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15 Things Jesus Didn’t Say
Now that we’ve made it past Easter and find ourselves in the middle of Eastertide, it’s a good time to reassess our own faith and our relationship with Jesus.
Eastertide is a “decision-making time” for Christians. We have walked with Jesus all over the Holy Land; we have accompanied him to Jerusalem; we have seen what the world’s authorities have done to him; and we have experienced the Christ who rose from the dead.
Before we travel down this path any longer, let’s be sure to dispel any false doctrine or teachings that we may be clinging to that aren’t true to who Jesus really is.
For example: Below are “15 things Jesus Didn’t Say” but many people live as if he did. Look over this list, and when you’re done; 1) think about which ones hit home for you, and why, and 2) add your own to the list – things you had been taught to believe Jesus said, things others have claimed Jesus said, or things you just assumed Jesus said. I’d love to hear what you come up with!
Jesus did NOT say:
- “For God was so disgusted with the world and you that he gave his one and only Son.”
- “I have come to bring you a new religion.”
- “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have correct theology.”
- “If anyone would come after me, let him disparage all other religions and their followers.”
- “If you love me, you will regularly attend a church of your choice… within reason.”
- “Blessed are the tithers for they shall be called the children of God.”
- “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in Heaven after the earth goes up in flames and is destroyed.”
- “You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor,’ which means the people with whom you attend church and relate to in your Christian sub-culture.”
- “In my Father’s house there are a limited number of rooms. But no worries, there is plenty of room in Hell.”
- “The kingdom of God has come!… Well, not exactly. I mean, not completely. Let’s face it, the really-real kingdom comes after we die. Hang in there. It won’t be long.”
- “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you superior to all the other simpletons who never learned Greek or Hebrew.”
- “You are the light of the world… well… in a sinful-filthy-scum kind of way.”
- “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you a checklist of things to do and not do in order to remain in God’s favor.”
- “For God so loved the world… you know like theoretically… as in, God loves the big ‘W’-world. But when it come to you specifically, there are quite a few things that would need to change for God to actually and specifically love… or even like… YOU.”
- “He appeared to his disciples over a period of 40 days and spoke about how to incorporate his life and teaching as a 501(c)3, and go into all the earth to build mega-churches in his name.”
(Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge: Unmasking the Truth to End Your Suffering)
Discovering Jesus as he really is …
Pastor Bob <><
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THE FAITH TO BELIEVE IN MIRACLES & RESURRECTION
About 10 years ago, Father James Martin published a book called “Jesus: A Pilgrimage.” It’s a fascinating book to read because it takes you to the very places Jesus was when the events described in the gospels happened. (There is a copy of it in the Prayer Room at VSCC.) Martin’s book helped me realize even more how human Jesus really was. But it also made clear that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.
It’s one thing to believe in a man that walked the earth some 2000 years ago, teaching a new way of life, healing people of their ailments and their demons, establishing a small but strong following. That alone stretches some people’s sense of rational or logical. But the power of Jesus goes way beyond human capabilities. Jesus not only did great things as a human, but he also did things no human could do alone. And that should confuse us … and astound us! Jesus wasn’t going for rational or logical in his ministry … either then … or now. So, it’s not that sensible, if I may say, to expect the incarnation of God in a human being to be rational or logical.
James Martin has 2 really valuable lessons for us as we come to another Easter Sunday in our lives. These 2 things are validation for us that Jesus indeed was other-worldly, as well as worldly; that he was supernatural as well as natural. Don’t expect that to ever make sense, because faith is the only way to believe in the Jesus of Easter. It’s our faith, informed and animated by the Holy Spirit that reveals to us the truth about Jesus. And this truth tells us 2 things that are true of the Easter Jesus:
This is how Father Martin explained these 2 things in an interview he gave just after his book came out.
- Jesus really did perform miracles.
Many people are uncomfortable with Jesus’s supernatural power and other signs of his divinity. But an immense part of the Gospels is taken up with what are called “works of power” and “signs” — that is, miracles. In fact, some of the sayings that people take for granted and quote approvingly — even by those who do not accept Jesus’s divinity — occur within the context of the miracle stories. Remove the miracles and there is no context for many of Jesus’ most familiar sayings.
Jesus’ ability to perform miracles was never in doubt in the Gospels. Even his detractors take note of his miracles, as when they critique him for healing on the Sabbath. The question posed by people of his time is not whether Jesus can do miracles, but rather the source of his power. The statement that Jesus was seen as a miracle worker in his time has as much reliability as almost any other statement we can make about him.
- Jesus rose from the dead.
Not everyone believes this about Jesus, because to believe this is to be a Christian, and not everyone reading this is Christian. But let me offer a kind of “proof,” if you will — even though the only proof was what the disciples saw on Easter Sunday.
The Gospels were written for the early church, and the Gospel writers would certainly not go out of their way to make the apostles — the leaders of the early church, after all — look bad. Nonetheless, notice that the Gospels portray the apostles as abject cowards during the crucifixion: most of them abandon Jesus; one of them, Peter, denies knowing him; and after his death they are depicted as cowering behind closed doors. That’s hardly something that the Gospel writers would make up.
But after the Resurrection, they are utterly transformed. The disciples move from being terrified victims to men and women ready to die for what they believe. Only something dramatic, something visible, something tangible, something real, could affect this kind of change.
Jesus really and truly rose from the dead. For me, that’s the most important thing to know about Jesus.
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Easter is a time of miracles. It celebrates the most amazing miracle of all, the resurrection, and it opens up the power of God to all of us. But, of course, not everyone is prepared to believe in a savior who rose from the dead and is with us today; not everyone understands the power of miracles in the world today, or in their own lives. The faith to truly believe these things can only come with the help of the Holy Spirit.
This Easter, make way for God to touch you and teach you in ways you haven’t yet allowed. Open yourselves up fully to the great mysteries of God, including resurrection and miracles. If we only allow the rational and logical into our orbit of believability, that leaves no room for the God of history, scripture, or daily presence. The truth of Easter is this: God is real, Jesus lives, and the Holy Spirit is their path to truth and wisdom.
My prayer is that all of this becomes crystal clear to each one of us on Easter 2022! And for that to happen, we all need help. And the help that God offers us … is what Easter is all about. That’s why Jesus, “really and truly,” rose from the dead; to help us become believers in God’s irrational and illogical truth.
Holy Week Blessings,
Pastor Bob <><
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WHO’S UP FOR SOME DONKEY DUTY?
Greetings King Worshippers!
This Sunday is Palm Sunday — and we will all be blessed by a youth-led Palm Sunday worship experience. Among many other things, we will hear the traditional account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem from Matthew’s gospel, which unofficially begins in the Bible what we call Holy Week.
The week that we commemorate changed the world forever and ever. And, I believe that God is not done changing the world forever and ever. And, I’m praying God is not done changing me — if I’m only willing to allow it. Your will, Lord; Not mine.
Consider: How great and powerful do you want to be in this life? Pause for a moment and consider that question honestly. The Apostles James and John asked Jesus if they could be the greatest in the kingdom. Isn’t that what we all want? Only they were confused about who Jesus is.
The true Jesus showed them, and us, the way to be great in the Kingdom of God. On the first Palm Sunday, presumably in the presence of James and John, he asked 2 of his disciples to do the “donkey duty” for his entry into Jerusalem. He told them, go “take” two donkeys from that village over there and bring them back to me.
In other words, become horse thieves for Jesus! Surely, that’s not the kind of “greatness” James or John (or us), had (have) in mind! Or could it be exactly that? Could “greatness” come from being a donkey do-er?
Reward yourself today. Give some thought to your life of faith – your relationship with Jesus — and how that impacts your daily life. How much peace is there in your daily life? Have you sensed tranquility lately? Do you have a feeling of meaning or purpose in your life today? When is the last time you did some donkey duty for Jesus? Or, are you expecting something a little different? A little more comfortable? A little less risky — and less embarrassing? Yeah — me too.
But James and John finally “got it.” The donkey duty lesson stuck with them. And eventually, their lives were completely dedicated to Jesus and his Kingdom. Donkey duty actually became their primary “Way” of life. And they received many “gifts” of the Holy Spirit, that many of us think impossible to receive in this world but, it’s not impossible.
James and John learned that. And ever since, those brothers never regretted that day when they left their nets and their father on the shore to follow a man who turned out to be way more than they could ever imagine, or even conceive of. It’s even hard to talk or write about the reality that is Jesus. Have you noticed?
How could we possibly make Jesus the most important thing in our life?
Let’s pray that these current days of holiness will reveal to us more of who Jesus really is. And then, don’t be surprised if you find yourself instinctively doing some unthinkable or irrational “donkey duty” for someone. A little more of Jesus, goes a long way towards happiness!
Palms all around! Pastor Bob
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RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM WATCHNG WAR ON TV
- A couple of years ago, we were introduced to Covid. We still don’t understand it and it still spreads, and kills. In this case, the world has banded together (at least much of it) to fight back. To take care of the sick; to try to save the dying; to find a cure. All of that is born from love. That’s God’s work!
- In war, it’s just the opposite. In war its God’s precious children killing each other. No virus needed. War is the ultimate failure of humanity. War is all of our sin brought to the surface so that we can justify the slaughter of innocent people – conveniently called “collateral damage” by the ones ordering the actual killing.
- We still haven’t learned that the ones doing the killing are also being injured by their actions. We were not created to kill each other. God didn’t make us so that we can shoot it out and bomb each other until the last little remnant of humanity remains. No, that’s humans at work. And we’re learning that the men and women on the front lines are also being harmed from within by carrying out orders to attack and kill fellow human beings. Everybody gets hurt when we fight each other.
- We must always be aware that our most powerful sin, as described in Genesis 1, is wanting to be like God. We all are “infected” with this dis-ease. We want to rule over others. Sin makes us that way. We want to exert power over others. Sin makes us that way. We want what others have. Sin makes us that way. Basically, we want what we want and we want it now! So don’t get in my way or I’ll have to move you out of the way. Sin makes us that way. Sin is the absence of God. We need more God.
- If you want to see a modern-day re-enactment of the Genesis story of Cain and Abel, tune in to any 24-hour news station, sit back, and watch Cain killing Abel all over again. It never seems to end, because it never has. From the very first offspring of Adam and Eve, we have been resentful and jealous of one another, and have always, eventually, resorted to fighting to get what we want.
- Russia isn’t the only country to ever roll into foreign cities and declare its intentions to conquer native people by force or by death. We, too, have a scarred history when it comes to conquering or controlling other people. We’re at our worst when we fight to diminish or extinguish a culture different from ours. But we also fight to protect our “precious and rare democracy, built upon the belief that all people are created equal and have a God-given unalienable right to freedom.” Most of us, it seems, believe that freedom is worth fighting for, and dying for. That alone is a powerful statement about freedom.
- I haven’t seen a foreign superpower like Russia roll into another country with tanks, bombers, and militia in my adult lifetime. I have seen the U.S. military roll into towns and villages in Viet Nam to try to conquer them, with hundreds of thousands of victims. And I have watched the U.S. military later roll into Iraq, and Afghanistan, to conquer the enemies of freedom, with hundreds of thousands of victims, including many innocent civilians … mothers … children … even pets if they happen to be in the way. We are all a part of this. Freedom, as they say, isn’t free.
- I’m not naïve enough to think that in order to protect that powerful right of freedom for all people that we wouldn’t need to fight for this way of life. Indeed, fighting for our way of life, alone, can explain much of the history of the world since Cain. But there is a big difference between fighting for people’s freedom, and fighting to exert control over people. They are moral opposites. And we’re still trying to learn the difference between the two.
- I have read about the Russian tanks rolling into Poland, or Czechoslovakia, or Yugoslavia, but I never was able to watch it on TV. Today, we watch it on TV. And let’s be clear about what we’re watching; the forces of power in the world that want to suppress the freedom of others in order to increase their own power and wealth, are rolling into Ukraine to retake a country that has now tasted freedom and democracy, and doesn’t ever want to give it back.
- In watching the Ukraine military, and especially the courageous civilians who have stayed to fight, we can see how valuable freedom is to people who have waited a long time for it. And we can see how far they are willing to risk their own lives in order to keep it for their children and hopefully, for generations to come. I wonder if we have yet learned that until all people are free, no one is free.
- I understand the power of sin in our world. It affects all of us. We are weaker because of our sinful nature. But, on the other hand, we are God’s children. That gives us access to a power greater than our sin. Many of us, all around the world, of various colors, languages, homelands, customs, and faith traditions, are together building the Kingdom of God right now, right here in our midst, and in the shadow of war. Trust this; despite appearances on TV, there is always more love being expressed in these desperate and tragic circumstances than sin. Love always wins. And love will win in the end. But sometimes it’s the getting there that kicks me in the gut. Because until loves win, we end up with a lot of dead people.
- What’s going on in Ukraine? The very worst of humanity is being poured out on the Ukrainian people. And … the very best of humanity is responding. As you watch the tanks and the Russian military move into Ukraine, pay close attention to all the love that is working in response. God’s love is more powerful than any force on earth. But even then, with all the love we can muster, tanks and guns still win battles. Children’s hospitals are still bombed. Suburban neighborhoods are still bombed. Roads and bridges are still bombed. Millions of refugees are fleeing for their lives. A president is pleading to the world for help. And we sit by and watch this invasion on TV.
What’s a Christian to do?
O Lord, come to our assistance. O God, make haste to help us. Praying for Peace, Pastor Bob
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“8 Things I Saw in Heaven on Earth this Week”
Hello Friends & Neighbors –
I just returned from my latest trip to the Kingdom of God, and it really is like heaven on earth! Even so, it’s still difficult for me to predict when these little “Junkets with Jesus” will happen, but they seem to be happening more and more around here lately. And when they do come, it’s kinda like buying those last-second vacation packages – you get a call and you drop everything and you’re all in.
That’s a pretty good description of what happened, from what I remember. I don’t remember much — I think the Light was way too bright for me! But I did take some “spiritual snapshots” during my time in-between and I’ve put each one of them in writing below.
Snapshot 1) Imagine seeing …
Two smiling and giggling siblings (one 9 yr. old boy; one 7 yr. old girl) playing around in the church, with soft skin the color of a golden bronze – like if all the skin colors in the world were blended together, this is the color they would make. Absolutely Beautiful! Precious children of God.
“You gotta know there are happy and beautiful kids in heaven!”
Snapshot 2) Imagine seeing …
Their dad. He’s one of those unsung “single dad raising two kids” heroes, but most earthly people think less of him. They just may not know the steepness of the mountain he’s been climbing for way too long, through blackness and brownness, through tornadoes and floods, caring a grand piano full of resentment and hopelessness, where Murphy’s Law seems to rule all the time. That dad? Yesterday we celebrated his Independence Day!
You had to know that Independence Day can happen on any day to anyone in God’s Kingdom!
Snapshot 3) Imagine seeing …
The local police department, the public school system, the state department of children’s services, a small flock of angels from a small but mighty Jesus church in town, and one family in need – all converged over a 2-day period and some lives were saved and others were changed – and all were filled!
You should know that EVERY church in the Kingdom of God is a Jesus church: established 33AD.
Snapshot 4) Imagine seeing …
Fields of green, red roses too; and everybody saying to each other, “I love you.” Funny thing is, I kept seeing these things over and over, and it changed the way I saw everything else.
You may have guessed that in God’s Kingdom everybody sings this to each other all the time!
Snapshot 5) Imagine seeing …
A Lois Lane to Wonder Woman spiritual transformation right before our very eyes, as the normal everyday “boss in the office” appeared to have that heart expand to the size of Montana as she literally became a mother to a son she didn’t know she had; a grandmother to three kids she didn’t know she had, and a relentless church organizer pulling people together to save the day! We all said: “It must be the work of the Holy Spirit!”
I think that I forgot to mention above — but the Holy Spirit was also present during our Kingdom excursion, because you can’t have the Kingdom if you ain’t got the Spirit!
Snapshot 6) Imagine seeing …
One short glimpse on video of a young mother living in literal and spiritual darkness, knowing neither her true self nor her living God, and a long way from both. I still haven’t gotten that video glimpse out of my mind. And every time I think of it, I pray for her.
You may be surprised to know that even in the Kingdom of God, there are the lost and the strays, which means the work is never complete and the Kingdom never ends – until, of course, the Big Fella up above sings in the shower! (And when he does, don’t expect to hear, “Jesus is Just Alright with Me” by the Doobie Brothers!)
Snapshot 7) Imagine seeing …
The third sibling, just as bronze and beautiful as her sister and brother, but not a child of the dad mentioned above, — and then see her as the reality of what this ginormous change will mean for Daddy, brother, sister, and … OMG she says … me! “I’ll be without them in my life starting today.” The reality came upon her gradually, like letting the air out of a balloon very slowly so that it makes that “fun for a second, but then annoying as trying to open a Dollar General plastic bag with gloves on, sound. It was heart wrenching to witness. Every time I think of her, I pray for her.
You may want to know that anywhere one goes where there is great love, there is also great pain, because even in God’s Kingdom on earth, we still have our hurtable tender human hearts.
Snapshot 8) Imagine seeing …
Ourselves, each and every day, in that very same Kingdom of God. When in the midst of this 2-day spiritual whirlwind, we didn’t have the luxury of pausing to reflect on and share how God was working all around us … although we did keep saying that “God is in charge of this and God is working all around us.” Don’t look up. Just keep doing what God says. Don’t ask any questions that could be considered logical or rational. And most of all, trust God, because when you’re in the Kingdom of God … God is King. And His will, will be done. Just as it is in heaven.
Well, what did you think of my 8 favorite spiritual snapshots from my recent excursion into Godland? You know what? I bet you too will have some personal experience of the Kingdom of God this week. Just put your eyes and ears on your heart. And when the Kingdom comes, take some spiritual snapshots that you can write down and share with us. And if you have a camera, you can use that too!
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SPEAKING FROM HEAVEN — A MUCH NEEDED VOICE IN THESE TIMES
I‘m not sure how many of you knew about the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, or more specifically, about his death on the day after Christmas last year. I remember it. Not much attention given to one of the globe’s spiritual giant, a saint in our midst with a reputation as a sage and a prophet. And this reputation is growing by the day!
But it’s today … Today that I need to hear that squeaky squawky voice of meekness and calm in the middle of chaos and fear. Doesn’t that sound like a voice we need to hear today? These words below, taken from his Nobel lecture, are both gripping and convicting … urgent and compelling.
Please delve right in! And then lets … ???
Peace <>< Pastor Bob
“Let Us Work to be Peacemakers”
By
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
We are now much closer to a nuclear holocaust than when our technology and our spending were less.
Most nations are engaged in a mad arms race, spending billions of dollars wastefully on instruments of destruction, when millions are starving.
And yet, just a fraction of what is expended so obscenely on defense budgets would make the difference in enabling God’s children to fill their stomachs, be educated, and given the chance to lead fulfilled and happy lives.
We have the capacity to feed ourselves several times over, but we are daily haunted by the spectacle of the gaunt dregs of humanity suffering along in endless queues, with bowls to collect what the charity of the world has provided, too little too late.
When will we learn?
When will the people of the world get up and say, Enough is enough?
God created us for fellowship. God created us so that we would form the human family, existing together because we were made for each other. We are not made for an exclusive self-sufficiency, but for interdependence, and we break the law of our being at our peril.
Unless we work assiduously so that all of God’s children, our brothers and sisters, members of our own human family, enjoy basic human rights, the right of a fulfilled life, the right of movement, of work, the freedom to be fully human with a humanity measured by nothing less than the humanity of Jesus Christ himself, then we are on the road inexorably to self-destruction, we are not far from global suicide; and yet it could be so different.
When will we learn that human beings are of infinite value because they have been created in the image of God, and that it is a blasphemy to treat them as if they were less than this, and to do so ultimately recoils on those who do this?
In dehumanizing others, they have dehumanized themselves. Perhaps oppression dehumanizes the oppressor as much as, if not more than, the oppressed. But they need each other to become truly free, to become human. We can be human only in fellowship, in community, in koinonia, in peace.
Let us work to be peacemakers, those given a wonderful share in Our Lord’s ministry of reconciliation. If we want peace, so we have been told, let us work for justice. Let us beat our swords into plowshares.
Taken from by Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Nobel lecture, 1984.
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