2 March 2008—4 Lent

The Villain of the Gospels


focusPoints

History has had more than its share of evil persons. The Scriptures contain stories of villains too! Queen Jezebel in the Old Testament or King Herod in the New Testament who wanted to kill the baby Jesus and did slaughter many infants around Bethlehem come to mind. And there was Judas, one of Jesus' own disciples.

The Jewish High Priest Caiaphas, who was in power during the time of Jesus, is another. He is part of the Gospel story in the eleventh chapter of John's gospel at a strategic moment in Jesus' life.

It is a matter of a few days before Jesus will enter Jerusalem for that last tension filled week, the week of the Passover festival (Fookes: Stockwell UMC Worship Message2 March 2008).


forwardPoints

In John chapter 11, Caiaphas makes some statements about Jesus that are profoundly true:

I. Jesus is a threat to the status quo. (11:48)

II. "This one man should die for the people." (11:50)

As Holy Week (the week before Easter), Good Friday, and Easter morning draw near, let’s consider:

I. When the way of Christ conflicts with the status quo, which side are you usually on?

II. Secondly, if indeed this man Jesus died for all people, have you affirmed that He died for you?





focusPoints

In The Book of Hard Choices: How to Make the Right Decisions at Work and Keep Your Self-Respect, James Autry and Peter Roy write this about integrity:

It’s easy to talk about and even easy to feel and to demonstration, as long as everything is going well and nothing comes along to put your integrity to the test. In other words, your sense of integrity, while admirable, is not made fully real until you have to live it in difficult and challenging circumstances (Autry & Roy 2006, 1).

In the chapter “Be a Manager or Be a Minister? How to deal with the things they don’t teach in seminary (or business school)” the authors invite:

Now think about this: The minister has to be visionary leader, spiritual counselor, teacher, and preacher for the very people who also are her/his boss, the people who hired her/him and can fire her/him.

One of the characteristics of not-for-profit (community profit) organizations is that alliances often develop between members of the paid staff and members of the volunteer board of directors, a very untidy situation in which directors are tempted to forget that their role is policy and, instead, involved themselves in operations and management, second- guessing the paid senior staff person (Autry & Roy 2006, 93-94).

findingPoints

What are some ways I might find myself drifting out of integrity, opposing different ideas only because they are different, and drifting into roles that are “untidy?”


What are some safeguards, self-checks, checks with a critical friend I can use to make sure I affirm Jesus died for me and that my integrity to looking beyond the status quo to become a more effective disciple-maker for the transformation of the world?


faithPoints

John Wesley, the person to whom the founding of Methodism is attributed, recommended that everyone be in an accountability group (he called them classes, societies, and bands) in order to edify, encourage, and enlighten each other.

In today’s society, finding like-minded people with whom to form such covenants and the time to get together is difficult (not impossible). Let’s at least seek and receive God’s guidance in being open to being accountable to the Holy Spirit who will more than equip us to make disciples for the transformation of the world.