Waiting, Just Like Me

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Luke 12:50

Have you ever thought of Jesus as being forced to wait? The notion may seem strange, but this verse is a quote from His own lips. Our Lord was clearly struggling and longing for some future event to be finished. And, as He waits He is “distressed” about the situation.

This shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus came to earth to live as we live and feel what we feel. He was God, but also fully human and as a human He was forced to wait.

It is commonly thought that Jesus was crucified and resurrected at age thirty-three, but did you ever wonder how scholars know that? The Bible only mentions His age once and that was at twelve years. The next time we see Him, He is an adult launching a preaching career with no mention of how many years stretched between those two events. To find that out, we turn to Jewish tradition and history.

Jesus taught as a rabbi [1] and by Jewish law He could not take that position until past His thirtieth birthday. Assuming He started preaching then and counting the yearly feast recorded until His death, the result is thirty-three years.

Between age twelve and thirty the Bible is silent. We assume Joseph died for he is never mentioned again in scripture although Mary is. If so, that meant Jesus, as firstborn son, would have become responsible for supporting a large family at a very young age. If at twelve He felt the urgency to be about God’s business [2], what must it have been like to wait eighteen more years before He could officially take steps that direction?

By the time Luke 12:50 is recorded, Jesus has been ministering slightly less than three years and the “baptism” He refers to is a metaphor for His fast approaching crucifixion. Step by step Jesus has followed the path His Father laid before Him, but now He can see the end of the journey and is distressed as He waits for the trial to be past.

In the Greek, our Lord described His feelings as “sunecho.” That means to be pressed down, constrained, kept in or compelled. While Jesus waited the emotions He faced were very similar to what we might feel and this is why the writer of Hebrews could say, “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [3]

Are you being forced to wait today? Do you feel the days crawling by one at a time and wonder if you have been forgotten by God? Lift up your head! God is not asleep. Jesus knows exactly what you feel and how hard it is. After all, He waited, too.

[1] John 20:16
[2] Luke 2:49
[3] Hebrews 4:15

Protecting Your Blind Side

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, / So the LORD surrounds His people / From this time forth and forever. Psalm 125:2


Jerusalem was located on top of a mountain and the temple of God was even higher located on the pinnacle within the city walls. It was an uphill journey and pilgrims seeking the presence of the Lord were likely to find the last steps, the hardest.

Perhaps that is why David wrote several songs specifically designed to be sung on the uphill hike. Psalm 125 is one of these Songs of Ascent intended to strengthen pilgrims and reassure them of God’s protection. Families sang together and traveling strangers sang to each other as verse by verse the music encouraged them to keep putting one foot in front of another and not be afraid.

A Song of Ascent was desperately needed when I was a forty-five year old college junior struggling to make financial ends meet while raising a family as a single mom and hoping I could finish my degree before funds ran dry. Fear and insecurity constantly plagued me making a difficult journey almost impossible.

I had begun the program at Liberty University hoping to do all the work from home but soon found that would not be possible. On campus time was required even though they segmented it into concentrated stays of two week duration. I would have to physically go to Virginia. So, leaving two teenagers to fend for themselves, I prepared as best I could and boarded a plane.

The campus was located in a valley completely surrounded by mountain peaks. I had never having been east of the Mississippi river and the new landscape was fascinating. As I looked around I saw land that was higher than where I stood in every direction.

I left the dorm that first morning with a heavy briefcase and a light sweater—wrong combination for winter in the mountains. It was almost a fourth of a mile to the lecture hall and I was feeling very miserable. Then, I looked up and things changed. I wasn’t any warmer but I did become braver.

Several weeks earlier, I had been listening to the radio and heard Psalm 125:2 set to music. The little chorus was easily memorized and as I looked at the mountains it came back to me. “As the mountains are around Jerusalem, the Lord is all around His people.” If that scripture were true—and it was—I had no need to fear, and a little cold air was certainly not the worst thing in the world. If the Lord was all around believers, then He was around me. ALL around. As He looked down, nothing could surprise or take Him unaware. I may not have been warm, but I was safe.

Do you feel you’re on an uphill journey? Do you wonder about surprises and protecting your blind side? Rejoice! Jesus is all around and nothing surprises Him.

Are You A Pilgrim?

To the pilgrims . . . elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Peter 1:1

Several years ago my daughter and her husband were far from home when a business acquaintance invited them share Thanksgiving dinner. They were glad for the invitation, but also slightly uneasy. New to both the area and the people, they were not sure what traditions might be observed.

They were quickly put at ease when the meal was served and the host said familiar words; “Shall we give thanks?” But, when they bowed their heads, they quickly realized they were not at home. All around the table the guest turned to each other to express appreciation for the past year. Business had been good, kind deeds had been done, friendships had grown. “Thank you” was said over and over as smiles passed from one to the other and all congratulated themselves on a year well spent.
Carefully yielding to the lead of their host, they joined in the expressions of mutual appreciation, but with both the pilgrims and God missing, the holiday did not feel much like “Thanksgiving” any longer.

The dictionary defines a “pilgrim” as “one who journeys a long distance to some sacred place.” It is a definition that fits for both the early Puritans who left England hoping for freedom in a new land as well as the modern Christian moving heavenward through this often unfriendly world.

Christians are called “pilgrims” twice in the Bible. Both the author of Hebrews (11:13) and First Peter (1:1) use the word to comfort and encourage those who have become weary with their journey. By addressing them as “pilgrims” they were reminded that they were not home yet and for a true pilgrim, thankfulness is the concrete evidence that their future home is real and can seen through the eyes of faith.

During the years my children were home, I tried to instill only two Thanksgiving traditions. The first was a pair of six inch dolls made from corn shucks. One wore a black dress with white apron and bonnet, while the other was dressed all in black with a tall, buckled hat. They were pilgrims. The second was gratitude verses from the Bible written in various forms and placed around the room.

These traditions were not elaborate. Not much effort was spent on preparation and only a small amount of time was dedicated to discussing either the dolls or the scripture passages. But, through the years the message of those silent witnesses must have taken root. When among strangers it was easy for my daughter to remember that the holiday was more than mutual pats on the back while dinner companions expressed gratitude toward each other. It was about remembering historical pilgrims and the fact that every Christian is personally a pilgrim, too. Then, because of that memory, we aim thankfulness upward toward the God who made them both.