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where does loving my neighbor stop…..
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. 17 Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ’s. 18 There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment. 19 We love because God first loved us. 20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. 21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also. 1 John 4:16-21 (TEV)
869 If you really loved God with all your heart, then that love for your neighbour, which you sometimes find so hard to have, would come as a necessary consequence of your Great Love. You would never feel hostility towards anyone, nor would you discriminate between people.
Your neighbor, the one that cut you off on the freeway. Or maybe the one who was promoted over you unfairly at work, he’s your neighbor, isn’t he? what about your old high school friend, who stabbed you in the back/ Or what about that false preacher, the guy who doesn’t agree with anyone else (or so it seems) in your denomination, is he your neighbor?
If these are those you are called to love, is there a point where you can stop loving them?
Where you can with all purity of heart wish God’s wrath to fall on them? Where you can hope that they receive justice, and not the mercy of God?
i can perhaps come up with 50 reasons I should be able to just hate them, or dismiss them into obscurity. Those I have heard as a pastor, and some I came up with myself. We may not want to deal with them, we may not want them in our neighborhood, or our church, or our denomination.
Yet, we are still called to love them. To not only do what is best for them, but to do it in a loving way. (not gritting our teeth, or just saying – this will hurt – but its what’s best for you… ) We are still called ot be like Christ in the way we deal with them.
I had a friend who once said you don’t change anything as a pastor within your church, until you know its place so well it hurts you to change it. If that is true for a practice, or a tradition, can you see the necessity of the same attitude towards a person?
this is the atitude of God, so clearly seen in the words from Ezekiel,
” 10 The LORD spoke to me. “Mortal man,” he said, “repeat to the Israelites what they are saying: ‘We are burdened with our sins and the wrongs we have done. We are wasting away. How can we live?’ 11 Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die?” Ezekiel 33:10-11 (TEV)
Would you cry over than neighbor’s continued lack of repentance? Or would you rejoice? Would you carry a cross for them, for the joy set before you? Or would you simply dismiss them as having rejected God, because they rejected you? ( And would you count on Jesus to forgive you your debts, even as you refuse to forgive them theirs?
Hard questions? Sure!
But they should cause you to run to the only place the answer can be found. In the wounds of Christ crucified, in the eyes of the one who cries out for our forgiveness, even as He steals our sins from us.
You see, to love your neighbor like this requires only one thing…. our unity with Christ.
Nothing else will make it happen, nothing else will cause us to desire it to happen. We will search for every lookhole, try to find every exception, Look back into our lives to every pain and challenge God saying, “You can’t mean this one Lord, the pain is too hard”
It is then we realize the depth of our need for Jesus…. and His faithfulness.
Which is what we need to know about Jesus.
May every service, every mass, every Bible study with others, every quiet time of prayer, devotion and study, reveal to us His presence… so we can know the impossible, is certainly doable….. AMEN
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3073-3075). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
God asks, “Can You Hear Me Now?”
Devotional Thought of the Day:
9 And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ 10 Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.” Isaiah 6:9-10 (NLT)
540 In the interior life, as in human love, we have to persevere. Yes, you have to meditate often on the same themes, keeping on until you rediscover an old discovery. “And how could I not have seen this so clearly before?” you’ll ask in surprise. Simply because sometimes we’re like stones, that let the water flow over them, without absorbing a drop. That’s why we have to go over the same things again and again—because they aren’t the same things—if we want to soak up God’s blessings.
I probably have written this blog,before, or something like it.
I probably need to hear the lesson again, to make sure it sticks, just as St Josemaria mentions, I need to hear it over and over again, and to be honest, I get frustrated by my inability to hear God…Like yesterday’s blog, about loving people, not just tolerating jackasses.
I know it, I preach it, I teach it, yet I need to hear it again, to realize how in that very thing, it is all about God, about His being my benevolent Master, who wants the best for me. it isn’t just to behave right, or a matter of perfect obedience.
It’s about growing in my trust of God. It’s about hearing Him, really hearing Him. Hearing of His love, His mercy, His desire to create a relationship with us. A relationship with us that is so precious that He will go the ends of creation to make it happen.
He will heal our broken hearts, forgive our sin, comfort us, correct us, call us back to Him, reassure us that we don’t walk alone. He will be patient with us, for He desires our trust, that level of relationship where we count on Him.
In the Romans reading above, the lesson I need to grasp again, is what it means.
Hyper-akuo in Greek. To Hyper-hear God, to be so attuned to His voice, to so hear it, that it forms and shapes us, that we trust Him to the extent that we simply move, guided by His words, the words that reveal His love. That is what obedience/ hyper-hearing Him is all about.
Today He is asking – can you hear Me?
May we respond like children, and run into His arms….
God Bless!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2034-2039). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Lord, I Believe You Will Do the Impossible… Help me trust you will!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
15 Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15 (NJB)
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” 24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24 (NLT)
929 Don’t forget that we will be more convincing the more convinced we are. (1)
I’ve had a task to do, that I am not looking forward to handling. Simply put, there are things we are called to do as believers that are impossible.
This is one of those.
The temptation is to really on our own wisdom, our own strength. To force the issue, to pretend we are God, that all things can be fixed, with the “if only” caveat. That caveat justifies failure, it allows us to walk away without having to admit the failure. It allows us to walk away without feeling disappointment.
That caveat is the seed of our defeat, just like a prenuptial agreement is a danger sign in a marriage, because it leaves open the room for failure, and nearly guarantees it will happen. It puts the success or failure somewhere besides making us responsible for it, and therefore leaves out the one crucial ingredient for success. The one ingredient? Oh, you want to know what it is?
Jesus makes it known in the 2nd quote above. If you believe, if you trust in God, if you know His heart well enough to base your life on it, even risk your life on it.
To which the man cries out a Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy – help me when I cannot trust.
Depend on Him. That sounds simple, but it isn’t. We have to know His desire, we have to understand the effort God will put into keeping his promises. We have to realize the depth of His love. We have to know it – deeply in order to trust in it, even as this man had to trust that Jesus could heal his son.
It isn’t easy – but we can pray, we can communicate our need for something to booster our faith, we can admit we need His help – even to trust.
But when we do, patience comes naturally, peace flows, the impossible seems be have cracks of God’s probability shine through. We realize we can wait for it to happen, we realize that God will make all things work for good, we realize the power of mercy and forgiveness.
And we trust in His presence to make all the difference, and it does.
For He has promised – and He is faithful.
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3775-3776). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Forgiveness is Not A Learned Action or Skill
Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. 7 It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! 9 By his blood we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God’s anger! 10 We were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life! Romans 5:6-10 (TEV)
804 That friend of ours with no false humility used to say: “I haven’t needed to learn how to forgive, because the Lord has taught me how to love.” (1)
There are times where I am amazed by the simplicity and truth in St. Josemaria’s writings.
A lot of ministry deals with reconciliation, bringing back together, and balancing out that which is broken. It might be reconciling the relationship of a married couple who have “fallen out of love”. Or reconciling a church that has too long buried conflict, thinking that if they ignored it, they could all get along. OR reconciling someone who is so burdened and oppressed by sin, that they cannot even imagine that they could be forgiven.
Reconciliation begins with forgiveness, which is where the healing starts.
But forgiveness, true forgiveness, where we ask that God doesn’t count their sin against them, (and therefore neither do we) is difficult or hard, or at least it seems to be. It seems to be unnatural, something we have to be forced to do. Our hearts cry against it, saying things like, I will forgive, but I won’t forget. It requires we give up our right for revenge, we lower our defenses, we acknowledge that this could happen 7 times 70 minus one more time.
Forgiveness leaves us weak and defenseless, or so we fear. It leaves us anxiety ridden, as we await the next blow. If it is not real, but if forgiveness is simply an act, it leaves us grumbling and ready to complain to whomever will listen, and assist us in self-justification. We can even justify ourselves by pointing out that while we’ve forgiven them, they haven’t done anything to reconcile the situation.
Forgiveness can’t be done simply because it is commanded. It is not a matter of obedience and discipline in its own right. There has to be something in us, that causes us to desire forgiveness, to desire to find that reconciliation, to give up all of our rights, in order to do what is best for the other person.
Forgiveness is impossible, without love.
Deep, abiding love.
The kind that acts like superglue in our relationships.
If we love them, we will seek what is best for them, which includes the forgiveness of every sin.
St. Josemaria has it right, if we love them, as Christ loves us, it is not a matter of needing instruction, or even being commanded to forgive, to reconcile with them. We become like Paul, willing to sacrifice anything, in order that they would be reconciled to God, for that is what forgiveness is about as well. Asking that the Father not hold them accountable, asking that God forgives them. Forgiveness and reconciliation become what we are naturally compelled to do, as we love them.
Which means we have to know Christ’s love first. We have to see this in action, and more importantly know that we’ve been forgiven this way. Romans 5 above has to become so integral to us, we have to realize what it means that God loved us, and therefore forgave us, and made His home among us who sinned against Him.
It is that love of His, which we are embraced in, that leads us to know the joy of having sin removed, of having guilt and shame done away with, that brings us to the joy He sought for us, the joy that He shares in, as reconciliation is not just a word, but a reality. We are loved, we are free to love in return, all else is shed.
In that moment, loved by God, we find that forgiveness doesn’t take strength of character, it simply is the natural action of one who loves, as they are loved.
Thou Shalt Not Kill….what does this mean?
Treasuring God’s Gifts
Means We Value Deep Relationships,
Enough to Turn to Christ for Healing…
(rather than hurt others…or resent them )
Ex. 20:14, Eph 2:10, Luke 10:25-28, Mt, 5:21-24
In Jesus Name
May the Grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ bring you mercy, peace, and the healing that comes as sin is forgiven
If you desire bad for someone…gulp
Part of the gospel reading tonight seems a bit extreme.
Consider it again, just because you get angry at someone, you are to be judged by God?
If you call someone an idiot, or anything else negative, you are to be brought before God’s court to be found unrighteous?
Or if you wish or desire something bad to happen to someone, you find yourselves in danger of hell?
Wow……
Part of me wants to think that is a bit extreme, more than a bit challenging. Considering growing up near Boston, those things were how you treated your friends. (you don’t want to know how we treated our enemies)
Hearing this passage, where Jesus takes the 5th commandment and explains it, doesn’t sound like good news. He raises the bar higher it seems, He puts even more on the table than simply not murdering someone.
But it is the gospel, for as we begin to hear these words, not as a list of do’s and do not’s, but as how God’s work in our lives looks, we understand how this is gospel.
The secret to not hurting others, whether in body or soul, is about trusting in God and treasuring His work in our lives; so much so that we desire to turn over to God that which needs healing, that which is broken. Whether someone else broke it, or we did.
Killing off Life
When I hear this command, it’s often in a deep bass voice, like James Earl Jones, or Darth Vader,
THOU SHALL NOT MURDER!!!!!!
When I hear Jesus, as He is delivering the Sermon on the Mount, it is more of a pastor, a mentor type of voice. He’s explaining that the heart of the matter is not just shooting or plunging a sword into someone’s heart. It is thinking about, saying or doing anything which harms the neighbor/family member/co-worker that Jesus taught us to love, to treasure. The people that He died to save, to heal, to bring to the fullness of life.
It is that fullness of life, that masterpiece of God’s design, that He creates and perfects in us, that the “you must not murder”, is all about. For as we damage others, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually, we wreck our view of God’s design for us, and also the person we hurts view. We obscure the treasure, we stop it from being seen, and instead it is seen damaged, broken, less than God promises.
It is hard not to look at the damage, just like most of slow down when we see an accident on a freeway – we just have to know why the fire trucks and police cars are there. So when we our words do damage, when our anger divides us, it will attract our attention, our focus, just like the accident,
That distracts us from God’s love, from the peace He brings into our lives, as we are united with Christ’s death. It stops us from seeing the masterpiece, as our lives are consumed by damage…
They Are Dead to Me?
But it is not just because of our initial actions that hurt that we have to be aware of the blessing in this commandment.
It is the hurt we cause when we have been offended, when others have killed off part of us. Our desire for revenge or retribution, our inability to forgive is also a violation of this plan of God to make our lives a masterpiece.
For in striking back, in refusing to forgive, in wishing “they get what they deserve”, we are sinning as well, we are letting our anger get the best of us, we are saying unkind things toward them, and yes, we are cursing them. We let resentment wreck out lives, letting sins 3-5-20 years ago have power over us, shielding us from God’s love.
Ultimately, it boils down to faith, not in their ability to keep a promise to not hurt us again, nor in our promising not to hurt others, but trusting in the God who created us, who promises to take even what is evil, and use it for good, who promised that all things work out for good, for those who love Him, who are called into His life.
Time for Reconciliation & Healing
That is why Jesus sends people, coming to bless God with their offerings, who are struggling with others to drop their gifts, and go and seek reconciliation. To God, that is the kind of gift that He truly desires, to see people reconcile to Him, to see people reconcile to each other. TO see in those around us the value God has placed on their lives.
Which is where this becomes gospel.
For to find healing, either in the damage we have done to others, or in the damage others have done to us, we have to turn to Christ. We have to have confidence in His mercy, we have to trust in the promise of forgiveness, in His work bringing us to Himself in His death on the cross.
He’s here… ready to heal, ready to be the strength required to drop all the pain of broken relationships, to help us drop the pain caused by words, or by others cursing us.
We sang about this, just before I came up here….
Just as I am poor, wretched, blind
Sight, riches, healing of the mind
Yea, all I need, in Thee I’ll find
O Lamb of God I come I come
O I come to the Son who can heal with His wounds
O I come to the thief who has robbed ev’ry tomb
O I come to the Victor
my life and my love
O Lamb of God I come
And so, as we come to pray at this altar, it’s time to leave behind the brokenness that comes from our not treasuring our neighbor, from the pains we have caused, from the resentment we have held onto,
For Christ has promised to be our healer, our strength, our glory, and to make our lives a masterpiece… a place of peace… AMEN?
What Child is This? The One Who Causes Blind to See, And to Reveal Others are Blind
Sermon from Concordia Lutheran Church
march 30, 2014
What Child is This?
The One Who Causes Blind to See, And to Reveal Others are Blind
John 9:1-41
May you rejoice as the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ opens your eyes to His presence and the restoration of brokenness!
So much talk about sin and its effects!
The gospel reading this morning is one of the longest we have all year, more than half the length of an average sermon.
it reminds me of the Old Testament Book of Job, but not because of the length, it shares the same quality that the Book of Job does, as we look at the discussions that take place. Discussions that are fascinating, discussions that touch on different theological and philosophical questions. Discussions that offer little comfort, peace, that are pretty much blind.
But discussions, at the end of it, are blind to the presence of God in the flesh, and blind to the work that Jesus would do. They don’t lead them to the truth, they don’t change their actions, they simply to seek to look back,
It would be like wondering what was responsible for an earthquake, and not bothering to get under a desk, or in a doorway!
Seriously, they while the discussions were going on, incredible things were going on, right there in front of them…..
God, revealed among them, and as we pray in the Kyrie he was helping, saving, comforting, and defending them… even as He does us.
So let’s look at the discussions, and what they missed….. (click)
Question 1 – who’s responsible for this brokenness
The passage opens up, with a discussion of his committed followers, which they bring to him to answer.
2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
We are well into the gospels at this point, they had heard Jesus’s testimony that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise that the Messiah would bring healing to the blind and to the broken hearted, and their question is about what is the root cause of the blindness?
They could have asked Jesus if he would have healed him. Or perhaps asked Jesus to heal him. They could have asked how they could have helped.
But instead they treat him like a …. Object? A Thing to be discussed and a lesson in theology and philosophy.
They don’t see the man, and they certainly don’t see the reason that Jesus will lay out before them,
Answer: Jesus heals the brokenness
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
There isn’t a day when I wish such work of God could be done here, that people who have devastating physical issues, couldn’t all be healed, that they couldn’t all be restored. It would be dangerous to take from this passage the idea that God is only glorified in the physical healing of a person. We’ll see why in the second discussion.
What I want us to see in this, is not the miracle of a healing, for something greater is about to happen. Something that will affect the man more deeply, more powerfully.
We need to see though, that Jesus saw the man, the man in great need, and responded.
The disciples didn’t, they hadn’t learned that lesson yet, but Peter would, when Jesus tells him three times to feed my sheep, and when he and John take time to heal the man begging at the Temple’s gates.
CLICK Discussion lesson number one, Jesus saw the man, not the sin that hinders him.
When we are dealing with people who are broken, as we were, it doesn’t matter how they were broken, whose sin has broken them, or even what the sin was.
It matters that the person was one whom God desired to minister to, to bring them into the kind of transformation where sin could not hinder him from living. To bring him to the realization that He was God’s child, and NOTHING could separate him from God’s love, revealed in Christ.
Which brings us to the second part of the conversation….the meeting of the Pharisees…
Discussion 2 – how can Jesus do anything about this?
The progress of the discussion went something like this.
A major disagreement about whether Jesus could do such a miracle. Some say it’s impossible, because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, others are in shock, and can’t explain it… because how does a ordinary man do such things.
The mind works in odd ways, and rather than finding themselves in God’s presence, they decide they don’t have the right information…..so they call in the Blind man…
“We don’t believe you are the blind man.” “Yes, I am,” He responds.
Drats – they were hoping that maybe it was a temporary condition, and reversed itself. So they call in the parents….
“We don’t believe your son was born blind….”
“Yes, he was, but we don’t know what happened to him,” they say in timid, anxious voices, knowing what the Pharisees don’t want to hear….
ARRGGGHHH – get the young man back in….
And they ask his opinion, as if the opinion of a man who never looked at a night sky, at seen trees and looked into the eyes of those he loved, would say something to detract from the miracle that happened to him…. “Simple, He is from God!” And so they boot him out of the community.
While the first discussion didn’t see the man, the second didn’t see the God who would claim the man as his own, as one of His people. They couldn’t see God’s love for this man, this one they discounted as the sinner. CLICK
Discussion lesson #2 – Don’t miss that God wants to do something in every person’s life. To make himself known to them as real, as loving, as merciful, as their Lord, Savior, Father, Friend, Advocate….
You see, the goal of the interaction wasn’t just to heal the man of His physical ailments. Remember Jesus’ earlier answer?
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
For to see a man healed of being blind is amazing, miraculous, just as many of Jesus miracles left people stunned, Yet, something more miraculous happens. Jesus doesn’t just leave the man with his physical sight….
He establishes a relationship! The man hears something, that talked of eternity, about the restoration of the people of God. For in revealing that He is the Son of Man, Jesus reveals that the people of God will be made whole, not some time in the future, but soon, and that Jesus is the long awaited one who will fulfilled the promises revealed in Ezekiel.
Jesus reveals He is the Son of Man the one who knows God’s heart, so clearly revealed in Ezekiel, (CLICK)
21 Suppose wicked people stop sinning and start obeying my laws and doing right. They won’t be put to death. 22 All their sins will be forgiven, and they will live because they did right. 23 I, the LORD God, don’t like to see wicked people die. I enjoy seeing them turn from their sins and live. Ezekiel 18:21-24 (CEV)
Jesus is revealing that it is time for God to make His people, His again, for them to realize that He will be their God, forever. He will raise them, even as the prophesy at the Valley of Dry Bones, or the chapter before, where God promises to wash us, to replace our hearts of stones, with hearts of flesh, to send His Spirit to live inside of us…
Such a revelation, to this man who simply realized that Jesus was from God. That is what is glorious, God coming to this man, God revealing Himself to Him.
When others couldn’t see the simple truth, the truth that they claimed expertise, but overlooked the heart of God who would come to the broken and restore them.
Glorious – that God would come to man, that He would assure them of His love, His faithfulness. It’s not about who was the sinner, or whether man can heal on Sunday, its’ about the love of God for His people, revealed in Christ. That is why we ask what child is this? And why we know and trust in Him…..
That would bring His people, broken and abandoned, that would bring us into His peace. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, the peace of God that you are brought into and kept, by Jesus the Christ.
Getting Past Betrayal: Finding Healing for That Which You Broke.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. 7 For a dead person has been absolved from sin. 8 If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Romans 6:6-8 (NAB)
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; 7 for he that hath died is justified from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; Romans 6:6-8 (ASV)
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. 19 In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, 20 who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. 21 This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. 1 Peter 3:18-22 (NAB)
613 God has a special right over us, his children: it is the right to our response to his love, in spite of our failings. This inescapable truth puts us under an obligation which we cannot shirk. But it also gives us complete confidence: we are instruments in the hands of God, instruments that he relies on every day. That is why, every day, we struggle to serve him. (1)
In my devotions today, I read of Peter’s denial of Jesus, and the grief that he dealt with, in realizing that he betrayed the promise that was made with all his heart, in realizing he betrayed Jesus.
How do you go on, after betraying someone you depend upon, someone you care for, someone you told you would die for? Do we just let the relationship fade into our past, even while we deal with the haunting guilt and the shame?
It maybe a family member you betrayed, or maybe an old friend, that person who you stood beside all those years. Definitely, all of us have betrayed God, some perhaps as tragically as Peter did, the night before Christ’s crucifixion. At some point in most of our lives, we’ve cried those same tears as Peter. We felt the pain and crushing anxiety of knowing that things will not be the same, ever again. In order to deal with this, we find distractions, new relationships, new hobbies, we work more, even things that would numb us from our pain.
We need hope, even when we feel things have gone beyond any reasonable expectation of hope.
Peter found such hope, and restoration, a complete transformation. Paul did as well.
Most translations in Romans 6:7 use the phrase “freed from sin” in translating dedikaiwtai apo tes amartias. I believe that this is a serious error, given the use of the root word’s ( dikaios ) multiple appearance in chapters 3-5. There it in its various forms is translated as righteious, made righteous, just or justified. It is more than being freed, it is God’s judgment, saying that you have been counted not guilty, that He views you as righteous, a view that is possible because Christ took upon Himself our guilt. This is more than just being freed from sin, it is declaring that sin has no claim on us, whatsoever.
The old ASV gets it right in saying we are declared justified, the NAB I think even makes it clearer with absolved from sin. We are cleansed and declared righteous, just, because of what. God has done.
In both passages, this answer is our baptism. Baptism, not as our work, but the appeal to God because we’ve been unifed to Christ’s death and resurrection. When we look at what God does, what He promises in baptism, we find the source of healing, of cleansing. We’ve died with Christ and live in Him. We have been absolved, counted righteous, cleansed, healed…
And it does something wonderful, it shapes us into God’s instruments, Our response to this work is to become God’s people, created to do good works, for we dwell in Christ.
How does Peter go from tears just before dawn on Good Friday, to the one who responds to others grief at their own betrayal of God? How can Peter point them to Baptism, and the transformation of their souls?
Because of the confidence that dieing with Christ, and being raised with Him brings. A confidence not in our ability to absolve us from sin, but His.
So rejoice in your baptism, may you grow in your knowledge of the extent of His love, mercy and healing given to you there.
A Real God Addressing Real Brokenness through and in us = Real Church
English: A homeless on the corner of Cologne Cathedral, Germany, 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
35Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. 36 When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. 37 “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! 38 On your knees and pray for harvest hands!” Matthew 9:35-38 (MSG)
744 You don’t have an ounce of supernatural vision and it is only their social standing that you notice. Souls mean nothing to you at all, nor do you serve them. That is why you are not generous… but live far from God with your false piety, even though you may pray a lot. The Master has said very clearly: “Depart from me … into that eternal fire … for I was hungry … I was thirsty … I was in prison … and you did not care for me.” (1)
It is the time of Advent, a time where our readings in Church traditionally deal with the brokenness of people.
It’s the days before Christmas, and for many people i know, it will be a hard one, as they grieve. I don’t even like writing this, for it causes me to face my own grief, and the burdon of knowing so many who will be grieving as well. Others wonder about their own future, as health or finances are limited, as anxiety builds. Students in college are facing finals – a particular pressure to perform, and papers that must get done. We deal with our own brokenness, our own loneliness. The darkened days result in a physical drain as well. For many, this season of Peace and Joy becomes one of questioning – why can’t I feel that joyous? Why can’t I know that peace everyone else seems to know so well?
With all of this going on, for the church, for all believers I raise a question.
Will you see those around you? The hostess at the restaurant whose smile is forced, the person at the office party who doesn’t quite engage everyone else, but leaves as soon as possible. The single-mom who is struggling with trying to figure out how to make all the ends meet and still have something for her children for Christmas? The people that you know who’ve lost someone in the last year or two… who will be alone this Christmas? The homeless person – who is sick because there was no room at the rescue mission?
Will they see you? Not just as another person who doesn’t care, but as someone who will at least acknowledge the brokeness and spend time with them – even if they can’t materially help. Will you be there for them. Will you allow God to work through you to bring them some peace, some knowledge that they are loved? Will you know the joy of imitating Christ, of represnting Jesus to those He has sent you to, even as the Father sent Him to us?
Will we care for the people who are without shepherds, who are lost in this crazy world? Will our heart break over the trauma, physical, emotional, spiritual, that is all around us?
As we talked last night in the class I am teaching, we talked about how evangelism is not just a 5 minute chat with someone who doesn’t know Christ. It’s about being alive in Christ, of realizing that love, of knowing that others desperately need to know it – and that they are all around us. Even those sitting in Bible Study with us, even those leading worship up front. THis morning as I visited with some friends, I was amazed to hear of their care for me and for others in our church, even as they faced their own challenges. They minister to others incredibly, even as they minister from their own weakness. Saturday, I was blessed by a friend, who wanted to check up on me, to know how/if I was handling my own grief, and dealing with the “burden” of caring for others. This is church. Real church, The people of God who are willing to let a real God be God, and minister to them, and through them. I can go on and on, but ministry, real ministry is seen in our relationship with God, that interacts with our relationship with each other.
We all need a real God, we all need to know He is with us as we face real challenges, and our own real brokenness, as we help others find His healing as well. That is when “Church” (those gathered/called together by God to be His people) is “real church” When we take the time to spend it with those who need it, even if it makes us late. Even if it costs us a little time and money. For then we see them… and they see us… and we, together, see Christ revealed in our presence.
So take time – invest it in those around you. Not just those that will left you up, but those that need to be lifted up.
You would be amazed at the depth of peace and joy that comes from seeing God with us…..
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3102-3107). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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- Burdened? With those of Christ, or Those of the World? (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Will you let them see you…. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- I’m Getting Tired of “Cool” Churches (donraypratt.wordpress.com)
- Have you been neglecting yourself? (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Will God hear even me today, in this mood I am in? (justifiedandsinner.com)
The Blessing of Being Served… It Changes Things!!
the second devotional thought of this day….
24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Hebrews 10:23-24 (TEV)
This inner life allowed him to experience the divine everywhere: the dentist’s waiting room, traveling around the city on public transport, enjoying a get-together. He sometimes said in Italian, nel bel mezzo della strada—in the middle of the street. “The street is our cell.” One day in 1960, when the alterations in Villa Tevere were finished, Salvador Suanzes, nicknamed Pile, asked, “Father, which of the oratories in this house do you like best?” “The street!” Pile looked astonished. Monsignor Escrivá smiled. “I love all the oratories in this house. But I prefer the street. ‘Our cell is the street’ is not just a nice phrase. And you, Pile, my son, and so many sons and daughters of mine, will often have to make your prayer in the street. And it can be done really well there too! Although, whenever we can, we do it in a church or in an oratory, before our Lord who is really present in the tabernacle.” (1)
I’ve been in a funk, this last week or so… drained of most of my energy, and to an extent, my novel outlook on life. Seems like the life has been zapped out of me.
I’ve tried to write it off as simply the amount of trauma that I’ve had to deal with, and to be honest, that has been the most I’ve endured since I started serving in churches. The burdens of grieving over my dad, of friends overwhelmed with financial problems, some with medical problems, some with marital problems. Watching my right hand in ministry, or maybe I’m his… (sort of like the excellent guitarist he is, we work together like his right and left hands.. not completely aware of the others thoughts and actions.. but boy does it work well!) go through trauma with both his parents. Watching two other friends I care about – dealing with addiction issues… the list keeps going… and going…
Until lunch.
Everything changed then.
One of my usual places, where the older hispanic waiter (maybe a few years older than me) always calls me “Father”, because he’s seen me wearing my clerical collar. He knows I’m Lutheran – but says it doesn’t matter, I am a man of God. (Sometimes I think – boy do I have him fooled!!! okay more than sometimes!) The restaurant was busy – they had coupons for “bosses” day, and it was buy your lunch the boss eats free. They were very busy and short staff.
And so my friend, he couldn’t give me the attention he usually gives. Running and trying to help the other staff, trying to care for people, trying to manage large groups, I felt bad for him. Even more when he realized I was in the corner, in his station, and no one had brought me something to drink until I was almost done with my entree. Later he realized no one brought me chips and salsa ( I had the lunch buffet) Despite his busyness, he took great pains to apologize, and the hurt of his failure was clear on his face. He thought he let me down, had not done his best by me. Even as I admired him out-serving those younger than him.
About that time, i was reading a book about my favorite Catholic theologian/pastor/lover of God. (yeah it’s a little odd for a Lutheran pastor to admit he really likes a Catholic priests work…but I think there is a lot in Escriva’s work that is Lutheran in theology! Or maybe we are more Catholic than we want to admit) and I ran into the above quote. I actually downloader twitter to my phone to tweet a summary of it.
As tired as I am, as broken as I feel, I started seeing Christ’s heart in the heart of a waiter, who hated not being able to care for me. Not that Jesus ever fails to care for us, but I wonder how our His heart feels when we don’t realize His presence, and how He serves us. I saw this man, who makes his vocation caring for others, feeding them, nourishing them, making sure they know they are cared for, and that they are welcome in his restaurant.
And I changed. I am still exhausted to some extent… these last few weeks have been a physical drain as well. But my attitude is quickly changing, as what I know, what I’ve been preaching about this fall comes fully into focus. We can’t minister to others, until we let Christ minister to us. We can’t serve, share, bring healing to others, reveal to them Christ’s love and the peace which He desires to bring Him, until we experience it ourself.
Until we let ourselves be served, cared for, nourished.
My friend will get a copy of this blog tomorrow I think – though I scribbled the thoughts out on the bill… so he could know how he served me – exacrly what I needed… (far more than my diet coke!) Out there on street, I encountered Christ’s love and care… I saw His heart in work that most overlook. And in a very quiet way… that has brought joy to this wearied heart.
A good lesson – and I pray.. the begining of a new season of rest…. and serving others!
(1)
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Having a Crisis of Faith? Come Join us!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
22 So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. 23 Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise. 24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. 25 Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer. Hebrews 10:22-25 (TEV)
324 The dust thrown up by your fall blinds and disorients you, and you have thoughts which rob you of your peace. Have you sought relief in tears by the side of Our Lord, and in confident conversation with a brother? (1)
If a pastor or priest or even lay ministers are honest, they will admit (but not often) that they have what some call a “crisis of faith” occaisonally. We aren’t perfect, and its my opinion that our people must know this. Simply put, if we are hoenst about this, then they will be as well, and we will be able to minister to them in spirit and in truth.
A crisis of faith isn’t that we don’t believe in God, but that we simply struggle to believe in God.
It may be that the trauma in our own lives is too much, or that the trauma we help others go through has taken its toll as well. It could be our sin, or temptation, which finds a spot in our weakened state and steps on through. Despising our own weakness, we try to overcome it on our own, rather than deal with it at the foot of the cross. Or it can simply be that we have fallen into a rote faith – we go through the motions, numbed by time to the words, and the God whom they reveal.
Either way, it is as our spiriutal life has become paralyzed.
There is a need in such times for each of us to have what they now call a “spiritual director”, or what I prefer to call a “father-confessor”. Someone who is able to speak for God to us, someone who will shepherd us and guide us, and help us until the fog clears. Someone who can share God’s love because they’ve known it during their own crisis, their own brokeness. (which is why I think we have to let people know we go through such times ourselves) They are the ones that can find us, and have our permission to find us, in our caves, when we choose to isolate ourselves.
We need those times, when we can hear the still small voice of God comforting us. Even so, we can’t, especially in those times, avoid gathering with others, sincere in our brokenness, yet needing the encouragement that comes from realizing we are not alone. We need to hear of God’s faithfulness, and to celebrate it together. This too is essential, a major part of our Christian life. For when we realize that God doesn’t give up on any of us, we begin to realize that His promise of being faithful includes us. The illusion is then pierced, and we realize the crisis of faith isn’t a crisis of trust, or us being abandoned by God.
It’s simply that we are tired and overwhelmed and… well yes broken.
We say at my church that we are a place where broken people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal.
The cure for such times, is not to avoid the people of God, fearing they will not understand, it is to come and be embraced by them, to join them at the altar and receive the grace of God as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ (yes – during a crisis of faith – communion, the eucharist is a blessing.. a very needed blessing!) For we all have had, and maybe even having a a crisis of faith, and the church, the people of God provides a great sanctuary during such times. Let’s lift each other up, as God calls us together, a people He will care for, a people He will comfort.
And that starts with us, those who lead in church… those who are broken, so that you may have faith, for if God can heal us… He can (and will ) bring healing to your crisis.
For the Lord will have mercy!
I know – received it over and over. You can too.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1529-1531). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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- Reflections on Gethsemane (tallmonasticguy.typepad.com)
- “The Crisis of Faith” by Fr. John Hardon, S.J. (insightscoop.typepad.com)
