Lent Archives - Kristin Saatzer

Room for Rest

April 6, 2022 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:30 and 31 NIV

This season, I am looking at Lent differently. Many in the Christian faith choose to observe Lent by fasting from something (meat, sugar, TV, social media…) in the weeks approaching Easter. I have often done the same. But this year, I have chosen to fast from my “to do” list. I am making room for rest, exchanging busyness for some time in quiet contemplation. As the pandemic numbers go down and the world opens up, it seems life is speeding up faster than I want it to.

I am weary. As I write, I am recovering from an illness that has hung on for eighteen months. I am learning to accept what my body can and cannot do, build margins around my health, and allow others to pick up my slack. I don’t like it, yet invincible I am not. So, I lean in. I transfer trust in my strength to my Savior’s.

In God’s word, we read how the Messiah repeatedly made room for rest; it was a priority in His ministry. He took His men away from the expectant demanding masses to recharge and He often got away by Himself.

We find an example of this in Mark, chapter 6. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two to minister to the people of Galilee. He gave them His divine authority to preach, heal, and cast out demons. They returned to Him with accounts of their triumphs and the stories of God’s achievements. The crowds clamored to get to the Master and His men who needed rest and care after a busy time. So, the Savior insisted that they steal away together to refocus, recover, sabbath, and spend intimate time as a group.

I love that Christ implores us in His word to come to Him for rest, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NIV. It’s like a holy permission slip. In fact, Jesus called Himself the Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew 12:8.

Hebrews 4:9-10 NIV says, “There remains then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their work, just as God did from His.” This Lenten season is the perfect time for us, the people of God, to take as much off the “to-do” list as possible, follow the Savior’s example, and cease striving. Let us sit at His feet and fix our eyes and hearts closer than we ever have before on His death and resurrection.

Let us lean into God’s Sabbath rest.

“To enter our Sabbath rest, we must come to God in humble submission to His truth and in complete dependence on Him. In order to cease striving, we must transfer our trust away from our own abilities, our own accomplishments, our own strength, and place it on His provisions.”

Charles Swindoll, Jesus: The Greatest Life of All

Reflection:

Are you weary? Do you need to cease striving and take some things off your “to-do” list?
Write down ways you will build margin in your life this spring.

Who Do You Say I Am?

March 17, 2021 By Kristin Saatzer 2 Comments

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Matthew 16:13-15 NLT

As I grappled with God on a flight from Honolulu to San Diego, a slight shift began in my life’s course. Even though the college girls’ trip to Hawaii was a blast, I felt an inner hollowness on our return. My life was filled with fun but lacked depth. I had stopped reading my Bible, going to church, and I kept my Christian friends at a distance. I examined my life as I gazed at the clouds out of the airplane window. I thought of my purpose, my future, the way I spent my time, and my relationship with Jesus. Who was He to me? As tears escaped, I timidly began to pray (this wasn’t something I did much of in those days). As I confessed my emptiness, a gentle whisper flowed through my heart. Who do you say I am?

The most important question.

In Matthew 16, the disciples shared with their leader the common view of who people said He was: John the Baptist or Elijah or a prophet. Varied responses like the ones we still hear today: an imposter, a crazy man, a good teacher, the Savior.

Then Jesus turned the inquiry to them, His beloved twelve. Peter, ever impassioned, spoke up immediately, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16 NLT) Peter was right, although this Son of God was not what they expected Him to be.

From this point on, Christ began to open the shades, shining specks of light on His future as the suffering King. He preached on themes from the prophet Isaiah and probed the twelve along the way.

This same query asked in the intimacy of this group in Caesarea rumbles down through the centuries to us at this moment in this season of Lent.

The most important answer.

My pensive prayers that day in the seat of an airplane changed the trajectory of my life. Though not immediately. After a year of wooing on God’s part, on a balmy summer evening on a San Diego freeway, tears gushed through choked words. On this brilliant sunset drive, I gave God my most important answer. I professed my need for Him as I replied to my soul’s whisper– You are the Savior. You are my Savior.

The purpose of my life shifted and took shape the night I made my choice.

As Easter beckons, the Savior asks, “Who do you say I am?” In the end, each one of us must respond to this central question of life for ourselves. What we think of Him determines who we are and what we do, the trajectory of our lives, on earth, and for eternity.

Dear friend, who do you say He is?

“You must make your choice. Either this man was the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

PC: Kai Brune and Jon Tyson, Unsplash

The Ones Who Stayed

April 19, 2019 By Kristin Saatzer Leave a Comment

“It’s a weapon found only in the hands of one you love.

Your enemy has no such tool, for only a friend can betray.

Betrayal is mutiny.

It is a violation of trust. An inside job.”

Max Lucado, THE FINAL WEEK OF JESUS

The Ones Who Left

After Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, he suffered beatings, secret trials, crucifixion, and death after hanging on a cross for six hours; most of his disciples, vacant from the horrific scene.
After the betrayal and capture of their leader, the followers bolted. Peter (and another unnamed disciple) did follow Jesus, only to deny His Lord three times and run away.
Jesus, the crucified. Jesus the betrayed.
If we rewind the story, we read that The Messiah taught His disciples what was to come several times as His ministry on earth closed in. He predicted His death and resurrection (see Mark 9:32). We also read in Mark that the followers did not comprehend His meaning.

“But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him.”

Mark 9:32 ESV

What a notion – the idea that Jesus would die and then come back to life! I relate to the disciples’ reaction or lack thereof. How does one grasp the idea of death and resurrection?

The hope of this Hebrew nation was that a Savior would come and rescue them from the evil clutch of Rome. These men believed Jesus Christ was The One. Instead, He dangled to His death, seeming to desert his beloved supporters.

They were left with fear for their safety, fear of their future, and swimming in grief. I imagine bitterness and anger surged inside their inconsolable hearts. I do not condemn them. I empathize with their plight. Continue Reading

Jesus, Women, and the Upside-down Kingdom

April 12, 2019 By Kristin Saatzer 2 Comments

As a child, I had a beef with some traditional, so-called “women’s work”. There was baking, sewing, and crocheting with my grandma. But cooking, no way! And doing dishes, oh brother. I believe my disdain stemmed from family holiday gatherings. I watched with arms crossed, as the men plopped themselves on the couch, football game humming on the TV, while the women cleaned up. This, after the females had laboriously cooked our meal. My little-girl brain felt it unfair.

Yet, this mini, sorta-feminist adored all these men: my grandpas, my dad, and dear family friends. These were not a lazy lot when it came to their professions. They were simply conforming to the norms of our family and of the larger, ages-old cultural system.

Society has systems and patterns of values passed through the generations. The Bible documents an extraordinary timeline and kingdom narrative. In the Old Testament, a moral code established a culture based on law. Religious and wealthy men were held in the highest regard; women, slaves, and the poor placed at the bottom of the rung.

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28 NKJV

However, in the New Testament, we meet a subversive Savior who shakes up an age-old social structure on his three-year journey to the cross. There was upheaval when He entered the scene; He turned His culture upside-down. Jesus healed and fed. Jesus touched the rich and poor, the young and old, the marginalized.

And the women.