The Passion Week - Jesus, The King Who Comes to Save

 

This week, the Passion Week of Jesus' life, is one that knew deepest pain and agony and the highest joy of resurrection and life. 

Jesus entered Jerusalem with people shouting praises, rejoicing in the King that was riding on the donkey and wanting Him to save them.  They wanted a king to save them from the Roman rule.  He came to save them as their King, but it wasn't in the way they were expecting it to happen.

He entered and cleansed, first the temple and then touching hearts.  He spent the next several days in conversation with people and as the interactions continued the religious people became quite disturbed.  And because they didn't really understand the way of Jesus and how he really wanted to save them, by Friday they were shouting, "Crucify Him!"  The disappointment of not a political and physical saving, led them to want to do away with Him.  Jesus was wanting to save them from their own concoctions and ideas of following Him.  He wanted them to know true freedom in the midst of hard storms and unkind, even brutal times. He was calling them to salvation, preparing them for what He came to do, to give His life so they could have life.  Many resisted the invitation and the reaction to that, indignation and to get rid of Jesus.  So deep was their resistance and hatred that it was revealed in their exchange of a rebel for the crucifying of Jesus.  But that's what Jesus came to do, exchange His life for the life of each one of us and it started with Barabbas.

Mary, pours out her heart through the perfume and anointing Jesus, preparing Him for what was to come, His burial.

Judas sells Jesus.  I wonder what his fears really were, his disappointments that led him to betray the One he did life with for three years; the One who loved him deeply??  What are my fears that lead me to walk away from the same One who loves me and to try and 'control' an outcome?

Jesus, spending an evening celebrating the Passover with His disciples, of which He will fulfill for the last time.  He was the lamb to be slain and His blood spilt once and for all.  The Greatest serves; stooping and washing the feet of each man who he has walked with and did life with; teaching them His way and now teaches them what it looks like to serve and live with each other.  To be great is to give of your life for each other.  The serving and giving of His life to His disciples was met with deep, deep pain; and yet, He still loved and served.  This way of Jesus convicts me deeply.

The night of wrestling in the garden, then to be met by his friend Judas who betrayed Him in deep ways and later another, Peter, denies knowing Him to protect himself.  Oh the things and ways I turn to to protect myself in moments of fear and when life is not looking like I thought it would or should... 

And then Friday, the day Jesus gave His life.  Broken, bleeding, alone, and giving the gift of salvation to a thief beside Him; cries out for water and experiences the depth of being forsaken.  He, the King, who could've saved Himself didn't, to save us.  But the saving looked, oh so different than what so many imagined it to be.  And to be honest, my saving today still so often looks different than what I imagine it to be...

The sorrow of the disciples, the heartache of His mother Mary and others went deep as they watched His life ebb away and He takes His last breath.  Jesus told them that He must go, but still, in this moment, darkness filled the land, deeper than they had ever known, as they grappled with who He is and the reality of this moment.

Saturday, the next day, they were filled with fear, grieving and mourning.  I can imagine just a bit what they might have been experiencing, for I too, know the deep agonizing disappointment and the grappling of trying to make sense of what doesn't make sense.  This space, this day of grappling with hope buried, touches us too.

And we have the command to seal the tomb of Jesus and to guard it. Let's keep Jesus in and people out.  Only... Jesus cannot be contained!  Man will not stop life.  We can guard and keep our hearts, managing it or trying to; but in doing so we will not stop Jesus and the life He wants to give; we only have a choice to make... will we make excuses and stories to fit our agenda like the chief priests or will we go and tell others like the women did??

Then comes Sunday, the day Jesus arose, opening the grave for us to see that He wasn't laying there silent, but all the while on Saturday He was conquering death, triumphing over it.  Sunday revealed that to us.  Sunday reveals that death does not have the final say!  Oh friends, this is the best news and the greatest truth to anchor our Fridays and Saturdays in!

Sunday, the morning that has revealed to the world an empty grave is one we can choose to believe will happen in our darkest Fridays and Saturdays.  To know death is to experience life.

As the women approached the tomb in their grief, they met the Master.  Thinking Him to be the gardener they asked where he took their Saviour.  Jesus said, "Mary."  With that, Jesus broke through her grief and interrupted it with His presence.

To really know life and living, we must first know death and darkness.  To really understand one, we learn to know the other.

For Mary, the depth of grief gave way to the joy of seeing her risen Master; to see life!

Now, if you're like me, that is not something I run towards, to know death, dying, and darkness.  But I have learned in my darkest dark that I have experienced the truest life.

To fully live and to fully know life, we must also know death and darkness.  A dying to live, is the way of Jesus; and it is the fullest life.

May you, not only today, in this week, but in each day and in every moment; know the Master, the Risen Saviour who comes by to interrupt your grief with His presence and the hope of life; His life!  He is the King who still comes to save!

The Space of In Between, Of Waiting For the Next Season

 

There's this space of waiting, anticipating the next season.  It's the in between.  In between brown branches bare and branches filled with green.  In between a resting, a waiting and bursting with the colours of life and fruit.  It's a mixture of sun, blue skies and bare branches awaiting life to burst from their arms.

Sometimes, I find myself in this space.  In between my dreams and the living them out.  In between my passion and seeing how they are used.

It's so easy to push through, to plow ahead; and there is a time to 'do' something, to make it happen.  But I am realizing anew that sometimes I need to wait.  The waiting isn't a season of doing nothing, but a time of being, of letting the life form and take shape.

This in between season of waiting for warm, of waiting for buds and full bloom; is a time no one can rush or push; it must happen.  And most times, it happens slowly.  

One morning I notice the greening of the woodlands, the trees take on a hue of colour.   How did this happen?  When did it take place?

I couldn't see it, but life was stirring within the trees, in the ground; and slowly life became visible.

In my own life, there is this same waiting, this same space of things that cannot be rushed, pushed, or maneuvered; they happen.

A dream and passion that you and I carry.  

Walking through seasons of hard that cannot be hurried or fixed right now.  The choosing of what a loved one may choose cannot be forced, it must be left to be wrestled through and bloom in its time.

A habit that I want broken now, a change of thoughts, lies, and wrong beliefs.  Sometimes I make the right choice and other times, well, it may feel more like a step backwards.

The warm sun, the days that tantalize us with promise of summer and the cold winds of spring can cause an angst, an impatience in this in between season, this waiting for life to unfold.

Waiting is hard.  But waiting is a needed season.

I'm a bit of 'fixer' or should I say, I have a heart and passion to walk with others and offer encouragement.  When something is broken or hurts, I like to find ways to mend.  But in all reality, it's not always possible and it really is not my workings because I am not the Saviour; it is the workings of the Holy Spirit.  I can speak words of life, but the workings of that is still a process and I can't hurry it along or make it bloom and bring forth fruit in my life or yours.  It's a waiting, a continuing to be and to allow space for the inner working of life, of the Spirit.  Just like it was and continues to be done in my own heart and mind.

Growth happens slowly, but it happens.

The growth in our lives, often happens more slowly than in leaps and bounds. We wait after we plant seeds.  We wait for nine months after an egg is fertilized and a baby begins.  Growth happens slowly but surely.

If you find yourself in this space, turn your gaze towards Jesus, soak in the 'Son' and let the growth take root, grow and bloom in the right time.

A season of waiting is a time of growing roots, of letting the little moments form you, the sun and the rain are all a part of the process of growth.

Maybe you have a dream and it feels like you get more roadblocks and detours than you do green lights.  Maybe the no's are all you hear and you wonder if this dream is even of God.

I don't know.  I wonder this myself.  But I do know God wants me and you to remember there is always a time for blooming and the process before, the in between space of slow growth, is necessary and a way of life and to life. 

The life stirring within, the workings of slow growth, are the workings of resilience, endurance, patience and really for me, I see, it reminds me that it's not in my strength, my navigatings that make it possible, but it is the Spirit of God and His timing of when blooming, of dreams and passions finding their way to full blooming, happens.

It's about Him and not me.

And in a small way I realize that dreams and passions can happen in ways that are different than how I would imagine them to be.  I think this is how I want it to look like or be and God says, "No, this is the way I want to use it."  Sometimes I believe, that the slow workings of growth happen so that I can adjust to the ways of God.

Also, as I reread the writings of my journals, I see this slow growth unfolding and I marvel at it all.  I marvel at my God who works within and in slow and sure ways.  He works in good ways and I'm learning to trust Him.  There are still moments, I wait with impatience, I may dig up the dirt a bit to 'help' it grow; but really, that only leads to stress and anxiety. 

Slow growth is a learning to rest, to trust the heart of God in my story and the chapters I find myself in.  It's enjoying the 'boring' sentences, the ones that help to understand and make the story more full.

God is good.  His workings of growth are good.

Life stirs within, that's where life really happens and what we see is only a result of this truest form of life within.

Winter is where something waits beneath - the whole story does not show.

In spring, the unseen, what was waiting beneath, becomes visible and bears fruit.

And what is unseen, the life within, determines what becomes visible.

I don't know where this finds you today?  Maybe you're in a season of 'summer' where dreams and passions are a reality.  But maybe, just maybe you are 'stomping' with impatience at the closed doors, the roadblocks.  I want to say, "It's okay.  Let's take a deep breath together and remember God.  Together let's remind each other that it is about God and He sees the right time, He's doing the good work of slow growth in our hearts; and it is good."

The reality is, even in the 'blooming' of our dreams and passions; there are times we wonder if we heard right?  Is this really what I am to be doing?  John the Baptist had a moment like that as he sat in prison.  He was given a specific calling, a definite ministry and still, as he sat there, he wondered if Jesus really is the Son of God, the One they were waiting for, the One he had been declaring about and preparing the way for.

Satan, the enemy of our souls, delights in getting us derailed from God; from seeing Him and staying with Him.

So, go outside and look up.  Look up and smile and offer your worship of thanks to God who loves us deeply and wants us to know that it is because of Him.  Soak in the sun and the Son.

This morning I read some words written long ago, words given to Zechariah about Zerubbabel, who was helping to rebuild the house of God.  God told him, "Tell Zerubbabel, 'It' not by might or power, but by My Spirit."  So they MAY KNOW that I, the LORD OF HOSTS has sent me to you.'  (Zechariah 4:6,9)

This season of waiting, of in between is a season to KNOW more of God.  It's not about your blooming and producing, but about letting the truest form of life stir and happen within.