When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles took their places at the table. He said to them, “I have really looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you. I wanted to do this before I suffer. I tell you, I will not eat the Passover meal again until it is celebrated in God’s kingdom.”
After Jesus took the cup, He gave thanks. He said, “Take this cup and share it among yourselves. I tell you, I will not drink wine with you again until God’s kingdom comes.”
Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world. It was time for Him to go to the Father. Jesus loved His disciples who were in the world. So He now showed them how much He really loved them.
The evening meal was being served. The devil had already tempted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon.
He had told Judas to hand Jesus over to His enemies.
They also started to argue. They disagreed about which of them was thought to be the most important person. (taken from Luke 22)
What an intimate portrayal of the heart of Jesus. This was the beginning of the end. The hour had come, it was time to finish the work His Father had sent Him to do. He had "set his heart on it" (epithemeo) -really looked forward to. His sharing of the cup was His giving fully of Himself to them. I like to believe that He was fully emotionally investing in them. Sharing with them His emotional well being. Letting them into the deepest part of Himself. Freely opening up and inviting them into deepest relationship. One would think that it would be a wonderful experience. That His disciples might begin to understand or at least be drawn into the fact that something eternal was going on. This should have been like the mount of transfiguration for the entire 12. Instead of the pinnacle of following Jesus up to that point, it seems to be the pinnacle of the revelation of their self-centered, sin-twisted soul.
Judas fully gives into the temptation to betray Jesus. The rest begin to argue as to who was thought as the most important person.
In my limited view of how I follow Jesus, I would think that if Jesus was this intimate with me then I would hope to see it for what it is, to embrace what it is He is trying to share and grow from it and for it. I would like to think that it would be a positive, pleasant experience. Yet I've walked enough with Jesus to come to this realization. All too often Jesus' best and most precious gifts reveal the worst of my sin-twisted heart.
I used to stop here and beat myself up for being so "bad" when Jesus is so "good". But if I look at the totality of the lives that Jesus invested Himself in, they did honor Him. They did follow after Him. They did great things to advance the Kingdom and bring glory to the Father. So I have to stop and wonder out loud: is it possible that we're supposed to go through a time where God's love reveals the depth of our ugliness? Is there a time where Jesus say, "I have set my heart on sharing this time with you because I want to show you how much I love you" and to have that time do nothing but bring to light the depths of our self-centered , self-glorifying, self-preserving, self-promoting self?
And if Jesus' expression of love to me shines the light of truth on my soul and reveals that I'm unworthy of that love, does that make His love for me invalid? Or does that disqualify me from embracing as my own this expression of love? Am I supposed to keep Jesus' love at arms length until I no longer have expressed in my life what the light of that love reveals?
I have come to this: If my life is to truly change, I must allow Jesus' love to reveal in me my "unloveliness". I must come to terms with the truth that Jesus' love will first reveal who I really am. I must come to terms with the fact that this is okay. I must come to terms with the fact that Jesus' love does not depend on my "lovable-ness". In truth, when Jesus expresses love to me, one of the purposes of this type of love is to root out of me that which is not lovable. That's why Jesus expresses love the way He does. And if that is truth, then when this love is expressed, not only is it okay to embrace it, to experience it, to claim it as our own and live in it, not only is it okay, it is necessary to do so if we are to grow up into mature Jesus followers. If we want to mature beyond what that love is revealing, it is necessary to experience Jesus' love at our deepest point of "unlovable-ness". Instead of rejecting love until I can "get myself cleaned up". It's the embracing of that love that does the cleaning.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Growth
Luke 11:1-6
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples spoke to him. “Lord,” he said, “teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus said to them, “When you pray, this is what you should say:
“’Father, may your name be honored.
May your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, As we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.’”
“’Father, may your name be honored. validation - what makes life worth living.
May your kingdom come. motivation – what drives us to keep going.
Give us each day our daily bread. provision – what gives us the stamina to complete the task.
Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us. healing – what removes the obstacles that keep us from moving forward.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.’” growth – what increases our ability to honor the Father.
We’ve looked at validation, motivation, provision, healing and finally growth.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.
Once I understand that the Father makes life worth living and I have the motivation to get up and go advance the Kingdom, and I understand that I have been given everything I need to go and have Kingdom impact, once I understand and enter into the healing that comes from forgiving others and being forgiven by God. The next natural and expected part of relationship with Jesus is growth. I find it very interesting that we’re often surprised when stuff happens to us. Jesus never once promised life would be smooth, or easy, or uncomplicated. As a matter of fact, the call of entering into relationship with Jesus is a challenge. It’s dangerous. If we’re looking to follow after Jesus because we’re looking for safety, comfort and convenience, don’t follow Jesus.
Growth, the normal and expected part of being in relationship with Jesus, requires effort. It requires sweat and exertion of our mental, physical and emotional selves. Growth happens when pressure is applied. In our relationship with Jesus, growth happens when our faith is tested. ‘Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted’ is a reminder that we will be tempted. It’s a part of what it means to be human. There will be times when we find ourselves stretched by temptation. How we respond to temptation shows us how much we’ve grown. How we handle temptation shows us how mature we are in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus himself walked through temptation as part of his preparation for what He was called by the Father to do. And so it will be with us.
I suppose the real learning is to understand that growth is normal and expected. To be in relationship with Jesus is to grow. If there is no growth, there is no relationship. The second part of that learning is to understand that growth is revealed through temptation. When I do not fall into sin when tempted, I can be assured that growth has happened in my life. When I fall to sin when tempted, I can be assured that Jesus will, if I want Him too, show me where I am not growing, and then grow me, and I will, in time, see that growth in my life.
Are we growing? Can we point to areas in our lives and say, “Jesus has grown me there?” Are you in the middle of temptation? Ask Jesus what He’s trying to grow in your life.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples spoke to him. “Lord,” he said, “teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus said to them, “When you pray, this is what you should say:
“’Father, may your name be honored.
May your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, As we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.’”
“’Father, may your name be honored. validation - what makes life worth living.
May your kingdom come. motivation – what drives us to keep going.
Give us each day our daily bread. provision – what gives us the stamina to complete the task.
Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us. healing – what removes the obstacles that keep us from moving forward.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.’” growth – what increases our ability to honor the Father.
We’ve looked at validation, motivation, provision, healing and finally growth.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.
Once I understand that the Father makes life worth living and I have the motivation to get up and go advance the Kingdom, and I understand that I have been given everything I need to go and have Kingdom impact, once I understand and enter into the healing that comes from forgiving others and being forgiven by God. The next natural and expected part of relationship with Jesus is growth. I find it very interesting that we’re often surprised when stuff happens to us. Jesus never once promised life would be smooth, or easy, or uncomplicated. As a matter of fact, the call of entering into relationship with Jesus is a challenge. It’s dangerous. If we’re looking to follow after Jesus because we’re looking for safety, comfort and convenience, don’t follow Jesus.
Growth, the normal and expected part of being in relationship with Jesus, requires effort. It requires sweat and exertion of our mental, physical and emotional selves. Growth happens when pressure is applied. In our relationship with Jesus, growth happens when our faith is tested. ‘Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted’ is a reminder that we will be tempted. It’s a part of what it means to be human. There will be times when we find ourselves stretched by temptation. How we respond to temptation shows us how much we’ve grown. How we handle temptation shows us how mature we are in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus himself walked through temptation as part of his preparation for what He was called by the Father to do. And so it will be with us.
I suppose the real learning is to understand that growth is normal and expected. To be in relationship with Jesus is to grow. If there is no growth, there is no relationship. The second part of that learning is to understand that growth is revealed through temptation. When I do not fall into sin when tempted, I can be assured that growth has happened in my life. When I fall to sin when tempted, I can be assured that Jesus will, if I want Him too, show me where I am not growing, and then grow me, and I will, in time, see that growth in my life.
Are we growing? Can we point to areas in our lives and say, “Jesus has grown me there?” Are you in the middle of temptation? Ask Jesus what He’s trying to grow in your life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)