Jesus Our All in All (#10)

This will be the final quoted selection from Frank Viola's book, "Jesus Manifesto". I highly recommend this book to anyone hungry to encounter Jesus...

A House of Figs (Part 2) - The Significance of Bethany

"When Christ entered this world, He was rejected in all quarters.

Consider His birth...
When He was about two years old...
When He began His ministry around the age of thirty...
When He sought entrance into Samaria...
He was also rejected by His own hometown, Nazareth...

In short, the Lord had no home on this earth (Luke 9:58)...There was only one exception. Throughout His entire earthly life, there was only one place on the planet where Jesus Christ was received with welcome...a tiny, obscure village called Bethany and the home of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Simon the leper - Jesus' friends.

From Genesis to Revelation, the forces of evil have disputed God's right to have a home on this earth. But from the beginning, God has wanted a 'house' - a place where He could rest and 'presence' Himself. This is what Bethany symbolizes - a home for Christ.

Following are some of the outstanding features of Bethany, all of which depict what the Lord is looking for in every city across this planet:

1. Bethany is the place where Jesus was utterly welcome (Luke 10:38)...(this) means giving Him the place of primacy...Jesus desires to be more than a guest. And His Father expects Him to be Master of the house...(this) also means receiving His entire ministry...and receiving all who belong to Him.

2. Bethany is the place where women and men are His disciples (Luke 10:39)...Mary is seated in the living space with the 12 disciples...Every first century rabbi had male disciples only...Jesus was the only teacher in antiquity to include women in His circle of followers...Many Christians are busy serving God...But how many know the secret of loving Christ, sitting at His feet, listening to Him share His heart, and allowing His life to be the source of their service?...Bethany is the place where both women and men sit at His feet and hear His word.

3. Bethany is the place where Christ is loved and befriended (John 11:3,11)...Jesus desires friends over servants...It is possible to serve without loving...In the cold temple of Jerusalem, God was served. But in the warmth of a Bethany home, He was loved and befriended.

4. Bethany is the place of death and resurrection (John 11:43,44)...Lazarus has died...there is crisis and suffering in Bethany. The cross sits at the very center of a body of believers that authentically gathers as the church...Note that Jesus waited four days after Lazarus' death before He raised him up. Death is hopeless. But four days after death is beyond hopeless....every crisis you face is a God-given opportunity to rediscover Christ in a bold new way...So be prepared to meet a God who seems to have the disturbing habit of leaving the scene when you most need Him...if you endure, outwaiting your impatience for His timing, Christ will roll the stone away and raise you from the dead. While you may stumble and fumble at the goal line, Jesus will eventually carry you across.

5. Bethany is the place of liberty from bondage (John 11:44). 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' Jesus dispenses His resurrection life...(but) Jesus did not unbind Lazarus. He told the crowd to do it. We discover two things here: First, Bethany is the place where God's people are set free from all bondages (religion, legalism, sin, the world, serving God in the flesh...) Second, we are the Lord's colleagues in setting others free.

6. Bethany is the place where the supreme worth of Christ is recognized (John 12:3). (Here we see) a family feasting in the presence of Jesus Christ. They are supping with Him and He with them. That's Bethany. It's a riveting picture of authentic church life...Mary has with her a sealed flask of precious perfume...She breaks open the seal and pours the perfume upon the Lord's head as though He were a king...Jesus interprets this act as preparation for His burial...the value of Mary's flask of perfume was about $46,000 USD...Mary's act demonstrates extravagant worship. Profuse loyalty. Larger-than-life beauty. Lavish love and devotion. In Bethany, Jesus is valued for His exceeding worth...The disciples were scandalized that Jesus had defended luxury over justice. Few things are as close to God's heart as helping the poor and the oppressed. But preeminently important is Jesus Christ Himself...

7. Bethany is the place where Christ is ministered to (Mark 11:11). (Between Bethany and Jerusalem, Jesus) hungered and saw a fig tree with leaves...and discovered that it lacked figs. When a fig tree puts forth leaves, it's shouting that it has figs. But not this tree...It was announcing that it possessed fruit, but it really had none at all...Strikingly, Bethany means 'house of figs.' According to many scholars, the fig tree represents Judaism - the religious establishment of Jesus' people. Israel was supposed to feed our Lord, but she did not...But thank God, there was a place that could feed Him. There was a people - a faithful remnant - who could give Him rest and satisfaction. That people and place was Bethany - the house full of figs.

8. Bethany is the place of ascension (Luke 24:50-52). He ascended from Bethany. When Christ ascended, He was enthroned as absolute head over all things. And all things were placed under His feet...Christians aren't saved from all troubles or delivered from all problems. But we have been given an ascendant life with which to rise above them...We are 'seated in heavenly places in Christ'...it means that we can walk with Jesus without feeling as if we have one foot on a banana peel and the other foot in a grave. It means we can leave the footprint of our Lord wherever we go.

The earth awaits such...May it come. And may our Lord have what His soul longs for - a Bethany in every town - a place where He can lay His head and breathe His breath."

AMEN!!