The Women Jesus Remembered

Lot's Wife Courtesy Pixabay.com

There are two women mentioned in the Bible that we're supposed to remember. In Luke 17:32 Jesus told us to "Remember Lot's Wife." You know the story of Lot's wife. You can find it in Gen 19. Lot, his wife, and two daughters were trying to escape the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their instructions from the angle from the Lord was to run and not look back. Lot's wife disobeyed and turned into a pillar of salt.

The other woman was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. All four gospels relate this story from each disciples' perspective. I use the bare bones of it. Jesus was at a friend's house for lunch when Mary, a former harlot, came in and kneeled at Jesus' feet and washed them with her tears and dry them with her hair. When the friend was thinking about the woman and her sins and Judas worried about how much the perfume cost, Jesus told a story intended to show them why she did what she did. When he finished, he said, "Leave her alone; why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful deed to Me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But you will not always have Me. She has done what she could to anoint My body in advance of My burial. And truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."

Anyone who ever sat in a Sunday School class for any length of time has heard about both these women. Two women Jesus wanted us remembered for two very different reasons. We remember Lot's wife for her failure and Mary for her love and devotion to God. There are no other women mentioned in this manner by Jesus. In fact, I don't recall anyone in the Bible saying we were to remember anyone else. 

Simple obedience would have saved Lot's wife. Her fate was needless and stupid. Why was it necessary to look back? Tell me, if angles showed up on your step and said your city was being destroyed and you had to get out now, what would you do? They recognized these men as angles and didn't express any doubt, but did as instructed and headed out of the city. 

The angles told them, "Whatever you do, don't look back!"

No one had a problem with it, except Lot's wife. Everything she loved was back there: the new dress she had begun, the cake in the oven, a lunch date with her friend, her home, her friends, her prestige all lay behind. Lot's wife saw nothing waiting ahead of her except a cave in the rocks. She needed just one final look. 

Mary, eyes clouded with tears, kneeled and washed the Lord's dirty feet. He walked all over the place from muddy streets to barn yards. But this woman, with her dirty reputation, entered uninvited and crouched down to clean all this from his feet with her tears and an expensive perfume and dried his feet with her hair. 

Mary didn't need to look back. She knew what lay behind her. Her home, her friends, and her prestige turned to ash when she entered "Sodom and Gomorrah". Instead, Mary turned her eyes on her Savior's feet and remembered him writing in the sand the day he destroyed her own Sodom and Gomorrah. When Jesus said "Go, and sin no more.", Mary ran and never looked back.

Remember Lot's wife. I think we're all like Lot's wife. We spend a lot of time looking back at what we've left behind for whatever reason. I know I do. Regret. Remorse. Whatever you want to call it. There is this tug to look back one more time. Fortunately for us, we do not turn into a pillar of salt.

Or do we? Jesus tells us we are 'the salt of the earth' in Matthew 5:13 and if we lose our savor, we're useless. Mark 9:49 says, "For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt."

Perhaps the reason for Lot's wife's condition was more than just her punishment. She stands as a monument to all of those who looked back, longing for the things left behind. She stands useless, salt that has lost its savor.

The Prodigal's Empty Chair

I read the story of the Prodigal Son this morning and a thought came to mind that I don't recall hearing before. We've all read this story or heard it in some fashion. At least, I think if you're reading this post you have heard it. Here is the short version.

Wealthy family going about their business. The youngest son decides he wants his inheritance early. Father obliges him and he takes off to live it up in the big city. Eventually, the money runs out and so do the friends and he ends up living in a pigpen, the antiquated equivalent of a cardboard box in an alley.

One day, he wakes up and realizes he's living like a pig. He remembers he comes from a kind and loving family who feeds their pigs better than he is eating. Reasoning he can't do any worse, he heads home and his father greets him with open arms and a blowout party. 

Older son hears the noise and has a fit. This is his inheritance they're spending now. 

Most sermons that use this story to express the forgiveness and loving kindness of God. They point out that no matter how far we go, how low we sink, how disgusting we live, God will always welcome us back into his fold and give us a place at his table. It's a beautiful story about the grace and mercy of God. This morning I got something different from it.

It's true God will forgive us and welcome us back home again. He will allow us to enjoy the bounty of his house. As long as we stay there and abide by his teachings and his (forgive me for this bad word) rules.

Yeah, I said it. There're rules at Dad's house. Remember when you lived with your parents and you had to follow all those rules? You couldn't wait to get out of there and do your own thing. Then.... you lost your job and had to go home to live with Mom and Dad again. But hey, you're an adult now. What can they do? Then you find out the truth. Mom and Dad haven't changed. The rules are still there.

We will always be welcome in our Father's arms. We will always have his love. But we still have to follow his rules. There are still requirements to reap the benefits of his bounty. He desires to share with us, but he can't be in the presence of sin. It is impossible for him to live with it. To do so would make him less than God. He will not hold second place to anything, for anyone.

We can go home and receive a grand welcome. But if we leave again, we will leave it behind and in this story there is no portion for the Prodigal Son to take with him this time. Everything belongs to the faithful son who stays in his Father's house and cares for the Father and his inheritance. He gets up, goes to work, plants, waters, and reaps the harvest. He shears the livestock, feeds and milks the cows. He deals with the laborers and sees that the house is in good repair. He enjoys the company and love of his Father. And he follows the rules.

The Prodical will ALWAYS be a Prodical as long as he is away from home. If he comes home and leaves again, he will be a Prodigal. He will die a Prodigal if he does not return. He is eternally denied his rightful place at the table.

You can't live in the pigpen of sin and live in the Father's house. You may visit, but that doesn't make you a son. You may show up on holidays and special occasions to share a meal, but that doesn't make you a son. Guest are welcome at the Father's house but if they leave unchanged, they are still only guests.

To be a son, you must return to stay. And you must follow His rules. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to strive to be like your Father every day. Remember those dinners when you were a kid and all your relatives got together? Someone was always dropping things, spilling things, talking too loud. But it was an amazing place to be! You could have stayed there forever. No one remembered the spilled food, broken glasses, and loud talking. All you remember is the love you felt sitting in that room with your family, people you loved and that loved you.

In the Father's house, the table is always ready for family gatherings when you get home and filled with love. You can eat every meal at that table. But only if you live there. I want to sit at His table forever.

I'll save you a seat.

Pray for the Peace

Pixabay.com

Most of those who know me well, know I don't watch the news. None on television if I can avoid it. I pick and choose what I read on my news feed on my phone. I tell Google I'm not interested in many things. They stop showing up.

One thing I'm seeing that is troubling is this anti Israel sentiment that is growing. Whether you believe it or not, this is a prophecy being fulfilled. The muslim world and it's friends are actually making the Bible come true! I wonder if they know this  or if they're just that stupid. The Bible is very clear that the world will turn against Israel. That there will be a war to attempt to wipe them out, not Armageddon but a war specifically to destroy Israel. And that those involved in that war will lose and lose horribly. The blood of the attackers will be as deep as a horse's bridle and it will take 6 months to bury the dead. They will lie in the desert and rot. The ancient version of countries involved in that attack are even named.

You think what you want but the drive that is happening against Israel is actually going to make it happen.

For a long time I felt very strongly that I had to pray for Israel, not Bible thumping, floor pounding prayer calling on eternal damnation to Israel's enemies. That isn't Biblical or Christian.

No, what I began to do years ago and have felt more so recently was how the Bible told me to address it. I've begun to do it more so as the hatred has increased. I posted this a couple of weeks ago and shared it. I would encourage every Christian who professes faith in the Word of God to take it to heart and begin to pray for Israel.

Peace in Your Palaces

We're to pray for peace and prosperity for Israel. Those of us who love Israel should be daily keeping this in their prayers. And while we're at it, we ought to be praying for the Savior to be revealed to her enemies more and more as the evil day approaches.