JESUS DISCERNS THE DIRECTION OF HIS MINISTRY

 

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1-11

We know very little about Jesus’ life up to this point. Let's do a quick review. We know that an angel appeared to a young girl of Nazareth, Mary, a little over 2,000 years ago announcing that God was making a move that he had been promising for centuries – to send a Savior. He chose the young virgin, Mary of Nazareth, to be the mother of the Son of God and she was to give him the name, Jesus.

We know that when the time came for his birth, Mary and her husband Joseph, were in the town of Bethlehem to register for a Roman census. We know that at the time of his birth, there was some kind of celestial event that attracted visitors from the East who believed that it signaled the birth of a new king. It could have been a literal star or a meteor or an unusual alignment of celestial bodies. (It is worth noting that ancient Chinese astronomy records indicate there was a star-like object hovering over the Middle East for several days about the time Jesus was born.)

We know these visitors from the East triggered panic in the mind of Herod, a petty local king installed by the Roman Emperor to govern the Jews. Paranoid about losing power, Herod ordered the deaths of every infant in Bethlehem in hopes of killing the new king that the foreign visitors were looking for!

We know that that Joseph and Mary were tipped off about Herod’s monstrous plans in a dream and escaped to Egypt where they lived until news of Herod’s death. (You all remember that Jesus spent some of his early years in Egypt as a refugee, don’t you?)  After Herod was dead and the coast was clear, Mary, Joseph and Jesus moved back to Israel to spend his growing up years in Nazareth.  

We know that Mary and Joseph took the child Jesus to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Passover. On one of those trips, when Jesus was twelve years old, they got separated from one another and it was not realized until they were on their way home. Traveling in a caravan, one parent thought he was with the other. When it was obvious that he had been left behind, they went back to Jerusalem and searched frantically through the crowded city until they found him. They found him in the Temple, engaged in a discussion with the religious teachers there. After that, we know that he went home with his parents and lived there till he was about thirty years old.

We know that when he was about thirty years old, he left home having been drawn by the preaching of his cousin, John, known as the Baptizer. After hearing John preach, we know that Jesus submitted to John’s baptism. On coming up out of the water after his baptism, we know that Jesus heard a voice from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son whom I love.”

We know that this experience was life-changing for Jesus. Overwhelmed by what those words from heaven might mean, Jesus left there and went on a forty-day retreat to reflect on those words and discern what they might mean for his life. While on retreat, the devil presented several tempting options in contrast to what Jesus came to know as God’s plan for him. Having resisted the devil’s tempting options, Jesus comes out of his retreat, hears that John had been arrested and decides to launch his ministry. This is where we are on the time line in the gospel today. Sadly, the story ends with what Jesus rejected, rather than the conclusion he came to at the end of his discernment period in the desert.

Before we consider what Jesus came to understand as his mission from God, it might be a good idea to understand what he rejected – what the devil proposed to him that it might be when Jesus was discerning God’s will in the desert.  In a nutshell, the devil proposed all the solutions that he is still proposing in the world today. The devil, then and now, proposes external fixes. Jesus, then and now, proposes an internal fix. The devil says the path to happiness is through changing things, while Jesus says that the path to happiness is though people changing. Jesus was not called to change things. He was called to change people. He knew that when people change, things change!

Let me give you some examples. (1) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could get a lot of followers if he would just turn rocks into bread. Jesus said “no” because he knew that there is already enough resources to feed the poor. What is needed is not “magic bread,” but people changing their attitudes toward the poor. (2) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could get lots of followers if he would just suspend the laws of nature and jump from high buildings and land unharmed with the help of angels. Jesus said “no” because he knew if people would just open their eyes, they would see that life as it is already a miracle. We don’t need dramatic stunts and cheap miracles. All we need is for people to look at life differently. (3) The devil suggested that Jesus could get ahead if he would only worship the devil and his power, if he would just start calling evil good and good evil. Jesus said “no” because he knew that that was a trick too many people had already fallen for with disastrous results. He knew that people could see the truth if they would just open their eyes and look at reality squarely, instead of closing them in denial and telling themselves that it was the truth.

My friends, the third temptation that Jesus faced was to call evil, good. In our own day, we are severely tempted, in many clever and seductive ways, to do the same – to trick ourselves into calling obvious evil, good!  We are falling for lies in an alarming rate! We are becoming infamous around the world for falling for this third temptation, for falling for convincing lies!

Sadly, as I said before, the temptation story today ends with the direction Jesus rejected as he was discerning his ministry, not what he chose and the direction of his ministry! In short, he rejected exterior changes (changing things) and chose interior change (changing the way we think and the way we see things). In the Greek text, Jesus says, “Metanoiete!” Open your eyes and change the way you think! Open your eyes and change the way you look at things! If you do, you will see that the kingdom of God is at hand! It is not in some far- off heaven, but right here in front of us. It is indeed “at hand!”  

Change the way you think, change the way you look at things and you will see the answer! Your old way of thinking, your old way of looking at things is what is making you miserable and experience the absence of God!  I believe this with all my heart. I believe it as a teaching handed to us by Christ, certainly, but I also believe it from experience!

When I was a junior in college, I was bashful, backward and scared of life. I always thought that life was something that happened to you and all I could do was to accept whatever happened. I was miserable and I blamed everybody I could. It was only when I changed the way I was thinking and got out of the back seat of my life and got behind the wheel that my life took a dramatic turn for the better. The world did not have to change! I had to change! I had to learn, basically, that “There was no rescue party out looking for me.” Instead of looking out there for a rescue party, I had to start looking within myself for that rescue party!

Our job is not simply to change things around us - to just rearrange the furniture so to speak! Our job is much harder! Our job is to change our minds! That, my friends, is the real solution to many of our social problems – coming to a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing and acting, that results from a converted heart!  The bottom line today is this - if people would only change their thinking and their outlooks, live in truth rather than in lies, they could change our world!”  

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

    

CHURCH CHAT #16

 

MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHENOMENON OF FAITH HEALING

      

They begged Jesus that they might touch only the tassel on 

his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

Mark 6:53-56

It seems to me that I have tried to explain my belief about the faith healings of Jesus multiple times. It started with an old book from years ago. There are a few such old books still on my shelf, but I cannot get rid of this book, no matter what! It was the source of a great breakthrough in my understanding. I am talking about a book by Fr. Louis Evely that has his insight on the faith healing of Jesus.

Father Evely makes the case that the phenomenon known as a “healing miracle” is simply an abnormal acceleration of natural healing processes that are triggered by faith. A “miracle” he says, does not occur from the outside in, but from the inside out. Christ did not tell those he cured, “My power has cured you.” Instead, he said, “Your faith has cured you.”  In the previous chapter, we read about the cure of a woman with great faith, but earlier in this chapter, Mark reports that “Jesus could work no miracle there because of people’s lack of faith.”  Today, we read that people were begging to brought to the marketplaces so that they might touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak, and as many as touched it were healed. It was not, of course, a holy tassel that caused the cures in the gospel today, it was people’s faith that triggered their cures! Their faith triggered an acceleration of natural healing processes.

What about the miracles that have been recorded at places like Lourdes? Well, there have been miracles at every shrine of every religion, and most of these have been miracles of healing. Father Evely notes that the sole characteristic of a miraculous cure is the extraordinary acceleration of the natural healing process. That which cannot be healed by a natural process is not susceptible to a miraculous cure; an amputated leg or arm, he noted for example, has never been re-grown miraculously – not even a finger. So, it seems that such acceleration of the natural processes of healing can be triggered by faith. It’s not the sacred stone, the holy relic, the water from a mysterious water source or even the tassel of a Jesus’ cloak that causes the healing, but the intensity of faith of those who believe that triggers their extraordinarily rapid healing processes.

I believe in the possibility of faith healing us physically. When I was in the Home Missions, I anointed an old German man who had a deep, but simple faith. He had an ulcer on his hand that had not healed for years. He wanted it to be anointed, believing that God could heal it for him. I accommodated him without much hope on my part, but guess what? He came back a few weeks later and, sure enough, his hand ulcer was completely gone!

Even doctors will tell you that people have mysteriously gotten well when they are able to believe that getting well is possible, while they have mysteriously lost patients who gave up on their treatment.

How does healing work? How do these healers effect their cures? In a nutshell, their cures are due to the belief of the sick person that releases the healing power already resident in the subconscious mind. We know this from watching a wound heal itself without effort on our part. The belief of the sick person, encouraged by the “healer,” triggers an abnormal acceleration of a natural, God-given, healing power we all carry within us. The healer elicits belief from the sick person. That belief triggers healing power. Health is the result. This healing power was given to us when God created us. In that sense, God is certainly the source of all healing.

Faith is more powerful than we realize! It can trigger healing of the body, healing of the mind and healing of the spirit! We often say, "I will believe it when I see it!" Actually, it is the other way around. "Believe it and then you will see it! 

 

 

 

THE BEST LENTEN RESOLUTION EVER

FORGET GIVING UP CANDY AND OTHER FOOLISHNESS!

DO THIS INSTEAD! 

POPE LEO I

Served as Pope from September 29, 440 AD - November 10, 461 AD
"Pope Leo the Great"

 

The First Pope Leo Counseled This During Lent. 

“Now let godly minds boldly accustom themselves to forgive faults, to pass over insults, and to forget wrongs. Let all discords and enmities be laid aside, and let no one think to have a share in the Paschal feast (Easter) that has neglected to restore brotherly peace.”

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR!

You Have Forty Days!

Make Your List Now and Get Started Right Away!

THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND THE DUTY TO CHOOSE WISELY

 

If you choose you can keep the commandments. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.

Sirach 15:15-20

There are two great “temptation” stories in the Bible – the temptation of Adam in the garden and the temptation of Jesus in the desert. In the first temptation story, man loses and Satan wins. In the second temptation, Jesus wins and Satan loses. All other temptations in history have to do with these two stories of temptation.

What exactly is a “temptation?” It is a personal inner struggle with a choice that has at its base a desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. It is such a part of our everyday living that every time we say the Our Father, we pray that we will not be led into temptation.

I am reminded of today’s reading from the Book of Sirach in the Old Testament. “Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose shall be given you.” That is worth repeating! "Before us is life and death, good and evil, whichever we choose will be given to us!"

A lot is made these days of our "right to choose," but little is said about our responsibility to choose wisely, not to mention our responsibility to accept the consequences of our choices. Some people are like kids who go through life eating the filling out of the Oreos and then throwing the cookies away. They want freedom without the responsibility that goes with it! They want to choose, but they are not necessarily willing to accept the responsibility that goes with their choices.

 

We may have the right to eat French Fries and Chicken Nuggets three times a day, but we also have the responsibility to eat healthily.  If we only exercise our right to eat whatever we want, without accepting our responsibility to eat well, we will sooner or later have to accept the consequences of our choices. College students may have a right to skip class, but they also have a responsibility to go to class. If they only exercise their right to skip, they must be willing to accept the consequences of maybe flunking out of school.  If we only exercise our right to accept a credit card, without accepting our responsibility for paying for what we charge, we will sooner or later have to accept the painful consequences of our choices - ruining our credit for years to come!  Our culture is now filling up with people who keep trying to beat this basic truth!    

 

Young friends here today, I have something to say to you. One of the benefits of being a young adult is finally being able to enjoy the freedom to make your own choices.  One of the upsides of the freedom to choose is the ability to build your own life the way you want it through a series of personal choices. One of the downsides of the freedom to choose is the freedom to ruin your own life through a series of poorly-thought-out choices. The freedom to choose, combined with the ability to choose wisely, is the ideal. Yet there are many who cannot handle their freedom well and end up losing it. Choosing what feels good at the moment, without the personal discipline to choose what would actually be good over the long haul, is a recipe for disaster.  Hearing about people ruining their lives has actually become a favorite American entertainment. Many think it is funny to watch stupid people on trash TV tell the world how they have ruined their lives and the lives of those who have been associated with them.    

 

Every day people like Judge Judy and Maury Povich make big bucks featuring people who have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them because of the poor choices they have made. They have the "freedom to choose" but choose poorly. They have the "freedom to choose" but they don't have the ability to discern what is of value.  Illegitimate children, ruined marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, financial ruin, family disintegration, squandered opportunities for a good education and loss of reputation are only a few of the consequences of making choices without the ability to choose wisely.

 

To be able to "discern what is of value," we must develop self-mastery. By “self-mastery,” I mean we have to be able to name and then "stand up to" our addictions, our cowardice and our laziness in order to create the life we want to have! We must be able to "handle" ourselves and our cravings - for a higher purpose and for our long-term good. We must be able to continually clarify what we really want out of life, constantly focusing our energies to reach for what we want and consistently dealing in truth rather than self-deception.

 

People with self-mastery approach their lives like artists approaching the task of producing a work of art. People with self-mastery know how to discern what is of value and use what they have discerned to live on purpose!  The spiritual disciplines of both East and West speak often of the practice self-mastery.  I published a book eight years ago on this very subject. It is an autobiography mapping the choices I have made since age six and how those choices made me what I am today – for good or for bad! It is called BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to Do Hard Things for Your Own Good.

 

One of the sad things about our culture, in which freedom of choice is so highly honored, is the growing tendency to deflect responsibility for our choices after we make them.  If our culture is to survive, the freedom to choose must be combined with personal responsibility. To demand the freedom to make our own choices and then throw the blame on others when those choices backfire is the height of cowardice and irresponsibility - and yet it is so popular in our culture. Freedom without responsibility is wreaking havoc all around us.

 

When enough of us have the ability to discern what is of value and when enough of us have the self-mastery to choose what is of value, our marriages will improve, our families will improve, our neighborhoods will improve, the economy will improve, our churches will improve, nations will improve and the world will improve. These problems can only be fixed one person at a time. In reality, no one can save us from us, but us!  As I like to say, “There is no rescue party out looking for us!”          

 

Discipline is about choosing “delayed gratification” or “good things coming to those who wait” or “the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in favor of a larger prize in the future.” Numerous studies have shown that the ability to delay gratification is one of the biggest indicators of success through life – be it your ability to manage your resources, choose the right spouse, maintain your weight, becoming skilled at a sport or launching a career. Those who can resist temptation in pursuit of long-term goals are blessed with an enormous advantage over the rest of the herd. In other words, too much comfort is a bad thing – long term. Yes, lack of self-mastery has a direct impact on the quality of multiple areas of people’s lives. Those who cannot establish mastery over their appetites and impulses will no doubt see many aspects of their lives quickly unravel. The ability to subordinate a lower impulse to a higher value is the essence of a satisfying life. Leonardo da Vinci was right when he said, “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

 

The ability to discern what is of value and self-mastery in the face of severe temptation is at the heart of Jesus’ desert experience. To do his Father’s will, not his own, Jesus had to be able to see the difference between what “looked good” and what was “actually good.” Once he was able to discern what the will of his Father was, he needed to have the self-mastery to follow it, no matter how tempting it was to do otherwise!

 

CHURCH CHAT #15

...AND BY THE WAY, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!