Everybody is Somebody’s Pastor – Part 2

This is a short and sweet meditation.  I pair it with John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;  and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.”

 

There is no better example to follow than the one Jesus gave us, but my daughter taught me a lesson this week.  She had been walking around all morning singing to herself, “I want to walk… walk like Jesus…” and I was doing my daily routine and chores around the house. My daughter began shadowing me everywhere I went.  She was following me whenever I went in the kitchen.  She followed me into the laundry room.  It almost seemed like a game for her, so I finally asked her, “what are you doing?”  She said, “I’m following you!”  I wanted her to re-think her choice to copy everything I’m doing, so I said, “Aren’t you supposed to follow Jesus, like your song says?”  She paused for no more than a second, and said, “Yes, but I can’t SEE Jesus, but I DO SEE you, so I have to follow you!” 

 

Have you ever been taught a valuable lesson by a 4 year old?  It’s humbling, and exciting at the same time.  For that moment, she had a better understanding of my responsibilities than I did.  We all need to understand that we have a higher calling, and a responsibility to let others see Jesus in us.  Sometimes it takes the faith of a child to make things crystal clear, but God works in mysterious ways.

 

Love in Christ,

Jesse

Frankincense, Gold & Myrrh

These are the gifts of the Magi.  That’s the first thing that comes to mind when we hear about frankincense, gold and myrrh, and that’s exactly what this weeks meditation is about.  Rather than prod at your brains by going through Jeremiah chapter 10 (which I suggest you read anyway), I want to talk about the meaning behind the gifts brought to Jesus by the Magi in Matthew 2:11,  “and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”

 

Why these gifts?  Why not a Playstation 3 or a flat screen TV?  Obviously, the technology didn’t exist, but why didn’t they give him a cow, a sheep, or any other gift?  There was good reason for the gifts that were brought to the boy, Jesus, and I’d like to briefly explore those reasons.

 

Frankincense was a key ingredient in many sacrificial offerings in the Old Testament. Frankincense is believed by herbalists to have calming, restorative, clarifying, and meditative properties.  It was believed by many to help carry prayers to heaven.  Think about Jesus in these terms.  Does he not have calming, restorative, clarifying and meditative properties?  As part of the body of Christ, we know Him to be the mediator between God and man.  He is our high priest.  This is exactly what the frankincense was brought to Jesus to represent.

 

Gold is still one of the most highly sought after currencies in the world.  Just turn on your radio or TV for 30 seconds, and you will hear about somebody who will pay top dollar for your gold.  It’s probably the most widely recognized currency across all cultural barriers and throughout all of history.  The gift of Gold is one that is clearly meant for someone of royalty.  This gift was to clearly illustrate to Jesus that he would become and forever remain King of Kings.

 

The Myrrh is by far the most intriguing gift to me.  Myrrh was used in embalming corpses.  Now, if somebody gave me some embalming fluid for Christmas, I would be a little freaked out.  That seems pretty morbid for a present.  However, it doesn’t take much thought to see why Myrrh was given to Jesus.  He was not only destined to be our high priest, and our king, but he was destined to die.  This is the path that was laid before Jesus when he was only a boy.  This is the culmination of all the hard work that He would put in on this Earth.  He would have to die.  He knew that would be the only way to gain eternity with His Father.  This is why we give gifts at Christmas.  This is the reason we live and breathe and have hope to share the same destiny with our Lord and Saviour.