nazareth

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Glory Revealed

December 19, 2023December 18, 2023 krisshetter

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:3-5

You may have seen the widely distributed story and corresponding photos of the family who, after placing their Christmas tree inside their home, found an owl living in it. Four days after it had been decorated beautifully, admired, sat around, and I’m sure photographed. Four days. While the owl wasn’t some large barn owl, it wasn’t a tiny baby either. It appears to be about 6″ tall. Let’s be clear about this too — the tree wasn’t decorated by children in some slipshod way. Someone draped and swirled gorgeous red, gold and white checkered ribbon. Lights were strung throughout, placed deep inside the branches. And no one saw the owl.

I was thinking about that story when I heard a podcast about the announcing of Jesus’ birth by angels to the shepherds. How His glory was revealed to the lowest on the economic totem pole, not to the religious elite. And once again I was struck with how God flips our view of “the way things should be” upside down.

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13

While we are told at various points in Holy Scripture that God sees all, sees and knows every single hair on our heads. However, there are those among us who are destined to never see or understand the glory of God. We are told in Mark 6 that after teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth many were astonished to hear such wisdom. Instead of wanting more, however, they “took offense” and shunned Him. The result was that Jesus did not use His might and power there. They had closed off their hearts and minds to Him. They missed out on his glory.

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” Matthew 13:11-13

You know how that owl was finally seen? A neighbor was bending over to plug in some sort of device and saw the tree from a different angle. As believers, we should have that same perspective change so we can see and know the secrets of the Kingdom. Like that owl revealed in the tree we can see the glory and the light of the Lord shining in hidden places and in places that seem so obvious to us. Once seen, it can never be unseen.

When God reveals His glory to us, once we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, we are able to see two worlds. The world of the flesh and the world of promised His Kingdom. We see the joy and the hope while the world may just see bitterness and despair. The world so often looks down and inward. We turn our eyes outward and upward taking in the view of God’s people in need and ask how we can serve them. We see the glory of God revealed at work throughout our day — if you aren’t, just ask the Holy Spirit to help clear your eyes.

Friends, the King of Kings doesn’t just knock on the door of palaces and mansion. He knocks on our doors. At our apartment, our tiny home, our tent, our bedroom door. We need only to open the door, unlike the people in Nazareth, and welcome Him in (Rev 3:20) and His glory will be revealed.

All honor and praise to the God who loves the lowly and reveals the secrets of the Kingdom to all believers in His Holy Word. Amen

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I Will

February 21, 2022February 21, 2022 krisshetter

So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. Matthew 1:19

We left off our study of new beginnings with a cliff hanger of sorts. There sat Jonah on a hill wishing he were dead. And God reminding Jonah that He cares for all people of the earth, especially the ones “who cannot tell their right hand from their left.” Thank goodness for that because there are many days I feel and act like one of those foolish people! If left to being helped out of my fiery pit by unloving, sleepy Christians, I would surely find myself in the depths of hell. But for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And those that submit themselves not only to their will but do so out of love.

So, we leave the Old Testament with many more stories of new beginnings than I have shared. And with hope that Jonah finally grasped God’s message of works without love is empty and useless. But here’s the thing about our guidebook for life, the Bible, God’s holy Word, there’s 1000s of connections back and forth between the ancient stories in the Old Testament and the newer history of the New Testament. Which leads us to the first new beginning we encounter in the book of Matthew. Another Noah. Another servant of God who is the way maker for the world’s new beginning. The connector from the old ways to the new. A man who, like Noah, was considered “righteous” and faithful to God. But first, let me share with you a modern story of another righteous man who helped shepherd in a new beginning for one small child.

Epworth’s Children’s Home received this first-hand account from a foster parent in 2017 about his experience in becoming a foster father:

“Our family has been fostering a boy since October 2017. Yesterday our foster child had a court hearing to determine what step to take as far as his custody goes. I haven’t shared a lot about the whole foster experience because I have been afraid, to be completely honest. Afraid because fostering has been a lot harder for me than I thought it would be. Not because the child is difficult – it has been hard because of my heart. Ever since he came into our home, I have been terrified of becoming too attached and having my heart broken when he would eventually leave our home. I have been terrified of giving him all of my love, my energy, my grace and my compassion. I was sitting in the courtroom listening to the different parties discussing and debating the best course of action for the child’s future, when I started shaking. I began to realize this is the moment! The moment I decide to completely expose my heart to the potential of pain, or keep my walls up. It was absolutely terrifying! I started hearing a small voice inside that I could no longer ignore, and it was telling me to fight for this child. I realized I was willing to do anything for him.

“My walls started to crumble around me. Then I heard the judge call my name. He wanted to know if I wanted to adopt this child. I wanted to scream “Yes! He is my son!”, but I think I said something a little less dramatic like, “Yes sir, we are working on becoming licensed for adoption for this child.” I then heard the judge say that he is ordering termination of parental rights and opening this case for adoption. The weight of this decision is not lost on me, but it was one of the most powerful experiences that I have ever had.”

But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:20

Joseph was our Lord’s foster father. As a devout follower of the Mosaic Law, he had every right to not only publicly shame Mary for her “adultery” but also to have her stoned to death! Before the angel even spoke to him, however, love, kindness, compassion took over and he decided to quietly divorce her. Think of how Jonah would’ve responded. Surely God would’ve had to intervene to save Mary’s life from Jonah’s anger.

After Joseph obeyed God’s urging to complete his marriage vows to Mary, his troubles surely were not over. Like Noah, he would’ve faced public humiliation. The knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy in the small village of Nazareth would have spread like a wildfire. And yet he stayed the course. He stayed faithful not only to Mary but to God. He didn’t, by all accounts do it begrudgingly like Jonah. He took up the mantle of “foster father” and protected his family, raised his son as his own. His new beginning was as father to someone else’s son. An earthly role model. A shepherd, like Noah, for what was to be all of humanity’s new beginning.

Joseph and the unnamed servant girl who helped Naaman (2 Kings 5:3) also have a lot in common. They were faithful. They had a heart for God. They stepped up to help when they could’ve taken a different path. Their small steps were a gift to many. And they both are but a few lines in our history. Joseph’s last mention of him doesn’t even use his name. Jesus is 12 years old, immersed in the teachings at the temple and his parents are frantically looking for him. His mother chastises him and says, “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you!” (Luke 2:48) After that, Joseph fades away. Most likely, he passes before Jesus begins his adult ministry.

And yet we remember him each Christmas for his shepherding, protecting, and faith. We should all add a bit of thanks to Joseph each day we pray in Jesus’ name. Because like so many faithful servants of Christ, He obeyed out of love. He didn’t ask or require that “thanks.” He didn’t harbor ill will for having to endure hardship. He put his head down, his hands out and his heart lifted and said to God, “I will.”

I want to share with you the rest of the letter written to Epworth Children’s Home by the foster father:

“I will end with this. This is especially for you guys and fathers. If you feel God tugging at your heart to become a foster parent, listen! There will always be a reason to not become a foster parent, but if your main reason is that you are scared your heart will be broken, then you especially need to do it. Foster children need someone who will be heartbroken over them. They need someone who is going to stick by them when things get hard. They haven’t experienced that. They need someone to love them and be gentle with them when they come over and hit you in the face with a maraca and break your glasses (not that I have ever had that happen, that is completely hypothetical, of course!). They need someone who is going to be faithful to them and strong for them in their weakest moments. I am by no means perfect in any of those, but I am strong in my faith, and it provides me the love, strength and grace that I need. Fostering has made me more dependent on God, in everything, and that is good. Ultimately, I am a foster child who was adopted into His family, and I am fully loved.”

Amen.

How Dare You?

February 7, 2022February 7, 2022 krisshetter

This is a short story about a little girl. A girl without a name. A Jewish slave girl, taken captive by the Syrians 1000’s of years ago. But first, let me tell you about another little girl, one who few have heard of yet recently saved so many.

In 2004, 10-year-old Tilly Smith was vacationing on a beach in Phuket, Thailand. At some point during the beautiful, sunny day the sea began bubbling “like on the top of beer.” As others watched out of curiosity, Tilly remembered her recent lesson on tsunamis in her geography class. An early warning sign? That the water would froth and suddenly recede.

Tilly pleaded with her family to escape the beach. Her father took her warning seriously and went back to the hotel to bring it to the attention of the staff. Her mom, however didn’t believe her. Out of fright and frustration she announced,

“Right, mum, I’m going. I’m definitely going. There is definitely going to be a tsunami.”

Tilly’s father, impressed by his daughter’s conviction, alerted an on-duty security guard, and the authorities quickly evacuated the beach. The Smith family and all the beach goers sought refuge at their hotel, just minutes before the tsunami hit.

Throughout that day, tsunamis in Southeast Asia killed nearly 230,000 people. But Tilly’s persistence saved the lives of every person on that beach.

She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:3

This was the pleading voice of the little Jewish girl. Her new beginning began in a strange land as a slave. Taken captive by King Aram, living in the house of Naaman, commander of the army. Naaman, although an impressive warrior and highly regarded by the king, was stricken with leprosy. And this little girl, far from home, was urged to tell her mistress about the healing powers of the prophet Elisha, the man of God.

Without fear, without thought of not being believed because of her youthfulness or gender or race or faith, this no named child saved a man both physically and spiritually. She doesn’t appear to harbor malice toward her captor. She shows the love and mercy of God.

As for Naaman, he was urged to take this little child’s advice and travel to a far off land in search for a cure. With the prophet Elisha’s help, Naaman became a follower of the one true God. He too took this gift and quietly weaved it into his surroundings, eventually converting the royal household.

“And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” Luke 4:27

When Jesus spoke these words in the Nazareth synagogue he was thrown out. How dare he speak of saving gentiles! How dare he encourage the saving of their enemies – ones who had taken them as slaves? Yes, how dare He? How dare Tilly think she knew something that could save so many? How dare this Jewish slave girl share her God’s love for everyone?

I can only imagine how grateful Naaman must have been toward this little slave girl. I can only imagine because she’s never mentioned again. Her new beginning, as her master’s first guide in his steps toward salvation, had to have brought that household so much joy. Just like Tilly will always know how much of a difference one person can make.

How dare we all direct just one person toward the loving grace of our Savior? Who are we to give others the gift of a new beginning? To have our own beginning as a servant of Christ? How dare I, a person of lowly origins, share in the hope and salvation of someone? How dare you?