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A Text From Jesus?
Joe Killian • Nov 12, 2015
How certain are you of where you are headed in life? Me? It depends. There are days when my path seems clear. Then I get a text or the phone rings and my whole world seems to shift. As you read this week’s Gospel imagine how the disciples must have felt after Jesus dropped this message on them.
Jesus said to his disciples: "In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. "And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Mark 13:24-32
Let me try and put this into context. Here are the headings of the paragraphs preceding this passage in the 13th chapter of Mark’s Gospel.
The Destruction of the Temple Foretold
The Signs of the End
The Coming Persecution
The Great Tribulation
WHOA! Heads up! Things are going to get interesting. Imagine the flurry of glances and responses while this message is being delivered. Jesus concludes this earth-moving message with one word. In verse 37 He says, “What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” The Greek root of this word is not the word we might use when asking someone to watch a YouTube video. It has a much more active meaning: to be vigilant and on guard, fully awake, aware, alert and intently focused. Jesus is instructing and exhorting His disciples so that they can remain faithful and obedient through the coming trials they will face.
I believe we are to read this message from Jesus in that same way. Our world can change with a simple text message. Regardless of the persecution or tribulation that it might bring we must trust in Jesus. If you have chosen to be one of His elect this is the only text message that ultimately matters:
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
