Soul Sister Time

            As Jesus walked to Jerusalem on Holy Week, He gave us an example of how we were created to walk in love every week of our lives.  He demonstrated one of the greatest loves of this world, surrounding Himself with good friends on His journey.  He could have walked alone.  He could have saved the world in a different way, but everywhere He walked during Holy Week, He walked with His closest friends.  He walked with His eyes wide open to God’s beautiful universe and all the lessons it contained.  He walked with His heart wide open to the people who walked beside Him and the people He passed along His way.  His love penetrated the hearts of the ones who loved Him back and darkened the hearts of those who rejected Him.  He walked with His Spirit fully fixed on the good plans for the salvation of mankind and the possibility of expanding the Oneness experienced by the Trinity to all who would believe.  He walked to make a new heaven and new earth possible.              Jesus

            God’s love is so powerful that it can even penetrate the hearts of us puny humans and enlarge our capacity for love.  We see this in the Easter story.  Those who show their love for God do so in irrational ways at Easter.  It makes me think, what has been my most irrational act of love?             Though the Pharisees followed each word of the Bible, they followed irrational commands without love that led to emptiness.  That is not the love I’m talking about.  There is no soul transformation in that kind of behavior.  True acts of love are not done to make you think you are worthy of God’s love.  They are not done to make you feel better than other people.              The infectious love of Easter is never found in human effort.  It only begins with an irrational, inescapable love for God.  Jesus’ love for God is the one and only reason He loved us so extravagantly on the cross.  In John 14:30-32 He explained :   I will not say much more to you, for the prince

            The love Jesus showed at Easter invites us to conceive of a love far beyond the boundaries of the universe.  It’s a love worth exploring.  It is a love you must really want if you have any hope of recognizing it.             The cross is the most obvious place that we see the love of Easter.  But something struck me about the love of God from one small phrase Jesus said to His true disciples during Easter.  It was a part of what is known as the Olivet Discourse.  During Holy Week Jesus followed a specific pattern.  During the days He openly taught at the Temple; then in the evenings he would travel with His close companions back to the Mount of Olives to spend the night.  At the Mount of Olives Jesus taught differently than at the Temple.  He focused on encouraging the disciples for the weeks after Holy Week.  Jesus’ work was the most important for that week, but He has left Christians to finish His work.  He gave them encouragement about how to live through the comin

            From the parables told during Holy Week to the obvious display from the cross—Easter is about showing love to your enemies.  God never asks us to do something He does not do Himself.  In fact, the Christian life is about becoming more and more like Christ.  During Easter Jesus’ very existence displays His love for enemies.  You see we are all His enemies.  Every last one of us!  Isaiah 53:6 sums up the truth about us all: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all .  Isaiah included himself in that statement.  He was following God as well as he was able, yet he fell far short of righteousness.  He too was an enemy of God.  He too needed a Savior!             Loving an enemy like Isaiah is reasonable.   After all, it is clear he was doing the very best he could.  You love people like that in your life.  They may let you down or fail to fulfill what they promised, but you can conclude

The love and intimacy of human relationships are central in the Easter story.  Where does Jesus go on His way to Holy Week?  He stops off in Bethany to see His best friends, Lazarus, Mary and Martha!  We understand why because we feel most alive after an intimate dinner and great conversation about real life with fine friends.  Meaningful conversations are some of the best memories I have from life in this world.  I think it was the same for Jesus.  Exchanging mutual yearnings for intimacy with God and others around a nourishing meal fulfills the soul. Holy Week is about working together, serving together, spending quality time together and deepening the most important friendships.  Jesus, the disciples and the women who supported them were busy every day.  They ministered in the temple complex.  Jesus taught all the people who came to hear Him.  He stumped His opponents.  (That must have made the disciples proud.)  Everyone worked hard.  They each had their jobs to do.  They wer