MARCH 20th, 2016 8pm ET – Watch LIVE or view the REPLAY
With Chris Shea and me.
Tag: Holy Week
Jesus: Usually Calming People Down
I was struck by a pattern during my Holy Week meditations and reflections.
Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” a lot.
He brings calm. He comforts the frighted and bewildered.
He says in the most soothing way possible,
“Chill, ya’ll.”
When Jesus scares the stink out of his followers as he walks on the lake to meet them one a dark and storm night, he says,
“Easy now..It’s okay. It’s me!”
When Jesus is about to be arrested by a friend-turned-backstabber, then tried by a rigged court, and brutally tortured and killed, he spends time building up the courage of his followers and giving them condolence.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
When the disciples are grieving from his death, terrified and meeting behind locked doors, he comes to them, his scarred hands outstretched–offering solace and reassurance.
“Shalom aleikhem!”
It’s no small thing.
Our invitation is to do the same.
In trying circumstance be the voice of peace.
Be the source of calm.
Be a comforter.
And to those who like to over-mention when Jesus angrily overturns the tables at the temple as a way to justify their seething rage, I say, “peace”.
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Holy Week Reflection: Anointing the Anointed
Reading for today:
John 12: 1 Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.3 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.4But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said,5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?”6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.7 Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.
Reflection:
Mary of Bethany wasn’t caught up in the excitement of a political revolution. James and John were gunning for cabinet positions but Mary saw Jesus as Anointed King and sacrificial Lamb of God. In the days before high-flow showers and frequent bathing, this costly fragrance would have lasted for days, and even while he hung on the cross.
Jesus our sweet and lasting fragrance.
Collect:
O’ God,
Give us the fragrance of the anointing of your Holy Spirit.
Fill our lives with the aroma of grace.
May we understand your sacrifice
And prepare for our own burial
And rebirth with you
Amen.
image found here: http://xpensiveperfume.blogspot.com
Thorny Crowns
The image and concept of the thorny crown is powerful to me. As heirs of the King, I think our “crowns” are, also, thorns–in this present world. We’re not here for glory in any human sense. Our “success” will look very different. It will be counter-cultural, or even unapparent.
The story of the thorny crown is a provocative one:
Imagine a mighty and good king coming from another place, and he is “welcomed” with the “honor” of huge, piercing barbs smashed down into his head.
This strange irony is such a perfect picture of our rejection of God and his ways. We pick our own way. Absorb the idea that God paid for your foolishness.
The thorny crown is also a most vivid depiction of God’s condescension (click here for and explanation of that precise meaning) to human form to bear our wrongs, and give himself over to our brutality to, in fact, truly redeem it, and pardon it.
Let this crown you see pierce your heart with it’s potency, and the doom that is our rebellion. We need a Savior.
How does the Crown of Thorns affect you?
Foot Washing (The Maundy Thursday observance)
Today, I’m tossing a lateral pass on writing. My friend, Doug has recreated the Last Supper in a short story form that is both potent, amusing, and contemporary, and thereby worth your read. I think you’ll like his take here:
Excerpt:
Jesus bolted from the dinner table – didn’t even say “May I be excused?” – stripped to his boxers and started washing everybody’s feet. Peter made a fuss, of course, but Jesus said, ….
“Maundy” is derived from the Latin word, “Holy” (set apart).
Do you celebrate “Maundy Thursday”…or remember the events of the the night of the Last Supper, or Christ’s action of taking the role of a slave and washing his students’ feet? Reflection on that today, for at least a few minutes.
Read today’s Scripture below:
AND if you’d like share your spiritual reflections here:
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
JOHN 13:1 Now nbefore othe Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that phis hour had come qto depart out of this world to the Father, rhaving loved shis own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when tthe devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing uthat the Father had given all things into his hands, and that vhe had come from God and wwas going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, xtied it around his waist. 5 Then he ypoured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 zJesus answered him, “What I am doing ayou do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 bPeter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, c“If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, dexcept for his feet,1but is completely clean. And eyou2 are clean, fbut not every one of you.” 11 gFor he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When he had washed their feet and hput on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, i“Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 jYou call me kTeacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, lyou also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, mthat you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, na servant3 is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, oblessed are you if you do them. 18 pI am not speaking of all of you; I know qwhom I have chosen. Butrthe Scripture will be fulfilled,4 s‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 tI am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, uwhoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”