Reflection on Philippians 4:6-7 and Matthew 6:5-8

 

Philippians 4:6-7

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:5-18

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.^[a]

⁷ “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 

Reflection

Do you follow Jesus around until your prayer is answered?  Do you pursue him, or do you tend to try to fix everything yourself, not wanting to bother God?

You see, I think a lot about those two blind men in Matthew 9:27-30 who heard Jesus pass by and then followed the sound of his footsteps and cried out after him, “Have mercy on us, Son of David” (Matthew 9:27).  The guys did not give up.  They followed him around.  They followed him into the house.  They went to Jesus with their need.  They talked with Jesus, and Jesus healed their blindness.  It is a story about prayer.

“How?” you might ask.  Sure, there were no knees bent and hands folded.  They did not go to church or light a candle.  And even though those are all shapes that prayer can take, prayer is none other than talking with God and trusting that God will listen and do something.

“Jesus said to [the two blind men], ‘Do you have faith that I can do this?’  They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’  Then he touched their eyes and said ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you.’  And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:28-30).

We might say, “Sure, it is easy to talk with Jesus and trust in him if we can see him right before our eyes.”  But that is the point of the story, is it not?  They were blind.  They saw Jesus no better than we see him today.  Yet, they pursued him, spoke to him, and trusted that the one they could not see could do something.

How many times have I simply got stuck in my anxiety, in my own head, thinking endlessly through the night about how to deal with my situation?  It is almost as if I continually forget that there is someone to whom I can talk and who will listen and act.

The Apostle Paul advises: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.   And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

In today’s words he said, “Instead of being anxious about everything, talk to God and God will trade your worthless anxiety for a priceless shield of peace.” 

Talk to God.  Put your hearts and minds side-by-side with Christ Jesus.  The one who went to the cross to die for you will certainly take the time to listen to you.  The one who traded death with you so that you could have eternal life certainly has the time to give you some peace.  In fact, nothing would delight Jesus more.  Jesus wants nothing more than to be close to your minds and hearts.  Jesus wants nothing more than to walk and talk with you. Jesus invites you to open your eyes to his presence and pray.  Maybe you will finally be able to see clearly?

I think that this is why Jesus abhors those who use prayer to show off.  Jesus is not happy with the simple appearance of a close relationship with him.  Praying loudly in the church and on the street corner to appear as if we are really close to God might do a lot for our own ego, but it does not have anything to do with God.  If prayer becomes about show, then go shut yourself away in your room Jesus says.  “Pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

Again, prayer is about being seen by God, not by others.  It is about talking with God.  It is about being of one mind with Jesus.  It is about being in a close relationship with our loving savior.

So next time that you feel the anxiety starting to take hold, rather than fix the world’s problems yourself, or even your own problems, seek Jesus out in prayer.  You just may find yourself in the presence of the one who will see you and answer.

Reflection on John 4:5-42

 

John 4:5-42 (NRSVue)

⁵ [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
  ⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
  ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
  ²⁷ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹ “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him.
  ³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
  ³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Reflection

Clay jars were a common sight in the ancient world.  In a way, they were one of the most important items in the house because they were not only big enough to carry the water for the day, but they could also store it and keep it cool.  Every day someone (often a wife or a daughter) used to go to the well and fill the clay jar for the rest of the family.  The clay jar was an essential item. 

And with that blatantly obvious and completely irrelevant piece of information, you can now go home feeling that your life is complete.

But I beg you to wait a second or two before you start adding to the shopping in your mind and listen to an astonishing thing about the clay water jar in this story.  The reason I gave you this blatantly obvious and rather mundane information about clay water jars is because the Samaritan woman in this story from the gospel of John ran off and left hers behind. 

Why would you do that?  You need water for the day.  You need water to survive.  These large jars, which everybody had to have, were essential to daily life.  But the Bible says that “the woman left her water jar and went back to the city” (John 4:28).

This woman had obviously discovered in Jesus something wonderful enough and freeing enough to cause her to leave her precious jar. 

Tell me, what might God do for you that would cause you to leave your car sitting in a parking lot?  Now, I am assuming that you have a car worth caring about.  Growing up, my family owned Ford Pintos.  The Ford Pinto was the paper plate of the automobile world.  They were nearly one-use vehicles that you pitched in the garbage after a drive and then you just picked up another. 

But assuming you have a nice car, tell me what it is that God might do for you that would cause you to run, leaving your car in the parking lot, while you go and tell your neighbors?  What have you been lugging around in your clay jar that needs to be lifted from your life?

The Samaritan woman had a few things in her jar weighing her down as she walked through life.  The first seemed to be her own self-worth.  How do I know?  For starts, the Bible says that when the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus, “it was about noon” (John 4:6).  It was noon.  It was the hottest time of the day, and that time of day was not when women went to the well to draw water.  They took their journey in the morning or in the evening, when it was cool.  But the Samaritan woman intentionally came at a time when she knew that she would not encounter anyone else.  She intentionally came at that time, when no one would see her and whisper and talk.  She held something shameful about herself in her heavy jar of life.

The shame becomes tangible when she suddenly finds that she is not alone.  Her lack of self-worth becomes painfully obvious when she refuses to allow a potentially romantic scene at the well to play out. 

Now, you need to know that in the ancient world “young woman” plus “young man” plus “well” equals “romance.”  Though I am certain that Jesus did not have any romantic intentions, as far as a classic romantic story is concerned, Jesus appeared to start off the romantic scene correctly.  "Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’" (John 4:7).  Just for your information, that line in the ancient world was the equivalent of; "Do you come here often?"  And she opens this romantic scene with a stellar response, "’How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans)” (John 4:9).  

She puts up a wall to the attempted connection.  She throws up a wall of shame to push him away.  Her shame would scream, “Can't you see I’m only a Samaritan?"  “Can’t you see I’m only a woman?”  “Can’t you see I am only the enemy.”  “Can’t you see that I am only me.” 

The thought weighed her down.  Have the words, "I'm only…" ever come out of your mouth?  What preconceived notion of who you are and what you are capable of weighs you down?  What negative self-talk of “I’m so stupid,” or “I’m so lazy,” or “I’m so weak?” invades your daily activities?  Who has stacked a heavy rock of “You are only…” on your shoulders? 

Have you ever encountered that person who stared at the dance floor as a teen, hoping that someone would come over and ask for a dance, but somehow knew it would never happen?  Worthlessness makes your jar very heavy.  Being alone in the world is a heavy thing to carry.

Jesus said to the woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).  “I'll give you water that is better than worthlessness” Jesus promised.  Worthlessness is an unhealthy drink.  Jesus promised to give her “living water” (John 4:10).

Delving deeper into the murky waters of her jar, Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back” (John 4:16).  Looking down into her jar she saw swirling there her uncertain and chaotic life.  Widowed, she had been bounced around to live with many men, many husbands, none of whom thought that she was worthy enough to keep her around.  As I said before, “worthlessness” filled her jar, but mixed into those waters was a life of instability and chaos as well. 

"I have no husband," she admitted (John 4:17).  

Jesus responded, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true!" (John 4:17-18).

Do you know what a prophet is?  A prophet is not a fortuneteller who can clearly see events in the distant future.  Rather, a prophet is someone who is somehow able to peer over the lip of your closely held jar and describe the murky water inside.  That is who a prophet is. 

Jesus was this woman’s prophet, and she knew it. 

I would like to propose to you that even in our modern world prophets are still essential.  You cannot let your jar be filled with clean, living water from God, “water gushing up to eternal life,” until you can clearly see that you have been lugging around murky water (John 4:14). 

It is amazing how people will put up with bad water for years and think that it is normal.  It is amazing how little we can see of ourselves.  In a world where we say, "Leave me alone, it's none of your business!" we probably need prophets more than we would like to admit. 

Jesus is a savior, yes, but also a prophet.  And those Jesus sends into our lives are also prophets.  They are the ones who point out the obvious discoloration floating in our jars that for some reason we just cannot see ourselves.  If only we would let others look into our jars?  If only we would look ourselves?  Maybe we are just fine with stagnant, murky water.  Maybe it is good enough.

But what if it is not good enough?  Naming the murkiness in our water is powerful stuff.  Admitting things like fearing that depression has taken hold, or admitting long ignored health problems, or admitting that stress is leading you to a breaking point, or admitting that you hide at work to be free from the stresses at home, or admitting that you live with a constant feeling of worthless, admitting any of that can be hard stuff.  It is hard to admit that we have put up with lugging it around all this time. 

But here is a simple truth: you cannot throw out the bad water until you can see that it is bad water.  You are just going to keep drinking it again and again until you finally can see that it is making you sick.

Even if you see the bad water in your life, I have to admit, it is hard to throw it out.  What will take its place once I throw it out?  Will my jar simply be empty?  Nothing is worse than emptiness.  That is why it is hard to keep people with mental illnesses on their medications, because strange and horrible feelings are preferable to no feelings at all (which is the effect of some medications).  Those of us without mental illnesses are not any different.  Anything is better than emptiness.

But do you know who was willing to take a chance with leaving the bad water behind?  The woman.  Jesus refused to push the woman away, even when she objected, even when it was clear that he knew about her entire sordid past.  He knew her.  This created an opening that potentially allowed some fresh water to flow her way. 

The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet” (John 4:19).  Her prophet was right there.  Jesus, her savior, was right there, ready to fill her up with fresh, living water.  Jesus was right there to assure her that the Messiah had come to proclaim to her.  “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” (John 4:26).  God, the great “I am” was there, choosing to speak to the one who was “only the enemy,” “only a woman,” “only a Samaritan.”

And Christ is right here with us as well.  The Bible reminds us that “where two or three are gathered” Christ is there (Matthew 18:20).  So, we can take the chance and throw out the murky water that does not give life.  We can seek the one who fills us with fresh, living water; water that renews us in such an amazing way that we too leave our heavy jars behind. 

You see, the jars of our old lives are a trap.  You can stare into those jars for too long and never realize that there is a world out there.  But once you are helped to look up from your jar, you see a wonderful new world of opportunity and love and happiness. 

You see that other people are walking around, carrying heavy jars, staring into their jars, and you just want to go and tell them, “Look up!  Don't you see that you are staring down at your own feeling of worthlessness, at the chaos of your life, at the very things that threaten to destroy your soul?”  “Look up,” you say.  “Look up and experience the gift of freedom that Christ has given to me.  It is good.  It is refreshing.  It is “water that gushes ‘up to eternal life’ (John 4:14).  Look up!” 

And they do.  And one by one people are freed from their heavy jars as Christ moves more people to be prophets and proclaimers of Christ’s freedom to each other.  And it is a beautiful sight when you look in front of you and see a huge pile of jars that have all been left behind.  They were not that important after all.

Reflection on Sermon for Matthew 6:1-4 and Matthew 14:13-21

 

Matthew 6:1-4 (NRSVue)

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.^[a]

 

Reflection

“You give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).  That is what Jesus told the disciples after a long day spent healing a crowd of hungry people who brought to Jesus the sick and the suffering.  The sun was going down and the disciples suggested that the people be sent away before nightfall so that they could scrounge up something to eat for themselves.  But Jesus stopped them dead in their tracks and told them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).

Surely, Jesus knew that all the food they had was five loaves of bread and two fish.  Surely, Jesus knew that the disciples could in no way feed a crown of 5000 men plus women and children.  Yet the lack of food does not change what followers of Jesus Christ are expected to do.  The lack of food does not change the fact that followers of Jesus Christ do not send people away who are in need.  That is not how a solution to the problem is found for those serving in the kingdom of heaven.  Followers of Jesus Christ are loving and generous, just as their savior is loving and generous.

Giving is a fundamental discipline of Lent.  During Lent we learn that followers of Christ love like Jesus and they give like Jesus.  And how did Jesus give?

“He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full” (Matthew 14:19-20).

First, Jesus let the crowds sit with him.  He did not send them away, even though they had such a meager meal.  Giving means connecting first.  Whether or not you are able to help, at least you are able to sit down and connect.  Those who give like Jesus, first love and connect like Jesus.

So, when you are faced with a crowd of thousands, all needing supper, what do you do?  You know what you should do, but what you should do and what you can do are two very different things.  I should give away my millions to help the less fortunate, the only problem is that my bank account seems to lack those millions.  Even if the disciple’s hearts were in the right place, they just did not have the food.

I am not certain that Jesus did either.  It is not like he pulled out a huge Santa bag and started handing out the bread and fish.  But what he did do was this: “he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Matthew 14:18).  I do not know if Jesus knew how all of this was going to turn out or not, but what I do know is that he prayed.  He looked up to his Father in heaven and he trusted that his Father in heaven would provide in some way.  How could God not provide? God is love.

So, giving is first about connecting with others who are in need.  And then, it is about connecting with God who provides.  Only then will we be able to help pass the bread to the crowds.  Giving is about connecting with others and connecting with God.  It is about loving others and loving God.

I think that is why Jesus suggests that we do it in secret.  If giving to others starts to become a spiritual problem for us, we do it in secret.  Sometimes, giving becomes about getting your name on the plaque or receiving the “thank you” that makes it “all feel worth it.”  But, giving is not about “me.”  Giving is not about making me “feel good” or making me “feel fulfilled.”  If it becomes about loving me rather than about loving God and loving others, Jesus says, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:3-4).

After-all the followers of Jesus Christ are no better than those crowds who seek healing and food.  We all open our hands to receive what the Lord provides.  We can only give because the Lord has first given to us.  As Martin Luther famously said on his deathbed: “We are beggars.  This is true.”

Reflection on John 3:1-17

 

John 3:1-17 (NRSVue)

¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
  ¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
  ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
  ¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Reflection

Nicodemus sought Jesus out in the middle of the night.  Jesus welcomed Nicodemus in the darkness, taking time in the late night to provide some understanding and some light.  Jesus loved Nicodemus enough to join him in the darkness.  Jesus loves the whole world that much.

I think about this often, how Jesus chose to greet Nicodemus in the darkness.  It seems obvious to me that Nicodemus chose to come to Jesus at night because he did not want to be noticed.  He did not want to be seen associating with Jesus.  Who knows what might have happened to Nicodemus had he been seen associating with such a man: loss of standing in the world; loss of notoriety; loss of privilege.  Jesus knew this of course.  Jesus knew of Nicodemus’ shame.  Yet Jesus still chose to meet Nicodemus and reveal the mysteries of God’s heart to him.

The scene did not have to play out this way.  Jesus could have chastised Nicodemus.  He could have called him weak of faith.  He could have refused to meet with him all together.  He could have condemned Nicodemus, sent him away, and banished him for dwelling in the darkness. 

After-all, Jesus is the light of God.  Jesus did not need to dwell in the middle of the night with dark figures who prefer to hide.  But, if Jesus never entered the darkness, never sought us out in our dark times, how would any of us in this dark world be saved?  How would Nicodemus or any of us who dwell in the darkness come to know anything about the heart of God? 

Jesus “did not come into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

Do we get that?  Do we truly understand that Jesus does not look upon our neighbors with distain; “Tisk, tisk, tisk,” dripping from his lips?  Do we truly understand that he does not look at the shady dealings of the house next door and use his cosmic powers to make the people dwelling within disappear?  Do we truly understand that Jesus sat down with prostitutes, ate with tax collectors, healed sinful people, and had conversations with women with whom no one else was willing to speak?

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

Do we truly understand that Jesus chose to sit with people in dark places so that they might be saved?  I am not sure that I always do.  If the thoughts of my mind had the ability to eliminate the people who I deem as “unworthy” daily, this area would have a pretty sparse population.  Not only that, I wonder just how much time I have wasted, condemning people rather than talking with them and connecting them to the one who can lift them out of the darkness: Jesus Christ our Lord? 

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

That makes me think of the quote from the late David Huskins, “If God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn it, I doubt he sent you.”

That seems a little too true for comfort. 

“If God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn it, I doubt he sent you.”  What is striking about these words is that they came from the mouth of a minister who experienced constant criticism and condemnation himself.  Darkness overtook his life as he soaked in everyone’s criticisms, taking them all to heart.  In the end he took his own life.  He struggled with the darkness of his life and hoped beyond hope that the words of scripture are true, that Jesus meets when us in dark places.  He hoped beyond hope that we are not condemned, no matter how dark the place in which we find ourselves. 

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

What the scriptures desperately want us to understand is that Jesus meets us in our dark places.  Like Nicodemus, we are offered a glimmer of light.  We are offered something new.  Jesus offers us a different vision.  He offers us a different life.  He offers us the light of God.  Jesus reveals that we will get to see the kingdom of God when we are born again, or as our bibles say, “born from above” (John 3:3).

Jesus wants us to experience a complete change in how we see the world.  We are so used to the dark ways that things work down here in this world that our understanding of the world needs to die.  Jesus clears out the ways of this world so that we can be born again with a clear mind; so that we can see things the way that God sees them.

In fact, Jesus says that to live in the kingdom of God you need to be born of “water and the Spirit.”  Like in the days of Noah, the water drowns out the old, dark life and the Spirit of God blows new life into you once again.  It is a second birth that allows you to see the kingdom of God.  It is a second birth that allows you to enter in the kingdom of God.  Only then will you see things the way that God sees them. 

But, this is not just about you.  God can and does renew any one of us at any time that God chooses.  “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

God can renew even the most unlikely of us.  Remember how Moses, the murderer of that slave driver, was transformed into one of the greatest prophets?  Remember how Peter was transformed from a Jesus denier into a brave preacher?  Remember how Saul was transformed from a persecutor of Christians into one of the most prolific evangelizers of the faith?  The Spirit blew into them all, giving them vision from above, making them servants of God.  Remember how the Spirit blew into you, transforming your weakest moments in life into one of your greatest strengths?  God can renew even the most unlikely of us, and God does.

One of the best trauma therapists that I know was brutally traumatized herself.  I will not get into the details; you can certainly imagine the worst.  The dark world in which she lived as a child formed and molded her to be a destructive teenager.  Her mind was consumed by the need to get back at the dark world. 

“The world is cruel,” she thought.  “The world is evil.  The world needed to be destroyed.”  And, work to destroy it she did.  Out of pure madness the teen set fire to her neighbor’s garbage can one night, and flames quickly shot up the side of her neighbor’s back porch.  The old woman saw the fire in the back of her house and quickly put it out with her garden hose. 

In an inexplicable act of compassion, rather than pressing charges, the neighbor invited the girl to help her put new siding on her back porch.  Each morning started out with milk and cookies, and then the work would begin.  While they worked, the old woman asked the teen about her life.  She listened to the teen’s pain.  She hugged her when she revealed the worst over cookies and milk.  She was there for the teen’s high school graduation.  And the old woman was there when the newly educated trauma therapist graduated from college.

The old woman had been born from above and she understood a couple of holy truths: that God loves “the world,” even the dark parts of the world, and that Jesus has no intention of “condemning” the world.  Rather Jesus desires to save the world. 

The old woman herself had once been born again, rising from the cleansing waters of God and filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit.  Because the woman had been born from above and understood God’s vision for the world, the teen was also given a chance to be born anew.

The therapist now lives a new life, so different than the dark one she had inhabited before as a youth.  Now, she looks upon the world with love, not hate.  Now, she sees the darkness within people as something that needs to be healed, not condemned.  Now, she looks to Jesus to provide that healing and eternal life, just as the Israelites looked to the snake for healing and forgiveness in the wilderness.  She trusts in Jesus, who refuses to condemn, because his life and death is all about salvation.  She looks upon the world with love, because Jesus looked upon her with love and sent her neighbor at the right time.  She refuses to condemn, because that is not what seeing with the eyes of Jesus and living in his kingdom is actually about.  The Spirit continues to breathe new life into her through the words of scripture that she memorized soon after having her life turned around by Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

She also memorized this phrase, because she thought it was just as important as the first:

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

Jesus spoke to her in the middle of the night, in the middle of her darkness, and she had been saved. 

Jesus breathes new life into you also.  Jesus is there in your darkness also.  Allow your darkness to be drowned, and be ready for all that the Spirit has in store as Jesus fills you with new breath and new life.

Reflection on Psalm 51:1-13 and 2 Chronicles 33

 

Psalm 51:1-13

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;^[a]
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right^[b] spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing^[c] spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.

 

Reflection

He was only twelve years old when he was thrust upon the throne in Jerusalem.  Can you imagine being put in charge of a country and a military at the age of twelve?  What would your first decisions as a ruler at twelve have been? 

“No more math homework.”

“Parents must play games with kids whenever they want; no exceptions!  I don’t care if your knees hurt.”

“Candy is now an essential food group.” 

“Soldiers, seize Billy and his sleaze-bag brothers now and lock them away!”

The Bible tells us that “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign” (2 Chronicles 33:1).  As you can image, his decisions were not very good.  In fact, they were quite a bit less than good.  They were worse than silly and born out of ignorance.  They were worse than stupid.  In fact, the Bible reports that “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 33:2). 

Granted, he was twelve!  He did not know how to lead.  He did not know what good decisions looked like.  So, he did what most kids that age do.  He looked around at everyone else and did what they did.  He looked at what all the other nations were being led to do around him and he instituted “the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel” (2 Chronicles 33:2).

Manasseh built altars to the foreign god Baal.  He even put one in the house of the Lord.  Verse 6 says that he “practiced soothsaying (fortune telling) and augury (using the behavior of birds to gain insight in the will of the gods) and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards” (2 Chronicles 33:6).  In other words, he experimented with the Ouija board at a sleepover with his closest nation of friends, and God walked down into the basement, turned on the lights, saw what was taking place, and did not think that what was taking place was OK.  This is why we do not put a twelve-year-old in charge of nations!

Starting out so young and impressionable, he was a horrendous example of faithful leadership.  At the same time, being so young and impressionable, he was a great example of someone who repented.

Repentance is the Lenten discipline that we are focusing on tonight as we use these Wednesday nights to explore the classic Lenten disciplines: Repentance, Giving, Prayer, Fasting, and Works of Mercy.  Repentance is more than just feeling really, really bad about what you did wrong.  Most people with a conscience feel really bad about hurting others or themselves, and most people feel really bad when they do it. 

Repentance includes feeling bad, but it is much, much more than that.  The Hebrew root for repentance literally means “to turn around.”  It is one thing to feel bad about what you did.  It is a whole other thing to actually work to change yourself so that you do not do it again.  Repentance encompasses both the feeling bad and the act of changing your life.

Repentance is feeling really bad about the DUI and then turning your life around so that you live the kind of life where you never drink again. 

Repentance is feeling really bad about walking past the struggling mother and child and then turning your life around so that you are trained to notice those who are struggling and are ready to help. 

Repentance is feeling really bad about forgetting to worship God and leading a nation toward the worship of other gods, and then after your banishment from the land, returning to the land to throw down the idols and tear down the altars built to foreign gods. 

That is what Manasseh did.  He did not stay at age twelve.  He did not remain in a state of ignoring God.  He repented, in the fullest sense of the word, and his life was blessed by our merciful God who gives us a second and third and fifteenth chance to turn around and face toward God once again.  Most people have not heard Manasseh’s biblical story, but it is one to remember because it most fully shows what repentance is all about.

“Have mercy on me, O God” the Psalmist cries out (Psalm 51:1).

“My sin is ever before me” the Psalmist admits” (Psalm 51:3).

“Create in me a clean heart, O God and put a new and right spirit within me” the Psalmists requests (Psalm 51:10).

The Psalmist desires more than anything to be turned around by God.  The Psalmist desires more than anything to have a spirit that is turned in the right direction.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12).

And that is our cry too.  We too desire to be turned from our sinful ways so that we can face the love of God.  We too desire to walk in right paths.  So, during Lent we repent and pray to the one, who the disciples saw with their own eyes, who had mercy on the sinner and turned wayward people to the way of new life.  During Lent we turn toward Jesus who forgives us and gives us a new chance and a new way of life.

Repent.  Return to the Lord.  Jesus awaits.

Reflection on Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSVue)

1 Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

 ‘One does not live by bread alone,

  but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

  5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

 ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

  and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

 so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

  8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

 ‘Worship the Lord your God,

  and serve only him.’ ”

11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Reflection

I could not help but think about the goat.  As a small kid in Sunday School, the teacher taught us about the goat found in Leviticus 16, called the scapegoat, who would have the sins of all God’s people thrust upon its head, and then the poor, innocent thing would be led into the wilderness to be set free to fend for itself.  Of course, my Sunday School teacher went on to talk about how good it was for the people to have their sins taken away from them, but I heard very little about that because my mind was still stuck on that poor little goat alone in the wilderness. 

What would happen to it?  Did it miss its family?  Did it want its mom? 

The teacher mentioned that Azazel was out there and would hunt down the goat, devour it, and the sins would be gone for good.  Modern Biblical scholars do not know exactly what “Azazel” refers to in Leviticus 16:26, but my teacher described Azazel as a fearsome creature like Satan, with horns and wings, who preys on anyone who is lost in the wilderness.  The biblical scholars of Jesus’ time agreed.

Who wrote these Sunday School materials back in the day anyway?  Who thought that this would be a great story for little kids?  I was terrified.  And my heat ached for the poor goat.  The goat did not do anything wrong.  Why did the goat need to suffer because of people’s sin and stupidity?  I imagined a dark creature coming from around the rocks in the darkness of the moonlight, saliva dripping from its mouth, approaching the poor little goat to eat it alive.

If only evil was that easy to spot, then maybe you would have a chance to turn and run or seek a place to hide.  But the reality of the situation is that as Azazel approached, he probably was a handsome creature with kind eyes who reached out to pet the goat, pull it close as it trembled in the wilderness, and gained its trust.  He probably promised to give the world to the goat since he was the one who rescued it.  Of course, those who released it into the wilderness could not be trusted. 

That is the way evil truly works.  Evil gives promises.  Evil initially gives the appearance of caring.  Evil pulls up in a white van, offers a huge smile, and holds out a piece of candy that will make the world wonderful for the child, if only for a few minutes.  Evil always wears a mask of goodness and builds trust before it snatches us and pulls us down into the pit.

That is how it was for Jesus in any case.  As our goat, bearing all our sinfulness and failures, Jesus too “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).  He too was left to wander in the wilderness, alone without food for “forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished” (Matthew 4:2).

Have you ever noticed that when you find yourself alone and maybe depressed and struggling, the first temptation to creep up on you is always food?  A whole bucket of chocolate chip ice cream is sitting right there in the freezer, staring at you.  “Poor, lonely bucket.  I won’t leave you alone like everyone else left me!”  After an hour the bucket of ice cream and you have become one as you watch movies together on the couch.

That temptation was no different for Jesus.  The Bible says that “The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread’” (Matthew 4:3).  The tempter, the devil, you know, that helpful guy out in the wilderness who was there to “help” the goat is there to “help” Jesus as well.

But where so many have listened to that handsome and kind guy out in the wilderness, enticing us to eat the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups just gloriously sitting right there out in the wilderness, or in Jesus’ case some stones that he could make into some warm, freshly baked bread, Jesus did not fall for the temptation.  Adam and Eve fell for it.  They listened to temptation and ate the fruit that they were not to eat.  The Israelites fell for it.  Some of the Israelites gathered extra manna out in the wilderness to save up for later, though they were told not to.  And I hate to admit that I have fallen for it again and again, seeking to store up treasures in my freezer and fridge that show more a preparation for Armageddon and less a trust in God’s provision.  All of us are tempted to take matters into our own hands and secure what we need and desire. 

But Jesus did not.  Instead of listening to the enticing words of the tempter and instead of listening to the audible, grumbling needs of his stomach, Jesus said, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). 

When I am a goat, stranded out in the wilderness, I tend to assume that God has forgotten me and left me to fend for myself.  But Jesus trusts that God can breathe out a word that will transform his wilderness experience from something unfortunate to something more than fortunate.  After-all, God’s breath, God’s words, did blow away the chaos waters at the beginning of time, allowing space for God to create everything we see in this world; you, me, the fish, the majestic mountains, the faithful friend, and those who invented chocolate and peanut butter.  If God could create beauty out of chaos, God can do it again.  ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). 

Moments later, Jesus is tempted again by the devil.  The devil places Jesus on the very peak of the temple; the temple in Jerusalem, the place where heaven and earth touch; the temple where God resides from time to time.  The devil tells Jesus to jump off the temple.  After-all God will not let anything happen to him.  The devil tempts Jesus using scripture as if he is the faithful one, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:6). 

What is there to fear?  They are at the temple.  God the Father should be right there, just on the other side of the holy curtain.  Surely, God will send angels to catch him. 

The devil is proposing a test, not of Jesus, but of God the Father.  Will God truly provide for Jesus?  Will God truly care?  Is God even there?

I have tested God.  I have set up challenges by which God can prove that God is there and that God cares.  “Send me a shooting star if you are listening, God.”  I have stared at the stars, waiting for the shooting star to come, only to see none.  I have been enticed to test God, and I think that most of you have as well. 

Here is the thing.  God is going to do what is right and good; not what I want God to do.  God does not throw a pitch if a little boy wants a meteorite to fall from the sky.  God will certainly refuse to be tested when we are the ones being put to the test.

Faith means trusting that God will provide, and trusting is done without proof.  Otherwise, it is not trusting, is it?  Jesus trusts God the Father.  Jesus does not fail even when I do fail each time I am cast out into the wilderness to fend for myself.  He is the goat who is not destroyed when bearing the sins of the people.  Jesus said to [the tempter], “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7).

Now, I just want to stop here and point out something that may be a little obvious, but the meaning, not so much.  Have you noticed that each time that Jesus was tempted that Jesus went to scripture to find a footing.  He used scripture to be his wisdom and guide.  And that makes me want to ask, “Where is your Bible?”  How handy is it?  Do you take it with you when you are cast out into the wilderness to fend for yourself?  God’s word is powerful.  God’s word caused mountains to rise from the sea and formed people out of mere dust.  God’s word can move your mountains too.

Speaking of mountains, as if he were taking Jesus into the Garden of Eden itself, where God looks down on all the earth, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain, “and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8).

And we are tempted in this way again and again.  We say things like, “If I would only win the lottery, I would do this great thing and help all these people.”  We say things like, “If I were emperor, I would use some common sense, and everything would be good again.”

A friend and I were talking that way once.  He talked about how many things in the world would be solved if only he were put in charge.  At that very moment his cell phone rang.  It was his two children.  Angry voices were spewing from the speaker of the phone.  They were at home stuck alone with each other, and they were fighting.  My friend gave them some stern warnings over the phone and they promptly hung up.  I could not help but point out that his children do not even listen to him, why would the world listen if he were emperor?

These are all fantasies.  Thinking that people need to think like me is just plain foolish.  Insisting that everyone follows my lead is just plain silly when you really stop and think about it.  Do I follow anyone else’s lead?  Furthermore, I am not God.  I can barely keep my own life in order; how can I possibly assume that I need to be in charge of other people’s lives?

Jesus knew better.  “Away with you, Satan!” Jesus yells, “for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:10).

Maybe, if there were fewer people who needed to be in charge, and more people who just want to serve God, the world would be a better, less chaotic place.  “‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:10). 

And as much as I would like to carry my Bible with me and always remember to push away temptation by worshiping only the Lord and serving only him, I know the truth.  When people have placed their sinful junk on me and pushed me out into the wilderness, I am probably going to be a very weak person by that point and I will fall for temptation again and again, no matter how well intentioned I am.

And because of that, it is a good thing that the one who truly carries the sin of the world on his head is out there in the wilderness with me.  When the tempter comes, I can just look over and follow Jesus.  I can trust that he knows what he is doing.  I can trust that he can overcome the temptations and lead in the right direction.  I can look to him to deliver me from the power of sin, death, and the devil.   

After all, in the end, the devil flees from him.  It says it right there in Matthew 4:11: “Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”  I think I will trust and follow the only goat who cannot be devoured, Jesus Christ our Lord.