Tag: christian hope

Accept One Another (Romans 15:7-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Christian Unity, by Gisele Bauche

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;
    I will sing the praises of your name.”

Again, it says,

“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
    let all the peoples extol him.”

And again, Isaiah says,

“The Root of Jesse will spring up,
    one who will arise to rule over the nations;
    in him the Gentiles will hope.”

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (New International Version)

Anyone who desires to follow the pattern of Christ, actively seeks and promotes the acceptance of one another.

Jesus is the Christian’s model: Christ did not seek to be served, but to serve, and give himself for the benefit of others. The ministry of Christ was meant for the whole world, and not just for some persons. Christ’s mission and ministry included non-Jews, and not only his own Jewish people.

The person and work of Jesus Christ confirmed the promises made to the original Jewish patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus did nothing brand new; he was simply upholding and actively seeking to accept Gentiles and bring them to God. This has always been true of God’s plan and purpose – which is why the Apostle Paul cited four different Old Testament passages.

All four references are to the Gentiles, to non-Jewish persons. And this is why Paul himself had a ministry to Gentiles. The biblical verses mentioned by the Apostle include Gentiles who offer praise to God; Gentiles engrafted alongside Jews as God’s people; and Gentiles who put their hope in the root of Jesse, the Messiah.

The good news of Jesus Christ is an inclusive – not exclusive – message. Thus, Christian ministry is designed to include others, to bring them into the fold of those who are redeemed by God.

Christian community is made up of all kinds of people from every race and ethnicity – without exception, and without favoritism.

The Apostle Paul made it clear to the Roman Church of both Jew and Gentile that his bedrock Christian ethic was one of inclusion and care for others. He supported his ethical understanding from Holy Scripture.

Paul was concerned that the Church include all sorts of Christ followers who may have some differing understandings and practices in living out their own Christian faith.

The Body of Christ is designed and meant to be big enough, strong enough, and resilient enough to handle all sorts of people who together want to follow Christ and serve others, like Jesus did.

The Apostle’s prayer is one of hope, having everyone in the church be accepting of one another. Paul wanted all Christians to work and worship together as the one people of God who live according to the pattern of Christ.

The Christian model of living is based not upon dietary laws or special days; it instead has it’s foundation in the example of Christ’s earthly ministry. All Christians are to:

  • glorify God together for the divine mercy shown to them
  • rejoice together as a unified voice expressing faith, hope, and love
  • share together in the hope that God’s promises are and will be fulfilled completely in Christ

God fills us with joy and peace, and causes us to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit – made possible because of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Since God grants faith to whomever God wants to grant faith; and since the Holy Spirit fills whomever the Spirit wants to fill, we are, therefore, to accept those whom God has already accepted – without exception, and without prejudice.

For the Apostle Paul, the church’s identity was at stake. Paul was concerned for two questions:

  1. Will the church be, at its core, a community of redeemed persons by the grace of God who center all their lives around the person and work of Jesus?
  2. Or will the church be a community of opinionated individuals and groups all jockeying for position to have their way on how they believe things should go?

You can tell what a person’s identity is by their “identity markers.”

For the Jewish Christians, Sabbath-keeping, circumcision, food laws, and holding to certain days on the calendar marked their identity as God’s people. Those issues were so important that if you took them away, there would be an identity crisis; the people felt totally lost without their traditions.

For Gentile Christians, their identity was built around being more free-thinking. So, if you take away their freedom and ability to choose, the Gentiles will go nuts and have an identity meltdown. 

Paul’s answer was for both Jew and Gentile to accept one another and build their unity around Jesus, period. They needed to be sensitive to each other and focus on their shared identity of Jesus as the center of the Christian life.

It is very difficult to have hope, peace, and spiritual power, whenever there is disunity. The lack of acceptance is typically like a cancer which invades the Body and destroys it, unless there is a spiritual intervention.

Acceptance of others is more than a nice idea; and it doesn’t mean that we overlook differences of convictions or dogma. It just means that we choose to focus on what is most important. And for the Apostle Paul, that meant having a unity around the pattern of Christ.

Loving Lord, you came not to be served but to serve. Empower us to bless one another and our neighbors, so that your spirit of generosity, compassion, and selfless action transform us and the people in our midst. We pray together, as the one people of God, that you will guide us in your way; through Jesus Christ our Savior, in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Don’t Fear, Believe! (Mark 5:21-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Jesus heals the daughter of Jairus, by Hyatt Moore

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 

Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

While he was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the synagogue leader’s house, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.

Then he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl stood up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat. (New Revised Standard Version)

Christ Healing the Hemorrhaging Woman, by Ivan Rutkovych, 1698

Hopeless. That’s how two people felt in today’s story. One of them a woman, and the other the father of a little girl.

To have a sense of hopelessness is perhaps one of the worst feelings a person could ever have; it is to suffer with the despair that your suffering isn’t going to end.

It was still early in Christ’s earthly ministry. Jesus had already performed amazing exorcisms and healed people. His fame was spreading, and crowds began to form everywhere he went.

The Hemorrhaging Woman

The woman had suffered for 12 years with hemorrhaging. She went through a string of doctors with no answers to her malady. Her condition drained her not only bodily, but also emotionally and financially. Despite everything she tried, not only did things not get better, but they got worse.

She likely didn’t get out much because of her situation. But even if she did, the woman would have to literally remain on the margins of the community because of all the blood. In other words, she was unclean, and anyone who touched her would be, as well.

I see many folks in my line of work who have had an adverse health condition for years. Some of them have had a debilitating illness for so long that the sickness is what now defines them. Their daily schedule is ruled by doctor appointments and therapy sessions. Their health maladies have taken over their identity.

Despair and desperation are close cousins. The woman’s desire to gain back her life aroused the courage to seek out Jesus. And she believed that by resolutely getting through the crowd of people, that even if the edge of his cloak could be touched, restoration would happen.

True faith leads us to act in a way that seems irrational to others.

The woman pushed and wormed her way close enough to Jesus to touch just the edge of his cloak… and the effect was immediate. She felt it in her body. The woman was cured with but a simple touch.

Then the woman became afraid, realizing that Jesus was aware that someone touched him. And a woman, no less, who had a hemorrhaging issue. Christ looked around, trying to find out who did it.

The extreme awareness of Jesus contrasts with the blatant unawareness of his disciples. They dismissed their Teacher’s investigation because of all the people who clamored around him. But Jesus was determined to find the person who touched him.

The woman realized she could not hide what she did, and what happened. With her robust faith in Jesus, she was willing to face any consequence for touching the rabbi. She was so scared that she trembled as she talked to Jesus. The woman revealed her story to him of who she is and what brought her to this point.

Genuine faith and healing always brings light, because grace and redemption will have its way in this fallen dark world.

Whereas we might expect a religious leader to respond with disdain or shock, and likely a firm rebuke, Jesus honored the woman by calling her “daughter.” He truly saw her, and publicly bestowed blessing and peace upon her.

Jesus confirmed and affirmed the woman’s healing in front of everyone. She was hopeless no more.

The Sick Young Girl

Christ continued his journey to young girl’s house. Her faither, Jairus the synagogue ruler, appealed to Jesus to come and heal her. She was at the end of life. As the father of three daughters myself, I can easily imagine the despair and desperation of Jairus concerning his precious little girl’s condition.

Somehow he knew there was only one hope for his daughter; Jairus needed Jesus because there was nothing he could do, or anybody could do, to save her. And once he got to Jesus, his poverty of spirit was evident, his humility palpable.

Jairus fell to his knees and became a spiritual beggar. He pleaded with Jesus to come and lay healing hands on his dear girl.

But his hope morphed into hopelessness; while on the way, Jairus received the devastating news that his daughter had died. All is lost… or is it?

Jesus didn’t think so. He simply gave a hopeful reassurance, “Don’t fear. Believe!” To the unbeliever, those words must seem cruel – giving a father whose child has died false hope. But for God, nothing is impossible. In God’s kingdom, death never has the last say on a person’s life.

It’s hard to have faith and hope whenever everyone else is mourning and crying and grieving. Arriving at the house, Jesus said yet another possibly cruel thing: “The child’s not dead but sleeping.” Christ understood that she was not all dead, just mostly dead.

The nervous and stressed laughing of the people in the house did nothing to deter Jesus. He was supremely confident about what would happen – a future that no one else could yet see.

A simple command, just a few words, was all it took. Taking the girl’s mother and father into the room, I imagine Jesus saying with a combination of authority and compassion, “Little girl, get up!”

Since Christ’s authority knows no bounds, the girl immediately got up. She was alive – so alive that it’s as if nothing ever made her ill to begin with.

Only a Story?

You may think this is only a story. Perhaps you believe there’s nothing to this, other than an ancient follower of Jesus trying to make his Teacher look like a healer, a savior.

For me, the story confirms what I know and believe to be true from my own experience as a church pastor, hospital chaplain, and follower of God: The impossible happens with Jesus. Christ is more powerful than anything life throws at us. Jesus is enough.

Amen. Soli Deo Gloria.

Accomplishing the Mission, No Matter What (Acts 25:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Saint Paul before Festus and Agrippa, by Philip Galle (1537-1612)

Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.

Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”

Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” (New International Version)

The Story Up to Now

Paul was in a pickle. Earlier in his life, as an up and coming star amongst the Jewish Pharisees, he had a life-changing encounter with the risen Christ. Paul did a complete 180 degree turn from opposing and persecuting Christians to becoming a Christian himself.

As you might imagine, this did not go over well with the Jewish establishment, and especially the Pharisees. From the event of Paul’s conversion and onward, he was a marked man. And he knew it.

But Paul didn’t care. He embraced his new life and calling with as much or more zeal than his old life. Paul dedicated himself to missionary journeys, proving that Jesus is the Christ, and establishing churches. Some of the Jews (by no means all) hated him for it. As a result, the Apostle Paul was whipped, stoned, and left for dead more than once. Finally, the upset Jews were able to get Paul arrested and jailed.

And that is where we pick up Paul’s story. And it’s also likely why he appealed to Ceasar instead of staying in Palestine; he knew he wouldn’t survive for too long surrounded by the same sort of people whom he used to run with in trying to stamp out the Christians.

The Present Story

Paul originally dealt with Felix (Acts 24) but then with a change in administration, he faced Festus. The Jews who opposed Paul wanted him transferred to Jerusalem from Caesarea. But Festus was no dummy; he knew this was an age old trick to try and ambush the Roman guards on the way and assassinate Paul. So, Festus went and saw Paul in Caesarea.

Things went as one might expect: Unsubstantiated charges are leveled against Paul in court; Paul maintains his innocence; Festus asks Paul if he wishes to go to Jerusalem for trial, or not; and Paul refuses. But the thing that no one expected is that Paul took the further step of appealing directly to the emperor himself.

We aren’t told why Paul made this appeal – although it certainly appeared as if he may not get a fair trial in Palestine. Yet, we do know that Paul had a desire to fulfill his calling of bearing witness to the gospel of Christ in the West, and to Rome.

It seems to me that, at this point, Festus saw an opportunity to rid himself of all this Jewish weirdness (as he saw it) and send Paul off and out of his own jurisdiction. One less difficult Jewish problem to have to deal with in this far off Roman outpost in the Middle East.

The Story to Come

As Bible readers, we know what is upcoming for Paul – all of the dramatic events and twist and turns of his life getting to Rome and under house arrest in the city. Yet, even though none of us really know what another day will bring, the Apostle Paul was driven by his purpose of gospel proclamation and bringing the message of Christ to the farthest western reaches of the Roman Empire. And to that end, he was not going to be dissuaded or deterred, even when he had little to no control over his life as a prisoner.

A person with meaning and purpose is a person with faith and hope. And when love is the thing animating the purpose, then it doesn’t much matter what the outward circumstances are. Perseverance and resiliency always find a way where there seems to be none.

Half of life is spent discovering, learning, and developing our skills, gifts, and abilities. The other half is applying and honing those skills in new and different contexts. As long as we know what we’re about, and we keep putting in the hard work and practice it takes for continued and sustained excellence, then each situation we encounter becomes an opportunity to extend my purpose in a new experience.

And that is what the Apostle Paul did. It wasn’t about changing or manipulating situations or people; rather, it was about finding pathways to accomplishing his mission on this earth with the calling he received from God. I would say that Paul did a pretty dang good job at that.

I also believe that you and I can do it, too.

Holy God, you search us out and know us better than we know ourselves. Help us to discern your voice and your calling. We seek to listen and learn from the wisdom of Christ. Raise up faithful people who will speak words of life with clarity and grace, with justice and true compassion; in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Raised Into a Spiritual Body (1 Corinthians 15:35-49)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 

Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. (New International Version)

We have so far experienced, in this Christian Year:

  • Advent and the anticipation of Christ’s birth; a celebration of that birth in the Christmas season
  • Epiphany with it’s light shining on the salvation we enjoy for all kinds of people
  • Lent, as we moved slowly and silently toward the cross and practiced spiritual disciplines
  • Holy Week, by walking with Jesus in Jerusalem, to the Garden of Gethsemane, up the hill to where he was crucified

But that is not the end of the story. Christ is risen! On Easter Sunday we celebrated Christ’s resurrection from death. Now, we are in the season of Eastertide, an extended time of celebration in which we revel in new life. Life is possible and real because the resurrection of Jesus from death is real.

The resurrection is crucial and central to the entire Christian life. That’s why the Apostle Paul concluded his letter to the Corinthians with a long defense of its truth.

Today’s lesson zeros in on a particular point in Paul’s argument for the importance and place of resurrection in Christianity. He insisted that the resurrection – the spiritual body – is unique; it’s not like any other sort of body. And this is the body that believers will have in the future. Just as Christ was resurrected, we too, shall experience a resurrection.

We shall be transformed from being like Adam, the original person with a physical body, to being like the risen Christ, the first with a spiritual body.

Sometimes the Apostle Paul’s arguments can seem thick and hard to get through. So, allow me to put his line of thinking in a context which I deal with every day. In my work as a hospital chaplain, I visit patients on the cardiac units. The following is the sort of conversation I sometimes have:

Patient: “Ever since I had my heart operation, I don’t feel close to God. I’ve always had a good relationship with the Lord. But I don’t sense it. It’s as if God is distant. Did I do something wrong? Maybe God is punishing me.”

Chaplain: “Sounds like you really love God.”

Patient: “Yeah, I do. I don’t get it, why I’m like this now.”

Chaplain: “Think about this with me for a minute. Your body was just traumatized. Somebody opened up your chest and messed with your literal physical heart. And that doesn’t only affect your body. It messed with your spiritual heart, too. The two hearts are different, in some ways. But there’s a close relationship between the physical heart and the spiritual heart. Trauma is trauma. It impacts your whole person, not just part of you.”

Patient: “So, am I always going to feel this way?”

Chaplain: “It’s going to take a long time to physically heal from what your body has been through. It won’t take near as long for your spiritual heart to heal – but it will heal. You’ll be close to God again. But it probably isn’t going to happen today. What’s more, it’s possible that when you heal, you’ll actually feel even closer to God than before; after having been through this, it will be like you have a new lease on life.”

Paul’s understanding of the resurrection is not far off from these sort of interactions I have with hospital patients. We live the Christian life in the tent of this body, not knowing anything different. But we will eventually die. And when that happens, we never go back to the way things were when we were living on this earth.

We don’t just get resuscitated; we eventually get resurrected. We don’t become disembodied people after death, and at the end of the age when Christ returns. No, instead, we get a body – it’s our body, but it’s different, it’s changed, because it is a spiritual body. And it’s likely to be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.

Life on this old fallen planet of ours is sometimes characterized by adversity, trouble, hardship, and even sometimes traumatic situations. But it will not always be this way. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from death changes everything.

Death will give way to life. There will be a spiritual body. We shall be healed in the complete sense of the word – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – without any more death, disease, and destruction. Suffering will lead to glory.

This is a Christian perspective on resurrection. Since Christ is risen from death, and now has a spiritual body, so too, will his followers be raised to life with just such a body – so that we can be with the Lord forever, as it was intended when God originally created people in God’s image.

Resurrection means hope. We have the confident expectation that promises of an eternal spiritual body is coming. Just as a tiny seed is transformed into a plant, so we will be changed. For those who have had to struggle with the constant debilitations of the body, this is truly good news. And it’s no April Fools.

Lord Jesus, You suffered death but conquered it. You laid in the tomb, but on the third day, You rose again. You are the resurrection, our hope and our life. O glorious and victorious Redeemer, help us not to be afraid of death, for we must pass through it to see you face to face. And on the last day we will rise again because You said so. Amen.