Introspection: A Christmas Reminder

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A Christmas Reminder

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.

John 1:14a (The Message)

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail th'incarnate Deity
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell
Jesus, our Immanuel

From "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley

I had driven to another part of town with plans of eating breakfast at a mom-and-pop cafe I enjoy, as I often do when I take Friday off from work.  Ending up back at a chain coffee shop closer to my home and ordering a tiny, overpriced toaster-oven breakfast sandwich naturally put me into a bad mood.  I was already primed for cynicism when I started noticing the Christmas music playing over the speaker.  I started to wonder once again if there might be some conspiracy involving Hallmark Media, Mariah Carey, and countless other parties to do to one of the two Christian high holy days what has been done to the Feast of St. Valentine.

Seriously though, I always tend to feel a bit cynical during the Christmas season.  The senior pastor of my church recently admitted that, though he loves the meaning of Christmas, he tends to dislike the "stuff" we cram into the season.¹  I totally understood what he meant.  For me personally, trying to figure out what to give people for Christmas is a source of frustration and anxiety, and the sentimentality permeating so many Christmas songs and Christmas movies just seems empty.

My devotional reading for that Friday consisted of a section from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, in which Paul urges his readers to follow through on a commitment they made to contribute to a fund to help fellow believers in need.²  When I've encountered this particular reading in the past, I've focused on what Paul writes about giving - that one person's excess can meet another person's needs³ and that a person should give joyfully and not begrudgingly.⁴  That Friday, out of the two chapters in the day's reading, a singular verse captured my attention, a verse I've previously ignored in order to focus on the "big picture" of what Paul is writing.

Paul writes, "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Although he was rich, he became poor for our sakes, so that you could become rich through his poverty."⁵

The theological term for Jesus' "self-impoverishment" is kenosis, which means "self-emptying."⁶  This concept is developed further in other parts of the New Testament.  Paul includes in his later Letter to the Philippians what is thought to be an early Christian hymn, which is commonly called the Christ Hymn.  In it, we read,

Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.⁷

At the very beginning of the Gospel of John there is another early Christian hymn, which is sometimes called the Hymn to the Word.  In it, we read,

The Word became flesh
and made his home among us.⁸

The Son of God "became poor for our sakes" by divesting Himself of the power and glory of divinity in order to walk among us as a flesh and blood human being.

The mystery we ponder and celebrate at Christmas is that, in the words of one preacher, "the Infinite has become an infant."⁹  This is the whole Christmas story in a nutshell.

Singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen once mused, "There is a crack, a crack in everything.  That's how the light gets in."¹⁰  That Friday morning, a reminder of the Incarnation cracked through my cynicism, or maybe my cynicism was the crack that allowed in the reminder of the Incarnation, which I admittedly glossed over previously.  I suppose I needed a reminder amid all the "stuff" that there is something worth celebrating this season.

Whether or not you struggle to get into the "Christmas spirit" and whether or not you enjoy all the "stuff" that goes on this season, may you, dear reader, remember that, in a dirty stable in Bethlehem, the Son of God once lay in a feeding trough, having become "poor for our sakes."


Notes:

1. Brian Gilmer.  "A Thin Christmas."  Travelers Rest United Methodist Church, 12/08/2024.
2. 2 Corinthians 8-9
3. 2 Corinthians 8:13-14
4. 2 Corinthians 9:7
5. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (CEB)
6. Wikipedia: "Kenosis"
7. Philippians 2:6-7a (CEB)
8. John 1:14a (CEB)
9. C.H. Spurgeon.  "The Condescension of Christ."
10. From "Anthem" by Leonard Cohen

Natività was painted by Carlo Maratta in 1655.

Perspective: How Jesus Conquered the World

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How Jesus Conquered the World

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 8:35, 37 (NRSV)

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
And love never fails you

From "Love Never Fails" by Brandon Heath

In the Gospel of John, we read that, during the last evening Jesus spent with the Disciples before He was arrested and ultimately crucified, He offered them many words of comfort and assurance.  At one point, He said, "In the world you have distress.  But be encouraged!  I have conquered the world."¹

By the following morning, Jesus had been arrested by the religious leaders and put on trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.²  Allegedly, He had claimed to be the Messiah, the long-awaited warrior king who was expected to liberate the Jewish people from their Roman oppressors.  The Roman Empire did not take too kindly to such claims, and people who dared to challenge the Empire ended up nailed to crosses.  Pilate called Jesus into his headquarters and asked, "Are you the king of the Jews?³

Jesus answered, "My kingdom doesn't originate from this world.  If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn't have been arrested by the Jewish leaders.  My kingdom isn't from here."⁴

How could Jesus claim that He conquered the world if He ended up being crucified?

I think that one way Jesus conquered the world was through His refusal to follow the ways of the world.  In two of the Gospels, we read that one day, while Jesus was fasting in the wilderness, the devil showed Him all of the kingdoms of the world and offered to give Him dominion over them if He would just bow down and worship him.⁵  In Jesus' day, the Roman Empire had conquered much of the known world and maintained control through fear and violence.  Jesus could have been a king like Caesar, but being like Caesar would have been tantamount to serving the devil.  Jesus turned down the devil's offer,⁶ choosing to be a servant instead of a tyrant and choosing to be a cross bearer instead of a cross builder.

When Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not from this world, He was saying that, though He is a king, He is not a king like Caesar and that His kingdom is not like the Roman Empire.

Pilate asked Jesus again, "So you are a king?"⁷

Jesus replied "You say that I am a king.  I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth.  Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice."⁸

In a number of translations of the Bible, Jesus' answer to Pilate's question seems rather odd, since there is no indication that Pilate ever said that regarded Jesus as a king.  According to Eugene Peterson's translation, The Message, when Pilate asked Jesus if He is indeed a king, Jesus said, "You tell me.  Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth.  Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice."⁹  Jesus essentially asked Pilate the same question He asked the Disciples in the other Gospels, Who do you say that I am?¹⁰  Jesus invited Pilate to leave behind the kingdom of Caesar, a worldly kingdom which is maintained through fear and violence, and to defect to the Kingdom of God, a heavenly Kingdom which is advanced through service and self-sacrifice.

I think that another way Jesus conquered the world was through His resurrection.  Days after He was put to death by crucifixion, He was raised from the dead, and His way of service and self-sacrifice was vindicated.  Jesus did not need to conquer the Roman Empire in order to advance the Kingdom of God, for the Kingdom of God would continue to thrive long after the Roman Empire had come to an end.

In this world we continue to face difficulties, but we can find encouragement by trusting that Christ has indeed conquered the world.  We too can be conquerors by resisting the self-serving ways of the world and by following our Risen King's example of service and self-sacrifice.


Notes:

1. John 16:33 (CEB)
2. John 18:1-32
3. John 18:33 (CEB)
4. John 18:36 (CEB)
5. Matthew 4:1-2, 8-9; Luke 4:1-2, 5-7
6. Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8
7. John 18:37 (CEB)
8. ibid.
9. John 18:37 (The Message)
10. Matthew 16:15; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20

What Is Truth? was painted by Nikolai Ge in the late 1800s.

Perspective: Be Like the Heretic

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Be Like the Heretic

My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it?  Claiming to have faith can't save anyone, can it?  Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat.  What if one of you said, "Go in peace!  Stay warm!  Have a nice meal!"?  What good is it if you don't actually give them what their body needs?  In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.

James 2:14-17 (CEB)

'Cause we can talk and debate it till we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that He's coming to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't have give a [$#!%]
About fifty thousand people who are dying today

From "What Matters More" by  Derek Webb

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that one day a religious scholar decides to test Jesus by asking Him what he must do to obtain eternal life.¹  Jesus responds by asking the scholar about the very thing he has dedicated his life to studying, the Jewish Law.  He asks, "What is written in the Law?  How do you interpret it?"

The scholar replies by quoting commandments from the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus.²  He says, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."  In other Gospels, Jesus identifies these same two commandments as the greatest and second greatest commandments respectively.³  In one Gospel, He even goes so far as to suggest that all of the instructions in Scripture are derived from these two commandments.⁴

Naturally, Jesus likes the scholar's answer.  He says, "You have answered correctly.  Do this and you will live."

Unsatisfied, the scholar asks Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus then tells a story about a man who is traveling on the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho when he is attacked by robbers.  He is stripped, beaten, and left by the side of the road to die.  Eventually, a priest comes along, but, when he sees the injured man, he does not help him but rather walks to the other side of the road and passes him by.  Later, a Levite comes along, and, when he sees the injured man, he does the same thing the priest did.

Both the priest and the Levite in Jesus' parable are required to know and understand the Jewish Law in order to carry out their responsibilities, not unlike the scholar who approached Jesus with a question.  Priests are responsible for carrying out the requirements of the Law through their work in the temple, and Levites are responsible for teaching the Law to others, among other duties.⁵  Of all people, the priest and the Levite in Jesus' story should know best that the Law requires them to love their neighbor as they love themselves, yet, when they see a neighbor in need, they do not help him as they would hope someone would help them if they were in the same situation.  Instead, they choose to prioritize their own safety and convenience.

Later on, a Samaritan comes along and sees the injured man, but, unlike the priest and the Levite who kept walking, he stops to help him.  He administers first aid on the injured man and takes him to an inn where he can recover from his wounds.  He pays the innkeeper for the man's room and board and promises to cover any additional expenses when he returns.

In Jesus' day, Jews and Samaritans hate each other.  One reason is that they disagree on a number of doctrinal issues, including where God is to be worshiped and which scriptures are to be considered sacred.⁶  The religious scholar who approached Jesus would probably consider Samaritans to be heretics, people who hold opinions contrary to established religious teachings; however, in Jesus' story, the heretic is the only person who actually does what the Jewish Law requires.

Jesus, referring to the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan in the story, asks the religious scholar, "What do you think?  Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?"

The religious scholar replies, "The one who demonstrated mercy toward him."

Jesus says to the religious scholar, "Go and do likewise."

Many Christians put a little too much importance on having correct doctrine.  In fact, many can be downright unkind in regards to their disagreements with others.  Over the last two thousand years, churches and even entire denominations have split over doctrinal issues.  In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus reminds us that being right is not nearly as important as doing what is right.  Doing what is right means prioritizing love over all things, putting our love for God and neighbor into action, and helping our neighbors in need, as we hope our neighbors would help us in our time of need.


Notes:

1. This perspective is based primarily on Luke 10:25-37.  Quotations are taken from the Common English Bible.
2. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18
3. Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31
4. Matthew 22:40
5. Wikipedia: "Levite"
6. Wikipedia: "Samaritans"

The Good Samaritan was painted by Balthasar van Cortbemde in 1647.

Perspective: The One Who Serves at the Table

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The One Who Serves at the Table

For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45 (NRSV)

He said, "Freely, freely, you have received
Freely, freely give
Go in My name, and because you believe
Others will know that I live"

From "Freely, Freely" by  Carol Owens

In the Gospels we read that one day the Disciples start arguing about which one of them is the greatest.  Overhearing their argument, Jesus says to them, "Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles.  It's not going to be that way with you.  Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant."¹  Basically, Jesus is telling the Disciples that true greatness is found in humility and that, among His followers, leadership is to be viewed as a form of service.

In three of the Gospels, the Disciples squabble about which one of them is greatest,² and, in the same three Gospels, Jesus, in response to their clamoring for greatness, tries to teach them about practicing humility and leading with a servant's heart.³  What is unique about the Gospel of Luke is that this conversation takes place during the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus shares with the Disciples before He is arrested, put on trial, and executed by crucifixion.

Jesus then says to the Disciples, according to the Gospel of Luke,

Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner?  You'd rather eat and be served, right?  But I've taken my place among you as the one who serves.  And you've stuck with me through thick and thin.  Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God's people.⁴

The fact that Jesus speaks about serving and being served at the table during the Last Supper is illuminating, especially since He has been serving the Disciples during supper.⁵  Perhaps His words are meant not just for His original twelve disciples but for all of His disciples in all times.

Earlier that evening, Jesus took a loaf of bread, gave thanks for it, broke it, and gave it to the Disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me."  He then took a cup of wine and gave it to the Disciples, saying, "This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you."⁶  These actions are reenacted regularly at churches all around the world in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

At many churches, including my own, whenever the congregation receives Holy Communion, we are reminded that the Communion table belongs not to the church or to the church's denomination but to Christ, and we are reminded that Christ is the One who invites us to the table.  We receive the body and blood of Christ - represented by bread and wine - so that "we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood."  We depart, praying "that we may go into the world in the strength of [God's] Spirit, to give ourselves for others."⁷

Christ humbly serves us at the Communion table, and we humbly receive the bread and wine representing His body and blood, so that we may be spiritually nourished to humbly serve His people as His disciples.


Notes:

1. Luke 22:24-26 (The Message)
2. See also Matthew 18:1 and Mark 9:33-34.
3. See also Matthew 20:25-28 and Mark 10:42-45.
4. Luke 22:27-30 (The Message)
5. I also found reading Jesus' words as they are translated in The Message illuminating in this case.
6. Luke 22:19-20 (CEB)
   
7. From "A Service of Word and Table I" in The United Methodist Book of Worship

The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 1400s.

Perspective: The Meaning of a Miracle

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The Meaning of a Miracle

Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples' presence, signs that aren't recorded in this scroll.  But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God's Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.

John 20:30-31 (CEB)

I felt it first when I was younger
A strange connection to the light
I tried to satisfy the hunger
I never got it right

From "Your Love" by  Brandon Heath

In the Gospels, we read that one day Jesus and the Disciples head across the Sea of Galilee to a secluded location.  There, they are met by a crowd of nearly five thousand people.  At one point, the question arises of how Jesus and the Disciples can possibly feed so many people.  They know that they cannot afford to buy enough food for everyone, and they have only five loaves of bread and two fish on hand.  Jesus has all of the people sit down on the grass.  He then takes the bread and fish, gives thanks for them, breaks them up, and has the pieces distributed to the crowd.¹

Somehow everybody in the crowd has enough food to eat, and, when the Disciples gather up the leftovers, somehow they fill twelve baskets.²

The story of Jesus' feeding the multitude is one of the few stories that can be found in all four of the Gospels.³  Sometimes, in my personal Bible studies, I like to compare different versions of a single story from the Gospels so that I can see what the different writers want to emphasize.  When I recently encountered the story of Jesus' feeding the multitude as it is told in the Gospel of John, I wanted to compare it to a telling from one of the other Gospels, because John's Gospel is radically different from the other three.  I chose to compare it to the version in the Gospel of Mark, since Mark's Gospel is thought to be the first Gospel written.

In Mark's version of the story, after Jesus has been teaching the crowd all day, the Disciples become concerned that the people are growing hungry.  They urge Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that everyone can go to a nearby village and buy some food.  Jesus then says to the Disciples, "You give them something to eat."⁴  In John's version of the story, when Jesus sees the crowd, He asks the disciple Philip where they will buy food for so many people.  The writer tells us that, when Jesus asks this question, He is already planning to feed the crowd miraculously.⁵

In Mark's version of the story, when the Disciples remark about how expensive it would be to buy food for so many people, Jesus asks them how much bread they have on hand.  They check their provisions and reply that they have five loaves of bread and two fish.⁶  In John's version of the story, when Philip remarks that it would not be feasible to buy food for the crowd, the disciple Andrew reports that a young boy has offered them his five barley loaves and two fish.⁷

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus' miraculously feeding the multitude seems to happen on the spur of the moment.  The Disciples are concerned that the people in the crowd are growing hungry, so Jesus helps them find a way to feed them.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus' actions are a lot more deliberate.  Jesus brings up the matter of feeding the crowd, because He already has a plan to feed the crowd miraculously.

Something else that differs between the two versions of the story is how the story ends.  In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells the Disciples to go ahead of Him back across the Sea of Galilee, and, after He dismisses the crowd, He heads up a mountain to pray for a while.⁸  In the Gospel of John, Jesus can see that the people in the crowd want to revolt against the Roman Empire and make Him their king, so He heads up the mountain to escape from them.  When night falls, the Disciples decide to head back across the sea of Galilee without Jesus.⁹

I think that the key to understanding the differences between the two versions of the story is understanding the significance of a miracle means in the Gospel of John.  In John's Gospel, Jesus' miracles are called "signs."  They are not just good deeds supernaturally done or demonstrations of divine power.  They are meant to point beyond themselves to some truth about who Jesus is.

In John's Gospel, the tension between Jesus and the people who want to make Him their king leads into a greater discussion about who Jesus is and what people want from Him.  When the crowd catches up with Jesus, He points out that the only reason they are looking for Him is that He gave them all the food they wanted.  He notes that the food He gave them won't keep them filled forever and then urges them to seek what can truly satisfy them.¹⁰  Jesus goes on to tell the crowd, "I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."¹¹

In three of the Gospels, Jesus miraculously feeds a crowd of thousands of people simply because they are hungry.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus miraculously satisfies the physical hunger of thousands of people in order to teach them that they need more than literal bread in this life and that He is the Bread of Life that will satisfy the hunger of their souls.


Notes:

1. Mark 6:32-41, 44; John 6:1-11
2. Mark 6:42-43; John 6:11-13
3. Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–13
4. Mark 6:34-37 (CEB)
5. John 6:5-6
6. Mark 6:37-38
7. John 6:7-8
8. Mark 6:45-46
9. John 6:14-17
10. John 6:24-27
11. John 6:35 (CEB)

The Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes was painted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in the late 1600s.

Perspective: Disturbing the Demons

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Disturbing the Demons

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 (NRSV)

I'm gonna pray until they tear your kingdom down
Pray until they tear your kingdom down
I heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

From "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down," a traditional spiritual

In the Gospels, we read that, on one Sabbath day, Jesus teaches in the synagogue in Capernaum.  Evidently, He teaches with a kind of authority that the congregation is not accustomed to hearing.  At one point, Jesus is interrupted by a man who is possessed by a demon.  Through the man, the demon shouts at Jesus, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are.  You are the holy one from God."  Jesus silences the demon and commands it to leave the man.  With a protest, the demon obeys.  The people in the synagogue that day are amazed by the authority with which Jesus teaches and casts out demons.¹

This story highlights both the power of Jesus' teaching and Jesus' dominion over the forces of evil.  That said, I think this story can also be read as a warning.

Note that, though the Gospel writers tell us that the people in the synagogue are amazed that Jesus teaches with authority, they do not explicitly tell us that the people like what He is saying.  It is quite possible that their reactions to His teaching are mixed.  Some people in the congregation might be troubled by what Jesus is saying.  Others in the congregation might have had certain inklings for which Jesus is finally giving them the words to express.  Some might simply be amazed that Jesus can get away with saying the kinds of things He is saying.

When one person in the congregation hears what Jesus has to say, something possesses him to start shouting at Jesus as if He is some sort of existential threat.  I suspect that, when we encounter this particular story, we tend to think that the man possessed by a demon just happens to wander into the synagogue on a day Jesus is teaching.  Perhaps the demon has been lurking silently in the congregation for some time, completely unbothered by the teachings of those who normally speak in the synagogue.  Perhaps Jesus teaches so provocatively that the demon simply cannot remain silent any longer.  In either case, the demon has to go.

Our world is infested by insidious, invisible forces that oppress and control people.  Sadly, our communities of faith are not immune to such "demons," and far too often they live in our faith communities completely unbothered and unchallenged.  People who proclaim truly prophetic words as Jesus did have a way of stirring up the "demons" that have been lurking silently.

The story of Jesus' casting a demon out of the synagogue is a warning that if we rock the proverbial boat, as Jesus did when he taught and healed with authority, we will invariably be met with opposition.  In the words of scholar N.T. Wright, "When the church learns again how to speak and act with the same authority, we will find both the saving power of God unleashed once more and a similar heightened opposition from the forces of darkness."²  People who dare to challenge the status quo must be ready to stand up to the forces that want to preserve it.


Notes:

1. Mark 1:21-27 or Luke 4:31-36 (CEB)
2. N.T. Wright.  Mark for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 12

The Possessed Man in the Synagogue was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.

Introspection: Bearing Fruit

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Bearing Fruit

The seed that fell on good soil are those who hear the word and commit themselves to it with a good and upright heart.  Through their resolve, they bear fruit.

Luke 4:15 (CEB)

Be strong in the Lord and
Never give up hope
You're gonna do great things
I already know
God's got His hand on you so
Don't live life in fear
Forgive and forget
But don't forget why you're here
Take your time and pray
These are the words I would say

From "The Words I Would Say" by Sidewalk Prophets

Lately, in my personal Bible studies, I've noticed that a number of Jesus' parables and teachings involve produce or, as it is simply called in Jesus' day, fruit.

In three of the Gospels, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer who scatters seed, representing someone who shares a message from God.  Some of the seed lands on a path where it never takes root, representing people who don't really pay attention to the message.  Some of the seed lands on rocky soil where it takes root but cannot grow very long, representing people who hear the message but soon leave it behind.  Some of the seed lands among thorny plants where it takes root and grows but inevitably gets choked out before it can bear fruit, representing people who hear the message but later get distracted by the concerns and vices of this life.  Some of the seed lands on good soil and yields an abundant harvest, representing people who hear the message and are transformed by it.¹

The last few months have been rather busy for me.  In late April and early May, I taught a short course on the Sacraments, namely Baptism and Holy Communion.  It was a new course for me, so I learned a lot as I prepared to teach.  In June, I preached two sermons at a particular church, highlighting two recurring themes I noticed in the Gospel of Matthew, specifically the way Jesus' interprets the Hebrew Scriptures and Jesus' abiding presence with us.  My two primary spiritual gifts are knowledge and teaching, and the class I taught and the sermons I preached are fruits of those gifts.

When I encountered the Parable of the Sower recently, I considered where I see myself in it.  Considering everything that has happened in my life and everything I've done, I think it is clear that the faith in which I was raised has taken root in my life and borne fruit.  That said, I can see myself in the seed that falls among thorny plants.  I have my share of distractions in life, and I know that I will not be spiritually fruitful if I am not intentional about growing in faith.  Interestingly, in Luke's Gospel, Jesus points out that the people who are represented by the seed that falls on good soil bear fruit "through their resolve."²  Ultimately, people are not soil, so they can choose to be spiritually fruitful.

In two of the Gospels, Jesus points out that a tree can be identified by the kind of fruit it bears.  Good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit.  Fruit trees do not produce thorns and thistles, and thorny bushes do not produce fruit.  The implication is that, in the same way that a tree can be identified by the kind of fruit it bears, the content of a person's heart can be determined by what the person produces, namely the person's words and actions.  A person's inner character will inevitably make itself outwardly known.³

Encountering Jesus' analogy of a tree and its fruit recently gave me pause.  I questioned whether or not a person is, metaphorically speaking, either a fruit tree or a thorn bush, capable of bearing only good fruit or thorns and thistles.  I believe I'm bearing some good fruit in my life, yet I know that there are things in my life that are not as they should be.  As I prepared to teach and preach in the last few months, I had to contend with the feelings of unworthiness I typically feel when I do such things.  As I noted previously, I'm surprised that, in all the years I've been preaching, the ceiling of some church hasn't fallen on me.  I think that part of my problem is that, for various reasons, I'm prone to black-and-white thinking.  People are more complicated than plants.  There are good and bad things in all of our hearts, and all of these things have ways of making themselves known in our lives.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who plants wheat in his field.  As the wheat starts to grow, weeds are found growing among the stalks of wheat.  The landowner's servants offer to pull up the weeds, but the landowner tells them not to do so, because pulling up the weeds would uproot the wheat as well.  The landowner decides that the best course of action would be to let the weeds grow along with the wheat and to separate the wheat from the weeds at harvesttime.⁴  The wheat represents "the followers of the kingdom"; the weeds represent the "followers of the evil one"; and the harvest represents a future judgment carried out by God.⁵  A lesson to be gleaned from this parable is that we must leave the task of judging people to God, because our efforts to weed out the bad from the good will only do more harm than good.

Last year, I noted that, for a long time, the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds has had a special meaning for me personally.  I have a preoccupation with what people think of me that makes me want to hide the parts of myself that are less than ideal.  The parable reminds me that, if I worry too much that people might see the "weeds" in my life, I will end up denying them the opportunity to enjoy the "wheat."  All that said, I'm starting to wonder if maybe I have been projecting my own tendencies onto other people.  In other words, I'm starting to recognize my own tendency to overlook the "wheat" in my life because I'm so fixated on the "weeds."

A couple of months ago, I wrote an introspection about the losses I've experienced in the past twelve years and my need to move on from them.  When I shared it on Facebook, several members of my church commented on it.  They saw the disappointment and loneliness that were evident in my post, but they also saw that God has been at work in my life and through my life.  A couple of weeks ago, something minor went wrong, but I overreacted, texted my poor mother about it, and suggested that, for some reason, I deserved my misfortune.  My mother reminded me of some of the good things I do.  I'm lucky to have people in my life who can see the good fruit I bear when I become fixated on the negative parts of my life.

All of us are flawed people with messy lives, but we are all capable of being spiritually fruitful.  We all need people in our lives who believe in us and who see the good fruit we bear when we fail to see it for ourselves.  May you, dear reader, bear fruit wherever you find yourself right now, and may you surround yourself with people who will support you and encourage you.


Notes:

1. Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15
2. Luke 8:15 (CEB)
3. Matthew 7:15-2; Luke 6:43-45
4. Matthew 13:24-30
5. Matthew 13:36-43 (CEB)

The photograph featured in this introspection has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Sermon: You of Little Faith

Delivered at Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on June 23, 2024

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

You of Little Faith

Audio Version

And when [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.  They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:23-27 (NRSV)

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Immediately [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.  And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!”  And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.”  So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.  But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:22-33 (NRSV)

Well, sometimes my life just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small

So hold me, Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't you be my Prince of Peace?

From “Hold Me, Jesus” by Rich Mullins

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, was afraid of sailing on the sea, in the same way that a person might be afraid of flying in an airplane in our day.  In 1735, Wesley was recruited to relocate to the Georgia colony to serve as a chaplain to the colonists and as a missionary to the native peoples.  In October of that year, he confronted his fear and boarded a ship heading across the Atlantic Ocean.  Over the course of the next three months, the ship on which Wesley sailed was caught in a number of storms.  In January of the following year, the ship was caught in such a violent storm that Wesley was sure he was a goner.  That day, he noticed a group of Moravians who responded to the storm not with terror but with faith.  While he and most of the other passengers panicked, the Moravians peacefully sang a psalm.  Deeply moved by the sight, Wesley longed for the kind of faith they had, a kind of faith he had yet to attain at that point in his life.¹

---

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that, as Jesus starts to draw crowds in Capernaum, He decides that it is time to move onward.²  He and the Disciples board a boat and set sail across the Sea of Galilee.³  The Sea of Galilee, which is also known as Lake Tiberias, is a freshwater lake that covers only sixty-four square miles.⁴  Despite the normally pleasant climate, the topography of the area can make it a very scary place at times.  The lake sits well below sea level in the Jordan valley, which acts as a funnel that concentrates wind, making the lake prone to sudden, violent storms.⁵  As Jesus and the Disciples sail across the Sea of Galilee that day, they suddenly find themselves caught up in such a storm.  As the wind and the waves batter the boat, the Disciples start to fear for their lives.⁶

Jesus, on the other hand, is in the hull of the boat, sleeping right through the storm.  The panicking Disciples wake Him up, crying, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  Jesus, who is perhaps a bit groggy at the moment, asks them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”  He then stands up and rebukes the storm, and the storm dies down as suddenly as it started.  The Disciples are awestruck.⁷

In Jesus' day, the Sea of Galilee is a scary place for more than one reason.  The sea, in general, is thought to be a place of darkness, evil, and chaos.  In people's minds, it is associated with the dark “formless void” from which God brought forth the Earth, achieving victory over chaos.^{8 9}  When Jesus calms the raging sea, He is demonstrating not only His mastery over the forces of nature but also His dominion over the forces of evil.  It is worth noting that the Greek word the Gospel writers use to describe Jesus' silencing the sea, which is translated into English as “rebuke,” is the same word they use elsewhere to describe Jesus' subduing demons.¹⁰

Personally, when I read the story of Jesus' calming the sea, I find myself wishing that I had the kind of faith that would allow me to rest easy amid the storms of life.  Truth be told, when I see storm clouds in the distance, I find that I have more in common with the panicking Disciples and less in common with the peacefully resting Jesus.  I've been through enough storms in my life to know that everything will work out in the end or that everything will get better in time, but still I am filled with dread when I see storm clouds approaching.

This morning, I would like to suggest that the story of Jesus' calming the sea has something to teach us about faith.  Specifically, I would like to suggest that this story hints at the possibility that a person can have a mature kind of faith that brings with it a deep, abiding peace.  After all, if Jesus chides the Disciples for having “little faith,” then He must also be suggesting that they have the potential to have great faith, the kind of faith that would allow them to sleep peacefully through a storm, as He was doing.  We might be tempted to think that it is easy for Jesus to sleep through storms since He is the Son of God, but, if such peace-bringing faith is not available to anyone who seeks it, then Jesus is completely out of line for chastising the Disciples for not having it.

One person who attained this kind of faith is St. Paul.  In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that, while Paul is heading to Rome as a prisoner, the ship on which he is sailing is caught up in a storm that lasts for several weeks.  He does not calm the storm, as Jesus did, but he does calm the hearts of the other people on the ship.  Though he is a prisoner, he takes on the role of a chaplain.  He encourages the crew members to not be afraid, assures them that they will reach their destination, and urges them to eat when they have not eaten in days.¹¹  While Paul is imprisoned in Rome, unsure if he will be acquitted or sentenced to death, he looks back on everything he has endured in his life, and he writes in one of his letters, “I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.”¹²

---

Later in the Gospel of Matthew, we read that one day, after Jesus and the Disciples minister to a large crowd in a remote place,¹³ Jesus tells the Disciples to go ahead of Him across the Sea of Galilee, so that He can dismiss the crowd and spend some time alone in prayer.  Night falls, and once again the Disciples suddenly find themselves aboard a boat in the midst of a violent storm.  As they struggle against the wind and the waves, they see what appears to be the form of a person walking on top of the water.  The sea is a scary place in their day, as I noted earlier, so they cry out in fear, assuming that what they are seeing is a ghost.  A familiar voice calls out to frightened Disciples, saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”¹⁴  Not only can Jesus command a storm to subside, He can also walk on top of a raging sea.

While Jesus is still standing on top of the water, the disciple known as Peter calls out to Him, saying, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”¹⁵  When a rabbi, like Jesus, calls disciples, like the Twelve, to follow him, he is essentially calling them to do what he does.¹⁶  Naturally, Peter wants to follow in his Rabbi's footsteps, even if those footsteps happen to be on liquid water.  Jesus invites Peter to join Him on the water, so Peter climbs out of the boat and starts walking on the water toward Jesus.  Peter walks on the water like a natural, for a moment, but, when he feels the wind blowing against him, he becomes afraid and starts to sink.  He cries out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus catches him, saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  The two walk back to the boat, and the storm dies down.¹⁷

Peter manages to walk atop the Sea of Galilee with Jesus for a moment, but, as soon as he starts to doubt, he starts to sink.  Typically, we assume that Peter is doubting Jesus, but, if Jesus is not sinking, then Peter has no reason to doubt Him.  Perhaps Peter doubts his own ability to follow in his Rabbi's footsteps and to do what his Rabbi has called him to do.  Jesus would never have called Peter to be His disciple if He did not believe that Peter was up to the task.¹⁸  If Jesus chides Peter for doubting, then He evidently believes that Peter is even capable of walking on liquid water with Him.

Like the story of Jesus' calming the sea, the story of Jesus' walking on water and inviting Peter to do the same teaches us something about faith.  In the Church, we are taught that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human.  In Jesus, we see both what God is like and what humanity is capable of becoming.  I once heard a friend of mine suggest that, though we have no hope of ever becoming divine like Jesus, we can always aspire to become the kind of human Jesus was.  I don't believe that any of us will ever be able to take command of the weather or walk on top of liquid water, no matter how much faith we have.  I do believe that we are capable of attaining the kind of faith that will allow us to rest easy amid the storms of life or even to stand tall in defiance of them.

So often, we, like the fearful, doubting Disciples, face the storms of life with “little faith.”  Sometimes, we struggle to believe that God will bring us through the storms or bring something good out of them.  Sometimes we doubt our own capability to withstand the storms.

As someone who is prone to anxiety, I wish I knew how to cultivate the kind of faith that would give me peace and boldness amid the storms of life.  When I see storm clouds in the distance, I typically do one of two things.  I might try to avoid the storm altogether by feebly attempting to exert control do not really have, or I might just take an Imodium and anxiously brace myself for the storm.  These strategies have not served me well.  Many people, myself included, use worry as a means of preparing themselves for the storms of life, but, truth be told, I've found that worrying about storms only serves to ruin perfectly sunny days.  I suspect that great faith is hard fraught.  Perhaps, if God brings me through enough storms in my life, then maybe, at some point, my first impulse when I see storm clouds approaching will be to trust and not to worry.

Again, I believe that each of us is capable of attaining the kind of faith that will allow us to rest easy amid the storms of life or even to stand tall in defiance of them.  I have not attained this kind of faith myself, but, like John Wesley sailing across the Atlantic, I know that other people have attained it, and I envy them.

---

So what do we do amid the storms of life, if we, like the panicking, doubting Disciples, have “little faith”?

Notice that Jesus never suggests that the Disciples have no faith; He simply says that they have “little faith.”  There is a big difference between having a little faith and having no faith at all.  The Disciples do not have enough faith to keep their cool when they suddenly find themselves in a violent storm, but they do have enough faith to wake Jesus up and ask Him for help.  Peter does not have enough faith to walk on water with Jesus for very long, but, when he starts to sink, he does have enough faith to call out to Him for help.  So often we like to criticize the Disciples for not getting the picture, but at least they have the faith to cry out to Jesus in times of trouble.

If we, like the Disciples, don't have enough faith to face trying times with peace and boldness, then we, like the Disciples, can still cry out to Jesus.  When we are afraid, we can pray, like the late singer Rich Mullins, “Hold me, Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf.”¹⁹

At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, we read that the birth of Jesus is the fulfillment of the following prophecy from the Book of Isaiah: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”  The writer makes it a point to note that the name Emmanuel means, “God is with us.”²⁰  At the very end of the same Gospel, we read that, when Jesus commissions the Disciples to “make disciples of all nations,” He assures them, “I am with you always, to the end of  the age.”²¹  The Gospel of Matthew is effectively bookended with promises of Christ's presence.  We can cry out to Jesus in the storms of life, because Jesus goes through the storms with us.  He did not leave the frightened Disciples to face the storm by themselves; He did not leave Peter thrashing in the water when he started to sink; and He will not abandon us in the storms we face.

---

In the Gospels, we read that the Disciples face two storms on the Sea of Galilee.  When they are caught in the first storm, they fear for their lives, so they wake a sleeping Jesus and ask Him for help.  Jesus rebukes the storm, and it miraculously subsides.  Full of wonder, the Disciples ask each other, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”²²  When the Disciples are caught in the second storm, they see Jesus walking on the water toward them.  When He climbs into the boat with them, the storm miraculously subsides once again.  At this point, the Disciples have their answer.  “Truly you are the Son of God,” they say to Jesus, as their wonder turns to worship.²³

There is a kind of faith that allows us to rest easy amid the storms of life and even to stand tall in defiance of them.  If we have not yet attained this kind of faith, we can still cry out to Jesus, who is with us in the storms.  Whatever storms you are facing in life right now, may you remember that you are not alone, for Christ is with you.  May you trust that everything will work out in the end, for “God works all things together for good.”²⁴  May you believe in yourself, for the One who has called you to follow Him believes in you.

Thanks be to God.


Notes:

1. Adam Hamilton.  Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It.  2014, Abingdon Press.  pp. 62-64
2. Matthew 8:5, 18
3. Matthew 8:23
4. Wikipedia: “Sea of Galilee”
5. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One. 2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 365
6. Matthew 8:24-25
7. Matthew 8:25-27 (NRSV)
8. N.T. Wright.  Matthew for Everyone, Part 1.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 89
9. Genesis 1:2 (NRSV)
10. Blue Letter Bible: “epitimaō”
11. Acts 27
12. Philippians 4:12-13 (CEB)
13. Matthew 14:13-21
14. Matthew 14:22-27 (NRSV)
15. Matthew 14:28 (NRSV)
16. Rob Bell.  Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.  2005, Zondervan.  pp. 133-134
17. Matthew 14:29-32 (NRSV)
18. Bell, pp. 133-134
19. From the song “Hold Me, Jesus” by Rich Mullins
20. Matthew 1:20-23 (NRSV)
21. Matthew 28:16-20 (NRSV)
22. Matthew 8:23-27 (NRSV)
23. Matthew 14:22-33 (NRSV)
24. Romans 8:28 (CEB)

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee was painted by Rembrandt in the 1600s.  Christ Walking on the Sea was painted by Amédée Varint in the 1800s.

Sermon: The Spirit of the Law

Delivered at Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on June 2, 2024

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 Spirit of the Law

Audio Version

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.”  He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests.  Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless?  I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.  But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

He left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him.  He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?  How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!  So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.”  Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other.  But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Matthew 12:1-14 (NRSV)

Give me words, I'll misuse them
Obligations, I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free

From “More Like Falling in Love” by Jason Gray

One day, in 1866, Sheriff John W. Kirby formed a posse, and together they boarded a steamboat heading from Kentucky to Ohio and arrested Dr. Cyrus W. Farris on murder charges.  Following the arrest, Sheriff Kirby was charged with violating the Act of Congress of March 3, 1825, which forbade the willful obstruction or delay of mail delivery.  Dr. Farris was a postal worker, and, because he was arrested, the mail he happened to be carrying at the time was not delivered promptly.  The case against Sheriff Kirby eventually reached the Supreme Court, and the court ruled unanimously in favor of the sheriff.^1 2  Justice Stephen J. Field, who delivered the opinion of the court, stated that “all laws should receive a sensible construction” and that “general terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence.”³  Basically, a law should not be written or interpreted in such a way that it will be applied in a ridiculous or unjust manner.

United States v. Kirby is an interesting case because it highlights the tension that occasionally exists between the way a law is written and the reason the law was passed.  In other words, it highlights the tension between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law.”  The law that Sheriff Kirby supposedly violated was passed in order to ensure that mail was delivered in a timely manner.  It was never intended to give postal workers total immunity.

It seems to me that some of the conflicts between Jesus and the other religious leaders of His day highlight a similar tension.

---

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that one day, while Jesus and the Disciples are walking through a grain field, the Disciples pick some heads of grain and eat them, greatly offending a group of Pharisees who catch them in the act.⁴  What offends these Pharisees is not the fact that the Disciples have picked grain from a field that undoubtedly belongs to someone.  According to the Book of Leviticus, Jewish farmers are forbidden to pick their fields clean and are required to leave the edges of their fields unharvested, so that hungry passersby, especially impoverished people and immigrants, can pick some food to eat.⁵  The Disciples' picking grain from someone's field would be considered gleaning and not stealing.  What offends the Pharisees is that the Disciples have picked grain on the Sabbath Day.

The Jewish Law mandates the observance of the Sabbath Day.  One of the Ten Commandments, as it is written in the Book of Exodus, states,

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.⁶

The Law prescribed a harsh penalty for people who failed to follow this commandment.  The Book of Exodus states that “whoever does any work on [the Sabbath Day] shall be put to death.”⁷  In the Book of Numbers, we read that a man who was caught merely gathering sticks on the Sabbath Day was condemned to death by stoning.⁸

The commandment forbidding work on the Sabbath Day was to be taken seriously, so naturally it was necessary to define what constitutes work.  Ancient rabbis counted thirty-nine melakhot or “categories of work” that the Law explicitly forbade on the Sabbath Day.  Among these actions are reaping, threshing, winnowing, and various forms of food preparation.⁹  Scholar William Barclay points out,

By their conduct, the disciples were guilty of far more than one breach of the law. By plucking the corn they were guilty of reaping; by rubbing it in their hands they were guilty of threshing; by separating the grain and the chaff they were guilty of winnowing; and by the whole process they were guilty of preparing a meal on the Sabbath day, for everything which was to be eaten on the Sabbath had to be prepared the day before.¹⁰

With simple actions that we would probably consider rather innocuous, the Disciples are guilty of multiple counts of violating the commandment to observe the Sabbath Day.

Considering the importance that has been placed on the commandment to observe the Sabbath Day, the strictness with which it has been enforced, and the work that has been done to define what is and is not permissible on that day, it makes sense that the Pharisees are appalled by the Disciples' flagrant violations of their Law.  They confront Jesus, saying, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.”¹¹

Jesus defends the Disciples to the Pharisees by appealing to their knowledge of their holy scriptures.  Specifically, He reminds them of instances in which people seemingly bent or broke the rules of their religion out of necessity and were not considered guilty for doing so.¹²  First, He calls to mind an episode from the First Book of Samuel in which David, the military leader who would later become Israel's most beloved king, took sacred bread from a place of worship.  David and his soldiers would not normally be permitted to eat this particular bread, but they were famished, and the sacred bread was the only food available at the moment.¹³  Next, Jesus points out that, even though the Law forbids work on the Sabbath Day, priests have always carried out the duties prescribed for them by the Law on the Sabbath Day.  For example, in the Book of Numbers, we read that there are offerings presented on the Sabbath Day, to which the priests will have to attend.¹⁴

Jesus then heads to the local synagogue, where there happens to be a man with a deformed hand.  Trying to entrap Jesus, the same Pharisees ask Him if He thinks the Law of their religion permits acts of healing on the Sabbath Day.¹⁵  In their eyes, acts of healing are off limits on the Sabbath Day, like harvesting and preparing food.  Medical attention may be administered only if a person's life is in immediate danger.  The man with the deformed hand is clearly not in such dire straits.¹⁶  Jesus responds to the Pharisees by appealing not to their knowledge of scripture but to their reason.  First He asks them rhetorically, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?” Next He proclaims, “How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!”  From these two points, He reasons, “So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.”¹⁷

Jesus proceeds to heal the hand of the man in the synagogue, and the Pharisees who are present, perceiving Jesus as a threat to their religion, proceed to conspire against Him.¹⁸

---

Jesus seems to have a rather cavalier attitude about the Law of His religion, at least in the eyes of the Pharisees.  I would like to suggest that Jesus is not flouting the Jewish Law, as the Pharisees doubtlessly think, but is instead trying to teach them something important about their Law and about biblical instructions in general.  The Pharisees, as they are portrayed in the Gospels, strive to follow the Jewish Law to the letter, and they expect other people to put forth the same effort.  Jesus, on the other hand, evidently wants them to look past the letter of the law and to consider to the spirit of the law.

Consider why God would command God's people to observe the Sabbath Day in the first place.  The Ten Commandments, which include the prohibition against working on the Sabbath Day, were given to the people of Israel while they were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai.¹⁹  Just a few months earlier, they were rescued from slavery in Egypt.  In Egypt, they were treated not as human beings but as machines, and merely asking for a break would be rewarded with a heavier workload.²⁰  God never wanted the people of Israel to treat each other or anyone else the way they were treated in Egypt, so God gave them the Sabbath Day.  The Sabbath Day was a gift to God's covenant people, intended to uphold their humanity and to remind them that they were worth more than what they produced.²¹

The Sabbath Day does not exist to prevent something that needs to happen from happening.  It does not exist to ensure that an animal that falls into a ditch on that day remains trapped and vulnerable until the following day.  It does not exist to prevent hungry people who do not already have something ready to eat that day from obtaining something to eat.  It does not exist to prevent people in need of healing from being healed on that day.  It does not exist to make people's lives more difficult or more complicated one day per week.  The Sabbath Day exists to prevent people from being dehumanized and exploited.  As Jesus says to the Pharisees in Mark's version of the story, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.”²²

When the Pharisees accuse the Disciples of breaking the Law by picking grain on the Sabbath Day, Jesus says to them, “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”²³  This is not the first occasion Jesus has urged the Pharisees to contemplate this saying.

One day, Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to follow Him as one of His disciples.²⁴  Calling this particular person was a strange choice on Jesus' part, because, as a tax-collector, he would have been hated by the Jewish people not only as a crook but also as a traitorous collaborator with the Roman occupation.  That evening, while Jesus was enjoying dinner with Matthew and some of his fellow tax collectors and other so-called “sinners,” some Pharisees approached the other Disciples and asked them why their teacher would associate with such people.  Overhearing the Pharisees' question, Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”²⁵

Twice, when Jesus has clashed with the Pharisees, He has quoted the Book of Hosea, in which God says through the titular prophet, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”²⁶  The Jewish Law prescribes a number of different animal sacrifices that are to be offered as acts of worship to God on different occasions.  Some are offered on specific holy days; others are offered to atone for wrongdoings; and others are simply offered out of gratitude.  Some people evidently believed that, as long as they fulfilled their ritual obligations to God, how they lived and how they treated other people didn't really matter.  Prophets like Hosea fought back against that idea.

To prioritize mercy over sacrifice, as Jesus urges the Pharisees to do, is to prioritize the needs of one's neighbor over the rules of one's religion.  Associating with traitorous, thieving tax collectors might be discouraged in Jesus' religion, but Jesus understands that even so-called “sinners” need someone who will befriend them and bring out the best in them, in the same way that sick people need a doctor to bring them back to health.  Preparing food on the Sabbath Day might be forbidden in Jesus' religion, but Jesus understands that hungry people need to eat, regardless of what day it is.

Jesus will explain His understanding of the Law and of all biblical instructions most directly shortly before the end of His earthly ministry.  At one point, after His arrival in Jerusalem, a number of His detractors will start asking Him very loaded questions in the hopes of incriminating Him.²⁷  One scholar will ask Him which commandment in the Law of their religion He considers the most important.  First, Jesus will quote a particular part of the Book of Deuteronomy known as the Shema,²⁸ saying, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.”  Next, He will quote the Book of Leviticus,²⁹ saying, “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Finally, He will say, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”³⁰

With this statement, Jesus will reveal the spirit of the law in regards to all Biblical instructions.  Biblical instructions do not exist merely to be followed and enforced.  They exist to prevent harm and to promote love for God and one's neighbor.

Jesus has the utmost respect for the Law of His religion, but He understands how important it is to know not only what it says but also why it says what it says.  In the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”³¹  To “abolish the Law” is to undermine the Law through misinterpretation, but to “fulfill the Law” is to properly interpret the Law so that people can better understand it and follow it in the way God intended.³²

Quoting one of the Ten Commandments, Jesus said,

You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.”  But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool,” you will be liable to the hell of fire.³³

Quoting the very next commandment, Jesus then said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”³⁴  Jesus is not replacing the commandments or making them more difficult; He is instead revealing God's will behind them.  The letter of the law states that we must practice enough self-control that we do not kill the people who make us angry, but God's will is that we love people so that we don't even harbor malice toward them.  The letter of the law states that we must practice enough self-control that we uphold our own marriage covenants and respect the marriage covenants of other people, but God's will is that we love people so that we don't even objectify them.

As followers of Jesus, we are not called to simply follow the rules we read in the Bible and to try to force everyone else to do the same.  We are called to love as Jesus loved.  Sometimes love will require us to bend or break the rules, as Jesus did when he healed a man on the Sabbath Day.  Sometimes love will require us to go above and beyond the rules, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  As followers of Jesus, when we approach any ethical matter, we need to consider how harm can be prevented and how love can be shown.

Far too often, Christians are guilty of acting like the Pharisees, as they are portrayed in the Gospels, or even worse.  Far too often, when confronted with complicated situations, Christians lazily quote Bible verses without taking into consideration why the verses were written in the first place.  Far too often, Christians apply biblical instructions in ways that are detrimental to other people.  Biblical instructions, according to Jesus, exist to help us to love God with everything that we are and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  That said, any prohibition in the Bible is meant to prevent harm.  If we fail to keep in mind the reasons that biblical instructions exist, we run the risk of using them in harmful ways, and any harmful use of Scripture is a misuse of Scripture.  If we really want to follow Jesus, then we must learn to read Scripture as He read it, keeping our focus on love.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: “United States v. Kirby”
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skyd4ze67fI
3. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/74/482/
4. Matthew 12:1-2
5. Leviticus 23:22
6. Exodus 20:8-11 (NRSV)
7. Exodus 35:2 (NRSV)
8. Numbers 15:32-36
9. Wikipedia: “39 Melakhot”
10. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 26
11. Matthew 12:2 (NRSV)
12. Matthew 12:3-6
13. 1 Samuel 21:1-6
14. Numbers 28:9-10
15. Matthew 12:9-10
16. Barclay, p. 34
17. Matthew 12:11-12
18. Matthew 12:13-14
19. Exodus 19:1-20:21
20. Exodus 5:1-18
21. Rob Bell and Don Golden.  Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for a Church in Exile.  2008, Zondervan.  p. 34
22. Mark 2:27 (NRSV)
23. Matthew 12:7 (NRSV)
24. Matthew 9:9
25. Matthew 9:10-13 (NRSV)
26. Hosea 6:6 (NRSV)
27. Matthew 22:15-33
28. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
29. Leviticus 19:18
30. Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)
31. Matthew 5:17 (NRSV)
32. Lois Tverberg.  “What Does It Mean to ‘Fulfill the law’?”  En-Gedi Resource Center.
33. Matthew 5:21-22 (NRSV)
34. Matthew 5:27-28 (NRSV)

The painting featured in this perspective was painted by Ferdinand Oliver around 1840.

Perspective: Surprised by the Spirit

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

Surprised by the Spirit

I have much more to say to you, but you can't handle it now.  However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth.  He won't speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come.  He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you.

John 16:12-14 (CEB)

I make you uncomfortable
When I'm around
You always find a reason
To shut me out
You don't understand me
So you push me away
And you claim
Jesus lets you live that way

From "Unlovable" by Plumb

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that one day the apostle Peter, a leader in the growing community of Jesus' followers, finds himself in hot water.  Some of his fellow believers in Jerusalem are appalled by some of his recent actions, so he shares with them a surprising story.¹

One day not long ago, while Peter was staying with a friend in Joppa, he withdrew to the rooftop to pray.  As he grew hungry, he fell into a trance and saw a strange vision.  A giant sheet was lowered to Earth from Heaven, and on this sheet were animals of all kinds.  A voice from Heaven called out to Peter, saying, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat."²

Peter was born and raised in the Jewish faith, so he was taught to faithfully follow the Jewish Law, including dietary rules found in the Book of Leviticus.  Many of the animals on the sheet lowered from Heaven were forbidden to eat or even to touch.³  Surprisingly, Peter was being instructed by God to do something he had been explicitly taught not to do, something contrary to the holy scriptures of his religion.  Naturally, Peter objected to the voice's instructions, claiming that he had never eaten anything "profane or unclean."⁴

The voice from Heaven called out to Peter again, saying, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."  This verbal exchange happened three times, and then the giant sheet covered with animals was taken back up to Heaven.  Peter sat on the rooftop, trying to figure out what in the world he had just seen.⁵

Peter would soon realize that the strange vision he was just shown was not about food specifically.  It was meant to teach him that God will sometimes call him to do something he had been previously taught was out-of-bounds.

While Peter was still mulling over what he had just seen, some men arrived at the house and started asking for him.  The Holy Spirit said to Peter, "Look, three men are searching for you.  Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them."  Peter met with the three men and learned that they had been sent by a Roman centurion named Cornelius, whom they described as "an upright and God-fearing man."  Peter invited the messengers to stay with him for the evening, and, the next day, he set out with them to Cornelius's house in the city of Caesarea.⁶

Cornelius was a "God-fearer,"⁷ meaning that, though he had not fully converted to the Jewish religion and started following the Jewish Law, he worshiped in the God of the Jewish people.⁸  He was also known for his generosity.⁹  All that said, there were a couple of things that would make Peter hesitant to associate with him.  First, Cornelius was a Gentile, a non-Jewish person.  In the same way that Peter had been taught to not eat any foods considered unclean, he had been taught to not closely associate with Gentiles, who were also considered unclean.  Second, Cornelius was a high-ranking officer in the Roman military, meaning that Peter's people would have considered him an oppressor.¹⁰

When Peter arrived at Cornelius's house, he saw that the centurion, his family, and his friends had all gathered to hear what Peter would say to them.  Peter, who had come to realize that his strange vision was not about animals or food but about human beings, said, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean."¹¹

Peter asked Cornelius why he sent for him, and Cornelius revealed that a messenger of God appeared to him and instructed him to send for Peter.  Peter then said, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."¹²

Peter proceeded to tell everyone gathered at Cornelius's house about the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit descended upon the centurion, his friends, and his family and empowered them to speak in languages they did not know previously, in the same way that the Holy Spirit descended upon Peter and Jesus' other disciples on the day of Pentecost.  Astonished, Peter asked, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"¹³

Peter concludes his story, asking, "If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"  Those who had questioned Peter's actions now find themselves awestruck and full of praise.¹⁴

Peter's surprising story had some profound implications for the early Church.  The first followers of Jesus were Jewish like He was, and naturally they thought that the movement He started was for people of their own faith.  The Holy Spirit called Peter to reach out beyond the boundaries of his own faith tradition and to welcome people he had been taught to exclude, and his story showed his fellow believers that God's intentions for the Church were greater than they ever imagined, that not just their own people but all people were called to follow Christ.

Is it possible that Peter's story also has implications for the modern-day Church?  Is it possible that God is calling us to minister to others in ways that we were taught were out-of-bounds?  Is it possible that God is calling us to start including certain people we were taught to exclude?

I wonder how many Christians nowadays are capable of being led and taught by the Holy Spirit in the surprising way that Peter was, because so many of us assume that God will abide by our theology or our interpretations of the Bible.  Jesus told His first followers that they had not yet learned everything they would ever need to know and that they would need to continue learning from the Holy Spirit.¹⁵  The same is true about His followers today.

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For more thoughts on including those we've been taught to exclude, see my 2020 perspective "What Matters Most."


Notes:

1. Acts 11:1-4
2. Acts 10:9-13 (NRSV)
3. Leviticus 11
4. Acts 10:14 (NRSV)
5. Acts 10:15-17 (NRSV)
6. Acts 10:17-24 (NRSV)
7. Acts 10:1-2
8. William Barclay.  The Acts of the Apostles, Revised Edition.  1976, Westminster Press.  p. 79
9. Acts 10:2
10. William H. Willimon.  Acts (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching).  1988, John Knox Press.  p. 95
11. Acts 10:24-28 (NRSV)
12. Acts 10:29-35 (NRSV)
13. Acts 10:36-47 (NRSV)
14. Acts 11:17-18 (NRSV)
15. John 16:12-13

The illustration of Peter's preaching at Cornelius's house is from The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation by Charles Foster.