Black's Blog

April 4, 2010
John 3:1-21

It is hard to get an image of what it would mean to be “born again?” As a very concrete person who has observed the births of two children and been right nearby for the births of four grandchildren I know that even if you wanted to put the baby back in and come out again, it would not work. I think that Jesus is using this metaphor in part because of that same way of thinking.  It is as impossible to be born again naturally, but it can only take place through the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact growth can happen only in life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This text has naturally been the battleground for those who believe that the “being born again by the Spirit” is more important as a choice than to “be born again by water and the Spirit being at baptism early in life.” I think that the mysterious powerful force of being born again by the Holy Spirit goes well with it happening even before we can make a conscious decision or choice. I respect the other point of view, but I believe that without God’s help, we could not be born again at all.

At the end of the Lenten season (usually at the Easter vigil) many people are baptized in the church. This is a reminder to me of the power of the Holy Spirit to use our Holy Week and Easter to raise us up anew. The real point of Jesus’ message to Nicodemus is that renewal needs to happen over and over and over again in life and when it happens it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I am thankful for Lent/Holy Week/Easter Sunday, 2010 and for doing this blog. I trust that whoever has read it has valued from at least one thing I have written and I will look for new opportunities in the future. I hope and pray that you will be renewed daily as you are born again and again through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Saturday, April 3, 2010
Luke 16: 19-31

            On the brink of the full Easter resurrection we have the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The last line expresses the connection: “if people do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

            The law and the prophets teach that we should care for the poor. This parable reminds us that riches can get in the way of helping others. We can lose ourselves in our great wealth as we selectively hear what we want to hear. We can fail to do that which is most important—loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

            There are so many people who live their lives without thought of tomorrow. They insulate themselves from others and fail to take advantage of their opportunity to do that which is right. Then something happens, and if they have the chance, they turn their lives around.

            But what about those who do not ever turn their lives around? What about those who fail to hear the law and the prophets? What about those who even fail to hear that Jesus has been raised from the dead? Perhaps they will never get a second chance at eternity.

            If there is anything Holy Week and Easter teaches us it is that Christ lived His life intentionally. If we follow His pattern for our lives, we will respond to the law and the prophets. If we stay faithful to Christ even as He stayed faithful to His heavenly Father, our lives will be joined with that of Christ in glory. That is something to watch for on this Easter Vigil day.

April 2, 2010
Luke 10:29-37

What connection can we make between the Good Samaritan parable and Good Friday? It may be that stories such as this one are what got Jesus put on the Cross. Certainly the scribes and Pharisees did not have a high opinion of Samaritans. They were among the most despised members of society, and to a great extent “religiously” persecuted by the religious Jews. Jesus’ lifting up a Samaritan as being the model of virtue, the one so moved to compassion to help the “beaten up and left half dead” man by the side of the road certainly could get Him into trouble. The Samaritans were probably on the scribe’s mind as not being included in neighbors to love when he asked Jesus “who is my neighbor?” Now Jesus turns the tables on this man by saying that the ones who act in a neighborly manner and keep the commandments may well be Samaritans.

Beyond this connection I would say (as I proclaimed last night on Maundy Thursday) that the point is that we are to have the same kind of servant love that Jesus exemplified in His teaching and actions. Just like Jesus our commitment and our behavior are to be consistent. We are to love all equally. Even as God poured out His lifeblood in His Son Jesus to save us so we are to pour out our lives for others.

As we prepare to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is His divine nature that we may appreciate most. After all, if Jesus was not God’s Son would His death and resurrection help us as much as it does. But maybe as we go into the Easter season and beyond into Pentecost it is His human nature that will help us to direct our lives. If Jesus taught that there is to be no limit to our love, then we need to have no limit to our love. We should not get so upset about that other political party, the team and coach we do not like, the family members and friends that we have to spend Easter dinner with, or even how the world “seems to be going to hell in a hand basket.” Instead, we are simply to love without boundaries…without limits. Our neighbors that Jesus asks us to love surely include all of the above.

“Help us, Jesus, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Amen.”

April 1, 2010
Luke 18:1-8

It is Maundy Thursday, 2010, the beginning of the great Three Days leading to Easter Sunday, the resurrection of our Lord. It is my hope and prayer that these four days will be very meaningful for every individual who reads these words. In order for it to be meaningful, we are encouraged by today’s parable to look for something blessed to happen to us. Jesus encourages us “to pray always and not to lose heart.” (Vs. 1)  There is something about the discipline of treating God as our God every day and telling God our needs and desires that will not return empty. There is something about the discipline of walking with Jesus through each event of the final week of His earthly life prior to the resurrection which will be a blessing to us.

In order to illustrate the need to be in prayer always Jesus tells this parable which has the one point that if we keep on coming to God like the widow coming to a judge for justice, God will answer our prayers. Like yesterday’s parable Jesus encourages persistence. Perhaps we need to think about Jesus’ situation to fully understand this. He is talking about God bringing all people to judgment with the coming of the son of man and is now illustrating that this day is surely coming. He ends today’s teaching session with this phrase: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

As the reader of this parable we are encouraged to keep on keeping on. Even when we are challenged by not knowing where it is all headed, we are encouraged that it is headed toward Jesus’ return. And if we have heeded Jesus’ teaching, praying always and looking for His return, surely He will find faith on earth, faith in each and every one of us. As John writes in his revelation at the end of the New Testament: “Amen, Come Lord Jesus!”

April 1, 2010
Luke 18:1-8

It is Maundy Thursday, 2010, the beginning of the great Three Days leading to Easter Sunday, the resurrection of our Lord. It is my hope and prayer that these four days will be very meaningful for every individual who reads these words. In order for it to be meaningful, we are encouraged by today’s parable to look for something blessed to happen to us. Jesus encourages us “to pray always and not to lose heart.” (Vs. 1)  There is something about the discipline of treating God as our God every day and telling God our needs and desires that will not return empty. There is something about the discipline of walking with Jesus through each event of the final week of His earthly life prior to the resurrection which will be a blessing to us.

In order to illustrate the need to be in prayer always Jesus tells this parable which has the one point that if we keep on coming to God like the widow coming to a judge for justice, God will answer our prayers. Like yesterday’s parable Jesus encourages persistence. Perhaps we need to think about Jesus’ situation to fully understand this. He is talking about God bringing all people to judgment with the coming of the son of man and is now illustrating that this day is surely coming. He ends today’s teaching session with this phrase: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

As the reader of this parable we are encouraged to keep on keeping on. Even when we are challenged by not knowing where it is all headed, we are encouraged that it is headed toward Jesus’ return. And if we have heeded Jesus’ teaching, praying always and looking for His return, surely He will find faith on earth, faith in each and every one of us. As John writes in his revelation at the end of the New Testament: “Amen, Come Lord Jesus!”