Month: March 2024

Surprise, surprise, says the Lord

The next time you feel bad because you think God let you down, consider the most massive misunderstanding of God’s intentions in history.

For centuries people had been waiting for a messiah, a mighty warrior king who would lift them out of slavery and crush their enemies. When the messiah arrived in his true form, most people missed the point entirely.

They greeted him like the conquering hero they expected him to be, throwing palm leaves in his path as he marched into Jerusalem, wait, on a donkey? Oh yeah, look, it’s here in the scriptures: “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

They didn’t have much time to look forward to their new king riding into battle, because within days he had been betrayed to the authorities, who ran him through a kangaroo court and had him executed in a most horrible fashion: nailing his hands and feet to a cross and leaving him to hang in the sun.

This guy from Galilee was apparently just another rabble-rousing criminal, and the wait for the conquering messiah king would have to continue. 

But …

On the morning of the third day, the true nature of what a messiah king is began to become clearer. He wasn’t a conqueror of Roman legions or evil tyrants; he was a conqueror of death itself. That wasn’t the execution of a political criminal; it was a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sinners who call on him. And wait a minute, he wasn’t just the Son of God; somehow he was the Great I Am incarnate.

If the people who were there, who saw and heard him speak and heal the sick, didn’t fully understand what he was doing until much later, then you shouldn’t be too dismayed when you ask God for something and he delivers something else, something unexpected, something that’s not really what you wanted. Step back and examine what happened, and you’ll likely find it was what you needed.

Guest of honor

Guy Gilchrist, the talented artist whom I have followed since his memorable run on the comic strip Nancy a few years back, left a message via Facebook Live the other day about the time he was the guest of honor at the White House Easter egg hunt 40 years ago.

Gilchrist was the artist for the Muppets newspaper comic strip at the time, and he created the artwork for that year’s Muppets-themed Easter event at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The Reagans called Jim Henson and invited him to be the guest of honor.

“Oh, no, Guy did that,” Henson replied. “You need to invite Guy.”

That was the kind of person Jim Henson was, said Gilchrist — if the spotlight was pointed in his direction, Henson didn’t hesitate to make sure it shone on the colleague who really deserved it. Not everyone invited to the White House would turn down the honor and deflect attention from himself.

They say true leaders don’t care who gets the credit for their good work. In this case Henson cared that the person who actually did the work got the credit, and that’s the mark of a true leader, too.

The world could use a lot more Jim Hensons.

The worst day ever

Here at Three Willows the green is starting to break free again. It’s that time of renewal that arrives in late March and April every year in this neck of the woods. Oh, it was cold and windy Thursday, but the sun was shining and the green was the promise of warmth and growth to come.

Today is called “Good” Friday in the Christian faith, but it commemorates the worst day ever, when the man who would be known as the Prince of Peace was executed for such heinous crimes as saying “Love God and Love Your Neighbor are the two greatest laws.”

If not for what happened on the third day of the mourning period, He would just be a footnote in history, a notable teacher who had an enthusiastic following until the Powers That Be decided he had to be silenced.

What happened on that third day did happen, however, and so our history is measured in terms of Before and After Him, and Sunday commemorates the best day ever.

Today is a somber and sad day, but because of what was about to happen, the sadness is bittersweet: The foolish Powers That Be knew not what they were doing (what else is new?), but what they set in motion was a joy beyond joy.