I was refreshed to see how simply through astronomy, so many people from all walks of life marveled at the blood moon eclipse of Passover this week. Many people” looking up.”
I just now finished reading in Luke the disciples question to Jesus words after sharing the state of our world prior to His 2nd coming that “one will be taken ( up) and one left”.
Their question was where do the ones not taken go? He answers by illustration “where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
Did you ever see the animated film “Up.” I, having seen it, said it was an “upper.” It made me smile. We humans have much in common. We all are humans ….and our humanity has similar needs. Up, lifted me up because air balloon and all going up gets us closer to true answers….somehow. Answers to questions we may not consciously ask. Blood moons not excluded.
Jesus as if to parallel a human need says “look up your redemption draws near”. Jesus espouses a theology that emanates from human need and heavens solution. All of His 2nd coming theology relates to human need too. He simply says” look up, watch, wake up ,be ready , the heavens declare the glory of God”. Jesus is the true scientist , poet, prophet and so much more.
To the disciples he speaks of vultures surrounding dead bodies .Their focus was on a culture of death. The earth is full of death even in the best of times. People have been dying for a long time now and continue to do so. Death is what we obviously can see.
Whenever someone dies I am close to, I am always drawn to how this is inherently not supposed to be. Death is a hard one to accept. It was never Gods perfect plan but came as a result of sin. So He says” look up.”
We are opening this week with an original play The Emmaus Road on this Friday, Good Friday, at Rio Vista Church Of The Nazarene at 7pm, Paseo and Golf Course Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM. The play parallels Luke’s account of a man named Cleopas and his partner walking on the road to Emmaus in Judea and encountering the resurrected Jesus. They do not recognize Him. So Jesus unrecognized is able to bring them to where they are as humans, exposing their lack of hope.
Why?
Because they were seeking a dead man when He indicated many times that He would raise from the dead. They were of ( not saying they were vultures) the vulture mind set and sought a dead man because He just died. In fact some of whom saw His entire death scene.
Please come to our play. You will be surprised how close to home and our time this play is. Playing out these scenes with music, and some dance to illustrate walking the road. Also the use of powerful scripture from Isaiah 53 and Ps 22 that depicts Him on the cross 1000, years before it happened will assure you our future is well intact, especially if we will “look up.” Lots of humor too and children friendly.
One irony I get from having written the play and being so close to the scripture account is that no one escapes the death culture, but by “looking up” we find solutions to the problems caused by death.
Cleopas and his partner (in our production his wife Miryam) seek a successful ecumenical warriorlike messiah and so miss The Messiah. Had they been “looking up” vs debating issues (as we do in our time ) they would have suffered through with hope instead of naming the Name of Jesus but looking for someone “successful “at doing “evangelical” Christianity.
In doing this one avoids one’s personal suffering necessary to find the real Jesus and be raised above sin via true repentance. In facing the real problem in ourselves we can find the real solution in Him and in Him alone.
It’s a play for our time and for all time.
Narrow Gate Theater at
Rio Vista Church Of The Nazarene
Paseo and Golf Course Road NW
Albuquerque, NM
If you cannot come or are far away from Albuquerque, thanks so very much for your prayers.
