Jesus didn’t market to people or invite them in with empty promises, good vibes, and exciting experiences. In fact, when people said they wanted to follow him he responded with how difficult it would be. And when he displayed his power and authority, people wanted even less to do with him. And yet, if they were willing to lay down their control and comforts in life, they found that Jesus’ power and authority brought the wholeness of life they had truly been searching for.
Jesus not only called people to follow him as disciples, but he also sent them out to bring good news to others. This was a group of people who would otherwise not have much to do with one another, if it weren’t for Jesus. It was also a group of people who would otherwise not have much authority or presence in the places they went. But with Jesus, they were formed into a community and sent with the power and authority of Jesus, for the sake of others.
You've got something in your eye.
Pointing the finger at another's fault or shortcoming comes naturally to us. It was the first response of the first man and woman when God approached them in the garden after their rebellion. 'It was the woman'. 'No, it was the serpent'. Jesus has some wisdom for us when it comes to pointing fingers.
You’ve heard the phrase “Love your neighbor”, but was Jesus really serious when he said we are to love our enemies? This countercultural and counterintuitive way of Jesus is not only exemplified in his life and death, but it is also an expectation on those who would call themselves his followers. But how can we do this?
Ever broken a promise? Ever had someone break a promise to you? Jesus seemed to think this was a pretty big deal. But why did it matter enough to put up there alongside murder, sex, and the tearing apart of households? Could it really be that any time we are not true to our word that is ‘from the evil one’? How can we even have hope of being more honest, reliable, and faithful with our words?
Murder. Sex. Adultery. Divorce. Jesus wasn’t afraid to talk about the heavy stuff.
But where the religious leaders thought they had these things all figured out, Jesus seemingly takes it a step further and makes it even harder to be right with the Law. When it came to obeying the Law, Jesus seemed to agree with what they all should’ve already seen through the Old Testament Scriptures, God looks at the heart.
Jesus, the fullness of the God of the universe, fully immersed himself into the identity and life of humanity — so that humans could have the possibility of being fully immersed into the identity of being children of God. It is his immersion into our world and his invitation for us to be immersed into his identity that we find true life, fulfillment, fullness, and restoration of who we were meant to be.
What's the difference between delight and desire? Both are often talked about in the biblical narrative and seem to be key to the story. When delight and desire are misdirected and misplaced, destruction and even death can result. But when we desire what is good and delight in what we already have access to, this leads to flourishing. How can we rightly align our desires and delight? Only through first seeing God desires to be with us and delights over his people!
The sight of blood is alarming. It signals that something is wrong, because blood belongs in the body. Life is in the blood. But for the ancient Israelite culture, blood also signified something else: cleansing. The thought of blood being used to clean anything now is more than strange to us, but there was a cultural and spiritual significance to it for the Israelites. As we seek to understand why, we may begin to understand even more what the blood of Jesus has done for us.
A covenant is the deepest form of promise between two people, intertwining them together. Hebrews 8 shows us that Jesus has brought a new and better covenant, one that fulfills and completes where the old one fell short. The old covenant was good in that it pointed us toward the coming of the new covenant, but only by the new covenant can we completely enter into God’s presence. This new covenant has been made available to us by the sacrifice of Jesus, our high priest.
Melchizedek is a mysterious character who only has a couple short sentences written of him in the Old Testament, but the author of Hebrews keeps bringing him up and seems to think he has a great deal to do with Jesus. Who is this guy? What is the connection to Jesus?
As we explore chapter 7 of Hebrews, we see that God has been giving us a preview of what would come fully in Jesus all throughout history and that Jesus is the fullness of everything we need.
Storms come in life. That is a certainty. When you hold onto an anchor, you will still feel the push and pull of the waves from the storm, but you will also be held secure where you are supposed to be. Our culture and even religion offer many anchors that end up not really being planted securely into a firm foundation. There is only one anchor for your soul that will truly hold you securely and he is Jesus.
God rescued Israel from the Egyptians, but He also made a way to rescue them from their own wickedness and rebellion. He allowed them to make sacrifices and draw near to His temple through ceremonial cleansing. God allowed these things to be mediated through people with a specific role, called priests. However, these priests also had their own sin and faced their own mortality as well. Jesus has now come as our better high priest, making full sacrifice once and for all and mediating eternally on our behalf so we can draw near to God.
