Better watch out, Zane—here comes another day! Of all days, it’s VALENTINE’S DAY! Are you ready?
We actually met up with your dad and sister for a while yesterday at Camp Sherman…and had some lunch together. Tazzy and Smokey had fun playing with Bella and jumping into the Metolius River in pursuit of tennis balls.
It’s hard to imagine that an old he-goat could defeat a mature tiger—but that’s kinda what happened yesterday in the Super Bowl game. It just goes to show ya…
Although there is the sound of rain on the roof…and it’s rather late, I think I’ll attempt a little jog with the dogs.
Blessings on your day. Love and prayers—Tua/Ray.
Did you catch that last phrase? “…and with his brothers.” That blesses my soul! What an amazing dramatic conversion that implies! For there was a time when Jesus’ own brothers (those born of the same mother) participated in mockery and antagonism against Jesus (John 7:5). They simply could not bring themselves to believe that their older brother Jesus was any more special than they were—UNTIL—I love this idea—and I’m leaning on a good measure of my own imagination—UNTIL Mary gathered them around and said something like, “OK, boys—I’ve held this in for a long time, but it’s finally time to disclose some facts relating to what you don’t know about the background of your late brother Jesus!” However the disclosure went, it had to sink in—it had to be transformational—altering their entire perspective. So here we find them numbered with this special nucleus of believers—believing so hard and strong to be “constantly in prayer,” seeking God, and worshiping His Son Jesus— God in flesh—their very own half-Brother—now a complete Brother—and Lord of their lives. Wow! What a ride!
Do you see what I see here? It’s an opportunity to use this idea to underscore once again the marvel and glory of the Biblical Gospel. Although you and I are not the biological offspring of Mary, the mother of Jesus, “Yet to all who received him (…the firstborn Son of Mary), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13)—in other words, BORN AGAIN! Double WOW!
This means that you and I have just as much reason and right as the brothers of Jesus to join with the larger collection of other believers, believing so hard and strong so as to be “constantly in prayer,” seeking God, and worshiping this same firstborn Son of Mary—the only begotten Son of God. Indeed, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
(Additional comment—for no extra charge: As we consider the amazing fact that Jesus’ life on earth was framed by two miracles—on one end by a VIRGIN BIRTH, and on the other end by an EMPTY TOMB—I’m reminded of how some use the first miracle toward, in a way, the deification of sex—fashioning a theological assumption that Sovereign God actually approached Mary in a form that allowed Him to engage in the act of sexual intercourse with her (e.g., Mormonism). I glean from that kind of distortion that someone is motivated by an agenda. I think it’s a really stupid and degrading notion that Sovereign God, Who designed and created everything about human sexuality, needs to have sex in order to cause conception.)