Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
This parable can stir up many visual images in our lives. That is the main reason I wanted us to watch the parable acted out in video. To hear the words and to see one instance of it being acted out is moving.
If we were to apply these verses to our own lives, which of the characters would we most identify with? I ask this question because that is the intent of story. Stories are told to incite emotional responses of either positive or negative intent. As humans we have a long history of story telling. From the ancient bards, to the Victorian playwrights, from the novelist to the screenplay writers, from the comic book artist to the lyricist basically all forms of entertainment can draw their roots deep into history back to the oral tradition of story telling. Jesus was a masterful storyteller. His stories were humorous, thrilling, mysterious, and filled with inspiration. Probably of all the scripture we could quote from memory, I would guess that the vast majority would be a parable of some sort. And in these stories Jesus is asking us to identify with a character walk around in their clothing and consider their point of view.
Just as with any story we can more easily identify with certain characters than others. In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet who is it that we identify with? More often than not we identify with either Romeo or Juliet, rarely do we identify with the parents of the two main cheaters, I doubt any of us have ever identified with the priest that performed the secret wedding of this tragic couple. Yet there are times where you might happen upon a random showing of the movie playing on the classic movie channel and maybe the situation of your life at that time would lead you to identify with someone different than usual, in High school you were sure to think the story was about love, but as an adult and as your children begin the courtship rituals of our culture you may think something totally different. As a teen you see love flourishing against all odds, as an adult you identify with the tragedy of the story more easily.
How do we identify with this parable? Which of the characters do we identify with? As you listen to the words were you thinking more about the younger son, if you were what might that mean? Do you identify with the desire to get away from the family that seems to be limiting your potential? Maybe you in the course of your current course of life can really identify with the father of the children. Your family is in a place where your children are moving away (or you wish they’d move away), and they are rejecting the ideas you have tried so hard to teach. Maybe you listened to these words and you seem to side with the older son. You have spent your life working along side your parents and you may feel like you were overlooked because the sibling that moved away has just come home and suddenly everything is revolving around them and the consistency of your service to the family is seemingly forgotten.
I can honestly say that I have read this passage countless times. I have had so many different experiences with this passage at various stages of my life that to me, it seems to be on of the most moving parables that Jesus spoke. Though I am not the most experienced of pastors in the terms of length of service, my life has had many twists and turns. I have been on the side of the elder brother, I have been jealous of the attention my siblings have had. I am the middle child, I have been rather healthy and I rarely got into trouble so at times I felt neglected and overlooked. As I have matured I realized that that was a feeling that was not supported in anyway by facts, the truth is I was loved deeply by my parents. I have been the younger son that rejected the teachings of my parents and went out on my own to blaze my own trail, as a result I have also been the younger son that came back home to beg forgiveness of my lifestyle and had to face the consequences of my actions. I have been the son embraced by the loving parent. I have been the parent that has seen my child in the distance longing just to hold them in my arms. I have also been the one filled with anger.
If each of us were to examine our spiritual journeys and were to compose a spiritual autobiography we would probably notice areas in our lives where we more closely identified with each of these characters. I encourage each of you to just consider that at some point. But for right now let us look at this story not through the eyes of our own personal journey with Christ. Instead I would like us to look at this story through the eyes of our Meeting or Church.
I think that this is a very proper way to approach this parable as a community of faith because it was spoken not in a personal context but in a community. It was spoken to a community of people with a common heritage that connected them together. When I was meditating on this parable this week the old song kept playing in my head: “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God, I’ve been washed in the fountain cleansed by the blood, Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, I am part of a family the family of God.” The reason this song kept playing in my head is because this parable speaks beyond a nuclear family but stretches into the realm of a community. In a community there can be a closeness that extends beyond the tradition family. The church is that type of community or family.
Let us consider who we are as a church as a Friends Meeting in this parable. We could be one of four different types of personalities as a church. We could be a rebellious meeting rejecting the time-honored traditions of the past. We could be a judgmental meeting that is so bound up in the legalistic aspects of the church that we become angry when things do not go the way we want. We can be Meeting driven by guilt over our past. Or we can be a church driven by repentance and grace.
The rebellious meeting is actually a very interesting concept. To be honest if we look at church history most denominations were once started in one way or another in this rebellious manner. I say this not because I reject the protestant reformation, but there was a rebellious spirit involved that prompted these religious protests. We divide because we feel that we have some greater understanding of the teachings of Christ that is better than the group we were once part of. So we gather a following and we go our own way, at times our parent meetings willingly release the rebellious order and at other times the divide is less than harmonious. The rebellious church can rebel against morality, ethics, piety, interpretations, or many other different reasons. Rebellion can also be present even without formal divides.
The guilt driven church is one that is continuously focused on the past. It constantly reminds everyone present that they are sinners deserving the wrath of God for their conduct. I say that it is a personality but this particular personality is bipolar. It can be accompanied with either grace or judgment. This personality is one that moves from one extreme to the other but leaves those present wanting. They are not lifted out of their current state and are left feeding the pigs. They know that there is grace available but they sit. They feel they need to do something to make them better but they bound by the responsibility of paying for their past. Many churches are caught in this bipolar guilt driven personality. We remain where we are afraid to reach out because we know our failings and we know our weaknesses.
Then there is the Church of the Elder son, or the judgmental church. These churches are focused on being right. It is easy to be trapped by this type of personality. They have a holiness aspect that do the right things and say the right words. They can become very legalistic and those outside of their community are not acceptable. They have rigid standards for membership and if you have failed you are often shamed. These churches do not do wrong in their eyes, if you do not agree then you must leave. Often times this idea provide the fuel for rebellion.
Then there is the repentant church. A repentant church is one that recognizes that they are an assembly of humans that often times can be caught up. They seek the spirit of God to direct their paths and they move forward with confidence. The repentant church is filled with grace because they know they have been given grace. They embrace a hope for the future instead of dwelling on the failings of the past. They see a hurting person and they open their arms to them, they accept them into the community and gently encourage them to change, instead of focusing on the errors. They do not judge but they allow the consequences of past actions to play though while they walk along side them carrying them into the celebration of the lost being found and the dead coming to life.
Which church are we? In many cases the story of Christianity has been a bipolar guilt driven church. The guilt driven church can control the masses by offering an escape from the wrath of God. We have preached the sacrifice of Christ to appease the wrath of an angry father. Within this framework lives can change yet many are left in the exact place they were little or no change, grace and love are not fruit in their lives because all they have experienced is a substitution their life for that of Christ. This is not the total gospel. Jesus did not preach substitutionary atonement but the Kingdom of God being at hand.
The rebellious church and judgmental church also leaves the community without. Those driven away from the judgmental church either flee completely or they enter rebellion. People begin living a life of hypocrisy. It promotes social changes and moral legislation but it also divides people into the haves and the have-nots. They may change lives today but ultimately leave the spirit longing for relationship. This social gospel was something that Jesus promoted but it was not the totality of his message. Jesus calls us to abide with him, and in that abiding we will be more than servants but friends of God.
Both sons in the parable are products of the misguided ideologies the truth of the gospel is not found in the control of the guilty conscience or the social engineering of a culture. It is found in the grace and turning of the rebellious into a community. It is found in the turning of the judgmental to the forgiving accepting community. Do not hear incorrectly there is only one way the way of Christ. Jesus preached a total change, a turning of the mind, body, and spirit. This total change is one built on grace, forgiveness, redemption, and discipline.
The father ran to greet the rebellious younger son and in the same day he offered the same grace to the rebellious elder son. The elder often forgotten son has all the abundance of the father around him, yet unwilling to join in. Both sons are equally rebellious, both have equally fallen short of the blessing and joy that the father has to offer. We are often more like that elder son than the younger. Our rebellion is not in the form of out right immorality, but it is just as dangerous. We stand in the doorway holding onto our devotion as being good enough yet we keep ourselves from experiencing the joy of the heavenly celebration.
The judgmental church knows the lifestyle that will provide the abundant life, yet they do not join in. The rebellious son runs from the disciplined life seeking to fill its life with pleasure but soon realizes that pleasure is not abundant life either. Both miss out. God is the father; the father’s joy comes from the relationship. It is not found in control, it is not found in rebellion, joy is not found in judgment but in relationship.
The church is to be reflective of the father of this parable, though often we instead reflect the sons. The father does not control, but he loves. He allows the experience of rebellion to happen even though he knows the lifestyle will cause pain, and he waits with open arms. We are called to love. We are called to welcome and celebrate the return of any person back into the fold of God. We do not say their actions are acceptable, but we offer a different lifestyle. A lifestyle of Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the Love of Christ with others. Which son are you? Which church are we?
Scripture: Luke 13:31-35
So often times as we move through our bible reading plans we zoom through passages and forget to really take the time to think about what they are saying. We read the words but can often fail to let the words soak into our hearts. The form of prayerfully reading scripture and meditating on it, called Lectio Divina, is a practice that takes time to read. You pray, read, and sit with the words. The difference between the one-year bible reading plan and Lectio Divina is like the difference between snow and rain as forms of precipitation. Our environments, ecosystems, farms, and lawns need water. I grew up in an area where our lives depended on precipitation. We would pray for rain, but if you would as any farmer they would have a preference in the form of precipitation they would ask for. In the spring they would pray for slow gentle rains, but most of all in the winter they would pray for snow. This week as much trouble as it has been for many of us in the city, has been an answer to prayers for the farmers in our area.
Snow is an amazing form of precipitation; it actually protects and waters the crops from harsh weather. Snow reflects heat. When a layer of snow covers a field of wheat it will often protect the fragile plant from the subfreezing temperatures of the air. While the snow is protecting the plant it gently waters them as well as it melts, the water goes directly into the soil. Snow is actually the most efficient watering system of nature. Slowly melting and shielding the plants it surrounds. Where the torrential rains of spring will often run off of the soil and down the hillside to collect in a valley where it forms streams, rivers, and in some cases it will even form a canyon as the water erodes the rock and soil. The difference between the slow prayerful reading of Lectio Divina and the rushing plans that push through scripture. Both are needed without the running streams and rivers Kansas City would be without water, but without the snow we would be without food.
I urge everyone to read scripture in both ways. Download the YouVersion App to your smart phone and tablets and start a plan to read through the bible in a timeframe you are comfortable with, but also slow down and practice the divine reading of prayer. The plan will give you a quick rush of biblical knowledge cleansing and watering the dry soul, but the prayerful reading of scripture will provide the protection and fulfilling nourishment we need to survive.
I begin this way to yet again remind us all of the three things Jesus did frequently. The disciplines of Christ: the practice of prayer, worship, and ministry. These three things are not only good but also vital for us to build a healthy spiritual life; each of these three disciplines builds and feeds on the others. Our ministry or service to others drives us to our knees in prayer and it also gives us reasons to celebrate and worship God. Our worship can encourage others to minister and also reveal to us that we need to seek the face of God in a deeper way. Our discipline in prayer provides the energy and direction in both our worship and our ministry. These three things keep us each centered on what is most important in our community, and in our spiritual lives.
Over the past few months if have noticed some things. It is easy to get caught up, in my own life I have gotten caught up in work, politics, church business, and several other things. Not that any of this is bad, but none of them are central. I get caught up and I allow an area of life to take over, and as a result I neglect another area. Suddenly what I have been caught up shoots roots into my soul and it begins to dominate my outlook, it can even be found in areas of life that it should not have influence. I learn this by taking the snowy approach at reading scripture.
This passage is all about what is central in our lives. It is about who or what controls life. If we quickly read over this passage we may miss that point and just get caught up in the idea of Jesus playing the role of a chicken and the people missing the point. This passage is very deep. If we let it seep into our souls it very well might change our outlook in life.
We first meet with Pharisees meeting with Jesus. I am glad that last week we had the privilege to hear a message from a Jewish Rabbi because he did highlight a fact that we often forget, Jesus was a Pharisee. He was a teacher within the Jewish faith and the teachers were Pharisees. When we take the quick approach to reading scripture we see that Jesus and Pharisees were often at odds, but this is not the full picture. They were religious leaders that had a different understanding of how best to approach the teaching and leading of people. In this passage Jesus and the Pharisees are on the same side. They are concerned for his well being, they are giving him a legitimate warning. They were telling him leave because they want to kill you. The problem was that the government was beginning to find the religious leaders, namely Jesus as a threat.
Herod is mention by them. Herod the Roman appointed leader of Galilee and Perea the lands in northern Israel, was tuned into Jesus’ ministry. This is important to us for a number of reasons but mainly because Jesus was being seen as a political threat. Politics is all about control of people. When a new idea begins to divert attention from those in power it threatens the ability of those people to control the populous. Herod wanted to control his people, it was his job to control, and without control he would not have a livelihood. But who governments only control when people allow them to control, it does not matter if the Government is a monarchy, democracy, or an oligarchy those being controlled give that governing body the power to control, and when they lose the people they lose and the power is given to another. Herod is nervous because in his courts he is hearing the name of Jesus more often, and suddenly he is losing the control of people. Jesus is healing, feeding, and giving people a new life.
“Go and tell that fox.” is Jesus answer. He calls Herod a fox because is sly. He can twist and manipulate things to go in his favor. Jesus says, “tell that fox, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow…’” Jesus is saying I am ministering not seeking power. It is not any of his concern. He says that He will be doing this for a time and that Herod can come get him if he wants. The Government and national politics has no place in ministry of a church. No matter how sly and cunning a politician is it should not affect what we do as a church. If we are called to cast out demons, heal the sick, or feed the hungry we should precede. The ministry is more important that any nation, any politician, any government. Governments no matter how powerful cannot stop God; ask those Soviet Union how that works. All of our concern for what our government does in the world outside these walls should have no bearing in what God calls us to do inside them.
Now Jesus gets to the heart of the issue. “It is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” This is a cryptic portion of scripture. Is Jesus talking of Jerusalem proper or Jerusalem the idea? Cryptic words can only be deciphered with discipline and understanding. Jesus is speaking not of the city but of religion. Jerusalem is the center of the faith tradition. Religion is about influence of people, much like government. It seeks to influence people to act in certain ways. Now before we get to far off remember that Jesus is telling the Religious leaders to tell this to the governmental leaders. Jesus is telling Herod that the government has less power than religion. It is religion that can silence the prophet not the government. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” Religion can get it wrong if the religion is focused on controlling and not guiding. “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, and you were not wiling! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the times comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
God does not desire us to be divided into religions and governments. He does not desire us to divide into political parties or denominations. These things are about control over people; Jesus spoke often against lording it over people. Those that desire control will be given just what they want. They will gain the house…but the house will eventually be found empty. This is contrary to everything that Jesus promoted. Jesus gathered by offering people something different then a leader to follow. He offered life. To the blind man he offered a life of sight, which lead them out of the life of begging and gave them the opportunity of a different life. To woman with a bleeding condition He offered a life without shame. To the leper he offered acceptance into a community instead of a life of rejection. To the woman caught in adultery he offered an alternative to the constant giving and seeking of lustful desires but one of respect and forgiveness. How He wanted to gather the religious into the brood but they were not willing.
Control…Who is in control…What is in control? Do we want to control? To exert control over other is not godly even if it is done in the halls of the most pious organization. Those that seek to control are not leaders of God but the murderers of prophets. I want to ask a hard question to each of us, one I hope we all will consider, do we want to control our community or do we want to gather? The hen does not seek to control her brood but to protect, direct, and encourage them into their next stage of life. Eventually all of the chicks become adults who will live their own. Jesus wants to gather us. He wants to protect, encourage, and direct our lives not to control our every movement but to transform us into a people that are less concerned with control and more concerned with transforming the earth to be as it is in Heaven. He wants us to offer life, hope, and opportunities to people so that they can move from being a brood and into disciplined people living a life of prayer, worship, and ministry. To gather a community Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the Love of Christ with other.
Today as we join together in this time of communal prayer and open worship, let us remember the difference between snow and rain as well as control and gathering. I pray that we will allow the Spirit of God to let us release those things in our lives that we have allowed to gain control over us, and that we will move under the wings of the God that loves us and let Him guide us into Life.
Scripture: John 2:1-11
The Wedding in Cana is probably one of my favorite stories in scripture. I like it because it is one of those stories where Jesus’ human and divine natures seem to meet in one place. There is something very human about a wedding and a wedding reception. Yet there is something very spiritual as well.
There are times in life that seem to connect the human and spiritual. The dedication of a child is a ritual that celebrates the birth of a child as well as the commitment in the parents to raise and teach the child the ways of God. On the other end we gather together to mourn and celebrate the wake of a life lived. Usually in the middle of that journey from the dedication to the wake is a joining of two lives a joining that promotes the continuation of the creative joy. It is in this marriage this joining that seems to unite the two events.
Over time the importance of these events has begun to erode away until it is nearly unrecognizable. The dedication ceremony, or the infant baptism in some church traditions, once represented the welcoming of the child into the community of the church. Today this beautiful ceremony connecting a child to a community of faith, yet the commitment to the union of a child to the community is often neglected. Funeral services were once community events where business were closed and people attended where today our culture has shifted to a degree where funerals are scheduled around the other schedules, and have become an inconvenience for all but the closest people. It is odd but how many of us have really realized how much these aspects of our spiritual and human lives have eroded; we fail to recognize the importance of celebration.
We have lost something as a culture when we fail to celebrate theses major milestones in humanity. Celebration is important in the human experience, yet what is celebration usually regulated to? Most of the celebration in our culture is usually directed to the worldly aspects of life. How often do we use celebration in worship?
The wedding at Cana and the interpretations of the events speak more to our current cultural understands of morality than it does anything else. A wedding in the 1st century culture was a very important thing. In ancient cultures a wedding was not just a big event it was a huge event. It was not just the joining of two lives but two families. It even went deeper than this; it was a symbol of a people joining with God. The Hebrew ceremony is one that is filled with a rich symbolism that traces its roots back to Mount Sinai. The Hebrew marriage ceremony is to symbolize the marriage of the people of Israel to God. We look at the Old Testament as a book of laws, but it is a covenant a commandment of sorts. In many ways it is a marriage license. Every aspect of the ceremony has a historic and legal meaning to it, the canopy the party stands under represents the clouds that surrounded the mountain when Moses received the law, the wine represents the sacrifices, and the broken glass represents that they cannot reverse the process. It is a beautiful ceremony.
The ceremony is deeply religious, the union is not complete until after the feast. The feast is just as much of an act of worship as the actual ritual, so much so that there are traditions in the feast as well. I find it interesting that John the gospel writer does not mention the actual ceremony but the feast. It was not in the religious ceremony but in the celebration of that ceremony that we find our Savior. It is a curious thing. So many of us place an importance on the ceremony but it is the feast that Jesus went to.
The feast has great cultural significance. The feast is where the couple is presented and accepted into the community. They are joined as members of the community. These feasts would last several days as the community celebrated the union. As we know a feast requires lots of food and drink. It would be a bad sign for the future of the couple if the refreshments ran out too soon. People would see the groom and his family as being impoverished. People would begin to talk and before the new family could even get started they would be seen as unfit.
We meet Jesus’ mother here, a side of Mary that we do not often see. The feast is proceeding as planned but she notices something, the wine is running short. She is concerned because she has face the tongues of the community. Mary is full of mercy. Jesus and his disciples are there, they came to enjoy the feast not oversee the ceremony. Mary comes to him and says, “They have no wine.” She is concerned and she knows that Jesus is the one that can help.
Mary is concerned and she takes that concern to Jesus. There is a lot we can learn from this. How often do we see a situation around us that we cannot fathom a solution for? We do not have to necessarily have to have the answers to the problems of the world; we only need to know where to go.
Mary then goes to the servants and tells them the last words we hear her say in scripture. “Do whatever He tells you”. She does not hesitate or question, she boldly moves forward with confidence that things will work out. She places her faith not in herself or what she can do but she saw the situation, took it to Jesus, and then left it in his hands. The servants were a bit confused though. Jesus then tells them to go fill the jars with water.
Go fill the jars. Not go get wine from the store, which would make more sense, but go get water. Mary says, do whatever he says. He says go get water and fill up the washing jars. Which is the equivalent of filling up the sinks. They are out of wine and Jesus wants them to fill the sink. Then he says go draw some out and take it to the steward. Can you imagine what the servants would have been thinking? Fill a sink, fill a cup, and serve it up. In their mind they are about to serve the most distinguished guest of the feast, bath water.
Then the amazing thing happens. Out of something they thought was totally inadequate God made something amazing happen. What was water is now wine. Instead of having 120-180 gallons of water, they had wine. Not just wine, but the best wine the steward had drank. Yes it was wine, actual wine. We know this because the steward said that they would bring in poor wine later in the feast when people were drunk, but the wine from the jars was best. Jesus made, out of the purification waters, wine.
Jesus was not concerned about the moral cleanliness of the people; he was concerned with the life of the couple, and their good name in the community. He was concerned with the community and the joy that a marriage feast brings. Often we can get wrapped up in the morality of the celebration that we become dry and stiff. We can suck the joy out of life. But that is not what a life with God is, that is religion. Religion is all about rules and appearances. What concerned Jesus was life, and life is about relationships. Life is about opening up to the community to share a feast. Life is about celebrating and engaging in the life of the children, and celebrating the life lived by those that precede us to the other side of the veil. It is in this sharing of life where we can see what is going on in our community and carry the concerns to Jesus. It is then in that place where we are asked to do what ever He says, and where sometimes he is asking us to accomplish something amazing out of something unimaginable.
Let us take time to celebrate, encourage, remember, and support as we enter into this time of holy expectancy. Let us take our concerns and hopes to Jesus and let us open ourselves up to him so that we can be like those servants, amazed at what can happen before our eyes. Let us take joy in being a community of faith that is sharing this life’s journey together.