Relationship Status - Part Two

If I said Jesus was perfect; would you agree?

If I said Jesus was the perfect friend;

would you also agree?

If I said Jesus' hurt his friends;

what would you say to that?

If God is love and Jesus the perfect representation of all the Father is, then in experiencing Jesus, His friends experienced perfect love. Yet there are multiple interactions reported in the Gospels that seem to confuse, disappoint and hurt Jesus' "friends";

interactions that would certainly confuse me if I were there...or if I were them.

But I don't need their stories to wonder at the ways of Jesus, I have my own; we all do.

Times when I might say like His mother: "Why have you treated us this way?"

Or, question Him like Mary and Martha: "Where were you?"

Or want to give up on him like Judas because He just isn't what I thought.

Jesus hurt His friends. 

So what does that tell us about His love? What does it reveal about our "status" with Him?

Are we mistaken in our hope of His goodness?

Are we mislead in our confidence of our relationship with Him?

Could He be as good and loving as we hope and still let us down?

John 11:5-6 "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard Lazarus was sick, He stayed two days longer in the place where He (Jesus) was."

Jesus' love for His friends compelled Him not to come when they called.

Allowing enough time to pass for His friend to suffer and die, Jesus then decided to go to them.

Contradicting and risking His other friends, the twelve in Jn. 11:9-11, I think Jesus was saying: "There is always enough time to do exactly what needs to be done...and we don't need to hurry to every crisis or worry about the consequences if we are walking in the understanding that God gives. There is a time for everything and now (not before now) is the time to help our friend. " Jesus was always on mission. John 10: 41-42

Then He goes and does exactly what He promised to begin with when He said, John 11: 4 "This sickness will not end in death."

Martha impresses me as a "take control" kind of woman. Jesus had not come until it seemed too late, and Martha confronted Him. Mary was so hurt she couldn't even bring herself to go to him at first.

Jesus reassured Martha that it is never too late for God to "show up" and make things right.

Even if the worst happens, it is never too late for Jesus to come through for His friends,

"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies." Jn 11:25

But we don't want the worst to happen! We don't want Him to make up for suffering, we want to prevent it. It seems a cruel joke for Him to call Himself "Savior" and Friend and then choose to wait to step in! 

But Jesus says "I am GLAD for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe..."

His goodness and love always have the bigger picture in mind and the bigger picture is not just a shallow "Jesus is my friend and does what I want"; but a deep and profound trust that "Jesus is my Savior and does what I need". No matter what happens, He WILL make all things right; and when we fall at His feet like Mary, He will weep with us for the pain and work that we may see and believe and in believing

be saved.

No one can experience a real friendship with Jesus without the salvation that comes through trusting Him first.

Relationship status...

I've been assessing relationships in my life.
Whom am I failing?
How am I failing them as a friend?
Who do I want or need to know better?
Who needs a friend?
Who is it time to let go of?
The assessing has brought me to Jesus; how did Jesus handle the relationships in His life...
Family
God the Father and the Spirit
Satan
Friends
Enemies?

Assessing has also led me to investigate the kind of personal friend Jesus was to His "Band of Brothers", the twelve disciples.
Jesus is the kind of friend of whom must be said is...
Inviting
Jesus invited these men to follow Him. "What is it you are looking for? ...Come and see" He said to Andrew and John.
Encouraging
Jesus renamed Peter immediately as a vital part of the solid foundation He was building for the Church, though Peter was without any formal training or social status.
Pursuing
With Philip we see that He seeks people out and calls them into a purpose.
Celebrating
When Jesus met Nathanael, He applauded Nathanael (Bartholemew) for his straightforward honesty without taking offense. Jesus celebrates the good.
Personal
His interaction with Nathanael also reveals His depth of personal understanding.
Inspiring
Jesus inspired James to follow him, leaving his livelihood behind.
Forgiving
When Jesus met Matthew, He was already a man with some reputation and yet he risked it in inviting Matthew, a greedy tax collector to join the ranks. "Leave your old life behind and follow me" he said, and Matthew did.
Patient
And then there's doubting Thomas...Jesus in His eternal patience gently stretched Thomas' faith.
Trustworthy
James the Less (or younger) appears to have been a family member of Jesus...perhaps his later calling reveals a process of Jesus earning the trust of a relative prone to think less? Maybe this is a stretch but regardless, Jesus honored His promises and James became a loyal follower.
Burden Bearing
To Judas Thaddeus, He takes the burden of saving the world... this Judas who carried his privilege of knowing Jesus with responsibility and compassion. Jesus reassures: "What I offer to you, I offer to all all. Help is coming" (John 14:22-27)
Gracious
To Simon the Zealot, Jesus extended grace. His grace transformed a violent legalist to an impassioned learner/servant.
Self-sacrificing
Finally, Jesus sacrificed Himself in drawing in His betrayer Judas Iscariot.

And all these friends but the one, spent their lives for the One who called them "friend".

John 15:13-15The Message (MSG)

11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father."

"Lord Jesus- I am not this kind of friend. I thank you for being this perfect friend to me and ask that you would take our 'relationship status'... and live it out in my life to all my friends. Amen"

A Moth to A Flame

"Muskrat Suzie, Muskrat Sam
Do the jitterbug out in Muskrat Land..."

These were lyrics in my head when I awoke this morning, and that's when I knew for sure the week had been a little too much for me! My husband's back, my dog's bladder, a massive tree covering half our driveway ( for starters)...all just life circumstances but it's had us discussing how we deal with pain and inconvenience. 
What do we run to when dealing with ongoing challenges?
Our American culture is in this "Opioid Crises" for a reason, 
people are in pain.
Life feels adversarial and
people want relief.
After forty days in the desert, without food, I'm sure Jesus wanted relief.
I want relief when I miss breakfast!
Luke 4 describes the first recorded interaction of Jesus with His adversary Satan:

"4 1-2 Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights, he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.

3 The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.”

4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.”

5-7 For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.”

8 Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

9-11 For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?”

12 “Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’”

13 That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity."

I never realized that Satan doesn't show himself in Biblical History until this interaction. We have the serpent in Genesis which seems to be a creature embodying Satan...but the account of Jesus' temptation is the first time Satan appears without disguise to tempt Jesus with relief.
"You have the power you need to feed yourself! Do it!
But instead of allowing his appetite to cause Him to act independently of His Father, Jesus depends on God's timing and ability to sustain Him.
"Why go through all this pain to make everything how you want it to be? I'll do that for you right here, right now!"
Jesus was able to discern the shortsightedness of this offer. What Satan offered had no lasting substance. The only way to accomplish all He had come to do, meant His Father's time, His Father's way.
"If you want people to start believing in you, you should make a spectacle of yourself! Get them to pay attention to you...show off!" 
And to this Jesus reminds Satan that God is no one to push around.

Jesus responds to Satan with complete focus on His true hope: relationship with His Father God, His Spirit (clearly revealed in the passage by the words: "Jesus being full of the Spirit") and the Word.
When I think of our temptations in life to appease, escape or avoid pain,
when I think of the adversarial circumstances and people we come up against,
I am reminded of the moth. A moth is driven to a flame by something called transversal orientation.
Equipped with a navigational system to orient itself to a distant, natural light (the moon)
a moth becomes disoriented by artificial light and drawn into heat it cannot survive.

So true for us. In moments of intense need,  the most destructive things can seem like such bright ideas...holding out the promise of relief and blinding us to certain wreckage.
We are made to orient ourselves, understand life and discern our course of action by the light of God the Father, His Spirit and His Word. His timing, His way is THE way through our pain to our future.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Heb.10:23