An Invitation
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14,15)
Only Jesus can fulfill these words because He Himself is the Kingdom of God. He doesn't just bring the Kingdom or just announce the Kingdom; He is the Kingdom as well as the King. And He invites John the Baptist to join Him in His Kingdom work, and is inviting us today to join Him as well. That sounds very nice and very Christian, very sentimental, but let us not gloss over the strangeness and absurdity of this, that this must be part of our lives, to be a part of the work that only Jesus can do. If only He can do it, how can we do it also?
In the parallel account in Matthew, we see this scandalous partnership spelled out, when Jesus takes up John's message word for word when He hears that John is in prison. We read in 3:1,2 and 4:12,17:
"Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
"Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; ... From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
In what form is "the time fulfilled and the Kingdom at hand" for John? He is in prison and he is becoming less, decreasing so that Jesus can increase. Even now he has unbelief; he will soon send a message to Jesus asking, "Are you the One?"
There are many ways of being in prison. We are inclined to think of God's blessing, God's time fulfilled, in terms of material welfare, inner peace, safety, unshakable faith, ministry success, etc. In other words, just like the disciples, we think in terms of victory. Winning. Getting rid of the Romans. Victory over sins in our life. And our way of thinking about the arrival of the Kingdom of God is really largely about, on the one hand, using God for character improvement and the elimination of bad habits to make us more worthy objects of our own worship and the worship of others; and on the other hand, about protection from suffering.
Before the Communists put some believing friends here in prison (in the 1950's), people warned them, "Be attentive, the suffering is coming in your lives." But they were given grace to say, "No, is coming the Lord." And when they got to prison the first person they met was Jesus, and they realized that He is the first prisoner there. That He was there before they got there, and brought them there to meet Him.
This is the meaning of the prison, of the suffering. Jesus is in love with us and longs for us to be near Him, so He brings us to the prison to meet Him, because that is where He is. That is why He brings us into awkward work situations, difficult marriages, to where the poor live or to the impoverished mission field. Into all the situations of our lives that we would naturally avoid. It is like Jesus is smitten with us and courting us and asking us out on a date. It was the same with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The fourth man in the fiery furnace was lonely for them. And his presence transformed the devastating heat of the furnace so that they were not harmed. This was the difference between the Golden Statue they were commanded to worship and the Fourth Man: the Golden Statue would have saved them from suffering in exchange for their worship. The Fourth Man saves them in their suffering and suffers with them and invites them to suffer with Him.
[GEN, (c)2008]
Only Jesus can fulfill these words because He Himself is the Kingdom of God. He doesn't just bring the Kingdom or just announce the Kingdom; He is the Kingdom as well as the King. And He invites John the Baptist to join Him in His Kingdom work, and is inviting us today to join Him as well. That sounds very nice and very Christian, very sentimental, but let us not gloss over the strangeness and absurdity of this, that this must be part of our lives, to be a part of the work that only Jesus can do. If only He can do it, how can we do it also?
In the parallel account in Matthew, we see this scandalous partnership spelled out, when Jesus takes up John's message word for word when He hears that John is in prison. We read in 3:1,2 and 4:12,17:
"Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
"Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; ... From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
In what form is "the time fulfilled and the Kingdom at hand" for John? He is in prison and he is becoming less, decreasing so that Jesus can increase. Even now he has unbelief; he will soon send a message to Jesus asking, "Are you the One?"
There are many ways of being in prison. We are inclined to think of God's blessing, God's time fulfilled, in terms of material welfare, inner peace, safety, unshakable faith, ministry success, etc. In other words, just like the disciples, we think in terms of victory. Winning. Getting rid of the Romans. Victory over sins in our life. And our way of thinking about the arrival of the Kingdom of God is really largely about, on the one hand, using God for character improvement and the elimination of bad habits to make us more worthy objects of our own worship and the worship of others; and on the other hand, about protection from suffering.
Before the Communists put some believing friends here in prison (in the 1950's), people warned them, "Be attentive, the suffering is coming in your lives." But they were given grace to say, "No, is coming the Lord." And when they got to prison the first person they met was Jesus, and they realized that He is the first prisoner there. That He was there before they got there, and brought them there to meet Him.
This is the meaning of the prison, of the suffering. Jesus is in love with us and longs for us to be near Him, so He brings us to the prison to meet Him, because that is where He is. That is why He brings us into awkward work situations, difficult marriages, to where the poor live or to the impoverished mission field. Into all the situations of our lives that we would naturally avoid. It is like Jesus is smitten with us and courting us and asking us out on a date. It was the same with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The fourth man in the fiery furnace was lonely for them. And his presence transformed the devastating heat of the furnace so that they were not harmed. This was the difference between the Golden Statue they were commanded to worship and the Fourth Man: the Golden Statue would have saved them from suffering in exchange for their worship. The Fourth Man saves them in their suffering and suffers with them and invites them to suffer with Him.
[GEN, (c)2008]
posted by CS at 5:16 PM
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