Jer 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 2 "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you." 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter ; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 6 "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 "At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9 "Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10 if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. 11 "So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds."
At the national level, it seems to me that this text intersects with our lives on two possible fronts.
#1 has to do with verse 8: “if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.” There is wide-spread thinking among American Christians today that God looks upon the people of the earth according to national boundaries, and that there is a ‘civil righteousness’ expectation on the part of God that, if present, will either merit God’s material blessings; or, if absent, will merit God’s temporal judgment. Invariably those who hold to this belief turn to passages from the Old Testament (such as this one) for support for their position. As an aside, I would simply say that they MUST turn to Old Testament passages, for there is simply nothing in the New Testament that would support such thinking.
That in itself should give us pause. Why is there nothing in the new testament to support this ‘temporal/nationalistic gospel-of-sorts’ thinking? The answer is: because the New Testament is the revelation of God that he is DONE interacting with humanity through a “chosen nation.” The purpose of the chosen nation (Israel) was to provide a lineage for the Messiah. We are now beyond that point. God now intersects with humanity APART from national boundaries and based solely on account of grace through faith in His Messiah. There is no “other gospel.” There is decidedly no such thing as a nationalistic temporal gospel whereby a group of people known as a particular country can “please God” in a civil-righteousness sense—without faith in His Messiah. We frequently hear: “if God doesn’t judge America, then He owes Sodom & Gomorrah an apology.” But this is not true (and who are we to say what God owes to whom?). God does not relate to humanity via national boundaries today in the sense that he did prior to the birth of the Messiah. And even then, everything was for a PURPOSE. We have no record of God raining down judgment on whatever indigenous pagan tribes populated North and South America, or Africa, or Europe, or any other place during the Old Testament era. Yet there is every reason to believe that the tribes of those places were just as pagan as any of the tribes we do encounter in the Old Testament. The difference is that everyone we encounter in the Old Testament has something to do with God’s covenant people Israel (or the patriarchs who precede Israel).
So when we read in this passage that God is going to build nations up and/or pull them down, it must be understood to be entirely within the context of HIS PLAN to interact with a separate/distinct nation of people (Israel) for the purpose of maintaining their distinct identity as a people consecrated to Him for the eventual birth of the Messiah. It's ALL for the purpose of God's saving work in Christ and marching *toward it. The thinking that it’s possible for a nation to impress God with its civil righteousness by keeping, or doing their best to keep the moral law (not killing, stealing, committing adultery etc.), totally apart from saving faith in Christ, is mistaken. As if God would say: “very well, you won’t go to heaven when you die, but I’m pretty impressed with how well you’re keeping my Law, so I’ll shower you with material blessings now.” If you can find that in the teachings of Jesus or the Apostles, I’m all ears. Otherwise, you’ve got 2 gospels on your hands….one for the salvation of your soul, and one for the salvation of your American dream.
#2 has to do with not only the entire passage, but pretty much the entire book of Jeremiah, and the idea that national calamities are ALWAYS to be seen as the judgment of God in action. This works closely with #1. The thinking goes like this: since God’s expectation is civil righteousness totally apart from faith in Christ; and since this expectation follows our national boundaries here on earth; it stands to reason that a calamity that strikes a particular nation (or place within that nation) is God’s hand of judgment against that people; because this is how it happened to Jerusalem and the people of Jeremiah’s day. The last time this sort of thing was heard in recent memory had to do with Hurricane Katrina and the massive destruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. The area, it was said, was a den of iniquity simply begging for judgment. Oh, and of course, who could forget Pat Robertson’s commentary that the earthquake(s) in Haiti also qualified as God’s judgment because they had made a pact with the Devil.
In response to THIS thinking, two things must be pointed out.
First, God is not the ONLY power in the world. God created this world as a perfect paradise, but according to Genesis we no longer live in the world that God created. We live in the world WE created thanks to our rebellion against God and the resulting FALL. St. Paul says in Romans 8 that the WHOLE creation groans in travail. Sometimes this groaning takes the form of violent activity: earthquakes; tornadoes; hurricanes; and innocent men, women, children, and fluffy little kittens get hurt or die. That doesn’t mean God is judging them per se; it may only mean that they had the great misfortune to live in an area where the creation was groaning because of the cosmic fall that occurred so long ago. The groaning creation constitutes a very potentially deadly and indiscriminate power. The forces of evil also constitute a power on earth. St. Paul also says in Eph chapter 6 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Why should an outbreak of Ebola be laid at God’s feet as his judgment against a particular group of people, when “the powers of this dark world” could easily (and more likely) have done it?
But the other thing that must be point out about this quick-draw labeling of disaster as “God’s judgment” is this: the **ONLY** reason Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem knew that their destruction was God’s judgment is because GOD’S PROPHET TOLD THEM SO. “Thus says the LORD,”…is how Jeremiah always began his oracles. In the absence of THUS SAYS THE LORD, we just don’t know and cannot say. Indeed, it’s the pinnacle of arrogance to pompously sit back and label this or that disaster of our age to have been the result of God’s judgment.
I heartily recommend the book “The Myth of a Christian Nation” by Dr. Greg Boyd if you’d like to learn more about these things.
cheers,
TM
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thoughts going in, Sun Aug 29th
Jer 2:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: " 'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,' " declares the LORD. 4 Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel. 5 This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?' 7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. 8 The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD?' Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. 9 "Therefore I bring charges against you again," declares the LORD. "And I will bring charges against your children's children. 10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the LORD. 13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
In part 2 of our series “Jeremiah: prophet of perseverance, prophet of hope,” I’ve lengthened the reading to include vss 1-3 of chapter 2. This is primarily so as to be able to include the fascinating thought process going on in these opening verses.
Jeremiah uses “honeymoon” imagery and language to discuss the ‘early days’ of Israel’s relationship with God. What I find fascinating about this whole thing is that it’s all a matter of perspective! From Israel’s perspective, those early days were horrific. They were wandering in the desert with no food, no water, no clue as to where they were going, no sense of security, and no idea when the whole thing was going to be over. For them, the ‘wilderness wanderings’ were a nightmare.
And while perhaps none of us has found ourselves *literally wandering in the desert of Sinai lately, perhaps we’ve found ourselves unemployed….or in a job/career we hate…or going through health problems or relationship issues…..and for all intents and purposes it’s SEEMED as though we were in the wilderness; it’s SEEMED as though we had been exiled to a far off and barren place; it’s SEEMED as though God tricked us…led us out there, and then ran away laughing while we struggle to survive on our own. *IF we can bring ourselves to pray during such times, our prayers very likely BEG God to bring this to an end; BEG him to return us to a place of familiarity and ease; a place where we can be on our own again.
As I said, perspective is everything. Isn’t it ironic that what we consider to be wilderness/exile; what we consider to be our ‘dark night of the soul,’ is very often what God considers to be a ‘honeymoon.’ WHY? Is God some kind of brutish tyrant deriving pleasure from inflicting pain and discomfort on others? Jeremiah and the whole of the bible wouldn’t put it that way. Rather, the period is ‘honeymoon’ from God’s perspective because it is He that is SO OBVIOUSLY taking care of us. During such a period, we’re forced to acknowledge that we owe our daily …even hourly…existence to God. Our prideful sense of self-sufficiency, our looks, smarts, education, drive, ambition, upbringing, family connections, career goals, etc. are meaningless in the desert. Deserts kill people. And yet, here we are in ours with life and strength enough to complain that God has abandoned us. If only we had eyes to see.
The challenge of faith is to be able to see the honeymoon from God’s perspective; to be able to see that He delights in being the object of our sole attention; He delights in minimizing our distractions; He delights in demonstrating that He can be with us and sustain us even in the midst of whatever barren land it is that we find ourselves in.
And, really…..can’t you at least sort of understand this? After all, the minute we leave the desert and resume our ‘regularly scheduled lives,’ is usually the minute that we chalk the whole thing up to OUR abilities; OUR perseverance; OUR resourcefulness, etc. We then resume cruising down life’s highway at 80mph and forget all about God. No wonder He feels forgotten and looks back at the wilderness times as a ‘honeymoon.’
Cheers,
TM
In part 2 of our series “Jeremiah: prophet of perseverance, prophet of hope,” I’ve lengthened the reading to include vss 1-3 of chapter 2. This is primarily so as to be able to include the fascinating thought process going on in these opening verses.
Jeremiah uses “honeymoon” imagery and language to discuss the ‘early days’ of Israel’s relationship with God. What I find fascinating about this whole thing is that it’s all a matter of perspective! From Israel’s perspective, those early days were horrific. They were wandering in the desert with no food, no water, no clue as to where they were going, no sense of security, and no idea when the whole thing was going to be over. For them, the ‘wilderness wanderings’ were a nightmare.
And while perhaps none of us has found ourselves *literally wandering in the desert of Sinai lately, perhaps we’ve found ourselves unemployed….or in a job/career we hate…or going through health problems or relationship issues…..and for all intents and purposes it’s SEEMED as though we were in the wilderness; it’s SEEMED as though we had been exiled to a far off and barren place; it’s SEEMED as though God tricked us…led us out there, and then ran away laughing while we struggle to survive on our own. *IF we can bring ourselves to pray during such times, our prayers very likely BEG God to bring this to an end; BEG him to return us to a place of familiarity and ease; a place where we can be on our own again.
As I said, perspective is everything. Isn’t it ironic that what we consider to be wilderness/exile; what we consider to be our ‘dark night of the soul,’ is very often what God considers to be a ‘honeymoon.’ WHY? Is God some kind of brutish tyrant deriving pleasure from inflicting pain and discomfort on others? Jeremiah and the whole of the bible wouldn’t put it that way. Rather, the period is ‘honeymoon’ from God’s perspective because it is He that is SO OBVIOUSLY taking care of us. During such a period, we’re forced to acknowledge that we owe our daily …even hourly…existence to God. Our prideful sense of self-sufficiency, our looks, smarts, education, drive, ambition, upbringing, family connections, career goals, etc. are meaningless in the desert. Deserts kill people. And yet, here we are in ours with life and strength enough to complain that God has abandoned us. If only we had eyes to see.
The challenge of faith is to be able to see the honeymoon from God’s perspective; to be able to see that He delights in being the object of our sole attention; He delights in minimizing our distractions; He delights in demonstrating that He can be with us and sustain us even in the midst of whatever barren land it is that we find ourselves in.
And, really…..can’t you at least sort of understand this? After all, the minute we leave the desert and resume our ‘regularly scheduled lives,’ is usually the minute that we chalk the whole thing up to OUR abilities; OUR perseverance; OUR resourcefulness, etc. We then resume cruising down life’s highway at 80mph and forget all about God. No wonder He feels forgotten and looks back at the wilderness times as a ‘honeymoon.’
Cheers,
TM
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thoughts going in, Sun Aug 22nd
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." 6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am too young." 7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am too young.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."
As we begin our sermon series on the prophet Jeremiah and his times, it is appropriate that we begin with the passage generally known as his “call.”
Jeremiah lived during a very tumultuous period of his nation’s history. They were a small fish in a very big pond. The glory days that had been experienced under the great kings of yesteryear, like David & Solomon, were long passed. Making matters worse, there were TWO …possibly THREE “power-broker” nations all vying for power, all in their turn demanding “tribute” (extortion of money/resources). Merely deciding which of these to support could mean the difference between life and death.
It was the worst of times. No doubt Jeremiah would have liked to ride these times out with as little trouble and as much anonymity as possible. Since 9/11 and the new advent of terror threats around large metropolitan areas in our own land, perhaps you’ve at least fantasized of having a ‘work-at-home’ job …and then moving to Montana or Michigan’s upper peninsula, where the threats and troubles of the day are unlikely to materialize.
If something like that had been Jeremiah’s plan, it is obvious that God had other plans. God tells Jeremiah that even before he was born, God’s plan was in store for him. From this we should learn that not only was God’s plan set for Jeremiah, but more importantly, that God knew of the events that would be unfolding during that period of history—and that even though His own people had been faithless, God would go with them through these times and still be there with His plan of salvation on the other side of those times.
Another thing we learn from this passage is that God intends to put Jeremiah in harms way. When He says in vs 8: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” the reader of the story already knows that Jeremiah will have PLENTY to be afraid of. Very often choosing to speak a counter-cultural message means risking the anger of one’s surroundings. God promised to preserve Jeremiah in suffering, not to prevent it from happening.
Often this is a reminder that we need to hear in the Christian Church. For far too long “evangelical” Christianity has been dominated by the evangelistic catch phrase: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This is extremely misleading and open to great misinterpretation. God loved Jeremiah and had a wondrOUS plan for his life—but that plan was all part of God’s big thing; it wasn’t about how Jeremiah could have the inside track to health & happiness.
Even so, one thing we should recognize is that WHEN God’s plan for us includes hardship; includes speaking for him; includes being counter-cultural, passages such as this (and many others) teach us that God is always generous in giving us what we need to do his work. Verse 9 says that God has literally put HIS WORDS in Jeremiah’s mouth.
cheers,
TM
As we begin our sermon series on the prophet Jeremiah and his times, it is appropriate that we begin with the passage generally known as his “call.”
Jeremiah lived during a very tumultuous period of his nation’s history. They were a small fish in a very big pond. The glory days that had been experienced under the great kings of yesteryear, like David & Solomon, were long passed. Making matters worse, there were TWO …possibly THREE “power-broker” nations all vying for power, all in their turn demanding “tribute” (extortion of money/resources). Merely deciding which of these to support could mean the difference between life and death.
It was the worst of times. No doubt Jeremiah would have liked to ride these times out with as little trouble and as much anonymity as possible. Since 9/11 and the new advent of terror threats around large metropolitan areas in our own land, perhaps you’ve at least fantasized of having a ‘work-at-home’ job …and then moving to Montana or Michigan’s upper peninsula, where the threats and troubles of the day are unlikely to materialize.
If something like that had been Jeremiah’s plan, it is obvious that God had other plans. God tells Jeremiah that even before he was born, God’s plan was in store for him. From this we should learn that not only was God’s plan set for Jeremiah, but more importantly, that God knew of the events that would be unfolding during that period of history—and that even though His own people had been faithless, God would go with them through these times and still be there with His plan of salvation on the other side of those times.
Another thing we learn from this passage is that God intends to put Jeremiah in harms way. When He says in vs 8: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” the reader of the story already knows that Jeremiah will have PLENTY to be afraid of. Very often choosing to speak a counter-cultural message means risking the anger of one’s surroundings. God promised to preserve Jeremiah in suffering, not to prevent it from happening.
Often this is a reminder that we need to hear in the Christian Church. For far too long “evangelical” Christianity has been dominated by the evangelistic catch phrase: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This is extremely misleading and open to great misinterpretation. God loved Jeremiah and had a wondrOUS plan for his life—but that plan was all part of God’s big thing; it wasn’t about how Jeremiah could have the inside track to health & happiness.
Even so, one thing we should recognize is that WHEN God’s plan for us includes hardship; includes speaking for him; includes being counter-cultural, passages such as this (and many others) teach us that God is always generous in giving us what we need to do his work. Verse 9 says that God has literally put HIS WORDS in Jeremiah’s mouth.
cheers,
TM
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Navigating the Mary Maze
This chart is something I presented at the Thursday evening casual service this week. The idea was to present some of the 'teachings' about Mary from both the Roman Catholic and extreme Protestant perspectives--along with some Scripture passages that seem appropriate to the topic. The chart itself had to be converted to a jpeg in order to post here, so it's quite small. All you have to do in order to view it, tho, is click on it....and then click on it again. (this will super size it).
cheers,
TM
cheers,
TM
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thoughts going in, Sun Jul 25th
Luke 11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "LORD, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." 2 He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. ' " 5 Then Jesus said to them, "Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' 7 And suppose the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. 11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (TNIV)
Wow, there is SO MUCH going on in this passage that I could talk about. This is “Luke’s version” of the Lord’s prayer. Just stating it as such has led some people to ponder which is more authentically from the lips of Jesus, Luke’s version or Matthew’s longer version (Matthew’s contains 2 extra petitions, and his is the version we use liturgically)? I prefer to solve the question by saying “both.” Jesus taught the same thing every place he went, but any preacher knows that even if you preach the same sermon twice, it always comes out slightly different the second time. There is also the fact that presumably Matthew/Levi was present when Jesus taught this prayer, whereas Luke relied on ‘sources’ for his material. Regardless, the two versions are *essentially the same.
Warren Wiersbe makes the excellent observation that this is the disciples at their best. At this stage of the story in Luke’s gospel they have witnessed miracles and even performed some themselves (exorcisms, etc.)—yet they have the wherewithal to sense their own need to learn to pray, and so they ask the Master. Others have noted that this is par for the course—that it was normal/common for talmudim/disciples to ask their rabbi to teach them *his special prayer…and/or mode of prayer, as for example (from the text) even John did. They request: “teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.” To pray as John taught is ambiguous both in the Greek and English. It could mean teach us to pray in the same way/manner that John taught, or teach us to pray because you’re our leader, and we know that John taught his followers to pray. I guess I opt for the latter, given that the bible says that some of Jesus’ disciples *had been disciples of John (and some scholars even think Jesus was too for a while).
The succinct rapid-fire petitions are interesting to dissect. “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come” really go together. The OT opines that God’s name is profaned among the Goyim/Gentiles when those who bear his name, his covenant people are not walking in his ways and when he turns his back on them. Any Jew in Jesus’ day would’ve felt that the name of God was being profaned as the Romans could literally do whatever they wanted to them. For God to hallow his name and for God’s kingdom to come would mean the reversal of all of this and final vindication of the righteous. This does not make Luther’s spin “incorrect” per se, for God’s kingdom really does come and his name really is hallowed when the word of God is taught in truth & purity and his people live according to it—because whenver/wherever this happens, an inbreaking of God’s final kingdom is occurring.
“Give us each day our daily bread” is another interesting petition. Everybody knows, more or less, what the translation of this verse means…but it’s considerably more difficult than that in the Greek. A suggested more literal translation might be “Give us that bread which we shall need for today.” There are layers of nuance. One thinks of the manna—bread from heaven—given daily for the needs OF THE DAY. But just the fact that it IS MANNA means that it’s other-worldly. One could easily spend one’s entire sermon talking just about the nuances of “daily bread,” and I might just do that. There’s the “daily bread” that Jesus’ peasant hearers would’ve thought of….the same bread that the petitioner of the parable in vs 6 has run out of—the daily needs so well expanded upon by Luther (and as Wiersbe notes, “needs, not greeds”). Then there is the daily bread that we understand *liturgically. It is no accident that the Lord’s Prayer occurs where it does in the divine service. The faithful liturgically petition the Father to be given “daily bread”…and then they are fed with the true bread of life, the body & blood of their savior in the blessed eucharist. In this sense, the “daily bread” we need/request is that which is necessary for our soul; our very salvation. Finally, scholars point out that there is a distinct ‘other-ness’ about the bread thanks to the adjective ‘epiousious.’ More than one person has pointed out that there is an ultimate symbolism behind the epiousious bread of the Lord’s Prayer. We sing of it in our Lutheran liturgy when we sing “This is the feast of victory…” To pray for the epiousious bread to be given *today is, in a sense, to pray for a foretaste of God’s kingdom banquet in our lives today. Of course this nicely supports the liturgical reading of the prayer, as well as the opening petitions that God’s name would be hallowed and his kingdom would come.
So many other things could be mentioned: the obvious intention that this is a prayer of *community, “give *US this day…etc;” the fact that the prayer is intended to be spoken, not just serve as a template, “when you pray, *SAY…;” And lately I’ve been doing a lot of meditation on the notion of God as Father. So often, I fear, we almost freight this word TOO HEAVILY toward our modern western culture where the *ideal of fatherhood is often what we see portrayed on tv: Cliff Huxtable, Mike Brady, Ward Cleaver, or even Hank Hill. Each of these men, to the best of their ability, dote on their children individually and do their best to provide for their needs, without giving in to anything outrageous that would be harmful for their children. This is not a *bad concept of fatherhood as applied to God, but it really doesn’t get at the idea of The Father of Jesus’ day/age. The Father of Jesus day/age was not first/foremost one who dotes on his children, or one who panders to their every whim. The Father was first & foremost the patriarch of the WHOLE family; he was a mini potentate. He always had what was “best” in mind for his children, but “best” was reckoned in terms of what was best for the family/community as a *whole. Most of all, what The Father provided was shelter, protection, sustenance, stability, and a future. It was The Father’s job to preserve the family; to better the family’s fortunes; to increase, or at the very least, protect the family’s honor. I realize that the danger in pointing this out is that God then starts to sound like someone we might not “like” very much—especially we who are accustomed to having & going our own way all of the time. And it’s also true that Jesus takes great pains to point out some of the *dissimilarities between God and *typical fathers of his era (most notably in the parable of the prodigal son where the father figure divvies up the inheritance early; is shown *running to meet the son upon his return; and who throws a communal banquet).
For us today…
Praying is often not easy. We can feel guilty for not having the “time” to pray. We can feel inadequate because we feel we do not know the right words to pray. We can become discouraged because of the distractions we experience when we try to pray. We can even become confused because we’re not quite sure how prayers have an influence with God. Maybe we’re making it harder than it should be. After all, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray…..look at his answer….
Cheers,
TM
Wow, there is SO MUCH going on in this passage that I could talk about. This is “Luke’s version” of the Lord’s prayer. Just stating it as such has led some people to ponder which is more authentically from the lips of Jesus, Luke’s version or Matthew’s longer version (Matthew’s contains 2 extra petitions, and his is the version we use liturgically)? I prefer to solve the question by saying “both.” Jesus taught the same thing every place he went, but any preacher knows that even if you preach the same sermon twice, it always comes out slightly different the second time. There is also the fact that presumably Matthew/Levi was present when Jesus taught this prayer, whereas Luke relied on ‘sources’ for his material. Regardless, the two versions are *essentially the same.
Warren Wiersbe makes the excellent observation that this is the disciples at their best. At this stage of the story in Luke’s gospel they have witnessed miracles and even performed some themselves (exorcisms, etc.)—yet they have the wherewithal to sense their own need to learn to pray, and so they ask the Master. Others have noted that this is par for the course—that it was normal/common for talmudim/disciples to ask their rabbi to teach them *his special prayer…and/or mode of prayer, as for example (from the text) even John did. They request: “teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.” To pray as John taught is ambiguous both in the Greek and English. It could mean teach us to pray in the same way/manner that John taught, or teach us to pray because you’re our leader, and we know that John taught his followers to pray. I guess I opt for the latter, given that the bible says that some of Jesus’ disciples *had been disciples of John (and some scholars even think Jesus was too for a while).
The succinct rapid-fire petitions are interesting to dissect. “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come” really go together. The OT opines that God’s name is profaned among the Goyim/Gentiles when those who bear his name, his covenant people are not walking in his ways and when he turns his back on them. Any Jew in Jesus’ day would’ve felt that the name of God was being profaned as the Romans could literally do whatever they wanted to them. For God to hallow his name and for God’s kingdom to come would mean the reversal of all of this and final vindication of the righteous. This does not make Luther’s spin “incorrect” per se, for God’s kingdom really does come and his name really is hallowed when the word of God is taught in truth & purity and his people live according to it—because whenver/wherever this happens, an inbreaking of God’s final kingdom is occurring.
“Give us each day our daily bread” is another interesting petition. Everybody knows, more or less, what the translation of this verse means…but it’s considerably more difficult than that in the Greek. A suggested more literal translation might be “Give us that bread which we shall need for today.” There are layers of nuance. One thinks of the manna—bread from heaven—given daily for the needs OF THE DAY. But just the fact that it IS MANNA means that it’s other-worldly. One could easily spend one’s entire sermon talking just about the nuances of “daily bread,” and I might just do that. There’s the “daily bread” that Jesus’ peasant hearers would’ve thought of….the same bread that the petitioner of the parable in vs 6 has run out of—the daily needs so well expanded upon by Luther (and as Wiersbe notes, “needs, not greeds”). Then there is the daily bread that we understand *liturgically. It is no accident that the Lord’s Prayer occurs where it does in the divine service. The faithful liturgically petition the Father to be given “daily bread”…and then they are fed with the true bread of life, the body & blood of their savior in the blessed eucharist. In this sense, the “daily bread” we need/request is that which is necessary for our soul; our very salvation. Finally, scholars point out that there is a distinct ‘other-ness’ about the bread thanks to the adjective ‘epiousious.’ More than one person has pointed out that there is an ultimate symbolism behind the epiousious bread of the Lord’s Prayer. We sing of it in our Lutheran liturgy when we sing “This is the feast of victory…” To pray for the epiousious bread to be given *today is, in a sense, to pray for a foretaste of God’s kingdom banquet in our lives today. Of course this nicely supports the liturgical reading of the prayer, as well as the opening petitions that God’s name would be hallowed and his kingdom would come.
So many other things could be mentioned: the obvious intention that this is a prayer of *community, “give *US this day…etc;” the fact that the prayer is intended to be spoken, not just serve as a template, “when you pray, *SAY…;” And lately I’ve been doing a lot of meditation on the notion of God as Father. So often, I fear, we almost freight this word TOO HEAVILY toward our modern western culture where the *ideal of fatherhood is often what we see portrayed on tv: Cliff Huxtable, Mike Brady, Ward Cleaver, or even Hank Hill. Each of these men, to the best of their ability, dote on their children individually and do their best to provide for their needs, without giving in to anything outrageous that would be harmful for their children. This is not a *bad concept of fatherhood as applied to God, but it really doesn’t get at the idea of The Father of Jesus’ day/age. The Father of Jesus day/age was not first/foremost one who dotes on his children, or one who panders to their every whim. The Father was first & foremost the patriarch of the WHOLE family; he was a mini potentate. He always had what was “best” in mind for his children, but “best” was reckoned in terms of what was best for the family/community as a *whole. Most of all, what The Father provided was shelter, protection, sustenance, stability, and a future. It was The Father’s job to preserve the family; to better the family’s fortunes; to increase, or at the very least, protect the family’s honor. I realize that the danger in pointing this out is that God then starts to sound like someone we might not “like” very much—especially we who are accustomed to having & going our own way all of the time. And it’s also true that Jesus takes great pains to point out some of the *dissimilarities between God and *typical fathers of his era (most notably in the parable of the prodigal son where the father figure divvies up the inheritance early; is shown *running to meet the son upon his return; and who throws a communal banquet).
For us today…
Praying is often not easy. We can feel guilty for not having the “time” to pray. We can feel inadequate because we feel we do not know the right words to pray. We can become discouraged because of the distractions we experience when we try to pray. We can even become confused because we’re not quite sure how prayers have an influence with God. Maybe we’re making it harder than it should be. After all, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray…..look at his answer….
Cheers,
TM
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Thoughts going in, Sun Jul 18th
Luke 10:38 While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to what He said. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, "Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand." 41 The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her." (HCS)
The main characters (besides Jesus) who appear in this text appear to be the same Mary & Martha who are sisters of Lazarus that we hear of in John’s Gospel.
When I read this brief story, the phrase that comes to my mind is “work life balance.” That seems to be one of the new ‘buzz phrases’ in the American workplace. Ironically, as more and more middle class Americans are seeing the disappearance of the forty hour work week, weekends and holidays off, and the ability to take vacation, their companies are talking about “work life balance.” According to wiki: “work life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritization between ‘work’ (career and ambition) on one hand and ‘life’ (pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.”
Even though this is a modern concept, using it as a lens to explore this text could be helpful. In the story hospitality is at issue. Jesus AND THE DISCIPLES have dropped in. Feeding them and making them comfortable—as would be the duty of any host/hostess of the era—is of paramount importance. Mary & Martha are not rich; someone has to prepare the meal(s) and they have no servants. Martha was tending to a necessity. But Mary was taking advantage of a privilege that was rare; the Lord was in HER HOUSE. What to do? Where is the work life balance? The words of Jesus are informative: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice.”
There **is** a time to work FOR the Lord, both for Mary and Martha (and for us too). Sooner or later that evening a meal would have to be prepared. But there is also a time to sit and LISTEN to the Lord. Too often this passage is used to enquire if one is a “Mary” **OR** a “Martha?” Are you more like Martha…finding fulfillment in busy service and acts of kindness in the name of Jesus? Or are you more like Mary finding fulfillment in sitting at the Lord’s feet; soaking up his word in the form of worship services and/or bible studies? But that’s not a very sound application of this text. In the original story Jesus seemed to be encouraging Martha to pull up a stool and join them; and in the original story sooner or later Mary should roll up her sleeves and help out in the kitchen. The point is that in our life of discipleship we are called to be **BOTH** Marys and Marthas, but with the spiritual discernment as to how and when either example applies.
cheers, TM
The main characters (besides Jesus) who appear in this text appear to be the same Mary & Martha who are sisters of Lazarus that we hear of in John’s Gospel.
When I read this brief story, the phrase that comes to my mind is “work life balance.” That seems to be one of the new ‘buzz phrases’ in the American workplace. Ironically, as more and more middle class Americans are seeing the disappearance of the forty hour work week, weekends and holidays off, and the ability to take vacation, their companies are talking about “work life balance.” According to wiki: “work life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritization between ‘work’ (career and ambition) on one hand and ‘life’ (pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.”
Even though this is a modern concept, using it as a lens to explore this text could be helpful. In the story hospitality is at issue. Jesus AND THE DISCIPLES have dropped in. Feeding them and making them comfortable—as would be the duty of any host/hostess of the era—is of paramount importance. Mary & Martha are not rich; someone has to prepare the meal(s) and they have no servants. Martha was tending to a necessity. But Mary was taking advantage of a privilege that was rare; the Lord was in HER HOUSE. What to do? Where is the work life balance? The words of Jesus are informative: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice.”
There **is** a time to work FOR the Lord, both for Mary and Martha (and for us too). Sooner or later that evening a meal would have to be prepared. But there is also a time to sit and LISTEN to the Lord. Too often this passage is used to enquire if one is a “Mary” **OR** a “Martha?” Are you more like Martha…finding fulfillment in busy service and acts of kindness in the name of Jesus? Or are you more like Mary finding fulfillment in sitting at the Lord’s feet; soaking up his word in the form of worship services and/or bible studies? But that’s not a very sound application of this text. In the original story Jesus seemed to be encouraging Martha to pull up a stool and join them; and in the original story sooner or later Mary should roll up her sleeves and help out in the kitchen. The point is that in our life of discipleship we are called to be **BOTH** Marys and Marthas, but with the spiritual discernment as to how and when either example applies.
cheers, TM
Thursday, July 8, 2010
"It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon"
So goes the standard intro to the now-famous weekly monolog given by Garrison Keillor, concerning the 'happenings' in and around his fictional home town. I first heard those words uttered on Michigan Public Radio when I was a teen. Thanks to my uncle (who didn't own a television at the time) I was introduced to the weekly live radio broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, and have been a fan of Garrison Keillor ever since. While I have been an on-again/off-again loyal listener of the broadcast over the years, I had never seen a live performance of the show--until now! Last Saturday evening (July 3rd) Stacey and I, accompanied by friends Mike & Julie Govert, attended a live broadcast of APHC at Rivinia (http://www.ravinia.org/). It was ALL I could've hoped for and more! The skits were hilarious, and the music was outstanding. This show won't go on forever. If you're a fan, all I can say is SEE IT LIVE. You won't regret it.
Oh, and by the way, afterward I managed to chat with Garrison Keillor & get his autograph. As luck would have it I was wearing my CTS-FW t-shirt (Concordia Theological Seminary). His eagle eye spotted this fact and asked if I was a Lutheran minister. That led to a neat conversation, given that the evening's "news" from Lake Wobegon had included the fact that Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church had just asked their interim pastor--"Pastor Barb"--to be their permanent pastor. In the skit Pastor Barb asks what the Synod had to say in the matter. The president of the congregation responded that it had been so long since they'd heard *anything from Synod that they, quite frankly, couldn't remember WHICH Synod they belonged to anymore. Hilarious--but for the fact that there are probably MANY isolated/rural congregations that can practically relate.
If you've never heard of the show and don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, just tune in to national public radio on any Saturday around 5pm central time and you'll discover one of radio's great treats!
Cheers,
TM
Oh, and by the way, afterward I managed to chat with Garrison Keillor & get his autograph. As luck would have it I was wearing my CTS-FW t-shirt (Concordia Theological Seminary). His eagle eye spotted this fact and asked if I was a Lutheran minister. That led to a neat conversation, given that the evening's "news" from Lake Wobegon had included the fact that Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church had just asked their interim pastor--"Pastor Barb"--to be their permanent pastor. In the skit Pastor Barb asks what the Synod had to say in the matter. The president of the congregation responded that it had been so long since they'd heard *anything from Synod that they, quite frankly, couldn't remember WHICH Synod they belonged to anymore. Hilarious--but for the fact that there are probably MANY isolated/rural congregations that can practically relate.If you've never heard of the show and don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, just tune in to national public radio on any Saturday around 5pm central time and you'll discover one of radio's great treats!
Cheers,
TM
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