Remembrance/Veterans Day and the Torn Curtain

 

"And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

The earth shook, and the rocks split…"

Matthew 27:50-51

Death is never an easy discussion point.  And dealing with the death of a loved one is by far one of the hardest parts of being human.  Whether an expected death or a sudden taking of those we love, when someone passes away, our world is shaken.

Remembrance Day or Veterans Day is a time to reflect on those who gave up their own lives to make our world safe and free.  Thousands upon thousands died to grant us freedom, and this very day more continue to sacrifice their lives to maintain this much-needed freedom.   

For thousands upon thousands of family members and loved ones, their world was shaken when the horrible message was received.

In ancient Jewish tradition, there was a powerful reaction to news of death of a family member.  For ancient Jews, when a relative died, they tore their robes.  The grim reality of life without this person caused a powerful reaction – the emotional tearing of their clothes.

When Jesus died after his execution on the cross, we do not know if his disciples tore their robes.  We do not know if his mother Mary or brother James tore their garments with the despair that this beloved man had died.

But we do know that God did.  God tore his robe, and God’s world was shaken when Jesus died…

The Gospel writer Matthew describes God’s powerful response to his only Son’s death:  “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  The earth shook, and the rocks split…”

God tore his robe, and God’s world was shaken when Jesus died.

The curtain of the temple tore.  The curtain of the Jewish temple was the curtain of the "Holy of Holies" -- the place that God himself dwelt with his people.  And it was this curtain, God's "robe," that tore.  And the earth shook and rocks split.  God was grieving.  God tore his robes.  God's world was shaken.  God's Son had died. It was finished.

 Let us not forget the sacrifice...

Remembrance Day and Veterans Day are opportunities to stop and reflect on the sacrifice made by an immeasurable amount of men and women to give us the life we have today.  Every day we are blessed to live in such amazing freedom because of those who stepped up to put a stop to horrors of sinful people.  We grieve the lives lost, and we grieve with the families of these people who had to receive unbearable news...

And God grieves too.  Just like Jesus wept for his friend (John 11), and just as God grieved his Son's death, God grieves the lives lost and the sad state humanity put itself into.

On this day, let us not forget the sacrifice of those who gave of themselves for our freedom.    
 And let us also not forget the ultimate sacrifice the Son of God gave for our eternal freedom, and the God who tore his robe and grieved for his Son who died to save us all.  

"Curtain torn in two,

Dead are raised to life;

'Finished!' the victory cry.

This, the power of the cross:

Son of God, slain for us 

What a love!  What a cost!

We stand forgiven at the cross."

~Keith Getty, Stuart Townend

He makes me lie down in not-so-green pastures...

"The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want

 ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures… 

He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake…" 

(Psalm 23)

“Green pastures.”

I know what you are all thinking --  you are imagining rolling hills of bright green, golf-course like perfection, where sheep graze in the shade with a brook of water not far from where they have a gourmet of grass to feed on.

Ah, green pastures. 

Sorry to shake your image of what “green pastures” are being referred to here,  but what the Psalm-writer was talking about when he said “green pastures,”  this is what he would have meant:

That’s right:  an almost desert-like area where you can hardly see anything growing.  Not exactly the five-star golf resort you had in mind.  And those funny squiggly lines across (horizontally?) the hill?  Those are “paths of righteousness.”  Those funny looking, messy paths, are “paths of righteousness.”

So here we have a desert-like “green” pasture, which looks  almost as if any sheep would starve if that’s all they had to eat.  But these “green pastures” are significant.  As you can tell by the photos (and the reality of the middle east climate), there is very little rainfall in these parts.  So any growth that happens is actually from the wet dew on these small plants that produce this “pasture.”  But these plants are so sensitive, and get so little water, that if the sheep eat the entire plant and get all the way down to the root, the fields and entire pasture gets exhausted and leaves no chance for new growth for the plants.  And no new growth, means no food for the future… 

So the shepherd’s job is to lead the sheep in the paths of righteousness, but to keep them moving.  The shepherd’s job is to make sure the sheep get just enough of the plants in the pasture before encouraging them along, so to not eat too much of the plant that can grow back for the next time they come to this pasture… 

One thing we were asked to consider on our journey is the meaning of these meager pastures.   If God  is the one bringing us to such not-so-green pastures, this also means God is the one encouraging us to keep moving in our journey.  God doesn’t want us to get stuck in one place on our journey; God the Shepherd wants to continue to lead us, to teach us, to find new growth in our lives.

As a people and in our own individual journeys, God is prodding us and encouraging us to keep moving.  It is easy to get stuck in our faith journeys, but God is always wanting us to open our eyes to new opportunities and challenges and insights, so we can get the proper faith nourishment.

And for every individual person as well as every church community, this could look very different.  Maybe God is encouraging you to grow in your faith by starting a new ministry in your church or community, or perhaps even seek full-time ministry yourself.  Maybe God wants you to take a new step in your devotional life, or even nudging you to talk to a co-worker or neighbor about your hope in Christ.  Maybe God is prodding your church to look at new ways to serve your community, or to work with other churches in the area, or other ways to keep moving forward as you keep your eye on Christ’s prize.  These are all things God may be using to keep us moving in our faith journey.

I’m just as guilty as the next person to not want change and to “like things the way they are” not being prodded out of my comfort zone.  But let us not ignore our Shepherd’s voice as God may be encouraging us to follow his guidance and keep moving in directions we may be unsure of.  And yes that path may be messy and squiggly but who knows… maybe in following the path God is leading us, we will be blessed in far more ways we ever imagined…

"Lord, give us

         feet for the path

                      strength for the Stride

                           passion for the Pace"

              

                                            ~Rev. George deJong

 

Cleaning Camel Dung Part II ... and Blessings of Bended Knees

 The king bows to his people.

That can't be right.  There must be some confusion;  this sounds a bit backwards.  

The king bows to his people.  

Monarchies are mostly a thing of the past, but one thing most of all know is that kings don't bow to their people -- the people bow to their king...

Last week I shared some thoughts about sandals, camel crap, and how Jesus humbly washed his disciples feet – a filthy job for the King of Kings. 

I want to continue along this path of reflection and consider even further about how Jesus humbly “lowered” himself to humanity, when the Prince of Peace could have been sitting on his throne.

In the Bible we encounter the word “praise” hundreds of times.   The word Hallel (like HALLELUJAH!) is one word used for “praise”, and it literally means to “shine forth.”  Meaning #2 of “praise” is the word YUDAH (or “Judah”) which directly translated means, “to point out.”  Yudah = “THAT’s my God!”

 "Bless," or Baruch, means "bend the knee."

But it's the third meaning of the word I want to address, which directly brings us back to Jesus washing his disciples’ feet:

The third meaning of praise, Baruch, essentially means “Bless!”  “Bless the Lord” is a phrase often seen over and over in the Psalms.

But the word “bless” also has a deeper meaning.  Directly translated, bless, or baruch,  means “bend the knee.” For most of us, bending the knee conjures up images of bending to bow to a king.  And why do people bow?  People bow and lower themselves to make the king look big; the people shrink and the king is exalted.

We baruch, bending our knees before God, and so bless God to show that God is bigger, greater than us.  We bend our knees to lift up our great God and acknowledge this King of Kings belongs on the throne.

But now let’s go back to what we thought about last week about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.  Here Jesus, the Prince of Peace, bends his knee to serve the low class citizens, doing an even lower-class duty.  The God of the universe takes a position on his knees to raise us up and increase our worth. 

God became small to make us big.

And this simple act of servanthood and baruch­-ing pales in comparison to what Jesus will do next.  After the footwashing, Jesus begins his journey to the cross, where he suffers humiliation, rejection, and unimaginable pain -- only a crown of thorns for this king.  And Jesus makes himself so small, that he lowers himself all the way to the grave.  The King of Kings’ knees bends so far down that he dies bearing the weight of the sin of the world.

God became small to make us big.

And he does it for us.  He died so that we have a chance to be raised up with him, to be lifted up, to have eternal life in him.  God saw how sin weighed us down, keeping us apart from him, so he sent his only Son Jesus to lower himself so deeply, so that we could be raised up and be reunited with him. 

God became small to make us big.

The King himself baruch­­-ed to wash our feet.

The Prince of Peace bends his knee to give us eternal peace. 

The next time you hear the word “bless,” picture our King Jesus meekly bending his knee as he washes the disciples feet, and let that image burn into our hearts, never forgetting how truly “blessed” we are to have such a humble king.

“The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
    a scrubby plant in a parched field…
He was looked down on and passed over,
    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us…
But it was our sins that did that to him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through his bruises we get healed.”

~excerpts from Isaiah 53, The Message

Cleaning Camel Crap... and other discipleship practices

Southern Egypt, Day 3.  If we thought it was hot in Cairo, this place feels like Cairo in a furnace.  H.O.T.   

We pull up from a beautiful boat ride which takes us to a shore of nothing but a hot, sandy, shadeless mountain:   the Sahara desert.

 “We will hike here.” our leader says.  Hike the Sahara.  The locals must think we are nuts.  Not the average tourist activity in Egypt.

And so we get out of our shaded boat and make our way through the scalding sand to get to the one and only group of trees on the shore, and try to make room for everyone under these small trees-of-relief.

After a brief but strenuous hike up the Sahara mountainside, we make our way back down to the lone shaded group of trees. 

That’s it right?! Back on the boat, right?!

“Now we’ll hike to the town” our leader says, as he points to the village a little over 1 km along the shoreline. 

I look towards the town (hardly able to see through the sweat dripping into my eyes in this 400 degree heat) and try to gear myself up for the challenge.  And at least this time, there is a path.  Phew.

But the “phew” turns immediately into a “pee-euw.”   We set out and immediately discover this path isn’t just used by people; it’s a main pathway for the chief animal of the Sahara – you’ve got it – the camel.

And there is camel crap EVERYWHERE on this path.  And we get to hike for over 1 km of this.

Now it wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t wearing sandals.  But why wouldn’t I wear my hiking sandals?  It’s 400 degrees outside!  Why wear hiking boots when you can stay cool in hiking sandals?!

Camel crap.  That is why.  Camel crap all over my hot, sweaty, sandy feet.

And so my feet continue to get disgustingly dirty on this hot, long hike on a sandy, dirty path, with so much camel waste.  And it became worse.  At times I’d have to stop and take off my sandals to get a stone or twig or something  else out of my sandal, which meant now I had camel poop on my feet AND my hands.  I felt so dirty, so grubby, and was very worried it would make me sick. (by this point, a number of our group had started to have stomach issues… and I didn’t want to become the next victim!)

I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel to clean my feet.  It was a good couple of hours yet before we returned to our hotel, and I couldn’t wait to get my feet and sandals and hands completely clean again...

When Jesus and his followers walked the roads and paths of Israel, I imagine they had similar issues.  There were no street sweepers, no hiking boots.  Sandals were the main footwear, and there was no one cleaning up animal feces on the roadways and paths.   

In John 13, we come across a somewhat familiar story.  Jesus’ death is immanent, and he is spending the eve of his death eating a Passover meal with his disciples, or followers.  And what does Jesus do?  Here he is, knowing he is but mere moments from being taken to an excruciating death and what does he do?

Jesus washes camel crap.

Jesus takes the position of a slave – the word is not servant, but “SLAVE” – towards his disciples.  And he cleans their feet. Only the slave of the house, the lowliest member, cleaned the household feet, and now we see why. Who would want to go anywhere near, touching and cleaning the dust, dirt, and worst of all, that animal crap from travel-weary feet?

 Jesus washes camel crap.

And Jesus, the God of the universe who came down in human form, washes animal feces off his disciples’ feet.  The God who created the sun and sky and sea lowers himself to a position of utter humility, cleaning up the filth off the feet of the very people who will betray and deny and abandon him in a few short hours.  This is humility in its rawest, purest form. 

Our amazing God loves us so much that he humbled himself to be a slave, and gave himself to death on the cross.  Wow. (Philippians 2)

But the story doesn’t end there.  Jesus invites us to do the same.  “Wash each other’s feet,” he says to his disciples.  Humble yourselves.  Put others ahead of yourselves.  Serve them with the same humility I have served you. 

What an incredible challenge: putting others’ needs first and loving them so much that we are willing to get not only our hands dirty, but our pride quashed.  The God of the universe invites us to love like he does, and give of ourselves up in the way he did.

How often do we truly return the humble love of Jesus to others, getting off our high horse and into the crap of a camel?  

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!”

Philippians 2:3-8

Give Us This Day our Daily WHAT-IS-IT?

“What IS this?!” my kids say to the unfamiliar food on their plate.

      “Try it, you’ll like it.  And it’s healthy!” is my natural parental response.

             “I don’t like this” the 3-year-old announces without even trying a bite.

Didn’t my kids just complain about how hungry they were?   And the complaining and whining and arguing ensues about unfamiliar food…    

Sound familiar to anyone else?  For those of us who just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, maybe you tried a new recipe, and all you got was complaints and grumbles and whines of  “what IS this?”

Now let’s  rewind 3000 years.  God’s children, whining and complaining in the desert, also about food.  (See Exodus 16)

The people of Israel have been out of Egypt just over a month, and being in the desert without abundant food has caught up to them.

     “We’re hungry!”
           "Take us back to Egypt where we actually had enough to eat!”
                  “Did you bring us out here just to die?”

And God hears their grumbling and complaints.  Like a parent satisfying his children’s needs, he sends them a unique and new, unfamiliar “bread from heaven.”  

He sends them “what-is-it?”

Yes, he sends them “What-IS-this?!”

Some of us may be familiar with the story, but God replies by sends a bread-like substance to Israel every morning called “manna.” But “manna” literally means “what-is-it?”  The daily bread God gives the people in the desert is literally called, “what-is-it.”  “What-is-it” was what God chose to give his people in a desert where nothing else edible grows. 

              

   "Manna" literally means "what-is-it?"

So what is so significant about this eating of a nameless bread substance?  The fact that it was nameless, meant the people didn’t have to take responsibility for it.  Because it was GOD sending this unknown substance for them to eat, it meant HE – not the people of Israel --  was in control and knew their needs.

And the rest of the story continues in that trend.  God gives them instructions on how much they can take, and everyone is given just enough “what-is-it,” no more and no less.  God gave them exactly what they needed, and continued to be in control and knew their needs...

I think of the things in my life I’ve been complaining and grumbling about, asking God to change some things in my life and worrying about them incessantly.  And so often rather than giving me exactly what I think I need, he gives me something more like “what-IS-this?” 

But the great Provider – God our Father who always gives good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11) –knows exactly what I need, even though I may prefer something I want to “what-is-it.”  So even though I may protest his response to my current worry, concern, or complaint, God is providing exactly what I need, when I need it.  And by us getting “what-is-it?” from him, God is reminding us – “you don’t need to know; trust me with your concerns, your worries, your complaints.  Let your worries be MY responsibility.”

We just finished celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, and we take that day to say thanks and feast in gratefulness for our many blessings.

But how many of us jump right back into grumbling and complaining and worrying about life, rather than giving it up to God, allowing him to take responsibility, and accepting the “whatever-it-is” our Faithful Father gives, the Father who knows what life-food is best for his children?

“Our Father in heaven...

   Give us this day our daily ‘what-is-it’

      Forgive us our unacceptance of the Bread of Life you wish to offer.

        Lead us not into temptation of grumbling and complaining,
          But deliver us from our worry and self-reliance.
            For YOURS is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. 
               Amen.”