We’ve been on this journey with Jesus to Jerusalem in Luke’s gospel all summer long. The journey itself probably only took a few weeks. We’ve heard that the crowds around Jesus have been growing larger and larger, but that is probably not exclusively due to Jesus’ popularity. Thousands of Jews were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover holidays. The closer the date gets, and the closer Jesus gets to Jerusalem, the bigger the crowds will be.
Our gospel reading begins with Pharisees asking Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming. To understand this question we should turn all the way back to John the Baptist’s ministry which preceded Jesus’. John had been preaching repentance because the Messiah was coming. He said the Messiah would be winnowing the wheat from the chaff and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire.
But then when Jesus does show his nature he is not living up to the wrathful Messiah John expected. John begins to ask questions about Jesus (Luke 7:19). The overarching questions start to be: What sort of Messiah is this? And, what will the coming kingdom of God look like?
We should put ourselves in the shoes of the Pharisees at that time. We’d have been taught from little on up that we are God’s chosen people. We’d have been told stories of the countless times God had miraculously rescued the people from their oppressors. We’d have been told that we need to remain faithful, and that we need to live by God’s commands. Yet we live in frustration. Why does God let the persecution continue? Why doesn’t God act decisively now? If we truly are the chosen people then why has life always been so hard?
When we hear that a Jewish itinerant preacher -one who can perform healings and miracles - is saying, “The kingdom of God has come!” our ears perk up. Surely many people claimed to be a savior figure for the Jews. But this guy could be the real thing!
We naturally ask things like: When will this be? What will happen? What will it be like? What do we do to prepare? How can we help?
But Jesus’ answer is disappointing. In our gospel today Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is among you.” Or it is often translated as, “The kingdom of God is within you.”
That sounds like weak spiritual talk. That sounds like the kingdom of God is a state of mind – just put a smile on your sufferings and everything will get better. Fine talk, but where’s the substance. If you’re a person who’s being enslaved or persecuted or exploited, if you’re a person who works hard all day to feed your kids but try as you might your family suffers from malnourishment, if you work hard to build yourself a home and till some land and own a couple head of livestock and then the Romans just come along and take it all away to feed their army and just kick you to the curb, those words just aren’t going to cut it. You need action from a Messiah. You need action from God coming to forcefully bring justice and peace to the world.
When Jesus when, will the kingdom of God come to be? From the point of view of a persecuted person it’s a very reasonable question.
And from that point of view, what will come – which is Jesus’ crucifixion – looks like total nonsense.
That’s where this all gets messy.
Many Christians today regularly proclaim the return of Jesus. They preach about the book of Revelation and an ultimate judgment day. That becomes the center of their faith.
But that’s missing something.
The Jews of Jesus’ day, and the Christians of today who focus on some end of time action by God, miss the real point.
The point is God at God’s most powerful.
When and where did God act the most powerfully in the history of the universe? Where is God’s ultimate power most fully visible to be seen? The crucifixion.
That made no sense to the Jews of that day, and if we’re honest with ourselves that makes no sense in our day either. Instead of looking forward to some great future ultimate event, how can we look backwards and honestly believe deep within our bones that God has already acted decisively to conquer the evil of the world? How can God conquer evil by passively allowing humanity to do its worst?
None of that makes sense!
Yet the foolishness of God is stronger than human wisdom.
Let’s remind ourselves of the dilemma God faces when trying to save humans. God’s power and wisdom is infinite. We humans are small and insignificant. And yet within our smallness God has created in us intelligence, creativity, playfulness, and freedom.
We humans have really messed that up. Instead of trusting God we’ve turned to ourselves. Instead of believing God will provide we hoard. Instead of knowing that God has made us beautiful and capable we’ve turned to ourselves.
Biblical scholar Joel Green says humans have turned to the, “twin securities of status and possessions,” and that, “attracts calamitous disaster in the end.” (New International Commentary on the New Testament, Luke, 635)
We humans as a whole just mess stuff up. How is God supposed to save us from ourselves? If God comes in with power and might – which is what we tell ourselves we want – the affect is only temporary. What God needs to do is to change us somehow while still preserving our intellect and our freedom.
I’m sure the Jews of Jesus day would have loved if God came in and beat the Romans to a pulp and reestablished Jewish rule of the Holy Land. Jewish lives would have been saved. Persecution would have ceased. There would have been a new hope.
But only for a short while.
The crucifixion changed the world permanently.
The crucifixion of the Son of God does many many things. Among them is that it invites us into a change of priorities and attitudes. It calls the orientation towards the twin securities of status and possessions the lie that it is. And it does so while still preserving the fullness of who God created us to be.
The only way God could change humanity was to do so by example and invitation.
This does not mean go out and be a martyr. That would be a mistake.
I said earlier that some English translations quote Jesus as saying, “The kingdom of God is among you.” Others say, “The kingdom of God is within you.” I think the answer is both. It is both a personal life attitude and it is the attitude of the community of those who follow Jesus.
The crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus did not hit the world with a bang. It was noted by very few. But those few began to live its reality. They realized it was God’s model for how humans are to be. They employed it among themselves and a community grew. And it grew and grew and grew.
The early church did not grow by miraculous deeds. The early church grew because it presented a tangibly better life for those who joined it. It was a community of grace, honesty, sharing, acceptance, and authenticity.
Oh for sure, read the book of Acts and you see that it starting going off the rails almost right away, but the core was still there and it remained solid.
Jumping ahead 19 centuries, why is church in the Western world declining? The answer is simple. We have possessions and securities enough that we are fooling ourselves into thinking we can truly make it with the twin securities of status and possessions. It’s the word “affluenza”. It’s the warning Jesus gave to all those who have the power and wealth to think they can depend upon themselves.
It is a very tempting way of life to adopt.
What does it mean for us as we read about the end of time judgment and things? Jesus tells us. “I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.”
What does that vivid image mean? It means that we do the tasks of life that are necessary. But we build our lives on the values of the kingdom of God. Those values are that all people are made in the image of God and are capable and worthwhile. We seek to equip others but not become unhealthy enablers. We see resources at our fingertips as to be applied not for our own ends but for the ends of the betterment of the community. We know that we sin and fall short and that others do the same. And so we forgive just as we have been forgiven.
If you’re ever in a bind as to what to do, reflect on the Lord’s Prayer. It’ll give you the principles you need to act. Do that and everything will be okay – always and forever – regardless of what goes on in the world around us.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
August 21, 2022 Gratitude Luke 17:11-19
One of the most miserable tasks I ever had to do as a kid and a young adult was write thank you notes. I knew that people had given me some item, or given me money, that came from their hard work and earnings. So I knew they had given me something of value. It cost them something. And I knew it was important to say thank you. I was truly appreciative! But sitting down and writing out a thoughtful note and all the work of handwriting addresses just seemed tedious. I don’t mind as an adult. But as a kid I did. And I’d swear there were a few adults in my life who held a stop watch counting the minutes for how fast I’d get a thank you mailed to them!
In our gospel reading we meet ten lepers who are healed by Jesus. Actually, I need to be as precise as Luke is. Our translation is actually a bit wrong. Luke more literally says there were ten men who had leprosy. He always does that. He says a person has a condition. A person has leprosy. He does not say a person is a leper. In 5:18 Luke refers to a man who was paralyzed. He does not say a paralyzed man. In 8:27 he does not call the guy from Gerasene and demoniac. He says a man who has demons. Perhaps it’s too subtle, but there is a humanizing effect to this. Luke sees all people as people first, conditions second. You are not your condition.
Anyway, we meet ten men who have leprosy. In Luke’s typical storytelling style he does not give us all the details we need up front. He puts them in just when he wants in order to surprise us.
While Luke may be good at humanizing people, he is not good at geography. He says that Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. He’s traveling in the region between Samaria and Galilee. Not exactly. He’s traveling south which means he has to go through Samaria outright. Either that or he’s skirting along the eastern border of Samaria. This is something Jewish travelers probably did. You’ll remember that Jews and Samaritans did not get along at all.
Let’s note a few things about the men calling out to Jesus. First, they call him Jesus and Master. Thus they’ve heard of him before and they know something about him. They ask for mercy from him. They don’t especially ask for healing. Mercy might have meant healing but it could also have meant a gift of money or food. Lepers, after all, had to live in isolation because the disease was highly contagious. They’d live in isolation until they died.
Luke tells us that Jesus saw them. That doesn’t seem like a big deal. They’re calling out to him after all, but seeing is a big deal in Luke’s gospel. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan we meet three people who saw the man in the ditch. Only one acted upon what he saw. For Luke, seeing is recognizing a person and their condition. It is an opportunity for mercy, to connect, and to recognize their humanness.
Jesus just tells them to go show themselves to the priests. This was standard procedure if one happened to be cured of leprosy. It was like going back to the doctor to be given a clean bill of health.
The healing itself is never narrated. It happens offstage. Why? Because the point of the story is not the healing. It is the response to the healing. Only one of the ten comes back to Jesus. He throws himself at Jesus’ feet and says thank you.
Jesus does not pull out a stop watch and say, “Good job. You’ve given me my thank you in good time.” No. In fact Jesus’ response is not about thank you at all.
Luke drops two things on us simultaneously. First, he tells us this one guy was a Samaritan. A Samaritan is someone the Jews loved to hate. But the Samaritans loved to hate the Jews too. Lots of boundaries are being broken here. This man has not been declared clean but he comes back right to Jesus and thanks him. And, he’s a Samaritan giving thanks to a Jew.
The second thing is that this Samaritan is grateful to God. Apparently the other nine, whom we now can infer were Jewish, did not feel this gratefulness. Why? Why are they not grateful to God?
Luke does not answer that in any direct way. But the context of this story does give us an answer. If you were here last week you’ll remember Jesus saying this, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would your not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink, later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” (Luke 17:7-10)
Ouch! How cruel is that coming from God?!? The placement of this story of the cleansing of the ten who had leprosy illustrates a point.
What is owed? What is expected?
It appears as if the other nine knew Jesus was a healer. They received their healing and did what Jesus told them. They went to the priest. They were found clean. They then joyously returned to their lives and families. That’s great! Except it doesn’t seem to surprise them. It is as if that is what they expect of God for being a Jew.
We may think that’s pretty presumptuous of them. And yet, do we inadvertently fall into the same trap? How much should we be grateful for that we are not?
It is so very easy for us to forget how divorced from reality we really are. I don’t know if they still have it, but I love the hand cranked generator and incandescent lightbulb our boy scout troop here has. When you have to generate the power to light a lightbulb by hand you realize just how much energy it takes. True, it is an old incandescent bulb, and not a new LED, but you get the point.
When I was a kid there was a big thing about how many hours of TV kids watched. Kids wanted to watch more. Parents wanted them to watch less. I remember, ironically on TV, an interview with a dad who installed a generator on an exercise bike. It powered the TV. The kids could watch as much TV as they wanted. They just had to provide the power to run it! It goes without saying that they didn’t watch much!
How many of us heat our homes but cutting down trees, splitting wood, and burning it? And if you do, how many of us actually split the wood by hand? Don Curtis liked the quote that heating with wood heats you twice. Once when you burn it, and once before when you split it.
How many of us got here by our own body’s energy – walking, jogging, or riding bike; and how many of us got here by using an automobile? Even an electric one had to get that power from somewhere!
I discipline I try to have for myself, but forget quite often, is to realize that simply having cold running water in my house is nothing short of amazing. It is not my due. I did not carry the water. I did not treat the water to make sure it is safe. I just turn a knob and – miracle of miracles – water comes out of a pipe!
To have hot water running water is to live a life of extreme luxury. I’ve said this before and I’ll never forget it. An African Civil Engineer once said, “Potable water is the most precious commodity on earth. Yet you Americans are so opulent you flush your toilets with it and think nothing of it!”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are not waking up every day in absolute awe and wonder of what amazing things are at our finger tips each and every moment of each and every day we are missing things! We are like the nine who, for some strange reason, think we somehow deserve it.
The Samaritan, the foreigner, felt the amazingness of Jesus’ work. He was grateful to God.
While I readily accept that saying the conveniences of our lives is not the same as receiving a miracle from God, I hope you get the point of how easy it is to lose a sense of awe and gratitude.
Let me conclude with these words from R. Alan Culpepper:
“Are we self-made individuals beholden to no one, or are we blessed daily in ways we seldom perceive, cannot repay, and for which we often fail to be grateful? (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 328)
“[In the preceding scene of the slave who works without expectation of reward] discipleship requires doing one’s duty, but because of God’s mercy, God’s servants can never repay the grace they have received.” (Pg. 325)
Faith, like gratitude, is our response to the grace of God as we have experienced it. Faith, like gratitude, is our response to the grace of God as we have experienced it. For those who have become aware of God’s grace, all of life is infused with a sense of gratitude, and each encounter becomes an opportunity to see and to respond in the spirit of the grateful leper.” (Pg. 328)
In our gospel reading we meet ten lepers who are healed by Jesus. Actually, I need to be as precise as Luke is. Our translation is actually a bit wrong. Luke more literally says there were ten men who had leprosy. He always does that. He says a person has a condition. A person has leprosy. He does not say a person is a leper. In 5:18 Luke refers to a man who was paralyzed. He does not say a paralyzed man. In 8:27 he does not call the guy from Gerasene and demoniac. He says a man who has demons. Perhaps it’s too subtle, but there is a humanizing effect to this. Luke sees all people as people first, conditions second. You are not your condition.
Anyway, we meet ten men who have leprosy. In Luke’s typical storytelling style he does not give us all the details we need up front. He puts them in just when he wants in order to surprise us.
While Luke may be good at humanizing people, he is not good at geography. He says that Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. He’s traveling in the region between Samaria and Galilee. Not exactly. He’s traveling south which means he has to go through Samaria outright. Either that or he’s skirting along the eastern border of Samaria. This is something Jewish travelers probably did. You’ll remember that Jews and Samaritans did not get along at all.
Let’s note a few things about the men calling out to Jesus. First, they call him Jesus and Master. Thus they’ve heard of him before and they know something about him. They ask for mercy from him. They don’t especially ask for healing. Mercy might have meant healing but it could also have meant a gift of money or food. Lepers, after all, had to live in isolation because the disease was highly contagious. They’d live in isolation until they died.
Luke tells us that Jesus saw them. That doesn’t seem like a big deal. They’re calling out to him after all, but seeing is a big deal in Luke’s gospel. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan we meet three people who saw the man in the ditch. Only one acted upon what he saw. For Luke, seeing is recognizing a person and their condition. It is an opportunity for mercy, to connect, and to recognize their humanness.
Jesus just tells them to go show themselves to the priests. This was standard procedure if one happened to be cured of leprosy. It was like going back to the doctor to be given a clean bill of health.
The healing itself is never narrated. It happens offstage. Why? Because the point of the story is not the healing. It is the response to the healing. Only one of the ten comes back to Jesus. He throws himself at Jesus’ feet and says thank you.
Jesus does not pull out a stop watch and say, “Good job. You’ve given me my thank you in good time.” No. In fact Jesus’ response is not about thank you at all.
Luke drops two things on us simultaneously. First, he tells us this one guy was a Samaritan. A Samaritan is someone the Jews loved to hate. But the Samaritans loved to hate the Jews too. Lots of boundaries are being broken here. This man has not been declared clean but he comes back right to Jesus and thanks him. And, he’s a Samaritan giving thanks to a Jew.
The second thing is that this Samaritan is grateful to God. Apparently the other nine, whom we now can infer were Jewish, did not feel this gratefulness. Why? Why are they not grateful to God?
Luke does not answer that in any direct way. But the context of this story does give us an answer. If you were here last week you’ll remember Jesus saying this, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would your not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink, later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” (Luke 17:7-10)
Ouch! How cruel is that coming from God?!? The placement of this story of the cleansing of the ten who had leprosy illustrates a point.
What is owed? What is expected?
It appears as if the other nine knew Jesus was a healer. They received their healing and did what Jesus told them. They went to the priest. They were found clean. They then joyously returned to their lives and families. That’s great! Except it doesn’t seem to surprise them. It is as if that is what they expect of God for being a Jew.
We may think that’s pretty presumptuous of them. And yet, do we inadvertently fall into the same trap? How much should we be grateful for that we are not?
It is so very easy for us to forget how divorced from reality we really are. I don’t know if they still have it, but I love the hand cranked generator and incandescent lightbulb our boy scout troop here has. When you have to generate the power to light a lightbulb by hand you realize just how much energy it takes. True, it is an old incandescent bulb, and not a new LED, but you get the point.
When I was a kid there was a big thing about how many hours of TV kids watched. Kids wanted to watch more. Parents wanted them to watch less. I remember, ironically on TV, an interview with a dad who installed a generator on an exercise bike. It powered the TV. The kids could watch as much TV as they wanted. They just had to provide the power to run it! It goes without saying that they didn’t watch much!
How many of us heat our homes but cutting down trees, splitting wood, and burning it? And if you do, how many of us actually split the wood by hand? Don Curtis liked the quote that heating with wood heats you twice. Once when you burn it, and once before when you split it.
How many of us got here by our own body’s energy – walking, jogging, or riding bike; and how many of us got here by using an automobile? Even an electric one had to get that power from somewhere!
I discipline I try to have for myself, but forget quite often, is to realize that simply having cold running water in my house is nothing short of amazing. It is not my due. I did not carry the water. I did not treat the water to make sure it is safe. I just turn a knob and – miracle of miracles – water comes out of a pipe!
To have hot water running water is to live a life of extreme luxury. I’ve said this before and I’ll never forget it. An African Civil Engineer once said, “Potable water is the most precious commodity on earth. Yet you Americans are so opulent you flush your toilets with it and think nothing of it!”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are not waking up every day in absolute awe and wonder of what amazing things are at our finger tips each and every moment of each and every day we are missing things! We are like the nine who, for some strange reason, think we somehow deserve it.
The Samaritan, the foreigner, felt the amazingness of Jesus’ work. He was grateful to God.
While I readily accept that saying the conveniences of our lives is not the same as receiving a miracle from God, I hope you get the point of how easy it is to lose a sense of awe and gratitude.
Let me conclude with these words from R. Alan Culpepper:
“Are we self-made individuals beholden to no one, or are we blessed daily in ways we seldom perceive, cannot repay, and for which we often fail to be grateful? (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 328)
“[In the preceding scene of the slave who works without expectation of reward] discipleship requires doing one’s duty, but because of God’s mercy, God’s servants can never repay the grace they have received.” (Pg. 325)
Faith, like gratitude, is our response to the grace of God as we have experienced it. Faith, like gratitude, is our response to the grace of God as we have experienced it. For those who have become aware of God’s grace, all of life is infused with a sense of gratitude, and each encounter becomes an opportunity to see and to respond in the spirit of the grateful leper.” (Pg. 328)
Monday, August 15, 2022
August 14, 2022 Luke 17:1-10
St. Teresa of Avila is often (somewhat incorrectly) credited with saying, “Lord, if this is how you treat your friends it is no wonder that you have so few.” I think that is a good way to begin a look at our gospel reading for today. In Luke 17 we’re still journeying with Jesus towards Jerusalem. We’re still getting a series of very challenging teachings. We have no record of all the content he taught, but Luke seems to feel it necessary to keep focusing on these very tough things. We open with Jesus warning his disciples that, “occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” (Luke 17:1-2)
We don’t know who these “little ones” are, but it probably means any person who is a new Christian or not deep in faith. You don’t want your actions or teachings to damage the faith of others. Jesus then goes on to talk about repeated forgiveness. This is not about the person asking for forgiveness. This is the person who is offering forgiveness. His disciples rightfully recognize this is a very tough task – must forgive again and again and again! They say, “Increase our faith!”
To me that is a very reasonable request. It is a highly faithful request. They realize they cannot grow their faith on their own. They need God to do it. So they ask for it. What could possibly be wrong with that?
But then Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (17:6)
Ugg. Lord if this is how your treat your friends it is no wonder that you have so few!
And then Jesus goes on with the parable about the slave doing all the required tasks and when all is said and done saying, “We are worthless slaves, we have done only what we ought to have done!”
How selfless are we supposed to be? How miserable are we to make life for ourselves? Is God truly such a harsh and unrelenting taskmaster? And if this is what God expects of his devoted followers on earth, would anyone really want to spend eternity with such a being in heaven?!?
Perhaps the best way to get at all of this in a way that is both faithful to what Jesus taught and to be more palatable is to turn it upside down.
Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism have the idea of karma. Karma is the notion that there is ultimately a sense of justice in the universe. It’s the idea that if you’re a good person good things will happen to you. If you’re a bad person bad things will happen to you. And very importantly, if the effects of your deeds do not catch up with you in this lifetime they will when you are reincarnated.
Christianity solidly rejects the idea of karma, although many Christians speak as though it had some truth, just that the effects of one’s actions do catch up to them in this lifetime. The idea that God will bring about a more pleasant life for a faithful follower than a cruel and abusive person is very popular and appealing. There are certainly many places in the Bible where it suggests that God listens to the prayers of the faithful and gives them what they ask for.
This is all very rocky territory though; for what is a faithful prayer? How do you know if you’re praying for your own selfish ends or for the true coming of God’s will?
That is a good place to start our reversal. Let’s say that there is an actual formula for what a good disciple is and does. Let’s say there’s a rulebook to follow. There are clear expectations of how you are to act.
Do this. Don’t do that.
Work this many hours a week. Give this much money. Pray this often… with these words.
Go to worship on such and such day. Perform certain rites and rituals. Keep yourself away from all these bad places and things. Do all of this and you will be in good stead with God. And God will reward that behavior.
Your life will be noticeably better than the lives of those around you who do not do these things. God will hear your prayers and do what you ask. If you want a good crop, God will provide. If you want a healthy balance in your retirement savings God will make sure it happens. If you want to be sure you don’t get injured in a freak accident, or that you won’t get cancer God will keep you safe.
It sounds nice. At least it does at first. But look at what happens. Let’s revisit the parables Jesus has taught on this journey to Jerusalem:
The Parable of the Good Samaritan – If we’d done our duty then we’d let a dying person lay in a ditch because they deserved it.
The Parable of the Rich Fool – We’d hoard resources and turn the screws to everyone beneath us.
The Parable of the Unproductive Fig Tree – We’d be ruthless in cutting away everything that didn’t produce to our expectations of excellence.
The Parable of the Great Dinner – We’d only associate with those who were of our class and standing.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son – We wouldn’t accept the prodigal son back. We’d say he got what was coming to him and he could live the rest of his life in squalor.
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus – We’d say Lazarus deserved his lot in life. We laugh at him as he lay in the gate covered in sores. And when we died we’d be in paradise laughing at him for all eternity.
If Christianity were a merit based religion we’d all be a bunch of arrogant stuck up snobs. There’d be no point in forgiveness. There’d be no grace. And if something bad did happen we’d let people in their pits to find their own way out.
All of this probably sounds a lot like the religious leaders Jesus was so often getting into conflict with. Indeed it was!
But the world is not so simple. The human brain is not to simple. And faith is not so simple.
Faith is not a commodity to be had, or increased or decreased. Faith is a relationship of trust in God. It means that you trust God to have hold of you no matter what – whether you get away with your misdeeds undetected or not, or whether your good efforts are noticed or overlooked.
How often do you do something and you just hope it works out? How often do parents debate whether they should punish the child or hug the child? Where is the line between helping and enabling? Where is the line between giving a person advice based on your experience and building yourself up by putting another person down.
Life is complicated. And it is based on grace.
Let’s go through the parables again. A life of grace means that if you see a person lying in a ditch you help them out. It means that you are generous with your resources and use them to build up others because it is all God’s anyway. It means that you give people another chance – perhaps not becoming an unhealthy enabler, but certainly always opening the path for them to succeed. It means seeing people suffering and recognizing it, and doing what is in your power to help.
It means meeting the world where it is.
And certainly, you can have a lot of fun along the way! God shapes you into a complex and beautiful being enormously capable – and you probably don’t even realize it is happening.
The disciples wanted more faith. Jesus couldn’t give it to them as if it were an ingredient in a recipe. But they stayed with Jesus. That is the means by which God was able to make their faith grow. They failed often enough to not get cocky. They succeeded enough to catch glimpses of joy along the way. Yet these great heroes who helped to found Christianity would probably indeed say for all their efforts, “We have done only what we ought to have done.” May our response to God’s grace be the same!
We don’t know who these “little ones” are, but it probably means any person who is a new Christian or not deep in faith. You don’t want your actions or teachings to damage the faith of others. Jesus then goes on to talk about repeated forgiveness. This is not about the person asking for forgiveness. This is the person who is offering forgiveness. His disciples rightfully recognize this is a very tough task – must forgive again and again and again! They say, “Increase our faith!”
To me that is a very reasonable request. It is a highly faithful request. They realize they cannot grow their faith on their own. They need God to do it. So they ask for it. What could possibly be wrong with that?
But then Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (17:6)
Ugg. Lord if this is how your treat your friends it is no wonder that you have so few!
And then Jesus goes on with the parable about the slave doing all the required tasks and when all is said and done saying, “We are worthless slaves, we have done only what we ought to have done!”
How selfless are we supposed to be? How miserable are we to make life for ourselves? Is God truly such a harsh and unrelenting taskmaster? And if this is what God expects of his devoted followers on earth, would anyone really want to spend eternity with such a being in heaven?!?
Perhaps the best way to get at all of this in a way that is both faithful to what Jesus taught and to be more palatable is to turn it upside down.
Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism have the idea of karma. Karma is the notion that there is ultimately a sense of justice in the universe. It’s the idea that if you’re a good person good things will happen to you. If you’re a bad person bad things will happen to you. And very importantly, if the effects of your deeds do not catch up with you in this lifetime they will when you are reincarnated.
Christianity solidly rejects the idea of karma, although many Christians speak as though it had some truth, just that the effects of one’s actions do catch up to them in this lifetime. The idea that God will bring about a more pleasant life for a faithful follower than a cruel and abusive person is very popular and appealing. There are certainly many places in the Bible where it suggests that God listens to the prayers of the faithful and gives them what they ask for.
This is all very rocky territory though; for what is a faithful prayer? How do you know if you’re praying for your own selfish ends or for the true coming of God’s will?
That is a good place to start our reversal. Let’s say that there is an actual formula for what a good disciple is and does. Let’s say there’s a rulebook to follow. There are clear expectations of how you are to act.
Do this. Don’t do that.
Work this many hours a week. Give this much money. Pray this often… with these words.
Go to worship on such and such day. Perform certain rites and rituals. Keep yourself away from all these bad places and things. Do all of this and you will be in good stead with God. And God will reward that behavior.
Your life will be noticeably better than the lives of those around you who do not do these things. God will hear your prayers and do what you ask. If you want a good crop, God will provide. If you want a healthy balance in your retirement savings God will make sure it happens. If you want to be sure you don’t get injured in a freak accident, or that you won’t get cancer God will keep you safe.
It sounds nice. At least it does at first. But look at what happens. Let’s revisit the parables Jesus has taught on this journey to Jerusalem:
The Parable of the Good Samaritan – If we’d done our duty then we’d let a dying person lay in a ditch because they deserved it.
The Parable of the Rich Fool – We’d hoard resources and turn the screws to everyone beneath us.
The Parable of the Unproductive Fig Tree – We’d be ruthless in cutting away everything that didn’t produce to our expectations of excellence.
The Parable of the Great Dinner – We’d only associate with those who were of our class and standing.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son – We wouldn’t accept the prodigal son back. We’d say he got what was coming to him and he could live the rest of his life in squalor.
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus – We’d say Lazarus deserved his lot in life. We laugh at him as he lay in the gate covered in sores. And when we died we’d be in paradise laughing at him for all eternity.
If Christianity were a merit based religion we’d all be a bunch of arrogant stuck up snobs. There’d be no point in forgiveness. There’d be no grace. And if something bad did happen we’d let people in their pits to find their own way out.
All of this probably sounds a lot like the religious leaders Jesus was so often getting into conflict with. Indeed it was!
But the world is not so simple. The human brain is not to simple. And faith is not so simple.
Faith is not a commodity to be had, or increased or decreased. Faith is a relationship of trust in God. It means that you trust God to have hold of you no matter what – whether you get away with your misdeeds undetected or not, or whether your good efforts are noticed or overlooked.
How often do you do something and you just hope it works out? How often do parents debate whether they should punish the child or hug the child? Where is the line between helping and enabling? Where is the line between giving a person advice based on your experience and building yourself up by putting another person down.
Life is complicated. And it is based on grace.
Let’s go through the parables again. A life of grace means that if you see a person lying in a ditch you help them out. It means that you are generous with your resources and use them to build up others because it is all God’s anyway. It means that you give people another chance – perhaps not becoming an unhealthy enabler, but certainly always opening the path for them to succeed. It means seeing people suffering and recognizing it, and doing what is in your power to help.
It means meeting the world where it is.
And certainly, you can have a lot of fun along the way! God shapes you into a complex and beautiful being enormously capable – and you probably don’t even realize it is happening.
The disciples wanted more faith. Jesus couldn’t give it to them as if it were an ingredient in a recipe. But they stayed with Jesus. That is the means by which God was able to make their faith grow. They failed often enough to not get cocky. They succeeded enough to catch glimpses of joy along the way. Yet these great heroes who helped to found Christianity would probably indeed say for all their efforts, “We have done only what we ought to have done.” May our response to God’s grace be the same!
Monday, August 8, 2022
August 7, 2022 Luke 16
When I worked as a bridge inspector we usually worked ten hours a day or more when we were out on the bridges. Inspections usually took weeks, sometimes a month or more. Since we were traveling and there were lodging and food expenses plus per day rental rates on access equipment we pushed to get as much done in any given day as was possible. The notable exception was the Macombs Dam Bridge in Harlem. Or more specifically, the 155th St. Viaduct.
There we arrived at 8 in the morning, ate a half hour lunch at noon, and were climbing in the company van and out of there by 4:30. We called Harlem the “Arm Pit of the World.” The whole area around which we were working was run down, dirty, smelly, and crime ridden. I remember inspecting steel columns where they met the concrete and having to dig through an accumulation of discarded needles and drug paraphernalia that had been tossed there. I saw more crimes than I could keep count of. Most of them were low level things – vandalism, larceny, some drug deals, a bit of street brawling. I saw very little actual violent crime right on the street in broad daylight. And I only ever heard gunshots from a distance. Still though, at 4:30 every day all of us on the inspection crew climbed into the company van and drove out of that mess. We wanted to be out of there well before dark. And so we’d battle the traffic to a Red Roof Inn in suburban New Jersey. We’d clean up, eat supper at some reasonably decent restaurant, and then return to our rooms. Red Roof Inn is, of course, nothing fancy, but it was a world of difference from Harlem. I would have never actually spent the night at the bridge, but I was often curious what actually went on after dark. I considered myself lucky that I did not have to live there, and that I could escape every day. Since then that part of Harlem has been redeveloped. I have no idea what it is like now, but it is probably much nicer.
This image of being able to daily escape from the horrors of life that many people could not escape comes to me when I read the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. As Jesus tells the parable there was a gate between them, two very separate lives in close proximity to each other.
What should I have done? Should I have tried to cross that “gate” that separated us? Should the company have put us up in lodgings in the neighborhood of the bridge? The people there certainly couldn’t get out, or it was very difficult.
I, wearing a hard hat, coveralls and climbing gear, probably didn’t actually register to the residents of Harlem as a real person. I worked for the city and that was its own human category. But should I have tried to befriend the residents? Should I have been the do-gooder white person from outside coming to show pity on the black people trapped in cycles of poverty and abuse? Humph. What would that have accomplished? I would have been doing it for my own ego’s sake; to feel good about myself. Not to actually help them. I was there to do a short-term project and then I’d disappear. They’d still be there. We all knew there was a race and status chasm between us. There was no way I’d befriend anyone, and they wouldn’t befriend me. Even if I were to move there I would never fit in. I would never belong. And they would never fit into my world.
Jesus talked about wealth and status more than anything else. What is a faithful Christian to do? In our gospel reading today Jesus said, “Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” What does that mean?
First, Jesus considers all earthly wealth to be dishonest wealth. He’s not talking about money you’ve gotten by sneakiness or stealing or anything like that. All earthly wealth has the very strong potential to be a source of security and status for us. It can become an idol. And truthfully all of it belongs to God anyway. It’s we who think we can own and control it for our own ends! And to that point, Jesus calls it dishonest wealth. It can easily lie to us. We’ve talked about that a lot in these chapters of Luke’s gospel and I’m not going to revisit that here. Here we focus on what we should do, we who do have within the stewardship of our lives, significant earthly wealth.
The parable of the Dishonest Manager can be confusing. Is Jesus really suggesting such dirty dealings? No. Of course not. But he is commending the guy’s shrewdness and strategy. Apparently Jesus’ disciples aren’t showing that in their own lives. And I believe we can fall into the same trap. We can think that if we’re doing God’s work we have to do it all in a prim and proper way. As if God wouldn’t want charity to be tainted by any of the shenanigans we might get up to otherwise. But Jesus says be just as shrewd with your faith dealings as with the rest of your life. Work hard. Be clever. Be creative. Elsewhere Jesus says be innocent as doves but cunning as serpents (Matthew 10:16). The crucifixion was by no means prim and proper after all.
What does this look like? I believe some churches make a mess of it. Some churches who run inner city soup kitchens will make those who come for food sit through a worship service first. That’s perhaps cunning, but it’s not the point. Similarly, some churches throughout the world do what I’ve heard called “rice evangelism”. They give food but with the clear message of what church denomination it came from. Globally Lutherans generally DO NOT do that. We see a need. We provide. End of story.
If you remember Arden Strasser, the missionary in Zambia that we used to support, I think you see a picture of the shrewdness Jesus is talking about. Much of Arden’s work was offering microloans to people who didn’t have access to money otherwise. The microloan might be to buy a flock of chickens, or dig a well, or buy a sewing machine, or something. The idea was to give a person an opportunity they could not have otherwise. And since it was a loan it was not at all charity. Ideally it would become a self-sustaining system.
And that takes us to the second parable. The rich man ignores Lazarus completely. We’re told this rich man wore purple and linen. This is the epitome of opulence. The process of making fine linen was laborious. On the wealthiest owned linen at all. And purple was an even greater luxury item! Yet this man wore that every day. He also hosts feasts every day, something that even wealthy people of that day couldn’t afford. So, Jesus is casting this guy as an extreme glutton – a hedonist. Then there’s Lazarus who lays outside the gate starving to death and looking in at the feasting. He would have eaten that which fell from the table. You’ll remember that bread was eaten but also used as napkins. You’d wipe your hands on it, and in rich parties, just drop the bread on the floor. So Lazarus isn’t even being given the garbage.
Don’t get the idea that the dogs licking Lazarus’ soars were taking pity on him. They saw him as a future meal and they were getting an initial taste! The rich man dies and is buried. Lazarus dies and we are not told what happens to his bodies. But I think the dogs finally got what they’d been tasting! From there we learn that despite being tormented the rich man still wants to order Lazarus about – send him to do his bidding. And we also discover something else. The rich man calls Lazarus by name. So, Lazarus hasn’t bene invisible all this time after all. The rich man not only knew of his existence but also knew his name!
The beauty of the microloan stuff Arden Strasser was doing was not only providing opportunity but also building community. People had to pay the loans back which ensured ongoing connections. That is what Jesus is asking of his followers. That is using dishonest wealth to both help people and build relationships.
Sure, it is easy to write a check or click on a button and send money to a charity. But have you actually built community? Aren’t you still just a do-gooder still in your own life of earthy comfort? And if I were to try to help the people of Harlem decades ago would I have been really building community, even though I was there face to face? No. It would have been charity. I was there for a short time and then gone. Building community takes time.
From these parables I learn this. Indeed, do not think your security or self-worth resides in what you own. Do not depend upon your possessions to make a name for yourself or give you status. And also, when you give, give in a way that connects you to people. I lament the way the pandemic ended the way Family Promise housed families in churches. Even though it was a short time, and a small commitment, it was still face to face time sharing with people. It opened the door for community. Whether or not the guests took advantage of it is not ours to judge.
You’ve surely heard the saying, “Think globally. Act locally.” Indeed. Be conscious of what is going on the world at large. But also realize it is not yours to fix the world’s problems. Instead, put solid sustained effort into the work for the community that is near at hand. Work hard. Be creative. Be clever. Make use of the dishonest wealth so that through it you are bringing about God’s kingdom.
And finally, none of it is easy. Don’t look for it to be rewarding. Don’t expect to feel good about yourself for what you did during the day when you go to bed at night. If you do, then great! If not, that does not mean that your efforts were any less powerful or valid.
Let me conclude with these words from Fred Craddock:
“Most of us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. More likely this week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, and feed the neighbor’s cat. ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.”’ (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX, Pg. 311)
There we arrived at 8 in the morning, ate a half hour lunch at noon, and were climbing in the company van and out of there by 4:30. We called Harlem the “Arm Pit of the World.” The whole area around which we were working was run down, dirty, smelly, and crime ridden. I remember inspecting steel columns where they met the concrete and having to dig through an accumulation of discarded needles and drug paraphernalia that had been tossed there. I saw more crimes than I could keep count of. Most of them were low level things – vandalism, larceny, some drug deals, a bit of street brawling. I saw very little actual violent crime right on the street in broad daylight. And I only ever heard gunshots from a distance. Still though, at 4:30 every day all of us on the inspection crew climbed into the company van and drove out of that mess. We wanted to be out of there well before dark. And so we’d battle the traffic to a Red Roof Inn in suburban New Jersey. We’d clean up, eat supper at some reasonably decent restaurant, and then return to our rooms. Red Roof Inn is, of course, nothing fancy, but it was a world of difference from Harlem. I would have never actually spent the night at the bridge, but I was often curious what actually went on after dark. I considered myself lucky that I did not have to live there, and that I could escape every day. Since then that part of Harlem has been redeveloped. I have no idea what it is like now, but it is probably much nicer.
This image of being able to daily escape from the horrors of life that many people could not escape comes to me when I read the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. As Jesus tells the parable there was a gate between them, two very separate lives in close proximity to each other.
What should I have done? Should I have tried to cross that “gate” that separated us? Should the company have put us up in lodgings in the neighborhood of the bridge? The people there certainly couldn’t get out, or it was very difficult.
I, wearing a hard hat, coveralls and climbing gear, probably didn’t actually register to the residents of Harlem as a real person. I worked for the city and that was its own human category. But should I have tried to befriend the residents? Should I have been the do-gooder white person from outside coming to show pity on the black people trapped in cycles of poverty and abuse? Humph. What would that have accomplished? I would have been doing it for my own ego’s sake; to feel good about myself. Not to actually help them. I was there to do a short-term project and then I’d disappear. They’d still be there. We all knew there was a race and status chasm between us. There was no way I’d befriend anyone, and they wouldn’t befriend me. Even if I were to move there I would never fit in. I would never belong. And they would never fit into my world.
Jesus talked about wealth and status more than anything else. What is a faithful Christian to do? In our gospel reading today Jesus said, “Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” What does that mean?
First, Jesus considers all earthly wealth to be dishonest wealth. He’s not talking about money you’ve gotten by sneakiness or stealing or anything like that. All earthly wealth has the very strong potential to be a source of security and status for us. It can become an idol. And truthfully all of it belongs to God anyway. It’s we who think we can own and control it for our own ends! And to that point, Jesus calls it dishonest wealth. It can easily lie to us. We’ve talked about that a lot in these chapters of Luke’s gospel and I’m not going to revisit that here. Here we focus on what we should do, we who do have within the stewardship of our lives, significant earthly wealth.
The parable of the Dishonest Manager can be confusing. Is Jesus really suggesting such dirty dealings? No. Of course not. But he is commending the guy’s shrewdness and strategy. Apparently Jesus’ disciples aren’t showing that in their own lives. And I believe we can fall into the same trap. We can think that if we’re doing God’s work we have to do it all in a prim and proper way. As if God wouldn’t want charity to be tainted by any of the shenanigans we might get up to otherwise. But Jesus says be just as shrewd with your faith dealings as with the rest of your life. Work hard. Be clever. Be creative. Elsewhere Jesus says be innocent as doves but cunning as serpents (Matthew 10:16). The crucifixion was by no means prim and proper after all.
What does this look like? I believe some churches make a mess of it. Some churches who run inner city soup kitchens will make those who come for food sit through a worship service first. That’s perhaps cunning, but it’s not the point. Similarly, some churches throughout the world do what I’ve heard called “rice evangelism”. They give food but with the clear message of what church denomination it came from. Globally Lutherans generally DO NOT do that. We see a need. We provide. End of story.
If you remember Arden Strasser, the missionary in Zambia that we used to support, I think you see a picture of the shrewdness Jesus is talking about. Much of Arden’s work was offering microloans to people who didn’t have access to money otherwise. The microloan might be to buy a flock of chickens, or dig a well, or buy a sewing machine, or something. The idea was to give a person an opportunity they could not have otherwise. And since it was a loan it was not at all charity. Ideally it would become a self-sustaining system.
And that takes us to the second parable. The rich man ignores Lazarus completely. We’re told this rich man wore purple and linen. This is the epitome of opulence. The process of making fine linen was laborious. On the wealthiest owned linen at all. And purple was an even greater luxury item! Yet this man wore that every day. He also hosts feasts every day, something that even wealthy people of that day couldn’t afford. So, Jesus is casting this guy as an extreme glutton – a hedonist. Then there’s Lazarus who lays outside the gate starving to death and looking in at the feasting. He would have eaten that which fell from the table. You’ll remember that bread was eaten but also used as napkins. You’d wipe your hands on it, and in rich parties, just drop the bread on the floor. So Lazarus isn’t even being given the garbage.
Don’t get the idea that the dogs licking Lazarus’ soars were taking pity on him. They saw him as a future meal and they were getting an initial taste! The rich man dies and is buried. Lazarus dies and we are not told what happens to his bodies. But I think the dogs finally got what they’d been tasting! From there we learn that despite being tormented the rich man still wants to order Lazarus about – send him to do his bidding. And we also discover something else. The rich man calls Lazarus by name. So, Lazarus hasn’t bene invisible all this time after all. The rich man not only knew of his existence but also knew his name!
The beauty of the microloan stuff Arden Strasser was doing was not only providing opportunity but also building community. People had to pay the loans back which ensured ongoing connections. That is what Jesus is asking of his followers. That is using dishonest wealth to both help people and build relationships.
Sure, it is easy to write a check or click on a button and send money to a charity. But have you actually built community? Aren’t you still just a do-gooder still in your own life of earthy comfort? And if I were to try to help the people of Harlem decades ago would I have been really building community, even though I was there face to face? No. It would have been charity. I was there for a short time and then gone. Building community takes time.
From these parables I learn this. Indeed, do not think your security or self-worth resides in what you own. Do not depend upon your possessions to make a name for yourself or give you status. And also, when you give, give in a way that connects you to people. I lament the way the pandemic ended the way Family Promise housed families in churches. Even though it was a short time, and a small commitment, it was still face to face time sharing with people. It opened the door for community. Whether or not the guests took advantage of it is not ours to judge.
You’ve surely heard the saying, “Think globally. Act locally.” Indeed. Be conscious of what is going on the world at large. But also realize it is not yours to fix the world’s problems. Instead, put solid sustained effort into the work for the community that is near at hand. Work hard. Be creative. Be clever. Make use of the dishonest wealth so that through it you are bringing about God’s kingdom.
And finally, none of it is easy. Don’t look for it to be rewarding. Don’t expect to feel good about yourself for what you did during the day when you go to bed at night. If you do, then great! If not, that does not mean that your efforts were any less powerful or valid.
Let me conclude with these words from Fred Craddock:
“Most of us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. More likely this week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, and feed the neighbor’s cat. ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.”’ (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX, Pg. 311)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)