I’m just hoping that when I do shave, my kids will recognize me.

Someone asked me today what I’ve learned so far, so thought I’d try to answer that.

When you are serious about seeking God’s direction, He’ll give it.

This is probably the most important lesson.  My primary motivation for taking the vow was to determine God’s direction for the next season of my (and the family) life.  I had read that the reason that Paul had taken this vow the two times that he took it was for this reason.

God blesses us when we humble ourselves.  This vow will definitely humble you.  (See this post for more on that.)

And, no, not ready to broadcast the direction….yet.

Make sure you know what you are getting into when you take a vow.

When I started this vow, I didn’t think fully of the implications of not touching things that are dead.  I assumed that the passage meant a dead human being and thought, “That’s easy….don’t hang around the morgue.”  Yet, after researching it out and talking to some other folks with a greater command of the Hebrew language and tradition than I have, I determined that (for me at least) dead meant “if at one time it had breathed air.”

My kids loved this one.  They spent the next hour after this discovery running around the house finding everything that was from an animal.  We determined that I have two pair of shoes and one belt that I can wear (none of them of the “dress” variety).  I couldn’t carry my wallet.  I couldn’t carry my Bible.  Yikes!

Weigh the vow before you take the vow!

Make sure your wife and kids are aware of what you’re contemplating BEFORE you pull the trigger on it.

Assuming that your family is going to “get it” spiritually, and be fully on-board before you tell them what’s about to happen is a BAD IDEA!

MEN, DON’T ASSUME!  TALK TO THEM!  LET THEM KNOW!

Alright, there are three lessons that have been learned so far in this journey.

Now, the real reason that you are reading this… Here’s the picture of Day 26.  Enjoy.  And yes, it’s ok to laugh.

Friday night, sksimants and I had the privilege of serving at the Little Rock Compassion Center.  My job during dinner was to rinse glasses and pass them back to my friend Clemente for washing.

Immediately upon my assignment, Clemente began to open up to me.  Clemente is homeless.  He is currently living at the center and is working off a societal debt in the kitchen.  Clemente told me of his family.  How they came to the US from Mexico when he was a child.  How he got into alcohol.  How he had sobered up.  Then, about eight months ago, he lost his mother.  He came to Little Rock to live with his brother, but he started drinking again and is now in recovery after his brother couldn’t take him anymore and booted him out.

Clemente also told me how he had come to know Jesus and was praying for relationships with his two children and his brother to be reconciled.  He also told me that he had–that afternoon–finished reading the Book of Job.

I told him of my love for that book.  How God has used it to work in my life.  I asked him what he learned from it.  He gave me three lessons.

IT’S NEVER AS BAD AS I THINK

Clemente said that losing his mother–his best friend–was the hardest thing ever to happen to him.  He was at the end of his rope and turned to alcohol to be his way of coping with the pain.

Reading Job helped him to realize that others have it worse than he does.  He told me how he watched the faces of the men in the shelter.  They have nothing.  Some of them are completely dead inside.  But he has something to hold onto–faith.

I showed him that the first beatitude is:

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and His rule. — Matthew 5:3 (The Message)

Job teaches us this principle: It is never as bad as I think.  As Clemente put it: “Job showed me that even in the worst of times, I can still have faith.”

PICK YOUR FRIENDS WISELY

Who you hang around is important.  Clemente made the decision to move into the Center for one reason: “I had to get away from my old friends.”  His old friends–he told me–enabled him to drink.  In fact, his biggest fear right now is summer–drinking season.

Job taught him to pick his friends wisely.  Job’s friends were not very helpful to the cause of maintaining his faith.  They didn’t really encourage Job to remain reliant upon God.  Instead they tried to get Job to take matters into his own hands.  Granted, not by some evil and wicked means.  As Clemente pointed out they had good intentions.  They had some truth.  But, they didn’t have God.  Clemente had come to realize that his friends had good intentions.  Yet, they didn’t have a God-driven approach. 

You become what you hang around.  So, pick your friends wisely.

GOD IS BIGGER THAN OUR PROBLEMS

The last lesson that Clemente gave me was that no matter how big our problem–God is bigger! 

He told me how he couldn’t wait to get to the end of the book to see what God would say and do.  (I tell you, Job is a great book!  A real page-turner!)  And when he got to the end, he said that he knew that no matter what he was going through God was in it with him and God was bigger.

God would see him through his problems.  He was so excited about how God provided Job with restoration.  That was something that Clemente could latch on to.  God rides out our storms with us, and then restores us on the other side.

I asked Clemente which book he was going to read next.  Without hesitation he said, “Only a fool wouldn’t read Job a second time.”

Job lived on another hundred and forty years, living to see his children and grandchildren–four generations of them!  Then he died–an old man, a full life. — Job 42:16-17 (The Message)

So last week I walked through the what, when and why of this vow that I’ve taken.  But wanted to give you an update on how it’s going.

In short…. it itches.  Oy!

The longer answer is that it is going well.  The family isn’t so much a fan of the new fuzzy faced daddy, but they understand it and are coping. 

I’ve been asked a couple of times to explain the whys behind the specific rules of the vow.  Here’s what I’ve learned.

Don’t cut your hair

This is about humility.  Think about it.  A common phrase uttered in the halls of every office building on any given day: “I’m having a bad hair day.”  As a people, we value our hair looking good.  Now, I’ve never been one for being that interested in how my hair looks, but when you look in the mirror and know that your hair is out of control and there’s nothing you can really do about it you learn quickly to stop worrying about it.  Nevertheless, people still look and wonder. 

The other part of the hair thing is that it is the visual element of the vow.  It is a way of holding yourself accountable to the vow.  Everytime you see yourself in a mirror or everytime someone asks about your unruly hair you are reminded about the vow.  It keeps it in front of you all the time.

Don’t eat or drink anything that originates on the grapevine

Grapes make me happy.  I love grapes.  I love raisins.  I love a good bottle of wine.  The key with this step of the vow is the celebratory nature of the grape — wine.  Wine is used when we are celebrating some sort of achievement. 

Taking away the element of celebration from the Nazarite was a way to bring their focus back to the source of their blessings — God.  I have no reason to celebrate an achievement because without the blessing of God I would have no achievements.  This is the reminder in the vow that it’s not about you

This one has been a struggle for me to understand.  I get that under the Levitical law death/dead things were very unclean.  They neccessitated a cleansing period and several sacrifices.  So, if it’s already bad to touch something dead, why make it a specific part of the vow?  Why make it unclean*2? 

Death is a point of mourning.  It again focuses the attention of a person on their feeling about the loss.  The point of the vow is to shift our focuses away from ourselves and wholly onto God. 

Another element that comes into play–at least for me–is the element of Christ’s fulfillment of the law.  In this instance, Christ fulfills the law by being our Life.  Focusing fully on Him and His direction for our lives help us to live out this concept.

Day 15 of the Nazarite Vow

So there you have it.  My understanding of why these particular rules.  The most difficult of these has definitely been the rule regarding death–not that I like to run around and touch dead things, but because my shoes are leather, my belts are leather and even my Bible is leather.  Needless to say, it’s been interesting.  15 down and 31 to go.

When Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his head because of his great sorrow.  He knelt on the ground, then worshiped God and said:

“We bring nothing at birth

We take nothing with us at death.

YHWH alone gives and takes

Praise the name of YHWH!”

                                       — Job 1:20-21

Job has just lost his entire livelihood.  His oxen and donkeys were stolen and servants killed.  His sheep and shepherds are dead.  His camels and camel-herders have been taken by Chaldeans.  His sons and daughters killed in a windstorm. 

All he has left is his health (for now), the four servants who escaped to tell him bad news, and his wife who isn’t very supportive.

It’s bad.

Bad.

We’ve all been there.

Those moments when it seems that the world is closing in around us.  When it seems like we’re lost in a fog and have no idea which way is out. 

The boat is being cast back and forth in the storm. 

Certain death.

It’s bad.

It’s that moment when you find out …

… your best friend hates you

… you’re loosing that dream job

… that promotion you hoped to get isn’t going to happen

… your wife is leaving you

… the cancer is terminal

It’s bad news all around.

How do you respond?

For Job it was to do the natural thing and begin to mourn.  Yet, in his mourning, he knew that he had to worship. 

Here’s where Job meets David.

Fast-forward to Psalm 13:1-4 (NIV).

How long, YHWH?  Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, YHWH, my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

My enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

And my foes will rejoice when I fall.

It’s bad. 

The world is crushing in.

Yet, Psalm 13 has one more verse.

But I trust in your unfailing love;

My heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to YHWH,

For HE HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME.

cesimants Praying

In the midst of the bad, David, like Job, recognized that YHWH has been good to him.  That in the midst of all the rough circumstances, YHWH is still on the throne.

That when he was being chased by Saul, hiding in a cave, fearing for his very life, he was able to stand on the promise that YHWH was still with him. 

Even when YHWH wasn’t evident, David knew YHWH was there.

Fast forward again.

This time to the Disciples.

They’re in the boat.

It’s storming.

It’s bad.

Certain death.

These were fishermen and they were afraid.  These were men who made a living on the water.   They knew the ferociousness of the storm.  Fear was legitimate. 

Jesus is sleeping.

They wake the Messiah up and ask Him if He just didn’t care that they were about to die.

Jesus calms the storm, and then gives a lesson in faith.

In the midst of the storm, Messiah brings peace.

One more fast forward.

John Wesley is on a boat.  Ferocious storm.  Certain death.  Legitimate fear.

In the corner sits a group of people.  Moravians.  Answering their own prayers by going to serve God in a dark land.

They are at peace.

They are praying.

That experience begins the process for Wesley that culminates in the Aldersgate experience.  The peace of YHWH in the midst of the bad-stuff sets the spark in motion that becomes the Methodist movement.

Four stories.

Four bad situations.

Four impossible circumstances.

All changed by worship.

All changed by the knowledge that YHWH has all things in His hand.

All changed by the peace that comes from knowing the unfailing love of YHWH.

All changed by knowing that even in the bad HE HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME.

In the midst of your bad, how do you respond? 

Several months ago, I learned that a common event with people affiliated with the 24-7 Prayer movement was to set their alarms for Noon in whatever timezone they were in.  When that alarm sounds, they stop whatever they are doing to pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.  What an awesome idea. 

In Sunday School on Sunday, I challenged our youth to do the same.  Take two minutes at Noon to re-center the day by praying the Lord’s Prayer. 

I also taught a bit on the Lord’s Prayer.

Luke 11:1-4 (HCSB):

He was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say:

Father,

Your name be honored as holy.

Your kingdom come.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us.

And do not bring us into temptation.”

He was praying in a certain place

I love this image.  The disciples understood that when Jesus went into this “certain place” it was to pray.  Prayer matters.  Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that we should pray in a quiet, private place.  He does what He teaches.

Teach us to pray

Elsewhere in the Gospels (Mark 9), we get the story of Jesus, Peter, James, and John going up the Mount of Transfiguration.  While they were on the mountain, the remaining disciples were asked to heal a boy.  They tried all that they knew to try.  No success.  Jesus comes back down the mountain and takes care of the problem.

Afterwards, the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t do what He did.  Jesus replies, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (Mark 9:29, NIV)

The disciples grasped the importance of prayer.  They understood that prayer was the source of the power that Jesus had.  Prayer matters.

They don’t ask Jesus to teach them to preach.

They don’t ask Jesus to teach them to heal the sick.

They don’t ask Jesus to teach them to walk on water.

They don’t ask Jesus to teach them to raise the dead.

They don’t ask Jesus to teach them how to build a big church.

They don’t ask Jesus to teach them how to raise lots of money.

They ask Jesus to teach them to pray. 

That’s all.

Teach us to pray.

So, Jesus does.

Father

Beautiful imagery here.

I think we often get lost in this as being Big, Awe-full, Reverent God (and it is), yet, I like this image of Father as in Abba – Daddy.

We see later in this passage that Jesus talks about being a father and what that means.  He says in verse 11-13 (HCSB):

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Father – Abba – Daddy. 

Your name be honored as holy.

Here we get the reverence.

Holy! Holy! Holy!

Revelation tells us of masses of angels, cherubims, seraphims, and saints gathered around the Throne of God non-stop singing Holy, Holy, Holy! 

God.  Is.  Big.

God is to be revered. 

God is to be worshipped.

God is to be looked upon with great awe.

Your kingdom come.

In Matthew’s account of the Lord’s Prayer this phrase is rendered: “Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, HCSB)

Your kingdom come.

Not mine.

Not my plan.

Not my ambition.

Not my goal.

Yours.

Hard prayer.

It’s not about us.  It’s not about our plans, ambitions, goals, schemes, desires, wants, or needs.  It’s about God’s.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

Not our weekly bread.

Not our monthly bread.

Not our Sunday morning to Sunday morning bread.

Daily bread.

Remember the story of the Israelites in the wilderness?

They’re hungry.  God provides in the form of Manna and Quail.  Yet, God gives them specific instructions.  Only gather enough for today. 

Today’s bread.

Daily bread.

Jesus talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount as well.  At the end of Matthew 6 (vs. 25-34, MSG), he tells us:

“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion.  There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.  Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God.  And you count far more to him than birds.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?  All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference?  Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into fields and look at the wildflowers.  They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it?  The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?  What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.  People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.  Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.  Don’t worry about missing out.  You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

“Give your attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

In short, God will take care of you.  Daily. 

Daily bread.

And forgive us out sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us.

Uh. Oh.

This is the tough part.

Forgive us, as we forgive others.

Sometimes, we think “Do unto others” gives us the liberty to really stick it to folks.  After all, they hurt us, so they must want to be hurt right?

Yet….

Jesus comes and messes it all up.

Forgive us as we have forgiven others.

Back in the Sermon on the Mount, He tells us that if we hold even as much as a grudge against someone, then we should fix it before coming to the altar. 

Praise the Lord for mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

And do not bring us into temptation

It seems to me that we often think of temptation in the wrong sense.  Often when we pray this, we think: Remove us from the temptation to …

… rob a bank

… smack our neighbor

… steal a twix bar

… take a pen from the office

Yet, there’s more here.

Think of the context.

I think temptation here is deeper than the superficial stuff we usually attach to it.

Remove us from the temptation to …

… not allow God to be our Father

… worship something other than God

… force our kingdom into being

… seek out – on our own – our weekly bread

… hold that grudge as long as possible

Do not bring us into temptation.

So, I challenge each of you, set that alarm for Noon.  When it buzzes, beeps, dings, or rings, stop what you’re doing and join me for two minutes as we pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.  Forever.  Amen.

 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Second, Luke 1:46-55:

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

There’s an album by Nathan Chud called Moratorium.  Quite honestly, this is one of the most deeply spiritual albums which I have ever heard.  It is truly a must own for every Christ-follower.  On this album is a song called “Entering Rest”.  This song is one of the most beautiful prayer-filled songs which I’ve ever heard.  It ends with a prayer that his wife wrote in the midst of a struggle.  In this prayer, she says, “Lord, remove me once again from my personal drama and make me a part of your story.”

Personal drama turned into God’s story?  That sounds like Advent.

We find at the center of the Advent story a young girl – probably a teenager.  She’s engaged to a man who is likely considerably older.  When we hear the word engaged, we often think in modern terms of they dated, fell in love, and determined that they would marry.  However, it’s likely that this relationship is less romance than that would be contained in that image. 

I think we often stylize this story into one of Joseph being a knight in shining armor and Mary being a young maiden – almost a damsel in distress.  Yet, in doing so, we loose a key element to the story.  This story is about much more than a man, a girl, and a baby.

Mary is engaged to be married to Joseph.  We don’t know how long they’ve been engaged.  We don’t know how soon the wedding is.

What we do know is that an angel appears and upsets the apple cart.  The Angel tells Mary, “You’re going to have a baby!”  For us today, this is joyful news.  For Mary, this news is probably not as joyful.  In fact, it is likely down-right frightening.

See, there’s a lot of personal drama that comes with this revelation. 

Mary’s pregnant. 

She’s not married. 

Her fiancé is not the father. 

The punishment for adultery is death.

By stoning.

Her would-be husband tossing the first rock.

Personal drama abounds.

Here is where Joseph does indeed become a knight in shining armor rescuing a damsel in distress.  In the Matthew account, which we read yesterday, we find Joseph pondering what to do.  He determines to divorce her quietly, so as to not bring additional embarrassment to her.  Yet, once again, the angel intervenes.  Joseph determines then to follow to plan of God.

Joseph, who had every right to have Mary stoned, determines to allow God to remove him from the personal drama and make him a part of God’s story. 

Mary and Joseph would have likely endured months, if not years, of knowing glares from fellow villagers.  They likely would have been asked how that whole timeline works out.  Not a comfortable scenario, and one that was likely to have stayed with them for most of their lives.

Personal drama.

Yet, Mary, like Joseph, allows God to remove her from the personal drama to make her a part of God’s story.

She shows willingness: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”  In other words, “Remove me Lord from my personal drama, so that I may be a part of Your story.”

As we work our way through the remainder of this Advent season, we are presented with this challenge: We can either choose to relish in our personal dramas, or can allow God to take those personal dramas and make them a part of His Story. 

Miraculously.

In the midst of the darkness of our lives – our personal dramas – we find God’s Sunrise breaking in creating within us the eager anticipation of Immanuel.

That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was.

He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”

He said, “What has happened?”

They said, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that he was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. And it is now the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”

Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.

Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”

Luke 24:13-32 (The Message)

————————-

They sit down to dinner.

Lesson 7: Communion is about dinner with friends

I love having dinner with friends.  It is such a wonderful time to find things in common.  It’s a great time to relax.  It takes our minds off of ourselves and we focus on relationship.

Dinner with friends can change the outlook.

The two men viewed this as a simple meal between friends.  Yet, during dinner, Jesus takes bread.  He breaks it.  They understand and realize who their new-Friend is.

Jesus takes bread.

He blesses it.

He breaks it.

How many dinners had these two men been at with Jesus?  How many times had they seen Him take bread, bless it, break it, and pass it out?  Yet, it wasn’t until this one time that they realized who Jesus really was.

These two men could have been in the room when Jesus did this same action a few days earlier – on that fateful, nay, miraculous night.  We don’t know.  It would be safe to bet that they would have at least known that story.

Jesus takes bread.  He blesses it.  He breaks it.  He gives it to them.

And they saw.

Never pass up a meal with a friend – it could be life-changing.

Jesus disappears.

The men then take off running back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the disciples what has happened.

See, when Jesus becomes real – the Messiah – to us, we will get active.  The revelation of who we were contrasted with who we now are spurs us to run and tell.

These men ran seven miles back to Jerusalem.  They find the eleven and some others.  They tell their story.  These men now had a testimony.  And testimonies cannot be kept quiet.

When you have dinner with Jesus, His Spirit will change you.

That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was.

He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”

He said, “What has happened?”

They said, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that he was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. And it is now the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”

Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.

Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”

Luke 24:13-32 (The Message)

————————-

As they near the house, Jesus continues to walk.  These men beg Jesus to have dinner with them.  In a beautifully poetic line: “It’s nearly evening; the day is done.”

Lesson 6: Jesus won’t stay until He’s invited

Jesus was going to continue on the journey.  He was heading past the village.

The men “press” Him to stay with them.

When Jesus is invited to stay, He will stay.  Be forewarned – when Jesus stays things change.

Jesus agrees to stay with the men.

Jesus agrees to have dinner with them.

If the men hadn’t invited the Stranger to stay, then they would not have caught the revelation that was about to be given to them.  They would have missed Jesus.  They would have continued to think, “He’s dead.”  They would not have run seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell their story.

They invite the Stranger to stay.  When I was hungry, you gave Me food.  When I was homeless, you gave Me shelter.

The revelation of Who Jesus really is will not come until you invite Him to stay.

When Jesus stays, things change.  When things change, we take action.

Jesus won’t stay where He isn’t welcomed. 

That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was.

He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”

He said, “What has happened?”

They said, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that he was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. And it is now the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”

Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.

Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”

Luke 24:13-32 (The Message)

————————-

Jesus listens to their story, and then responds.  But notice that in His response He ignores the comments about the women’s story.  Instead, He goes straight to a lesson from 2,000 years of Jewish prophecy about Messiah.

Lesson 5: Sometimes we need Jesus to remind us of the past for us to understand the plan

Jesus takes the next several miles in their physical journey and gives them a theology lesson.  He gives them a lesson in prophecy.

Remember these men still thought that Jesus was going to be the One who would rise up an army and storm the ramparts of the Roman occupation.  This had to be something with which many of the disciples likely were struggling.  Jesus was the conquering hero, He can’t be dead.  Yet, they had watched Him die.

He takes them back to Moses and walks them forward through a couple thousand years of Messianic prophecy.

Basically, He’s telling them, “Look.  It’s all right here.  This was all by design.”

It was all by design.

God has a plan – for Messiah, for sin, for us.

Jesus reminds the two men of the past.  Here’s what the prophets told us the plan was.  All these things were part of the plan.  They were part of God’s plan for Messiah.  They were part of God’s plan for salvation.  They were part of God’s plan for taking us from less than nothing and making us into joint-heirs with Jesus the Christ.

God has a plan for us.

In Jeremiah 29:11, YHWH tells the people of Israel that He knows the plans.  He tells them that they are plans of goodness and prosperity.  This prophecy is in the midst of Babylonian exile. 

He has a plan that we sometimes can’t see because of the circumstances surrounding us.  He has a plan.

Psalm 37 gives us several steps of the plan: “Do not fret”, “Trust in YHWH”, “Delight in YHWH”, “Commit your way to YHWH”, and “Wait for YHWH.”

Psalm 139 tells us that YHWH knew us before we were formed in the womb and He had a plan for us even then.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in YHWH with all our being.  Lean not on our understanding.  Follow Him, and He will show us the path.

Jesus tells Peter, James, and John: “Follow me, and I’ll make you Fishers of Men”.

There is a plan for your life.

You have to surrender to it.  You have to forsake your own highway, and step over onto the Road to Jerusalem.  You know, that road that looks like it might be a dead-end.

Sometimes we have to be reminded of our past to see our future.  Jesus takes some time and reminds them of the past.

Before we came to recognize grace moving on us showing us Jesus’ work on the cross, we were in bad shape.  Without grace we are pretty repugnant.  While God loves us, He can’t have relationship with us in that state.  We needed Jesus to die in order for the veil of the Temple to be torn.  We needed Jesus to die in order for the Holy of Holies to be open ground.  In short, we needed Messiah.

To assume that we’re “ok” on our own is to negate grace.  To negate grace is to cheapen the  gift of the cross.

Like these disciples from Emmaus, from time-to-time, we need to be reminded of our sorry state without grace in order to be spurred on to take the message of grace to the world. 

Unless our situation is dire and hopeless, then grace is just a buzzword.  Grace doesn’t say, “You’re ok as you are”.  Instead, grace says, “You’re a new creation.”  It says that the old things are passed away and all things are new.

Recognize grace and its impact, and you will see the Messiah plan.  See the Messiah plan, and you see Jesus.  See Jesus, and you will serve.

That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was.

He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”

He said, “What has happened?”

They said, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that he was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. And it is now the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”

Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.

Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”

Luke 24:13-32 (The Message)

————————-

Jesus then asks the men what has happened in Jerusalem.  Dumbfounded, they take a minute and explain.

We thought….

We believed….

We saw him die.

Now, some of the women say He’s not dead.

We saw him die.

Lesson 4: We have to let experiences strengthen our faith

The two men believed that this man, Jesus, had to be the Messiah.  He had to.  That was the only explanation for the miracles.  That was the only explanation for the prophecies that had been fulfilled.  Prophecies that they had watched be fulfilled.

But, we saw Him die.

Oftentimes, we allow our faith to be overruled by our one bad experience, instead of strengthened by our many good experiences.

These men had the experience of seeing Jesus day-in and day-out.  After all, they looked like they had lost their best-friend.  They had likely traveled many miles with Jesus.

Maybe they were there when He healed blind Bartimaeus.

Maybe they were there when He fed the 5,000, the 4,000 or both.

Maybe they were there when He healed Jarius’ daughter.

Maybe they were there when He turned the water into wine.

Maybe they were there when the woman merely touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and is healed.

Maybe they were there when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

…Raised…from…dead…

Experiences.

All of those experiences – even raising the dead – were overridden by one other experience.

They had watched Him die.

He was dead.

Sometimes in our lives, we see God do miraculous things.  Yet, we write them off to “good fortune”, “luck”, “clean-living”, “chance”, “coincidence”, or “fate”.  When we write them off to something other than a miracle of God, then they cannot be used to strengthen our faith.

Think of all the times in the Gospels where we see Jesus do the miraculous only to find the followers (of which these men were two) in disbelief.  Look at the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000.  Jesus does it.  Big miracle.  Shortly thereafter Jesus tells them to beware of the “leaven” of the Pharisees.  And the disciples think He’s getting on to them for forgetting bread.

We have to let experiences build our faith.

These two men were ignoring all the experiences they had with Jesus except one.  They had watched Him die.

Maybe if they were focusing on Lazarus’ miraculous walk out of the tomb, then this conversation would have been different.  Maybe then they would have recognized Jesus.

Perhaps if we began to recognize the “mundane” as a miracle, then our outlook would be different, and we would recognize Jesus when He is in our midst?

Maybe it wasn’t just good fortune that the tax-rebate check showed up in the mail on the very day the house payment was due.

Maybe it wasn’t luck that you didn’t get sick when your kids were.

Maybe it wasn’t just clean-living that kept the person in the car behind you from hitting you when they slammed on the brakes in the rain.

Maybe it wasn’t just chance that the car stopped running within rolling distance of the gas pump.

Maybe it wasn’t just coincidence that the person parked in the closest spot was getting into their car just as you pulled up.

Maybe it wasn’t just fate that the pine tree fell onto the yard instead of the roof above your daughter’s room.

Maybe it’s time we started thanking God for the “mundane”.  Maybe it’s time we started treating the “mundane” like it was a miracle.

Perhaps that would make it a tad easier to recognize Jesus.