... Of Easter.

Father Forgive Them... Luke 23:34

The heavy wooden cross is raised up, and then dropped into place with a juddering crash. The soldiers who have raised it up relax, mopping away the sweat their efforts have caused. They drop to the floor, relaxed and disinterested. Their work is done. Now all they have to do to is wait for the three men to die.

The soldiers are relaxed. Not so the man on the centre cross. His body screams with agony and pain. The judder caused such searing pain he almost faints. There is blood on his feet; blood runs  down his arms; blood pours freely from his back, where the metal tipped whip has struck him and struck him and struck him, ripping his flesh away.

And blood drips into his eyes, from the crown of thorns they have mockingly jammed onto his head.  Blood, blood, so much red. His eyes mist with it. Or is it the pain that is blinding him.

He is struggling to breathe. His own weight is pulling him down, as though he is drowning. But when he raises himself up, the nails tear at Him. 

Still, Jesus raises himself, to look at his accusers. Standing round his cross are the good men of Jerusalem, come to ensure he dies. To them he is an enemy. And because he is an enemy, they take the time to gloat. It is not enough that Jesus die; even that he dies horribly. They would see him totally humiliated, 

And so they stand; and watch; and gloat. 

And Jesus sees their faces. And Jesus feels their hatred. And Jesus senses their anger and their fear. 

And through his pain he summons the energy to speak. And his words cause a moment of silence in their mocking. For they are the last words any expected to hear.

"Father, forgive them," he says. "They don't know what they are doing."

'Father'. Jesus begins and ends with Father. Others scoff and abuse him at this time, thinking that the cross denies Jesus claims. But Jesus knows that the cross is the necessary door back to his throne. The cross does not deny: rather, it affirms his relationship with the Father. Before the world even began, He had chosen to suffer and die, so that he might save the lost (Luke 19:10). That time is now here. And through the door of suffering He steps. 

'Forgive them'.  Here is Jesus mission. He came to bring healing and forgiveness. Was Jesus tempted not to forgive those who were wronging him so totally? If he was, he did not yield to it. The open hand of God is extended to everyone - whatever their crime. Though it costs him his life, given in humiliation and suffering, Jesus does not lose sight of his purpose. He came to bring the Lord's favour, through the cross of salvation. And so he offers forgiveness even to those who crucify him. Jesus once called his followers to love their enemies and to pray for them (Luke 6:29,35): now he lives out that call.  

'They don't know what they are doing'. 'They' think they know. To the Romans, Jesus is a pest, stirring up the Jews to perhaps another rebellion. To the Jewish religious leaders Jesus is a trouble-maker, risking the wrath of Rome falling on the people of Judea. To the bystanders Jesus is another failed Messiah.  For these reasons they execute him, and scoff as he groans in pain up there.

But Jesus is right: they don't know what they are doing, for in fact they are killing the Son of God.  Were he to lift but one finger, legions of angels would come to his rescue. 'They' - the Jewish and Roman leaders -  think Jesus cannot do this, for 'they' think he is not the Messiah. How wrong they are.  Truly, 'they' do not know what they are doing.

Here is Isaiah's righteous suffering servant. He suffers, the innocent for even the most guilty, to wash away our sin.  

What can wash away the guilt of each sinner? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. Here is amazing love: the innocent dies for the guilty; and asks that they be forgiven, even as their actions condemn him to the most agonizing of deaths. 

Amazing love, that I the guilty one, should go free. 

'Father, forgive them', Jesus cries in love. It is amazing love.  A love so amazing, and so divine that it demands my soul, my life, my all.

... Of whole-hearted people

"And Levi left everything and followed him". Luke 5:28

Levi was a follower of Jesus. He was a tax collector when he first met Jesus. The more he saw of Jesus, the more he wanted to be someone different. And when Jesus finally invited Levi to join his band of brothers, Levi jumped at the chance. But there was a cost: one that Levi had to pay. He had to give up everything he had been, done and known up to that point.

Not some things: not most things; everything. 

We in the West live in a fantasy world where everything comes to us. Levi understood that the real world is different. To attain what really matters costs us all we have.

No problem if you don't want to pay the cost: just don't demand the prize.

...of Salt

I have a 'thing' for salt on my food. I might sometimes have too much - though so far my heart and blood pressure seem fine.

However every now and then, I also have a negative reaction salt. Just yesterday, after biting into a sandwich with the barest amount of salt, I suddenly felt quite unwell. My taste buds reacted violently, I felt nauseous, and I had to close my eyes to help overcoming a strong fainting feeling.  It doesn't happen often: the last time was well over a year ago. But when it does, it is immediate, obvious, and 'memorable' - in the most unpleasant way. I'm not the only person to have this reaction. And I've read (because I can be a hypochondriac) that too much salt can in fact be deadly. So I do have to be careful.

Salt. We need it to survive, and yet this negative - even deadly - reaction does occur.

After my last turn, I got to thinking about Jesus describing the people of God as being salt and light. We often think of the salt analogy in the positive seasoning sense: A Godly community makes a society think and take notice of the truly important things. But perhaps its also true in the 'negative reaction' sense. Our society doesn't actually enjoy the Christian flavour. John, writing about Jesus, reminds us that the people of the world love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

Too much light gets rejected by the world, because it lays bare their real nature. Too much salt gets rejected as well, and for the same reason: the world prefers its own way, even though it needs the Gospel. The temptation for God's people is to cut back on the salt; to ease off the light.

But Jesus told those who listened that we are called to be salt and light. All the time. Not just when the people of the world react well, but also when they get a bad reaction. Sure, we need to find the most positive way to enter the world's "eyes and stomach". And we shouldn't set out to cause the negative reaction. But when it comes - and come it will - we are called to stay true. To be salt. To be light.

For the world needs both, whatever the reaction.

... of Grounded Questions

A dear friend put this clip on Facebook today:
Grounded Questions: Mark Strom



It takes 16 minutes to watch: it is time well spent.


In the clip, the speaker Mark Strom argues for the power of grounded questions.

His conviction: at the heart of every social group is a 'certain' conversation. That conversation opens us up to telling stories, and it is in stories where life-changing moments happen. The way to access those stories is to ask grounded questions.

Mark sets a challenge for us all: if we want to see true shift in people, do we engage their logic, or do we engage their hearts? He argues that we need to engage the heart.

Mark is arguing for the power of the 'person' over the 'principle'. Principles are good; they have their place. But true power to change and be changed comes from the person.

How interesting it is that when God wanted to introduce a life-changing paradigm shift He did it through a person: His Son Jesus Christ.

And Jesus came, and he asked grounded questions and told stories.

And in dying and rising again, he gave us a story.

Are we asking grounded questions, and telling stories?

...Of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll (who's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)  was a gifted author, who wrote "Jabberwocky", "The Hunting of the Snark", and - most famously - the two "Alice" books: "Adventures in Wonderland", and "Through the Looking Glass". These explore life through the 'nonsense' genre - so called, because the actual stories appear to make little sense.

I love the 'nonsense' genre, and extreme comedy for that reason: by making little literal sense, 'Alice' and works like them free us from the constraints of the Modernist mind. We are given permission to explore the great 'What If's' of life: what if I were a king? A princess? An astronaut? A pirate?

What if I could live forever?

What if anything I tried always succeeded?

What if there is a God who is truly interested in me?

What if...?  I love that question. I love to read thinkers who break the molds of constraint we put on ourselves: Lewis Carroll; Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/); Andy Stanley (http://yourmove.is/); Jesus of Nazareth.

So to the free thinkers who encourage us to become more than we ever thought possible: this blog is dedicated to you.