Tag Archives: Foreigners

What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 39

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39. An Interesting Question

Jesus and Pilate2

Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”  (John 18:33)

I wonder how Jesus felt having to be dragged into the Praetorium? Unlike the Pharisees, it probably didn’t even enter His mind. So battered and manhandled was He. And He knew more was coming. Could He feel the sins of the world gathering together to crush Him? Or was He thinking: Uh, no, no guys. I can’t go in there. I’ll become unclean! The magnitude of Him becoming the sacrifice for our sin precluded such thinking; and coming up with an excuse like the Pharisees would have never entered His mind.

Anyway, Jesus is summoned into the Praetorium, a place where no self-respecting Pharisee would be caught. But wasn’t that the hallmark of Christ’s life? Going where no self-righteous legalistic person would ever go? Hanging out with and consorting with tax collectors and sinners? But I ask: If Christ did not go into such places, how would the prisoners be set free? He did not need to be summoned; He would have willingly walked in, because that is where He found you and me!

It’s an interesting question, Are You the King of the Jews?  Only two people have used this term: King of the Jews; Pilate and one of the Magi. It’s a title and a question that spans the human lifetime of Christ, from birth to death.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ( Matt 2:1-3)

We find more than merely earnest seekers asking the question of Herod. These Magi had traveled hundreds of miles, following a star based on prophecies left behind by Daniel and Jewish elders generations earlier, and they were the ones ordained to be at the right place and the right time, asking the right question.

It’s interesting to note this name is used only by foreigners. Have we become so ingrown and myopic that we need to be reminded from the outside just Who this Jesus is?

king of the jews

Father, whatever it takes, may I know the One and Only, True Son of God. The king of the Jews, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and the King of my life. And knowing Him, may I serve my King with the all the love and obedience I can give. Amen.

Singing with the King (71) – Strangers

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 The LORD protects the strangers. (Psalm 146:9a)

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERAStrangers. Aliens. Foreigners. A political platform.

It’s easy to get caught up in a MEMBERS ONLY mentality, even with God’s Chosen People. But we forget that GOD did the choosing—not  you or me.

Abraham was called to go to a land he did not know, where he would be the stranger, the alien, the foreigner:

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)

It didn’t take long for Israel to forget their roots. And that’s why Moses put in reminders such as this in God’s Law:

For the LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)

And it didn’t take us long to forget our roots: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! You may recognize those words as the ones found on the Statue of Liberty.

You see, we weren’t calling “Christians Only” or a “Jews Only” people to this land. We were calling those who wanted to be free; and that doesn’t preclude that those who come would become followers of Christ, for true freedom can only be found in Christ: So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

God not only protects the strangers, He saves the strangers.

In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.  But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. (Ephesians 2:12-13, 19)

Going back to Abraham, the original stranger, it said: he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. In other words—Heaven.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20)

There are no strangers in heaven. That’s why you’ll find: And they sang  a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”