FMF: Patient

When I participate in Five Minute Friday writings, I always think about the prompt for a while before I actually start writing. If I only have five minutes, I need to have a good idea of what I want to say before I start. I often look up Scripture, and think about how the prompt applies to what is going on in my life right now.

As I looked up the word "patient" I was surprised to see that it is only in the NASB translation twelve times. That just didn't seem right to me. Patience, as they say, is a virtue. I was sure it was in the Bible more than that.

Then I looked up the word "wait." Yes, that's more like it: 142 times. That makes more sense because the story happens in the wait. Patience is a skill already attained; it is acquired in the waiting.

Today is Good Friday, but the event that we remember, Christ's crucifixion, did not seem very good. Those early believers did not know they only had to wait until Sunday.

We know Sunday is good. Sunday is very good.



This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.

Prayers in the Garden

Little words matter. Sometimes I don't notice them, but that's a mistake on my part. I'm almost forty years old, I've attended church my entire life, and I've taught children and teens most of my adult years, so I've read the Easter story a lot. I'm not bragging; I'm confessing that I have read something so important so many times and still missed so much.

Each of the four gospel accounts tells the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. In John it is called the garden across the Kidron Valley. In the Gospel of Luke, it is called the Mount of Olives, at the bottom of which the garden is located. Luke tells the shortest account, just seven verses:

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.  “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Luke 22:39-46, NIV)

As I read this tonight, I noticed some words I've missed many times before.

As usual...

Jesus had established patterns in his life that kept him close to God. After the Last Supper, the story transitions to the garden by saying, "Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him" (Luke 22:39). It doesn't say that Jesus realized he should pray for a while because he knew something difficult was about to happen. It says he went "as usual." Previously in Luke, the writer says that "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (5:16).  Jesus chose his last actions as a free man to be prayer because that's what he did.  He was a man of prayer.

More earnestly...
Jesus prayed a lot, and yet in his darkest days he found an even deeper level of passion and conviction. We read that "being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44). Jesus knew what was coming next, so he spoke to God more passionately. He did not try to hide his heart; he laid it all on the line.  Jesus was able to do this because he fully trusted God's will for his life.  As Timothy and Shauna Gaines write in their book, Kings & Presidents, "When you don't have a vision for how God is saving in the midst of hardship, your recourse will be to blame God and sink into despair. You can either ask God to help you see something others can't, or you can blame God for your circumstances." Jesus was able to see the situation in a way others did not. His heart was in tune with God. 

Exhausted from sorrow...
I've often wondered why Jesus was so hard on the disciples for falling asleep. Some believe this account occurred after midnight, a time late enough to warrant fatigue. Like it so often is, the truth is hidden in plain sight. Notice the cause of the disciples fatigue according to the gospel writer: "When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 'Why are you sleeping?' he asked them. 'Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation''' (Luke 22:45-46). The disciples weren't tired from a long worry; they were exhausted from a long worry. Jesus received power from his prayer time. His intimacy with God did more for his body and spirit than sleep did. Don't misunderstand me, sleep is important. However, sleep would not protect any of them from what was about to occur, only pray would. His prayer time was an expression of his faith as much as any of his miracles were.

With just a few days until Easter, I think about the unique situation that the disciples found themselves in. They didn't realize that they would soon witness history or that their actions would be studied and scrutinized by millions of people for thousands of years. Most people can't predict which of their actions will be remembered and which will be forgotten, and no one knows what will happen at midnight.  We can, however, determine if Jesus finds us asleep or in prayer.

Two Days Silent

I have been two days silent,
but you will hear me soon.
Calling from the darkness
To prove from death I am immune.

I have been two days absent
but my face again you'll see.
I'll come back for Didymus
So that even he'll believe.

You've been two days mourning,
living in defeat.
By my stripes you were healed.
By sin I was not beat.

You've been two days waiting.
Now you're back to see the tomb.
You ask the angels seated there:
Has his body been exumed?

The day has come. It's finally here,
but wait just fifty more.
My Spirit will spread like fire to you
behind your closed door.

So go back to the brothers,
And with your lips you shall proclaim:
He is not dead. He is alive.
Jesus called my name.

Good Friday Prayers

As I drove to my church's Good Friday service I uttered a prayer that included some words like, "Let me see what You want me to see."  To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what I prayed because it was just an earnest prayer to begin preparing my heart for whatever the night held.  As an employee of my church, I had helped with many parts of our Easter events, but Good Friday is an evening that our pastor holds dear to his heart.  For several years we've had the tradition of a short worship service and then a modernized stations of the cross experience.  While I knew about certain elements - cotton balls, grape juice, and club soda - because I had bought them, I knew little more about the evening.

I've always struggled with prayer.  I believe in prayer because the Bible tells me to, and I believe in prayer because I've heard from trustworthy friends about the miracles they have seen, but if we are being honest I've had a hard time finding moments that I could say were direct answers to prayer.  Of course there have been some, but it's hard to hold onto "some" over decades of faith.  I don't blame God or the power of prayer for the "some"; I recognize it largely a result of my lack of commitment to prayer.  And so like many times, I found myself throwing out a prayer as I drove to church because I realized I was entering a truly holy time of the year without much prayer.  God, forgive me.

The Anointing
In Matthew 26:6-13 Jesus is anointed while at the home of Simon the Leper.  Side note: I've recently enjoyed thinking about how people are identified in the Gospels.  Was Simon the Leper still living with leprosy, or had Jesus healed him of the disease?  It seems like a simple answer at first, of course Jesus had probably healed him, but if that is the case, why is he not referred to as the one healed of leprosy?  It'd be like a biblical artist formerly known as Prince.  Another fun one to think about is The Other Mary of Matthew 27:61.  Really?  The only way to distinguish her was as "the other"?  I digress.

Simon the Leper had Jesus over for dinner when a woman pours expensive perfume from an alabaster jar on Jesus' head.  In my church's tradition we talk a lot about this woman.  Twice a year we collect an "alabaster offering" that goes directly to the mission field to help acquire property and construct buildings.  I do love it, but until last night I'd never seen it happen.  As the last details of service were coming together I watched a friend pour small amounts of good smelling oil onto cotton balls.  Unfortunately, a few cotton balls in she ran out of the lavender scented oil she had and switched to the frankincense oil instead.  I don't know for sure that the woman in the Bible poured frankincense on Jesus' head, but I do know it is a perfume and the oil my friend used costs $90 for one tablespoon.  Yes, you read that right: $90 for one tablespoon.  Without even knowing it, my friend had poured out her alabaster jar.

The Crowd
One subtle element of the crucifixion story that you may have missed is the crowd.  In most church plays the crowd is there to yell "crucify Him" and there was even an armed crowd when Judas initially betrayed Jesus, but they do little more than that.  At Passover Jerusalem would have been filled with Jews who traveled into the city to celebrate the holiday.  How many were there: One thousand?  Ten thousand?  One hundred thousand?  A million?  The crowd that could have come out to watch the crucifixion events unfold are staggering.  And the more that were there for crucifixion, the more that would be saying to their friends on Sunday morning, "Hey, you remember that guy we watch be crucified?  Something happened."  Well we certainly didn't have a million people at our Good Friday service.  We didn't even have one thousand.  We had 41.  And I know that because earlier in the day my pastor and I had a conversation about how many papers to prepare for one of the stations.  Is 40 enough, I asked.  I'd love to have 40, he said.  Sure enough, God did His thing.  He sent 41 people out to our little church on Friday night as a way of reminding us that He can do so much more than we imagine.

The Scattering and the Gathering
When I think about Good Friday, I often think of that lone disciple mentioned in the gospel of John (the beloved disciple, traditionally John).  We know what became of Judas (eek) and also Peter (sigh), and I envision the other nine running home to pack bags and get out of town.  It's possible that they were part of the crowds that watched from a distance, but they certainly are not identified.

Who is identified are two new characters, the secret disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus.  In John 19 we read that Joseph had been a secret disciple out of fear of the Jewish leaders.  If you've ever been to Sunday School you remember that Nicodemus had visited Jesus at night (and if you're a little rusty on your Bible quizzing facts you can read that account in John 3).

There comes a moment in each of our lives that we have to stop living in the shadows.  We can no longer let fear rule us, and we must decide to do what is right.  For these two men, their decision to put their faith into action at that moment secured them an amazing part of the greatest come back story ever.  I can't help but wonder what might be waiting for me if I were to do the same.