David Bahn - Reflections

Sometimes people make much of dramatic conversions and lives of profligate immorality and ungodliness. It's almost as though a person has to have lived an extremely sinful life in order to have a testimony. 

Few of us have such a lifestyle to brag about - even if it is to brag about how Jesus changed our lives. All of us, however, have something to say about Jesus. It might be a Bible passage that is particularly meaningful. There are special accounts of Jesus' miracles that we can point to. A prayer answered. A touch of God's grace and peace. It's not up to us to fabricate amazing stories or dramatic transformations. It can be as simple as, "I used to believe...but now I realize Jesus..." That is a true living testimony worth sharing. 

If one is not robbed of his retirement savings, yet doesn't hear the Gospel, is not called to faith in Jesus, and brought into the fellowship of the redeemed, the gain is for nothing. And what if a person sells drugs and is caught, but learns about Jesus in prison? No matter what may happen to him from there, the blessings of the Gospel echoes through eternity.

Evil will always collapse under its own weight. And when evil is thwarted we can rejoice that God has good things in store for us through his Son. Jesus and his eternally-good plans will not be thwarted.

Paul will make more than a cameo appearance as this episode unfolds. But his appearance - even as it continues through his long and eventful travel to Rome - is not eternal. Jesus' ultimate appearance will be forever, and every tongue will confess his lordship and reign for all eternity. His final appearance will be The Starring Role, no mere cameo.

I imagine the day of Christ's return when every knee will bow to him. I imagine how the kings of the earth casting down their golden crowns before him. I imagine the glorious scene witnessed by John in Revelation 7:10, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” That's no game of thrones. That's true glory. It belongs to God alone. We all do well to remember that.

This comment of Festus, about the "dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive" caught my eye. And I thought about the waiting of the disciples on that first Saturday and Sunday after Jesus had been crucified. Was he or wasn't he alive? The women told them he was alive. Jesus, himself, had told them he would be killed and be raised from the dead on the third day. But they had not seen him for themselves. Was he or wasn't he alive?

God works through means. Sometimes those means are obvious: Word and Sacrament. Other times it is more subtle: government, regulations, laws, and policies. Just because we can’t see what God is doing doesn’t mean he’s not doing anything. God is at work. Whether it’s Festus, Felix, or King Agrippa, God is at work. That applies even to the tree lady in Arlington. She played a role in God’s work which we may never fully understand.

I am reminded of the need for patience. And key to that is realizing that God is in control of all things, and at work in and through me at all times. Who knows how my kind and patient demeanor might actually bless a fellow commuter who is in a hurry, late for work, or anxious about a loved-one and on the way to the hospital. 

Patience is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Fill my heart with patience!

Paul's martyrdom was a reflection of another. Jesus did not defend himself when he was accused before Pilate. Paul's death was testimony to the power of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus knew he would lay down his life as the once and for all sacrifice for the sins of the world. He also knew he would take his life up again. And so he did. When Paul encountered the resurrected Jesus it changed his life. 

The thin blue line - the concept that the police are the line between law-and-order and chaos in society - is important to the safety of law-abiding citizens. 

I want to suggest that there is also a thin purple line. Purple is the color of royalty. I don't want to equate government with royalty, but I believe that a thin purple line is also vital for the  peaceful and orderly functioning of society. The line of proper governmental laws and courts keep the thin blue line from becoming a thick red line of the police state.

We need never speculate as to God's good will toward us. It is all good. Anchored in Jesus' death and resurrection. To be fully realized in the life of the world to come. We might try to imagine what that will look like, how it will be. But we need never speculate as to whether God wants us to experience the fullness of his goodness, grace, and love.