Missing the Obvious

Mark 8:31-32

      The more difficult the news is to hear, the more difficult it is to hear. Really bad news often gets jumbled in the mind of the person hearing the news because the brain goes into survival mode. Hearing the additional information is not as important as surviving. “Your hair is on fire…” is more important than “with the brightness of the sunshine.” And in an instant our brains send a rush of hormones to our bodies signaling danger. We are ready for the fight, flight or freeze. And this is long before our brain has caught up and processed the sunshine bit.

      I think the disciples, and perhaps Peter more than the others, heard Jesus speak about His coming suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection, and his brain cut off before processing the rise again piece. That is probably because the most popular picture of the Messiah in Jesus’ day was of a conquering hero who would defeat Rome and set up an earthly kingdom, a kingdom patterned after King David.

      David led Israel during the glory days. They were the leading power of that time. They subjugated their enemies. They traded with the world. The riches of the world were brought to them as tribute and to purchase peace. They lacked nothing.

      You can see why a people placed under the oppression of Roman rule would want this kind of Messiah, this kind of freedom. They were taxed to the point of starvation. Extortion and bribery became a way of life. They always had big brother Rome looking over their shoulders. Even a whiff of rebellion or discontent was swiftly punished. We think the IRS targeting conservative groups was bad, can you imagine if that was the normal accepted practice? Can you imagine having laws that regulated how, when and where we could read the Scriptures?

      No wonder Peter pulls Jesus aside and tells Him to knock it off, to stop talking about suffering and death. Jesus is supposed to triumph over Rome. That is what Peter signed up for in the first place. Peter wants a victory parade, not a funeral procession.

      But Peter missed the third day results. He heard the suffering and death, alright, but he missed the triumph over the greatest enemy of all. Rome was peanuts compared to death. Rome came and went as a civilization. Rome fell. It was replaced, divided up like a Gazelle carcass in the middle of a hyena frenzy. Once it began to crumble, nothing could stop its collapse.

      I can imagine Peter at the end of his life looking back at this rebuke and shaking his head. How stupid could any one man be! How could he have missed what Jesus was saying! How could he have been so misguided! No wonder Jesus had to specifically bring Peter back into forgiveness and restoration after the Resurrection.

      Have you ever missed the obvious and lived to regret it? Well, I mean you obviously lived! But do you regret having missed the obvious? What would have been different in your life if you had gotten it the first time around?

A Little Cuddle Goes a Long Way

Proverbs 14:26-27

      Serving the LORD provides stability for children. What a simple lesson, and yet so rare a quality. It provides the most fundamental needs of children, and adults for that matter. There are many areas where this is true, but here several on which to focus.

      Our first proverb states that children will find a refuge created by their parents who fear the LORD. One of the most basic jobs of parents is to provide protection and safety for their children. This protection provides them with a secure base from which to operate. When they have this secure base they can venture into their world and explore. They do this because they know mom and dad will be there if they need them.

      Children with a secure base are less anxious than children who don’t have this security. They are able to play by themselves without clinging. They don’t act up when something disrupts their world. They don’t need to. Their parents are there to comfort them and meet their most basic emotional needs.

      The same thing holds true for adult relationships. When one spouse reaches for the other in times of distress and there is a loving, caring response, anxiety lowers and positive hormones are released. When they don’t respond the internal alarm bells start ringing and the distressed spouse becomes even more distressed. They go into the fight-flight-freeze response. Stress hormones are pumped into the system creating chaos.

      Our relationship with the LORD can provide this kind of secure base. When someone draws in close to Him our anxiety can drop, and the release of stress hormones slows down. We need people to give the hugs and touches that mitigate so many anxiety produced problems, but that is where the Church comes in. We can be those arms extended.

      When stress gets lowered there are physical benefits. Our high-stress culture contributes to our obesity problems. So if we get the stress under control it will go a long way toward mitigating the negative health affects. It can literally save our lives.

      So give someone a hug today. Help lower their stress.