Amazing Parallel!

Why did the Lord Jesus hang around in the Temple on that Wednesday afternoon just days before He went to the Cross?

Israel had rejected Him and the Temple wasn’t a safe place for the Son of God.

Still, He tarried.

I see an amazing parallel between Jesus’ reluctance to leave the Temple in the First Century to one of the darkest days in Israel’s history 600 years before Christ. In Ezekiel 8-11, the wickedness of Israel brought judgment—the Glory of the Lord would no longer reside in the Temple. As it departs, God’s glory hesitates at every threshold and finally departs the earth from the mountain east of Jerusalem that we know today as the Mount of Olives.

What a touching look into the heart of our God. Even though His people deserved judgment, God lingers. It’s as if the Son of God is desperate to find something good, something pure, something worthy of commendation in His people, anything He could affirm, anything to encourage His broken heart days before the Cross.

God Encouraged?

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I don’t know what you think about church, but if you’re like a lot of believers I meet today, you’re not too impressed.

You know you should go to church, but sometimes you wonder why? Sometimes it seems like church just gets in the way of your walk with the Lord Jesus.

There’s a paragraph in First Peter, 1 Peter 2:1-10, that might change your mind about church. It describes the type of church every believer should want to go to.

Not because you have to, but because you want to.

Not because you’re driven by guilt and shame, but because you’re pulled by mercy and grace.

Not out of duty, but desperation—because you know you can’t live without it.

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My beloved mentor and pastor from our Jesus Movement days, Ted Stone, is on his way to heaven. A deadly brain tumor diminishes him a little more each day. Sometimes he has the energy to talk on the phone when I call. I cherish his sentences. He pauses, gathers his strength, and says, “Eddie, I want to tell you something. I may never get the opportunity to say this to you….”

I hold my breath and wait for Ted to speak. It’s an awesome and holy moment as this man who loves me, and in so many ways has given his life for me, and others in the body of Christ, begins. I know I’ll remember every word until the day Jesus greets me in heaven with Ted at His side.

This was the atmosphere in the upper room. These were Jesus’ final words to His disciples. In just a few minutes dark and ominous events would leave them alone and afraid. Tomorrow at this time He would be dead, crucified by Rome and laid in a rich man’s tomb.

And what did He say to them? Remember Me!

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Last Saturday Judy and I attended our first football game at West Point’s Michie Stadium. It wasn’t our first college football game. As USC fans we’ve cheered our Trojans through some exciting Rose Bowl games. But the experience at Michie Stadium differed greatly from our games at LA’s Coliseum or the Rose Bowl.

It wasn’t the intensity of the fans that made the difference, though we couldn’t help notice the politeness of the crowd. The inappropriate taunting and swearing and the usual group of one-beer-too-many idiots replaced by the “yes-sir”-“no-sir,” family friendly atmosphere of a military community was refreshing.

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