Tag Archives: troubled

Will You Marry Me?

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WILL YOU MARRY ME? 

“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I was going 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 may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.'” John 14:1-4 NIV.

Such familiar words! Like the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm, we learned them at our mother’s knee and heard them at every funeral we attended.

But this is not funeral talk; this is wedding talk! Wedding talk? Yes, this is part of the prospective bridegroom’s proposal and the conclusion of his courtship.

When a young Jewish couple has drawn up their ketubah, their pre-nuptial marriage contract, and signed it in the presence of their fathers, the groom would formally propose to his bride. If she agrees to marry him, and by this time, of course, she has indicated her intention to say yes, he would tell her, “I am going to my father’s house to prepare the bridal chamber.” She would reply, “When will you return?” and he would respond, “When my father is satisfied with the bridal chamber, he will send me back to take you to his house that where I am you may be also.”

This exchange would mark the beginning of the betrothal period which was as legally binding as the marriage itself. To break the engagement was regarded as divorce — hence Joseph’s dilemma when he found out that his fiancée, Mary, was pregnant out of wedlock. He decided to divorce her privately rather than publicly disgrace her and risk her being stoned for infidelity.

In all the confusion of the escalating events and the disciples’ misunderstanding of Jesus’ intentions, did they catch the magnitude of what He was telling them? God (Jesus) had betrothed Israel to Himself at Mount Sinai, but they were persistently unfaithful to Him by their idolatry until He finally “divorced” them by allowing them to be sent into exile in Babylon. Now He was offering them a second opportunity to accept His marriage proposal and to be a chaste bride, unlike their forefathers, faithful to Him, their bridegroom.

The Bible is full of the imagery of a marriage to God. The Apostle Paul expressed his concern over the church at Corinth because, it seems, they did not understand the seriousness of the condition they were in. Some of them were dabbling in their old sinful ways, and he pleaded with them, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.” 2 Corinthians 11:2 NIV.

Would they have understood that Jesus was inviting them into a relationship with Him as intimate as a marriage relationship? In the last tender moments with them before He left them for good, He wanted them to know that this was not the end of a lovely friendship. Unlike earthly friends or marriage partners who are separated when death comes His departure was to be the beginning of an association far closer and more intimate than His presence on earth with them had been.

Even if they did not understand at that moment, He was sowing the seeds of His word into their minds which the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance at a later time. Sorrow, uncertainty, apprehension, misunderstanding and confusion blocked them from making sense of what He was saying. As always, He tried to calm their fears with His reassurance, “Don’t be scared. Just trust me.”

That’s all He asks of us when stuff happens and life makes no sense. Hindsight will help us to understand but, in the meantime, Jesus encourages us as He did His disciples, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me.” It is not easy when our whole world rocks or falls apart. Trusting Him means being still and letting Him guide us through whatever is happening. When our minds are in turmoil, we make foolish decisions out of our emotions.

Isaiah gives us a solid rock on which to stand while our world is “rocking”. “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:3, 4. NIV.

Jesus Grieves

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JESUS GRIEVES 

“After He had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.’ His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them He meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to Him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask Him which one he means.’ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’

“Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot…'” John 13:21-26 NIV.

Why was Jesus troubled in spirit? Was He thinking about all the suffering He was about to endure because of Judas’ treachery? I hardly think so because it did not fit with His disposition.

He was supremely un-preoccupied with Himself. It was either His Father and the kingdom of God or people in need that took His attention. Even on the occasion when He had taken His disciples to a deserted place so that He could spend time with them away from the people who were always clamouring for His attention, He was not annoyed when they arrived en mass to spoil their day. Instead, His heart went out to them in compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

On His way to the cross, the women en route were wailing because of Him. In the midst of His weakness and pain He turned to them and said, “Don’t weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.’ He was more concerned about the suffering that was coming upon them when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem than He was for Himself.

As formidable as the next few hours were going to be, Jesus was grieved because of what Judas was bringing upon himself by his choice to sell Him out for a few pieces of silver. Psalm 7:11 (KJV) says, “God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day.”

Why is God angry? There are several reasons why He is angry; the wicked have disregarded and trampled His glory under foot; they have ignored His laws and set up their own rules; they have worshipped themselves as gods; but most of all they have wasted their potential to become what God created them to be — sons of the Most High God.

God is love. His passionate love for everything He has created is the outflow of who He is. He created the universe to be the home of the creatures He had made in His own image and placed them on the earth, a tiny planet spinning in the vastness of space in a cosmos held together by His powerful word so that He could lavish His love on us. To live as we like without any regard for the God whose goodness towards us, is the worst possible insult we can throw at Him.

Judas could have enjoyed all the bounty of God’s love, revealed to Him in Jesus whom he had followed for three and half years, had he only submitted his heart to Him instead of choosing his own way. But Judas judged himself by choosing his way. His “reward” was pathetically miniscule and short-lived because he judged himself unworthy of God’s love and forgiveness. And Jesus grieved because He knew what could have been.

I think Jesus was disturbed because of Judas’ fall for the devil’s deception. Satan lured him with the reward of a few pieces of glittering silver or the hope of a place in an earthly government under Jesus, free from Roman oppression. But what was that compared with a conscience free from guilt and a place of authority in God’s eternal kingdom?

How He must grieve over us when we exchange the vast treasure of what He has promised us if we follow Him for the miserable trinkets of the world that are as transient as this life. Yes, we choose our own reward, be it a place in God’s eternal kingdom with Christ on His throne, or an eternity of loss and regret because we refused to believe the truth and fell for the devil’s deception because we thought we knew better.