Tag: Spring

A new and life-giving way

Hebrews 10:19-20 We can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

Mark 15:37-38 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

Our Lenten roses are still blooming, reminding me that the confessional life we practiced during Lent is meant to be not a fad but a lifestyle.

“Grammy, if it’s spring, why is it snowing?” asked six-year-old Caleb when he got off his school bus a couple of weeks ago.

“Caleb, we’re going to look for signs of spring!” his four-year-old sister Talita told him. “Come on!”

They didn’t stop at ten, the number I had suggested. They found sixteen signs of spring in their yard. And each time since that I’ve gone to their house, they’ve shown me more.

In this hemisphere, spring is associated with Easter. It’s a natural fit: the celebration of new life. In Brazil, though, Easter comes as fall begins to ease the heat of summer. Jesus is truly a man for all seasons.

Since I’m in Pittsburgh, though, I’ve been thinking about new things. A quick survey of the New Testament revealed references to 33 new things (plus repeated references) in the NLT New Testament. For this brief Easter season (which ends with Pentecost on May 19), I’m going to choose a few of those to highlight, beginning today with one of the consequences of Jesus’ death and resurrection: direct access to God.

This was a completely new concept for Jews steeped in God’s holy inaccessibility. God’s Presence filled a small space in the Temple protected by a thick curtain (9cm/3 ½ inches thick, according to Jewish tradition). Hebrews 9:7-8 reminds us that “only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year … the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.” (See Luke 1 for a story about this. The chosen priest entered the Most Holy Place with a cord tied around his ankle, so his body could be pulled out in case he was struck dead by the holiness of God.)

I find the tearing of this 3 ½ inches-thick curtain, from top to bottom, one of the most startling and intriguing collateral events associated with Jesus’ death. Clearly, no human could have done this. Hebrews tells us that now we can “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God” for his help and mercy (4:16). And Paul says our own bodies are now the Temple of God, where Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20, 2 Corinthians 6:16). Think about that next time you’re tempted to abuse or misuse your body!

Jesus, through his incarnate life, brought God close to us. Through his death, he ended the separation between us and his Father. And in his resurrection and ascension, he left his Spirit to indwell, teach, nurture, guide, convict, gift, and empower us, growing beautiful fruit in our souls (Galatians 5:22-23).

What signs of new life do you find in the garden of your heart?

Let’s listen again to Kristyn Getty sing Before the Throne of God Above.

But Jesus got away

John 10:30-42 Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” …The people picked up stones to kill him. Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” Jesus replied, “Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. … The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them… And many who were there believed in Jesus.

Spring! It’s here!!!

Easter season is all about miracles. In just a few days, we’ll celebrate the greatest miracle of all time: Jesus died, but now he’s alive! Some miracles are big and splashy and attract lots of attention. Others are so personal perhaps no one else even knows about them, but they create a warm glow of gratefulness in your heart every time you think about what God did for you.

Monday night a gal from Venezuela raised the question, “How can we experience the Holy Spirit’s presence with us when we’re going through truly awful, no good, terribly scary times?” I found myself talking about how important Lamentations 3:22-24 became for me during my tough times with Karis. My world had narrowed down to surviving each hour. Jeremiah told me every day, The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies begin afresh each morning.

You know what miracle God did for me personally during the most awful of the awful years? I was hardly eating or sleeping. Karis took two steps forward and three steps back, again and again. My stress level was off the charts. Yet I was not sick a single day that year! There was not a single day I was unable to show up and do what I needed to do for my daughter.

I am in awe of John as a writer. Consider chapter 10. The first half, set between the dramatic healing of the blind man in chapter 9 and Jesus’ discussion about miracles (in between having his life threatened), tells us about Jesus being our Shepherd. Sometimes his care takes the form of a big, splashy miracle. Sometimes the miracle blooms in knowing he’s with us, walking through whatever it is with us. Not leaving us stuck, alone. That’s a miracle with staying power.

Karis always believed she would not live one minute longer or shorter than her Shepherd planned for her, but she still had to do her part to stay as well as she could be. Jesus too, in this chapter, knew it wasn’t yet his time to die, so he dodged the bullets—oops, I mean stones. Sometimes he stayed around to chat, but sometimes he got out of there. At all times he was in control. At all times he was in tune with his Father who loved him (v. 17).

Have you experienced a miracle you would like to share? I invite you to write it down and send it to me by email—no longer than one page. Your experience can encourage others who need a concrete reminder that God is still in the miracle-working business. I’ll watch for your story!

Here’s one of my favorite versions of Jesus as my shepherd.