Prepare for life

Matthew 8:21-22   Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (NIV).

   Father’s Day was one week ago, and this sure seems like the opposite of a caring Father’s Day message or a caring any other day message.  However, carefully examining this passage we can learn the message of Jesus is a life giving and caring message.  One important context point here: I read years ago from a scholar or minister that the expression “bury my father” probably meant the man’s father was elderly, thus the request was to go and be with his father for a number of months or years in preparation for the man’s death.

   So the message of Jesus: Death is not to be our focus.  Life is to be our focus.

   Thus, Jesus needs to be our core devotion!

   Death is not to be what we are preparing for in this world!  Waiting for the inevitable, physical death, is not to be the mode of a Christian.  I personally committed to ministering to my Grandma in her last five years in this world.  Quite the unique “ministry” for a single man in my thirties, yet it was simply the “ministry” I accepted and gave my all to.  Grandma was not very mobile, yet for us, those years were not a time of waiting or preparing for death.  Instead we lived.  Since she did not drive, and since she could not walk far, I would take her out to eat at her favorite restaurant and a huge variety of other restaurants.  I would take her on drives, and she would be able to see places she had not seen in many years.  I would watch sports with her, frankly over doing it on that activity.  And for a period of time when I was not working as a youth pastor, I took her to church.  We had the privilege of learning from my favorite preacher of all time, Dr. David Beckman.  They were years of living!

   Had I been married and thus unable to make that huge commitment for so many years, I could have still expressed love to her, such as taking her out to eat and for a drive on special occasions.  Your expression of love to family and friends, including any assistance, is between you and God.  Yet we can always care, and we can always be witnessing Christ in our own personal way.

   I add Jesus was not instructing the man to skip his dad’s memorial service.  The man’s dad was probably not going to die any second, or the man would not have even been there in the first place.  When family and friends pass away, God wants us to mourn.  In fact, that is the only healthy response.

   Yet key to this passage is the statement by Jesus: “Follow me.”  Why?  Because we can only engage in life in this world full of frustrations and hurts by relying on Jesus.  Jesus is the One who has given believers in Him eternal life.  In following Jesus day by day, we will continue to be a light for Christ to those who are spiritually lost and perishing.  And only Jesus enables us to have genuine joy and peace.  It is imperative that Jesus is your core devotion in order for you to engage in healthy ministry work.  A person whose heart is completely devoted to Jesus can encourage elderly people to flourish in a relationship with Christ.

   I could not have helped grandma as I did without help from Jesus.  Honestly there were times when circumstances seemed hopeless, yet Jesus carried me through.  And when things were going smooth, Jesus enabled me to have fun with grandma, someone who had little fun over many previous years.  We followers of Jesus can engage in life now, and look forward to heaven to come.

Hunter Irvine

The home of Jesus

Matthew 8:19-20   Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (NIV).

Jesus was not at home in this world!  Being holy and being one with the Father, He was not at home.

The kingdom of heaven is the home of Jesus!

Jesus went home when He ascended into heaven.

And when Jesus comes to reign on earth, and then renews both heaven and earth, both heaven and earth will be His home, and the home of all of His children.

And the Lord God Almighty; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will reign forever!

Hunter Irvine

Decision for Jesus

   God has offered all people an opportunity for eternal life in Christ, and each person is allowed to make his or her own decision.  In Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39, we learn of the event where Jesus entered the region of the Gadarenes (or Gerasenes).  In that region, there were two men who were possessed by demons.  Luke focuses specifically on the one man who was possessed by numerous demons.  These men lived in tombs and were violent.  The result of the encounter with these two men possessed by demons was that Jesus ordered the demons to leave the men and go into a herd of pigs.  The possessed pigs then ran down a steep bank into the lake and they all died.

   This event seems rather bizarre, yet this event exposes the sins of the people in that region.  First, the region of Gadarenes was in the territory of what use to be Israel.  A combination of people who were Jewish and people who were not Jewish probably lived there.  Yet one thing is for sure: Jewish people were not supposed to be eating bacon, ham, or pork chops.  The law given by God through Moses prohibited eating pig meat as is stated in Leviticus 11:7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8.  Those pig herders were probably not raising pigs for pets.  They were going to sell the meat.  I am convinced this is why Jesus allowed the demons to go into the pigs.

   The end result was the two men were rescued from the demons.  Luke details how the one demon possessed man was healed.  “…When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind…” (Luke 8:35).  But the people were not grateful.  Instead, the end of that verse reveals their response: “…they were afraid” (Luke 8:35).  Their response resulted in them asking Jesus to leave.  “Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region” (Matthew 8:34).  And from Luke: “Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear… (Luke 8:37).

   What did Jesus do?  “…So he got into the boat and left” (Luke 8:37).  Tragically, those people put their cash crop or other sins over being with Jesus.  And Jesus honored their decision to reject Him.

   We people have a choice today still.  Jesus does not force Himself upon anyone in a spiritual manner just as He did not force Himself upon the people in the region of the Gerasenes.  You can be with Jesus or you can reject Him.  Receiving Jesus through faith results in eternal life, and rejection of Jesus results in spiritual death.  Why?  Because we all need God our creator for everlasting life.  And Jesus is God the Son who came into the world to save people.

   Rejection of Jesus in this world continued to the extent of Jesus being murdered on a cross.  Yet it fulfilled the mission of Jesus who died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  Jesus was the sacrificial atonement for the consequence of sins which is spiritual death.  Then Jesus was resurrected.  If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will have eternal life in Christ.  Thanks to Jesus, you have the opportunity to be saved from your sins.  What you need to do to be saved is believe in Jesus.

Hunter Irvine

+ Thank You Jesus for giving us all the opportunity to believe in You and thus be saved from our sins, and thus be with You forever.  Personally, may I be grateful daily that I have been saved.

It is through Your loving name Jesus I pray.  Amen.