Things That Make Me Weep

Some of this is repetitive. I kept waiting to post it because stuff kept happening, so I had more to say. I fleshed out some points I've made before. It just kept getting longer so I just need to get it out there. There are some hard words, but please know they are shared with the Love of God. 

I try to avoid talking about politics, just because it is so damaging to relationships.  To be completely honest, it’s also just so stupid.

So instead, I decided to write about spirituality, which is very comforting to me, and its application to politics.  I am also writing to a specific audience: the people that I actually know, and who know me.  This is for my friends that I “grew up with” spiritually in the church.  If you are not among these people there will be a lot of stuff you may not understand.  I may get out into the theological weeds in some spots, so if you have questions please ask.  I am sure there are things you may not know about me that have led me to this point in my life, and they may require some explanation.  If that’s the case, then we should talk.

Here's the bottom line: too many things have happened, and continue happening in the world today, that have caused me to look at the responses of a lot of people that I know and question their motivations and justifications for supporting it.  

I suppose I should start by explaining how I came to the point in my own life where I started to reevaluate my own positions on things. Several years ago, I started to notice a shift in the attitudes many of my friends had toward each other.  There were more arguments, more “lines in the sand” statements, more intense political views.  I started seeing more divisions in family relationships, and longtime friendships would often end bitterly.  These were within relationships where people frequently professed their great love for one another.  The fractures almost always centered around political beliefs.  I realized at some point that this was occurring within a group of people I used to call “family”.

I also realized that I had ceased to be a part of the group.

My separation was gradual.  I no longer had regular contact with them, so views were not reinforced on a regular basis.  I was exposed to more people I cared deeply about who had differing viewpoints.  I realized that I was just so tired of the way we were all treating each other.  Anger is so exhausting, and I was tired of being angry.  I was tired of being told what others thought I should do, or believe (which changed frequently).  I kept hearing about who I should hate (my God doesn’t do that, why should I listen to a man who tries to tell me that?).  I found myself examining my own life more intently in light of what Jesus said and did, rather than what others said and did.

Sadly, I found that these were often in direct opposition to each other.

And then politics found religion.

I began to realize that I had allowed my politics to inform my faith, rather than allowing my faith to inform my politics.  The reality was that it went even deeper than that.  My faith needed to have nothing to do with my politics.  If I, as a Christian, am determined to follow Christ, then I need to live as He asks me to, without any thought as to the political will of the moment.  Political views are different between countries, movements, people, and moments.  They are all in a constant state of change. 

Christ never changes.

I discovered that Christ was inviting me to draw closer to Him, and asking me to try to learn to love as He does.

It was hard at first.  I would make an effort to engage one of you in a political discussion, convinced that you would see the truth of how God wants us to practice a merciful faith.  It would devolve into politics, and I would devolve with it.  I reverted to anger and outrage and dissected you and your argument in a very unloving way.  Please forgive me for how I said it, if you are one of those people.

It is difficult to be angry and merciful at the same time.  Possible, but difficult.  Being right is meaningless without love.  I’m not implying that I am always right, but Jesus is.

Jesus never spoke of, or encouraged, living in a manner other than what He taught.  There was no “left/right”, or “conservative/liberal” stance.  There was God’s way, and that was it.  That was all He was concerned with.  While the world was busy dividing everything up into neat little piles, and labeling everything, we started to ignore what He had been telling us.

I have had numerous discussions with Christians from both sides.  The extremists on the right insist that I’m becoming liberal.  The extremists on the left insist that I’m becoming too conservative. 

You all say this when I’m quoting Jesus. 

There are things we need to be aware of in this context:

1.      There are more than 2 sides in the issues we face.

2.      Of the 2 sides in power, neither is always right or always wrong.

3.      We don’t have to agree with or support every issue either side says is important, or even acknowledge that an issue is as important as they state.

4.      Disagreement with one side does not equal automatic agreement with the other.

5.      Both sides can be wrong at the same time.

6.      Jesus is always right and He does not care about the 2 sides.  He only cares about ALL of us.

Both of the sides that we think are available to us have a complete lack of desire for anything that resembles self-examination.  Before you agree with that statement, make sure you apply it to yourself first.  We all want to make sure the other side admits to doing something wrong before we admit to it ourselves, because “they started it”.  Could we be more childish?

One side gets upset that the other does something wrong/illegal/unconstitutional, and then uses it as an excuse to do the same thing.  From a worldly, non-Christian, perspective, this is just the way it’s done.

From a Christian perspective, it doesn’t matter who did the wrong thing first.  What matters is who steps up to do the right thing first in the face of it.

Because the fact that I sinned, is never a valid justification for you to sin. 

Nor is it a justification to hate someone just because you sin differently than me.

When you use scripture to justify your own sin, yet condemn someone else, you are condemning yourself in a way that I find disgusting.

And to make it worse is the fact that deep down, you know what you are doing wrong, and you do it anyway.  You seem to think no one notices, but there’s a pile of vomit sitting right there for everyone to see while you come right back to lap it up like the dog you just became.

One of the issues we as Christians must face is this: whose authority should we currently live under, and whose do we actually live under?

Each of you will apply what I’m saying to everyone but yourself.  At the risk of repeating myself I am speaking to BOTH sides here, not just the one currently in power.  Politicians who use the gospel to justify a political position are misusing scripture for their own ends.  They all sound good doing it, but ultimately reveal that it’s merely a political goal.  Some are more obviously superficial about it than others, but it’s all the same thing.  The fact is, everything Jesus taught was meant to be applied on an individual heart level.  It applies to each of us individually, not to a government or institution.  Yet, for some reason, we insist on applying it to larger groups.  I believe this is an attempt to avoid personal responsibility for our beliefs.  We just hide behind a bigger crowd, and try to use the mob mentality to our advantage and call it Christian.  The result of this is politicians twisting scripture to justify a political group’s position.  

It is impossible to justify any group’s position, or even existence, by applying Jesus words to it.  His expectation is that you as in individual will heed His teaching, apply it to your own heart, and treat everyone within your circle of influence the way He commands you to, if you are truly a follower of His.  This is how we change the world.

When Trump was elected the first time, I thought he would shake things up enough to shake us out of what I thought was kind of a stupor.  We, as a people, were just bought, and the truth is, both sides are bankrupt.  Each side thinks they are completely right, when the reality is both are, at best, only partly right.  Both deny the possibility that there is another way.

This condition is exacerbated when we give power to a textbook classic narcissist.  Which is exactly what we did, both with Trump and Biden.  When He posts a picture portraying himself as Jesus, or the Pope, or any other holy authority, doesn’t that give you pause?  You should see that as horrifying, but many of you try to explain it away as a trivial thing.  I’m pretty sure if you saw one your relatives doing any of the stuff he’s doing right now you would have them committed for treatment.

When he seeks to use scripture to justify his sin, and then demand that we not only accept it but also join him in it or be persecuted, then I have kind of a problem with that.

Romans 13:1 is so often quoted as a justification to support his actions. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

One of my first questions to you is this; did you feel that way when the guy you didn’t like was in power?

More importantly though is the fact that it is always taken out of context.  Everyone who quotes this scripture forgets about Romans 12 where we are told, “Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.” V9-12

Or v14-21 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Keep in mind that he was speaking to the Christian church who were actively being severely persecuted by the Roman government.  He wasn’t telling them to go along with government laws or actions that contradicted what God said.  He was exhorting them to support each other in the face of the evil that they faced.  We are to submit, but obeying something that goes directly against God’s command is wrong. 

Paul himself openly defied the Roman government and spent a good portion of his life in prison because of it.  He defied them, but he willingly bore the consequences of honoring Jesus’ commands over man’s laws.

It doesn’t matter what political position you hold or what the government says is right.  What matters is what Jesus is telling you is the right thing.

So, when He says to “love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you”, He is saying “love your enemies because you were once My enemy and you are here because I love you.”  Loving your enemy can be difficult when you decide someone with a different opinion is an enemy, because it means you have a lot more work to do than if you just started out trying to love people instead of seeking a division.  It also means when you see a government agency shooting someone in the back while laying on the ground, maybe condoning the act or defending it doesn’t actually live up to Jesus’ teachings.

It doesn’t really matter, in the end, what the government does.  What matters is what you do, if you claim to follow Christ.  Are you doing for others what He did for you?  Remember the Lord’s prayer? 

“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:12-15

He was telling us to do what He did for us.

There is a natural progression in the teachings of Jesus regarding our relationships with others, whether they are Christians or not.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:27-28

Everything depends on loving God, and then loving your neighbor as yourself. It is no mistake that when He was asked “who is my neighbor?”, He told the parable of the Good Samaritan who essentially risked his own life to help a potential enemy. This is the commitment to others He calls us to.

He also said, “Lay down your life for your friend”.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:12-14

He also says, “Love your enemy”.

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Luke 6:26-27

I have always found it telling in this instance, that someone had to ask “who is my neighbor”, but no one needed clarification on “who is my enemy”.  We never question what we don't want to hear.  We have already defined our enemies, but we have made a choice not to love them as Christ loved us when we were His enemies.  Everything He did was meant as an example for us to imitate.

And I cannot forget that when He said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Luke 7:12), He made it clear that the first move in any relationship is always mine. I have the choice to do what He says, or what I want.

Doing otherwise prevents others from reaching Christ.

When did you lay down your cross and tie the millstone around your neck? 

When did you gain the authority to determine who you sell grace to that He gives for free?

There is a quote I often see on t-shirts lately.  It’s actually one of my favorite verses, but it is taken out of context and truncated.  It typically reads, “Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly”.

The actual verse is from Micah 6:8 and it reads,

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

To remove the reference to God in this passage completely changes its meaning.  It must always be before God. In His presence. He is the bringer of justice and the giver of mercy. We have no power in this equation.  The only thing we have is the choice of how we will respond to how God uses His power and participate with Him.

Justice is not our prerogative.  It is what we are all subject to.

We are commanded to exercise Mercy in relation to Justice, because of the Mercy extended to us which allows us to walk in Humility before God.

We are commanded not to judge, because we are not qualified to do so.  In order to judge someone, the judge needs to have authority to impart and enforce the law on which the judgment is based, and then mete out the penalty.  This is also the reason why God says, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” (Trump says, “I am your retribution.”)  The law is fulfilled when the penalty is paid ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17.

Jesus came to fulfill the law by paying the penalty of death with His own.  You do not have the authority to judge, enforce, or fulfill the law.  You are not qualified.  If you call yourself a Christian, and have truly accepted that He has fulfilled the law on your behalf, the only thing you are qualified to do is extend to others the same Mercy shown to you before you knew Him.

I am humbled by the sins I commit against Him and his forgiveness of them, not by the sins you think I have committed in disagreement with you.

So, the progression here is this:

If I love my neighbor (who may be my enemy), and I love my enemy (who may be my neighbor), and I lay down my life for my friend (who may once have been my enemy), it is quite possible that I will be called to lay down my life for the one who was once my enemy.

Just like Jesus did. 

We celebrate Easter every year, remember?  Do we kill Him every time, or do we accept His mercy?

A question that truly puzzles me is why do you need to call yourself Christian at all?  If you want to be dictators, why do you bother to try to say you are subject to a God of love?

We often fear being loved. Accepting God's love means we also need to share God's love. I fear sharing love because loving makes me vulnerable.  Because He loves my enemies, I don't want to be vulnerable to them, so I fail to love. 

In the parables I am the prodigal who left, I am the victim in the Good Samaritan, and the hardest thing to realize is that I need my enemies help. I need to love my enemy enough that they will care for me. That's what God is calling me to.

Most of my immediate family are multi-racial.  The current administration is engaging in many actions that target those of other races without regard to our own laws, or whether they are citizens or not. 

I love my family more than my own life, and I’m very protective of them.  With many of them being multi-racial they are not all “white”, so there’s a distinct possibility in this current state of affairs that they might get caught up in a “police action” of some type.  If this happens, I will stand between them and the government.

Ultimately my question to you is this: When the time comes where I am called to stand in that gap for my family/neighbor/enemy/friend, and I, your brother in Christ, am laying on the ground bleeding out, will you be the one who binds my wounds, or the one who counts the bullet holes and says, “He shouldn’t have got in the way.”

©Dan Bode 2026

Am I Right, or Am I Right?

 

I’m not always right, and I don’t need to be.

My need to be right doesn’t matter to anyone else who needs to be right either.  When that need to be “right”, - to be the person “in the know”, to have the status of “influence”, - becomes my primary motivation, then I have ceased to care about anyone else.

When I elevate my own need to be right to the degree that I can’t allow myself to be seen as wrong, then I am showing narcissistic tendencies.  Disagreement becomes a threat.  To avoid the threat, I must then isolate myself to reinforce my confidence in my own, very singular, beliefs, before I lash out at any perceived threats.  This used to take place in somewhat public forums where we could see each other, with people we knew.  More recently it takes place online, in faceless “communities” where we claim to have “friends” whom we have never met.

Political views have become more important than kindness. 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells us about a man left to die on the side of the road.  The community and religious leaders of the day pass him by.  They can’t be bothered to get their hands dirty to save a life.  The Samaritan who saves him is one who the dying man would consider an enemy, and he does so in a way that puts himself at risk.

This is what Jesus asks of us. 

We seem to think loving each other despite our differences is more dangerous, that there is more risk in practicing kindness, than in committing murder of all things. 

But think about where the danger lies.  Today the danger comes from those around us who disagree.  The ones who have to be “right”. 

The ones who disagree with Jesus.

There are times when I laugh at the irony in my life.

I am sometimes told by my “conservative” (a word that has been recently redefined by extremists) friends that I am too liberal.

Yet my “liberal” (also redefined by extremists) friends tell me I am too conservative.

The irony is that while these people say they are Christian, they say these things when I am quoting Christ himself.

In an article from “The Dispatch” (thedispatch.com) entitled “Reciting What’s True to Defuse a Politics of Hate”, author Michael Reneau states this:

“In his 17th-century meditation on spiritual battles, The Christian in Complete Armour, Puritan William Gurnall reflected on what biblical scholars call Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17. “Jesus told His children what they must look for at the world’s hand — all kinds of tribulation,” Gurnall wrote of Jesus’ prayer for unity among his followers. “Yet he did not pray so much for their immunity from suffering as He did against contentions amongst them. … In a word, saints who live in strife and contention are sinning against the strong prayers Christ Himself uttered on their behalf.””

It’s almost like some people want to be more “right” than Jesus.  Even politicians.

Go figure.

In almost every political news story I read or watch, one side accuses the other of doing something wrong.  They use this as justification to knowingly do the same wrong thing.  What follows is a ping pong style defense of “they did it first”, and everything escalates to the point where murder becomes justifiable.  One murder is determined to be more important than another depending on which political party is in power.  The usual non-conclusion to the argument is some form of “we’ll stop when they stop first”.  

If I see someone sin, that is not a justification for me to commit the same sin! It astounds me that I even have to say that out loud.

I hope I’m not the only one who sees the stupidity of this, because I’ve felt like I’m living in the crossfire for a while now.

I have said this before, and I will say it again:

Jesus gave us the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  But it has no meaning until I understand that it always requires me to make the first move.

So, my first move, today, is to step back.

Stop.

Show kindness, love and mercy.

“He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

Do that.

©Dan Bode 2025

 

 

Terror Is No Small Thing

Something happened to me.

I went in to the hospital for what was supposed to be outpatient surgery to fuse a couple of vertebrae in my neck.  It was supposed to be 2-3 hours of surgery.

It was 5.

There were complications, and the surgeon had to change his strategy once he got in there and laid eyes on the actual bones.  He accomplished what he set out to do, but as a result my esophagus experienced some extreme swelling.  It was completely closed.  When I woke up, I was unable to swallow anything. Not even water.

The first night was a little different for me.  I was hooked up to a breathing monitor, which kept going off whenever I wasn’t breathing enough.  Which was apparently quite often, because it was an almost constant sound.  So sleep deprivation was a fact of life, and I have to say that is kind of a big deal.  I was suddenly forced to make a conscious choice between swallowing, which I could not do, or breathing.  Two of the things that I have unconsciously done since I was born, were now things I had to consciously choose.  It was odd to realize I had taken these simple things for granted.  It felt like I was suddenly given complete responsibility for the all the bodily functions necessary for me to live.  (Spit first, now breathe and don’t choke, is my heart still beating – yes, spit, breathe, ….). I quickly realized that I couldn’t deal with it.  That’s why God made us the way He did.  Our bodies are created to work with miraculous precision, and when we interfere with their function as we seek to make “improvements”, it often throws everything out of balance.

My tendency to analyze everything went into overdrive because of the lack of sleep.  I began to look at every single aspect of the situation, trying to imagine what my life was going to look like.  (Are they going to have to put in a feeding tube?  Am I going to slowly starve?  My blood pressure was spiking and I thought about a stroke.)  I was caught in a spiral.  I felt like my body was rejecting me.  I have never felt so helpless.  My perception, though skewed, became my reality.

I was terrified.

I didn’t say anything about what was in my head at the time, but I think the nurses were aware.  They were constantly checking me, caring for me, meeting every need.  They were amazing.  I’ve never seen that level of care in any hospital before.

In my anxiety I didn’t want any visitors.  I didn’t want to be seen like this.

This is the lie we tell ourselves.  When we humans are in pain or distress our tendency is to isolate, but that is exactly the opposite of what we need.  We tell ourselves we need to figure this out on our own.  We have to be independent, and show our strength to the world.  We can’t be vulnerable. 

The problem with this is we were created to depend on each other, to need each other.  Our presence with each other literally keeps us alive. 

All of this really highlighted my incredible hypocrisy, because I try to be someone who will be there for others whenever I can.  I’m always telling people not to isolate or think they have to “go it alone”. 

Yet, at my first exposure to helplessness, I shut it all down.  From a Christian standpoint this actually attempts to negate the point of Christ’s sacrifice of His life.  He died so that each of us would know we are worth EVERYTHING!  All my words and feelings are powerless to defeat this.

Into this walked my wife.

We have always said that it’s obvious God brought us together.  He proves it to us again and again and again.

She refused to leave when I told her she should.  When I said I didn’t want visitors, she responded with, “Maybe they should make that choice, instead of you making it for them.  They need to see you too.”  She knows me so well.  Her presence and love were the most incredible healing I’ve known.  I’ve always said I’m so glad to be the one who gets to be married to Brenda.  It is an honor and privilege to be loved so completely by a woman like her.  All the visitors I had truly lifted me in so many unexpected ways.

The next day was a little clearer for me.  I slept after they took the breathing monitor away.  I still had to make the choice to try to swallow or breathe, but I was getting used to the idea.  I was beginning to believe this wasn’t permanent.

It was three days before I could get water down.

On the fourth day I was able to get some pureed food down.  I never thought this could be true, but it actually tasted pretty good.  I’m pretty sure I felt that way largely because I was just grateful to be able to get something that remotely passed as real food into my stomach, but my memories tell me that it actually wasn’t that bad.  When they said I would be on a puree diet, I thought they were thinking applesauce, pudding, jell-o, and similar stuff. 

I was wrong.

They puree everything.

Chicken with gravy was a piece of pureed chicken that was pressed into a mold of the shape of a piece of chicken with gravy over the top.  It still tasted like chicken – although the texture was a little off. 

The pureed waffle was pressed into the shape of a waffle, I guess so I’d know what it was supposed to be.  It tasted like a waffle.

The berries came in a dish and were shaped like a pile of mixed berries (the raspberry shape tasted like the cherry shape). 

Pureed broccoli…. Well, let’s just say it apparently takes more than a blender to help it.  They didn’t bother to shape that.

I give them an A for effort.  I think their regular hospital food actually tastes pretty good, but I don’t need to go back to find out.

The day I left I walked the floor and dragged my IV with me.  I tracked down as many of my nurses as I could find and thanked them.  They taught me a lot.

The hospital is named Mercy Hospital.

I kept thinking about that while I was laying in my bed, trying to think of something other than myself.  I realized that what I was seeing in the nursing staff as they cared for me was actually the embodiment of Mercy.

I think Mercy has three aspects:

The First is the concept of Mercy: unwarranted compassion.

The Second is the application of Mercy: Putting that compassion into action, and pouring it into the lives of others.

The Third is the receiving of Mercy.  Feeling helpless, yet being cared for unconditionally.

I got the third part this time.

I have tried to practice Mercy and Compassion in my relationships with others.  This was the first time in my life where I felt so helpless and disconnected.  Every time one of the nurses came in, I felt like they were taking the time to gently coax me back to some better place.  There was no judgement or dismissal of my feelings.  Just compassion – Mercy.

Yes, I know they get paid for this.  I also know they catch a lot of grief for countless things and put up with a lot of garbage from patients who lash out in their pain.

I think they really cared.  I felt that from every one of them.

What they taught me about Mercy will improve the way I apply it to others.  Having received it in a helpless state, has a greater impact on me knowing how it affects others to receive it.  This was part of the reason Christ died - so we would understand that He knew what human suffering is.  He is not a distant God.  He doesn’t love only a certain group.  He loves all of us.  Even the people I may not like.  Just because someone sins differently than I do, never gives me the right to judgement.  For me to give less Mercy to one person over another goes against everything He has taught me.

There’s a saying I like that I try to apply to myself as often as possible:

‘“The Golden Rule that Jesus gave us says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

It is of no consequence until I realize that the first move is always mine.’

I came home after five days.  The first thing I did was just walk through the house so I could see different walls.  I needed to know there were different boundaries.  I needed to see the backyard that my wife designed through the window instead of a parking lot.

I needed to see the home we made together.

It was fantastic.

©Dan Bode 2025

 

 

 

 

Fishing

Occasionally I make some very important realizations about my life.  Sometimes someone says something to me that sets off some line of thought that seems completely random at the time, but turns into something significant to me. 

There are other times when it seems like a boulder just gets dropped on me out of a clear blue sky, and I have no choice but to drop whatever I’m doing and deal with it.  Regardless of how they come to me they are usually things that in retrospect are pretty obvious.  They were there all along but I simply never noticed them.  This was one of those things.

I realized one day that even the mere presence of Christ will change anything.

 

I think the apostle Peter was familiar with what I am talking about.

In John chapter 21 Peter is dealing with the aftermath of the Crucifixion.  He has no hope.  The one he gave everything to is dead.  With the death of his future he returns to his past. 

“I am going out to fish.”

He trudges down the beach and begins to run the strands of the nets he hasn’t touched for three years listlessly through his fingers.  Before Christ (B.C.) this was what he always did.  Up until he’d heard those two fateful words “Follow me.” these nets had been the source of his well being, his sustenance, his pride, his provision for his family and his heritage.  He knew little else.

In the intervening years he saw the dead raised to life, water turned to wine, and lepers healed.  One miracle after another had been performed in his presence.  The Pharisees and Sadducees, the powers of his society, had been repeatedly challenged and shown to be the greatest of hypocrites.  The foundations of his life have been completely changed.  But even with all these things the greatest change is what has happened within. 

Peter made the sacrifice of believing in someone other than himself. 

In moving the focus of his belief he had done things at the request of He in whom he believed, and he did it regardless of his own agreement.  In so many ways his motivation has been to satisfy his own dreams, but now he comes to understand the root of his problem.  Belief in someone other than yourself is only half of the process.  The other half demands blind dependence.  Peter believed in someone else, but he believed in Him because he thought the other would accomplish Peter’s own desires.  So, belief is one thing, but devotion requires taking on the beliefs and desires of the object of your belief as your own.  Peter, as is often the case in my own life, had not done this.

Now, without Christ, he seems to have lost it all.  Having believed in someone else, yet still applying his own conditions for believing, making Jesus merely a vehicle to reach his own goals, he has not only lost everything, but he has failed himself as well as Jesus.

Imagine climbing in the boat and setting the oars, using muscles gone stiff after years of inactivity and thinking all I can do is fish. 

Without purpose, without Jesus, he simply went back to what he knew.  The problem was that now, having known the ultimate reason for existence, this basic fundamental task could no longer provide any meaning to what was left of his life.

Into this situation Jesus becomes Present to him.

He becomes the Truth.

“Throw your nets on the other side of the boat.”

Only a slight change from what he’d been doing just moments before.  At this point he hadn’t yet realized that it was Jesus who was speaking to him, but he did it anyway.  What do you suppose he thought at that moment?  The local fishing industry hadn’t changed in the time he had been away from it.  He knew what he was doing, but there on the shore is some side-line fisherman who tells him to throw the net on the other side of the boat?  He knows there aren’t going to be any more fish on one side than the other.  Still, he does it.  His pain is such that he needs something to fill the time.  He needs something to fill the hole left by the absence of his Rabbi. 

What did he have to lose?  He was just fishing after all.  When the nets began to fill and as one fish upon another threw themselves into the net he realized something had changed.  It was the change that caused him to realize that the voice he’d heard just a moment ago was the same one he’d heard agonizing in prayer in the garden at Gethsemane.

It was then that he realized just how much the presence of Christ changes the meaning of everything we do. 

He was only doing what he had always done, but it would never be the same for him again.

As a result of Christ’s birth, the properties of giving birth changed.  When a baby entered into the world from the womb it was something that had happened countless times before.  Christ was born as every child had been born, and yet His birth was the one that negated the cause of the mother’s pain.  His birth gave meaning to it.  The betrayal of trust that occurred in Eden was now surmountable as a result of His birth in this world.

Even the act of crucifixion was changed.

The Romans had been crucifying criminals for quite some time before Christ walked the Via Dolorosa, and they continued for a long time afterwards.  But with Christ involved it was more than merely a form of painful execution.

Christ gave it purpose.

His impact and influence was so complete when it happened to Him that even to unbelievers it was forever after known as The Crucifixion.  It is no longer spoken of even in our day without summoning to our thoughts the name of Jesus Christ.  Pilate would never have given a second thought to nailing another set of hands to that beam, and in fact would have willingly given the mob its desire if they had asked for Barabbas to be killed. 

Even Pilate knew somehow that Christ changes everything. 

Even he knew that crucifying Christ would have unimaginable ramifications.

Christ was not the first person to be resurrected either.  He himself raised several people from the dead, but as extraordinary as any resurrection should be considered, no one ever thinks of them when we say The Resurrection. 

No one else was sacrificed first.

Two travelers on the road to Emmaus were just traveling together until Jesus joined them.  When He spoke they knew He was someone who knew what He was talking about.  That simple journey completely altered the course of their lives, not because of the journey, but because of the One on the road beside them.

Sad to say that knowing it is not the same as living it, but I think Peter, when he made it to shore, had finally figured out the difference between what he had been doing for the previous three years and what he was doing now, dripping wet on the shore in front of the living Christ.  I think he stood before Christ re-examining every thought or action he had taken during the last three years knowing that all of his previous ideas were utterly wrong.

It is one thing to nod your head and smile when someone says, “I will rise again on the third day after my death.”  It is a completely different matter when you meet Him after He has indeed done what He said He would do. 

The thought, “You mean you were serious?!” must have crossed his mind at some point.  Peter suddenly had to believe everything he had only paid lip service to previously.  All of the things that he had believed for his own benefit now had a completely different meaning that was no longer based on his own needs and desires.  Overthrown oppressors were no longer an issue when the living Christ was sitting in front of him frying fish on the seashore!  Come to think of it I’ll bet He even fried fish better!  I wonder if he understood then that after three years with Jesus Christ, without Him Peter was not, after all, a better fisherman than before.  Without Jesus he was merely the same, but now he understood what he longed for. 

Now he knew what he was missing.

I want to know how Peter remembered that day.

What did the rest of the world look like to him after he realized that all that Christ said was true?  Could the truth of anything Christ said be doubted if He could overcome the worst enemy of humanity? 

Nope.

Suddenly, he needs to worship Him; to give Him something.

But what do you give to the One who has everything? 

Everything. 

Everything you are, everything you will be. 

Everything you have, and everything you ever had. 

Every desire, and every dislike. 

Every relationship, and every preconceived notion.

Everything good, and everything bad. 

All of it.

Everything. 

Because it’s all changed, and He’s the one who did it.

It doesn’t matter whether you want the change or not, because the creation itself has been fundamentally changed by awaiting His return.  The Expectation with which my very soul trembles changes how I look at Everything. 

And at what cost?

A virgin birth, a crucifixion, a death, a stone rolled away, a resurrection.

Replace the “A” in the previous sentence with “The” and you know exactly who is being spoken of without ever saying His name, but then we say it anyway, because the name of Jesus Christ sounds so much better than any other words that ever passed our lips before. 

And the fact that He lives changes….

Everything!

©Dan Bode 2007

Forsaken

 

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

When Christ was on that cross, God turned His face away, because He could not bear to see the burden of our sins that Jesus had taken upon Himself.

It is impossible for me to know what it would feel like to have my father turn away from me.  That is one of the reasons He came in the first place.  He saved me from having to learn what it was like. 

My own father was not perfect. I would have to say he forsook many things in life, including himself.  I suppose I could say he forsook me when he killed himself, but I don’t think that was his intent.  He just didn’t think he had the resources to seek the better life God was waiting to give him.

Later, as time separated me from that event, I learned more of what God intended for me.  I learned what life with Him is like.  I learned that I have a different Father.  In the relationship I have with Him, the word “forsaken” will never enter our vocabulary, because that is one of the things that Christ already resolved for me. 

I am an entirely different person because of Him.  I continue to grow and change the closer I get to Him.  It is not always an easy process.  I guess, if I’m honest about it, it is never an easy process.  I do it because He asks, because He paid the price to help me understand that I am valuable.

As I came to realize that I am indeed, not, forsaken, I finally understood that no one else is either.  When He accepted that burden for me, He did it for everyone else.  Not just for the people I like, but for everyone.

I don’t think there is anyone I would consider to be my enemy, but He told me to love my enemies anyway.  Because He does.

The definition of “enemy” seems to be a moving target these days, and usually seems to mean “anyone who disagrees with me that I have never met”.  Regardless of your definition, He loves them too, which is why He asks me to do the same.  We are all siblings in the end.  He wants us to learn to love Him together so that He doesn’t have to keep protecting us from each other.  He loves us all equally and completely so we can put aside the sibling rivalry.

There are things in this world that anger me.  They seek to shift my focus away from Him.  There are times when I cannot see Him, and I fear that He has indeed, forsaken me. 

Turned away. 

Abandoned me.

I am wrong.

He has always been there. 

Waiting with open arms and nail scarred hands.

It was I who looked away.

I tried to pull the nails out that held Him pinned against the sky, but they were part of me, and I had no power to do it. 

It was not until He walked into the crucible that burned away the dross of me, that He could Rise.

But Rise He did.

And He brought me with Him.

Happy Easter.

©Dan Bode 2025

 

 

Kings

There are hummingbirds that like to come in our yard.  It is an amazing thing to watch their flight.

Many times, when I am out there, I don’t actually see them at first.  I see instead the subtle movement of the leaves caused by the wind created by their wings.  Then I look to find their physical presence.  It is a subtle, quiet entrance.  All of sudden just – there.

This led me to make some comparisons and come to some conclusions.

I have given a lot of thought recently to the idea of leadership in the world today.  Whether we call them presidents, or kings or merely pretenders to the throne, we can know them by their methods and demands.

I will tell you now who my King is, and why I follow Him.

My King chose to be a servant, and asked me to do the same.

He shed blood, felt pain, and gave His life so that I would not have to, so that I could live.

I can only look back on history to know what and how this happened, but there were others who were present who still feel the effects of His life to this day.  Like the hummingbird wind He is suddenly – there.

When Christ was on the cross Satan was there.  He heard every cry of pain as the whip fell. He accounted for every drop of blood that stained the ground (and probably drew away from it). He watched His chest rise and fall with each agonizing breath, joyfully anticipating that last one (“there it goes, finally!”).

He danced with glee for three days when Christ gave His life (and “gave” is the right word. He did it willingly.).

As it turned out, three days was not as much of a celebration as he thought, when you think of all the days in eternity.

As he danced, he felt a breeze suddenly – there.

He heard a sound he thought was finally silenced.

A heartbeat, suddenly – there.

Imagine his dismay, and rage, as he turns to find the tomb that was supposed to be a grave, suddenly become – a Throne.

He is not so powerful as he thought.

He is so weak, in fact, that he was toppled by the wind from a hummingbird’s wings.

Then people started to listen to this Hummingbird King of mine, and so Satan changed tactics.  Since he could not kill the King, he turned to distraction.

He refused to admit his loss (like any narcissist) and began to wave shiny things in our faces.  Some left the path to follow the sad reflection of power that he has peddled since the Fall.

“Look at the shiny orange bauble I made just for you!  Worship it!  Prophecy in its name (remember Balaam)!  It will promise you anything you ask for!”

He conveniently fails to mention that it will starve you to death as you get nothing in return.

Your king will not bleed and die for you.  As a matter of fact, your king demands you bleed for him, so he does not have to get his hands dirty.  In the end, your king will bend the knee to mine.  Whether willingly or not, his face will touch the ground.  Your king does not know the meaning of sacrifice, selflessness, love, joy or peace. 

My King bled for me, in order that I might know the meaning of all those things, and be purified.

When you come to me to make demands in the name of your king, you will only see my back, because I am focused on my one True King who made every sacrifice that could be made for me.

I will defy you.

I will defy this little man who demands my attention.

If you do see my face, it will be with my blade bared.

If you see blood, it will be mine, from where you stabbed me with the sword I gave you, in order to bleed His grace upon you.  This is the meaning and purpose of “sacrifice” – to save someone other than yourself.

Because Christmas and Easter are not meant to be lived out on separate days once a year.  We who follow Christ are meant to live them both, every day of our lives.

The bottom line is this:

His life is the only one whose sacrifice is worth anything.  When I die, I will not save anyone or anything.  My life is only given any worth by His.

And My King tells me I am worth Everything!

Happy Easter.

©Dan Bode 2025