The past few weeks of the study have taken me through Jesus'
agony, crucifixion, and resurrection. What stuck out to me the most was
this: Life, Death, and Life again. Notice there is more Life than
death mentioned. Jesus went through more than we could ever even IMAGINE
going through. He experienced it and therefore can help us through any
temptation, trial, or situation we face. I know I get frustrated when
people "let me down" or I don't get what I want or somebody or
something doesn't meet or exceed my expectations. A friend cancels on me
or reschedules. Somebody "forgets" something important to me.
I feel alone. Somebody says something rude or condescending or
inappropriate. When it rains it pours. Life is frustrating. I
am human and realize I am not perfect and I screw up a lot... then realize that
Jesus is perfect. Take a step back for a minute (or more since it'll take
longer than a minute to read this). This is a "short” (HA!!!) recap
of a few areas that hit me pretty hard.
Matthew 26:69-75
Peter Denies Jesus.
Not only did the disciples fall
asleep in Christ's time of agony, when he was crying and sweating blood... or
the fact that they all ran away... Peter fulfills a prophecy and denies even
KNOWING Jesus. Not just once, but three times he throws out denial.
The first time Peter simply acted confused and tried to divert attention
away from him and attempted to change the subject. The second time he
took it a step further, using an oath to deny Jesus. The third time he
SWEARS he didn't know the Man.
Do you ever find yourself in denial of knowing Christ? What
does that even look like in our lives today? Sometimes it can be pretty
subtle. You don't speak up or bring up the topic of Christ or the Bible,
maybe. I find myself being an avoider in most situations. I avoid
the conversation or topic. Why is that? Allow me to let you into my
heart and mind a bit. To me, I feel like God pointed out fear. Fear
of offending somebody with something I say. But is it not offensive to God
when I don't do what He calls me to do? Shouldn't I be trusting Him in
the words and actions? Fear of what somebody may think of me. What
does that matter? Shouldn't God's opinion of me matter more than another
person's? Fear of not knowing the answers. I think I mentioned
before how I was human, which means I don't know everything. Shocking, I
know. But there is a fear for me in saying the phrase "I don't
know". Why is that? Maybe the fear of criticism or verbal
persecution? Is "I don't know" a good enough answer in some
cases? It is definitely humbling.
A topic for discussion one of the few times I went to Alpha this
past fall ended up on the topic of "persecution". What do I
take for granted in life when I say that I am a "Christian"? I
feel like I have it so easy here in life. I can say "I am a
Christian" but do I walk it out? Or do I title myself
"Christian" as some type of feel good thing? Think of this:
In America, you can say you are a Christian. You may be verbally
insulted or criticized, what some may call persecution. I am not trying
to downplay this but bare with me here. There is spiritual warfare that
does take place through verbal abuse. Satan uses whatever he can to tear
us down. What is convicting to me is that I am afraid to speak up and
walk out what it means to be a Christian.
Culture change: Brother Yun is a believer in a country where
being a follower of Christ gets you more than just verbal persecution. It is a
country where there are certain implications in saying you are a Christian.
He should be dead from beatings and starvation and what is truly defined
as persecution. Where he is from, saying you are a Christian can get you
killed. Yet, through Christ's strength, he is not afraid to say he loves
Jesus. (His journey is documented in the book "The Heavenly
Man". It is an amazing story of what it looks like to follow Christ
and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anybody.) In some countries, it is not
verbal abuse that is a concern. In other lands, calling yourself a
Christian is basically giving yourself a death sentence. And yet, here I
am scared of what somebody may think of me if I say "I love Jesus. I
am a Christian."
Just today I read the final portion of Matthew 28 and there was
more that stuck out to me other than the Great Commission (which is awesome...
but yes, there is more).
Matthew 28:8-20
Jesus Appears to His Disciples.
To me, what was so cool was where Jesus appeared to His disciples.
Allow me to explain (you have to :)). In Matthew 28:10, Jesus has just
risen and He tells the women to run and tell His "brothers" to meet
Him in Galilee . However, fast forward
through the Gospels to John 20:19 and Jesus actually meets with the disciples
in Jerusalem and then LATER in Galilee .
Why is that? "... the disciples were meeting behind locked
doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders." (John 20:19).
Jesus said "Galilee !!” His
brothers said "I'm too scared to leave". So what does Jesus do?
He met them where they were. He didn't scold them, or put on a
great guilt trip even though he had more ammo than anybody would ever need.
He didn't wait for them... He knew they were scared... He met them wherever they were even if where they were wasn't necessarily where He had told them
to be. The disciples were scared. He met them there. How cool
is that? What is even better is that Jesus will do the same for us.
No matter where we are, Jesus will meet us there.
He calls the disciples "my brothers". They were in
hiding for fear of what man could do to them. They ditched Jesus in His
greatest time of pain, suffering, and agony. They denied even knowing
Him. And yet, here is Jesus. He went to them, met them where they
were, and still loved them enough to call them brothers. These were the
men who LITERALLY walked with Jesus EVERY DAY!!!! They saw Him work
miracles, witnessed His works, heard His teachings, and were personally
mentored by God Himself. And yet they ran away, denied Him, and hid for
fear of man. They didn't "remember" what Jesus had said about
rising again and they had spent every day with the Man for crying out loud.
And they didn't go to Galilee ... they
stayed locked in a room. Yet, after showing his love by dying on the
cross, shouldering all the sin in the world, and feeling an agony we will NEVER
feel, Jesus still takes a step... He met them where they were. His love
kept no record of what the disciples had done or what they did NOT do. He
is Love. Love keeps no record of our wrongs. Jesus went to the
disciples when they were scared and in hiding. They ran away and denied
knowing Him (I've mentioned that before). Jesus still forgave them, went
to them, and met with them behind closed doors. He forgave them. He
loved them. He met with them in whatever place in life they were in.
What is so cool is that Jesus does the same for us. He can say "meet me there". Even when we don't go, He still meets with us. He meets with us through the cross. He wants us to meet him there... if we don't go, He brings the cross to us. Jesus forgets our "imperfections" and wrongs. He forgives us. He loves us. He meets us wherever we are in life regardless of whether that is resting in His arms, running to His cross, or hiding behind locked doors of fear and insecurity. Even though this sounds cliché I'm going to say it: Jesus holds the keys to the locks that bind the chains around our heart. And He loves us so much that, not only did He spread His arms and die on the cross, no matter what we have done or where we are in life, Jesus still loves us, forgives us, and will meet us there.
