Notes to the Lord: A DInner With Jesus

Scripture Reflections:Matthew 14
¹⁵As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

¹⁶Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

Lord Jesus--I wonder what the thoughts were that went through the minds of the disciples when they thought about this impossible request. Did you see the looks on their faces? Sometimes I think that I know how they felt...overwhelmed with no clue how to meet the need. Yet ignoring the need does not make it go away, nor does looking the other way when I know that it is there.

¹⁷"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

Lord Jesus--Each time when I turn around and look at the need it calls to me and my first reaction is much like that of the disciples. Here is what I have Lord, do with it what you will...and somehow that releases your grace in I way that I don't understand. It is almost as if somehow just beyond the reach of my fingertips your grace is able to operate. So why then is it so hard to let go of the too little resources to meet the need? Ok, so Lord the control issues are not as far away as I thought.

¹⁸"Bring them here to me," he said. ¹⁹And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Lord Jesus--You took what was available and met the need. Where are the places that you want me to allow you the room to work? Work with the dead fish that I have available to you in this day, make of them what could never be without your grace.

Notes to the Lord: One Step At A Time

Matthew 14
¹³When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Lord Jesus--There was an impact on the way that you approached ministry because of the death of John. It was a transition. John was someone who you had a connection with, a cousin, a person who at some level had insight into who you were. I am sure that there was a level at which you grieved his loss.

You withdrew to work through the implications of that loss and the needs of the people followed you. You met their need even when you longed for time to just be alone. You healed the sick and you taught these seekers. The needs did not stop because you were impacted by the death of John. You found the strength to work through the loss.

Your source of experience, strength and hope is available to me today Lord Jesus in the middle of the life that surrounds me. What would you say if you looked out over my little world? "Reach out to the seekers you will only have this chance once." "One step in front of the other, Kurt" "Strength will rise, as you wait upon me, Kurt."

You remind me that You go with me in every situation that comes my way. I am not left alone to integrate the death of friend or for that matter the successes that come during the journey. You are the One the makes sense of all of it for me.

Lord Jesus--I live in a world that wants to make a hero or a zero out of me. You know me better than that...I am sometimes both and neither. Keep my eyes focused on you and the way you see me. In this day Lord Jesus I depend on you to lead, guide and focus me as I continue the journey a step at a time.

Note to the Lord:Light in Dark Places

Matthew 14
1At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him."

Lord Jesus--Even Herod the case-hardened political infighter was rattled by the witness of John and the words of this prophet. The first thing that he could think of was when he heard of You was that John had risen from the dead and was back being a pest. There could be only one reason for the power that was at work in Your ministry, John was back. Herod wanted to explain away the reality of the power that was at work in Your ministry in a way that he was the center of.

3Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.

Lord Jesus--John the prophet could not be quiet in the face of power that was doing what was out of the plan of God. I am sure that John knew the risks when he spoke out. And yet he spoke more than once and with enough force to bring Herodias to the point of wanting him dead.

I can just imagine the conversations that must have burned up the palace hallways after one of John's visits. I am sure that there must have been broken dinnerware on the floor and angry words spoken. Herod must have heard his fill of John and this angry women who was now his roommate confidant and lover.I wonder if Herod ever had to duck to avoid the flying dinner plate. I hope so.

6On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much 7that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." 9The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10and had John beheaded in the prison. 11His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Lord Jesus--John was killed for the telling the truth to someone who did not want to hear it. He was killed to appease an angry women by a man who had little internal sense of right and wrong. Herod knew political control but not internal personal control.

Ultimately Herod was left alone with his thoughts and his musings. I wonder if it was late at night in the palace that Herod thought of John and this last time he saw him, and then the reports of people being raised from the dead and demons running the other way...and your name Lord Jesus. Herod was left to his guilt.

Lord Jesus in this coming day, help me to shine like a candle. John knew about shining in the darkness that surrounded him. Give me that kind of courage when needed.

Notes to the Lord:Home With Uncommon Grace

Scripture Reflections: Matthew 13

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked.

Lord Jesus--Here in the middle of people being healed and teaching that had heaven just barely covered in parables, the people who knew you best missed the point. " Where did this person who grew up right under our feet get this wisdom and power?" In the middle of the mundane and the usual you break through into our world.

⁵⁵"Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" ⁵⁷And they took offense at him.

Lord Jesus--It was the in Hometown Galilee with family scattered all around that the thought of Your being someone that could change their lives rattled the world of these people. They had known you before you were on the national stage. I wonder what the feelings were in their hearts...was it frustration with their own lives? Was there the need to make their own not leaving home alright?

But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor."

58And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Bottom lined and personal...

These people from your childhood on planet Earth limited the agent of creation by their lack of faith...they refused to see the Majestic among the mundane. Lord Jesus where are the places where I am missing the Majestic in the middle of the mundane? Where am I limiting Your work by my lack of faith in your ability to work? Right where I am in the middle of a mundane day...in the middle of a normal week on a same corner that I have been at long enough to call home, you want to work majestically and with uncommon grace.

Lord Jesus work as you see fit here in this place I call home.

Notes to the Lord:The Net in my hand

Matthew 13

⁴⁷"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked.
"Yes," they replied.

Lord Jesus--It is not my worry to sort out what your net brings in, it is just my job to throw down the net, to pull in the boat...to put my hand to the work that you put before me. You and the angels of light will do the sorting at the end of the age.

I am so keenly aware of the reality of the situation that confronts me. I am not wise enough or know enough of the lives of those who I find in the net to sort it all out. What I can do is to live this day that will begin before me to the glory of the One who put me here in the first place.

Response to the message is not my problem either. It is the responsibility of those who are drawn in. Those are the parts that get so confusing at times for me. What if I had just communicated it better...but response is not my problem...being true to Your call Lord Jesus...that is what I have control over.

So in the day is in front of me Lord Jesus lead me in your way. Help me keep pulling in the net in my hand, I leave the rest to you.

Notes to the Lord:How much is it worth?

Matthew 13
⁴⁴"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Lord Jesus--The discovery the kingdom is like finding a hidden treasure. It is just barely under the surface of the world we live in. Every once in a while it peeks through.

Sometimes the kingdom can be seen in the joyful dance of Haitians in the street after an Earthquake with no real reason to rejoice except for the work of your grace. Or the treasure is sometimes seen in the eyes a mother caring for her sick child too exhausted to go on, but to engaged to give up. I see the treasure alive here on this twisted planet from time to time.

The point of the story though is the simple fact that once found this treasure is cherished and is worth a total buy in. Risking everything on the treasure of your work in my life is what these twin stories are all about. Half hearted acceptance is nothing less than missing the point of the kingdom in the first place.

Lord Jesus--Help me see in this day the treasure hidden just below the surface.

Notes to the Lord:Dough

Scripture Reflections:Matthew 13

³³He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Lord Jesus--Dough? As I was ushering at a church service the other night and collecting the offering the thought occurred to me that there are those think that church is a place that only wants money and collects it from the impressionable and gullible. So they think we worry about dough, but not the dough that you are speaking of.

So what do you mean Lord when you say dough? How is the kingdom like dough and yeast?

When I am in the mix and it feels as if everything in my life is in the mixing bowl of life...I am really just where you want me to be? For the process to work water and flour have to come together. That is not always comfortable or pretty. For the mixture to be something more than a mess yeast has to come into the mix. And then there is the time it takes to let the dough rise...the yeast has to do its work. In time it leaves the whole batch changed.

Lord Jesus--Remind me that the process continues to change me, even when it seems like nothing is happening. Sometimes the dough needs time to rise. But beyond time, the yeast has to have extensive impact touching each part of the mixture if it is going to be bread. Change has to work through the whole batch...nothing worse than heavy flat bread.

But sooner of later...there is that smell of bread in the oven and somehow I am ok with the process, the mess and the mixing bowls.

³⁴Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. ³⁵So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."

Lord Jesus--Help me to accept the process, mixing,mess and waiting. Continue your work in my heart and life...and in the lives of your people.