The Last Supper

(The Last Supper from Mark 14 and John 13-14 and the Jesus Storybook Bible)
Remember when God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt? They had to put the blood of a lamb over their doors to show that they belonged to God, and the angel of death passed by those houses and did not go in but passed over. Well, every year the Jews celebrated this event, called the "Passover."
Jesus and his friends also celebrated Passover, just before Jesus was betrayed and killed. His friends were arguing about who would wash everyone's dirty feet for them before the meal.

Jesus quietly took off his coat and bent down with a bowl of water. Peter said, "Not you, Jesus!" Peter didn't understand that Jesus was a Servant King. Jesus said, "If you don't let me wash away the dirt, Peter, you can't be close to me." Jesus knew that what people needed most was to be clean on the inside. The dirt on their feet was nothing compared with the sin in their hearts. Peter's eyes filled with tears as he let Jesus wash his feet.
"I am doing this because I love you. You also must do this for each other."

Now one of Jesus' disciples had made a plan to betray him to the people who hated him. Jesus knew his plan, and said, "Do what you will do, Judas... go." Judas went and told those people he'd lead them to Jesus, and he received 30 pieces of silver in exchange for his betrayal.

But Jesus stayed and spent more time that evening with his friends. He took bread and broke it and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat it, all of you." And he also took a cup of wine and said, "This is my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. I will die instead of you. I'll heal your hearts, and you'll be clean on the inside. So whenever you do this, remember me. I have rescued you!"

Jesus knew he was leaving to go back to his Father God. "You'll be sad for a while, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will come to you. And you'll have my Forever happiness, so don't be afraid! You are my friends, and I love you, and I will not leave you alone, ever." Then they sung a song, and walked up to their favorite place, an olive garden, to pray.

Jesus' Feet Washed With Tears

 (From Mark 14, Luke 7, John 12 and the Jesus Storybook Bible)
Jesus was having dinner with some very "important" people. A woman came in, and they all knew who she was: a big sinner! How did she dare come in to their dinner party?
She came and fell at Jesus' feet and washed his feet with her tears. She dried his feet with her long hair. The men whispered to each other, "Doesn't he know who this woman is?" Then, she did something that shocked everyone: she took the most valuable thing she had, a bottle of very, very expensive perfume, and broke the beautiful jar, pouring it over Jesus' feet. The men gasped. "What a waste!" they said. But Jesus smiled at her. "What she has done is beautiful, and will be told all over the world. People anointed the kings with oil, but she anointed me with her tears."

 He knew what the men were thinking. They were thinking, "That woman is a sinner! We are the good ones." They thought they were good enough because they kept the rules, but their hearts did not work properly.
Jesus said to them, "This woman knows she is a sinner who will never be good enough. She knows she needs me to rescue her, and that is why she loves me so much."
He told the woman, "Go in peace. Your sins are forgiven." Again, the men were angry. "Who does he think he is? Only God can forgive sins!" They did not believe that Jesus was God's Son.
Jesus said, "There was once a man who owed a lot, and a man who owed a little. The person they owed the money to forgave both debts. Who do you think loved the man more? He who has been forgiven much loves much. He who has been forgiven little loves little."
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Jesus, we would probably have been like those men who did not understand who you are. We want to be like the woman who did know, and loved you. She didn't care what anyone else thought. She knew she needed you desperately. We also need you desperately, but we spend so much time trying to convince ourselves and other people that we are OK without you. That we don't owe you much. Please break our cold hearts, like that bottle of perfume. We want new hearts that can worship you with gratitude, and give you the honor and glory that you deserve for rescuing us and being our humble, beautiful, true King.

Praise! (Save us!)

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the holy city of the Jews and their capital (one week before Easter), he rode on a donkey's colt, on that had never been ridden before. All the people shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!" Hosanna means, "Praise," but it also means, "save us now!"
They waved palm branches and put their cloaks down on the ground for him to pass by on.
They thought Jesus was going to save them from the oppressive Roman rulers. But Jesus upset everyone's expectations. He did not come riding on a war horse, but on a young donkey. He did not come to take political power, but had an even bigger goal in mind, to save the entire world. Jesus was the Messiah, the Promised One, and yet he was a Servant King, unlike any other king they had ever known.

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Jesus,
You always surprise us! Your ways are not our ways. We praise you for being our humble King who conquered not only all oppression but also sin, death, evil, and separation from God, for us and for the whole world.

Why Did They Hate Jesus?

Jesus teaching in the temple

 There were many people who hated Jesus. You may be wondering who these people were and why they hated him. Why would they hate a perfect man, who had done nothing but good things for people?
Well, there were many people who were very upset by what Jesus was teaching, and by the way so many people starting following him.
And Jesus had some very challenging things to say. He told the religious leaders that they were laying heavy burdens on people that God had never intended, adding to the law. That they looked clean on the outside, but were empty on the inside. He publicly told these leaders that they were hypocrites, and that they were not serving God's people, or God, at all, though they took the best seats at feasts and wore fancy clothes and made sure to always wash their hands and follow the little things in the law. And yet they forgot about justice and about God himself. The didn't understand God's love for broken people. They felt threatened by Jesus, and wanted to even kill him!

The Religious Leaders and Pharisees

These leaders were so angry with Jesus that they looked for opportunities to trap him. But he was too brilliant to fall into their traps, and always showed them a mirror for their hearts.
One time they asked him, "Should we Jews pay taxes to Caesar?" (Caesar was the Emperor of Rome.) Jesus said, "Give me a coin." He said, "Whose image is on the coin?" They said, "Caesar's." So Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (In Genesis, it says that man was "made in God's image," so what he meant was, you owe your whole self and your whole heart to God, which is the bigger issue.) They were amazed at his answer, and speechless.

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Jesus,
I would have probably been one of those people who hated you, too, because you turn everything upside down, all of our pride and the goodness we think we have achieved on our own. I am like them sometimes, Lord. I often try to prove myself, and I think I am better than others. Lord Jesus, show me my need for you, and show me your grace for people like me. We are sinners who think we do not have a problem, but we desperately need you. And you rescue us! Thank you, Jesus!

Note: the next post will be on Palm Sunday (March 29th), one week before Easter. I will post something each day of that week leading up to Easter (April 5).

The mustard seed

"He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (from Matthew chapter 13, Jesus talking)

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Jesus, sometimes your kingdom looks small and unlikely. And yet by faith we see that you are Lord of all the earth, and that your authority extends to every nation and culture, in a grand celebration of the good news. We want to be a part of sharing this good news that you are the true King, all over the world! Give us faith to see the unlikely ways that you grow your kingdom, using small and weak people like us who have nothing to brag about in the world's terms.

"Why do you call me good?"

(Excerpt from Luke Chapter 18, English Standard Version. By the way, the bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek, and has now been translated into nearly every language, even languages only spoken by a few hundred people now, thanks to the work of diligent linguists who want to share the good news.)

LUKE 18:18-30
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

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Jesus,
You were not just a good man. You are the Boss. The King. You're the Master. You own it all. Everything we have is from you, even life itself. We have a hard time remembering this. We think we earn what we have and we are so worried about how to get more and keep more secure. We want to feel secure and we want our families to be secure. Please help us to learn what this means, that it all belongs to you, and that we really do find deep, lasting security in you. That you are the one we can trust and offer everything to. It is safe to give ourselves to you. You will not use us or dominate us. You're the servant king who gave yourself for us completely on the cross.

Never Too Lost For God

(Today's story is from Luke 15 and the Jesus Storybook Bible)
Jesus told this story: There was a boy who asked his father to give him his inheritance early. He thought to himself, "He doesn't want me to have any fun. I'm going to do my own thing" (in that culture this meant, "I wish you were dead now. I don't love you, I just want what you can give me.") His father gave it to him, feeling very sad.
The boy went away and spend all that he had in wild living. When the money ran out, his new "friends" left him, and the only work he could find was feeding pigs. He got so hungry that he wished he could eat the pigs' food.
He decided to go back to his father and beg to be a servant in his house. But as he was still a long way off, his father (who had been watching for him every day) came running out to meet him (his old father, so dignified, didn't care about propriety, he was so happy to see his lost son!

His father kissed him and put his special ring on his finger and gave him his robe said, "let's have a party! bring out the best food we have!" even before the boy could say he was sorry and explain that he wanted to work to earn his favor back. This is how God feels about us, his lost children. Thought we shamed him, he restores us back to the family with shocking, free, wild forgiveness.

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Father God,
Wow, your love is so amazing! Even though we often just love you for what you can give us, and bring shame upon your family name, you watch and wait for us. You come running out to meet us when we just begin to turn back to you... you don't shame us, but instead, give us your full favor again, though we don't deserve it. Why don't you shame us? We can't understand it, but we thank you, loving Father!
We want to love like you do, God... to see others when they are still a long way off, the people we think deserve to be shamed... and run out to meet them, fully forgive them and restore them back to life and close relationship. Please give us new hearts to know your love and share it with others joyfully!
Amen.

A Man Who Didn't Have Any Friends

                                    (From Luke 19 and The Jesus Storybook Bible)

There once was a man who did not have any friends. Why? He was a tax collector. And he made himself rich by stealing from the common people. Nobody liked him, with good reason. His name was Zacchaeus.
Jesus was passing through his town. Everyone wanted to see him. Zacchaeus wanted to see him, too. But he had a problem. He was very, very short. He couldn't see over everyone's heads. So, he climbed up a tree.
When Jesus approached in the crowd, he stopped. He looked up, right at Zacchaeus. He said, "I want to come to your house." Zacchaeus was shocked, but he hurried down the tree and brought Jesus to his home. He thought, "Jesus doesn't know me, doesn't know how I live."
But Jesus did know. And he loved Zacchaeus even so. Zacchaeus was ashamed, and, turning pale, said, "What I have done is wrong. I want to do the right thing and return people's money, even four times what I stole!" And he did.
Jesus smiled and said, "My friend, today God has rescued you!"
Jesus loved Zacchaeus when nobody else did. He showed people what God's faithful, never-giving-up love is like.

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Lord Jesus, how can you love people who steal and cheat others? Your love is wild and scandalous. How can you be a God who loves justice, and yet you love those who do wrong, people who everyone agrees are bad people? I'm confused. Please open my eyes. Show me your love. I want to know if you love me. Will you have words of love to speak to me even in the deepest places of my own shame that I cannot even face myself? Nobody I know can love me like that. You are what I want. And I want to learn to love like you love. Set me free from my shame and judgment of others.

Let the Little Children Come to Me!

                      (From Matthew 18, 19, Mark 10, Luke 18, and the Jesus Storybook Bible)

I'm sure you notice the modern day clothes and the microphone on Jesus. I thought this picture was so cute. The man acting as Jesus gets mobbed by little kids who know that the real Jesus loves children!

Jesus' friends argued about who was the most important to God. They had forgotten that they didn't need to do anything to prove themselves to God, like be clever or nice. They forgot that God's love is a gift. And who knows a lot about gifts? Children!

Jesus' friends tried to send the children away. "Jesus is busy," they said. But Jesus always had time for children. He said, "Bring the little children to me, and don't ever send them away." He didn't wait to see if they would behave themselves, but sat them on his lap, told them stories, and made them laugh.
He told his friends, "No matter how big you grow, never grow up so much that you lose your child's heart: full of trust in God. Be like these children. They are the most important in the kingdom."

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Jesus, I get so worried about whether I am good enough. I compare myself to others. I try and try to be better and impress them, and you. But then... I see you there... welcoming the little children, though they do not have it all together... though they are beggars for your love! I want to be a beggar for your love, too, and come to you with empty hands. Come and receive your delight in me. What am I waiting for, when you are there with open arms?

Treasure Lost, Treasure Found

                                      (Matthew 13 and The Jesus Storybook Bible)

"God's kingdom is wherever God is king. Where he fills your heart with his Forever Happiness and you stop running from him and love him," Jesus said. He told lots of stories ("parables") to help them understand: "God's kingdom is like a hidden treasure. A man was digging in a field. He found a buried treasure. He buried it again, went and sold everything he had, and bought the field, and gained the treasure."
"Coming home to God is as wonderful as finding a treasure! You might have to dig before you find it. You might have to search, and give up everything to get it. But being where God is, in his kingdom, is more important than anything else in the world. It's worth giving up anything for! God is the real treasure."
God had a treasure too. A treasure that was lost a long, long time ago: his children. And he sent Jesus to regain his treasure. And Jesus would do whatever it took-- even if it cost him everything he had.

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Jesus,
You gave everything to win me back. I want to leave everything behind, like the disciples, and follow you, to gain so much more than I could ever find or keep on my own. Some of it is hard to give up. But I leave it behind. Help me to leave it behind. To find my security in your arms, in being your child, a child of the true King, the One who created the world, and me. You are my treasure.

A Picnic

(From Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9 and The Jesus Storybook Bible)

5,000 people had been sitting all day listening to Jesus. They were sitting on a hillside away from the town. They had not eaten all day, and they were hungry. Jesus' disciples told him, "Send them away to get food." But Jesus said, "You give them food." The disciples looked at each other, puzzled. They didn't bring any food. It would take too much money to buy food, even if there were a store nearby.

Jesus knew they felt panicked. "What food do you have already? Go check." There was a boy in the crowd whose mother had packed him a lunch of five loaves of bread and two fish. He gave all of it to the disciples. Not enough for 5,000... but they brought it to Jesus.
Some people laughed. But God would make it more than enough. Jesus winked at the little boy and said, "Watch."

Everyone wondered, "What is he thinking?" But Jesus knew the One who made the oceans and all the fish, the One who made everything in the beginning, out of nothing. How hard would this be for Someone like that?

Jesus took the boy's lunch, looked up to heaven, and thanked his Father. He handed the food to his friends, and they began to hand it out. And they kept handing it out. And handing it out. And when everyone had had enough, they collected big baskets full of the leftovers. 5,000 people had eaten and were satisfied!

Jesus did many other things that were not "natural." But it was the most natural thing in the world. It's what God had been doing from the beginning. Taking the nothing and making it everything. Taking emptiness and filling it. Taking darkness and making light.

He Can Calm Any Storm

(From Mark 4 and Matthew 8)
Jesus had been helping and healing people all day, and he was tired. He and his disciples got into a boat and set out across the lake. While Jesus was asleep in the front of the boat, a wild storm arose, wilder than any the fishermen-disciples had ever seen. They were terrified!



The boat went up and down violently on the waves and the wind tore at the sails. This storm was more than they could handle. Jesus was still asleep.

They woke Jesus up and said, "Jesus, don't you care that we are going to die? Help us!" Jesus stood up and told the storm, "That's enough. Be quiet." And suddenly, the wind stopped. The waves stopped. The clouds began to lift.

The disciples were amazed, and now they were afraid not of the storm, but of Jesus. "Who is this," they said, "that even the wind and the waves obey his voice?"
Jesus turned to them. "Why were you afraid?" he said. "Did you forget who I am? Did you believe your fears instead of me?"

They did not understand that this was the Son of God. They forgot that if Jesus was with them, they did not need to be afraid, no matter what storm was raging around their little boat.

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Jesus, we have heard that you are loving, and that you are strong. When storms come in our lives, we are afraid. But you made the wind and the waves, and they obey your voice. Nothing can happen to us unless you allow it to happen. Help us to call out to you, to remember that you are with us always, and to trust you! It feels so risky and crazy sometimes to trust you, but when we do, our lives are transformed, and we experience peace that passes understanding.