What It Looks Like To Be A Disciple In A World Full Of Rage. UNITE Linky

Grade school, riding in our family’s van across the deserts of midland America.

Empty space as far as the eye could see. Open skies begging for something real…

Something tangible to see.

Glimpses, pockets of water, trick my eye. Mirage’s washing along the sun-beaten road, or in spaces along the horizon.

Yet, deep under every desert lies Living Water waiting to quench what’s seen on the surface.

Winds swirl along the desert, carrying what isn’t rooted.

Pulling at the earth, spinning along the flat open surfaces. As if storms were made to uproot us, God alone pulls and spins, calling His creation, to reach the heavens.

And can’t feel we like that too…

Living in a world undone; flat, water scarce, dry lands….So much of what’s going on around us desperate for Living Water.

The Sanhedrin

In the Bible there were two men, Sanhedrin. Like water in the desert, they kept
their faith underground, where others couldn’t see it.

Like us, they lived in a world hostile to truth and Christianity.

They had money, influence, and wealth. And yet, in the days of Jesus, they chose to keep what they believed, a secret.

And yet, true faith won’t stay silent amidst accusations, won’t give into the temptation to appease the rising storms around us. 

Jesus Burial

Jesus was buried during Passover, spring, when flowers bloom, grounds broken apart to what’s harbored underneath.

Bursting beauty waiting to come forth.

And yet, this visual of Jesus broken body buried, surrounded by flowers, can fill our breath with a fullness we don’t understand.

Jesus burial, in a garden, the same place the earth started, Adam and Eve’s grand-circling of everything broken, now made whole.

And can blossoms surround the crucifixion of our own souls? His gospel most often told, after knowing our own crucifixion? 

The spices used to bury Jesus; were of great worth, an expression of their love, an amount only used for royalty at that time.

Did Joseph and Nicodemus know that?

Yet…

• These hidden disciples were never able to offer outward expressions of their love while Jesus was alive. Why was that?
• They waited until Jesus death to honor and revere Him. For fear of persecution?
• Was their culture hostile to their departure from Jewish tradition? Of course.
• Would they have been ridiculed and scorn, and possibly even be put to death, if they walked by faith instead of ruled and customs? Almost absolutely.

And yet, don’t we also live in a culture becoming increasingly hostile to true faith and Christianity?

And I don’t know about you, but I have been feeling this pulling at me lately…

People pigeon-holing me into taking up weapons, when Jesus lain himself down willingly at His cross.

Still, to be honest, it’s easier to……

• Be like Joseph and Nicodemus and go underground with my faith.
• Come to Him in the night like Nicodemus, quietly, where no one can ridicule me.
• Not treasuring The Great Prize, because I am fearful of persecution.

Jesus was placed in a new tomb. Again, a symbol of new life without corruption. The honor only given to a king. 

Jesus wasn’t placed in a family tomb, which was custom. He died with a new family, a larger family in mind.

He died to incorporate the poor and wealthy, the proud and even those hiding their Christianity, like Joseph and Nicodemus.

And yet, they expected, “If we just kill Jesus, their movement will be over,” the powerful purposed.

But, little did they know, the death of a leader was just the beginning of a belief in a Savior that would not end.

And in the same way, when we put to death our will and our agenda…How much more can God use us, to make His great name known.

Faith Requires Risk

Joseph and Nicodemus put it all on the line when Nicodemus asked for Jesus body after His crucifixion.

And yet, why did they wait until Jesus death to profess their faith in Him?

Even more…why do we wait until all seems lost to rise up against those using power and wealth to intimidate us into silence…

Shouldn’t the mark of a true disciple be risking it all for His gospel…even if that means intimidation and persecution?

Those trips across the desert were some of the most contemplative times in my life. My soul longed for deep water, envisioned splashing in the mirages across the desert…

And yet, as I sat quiet as a grade-schooler, waiting for the lifeless dust to still..I knew that there was more. Somehow I got…

Spring always comes after winter.

Let’s not be like Joseph and Nicodemus, keeping our faith in the closet, in fear of persecution and rejection…

True faith rises, regardless of whether it’s popular.

Under every great desert lies oceans of living water.

Let’s be like Moses…

And let water gush from the stones in the desert we see.

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