Don't Forget!

"When the centurion, who stood in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "surely this man was the son of God." -Mark 15:39

Today is Good Friday, and the start to the Easter weekend. A couple reminders for all you out there.

1. We don't have class this Sunday morning. INSTEAD, we have a special service schedule (services at 9 and 11) and a breakfast in between. 
2. Next Saturday, we'll be hiking at Bernheim Forest in Bullitt County. We'll meet at the front of the park and have a picnic lunch (*Pack your own*) and then go for a hiking trek in the forest. 

Have a great Easter weekend!

In a fit of rage

There's a story in the gospels that has always made me scratch my head. It's always seemed a bit of an inconsistency and out of character for Jesus. Because of scriptural reports that Jesus never sinned (i.e. Heb 4:15), the story of Jesus overturning tables in the temple has led pastors to try all kinds of theological kung-fu. Most often, the solution that is settled upon is that Jesus overturned the tables out of righteous anger, a justified fit of rage caused by the defilement of God's temple in Jerusalem. That has never really sat right with me.

This is one of those posts where I share a little somthing I've learned in my classes, namely, that it is important to look closely at what scripture says. Look - actually look - at Mark 11:11:

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve

The beginning of the chapter is Jesus' famous, "Palm Sunday" entrance into Jerusalem and the passage immediately after verse 11 is his demonstration in the temple. But what is interesting in verse 11 is that it shows Jesus assessed the situation the night before his demonstration. He looked at everything. It wasn't like he walked into the temple and his jaw dropped at the horrible acts going on. Jesus may not have been acting in a fit of rage so much as making a statement that the end of the temple sacrificial system was ending.

I am not claiming I am an authority on this, but it does seem likely to me that there is truth in this one small, easy-to-miss verse. What it tells us is that we can have confidence that he is sinless, that his ministry was intentional and purposeful. This particular story tells us that the temple is done. Trying to be "holy enough" had clearly not worked, ringing in a new promise that we can have direct access to God absolutely all the time.

Timing is Everything

Today's post is a little different because I'm not sure I've found the answer to the question, and so your thoughts are totally welcome. This goes in the "food for thought" category.

I've been studying the Gospels for school and there is a question that's been relatively unaddressed. We know a lot about Jesus' birth from Matthew and Luke, and all four gospels' focus is on his adult ministry, but we know very little about his childhood and adolescent years. Luke does include a story of a visit to the temple at the age of 12 (odd because he was still considered a boy at that point). In this visit, he showed himself to be wise and gifted at teaching, even at such a young age. Luke says that "everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers" (Luke 2:47).

I guess my question is this. Without making too many assumptions about a history we simply don't have record of, what can we take and learn from those 17 years or so between this experience and Jesus' baptism in the Jordan? He clearly had some understanding of his identity early on, and in Jewish culture, boys are considered men at 13 without an adolescent period as we know it. The only thing I can come up with is that having faith in God's timing is important. There were prophecies about the start of the Messiah's ministry, and for those to take place, John would have had to start his ministry. But I don't know if that is all there is to it. Maybe I'm trying to read into it and have already stepped too far. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Wrigley Field - a place for purists!

This past week, Mal and I went to Chicago for her spring break. During this trip I got the awesome privilege of visiting Wrigley Field. This was no small event for me, as it's one of those things that has always been on my "bucket list." There's such a history there, and I almost immediately I found out why.

Wrigley Field is about baseball!

I've been to a lot of stadiums and a lot of sporting events over the years. Over the last decade or two, stadiums have gotten more commercialized, more busy and less and less about the team on the field. There are huge video boards, races between animated Dunkin Donuts mascots (a personal favorite for all Detroit Lions fans, mostly because it may be the best action you see when you go to one of their games), special give-aways, sponsorship signs plastering the outfield wall and every visible surface.

Wrigley Field is still about baseball. There is no giant mega-TV flashing video profiles of the players at bat, nor does each player get to choose the most current hip-hop song to play as they walk to the plate. It's about the game on the field. This atmosphere is embraced by the Cubbie faithful, who cheer and moan, almost as one, with absolutely every swing that puts a ball in play. I'm not a Cubs fan, but I was that day. I couldn't help it! It was such a pure environment that any baseball purist would love watching a game there.

This all got me thinking, though. Have we become this way in the modern church? When we go, do we expect to be catered to with all kinds of kitschy gimmicks, flashy media and fancy hand-outs? Do we go because it's a good show, or because we love what it's all about? The freedom we have in America has given us the opportunity to cater to literally every single social preference you could ask for, many times with eye-catching advertising, bigger-and-better video screens and facilities, etc. Have we gotten too far from the truth? Would someone from another country, persecuted daily for the illegal faith that they live out with pride, recognize our churches as a place where the gospel is still the main attraction? Are the people there hanging on the edge of every word read from scripture and preached from the stage? Or are we simply passive consumers, itching for the next thing to surge our senses with stimuli?

Just food for thought.