Mr. March

A Series on Lent
Jesus comforts his disciples
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 14:1-11 

[Lent is a 40-day season of personal reflection through prayer, fasting and giving in order to prepare your heart to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. We will be following Jesus through the Gospel of John as he enters Jerusalem for Passover, and the ensuing events that led up to his trial, crucifixion and resurrection.]

 

Tom Izzo is the Hall of Fame head coach of the Michigan State University men’s basketball team.

This year marks the twenty-fifth consecutive year that he has led his team to the NCAA tournament known as March Madness. It’s more than any other coach in history. Because of his record, he’s been given the nickname of Mr. March.

 

At the end of February, the team was riding high scoring over 80 points per game. But during the Big Ten Tournament, they lost to the second to the bottom seeded team. Their confidence was shaken. How will Coach Izzo prepare his team to face the challenges of March Madness?

 

The disciples were riding high as Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and later was given a king’s reception into the city of Jerusalem. They were celebrating the Passover together in the upper room when Jesus dropped a bombshell... one of the disciples would betray him. Not only that, but Peter would deny him.

 

The disciples were shocked. Their confidence was shaken. Just when everything appeared to be victorious, their world was turned upside down. How will Jesus prepare his disciples to face the challenges of the next few hours? Like Coach Izzo, Jesus will point to himself.

 

¹ “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.    NLT

 

⁶ Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.  NLT

 

The disciples can trust Jesus because he’s the conduit to the Father. Not only is he the conduit, but he and the Father are one.

 

^9b ...Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! ^10b …The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.     NLT

 

Jesus also promises that he is preparing a place for them in his Father’s home.

 

³ When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.  NLT

 

The disciples lived with Jesus twenty-four seven for three years. They trusted him through the good times and the bad. Now Jesus asked them to trust him again. In the same way, Jesus asks us to trust him again.

 

These verses, these promises spoken to the disciples, are spoken to us too. Jesus loves you. He’s faithful. He’s always with you. That’s way better than Mr. March.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

 

 

A Funeral for Snead

A Series on the Beatitudes
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 5:4; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

[In this series, we will be looking at the Beatitudes from the perspective that Jesus came to establish his kingdom. And in order to do that, he needed to set new expectations; to let his followers know that his was not a political kingdom, but a spiritual one; to teach them what it means to bring in his kingdom; what it means to turn the world upside down.] 

⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.         NIV

During my sophomore year of college, I had a roommate who owned a canary named Snead. As canaries do, Snead sang morning, noon and night. Except, one day when we returned from class, he wasn’t. In fact, Snead wasn’t breathing.

 

Being the sensitive, compassionate, mature college students that we were, we decided to have a funeral service. It started in our dorm room, followed by a processional down the hall, including a “priest” with “holy water” and official mourners. We ended in the courtyard of the girls’ dorm for the actual burial.

 

Snead had been carefully laid in an Old Spice wooden gift box with Kleenex gently lining the inside. He was then laid on top of a royal blue bath towel spread across a ten foot long wooden shelf from our closet. It was a fitting memorial for our friend Snead. 

Of course, there are times when mourning is no laughing matter.

 

As he did with the first beatitude, Eugene Peterson paraphrased the second one in a way that you can easily understand and relate to.

 

⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. MSG

 

We mourned the passing of Snead that night… kind of. But when someone has truly lost “what is most dear to you”, the mourning goes deep. It hurts so much that only tears can adequately express the depth of your pain. And when you hurt like that, you need to “be embraced by the One most dear to you”.

 

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the pain and grief and mourning that he experienced, as well as the comfort that he received and the lessons learned

 

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.           NIV

 

^8b We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.                NIV

 

I have three questions for you and for me. What have you lost that was most dear to you; that hurt deep; that brought you to your knees? What did you learn from your losses? How did it help you to help others?

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams

 

 

 

 

I Want My Mommy

Revelation 21:1-5

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+21%3A1-5&version=NIV;NLT

  

Growing up, did you ever feel like crying out, “I want my mommy”?

 

I did. In fact, there was even one time, as an adult, when the circumstances of life had been exceptionally painful. During a business trip, while driving down a lonely highway at night, I cried out for my Mother who had passed away recently.

 

The world around us can be cruel. Circumstances, people, the human condition and life in general can weigh heavy on our hearts. It can hurt us in ways we don’t even realize at the time. The world within us can be just as cruel when we feel hopeless, powerless, doubt, fear, rejection and loss.

 

Into this world around us and within us, we feel the need for love, security, hope and purpose. When the world is out of control, we desperately cry out for someone to help us. We may cry out to God, or it might even be to our Mommy. But it’s to someone who we feel will love us unconditionally.

 

John wrote Revelation during a period of time when many Christians were being persecuted because they refused to worship Caesar as Lord. In fact, John himself had been sent to the island of Patmos because of his Christian beliefs and witness.

 

In part, Revelation was written as an encouragement to those believers experiencing first-hand the wrath of the Roman authorities. They experienced physical and emotional persecution. They felt isolated and alone. At times, they probably wondered where God was. How could He allow these things to happen?

 

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”      Revelation 21:3-4 NLT

 

Into their pain, John pointed them to what lay beyond the persecution; beyond the trials of life. He pointed them to that day when God would hold them in His arms. He pointed them to the promises of God. That God would always be with them; would always be faithful to them; would always be at work in their lives; would never desert them.

 

Those same promises are true for you and me today.