Shabbat Shalom

Today we gather in peace on the Sabbath.

It would have been a quiet day.  Perhaps eerily so on this particular observance.

All food prepared and tasks completed. Today Jesus, His disciples, close friends and their entire community would have rested.

But Jesus wasn’t here.  He was in a borrowed tomb of a friend.  He was close but not close enough.

He should be here blessing the bread.  Reclining at the table and laughing at the children who have such a hard time being still, even on the Sabbath.  Each one in His presence would have laid down the cares of the last six days and found peace deeply abiding in their souls.

But Jesus wasn’t here.  He was wrapped in a fine, clean linen cloth.  He was close but not close enough.

He should be here telling stories.  The air around us should be tangible so that we can hear His voice.

But Jesus wasn’t here.  He was lying on a shelf cut into the stone in a hillside garden silent.  He was close but not close enough.

He should be here so that we could rest.  He was beautiful when He rested.  His breath would slow on the Sabbath and those around Him breathed in peace.  The Earth would sigh at the rising and falling of His chest.  Ah, Shalom.

But Jesus wasn’t here.  He was in a tomb cut into the rock with a large stone rolled in front of it with a Roman seal.  He was close but not close enough.

So shalom, peace, would not come easily on this Shabbat.  This Sabbath was wrought with gut-wrenching grief that had to be tamed in order to just breathe.  But breathe they must because Sunday is coming.  When the morning rays touch the hills they would be there.  Ready.  Ready to honor their Beloved by preparing His body properly, tenderly and with tears.

And Jesus would be there…

Thank you for seeking shalom with me today, a place of rest.  May the competing demands on you this day be laid waste to the promise of peace.

Sunday’s coming.

Grace & Shalom,

Laura Lea

If you were not walking with me, I would prefer to just list facts and times and outcomes about this day and not walk these courageous, selfless steps with the Savior.

Jesus’ steps are numbered.  His days of walking this earth are almost done.

He has submitted to His Father’s plan and now it is a matter of time. There is no changing paths.

Each step He takes is for you and for me.

Jesus hasn’t slept much if at all.  In the wee hours of the morning, Jesus has gone from an initial trial with Annas, former High Priest, where He confesses His divinity as the Messiah to the Court of Caiaphas, the current High Priest and the Sanhedrin Court.  There He is bound, blasphemed and beaten before He takes His next steps.

His next steps are to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor.  The whole Jewish assembly seeks to make a case against Jesus.  “They began to accuse Him, saying, ‘We found this man subverting our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is the Messiah, a King'”.  Luke 23:2  There are two lies and one truth in this statement.  Even now the faulty rhetoric begins to unravel.  They have no proof.  There are countless testimonies of Jesus healing and feeding “the nation”.  He paid His taxes to Caesar – remember the fish and the coin?  Then, the foundation of it all is the Truth; THE Truth in fleshly form standing before them and they just cannot see.

I see Jesus in this moment.  He is who He says He is and that is why they want Him to die.  He cannot be anyone else but the Messiah.  I wonder how many guards who bound and pushed Him lowered their eyes when they met His?  I wonder if the assembly of learned men who accompanied Him seeking a verdict of death ever looked in His eyes?  The few words Jesus speaks in these moments must have echoed in their ears for a lifetime.

Pilate does have eyes that see, “Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no grounds for charging this man.'”  Luke 23:4  

But they keep insisting so Pilate looks for a way to get this man out of his court and into someone else’s.  He learns that Jesus is a Galilean.  How fortuitous is that?  Pilate marches Jesus over to Herod’s court.  Let Herod deal with this noisy, irritating group of unreasonable men.

Herod is glad to see Jesus.  In fact, he has been wanting to meet Him.  He would like a miracle, if you please.  He was important and held His fate in his hands the least He could do is perform.  Oh, how they did not know Jesus.  Here, in this court, Jesus said not one word.  He knew their hearts.

So, “Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated Him with contempt, mocked Him, dressed Him in a brilliant robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.” Luke 23:11

He was back.  What now?  They were back.  Why wouldn’t they just go away? Because the salvation of the world depended upon it.  These moments, as painful as they were and are for us to read and experience today, depended on each sacred step.  

“Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders and the people and said to them, ‘You have brought me this man as one who subverts the people.  But in fact, after examining Him in your presence, I have found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse Him of.  Neither has Herod, because he sent Him back to us.  Clearly, He has done nothing to deserve death.  Therefore, I will have Him whipped and then release Him.”  Luke 23:13-17

There, that should do it.  A nice whipping by Pilate’s guards.  That should appease them.  I cannot even imagine.

There was no appeasing.  There was only fear.  Fear that Jesus was who He said He was and it was not the Messiah they wanted.  They wanted might and power and freedom from Rome.  Jesus couldn’t, wouldn’t give them what they wanted because the souls of every generation ever created by God needed to be redeemed.

“They cried out together, ‘Take this man away!  Release Barabbas to us!’ Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they just kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify Him!”  Luke 23:18-21 

It is painful for me to even type those words.

Pilate tried again to quell the unreasonableness of it all.  There was no fault in this man.  Surely, they would not want Barabbas set free.  Barabbas was a rebel and a murderer.  Yet, they would not relent. “Crucify!  Crucify!  Crucify Him!”  And Pilate granted their request; it was Passover week and it was their choice: one prisoner released every year during Passover week.

I wonder if Barabbas looked into Jesus’ eyes.  We have no way of knowing if they even were in close proximity.  The first to be bought with His sacrifice was Barabbas, whether he ever knew it or not.  Pilate did look in His eyes though, I do not doubt it for a moment.  Because he was changed.  He knew the truth and he was bound by it for the rest of his days.  “When Pilate saw the he was getting nowhere but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood.  See to it yourselves!”  Matthew 27:24   There was no bowl of water that could ever cleanse his soul.

“Then he released Barabbas to them. But after having Jesus flogged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”  Matthew 27:26

These next steps of Jesus are sacred and holy and marked in time by the bloodied soles of His feet.

Nothing would be spared to disparage Him, humiliate Him, blaspheme Him.  A full company of soldiers took delight in His nakedness, His bruises, His stripes of bleeding flesh.  Their spit ran down His face as a crown of thorns was carelessly placed on His head.  They gave Him a reed for a scepter and mocked the King of the Jews all the while they beat Him and battered Him.  I don’t know when enough was enough, but finally he was clothed and led away to be crucified.  One foot, on bloodied foot, in front of the other.  The worst was yet to come.

The cross was placed on Jesus’ back.  How He could bear it I do not know.  These steps of Jesus undo me.  He is walking towards Golgotha, the skull place, a place of decay and death.  A place nothing like Jesus.  Yet, carrying a wooden cross, I see so clearly that the weight of it is not what brings Him to His knees but my sin.  Jesus carried me there, you there.  I am that cross upon His back.  I could not do it.  I could not save myself.  I needed a Messiah, a Savior to carry the weight of all my sin.

When Jesus stumbles, a man named Simon, a Cyrenian, is forced to carry the cross of Jesus.  On the days I wrestle with my unworthiness, the folly and consequences of my sin, I wish I were Simon.  If I could carry that cross for just one mile would I ever be so nonchalant in my attitude toward sin?  If I could shoulder the cross for just one mile maybe, just maybe, I would have given Jesus something in return.  But, I am not Simon.  I am the weight of that cross.

At Golgotha, they placed Jesus on that cross and nailed His hands and feet to the cross.

Those hands that had healed and fed thousands.  Those hands who had just hours ago washed His disciples feet.  Every man, woman and child in that crowd that had been touched by those hands must have shed tears of sorrow to see them pierced.  Those feet that had walked hundreds of miles for divine appointments with sinners who desperately needed His message and His grace.  Those feet that had been anointed with sweet perfume not so many days ago.  Those feet that never wavered in the path of righteousness.  Those feet were nailed to a cross.

This was true love.  Jesus was not held there by nails but by His unending, sacrificial love for you and me.  There were any number of legions of angels that could have attended Him at the merest whisper from His lips.  Yet, His love was too great for His children to forsake them, to truly leave them in their sin and desolation.  So the nails remained.

The soldiers who cast lot for His earthly possessions offered Him myrrh mixed with wine.  Myrrh, always a gift for Jesus, but this time He refused it.

Nothing could ease this pain nor, I think, did He want it to.   Love was greater than the pain.  It needed to be felt and experienced so that we, those on the other side of the cross, would not forget.  We would not forget that love requires sacrifice.

Then, there are the voices, all the voices. They are relentless.  “Aren’t You the Messiah?  Save Yourself and us!”, “You said you could tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days!”, “If you are who you say you are then save yourself!”  A cacophony of lies lifted on the vocal cords of mockers and haters.

Then, there was a voice of humility and clarity.

“We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but his man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, ‘I assure you:  Today you will be with Me in paradise.”  Luke 23:42-43

It had begun.  The salvation of the world, as we know it, began with the proclamation and forgiveness of thief on a cross.

The time is near…

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three, because the sun’s light failed.”  That is a long time to stand in darkness in the middle of the day.  The sun’s light failed, what a profound phenomenon.  The sun had been created.  It knew its Creator’s agony and perhaps simply refused to shine.  The depth of sorrow of God’s children who loved Jesus cried out to creation and it sympathized with them?  I do not know but I believe that if the stones could sing, then the sun can resonate sorrow.     

“The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle.”  This short verse is worth a tome of commentary but for now I will say that the Holy of Holies was no more.  God reached down and tore the veil away because He would NO LONGER be separated from His children.   I would have loved to have seen the expression on the faces of the high priests when they walked in and the twenty foot, 3 feet thick curtain was torn into from top to bottom.  They have thrown themselves on the mercy seat.

We are almost there.

And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli’, Eli’, lema’ sabachtha’ni? that is “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46.  Why?  For you and for me.  Because today, on this day, Love made flesh poured out His life for you and for me.  What has always separated us from God?  Sin.  Our own willful, prideful words, actions, thoughts and deeds that we selfishly masquerade as a justified version of okay.  It is not okay.  It is an eternal chasm that had been bridged by sacrifice since sin was given birth in the Garden of Eden.  Enough.  God had had enough.  Not one more lamb but THE Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

“It is finished.” John 19:30. 

Indeed.

Today our last steps are to a tomb.  A borrowed one from a kind and rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, who was also a disciple of Jesus.  With gentle and trembling hands they must have wrapped Him in clean, fine linen cloth and laid Him in the tomb.  It strikes me such, the similarities of Jesus birth and death, of the fine line cloth and being laid in a place that was borrowed.  Then the great stone was rolled against the entrance.  “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb.”  Matthew 27:61  Like Mary Magdalene and Mary and Joseph of Arimathea, we can do nothing more here today…

… but reflect on the courageous, selfless acts of a Savior who loved YOU and ME so much that He poured out His life on a cross that our sins would no longer separate us from the God who created us.

Until tomorrow,

Laura Lea

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The Gospels record little on this day but much had to be done.  Passover was the next day and there were many preparations to be made.  Recording routine events like what needs to be done for Passover was not the focus for Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.  This day, for them, was an ordinary day during Passover week.  They had grown up in the tradition and celebration of Passover.  Today they visited family and went into the market to gather herbs, spices and such.  Just an ordinary day.

There was this one, though, that had an important meeting today.  He would slip away and sell his best friend for silver.  Sigh.  Part of the preparations, I suppose.

Today we find Jesus in Bethany.  His day was an extraordinary day.  He was making preparations as well.  Preparations that were going to change the world.

In my mind, it is no coincidence that Jesus stayed in Bethany.  It was close to Jerusalem, about a two mile walk, but just far enough away to find refuge in the dwelling of His friend.  Today, of all days, Jesus needed to be here, in this place.

Jesus was overseeing and consulting with His disciples about the details of tomorrow.  Everything had to be perfect and it would be.  As I read scripture, I don’t often picture Jesus as sitting or idle.  Yet, on this day, I picture Him seated under an olive tree or in ear shot of Martha and Mary in the kitchen making their own preparations.

These moments had to be precious to Him.  He wasn’t being scrutinized by the Sanhedrin or pestered by the Pharisees.  His mind could dwell on the hundreds of miles He had walked in His earthly lifetime.  From Bethlehem to Egypt, from Egypt to Nazareth, from the banks of the Jordan to Samaria, every place His foot had trod, God, His Father, had led Him.

I wonder if He could feel the power of the Holy Spirit as He remembered all of His days?  Every man, woman and child that He had healed.  Every heart that had been quickened to life by His words.  Every embrace that was the giving and receiving of Life.  Every miracle that had been preformed to glorify His Father in Heaven.  Today.  Today would have been the day to think on these things.

His mind could have wandered… to the salt air on His face at the Sea of Galilee, the smell of Joseph’s carpentry shop, the hot sands on His feet in Egypt, the taste of the wine in Cana, the warmth of the stones on His back at the well in Samaria, the smell of the wildflowers as He taught upon so many hills.  Then, there was the fragrant aroma of the nard.  That beautiful, costly perfume that had bathed His feet as Mary laid her life before Him.  Sweet abandon.  He would not forget that moment.

That moment emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically screamed what was coming.  Bless His disciples’ hearts, the signs were all there but they had no idea.  John, maybe, but just a glimmer really.  His heart was making preparations for His time was drawing near.  So few hours left.  So much to do.

So, I see Him.  Can’t you?  Sitting in the shade of a tree waiting for that next breeze.  Resting in what may have been the closest place He had to an earthly home in the last three years.  Then He sees him, Lazarus, his friend.  He is walking over.  There is comfort there and familiar ease.  The bond they shared was extraordinary.  Lazarus owed his life to Jesus.  Don’t we all?  Yes.  However, Lazarus had experienced something that Jesus had yet to experience as a man – resurrection.  The breeze must have caressed Him as they sat together in the cool of the day.

Thank you for walking with me.  This walk toward home was good for my soul.

Until tomorrow,

Laura Lea

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Today the air is filled with nostalgia.  Memories and mysteries seem to swirl around the Master’s head.

“Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry.  Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves.  And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.”  Matthew 21:18-19

Here they are, it is early mind you, they are rubbing their eyes and putting one foot in front of another on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem.  Scripture says Jesus was hungry.  There is that humanity again.  But, wait, weren’t they staying at Lazarus’ house?  Where is Martha?  It wasn’t like her for someone to leave her house hungry.

Yet, here we are Jesus is hungry and he spots a fig tree.  In other Gospel recordings of this moment it indicates that it was not the season for a fig tree to bear fruit.  Jesus knew this yet he went expecting fruit.  Now, this had to be a moment to ponder for these sleepy-headed disciples.  They were accustomed to Jesus getting what He wanted when He wanted it especially where nature was concerned.  He calmed seas and multiplied loaves of bread and fish on more than one occasion.  Would they be surprised if there were figs growing on a tree out of season if Jesus was there?  Probably not.  Just one more mystery about their Master.  But not today.  Not this day.  This was a teachable moment and Jesus wanted them to wake up and pay attention.

“When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” Matthew 21:20

Really?  Heads muddled from sleep and the Master curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit and the question is, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” Sigh.  So, the Master, Rabbi, Teacher, Messiah of the World (even though He has not made that widely known yet) answers THEM.  I sit in amazement, truly.  How often have I asked such an obvious question of Him?  And like the Savior I know Him to be He answers me just as He answered them.

“I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.” Matthew 21:21

Teachable moment encapsulated in a bombshell.  What? Wait.  You mean if I have faith and not doubt I can kill a tree?  Or throw a mountain in the Sea of Galilee?  What? This is it – dazzling moment with the Master. Pouring life into them even as He takes it from a tree.

Then, there is this.

“And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask in prayer.” Matthew 21:22 

Mind blown before breakfast.

I bet the rest of the walk to Jerusalem was silent.  They had spiritual food to chew on and the day was just getting started.

This is why I asked you to walk with me.  The spiritual nourishment that we find here on this day is life-altering.  The words Jesus speaks in these verses transforms life.  Your life.  My life.  As a disciple of Christ I want this truth to transform me into a fruit-bearing being.  What does it take?  Faith.  I want to immerse myself in it and wear it like a robe.  Let us walk together in FAITH urging each other to believe in the words Jesus said to His twelve closest friends.  Then, what? We journey on.

There is so much more to this day!  The memories and mysteries of this day range from weeping over Jerusalem to a holy righteous rage at the Temple.  I want to walk here with you.  I want to flesh it all out and sit and weep and glean every bit of knowledge there is!

But, I asked you to walk with me not trek across the Promised Land.  So we shall stop here and begin our walk anew tomorrow.  If you would like to journey on and dialogue via email, Facebook, Instagram or our website please do.

I welcome all the ways we walk together.

If your heart yearns for more then here are the verses for the rest of the story – Walk with Jesus into the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17 and Luke 19:45-46), sit with Him over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) and listen at His feet as He teaches Truth to those who have ears to hear (Matthew 21:23-7 and Luke 20:1-8).

Grace and peace.  I look forward to where the road leads us tomorrow.

Laura Lea

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There are things in my heart that I want to share.  This time every year my heart yearns for a place of solitude to wrestle with this week.

I want this to be a dialogue where we share our thoughts and questions and insights.  I need this, don’t you?

I need to reset my mind and my heart on the eternal.

I ask that if you feel comfortable when you reply to reply to all.  It will help our dialogue.  It will build our community.

We are all friends here and this is a safe place to be.

And so it begins…Jesus enters Jerusalem.

Ever wondered why a donkey?  I have.  It was perfect, of course.  Mary rode a donkey a long way to get to Bethlehem just so He could be born.

Jesus could have chosen any animal – donkey, horse, camel, elephant.  Yet, he chose a common one.  One that the people would not shy away from.  One that was familiar.  One they could relate to.  One where he could look into their eyes.  Any other animal would have put Him above them, out of their reach.

“Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their robes on the donkey, they helped Jesus get on it.” Matthew 19:35 

It never occurred to me that Jesus would ever need help to do anything.  Yet, His humanity shines here.  There was no saddle for this donkey, only robes which may have slid while He was trying to mount the sweet beast.  It makes me smile.  This moment in time when Jesus and His closest friends are trying to get Him on a donkey to enter Jerusalem to fulfill a prophecy about the Messiah.

“As He was going along, they were spreading their robes on the road. Now He came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!”  Matthew 19:36-38

How many of you read these words and in your mind the images were of a Palm Sunday service at your church?  Me, too.  Then, I closed my eyes and did a reset.  Picture Jesus laughing with His disciples.  They were heading into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  Then it happens, the joy over takes them and they burst into praise.  This was not rehearsed.  Jesus didn’t give them their cue to lay down the rest of their robes and sing.  It was spontaneous.  It was an outpouring of offering to God for all that they had seen and Jesus had done in their midst.  Have you ever been overwhelmed by the glory of God?  Have you ever burst into praise because your being could not contain your joy?  Ever danced in your kitchen or bowed on your living room rug because you were overwhelmed by His kindness to you?  I think those moments reflect what the disciples felt and if we had been there among them would we not have grabbed a palm branch and danced alongside Jesus?

“Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told Him, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” Matthew 19:39

There is always a hater, a doubter or a mischief maker.  There is always someone that wants God to fit into a man-made box.  You and I know…He won’t fit.  Jesus taught on the steps of the temple, on the hillsides and beside the sea.  The Pharisees had been in the throngs that Jesus had taught.  What Jesus taught scared them.  They couldn’t praise Jesus because their hearts were filled with fear.  Fear of a message of redemption for all men.  Perfect Love casts out all fear.  So, Jesus responds as the Messiah He will soon show himself to be.

“He answered them, ‘I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!” Matthew 19:40

That verse resounds with my soul.  Jesus answers with a fact.  The rocks were a created thing just like we are.  Like the wind and the waves that obeyed His voice, I have no doubt that the stones can sing.  There is a part of me, a big part actually, that would like to hear the stones sing.  But I would never want that to be because I wasn’t praising Him.

Thank you for walking with me here today.  I needed to talk through this.  I needed to live this moment in time.  I hope you did as well.  It isn’t the full account of what Jesus did on what we call “Palm Sunday” or the “Day of the Triumphal Entry” but it is a start for my heart.  A place to dwell until we walk a little further tomorrow.

Let us sing with the stones, shall we?

Grace,

Laura Lea

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