Tag: The Chosen

If only…

As I may have indicated previously, my wife Barb and I weekly host a young adult Bible study group. Since September, we have been working our way through The Chosen. Our rhythm is to watch an episode followed by a fairly robust and varied discussion. It has been a transformative experience thus far. The group is primarily made up of grandkids, their friends, and other Young Life leaders.

At present, we are mid-way through the third season. This past week we watched the episode depicting the healing of the hemorrhaging woman who dared to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe. Barb, not knowing the focus of the episode, sent a text earlier that day to the grandkids and friends about the same story. It was a devotional she had written several years ago and posted on FaceBook for the women’s ministry Never So Broken. It had “popped up” on her Facebook page which prompted her to share it. I love God “coincidences.”

Here’s the devotional that she shared…

For she thought, “If I just touch His clothing, I will get well.”

Do you ever find yourself thinking if only…

If only you could get away, if only you had a little extra time, or money. We have a yearning deep inside of us…something is missing.

In Mark 5, we encounter a woman who has been bleeding internally for 12 years. She has suffered greatly and used all her resources trying to get well. She is at the end of her rope, her hope is gone, she feels life for her is over and then she hears of Jesus and thinks, if only…

Jesus had become quite popular because He was significantly different than any other religious figure in their world and the crowds pressed in on all sides, just to be near Him.

Weak from her loss of blood, she isn’t sure she will find the strength to push to the center of the crowd. But, she has put all her hope in getting to Jesus. So determined, she thinks, if only…

Finally she makes it in to the center of the crowd and touches His robe. Jesus stops immediately and says “who touched Me?” The disciples, His closest friends, think what a ridiculous question. How can You ask who touched You when people are pressed in on all sides? But Jesus knows. And so He asks, “who touched Me?”

There is a lot of sadness in our world yet often we don’t think of reaching out to Jesus. Instead, we rely on our own abilities, other people, status, institutions, religion – everything but Jesus. We put our hope in trust-worthy and not so trust-worthy options. And yet, everyone, everything, fails us at some point. Even those who love us the most, because they are not infallible.

The woman in the story is healed and Jesus calls her daughter. Can you imagine? She has lost all hope, but He heals her and calls her daughter! He tells her it was her trust and confidence in Him that made her well. Her financial situation has not changed, she used it all up trying to find healing but she has something so much more valuable – she has peace. She has a future. She has hope!

There is only One who is constant, never changing, always there for us. One who will recognize if we “touch” Him. He knows when we reach out for Him and He responds. If only we reach out for Him…

Get Used to Different

If you haven’t watched The Chosen yet, I highly recommend it. The developers of the project hoped to create a “binge-worthy” series and they seem to have accomplished their intent. I had a fever several weeks ago, was self-quarantined for a few days, and I binge-watched the entire first season (eight episodes). It is well done! They really do a good job of depicting the humanity of Jesus as well as his likely interactions with the people, especially his followers.

The creators did an especially nice job of surmising the interactions between the disciples themselves. Of particular interest was the interplay of the fishermen (Simon, Andrew, James, and John) with Matthew (Levi), the Israelite, turned traitor, tax collector for the occupying Romans. There was no love loss. When Jesus invited Matthew to follow him, Simon questioned the action, “What are you doing? Do you have any idea what this guy has done?” Simon, after reminding Jesus what this guy was a tax collector, said, “I don’t get it” to which Jesus responded, “You didn’t get it when I chose you, either.” Simon’s response: “But this is different. He’s a tax collector.” Jesus’ retort has become my favorite line in the series so far – “Get used to different.”

I want this shirt!!

Get used to different – an understatement to say the least. As I read through the gospels, I try to imagine what was going through the minds of those first-century followers. Almost everything Jesus did and said was different. I picture them huddled together, collectively trying to make sense of what was happening.

I recently read Luke’s account of Jesus calming the storm prior to a visit to the Gentile region on the East side of the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:22-39). To this point, the disciples suspected they might be following the Messiah, the anointed one of God that would rescue the nation of Israel from the Roman Gentile dogs. But Jesus seemed to do things differently than they expected of a messiah and the trip across the lake didn’t ease their confusion. When Jesus said, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake,” I could picture the disciples discussing among themselves, “Serious? The other side? That’s Gentile country. They are different over there.” Get used to different!

As they crossed the lake (about the size of Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota), Jesus fell asleep and a storm blew in. After being abruptly awakened by the disciples, Jesus calmed the raging storm and they continued their journey across the lake. Though the disciples marveled at what they had just witnessed, it left them fearfully asking, “Who then is this…?” We think he might be the Messiah, but messiahs don’t calm storms. Messiahs position themselves to overthrow pagan kingdoms. This is different. Get used to different!

Landing on the the other side of the lake, Jesus and his disciples were immediately met by a naked man who lived among the tombs and was possessed by a Legion of demons (Who, by the way, knew exactly who Jesus was – “Son of the Most High God.”). Cleanliness was core to the first century Jewish religious customs. What we see in this narrative is uncleanliness at every turn – an unclean (naked) man, with unclean spirits who lived among unclean tombs in an unclean territory where they raised unclean hogs. Any respectable rabbi (and presumably a messiah) would have gotten back in the boat and left. I picture the disciples huddled on the shoreline next to the boat, again asking “Who then is this…? This is really different than we expected.” Get used to different! *

In what ways might we need to get used to different? As Christ followers, I think we need to be OK with different. I think we need to learn to expect different. In fact, as Christ-followers, I suspect that God wants us to step into different. The late Howard Hendricks used to suggest that we should always be involved in something that stretches our thinking and comfort – something different than we are used to. Different drives us to God and causes us to rely on the Holy Spirit. Different leads to transformation. If we are serious about following Jesus, I suspect we need to…

Get Used to Different!

* If you know the story, you know that Jesus drove the legion of demons from the man. Jesus was not defiled by the unclean man in his unclean setting. Instead “the holy contagion of Jesus rescued and transformed the man,” borrowing from Jim Edwards (Edwards, J. R. (2015). The gospel according to Luke, p. 249).