12 April 2014 - miracle worker
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
Do they mean well? They are among those who witness what happened to Lazarus. Many of them believe in Jesus. But this implies that some do not even after seeing someone raised from the dead. Interestingly, everyone knows what happened. They know Lazarus lives. It is, in fact, hard to dispute. But people still respond to it in very different ways.
It is unclear into which group these people who talk to the Pharisees fall. Regardless, the Pharisees are so overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of testimony that they concede that Jesus "is performng many signs." Jesus does these signs to reveal that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. But all the Pharisees ignore the deeper significance that signs must have, choosing to focus instead on their temporal concerns.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”
This does sound significant. But why do they miss the significance of this unity of Jesus with the Father? If the Father is so present with them, surely they can trust him with the rest.
How then do the Pharisees miss this? Well, the Jews only tell them "what Jesus had done" without explaining what that necessarily means about who he must be. If it is all about things that are done, things about which the Pharisees mostly hear rather than see or experience, they may feel like outsiders. They may have a hard time rejoicing in these signs and wonders when they don't know what they signify. They themselves walk a very delicate balance between Jewish observance and Roman law to keep their circumstances in check. They feel that the slightest derivation from this path may be disaster. Signs, even great signs, simply threaten this control which they so value. It isn't enough to talk of miracles. Our testimony must be to the miracle worker to be profitable. Then, the threat to our control is coupled with an invitation to give that control to the one who is with the Father, the one in whom the Father dwells.
Isolated miracles will never be enough for us to let go of rigid control over our lives. We are perfectly capable of seeing Lazarus rise and then plot to kill him too, because he is a threat to our control (cf. Joh. 12:10).
This is why the content of our message must always be Jesus himself. Jesus is the one who heals. He is the shepherd into whose care we should entrust our souls. We are worried about our land and our nation. We are worried about the oppression of the Romans, the circumstances of our lives. But now we know that if we are worried about these things the LORD is still more concerned.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
The land on which he desires us to live is something more permanent, something better, than the land and the nation about which we are concerned. Yet we can only truly realize this when we give ourselves over to the care of the Good Shepherd, the shepherd who will even lay down his life for his sheep.
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;
they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers lived;
they shall live on it forever,
This is, after all, why Jesus wants us to know about his relationship to the Father, his closeness to him, and the unity they share. This is the purpose of the signs. He wants us to trust him. What he wants for us, ultimately, is joy with him forever.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
11 April 2014 - human dignity
11 April 2014 - human dignity
Who rescues the life or the poor from the power of the wicked? The LORD!
Jesus faces circumstances so bleak that there is no human hope.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
He hears the "whisperings of many:"
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
“Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.”
He faces in full the hopelessness of the human condition apart from God. This hopelessness is all the world has apart from God. It is all we have apart from him. It is futility which ends in death. The difference, for Jesus, is that he is not apart from God.
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
The Father hears the cry of Jesus, who, though rich, becomes poor for us (cf 2 Cor.9). The LORD is with him. Became this proximity to God makes him unlike anyone else in history, when Jesus faces the hopelessness and despair that are the results of sin it is hopelessness and despair themselves that stumble and are put to shame. Death itself is now fit for mocking.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (cf 1 Cor. 15)
This is why we need to know that "the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Jesus knows that it is difficult for us to believe this and even to understand it. But it is so important that he says, "even if you do not believe, me, believe the works", 'believe what I show you even if you don't understand what I tell you.'
Our understanding is limited in a lot of ways. Jesus tries every approach he can to bring us to deep faith. He knows that way have a paradigm, a worldview, and a set of expectations. His works and signs are things which reveal the limitations of that paradigm. They are an invitation to look beyond the way we imagine things to be. He also appeals to things we do understand to raise our minds to things that we don't.
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
This is actually deep. It isn't just an obscure verse from the Old Testament used for proof-texting. God is saying, 'Look at just what Man is. Look at his dignity. Look at his rational mind and his will. Look at his role as head of creation. If I have thus exulted Man in the natural order do not be so surprised if I exult him further in the supernatural order by taking on human flesh myself.'
And here is a strategy for evangelization we can learn. We can move from affirming human dignity, which everyone claims to believe, to the source of that dignity. We can show that the fact of that dignity cries out for a destiny beyond death and despair.
And the destiny awaits us who know that Jesus is in the Father and the Father in Jesus. Jesus allows us all to share in his song of victory, the song of resurrection, the song of life eternal.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!
Who rescues the life or the poor from the power of the wicked? The LORD!
Jesus faces circumstances so bleak that there is no human hope.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
He hears the "whisperings of many:"
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
“Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.”
He faces in full the hopelessness of the human condition apart from God. This hopelessness is all the world has apart from God. It is all we have apart from him. It is futility which ends in death. The difference, for Jesus, is that he is not apart from God.
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
The Father hears the cry of Jesus, who, though rich, becomes poor for us (cf 2 Cor.9). The LORD is with him. Became this proximity to God makes him unlike anyone else in history, when Jesus faces the hopelessness and despair that are the results of sin it is hopelessness and despair themselves that stumble and are put to shame. Death itself is now fit for mocking.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (cf 1 Cor. 15)
This is why we need to know that "the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Jesus knows that it is difficult for us to believe this and even to understand it. But it is so important that he says, "even if you do not believe, me, believe the works", 'believe what I show you even if you don't understand what I tell you.'
Our understanding is limited in a lot of ways. Jesus tries every approach he can to bring us to deep faith. He knows that way have a paradigm, a worldview, and a set of expectations. His works and signs are things which reveal the limitations of that paradigm. They are an invitation to look beyond the way we imagine things to be. He also appeals to things we do understand to raise our minds to things that we don't.
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
This is actually deep. It isn't just an obscure verse from the Old Testament used for proof-texting. God is saying, 'Look at just what Man is. Look at his dignity. Look at his rational mind and his will. Look at his role as head of creation. If I have thus exulted Man in the natural order do not be so surprised if I exult him further in the supernatural order by taking on human flesh myself.'
And here is a strategy for evangelization we can learn. We can move from affirming human dignity, which everyone claims to believe, to the source of that dignity. We can show that the fact of that dignity cries out for a destiny beyond death and despair.
And the destiny awaits us who know that Jesus is in the Father and the Father in Jesus. Jesus allows us all to share in his song of victory, the song of resurrection, the song of life eternal.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!
Thursday, April 10, 2014
10 April 2014 - ungrateful expectations
10 April 2014 - ungrateful expectations
What stands between the proimise...
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
...and it's fulfillment?
Our human expectations are conditioned to expect less than God wants to give us. We prefer to try broken human king after human king no matter what happens to society while we watch. We prefer to reign on the thrones of our own lives no matter how imperfect the results. We prefer to keep trying to keep the covenant on our own strength no matter how many times we fail. All this we do because we don't want to take the risk of letting God in. We don't want to take the risk of trusting that he has our best interests at heart. We feel as though if we surrender to him we will, by virtue of our lost control, be even less happy. But God is for us, he is God with us. He wants to be intimately close to us. He wants to unite us as family. But we prefer to keep him in the waiting in the wings as a handy concept to tie up the loose ends of our world views.
The Jews can't recognize Jesus because they have such a rigid view of Abraham and the prophets. They may imagine themselves to be pious in doubting the words which Jesus says as they ask, "Are you greater than our father Abraham"? But it isn't not really piety that holds Jesus at a distance. Just as we may use God as a concept and hinder his ability to affect our real day to day lives so to do the Jews use Abraham as a concept to keep Jesus at a safe distance.
Jesus is the true king who stems from Abraham. That kings will stem from Abraham is promised to Abraham himself. The promise that starts with him is not finished. It looks forward to fulfillment in Jesus. This is because even though the "Lord remembers his covenant for ever" we find ourselves singularly unable to do so. We can't truly be his people and he our God if we keep rebelling like this. So we wait until Jesus arrives on the scene. Only Jesus transforms us from within so that we ourselves are empowered to keep his "covenant throughout the ages."
It is precisely because only Jesus can affect this transformation that he can also say to each one of us:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
If we keep his word, the word of Jesus Christ, we are transformed so that we can experience what God really means by the promised land. We experience what it truly means to be his people and he our God. To be the people of the God who existed before Abraham liberates us from the bondage to time and decay. Only in Jesus do we know this freedom because only he can say "before Abraham came to be, I AM."
So let us respond with our whole hearts!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
What stands between the proimise...
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
...and it's fulfillment?
Our human expectations are conditioned to expect less than God wants to give us. We prefer to try broken human king after human king no matter what happens to society while we watch. We prefer to reign on the thrones of our own lives no matter how imperfect the results. We prefer to keep trying to keep the covenant on our own strength no matter how many times we fail. All this we do because we don't want to take the risk of letting God in. We don't want to take the risk of trusting that he has our best interests at heart. We feel as though if we surrender to him we will, by virtue of our lost control, be even less happy. But God is for us, he is God with us. He wants to be intimately close to us. He wants to unite us as family. But we prefer to keep him in the waiting in the wings as a handy concept to tie up the loose ends of our world views.
The Jews can't recognize Jesus because they have such a rigid view of Abraham and the prophets. They may imagine themselves to be pious in doubting the words which Jesus says as they ask, "Are you greater than our father Abraham"? But it isn't not really piety that holds Jesus at a distance. Just as we may use God as a concept and hinder his ability to affect our real day to day lives so to do the Jews use Abraham as a concept to keep Jesus at a safe distance.
Jesus is the true king who stems from Abraham. That kings will stem from Abraham is promised to Abraham himself. The promise that starts with him is not finished. It looks forward to fulfillment in Jesus. This is because even though the "Lord remembers his covenant for ever" we find ourselves singularly unable to do so. We can't truly be his people and he our God if we keep rebelling like this. So we wait until Jesus arrives on the scene. Only Jesus transforms us from within so that we ourselves are empowered to keep his "covenant throughout the ages."
It is precisely because only Jesus can affect this transformation that he can also say to each one of us:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
If we keep his word, the word of Jesus Christ, we are transformed so that we can experience what God really means by the promised land. We experience what it truly means to be his people and he our God. To be the people of the God who existed before Abraham liberates us from the bondage to time and decay. Only in Jesus do we know this freedom because only he can say "before Abraham came to be, I AM."
So let us respond with our whole hearts!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
9 April 2014 - bound to succeed
9 April 2014 - bound to succeed
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus wants to make us free. Do we realize that we need freedom? We have a lot of the type of freedom that society glamorizes, the type which doesn't matter. We are free to be entertained how we want, when we want, and with whom we want. But we are not free in regard to virtue. When we are wronged, are we free to love? When excess indulgence is set before us are we free to be temperate? Or is it rather than the indulgence which we think ourselves free to enjoy has enslaved us?
As followers of Jesus we still allow ourselves to be content with a freedom that is less than what he wants for us. Once we are free from mortal sin we are often content to rest on our laurels even while we are powerless to resist less grave sins. Our complacency is similar to the Jews in today's gospel reading. It is worth noticing that these are Jews "who believed in him" and not those openly opposed to him. Yet they think that they already have the freedom they need, and this becomes a huge liability, threatening their walk with him. It is an attitude of inheritance. Because of something in the past, they think they don't need to be concerned at present. Never mind how their reading of the past utterly disregards what actually happened. Israel was, after all, constantly enslaved in its history. Why would they selectively forget that? But even without regard to the past, our response in the present is primary.
I know that you are descendants of Abraham.
But you are trying to kill me,
because my word has no room among you.
Wait, what? Trying to kill Jesus? But aren't these the ones "who believed in him"? They may well be, but as they say in mutual fund commercials, 'past performance does not guarentee of future results.' The key thing which Jesus says that starts this conversation is that we must "remain" in his word. We can't just stop by once, or even for key life events, or even every Sunday. His word has to be our home. If we don't dwell in his word we will not know the truth and we won't be free. Dwelling in his word allows him to reveal to us the places where we are not free. It allows him to reveal the false freedoms to which we cling for what they are: empty.
Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego cling to God's word no matter what.
If our God, whom we serve,
can save us from the white-hot furnace
and from your hands, O king, may he save us!
But even if he will not, know, O king,
that we will not serve your god
Those who seem the least free in the eyes of the world, for instance, priests, cloistered religious, and hermits, are often the most free. Because these three cling to God's word they experience extreme freedom even as they are bound and cast into the furnace:
He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual
and had some of the strongest men in his army
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and cast them into the white-hot furnace.
Within the furnace they are "unfettered and unhurt" walking with one who "looks like a son of God." Can freedom really be found in circumstances like this? We can hardly deny it when we hear the song of praise they sin:
“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
And blessed is your holy and glorious name,
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.”
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus wants to make us free. Do we realize that we need freedom? We have a lot of the type of freedom that society glamorizes, the type which doesn't matter. We are free to be entertained how we want, when we want, and with whom we want. But we are not free in regard to virtue. When we are wronged, are we free to love? When excess indulgence is set before us are we free to be temperate? Or is it rather than the indulgence which we think ourselves free to enjoy has enslaved us?
As followers of Jesus we still allow ourselves to be content with a freedom that is less than what he wants for us. Once we are free from mortal sin we are often content to rest on our laurels even while we are powerless to resist less grave sins. Our complacency is similar to the Jews in today's gospel reading. It is worth noticing that these are Jews "who believed in him" and not those openly opposed to him. Yet they think that they already have the freedom they need, and this becomes a huge liability, threatening their walk with him. It is an attitude of inheritance. Because of something in the past, they think they don't need to be concerned at present. Never mind how their reading of the past utterly disregards what actually happened. Israel was, after all, constantly enslaved in its history. Why would they selectively forget that? But even without regard to the past, our response in the present is primary.
I know that you are descendants of Abraham.
But you are trying to kill me,
because my word has no room among you.
Wait, what? Trying to kill Jesus? But aren't these the ones "who believed in him"? They may well be, but as they say in mutual fund commercials, 'past performance does not guarentee of future results.' The key thing which Jesus says that starts this conversation is that we must "remain" in his word. We can't just stop by once, or even for key life events, or even every Sunday. His word has to be our home. If we don't dwell in his word we will not know the truth and we won't be free. Dwelling in his word allows him to reveal to us the places where we are not free. It allows him to reveal the false freedoms to which we cling for what they are: empty.
Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego cling to God's word no matter what.
If our God, whom we serve,
can save us from the white-hot furnace
and from your hands, O king, may he save us!
But even if he will not, know, O king,
that we will not serve your god
Those who seem the least free in the eyes of the world, for instance, priests, cloistered religious, and hermits, are often the most free. Because these three cling to God's word they experience extreme freedom even as they are bound and cast into the furnace:
He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual
and had some of the strongest men in his army
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and cast them into the white-hot furnace.
Within the furnace they are "unfettered and unhurt" walking with one who "looks like a son of God." Can freedom really be found in circumstances like this? We can hardly deny it when we hear the song of praise they sin:
“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
And blessed is your holy and glorious name,
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.”
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
8 April 2014 - cross purposes
8 April 2014 - cross purposes
Where do we look for help? When we're in trouble where do we turn? Yesterday we read that Susanna lifts her eyes to heaven whereas the corrupt judges do not allow their eyes to look to heaven.
Today we are again exhorted to lift up our eyes. In our society and in our own individual lives we are surrounded by the serpents of sin. Their poison is toxic and they are all around us. Looking to the earth we find no escape.
Fortunately the LORD first looks "down from his holy height" before we look up to heaven. He hears "the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die." He hears the Israel say "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD". The people quickly understand how harmful their sin is when it stings them and poisons them. The reality of it is entirely tangible, its severity palpable. Their inability to escape it on their own is also an inescapable fact. Probably they expect the LORD to go through the serpents one by one to rid the people of them. But the LORD doesn't simply treat symptoms. One serpent lifted on a pole stands for the condemnation of all of them.
Yet with the serpents gone, sin continues. Their bite is no longer a threat but the poison of sin remains in our hearts even after the poll is lifted up for us to behold. The serpents may be gone but they represent something which is within us, which remains in us. The trouble is that we are at once the serpents and the people whom they afflict. In the desert the serpent can be condemned for all to see. But to truly condemn what the serpent represents is to condemn ourselves, the people God wants to save.
Which is why God had to do something more much more ingenious and loving than merely lifting up the serpent. "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (cf. Joh. 3:14-15). The serpent is ultimately condemned while still allowing the prisoner to go free.
Paul explains how God solves the problem to the Romans that "what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit" (cf Rom. 8:3-4).
Let us not miss the humility of the sinless one taking the shape that is also the very source of poison and death. He is willing to do it for you and me. He forgoes his right to honor and glory out of love for us.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
When we see the love he shows we begin to realize the truth of who he is. He is not just innocent but purity itself. Seeing him do this should bring us to an acceptance of our own guilt. We realize with the good thief that "We are punished justly" when we see the only one who is truly innocent display his love for us. When we see this love we are convicted of the righteousness of God. Until we see this we begrudge him the serpents. We blame him for problems we ourselves create. But now, seeing this, we realize that not only are his ways fair they are more than fair. They are rich in mercy. It is a love so great it can only be divine.
Jesus speaks some harsh words today when he tells us that if we "do not believe that I AM," we will die in our sins. "Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him." And if we believe in him he is able to save us. He is able to give us the blessings he wants to bestow culminating in life everlasting. So let us hear him speaking and lift up our eyes to the cross that we may partake in his victory over sin.
Where do we look for help? When we're in trouble where do we turn? Yesterday we read that Susanna lifts her eyes to heaven whereas the corrupt judges do not allow their eyes to look to heaven.
Today we are again exhorted to lift up our eyes. In our society and in our own individual lives we are surrounded by the serpents of sin. Their poison is toxic and they are all around us. Looking to the earth we find no escape.
Fortunately the LORD first looks "down from his holy height" before we look up to heaven. He hears "the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die." He hears the Israel say "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD". The people quickly understand how harmful their sin is when it stings them and poisons them. The reality of it is entirely tangible, its severity palpable. Their inability to escape it on their own is also an inescapable fact. Probably they expect the LORD to go through the serpents one by one to rid the people of them. But the LORD doesn't simply treat symptoms. One serpent lifted on a pole stands for the condemnation of all of them.
Yet with the serpents gone, sin continues. Their bite is no longer a threat but the poison of sin remains in our hearts even after the poll is lifted up for us to behold. The serpents may be gone but they represent something which is within us, which remains in us. The trouble is that we are at once the serpents and the people whom they afflict. In the desert the serpent can be condemned for all to see. But to truly condemn what the serpent represents is to condemn ourselves, the people God wants to save.
Which is why God had to do something more much more ingenious and loving than merely lifting up the serpent. "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (cf. Joh. 3:14-15). The serpent is ultimately condemned while still allowing the prisoner to go free.
Paul explains how God solves the problem to the Romans that "what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit" (cf Rom. 8:3-4).
Let us not miss the humility of the sinless one taking the shape that is also the very source of poison and death. He is willing to do it for you and me. He forgoes his right to honor and glory out of love for us.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
When we see the love he shows we begin to realize the truth of who he is. He is not just innocent but purity itself. Seeing him do this should bring us to an acceptance of our own guilt. We realize with the good thief that "We are punished justly" when we see the only one who is truly innocent display his love for us. When we see this love we are convicted of the righteousness of God. Until we see this we begrudge him the serpents. We blame him for problems we ourselves create. But now, seeing this, we realize that not only are his ways fair they are more than fair. They are rich in mercy. It is a love so great it can only be divine.
Jesus speaks some harsh words today when he tells us that if we "do not believe that I AM," we will die in our sins. "Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him." And if we believe in him he is able to save us. He is able to give us the blessings he wants to bestow culminating in life everlasting. So let us hear him speaking and lift up our eyes to the cross that we may partake in his victory over sin.
Monday, April 7, 2014
7 April 2014 - eye on it
7 April 2014 - eye on it
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
Our own sinfulness renders us unfit to carry out God's justice. Our own sinfulness means that we are likely to use God's law as a pretense to satisfy our own passions. We may know some of the letter of the law but we are unable to let our eyes look to heaven to validate our understanding.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.
Our sinfulness makes us prone to condemn the innocent. They hold back from the passions in which we still indulge. Our flesh insists that they join our revelry and when they hold back it arouses anger and even violence in our hearts.
Our sinfulness makes us prone to twist even justice to the guilty. Instead of genuine concern for the law, for holiness, or especially, for people involved in the situation themselves, the Pharisees are only interesting in validating their own holiness. They are willing to destroy other peoples lives in order to emphasize their own supposed holiness. We are often all too willing to hurt other people's reputation for the same reason. Why else do we spread gossip and tell stories about others which reveal what ought to be concealed? Jesus hears us tell these stories and in response to these we hear, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone".
Jesus wants to purify us from these motives. He wants to make us like Susanna who is able to trust in God even in the face of her human oppressors, even in the face of an apparent death sentence. Because she looks to heaven she is able to trust in his justice.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
It is this trust in God's justice that causes her to realize that "it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord." Human concern for justice would quickly dismiss this concern. It is oriented toward the survival of the prideful flesh. It is unable to lift its eyes to heaven. It is ultimately a facade. But the absence of true concern for justice leaves a vacuum which the flesh readily fills. Without lifting our eyes to put God first there is nothing else with which to fill our hearts except self love.
We are not so surprised to see the innocent vindicated in Susanna. But in Jesus we are surprised. We realize that we do not truly understand justice because the guilty, including the woman caught in adultery, go free and the innocent, the only one who is truly innocent, Jesus Christ, dies for us all. This is the justice to which we must lift our eyes. It is the cross. It is intimately tied to God's love and mercy. Selfishness can make no sense of it at all. But to those who can lift their eyes it inspires profound hope.
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
Therefore let us trust in God. Let us lift our eyes to him even when the times are dark. If we do not lift our eyes to him we will only see the dark valley which surrounds us. We will be pushed into survival mode. We will consume ourselves and one another. But when we trust in him, great are his promises to us.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
Even though we stumble in this valley if we just keep lifting our eyes to him we hear:
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
And not only are we not condemned but we are welcomed into the eternal banquet where Jesus himself is our portion.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
We are welcomed into the very house of the Father to dwell for all eternity.
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
Our own sinfulness renders us unfit to carry out God's justice. Our own sinfulness means that we are likely to use God's law as a pretense to satisfy our own passions. We may know some of the letter of the law but we are unable to let our eyes look to heaven to validate our understanding.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.
Our sinfulness makes us prone to condemn the innocent. They hold back from the passions in which we still indulge. Our flesh insists that they join our revelry and when they hold back it arouses anger and even violence in our hearts.
Our sinfulness makes us prone to twist even justice to the guilty. Instead of genuine concern for the law, for holiness, or especially, for people involved in the situation themselves, the Pharisees are only interesting in validating their own holiness. They are willing to destroy other peoples lives in order to emphasize their own supposed holiness. We are often all too willing to hurt other people's reputation for the same reason. Why else do we spread gossip and tell stories about others which reveal what ought to be concealed? Jesus hears us tell these stories and in response to these we hear, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone".
Jesus wants to purify us from these motives. He wants to make us like Susanna who is able to trust in God even in the face of her human oppressors, even in the face of an apparent death sentence. Because she looks to heaven she is able to trust in his justice.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
It is this trust in God's justice that causes her to realize that "it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord." Human concern for justice would quickly dismiss this concern. It is oriented toward the survival of the prideful flesh. It is unable to lift its eyes to heaven. It is ultimately a facade. But the absence of true concern for justice leaves a vacuum which the flesh readily fills. Without lifting our eyes to put God first there is nothing else with which to fill our hearts except self love.
We are not so surprised to see the innocent vindicated in Susanna. But in Jesus we are surprised. We realize that we do not truly understand justice because the guilty, including the woman caught in adultery, go free and the innocent, the only one who is truly innocent, Jesus Christ, dies for us all. This is the justice to which we must lift our eyes. It is the cross. It is intimately tied to God's love and mercy. Selfishness can make no sense of it at all. But to those who can lift their eyes it inspires profound hope.
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
Therefore let us trust in God. Let us lift our eyes to him even when the times are dark. If we do not lift our eyes to him we will only see the dark valley which surrounds us. We will be pushed into survival mode. We will consume ourselves and one another. But when we trust in him, great are his promises to us.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
Even though we stumble in this valley if we just keep lifting our eyes to him we hear:
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
And not only are we not condemned but we are welcomed into the eternal banquet where Jesus himself is our portion.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
We are welcomed into the very house of the Father to dwell for all eternity.
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
6 April 2014 - preview of kingdom coming attractions
6 April 2014 - preview of kingdom coming attractions
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the LORD.
This is how much we are called to trust in the LORD. It is how much Martha trusts him.
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Her soul trusts in his word. But even with this level of trust she still doesn't fully understand how Jesus desires to work. It can be hard to understand at times.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
He allows this evil to come although he is not happy about it. "Jesus wept" because of this. People around him take notice, "See how he loved him." But some of them say what we're all thinking.
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”
Wouldn't it be better to prevent the evil in the first place? If Lazarus did not die Jesus would not be able to reveal himself as the resurrection and the life (cf. Joh. 11:25). Jesus dies and rises again to reveal himself as LORD of the dead and the living (cf. Rom. 14:9). Lazarus is the first stage of this revelation. If Jesus simply restores his health he does not speak to all of those in the history of the world have already gone to the grave, the sentence of sin. He doesn't come to patch old cloaks of mortality but comes to clothe us with immortality (cf. 1 Cor. 15:54).
Because Jesus permits the evil he reveals his power over even the grave. He prepares Mary and Martha to see the horror of the cross and yet hold on to faith in him. He reveals to the world a plan to give us a life beyond that which we can ask for or imagine. He does not just repair, he makes new.
He reveals more deeply who he truly is. The LORD of the dead and the living, the resurrection and the life, cannot be just another prophet. He must be the LORD of all!
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
We are destined to rise on the last day, as Martha knows. But there is more than this. She is able to wait for him and trust in his word because even when she doesn't understand his plans she knows who he is. This is like Peter when Jesus reveals the Eucharist. He doesn't get it but he knows that Jesus alone "has the words of eternal life" (cf. Joh. 6:68).
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
Jesus shares the resurrection with Lazarus in advance of his own to reveal himself and his kingdom. But now that Jesus is risen we can all begin to share this life even now, even in mortal bodies "dead because of sin".
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
So then, no more acting like zombies. We have a source of life which this world cannot touch. It is the same source that makes Lazarus walk after four days. It is the same source which cannot be killed by crucifixion. This unquenchable life is meant to revel Jesus in when the circumstances look like death.
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
Let his life burn brightly in us!
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the LORD.
This is how much we are called to trust in the LORD. It is how much Martha trusts him.
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Her soul trusts in his word. But even with this level of trust she still doesn't fully understand how Jesus desires to work. It can be hard to understand at times.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
He allows this evil to come although he is not happy about it. "Jesus wept" because of this. People around him take notice, "See how he loved him." But some of them say what we're all thinking.
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”
Wouldn't it be better to prevent the evil in the first place? If Lazarus did not die Jesus would not be able to reveal himself as the resurrection and the life (cf. Joh. 11:25). Jesus dies and rises again to reveal himself as LORD of the dead and the living (cf. Rom. 14:9). Lazarus is the first stage of this revelation. If Jesus simply restores his health he does not speak to all of those in the history of the world have already gone to the grave, the sentence of sin. He doesn't come to patch old cloaks of mortality but comes to clothe us with immortality (cf. 1 Cor. 15:54).
Because Jesus permits the evil he reveals his power over even the grave. He prepares Mary and Martha to see the horror of the cross and yet hold on to faith in him. He reveals to the world a plan to give us a life beyond that which we can ask for or imagine. He does not just repair, he makes new.
He reveals more deeply who he truly is. The LORD of the dead and the living, the resurrection and the life, cannot be just another prophet. He must be the LORD of all!
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
We are destined to rise on the last day, as Martha knows. But there is more than this. She is able to wait for him and trust in his word because even when she doesn't understand his plans she knows who he is. This is like Peter when Jesus reveals the Eucharist. He doesn't get it but he knows that Jesus alone "has the words of eternal life" (cf. Joh. 6:68).
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
Jesus shares the resurrection with Lazarus in advance of his own to reveal himself and his kingdom. But now that Jesus is risen we can all begin to share this life even now, even in mortal bodies "dead because of sin".
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
So then, no more acting like zombies. We have a source of life which this world cannot touch. It is the same source that makes Lazarus walk after four days. It is the same source which cannot be killed by crucifixion. This unquenchable life is meant to revel Jesus in when the circumstances look like death.
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
Let his life burn brightly in us!
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)