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Good spirit speaks
Friday, March 11, 2016
Fourth Week of Lent
John 7:28-30
Jesus cried out as he was teaching, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So they tried to arrest him.
This lack of recognition didn’t make sense to Jesus. He knew the spirit within him was God’s spirit, and he knew it was visible in the Scriptures, in his preaching, in his healing. One look into Jesus’ eyes should have been enough to know God was right there.
I spent the last couple days riding an Amtrak train from Lincoln to Austin, Texas. We are visiting Andi and Aki for a week or so. At dinner last night on the train, Sherry from Michigan told us a strange story about the night before. As the train rocked along, a young guy who had been on the train awhile woke up and realized his pants were gone. And his shoes, and his shirt were gone.
He and his friend must have been really, really asleep! Sherry had an idea what had happened. Just a short while before, a couple got on the train. Sherry thought they took his clothes.
Why? Well, she didn’t know. But she said something that struck me. “You know a bad spirit when you see one. And that couple had a bad spirit.” Her confidence about that might have been misplaced, but probably not. Because when we look at each other, we can see so much more than we say, or probably should say.
When the Pharisees looked at Jesus, they looked only through the lenses of what they knew could not be true. Nothing good comes out of Nazareth. Nobody can talk about God the way Jesus talks about God. Only God can forgive sins. Anyone who works (heals) on the Sabbath is a sinner, and the Messiah would never do that.
And on and on. They didn’t look at Jesus; they were blinded by all the stuff they saw before they ever got to his eyes.
We don’t see Jesus eyes either. Or do we? In our dreams, in our prayers sometimes, in the ecstatic or agonized stories of others. Where two or three are gathered, there is Jesus in our midst.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus, what do you see? The good spirit. God’s spirit. Life everlasting. Those deep eyes are full of love.
Aye, yes, I am learning to love you, Lord. When I watch Jesus love his Father, and watch the Holy Spirit dance in Jesus’ words and walk and touch and gaze, I learn to love you. We are so blessed to be your children. We are alive because you give us life. Open my mouth and teach me more and more the words to sing.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1463
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