An Unexpected Challenge - Luke 6:38

"You must eat." Alija begged. "What good will you do me if you die? I am a young woman. I need you. I cannot take care of these children without you!"

For three days Aladin searched for wood for the fire. For three days Alija, her sister and mother, Muniba, had baked thin cakes of bread on a stove of two large stones and a sheet of metal. From a 110 pound bag of flour, some salt, little oil and a little water, they stirred up a stiff dough in the large pans Muniba had wisely placed in the trunk of her car -- just in case -- just because war is unpredictable and you don’t know when you might have to run.

Each day the three women patted and stretched the dough into 4-6 in. thin flat cakes of bread, quickly cooking them like tortillas over the charcoal fire, breaking them into pieces, and feeding them to their children and the stream of friends and acquaintances who begged for food through the chain link fence that protected the cooking area.

30,000 people had fled the approaching army. Running away from home. Running. In cars. On foot. Alone. With families. Escaping with barely a moment’s notice. Escaping without preparation. Most without food. Most with little or no clothing. Escaping first. Survival would come later.

Muniba, Alija’s mother, had had the wisdom to put the bag of flour, some salt, a big tent, and large, large pans in the trunk of her car. She had saved some precious gasoline -- just in case.

Three days earlier, she literally stacked her grandchildren and relatives’children into the car and, with the mothers running on foot behind, fled across the border.

The 30,000 had become broken into two groups. Alija’s, the smaller group, was diverted by helicopter and the police into an empty chicken farm/factory. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees had not yet discovered that they were there.

And now it was the night of the third day. The flour and salt were gone. They and those who begged through the fence had been lucky, but now there would be no more food. Alija, knowing her husband had refused to eat because so many "mammas" (old ladies) and children were hungry, had slipped one cake of bread into her pocket. He must eat. It had been three days. He must not die. She needed him.

"No!" Aladin said, "Save it for the children."

"You must eat." Alija begged. "What good will you do me if you die? I am a young woman. I need you. I cannot take care of these children without you!"

Aladin reluctantly lifted the folded bread cake to his mouth.

Even as he opened his mouth an old mamma came and peered into his face. She just looked at him.

"Mother," Aladin paused, the bread in front of his own face, "Are you hungry?"

She nodded.

"God bless you. God will save your life," she said. And He handed her the cake.

"Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over...." (Luke 6:38). I wonder, given the same circumstances, could I practice it? Do I really practice it now?

[Alija, one of our own Bosnian employees when I was at World Relief - Chicago, provided receptionist services, helped the Immigration Department with one of our citizenship projects, and spoke regularly on our behalf in the Christian churches to help them know that the supplies and funds they give mean much more than a material new beginning. They bring hope and new courage for life to Bosnian Muslim families.]

Save Me From Blood Guilt- Original - Psalm 51:14, Luke 23:33-36

This morning before we return to Golgotha to meet Co-Laborer and Mentor when they return to that holy hill on Easter morning, I want to briefly introduce a new character, an observer-participant who reminds me of some people who come to taste the good things of God on Easter, at Christmas, weddings, and other special occasions but who have not yet entered in through the narrow gate.
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As Co-Laborer marched in and out of the gate everyday and around the pathway leading to the Barren Land, he touched the fresh turned sod in the fertile lands. He checked each day on the seedlings in the sown fields. Tasted the irrigation water on the tips of his fingers. And always lingered a few minutes, morning and evening, by the harvest fields. He was enchanted by the swaying and singing of the Kingdom workers bringing in the sheaves. Singing, even though they knew that what followed was the difficult, labor intensive task of separating the wheat from the chaff. There are no combines in the Kingdom of God.

Co-Laborer would stop at the stony fields, chat with Lug and carry one stone to the pile at the end of the field. After all it was on his own way to the Barren Land where he worked. Sometimes he would hand the stone directly to Mason. It never ceased to amaze him how the stones which weighed down the field could be turned into beautiful gleaming walls for Mentor's, I mean God's, sacred Gardens.

As Laborer rounded the knoll, just before the path dropped into the valley, he would glance back at the Narrow Gate. From the distance he could see Mentor greeting a desperate seeker or a weary pilgrim. He would always stop and whisper a prayer for the newcomer and say a blessing for the Master who met, welcomed, and escorted him into the Kingdom there.
One morning as Co-Laborer turned to go, he noticed a young pilgrim by the road sitting on a small pile of stones, gazing intently at the scene below, a look of deep satisfaction on his face. He could tell the young man was definitely a pilgrim, not a seeker. No seeker would sit that long before rushing, or, if exhausted crawling, down that slope to the long awaited Narrow Gate.
That evening, the young pilgrim was still sitting on the stones, contented, gazing at the Kingdom and sipping a little milk from his knapsack. Co-Laborer, introducing himself, asked the young man his name.

"I am Curious," the pilgrim replied. "I have been looking for the Kingdom of God and there it is beyond the field and over the walls. I have found it!"

"Yes," replied Co-Laborer. "I remember the day I found it. Desperate, I rushed down this hill to the open arms of the gate. Come! I will walk with you back to the Training House. I am sure Mentor has plenty more planned for you tomorrow."

"Oh, no," replied Curious, "I am content to stay right here. I have found the Kingdom. That is enough. I have no need to go in! I may sleep in the shadow of the wall later tonight, but this small hill has the best view. I will stay here. Thank you kindly."

And stay right there was exactly what Curious did. Co-Laborer spoke with him every morning and each evening. He grew quite fond of Curious. Curious came to expect these visits. In fact, it became clear that speaking to Co-Laborer added to Curious' contentment at finding the Kingdom. But Co-Laborer could never persuade Curious to walk down and come on in. Curious was convinced that he had all he needed. He had found the Kingdom. What more could a Pilgrim want.

Soon Curious would even spend some time each week working along side the laborers in the fields. Carrying stones, sowing a little seed, cutting a few stalks, carrying a sheaf up to the gate before handing it to a harvester, and splashing in the wonderful water of life irrigating the plots throughout the various fields.

Once Co-Laborer heard Curious directing a fellow pilgrim to the gate and telling him what to expect there, but never, never did Curious himself go there. Content to watch and assist in the work outside the walls, he always replied, "I am content to stay right here. I have found the Kingdom. That is enough. I have no need to go in!"

Once Co-Laborer asked Mentor, "Is Curious some special kind of Kingdom worker? One with an assignment to provide conversation and encouragement outside the gate? One who cannot come inside the wall because it would mean abandoning his task?"

"No," said Mentor, "He is not a Kingdom laborer. He has never come in!"

"But he does not oppose us. He joins us for worship in the field and often helps lift the load. Mentor surely he is a babe in Christ. Are you sure his heart is not in the Kingdom, just his body outside?"

"No," said Mentor clearly, "He must enter by the narrow gate. There is no other way. Only those who actually enter in through the narrow gate can be born again. He is not opposing us. He works alongside us and looks like us, but he is not one of us. I have been long-suffering and begged but he has not entered in. He must enter in through the narrow gate - for his heart, for his body, to be saved - there is no other way."

- - - -
Today, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day, rising very early in the morning, Mentor and Co-Laborer have return to the hill called Golgotha. Again with his finger tips Mentor is tracing the blood stain on ground at Mount Calvary.

"This is the best thing I have ever done," Mentor said softly, again.

It has been an amazing week.

Laborer and Mentor have sat in Lazarus' empty tomb as Jesus wept remembering the sorrow of losing a friend to physical death and the even greater sorrow of losing a pilgrim, a seeker, like Curious, to spiritual death.

At the Upper Room, Mentor washed Laborer's feet.

On the Mount of Olives he showed Laborer where his tears carved small hollows of agony in the stone before Mentor, in the full crush of his human flesh and emotions, surrendered his fate to God the Father.

They stood in the portico where the Master of the Universe was whipped by the Trojans of the Roman prelate and in the prison near the temple where the Jews had held him in contempt.
Laborer was deeply moved as along the Via de la Rosa Jesus shared his gratitude for Simon the Cyrene, the first Laborer born of Calvary.

After stopping briefly in the empty tomb, they chatted deeply on the road to Emmaus. There they ate at the little inn where Jesus first broke bread after his Resurrection.

But early this morning Mentor seemed eager, anxious, to return to Mount Calvary as if an eternal destiny was again occurring here on this day.

Mentor looked longingly at the blood stain on the ground.

"Laborer," he queried, "Do you remember what I said to Noah after the flood?"
"Tell me Lord," Laborer responded.

"For your lifeblood I demand an accounting. From each man I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man."

"But, Master, this is your blood!"

"Your blood?"

Laborer turned in shock at this intrusion of another voice, Curious' voice, into this sacred moment of teaching.

"Curious! What are you doing here? I thought you decided not to come!"

"Well, yes," but Wednesday Collect and Wiser asked me to come share a Journey with them, and without you there to talk to everyday, I decided I come! Wow! Walking through Jesus final days with them has been amazing. So interesting! This is Mentor's blood!? Wow! Neat!"

Suddenly Laborer felt uneasy, as if something precious and sacred had been treated ... well too cheap. Turning back to Mentor he restarted the conversation.

"Master, I know this is your blood, but does this have something to do with the bloodguilt declared to Noah?"

"Yes," stated Mentor seriously, "God the Father demands an accounting from each man, every woman, every child, for my Life Blood spilled here.

"Everyone, every person who has ever sinned, from Adam to the four of you standing here, to the men, women, and children not yet born, each person is responsible for my life blood being poured upon the ground here.

"By the Law of Noah an accounting will be demanded from Kingdom Laborers, the born again and an accounting will be demanded from each man, woman, and child outside the Kingdom, from each one that refuses to come in."

"When you stand before my Father He will ask, 'Why did you treat my Son this way?' (Wouldn't you ask that question if someone treated your son this way?) and He will ask, 'How have you treated His Blood?'

"Laborer, Collect, Wiser, from Kingdom Laborers I will demand an accounting of how you have treated the blood after you came in the gate. Do not take lightly the living blood! Do not forget the blood that saves you!

"Curious, from those who remain outside the gate, I will demand an accounting. For my eternal blood, without mercy, their eternal blood will be shed.

"This is the blood of the Kingdom.

"The blood of the Way.

"The blood of the Truth.

"The blood of the Life without which no man comes unto the Father.

"The blood, Curious, which flung open the Door on the Narrow Gate by which all may come in."

As Mentor spoke, the rough wood of a cross rose from the blood stain on the ground behind him. Rose, Mentor Himself impaled upon it, high and lifted up, sweat and blood pouring down his brow, drops of crimson splashing to the ground beneath his feet, and in rivulets, with black crusts for banks, inching down the wood at his feet.

With a violent shake, to the left, to the right, the ground split open and two more crosses reached for the sky. The wail of the two crucified thieves crying out in unbearable pain beside him.
Laborer was knocked to the ground as a Roman soldier thrust from the ground at Jesus feet with a sponge and a stick in his hand.

"Curious," Jesus cried out, "Curious, I am your peace who has broken down every wall and by this broken body destroyed the barrier, divided the wall of hostility, abolished the law with its commandments and regulations, crowned the New Covenant, making peace and in this ravaged body reconciling you, Curious, to God through the cross!"

Suddenly, the Mother of Our Lord gasped and fell backward into the arms of John the Disciple as they appeared beside Collect and Wiser.

Amid the screams came yelling. A robe and dice appeared and spread upon the ground.
But, though it seemed the whole of Calvary was caught up in a vipers' nest of chaos, strangely Curious simply stood there. Nothing touched him. Nothing affected him. Nothing, not even Mentor, moved him.

"If it wasn't for the blood there would be no righteousness," cried Mentor. "If it wasn't for the cross, there would be no resurrection. If it wasn't for the resurrection there would be no power for holy living nor strength for the labor, the demands of the Harvest.

"By my Blood, Laborer, you have access to God. By my blood, Collect and Wiser, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people. By my blood you have become the Kingdom, and priests, members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and upon myself, Your Savior, Your Christ, the cornerstone, the door, the gate to the Kingdom. Oh, that all would come in!

"Curious! Curious! As long as you remain outside the gate, you are not a citizen, not a Kingdom worker, not a member of God's household. Yes, there have always been friends of the kingdom, supporters, advocates, people who seek to help and who work alongside us but who remain outside the gate. Remain people who never came in, never became one with us, never escaped the fire."

Suddenly, the Kidron Valley behind the cross exploded in a rain of molten rock. The very mouth of hell appeared flanked by pillars of salt and accompanied by the added shrieks and panicked cries of the doomed as the surging throng behind them pushed their souls and bodies over the precipice into Eternal Damnation. Searing hot lava, fire, blazing brimstone, and black amoebas of flaming pitch rained down - singeing the immature Christians watching from the fringes of Calvary where they barely escaped as the more mature rescued them from the brink of destruction.

"O Curious, Curious! Behold the price of refusal! It is time to come into the Kingdom. Come in my friend. Come in."

Staring forward Curious shrugged his shoulders. It was the first time he had moved. "No, thank you. I have seen the Kingdom. That is enough. I am content. Let me just return to my little hill beside the fields."

"Come in," called Mentor again from the cross, tears streaming down his face, "You keep coming to our worship. You keep helping in our fields. You even presume to tell others how to enter into the Kingdom, but Curious, my son, you never come in! Come in! Or today it will be too late!"
As the Christ cried out to Curious from the Cross, even the drops of blood falling from his hands, cried, "Curious! Come in!"

As the Soldier, in fear, pierced through Mentor's side, the water rushing downward cried, "Curious! Come in!"

Yes! Even as, in that dramatic last breathe of death, the Spirit left Jesus body, unfettered, unashamed, in uncontrolled agony, the Spirit cried, "Curious! Come in!"

Attentive. Unmoved. Curious simply looked down and turning toward Laborer, he calmly said, "I'd like to discuss this back at the hill," then stepped away.

Instinctively, his heart bursting, his body driven by an agony of Passion ripping out from the core of his soul, Laborer lifted his arms toward Curious. Lunging forward to catch his friend, he cried, "Curious! Wai...."

But in that instant a blast knocked Laborer's head to the side. A piece of flack vest tore in under his ribs, and piercing his lungs and heart, threw his body violently into the air as his airborne view of Golgotha turned black.
- - - - - - - - - -
Waking, Laborer could hear sweet soft music like a woman singing in her springtime garden. "Come home. Come home. Ye who are weary come home. Earnestly tenderly Jesus is calling. Calling, "O Sinner, Come Home."

Haltingly lifting his struggling eyebrows, Laborer saw Mentor kneeling beside him.
"Wh..what happened?"

"Your body was destroyed by a suicide bomb." Mentor's voice was so tender Laborer wanted to cry.

Behind and to his right, Laborer could see Calvary. Mysteriously the cross was still there. Tears on their cheeks, Collect and Wiser stood in the light of the cross crying. Their eyes fixed in Laborer's direction.

To the left Laborer glimpsed, in full panorama, the Kingdom of God on earth. His eyes paused with longing on the his field, the dry and barren land.

"Don't worry. Collect and Wiser will care for it. There will be a harvest."

Glancing at Jesus, Laborer asked, "Curious?"

But even as he asked, Laborer gasped. Behind the Cross, in the gaping mouth of Hell, his eyes stopped as Curious passed the final bend at the brink and fell headlong into God's judgment.

Instinctively Laborer's arms reached toward his falling friend and it was then that he noticed the loose sleeve of his white robe, a robe of white light, just like Mentor's.

"You mean ... I'm ..."
"Yes, Laborer. You are home.
"The cross is a call to, "Come into the Kingdom.
"And Laborer, My Precious Friend, how clearly I remember your rush to enter the narrow gate and your cry, "I Come, I Come," as you collapsed in my arms.
"But Laborer,
"The resurrection is a call to come home!
"My Dear, Dear Friend ... Welcome Home."

According To Your Word - Luke 1:26-56

Over in Hays, there was this girl. Believe it or not she was a virgin - named Mary. One day while she was siting in her house. Suddenly this guy with wings - I’m not kidding - walked right in the front door.

Mary was alone in the house and just barely visible in the other room. So the angel - that’s what he was. [No, I’ve never seen one and neither had Mary] . . . Any how, Marry was just barely visible in the other room, so the guy calls out to get her attention, "Hey, you! Get ready to smile. I’ve been sent to tell you that you’ve been pick to receive a free gift! About the biggest gift anyone could have."

It was kind of like the arrival of the Publishers House Giant Sweepstakes guy arriving but he walked in rather than knocked.

Did I tell you that Mary was a virgin because was Christian? This strange guy must have known that because he added, "God is sure with you!"

Now as you can imagine if someone burst through your door telling you how lucky you were for him to be there, and you heard him first, before you even knew he was there or could yet see him, Mary was alarmed! Upset! Even a bit agitated at this stranger who disturbed her.

Dumbfounded, she wondered what he was talking about and what this greeting was and why was this stranger really here!

As he came around the door, his strange appearance only made Mary look even more frightened. So the winged guy quickly said, "Don’t be afraid, Mary!"

How did he know her name? She sure didn’t know his!

"This grace, this very special free gift is from God. He’s been watching your life and loves how you want to and do live right. The kind of right He wills for you, not just some following rules which people have given, which are merely an interpretation of His will, but not an expression of what God really wants."

Whether you have grown up in church or not, especially if you have grown up in church, you can appreciate the difference between rules passed down in the culture and how, the form in which, God wants His will to be live out in the changed world of today.

Anyway, the favor was that May would discover that she was pregnant! That must of caused her to raise an eyebrow at this stranger. Maybe she even have wondered if she was about to be raped.

She would find herself pregnant and the baby would be a boy.

God wanted her to name the baby Joshua, a rather common name, but - - if she had not read the Bible a lot and studied what the name meant, she would have thought this man in wings was really a Looney Tune - - Joshua would become a great man.

Babies conceived out of wedlock, unlike the last few years, were looked down on their whole lives. It used to be a problem in our country, too! Only a few years ago! And did I mention how the mother was treated?

But Joshua, though from an unwed mother, would become really, really great, and instead of being called bad names, he would be called the Son of God Himself.

What’s more this would be the awaited ruler who would reestablish and sit on the parliamentary chair of the hero, his great, great, great - whatever - grandfather David, and become the president of Israel. However, unlike David’s kingdom, Joshua’s kingdom - for he would become king - will never end!

Now that’s a lot to absorb, but Mary was intelligent and wise, not flighty and in your face, so, unconvinced or at least questioning this proclamation, she asked for clarification.

Actually she asked a question to test the veracity of this stranger’s pronouncement. "Hows this going to happen? I’m a virgin and have had sexual contact of any kind, nor will I have sex, until I am married." Of course the idea that she would marry God was biblically impossible and believed only by people who did not know the real God.

The angel knew this was a test of truth, an honest question in response to such a humanly impossible birth. So he answered truthfully though it might have seemed odd. He told Mary something similarly miraculous that she could check out to verify that he was indeed a messenger from God.

"The Spirit of God, the Holy incorruptible spirit of God Himself, will come upon you - though this is unexpected and foreign to the normal course of events for a pregnancy - and His power which is the greatest there is - will envelop you. That’s why your baby will be born holy and be called the Son of God. God - by His power and His spirit will take the place of a sperm in getting you pregnant.

"You think I’m scamming you? Check it out! Your older cousin Betty, who has been unable for decades to get pregnant despite the best efforts of the doctors and her husband, is going to have a child in her old age. In fact she is already six months along.

"For you see, Mary, nothing will be impossible with God which He has spoken."

If God was involved, and He seemed to be, what was Mary to say? Her whole life revolved around learning and living out His will. How could she want anything else now?

"Bring it on," she said. "Look at me. I am the Lord’s servant. "May it be in my life the way you have said!"

However, Mary did not just name it and claim it. Mary put the angel’s message from God to the test. Though it was about a three day trip, Mary went quickly to Betty’s town to verify that her cousin was indeed pregnant.

There Betty’s baby jumped for joy when Mary walked in and Betty asked what brought to her her Lord’s mother and added.. "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

And so Mary knew that both words from the Lord were true. Elizabeth was six months pregnant and already Mary herself was also pregnant.

You probably recognized that this story was simply the Announcement of the Angel to Mary only told in a way that placed us within the reality of what was happening - as if we were there rather than merely looking through our colored lenses of tradition and pious interpretation.

The Announcement was dynamic. It was emotional. It was a trial of faith. It was a triumph of belief over our usual human approach which claims the words spoken by God are for heaven or at least later in our life not for right now.

This was not Mary - who by the way had very publicly announced her engagement to Joseph - this was not Mary sitting piously and calmly on a stool while Gabriel gently told her the news which we she accepted passively.

This was a real live woman being told something unbelievable. Something that would automatically change her life, socially for the negative, and which other people would not believe or understand. She could lose her husband over this! Besides, seeing an angel for the first time is never, as recorded in the Bible, a calm experience provoking an immediate faith acceptance. Mary saw and talked to an angel!

But so what! What does this story mean to us? If all scripture is able to make us wise. If all scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, and training in righteousness. If all scripture stories are recorded not just as history but as an encouragement and examples, and a warning to us . . . Then how does this story apply to me, to you, to us today?

Ponder this:

When you read or hear what God has spoken about us, about our salvation, our being born again, the transformations that happen, the changes He declares happen when He is born again in us and we in Him, does it ever bother you? Does it seem impossible? Does it alarm, upset, disturb you? Does it defy the normal order of life? Even the ‘normal’ in the lives of the church people you know?

Does it make you feel like a failure or has it driven you the ask, "How can this be? How can it happen. I don’t fit that mold. I’m not sure I can handle the social and religious responses of my family, the other church people, the community, if this becomes visible. becomes true of me."

That was Mary’s first response!

Do you need to hear, "Don’t be afraid!" before you can even listen to what God is saying? Before you can even ask and understand what and how? Before your belief becomes more than passive. Most than self declared.

Self declaration is what makes for not understanding, not seeing His declarations come to pass in His declared time frames, not living what scripture declares to be the normal, the overcoming, the visible righteousness from Him. Self declaration is what makes not producing become evidence that what God stated stands as an irrefutable witnesses against us, against what we mentally or even verbally self declare.

Listen again to structure of the message to Mary:

You are seen through eyes of grace - favor by and with God before you get it right. Before you believe what He speaks or are even able to offer yourself for its fulfillment.

What God speaks is possible because the Holy Spirit who dwells in God Himself will come upon you and His power, the power of the most High God will overshadow - envelope - you!

Nothing He has spoken will be or is impossible with God. Whether it seems so within yourself or in your response to what He says. Neither of those responses ever work, ever bring to pass what God declares is to be true of us.

Irregardless of what we feel or see, nothing God has spoken will be or is impossible with -- not alone or apart from, not even for -- but with God involved. That’s what the with means in the "with God."

Think about!

You are seen by God through eyes of the grace.

What God speaks is possible because of the Holy Spirit's and God’s own power.

Nothing He has spoken is impossible "with" God!

Doesn’t that sound like the words of Jesus?

Doesn’t that sound like what Jesus said was true of himself as He lived out an example of human life for us?

Doesn’t that sound like the Book of Acts and like the words of epistle after epistle?

Through Mary’s story God is calling you, me, us, to stop the questioning, stop the delaying and self effort, the agitation, and the fear and say:

"Look at me! Here I am! I am the Lord’s servant. May it be in my life the way You have said!"

God is calling us to become the people "who have believed that what the Lord has said will be accomplished" and find it actually our true reality when we put His word to the test.

"Look at me! Here I am! I am the Lord’s servant. May it be in my life the way You, God, have said!"