Walk as He Walked
Daily Lenten Readings in the Footsteps of Jesus
© 2014
Introduction
“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 Jn. 2:6)
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).
“For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).
Contemporary applications of these biblical texts range from WWJD (What would Jesus do?) bracelets and car sticker bumpers to full-page newspaper ads asking what kind of car would Jesus drive.
Earlier generations took a far more serious tack. Consider for example, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, first translated from French into English in 1503. Others followed, including Imago Christi: the Example of Jesus Christ by James Stalker (1889), The Imitation of God in Christ by E.J. Tinsley (1960), and The Example of Jesus by Michael Griffiths (1985).
Apart from these scholarly works, however, the 1896 novel, In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, has been credited with changing more lives than any book other than the Bible. According to Guideposts magazine (1996) it is the tenth most read book in the world. It remains in print.
The story is about an unknown tramp who wandered into a Midwestern church. He stood up and challenged the people to live up to their professions of faith, then he fell over dead. The people were so shook up that they pledged to do what Jesus would do for one year. Other churches followed and the idea spread widely.
Meanwhile, for centuries pilgrims have tried to emulate Jesus during Holy Week in Jerusalem by following his footsteps during his trials. Others have tried asceticism and various kinds of self-denial, including beatings and crucifixions. Wearing a bracelet seems much less painful.
However, all of these efforts fall short of the main principles Jesus taught and lived by. What did he actually do and why? Are there ways we can follow his example and walk in his steps without resorting to bizarre behaviors?
This book is an effort to do just that. We will follow Jesus for forty days. There is nothing magical about the number, even though it frequently appears in both Old and New Testament stories. I chose the number because it fits Lent, but obviously the book can be used at any time of the year. I’ve chosen forty (and there could be more) events and teachings in the life of Jesus that call Christians to serious thought and action.
A word about method. To gain maximum benefit from your journey, start by reading the biblical texts first. My thoughts in many cases are simple summaries of the stories. They are not intended to take the place of Scripture itself.
A brief prayer closes each day’s journey. Open your heart in prayer in thoughts that fit your needs and desires.
Portions of these devotions previously appeared in Jim Reapsome, Knowing Jesus, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2008. Used by permission.
Before You Start Your Journey
An important word of caution is in order before we start our forty-day journey. It’s very simple: Do not try to copy the example of Jesus in order to claim acceptance by God for forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. No one can ever be as good as Jesus was. No one can fully track his performance. No one gains salvation by trying to be like Jesus.
We are starting this journey because we believe Jesus has forgiven us on the basis of faith alone, not by our efforts to be so good that God will accept us. Our walk will be extremely worthwhile only if we have made a commitment to trust Jesus and receive him into our lives as lord and savior. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
Paul, Peter, James and John, who gave wise counsel to the early Christians, always based their ethical standards on the fact that their readers were “in Christ." It is useless and quite disappointing to attempt to follow the teachings of Christ without being certain that we are in union with him by faith.
For example, Paul explained that since we are being conformed to Christ’s image we should put on Christ. We are to have the same attitude that Jesus had. “Christ lives in me,” Paul said. We are his workmanship, so we are to grow up in Christ and live as he did. We are rooted and built up in Christ and enjoy his fullness.
That must be the starting point of our journey. Christ in us is not only our hope of glory; he is also the means of our walking as he walked. Start each day with thankfulness for all you are and have in Jesus. He promises to walk with us because he lives in us.
Day One
Jesus learned the ways of the Lord as a child
Luke 2:41-50
Jesus established strong spiritual roots in his childhood. Although the gospel writers give us just one story about Jesus as a boy, that is enough. His parents, Joseph and Mary, both walked in vital faith in the Lord. They obeyed God implicitly under the most demanding circumstances.
Joseph’s task was supremely painful, because he wanted to rid himself of pregnant Mary. However, when the angel told him not to do this, he listened and obeyed. When Mary could not understand how she could be pregnant while still a single woman, God told her how, not in medical but in spiritual terms. God’s Holy Spirit had impregnated her with his Son. Mary willingly submitted to the Lord.
Given these facts, it is safe to assume that Jesus imbibed strong faith as a child and youth. Luke’s brief conclusion tells us all we need to know: Jesus grew up with such unusual wisdom that he confounded the temple teachers. Beyond that, even at age 12, Jesus was known to walk favorably with God and the people—the neighbors and friends of Joseph and Mary and his brothers and sisters.
Because his parents were devout Jews who scrupulously kept the laws of Moses, Jesus learned the basic truths and duties of a God-fearing family. This included not only the regular religious observances, but also the practices of prayer, giving to the poor, and serious study of the holy Scriptures. Later on, his knowledge of the law stumped his critics.
Learning to walk in godly ways from earliest childhood brings untold blessings throughout our lives. Parents are responsible to teach their children the gospel and biblical values and habits. Our opportunities and advantages for building strong faith in childhood far surpass those that Jesus had. He was limited to synagogue school and services. Today through our childhood and youth we have not only church and Christian education programs, but also a host of specialized activities led by people with advanced professional training. Camps and retreats help us to learn how to live the Jesus way.
However, our children face many more distractions than Jesus did as a boy. No one led him into a regimented sports program, for example. Television was not a staple of his diet, nor were pop music, computers, the Internet and entertainment fads of all kinds.
Our children need the same wholesome upbringing as Jesus had. Our children’s spiritual growth and development must rank ahead of other things. Academic excellence is a worthy goal, but attaining God’s wisdom as a child is much more valuable and important. Joseph and Mary taught the child Jesus not just the laws of Moses, but also the intensely practical wisdom of the Proverbs. Living the Jesus way as a child includes both welcoming him as savior and learning the godly lifestyle of Proverbs.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to exemplify the best spiritual values for children. May I be a beacon of truth and righteousness for all children in my spheres of influence.
Day Two
Jesus did manual labor as a youth and young man
Mark 6:1-6
Vocational opportunities were scarce for Jesus. He had no guidance counselors in the synagogue to suggest possible career paths. It was assumed that the eldest son would learn his father’s business, or trade, and that ended the discussion. So, Jesus did what was expected of him and became a carpenter.
Walking the Jesus way as a youth meant obedience, not resistance. It meant following the natural contours of family, culture, and religion. For Jesus, this was a carefully circumscribed route, and yet it was entirely wholesome and pleasing to God.
Historians suggest that because the city of Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee, had been destroyed by the Romans and was being rebuilt, that carpenters would have been in great demand, including those living in Nazareth, four miles away. We can well imagine Joseph and Jesus making the daily trudge to work at the site.
Of course, when that project had been completed, father and son would have returned to their regular tasks of operating a home carpentry shop, crafting mostly chairs and tables. We must keep in mind that Jesus continued this practice until he was 30 years old, most of those years by himself because the absence of his name in the stories after Jesus had grown up suggests that Joseph did not live to a ripe old age.
Was it drudgery for Jesus to work like this? I doubt it. He learned contentment in a somewhat menial task. Walking the Jesus way in our formative years means that we learn to accept the role God gives us, working cheerfully and expertly because this is what pleases him.
How often in church history we see this pattern. God sent early Moravian missionaries—carpenters and others—to plant the gospel. He does the same today, using what we learned as youths to open doors for ministry. God took one of the world’s greatest evangelists, D.L. Moody, from a shoe store to pulpits and evangelistic campaign tents around the world.
Visiting a university campus one day to help establish a student witness there, I met one of the resident dorm leaders who asked me about the students I was meeting. When I mentioned the leader’s name, she was shocked. “How could he lead your group?” she demanded. “He does not do his cleaning job here in the dorm very well.”
Walking the Jesus way means doing our best every day, no matter how unexciting the task may be, because that is what he did for many, many years in a tiny Galilean town, far from the world’s limelight. He did not achieve fame or wealth. No structures were named after him. But Jesus pleased God, his family and his community. That’s what counts.
Prayer: O God, forgive me for thinking my vocation is useless in your kingdom. Give me a positive perspective that will help others to see that I serve you in my work.
Day Three
Jesus worshipped faithfully
Luke 2:41-42; 4:15-16, 44; Mark 1:21
Worship was an integral part of Jewish family life in the days of Jesus. It was not optional, “I’ll go to temple if I feel like it.” Every Jew was obligated to observe the Sabbath for the reading of the scrolls. Special feast days called for appropriate ceremonies and sacrifices. All of life centered on the Jewish religious calendar, first given by Moses and then affirmed by the prophets and teachers. Many religious duties had been added over the centuries, so that Jesus found certain laws and traditions bound the people and led to self-righteous pride.
In this context we find Jesus going to the temple as a boy of twelve with his parents, Joseph and Mary. The occasion was the highlight of the Jewish religious calendar, the Feast of Passover, which commemorated God’s deliverance of the Jews from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Luke emphasizes that the family did this every year.
The gospel writers skip the next 18 years of Jesus’ life, to focus on his final three years of ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. However, they emphasize the Jesus way of worship by repeatedly telling stories about his synagogue experiences. What is most striking is that Jesus was invited to teach, according to local custom.
Synagogues primarily were community places of worship, prayer, and study. Services were led either by priests or local teachers. Traditionally, they taught the children and often expounded the Old Testament.
Although Jesus saw through contemporary hypocrisy, he never turned his back on worship. He did not leave because some worshipers and their leaders lacked sincerity, or because they failed to grasp the full meaning of the Old Testament prophecies. Instead, he himself worshiped and sought to teach a higher level of morality and the necessity of repentance and faith, because God’s new kingdom was at hand.
Walking the Jesus way calls us to faithful worship and careful observance of our churches’ liturgical year. His house was a house of prayer. He met God there. So must we, week in and week out throughout the year. At worship we understand more fully what it means to follow Jesus. Without faithful worship, our profession of faith is hollow mockery.
Prayer: Thank you, heavenly Father, for the priceless privilege of worship. May my heart be true to you always and free of idols.
Day Four
Jesus studied the Scriptures earnestly
Luke 2:40-52; 4:1-13; 24:13-27
One of our paintings of President Abraham Lincoln shows him perched on a stool in a darkened cabin, reading by the fireplace by candlelight. It’s intended to teach the importance and value of earnest study, regardless of the circumstances. No such picture of Jesus exists, but it’s not hard to imagine him doing the same throughout his childhood and youth and into his early adult years.
Too often we mistakenly assume that all his Bible knowledge was implanted by the Holy Spirit at his birth. After all, Jesus was the Son of God, so he knew everything and therefore he did not have to study the Scriptures. I believe such an assumption is false, because the Bible also tells us that Jesus took on our flesh and blood, experienced everything we do, and deigned to call us his brothers.
I’m much happier with a Jesus who studied than with one who did not have to. He did not march around the house, flaunting his superior knowledge among his sisters and brothers. He sat with them day by day, patiently learning the Old Testament’s teachings and prophecies.
He studied earnestly so that by age 12 he confounded his superiors. His knowledge of the Scripture was so thorough that he was called at various times teacher, rabbi, and master. Perhaps his most dramatic display of scriptural knowledge came when he repulsed the temptations of the devil by quoting Bible verses.
However, on other occasions he replied to questions and criticisms alike with appropriate Scriptures. He challenged and rebuked the Sadducees for their lack of scriptural knowledge and understanding. After his resurrection, he chided the walkers on the Emmaus road for not knowing the prophets.
Jesus packed his teaching with the Old Testament, surely the fruit of years of study. When Luke noted that Jesus grew in wisdom we can be sure that had foremost in mind the wisdom that comes from diligent study.
Walking the Jesus way will be filled with profitable, soul-satisfying adventures when we soak our minds, hearts, and wills with Scripture. There are no shortcuts here. We have to go deeper than, for example, lifting a quick fix off the Internet. The daily discipline of Bible reading, study, and meditation is the only way to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Since he needed to do that, we certainly need it much more.
Prayer: God, you know I need discipline to study your word. I confess giving other things priority. Give me strong desires to meet you every day.
Day Five
Jesus prayed regularly
Matthew 6:5-9; 14:23; 26:36-44
Anticipating an earthly kingdom, the disciples of Jesus wanted action. Knowing that his kingdom was not of this world, Jesus resorted to prayer. Finally, one day they asked him to teach them to pray.
Of course, Jesus grew up in a religious culture of prayer. Some of it was hypocritical, but a godly remnant of Jews prayed with faith in their hearts. They pleaded with God for Messiah to come. Jesus knew the heart’s cry of these people.
The entire Jewish tradition of prayer covered every detail of life. The Old Testament stories frequently converge on prayers in a multitude of circumstances. Many of the Psalms are prayers, reflecting a deep piety among the Jews. Prayers were said not just on feast days as prescribed by Moses for the sacrifices. By the time of Jesus, however, prayer seems to have become part of the legalistic framework by which one sought to earn God’s favor and blessing.
Jesus radically transformed both the spirit and content of prayer. Most dramatically, he addressed God as Father. “Our father in heaven” burst open the doors of obligatory, rote prayers. Prayer became the heart of a personal relationship with God, whose name the Jews would not say.
Jesus also changed the practice of prayer. He did not limit prayer to formal times of worship, or to special events. Yes, he knew and said that the temple was a house of prayer, but many times he went off by himself into the hills to pray. He also saw prayer as a vital element in making God’s power available to people in need.
Confronting unbelief, Jesus prayed. Confronting his imminent separation from his disciples, he prayed. Facing the suffering and agony of the cross, he prayed. Hanging on the cross between two thieves, he prayed. At the end, as his life ebbed away, he prayed.
Walking the Jesus way means engaging in persistent, disciplined, prevailing prayer. Difficult as it is to find the time and place to pray, we cannot hope to become more like Jesus if we do not pray. Prayer must saturate the family circle. It must encompass church, community and worldwide needs. Without it, we are empty vessels, driven to and fro by our culture.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, how good of you to desire and hear my prayers. Fill me with intensity in praise, thanksgiving and intercession for others.
Day Six
Jesus enjoyed fellowship with his heavenly Father
Luke 2:49
Somehow, in the mysteries of eternity past and the unique relationships within the Godhead, the man Jesus of Nazareth knew incomparable fellowship with God the Father. Theirs was a father-son relationship like no other. It was so intimate that from a human standpoint we can say that it broke the Father’s heart to send his Son Jesus to earth to die for our sins.
Whatever it was like, it continued during the lifetime of Jesus on earth. As a twelve-year-old he talked about being in his Father’s house. The people did not understand. As far as they were concerned, for the next eighteen years his “house” was that of Joseph and Mary. But that understanding exploded one day at the Jordan River when a voice thundered from heaven, “You are my Son whom I love.”
From that moment on, the disciples and friends and followers of Jesus knew that he enjoyed a distinctive fellowship with the God of the universe. This fellowship oozed from the personality of Jesus. He loved, taught, and healed like no one else they had ever seen.
Yes, he temporarily laid aside his heavenly prerogatives. He became a servant, but his servanthood was energized by constant, irreparable fellowship with his Father. That special Father-Son relationship so angered the Jews that they condemned Jesus to death for daring to call God Almighty his Father. “Blasphemy!” they screamed.
That special fellowship was poignantly demonstrated on the cross when Jesus cried out in bitter anguish to his Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” In one disastrously dark moment, it seemed, Jesus lost what was most precious to him—fellowship with his Father and partnership in mission, a world-saving mission conceived in eternity past. But the resurrection power restored his fellowship, which continues because Jesus sits at his Father’s right hand.
Walking the Jesus way takes us into the deepest secrets of the Godhead. Nothing in human wisdom and experience can match it. No mystery religion, no cult, no occult practices can take us into God’s heart. He calls us his children and bids us to call him our Father. With Jesus, we can enjoy fellowship with God now and forever. Nothing surpasses the supreme value and blessing of knowing God on the most intimate terms.
Prayer: O Lord, may fellowship with you be my extreme passion. I confess not loving you totally with heart, mind and soul. Refresh me with your presence every day.
Day Seven
Jesus accepted God’s call on his life
Matthew 3:13-17
Early on Jesus knew that God had a special role in mind for him. His knowledge, wisdom and grace—affirmed by his contemporaries—stood out everywhere. Suddenly, however, his story line went blank and remained blank for another eighteen years until he reached thirty.
Normally, during those formative years, we make life-determining decisions. They revolve around our education, careers, friends, marriage and long-term goals in life. Our decisions are shaped by our parents, peers, churches and culture. As Christians, we know that the answer to one question determines everything else: What is God’s will for me?
Did Jesus face similar questions? No, because in his day such decisions were determined by one’s environment. The only schools were synagogue schools. Vocations and careers were limited largely by family circumstances. Money and investments and insurance did not figure at all. Most people lived day-to-day on the produce of the land and the income of their trades.
Jesus knew his calling was to be an obedient son and a skillful carpenter. But one day lightning struck, so to speak, and dramatically changed his life and calling. None of the gospel writers tell us how this happened. However, they are quite clear on why it happened.
Some inner voice and conviction told Jesus to join a group of repentant, confessing sinners being baptized in the Jordan River. John tried to turn him aside, but Jesus clearly knew and fully accepted his divine call. It began with his identification with sinners, although he had no sins to confess.
His obedience to and acceptance of God’s call on his life was publicly affirmed by God’s speaking from heaven. This divine imprimatur launched Jesus on his mission of teaching, healing and ultimately his death and resurrection.
His call was severely tested, first by Satan himself and finally by the prospect of crucifixion. In addition, we can imagine how hard it must have been for him to be faithful to his calling because of the general lack of response to his teaching and the open hostility of the Jews’ religious leaders.
But Jesus persevered in spite of everything, including poverty and a hand-to-mouth existence. Thus he gave a model for all those who would walk as he walked. He heard, he obeyed, he followed through until the end. That is our calling as well.
Prayer: I want to know and do your will in my life, heavenly Father. Help me and encourage me when this means making hard choices. Give me faith and courage to say Yes to your good and perfect will.
Day Eight
Jesus received baptism
Matthew 3:13-17
Through his childhood, youth and adult life there was no need for Jesus to be baptized. He was quite familiar with this religious rite and custom because the Jews baptized their Gentile converts. But suddenly news spread across Galilee from the Jordan River. A prophet named John, a cousin of Jesus, was baptizing Jews, not Gentiles.
Amazingly, people flocked to John from all over Palestine, including Jerusalem, the seat of religious authority and power. They confessed their sins and John baptized them in the river. The leading clerics came to check this out and John called them a “brood of vipers,” sensing their hypocrisy.
John urged people to repent because that was the way to get ready spiritually for the coming of the Messiah. The writers called him the forerunner of Jesus, the one who was called to dig up the hard soil and soften it for Jesus and his mission.
Imagine John’s amazement, then, when one day he looked up and there stood Jesus with a crowd of confessing sinners, asking to be baptized. John was so humbled that he said he needed to be baptized by Jesus. However, Jesus insisted, saying his baptism would be a sign of God’s righteousness—despite the fact that he never sinned in thought or deed.
When John consented, God sent an impressive message to assure the prophet that he had done the right thing. In the form of a dove, the Holy Spirit came over Jesus and his Father’s voice was heard to declare: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
From that moment, Jesus was thrust into his mission. His baptism thus stands as both full identification with humanity’s unrighteousness and as a divine seal of God’s approval. He did not stand on his prerogatives. Jesus plunged into the Jordan River along with a crowd of lawbreakers convicted of their sins.
Contemporary church culture reveals an astounding array of theologies and methods of baptism. Amazing how such a simple act could produce not only differences of opinion, but also heated arguments and in some cases the founding of different denominations. Generally, it is agreed that baptism is a command of Jesus, but questions of who, how and why tend to divide us. Sadly, some people drift through life without taking Jesus’ command seriously.
We must not focus on doctrinal differences, but on our Lord himself. Church and family customs can be of no lasting value if we do not repent and confess our faith in Jesus. If the holy Son of God humbled himself and was baptized, we must allow his spirit to challenge us to follow him in baptism (Matt. 28:19-20).
Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting John’s baptism. Your decision to stand with repentant sinners encourages me to make a public confession of my faith. I want my faith to be a witness to my family and friends.
Day Nine
Jesus worked with a team
Matthew 4:18-22
The biographical spotlight correctly shines most brilliantly on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. However, it is our loss if we do not follow Jesus in some other important ways as well. At the outset of his ministry he gathered a team of fellow missioners—the twelve apostles.
Did Jesus need a team to accomplish his work? Not in the ultimate sense, of course. Could he have worked alone? Yes. But for the sake of the spread of the gospel and the establishment of the church after his ascension into heaven Jesus needed to build a team.
Early on he confronted a number of undistinguished men—men whom we would most likely not have recruited according to our standards of success. The gospel writers tell us their names and, in the case of five of them, their occupations. Four were seasoned fishermen, one was a hated tax collector. Not a likely pool of talent for a worldwide mission. One of them is identified as a thief and traitor.
Why then did Jesus choose them for his team? One reason was their friendship and companionship during three years of homelessness and loneliness. Another was for their help in his preaching, teaching and healing. Eventually, it turned out that they were the corps God used to spread the gospel.
We look for clues about how Jesus trained them. Basically, he wanted them to learn to live by faith. He wanted them to focus on God’s kingdom, not that of the Jews. Naturally, his team was alternately confused, surprised, disappointed and defeated. Despite their lack of understanding about his mission, Jesus never gave up on them, except for Judas.
Jesus was not a Lone Ranger evangelist, teacher and healer. He needed a team and so do we. Walking the Jesus walk means we learn to work with and depend on others for our spiritual growth. We learn patience and forgiveness. We learn to trust people with our needs and problems. We are not in the game of life alone. We can’t run through all the opposing tacklers without some blockers. God puts us on teams for our good—our spouses and children, fellow church members, and people in the community. Just as Jesus did, we also need their friendship and companionship.
Prayer: God, help me to be a team player for Jesus. I want to join my heart and hands with those who love you, that together with them I might be stronger in my Christian faith and work than by trying to stand by myself.
Day Ten
Jesus preached the good news
Matthew 4:12-17
Our word “gospel” is the traditional word to describe what Jesus talked about and what the apostles later preached. When we read in newer translations and paraphrases that he preached the good news, we impose a modern, more readable concept on the word used by the writers who wrote the original Jesus stories.
The New Testament writers took a commonly used word and gave it a Christian spin. It was a Greek word used when someone ran into town and said the army had won a battle. Amplified, it became any message of joy, or good news.
So, Jesus launched his career by coming to Capernaum with good news, or gospel. Why did the writers describe his message in such glowing terms? Jesus did not come to town to announce that the Roman conquerors had been defeated. In fact, he reiterated again and again that his good news was not earthly but heavenly. It was about God’s kingdom, not man’s.
His proclamation was good news because he announced liberation from sin, forgiveness by God, and a new community of faith and obedience that lived by completely different standards. Contemporary religious, social and political culture was turned upside down by such news, especially because the one who brought it claimed that he had come from heaven. Good news from Jesus meant bad news for the religious hierarchy and hypocritical, self-righteous people.
Now that’s really good news. But Jesus completely reversed the common understanding of things when he explained that the good news from heaven would cost him his life. The kingdom way was the way of the cross, not the way of political, military and religious power.
However, in the towns and villages and along the highways and byways, many people did in fact rejoice because good news had arrived from heaven. People of faith looking for God’s promised Messiah welcomed him. Jesus’ news reverberated in their hearts with a heavenly beat.
Walking the Jesus way calls us to be bearers of good news. Jesus lived, died and rose again to open heaven’s gates to all who believe. Our Christian lives are meant to be billboards announcing good news. Our words are intended to instruct others in how to find the key to heaven. Like Jesus, we must make the words of eternal life available to all.
Prayer: Thank you, heavenly Father, for the good news of Jesus that saves my soul. May I be a consistent bearer of the good news of Jesus to those who are defeated and discouraged.
Day Eleven
Jesus taught with authority
Mark 1:21-22; Luke 4:22-37; John 7:14-17
People look for religious authority anywhere they can find it, from books, sermons, videos, sacred scriptures, personal gurus and holy women and men. Confusion reigns in the search for truth. Wars based on different religious authorities mar the records of human history.
Within the relatively small circle in which Jesus traveled and taught, authority rested pretty much with the established Jewish experts and their interpretations of the laws of Moses and traditions handed down over hundreds of years. Yet even within this sphere there was no unanimity of thought, so many debates raged over minute matters. So much so that Jesus charged the leaders with straining gnats and swallowing camels.
Ordinary folks peppered with this kind of teaching woke up one day to find a new kind of teacher in their midst, a man who spoke with authority. Jesus did not hem and haw. He did not say, “Rabbi so and so says this, but rabbi so and so says that.” He spoke directly without equivocation, or theological subtleties.
Soon not only common people but also those in charge of teaching them saw the difference. They challenged Jesus to reveal the source of his authority. If it was from heaven, they were in trouble. Jesus answered them with a question of his own, and they fled because they refused to acknowledge his deity.
We Christians believe Jesus is the truth and therefore he spoke the truth. We believe that Almighty God authorized what Jesus said. God spoke from heaven and told people to listen to Jesus. In our day, as in his, people refuse to believe and obey Jesus.
Walking the Jesus way means taking a tough and often unpopular stance on the issue of religious authority. While we listen and learn what we can about different religions, we never compromise the truth we find in Jesus. Because he was authoritative, so must his followers be, albeit with grace and love.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I want to be as authoritative as you were, in the best way, so help me to grow in both grace and knowledge. Help me to engage others lovingly and truthfully for your sake.
Day Twelve
Jesus healed the sick
Matthew 8:5-13; 14:34-36; 15:29-31
Our culture confronts sickness with an overwhelming array of weapons and treatments. New technologies, equipment and drugs arrive virtually every day. Our costs of healing the sick mount accordingly. People face astronomical medical bills.
Health has seized the media like an onslaught of locusts, and when we look at the Jesus stories we find something just like our contemporary media frenzy. People flocked to him for healing, as if he were the latest medical discovery.
Purveyors of food, natural remedies and drugs vie competitively for our dollars. But in A.D. 30 no such plethora of expensive treatments existed. People were at the mercy of practitioners of all sorts of alleged cures. They crowded after miracle workers. They flocked to the supposedly healing waters. Many doctored for years without results.
Jesus entered this miserable scene like a laser beam. Moved with compassion, he healed by word and touch. He healed a dazzling array of illnesses and ailments, from leprosy to blindness. He healed people who had suffered for a lifetime. He healed people because he loved them and hurt for them. He acted because of their terrible needs and sometimes on the evidence of faith. Consequently, people thronged to be near him and to touch him.
Sometimes Jesus distanced himself from the mobs of people seeking cures. But he was never far from crowds of suffering people. His mission included healing as well as teaching. He told his disciples that his miracles proved his deity. His healing was God-centered, not something he bragged about.
Walking the Jesus way compels us to serve and comfort the sick. We can be Jesus for many people who need emotional and spiritual wholeness as well as physical healing. Jesus empowers us to be companions, friends, healers and comforters. The Holy Spirit gifts some to heal. Jesus calls all of us to find his touch because it opens doors to God’s love and care. In a world surrounded by medical technology and professionals, the personal touch is often the key to physical, emotional and spiritual healing.
Prayer: O Lord, open my heart to the needs of the sick and chronically ill. May I respond with love and care to those in hospitals, to people taking cancer treatments, and to those confined to nursing homes.
Day Thirteen
Jesus cast out demons
Matthew 4: 23-24; 8:28-34; 12:22-29; 17:14-20
The Jesus stories include an astonishing number of encounters with demons. The land and the people were infested with them. People lived in dread of them. They believed Satan had his legions of emissaries to inflict woeful pain and suffering.
Many people think that talk about demons is pure superstition, fit only for the prescientific, medieval mind. They charge that people who believe in demons are guilty of intellectual obscurantism. Surely, they say, what Jesus confronted was mental illness, not real spiritual beings controlled by Satan.
Two thousand years removed from the scene, we cannot possibly diagnose someone’s condition. Instead, we accept at face value what our eye-witness writers told us about Jesus. He regularly cast out demons and set people free. He spoke to demons and demons answered him. We have to decide. Is this all made up, or did it really happen as the writers say it did?
I accept the reality of the spirit world and of the powers of darkness, as do many brothers and sisters in Christ in Asia and Africa. I believe Satan exists, that he tempted Jesus, and that he tried to thwart the salvation mission of Jesus. The three-year record of Jesus shows him constantly engaging demons. He also empowered his disciples to exorcise demons.
Jesus cast them out because people suffered under their power. He cast them out to show that he is stronger than Satan. He cast them out to heal and to confirm his deity and divine mission. If people choose to cut this part of the record, or revise it according to modern insights, we lose both the passion and power of Jesus.
To walk the Jesus walk, we must engage in ministries to afflicted people.
We cannot be too quick to pull the trigger and try to analyze certain symptoms as demonic in origin. Great care and wisdom must be used.
Walking the Jesus walk requires us to be sensitive and loving. We face the reality of the demonic as Jesus did, but we do not panic. We resort to the power of prayer. We consult wise counselors who know something about Satanic abuse and oppression. We cannot flippantly consign suffering, hurting people to the dustbin by denying the reality of demonic attacks.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you defeated Satan. I pray for wisdom to discern demonic influence without fear. Give me confidence in your victory as I pray for those hurting under Satan’s influence.
Day Fourteen
Jesus fed the hungry
Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39; John 6:1-14
After awesome, terrifying Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in November, 2013, hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless and starving. Roughly 90 percent of Tacloban was destroyed. Journalists described the devastation as, "off the scale, and apocalyptic.” Thanks to television, scenes of mobs of hungry people fighting for food thrown from helicopters became commonplace and numbing. In well-fed America we wince at the plight of these desperate people and we give generously to feed them.
Starvation was not endemic in the Palestine of Jesus’ day. He did not confront long feeding lines of thousands of people standing forlornly with their bowls. On the other hand, neither did his society provide food kitchens and food pantries for the hungry. They were left to fend for themselves, sometimes eking out a sparse existence because of droughts, crop failures and poverty.
Jesus was well acquainted with these people because he traversed the hills and valleys. He lived a hand-to-mouth existence as well. Jesus and his disciples knew what it was to be hungry. He knew poverty first-hand, not theoretically. He knew farming on hard soil and the apparent capriciousness of rain and harvests.
The poor and hungry flocked to Jesus because they sensed that he cared and that he was one of them. Rather than send them away, he fed them. He fed them by his unique power because there were no 7-Elevens or food pantries, just some fish and bread brought by a little boy.
What amazing opportunities we have to walk the Jesus way to help feed the hungry nearby and around the world. American Christians have more than enough to eat. Our garbage cans could easily feed the five thousand, as it were. Therefore, it is imperative that we follow Jesus and model his feeding of the hungry. By so doing, we show not only that we care, but also that Jesus cares.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, when I thank you for my food help me to understand that millions go hungry every day. Show me what to do, and how to do it, so that I might be Jesus to these people.
Day Fifteen
Jesus paid taxes
Matthew 17:24-27; 22:15-22
For as far back into history as we can peer, taxes have been a sore subject and a cruel burden. Despots from time immemorial have feasted on taxes. When ancient Israel demanded that the prophet Samuel give them a king, he warned them about onerous taxes.
Skip a thousand years and you find the people still chafing under taxes, this time exacted by their Roman overlords. In this provocative environment Jesus grew up and lived as a taxpayer. In fact, he was born in the city where Joseph and Mary had gone to pay their taxes. The Romans fixed taxes every fourteen years based on the census.
Jesus could easily have been tax-exempt according to our tax laws. He definitely met the requirements of a not-for-profit charity. After leaving his carpenter’s job he could have pleaded poverty. There’s no reason to think that he had squirreled away a nest egg in Nazareth.
Prevailing religious and political stances motivated hatred for the Romans and their taxes. Messianic hopes centered on deliverance from such burdens. Into this milieu Jesus stepped and his critics tried to trap him into making a false step. If Jesus, in effect, voted for taxes he would be a traitor to his people. If he voted against paying taxes to the Romans, they would arrest him.
Jesus neatly sidestepped their hypocritical question and gave us a principle to live by. We may regard our tax rates as unfair. We wish our leaders would be more circumspect in the use of our money. But whatever our political and economic convictions, living the Jesus way requires that we pay our taxes honestly.
Many tax dodges tempt us. Every year when we complete Federal Tax Form 1040 we may conveniently forget some income and add some fictitious deductions. When we do such things, we do not walk as Jesus walked. If we claim to be his followers, we will be scrupulously honest in paying our taxes.
It’s hard to accept the fact that walking the Jesus walk includes paying taxes. By so doing we affirm our loyalty to Jesus and set an example to others. Walking the Jesus walk includes so much more than going to church on Sundays.
Prayer: Lord, keep me honest when paying my taxes. Keep the people who use my money honest as well.
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