Introspection: Another Cowardly Disciple

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Another Cowardly Disciple

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.  All who want to save their lives will lose them.  But all who lose their lives because of me will find them."

Matthew 16:24-25 (CEB)

Oh my soul, Oh my Savior
Peter denied You three times
I have denied You more

From "What Have We Done?" by Kings Kaleidoscope

For the last couple of years, during Holy Week, I read about Jesus' fateful "last week" in Jerusalem.  From Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, I read about Jesus' triumphal entry into the city, clash the religious institution, Last Supper with the Disciples, arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection from one of the Gospels.  Last year, when I read about these events from the Gospel of Luke, I kept the politics of the time and region in mind.  This year, when I read about these events from the Gospel of Matthew, I read through a more religious lens.

I read about the actions of Jesus in Jerusalem, particularly His cleansing the temple and His theologically battling with the religious leaders, as an assault on the religious establishment of His day.

On the day after Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the joyous shouts of the people who traveled with Him, He barged into the temple, turned over the tables of the people exchanging currency, and turned over the chairs of the people selling animals for sacrifice.  He said, "It's written, My house will be called a house of prayer.  But you've made it a hideout for crooks."¹  Jesus' actions were essentially a protest against the corruption of the religious institution.  By comparing the temple to a "hideout for crooks," Jesus was saying that the religious leaders were not promoting scriptural justice but were instead harboring injustice.²

The next morning, Jesus was hungry.  He found a fig tree, but, when He looked for figs, He found nothing but leaves.  He cursed the fig tree, and it immediately withered, to the amazement of His disciples.³  That fig tree was symbolic of the religious institution of Jesus' day.⁴  In Jesus' eyes, both were outwardly beautiful but essentially fruitless.

Later that day, the religious leaders confronted Jesus over the stunt He pulled in the temple, asking Him where He received the authority to do what He did.  Jesus didn't answer their question.  Instead, He responded with a series of parables that suggested that the religious leaders were hypocritical, derelict in their duty, and utterly disinterested in what God was doing.  The religious leaders struck back by asking Jesus a series of loaded questions, hoping to trap Him with His words, but He evaded their traps with His brilliant answers.  Finally, in front of His followers, He launched into a screed about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.⁵

Sometimes, when we read the biblical story, the biblical story reads us back.  Naturally, I read about Jesus' actions as an attack on the religious system of His day, because I have problems with the religious system of my day.  In my eyes, much of American Christianity is rotten to the core.  So many Christians in America seem to care more about supporting certain political interests and less about actually carrying on the work of Christ.  The Gospel story, which is meant to be liberating and life-giving, is twisted and weaponized against people.  All that said, I don't do very much to combat the corruption of Christianity in America.  I either address such matters on this blog so vaguely that nobody really knows what I mean or subconsciously keep my readership small so that I don't have to face pushback.

Later that week in Jerusalem, Jesus, knowing that He would soon be arrested, tried, and crucified, went to a place called Gethsemane to pray.  He prayed, "My Father, if it's possible, take this cup of suffering away from me.  However - not what I want but what you want."⁶  Jesus didn't want to face the suffering that awaited Him, but He wanted to do God's will.  On Maundy Thursday, as I reflected on this prayer, the thought occurred to me that Jesus would not have to face this "cup of suffering" if He had not rocked the proverbial boat.  Jesus did what He did that week, knowing that it would cost Him His life.  Were His actions really worth it?

The next day, on Good Friday, I read about Jesus suffering, death, and burial, and I began to lament my lack of courage.  I have problems with the religious institution of my day, but, unlike Jesus, I don't have the courage to flip over proverbial tables and call out the liars, grifters, and political shills who lead churches.  I'm afraid of facing the consequences of speaking my mind.  On Good Friday, I found myself another cowardly disciple afraid to take up his own cross, not unlike the ones who abandoned and denied Jesus when He was arrested.⁷

"Then he cursed and swore, 'I don't know the man!'" (Mt 26:74a)

On Easter Sunday, I read about the Resurrection.  One morning, a couple of days after Jesus was crucified, two women visited His tomb and learned that He had been resurrected from the dead.  They encountered the risen Jesus, and relayed instructions to His disciples to meet Him in Galilee.⁸  When the Disciples met Jesus atop a mountain in Galilee, He said to them, "I've received all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you.  Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age."⁹

Jesus' commissioning the Disciples put things into perspective for me.  Jesus did not tell the Disciples to keep flipping tables.  He told them to go and make disciples.  If I am indeed a disciple of Jesus, then I need to be using my spiritual gifts to make and strengthen other disciples and not looking for a fight.  That said, there may very well come a time when I am required to take a stand, as Jesus did and as His first disciples eventually did, and at that time I will need to be courageous.  As Jesus said, "All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me."¹⁰

May God give us all the clarity to do what God has called us to do and the courage to do what we are required to do.


Notes:

1. Matthew 21:1-13 (CEB)
2. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem.  2006, HarperOne.  p. 49
3. Matthew 21:18-20 (CEB)
4. Borg and Crossan, p. 56
5. Matthew 21:23-23:36
6. Matthew 26:36-39 (CEB)
7. Matthew 26:56b
8. Matthew 28:1-10
9. Matthew 28:16-20 (CEB)
10. Matthew 16:24 (CEB)

The Denial of St. Peter was painted by Gerard van Honthorst around 1623.

Perspective: Believing and Praying

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Believing and Praying

My future is in your hands.
Don't hand me over to my enemies,
to all who are out to get me!
Shine your face on your servant;
save me by your faithful love!

Psalm 31:15-16 (CEB)

God, You know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand

From "Let the Waters Rise" by MIKESCHAIR

One of the classes I had to complete in order to be certified as a Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church was a class on leading public prayer.  In this class, I learned about a particular type of prayer called the collect.  In such a prayer, a petition to God is preceded by a statement about God and followed by a reason for the petition.¹

Consider the following collect written for the third Sunday in Eastertide:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.²

In this prayer, the petition is made to God that the presence of the risen Christ be made known to the gathered congregation.  The rationale for the petition is that God resurrected Christ from the dead and that seeing the resurrected Christ gave His first disciples hope and joy.  The reason for the petition is that experiencing the presence of the risen Christ will provide the congregation the spiritual strength and sustenance they need to better serve God.

The collect shows us that what we ask of God is directly connected to our theology.  Generally speaking, when we pay close attention to a prayer, we can learn something important about the person who is praying, specifically what the person believes about God.


Many of the psalms in the Bible are attributed to David, the shepherd who became a military leader and then later became the most beloved king of Israel.  Like a number of the psalms associated with David, the thirty-first psalm is a prayer for help in a perilous time.  Evidently, David has found himself in dire straits.  The psalm begins,

I take refuge in you, Lord.
Please never let me be put to shame.
Rescue me by your righteousness!³

When I encountered this psalm recently, I observed that the psalmist apparently believes at least four things about God.


First, David believes that God is protective of God's children.  He prays,

Listen closely to me!
Deliver me quickly;
be a rock that protects me;
be a strong fortress that saves me!
You are definitely my rock and my fortress.
Guide me and lead me for the sake of your good name!
Get me out of this net that's been set for me
because you are my protective fortress.⁴

To David, God is like a rock behind which he can take cover and a fortress in which he can take refuge.  Such imagery can be found throughout the Psalms.⁵  David goes on to pray,

How great is the goodness
that you've reserved for those who honor you,
that you commit to those who take refuge in you -
in the sight of everyone!
You hide them in the shelter of your wings,
safe from human scheming.
You conceal them in a shelter,
safe from accusing tongues.⁶

According to David, God shelters God's children in the same way that a mother bird shelters her young with her wings.


Second, David believes that God is faithful to God's children.  He prays,

I entrust my spirit into your hands;
you, Lord, God of faithfulness -
you have saved me.⁷

David's use of the past tense might lead us to believe that the occasion that inspires this prayer is not the first time David has asked God for help in a perilous time.  He later prays,

Bless the Lord,
because he has wondrously revealed
his faithful love to me
when I was like a city under siege!⁸

Trusting that God is faithful involves remembering what God has done in the past.  Scholar John Goldingay notes in his commentary on this psalm that remembering God's previous acts "keeps those events in the awareness of the people praying and thus makes it more possible for them to hold on as the waters rise."⁹  David evidently sought help from God in the past and received it, so he trusts that God will help him again in the present.


Third, David believes that God is attentive to God's children; otherwise, he might not bother asking God for help.  James L. Mays writes in his commentary on this psalm, "The psalm has been called a model of a prayer that is confident of being heard.  This confidence informs the prayer from start to finish; to pray this psalm is to be led into and instructed in this confidence."¹⁰  David prays,

I rejoice and celebrate in your faithful love
because you saw my suffering -
you were intimately acquainted with my deep distress.
You didn't hand me over to the enemy,
but set my feet in wide-open spaces.¹¹

David goes on to pray,

When I was panicked, I said,
"I'm cut off from your eyes!"
But you heard my request for mercy
when I cried out to you for help.¹²

Goldingay suggests, "People praying are invited to believe and declare that God has heard their prayer even when there is yet no evidence, to urge one another to believe that this is so, and to take courage accordingly."¹³  The defining story of David's people is the Exodus, in which God hears the cries of the long-oppressed people of Israel and sends Moses to liberate them.  David trusts that God hears his cries in the same way that God heard the cries of his oppressed ancestors.


Finally, David believes that God is sovereign.  He prays,

My future is in your hands.
Don't hand me over to my enemies,
to all who are out to get me!
Shine your face on your servant;
save me by your faithful love!¹⁴

To trust that God is sovereign is to trust that God has the final word in all matters.  For David, trusting that God is sovereign means trusting that God is the one who truly determines his future and not the people who are seeking his life.  He ends his prayer,

All you who are faithful, love the Lord!
The Lord protects those who are loyal,
but he pays the proud back to the fullest degree.
All you who wait for the Lord,
be strong and let your heart take courage.¹⁵

To trust that God is sovereign is also to trust that God will eventually set all things right.  David trusts that people's faithfulness to God will not go unnoticed by God and that wrongdoers will inevitably have to face the consequences of their wrongdoings.


What we believe about God determines how we pray, and, at the same time, how we pray reveals what we believe about God.  David believes that God is protective, faithful, attentive, and sovereign, so he turns to God for protection in perilous times.  What does the way you pray reveal about your beliefs about God?


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: "Collect"
2. "Collects and Suggested Canticles and Refrains (Daily Prayer)."  The Church of England Website.
3. Psalm 31:1 (CEB)
4. Psalm 31:2-4 (CEB)
5. Joel B. Green, William H. Willimon, et al.  The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV).  2009, Abingdon Press.  p. 672
6. Psalm 31:19-20 (CEB)
7. Psalm 31:5 (CEB)
8. Psalm 31:21 (CEB)
9. John Goldingay.  The Old Testament for Everyone (Kindle Edition).  2020, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 2835
10. James L. Mays.  Psalms (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching) (Kindle Edition). 2011, John Knox Press.  loc. 2914-5
11. Psalm 31:7-8 (CEB)
12. Psalm 31:22 (CEB)
13. Goldingay, p. 2836
14. Psalm 31:15-16 (CEB)
15. Psalm 31:23-24 (CEB)

The photograph of the desert boulders was taken by Ken Kistler and has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: The Bad Shepherd

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

The Bad Shepherd

I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away.  That's because he isn't the shepherd; the sheep aren't really his.  So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them.  He's only a hired hand and the sheep don't matter to him.

John 10:11-13 (CEB)

Arm me with watchful care
As in Thy sight to live
And now Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give!

From "A Charge to Keep I Have" by Charles Wesley

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Eastertide, a day sometimes called Good Shepherd Sunday.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."  He goes on to say, "I am the good shepherd.  I know my own sheep and they know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.  I give up my life for the sheep."¹  On this day, we remember who Jesus is as humanity's Good Shepherd.  Among other things we remember that Jesus laid down His life, as a good shepherd does, to liberate humanity from the power of sin and death when He endured crucifixion.

The twenty-third psalm is attributed to Jesus' ancestor David, who shepherded his family's sheep before he was anointed to become his people's next king.  In this beloved psalm, a shepherd imagines himself as a sheep, and he imagines that God is his shepherd.  The psalmist proclaims that God, his shepherd, provides everything he needs.  He proclaims that, as shepherd, God leads him to "grassy meadows" and "restful waters."  He proclaims that, when he must "walk through the darkest valley," he is not afraid, because God, his shepherd, is there to protect him.²  In the same way that sheep are totally dependent on their shepherd, we are totally dependent on God.

This psalm, which describes God's care for humanity, has something to teach us about human beings, who bear God's image.  It teaches us that, when we find ourselves in any place of authority, not unlike a shepherd, we are called to lead, provide, or protect in accordance with the authority entrusted to us.

Perhaps, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we would do well to remember that not all shepherds are good.

The prophet Ezekiel was among the people deported to Babylon the first time the Babylonian Empire attacked the Kingdom of Judah.  Occasionally he was called to speak out against the people in authority among those who remained in Judah.  On one occasion, God commanded Ezekiel to "prophesy against Israel's shepherds."³  God told Ezekiel to say to them,

The Lord God proclaims to the shepherds: Doom to Israel's shepherds who tended themselves!  Shouldn't shepherds tend the flock?  You drink the milk, you wear the wool, and you slaughter the fat animals, but you don't tend the flock.  You don't strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays, or seek out the lost; but instead you use force to rule them with injustice.⁴

In other words, the people in charge used their positions of authority not for the benefit of the people who depended on them but rather for their own benefit.

When people in positions of authority fail to do the jobs entrusted to them, bad things happen to the people who depend on them.  God told Ezekiel to say to the "shepherds" who failed to care for God's people,

Without a shepherd, my flock was scattered; and when it was scattered, it became food for all the wild animals.  My flock strayed on all the mountains and on every high hill throughout all the earth.  My flock was scattered, and there was no one to look for them or find them.  So now shepherds, hear the Lord's word!  This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, without a shepherd, my flock became prey.  My flock became food for all the wild animals.  My shepherds didn't seek out my flock.  They tended themselves, but they didn't tend my flock.⁵

When shepherds fail to lead, provide, and protect, their flock essentially becomes a buffet for predators.  When the kings of Israel and Judah failed to lead their people well, their kingdoms were attacked by larger empires, and their subjects were taken into captivity.

According to Jesus, "the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."  By contrast, the bad shepherd neglects the lives of his sheep as he seeks to enrich and glorify himself.  As we remember what Jesus, our Good Shepherd, did for us, His sheep, may we remember that not all people who seek positions of authority truly have other people's best interests at heart.  May we who are in positions of authority faithfully do what we have been trusted to do by leading, providing, and protecting to the best of our ability as our positions require.


Notes:

1. John 10:11, 14-15 (CEB)
2. Psalm 23:1-4 (CEB)
3. Ezekiel 34:1-2 (CEB)
4. Ezekiel 34:2-4 (CEB)
5. Ezekiel 34:5-8 (CEB)

The photograph of the flock of sheep was provided by the Agricultural Research Service and is public domain.