Jesus - Peacemaker

Sunday: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Over this past week, I have tried to map the phases of Jesus life to the beatitudes:

Poor in spirit, mourning and meekness – his birth and early life, a time of chaos

Hunger for righteousness – his baptism and temptation, a time of change

Mercy – his period of ministry, a time of reaching out

Pure in heart – his going to Jerusalem to face death, a time of preparation

Is this the best way to think about all this? I don’t know - it works well for me. It helps organize things in my mind.

Today is about Jesus as peacemaker – his crucifixion, a time of reuniting God and mankind.

From Mark’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion and death:

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews”.

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 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!”

Paul wrote a great summary of who Jesus actually was, starting with him as a child of God and concluding with him as the ultimate peacemaker…

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

To conclude the week, since it is Christmas, I will consider what Isaiah wrote, a few hundred years before Jesus was born. It’s kind of a parallel to what Paul wrote above:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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God, I don't clearly understand why all these things had to happen - but from the beginning to the end of your word, there's this pattern and symmetry that makes sense to me.

I want to be your child.

Bless the whole world.

Jesus - Pure in Heart

Saturday: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

I’m so glad I can’t see the future – I wouldn't be able to live in the present. If I knew in detail what tragedy was coming for the rest of my life, I would continually fixate on it.

That’s was Jesus had to face. He had a crystal clear understanding of his own betrayal and death.

He knew about his death: “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

He knew about his betrayal: So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

He knew about being abandoned: Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

Knowing all of this, Jesus continues on with his mission. He’s not “letting his heart be troubled”. He tells his followers to do the same: Don’t let fear pollute your heart – keep it pure.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Don’t let your hearts be troubled, you have seen God.

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God, my heart is often polluted with all kinds of things, including fear and doubt. The more I keep those things out, the more I focus on you. When live is difficult, having You as the focal point has brought me the most comfort and peace.

Jesus - Mercy

Friday: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

After Jesus is tested in the wilderness, he goes on to start his ministry.

One of the first things he does is read this passage in public: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

His "mission statement" is to show God's favor and mercy:

Healing people from sickness

Feeding people  

Teaching people how God actually sees right and wrong, and how they can respond to it

As I read through the gospels, I see this balance in the way Jesus approaches being merciful. He interacts with all kinds of people, helps them when needed, and is always trying to teach to respond to God. As I discussed in an earlier post about mercy, Jesus takes the initiative.

He continues on with this until he heads up to Jerusalem, where he will eventually be killed.

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God, thank you for taking the initiative with me, and reaching out to me.

Jesus - Hunger

Thursday: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

After the birth of Jesus, the next major events described in the bible are Jesus’ baptism and temptation – I think they are connected.

Mathew wrote: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

What is all this about? Jesus was God, why did he need to be baptized?

The time had come for a change: A change from his old life to a new life of ministry. I think in baptism, even Jesus was saying “the old has gone, the new has come”. It was now time to start on the path of bringing God and man together.

Jesus had to be tested, to prove that his new hunger was indeed for righteousness.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

(There is too much in the temptation of Jesus to go into here, so I’ll do it sometime in the near future.)

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

I think this statement speaks volumes. He had survived the temptation and was now able to move on to do what the Father had planned for him to do. In a sense, he had just passed where Adam and Eve had failed.

I’m really fascinated about the first question Satan asks – it gets right to the point of hunger.

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God, I hope I do well in testing. There are all these areas in my life were I want to move out of chaos and into goodness - and I know that testing stands at the gateway each time.

Jesus - Refugee

This week I'm thinking about some aspects of Jesus' life...

Wednesday: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Mathew wrote: When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

It’s kind of crazy to think that the God who created the earth was a refugee, escaping through the desert to survive.

Mathew wrote: After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

I see Mary, Joseph and Jesus being meek in two ways:

They were poor, powerless people (in human terms) with the king looking to kill them. They had to leave the country just to survive.

They obediently did what God asked them to do – they let Him be in charge.

The first three beatitudes are about God blessing us in the midst of chaos: spiritually poor, mourning, and without power. I think Jesus was born into that chaos as part of God’s plan. Why?

Paul wrote: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ 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!

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God, thank you for entering the world to connect with me and save me. Bless all the people I know who have connected with you - help them to show others who you are.

Jesus - Disaster

This week I'm thinking about some aspects of Jesus' life...

Tuesday: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

Matthew wrote: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

For King Herod, a disaster had come, and he was going to stop it. He asked the Maji (wise men) to lead him to Jesus, but God told them not to and to leave secretly.

Then Mathew wrote: When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Disaster (dis = bad; aster = star). In the ancient world, unexpected changes in stars meant great change was coming. Those in charge often got replaced and maybe worse. Herod was bent on stopping that change by killing Jesus. When he couldn't get directly to Jesus, he decided to kill any kid that might be Jesus.

This mass death of children was predicted by Jeremiah 600 years earlier.

So was this God’s plan? If He wasn't willing to tolerate it, he had a long time to head it off.

Did He want the murder to happen? I don’t believe so. He says not to kill each other.

So God has no power to stop this madness? There are cases in the Bible where He did stop mass killing. There are also other cases where He commanded it to happen. There are cases where he had people do the killing, then killed them for doing it.

So what do I do with all of this? I’m really trying to understand God, but sometimes I come up empty.

    He loves us

    He uses the good that happens

    He uses the evil that happens

    He sees it all coming

    He will do anything to connect with us

    He is often beyond understanding

    He is God, I am not

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God, I don't understand why so much death and chaos is wrapped into your plan for us, including you being on the cross. Help me to always do good and comfort those who need it in the midst of all this.

Bless my family and forgive their sins. I hope they connect with you.

Jesus - Poor in Spirit

As Christmas is coming in just over a week, I want to look at some things in the life of Jesus for the next seven days. As with all almost all of the posts, I will follow my weekly pattern of the Beatitudes.

Monday: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Were Joseph, Mary and Jesus “poor in spirit”? No, the bible makes it clear that they were rich in their spirits:

     Mary: But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 

     Joseph: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 

     Jesus: She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. 

All three were good people, and did what was pleasing to God.

But to the outside world, they looked bankrupt: He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

     Mary is pregnant – she and Joseph are not married.

     They can’t find any place that would take them in to have a baby 

     Jesus is born in a cave with animals - unclean in that culture

From the outside they looked really immoral. So God starts them out with the appearance of being “poor in spirit”. Most likely, the family lived with the stigma of this for the rest of their lives.

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God, thank you for faithful people like Mary and Joseph. They were willing to trade their reputations to do the good you asked them to do. I hope I can follow their example.