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Why Doesn’t the Church Understand Pentecost?
devotional thought of the day….
14 But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. 15 As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” 16 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 17 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 18 ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? 19 When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” “Twelve,” they said. 20 “And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said. 21 “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them. Mark 8:14-21 (NLT)
298 The faithfulness—in the service of God and souls—which I always ask you for, is not the easy type of enthusiasm. It is the enthusiasm you can acquire in the middle of the street, when you see how much there is to be done everywhere. (1)
Tomorrow is Pentecost, the day when the church celebrates. Unfortunately what it often celebrates is the past, the anniversary of the events nearly 2000 years ago. The Birthday of the Church some call it. While this is true, I think that when we focus on just the event of Pentecost, isolated apart from the daily life of the church, we end up hyper-focusing like the apostles, and we miss the point of the celebration. We also don’t understand Pentecost when we reduce Pentecost to a focus on any gift, or make the case that the gifts are still operative or God the Father has directed the Holy Spirit to cease it’s work. Pentecost is not the time to argue the pros and cons of Pentecostalism, or the Charismatic movement. Yes miracles happened, and we can argue until we turn blue about whether they still do,
When we focus in either way, we lose sight of what Pentecost is, as if we are focusing on the lack of food, and who is to blame for what is, or isn’t happening. We go from trusting in God, to studying why we trust Him. We go from loving God to theology, we go from experiencing is presence (what happened on Pentecost) to celebrating that the church once did know God’s presence.
I am probably stepping on toes here. Heck I am doing the unique trick of stepping on my own toes, or at least the way I’ve talked about Pentecost in the past. All those errors above, I’ve made them, I’ve lived them.
But Pentecost is not the past, what happened on that day hasn’t stopped happening, the work of the Holy Spirit is still going on today, this Feast, this celebration has never stopped.
The Holy Spirit is still bringing people to hear God’s promises, He is still working through those of us called into a relationship with Jesus, the same way He was working through the apostles and those that worked alongside them. (remember there wasn’t 12 gathered, there was 120!) THe Holy Spirit is still revealing the work of Christ, and that every promise of God is fulfilled, that Christ died, rose and will come again. Pentecost is that time that St. Josemaria describes, when enthusiasm doesn’t come easy, but it comes from being in the street, seeing the work that needs to be done, and knowing the Holy Spirit is doing that work, through us.
The Holy Spirit is still cutting open man’s hearts, and replacing them with living hearts, He is still baptizing people and granting them repentance, The Holy Spirit is still a gift, living and active in each of us that trusts in Christ, a promise to our children as well – and to every person that is far from God, through us.
The Holy Spirit is at work, revealing that we are the people of God…. revealing how deep the love of God for us in Christ., revealing how the hope we have is the hope for this world. Hope for Ethiopian Eunuchs and the person we are sitting next to at Starbucks. Hope for the Ethiopian Jailer and the police officer that drives through our town, for people like Lydia, the seller of purple cloth, and the supermarket clerk.
We need to be people who don’t just celebrate Pentecost as a feast of the past, we need to be people who live in the reality of Pentecost, who are the ones who the Spirit is working on, or working in and through. For this is the life we have been raised into, in Christ.
May we see thousands baptized into Christ in the days ahead, as we treasure this Pentecost, this outpouring of God’s Spirit upon His people!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1429-1431). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Art of Theology: Not Putting God in Your Box
devotional thought of the day:
1 Then Job answered the LORD. 2 Job I know, LORD, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want. 3 You ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so very ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know. 4 You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions. 5 In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. 6 So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6 (TEV)
272 If you are sensible and humble, you will have realised that one never stops learning… This happens in every field; even the wisest will always have something to learn, until the end of their lives; if they don’t, they cease to be wise. (1)
I am a pastor, that means to a certain point, I have been trained as a theologian. If you look at my libraries, you will see a few thousand volumes of books. The hardbacks I have read through, the digital ones, well – there are too many, but I source many of them each week in sermon preparation. Usually I skim maybe 20% of the 100-1500 hits I research, looking for various things to help prepare a message. I probably choose 10-20 to copy and paste and dwell through each week.
Been doing this for a while now, actually changed denominations once, have my favorite authors ( Luther, Escriva, Oden, Ratzinger, Willimon, Melancthon, Walther, Pieper, Augustine, Fracnis De Sales, Robert Webber ) It is somewhat an eclectic list, with guys from different times, different backgrounds. Which leads me to my point. I
We can’t put God in our Box.
We have to take Him as He reveals Himself, even if we don’t necessarily like His methods, His rules, His ways. We can’t say they are wrong simply because we don’t like them. Nor can we say with integrity that He didn’t really mean “that”. Yet to often we do, unaware that pride is causing us to shatter the first commandment.
Over the years, others have done fine jobs summarizing the faith. The three creeds that are held by Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches ( The Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian) are good. I am particularly fond of others, the Augsburg Confession and Apology of the Augsburg Confession, and Luther’s Catechisms for example. Pieper has done a masterpiece of theology, so has Thomas Oden never mind Luther and Augustine. But I can’t remember ever page, every question and answer of these theological giants. My expectation is neither can they! They couldn’t in a couple thousand pages describe everything about God, they couldn’t out-Bible the Bible. They wrote great things… yet, it is still the observation of men, not equal to scripture.
That is what Job realized at the end of the book that bears his name. (as did his friends…) It is what Josemaria Escriva talks about, in a section on humility (not, incidentally, on wisdom!)
A wise man once said that, “A man’s got to know his limitations…” Another, Socrates was considered to be the wisest man of his time. His response to being told this was something like this, “it is only because I realize how much I don’t know.” A good theologian talks where there is definite scriptural support – and struggles with that which contradicts his logix, because It is God’s word, God’s reasoning that trumps ours. Even when it doesn’t seem logical, or fair.
Yesterday’s blog was about walking humbly with God, about keeping our eyes on Him, about sometimes that humility is only found in the midst of great sorrow. Today’s is similar, our wisdom comes, not from what we know about God, but that we realize we are not omniscient, that His word trumps our logic. That there is a reason why He is God, that He is our Lord, our Savior, our Benefactor, and we are simply…. His kids.
So give up, for a day or two, putting God in your box…. let Him instead bring you into His glory….
Lord Have Mercy!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1337-1340). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Faith can’t fit in a meme box or 140 character tweet…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
24 The father at once cried out, “I do have faith, but not enough. Help me have more!” Mark 9:24 (TEV)
8 No, the LORD has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God. Micah 6:8 (TEV)
FAITH IS SOMETHING we need to ask for. God forbid that we should fail to be importunate with God and with his saints. One of the most refined forms of arrogance consists in claiming that prayer of petition is inferior to other forms of prayer . Only when we become beggars do we realize that we are creatures. When we don’t honor the faith of humble folk, who can teach us how to ask for what we need, then we think that what saves us is pure faith; but that is empty faith, a faith devoid of all religion and all piety. In such a state, we are unable to interpret religious experience. Our intellects go astray with their feeble lights, and we resort to explaining the truth of faith with slogans borrowed from cultural ideologies . (1)
This quote from a pope is one we desperately need to hear, especially those of us who spend any amount of time on Facebook or any other social media.
For far too often we reduce our faith on social media to a snappy quote, a “gotcha” meme, or even try to debate theology or the existence of God in 140 character bursts. What this does is what Pope Francis talks about above – a faith without experiencing God. A Creed, a statement of “faith” that is not communicated, but forced in a way that eliminates conversation, that eliminates discussion. Such burst messages don’t give the full picture, they miss the context, and therein is the problem.
One of my professors once said that good preaching and good theology contains not only the “what”, but the “so what”. How the message impacts the hearer, or in the case of tweets, the reader. How do those words, seen digitally on the screen communicate the need we have to relate to God, to live in fellowship with Him? How can we help people realize that God is dependable, and that they can depend on Him? Even that sentence doesn’t include the incarnation, the death and resurrection of Christ. It doesn’t shake us from our idol of self-sufficiency, our illusion that we can control our world, our environment. For that is where humility begins, knowing that we can’t possibly be God, and in humility finding out that is okay.
Because God,, loves us enough to give up everything for us.
Neither the Pope or I am claiming you need more words to be holier, or more intellectual, but that deep faith is born in deep need. Holiness originating in us, in our brokenness, healing of our lives comes as we realize how shattered they are. It is at those points, when we cry out to God, that we can hear His voice.
And that is what faith, what the “Christian religion” is about – walking humbly with God, in a conversation, assured that He will guide us, comfort us, heal us. Because He has proven, in Christ, the extent to which He will go, and has gone, to do this very thing.
May we today walk humbly, knowing we are His children, and He is our Heavenly father. …
Pope Francis; Jorge M Bergoglio (2013-11-18). Open Mind, Faithful Heart (p. 28). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
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.
Remember the Promised Relationship (Covenant)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
28 I will always keep my promise to him, and my covenant with him will last forever. Psalm 89:28 (TEV)
“A Covenant sealed with blood commits both parties to each other for ever. All they have belongs to the other, and they will lay down their life on the other’s behalf” (1)
It was over a dozen years ago that I picked up a 2 year devotional book, called Celtic Daily Prayer. It is the source of the quote in green above. I’ve decided to renew my acquaintance with it, this year, partially because of its practical meditations that are challening. So my readers might see a lot of it pondered on my blog this year, as the last year often had quotes from St. Josemaria Escriva. (and still will – )
It seems to be one of those God things that the first day’s meditation I cam across was one that focuses on Covenant. My original training in theology was within the framework of Covenant, and the deeper I’ve gone into understanding liturgical worship, the framework there is Covenant as well.
A quick definition is needed then, one I’ve developed. Covenant Theology is a description of the intimate relationship that God desires to have with His people, and makes possible through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Scripture contains the history of God’s faithfulness to His covenant people, looking forward and back to the cross, the point where God’s love makes the depth of His desire to love us clear, where he gives us a tangible, perfect example of His lovee, as He commits Himself to us, as Christ’s blood was poured out to seal the agreement.
This is something we need to remember daily, as St. Paul prayed for God’s people (us),
I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— 17 that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 18 you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! 19 Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:15-19 (MSG)
Explore the love, meditate on it, rejoice as you find it revealed to you in scripture, as you pray, as you gather with others around the Eucharist, as you proclaim Christ’s death – the measure of the triune God’s love for you and I and all the world. That is what it means to remember Chirst when you take and eat His Body, when you drink of the Blood that cleanses us from sin.
Theology is the servant of this relationship, in the way a marriage certificate or a love letter, or a powerpoint celebrating a 50th anniversary is. It points to something that is more than anything we can ever completely express, this love of God for us, this desire to make us His children. It is what Christianity is,
He loves us… He hears us, He died for us, His is with us… and we are His!
THe Lord is with you, so relax in His love!
(1) Celtic Daily Prayer, The Northumbrian Community, HarperOne (Aidan Reading for Jan.5 )
Preaching as Craftsmanship; Communicating Christ as an Artform…
Devotional THought of the Day:
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me. Colossians 1:27-29 (TEV)
Communication works best when your audience can tell that you love what you do. Don’t take yourself too seriously, and dare to be lighthearted from time to time. It won’t affect your message negatively— quite the contrary. Look how often humor is used in commercials. Think of the end of Return of the Jedi. Would you have preferred a long, philosophical monologue by Luke Skywalker about the dangers of the dark side to the joyful celebrations after the defeat of the Empire? If so, you seriously should consider trying out the light side of the Force. You’ll have a lot more fun! (1)
This afternoon I was asked to respond to a pole – which would I rather be, a skilled theologian, or a skilled apologist. My instinctive answer is neither, I want to know God’s love, and I need to know that love is revealed in the mercy He has for me. Without that love, it doesn’t matter how knowledgable I am about the communication of magesterial attributes, or whether I can recite all of Lee Strobel’s or Josh McDowell or Rod Rosenblaadt’s work defending Christianity agains tthe atheistic and polytheistic hordes.
I can talk for hours about theology, and I do like true apologetics (the kind akin to Pascal and Chesterton and Lewis) where we give a reason for why we have hope. But without the relationship that God has made possible, it’s all worth as much as the the analysis of the 1986 budget and expenditures of the municipal region of East Ulan Ude. ( or more precisely – skulbala)
If that is true, then Paul’s words about preaching ring clear. Our message – the message of the entire Church, is about Christ crucified, about the hope that He will share His glory with us, That in His death on the cross, He has unified us with His death, and with the hope of His resurrection (see Romans 6:1-8) He endured all of this for the joy set before Him! (see Hebrews 12:1-2) This hope is what we have to be sure to communicate, for it is a matter of life and death. Eternity is there, a gift of God, to share eternity with Him.
All the theological debates, all the apolgetic wisdom bows to this simple message – that Christ dwells in us, and we in Christ, because He loves us. That news delivers all the glory of heaven to those the Holy Spirit brings to life and faith and the transformation that we call “repentance”. The change that comes when we realize God’s love, His gifts, His work in us.
Delivering that message takes as much craftsmanship as a painting of a sunset, or the composition of rock symphony. It takes more than just our minds, but like the artist, the very heart has to be revelaed, the Heart given to us by God (ezekiel 36:35ff) It’s not just a logical progression of teaching, of revealing the knowledge that we have that others do not. It’s about revealing Christ, in all His servanthood, in all His majesty, in all His love. WHich means we have to know it, we have to dwell in it,, we have to be people of prayer, men who love to meditate on, not just memorize, His words. They have to spring from us like water from Isaiah’s transformed wilderness (see Is 35)
Roderick, in a book that teaches about digital age communication, says it well. It’s about commuicating what we love. It’s about the message being more important than our dignity, more important than anything else we know.
As we worship then… as we praise God, as we preach, whether in church or across the breakfast table at Denny’s, may that message be what we hold most dear in our lives. So that we can reveal to them Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit, who has empowered us to do so, will assure the message of Christ’s love, creates and sustains life in those we share this great gift – the gift of knowing Jesus.
as we know the Lord is with us…. and loves us all.
(1) Vonhögen, Roderick (2013-09-09). Geekpriest: Confessions of a New Media Pioneer (Kindle Locations 409-413). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- This News Strengthens Weak Hands Unsteady Legs and Racing Hearts (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Is it insane to keep doing/teaching/preaching the same thing over and over, and expecting… (justifiedandsinner.com)
The Purpose of Theology
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable. 9 Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 (TEV)
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me. Colossians 1:27-29 (TEV)
654 Until now you had not understood the message that we Christians bring to the rest of men: the hidden marvel of the interior life. What a wonderful new world you are placing in front of them!
In the last few days, I have been asked a few times about theology, about what it iis, about what it isn’t. The questions were not precisely worded that way. Some questions asking me my thoughts on an article, some questions sent me about dialogues my friends had been involved in, which concerned them because they were “theological” yet seemed…. empty.troublesome, and the question was asked… is this theology worth my time?
As I consider these questions, I must ask the question, what is theology? What is its purpose?
For my answer, I must turn to the greatest theologian in the New Testament, to the Apostle Paul.
Where did he focus his thoughts of theology on? What took up his time, his thoughts, his efforts? Was it on high level discussions about semantics and how things are phrased? Is it about the discussion of miniscule differences in manuscripts copied by people a thousand years after the scriptures were written? Paul, who walked among the greatest of Rabbinical theologians, who was a master teacher himself, would toss it aside. For his thoughts and words to dwell on something that is the heart of theology, dare I say the only thing that is theological.
Christ, bringing people into God’s presence, revealing to them His love. Everything, the incarnation, His life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, all that scripture records which points to Him. That is the nature of theology – literally the logic, the reason of God. This is the treasure we have, this is the thing which we focus on, working with all that is in within us, even as Paul encourages us to do.
For it is Christ in you which St..Josemaria talks about as our “interior life” – that incredible blessing we have, as we realize the Spirit dwells in us, as God abides with us, as the we realize the message of Advent and Christmas – Immanuel – God is with us!
Theology drives us to treasure that life, to remember that it is the promise of our baptism, that it is found as we take and eat, take and drink the Body and Blood given and shed for us. This is the highest good, the reliance on God. This is that which Paul would have us keep our thoughts on, this Christ, this Savior, this plan to make us the people of God.
That is the purpose of theoogy…that should become the focus of our lives….
All else… is as worth it as the stuff Paul leaves behind.
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 2744-2747). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Persecution, Martyrdom, the Love of Christ…. and a hard lesson in prayer
Crucifix (Photo credit: LeChinchi)
11 They have triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life. Revelation 12:11 (NJB)
43 ‘You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. 44 But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; Matthew 5:43-44 (NJB)
23 Do you think I enjoy seeing evil people die?” asks the Sovereign LORD. “No, I would rather see them repent and live. Ezekiel 18:23 (TEV)
The news again has horrible stories of terrorism in the headlines. The situation in the Kenyan mall, and the two churches in Pakistan that were hit by suicide bombers.
This time, the targets weren’t just political – but they were specifically religious. They were after my brothers and sisters in Christ. And there are new entries to the list of martyrs that extends through the centuries, and is growing day by day.
I want to be mad, I want to think about how to get revenge, whether its the President or some other official pushing a button and the merciless terrorists being zapped like vermin.
Yet I hear the words of my sermon yesterday, the quote from St Paul to a young pastor echoing in my mind, “I urge you – pray for ALL men, ask God to help them, intercede for them, and give thanks for them….”
Uhm God, is there an exception clause for this? Can we strike out terrorists of body, and those who terrorize the soul?
My mind cries out that I can’t love them, that it is illogical and stupid and asking for more pain to forgive them.
Gosh I dislike that passage in Matthew 5.
This week I preach on that passage from Revelation 12, and iti s in my mind as well – how much do we cling to life? Why do we do anything and everything to avoid death? We don’t like to talk about it, we spend billions on hiding it and our aging (growing toward it) in our culture… and we hate anyone or anything that threatens it. The Blood of Christ? Sure – we know and talk of that, our testimony about the Logos – the Word of God – Jesus? yes definitely!
But… death? Especially the death caused because of our witness to Christ? You see that is what a martyr is – one who testifies in view of death. And will embrace it because of that truth.
That is where I find the grace to even thik about praying for terrrorists, to hear the words, “pray for all people” and to know it includes those who encourage suicide bombers, shooters and others who are so full of sin and hatred that this is the answer they look for in life.
And then I remember those words from Ezekiel, those words that point to Jesus on the cross so clearly… for there we saw the truth of it.
God wouldn’t take pleasure in the deaths of terrorists, or those who indoctrinate or teach them. Not for a second. Anymore than He takes pleasure in any death, for at one time, we were all enemies.. and still Jesus died… we’ve sinneds, murfering people in our hearts, just as surely as others have done it physically.
And He loves us and pursues us and calls us… and prayerfully we hear and realize He forgives us and marks us as His.
This is perhaps the hardest and most blessed truth…. God loves and died for the terrorists as much as He did for the martyrs…..and weeps over the deaths of all.
Now… in this day – you have had some who’ve irritated you, you’ve had those people and those moments were you were just pissed off, you may have been betrayed, even brutally so…
So read those verses again – think through them… and ask God to touch those who’ve done you wrong…even as you rejoice in His bringing you back to Him.
And when its hard…to do this… cry Lord Have Mercy!
Choose Life, Be a Disciple, Show Kindness to….
I Appeal to You… Show Kindness to….
Philemon 1-21
Hagia Sophia ; Empress Zoë mosaic : Christ Pantocrator; Istanbul, Turkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As you learn of the grace of God our Father, the love and mercy poured out with the blood of Christ… may you show the same kindness towards those who also don’t deserve it…and find the glory therein…
The Appeal…
In each of the readings this morning, there is a challenge, a request of the people of God to choose to continue to be the people of God. To commit themselves into God’s hands, into His care…to be His disciples.
Moses asks them to choose life, to choose to embrace the God who delivered them from Egypt, and to love Him and treasure His commands.
Jesus will ask us to be true disciples, to set everything else in life aside, and love life that knows the cost of walking with Him, and chooses to do so, knowing the price.
I think both of those challenges are one’s we need to, as a church, answer this morning. But the challenge in Philemon takes it from being a theological issue, to being downright personal. It will question our heart, our devotion to Christ, the very core of our faith. We will be challenged to minister with great love and patience, to those who’ve betrayed us…to those who have, and who can hurt us.
In other words – discipleship means trusting in Christ when it hurts…and when it terrifies us…
And as Paul challenged Philemon, I quote those words to you….”I appeal to you, show kindness to….(fill In the blank)” Only you know the name that goes there….. The phrase means to come alongside and render aid and support. It is the very word of the Holy Spirit.
Like Paul wrote – this isn’t a matter of command, but a matter of love… Christ’s love.
The Problem of Pain….
This would be an easy task, except for the problem of pain and the anxiety it causes. None of us, once hurt, can easily choose to risk that pain again. Even if we no it is what we should do, we cannot bring ourselves to, we struggle to embrace what we know is right and good, because it will hurt, and maybe hurt worse. Between the pain and the anxiety we can almost become paralyzed, and we need others encouragement, others to minister to us.
Because what Paul called Philemon to do, what Jesus calls us to do, is risky, and we are not sure of whether the risk is worth it. After all – what kind of heroes does God think we are?
The anxiety gets worse, when we realize that others are watching – and what we do might be criticized for the precedent that we set – or we will be judged as fools. Philemon was supposed to make Onesimus a example – branding him, beating him, even killing him. Revenge and an example to others were supposed to be poured out in great wrath. Paul asks Philemon not just to put aside the pain of the betrayal and the theft, but the continued questioning and judgment of the community.
It’s going to take a church to pull around Philemon and His wife. Archippus the pastor will need to build a consensus…and get the church to pull around Philemon and His wife, should they attempt this…
Even then, can Paul or God really expect us to put away our pain? To trust this much? To Risk this all? Does God really know what He is asking Paul to ask Philemon? Does God really mean for us to hear this and act likewise?
The Road of Discipleship
That’s the challenge of discipleship, where being a living sacrifice, where bearing one’s cross is an incredible challenge. Where some people will walk away…and think they can wait for another day.
But those days, spent living in resentment, in building up anger, in not dealing with the problem, that isn’t really living either. Living in the fear, and the anxiety and pain…even re-living the betrayals…
Paul sees the ability, sees Philemon trying to be the man God would desire him to be, and knows this next step is critical – even more for Philemon than it is for Onesmus.
For Paul has been in Onesimus place… he saw the awe and joy in the face of those who he had betrayed. It was the first thing he saw… as a new believer.
What Paul experienced….
Remember, Paul was tasked with arresting and persecuting and killing those who were followers of Jesus. Luke records the story in chapter 9 of Acts, where Paul is blinded by his encounter with Christ and His glory – and Annanias is tasked with being the one to come to Paul and minister to him. He too doubted, here are his words,
11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.” 13 “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” 15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Acts 9:11-16 (NLT)
As Ananias prays for Saul/Paul, Paul is healed – and will begin to preach, and the people are amazed at the power of God to transform someone. Despite the Old Testament being chock full of such stories, they never seem to lose their power. The one written off, given the freedom of forgiveness from those they threatened and betrayed, are changed. How Ananias’s faith in God’s work must have soared! How the people who trusted in Christ rejoiced!
You want to see God’s power at work? Trust in Him enough to free those indebted to you, believe in His promises, delivered in word and sacrament to forgive those who trespass against you.
Hear God’s appeal to love your neighbor, hear Paul’s encouragement to Philemon to not just not punish Onesimus, but to free him from all debt, to set him free from both the civil law that condemns and the spiritual debt of sin which utterly condemns.
but How?
I am asking each of us, me included, to do that which the world would shake their heads at… that they would count us as idiots, suckers and worse. On God’s behalf…
“I appeal to you, show kindness to… “ Show love and mercy.
And here is how… realize that you are being prayed for – and pray for those around you, ask God’s help for you and others, as we go to God for the strength to do this.
Remember Paul’s words early in this letter,
I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good (things) we have in Christ.
That is the key, fully coming to know the grace of Christ we have had poured over us. The forgiveness and mercy and love and peace poured over us when we are baptized, nourishing us as we feast with Him together as the people of God. The transformation, literally the metamorphosis that is occurring within us, as we spend time with Jesus, exploring His righteousness, His love, demonstrated in Christ Jesus.
It’s then, as He is at work in us, that the joy of knowing His powerful love, strengthens us to do these very things. Focusing on His work – on the One who loved enough to die on the cross – for people who betrayed Him, who will betray Him again… to know that is us.. and yet He loves and forgives..
To hear. I appeal to you… show kindness to…
And we can… knowing His kindness..knowing His love… His unsurpassable peace in which He guards us…we learn to love as Philemon did. AMEN
A Second Call to Biblical Teaching/Preaching… appeal to Christ and His word…
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
28 When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowd was amazed at the way he taught. 29 He wasn’t like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority. Matthew 7:28-29 (TEV)
405 Draw close to Jesus who has died for you; draw close to that Cross, outlined against the sky on the summit of Golgotha… But draw close sincerely and with interior recollection, which is the sign of Christian maturity. That way the divine and human events of the Passion will sink deep into your soul. (1)
This morning I saw a FB thread that brought this topic to my mind – how do we teach, how do we prepare, and do we have authority.
The thread itself is not important enough to identify, save that it was about who was more orthodox, the author or those critiquing him. What amazed me was that the appeals for orthodoxy were based, not in Scriptues (our baseline) or the Lutheran Confessions (which we have found to be in agreement and a sound explanation of scripture) but rather in this theologian or that theologian in recent historiy.
It reminded me of other discussions I have had recently where the “stars” of recent Lutheranism are held up, and their writings are held up, as if they are our baseline, as if their writings must be held as authoritative. Or the class I recently took, where the professor said questioning the textbook author’s position was not allowed – even though all he did was quote other “expert theologians”, appealing to some and questioning others. There are others, who are trying to show their expertise and their theological acumen, wanting to become the “next” theologian worth quoting or attacking, by quoting this person, or criticising that person.
In my opinion, they are not far from the scribes (the religious and theological experts of their day) They were more concerned with the talmud and traditions of their forefathers, than they were with the texts that were given to them… by God.
So when Jesus quotes scripture, when He teaches, not appealing to some other authority, people note the difference. He isn’t appealing to others thoughts to justify His own, but rather – He is focusing on the text, letting the Holy Spirit work through His words, that the people would have, as Peter called it, the words of Life..
That is why Paul will write:
5 For it is not ourselves that we preach (or your theologian of choice) ; we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 The God who said, “Out of darkness the light shall shine!” is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 (TEV)
Please, note, I am not saying we should dismiss these scholars of our past or present. They have some good stuff, and they can help us when we struggle.
English: Engraving of Jesus Christ on Golgotha. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But their works are not our basis, it is not to them we should appeal. They are not our hope, their are not the glory of God incarnate and present in our midst. They are not our word and sacraments. They can help us, but the conversation should never be about them, nor should they be the standard to which we aim.
That has to be Christ. that is who we want our hearers to draw close to, that is who we must be drawn close to, if we want to teach/preach/worship in a way that leads to change. Theology is His logos, His reason, His revelation to us… that we may come to know Him.
We don’t cry, “theologian have mercy on us,” for they cannot…
We cry… “Lord, have mercy….” and He has. So cling to Him.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1572-1575). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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- Ministry is not a profession… it is the vocation of all…. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- How Do You Read the Scripture? As the Authority, or as a Pilgrim? (justifiedandsinner.com)
