Lessons in the Wilderness

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Sometimes we end up in places we never thought we’d be. Whether it’s a byproduct of not paying attention when we’re driving or not paying attention to our daily decisions, habits, and attitude, we end up...somewhere. Somewhere we may not want to be or even somewhere that we should be. Though we may not make a conscious decision to stop reading the Bible, or the new habits we pick up don’t seem all that bad at first, over time, we find ourselves in unknown land. Other times, it seems as life just happens to us, and circumstances beyond our control push us into areas we never planned to be.

When the Israelites finally left Egypt, they likely thought that life was going to get better. That was what God had promised, right? A land flowing with milk and honey? Instead, he sends them--in the wrong direction--to the wilderness. For forty years. On a map, their journey looks like this: 

If I were an Israelite, I’d be wondering what on earth God was up to. Didn’t he create the world, so shouldn’t he have a better idea of how to move efficiently across it? Was that really the best way to take to get from Egypt to Canaan? Isn’t there an easier way?

Which, when I think about it, are some of the same questions many of us ask God in our own lives. When we find ourselves where we didn’t want to be, whether through our own doing or circumstances beyond our control, we ask God, “Isn’t there an easier way?” For the Israelites, sure, there were ways to Canaan that look objectively “easier,” but that’s just the way we look at it. God’s map doesn’t look like ours.

In the wilderness, the Israelites had to trust God for their literal daily bread. Each night, God sent manna--just enough for each person for that day, and on the sixth day, enough for the seventh as well. No more, and no less than what they needed. They had to learn patience, as God led them from place to place in what may have felt like a very nonsensical order. And ultimately, they learned about his provision and timing, as he led them into the land of Canaan, the land he had promised all along, when he knew it was time.

When we have the full story available, we can see all of the good things that came from the Israelites’ time in the wilderness. It feels a lot different when we’re the ones in the wilderness though. We may not be able to see any of the good in where we are, and it certainly may not feel like God is doing what is truly best for us. Yet through the wilderness, God shapes us in ways we may not be able to be shaped otherwise. There are some lessons that cannot be learned the easy way. It is in those times that we can take heart in knowing that no matter the kind of wilderness we find ourselves in, and for whatever reason, God promises he will be near.  

(Map is from http://www.bible-history.com/maps/images/exodus_route.jpg. As a note, it’s harder than you’d think to find a map of the Israelites’ journey from a reputable online source, but the map does look to be at least somewhat accurate.)

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She loves Christmas and can be found spreading Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear. You can read more of her musings on her own blog or follow her on Twitter @bwitt722.]

A Radically Different Judas

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, Mi. These posts are reflections on Sunday’s message, which can be heard here each week: http://encounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

I walked away from church on Sunday with a profoundly different understanding of Judas Iscariot. He’s been criminalized and villianized over the centuries since his death, and maybe for good reason, but he’s also been largely misrepresented.  Judas was not an unbeliever who pretended to love and serve Jesus so he could wait for the perfect time to attack. Judas was not a schemer who planned for years to betray Jesus. Judas probably did not even plot the death of Jesus. In fact, Judas probably could not have known that his betrayal would lead to the death of his Lord.

We do know this: Judas tragically underestimated the corruption of those around him.  

When Judas agreed to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders, he did so knowing that the chief priests and teachers of the law had no actual authority or power within Rome to do any real harm to Jesus. They couldn’t orchestrate a legal trial, they couldn’t order imprisonment, and they certainly couldn’t mandate a death by crucifixion. But Rome could do all of those things, and the religious leaders who wanted Jesus dead knew that if they were going to stop the ministry of Jesus, they would need to do it through the Roman government. So when Jesus was arrested and brought before Pilate, a Roman governor, Judas realized immediately but too late that he had been used in a much larger plot to murder Jesus.

It is the chief priests and the teachers of the law who actually orchestrate the death of the Messiah. It is they who bribe Judas to bring Jesus to them at night, in secret, to be arrested, and it is they who bring him before the Roman officials and accuse him of treason. Pilate can find no fault with Jesus, so he sends Jesus before Herod who also finds no fault with Jesus, and so Jesus is sent back before Pilate. Pilate says several times that he intends only to punish Jesus and then release him, but the crowd demands the release of a murderer, and the death of Jesus in the murderer’s place. It is the crowd who actually orchestrates the death of the Messiah.

How all of this gets pinned so singularly on Judas is outrageous, really. And Judas is often further criticized for taking his own life; in fact, Judas appears to be one of very few people who realized in the midst of the chaos what was actually happening. They are murdering the very Son of God.

Judas loved Jesus. But he was unable to divorce his own agenda from the reality of Jesus’ ministry. Judas wanted Jesus to be the militant savior that the people had been expecting for so many generations. Judas wanted Jesus to overthrow the Romans, to establish the dominance of the nation of Israel, and perhaps he even wanted those Romans to pay for what they had done. But one can hardly blame Judas; that’s the way nations had warred, conquered one another, and maintained control over one another for as long as Judas or any Israelite could remember. They could remember the Assyrians. The Babylonians. The Romans. And now it was to be the time of the Israelites. Many, many believers held this view of Jesus; only Judas had the foolish courage to act on his own ambition rather than to wait at the feet of Jesus.

In retrospect, it’s so obvious that Jesus made it clear that his kingdom was not one of war and hatred and flesh, but one of peace and love and eternity. But Judas would not listen and it cost him and his savior their lives. So many Christians today continue to demand a militant Christ—one who will condone Christians for their systematic and militant hatred of those who hold different values and beliefs. But the ministry of Jesus was one of peace and love and eternity.

Is Judas a sympathetic figure? Not exactly. Not any more than a militant Christian today is a sympathetic figure. Judas’ volunteerism for the religious leaders made possible the eventual crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And we continue to destroy the words of Christ with our own hateful actions every day.

But of course, what makes all the difference is this: what the religious leaders and teachers of the law intended for evil, God used to redeem all of creation.

What it comes down to is this: God works through us and God works in spite of us. We don’t always follow Jesus well, but still the work of God continues all around us. And when we do finally put our own agendas aside and align our wills with God’s, then we have the opportunity to participate in the renewing of this world all around us. This, of course, is nothing short of incredible. God will not be deterred, but he will let us join in his kingdom work.

[Kristin vanEyk lives in Kentwood, Mi where she attends Encounter Church with her husband Dirk, and her two kids, Lily and Colin. Kristin teaches high school English and is slowly learning what it means to follow Jesus.]

Look Like Jesus

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]


A couple of years ago as I browsed in a store, I overheard two women who were standing a few feet away from me. The store had cards, knickknacks, and a wall full of books, mostly on spirituality and wellness. As one of the women looked through a book, she paused and made a comment.

The other woman replied, “I love Jesus, but I hate Christians.” “Yea, they’re terrible,” the first woman agreed. They both chuckled a bit and continued on with their browsing, soon moving to another section of the store.

Though I didn’t speak to them, I wondered what the stories were that led to these strong feelings about Christians. Was it the headlines about churches protesting funerals or comments by politicians they didn’t agree with? Was it specific moments, with words spoken in spite or malice by people they thought loved them? Or was it a combination of things, too varied to be counted, that led to sweeping statements about all people who identify themselves by that label of “Christian”?

While I’ll never know the reasons behind that specific instance of “I love Jesus, but I hate Christians,” it’s not an uncommon statement. It’s even a somewhat understandable one--I know I can certainly think of Christians I don’t really want to be associated with--or, more humblingly, times in my own life when I did not live up to the loving, merciful, grace-filledness that label should entail.

Yet, despite our inability to do it perfectly, Jesus has left us here on the earth as bearers of his name. Richard and Reneé Stearns wrote, “You just might be the only Jesus they will ever see.” Which begs the question: What kind of Jesus will people see when they look at our lives? Would they see the type of person who makes them say, “I hate Christians,” or the type of person who makes them curious about who this Jesus guy is and what a relationship with him could look like?

We don’t have to do too much guesswork to figure out what kind of things make us more like Jesus. In John 13:14-15, Jesus tells his disciples, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” It doesn’t meant we have to literally walk up to strangers and start washing their feet, but this humble, grace and love-filled, servant-like action--this is what Jesus does. This is what it looks like to be a follower of him, to imitate him so closely that when others look at us they see Jesus.

What could our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our communities, our world look like if everyone who professed to follow Jesus truly lived that out? Not in some fake, superficial way, but in a way that bore the inner transformation of hearts being conformed to Christ’s?

Maybe we’d hear people say, “I love Jesus...and his followers aren’t too bad either.”



*Note: A version of the story told here originally appeared in the post “I Love Jesus, But I Hate You,” published 5.19.2013 on Brianna’s personal blog.

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She loves Christmas and can be found spreading Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear. You can read more of her musings on her own blog or follow her on Twitter @bwitt722.]