Earlier this year, my family was punched in the emotional gut numerous times in a matter of weeks.
Two officers were shot in my small hometown just twenty minutes away from where I now live. Tragically, one died and the other is still recovering. As a pastor and chaplain, my husband went on the scene to seek to minister to the hospital staff and emergency crews. Because of that, we felt a sense of closeness to the situation and the crisis haunted us for weeks and months just as it did so many others.
Around that same time, my teenage son had a traumatic accident at the gym. In lifting a heavy weight, he dislocated his shoulder and almost completely tore his labrum. This catapulted us into a very difficult six months of mental, spiritual, and physical recovery as he grappled with the inability to do all the things in life that he loves.
In addition to my son’s tragedy, my dad experienced a heart attack. Although He recovered quickly from the attack and surgery that followed, it was a challenging time of facing the reality of having aging parents.
While my son was processing all of these things, a friend of his was killed in a car accident.
This intense time seemed to engulf us with darkness and sadness.
The darkness called us up to difficult conversations and processing questions about life, death, and God.
I’m so thankful that God allows questions, doubts, and fears!
We can see how gracious Jesus is in response to John the Baptist’s question about His identity.
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” – Luke 7:18-35
Things weren’t working out so well for John at that moment when he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the one they had been waiting for. John was in prison and while it may have been that He knew He would die soon and wanted to make sure this Jesus he had heard about was not an imposter or was the same man he had baptized. Perhaps he was confused in the darkness of prison like so many of us when we are in the dark seasons of life.
He may have been confused by what Jesus was doing or even by what He wasn’t doing.
Jesus wasn’t meeting too many people’s expectations. He wasn’t conquering the Romans and He wasn’t using the tactics or speed that may have been expected of Him.
I wonder how that made Jesus feel; to be questioned by John about who He truly was.
What happened next was nothing short of what one theologian has called, “A riot of miracles.”
It’s at this moment that Jesus shows so clearly the essence of His ministry and reveals that He is not just a man. His actions show both His power and His grace; both of them being necessary in order for there to be a good and righteous God.
God’s power and grace are necessary for us to remember when we are in the darkness.
Instead of shaking His head and looking disappointed, Jesus is described as simply performing miracles of all kinds and preaching good news to the poor. After that time, He answered (I imagine Him chuckling), “Go tell John what you’ve seen.”
What He did in that moment is proof that Jesus is who He has already boldly claimed to be. Perhaps you remember a bit earlier in His ministry:
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16-21
Jesus was basically saying, “Look at what I’ve done. It’s what you’ve been waiting for and it’s what I’ve said I’d do and here I am doing it.”
Jesus graciously and powerfully responds to John’s doubt.
If you are one who trusts in Him, this should encourage you if you have questions in the darkness.
Christ knew that John would understand the information and words that the disciples brought back and that His faith would be bolstered.
In the midst of your own life circumstances and challenges, I invite you to ask God the hard questions. He will answer you and He will give you what you need to bolster your confidence in His power and grace.
His words later in the same passage are, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
His actions in this passage and words are both a blessing and a kind of test.
A blessing in that they show us He is God. A test in that it calls us to ask ourselves if we are offended by Him.
In your disappointments about how life has gone or when you see evil in this world, do you choose to trust or are you offended?
If Jesus was a powerful king without grace, He would be a hard one to trust and no better than any other ruler in our world’s history.
If He was abundant in grace, but no power – then He’d be no better than a kind human.
But He is girded with both power and grace, the power to do something, and the love and kindness to do it.
Some will say, “Why doesn’t He heal cancer? Why does He allow people to be abused, enslaved, tortured, and murdered.”
There is so much that can be said in response to those questions, but only one thing I will say today.
Today, let’s think about the fact that He HAS actually done something about that.
He is rescuing us from this world that is full of sin and death that humans are responsible for because of our rebellion and rejection of Him.
He came to rescue us from this fallen world by submitting Himself to abuse, torture, and murder.
As a former pastor of mine once told me,
“Sometimes He rescues us from the fire. Sometimes He rescues us from this world through the fire.”
Either way, He is rescuing us.
I will continue to cry out to the one who I have seen show His grace and power in scripture as well as in my own life.
By His grace and power, in my own life, He delivered me from the domain of darkness and brought me into His Kingdom. I know personally the difference between living in the domain of darkness and the Kingdom of Light.
In your darkest moments, can you take a moment and imagine that you’re at the top of a mountain looking down on your life? What do you see? Can you see Him getting you through other seasons of darkness? How does this encourage you in the moment you now grapple with?
I can also see His power and grace in His Word.
He powerfully and graciously called people to repent and believe in the gospel.
By His grace and power, He obeyed the Father in the midst of temptation in the wilderness, fulfilling all righteousness for us because we can’t.
By His grace and power, He healed those suffering from all manner of illness and demonic possession.
By them, He called people into relationship and ministry to carry on His mission.
By them, He gives us His Holy Spirit.
By them, He shows us love, His Kingdom of Grace, and calls us to it and Himself.
Jesus is calling you to Himself.
You might think it’s a church, a group, or an individual Christian calling you to their ways.
No—it’s not about them. As we can see so well, they are not all-powerful or perfectly gracious.
It’s Jesus calling you to Himself.
And Jesus says,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Revelation 3:20
Allow Him into your life. Sit down and eat with Him. Taste and see that He is good.
If you have allowed Him into your life, what does all this mean for you?
It means that we must trust that Jesus is our Good Shepherd who has gone before us. He has shown us, by His power and grace, what it looks like to live by faith even in the darkness.
It means that since God has worked with power and grace to bring us into His Kingdom, then we should follow Him and His ways, being abundant in grace. We should, by the power at work in us, act in people’s lives to love them and graciously care for them.
What about when we don’t?
We will mess up. We will get confused about what God’s agenda truly is. We will confuse our agenda with His. We will even confuse our kingdom with His Kingdom. When that happens, we remember God’s grace and power. We remember that Jesus came to rescue us from faithlessness, sin, lack of grace, from all evil, from the fallen world, and from death.
Let’s keep waiting for the fullness of His Kingdom and tell others about His power and grace.
Please share with me how God brought you through a dark season. I’d love to hear your story.
Some of this blog post is from my reading of Luke and Mark, but some thoughts are inspired by my husband’s sermon on Luke 7:18-5. You can access that here through our weekly sermon podcast:
If you are in a dark season, I’d love to give you a free printable form that guides you through the biblical tool of lament. This is free, along with other free items when you sign up for my monthly, encouraging newsletter here:
https://forms.aweber.com/form/80/1113646280.htm
Linking up with these awesome bloggers this week:
Amy it has been a difficult time for you & your family. And in times like that we feel overwhelmed & like the breathe has gone out of us…
I’m glad the Holy Spirit has continued to minister to you, your family & community through these tragic of circumstances.
The anology to John the Baptist is such a wise one. And echoing your following statement;
‘…we must trust that Jesus is our Good Shepherd who has gone before us. He has shown us, by His power and grace, what it looks like to live by faith even in the darkness.’
Sending you love & hugs across the ocean, Jennifer
Thank you, Jennifer. Somehow I missed this comment. Thank you for your love and hugs. You are so good at conveying care in your writing.
The Lord has been kind to us in the midst of difficulty. I know you have experienced this as well. 🙂
Thank you so much for this heartfelt, honest blog. I appreciate it, and I’m glad you’re using your unique writing – voice. This is what I enjoy reading and can resonate with, as it draws me closer to God. Will you continue writing?
Thank you, Aritha. I appreciate you reading. I have not been consistent in writing as it has been a hard year. I’m committed to continue, though. The Lord always has writing on my heart. 🙂
Here is a free devotional for Christmas if you’re interested: https://forms.aweber.com/form/80/1113646280.htm