Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter June 2, 2011
So he left there and went to a house belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next to a synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized. Acts 18:7-8
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you discussing with one another what I said, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. John 16:19-20
Piety
Jesus, thank you for the promise in this scripture. Help us not to be consumed by our earthly circumstances. Instead, Lord, help us to see them for what they are: “a little while.” Though we may be going through hard times on this planet, if we just keep our eyes fixed on you, Jesus, and ask for your help, and that you will be glorified in the situation, you will use it for good! We can choose to sit around and ask, “Why do bad things happen to me?” or we can sit back and trust that you, the Master of the entire Universe, have it under control. (http://www.givenlife.com/prayer/2011/04/grief-turns-to-joy/)
Study
The contrast between the perfect knowledge of Jesus and the puzzled disciples shines forth today. Jesus spoke in what appeared to be riddles and His followers had trouble fully understanding what he meant. Along the way, this led to them making many missteps as the disciples tried to plot a path for the church in the ancient world.
As Peter, Paul and the rest of the disciples carried the Word into the world, they sometimes did so through trial and error. Sometimes, they were in the wrong place and people were not affected or changed by their preaching. In those instances, they moved on to find more fertile soil upon which to plant the seeds of the new church. In today’s case, when the Jews in Corinth did not heed the Word, Paul turned to preach to the Gentiles there and many were converted.
By what standard do we judge their work? Clearly this method was not very efficient or effective. That is not the standard with Christianity. Throughout this Easter season, we encounter many instances where the standards of success in the world are different from the standards of success as preached by Jesus. Nowhere in the Bible are we called to efficiency or effectiveness. We are called to be authentic friends of Jesus while on our mission of discipleship.
Action
What worldly concern troubles you this week? How can you let go of that so you can focus on your walk with Jesus in the world?
