On this Good Friday, a Navy jet malfunctioned and crashed into an apartment-building complex about 20 minutes away, causing massive structural and fire damage. Thankfully, the pilots were able to eject; although hurt, their wounds weren’t major, and they expressed how horrible they felt that they had no control of where to land… Witnesses carried the pilots to safety, and the whole city came together and worked and prayed in rescue efforts. And officials have now determined that there were no fatalities… None. And if you could see the pictures, you would say that it’s a true miracle for Easter — that God’s hand was on those people there…
But miracles don’t always seems to exist… I’ve been thinking off and on all day about what those first followers of Jesus might have been thinking… About the circumstances they were in and how their worlds were turned upside down. About what they might’ve felt as they watched their Messiah being led away and then crucified… Scripture says even the ones closest to Him ran… Did they feel abandoned and frightened, even as Jesus was allowed to feel in the Garden the night before and on the cross? I wonder if they felt like God lied to them and let them down…
When people decide to follow Christ, they ought to be reminded what Jesus says: that we are indeed going to have problems here. We should all remind each other. It’s not true that when you give your life to Him, everything becomes becomes perfect. And we can see by His imperfect followers — all of us — that it isn’t true… This earth is not a kind place without His kind of Love. It can be downright ugly and brutal and vicious. And some of His own people, some of whom I’ve known, have walked away when the going got tough — because they judged Him for not being there for them; they said He wasn’t true to His Word… But His Love will continue to draw them back…
Jesus already said that in this life we’d have trouble… All of us. Everybody. It’s part of being human. But here’s the whole piece of Scripture of John 16:33 from the Amplified version:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.”
The good news is not just good for Christians. Jesus’ good news (“gospel”) is for the whole world — to anyone who wants to take Him up on His Word. He invades the etiquette of society and permeates all denominations, all religions, all cultures. He challenges the religious — again, not just Christian. He was humble because He left Heaven just to rescue us. (I heard a great quote from David Jeremiah recently: “Humble isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.”) Jesus knew where He came from; He knew who His Father was. But He also knew we needed Him, so He stepped down on this planet, being born as one of us. He knows what it feels like to live here. He knows…
Some may say He didn’t exist. But science and historians back up His life on Earth. And the only question that’s still probably the most relevant is the one Jesus asked: “Who do you say that I am?”
Some see Jesus as a historical figure who’s dead and buried, leaving only great stories of his challenging teachings. Some see him as a good rabbi who was very wise and loved to teach and point people toward God. Some see Him as the God they thought they used to know but now aren’t sure about…
But He’s still the same — yesterday, today, and forever the same: the loving Savior, our brother, sent by the Father, all because we needed Him, even if we didn’t know it…
A living, breathing, supernatural Person.
What do you do with One like that? Once you’ve met Him, you can’t deny that meeting, can’t deny His Presence in your life — and if you do, you can’t forever, because His Love is more powerful than our “justifications” of why we left… We can’t even justify that we’re not good enough for Him — because He says to show up as we are, in whatever state of being we are. His Love isn’t about earning it, it’s only about what He offers… And He’s offered His life for ours… He loves us. Period. No conditions. He just does.
So all that thinking today about His early followers… Well, they found out three days later that He was alive and beat the hell out of death. Literally. He won. And death will never again have the last word in a person’s life for those that believe His promises. All those promises that fulfilled Scripture… It’s fascinating…
Chances are good that you won’t have a jet crash into your home. But all types of other things crash and burn in our lives: our jobs, our relationships, our perspectives, our faith… But none of these things are bigger than He is… Sure, He could fix things with one look, and sometimes He does intervene miraculously. But if He asks you to go through something, no matter how difficult, trust Him… He’s got a plan, and His plan is always good, always for us and not against us. And it’ll be worth it. Jesus is worth it.
One last thought: You know that story of all His disciples in the boat, crossing over to the other side, and the storm hit? It must’ve been a really big storm for fishermen to get so frightened. That boat must’ve been tossed around like a toy model. It must’ve been taking on water and the waves must’ve been pretty spine-tingling. But Jesus was sound asleep. They had to wake Him up and ask Him if He even cared about them. In a fit of panic, they obviously didn’t believe what He’d already told them — that they’d get to the other side. They would be fine, but their circumstances suggested otherwise.
“Yeah,” you might say, “but you don’t know my circumstances.”
True, I don’t. And you don’t know mine. We each have them. Our own challenges. Maybe even life and death matters. But He’s bigger and so are His promises. And so is eternity. If He allows you to lose something in the process, it’s all going to work out the way it was supposed to. I can’t wrap my mind around it all, and neither can you. But His Love is bigger than all that. It’s bigger than our own personal worlds and the whole world itself. That’s how I know we’re all in good hands, His hands, those loving nail-scarred hands, if we want to be…
Just a few ramblings on this Good Friday, April 6 (even though this was written after midnight, going into April 7, and edited later when I had more sleep ; ). I hope you all have a beautiful Easter weekend, and I pray God shows you in tangible ways just how crazy in love He is with you…
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