LET MY PEOPLE LAUGH

 

APRIL 1, 2024



Job 8:21

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter

LET MY PEOPLE LAUGH

I love to laugh. Maybe you know that about me. I love a good joke, ask my kids, I have a repertoire of Dad jokes, you know the good ones, that make my wife roll her eyes each time.

Why don’t eggs tell April Fools jokes?

Because they would crack each other up!


What did the farmer get when he crossed a skunk and an owl?

A creature that smells but doesn’t give a hoot.


I love a funny story from real life experience, like this one

A little boy, was in church on Easter Sunday with his mother, when he started feeling sick.
“Mom,” he inquired, “can we leave now?”
“No,” his mother replied, “the service isn’t over yet.”
“Well, I think I’m about to throw up.” the boy announced.
“Then go out of the front door and around to the back of the church and throw up behind a bush,” said his mother.
After about 60 seconds, the boy returned to his pew, alongside his mother.
“Did you throw up?” she asked quietly.
“Yes,” the boy answered, embarrassed.
“How could you have gone all the way to the back of the church and returned so quickly?” Mom demanded.
“I didn’t have to go out of the church. They have a box next to the front door that says, For the Sick.”


To be honest since I was a child, I have enjoyed April Fool’s Day. A day when a good ole harmless joke or story can be told that people for a moment believe to be true. It’s good for a laugh as long as no one gets hurt. 

Laughter is good for us. A hearty chuckle releases endorphins, those feel-good neurotransmitters in our brains, that have an effect like narcotics, and endorphins are part of the reason laughing is so contagious. Laughing also has many health benefits such as increasing blood flow and improving mental and physical resilience. In fact, some researchers suggest that it’s not unlike the benefits of a vigorous workout session.


Now that’s the kind of workout I could get into ..... a good laugh!!


Laughter is important in the scriptures too.


Job 8:21
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.


Psalm 126:2
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”


Ecclesiastes 3:4
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;


Luke 6:21
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.


Psalm 37:13
But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.


I really believe that God loves a good laugh; humor comes from God.

I often think about who Jesus hung around with. He hung out with fishermen, and common ordinary people who needed to laugh just to make it through the drudgery of their days. And the religious people hated him for it. They said: “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34).

I have this picture of Jesus sitting with these ordinary working people, eating their food, drinking with them, listening to their stories and jokes. Can you imagine that while the party and laughter was going on all around him, Jesus was unsmiling? That he was the serious one in the crowd? You know like artist have depicted him. It is not possible that Jesus was so popular with these people because Jesus enjoyed a good laugh, maybe that's why these outcasts loved him. I wonder if such actions of Jesus are what was so scandalous to the religious leaders of his time.” After all aren't religious folk to be serious all the time, and make sure they have an expressionless face? Some seem to think so.

It’s God who says to us, “a joyful heart is good medicine” Proverbs 17:22. We would all be healthier and happier and, very likely, holier if we had more good laughs. For laughter is more characteristic of God than weeping.

God is not the sad God, God’s happiness is eternal and rooted in his unchangeable, unshakable, glorious nature. That means our source of lively happiness is never-ending! Sometimes I think that in the age to come we are going to be surprised at how much and how hard God makes us laugh!

The cheerful God became the “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) for us. But this was only for a short time. And like him, our sad tears are only for a short time — a short lifespan. We may weep for the brief night, but Joy is coming in the eternal morning (Psalm 30:5).

And the “man of sorrows” himself said, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” Luke 6:21. Hear that: You shall laugh! That is a promise of a happy God 1 Timothy 1:11. Crying is going to go the way of death and someday will be no more Revelation 21:4

Maybe I am missing something, but I feel April Fools Day is about good-natured, lighthearted, innocent “shenanigans” and some heart-healthy laughter. Enjoy it! Pull some harmless pranks! God loves a good laugh. Could it be that we are like God when we laugh good and hard?

Acts 2 “Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope . . . you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”

1 Peter 1 “In this you rejoice . . . you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

THE DAY IN BETWEEN

 

March 30, 2024

*** Today's Devotion is update of one I wrote in 2022 ***

Today is called by many in the Christian Tradition HOLY SATURDAY. I call it the “DAY IN BETWEEN”. Yesterday was Good Friday, we attended services perhaps, listened or read a devotional, or thought about what occurred on a Friday a long time ago and what Jesus went through and how he lovingly suffered a cruel death that we might live a “life full of hope.”
Holy Saturday really hasn’t been significant in my Holy Week reflections to be honest. After Good Friday my thoughts head toward tomorrow, Sunday, EASTER Sunday and its Celebrative features.

It is Saturday that speaks to me just now, the day in between, the day of dull numbness after the events of the previous twenty-four hours, the day when there is no hint that the pain and fear of the moment will ever subside. What did the disciples do? How did they comfort each other? Did they even try? Or might they have stumbled through that Sabbath completely unaware of what was going on around them, fearful of a suddenly and unknown future, and unable to even imagine putting the pieces of their lives back together?

My thoughts have wondered if this in-between day is important because like the disciples, we also experience the deep longing that feel may never be satisfied, the unrest about what is ahead. 

When you lose a loved one, when your marriage fails, when your dream job evaporates, when you receive a devastating diagnosis, when your livelihood disappears, when…. Each of us has likely gone through moments of tremendous disappointments like these and more. 

I think we all know that the hardest days are usually the ones that come afterward. Days after the funeral, when the calls and visits stop. Weeks after the divorce, or loss of employment, when sympathetic friends no longer check in, as often. The time in between the diagnosis and treatment when there is absolutely nothing you can do.

I am thinking that these are the experiences that Holy Saturday speaks to, for they are the experiences of Jesus’ disciples ahead of Easter, struggling through the absolute uncertainty of what their future might possibly hold that is worth living for.

This Holy Saturday, that seems particularly to be the case, for my family, our community, well really across Our Canada, and around the world. Talk of loss and death, to natural causes, to disease, to accidents, the horrors of war and tension, struggles of refugees, shootings in our neighborhoods, housing pressures and crisis, raising food costs. We, too, live in a time of waiting and longing. Wouldn’t you agree?

Perhaps that is why it’s important to remember this day. Because while the disciples stumbled through their routines, and while we try to carry on with our lives, I want you to hear, really hear what I am about to say. Even in our waiting and longing, on an in-between day, God is not absent nor inactive. Indeed, as we know, God was preparing to raise Jesus from the dead and provide the turning point of all history, fashioning a new and open future that none on that Saturday could imagine. Perhaps on this HOLY SATURDAY, we might reap spiritual benefits by remembering the promise of Holy Saturday that, God is not finished yet. We might recall that God’s favorite thing to do is to show up where we least expect God to be and to surprise those of us who have given up on God, and so can no longer imagine what redemption and love and blessing and grace feel like.

This day of Holy Week, Holy Saturday, is a day that I believe captures the painful rhythm of our lives of waiting and longing, yet also invites us to hear the promises that God is still at work, eager to surprise and redeem us and the whole creation.

MY LORD WHAT LOVE IS THIS?

 

March 29, 2024



Mark 15

15 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.

14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.

27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God

LET US PRAY

Lord Jesus, it was our sins that sent you to the cross. There we beheld our king. There you finished the work of our redemption. There we looked upon you, whom we had pierced. There redemption was accomplished. Thank you for your astonishing love. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

JOIN US

If you are able.

WHAT'S THE LOVING THING TO DO?

 

March 28, 2024

John 13:1-15

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

WHAT'S THE LOVING THING TO DO?

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” In this unexpected act of foot washing, Jesus was communicating something profound about the nature of God's love. Love is not simply what Jesus does, but love is who he is.

When we consider loving someone, we think in terms of actions and behaviors. We ask ourselves, “What’s the loving thing to do?” But Jesus’ unexpected, humble act of service leads us to ask a different question, the question, “Who am I?”

A while ago I was reading an article by the Late Tim Keller, in which he suggested that without first asking this question, about our identity, who we are, we can unsuspectingly place limits on our love because we are not operating out of a "gospel-transformed" identity. Keller suggests as an example "if we see ourselves as orphans needing to look out for ourselves instead of as God’s beloved children, we will limit our generosity towards others out of fear of scarcity, not having enough." A further example Keller writes, “if we think we are righteous by our own hard work, there will be boundaries to the way we are willing to serve others because our pride keeps us from serving those who “aren’t deserving.” Something for us to ponder today and ask ourselves Who am I?

Our verses today about Jesus humble act of washing his disciples feet invites us to look to Jesus, what is it we see? I believe we find in him a beautiful freedom to serve others, arising from the confidence of knowing his identity: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant …” (Phil 2:6-7, NIV). What the account above pushes us to comprehend is that Jesus was able to serve in a way that no one expected because he knew the God’s love intimately.

The take-away on this Maundy Thursday is to recognize that the same heart that led Jesus to wash the disciples’ feet would lead him to the cross. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” When we learn that God is Love, and therefore that we are loved by God, that we are God’s beloved children, that we have the same honoured standing and sanctuary with the God that Jesus has, it is then that we become free to serve in the radical, loving ways in which he has served us. 

Notice how Jesus put it, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

LET US PRAY

Loving God, truth is I forget each day who I am in Christ and the grace that surrounds my life. My love has limits because I don’t embrace the truth of who you have made me to be. Help me to live out the reality of being your beloved child so that my love for others flows out of who I am in you. God by your Spirit, dismantle the limits I have placed on my love. In Jesus Name, Amen.

WHO IS IN CHARGE AROUND HERE?

 

March 27, 2024

WHO IS IN CHARGE AROUND HERE?

Matthew 26:1-5, 14-25



26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 5 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

Jesus answered, “You have said so.”


REFLECTION


Even as the reality of the cross grew closer, its shadow cast over the events we just read, when Jesus’ life was slipping away from him, he stayed remarkably in command of the situation around him. He predicted his arrest and crucifixion before the religious leaders had even met to conspire against him. He knew that Judas, one of his trusted disciples, would betray him. I always think about Judas in this setting and how disturbing and alarming it must have been for him, to know that Jesus could see right through him and knew his intentions.

Our Bible testifies to the plots and schemes that humans have, however, the truth that leaps off the page is that God’s plan always prevails. Nothing can interfere with what God has purposed to do. There is a comfort in that knowledge, isn’t there?

What we discover in the Bible is that central to God’s purpose and plan is that Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God, would be delivered up to be crucified. In fact, the from the Genesis 3 onward everything is building toward this moment.

Jesus meal at Passover, with his disciples held important significance, as this meal was a sign that pointed to the purpose of Jesus’ death. You may recall that The Passover was an annual celebration of Israel’s exodus from slavery in Egypt. At this meal what we are led to see is that Jesus’ death would be the new Passover. Those who put their confidence and trust in him experience the ultimate Exodus, deliverance from the slavery of sin. In this Exodus, the deliverance results in the privilege of living in the freedom of God's love always.

The takeaway from these verses today is this, when life seems chaotic, when things seem not to make sense, great comfort can be found in remembering Jesus’ own experience at the end of his life. Sure, people plotted against him and seemingly succeeded in executing their plan, but they could not prevent the plan of God. What comfort there is in knowing that nothing can interfere with the plan of our Good and Loving God who is in control! Isn’t that what we confess? That our only comfort in life and in death is that we belong to our FAITHFUL savior. One of the profound realities in the Bible is that God is at work in all the specifics for his good purposes. By looking to Jesus, we discover what is central to God’s plan for us: through Jesus’ death we find life, through his blood shed for us, we experience the ultimate exodus to the freedom of living in his love. Thanks be to God!



Let Us Pray

God, thank you that you are in control of our lives, especially for the comfort of knowing that when we feel desperately out of control, you are at work. Enable us, to focus on Jesus and to live daily in the freedom of your love, wholeheartedly devoted to you. In Jesus Name, Amen.

WHAT IS BOTHERING JESUS?

 

March 26, 2024

Mark 11:15-19


And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

WHAT IS BOTHERING JESUS?

This is one of those passages that portrays Jesus differently than we are used to seeing him. The Jesus that seems in such control throughout the Gospels in the face of opposition and rejection, “loses it” at the Temple of all places, and seems to resort to violence. What happened that Jesus reacts in this way? Where has “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” gone?

Some background for us is useful. Every year at Passover thousands of Jews came from all over Israel and Judea to offer sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. Since many of them traveled long distances, they often purchased their animal sacrifices in Jerusalem rather than hauling them from home. The risk was that in transit an animal might suffer an injury or a blemish of some sort that would make them an unworthy sacrifice. There was a convenience offered for Jewish worshippers to purchase their sacrifices once they arrived in Jerusalem. However, and here is a significant detail that we sometimes miss. Where was this “market” set up? Well the market for obtaining a animal for sacrifice was set up in the Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles was the space in the Temple area where non-Jewish seekers of God came to worship. Keep this in mind. So here we are in our passage at Passover, the temple courtyard was filled with livestock, sellers of livestock and money-changers, who exchanged regional currencies for Jewish money.

Something about this scene caused this angry outburst from Jesus, I mean Jesus was so upset and angry that he overturned tables putting a stop to this buying and selling scene. But why? Weren’t the merchants just trying to help the travelers worship God? Even if that was the case, they were doing it at the expense of those from “all nations” who were seeking God, treating their worship as insignificant, or of less importance. Jesus also called these sellers “robbers” which may point to two observations, a reference to their greedy perhaps overpriced financial transactions, and also the way they were robbing Gentiles of their place of worship.

Many New Testament scholars draw attention to something else going on in this cleansing story. They point to a similar account of his cleansing the temple, Jesus was asked for a sign of his authority. He replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). But he wasn’t speaking about the building; “he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21). Commentators suggest that when Jesus died, the temple and its entire system the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the glory died with him because Jesus was the Passover Lamb, the Great High Priest and the “Shekinah” glory. These scholars insist that when the temple curtain split at the death of Christ (Mark 15:38), the barrier between God and humanity came down for everyone and Jesus became the “house of prayer for all nations.” Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Could this account be teaching us the wonderful truth that “worship is no longer attached to a place, but a person. Jesus is the temple. He is where we meet God.”



LET US PRAY

God, we are so thankful that we meet you in Jesus. We worship him as the final sacrifice that opened the way to you. Help us through our worship of Jesus to be drawn toward the love he generously offers us. We pray today that all nations, near and far, will come to worship you, and come to you, Jesus, as “the house of prayer for all Nations.” Amen.

WHAT A WASTE?

 

March 25, 2024

 

Today, we begin the move from “Palms to Passion”. We, with Jesus, walk the path to the cross over these days. May we once again recognize the Amazing Love and Amazing Grace  of our generous God.

 

Mark 14:3-9 

 

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

 

WHAT A WASTE?

 

“What a waste!” That is the complaint made regarding the woman’s use of her expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. But, Jesus will have none of it. As one writer puts it, “He finds a purely cost-benefit analysis of our actions to be inadequate and bankrupt.” Sure the money from the sale of the perfume could have been used to do a lot of good things, yet, Jesus considers her act to be completely appropriate. Why? Because it is an act of worship. And Jesus knows that life is lived by what we worship. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Jesus also taught that the first and great commandment is the Love God with our all.

When we understand Jesus’ message: that Worshipping the living God who has given himself for us in the sacrifice of Jesus is the proper focus of our devotion, we will have a new sense of what matters, and we will prioritize our life by this truth. Think of it this way, following Jesus’ path we will find ourselves “wasting” our life on God by giving our life to his plan(s) rather than our own.

We need to be careful not to read into this passage what sometimes happens, know this, Jesus is not minimizing our responsibility to the poor in this passage. He is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, which encourages radical generosity to the poor. However, such generosity flows from worshiping God. First things first! The take away for us is put God ahead of all else as the only one worthy of our worship and we will find we are pouring ourselves out in all sorts of beautiful ways in service to the world.

LET US PRAY

God, Help me to see that my life is to be “wasted” on you and only then will it become something beautiful for you to use in your world. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

HERE COMES THE KING

 

March 22, 2024

Zechariah 9:9-10



Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

HERE COMES THE KING

Historically, in the Ancient Near East, when a king entered cities riding a warhorse it was to convey his military power, predominantly when the king was entering into recently conquered cities where his rule may have been regarded as illegitimate, suspicious, or simply rejected by the residents. When a beloved king entered his own capital city, on the other hand, he would ride in on a donkey as the generous, compassionate, and caring king.

In today’s reading the prophet Zechariah speaks of a day when Jerusalem would see her king return. This King would conquer the enemy once and for all, obtain a lasting salvation and establish a new reign of peace for all. It is this hope of the true king, riding on a donkey, that led the crowd to shout: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” when they saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem, yes, on a donkey.

A crowd’s opinions can change rather quickly. As we know this crowd soon became the angry mob that cried “Crucify Him!” Jesus, who was once welcomed as the returning king, was now to be met with rejection and hostility. The picture we see is that here was the true king returning to his city to find that it had turned away from him. Matthew 26 records the words of Jesus, can you feel the emotion of the moment? “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, … how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Notice that even though rejected, Jesus mounted a donkey, not a warhorse, and entered in peace. Again, God’s amazing grace is demonstrated. The Gospel’s teach us that Jesus won the ultimate battle for his disloyal and treacherous people through submitting himself to their violence, indeed our violence too, and achieving forgiveness for all, in one crucial, final, decisive victory. So in the words of Zechariah, I say to you, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king!!

LET US PRAY

Lord, we rejoice and shout aloud in gratitude that you would give your life for us. We praise you as our beloved king that we have been waiting for. Come reign in our heart, our lives, our city. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

THE PROMISE of LIFE

 

March 21, 2024

John 12:20-33



Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

THE PROMISE of LIFE

John dedicates a considerable amount of his Gospel to the last six days of Jesus’ life. In John 12, Jesus predicts “what kind of death he was going to die”, a death whose outcome would be to loosen Satan’s grip on the world, raise Jesus in victory from the horrors of the crucifixion and grave, and draw people from all over the world to him (v. 32).

From the early days of his ministry in John, Jesus has been referring to his “hour”, the appointed time when he would undergo suffering and death for the sins of the world. But through this “humbling of himself” Jesus also remarkably radiates the “glory” of God to humankind. God “glorifies his name” not only through the earthly ministry of Jesus but also his death. In fact, John foreshadows this reality of glory early on in the Gospel at John 1:14, “the word became flesh” passage in which the verse concludes with “we have seen (or ‘beheld’) his glory … full of grace and truth” (1:14).

Something else strikes me in our reading, and it is the very human Jesus we encounter here. Look at the honesty! Transparent enough to admit “now is my soul troubled” (v. 27) as he starts to feel the agony he is about to undergo. What an amazing picture of a person completely abandoned to God in the face of unspeakable pain and suffering, knowing that God’s glory ultimately is the only thing that matters.

And it becomes a teachable moment for the disciples too. They are reminded that seeds are living things that must die to reproduce; they carry the promise of future life. Seeds provide the perfect illustration of what is unfolding before the disciples very eyes. On the surface, Christ’s death looks to the world like a disappointing disaster, but by falling “into the earth” (v. 24), he is able to raise up and give life to followers and bring many “daughter and sons” to glory (Hebrews 2:10).

However, lets also take note that following Christ carries a cost: many of the original disciples were to die severe agonizing deaths themselves. Peter in his letter tells us that Jesus’ disciples in fact must always “die” to themselves to find “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3-5) in Christ.

Father, glorify your name”.… 

“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

LET US PRAY

Risen Lord, you loved us so much that you died to save us. We pray that this reality leads us to praise you always and gives us a boldness to live fully abandoned to your loving will. In your name we pray. Amen.

COMFORT in a SHAKEN WORLD

 

March 20, 2024

Haggai 2:6-9



For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of hosts. “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord of hosts. “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former,” says the Lord of hosts. “And in this place I will give peace,” declares the Lord of hosts.

COMFORT in a SHAKEN WORLD

The Old Testament book of Haggai was written to people who had returned from Babylon to rebuild the destroyed temple of God. The writings were to be an encouragement and a call to rebuild amidst rubble, hope despite desolation, and belief even during times of hardship and disappointment.

In verses 6 to 9, Haggai spoke of a time to come when the world would be shaken up as it had never been shaken before. Think of that message. How would you receive it? If on Sunday morning in worship your pastor stood up and said thus says the Lord of hosts: “Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations …. How would you feel to hear that all the unrest, and outrage, and wars and injustice that fill our news streams is a “shaking of the nations” by its creator?

Surprisingly, this message of a “world to be shaken” was intended to be a comfort for people who were standing in rubble! This may seem difficult to understand at first glance, the New Testament writer of Hebrews gives some insight, that writer took comfort in the shaking of this world, as it “indicates the removal of things that are shaken … in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain … a kingdom” (Hebrews 12:26-28).

At the core of Haggai’s declaration that all of creation (v. 6) and all nations (v. 7) would be shaken, there is the promise that “the treasures of all nations shall come in.” “Treasures” is a Hebrew noun that can function as either singular or plural. In other words, in this context not only will the treasures of the nations be brought to the house of God in tribute, but there will also be One, the true treasure, who fills the house of God with glory, and this One is to be prized above all the wealth of the world. That One the New Testament tells us is JESUS. According to Haggai, it was only when the world was shaken that we could see what really will stand and which treasures will endure.

Earlier I asked you to think of this message and how you would receive it. Would you find the message comforting, or might it cause you a level of fear or worry? I guess what I am asking us to consider today is this: when your world shakes, are you shaken with it, or is your faith unshakable in spite of the rubble, desolation, and disappointment? When the treasures of your heart let you down, does your heart fail, or does it take hold of the treasure of all nations, Our Lord, Jesus Christ?

LET US PRAY

God, help us to hold onto your unshakable kingdom when our world is being shaken; help us to remember that Jesus Christ experienced the earth shaking of the cross, so we would not be moved; and to remember that while the treasures of the world may fail, you are the treasure of all nations. In Jesus Name, Amen.

A FUTURE AND A HOPE

 

March 19, 2024



Ezekiel 34:23-31

“And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God,” declares the Lord God.

JOHN 10:11


“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The image of the people of God as a flock of sheep occurs throughout the Bible. In the first section of Ezekiel 34, the current shepherds (rulers of Israel) are rebuked for their abuse of power (34:1-22). The situation that the prophet describes is one in which the “shepherds” had grown "fat and wealthy" at the expense of the very people they were supposed to care for. We are told that because of that, God would bring judgment on them. 

Then the message of Ezekiel 34 changes its emphasis as the warning turns into a promise for the future. This is revealed in the verses that we read today above. It is to be noted that not only will God rescue his sheep, God will also appoint a king who, like David, whose shepherding and care of them will bring lasting peace (v. 25). This is where we lift our eyes to see Jesus, who is God’s ideal shepherd-king. The comparison being made for us is between the promised shepherd and the corrupt “shepherding” described in the earlier part of Ezekiel 34.

In the gospel Luke tell us that Jesus came to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind (Luke 4:18). Luke also gives us a picture of Jesus as one who weeps over Jerusalem because they didn’t know what would bring them peace (Luke 19:41). It is Jesus who lays down his life for his sheep so that "the sheep", you and me, we might have peace with God and one another. And it is Jesus, as John tells us, who will one day bring everlasting peace to the world through his return (Revelation 21).

In the in between time, there are periods of disappointment and suffering that can sometimes make us lose hope that God will fulfill his promise. The injustices of the world around us can cause us to be skeptical about such promises. That is an understandable response. Yet, it is at those times that we must turn our focus toward Jesus, Jesus only, our good shepherd, and remember, believe and trust the Gospel message that because he laid down his life for his sheep, we will one day, as the Shepherd Psalm tells us, “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23)



LET US PRAY

Jesus, thank you for your love and constant care for your sheep. Thank you for laying down your life on the cross so that we might know your peace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I WILL DO IT!!

 

March 18, 2024

 

Jeremiah 33:14-18

 

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”

For thus says the Lord: “David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

 

THE BRANCH

 

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God’s love and concern for us rise and fall according to how well we are doing in living the Christian life. It has been my experience that we humans frequently give and withdraw our love from others depending on whether they are living in a way that is pleasing to us. We have talked about this in recent sermons when we compared the basic principles of the culture and world to the basic principles of the bible. We ended up acknowledging with gratitude and thanks, that even though we are marked by inconsistency, God is marked by constancy, faithfulness, and steadfastness.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God reminds his people that they can count on his promises and that he will always be there for them. He promises his reliability and faithfulness: “David will never fail to have someone sit on the throne … nor will the priests ever fail to have someone offering sacrifices” (vv. 17-18). Here is the truth to which this passage points, Jesus is the king who remains on the throne and who has offered himself as a sacrifice once and for all.

Jesus is the righteous Branch who offers us his righteousness so that we never fear that God’s love and concern for us rise and fall according to how well we are doing in living the Christian life. Why does this matter? This truth matters because it teaches us that we can bring our failures and faithlessness to God. Jesus will not turn his back on us. We will not be rejected. Hear the beauty of all this, that we can bring our repentance to God and know he will receive it. We can count on God giving us a fresh start because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Let us be honest, we all need that fresh start each day. Remember this, if you come to God asking for it, the fresh start, God will be faithful to give it to you.

LET US PRAY

Jesus, we thank you that your mercies are new every morning and your faithfulness is great. Give us grace to repent today of those things which are dishonoring to you, counting on the fact that you will never leave us nor forsake us as we learn to walk in your ways. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

DRINK UP

 

March 15, 2024

Isaiah 55:1-7

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

DRINK UP

We end our week of reflections with a reading that is a clear call to come to the spring of living waters. We find in verses 2 and 3 that this water is the word of God. The invitation is to drink deeply: to receive the word, reason with it, delight in it, to listen to it like never  before. “Listen diligently” (v. 2) is literally, “Listen-listen!” a call for undivided and sustained attention. Ultimately, this word is meant to save them (v. 3), transform them (v. 7), and make them a blessing to the entire world (v. 5). They are being called into communion with their compassionate God (v. 7).

What an amazing passage. The story of grace, the word that saves and transforms and blesses. Who would not want in on that?

In these verses, the Holy One of Israel is crying out through Isaiah, pleading with his people on the eve of destruction to return to the true fountain of life. Yet, they refuse to hear him. They are as Isaiah 6:9 says “ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving.”

One of the important focuses of Lent is it is a time for us to admit the same tendencies displayed by Isaiah’s audience. For reasons conscious and less conscious, we are prone to neglect God’s word, and ultimately, God himself. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,” we admit in the worship song.

I believe in our reading today there is the implication that time apart from the Scriptures results in a kind of “spiritual amnesia”, we forget that God’s word is “more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10). The period of Lent is an invitation for us to see Jesus as the woman at the well came to see him, as the unlimited satisfaction for our thirsty souls. Lent is our invitation to return to that well and drink deeply.

Remember what Jesus said to the Women by the well? “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). So. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters!!

LET US PRAY

Gracious God, in compassion you call us. By your mercy, open our ears to hear your voice, remove the scales from our eyes and open for us the wonders of your word. Be our delight. Be our satisfaction. We are yours, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.

 

THE SUFFERING SERVANT

 

March 14, 2024

Isaiah 53:1-6 


Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned — every one — to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

THE SUFFERING SERVANT

If we were to judge Jesus life by the standards of our culture and world, he would generally be considered a failure. Jesus was poor, rejected, and died a difficult and shameful death. Compare Jesus’ story to the ways that others pursue comfort, power, and recognition, he lived by a completely counter cultural worldview.

Our reading today describes God’s Suffering Servant, it points out that even in his outward appearance, there was no indication whatsoever that he was the creator and sustainer of the universe. It says that He had no beauty or majesty that would have caused others to envy him, even though he was the very source of all beauty. The text goes on to tell us that the servant was utterly rejected and despised, a man of sorrows, to the point that people turned away and hid their faces from him. He was stricken, afflicted, pierced, chastised, crushed, and suffered beyond all comprehension. All this and he was the most innocent and righteous person who ever lived.

Isaiah 53 was understood by New Testament authors as a Messianic passage that pointed directly to Jesus. Read our passage again slowly and you will notice that Jesus went through all these things that are described there. Jesus is the Suffering Servant.

The bible tells us why Jesus went through it all. Are you ready? Jesus went through it all in order that we would never have to. (Repeat that sentence) Jesus, went through it all in order that we would never have to. Jesus experienced sorrow and grief in a way that we ourselves could never have endured. He was punished for sin, though he himself never sinned. Amazing Grace right!!

This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross

You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You've done for me


The last verse of today’s reading tells us that we are all like sheep, helpless and desiring to go our own way, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that we by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

LET US PRAY

God, we marvel at the humility and compassion of your Son, Jesus. It is only through his wounds that we are healed. Renew us daily in the joy of your salvation and help us to live in light of even greater things to come. In Jesus Name, Amen.

JOY SET BEFORE US

 MARCH 13 , 2024

Isaiah 50:4-9

 

4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,

to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning,

wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;

I have not been rebellious,

I have not turned away.

6 I offered my back to those who beat me,

my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from mocking and spitting.

7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,

I will not be disgraced.

Therefore have I set my face like flint,

and I know I will not be put to shame.

8 He who vindicates me is near.

Who then will bring charges against me?

Let us face each other!

Who is my accuser?

Let him confront me!

9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.

Who will condemn me?

They will all wear out like a garment;

the moths will eat them up.

 JOY SET BEFORE US

In these verses from the Prophet Isaiah we witness the difference between the obedient servant of the Lord and those who persecuted and abused him. Notice, it is the obedient servant who is called to suffer on behalf of the disobedient people – to be struck, spat upon, and mocked. And yet, he “sets his face like flint” toward the road of suffering and will “not be put to shame.” The servant knows that his suffering is not in vain because by it people will be be redeemed.

Perhaps as you read the Bible passage today you found your mind going to the story of Jesus. Certainly, the writers of the New Testament identified that the servant of the Lord, referenced in this Isaiah passage, is none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus “set his face” toward Jerusalem, knowing fully the pain that awaited him there (Luke 9:51). Jesus was struck, mocked, and spat upon (Mark 15:19-20). While innocent, Jesus suffered, not because of his sin but because of ours. Jesus’ life was marked by perfect obedience, even so, he walked the road of suffering to death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-9 reminds us that Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Through all of this, Jesus remained the sinless servant. Hebrews 12:2 teaches us that Jesus, “for the joy set before him endured the cross.” How was Jesus able to endure such treatment and still be confident that ultimately, he would not be put to shame? Well, the answer, in the word we are given, is joy: for “the joy set before him, he endured the cross.” The joy that motivated Jesus was the fact that by his suffering his people would be rescued and restored.

There is a great joy set before us today. In our being united with Jesus by faith we will not be put to shame! Let us take up our cross and follow Christ, the sinless servant.


LET US PRAY

Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus, our sinless servant. May this good news bring strength to us as we pursue joy in the midst of our pain and suffering. In Christ’s Name, Amen.