Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
Does the struggle of life ever make you weary? On Tuesday I read a devotion from a friend
who was weary of today’s political climate.
He described today’s political scene as a place where some politicians
ignore valid questions, call the person with an opposing viewpoint names, trash
the reputation of the person with a different opinion, and then declare victory
in the matter without addressing the problem.
While that may not always be the case, it is too often the way public
discourse seems to happen today. My
friend was weary. I confess to a
weariness of political name calling too.
But, that is just one example of how the sin and the evil in our world
can weigh on us.
Do you think Jesus ever got weary? Time and again Jesus reached out with
teaching and miracles to create faith.
Time and again Jesus reached out in love and mercy to the lowest in
society, and to the leaders. Yet the
people did not seem to get it, at least not at first. So, as we are told in Luke Jesus set his face
toward Jerusalem, toward His looming cross. (Luke 9:51)
This Lent we have watched in our Wednesday services as
Jesus reaches out in love, in forgiveness, in mercy. Jesus is calling the people of God’s promise,
and Jesus is calling the whole world, to receive the love of their Creator and
Savior. We have seen Jesus reach out to
a paralytic (Luke 5), to a tax collector – Levi (Luke 5), and to a woman known
to be sinful and who was therefore rejected by others (Luke 7). We see Jesus reach out and even eat with a
group of “tax collectors and sinners.” (Luke 15) Finally, we will watch and marvel at Jesus’
mercy for chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, who responds to Jesus in repentance
and faith. (Luke 19)
Jesus reached out in love and mercy, yet, time and again
the people in Jesus’ day doubt, they grumble, they turn away, they react in
anger that Jesus is loving and merciful.
No wonder we hear Jesus exclaim, 34 "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! " (Luke 13:34) Do you think Jesus was weary? I do.
Sigh!
So, do you ever get weary in your spiritual walk, in your
journey of faith with our Lord? Do you
grow tired of being faced with the same trials and temptations day after
day? Do you find yourself at the end of
your rope wondering where God is in your struggle, in your suffering? Do you wait and long for the time that all
things will be made new?
While Jesus did grow weary because of the lack of faith
from those He came to save, He nevertheless persevered and continued in His
mission to save the world. Jesus struggle
reached its peak in the last 24 hours of His life with His prayer in the
garden, His betrayal, His trials before the various leaders of the day, and His
crucifixion. Finally Jesus cries out on
the cross, “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). But, did you know that when Jesus spoke these
words He was quoting a Psalm? And did
you know that this Psalm tells why Jesus persevered, in spite of His weariness? Listen.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving
me, so far from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you
do not answer, by night, and am not silent. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy
One; you are the praise of Israel. 4 In
you our fathers put their trust; they trusted
and you delivered them. 5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
In the disappointments, the trials, in the agony of life
and death, Jesus trusted God, His heavenly Father. So, in spite of weariness that even affected
Jesus, He continued to fulfill His mission as Messiah and Savior for the world.
Maybe you also grow weary of 6 long weeks of Lent, weary
of looking at our sins and failures, weary of looking at Jesus’ repeated call
to repentance, before we finally get to celebrate the joy and victory of Jesus’
resurrection at Easter. But, these times
of struggle, times of failure, or times of weariness do happen. Life is full of struggle and trouble because
we live in a sinful world. But, when our
troubles cause us to be tired and weary in our walk of faith, like Jesus we can
trust God who has delivered His people in the past, and Who is delivering us
through the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus, today.
A Child of God, Trusting in our Faithful, Loving God,
Through the Weariness of Life,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Here are some
pictures from Confirmation Classes, 3-27-2019.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pKpJDiFFo5bL2aXN7
P.P.S. Here are some pictures from the Lenten Meal,
3-27-2019. https://photos.app.goo.gl/A4tAoKMT5uZ8kAdFA
P.P.P.S. Here are
some pictures from our 2019 Shane Woods Ice Fishing Outing. https://photos.app.goo.gl/aJMiU1AreiDs6Dr1A
P.P.P.P.S. The
Frontiersman wrote an article about the St. John Shane Woods Ice Fishing
Outing. Here is a link. https://www.frontiersman.com/news/fishing-for-bible-boy-memorial-ice-fishing-trip-helps-keep/article_45eb6620-552b-11e9-88b5-13dd737c8338.html
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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am sending
these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends
whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly adding new names of friends and
members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)
However, if you do not want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and
I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.
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