prayerbookproject

together in death and life

It Is Finished by Sandra Bowden
 
Jesus Christ calls us to come and follow him. We are reminded on this Good Friday that this call to follow him includes following him to the cross. As I think about this myself I am reminded of things in my life (sin) that need to be put to death. But far too often I don't follow through. The nature of repentance is a turning away from something in order to turn towards something, and we can never do this with our own strength. It is difficult. It is painful. It requires submission to the One who is greater.

If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  Romans 6:5-10

I preached my first sermon last night. The scripture I was preaching through was Matthew 26:1-46 and the title of the sermon was "Together in Death and Life". You can listen to it HERE.

do you want to get well?

"Do you want to get well?" Jesus asked this question to a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years (read the story in John 5). The man was sitting near a healing pool named Bethesda, but there was no one willing to help him get into the water as it was being stirred. The question Jesus asks this crippled man makes about as much sense as the question that was asked of Adam & Eve in the garden, "Where are you?" The man was sitting next to a healing pool. Wasn't it obvious that he was looking for a solution to his problem? But did he really understand his ailment or the cure? His redirected response may give us some clues. Regardless, the question remains and I can't get it out of my head, "Do you want to get well?"

I love to go running around Green Lake. Depending on the path you choose you are either going for 2.8 or 3.1 miles. The only problem for me is that it takes a 20 minute drive to get there so this is not something I get to do that often. The trails are usually packed with runners, walkers, rollerbladers, dogs going on a stroll with their owners...you get the idea. Now that you have conjured up an image of what this might look like (or have clicked on the link above to see digital images of what this might look like), imagine that instead of everybody running or walking they are crawling on their hands and knees. Some are not even moving at all. And now imagine that they are happy to be doing so.

It is easy to get comfortable living lives that are crippled by sin. We develop patterns/habits/tendencies that allow us to crawl along a path that was intended for running. It is easier to live into shame than it is to live into the gospel. Living into shame involves blaming something or somebody else for our own problems. Living into the gospel involves realizing that we have caused the problem and do not possess the solution outside of Jesus Christ. (And much more than that, but I think that is a good start for now.)

When Jesus healed the crippled man we read about in John 5 he didn't promise him that the rest of his life would be problem free. The man would almost instantly be confronted and interrogated by religious leaders questioning his faith and spiritual practices. He would later bump into Jesus at the temple and Jesus would tell him to stop sinning or something worse would happen. (That statement alone requires ten other blog posts to deconstruct.) Did this man really want to "get well" or did he simply desire the ability to walk again?

So now the question is asked of me, "Do I want to get well?" I do, but it is not easy. It requires walking a road marked with a different kind of suffering; a suffering that ends with hope rather than despair. A suffering that leads to the cross. A cross that leads to life.