Misunderstanding

Matthew 20:20-22a

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking.”

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I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by The Animals

Leave it to a proud Mama to want the best for her boys. Leave it to Jesus to know that what is best is usually not what is easiest. Jesus knows what is best, there is no doubt about this. Yet it is only Jesus who knows where the best is going to lead all of the apostles.

Mama asks, Mama wants Jesus to say that her boys will sit in the greatest places of honor, at the left and right hand of Jesus in his kingdom. The problem is Mama doesn't know the path the kingdom will follow. Jesus knows, he knows so well that he tells her she doesn't know what she is asking.

Jesus asks James and John if they are able to drink from the cup he is about to drink. They boldly say yes, they are ready to drink from his cup. Again, they don't know the cup he is talking about, so he tells them they don't know what they are asking.

We know that the cup Jesus drinks from he offers to his disciples. The cup is the cup of the new covenant sealed in his blood shed for the forgiveness of sin. The cup is a sign of new life, but life that comes at a great cost, the life of the one who offers it to his disciples. They don't understand the cup he drinks, nor the cup he offers.

The last throne Jesus sits upon on this earth is the cross. There are two other men, one to his left and one to his right. It's quite sure that Mama didn't have this throne nor this kingdom in mind when she asked her sons to be at this left and right hand. She didn't understand the cost of the kingdom either.

Their intentions were good, they just didn't understand.

But as Jesus points out, they will know. They will know the joy of sharing the Good News of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will also know the horror of dying in the name of the Good News of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will absolutely know what it is like to drink from his cup.

Mama didn't understand nor did her sons. The good news is that they came to understand. They came to understand that what they thought was wrong and what was revealed was right, and better. It just wasn't the easiest.

Lust for Gold

Mark 10:17, 19-22

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’ ” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

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Forget your lust ... for the rich man's gold
All that you need ... oh, Lord, is in your soul
You can do this ... oh, baby ... if you try
All that I want for you my son ... is to be satisfied

And be a simple kind of man
Be somethin' ... you love and understand
Baby, be a simple ... oh, be a simple man
Oh, won't you do this for me son if you can

"Simple Man" by Ronnie VanZandt and Garry Rossington

It's easy to want the good things in life. Who doesn't like a nice house and car? Who doesn't like good food and drink? Who doesn't feel glad when the season of want ends and the season of plenty begins? Well, in America these things are seen as the fruit of labor that is repaid in gold.

So what must I do to inherit eternal life? For this rich man, he didn't have to steal or kill to eat bread every day so breaking those commandments was unnecessary. Since most wealth in the ancient world was inherited, honoring his father and mother would have been a part of walking through his house every day.

As for false witness, defrauding others, and adultery, I'll take him at his word. He's done the minimum required. Good for him.

Ronnie VanZandt sang of a man receiving the word of God at his mother's knee. "All that you need is in your soul. All that I want for you my son is to be satisfied." Everything you need is given to you. Everything else is gravy-and no matter how yummy gravy is-and that's not always good for the soul.

Simplicity, the simplicity that comes with discarding earthly concerns about wealth and power and seeking the nest egg of life in Christ is where life lies. All else is just fancy things that tarnish over time. Life in Christ is the one thing that lasts forever.

The Sting of the Reaper

1Corinthians 15:54-57

When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Come on baby (Don't fear the reaper)
Baby take my hand (Don't fear the reaper)
We'll be able to fly (Don't fear the reaper)
Baby, I'm your man

"Don't Fear the Reaper" from Blue Öyster Cult's "Agents of Fortune" (1976)

Who is the one who calls us to come with Him? When it is our Lord Jesus Christ we enter into new life, eternal life.

Often when we think of eternal life, we think of length. To live eternal life is to live forever, often this life is spoken of as what comes after death, but eternal life is more than life after death. Better than life after death, it is real, true life that is had while living. Yes, eternal life is not just what comes later. The Lord intends us to live eternal life now.

As BÖC encourages us, we don't have to fear death with the One who gives us eternal life, but that is because we don't have to fear life anymore, not death. When we live our lives in the fullness of the Lord, what we experience is so much better than what came before it is difficult to compare one to the other.

When we live life in Christ, we live as a community. We live as God's people. We no longer seek power from one another, all we need we have. We no longer have to fear it all coming to an end because we live every day in the fullness of the one who created the day. Death loses its sting because we have no regrets for today when we live the eternal live on earth.

Yes, the eternal life of heaven will be wonderful. There will be peace and glory and worship beyond imagine. But we are not to live this life as if it is a weigh station to eternity. We are to live this life as a practice for eternity.

And while we will never reach that perfection, practice makes more perfect than living the life God does not intend for us.

Bring the Living Water

John 4:7

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

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Somebody bring me some water
Can't you see I'm burning alive

"Bring Me Some Water" by Melissa Etheridge

Burning thirst, we all know it, the woman at the well knows it better than most though.

She went to the well at noon. Anyone who went to the well to get water knew to go in the morning and in the evening. The air was cooler and so was the water. The only reason not to go then was if you wanted to avoid everyone. This woman wanted to avoid everyone.

She had had five husbands, and the man she now lived with was not her husband. Scripture doesn't say what happened to the other five. Was she abandoned? Was she divorced? Was she a widow? Was it a combination of the three? Anyway you slice it, she was seen by the other women as unseemly and as a rival for their husbands and sons. Today we would say she was bullied. Because of their bullying, she decided she'd rather get her water at the worst time of day rather than see the other women.

One fine day, Jesus was at the well when she arrived. He was burning alive in the midday sun and asked her for water. Now this just didn't happen. Across time and space, society collectively gasped when this happened. She knew any conversation between them was dicey for the both of them and asked how he could ask her for water.

This is when Jesus tells the world about the living water, the water that will become a spring of water gushing up with eternal life in all the people. She wants to know how to get some of that, who doesn't? So he tells her.

He tells her that the time is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, just like the Father wants. This is when the woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming and when he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” So Jesus said to her, “I am he.”

Jesus tells her not just that he is the living water but that he is the Messiah she awaits. He says so using the holiest phrase in the Old Testament, "I AM."

It's time to think of this as a call to evangelism, to share the Word of God with those we love and those we revile. We are all burning alive, and the only thing that will satisfy the thirst is the living water of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Great I AM.

It's time to hear the world cry out "somebody bring me some water, somebody give me a drink" and bring the only water that satisfies. We need to bring the living water of Jesus Christ.

Thwarting the Will of Pharaoh

Exodus 1:15-19

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

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Why; our backs are now against the wall
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage
Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage

"Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys

In the beginning of Exodus, we learn that time had passed. So much time had passed that there wasn't a king in Egypt that remembered Joseph or what he did to save Egypt. Also since the death of Joseph, the Hebrew nation had grown mighty in number. So between forgetting the historic relationship between the two nations and Israel growing mighty in number, Pharaoh worried Israel was becoming "mighty" within his borders. He worried that if the Sons of Israel had become too mighty that they would conquer Egypt, and that's no position a monarch wants to be in.

So what did he do? He demanded the infant sons of the nation of Israel be slain by the midwives while their mothers were on their birth stools. How nasty is that? Pharaoh expected the midwives to use the knives which would cut the umbilical cord to slit the newborn's throat. Pharaoh expected the midwives to wrap the umbilical cord around the throat of the boys and strangle them. Pharaoh expected the midwives to obey, but they did not.

It's easy to understand their fear, they feared God. Who wouldn't? Slaying a baby immediately after the mother gives birth has got to be among the nastiest, coldest evils a person could ever do. When you see God after this little thing, you'll have some 'splaining to do. It's also quite a tyrant could expect a subject to do this. If the king could expect a midwife to slay a baby it's hard to imagine what else the king is capable of doing. It's easy to understand that they would fear Pharaoh.

They would have been foolish if they hadn't feared God; and they would have been foolish if they hadn't feared Pharaoh. The midwives had two fears, one for each course of action. Each action could have cost them their lives. But there are differences in their fears.

Fearing Pharaoh they could die. Lying to the king is never a way to make friends and influence policy. They could have died. Once.

Fearing God, they feared the one who could take their life and so much more. In the end they chose to fear the One who could give them life as well as take it away. They feared the One who gives life, and because they did they were rewarded with children of their own.

Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage! Because the midwives chose to thwart the will of the King of Egypt, because they chose to sabotage the will of Pharaoh they saved the lives of many Hebrew boys, including one we know as Moses. Le chiam to the sisters who helped preserve the law.