Category: Christian

What’s the rush?

We live in a culture deeply uncomfortable with grief. We rush people through heartbreak. We hand out silver linings while wounds are still open. Even in faith spaces, we sometimes move too quickly toward redemption language because suffering itself makes us uneasy. We want resurrection without sitting at the tomb. We want healing without fully acknowledging what was lost.

The Slow Return of Hope

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On the web – 4

Slow Return of Hope

It’s quite easy in life to bounce from one thing to another without paying much attention to anything. It’s the usual mode of the world we live in. But when we do that, we miss a very great deal. We don’t really get into the deeper aspects, we don’t think things through properly. On the one hand we don’t see the wood for the trees, but on the other hand we don’t have time to even get to know one, single tree in the depth it deserves – the crevices in the bark, the shades of green in the details of the leaves, the patterns of the veins in those same leaves, the gentle sound of the breeze filtering through the canopy. The aroma of moist earth and leaf-mould.

Sandy doesn’t make that mistake, it’s even in the title of her blog – Run with Patience (KJV Heb 12:1). Here’s an extract from a recent article to give you a flavour of her approach, at the end of the extract I’ll place a link so you can read the rest direct on Sandy’s site.

Extract from Sandy’s article – The slow Return of Hope

There are seasons when the soul does not sing easily. Seasons where faith feels less like soaring and more like sitting quietly in the dark, trying to remember what light once felt like.

I think that’s why I keep returning to Book of Lamentations, not because it resolves suffering neatly nor because it offers quick comfort, but because it refuses to lie about pain.

The older I get, the more I realize how rare that is.

We live in a culture deeply uncomfortable with grief. We rush people through heartbreak. We hand out silver linings while wounds are still open. Even in faith spaces, we sometimes move too quickly toward redemption language because suffering itself makes us uneasy. We want resurrection without sitting at the tomb. We want healing without fully acknowledging what was lost.

But Book of Lamentations lingers in the ruins. It lets the smoke rise, the silence ache, and grief breathe.

And strangely, that honesty feels sacred to me.

Because there are losses in life that cannot be reduced to inspirational lessons. Some grief changes the architecture of a person. Some suffering rearranges the nervous system, the body, the assumptions you once held about safety, love, God, or the world itself.

Sometimes you survive something, but you do not emerge untouched.

I think Scripture knows this better than we often allow ourselves to admit.

Read the full article on Run with Patience

Here’s the entire article on Sandy’s site. I suggest you read it to discover the precious truth it contains. Explore the other articles on Sandy’s thoughtful site as well. Perhaps bookmark the blog, or sign up for email notifications whenever new articles appear.

See also:

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John 16:12-15 – The Spirit
Another great post
Run with patience

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A great resource, for free

Read the rest of Jonathan’s article in its original form – System or Ecosystem. And don’t forget to download a copy of the book, read it, and share it with anyone who might benefit.

System or Ecosystem?

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On the web – 3

System or Ecosystem?

An online friend (Jonathan Rovetto) mentioned this book and website to me. He posted about it himself and invited me to re-post his article here on JHM. I’m minded to reproduce part of his article to get you interested, and then point you back to his original to read the rest as a way (hopefully) of increasing his readership as well as mine. I’ve done this before, it might be something I’ll do often. We’ll see.

Extract from Jonathan’s article

The System or The Ecosystem is a new book by author Michael H. Peters. It contains great words of wisdom, seasoned with over forty years of practical experience, presented in concise, easy-to-digest segments. I highly recommend this book. It’s free to download or you can request to receive a free hard copy. You can check it out here along with some excellent resource materials.

AS AN ENGINEER and “Expert in Residence” at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, home of the #1 ranked School of Architecture in the world, I can tell you: architecture and design determine outcome.

You cannot build the 500,000-ton, 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa (the Mission-Impossible-Tom-Cruise-climbing, “world’s tallest building” in Dubai, a Harvard Architect product) on a foundation designed for a three-foot doghouse.

You cannot modify a bicycle into an F-16 no matter how many parts you replace.

You cannot optimize a failing system into success if the system itself is wrong for the task.

Would you try to fix Alaska to grow an orange tree? Perhaps optimizing Alaska weather isn’t the right solution. If Orange Tree Habitat Life is the goal, why not try to grow any Lifeform in the place it grows naturally?

It is the same with “Growing a Christian.” Why not use the Ecosystem God Designed for JesusLife in humans, that they might grow as mightily as they possibly can in the shortest amount of time, to harvest the best fruit? And that CANNOT be the System of Sunday attendance, programs, missions and clergy.

Similarly, learning how to dribble an American football is a really dumb thing to try to optimize. Why not just do it right in the first place? Trying to optimize the wrong system versus allowing the Ecosystem to flow.

But that is Precisely what Christianity has tried for centuries:

Optimizing a thing Jesus never designed. Jesus designed a“walk along with Me daily real-life apprenticeship,” and the apostles then of course did the
 same with those they encountered and shared life with: the priesthood of
 ALL believers.

Just to demonstrate further why “The Master Teacher” chose to bring an Ecosystem of Life from Heaven, a daily hand-to-hand apprenticeship
 (the Greek word for “disciple” is well-translated apprentice), rather than
 a classroom or “study” or speech, is convincingly portrayed in the book
 On Combat, by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman.

Colonel Grossman tells of the necessity of “high fidelity” training, true
 life training rather than classroom or theoretical incomplete practice.
 Everything is different when life is authentic, rather than theatrical
 or an academic exercise or information dump.

Here’s how it went. A police officer in training practiced disarming an intruder or criminal who was pointing a gun at him. Literally, hundreds and
 hundreds of times he had friends and family members surprise him with
 a replica dummy gun pointed at him. The policeman understudy would
 practice responding instantly, by snatching the gun out of the hand of the
 bad guy. Again and again. He became very, very proficient at snatching the
 gun in a smooth, lightning-fast move. He would then hand the “gun” back,
 and they would soon sneak up on him again-training, training, training.

Then, finally and predictably, came the moment of truth. As the rookie 
police officer was in a convenience store bodega with a partner, he stepped
 around an aisle and a criminal pointed a gun, close range, at the officer.
 They were both shocked at how fast he disarmed the thief.
 Good on you!

And both the officer and the criminal were also equally
 shocked when the officer, having magically stripped the 
gun right out of the gangster’s hand, proceeded to hand
 the gun back to the criminal. Just as he had practiced 1,000 
times with his friends and family members. True story…

Read the rest of Jonathan’s article in its original form – System or Ecosystem. And don’t forget to download a copy of the book, read it, and share it with anyone who might benefit.

See also:

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Another great post

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Dealing with the body

They took down the body and followed the Jewish practice of spice embalming and wrapping it in linen strips. Very short of time before sunset, they found a newly-carved tomb nearby and laid the body there, Matthew’s Gospel suggests it was Yusuf’s own tomb.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 19:31-42

Bible text –Read it yourself (opens in a new tab)

Shabta

A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

19:31-37 – Because the following day was Shabta (Aramaic), Shabbat (Hebrew) or the Sabbath (English), it was an important day of rest. Shabta began at sunset on the previous day and ended at sunset too.

19:38-42 – So any tasks that needed to be done on Shabta would have to be completed before sunset the previous day. That’s why the Jewish leaders asked Pilatus to take the bodies down from the crosses before nightfall. Normally, bodies would be left to decay on the crosses and the corpses would be consumed by rats or by birds over the following days and weeks. But if it was necessary to remove them earlier, the Roman custom was to break the legs. It could take up to three days for a healthy, fit individual to die following crucifixion. Because a person on a cross would have to use their legs to lift their body to inhale, soldiers might be ordered to break the legs so the prisoner would be unable to breathe and would die within a few minutes. The Roman soldiers broke the legs of the criminals either side of Yahshua as both were still alive. But a spear in Yahshua’s side proved that he was dead, not just holding his breath and staying very still.

Removing Yahshua from the cross

Yusuf min Arimathea (Joseph of Arimathea) was a secret follower of Yahshua and later, probably by then already late afternoon, he was joined by Naqdimon (Nicodemus), who brought the necessary materials. Both men were members of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish religious council), both followed Yahshua despite the high risks involved, both would have known and been known by the disciples. They took down the body and followed the Jewish practice of spice embalming and wrapping it in linen strips. Very short of time before sunset, they found a newly-carved tomb nearby and laid the body there, Matthew’s Gospel suggests it was Yusuf’s own tomb.

Like those who had seen Yahshua die, Yusuf and Naqdimon must also have thought that this was the end of everything, that for all his amazing teaching and wisdom, this was the end of the ministry of Yahshua bar Yusuf (Jesus son of Joseph, as people generally believed him to be). They would not have understood yet, despite his teaching, that he was also, and far more significantly, Yahshua bar Yahweh! He was, and would remain, the Son of the Eternal Father.

See also:

*This Mormon discussion is interesting as it describes Jewish burial practices in the first century CE in some detail. It’s also downloadable as a PDF.

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Matthew 27:32-66 – Cruising the Gospel

Before Jesus dies

Although used by pre-Roman societies, crucifixion was one of the worst experiences the Romans could inflict on a captured enemy, a violent and vicious criminal or a traitor. Remember the reluctance of the scared Roman Governor and the insistent demands of the angry Jewish High Priest that this terrible execution must go ahead.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 19:25-30

Bible text –Read it yourself (opens in a new tab)

Torment and shame

A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

19:25-27 – It’s impossible to imagine the horror of death by crucifixion. The shame of hanging naked in front of family, friends and strangers is hard to grasp in a society where nakedness was deemed utterly unacceptable. Add to this the extreme pain of the body’s full weight supported on heavy nails driven through wrists and heel bones (the feet were nailed from the side, one each side of the central wooden post) and the exhausting effort of getting enough air into the lungs – muscles continuously straining (despite the extreme pain) to lift the body enough to breathe. More recent studies suggest that an inability to inhale was not normally the cause of death. Also used by some pre-Roman societies, crucifixion was one of the worst experiences the Romans could inflict on a captured enemy, a violent and vicious criminal or a traitor. Remember the reluctance of the scared Roman Governor and the insistent demands of the angry Jewish High Priest that this terrible execution must go ahead. We discussed those factors last time.

Family

Yahshua’s mother (Mariam), his aunt Mariam and Mariam of Magdala (three Mary’s in total) were there in front of the cross as he suffered, and also one of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, usually thought to be Johanan (John). If that’s correct we’re reading the words of an eyewitness. Yahshua, seeing them there before him and thinking of them more than about himself (as he always did) tells John that from now on his mother is John’s mother and tells her that John is now her son. In this way he is taking care that both of them will be cared for in their sorrow and their longer term needs (both practical and emotional).

The death of Yahshua

Making sure that the Old Testament writings were fulfilled was important and was one way to help people understand that Yahshua was who he claimed to be. It was especially useful as a way of reaching the Jewish teachers of his day. Yahshua was aware of this even as death approached and remained committed to such fulfilment, in this case of Psalm 69:21. So he called out, ‘I’m thirsty’. After drinking from the sponge they held up for him, he said, ‘It’s done’, lowered his head and died.

And the little group of friends, family and followers in front of the cross must have thought this marked the end of his mission, the end of his purpose, and the end of everything. They couldn’t know it yet – but they were so very mistaken.

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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What does Jesus mean to me and how do I respond to him?

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death – Cruising the Gospel

Mark’s account of the crucifixion – Cruising the Gospel

The Governor gives way

Such lofty characters were dangerous and had unexpected powers over ordinary mortals. You did not want to mess with them. The moment he hears that Yahshua might be the son of the Jewish god he becomes seriously scared.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 19:1-24

Bible text – Read it yourself (opens in a new tab)

Arresting Jesus

A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

19:1-7 – The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilatus (Pontius Pilate) perhaps thinking he could get away with a lesser punishment than crucifixion, decided to turn Yahshua (Jesus) over to the Roman troops to be ridiculed and severely beaten. In this he was seriously mistaken, the Jewish authorities were not going to accept anything less than the death penalty. Pilatus twice told them that he could find no cause for any legal charge against Yahshua. There was no breach of Roman law here, but the Jewish religious leaders saw a huge and unsufferable offence against their religious traditions. What was a Roman Governor to do in the face of this? His job was to maintain Roman rule, to put down rebellions, make sure taxes were paid and that peace prevailed in his province.

It’s worth mentioning here that Rome had no problem with local kings and kingdoms. Herod was a king, client tribes and kingdoms throughout the empire were tolerated, even officially encouraged. A claim to be ‘King of the Jews’ or ‘King of Judea’ was not in and of itself an offence against Roman law or government. At the time of Yahshua’s trial and official innocence under Roman law, local kings were widespread in Gaul, in Spain, in Germany and in North Africa and the entirety of what is now Turkey. The Roman Emperor ruled over kings and kingdoms, peace (the Pax Romana) was required everywhere and a Roman Governor in each province was held responsible for keeping that peace. Herod Antipas ruled Samaria, but Judea had no king at this moment. Archelaus had ruled Judea, Samaria, and Idumaea but he’d been deposed by Roman direct rule due to poor government and mismanagement. We can, I think, be sympathetic towards Pilatus, who had to prevent violence and uprisings in his Provinces of Judaea and Samaria. If his verdict of Yahshua’s innocence was going to cause a riot or some kind of violence he would have to make a difficult choice, either calm the protest by crucifying this innocent man who claimed to be the Jewish King, or forcefully put down the growing crowds calling for the death penalty. The Bible passages about these events make his dilemma very clear.

Verse 7 is notable. Romans were religious people with gods of their own and temples in every city. Like the Greeks they had traditions and stories about super powerful men being sons of this or that god. Such lofty characters were dangerous and had unexpected powers over ordinary mortals. You did not want to mess with them. The moment he hears that Yahshua might be the son of the Jewish god he becomes seriously scared. He’s just had the man beaten and mocked.

19:8-16 – In verse 8 he goes back to check, and in verse 12 we’re told he wanted to set Yahshua free. So now Pilatus is afraid of an angry crowd that includes senior Jewish religious leaders, and also terrified that he’s dealing with the son of a powerful god. If he allows a riot to develop he’ll be in trouble with the Emperor, if he executes this man he’ll be in trouble with a god! The only way out is to transfer the responsibility to others; and that’s exactly what he sets out to do.

In the end, the Jewish leaders lie to Pilatus to force him to act. They tell him to his face that he is no friend of Caesar if he allows Yahshua to live since anyone claiming kingship opposes Caesar. As I explained above, this is patently incorrect; there are kings in many if not most Roman provinces, ruling with the local Roman governor on Caesar’s behalf. But the direct threat to Pilatus is being spoken openly and he acts in the clearest way possible. He sits on the judgement seat and tells the Jews plainly, ‘Here’s your King‘. He speaks the truth. Their reply is brutal and final, ‘Take him away. Crucify him‘.

And Pilatus hands him over to the Roman troops.

19:17-24– The Roman troops took charge and Yahshua carried his cross to the nearby Golgotha (Skull Place) where he and two others were crucified, one either side of him.

Pilatus’ notice attached to Yahshua’s cross stated the truth – ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’. The chief priests grumbled about these words, telling Pilatus, ‘Don’t write “The King of the Jews”, but “he claimed to be King of the Jews”. Responding grumpily, Pilatus told them, ‘I wrote what I wrote’. Pilatus understood who Yahshua was better than the senior Jewish clerics!

The soldiers took Yahshua’s clothes, sharing them out amongst the four of them. It would be a pity to waste them, perks of the job. They drew lots for his undergarment as it was woven as a single piece and they didn’t want to tear it. He hung naked on the cross until he died.

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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John 14:22-31 – Not to the world?