Unless

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”  John 13:3-9

Peter’s refusal (at first) wasn’t a matter of control; it was just the opposite.  Peter knew himself to be unworthy to be served by Jesus.  Jesus was holy; Peter was a leather-faced fisherman who knew the fickleness within himself.  He couldn’t fit in anyone’s description of pure.  He wasn’t good enough.  And he was right.

Peter wasn’t just right about himself; he was right about all of us.  He knew what the prophet had said about all humans: 

We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.  

Isaiah 64:6

Hence, Jesus’ answer…Simon, buddy…if you won’t take my washing, you won’t have anything from me.  This is the whole issue of salvation God offers.  There is nothing any human being can do to be cleansed from our sin:

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.  Romans 3:20

God specifically said no human being still practicing evil, or having refused Christ will be allowed entrance to the New Jerusalem, Heaven:

Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Revelation 21:27

The Lamb’s Book of Life is the account of everyone who accepts the cleansing from sin which Jesus offered by virtue of His death on the cross.  What Jesus taught his disciples in that upper room, particularly Peter, was a metaphor.  He washed their feet, and it represented the washing of their hearts that he would do the next day.  What looked like the greatest failure in history, a “would-be” Messiah, hanging naked, bloodied, beaten, and stone-cold-dead on a criminal’s cross, would be His offer of eternal, internal cleansing each of us needs to be right with our Creator.  Jesus told Peter (and He tells us) UNLESS I give you this cleansing, you’ll never be mine…you’ll NOT be in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

For You Today 

I have known many people who hesitated to accept Christ as Savior, because, like Peter, they knew how unworthy they were, uncertain they could live-into God’s ways.  And that is the very first step in the process of inking your name in His book.  You must repent of your sins. 

UNLESS you know how bad you are, you’ll never understand how marvelous grace is…and how much God wants to forgive you, and draw you close to Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  So...Then... and  His Way    

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

When Judas Brings Darkness

 

Wednesday of Holy Week, March 31, 2021

Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”  The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean.  The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.   Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?”  So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”  Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.”  And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.  When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.  Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”  None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor.  So Judas left at once, going out into the night.  John 13:21-30

When you’re very familiar with a story, having read it many times before, you can miss some important phrases.  This morning they jumped off the page to grab me by the heart and throat. 

Satan entered into him…is a chilling reminder of how someone who chooses to believe in Jesus can turn on a dime if their belief is mixed with self-serving.  Judas was the treasurer, and being too close to the money was too much of a temptation for him.  (This, by-the-way, is not a blanket indictment of those who handle the financial necessities of church organizations.  I have known, and worked with treasurers of many churches – my own father included…mostly they are humble, honest, and only willing to serve God).  I believe Judas let the growing purse influence his understanding of God’s Kingdom.  He idolized the cash flow, and it began to pave the way for Satan to open his heart’s door.

So Judas left at once, going out into the night.  Going out into the night wasn’t just describing the time after the sun went down in the sky, but how the light of Christ’s love was forsaken in favor of following after the purse.

The fact that Judas was still with Jesus at the Last Supper indicates he still had a choice.  Scripture records that Jesus offered the piece of bread after dipping in the bowl, a sign of friendship and an offer of shared intimacy between close friends.  Taking the bread was the response of welcome, and shared joy.  This was the choice Judas made to betray Jesus.  His actions declared love for Jesus; his heart was counting on filling the purse with 30 pieces of silver.

And this is the danger for any of us who openly bear the name of disciple; our hearts are not hardened bastilles, they are vulnerable.  Our compassion makes us so, willing to be servant, helper, doers of good.  Satan is more than willing to use that against us.  This is why we are cautioned to be on guard, vigilant against the evil Satan wants to carry into the open doors of our hearts.

Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  1 Peter 5:8

Most of us would not name a child “Judas”.  The name carries too much weight of betrayer, or not-to-be-trusted.  As such, when we hear that name, it is too easy to simply think of the despised cheat.  We miss the greater threat we each face, understanding that we are also following the same master and subject to the same temptation as Judas. 

·       It may be the purse, like Judas

·       It may be ambition like James and John wanting inner-circle privilege

·       It may be cowardice to witness like Peter, denying his Master at trial

It could be any of our little weakness proclivities that Satan knows how to exploit and nurture into full-blown betrayal. 

Is there any wonder we are called to a daily walk, a moment-by-moment conversation with our God that never really puts an “amen” to the end of our  prayers…but remains an open line of short accounts?

For You Today

A good check on how close to being Judas, (for any of us), is to set an hourly alarm reminder to consider if we’ve been on the alert to share Christ with someone, or thinking of that person who needs a word of encouragement, or if we’ve been mindful of God’s leading in every area of our life and relationships.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  By Nikolai Ge, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons                                                              Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

His Way

[i][ii]

Maundy Thursday, April 18, 2019

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father.  He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.  It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,  and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”  Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean.  And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.”  For Jesus knew who would betray him.  That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”  After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am.  And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.  I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master.  Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.  Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.  John 13:1-17

If you count the disciples in the picture you’ll see there are twelve.  The question is:  If Jesus is washing his beloved disciples’ feet, why in the world is Judas there?  In the normal course of the world’s power structure, CEO’s do not serve janitors, and powerful people do not do the getting your hands dirty stuff!  And even if the leader of the band would tune the violin for his first chair, you don’t coddle and include the one who is trying to sabotage the concert.  Judas is the enemy.  Nobody likes Judas; have you ever heard of a new Mom or Dad joyfully naming their child Judas?  And on top of it all, Jesus said to those disciples that he was doing this to teach them (and us) to follow in his footsteps, wash the feet of friends and enemies alike; when you get clobbered on one cheek, offer the other. 

In the words of great theological thinkers like Pogo or Snoopy – what’s up with this?  It doesn’t make sense.  And while that is true on so many levels, when it comes to this world’s view of the way things ought to be, and the way Jesus says they must be, you have a case of oil and water; sooner or later those ingredients will separate.  You cannot mix darkness and light for long.  You cannot have short and tall, skinny and portly…and when it comes to pleasing God, you’re not going to please worldly-minded people at all.  To turn another phrase in this cacophony of mixed metaphors, it’s either His way, or Hell’s way.  And, for good measure, we throw in a little Bob Dylan: 

Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord,

but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.[iii]

Sooner or later it dawns on most people who want to follow Jesus that the focus of Jesus’ way is counter-clockwise, or counter to this world’s cultural expectations and preferences.  Bob Dylan had a brush with Christianity, and he got it, that everyone is hard-wired to serve somebody.  Even the person who sits in the oval office answers to someone higher…sooner or later.  And, when you lay your head down on the pillow for the last time in this world, it makes sense that it will have been a wise choice to surrender your life to His way, much as it will make the world uncomfortable.

For You Today

Jesus loved Judas enough to wash his dusty feet; how are you doing with that annoying neighbor of yours?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody

Yes? No? What?

[1]

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him.  And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once.  Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer.  And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going.  So now I am giving you a new commandment:  Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?”  And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”  “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked.  “I’m ready to die for you.”  Jesus answered, “Die for me?  I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.  There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.  If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.  And you know the way to where I am going.”  “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said.  “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me.  John 13:31 – 14:6(NLT)

To say the least, it was a little confusing at times following Jesus.  At this last supper (of course the disciples didn’t understand it would be the last) they heard the Lord say:  you can’t come, then, you will, then, not now.  Peter wanted to know why and where.  Thomas finally nailed it with:  Would you just tell us, Jesus?  The fact is we don’t have a clue!  And then Jesus said it plainly; He IS the answer … to everything! 

It’s like the old sermon illustration about the children’s sermon.  The pastor asks the little ones:  what’s grey, with a long fuzzy tail and runs up and down the trees saving up nuts for the winter?  5-year-old Tommy raises his hand and says:  Jesus! 

The crowd gasps; Tommy’s Grandmaw has a spell, and the pastor, hesitating, asks his little student:  Uh, why would you say that, Tommy? 

Says the budding theologian, Aw, preacher; I knowed you was talkin’ ‘bout a squirrel, but this here’s church; all the answers are ‘bout Jesus.

I believe Tommy may have been on-to something.  I have sat for hours and watched squirrels darting around, playing and fighting with other squirrels, gathering nuts and scampering up the tree to their nest.  It looks quite confusing to a human, although it’s quite natural for a squirrel, no matter what a human thinks!

With all the confusion DaVinci portrayed at that upper room table, many critics of Scripture can’t wait to get to this passage.  They love to point out the so-called contradictory nature of Jesus’ teachings; first he says “yes” then “no” then “wait”.

But, like life, leading a group of no-nonsense fishermen, former tax collectors, and generally uneducated young nobodies out of their all over the map squirrel-kind of thinking about God, into the God’s kind of love which will grow into an all-consuming passion for the kingdom requires a lot of course-correction.  Jesus was leading them on a complicated mission that has one, very UNCOMPLICATED conclusion, that Jesus is the Christ, God-in-flesh, come down to BE our answer.

And if you get THAT … you won’t get much else wrong.

For You Today

Advent is just around the corner; God makes His presence known in unexpected places like stables, crosses, and the face of your next-door neighbor.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Final Huddle

[1]

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

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No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.  Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.  Since I live, you also will live.  When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me.  And because they love me, my Father will love them.  And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”    John 14:19-21^(NLT)

In the years Jesus walked with and taught his disciples they’d learned so much, particularly during the “huddles”.  Huddle times were when they would gather together at the end of day, and Jesus would reveal to them understanding of what they’d seen and heard that day.  They would ask him questions while the evening fire crackled, and their minds were slowly being shaped and prepared for service in the kingdom.

Perhaps none of these evenings was more important than their final huddle.  Jesus was more than clear as he shared the Last Supper with his disciples; his death was not the end of things, but the beginning of a new life that would open the reality of God’s forgiveness for all people.

He said these few, cataclysmic statements:

1.     I am going to die, but I will live again – and that’s your future too.

2.     My resurrection will open your understanding.

3.     Throw your life in with mine and know the love of my Father…I won’t hold anything back from you.

For the “uninitiated,” those who have not placed their faith in Jesus, many of his statements and actions are difficult to understand.  But it was designed to be that way, because, in the final analysis, faith operates absent of empirical evidence.

Just ask Thomas!

After the resurrection, when Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas wasn’t there.  When he was told Jesus was alive, Thomas said: 

I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.  John 20:25b^(NLT)

And that’s how most of us are deep inside; how can you take such an important thing on faith alone?  The answer, of course, even for those of us who have hung around church for a long time and been privy to the huddles, is:

You say you won’t believe until you see;

But you won’t see until you believe!

And so it is with everything Jesus taught in the final huddle with his disciples; when you begin to believe, by choosing to believe, you also begin to see and experience the love of the Father – firsthand.  It is then – and only then – you begin to understand enough to know deep inside that it’s all true.  And then, you don’t need anything else, or anyone else to convince you – your empirical evidence is beating and breathing from within.

A step of faith in Christ leads to deeper faith in Christ, which leads to a closer walk with Christ, and the revelation deep inside your soul, of just how much the Father loves you.

For You Today

Like Jesus said to Thomas on that day, don’t be faithless anymore…believe.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!

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[1] By Onofrio bramante (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons