Thursday, January 17, 2013

Something Greater...

As I read through Matthew 12, I am amazed at the authority with which Jesus speaks.  His authority, which is noted by the people at the end of Jesus' Great Sermon (Matt. 5-7), is the reason they follow him.  It's part of what gives Jesus his wow-factor.  But it isn't as though he just walks up to people, whoever they are, and just says, "Hey!  I'm great."  Not at all.  On the contrary, there is almost a hiddenness to his glory.  He heals people of all their diseases, and then orders them "not to make him known." (12:16)  We are told this is to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy of God's true servant, who "will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets" (12:19; Isaiah 42:1-4) 

Matthew 12 gives us a picture of the greatness of Jesus as he explained it to people on a daily basis. 
In conversation with Pharisees, he tells them a story about temple priests who break the sabbath and punctuates his point - "I tell you, something greater than the temple is here."  As they belly-ache about how he doesn't toe the line on their particular sabbath observances, he tells them a story about David taking bread, and closes with "the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."  Later, they ask Jesus for a sign of who he is.  He warns them that the Ninevites received Jonah, and now the Pharisees are in trouble because "see, something greater than Jonah is here."  Likewise, he warns them that the queen of the South, or Sheba (Yemen in today's map) visited Solomon and was amazed at his wisdom.  She will stand in judgment over this generation, Jesus says, because "see, something greater than Solomon is here!" (12:42)

The intensity of the back-and-forth exchanges between Jesus and these people captures our attention.  It is easy to overlook what Jesus is saying about himself.  Greater than Jonah, Solomon, the temple, the Sabbath?  How much greater?  How "great" are you?  No wonder these strict monotheists wanted to "destroy him" (12:14)

I think of something Scottish pastor and theologian P.T. Forsyth wrote in 1909.  "All the great Christian teachers impress us with the fact that their teaching is far ahead of their experience, and that they built better than they knew.  Even Paul preached a Gospel greater than anything he attained in his own soul...whereas our impression of Christ is just the converse...He received from none the Gospel he spoke.  He found it in himself.  Indeed it was himself.  He only preached the true relation between God and man because he incarnated it, and because he established it."

Christ is something greater.  To Jonah, Solomon, the temple, P.T. Forsyth would add the Apostle Paul and every Christian teacher.  What can we add to this list today?  Because here is what this means today: 

First, everything good in this world, I mean that is truly good, is shaped by the Word of God.  Jesus himself is the Word of God.  Even you and me, to the extent that we are "good trees" that bear "good fruit" (12:33) it is because Jesus created us anew in his death and resurrection.  So let's give thanks and speak to him face to face - our God in the flesh, greater than all he has created. 

Secondly, know that he is God.  It is common to read something like this: "Jesus is humble, so he would never say that we was greater than the gods of other religions."  This would be a far different Jesus than we are seeing in Matthew 12 or any other part of the Bible.  Yes, Jesus was humble - the humble servant who "will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets."  He was humble in that he was really human, just like each of us.  Not God merely masquerading as a human.  But also "something greater than..."  He is also God, the only God.  The same Jesus who claims to be "something greater" in Matthew 12 claims to have "power over everything in heaven and on earth by Matthew 28.  With his Father and his Spirit who lives within us, Jesus is God - not like us at all - who came down and became like us in every way so he could bring us to himself.  We are greater, because something greater than us is here.  Very good news, because all that he is, anything that he claims to be - this is the gift he gives to us.  For he gives us himself.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

A Miracle Hidden Within Us

The coffee pot is sputtering.  The scent fills the air.  I sit in our family room and pray.  I am doing next to nothing, but trying to be present to the one who made all things.  He cares about who and what I do today.  He has given gifts of new life and a new heart.  I want to understand what they are, what they mean for me, and what use they might have in the world today.

God is my Father.  He has orchestrated all things - sent his Son to become human, sent his Spirit to bind me to him, and acts mightily in and through every moment of my life to bind me closer in relationship to his fullness.

Jesus is my brother, my friend, my God.  He is the one who meets me in the pit of my own sin when I confess to him.  He is there everytime - at the cross.  When I can't even remember all that I might possibly have to leave at the cross, I am still comforted, because he has already removed all of it.  Through baptism, I am buried with him.  I have died in him.  Everything I fear the most has already been faced by Jesus on my behalf - death, yes, but also sin-death - the one that comes as payment for sin, for Paul writes, "the wages of sin is death."  This, too, has come to pass.

The sun hasn't even risen yet today.  But my Lord has.  Jesus rose from the grave.  Through faith, I rise with him to a new day, a new life, that I can't even begin to comprehend.  The new life I imagine in heaven - this is real right now.

I can't quite believe it!  Its too wonderful.  In a few hours, the world will be so normal, so ordinary.  Could it really be true?  Only in him.  Only in Christ.  I have to figure out a way to keep my eyes on him today, not out of fear.  I am convinced at least of this - that God is merciful beyond what I can imagine.  But I have to figure out a way because I love him, because I want to be with him.

Do you ever wonder why it is that your brain is so powerful, so amazing in all that it does - and yet it doesn't seem to understand itself?  Or that your heart, which sends vital, nutrient-rich blood all over your body, doesn't send a message to your brain each day of how important its work is?  These are hidden miracles within us.  So it is, I think, with the new heart and the new mind through the Holy Spirit's presence in us.  Hidden, alive, working - God lives within you.  Where will we be led today?

Too much for us to handle on a Wednesday morning in January?  Perhaps!  But it is still early.  The day has not quite begun yet.  I have a fighting chance of being like King David - "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1)

God, it is written in 1 Peter 1:12 that angels long to understand what it is you have done in crucifying us in the death of your Son and raising us to life in him.  Angels long to know and feel what it is that is taking place in our lives.  Give us eyes to see each other today as children of the Father, dearly loved and treasured - to live a peaceful but busy day, content with you.