Luke 23 :: Good Friday? Really?

Luke 23

From Luke 22:67-70

Having already begun the beating, the men in charge of Jesus asked him, "Are you the Messiah?"

"If I said yes, you wouldn't believe me.  If I asked what you meant by your question, you wouldn't answer me.  So here's what I have to say:  From here on the Son of Man takes his place at God's right hand, the place of power."

They all said, "So you admit your claim to be the son of God?"

"You're the ones who keep saying it."

In Chapter 23, amidst the crucifixion narrative, Luke records Jesus as saying...

• Those are your words not mine.
• Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing.
• Don't worry, I will.  Today you will join me in paradise.
• Father, I place my life in your hands!

These are not the words of a king.  These are not the words of the most powerful man on earth.  These are not the words that I want my Savior to say as he is spit upon, beaten, tortured and killed.  This is not the way it is supposed to happen.  Why doesn't he fight?  Why doesn't his Father step in?  Why can't he stop this?

The answers to these questions mean everything.  The answers are the reasons why such a horrible day can be referred to by Christ-followers everywhere as "Good Friday."  Several people have put together lists of why, but I wanted to highlight one...

"This is how much God loved the world:  He gave his Son, the one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.  God didn't go through all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.  He came to help, to put the world right again.  Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted"  - John 3:16-17 (The Message)

Jesus suffered and died to justify the love of God.  His love for his creation, so great that it cost him the life of his son.  His death, his suffering, doesn't point an accusatory finger, but extends a loving embrace.  Have you been embraced by this love?  If you haven't you can.  If you have, that's why we can call it "Good Friday."

Luke 2 :: Pigeons and a Prophet

Luke 2

I have experienced forty-one Christmases.  I could have easily resigned myself to reading through chapter 2 and getting it out of the way early.  But, I wanted something new.  I wanted to see something differently than I had every other time I had read this chapter, or had it read to me during a Christmas Eve service.  I expected something a little more this time.  And I wasn't disappointed.  Two things jumped out at me that had never done so before.

First, verses 21-24:

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. 22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

I always thought that 22 and 21 happened on the same day.  Today, I discovered that there was a 33 day gap between these two verses.  When a child was circumcised, the mother was declared unclean for 33 days (66 days if she had a girl - I know, it seemed odd to me too).  At the end of the 33 days, was a purification ceremony where the mother would offer her child to God as a sacrifice, then, in essence, purchase him back with an offering.  If the family were wealthy, they would offer a lamb, but if they were poor, they would offer two dove or pigeons.  How incredible that the Son of God only required 2 doves or pigeons!  This is just one more instance of God's insistence of the Savior of the World being firmly rooted in the world - everything from here would be a step up.  He is rooting the identity of the King into the poor and the desolate - whether it be a feeding trough or two pigeons.  This King is different.

Second, verses 33-38:

36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then had been a widow for eighty-four years. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Up until the angel appeared to Zechariah in chapter one, it had been 400 years since God had spoken.  400 years!  Think about that for a second.  400 Years!  Nothing.  I cannot fathom the silence of God for that long.  I may feel like God doesn't speak to me over a period of time, but during that time, I can see that God is speaking to others.  This was not that way.  This prophet, Anna, is a woman - a widow for 84 years!  Talk about feeling that your prayers are bouncing off a ceiling.  She had been a faithful anticipator of the coming of the Messiah in dead silence for her whole life.  Now, she hears!  Now, she sees!  Now, she thanks God and told everyone else who was waiting for the Messiah.  How many times do I feel like cashing in when I don't hear from God for a few weeks when I am searching?

I believe Luke includes the story of Anna for a couple of reasons.  I believe that he wants to set the tone for Jesus' view of women and the value of the widow.  We will see this occur more throughout the life and ministry of Jesus, but for now, it's just a hint of what is to come.  I also believe that Luke highlighted the value of patience and active waiting.  Anna did not waiver in her anticipation for the Messiah, even though her life had been hard and long.  Her consistency allowed her to see clearly when the day did arrive.

What about you?  Did you learn something about Jesus today?  Did you learn something about you?

Have a great day!

Romans 3:25-26 :: How and Why

Romans 3:25-26 (The Message and TNIV)
Reading Plan

25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (TNIV)


These two verses explain to us how God was able to make things right with people in Christ and also why He had to sacrifice His son.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement.  Some of the older translations render hilasterion (sacrifice of atonement) as a "propitiation" which would carry with it a sense turning away the wrath of God, but that doesn't appear to be how the people in Rome would have understood it, especially the Jews in the crowd.  For the Jew, hilasterion referred to the "atonement cover" of the ark.  The ark was the symbol of the presence of God for the Israelites, and sacrificial blood from animals would be sprinkled on the cover as a means of forgiveness of the sins of the people.  While "propitiation" leans toward the wrath of God being the central force that needed to be appeased, "atonement" places forgiveness of sins at the forefront.  Both agree that Jesus was the trigger for cleaning our sin-slate and reconnecting with God, though.  How does your rendering of this verse could impact your actions and how you see God?

He did this to...  The rest of this passage explains why God had to give His own Son as a sacrifice.  In the time prior to Jesus, God didn't punish sins with full severity.  Because of His mercy, He "passed over" the sins because there had not been an adequate sacrifice to atone for them.  By doing this, He acted against His character of holiness, which would have required a sacrifice.  By sending Jesus, He gives Himself as that sacrifice.  STUNNING!  The God of this universe chooses to give his people a bit of a pass for their sins, and then steps up to the plate and takes their sin on Himself.  Can you feel the weight of this?  His name was on the line here.  We tend to see God in the Old Testament as a God of Wrath and destruction, but that just isn't the case.

As I grew up as a Christ-follower, I was taught that Jesus' death was an appeasement of the wrath of God and instead of me absorbing that wrath, Jesus took it for me.  While this is true, this is not the only analogy for the sacrifice and only holding to that view can create a very judgmental view of sin and others.  I have come to see other analogies that serve to give me a more robust understanding of the event we celebrate on Sundays.  In Christ,

• God reconciles us - a relational view of our reconnection to God.
• God adopts us - a family understanding of things being set right between us.
• God sanctifies us - a cultic phrase implying a cleansing of our sin.

To see the various analogies active in this passage broadens our view.  If God is only appeasing His wrath in this passage, then we miss the grace and mercy.  If God is simply offering forgiveness of sins, we miss the severity of the sin and the violation against God that sin is.  To understand both balances our view of God and necessitates the "atonement cover" as a means to provide an appeasement and an atonement for our sins.  This is huge.  Understanding this keeps us balanced in our view of God in our world today.

Did I go to academic today?  What was the primary cause for Jesus' death that you learned in the past?  Was one more dominant?  If so, how did that impact the church where you learned from?  

Acts 12 :: Showdown

Acts 12 in the Message and TNIV translations

Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against the Lord

and against his anointed one.

Psalm 2:1-2

Back in Acts 4, the church prayed these words from Psalm 2 as they celebrated the release of Peter and John.  You could see the showdown coming.  Finally, in chapter 12, Herod went too far, and God demonstrated that you don't want to get into a duel with him.

This chapter paints some vivid word pictures.  Peter's secret-agent angel who makes chains fall off and locked doors open by themselves, and walks Peter right past the guards without them noticing -- the original Jedi mind trick!  Rhoda the servant who, in her excitement, leaves Peter standing outside the door.  Even in the midst of life-and-death situations, there is some comic relief!  Then comes the dark comedy: Herod, sitting on his throne, wearing his royal garb and basking in his own glory, struck down by God for accepting praise reserved for God alone (ironically, the very thing for which Jesus was crucified).  I'm just speculating here, but maybe he had worms and that was the physical cause of death.  It's poetic justice, and Eugene Peterson does a great job of drawing it out in the Message translation of the text: "Rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if there ever was one, he died."  As his heart and soul became increasingly corrupt, his physical body was literally being eaten out from the inside, and in God's timing he falls apart.  No purple robe or king's throne would ultimately hide the truth.  He tried to save his "life"--his power, his influence and affluence--and he lost it all.

True Christianity has never been a political movement.  Jesus himself was emphatic about this despite a lot of pressure to the contrary and the persistent misconceptions of his own disciples.  However, Christianity by its very nature is a threat to rulers and authorities who want to hold God's place in the hearts and lives of people.  They have always attacked Christ and Christians, even to this day, and they have always lost.  Christianity brought down Herod, then the Roman Empire, then a whole list of tyrants and governments over 2,000 years of human history--not militarily or politically, but by capturing the hearts and souls of men and women.  Christianity still advances today in countries where it is illegal to be a follower of Christ, maybe even punishable by death.

I had to pause today and pray for brothers and sisters around the world who are paying a heavy price for their faith.  And I pray that I have even a fraction of the courage and conviction they have.  Always remember who wins the showdown.

Matthew27:: Zombieland

Matthew 27

I have found a kindred spirit in cartoonist David Hayward. He is a pastor in Canada and I "get" him, though I don't always agree with him. I got this cartoon from him yesterday.

After reading through Chapter 27, I had a very similar thought. I even uttered this phrase in my prayer with my daughter tonight, "Thank you for Good Friday, even though calling it that seems weird." In all it's goodness, it is still the most solemn and horrifying day of the year for me...always has been and I hope it always is.

Back in the early 90's a friend of mine made a video to the song, "Because He Loved Me" by Celine Dion. Not that uncommon, just check out youtube. What was uncommon was his choice of video footage. He used scenes from the Visual Bible: Matthew. I posted a clip from there back with Chapter 18. The Jesus depicted in the at movie was a Jesus I really liked, admired and wanted to hang around. He got the nickname, "The Happy Jesus." Up until then, I had always been bored to tears with the Jesus portrayals in movies. They all looked pale and almost malnourished. This Jesus was different. By the time I got to the end of the movie, my heart ached during Chapter 27 like never before. This was a friend. This was someone I identified with. This was very different. Ever since then, Good Friday has been anything but for me.

Here is what got me today:

^51-53At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What's more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus' resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)

Now, verse 51 has always been one of my favorite verses. The temple, which had always separated the holy from the secular, the haves from the have-nots, was now torn apart. Now everyone is granted access to God! Man, that's awesome.

But what about this next part. Was this the New Testament version of Zombieland? I mean, I'm a little taken aback by this and frankly not even sure I remembered it. Many dead people were raised up - the resurrections before the Resurrection. I'm a little puzzled by this and don't really know why it happened. I don't have any good preacher-talk for you. That's just what stood out a little more than normal today.