Month: March 2019

Scripture: While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion (Luke 15:20).

Reflection:

The Pharisees and scribes grumble and murmer about the company Jesus keeps with sinners and tax collectors (Lk. 15:1-2). They had disqualified and excluded those Jesus welcomed and ate with, accusing them of being “sinners.” Jesus responds to their grumblings with parables of a shepherd and the lost sheep (Lk. 15:3-7), a woman and the lost coin (Lk. 15:8-10), and a father with the two lost sons (Lk 15:11-32). Each parable reveals the love of God that moves with yearning, pity, mercy, and compassion for the “lost.”

When I was in my late 20’s, I engaged in a heated argument with Jerry, a newspaper owner twenty years my elder.  I knew Jerry attended church, but “I” had judged him to be a nominal Christian because “I” suspicioned his life-style. He came into my store one afternoon to sell me some advertising space in his newspaper and “I” saw an opportunity to set him straight with scripture and right doctrine. I knew I had the upper hand, soon after the full-blown debate began, because I knew more scripture than he did. I kept zinging and pounding him with scripture after scripture. Eventually, he became silent. I thought to myself, I won! He stopped talking, bowed his head and turned to walk away in silence. Then, he paused, turned back to me with tears in his eyes and a defeated spirit, and said to me, “All that you said may be right. But I can’t receive it because I see no love in your heart.” We never spoke again even though we worked in the same shopping mall.

I thought I could awaken a call to holy living in Jerry. Instead I recognized that I treated Jerry, a child of God, as a foe instead of a friend, a bother instead of a brother, a sinner instead of a saint in the becoming.  I saw the hollowness of my own sin of self-righteousness and my inclination to be right instead of in relationship. I thought I was going to help reconcile Jerry to God on that day with my iron-clad, biblically-based scriptural arguments. Instead, I used scripture to wound, lay guilt and shame on him, perhaps pushing him further away from God and from the church. I realized that day that it was not Jerry who had wandered away from God’s love and mercy, but me.

Reflection:

The Pharisees and scribes grumble about the company Jesus keeps with sinners and tax collectors (Lk. 15:1-2). They had disqualified and excluded those Jesus welcomed and ate with, accusing them of being “sinners.” Jesus responds to their grumblings with parables of a shepherd and the lost sheep (Lk. 15:3-7), a woman and the lost coin (Lk. 15:8-10), and a father with the two lost sons (Lk 15:11-32). Each parable reveals the love of God that moves with yearning, pity, mercy, and compassion for the “lost.”

When I was in my late 20’s, I engaged in a heated argument with Jerry, a newspaper owner twenty years my elder.  I knew Jerry attended church, but “I” had judged him to be a nominal Christian because “I” suspicioned his life-style. He came into my store one afternoon to sell me some advertising space in his newspaper and “I” saw an opportunity to set him straight with scripture and doctrine. I knew I had the upper hand, soon after the full-blown debate began, because I knew more scripture than he did. I kept zinging and pounding him with scripture after scripture. Eventually, he became silent. I thought to myself, I won! He stopped talking, bowed his head and turned to walk away in silence. Then, he paused, turned back to me with tears in his eyes and a defeated spirit, and said to me, “All that you said may be right. But I can’t receive it because I see no love in your heart.” We never spoke again even though we worked in the same shopping mall.

I thought I could awaken a call to holy living in Jerry with scripture. Instead I realized that I treated Jerry, a child of God, as a foe instead of a friend, a bother instead of a brother, a sinner instead of a saint in the becoming.  I saw my own sin of self-righteousness and my inclination to be right instead of in relationship. I thought I was going to help reconcile Jerry to God on that day. Instead, I used scripture to wound, lay guilt, and shame on him, perhaps pushing him further away from God. I realized that day that it was not Jerry who had wandered away from the knowledge and experience of God’s love and mercy, but me.

Prayer:

God of mercy, help us to enrich this day with deeds of compassion and mercy. Help us to avoid all anger and dissension and let us find joy in your peace and love. Amen.

Scripture

Luke 13:1-9 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them–do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still, I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'”

Reflection

Jesus often repeated things more than once to get an important point across. In today’s lectionary gospel text, Jesus repeats the warning twice, “But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” He is responding to the unspoken question of whether sin is tied to God’s judgment.

In the first story, Galileans were killed by Pilate. Was it because of their sin? In the second story, eighteen people from Siloam were killed when a tower collapsed and fell on them. Was God judging and exercising retribution on them because they were sinners? Jesus says, “No!” The people in the two stories met their death because suffering, violence, injustice, and death is part of our human condition.

From this point of view, the teaching of Jesus is freeing and uplifting for those who suffer poverty, sickness, injury, violence, injustice, and for anyone else who suffers because it means that illness, accidents, and suffering are not by divine will, nor is it a punishment, nor is it due to the sin of parents or ancestors!

The point Jesus is making is that even though others suffer, and we may not suffer to the same degree, we are universally united with all others because of our collective sinfulness. That is, the sin of others who suffer is not greater than the sin of those that do not hurt. We are united with all people in our need for repentance from sin, our need for God’s unmerited mercy and salvation, and our need to show forth the fruit of our repentance as evidence of a life oriented toward God.

At a deeper level, the knowledge that we will all be cut down by death someday allows us to seek the Lord while he may be found. Awareness of our finitude when we see the suffering and death of others calls us to examine our lives and invites us call upon upon the Lord while he is near.  We still have time to turn to God so that we can be abundantly pardoned and experience the fullness of life in God, today.

By turning to God through faith in Christ, we will experience the fullness of God’s steadfast love that is better than life. Our thirsty, searching, and restless souls will be quenched, find rest, know peace, and be satisfied with the riches of faith, hope, and love. We will find that God is our help and the one who upholds us in life. We will experience the strength of God beyond our strength in times of trial. And, we will behold how God will provide a way out when we think there is no way out.

This Lent, Jesus Christ continues to invite all to seek and find him, to call upon him today because he is near, and to turn to him for mercy and pardon so that all may live in newness of life, today, tomorrow, and forever in his everlasting love.

Prayer

Blessed be God who is worthy to be praised. Blessed be Jesus Christ who invites us to new life. Blessed be the Holy Spirit who sustains our spirit in faith, hope, and love. Amen.  

Scripture

Luke 13:31-35 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Reflection

In Luke (9:51-19:28), Jesus is resolutely on the “way” from Galilee to Jerusalem to face the cross and death. The Pharisee’s, who are normally at odds with Jesus’s teachings and constantly seeking ways to discredit him, come and warn him of Herod’s intentions to kill him. By warning Jesus, they offer him a “way” out of the trouble in Jerusalem that awaits him.

It’s difficult to determine the intentions of the Pharisees for warning Jesus. Did some among the Pharisees genuinely care for Jesus’ well-being? Did they intend to intimidate and drive him away? Or, were they colluding with Herod in a scheme for Jesus’ death? Whatever the case, Jesus sends them back to King Herod rejecting their way out of impending trouble with a strong message stating that his work of liberation and healing would continue unabated and uninterrupted despite tensions and death threats.

Jesus’ grounded his mission in what he could accomplish through the way of his life on behalf of others and the salvation he would ultimately accomplish on the cross, the third day when his work would consummate (v. 32). For him, the mission to live and die in a way that liberated and healed people outweighed his human desire to live a long life. The Pharisees offered Jesus a way out of trouble with the opportunity to extend his earthly life by running away from Herod and the region. Jesus instead invested himself in freeing and healing those living in the grip of social isolation, fear, violence, and death, even when staying in the area and doing so put his life at risk. He stood firm and continued his mission, confident that God who sent him on the mission would uphold him in the mission with strength, security, and salvation.

The Lenten gospel reading for this week calls us as Christ followers to decidedly – I must be on my way (v.33) – go on our way toward the mission where we live in our rural, urban, suburban, and exurban communities. That is where we as individuals, churches, and community citizens must work – today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow (v. 33) – to make possible and visible the favor and reign of God in the places where people are feeling hopeless and forsaken. In so doing, we experience the fullness of God’s grace as we participate in our Christian mission to promote and announce, Christ, the Blessed One, who comes in the name of the Lord is with you and for you.”  

Prayer

God of our strength, confidence, and hope, you bid us listen to your Son, your beloved. Nourish our hearts on your word, purify the eyes of our mind, and fill us with joy at the vision of your coming reign and glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Scripture: Luke 9:37-38

On the next day (after Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John) when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.

Reflection:

A nameless father shouts out from the great crowd of people and becomes a humanized before Jesus. He asks Jesus to “look” at his only son. That is, the unnamed father in the crowd cries out for Jesus’ attention. He asks Jesus to focus his attention, commit his particular regard, favorably view, grant preferred notice, and to carefully examine his only and anguished son. The father trusts that if Jesus would only fix his attention on his tormented son, Jesus would be moved to mercy, compassion, and action and he does. Jesus heals the boy and returns him back to his father, evoking astonishment or shock from the crowd at the greatness of God (Lk. 9:43a).

Perhaps the astonishment or shock among the crowd at the greatness of God has to do more with how God in Christ, from among so many people with many needs and concerns, cares for one nameless hurting father and his tormented son.

We tend to think of greatness as an accomplishment of things on a grand scale. The greater the level of accomplishment, the grander the greatness of a person or organization. Could it be that the greatness of God starts with the mercy, compassion, and goodness we apply in Christ’s name to the nameless ones that come to us seeking help, mercy, and compassion?

Prayer from Brandon Smith’s song lyrics, Give Me Your Eyes

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I keep missing,
Give your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me Your eyes so I can see. Amen.

Action for the week

Look – focus your attention, give special regard, favorably view, give preferred notice, carefully examine – at someone you normally look past and do something for them that conveys that God sees and cares for them through you.