I want to get back to our readings in Matthew, but I can’t let this story about Scotty Sheffler, recent winner of the Master’s Golf Tournament slip away. In his post-tournament interview he said:

The reason why I play golf is I’m trying to glorify God and all that He’s done in my life. So for me, my identity isn’t a golf score. Like Meredith [his wife] told me this morning, “If you win this golf tournament today, if you lose this golf tournament by 10 shots, if you never win another golf tournament again,” she goes, “I’m still going to love you, you’re still going to be the same person, Jesus loves you and nothing changes.” All I’m trying to do is glorify God and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I’m in this position. Reported by Sports Spectrum

As I wrote on April 5, God has people everywhere.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him…Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3.17, 23, 24, ESV)

My wife, June, was named after her Aunt June, who passed away in May 2000. The next year we had just moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and June was feeling alone. On the anniversary of Aunt June’s birthday, April 19, 2001, June wrote these reflections. She just showed me these for the first time recently, and publishing them today seems fitting. (If you can’t see the picture, click here.)

Aunt June surely lived these out. She lived in California and worked as a teller for Wells Fargo for a VERY long time. I still use a leather Wells Fargo checkbook cover she gave me as well as a Wells Fargo belt buckle. I’ve had them for decades. She did not earn a lot of money, but she was very generous. Her life was not easy, but she was always cheerful, and, as June wrote, she didn’t indulge in self-pity or hold grudges.

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (Philippians 4.11, NIV)

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. (2 Corinthians 8.2, 3, NIV)

It’s Monday, the day after Easter, and a good time to reflect on what Jesus’ resurrection actually means.

Our friend and blog reader Carol Rebell used to be a personal assistant to Dr. Vernon Grounds, president of Denver Seminary from 1956 to 1973. After his “retirement,” he continued in a teaching and counseling role as president emeritus. He was named chancellor in 1993, where he actively served until his death in 2010 at the age of 96. We were at Carol’s home and saw this poem by Dr. Grounds on her refrigerator.

Easter guarantees that the Lord Almighty who raised the crucified Jesus from the grave has power to give life again not only to dead bodies but also to:

• dead hearts
• dead dreams
• dead hopes
• dead relationships
• dead marriages
• dead churches!

Amen.

And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus… (Acts 4.33, ESV)

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15.3, 4, NKJV)

Saturday…the in-between day…no one was expecting the resurrection…so they weren’t even waiting…except to anoint the body.

Maybe it’s a good day for us to read Isaiah’s prescient account…

¹³  Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. ¹⁴  As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—¹⁵  so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

¹  Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ²  For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. ³  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

⁴  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ⁶  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰  Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹²  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 52.13 – 53.12, ESV)

Low in the grave he lay…Waiting the coming day…

It’s Good Friday…

Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of The Chosen, made a short movie in 2014 called Once We Were Slaves about the two thieves. He sets it up beautifully. The two thieves are brothers: one is irreligious, given to crime. The other is studying to be a rabbi. When the Romans assault his fiancé, he lashes out at them, and they both end up on death row. Guess which one “will be with Me in Paradise.”

(Spoiler alert! If you want to take the 26 minutes to watch the movie now, I’ll wait.)

As much as I’ve studied grace, I always think of the repenting thief being the good guy, and the other thief as evil. It didn’t occur to me that it might have been the other way around. 

While we were still SINNERS, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8)

For we ourselves were once…slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Titus 3.3, ESV)

So many images from Maundy Thursday – we especially remember Jesus’ initiation of “The Lord’s Supper” or “Communion” or “The Eucharist.”

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22.14 – 20, ESV)

In addition to the bread and the wine, John’s Gospel, chapters 13 – 17, records a lot that Jesus said and did that night:

• He washed the disciples’ feet.
• He told them to love each other.
• He promised the Holy Spirit.
• He explained the vine and the branches.
• He prayed for them (and us!).

A good night, and worth thinking about as we:

Do this in remembrance of me.

It was Palm Sunday a few days ago – a day I’ve written about, mainly negatively because although it was an important day that fulfilled prophecy, Jesus was crucified just a few days later…apparently by some of the same people.

That said, maybe the Palm Sunday crowd was just disappointed that Jesus didn’t overthrow the Romans, but the Jerusalem crowd incited for his crucifixion. Two different crowds? It wouldn’t be the first time the Jerusalem crowd was out of step. Look again at the visit of the wise men as recorded in Matthew 2:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2.1 – 3, ESV, emphasis mine)

Then notice that the Jerusalem crowd is similarly out of step at the triumphal entry (Palm Sunday):

The disciples…brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21.6 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

God has always done some of his best work away from the “important cities” and “the elites” of society:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1.26 – 29, ESV)

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” (John 1.43 – 46, ESV)

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1.11, KJV)

Tom Hanks, playing a broken-down manager of a women’s baseball team in A League of Their Own, uttered this famous line:

Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There’s no crying! THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!

Well, sometimes there is. In the Colorado Rockies opening day game last Friday, Cuban-born Rockies shortstop Jose Iglesias got a base hit in the second inning to drive in the Rockies’ second run. He broke down in tears. Why? Because his father, still in Cuba, had died just a few weeks before. Here’s how the Colorado Springs Gazette described the moment:

What I want to draw your attention to is Dodger first-baseman Freddie Freeman, one of the heroes in the Atlanta Braves’ world series victory last season, and one of the most well-liked players in baseball. Google him, and you’ll read things like this:

“There is no person that doesn’t like Freddie Freeman in the league,” said Miguel Rojas, the Miami Marlins shortstop.

When it comes to earning the respect of your teammates, coaches and fellow players in a sports league, it certainly helps to be good at the sport. And it just so happens that Freddie Freeman is good — really good — at baseball, earning the MVP Award for the 2020 season and leading the league in runs scored while picking up All-Star selection No. 5 in 2021.

But even if Freeman was a .195 career hitter instead of a .295 career hitter, and even if his career-high in home runs was 11 instead of 38, and even if he had a grand total of zero Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers to his name, it seems like he’d still be a beloved member of Major League Baseball. Why? He’s the nicest dude on the diamond. – Audacity.com

Many say that he treats first base like his front porch, and if you’ve gotten a base hit, you’ve dropped in for a visit. He congratulates players for getting a hit, and they often exchange batting tips.

When Jose Iglesias came for his “visit,” and then broke down in tears, here’s how the Gazette described the moment:

On Friday, noticing the emotion, Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman immediately tried to comfort him. Freeman lost his mother when he was young and tried to help Iglesias get through the moment. “It was a beautiful moment,” Iglesias said. “Beyond baseball, we are human beings.”

I write frequently about the 6Ms – ways God uses us – and Freddie Freeman at first base demonstrates that we can both Make Good Work and Minister Grace and Love, even in the competitive environment of professional sports.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. (Romans 12.15, ESV)

I know that we’re already into Passion Week, and I’ll no doubt have a few appropriate meditations as we approach Easter. Our reading program has just started Matthew, however, and I don’t like to miss the unsung hero of the nativity: Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. He doesn’t get much press: a few mentions here in Matthew, even fewer in Luke, and a few people in the gospels refer to Jesus as “Jesus, son of Joseph.” None of his words are recorded.

But Matthew tells us of four angelic visits and four instant responses:

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”…When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. (Matthew 1.20, 21, 24, 25, ESV)

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt... (Matthew 2.13 – 14, ESV)

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. (Matthew 2.19 – 22, ESV)

Four angelic visits, four immediate responses, two in the middle of the night!

And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt. (2.14)

And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. (2.21)

No one wants to get up in the middle of the night! A few days ago, our dog who almost always sleeps through the night had a problem, and I had to take him out at 2:30 am and again at 5 am. Even when I know that he’s not just changing positions, but he needs to go out, I have a tough time “rising and taking.”

“Rise, take the child and his mother…” Obedience requires work, and sometimes it requires an instant response! Arise…

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15.10, NIV)

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14.21, 23, 24, NIV)