Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Jesus weeps over a "city" today.  It is Jerusalem and likely represents the heart of Israel and the hearts of the people in Israel.

He weeps with noise.  So sayeth the greek word.  So this is big.  He weeps over the city and over the inhabitants. 

There are a couple of sticklers in the passage.  Presumably it is a prophesy about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70ad that took place at the hands of the Romans.  Fair enough.  But then it tells us WHY:  "because you did not know the time of your visitation."   So they missed Jesus, or rejected Jesus when He was right there.  We see here the accountability, the choice and responsibility of Jerusalem's citizens. 

But there is more.  It says that at least something was HIDDEN FROM their eyes.  And we know that the judgments of God are true and He meets out just rewards. 

So feel the tension with me.
 On one hand: Man's sin, accountability, choice, deciding, responsibility, revelation, belief and faith.
On the other hand: God's sovereignty, Choice, Election, Hiddenness by God, The Spirit blowing where it will, and His revealing.

We will not get our heads all the way around this.  We will not get our HEARTS all the way around this.  But here is the clincher:  Take Heart!  Jesus has got his heart all the way around this and we are seeing it with His weeping.

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Thank you for joining me on the hit parade today.

All four gospels carry the start of the Great Week.  It is the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
There is much to appreciate.  A few things particularly charmed me.

From Matthew: One of the best questions of scripture.  What this whole podcast is about, "Who is this."  I bless you as you wrestle with this question.

From John: that they were PALM leaves.  Nationalistic.  Temple-ic.  Made that word up.

From all of them:  Cloaks on the ground.  This was a big deal.  Cloaks are really valuable.

From Mark:  the when's and where's.  He enters Jerusalem.  LOOKS around in the temple and then retires to Bethany 2 miles away because it is late.  

From Luke:  "The Lord has need of it."  The question follows, "for me today, what might the Lord have need of?"

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Join me today on the official start of THE GREAT WEEK of Jesus' life.  The final week that contains great teaching, the suffering, death and resurrection.  It has it all and it starts here on the Triumphal ENTRY into Jerusalem.  It is a trip that He never exits in a "conventional" way.  The disciples eventually walk back to Galilee and then on to their life-long ministries of telling what they saw.  Jesus leaves Jerusalem by way of a crucifixion and the resurrection.

It is marked by such great fanfare, that if the people didn't verbalize His praises, that the ROCKS would have done so.  Creation too was waiting for a long time to see this moment of earthly history.  Let's say the rocks DID cry out.  I wonder what that would have looked like!

Then these guys just go and untie a donkey.  Untie first.  Answer questions later.  And there were questions.  The answer was, "The Lord has need of it".  As if that answered everything.  Apparently it was sufficient, for they let the donkey and the foal be taken for this task.

There are some evidences that there was an understanding of Jesus as prophet; of Jesus as occupier of the throne and office of David.  The understanding must have been only an inch deep, for these same people turn on Jesus within just a few days.  A mile wide of enthusiasm, an inch deep of knowledge.  Listen please to the 7 minutes.

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the Bible says that what happens in this account is A BEAUTIFUL THING.  Perhaps the most beautiful thing?  It also predicts that what happens in this story will be proclaimed wherever the gospel is going to go...which is everywhere and for all time.  So...it is a REALLY beautiful thing.

Jesus is six long long long days from the Cross.  He's reached His final destination which is Jerusalem and nearby Bethany.  He is of course reaching out to the untouchables by dining at Simon the LEPER's house in Bethany.  As He is dining, He is interrupted by the beautiful thing. It is Mary, of Lazarus and Martha kin, breaking an alabaster jar of nard, worth a whole YEAR's wages, poured over His head and feet.  Then, Mary wipes Jesus' feet WITH HER HAIR.  

So intimate.  So prophetic as to His soon burial.  So extravagant.  So humble.  So shocking. 

"She has done what she could"
"What she has done will be told in memory of her"
"Leave her alone that she may keep it (as a precious memory?) for the day of my burial"
and then the clincher:
"She has done a BEAUTIFUL THING."

Yea Mary.  Well done.  May we look for the beautiful thing to do today.  Thank you.

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One of the best things about not cherry-picking passages of the Bible is that you eventually come across stuff you don't understand or worse: you DO understand it, but you just don't like it.  Today is one of those such days.  In the millions of Podcasts out there, I guarantee that this is the only one on SLAUGHTER.

So this is a parable in Luke 19.  Good Bible scholarship means to read it like a parable.  The problem with that is that the rest of the Bible pretty much is clear as to its meaning.  There really is a King.  He's coming back.  He'll treat rebels and traitors in a just way.  That is, He will justly, perfectly, SLAUGHTER them.  Eternally too, I forgot about that.

But don't I WANT a God who is just? Don't I want a God who punishes perfectly?  (for others maybe, for me, definitely NOT!) Nobody gets a punishment in heaven or hell that they did not deserve.  So, they get slaughtered for rejecting the ruler and reign of the coming King.  The problem is, we have all fallen short.

How then does God fix this slaughter?  You won't believe the answer: with another SLAUGHTER.  That is, the slaughter of His Son Jesus.  Who'd have thought up this part?  Only God.  We would all have stopped at retributive justice.  We'd have all forgotten substitutionary justice.  By loving this King, and by embracing His kingdom we are rescued from slaughter by HIS SLAUGHTER.  Start with slaughter.  End with Awe.  

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There is SLAUGHTER at the end of our parable today.  That isn't very nice.  Right?
There is the financial stripping of a bad servant and a further rewarding of a good servant.  That isn't very nice.  Right? In fact the bystanders even say so. Basically they complain it is not just.

So I was thinking about heaven and the final judgments.  My question is, "Is anybody going to get what they DON'T deserve in the end?"  and "Is everybody going to get what they do deserve?"  Revelation 16:7 confirms that "JUST and TRUE are Your judgments"

Here's what blew my mind.  The amazing thing about revelation times, is that NO ONE will be complaining that God isn't just.  Some will be SLAUGHTERED and punished.  Everyone around will see and say, "Yup, she got exactly what she deserved.  Your judgment is true". 

Here's the second even MORE amazing thing.  There are some in revelation who are going to receive LESS than they deserve.  It is called MERCY.  But don't get me wrong.  There WILL BE SLAUGHTER.  But it will be a SUBSTITUTIONARY slaughter.  The just punishment is/was transferred to JESUS.  Justice is perfectly done.  Judgment is perfectly true.  It is just that HE got the slaughter, not all of us who deserve it.

If I were you, I'd be very very very interested in this process.  Slaughter is ahead.  It is just a matter of who the slaughter is upon. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts. bewithme.us.

Ten servants get $15,000 and the charge to "engage in business" while their boss is away.  Two do a pretty good job and are then given greater responsibilities upon his return.  Now they are in charge of CITIES.  I suppose that means transportation, taxes, budgets, policing, festivals and commerce.  Quite a promotion.  

Similarly, we are charged while our Master is away.  We are supposed to be faithful in "very little", because our Master has a lot more in the way of resources to entrust.  We are to have an EXPECTANT EYE of getting RETURN for what He has given us.  We should be faithful where we are planted and with what we have been entrusted.

Most importantly, we had better understand the Master.  He's the owner.  He's the grow-giver.  He's the Kingdom getter.  He's the judge.  He's the entruster.  Hurry!  We've got a lot to do.  Start by listening and perhaps subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

There are worse things than being lost.  If you are lost you are the star of the show today.  You are exactly what Jesus came to SEEK and SAVE.

Imagine being valued enough by Jesus Himself to be called.  And probably, in your failure to answer Him (because you are lost), He then PURSUES you.  He specifically, diligently, PURSUES you.  He seeks you, in the language of the this verse.  No surprise here.  He prophesied about this seeking process way back in Ezekiel.  This is exactly the business that He said He would be in.  He gave us His mission statement.  It was and is a rescue-mission statement.

So what if He finds you?  Then what?  Does He then have the ability to actually SAVE?  It is certainly something to wonder about.  Without this criteria being met, WE ALL ARE LOST.  What if our Savior couldn't save; didn't have the ability?  Fortunately, that is not the case.  He saves by giving, by mercy, by sacrifice, by substitution, and by humiliation.  The verse today even hints at His coming to rescue us by being one of us: "Son of man."

May we not be "that gal" who actually is lost, but thinks she is NOT lost.  That is the worst scenario.  I HOPE you are lost (and you know it). Listen.  Assess.  

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99% of the time, Scripture does not mention the HEIGHT that a person stands off of the earth.  Today, it does.  Weird.  Must be foundationally important to this character of Zacchaeus, or at least important to the story.  That's where the tree climbing comes in.  Our little hero not only runs, but he wants to "see who Jesus was" and so climbs a tree; a sycamore tree.  Gotta love the details of this account.  

Zacchaeus is all in for this day.  His feet run.  His will obeys.  His heart receives joyfully.  His pocketbook is opened.  His evil ways of defrauding are repented of.  His posture is to stand and make a resolution.  In the end, the IMPOSSIBLE happens, a rich man is saved

Would you run to see who Jesus is?  Would you climb a tree?  Listen and let's consider this together.

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There is God's mercy.
Then there is OUR VIEW of God's mercy.

Though it sounds crazy, a story is told today of a group of people who look at God's mercy with a STINK-EYE.  That is they look at God's GOODNESS with an EVIL EYE.  Basically, they say, "I don't like it", or at least, "I think I could do better," "I know best."

Jonah had the same problem.  When the Lord relented His judgment over the very very very evil Ninevites, it DISPLEASED JONAH EXCEEDINGLY.  Lord, you are not merciful like I would be merciful.  I know better than You.  Why can't You be like me?

The problem in today's passage is NOT God's mercy.  That is wonderful.  That is generous.  It is above our pay grade and beyond our earning.  The problem is my stinking, wrong, worried, narcissistic view of it.  I look at Your amazing work with my begrudging eye.  As the scripture asks, "Do you begrudge my generosity?"  Well, yes.  Yes I do.

Let's look at our eyes today.  Listen and see if yours stink as much as in the Bible. 

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