John chapter 5 describes a man who has been ill for more than thirty years. His frustration is increased by his perceived proximity to healing that remains always just beyond his realization His frustration ends one day when a stranger directs him simply to get up and walk. He arises, realizes suddenly he is healed, picks up his bed (cot?) and begins to walk home, only to be accosted by accusations that he is violating religious law by carrying the bed on the Sabbath. For years,decades, he had sought healing, but had not found it. Now he encountered one sometimes now called "The Great Physician;" both he and the healer are castigated by those so intent on keeping the fences of the law strong that that they forget the purpose of God's law, to heal and to save.
Today, many still seek spiritual and physical healing for years. Too often, when they find it, alleged followers of Jesus castigate them for their prior affliction or because they still carry "baggage' from their illness or bad decisions. When Jesus later encountered the man whom he had healed, he told him to "go and sin no more." He did not handcuff the man to the sin or the illness he had known before forgiveness. He did not consign him to perpetual crippling by the scars of his past. Jesus came to heal soul and body. He urged people to realize the reality of their sin and to seek to escape it. He realized, though, that temptations would persist, and that scars would remain. He knew too about "older bothers" who never forget and seldom forgive long repented and now healed sin.
Don't impede the Great Physician. Forgive and encourage those who have been abused, who have been scarred, who have made all the wrong decisions, but who now press forward, focused on the only one who can save them. Pleas don't distract them. The chart is one I remember my father preaching from when I was a child. The chart is mine now, and a few weeks ago I too preached from it. Dad taught me about the compassion of the Great Physician. He also warned of the scars that persist even after healing (forgiveness), and about those who seem to enjoy prolonging the pain for those who have fallen along the way.Jesus healed because he aligned himself with God the Father, who gave him the authority to heal those who were sick even when some thought it wasn't the right time or place.
Showing posts with label reconciliation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reconciliation. Show all posts
Monday, June 05, 2017
The Great Physican
John chapter 5 describes a man who has been ill for more than thirty years. His frustration is increased by his perceived proximity to healing that remains always just beyond his realization His frustration ends one day when a stranger directs him simply to get up and walk. He arises, realizes suddenly he is healed, picks up his bed (cot?) and begins to walk home, only to be accosted by accusations that he is violating religious law by carrying the bed on the Sabbath. For years,decades, he had sought healing, but had not found it. Now he encountered one sometimes now called "The Great Physician;" both he and the healer are castigated by those so intent on keeping the fences of the law strong that that they forget the purpose of God's law, to heal and to save.
Today, many still seek spiritual and physical healing for years. Too often, when they find it, alleged followers of Jesus castigate them for their prior affliction or because they still carry "baggage' from their illness or bad decisions. When Jesus later encountered the man whom he had healed, he told him to "go and sin no more." He did not handcuff the man to the sin or the illness he had known before forgiveness. He did not consign him to perpetual crippling by the scars of his past. Jesus came to heal soul and body. He urged people to realize the reality of their sin and to seek to escape it. He realized, though, that temptations would persist, and that scars would remain. He knew too about "older bothers" who never forget and seldom forgive long repented and now healed sin.
Don't impede the Great Physician. Forgive and encourage those who have been abused, who have been scarred, who have made all the wrong decisions, but who now press forward, focused on the only one who can save them. Pleas don't distract them. The chart is one I remember my father preaching from when I was a child. The chart is mine now, and a few weeks ago I too preached from it. Dad taught me about the compassion of the Great Physician. He also warned of the scars that persist even after healing (forgiveness), and about those who seem to enjoy prolonging the pain for those who have fallen along the way.Jesus healed because he aligned himself with God the Father, who gave him the authority to heal those who were sick even when some thought it wasn't the right time or place.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Is Jesus Lucky to Have Us as His Disciples?
Robert Burns wrote:
The picture with this entry came to my attention when a Catholic priest posted it. The chart aptly portrays what he sees when he considers the vast array of non-Catholic churches. I come from a background that the priest might consider a good fit for the cartoon. We try to be Christ's church. At times we may forget that Christ determines the parameters for inclusion in his body and that we do not. So we say things that earn the response, "So, you think you're the only ones going to heaven."
Actually, it's not my call who goes to heaven. God makes that call. You and I study his message to us (the Bible) and listen to discern what he wants.
Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples in John 17. As the chart on the board in the cartoon depicts, we have not done a good job at maintaining that unity. In part that division has arisen because of personality clashes, in part because of doctrinal disagreements (a few of them actually critical), in part because of disagreements about what was most important, in part (sadly) because of ethnic boundaries. Ephesians chapter two teaches that Jesus came to break down barriers, not to erect them.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me"(John 14:6). Another biblical passage, Hebrews 12:1-3, affirms this when it directs reader to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author (or trailblazer) and perfecter of our faith. If we want to be Jesus' disciples, we must focus on how he walked and what he said. The experience of the early church as described in the New Testament also gives us insight into what a group of people that belong to Jesus look like (Christianity in the New Testament is lived in fellowship with other believers, not in isolation.). They met together for prayer, communion, and teaching. They sang and encouraged one another. They corrected those who had lost their focus. They considered themselves, as Jesus had, one group (or body or church) belonging to him. There were no franchises.
Is Jesus lucky to have us as his disciples? No, we're the blessed ones. He has called us out of darkness into the light of the path he cleared. Let's follow him. It won't be easy, but we will do better if we realize our relationship to him and let him lead the way.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!In our vernacular, "would some Power the gift give us to see ourselves as others see us.It would from many a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait would leave us an' even devotion!"
The picture with this entry came to my attention when a Catholic priest posted it. The chart aptly portrays what he sees when he considers the vast array of non-Catholic churches. I come from a background that the priest might consider a good fit for the cartoon. We try to be Christ's church. At times we may forget that Christ determines the parameters for inclusion in his body and that we do not. So we say things that earn the response, "So, you think you're the only ones going to heaven."
Actually, it's not my call who goes to heaven. God makes that call. You and I study his message to us (the Bible) and listen to discern what he wants.
Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples in John 17. As the chart on the board in the cartoon depicts, we have not done a good job at maintaining that unity. In part that division has arisen because of personality clashes, in part because of doctrinal disagreements (a few of them actually critical), in part because of disagreements about what was most important, in part (sadly) because of ethnic boundaries. Ephesians chapter two teaches that Jesus came to break down barriers, not to erect them.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me"(John 14:6). Another biblical passage, Hebrews 12:1-3, affirms this when it directs reader to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author (or trailblazer) and perfecter of our faith. If we want to be Jesus' disciples, we must focus on how he walked and what he said. The experience of the early church as described in the New Testament also gives us insight into what a group of people that belong to Jesus look like (Christianity in the New Testament is lived in fellowship with other believers, not in isolation.). They met together for prayer, communion, and teaching. They sang and encouraged one another. They corrected those who had lost their focus. They considered themselves, as Jesus had, one group (or body or church) belonging to him. There were no franchises.
Is Jesus lucky to have us as his disciples? No, we're the blessed ones. He has called us out of darkness into the light of the path he cleared. Let's follow him. It won't be easy, but we will do better if we realize our relationship to him and let him lead the way.
Monday, May 27, 2013
It's Memorial Day and I'm Home
It's Memorial Day and I'm home. Last year, I was in Afghanistan. Already, I had prayed over the bodies of Soldiers assassinated in their offices and worked alongside medical teams from two other nations in trying to identify remains after a helicopter crash. Soldiers had committed suicide, leaving stunned comrades and grieving families behind. I'm home and I'm glad to be alive. I rejoice that finally I can eat steak again. Elsewhere, families still grieve and comrades still grapple with the absences of those with whom they worked. I pray for those families and friends who grieve that God will comfort them. Sometime today I will call a cousin whose father died in Vietnam. I pray for peace. Most of all, I pray that all will be reconciled to God through Christ. I'm home. I don't see my grown children as much as I would like, but we're all alive. My wife is here with me. It's Memorial Day and I'm home.
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