Saturday, October 27, 2018

Choosing Last: What I Learned from Jesus

I used this study (for Advent, Lent, or any 47 day block of time), each day asking "What does this tell me about choosing last, and how Jesus chose last?"
Note: this 47 day study has actually taken me almost a year, as during that time I had a tiring pregnancy and my second child. Just saying. Here is a summary of my personal learnings:

Day 47: God comes to normal people in normal times and does not normal things and we freak out. Not just normal people, but normally poor normal people. Jesus consistently chooses last in the whole way he came to earth. Zachariah was looking back (fulfilling prophesy) and Mary was looking forward (her prayer about the last being first)
Day 46: As I am currently pregnant, Mary traveling pregnant makes me cringe. The Christmas story of outcasts and illegitimate children and then they become immigrants after someone rich (wise men) notice them.  Is there any label he didn’t choose? I guess he wasn’t incarcerated…
Day 45: Jesus isn’t preaching yet—John is. John the Baptist was super pragmatic and I love his direct advice to people on how to “Step down” by doing right and not exploiting their power
Day 44: People sought out Jesus because there was something about him. He turned over tables and kept confusing people with prophesies and analogies like being born again. Jesus makes it clear you can’t “get it” without him—he is the great equalizer. John steps out of the limelight and gives it to Jesus.
Day 43: Jesus leaves whenever he gets popular in a place. Jesus asks the questions—and doesn’t answer all her (the woman at the well) questions. He takes her deeper until she’s ready to hear the truth. He sought her out. He didn’t follow etiquette for the rich man (or ever). Choosing last? That section from Isaiah says it all.
Day 42: John’s message was Jesus’ message. Jesus kept moving from place to place (the poor couldn’t get to him, so he went to them). He had alone time with God for guidance. He had power and authority. What exactly does it mean to have authority? It seems like a personality trait in Jesus
Day 41: Who are the people Jesus really works with? Fishermen, tax collectors and sick people who come to him. He touched the leper and consistently rebukes leaders who question him.
Day 40: Jesus always ask sick people if they want to be well: of course they do! Hold on to Jesus, not rules or past ways of doing things.
Day 39: Jesus works hard to keep small: not letting demons or people tell others what he did for them. He did this INTENTIONALLY. Jesus passed on power to the apostles and DELEGATED. Jesus didn’t focus on rules (Sabbath especially), but on mercy. “Mercy” in Portuguese is the words “misery” + “accord” and it reminds me that mercy is being with someone (in accord) during their misery.
Day 38: Jesus showed a new way for everything: one that puts us all on the same level because we all need Jesus and to choose only Him.
Day 37: Jesus is going from city to city healing. Some cities reject him and he “woes” them, but heals and preaches just the same.
Day 36: Love and forgiveness go together, along with gratefulness realizing what has been forgiven. Jesus forgave and elevated the status of women.
Day 35: It isn’t about the socially unacceptable sins, it is about not offending the Holy Spirit (the unforgiveable sin). The bonds of spiritual family are stronger because it is eternal.
Day 34: Why the parables? The secrets are only for some? Why? Jesus taught everyone but didn’t explain it to everyone. He chose the disciples. Some would understand and flourish and others would not get it and be worse off than before. This reminds me a bit of predestination, which sorta freaks me out if I’m honest. Perhaps it’s just the idea that I’m not in control and I can’t save anyone or make sure loved ones “get it.”
Day 33: Jesus had a pillow. This makes me smile. The people seemed more afraid of the healed man than the pigs: I think that is why Jesus had the man stay and tell his story (be in relationship with them) because that is what was going to reach them. Their fear made it impossible for them to receive Jesus.
Day 32: People keep thinking Jesus just says silly things, when it is really deep and profound (“Who touched me?” “She is only sleeping”). Jesus puts the outcast woman before the rich leader—and they both get their miracles. But he let the woman have the floor and tell her whole truth. She was able to reenter society.
Day 31: Jesus limits himself so that he can only heal if the person believes. When Jesus sent out the disciples they were to preach, heal, and drive out demons. They weren’t to take money or clothes. It wouldn’t be easy but God would help them. They were to choose God over their family. This doesn’t look much like “being sent” today. I really don’t like the “hating your family” part, but as a missionary, I kinda get it—I have to actively choose being here, away from my family to be a missionary. I feel it deeply.
Day 30: We need times to get away: but if those times get crashed, we need to be gracious because God will provide.
Day 29: Jesus needed time alone too. Jesus encourages our bits of faith and calls out our true motives: from our impure motivations, he pulls out the true need and meets it. There is so much in the Bible that is wrapped up in years and years of culture and I feel like I often miss things because I am not a Hebrew scholar.
Day 28: Don’t lose the big picture following the little traditions: get the spirit of the law right. I read the story of the gentile woman written by Max Lucado where it was a playful banter—humble and smart—but sometimes it just makes me cringe a bit. I am that gentile woman. Why did Jesus choose such a weird way to heal the deaf guy? I mean, he could do it ANY WAY. And why does Jesus always keep telling everyone not to tell they were healed when he knows it won’t work?
Day 27: God can provide over and over and we still worry about that same thing (food). We say we just want a sign or one thing more before we trust/obey Jesus: when Jesus knows we wouldn’t trust/obey even if we had that one thing.
Day 26: Weird healing: Jesus has to do it twice because the first time he sees people like trees. Why didn’t Jesus do it right the first time? Is there something I am missing here culturally? Why did Jesus spit in his eyes anyway?
Day 25: God can tell us anything, but we won’t believe it/understand it until the time is right. Some demonic possession is worse than others—or harder to get rid of at least. Why would a child be possessed? I am super skeptical about what most people say about the demonic world (although I believe it is there) and confused about what the Bible says about it.
Day 24: When the shepherd goes after the one lost sheep—it is to bring it home: telling someone about Jesus isn’t about trying to convert them, it is about bringing them back to what they were created to be: restoring them and bringing them home.
Day 23: Jesus knows the heart of a person. It isn’t that going to funerals or saying “goodbye” to your family is wrong, it is that He knew their heart wasn’t in it. It is so sad that Jesus’ family didn’t believe him.
Day 22: Jesus’ teachings weren’t super clear or straight forward. He made people work to understand it. He works hard to not be easily believed in.
Day 21: Jesus doesn’t hesitate to forgive any sin, but he also doesn’t hesitate to ask for everything. He just lays it all out there and lets you choose.
Day 20: Another Sabbath healing (he really hits this hard) and another time using spit for healing a blind guy. They ask if people are sick because they sinned, and Jesus says sometimes it is for his glory: this is a hard saying for me.
Day 19: Jesus sends out the disciples to go and prepare for him. We aren’t to “save” anyone, just go and prepare things for the Holy Spirit to do His work.
Day 18: Poor people know how to “ask” because they have to—there are no other options. But we are all to be good at “the ask:” understanding we have a need and can’t solve it alone.
Day 17: Don’t worry about food and clothes: birds and flowers don’t , and they turn out fine. You aren’t in control, so don’t worry. Sell stuff--Give to the poor--Get forever treasure in heaven--Find your heart—repeat. Doesn’t seem to be much in the Bible about retiring, and certainly not retiring from growing in God.
Day 16: To the individual person who is healed, it makes all the difference. Healing is all about that one person and Jesus—not everyone else. The healings, to everyone else, was more of a show. So to that one woman, she couldn’t wait one more day (Monday, instead of the Sabbath) to play by the rules.
Day 15: We (gentiles) weren’t chosen first, but last. We are LAST. We are called to choose last. Jesus says to choose the last and be surprised: if we choose the first (best), we will be humbled.
Day 14: Jesus celebrates the last: last as in poor, last as in sinner, last as in humble. He doesn’t celebrate the rich, those who don’t need to repent, or the proud. It isn’t so much that he doesn’t celebrate them, it is that the poor are ready to be celebrated, and the rich are too busy/already full. You can still be rich but poor in spirit, or poor and consumed with getting rich—it is just not as common.
Day 13: Money blinds and makes it hard to choose God, so that is why it is talked against in the Bible. Also, comfort and ease now means less later, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use money wisely.
Day 12: Jesus knew that raising Lazarus from the dead would cause the sisters a lot of suffering first, and would be the things that pushed the Pharisees to focus on killing him. He was so intentional in all He did. 
Day 11: Keep bothering God in prayer. Don’t stop. And be humble.
Day 10: Riches are a burden. It doesn’t mean you can’t have them, it just means you need to be aware of the responsibility and hardship that they bring—a different kind of hardship from poverty.
Day 9: Eternal life is an equalizer: you get it or you don’t, no matter the time spent serving God. To be great, be like Jesus: a poor servant. Choose last.
Day 8: Jesus invited himself over to people’s houses. With the talents, I understand the attitudes, but I don’t understand the saying that those who have get more, and those who don’t have get more taken away. Sounds a lot like the world system.
Day 7: Jesus enters Jerusalem on the donkey. All four gospels have this account, but only Luke tells it where Jesus was weeping because he knew they wouldn’t get it.
Day 6: Jesus’ basic schedule was to heal and teach, heal and teach. And remove a den of robbers.
Day 5: A lot of heavy teaching here: it seems like Jesus is packing it in before the cross. Lots of parables and talking about time.
Day 4: The last supper and Jesus comforting and preparing the disciples.
Day 3: Jesus’ death. It is amazing how there is four accounts of the same thing, and the slight differences they hold, amplifying the account like different sides of a diamond. It is like how each person reflects a different part of God as the image of God.
Day 2: Jesus laid in the tomb. Well, his body did. I guess this is when he was going down to hell to officially defeat death and return to heaven triumphant? It must have been quite a party in heaven!
Day 1: Showing himself to everyone—women first! Jesus always put God’s will first: that meant that his actions were to serve others and choose to be last. How do we choose last in all the roles we live?

In this world we have a history of the powerful preying on the weak: the rich on the poor, the man on the woman, white on people of color, the healthy on the sick, the able on the disable. Most of the time it isn’t the REALLY powerful preying on the REALLY weak (although those systems are really strong and in place), the day to day aches and pains are normally from those closer together on the spectrum: the middle class kid bullying the lower middle class kid for his ugly clothes…and so on. As Christians, we are called to break this cycle. That is part of what being a CHRISTIAN is—it is integral to what Christ did, and we are called to be like Christ. So how do we step down from power? How do we choose last?
It is hard. It is easy to just let things be—to just follow the system—the system that favors white Americans. You have to deliberately, intentionally make choices to step down and choose last.





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