Broken is Good

John 11:32-36:
32Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
34and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."
35Jesus wept.
36So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!"

A colleague of mine and I were chatting recently. He is a long time Christian friend and our conversation veered to the subject of Christian service. He felt that his ability to serve in the Kingdom was is direct relation to how he preceived his standing was before God.
"But I am a broken man."
25 years ago, my half cocked, arrogant answer would have been, "Don't say that!! You are the righteousness of Christ! Blah Blah Blah! No pity-party here brother!"

Instead, my words came out immediately: "Broken is good."

Bear with me as I make a comparison to my flower garden in front of our home. The picture above is what our lantana plants look like in full bloom. To the right is what they look like now. Not real pretty, huh? Well, here’s the deal. The lantana plants basically quit flowering. It happens every year in late summer; we have these large green plants with no flowers on them. I know that if I want to get a pretty autumn bloom out of them before I have to put them to bed for the winter, they must be pruned, broken, so to speak, back to a stalky looking rather ugly plant. I can predict with a great deal of certainty, that with a little love and Miracle Grow, I will have a pretty garden in about a month.

A couple of things here from a spiritual standpoint. The leafy plants were big, and green, but they bore no fruit. Do I walk around at times like a fruitless fig tree? All show, no go? Or maybe the other way around...Once the Lord does a little pruning job on me, do I sometimes think I am a worthless stalk, not spiritual enough to be of service to the Kingdom? Both ideas are wrong headed thinking.

As a friend of mine wrote recently, "One of the most damnable hellish lies we're told by religion is this that we're a hair's breadth away from condemnation, from failure and ostracizing by God." (JRJ) Now for some, that may be a radical statement. For me it is a beautiful truth.

It is interesting to me, in the day of men and women naming ministries after themselves, pushing people to the ground and claiming the power of the Holy Spirit, we have Jesus, our example, healing people and instructing them to tell no one! His whole earthy ministry was such a paradox to what I see in Amercian "Name it-Claim it" Religion, or "My denomination can beat up your denomination."

Again my friend JRJ:
"We constantly squabble over dead horses and it seems there’s little taste for guiding others to Jesus and to help them walk through life with a limp, or other impediment of some sort. Those who do, spread the Gospel–Good News of Grace."

Many times, Jesus' ministry was one of a brokeness, one that showed us that faith can only happen when ruled by compassion. Another friend wrote recently on a devotional blog referencing the raising of Lazurus from the dead (John 11:11-45):

"So, Jesus wept. THEN He raised Laz form the dead. But first He wept..with compassion! And it hit me...maybe the key to faith working is it has to be coupled with compassion...it is the compassion that gives the faith its power. Then faith is the train, and the compassion being the locomotive?" (S.O.)

Nice thought! Verse 35, the one kids want to use as their memory verse assignment, (Jesus wept) is actually such a strong statement in the context of this story that we all need to write it on our hearts! It appears to me that being a broken man, being a broken woman, is EXACTLY where He wants us to be. Ps. 51:17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Think about your "heros" in the Bible. Now find one who wasn’t flawed, some with MAJOR flaws! Did these flaws prevent God from using them? No!

You see, brokeness points us to the cross, where He was broken for us, the cross points us to Christ, and Christ points us to compassion. Compassion is that big diesel engine that drives this wonderful life of faith that we were given at the cross!

I think, for once, my quick response to my friend was a timely one. Broken is good!

Wild flowers down on the farm

Mark

Prov 17:22