Learning to Swim

You give them something to eat.  

Matthew 14:16

When Jesus tells us to do something, he doesn't do it to set us up to fail; he's directing us to learn how to live from His reality - the truest reality, a reality where He is King and anything is possible.  Technically, it wasn't Jesus that fed the thousands; the disciples were the ones who kept passing out the food until everyone was fed.  What was going through their minds when they kept seeing a loaf of bread or a fish in the basket as they were walking around this flash conference?

The ways Jesus has us interacting with this world are often not as much about His reaching out to a lost and dying world.  Don't get me wrong, though!  We're in a race to raise up as many disciples as we can before the Lifeguard blows the whistle and we all have to get out of this cesspool.  But truly, He's really leading us through mind-blowing, teachable moments to learn how to swim - even walk - on the waters of faith in Him.

"Come on in boys!  The water is fine!" - Delmar O'donnel, O Brother Where art Thou.

This Scandalous Gospel

And they took offense at him.

Matthew 13:57

To think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of warm-fuzzies and world-peace is a great deception.  Very great indeed.

In this verse, the word "offense" is where we get the word "scandal". Many have been offended by His words, His actions, His silence, His abstentions and have simply walked away.  I dare say all have been offended by Jesus or rather our preconceptions of who He is, and here are just two examples: Jesus' home town filled with people who are convinced that He couldn't be anything special.  A presiding puppet of Rome who is afraid of his own shadow.

The Gospel of Christ is always offensive.  It offends our fears, our fears of the thoughts of others, our understanding of the way we think things are or should be.  Yet if we step beyond this tattered veil we find the Cross.  We find the death sentence - the wicked execution of innocence for the ransom of the guilty.  And on the other side of this, we find a place of relationship.

In this relationship we find that, though offences continue we realize it is the world that offends.  Living in this new, we are now walking it all out through the eyes of our Lion King.  We can perceive situations through His understanding.  We can remain unshaken when the world threatens our very existence.

The Natural Things Speak of the Invisible Reality

“I will open my mouth in parables,

I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

- Matthew 13:35 -

From wheat to weeds seeds to yeast to pearls to fish.  Jesus spoke to the people in parables.  Why?  Because he wants all of us to understand the revelation of His kingdom through all he has made.  Man's relationship to the created things is a veritable illustration of the mysteries of who He is and what He is about.

He wants us to be on a treasure hunt for the things that are precious to Him.  He craves for us to search out the depths of His heart - His heart for us, His heart for us to relate to the realities of what we can only experiences apart from touch, smell, sight, sound and taste.  And when we get to this place, we are increasingly undone.  We are increasingly ruined for anything else.

Yet Jesus spoke to the people the parables that have been laid before us since the beginning of time.  For it was time to point them in His direction.  It was time to encourage them to start thinking, understanding about the way He had been speaking to them for so very long.

"He who has ears let him hear," He kept saying.  I dare say I can interpret this to mean: "He who has ears, stop simply experiencing with your natural senses but go beyond the veil; comprehend what I've been speaking to you for so long.  Let it transform your soul as you explore My soul."