-Find the text here-
This was our text for one of our quiet times this weekend. I pulled it out of my folder and groaned: How many times have I done this passage? Just in the past calendar year alone, even, I feel like I've done it at least twice. But then I said, Okay God. I'll give this a shot... (Which, would have been harder to do had one of my students not earlier shared a similar experience with us. :p)
Ten minutes later, I was frantically scribbling all over my paper in pink, purple, orange...running out of time, torn between dismay that I had to leave and anxiousness to go tell people!
Behold my (addended) scribbles:
Verse 16 is usually noted when your witness is rejected, and is used to say that it's not you they are rejecting, but Christ. So don't take it personally. But we do. We do, and even if we know that, it can still hurt. But the verbs here are all applied to *both* Jesus and me. "Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me." Jesus is WITH US in our experience of rejection. Is that not what Jesus came to earth for? To know our experiences? To live our life as we live it, to become identified with humanity so as to redeem it? He is WITH US in our experiences of rejection. He experiences that feeling with us.
I love verse 18: In English: "It was awesome guys, seriously."
Verse 19: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes...and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." I have authority. Why do I ignore it? Why don't I use it? Why do I live and lead as though I have none? And it was GIVEN. It was his to give. And he gives it to me. (Why, escapes me...) And there's nothing to suggest it was earned, either.
I was pretty sold back on verse 16. I have it boxed in several times over on my sheet. But here is where my mind/heart gets really blown:
Verse 23and 24: Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
First, there's a quiet awe: It's intimate. He's sharing a secret with his disciples. He's marveling at his sons' growth. (And let me tell you, as a leader, it's such a warm, unique experience. To see "my" freshman, now a senior, taking charge of chapter time is one thing. But today I got to pick up my students' commitment cards. I haven't read them all yet, but glancing at them, I am so...tickled for them. Anyway, back to Luke) It's that kind of thing that just..bonds them. At least for me, as someone whose love language is words of affirmation, that speaks volumes of quiet love to me. And I ask, Intimacy? From going out and working in towns and getting down and dirty with it's people for the sake of the message? Intimacy from that? Yea. Yea. (Shared experience-->intimacy)
And then, the smallest thing that just, to me, sent echoes through all the other things I've scribbled about, and really made everything just click for me. THE VERB TENSES, PEOPLE. Three. little. letters. The verb is see. The verb is not saw. "Blessed are the eyes that _see_ what you _see_." You see it now. You didn't just see it then. But you continue to see it. You are seeing it now. Something changed during that experience. Something fundamental happened then, whose effects are lasting. Ongoing revelation.
Yea, as a staffworker, I'm going to be rejected. I'm going to get looks like, 'You do what?' I'm going to get doors shut in my faces, and I'm going to try really hard to do awesome things on campus that are just gonna fail. But Jesus is going to be there with me. And he's going to rejoice with me, saying, yea, that was awesome. And he's going to change me, even as he changes my campus. And it's going to be beautiful.
This was our text for one of our quiet times this weekend. I pulled it out of my folder and groaned: How many times have I done this passage? Just in the past calendar year alone, even, I feel like I've done it at least twice. But then I said, Okay God. I'll give this a shot... (Which, would have been harder to do had one of my students not earlier shared a similar experience with us. :p)
Ten minutes later, I was frantically scribbling all over my paper in pink, purple, orange...running out of time, torn between dismay that I had to leave and anxiousness to go tell people!
Behold my (addended) scribbles:
Verse 16 is usually noted when your witness is rejected, and is used to say that it's not you they are rejecting, but Christ. So don't take it personally. But we do. We do, and even if we know that, it can still hurt. But the verbs here are all applied to *both* Jesus and me. "Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me." Jesus is WITH US in our experience of rejection. Is that not what Jesus came to earth for? To know our experiences? To live our life as we live it, to become identified with humanity so as to redeem it? He is WITH US in our experiences of rejection. He experiences that feeling with us.
I love verse 18: In English: "It was awesome guys, seriously."
Verse 19: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes...and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." I have authority. Why do I ignore it? Why don't I use it? Why do I live and lead as though I have none? And it was GIVEN. It was his to give. And he gives it to me. (Why, escapes me...) And there's nothing to suggest it was earned, either.
I was pretty sold back on verse 16. I have it boxed in several times over on my sheet. But here is where my mind/heart gets really blown:
Verse 23and 24: Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
First, there's a quiet awe: It's intimate. He's sharing a secret with his disciples. He's marveling at his sons' growth. (And let me tell you, as a leader, it's such a warm, unique experience. To see "my" freshman, now a senior, taking charge of chapter time is one thing. But today I got to pick up my students' commitment cards. I haven't read them all yet, but glancing at them, I am so...tickled for them. Anyway, back to Luke) It's that kind of thing that just..bonds them. At least for me, as someone whose love language is words of affirmation, that speaks volumes of quiet love to me. And I ask, Intimacy? From going out and working in towns and getting down and dirty with it's people for the sake of the message? Intimacy from that? Yea. Yea. (Shared experience-->intimacy)
And then, the smallest thing that just, to me, sent echoes through all the other things I've scribbled about, and really made everything just click for me. THE VERB TENSES, PEOPLE. Three. little. letters. The verb is see. The verb is not saw. "Blessed are the eyes that _see_ what you _see_." You see it now. You didn't just see it then. But you continue to see it. You are seeing it now. Something changed during that experience. Something fundamental happened then, whose effects are lasting. Ongoing revelation.
Yea, as a staffworker, I'm going to be rejected. I'm going to get looks like, 'You do what?' I'm going to get doors shut in my faces, and I'm going to try really hard to do awesome things on campus that are just gonna fail. But Jesus is going to be there with me. And he's going to rejoice with me, saying, yea, that was awesome. And he's going to change me, even as he changes my campus. And it's going to be beautiful.
