A Sabbath Rest Luke 13:10-17

What is the Sabbath for? The word really means rest. So how are we to rest on the Sabbath (what we know as Sunday)? A day for sleeping in. Play a round of golf. A relaxing morning with coffee cup in hand. Watch the ball game. Attend a church service. Eat brunch at a favorite restaurant. A day to refrain from working. What is the Sabbath for? In the Ten Commandments we are told to ‘remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.’ Once more, what is the Sabbath for? The reading from Luke has Jesus giving a whole new spin on the Sabbath.

A spirit has left a woman crippled for the past eighteen years leaving her bent over and and unable to stand up straight. Jesus releases her from the infirmity. Set free, she stands up for the first time in eighteen years and praises God. Jesus was in trouble with the leader of the synagogue because this was the Sabbath. Why? The Sabbath was for rest and not for work. Jesus could have done the healing on a different day instead of violating the Sabbath’s command. However, Jesus called the leader and all on their hypocrisy. On the Sabbath, animals are led to water to be freed from their thirst and this is work. Shouldn’t she, a daughter of Abraham, be set free from Satan’s bondage? Now we are getting to Jesus’ point on the Sabbath.

Deuteronomy 5 directly connects observing the Sabbath to liberation from slavery in Egypt. The Sabbath was for liberating all from slave, servant, immigrant to animal from labor so they may find rest as God found rest from the work of creation on the seventh day. Jesus was living this out as he set the woman free and now fully free she could worship and give praise to God.

We are like this woman. A spirit seems to have crippled us. We are unable to fully observe the Sabbath. How? We are crippled by our refusal to recognize our pollution, waste and damage to God’s amazing creation. We are crippled by our prejudice and hate. We are crippled by our economics that reward only a few. We are crippled by our demand for power over others. We are all crippled and under bondage unable to fully praise the One who is our maker.

So how do we observe the Sabbath? Repentance is a good start. A repentance from the ways we keep those who also share in the image of God and the rest of creation under bondage. A repentance that admits we are in bondage to a spirit that keeps us all from being fully human and fully able to worship God. As Jesus was pointing out, the Sabbath is for all to know the liberation that allows all creation to be fully alive to sing the praises of God. This is what the Sabbath is for.

Peace.

Jesus against peace? Against family? Luke 12:49-56

Peace. We all want peace. We want peace in our family relationships. We want peace within our neighborhoods and towns. We want to peaceably go about our lives without the worry of violence. We want Jesus to give us the peace we seek. Unfortunately for us, this peace is not what Jesus is talking about in this reading. Instead he is talking about division, even in our most valued relationships of family.

So what gives? Why can’t we have what we want? Why won’t Jesus give us what we want? Jesus said he came to bring division instead of peace. He wanted to bring fire upon the earth and couldn’t wait for it to be lit. This doesn’t sound much like peace. The fire is the active presence of God establishing the kingdom’s presence over everyone. When God’s rule of forgiveness and mercy comes into contact with our understanding of peace, we start building crosses.

The trouble with wanting peace is that we want peace on our terms. We want peace that comes with being in control. We want peace where we have the power. We want the peace that prefers us over them. If we don’t get the peace we want, we blame our spouses, parents, neighbors, immigrants, those of a different race, the other political party. In reality this isn’t peace, it is abuse and violence of the powerful against the weak. This is not the peace that Jesus has come to support.

If we seek peace then we have two choices. One is the fake peace of violence, abuse and crosses. The other is the peace that comes from God who raised the crucified Jesus to life. This is the real peace that brings life in the place of death. This kind of peace asks of us to repent and seek the ways of the kingdom of God. We die to the old ways of violence and crosses so God can bring a new life that is peace. This change is going to be met with division, even within family.

Jesus called those in attendance a bunch of hypocrites. They could tell by the wind patterns if it was going to rain or bring a hot day. Yet, they could see what Jesus was doing and teaching but not recognize the action of God bringing his rule, his kingdom to the earth. The great challenge for us is to look at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and see the work of God bringing his kingdom to us. This is the hard work of seeking peace on God’s terms.

Peace.

Where Your Treasure Is Luke 12:32-40

This last week has been a tough week. There were the shootings in El Paso and Dayton. Cries are going up to bring an end to this senseless loss of life that is becoming too ordinary. The month of July was the warmest recorded. Some deny that our activity is having any affect on climate while scientists are warning that this is only the start with much worse to come in the future. The hate-filled words that divide this country will not grow silent. This last week has been rough.

The message from the Scripture reading is really filled with hope with Jesus saying, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” It is God’s good pleasure to give us his rule. Note that it is not God’s good pleasure to support our bias, our prejudice, our hate, our violence, our greed, our self-serving nature, etc. God’s good pleasure is to bring about his rule which will allow life and all of creation to flourish. It may be God’s good pleasure to bring his kingdom but Jesus on the cross is our opinion regarding God’s kingdom. However, Jesus’ resurrection is God’s relentless work to bring life instead. So the hope-filled message is to not be afraid. The invitation is to invest ourselves in the kingdom which does bring life.

Jesus gives this message of hope with a couple points. He does this with the statement to sell our possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. The result is to have a treasure in heaven that won’t be taken away. He is inviting us to divest ourselves from the ways of the world that create poverty in the first place. We are to invest ourselves in the ways of God’s rule which bring life. This won’t be taken away from us.

The second point is one that we get backwards. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What we want to say is, “Where my heart is, there my treasure will go.” The problem is that our heart is not focused on God’s kingdom. Jesus was correct: the heart follows where the treasure is invested. If we invest what we treasure to alleviate poverty, that is where our heart will be. If we invest what we treasure in caring for creation, that is where our heart will be. If we invest what we treasure in reducing the hate, that is where our heart will be. If we invest what we treasure in these things of the kingdom, then our hearts will be focused on God’s kingdom of life which is God’s good pleasure to give.

The rest of the Scripture reading is about being watchful and ready for Christ’s return to bring the fullness of God’s kingdom. How will we be ready? Invest the things we treasure in the reign of God now and our hearts will be ready.

This has been a rough week. Remember Jesus words of hope, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

Peace.

A Rich Fool Luke 12:13-21

Do we ever realize how much money plays a role in our relationships? How many of our friends are similar or different in terms of economic status? When has money ruined a friendship, divided a family or marriage? How does our personal financial situation affect the way we look at others? The place of money and how it impacts life is one of those topics we avoid because if we are honest, it exposes our poverty.

A man asked Jesus to settle a dispute he had with a brother over the family inheritance. Jesus avoids getting caught in the middle of the dispute. Instead, Jesus gives a warning of what the struggle for money will do to not only this man’s family but also his relationship to the community and finally, God.

A rich man has a bumper crop and he decides what he’ll do with his expanded riches. (Note: Jesus highlights the ground produced the crop, not the man). The man has a conversation with himself about what he’ll do with the bumper crop. He’ll tear down the old barns and build new ones. He never considers community and his place within it. With his riches safely stored away, he’ll congratulate himself saying, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” Then, his life was demanded and God said, “you fool.”

So what makes the man a fool? He didn’t understand the difference between true wealth and poverty. The man asking Jesus to intervene over the inheritance dispute was at the edge of knowing the poverty of a family ripped apart over money. In Jesus’ parable, the rich man thought his wealth made him independent from the community. However, he would soon know the poverty of facing death — all alone. The rich man thought his wealth would set him up for an easy life. However he would now learn that he didn’t own his life, God did and his wealth would be fought over by others. This is poverty.

We don’t like to talk about money because if we are honest with ourselves, the conversation will expose our poverty. The riches of life are found in family, our engagement and commitment to community and to know that life is a gift from God. Being wealthy is to understand how we are dependent on them.

Peace.

PRAYER Luke 11:1-11

Prayer. Communication with God. We say that it is necessary and important in living out our spiritual lives. While at the same time, we admit to not praying as often as we should during the day. There are many ways of being prayerful and a person can find a variety of books and online methods of how to pray. Yet, we wonder why prayers seem to go unanswered. Why do it, if we don’t get want we ask?

Is prayer a shameless pounding on heaven’s door until God relents and gives us what we ask?

Is prayer a formula to open the door to heaven’s treasures?

Is prayer a bold claiming to receive what we demand?

A disciple asked Jesus how to pray. What he learned from Jesus wasn’t so much a method but an intimate relationship with the Divine. Prayer says much of who we believe God to be and how we understand our relationship with him.

Jesus began, “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.” The word used for ‘Father’ means ‘Daddy.’ While parent/child relationships can be complicated to say the least, a child is dependent upon a good parent to live and thrive. Prayer is to live out that relationship with our ‘Father’ who loves us. His holiness is shown by undivided faithfulness. This is the kind of relationship we participate in as we pray. If a person can get a neighbor to hand over some bread in the middle of the night…if a parent knows enough to give food to their child, we can know that our faithful Father in heaven knows what we need and will respond as well.

“Your kingdom come,” is the next part. The kingdom is the full reign of God over us. The kingdom’s presence is directly related to the next parts about daily bread, forgiveness and deliverance from temptation. Jesus lived out the kingdom’s presence. He fed the hungry thousands with extra left over. On the cross he showed us what restorative forgiveness looks like on a Divine scale. In the kingdom of heaven, there is no place for evil to draw us away. Jesus’ teaching is to pray for the reign of God. So in the face of need, pray for the kingdom to come. In the midst of hatred and injustice, pray for the kingdom to come. When evil seems so strong, pray for the kingdom to come.

Should we pray? Absolutely! We are participating in an intimate relationship with our faithful Father. Pray to the Father like a child brazenly calls out to a loving and good parent. Pray also for the reign of God which Jesus showed confronts and overwhelms the evils of our day.

In closing Jesus said that if we know how to give good things to our children, imagine how quickly our Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask! The Holy Spirit who works to bring the kingdom to and through us.

Peace.

Mary, the nonconformist Luke 10:38-42

We have all had moments when pressured to conform. Maybe our group of friends seems to have a political viewpoint that we don’t agree. Yet we keep quiet, conform, so we don’t risk losing their friendship. Maybe we belong to an organization that has altered its goals which were too much of a change. We conform because we don’t want to be left on the outside looking in. We all have known a time when pressured to conform.

The story of Mary and Martha seems on the surface to be about Martha working too hard and Mary preferring to listen to Jesus’ words. Mary comes out on top receiving support from Jesus. However, there is more going on than merely overworking or resting.

Martha was doing nothing wrong being a good hostess. She had invited Jesus into her home. Hospitality was the cultural expectation in those days. Martha was fulfilling the cultural demands required of her. Mary wasn’t helping with the hostess work. Martha may have also been calling Mary into conformity.

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. Women did not sit at the feet of a teacher. Men sat at the feet of a teacher. Men would later pass on the information they wished to share. Mary violated the cultural boundaries for gender of her time. You know what? Jesus preferred Mary’s perspective. There would be plenty of time for Martha to fulfill her hostess duties. There are times when a person needs to step outside of cultural demands to hear what Jesus has to say. What we learn from him won’t be taken away from us.

We have all had times when pressured to conform to culture. The topic list is huge from race to immigration, religion, politics, how to spend money, what to eat, gender roles, etc. Yet if we want to listen to what Jesus has to say we need to be at times like Mary, a non-conformist. We need to cross the boundary lines so we can listen. What we learn will never be taken away from us. We have Christ and the kingdom.

Peace.

Are you good, neighbor? Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the Good Samaritan is well known even by those who haven’t read from the Bible in a long time. There are “Good Samaritan” laws written for people to stop and help others in need. This parable has had a major impact upon us and our understanding of our neighbor. However, the point isn’t about being a good person. The Samaritan isn’t even called ‘good’ in the parable. The parable begins with a question about inheriting eternal life.

We think that eternal life is about getting up into heaven. This was not what eternal life meant in the lawyers question. Eternal life was about living ones life in God and this was defined by the law. Inheriting eternal life was about living ones life in the new age that is coming in Jesus. So Jesus asked the lawyer about the law and he knew the answer: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Jesus told him to do this and he would live. Then the lawyer wanted clarity on who is the neighbor. Jesus’ answer was given with the parable.

A man was robbed, beaten and left for dead on the roadside. A priest and Levite crossed the road to avoid the man. We aren’t told why. Touching a dead body would have left them unclean and unable to do their duties. Maybe this concern was the reason, we aren’t told. A Samaritan (Samaritans were despised by the Jew and this would intensify the feelings) went over to help the injured man and even provide for his extended care. The Samaritan was willing to cross over and show mercy. He was the neighbor. This is how one lives out life in God; inherit eternal life.

We don’t do a lot of crossing over to show mercy these days and the anger that seems so much a part of society illustrates it. We don’t cross over and show mercy to our opponent because that would show weakness. We don’t cross over with mercy toward those on the other side of the political spectrum because that would be betrayal. We don’t cross over and show mercy to others we look down on otherwise we would see them as equals. Crossing over to show mercy isn’t easy. Eternal life is elusive these days.

How do we live life that is eternal in its quality? How do we live a life that is found in God? Like the lawyer we do know the answer: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. The difficulty is doing it. Life in God is to cross over to the other person and when you get there, show mercy.

As Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”

Peace.

Peace: accepted or rejected Luke 10:1-20

A couple points to consider.

First, are you at peace? This isn’t a trick question. Are you at peace?

Secondly, how does peace relate to your place in the kingdom of God?

Peace seems really in short supply today. The struggle to find peace is ongoing without a whole lot of success. The search for peace leads us to try practices like meditation or something called ‘being in the moment.’ These practices along with others can help us feel more relaxed and push off the stressors in life for a while but when you get cut off in traffic…you are hotly corrected for having the wrong political views…the boss expects more while offering less support…peace disappears. Our struggle for peace continues because we don’t quite understand how to make it happen. Peace doesn’t come by denying reality. Peace doesn’t come by having the biggest army. Peace is a gift and a gift comes through grace. Grace is an expression of kindness, a love that is given without merit or worth. Grace is hard to find in our polarized world. No wonder peace is so rare.

Jesus was sending out seventy followers with the instruction to offer their peace wherever they went. Their peace was directly related to being a part of the kingdom of God. Prior to this, Jesus rebuked James and John for wanting to destroy a Samaritan town with fire from heaven because the village wouldn’t receive them. Jesus was now giving a strongly different idea about being an emissary for the kingdom of God.

Jesus sent out seventy to the surrounding area where he was about to go. The first thing they were to do upon entering a town was to offer their peace. If their peace was rejected, the town wasn’t rejecting them but God. The response was not to destroy the town but to wipe off the dust from their feet. Since God was the one being rejected, God will deal with them.

If their peace was accepted, they were to stay at that home and enjoy the hospitality offered. The seventy were not to move from house to house. In other words, they were not to manipulate and play one home against another for their personal benefit. Rather they were to stay at the one place and receive the homeowners gracious hospitality. Do you know what happens when grace is met by grace? This is where the kingdom of God can be called near and peace is found.

The seventy returned excited over the ways that the kingdom’s presence was evidenced. Jesus commented that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Amazing how something as simple as an offering of peace, an expression of grace can undercut the essence of evil. What Jesus wanted them to celebrate wasn’t witnessing to the evidence of the kingdom but being secure of their place in God’s kingdom.

Does peace seem to be in short supply? Then share your peace. If it is received then both sides will graciously know that the kingdom of God is near. This is truly something to celebrate.

Peace

“Nuke ’em” Luke 9:51-62

When I read the Gospel reading for the first time, “Nuke ‘em” was the first thought that came to mind.

Jesus had sent others ahead and they went to a Samaritan village to set up accommodations. However, they didn’t receive Jesus and followers because his determination was Jerusalem. We are not given much information regarding their motivation to not receive Jesus. We do know that Samaritans and the Jews didn’t get along well. When Israel was conquered as a nation a few hundred years earlier, the Jews who were not deported but allowed to stay intermarried with their captors. Samaritans and Jews were cousins who didn’t get along. The Samaritans were considered dogs by their Jewish cousins. When someone you look down on insults you, the natural response is put them in their place. So, the brothers James and John lived up to their nickname of ‘Sons of Thunder’ and wanted to call down fire from heaven – nuke them.

Our humanity doesn’t look so good these days. It didn’t look that good back then either. Apparently, we haven’t grown in understanding of what it means to be children of God and people of the kingdom.

Have you ever expressed an opinion only to have an opposing one slammed back at you? What is the word being used to describe Middle East tensions? “Obliteration.” What happens when children held in detention are looked down upon as lesser? A toothbrush, bar of soap and a blanket are considered too generous. Nope, our humanity doesn’t shine very brightly these days. So when the disciples wanted fire to destroy the village, Jesus called them on it. There is enough ‘nuke ’em’ talk and death and crosses.

This was not the reason Jesus came. There is enough killing going on without having to participate in it and make it worse. He didn’t come to support or reinforce our ways. His own death on a cross was coming soon. His death and resurrection was to bring about a new creation and establishing the beginning of a different reign, the rule of God. Kingdom of Heaven. Kingdom of God. This is where the focus needs to be placed.

What happens next, are the encounters that Jesus has with others. One Jesus invites to join in with the cause. Another asks to follow along. Jesus’ reaction to them was difficult to hear. Jesus sounds very harsh. He also gives a lesson on how to plow a field.

One person was rather bold in claiming that they will follow Jesus everywhere. Jesus responded, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” In other words, a world that hollers ‘nuke ‘em’…that abuses children… is not a world where he will live in comfort or call home. The person boldly proclaiming to follow Jesus needed to know this upfront.

Jesus invited some to follow him. One had details to clear up first while another needed to tend to their father’s burial. Jesus responded, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Jesus is making a point. This world is obsessed with death and abuse and crosses and ‘nuke ‘em.’ The kingdom of God Jesus showed us is about mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness, justice and resurrection. These are the characteristics that foster life. Go be obsessed with these things instead.

Jesus finishes with a word about plowing and the kingdom of God. A person plowing focuses their attention on a tree or large rock. If you don’t make that your focus and look all over then you’ll end up with a furrow that is all over the place. If you are going to be a part of the kingdom, then your focus needs to be on what is up ahead. The kingdom of God which Christ is bringing is about life that is filled with the resurrection. It is about life.

There is more than enough “nuke em” in this world. More than enough crosses. More than enough death. Jesus tells us to put our focus in a different direction – the kingdom of God. The kingdom which is about life. You know it is present because you see mercy and grace and forgiveness and justice and resurrection. These are characteristics that bring life. This is where we need to be.

Peace.

Anti Healing?? Luke 8:26-39

Something going on in this reading doesn’t make sense…or does it? A man is possessed by a ‘Legion’ of demons. He is chained, naked and living in the tombs of a cemetery. When Jesus casts out the demons, the man is clothed and in his right mind. The Legion of demons possess a nearby herd of pigs who run off a steep bank to drown in the water below. The local folk are angry and want Jesus to leave. Why? Why would they be so anti-healing?

Were the people angry about the financial losses from the drowned pigs? Nope. They didn’t even ask Jesus for some form of repayment.

Why couldn’t they celebrate the man’s good fortune of no longer being chained and naked? Why couldn’t they be happy for the man now rid of the demons and in his right mind? Why the anger? Jesus took away their scapegoat. As long as they could use the man as the focus of the unclean for their community, life in denial was good. Jesus took that focus away and now they would be like the pigs running head long to their own destruction.

Think about all the people we call evil. Think of all the people we put as the focus of what is unclean. The list is endless: immigrants, liberals, conservatives, Iran, the poor, the rich, etc. When one is removed from the list, another is simply plugged in. Unfortunately we also keep Christ at a distance and stay in the old ways that get in the way of healing.

Christ is our healing. He is the healing of the nations. His power is above the ‘Legion’ which was what a Roman 6000 unit of soldiers was called. He casts out the demonic that keeps us all in chains. He brings sanity to our culture.

So when it comes to Jesus what is our response? Will it be anger? Will it be courage to seek his healing? Will it be a continuation of seeing our uncleanness focused upon another and another and another? Will it be healing for our community, nation and world leaving us clothed and in our right minds as children of God?

Peace.