Where Is My Heart?

Well, here we are again, folks, Dick Foth, with stories from the road, and it is springtime. Spring has almost sprung, where we are. It's snow this week, and going to be 80 degrees next week. And that's how it is in springtime. Back in the 1960s, there was a television program that originated in England, much like the office and other kinds of programs today, originate overseas and come here. And it was led by a comedian named David Frost, it was called This Was The Week That Was. And it made fun of the political happenings, mostly, of the week prior, that's what it did. We have one of those weeks now. I'm speaking to you on Good Friday, what we call Good Friday, holy week historically, the time between Palm Sunday when Jesus comes into Jerusalem, on a donkey, and Easter, where he is raised from the dead. I mean, it's this unbelievable seven or eight day period that has impacted the world ever since. And I would, I would call this, this is the week that was not because there's anything funny about it, but because it's the most significant week from my perspective in human history, in terms of how we see life, how we see love, how we see ourselves, I'm trying to come up with a title for this episode of the podcast that's been challenging, is it gloves off, is it the battleground, is it the kingdom clash, whatever it is, maybe, maybe I could just call it, where is my heart? This is a week where it's light against darkness, or good against evil. And it's three years in Jesus' life coming to a head in one week, it's really fascinating. When you read the Jesus' stories, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, it's a third of those stories, a third of the Gospels are given of the first three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are given to the last six weeks of Jesus' 33-year earthly life. John's gospel, it's like a half of it is given to that. But I just want to look at these few days very quickly. And I always like to look at stories, at least the story, the scripture story, in terms of what's the lens that I see it through. For example, if we look at this week through the eyes of a, let's say, a public relations person who was a pro-Jesus, let's just say that, that first Sunday, that Palm Sunday moment, that was great. What good press that was, but things kind of deteriorate during the week, and how do we make that look good? Or if you're a street vendor in Jerusalem, it's like the best week of the year. I mean, the crowds are massive, I mean, whether you're an authentic street vendor, actually selling something for its value, or whether you're those guys selling pigeons in the temple, and you're trying to rip people off, it's still a big, big economic week. If you're people of faith, I mean, it really is something in your heart. This is a profound moment. If you're people just of tradition or religion, this could be a very frightening moment. If you're a political person, you see the battle. I mean, the stuff that is going on in the back room, as it often is in places of power, it's not what you see, it's what you don't see, that is the story. But if you're a politician, it's the people in the seats of power versus a disruptor. What if you're a doctor, a physician? If you just look at Gethsemane, where it says that Jesus sweat great drops of blood, there's a medical term for that. If you're a psychiatrist or someone who's interested in the psychological pieces of doctoring, the stressors, the great hopes and the great dreams smashed in the garden of Gethsemane from onlookers, challenge. You go on through the next 36 to 48 hours where Jesus is crucified. I mean, there are books written on these things about what was going on. That when he's finally on the cross, it isn't just the spirit on the side, it isn't just the fact that he's been beaten to a bloody pulp by Roman cat and nine tails and spat on and made to carry a cross through the town. It isn't just that, it's that he can't breathe, that he is suffocating in his own bodily fluids, if you will, he can't get his breath ultimately on the cross. If you're a lawyer, if you're in the legal system, you're looking at one that's been compromised, all of the things that happen that week, they don't, they essentially don't fit what should happen in a place governed by the rule of law. If you're a soldier, just obeying orders, and if you're a German conscript as most scholars think we're in play here, what they call Hessian, just following orders. If you're a scientist, what do you do with that storm that takes away the sun for that afternoon, that Friday afternoon, and if you're a seismologist, what do you do with the earthquake, that whole area, of course, we've just seen just to the north of there what happens in Turkey and Syria when you have massive earthquake. But if you're a scientist, it's almost like the physical things that happen, the storm and the earthquake are a metaphor for what's going on in those days. If you're a person who's really focused on friendship, boy, I mean, and care and relationship, how do you get around the fact that Jesus turns to his mother and a disciple, because the other disciples apparently have run away, and there's mostly just women near the cross. And he takes care of his mother in that last moment, says to his friend, take care of my mother and vice versa, or the fact that on the cross, when two people who are worthy of punishment, I don't know about the cross part, but one is cussing him and the other one says to Jesus, remember me, and Jesus makes a friend on the cross. We've been looking at the love chapter in the Paul's words and verse Corinthians 13, where it starts, love is patient, love is kind, and goes on to say what love is not, love is not jealous, love is not proud or a braggart, love is not arrogant or rude. And this week is the face off between patience and kindness and what is best for you over against jealousy and pride and arrogance. It's complete picture of all those things in plague. Here's God's kingdom. It's characterized by patience and kindness that goes on forever that wants to give and wants the best for you. And then there's man's kingdom or kingdoms. The first one in caps, this one in lower case, that just lives for the moment. How do I get power and keep it? These kingdoms want to get most of the time and get the best for me, not the best for you. Well, I'll be back in a minute with just a snapshot, just a video moment that for me helps capture this week. When you read this story in the Jesus story, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there are so many pictures. I mean, what would it be like to have a video of Jesus turning over the temples of the ripoff artists in the temple, the guys who were taking something that was legit and turning it just toward themselves? And he essentially says to them, as he with anger, whips at things and turns over tables, you have turned a place of giving into a place of getting. This isn't about you. This place should be a house of prayer. Here's Jesus, the son of man, Messiah, going head to head with arrogance and corruption. There is a moment, however, for me in this whole story that has particular power, and I want to wrap things up with this. Here's what it says in Mark 12th chapter 38 verse going on, as he taught, Jesus said, watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at Banquets. Listen to this one, they devour widows houses and for show make lengthy prayers. They devour widows houses and for show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely. Says that and then immediately it says this, Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Now you have to understand that he's in a place with huge colonnades and high ceilings and gold and glitter and opulence, if you will, and he's sitting across from where they put their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people, through in large amounts, Scripture says, but a poor widow, and he's just talked about widows and how the rich guys are trying to rip them off. But a poor widow came and put into very small copper coins worth only a few cents, calling to his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put into the treasury more than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty put in everything all she had to live on. Really interesting, because in Mark's gospel, the word that he uses is a Greek word, lepta, and two mites, two lepta, are together worth a quadrants, the smallest Roman coin. The lepta was the smallest and least valuable coin in circulation in Judea, in that county, in that area, Provids. Judea is worth about six minutes of an average daily wage. And he contrasts that with those who posture and are proud and who are arrogant. And he says, the thing that captures us here, he says, is that they all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty put in everything all she had to live on. That idea of all and the idea of love go together, don't they? And he is speaking to her intent, what we do in what we do, everything depends upon the intention. The widow had given more than all the rich, where she parted with her whole fortune. She intended to give all she had to God. That was an act of perfect love and sacrifice. Love is patient, love is kind, not proud, not stingy, gives it all. That's it for now. I'll be back in 48 hours, Resurrection Day, to see the end of this part of the story. It is really a good part. So I encourage you to tune in and dig folks from stories on the road saying catch you in a bit. Bye-bye.