Divisions

 Luke 12:49-56   Pentecost 10

 The Old Testament Lesson from Jeremiah 23 is all about false prophets in Israel during the time of the Babylonian conquest.  Jesus talks about divisions.

He said he came to bring fire – judgment and purification.

He said that he had a baptism with which to be baptized – His dying – which He would hasten.

He said that He came to bring division instead of Peace

   Wait.  What?

   Yes, He said it, according to Luke.

 It is a literary technique.    Hyperbole of purpose.

He did not come to bring division instead of Peace, this Prince of Peace.

   He came to bring the truth – as the prophets did long ago.

   He came to bring God’s Will to bear on earth as in heaven.

   He came to bring in Kingdom values in the face of the worldly ones of empire.

   He came to bring Good News to the most downtrodden, vulnerable in society hurt by empire.

He KNEW it would mean division.

He KNEW IT from history, from human nature and from logic.

   Many people did not want to hear the truth of God.

   Their ears itched for hearing what they wanted to hear.

   Their minds were fixed on the things of empire.

   Their hearts were far from God and God’s Way for them.

   They blew with every wind of doctrine that sounded good to them.

        Like Prosperity Theology, Personal Salvation Theology, Church Growth Theology…

        Like that Christians are OK to hate, if it’s the right people.

        Like the precepts, protocols and doctrines of humans outweigh the teachings of Jesus in the Word.

        Like our, particular way of doing things is what this is all about,

           Or building up the institution

           Or pleasing people

                Rather than being faithful to God’s Will and being a movement of love in order to change the world.

   Their hearts and minds were far from God.

Jesus KNEW that sharing His Good News would not be popular with many…

      The traditionalists, the empire elites, those in power and with wealth…

      Jesus KNEW that it would divide the people

          And it still does!

The False Teachers are so slick, so smooth, so well-rehearsed and polished…

     That people have bought their false teachings and prophecies, hook line and sinker

     Like during the time of Jeremiah with Hananiah the false prophet, among others

         God’s Word was not a popular one, so the sheep, I mean people, elected what was comfortable to them

             Instead of the TRUTH of God.

And so it would be and still is the with Gospel of Jesus

    The message of Agape Love instead of wealth, power, status and hatred is a hard sell.

        We like to think we can be good with God and get wealthy at the expense of others.

        We like to believe that we can gain power in order to exploit others and hold them down

        We like to adopt a false belief that we are somehow superior to “those people”, whoever they are

        We like the idea that we can hate, if it is the right people, believing that God hates them too.

But that meddling Jesus and His Good News will not allow it, any of it.

   So, we come up with our own interpretations, our own false teachers, our own embedded theologies

        And we silence or eliminate anyone who dares to challenge them,

        All while claiming to be faithful to Jesus.

And there is, quite naturally, division.

Denominations, ideologies, parties, factions, dissent… all of it is true.  Inside the church and outside it.

Jesus knew what it would bring.

But it is the truth of God.

Sisters and brothers, we cannot follow Jesus AND the ways of Empire that divide, bring to despair, destroy.

    Jesus’ Way is the Way of Agape Love for ALL and Shalom for ALL.

It was and IS time to CHOOSE – the false teachings or the Way of Jesus.

    The false way leads us to comfort, false superiority, false security and a lot of worldly benefits.

   Jesus’ way leads to, to self-sacrifice, to lessening self for the sake of other, even to the Cross.

    But it leads us to Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

 As Jesus also said, you see the signs coming, don’t you?

You see the dark skies and the scorching heat, right?

You see a storm brewing in the country and the world, right?

   There ARE divisions, because Jesus has dared to share the Truth in the face of the Lies.

So, the comfortable lies of empire or the uncomfortable truth of God?

Which will you choose?

Treasure

 Luke 12:32-40 Pentecost IX

It gives God pleasure to give us the Kin-dom.

What we treasure is in our hearts.  Like last week's lesson, we hear that it should not be wealth that we treasure but sharing with those in community who need well-being in their lives.  Treasuring people and the relationships we have with them toward their well-being is heavenly treasure.  

And like the Rich Fool who did not know when his life would be required, so it is with Jesus' coming.  We do not know the day or hour, and should be prepared at all times, ready to go and watching for Jesus to come to us.

God loves to include us in the Kin-dom.  We exclude ourselves when we live values other than those of God's Kin-dom.  We must be aware of what is in our hearts.  We must treasure the things that God treasures.  God treasures the creation and humanity.  We must treasure the creation and humanity.  God treasures justice and peace, love and joy, and God treasures Shalom for all.  We exclude ourselves from participation in the Kin-dom here and now, when we do not treasure those things in our hearts and lift them up with our lives.  We evidently exclude ourselves from participation in the Kin-dom then, when we treasure the wrong things as well.  

God would love to include us in the Kin-dom now, and its mission to bring about Shalom (completeness, wholeness and well-being) for all creation.  God would love to include us in the Kin-dom then for having thus participated in the Kin-dom now.  

This is not something to put off until later.  It is not something to get around to in the future.  It is about what we treasure in our hearts, here and now, and what we are doing because we treasure it.  When we treasure more wealth, power and status for ourselves, we are treasuring the things of empire and not of God. When we treasure only our "salvation", then we are saying that saving others' lives from trauma, unmet needs, brokenness and despair are not what we treasure, but only ourselves.  That is the opposite of God's Will for Shalom for all people.  When we treasure only "saving souls" and we ignore the plight of those who struggle to survive in this part of God's Kin-dom, here and now, we are saying that we do not treasure what God treasures.  

We say that Jesus is coming to judge the living and the dead.  Jesus said that we should always be ready for that coming, because we do not know when it will take place.  I pray that for that day more earnestly on some days than on others, frankly.  

Where is your treasure?  Therein lies your heart.  Your heart that is meant to love God with all that you have and love your Neighbor as yourself.  Your heart that belongs to God and Neighbor.  Your heart that is full of light or darkness, love or apathy or hatred.  

We know where the treasure of empire is, and we know from Jesus' teachings, commands and examples where the treasure of the Kin-dom lies.  Where is your treasure and where is, therefore, your heart?  

The question is a "right here and now" question.  For we live in THIS PART of God's Kin-dom, here and now.

Ready or not, here Jesus comes.  He comes to you here and now, in this Gospel lesson, in the Holy Spirit's whispers and shouts, in the things that you see on TV and hear on the radio, in your mind and in your heart daily.  Jesus is speaking to you here and now.  Be ready to hear it, take it in and apply it to your life right here and now.  Don't put this off.  Are you listening?  Where is your treasure?  In that is your heart.  Is it in alignment with the Kin-dom of God, right here and now?  

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  Is it with God?  Is it with Neighbor?

"Enough is Enough" as an act of Faith

 

Pentecost VIII    John 12:13-21

 Jesus was asked to arbitrate in a financial disagreement between brothers.

He warned them about all manner of Greed and added, “For one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

He then told them the parable of the Rich Fool, who had so much he didn’t have room enough for it all, so he built bigger barns to keep for himself even more than he could ever need.  Rather than share, he hoarded it all for himself.  He failed his community and people around him to keep and obtain more for himself alone.

God addressed the fool in the parable, telling him that his whole orientation toward greed in life was meaningless, and that it kept him from treasuring the things of God.  And then he would die, and what was his life all about?

Jesus then taught his disciples about letting go of anxiety over having our needs met.  He said that worry only ruins our current moments and does not bring anything better.  He told them that the creation exists because God provides, and that humanity is most beloved by God, so we should have faith that God will provide.  He warned them that it is the world that strives for more than what we need.  That is not a Kingdom value.  We are to strive for the Kingdom, and all our needs will be provided.

Greed is a core value of empire and that against which Jesus taught and showed us how to live.  Greed is insidious.  It is a sickness.  It is an insatiable addiction to more, always more.  No matter how much one has, there is more out there, so he/she/they must have more.  There is no real satisfaction or contentment with Greed, for it is not about things being enough or good enough with contentment or satisfaction – there is more and better out there, and fools must have it.  Likewise, there is no real thankfulness or gratitude with Greed, for it is not about what one already has, but rather about what more one wants.  Greed is therefore a sin against God.

Greed is also a sin against Neighbor.  It makes folk hoard and accumulate more finite resources than they will ever need, way beyond enough, while others go without what they need, and to exploit others to get more or find ways to steal it outright.  Greed drives divisions of class and makes it impossible for some to even survive in this world, creating systems designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many, who barely make enough to live, and certainly not enough on which to thrive.

Jesus loved those to whom He spoke.  He did not want them to be acquisitive addicts or the victims of them.  He talked about letting go of the anxieties that produce such greed and embracing a trust in God to provide and a trust in humanity to share enough so that all have enough of what we need.  Jesus taught us to trust that enough is enough, and for that we can be grateful and satisfied, rather than driven by our anxieties to always have more or better, which is not faith in God or God’s provision.  Jesus gave the example of the rich fool so that folk will not come to the end of their lives and have accumulated wealth and possessions and find themselves empty in the end because they treasured the wrong things in life.

In 15 years of hospice chaplaincy and bereavement support, having sat with perhaps well over a hundred people just before or at their deaths, I can tell you that not ONE voiced regret over not having made more money or accumulated more things.  They voiced regrets over how they treated others, how distant they were from loved ones, how there were experiences they never got to have with those they loved and how they wished they had made more of a difference in others’ lives, but not one said they regreted not accumulating more wealth or possessions.  One of my most important tasks with them was to help them and their family members avoid regrets as much as possible, to perhaps heal relationships with some peaceful resolution, to assure folks that their lives have had meaning, and that God is loving and gracious and would receive them.

I believe Jesus is here giving us this message of love to help us avoid regrets in the end as well.  What is most important in life?  To God? To us?  Are they the same?

Thoughts and Prayers

 

Luke 11:1-13    Pentecost VII

 

Jesus teaches us HOW to pray.

It is concise.

It is focused.

It is supplicative.

It is relevant to daily life with God and Neighbor.

 When we address God, we recognize that God is Holy, set apart, even wholly other than are we.  We come humbly before God, recognizing who God is and that we ain't God.

We pray to God in supplication, humbling ourselves in communication with God.  We come to the source of life, of love, of joy, of peace and we ask.  We do not demand of God.  We ask God.

We recognize God’s Sovereignty, authority in our lives, even as we ask God to usher in God’s Kin-dom (on earth as it is in heaven), that we may live as God Wills it, completely obedient to God, as does the heavenly host.  We are praying that God’s Justice will prevail in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now, as it is in that part of God’s Kin-dom forever.  We are praying for justice to be done here, too, and that we will be people of justice, God’s justice on earth as in heaven, an equal justice for all people because God loves all people.  We are asking that we will submit to God's will so completely that we are living in alignment with God's Kin-dom here, as it is completely lived in heaven.  We recognize that God's Way is a better way for us and for all people, so we submit our lives to God's Will.  We are compelled to ACT on behalf of others in this part of the Kin-dom out of a sense of God's Justice.

We ask for our daily needs to be met, for enough.  It is daily bread, like the manna from heaven and like that sustenance which daily laborers rely upon for their families’ needs every day.  We are asking for enough upon which to live and thrive.  We are not asking for more than we need, for we trust the Lord in providing us with enough and we trust in “enough.”  We are asking to be satisfied also with enough so that we do not sin against others because we take more than we could ever need while they go without.  We are asking for the kind of faith in God that knows we will have enough because ALL have enough in the world around us, the kind of faith in God that drives us to live God's generosity with others, for the prayer is about giving US our daily needs and not ME only, all my desires.

We ask God to forgive our sins as we forgive everyone indebted to us.  Please God, if we do not forgive the debts of others, please do not forgive us.  As I want to be forgiven, please make me forgiving.  As you forgive my debts, please make me forgiving of others, and if I refuse to do so, then please do not forgive me.  Help me to value forgiveness itself as an act of Agape Love, both being forgiven and being forgiving.  For if I do not value both, I do not value my Lord and His forgiveness fully.  

We ask God not to bring us to the time of trial, or to be tempted (but to deliver us from evil).  We get ourselves into temptations quite adequately enough, and to be tested might mean that we are not ready.  We ask God that we be spared from that, and that God would act to preserve us from evil, not just evil done to us, but evil that we might do when we are tempted or tested.  Keep us from failing to keep from being evil in the world.  Help us to choose what is good and right, what is faithful to God with our Neighbors, Jesus, as you define our neighbors.  

It is, throughout, an US prayer for supplication.  It is not about ME alone with Jesus.  It is meant to be a prayer for the sake of ALL people and not just for some or for ME.  It is meant to change US, each of us and all of us together.  Prayer is meant to change US and how we live in this world.

And, of course, added later by the church – “For Thine is the Kin-dom and the Power and the Glory, forever.”  It is God’s.  God is sovereign.  We are good to remember that this is not OUR Kin-dom, but that God is Sovereign and it is God’s Will that matters.  We are good to remember that it is not about US having Power, but all about God’s Power to do good, because God is all about the good.  We are good to remember that this is not about OUR Glory, but God’s Glory, lived out it in how God’s children are edified in the world by those who claim to be faithful to God.

Jesus went on to teach about being persistent in our supplications before God.  That God will (eventually) listen and that we will get what we need when we need it.

Jesus then taught about how we should Ask, trusting that we will be given what we need, that we should seek answers and they will be found, and that we should knock and the door will be opened to us.

Jesus ended this lesson on pointing out that good earthly parents provide and protect their children, that earthly parents are imperfect but God is perfect and gives the Holy Spirit to guide us to what we need in Christ Jesus our Lord, the one who points to how to live faithfully in God’s Kin-dom.

 I believe that prayer changes things.  I do believe in that power of prayer.  I believe that God listens, and that we are changed in the communication, the recognition of Who God is and God’s Will, and in our agreement with God in how to live faithfully what Jesus has taught us to live in the world.  I believe in this prayer as a model for all other prayers.

Let us pray…

Mary chose the better part. Will we?

 

Luke 10:38-42   Pentecost VI

 

Jesus showed great openness and respect toward women.  They provided for Him along the way, but Jesus shows interest in them as disciples, sharing the Good News with them, talking with them, healing them, including them and making them examples of faithfulness for His other disciples.

 Here, Jesus is at the home of Martha.  It was common for Jesus and His disciples to stay in people’s homes, eat their food and bless them with the Good News, healing and wholeness.  Martha’s sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet as a disciple.  She was learning the Good News of the Kin-dom.  Martha was distracted from the Good News by many tasks in her home, and complained to Jesus that Mary was not upholding the social mores of household tasks assigned to women as Martha was, but was sitting at Jesus’ feet as a disciple.  Jesus gently rebuked her and pointed out that there is only ONE most important thing – the Good News of the Kin-dom of God.  Mary had chosen wisely the better part, and it would not fail her.

 It seems to me that men have done great harm to women over the centuries.  Failing to see their equality of gifts and perspectives, treating them as objects for male pleasure, reducing them to subservience in life and holding them down, back and out by not giving equal consideration, respect or pay continues on in this part of the history of humanity.  I was raised to be one of those men, and I confess that it took me far too long to realize the errors of that way.

 It also seems to me that women have sometimes bought into their own subservience, and that when some women are empowered others work to pull them back down to a less equal role.  Even women who rise in the ranks of formerly male-dominated fields such as business and politics look with some contempt on other women who work toward equality and equitable recognition and renumeration, along with equal rights.  They even work against other women getting equal and civil rights, equality of respect and pay.  And there are some who falsely believe themselves superior because of their race, ethnicity or culture of origin.  They have learned that well from the purveyors of bigotry. 

 The church that bears Jesus’ name has done a disservice to women for generations as well.  Refusing to ordain, relegating women to auxiliary functions, using their hands and hearts for service while ignoring their minds and leadership qualities, the church has ignored the very people who have been more faithful than the men who disregard them in the church.  The church did not learn that from Jesus.

 Rabbi Jesus did not disregard or disrespect women.  He broke Sabbath and rabbinical laws to engage with women, taught and healed them, raised them as examples of faithfulness and called them to discipleship.  And women were there for Him.  They hosted Him, followed Him, helped Him and did not abandon Him when all the other disciples did.  Women were then the first witnesses of His resurrection, because they went to serve Him out of loving devotion, even after His death. 

 Mary had chosen the better part.  She belonged as a disciple among disciples.  There was need of only one thing, and Mary recognized that.  It will never be taken away from her or any women (or men) who make the Good News of Jesus their priority in life.  Jesus in Luke makes Mary an example for other women who would be His disciples, no less than the men.

 When will we learn the Agape Love of Jesus and commit it to how we live our lives in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now?  When will we actively commit our lives to the well-being of those especially vulnerable in our society, as women and children have always been, and work to bring Shalom to all people, equally?  When?  Are WE at the feet of Jesus, learning His Good News of Agape Love, or are we distracted by many other things?

"Go and do likewise."

Luke 10:25-37 is the lectionary Gospel text for Pentecost V.

Sometimes the meaning of a word is just its meaning, and it is consistently used to mean the same thing.  The Gospel writers used very specific words often to convey the message of Jesus.  agaph is a word that is used very often, in fact, most often regarding love in the Gospels.  The word means love, but a specific love that is distinct from the other three Koine words used for love.  agaph is not a feeling.  It is active commitment, committed action.  It is not about receiving in any way, but is rather all about the object, the other.  It has in its definition an element of self-sacrifice and it is unconditional by nature.  It is intended to be given freely to strangers and enemies, and especially to those who are most vulnerable among us.  It is a command of Jesus, perhaps you could say “THE Command of Jesus.” 

How can a single word encapsulate all that meaning?  It is in its usage that we come to understand what Jesus commands in the living of agaph in the world.  There are many passages in the Gospels that collectively define the action of living agaph. This passage from Luke (see also Matthew 22:31-46 and Mark 12:28-34) offers Jesus’ reiteration of the Torah in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as common knowledge among the people of God’s expectation on love and life.  When the Gospel writer shares a challenge for definition on who Neighbor is, Jesus answers with the story of the Good Samaritan.  The fellow Israelite priest and Levite failed to live the law of God with one who was one of them.  It was the Samaritan, at best a rival and most commonly considered an enemy, and certainly a stranger who was the example of faithfulness to the extremely vulnerable person in front of him.

He had compassion.  He went out of his way to help the stranger/enemy.  He went the extra mile, even to self-sacrifice to do so.  He did not do the least he could, but rather came back to offer more.  He showed mercy to one who was a stranger and perhaps enemy in his vulnerable state.  Jesus made the Samaritan the example of faithfulness for Israelites in the story.  Jesus told His followers, “Go and do likewise.” 

THIS is the meaning of agaph. THIS is what is commanded by Jesus in order for us to be faithful to God.  It is not thoughts and prayers.  It is not conditional.  It is not only done when it is convenient or does not mean any sacrifice for us.  The agaph that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us is active commitment/committed action on the behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy, and especially the most vulnerable among us. 

It is our command.  If we want the world to be a better place, and if we want to be faithful to Jesus, THIS is our command.  If everyone were to live by this agaph code of Jesus, the world would be transformed.  Life would be sustainable for all, because if all give selflessly, all receive equally.  It is Jesus’ command.  THIS is God’s Kingdom come and God’s Will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  THIS is the center of the Good News of Jesus.  Regardless of a person being one of “us” or being “worthy” or being a “Christian” or anything else, if a person in front of us is in need we are to do likewise.  It is not about us, but about them.  It IS about us being faithful to Jesus.  It IS about us living as Neighbor out of faithfulness to God.  But this living of agaph is about us transforming the world by loving the other, actively and unconditionally, even when it means some sacrifice on our behalf. 

The word is defined in its lived context in the Gospels.  WE are defined in whether or not we live what we are commanded by one we call LORD.  The Samaritan lived active commitment/took committed action on behalf of the other who was stranger and enemy, and who was vulnerable in front of him. 

Do you hear Him?  Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”

We must do what it takes.

 

Luke 10:1-20 is the Gospel Lectionary text for Pentecost IV.

 

The Message and Movement of Agape Love has got to be put out there.  The false teachings of who Jesus is and what Jesus is about permeate our society.  American Civil Religion has all but swallowed up Christianity in our nation.  What the Temple Cult leaders did to God’s Will and God’s Word in the First Century was much the same.  They turned it into a tool for manipulation of God’s people in order that they might gain more power, wealth and status.  They abused people with their power and stirred up hatreds in order that they might have more of it.  They used their positions of leadership to line their own pockets and keep influence with empire’s elite.  They represented empire instead of God.

 

Today’s evangelicals in America have been doing the same thing since 1981, when they got into bed with the political “right.”  As America has become empire in the world, the right-wing church leaders have twisted even the Gospel to make it reflect the values of empire and have twisted the idea of Jesus in the minds of many to support their false claims of “superiority”, entitlement and privilege.  So, Jesus sends us out.

 

And when we go out, we are to recognize that it is dangerous.  They will stop at nothing to silence the real Gospel of Agape Love, because it does not serve them and their purposes.  They will dismiss and then confront, ignore and then attack.  When we go out with a message and ideology of love for the other, we are sheep among wolves, for they are well practiced at their ruthless pursuit of more for themselves. 

 

We go out into homes.  Most of the churches have been institutionalized to represent empire on one level or another.  They exhibit the values of greed, lust for power and desire for status that is empire ideology, and they aim their hatreds at others in order to scapegoat them for any lack of them having what they want.  We go with just ourselves.  We give the Good News of Jesus upon which the world relies for a return to sanity, and we receive having our needs met.  Our value necessarily must counter the values of empire.  We must embody the generosity, sharing of power and value for equal value of all people that is the Good News of Agape Love.  We must not be hateful.  We must confront evil, name it and expose it, but we must proclaim Shalom to those who we meet, for it is the Way of Shalom which is the Way of Jesus.

 

If we are rejected, we simply let them know that the Kingdom has come near and we leave, not taking anything from them with us.  For the ideology of empire has twisted minds and hearts so much that to stay and debate is a waste of time.  Some will get the Way of Jesus in Agape Love toward Shalom for All People, and some just will not.

 

Jesus talked about how intolerable it will be for those who reject His Way.  Using a literary method as old as Isaiah, Jesus rebukes those areas in which the empire ideology is so well engrained that no one will repent (change their thinking and thus their direction).

 

It worked then.  The seventy rejoiced at the results.  People were hungry to hear the Good News of Jesus and they responded to it.  Jesus had to warn his followers not to get caught up in their own glory, however, as that reflects the very empire ideology that the Good News counters.

 

It could work again.  I believe that.  If we stay with what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled, and resist empire’s ideology and ways by showing people Jesus’ Way, some will get it.  I believe that this is the only hope for the church that bears the name of Jesus, that we offer current generations an alternative to empire’s ideology, rather than a reflection of it.  If we are followers of Jesus, we will live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now.  And it could transform the world, one person, one house, one community at a time.  It worked for the seventy.  It worked in the First Century through the Apostles.  It must be done in the 21^st Century in order for the world to survive.  Empire must fall, and the values of empire must die.  We have seen the injustice, despair and destruction it has caused.  Only Jesus’ Good News of Agape Love toward Shalom for All People can save and sustain us.