God has a plan. Trust in His love.

Photo by Maureen Kennedy Macel

In the Bible there is a story about a family that Jesus was friends with. There were two sisters and a brother, and the brother, Lazarus, got sick and died.

Here are some story highlights (the entire story can be found in John 11):

Jesus found out that Lazarus was sick, but he did not go to visit Lazarus right away, and instead he waited a few days. Jesus told his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 11

Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 14-15

Jesus arrives and meets with Martha, one of the sisters. They talk and Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” 25-27

Jesus speaks with Mary, the other sister. Jesus weeps about Lazarus’ death. Jesus prays. Jesus glorifies God. Then Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. 32-44

 

Here is what we can see in this story:

• God knows everything.
• God has a plan.
• God is with us.

Jesus knew that Lazarus had died. Jesus had a plan to glorify God with the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus went to Martha and Mary to support, console, and suffer heartache with them.

Jesus already knew what he was going to do, but he allowed Martha the opportunity to proclaim her faith and receive a miracle.

 

God has a plan, and he promises that he is with us through everything.  He says to us, “Do you believe that I love you? Do you trust me?” Let us say to Jesus, no matter the circumstances, “Yes, I believe!”

 

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare not for your woe. Plans to give you a future full of hope!” Jeremiah 29:11-12

TREE HUGGERS SUCK: Reject labels. Embrace the person.

Photo by Maureen Kennedy Macel

TREE HUGGERS SUCK. The words were glaring at me in a nasty font across the back of a truck I was driving behind. Nice. This person who doesn't know me thinks that I suck.

How often do assign labels to people so we can categorize and judge them? We look to elevate ourselves above others. Christians and people of good will are called to embrace people and not judge them (Matthew 7:1-5). Humanity is called to be one in Christ (John 17:20-23).

We might be using labels more often than we realize. Liberal... Conservative... Christian... not Christian... etc. 

When we use labels to judge, what we think we know about a person, we don’t know.

And so I encourage us to reject the labels and embrace the person. Jesus did this. And Pope Francis has given us a few examples of how to do this, too. When a label has been given to provoke and disparage, he has discarded the label and gone straight to the heart of the matter:

Pope Francis recounted a story: "A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: When God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person."

When critics accused the Pope of being Marxist, Pope Francis responded, "Marxist ideology is wrong, but I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people…"

When the Pope was asked whether atheists go to heaven, he said, "The Lord has redeemed us all with the blood of Christ, all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone," he said. Some may ask, 'Father, even the atheists?' Them, too. Everyone."

So, before we slap labels on people to categorize and judge them, stop; and think of the person who is likely to be a decent and unique human being.

"I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. You can, you must try to seek God in every human life." –Pope Francis

How did Jesus rise from the dead?

Photo by Maureen Kennedy Macel

What does it mean that Jesus "defeated death"?

When Jesus was preparing to begin his ministry, he went off by himself to pray.  During this time, the devil tried to tempt Jesus to worship him with offers of power and wealth in this world. Jesus rebuked the devil and turned to God the Father in prayer (Matthew 4).

Now, imagine Satan orchestrating the evil and hatred in people's hearts that resulted in Jesus' death -- manipulating truth and planting lies that people chose to follow in their desire to hold on to power, to gain more power, allay their fear of persecution, allay their fear of loss of status and prestige, and satisfying their demanding egos, to name a few.

The devil must have reveled in his ability to humiliate the Son of God and make him suffer and die the most painful death. The devil thought he won. He thought he had defeated God and crushed what was good and true in the world. Jesus seemed weak. Jesus did not fight. Jesus was brought to utter defeat. Satan thought he beat God and that he had the power.

Or so it seemed.

God had a plan from the beginning about how he would save his people and bring them back into right relationship with him, a plan where his children could live forever in his love (Genesis 3:15).

This is why Jesus' obedience and trust in God the Father was so important. While the world seemed to have turned against him and there was no reprieve from the suffering that was to come, Jesus walked the way before him and accepted death on the cross.

Since Jesus was 100% God and 100% man, he was total divine love. Upon Jesus' death, the power of love and the Spirit of God within himself was used to restore life. This is something that no human could possibly do. This is why God was the one who had to save us, and he chose to save us by becoming human and dying in our place. But after he died, he rose from the dead. And by rising from the dead, God conquered death. Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Jesus promises that those who participate in his life and believe in him will have the Spirit of life. His Spirit lives in us and God will use this Spirit to give us eternal life in him.

Death had been defeated. It held no power over Jesus, and it holds no power over us.

"O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live... thus you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord." Ezekiel 37: 13-14

"If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you." Romans 8:11

Why did Jesus die?

Photo by Maureen Kennedy Macel

Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. God the Son became human and was born for us. He had a normal and faith-filled (Jewish faith) life working as a carpenter and hanging out with his friends. From the ages of 30-33 he lived his ministry. His ministry challenged society to change and showed the people in power and those who upheld the status quo that they had it all wrong. He came to show us a better way -- the way God calls us to live and love one another.

• Prayer: Jesus prayed directly to God the Father and called him Abba, which means "father." This blew people's minds and offended many. (Mark 14:26)
• Authority: When he was teaching people about the way to make God #1 in their lives and the demand of placing love at the center of every action and word, people were surprised because he taught by his own authority and not as a representative of other teachers. (Matthew 7:29)
• Ministry: Society at the time excluded anyone who was disabled, sick, and/or living a life of outward sin (we all are sinners!) because society wrongly assumed their problems were punishments from God. Society judged, condemned, and abandoned these people in need. Jesus went directly to the people on the margins and brought them into his love and healing. Jesus taught that God loves all people.
• People: Jesus treated women as equals. Jesus also believed that people were more important than strictly following the law, just for the law's sake. (John 5)
• Neighbor: Jesus taught people to love their neighbor as themselves. So they asked, "Jesus, who is my neighbor?" Jesus said whoever we see in need is our neighbor. (Luke 10:25-37)
• Brother:  Jesus broke down the walls of loving only those who are in our families by putting human beings into one family: "Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Mathew 12:50)
• When did we see you in need?: Jesus told a story of people who saw him in need but did not offer any help, and the people asked, "Lord, when did we see you in need and not help you?" Jesus said that when we serve and care for the least in society and those in need, we are in fact serving him. (Matthew 25:31-46)

So, Jesus was pretty radical. We can see why he made enemies in powerful places.

Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world as a human being to be the living Word of God. Do we hear all that he taught us about the way to live? Jesus showed us how God created us to live -- with love in our hearts and with freedom from the selfishness, lies, and fear of this world.

Jesus did not say it was going to be easy to follow him. He was killed. Many of the first believers were killed. To this day, there is injustice and evil. But Jesus shows us that a life of love is powerful.

Jesus gave his life out of obedience to God's plan of salvation. He did not fight back or exert his power as God to stop his own suffering and death. He prayed for deliverance from suffering, but when none came, he walked the way before him. He forgave his killers and those who participated in his torture and death. He felt alone but still he trusted God the Father.

And God brought life and light and goodness out of death and darkness and evil. By the Resurrection, death was defeated by Jesus, the only one who could overcome death, and life was won for all.

God's way is not the easy way. In this world we have suffering, but we can trust in God's love for us and know that he will bring light out out of the darkness in our own lives, too. Jesus is with us as our strength to endure: "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20

Accept the Challenge of Faith!

One day Jesus was teaching that he is the Bread of Life. He wanted us to know that when we believe and follow him, we will never want or need anything else. He is our strength and fulfillment.

Jesus talked a lot about this in John Chapter 6. He said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." And, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Some of his friends and followers took issue with this idea. They said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"

Jesus said, "Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?"

In other words, Jesus says, "What if, right now, you saw me return to heaven and join God the Father? Then, I know you would believe what I'm telling you. So, if you know that God sent me and if you desire to do God's will, you are called to believe -- even the things that are hard for you to accept."

Some of Jesus' teachings are hard for us to understand and even harder to follow because they always call us to put Jesus first, and to let go of our ego and to love others, even when we have been wronged or offended, and even when we disagree.

We have the freedom to question and to go to God in prayer. Our lives are a spiritual journey, and we wrestle with some big things as we seek the Lord.

But let us ask ourselves: Do I just believe what I want, and therefore create a false idea of God that makes me comfortable and justifies my thoughts and actions? Or do I allow God's Word to challenge me and call me to a better way of life?

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9.

Do we desire to be holy as God is holy? (1 Peter 1:16)

What's in our hearts?

Photo by Maureen Kennedy Macel

One day Jesus was telling people that he only seeks to do the will of God the Father, and that God the Father had sent him into the world. Jesus, God the Son, was the Word of God. He was 100% human and 100% divine.

Jesus says to the people, "You have never heard [God the Father's] voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent." John 5:37-38.

In other words, Jesus was saying, "Even though you have never heard God's voice with your own ears or seen God with your own eyes, you know the Scriptures, and therefore you should know God. But the Scriptures have not remained in your heart because if you really had the Word of God in your hearts, you would recognize me as the one God has sent."

As humans and ones who God has created, we cannot know the depth of the knowledge of God, and we can't comprehend the depth of his love for us (although we can see it on the Cross) -- but we can know the heart of God because we have God's Word: Jesus. And God is love.

If we know God is love, how do we respond with our lives?

Good and loving God, help us to understand your Word. Help us to live like we know you. Let us always keep your love in our hearts. Help us to treat others with mercy, compassion, understanding, patience, and respect so that Christ's love is brought to every person and every situation in our world. Let the power of your love be made manifest.

We Bring God Joy

Photo by Maureen Kennedy Macel

I have a little niece named Nora. She is five months old, and she is such a healthy, beautiful, and amazing little chub!

I love holding Nora, and she likes facing outward, and so I am thrilled to hold her and kiss the back of her little head. One of the most wonderful, joyful things is when she leans back and looks at me, to see who is holding her, and the joy and delight I get from seeing her face and her precious eyes looking right at me. It only lasts a moment, and only happens once in awhile, but it is awesome.

It made me think about how God is always with us, holding us. He is our loving Creator, Father, Savior, and Protector. He is always loving us, and we have no idea of all he is doing and the depth of his love. It's impossible for us to even comprehend his love because we are just humans, his little children who can't understand. He loves and loves and loves and finds such sheer joy in us. And occasionally, we take a moment to look at him, and I imagine that he is so full of joy and delight when we do that! We make him so happy and he would love us to just look at him all the time!

Good and loving God, please help us to spend time looking at you and to allow you to look upon us. We are your children, your total joy. Thank you for your love!