What Love is This?

If you were not already aware, we are currently in the midst of Holy Week. Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday, two days from now is Good Friday, and it all concludes with Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday, whichever one you prefer). At this time of year, we are reminded of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, made on the cross for us at Calvary. Because of Christ's death, we are given the opportunity to repent, believe that He is the Son of God who died for our sins on that cross, and confess Him as Savior and Lord. That gift of love grants us access to an eternity with God. Eternity! We could not achieve that any other way, and had it not been for the love that Christ put on display by offering Himself in our place, we would be hopeless.

That kind of love is simply unfathomable, or it is, at least, to me. It is truly an extravagant love. Now, the stereotypical Easter story is definitely enough to bring you to your knees or even to a place of weeping. This year, more specifically this morning, I found myself on the edge of tears not with the story of the cross, but with the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, found in John 11:1-46.

I was simply blown away by the pure love and compassion that Jesus displayed throughout this whole ordeal. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, and in verse 5 it is made clear to us that Jesus loved each of them. Through an informant, Jesus learns that Lazarus is sick. Being God, Jesus knows the outcome of this as soon as he hears this news (well, actually even before that, but that is beside the point). He tells His disciples immediately that the sickness will not end in death, but rather it will result in the glorification of God. Jesus then purposely waits two more days, and then moves out with his disciples after telling them that Lazarus has "fallen asleep." The man was, in fact, dead, but as far as God was concerned, this was only temporary (hence the choice to describe the situation as having fallen asleep.).

Jesus eventually arrives in Bethany and is greeted by Martha, who was probably either crying or had been crying. Who can blame her? What she says first makes sense: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (verse 21). What she says next is truly astounding: "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You" (verse 22). In the following verses, Christ tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again and that He (Jesus) is the resurrection and the life, and that any who believe in Him will live even if they die. Martha tells Jesus she believes this, and then sends for Mary.

Mary enters the scene visibly weeping, and tells Jesus that had He been there, her brother would not have died. In verse 33, we are told, due to her weeping and those who came to support her who were also weeping, that Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and was troubled." This is, for the first time in my various times of reading this passage, where I started to really have trouble holding it together. Jesus asks where they have laid Lazarus, to which He is told "Lord, come and see." This is then followed by the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept" (verse 35). As simple as this verse is, these two words are packed with an incredible amount of love and emotion. In times previous, I read over this without so much as a blink. This morning, I stopped in my literary tracks. "See how He loved Him" was what was said immediately following this moment. I think what really gets me about this is that before arriving at the scene, Jesus knew Lazarus was dead. Nothing changed. He knew everything about the situation. Yet in the presence of His people...in the presence of those who were hurting...Christ hurt with them. 

The love that Jesus displayed in this moment is, in my mind, arguably one of the best moments outside of the cross that illustrates just how much God loves His people. He loves us enough to hurt with us...to weep with us. He was deeply moved then, and I believe without a doubt that He still becomes deeply moved when He sees some of the directions that our lives take. Yet through it all, He boundlessly loves us. This limitless love was truly on display in the sacrifice He made for us on the cross, but at the moment I find it difficult to simply comprehend the love He displayed in John 11:33-35. I just cannot get past "Jesus wept." This extremely real love makes Jesus that much more relatable to us as humans.

What love is this? What kind of love does God have for us that He would be moved enough to weep when He knew that He would ultimately raise Lazarus from the dead and all would be well? It is by far an undeserved and indescribable love. It is the same love with which Christ went to the cross to bear each and every one of our sins. Christ died to make a way for us to eternally know God because He loved us too much to leave us with no way out of eternal separation from Him.

The love of Jesus in the story of Lazarus is simply too beautiful to breeze past. Take a moment to absorb that story. I challenge you, in the midst of the Holy Week story, to not let passages like this one pass you by. It is in moments like those where we can sometimes most tangibly feel the love of God. The moments when we hurt, when we fear, when we feel alone, when we feel hopeless... Jesus loves us too much to let us go through this life without a loving friend. He can be our Lord and Savior, but sometimes the mere fact that He can also be our loving friend to be there when we need Him most can be enough to satiate our souls.

Take a moment to ponder these thoughts, and while you do, perhaps listen to What Love is This by Kari Jobe in the background. Meditate on and drink in the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding.

Choose Your Voice

There are many voices, thoughts, ideas, concepts, and views that are constantly clamoring for our attention. Perhaps it feels as if there are so many, that we simply slip into one or several of them and choose not to think or speak for ourselves.

Admittedly, that is definitely the easy way out. Why exert any effort to make a name for yourself? Why try to fight the machine? Just sit back and conform to the patterns around you, and everything will be fine. Right?

No. Absolutely not. We do not exist for mechanical uniformity. Each and every one of us has a voice, and we have a right to use it. Before we get carried away with my thought process, let's make one thing clear: making your voice heard can be a wonderful thing, but I would strongly advise doing so in a manner that is both intelligent and respectful. Otherwise, you will come across as incompetent, belligerent, shallow, or a combination of the three.

One of my favorite bands is We Came As Romans, whom I have blogged about before. The chorus of one of their songs contains lyrics that are as follow:

No one is born the king of silence / So choose your voice / Just speak up, don't back down / Don't wear that crown / Let your voice scream out / Don't let it hold you down / Be true to who you are

As a whole, 'The King of Silence' talks about how the world is full of selfishness and may not always be with you, but those are not excuses for us to take a backseat and not take a stand. Sometimes, we need to be the voice in the wilderness. Sometimes, in the midst of all that is wrong or uncomfortable, we need to be the ones to speak out against the dismal status quo. Sometimes, we need to put our fear behind us and power forward to a better set of circumstances.

I am not for a second saying that making your voice heard is easy, because for some, it just is not natural to take on that role. But we need to overcome that fear. You and I each have a voice that is meant to be heard. Again, we must do so responsibly, but it is within our power to speak up and be true to who we are. This is especially true when it comes to being in situations in which something is morally wrong. Never compromise your character: don't be the king (or queen) of silence. Speak up with excellence and care, and do not settle for mediocrity or complacency.

Useless for the Manure Pile

Okay, so assuming you read the title of this post, you are most likely curious enough to actually read this and are probably thinking one of the following thoughts:

• Did I actually read that correctly? (Yes, yes you did)
• It's not often that I see the word "manure," especially on the Web...
• What on God's green earth is this guy going to talk about?

Needless to say, I would agree that Useless for the Manure Pile is a very strange title indeed. However, there is a small chance that you may know what I am referencing. This phrase comes out of Luke 14:34-35, which reads:

"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (NASB)

The greater context of this passage (verses 25-35) is where Jesus is describing how we need to carry our own cross and be willing to give up anything and everything for Him in order to be his disciple. Then we get to the salt metaphor. Essentially, what Jesus is saying here is that we are either wholly His, or we are not: there appears to be no middle ground. We are either salty and thusly effective in our daily walk of discipleship, or we are tasteless salt, which is absolutely worthless. And by worthless, I mean not even worthy of a stinking pile of manure. If you are not even worthy of being chucked into a pile of excremental fertilizer, that would put you pretty low on the totem pole.

I read this passage earlier today, and it served as a wakeup call. I pray it does for you as well. If we fail to completely give ourselves to Jesus, are we giving Him anything at all? It would seem that we cannot effectively only give a part of us to Him; it has to be everything. I will be the first one to tell you that doing so is certainly not easy, but the calling to be Christ's disciple is a calling to something greater than ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to fully serve the God who died for us simply because He loved us. If what we are currently giving Him is not even fit for the manure pile, it's probably time to make a change.