The Good News

Matthew 16:21-23

“21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Some things are hard to hear and we don’t want to hear them.   Bad news carries with it a certain amount of pain. We don’t want to believe that it is true.  But suppose the bad news that is too horrible to believe is actually the good news?

Peter did not want to believe what Jesus was telling the Disciples was true. He had given up everything to follow Him and had spent the last three years of his life witnessing the miracle of His life and words.  He had seen many miracles and many people healed by Him.  And now, this good man, the Messiah, the Son of God was saying that He was to die a horrible death at the hands of the religious leaders of the Jews.

Even though Christ had healed the blind, the crippled, and the lepers; had raised the dead and walked on water; even though people had seized him to make Him their king; even though He had asked him, “Who do you think I am?”and Peter had answered, “You are the Messiah, Peter could not believe what he was saying about His impending death and resurrection.

I think the only part that registered in Peter’s mind was the part about Christ’s death.  I don’t think he heard the part about being raised to life on the third day. Jesus was actually telling the Disciples that He would survive death.   But all they heard was the word “death”, which to them was bad news.  What they did not know was Christ’s death was an important part of the good news.

Christ’s life, death, and resurrection are the good news.  And all are waiting to be heard.

Hear the good news.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

This is What I Believe

Mark 8: 27-30

“27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.”

I once had a political theory professor who would ask, “And what are your thoughts on this?”  If we answered with information that was in the textbook, he would say, “But that is what the author thinks.  What do you think?”  If we answered with information that was in our lecture notes, he would say, “No, that’s what I think.  What is it that you think?”  

On the subject of Christianity, we must all eventually decide for ourselves, in our own hearts and minds, who Jesus is.  We cannot say this is what my parents believed, or this is what I have been told.  

Peter said Jesus is the Messiah.

The question, “Who do you say I am?” is a question for all who would be a disciple of Christ.  We cannot borrow Peter’s answer.  It is a question whose answer lies within us.

It is a question that has to be answered... by each of us.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Yeast of the Pharisees

Matthew 16:5-12

“5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.” 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

You can understand why the Disciples had bread on their minds after the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.  When Jesus mentioned the word yeast, they automatically assumed it had something to do with the fact that they had come across the lake with no bread.

But Jesus said to them, in effect, “Listen, didn’t you just see 5,000 people fed with little or no bread.  Don’t worry about bread.  I was talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees”.  According to Jesus, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were misguided in their teachings about the law and they did not live what they taught.

Jesus was warning the Disciples about the possibility of being corrupted by the world; of being more concerned with rules, rituals and regulations than with the true worship of God.

This warning has as much meaning today as it did when Christ spoke it.  Think of all the things that get in the way of our spiritual lives.  Little by little they gain a foothold and soon they occupy all of our time and all of our attention.

These things are the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Feeding the 5000 (Part 4: The Passionate Disciple)

Luke 9:10-17

“10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. 12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” 13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.”

I have a friend who came back from a conference, related to the issues of recycling, very excited.  What made him so excited was the fact that the people involved in recycling were passionate in their presentations, and looked forward to each session so much that they literally ran to the meetings.  My friend changed his career and entered the field of recycling after that conference.

The crowd that followed Jesus into the isolated, solitary place we read about in the scripture above, must have been a motivated, excited group of people.  These people knew that they were going into the wilderness to meet Jesus.  It is not like they stumbled upon Jesus and His Disciples by mistake. And without any food, without any thought of their own physical needs, they followed Jesus.

What would it be like if our members ran to church and vied for seats at the front of the sanctuary?  What would it be like if they were so eager to hear the Word that they abandoned all thought of their physical comfort?

Are we hungry?  Do we believe that Christ can feed us and satisfy our hunger?  

Will we follow Him to that solitary place?

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Feeding the 5000 (Part 3:The Eternal Question)

Mark 6:35-44

“35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.”

The Disciples told Jesus that the number of loaves they had was five; plus two fish- for 5,000 people.  Just by the tone of the words, we know that they thought they did not have enough to feed such a crowd.

How many loaves do you have?  That is the eternal question.

In ministry,  our resources always seem to be far shorter than the need. The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few, so to speak. In spiritual things, if we always weighed resources against the need, we would never accomplish anything or help anyone.  We would fold up our tents and go home.

Christ taught His followers that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.  It always starts very small but soon grows and spreads exponentially.  A small resource can be multiplied many times over by the hand of God.

He divided  five loaves and two fish among them all.   They all ate and were satisfied. 

And the number who ate that day were 5000.

 May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Feeding the 5000 (Part 2)

Matthew 14:15-21

“15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

When the Israelites followed Moses into the wilderness, Moses was probably worried about how he and Aaron were going to feed a million people in a place where one person had trouble surviving.  We now know that Moses did not feed them, but God did.

In the same way, the job of feeding the 5000 in the wilderness was too large for the Disciples, so Jesus fed the crowd, and he fed them in abundance. The hunger of all who ate was satisfied and there were twelve baskets of food remaining.

Followers of Jesus may, at times, find themselves in the spiritual wilderness.  When this happens, remember that Jesus can give you the living water, and is himself the living bread of heaven

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

Satisfied in abundance.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Feeding the 5000 (Part 1)

John 6:5-11

“5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.”

Jesus, at times, sought out solitary places to withdraw from the crowds that constantly surrounded him, to pray, and to teach his disciples.  This particular time he withdrew from Capernaum by boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, about four miles away.  

Unexpectedly, the crowd of people followed him by land and when Jesus arrived, a great crowd was arriving; about 5,000 men sat down on the grass in front of Jesus.  

Jesus’ trip to a quiet, solitary place did not go as he and the disciples had planned.  But Jesus, through the miracle of feeding the 5000, was able to teach His disciples about himself, about sharing, kindness, mercy, servanthood, abundance, and about love. 

When things do not go as planned for us, we have a choice.  We can react in anger or fear, or we can look at the situation as a time to learn what Christ is teaching us.

What is it that Christ is teaching you today?

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)