And the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then
he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it
before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. (Gn. 18:1-8)
Foot washing was a common custom of hospitality in the Ancient Near East. Most often it was performed by servants. To receive someone into your house, you washed their feet! And then you feed them. In the above text we have The Triune God Himself appear to Abraham. Abraham, the Father of Nations, beckons THE LORD to stay with him. And so he offers to wash their feet. In order to wash feet one needs to stoop down. It is a servile position. Feet are sore and dirty from long travels. And so it is that Abraham understood his relationship to God who elected him to be our Patriarch. He will serve HIM!
Jesus turns all of this upside down. Jesus, Gad incarnate, receives us into His house. The irony is that when He washed His disciples feet, He was in someone else's house, a borrowed place for the Last Supper! Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, stoops down to clean the dirty feet of these Galilean fishermen. Simon protests knowing this was backwards. Jesus rebukes him saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” (Jn. 13:8) Peter consents. In order for us to have a share in Christ's household, we must allow Him to serve us! (Mk. 10:45)
But Jesus did not come to serve our self-centered needs but to die for us so that we can enter into the household of God. Our selfish desires keeps us from fellowship with God the Father! (Lk. 15:11-14) We exclude ourselves from living in God's house! But Jesus turns all that around. Not us, but Him! He is serving us in order that we may be reconciled to the Father so that in the here and now and the future to come we can abide with The Most Holy God! We are dirty from our travels. He will wash us for the banquet table in His Father's house! For only in Jesus, can we find favor in God's sight! (Gn. 18:3)
PONDERING WITH THE PADRE: This is a place where I, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, can sow seeds to help each and everyone of us grow as true Christians. I believe God is Lord of all of His creation. All we can do is seek His will for our lives. We cannot please God by our own good works. The fruits of our faith are fruits of repentance, of a new heart!
Showing posts with label Holy Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Week. Show all posts
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Repentant Thief
Holy Week Reflection on Luke 23:39-43
This week is regarded as the holiest week of the year. Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem denying Himself for the sake of our souls. And so let me offer a pastoral comment:
Do you get it?
The only way to Get the Resurrection is to travel with Jesus to the cross. We cannot ever know the meaning of the empty tomb without experiencing the bloody cross! The repentant thief on Golgotha got it!
The repentant thief did not justify himself when he was on the cross. The unrepentant thief tried to blame Jesus and his powerlessness to pull himself down from the cross in justifying his pain. After all, we cannot be the ones to take responsibility for our pain. I scream profanity when I stub my toe because someone put a rock in my way. I am justified in my cursing because someone put a stone in my way. The fact I was not looking and walking barefooted is not the cause of my pain! We can never justify ourselves. Blame does not take away my carelessness nor does it take away my pain.
When St. Paul uses the word justify in his letters, he is using it as a synonym of acquit as in the accused has been acquitted in a court of law! In other words, to be found 'not guilty'. We are not acquitted because of our innocence. We are acquitted because God took upon Himself our deserved punishment. The blame is still ours to bear. The repentant thief got it! And with the blame comes the pain. The repentant thief got it!
The English word justify means to make right or to make straight. When the printing press came into being, the printer would have to justify the margins of his text. This was done by taking each letter, placing it in a box in its appropriate spot and then taking the palm of his hand and slamming all the letters against one side of the box before the paper was placed on it. Hence, the terms left justified or right justified which should be familiar to us from using word processing programs. Sometimes when things do not go our way, it is because God is taking the palm of his hand and slamming us to make us into the people He wants us to be. He is justifying us, making us right. We cannot do it ourselves. He is giving meaning to our pain. He is the printer, we are the message! Only by knowing our guilt, our deserved punishment and who paid our debt to the Law, can we ever get it! If we tried to absolve ourselves by not accepting the pain, by blaming someone else, even God, we will not see how He is justifying us! This is what St. Paul is trying to tell us when he writes:
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26NLT)
If you can appreciate the work of Jesus on the Cross for you, then you will get it. But more importantly, your soul will reflect it though your thoughts and behavior. So this Holy Week truly test yourself through self-reflection. Do not tell Jesus what you want Him to do for you. This was what the unrepentant thief was asking. But ask Jesus to show you how He is dying for you!
So the next time someone throws up your past to you face, know that the blood of Christ covers your guilt and the accuser is in the wrong. This even works when we punish ourselves for past mistakes. But and this is a big but, let us be the message of God's love and not bring up the past mistakes of others. Let us be forgiving as we are forgiven and remember our sins no more! (Hebrews 10:26-39)
This week is regarded as the holiest week of the year. Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem denying Himself for the sake of our souls. And so let me offer a pastoral comment:
Do you get it?
The only way to Get the Resurrection is to travel with Jesus to the cross. We cannot ever know the meaning of the empty tomb without experiencing the bloody cross! The repentant thief on Golgotha got it!
The repentant thief did not justify himself when he was on the cross. The unrepentant thief tried to blame Jesus and his powerlessness to pull himself down from the cross in justifying his pain. After all, we cannot be the ones to take responsibility for our pain. I scream profanity when I stub my toe because someone put a rock in my way. I am justified in my cursing because someone put a stone in my way. The fact I was not looking and walking barefooted is not the cause of my pain! We can never justify ourselves. Blame does not take away my carelessness nor does it take away my pain.
When St. Paul uses the word justify in his letters, he is using it as a synonym of acquit as in the accused has been acquitted in a court of law! In other words, to be found 'not guilty'. We are not acquitted because of our innocence. We are acquitted because God took upon Himself our deserved punishment. The blame is still ours to bear. The repentant thief got it! And with the blame comes the pain. The repentant thief got it!
The English word justify means to make right or to make straight. When the printing press came into being, the printer would have to justify the margins of his text. This was done by taking each letter, placing it in a box in its appropriate spot and then taking the palm of his hand and slamming all the letters against one side of the box before the paper was placed on it. Hence, the terms left justified or right justified which should be familiar to us from using word processing programs. Sometimes when things do not go our way, it is because God is taking the palm of his hand and slamming us to make us into the people He wants us to be. He is justifying us, making us right. We cannot do it ourselves. He is giving meaning to our pain. He is the printer, we are the message! Only by knowing our guilt, our deserved punishment and who paid our debt to the Law, can we ever get it! If we tried to absolve ourselves by not accepting the pain, by blaming someone else, even God, we will not see how He is justifying us! This is what St. Paul is trying to tell us when he writes:
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26NLT)
If you can appreciate the work of Jesus on the Cross for you, then you will get it. But more importantly, your soul will reflect it though your thoughts and behavior. So this Holy Week truly test yourself through self-reflection. Do not tell Jesus what you want Him to do for you. This was what the unrepentant thief was asking. But ask Jesus to show you how He is dying for you!
So the next time someone throws up your past to you face, know that the blood of Christ covers your guilt and the accuser is in the wrong. This even works when we punish ourselves for past mistakes. But and this is a big but, let us be the message of God's love and not bring up the past mistakes of others. Let us be forgiving as we are forgiven and remember our sins no more! (Hebrews 10:26-39)
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