God is like a hot-tempered, revenge focused king. Really??

Matthew 22:1-14

God gets compared to a lot of things, most of them are poor comparisons. We like to twist God into being more like us rather than the other way around. So when the parable given by Jesus in Matthew is read, the immediate result might be to cringe in fear. Jesus began by saying that the kingdom of heaven might be compared to a king who held a wedding party for his son. The honored guests snubbed the invitation and didn’t show up. The king obviously was embarrassed and publicly shamed. So, in a vengeful rage, the king lashed out having those guests killed and their cities destroyed. He then invited any who would come and celebrate his son’s wedding. One person arrived inappropriately dressed unsure of the event. The king again lashed out and had the person bound and thrown into a place of utter darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. The king sounds like a petty, thin-skinned person of power of whom the world is very familiar. But is the kingdom of heaven really like this? Hardly.

Jesus modeled and taught what the kingdom of heaven was like for us to live. The kingdom of heaven is a place where justice is lived out between people. It is a place where truth is shared instead of lies. It is where the hard work of peace is preferred over war. It is where the dignity of the poor is lifted up while the haughty are brought down. The kingdom of heaven is a total contradiction to the behavior of the parable’s king. Comparisons aren’t always used to highlight similarities; they can also be used to highlight contradictions.

So how does the kingdom of heaven compare to a petty king? What they share in common is the reaction of the people to both. The wedding invitees made fun of the king’s invite and put personal business as a higher priority. Jesus has invited us to live out the ways of God’s kingdom and our responses aren’t all that different from the king’s invitees. The response of the people is how the two compare.

Jesus concluded the parable saying, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” The reality is that we are all invited to live lives as part of the kingdom of heaven, but few of us do. The few who do are welcomed as the blessed of God.

Peace

A Word We Need Hear John 1:1-18

I love the snow. Folks look at me as though this is strange. The answer I usually give to their question “WHY?” is a simple “No allergies and no mosquitoes.” This response generally satisfies their question. This morning my love for the snow grows deeper for what it tells us. Where I live, the morning was greeted with a fresh covering of snow. The drab brown of dead grass and bare branches gave way to to a coating of white. The vision out the widow was simply, beautiful. A nice, fresh coating to start a new 2021 from a death filled and compassion barren 2020 was welcomed.

The opening verses from the Gospel of John are high Christology which tell us so much about Jesus Christ. Last week his birth was celebrated and today the reality of his coming has been described to us. The Word, the powerful expression of God has come to be with us. The living Word who brought creation into existence and to whom we owe our life has come to us. If we have any doubts about the nature of God, all we need to do is look upon Jesus and we’ll know the answer. The birth of Jesus means we are blessed in ways we truly cannot fully understand. God has come to be with us. This is grace upon grace.

The sadness of the reading is that we have been so blessed and we reject it. God has come to make beauty known and we refuse to see it. This is our darkness. Those who deny Christ are not those with a different political perspective. They aren’t those we condemn to make ourselves feel better or look more spiritual. The reading says the world did not recognize him and that means all of us. Grace and beauty have come in revealing God to us all and we collectively say, “No thanks.” We have chosen to live in the darkness we have made.

The reading from the Gospel of John isn’t about us. It is about the Word of God having come to live with us. We have been and continue to be blessed because of Jesus Christ. A new year began with the beauty of snow covering the drab brown of last year. The year, 2021, begins with the blessing of light that shines in our darkness. God has chosen to reveal himself to us in the Word, Jesus. Seeing the light for the blessing that it is, means we have the honour to be called a child of God. The year, 2020, was a difficult year but look at Jesus Christ and know that you have been blessed. Grace has come to 2021.

Peace.

Mary And The Call From God Luke 1:26-38

We have all heard the warning that if something is too good to be true it likely is untrue. Who hasn’t received an unsolicited email that immediately causes our doubts to flare up about its honesty? When greeted with, “Now, aren’t you the lucky one,” the desire is to head off in the other direction because we know that such greetings have a catch to them. Now don’t get me wrong, hearing good news is fabulous. However, the experience of life is that this good news doesn’t always come easily.

The angel, Gabriel, came to Mary with the announcement

Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.
Luke 1:28

The idea of being looked upon with favour in the eyes of God would be a blessing for anyone. Unfortunately, we assume that this will mean blessings as determined by this world: riches, power, success in business, celebrity status, etc. The prophets were favoured by God and they spoke with tears of sadness telling the people what was to come upon them. They were despised and killed by those not liking their message. The favoured of God needed to leave everything behind to travel to a land they did not know beforehand. The favoured of God wandered in a wilderness facing thirst and hunger for forty years. Being favoured by God is to know that the kingdom of heaven is on its way to us from the Lord. We need to remember that this kingdom that is coming from God is not of this world.

Mary was called by Gabriel as the favoured one of God and that the Lord was with her. She was invited to be a participant in the Lord establishing the kingdom. This was absolutely a reason to be blessed. Yet, her pregnancy would invite the shame of her community and culture. How would Joseph respond? Mary was told,

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
Luke 1:33

This means that a revolution was about to take place and they are bloody affairs. Mary heard the message that she was ‘favoured’ and that the Lord was with her. This was not going to be easy. Her response was to count her in,

Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.
Luke 1:38

This is the last Sunday in Advent and we are blessed to hear with anticipation the amazing news of what God was doing through the birth of Jesus to bring his kingdom to us. We are invited to welcome and participate in this blessing. The world is dealing with the politicization of a pandemic and people are dying. The land is facing power grabs with law suits and disinformation (lies). This is not how the kingdom of heaven functions over which Christ will reign without end. May we all have the courage to join with Mary as the blessed of the Lord saying, “let it be with me according to your word.”

Peace.

Being Welcomed Matthew 10:40-42

When was the last time you felt welcome from others? It may have been a while. These days of polarization have made the concept of welcoming seem rather rare. Yet, the invitation to join a group, an organization, a family, a club gives the feeling of acceptance and that is a blessing. So as we turn to the reading for this coming Sunday, blessing is the order for the day.

The reading is a continuation of the past couple weeks. Jesus had been prepping the disciples to go out and tell the world of God who loves it. The act of telling about a kingdom where the hungry were fed, the sick receive healing care and the outcast received was to be their new identity in life. What were they going to receive from announcing this wonderful message? They were going to be prosecuted, persecuted and divided against family. There are times when families don’t always get along with each other and those times aren’t good. What Jesus was describing was even worse. In those days a person’s identity wasn’t defined by individuality, it was defined by community, your family. Separated from the family meant you lost what defined you. Jesus was sending them out and they were at risk of losing everything this world offers. Jesus now turns to speak words of blessing and welcome.

Jesus said to them,

Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Matthew 10:40

Remember the importance of community? The “you” is not singular, it is plural. Jesus was saying that those who receive one of the disciples wasn’t accepting only the person but the whole community of those following Christ. To put it another way, the disciples were already a part of a community and that was the followers of Christ and members of God’s kingdom. Even a cup of cool water offered on a hot day to a disciple was an act of welcoming Christ, the kingdom and finding a new identity in Christ.

These days of polarization may leave you (singular) on the outside and feeling very much alone. Daring to speak of welcome and grace in the name of Christ may even leave you feeling more so. This is where Jesus’ words are such a blessing. There is a community that finds its identity in Christ. You are a part of that community. Anyone who welcomes you (plural), welcomes that community to define them well. You may feel isolated but you are not, you are a part of the kingdom (family) of God. This is a blessing.

Peace.

Blessings Matthew 5:1-12

If you ask people what a blessed life looks like, you would get a perspective of life that is going well. A person will say they are blessed because they enjoy good health. Another will cite family and speak of them being a blessing. Still another could describe living in a good neighborhood where they feel safe is a blessing. So blessings in a way are about the parts of life that work well and bring us joy. We direct our thankfulness toward God as the giver of such blessings. So as we read from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we get a different perspective on blessings. What Jesus calls a blessing, leaves us scratching our heads because they don’t fit on our list.

Jesus taught that the blessed are: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the merciful, those hungering and persecuted for righteousness, etc. How can this be? Well, we can try to rationalize his words and make them fit our world. We might say that their suffering will change and become a blessing when they get their act together but Jesus didn’t say this. Or that God sent this suffering as a way of testing and that blessing will come in the future. Jesus didn’t say this. We might pass this off as a future event, as being blessed someday in heaven but Jesus didn’t say this. He said, “Blessed are…” meaning the blessings are now in the present. So how do we reconcile Jesus’ view of blessings and our own? We don’t.

The verses just before this tell of Jesus gathering disciples and preaching the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” His call is for life to be turned around and taken in a different direction. A new way of understanding the world from God’s perspective has been brought near in Jesus. So how does this work? Well, the kingdom of heaven doesn’t belong to those parading the power of faith for all to see. Instead, the kingdom of heaven belongs to those willing to admit the poverty of their faith. Those that struggle for peace when ‘might is right’ seems to be the dominate belief, are the ones blessed to be called children of God. Those insulted and persecuted for speaking truth in the face of power toward the pursuit of justice, walk in the same path as Jesus and the prophets of old. The kingdom of heaven is also theirs.

So what does it mean to be blessed? One perspective is to have life go well. Jesus’ teaching of blessing is to conform our lives to God’s perspective which he lived out for us to see. The two don’t always mix together well. So how do we transform our understanding of blessing? The prophet Micah gives us a start in the companion reading (Micah 6:1-8). “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Peace.

A Jesus Kind of Radical Luke 6:27-38

If you wanted to be a radical that really wanted to change things, whether it be in your church or community or even the world, what steps would you begin to take?

Would you start a blog to refute ‘fake news’ or what you consider to be ‘fake news?’

Would you grab a sign and join in with others to form a protest march?

Would you become politically active to support the candidates that share your views of how the world should function?

Jesus gave some radical ideas from this reading out of Luke. The type of ideas that are guaranteed to get push back. Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” But if we do this, who will we hate? Who will we demonize and use to scare others into following our political views?

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is a wimpy idea. How are we ever going to end up on top if we are looking out for the benefit of others?

Jesus said, “Do not judge.” This is ridiculous. How are we ever going to feel superior to others if we don’t judge them as lesser? How can we justify the lousy ways we treat others if we don’t first judge them worthy of such treatment? How can we be confident of our salvation if we don’t judge other certain for damnation?

Jesus’ words in Luke seem so ridiculous. They are too far out on the fringe. They are too radical to be taken seriously in the world and how it works. This is precisely the point. Jesus is speaking about the reign and the coming rule of the kingdom of God. The ways of God require the endless cycle of hate and abuse and manipulation, etc come to an end. Jesus didn’t come to bless what we bless but came to redeem and make all things new in the resurrection.

So Jesus is inviting us to be radicals for the kingdom of God. It sounds impossible but he isn’t let us off the hook. If we long and hunger for the reign of God to be over us, then we need to be Jesus kind of radicals. In the end we are promised that life will be known that is truly overflowing. The measure of life we grant to others is the measure of life we’ll receive in return.

Peace.

Blessings and Woes Luke 6:17-26

When talking about being blessed, what comes to mind? Don’t we usually default to what is normally defined by blessing in the world? Normally, blessing involves having big numbers in the checking account at the bank. Blessing is being free from much of life’s trials and struggles – life goes easy. Blessings are what we call all of our friends and family. This is what we consider being blessed.

So we come to the words of Jesus and we are confused because he says just the opposite. He is teaching that blessed are the poor, those who mourn and weep as well as those persecuted because of him. Furthermore, Jesus announces ‘woes’ to those who are rich, happy and regarded with a good reputation by lots of people. Jesus is obviously out of sync with what the world values and we so often define as being the blessed by God.

This reading is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. What makes Luke’s version different is that Jesus comes down to the level plane. He isn’t sitting like a teacher on a hill as a teacher did instructing the students. He came down to the level plane to share with us in the flesh. He came down to stare directly face to face with our humanity and our reality. The good news of the incarnation is that God has not abandoned us in our sin and death but has come to us in Christ Jesus to bring us salvation and the resurrection.

What is important to notice is that Jesus didn’t speak these Beatitudes to the crowds amazed by the healing and casting out of their demons. Jesus was looking at the disciples. He was directing these words to the church. The people of the kingdom. Those who take to heart his ministry which he announced as good news to the poor and release to the captives and of the year of the Lord’s favor which emphasized forgiveness of debts and a rebooting of economic structures. Blessed are those concerned with the kingdom’s presence.

Blessed are the poor for they will know the fullness of the kingdom.

Blessed are those who mourn and weep over the lies and killing and race baiting and hate etc. because they long for the kingdom to be realized by all.

Blessed are those who speak like the prophet of old to the kings of old of the injustice and the trampling of the poor that defined their rule.

Blessed are those devoted to the kingdom. Blessed are those longing for the salvation that only Christ brings. Blessed are those seeking the new life of Christ’s resurrection to be known by all of creation.

Have a blessed day.

Peace.

What were they thinking? Luke 4:14-21

This has been called by many as Jesus’ inauguration speech. He is setting the stage for what his work and ministry will be in the future. He was in the synagogue and reads from the prophet Isaiah about good news preached to the poor and freedom to the prisoners and the recovery of sight to the blind and release of the captives and the year of the Lord’s favor. As the eyes of all were fixed on Jesus, he announced that this Scripture was fulfilled in their hearing of it.

Their eyes were fixed on Jesus but I wonder if they were thinking this was good news for them. I am wondering if we also look at the same reading as good news for today? After all, what do we think about when the idea of the coming of the Lord is talked about? Don’t we think about blessing. The Lord will bless us and the blessing is defined as keeping our positions of power and control in society. We think about wealth. We think about maintaining what is or a possible return to an idealized glory of the past. We think we know what the coming of the Lord will be like but the Lord’s thinking is not always in tune with ours.

The Scripture Jesus read was nothing less than the rebooting of society. The year of the Lord’s favor (Jubilee) was the cancellation of debts and return of even the land to previous owners. The poor and imprisoned are no longer under the boot of the powerful. This is the Lord’s way of bringing blessing to society.

Now those present spoke well of Jesus. In other words they were trying to get on his good side and graces. However, Jesus told of how God’s graces reached out to a poor Gentile widow and Naaman the Syrian, not to Israel. They were enraged and tried to throw Jesus off a nearby cliff to kill him. Jesus didn’t fit with their thinking of blessing.

Jesus announced the start of his ministry by reading from Scripture of the rebooting of society. The rich are brought down with the poor raised up. All debts are cancelled. This is how society will be blessed in his ministry. What do you think about this?

Peace