Hey guys and gals, shalom, hope all is well in the break. Sorry for my belated entry, I had issues figuring out my gmail. Anyways, break has been pretty slow for the most part. I don't know when it happened, but break transitioned from coming home, to visiting my parents somewhere around my sophomore to junior year. It's really strange I have to say. I love seeing my parents, but now my mom calls me guest jokingly and I feel just a bit older and independent these days, not all bad, just a strange realization I suppose. Each day is pretty much the same for me here since my parents moved to Arizona after I graduated so I don't know anyone around here so I basically sit around playing video games and watching movies and the like. We did take a quick vacation to Palm Springs, CA, it was alright, you know how family trips are, an up and down event, trapped in a car for long periods of time, bickering about where to go and eat, haha, it was pretty good, seemed there wasn't much to do in Palm Springs, we eventually went to an oasis park which was very cool, but mostly it wasn't much different than being at home. It's been good to just sit around and not worry about some assignment that might be due or something that I forgot. Anyways, let's get down to some scripture.
John 13
It starts with a scene and reference that many Christians have either read or heard in a sermon, how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, it's one of the most obvious lessons and humbling scenes that Jesus takes with His disciples, I remember once back in high school when the youth group washed everyone's feet during a friday night worship just to showcase the lesson, I'll tell you, some of the most simple lessons in the bible can be greatly magnified by actually living them through, regardless how obvious the parable can be, it can really strike a chord when you are on your knees washing someone else's feet.
I think the second part of the passage is the most intruiging because many times when I read through the bible and come to a passage where it actually narrates Jesus' thoughts, I always ask myself what I might do or feel in the same circumstance. In this scene Jesus shows His struggle with knowing that one of His beloved will betray Him and send Him ultimately to the cross. He prophesies the fact that one of the twelve will "lift up his heel against me" and confuses the rest of the disciples in His message. Then He goes right up to Judas and tells him that he will indeed be the one to carry out the ominous task. I honestly don't know how I could act in that regard. After this summers' experiences for me, to know that someone I hold near and dear, is about to cause ultimate pain in my life and yet sit there humbly and wash their feet? Wow, I mean it's a cliche we hear about how God sacrifices and such for us, but many times it just doesn't hit home because it's such a common idea. Yet Jesus knew, this was all part of a grander scheme to grant the ultimate sacrifice, it was like He had to take little blows until the final one, and yet the entire time He could have risen up, He could have chosen His own path, He could have decided after experiencing life as a human that we weren't worth saving, yet He decides that He will indeed carry this out. That's real man, that's some love right there.
And after all that moment, He again is faced with another moment where He knows another follower will fail Him. He first preaches the message to love one another and then leaves. Just then Simon Peter runs up and asks where Jesus is going and Jesus returns a cryptic answer that He must leave first and that only after then can Simon follow afterwards. Simon is confused and he says brazenly that he would lay his life down for Jesus and it is then that Jesus prophesies that Simon will disown Jesus three times before the next day.
It hits home a familiar problem that we all go through. We can sit there at the feet of Jesus, during our worship services and during our prayer gatherings and feel so strong and willing to fight and die for Jesus, to live for Him and to be great fishermen (and women), yet what are our actions in the face of others and in the environment outside? Many times it's not even the strangers that provide the toughest opposition, because who cares what strangers think, but do we have the courage to live for Jesus in the face of our friends and family, many who might think that these beliefs are completely ridiculous?
It's fairly easy to judge Simon for his following actions after this passage in which he carelessly disowns Jesus, I mean it's not even the harsh moments either, Simon's life is never truly threatened, he more or less disowns Jesus to avoid an argument or avoid losing some reputation, but honestly, isn't that how the enemy works? Apathy is the greatest enemy I think sometimes, it's not those who question what you do, but those who think that anything is okay that really bring trouble. Simon probably didn't think that the little moments of doubt really meant much, but isn't that the challenge? To live for God everyday and in every moment, that truly takes courage.
