With one of his very last breaths while on the cross, Jesus spoke to and of his mother: When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman here is your son,” and to the disciple, “here is your mother.” (John 19:25) There can be no doubt at all about the depth of Jesus’ love for his mother Mary, and his caring for her.

Yet, in the book of Luke Jesus makes some astonishing remarks: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) In at least three translations of the Bible the word “hate” is used in this passage, and is jarring to read from the lips of the one who spoke so often about love. When I read Jesus’ words recently I thought that he must surely mean that attachments can be so very strong that they distract us from our real foundation, our very Creator.

Jesus understood love, and spoke of it strongly: …an expert in the law tested him with a question: “teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . . and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) Jesus knew that if the first love lived in us, the second would easily follow. The apostle John wrote, “God is love. . . There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.

Jesus insisted that “other loves” not obscure our first love. Rather, John also wrote, We love because He first loved us. (1John 4 ;16&19) John recorded one of the strongest expressions of love from Jesus to his disciple Peter. It happened on the beach following Jesus’ resurrection. Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? (John 21:15) and three times Peter reaffirmed his love for Jesus. Each time he questioned Peter, he followed with the direction, “Feed my sheep.” Jesus enabled Peter to reaffirm his real love for Jesus after Peter’s denying him three times; but even more, Jesus gave Peter a vocation, “ Feed my sheep.” Peter knew that he had a place in Jesus’ kingdom, in his very ministry, established on the rock of Peter’s love forJesus, a love that always came first in Peter for the rest of his life.

Love in Him,

Prue

West of Jerusalem, between Mispeh and Shen, in the territory of Benjamin, the prophet Samuel erected a large rock. It was to be a memory stone that Samuel named “Ebenezer,” for the people of Israel; for, Samuel said, “ Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12) It was a dramatic and enduring reminder to the people that their well being and safety had been secured by the hand of God when the Philistines had attacked them. It was an acknowledgment of the Israelites’ unique relationship with their God, who was indeed their shield and protection. It was a valuable gesture of remembrance, and it required a prophet of God to establish it for the people.

The truth was that Israel had been devastatingly defeated by the Philistines prior to their most recent victory. Samuel had told them that they must abandon all other gods if they hoped for help from their God, and, perhaps surprisingly, the entire nation responded: Then all the nation turned back to the Lord, so Samuel said to all the Israelites: “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods. . . and commit yourselves to the Lord, and serve Him only. Then He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths , and served the Lord only. 1Samuel 7:3-4)

Samuel’s Ebenezer meant more to the Israelites than a simple tribute to their God. It acknowledged the abandonment of “other gods” that had been a pervasive temptation to the people since before their arrival in the Promised Land. “Ebenezer” testified to the need to consciously reject the idols of all other peoples around them. The Ebenezer was a tangible reminder of the One who had brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and had recently rescued them from what could have been a very bruising battle with the Philistines. Ebenezer was a call to humility, a sign that the nation was not self-sufficient, but dependent upon a God they could know from their own past with the help of their prophet Samuel.

I believe that the message is true today as well as then. Our God has made Himself available through His son Jesus, but many preoccupations stand between us and a close relationship with Him. God looks for us to make time to turn to Him, He is the God of all life, and the time we spend with Him is time He cherishes. He has loved us thus far, even before the time of Ebenezer.

Love in Him,

Prue

If we are not faithful, he remains faithful, because he cannot be false to himself. ( 2 Timothy 2:13) This is the only use of the word “cannot” in reference to the risen Jesus in all of the New Testament. The words are St. Paul’s to his much loved co-worker Timothy, written from Paul’s prison cell in Rome. In spite of all the adversity Paul had experienced and all that Timothy was experiencing in Ephesus, Paul expressed the faithfulness of Christ to his own people, even if they had begun to lose their faith in Him.

Jesus’ risen “self” will always be mysterious to us, but Paul makes clear a steadfastness in Jesus that is celebrated and experienced by Moses and David among others of the Old Testament, even before Christ’s resurrection: Not to us, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. (Psalm 115:1) Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 22-23)

The great faithfulness of God is what strengthened Jesus to face his adversaries all the way to the cross. It is the glue that holds together those who are pressed hard by circumstances and griefs. Paul knew that it did not originate in human beings, but in God Himself. He bestowed it as part of His character upon those capable of believing, and and even those whose belief was weak or wavering.

The airman who was rescued from a crevice in a cliff in Iran spoke his faith on seeing his American rescuers . His first words were, “God is good.” God’s goodness is conveyed in His faithfulness, a faithfulness that He looks for in His people. St. Paul recognized that it originated not in himself, but in God: He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior. (2Timothy 1:9-10)

It can be hard to believe things we cannot see and touch, but God supplies the means for us to believe in giving us His son, who was seen and touched by many. In this God kept faith so that those who believe would know that it is not in ourselves, but in Him where faith resides. It is a gift we can ask for and receive.

Love in Him,

Prue

Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud, and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel. ( Isaiah 12:5-6)

These words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled in our own generation every time we sing the hymns of praise in church and in our hearts wherever we may be. The resurrection of Jesus we celebrate today fulfills Old Testament prophesy as well as the yearning of all human hearts for loving connection that holds no fear of ending: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ comes, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John, 3:2)

Those closest to Jesus knew at the resurrection of Jesus, that the world would never be the same. A new life and a hope had been injected into the human condition, and as its origin was from our eternal God, that life and that hope in us would share eternity with our brother Jesus. No ordinary human could have accomplished this salvation of human beings, but our Father God chose to make a difference in the universe in order that we, his children, could be re-united with Him. It is love from beginning to end, and in this case, the love does not have an end.

That we will some day be like Jesus doesn’t mean that we will each lose our own identity, but that the truths that we have read coming from Jesus will be our truths, and that his Holy Spirit will be our companion as He is Jesus’ companion. It means more than we can understand today, but much that we can perceive in reading his Book: They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus… Suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen.”

There is mystery in all of life, but the joy about which Isaiah leads us to shout and sing, is ours, expressed even more fully in the empty tomb which we remember today: “Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things.” “He is not in the tomb, for He is risen!”

Happy, Happy Easter!

Love in Him,

Prue

During Holy Week, the words of Isaiah the prophet, spoken more than seven hundred years before Jesus was born, speak to us more than two thousand years after Jesus’ crucifixion: Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intersession for their transgressions. ( Isaiah 53: 2-12)

This immortal passage from Isaiah breathes the very breath of Holy Week. In it the prophet foresees the coming of the Christ, and his suffering on the cross, and even his resurrection. Isaiah also reports that they, the Holy people, will misunderstand, and kill the very one sent to them by their God. Isaiah also emphasizes that God’s “righteous servant” will perform for all human beings: After he has suffered he will see the light of life and be satisfied.” That light we will celebrate on Easter Sunday.

Love in Him,

Prue

Throughout history any triumphant kings and heroes have returned from conquests to a great celebration of cheers and waving flags and shouts of adoration. In the first century a carpenter’s son was greeted in Jerusalem with great excitement and celebration for being the son of David, and the son of God.

Today we don’t re-create triumphal entries of Caesar or Napoleon, or King David, but more than too thousand years after the event, we gather to celebrate with waving palm branches, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The church of a friend of mine celebrates by parading around their parking lot waving palm branches to the music of bagpipes and a drum.

Palm Sunday was the trigger that led the leaders of the temple in Jerusalem to plot the death of Jesus. It was also the affirmation of Jesus’ real identity to the world. Openly and loudly Jesus was affirmed as David’s son, and the son of God. The people who shouted “Hosanna” at the sight of Jesus were his own disciples and by-standers and children. The news of the raising of Lazarus had reached Jerusalem: Now the crowd that was with Jesus when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. (John 12:17-18)

“This sign” was the signal to many that Jesus was in fact the long hoped for Messiah, the one who would restore to Israel it’s unique relationship with God. The ones who longed the most perhaps, were children, a truth that Jesus acknowledged when he was rebuked by members of the Sanhedrin: “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus. Have you never heard, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.’ (Psalm 8:2)

The fact is that the “sign” was recognized by some common people, some friends of Lazarus , the disciples of Jesus, and children, but not by the Sanhedrin. The “sign” of Palm Sunday was the presence of God’s holiness in everything Jesus did and said, from the colt that had never been ridden, to the voices of children, and the cloaks on the road and the palms being waved. On this day we, too, recognize the sign.

Love in Him,

Prue

Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. . . If anyone asks you ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ (Luke 19:29)

The disciples did what Jesus instructed them, and brought the colt to him. This is the beginning of the celebration we know and celebrate more two thousand years later in Christian churches everywhere: Palm Sunday. It echoes and fulfills a prophesy from the Old Testament book of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The detail of the colt attracted my attention,especially in Luke, who wrote that the animal had never been ridden before. The thought that Jesus could ride such an animal through a noisy, celebrating crowd which was waving palm branches and dropping their robes on the ground while Jesus rode on it’s back, appeared to me to be another of Jesus’ extraordinary miracles. In the simplest way, Jesus displayed his lordship over God’s creatures, and fulfilled scripture. From the very beginning of this incident there appear signs of the breath of the Father God in its apparent spontaneity, in its humility, in its proximity to Jesus and his disciples, and its fulfillment of prophesy. For the reader in our time, there is a sense of its having been planned since before the beginning of time.

The day unfolded further, when Jesus mounted on the colt, was acclaimed by both his disciples and many children who cried out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Some of the Pharisees said to Jesus “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

The stones didn’t need to cry out, for in this short moment in Jesus’ life and ministry, his real identity is embraced and shouted and repeated to and in a believing crowd. Palm Sunday was a day of affirmation that God had planned for his son even before Jesus’ birth. It was a moment when the people of Jerusalem heard the truth of Jesus’ presence among them, and responded with all the genuine joy that such news would bring to believers: “The King who comes in the name of the Lord” is the Messiah of their longing and hoping. The children and some believers recognized him on Palm Sunday in the city of Jerusalem. Next Sunday we will wave a palm, too.

Love in Him,

Prue

He (Jesus) says that in spite of her incredible pain, a new mother is filled with joy at the sight of her child. So Jesus has the audacity to say “That’s just a dim hint of the joy I sense when I look at you. All my suffering, torment and death I have willingly borne, for the greater joy of saving and loving you.” Until you see that and believe and rest in that, you cannot be born again. ( “On Birth” page 83, by Timothy Keller.)

Dr. Keller’s reference to Jesus’ words comes from John 16:21: A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her hour has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. Dr. Keller suggests that the image of the mother giving birth was chosen by Jesus so that the disciples could contemplate their own new birth when the risen Jesus returned tothem after suffering the cross, and the disciples received the Holy Spirit. At least some of the disciples had been present when Jesus told Nicodemus That, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3)

After all these years, the words “Born Again”, or “second birth” are puzzling to many Christians and almost all non Christians; but the words echo real experiences to the many Christians who say with wonder and joy, “I have been born again! I have received second birth!”

With Holy Week approaching, it’s good for me to focus on the love that fueled Jesus’ decision to fulfill his purpose for being on earth and sharing the lives of his people. Dr. Keller’s writing of the births of babies reminded me of Jesus ‘ emphatic love for children: “Let the children come to me and don’t hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14, and two other Gospels)

Dr. Keller affirms the need to have a second birth, rooted in an experience of the deep love of God in Christ. To receive the “second birth” is not a reward or an initiation. It is God sharing His own Spirit with ordinary people. It is the gift that God intended to give when He first sent Jesus, and it is priceless.

Love in Him,

Prue

In 1858 Christina Campbell and her husband settled in the frontier town of Salina, Kansas. They opened a small store and traded with the Indians for pelts and furs. Christina was in charge of the store and befriended the Indian women who traded with her. When Christina and her husband set up the store, she insisted that it be closed on Sundays, an idea that her husband dismissed because their customers did not have calendars, and would not recognize a Sunday from any other day. Nevertheless, Christina persevered. She painstakingly explained to their customers the reason for the one day out of seven closing. The Indians began to send a rider into town to ask, “Big Father’s Day, No swap?” If it was a Sunday, there was no complaint; everyone waited until Monday. (Pioneer Woman, Pg. 116 , by Joanna Straton)

“Remember the Sabbath day , to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:8-10 ) This is the fourth of the ten commandments given to Moses too give to the ancient Hebrews. Throughout the centuries the fourth commandment has been interpreted in countless ways, but at its core is the admonition to “remember”. It continues: For in the six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:11)

The message to human beings to observe and remember the seventh day is simply the message to the Hebrews that they are to be like Him, a message sent by Jesus as well. Each of god’s “commands” are doorways to His character, and as such, God looks for those who keep His words and thereby grow closer to Him. When I read the story of Christina Campbell and her simple act coming from her faith, I was reminded of god’s call to be like Him. Both the Old and the New Testaments repeat this call: “Be holy because I am holy.” ( Leviticus 11:44) even one step toward that holiness is pleasing to God, and intended to increase our joy in Him. Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. (Mark2:27)

The Sabbath is a gift to humanity from our God who desires to share His life with us. To the Indians in Kansas it was simply Big Father’s Day. For us it is family day with God.

Love in Him,

Prue

In one of the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes, the great detective was approached by the servant of a nobleman of the Royal family to help discreetly to recover the noble man’s son. The boy was only eight years old, and had disappeared from the boarding school he attended. Holmes agreed to the assignment, and began by interviewing the father, who was haughty and dismissive of Holmes. Before long Sherlock Holmes knew that his hands would be so tied that he couldn’t rescue the boy. Holmes confronted the father, who finally “opened up” and gave Holmes the information that he needed. Together the father and Holmes and Dr. Watson discovered the boy’s location and reached him in time to save his life and return him to his family. The father learned a lesson in life, found a closer relationship to his son, and a new outlook on his own and his family’s lives.

When the episode was over the lordly father handed Sherlock a check for his services. “This is a king’s ransom!” remarked Holmes. The father replied, “You gave me more than money could buy. You gave me hope and a future, not just by rescuing my son, but in showing me what is really important. I will always be grateful.” Gratitude itself was actually new to this character, and he faced a brighter future because he had experienced it.

These are all fictional characters, but they echo the truths of the Bible: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

A King’s Ransom is the highest price paid for a captive. A King’s Ransom is what Jesus paid when he went to the cross, for he paid his very life, the life that had been given to him by God. His gift is still at work in the world, and it is the opposite of fiction. It is the reality of the unimaginable gift of eternal life to souls who have lived and experienced nothing but terminal life. By Jesus’ resurrection, souls who have been imperfect from birth are extended the very life of their creator. Such free access to a different “reality” is beyond our understanding. Only by the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself can we catch a sense and maybe a view of what it will mean in each of our lives.

To be like Jesus means to know what we don’t know now, and to love more than we love now, and to receive entirely, a love we have only tasted. All of this comes to mind in this season of Lent, and at Easter we know we have been bought with a King’s Ransom.

Love in Him,

Prue