Monday, June 04, 2012,
7:28 a.m. – The Lord woke me with this song in mind:
Jesus, I
My Cross Have Taken / Henry F. Lyte / Mozart/ Arr. Hubert
P. Main
Jesus, I
my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute,
despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
Perish
every fond ambition, all I've sought, and hoped, and known;
Yet how
rich is my condition, God and Christ are still my own!
Let the
world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too;
Human
hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like man, untrue;
And,
while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may
hate, and friends disown me; show Thy face, and all is bright.
Go then,
earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy
service pain is pleasure; with Thy favor loss is gain.
I have
called Thee, Abba, Father, I have stayed my heart on Thee;
Storms
may howl and clouds may gather; all must work for good to me.
Haste
then on from grace to glory, armed by faith and winged by prayer;
God's
eternal day's before thee, God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon
shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope
shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 26:1-16 (NIV 1984):
When Jesus had
finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the
Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be
crucified.”
Then the chief priests
and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose
name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill
him. “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the
people.”
While Jesus was in
Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with
an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he
was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw
this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could
have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
Aware of this, Jesus
said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing
to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.
When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I
tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what
she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Then one of the
Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot —went to the chief priests and asked,
“What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted
out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity
to hand him over.
My Understanding: In
this song, “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken,”
the poet wrote about how he chose to take up his cross, and to leave all to
follow Jesus. He was making reference to Jesus’ words: “If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me
will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). The song writer, thus, spoke of what it meant for
him to take up his cross daily and to follow Christ, too: He would be destitute,
despised, forsaken, abandoned, hated, shunned, and lied to. Yet, he chose to
bear that rebuke for the sake of the cross, and for the sake of the gospel. He
knew all too well that to follow Jesus Christ meant being willing to leave all his
worldly life behind, to forsake his former life of sin, and to die to his own
self, his own ambitions, hopes, dreams and desires.
Yet his attitude in all of this was to stay focused on Jesus
Christ, to remember that Jesus Christ was treated the same way, and perhaps,
too, remembering that Jesus had said his followers would be treated in like
manner. Although man was untrue, he recalled that Jesus was truth. Although he
had left all to follow Jesus, he recollected that he was truly rich because he
had God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and he had the promise and hope of
eternal life in heaven with God. As well, he recognized that, although man may
hate, persecute, lie to, forsake and reject him, all Christ had to do was to
show his face (his presence, character, and comfort), and everything was ok. He
accepted that service to our Lord necessitated suffering and loss, yet he
regarded those things as pleasure and gain.
God’s Plan
Jesus told his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two
days away – and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” He had
told them this before, yet this was also prophesied in scripture (see Isaiah
53, for one). This had to take place. It was God’s will that his Son, Jesus
Christ, should suffer and die for the sins of the world. The Passover was a
type of or a foreshadowing of the crucifixion, of Jesus’ blood sacrifice, and of
our salvation.
As recorded in Exodus, God was sending his judgment on
Egypt, and the judgment was the death of all first born sons. This was the
final plague that would convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go. The Israelites
were to slaughter a chosen lamb for each family (or groups of families) and
they were to take the blood of the animal and put it on the sides and tops of
the doorframes of the houses where they ate the lambs. As well, they were given
instructions on how to cook and eat the animals. This was the Lord’s Passover.
God said he would, on that same night, pass through Egypt and strike down every
firstborn – both men and animals. He would bring judgment on all the gods of
Egypt. The blood was to be a sign for the Israelites on the houses where they
were, and when God saw the blood, he would pass over them and they would not be
destroyed (see Exodus 11-12).
So, it was fitting that Jesus Christ should be crucified on
the eve of the Passover celebration, for the Passover itself was a prefiguring
of Jesus Christ’s death, as our perfect Lamb who was slain for the sins of the
world. When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives to be Lord (master) and
Savior by faith (repentance and obedience), we, in essence, place that blood on
the doors of our lives, and it is Christ’s blood that stands between us and God’s
final judgment on mankind, i.e. where he sends us to either eternal peace and
joy in heaven with God or to eternal punishment in hell. His blood saves us not
only from the final judgment against mankind (final destruction), but it saves
us from a life of living according to the flesh, i.e. we are freed from our
captor (Satan and sin) just like the Israelites were freed from bondage to Pharaoh.
Jesus Anointed
Right smack in the middle of this discourse on Jesus having
to go to the cross is the telling of a woman who anointed Jesus’ head with an
expensive jar of perfume. Luke’s gospel tells a similar story. Jesus was
invited to the home of a Pharisee for dinner. A woman, described as someone who
had led a sinful life, learned that Jesus was in town and that he was dining at
the Pharisee’s home. She bought a jar of perfume. She stood behind Jesus
weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, then she wiped his feet with
her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. The Pharisee criticized Jesus
for allowing a sinful woman to touch him. And, then he came to the woman’s
defense and basically told the Pharisee that the woman had done for Jesus what
the Pharisee did not do, but should have done. Jesus said, “Therefore, I tell
you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been
forgiven little loves little.” I love that story!
Yet, in this story in Matthew, Jesus was visiting in the
home of a man known as Simon the Leper. A woman came with a jar of very
expensive perfume, which she poured on his head. The disciples were indignant
when they saw this. They thought she was being wasteful and that the perfume
could have been sold and the money given to the poor. John’s gospel recorded
that it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who anointed Jesus’ head
with the perfume. And, John’s gospel said that it was Judas, who was later to
betray Jesus, who objected to the woman’s use of the perfume. John said that
Judas did not care about the poor. He said this because he was a thief and was
keeper of the money bag, and he used to help himself to what was put inside the
bag. So, he had an ulterior motive for his objection.
Jesus came to the woman’s (Mary’s) defense, just like he had
with the woman who wiped his feet with her hair and tears, and had poured
perfume on his feet. Jesus asked the disciples why they were bothering the
woman. She had done a beautiful thing for Jesus! Jesus indicated that it was
intended (in God’s providence) that she should save this perfume for the day of
his burial, i.e. to prepare him for burial. Jesus also said that wherever the
gospel is preached throughout the world, what she had done would also be told
in memory of her. Wow!
The Plot
The chief priests and the elders (the religious leaders)
assembled and they plotted how to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him.
But, they would wait until after the Passover feast, for fear of what the
people might do.
Judas, following this encounter with the woman with the
perfume and Jesus’ rebuke of him (and the other disciples), went to the chief
priests and sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver. Then he watched for an
opportunity to hand him over.
The Application
The song (above) tells the story of what it means to leave
all and follow Christ. Jesus Christ was betrayed by a close companion, i.e. by
one of his followers. The religious leaders over Jesus plotted how to arrest
and kill him. He was criticized for allowing a sinful woman to even touch him,
though she had acted in love and honor toward him and had done what the leaders
should have done and did not do. The woman who anointed his head was criticized
for wasting the perfume on Jesus, though Jesus said she had done a beautiful
thing for him. Both women had. And, he valued and honored them both for their
service of love toward him.
What I see at play here is that Jesus (God) who was holy and
perfect and who healed people of their diseases, forgave their sins, and did no
wrong, was treated like a criminal by his religious leaders and was rejected
and betrayed by one of his closest companions. The women, although they were
following after Jesus with all their hearts and desired nothing more than to
express their love for him in such displays of humility and reverence, were
treated with disdain and disrespect by a religious leader and/or by the
disciples themselves, and most certainly by Jesus’ betrayer, Judas. Yet, Jesus
honored them for their obedience and their love and honor they gave him. And,
times have not really changed all that much. We will be treated like Jesus was
treated even though we are following him with our whole hearts and we are
obeying him in truth. And, he will honor us, if not in this life, in the next.
Yet, he will come against in judgment those who reject him and who mistreat his
servants. So, we don’t have to be discouraged. Jesus will show up in our lives
in one way or another to encourage us and even to defend us, at times, to those
who oppose us. And, he will deal with the “religious” in form only, yet in his
own timing. We have to just keep trusting.
Seven Woes / An
Original Work / May 31, 2012
Based off Matthew 23
Woe to you, teachers
of the law;
Hypocrites, you keep
men from God.
You refuse to obey the
truth,
Nor will you permit
others to.
You travel o’er land
and sea
To win a single
convert to you.
When he becomes one
You make him twice as
much
A “son of hell” as you
are.
Woe to you, blind
guides of mankind.
You distort the words
of your God.
By your practices you
declare
Your oaths mean
nothing, though you swear.
You give a tenth of
your spices,
But you neglect
justice, mercy.
When you focus your
Time and talents on
What is external, you
miss out.
Woe to you, who appear
so clean,
When inside you are
crass and mean.
You work hard to look
so upright,
While you hide all
your sins inside.
You deceive yourselves
when you think
You would not have
done what others
Did to God’s
messengers
And prophets of old,
For you will do much
the same.
You’re to blame.
No comments:
Post a Comment