We will be wrong to imagine Jesus as someone who avoids conflict at all cost.  Jesus did not tiptoe around people.  His fiery obedience to the Father led Him into some serious explosive situations.  In the middle of conflict he stood up with conviction and surety.  On the Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus was questioned about His authority – who gave Him the right to throw the tables over?  Jesus, as his habit was answers them with another question (I read recently that Jesus was asked 183 questions and He answered 3).

Jesus’ boldness grew out of his intimacy with the Father.  He was the one who answered the question on which commandment was the most important with the words in Deut 6.  Shema.  Listen!  In Holy Week we will see Jesus returning again and again to the Father.  He carved out time to listen.  It was actually a habitual process for Jesus.  Retread and Engage.  Spend time with the Father and engage with the world.  His intimacies were transformed into passions.

We don’t know what Jesus did on the Wednesday of Holy week.  Most scholars speculate that He spent time with the Father.  It’s an invitation for us …  to listen …  and engage …  with the passion of God.  How different would the world be if all of Christ’s children emulate His passion for listening and obeying!

Take some time today to listen to the Whisperer.  Press the pause button of your heart and allow yourself to record some programming from the Father.

I believe it to be a great mistake to
present Christianity as something charming and popular with no offense in
it….We cannot blink at the fact that gentle Jesus meek and mild was so stiff
in his opinions and so inflammatory in his language that he was thrown out of
church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbeted as a firebrand
and a public danger.  Whatever his peace was, it was not the peace of an amiable
indifference.