Sixth Sunday in Lent - liturgy of the Palms

John 12:12-16 (NRSV) The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord --  the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

That is one of the themes in the Gospels and here we see that the crowds saw Jesus as a King. But what follows is the Apostle John commentating on the scene: His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. 

?

John's comments seem to suggest that in retrospect, after the Resurrection, the episode of Jesus' entry meant something other than what they thought at the time it happened.

I think this may have something to do with the expectations of the crowds and perhaps even of the disciples at that time. The people were under the thumb of the Romans and they hoped for liberation from their oppressors. Jesus was becoming well known and attracting crowds. In this episode, they are shouting acclaim to him and they are waving palm branches and saying, Jesus is the king. Hosanna means "please save us." Probably, anticipating a defeat of the Romans, the people would be saved from the dominating power of the era. Again, another indication that expectations were high, incredibly high. Everything seemed ripe for revolution!

Yet, in a handful of days after this frenzied scene, Jesus is arrested, beaten and carrying a cross to die on it ...

As John writes this passage decades after the events, he editorialized that they didn't truly understand this moment at that moment.

I would think the re-framing of this event works on the following levels: the meaning of "hosanna," the significance of the donkey, and the surprising role of Jesus the king.

Meaning of hosanna is, as mentioned above, please save us. The people at that time may have only had in mind "salvation" of the physical variety: deliverance from Roman, getting food (Jesus miracle of feeding the multitudes), and physical healing. However, Jesus had more in mind. In the John 3 story of his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus talks about being "born again" and John explains in John 3:16, the necessity of belief/trust in Jesus and what he did as necessary for eternal life. Instead of perishing, a life without God, there is the possibility of salvation, eternal life, eternal living, a life with God.

One wonders if anyone in the crowd thought the donkey was out of place? If the crowd expected a conquering king, wouldn't he ride in on a horse? But it would seem that that detail was overlooked by the crowds. Ironically, the Jewish people know the symbolism of a donkey was that of peace and not war. But at that moment, caught up in the exuberance, that was ignored. Thus, John editorialized the significance of the event as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" which is a reference to Zech 9:9-10.

And finally, King Jesus does something no ordinary earthly king would do: instead of glorious victory in battle he willingly went forward to suffer and die a humiliating death.

This is what Lent calls us to remember. Imagine a King willing to die, humbly riding in on a donkey the symbol of peace in order to bring salvation to the people whose greatest need was to be moved from alienation from God to peace with God.

That is the meaning of the Passion of the Christ: demonstrated on the Cross on Good Friday and vindicated with victory with Resurrection on Easter Sunday!

Fifth Sunday In Lent

John 12:20-33 (NRSV) 

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. "Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--' Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Interesting Gospel passage here. Not one I have heard a lot of preaching on!

From what I have learned over the years, the Jewish faith was at times adopted by non-Jews. And so it would appear that some of the Greeks mentioned here were probably in Jerusalem because they were converts. They heard about Jesus and wanted to meet him. Philip is a Greek name and so they figured he would a disciple they could approach to facilitate an introduction. Philip goes to Andrew (another Greek name), the brother of Simon Peter, who actually first brought Simon Peter to Jesus back in John 1. And together, Andrew and Philip made the connection between these curious Greeks and Jesus. So point number one is to ask ourselves how ready are we to introduce people to Jesus? Do people see us as people whom they could ask to meet Jesus!

Part II would be what Jesus told them. And thus, by extension, what do we tell people about Jesus?

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 

There is no getting around the centrality of the Cross. Jesus calls the painful and shameful Cross as the time for the Son of Man to be glorified! It is only in his dying that life for us can be brought forth.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. 

Then Jesus moves onto the cost of discipleship. Okay, if you want the eternal living being offered by Jesus, then one must surrender control. Autonomy, self-righteousness, building my own empire, and doing it my way has to end. One must take up a life of service to God and others and this the Father will honor.

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--' Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name."

Interesting piece here from Jesus. Why does Jesus give us this window into his soul? Perhaps, it is a demonstration of what self-sacrifice looks like. The way of the Cross is not an easy one but that is not the deciding factor for Jesus obedience. The glory of the Father is his concern.

The Father confirmed what Jesus is saying: Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." 

And Jesus finished by restating what he said: "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Jesus offered a lot of good ethnical teaching and Christians and non-Christians alike think well of that part. But if we are to take the Gospel's seriously, we also need to deal with the significance of his willingness to go to the Cross. The Gospel message is more than just ethical teaching. It is also a claim that Jesus dying on a Cross and Resurrecting actually and significantly changed the human condition!

And so as we work through Lent toward Easter, we need to look at Jesus teachings and the significance of the Cross!

Fourth Sunday In Lent

John 3:14-21 (NRSV) And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.

In an iTunes U talk I heard recently, Fred Sanders of Talbot Seminary encouraged his students to reflect on their salvation and to find words beyond "born again" to describe and explore the richness of what God has done in our lives.

And so one thing we can benefit from this passage is that it provides some of that vocabulary. This is the Gospel, the Good News, because of the work of Jesus, we are moved from perishing to having eternal life, we are moved from condemnation to being saved, we are moved from darkness into light!

I think another thing we can see from this passage is that the work of Christ stands in line with the work that God has done in the past. People sometimes think that the New Testament is completely disconnected from the Old Testament. But here it says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up ...

You might wonder, what is this all about? Well, it refers back to an episode in Numbers 21:4-9. Briefly, as punishment to the rebellious people, God sent snakes and if bitten, they would die. Moses is told by God to put a bronze serpent on a pole and raise it up for people to see. If someone was willing to look up, they would be healed.

Interesting how the image of something that caused pain and death (the serpent) became the object of life if they would look up! Likewise, the cross that Jesus was going toward is something that caused pain and death and in this case, if we look up to Jesus and the Cross we get eternal life!

A final thought for this reflection is the language of eternal life. I heard Dallas Willard in a talk say that he likes to describe this as "eternal living" because so often people think of "eternal life" as something far away in the future. But no, this gift is to be experienced now! We don't experience it in full yet but it isn't exclusively in the future.

We get to taste it now! We know God now.

Our sin problem is not swept under a rug but rather it is forgiven and we no longer stand condemned. We still sin but we can confess (see 1 John 1:8-10) and so God provides for our stumbles as we go through the slow process of being transformed to be more like him.

We move out of the ignorance of darkness and the evil deeds of darkness and instead we have the truth of light in God and we have deeds of light that we can do in God.

Believe, trust in Christ, and have eternal life, eternal living NOW!

Third Sunday in Lent

John 2:13-22 (NRSV) The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

One picture people have of Jesus is that his is a good teacher. Lots of people would agree to that. As Christians, we say he is much more than that. But even for people who aren't believers, it would be pretty rare for people to say he is less than a good teacher. Of course, the downside of this description of Jesus it that it makes him merely a wise and sage talking head and a nice guy with some nice things to say.

But in this passage, we see that he is far more!

Here we see the righteous anger of Jesus in his driving out the money changers physically and castigating them verbally.

I think one lesson we can learn from this is that there is a place for righteous anger. In the Gospel accounts Jesus is usually welcoming the unexpected person or giving the unanticipated teaching. But on a few occasions, his teaching is very pointed and as we read what he said we squirm probably as much as the listeners did who heard him. One example is when Jesus declare the "woes" upon the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We only have the text of that episode and we have no idea whether Jesus raised his voice when he said those words or did he say them in sorrow.

But here, make no mistake, we see the fury of his holiness as the temple is desecrated by the money changers.

This passage is also patently theological. The site of this event is the Temple and the whole conversation after the tossing over of the money changer tables is about the Temple.

I'm not a theologian nor do I play one in the movies but anyone reading Scripture has to "do theology" in the sense we have to think about what does this mean about who God is and what is He doing?

First off, the Temple was a place where God and humans meet. It is a special place and thus, the blatant disregard for this high purpose is why Jesus drove the money changers out.

But in the second part, Jesus then takes on the topic of the Temple and brings to it a new perspective by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 

The listeners were dumbfounded because they were thinking of the massive physical structure of the Temple that was before their eyes. But Jesus had another meaning which John clarifies, But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus is the Temple!? Now, in Jesus, the idea of Temple is extended to mean a person where God and humanity meet. We get a glimpse of this idea from John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth."

Additionally, classic Christianity claims that the work of Jesus permits fallen and sinful humanity to have reconciliation with a holy God. Thus, in Jesus, he is the Temple but also in the work of Jesus he makes a space for reconciliation, a temple, between God and man

Thirdly, this idea of temple no longer being a place is extended further in the description of the church in Ephesians 2:20-22 where it is the collective persons of the Church with Jesus as the cornerstone is a temple, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God."

Fourthly, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, each believer is a temple as seen in I Corinithians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body."

In the time of Lent, we are reflecting on and journeying with Jesus toward the Cross and the Resurrection. One stopping point on this journey for Jesus was this episode at the Temple, the meeting place of reconciliation between God and humanity. Jesus takes this on himself in himself and  in his mission. When did all of this sink in for his followers, his disciples?

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

I think this is where Christianity is unique. It is one thing to make theological claims. All religions do that. One can drop a theological textbook from the sky and have it say all kinds of interesting things. But Christianity rests on a historical event, an intervention from God into human history. And that's amazing! The problems of human beings are real and God decided to intervene into that reality through Jesus and that changed everything.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

John 1:43-51 (NRSV) The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Have to say over the years, when it comes to hearing sermons about the 12 disciples, most of the time, it is about Peter, James, and John. And, understandably, there is a lot more source material in the Gospels about them. But for today’s lectionary reading and reflection, we hear about the story of Philip and Nathanael.

It is thought that Nathanael is also known as Bartholomew who appears in passages where the 12 disciples were named (Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-16). The name Bartholomew only occurs in the New Testament as part of lists of the 12 disciples. His names appears also in the list of 11 disciples found in Acts 1:13. Nathanael only appears in this reading in John 1 and in a list of names of the disciples with Peter when they go back to fishing in John 21.

Nathanael was skeptical when Philip told him about Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nazareth was a small remote town of little renown and in terms of prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures there was no expectation of someone coming from there. Nonetheless, he went along with Philip to see Jesus.

Jesus saw Nathanael and said, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”

To which Nathanael replied, “Where did you get to know me?” Nathanael was obviously taken aback since they had never met; yet Jesus made a statement about the character of Nathanael.

Jesus further stunned him by saying, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 

Commentators noted that having a fig tree in one’s home was described in 1 Kings 4:25, Micah 4:4, and Zechariah 3:10) and was likely a location for personal reflection, reading and prayer. At this point Nathanael had heard enough and exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Bill Creasy offered an interesting and plausible explanation as to what Nathanael might have been pondering under the fig tree: the story of Jacob and Jacob’s vision of a ladder from heaven found in Genesis 28:10-17. And that certainly makes senses. Nathanel could have been wondering under the fig tree, how could God be so generous to a deceitful man like Jacob? And then, boom, Jesus walked up to him and told him, you are an Israelite without deceit who was pondering the story of Jacob under the fig tree just before we met!

Jesus then struck again the Jacob theme by saying to Nathanael, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” God used this vision to promise Jacob that God will be with Jacob and will bless him. Jesus claimed the vision for himself and that Nathanael would see the amazing things that will happen because God is with Jesus and God’s blessings will flow forth. 

What are some take home messages from this episode?

One, right off the bat, is the unique and personal way that God reaches out to us. When we read of Jesus encounters with people in the Gospels, he finds a unique connection, something that freezes them in their tracks. Think about how Jesus dialoged with Nicodemus in John 3 or the Woman at the Well in John 4? Think of the parables that Jesus told and how the images in those stories would poke people like a splinter in their fingers. Its amazing how Jesus called forth Matthew and Zaccheus in such public ways to address that fact they were social outcasts as tax collectors.

Coming to trust in God is truly a work of God. It is his divine initiative in reaching out to us in a way that evokes a response from us. Each story is different and a miracle and to be cherished and shared. One of my favorite parts of gathering with fellow believers is hearing the story of how people come to faith. Sometimes, it is when they were young, sometimes it is when they are adults, and sometimes it is in a big Billy Graham meeting while others it is in a quiet personal moment. Thank God that God reaches out to us in unique ways!

I think another part of the story we can take home is the role of Philip. It is God’s initiative that people come to faith but we are given the privilege of participation. Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see.” Philip served as the bridge from Nathanael to meet Jesus. Philip did the same thing for a group of Greeks in John 12:20-22. He facilitates an introduction to Jesus.

Can we be like Philip and facilitate introductions of people to Jesus?

How do people see Jesus today?

I think there are three ways we can facilitate an introduction to Jesus and thus participate in helping people see Jesus. One, live a Christ-like life. When people see me, do they see a glimpse of Jesus? Two, is my church being Jesus’ hands and feet? We call the church the body of Christ. Lord, have mercy that the church so often fails to show people Jesus! Third, show people the Jesus seen in the Scriptures.

God is at work reaching out to people and we have the honor of being part of the work He is already doing! Lord, help me this week, to yield to you and have ears to hear and eyes to see opportunities to point people to Jesus! Amen.

Second Sunday After Christmas Day

John 1:10-18 (NRSV) He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

With the beginning of the New Year, we begin here with the beginning of the Gospel of John. And at the beginning of the Gospel of John, we begin with the aftermath of Christmas. Certainly, the details of Jesus birth are important and we find those in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2. In fact all four Gospels make their own unique and complementary announcements of the significance of Jesus coming into the world that is the heart of Christmas.

For this reflection, we look at what the Spirit inspired John to put to paper for the benefit of the community of faith within the sound of the voice reading John 1:10-18 aloud. And so what was the significance of Christmas in this passage?

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him ... 

Amazing isn’t it?

This is what we, as Jesus followers, believe: that the God who made the world entered the world! 

God has been at work in the world in the past. Going back to the Hebrew Scriptures, God called Abraham and promised to bless him so that the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). God delivered Abraham’s ancestors in the Exodus and gave them leaders like Moses and Joshua and laws for life in the Ten Commandments. God pleaded with his people to turn back to him and live rightly through the Prophets.

And at that moment in history, 2000 years ago, God went to work in the most spectacular and subtle and sublime way yet: he entered human history as a human being.

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth ...

Glory is an unusual word in our language. We might hear someone say, “the glory of sports.” What would they mean by that? Usually, the story would be about some good and noble aspect of sport that uplifts the human heart. For example, the story might be of the dedication of an athlete’s comeback from injury to compete again when all thought her career was over. Or maybe, the report would be about how a team pulled together after tragedy struck one of its members. Thus, the “glory of sport” would be seen in these examples.

We might hear someone talk of “the glory of love.” I know of one married couple where the husband turned out to be an immunological match and donated his kidney to his wife thus saving her life. We probably know of people who have cared for a spouse, parent, or child with a terrible disease and we feel inspired by such sacrificial love. Thus, the “glory of love” would be seen in these examples.

And so, here, John proclaims, in Jesus, “we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son …” All the goodness, nobility, greatness, fill-in-any-amazing quality of God you can think of is made visible through Jesus. He embodied it and in particular “grace and truth.” John revisits that a few verses later, “The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Grace

Many have described grace as “unmerited favor.” Using the online Greek lexicon, we find the following for grace: that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, good will, loving-kindness, favor of merciful kindness.

We want to know what grace is? Look at Jesus! He embodied grace. It is sad to think that the church that is to be Christ’s representative in the world is often viewed as un-gracious. May we turn away from actions and words that manifest the opposite of grace.

Truth

In a world where people say there is no truth or that truth is just one person’s socially and culturally conditioned perspective, we proclaim that there is truth and that Jesus is filled with truth and that truth comes through Jesus. Once again going to the online Greek lexicon, we find the following for truth: objectively what is true in any matter under consideration, truly, in truth, according to truth, of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth; subjectively, truth as a personal excellence that candor of mind which is free from affection, pretense, simulation, falsehood, deceit.

Jesus is all of this. He spoke of truth. He embodied all of this.

But in today’s world, people get nervous when one claims to have truth. People may say if you believe in something that is nice and so it is true for you.

Dallas Willard, a Christian who was a philosophy professor at USC, offered this thought about the struggle for truth: “The bitterness of truth is its total indifference to human will and desire together with the fact that human desire and will is set on reshaping reality and therefor truth to suit itself.” 

Willard thus stresses that truth comes before belief because belief doesn’t make something true. One can believe all one wants but if the subject of that belief is not true, all the believing in the world doesn't make it true. Truth come first.

And so what do we take home from all this?

Jesus is filled with grace and truth. Through Jesus we see grace and truth. Truth indeed can be a bitter thing to take. Jesus spoke the truth about the way things are between God and humanity, the way things are between peoples, and the way things are within our selves. The sad truth, the bitter truth, and the hard truth is that we are broken and are in need of reconciliation.

Jesus also spoke truth of how things could be: restored and renewed. And his actions, his words, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his return are the truths that change the truth of our brokenness.

And so a starting point is what is my response to the truth of Jesus?

Some refused to know him and some rejected him. But John says something wonderful can happen: But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus has come. The Word became flesh and lived among us. We can reject him or receive him. We can belittle him or believe him. And when we receive and believe him, we become children of God! 

Another point for us to consider is how we live now that we have received and believed him? How do we live now as children of God?

In our text today, truth comes in parallel with grace. Because truth can be tough, because our hearts can be tough, God, all wise and merciful comes also in grace. A tour of the Gospels reveal a Jesus exhibiting grace to those he meets. His teaching is filled with grace and calls forth grace from those who would follow.

When we hear people share their stories of their journey of faith, there are those "ah-ha" moments of clarity of the truth of Jesus and our sinful condition. But most of the time, those "ah-ha" moments come wrapped in grace, usually, a person who exhibited grace came along side with gentle pointing to the truth of Christ.

Lord, let us be buoyed with joy because you have given us grace and truth. Lord, help us share grace and truth joyfully with all you bring into our lives. Since you are grace and truth embodied, we want to be grace and truth embodied. Amen.