Tag Jesus

The Likeness of Christ

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As told in Genesis, Joseph served Pharaoh faithfully.  Even after being wrongly accused and imprisoned, he served while in prison and eventually rose again to prominence in Pharaoh’s kingdom.  When Pharaoh dreamed of famine, Joseph interpreted the dream, and under God’s direction, came up with a plan to survive it.  “And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” – Genesis 41:38

In the gospels, Peter and John began as uneducated fishermen, yet they were personally discipled by Jesus for 3 years.  In Acts chapter 4, these former fishermen forcefully proclaim the gospel, and about five thousand people came to faith in Christ.  “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” – Acts 4:13

Pharoah recognized the Spirit in Joseph and people noticed Peter and John were different – do people notice the Spirit in you?  Can they tell you’ve been with Jesus?

“A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ.” – Charles Spurgeon

The Cross of Christ is History

Todd R 2 Comments

Christians rightly focus on the historical fact of the life, death, and resurrection as the foundation of their faith.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 – “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”  For Christianity to matter, these things must have actually happened.  Therefore, a lot has been written providing evidence that these events happened, and that Christian faith is not based on speculation, but on solid history.

Today I’m going to take a different angle on the significance of the “historical” part of “historical fact.”  This post is about the more straight-forward meaning that these events happened in the past.

Why This Matters
Because Christ lived in the past, the life of righteousness He lived for us, and that we inherit through faith, is unchangeable.  There is no other life that could be lived, or will be lived, that could be better or achieve more than what God intended it to achieve.  Perfection is assured because it already happened.  He has not fallen short.

Because Christ died on the cross in the past, He did it in consideration of every past, present, and future sin of His people.  Nothing you, or I, or any of His people have done, are doing now, or will do in the future, can undo the cross, because it has already happened.  He will not change His mind, and He will stand by those who have faith in Him.

Because Christ was resurrected in the past, He has proven that death cannot hold Him and that He will raise His people to new life as well.  He is alive now, and aware of everything happening not only in the global 24/7 news cycle, but also in the hearts and minds of every man.  The same power that raised Him works in His people, telling them through His Spirit that there is no better plan than the cross to create a world where man perfectly loves God and loves his fellow man.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6:5-11

In a world full of pain and despair, “Preach the gospel at all times. And if necessary, use words.” – St. Francis of Assisi

Sustaining the Wonder

Todd R 1 Comment

My knowledge of art and art history is just a bit above zero.  I appreciate good art, but it’s just never been a significant interest of mine.  However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have favorite works, and I’m pretty sure my number one is Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, painted in 1602 and posted below.  The original can be found in the National Gallery in London, where I’ve seen it in person twice.

It’s truly a great work of art.  Stylistically, I’m fascinated by the realism and the use of shadow and depth.  But what really brings it to life for me is the shocked expressions on the two disciples at the right and left, who had doubts, but suddenly realized they were talking to the resurrected Christ.

The story behind the painting can be found in Luke chapter 24, verses 13-35, where the two disciples in the painting were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus and were joined by Jesus after His resurrection, but they didn’t realize it was Him.  They shared with Him that “some women of our company” had visited His tomb, where they did not find His body, but instead found angels who told them Jesus was alive.  Then Luke tells us:

“And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

The two disciples invited this “stranger” to stay with them, still not realizing who He was, and during dinner when Jesus blessed and broke the bread, “their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.”  This is the moment captured in Caravaggio’s painting, where you can see both their shock and their excitement, preserved for all time in oil on canvas.

What strikes me when I consider this moment and this painting is whether my shock and excitement that Jesus is alive is as permanent as the disciples in the painting.  I don’t consistently have the feelings these two men had at realizing Jesus Christ is alive.  I almost never have the uncontrollable, physical response that they had, one jumping out of his seat and the other with arms spread wide in wonder.  Granted, those two are permanently captured in paint, but isn’t their reaction as real as it should be?

Also, after Jesus “vanished from their sight” (we don’t know how), the two disciples said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”  Through His Spirit, He communicates to us through His Word whenever we are willing to pay attention about how “Moses and all the Prophets” testify to Him and His glory.  Does my heart “burn within” me when I study the Bible?  Most often not.

While the two disciples in the painting were real people, what was captured there was not all that those men were.  Those men weren’t always that excited about Jesus.  They surely had doubts at times and weren’t perfect.  They were more like you and me than the moment represented by Caravaggio could show us.  When they were weak, God’s grace was there for them, and it is there for us in our weakness.  We’d love to always have the passion these two men had on, or shortly after, that first Easter when He rose from the dead, but the truth is we are inconsistent in our devotion and excitement.

Today let’s pray for God to give us more of what we see in Caravaggio’s painting.  A more sustained sense of wonder at God’s work accomplished through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Let’s pray for the uncontrollable emotional and physical response of those two disciples.  Let’s pray for God to carry us during the inevitable times when we don’t feel that way.  And let’s pray that He would remove the things in our life that distract us.

Amen.

Suffering of the Beloved

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Many Psalms contemplate the reality of evil and suffering in the world, but in most cases, those Psalms end on a note of hope.  For example, Psalm 73 details the Asaph’s envy of the success and prosperity of the wicked in this world.  He considered following their path, and verse 2 says “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.”  But by verse 28, the last verse of the Psalm, the writer is hopeful and returning to praise for God in faith:

“But for me it is good to be near God;
            I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
            that I may tell of all your works.”

In contrast, Psalm 88 begins like this:
“O LORD, God of my salvation,
            I cry out day and night before you.”

And ends like this (verse 18):
“You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
            my companions have become darkness.”

This is perhaps the low point of the Psalms, or even the whole Bible, ending with neither hope or praise, but only faith expressed in desperate prayer.  The Psalmist, Heman[1] the Ezrahite according to the introduction, describes himself like this: “For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol” (verse 3).  And like this: “Afflicted and close to death from my youth up” (verse 15).  After writing that his companions have shunned him, he says that “my eye grows dim through sorrow,” which I take to mean that his sorrow is so great it is clouding his perception of everything.  Sorrow is all he can see.  Heman feels he is near death, perhaps because of sickness or depression, or maybe because society has rejected him, and he feels left for dead (verse 8).

Such despair isn’t as uncommon as we might think in the face of trouble.  The apostle Peter needed to encourage his first-century audience with these words in 1 Peter 4:12: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”  Note that to Peter, suffering is not “strange” for a Christian, nor should we “be surprised” by it.  Peter’s comment was immediately referring to persecution, but the same idea applies more broadly.  Suffering is part of life in this world – for anyone.

But also notice the first word in the verse: “Beloved.”

Peter begins his statement about suffering with this so that those experiencing suffering do not think that God does not love them.  Our circumstances don’t, and can never, mean that we are not loved by God.  For us in modern times, we might be “surprised” by trials if we live in places friendly and welcoming to Christian culture.  Those who live in places hostile to Christianity may not be as surprised at trials that come, but need reassurance that they are loved.  In these places, that trials are not “strange,” but common, could bring people to a place without hope.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

However, when we are feeling like Heman, God still loves us, and like Heman we can pour out all our frustration to God.  He can take it.  Even when we are in “the valley of the shadow of death,”[2] He remains with us and will sustain us.  When it seems we have nothing else, He will be there and listen.

Consider whether the Father did not love the Son when He suffered, or whether His suffering was proof that He loves us?   Therefore, Peter goes even farther in 1 Peter 4:13-14 – “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

Good Friday was not the end of Jesus’ story, and although the day had three hours of darkness, the Son rose again and there was light!  Likewise, Psalm 88 was not the end of the Psalms; the last Psalm (150), begins like this:

“Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
            praise him in his mighty heavens!”

And ends like this:
“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
            Praise the LORD!”

He is risen and you are Beloved.  Amen.

[1] Not He-Man, one of the fictional Masters of the Universe.
[2] Psalm 23:4

The Lord is Not Looking For “The Good Face”

Todd R 5 Comments

One of my favorite books is Moneyball, which is about Billy Beane’s career as General Manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Beane ran a winning team on a shoestring budget by pioneering the use of precise measurement, data, and analytics, in contrast to sometimes-arbitrary eyewitness reports from talent scouts.  Author Michael Lewis notes that in the late 1990s, “Some of the scouts still believed they could tell by the structure of a young man’s face not only his character but his future in pro ball. They had a phrase they used: ‘the Good Face.’”[1]  Billy Beane himself had “the Good Face” when he was a prospect and yet had a mediocre career as a player; therefore, his own career arc suggested that there might be a better way to find good players.

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

Reliance on “The Good Face” isn’t just a baseball phenomenon.  Many politicians, celebrities, businesspeople, news personalities, and others succeed by having “The Good Face,” but the Bible warns us not to rely on “The Good Face.”  One such warning is the story of King Saul, who was “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he.  From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.”[2]

Samuel, the LORD’s prophet, was impressed by Saul and was led to anoint him Israel’s king.  However, when Samuel called the people together to announce Saul’s rule, something strange happened: “So they inquired again of the LORD, ‘Is there a man still to come?’ and the LORD said, ‘Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.’”[3]  Saul should have responded “Here am I”, but instead shamefully hid.  Being so large, it must have taken some effort to find a place to hide, but he managed it in an attempt to avoid God’s call.  This became a pattern with Saul, because when Israel’s army was challenged by the giant Goliath, “Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”[4]  Saul, while having “The Good Face,” was unwilling to trust God when He called.  He was faithless and a coward.  Perhaps “tall, dark, and handsome” but not useful to God, and not a good leader for God’s people.

When looking for Saul’s successor, Samuel, as God’s talent scout, almost repeated the mistake of picking “The Good Face.”  Samuel was to pick as king one of the sons of Jesse, and he wanted to pick Eliab after he “looked on” him.  “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”[5]  After this warning, David, the youngest son of Jesse, is chosen as the next king.  David also had many admirable qualities, being not only handsome, but also “skillful in playing [the lyre], a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence,” but most importantly, others reported that “the LORD is with him”[6] and it was true.  David knew that everything that really mattered about him came from God (see Psalm 139:13-16 for example) and he could only succeed by relying on Him.  If God called, he would come, and if the world challenged God, David would defend Him.  David slew Goliath without hesitation.

Today, the power of Christ living through us is what matters, not having “The Good Face.”  Therefore, be concerned about having “The Good Heart.”  Be not concerned about whether you are photogenic, or handsome, or tall, or well-dressed, or anything else the world may value.  According to the prophet Isaiah, even Jesus didn’t have “The Good Face”: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.” – Isaiah 53:2b

When God calls, come, and you will have “The Good Heart.”  When you fail, God, whose heart is perfect, will create in you a new clean heart[7], as David learned time and time again.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:31-33

[1] Lewis, Michael.  Moneyball (2003).  P. 7.
[2] 1 Samuel 9:2
[3] 1 Samuel 10:22
[4] 1 Samuel 17:11
[5] 1 Samuel 16:7
[6] 1 Samuel 16:18
[7] Psalm 51:10