They had been waiting, praying, and watching for Him for centuries.
But when the Son of God did come, performing miracles and fulfilling prophecies and promises from their own Scriptures, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah they expected.
A Good Friday Scripture walk through prophecy and fulfillment, with four stops from the garden to the cross, with readings, reflections, and prayers for personal or group use.
As a child, I wasn’t taken to church, but when I was 10, a church bus came to my neighborhood one week for Vacation Bible School. I remember making a beanie cap from faux leather triangles that I stitched together. We also sang some songs and heard some Bible stories. But the experience had little-to-no impact on my life.
Jacob had spent most of his life running.
He ran after blessing, grasping it through deception. He ran from consequences, fleeing his twin brother’s rage. He ran from the past he couldn’t undo.
Even so, twenty years later, Jacob has a family, servants, flocks, and incredible wealth. Yet, despite his success, he had unfinished business that God wants him to face. In a dream, God tells Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you” (Genesis 31:3).
We live in a culture that praises the self-made, rewards the hustle, and conditions us to believe that a good life depends on how well we manage, plan, and perform. Success is measured by outcomes. Busyness is mistaken for importance. Self-reliance is celebrated as strength.
I didn’t invite these unwelcome guests into our home.
Yet here they were.
Haemophilus influenzae, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinitis, and streptococcus pneumoniae. The invaders were two viruses and two bacteria that infected everyone in our home.
I’m still thinking about the words God whispered into the quietness of my soul last week.
“Live in the moment, not in the production.”
I had just finished reading the well-known passage in Luke about the two sisters who were hosting Jesus and the disciples as they traveled to Jerusalem. Mary was the sister at Jesus’ feet, and Martha, the one stewing in the kitchen.
In Jesus’ parable about a father and his two sons (Luke 15:11-32), there are two other brothers, hiding in darkness: Shame and Pride. They are the unwelcome and sometimes unacknowledged guests in the parable’s family, where God is pictured as a father who loves both sons unreservedly and unconditionally.