Behind the Veil- A Journey from Hidden to Risen

What follows is a transcript of Pastor Gina’s message from our Sunday morning gathering. We share these messages on our blog for those who appreciate the opportunity to read the sermon again—whether for deeper reflection, personal study, or a quieter moment of prayer and introspection. As you read, we invite you to linger with the words, notice what resonates, and remain open to how God may be speaking to you through them.

by Gina Johnson

So this morning, I have to tell you, I almost changed my message. It was kind of just an interesting day for me yesterday and in a variety of ways.

And I'm not even gonna get into the details of it as much as like, you know, any circumstance that comes our way, it's what we do with it when it comes our way. So, you know, whether something really great and exciting and wonderful happens to us and we actually are present to it and we feel that excitement and we feel that joy and we allow ourselves to get excited and to celebrate whatever's happening. Or, you know, those times where something creeps up that knocks us off our game a little bit, puts us in our head a little bit.

And I was giving some of those examples as I was talking about the prayer request, right? You know, some of those things that creep in that we weren't expecting. And again, we have that opportunity to decide how are we gonna show up with this thing that's showing up? Are we gonna take it as a classroom and a lesson as I always try to encourage us to do and I need to encourage myself to do? Or are we going to let it take a hold of the wheel for a while? You know, it's funny, I've never really been much a fan of country music, just a little bit here and there, but there's that song, you know, Jesus Take the Wheel. And it's like, man, you know, there's many times where I'm just like, nope, Jesus, I got this wheel right here, and then as I have to navigate, you know, detours and random debris in the road and things coming out of the blue and things going wrong with my vehicle, sometimes I still grip that wheel even tighter instead of saying, hey, Jesus, take the wheel.

Remind me of who I am. Remind me of why I'm here. Remind me of what I already know about the truth of God and being one of God's children.

And so I thought about it last night. I thought about, you know, let me change my message because I really wanna hammer in a message to them that I need right now. But then I realized that the message that the Spirit gave me was exactly what I needed right now.

And so as we are entering into this season of Lent, many of you know that last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. It's a significant day. It marks the beginning of the journey into the wilderness.

And in other words, it's telling us that, hey, guess what? Lent doesn't begin with the resurrection. It isn't that now here we are, and as you can even see looking around, we're not, wow, it's Easter time. It's time for Lent.

It's time to go into the wilderness. So over the next several weeks leading up to Easter, surprise, surprise, we're gonna do something a little different. We're going to walk two journeys at the same time.

One journey you all know very well. That is the journey of Jesus from the wilderness to the cross to the resurrection. But the other journey may surprise you just a little as it surprised me about four years ago when I embarked on it for the first time.

And it's the story of Esther. So at first glance, these two journeys, they don't necessarily line up together. You think Esther, the girl that became queen, Jesus, you're gonna put those two together? But the truth is, even though one takes place in a Persian palace and one takes place with a carpenter's son, if you listen closely, you can hear how these two stories, how these two heartbeats sync up in rhythm together.

See, this involves a time of quiet preparation in not only the lives of the main characters of the story, but in the lives of the world surrounding it. A time of quiet preparation, a time of trust before a time of public courage, before a time of action is called into place. And one of the greatest lines that has been a part of my call story in so many ways and comes from the book of Esther is for such a time as this.

And both of these stories reveal what happens when people are positioned for such a time as this. Both of these stories start off one way and end up in a great reversal where death does not get the final word. And we get to embody that and recognize that death never has the final word.

It starts off with things being hidden, people being isolated, and then the testing begins. The call comes and they had a call to take a risk and not a risk quietly that nobody's gonna know about and we're gonna hope that it pans out, but a risk that has to be open, a risk that through it is going to reveal things that are going to change everything, not just for the people of that time, not just for the Israelites, not just for those who are holding people in oppression, but for all of humanity. And so each week we will place Esther's journey beside Jesus's journey, and we're not gonna replace Jesus's journey.

We're gonna let these two journeys illuminate one another because that's what this is all about. It's about how each and every story in here illuminates the story of Christ Jesus, which is our story. Both of these people who God positioned in place, he positioned Esther in the palace and he positioned Jesus as he led them into the wilderness.

It's shaping in the quiet to be revealed in the open. So today we will not begin at the cross, but we will begin at the palace and in the wilderness. So there was a young girl, a young Jewish girl named Esther, and I'm not gonna read to you the entire story.

I'm gonna read to you just bits and pieces. So now there was a Jew in the citadel of Zuza whose name was Mordecai, and Mordecai had brought up Hadassah. That is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother.

The girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. So I'm gonna pause there for a minute and I just wanna give you a little backstory. That would be reading from chapter two, but if you start Esther in chapter one, the king calls his queen.

He's hanging out with his buddies and he calls his queen and she doesn't want to come when he calls. Well, back in that time, that is a huge no-no. That's not just a slap on a wrist.

You do not have that right. As the queen, in this particular case, you are basically property of the king, and so though you are adorned and you may get to wear a crown, you submit to the king just like everyone else does, and when the queen refused to go to the king, he's done with her, and he gets convinced by advisors that, hey, why don't you issue a decree so then you can pull young virgins from all across the lands that you rule and you can have your pick of who you would like to be your next queen, and it's interesting because I don't think we sit with how real that is, that all of a sudden a king can issue a decree, and if you were a young virgin who deemed beautiful enough, okay, you didn't have to be smart, you didn't have to be athletic, you didn't have to know how to cook, you just had to be very pleasing to the eye, and if you were beautiful enough, then you would get hauled in to be sized up to see if you would be worthy to go before the king to be the next queen. Now, this is about Esther.

The girl pleased him in his favor, and he quickly provided her cosmetic treatments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maidens from the king's palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. Every day, Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.

The turn came for each girl to go to the king, and after being 12 months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their cosmetic treatment, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and cosmetics for women. When the girl went in to the king, she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. In the evening, she went in.

Then in the morning, she came back to the second harem. She did not go to the king again unless the king was delighted in her, and she was summoned by name. And when the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who adopted his own daughter to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except for Wehegai, the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women advised.

Now Esther was admired by all who saw her, and when Esther was taken to the king in his royal palace in the 10th month, the king loved Esther more than all the other women of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers, Esther's banquet. He granted this a holiday to the provinces and gave gifts with loyal liberality.

And that ends that part of the reading of the word. And so there's a young girl, right? Her name is Esther and she goes through these things. But even before that, if we take a look at Esther, Esther is not powerful.

She doesn't have any influence. She's just minding her own business. And I know not every girl has this fantasy, but a lot of girls had a princess fantasy at some time.

They wanted to be a princess. I remember seeing mine dance around with every Disney movie that came out and I had to watch it a thousand times. And I was like, man, I know these songs inside and out.

I could be a Disney princess too. It's one of those things, like Esther, maybe she had that thought. But as she's going through her daily life, living under foreign rule, when suddenly the king starts gathering people and she follows her cousin, who gets portrayed as more of her uncle or her guardian.

She follows him and he tells her what to do. He says, go. He says, don't tell anyone that you're Jewish.

He says, go, this is for your people. You just have to trust. And she does it.

So she was never invited. She was taken. And when she entered into this year of preparation, did you hear? Did you hear the year of preparation? Who wants to sign up for that? I know some of you who go through a heck of a routine getting ready for your day.

I always see many beautiful women. I think, wow, I don't know how you ladies do it, but good for you. I can't imagine six months of oil to six months of cosmetics.

I can't even handle six minutes of cosmetics, let alone six months. But she went, and she had all these treatments and instruction and waiting, and people watched her every move. And people made sure that what she did was always under the command of what those girls were given.

Even her voice was restrained. She wasn't allowed to speak unless she was spoken to. She wasn't allowed to request anything until the time came where they said, okay, what would you like to request? And even in that time, Mordecai said, no, you don't ask for what you are guided to by the king's attendance.

And so she follows Mordecai's guidance. She keeps her identity hidden. She waits and she listens, and she recognizes that something is going on, but I don't believe she really knows what.

I believe personally that she's scared, and she's just following what's been given to her by others. And in that time, she is being informed whether or not she recognizes what's going on. And eventually, she's found favor.

The king delights in her more than anyone else. And when you actually look back historically, that was no easy feat. And he chooses her to become a queen.

And as she becomes this queen, she doesn't realize the cost that is waiting around the corner. You think the beauty treatments and not being able to speak up is a cost. The cost that is around the corner, she has no idea.

The crisis that is waiting, she has no idea. Although she doesn't understand though, her position is there for a purpose. Now let's talk about Jesus.

So in the book of Luke, Jesus, after he is baptized, beginning in chapter four, verse one, it says, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. So Jesus, he goes and he meets John the Baptist, and he says, yeah, I'm not fit to do this.

You're supposed to baptize me. And he says, no, we need to fulfill the scriptures. This is what you are supposed to do.

And he gets baptized, right, and the heavens open up, and the Spirit descends like a dove, and he hears that beautiful proclamation. This is my son with whom I am well pleased. This is my son with who I am well pleased.

And then Jesus' life takes a turn from there on. It doesn't just begin with his public ministry. He doesn't jump right into miracles and applause and crowds following him everywhere, trying to catch the hem of his garment.

No, he's led into the wilderness. Jesus feels driven and led by the Spirit for 40 days. He is hungry, he's alone, he's tempted, he's pushed, and he's pulled.

And even when shortcuts are offered, he refuses. He recognizes that in this time, it's preparation. It's submitting and trusting to what God has in store, to what his Father has in store.

And it's trusting that the wilderness is never meant to be a time of punishment. It's meant to be a time of formation. It's meant to be a time of preparation.

You know, when I said earlier that like, you know, I was going through this kind of funny day, and how many times have you guys heard me say that, right? But then I thought, no, there's nothing to fight right now, Gina. There's nothing to be afraid of right now, Gina. This is actually perfect timing as you are entering into a time in which the church, in which the Spirit, in which by our own intention, we can set aside as a deliberate time of being in the wilderness.

When you look at these two stories, you have Esther in the palace, Jesus in the wilderness, two very different settings. But one common truth is that before they can be revealed in the grandeur that they hold, they have to be prepared. Before they can be seen, they have to be strengthened.

Before it's an opportunity for us to be out in the world taking on responsibilities, we have to take that moment and receive instruction. We have to discern, and we have to sit with the Spirit and shed those things that are not meant to be there and take up those things that have always been there and have always been available to us. Many of you might recognize that different seasons of your life, it's not about changing this and moving into that and making sudden decisions.

It's about interior work, and that's what the season of Lent calls us to. It calls us to a time of, yes, moving forward, but moving forward within preparation, moving forward within stillness, a time of just waiting and recognizing what the Lord is doing in your life. Many of you all have planted seeds before.

So imagine, you plant a seed, and once it's in the ground, what happens that first day? Nothing. I mean, maybe what you're doing, maybe you chose to water it, but nothing happens. There's no root coming that first day.

There's no leaves to see. It's just in the ground. You could stand there and look at it, and it'll be like a watch pot.

It's not gonna boil, but that's the thing. The most critical transformation that's going to bring life from that seed you planted is going to begin underground, and if you decided to dig it up to check how it's coming along, that would defeat the purpose. That would stop the progress, and whether or not you'd be able to continue to get that seed to grow is a whole other story.

Some of us, whether or not we recognize it, are being called into an underground season, and with Lent being on the Christian calendar, it's actually a beautiful time to willingly step into that season. You know, there's a lot of people who don't practice Lent, and that's great, but I'm just encouraging you that whether you're being called into this season or whether you're choosing to enter into your own wilderness, your own isolation of being prepared and being instructed and being moved around in such ways that you're not used to, this is the time for you to be in the interior and simply trust God. Simply allow God to reveal to you what is real and what is not real.

I have to veer over here for a moment. I think some of you know Jeff Reeves on some level or another. I've only got to meet Jeff from when he stumbled in here at the start of a congregational meeting, and I remember as I got to know him, I was just thrilled.

I was thrilled at how his mind worked. I was thrilled at how much he was seeking truth in that deeper relationship and how he was moving in ways of study and actual practice of coming into that fuller relationship between him and God, and maybe that's not the way Jeff would put it, but that's what I saw as I got to know him, and I'll tell you, when I asked him to be an elder, there was that hesitation in him, and he didn't say no right away. He was gonna think about it, but part of that reason is as he stood there and said, you know, I'm a Kabbalistic Christian, many people said, well, isn't he Jewish? And I say, well, isn't our savior Jewish too? So it's kind of that funny thing, you know, but when Jeff said yes, and I visited with him a little bit yesterday, I didn't know what he was going to bring to this table this morning, but he has been in his season of preparation up until this point, and when he stood there at that table, and he talked about that tiny, not-so-tiny space where we make that choice, are we gonna follow our own will? Dude, you made it to my sermon, good job.

Yeah, are we gonna follow our own will and think that we can do it all by our human power? Because that's what we tend to do, and then we tend to find ourselves in these situations where we don't know what to do, where instead of our wilderness being a time of preparation, a time of holy forming, it becomes a time of starving and complaining and just wishing we could go back to something different. Or are we gonna submit until where God is calling us? Are we gonna trust that even when we feel unseen and unclear and positioned in a place we didn't ask to be in, that we can still trust that God will bring us through it? I mean, are you a teenager right now who's confused because there's just so many changes and you're trying constantly to fit in here and fit in there, and you got your grandparents embarrassing you all the time as they introduce you to the new minister, right? I mean, where are you at in the walk? Or maybe you're in midlife, right? And in midlife you're carrying around these responsibilities and your life's taking a few twists and turns and you're like, I didn't think it was going to be this way. How did I get here? And you go back and forth between, I did this to myself, no, that did this to me, nope, I did this to myself, no, that did this to me.

Or perhaps you're retired, perhaps you're one of my beautiful seasoned people and you're wondering, is there a greater purpose for me right now? Am I gonna have weeks where I don't have a doctor's appointment? How much longer do I have to check the balances that I saved throughout my planning and being very frugal? Am I gonna have enough to see me? Because I want to live a long, fulfilling life, but did I plan enough to see me through to that? Because I got kids and grandkids and great grandkids and I still have myself. Maybe you're in a relationship that feels undefined. Maybe you're in that job transition or you're in a season of health challenges as we've been talking about a lot today.

I don't know if right now you are the caregiver or you're the one who is longing to be cared for. I don't know if you're rushing around or if you're peacefully waiting, but the thing is, all of these things are an interior season and a lot of time, the things that I just talked about from being a curious teenager to being a question-season elder, they come with a lot of unknown. They come with a lot of questions and a lot of times, the answers aren't there right away.

A lot of times, you ask a question, you might clench your fist, you might shed some tears and you might wonder when and how and where's it all gonna change and the response is, you guys know it's hard for me to do that too long, right? So I gotta keep going. But when that response comes, a lot of times, we like to fill that space with all kinds of noise and voices that are not that of God. But I will tell you, instead of assuming when things are quiet that something is wrong, instead of assuming when you don't know what to do next and you don't know how it's all gonna go, you don't have to figure it out in that moment.

You don't have to start saying, well, what if this happens down the road or what if we get there and we can't do that? And you don't have to keep looking back and saying, is this all happening right now because I did all of that back then? Just be here with me right now. Esther in the palace was in a place of forming and quiet because there was a time coming where she was gonna be ready to step forth with courage and strength. Jesus in the wilderness, can you imagine 40 days of praying and fasting? And maybe that's a lot of times that we put Jesus way out here because like, I could never do that.

I could never fast for a week, let alone 40 days. But the thing is, it wasn't about just this fasting. It wasn't about the uncomfortableness of being, the submission.

Do you want me to switch? Okay. It was about the submission to what God was doing, to what God was calling for. Silence doesn't mean the absence of God.

This is a time of formation. And so I want to invite you all to sit with me for a moment. The season of Lent calls you to stop demanding explanation, to stop requesting the how, to stop needing God to prove something to you.

God has done God's part. That's why you're here right now. And so I want to invite you just for a moment to sit quietly.

I wanna invite you if it helps to close your eyes and I just want you to be present and bring to your mind right now one area of your life that feels unfinished. Allow yourself to bring to your mind an area of your life that feels unclear, that might be in the in-between. And I want you to pause there.

You don't have to fix this right now. You don't have to solve this. Just take a moment and name it quietly in your heart.

This is a place where I am unclear. This is a place where I am scared and I need more answers. This is a place where I keep checking my supply because I think it's gonna run out.

This is a place where I keep looking at my loved one and wondering if I have enough to give them. This is a place where I keep looking at myself and wondering if I'm enough. I wanna invite you to look at that place and allow yourself this question.

What if this space is a time of preparation? Instead of asking, why am I here? Ask God, what are you forming in me? What are you here to show me? I invite you all to come back now as we come to the close of this message this morning. I want you all to, if you can grab a hold of anything, recognize that seasons like this in our life, whether or not you wanna label it Lent or anything like that, but that place you just sat for a moment, for those of you who went there, those hidden seasons, those seasons that even though you're surrounded by people you love and the provisions that God has given you, those seasons that feel alone are holy. Those seasons that feel like challenge and struggle are holy.

Those seasons where you kept checking if you have enough and if you are enough, they are holy. Preparation comes before resurrection. And God always invites us to see ourselves fully in the private spaces before he's gonna send us out to those public spaces.

So I ask you all to join me as we continue moving forward in the season of Lent. This is not about rushing and it's not about hiding. It's about recognizing we are all here together in a season of something, something being prepared, something being revealed, and something being shed.

And I'm so looking forward to being with you all on the other side and really feeling and owning that resurrection. But right now, let's be here. You notice this veil in our sanctuary this morning.

And we're not opening it up. We're not even revealing anything because Lent is about what is hidden. Lent is about trusting God to do what God does in secret and knowing that by the end, the truth will be revealed.

Esther had no clue when she stepped into that that she was gonna become a queen and then have to figure out how to set her people free. Jesus wasn't carrying the cross yet, but they both continued to trust. So as we enter into this season of Lent, I am going to trust.

And I hope you all will stand beside me and trust because it really does begin in that hidden, quiet obedience. Please join me in prayer.

Our almighty God, we are so grateful for your word, the Logos, the living word that continues to remind us of who we are, that continues to show us examples and circumstances in life that were overcome by the glory of you.

Your word continues to remind us of who we are as your children and how regardless of the adversity that comes our way, the challenge and the struggle, that you are the infinite God and we are your infinite children. And so God, as we are with you this morning and always as you are with us this morning and always, we ask that you would come into that space that your spirit revealed to us and that you would teach us, that you would help us to shed, that you would help us to release, you would help us to reclaim and you would help us to embody the truth of who you are, which always reveals the truth of who we are. It is in the most beautiful, the most powerful, the most faithful name of Christ Jesus we pray, amen.