Monthly Archives: June 2022

JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS DISCIPLES

Christian Life, ,

JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS DISCIPLES

Jesus’ final act of love for His disciples was to pray for them before He left them. How blessed we are to have a record of His prayer and to glean from His words the depth of His love for them and His confidence in the Father that they would not fail Him or waste all the effort He put into them to become His true talmidim!

In this prayer Jesus summed up His entire life’s work and His attitude towards the most important people in His life, His Father and His followers.

Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. For you granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (John 17: 1b -5)

Why did Jesus pray for Himself first? He took nothing for granted. Is this a sample of His daily prayers as He fellowshipped with the Father late at night and in the early hours of the morning? He was on earth on the Father’s business. He could not afford to miss a cue or to mess up on any assignment. His Father’s glory took precedence over everything else. It was always uppermost in His mind and, because they were one, when the Father glorified Him, He reflected that glory straight back to the Father.

In our journey with Jesus, we have discovered that God’s glory is supremely revealed in the mercy He showed to undeserving people. Jesus was the Father’s representative, always extending the Father’s mercy to those who needed Him most. As He showed mercy, so the Father’s heart was revealed to His people who had badly misunderstood Him through those who falsely represented Him. Whenever He extended mercy to a suffering soul, Jesus was not only revealing His own nature but also the nature of the Father, glorifying Him by revealing His own glory wherever He went.

Jesus was facing an ordeal no person in all of history before Him had ever faced. Yes, people had suffered. People have always suffered, from the moment sin had entered into the world, but no one has ever suffered in the way that Jesus was about to suffer. He needed the Holy Spirit’s strength to endure the agony of a death He did not deserve so that the glory He reflected would be the pure light of God’s glory. His glory and the glory of the Father were inseparably linked together.

Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. (John 17: 1b)

And so Jesus prayed, not at this point to return to the glory He had with the Father but that He would endure His suffering and death in such a way that the glory of God would be reflected in Him every step of the way. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that the battle raged and was won – so fierce that bloody sweat oozed from His pores. He made His surrender then, remaining in perfect unity with the Father and perfectly fulfilling the Father’s will. 

What was the kernel of His prayer for His disciples? One had already fallen away – on his way to sell his rabbi for a few pieces of silver? Have you noticed that Jesus excluded Judas from His prayer? Judas’s mind was already made up. Jesus made no urgent request for the Father to stop him or for the Holy Spirit to convict him. It had to be and in the sovereignty of God He would blend every circumstance into His plan of redemption, even the free will of Judas who chose to betray his Master.

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave then to me, and they have obeyed your word. (John 17: 6)

What an insight into the heart of Jesus! The Father had given Him twelve men as a sacred trust. It was His task to impart the Father’s Word to them until they had grasped, embraced, and obeyed that Word. Jesus could not leave them alone in this world until He was sure that His task of training them to be His disciples was complete. From the moment He finally left them, their role would change. No longer would they simply be His disciples. They would be, like Him, true sons of the Father.

Verse 6 can also be translated:

I have revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world.

What was the significance of this declaration? The Lord revealed Himself to His covenant people by many names; Elohim – the Mighty One; El Elyon – the Most High God; El Shaddai – the one who nourishes; Adonai – the Master; El Olam – the everlasting God; Yahweh – the one who is; and the many facets of Yahweh – provider, shepherd, healer, righteousness, peace, banner, sanctifier, Lord of hosts and the Lord who is there.

But there was one name by which He was not known until Jesus came – the name, Father. Jesus came to reveal that name by being the perfect Son. It was that name He made known to His disciples and it was to that name that He entrusted them because He knew that God, as the perfect Father, would always be with them, vigilant and caring like no earthly father could ever be.  

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

JESUS AND HIS ENEMIES

Christian Life, ,

JESUS AND HIS ENEMIES

If Jesus loved the down-and-outs like that, what about His enemies? When we read the gospels, it seems that He had it in for them. He took every opportunity to tell them off in public and to make them squirm and look like fools. Did He tell His disciples one thing and do the opposite? He was big on “Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you. Don’t take revenge. Let God avenge the wrong they do to you.” But He mercilessly exposed the wicked hearts of the religious leaders. How loving was that?

We have to concede that Jesus was always guided by the truth. When He collided with the Pharisees and the religious leaders, what was His motive? What was the difference between the “sinners” and the Pharisees? A sense of need!

Jesus did not have to tell the “sick” ones how sick they were. They knew it. Just like a medical doctor whose job is to prescribe treatment for the sick, not condemn the patient for his condition, it was not Jesus’s role to beat on those who knew they were sick. They flocked to Him because He had treatment for their diseases, both physical and spiritual. They hung on His words because He supplied answers for their need.

The religious ones, on the other hand, were so full of their own self-righteousness that they didn’t need Jesus or the message He came to bring. They were quite satisfied with the status quo, thank you very much, and even hated Him for showing up their shallowness, emptiness, and hypocrisy. They needed to hear the diagnosis, whether they wanted it or not because, unless they understood how deathly sick they were, they would die without even trying to find a cure.

Jesus revealed His love for them in the very truth He told them which they refused to hear. Once He had told them the truth, it was up to them to choose what they did with it. If they chose not to respond, their guilt was theirs on Judgment Day when they had to give an account of what they did with their lives.

Surely, speaking the truth is the most loving thing a person can do, regardless of whether the other person wants to hear it or not, or will respond or not. The responsibility becomes his when the words have been spoken.

This is where attitude and motive come in. What was Jesus’s attitude? His very words and tone conveyed anger. Why was He angry?  Was it right for Him to be angry? Anger is not sinful if it directed at the right object and for the right reasons. Jesus’s anger was not selfish. He had nothing personal to defend. His anger was directed at those who misled the people they were supposed to be teaching the truth.

The whole of Matt. 23 is an outburst of anger against the Pharisees for misrepresenting God and His Word and for increasing the load of rules and rituals on the people and then judging them for failing while they basked in their hypocritical self-righteousness. Righteous anger has a redemptive purpose if it is heeded but brings judgment if it is ignored. It was Jesus’s anger that eventually took Him to the cross because he never gave up on exposing those who opposed Him.

What was His motive? Once again it was the truth. He wanted them to hear and to respond to the truth. If they refused, it was on their own heads.

As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. (John 12: 47-48)

Jesus’s words of accusation were never vindictive or directed towards settling a personal grudge. He was fighting for justice for those who were wronged by the attitude and behaviour of the Pharisees.

His exasperation with those who refused to listen to Him culminated in an outburst of tears.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,’ (Matt 23: 37-39)

Is that not the expression of love? 

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

JESUS AND THE COMMON PEOPLE

Christian Life, ,

JESUS AND THE COMMON PEOPLE

Jesus had a special and intimate relationship with His disciples. He had lived and walked with them for three years. It was understandable that He should love them and desire their friendship and fellowship because it was to them that He would entrust the success of His mission. Imagine that!

It was to these twelve fallible human beings – and one of them would turn traitor – that He would hand over the task of representing Him to a hostile world. They would have to be like Him, love like Him, forgive like Him, act like Him and speak like Him to a world that hated and rejected Him and killed Him for showing them what God was like. They would be treated with no less venom than He was.

He passionately loved His disciples, but what of the common people? What did He feel about them?

Jesus and the common people

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:13-14

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Mark 6:32-34

Brennan Manning tells the story of an elderly Dutch professor who was one of thirteen children. As a child, he overheard a neighbour asking his father which of his children was his favourite. Which one did he love the most? His father’s response startled the little boy listening in.

“That’s easy,” his father replied. “Sure, there’s one I love more than all the others. That’s Mary, the twelve-year-old. She just got braces on her teeth and feels so awkward and embarrassed that she won’t go out of the house any more. Oh, but you asked about my favourite. That’s my twenty-three-year-old, Peter. His fiancée just broke their engagement, and he is desolate . . . But I guess of all the kids . . . ‘and his father went on mentioning each of his thirteen children by name. The professor ended his story by saying, “What I learned was that the one my father loved the most was the one who needed him the most at that time.”

 (Brennan Manning – The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus – Ch. 1, p 28)).

And that’s the way Jesus loved the people. He loved the ones the most who needed Him the most.

He responded with the mercy to the ones who cried for mercy. He had compassion on the crowd because He saw them as harassed and helpless, as sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9: 36). He fed them in the wilderness when they were hungry after three days without food. He condemned the religious leaders for placing burdens on them too heavy to carry.

He ate with the outcasts of society despite the criticism He faced from the “righteous” ones. Eating together had a special significance for people of the Middle East. You never ate with anyone whom you considered to be your enemy or with whom you were out of fellowship. Jesus was sending a clear message to the religious ones. “I have no axe to grind with the tax collectors and prostitutes.” That really rattled their cages!

On one occasion, Jesus had graciously accepted the invitation to a meal from a Pharisee – Simon by name. During the meal a woman with a questionable reputation slipped in and fell in front of Him, weeping. Her scalding tears fell on His feet which she tenderly wiped with her upbraided hair, smearing apart the dust and grime which should have been bathed away by Simon’s servant as a gesture of courtesy for an honoured guest.

Simon looked on in disgust. He was outraged by this intrusion and Jesus’s response. How could a man who claimed to be a prophet allow her to do this? Didn’t He know who she was?

How clear had Simon’s message been to Jesus! “I have invited you to eat with me so that I can look good. But I have withheld the common courtesies so that you will get my message. I am not in fellowship with you.”

Jesus smartly put him in his place. With one of His straight-shooting parables, He unmasked the hypocrite. How obvious was Jesus’s message back to him! It didn’t matter to Him how Simon treated Him and what he meant by his pointed omissions. With one of His simple stories, He ripped the mask off Simon’s face and exposed his hypocrisy to all the guests at the meal.

Simon had made it clear that he was not in fellowship with Jesus. But this woman! She had shown her love by giving to Him from her own body and treasure the common courtesies withheld by Simon. She, not Simon, enjoyed His forgiveness. She, not Simon, knew what it was to love Him. Simon was held prisoner by his prejudice, but she was free from her sin and guilt, and enjoyed the peace of God which nothing could take from her.

Jesus was never fazed by the so-called “unclean” people – lepers, diseased and disabled people; everyone was an opportunity to show them the love of God. He even touched and raised the dead! He embraced lepers, those who had not felt human skin in years, and made them clean. Never did He accuse or condemn. He spoke healing, peace, and hope into them and loved them unconditionally.

He forgave sinners, much to the fury of the Pharisees. What right had He to forgive sins? Every right in the world because He was the lamb to God who was slain from the foundation of the world. He forgave a paralytic without his even asking Him. He even made the witnesses go away and forgave an adulteress when she should have been stoned, because His yoke was mercy, not judgment.

His holiness was not hypocritical and repulsive like the “piety” of the religious ones. People were drawn to Him like moths to a candle. They did not fear Him; they flocked around Him. Why? Because they felt His love, not His disapproval, no matter how vile they were.

Once again, I quote from Brennan Manning. He tells the story of Dominique, a French priest who belonged to the community of the Little Brothers of Jesus. At the age of fifty-four he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer.

“With the community’s permission he moved to a poor neighbourhood in Paris and took a job as a night watchman at a factory. Returning home every morning at 8 am, he would go directly to the little park across the street where he lived and sit down on a wooden bench. Hanging around the park were marginal people – drifters, winos, “has-beens”, dirty old men who ogled the girls passing by.

“Dominique never criticised, scolded, or reprimanded them. He laughed, told stories, shared his candy, and accepted them just as they were. From living so long out of the inner sanctuary, he gave off a peace, a serene sense of self-possession and a hospitality of heart that caused cynical young men and defeated old men to gravitate to him like bacon towards eggs. His simple witness lay in accepting others as they were, without questions and allowing them to make themselves at home in his heart. Dominique was the most non-judgmental person I have ever known. He loved with the heart of Jesus Christ.”

(Brennan Manning – The Signature of Jesus – © 1988, 1992, 1996, Multnomah Books, page 98).

Isn’t that the secret of the rabbi’s heart – total acceptance with no conditions because “love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)?

THE FRUSTRATION OF JESUS

Christian Life, ,

THE FRUSTRATION OF JESUS

Life with Jesus’ disciples was not all perfume and roses. The one thing that frustrated Him above everything else was their persistent unbelief. There were times when His patience ran out; like the time when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration to find them battling to get a demon out of an epileptic boy. I wonder if they eventually reverted to the tactics of the prophets of Baal when the stubborn demon would just not come out!

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He was met by an equally frustrated father. Jesus expressed His impatience with His disciples in no uncertain terms!

‘O unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’ (Matt. 17: 17)

Eugene Peterson captured the sense of Jesus’s words beautifully in his paraphrase:

‘What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.’ (Matt 17: 17, The Message)

When the disciples questioned Him later about their powerlessness to drive out the demon, His reply was blunt and to-the-point.

‘Because you have so little faith.’ (Matt. 17: 20a)

Their faith must have been non-existent at that point because He went on to tell them,

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’ (Matt. 17: 20b)

Some manuscripts add:

‘But this kind does not come out but by prayer and fasting.’ (Matt. 17: 20 – margin)

The amount of faith was not the issue. In the end it was the object of their faith that counted. What did Jesus mean by “prayer and fasting”? Was this a particularly nasty and tenacious demon that needed more than mustard-seed-sized faith? Did prayer and fasting have to do with the authority that comes from submision? Jesus spent forty days in prayer and fasting while the devil tested His submission to the Father. The authority He exercised after that episode startled the people. Whatever He meant, the disciples were still in kindergarten as far as authority was concerned.

Another time, they were on their way across the lake when a massive storm hit. Where was Jesus? Amazingly enough, asleep in the back of the boat! The disciples battled to keep the boat from capsizing but, in the end, they panicked. What was wrong with Jesus? Didn’t He realise the danger they were in? They woke Him with a sharp rebuke. Nonchalantly Jesus got up and spoke to the wind. As suddenly as the storm blew in, it blew away. Silence! Calm!

The disciples were stunned. How did He do that? His retort? Not, “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Where is your faith? Don’t you trust me?” They were supposed to be His disciples – people who trusted their rabbi implicitly. It was going to be a long journey for them – to learn to trust what He said even when things appeared to go wrong especially as they began to realise that He was no ordinary man.

What was the goal of His relationship with His disciples? Unlike any other rabbi, He craved to be one with them and that they be one with Him. Without the union of His Spirit with theirs, and the intimacy that this union would produce, His mission on earth was doomed to fail. Union and unity were the hallmark of the Godhead. For Jesus, His goal for Himself and His disciples was no less.

He used a beautiful image to describe the intimacy of that union.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 5)

The fruitfulness of their lives was to be much more that preaching, teaching, and doing the works of Jesus. Their fruit was to be the evidence of their union with Him, like the fruit of a tree is evidence of the nature of the tree.

If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14: 15)

Their love for Jesus, evidenced by their obedience and submission to Him, would be the glue that bound each one to Him. The surprising question Jesus asked Peter after Peter’s lamentable denial was not, “Peter, are you sorry for what you did?” or “Peter, do you promise never to do it again?” but “Peter, do you love me?” Jesus knew that only true love, the love that valued Jesus and what He stood for enough to lose everything for His sake, was what would keep the bond intact.

To be one with Jesus meant that they would allow Him to be their source – under His authority, submitted to His will, and obedient to His instructions. Like the branches in the vine, the life of the vine flowing into the branches would sustain the branches and provide the nourishment to produce an abundance of fruit. 

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE TENDERNESS OF JESUS

Christian life, ,

THE TENDERNESS OF JESUS

How tender Jesus was towards them in His last hours with them! His language betrayed His feelings – sorrowful, compassionate, and protective. Look at the way He spoke to them. John 14-17 is full of His tender tones. He was aware that they had not grasped the implication of His many warnings that He was going to suffer and die at the hands of the religious leaders. Their ears and their understanding were closed until after the resurrection.

They would feel abandoned when He was torn from them and nailed to a cross. This was not how it was supposed to be. They had each other, but of what use was that when their rabbi was gone – dead and buried.

He reassured them, time and again that this was not the end.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me . . . I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. (John 14: 1; 3b)

This was much bigger than they ever imagined. He was not just any rabbi about to leave them unexpectedly. He was Jesus, their Messiah, the Son of God, and what He said had huge implications for them and for their future. They needed to understand that this was only a part of the process that was going somewhere, and they were an integral part of it.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14: 18)

What did that mean to them? Jesus had spoken often of the Father. They knew that God was His Father, but what about them? He had often taught them that God was their Father. They were to address Him as Father in their prayers but, at the same time, it was Jesus who represented the Father to them. What would happen when He was no longer there? Would they lose the sense of God’s acceptance of them as His sons? Would they once again feel like orphans?

Jesus read their hearts. They needed to know that, even if He went away, He would not leave them fatherless. He would send one who would take His place and do what He did. The Holy Spirit would be in them to reassure them that they were the true sons of the Father, no matter what.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ (Rom. 8: 15)

He knew that they could not handle any more teaching. By this time, they were bewildered by their circumstances and beyond absorbing what Jesus had to tell them. He would first allow them to get over the shock of His sudden arrest and the terrible things that would happen to Him, and His even more shocking resurrection. He assured them that the Holy Spirit who was coming in His place, would pick up where He left off, and take them on beyond where they were at that moment in their understanding.

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will only speak what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. (John 16: 12-14)

Jesus understood their human frailty. He rebuked them for sleeping while He was agonising in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had asked them to stay awake and keep watch while He prayed but instead, they fell asleep. Who could blame them? It was late at night. They had just eaten the Passover meal and drunk wine. They had been through an emotional “wringer’, with Jesus saying and doing things that made no sense to them.

They saw their Master in deep emotional agony, serious, urgent, agitated, but they could not figure out what it was about. They did not understand the significance of the moment. So, they went to sleep. Hadn’t Jesus many times gone off alone to pray while they took the opportunity to catch a nap? What was so different about this time? They had no idea what awaited Him or them, in the next few hours.

His sharp rebuke was followed by tender words.

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Could you men not watch with me for one hour?’ He asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’ (Matt. 26: 40-41)

It’s almost as if He were saying, “I understand, guys, that you are tired. I know that your intentions were good but your flesh caved in but, at a time like this you need to stay awake because the time for testing is on us. It’s not the time to sleep now.”

“Tenderness is what happens to you when you know you are deeply and sincerely liked by someone. If you communicate to me that you like me, not just love me as a brother in Christ, you open to me the possibility of self-respect, self-esteem and wholesome self-love.” (Brennan Manning, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Ch. 1, page 25).

In Jesus, the disciples found not only one who loved them, but one who liked them, enjoyed their company, loved their banter, wanted to be with them, dealt gently with them, understood their weakness, believed in them, stood by them, rooted for them and, in the end, gave His life for them.

Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15: 13-14)

He loves us like that!

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.