Chuck Frost preached on John 3 yesterday, on the last half of that chapter. In it, you can see John making the connection between Jesus and the Christ, and drawing a no-bones-about-it comparison between Jesus (the greater) adn himself (the lesser). It's good to hear John's humility and confidence in the sovreignty of God, even when it meant giving up power or prestige, or whatever came with baptizing the most people. Surely we have the same confidence. Nice, happy sermon.
Then Chuck drops the bomb -- what about tsunamis? What about John's imprisonment? "Are you the one, Jesus, or shall we look for another?" What about separation of married parents? What about losing a child? Are you REALLY willing to draw the same, no-bones-about-it comparison? To rest in God's sovreignty? Or will you accept good from the Lord and not evil?
OK, Chuck. Point taken. I stick with the nice, happy reading of the text too often, I think. It was good to have somebody prod me towards the "so what?" Confidence and faith always have a so what attached. If we really are the happy and confident people we claim to be, then we have what it takes to reach a hurting world, to feel their pain, to legitimize their suffering with the story of sin, and to offer hope through the story of Jesus' suffering, death, adn resurrection. If not, then that happiness and confidence is just a sham, anyway. You think?
Posted by nickles at January 24, 2005 08:59 AMI have been leading class prayers for the tsunami victims. It's horrible; how can our minds comprehend that much destruction in a moment? I am a big believer in sovereignty, but one of my 13 year old students shocked my complacency when he prayed: "Lord, we know you didn't just allow this tsunami, but caused it. We know you are good, but we don't understand this. But we love you."
Whoa. From the mouths of children, indeed.
Posted by: Krista at January 24, 2005 03:34 PM