Jesus created disturbances where ever he went.  He spoke and crowds came to listen.  Many left in awe, others left in anger.  He spoke in parables and many could not understand what he was saying including the disciples.  He ate with sinners, healed those condemned as sinners and outcasts, the blind, lepers, cripples he even ate with those dreaded IRS agents of the day, the tax collectors. Jesus was certainly not an ordinary man.
Then we have the disciples crossing the sea and a storm hits and threatens to swamp the boat and what does Jesus do he commands the winds and the waves to “be still”.  No ordinary man.

In his sermon on the mount and the beatitudes this “extraordinary” man turns our understanding of what it means to be blessed upside down.  The poor, the meek, etc.  But ultimately everything comes down to this statement that Jesus makes that many today do not want to hear just as many turned away back then.  Jesus says to all of us, “I am the only way.”  He is the bread of life, and if we feed on this bread we will live forever.

We want ordinary bread, we want Jesus and our own way, we want to worship God and our idols of wealth, status, power, freedom, happiness, and fame.

At some point we are  faced with having to answer this question, do we want to follow the one that God the Father sent?   We have to decide do we believe and will we follow with singular devotion this most extraordinary man.  Belief means making a commitment, belief means faithfully following Jesus with singular devotion.

This week we begin, the New Testament, the next chapter or series in our journey through The Story(Bible), the season of Lent.  Before I begin here are some thoughts to guide us not just this week but over the next 5 weeks as we begin our Lenten series entitled “Understanding Jesus”.

Lent is often described as a journey, a time of self searching. But Lent can also be thought of in terms of truth.

In Lent, the masks we put on to protect us from God’s penetrating stare are stripped away.  In Lent, our lives are grasped by the power of God’s truth, which first strips us bare of our self-justifying lies and second assures us that God truly loves us in spite of our failings.  Join us during this season of Lent as we seek to reveal God’s truth by:

un-Masking who Christ is – so we can more fully know Christ.

   un-Masking of Ourselves, so we can be fully present in community

   un-Masking of Others, so we can remove the expectations we place on others and allow them to be who they are, loved by God and by us.

We begin this week with the Birth of a King, king Jesus.  A couple thoughts to ponder as you read chapter 22 of The Story.   This birth story which is so ingrained into our lives, a babe lying in a manger, the crowded inn, a carpenter and his young wife, Mary.  Is very familiar to us for it is the Christmas story and for at least a month every year we remember through songs and words this familiar story, perhaps it has become too familiar.

Our text this week comes to us from John 1, and it to should be familiar to us,  “in the beginning” for this is how this book that we love, the Bible begins, “in the beginning”.   A reminder that w are not to get to comfortable with this image of a new born child, this royal birth.  When things in our lives become familiar and comfortable we settle into believing we already have all the understanding we need, we know the answer.  When we do this we tend to miss God in our midst.

A couple thoughts to ponder. “In the beginning” reminds us that Jesus was there with Abraham, with Moses at the burning bush, wrestling with Jacob at the river, with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire, and with you and I today.

Second, there was no room in the inn(s) in Bethlehem for this common little babe to be born.  Is there room in your life?  As I look at how crowded my calendar is ……… I wonder if Joseph came knocking what would I say?

Lastly, this was the child of a carpenter a common man, a reminder that Christ comes to us in the common every day reality of life.  Perhaps is a worldly king came calling we would clear our calendar, perhaps.  But Jesus reminded his disciples that they saw him when they touched the lives of those in need around them, the hunger, the naked, the cold.

Here is the question this week, how would you go about maintaining your faith if you moved to a new state, or even to a new country with totally different customs?   The book of Daniel offers us not only a clear picture of God’s Upper Story but shows us what our Lower Story might look like given that we have a clear understanding of God’s story for those that are willing to stand firm in our faith and our belief in God.  As we shall see this week this is no easy task, people and circumstances with try to trip us up.  Being faithful in a foreign land might be difficult but I wonder if it is really no more difficult than being faithful in the world today?

  In the early formation of our nation George Washington had the opportunity to become king of the burgeoning nation.  But given the young nation’s experience with England and because he had a robust prayer life he knew there was only one King, so he declined the offer. 

 The people of the land apparently knew the same.  “In a 1774 report to King George, the Governor of Boston noted: ”If you ask an American, who is his master? He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ.” The pre-war Colonial Committees of Correspondence soon made this the American motto: “No King but King Jesus.”[1]

 The story of God’s chosen people might have gone very differently had they chanted the same motto.  Instead, they wanted a king.  Over the period of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah there were thirty-eight kings.  Only five of them were good. Of the others a refrain heard throughout the Old Testament goes like this: “They did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  

 Prophets appeared exhorting the people to turn back to God. God spoke through one prophet—Isaiah—to tell the people of Judah that they would be captured and deported to Babylon but afterward he would bring them back home.  The purpose? “Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.  Then the whole human race will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 49:23).

 In Isaiah 53 the prophet depicts the coming Messiah. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53: 2, 3).  God did not want the people to miss him.  But they did.  And still do.

 Our nation would have gone a much different route had Washington agreed to be king.  But he seemed to know what many others didn’t.  When we displace God on the throne of our lives, the outcome will go horribly wrong.  But when we put God on the throne in our lives, we put ourselves in the best possible position for godly success. 

 Maybe our American ancestors knew the best way to start a revolution.  Adopt the motto “No King but King Jesus” in your life.  See what changes that ignites in your life.

The decisions you make and the actions you take affect those around you.

Rehoboam learned that lesson the hard way. Rehoboam followed his father Solomon to the throne of Israel. Solomon had a high calling but low standards and he had exacted harsh labor on the people while biulding his palace and kingdom. A delegation, led by Jeroboam, went to the new king and asked him to take away the harshness, to give the people a break.

In private, Rehoboam asked his elder council what he should do. They advised that he become a servant to the people, lighten their load, and the people would always be faithful servants to the king.

His personal circle of younger friends gave him just the opposite advice. They told him to work the people harder. He liked that idea, told the delegation his plans, and wound up with a divided kingdom.

At one time or another all of us are impacted by someone else’s decisions or actions. Here is the Upper Story when we suffer the negative consequences of another’s wrongheaded decision, God can redeem the situation. Although Rehoboam wound up ruling only two tribes—Judah and Benjamin (as opposed to Jeroboam’s rule over ten tribes)—it was through Judah that Jesus came to us. God can work, and often does what seems to us as his best work, in situations that seem the most difficult.

We should always consider how our decisions and actions affect those around us. In “systems thinking” it is said that “you are the highest leverage point in any system you are in.” More simply stated, you can make a difference. You are more “powerful” than you think you are––no matter your station in life.

Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s use of the South African rugby team to help heal a nation divided by apartheid. In one scene of the movie he explains to a team member, “Reconciliation starts here. Forgiveness starts here.” He knew his actions would have a ripple effect on those around him. Eventually the blessing of that “ripple” washed across the nation.

Rehoboam made a bad decision, but it was really his father Solomon’s actions that rippled outward and divided the kingdom. He forsook the one true God and chased after other “gods,” he neglected to serve the people and instead forced them to work harder, taxing them cruelly, and he was focused on himself, as reflected in his accumulation of wives, gold, and horses in direct disobedience to God’s counsel and words of instruction in Dueteronomy. His son Rehoboam was merely living out consequence of those decisions and actions, following the example that his father had set.

Learn from Solomon’s mistake. Love God first. Love others second. And serve those that do not yet know God. You will be surprised to see how far your ripple will travel.

Questions for the week:
Consider journaling your response to these questions
1. We may not bow down to pagan gods, but many things in our lives compete for our worship. What things in your life compete for your devotion to God?

2. Scripture reminds us that our actions will have a ripple affect to the seventh generation. Are your actions and choices impacting those around you in such a way that they are becoming willing followers of Christ, active not only in the church but also in their daily walk with the Lord?