Humbled By Humility

"...before honour is humility." - Pr. 15:33b, NKJV

   I've just settled down for the evening with my ESV study Bible and some devotional books as I try to keep tracking and immersing myself in the events of Holy Week. Yesterday's readings in the Gospels gave me much to contemplate regarding God's meticulous planning and sovereignty over the events of history, as I thought about the gathering of actors and the setting of the stage for the events leading up to Christ's passion [1]. 

   According to the timeline of the events that have been put together of Christ's final week [2], people in Jerusalem (including Jesus' disciples) have been busy during the day making preparations for the Passover, which begins at sunset. The temple has been extremely busy during the day as lamb after lamb has been sacrificed - some historical estimates place the number around a quarter of a million animals sacrificed for Passover during Christ's time. The disciples have roasted the lamb, and prepared various side dishes for the meal (including bread). They have also prepared the room for celebrating this important meal in their yearly calendar. All Israel is gathering to remember the night of God's deliverance of their ancestors from the land of Egypt thousands of years ago, with the slaying of Egypt's firstborn and his "passing over" of their houses that had been marked and sprinkled with the blood of slain lambs.

Bread. Wine. Body. Blood.

   It is now evening, and Christ has begun the Passover meal with His disciples. During the meal, He has taken bread, broken it and instituted the future memorial of His body, with the words, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Passing the cup of wine, He has pronounced its significance: "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood" [3]. It is also during the meal that He has identified Judas as his betrayer, though none of the others understand. The Passover meal is almost over; the food is almost over, the dishes almost empty. And now, the incarnate Word of God, in whom, through whom and for whom all things exist, once again shows Himself to be a Man like no other:

"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments and, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around His waist...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 then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also out 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." - John 13:3-5, 12-17, ESV

   I can only imagine the shock on the disciples' faces; washing people's feet was considered to be a task reserved for non-Jewish slaves. In that time and culture where people walked long distances on dusty roads What a Man, and yet God! What a Servant, and yet the King of kings! There is no one else like the Lord of glory. Human imagination cannot concoct such a God, who works miracles beyond comprehension, and then stoops to wash the dirty feet of His followers! This righteous and holy God, who walked the dusty roads of Palestine for thirty three years, assumed the posture of a servant and washed the dust that He Himself had created off the feet of His creation. In the gesture of utmost love for His enemies, He even washed the feet of the one who had already agreed to betray Him.

   Attempting to follow in Christ's footsteps, I once tenderly washed someone's feet and dried them with a towel, in an act of love and servanthood. It was an intensely humbling lesson and experience; it made me feel very small and insignificant, a nobody washing the feet of a somebody. I understood through that one small act the attitude and posture that my heart should adopt as a follow and servant of my Lord and Master, and have tried to keep that in mind ever since. The Apostle Paul, thinking about the servant heart and mind of Christ, wrote the following words to the Philippian church:

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in your which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." - Philippians 2:3-8, NKJV

   That's the God my heart follows and obeys; Christ is the Man who leads from the front by example, not from a safe place at the rear. That's the kind of man I want to be, because I'm no greater than my Master. He humbled himself to obedience and death; so must I. I'm going to think about this as I keep pace with the events of the Passion tonight. Jesus and His disciples have left for the Garden of Gethsemane. The pace of the story is ramping up to its inevitable conclusion in another fifteen hours. Time for me to follow them. I have to run. See you in the next post. Until then, here's a great music video featuring the scenes of The Last Supper enacted in "The Passion of The Christ", featuring the song "Remembrance" by Matt Maher:

- The Wisdom Seeker

REFERENCES:
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[1] The Approaching Cross
[2] "Harmony of The Events of Holy Week", ESV Study Bible, pg. 1866
[3] Luke 22:19-20, ESV

The Approaching Cross

   It is now mid-way through Holy Week. In my last post, I thought about Jesus' cleansing of the temple and it's significance. Following the events of the Gospels, it is now three days into the fateful week leading up to Christ's passion, and the silhouette of the cross is emerging over the horizon. Christ is occupied with furious confrontation and conflict with the religious leadership over the abuses  of their religious authority and their coming condemnation. I wonder what His feelings must have been in the midst of those events, knowing what was approaching with each passing hour.

   It's now evening as I write this, and the events of the Gospels take note of the plot that is being put together by the religious leadership to kill Jesus. Jesus and His disciples have left Jerusalem and are on the Mount of Olives, as He tells them of the prophetic events of the future; the chief priests, the scribes and elders of the people are assembled at the palace of Caiphas, the high priest, discussing how they might catch and kill Him; Jerusalem is full of worshipers, having come from all across the empire for the Passover. the The stage is now being set; the major actors are now being brought together as the pace of action ramps up to the climactic events of Christ's passion two days later. I thought of the description of these events in Luke's gospel:

"Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, named Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude." - Luke 22:1-6, NKJV

   I can't help but thinking about the meticulous sovereignty of God, in His absolute and total control over every person and event in history, as I approach Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The sequence of events are complex and the characters are many - God the Father; God the Holy Spirit; God the Son; his disciples; the chief priests, scribes, elders, and the high priest; Judas Iscariot; Satan; Pontius Pilate and the Roman garrison at the Praetorium, who are yet to appear; the massive crowd of worshipers who have come to Jerusalem. The actors are playing their parts flawlessly - Judas has already sold himself to the fate that awaits him, and collected his ill-gotten money. In the high priest's palace, the decision has been made. Jesus and his disciples have retired for the night. Jerusalem at night is quiet as worshipers have made their way to their various inns and residences. The temple sits silent, the great veil separating the Holy of Holies from everything else in its premises.

   Thousands of years of prophetic history that began with God's promise in the book of Genesis, to send a Saviour after the Fall in the Garden of Eden are converging to their moment of fulfillment. All of heaven watches with anticipation and bated breath, as God's epic master plan from before the beginning of time unfolds and heads towards its inevitable and promised conclusion with clockwork precision. God has left no loose ends as the greatest demonstration of His power and glory begins to appear on the horizon of history. And at the center of this mighty converging of events is Jesus.

   As I immerse myself in Scripture, allow the Holy Spirit to bring the words on its pages to life, and carefully track the story 2,000 years later, there is the accompanying tension as I know what awaited Jesus in less than twenty four hours. Somewhere in the Roman garrison, the cross has been made by unwitting carpenters and kept ready for its intended purpose. The hammer and nails, forged by similarly unwitting craftsmen lie ready to be pounded into unresisting hands and feet. The whip used for scourging lies waiting for the body on which it will be used. The thornbush sits silently, its thorns ready to be cut and fashioned into a crown. Every one of them is there for a purpose, orchestrated by God for the part that He has intended them to play. There is not one unintended object that should not be there, not one wasted moment, not one event that happens by "luck" or "chance." 

   But at the same time, there is a tremendous sense of gratitude and wonder as I contemplate God's eternal mind and plan. Before He had even willed the first events of creation, He had seen and planned my own life. Knowing the kind of sinner and fool that I am, whose life would be hopelessly lost without Him, He had planned to draw me to salvation through faith in Him at the right time. He undertook this entire enterprise with the intent that I should see His glory in the Cross, be blinded by it and follow Him all the days of my life. I could only write the following prayer of gratitude as I thought over these things:

   Awesome God. Awesome God. I have no words to describe the love that fills my heart for You, that You would thus demonstrate your love for a wretched man like me. Master, what shall I do to show my gratitude? I am poor, my possessions are miserable, my mind is foolish and my hands are empty. I can only throw my heart and my life into your hands tonight. I will lose my life, that I may find it in You.

- The Wisdom Seeker

Judgement Begins At The House of God

Jesus cleanses the temple in a scene from
"Jesus of Nazareth" (1977)

   Today being the second day of Passion Week, I wanted to look at an event that caught my attention as I was reading through the Gospel of Matthew yesterday. It refers to Jesus' cleansing of the temple on the day following His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, which I reflected on in yesterday's post. On a personal note, I particularly like how this event is portrayed in the 1977 movie "Jesus of Nazareth" that I later watched as a child. The film makers imagined Christ paraphrasing the prophetic words of Isaiah 1:21 - "Jerusalem! The faithful city! She that was full of justice, has become a harlot!" - before proceeding to clean the temple.

   This event can be found described in all four Gospels - Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:13-17. Of these, I thought I'd use the description provided by the Gospel of John here:

"The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” - John 2:13-17, ESV

   Christ never ceases to amaze. The day before, we saw His soul was in distress during His triumphal entry, as He anticipates His coming suffering under the full potency of the Father's divine anger against the sins of human kind. Now, He almost seems a different man. I used to hold to the popular perception of "gentle Jesus, meek and mild", and imagine Him as a "nice guy" when I was growing up. The more I am coming to know Him through Scripture, the more that I see that He is anything but a "nice guy"; we must never forget that this Person emerging through the pages of Scripture is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, the eternally existing and omnipotent Word through whom all creation was made.

   I was struck that Jesus, after surveying the goings-on in the temple, deliberately sat down and took the time to make a whip out of cords in an act of premeditated aggression. See the fire blazing in the Master's eyes! See the sinews of His strong hands, as He fashions the instrument of His anger! Christ makes no attempt to invoke diplomacy and engage in polite, negotiated conversation. The Lord of glory storms into His temple, people and animals fleeing before the lashes of His whip, as He kicks tables over and flings their money to the ground. What has made the Saviour so angry?

   No one needs ask; Christ Himself roars the accusation with pointed finger - "a house of trade!"; "a den of robbers!"  This is the reason for the Master's potent fury - the desecration of reducing His holy house into a place of commerce and profit; a department store! a foreign exchange counter! When God had first instituted the sacrificial system for worship and sin offerings in the Old Testament, He had commanded that each person was to personally pick and bring the best bull from his herd or lamb from his flock, or if too poor, turtledoves or pigeons. By the time of Christ, worship had lost all sense of truth, meaning or spirit. Corrupted by the emptiness of an external show of religious observances and devoid of true holiness, it had made a mockery of the spirit of God's law by turning the temple into a department store for the worshipper to buy the animals that he needed instead of bringing them himself. For those Jews coming from outside Israel to worship at Jerusalem, money changers had set up business to exchange their currency and buy the animals that they needed. Oh, how the righteous anger of Jesus must have burned as He saw this the previous day!

   It was as I was thinking over this passage that the words from the first Epistle of Peter hit me like a lightning bolt:

"For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” - 1 Peter 4:17, NKJV

   Dearly beloved, let us contemplate this verse during Holy Week - God is not mocked or partial; He will set His own house in order first before He ventures to judge those who do not belong to His kingdom. Christ will cleanse His church of every evil that corrupts and distorts His gospel, with stern measures if He has to. This is a very sobering thought, for the the temple of God is not to be found in humble parishes, church buildings or impressive cathedrals; it is not a congregation or denomination. No, indeed, for the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian church states the truth of the matter:

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” - 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, NKJV

   If the Master were to come into my temple today, what would He see? Would I be able to look Him in the eye, or cast my eyes to the ground in shame? Would I hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant!", or would I hear the kind of words that He used upon those who He drove out with whips in Jerusalem? Knowing that He will begin with me, is my conscience clear? Let us examine ourselves and if we find our temple in disorder, let us repent and confess our sins to Him, knowing that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:19, NKJV

   See you in the next post for Passion Week!

- The Wisdom Seeker