Greetings Dear Reader,
We all have causes and ideals about which we are
passionate. Some of us even become
fanatical. We embrace our cause and
abandon all else to pursue. It may or
may not be a just cause. We may or may
not have the right perspective.
If we look back to Sunday, the Triumphal Entry into
Jerusalem, we can find another Apostle who is zealous for his cause. He, like Simon, has seen everything that Jesus
does. He understands the power residing
in the carpenter he has known for so long.
He honestly believes that this man is the promised Messiah, the God of Abraham
in human form. He knows this is the King
assured throughout the writings of the prophets.
Perhaps he is surprised at the lack of action on
Sunday. He sees a beginning to the
needed action when Jesus clears the temple on Tuesday. He forms a plan to push the man into
action. He does not see that despite his
intent his actions are amiss. Judas wants
Jesus to act like God. Judas sets him
up to be arrested by the priests. He is sure
that Jesus will act in the way he wishes and destroy the enemies of Israel.
Look through his Zealot's eyes for a moment. See his hope as he hands over Jesus. Imagine with me for a moment how he felt when
the soldier says, “We seek Jesus of Nazareth.”
Stand in the garden for that
instant where those coming to arrest Jesus get a glimpse of the Son of God in
all his power as he says, “I AM.” See
Judas believing as all of them fall to the ground.
You see, I believe like so many Christ-followers that Judas
was pushing Christ to act as Judas imagined God should act. In his mind he wanted Jesus to destroy Rome
and the corrupt priests. His desire was
that God behave in the way he imagined should behave.
This is the difficulty we all face. We expect the Father to behave in a certain
way. When things do not unfold as we
think they should, we take things into our own hands. There is always collateral damage to this
choice. The moment we force things to be
as we imagine instead of how Christ is leading us, we create trouble. God is never surprised by this, but it can be
disastrous for us.
There are two things I must learn from this, Dear
Reader. The first is that my plans must
be always subject to the Father’s designs.
Following Christ always means following and never passing and presuming. If anything I propose to do disagrees with
the commands to love the Father and every human, then it is not part of my following.
The other thing is that I must be very careful about how I think
concerning Judas. I must love him as Jesus
loves him. I must see that the Father
and Son are not surprised by his actions and understand his heart. One can be sincere in his or her love for
Christ and fail to follow when hatred for other humans is added to the
mix.
As we approach the cross and the resurrection, we must
discard all hatred and presupposition that we know better than the Father. We must see only Christ and follow his plan
no matter how uncomfortable we are with how others are acting. We must
love the Romans. We must love Judas. Again, the narrow way opens before us and
asks us to keep walking. We must keep
moving together.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment