God Loves Andrew

Jesus and his parents

Posted: 16th May 2012 by andrew in Learning

I began reading the Gospel of Luke today and was struck by how strange it must have been to be Jesus’s parents. How strange the sequence of events that happens – each building on the other. Most parents feel a bit lost bringing up a kid – but this kid is another league.

I was thinking from Joseph’s perspective what it was like:

He finds out his fiancee is pregnant by someone else.
God tells him to marry her anyway – he’s behind this.
He has to travel back to Bethlehem with a very pregnant wife.
While there the crisis he must have feared happens – she gives birth with nowhere to go.
He’s stuck in a stable – but with a child and mother who survived the childbirth.
But while in that awkward situation suddenly a bunch of shepherds show up looking for his infant son. They come with this wild story of Angels appearing to them and telling them to come find the child. We’re told Mary kept these things in her heart but we don’t know what Joseph did.
While at the the temple one old guy comes up and praises God for this infant – saying now he can die in peace. (Interesting that he talks about a sword piercing Mary’s heart – but not Joseph’s).
Then an old widow comes along and praises God for this same infant.
They have a few normal years – until when he’s 12 he gives them a terrible scare when they think they lost him.
And his response to their angst isn’t I’m sorry – but asking them why they didn’t think to look for him in his father’s house (his heavenly father -not his earthly father).

I wonder if Joseph all along had to think this is beyond me – that God’s going to have to help with this. I wonder if he prayed a lot to God to make sense of these things. Did he always have a different feeling about Jesus vs. his other sons? Was he proud of him? Do you think he knew that at some point he must get out of the picture of Jesus’s life – so that Jesus could focus on his heavenly father?

I ponder this as a parent myself – a parent who is often lost on what to do with my kids. A parent is who is slowly and painfully learning to ask God for help – lots and lots of help. Sometimes life is both so strange and so wonderful – and we completely miss the wonderful. God help us to be good parents – parents who depend and trust you for the wisdom and strength to be a parent.

Share on Facebook

“Food” Miracles – Trust without seeing

Posted: 2nd April 2012 by andrew in Bible Thoughts

I’ve been reading a lot lately of the “food” miracles – where the disciples come to Jesus and tell him the crowds need to leave so they can go eat. He rocks their world them by telling them to feed them (Matthew 14 and Matthew 15) instead. What I have to admit first is that it took me a long time to realize these were 2 separate instances – not just different tellings of the same story (one is 5000, the other 4000).

But what I wanted to share was that these stories teach us about trust and obedience. When they started handing out the food to the crowd I don’t believe it was all there – that Jesus didn’t pray and suddenly (or with a bang/poof) it all appeared. My understanding is that they started out with just a little food and it seemed to grow over time. That each disciple started out with less than half of a loaf of bread when they went out to the crowd. That as they handed out the food there was always more to give – it just kept stretching more and more (do you think they were amazed and filled with joy while it was happening or were too caught up in activity to realize what was going on).

When the story began it was a crisis – the people were in need and the disciples we’re overwhelmed. When the story ends there are more leftovers than what they started with. But one of the keys is that this wouldn’t have happened if the disciples hadn’t trusted Jesus and acted in obedience. It was clear that they didn’t see or understand what Jesus was doing – otherwise they would have asked him for a miracle in the beginning. That they only experienced the miracle as it happened (and maybe only when picking up crumbs).

I wonder if there is a lesson here for you and me. I wonder if in life often the miracles – the active presence of God – happen in the midst of walking in trust and obedience. That at the beginning of the story we don’t really know where it’s going to end. If you’re like me you probably will be ignorant to what is going while you are in the middle of it. It will only be later, after it happens, that you realize what God has done (to the point you and I could miss it).

In Psalm 19 it talks about a lamp at our feet. The imagery is of darkness all around except for lighting the path immediately in front of us. That we can see the next step – but nothing else. The only way forward is by trusting (which often is expressed through obedience) that he’s leading us in the right direction. I don’t know about you – but I often find myself in the position lately where I have to trust. Where it’s become clear to me that I can’t do it – I desperately need God’s help. I hope that I too make the choice to trust and obey – even though I don’t know what’s going to happen…

Share on Facebook

Pondering the Trinity

Posted: 9th November 2011 by andrew in Learning

The Trinity -one of the most perplexing concepts of Christianity. It’s one of those things I don’t think we’ll every understand this side of heaven – but can appreciate deeply the significance of it. I was trying to explain it the other day to a child – which challenged my ability to explain it. The idea in my head is 3 and 1 at the same time – that 3 personalities that are one person (which also sounds like someone with multiple personality disorder). I know the key principle of the trinity (which is our word to try to understand the concept) is that there is only one God – one sovereign, majestic master of the universe – but he also exists in relationship. That God the Father, Jesus our Savior and the strange Holy Spirit are all God yet somehow distinct.

In reading John 8 today I thought it was interesting how Jesus said 2 seemingly contradictory things:

I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. (28)
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!^[k]” (58)

I think I’ve seen this pattern before in the Gospels – where Jesus is very clear that he only says what the Father has told him – that he was sent from the Father. Jesus displays obedience and respect for God the Father. But he makes it clear that he is also God – not just part of God – but fully God (‘I AM’ is a very strong statement).

This is very strange – but I wonder if there is something for us to learn in all of this. I wonder if Jesus is showing us again how to live in relationship – that we can be submissive yet not lose who we are.

Still learning…

Share on Facebook