Archives by: Gary Hoag

“From the Gospel according to Luke, the account was read [Luke 19:29-40] of how, when the Savior had come “to Bethphage and Bethany near Mount Olivet, he sent two of his disciples” to untie “the foal of an ass” that had been tied, “on which no man had ever sat.” This seems to me to pertain more to the deeper sense than to the simple narrative. The ass had been bound. Where? “Across from Bethphage and Bethany.” “Bethany” means “house of obedience,” and “Bethphage” “house of jaws,” that is, a priestly place. For, jaw bones were given to priests, as the Lord commands [cf. Deuteronomy 18:3]. So, the Savior sends his disciples to a place where “obedience” is, where “the place given over to the priests” is, to unbind the foal of an ass, on which no man had ever sat…

The Lord Jesus came and commanded his disciples to go and untie “the colt of an ass,” which had previously been bound, so that it could walk free…When he sent his disciples to untie it, he said, “If anyone asks you why you are untying the foal, say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.'” Many people were lords of the colt before the Savior needed it. But after he began to be its Lord, the many ceased to be its lords…Even now the Lord “has need of” the colt. You are the colt of the ass…He wants you to be untied from the bonds of sin.

Then the disciples lay “their garments upon the ass” and have the Savior sit down. They take the Word of God and put it on the souls of the hearers. They take off their garments and “spread them out on the road.” The garments of the apostles are upon us; their good works are our adornment. The apostles want us to tread on their garments. And, indeed, when the ass imitates the disciples teaching and their life, it is untied by the disciples, bears Jesus, and treads on the apostles’ garments. Who of us is so blessed that Jesus sits on him? As long as he was on the mountain [of Olives], he dwelt only with the apostles. But when he begins to descend, a crowd of people runs to meet him…

The Pharisees saw this and said to the Lord, “Reprove them.” He said to them, “If they are silent the stones will cry out.” When we speak, the stones are silent. When we are silent, the stones cry out…Do you think that when the Son of man comes, he will find faith upon the earth?” We invoke the Lord’s mercy, lest we should be silent and the stones cry out. We should speak out and praise God, in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom is all glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.”

Origen of Alexandria (182-254) excerpts from Homily 37 on Luke 19:29-40.

On this Palm Sunday, let us cry join the crowds in shouting praise. Why? You are the colt. I am the colt. And we have been untied! So let us celebrate with the zeal of the prophet Zechariah who foretold this day would come!

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9

We are freed from the Law and untied from the bonds of sin to walk in obedience. Let us celebrate our triumphant Lord, and as it pertains to our good works and generosity, let us follow the example of the saints who have gone before us. Let us announce by our words and actions the glory of our victorious King!

“Messiah was not originally intended as a piece of Christmas music. Messiah received its world premiere on 13 April 1742, during the Christian season of Lent, and in the decidedly secular context of a concert hall in Dublin, Ireland.

The inspiration for Messiah came from a scholar and editor named Charles Jennens, a devout and evangelical Christian deeply concerned with the rising influence of deism and other strains of Enlightenment thought that he and others regarded as irreligious…

Jennens compiled and edited a concise distillation of Christian doctrine, from Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah’s coming through the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and then to the promised Second Coming and Day of Judgment.

Jennens took his libretto to his friend George Friedrich Handel and proposed that it form the basis of an oratorio expressly intended for performance in a secular setting during the week immediately preceding Easter. “Messiah would be directed at people who had come to a theater rather than a church during Passion Week,” according to the Cambridge Handel scholar Ruth Smith…

“When he finished writing what would become known as the Hallelujah Chorus, [Handel] said, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.” … The premiere on 13 April 1742 at Fishamble Street Musick Hall was a sensation. An overcapacity crowd of 700 people attended, raising 400 pounds to release 142 men from prison.”

George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) as recounted in “Handel’s Messiah premieres in Dublin 13 April 1742” and 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (Nashville: Christianity Today, 2000) 113-114. Last night I listened to Messiah on my flight home from San Diego where I was training pastors for a few days. I am convinced it is the music of the throne room of heaven!

Join me in sharing with at least one person this Passion week that Handel’s Messiah was intended to be performed not merely in churches but for the world during the season of Lent and throughout the year. And even as it proclaims the gospel that sets people free from the power of sin and death, the proceeds donated from the premiere of Handel’s “gift to the world” set 142 captives free.

Don’t just share these historical facts with people. Some day this Passion Week, take time to either listen to Handel’s Messiah, or read through the Scriptures that proclaim the prophecies (part one), the passion (part two), and the promise of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ! Do this, be blessed, and share the blessing with others!

“When God made man, male and female, in His own image, He gave them dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). He made them stewards of its resources, and they became responsible to Him as Creator, to the earth which they were to develop, and to their fellow human beings with whom they were to share its riches. So fundamental are these truths that authentic human fulfillment depends on a right relationship to God, neighbor, and the earth with all its resources. People’s humanity is diminished if they have no just share in those resources.

By unfaithful stewardship, in which we fail to conserve the earth’s finite resources, to develop them fully, or to distribute them justly, we both disobey God and alienate people from His purpose for them. We are determined, therefore, to honor God as the Owner of all things, to remember that we are stewards and not proprietors of any land or property that we may have, to use the in the service of others, and to seek justice with the poor who are exploited and powerless to defend themselves. We look forward to the restoration of all things at Christ’s return (Acts 3:21). At that time, our full humanness will be restored, so we must promote human dignity today.”

John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) in his last book, entitled, The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of Our Calling (Downers Grove: IVP, 2010) 70-71.

What have we learned this Lent? Our prayer time has blessed us with space to connect with God in a noisy world, our fasting has positioned us to feast on what is true and good, and in practicing generosity we have been training ourselves to serve as conduits of God’s material and spiritual blessings.

Moving forward, will we function as “stewards and not proprietors”? We will act like we own the place, or rather, take our place in God’s economy of all things that has been restored in through the work of Christ on the cross. Now that we know this mystery, what way of living will we choose?

He has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1:9-10

“The Christian faith, in its earliest forms, is presented as good news. That is the original meaning of the Old English word gospel…We need, I suggest, to ask afresh: What is the good news that Jesus Himself announced and told His followers to announce as well? Most people–including many Christians–never ask themselves this question…

In many churches, the good news has subtly changed into good advice: Here’s how to live, they say. Here’s how to pray. Here are techniques for helping you become a better Christian, a better person, a better wife or husband. And in particular, here’s how to make sure you’re on the right track for what happens after death. Take this advice: say this prayer and you’ll be saved. You won’t go to hell; you’ll go to heaven. Here’s how to do it.

This is advice, not news.

The whole point of advice is to make you do something to get a desired result. Now, there’s nothing wrong with good advice. We all need it. But it isn’t the same thing as news. News is an announcement that something significant has happened…

The good news is primarily that God–the generous God, the loving God–is being honored, will be honored, has been utterly and supremely honored, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”

N.T. Wright in Simply Good News: Why the Gospel is Good News and What Makes it Good (New York: HarperCollins, 2015) 2, 4, 166.

The reason that all generosity flows from the gospel is because our generous God is at the heart of the good news. As we approach Passion Week and in perpetuity, let us proclaim the good news by lifting up Jesus, whose life, death, and resurrection, brought all glory to the Father. And as we do, may He draw all humankind to himself!

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—’Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. John 12:27-33.

“The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creations. Not to make people with better morals, but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friends, is what it really means to be a Christian. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great and wondrous things that God dreamed of and achieve for us in Christ Jesus.”

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) in The Furious Longing of God (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2009) 125-126.

The life-giving work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the empty tomb not only marks the climax of Lent; it is how God has chose to make all who believe “brand-new creations” (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Manning’s description of “what it means to be a Christian” is captivating. Christ has created “a community of prophets and professional lovers.” Jesus not only fulfilled the law for us and gave us one command, to love one another, He has given us the Holy Spirit to empower our obedience!

As we consider life after Lent, may two things be true of each of us. First, may our life be the rooted in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and second, may our generosity be aglow with the “peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love of God.”

“The Church is you, me, all of us. It is not the local priest alone. Christians are the people chosen to give witness, everywhere, that God is love and He is only that!”

Bernadette of Lourdes (1844-1879) in 15 Days of Prayer with Saint Bernadette of Lourdes by François Vayne (Hyde Park, New York, 2009) 70.

As we approach the Passion Week, be sure to take good notes because our greatest act of generosity for the rest of our lives is to “give witness” to the God who is love. Jesus’ work on the cross for us–making atonement for our sins–is not just good news, it’s the best news ever, because He rose from the grave, conquered sin and death, and freely offers life to all who believe (cf. John 3:16)!

“Prayer changes things,” people say. It also changes us. The latter goal is the more imperative. The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father that, by the power of the Spirit, we are increasingly conformed to the image of the Son…None of of us will keep up a life of prayer unless we are prepared to change. We will either give it up or turn it into a little system that maintains the form of godliness but denies the power of it–which is the same thing as giving it up.

When we begin to walk with God, He graciously and marvelously answers our feeble, egocentric prayers. We think, “This is wonderful. God is real after all!” In time, however, when we try to push this button again, God says to us, “I would like to be more than your Provider. I also want to be your Teacher and your Friend. Let me lead you to a more excellent way. I want to free you of the greed and avarice, the fear of hostility that make your life one great sorrow…” Each day in a new and living way the brooding Spirit of God teaches us. As we begin to follow these nudgings of the Spirit, we are changed from the inside out.”

Richard Foster in Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 57.

What will prayer look like in your life after Lent?

Don’t keep the form without the function! The form is prayer, the function is our transformation, and the agent of that change is the Holy Spirit. When we let God have His way in us, the Spirit produces the fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control” in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). This happens as we follow the “nudgings of the Spirit.” In plain language specifically related to generosity, we won’t be any more generous after Lent if we don’t submit to the work of the Spirit in our lives.

Father in Heaven, have Your way in each of us. As our Provider, transform our greed into generosity. As our Teacher, show us the more excellent way and help us walk in it. And as our Friend, move us from fear to faith by your Holy Spirit. Do all this we ask in the name of our risen Savior Jesus. Amen.

Yet even now, says the Lord, repent and return to me with all your heart. Joel 2:12.

“The real question of the Lenten season is: How will I repent and return to God with all my heart? This begs an even deeper question: Where in my life have I gotten away from God and what are the disciplines that will enable me to find my way back?

How many and how subtle are the ways we “leave” God and the true spiritual journey in favor of other pursuits—even those that seem very noble and even necessary. The cares and concerns of life in this world and even the dreams and visions that God has given us can become distractions from the relationship itself…Returning to God with all our hearts begins with repentance…

Lenten disciplines help us to abstain from the daily distractions that prevent us from seeing and naming reality correctly. As we allow some of the external trappings of our lives to be stripped away, we can return to a truer sense of ourselves and a deeper pursuit of God. We acknowledge the subtle temptations to which we are prone rather than pretending that we are beyond temptation.

The disciplines of fasting and other kinds of abstinence help us to abstain from that which distracts us and numbs our awareness so that we can become more finely attuned to what is going on in our lives spiritually-speaking. We allow ourselves to experience the necessary grief that leads to repentance and we ask God to lead us in a new and everlasting way.”

Ruth Haley Barton in “Practicing Lent: Invitation to Return to God” blog post dated 21 February 2012.

Hopefully what is happening to each of us this Lent is that we are experiencing “necessary grief that leads to repentance” while becoming “more finely attuned” both to God and the things that distract us from God, whether they be good things or bad things.

The prophet Joel instructs us how to do this: Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:13. Is it time for a heart-rending and returning exercise?

Let’s take some time today to make a list of things that distract us from God. Father, forgive us, we are brokenhearted for pursuing these other things and missing you in the process. Recalculate our route back to you, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do this we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Your charity and care must begin at home but it must not end there. You are bound to do the best you can to educate your children, so they may be capable of being most serviceable to God, but not to leave them rich, nor to forbear other necessary works of charity, merely to make larger provision for them. There must be some proportion between the provision we make for our families and for the church of Christ. A truly charitable, self-denying heart, that hath devoted itself, and all that it hath, to God, would be the best judge of the due proportions, and would see which way of expense is likely to do God the greatest service, and that way it would take.”

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) in The Reformed Pastor, 5th edition, ed. William Brown (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1862) 167.

Baxter lived in a day when Christian parents with resources exhibited a sincere desire to attend of the needs of their children (cf. 1 Timothy 5:8). That desire soon developed into an entitlement pattern: parents felt their children deserved “nothing but the best” of everything. Sound familiar? Many aimed to leave their children rich instead of being rich in charity, so Baxter shined light on this selfish and destructive trend (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19).

If you are journeying through Lent with children (or grandchildren), be sure to teach them that the aim of self-denying simplicity is to make space for works of charity and grow as faithful disciples of Jesus. We invest money on resources and outings to impart these lessons. Why? We must train children in grasping the value of sacrifice and charity, so that their souls may be “most serviceable to God” rather than self-absorbed.

“If you love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15. Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but he never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “if” … If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23…

The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love something I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny.

My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become the pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed.”

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) in “Obedience or Independence?” the November 2 reading in My Utmost for His Highest an updated edition in today’s language (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1992).

While Lent is the season for nurturing spiritual growth by focusing on key aspects of the faith, we must not wait for a special call to the mission field or a divine sign from heaven to put what we have learned to practice. We must obey in the “seemingly random circumstances” of life.

Our obedience in loving God and loving others creates “the pinholes” through which we see “the face of God.” That reminds me of the famous statement near the end of Victor Hugo’s, Les Miserables: “To love another person is to see the face of God!” What motivates us to love people?

For disciples of Christ, it’s not a rule; it’s a response to the love we have received from Him. What about you? Do you obey without hesitation? Does He have competition? Take ten minutes in silence today to consider your answers. Do this so that you are prepared to stand face to face with God.