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Category: Matthew (Page 14 of 24)

Good Reminders

April 14, 2014 / / 1 Comment

The Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus tell us that those who experienced the empty tomb up close and personal responded with wonder and amazement. Matthew says the women at the dug-out tomb were afraid. Mark says they were alarmed or astonished. The women are also described as bewildered and trembling. Other translations say they were stunned. The women in Luke’s version were “wondering” about the empty tomb. After Peter looks inside the empty grave, he, too, is said to be in wonder. With each of the Easter stories, the sense of resurrection wonder or mystery is building. It accumulates. So far, not one person who witnessed the empty tomb has been able to make sense of it. Not even those who encountered the risen Lord have it figured out.

And these are good reminders for us today.

The Resurrection confused everybody. At the time it happened, nobody could explain it. It’s obvious that those closest to the event had no idea what had happened or why. And that’s a good reminder for us. That we don’t always have God’s plan figured out. We don’t always know what God is doing. Or when he’s doing it. Or why. And that disorients us. But it’s OK.

Nobody had prepared for the Resurrection. Those women were going to the tomb that morning with burial spices to anoint a dead body. They weren’t bringing Jesus a fresh set of clothes and a toothbrush. When he shows up for dinner with the disciples that evening, they have to scramble to find a chair and an extra place setting. Peter’s wife pulls her husband aside and says, “You didn’t tell me your boss was coming!” Of course not; he didn’t know! None of them had prepared. And that’s a good reminder for us. We’re all beginners in this resurrection business. There aren’t any experts. We don’t control what God is doing. And that unsettles us. But it’s OK.

In the Resurrection stories, the marginal people are the main players. It’s the women. In this patriarchal society, these women had no rights, no status, no standing in the community. Especially Mary Magdalene. She had been possessed by seven demons before she met Jesus which might mean she had been living a reprehensibly horrible moral life or perhaps she was mentally ill. Either way, this lady lived on the edges of her community. She didn’t fit in. But she’s the only name we read in all four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection. And that’s a good reminder for us. That we don’t ever judge or rule out anybody we think might be beyond the reach of Resurrection. More than likely, it’ll be the ones we least expect who wind up at the very front of what God’s doing. And that surprises us. But it’s OK.

Some of the most exciting words in all of Scripture are when God says, “Behold! I am doing a new thing!” God is always doing new things. And it’s exciting. Right now, today, our God is doing new things in your church, new things in your city, new things — maybe unforeseen things — between people in different Christian denominations. God is speaking in new ways. He’s moving in new ways. He’s drawing men and women to himself in brand new and surprising ways. Things are changing.

And that can be disorienting. Unsettling. Scary. Because we don’t do well with change. We’re not always real good with new. But we have the Spirit of our risen Lord within us. Christ Jesus inside us gives us the power and the peace to embrace the mystery and the wonder of what God is doing; to not just accept it with our heads, but to jump into it with our hearts; to let God in Christ have his way with us; to fully submit to what we may not fully understand. Not just to be OK with it, but to rejoice in it.

Peace,

Allan

Power Instead of Love

November 19, 2013 / / 1 Comment

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Bruce Huther…

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Randy Harris says preaching a sermon is like landing an airplane: anytime you can walk away from it, it was good! Well, I had one of those really shaky moments on Sunday when a carefully prepared and meticulously rehearsed line came out wrong and, maybe, distracted from what I was trying to communicate.

In our look at the third desert temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4, I was going with the angle suggested by both Henri Nouwen and Eugene Peterson, that Jesus was being tempted to use impersonal power and force to rule the kingdoms of the world and their splendor instead of relational love and ministry. Power is the shortcut to love. Power is easy; love is hard. It’s easier to be God than to love God. It’s easier to control people than to love people. It’s easier to own the world than to love the world. Yeah, I was on a roll. But about a third of the way into the lesson, this is what came out of my mouth:

“Every single Christian believer has an important voice and a vital presence in the way this country is run and the way our culture is shaped. Yes, it’s critical for the redemption of creation. The world must see God’s children and know where we’re coming from and where we’re going. Yes. But, listen, we are deceived by the devil if we believe for one minute we can act or think or speak in ways that are contrary to or opposed to the ways Jesus acted and thinked and…”

And then I was stopped dead in my tracks. Thinked? Did I really just say “thinked?” I heard the giggles. I acknowledged the silly mistake with a crooked grin. “Thought!” I said. “The way Jesus acted and thought and spoke.” I confessed that I had worked for nearly two weeks on that line but had just butchered it. And we laughed. And then I continued preaching.

I had just about gotten over it when we walked into Rosa’s for lunch with what seemed like half our congregation. There at one of the biggest tables in the center of the restaurant was the Granado clan. All of them. When I walked over to say “hi” like all the good preachers do, Lonnie looked at me and said, “I thinked you might come to Rosa’s today!”

Nice.

Valerie’s boyfriend made a wisecrack in Richard and Lori’s driveway Sunday night after small group. Something about he thinked it was time to go.

Thank you.

Now Valerie’s grounded for four months.

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I’ve had a few requests for more information regarding the book I read from right after I destroyed that excellent line Sunday. It’s called “In the Name of Jesus,” written by Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest and author who wrote a whole bunch of books on Christian leadership and discipleship based on the life and teachings of Jesus. “In the Name of Jesus” is a treatise on the desert temptations of Christ. And it’s excellent. It will challenge your views of Christ and culture and it’ll call you to a deeper following of our Lord. It’s a really short book, but, as with most of Nouwen’s works, every paragraph is packed with holy insight. As I told our congregation Sunday, you can read it in an afternoon and it’ll change your life.

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Please, please, please take two minutes to watch this video. Then, take another couple of minutes to let the shame and guilt wash completely over you. Don’t deny it. Don’t say the video is exaggerated or unrealistic. If that’s your reaction, I would point to that as proof that you’re spending way too much time looking at your phone and not being present in or paying attention to the place God’s put you. Then, please make a vow to leave your cell phone in your car when you meet friends for meals. Make a promise to never, ever take a cell phone into a business meeting or worship service. And resolve to never again take it out of your pocket and look at the screen unless the thing actually rings or buzzes. We know these phones are turning us in to a society of grunting morons. But we seem so thrilled about it.

Peace,

Allan

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

November 13, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Jesus prays to our Father, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus preaches the Kingdom of God. Jesus declares the coming of the Kingdom of God. He proclaims, “It is at hand!” It’s here! The Kingdom! Look at it!

Jesus brings the Kingdom to earth. He does God’s will on earth just as it is in heaven.

Jesus casts out demons because there are no demons in heaven.
Jesus heals because there is no sickness in heaven.
Jesus comforts because there are no tears in heaven.
Jesus feeds because there is no hunger or thirst in heaven.
Jesus raises the dead because there is no death in heaven.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Are you praying this prayer? Jesus said it was a good idea to pray this prayer, to ask God to please do his will on earth just like it’s done in heaven. Are you bringing the Kingdom of God to your part of the earth? Are you obeying his will like the rocks and the trees and the oceans and the animals obey his will?

There is no revenge in heaven. There is no hate in heaven. There are no arguments in heaven. There are no disagreements in heaven. No suspicion. No politics. No war. No division of any kind. No violence, verbal or physical. No mistrust. No gossip. No complaining. You won’t find any of those things in heaven.

Is the will of God being obeyed in your church just like it is in heaven? In your elders’ meetings? In your congregational committees? In your marriage? In your family around your dinner table at night? Are you bringing the Kingdom of God to your work place? To your school? To the Little League team you’re coaching or the civic club to which you belong?

If God has completely eradicated selfish behavior and gamesmanship and competition in heaven, if that is his holy will, why would you insist on bringing any of that into his Church? Or putting up with it?

The rivers and mountains and squirrels and fish all obey God’s will on earth just as it is in heaven. What’s wrong with us?

Peace,

Allan

Around the Table: Part 5

October 24, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'” ~Exodus 12:24-27

The final dinner Jesus shared with his disciples on the night of his betrayal was a Passover meal. The synoptic gospels all make the explicit claim that this was the Passover. Jesus made preparations and gathered his disciples to “eat the Passover.” Since this last supper has become for the majority of Christians the be-all, end-all paradigm for our own beliefs and practices regarding the Lord’s Supper (for right or wrong), it makes sense to study carefully the Passover context of that last night. I’ve had church leaders on more than one occasion point to the gospel accounts of this last meal to justify their order that we not sing any songs during the Lord’s Supper. After all, the logic goes, the Bible says they sang a song after the meal, not during. Of course, if we’re to follow that logic to its conclusion, we’d be sharing the Lord’s Supper only on Thursdays. Upstairs.

So, yes, let’s look at the Passover context of what was happening around the table on that last night.

As we’ve already noticed in this series, the Jewish Passover meal — all covenant and/or community and/or sacrificial meals for that matter — is a communal celebratory event. As an expression of salvation, it was yet another community meal celebrated following a sacrifice. The Passover, in particular, was a joyous celebration of God’s deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt.

“Celebrate it as a festival to the Lord — a lasting ordinance!” ~Exodus 12:14

“Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.” ~Exodus 12:17

“I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples.” ~ Matthew 26:18

The Passover Supper also was a remembrance of that deliverance. By remembrance, we don’t mean a merely intellectual act or emotional recollection. This is a faithful action, a rehearsal, a participation in that deliverance. The Passover liturgies from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish writings from the first century all contain actions and language that help the people around the table to identify with the historic salvation event as if they were present in Egypt and at the Red Sea.

“Celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt.” ~Deuteronomy 16:1

“…so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.” ~Deuteronomy 16:3

“…because you left Egypt in haste.” ~Deuteronomy 16:3

“We cried out to the Lord… the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” ~ Deuteronomy 26:7-8

“Each should celebrate as one who has gone out of Egypt.” ~ Mishna

We also know that as Jesus and his disciples gathered on that last night, their supper together was marked by great joy, praise, and thanksgiving. This was not a dirge or a funeral meal; expressions of joy at this supper were the command of God.

“…with great rejoicing… singing… praise.” ~ 2 Chronicles 30:21-27

“…celebrated with joy… Lord had filled them with joy.” ~ Ezra 6:22

“…your times of rejoicing, your appointed feasts.” ~ Numbers 10:10

The Passover was also established as an anticipation event. Children of God ate the meal together looking forward to that day when they would be eating it in a much better place, in wonderfully better circumstances. They eat and drink with an eye to the future, focused on an upcoming meal that will surpass the one they share today.

“When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.” ~ Exodus 12:25

If we’re really out to imitate every detail of that Last Supper at our communion times together on Sunday mornings — again, for right or wrong — then why don’t we? As good law-keeping Jews, Jesus and his disciples would have been in a festive spirit that night and engaged all the elements of the evening with great joy. The meal was marked by group identity and interaction. It was a present participation in the past events of God’s salvation. They were singing the psalms, specifically Psalms 113-118, before, during, and after the supper.

I would recommend singing songs of salvation, songs of praise for God’s mighty acts, before, during, and after our communion meals together. I would suggest swapping salvation stories around the table. I once was ______, but now I’m ________. Ask each other the questions: from what have we been delivered? From what to what have we passed? Who took our place that day? Do it together in the aisles or along the walls in your worship center. Huddle up around your pews. Allow the children to ask the questions: Why do we do this? And then share the story: because the Lord our God delivered us by the Passover Lamb. And then hug each other and sing another song.

Peace,

Allan

Around the Table: Part 3

September 22, 2013 / / 2 Comments

Good morning, Lon.

Alert all the local and regional safety agencies. Sound the alarm and post the warnings. The state of Texas has granted Valerie a driver license. On Friday morning, our Little Middle parallel parked like a champ and then aced the driving test, nailing it with a 96. So, consider carefully this advice: be extra cautious around the southwest part of town and, in the early evenings. between here and Canyon.

Congratulations, Valerie. Now, can you run to the store and get some bread and more Diet Dr Pepper?

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After two weeks of intense Old Testament study concerning the covenant between God and man, the history and nature of covenant meals, the fellowship sacrifices and meals, the presence of God at those meals, and the great joy commanded and experienced around those tables, our Wednesday night Bible class in Sneed Hall has crossed the threshold into the New Testament and the ministry meals of our Lord Jesus. It’s a class on the Lord’s Supper, yet I think most everyone is surprised at how much we explored before we ever got to the Gospels. Well, we had to.

God comes to us in the person of Jesus as a fulfillment of the covenant: “I will make my dwelling place with you; you will be my people and I will be your God.” Emmanuel means “God with us.” And that’s just what/who Jesus is: God with us. God in Christ comes here to dwell among us (“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” John 1:14). He came to earth to reveal himself to us in Jesus (“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9). And God put on our flesh and came to this planet in order to eat and drink with us, to commune with us, around a table.

“I confer on you a Kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom.” ~Luke 22:29-30

“Many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.” ~Matthew 8:11

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet…” ~Matthew 22:2

You don’t have to read too far in the Gospels and you don’t have to pay too close attention to see that meals, eating and drinking with people, are the focal point of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus eats with his disciples and with his enemies, with the “righteous” and the “sinners,” with crowds of Jews and crowds of Gentiles, with tax collectors and prostitutes, with Mary and Martha and teachers of the Law. Jesus ate and drank with everybody. He was eating and drinking all the time, so much so that he was accused on several occasions of being a drunkard and a glutton.

And in all these Jesus stories, the meals are critically important. They reveal great truths about what God is doing through Jesus in the world. The meals teach lessons about what it means to live as citizens in God’s Kingdom. They express forgiveness and healing, they celebrate restoration and fellowship.

Jesus is eating with Levi and the other tax collectors, showing us in visible ways that the invitation to enjoy fellowship with God is open to all. He’s criticized for his choice in dinner companions and answers by proclaiming that “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners!” (Luke 5:31) You get the same thing with Zacchaeus. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Jesus forgives the sins of the prostitute at the dinner at the Pharisee’s house in Luke 7. He teaches on hypocrisy and taking care of the poor during the meal with the Pharisees and teachers in Luke 11. At the supper with the Pharisee in Luke 14, our Lord declares again that he’s here to eat with everybody: “Bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame!” (Luke 14:21)

Aside from the last dinner with his disciples and the post-resurrection meals, the most important meals during Jesus’ ministry came at the feeding of the multitudes. All four Gospels go to great lengths to report on the miraculous feedings of the five thousand Jews and the four thousand Gentiles. The imagery is unmistakably Messianic. Here’s this great prophet of God providing food for God’s people in the desert. They eat until they are full. Baskets of leftovers are collected. This fulfills Moses. This fulfills prophesy. This is the Anointed One, the Christ!

The early church made a pretty big deal about the feeding of the multitudes. The first churches ate their communion meals in the context of these feedings and the truths those stories revealed. It’s why the earliest communion art we have contains images of fish with the bread and the wine. The connections were made not just by the common themes and the prophesies, but by the deliberate wording the New Testament writers used to relate these important meals. They tied the church’s meals to the last supper, the post-resurrection dinners, and the feedings of the crowds with the four-fold liturgy of “take, bless, break, and give.”

In every account of these miraculous feedings, Jesus is said to “take” the bread, “bless” it, “break” it, and then “give” it to the disciples. Look it up; it’s in every passage (Luke 9:16, Matthew 14:19, Mark 6:41, Mark 8:6, Matthew 15:36). The same language is even used for the fish in John 6:11. Interestingly, the exact same formula is used in the Last Supper accounts. Jesus takes, breaks, blesses, and gives (Luke 22:19, Mark 14:22, Matthew 26:26). The same four words are used in the same order in the stories of Jesus’ post-resurrection meals, too, tying together all the meals Jesus ate during his ministry to the meals the church was sharing together at the time the stories were recorded. Everything that was going on in those meals — the teachings, the revealed truths, the fellowship and thanksgiving, the invitation and celebration, the anticipation of the final heavenly feast — is also going on today in our church’s meals.

They are all Kingdom meals. The feedings of the crowds, the last dinner, the post-resurrection suppers — they are all Kingdom meals, eaten in community, in the presence of the Lord, with great joy. They each anticipate the fullness of the Messianic banquet in the new heaven and new earth. They’re each characterized by joyful celebration and an abundance of food. To eat with Jesus (God) is to experience and celebrate redemption and acceptance. All the meals proclaim that the Day of great joy for all the people has dawned.

With this understanding, how in the world would the first Christians eat the “Lord’s Supper” in a quiet, somber, individualistic way? How would they imitate or recreate the Lord’s meal with little crumbs of cracker and tiny sips of juice?

Of course, they didn’t.  But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

Peace,

Allan

Quick Theology Check

July 17, 2013 / / 2 Comments

All right, let’s get some theology straight here. Our church is in the middle of this “Gifted 2 Go” project and it’s important that we be somewhat clear regarding the reasons we do things. Our motivations and expectations for what we do should always be guided by the Gospel of Christ. And we should all be at least close to the same understandings about what that is.

If we don’t guard ourselves, we can very easily be confused into thinking that the Bible is mainly about what we’re supposed to be doing instead of Scripture being mainly about revealing to us a picture of our God. That makes a huge difference in the way we view and apply the Bible and in our own motivations for doing good.

Jesus taught that we should turn the other cheek. Yes. But Jesus never said turning the other cheek toward someone who hits you is a useful and efficient method for bringing out the best in that person. Turning the other cheek, giving up your coat, walking two miles instead of one — it’s not taught by our Lord because it works. Let’s be honest, it usually doesn’t. It’s taught because this is the way our God is. God is kind to the selfish and ungrateful. He is merciful and loving to his enemies. As we in Amarillo can testify this week, our Father brings his rains equally on the just and the unjust.

Doing good to others is not a strategy for getting what we want. Instead, doing good to others is the only way to live since, in Jesus, we clearly see what God wants. We seek reconciliation and relationship with our neighbor, not because it makes us feel good, but because reconciliation and relationship is what God is doing in the world right now through Christ.

So, tonight we’re baking and delivering cookies to our neighbors. We’re changing the oil in their cars, washing their pick-ups, and helping them with their laundry. Not because it’ll work. Not because it’ll make us feel good about ourselves. Not because it’ll cause our church to grow or give Central great publicity. We serve our neighbors because this is who God is.

Peace,

Allan

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