Rivera Unexpected Jesus

How the Resurrected Christ Finds Us, Meets Us, Heals Us
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68359-655-4
Verlag: Lexham Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

The risen Jesus meets us in our mess Jesus shows up where we least expect him-to Mary Magdalene in the garden, to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, to Thomas when he is full of insecurity. Just as the resurrected Jesus surprised his disciples, he also surprises us today, showing up in the midst of our sorrows, uncertainties, and joys. In Unexpected Jesus, pastor Eric Rivera examines Jesus's appearances after his resurrection to show us how Jesus meets us today. Eric shares his own stories of God showing up amid financial uncertainty, pregnancy loss, a grim medical diagnosis within his family, and the unrest and uncertainty of 2020. Eric's insights will encourage readers as they look to meet God in their own times of uncertainty. The same Jesus who was present with his followers meets us in our mess today. When we feel confused or abandoned, Jesus finds us. When he arrives, the master teacher meets us with questions and guides us into a revelation of who he is. And as we walk with him, he heals us and is faithful in his promise to be with us always.

Eric Rivera is lead pastor and church planter, with his wife, Erikah, of The Brook, a multi-ethnic church in Chicago. He and Erikah are national speakers for FamilyLife's Weekend To Remember marriage getaways and contributors to FamilyLife's The Art of Parenting video series and The Story of Us couples devotional. Eric is the author of Christ is Yours: The Assurance of Salvation in the Puritan Theology of William Gouge.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rivera, Eric

Leseproben

2 When We Are Weeping: Jesus Comforts Us Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” —John 20:15 Late at night, I found myself on the kitchen floor, broken and weeping. I hardly had words to pray as I wrestled with fear and faith. I was overwhelmed with uncertainty. My wife Erikah was asleep in bed, and I had just tucked in our kids, fighting back tears with each prayer I prayed with them. For over a month, life had been a series of hospital visits and tests as doctors and neurologists worked to figure out what was causing Erikah to have episodes of pain and intense fatigue. What was causing these attacks that zapped her strength for hours or days at a time? On November 10, 2017, just a few days before Erikah’s birthday, she had spinal and neurological MRIs performed. The doctor told us she would call as soon as the results were in. We left the hospital concerned but trying to stay positive. The kids and I had a great idea to throw Erikah a surprise birthday party with a few of her friends that evening. We knew this would be refreshing to her after a stressful afternoon of testing. The kids planned to dress up like waiters at a high-end restaurant and serve their mami and friends that evening. She’d love it! We had made the twenty-minute drive home and pulled into the garage when Erikah’s phone rang. It was her doctor. She told Erikah that she needed to return to the hospital immediately and be admitted. The MRIs revealed serious concerns. She needed focused medical treatment and further testing. Canceling the birthday party was the least of our worries, but it felt like yet another disappointment. Upon returning to the hospital, she underwent further testing that confirmed the diagnosis: multiple sclerosis (MS). We had feared this outcome and prayed against it. But that day we received the diagnosis we had put in the “worst-case scenario” category when symptoms first surfaced. At the time, we wondered if life would ever be normal again. Neither my wife nor I knew how to process the news or the new reality. We were gripped by fear while trying our best to trust God. We held tightly to the rope of God’s goodness, but there were times it felt like the rope had been lathered with lotion. This is the tension that confronts us when what we know to be true of God does not appear to align with what we see with our eyes and feel in our hearts. “God, I know you are good and in control,” we prayed, “but this diagnosis doesn’t make sense.” Perhaps it’s not a diagnosis for you, but it could be the loss of a loved one, hitting a dead end in your career that makes you feel like a failure, being rejected by someone you care about, an unrealized dream, a straying child, or an unfulfilled yearning. We will all experience sorrow and loss and find our faith pushed to what seems to be its limits. What will we do when this happens? Where will we go? To whom will we turn when the messiness of life creates genuine anguish and mourning? Mary and Her Seven Demons Mary Magdalene knew life-altering sadness. She was a witness to her friend Jesus’s ruthless execution. She saw where his body was laid to rest and was left reeling from what she had just seen with her eyes and felt in her heart. But I imagine that her grief was far wider in scope and more cavernous in depth than the events of that grim Friday. Yet, vaster than her grief was the surpassing nature of God’s goodness. When she didn’t have words to pray or know what to do, Jesus would meet her in her mess. Magdala was a small town on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee known for its fishing industry. It was only a few miles from Capernaum, the village where Jesus often ministered. Also referred to as Magadan, it was likely the hometown of Mary, whom we often know as Mary Magdalene. It was common for the place of a person’s upbringing to function like a surname, identifying someone when they were away from home. Just as Jesus was known as “Jesus of Nazareth,” so also was Mary of Magdala referred to by her hometown. At some point in Jesus’s ministry, he meets Mary Magdalene and finds her in a treacherous predicament. In Luke 8:2 we find out that Mary had a significant problem. She was possessed by seven demons. Demons are angelic creatures who fell from God’s good presence during Satan’s ancient rebellion (2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 12:9). We see in the New Testament that some demons make people deaf, unable to speak, foam at the mouth, grind their teeth, cut themselves, hate themselves, and shriek in horror. We’re not told what kind of effect Mary’s demons had on her, but we can extrapolate from these other examples that she must have been a frightening sight. To intensify things, we’re told that Mary had seven demons. The number seven in Scripture is often associated with completion and may signify that, for Mary, she was entirely under demonic influence. There are other instances in the New Testament where people have multiple demons residing in them, and they are described as unbearable to be around (Mark 5:4–6, 9). Demon-possessed individuals are enslaved and powerless to get themselves out of this peril. They need divine intervention—a bona fide miracle. Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, had the authority and power to perform these liberating miracles. In Mark 1:23 when a demon-possessed man comes to Jesus in the synagogue, Jesus says, “Be silent, and come out of him!” In Mark 5:8 he tells the demons that possessed a man, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Likewise, to the demon that possessed a father’s child in Mark 9:25, Jesus says, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” In these instances, and others, we see a common thread. Jesus casted out demons by the power of his word. Jesus’s voice carried authority because he himself is the eternal God in human flesh. While we don’t know the circumstances around Jesus exorcising Mary’s seven demons, we can reason that Jesus’s command and voice was part of it. His voice would become a treasured sound to Mary Magdalene as she proceeded to devote the rest of her life to following Jesus. Luke 8:2 tells us that several women, including Mary Magdalene, along with the twelve disciples followed Jesus in his ministry. They were a band of disciples who knew Jesus quite well. This means that Mary sat under Jesus’s unparalleled teaching. She heard him speak words of forgiveness, grace, and mercy. She heard him expose sin and confront the self-righteous. She heard him talk about the kingdom of God and eternal life. She who was once an outcast and problem became accepted and an eyewitness to God’s solution. She also heard Jesus ask questions to penetrate hearts countless times. She saw Jesus transform lives just as her life was transformed. She experienced his miracles first-hand and stood in awe of Jesus as each of his disciples did. Mary hoped in Jesus. While the disciples didn’t fully understand Jesus’s divine identity, they believed he was the Messiah, the Savior of the world. They gave up everything to follow him. For Mary, Jesus represented hope at its highest. You Invest in What You Believe In Furthermore, Luke 8:3 says that women like Mary provided for Jesus and the twelve disciples “out of their means.” Mary invested financially in Jesus’s ministry. She gave of her personal income to monetarily support Jesus. Mary was all in! In the 1980s there was a commercial for a product called Hair Club for Men. The chief spokesman and president of the company was Sy Sperling. Sperling would come on the commercial and list all the grand promises of the hair-growth product. He would provide scientific evidence and explain how it worked. But perhaps the greatest pitch he made in the commercial was the concluding statement. He would say, with a full head of hair, “I’m not only the Hair Club president but I’m also a client,” while holding a picture of himself when he was balding. This before-and-after sight of Sy Sperling was compelling. He was able to confidently invest in and sell a product that he himself had experienced. When you know something is good, you put the energy forth to make it known. The same could be said of Mary Magdalene. She was not only a freedom investor, but she was also a client. She not only financially supported Jesus’s ministry and liberating work, she had also experienced it. She could travel with Jesus and hold up the picture of the before as she was clearly present in the after. She knew that following Jesus was a good thing. Jesus says that the one who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke 7:47). Mary had been forgiven much and loved much. Jesus capitalizes on a real-life situation when uttering that profound truth in Luke 7:47. Jesus was having dinner at the house of a Jewish religious leader named Simon who was part of a group, the Pharisees, who had the notorious reputation of being self-righteous and lacking grace toward broken people. On this occasion at Simon’s house, a “sinful” woman enters and anoints Jesus’s feet with costly perfume. The word sinful implies a person of ill-repute. She may have been known for promiscuity and life of reproach. Overcome by emotion at Jesus’s presence, the woman weeps and floods Jesus’s feet like a steady stream. She knew her unworthiness before Jesus and could not help but bow before him. At this sight the Pharisees are livid and condemn the woman while questioning Jesus. Jesus compares the woman to a person who is...