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Thursday, April 17, 2025 Maundy Thursday, 

John 13:15-17 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than His master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Passover is so much more than celebrating the moment of transition from slavery to freedom for the nation of Israel. Moses was chosen to lead these people and God designed and led his life events to prepare him for this momentous endeavor. For months prior to Passover God had been revealing to all Egyptians and Hebrews; He was more wise and powerful that the gods they worshiped. God was meticulously, with precision, setting the foundation for great prosperity through provision and protection. These blessings came with growth in knowing God’s character and understanding His upside down Kingdom. 

The annual Passover meal was and still is, so much more than the remembrance of a night. It is a return to God’s faithfulness then, so that we may know and stand strong in His faithfulness now. 

What was the bottom line in the last supper? Jesus was demonstrating service to the Kingdom through kindness, patience and love to all those God’s had given Him, beginning with those closest to Him, His family and dearest friends. This moment was full of deep theology and poignant, breath taking, sharing of life’s most important choice, come or stay. You have a standing invitation so don’t refuse..….come to the table. 

Spy Wednesday

Luke 22:4-6 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the Temple guard and discussed with them how He might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give Him money. He consented and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. 

On Wednesday, plans were set in motion to capture Jesus and kill Him. In the words of Caiaphas the high priest, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (John 11:49-50) The Jewish people, in theory, abhorred the Roman occupation, but there were those who had found a way to get along and even prosper in these dark times. Jesus was disrupting the status quo. Make Rome mad, they come down on all of us, stir up riots among the locals and again, Rome would respond violently. I get their dilemma, but an open heart, spirit and mind would have solved their faith crisis. Instead, they chose self government, the very thing God had said not to do. They depended on their stubborn vision for the future, their own logic and ability to manipulate circumstances with their perceived wisdom and authority. They couldn’t have been more wrong. God’s word NEVER alluded to an earthly prosperity through political machinations. It is through His power of love and hope, shared among believers, and the sending out of the Church, that true victory over all this life’s trouble is found.

 Holy Tuesday 

Matthew 21:18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on His way back to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. 

A beautiful thing that bore no fruit. John, who was with Jesus at this time, knew and specifically wrote that the tree had leaves. The tree was not diseased, attacked by locusts or other insects. It had all the components it needed to produce fruit, yet none was there. It was ornamental only, using resources, yet producing nothing of substance and worth. 

Is our Christianity ornamental only? Have we feathered our nest with our resources, made ourselves comfortable with a design that forbids others to ask in need? Jesus took action against such status and the book of Revelation teaches again the danger of spiritual contentment. It is the first cancer of spiritual death. Grow, but serve too! Meet the need of light in this very dark world. MAKE SOME FRUIT!….love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control………

Matthew 21:12-15 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” He said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of robbers.” The blind and lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them. But the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the Temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 

Jesus spent Sunday night out of the city and on Monday morning He returned to the Temple. He was increasing and intensifying His public messages through parables that used simple imagery to explain the Kingdom of God. Jewish leaders were outraged by what they perceived to be blasphemous language, but their true resentment was the threat of Jesus’ popularity and influence out pacing their own.They angrily confronted him. 

In this day of cancel culture, remember, Jesus made the Temple, corrupt as it was, His place of peace, because of what it legitimately was, a House of Prayer and communion with God, not what it had become at the hands of men. 

In the scene it tells of children still singing praises this day after Jesus triumphantly arrived. Were the religious leaders irritated at the noise and ruckus that follows excited children? But, truly, what a precious window into that day. Surely these littles understood Jesus was clearing the temple of cheaters and abusers and speaking out against those who hurt rather than love. 

There is great evidence that many early theologians came from the generation that were small children when Jesus walked the earth. Oh! How I love this reminder that a child’s time at the feet of Jesus is never wasted.  

The events of the first Holy Week changed the course of history, offering hope to those who, through faith in His sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection, are call Children of God.

Action:  Humbly Reflect

Response: Humble Gratitude

John 12:12-15 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him shouting, “Hosanna” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written. “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.  

It had been 400 years since the people had a prophet and now hope was returning as Jesus’ miracles and healing changed lives. Thousands of people lined the streets of Jerusalem to welcome this man they believed had come to rescue them from Rome’s cruel oppression and set up an earthly kingdom, reestablishing Israel as THE world’s authority and political power forever. 

Palm branches are an ancient symbol of victory. These people were ready for radical change, but there were signs throughout Jesus’ ministry that His Kingship was not of this world. Even Jesus’ mode of transportation that day, a lowly donkey, opposed to a war horse, suggested an earthy rule for the settling of vendetta was not the plan, ever. 

The kingdom being introduced was an eternal, universal state of being, not local or political in motivation. Just as Jesus’ birth was unadorned and humble, so would be the inauguration of God’s Kingdom. A good refocus of Kingdom priorities perpetuated by  Jesus during His last few days are found in I Corinthians 13:1-10 and Galatians 5:22-23.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.  Job 19:25-26 (Job 9-21)

Job and his three friends enter into a great debate. Job insists he is not wicked and on several occasions, declares his righteousness to both his sages and God. However, his theology, bad things only happen to bad people, doesn’t square with his reality and the agony is bitter!

Evil people experiencing no visible evidence of God’s judgement or wrath while righteous Job’s pain and loss are excruciating, is noted. Job adds, he could accuse the same friends that hold him guilty of unseen, unspoken, yet ‘obvious’ transgressions, of worse sin than any possible wrong doing on his part. His sarcasm doesn’t set well and he finds himself completely alone. Chapter 19:13-19 lists all those who have abandoned him. Still, Job defends his righteousness and asserts, God sees him as he truly is.

Then! Job’s heartbroken, at times sarcastic, defense becomes faith! Not his old faith, but new and improved with clarity and definition. I KNOW my Redeemer, the one who sacrifices for man’s soul, lives and therefore, I too will live. (ARE YOU LISTENING SATAN?) Job finds hope, born of a faith that didn’t die of natural causes, and begins to understand an everlasting life.

From his primitive understanding of a Creator God and misunderstood justice comes a story of faith with a ‘no matter what’ endurance. When you have this, you have everything!

Love,

Gretchen

He will yet fill you mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. Job 8:21 (Job 4-8)

Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew without doubt, that Jesus was the Son of God. With as much certainty as Mary understood Jesus’ virgin birth, Job knew his own righteousness. His faith was in God, not the blessings God bestowed. So why?!

Job is depicted as a patient, all enduring man, but on closer inspection a vocal protester is found. He pours out his heart to God, but God doesn’t seem to be listening, so Job longs for death and an end to his misery. In his grief his friends come to comfort. In their efforts to console, they begin a feeble attempt to explain God’s behavior. In many ways they are correct. No one is blameless, God does judge and discipline. These thoughts turned into outright rebuke over Job’s apparent, secret, horrible sin. They suggest Job’s only hope is in repentance so that restoration may occur. Here is where they go terribly wrong.

It is in seeking a reason and placing blame that Job’s friends deviate from correct counsel. For example, Job is suffering greatly, therefore his sin is tremendous. I am not suffering, therefore, God must be more tolerant of my foibles. Yeah for me! Bummer for him, just repent and be done with it! (Please insert mild sarcasm.)

We are designed to define, explain and perpetually seek answers, but there is a fine line where we must stop with the questions. Knowing why the earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun is much different than understanding why an innocent child suffers from cancer or abuse. One answer we are entitled to, the other…… But! This I know, in everything, just as Job will soon discover, God is waiting to reveal a greater, deeper understanding of His Sovereignty and boundless love. Where answers can’t be found, faith does its best work.

Love,

Gretchen

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job:1:22 (Job 1-3)

Job was a wealthy desert prince, descendant of Abraham through Esau, and a really good man. His story takes place during Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, prior to the Exodus. The recording of his story is accredited to Moses who may have known him personally or in the very least, met his immediate family while in Midian for 40 years.

Satan approached God with an accusation against Job. He charged God’s favor as the source of Job’s faith.  Who wouldn’t praise God when one was enviably rich in every way?  God allowed Satan to put Job to the test. In the course of a day, Job lost his wealth, his children and his health. Three friends, wise men of their age, and his wife, promoted four misconceptions: Suffering is punishment, suffering is for correction, suffering stomps out hypocrisy by exposing hidden sin, and final justice happens in this life. Job’s story asks the ageless questions, “How can a good God allow so much bad?” and “Where does man’s destiny fit into God’s sovereign authority?”

Jesus Himself, suffered an unfathomable loss. He became fully man to experience the staggering pains and sorrows of human flesh. Job cursed the day of His birth, but never turned his anger toward God. Jesus had the power to curse, not just those who brought Him harm, but mankind for all eternity. Love stayed His hand and although Satan’s goal was to turn God completely against humanity, it didn’t work. 

Somewhere in Job’s life, He understood God’s love and anchored his only hope in Him alone. It was enough, it was God’s way and his destiny.

Love,

Gretchen

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward Heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified Him who lives forever. Daniel 4:34 ( Ezekiel 29:17-21, Daniel 4, Jeremiah 51:31-34) 

At the age of 59, Ezekiel’s prophecies come to an end as far as is recorded in scripture. With the prophecies of Tyre and Egypt’s destruction he grows quiet. It is possible that he lived long enough to see the Israel’s restoration begin, but it is not known with certainty. As Ezekiel’s work is concluding, Nebuchadnezzar is seeing the miraculous power of God over and over.  First in Daniel’s ability to describe and interpret dreams the king had never even spoken aloud, second, when he witnessed the Angel of the LORD rescue the three Hebrew men from his own wrath in the fiery furnace and finally, when he was boasting of his great success and was stricken with a mental illness for three and a half years.

Nebuchadnezzar  becomes delusional, believing he is an animal. He lives in the woods around the palace, but following his time of infirm, this great and proud man is humbled to the point that he finally understands his sinful state and need for the redeeming Grace of God. Babylon was a polytheistic culture, but the presence of a personal, exclusive and creative deity, The One True God, never stops reaching out to each one of us so that we will repent and become His child again and know there is no other. 

Until we realize that nothing good comes of our own strength, machinations and resources, we will never fully understand the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of our Loving Heavenly Father.

Happy Wednesday!

Gretchen

And I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with His glory. Ezekiel 43:2 (Ezekiel 40-48)

Ezekiel is taken, for a second time, back to Israel. The first journey drew him to the complete destruction of the Temple. Now, the LORD has taken him by the hand and shown him, symbolically and in great detail, a New Jerusalem and a new Temple. This new Temple has an eastern gate reserved for the entrance the LORD and from beneath the threshold a river flows. Along its banks are trees who’s fruit provides food and gives healing. God reminds Ezekiel of the debauchery and corruption that occurred at the former altar of the LORD and shows that only the holy, obedient and pure of heart will worship in this Temple who’s name is THE LORD IS THERE.

Ezekiel’s prophecies begin with God leaving the presence of His covenant people. His life’s work ends with a vision of His returned Glory to Israel (Israel represents all believers). In Revelations 21:22 John sees this Temple that embodies the name Ezekiel heard. It is not a building. Being in the presence of God and The Lamb will be our Temple.

Our hearts must be a Temple for God’s glory and our lives a living sacrifice, so that someday we will forever dwell in the Temple/Presence of the LORD.

Love,

Gretchen