Road to Emmaus

At the end of Luke, we join a two disciples of Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus, going away from Jerusalem towards Galilee. They were talking with each other about all the things that had happened.

What could they have been saying to one another?
What were all the things that had happened?

Just a week earlier, they were walking with Jesus when he had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, like a king! This also happened to be lamb selection day for the Passover feast.

Reflections on the the Ascension

On Sunday I was reflecting and mediating on the glorious supernatural event of Jesus ascending bodily into heaven. I haven't done much mediating prayer before and decided to read the 5 passages in the Bible that record these events prior to doing so. They are as follows:

Matthew 28:16-29: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Mark 16:14-20: Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table, and He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

[Note: different versions may have slightly different text here depending on what early texts they are translating from.]

Luke 24:50-53: Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. (Emphasis added for effect, I think that Luke includes that detail for a reason, but that topic will be for another post about them being in the House of the Lord.)

[Note: Earlier in Luke 24 there is loads of great stuff concerning the last acts, institutions, and teachings of Jesus, including twice opening up their minds to understand the scripture concerning Himself. Highly recommend reading that chapter]

John 21: While John doesn't record the specific ascension event, he does include a good deal about Jesus and His last interactions. Both almost humorous, and also very critical to understanding the early church and the Christian Tradition. Topic for another blog post.

Acts 1:6-11: So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

...

Hmm...
You still with me?
Okay, good. 

Let's just say my mind was reeling.
"There is so much here! I could meditate on this stuff for days!" - hence deciding to blog this stuff out. Here are a few quick thoughts.

Do these passages seem a little chaotic to you? They do for me. You can almost sense what these guys were feeling when writing this stuff down.
Excited
Passionate
Purposeful
Exuberant
Urgent

Imagine with me for a moment all the thoughts as they wrote.

He was died, but now He is alive, and we are saw Him leave!
He showed up and taught us so much!
He said, "meet me here." We went there!
He met us on the road out of town, in the upper room, by the sea, on the mountain. 
We almost didn't recognize Him at one point! (Luke 24)
We are seeing things in a whole new way!

Feel the excitement as they are writing this stuff down?

This guy Jesus, whom they had followed, ate, slept, and studied under for three years; whom they had seen crucified in a Roman execution; whom they witnessed being raised to life, victorious over death and the grave; with whom they then interacted with in so many varied encounters in the day the days that followed. Now He is leaving them. He is going to heaven. To be "seated at the right hand of God." Where He is seated as our great high priest. (See Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10) 

Can you begin to feel their doubt?

I can picture them saying to each other on the way to Bethany,

"If we are to be like our rabbi and risen Lord, that means we could be killed!" (See John 21)
"How can we deny what we have seen?
"Will others see what He has shown us in scripture?"

Can you feel the emotion that these authors are sharing? Now they're men on a mission. They are focused on Christ who is now in heaven. Their desires are now heavenly focused.

I look forward to meditating more on these passages, and the event of Christ being taken up into heaven. What a marvelous mystery and I have much to learn from these passages.

Come, let's follow Jesus together.

The Bible is a Drama

Last Tuesday I got to hear N.T. Wright speak, thanks to this event. I had seen the theologian's quotes plastered around the Internet and maybe a little bit of print media, but the presentation shed a bit more light about the man's views, which I generally find myself supporting. The presentation's title indicated that it was going to be a debate...why else would a UT philosophy professor take the stage with him...but as it turned out the philosophy professor was Christian as well, so the result was more of one person asking the other some rather hard questions and agreeing with the answers. A bit less interesting, and not what I, nor my pastor (who ran into me at the local taco shop that evening and invited me to the event), expected, but still worthwhile. In the next few posts I'll relay on some of the more interesting, or encouraging, things that Wright said during the event...I took notes.

For starters, there was the question toward the end of the event of why one should take the time to read the Bible.

What 6 Strings and an Amp Taught Me

In a word? Heart.

There has never been a great guitar solo in which the artist didn't care about what he was doing.  Instead that great guitar solo was, in essence, their life.  It was the expression of emotion in which words would not suffice.  It was the story from their childhood which was too hard to tell.  It was the bad break up in college which they never let go.  It was the celebration of their life.  The guitarist, in that moment, was pouring his life - his heart - into that solo.  Note by note and string by string, he was telling us a story, his story.  

Why 'Modern Day Monks?'

Andrew here.
I wanted to share a little on my perspective of how and why we chose the name Modern Day Monks. Then I would also like to have the other members of our merry band of brothers to weigh in with their insight, reasoning, and doubtless wit to give you, the reader, a look into our rambling thoughts and passions.

Let's Be Real For a Minute

Man it's hard out here and I'm hurtin

Don't need no choir girl flirtin

Don't need no pastor tryna touch on kids

Telling me what I can't wear to church and

No fake cryin, a preacher lyin

Sayin God don't love me if I don't tithe

I need real Him in a real season

I need real faith in a real Jesus

Life get's hard sometimes. I think we all know it.  I think a bunch of us try to ignore it. I think a bunch of us try and manage it.  I think a bunch of us worry about it.  The world is filled with temptation.  The world is filled with sin.  The world is filled with darkness............Great start, huh?

Expectations & Objective Reality

As a member of the so-called Millennial Generation, I've been on the receiving end of numerous articles, blog posts, and sermons regarding the importance of work and just doing something. Just last week I saw an article admonishing young people that any job they do matters, because that's where God put them. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but it leaves many of us unsettled and anxious, wondering why we have such a hard time accepting things the way they are.

What is sadly lacking in those articles and blogs is a discussion of why we, as millennials, feel so dissatisfied with our jobs. Rather than addressing why we feel the way we do and why we spend so much of our time talking about our frustration and anger, people simply state that we need to find our fulfillment in Christ and realize that anything we do is meaningful simply because we are doing it. Every job matters.

Why?

So, if you all have read the previous posts, I am sure you have figured out we like to ask a lot of questions.  Sometimes I feel like a glorified version of a five year old kid asking "why?" over, and over, and over again.  Well...when you really think about it, "why?" is exactly what we should all be asking.

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with a group of people who all come from different backgrounds and all have different passions in life. I am part of a small group at my church in Colorado Springs where we are reading through a version of the Bible called Books of the Bible.  It is an NIV translation where the chapter and verse numbers have been removed, and the order of the new testament has been changed to make it read as more of a narrative than it would be traditionally.  The goal is to understand the bigger picture of the story of Jesus and how it plays into our lives.

The Sum of All Fears Is 2

Psalm 34:4 "I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears." Yet, just a couple versus down, "Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack!" Wait a minute...

Fear and Light

Monday evening, something got in my eye such that it hurt when I blinked, or closed my eye too hard. That night, what kept me awake wasn't so much the pain as the intense desire for the pain to stop, or rather the fear that what I was doing was doing lasting damage to my eye. My fear was that what I was doing would have lasting, negative consequences. 24 hours later, I was still having issues. 24 hours after that, my eye was pretty much fine, and I went on with life.

Tonight, before heading over to a nearby coffee shop, I ate at an Asian place. I got a fortunate cookie along with the meal...

Dead at 25, Buried at 80

Recently a mentor at work told a friend of mine,
"Most men die at twenty-five, but are buried at eighty."

I turn twenty-five this year... and I see exactly what he means.
It's being slowly jaded by the futility of most days.
It's about losing your passions, dreams, and ideals.
It's the realization that life isn't more than surviving today.
It's becoming a slave to the daily grind.
It's seeing most of your work being ultimately meaningless.

Do Not Fear, Nor be Dismayed

Fear.  An emotion we all experience at one point or another.  Whether it be fear of spiders, snakes and other terrible animals or fear of commitment, disappointment or the unknown, we all experience it.

Fear can be a crippling emotion.  Some of the most important decisions in life end up being driven by fear instead of being driven by passion.  "I am scared of what will happen if I take this next step, so I am going to go an easier way around."