Thursday, April 26, 2007

focused humility

In the twenty second chapter of Luke we have an event that has touched the lives of many, many believers, is honored and celebrated weekly by millions, and represents one of the essential messages of Jesus' life: the last supper. Let me draw your attention to some of the things that happened there.

We have Jesus with His trusted twelve, including the betrayer. How often have you broken bread with someone who you know will break your trust, forgiving him even before he breaks you trust, knowing that he will?

We have Jesus indicating the meal was symbolically associated with the passover - in fact He's been so focused on it that 'with desire He has desired' to eat the passover with His disciples. How often have you been so focused on something that your very desire is not just for the event in question, but your desire is focused on the desire for the event itself? Or to phrase it another way, how often have you given a goal so much thought that you've put into planning the planning for the planning itself?

We have Jesus NOT drinking from the cup that he passes around. He fasts from drinking it "until it [the suffering/death of Jesus] be fulfilled in the kingdom of God". He passes the cup around, tells the twelve to divide it amongst themselves, and then reiterates that he won't drink the wine "until the kingdom of God shall come".

We have Jesus giving thanks for the bread, breaking it, and also passing it around the table, followed by instructions to do the same in remembrance of Him.
We have Jesus associating the cup (of wine, presumably) after supper with the New Testament. This is the cup mentioned in the twenty sixth chapter of Matthew, which Jesus also said to drink in remembrance of Him.

It is humbling to realize that some parts of that wine and that bread must needs be around in the world right now. At the very least, his twelve disciples were alive after Jesus died, returned, and left, so they "passed" the wine and bread and some of those molecules that touched the body of Jesus must necessarily be SOMEWHERE.

Another humbling note is that God prays. It is one thing to consider that Jesus prayed regularly and earnestly - it is quite another to realize that He was real and prayed to His father, just like we all do. How amazing is it that our king prayed for us? How amazing is it that He has no pride, no arrogance, all wisdom, and can be an edifying influence on us, even while residing in Heaven and our hearts? God is real and has waited all of our lives to answer his prayers with prayers of our own.

Yes, our king is humble - one of the more amazing of the miracles that comprised Jesus' life.

Call to action:

    Ask for God to quicken awareness all the ways your life has been directly influenced by the attributes of God, as well as revealing that what you can do to emulate those qualities.

    Use humility as means to doing daily work toward hearing God daily.

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