obedience
Because He’s Been There
by Linda Rex
October 20, 2024, Proper 24 | After Pentecost—In my last blog I looked at what our passage in Hebrews said about who Jesus is, and how that impacts our understanding of who we are as the beloved children of God. In this week’s lectionary passage from the New Testament, Hebrews 5:1–10, the author begins to make a case for how Jesus Christ, as the Son of God who came to take on human flesh, steps in and takes on the role of high priest for us. The role of high priest was originally filled by someone from the tribe of Levi, the branch of the ancient nation of Israel which had been given the responsibility of the priesthood.
The responsibility of the high priest was to represent the people of ancient Israel in their covenant relationship with God, offering gifts and sacrifices at the alter as commanded by God, and offering the Word of God and God’s grace to the people. This ministry of intercession via the priesthood was a gift of grace from God, providing a way in which a sinful, broken people could be reconciled with their Redeemer—the One who had rescued their nation from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians and made them his very own people.
The author of Hebrews brings up an important point—that the priest was selected from among the people—a brother of those who came to worship at the tabernacle or temple. Because this priest was one of them, he was just as broken and weak and disobedient as they were. And this enabled him to minister to them with compassion and understanding. This is a reminder to those of us who are called into pastoral ministry, or any other type of ministry in this world, to be well-acquainted with our own shortcomings, to face and deal with them honestly and humbly, and to allow this truth to temper our care of others with compassion, understanding, and mercy.
In Jesus’ case, he understood our frame as human beings because he, as the Son of God, took on a truly human existence. But he did so without ever allowing the many temptations he experienced to draw him into sin. Unlike us, he did not sin, though his genuine human experience covered a wide range of our human existence.
Jesus hammered out, so to speak, a truly human life lived out in obedience to his heavenly Father in the face of temptation and suffering and death, and he conquered evil, sin, and death in the process. As Jesus lives now in face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit, he intercedes on our behalf, knowing full well all that we go through and struggle with on a daily basis. And he intercedes on our behalf with great compassion and understanding.
The obedience Jesus perfected was that of bringing our human flesh, in all its rebellion and disobedience back to God, back into humble obedience and dependency upon his Father in the Spirit. Jesus forged within us the capacity for us to receive the indwelling Spirit who writes on our hearts and minds all that God commanded his people to obey. Jesus lived a perfect human life of obedience to his Father in the Spirit, bore our human flesh through death into resurrection, ascending into glory, bearing our glorified humanness into his Father’s presence to remain there forever in right relationship with God in the Spirit. In the gift of the Spirit, each of us individually can begin to participate in what Jesus made possible in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
And as our ascended Lord, Jesus reigns as the King of Righteousness (the meaning of Melchizedek), the High Priest appointed by his Father to offer the ultimate sacrifice—himself. As the One who judges, Jesus was judged on the cross, allowing himself to be crucified on our behalf. We have no reason to be afraid in coming to God with our sins, faults, weaknesses, and failures. We have Jesus Christ to intercede for us, to stand in our place, to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice in our place on our behalf. He pleads our case, and does so with great mercy and compassion, because he’s been there—he knows what it’s like to be us in the midst of this broken, messed up world. He prays our prayers to his Father, perfected and acceptable in God’s sight. And he offers the things of God to us in the Spirit, so we can share in his own right relationship with his Father in the Spirit. And Jesus loves us—so much so, that he laid down his life for us. Jesus has forged for us a life in right relationship with his Father and offers this to us in the gift of his Spirit, so we can live in God’s life and love, now and for eternity. What could be more wonderful than that?
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for giving your Son to us for our salvation and redemption. Thank you for giving us your Spirit so we can begin to participate in your own divine fellowship as Father, Son, and Spirit. We are so grateful, Jesus, that you understand us, care about us, and are always interceding for us on our behalf. Grant us the grace to ever live in grateful obedience. Amen.
“For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as aa high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:1–10 NASB
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:4–12
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The Gentleness of Wisdom
By Linda Rex
September 22, 2024, Proper 20 | After Pentecost—As we get further into our election year here in the United States, I am concerned by the way in which we as human beings tend to be swayed by whatever wind of politics blows in our direction. Those of us who believe and follow Jesus can get caught up in the polarization which seems to be occurring during this season, allowing ourselves to be swept along with one party’s aims and ambitions, rather than remaining rooted in our Lord, and his will and ways.
In our New Testament reading for this Sunday, James 3:13–4:3, 4:7–8a, the apostle expresses his concern about the wisdom of those who zealously sought the deliverance of his people from their Roman oppressors. The wisdom they expressed in words and actions led these people toward violence as a means of overthrowing the current government. James saw what drove their response was not the love of God in Christ, but jealousy and selfish ambition. There were those who saw what those in power had and enjoyed, and desired to have it for themselves. This led them to act in ways which did not reflect Christ, but rather, the natural and even demonic tendency towards evil and disorder.
What James speaks about is something which, when we look at our own hearts and minds today, may be a cause for concern. What are our motives for our response to the current situation we find ourselves in? What are our motives for what we do, whether at work, at home, or as we serve in our community or church? Are we motivated by God’s love in Christ, or are we motivated by jealousy and selfish ambition? Sometimes we may believe we have the greatest of intentions, when, in reality, we have ulterior motives. We may need to ask the Lord to show us what’s really going on inside.
If we truly want to be wise and understanding, James says that our wisdom is to be rooted in God himself. True wisdom, he says, is pure—it has no ulterior motives. Just like what Jesus manifested while he was here on earth, it comes simply out of a heart that is “peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” This sincere and quiet spirit reflects the union and communion of the divine oneness of Father, Son, and Spirit, where each Person fully knows and indwells the other, in a relationship of other-centered, self-giving, sacrificial love. This beautiful shalom, the wholeness and peace of the Triune God, is held by James in stark contrast against the “earthly, natural, demonic” wisdom expressed by those who were embracing a path which led to evil and disorder.
So, what does James say we are to do instead? Because our Triune God, who is love and who loves us, is our Creator and Redeemer, we submit to him. We voluntarily yield ourselves to the authority of Father, Jesus, and Spirit in our hearts, minds, and lives. We resist all that is evil and that spirit which stands in opposition to God’s will and his ways. We choose to draw closer to God, growing in our relationship with him day by day. In response, God will draw closer to us.
Jesus Christ has cleansed us and is cleansing us now by the work of the Holy Spirit in and with us. Jesus purified our hearts through his perfect work in our place on our behalf, and is working now to purify our hearts by his Spirit as we respond to him in faith. Our response to the Holy Spirit’s work in us and in our lives is important. We can resist or grieve the Spirit, or we can respond with humble submission, gratitude, and obedience. True wisdom involves a humble, obedient response to the Spirit’s work, allowing the Spirit to cleanse us and purify our hearts with the indwelling presence and power of Jesus Christ. The wisdom from above, God’s wisdom, has been given to us through Jesus in the Spirit. Are we yielding fully to the Spirit’s work in and through us? Are we allowing him to transform us, and to form us to Christ?
I began this message with a reference to what is happening in the political sphere in our nation today. How might God’s wisdom be applied to this situation? The reality is, as followers of Christ, our first loyalty is to our Lord and Savior, to Jesus. And we are to draw near to him, for he is the One who ultimately is Lord over the nations, and who elevates or demotes our leaders. And we are unable to clearly see and make the best determination of how to move forward apart from his direction and inspiration by his heavenly Spirit. So, we pray for our nation and for God’s Spirit to move in people’s hearts and minds. We ask God to do what only God can do, and as we are directed by him, we act in the gentleness of his divine wisdom.
Heavenly Father, thank you that you know exactly what is needed in our situation, and that you are ever at work in our lives, growing us into the fullness of Christ. Grant us the grace to respond to your work in us by your Spirit, and to yield ourselves to your will in obedience, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. … Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 3:13–4:3, 4:7–8a NASB
The Ultimate Victory
By Linda Rex
May 5, 2024, 6th Sunday in Easter—“I wish I had your faith,” a friend said to me. We had been talking about a change God had done in my life. The Lord had given me a totally new perspective about what it meant to follow Christ. And his grace had transformed my life.
The interesting thing about faith is that we cannot drum it up ourselves. We can only receive it as a gift from God. It is the faith of Jesus Christ that we need most, for only Jesus truly knows the trustworthiness, faithfulness, love, and goodness of the Triune God.
This Sunday’s reading in the New Testament, 1 John 5:1–6, speaks of the need to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who lived in our human flesh, was crucified, and rose again. Bound up in the sacrificial self-offering of Jesus Christ is a profound expression of God’s love. As we believe, we receive this gift of love he offers us. This gift is God’s love poured out in the Spirit of truth. The Spirit bears witness within us to the reality that God has come to dwell in human hearts, through Jesus in the Spirit.
The love of God is poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). It is Christ in us by the Spirit who is the law of God written on human hearts. It is Jesus’ own face-to-face relationship with his Father in the Spirit that we participate in. It is his triumph over evil, sin, and death that we share in. And we find within his victory our own victory over all that opposes God. This is the beauty of our new life in Christ.
Too often we focus on the dos and don’ts of our life in Christ. We focus on whether or not we (or others) are measuring up to the standards we believe God requires of us. We find ourselves trying to hide our failures to love. We stuff down inside, as best as we can, all those things we are ashamed of and feel guilty about. And they only seem to gain strength and power.
What we miss is the reality that, in Christ, we are who God has declared us to be—his very own beloved children. We cannot alter our inclusion in his life by our behavior or misbehavior. God’s love is unconditional. However, the reality is that our experience of his love is affected by our behavior or misbehavior. And we may need to be reawakened to the reality in which we exist.
When my toddler threw a temper tantrum, it did not change the reality that they were my beloved child. It did not alter my love for them or my desire to be with them and to have them in my life. It did require that I respond to them in the most loving way possible. They needed to know who they were—my beloved child—and that the behavior they were manifesting was out of sync with that reality. The reality was they could not continue their misbehavior and fully enjoy the fellowship of our family.
Every person who has ever lived was created to participate in God’s life and love. God has loved every person since before the foundation of the world. God knew we each tend to turn and go our own way. This has not altered his love for us. Rather, he has worked since before time began to ensure that nothing, not even our own stubborn disobedient wills, would stand in the way of us being able to participate in his life and love. For it is God’s purpose that every person be included in his life and love for all eternity.
We cannot do any of this on our own. Our own efforts as humans have sent us down the road to ruin, back to the nothingness out of which we were created. God is not willing that anyone perish, and so the Son of God came. Born of a woman, he lived a very human life in obedience to his Father, and died a painful, bloody death. And he rose from the grave to carry our human flesh with him into glory. Now we all are able by faith to participate in Jesus’ own life with his Father in the Spirit. Jesus sent the Spirit from the Father to us so he might live his life in and through us. We have been given Christ’s own life of faith, obedience, and right relationship with his Father, by the Spirit.
We stand with open hands and open hearts to receive this gift of God’s love and grace. We are God’s beloved children. He is our very own Father. Jesus, as our brother and friend, includes us in his own fellowship with his Father in the Spirit. And the Spirit says in our hearts, the words of the Father and Jesus, “I am yours, and you are mine.”
If you are struggling to believe, simply ask the Lord Jesus to give you his faith to believe. He will be happy to share everything he has with you, including the faith to believe.
We thank you, heavenly Father, for the gift of your Son and your Spirit. We ask for the grace to believe—free us from our unbelief. Enable us to leave each day, by your Spirit, in the truth of who we are as your beloved children, accepted, forgiven, redeemed, and renewed, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” 1 John 5:1–6 NASB
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the incarnate begotten son of God, loves the Father and esteems the son with equal affection. In this knowing [of mankind’s co-genesis revealed in the Christ-incarnation,] we love the children of God with the same love that we have discovered in God; we treasure the conclusion of his prophetic purpose with affection. For the love of God is realized in the way we evaluate his precepts; if love’s triumph is the conclusion of every prophetic pointer, how can this be interpreted as an unbearable burden? Whatever is born of God is destined to triumph over the world system. Our faith celebrates a victory that is already accomplished! This is the ultimate victory: the certainty that the human Jesus is the divine son of God; (that he is indeed the incarnate Christ—and the central theme of both the Word that was before time was as well as the key to understanding all of Scripture. He is the Savior of the world. …) This is he who was to come; he arrived in the flesh via his mother’s womb—by water and blood—Jesus Christ. And in his ministry as the Christ, he was not only borne witness to by John the Baptist in the prophetic baptism of water, but he went all the way into his baptism of death, in his shed blood, where he died humanity’s death. And it is the Spirit that bears witness according to her own being, which is truth!” 1 John 5:1–6 Mirror Bible
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Giving the Gift We Are
by Linda Rex
August 27, 2023, Proper 16 | After Pentecost—Recently my son and I took a trip out of state to a part of the United States I had not been in before. On our way home, we drove for a while down the Blue Ridge Parkway simply as an opportunity to see God’s creation and enjoy the view. The scenery was beautiful and worth seeing, but the roads were full of snakelike curves and sharp corners. As we got four hours into the trip, I began to wonder if the scenery was worth the effort we were putting into just trying to stay on the road.
Sometimes we make decisions about our everyday lives which don’t take into consideration the long-range view we ought to have. There are times when we forget the spiritual realities which are meant to guide our choices. The apostle Paul in the passage for this Sunday, Romans 12:1-8, reminds us of where our focus needs to be when it comes to our everyday lives. Having spent much of the earlier part of his letter to the Romans explaining our common need for grace and the generous, undeserved gift of mercy and inclusion in God’s life and love which we all have been given, Paul goes on to explain the impact this is meant to have on the way we conduct our lives.
Since grace is a gift we are given by God, we respond in gratitude by giving our lives away in service to God and others. Paul says this is our “spiritual service of worship” (NASB, NRSV, ESV), our “true and proper worship” (NIV), or our “reasonable service” (NKJV). In other words, rather than offering up animals in ritual sacrifice through death, we offer ourselves to God alive from the dead through Jesus’ own sacrificial offering. Instead of having to die ourselves, we die to ourselves by offering ourselves and our lives to God to do whatever he asks of us.
Determining what God asks of us means renewing our minds or our way of being so that it coincides with the truth of who we are in Christ. We focus on Jesus Christ, learning from him, and opening ourselves up to the Spirit’s guidance and direction. Since Jesus Christ lived our perfect human life as we were meant to, in right relationship with his Father in the Spirit, he becomes for us our own right relationship with God by the Spirit. We rest in him, not in our human efforts to get things right. Elsewhere the apostle Paul reminds us to keep our mind on things above, not on things on this earth, and to place our affections on things above, not on earthly things. We want to grow up into the fullness of Christ, but we won’t get there if our focus is upon human standards, rituals, ways of conducting our lives rather than on Jesus.
Paul goes on to say that as we grow up in Christ and are transformed by the renewing of our minds, we not only offer ourselves to God, but we also offer our lives in service to one another. God, by his Spirit, has through Christ given us new life. He has taken our human flesh through a change similar to what a caterpillar experiences when it becomes a butterfly—something entirely new being made out of the old. We stop eating leaves and start drinking nectar. We stop walking everywhere and start flying. Whatever we have turned away from to follow Christ no longer is our focus. Rather, we are focused on God’s agenda in this world—on the restoration, renewal, transformation, and healing of all things. We are focused on pointing others to the present and future reality of the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven.
The grace God has given us in Christ poured out on and in us by his Spirit comes with gifts of service meant to be a gift to others. Just as we are united with God through Christ in the Spirit, we are joined with one another in such a way that each of us is an essential part of the body with gifts that are meant to be a blessing and service to others. This means our everyday lives become a place where we pour our lives out in love, generosity, compassion, and service to everyone around us, whether family, friends, neighbors, strangers, or even our enemies.
This elevates our human experience to a new level of participation with Jesus Christ in what he is doing in the world. We are no longer self-absorbed, self-centered, or self-willed. Rather, we are Spirit-absorbed, Christ-centered, God-willed—living as we were always meant to, in right relationship with God and one another. We live in other-centered, self-sacrificing, service to God and others.
You and I both know that this is an ideal we rarely seem to experience in this life. This is why our everyday life is a matter of daily sacrifice—of offering ourselves once more to God in gratitude and thanksgiving. Just as Jesus deliberately and willingly walked the long road to the cross, voluntarily offering himself up for us all, we choose each day to offer ourselves up as well. Our gifts and abilities are not ours to be used for our own pleasure, but for the will of God—how he would like them to be a blessing to himself and others. Whatever the result of our efforts—it is all of grace. We rest in Christ’s faithful obedience to his Father, not in our own perfect offering.
As we do this each day, we may be surprised to discover after a while that our sacrifice is no sacrifice at all, for we, in Christ, end up doing what we were originally created for and best gifted at. And our life is given meaning and value in a way we’ve never experienced before. And we no longer waste our time in futile, self-destructive pastimes, while instead, we find ways to enjoy life and relationship which are healthy, joy-filled and productive. We discover we are living God’s kingdom life right now, in fellowship with God and each other as we were always meant to. For God always meant this for us, even before any of us or our cosmos even existed.
Thank you, dear Father, for your faithful love and boundless grace. Enable us to freely offer ourselves this day, and every day, in loving service to you and others. Open our eyes to see how you have gifted and called us to service, and grant us each day the grace to do so faithfully, in Jesus’ name and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:1–8 NASB
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Beloved of the Father
by Linda Rex
January 8, 2023, EPIPHANY | Baptism of the Lord—In the season of Advent, we have prepared our hearts and minds for the entering of God into our cosmos in the incarnation. As God in human flesh, Jesus Christ came into our world to live a truly human life, and during the twelve-day season of Christmas (between Christmas and Epiphany), we celebrate this amazing gift. Pondering the richness of God’s indescribable love gives depth to our holiday celebrations, enabling us to bear up under the inevitable realities of loss, grief, brokenness, and struggle.
We are reminded that it was not enough that God had compassion on us as frail and faulty human beings. It was not enough that God saw and forgave our shortcomings and incessant unfaithfulness to him. No, the Son of God chose to enter our own place of existence, into our material cosmos, and to take upon himself a truly human existence, personally forging within our human flesh the capacity and desire to live in right relationship with his own Father in the Spirit.
Our American individualism often prevents our ability to think in terms of place-sharing. So often, we seek to do things ourselves, on our own, for our own satisfaction or to accomplish our personal goals and plans. We may not even consider that a better and more fulfilling life would be ours if we opened ourselves up to the concept of place-sharing—of putting ourselves in another person’s place, to understand and participate with them in what they are going through. Place-sharing is part of living a truly human life as image-bearers of the divine. And this is what Jesus did in the incarnation and invites us into as participants in his life with the Father in the Spirit.
After Christmas begins the season of Epiphany, when we begin to consider more about who this person Jesus Christ really is. What does it mean that God has come in Jesus Christ to live a truly human life? Why would this man of Middle Eastern descent, born of a virgin, raised by a carpenter, whom John believed was the sinless Messiah, come to the Jordan River and insist on being baptized?
From his birth on, Jesus’ human experience involved place-sharing. Part of Jesus’ truly human experience involved walking up to John that day at the Jordan River and being baptized by him for the remission of sins. Jesus’ heavenly Father commissioned John to call people to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and in obedience to the word of the Father through John, Jesus came to be baptized—not for his own sake, but for the sake of every human being. Jesus immersed all of us in his own obedience to the Father and in his own baptism, including all of humanity in his sacrificial self-offering, in his death and resurrection.
Can you imagine the glow within the Father’s heart when he saw his beloved Son willingly identifying with us and offering himself in our place on our behalf? It is no wonder the Spirit descended so lovingly and the Father’s word of affirmation came in that moment, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” How delighted the Father was in his Son! He knew the extent of the sacrifice Jesus was making, having left the privileges of divinity behind to identify with us and participate with us in our messy, broken world, even when his Son knew the cost would be his own crucifixion at our hands.
John was blessed with the ability to see the divine gifting of Jesus for ministry which occurred in that moment. He had been told by God that the one upon whom the Spirit alighted as a dove would be the Messiah. And here, in this sacred moment, John bore witness to the anointing of Jesus by the Father in the Spirit for his mission and ministry in that very way. It was John’s blessed privilege to participate in what God was doing by bearing witness to the person Jesus Christ was as the Anointed One.
As Jesus began his messianic ministry, John heard stories of his miracles and teachings. As John bore up under the assault of the Roman government, he had to come to terms with Jesus’ focus on the Father’s mission and ministry. Was Jesus truly the Messiah? Was he truly the deliverer that his nation had longed for all these centuries?
The truth is, Jesus’ place-sharing went far beyond simply being baptized on behalf of all. In the everyday moments of his ministry and mission, Jesus joined people where they were, scandalizing the religious elite by hobnobbing with prostitutes and tax collectors. His friends and colleagues weren’t the upstanding, prestigious leaders of the community, but humble fishermen and down-to-earth people of all walks of life. Jesus touched the leprous and the dead, offering healing and restoration. Jesus embraced the sick and comforted the grieving, offering grace to the shamed and rejected, calling them up into a new life in right relationship with God and others. In every aspect of his life, Jesus embraced and shared life with others, without respect to their personhood or their position in the community.
Those who walked this life with Jesus bore witness to his place-sharing, and following his death and resurrection, began themselves to live and care for others as he did. In the book of Acts are stories of how those who were witnesses of Jesus’ place-sharing lived themselves in ways which involved joining people where they were to bring them into renewal and transformation. We see Philip on the road, joining with a gentleman who was not understanding what he was reading from Isaiah—and the resulting conversation ended in this man’s baptism.
Where might Jesus be inviting us to join with him in touching the life of another? Where might he be wanting us to enter in and become a part of someone else’s journey? How might we be able to share in what another person is going through, thereby offering God’s grace, compassion, and love in the midst of their suffering, sorrow, or need?
We all have been immersed in Jesus’ baptism and are given to share in his receiving of the Spirit for mission and ministry. Our tangible identification with Jesus Christ in his baptism, thereby in his death and resurrection, is by being baptized ourselves into the Father, Son, and Spirit, and becoming part of the body of Christ, the Church. We also tangibly identify with Jesus Christ and participate in Jesus’ baptism, thereby in his death and resurrection, as we ourselves participate in taking communion on a regular basis, eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) with other believers as a member of the body of Christ, the Church.
For many of us, joining a local expression of the Church isn’t easy, but we need to be a part of the body of Christ which is filled with the Spirit and actively participating with Jesus in caring for and loving others, if we want to grow in spiritual maturity and participate with others in place-sharing. Asking for God’s direction and guidance is a good place to start. And following the lead of the Spirit and the instruction of the Word of God, the Bible, is also helpful. In God’s good time, he will lead us to where he wants to nurture and care for us spiritually, as well as work through us to nurture and care for others.
Dear Abba, our heavenly Father, thank you for delighting in us as you delighted in your own Son, Jesus. Grant us the grace by your Spirit to fully participate with you as you bring healing, renewal, and reconciliation to this world, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Opening his mouth, Peter said: ‘I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)—you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” Acts 10:34–43 NASB
“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ But Jesus answering said to him, ‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’ ” Matthew 3:13–17 NASB
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O God, Restore Us!
By Linda Rex
December 19, 2021, ADVENT | Love— As I put out my nativity set in my living room each year, I hide the baby Jesus away for the miracle of Christmas morning. The shepherd watches from a safe distance, and the wise men with their camel are hidden back on a shelf temporarily until closer to that day. On that sacred evening we celebrate on Christmas Eve, I bring out the baby Jesus and pause with wonder at the miracle of this special event. The shepherd draws near to worship and the wise men on their journey come closer, seeking this chosen One.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be in relationship with this God who would go to such incredible effort to draw every human being to himself in the miracle of the incarnation. I personally know the anguish and struggle that go with giving birth to a firstborn son, and the incredible joy and wonder which result when holding him in my arms for the first time. How could this marvelous bundle of possibilities have ended up in my arms? What does God have in mind for his life? How much more amazing must it have been for Mary to consider the wonder of being chosen to bear the Messiah!
But there is an undercurrent to this marvelous story which I believe is important to understand, and it goes along with this theme of being in relationship with God. And it is this: Jesus came because it was the will of God that he do so. He came because it is the nature of God to love and care for those he has created and brought into relationship with himself. The divine Son came willingly, and obediently, as an expression of God’s covenant love and faithfulness. The Son of God knew the Father in the Spirit, and trusted fully in his love—so he freely offered himself in obedience to the will of his Father.
My heart is heavy right now with all I see going on in my world. We are experiencing the consequences of our continual choices to do things our own way—to decide for ourselves how we will live and how we will treat one another and this world we all live on. I am broken by the way we live and the consequences of our choices. And it breaks my heart to think about what our children and grandchildren will be having to deal with when my generation has passed from the scene. What a price we pay for doing things our own way!
I often hear this time of year that the reason Jesus came was to die on the cross. In one way, I agree with this, but in another, I feel as though it truncates what Jesus actually came to do. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in whole burnt offerings and’ sacrifices ‘for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.” ’ … By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:5–7, 10 NASB)
I believe the Scriptures teach us that Jesus came to bring us into right relationship with God and subsequently with one another. Doing so required so much more than simply dying on the cross. It also involved being conceived in the womb of a woman, being a babe in her arms, growing up as a child into adulthood, and learning a trade at the feet of his father. Jesus experienced all of the everyday activities of our human life in a human body, being tempted in every point, but without sin. The forging of our true humanity occurred throughout his life, from birth even to death and on into the resurrection and ascension. In his human existence on this earth, Jesus “learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, … (Heb. 5:8–9 NASB).”
The song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” comes to mind as I am writing this. In this hymn which expresses our deep longing for our redemption and salvation, I hear echoed our longing for this transformation of our human existence:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high
And order all things, far and nigh
To us the path of knowledge show
And cause us in her ways to go
O come, Desire of nations bind
All peoples in one heart and mind
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease
Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
(Latin Hymn, Translated by John M. Neale and Henry S. Coffin; Adapted from Plainsong by Thomas Helmore)
We also need to attend to the reality that there was a substantial difference between the responses of the two representative females in God’s story: Eve did not believe God, and ate of the tree she was told not to eat of, while Mary believed God’s word to her through the angel Gabriel and told God to do with her as he wished. In Eve, disbelief resulted in disobedience and all of the subsequent result of that as sin and death entered our human existence. In Mary’s belief and obedience, we find the life-giving God enters into our death- and sin-bound human existence in the person of Jesus Christ and restores our true humanity in his life, death, resurrection and ascension—making possible our right relationship with the Triune God now and forever in the gift of his Son and his heavenly Spirit.
What if we willingly surrendered our independence, our preferences, and our expectations to the God who came to us to bring us into right relationship with himself? What if we, like Mary, believed that God was good and loving, that he was faithful and trustworthy, and that he sought what was best for us? What if we actually said to God each day and in each moment, “Do with me as you wish”? What if we indeed brought every thought captive to the will of God in Christ (2 Cor. 10:5)?
The good news is that this is the very reason Jesus came. Jesus took our stubborn willfulness and turned us back toward obedience to the Father—even to the point of death on the cross. Jesus bore the suffering and agony of our rejection and resistance to God upon himself, took it to the grave, and emerged offering us new life in himself. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:16–17 NASB).”
What a lovely reason for the season! All that is left for us is to respond to Christ’s gift in faith, being filled with the Spirit and pouring out our gratitude in praise like Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias—all participants in this miraculous event. What we could not and would not do, Jesus did in our place and on our behalf. Such great love expressed to us by God above! We humbly receive with open hands and hearts, and respond with gratitude, saying, “Lord, let it be to me according to your word.” Your life, Jesus, for my life. Thank you, Lord!
“O God of hosts, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.” Psalm 80:7 NASB
“Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.’” Luke 1:39–45 NASB
The Lord Our Righteousness
By Linda Rex
November 28, 2021, ADVENT | Hope—The other day, my husband was telling me how during his myriad travels he came across a radio station in Florida playing Christmas music. Christmas music in October? Apparently, the station owners believed that all the negative press and bad news needed to be overcome with the good news found within the Christmas message, which brings hope, peace, joy and God’s love.
Indeed, we do well to attend to the spiritual realities which lie behind all the negative noise going on right now in the world around us. We can be overcome with sorrow, anger, and frustration due to the appearance of success that evil seems to be having. Or we can focus on the leaves bursting forth on the fig tree—there is new growth which will one day result in an abundant harvest of righteousness and goodness, to be celebrated forever in God’s loving presence.
The Old Testament is replete with warning to God’s people about what will happen should they wander away from their covenant relationship with God. Indeed, the apocalyptic language of such events strikes terror into us. None of us wish to personally experience the power of a tsunami or the destruction accompanying the alteration of the orbit of the heavenly bodies like the moon or sun.
What catastrophes might we personally dread? Have we ever thought about the consequences of how we live our lives day by day? Jesus says that no earthly catastrophe compares with the consequences of rejecting our one hope of salvation in him. So, he wants us to pay attention—to not take our relationship with God for granted, but to be actively involved in a life in sync with who we are as the beloved, forgiven, redeemed children of God.
I remember how for many years I agonized over whether or not I would qualify for the kingdom of God. Would I ever be good enough? Saints over the centuries have agonized over this question. How many of us have lived in this internal torment, longing for a mere morsel of hope that we will be included in the new life to come?
God gave his people a promise in Jeremiah 33:14-16 that one day a righteous son of David would come forth to execute justice and righteousness on the earth. When that day came Judah would be saved and Jerusalem would dwell in safety. God’s people would be known by this name, “the Lord our righteousness” (NKJV). The NIRT puts it this way, “The Lord Who Makes Us Right With Himself.”
The spiritual reality we need to grab hold of and rest in is that Jesus Christ is our right relationship with God, now and forever. Whatever we may do, whatever effort we put into it, is merely a participation in what Jesus has already done, is doing even now by his Spirit, and will do when he returns in glory. This is why, when the world begins to fill with catastrophes, we have no reason to fear or be afraid—we are already saved, are being saved, and will be saved—in Christ. By faith, we can lift our heads and look with hope and joy at the coming of our Lord in glory.
Truly, Jesus did warn us that it is easy to get distracted by the cares of this life and the pulls of our human flesh. We can learn a lot from those early Christian anchorites, who obeyed Jesus’ command to deny themselves, lay down their lives and follow Christ. They were willing to go to great lengths to forbid themselves the everyday blessings of life because they wanted more of Jesus. They were willing to humble themselves and receive the rejection of their peers and the world around them for the sake of doing what they believed Christ wanted them to do—seek him and him alone. Their eyes and minds and hearts were fixed on heaven, not on this earth and its pleasures and cares. There is much we can learn from them about self-denial and simple obedience to the Spirit.
Jesus and the early apostles called us to prayer—to acknowledging and acting on our dependency upon God in every situation of life. We pray for one another as well, offering up our support and encouragement as we face the difficulties and struggles of walking as believers in a world which opposes and rejects the person and way of Jesus. In prayer we call forth God’s presence and power in and through us—praying for God to increase his love in our hearts and lives, his holiness in our actions and motivations, and enabling us to experience by the Spirit the right relationship with God and man Jesus forged for us in his life, death, resurrection and ascension.
God calls us to alertness—to readiness—a focus on him and his work in us and in this world. We often make prayer about telling God what he needs to be doing. In reality, prayer needs to become a way in which we become present to what God is already doing, attentive to what he wants to do in us and in the world around us, and how we can be a part of that. Prayer, by necessity, needs to become listening to the heart of the Father, and an openness to doing his will in this world, whatever that may be.
Prayer in the Spirit actually begins with God, who shares his thoughts and desires with us by the Spirit, and moves us to pray about the things which are important to him, about those things that he is at work in this world doing right now. As we offer up our prayers in tune with the heart of the Father, Jesus takes them, perfects them, and offers them in the Spirit back to the Father, completing the circle of relationship in which we are included. It is a beautiful thing to pray in the Spirit—sharing in the inner life of the Trinity!
Our attentiveness to God, our posture of listening and receptivity, of participation in the divine life and love, is how we prepare for the cataclysmic end of the world Jesus warned us would be coming. There is no need to fear or be anxious in the midst of difficult or dangerous times, for we are, even now, included in the inner life of the Triune God of love. We are already sharing in that blessed hope which will be fully realized when Jesus returns in glory. By faith, we trust in the finished work of Christ, so there is nothing for us to fear when we see Jesus return again—we’re already active in what he is doing in this world, participating in God’s mission, communing with God, and knowing he is present in every moment. His return in glory is merely the next step in what we are doing with him as the ones for whom the Lord is our righteousness.
Thank you, dear Abba, for including us in your life and love through Jesus your Son and in the Spirit. Remind us constantly to turn our hearts and minds toward you, so that all of life is lived aware of you and your real and active presence. Prepare our hearts to receive you, Jesus, now and forever, by your grace. Amen.
“Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” 1 Thessalonians 3:(9–10) 11–13 NASB
“But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. … Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:28, 34–36 (25–36) NASB
Wisdom Has the Last Laugh
By Linda Rex
September 12, 2021, PROPER 19—The earth turns slowly on its axis while wobbling through space. Along with its celestial brothers and sisters, it spins around the sun, traveling about in a rhythmic dance with the moon. Because of this, we step out of the house at dawn and watch the sun rise over the horizon. As night approaches, we watch the sun set in glorious array. We don’t sense any movement ourselves, but day by day, we experience the consequences of this movement.
In Psalm 19, King David wrote that the sun rising and setting each day, the magnificent heavenly bodies glittering in the night sky, and the wonders in heaven and on earth are all consequences of the actions of our God. His actions have led to life—life in a myriad of shapes and forms on this earth, in outer space, and in the vast oceans of the earth. God’s heart of love and grace are expressed in a real and powerful way in all he has made, and are a visible demonstration of his glory, his generosity and wisdom.
King David’s son Solomon wrote that wisdom, personified as a woman, speaks to us constantly, calling to each and every person to listen to her and to do what she directs. Why do you want to be ignorant and naïve, she asks, and suffer the consequences of foolish choices and decisions? “Turn to my reproof,” she warns, “Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.” Then she says she will laugh in the day when the foolish experience the consequences of their refusal to listen to the voice of wisdom—she did her part but they turned away and chose to take their own path (Proverbs 1:20–33 NASB).
Wisdom, in this passage, involves a knowledge and understanding of God’s ways, his glory and his goodness. We were made in the image of God, after his likeness, to be reflections of his Triune nature of love. If this is our identity as human beings, what does it look like when we live it out? It looks a lot like Jesus.
Wisdom is available at all times—like the air we breathe and the sun coming up each morning and setting each night—it’s a part of our universe, constantly pointing out the reality that there is a better way of living, that there’s more to life than just this. God gave his wisdom in the creation of all things, in the revelation of himself to Israel, and in the giving of the law to his people. But going way beyond that, God has given us his profound wisdom in the person of Jesus Christ. He sent his Son, who took on our human flesh and lived the life we were meant to live. The law of God lived out in a human person, fully dependent upon the Father, in obedience to him by the Spirit, even to the point of giving up his life at the hands of others—this is what it looks like to be truly human and to be the wisdom of God present in this cosmos.
So often we ignore the wisdom God gives us. He tells us the best way to live and we ignore him, choosing our own way, our own path, to decide for ourselves what is right or wrong. And then we become angry when we begin to experience the consequences of our choices. But there are consequences to choosing to ignore true wisdom, especially the true wisdom given to us in the person of Jesus Christ and his presence here in this world right now by the Holy Spirit.
God has always wanted us to experience the consequences of obedience to him—the benefits which involve life, a life lived now and forever in union and communion with him in the Spirit. God wants the harvest of our lives to be faith, hope, and love—a joyful experience of union and communion with him and our brothers and sisters, now and forever. He does not want us to, and has never wanted us to, experience the consequence of death. He always and ever wanted us to have life, true abundant life as he has always experienced it in the unity and harmony of the Father and Son in the Spirit.
True wisdom calls to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Come—this is the way you were created to live—in loving, faithful obedience to the Father by the Spirit expressed in loving care and concern for God and others. While the world around us and our broken flesh calls us to the pleasures of this life and to self-centered ways of living and being, Jesus calls us to a better way—a way of self-sacrificial service and humility. “If anyone wishes to come after Me,” he said, “he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” The consequence of following Jesus may, in the immediate sense, require sacrifice, suffering, and/or death, but in the end, it will result in eternal life—life in intimate relationship with God through Jesus in the Spirit and in joyful life with others both now and forever as brothers and sisters in God’s kingdom.
The world around me is constantly encouraging me to believe that I am able to do whatever I want without any cost associated with my decisions. I am free, I am told. No one can tell me what to do. But just what is true freedom? Doesn’t true freedom require that we be willing to pay whatever price is necessary for that freedom to exist? Doesn’t true freedom involve other-centered love, limiting oneself for the sake of God and others?
What price are we willing to pay for the choices we are making today? Do we realize the full extent of what we are giving up in our current pursuit of self-absorbed living and self-centered pleasure-seeking? Do we realize the price we are going to pay if we continue to refuse to listen to the voice of Wisdom which is constantly calling out to us to turn from ourselves and to turn to Christ? Are we hearing even now the laughter of Wisdom as the consequences of our stubborn resistance to her are beginning to show themselves in our world and in our lives?
All of us make decisions while ignoring the consequences of those decisions. All of us stubbornly and willfully choose to go our own way at times, even though we know better, and know that it will cost us. Jesus, the wisdom of God present by the Holy Spirit, calls us to come to him, to find our rest in him. He calls us to turn from ourselves and the things of this world and turn to him, finding our true life in him instead. We may, in the short term, have to sacrifice or give up some things we value, but in the view of eternity, they are nothing compared with the glory God has planned for us as we share in his life and love as glorified human beings in the new heavens and new earth.
Dear Lord, everything you have made has been done with great love and abundance of wisdom. Thank you for giving your Son, your wisdom in human flesh, to be the true reflection of your glory and goodness we are to follow and obey. Thank you for planting your wisdom in human hearts by your Holy Spirit. Grant us the grace to listen to and obey Wisdom as she calls to us day by day, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’ And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’” Mark 8:27–38 NASB
Our Life in the Trinity 