Holy Monday
The Cleansing of the Temple: Matt 21:12-13
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Isaiah 42:1-4 (CEV)
Here is my servant! I have made him strong. He is my chosen one; I am pleased with him. I have given him my Spirit, and he will bring justice to the nations. He won’t shout or yell or call out in the streets. He won’t break off a bent reed or put out a dying flame, but he will make sure that justice is done. He won’t quit or give up until he brings justice everywhere on earth, and people in foreign nations long for his teaching.
Holy Tuesday
The Fig Tree: Matt 21:19-22
Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
NOTE: The cursing of the fig tree happened on the road between Bethany and Jerusalem, with Bethany at a significantly lower elevation than Jerusalem. The only mountain visible from this road is the temple mount. When Jesus said, “this mountain” he likely meant the temple. The implication is, faith in Jesus will supplant the religion of works practiced at the temple. The gospel writer is making it clear that the cursing of the tree was symbolic of what God was about to do to the corrupt religious institution that the Temple had become. Furthermore, the temple had become a symbol of the works-based religion of the leaders that walked within its courts.
The Temple Debates: Matthew 21:23-23:39, (excerpt from 21:23-27):
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
The Olivet Discourse: Matthew 24-25, (excerpt from 25:1-13):
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Reflection
Consider Isaiah's picture of Jesus' relationship to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's empowerment resting on the Messiah. Let the description of Isaiah color the story, to see beyond the material and recognize Christ was given all he needed to accomplish his task. Behind all the activity of Holy Week, Christ spoke by the Spirit, prayed by the Spirit and confronted injustice by the power of the Spirit.
Isaiah 11:1-5 (NIV)
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him
The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and of might,
The Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD
— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Spy Wednesday
NOTE: The major event of Holy Wednesday is Judas’ decision to betray Jesus. Although the betrayal doesn’t take place for another day, our knowledge of the impending act colors our reading of the Last Supper story, which we’ll encounter tomorrow. On this day, the die was cast and the pieces set in motion to bring about the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. We all know the hurt of betrayal, so does our Savior. Here is a short but critical moment from Wednesday of Holy Week:
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus: Matthew 26:14-16 (GNT)
Then one of the twelve disciples—the one named Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?” They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him. From then on Judas was looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.
Maundy Thursday
John 13:12-16 (ESV)
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
NOTE: Thursday of Holy Week is also known as Maundy Thursday. This day witnessed several key events in the Easter story. The events of this day, particularly the Last Supper, continue to be remembered. Let’s take a look at these events as the Bible describes.
Preparing the Upper Room: Matthew 26:17-19 (NIV)
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
The Last Supper: Matthew 26:20-35. (excerpt from Matthew 26:26-29 (NRSV):
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Jesus Prays: Matthew 26:36-46 (ESV)
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples,
“Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them,
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
Holy Week among most modern evangelicals is little more than just another work week. Things don't get “alive and hopping” until Sunday or sometimes Friday night. Historically, the church has celebrated the whole week as set apart, ”Holy”, with practices and vespers organized by the church. In the next few blogs, we will look at Holy Week as outlined by the gospels; all to help prepare our hearts as we enter into one of the most sacred celebrations of the Christian faith. Below will be Scripture from the gospels arranged in chronological order with context notes to aid in understanding and devotional reflections to encourage application.
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Sunday: Triumphal entry
A Dramatic Reading of Mk 11:1-11
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples,
Jesus: “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it,
Bystanders: “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.
When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
People (shouting): “Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
NOTE: What happened and what Jesus taught during the time he was in the temple courts in Mark 11:11, before going back to Bethany, is recorded for us in John 12.
A Dramatic Reading of Jn 12:20-33
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip,
Greek Pilgrims (to Philip): “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus (to Philip and Andrew): “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
[Suddenly] a voice came from heaven
The Father: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
The crowd of people surrounding Jesus were confused.
Some in the Crowd: “It sounded like thunder.”
Others: “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus: “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Now is the judgment of this world;
Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.…
[End of Reading]
Reflection
In His triumphal entry, Jesus enters Jerusalem as Israel’s prophet, priest, and king. Mark makes clear, all three aspects of the messianic office are alluded to in the passage.
Jesus’ descriptions of where they will find the colt He is to ride and how they shall get it has the feel of knowledge. Some kind of spiritual knowledge he ought not have known. The peculiar accuracy seems like something lifted right from a story of the Old Testament prophets. Mark is making sure we see Jesus in his prophetic office. Mark notes the donkey had never been ridden. This obscure fact is not without significance since in Numbers 28-29, Deuteronomy 15, and Deuteronomy 26, any animal used in the offering of sacrifice should be "unblemished" and thus set apart for ceremonial (non-ordinary) usage. The donkey had never been used, and so it could be used for a priestly service. Mark is making sure we see Jesus in his priestly office.
Mark also notes the crowd’s response. Jesus rides into Jerusalem to the sound of praise as if He were a conquering king. Cloaks and palm branches are spread out before Him as one would for a king. A prophecy from Zech 9:9 ties Him riding a donkey to the kingly office. Mark is making sure we see Jesus as king.
Jesus enters Jerusalem in a way that radically redefines the people’s expectation. After all, donkeys are not warhorses; you don’t seek a cavalry galloping into battle on donkeys. In this triumphal entry, Jesus makes it clear He does not intend to conquer and rule in a worldly way. On His cross, the very means and meaning of power, glory, and even victory, will be subverted and supplanted. He will accomplish the mission given Him by the Father, but it will come in a vastly different way than anyone expected.
Reflect on Philippians 2:5-8 (CSB) in Light of the Triumphal Entry
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied Himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when He had come as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
NOTE: Consider the triumphal entry as a journey down into humility and service. For Jesus’ victory is upside down to the ways of the world. His triumph comes through suffering, His power though obedience, His victory through love.
Did you know the Eastern Orthodox Church has its own list of saints? Until recently, I did not. For me and maybe you, these men and women of faith are new. People who are mostly unknown in our little corner of Christianity. I would hate for their stories to pass by us unknown and never celebrated.
One such person is Elizaveta Pilenko also known as Mother Maria. A Russian noblewoman, poet, nun, and member of the French Resistance during World War II. She has been canonized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Born to a wealthy, upper-class family in 1891 in Latvia, she was given the name Elizaveta Pilenko. Her father died when she was a teenager, and she embraced atheism. In 1906 her mother took the family to St. Petersburg, where she became involved in radical intellectual circles. Yet the communism and activism of her youth did not satisfy the deep longing of her soul. She longed for transcendence and eventually tried to find it in romance.
Elizaveta married and her family found themselves falling out of favor with the communist party. The political tide was turning and in order to avoid danger, they fled Russia. They made their way to Eastern Europe and finally end up in Paris in 1923. In 1926, her daughter died of influenza—a heartbreaking event for the family. Soon after, her marriage fell apart.
In the middle of her personal pain the Lord became real to her. Elizaveta found God through the orthodox faith and gave herself wholehearted to Jesus. Soon Elizaveta was dedicating herself to theological studies and social work. She became widely known for her poetry and theological essays.
Her bishop encouraged her to take religious vows and become a nun, something she did only with the assurance that she would not have to live in a monastery. She never wanted to live a life secluded from the world. This disposition soon became a deep conviction that Jesus would never hide way from the people who needed him most.
In 1932, she took the monastic vows of the orthodox faith and chose the name Maria making a rented house in the middle of Paris her own personal convent. To be a proper monastic convent they needed a priest to be a confessor and oversee the rites of the order. The bishop found a willing priest in Father Dmitri Klepinin. Father Dmitri became the chaplain of the house.
The little "convent” was Maria, Father Dimitri, Yuri Maria’s son and Sophia Maria’s mother. The rented “convent” in the middle of Paris became a sanctuary for the weary and oppressed. It was an open door for refugees, the needy and the lonely. It was also well known as place for rousing and spirited intellectual and theological discussion. In Mother Maria these two elements—service to the poor and theology—went hand-in-hand.
When the Nazis took Paris in World War II, the little “convent” was not left unaffected.
As the injustice mounted against the Jewish people, Maria could not remain on the sidelines just out of view. The little “convent” and the nun soon became a part of the French underground. A resistance movement in occupied France made of French nationals and other noble rebels.
In July, 1942, when the Nazis’ requiring Jews to wear the yellow star, she wrote a poem entitled "Israel". In it a deep respect for a noble people can be seen. With wisdom and insight, she rightly reclaims the meaning of the Star of David from the attempt to make it into a mark of shame. Lifting it up as a sign of their sacred history and calling them to not fear the laws of men but fear God, the just lawgiver.
Two triangles, a star,
The shield of King David, our forefather.
This is election, not offense.
The great path and not an evil.
Once more in a term fulfilled,
Once more roars the trumpet of the end;
And the fate of a great people
Once more is by the prophet proclaimed.
Thou art persecuted again, O Israel,
But what can human malice mean to thee,
who have heard the thunder from Sinai?
In the same way her writing was an extension of her mind, her compassion was an extension of her faith. Soon Jews seeking help approached the house asking for certificates of baptism, which Father Dimitri would provide them. Many Jews came to stay with them. They often provided shelter and helped many escape.
She was know for being fearless in the face of injustice. For example, when the secret police would come around the “convent” looking for Jews Maria would show them the icon of the Mother of God.
When the Nazis began the mass arrests of Jews, they were all interred in a sports stadium. For three days Mother Maria used her monastic robe and social work contacts to gain access to the stadium. She provided food and comfort for many. She even smuggled out some children with the aid of garbage collectors who hid them in trash bins.
Eventually the the Gestapo closed down the house. Mother Maria, Fr. Dimitri, Yuri, and Sophia were all taken by the Gestapo. Father Dimitri and Yuri both died in the the concentration camp. Mother Maria was sent to the Nazi concentration camp called Ravensbrück in Germany.
In the midst of this unimaginable horror, it would have been easy for her to despair. Yet in that dark place, the light of wisdom was granted her. The wisdom conferred to her gave her new eyes. She gained the ability to see her situation not as misfortune, but as opportunity. She wrote a little prayer during that time:
“I am Thy message, Lord. Throw me, like a blazing torch into the night, so that all may see and understand what it means to be Thy disciple.”
Her prayer would be answered in the most dramatic of ways. Even as the sound of allied artillery informed the camp that the end was near. Mere days before Ravensbrück was liberated, Mother Maria would enter that great cloud of witnesses.
On Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, 1945, Mother Maria was taken to the gas chamber. Her fellow prisoners testified to her final moments. Even as the sound of freedom could be heard in the distance, she took the place of another who had been selected for death. She died like she lived.
“No amount of thought will ever result in any greater formulation that the three words: ‘Love one another,’ so long as it is love to the end and without exceptions.”
- Mother Maria
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Authors Note: this blog is not an endorsement of all of Mother Maria’s theology but it is a celebration of her life. She is an example of what Christ can do with one person who says “Yes” no matter the cost. Mother Maria’s love grew feet and moved her to help the hurting. May we all have courage and compassion like Mother Maria.
,Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalms 40:10
When I was a around 7 years old, I would help my dad fix things around the house. I wanted to build a porch or pant a room. Instead my dad would have me sit and hold a hammer, while occasionally handing him the water jug. As a child with A.D.D and an over active imagination it was boring. No, it was torture. I felt like a slave chained to the floor. I did not have much to do and I wanted to do so much more. I enjoyed my time with dad yet I felt underwhelmed and disconnected. I would think, “If only He would let me swing a hammer. He would be so proud of me.” Many times I would become frustrated. Out of frustration I would try something rash and mess up a day’s work. I was striving to do more than he wanted of me. He would remind me I was there for him and ask if I would get him some water. For me, it was “weighted” time. Time that dragged on like a car in neutral. My Dad saw it as time well spent. He loved hanging out with his son. I felt chained down. My desire to do something clanked like clamoring chains. All I could hear was the sound of me doing nothing. My distracted frustration would often drowned out the stories dad told me about when he was a boy. Occasionally I would eagerly listen and he told them with a big smile on his face. He would say when you listen like this, it makes me happy. My simple undivided attention would bring a giggle to his heart. Looking back I long for those days of holding his hammer and fetching some water but most of all I miss the stories.
Being and Doing
In our spiritual life, we can get ahead of God’s work in our lives and begin to do for him and forget to be with him. Our first calling as Christians is to love the Lord your God. We are to lovingly wait on him until he says, “fetch me the hammer”. It is in simple obedience that we enter into co-operation with our heavenly Father. If we focus on the doing we miss what makes such times special, the relationship we have with him. The irony is without His presence, our work is a fruitless mess, without his being, his abiding, our work is like digging a hole in a lake.
It took 15 years of following Christ to learn this truth. I know now I am not God’s publicist. He does not need me to make him look good. I am not Middle Management is God's company. He does not need me to get others to work for him. I am not in God's labor force. He does not need my work to accomplish his task. Yet as a child, abiding, being, living in Him, I will spread his fame, inspire others, and build his kingdom as a produce of faithful abiding and heartfelt adoring. In short, When you in the family being alway comes before doing.
We should remember, when God is working it is best to let him do the work. He can do the best job. Yes, it is boring. Yet waiting on God is about full engagement not doing for him. We may hear the ring of boredom but he sees it as time with his child. We are getting time to get to know him. I did not see that while I was dad’s little helper. He just wanted to be near me. My father wanted me to sit and wait on him because he loves me and enjoyed our time together. In the same way God enjoys us. When we fully engage in relationship with him, place our expectations aside, enjoying the reality of communion. In this we enter life with him, the abiding life.
Doing everything but life together
Many Christians have a doing addiction. All they know is how to do for God. They can’t just be with God. It is unsettling; something eats at them demanding they do something for their relationship is unstable without it. The deep demand of duty reveals a deeper need for the gospel. It is in believing Christ’s finish work on our behalf that we rest in Christ and enjoy the relationship He won for us. When we stop our doing and reverse the order, I believe that bringing a giggle to the heart of God. Being always comes before doing. For doing everything but life together is no life at all. The eternal kind of life we are called to his a with God life, where we are known fully and still loved. A life of knowing God, where we know as truly as we are loved (John17:3).
When we let go of our desire to do and open our hearts to just be, life takes on a new dimension. Our vision shifts from our work to His greatness. Our Father is bigger than our doing. He is greater than one hundred generations. He holds history as a fine worked sculpture, the cosmos as pebble in his palm.
God wants us to fellowship with him; depend on him, like a child would its father. He wants children more than workers; children who occasionally act as his instruments but always cry “abba” like his child. As we rest in him – ministry is just obedience, and life just fellowship. It is through such simple obedience and unending fellowship that history has been shaped. Those who first learn to be with God and not just do for him become history makers.
He is the artist, we are the brushes. He makes history we just get to help. We get to finger paint our part in the epic grand narrative. One fine day, we will look back from the eternal shore and see it all so clearly. We will see that in being with God we were molded by him, and through the journey we were both the produce and the instrument in the hands of the redeemer. Yet, in this moment, under the strapping of time and breath, we enjoy life together with God and it is together we mold life into history as we move through it.
You can fake it but you can’t make it. I need not do for him if I am not abiding with him by faith. I am only asked to enjoy the fruit of faith in the gospel; life with my heavenly Father. If I am his desired instrument for his desired season it is only for a season. Yet for eternity, I will always be his child.
When we rest in the finished work of Christ and cease striving. God smiles. When we sit before God’s word, hearing with undivided attention the tales of redemption history. God is happy. When we hear God’s story and by faith enter into that story, seeing self, others and all creation through Christ’s ‘scarlet’ narrative. God is pleased.
For God’s children, being with God, for the sake of God, by the work of God, brings a giggle to the heart of God.
In the middle of the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul dominates the pages of the New Testament. We focus on his teachings, but sometimes we fail to see the spiritual insight woven into the tapestry of his Christian experience. On the one hand, he was a trophy of God's grace, a terrorist turned preacher, one who would pen, “I am what I am by the grace of God”. While at the same time he was a poster child for grit and determination, a man as persistent as he was a peace seeker, a man familiar with weakness and the power of God. He knew he was bad preacher (by oratory standers of his day) but he knew a great God and That God know him. The accounts of his exploits are only surpassed by the Christian character that under girded them. By applying the lessons of Paul's life to our own, we too can learn to draw upon God's strength to become people on mission in our times. His life includes an extended period of preparation which I want to focus on in this post. (1)
Lessons from Paul's Early Christian Life
The Damascus road experience was only the beginning of a long process of preparation in the life of the future apostle. God doesn't need talented people; He's looking for people with insight, deep" people. But how many of us proactively set aside the time necessary to deepen our spiritual walk?
A life marked by real root growth can only be cultivated in long periods of time spent in solitude, quietness, and obscurity. Times of preparation and obscurity are concepts foreign to those who live their lives in the hustle of today.
The biblical examples of God’s preparation is quite impressive. Moses spent 40 years tending his father's sheep. David waited more than a decade to assume the throne. Joseph must have felt abandoned when he was locked up in an Egyptian jail. Elijah hid by a brook, where he was fed by ravens.
During these periods of retreating, these men developed spiritual root systems. They became aquatinted with their weakness. They did not fall prey to the temptation to rely on their talents and ignore the need to rely on God. The cultivated their spiritual roots so they could drink living water in even a dry season.
Paul right after his conversion became an important spokesman for God less than a week after his blinding encounter with the Living Christ. Yet it was God’s mercy did not allow him to continue on the frontlines. He spent the next three years in Arabia. I like to call Paul’s time in Arabia, as God’s Desert school of theology. Their Paul learned to seek the Lord. God dealt with his pride, as this highly educated Pharisee learned to surrender all that had once been important to him. As He learned and developed his theology. He learned the discipline of delay.
Our society glorifies independence and worships at the altar of individual achievement. Paul had the right stuff to climb that ladder. But God taught him the value of dependence at the very onset of his public ministry. Paul was preaching in the synagogues, wowing the people of Damascus. As a result, the Jewish leaders put out a contract on him, ending his newfound popularity. He was forced to rely on his followers, who placed him in a basket, and ignominiously lowered him down through a hole in the city wall to safety.
Then it was on to the church at Jerusalem, where perhaps he expected a glorious reception as the murderer-turned-preacher. What he encountered, however, was mistrust and suspicion. Enter Barnabas, who vouched for him and introduced him to the apostles. Only then was Paul able to have a significant ministry among the believers.
The importance of Barnabas vouching for Paul cannot be under stated. Barnabas cared little about his reputation willing to take on the same suspicion and stigma hanging over Paul. While a double edges sword and should never become a good old boy system, Learners vouching for someone unfairly and unjustly is powerful. Someone suffering under a cloud of suspicion can’t fight for themselves, they are often not privileged to be apart of those conversions. Had Barnabas has a competitive spirit, one who secretly desired the spot light, what would have been Paul’s story? Without Barnabas believing in Paul, and vouching for him we may not have the Letter of Paul in our New Testament.
Although a great hurdle was cleared in fellowship extended to Paul by the Peter, John and James. God was not through humbling Paul's independent spirit. Paul’s mouth got him in trouble again. Paul had an argument with the Hellenistic Jews, who decided to do away with him altogether. Some unnamed christian, however, saved Paul's skin, whisking him away to Caesarea and then on to Tarsus.
But hadn't he been commissioned by God? Was he not promised by God he would preach to kings? What was he going to do back in Tarsus? And how would the Jerusalem Church fare without him? According to Acts 9:31, they were doing great. They fared very well, thank you. Talk about a lesson in humility! When God makes us dependent on those who are less well known, it teaches us to value others instead of flying solo. It encourages us to be humble rather than to promote ourselves. It should motivate us to trust in God, who wants us to do the work in His way.
7 to 10 years later Paul was still riding God's bench in Tarsus, waiting in the wings. By then he was in his mid-40s. He had probably been ostracized by his family and suffered expulsion from the synagogue. As he waited, the world and, indeed, the missionary mandate seemed to be passing him by. He worked in his trade as a tent maker, sitting and knitting a tent when he was called to so much more.
There are those who feel as if God has put them aside. Perhaps they don't have the influence they once had; maybe their platform for ministry has evaporated. They have trained and sacrificed, but they don't feel that God is actualizing His investment in their lives. They should be encouraged by the fact that some of God's servants like Paul have spent a season of their lives in the shadows, waiting for God's moment. During these times God creates the depth of character out of which He will later work. God does not call us to ambition; he calls us to patience and surrender. Exceptional work is preceded by extended waiting. As one pastor told me “The word ‘hurry’ shows up far more in our vocabulary than it does in God’s plan.” Learning to deal positively with frustration and failure by knowing God is in control of the process is important.
In Acts 11 we read that a great revival was going on in Antioch. When news of this reached Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas, who was more in tune with Hellenistic culture, to provide leadership for that church. But when Barnabas saw the scope of the work, he realized that he was in over his head. But he remembered Paul, now prepared to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit and not in his own strength. The two had a marvelous ministry together.
I am always encouraged by the fact that it was Barnabas that platformed Paul. It was Barnabas that vouched for Paul. Barnabas 'the encourager', a man of hope and vision, saw what others did not see. Without Barnabas we would have no Paul. We need more people like Barnabas’ in the church, single minded when it comes to mission of God, willing to work to make others great more than make a name for themselves. People who seek out those that the church has discarded and makes opportunity out of ashes, much like the Jesus, Barnabas loves.
From the pre-ministry life of Paul we can distill five principles about the dynamic of God's preparation:
Considerations from Paul’s Preparation
On a personal level, how do we respond to time of preparation:
Footnotes
(1) Theologians and biblical scholars have noted plot points from Acts 9-13 and Paul's letters to form a timeline of his early life. Some aspects are debated but a common order exists.
Suggested Reading
Conversions are like snowflakes no one is like another. Each and every story of how Christ pulls a soul to himself is special, unique, delicately powerful. Each story is touched with redemptive beauty. Even the story of the five-year-old child who prays with his mother contains more than enough unexpected wonder and truthful beauty to make even the fattest angel dance. But the story of Israel Zolli is not about a child on bended knee. It is of a heroic rabbi caught in the maelstrom of World War II .
A Christ haunted life
Rabbi Zolli was one of the most remarkable men of the 20th century. A leading European Jewish intellectual, chief rabbi of Rome, who converted to Christianity in 1944. Not much had been written about him the Jewish community considers him a heretic to his faith, and a traitor to his race. To Jesus, he is a trophy of grace.
He was born in 1881 in what now is the Ukraine. As a young man, he worked in Florence where he also did his rabbinical studies. He became professor at the University of Padua and was named vice-rabbi of Trieste. In 1918, he became chief rabbi of the city.
During this period, Zolli led a divided life. In public, the life of a rabbi celebrating certain number of rituals and shepherding the jewish community. But alone with the Torah, he lived the life of a writer and thinker. This latter work eventually brought him onto the road leading to Christ.
Prepare the way of The Lord
Before God does a work whether in redemption history or on human soul he begins by preparing the way. The same can be said of Zolli's conversion. Before he publicly confession, the winds of providence were preparing him.
One such preparation was the slow pull of intellectual curiosity. He had always been attracted to the Gospel. As a young rabbi studying the Old Testament, he could not just stop at the end of it: so he continued, and read the New Testament. For him, it was the natural continuation of the Old.
He had always been attracted to the figure of Christ on the cross in which he saw the evidence of His being the "Suffering Servant of God" spoken of by Isaiah. Something he did not speak publicly about until after his conversion. Like Hazel Motes in Flannery O'conners' Wise Blood, who was haunted by the Compelling Christ. For Zolli like Motes, "Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he was not sure of his footing"
In 1938, he wrote The Nazarene in which he explored the exegetical problems concerning the relations between the Old and the New Testaments. Soon after publication, he was transferred to Rome and named chief rabbi of the city. Seen as a rabbi who could build bridges and keep the peace continued his work both in public and in private where amidst his prayers and thoughts Christ moved from tree to tree in the back of his mind.
In 1942, the winds of providence began to stir again as the storms of war raged in Europe. By September 1943 the Nazis occupied Rome. The War had now come to Rome. Under Mussolini the Jews had been marginalized but not mistreated.
Now a Nazi officer named Kappler demanded 110 pounds of gold in place of the Jews. The Jews feverishly managed to collect 77 pounds. The chief Rabbi Zolli realized his helplessness. For the first time he stepped into the Vatican and begged Pope Pius XII: "The New Testament must not abandon the Old Testament!" The Pope was so moved that by that afternoon, the remaining 33 pounds of gold was collected from the parishes of Rome. But Kappler took the Jews as well as the gold as rabbi Zolli begged in vain for him to take him as a trophy instead. His life for his people. A substitution to pay a ransom and satisfy wrath but Zoolli's pleas went unheard. He was not the one to represent and redeem his people. Christ once again move from tree to tree in the back of his mind.
From the betrayal and disappointment a great courage arose in him settling into an otherworldly resolve. He walked away from that meeting determined to protect his community. Diplomacy had failed but all his cards had not yet been played. He had only began to fight.
The deportation of the Jews from Rome was fixed for 16 October 1943. Rabbi Zolli called on the Vatican once again. They began at once smuggling Jews out of Rome. Out of the 8000 Jews of Rome, they managed to get 4447 Jews hidden in over 150 monasteries and parish houses, hidden against the threat of the highest punishment from the Nazis. Till the threat was over, they were provided with all they needed for survival.
Haunted no more
The Americans freed Rome in June 1944. Yet Rabbi Zolli seemed to be caught in a deeper battle. Father Dezza, a Jesuit and friend of Zolli tells of a conversation they had on August 15, 1944. Zolli had come to him and revealed the tension of his soul : "How can I continue living in this way when I think very often of Christ and I love Him?"
In October 1944, all tension was put to rest by the living Christ. On the holy day of Yom Kippur (day of Atonement), Zolli had an extraordinary experience which would come to be decisive. He was in the synagogue in contemplation and suddenly, in a vision He saw Christ beside him. Christ said to him: "You are here for the last time: from now on you will follow Me." That was it. Zolli was profoundly moved, visibly shaken and spiritually renewed. He had went to his knees a Rabbi but rose a Christian.
At home that evening, he did not want to say anything to his family, but his wife told him that while he was in the synagogue celebrating Yom Kippur, she too had seen a figure of Christ next to him. His daughter Miriam, who was then 18, added that she had seen Jesus in a dream. For Rabbi Zolli it was the last sign he needed. He resigned from the synagogue and on 17 February 1945, Israel Zolli, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, and his wife made public confessions of faith in Christ and received a Christian baptism identifying them as a follower of Christ.
After 40 years of rabbinical studies with fingers blackened by ink from hours of study, a tired rabbi weary from war's bitter sting, and weak from protecting his flock rose from the waters to find God was already there, with him, face to face.
Epilogue: Certainty of the mountains
In an interview after his baptism the good rabbi was asked why he had given up the synagogue for the Church, he gave an answer that showed he had a keen understanding of biblical realities: "But I have not given it up. Christianity is the integration of the synagogue. The synagogue was a promise, and Christianity is the fulfillment of that promise. The synagogue pointed to Christianity: Christianity presupposes the synagogue. So you see, one cannot exist without the other. What I converted to was the living Christianity."
"Then you believe that the Messiah has come?" the interviewer asked.
"Yes, positively," replied Zolli. "I have believed it for many years. And now I am so firmly convinced of the truth of it that I can face the whole world and defend my faith with the certainty and solidity of the mountains.
Luke 1:34–38
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Consider
A.) The Angel's Confession
B.) Mary's Conviction
Read the except from J.C. Ryle's, Expository Thoughts on Luke
“Let us mark, in the third place, the mighty principle which the angel Gabriel lays down to silence all objections about the incarnation. ‘With God nothing shall be impossible.’
A hearty reception of this great principle is of immense importance to our own inward peace. Questions and doubts will often arise in men’s minds about many subjects in religion. They are the natural result of our fallen estate of soul. Our faith at the best is very feeble. Our knowledge at its highest is clouded with much infirmity. And among many antidotes to a doubting, anxious, questioning state of mind, few will be found more useful than that before us now,—a thorough conviction of the almighty power of God.
With Him who called the world into being and formed it out of nothing, everything is possible. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
There is no sin too black and bad to be pardoned. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin.
There is no heart too hard and wicked to be changed. The heart of stone can be made a heart of flesh.
There is no work too hard for a believer to do. We may do all things through Christ strengthening us.
There is no trial too hard to be borne. The grace of God is sufficient for us.
There is no promise too great to be fulfilled. Christ’s words never pass away, and what He has promised He is able to perform.
There is no difficulty too great for a believer to overcome. When God is for us who shall be against us? The mountain shall become a plain.
Let principles like these be continually before our minds. The angel’s receipt is an invaluable remedy. Faith never rests so calmly and peacefully as when it lays its head on the pillow of God’s omnipotence.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 21-22. Ryle is commenting on Luke 1:34-38.
Note from Dawson: Answering the question "How big is your God?" is the key to finding rest. To the measure we see God as big and powerful is the measure we freely trust his fatherly hand. As Ryle pointed out “Faith never rests so calmly and peacefully as when it lays its head on the pillow of God’s omnipotence”
About J.C. Ryle
John Charles Ryle was an English Anglican bishop who lived from 18-16 to 1900. He was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool. He is most known for his devotional and expositional work in the gospels, "Expository Thoughts on the Gospels" (7 vols, 1856–69). A classic still read by many.