"that's why I came"

5 Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

6 "I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you as a covenant for the people,

a light for the nations,

7 to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

8 I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them."

Reading this kind of feels like I'm getting repetitious. Can I really write another post on this prophecy passage? Well first of all, yes, yes I can. Second of all, God brings a lot of things together in my life sometimes. Sundays message kind of interacts with this idea and got me thinking. Also, I have been re-reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster and it also impacts this. I love when  that happens. Again I see the same two things. I see the relational tie between Jesus and The Father. It is deep and supernatural and amazing. The second thing I again see is the mission of Jesus. His purpose and his task and his heart are so clearly stated. Then to think that Jesus never deviated from it. He never got distracted. His entire life was spent with the mission on his mind, doing things and speaking things and just living the mission. That makes me think about just how much I suck at staying focused on the mission.

The Sunday message covered the purpose of Jesus. It was from Mark 1. He covered a few miracles of healing and demon removal, but he also touched on verses 35-39.

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, "Everyone is looking for you." 38 And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. 

The first discipline I read about in Foster's book is meditation. As Foster presents it, meditation is relational. He talks about how Jesus frequently took these breaks. He took these times to go be alone with the Father. I've always known I should try to copy this habit, but I've also always felt that Jesus did it, at least in part, because he was God himself. These were like little mission briefings or war room planning sessions. I think that is a faulty view. I can, should, and in truth MUST do exactly what Jesus did. I see both parts of this Isaiah passage in the Mark passage. First, I see the relational side of it. Jesus had just healed a demon in church. That's a wild one. Our pastor presented that it wasn't like the demon came to see Jesus. He just happened to be in the church at the same time Jesus showed up. He probably went every Sabbath. Jesus takes care of him. Then he does a high profile healing of Peter's mother-in-law. Then he heals lots and lots of people. Obviously, this chain of activity causes an uproar in the region. Jesus is a phenom. And he ditches the crowd. To go in silence and spend time with the Father.  The relational connection between Jesus and the Father is beyond comprehension, and yet Scripture not only teaches, but commands me to seek it for myself. Better yet, it promises that it is attainable.

Also there is the mission side. This is all happening in Peters hometown. When in Israel I was at what is believed to be Peter's actual house (well, what was left of it anyway). I bet Peter had no thoughts for anywhere else. Here they are, in his town, wildly popular, doing wonderful things, healing an preaching, and Peter gets to be a part of it, right at the center of it. He is one of Jesus' crew. His house is the command post of the revolution of Jesus! Yet when Jesus goes AWOL and Peter finally finds him to try to get him back "on task", Jesus lets him know that its time to leave. For the sake of the mission. The mission was clear, he needed to preach in more places. "That's why I came out". That was the mission of Jesus. Now I am faced with a horrifying truth. This mission has also been given to every person who claims to be a follower of Jesus. And most of us do little or nothing. This deep relationship with the heart of the Savior is not only offered, but commanded, and most of us rarely seek the face of God. What is wrong with us? What is wring with me? Can we even be true followers if we exhibit none of this? If we desire none of this? These are tough questions. The answers to these questions are of little value though, because there is a more pertinent question that makes the others irrelevant. What is stopping me from stepping up in both of these areas? Nothing. So fix it, dummy.