Lent Day Thirty Six - Creeping Darkness

Gospel	John 11:45-56 ©

Jesus was to die to gather together the scattered children of God

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.

  The Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’

We've crested the mountain and below us in a sweeping vista is the city of Jerusalem.  It is a site that fills me with awe, a site that fills me with wonder, and a trophy for this long, hot walk.  Uriah tells us that tomorrow, Sunday, we shall enter the great city. He has sent word ahead and we will be greeted as if we were conquering heroes!  The Master after admiring the view turned around and gathered us together.  His smile was warm as He faced us. He told us that after tomorrow He would no longer be with the group as he had urgent business in Jerusalem. He told us that each of us was beloved of God because we were true believers and had followed a hard road to get to this point.  He told us that our future was secure if we but believed in the Son and were His ambassadors and field hands.  We were to bring the Light of Christ to all we met who traveled the hot dusty roads through the valley of death.  He warned us to not depend on our own strength for if we did we would surely fail.  He bid us to talk to the Father and to cast all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us.  He told us that as we go through life day by day we should also pray for what we need and that what we need would always be provided.  He told us that in heaven we had many brothers and sisters who eagerly listen for our requests for help and they will always intercede for us with the Father if we but ask.  The saints live in the constant light of God and they behold Him as He is.  They see too,  the Son who watches the hands of the Father and is always ready to do the Father's will. And these same saints basque in the glow that the Father has for the Son and in in doing so they see the infinite love that is the Holy Spirit. He told us that upon our entry into Jerusalem we would look for Him but not find Him.  He will see them again on Thursday eve at a room that Uriah will show them.  With a single tear glistening in the sunlight as it flowed down His cheek.  He turned his back on us and looked forward, with apparent anguish, at the City of Jerusalem.  

Silent Night No More

Christmas Eve is often memorialized by the song that every Christian loves, "Silent Night."  We romanticize the heck out of the birth of Jesus but let's be honest here, it was not a silent night.  It was not a night where all was calm and bright.  As a matter of fact, the world was in turmoil. People from all over the known world were on the move because the emperor had decided that he needed to make sure that everyone was paying their taxes.  There is nothing worse than to be a despot without having the money to throw wild parties or to send your army to conquer lands that are not yet in your control.  So everyone who did not happen to already be in the town their ancestors came from had to drop what they were doing and go there.  This caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people, not that the emperor cared.  So both Joseph and Mary found themselves on their way to Bethlehem to be counted.  Mary was ready to give birth, but that was not the emperor's problem either.  So the couple set out for  Bethlehem, the town of  David, the king.  Its name meant "House of Bread."   We know what happened next.  They arrived at the town and there was no room for them to stay at any of the places where traveler's rested.  They ended up in a stable, a cave really, and there Jesus was born.  The silence of the night was then broken and the world would never be the same again. 

In the fields there were shepherds watching their flocks of lambs at night, keeping them safe.  It was not cool to be a shepherd as your duties kept you from the temple and you were considered to be unclean.  So the silence of that Silent Night was broken by the sound of angels proclaiming that God had come to earth, that a savior had been born.  The good news was first revealed to those who had no say in the world, shepherds of all people.   They were a simple people, they believed what they had heard and went to see the Child.  

The silence was broken and the world was forever changed because of this Silent Night.  The old world would pass away and this birth of Jesus would usher in a New Way.  We would be taught by God Himself as to how we would live.  The old rules would soon no longer apply.  The silence of the olden days would be broken forever as God fulfilled His promise to send a savior.  

It would be thirty years before Jesus would begin to preach. This time he used to give us an example.  He worked beside his step-father, Joseph., and learned to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.  Here is another fact.  The job of a carpenter was also looked down upon because there was a lack of wood in Judea because it was a desert community.  So, Jesus worked humbly and quietly at his trade.  

Since the Saviour's birth, there can be no more silent nights.  We have to make a choice.  Either He is the Son of God as He says He is or he is a pious fake.  Some people say that he was not the son of God, but he was a good man and a good teacher.  This is not right. Jesus is who he says he is or he is an evil madman.  There can be no other choice.  

So, who do you say Jesus is?  Or will you remain silent?