Remnants and Salvation! (Christmas 2)

Jeremiah 31:7--14   Ephesians 1:3--6, 15--19    Mt 2:13--15, 19--23

Jeremiah reveals the glorious side of judgement today: deliverance. Sin causes suffering and death by cutting us off from God, salvation is the restoration of His people in new life. We will sing with joy and praise our God, for YHWH saves His people and preserves a remnant!

Remnant (Hebrew: She-a-rith) is a recurring pattern in the Bible. It begins in Genesis 45:7, where Joseph explains to his brothers how God redeemed their evil act. ''God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant," he says, "and keep alive for you many survivors." This is the first of many times that God preserves a remnant to save His people!

In Jeremiah today, we hear that the remnant includes the poor and weak: “gather and bring the blind, the lame, the mothers with young babies, even pregnant women in labor.” Those who weep will be consoled, for YHWH is a Father to Israel, and they are His firstborn. We are told to listen; God is a shepherd who will gather and keep His flock. God ransoms and delivers His family. The Lord promises food and drink, joy and dancing. We will live in a garden paradise.

The reading today ends in joy, but I want to look at the next verse which is also an omission from today’s Gospel reading. Jeremiah 31:15 says, “a voice heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children.” Then a word of hope in v16, “keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for there is reward for your work and they shall come back... your children shall come back to their own country.”

Matthew 2:16-18 is missing from our Gospel reading today, which focuses on Jesus’ escape to Egypt, rather than Herod killing the babies and Rachel weeping. Yet I hope you see that Jesus is the remnant. He survives when a new Joseph takes Him into Egypt. By preserving, God can save us. The Herodian pattern of evil is continually repeated, but always God preserves a remnant. The Heavenly Father redeems human evil and saves His people.

So, fear not. Whatever threat might worry you, do not be afraid. Our Father is faithful. At stories end, we will all dance and sing. Each of us be filled with joy and praise God. So let's start today! 

Christmas 2020

Luke 2:1-20

 

The birth of Jesus, Christmas, replaced the pagan celebration of the birth of the Sun god on the Winter solstice. It is the shortest, darkest day of the year. Monday, December 21, was the Winter solstice. On that dark day we were told all worship services will be limited to ten people. Dark news, we canceled our services. Yet that evening we also saw “the Christmas star” in all its glory. Light shines in the darkness.

 

Monday morning, I had a baptized an adorable baby girl. Last Saturday, I buried a friend from our parish. Tuesday, I administered last rites. Praying the baptism I was struck by the wording: Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of His resurrection and look for Him to come in glory…”

 

Christianity is centered on death and new life. This Advent has felt particularly dark to me—our national unrest, the collapsing world economy, and now living in the recently declared “World’s Worst Place for Covid-19.” I anxiously looked forward to our Christmas services this year, instead, more darkness.

 

But Luke is clear that darkness is part of the Jesus story from the beginning. Emperor Augustus’ is mentioned, a reminder of Roman oppression. Jesus is born at night, laid in a feeding trough because there is no room for Him in this world. Only the lowest level of society, shepherds, are present. Remember that Jesus is born into a world where child morality rates could reach fifty percent or more. Most people were unbelievably poor.

 

So the angel message is important: do not be afraid. Good news. Great joy. To you is born a Savior. A Messiah. The Lord.

 

Whatever your pain, your frustration, your loss, or your worry…this baby shares in our existence. He shares our burdens. He is born to save and heal us all.

 

Jesus is the bright light who shines even in the darkness of the darkest night. Jesus is the love of God, sent to heal our broken hearts. He is the Savior, who leads us through our own death into resurrection life eternal. That is our hope.

 

So whatever you feel now, watching this video, will you pray in faith with me these words?

 

Glory to God in highest heaven

Peace upon all those whom God favors.

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADVENT 4

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

Luke begins his Gospel with parallel stories of  Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah was offering incense, a once in a lifetime opportunity for a priest, and the people prayed for God to send His Messiah and establish the Kingdom on earth. Suddenly an angel appears and tells him that this prayer was heard. He and his barren wife will have a son who is part of God's saving work. Luke echoes the Jewish Bible, most importantly Malachi 3:24 and the return of Elijah to herald Messiah.

The biblical salvation stories frequently recount miraculous birth stories: Isaac, Jacob, Samson and Samuel; and the pregnancy of Elizabeth is just the beginning. Six months later the angel visits Mary, declaring that she is favored of God. She is dietarasso--very distressed and troubled--by this word and she ponders what it could mean. 

Clearly these human encounter with the divine realm are terrifying and confusing. Even holy people are overwhelmed by the experience. 

The angel tells Mary (and us) that the Holy Spirit has filled the womb with God's own son. He name is Jesus (Yeshuah--God saves). He will receive the throne of David and reign as Messiah, the king of Israel, forever. 

Unfortunately, we are so familiar with the story that our hearts are not moved and our minds are not amazed. "Yes," we (almost) yawn, "I know this." We need an angelic presence to scare us out of our complacency. We believe in Jesus the King, but too often in some vague sense disconnected from our real lives--Christmas presents, meals and other distractions.

Today let us each become Mary!

We can meditate on God's word and ponder its meaning.

We can say, "Behold your servant, O Lord. Do with me as you desire"?

In this service we shall offer our own body and soul to the Father and receive Jesus in the eucharist. Each of us, like Mary's womb, is a dwelling place of the Lord.

We live in dark and troubling times. Let our response to toxic politics be  the proclamation that Jesus is the eternal King. Let us remember in the face of pandemics and social maladies that He redeems us from all calamity and saves us from every evil. Let us live, like that poor third world virgin, as one who believes the greeting--you are highly favored by God!

shepherd

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24

Ephesians 1:15-23

Mt 25:31-46

God declares that He will search out His sheep--they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. It is an image which resonates with the passing of Autumn into winter. The liturgical seasons connect the cycle of life in nature to a deeper theology: Christmas in the days after the darkness begins to recede, Easter in Spring and Pentecost in Summer.  

Ezekiel, a young priest, saw the cycle of life first hand. He heard Jeremiah preach, saw the destruction of Jerusalem and its holy Temple. His life's purpose and work is no more. He lives in exile, the recipient of divine messages and visions, a mouthpiece for God.

Ezekiel is one of the literary giants of the Jewish Scriptures, yet his writings are sadly neglected by most of us. His words are both judgement and consolation; something we see in chapter 34.

The Lord Jesus' parable of the lost sheep and declaration that He is the Good Shepherd in John come directly from this chapter. It is a basic primer on God's salvation and Jesus' identity.

Shepherd symbolism is very straight forward. The leaders of Israel are condemned for using their positions for personal benefits. In every age, it is the powerful who are most easily conquered by the sinful passions which afflict us all. The shepherds take advantage of the weak sheep because they can, and as a result the flock is dispersed throughout the land. This refers to the literal exile, but also peroneal chaos which happens whenever people follow their own hearts without benefit of guidance. The sheep are lost.

But the sheep are also under God's judgment, because they mistreat each other. In the economic battle of survival, the fittest trample the weak. God declares a pending reversal of fortune.

But if this judgment is also a reason for hope. The Lord Himself will be the shepherd, with a descendant of David sharing the task. We believe Jesus is that human divine shepherd who fulfills this promise. Hear what God will do:

I will seek them

I  will take them out of exile

I will bring them home

I will feed them

I will graze them

I will look for the lost

I will bandage their wounds

I will sustain the weak.

I will rescue (yasha-save, deliver, vindicate) them

So fear not little flock. You God is come to save. 

Advent 2 The Second letter of Peter

Isaiah 40:1-11

Ps 85

2 Peter 3:8-15

Mark 1:1-8

 

Isaiah declares "comfort" to the exiles—God is going to lead them back home through the desert lands as their shepherd. The way back will seem smooth and easy to travel! This is “Salvation” to return with God to the land of promise. We should note that Mark uses this verse to begin his Gospel, showing that Jesus is the shepherd of a new deliverance, freeing the people of God from the spiritual exile of worldly and demonic powers. In Jesus is the fullness of this pattern of exodus/salvation repeated in the Bible. We, too, are being led out of exile as the lambs which He holds close to His heart. 

 

If salvation is real, so too is exile. The pain of life often creates doubt and fear in disciples. 2 Peter was written to address those doubts and fears. The letter is a last testament of the apostle facing his own death.

 

A brief overview of the letter: Peter begins by declaring that God has given us the power and knowledge to escape the world’s corruption. We share in God’s life—participants in the DIVINE NATURE (called theosis)—so we must live virtuously as godly people. The Christian faith is not ancient myth. Peter is a witness of Jesus’ ministry. He declares, I was on the mountain when God spoke those words: "This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." This powerful memory inspires him to say, “Prophecy comes from the Holy Spirit, it is not man-made!” We can trust what we have heard.

 

Yet, in every age false prophets and false teachers emerge. They deny God’s judgment and try to justify their sinful passions, especially lust and greed. Peter says that they mocked the faith in the past, they mock it in his time, so we should not be distressed when they mock it in our own time. One particular issue is, "Why does Jesus delay in His return?" Peter quotes Psalm 90:4, time is relative—for a thousand years are like a day to the eternal God. It’s like Jesus ascended to heaven the day before yesterday.

 

God desires to save us. Mercy and love motivate His patience, but the Day of the Lord secretly approaches. Peter exhorts us to not lose heart. Be godly and holy, he warns us, and stay prepared. Disregard the false teachers and stay alert. Keep your heart set on the ways of God.

 

Let us earnestly pray for the day to come and let us each live faithfully in preparation for the return of our Savior. Let us hasten that return (as Peter tells us)

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!

All SAints 2020

Revelation 7:9--17

Ps 34:1-10, 22

1 John 3:1-3

Mt 5:1-12

Revelation 7 begins with a vision of the chrch on earth; symbolized by 144,000 servants of God from the twelve tribes. Each one bears the seal of the living God, God protects them during the time of turmoil and suffering. Each of us must decide: the seal of God or mark of the Beast?

 

In our reading from the Apocalypse, we see the church in eternity, too large to count! The faithful are dressed in white--we will be made pure and holy--holding a palm branch to greet our victorious King. We will cry out with megas phone (a great voice) "soteria" (healing, deliverance, safety, salvation) belongs to God and the Lamb! Soteria is healing, deliverance, safety and salvation.

 

All Saints celebrates the holy ones who belong to God. We remember the faithful in every age, marked with the seal of God. We want to be like them—to bear God's image before the Beast who rules this earth, but not forever. The Apocalypse is not easy to understand, but the central revelation is quite simple. In Jesus, the Lamb, God has saved and healed the world. Someday it will be complete.

 

Politics, the human quest for power, often reduces us to beasts. It feeds on fear and anger. It seeks to dehumanize the other, to see the worst in them and ignore it in ourselves. The Beast inflicts pain and suffering, but God offers healing and deliverance. The Lamb will save us from the satan, from each other and from ourselves. The Beast will not prevail, even if for a while the saints appear to have chosen the wrong king.

 

The Beatitudes declare the victory of the Lamb. Blessed are the poor and heartbroken, blessed are the humble and merciful, the ones who long for a better day, blessed are those who suffer for Jesus—some day you will dress in white and hold a palm branch! 

 

But it is not just in the distant future. “See, what love the Father has given us? We are God's children now. Someday we will be transformed and become like Jesus, but already we can live as the divine offspring through faith.

 

Stay focused, holy ones! Live as a saint. Do not be distracted by the Beast or his threats. Do not be discouraged by the hostility of the world. Do not fear the daily struggles. You are a child of God, a holy one set apart. Rejoice in His faithful love and live like a saint.

apocalyptic Hope and Joy

Isaiah 25:1-9        Psalm 23       Philippians 4:1-9           Matthew 22:1-14

 

Isaiah 24&25 read like the Apocalypse, foretelling the day of the Lord when He “strips the world bare” and purifies the land of the arrogant who reject Him. God brings judgement on human kings and those hidden spiritual powers which rebel against Him. Isaiah 25 contrasts the fate of the city of chaos and the city of God. The Lord will be a refuge for the poor and needy, while fierce and cruel tyrants (who are compared to blistering heat or a raging thunderstorm) will be subdued. In the new age, the Lord will provide for all people who seek Him. YHWH will dwell among us, defeating death and wiping away every tear. This judgement imagery lies behind Jesus’ parable today.

 

To refuse the wedding invitation was to shame the King. Killing the servants was an act of treachery. The parable is an illustration of the human response to Jesus. Our decision to respond has eternal repercussions.

Too often, we fill our lives with nonsense, allowing the temporal to overshadow the Eternal God. We cling to passing things and unknowingly embrace death—for in this world all is tainted by sin and death. Isaiah and Jesus provide the terrifying alternative to a faithful response.

 

Yet, the message is one of salvation and a promise of abundance—a mountain banquet of rich food and wine, a wedding banquet. We celebrate the mercy and love of God. This is what motivates Paul, who is locked in a prison awaiting death, to write the most uplifting letter in the New Testament. He cheers us on to a spirituality of praise. "Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I say, rejoice!" The Lord is near. Stop worrying...

 

The Christian mind is peaceful and joyful--it generates praise and thanks. It is the worldly mind which centers on fear, doubt, darkness and gloom. It is easy to be swept away by bad news. It is easy to forget that "the Lord is near." He comes to judge the powerful who reject Him. He comes to feed the poor and defeat death. He calls us to the banquet. So rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice.

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32    

Philippians 2:1-13

Matthew 21:23-32

Most of us think the threat to freedom of thought comes from the world outside of us, but really it is the demonic lies and our false beliefs which steal our freedom of thought. It is the false desires which destroy the root of freedom within our souls. Our salvation lies in union with Christ. We must have that one mind together in Christ. We must be, as Paul said, sympsycos (a united soul, spiritually  one). True freedom is the agape love which serves the other and cares for their concerns.

 

Jesus is not self-seeking, His way is to turn from our natural impulses and to turn to the will of God in obedience. Our King and Lord is a servant.

 

The problem is we are the children of Adam and Eve. They were the image and likeness of God. But they regarded equality with God something to be stolen, so they disobeyed to pursue their own desires. They act not as servants, but as a rival master to God, bringing sin, death and a curse upon creation.  Therefore, God let them go and sin and violence grew and chaos swept away creation. This is the anti-Gospel, the sad story of corruption.

 

God, however, did not give up. The incarnation of God Himself was His response. Jesus was the morphe—the actual form of God, upon whom Adam was modeled. Jesus did not harpagmos (literally seize or rob; hold fast) to equality, He kenosis—emptied—and became a human (adam), choosing to be an obedient, humble, suffering servant of God. He was raised up and glorified and through His descent the foolishness of Adam, Eve, and each one of us is undone. Jesus conquers and calls us to our true identity as God’s servants.

 

We must think as He thinks, we must be emptied of our passions and self-seeking—and in love and trust, we must serve the others around us. So, yet again, we turn back to the way of Jesus, and begin once more the journey into life.

The Evil Eye

The Assyrian Kingdom was cruel and brutal. They destroyed Israel in 722 BC, and the ten northern tribes were lost into oblivion.  The Assyrian capital, Nineveh, was the largest city in the world. The prophet Nahum declared God’s judgment on Nineveh for all her evils—quoting from Exodus 34:6-7, “the Lord is slow to anger and of great power, but He does not clear the guilty.” In 621 BC the world’s largest city was totally leveled.

 The book of Jonah however, turns Nahum on its head. The only prophetic book with no oracles, Jonah is really a story where the pagans do the right thing and the prophet is unfaithful. Like the parable of the Good Samaritan, it shatters our expectations as we ask: “What is going on here?” Nineveh can be a metaphor for the enemies we despise. Like Jonah, we are resistant to engage in our ministry. God is just, He delivers the oppressed. His wrath of God is manifest against the oppressor, but God prefers that the sinner repent. Too often, like Jonah, we prefer that they perish.

 Like Nahum, Jonah also quotes Exodus 34:6 “the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and full of kindness," but he reviles God's mercy. The story ends with God’s question, “Should I not care about Nineveh?” That question is not for Jonah, it is for us.

 Our Lord’s parable also ends with a question. The parable is a simple story about day laborers. The daily wage, or a denarius, was a just wage which allowed a worker to survive another day. The owner pays everyone the same amount because he has compassion on these impoverished men. Some men resented the kindness, focusing on themselves. In Greek, the parable ends with the question, “Do you have an evil eye because I am good?”

 An evil eye is malignant and curses the other. It fails to see that we have more in common with the Ninevites and the later arrivers than we think. An evil eye disdains God’s kindness to others, for it is concerned only with its own wants and needs.

 Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. These two stories illustrate the seductive power of the evil eye and the failure to see the humanity of the other. We must answer the questions which we are being asked today in our own lives.

 But remember that, we are the Ninevites, we are the late arrivers.

forgive

September 14  genesis 50:15-21  Ps 103  Romans 14:1-12  Matthew 18:21-35

 Psalm 103 vividly describes the character of God. It is both amazing theology and a song of praise. 

We know our God through His deeds--He forgives, He heals, He redeems, He gives life. He blesses us in abundant life. We must reject those negative images of God which generate doubt or fear. These verses also summarize the ministry and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels!

With verse six, the Psalmist turns to the Exodus story and God’s justice. YHWH hears the cries of the oppressed and delivers them and then He invites His people to walk in His ways as His beloved covenant people. YHWH revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6) with these words: The Lord! The Lord! merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love! These words will occur again and again in the Bible; they also illustrate Jesus’ ministry. Jesus calls God, “Abba, Father” and the words verse 13 demonstrate that He is a Father who loves, cherishes and forgives His children.

As forgiveness is at the heart of our relationship with the Father, it must be in our relationships with one another. Peter asks if we must forgive everyone, everything all the time? Jesus' answer is yes. Forgive. Everyone. Everything. Always.

What of those who do great evil or who have hurt us deeply? Jesus' answer is to look to the Father.

We owe God so much. We are in debt to God for everything. We cannot calculate all that He has done for us. Each moment of every day our debt of gratitude increases, but we take so much for granted that we complain and resent that things do not go our way. We love God, yet we often give Him the leftovers of our life. We are distracted in prayer and worship, reluctant to read His word and indifferent to the mission and ministry with which we are entrusted. We also sin, we knowingly and willingly choose to betray God and turn away. So, our debt is very large. Jesus calls it “ten thousand talents,” which is like owing a billion dollars on our charge card. Even millionaires cannot pay a billion dollar personal debt…

Jesus compares our debt to God with the debt others owe us. Five or ten thousand is a significant debt, but compared to what we owe to God, it is like nothing. The patriarch Joseph understands this. He learned this lesson and could to see that the mercy and grace of God in his life canceled out the evil intent of his brothers. He forgave them because God is good.

Perhaps you need a more compelling reason? See Jesus, in His agony, saying from that cross, "Father forgive them." Jesus wiped out our debt and asked us to do the same for others. Who can refuse? 

burden of LOVE

Ezekiel 33:7-11        Romans 13:8-14        Matthew 18:15-20  

The commandment to love raises the question, “what is love?” Currently many understand it as "toleration and acceptance." This is not a bad thing, until it requires us to turn a blind eye to sin. Others equate it with warm affection or hot desire—reducing the powerful virtue of love to an empty vice. Love is often twisted into a program of personal fulfillment, which demands that others comply with our preferences as we make the rules. Paul looks to Jesus who said that love fulfills the Torah—obeying the Lord’s commandments, not our own. 

 

The Tanach (Jewish  Bible) is a history of God’s faithful love. YHWH saves by grace alone, and those who trust in His salvation are called into covenant with Him. The Lord provides instruction (laws) to protect this relationship with His people. Jesus is the fullness of Divine love and In Him we find perfect union with one another and God. Paul warns us that this union can be broken by the false desires of the flesh. Pagan Rome is famous for its corruption, but sadly, people in every age are ruled by the passions. Sin causes death, but Ezekiel gives us good news:  God does not delight in the death of sinners nor take pleasure in the demise of the wicked. Rather, the Lord wants us to return to Him and live. It is not enough to believe this ourselves we must also proclaim it to others.

 

The prophet has a task to preach the love of God to everyone, even the unresponsive and hostile. This message can be a heavy burden. God says that if the prophet fails to warn the people, then their blood is on the prophet's hands. Because the church is a prophet, we have the same "burden of love." We must call people out of darkness into His light, or their blood is on our hands.

 

Such a vocation requires that we constantly repent and grow in love of God and our neighbor. We must also hold one another accountable because it is a team effort! We do not want the blood of our neighbors to stain any of our hands.

 

Let us be clear. This message is not about arguing politics, nor is it demonizing others. We are not trying to control others; we are inviting them to hand over control to the Lord. The best way to preach this is by our example of repentance. If we fulfill the commandments through humble love, others might hear God speak through us.

 

The ministry of a prophet may be a burden, but for those who love, the task is sweet and the burden is light.

 

on the other hand...

last week we heard an uplifting message of hope and a call to joy from the post-exilic prophet writing Isaiah XXX. In the Gospel, St. Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and that the gates of hell would not stand before the faith of the church. It was a good news kind of weekend.

This week we hear a darker communication. Jeremiah speaks some eighty years before the message from Isaiah. His audience is the parents and grandparents of Isaiah's audience. Jeremiah 15 is stark and grave. God doesn't care if Moses or Elijah interceded, He is done reaching out to a people who disregard Him. "Let them go, each to their own destiny," He says to Jeremiah, "I'm out of here." Jeremiah mourns the predicament of Judah, but even more effusively he laments his own hard life. It has been a lonely and difficult life, remaining faithful to God amidst a hostile and unfaithful people. Then Jeremiah's complaint takes an ugly turn. "You have been a deceitful stream to me," he accuses the Lord. The man of God an accuser...

God's response is interesting. He tells Jeremiah, "talk nonsense if you want, but if you are ready to get back to work I will take you back. I promise you victory. I will make you mighty and I will save you." No time wasted with hurt feelings or unloading emotional baggage--just divine focus on the task at hand.

We see similar focus in Jesus. The Gospels consistently portray Jesus as totally aware of His destiny in Jerusalem. He knows that He is in a conflict with the religious and worldly authorities which will cost Him His life. He gives explicit details but always with the promise of resurrection. Peter (which should be translated as Rock), operating from a human perspective, rejects suffering and death. Jesus calls him a satan, which could be translated adversary.  Peter is getting in the way, trying to trip Jesus up, all with good intentions. 

The road to the new creation includes Jesus' passion and death. The life of faith includes carrying a cross behind Him. Whatever saved by faith means, it includes losing our life in order to find it.

I said this week the message was different, but in a real sense it is the same. Being faithful is costly, but it is worth it. God will be with us through it all. We can complain, or we can push back--or we can say "amen, so be it." The offers is God's, but the choice is ours.

Good News of Hope in Isaiah

Isaiah 51:1--6

Ps 138

Romans 112:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

The Second Isaiah contains some of the most profound verse in all of Scripture. 

 Isaiah 51 compels us: Listen! Look! over and over.

He proclaims hope to a distressed and discouraged people. He calls them to trust God's promise with courage. He doesn't deny that things are bad, he just declares that God will make them better. 

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord."

Verse 1, 4, 7 all begin with the word "shama"--listen, hear, obey--is a key word in the Hebrew Bible. It begins their prayer shema Israel, hear Israel. Listening, and obeying, is the love response to God's gift of salvation as Kingdom people.

"you that seek the Lord" In 45:9 the prophet says GOd did not say 'seek me in vain' and in 65:1 "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. Those who pursue a right relationship with God, who seek His face--they will find Him. Jesus Himself confirms this in the Sermon on the Mount.  

The prophet says--look at your ancestors--look to Abraham and Sarah. They were a solitary old couple who became a great nation, I can repair and renew my people in every age. 

The barren land (a reminder of exodus) feels uninhabitable. Yet YHWH God promises comfort (a root word for Noah's name). Human eyes look at a the desert waste, but the eyes of faith see a garden of Eden (Paradise).  Pay no attention to what worries you, says the Lord, be filled with joy and gladness, sing a song and give thanks. My salvation will be forever and my deliverance will never end.  Salvation (yeshuah in Hebrew--or Jesus) is forever. Focus on Jesus friends, not the problems of the world. 

Be brave. Be strong. Look at all the turmoil and remember the sky will vanish and the earth will disappear. What the materialist calls concrete reality is really a smoky vapor. Humanity is mortal, we die like a bug.  But YHWH's saving love in Jesus is forever.

We are a broken and wounded people. We too often forget our heritage, we are distracted by our worries and concerns. We fret about real life concerns, it is hard not to do, but we too easily forget the divine perspective. God doesn't see the next election or the status of Corona the way we do. God sees us.

I find comfort in Isaiah 51 because God says, "Hey! Listen to me. Look at me. Jesus salvation is forever, the desert is the Garden of Eden still under construction. Trust me, be brave, spend more time praising and thanking. Feel the hope, feel the joy."

I think we should do just that.  

insider and outsider

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8   Ps 67   Romans 11:1-2, 29-32   Mathew 15:(10-20) 21-28

It is hard to read our biblical texts about racial identity without thinking about our current societal debates. The heated arguments about identity politics and whose lives matter could easily drown out God's revelation. A disclaimer, in a world where one person's peaceful protest is another's riot, it is clear that we cannot seem to agree on much of anything, so listen to my words with a grain of salt.

I believe that since Eden, the world has consisted of insiders and outsiders. Adam and Eve could certainly testify how quickly that can change. Salvation, God's kingdom rule through our Lord Jesus, will hopefully free us from hatred and heal our brokenness and divisions. Until then, unfortunately, we will struggle to live in peace with one another.

I have consistently taught that sin is a heart condition, generated by sinful desires and false thoughts. In addition, I believe that we deeply wounded and more than a little afraid. The world is dark and corrupt since they left that Garden, and only repentance, confession and personal reform empowered by God's Holy Spirit can improve humanity. I believe Jesus teaches that until we are made whole and holy, our efforts to change the world will never make it better. (the mote in your eye)

Many progressive preachers will declare that the exchange between Jesus and the pagan woman illustrates Jesus' racism and sin. I reject that idea completely!

Reading Matthew, Jesus makes clear throughout that His mission is to Israel. He tells the disciples to focus only there. So when Jesus is confronted by the woman--a person who worshipped false gods--He tells a maschal (wisdom illustration or parable) about feeding children and not dogs. The comparison is obviously indelicate, but it is also accurate. Membership status matters. This is why the same people who would demand that the US have open borders remain steadfast in making sure that only certified convention delegates are on the floor. We will never let members of other denominations vote at our convention, or even members (!) if they are not delegates. And I would agree that they shouldn't. Identity requires boundaries. There really are insiders and outsiders, even in church.

So why does Jesus cross over to the fringe and heal the daughter? Because the mother's faith opened her to membership in God's people. The love and mercy of God are available to those of humble faith. When a pagan Canaanite addresses Jesus as Messiah and Lord, she has begun the process of personal conversion necessary to be a citizen of the Kingdom.  

At the end of the Gospel, we hear the rest of the story! Jesus will send His disciples to all the pagan nations. He will command them to make disciples and teach all that He has taught. The last judgement, the final declaration of who is inside and who is outside, is still in the future. It is for our Heavenly Father to determine. Our task is to bring the healing love of Jesus to everyone until that day.

Which brings us back to today's political conflicts. Whatever side you are on in all this, make sure you pray for the healing and salvation of those with whom you disagree. Love them with the heart of Jesus and recognize their humanity and need. That is a discipline which will go a long way to helping you repent and change your own heart.

The Whiner

I have a collection of characters which I have created to entertain my youngest son. Among them is "The Whiner." He, as you can imagine, is able to find something to complain about whatever the situation, and he is the eternal victim, grieving his maltreatment at the hands of everyone. 

The Whiner serves a purpose, he is a parable about the destructive forces at work in each of us. The message is--don't be a whiner. He is totally unappealing.

Unlike our hagiography, the Bible does not refrain from illustrating characters in all their good and bad. Too often, the saints were portrayed as heroes, their minor flaws generating great humility, and they were as otherworldly as comic book superheroes. The expression "I'm not a saint" was a declaration that no-one should expect much from us, we are ordinary. So, hagiography fails to inspire us, it only discourages us with figures too great to be understood.

Elijah the prophet had long stood against the corruption of King Ahab and his foreign wife, Queen Jezebel, who intensified the worship of Ba'al in Israel. Elijah and Ahab traded insults and accusations (it is almost comical at times), each blaming the other for the nation's troubles. Finally, during a horrible drought,  there is a showdown between Elijah and over eight hundred pagan priests. Elijah mocks their efforts to call down fire from the sky and ridicules their gods. Then Elijah calls on YHWH to bring flame upon his water drenched altar. YHWH consumes the wood and the area around the altar. THe  people of Israel, duly impressed, reconfirm their faith in God, and Elijah commands them to slaughter all the pagan priests. Immediately after, Elijah tells the king, the drought will end.

When Ahab returns home, he tells Jezebel what had happened and she vows revenge. Elijah, after these demonstrations of divine power, inexplicably flees. Like Moses before him, he prays for death. "It is enough, Lord..." Instead, God provides bread and water which sustains him during a forty day fast as he travels to Mount Horeb (Sinai) where Moses saw the bush, and later communed with God when he got the commandments.

God asks him, "What are you doing here?"

Many believe the question is intended negatively. Elijah makes his complaint, though much of the information is incorrect. The Israelites had not rejected God and Ahab & Jezebel was slaying the prophets, although we know six hundred had been hidden. Elijah is whining.

When YHWH commands him to stand in the presence of the Lord, we understand what the cave is. It is the place where Moses stood when the Lord "passed by" during the Exodus. Elijah will receive the same visitation, or will he?

The theophany--wind, fire, earthquake--associated with the Exodus story is repeated, but here we learn God is not in their destructive power. Instead, there is "a sound of silence," the word is used in another place to describe the quiet after a storm. I have sat high on a mountain in Spain where I heard this sound of silence. The scriptures would have us know that it is in silence that our Lord speaks.

God repeats His question, "Why are you here?" and Elijah whines again. Life is hard, things go poorly, I am all alone. God gives his answer, the men who will end the current monarchy, and the promise of 7,000 faithful in Israel, no doubt a symbolic number.

The great Elijah is portrayed as just another whiner. His lack of trust on full display. 

What are you doing here, Elijah?

It is easy, friends, to forget God has won the victory. It is easy to see ourselves, as victims, abused, battered, betrayed and left all alone. It is easy to seek God's voice in power and majesty, forgetting that in Jesus we learn God is found in the still silence.

Soon after this, Elijah will be caught up into heaven in chariots of fire. Jews believe he will prepare us for the Day of the Lord. He is, despite his flaws, God's man.

There is hope here. There is hope for us flawed, weak, imperfect humans--people who run away, afraid and depressed. When God asks you, "what are you doing here?" do not whine. Do not twist the truth to paint yourself a victim. Do not claim "I'm the only good one left." 

Rather listen in the silence. Trust God will deliver you, will deliver us. Grasp the faith and trust His power to deliver us, trust His desire to make us whole.

We aren't perfect, but neither were the saints of old. And that's okay, because God is perfect and He is on our side.

Kingdom Hope for the Weak

Sunday 26-27

1 Kings 3:5-12     Ps 119:129-136   Romans 8:26-39   Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

We all remember Martha’s complaint to Jesus, “Tell my sister to help me.” Paul uses that same Greek word when he says. “The Spirit of God helps us in our weakness.” In Genesis 1, the wind of God hovers over the chaos in creation, and in Genesis 2 God breathes His breath into the dust to make a human. Wind, breath, Spirit—ruah in Hebrew—refers to the life-giving power of God. Humans were created to rule the earth, but sin and corruption have literally made us (asthenia) “not strong.” We are so weak that we do not even know how to pray. Paul uses the word “weak” to describe our human condition, more than any other author in the New Testament, but he has hope that the Helper, whom Jesus promised, has come. Paul says the Spirit sanctifies our groaning and makes it prayer! Think what that means!

Paul sees God’s redemption in the midst of—our sin, guilt and shame, the hardships, violence, poverty and persecutions, the material and spiritual powers which would destroy us—and he declares that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom will come.

Yet, the Kingdom of Heaven is already manifest among us and within us. Jesus says it like the tiny mustard seed, just a speck, yet it grows into a large bush. It is hidden, like leaven in fifty pounds of flour—a direct references to Abrahams huge lunch feast for the Three Visitors! Remember, that meal ended with a laughable promise of a son, but Sarah is the great-grandmother of the twelve tribes of Israel. The impossible happens in the Kingdom!

God is secretly ruling in places even now, while some stumble across it by accident, like a buried treasure, others seek and find it, like the man searching for the pearl. But it comes at the cost everything. Why? Because whatever is not given to God remains a servant of sin and death. Remember, our earth is ruled by rival monarchs. Jesus says, choose your King.

In Genesis 1, God creates by speaking and separating: light from dark, land from water, day from night… In the same manner, the Torah separates righteous from sinner, clean from unclean. Jesus says the final separation will be the last judgement, where God will divide out His friends from His foes.

Let us be the wise man, treasuring both the Ancient and the new. Learn the Scriptures and tradition even as you study the arts and sciences. Jesus contains all truth, and the Spirit will help us in our weakness to pray and live as His disciples each day.

7/5

zechariah 9:9-12     Psalm 145:8-15    Romans 7:15-25     Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

zechariah 9:9-12     Psalm 145:8-15    Romans 7:15-25     Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

When Jesus says, "to what can I compare this generation?," He uses the same verb (homoioo) which introduces numerous parables. Jesus points to the everyday reality to uncover the symbolic meaning of life and the patterns which reveal God’s Kingdom.

In a small, impoverished village, funerals and weddings were grand events, so children’s games would imitate the adults. Jesus says that the people of His time are like difficult children who cannot be satisfied. They reject John the Baptist and his ascetical lifestyle (the funeral) calling him possessed, in our time it would be called ‘crazy.’ But neither do they like the celebrative approach of Jesus, who describes the Kingdom as a wedding feast. How can Jesus be holy when is a drunkard and a glutton? As a result, that generation failed to recognize its visitation.

How could this happen? In Classical spirituality, there is a spirit called "acedia+." It is the passion of discontentment and dissatisfaction. Jesus' contemporaries had hard hearts because they were unmotivated to seek and embrace the things of God. This malady is the voice in your head asking “What’s the point?” When confronted with a prophet, or even the Messiah, it has us shrug and mumble “whatever…” Rather than repent and rejoice, the contemporaries of Jesus choose to find fault. Their murmuring kills their souls.

Jesus models the antidote for acedia. Rather than become disheartened and give up, Jesus turns to His Father and proclaims thanks and praise. The Apostle Paul famously said, “knowledge puffs up.” (I Corinthians 8:1) Jesus

Reinforces that idea with his claim that God has hidden from the wise what He has revealed to His little ones. This is no advocacy of intellectual laziness nor is it blessing ignorance. But it is a reminder that our riches are a barrier to the Kingdom of God and the arrogance of the self identified learned and wise is a huge barrier. Too often we remain sophomores our whole life (Sophia WISE and Morons Fools) Our highly educated elite are too often proudly atheistic, embacing science and disdaining faith.

Jesus has come to reveal the Father to  us. It is His choice. We must fight the urges of acedia and battle the boredom and disinterest. We must also be loving, humble servants. Keenly aware that we are a little one and avoid the arrogance of the wise.

Jesus is Here with us now. Offering us the Father. Let us rejoice in the kingdom wedding feast in ourt hearts

+ see below for insights
http://www.centerforbaptistrenewal.com/blog/2020/3/6/the-desert-fathers-on-dissatisfaction-and-sorrow

7/12

Isaiah 55:10-13
psalm 65
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9,  18-23

Isaiah 55* contains many memorable verses as it expresses God's saving will for His people.
Are you thirsty? Come to the water!
Have no money? eat for free!
Worldly things cannot satisfy us, yet wear ourselves out to fill our belly and ignore the greater promise of covenant with God. 

God declares that His covenant with David will transcend Israel, that the nations of the world will run to join His people.

We know in the Gospels that Jesus multiplies the loaves and feeds the people with bread, but more importantly with His word. We know Jesus, the Son of David, will draw the nations to His cross at Jerusalem and form a New Israel from all the tribes of the earth.

Isaiah 55:6-11 are Canticle 10 in the Morning Prayer Office. It is a beautiful song inviting us to seek the Lord while there is time, to call Him now. Isaiah, like all the  great spokesmen for God, requires our repentance "let the wicked forsake their ways, and the evil ones their thoughts and let them return to the  Lord so He can have mercy." Always, always, the offer of salvation has a sense of urgency. The Day of Doom approaches.

The mind of the God of Isaiah is far above us. As the sky is far from the earth, or better, as heaven (the abode of God) is far above the fallen earth--so far away is He. The gap is unbridgeable, unless He comes to us. And so He speaks His word.

It is like precipitation falling from the clouds, the  life giving waters which produce life on the earth. God is firm, His word does not return empty. He will accomplish His goal.

That Word is incarnate in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's Self-communication to each and all of us. Jesus is the  revelation of GOd in flesh and blood. Today Jesus speaks of His own ministry as throwing  seed. The seed will grow, it will produce; but woe to those who  are  barren land.

Those who are owned by the passions and sin cannot even hear the word of Christ. Those of shallow spirit engage the Lord briefly for a season, but then quickly move on to other concerns when the price of discipleship becomes too great. The affluent and worldly have the word choked away. It is hard to receive the Lord and embrace His word.

There is abundance of fruit for any who do. this is the good news of GOd's salvation. we are of the earth, far below and far away from our maker. yet he turns to us and pours His own life into us. The connection of water and the SPirit in the Scriptures leads one to see the same possibility in Isaiah. Jesus sowing the seed of His word also echo with John 1. Our only task is to be attentive and receptive. To be aware that our Father wants us to receive His life--the Son and SPirit. He wants us to be united to Him and in this union the fruits of a holy life are automatically going to flow. Trust God will do this.












*they are also found in Canticle 10, which we recite each Friday at Morning Prayer. 

Good Seed, Bad Seed

July 18-19, 2020

Isaiah 44:6-8   Ps 86:11-17   Romans 8:12-25   Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

One of the most important revelations in the Bible are from this section of Isaiah where YHWH declares: “I am God. I am the only God. There is no other God. I alone am God.” I guess this raises the question, if there is only one God, what is the source of evil in the world?

The recurring theme of judgement comes through strongly in this parable. The simplistic and erroneous contrast of a NT God of Love and OT God of judgement could not be more wrong. The Kingdom of Heaven is a dividing process.

Jesus tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven over fifty times in Matthew’s Gospel. He tells us to pray “Father…your kingdom come, your will be done.” In today’s parable He says that an enemy’s hand is at work in our world. Right now, God is not ruling, His dominion is being opposed. In Mt 11:12, Jesus told us “that the violent take the kingdom by force”—probably a reference to worldly powers.  Jesus says that the Kingdom belongs to the weak and poor, to the simple believers and mere children; those are trampled by the powerful. The kingdom is found in the hearts of those who do God’s will and obey. We follow the Crucified, but other masters seek our allegiance.    

The parable begins with the simple words, “someone sowed seed in a field.” The word “fields” is connected to human troubles in the bible. Adam sins and the earth is cursed; human toil will produce thorns and thistles. The serpent is a symbol of the hand of the enemy sowing bad seeds.

Rabbi Friedman enumerates connection of fields to family conflicts. Cain slays Abel in a field. Jacob tricks his brother, when Esau comes in from a field. Joseph irritates his brothers with a dream that they were sheaves in a field which bow to him. In Judges 20, Israel slaughters the tribe of Benjamin, and the word field appears twice. A wise woman tells King David a parable about a man killing his brother in a field. Thorns and thistle in the fields is a metaphor for fratricide and violent conflict.

The greatest fruit of the Kingdom is the divine love humans have for one another, and Jesus’s parable reminds us that the failure to love is the work of an enemy’s hand. Injustice, cruelty, and war, racism, crime, and indifference are all the evil seed among us. Too many families are filled with suffering and pain, too often the weak suffer at the hands of those who oppose the Kingdom of Heaven.    

The world is filled with evil because the Kingdom of Heaven is not fully among us. God did not plant the bad seed, it is an enemy’s work. Sadly, sometimes the enemy’s hand is at the end of my arm, or yours. Sometimes, we are part of the problem. This is why we must repent, and why we cannot judge others.

We live in the troubled times, with the probability that more troubles lie ahead. Weed and wheat grow together, but God will not act until the harvest. We need not speculate on the source of evil, we need to trust Jesus and follow Him. Every day, all day.

Death leads to life

June 20—21

Jeremiah 20:7--13            Ps 88:1-10, 16-17              Romans 6:1-11                   Matthew 10:24-39

The prophet Jeremiah reveals the heavy burden of the prophet. His intimate relationship with God has left him helpless to resist. He speaks a hard word to Israel and suffers greatly for it: repent or die.

Ironically, Paul tells us that death is an escape from the power of sin. Through baptism, he says, we enter into Christ, making Him the center. So union with Jesus, means that we have died to sin. It is the death of our ego, that false self which isolates from God. This death begins at baptism, but dying is also the beginning of the resurrection life in Christ. It begins here and now, but it is not completed. It is a beautiful theology of baptism, but the existential reality is a daily struggle. Our wounds, passions and sinfulness continue to draw us from God. The material world, which should be a sacrament of God among us, is more often a veil which hides God, and distracts us. Like ancient Israel, we must hear the prophet Jeremiah remind us, repent or the earthly city will fall to ruin.

The problem is, there is no Jeremiah among us. The church requires us to wear masks at church, but where is the prophet who warns us to shield our heart from sin? We stand six feet apart for physical health, but where is the prophet who cries out to keep away from the near occasion of sin? Church  folks declare “stay home to save lives” but do they take the command to go into the world and proclaim the Gospel just as seriously? If Jeremiah was among us would he feel any less distressed that we seem to more of our attention and energy to almost anything other than the things of God.

Death is the fruit of sin. Sin, our separation from God, makes us vulnerable. Like ancient Jerusalem, we are spiritual wasteland. Our society is splitting. Hopelessness and death threaten us.



We must turn to Jesus, who offers us a covenant relationship with God. Jesus promises that we claim Him before men, He will do the same before the Father. If we deny Him, He will deny us. Jesus must take precedence over everything, particularly our own selves. Jesus has come to save us from the sin which kills our true self. But the false self must die if the true self will rise. Only those who have carried their own cross can receive the Crucified into their hearts. If we die, then we can mediate the resurrection life of Jesus to a world of sin and death, injustice and chaos. We cannot let the fear of death keep us from the love of Jesus Christ. We cannot let the fear of death keep us from union with the Holy Three God. Let us die to our sin and rise to eternal life in Jesus!

june 13-14

Matthew'

Jesus' proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom by teaching people, healing them and casting out Satan. He combats ignorance of God and misunderstanding of His will, and the human brokenness caused by sin. Jesus attacks the spiritual forces at work within us. The human condition evokes compassion from Jesus. He sees them as "harassed and helpless." It could be paraphrased as “mangled and thrown away.”

That crowd of people was angry about Roman oppression. The Jews often rioted and were considered unruly by the Emperor. Jesus warned them to choose another way. He told them that, because they failed to embrace Him as Messiah, the Temple would be destroyed and people would flee for their lives. [Mt 23:37—24:44]. In 70 A.D., Rome destroyed the Temple and the surviving Jews lost their land.

We often see the compassion of Jesus. He is deeply moved because He thinks of them as sheep without a shepherd. When He sends out the apostles, He will call them lost sheep. Yet He also warns His disciples that they will go out as sheep among wolves. We do well to recall that a crowd will demand He is crucified [Mt 27:15--26]. Crowds are notoriously unstable. In large groups, people are prone to scapegoating and mindless violence.

Jesus still sends His church out to heal, exorcise and teach in His name. Proclaiming the Gospel—the Kingship of God and the need to have a new mind and reformed heart—is our duty bound, even if we will often fail. Judgement Day is coming, but not in our life time. We are to be sheep among wolves. We are destined to be taken before their tribunals, betrayed by those nearest and dearest to us. In the last month, I have come to see that it could be soon.

It is hard to see the world as a harvest field, to care more about their needs and brokenness than we do our own safety. Self- preservation is a powerful passion at work in my sinful soul. We seek a group identity for protection, rather than the ministry of Jesus which embraces everyone. Too often we are shaped more by our politics than our faith. I often hear erudite opinions about societal issues, but they rarely include an adequate grasp of the church’s mission. To be clear: My own failure to grasp the fullness of Jesus’ teachings and to live in accordance with His words weighs more heavily upon me each day.

It hard to look at the crowds and see lost sheep in need of love and healing. It is hard to be a shepherd when the need is so great.

It is also hard to be a sheep walking among the wolves. It is hard to love those who would gladly devour us with their sharp teeth.

Our destiny is to be hated by all because of Jesus’ name. Our duty is to love all in Jesus’ name. He is with to the end.