Cross

Really Free

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In my capacity as a pastor I have had the opportunity to visit a few people who have served time in prison. Two of those men needed a ride home on the day of their release.

As we rode in the car neither of those guys called, “Wait! Stop the car! I want to go back to jail!”. In fact their conversation was filled with stories about the bad food, the cold nights and the difficulties and dangers they had faced.

In today’s verse Jesus is talking about getting us out of jail. He put up bail money and secured our release date. Then as the prison gates opened He personally met us at the curb. Jesus brought us to live with Him in His own home. He gave us a way to be washed clean then opened up His closet and gave us clean new clothes. A delicious meal was waiting for us at His table and a job opening was found for us in His kingdom. What in the world ever possesses us to wish for prison meals or our lives as inmates in the penitentiary of sin? Jesus is no slave master. He is the one who wrote the first emancipation proclamation and then signed it with His blood!

After That

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After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
John 13:5 NKJV

After He knew that the cross was directly ahead.

After He took off His outer robe, knowing the soldiers would be gambling for it the next day.

After He poured water in a basin while looking toward a sponge of only vinegar for His final drink.

After all and before all He remembers each of us in our confusion and sin. While we sit wondering what next to do He slips off our sandals and ever so gently begins to wash our feet and to dry them with a towel.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
I John 4:11 NKJV

Weakness of God

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“the cross cannot be merely taught or reasoned. It must be experienced” Joni Eareckson Tada

There is nothing desirable about weakness especially mental weakness. There are no prizes for not knowing the answers or being lost. I still remember my stepfather’s reasoning about asking directions. “It is pointless because they are only going to tell you to turn around and go the other way!”

But God not only loves times when in our frustration fear and weakness we humbly come home to Him. He isn’t waiting to say , “Aha! I told you so!” God instead comes quietly alongside and shows us His hands and feet as a loving reminder that He too was weak … And through weakness He became strong!