Pastor's Column 3/26/2023

PASTOR’S COLUMN

“But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can build it in three days? But when Jesus said “this temple,” He meant His own body.” John 2:18-21, NLT

5th Sunday in Lent - “Raising Up Life!”

Following the life of Jesus in the Scriptures, always provides a lesson in how life moves from one dimension to another. Such lessons are important for our continuing Christian formation; and they are fundamental to the understanding of the period of Lent. It is during this Christian season that we open ourselves to new possibilities in our relationship with Christ. Perhaps there is nothing more engaging, than to be a companion with Jesus as he makes His way on the road to Resurrection. Of course, the Apostle Paul reminds us that there is a final enemy we must contend with along that path; that is death, whom Paul calls the “last enemy.” (I Corinthians 15:26, NKJV). In the same stroke of his pen, Paul tells us unequivocally, that “death will be destroyed.” Early in John’s Gospel, we see Jesus confronted by religious leaders who questioned His authority. In the ancient era in which they lived; people believed only some miraculous, unexplained event could validate the credibility of a holy person. Jesus debunked their theory, by giving them a veiled warning about His resurrection. Jesus referred to Himself as a temple, but His critics assumed he meant the Herodian Temple, that took 46 years to be constructed. They couldn’t understand how Jesus could “raise up” a Temple in 3 days. It was later, in the glow of the Resurrection, that the disciples “remembered” what Jesus had told them of His redemptive death and glorious Resurrection. On the third day He was raised again! Our faith in Jesus Christ is a constant reminder, that in Him, life is raised up each day. A Christian brother once told me, he didn’t see the point of Lent. I asked him, “How much time do you spend with Jesus?” He had no answer. Disciples spend time with Jesus, and learn much!