Why I Love Jesus...

Why I Love Jesus?

I have been a follower of Jesus for many years, almost 4 decades. It has been a relational journey filled with all the things that make up relationships – love, intimacy, talking, sharing, fighting, yelling, hurt, distance, forgiveness and reconnection. My relationship with Jesus is, by far, the deepest and most intimate relationship I have. I know this might sound weird to some people, to talk about Jesus this way, but this is how I know him. Jesus is not a religious exercise or duty to me, neither is he an out of sight, out of touch figment of my imagination. He is a real, authentic person that I walk and talk with every day.

In recent days, I have been struggling in my relationship with Jesus. I feel out of touch with him, despondent about what I perceive as a lack of impact in the world, angry about how he is represented by others on social and news media and mostly ashamed at how I have failed to live and act the way he wants me to live and act. He is my Lord and Savior, and I love him. But recently, I have been asking why?

This is my answer to that question, in no particular order.

I love the strength of Jesus.

He had physical strength. He was a carpenter by trade. Carpenters in Jesus day did not walk to the local wood store to get wood but had to source it from trees in their area. They cut the trees, framed the wood, created planks, working the wood down to its usable essentials and then compiling the products they needed for their homes. This required physical strength, wisdom, insight and dexterity. He had physical strength to overturn tables and throw out money launderers and their guards when he discovered their duplicity in the temple. Jesus was strong. But, his strength was deeper than physical.

He had emotional strength. His capacity to speak to anyone, from enemy to friend, from family to stranger showed a strength of emotional capacity that captivates me. He spoke to all sorts of people - women, children and men; people of power and insignificance, of wealth and poverty - with an ease and welcome that made them all feel included and accessible. His emotional strength allowed him to express emotion visibly without shame or fear. He expressed struggle, hardship, joy, laughter, sadness and amazement authentically and freely. He had emotional strength.

He had principled strength. He stood before kings, rulers and authorities, endured their questioning, answering clearly when it was needed, resisting answering when the questions were traps or ignorant. He faced the wisest of his day and showed wisdom. He faced the powerful of his day and showed humility and gentleness (which is power under control). He faced the weak and showed compassion. He faced the poor and showed grace. He faced the demanding and showed restraint. He faced accusers and showed patience. Above all, Jesus died for his convictions. He had principles strength.

So, I love Jesus because he is strong.

I love the courage of Jesus.

He showed courage, again of conviction. He stood before the religious rulers and called them out on their failures. He challenged their thinking, their rules and their systems. He was a revolutionary, who resisted the governments and institutions of his day with a courage that takes my breath away. His courage wasn’t rash or brazen, it was clear and wise.

His courage brought him to cross gender, class and ethnic boundaries. He spoke to Gentiles as a Jew, women as a man, conquerors from a conquered people, abusers and the abused as a victim himself. His courage knew no limits, even when it cost him the dearest relationship of his life, the relationship with his father. His courage is astounding.

His courage went beyond standing against those who did what was wrong. His courage caused him to stand against his own friends, especially when they sought to dissuade him from his purpose in life. Somehow, he was able to say the hard truths to his friends, courageously, in such a way, that while they were dismayed or angry at first, they soon came back and desired a reconnection with him. His courage was born not just of conviction, but of truth in practice and love in life.

His courage even brought him to stand up to his family. When they sought to stop him, he challenged them. His courage, and probably more so, his love, won them over so that they were present at his death, and his own brother committed to his vision and purpose, calling him not just brother but Lord and Savior too.

I love the courage of Jesus.

I love the compassion of Jesus.

Jesus was a man of compassion for all. His compassion, even now, brings tears to my eyes as I think about it. He had compassion on children, on the sick, on the weary, on those in hardship, on those seeking help in faith, on his enemies when they came with questions, on the rich, on rulers, on individuals and on masses. His compassion was clear, direct and thoughtful. His compassion meant he took people’s shame away or hid them in plain sight from those seeking to embarrass others. His compassion took small gifts and turned them into powerful illustrations.

Two incidents of compassion stand out in my mind. Jesus, when confronted with an adulteress woman, who was dragged before him, showed compassion. First, he drew in the sand, distracting everyone, making them look at him, rather than at the embarrassed woman. His compassion was shown in this smallest detail as he honored the dignity of someone who was being treated as undignified.  His compassion went further when he knew the law, and knew the consequence, but disregarded it in favor of forgiveness. His act of compassion continues to this day as we talk about not “casting the first stone”. His compassion caused the accusers to walk away, but the shamed woman to remain and then, he spoke to her…with love and compassion and then encouragement that she could be better. Oh, his compassion is amazing.

The second incident is on the cross. As nails are driven into him, as people make fun of him, as soldiers gamble his clothing away, he speaks to those next to him, gently, endearingly and lovingly. He goes further, and forgives those killing him, as they are doing it! In the midst of failing strength, his compassion stands strong. Oh, how I love him.

I love the compassion of Jesus.

I love the love of Jesus. Jesus was filled with love. His love is evident in everything and everywhere he goes so it is very hard to capture it in a few sentences. He loved children and played with them. He loved his followers and taught them. He loved the sick and touched them. He loved the discarded and spoke to them. He loved the rich and invited them to join him. He loved the poor and served them. He loved the religious and challenged them. He loved those closest to him and shared that love in the deepest and most meaningful ways possible – he washed their feet, he ate with them, he commissioned them and he died for them.

His powerful message to them is the most powerful message for me. Jesus, who had surrendered heaven and divinity to come to earth, called those he created his friends. This is incomprehensible to me! God calls us, his creation, friend! God calls me, his creation, friend!

I am God’s friend. And that is perhaps the greatest reason why I love him. He wants me as a friend. Me! Someone with so many flaws, so many failures, so many faults, so many mistakes; someone who has raged at God in anger at his laws, failed to live according to his design, freely pointed out what I see as God’s faults, someone who hurts his creation, who lives self-centeredly and selfishly, yet he calls me friend. More than calling me friend, he wants to talk to me, listen to me, give to me and welcome me to be with him forever.

Why do I love Jesus…because he loves me!

And then I came across this picture. I don’t know who painted it (it says Kero in the corner), and I don’t have permission to use it! Please forgive me. This picture captures for me the very emotion I feel about seeing Jesus one day. The face of the person who is embracing Jesus captures at once the sheer joy and exuberance of meeting this Savior of mine and at the same time the immense pain and hardship this life and being apart from him means. To whoever painted this picture, to Mr/s Kero, thank you!

I would love you to meet the Jesus I know, to experience his love first hand. I would love you to feel his presence and experience the wonder and love I feel. I hope you will consider that offer and if you want to know how to meet him, ask me! I would be happy to share with you. In fact, later this year I will be participating in a new campus of Faith Community Church, opening in or around Framingham. This will be a community seeking to learn and share the love of Jesus in remarkable ways. Maybe you could join us!

Free to Express Hate?

 

picture used without permission from @Neubadah

How do I respond to the incidents in Charlottesville?

First, let me acknowledge some of what I don't know. 

I don't know all the people who organized the "Unite the Right" rally or those who organized the counter-protest.

I don't know who committed the violence and why they committed it.

I don't know why the "Right" feel the way they feel.

I don't know the daily struggle of those who are not the majority.

I don't know full constitutional rights endowed by our first amendment.

Most importantly, I don't know what I don't know.

Second, in a country that affords every person the right to peaceably assemble and to have unabridged free speech there need to be allowances for those who do not hold my viewpoint (however just or unjust it might be) to assemble and speak. I cannot in one sentence condemn one side for protesting while advocating for the other side to protest. While there are limits to free speech (see limits on dangerous speech), the full extent of what constitutes dangerous speech is unclear. With that in mind, assuming the correct procedures to assemble were followed, and that the intent was peaceable both the "Unite the Right" and the counter-protests were legitimate (note I did not say just or right). As Neubadah said in his tweet about the above picture, "Confederate flags, Nazi salutes, and Klansmen having their rights protected by a black police office". It is a sad irony.  

Since, the first amendment affords those who gathered the right to speak, it ALSO allows me the right to respond.

Third, my response.

I stand against a movement that seeks to dehumanize my fellow created beings.
I stand against a movement that seeks to recreate a past of white supremacy.

I stand against a movement (any movement) that seeks to instill fear, inequality and the betterment of some at the expense and exclusion of others.

BUT, I don't only want to be known of what I am against.  I want to be known for what I am for.

I stand for a world where cars are used for transport not death.

I stand for a world where all people are included and welcome.

I stand for the right of all people to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

I stand for justice and peace, but not at any cost.

I stand for the power-rich sharing power with the power-poor.

I stand for a world where love overcomes fear and hate.

You may be free to express hate, therefore, I am free to express love. 

And Love Stands Longer Than Hate.

Will you stand with me?

Hosea - Act 3

Do you know what betrayal tastes like?

Not just feels like…but tastes?

The taste of bile and adrenalin that floods your mouth as you realize the person you love has left you, broken your trust, betrayed your heart and their pledge. Do you know what betrayal tastes like?

Parents, you know a little of what I mean. You’ve given time, energy, effort and perseverance to developing those you love in your lives, and now, as these beings you call your children, come to the end of their high school or college studies they have the audacity to leave home with a joy and pleasure that feels like a betrayal!

Of course, I’m joking about that. It’s not really a betrayal, but it does hurt. It does cause grief, and sometimes, it even causes that taste of bitterness in your mouth.

But some parents know the heartache of children who walk away from them in anger and hatred, becoming estranged.

There are other people who know the depth of pain and grieve that comes from other betrayals. Like business partners, working together only to see their dream of a business venture disappear as a partner betrays a trust and breaks the deal.

And then of course, lovers, people who have committed to each other only to discover that love has been given to another, shared with someone else, maybe even others. That taste that floods you, is like a wave of emotion, a tsunami of pain and sorrow, that leaves you devastated, unable to continue or function.

I have heard stories of people unable to move from the feeling. Overwhelmed, stuck on the couch, stuck in bed, feeling numb, only for the numbness to go away and a searing pain to resume. I have heard stories of a depth of emotional pain so intense, that beyond taking your breath away, it physically debilitates you.

Do you know that sort of betrayal?

If you do, I am sorry. I am sorry that you have endured that and experienced that. I am sorry that you have had to go through that, or are going through that. It is unimaginable pain and I hope and pray you find a way to win over that grief.

Maybe as you sit here, you know the other side of that equation. You are the betrayer. You know the pain and heartache your actions have brought you and those you love. You know the taste of betrayal in a different way. My words today aren’t designed to open old wounds, or brokenness that has been healed. There is no judgment in my words, just a recognition of the pain on both sides. If you have reconciled what has happened, please, focus on the reconciliation, not the mistake.

We are continuing our series called Three Little Words – a love story between a man – Hosea, and a woman – Gomer. A love story that is a metaphor of God’s love for his people, a love story that is a metaphor of God’s love for us. As we bring our series to a close today, we will find that Hosea and Gomer know this feeling of betrayal.

In each week, we have discovered a little word, a word on which the story hinges. The story seemingly headed in one direction, spins around these little words and finds a new direction.

In week one we discovered the little word “So” which led us to the identity of being chosen.

In week two we discovered the little word “Yet” which led us to the action of being loved.

We learned that our descriptions are not our definitions and that the names we bear or are called are not obstacles to God’s love.

SO…YET…CHOSEN…LOVED.

So how will this story conclude? How will this love story end? Let’s find out.

Remember, we are using a three-step plotline from love stories to guide our time:

·       the introduction of the characters,

·       a conflict and

·       a resolution.

Tragedies resolve negatively, comedies resolve positively. Let’s see how this one resolves.

Our characters, Hosea and Gomer and their children are embroiled in conflict. Gomer and Hosea are separated. Gomer has betrayed Hosea, again it would seem. The children are gone from the story, Gomer is gone from the house. Hosea, sits alone, with His God, feeling the sting and taste of betrayal. If you know that feeling and taste, then you know what Hosea is going through right now. As the tidal waves of emotion hit him, he hears God speaking to him.

Amid this conflict, God speaks to Hosea

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites…

Hosea 3:1 (NIV)

Those are some hard words from God for Hosea.

Overcoming betrayal and welcoming someone back into relationship is a herculean task. There are some who can do it, but also many more who can’t. The reasons are many for those who can’t. It could be because of personal inability, lack of trust, avoidance of pain, sheer emotional and mental exhaustion, fear or a myriad of other reasons. For those who can make that move, it is impressive.

But this was God’s call on Hosea, a call he predicted from the beginning, a task he had shared with Hosea from the start. Hosea, in reflection and consideration, needed to respond.

Just a quick time out and a reminder: the story of Hosea and Gomer is not a story about marriage counseling or reconciliation, or how to find a spouse, or raise children. Keep in mind, while it may have similarities, it is a unique story with a very specific message – a metaphor of God’s love and relationship with His people, who were being unfaithful in their spiritual practices. While you can certainly, draw some principles and ideas for other situations, its primary purpose is the story of God’s love for his people. Ok…time in. Back to Hosea’s response to God’s request.

We don’t know the time involved, or the debate that possibly raged between Hosea and God. We don’t know the work involved to overcome the emotional onslaught of betrayal. We don’t know the pain endured or healing sought by Hosea, but we do know his response.

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Hosea 3:2 (NIV)

Hosea responds with action. He seeks out Gomer, finds her where she is, negotiates a price for her and buys her back. Gomer’s choices have caused her to be desolate.

There is speculation about what sort of desolation Gomer is experiencing. Some say she is a prostitute at a temple, trapped in a type of slavery as the last place she can find protection in her day and age, others say she is literally a slave to another household, while still others say she is in debt, caught without means to lift herself out of her poverty. Regardless of the specifics, the reality is Gomer is trapped, enslaved by her choices, their consequences and her circumstances, unable to solve the problems of her life. The image of her life is one of slavery and under control of others. It is not the image of love and connection God designed for her. She is feeling the bitter taste of her betrayal,

Gomer’s state reminds us that there is another side to betrayal. It isn’t only the betrayed person who feels the taste of betrayal. The betrayer feels something too. There are many reasons why someone might betray a loved one – weakness, greed, selfishness, brokenness, fear, the offer of something better, confusion, abuse, neglect, humiliation. We don’t know why Gomer betrayed Hosea, but those choices have left her worse off. That’s the other side to betrayal.

Betrayal hurts the betrayed and the betrayer. The betrayer experiences loss and grief too. The betrayer feels shame, guilt, fear and hopelessness. The betrayer feels overwhelmed by their own choices and the pain those choices have caused. And for Gomer, that betrayal meant a lifestyle that was far from the good life Hosea offered. For Gomer, her betrayal led to slavery.

But Hosea offers her a release from that slavery and a welcome into something else. Freedom. Hosea knows where she is, knows what she needs and is willing to do it. He seeks her out and buys her back. He not only buys her back, he offers her love and connection again. He frees her from slavery and then offers something else.

Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” 

Hosea 3:3 (NIV)

Hosea offers more than freedom from slavery. He offers her freedom for relationship.  She could have been left in slavery. She could have been left as a victim of her choices or her circumstances. She could have been discarded by Hosea for what happened. BUT He seeks her out, buys her back and restores her to relationship, and it all hinges on this little word in our passage – the word BUT.

It occurs twice actually, and it’s the same Hebrew word from the previous two weeks that we translated as “so” and “yet”. The word is “Wa” It is also translated as “but” in other contexts. It’s this tiny word, one letter in Hebrew, a single pen stroke, BUT, what a difference that pen stroke makes to our story.

We find it in verse two: “So, I bought her…” The word “so” makes sense in English. The word “but” makes sense in the plot. Gomer is lost and enslaved through no fault of Hosea, BUT, he pursues her anyway. Gomer’s life is heading in a specific direction, living with promiscuity, a person who is loved, but treated as property, defined as chosen but ignored as inferior. BUT Hosea enters and redeems her. He reminds her she is chosen, shows her she is loved and connects her back to a vital relationship. He frees her!

Here’s the interesting thing about this passage in Hosea 3 though. The entire passage begins with the same Hebrew word we translate as “so”, “yet” or “but”. In English, the chapter begins with “The Lord said…”, but in Hebrew the passage reads, “But the Lord said,…”. It is as though the entire story has led to this point and the greatest turn of all in the story hinges on this tiny word which isn’t even in English – But God…

This little word is the climactic moment in the love stories we enjoy. It is the arrival of Richard Gere to rescue Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. It is the boom box serenade from Say Anything. It is the moment in LA Story when Steve Martin’s character is asked – what would he do if his love interest were to go:

Video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weEabqAErDk

Harris: All I know is, on the day your plane was to leave, if I had the power, I would turn the winds around, I would roll in the fog, I would bring in storms, I would change the polarity of the earth so compasses couldn't work, so your plane couldn't take off.

This moment in the story, this moment in the Bible, this moment for you and for me is that dramatic moment in the love story where the story can be resolved. God knows the bitter taste of betrayal – Gomer’s betrayal, Israel’s betrayal, our betrayal. Hosea stands before her offering love once again. God stands before us offering love once again. But he not only offers love…his offering something more, something powerful, something for which our hearts and spirits yearn. God is offering freedom!

Despite the bitter taste of betrayal for God, the betrayed, and us, the betrayers, we are offered freedom. Just like Gomer is freed from slavery and freed for relationship, so we can be freed from whatever enslaves us and freed for a relationship with God.

Hosea’s words to Gomer are an invitation, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you”.

The offer is one where God promises to be faithful, and asks us to be the same. It is an offer of reconciliation, redemption, renewal, revival. No longer do we need to taste the bitterness of betrayal, no longer will God hold against us the failures of our unfaithfulness, instead he offers us a future. He offers a future of freedom.

I don’t know where you are in this love story of God and you.

Maybe you’re at the beginning and all this talk of slavery and betrayal doesn’t make sense to you. That’s ok. We hope you will keep coming back with your questions. In fact, we have a great group designed just so you can ask questions called Starting Point. The people at The Hub will help you find out more about it.

Or maybe you’re a Christian. Someone in that relationship and enjoying the benefits that it offers. That’s great. Keep enjoying it and sharing it with others.

But maybe you know exactly what I’m talking about when I talk about feeling trapped by your choices. Maybe you are here, unsure about this faith thing, because you don’t like where your life is going and you want something else. You see the direction your life is headed and you don’t like it. You want something else. You hope there is something else. You might not use the word betrayal, but as I’ve been speaking, the taste that comes to mind feels similar.

And then, maybe you are here, a Christian, or at least you thought you were one once. But something went wrong, something happened in your life that made you doubt this whole God thing. Or maybe something happened, maybe it’s something you did and you feel like Gomer feels – ashamed, guilty, fearful, weighed down by the mistakes you’ve made. And now you wonder about your life. You see the direction your life is headed and it’s like a trap and you can’t get out of it. You’ve betrayed God and you’re stuck, in chains, in slavery, to your choices.

For those people, the ones who see their lives heading in a direction they don’t want it to go I want to remind you of Hosea 3:1 – BUT GOD.

Regardless of whether it is the first time you are considering God, or if you want desperately to come back, remember, BUT GOD.

If you feel hopeless and wish for something better, yet you are certain there is no way out…BUT GOD.

If you feel trapped and convinced you have no worth or value…BUT GOD.

If you feel lost and alone without relationship or hope…BUT GOD.

If you feel angry and frustrated…BUT GOD

If you feel trapped by addiction…BUT GOD

If you feel railroaded by life…BUT GOD

BUT GOD enters and changes the direction of your life from trapped to freed. And that’s the big gift he offers you today. You might be caught in the traps of your own choices, you might feel worthless and lost, hopeless and alone, BUT GOD offers you freedom.

He will free you from that prison and free you for something better. He will free you from your failures, from your mistakes, from your deepest regrets and shame and free you for relationship, free you for love, free you for joy. He will free you from your betrayal and free you for a love relationship with him once again.

Here’s what David, a king of Israel, who lived with many failures and regrets including murder and adultery, said about the freedom God offers,

²²          God pays for each slave’s freedom;

                       no one who runs to him loses out.

Psalm 34:22 (MSG)

God has already done the work of freeing you through Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this to people in the city of Galatia back in the first century.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

Later, in the same chapter, but a different translation, Paul writes the following about God’s work for us.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Galatians 5:13 (MSG)

Let Freedom Ring

Hosea and Gomer model that God chooses us.

They reveal us that God loves us

They declare that God frees us.

There is something about this concept of freedom that captures our hearts and minds. From fiction to reality, we are attracted to stories of people being freed. Like that iconic moment in the movie Braveheart when William Wallace shouts freedom. Or the drum beat refrain of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; “let freedom ring”

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only there; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill in Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

ending with the words many of us know so well, “free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I am free at last”. Or the moving moment Nelson Mandela echoed those same words after the first democratic election in South Africa that finally people could, with joy loudly proclaim from the rooftops – free at last.

Or the most powerful words of all, said by Jesus himself,

“if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV)

Do you want to be free?

That is the question left for us from this series. Do you want to be free? I find it noteworthy that Hosea makes an offer to Gomer, but we never hear Gomer’s response. They disappear from the story. The rest of the book of Hosea is made up of prophetic statements. Gomer’s response is not recorded. Here’s why I think that is.

It isn’t important to our story to know what Gomer said. Because we are Gomer in the story. The question is left unanswered because we need to answer it.

Jesus has sought you out, bought you back at a price and now makes an offer of a relationship with you. He is asking you, “Do you want to be free?”

Where in your life have you drifted off course? What have you done in your life that you think is unforgiveable, irredeemable, or forcefully resistant to restoration? Where do you need a “But God…” intervention? That can happen today…But God can be faithful. But God can buy you back. But God can show love again. But God can restore you….But God can free you?

Do you want to be free?

Do you want to be free from your past?

Do you want to be free from your failures?

Do you want to be free from your regrets?

Do you want to be free from the chains enslaving you?

AND

Do you want to be free for a life with Jesus?

Do you want to be free for the joy he has for you?

Do you want to be free for the wonderful things you will do together in this world he created?

These aren’t rhetorical questions: do you want to be free?

“Do you want to be free?”

If you want to be free, I want to pray for you. First I want to pray for us together, for the times in our lives we have been betrayed and the times in our lives when we have betrayed others. Then I would like to invite us together to stand and pray a simple prayer accepted the offer of Jesus to be free.

Jesus, I accept your offer of freedom. Help me to live free.

If you want help praying that prayer, let me know.

Here’s what Paul writes to people who have accepted the offer of Jesus to be free:

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.

If you prayed that prayer, then you are free. Now use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows, that’s how freedom rings, that’s how more and more people can begin to say, free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I am free at last.