by Sharon O | Apr 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
I don’t think we should be too hard on Peter.
He was just as we would be. So excited to do ministry and so sure we would not fail.
Yeah. how long did that last?
Have you ever lost someone you loved?
Do you remember the next day? the following 24-48 hours after you realize, they are gone?
There is an intense emptiness as thick air follows your every move.
You feel hallow and alone as you relive the last few hours.
You wish it was a bad dream and you would snap out of the fog and it would all be fine.
You begin to realize, you won’t ever see them sit in that favorite chair again, or enjoy a cup of tea with them or watch them as they talk to you as they had done so many times.
You struggle to remember their voice, the way they walk, the way they say ‘good morning’ or good night.
How was their face, their hair, the inflection of their voice?
You ask yourself, will I remember as time passes?
After Jesus death on the cross the disciples had no idea where he went, some of them ran and hid for fear of their own lives.
I would imagine a few watched the whole thing, we aren’t really told.
Some could have been watching from a distance, crying as they witnessed him being brutally tortured and beaten.
Where was Peter? Was he off in the distance watching with deeply rooted guilt?
And Judas?
Matthew 27:3-5 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.
“I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.
Then he went away and hanged himself.
How sad. His own guilt so heavy laden across his heart.
He didn’t receive forgiveness. He didn’t receive kindness.
And as we are thinking about all of these people who walked with Jesus, I often wonder about Mary.
Her heart was broken as she watched, her son, carrying his cross.
I have seen movies where she was weeping and crying.
I can’t begin to imagine her sorrow.
Her love was deep, and anointed and chosen and broken.
These are just some thoughts on this day that heaven was quiet.
There was silence and a deep sense of sorrow.
The day after Jesus died.
by Sharon O | Apr 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
The players had to be in alignment for the Crucifixion to take place.
The Roman Soldiers in the garden after Jesus prayed were a part of the plan that was already written.
Judas betrayed him with a kiss because he had to, that was the plan.
It was an intimate betrayal, for to be close enough to give someone a kiss it would be tender and also full of mixed messages.
Luke 22:47 b [Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?”]
The soldiers took hold of him and the disciples didn’t like their attitude towards Jesus.
One of them (some say it was Peter) cut off the ear of the high priests slave, Jesus rebuked him and said “no more” then healed the ear back to wholeness.
It was all a part of the plan.
Jesus had to be arrested, he had to be put on trial.
Chapter 22: 52
Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him.
“Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me?
Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple?
I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of the darkness reigns.”
In all the years of reading my bible and the Easter story I have never seen this line before.
when the power of darkness reigns.
Light and dark. Healing and death. Powerful words spoken from a Savior.
The story continues with his ‘arrest’ and the reactions of the disciples.
Beginning with the story of Peter.
I believe this was included to show us how we are as people.
When the bottom drops and it is our life or some one else’s would we deny him too?
We can be as faithful as we hope to be but, when the pressure comes on us, can we really be faithful to the end?
Jesus prepared Peter when he asked him at one point in time, Peter do you love me?
He was testing his heart. He was challenging his zeal and his promise.
Jesus knew the answer, but he wanted Peter to think about the answer before saying “yes”.
Three times Peter said, “Yes Lord” and three times he denied him in the garden, when the mood of the evening became frightening to him.
I don’t think we should judge Peter.
We can sing in church and raise our hands, preach the word and teach the word but when the pressure arrives and we are facing a life or death decision.
Would we say ‘yes Lord, I love you,’ or would we be like Peter.
Who crumbled under pressure and said, “I never knew the man.” vs 61 The rooster crowed.
At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter, suddenly the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind. “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
vs 62 And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
by Sharon O | Apr 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
The word of the day is: Good
Today is considered Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified.
Why do we call it good?
Did a horrific death on a cross seem a good thing?
The suffering. The anguish. The intensive violence.
Good Friday?
Dictionary.com said Good Friday is the Friday before Easter; A Holy Day.
When I think of the Cross do I see something that is good?
It is painful. It is torturous. It is humiliating. It is deep sorrow.
It is anguish of spirit and soul on a wooden splinter filled board.
Yet when I look at the word good in the dictionary it means,
morally excellent, righteous, beneficent, kind, honorable, worthy and good standing.
Jesus on the cross… on good Friday.
Yes the cross is good because without the cross.
We would have no hope.
Without the cross the deep love of the Father could not be placed upon or within us.
Without the cross we would be lost.
Without the cross we would never understand, the compassionate ‘tender’ side of Jesus.
He chose because the Father said, “This is the only way.”
He relinquished his human thoughts and fears and went to the cross, knowing that the only way to salvation was a Savior.
I struggle with the word good today.
I reach deep within myself to understand the magnitude of His sacrifice and His suffering.
No one would ever do it again.
No one has to.
For unto us a Savior was born, and unto us a Savior died.
He came to save us and that is the proof of his deep deep love.
by Sharon O | Apr 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
In the book of John chapter 17 Jesus said a prayer.
It was a prayer to the Father.
Jesus knew the time had come, his death would soon take place.
I can’t imagine the feeling of knowing in a few short days, your life would end, and he also knew the hatred and the hostility he would be subjected to.
He had just told the disciples he would be leaving them, and then he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence
with the glory I had with you before the world began.
I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.
They knew with certainly that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them in to the world.
For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one,
Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one- I in them and you in me- so that they may be brought to complete unity.
Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
This was the last prayer Jesus said before the betrayal of Judas and the Roman soldiers arrested him.
I ask that you read it slow.
It is full of prophecy… relationship, concern for the disciples, concern for others.
It is a conversation and prayer between a Son and a Father.
It is powerful. It is good to read and remember it was all a part of the original ‘plan’ for God to show His love to us.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
We were the reason He came at Christmas and then we were the reason Easter took place.
It had to happen for there needed to be ‘a Savior’ for us.
by Sharon O | Apr 1, 2015 | Uncategorized
It’s hard to believe that the human spirit and behavior is so unpredictable.
We see and experience the emotional side of that during the week of Easter.
In the New Testament we are told of the entry into Jerusalem, the beginning of the Easter week.
The disciples were walking with Jesus when he said to them in
Matthew 21: verse 1
As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into the village over there,” he said, “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with it’s colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them’ and he will immediately let you take them.”
This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said, in the Old Testament book of Zechariah 9:9
“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey- riding on a donkey’s colt.”
The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around them were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in the highest heaven!”
The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar, as he entered.
“Who is this?” they asked. And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Let’s stop for a minute.
The disciples had no idea what was going on. This was Jesus, who they had spent a lot of time with for many months, do you wonder what they were thinking? I sure do.
It was just the beginning for Jesus and He knew this had to take place to fulfill the prophecy written.
Just like at Christmas when all the prophecy had to be fulfilled.
This season of time was the same for him.
Jesus was in the center.
The people were joyous and exalting him, praising him with adoration.
Then the moods changed and the prophecy continued to be fulfilled.
He would be denied, he would be taken to court, accusations that were not right or real would be thrown at him, he would be lead to the place of the cross.
As it was written:
Jesus was in the center of the story.
by Sharon O | Mar 28, 2015 | Uncategorized
Taking a bit of a detour from the Easter theme.
I have been reading a blog for about a year now.
It is called Mundane Faithfulness and it has been a journey for the author Kara, and her family and her readers.
She passed away last Sunday from stage four cancer.
It’s been quite a journey for her and her little family and for those who have read her words.
This is the last journal writing from her blog.
http://www.mundanefaithfulness.com/home/2015/3/22/homecoming
I share it because, it is so very important to pray for her family and to help in any way we can.
We all miss her even though we have never met, we all cannot know what it will be like, to have her not be the author of her blog any more, as we have shared in the deep abiding love she had in the Lord.
We were there cheering her on and watching as she would make a video for her husband, and her little children, treasures for them later as they grow, pretty painful right now to watch.
Please keep her family in your prayers.
She was a wife and mom to four very beautiful children.
The journey will be hard for all of them to move forward without her.
Saying good bye is never easy.
They will be showing a live stream of her memorial service because of the friends and blog readers who cannot come in person to her service.
If you have a way to donate to her family it would be appreciated.
God desires us to support each other and this little family needs prayers, and if you can also purchase her book it would help the family.
May we pray for them to have comfort as they move through this grief filled time of life.
by Sharon O | Mar 26, 2015 | Uncategorized
The days were moving closer for Jesus and for his ministry to end.
He knew those who learned to follow and walk with him, would experience the darkness of spirit and sadness of soul, when seeing him on the cross.
I imagine the heaviness of heart weighed him down.
He was God, and man fully capable to be both in the same body.
He still felt our feelings. He still felt our sorrow.
He still felt our deep sense of being alone.
When he was in the room with the disciples, breaking the bread with them and sharing the wine.
He knew he would be leaving them soon. They had to have felt his heavy heart and different mood.
Have you ever spent time with someone who had a heavy heart and a ‘quiet countenance?’
Yeah I have and it is a bit ‘unsettling.’
Jesus was in that ‘mindset’ of pulling in yet trying to minister to them.
He knew Judas would betray him, in fact he told him he would.
Luke 22:21 Jesus said, “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. For it as been determined that the son of man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.”
The disciples could not fully understand what he was staying.
How could they? I am not even sure Judas understood it.
It is hard to watch someone you love leave. The disciples were sure he wasn’t leaving for good.
They could not take in to their ‘hearts’. Denial is good for a season when someone we love is very ill.
Denial was also good for the disciples.
For they were about to learn a lesson about emotions and commitment and promises, that would follow them for a lifetime.
They were all sure they would stay with Jesus through anything that might take place.
How shallow were they to think that was possible.
When we know someone is ill or dying, we do what we can to grab onto the hope of keeping them here.
I am sure the disciples thought ‘if he was leaving’ he wouldn’t go far.
It had to have been really hard for all of them.
When we know the middle of the story we can understand it better.
The beginning of his life was Christmas, then he grew into a young man, and then the day came for him to became ready to show his ‘spiritual side’, when he did signs and wonders and told stories in parables for a few to understand.
Those who who followed him learned to love him.
When he said to them he was leaving, I believe the wall of their hearts went up and they quit listening.
We can’t blame them. No one wants to say good bye to a loved one.
Denial is a part of death we rarely hear about.
But it’s real and it’s necessary to process the loss that is to come.
I am sure the days following Jesus death the disciples talked about what he told them.
It’s like when you reach for the phone to call your loved one only to realize, you can’t.
You remember and move back into the times of sharing and memories and you wish so much for them to come back to you just one more time, with heaviness of heart, you remember.
by Sharon O | Mar 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
Before Jesus death he had been preparing the disciples the time would come when he would be leaving and going away from them.
They really didn’t fully understand what he was telling them, and I would imagine his patience was tested a time or two by their behavior when he taught them so often only to have them not understand.
There was one specific time when Jesus focused on Peter.
Knowing his heart already, Jesus desire was to not only test his heart response but to teach him.
Remembering when he was in the garden and he was being real with them and asked for some support from them, “stay up with me and pray.”
When he returned he found them sleeping and not supporting him at all.
It must have been a lonely place for him, emotionally.
Jesus was very much aware of the agony of the cross and his heart and spirit was weighted heavy with the knowing, of the flogging, the torture, the weight of the wooden cross he would carry and most of all the isolation and separation from his Father.
I imagine his heart was heavy when he looked at the disciples who he had learned to love and knew he must say good-bye.
He focused on Peter one evening and said to him,
“Peter you will deny knowing me three times after my death.”
Upon hearing this Peter flat out disbelieved him. He said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even die with you.”
Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
Now we can’t blame Peter for being brave and promising.
Wouldn’t we all say the same?
I won’t ever deny you Lord, yet when the pressure comes and we are asked the question.
If our answer would mean life or death to us, what would we all say?
It is a very fair question to sit with.
As we move closer to the Easter story let us challenge ourselves to think of our response.
by Sharon O | Mar 21, 2015 | Uncategorized
The word prompt for this Friday is: Real
You write for five minutes with no editing and no over correcting.
Real:
Dictionary.com said real is something that is true, it actually exists.
This goes with my last blog writing about Jesus.
He was real from the moment in time before he was born as a baby, and then grew into the man he became at age thirty three when he was at the end of his ministry.
He was real. Not an imaginary figure that we talk about and read about in story books.
He was real. A savior. God’s Son.
He really did exist and it really was a special moment in time.
I think it brings me a lot of comfort to know he was who he said he was and the fact that he loved us, no matter how we treat him or disbelieve him. He loves with an open heart and mind.
I have been thinking a lot about friendships lately.
The real ones I have. I am by nature not a fake type person.
If you met me in ‘real time’ hopefully you would see me as I am.
There is no pretense or fake appearance. I am who I am.
I desire real friendships. Relationships who can be real with each other.
Also within that reality we might have to say something strong or truthful or even discerning, so that other person can realize, ‘this is an issue.’
Jesus did that. He told it like it was. He did not mince words or try to not hurt feelings.
He believed in the process of change and he loved to change lives as he saw they needed to be changed.
He was real and he was honest and he was compassionate.
The word for the day is real.
Let us do our best to do that and be that with each other.
When someone asks you,”how are you?” maybe today is the day
to finally say, “Not so good can you talk and pray with me?”
by Sharon O | Mar 20, 2015 | Uncategorized
When I think of the story of Easter it is not so warm and fuzzy as the Christmas story.
Where Mary labored during the journey to Bethlehem, with Joseph walking the donkey beside her thinking long and hard about the new life they would be making together.
Where the angels helped bring the story to life telling each player about hope to come.
The Christmas story had so many key people involved, each were critical to the prophecy of the story.
A baby would be born, his mother would be Mary and He would save his people from their sins.
It was all pre-ordained since the beginning of time, from the Old Testament to the New.
God planned it and it had to happen exactly the way it happened.
The Easter story is not too much different.
It is filled with a mixture of joyous jubilee, on Psalm Sunday and then quickly turned into a brutal ‘murderous death’ and Crucifixion.
It is also about relationships.
If you follow the life of Jesus, he met with and knew many people and loved deeply.
It was all a part of the whole picture. The story of Jesus.
So many people were involved in the scenes that created the Easter story, just like the Christmas story.
God involved people, just like you and me.
He could have done it differently but he didn’t make that choice.
It was purposeful and powerful to finish the story in this dramatic way, so we would understand as much as we can and believe deep within our hearts his love for us.
As we read in the word about the events leading up to the day of Crucifixion, we read that Jesus was deeply moved and emotionally torn, just as any of us would be feeling when death is near.
In the garden we find him withdrawing and prayerful.
He had been preparing them for the last few days that death was pending for him, and even though he was God in the spiritual sense, he was also man on the personal level.
No one wanted to be crucified. It was torturous and brutal.
It was humiliating and horrible. It was terrifying and painful.
In Luke chapter 22:39 the word tells us Jesus struggled in vs 41:
He walked away about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup from me.
Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.
At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief.
He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? get up and pray so you will not give in to temptation.”
The journey to follow was his journey.
He knew it would be hard and he also knew it must happen.
He also knew at a time of great stress some would walk away from him.
I often wonder how he stayed so strong and firm, but I also know it was the power within him being restrained. The reason for his birth was in full preparation for his death.
It was all in the master plan.
I often wonder what the disciples thought about as they remembered the scenes and the memories shared with him. Just as we do the same when we lose someone we love, we often look back and remember the fond moments we spent with them.
Remembering the conversations shared.
The tender moments of friendship and memories treasured.
Do you suppose they remembered Jesus in that way?
I think they had a combination of fond memories and deep regret.
He told them over and over he would be leaving them soon.
And they never really got it.
