Lent 2015

Any calendar would work. But this is the one we
use each year during Lent.

There are two general approaches to Lent from people who earnestly want to celebrate the season well: To give up very little in order to focus more intently on prayer and avoid overwhelmingly strong temptations to sin because of trying to do it all, and To give up a great deal in order to rely more completely on God and discover a level of sweetness in the Easter celebration which is only found following a period of intense fasting. I have certainly done the former and made vague swipes at the latter (too weak to carry it through) and I have also done the bare minimum, hardly taking notice of Lent at all. This year as I see the various "how to celebrate Lent" articles, I feel the guilt of imagining that I should give up thisthatandtheother but having absolutely no desire to do so. I know that the feast is sweeter following a true fast, but I wonder how sweet my attitude would be midway through a difficult day without the items that I would have given up or with the knowledge that I ought to complete whatever extra devotion I've committed to before I relax that day.
.
Lent is really an opportunity to examine our lives, to pray and consider what invitations the Lord has offered to us which we have not been accepting. Has He been asking you to depend upon Him rather than chocolate? Give up the chocolate cold turkey for 40 days. Has He been inviting you to spend time with Him every day? Make a commitment to do exactly that for __ minutes every day. Has He been encouraging you to speak more lovingly? Lent is a great time to choose to speak 3 words of affirmation for every 1 critical word. There are innumerable suggestions online for ways we can use the season to become more faithful servants of the Most High according to whatever our particular spiritual needs are. It only becomes counterproductive when we choose the means of celebration based on someone else's spiritual needs or we know and commit to a particular path but give up when that path becomes difficult rather than turning to the Lord for the strength to carry on.
.
Our Lenten felt calendar is up and paper hearts are cut out. Each of the 40 days we will each write down something we plan to do that day to love Jesus. For my toddler this will be her first introduction to the idea of celebrating Lent, as she scribbles on her heart each day and tucks the paper in that day's pocket. The heart itself will be her "sacrifice", her gift to Jesus. Her 8yr old and 6yr old sisters will probably repeat a lot of the same sacrifices, but won't be bound to a full 40 day commitment. I find that the visual calendar decorating our family room, the accountability from my family expecting me to tuck a heart in each pocket, and the actual routine reminding me to consider each and every day how I can demonstrate my love for the Lord are incredibly helpful in setting apart the season as a time to grow closer to the Lord.
.

So easy to love and so difficult to love
at the same time.

My actual sacrifices this year won't be spectacular. I won't be giving up everything imaginable. I won't be adding in a new level of intensity in my daily devotions. In fact, it will mean less Bible study than I planned on at the beginning of the year, since I found it too complicated trying to figure out which readings I was supposed to do each day (not always using the same Bible) and changed my daily readings to just the next chapter of the Bible. Mostly, I'll be staying the course, working on the same things spiritually and personally that I was working on last week. There won't be any big changes in my day that outsiders could point to and identify as Lent. I might throw in a few activities with my kids and I will keep the Catholic rules of abstinence and fasting, but nothing drastic. (Well, the temptation cookies might be considered drastic...) But as I've been examining my life, praying and considering what the Lord asks of me, mostly He has been answering "Take just one step." Not, "Add a great deal of stress to your life". Not, "Give it all up". Rather, His answer is more along the lives of staying the course, moving forward, doing the best I can today in loving Him and loving my family. Like my Bible readings, I am just trying to read the next chapter after the one I read yesterday, or adding a little more love into my children's banks to what I contributed there yesterday.

Lent 2014: Joseph of Arimathea

Luke 23:50-56

image credit

Although I live in a democratic republic where my opinion can supposedly influence the laws made and who is allowed to make them, my one voice among millions is often not the prevailing opinion. I can't make my government turn in the direction I think it should. I can't convince even elected leaders to stop supporting abortion, to name just one vice I despise. But I can decide how I will respond to the challenges and opportunities I face and whether I will do the right thing despite the opposition.
.
Joseph of Arimathea disagreed with his fellow leaders. He couldn't stop them from crucifying Jesus. But he didn't step away and avoid responsibility for his own actions. Although he couldn't prevent the terrible injustice, he chose to honor the Lord by giving Him the best burial possible. It was a risk for him. How would the other Jewish leaders respond to his actions? Would he lose his position in the council, be persecuted as a disciple of Jesus, be shunned by his friends? He chose to do what he believed was right despite the potential negative consequences.

Lent 2014: Criminal on the cross

Luke 23:32-43

image credit

The believing criminal obviously knew that Jesus' reign was not one of earthly power over the Roman empire. They were both well into the dying process so Jesus couldn't "remember" the criminal and give him any kind of pardon or reward here on earth. Like Martha earlier, he recognized Jesus' eternal power over the afterlife. He saw that he would go through the dying process no matter what, and that his punishment was just, yet he placed his hope in the Man next to him who was also enduring the cross.
.
Who among us does not deserve the same penalty the criminal on the cross received? Jesus, the only human throughout history who was wholly just according to His very nature, from conception through until death, dies a painful crucifixion so that we, who deserve such a terrible death, don't have to. Every trial we endure is fully and completely merited. If we look over at someone else and think that that person's life is easy compared to ours, perhaps God is showing His mercy to that individual rather than excessively punishing us (or perhaps our perception is wrong). Either way, I am grateful that Christ died on the cross for my sake and that His power and His reign extend far beyond the grave.

Lent 2014: John the apostle

John 20:1-10

image credit

How do you respond to fear? All of Jesus' disciples abandoned Him when He was arrested in the garden. Only John came back to stay with Him during His final hour on the cross. Perhaps the part of who he was that brought him back to Jesus despite the danger was connected to the reason he is described as "the one Jesus loved" and the reason John was with Jesus in each major moment of His public ministry. Even when He left the majority of His disciples behind, He brought John with Him along with Peter and James. The danger of martyrdom was very real for all the disciples, yet John chose to risk it rather than stay away from Christ on the cross. He risked it again on the third day to visit the tomb when Mary Magdalene reported it empty.
.
John describes his impression of the empty tomb as something that brought him belief but without understanding. His faith was well grounded in evidence, not simply in word of mouth or feelings, yet it didn't require him to understand in order to believe. Sometimes God chooses not to give us all we need in order to understand but chooses instead to give us just enough to believe and to trust in Him. The details will come later, when we need them. Until then it is enough to believe. It is enough to realize that He is not dead, though He very clearly did die. The implications of that miracle and the full understanding of what He is now will come later.

Lent 2014: Mary Magdalene

Mark 16:9-11

image credit

How frustrating it must have been for Mary when the disciples didn't believe her! She is bringing good news, great news, incredibly amazing news, impossible-to-believe news. Just like Thomas is famous for (Jn 20:25), they weren't ready to believe His resurrection until they encountered Him themselves. Who are we to blame them? We have the account of hundreds of witnesses, followed by historical evidence, backed by the personal testimonies of millions of Christians since that fateful day. It's not brand new information to us. We are not hearing the claim of a human being resurrected from the dead without reason upon reason to believe in the truth of that claim. The disciples heard the news for the first time from one woman who claimed to have seen Him in person; perhaps she had a hallucination or misunderstood the words of an ordinary gardener or had gone crazy from grief.
.
We each need to encounter the risen Jesus for ourselves. Mary encountered Him near the tomb; the disciples encountered Him in Emmaus and in the upper room; we encounter Him spiritually. If I want someone to know Him personally, my words and testimony might not be enough. They might not believe me any more than the disciples believed Mary Magdalene. But if I can help arrange an opportunity for that individual to encounter Him, the reaction might be like that of each person mentioned in the Gospels who had the grace of seeing Christ Jesus in the flesh after His resurrection. Not one of them is said to have disbelieved the Lord once He revealed Himself fully to them. Every one of them recognized that He was the One He claimed to be and chose to follow Him faithfully to the day of their death. My prayer and my desire for those I love is that they will encounter Him personally that they may choose to live for Him from that point until the day of their death.

Lent 2014: Daughters of Jerusalem

Luke 23:26-31

I am blessed to be her mother

There is a certain insanity inherent in rejecting the Lord's natural design for our lives. As the Creator, He is quite aware of what is best for His creation. Sickness, special circumstances, and sin can make an individual turn away from the natural inclinations we should all have imprinted on our beings, but something is terribly wrong in a society where large portions of the population choose to turn away not simply from the laws He has ordered for us but also from the natural instincts the Creator gave to us. Unlike the animals, we can decide whether we will cooperate with those natural instincts or live in another way. Jesus tells the women mourning for His suffering to mourn even more for themselves and their descendants who choose the insanity of rejecting the normal tendencies He gave us for another path.
.
We still recognize in our society the disaster that has taken place when a large group of people commit suicide. Something has gone wrong in them to cause them to desire death over life. There is some form of insanity at work, whether spiritual or physical. We have forgotten, though, that it is also a sign of societal insanity that women as a group desire to avoid having children and consider the women "blessed" who never bear a child. Yes, it is natural for a few women to have no desire to become mothers. It's a sign of those women's individual personalities, callings in life, or of a personal difficulty such as depression. Not all women are born with a natural mothering instinct and not all will want to become mothers themselves even while they rejoice in the motherhood of their friends and family members. The insanity comes in when society as a whole tells women that they should actively avoid motherhood and the better path in life is to live for oneself and for earthly treasure rather than being burdened by children.
.
What other signs of insanity have entered our society? Which ones have we bought into ourselves? Mourn not for a man doing the will of His Father to bring salvation to all humans but rather for those who reject all that we have been given by our Creator. Mourn for those who turn away from even our most natural inner tendencies, who believe that sickness is health and actively spread the illness among as many individuals as possible. Mourn for the society that promotes the insanity of avoiding the blessings of our Creator.

Lent 2014: Pilate

Matthew 27:11-26

image credit

How often do we know something is wrong and try to excuse our decision to commit the sin by claiming that we are forced into the action or somehow "have no other choice"? Pilate was the governor of the Jewish province and often did things that the chief priests and elders did not like. And of course it was within his ability to simply refuse to cooperate. How many individuals over the centuries have elected to die rather than act contrary to what they believe, even without the hope of heaven.
.
Pilate could not wash away his guilt for Jesus' death no matter how hard he tried to. Nor can we. Jesus' death is the means to our salvation and so we are all guilty of His innocent blood. It does us no good to claim that we had no other choice. Pointing the finger at someone else to blame them for our own choice is simply not effective in the face of an all-knowing God. We are guilty, just as Pilate continued to be guilty for Jesus' death, regardless of whether we admit that guilt or not.

Lent 2014: Judas Iscariot

John 13:21-30

image credit

Not everyone who gets to know Jesus chooses to submit their lives to Him. Judas spent just as much time with Jesus as most of the other apostles. He heard all of Christ's famous sermons, he saw the many healings, he witnessed the miracles. He was chosen to be one of the twelve when Jesus could have chosen so many others. His decision to betray the Lord was certainly not because He was a poor witness. This is the reality of free choice: some will choose well but others will choose to reject the Lord.
.
I can do everything right in raising my kids and they can still choose to not follow Christ. I can be the "perfect" witness to by friends, neighbors, and co-workers and they can still choose to decline the offer of salvation. The decision to follow the Lord or not is ultimately something I can only choose for myself for my own eternity.
.
Why would I choose for any path other than that of following Christ? Obviously many do, whether for money or power or other allures of this world or because the path of a Christian can be perceived as too difficult. Yet what did Judas gain? A few coins he took no pleasure in? I would far rather endure the temporary sufferings of this world as a wholehearted follower of the Lord for the eternal joy of Heaven. And although I cannot make the final decision for them, this reality of the temporary benefits of the world vs. the lasting satisfaction of choosing for Christ is what I hope and strive to share with all those that I would like to see join me one day in eternity.

Lent 2014: Crowd following Jesus

Matthew 14:13-21

image credit

It takes some preparation for most people to go on a road trip. The large number of people following after Jesus were not simply out for the day on paid vacation. They were needy. They were physically sick, they were spiritually thirsty, they needed leaders who thought a little less of their own morality and a little more of the sheep they were supposed to protect. They left their towns and villages for a remote location, an area distant enough that Jesus chose it to retreat from the crowds. They didn't take time to gather supplies for their pilgrimage, and they probably spent a lot of energy helping one another reach Him despite their illnesses and infirmities, so they found themselves without even a meal.
.
Jesus cares for every aspect of the people's needs. He heals their physical ailments, He teaches them the truth, He provides the loving leadership they were lacking, and He even refuses to send them away without the food they need. Scripture doesn't tell us what happened to the twelve basketfuls of leftover pieces, but I doubt that the disciples took them all for themselves. Most or all were probably carried off by the crowd to provide the next day's breakfast as they returned home to their jobs and families...or pursued Jesus to His next location. They made great sacrifices to seek out the Son of Man, and He did not disappoint them.
.
What needs do you have? Are you willing to go far out of your way to seek after Jesus in the hopes that He will take care of you? We seem to think that God ought to respond to our every need the very first time we pray or provide for us before we even ask Him to. Yet the people in this crowd put a lot of effort into seeking out Jesus. Perhaps we should expect to put more effort into our petitions also. Yet the reward is greater than the crowd or the disciples anticipated. When we bring one need to Him, how many others will He see and also take care of for us out of compassion for us.

Lent 2014: Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

image credit

The Pharisees claimed to uphold the Mosaic Law and the teachings of the prophets. They claimed to be eagerly awaiting the coming of the Messiah. They claimed to desire the truth. Yet when one of their members wanted to meet the Messiah in person, he had to do so stealthily at night. He told Jesus that "we know that you...come from God". They knew He came from God yet they chose to pretend He did not, they chose to crucify Him, and they chose to condemn everyone who acknowledged Him as the Messiah. Nicodemus sought out the truth and it convinced him to follow Jesus, even though he had to do so secretly, at least at the beginning (Jn 7:50).
.
We can choose to fear the truth or we can seek it out. When we discover the truth we can choose to reject it, ignoring it like the Pharisees or like the proverbial ostrich, or we can embrace it like Nicodemus chose to. Yes, the truth will require a price from us. Jesus told Nicodemus that he would have to be reborn, that he could not remain in his life exactly as it was before. Truth may even require us to endure persecution or martyrdom. Most people will choose to avoid the truth rather than endure the trouble it causes. What will you choose?

Lent 2014: Nathanael

John 1:45-51

image credit

We don't expect the newest fashion designer company to display their designs in Iowa or the next best singer to tour through Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In a similar way Nathanael expected the Messiah to come from quite another town in Israel. Jesus far exceeds his expectations right from their first meeting.
.
What do you expect from an encounter with Jesus? Is He just another man from a backwoods (er-backdesert?) area of a conflicted country in the Middle East? Is He too busy with other matters to take notice of you? Has He forgotten His former promises and become detached from the world altogether? Nathanael discovered that this Man was unlike any other in Israel. He saw him and knew him before Nathanael even met Him for the first time. He was the fulfillment of the ancient prophesies and had come to bring hope beyond everything the Israelites had ever expected. You might not expect much from the Lord each time you come before Him in prayer but He is ready to exceed your expectations far beyond your wildest hopes. "Come and see" the Messiah, and allow Him to prove Himself to you, even in the shortest and most unlikely encounters.

Lent 2014: Philip

John 1:43-46
Luke 15:8-10

image credit

Who do you want to come with you to Heaven? Philip recognized Jesus as the Christ and chose to follow Him, but he didn't keep that blessing to himself. Jesus is not to be kept to ourselves; He is to be shared with everyone who might want to know Him.
.
A celebration is best shared with others. Whether it means gathering only two people or bringing together hundreds, we are made naturally as humans (even us introverts!) to share our good news with others. We invite others to rejoice with us when we receive promotions, we gather a large crowd to celebrate a wedding, we organize parties to commemorate special events. How much more should we invite others to celebrate the discovery of the Messiah!

Lent 2014: Samaritan people

John 4:28-30,39-42

image credit

Unlike the people of Gerasenes, the people of Sychar were eager to hear the words of Jesus and have Him minister to them. Christ reached out to one woman, who evangelized all her friends and neighbors, who came to believe in Jesus directly because they heard the truth and compassion He spoke to them.
.
I firmly believe in the importance of choosing many things for my children while they are young. They brush their teeth and their hair, they eat vegetables as well as sweets, they apologize for wrongdoing toward their siblings, and they read Scripture and pray daily because I make those choices for them. Someday they will either choose those things for themselves or will reject them and choose another path. But I know that my role in their walk with Christ is somewhat like that of the Samaritan woman: I share with them my own experience, bring them to Him, and give Him the opportunity to minister to them. It is up to Him to touch their hearts so they will believe out of their own experience and no longer only because of my experience. And I will be praying for them, that they may choose to invite Him to stay with them for all their lives.

Lent 2014: Samaritan woman

John 4:5-30

image credit

Sometimes the healing we need is not physical. The Samaritan woman wasn't bleeding or blind or paralyzed or dead. Yet as soon as Jesus told her that He could give her living water to quench her spiritual thirst she was very interested. She knew that her situation with her husbands and non-husband was not healthy for her. When Jesus told her that He knew all she had done and was able to offer her something better, she immediately placed her trust in Him. We aren't privy to why she found herself in the situation of having had five husbands and living with yet another man without marrying him, but we know from her response to Jesus that she must have been hurting.
.
In which areas of your life are you hurting? Perhaps you have had five "husbands", or are experiencing the pain of other broken relationships, or find it surprising that someone like Christ would choose to associate with someone like you. Perhaps you feel the rejection that this woman first expressed when a Jew asked her for water. Or perhaps there is some other area of your heart that is in pain.
.
However you are hurting, Christ is ready and willing to heal.

Lent 2014: Widow and her only son

Luke 7:11-17

image credit

Luke goes out of his way to emphasize that this woman is a widow who has lost her only son. Having more children doesn't make the loss of one of them any easier to bear, yet in this society a woman without a male protector, whether son, husband, or father, was in a very difficult position. This woman, who has already experienced the grief of losing her husband, faces a double grief: the death of her son and the devastation of her future. Perhaps Jesus thought of his own mother's future loss of her son when He saw the widow and perhaps He thought of the widow when He was on the cross giving Mary to His disciple John as his mother.
.
The widow doesn't seek out Jesus' help. She is too busy grieving and perhaps has not yet heard of the miracles He has performed. Even if she has heard of the healings, she probably doesn't know that He is capable of bringing the dead back to life. Death is, after all, a much more formidable barrier than illness. Jesus takes the initiative in this miracle out of compassion for the woman, transforming despair into hope and sorrow into joy.
.
Sometimes Jesus doesn't wait for us to turn to Him. Sometimes He takes the initiative out of His love for us. In what ways have you experienced this? Did you tank Him for it? Did you share the good news of God's love for you with others?

Lent 2014: Woman caught in adultery

John 8:2-11

image credit

Jesus does not condone the woman's sin. He very explicitly tells her to avoid it in the future. But He has an issue to deal with among her accusers, for they see her sin and think that somehow they are themselves exempt from judgment. Yes, the sin this woman committed is serious and is punishable under Mosaic law by death. But what sins are hidden within the hearts of her accusers? Whether their sins (and ours) are just as serious, simply hidden from sight, or whether they are seemingly less important, they are certainly numerous and grave enough for every individual present to realize their incompetence to judge the woman. If they are going to complain about Jesus' claim of forgiving sins (Mk 2:7), He chooses to turn the table on them and object to their claim of judging sins. They try to make an example of the adulterous woman to trick Jesus. He uses the opportunity to address the state of their souls, showing that those who hope for mercy for themselves must also grant it to others.
.
Have you ever felt inclined to throw some stones at someone else? The most helpful definition I've heard of "mercy" is "not giving someone the punishment they deserve". That individual you would like to throw the stone at might very well deserve the punishment. Yet don't you deserve to have a few stones thrown at you? Recognizing our own sinfulness can be the first step in showing mercy toward others. We walk away from the opportunity to give them what they have earned, knowing that we deserve the same punishment ourselves.

Lent 2014: Centurion

Luke 7:2-10

image credit

My faith is so weak compared to that of the centurion. He didn't just think that Jesus, who most people saw as a human prophet, could heal his servant without actually seeing and touching him, he put that belief into practice. He realized that Jesus' authority was not limited by His physical body. While most came to Jesus and expected that His power was limited by His humanity--that He could not influence what He could not see and touch anymore than another human being could--the centurion recognized His power as spiritual, waiting only for a request that He heal the dying servant. Believing in Him, the centurion honored His position of authority, not asking Him to leave the other people He was ministering to nor to step into a potentially ritually unclean home according to Jewish law, but to simply take a moment to restore health to a dying man.
.
God's power hasn't diminished simply because He is no longer walking around the earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He is still waiting for us to request that He heal those we love. Will we choose to believe in His authority to heal? Think of one impossible situation in your life right now. Perhaps someone completely opposed to Christianity. Someone on their death bed. A relationship "without hope" of reconciliation. Is it honestly any more impossible than the centurion's servant on the point of death? Pray for the healing of Christ, both for the sake of healing but also to grow in faith that your own faith might become like that of the centurion.

Lent 2014: Pharisees

John 9:13-34

image credit

Do you get as frustrated as I do with people in positions of leadership when they choose to lead poorly? The Pharisees were the leaders of the Jewish community, trained extensively in the Mosaic law and self-appointed rulers of the local synagogue. They obviously had the authority to judge who was allowed in the synagogue and who was too sinful. When it came to Jesus and the formerly blind man, they acted as if they were gathering evidence to decide the case, but in reality they had already judged Him to be a sinner and that anyone who professed Him to be the Messiah would be prohibited from worshiping in the synagogue. They chose to reject Him before even listening to Him, without considering the miracle He had just performed, basing their claim solely on the human derivative of God's law that the Sabbath should be set apart in a special way to honor the Lord.
.
It strikes me as hypocritical that the Pharisees were so certain of the state of Jesus' soul as being sinful (as if they themselves were not sinners!) without any clear evidence. Because He chose to love those who were suffering even on the Sabbath they grouped Him together with prostitutes and tax collectors. Because they had come to that conclusion, anyone who came to a different conclusion was, by their orders, cast out of society. They were so certain of their verdict that they rejected the formerly blind man's testimony because he credited Jesus with healing him. They insisted they wanted to hear the truth yet they insisted on rejecting the truth when it was told to them. They wanted every Jew to follow them as spiritual leaders yet they weren't able to explain the miracle nor were they willing to investigate it with open minds.
.
Do we ever get caught up in the hypocrisy of the Pharisees? Do we judge others before giving them the opportunity to prove themselves? Or are we willing to love first and follow Christ's example even when it becomes inconvenient?

Lent 2014: Man born blind

John 9:1-12,35-41

image credit

Everyone just assumed that this man's blindness came about as a punishment for a serious sin. Normal life for him meant that everyone looked down on him and judged him as unworthy. They assumed the worst of him because they assumed his blindness was a result of either his sin or his parents'. Even Jesus' disciples, after all the time they had spent with Him and the compassion they had seen poured out toward others whose afflictions would have been seen as punishments, still assumed that this man was only living out the misery which he (or his parents) deserved.
.
After receiving his sight, this man cast his lot with Jesus despite the consequences in his local town. His neighbors had always looked down on him anyway. Why should he remain loyal to them and to the Pharisees in the synagogue rather than to the one man who gave him the ability to see? We will also surely face negative consequences if we cast our lot with Jesus. Christian compassion may be popular but Christian morals certainly are not. We may be looked down upon by our neighbors, cast out of social clubs, and forced to choose one or the other. Will you choose to reject the Healer and remain with the people you naturally interact with regularly? Or will you accept rejection from humans and cast your lot with the Son of Man?

Lent 2014: Women who ministered to Jesus

Luke 8:1-3

There were no fast food restaurants or dry cleaners available for Jesus and His disciples. Every meal they ate had to be prepared by someone and yet if someone else prepared it for them that left them with more time to minister to the crowds who so desperately needed Christ Jesus. Three short verses tell us that several women helped fill a need, not for pay or for recognition but out of thanksgiving. They stayed mostly in the background so that only three are named and only one is even known well enough to be recognized today by the general population. Their actions might never have received the recognition they deserve from other humans in the past 2000 years, yet God who sees what we do in secret (Mt 6:4) has/will make sure they receive their full reward.
.
We choose to serve not for pay nor for recognition but out of thanksgiving and love for our Lord. Those background services are important. They may be less glamorous than the public services yet they make those visible ministries possible and far more productive than they would be otherwise. Perhaps no human will give us the recognition we earn for our services. Yet we do them anyway to love the Lord.