by RobertCummins | Nov 20, 2013 | 47. Wholeness
Luke 24:36-53
Great persons come and go with much ceremony. “Advance” people come, making preparation prior to arrival. Heralds report as the VIP nears. An entourage of officials of lesser rank and status are in attendance. Then there is the greatest One of all who arrives, flying under the radar, arriving as an infant born into a common family. And now, just prior to His departure, He seems to still shun pomp and circumstance. He just materializes; scaring the wits out of His closest friends. While they were still on their heals in utter shock, He asks them,
“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”
Jesus wasn’t searching for missing information when He asked questions. He knew exactly what was in man’s heart, especially His disciples. Yet…He asks anyway. I believe Jesus is trying to jump start the reasoning in our hearts with His questions. He believes it is important for us to formulate the answers for ourselves and bump into the reality of where we are so that we can better get to where He is taking us.
To assure them he was not a dreaded specter, He permits them to examine the same body they had abandoned in Gethsamene that was ultimately impaled upon a cross. By touching His scars, they verified it was in fact Jesus. The body that had just popped into the room was made of flesh and bone, like the bodies they lived in. If they had been on their heels before, they are now flat on the floor, possessed by the wonder and the joy of it all. The shock of this encounter probably lasted a while. But, I suspect as they grasped the implications of Jesus’ resurrected body for themselves, hope and joy were rekindled regularly over the years to come.
Another way Jesus sustains us through the years and rekindles the fires within is by “opening our minds to understand the scriptures“. On this occasion, He permitted them to grasp that the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms were being fulfilled in Him. There are seasons where He permits us to connect the dots. These men were not scholars. They were not necessarily well read or educated men, yet in the years to follow they would turn the world upside down by simply proclaiming that there should be repentance for the forgiveness of sins because Christ has conquered sin and death. The disciples saw and even handled Jesus. We can understand why they believed. But, what has provoked the millions of others to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ who would not get to see the resurrected body?
There is no sin in giving our minds to the discipline of academic understanding and to the mastery of scriptural texts as long as we do not sin by missing the Spirit who authored His Word. The disciples did not have seminaries or bible study reference materials. All they had was His Spirit. For disciples, when He opens our minds to understand the scriptures its not to just add to our base of knowledge; it is to connect the dots between our minds and our hearts; between our knowledge and our wills, between time and eternity. When that happens, transformation occurs. It was not scholarship that caused the gospel to take root. It was changed lives. It was the kingdom’s righteousness, peace and joy, the essence of God’s life, finding expressions in human beings that gave credibility and authority to the message and cause for others to buy in. Changed hearts and lives, not knowledge, are the only true evidence of His resurrection. Without transformation, the claims of the gospel are hollow and unbelievable. The gospel will be far more credible when the Body of Christ is actually living in resurrection power.
Unfortunately, the gospel has too often been preached and pushed as a get-out-of-hell & get-into-heaven proposition only. While the forgiveness of sins, securing eternity with Jesus, is great news, it is only partial news. The bigger picture is that the gospel was not intended as an end in itself. It was intended as a point-of-entry into the kingdom of God, which is a now– kingdom bringing with it now opportunities and responsibilities that go overlooked and unattended when getting out of hell and into heaven is the main point.
I am encouraged as I see so many believers from different faith communities focusing on the kingdom of God. It is my suspicion that as all our vast gospel knowledge and focus is recaptured into the context of the Kingdom of God, many dots will get connected and His eternal life will find “new” and “now” expressions in the lives of His disciples. Transformed lives will once again establish credibility for Christ’s resurrection. I personally see no other hope for this world outside of Jesus’ prayer being answered;
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Father, help us to encounter afresh Your Spirit, who is Your promise, Who will clothe us with power from on high; who will heal our troubled and doubtful hearts. Open our minds and hearts fully that we may understand Your kingdom and the now implications it has for us as individuals and as the corporate expression of Your life in the here and now. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 19, 2013 | 47. Wholeness
Mark 5:1-20
Is there anything we can learn from this account of the Gerasene Demoniac? At first blush, as moderns, we do not see what that possibly might be. Neither I nor anyone I know lives among the dead. No one I know cries out in anguish day and night mauling their own bodies. Are we certain of this?
It is truly amazing how adaptive and resilient human beings are. They can be found dwelling in a wide range of shelters; from the grandest of palaces to holes in the ground. Many years ago I regularly encountered a man who appeared to be in his 70’s in a wooded, hilly area where I was working. He always carried a paper sack and a hammer. He was dressed worse than any homeless person I had ever seen. I would try and speak to him but he was either unwilling or the devil had his tongue. I later learned from a newspaper article that this man was living in a hole near my project which he had insulated with paper. It would not surprise me if this poor man had not been tormented by a host of demons who had driven him to that place of torment to die alone which, sadly, was the occasion of the news piece.
Just before my encounter with Christ in 1976, I was living alone in an apartment in an unfamiliar place among unfamiliar people. I had been living in darkness for some time and in spite of efforts to change, which to me at that time meant becoming happy and free of torment, I felt as though something strong and evil was pulling me into itself. I do not mean to be melodramatic. I just don’t know how else to say it. I had become a prisoner of some dark behaviors and I knew I was becoming progressively bound by something very strong. Drawing from scripture, observation and personal experience, I don’t really think demons care if their hosts lives in a palace or a hole in the ground as long as they can remain there and be left alone to their missions of distraction and torment. I think they feed on and promote the decomposition of human life. My life at that time must have been quite a feast.
I suspect one reason we do not see manifestations of demons as they did in the bible or as they still do in other cultures is because in the West demons achieve their mission of isolating and tormenting people without hindrance. Our modern society with its pace of life and materialism provides all the ingredients they need to isolate, preoccupy, torment and bind. Perhaps they trade their desire to feast upon and dramatically devour a single soul as in our passage today for a regimen of just snacking on us as a culture creating a lower grade of torment which is spread out over a longer period of time over a larger segment of society. The net effect of this demonic presence would be to reinforce the grand deception that man can rescue himself from the thing that is pulling him under. In light of that perspective, our western culture, contrary to the complimentary view we have of ourselves, may be as demonized as any culture in history.
Our proximity to others does not relieve loneliness and isolation. In our culture, loneliness and tormented thoughts are pacified with a mind numbing array of entertainment options where we can easily avoid the reality of our imprisonment and torment by diving into fantasy worlds of distractions and vicariously live the dreams that our culture plants in our minds.
I have a vision of the kingdom of God as it inevitably expands; where its awakened citizens (you and I) expose the demons that inhabit and feed upon our dying culture. Poor souls that had learned to adapt to and survive their imprisonment to isolation, pornography, entertainment, gambling, wealth, etc. (suffice it to say “Legion”) will be set free by Life Himself. Like the liberated man from the tombs they may want to follow Jesus to some new remote place but Jesus will simply say to many, “Just go tell your story (among your people) of what great things the Lord has done for you and how He had mercy on you.” As it was with the Gerasene demoniac, these persons who society had written off will obey and will cause many onlookers to “marvel“.
Father, Permit us to see the lonely isolated ones around us who in their own way are crying out; who have adapted to their own private places of torment; awaiting, in varied and demonically inspired places of denial, distraction and dissipation, a certain judgement. May Satan’s ploys backfire on him and may You deliver not just one or a few tormented ones but rather a whole generation of souls who can tell those in their networks what great things You have done for them. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 18, 2013 | 47. Wholeness
Mark 5:24-34
There is a repetitive theme in scripture that greets us in the first two verses of this passage;
There was a great multitude and then there was just a few; in this case just one; a woman.
The theme I am referring to has to do with the many and the few; the many being called who will not enter through a narrow way – that place where just a few are chosen and only a few find life. (Matt 7:13,14, 22:14) Have you ever wondered what the difference is between the many and the few?
Many were following Jesus because of what they wanted him to do for their nation. It was obvious that a major prophet was in their midst. They knew prophets came to restore things to God’s righteous order. Their nationalistic zeal was being stirred. Their dream and heart’s desire; if only the authority of this man might increase, then our theocracy could be restored; godly men would take office and we could be rid of the unclean Roman oppressors. And, undoubtedly many were just curious. Nothing this interesting had ever come along in their lifetime. They were not about to miss this show.
The few on the other hand were not just following Jesus. Like the suffering person in our passage, they were stalking Him. It was not zeal for the nation that motivated this woman; it was a debilitating physical condition that had backed her into a corner. She had exhausted her resources pursuing conventional remedies and she was getting worse. No doubt she feared death and likely the impact her absence would have on her dependents. She was motivated by desperation. She simply needed Jesus. It didn’t matter to her if He was the Messiah, the long awaited King of Israel. It didn’t matter that He was a great prophet. She just wanted to get well.
She was seeking Him simply because, she had “heard about Him“. In her mind, the seed of a tiny idea had been planted. The soil conditions in this woman’s heart allowed it to geminate and take root. It’s expression as it blossomed was; “If I just touch His garments, I shall get well.” Had this woman been chosen? Had she just won the spiritual lottery – receiving the gift of faith and consequently her healing? Or, was there something in this woman’s heart that she contributed, that helped develop that original tiny thought back in its germination stage that ultimately separated her from the many; where she became one of the few; a beneficiary of God’s healing – salvation life.
Jesus eventually explains that the reason she became well was due to her faith. I believe faith often, if not always, begins with the most minute-sized seed being planted in our hearts. The Sower is sowing seeds of life everywhere, inviting many to discover Life in its myriad and wonderful forms but only a few respond to this invitation as it presents itself to us often in the subtlest of thoughts – practically a whisper.
There in that vulnerable live-or-die moment our hearts can say “yes” or “no” to that seed. Desperation was certainly a part of the soil conditions in this woman’s heart but in that critical and vulnerable moment, as this seed was suspended between heaven and earth; between eternity and time, when Satan was posing his doubtful questions to her heart, she separated herself from the many with her simple “yes” to Jesus.
The little seed sown in this woman’s heart, unlike most, was not stolen by the enemy. It blossomed and bore fruit. I would predict this event did not go unnoticed by others out there among the multitude who also had either seen or heard of Jesus. I suspect that this event served God’s planting and nurturing of other seeds He had sown. Others were now poised with their “yes”, prepared to invite this Man, a forgiver, liberator and healer deeper into their lives. Just how large a plant might this seed grow into? Check out; Mark 2:8-11, Eph 6:16, 1 John 5:4,5, Matt 13:31.
I pray that one day soon, in the inevitable expansion of Christ’s kingdom rule, more than just a few will respond to the Sowers work. I pray there will be a growing and collective “yes” to the continual invitations Jesus is making into His life. In those critical moments when that seed is so vulnerable and being assaulted and we are tempted to agree with satan’s lies, we will instead recognize the faulty reasoning in our hearts; this complicity of ours with the doubts and unbelief being sown by the evil one; we will repent and say, “Yes Lord you are the same yesterday, today and forever. You do still save, heal and deliver!” I believe, In that moment, we will determine whether we will be among the many or the few. It is right then in that instant that we will partner with God in our choice in whether we are to be chosen or just called. In that often overlooked instant is when we shall determine if we will overcome the world and be counted among the blessed few . Check out Matt 2:8
Lord, may sufficient hunger for your kingdom reality rise up within Your elect. May You grant us that hunger and desperation of spirit; that acute awareness of our need for You. May it merge with a new resolve in our hearts to agree with You. May we see our faith arise, displacing every lie of the enemy with Your living truth so that Your Name may be glorified and honored in us, the victorious and overcoming children of the Living God. Amen.
