THE CATCHER

THE CATCHER

 

This was the title of an article in Our Daily Bread this morning by Joe Stowell, one of my favorite authors, He tells of hearing a pastor at a funeral who had told about a trapeze artist who told about always having another person prepared to grab him from another trapeze bar in case he should miss his grip, and start to fall, this teammate could grab him and prevent him from falling to his death. They referred to this man as "The Catcher", and the pastor compared this man to the role of Jesus, and used the common scripture of (John 14:1-3) as his text. This scripture is often used at funerals to bring comfort to the family members. The Greek word that is sometimes translated as "mansions" in verse 2 is translated as "abode" or sometimes as "home" in verse 23 of the same chapter. Paul,  "the apostle to the Gentiles", when he wrote his letter to the church he had started in Ephesus, used this very same Greek word in (Eph 2:22), where it is translated as "dwelling" in the NLT version, or "abode" or "home" in others. Paul here is clearly referring to the "Church" that Jesus has been in the process of building for the past 2000 years.

 

This confusion that was caused by using "mansion" in this one instance has caused most people to believe Jesus is up in heaven building their idea of a personal luxury home for every "Christian". When it is very clear that this word refers to "His Church" that He is building, with the help of the Holy Spirit here on earth, that will be transported from heaven to earth someday. (Rev 21:1-3) The Holy Spirit was sent to earth to replace Jesus when He returned to the Father, after He had completed the work of "redemption". Now He is awaiting the Father's permission to return to earth at the proper time to receive His "Church/Bride", that is being prepared here on earth now. This true Church is composed of all "born again" sinners from every tribe, nation, and race, who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and been "adopted" by the Father into His Forever Family! So this title used by Joe in this short article, can indeed be used for Jesus in His role of "Savior", or as "The Catcher" to save His people from their sin. That makes me think of an old hymn called "He Hideth My Soul", and the first verse states "A Wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me". I remember one time in the hospital a few years ago when I was waiting for a transfusion after losing a lot of blood, early in the morning about 3:00 AM, and the enemy thought he had me, those words revived me!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                 14/03/12