Dear Friends and Family,
“Yes!” Spring in Japan is a very beautiful time. The harbinger of Spring here is always our beautiful blossoming plum trees–pinker than the cherries. The seasonal blooming plums always bring remembrance to me of the rod of Aaron (see Numbers 17 and Hebrews 9:4). Whether you are talking about our blossoming plums or the California almond orchards, it is the season for both to be blooming—late February, early March. As surely as the beauty of our plum-blooming season of Japan reminds us of our great Creator, so Aaron’s blossoming-fruiting almond rod evidenced the attending grace and power, the ever presence of our Heavenly Father.
We are lacking any pictures about OBS in the eUpdate this time, but a lot has been happening on campus—and is about to happen. We had a couple of guests in the Biblical Doctrine course and these occasions were opened up for outsiders to attend as an on-campus seminar. Shortly, we will have a graduation ceremony for a 2-year graduate, our Sister Ibuki who came to the Lord through our congregation and was discipled by Brother Kimura. This will be followed after a school break by the opening of the first term of the new school year in April with a New Student Welcoming Ceremony—a Japanese custom for all schools.
Our thoughts presently turn, of course, to the incredible breaking forth of our Savior Jesus, leaving behind an empty tomb, to the amazement of the disciples and the early morning arriving women. I shared my Easter message at the OBS chapel recently–“Bravery turned to Cowardice,” the context being Peter’s Great Confession in the middle land of Luke’s gospel chapters 9 and 10, colluding with John 11: 7-8, 15-16.
Again and again, from the time of Peter’s confession, Jesus speaks of his facing death and his rising again; but, as he spoke of the Kingdom of God in the same context, they totally misunderstood and their expectations were totally wrong. They were in the frame of mind that somehow Jesus was about to take on the government of Rome and remove her occupying-shackles. At one point, speaking of his death and resurrection, Jesus even said, “Let these words sink in.” Perhaps the best way to take these words was, as with the transfiguration, “Don’t forget what I have shared with you.” So when Jesus said he was returning to Jerusalem, in heroic manner, Thomas uttered the words, “Let us also go that we may die with him!” Indeed, following Peter’s confession, Jesus had said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” The same word “deny” described Peter’s denial of Jesus! However, my point follows as to what is a fuller nuance.
The heroic disciples so then set out, prepared to die with him! They first see Lazarus raised from the dead, “Wow!” Next followed the triumphant entry, “What’s next?” THEN Judas and the garden kiss, a disciple (Peter??) swiping off the High Priest’s servant’s ear, and the ARREST! Of a sudden they are no longer heroes but cowards! Bravery turned to cowardice: but then, the resurrection. Humbled and hiding, with Pentecost they became understanding-empowered disciples, changing the world; and, for whom we have to thank through the Scriptures for our FAITH in Jesus Christ as Lord.
We live in the long-after times of that first Pentecost of the Church; and, while we live in a day when more people are dying for their faith in Jesus Christ than any time in history, the greater reality is that taking up our cross, for most, means simply living out a faithful daily life unto Him, being faithful to your Calling, how you see God using you. The developing of the servant’s heart is a process of maturing, mellowing over time, and which, speaking theologically, we call the process of sanctification. This is accomplished in meeting the daily experiences of life FAITH’fully! Rickie likes to share how God does not call us to be “successful” but to being faithful.
With the disciples their bravado had turned to cowardice UNTIL their Pentecost experience: it brought about the full understanding of their time with the Lord together: that in Jesus His Heavenly Father’s mission to bring about the Kingdom according to HIS promise (Genesis 3:15) was realized, making it possible for us to be restored to His eternal plan and purpose.
With us our after-Pentecost understanding means a life of FAITH’fulness unto maturity –Ephesians 4:11-16, “. . . in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. ” and “. . . we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is Christ.” “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding is in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
The good Lord means for each of us to have a fulfilled and meaningful life now and only more in a future beyond our imagination, but which some of this life is a foretaste.
Paul says, “Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life, but as those who do. Make the best use of your time (redeem the time), despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague, but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God” (Ephesians 5:16). Yes ” . . . the will of God for you, is the ” . . . take[ing] up their [your] cross daily and follow[ing] me [him] . . .”
May this year’s SPECIAL’RESURRECTION LORD’s DAY blossom for you with freshened significance! “Unto Him!” — Paul and Rickie