Expectant Faith

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.  A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”  Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”  “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”  But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  Mark 5:21-34 (NIV)

This is another reminder that the faithfulness of God is not measured by our circumstance.  For 12 years this woman had seen dead end after dead end.  I can’t imagine the pain and disappointment.  Maybe she had been to countless people for help, to no avail.  In my short time on this earth I have not experienced suffering for anywhere near this length.  Sure, there have been pockets of difficult times, but nothing of this magnitude.  Can you imagine yourself getting no answer for 12 years?  The disappointment, depression that can set in.  If, after a while you begin to see yourself in terms of your condition.....

“Well, Ive been like this for a while, so this is just how it is.”

“I’ve been struggling with _____________ for years, and it’s just something I’ll have to deal with.”

Yes, suffering brings great growth.  Yes, we need to ask questions during the suffering, such as what God is trying to reveal to us.  But this is in the midst of our pursuit of Jesus, not aside from it.  I would like to imagine that the feelings of lowliness and disappointment were still somewhat present with this woman as she approached Jesus.  She was basically “unclean”, and if people knew her condition she possibly could’ve have been prevented from even approaching Jesus.  She lived her life watching others have the freedom to live as they wished.

What strikes me is she approached Jesus with an expectancy that is rarely seen.  No question to him, just a resolve to be near Him.  “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”  She was convinced that Jesus could bring what she desperately longed for.  She approached him with expectancy.  What would happen to our faith if we had expectancy?  In our prayers?  In our conversations?  In our dreams for what God will do through us?

God delivers a miracle to affirm a faith that was already there.  Don’t you remember Jesus’ words, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Nothing.  Not removing years of pain.  Not removing shame from sin.  Not doing something unbelievable in your midst.  I wonder, is the reason we don’t see great things of God in our lives because we’re not really expecting them?  There’s a difference between a wishful hope and a resolute expectation.  

And now look at Jesus’ response.  34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.

Wait.  “Your faith.”  We might look at this and think Jesus is instead referring to His power.  Isn’t that what is really at work here?  But what we’re seeing is the continual work of Jesus: to display God’s power THRU people.  All the power is from God.  The channel that it flows through is humans.  Jesus puts the weight of the woman’s faith front and center.  The power of God meets her faith at a powerful intersection.  And so it is with us.  

Are we challenged in our faith by this woman?  
What is it that we seek from Jesus?
Are we coming close to Him to tell Him? To ask?  

“Give us, gracious Lord, the faith to come right up to you, to touch you in the crowd, to say what it is we need and want you to do for us.”  N.T. Wright

Faith & Circumstance

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  Mark 4:35-41

Our tendency is to focus on the here and now; the immediate.  We are mostly consumed with the present reality.  And that's not a bad thing.  It's part of being human.  The disciples were ordinary men like us.  Here they are, in the middle of a legitimate storm.  I don't normally use the word "squall" in my vocabulary, so here's the definition:

A sudden, sharp increase in wind speed which is usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow.

This storm was no joke.  The fact that it was sudden would certainly freak me out.  I hate pretty much anything that is sudden or unexpected.  Their reaction is natural: "don't you care?"  We judge by what we see, and what they saw was Jesus sleeping with his head on a bag of sand in the back of the boat.  

It's what they didn't see that has real power: Jesus has power over a life and death circumstance.  "Even the wind and waves obey", they responded. They had been with Jesus all day, watching him heal on the shore of the lake.  Still they weren't quite sure of who he was.  Right up until his death in fact.  But we're like them in a lot of ways: wanting to know when, where, how, etc.

One thing that comes from this not so small episode on the lake: 

Don't judge the care and compassion of God by your present reality.  God's seeming absence or lack of concern is not determined by what we see in front of us.  In reality, His care for us often comes unbeknownst to us.  His work goes on while we sleep (Ps. 17:3).

God is always at work, whether you see it or not.

Forgiveness

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming!Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—  “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”  And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed andglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”  Mark 2:1-12 (NIV)

I love the picture that Mark paints in his gospel - Jesus on the move.  Moving from place to place, healing, teaching, bringing the kingdom to earth.  The first half of Mark is spent answering the question, "Who is Jesus?"  Mark tells the story with a rush of excitement, almost in a shout to the readers, "Jesus is God!"  

Jesus is not just another rabbi.  He has real authority.  He doesn't just talk about the kingdom, he ushers it in like a tidal wave.  Jesus' miracles seek to affirm his identity.  In this passage, Jesus is preaching to a packed house, literally.  Four men interrupt the sermon and lower a paralytic on a mat through the roof.  He seeks healing from Jesus.  Jesus sees their faith, and says "Your sins are forgiven."  In other words, "I don't simply pronounce you forgiven, I forgive you."  Only God can forgive (Ex. 34:7).  

That is what caused such a stir among the scribes.  In their minds, a person is forgiven only after repentance, restitution, and sacrifice. Jesus declares the paralytic forgiven while simultaneously declaring himself to have the power to forgive.

The power to forgive comes through Jesus.

Then I think about my life.  Forgiveness is hard.  When I think about those who've wronged me, I don't know that I've really forgiven some of them.  Forgiveness is more than just a mental exercise.  It's a deliberate choice.  

A choice to no longer hold a person in regard to their offense.  

What about you? I think a good test is to ask yourself, do I look at (person's name) in the same way God looks at me?  Forgiveness is not memory loss.  Forgiveness doesn't remove consequences.  But forgiveness opens the door to deeper relationships.  It allows us to experience the mercy of God who forgives us.  Think about it.  A perfect God forgives sins that are not his own. That reality enables us to forgive sins that are not our own.  If you can't forgive, pray that God will enable you.  It may just be that you experience more of the power of Jesus in forgiving someone.

A Christmas devotion

The birth of Jesus shows us two important truths: 1) God is with us and 2) God is for us. In Matthew's gospel, an angel appears to Joseph after he had resolved in his mind to quietly divorce Mary, so as to not cause her public shame, and reveals to him that what is conceived in her is from the Spirit. Matthew then says in 1:21-23, " She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). God became a man. Heaven came down. God is with us. Why is this significant for you and me? C.S. Lewis said, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God." God could only save what Christ became. Christ became like you and me so that we might become like Him. God is with us. And he is also for us. Galatians 4:4-5 says, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship." He was born for us, crucified for us, and as John says, went to be with his Father to prepare a place for us (Jn. 14:12) God is with us. And He is for us. He is not distant and aloof. May our hearts rejoice this Christmas as we worship a God who knows us, cares for us, and has us on His mind.

No shame

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." Romans 1:16(ESV)

What does it mean to be ashamed of the gospel? I most often associate shame with mistakes I've made; with regrets about past decisions. In the NT shame is mentioned a number of times. In Mark 8 Jesus calls his disciples to give up their lives for His sake and the gospel, or else be ashamed of Him. Paul mentions suffering in 1 Corinthians 4 and Philippians 1 in admonishing believers to not be ashamed of suffering, but to embrace it for the glory of God. In 2 Timothy 2 He encourages Timothy to not be ashamed in handling the word of truth. When I consider these passages, I wonder how many times I've been ashamed:

-when I've chosen comfort over commitment

-when I've chosen to appease people rather than tell the hard truth

-when I've listened to conversations that clearly were not grounded in gospel truth and said nothing

-when I've been tempted to handle sin on my own instead of by the Spirit

-when I pray small prayers because I'm consumed with contentment


To not be ashamed of the gospel means that whatever circumstance I find myself in, I consider Jesus to be worth it. It means not caring what happens to me in this life because I get God himself and not just gifts from Him. It means that what the world sees as shameful, I see as powerful. Weakness, suffering, criticism, etc, when experienced for the sake of the gospel, is never to be shamed.

What about you? Do you find that you're ashamed of things which the scriptures say to not be ashamed of? Please leave a comment.

Scars

Last Sunday I was in Chattanooga with friends for dinner. We were in the middle of a great weekend serving together in Ringgold, GA helping tornado victims start to rebuild their lives. As I was walking down the street a woman approached me, asking if I could buy her some food. Her name was Angela. She told me that she had been asked to leave all of the local shelters because she cut herself. She then showed me her scars. Both wrists and forearms were covered in scars. We walked up and down downtown Chattanooga looking for a place still serving food that late, when finally Taco Mac came to the rescue. I bought Angela two chicken tacos for $5.41 and wished her well. What I found out was that Angela was often seen walking the streets asking for food, so much so that several waitresses recognized who I was talking about. It was sad that Angela was known by her scars. This encounter is still with me. Many of us are walking around with scars - both visible and invisible signs of the hurt and pain we bear at times in this life. For many, scars are a sign of defeat; of a victory won by depression, anger, grief, etc. But our scars were not meant for defeat. They were meant as a sign of victory. When Jesus bore our sin on the cross and suffered scars in his hands, they were a prelude to a coming victory. He shortly thereafter showed off these scars to Thomas as proof that he had overcome the grave....so, scars are a sign of victory. On the cross, Jesus was scarred so that you wouldn't be known by yours. We have scars, and the reality is they won't be gone until Jesus makes all things new. But they don't mark us. They don't have control over us. They are a sign of the grace of God.

Do your scars remind you of grace or guilt?

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:24-28

Jesus knows what it's like

• He knows what it's like to be rejected (Isaiah 53:3; Mark 8:31).
• He knows what it's like to be betrayed (Mark 3:19).
• He knows what it's like to grieve (Luke 19:41; John 11:35).
• He knows what it's like to be hungry (Matthew 21:18).
• He knows what it's like to be angry (Matthew 21:12-13).
• He knows what it's like to suffer physically (John 19:34).
• He knows what it's like to suffer anxiety (Luke 22:44).

He knows what it's like to be you.

"His condescension is great enough to become their friend, to become their companion, to unite their souls to him in spiritual marriage. It is enough to take their nature upon him, to become one of them, that he may be one with them. Yea, it is great enough to abase himself yet lower for them, even to expose himself to shame and spitting; yea, to yield up himself to an ignominious death for them. And what act of condescension can be conceived of greater?" -Jonathan Edwards