More Than Bread

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Every Good Friday at Calvary we have an immersive experience that we call the Way of the Cross. It’s all about the the passion of Jesus. In the cross that passion is not just an overwhelming, emotional or even sexual desire. That's too often how we think about it. We think of lovers, physical attraction, desires so intense they give birth to physical manifestations. Our knees get weak, skin tingles, and our guts heave.

But the passion of Jesus was not just an overwhelming desire. It was a courageous love willing to sacrifice. It was a fire in the gut, that could not be quenched. It was a burning heart of compassion for people and to embrace a cause that matters?

So what's your passion?  

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I know Luke isn't John, but Jesus is still Jesus and Luke 15 contains one of Jesus'  most well-known stories. We're living with homesick hearts. We can't quite shake this  sense that something's missing. But when Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning, He was flinging open the door to the home we couldn't find. Easter isn't just about Jesus coming back to life it's about us coming back home.

I think that's part of the reason why this story is such a priceless treasure. It's Jesus' most well-known story. Charles Dickens called it the greatest story ever told. It captures the essence of our faith and reveals the heart of the Bible. It's a personal  invitation to be seen, known and loved in the father's home. The Jesus-Way leads home!

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I think so often, when am I wrestling with doubt, I start asking for a sign. Have you ever done that? John said that he recorded a series of signs in his gospel, so that we would believe. Seven signs were given so that we would believe. But it's important to realize that a sign, even if we're given a sign, the sign gives direction, but it's not the destination. In fact, once you reach the destination, there is no longer any need for signs. 

Sign or not, the destination is Jesus. The signs are given so that we would believe. Are you looking for a sign?

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As we are coming to the end of John's gospel, we are coming back to the beginning of the Jesus Way. What is the beginning of the Jesus Way? It all starts with faith, believing, trusting Jesus. But sometimes believing is hard. Over and over again, the writers of scripture, Jesus himself over and over again connects an uncommonly good life, a life uncommon in both it's quanity and quality; he connects that kind of life with faith, with believing.

It seems like it should be an easy thing, it's so easy even a child can do it. In fact we often hold that up as the standard, a child-like faith. But then we grow up. and
sometimes this quest for faith seems so difficult. Sometimes believing ain't easy!

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At a Leadership Summit, a few years ago, Angela Duckworth laid out her research that suggests that every successful person, every person who makes a true impact on the world, has one unique charecteristic. She called it grit. And she defined grit as the child of passion and persistance. Persistance and passion together equals grit. So let me ask you, "Are you passionately persistant in prayer?" Or am I distracted, living with the illusion that I am a great multi-tasker, while my prayer have neither passion nor persistance.

So that's the question for this episode. Are you a gritty pray-er?  

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In this episode we are going to hear the words from Jesus, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." With all my heart I believe that that message was not just made for a handful of people who saw the risen Jesus, it's for each of us. As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus is sending us. Think of all that entailed, all that was involved in Jesus' sending.

What if in the same way, for the same purpose, Jesus has sent you? Coming out of the Easter season, coming at the end of the gospel of John, there's an awful lot to that simple statement. What if He sent you?

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We think of tombs as endings, final pages of the story. But for God every tomb is a transition. Think of the amazing global transition that started in Jesus' tomb. God reset the world and life will never be the same. What if the Easter tombstone is really your stepping stone?  You know what a stepping stone is right? A stepping stone is something we need to go to a place we could never reach on our own. What if the trouble you're facing; the doubt, the darkness, the difficulty; what if the tomb is not your final resting place, it's the porch you have to walk across to go home. What if it's not a locked door, it's the key. 

What if your tombstone is actually a stepping stone to something so good, you can barely imagine it?

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I am recording this episode for Good Friday. That first Holy Week Friday, the one before the first Easter, no one would have called it Good Friday. Traumatic Friday. End-of-Hope Friday. Last Friday. Dark Difficult Deadly Friday. It’s only looking back that we call it good. I’m going to do something a little bit different in this episode. Mostly, I’m just going to read the story. The gospel of John has 21 chapters, 2 of them, about 10% of the biography of Jesus is focused on that day. Friday. So I’m mostly going to read the story. 

And spend a few moments pondering how it was such a dark, difficult and yet in the end, a very good Friday! 

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Yes it appears to be a bit of a regression from John 17 back to John 13. But think of it as a recap to our look at John 14-17. John 13 is where it all started. The Lord's supper, last supper before the cross. If you listen to these as they drop, today is Thursday of Holy Week, the day that Jesus started the tradition of what we now call communion. And as we revisit that table meal, we are reminded that we follow a King whose crown is a towel. AND serving is His Way to blessing!

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Few prayers have driven and shaped my heart and my ministry like this prayer; Jesus’ prayer.  And you know he prayed it with great fervency in the last hours of his life. It is his prayer for us, that we would be one, that we would be one, just like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. He prays that we would live in such a compelling community that everyone wants to be part of it. But it's not easy, right? None of us are perfect, all of us are flawed and we bring those flaws into our relationships. So how do we live in this kind of community?

Here's what Jesus said, "I have given them my glory, so that they can be one." So I guess we need to ask the question, "Is his glory enough?"