Sometimes I’m amazed at what the Bible speaks to… I credit this to our pastor, Dr. Dave Jordan-Irwin, who pointed out Jesus’ words to the disciples in John 16:
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home… I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16.32, 33, ESV)
We are indeed scattered each to our own homes during this coronavirus lockdown, but Jesus is not limited. Pastor Dave also pointed out that Jesus appeared to the disciples during their lockdown:
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20.19, ESV, emphasis mine)
“Peace be with you,” the same thing he promised them in John 16. Peace is not in our circumstances but in the presence of Jesus.
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4.5 – 7, ESV)
When we last saw Mary Magdalene, she had gone to tell the other disciples about Jesus’ resurrection:
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her. (John 20.17, 18, NKJV)
That seems to be a common theme. I love the story of Jesus’ conversation with the two on the road to Emmaus. “What things?” Jesus had a sense of humor, make no mistake. And what about that sermon?
Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him. (Luke 24.25 – 27, MSG)
I used to think, “Wow, I wish someone had written down that sermon!” But they didn’t need to. We have the same book. Read it. See him in Genesis 3.15, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53. (Who did they think that was about?) Messiah will be “cut off” in Daniel 9. Looking ahead, Peter preached from Joel in Acts 2. Jesus didn’t tell him that in advance. Peter figured it out. And then, the lesson is the same:
Go and Tell.
They left at once and hurried back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples. When they found the Eleven and the other disciples all together, they overheard them saying, “It’s really true! The Lord has risen from the dead. He even appeared to Peter!” Then the two disciples told the others what had happened to them on the road to Emmaus and how Jesus had unveiled himself as he broke bread with them. (Luke 24.33 – 35, Passion Translation)
I received a message from my friend in Haiti, Vilmer Paul, about whom I’ve written several blogs. Vilmer’s message prompts me to request:
While we are hunkered down in our mansions, give thanks for what you have, and please remember to pray for folks in Haiti.
Here’s some of what Vilmer writes:
My conclusion: There is no suitable solution for Haiti apart from home confinement. However, confinement is simply impossible to apply in Haiti. The people live from day to day on the street and in the street.
The social distancing advocated can only be the affair of a few privileged. In other words, in Haiti, the Coronavirus will worsen the social divide by exacerbating disparities, in particular access to basic necessities (health care and food)…
Confinement, applied to the letter, would cause more deaths in the population than the epidemic itself. In other words, the remedy would kill more than the disease.
A friend of mine, a physical therapist, said that his manager said to him when he expressed concern about being in close proximity to patients who could have been exposed to coronavirus:
Now, now. It’s not time to be paranoid.
Really? It’s precisely the time to be paranoid! That’s all they are selling right now. Compliance with stay-at-home orders is based exclusively on fear. Colorado’s governor was clear about that:
Enforcement? Yes, we have an enforcer. His name is The Grim Reaper. If you don’t socially isolate, you put your mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, even yourself, in danger. – Colorado Governor Jared Polis
And that brings us to projections. Someone said simply, “All projections are wrong.” That would include the one I posted back on March 15. But the purpose of projections is not that they be accurate predictors but that they change our behavior today.
This is the same function of most Biblical prophecy. Its purpose is not as much to predict the future but to change behavior now. Jonah rolled in on Ninevah and said:
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! (Jonah 3.1 – 4, ESV)
Was Ninevah overthrown in 40 days? No! Why not? Because the people repented:
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3.5 – 10, ESV)
We need just enough fear to change our behavior but not so much that we are incapacitated.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1.7, NLT)
Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. (Isaiah 8.12, 13, ESV)
When I wrote yesterday about Mary Magdalene’s post-resurrection encounter with Jesus and the hymn “In the Garden,” I didn’t tell the whole story of Mary or the hymn.
I didn’t quote, nor did Elvis Presley sing, the third stanza, which I believe reads like this:
In the Garden, third stanza
Some versions have the third line as “through the voice of woe,” but I believe it’s “to the voice of woe.” Jesus sends Mary to the other disciples (“the voice of woe”).
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. (John 20.17, 18, ESV, emphasis mine)
The lesson for us is clear. We don’t get to keep our time with Jesus and knowledge of Jesus to ourselves. It’s our joyful responsibility to share the good news with others.
And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.” (2 Kings 7.8, 9, ESV, emphasis mine. Read the whole story here.)
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20.21, ESV)
I’m enjoying post-resurrection stories, especially this one involving Jesus and Mary Magdalene:
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). (John 20.11 – 16, ESV)
Did you know that the well-known hymn “In the Garden” is not about just any encounter with Jesus in a peaceful setting, but it’s about this encounter? Here’s what the author and composer himself said:
One day in April 1912,…I drew my Bible toward me and it opened at my favorite book and chapter, John chapter twenty. I don’t know if this was by chance or by the work of the Holy Spirit. I will let you the reader decide. That story of Jesus and Mary in John 20 had lost none of its power and charm.
It was though I was in a trance, as I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life when she knelt before her Lord and cried, “Rabboni”. I rested my hands on the open Bible, as I stared at the light blue wall. As the light faded, I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches. A woman in white, with head, bowed, hand clasping her throat, as if to choke back her sobs, walked slowly into the shadows. It was Mary. As she came unto the tomb, upon which she placed her hand, she bent over to look in and ran away.
…As [Peter and John] departed, Mary reappeared leaning her head upon her arm at the tomb, she wept. Turning herself, she saw Jesus standing there, so did I. I knew it was He. She knelt before Him, with arms outstretched, and looking into His face cried, “Rabboni”.
I awakened in sunlight, gripping my Bible with my muscles tense, and nerves vibrating, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the lyrics exactly as it is sung today. That same evening, I wrote the tune. It is sung today as it was written in 1912. – C. Austin Miles
In the Garden, first two stanzas with chorus
There are myriad recordings of “In the Garden” including my own as found on my first CD Impromptu Piano Praise, but there’s none better than the one by Elvis Presley! (Just close your eyes and listen so as not to be distracted by the irrelevant pictures.)
Incidentally, C. Austin Miles is practicing what some call “Imaginative Prayer” when he writes, “I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life…I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches.A woman in white…” His practice of the exercise that day has blessed millions for more than 100 years.
I’ll have more to say about Mary’s encounter with Jesus tomorrow.
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Revelation 1.9 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)
I wrote yesterday about my friend John Kline singing to his wife Ann through the window of a nursing home. If you missed it, it’s worth the read and the listen!
John’s singing was reported on John Krasinski’s Some Good News and picked up by BreakPoint. But these aren’t the only national outlets to pick it up. A few days later, World Magazine, a Christian news service, reported it this way:
Actor John Krasinski, known for his role in the 2005–2013 sitcom The Office, debuted a YouTube series last week called Some Good News. On his kickoff program, Krasinski sat in front of a logo drawn by his daughters and reported good news submitted by the public. He played a video montage of people cheering healthcare workers, showcased an elderly man singing “Amazing Grace” through a window with his bedridden wife,…
“An elderly man…” A quick sentence that takes on entirely new meaning if you know the man and his wife and saw him singing with her. “An elderly man”? We’re talking about John Kline! Dr. John Kline. Dean of the Academic Instructor School at Maxwell Air Force Base and later highest-ranking civilian at Air University.
The point is, real people, real people with stories, long stories, are reduced to a sentence or part of a sentence. The BreakPoint report on April 6 gives John’s name and has a link to the broadcast. The World Magazine report on April 8 just mentions him in passing. Neither is wrong, but it does give one pause.
Despite what I may have done, if I live long enough (and maybe I already have!), one day I’ll be “an elderly man…” doing (I hope) something as noble as John singing to his wife with Alzheimer’s.
When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, “I am about to go the way of all the earth…” (1 Kings 2.1, 2, ESV)
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4.14, NIV)
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90.12, ESV)
In the midst of continuous bad news, some people are making a conscious effort to find and share good news. BreakPoint reported on April 6, that actor John Krasinski (“The Office”) has started a YouTube broadcast called “Some Good News.” What caught my eye were these sentences in the BreakPoint article:
On the inaugural SGN (or Some Good News) broadcast, former star of The Office, John Krasinski showed a video of Alabama man John Kline, visiting his bride of decades through the window of her retirement home that he’s no longer allowed to visit. Though she’s suffering from Alzheimer’s, she remembered the words of “Amazing Grace,” and they sang it together through the window.
It’s a great story on its own except I know John Kline! And his wife Ann. I sat under his teaching at Maxwell Air Force Base (Montgomery, AL) back in the early 80s. He’s a believer, and we reconnected when we went back to Montgomery 2001 – 2006. Then he was attending the church where I served on staff.
The snippet of SNG is worth listening to: it’s about one minute, beginning around 4 minutes and 30 seconds into this episode. In addition to being an excellent communicator and lay Bible teacher, John has an excellent singing voice. Again, note that Ann, even with Alzheimer’s, still knows the words to “Amazing Grace.”
John and Ann Kline, Montgomery, AL
Good job, John! And thanks to John Krasinski and BreakPoint for reporting it.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4.8, NIV)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… (Ephesians 5.25, NIV)
On Holy Saturday I wrote about our Navigator friend Ed Newell’s passing on April 6, just three days after he and his wife decided he was too weak for treatment. Sad, but with the warning we had, not shocking.
Shocking happened on Holy Saturday itself. We got a call from Aunt Marge, the widow of June’s Uncle Roger. We’re still close to Marge and her five children. Aunt Marge called to say that her son Steve had just passed away.
Steve lived in the Atlanta area, loved Jesus, was a lifelong Bible student and an all-around good guy, died of an apparent heart attack at age 58(!). He had just finished his usual daily bicycle ride (just 30 miles on Saturday) and an hour-long conversation with his mother. His wife found him slumped over…gone despite attempts to revive him by EMTs and a nearby hospital.
His mother, also a lifelong Jesus follower, former missionary, was trying to put the Easter spin on it: “It’s really good news,” she said through her tears. I responded, “It’s good news for Steve; it’s bad news for us!”
I notice that in one of the post-resurrection stories, John 21, Jesus includes a prediction about Peter’s death:
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21.18, 19, ESV)
In these tough times (and all times), death is present, but Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11.25, 26, ESV)
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4.13, NLT)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21.1 – 4, NIV)
Here are a few more thoughts about our coronavirus lockdown.
Doug Nuenke, U.S. President of The Navigators, shared with us in a video message some advice from Admiral Stockdale, highest ranking prisoner of war during the Viet Nam war: always have hope, but also always acknowledge the reality of your situation.
That reminded me of something else Admiral Stockdale said. I heard it years ago, and I don’t know the source, but he was frequently asked, “Who didn’t make it out? What were the characteristics of the men who died in captivity?” Stockdale replied something like this, which I think is applicable to our current coronovirus lockdown:
That’s easy. The ones who didn’t make it out were the optimists. The ones who kept saying, “We’ll be home by Christmas. They’ll let us out by Easter.” Those are the men who died in captivity. –Admiral James Stockdale, POW in Viet Nam for 7 years
If you’re like me, you’re hoping for a quick end to all this. I’m supposed to speak at Spring Canyon June 27 – July 4 (join us!). I’m praying that it’ll be business as usual by then. But it might not be. Our governor said he hopes to lift restrictions by April 26, but others are saying don’t expect normal life for a while.
We will need what Ignatius of Loyola called a holy indifference to our expectations and schedules.
You ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4.15, NIV)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4.12, 13, NIV)
