Lent Day Twenty-One - The Necessity Of Death

Gospel	Matthew 5:17-19 ©

I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.’

Once again, my journaling fell by the wayside yesterday but the way was long and hot.  The camels were moody and we made little progress towards our goal of Jerusalem.  The Master was not too perturbed about our lack of progress, as a matter of fact, he seemed to welcome it.  

Disaster struck us today and I am still upset by it.  Jack was an older member of our team and he was a retired policeman.  He had always wanted to go up to Jerusalem and over the objections of wife and kids, he joined us knowing full well what he was getting into.  He was a slim man, very bright, he had been promoted to a detective during his stint as a cop, and for a man of his age and what he had been through, he looked like he was pretty fit.  He never complained and I learned that he had beaten cancer three times!  He did his share of the work and was assigned one of the smaller camels to tend whose name was Sandy.  Uriah stormed into our tent well before the sun had even thought of rising and kindly and gently asked us to get up.  Actually, he spoke to the camels with more love, but we were used to it and took it all with good humor.  Everyone was up and doing the needful except John.  He was still abed and Uriah, an evil gleam in his eye approached the supine figure bent down and was going to yell in his ear when he noticed something and told Matthew to get the satellite phone and call for an air ambulance.  John was alive but it appeared that some cataclysm had claimed him during the night and he needed help.  We all stopped while Uriah made the patient comfortable.  Matthew came by about twenty minutes later and reported that the Life Flight helicopter was about thirty minutes out and he had activated the distress beacon that Uriah carried to guide the pilot.  John was a pasty white and there was a tinge of blue about his lips.  He was not responsive and Uriah said while there was a pulse, it was hard to find and it was kind of weak.   Water was brought and Uriah tenderly mopped the brow of the stricken pilgrim with water to keep him cool.  The Master came by and was concerned about John.  He knelt next to the man, place His hand on John's forehead and John's body seemed to relax.  He was no longer quivering.  He was still unresponsive but his pulse was stronger.  A tear appeared on the Master's face and he walked slowly away from John.  The helicopter eventually arrived and the paramedics took John away,  Later that day we were informed by radio that John had passed away.  It shook us a bit because this could have been any one of us. 

The Master addressed us after dinner. 

"Brothers, one of our number has left us because the Father has called him home. Be of good cheer in spite of our loss for our loss is John's gain.  We will no longer be able to see him or talk with him and in the years that follow we may even forget what he looked like or forget his sense of duty or humor.  This is as it is for the human being looks after self before others.  John, when he departed, did so in peace.  I believe that dozens upon dozens of the people that John helped came to escort him to heaven.  With so many friends pleading his case how can the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit keep him out of heaven?   But it is more than that.  You will find in your last hour that you are called upon to trust God and to let go.  Your love for God will make this easy.  On the other hand, if you despise God, hate the thought of being with Him forever, then you will go into eternity kicking and screaming, but you will go at a time and place of the Father's choosing.  As for John, you can be assured that this day because of his selfless life, his giving attitude, his humor, his thoughtfulness and the fact that he never held a grudge, that he beholds the Father, not through a glass but face to face!"

This was a lot to digest and most of us went to our beds early and spent time in prayer and remembering John and praying to build up all of the qualities that will make the transition from earth to heaven easy.  My last thought was, "Imagine, inhaling on earth with your eyes closed and exhaling in heaven in the sight of Jesus and the Saints."

May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the Mercy of God, Rest in Peace.  Amen. 

This post is dedicated to the Memory of Jack Needham

This Is What Being A Christian Is All About

Yesterday's readings defined for us what Church is. Today's readings define how we are to treat one another as members of this Church.  In the first reading for this Sunday, we are told to treat everyone with kindness, not to abuse immigrants, not to take advantage of widows and orphans and not to take advantage of others with the example of usury being given as one thing not to do.  God also tells us that if we abuse widows and orphans that His wrath will rise up and make our relatives widows and orphans.  In the Gospel reading, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is.  He rightfully quotes the first commandment, we are commanded to love God and he quotes the second commandment, we are to love our neighbor not just a little bit, but as we love ourselves.  Jesus tells us that in these two commandments is the whole of the law of God. The eight remaining commandments tell us exactly how we are to execute the requirements that God has given us. 

It is not easy to perfectly follow the ten commandments.  The old testament Hebrews were always finding themselves at odds with one or another of the commands.  Their solution was to flesh out the commandments of God with more and more rules to follow.  They would split hairs and split them again. They had rules for everything.  For example, they had the rule that no one could walk further than two-thousand cubits on the Sabbath. That meant that you could walk about two-thirds of a mile.  The intent of this rule was two-fold.  First, it kept the Sabbath as a day of rest and secondly, it kept you close to the temple or synagogue so that you could spend your time wisely.  Even today in Israel the modern Jews can be very scrupulous when it comes to rest on the Sabbath.  Elevators stop on every floor of a high rise so they do not have to push a button for that is considered work.  Some families hire non-Jewish help for the Sabbath so that lights can be turned on or off for the act of making a spark would be considered work. 

Now that is how we humans are.  We have a tendency to take things that are simple and turn them into things that can be incredibly complex. That is okay, I guess, because some of the rules and regulations we have to follow, both religious and non-religious have to be fleshed out some so that what is expected at minimum is known to all.  But, if the truth is to be known, if we work on the first two commandments, if we truly set out sights on observing them as perfectly as we can, then the whole of the law of God will be observed because if we are doing all to love God and love our neighbor, we will not be doing the other things that the commandments forbid. Perhaps the law can be made even simpler as elsewhere in scripture it is written that we should do unto others what we would have them do unto us.   That is what being a follower of Jesus is all about.  What Jesus wants from us is to show the same love to others as He has shown to us.  He went to the cross as a victim, taking our place and paying our penalty.  We are to imitate Him and carry our cross and bear the burdens of others as best as we can. What we cannot carry on our own, He will help us carry.  

I Gotta Confess

I gotta confess that the first and second readings don't do a whole lot for me this week. The first reading is from the prophet Zechariah and he praises God and says that the savior is going to bring peace.  Okay, I get that, it isn't really that much of a revelation, is it? Then we move to Romans. I don't think Paul liked the Romans too much because this epistle for me is one of the hardest to understand.    I think I just need some...

The first part of the Gospel reading whizzed into my right ear and exited through the left without making much of an impression today.  Oh, I understand that the wisdom of the Gospel is understood by those you would not think that could understand it.  I've heard this before, been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt.  But when Jesus says: 

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

and you will find rest for yourselves. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

I know he's talking to me! I labor, I am burdened and yes, I need some rest. Every day brings its crop of problems, issues, cranky customers, bent and broken things, computer crashes, and there are days when the only thing that goes right is when you get into bed at night and do not fall out! 

What Jesus is telling us here is not that all of the things that drive us crazy will go away once we believe in Him, no, only if it were that simple. He reminds us that He knows what it is like because he has been here and experienced everything in life, except sin.  What he is doing is inviting us to come to Him and unburden ourselves, tell Him about your day, tell Him what went wrong, what went right.  Share with Him your thoughts and plans.  He will listen and your spirit will find rest in Him and you will be better able to take on the nasty surprises that seem to occur when you really do not need another surprise!   Give your spirit some rest and your body will be in better shape to live life on life's terms.