Threats cannot be entertained.
Threats cannot be listened to
Threats must be removed
By fear
By intimidation
By death

Jesus was a threat but never threatened
He didn’t become defensive
He listened
and corrected
and spoke with truth and compassion
He didn’t retaliate
He forgave
and served
and saved
He didn’t threaten
He opened his arms wide on the cross
demonstrating his love
modeling a life of service
saying I forgive you
come unto me

Jesus is a threat
to our pride
to our desires for power and control
to our self-centered way of life
Jesus is a threat
but our blindness
deafness
stubbornness
is the greater threat
to knowing the way
to peace
to hope
to love
to life

(A reflection after reading Acts 7)

“Ewww. This is so gross! Here, try it!” Have you ever been in this situation? With a friend? A spouse? My immediate response is, “Absolutely not!” (Hopefully, you’ve never been the one to do this to someone!)

Jesus uses a repulsive metaphor to describe life in him. Why would he do this? This certainly isn’t the way to gain more followers or increase his influence. Why describe following him in such an offensive way?

Thinking through this, is it any less repulsive to be asked to limit ourselves for our faith, for the weaker brother or sister, for life in Christ than it is to be asked to eat flesh and drink blood? Not to our American sensibilities. In fact, we would probably come nearer to cannibalism than to the possibility of diminishing ourselves for someone else.

The way of Jesus can be repulsive to us because of what it asks of us. This isn’t a call to a picnic at the beach or tiptoeing through the tulips. It’s a complete surrender to King Jesus, a picking up of our cross daily, laying down of my rights, my way, my life, my everything.

I recoil at the thought of eating Jesus’s flesh and drinking his blood. I recoil no less at the thought of giving up my life in total surrender to him.

Why?

Because counterfeit Jesus isn’t willing
to give up anything for me.
My counterfeit Jesus never went to the cross
He would never ask me to come and die
because he’s unwilling to die for me

I want the real Jesus
The one who can ask for all
and make claims on my life
because he lived and died (and rose) for me

To hear the stories
how all the Scriptures point to you
and still not be able to see you
I hear the words
and somehow still miss the Truth

Break the bread
Open my eyes
Let me see you as you really are

What keeps me from seeing
the Jesus right in front of me
the Jesus who comes to heal and restore

The counterfeit Jesus I’ve created
the counterfeit Jesus I prefer
He makes fewer demands
and blesses all I am and believe
and never asks me to take up my cross

Who is this Jesus before me?
Not the one nailed to the cross
But a poor imitation of the authentic One

But the real Jesus is still here
still walking with me
reminding me of who he is
and what he’s done
and what he’s inviting me to

An invitation to lay down my life
so I can truly live

Disbelief gives way to cautious optimism
gives way to hopeful questioning
gives way to reality and adulation

He is ALIVE
And all he said
And all he’d done
Now resonates
with resurrection power

(I took the photo above in November 2022 at The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, Israel.)

Confusion
Misunderstanding
Unable to see what’s right in front of your face

Jesus, did you feel any of this?
An empty tomb
Foretold many times
yet never comprehended

Are you the gardener?
A mysterious guest on the road?
A ghost?

On that first Easter morning
No confetti
No noisemakers
Just a stone moved
Linen clothes on a slab
An empty tomb
and bewilderment

Were you disappointed, Jesus?
That it took a bit for reality to set in?
That they needed a sign to know it was really you?

No.
There was no disappointment
Just faithfulness
to love
to show the scars
to call their names
to bring along
to encourage
to restore.