Day 77 & 78: So You Think You Know Goth?

John 19:17-19

New Living Translation (NLT)

By D Sharon Pruitt [CC-BY-2.0] 

¹⁷ Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). ¹⁸ There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. ¹⁹ And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

***

Confession time. I don't know Goth. At least, I'm no expert on the contemporary Goth subculture that exists in America (and many other countries) today. I'm not even going to try to explain what a "true Goth" person is. From what I've read, there are about as many definitions for true Goth as there are Goths to define it. So forgive me while I delve just a tiny bit into the stereotypical Goth. And then indulge me while I teach you some things about the real origin of Goth that you'll probably never even read in history books.

When the average person hears the term "Goth", we think of young people with pale skin, black hair with maybe a shock of pink running through it, black clothes that are often a curious mix of victorian and industrial styles, lots of body piercings, and jewelry adorned with pointy spikes or skulls. Maybe that's not fair, but it is the fashion code that we've come to associate with people who call themselves Goth. 

“Goths don't identify with evil, we mourn the evil in society. The fascination with death is basically a reminder to us of our own mortality. For these reasons, we wear black.”  ~Chris Shaffer

I may not understand the phenomenon, but I do know that the subculture as we know it today arose from the punk rock era, sometime around the mid 1980's. According to goth.net, Goths are "free thinkers" who do not accept the moral rules of society or Christianity, but are open minded and willing to listen before rejecting. (I ad-libbed that a little, in case anyone clicks over to the website to see what was actually said.) They may seem scary to those who are more conservative, but typically they aren't dangerous. They may seem fascinated with death, but the average Goth is not interested in their own or anyone else's.

Despite the notion that Goth (as we know it) has only been around for a quarter century or less, one can draw a lot of comparisons to the early Goth era. Historically, "Goth" is a term used to describe cultures and subcultures throughout history. Since the direction I'm going with this is Biblical, I have to admit I didn't research the history a great deal, but I did find a timeline that gives a fairly good, albeit incomplete, overview. According to the timeline, "Goth" entered the scene about 500 years A.D. (or C.E. if you're younger than 25.) Wikipedia, on the other hand, dates Goths back to the first century. It's not the date of origin I'm interested in, though. It's the characteristics.

Goth's were stereotyped by the Roman Empire as dark and dangerous. To be fair, they were warriors, and any warrior that is your opposition is going to be considered lawless and violent. Gothic architecture of Medieval churches during the Renascence were considered  stark and unattractive by Italian standards, with all its pointed arches and gargoyles. Literature with a gothic flare was nearly always written with a background location of Medieval churches or cemeteries, and was characterized as dark and moody. And as literature made its way into the film era, all things horror were attributed to the Gothic style. Any classic movie nut will recognize the names Vincent Price and Bella Lugosi, famous for their work in that genre.

But who would guess that Goth dates back to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? What I'm about to tell you is going to be rather long, but I just can't abbreviate something this important. Besides, the whole story, although one of beauty and redemption, resonates as much with the Goth mindset as with the conservative view of Christianity. Trust me, no matter how well you think you know the story of this event, you probably are going to see it through different eyes after you read this.

This is the story of the last 14 hours of Christ's ministry on earth. It begins in a garden of Gethsemane. When we reveal the definition of the garden's name, it suddenly takes on an ominous tone. Gethsemane means the place of the olive press; It was more commonly referred to as the crushing place.

Jesus had just finished sharing the passover meal with his 12 apostles. These men had followed him from the beginning of His ministry, and He loved them all dearly. Still, He was keenly aware that one of them had left the meal to betray Him, and that His death was imminent. He also know that the rest of His friends were going to be save their own skin in the coming hours by pretending not to know Him. But more than that, He knew exactly what brutality lay ahead for Him, and He wasn't looking forward to it. He was, quite literally, carrying the weight and the sins of the entire world on His shoulders.

As He entered the crushing place, He took three of His disciples with Him to keep watch for those who would be coming to arrest Him. Not far inside, He stopped and told them that His soul was so crushed with grief that He felt like He was already dying. I'm sure we've all felt crushed by sadness to the point of wanting to die before, but His sadness was so deep that it really was nearly killing Him. Scripture says He fell to the ground, crying in anguish and sweating blood!

Mark 14:35-36

New Living Translation (NLT)

He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

After a while, He got up and returned to find His friends had drifted off to sleep. Distraught, He woke them up.

“Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?

Jesus went back to where He had been, and again fell to the ground, praying that His Father would find some other way for Him to save the world. He began praying even harder, so hard that the Bible says sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 

Luke 22:44

He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

That's not just a figure of speech. It was Luke who described it in this manner, and besides being a disciple, Luke was a very well educated physician. He wrote of the blood because it was such a rare medical condition, and how significant it was.

Although this medical condition is relatively rare, according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe (Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland County, New York) it is well-known, and there have been many cases of it. The clinical term is “hematohidrosis.” “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.” Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands.” As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat. (author Paul S. Taylor of Eden Communications)

So yes, Jesus really did sweat blood. Then He got up, returned to His (again) sleeping friends, and woke them up to be witness to His arrest. He watched as His former friend approached Him. He knew it was coming, but it was still a disappointment. As if turning Him over to a death squad wasn't bad enough, Judas identified Him with a customary kiss to the cheek. What kind of jerk does that?

First they took Jesus to the High Priest, where all the leading priests, elders, and teachers of religious law had gathered. According to the account in Mark 14, the accusations began to fly against Him, but His accusers kept contradicting each other.  Finally, someone shouted the accusation that Jesus had said He would destroy the Temple, and then rebuild another within three days. Jesus had previously said something to that effect, but had been referring to His own death and Resurrection three days later. It didn't matter. The High Priest stood up and asked Him point blank if he was the Messiah, to which Jesus answered "I Am." The Priest then tore his clothing in horror, and declared that they needed no further testimony. At that, He was blindfolded, and the guards started spitting on Him and hitting Him with their fists, daring Him to divinely ascertain which guard threw each punch.

Then His accusers put together a bogus trial before the Roman governor, who was named Pilate. Pilate knew that Jesus had done nothing illegal, and that He should be set free. Even King Herod came to the same conclusion. Jesus was innocent. But the Sanhedrin and their followers were a bloodthirsty bunch, and demanded He be put to death. Pilate, in an effort to appease them, ordered that Christ be flogged. It wasn't enough though, so He was condemned to death, as well.

By law, a person was only allowed to be flogged 39 times. The whip was what some call a cat-of-9-tails. It had multiple straps of leather, each embedded with shards of iron and bone. Jesus was stripped of His clothing, and two guards, one on each side, took turns beating Him, pulvarizing both sides of His back, buttocks and legs. At first the lashings tore at His skin, making a bloody mess. But as the scourging continued, the bits of metal went deeper and deeper, tearing the underlying skeletal muscles until His flesh hung like ribbons. When they'd reached the limit on how many lashes he could receive, they formed a crown from a thorny branch and shoved it tightly onto His head. Then they put a wooden staff in His hand and a purple robe around His shoulders, making fun of Him for being called the King of Jews. When they tired of their antics, they ripped the robe from His bloody back. dressed Him in  His own clothes again, and led Him away to be crucified.

If you're wondering what all this dark ugliness has to do with Goth, keep reading. In the English language, we call where Jesus was crucified "Calvary". That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? It's like putting rose colored glasses on the stark naked truth. The Aramaic word, the one used in the Bible, is Golgotha. It was not a cheerful place, it was a place of darkness and doom. A hill where huge crosses of wood were erected after the hands and feet of criminals had been nailed in place. The word Golgotha meant the place of the skulls. The place had earned its name long before Jesus was hung there, but if you can't connect the dots and recognize that everything we associate with Goth was first documented at this event, in a location that even has "goth" in its name, then you must be blind.

The story doesn't end there, though. That morning the soldiers laid Jesus across the cross beams and drove iron nails through His hands and feet to hold Him in place. Truth be known, they were most likely driven between the bones of the wrist, between the carpal and the radius, narrowly missing the artery. Archaeological findings have taught us that the nails were tapered spikes that measured 5-7" in length, and had a square shaft that was 3/8 of an inch. The feet were placed one on top of the other, and nailed into position before the beams were erected into the air.

By law, the soldiers were required to offer a rag soaked in wine and myrr for the condemned to suck on, which brought about some relief from the pain. Jesus, however, refused the drink. He hung there, bugs burrowing into and feeding upon His torn flesh. With every breath, His torn and battered body scraped against the rough wood of the beam. Excruciating pain was like lightening bolts through His outstretched arms as they bore the weight of what was left of Him. Because of the position He was nailed in, breathing was shallow and very labored.  Depending on the severity of the flogging, a man could live as little as a few hours, or as long as a few days. 

It was about noon when the sky went dark. Many skeptics say that it couldn't have possibly been an eclipse, because it had followed a full moon. But it was, and it's backed up by the records of Phlegon, the Roman historian who recorded the events surrounding the 202nd Olympic Games in the year 32 AD. According to this document, there was a total eclipse of the sun that occurred in the 6th hour (of daylight), or noon. It remained dark for three full hours. As Jesus took His last breath, He called out to God.

Matthew 27:46

New Living Translation (NLT)

At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Suddenly the the earth shook, rocks split apart, and the entrances to tombs were uncovered. The heavily woven curtain in the Temple sanctuary  was ripped from top to bottom, as though by the very hand of God. The curtain had always separated the holy area from the Holiest of Holies, where only the High Priest was allowed to enter. The significance of this is that Jesus now spanned the divide between God and people, and we were no longer on the outside. The priests were probably in the Temple right about that time, offering prayers and incense to a God they gave lip service to; Among them would have been the very priests who were responsible for having Jesus arrested and crucified.

That ends the darkness and gloom and the "Gothic" overtones. At that very moment, Jesus' spirit was released, the sun came back out, and Jesus was carried to a tomb that had been provided Him by a wealthy follower. 

Though His body had died, Jesus was very much alive. He spent the next three days in Sheol, also known as Hades, the place of the dead. This is not to be confused with hell, though. This is a realm between heaven and hell where the dead are held awaiting judgment. Sheol is divided into two distinctly separate areas by a deep chasm. On the one side, referred to as Abraham's bosom, are those who knew God. It is also called paradise, and is what Jesus meant when He told the thief on the cross "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."  On the other side, the lost await their final judgment before spending eternity in hell.

Three days later, Jesus arose from the place of the dead.

Today, thousands of years later, He still lives.

Day 76: If You Love Me...

John 14:23-24

New Living Translation (NLT)

photo (c) Nat Arnett

²³ Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. ²⁴ Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me."

***

Do you remember the day you first fell in love? Oh, that heady feeling, those overwhelming emotions! Remember how you wanted to spend every moment together? Your entire world seemed to revolve around your new romance. Everything you did throughout your day was with your new love in the back of your mind, wondering if your actions would please him (or her). You wanted nothing more than to make the other person happy.

It's amazing, how strong a love can be, even if you are far apart. Communication is key to learning more about the one you love. It doesn't matter if it's done by hand-written letter, or by email; instant message or text; talking on the phone or from across the dinner table. Sight unseen, love can take root and grow like wild flowers.

In the early stages of a relationship, you do what you can to capture and keep the other person interested. Girls fix their hair, put on makeup, clean the apartment, prepare a delicious meal... I don't know what all guys do before a date. But the whole idea is to impress the other. Hopefully through this process you find the person who makes you complete. You have attained love, now you want to keep that love. So you embark on a lifetime of wedded bliss.

Ok, it won't always be bliss. Every relationship will have some rocky patches, because every person is going to have moments of selfishness. If the love is real, though, there is enough respect between you that you will both open up the lines of communication, apologize when necessary, and renew your commitment. You will both understand that in order to remain in a productive marriage, you must sometimes sacrifice what you each want in order to make the other happy. That's what marriage is, after all. That's what any relationship is. And it  takes effort on your part to maintain it.

Our spiritual relationship with Christ is no different. If we love Him, we will do what we know pleases Him, even when the world isn't looking. We'll prove our love for Him through our kindness to others, through our patience with children, through our faithfulness in marriage. We'll show Him our love by putting the needs of others before ourselves. Whatever we do will be a reflection on Him, one that honors His name. 

If we really love Him, we'll keep the lines of communication open with Him. We don't have to see Him face to face, we don't have to hear His audible voice... We can keep in daily contact with Him by reading the extensive text messages He has sent us in His Word, the Bible. We can set aside time throughout our day to talk to Him about what is going on in our lives. We don't have to keep secrets from Him. In fact, we can't! He knows everything we say, do, even think, so trying to tell little white lies doesn't work. He requires total honesty. Especially when we hit rocky patches in our spiritual relationship. Don't try to pretend things are OK if they're not, tell Him exactly how you feel! But then don't just expect Him to comfort you, allow Him to! God's love and comfort far surpasses our mate's ability to do the same, because His is perfect and unfailing. He won't force it on you, though, so don't give Him the cold shoulder.

But what happens in a relationship, in a marriage, when two people stop talking and listening to each other? When communication breaks down, the relationship falls apart. Everybody starts pointing fingers and nobody is willing to take the blame. Words suddenly become empty and meaningless. I bet you know exactly what I'm talking about. Those overwhelming feelings of anger, frustration, and pain when someone says "I love you!" even though their actions indicate they couldn't care less. Don't be too hard on them though. If you're over the age of two, I guarantee you've been just as guilty once or twice in your life.

So it is with Jesus. If our spiritual life has gone cold, it's because we have quit showing our love. It doesn't matter how often we attend church, or share Jesus "posters" on Facebook, or even how frequently we listen to Christian radio in the car. If our behavior isn't showing Him how much we love Him, we're just giving Him lip-service. If we going about our lives doing things that we know from His Word disappoint Him, then we're just wasting our breath when we sing His praises.

Look, if we stop talking with God, it had better be because we've only stopped to listen. If we want to remain in His love, He has to remain in ours! His kind of love never gives up on you, so if there is a spiritual breakdown, it's all on you.

John 15:9-11

New Living Translation (NLT)

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!  

If you've let the embers die down, this would be a good time to rekindle the flame. There's no safer place to be than in His love. You can start over. You can open up the lines of communication and show Him you mean it this time. Just remember, actions speak louder than words, so make them count twice.

Days 74 & 75: Then And Now

The Omega Nebula: NASA, ESA and J. Hester (ASU)

John 1:10-12

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁰ He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

***

Division. It seems as though we humans are obsessed with division. We divide time into AM and PM. We divide history into BC and AD, or for those who insist on removing Christ from the equation, BCE and CE.

BC means "Before Christ". AD, however, does not mean "After Death" as I always thought. It stands for Anno Domini, which means the year of our Lord, beginning at the time of Christ's conception. I learn something new every day!

We divide the books of the Bible, too. The Old Testament books, written BC (Before Christ), and the New Testament books, written AD. But sadly, that division seems to firmly establish in our small minds that Jesus did not exist prior to the New Testament. Like with everything else that we divide, we use the Biblical division to squeeze Jesus into a box, neatly compartmentalized into his lifespan (33 years), his ministry (3 years), the time between crucifixion and resurrection (3 days).  We pack him in so tightly that our tiny little brain cells can't quite wrap themselves around the fullness of Christ. We struggle to grasp how He still lives, and we stumble around like we're in darkness trying to find some glimpse of Him before His birth.  We might even count ourselves lucky to recognize Him in the words of the prophets or reflected in the lives of the patriarchs.

But Jesus isn't limited to smoke and mirrors any more than He is limited to the years of His earthly life. He is the Son of God, a part of Elohim (the plural form of the Hebrew word for God) that can't be divided from Eloah (the singular.) He is one of the three persons of the Godhead, representing the triune nature of God, who is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end. Are you having trouble chewing through that?

John, one of the apostles, started his writings with this:

Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:1-5 NLT)

There's way more than that, but it's a good starting point. The beginning usually is! So, what does that mean? The Word already existed and was with God. Quite simply, it is referring to Jesus at the beginning of creation. Before He was Mary's babe in swaddling clothes, before He was the pre-teen teaching the scholars and experts in the temple, before He healed the sick and cast out demons and forgave the sins of those who believed, He existed. 

He was there when the earth was created and when the heavens were formed.  You could say He hung the moon and you'd be right. Ya know how some people pay $20 to "buy a star" and name it after someone they love? It's been a popular gift for years. It's really such a waste, because it's already been done! He counted the stars and gave them each a name (Ps. 147:4). And I guarantee that the names He gave them are far more beautiful (and each one unique) than anything we can come up with.

Jesus was the Word of God. As God (the Father) created, Jesus (God the Son) spoke those creations into being and gave each one life. His existence lit everything up, bringing light to everyone, even in the Old Testament. (Just for the record, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, but I could write another entire chapter on that subject. And i probably will at some point. But not today.) 

I often read debates about how people were or were not saved before Jesus. They don't get it; There has never been a 'before Jesus'! He was always the light of salvation, it says so right there in John 1:5. The animal sacrifices, the "sin offerings", were just substitutes for the blood that Christ had not yet shed.

Still, there is more.

Do you remember the story of Jacob's ladder? In Genesis 28, Jacob had fled from his home to escape the wrath of his brother. On his way to Haran, he stopped to sleep. He had a dream that night. He saw a stairway that reached from heaven to earth, and angels going up and down the stairs. At the top of the stairs stood the Lord, and He spoke to Jacob about the covenant He had made regarding Israel. When he awoke, Jacob named the place Bethel, meaning House of God.

But it wasn't just a dream. It was real. In John 1:51, Jesus tells Nathanael that He is a stairway between heaven and earth, and that the angels of God travel up and down on Him.

We can learn even more from Jacob's encounters with God. One such encounter was when he wrestled with God, smack dab in the middle between his past and his future. Jacob didn't have a stellar past. His whole reason for having to run from his brother years earlier was because he had stolen from him one too many times. First, he'd stolen Esau's birthright. Then he stole their father's blessing. In today's world, a blessing from dad doesn't mean that much. But in those days, when a dad blessed his son, he was passing down a promise from God. The promise that he stole was to become the father of the nation of Israel. That's a pretty big deal!

And now, many years later, with two wives, two concubines, a dozen sons and a daughter, and a whole herd of animals, he was fleeing again. This time he was leaving his lying, conniving father-in-law and running towards home, and hoping for mercy from the twin he'd done so wrong. When they reached the Jabbok River, Jacob sent his wives and children across. He'd already sent everyone and everything else ahead of him, and now he was alone in the camp. Emotionally drained and physically exhausted, he probably laid down to rest. But sleep wasn't going to happen that night. He lay there instead, facing his fears, his failures, his weaknesses, his sins. We've all had sleepless nights where we're tormented by our personal demons, but Jacob wasn't struggling with them. He was struggling with God.

Genesis 32:24 says that a man came and wrestled with him the entire night. Not his thoughts, but a living, breathing man! As worn out as he was, that adrenaline must have been pumping, because Jacob wasn't about to throw the fight. Hours later, as dawn was breaking, the man touched his hip, just touched it, and it was wrenched out of its socket, permanently damaging the tendon. Then the man blessed Jacob, and said to him

Your name will no longer be Jacob. From now on, you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men, and have won.

Who was that man? It wasn't a figment of his imagination, because the injury to his hip was real. Some say it was an angel of the Lord, because he had a human form and appeared as a man. But the man told Jacob he had fought with God! I don't know about you, but I would take Him at His word. That's what Jacob did. 

As the sun rose, Israel limped away, a new man with a new name. He named the place he'd been Peniel, which means face of God, because he had seen God face to face, and his life had been spared. The essence of God, His Word, took on human form and gave Jacob a whole new life.

Now, you could dig through books and commentaries and find all sorts of examples of how Jesus revealed Himself through the people of the Old Testament. But I like the instances where He reveals Himself as Himself. To me, that's the coolest thing of all!

Day 73: A Composite Of Marys

Mary Magdalene by Giovanni Bellini circa 1490

Luke 7:36-38

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

***

If I were to guess, I'd venture that no woman in the Bible is surrounded by more mystery and intrigue than Mary Magdalene. Mary was such a common name that she was often confused with other women; Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the sister of Martha, Mary some mythological "wife" of the Messiah. (Jesus was never married, and I've never cared enough to research the origin of that cultish belief.) Last names weren't given in Scripture, and women, in particular, were rarely identified by family.

Our only real clue to Mary's identity is "Magdalene". Since we know Magdalene is not a surname, we must assume it refers to where she came from. Magdala was a fishing community about 120 miles north of Jerusalem on the shore of Galilee. At least one Jewish text, Lamentations Raba, declares that the town was destroyed by God because of rampant sexual sin. This was during a time under Roman Imperial rule, and families were often under such heavy tax burdens that they were forced to sell their children into slavery. Brothels were abundant throughout the Mediterranean region during this period in history, as well, so when you take all those factors and roll them into one big ball, it is easy to see how the modern day picture of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute began to take shape.

The truth is, Mary Magdalene is mentioned in all four Gospels, but is never once referred to as a hooker, nor are any specific sins ever associated with her. And she is most certainly not named as the woman of ill repute who washed the feet of Christ with tears and anointed Him with precious essential oil at the home of Simon the Pharisee.

(When Jesus realized Simon's disgust at the woman, He told Simon that a person who is forgiven much, loves much. In the parable, he implied the value of the prostitute at his feet was ten times greater that of the hypocrite serving him dinner.)

Aside from where she was from, we know only that Jesus had cast 7 demons from her at one time, that she was a follower of Jesus through His ministry, and was one of the women who discovered His empty tomb.

Having said all that, I am going to share (yet another) lyric I once wrote. The poem should not be taken as anything other than a fictional work, a composite of women who may or may not have been named Mary. But like the legend of Mary Magdalene, it is a tale of great sin, deep sorrow, sincere repentance, and absolute redemption. It is a story of a woman who is valued little by society, but who is valued greatly by her Redeemer. This rendition follows a woman from infancy to adulthood, showing the pattern of events that shaped her life.

So, without further ado...

Magdala Inn

Father, oh father,

Why have you forsaken me?

Where is my shelter from this storm?

He was only a shadow

of the man he'd once been,

a fisherman of high esteem.

He stood there in front

of the Magdala Inn,

reflecting on his broken dream.

His wife and his daughter

had brought joy to his hearth,

and prestige among his friends...

but his lover, his lady,

she'd died giving birth

to a beautiful set of twins...

and he cried...

Father, oh Father,

Why have you forsaken me?

Where is my shelter from this storm?

It is written

that pride goes before the fall,

and a proud man he was, no doubt...

refusing charity,

though he'd lost it all,

the man gave them up and walked out

as the children cried...

father, oh father,

why have you forsaken me?

where is my shelter from this storm?

Mary worked at the Magdala Inn,

where she'd been since she was a child.

She'd grown into a ravenous beauty

since the day she'd first been defiled.

She was held in reserve

for the wealthiest of men

who traveled through the town of Magdala...

the lowly prostitute,

princess of the Inn,

dressed in the finest regalia.

She had scented oils,

and silks and linen,

the best that money could buy...

but nobody knew what raged within,

and nobody heard her cry...

father, oh father,

why have you forsaken me?

where is my shelter from this storm?

Then came a man,

a prophet, some said,

called Jesus the Nazarene...

and despite the objections

from the apostles He led,

He touched her,

and washed her past clean.

She followed Him faithfully

for years to come,

having finally found peace inside.

Then she stood at the foot

of the cross where He hung,

and she heard Him as He cried...

Father, oh Father,

Why have you forsaken me?

Where is my shelter from this storm?

Days 71 & 72: To Be A Child

Mark 10:13-16

New Living Translation (NLT)

Photo by Christophe Libert

Jesus Blesses the Children

¹³ One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

¹⁴ When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them,“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

***

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a child and marveled at how full of innocence and wonder they are? The kind of eyes that haven't yet learned not to trust, framed by the face of a little boy or girl that is eager to believe everything good that they hear. A kid who feels safe and secure, knowing that mom and dad are right there, making sure nothing bad ever happens to them. 

It is said that children are much more perceptive of both the natural and the supernatural realm than adults are, and I totally believe that. I remember experiences from my own childhood that, if they had occurred today, I'd have thought was my imagination playing tricks on me. That's what happens as we grow older; We stop trusting our instincts, because we've been told so often that they're wrong! 

I remember so many instances from my own youth, some natural, some supernatural. I was about 7 years old when I looked out my bedroom window one dark night. I called my parents in, frightened, because I could see a tornado. It was so clear to me! There was no doubt in my mind what I was seeing, and I was worried about the people that might get hurt. My parents couldn't see it, though. They peered out my window, and finally, seeing nothing, assured me that my mind was playing tricks on me. The next morning's news report vindicated me, though. About two miles behind our house, a train had been derailed by a tornado.

As frightening as that was, it wasn't anything supernatural. Nope, the supernatural was much scarier. In my neighborhood, there were a lot of kids, but most of them were a few years older than me and preferred to hang with my brother. There was one girl, however, who just didn't fit in with the rest, and she became my best friend at the time. My only friend, really. She was still closer to my brother's age, but she really was the outcast. We got along well, because nobody wanted to play with me, either.

No way would I have ever turned from the friendship she offered, but man, I hated that she was my only friend! Her house was just downright spooky! I would see things there that just couldn't be explained. If I could describe them, I'd say they were demonic imps moving around in her closet. Or shadows of a woman when there was no light source and no adult in the room. And it wasn't always what I could see, sometimes it was what I felt! I loved to read, and there was a built-in floor to ceiling bookshelf in the hall by my friend's bedroom. I would sometimes sit there for hours, thumbing through the novels that were kept on the lower shelves, the ones that were suitable for younger kids to read. The books were irresistable, and I couldn't stay away. But the odd thing is, it was always cold right there. I have to tell you, there was no central air conditioning system in that house, and although they'd turn on the window units when it got miserable, most of the time the windows were open to catch whatever breeze there was. I can't say it was hot in the rest of the house, but there was no explanation for the chill that I always felt next to those shelves. It wasn't until I went back to visit as an adult that I understood. On the lower half of the shelves were the same books I loved as a child, now covered with dust. On the upper shelves, though, where i couldn't have reached before, waere row after row of books on the occult.

Most people would dismiss my childhood experiences as an over-active imagination. Fears brought on by listening to too many ghost stories that my friend loved to tell, or watching too many scary tv show like Dark Shadows at her house. (I was always so grateful that my own home was 'safe' from such things!) Those same people would dismiss my sudden enlightenment when I went back to visit as the adult mind trying to rationalize my childhood fears. 

But that wouldn't explain my daughter's experience.

Rana was barely two when she first saw into the supernatural. We lived in a third floor apartment, and her bedroom faced an empty field. There was no fire escape, or anything else that would have allowed anyone (or anything) access to her window. One night her father and I woke up to hear a blood-curdling scream coming from her room. We rushed into her room, and she was sitting up in her bed, pressed into the corner of he wall, and pointing at her window. She wouldn't even blink as she stared transfixed, crying and screaming about the eyes trying to come in. She was in absolute terror, and yet there was nothing there! No eyes, no animals, not even headlights from a car could be seen from that side of the building. Nothing could explain what had my toddler so terrified. After a few minutes, realization settled over me like a chill. I looked at my husband, and he looked at me, and I think he must have known at the same time as I did. Immediately he got up and started praying through the room, out the door, and through the rest of the apartment. Within seconds, my daughter calmed down. By the time her dad had circled through and come back into the room, she was sound asleep.

Night terrors? Yes. But they were real.

I'm not writing all this to explain how little kids get scared; I'm writing this to point out that children are so much more perceptive than we are! The supernatural isn't just made up of scary stuff, it's full of beauty and glory, too! I heard once that there were at least three angels for every demon. While I can't find any Biblical support for that number, Jesus said in Matthew 18:10 that children are assigned their own personal angels. I think our angels are never reassigned to someone else, I just think we grow up and quit believing.

So when you read that Jesus wants us to receive Him the way a child does, or when you hear the phrase "child-like faith", what it really means is that we need to embrace what we knew so instinctively as a child. We must again believe everything that the Bible says. We need to shake off the disbelief that has crowded out our faith, and start recognizing God's hand in our lives. We have to start giving him the credit when things go right, and be willing to learn lessons from whatever trials he puts us through. We should start recognizing that sometimes our trials are spankings from God, and that often His "silence" is our "Time Out".

We must give up this worldly notion that what happens in our lives is fate, or karma, coincidence or luck. Why is it that nobody questions Newton's law of motion, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and yet we can be so blind as to how that works? Newton's law transcends time and space, and connects physical to spiritual, normal to paranormal, natural to supernatural.

Understanding that is the key to receiving the Kingdom of Heaven like a child.

Day 70: Good Twin, Bad Twin

Matthew 21:28-31 

New Living Translation (NLT)

Image by Flyinfrogg @ Deviant Art

Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. ³⁰ Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.

^{31 (a)} “Which of the two obeyed his father?”

***

So who do you think was the more obedient son? If you guessed  the first, you aren't alone. Jesus asked this question when He went into the temple to teach, and even the priests and elders answered correctly. Sadly, though, I don't think they got the point.

A lot of people today don't get the point either. There are those who wear their Christianity like a badge, as though they were the thought police of the world. They stand on street corners holding signs that say "You'll Burn In Hell". They have no compassion for the hurting in their midst, but have plenty of condemnation dripping from their lips. They have a ready defense for their own actions, but spare nobody their self-righteous diatribe. 

But I'm not really even talking about them. That kind of hypocrisy is so obvious that it doesn't need someone like me to point it out. When Jesus had given sufficient time for his audience to answer the question, He elaborated. He said John the Baptist had come and shown them the right way to live, and they had dismissed him as irrelevant. He was talking to the Sadducees and the Pharisees, those who held positions as priests and teachers, those who were supposed to be the religious leaders of the day. And he was telling them that if they didn't repent of their sins, they'd be standing outside the Gate watching the the prostitutes and tax collectors enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The point He was making was that some of us think our farts smell like roses because we claim to have Jesus. Some of us go around thinking we're safe from the fires of hell because we're saved and sanctified. And yet, we continue living a life that makes God's stomach turn. We don't repent; We think God has given us a wink and a nod, because we repeated the words of a sinner's prayer that some preacher recited for us 20 years ago, or last week.

Let me tell ya something. When we accept Christ as our Savior, it had better be coming from our heart! It had better be because we recognize how nasty and filthy and undeserving we are! I don't mean to offend those who use the 'Sinner's Prayer' as a tool in witnessing, but I honestly believe that if a person feels the need to get right with God, he should come up with his own words, no matter how few they are! It doesn't have to be an eloquent speech. 

The trouble is, the whole "repeat after me" version of salvation doesn't make the experience personal enough. When my daughters were young and would do something to make the other cry, I'd make the offender tell her sister "I'm sorry". Did she mean it? Probably not. Even if she really was sorry and sincerely meant the words she uttered, it wasn't believable, because she'd been told what to say. Sure, God can tell if a person is sincerely repentant, but I wonder; Does the person repenting believe the words he repeated?

There are a lot of people in the world who think they're exempt from the coming judgement. They accepted Christ with their mouths, but not in their hearts. They give lip service to God, but don't reflect Him in their lives. They unashamedly live immoral and decadent lives, doing whatever makes them feel good. They shack up with a lover, or indulge in gay relationships, they beat their children or spit on homeless people. They steal from their employer or they tell lies about their neighbor. 

But they show up on church every Sunday morning and call it all good.

Meanwhile, that hooker down at 5th and Main? She's hating herself. She is filled with self-loathing. She keeps selling herself because nobody has loved her enough to show her a better way. She spends what she makes on booze or drugs to make her numb, so she can keep on existing the only way she knows how. She feels worthless because she knows her life is worthless without Christ. 

She's the one who, when she reaches rock bottom and cries out to Jesus, it's a gut-wrenching, soul searching, heart-aching guttural cry that may not even formulate into words. But you can bet He understands every painful inflection in her voice. And when she gives herself to Him, she knows it must be completely. She doesn't want to look back on the life of sin she's been living. It didn't bring her any joy, and she won't miss it when its gone. She's going to have a long road ahead of her, and she might stumble along the way, but she's going to keep falling forward into the arms of grace.

So who are you? Are you the hooker, ready to give up everything in your comfort zone to serve God? Or are you the Pharisee sitting in your easy chair, surrounded by all the pleasures you think God doesn't really expect you to give up?

You call Him "lord". But is He really LORD over your life?

Day 69: Pass The Salt!

By Jorge Royan [CC-BY-SA-3.0]

Matthew 5:13

New Living Translation (NLT)

Teaching about Salt and Light

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

***

Salt of the Earth. Have you ever wondered what that meant? Why does God want us to be whatever it is? 

Maybe you haven't wondered. Maybe I'm just the big dummy that always struggled with the concept of making myself like table salt. Even after I started making my own jewelry and branding it "Earth Psalts", I had a hard time figuring out how to explain it. And then one day, I watched a documentary called Salt: Tears Of The Earth, and I started understanding why salt is so important. 

So here we go; Let's talk about salt.

The Bible talks about it a great deal, more than I ever realized. In three of the Gospels, we are told to be the salt of the earth. Matthew says that once salt has lost its flavor, it's worthless. Luke goes even further and says that without flavor, salt isn't good enough to be thrown on the soil or the dung heap. Mark says to have salt within yourself and be at peace with others. All three of them ask how flavorless salt can get its saltiness back.

Colossians says to season your words with salt so that you know how to answer people. Leviticus says to season your offerings and sacrifices with salt. Elijah performed a miracle with it. Babies were rubbed with it, borders were defined by it, cities and seas were named after it. Even the Lord's covenants were compared to it.

Historically, salt was always a precious commodity, and was one of the earliest forms of currency. Civilizations could not have developed without salt, and the more highly developed civilizations arose around areas where salt deposits were plentiful. Physically, salt is necessary to sustain life, but it's not typically found in sufficient amounts in a vegetarian diet. Even animals need salt to survive. Hunters and ranchers alike put out salt licks for domestic and wild plant-eating animals to be able to get what they need. Wild moose are often seen licking salt from the sides of roads. I read that somewhere today, although I don't know why salt would accumulate near roads, except in densely populated areas where the roads might get de-iced in winter. 

But to understand how we could possibly be all that salt can be, we have to understand the properties of salt. So consider this a crash course, and salute yourself if you ever have the occasion to win a game of trivial pursuit with your new found knowledge.

Trivia 1: Salt is essential to life, but must be in balance. Both too much and too little salt can be fatal. 

I think everybody knows that drinking seawater is really dangerous, and most of us know that you can literally drown yourself internally by drinking too much regular water. In both cases, your body is depleted of necessary nutrients. Either your brain and organs become dehydrated from consuming too much salt, or you've consumed so much water that you've diluted your body's salt content. Either way, you die. Knowing this makes me think of the time that I accidentally salted the Kool-Aid at my daughter's house. In my defense, she had filled her sugar canister with salt, and I assumed I was sweetening the drink. We discovered the error when my son-in-law came in and gulped down a glass full so quickly that his stomach revolved before his taste buds could even register. I recall how we laughed about it at the time (after he'd vomited it back up), not realizing just how tragic it could have been.

By the time we finish this chapter, it will probably be pretty clear, from a Biblical perspective, what happens to the spiritual health of a nation that is lacking in saltiness. The closest I can come to providing a Biblical analogy of too much salt is when Lot's wife defied the instructions not to look back on the city that God was destroying. I would like to think that it was her heart, rather than her head, that prompted God to turn her into a life-sized salt-lick. Yes, she turned around and looked, and that was an act of disobedience. But was it just an act of curiosity, like that morbid instinct we humans have to rubberneck the scene of an accident as we drive past? Or did she look back in regret and sorrow for having to leave the wicked city? Oh well, that's a question for another day. Or never.

Trivia 2: Salt is formed by a chemical reaction between sodium and chlorine gas.

Sodium is an unstable metal by itself, but when it is paired with chlorine gas, it stabilizes and becomes this amazing compound that is beneficial on so many levels! The same can be said of humans. Apart from God, we are unstable, disaster prone, wicked wretches. But when we pair up with God, there's this transformation that begins taking place. We become stronger, and more grounded, because the Holy Spirit lives within us. We are purified through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. 

Trivia 3: Salt is a preservative.

Have you ever canned or pickled vegetables? One of the primary ingredients is salt. It is the substance that preserves your veggies so they can  have a long shelf life in your pantry. Meat is also sometimes preserved by salt, in a process known as curing. The salt draws the water content out, and inhibits bacterial growth.

Likewise, we are preserved by God. His word is eternal, and our lives are eternal. Not our bodies, those perish, but once we've accepted His gift of salvation, our souls will live forever.

Trivia 4: Salt is durable and transportable.

Although salt is required to sustain life, it doesn't take much. It is found naturally in abundance, and can be harvested in a variety of way. It is naturally renewable, so we'll never run out of it. Combine those little facts with the chemical stability of salt, and you have an ingredient that can make itself at home on any table, anywhere in the world.

When we accept Christ and start studying God's word, learning how to live a life that is pleasing to Him, we become spiritually strong enough to withstand anything the world might throw at us. We can go into any country, no matter how war-torn or under how much persecution, and share the salt with those who are needing it.

Trivia 5: Salt provides a reflective surface that is used to calibrate equipment.

The world's largest salt flat covers more than 4,000 square miles. It is often covered with a thin layer of melt-water, which becomes like one gigantic mirror. This natural phenomenon is used for calibrating scientific equipment in space.

When we are 'salty', we're reflecting God's holiness in our lives. Although we're not going to be able to produce a perfect mirror image, we do reflect enough of His nature to shine light in a spiritually darkened world.

Trivia 6: The presence of salt indicates the presence of oil.

Back in the early 1900s, there was a guy named Anthony Lucas. He was the first to put two and two together and determine that the presence of salt indicated the presence of oil. His theory was proven with Spindle Top, aka the Lucas Gusher, an oil well near Beaumont, TX that shot a steady stream of oil 197 feet into the air for nine days straight. This was the beginning of the "black gold rush".

Just like what kick-started the petroleum industry more than a century ago, the presence of salt in us indicates something much deeper, much richer, and much more important even than salt. Salt may be necessary for sustaining life on earth, but God, through His son Jesus Christ, is the only way we are able to have an eternal life. 

Whew. That's a lot of salt to digest. I wish I had time to go through and rearrange the order of my trivia facts, but I've spent a long day running errands, and I'm on my way even now to pick up my mom. Later, perhaps, I'll get around to ordering it so that it flows better, but for now, at least all the points I wanted to make are in there.