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We Had to Do This Horrible Thing… and Learned to Worship!
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross
“So the men cried to the LORD, “LORD, please don’t let us die because of this man’s life; please don’t think we are guilty of killing an innocent person. LORD, you have caused all this to happen; you wanted it this way.” So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea became calm. Then they began to fear the LORD very much; they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made promises to him.” (Jonah 1:14–16, NCV)
DEAR Heavenly Father, in Thy Name let me bless my parents, my brothers, and sisters, my pastor and teachers, and all my friends. Hear the blessing I pronounce upon them, and even at Thy Heavenly Throne confirm it. Send them all help out of Thy Holy Temple and give them strength out of Zion. Blessed be they who bless them; and turn away evil from them, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I can’t imagine the challenge facing the men who crewed the ship Jonah was on, as they had to offer him to the Sea to possibly save their own lives. Even with Jonah telling them he was the reason for their problems, they were in fear of killing him. Yet it was the only way to save their lives, and perhaps Jonah’s soul.
They had no choice
They sacrificed him.
Move forward a couple of hundred years, to Jerusalem, to a prophetic statement by the high priest. “49 Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” John 11:49-50 (NLT2)
Jonah’s being tossed overboard to his death would not only save the people in the ship, but it would save a nation. Jesus’ death would not only save the nation as prophesied, but people of the entire world. Their lives would be sacrificed, only to be freed from the fish and death three days later.
This isn’t history, we have to make the same decision, we have to learn to depend on this sacrifice of Jesus, we have to learn to own the nail scars, the wound in His side, we have to proclaim the Lord’s death for us until He comes again. Not to be saved – but to learn that this salvation is ours.
We had to kill the innocent man, and we have to learn that’s why He came. We have to learn that this was done out of love and care for us, not just us as in my and you, but us as in the human race.
The more we realize this, the more Loehe’s prayer makes sense, that God would give us the ability to leave our home, and go to our Nineveh’s (maybe they are in our home) To bring blessings to those who need to know God’s blessings, to turn those who would see evil done to us. You see, this is part of where we imitate Jesus, who helped people come to repentance.
Even if we have to be tossed off the ship to do so…
Even if we have to learn to love the unlovable…
this is the nature of servant ministry… to be willing to lay down our lives, sacrifice them, so others can come to repentance…
For He loves us all.
Lœhe, W. (1914). Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians (H. A. Weller, Trans.; p. 610). Wartburg Publishing House.
The Challenge of Christianity…to Love
StJohnsAshfield StainedGlass Baptism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. 20 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? 21 The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. 1 John 4:19-21 (MSG)
Jesus will enable you to have a great affection for everybody you meet, without taking away any of the affection you have for him. On the contrary, the more you love Jesus, the more room there will be for other people in your heart. (1)
In my opinion, the greatest challenge to Christianity in America today comes down to one word: Love.
We struggle with it, we avoid it, we avoid the very challenge of it, because it is universal. It is not just loving those who love us. Jesus says even the worst sinners can do that. But it is loving people – and letting God love us when we are at our worst.
Loving others is a threat. A threat to our self-determination, a threat to our independence, a threat to our sin. It is uncomfortable, for it demands that we sacrfice ourselves, before we realize that in that sacrifice, we find ourselves fulfilled. Loving others is not a command of law, where our failure brings condemnation. Loving others is a command of gospel – wherein we find the deepest levels of grace, and the greatest fulfillment. Even so, it is difficult.
But that is where God’s love comes into play. He doesn’t allow us to wallow in our sin, to hide in our independence, and self-determination and self centeredness. He invades our life, calling us to a transformation that comes from being in His presence. We can try and run from our relationship with Him, as Jonah ran from the people God called him to love- to love by sacrificing his life that they would know God’s love and mercy. Even so, we are much better off in every way by receiving the love He invades with, the love that He invades by.
Don’t avoid His love – it will make loving the others He has brought into our lives so much easier!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3094-3096). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Why I don’t hate “religion”, because it is His One, holy, catholic/christian and apostolic church (justifiedandsinner.com)
- What’s in you? (justifiedandsinner.com)
