There is a little girl (4 yrs old) that has come to visit me. She’s a darling and loves music, but can’t hear it accurately… and can’t match the pitch… and it’s super cute.
To start with, she’ll play a note on the piano and slide up and down the scale to try to match it. When she thinks she has a match, she’ll move on to the next note. (they never match, FYI). Then she’ll move on to the day’s composition, where she’ll bang keys in some sort of rhythm and sing… something about butterflies or Jesus or rocks or chickens… or all of those things… and then we have the song.
She sits at the piano, and plays her songs (many MANY in a day) and sings her heart out! I love it. The melody doesn’t match the accompaniment, in fact they are different keys, different rhythms, and could quite frankly, be entirely different songs, if they didn’t come from her… at the same time…
She does this day after day.
My heart grins, day after day as I watch and listen.
Chances are, if she keeps going day after day, year after year, she may actually, learn how to stay on pitch and she may even write songs!! The potential is there. She just has to keep at it!
The Back Story (Mark 6:1-6)
Up until this point, Jesus had been busy. According to his disciple Mark, Jesus was announced to the world by his cousin John (who baptized people) as someone REALLY (REALLY!!!!) important. Jesus by this time had gotten his followers picked, started his healing ministry, got in a heap ‘o’ trouble by fraternizing with the low-life of the day AND forgiving them. He was teaching people like a professor, dealing with demons and bringing people back to life ( a little girl in chapter 5).
Jesus now (chapter 6) was teaching in his local synagogue. He was a great preacher, it says (vs.2-3). But quickly in turned into something else – offence (end of verse 3). They thought what he said was “remarkable” and “full of wisdom” and “amazing” but then it turned to… offence???
How did that happen?
What were they thinking when they went from AMAZING to OFFENCE? You’d think they’d be proud, like a home-grown celebrity, but they weren’t.
Jesus said, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family” (vs 4)
His hometown crew only knew his as the “carpenter’s son” and the “son of Mary” and “brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon and his sisters”. They failed to see that he ALSO was the Son of God. He endured a lot of rejection.
That didn’t stop Jesus. He continued to preach, ramp things up with feeding 5000 men+ women and children (twice), walk on water, deal with demons and He continued to heal.
Thoughts
I don’t know what things you may be dreading in your future. I know that I am looking at my current situation and have lots to dread.
I ALSO know that God has told me some heart-things that make looking at the future, not only bearable, but something to look forward to.
After Jesus had been talking to me all week about “faith” and “steadfastness”, I asked Him, “where did you have to be steadfast?”
He said, “Remember, I knew that I was going to die. I knew it BEFORE I started my ministry. Well before.”
I thought about that a while.
People around him thought he was the Messiah that would save them from the Romans, but HE knew that He was the Messiah, that would save them from their sin. HE knew that He was the perfect lamb, that was going to have to die for the sins of the world (like a mirror of what happened at the temple day after day, lambs dying for sins). HE KNEW, he was going to get crucified.
Yet, He healed.
He had compassion.
He cared for others.
Day after day. Year after year.
He knew this was coming…the spiritual battle. The torture. The death.
The rejection didn’t stop Him.
The knowledge of the future didn’t stop him.
He was steadfast.
What an amazing amount of steadfastness and “setting His face like flint” he would have had to have to get up, do the will of the Father, KNOWING that his actions would eventually get Himself killed, in a horrible way. The author of the book of Hebrews says this about how Jesus handled it:
The JOY set before Him – that – what He was thinking about – WAS YOU and me. HE KNEW it would be shameful and down-right awful, but He just couldn’t get YOU, my darling, out of His mind, and when He was done, He sat down beside His Father, on a throne – a seat of power. The torture would only happen once, but your face before Him, that’s for eternity.
Steadfastness.
A glimpse into the future, for a purpose.
You
And Him
Together for eternity.
So when I think of the 4 yr old singing and working happily on her tune-less compositions, I think of Jesus, with the joy of steadfastness, continuing without stopping.
If you don’t think you can be steadfast, that’s okay. Don’t worry, my darling. Jesus can do it FOR YOU. He’s had lots of practice!
If you still can’t mange the steadfastness, don’t worry about that either, my darling. Check this out!