The Measure of a Mustard Seed

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Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13:31,32).

What is America’s tallest mountain? Largest lake? Largest city? Most populous state? If you answered Mt. McKinley, Lake Superior, New York City, and California, you’re part of the proof that Americans pay attention to big things. We live in bigger houses, eat larger meals, and work longer hours than almost any other people in the world.  We tend to live by the maxim, “Bigger is better.”

But Jesus takes the “less is more” approach.  He says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.” Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It’s so small that you could hold thousands in your hand. Why would Jesus tell us this? Because it’s possible to be so focused on what looks big and impressive that we overlook him and his blessings.

It’s a common mistake. At first glance, there was nothing big or impressive about Jesus. When he came to establish his kingdom, he arrived as a child of a poor girl in a conquered country. He was born in a barn. He grew up in an obscure village. His followers were nobodies. He never wrote a book or held a high position. He never lived in a palace or even a house of his own. After a few years in the public eye, he was killed on a cross like a common slave. On Good Friday he looked small and powerless.

The measure of a mustard seed is not its tiny size, but the huge plant that it grows into. In the same way, the measure of Jesus’ humble life and death is not how many people missed its meaning at the time, but what he accomplished. By his perfect life and his innocent death, Jesus has freed the world from the guilt of sin. When Jesus rose from his humble grave to conquer death on Easter morning, he proved that what seems small and weak can be amazingly powerful.

Countless millions who have put their trust in him have become part of his eternal kingdom. What about you?

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday

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In Christian churches all over the world, the Sunday before Easter is celebrated as Palm Sunday. There are processions and parades; choirs of children and adults singing hosannas and hymns…and there are palms. Churchgoers walk on them, children wave them, and altars wear them. All this is done to commemorate the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival.

It is a strange yet stirring scene that the Gospels paint of that first Palm Sunday: Jesus is riding on a donkey, accompanied by his disciples and a great crowd of people. As Jesus approaches the city, some in the crowd take off their outer garments and lay them in his path, to roll out the “red carpet” for him. The crowds, even the children, sing psalms and hymns from the Old Testament that spoke of Jesus as the Savior God had promised to send his people.

And there are palms. People cut palm branches and took them to meet Jesus. With some of those palm branches the people paved the way for Jesus to enter the city; others waved the palm branches as they sang their hosannas and hymns of praise to Jesus.

But why palm branches?

Palm branches had a special place in the religious lives of the Israelite people. Once a year, they used palm branches to build shelters during a joyful celebration called the Feast of Tabernacles.

And palm trees enjoyed a certain prominence all year round because they were the evergreen trees of the desert. They kept their leaves even when everything else withered and died. Palm branches were symbols of life and joy and victory over death.

Palm Sunday palms are appropriate for our Palm Sunday worship too. They remind us that Jesus came to Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday as the Savior whom God promised to deliver his people and bring life and salvation for all.

But even as we wave our palm branches and echo the hosannas of that day in Jerusalem, it’s important to understand the kind of deliverance, the kind of life and salvation that Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to bring. It was not an earthly deliverance from earthly enemies. It was not salvation from social injustice, poverty, and warfare. It was not an earthly life free from every evil. Any who expected—or still do expect—those things from Jesus are sadly disappointed.

The reason Jesus came to Jerusalem in such a strange way—riding a donkey (not a prancing stallion or on clouds of glory), accompanied by common people (not military men or angel hosts)—is that he came to die. God’s gracious plan for the salvation of sinners required Jesus, God’s own eternal Son, to die in shame as the substitute for all people, thus freeing sinners from the punishment they deserved in hell. To do that Jesus needed not an awesome display of the power and might that truly are his, but the kind of lowliness and humility we see on Palm Sunday.

The Palm Sunday crowds proclaimed Jesus to be a king, and he is indeed a King. But he is a King who hid his glory to die in shame in order to deliver all people from their sins and from the punishment of eternal death they deserved.

Someone once noted that it is not a palm branch that hangs above the altar in most Christian churches, but a cross. The cross reminds us that Palm Sunday, with all its jubilation and celebration, is not the end of the story. If it were, we would be left without a Savior from sin, without hope for eternity.

The Palm Sunday story continues on Good Friday at the cross of Calvary. There the King of glory died to take away the sins of the world. But even the cross and Jesus’ cold, dark grave are not the end of the story. Jesus rose in victory over death and the grave on Easter Sunday morning. The resurrection declares Christ’s mission accomplished; the resurrection says sinners are acquitted in God’s courtroom.

In the gospel, Jesus offers the forgiveness of sins that he secured on Easter Sunday to all. All who believe in Jesus as their Savior have peace with God here—and a place in heaven forever.

In Revelation 7, the apostle John tells about a second celebration that he saw (this time in a vision), a celebration in which a great multitude was standing in front of the Lamb. Those in that crowd were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, and they were singing this song of praise: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb” (verses 9 &10).

May our Palm Sunday celebrations here be but a prelude to that second celebration John wrote about: a celebration with our Savior and his people, with palm branches and with hymns of joy and victory—the celebration that will take place in heaven and that will never end!

King of kings and Lord of lords

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On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:16).

We live in a world that is often affected by affliction, tragedy and disaster. Terrorist attacks, war, crime, shootings, lies, cancel culture, murder, disease, natural disasters—these are just some of the evils that affect our world. As sinful people living in a sinful world, these are sad realities that we must sometimes face. Even if we aren’t directly affected by any great tragedy, problems still affect us all.

Evil in the world around us and problems in our own lives can make us afraid. They can make us feel weak and helpless. Sometimes evil seems to have the upper hand. Sometimes it seems like this world is out of control. We might wonder, “Where is God?  Who is in control?”

Our Savior Jesus is in control. The Bible assures us, “The Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers” (Revelation 17:14). Jesus, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” is King and Lord supreme. He is in control of all things. He rules for the good of his people. His ultimate goal is to bring us safely to our eternal home in heaven.

“The Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers” (Revelation 17:14).

The evidence of his rule is seen in God’s plan for our salvation. On the cross, Jesus conquered sin, death, and the devil. He wasn’t caught off guard and forced to die. He has always been in control, even on the cross. Jesus willingly gave his life for us, only to take it up again. His death on the cross seemed like defeat, but he rose victorious. He has power over life and death. His resurrection is certain proof of our salvation and assures us of his loving rule.

He remains in control today, despite how it may appear to our human eyes. The Savior, whose love moved him to die for us, is the same Savior whose love leads him to rule everything for our eternal good. That truth calms our fears. It gives us strength to face the difficulties of life.

Especially in difficult times, we need to go to the one who is in control. We need to draw near him through his Word—the Bible. There we hear his promises. There we receive his comfort and reassurance.

He is King of kings and Lord of lords. What comfort I find in that truth!

Redeemer

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“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).

In the Star-Spangled Banner, Americans sing about living in the “land of the free and home of the brave.” But do we always feel free? Aren’t there times when we feel as if “chains” were shackling us? There are the chains of responsibility at work and home, the pains we face or the financial strains that come our way. There are the chains of guilt that press us down as we look back at our past wrongdoings.

In the Bible Job tells us, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Easter celebrates the reality that our Redeemer lives. A redeemer is someone who delivers others out of trouble by paying a great price for their freedom. Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world to be our Redeemer. From what did he redeem us?

Sin puts us in opposition to God. He is holy—completely without sin—and requires us to be holy too if we are to live with him.  Indeed, what we know of ourselves and all those around us proves the truth that Bible states, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  What’s the result? God’s word tells us: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). That’s more than death that we associate with funerals and cemeteries. Our sinfulness puts us under the sentence of God to be separated from him forever in a very real, painful place called hell.

The wonderful news is that Jesus paid for our release; he bought our freedom from sin’s punishment. The price he paid to free us was his holy blood. He took our place under the sentence of death. He shed his blood and sacrificed his life to free us from the curse of sin and the condemnation of hell. Three days after he was placed in the grave, he rose from the dead on Easter to prove that his payment was complete and we are freed. “Because I live, you also will live,” Jesus assures us (John 14:19).

Rely on Jesus your Redeemer. By his blood he bought you for a life of glory with him now and forever. As your Redeemer he is always present to help as you deal with the “chains” of living in this world. You can trust him for he loves you.

Build on Solid Rock

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Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24,25).

If you had to evacuate your home because of rising water following severe storms, imagine how difficult it would be to return and assess the damage: muddy floors, moldy walls, and worldly possessions headed for a dumpster. It would be emotionally devastating to observe the physical destruction that the waters caused.

Jesus told a story about building on a location to avoid destruction. He compared a wise builder and a foolish one. The foolish builder built his house on a nice sandy stretch by the water. It was a beautiful place to live, until the storm hit. There was no defense against the rising waters—a complete loss (maybe even a loss of life!). In contrast, there was a wise builder. He built his house in the hills; he spent the extra time and money to firmly position it on solid rock. It was worth it. The building remained high above the flood waters and stood strong against the wind.

Jesus’ short story speaks volumes for our lives. He wants us to think carefully about the foundation on which we build our lives. It needs to be strong when life’s storms strike.  When the company is downsized, we want strength to keep a positive outlook. When conflict loosens family ties, we want tight knots to hold it together. When we’ve really messed up, the guilt must not sweep us away. When bad news comes, there needs to be rock-like endurance to get us through.

There’s much advice today about successfully building our lives: build up a network of reliable family and friends, develop more of a positive attitude, get different forms of insurance for rainy days, and pursue proven avenues of achievement. But in the end, they’re all “sand foundations.” The storms that overwhelm human hearts and hopes are far too violent. We need something stronger to build on.

Jesus tells us to build our lives and futures on the solid rock of his word. It takes some time and effort to build that way, but Jesus says it’s worth it. Hearing of his sacrifice on the cross brings us the lasting peace that we’re forgiven. Hearing that Jesus rose and ascended to rule over all things gives us firm hope in the midst of life’s uncertainties.

Don’t build your life on shifting sand. Build on solid rock. That’s Jesus. His teachings give you the strongest foundation for life. Confidently build your life on him.

Canceled Debts

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Jesus said, “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41-42)

One day Jesus was invited to dinner at the home of a religious leader named Simon. He was a member of the group called Pharisees that believed their good works made them worthy before God; they didn’t believe that they needed to be saved from their sins. There was an unexpected guest at the gathering—a sinful woman, a prostitute. She had come to honor Jesus by pouring expensive perfume and even her own tears on his feet. Simon was upset that Jesus was welcoming the praise of this sinful woman. He thought that if Jesus really knew who she was, he would not even let her touch him. The truth is that Jesus knew that she had lived a sinful life. He also knew that her joyful tears were born of his forgiving love for her.

So Jesus told a story to teach Simon and us a lesson about forgiveness. There were two men who were in debt. One of them owed a money lender about three years’ worth of wages. The other owed the same money lender about 50 days of wages. Neither was able to repay, so the money lender graciously canceled both debts. Jesus posed a question: “Now which one of them will love him more?”  Simon answered correctly that the one who had the larger debt canceled would love the money lender more.

Jesus’ short story speaks volumes for our lives. We all have a huge debt that we cannot pay. We cannot make up for all the sinful things we do, not by doing more good things or by doing less bad things. We cannot cancel the debt of sin by anything we think, do, or say.

But God saw our desperate need and loves us so much that he canceled our debt of sin. He did that by having his Son, Jesus, pay it completely for everyone. The price he paid was his death. As the sinless Son of God, he was able to take all of our sins on himself and suffer their punishment for us. By his death, he canceled the debt of our sin. Three days after he died, he rose from the dead to prove that his sacrifice counted for all of us.

The Ultimate Miracle

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“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Matthew 28:5,6).

Alfred Hitchcock once wrote a story about a woman who murdered her husband and was sentenced to life in prison. She was determined to escape.

As her prison bus approached the penitentiary, she saw an elderly prison groundskeeper filling up a grave in a cemetery outside the prison walls. Immediately, she plotted her escape.

Once inside, she befriended the groundskeeper. He was going blind and needed eye surgery. “I’ll give you the money for your surgery if you’ll help me escape,” she said. He agreed.

This was the plan. The next time she heard the death bell toll, she would sneak down to the workroom where the casket was prepared. She would slide inside with the body and pull the cover closed. The groundskeeper would wheel the casket out to the cemetery, lower it into the grave and cover it with dirt. But that night, when nobody was watching, he’d return and dig up the casket and set her free.

One night the death bell tolled. The plan was executed. The woman waited for the man to dig up the grave as planned. However, several hours passed, and no one showed up to rescue her.

In complete panic, she reached into her pocket for a match. Once lit, she glanced at the corpse beside her and saw that it was the old man himself.

Her only hope lay buried right next to her! This woman had placed her hope in another human being who she thought would be able to save her. But he went to his grave and ended up taking her with him.

Friends, every religious leader in history is in his grave right now except one, and that’s Jesus Christ. His tomb is empty. He is not there because he lives! Since Jesus is God, he has the power to overcome the grave.

That’s why Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate miracle. You can place all your trust in him to rescue you from death. His death paid for your sins, and his resurrection guarantees that you will live with him forever!

Forgiveness

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What frightens you?

Spiders? Loneliness? Getting sick? Losing your job? Losing the ability to walk?

Every morning many of us drape our legs over the edge of our beds, plant feet squarely on the floor, and stumble into a brand new day. We may mutter at the alarm, squint painfully at the sun, and shudder at that first cold blast from the shower. But we are on our feet. Balanced. Strong.

Can you imagine losing the ability to walk?

One man in Jesus’ day couldn’t walk. Paralyzed. He knew that Jesus had the power to make him walk. But he couldn’t get to Jesus because he couldn’t walk.

What do you do? You have your four friends put you on a mat and carry you to Jesus.

Jesus is in a house, the crowd was so packed that the lame man’s friends can’t get through.

What do you do? You have your four friends carry you to the roof. The front door is blocked? Let’s make a door through the ceiling. No kidding. The four friends start pulling off roof tiles.

Jesus is in the house. Noise on the roof. Suddenly, a man dropping from the ceiling.

All so he could walk.

Yet Jesus’ first words to this man? “Be courageous. Your sins are forgiven.”

Excuse me? I don’t think he came to have his sins forgiven. He wants to walk!

Do we sometimes feel that physical difficulty or physical loss is the real issue in our lives? Are we afraid of loneliness, getting sick, or losing our job? When we think of God, do we work so hard to get his attention, sure that to be healed of our difficulty will make all well?

Jesus knew that if he gave the paralyzed man only the ability to walk, he still hadn’t really helped him. Jesus knew that paralyzed men and walking men all die anyway. Jesus wanted this paralyzed man to be ready for death.

People die because people disobey God’s rules. God commands us to be patient, helpful, joyful, and content. He commands us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. He commands us to rejoice in suffering. Bizarre? It makes us angry, doesn’t it! “God, you have no right to expect all that.” How our sinful side hates God. This is why we die. Death is punishment for hating God, for sinning. But death is just the beginning. Punishment lasts forever in hell.

A man came to Jesus looking to walk. Jesus knew that bad legs were the least of his problems.

What could Jesus have said to the lame man? “You jerk. You disobey me every day, and now you want something out of me? To hell you will go.” Jesus had every right.

He has every right to speak the same to me.

Yet what does Jesus say? Amazing! “Be courageous. Your sins are forgiven.”

Your sins are forgiven too. Your sins were sent away onto the shoulders of Jesus. He suffered God’s punishment for your sin, and that punishment was death. Because Jesus has died on the cross in your place and suffered hell for you, you have been declared innocent in God’s sight.

That’s too good to be true! Some who heard Jesus say it the first time felt the same. So to show the crowd that he had the authority to forgive sins, Jesus made the lame man walk. Unable to walk. That wasn’t the lame man’s real problem.

What wonder, that Jesus shows us our real problem, and then in mercy takes that problem away.

Peace of Jesus

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It was more of the same: The usual morning battle to persuade the sixteen year old to get in and out of the shower in under an hour.  The struggle to get the seven month old fed, dressed, changed, and dressed again.  The usual clash with thousands of other drivers also trying to shave minutes off their daily commute times.  The mental fatigue involved with trying to figure out what went so wrong that there are separation papers in the glove box needing to be signed by Friday.  The physical wars all over the world covered daily on talk radio news.  It was more of the same.

As she squealed into stall number 21 five minutes late for work, the stupid bumper sticker on the Chevy in stall 20 caught her eye again as it did every day: “No Jesus – no peace; Know Jesus – know peace.” She scoffed to herself and then shouted out loud for all to hear, “What-EVER!” sounding a lot like her teenager.

Although the noise of life makes it difficult to have peace, this is exactly what Jesus promises, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

Jesus’ peace most likely won’t quiet a screaming child.  Jesus’ peace doesn’t guarantee a slick commute in the morning.  Jesus’ peace won’t make all your problems and all the world’s conflicts fade away.

Jesus does however promise a peace that will quiet your heart.  Knowing that Jesus came into this world to heal damaged relationships with God brings peace to a troubled soul.  Knowing that Jesus came to open wide the doors to heaven brings true peace to confused and searching minds.  Knowing that Jesus is waiting to welcome you to his eternal home where there will be no more “noise” makes all the noises of life a little easier to deal with.

Trust him; he will not disappoint you.  Jesus promises, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”

The Lord's Supper

Maundy Thursday

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The Thursday of Holy Week, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, is called Maundy Thursday. The name comes from the Latin word “mandatum” which means “commandment.” The word appears in the Latin translation of John 13:34, where Jesus said to his disciples: “A new commandment (mandatum) I give you: Love one another.” While Jesus truly did give his followers that great command on the night before Good Friday, Maundy Thursday is most memorable for its “suppers.”

Many people are familiar with Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper. In that work of art, Da Vinci portrays the Lord Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. The Passover meal was an annual festival in Israel held to commemorate how God at the time of Moses delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. Exodus 12 tells how God, to protect his people from death in Egypt, instructed every Israelite household to take an unblemished year-old male lamb and slaughter it. The Israelites were to paint the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes, and roast the lamb whole and eat it. God promised that when he saw the blood of lambs marking the homes of the Israelites, he would “pass over” their homes and spare them from the death coming upon Egypt.

The Passover meal foreshadowed a far greater deliverance from a far worse slavery through a much better lamb. Just as God saw the people of Israel living as slaves in Egypt and doomed to die there, so he saw all people living as slaves to sin and doomed to die in that slavery eternally. But God had a plan to deliver his people. That plan also focused on a lamb, but not one from the flocks of Israel. This Lamb was God’s own Lamb, his own dear Son Jesus Christ. This Lamb would deliver a world of sinners from their slavery to sin by shedding his blood.

Because the true Passover Lamb had now come to take away the sins of the world, the Passover that Jesus ate with his disciples on Maundy Thursday was indeed the “last supper” of its kind. During that meal, the Lord instituted a new supper to replace the Passover. That new supper is the Sacrament of Holy Communion, or as it is often called, “the Lord’s Supper.” The Bible tells us that Jesus took some of the bread from the Passover meal, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.” He also took a cup of the wine that was used for the Passover and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Drink from it all of you. This is my blood which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus made it clear that he wanted his disciples to continue to celebrate this Supper until he returns and brings the world to an end.

So Christians gather often to receive the Lord’s Supper. Together with the bread, Jesus gives us his body that bore the punishment for our guilt. Together with the wine, Jesus gives us his blood that was sacrificed to free us from our sins. Our Lord does this to assure us that the death in hell we deserved has passed over us; through Jesus we have life—eternal life! Indeed, with believing hearts we rejoice to receive the Lord’s Supper often for the tremendous blessings that we have through Jesus: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

And one day, our Lord will invite us to another supper, a wonderful, eternal supper, a supper that the Bible in Revelation 19 calls “the wedding supper” of the Lamb. On Maundy Thursday Jesus had pointed his disciples to this supper, “the Lamb’s supper” — he spoke of his glorious return, and he promised that his faithful disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my kingdom” (Luke 22:30). The Lamb’s supper will take place when Jesus returns in glory to claim the people he redeemed by his death on the cross and bring them home to heaven. Jesus was looking to that day when he promised his disciples: “In my Father’s house are many rooms…I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Every year our observance of Maundy Thursday is a reminder of how God delivered us from our sins through his Lamb. Every time we receive “the Lord’s Supper” God assures us of the forgiveness of our sin, and we get a foretaste of “the Lamb’s Supper” that we will enjoy eternally with our Lord at his table in heaven.