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He Did Not Listen!

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HE DID NOT LISTEN!

A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus was indignant. He reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said, ‘Be clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. “See you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’ Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to Him from everywhere (Mark 1: 40-45).

It began with a desperate man and ended with a frustrated Master. All because he did not listen!

A man with leprosy came to Jesus. Leprosy – or an unidentified skin disease which was classified as “leprosy” – was not only a devastating condition because of what it did to the individual physically, but also because of what it did to a person socially and spiritually. The sufferer was doomed to a life of isolation from the family and society and loathing from the rest of the unaffected population. He was “unclean” and therefore untouchable and an outcast.

Any disease or condition that made a person less than perfect, made the sufferer “unclean”, but leprosy was particularly abhorrent because of what it did to the patient. True leprosy attacks the nerve endings, causing the loss of feeling. No feeling, no pain – no pain meant any injury went unnoticed and soon turned into suppurating sores and eventual loss of extremities, leaving the person offensive and deformed.

For this man even to come anywhere near Jesus was risky. He was not permitted to approach people because his condition was infectious. How did he know that Jesus was his lifeline to wholeness and cleanness again? Perhaps he had heard, via the grapevine that there was a rabbi with extraordinary power to heal, moving around in Galilee. To his great delight, Jesus came to his community and he was not going to miss his opportunity.

Only one thing troubled him. He had no doubt that Jesus could heal, but would He want to heal him – a smelly, diseased, deformed outcast? He grabbed his opportunity when Jesus appeared. Falling to the ground before Him, he voiced his misgiving. “If you want to . . .” Jesus was indignant. What gave the man the idea that He would heal some conditions but not others? Did he think that leprosy was one of those sicknesses on His list of “not-to-heal” diseases?

Just to show the man that He was not fazed by what he looked like or smelt like or any of the taboos surrounding his condition, He not only spoke to the man, He also touched him. Jesus, how could you do that? Don’t you know that to touch an unclean person makes you unclean? Not Jesus! He was never contaminated by anyone’s “uncleanness”, not by disease, not by death. He made “unclean” people clean. The poor, sick leper, one minute a pitiful, stinking, offensive outcast, in an instant was transformed by a touch and a word. God’s kingdom had broken through this man’s plight and restored him to wholeness again.

‘Don’t tell anyone,’ Jesus commanded. But how on earth could he keep it a secret? People would recognise him and ask him what happened. Lepers don’t just suddenly shed their leprosy and its terrible consequences like taking off their clothes. But more than that, he just could not shut up. Wouldn’t you tell everyone, even those who didn’t want to listen, what had happened to you? After all, it’s not the kind of everyday thing to be cured of an incurable disease, now is it?

But telling his “good news” did exactly what Jesus did not want him to do. It tied His hands. He became an instant celebrity. People ran after Him for the wrong reasons. Instead of basking in the limelight, He had to retreat and hide, but they still sniffed Him out and swamped Him to fix their problems. He had not come to fix problems. He came to reveal the Father and to show them what life would be like if they returned to God and to obedience to His will.

Jesus was not then and is still not interested now in followers who can get what they want out of Him. He is calling people to follow Him who are so convinced of who He is that they put Him above everyone and everything else to join Him in His mission to make earth where they live a little bit of heaven. Every time we make life better for someone else through the leading and power of the Holy Spirit, we are doing what He prayed, “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Don’t you want to be a part of that?

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

 

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Growing Up Is For Real

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GROWING UP IS FOR REAL

“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Romans 14:20-23.

So there you have it! But, wait a minute. Doesn’t it put me into bondage to other people  if I have to consider their weak consciences before I can eat or drink, or do anything that another believer considers sin? It should work both ways. A weaker brother should not judge me if I am free from his scruples but, at the same time, I should not deliberately provoke him by flaunting my freedom in his face.

I have to ask. “Who has the great responsibility?” I have, because my freedom allows me to give away my rights for the sake of his soul. I will not suffer if I abstain from what bothers him when I am in his presence, whereas he will suffer if I refuse to abstain because I am free. If I cause my brother to fall because of my stubborn attitude, I will bear the guilt of turning him away from Christ because I did not love him enough to forgo my right for his sake.

“Blessed,” said Paul, “is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.” Blessed (“asher” in Hebrew) implies the Father’s pleasure that comes from making the right choice and doing the right thing because the Father approves of the attitude that considers another above oneself. There is no bondage in that as long as I have the right attitude. There is no place for resentment in my heart as long as I remember that it is Jesus, my Master, whom I serve when I serve others.

This leads Paul to another blanket statement that is a principle of life in God’s kingdom. Life in the kingdom of God is a walk of faith and is governed and directed by our confidence in what God has said. God’s goal for every believer is freedom from everything that hinders our faith in His word and our obedience to Him which sets us apart as followers of Jesus.

We have many slave-drivers – behaviour patterns, habits, addictions, ways of coping,   emotions, all of which interfere with the freedom Jesus bought for us so that we can walk with Him unhindered by these things. We gain our freedom, one step at a time as we learn the truth and submit to it by faith, replacing the things we believe in and do that keep us in bondage with God’s word. Paul called it “renewing our minds” (Romans 12:3).

We are set free when we believe and act upon what Jesus has said.

“To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'” John 8:31, 32.

Since it is a journey, it happens gradually, not all at once. However, the operative word is faith. To the Jew, to believe something intellectually but not to act on it was a meaningless exercise. Paul said, “If you believe something to be true, even if you are wrong, but do not act on it, is sin.”

We have to trust God enough for ourselves and for our fellow believers that we allow them to walk their own path with the Lord, just as we walk ours. God will reveal truth to us and to them as and when we are able to receive it, remembering that none of us has perfect knowledge of the truth. This is the beauty of our journey – that it is a journey of discovery and a journey from bondage to freedom and God is more interested in the outcome than in the process.

Our task, if we consider ourselves mature believers, is to protect love, preserve unity and promote contentment more than it is to demand our rights. And this is really growing up into Christ because He is passionate about unity.

Acknowledgement

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

 

Washed By The Word

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WASHED BY THE WORD

“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 is why He said not everyone was clean.” John 13:6-11 NIV.

Why are we going over this passage again? There is much gold to be mined from this incident and I am in no hurry to move on without digging a little deeper.

Yesterday we explored the thought that humble submission to the Master’s service is the heart of unity with Him. Unless we are one with Him, we cannot recognize Him in a disturbing disguise in the least of people and serve them in the disposition of our Messiah.

Peter displayed the typical attitude that resisted what Jesus wanted to do for Him. He thought he was being humble. Don’t we all when we are asked to receive the gracious ministry or generous gift of someone else, let alone what Jesus wants to do for us? We think that we are too unimportant to bother God with our insignificant needs. We can take care of them ourselves because God is busy looking after much bigger issues in the world!

What we think is humility is actually a slap in God’s face. It is not humility; it is stupidity, revealing our misunderstanding of God as our Father. A true father is never too busy to listen to his child’s insignificant needs. Because of his love, he stoops to the little one, wipes away the tears and kisses the bumps and bruises better. How much more tender and loving is our heavenly Father who heals our hurts and “washes our feet” with His loving ministry to all our needs.

It is pride that resists Him and arrogance that slams the door in His face when He comes in the disguise of a slave to embrace us with His love and to draw us into His heart to become one with Him. When we refuse to submit to the generosity and ministry of His servants, we are in reality refusing Him and saying, in effect, ‘I am self-sufficient and I don’t need you.’

Jesus’ gentle rebuke swung Simon Peter in the opposite direction. The Holy Spirit used an interesting title – Simon Peter. Was this a hint that Peter was in transition? He was still the old Simon, impetuous, vocal and volatile, but there was also an embryonic new Peter growing inside him. His spontaneous response to Jesus’ rebuke was to beg for an all-over wash, from head to foot because he desperately wanted to be one with his Lord. Peter might have been proud and did not understand but he was also honest and quick to correct, even over-correct his mistake.

Once again Jesus wove a spiritual lesson into a simple act of hospitality. Just as a bath was enough to keep the body clean, so His disciples were “bathed” by Jesus’ words. Their bodies were clean; it was only their feet — their daily “walk” in the world that needed to be refreshed. We have been made clean by the blood of Christ, forgiven and made righteous once and for all, but our walk needs to be washed daily by the water of the Word so that our fellowship with our Lord may be unhindered by sin.

What a beautiful picture of what the Word of God does for us! Paul used the same imagery to describe a husband’s loving sacrificial service to his wife.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” Ephesians 5:26 NIV.

Here is the key to oneness in marriage — the wife humbly submitting to her husband’s loving and sacrificial service and continually separating herself to him as her one and only lover; and the key to oneness with Jesus. If we keep short accounts with Him and submit to His “washing”, we will be ready when He needs us to wash someone else’s feet.

 

Jesus In A Disturbing Disguise

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JESUS IN A DISTURBING DISGUISE 

“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 is why He said not everyone was clean.” John 13:6-11 NIV.

Don’t you just love Peter? No one can fault him for his passion!

But as for his discernment — he was so much in the moment! And so proud! Once again he was the one to react against Jesus’ action. John said nothing about the other disciples. His focus was on Peter. Was he having a little dig at him because of their constant rivalry?

The scene on the beach after the resurrection is another one of John’s little pokes at Peter! Jesus had reinstated Peter after his ignominious denial at His trial. Assured of his love, Jesus restored His commission to Peter to care for His sheep. Not satisfied with his own task, Peter questioned Jesus about John’s future. In polite terms Jesus told him to mind his own business! And John put that in his story!

Peter’s reaction to Jesus says a lot about his character. True humility submits to the person who is willing to serve in a humble task like the one that Jesus wanted to perform on him. The amazing thing is that this kind of submission bonds the served with the server. Was Jesus using this opportunity to test the attitude of His disciples to Him? Were they humble enough to allow Him to wash their feet? It was not difficult for Him to serve them, but how difficult was it for them to accept that service?

Peter’s reaction reveals that, in spite of his passionate love for Jesus, he misunderstood the meaning of His action. He thought that Jesus was humiliating Himself and, for him that was unthinkable. Watch how he addressed Jesus as Lord! Did he use that title purposely to make it clear to Jesus that he thought He was above what He was doing?

Jesus was quick to clarify the meaning of His action. ‘Peter, this is much more than just washing your feet. This is about restoring our oneness with each other.’ Humility responding to humility as the very essence of their relationship; Master and servant — Master serving and servant humbly receiving that service so that the servant, in turn, would serve with the same heart as the Master.

Unless Peter submitted to and received what Jesus was about to do, he would never be part of who Jesus was, the Son of God, yes, but the Ebed Yahweh, the Son who came to serve in the disposition of a slave — one who had no reputation to defend because He purposely made Himself nothing. How else could He empty Himself so completely that He could hang naked on a Roman execution stake for the sins of the world?

For three and half years Jesus had been painstakingly washing His disciples with His word. From the eternal perspective they were already clean, except for Judas because he had refused the word. They only needed the daily cleansing from the dust of their walk in a sinful world. Washing their feet was the symbolic cleansing they needed by allowing the word to wash them daily.

What amazing lessons they were learning in this single, simple loving act of hospitality. To set it up as a religious ritual has no meaning because it contributes nothing to our oneness of heart with Jesus. True “washing” that reflects our unity with Him would be to serve someone whom we consider “lower” than ourselves because Jesus said that, if we do it to the least of these, His brothers, we do it to Him.

As Mother Theresa said, the lowliest to whom we minister is Jesus in a disturbing disguise!

Oh, By The Way…

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OH, BY THE WAY…

“One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before Him in prayer and said, ‘If you want to, you can cleanse me.’ Jesus put out His hand, touched him and said, ‘I want to. Be clean.’ There and then his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.

“Jesus instructed him, ‘Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.’

“But the man couldn’t keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their ailments. As often as possible, Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.” Luke 5:12-16 (The Message).

Luke had many stories of healings and miracles to draw from. Why did he choose this one? Of course I don’t know! But there are little hints here and there of Luke’s reason. The scholars tell us that Luke’s theme was “Jesus, the Son of Man.” He adds many touches to his story that illustrate Jesus’ humanity; His dependence on the Holy Spirit; the many references to His prayer life; little snippets like His being asleep on the boat; eating fish after His resurrection, for example, things that humans do.

In this story Jesus met a man covered with “leprosy”. He could have had any skin disease, but whatever it was, he was disfigured and, worst of all, unclean. That meant that he was not allowed human contact. Isolated! Ostracised! Untouchable! Unwanted! Probably walking on the outskirts of the village wailing his mournful plight, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’

Instead of moving away, Jesus walked right up to him. The unnamed man fell at His feet, entreating Him, ‘I’ve heard about you, Jesus. I know you can make this stinking, diseased body of mine clean…if you want to. Now it’s all up to you.’

What would Jesus do? What did this man need? Just a word would transform him but he needed more than a word. He needed a human touch. But how could Jesus touch him? He was a rabbi, a holy man who was not supposed to contaminate Himself with diseased or dead bodies. If He touched him, He would become unclean.

There was one thing about Jesus that was different from every other rabbi of His day. His touch worked the other way, made the unclean clean. He made the sick well, the dead live and set the demonised free. Wherever He went, speaking, touching, embracing, He left whole, well and free people in His wake. And it was what He wanted to do. No hesitation.

But, in spite of Jesus’ warning, the healed man could not keep his mouth shut. Would you? Of course everyone wanted to know what had happened. And of course he told them. Wouldn’t you? And of course that made Jesus even more popular, and everyone wanted Him to touch them too. And He did.

That created a problem for Him. He needed time out. He was human, remember. Why did He need time out? Of course He needed rest; He needed to eat; He needed to “chill” like we all do and oh, by the way, He needed to spend time with His Father and for that He needed solitude.

There was no solitude where there were the ever-present crowds but He knew how to find time and place to be alone — out in the wide-open spaces in the night hours when everyone else was asleep. Without time alone with the Father He had no engine and no rudder for His ship. It was in these times of intimacy alone with God that He drew strength, received direction and shared the Father’s love which energised Him for the gruelling times ahead.

And He said, ‘Learn from me.’