Month: April 2023

“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James 2:13 (RSV)

Mercy is the most unusual gift, it is both awesome and frightening. It’s awesome because it’s given freely to all of us who are undeserving. As freely as we receive it, we are expected to show mercy to that person we know who is also very undeserving. Its easy to show mercy to someone who we genuinely like, or feel true pity and compassion for. It’s the hardest virtue to live out, when we come up against a person who mistreats or betrays us, or hurts our loved ones, for no reason. Jesus spoke about mercy, not only in parables like the Good Samaritan, the merciful master and unmerciful servants, but He mentions it in the beatitudes sermon, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”. When we stop to think about it, receiving mercy or showing mercy leads to eternal consequences. It’s a very real issue for the day of judgement. We are invited to freely receive His mercy to be saved, and we also need to show it to others, or we are accountable to God on that day. If there has ever been a person who didn’t deserve your kindness, but you showed it anyway, that is mercy. Mercy is the first lesson we experience in life. Without mercy, we are born as cold, helpless, naked and hungry infants. It’s the mercy of God that we are nurtured, fed, clothed and loved by at least one or two parents. As we grow in the faith, mercy is the best kept secret of Satan. He doesn’t want humanity to know how great God’s mercy can be, because we would then discover how much He really loves us. Instead of surrendering our lives to a merciful God, Satan would rather see us live a defeated life with unresolved guilt and feelings of unworthiness. Satan doesn’t mind that we regularly attend church, as long as we refuse to receive the fulness of God’s mercy or to show mercy to others. A death bed conversion is mercy at its highest power, forgiving the undeserving of all sin just before their death. While Jesus was forgiving one thief on the cross, He never answered the other one, who was cursing Him the whole time. God pours out His mercy and love to all people, but He searches the earth for anyone who will receive it, like the thief on the cross did. Mercy does triumph over judgement and it snatches souls before they head straight for the flames of hell. After we receive His mercy, Jesus simply desires that we show it to others. Every father wants his children to reflect his traits and mercy is how we show that we are children of our Father in heaven. If mercy means that much to Jesus, let’s pray to have more of it. Lord, thank you for your boundless mercy that searches in the world’s darkest places to find the cold, wretched blind and naked souls to save. Grant that we, who have received your mercy, can show your mercy to others.

“But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me;”

John 15:26 (RSV)

Yesterday the meditation theme was about the example we can be as witnesses to Christ without words. This message is about how the Holy Spirit is so eager to bear witness to Christ, that He will literally change the topic of our conversations in order to bear witness to Him. Once in a while I pray, asking Him to make His presence known to everyone in a room with me, during my work day. 

If and whenever I remember to pray this way before I start my day, something always happens, and He never fails to step into the conversation, turning it around, to center it on Jesus. The great commission, where Jesus told believers to preach the gospel to every creature, is not a weight of responsibility on our shoulders, but simply about listening for our cue to say a few simple words at the right time. Bearing witness to Jesus is the Holy Spirit’s job, it’s His area of expertise, and I’ve seen how He takes over many conversations, and I just need to listen for my cue. If we speak when it’s our cue, the rest is in His divine hands. If I’ve learned anything over the years in every job I’ve ever had, it’s that the HoIy Spirit is super eager to bear witness to Jesus. He is so eager that I can remember the few times and the most uncanny ways, that the Holy Spirit took over conversations, and Jesus suddenly became the topic. Even this week, a coworker was talking about aging and dying, and she just spontaneously said, “ I don’t want to die.” When I heard that, something sparked within me, because it was my cue. I said “No one wants to die, but dying is where we can meet Jesus face to face.” Her childlike statement “I don’t want to die” was the work of the Holy Spirit, stirring her heart, and He started that conversation. There was a seed to be planted, and praying for her will be the watering of the seed. A week or two ago, a conversation with two others at work, strangely evolved into one about God and forgiveness. I wish I could recall how it even began, but someone was adamantly giving their opinion that mass murderers, tyrants or murderers of any kind, can never be forgiven and can never, ever go to heaven. I sensed my cue and could only think of one thing to say. In a gentle way, I simply said, “but Jesus forgave His murderers from the cross.” Though they didn’t accept my answer, it left them with an image of Jesus on a cross, forgiving the worst of men. What a blessing to have a segway into a conversation to present that image to people in the middle of a work day. I was filled with awe at the Holy Spirit’s way of coming into that conversation. God’s truth, when presented in kindness, will surely accomplish something later. We can plant seeds or water them, but only God causes the growth. God’s mercy is too great for us to fully comprehend, and people put their own limitations on how far His grace and forgiveness will go, but it’s better to be at the mercy of God than at the mercy of men. The Holy Spirit is trying to reveal God’s mercy to all people every day, especially if He is invited into our day. By asking Him to come into the room and make His presence know to others, He surprisingly will not disappoint, and it’s a powerful prayer.  He is so eager to bear witness to Jesus, and when He is invited, He stirs hearts and gives us the right words to say. Try it and see, and then simply listen for the cue. 

“Then the Lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…”

Exodus 3:7-8 (RSV)

There have been two great exoduses that happened, and both exoduses began with God seeing and hearing the cries of His people who were in misery. God is Holy and just, yet is so full of compassion and love for us, that He “came down” to His people. He is tuned in to our every cry, and He sees everything that causes us misery. We may feel like He is far off and doesn’t hear us or see what we are suffering, but the Israelites felt the same way. They almost gave up hope that God was watching or hearing them in all their suffering in Egypt. The word used in this scripture is misery, and other versions use the term oppression or affliction. God told Moses from the burning bush, that He sees and hears His people crying. He said He sees their misery, affliction and oppression and has come down to deliver them. This scripture should remind us of how God came down to us through the incarnation of Jesus. His coming down to us verifies the truth that God also sees us and hears us today when we cry out to Him. Of all the miracles God did for the Israelite slaves, it was the blood of an unblemished lamb, which was essential to comply with His plan of deliverance. Easter is the second, and final exodus, God’s final fulfillment of the first one. God came down again to deliver us, only this time He provided the unblemished lamb Himself, giving us His only son, Jesus. He heard the cries and saw the misery of His people living under Roman oppression, and today He sees whatever sorrow or misery we go through, and He still comes down to us today. After He divided the sea in the first exodus He provided bread from heaven to sustain them in the wilderness. In the second exodus, the temple curtain was divided and split open the moment Jesus died, giving us new access to God through His sacrifice. We are journeying through a wilderness now, as the Israelites did, and God also gives us His bread from heaven to sustain us. Since Jesus called Himself the bread of heaven, He is with us day by day, sustaining us through whatever wilderness experience we are going through. In His love and compassion, He hears and sees everything we suffer. Our destination and hope is to reach His promised land of heaven, instead of a geographical one as in the first exodus. The route to get there involves the wilderness just as in the first exodus. His resurrection broke the power of sin and death, which has no power over us anymore. Instead of leading us with a pillar of cloud or fire, His Spirit dwells within us and leads us as we journey onward. He divided and split open the curtain that separated us from God, and after Jesus came down and brought us final deliverance, He told us to ask anything in His name, because He is our eternal intercessor. So after Easter, we continue on our journey to the promised land, with the shepherd of our souls leading us. Remembering that we are the children of the second exodus and God loves us so much that He came down to us through Jesus, we trust His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. Lord, thank you for our exodus as we celebrate this Easter season of deliverance. As you lead us through the wilderness all the way to our promised land, please keep sustaining us one day at a time, on our journey with Jesus, who is our daily bread of heaven. Amen

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.”

John 20:1 (NIV)

A day begins at sundown according to Jewish custom, which was  observed by Jesus and all Jewish people in His day. Every Jewish holiday is still based upon that system to this present day. The body of Jesus was wrapped in a special cloth, before sundown, with special spices and prayers according to the custom. The third day began at sundown Saturday. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early Sunday morning, and panicked when His body was gone, leaving only that burial cloth. As we better understand Jewish burial customs of the first century, we can better appreciate the mysterious image on what is believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus, known as the shroud of Turin. There were traces of pollen in that cloth that are specific to that particular area of Palestine, which come from a flower that bloomed only in March or April. Coins were  placed on the eyes of the dead, to keep them closed and the coins imprinted on that shroud were dated to the era of Pontius Pilate. Scientists have agreed that the image is not hand made or painted. They cannot, however, explain what produced an image equivalent to a photographic negative, with 3-D qualities, long before photography was ever invented. An Italian sculptor, Luigi Enzo Mattei, was able to replicate a life size bronze statue of the body, taken from the mysterious image left on the shroud, shown in attached photos. Scientific analysis revealed that the body which produced that image was 5’10” and 173 lbs. His face looks peaceful, although battered, with a bump on the bridge of His nose, from swollen cartilage. His entire body has small dumbbell shaped imprints made from the attached end pieces of the Roman whip. The image on the cloth also had a stab wound on the side in the abdomen. There are holes in the feet and wrists, which fits with wounds of a crucifixion. Although many men were crucified under Roman rule, no others left a photo negative image on their burial cloth. This victim had head wounds made by thorns, but not from the crown of thorns we’ve seen in artwork over the centuries. It was more of a cap made of thorns. Isaiah described a Messiah who was marred more than any other man. By seeing this reconstructed life size body, which fits the description of Jesus, we can also envision the same body as He walked out of the tomb alive on Sunday morning. For a brief moment, try to personalize the resurrection of Jesus, imagining you, instead of Mary Magdalene, were the first one to arrive at the tomb. You look into the tomb and see only His burial cloth lying there. As you leave the empty tomb, you meet the risen Jesus, 5’10” tall, with nail scarred holes in His wrists and feet. His wounds are healed and He stands completely whole before you, no longer in pain. He is smiling, with beautiful love filled eyes, gazing down at you. He is wearing a clean, new white robe, which contrasts against His middle eastern tan complexion. He speaks to you in a smooth mellow voice, with words that fill your heart with a  comforting peace that is beyond explanation. There is an aura of holiness around Him and He is full of joy in His glorified, resurrected body. You bow before Him, overwhelmed in His presence, and He speaks softly. He has a personal message just for you. Let your imagination fill in the blank. What is Jesus saying to you?_____________________________

Lord Jesus, I pray you bless every reader today with the fullness of joy and peace that your glorious resurrection gives to us. Amen and Hallelujah! Happy Easter to all!

Gash on forehead, swollen eyes, cheekbones and bump on bridge of nose from trauma 

The cap of thorns

Holes in wrists and stab wound in the side

Holes in His feet from nails 

Small dumbbell shaped impressions in the legs from the scourging with the whip 

“Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured.

We thought of him as stricken,

struck down by God and afflicted,

But he was pierced for our sins,

crushed for our iniquity.

He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way;

But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all.”

Isaiah 53:4-6 (NAB)

Isaiah gave us a clear and prophetic vision of a suffering Messiah, not a military one. God laid upon Jesus the guilt of us all, and that was His plan of salvation all along. Isaiah described this suffering Messiah as a lamb led to slaughter, seized, condemned and taken away. The entire chapter describes so many details of what happened to Jesus on that day, that it would be wrong not to read this entire chapter every Good Friday. Isaiah repeatedly tells us that He did it for us, He bore our pain, He endured oursufferings, He was pierced for our sins and crushed for our iniquity. Jesus took ourplace so that we now have a pathway to heaven. We can be saved not because we are well behaved or deserving people. It’s not because we finally shaped up and achieved a level of moral goodness. We could never be good enough to earn our salvation, nor could we suffer enough for our own sins. We can only be saved through what Jesus accomplished on that day. God provided the way for our salvation and sent His son, who died for the worst of us, and gave Himself up for the least of us, only because He loved all of us. When He died and cried out, “It is finished!” there is nothing we can add to what God has already finished. We commemorate this week as the week that changed the world, and Good Friday is our day to be still and know how much God loved each of us in the world, and gave His only son for us. God’s love doesn’t wax and wane depending on our performance. His love is unchanging and steadfast, and He gives because He loved us first. In  the Passover story, when the blood of the lamb was put on the doorpost of every home, God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” He never said “If you are righteous enough then I will pass over you.” Those who He passed over that day, only had to stay inside their homes with the blood on their doors, to be saved. They were all flawed and imperfect people, weak and even sometimes clueless about God, but if the blood was on their door, they were saved. They allowed God to save them in His way, and that is what God shows us through the blood of the lamb. We all need to let God save us His way. Jesus came to be the blood placed upon our eternal doorposts, and through God’s beautiful plan, we accept it by faith, not allowing feelings of low self worth to interfere. We could never enhance or add to His perfect plan. God loves us as we are, and Jesus is our lamb who suffered for us just as we are. God is telling us on Good Friday “ Let me save you My way, and when I see My son’s blood on your door, I will pass over you.” We can stop striving and beating ourselves up, it’s a day to be still and to know His love in a deeper way. If we let Him save us His way, we will taste the perfect love that God always had for us. Merciful and loving God, our Father, thank you for your plan of salvation. Today we can see your great love through the wondrous cross and we surrender ourselves to you. We have no other plea to make on our behalf, and there is nothing else that can acquit us of our guilt, except the precious eternal blood of Jesus on the doorpost of our soul. Amen

“Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”

Matthew 26:14-16 (NIV)

There are probably many stories that could be told about betrayal. I think everyone can relate to feeling betrayed at least once at some time by someone in a lifetime. Jesus was betrayed by His friend, Judas, which probably surprised all the apostles at the time. Betrayal is painful, but especially when it ends an innocent life. I heard a true story of betrayal yesterday, when a coworker shared his own family’s story. It occurred during the Holocaust, when Hitler started hunting down Jewish people everywhere. His regime alone was a great betrayal to many people in Europe. Jewish families were looking for ways to save their children, and the parents of two eight year old Jewish girls, who were first cousins, living in Poland, thought they found a way to save their daughters. One found a gentile woman who was willing to keep their little girl and hide her in her home, after receiving payment of a wrist watch and a certain amount of money. The other cousin found a different gentile family that was willing to keep their daughter in their home and hide her as well. The desperate parents could only hope for the best in an effort to save their daughters, not knowing whether they would meet again. By the time the war ended, and the Nazis were defeated, both sets of parents were killed in Hitler’s camps. In 1945, the Russian armies liberated Poland. One girl who survived by hiding in a family’s home, learned that both sets of parents were killed in the camps. She wanted to reunite with her cousin at the home she was staying in, and so Russian soldiers offered to take her there, and pick up her cousin. When she and the soldiers arrived, the woman denied ever knowing about any girl in her home. The girl immediately noticed and pointed to the wrist watch of her cousin’s, worn on the lady’s arm. The soldiers questioned her further, and she admitted to trading the girl to the Nazis for a two pound bag of sugar. She told them that Nazis went to every home offering all kinds of rare goods in exchange for the surrender of any hidden Jews, and so she turned the girl in for a bag of sugar. The coworker who shared this heartfelt story with me, was the son of the surviving girl, who was his mother, and lived to the age of 93. This all happened 78 years ago, but I couldn’t stop thinking of the nameless little girl who was so betrayed. She was just one of many nameless betrayed children, including the ones in the womb over the past decades. On Holy Thursday, the theme is the betrayal of Jesus, who was also an innocent victim, and though not a child, He was sold out for a price. His life was valued at thirty pieces of silver. People have the capacity to do great good, like the family that protected and saved one girl, or to do great evil, in regarding a girl’s life to be worth no more than a bag of sugar. I hope and pray that Jesus received into heaven, all the innocent children who were ever betrayed to death. Lord, we pray for those innocent lives today who are victims of some kind of betrayal. Help us to always defend the innocents who are near to your heart. We ask for your mercy and intervention in revealing your love to each one who is living today.  

BREAKING STRONGHOLDS

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”

Matthew 27:50-53 (NASV)

Matthew gives us the most dramatic account of the events that occurred right at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross. As soon as Jesus gave up His Spirit, tombs were opened, and believers who had been dead were raised out of their graves and seen by many as they appeared throughout the city of Jerusalem. It’s such a strange and dramatic event, yet I’m pretty sure the people who were raised up probably appeared in glorified bodily form, recognizable yet heavenly looking, not frightening as in a horror movie. Matthew describes the temple curtain tearing down the middle as an earthquake struck and rocks split open. In each of the four gospels, the writers all described Jesus crying out in a loud voice saying “It is finished” and then He died. Luke described the sudden darkness enveloping the earth, and he called it an eclipse of the sun. Mark, Luke and Matthew all mention the torn temple curtain, but only Matthew tells us of the opened tombs and dead people who were raised and seen by others in the “Holy city.” All of this occurred at the moment of His death, before the resurrection. Yesterday when the sky grew very dark in the early afternoon hours, as severe thunderstorms passed through our area, it reminded me of the moment Jesus died on the cross. The thunder sounded like the earth quaking and the rocks splitting. I wondered if God allowed the storms during this Holy week to help us reflect on the day His only Son died for us. What message was God sending through Matthew to all believers through these strange occurrences at Jesus’ death, even before His resurrection? God tore the thick temple curtain that used to separate us from God the Father. Jesus gave Himself up as our eternal sacrifice for sin, and in tearing the curtain He was opening a new access for us to come to God. His love for us went as low as He needed to go to bring us back to God. In the moment that the Son of God gave up His spirit, He cried out “It is finished!”Even before the resurrection, He did all of this, raising the dead in Christ, and causing others to see them with their own eyes, that they were alive. Faith became sight for a brief moment. God is telling us that there is no tomb or grave that He cannot lift us out of, through the death of His Son. As I read this scripture in this Holy week, I feel God inviting all His church to cherish the precious blood that was shed for us that day, and to remember and honor that sacred thorn pierced head, who cried out “Father forgive them.” God showed us through these mysterious events, that the cross breaks forever, the power of death and the strongholds of sin, oppression, or any other kind of entombment we struggle with. God declared through His divine Son, “It is finished!”, 2,000 years at 3:00 in the afternoon as the Jesus gave up His spirit and died. He defeated the power of death, promising us that we also will live even if we die. We can be made new in Christ every year in this Holiest of weeks, as we re-identify ourselves with His moment of death. We need to believe it and not over think it. If we receive His atonement, we also died with Him.  In Colossians 3:3-5, Paul told the believers in the church, “For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Amen, come Lord Jesus. 

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.”

Psalm 8:1-2 (RSV)

After Jesus entered Jerusalem, which was a very loud entry, filled with praise and Hosannas, He drew the attention of the entire city. Everyone was talking about Him, asking “Who is this?” Those who knew Him worshipped Him, and those who didn’t know Him came to learn more. The ones who already experienced His love and mercy in a personal way, shared their story with those who didn’t know Him. Some who learned about Him, still never knew Him, because their learning never transferred from their head to their heart. Those were the people who joined the crowd who later condemned Him. His first destination was entering His Father’s house, where He drove out the money changers, who defiled it, and cleansing His temple was His first priority during His final days in Jerusalem. Jesus wanted His temple to be a house of worship to glorify His Father. It is also where the blind and lame gathered from every part of the city, and some met Jesus for the first time in the temple area that day. Jesus healed them all, and they were probably the last to be healed during His earthly ministry. Among all those He healed, not all continued to follow and worship Him. We know this from the story of the ten lepers who were healed, but only one returned to praise and thank Him. He warned about the seed that would fall on rocky ground and not grow into a lasting faith, like those who first welcomed Him into Jerusalem but later condemned Him to be crucified. Then came the children singing Hosannas to Him, as was predicted by David’s Psalm, saying that out of the mouth of babes, God would bring forth praise for His son. When the chief priests became indignant at the noisy children, Jesus simply rebuked them for not knowing the scripture prophesying that little children would shout His praises. He reminded them of this scripture and for a brief moment His foes were silent with nothing to say. His entry into Jerusalem was a landmark day in history, because it marked a clear split between those who were with Him and those who were against Him.  Whatever the reason that so many betrayed Him, whether it was because of seeds in rocky ground, or people who never really knew Him, or due to religious pride, there was a great betrayal of Jesus, after entering Jerusalem that day. As we remember these events this Holy week, Jesus told us “No one takes My life from me, but I lay it down on my own.” (John 10:18) 

He entered inside Jerusalem, knowing His destiny, and He chose to lay His life down for us. He did it for the joy that was set before Him, and in His divine vision, He could see the lives that would be changed one day, like yours and mine. He saw the tears of repentance of every person who would kneel before Him and confess Him as Lord. He saw all the souls that would be ransomed and  join Him in heaven, and these visions of joy helped Him to endure the cross. As we go to His house during this Holy week, we allow Jesus to cleanse our temples by receiving His forgiveness. With a seed of faith planted deep in our hearts, we take the time to return to Him in some special way this week as that one leper returned to thank and praise Him. We offer the praise from our lips as the noisy little children did that day, and with childlike faith we are unconcerned with being accepted by anyone else but Him. Jesus laid it all down for us and we can also lay ourselves down before Him.  We are entering inside Jerusalem with Jesus this week and we are following His footsteps from the loud Hosannas to the silent painful road that led to the cross. At the cross, He bore our sins and paid for our punishment, making us whole. Take us with you Jesus, inside Jerusalem today and all week, and help us to draw closer to you and simply love you in a deeper way than ever before. Amen

“Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”

John 19:5 (NASB)

After Jesus was arrested, judged guilty from an unjust trial, beaten, spat upon, and whipped thirty nine times, He stood next to Pilate, who then presented Him to the crowd, saying “ Behold the man.” The soldiers put the crown of thorns and purple robe on Him, to mock His claim of being the son of God. The crown of thorns was piercing his brow, and blood was streaming down His face. Every part of His body hurt, His flesh was torn from the scourging with open wounds all over, and there He stood next to Pilate, weak and trembling in pain. Ever since seeing this scene for the first time in the Passion of Christ movie, the image of Jesus standing there, trembling next to Pilate, has stayed with me ever since. I keep it somewhere in my heart, and it comes to the surface at times, but especially during Holy Week. We hear the Easter story every year, and we focus on each aspect of it during these forty days. We give our attention to the details of Christ’s suffering, on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and then we celebrate His Resurrection next Sunday. Of all the details and images of His passion, this is the image that stirs me the deepest. I don’t have a profound spiritual explanation of why this scene touches me so much, I only know that it has stayed with me for 19 years, since first seeing the film. It is still fresh in my mind today as it was then. Beyond the visual image, I can hear Pilate saying, “Behold the man”, or “This is the man.” Through that image, and those words, God is speaking to whoever has been abandoned in some way, or suffered mockery and injustice, and wherever there is deep sorrow or piercing pain, a person can look at this scene, and know “this is the man” who understands it all. Jesus is the fully divine man, who in His fully human body, forever identifies and connects to anyone who suffers. If they would look at Jesus and see Him in the crown of thorns and the purple robe, trembling in pain, they would see Him as their personal lamb of God, who bore their sins and suffered all their pain, abandonment and sorrow in that trembling body. Today He is our high priest, who lives to intercede for us, giving us deep inner healing and a new life. He’s not suffering anymore, and intercedes for all who are. Some may ask why we would want to dwell on that painful image of Jesus, instead of a more positive one. What could be more positive than Almighty God, who sent His only Son to become the one who understands you at the most intimate level, who paid off the entire debt of your sins in that trembling body? He is forever your personal mediator, who now stands with His arms reaching out for you, to take you to the next step of His divine plan for your life. He leads us in His divine purpose, as we abide in Him, taking us only one step at a time, not revealing everything at once. He gave it all for us and is always hoping we will cling to Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. 

Thank you Jesus for your love and your sacrifice in suffering and dying for us. We reach our hand up to yours in complete trust, as you lead us one day at a time. Bless each reader with your divine Presence throughout this Holy Week. 

“For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 4:15 (RSV)

It’s easy to say “I’m only human,”when I fail to follow the things Jesus taught me, but sometimes I forget that Jesus was human too. We focus on His divinity through the gospel stories and His miraculous ministry, but He had a human side which He lived out as a boy and a man for thirty years, before ever revealing His divinity. We have no recorded stories of miracles that Jesus performed until His ministry began at thirty years old, so what about those thirty years before He began His ministry? He probably lived a normal human life, since scripture tells us He was fully acquainted with all the tests and temptations of life, except He was without sin. He was perfectly sinless, but He still knew what it felt like to experience the emotional storms of temptation and testing that we do. He felt betrayal, disrespect and rejection from some of the very friends and relatives He knew and loved during those first thirty years of His life. He performed miracles, signs, and wonders as He accomplished His mission of salvation during the last three years of His life, but we seldom reflect on His humanity for the thirty years beforehand. His ministry consisted of the last 10% of His entire life. He was fully divine and fully human, but today I’m reflecting on the fact that He lived 90% of His life span in His humanity. Scripture tells us He was tested in all ways as we are, therefore He had His entire life to experience many types of tests and temptations, and yet He was without sin. He never retaliated against people, never lost His faith, and never sinned against God, His Father. He felt hurt, frustration and anger when He was scorned and mistreated, but He worked through everything and followed the will of God in every aspect of His early life as well as at the end of His life. His life’s purpose was not to punish or retaliate, but to spread the truth and love of God to others. He spoke the truth and then moved on to whoever would listen next. Jesus asks us to follow Him, and in our humanity we follow His humanity, with His grace to reach His higher goals for our lives. He calls us to imitate His obedience because He is available to help and intercede for us. He is not merely a sympathizer, but a veteran of all testing, trials and temptations. He knows what we struggle with and fully empathizes with us. God loves us so much that He clothed His Son in a human body to fully relate to us, and then gave us His Spirit to help us live for Him. This makes Jesus the best high priest intercessor we could ever ask for. The next time I fail or want to retreat saying, “I’m only human”, I will remind myself, so is my Savior and high priest. As we confess our sins, He removes them farther than we ever deserve. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
(2 Corinthians 5:21) 

Jesus, thank you for both your humanity and your divinity. We love you and trust in you as our high priest and intercessor.