Can you miss the exit on the road to Emmaus?

Duccio di Buoninsegna, "Road to Emmaus" from www.chinaoilpaintinggallery.com
You have probably heard the story of the road to Emmaus.

After the Ressurection of Jesus, these events are recorded in Luke 24:

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village

called Emmaus, about seven miles  from Jerusalem.

¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other,

Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them;  

¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing Him.

¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together

as you walk along?”They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them,

named Cleopas, asked Him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem

who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “

He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death,

and they crucified Him; ²¹ but we had hoped that He was the one

who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more,

it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition,

some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning

²³ but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen

a vision of angels, who said He was alive.

²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it

just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe

all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer

these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses

and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said

in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going,

Jesus continued on as if He were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged Him strongly,

“Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.”

So He went in to stay with them.

³⁰ When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks,

broke it  and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened

and they recognized Him,  and He disappeared from their sight.

³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us  

while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures  to us?”

This passage is pretty familiar to most Christians. But something new struck me as I read it today.

Jesus was about to keep on going when they reached the village, (after all, His destination was Heaven and not Emmaus, right?) but stayed when they strongly urged Him to. If Cleopas and his friend had not asked Him to stay, He would have gone on.

What would have happend then?

The men would never have known Jesus had been there.

Everything else would have been the same: Jesus had been there; He had explained the Scriptues to them; their hearts had been burning withing them.

They would have simply eaten their dinner, remarked on what a nice talk they'd had with the stranger on the road, and said too bad how the man had inisted on going on with out them, etc., never knowing Jesus had been among them all day.

They would have missed the miracle of being aware of His presence.

So how did they avoid missing out on the miracle of the Emmaus road? They urged Him strongly to stay with them.

This reminds me of Jacob wrestling with the angel, refusing to let go until he received a blessing.

Or the words of Jesus, in Matthew 7:

⁷ “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.

Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking,

and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives.

Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread,

do you give them a stone instead? ¹⁰ Or if they ask for a fish,

do you give them a snake? Of course not!

¹¹ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?

So the lesson for us is, Don't miss out on the miracle! Keep on asking for it!

Don't miss the exit!

Be Bartimaeus

"Jesus Healing the Blind of Jericho" by Nicholas Poussin

Image from allposters.com

A short devotional for today:



Mark 10: 46-52

⁴⁶ Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho

with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus,

the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

 ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more,

“Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

Then they called the blind man, saying to him,

“Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”

⁵⁰ And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”

⁵² Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”

And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

Jesus told Bartimaeus to go his way. But he chose to go Jesus' way.

May we do the same!

Heaven on Earth?

"Heaven's Garden" by Marina Petro marinapetro.blogspot.com

I have heard some Christians say that they don’t need to wait for heavenly glory, that with Jesus, earthly life is sweet enough.

Well, to be honest, I’m not there yet.

Maybe it’s because I’m not the best Christian in the world (I freely admit that I’m not) but I don’t find earthly life to be sweet. With Jesus I’d say it’s just bearable. Without Him, I can’t imagine.

Sometimes this life is just so incredibly wearying I can’t stand it.

Now before you call the Crisis Center on me, let me just say I am not slashing my wrists or anything. I’m just saying that this world is not heaven.

Whatever Belinda Carlisle might have sung back in the 80’s, heaven is NOT a place on earth.

(image from wikia.com)

My devotional from “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young for today read as follows:

“Do not long for the absence of problems in your life.

That is an unrealistic goal, since in this world you

will have trouble. You have an eternity of problem-free

living reserved for you in heaven. Rejoice in that

inheritance, which no one can take away from you,

but do not seek your heaven on earth.”

I found this encouraging, because the truth is, I really have been longing for a problem-free life.

I mean, aren’t we all?

(image from clipartof.com)
Isn’t that the basis for every advertisement and infomercial there is, a promise to eliminate our problems?


It‘s a cheerful smiling voice saying, “Do you suffer from blank? Well try new blank and all your troubles are over!”

But that’s not what Jesus promised us.


He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33)

But the verse doesn’t stop there.

“But take heart!” He adds. “I have overcome the world.”

So when we’re looking for Jesus to take away all our problems, we’re looking for the wrong thing.

We're looking for heaven on earth, when we should be looking for Jesus Himself instead.

Guess What? I Don't Know Everything!

 

Did you get that? I do NOT, in fact, know everything.

I am very embarrassed to admit this.

Okay. Okay. You can stop laughing now.

I know you're probably saying, "Duh, Christie. Obviously you don't know everything. NO ONE does."

But here's the thing: I like to think I know everything. Or at least most things.

I mean, don't you?

(image from http://darleneanitascott.wordpress.com/)

I prefer to think I'm smart and know the answers.

Yes, I was that kid in school. The one with her hand up when the teacher asked a question, jumping and going, "Oooh! Oooh! Pick Me! ME! I  know!"

But I just had a little rude awakening. Yesterday I read Luke 5:1-11. This is the story of the calling of Peter, James, John and Andrew.

"Calling of the Fisherman" Harry Anderson http://www.dst-corp.com

This lesson just showed up last week at the kids' class I teach at the chapel. I've done it before: you make a fish craft; you sing "Fishers of Men," et cetera.

So when I saw that this was the Bible readng,I said to myself, "I know this one. Like I told the kids: The disciples weren't catching anything so Jesus told them to let down their nets on the other side and then they had lots of fish. Then they all left their nets and followed Him."

Then I read it:

¹ One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around Him and listening to the word of God, ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.
⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him.

Okay. Whoops.

I realized  I had taught the kids the wrong story! The "Let down your nets on the other side" thing didn't happen until after the Resurrection! This story wasn't the same at all!

Now, maybe you think that's a ridiculous distinction; after all, it was still about the disciples catching a bunch of fish after following Jesus' instructions.

But I thought I knew what I was talking about. And it turns out I didn't.

It's like when that kid waves and waves his hand at the teacher until she finally calls on him and then he gets the answer wrong.

Ouch.

This is just another example of God showing me I don't have all the answers.

The disciples weren't able to catch any fish until they had listened to Jesus' teaching and then  followed His instructions.

Just like I should be doing.

Right after I apologize to all those kids.....

Theological Thoughts at a Three-D Film?

Last night my husband and I went to see the movie Wrath of the Titans.

It wasn't bad, I guess. The special effects were very cool. No expense spared there, obviously.

In fact, I guess they spent so much on the special effects that they didn't have any money left over for a decent script. (cue the laugh track)

(images from wikipedia.org)
This was a sequel to Clash of the Titans (2010), which was a remake of Clash of the Titans (1981).

Are you confused yet?

But seriously, folks...

What really struck me during this movie was the portrayal of the god Zeus.

Zeus was played by Liam Neeson and looked extremely godlike through the whole movie.

He looked exactly like what I would expect the real God to look like, if people were going to cast Him in, say, a remake of The Bible, or something.


image from http://rezirb.com

But truthfully, I don't think the REAL God loks anything like this.

What do I think He looks like? Here's a surprise: I DON'T KNOW!

(I John 4:12a "No one has ever seen God." Duh!)

But I do know that whenever we, as humans, try to make an image of God, we mess it up. Badly.

Like the Israelites did in Exodus 32, with that ridiculous golden calf.

Or, in fact, through the ENTIRE Old Testament, when they kept making idols of wood, and stone, and gold, and silver. When NONE of them were real!

And of course, we still do this today, in different ways. Mostly by trying to make our own image of God in the way WE want Him to be.

We want Him to do what we want, and when He doesn't we get mad. We don't like to think that it's actually about His plan, and not our agenda.

Okay. Back to Perseus, Zeus and the Titans.

In the movie, Zeus sadly tells Perseus that since people have stopped believing in the gods and stopped praying to them, it has robbed the gods of their power. Perseus steadfastly refuses to pray anyways, tries to stop the Titans and save everyone by himself, and ends up having to save Zeus from Hades, because poor Zeus is so depressed and drained by everyone's lack of faith in him.

(I know; it's a complicated plot. I had trouble following it myself.)

This struck me as incredibly sad, because I think this is the actual image we have of God sometimes: When we pray, we wake God up and get him to do stuff. For us.

Like He's sitting around waiting for us to imbue Him with power.

Say WHAT?!

That's absolutely ludicrous, isn't it?

Here's a news flash: GOD DOESN'T NEED US! We need Him!

We don't make Him; HE made us!

It's not about our plans; it's about His plan!

Not that we don't pray, of course. We're commanded to pray; that's a whole other subject.

But we don't pray because God NEEDS us to. We do it because WE need to.

And we trust that He hears, and He is always working, remembering Isaiah 55: 8-9:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God is SO much bigger than Liam Neeson.

He is so much more our image of Him.

And He is the one in control!

Why I Shouldn't Get Complacent

(image from wikipedia)

Last week in Sunday School, we were talking about the Ten Commandments, and how we sometimes break them.

(Yes this was an adult class. And no, we didn't give specific examples.)

I said that I thought I was doing pretty well on the "Thou shalt not murder" one.

Obviously I said this to get a laugh, but my classmate answered seriously. She said to remember that just not killing anyone is not enough.

Matthew 5: 21-22 says:

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Wow. That's convicting.

I guess I'm not doing as well as I thought.

The Call of Jeremiah

http://www.crown.org/godprovides/pub/JeremiahsCall.aspx

When Jeremiah is called by God to bring His words to the people, unsurprisingly, Jeremiah tries to get out of it.

(As did Moses. And Gideon. Et cetera. I mean, don't we ALL?)

But I think God's response here is interesting. And also applicable to those of us called to speak for Him today.

Reading from Jeremiah chapter 1, verses 4-8:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶ Then said I:

“Ah, Lord God!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

⁷ But the Lord said to me:

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
⁸ Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.

Why does God say, "Do not be afraid of their faces?" And why would Jeremiah be afraid of their FACES rather than, say, their fists? Or swords even? After all, he lives in kind of a warrior culture. Seems like he ought to worry more about something worse than folks making faces at him!
(image from http://mychinaconnection.com)

But I think God is talking about something more relevant to us today even than it was in Jeremiah's time.

I think He is talking about being afraid of the OPINIONS of others.

Sometimes we are way more afraid of people's bad opinions than any physical harm that might befall us.

We're worried more by the idea of being made fun of than of actually getting hurt.

We are more concerned about looking foolish in front of our peers than any real injury they could inflict on us.

We're more afraid of losing face than getting punched in the face.
But God says, DON'T be!

He says, Don't be afraid of their FACES!

(image from http://www.gmgdesign.com)

Continuing with verses 9 and 10:

⁹ Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me:

“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
¹⁰ See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”

So we don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing, or looking stupid in the eyes of others.

Because if we are allowing God to speak His words through us, the opinions of people don't even MATTER.

In other words, they can make all the faces at us they want, but it won't hurt.

It's only His word that has the power to actually DO anything.

But I admit, this is way easier said than done. I'm still afraid of their faces.

Lord, help me to remember that it is only Your opinion that matters.