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Category: Jesus (Page 30 of 60)

Which of You?

February 9, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Allow me to suggest a major twist to the ways we read and understand the familiar parables in Luke 15:

Jesus asks, “Which of you…?”

And then he describes this guy who loses one sheep out of a hundred. He leaves the ninety-nine sheep out in the middle of the desert exposed to who knows how many kinds of danger and peril. Then he beats the bushes all day long in the searing heat, climbing over rocks, crawling through the Acacia, to finally locate this one, single, solitary sheep.

Then Jesus describes a woman who loses one coin. She rips up all the carpet in her house, she pulls every cushion out of every couch, she cleans out every junk drawer and goes through every closet, she plunges the toilet, meticulously combing over every square inch of her dwelling to find this one, single, solitary coin.

Then Jesus describes a father who has a son who steals half his fortune. This son runs away from home, he squanders the family money on drugs, alcohol, and prostitution, and he winds up on nine different state criminal registries. This guy is broke, he’s gross, and he limps home after all this time, after blowing the family money and ruining the family name, he crawls back home and his dad throws him a huge party. He restores the son to his previous position with the family right there on the spot. No questions asked.

And Jesus asks, “Which of you…?”

I think we’ve traditionally answered Jesus’ question by saying, “Well, all of us! Anybody with a heart! We would all take these steps, we would all go to these lengths to find what is lost! Of course!”

Really? Is that really true?

I don’t know about you, but I’d probably keep my eyes on the ninety nine sheep and make sure they’re safe and write off the other one as a loss on my tax return. I wouldn’t get down on my hands and knees for more than a minute-and-a-half for just one coin, would you? And this son? Seriously? What would you do? I’d at least make this kid finish his apology speech. He’d have to earn the robe and the ring. He’d have to get a job. Enter rehab. Get some counseling. And it would be six months before I’d even consider letting him have his cell phone back! He’d have to earn my trust back.

When Jesus tells these stories and asks, “Which of you…?” I think the honest answers is, “None of us.”

None of us would really do these things. It’s too unseemly. Too reckless. It’s not responsible. It doesn’t make sense.

Ah, ha! Exactly! These are not stories about us, these are stories about God. Jesus is not saying God’s love and commitment is just like ours. He’s saying God’s love and devotion and determination to find what is lost is like nothing you’ve ever experienced in your whole life! Jesus is telling us that our God will stop at nothing — nothing! He’ll do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to find and rescue everybody who is lost.

Including you.

Like most of Jesus’ stories, this is a contrast, not a comparison. God will take great risks, he’ll go to foolish extremes, in order to save. And we’ve never, ever experienced anything quite like it.

Peace,

Allan

Mad About Miracles

February 5, 2015 / / 0 Comments

We should be reminded that not everybody was amazed when Jesus performed miracles. The crowds and religious leaders and a lot of the people following Jesus around didn’t always cheer when somebody got healed. When Jesus spits in the dirt and heals a blind man, it leads to an official investigation: depositions, court orders, arrest warrants. When the authorities asked the healed man’s parents to testify, they threw their son under the bus. And then he got thrown out of the synagogue.

Why would Jesus’ miracles make some people mad?

Remember, Jesus’ miracles were not proofs of his Messiah-ship. They were not intended to lead people to faith. If they were, then many of his miracles were miserable failures. A lot of them led to mean accusations, stubborn denials, and murder plots.

Jesus’ miracles are “signs.” They are pointing us toward something bigger, something beyond, something eternal. They show us that we are not in control of who gets healed and who doesn’t, who will respond to the love of God and who won’t. God in Christ is fixing things back to their original pre-sin condition, whether religious people approve of it or not.

Wasn’t it that lack of control that ticked off the church people?

The religious leaders wanted to decide who got healed and on what day of the week. Jesus never asked them first if it was OK. He just caused the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the blind to see. He just raised folks from the dead. Those who were amazed praised the God of Israel. Those who were enraged conspired to control our Lord by killing him.

Jesus’ miracles were an exertion of the power and authority of God over the power and authority of sin and Satan and death. And, um… humans. Even religious humans. We’re good with that, right?

Peace,

Allan

Eating and Drinking with Losers

January 26, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” ~Luke 14:13

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ~Matthew 9:11

“Bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame!” ~Luke 14:21

“Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” ~Matthew 11:19

The gospels show us that the Kingdom of God is a big party with a bunch of losers. Jesus wants us to see that God’s idea of a great time is a huge feast with a bunch of people you wouldn’t be caught dead with on a Saturday night. Or any other time of the week. Jesus came eating and drinking with losers.

And you are one of those losers. So am I. We are all losers together at the table of our King.

We’re all coming to the table with a limp. We’ve all got a wound or a chronic pain. We come to the table with a horrible story or a distorted view or a serious issue. All of us are maimed. Or dysfunctional. Or disabled. And broken. All of us.

The Pharisees at these dinner parties — the ones “watching closely,” the ones criticizing Jesus and complaining — are so self-righteous and smug with their nice and tidy lives in their pressed and flowing robes. They set themselves apart from and above the losers. “They’re sinners; but we’re saved. Their lives are a mess; but we’ve got it all together. They need a whole bunch of God’s grace and forgiveness; we just need a little grace to get us over the top.”

No! In Luke 14, Jesus says, at these dinner parties, don’t choose a place of honor for yourself. You’re not as great as you think you are. And these people you categorize as losers are my cherished children.

We are all sinners, every one of us. We have all sinned and fallen terribly short of the glory of God. And we are all being saved together by the lavish grace of our Father. Yes, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. And, yes, all the seats are the same around the table of our Lord.

Scripture says we’re all going to eat and drink together with Jesus forever. We’re all going to take our places with him around the table at the wedding feast of the Lamb. And I think Sundays are the warm-up. I think Sunday mornings are party practice. Sunday mornings together are like the chips and hot sauce to the fajitas and enchiladas. Eating and drinking with sinners, sharing a meal with broken losers, with each other, together on Sundays, teaches us how to live together. It’s one of the places we learn to bear one another’s burdens. We learn to help each other, to encourage each other, to challenge each other.

We look at all the faces around the Lord’s Table on Sundays and they’re all looking back at us. No doubt, seeing very clearly our messes, knowing fully our sins. And, yet, still choosing to eat and drink with us. And we know at that moment that Jesus was crucified for the lousy company he kept. And he still is.

Peace,

Allan

Solitary Christian

January 23, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I love Jesus, but I can do without the Church. Jesus is Lord, but I follow him my own way, by myself. I’m a Christian, but I don’t need the Church. I don’t need to be part of a church to be a Christian.

Um… I’m not sure Christians have a choice.

The term “solitary Christian” is an oxymoron. Like Jumbo Shrimp. Rap Music. Military Intelligence. You can’t be “clearly confused,” you can’t fight a “civil war,” there are no “paid volunteers” or “open secrets.” And there’s no such thing as a “solitary Christian.”

Yes, there were times when our Lord went alone to the desert or up on a mountain to pray. But it’s much more typical in the Gospels for Jesus to be interacting with people. The eyewitnesses paint a portrait of Jesus consistently mixing with the multitudes, meeting strangers on the road, hanging out with friends and family. The most repeated picture is of Jesus eating and drinking with gusto in the homes of sinners and saints, with prostitutes and Pharisees, men and women, Jews and Gentiles. He was a people person.

Jesus was a supremely social, communal person. Whatever it was the Father called the Son to do, Jesus had no interest in doing it by himself. Just a casual glance at Jesus is enough to tell us today that we are living fully as God-created humans, not in our solitude and silence, not by ourselves, but in our connections and relationships with others. If we’re going to be Jesus-followers, then we have to be people people. You’re not really a Christian if you’re doing it by yourself.

Think about it: every time they asked Jesus, “What’s the single most important command?” he flatly refused. Instead, he always answered, “No, no, no. There’s not just one most important command; there are two: Love God with everything you’ve got AND love your neighbor as yourself.” Almost like one of those makes no sense without the other.

God in Christ is encountered, not in a solitary prayer in a closet, not in meditating on a mountain, or coming to the garden alone. In the Bible, Jesus mainly shows us God, reveals God to us, allows us to see God and experience God, at a dinner table, sharing good food and drink and conversation and hospitality with others.

We need God, yes. And we so desperately need one another.

Peace,

Allan

It’s About Today

January 20, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Today this Scripture is fulfilled.” ~Luke 4:21

The good news of the Gospel is not just helpful advice or even truthful statements. Scripture is all about what God is doing right now. Right here. Today. I think Jesus’ sermon in that synagogue in Nazareth really hits home when he says “Today! Today this Scripture is fulfilled!”

It’s one thing to say God will move. God will act. God will save. It’s quite another thing to say God is moving today! God is acting right now today! God is saving right here today!

Today!

That’s exciting. It’s immediate. It’s right now, in your face, all around you, in your space, and it demands a response. Look at it. God is speaking, he is doing, he is disrupting things, he is changing people, he is saving men and women, he is renewing the world! Today!

Do you read the Scriptures the way Jesus and his disciples read them? Do you look in the Bible for what God did back then or for what it says God is doing today? It’s all about today. Do you see his potential in your today? Do you feel his possibility in today? Do you know what he is doing in you and through you right now today?

Take a minute today and read a psalm or two out loud. Real loud. Pray a passage from Matthew 5-7 or John 17 or Ephesians 1-2 out loud. Real loud. Ask God to speak to you. Ask him to show you. Now praise him. Give him thanksgiving and honor. He is not distant or aloof. Our God is not uncaring or inactive, hesitant or restrained. He is gloriously at work right now today!

Peace,

Allan

Preaching the Word

January 17, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.” ~Luke 4:17

When he took the pulpit that day in his home church, notice the congregation at First Nazareth didn’t ask Jesus to share his feelings or talk about the news or quote a best-selling author or show a movie clip. They handed him the Holy Scriptures and demanded that he work from that. Jesus preached God’s Word.

God’s Word.

The same Word that created everything out of nothing. What else would we possibly want to preach?!?

When God speaks, things happen. God’s Word gets things done. God’s Word accomplishes the impossible. It defeats the invincible. It moves the unmovable. God does things — mighty things, eternal things, unbelievably wonderful things — with his Word. He can do anything just by saying a word.

And that’s one reason I preach.

I think I can shake you. I think I can change your life. Sometimes I think I can make you jump up out of your seat and shout “Amen!” or “Hallelujah!” with nothing but the Word of God. I preach because I think Christ Jesus can get a hold of you with nothing but the Word of God.

God’s Word is just as powerful and transformative today as it was when Jesus opened it up in front of his church two thousand years ago. And I get to do it again tomorrow.

How cool is that?

Peace,

Allan

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