Thoughts after homework

There’s nothing quite like watching snow fall on beautiful grounds from the safe warm inside of a castle. Ok, “castle” may be a strong term for where I am – at least as an American steeped in fairy tales and Disney movies – but Kastely Zichy is a beautiful place to be in the wintertime. Sunday afternoon, after several hours of working on our Gospel of Matthew outlines, my roommate Jemma and I went out to play in the snow. There were a few others already on the top of a hill, sledding down on trash bags. We don’t have a whole lot to work with here, but we do pretty well with what we’ve got! It was funny to think about… just a few weeks ago I was in Oregon, working in a cubicle and coming home to a fairly quiet house – surrounded by people I knew. Just a few days ago I was sliding down a hill on a trash bag, surrounded by people I don’t really know, but I know something in them. They are here for the same purpose, to purposefully set aside time to draw closer to God, and because of that it doesn’t matter that Pieroska grew up in Hungary, Maksym came just last week from the Ukraine, and Jemma is remarkably good with snow for someone more used to the blistering heat of Australia.

And then after dinner it was back to the Matthew outline... well... after dinner and some hang-out time and talking with my parents over the telephone. The outline is a lot of work. I’m really not sure I’m doing it right – but the goal of it is not to do it perfectly, it’s to better understand what is said about Jesus and what Jesus said. I feel like I’m reading it with new eyes. The gospel of Matthew shows Jesus as King, who came to bring us into his kingdom. Jesus lays it all out – to follow him is not to lead a comfortable life (wherever you are), but it is to follow the way that leads to life. It is to build your life on a foundation of stone that is firm and strong and can weather the storms that will come whether you are ready or not. Jesus said that if you follow him you will be mocked, hated, perhaps persecuted. But he also said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus did the hardest part for us. He made it possible for us to follow him. He made it so that we don’t have to face life all alone. He considered it less important that he was High King of heaven than that he loved us and we needed him. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – that’s what it takes to enter the Kingdom of the King – the righteousness and glory of God. Because of this, “He made Him who knew no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

I heard this song for the first time here at CCBCE, but the ideas in it are certainly not new… how powerful to think about this... that it was the King of Glory who stepped down from heaven for me, for you. He chose humiliation rather than leave us in sin. He chose to take on humanity, knowing what it would bring him. The humiliation was not his glory – he will come again in glory. But he chose to take that on as glory – not because he needs us, but because he loves us.

 

See His Love (by Tim Hughes)

See his love nailed to a cross  Perfect and blameless life given as sacrifice  See Him there all in the name of Love  Broken yet glorious, all for the sake of us  Chorus This is Jesus in His Glory  King of heaven, dying for me  It is finished, He has done it  Death is beaten, Heaven beckons me  Greater love no one could ever show   Mercy so undeserved, freedom I should not know  All my sin, all of my hidden shame  Died with Him on the cross, eternity won for us  Such a love, such love Such a love is this for me