindness, our high calling, joy, love. 

The world of adults educates the image of God out of us, it is an olive press – crushing the life out of us, forming us into the image of things, power, pleasure, making idolaters of us – whether we are “Christian” or non-Christian.

 

Finding Noah within the Ark is also a reminder that “we have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). We belong to Jesus and we live in Him, we can’t really see who we are, not really. On the one hand we couldn’t stand to see sin and our hearts outside of Christ as they truly are, on the other hand the glory which God has placed within us in Christ is reserved for the fulness of eternity – when all things are made new; this is a glory that will take our breath away. 

As Lewis wrote, if we could see the true nature of the person beside us, we would be tempted to fall down and worship the person as a god – so great is the glory which our Father has placed within us in Christ.

 

Why do we treat each other so poorly?

 

If we wouldn’t (let us hope) desecrate Leonardo’s Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David, why do we desecrate the image of God both in ourselves and in others?

 

Another thing we can learn is hiding in plain sight, do you see it?

 

People belong in the Ark, but we can be so accustomed to seeing them outside the Ark that we think nothing of it, in fact, we expect to see them outside the Ark.  Whether our family, our neighbors, our coworkers, fellow students, partners in civic endeavors; we can become so used to seeing them outside the Ark that we think nothing of it.

 

Jesus commands us to “make disciples.” This goes beyond talking about church, it goes beyond sharing our thoughts about right and wrong, it is far beyond mentioning God now and then, and it even goes beyond talking about Jesus…as vital as that is. To make disciples requires engagement, commitment, and service.

 

To make disciples requires that we bring people into the Ark; the door must be open, the welcome ramp must be extended, and we must both invite and guide. Our Father is the God of hospitality and we ought to be the most hospitable people on earth. Our destiny is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb – let there be no empty places at the Table.

 

There was once a highly successful family-owned regional grocery store chain based in Richmond, VA named Ukrops. Ukrops was a national leader in terms of market share in their highly competitive industry. Eventually the family sold the business to a large company that assimilated it into their multi-state grocery business. 

The new corporate owner promptly destroyed the level of service and profitability of the stores it purchased; it was a textbook example of how to take the best and make it the worst. For those of us who enjoyed the Ukrops experience, it was disgusting. The new owners so damaged their reputation in Richmond that they had to either close or sell the stores and leave the market.

 

If you were in a Ukrops store and asked an employee where you could find an item, the employee would not tell you where the item was, he would not give you directions to the item, instead he or she would escort you to the item, even if it was on the other side of the store. That was but one difference between Ukrops and its competitors – personal service, personal touch, personal care.

 

We invite and guide by serving and loving, by asking and listening and praying, by affirming our Father’s love and care and His desire for deep relationship, by being the Presence of Jesus Christ, by portraying hope. We encourage others to shop for healthy foods, not food with additives of sin and spiritual and moral poison in them. 

We point out the difference between food and drink which nourish, and that which deadens the senses and makes us less than who our Father created us to be. We do not lead people into a diet with cancer-causing agents, but rather to eat the Bread of Life which is Jesus Christ.

 

Are there people in my life outside the Ark? Have I grown so used to seeing them outside the Ark that I no longer think about them as being outside rather than inside? Does it no longer bother me that should (or when!) the Flood come that they will perish?

 

What about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Confrontation in Nazareth (10)

 

“He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16).

 

I asked, in closing the previous reflection, “Are we one with the Word of God, and is the Word of God one with us?”

 

This is a process, it is an “already – not yet” proposition, an experience that ought to be ever unfolding. We enter the Book and the Book enters us; we become one with the Word and the Word becomes one with us. This is an element of the continuing Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Word which was in the Beginning is the Word which is in our new Beginning – it is the imperishable Seed through which we are born again, the Seed which is “living and enduring” (1 Peter 1:23). As we “receive the Word implanted,” our souls are saved (James 1:21).

 

“In the Beginning was the Word” (John 1:1).

 

“In the Beginning God created” (Genesis 1:1).

 

“All things came into being through Him” (John 1:3; see also Colossians 1:15 – 17).

 

“The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14).

 

When we read the word “beginning” in Genesis 1:1, John 1:1, and elsewhere, we typically think of a chronological beginning, of the first point on a timeline. While this is a facet of the word “beginning,” there is more to the vision than a timeline, much more. The Beginning is a Person, that Person is the Son of God, who we often term the Second Person of the Trinity, not “second” in terms of rank, but second in a referential sense, so that we can distinguish One from another in that mystery in which there is One in Three and Three in One.

 

This is along the same line as seeing that God, who was All, is becoming All in all (1 Cor. 15:28). (I do not use the term “becoming” to suggest a change of Being, but rather to indicate His unfolding Presence and expression – a mystery! The Grain which has fallen into the ground and died is coming forth in much fruit – John 12:24.)

 

As we know Jesus Christ as our Author and Finisher, as our Beginning and our End, as our First and our Last, as our Alpha and our Omega; we see ourselves in Genesis through Revelation. We see ourselves in Creation and in Consummation. Therefore Paul writes, “God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

 

Genesis speaks to us of Christ, it speaks to us of our salvation in Christ, and while we may see physical creation in Genesis, this is of little benefit if we do not experience Genesis in our own lives. Are we new creations in Christ Jesus? Has God said, “Let there be Light” in my own life?

 

Has the ark of Noah become the Ark of Christ to me? I may believe that there was such a thing as Noah’s ark, I may believe there was a flood, I may go visit a replica of the ark, but this all does me little good if I do not see that Jesus Christ is my Ark and that I must enter into Him. Telling others about Noah’s ark is of little value to them if I am not telling them that Jesus is our true Ark, if I am not imploring them to enter into Him.

 

Do I see myself in Christ in Genesis? In Revelation? In Isaiah?

 

When Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue, He saw Himself in Isaiah Chapter 61.

 

When we stand up to read we ought to see Christ in what we read, and we ought to see ourselves in Christ in what we read. When we see ourselves, we ought to see ourselves as individuals and also see ourselves as the People of God. I see myself and I see “us.” I speak to myself and I speak to us.

 

Therefore, when we read, we read the story of Christ, and in reading the story of Christ we read the story of Jesus Christ the Head, the story of the Body of Christ, and the story of the members of that Body…which means I am reading my story, you are reading your story, we are reading our story.

 

And this in turn means that when we stand up to read, that we are not reading an unfamiliar account of something that happened somewhere else, in another time and place, to other people; but rather are reading that which belongs to us and to which we belong.

 

For sure what we read has its expression in history – of course it does. But that expression in history has its roots in eternity past and it continues its manifestation with us as it reaches forward into eternity future. The heavenly patterns flowing from the Throne Room flow through the ages and ascend upward back into the Throne which is in that City whose Builder and Maker is God. “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Hm be the glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).

 

When we stand to read from the Book, we are standing to read from our Book. This is not a foreign document from which we are reading, this is our very own Book given by our Father to His sons and daughters. He has given us His very Spirit so that we might understand the Book, understand our heritage and our life in Him (John 16:12 – 15; 1 Corinthians Chapter 2). He has given us the Book, our Book, so that we can partake of His Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4).

 

In the Book, the living Book, is Jesus Christ the Word; in Jesus Christ the Word is the Book.

 

In the Book is your story, is my story, is our story.

 

How foolish we are when we allow ourselves to be brainwashed into thinking that we can find our story in politics, in economics, in entertainment, in materialism, in nationalism, in sports, in pleasure, in fame, in ever-shifting values…how foolish to trade our love and glory in our Father for garbage (Phil. 3:8).

 

I am puzzled when people stand to read before congregations and it is as if they are reading a foreign document, pages with which they are unfamiliar. If they were reading a proclamation bestowing one million dollars on each hearer what would their posture be like? How would their voice sound? What would be the facial expression?

 

Do you think it would matter if they couldn’t pronounce unfamiliar names?

 

Do you think there might be excited anticipation?

 

Might there actually be a sense that Good News was being read and proclaimed?

 

O dear friends, this is indeed your story in Christ, from Genesis to Revelation…so much so that when you stand and are handed the scroll and open the Book that you can find your place within it. You can read it and say, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

I’ll close with this…

 

I often read the Bible in bed, or on the sofa before taking a nap (old people get to take naps!). As I fall asleep, I am holding my Bible. I love holding my Bible as I doze off, I love having it in my hand, close to my body. I want to hold the Bible close to me, as the Bible holds me close to Christ.

 

O dear friends, let the Book of Christ become your Book too.

The Cat in the Box - Part II

 

As Time Goes By

 

               Looking back, time really did move quickly. The first photo I took with my phone is dated November, and Lady’s Jane’s big transition didn’t occur until August, but it seems like everything happened so fast. Yet, time also moved slowly. The slow time was critical for the fast time; there would have been no fast time without the slow time. Isn’t it like this with much of life?

               A couple is building a home across the street from us. It seemed as if it would take forever for the land to be cleared, the lot to be graded, the footing to be poured, the water and sewer lines installed, the slab to be poured, and the foundation to be completed. However, once all of this happened things moved quickly (at least for a while!).

               When we had a vegetable garden I knew the cycles of soil preparation, seed and seedling planting, watering and feeding, weeding, training plants up to grow, protection from critters and insects and disease, and eventually harvest. Often when harvest arrived it came in bunches, quickly, demanding to be picked and processed and enjoyed and given away. In vegetable gardening we have s-l-o-w times so that we can enjoy fast times.

               The slow time with Lady Jane, November through July, consisted of taking time with her, mostly on our rear deck. This included making sure water was available for her, providing food, sitting on the deck and talking to her, being patient as she came nearer and nearer to us as time passed. We began opening the back door of our home to her to give her the option of coming inside to explore.

               Princess was a help during all this because Princess liked us and not only came up to us for pets and to give us affection, but she was also curious about the open door and eventually made some expeditions inside to explore the new terrain. Lady Jane observed all this.

               As the weather grew warmer Lady Jane went from sleeping in her condo to on a deck chair just outside the door. I’d look for her first thing in the morning and be relieved when I saw her and anxious when I didn’t. When I didn’t see her, I’d call for her, sometimes she’d come and sometimes she wouldn’t. Princess/Duchess would always come. Sometimes it might be 30 minutes or more before Lady Jane showed up. Occasionally it might be an hour or more.

               I know what you’re thinking. “She’s an outdoor cat, what do you expect?”

               Fair enough, but she was capturing our hearts.

 

The BIG Decision

 

               On the night of August 1, we had a terrible storm, lightning, thunder, sheets of rain, wind. A bolt of lightning struck a 100-foot-tall pine tree 15 feet from our home and shook our house and those of our neighbors. Where was Lady Jane though all of this? Was she safe? She must be frightened. We’d open the door and call for her, but no Lady Jane.

               The next morning I called and called for her, I walked around our house multiple times…no cat. I walked around the neighborhood, praying, hoping, looking, worrying. No Lady Jane.

               Then, as I returned home and walked up on the back deck I saw her on the other side of the deck, but she wouldn’t approach me. She looked at me, but as I called her in a soft voice and went toward her, she moved away. I brought some food out in a bowl and left it on the deck and went back inside.

               As the day wore on we were finally able to go outside without her running away.

               At this point we decided to try to get her to spend nights inside, we’d try to make an indoor-outdoor cat out of her.

               Within the next week we were able to get her to come inside in the evening, which led to a test of wills – would we let her out on her schedule or ours? Some mornings she was let out earlier than others, 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM, 5:00 AM. It depended on how much noise she made by pawing at the venetian blinds and the door sill. Even though we raised the blinds, she kept finding ways to make noise. She doesn’t have a loud voice, so that wasn’t much of a factor, but she was persistent in behavior which yelled, “Let me out now!”

               In the evenings sometimes she’d come inside of her own accord, other times we’d pick her up and bring her inside.

               One evening she didn’t show up on the deck to come in. She’d been around during the day and things seemed normal, but as evening came there was no Lady Jane. During the night I’d get out of bed and go to the deck to look for her, calling for her; no Lady Jane.

               With sunrise I was outside, walking around the house, sitting on the deck, calling for her, watching and waiting and…yes…praying.

               Finally she appeared. Tentatively she climbed the stairs to the deck, warily she approached me. She had a scratch next to an eye and looked exhausted; she had little energy. I picked her up and brought her inside. We fed her and she slept for hours.

               That was the last night that Lady Jane spent outdoors. In fact, it was the last time that Lady Jane was outdoors. That was when we made the Big Decision to keep her inside, explaining to her that from now on she was an indoor cat. We couldn’t take the risk of anymore injuries…we loved her.

               The Cat in the Box had become the Cat in our Hearts.

 

Joseph – Reflections (5)

 

 

“And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bead. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself [his soul] was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him” (Psalm 105:16 – 19).

 

There are seasons of life in which our soul is “laid in irons.” During this time the Word of God tests us in at least two ways. The first way is our vision, our dream, our calling in God’s Word is tested and purified. The second is that there is a purifying of our souls by the Word (Heb. 4:12 – 13).

 

Jospeh’s dreams were tested while in captivity. Were the dreams from God, or were they the result of eating bad mushrooms? Could God bring His Word to Joseph to pass? Would God bring His Word to pass? In spite of appearances, was God going to fulfill His Word?

 

On the road to Damascus Jesus gave Paul an expansive Word that was Messianic in nature, telling Paul that he was being sent to the nations “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18).

 

This Word was tired many times in Paul’s life (2 Cor. 6:1 – 10; 11:23 – 33; 1 Cor. 4:9 – 13). Perhaps at no time to the extent as when he and his coworkers “despaired of life” (2 Cor. 1:3 -9).  

 

When God gives us His Word, He will likely try that Word within us, and in testing that Word He will test our hearts and minds, thereby transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ.

 

“The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times” (Psalm 12:6).

 

Are we not the furnace on earth, both individually and collectively?

 

There is a reason the Word of the LORD is often portrayed as a burden in prophetic writings. It is a burden in that we must carry its import and message. It is a burden in that we have no choice but to fulfill it, to be a steward of it. It is a burden in that it tries our minds and hearts and souls, it affects every fiber of our being. The Word of the LORD will bring a man or woman to the end of himself or herself. The Word of God will wring every ounce of ego and self-generated strength out of a person. The Word of God will make a person the prisoner of the call of God, the message of God, a debtor to all men.

 

“I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Rom. 1:14).

“For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16).

 

So called Christian leaders who act as if they are God’s entrepreneurs, who appear to be operating motivational enterprises and selling franchise opportunities, who are selling experiences – are not faithful stewards of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel brings us to the end of ourselves, we take up our cross and follow Jesus (Mark 8:34 – 38), we live for others and not for ourselves, and we submit to the Word of God through the Holy Spirit.

 

Faithful stewards of the Gospel are well aware of what they are calling people to in the name of Jesus Christ, as Bonhoeffer writes, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” How cruel to substitute cotton candy for the Cross of Christ.

 

Faithful stewards also know that the call to the Cross is the call to treasures beyond comprehension, it is a call to the glory of God, to the New Jerusalem, to eternity with Living Water and the Tree of Life – to fellowship beyond what we can imagine.

 

As God’s Word works within us, it is not unusual for us to gravitate toward a particular facet (or facets) of that Word in different seasons of life – all centered in Christ and flowing from Christ and portraying Jesus Christ. After all, we are on a lifelong pilgrimage.

 

We may be focused on Isaiah, or Haggai, or 1 Corinthians, or the Gospel of Luke…often we are challenged by a combination of elements of Scripture – but whatever the case, Jesus Christ is the center, the beginning, and the end.

 

During these seasons the Word will test our hearts and minds, our souls may be in challenging places, we may face severe opposition – all so that we are transformed into the image of Jesus and in order that others may have the life of Christ.

 

Just as Jospeh, we may not understand why we are facing such things. In fact, our circumstances may appear to contradict our vision of the Word. When Joesph was betrayed by his brothers do you think he thought, “Great, God’s Word is being fulfilled!”? When Potiphar put Jospeh in prison, do you think Jospeh shouted, “This is wonderful. God is fulfilling the dream I had, the Word I saw!”?

 

What did the disciples think as Jesus was betrayed and crucified? Were they rejoicing that God was fulfilling His promise of a Messiah?

 

It is not unusual for us to have seasons when our “souls are laid in irons.” Such times are when the Cross does its work, they are times when the Word of God tries us, times when the heat is turned up in our very own “furnace of earth.” In such times we do not want to medicate ourselves out of God’s work within us, we do not want to avoid the Cross – instead we want to know Jesus in the power of His resurrection and the koinonia of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Phil. 3:10).

 

Before Joseph could be exalted, his soul first had to be laid in irons. Before resurrection, there is crucifixion and death.

 

How has your Father taught you in difficult times?

 

How is He teaching you?

 

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18; see also 1 Peter 1:3 – 9).

 

The Cat in the Box - Part I

 

The Cat in the Box

 

Robert L. Withers, 2026

 

The Beginning

 

               The wind blew the box off the deck and onto the patio. Was the cat inside? Is she okay?

               When we lost our Border Collie Lily after 15 ½ years we didn’t think we’d get another dog, the pain was just too much and we were getting older, truly older. There was, however, Princess, our neighbor’s cat. When Lily was still with us Princess, a tabby, would visit on our back deck from time to time, she and Lily ignored each other. After Lily was gone we saw more of Princess.

               We decided to bestow a new name on Princess. When Princess was on Pete and Lisa’s property, she would be Princess, when she crossed onto our property we would call her Duchess. We took a photo of Duchess and sent it to Pete and Lisa, telling them that we had a new cat named Duchess.

Pete said to Lisa, “It looks like Princess.”

Lisa replied, “It is Princess.”

You can’t fool a momma!

As winter approached we were concerned about Duchess having a warm place to sleep. Princess is an outdoor cat and not keen on coming inside, whether in the cold (she is from New York) or even during storms. Since Pete and Lisa have two rambunctious young dogs, Princess doesn’t find peace and quiet in their home even when she wants to be inside.

We decided to purchase Duchess a heated kitty condo (we do not call it a cathouse).

Duchess immediately took to her new digs. She would come over in the evening to spend the night and sleep as long as she wanted in the morning.

About the time Duchess took possession of her new condo, we began feeding her. Not long after our food service was established a rather small calico began to appear. She wasn’t as small as a kitten, but she was much smaller than Princess. Naturally we expanded our food service to accommodate the calico.

What to call her?

We wanted something that was in line with Princess and Duchess and settled on Lady Jane.

As cold weather set in, we worried about Lady Jane. Since we didn’t know if Lady Jane would move on from us, we took a sturdy cardboard box, lined it with a soft blanket, placed it in proximity to Duchess’s condo, and waited to see what would happen.

Lady Jane moved in on the first day.

During wet weather I covered the outside of the box with tarps.

In spite of our hospitality, Lady Jane did not want us near her and certainly didn’t want us touching her. She trusted our food, she trusted our box, but she did not trust us.

Then one day we had a storm with strong winds and before we knew it, despite our efforts to secure her box, Lady Jane’s box blew off the deck and five steps down onto the patio. What a ride that must have been!

I went outside, looked down the stairs, and Lady Jane was outside her box with a puzzled look, as if to ask, “What am I doing down here?”

Well, this would not do, especially as it was getting progressively colder and the box was not heated. We purchased another heated kitty cottage!

Would she make the switch?

She inspected the outside of the cottage, smelled all around it, but she would not venture inside.

Our kitty condos have transparent plastic flaps at their entrances. This was not a problem for Duchess, but it was for Lady Jane; she was not going to push her way through the flap to get inside.  (In case you’re wondering, they also have back doors that only push outward just in case kitty needs to make an emergency exit.)

Once we saw the problem, we employed the handy man’s secret weapon and used duct tape to keep the flap open. The result was immediate occupancy by the calico.

Within a few weeks Lady Jane had gone from living in bushes and woods in the neighborhood, to inside a cardboard box, to enjoying the heat and protection of a kitty cottage. She had progressed from having to hunt for her food, and scrounge scraps from patios and decks, to having two personal chefs cater to her. She now had a sister of sorts, Princess, who also invited her to meals at Pete and Lisa’s. While the two cats had their occasional spats, they were comfortable around each other and looked for each another.

An element of Lady Jane’s behavior was constantly looking around when eating. I suppose she learned that she needed to beware of cats and other animals who were after her food. There was less and less of this behavior when Duchess was around.

 

Confrontation in Nazareth (9)

 

 

“And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:17 – 19).

 

Could the attendant have given Jesus any Old Testament book? I suppose in one sense he could have, but in the cycle of synagogue readings, for this time and this place it must be Isaiah. In the Divine appointments of our Father, it could only have been Isaiah.

 

John the Baptist has already been preaching Isaiah. In fact, John has been quoting Isaiah 40:3 – 5 and declaring himself the fulfillment of that Word of God (Luke 3:1 – 6).

 

Why is it that John can quote Isaiah and declare himself its fulfillment without apparent persecution, yet when Jesus quotes Isaiah and proclaims that He is the fulfillment of the passage that the people of His hometown synagogue try to murder Him?

 

Jesus “opened the book,” or we might better say, “He opened the scroll.”

 

Jesus begins His public ministry in Nazareth by opening the book. This is the ministry of Jesus Christ, the ministry of opening the Book, the Book of God’s Word, the Book of Creation (both heaven and earth) the Book of God’s holistic and total and complete Revelation. God’s Book is an integrated whole (see Psalm 19), a whole that includes not only what is outside us, but also inside us (see Psalm 139; John 4:29; Heb. 4:12 – 13).

 

In Jesus Christ, the Son, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:14, 18).

 

In opening the book, Jesus is revealing God, He is expressing God, Jesus is unveiling God. When we open the Book, we ought to be doing the same, for even as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

When the Book is “open” to us, we will see Jesus, when the book is closed to us, no matter how much information and data we may have about the Book, we will not see Jesus (John 5:39 – 40; 2 Cor. 3:4 – 18). It is possible to have a “high view” of Scripture, and yet not see Jesus; the scribes and Pharisees certainly had such a view; let us not be so foolish as to think that we cannot fall into that same trap.

 

For the Book to be open to us, we must be open to the Book. Jesus and the Holy Spirit must open us to the Book and open the Book to us (Luke 24:45; 1 Cor. Chapter 2).

 

For many, God’s Word always was or always will be, it is always in the future or in the past, but it is never today.  Yet Jesus, the Word, is the I AM. “I AM the Bread of Life. I AM the Resurrection. I AM the Light of the Word.”

 

In Christ Jesus, the Word of God is for us today.

 

“For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us – by me and Silvanus and Timothy – was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us” (2 Cor. 1:19 – 20).

 

Do we have the courage to read the Book out loud and proclaim, “This is for us now, this is for today”?

 

If it is for us today, then we must live in its reality, we must submit to the Book and allow the Book to transform us. We cannot hide in the past, we cannot hide in the future; for sure we can be grounded in ages past and our hope can be anchored in ages that are unfolding – for we most assuredly live in the “already – not yet.” Living in the I AM means that all is in Him, that all is now, that eternity is now, that we live in the “communion of saints” (Heb. 12:2; 22 – 24).

 

But most of us live and speak in either the past tense or the future tense. God and His Word either “was” or “will be.”

 

If we attend a gathering of Christians during the coming week, and a book of the Bible is given to us to read aloud, will we find “a place where it is written,” read it, and say, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”?

 

Are we one with the Word of God, and is the Word of God one with us?