So you know…
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In John chapter 1, Jesus tells two disciples of John the Baptist, one of whom was Andrew the brother of Peter, to “come and see” where he was staying. They spent the whole day with Jesus and Andrew ended up introducing his brother, Peter, to Jesus. Eventually both of them became disciples of Christ.
A few verses later, Nathanael, another would-be disciple is invited by Philip to “come and see” this man named Jesus he has been following.
Not long after this in chapter 4, Jesus tells a Samaritan woman about the living water he offers. The woman went on to encourage the people in her city to “come and see” Jesus the Messiah.
Three times people were invited to “come and see” Jesus the Messiah, either by Jesus himself or by those deeply affected by him. It’s the invitation to discipleship.
Later in John 11, we find Jesus traveling to Bethany to attend to his beloved friend Lazarus who died only four days before. When he drew close to the city, he met with Lazarus’ two sisters; first with Martha, then with Mary.
When Mary came out to meet Jesus she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She was weeping and mourning the loss of her brother along with many other Jews from the area. When Jesus asked where Lazarus was laid, the mourners said to him, “come and see.”
This is when Jesus wept.
When Jesus was asked to come and see, the tables were turned. He who invited others to come and see the purpose of God being accomplished through him was now invited to come and see the fate of fallen and sinful humanity, exemplified by a tomb.
Jesus, being both fully human and fully God, was confronted with the desperate situation humanity found itself in; the same humanity that Jesus was baptized into.
When Jesus was invited to come and see, he did not balk, but obediently heeded the will of his Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ endured death on the cross on our behalf taking the whole weight of humanity’s fallenness upon his self. Being a perfect sacrifice, God the Father vindicated him by resurrecting him, a resurrection to new life that Jesus shares with those who believe and are baptized into him. Through Christ, death no longer has its sting. It is no longer victorious and it no longer has the final say. The tomb was not the end for Christ, nor will it be the end for those who are in Christ. Amen.
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Psalm 18:4-6
With these words David recalls, first of all, the perils he had faced and secondly the God who heard his cry. David’s life was not characterized by peace and luxury but rather by danger, hardships and action. As a boy he risked life and limb defending his family’s sheep. As a teen he fought a giant. As a man he was pursued by a jealous, spear-wielding king. As the King of Israel he defended the people from the enemies surrounding them while dealing with rebellions stemming from his own family line.
Time and again David encountered near death experiences. Time and again David’s adversaries threatened to undo him. But David knew what his adversaries did not. For even while David was at his weakest, he knew that God was strong to save. Here in this Psalm, David relates to us the saving acts and power of our God so that we might know that our God is mighty to save and might call upon him in time of need.
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Psalm 18:4-6
With these words David recalls, first of all, the perils he had faced and secondly the God who heard his cry. David’s life was not characterized by peace and luxury but rather by danger, hardships and action. As a boy he risked life and limb defending his family’s sheep. As a teen he fought a giant. As a man he was pursued by a jealous, spear-wielding king. As the King of Israel he defended the people from the enemies surrounding them while dealing with rebellions stemming from his own family line.
Time and again David encountered near death experiences. Time and again David’s adversaries threatened to undo him. But David knew what his adversaries did not. For even while David was at his weakest, he knew that God was strong to save. Here in this Psalm, David relates to us the saving acts and power of our God so that we might know that our God is mighty to save and might call upon him in time of need.
"Isaiah 45:7" by Mark Lawrence
“I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me.” – Isaiah 45:5
I have been a Vikings fan all my life. Cut me open and I bleed purple and gold. When I found out I was going to be the father of a boy my first dream was of him playing football professionally in a Vikings uniform.
As a Vikings fan, it goes without saying that I despise and hate (at least in a sporting sense) the Green Bay Packers. They are Slytherin to my Gryffindor, the Sith to my Jedi, the Joker to my Batman, the devil to my… well, you get the idea.
Now, for the majority of my life as a football fan the Packers have had one person in particular upon whom my wrath has settled. Brett Favre. For years, Brett Favre was the face of the Green Bay Packers. For years, the Green Bay quarterback, Brett Favre, represented everything I loathed about the Packers. Brett Favre. Seeing him trot onto the sacred field of play caused the bile in my liver to boil. Brett Favre. His very name was poison to my lips. Brett Favre.
So you can imagine my consternation when my beloved Vikings wrangled Brett Favre out of retirement and invited He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to play quarterback in 2009. How could they do this to me? How could they bring in our mortal enemy to play the most important position on the team? Brett Favre, the very bane of my existence as a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, now became one of us. Disgrace upon disgrace.
The “you” that God is addressing in Isaiah 45:5 is Cyrus the Great, the pagan ruler of the Persian Empire who lived around 550 BC. In Isaiah 45, God anointed Cyrus to do a great work for God’s exiled people, Israel. Cyrus is Israel’s Brett Favre. He isn’t supposed to be the one upon through whom God’s deliverance would come. Yet, it happened. Through Cyrus, the people of God began to return to the Promised Land.
God’s people were in exile. They were beaten down and they longed for deliverance. So, God planned to do just that, but he planned to do so in the most unexpected and unlikely of ways. Cyrus. Why? “That people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:6-7).
God raised Cyrus in order to show his people who was really in control. Had one of their own risen to liberate them, would they have believed it was God’s doing? God raised him as a display of God’s sovereignty and God’ sovereignty served to show the power and expanse of God’s grace. And nowhere is God’s sovereign power and grace more evident for us than in the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? … How is that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12).
It’s easy, isn’t it, to laugh at the disciples. After all, they should have known that Jesus was not warning them about bread. (Unless, of course, he did so privately to those with various food allergies.) They should have remembered Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the crowds. Jesus must not have selected his disciples on the basis of an aptitude test.
And there we find them, far away from their homes, on the other side of the lake, without any bread. They had stomachs. They had appetites. They had just sailed across a lake. But they had nothing to fill their stomachs, or to satisfy their hunger. If you have ever experienced being hungry before then you know how easy it is for thoughts of food to fill your mind. “Peter, did Jesus just say, ‘leaven?'” “Well yes, James, it looks like someone forgot to bring any.”
We all have needs. We need to eat. We need clothing, shelter, and the means to acquire these. Jesus knows this. He provides these things for us. But Jesus is not speaking in today’s text about our physical needs, he is speaking about our spiritual needs. He is providing his disciples with a strong warning to be on guard against the teachings of those who would pull them away from Himself. He is warning them to be on guard against the spiritual teachings of those who had rejected him.
There may be times when we find ourselves unprepared. There may be times when we fail to plan ahead. These things happen. Jesus does not rebuke his disciples for forgetting the bread. Ultimately the bread did not matter. What does matter is this, that we cling to Christ, the bread of life, and beware of the teachings of all those who reject him.
May you cling to Christ and look to him in faith for all your needs – both physical and eternal.
A little while ago, my two year old son and I were watching a cartoon called Word World. In this particular episode, Duck and Bug were bringing Monkey a banana for his birthday present. (Obviously we are talking about a very sophisticated TV show which appeals only to the high minded.)
At one point in the cartoon, Duck and Bug decided to do a little song and dance to celebrate their arrival to the jungle, but in order to do the dance they had to put the present containing the banana down first.
Now, my son really likes bananas and he was so excited about the present Duck and Bug were bringing to Monkey. So it absolutely crushed him when during the song and dance, a long jungle vine came out of nowhere and snatched the gift wrapped banana away and took it out of the picture entirely.
When my son saw this he began to wail and moan. Giant pathetic tears were rolling down his cheeks pooling up on his chin. If we had them available in the house I’m sure he would have donned sackcloth and ashes.
The banana was gone. In his mind, it unfairly stolen away. No matter how much I reasoned with him, no matter how much I told him that the banana was going to be found because this type of show never ends in tragedy, he would not be consoled.
He just couldn’t believe what I was telling him; he couldn’t believe my words of comfort and promise would come to fruition.
If I’m honest with myself, I find that I am not far off from where my son was. I find that I am often unsure about God’s active engagement with the world. I often have questions about whether or not God is good, just like my son questioned whether or not the banana would return.
It’s times like this when the language of the Psalms prove helpful. In the psalms, the psalmists’ often question God’s goodness and provision while at the same time offer confessions of faith. It’s honest language that I have to believe God appreciates.
Read Psalm 74 and notice how in one psalm, the psalmist brazenly pleads with God to keep his promises while also confessing God as creator and as the one in control.
May God be patient with our laments and questions and may God grant us the faith to wait upon and trust in his goodness.
 | admin on Moving |
 | Laura Norby on Moving |
 | Luke Berntson on Number 4 |
 | Geri Beckman on Radical Love |
 | Dan Antal on Did God really say? |
Thoughts from PRBC 