Jesus said He came to bring light and life! What a promise for our culture of death and darkness!
Today is both Passover and Good Friday. What a strange and also wonderful mix! The Passover Savior is the same Messiah Who hung on a rough wooden cross outside Jerusalem over 2000 years ago.
I have been deeply blessed to walk in the Garden of Gethsemane, to traverse the stones in the Via Dolorosa, to stand in the trade "path" near a busy bus station and gaze at the probable location of the crucifixion at the hill Golgotha (which truly does have the shape of a skull). I have also visited the Garden Tomb but that will have to wait.
While we were in Jerusalem we visited the Children's Museum of the Holocaust. What an incredible experience especially in the land of Judaism, the land of promise, the state of Israel! As we entered the museum we could hear a single voice reading names - one after another - hundreds and thousands of names of Jewish children killed in the Holocaust. Coming from the bright sun outside, it took a moment for our eyes to adjust to the darkness - total darkness except for the light of one candle. In the darkness we were instructed to walk and hold onto the rail. The further we walked into the darkness to the sound of all those names, the one candle became two and four and eight and twenty and a hundred and more. The names kept coming. It was heart-rending, touching and unforgettable!
As I reflect I am awed with the memory of the candle that grew and multiplied. The technical aspect of how that happened is with many mirrors strategically placed as the spiral walkway wound through the room. The connection with the One Who declared Himself to be the Light of the World is unmistakable! Isn't the design of the Children's Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem a parable of just what Jesus meant when He said that WE also are the light of the world?! We take our light from Him and as we reflect His light our light also shines. With the mirrors in the museum there is more and more light in the room! But all that light is really only a reflection of the one true light!
Whether we celebrate Passover or Easter's Good Friday today, there is a sense in which we celebrate death. Passover is celebrating that the death angel passed over the homes of those covered by the blood on the doors of their homes! Good Friday celebrates the day Jesus laid His life down to push back darkness for all time! He endured the most intense darkness when He was even rejected by His Father. Think of it! The Light of the World was in utter darkness in order that we who trust Him can live in light and have life forever!
In my musing and pondering today I have also been thinking about the church - not the buildings and the people connected to those buildings - but rather that "invisible" Body of believers around the world that live and breathe to reflect the Light of the World to a dark, dying world of men who don't even know that they are walking in the darkness of death. How does the church show light that pushes back darkness? How does the church reach out with the words of Life?
We shine light to push back the darkness as we reach out to include ALL in our hearts, our homes and our individual churches! THAT's what being light is all about!
How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure!
How great the pain of searing loss! The Father turns His face away!
As wounds which mar the Chosen One, bring many sons to glory!
Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers!
It was my sin that left Him there until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished!
I will not boast in anything - no gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ - His death and resurrection!
Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart - His wounds have paid my ransom. --Stuart Townend
Showing posts with label Jerusalem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jerusalem. Show all posts
Friday, April 6, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year 2012! What's to be Happy About?
A friend posted on Facebook yesterday (basically), 2011 you haven't been very kind to me so get on out of here!
What was 2011 like for you? Did you have financial troubles? Were you deceived? Did you lose your job or your home? Did someone steal from you? Did your husband or wife walk away or die? Did someone you love die? Do you feel like a fool because you acted foolishly? Are you losing your hearing or your sight? When you look in the mirror today do you see a much older, more tired you than you remember seeing just a short while ago? Are you depressed and crushed in that battle? Did you learn you have a terminal or crippling disease in 2011?
That's a pretty horrible list, isn't it? Perhaps you fit more than one category on this list! I have a very dear friend who actually fits a number of these categories all in 2011. All the circumstances listed above are terrible, horrible, no-good and very bad! No one wants to meet up with any of these things in any dark alley!
Well, I have the best news! I am telling you confidently and truly that even tho' it may seem like THE END if you face even one of these horrendous life circumstances that ........ it is NOT the end!
You may wish it were the end but it is NOT the end! It is 2012 - a NEW year - and you came into 2012 with the same broken heart you had in 2011. How can I be so sure this is GOOD news? Because I know Who God is and I know for absolute certain that He shows up in any and all of these terrible, awful, no-good, very bad circumstances of life! AND God does more than just show up! He doesn't sit on His hands! He comes to participate in these terrible, awful, no-good, very bad circumstances that seem like the sentence of death! He NEVER comes to shake His finger in your face making you feel all the worse and more desperate. He comes to you with love and a hug. He whispers in your ear that He does indeed understand. He knows and cares and acted upon His love for you and me over 2,000 years ago when He brought His Son into our time and space - into our neighborhood - into skin just like ours. God demonstrated His love in the most graphic, radical, compelling way He possible could: He sent His Son to live the life you and I never can ( a perfect life) so that His Son Jesus could die the death that you and I could never die (the death of a perfect life willingly laid down). Jesus lived and died JUST for these desperate kinds of circumstances of life! Jesus lived and died for all the terrible, awful, no-good, very bad days in 2011 (or any other year!)! Jesus lived and died for all the terrible, awful, no-good, very bad days to come in 2012! AND that's GOOD news because Jesus conquered death when He walked out of His borrowed tomb on a mountainside outside Jerusalem, Israel on the first Easter Sunday morning over 2,000 years ago! He is alive!
The poet King David wrote thousands of years before Jesus came to earth, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for YOU are with me! (Ps. 23:4) These words, this confident confession express healthy faith! This kind of faith acknowledges the dark, deadly, desperate places we have to walk through but also affirms that we do not walk alone! How do I know that? Because Jesus lived and died and came back to life to make it so! If you doubt, if it's ever so hard to believe it can possibly be true for you - remember that God always keeps His promises!
God says to you this New Year's Day 2012: I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future! (Jeremiah 29:11) AND HE WILL! You can take that to the bank!
What was 2011 like for you? Did you have financial troubles? Were you deceived? Did you lose your job or your home? Did someone steal from you? Did your husband or wife walk away or die? Did someone you love die? Do you feel like a fool because you acted foolishly? Are you losing your hearing or your sight? When you look in the mirror today do you see a much older, more tired you than you remember seeing just a short while ago? Are you depressed and crushed in that battle? Did you learn you have a terminal or crippling disease in 2011?
That's a pretty horrible list, isn't it? Perhaps you fit more than one category on this list! I have a very dear friend who actually fits a number of these categories all in 2011. All the circumstances listed above are terrible, horrible, no-good and very bad! No one wants to meet up with any of these things in any dark alley!
Well, I have the best news! I am telling you confidently and truly that even tho' it may seem like THE END if you face even one of these horrendous life circumstances that ........ it is NOT the end!
You may wish it were the end but it is NOT the end! It is 2012 - a NEW year - and you came into 2012 with the same broken heart you had in 2011. How can I be so sure this is GOOD news? Because I know Who God is and I know for absolute certain that He shows up in any and all of these terrible, awful, no-good, very bad circumstances of life! AND God does more than just show up! He doesn't sit on His hands! He comes to participate in these terrible, awful, no-good, very bad circumstances that seem like the sentence of death! He NEVER comes to shake His finger in your face making you feel all the worse and more desperate. He comes to you with love and a hug. He whispers in your ear that He does indeed understand. He knows and cares and acted upon His love for you and me over 2,000 years ago when He brought His Son into our time and space - into our neighborhood - into skin just like ours. God demonstrated His love in the most graphic, radical, compelling way He possible could: He sent His Son to live the life you and I never can ( a perfect life) so that His Son Jesus could die the death that you and I could never die (the death of a perfect life willingly laid down). Jesus lived and died JUST for these desperate kinds of circumstances of life! Jesus lived and died for all the terrible, awful, no-good, very bad days in 2011 (or any other year!)! Jesus lived and died for all the terrible, awful, no-good, very bad days to come in 2012! AND that's GOOD news because Jesus conquered death when He walked out of His borrowed tomb on a mountainside outside Jerusalem, Israel on the first Easter Sunday morning over 2,000 years ago! He is alive!
The poet King David wrote thousands of years before Jesus came to earth, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for YOU are with me! (Ps. 23:4) These words, this confident confession express healthy faith! This kind of faith acknowledges the dark, deadly, desperate places we have to walk through but also affirms that we do not walk alone! How do I know that? Because Jesus lived and died and came back to life to make it so! If you doubt, if it's ever so hard to believe it can possibly be true for you - remember that God always keeps His promises!
God says to you this New Year's Day 2012: I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future! (Jeremiah 29:11) AND HE WILL! You can take that to the bank!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Good Friday and Sad Saturday
Just imagine you could have been in Jerusalem on that Friday and Saturday so long ago - over two thousand years ago now. Think about taking the walk from the city, out one of the city gates, down the winding road to the valley and then up the side of the Mount of Olives. You can take the same walk today.
When you see pictures of the scene on that long ago Friday, it is usually pictured on a hillside. Having been to Golgotha - where Scripture says the crucifixions took place - I don't think it was on a hillside. You can go to Golgotha, otherwise described as the "place of the skull." In the rock beside the well-worn path, there are indentations that make the rock look very much like a skull. However, it would be very difficult to sink a cross into rock.
The path is the same one used by travelers and merchant caravans headed west to Jerusalem for thousands of years. Beside that path is a very public, visible place. It would make sense that the Roman conqueror/occupiers would place their crosses with the victims nailed there dying their agonizing, very slow death right beside the path where the blood, gore and agony would be up-close and personal for all who passed by.
Today that rocky slope with its skull-like indentations is still beside the path and also across from a busy bus station. It is still a place "up-close" and personal - an "in your face" kind of place - for travelers (and tourist pilgrims).
Think about being one of those first "Christ-followers" who watched in horror the events of that first "Good Friday." Think about waking up on Saturday (or perhaps never being able to fall asleep with the horrible images that would refuse to go away in the terror of that sad night).
Think how much better it is for us! We now know the "rest of the story." We know that Friday happened. We know that Saturday was awful and sad, but we also know that Sunday came and so did the resurrection of the Savior of the world. He literally swallowed death! (Is. 25:8 and 1 Cor. 15:54)
What a day! So much to think about! What a day - the day that the God (Jesus) Who literally put on our skin, moved into our neighborhood and then took our place on a Roman cross died! Jesus became the willing sacrifice for the sins of the world! ONLY He could take that place! He was the ONLY One Who could "unlock the gate of heaven and let us in" !
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Think of it - living on this side of the resurrection and knowing the "rest of the story" should make ALL the difference in how we live and love. It should literally restore our hearts and lives! Knowing the resurrection and loving Jesus calls us to plant our feet right where people need Jesus and literally be the hands and feet of Jesus to them! Think about it!
When you see pictures of the scene on that long ago Friday, it is usually pictured on a hillside. Having been to Golgotha - where Scripture says the crucifixions took place - I don't think it was on a hillside. You can go to Golgotha, otherwise described as the "place of the skull." In the rock beside the well-worn path, there are indentations that make the rock look very much like a skull. However, it would be very difficult to sink a cross into rock.
The path is the same one used by travelers and merchant caravans headed west to Jerusalem for thousands of years. Beside that path is a very public, visible place. It would make sense that the Roman conqueror/occupiers would place their crosses with the victims nailed there dying their agonizing, very slow death right beside the path where the blood, gore and agony would be up-close and personal for all who passed by.
Today that rocky slope with its skull-like indentations is still beside the path and also across from a busy bus station. It is still a place "up-close" and personal - an "in your face" kind of place - for travelers (and tourist pilgrims).
Think about being one of those first "Christ-followers" who watched in horror the events of that first "Good Friday." Think about waking up on Saturday (or perhaps never being able to fall asleep with the horrible images that would refuse to go away in the terror of that sad night).
Think how much better it is for us! We now know the "rest of the story." We know that Friday happened. We know that Saturday was awful and sad, but we also know that Sunday came and so did the resurrection of the Savior of the world. He literally swallowed death! (Is. 25:8 and 1 Cor. 15:54)
What a day! So much to think about! What a day - the day that the God (Jesus) Who literally put on our skin, moved into our neighborhood and then took our place on a Roman cross died! Jesus became the willing sacrifice for the sins of the world! ONLY He could take that place! He was the ONLY One Who could "unlock the gate of heaven and let us in" !
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Think of it - living on this side of the resurrection and knowing the "rest of the story" should make ALL the difference in how we live and love. It should literally restore our hearts and lives! Knowing the resurrection and loving Jesus calls us to plant our feet right where people need Jesus and literally be the hands and feet of Jesus to them! Think about it!
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