What are you saying 'yes' to?
Romans 5:19 "For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one shall many be made righteous"
So an odyssey began. One that led one righteous innocent man to die on a cross of sin and shame to save me. I said it, out loud even. "I was innocent of the charges, I had done nothing wrong, I didn't crucify him." I was guilty on all accounts. Made a sinner since that faithful day, that day before man counted time. I was made guilty that day when bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, the perfect help meet made a fatal decision. I was made guilty when the man looked upon the woman who was made only for him, said ..."yes". Innocence was lost for us all that day when the first man was obedient to his perfect mate but disobedient to his maker.
That word, 'yes' is a tricky one. We say 'yes' many times when we really want to say no. We feel so obligated to say yes to everyone; to please everyone, to strip ourselves in our obedience to 'yes'. As a parent, you will remember around the age of two, when your sweet little babies learnt the word 'no!' We were at our wits end when they say no, even to the things they needed. We encourage 'yes's', we encourage obedience in our children. They need to be obedient to us,to their teachers, to adults, to the Sunday school teacher, to the choir director and of course to God! Many times- in that order. Obedience for me comes with a caveat. Yes- doesn't always signal obedience.
Jesus's obedience is hard for me to accept; that being fully man and fully God has my mind saying 'no'. I can't wrap my head around it. I understand most things in theory, I understand the concept of being God and man- I understand that heaven wasn't empty - I understand that Jesus was born of a woman - I get it- in theory. Here's where I have an issue- being God with this plan of his - Jesus's 'obedience' didn't seem to me like much of a choice between that 'yes' and 'no'. John 1 is interesting to me in this regard " 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him: and without him was not anything made that was made. 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shinneth in darkness;and the darkness comprehended it not.God made everything that was made, everything, he is the light and life of us all, he is God and he is the Word. He came among us, yet we couldn't recognize or accept him. All those years spent outside of Christ was me being on the wrong side of history.
But.....
being this God and being this man .................... at once..........................was there really a conflict? Wasn't Jesus's always extremely focused on his mission? Did he at any moment have any wavering at what he was truly here to do?
Luke 22:41"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed. 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.44. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
Yes.
.....being fully God and fully man made his 'yes' harder; much harder and that is truly what I can't wrap my head around. The fact that he was fully God. That part. Just that part. That's were the true obedience comes in. He made everything in the world and he subjected himself to being crucified by the very people that he made. The fact that there was so much power in him, the fact that he could have called 10,000 angels, the fact that he could have voiced the words 'no' is what is powerful about his yes. If he was fully man, I would have thought him strong, a martyr for his cause, a prophet, a John the Baptist - a man being obedient by a mere 'yes' he was not.
Luke 22:43, says an angel appeared and strengthened him, that struck me the level of conflict that was in him, how much agony he was in that prayer alone wasn't enough- he needed heavenly help. We, however, mere mortals, man only, try to solve our inner conflicts on our own.
God's obedience was by no means easy, being fully God and man. Our obedience, is no less hard. We are Ad'Am's' in our own right. We were made to have dominion on the earth. We were made a little lower than the angels, we are heirs, we have greater works to perform- God said it and he did some awesome things. Yet we are also humans walking and moving in a physical body trapped in a world with people handing us their brand of knowledge of good and evil. How easy it is to say yes, how easy it is to hand off our yes's to our help meets. How easy is it to just say the 'serpent beguiled me' and I did eat.
Luke 22: 40 .... ".Pray that ye enter not into temptation."
Being obedient doesn't always mean saying 'yes' as we have been taught, many times it includes saying no. Many will need to retrain their brains, including me. Say no to sin and shame, say no to our desires, say no our help meets, saying no to the world. Then in obedience, we say 'yes' to Christ. Just yes.
Luke 22: 31 "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you like wheat: 23 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethen." Isn't this a comfort and a word for us all.
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| Peace |
Related Readings : Luke 22
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