Reflection on Exodus 20:1-6 and Luke 9:51-62

 

I want you to imagine for a moment or two that all you have ever known in life is performing whatever tasks your slave masters have told you to do.  If the empire wanted a wall built out of stone, and your slave masters told you to cut the stone, under threat of punishment you would have cut the stone.  If the empire wanted more grain planted for the season, and your slave masters told you to plant an extra four fields of grain, under threat of punishment you would have planted the four extra fields of grain.  If the empire only gave you five days of bread for a seven day week, you would have figured out how to stretch five days of bread into seven. 

The picture that I am painting for you is the life of the Israelite slaves under the absolute power and absolute authority of Egypt.  Raised as a slave from childhood, all you would have ever known would be how to serve the Empire.  All you would have ever known would be listening to whatever you were told.  As a slave, you were shaped and molded to serve the government…to serve the empire.

Now, I want you to imagine that you have suddenly been freed from a life of slavery by God.  If fact, everyone around you has been freed by God from lives devoted to serving the empire.  How do you now live to the next day?  How do you live together in freedom with others?  What does this new life look like?  To whom do you now listen?

I think putting the Israelite’s situation in these terms reveals just how much of a gift that the Ten Commandments are to the people of God.  For centuries, the Ten Commandments have been viewed by both Jews and Christians, not as burdens that we somehow need to accomplish in order to be holy, but as gifts that give us life as we strive to live together in this world. 

It is a life that is focused, not on what is best for governments and empires.  It is a life that is focused, not on what is best for corporations and CEOs.  It is a life focused, not on what is best for narcissistic leaders and power brokers.  It is a life focused, rather, on the life, and love, and mercy, and peace of God.  It is a life focused on the desires of the one who created us and desires us to have the best life together.

So, it is no surprise that the First Commandment is, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.”  We will find life together when we focus on the same merciful God together. 

In the Hebrew language, this commandment is quite fascinating.  It literally reads, “You shall not place other gods in front of me.”  The image being conveyed here is literally picking up and setting down some sort of other god, in the form of a symbol or idol, in front of the one true God.  And, that is precisely what the Israelites literally do when Moses is up on the mountain and God is giving him the Ten Commandments.  They literally place a golden calf in between them and the mountain of God.  The golden calf is literally blocking the path up to God on the mountain.

As you can imagine, God, quite rightly, gets really, really upset by this, as God does throughout the Bible as the kings of Israel place idols of their wives’ gods in front of the altar in God’s temple, and images and symbols of government, such as Caesar’s head, in front of God in God’s holy temple.  This literal placement of other things or symbols in front of God or beside God in places of worship is a really big problem, because it reveals quite clearly the things and symbols that are blocking the view of God in our minds and in our hearts.

Think back to the Israelites wandering around in the wilderness, who are struggling and hungry, and who are more than willing to abandon God in favor of the pots full of meat that the Egyptian empire provided.  They are placing another god in front of trusting the true God.

Think of those who are captured by the lure of addictive substances.  I think of a widowed grandmother who told me about how her grandson stole her husband’s wedding ring right off of her nightstand, where it brought her comfort through the loneliness of the night, and sold it for an hour’s worth of feeling high.  As tragic as that story is, I also think about how she told me that she does not need the ring back.  All she wants is her grandson back.  She desires nothing but life for him.  If only the substances were not placed so solidly in front of God, blocking the holy, blocking the mercy, blocking the life.

Think of those who are captured by images of the good life; of nice houses, and nice cars, and an abundance of fine food.  I think of those who have no problem paying their employees the bare minimum so that they can live the good life.  I think about those who have no problem exploiting others so that they alone can live well.  I think about those who place their own desires in the way of God, so that they cannot even see the desires of God, who desires that we care for our neighbors.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol.”  “You shall not bow down to them to worship them.”  “I am the Lord your God.”

Here’s a fun Bible fact.  Did you know that the golden calf was supposed to represent God?  It was not intended by Moses’ brother Aaron to be another god, but rather was supposed to represent God.  Do you know why God got so mad about that and why God does not want us creating idols in the image of God?  Because God is very clear in the book of Genesis that God has already created something in the image of God.  To be more precise, God created “someone” in the image of God.  God created us to be the image of God on earth.  God created you to be the image of God on earth.  The Bible reads, “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (NRSV, Genesis 1:27).  When others look at you, God hopes they will see in you the reflection of the divine.  God hopes that nothing in your life is blocking the image of our life-giving God.

Jesus is explicit that we will only be able to see the gift of life and the gift of the salvation of God when we follow and do not place anything else in the way.  In the same way, others will only be able to see that same life and salvation in us, God’s image on earth, when we follow and do not place anything else in the way. 

To one man Jesus said, “’Follow me.’  But [the man] said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’  But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’  Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’  Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’” (NRSV, Luke 9:59-62).

Now, I understand that Jesus seems pretty rude here and the story seems to be an obvious exaggeration.  That might be the case, but it is an exaggeration that makes a much needed point.  Sometimes we place family and our own homes in the way of God.  Sometimes, we cannot see Jerusalem, where the Lord resides, because we have allowed others to stand in the way.  Sometimes, we allow those closest to us to block the good life found in the kingdom of God.  In a shocking teaching to our own society, Jesus teaches that sometimes family does not come first, especially if they are blocking all that is good and holy and loving. 

Again, I need to emphasize that putting God first does not secure God’s love.  Following the First Commandment is not what saves us.  Notice that the commandment starts out with “I am the Lord you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;” and then the commandment goes on to read, “you shall have no other gods.”  God saves us from Egypt first.  God saves us first, because God wants us near.  Jesus goes to Jerusalem for us and dies for our sake and rises to new life, whether we follow along the way or not.

But, if we look at our world, bemoaning how it is crumbling, and then we also see our neighbors in pain, then God will create a desire to want all that God wants.  After-all, it is God who can put it all back together.  We will strive first for the kingdom of God.  We will strive to live this life of peace that the Ten Commandments seek to create.  We will place nothing before God, because it is only God who gives all of us life.  We will do it for the sake of our neighbor who also cries out silently in the night for the world to be right again.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (NRSV, Luke 10:27). 

“You shall not place other gods in front of me.”

Reflection on Deuteronomy 6:1-9 and Luke 10:25-37

 

You guys are in for a fun ride this summer!  We are going to be looking at the Ten Commandments and we will also being looking at what Jesus has to say about each of these ten sayings from God the Father. 

But, before we start plumbing the depths of each commandment, I want us to understand the purpose of the Ten Commandments, because so often we view them simply as rules for living our individual lives.  I once had a T-Shirt that said, “Life not going well?  Just follow the rules,” and it had a picture the Ten Commandments. The insinuation being, “If you follow them, you are good and life is good.”  “If you do not follow them, you are bad and life is bad.” 

But, God has so much more in store for us when we look to these ten sayings.  For God, these ten sayings give life.  They maintain grace and love when embraced by a community.  They are a gift.

But, we are getting ahead of ourselves.  Before we get into that, I want to ask you simply to list the Ten Commandments as you learned them in Sunday School. 

Lutheran:   The First Commandment You shall have no other gods.   The Second Commandment You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.   The Third Commandment Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.   The Fourth Commandment Honor your father and your mother.   The Fifth Commandment You shall not murder.   The Sixth Commandment You shall not commit adultery.   The Seventh Commandment You shall not steal.   The Eighth Commandment You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.   The Ninth Commandment You shall not covet your neighbor's house.   The Tenth Commandment You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Reformed/Protestant:   The First Commandment You shall have no other gods.   The Second Commandment You shall not make for yourself an idol.   The Third Commandment You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.   The Fourth Commandment Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.   The Fifth Commandment Honor your father and your mother.   The Sixth Commandment You shall not murder.   The Seventh Commandment You shall not commit adultery.   The Eighth Commandment You shall not steal.   The Ninth Commandment You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.   The Tenth Commandment You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Again, the Ten Commandments are not simply rules that you make sure to follow so that you can be a good and holy person.  They are so much more.  And, to get at that, I want to talk to you about “The Smasher.”

“The Smasher” was our elementary school dodge ball nemesis.  The Smasher was bigger than everyone else in the class, and thus he was much stronger than everyone else in class.  For the most part, The Smasher was a pretty nice guy, until he entered the dodge ball court.  You never wanted to throw the ball in the direction of The Smasher because if he ever caught the ball, you were in for a whole lot of hurt.  This guy was able to whip that ball so hard that it would leave huge welts.  Fear and speed were the methods that The Smasher employed in order to win.  And, win he did.

One day a new kid showed up in class, one who looked as if he could possibly put up a challenge to The Smasher, and the Smasher immediately went after this new threat.  Relentlessly, The Smasher would pelt the new kid with the ball, beating up his body game after game.  The rest of us were more than happy to step aside as he went after this new target; there were no self-sacrificing soldiers on this playing field.

Finally, it got so bad that our gym teacher had to step in.  She made a rule against hard throws, and anyone who broke the rule would be sent to the bench for the rest of that round.  You can imagine who found themselves on the bench, a lot, the next few days: The Smasher, of course.  And, for the first time the game was kind of fun for the rest of us, including the new kid.  The game was now challenging in a way that allowed everyone else to finally hone their dodge ball skills.  And, the fun started precisely because a rule or a boundary was set by the teacher.

And, that is what the Ten Commandments are.  They are a gracious gift of boundaries provided by God so that life can go well for all of us, not just the most powerful, or the most liked, or the shrewdest and wealthiest of us.

The Ten Commandments are not put here on this earth by God as a test to pass in order to get to heaven.  They are not put here on this earth by God as a way for us to somehow prove how great of people we are.  They have nothing to do with that.  God says right in the Bible what the purpose of the Commandments are:

“Observe them diligently, so that it may go well with ‘you-all,’ and so that ‘you-all’ may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you” (Deuteronomy 6:3).

God does not need your good works.  God does not need you to keep the commandments.  But, your neighbor does.  Your neighbor needs you to not steal and not lie and cheat, just as you need the same from your neighbor so that “it may go well with you-all.”  The commandments are a gift from God that allow us to live together, and grow together, and have a little fun together.  And, when we love the LORD our God with all our heart, and soul, and might, and our neighbors as ourselves, we do not have to live in fear of one another.  And, when we do not have to live in fear of one another, it is all a little more fun.

“The Smasher” protested the teacher’s new rules.  He could no longer just power his way to a win.  “This is not fair.  I cannot help that I am the most powerful.  I cannot help that I am the best at this game” he tried to convince the teacher from the sidelines.

And, I hear this a lot.  “Might equals right.”  “The best deserve the best.”  “If you lose, just try harder.”  And, though there is real value in this message of hard work and striving to be the best, the teacher put it best in her answer to him:

“There are other things to learn in sports than just being the best.  In sports we learn focus and self-control.  In sports we learn how to help others to become the best they can be for the sake of the team.  In sports we learn how to be a team.  We learn how to be a community.  It is not all about being the best.  And, when we can all play without needing to fear for our safety, it is all a lot more fun.  My rule will stay.”

Do you want to know who benefitted the most of all?  The new kid.  He was no longer the target.  He was no longer the outsider who needed to be destroyed, literally by a small, red ball.  He was no longer left to fend for himself as he took the beating no one else wanted.  Jesus had a lot to say about the outsider and the rules.

After being questioned if the rules of loving God and neighbor really had to include everyone, Jesus told a parable about a man who had been beaten by robbers and left on the side of the road.  You know how the story goes.  The holy people who have places to be and hands to keep clean ignore the bloody mess of a man, but an outsider, a Samaritan, a man of a despised race, is the one who stops and helps the guy.  The outsider shows mercy.  The outsider plays by the rules better than those who should have known better.  The outsider shows mercy, just as God shows mercy. 

These commands of God are a gift of God to everyone and are for the benefit of everyone, so that life can be a little more fun for us all.  When following the commands of God, we find life together.  We find love together.  And, we find peace together, or as the Jews say it, we find “Shalom” together.  Commands for all, to give life to all.

So, as we dig into these Ten Commandments in the Sundays ahead, I want you to remember that they are not so much a demand from God as they are a gift from God for the sake of us all. And, yes, even The Smasher learned how to just have fun with us.

Reflection on John 16:12-15

 

How we view God matters. 

This is not the view of plenty of people throughout  the world who have abandoned any sort of talk of God what-so-ever, much less talking to God!  For many, God is simply irrelevant to their daily lives and they would not contend that God matters at all.  I disagree.  Viewing God as someone who does not matter is still a view of God.  It can look like an outright disregard for the ways of the Lord, and their actions seem to show it.  How we view God matters. 

There are some who believe that purity of skin equals the purity of God.  White hats are good and black hats are bad.  They would say that any mixing of white hats and black hats is like pouring sewage into drinking water.  God is pure, so we must remain pure, they would argue.  Many dark skinned communities have been crushed in very real and very harmful ways.  Out of their pain and agony they cry, “How we view God matters!”

In another part of the world, a girl flinched whenever the pastor spoke about God as Father.  It was the same flinch that was programmed into her by her own father, whose late night binges of violence were littered throughout her childhood.  She was not mad at the pastor for speaking this way; after-all, the Bible speaks this way.  But, she found so much freedom the day the same pastor talked about God as a mother hen protecting her young.  To her surprise the pastor also mentioned that the word for Spirit in Greek is grammatically neutral and in Hebrew is grammatically feminine.  Though she already knew that God was not the same as her father, in her heart she felt like she could finally connect with God.  How we view God matters.

If you firmly believe that God cares about punishing, then you will firmly care about punishing.

If you firmly believe that God cares about forgiveness, then you will firmly care about forgiving.

If you firmly believe that God is vindictive, then you will arm yourself and find your vindication.

If you firmly believe that God is active in this world, then you will firmly find a way to be active in this world.

How we view God matters.

In the gospel of John, Jesus tried to explain exactly who God is, because he truly believed that how we view God matters.  Again and again he would repeat something that sounds a lot like this, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30).  “The Father is in me and I am in the Father” (John 10:38).  “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

So, according to Jesus, how should we view God?  What does God look like?  What image should we be drawn to and follow? 

If the Bible is right and Jesus is God with us, then when we look at Jesus, we are seeing the heart and soul of God.  When we listen to Jesus we are listening to the very heart and soul of God.  When we allow the Spirit to move us and lead us even today, it will be in ways that look a lot like someone we know very well: Jesus.  And, when we listen to what the Spirit has to say to us today, the Bible promises that the Spirit will “guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears.”  Jesus continues to teach us that, “All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

All of that is to say that Jesus has told us exactly how to see God, how to view God, and how to understand God.  Allow the Spirit to direct your eyes toward Jesus’ life.  Allow the Spirit to direct your ears toward Jesus’ command to love.  Allow the Spirit to point you toward the truth of God.  When you look to Jesus and listen to Jesus you will view God in a way that truly matters.  That is what the Bible says.  How we view God matters.

To the children who are now guaranteed to have food throughout our community, because someone looked at Jesus, saw his love of children and also saw his feeding of the hungry, how we view God matters.  Allowing the Spirit to show us Jesus matters.

To the released prisoner in our community who was told that their crime was not the end of their life, and that their sin was not the period at the end of their sentence, all because someone saw Jesus on the cross welcoming the repentant criminal into the kingdom of God, how we view God matters.  Allowing the Spirit to show us Jesus matters.

To the one who has been touched by healing hands or caressed by healing words who was in pain, or confused, or ill in our community, because someone looked at Jesus, saw his healing of the sick and his welcome of the strange and outcast, how we view God matters.  Allowing the Spirit to show us Jesus matters.

God is love.  That is what the Bible says anyway. 

If God is love, and not hate;

and if God is bread from heaven, and not an empty plate;

and if God is the rider of donkeys and not war horses;

and if God is a servant and not a war monger directing forces;

and if God is forgiveness and not a choker of breath;

and if God is resurrection and is not held down by death,

then we will know that we are a people of love, and bread, and peace,

and service, and forgiveness and a lover of the least! 

God is love and not hate.

We are a people who follow love, being a people of love is our fate.

The Bible says, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16).

I say let us then view God as love, so that through us the love of God the world cannot possibly stem.

Reflection on Acts 2:1-21

 

One of my theology professors had just landed in Mumbai, India and was exiting the airport when he was confronted by a little boy holding out his hand.  This is typical in India.  Poorer families will send out their children to beg in tourist areas around the city in the same way that I and my brothers were sent out to mow people’s yards during the summer.  It keeps kids out of trouble and to brings in a little money for the family. 

Assuming the professor was American, which he was, the little boy asked for some money in perfect American English.  Trying to get past the annoying kid and onto his bus, my theology professor answered back in perfect German, “I don’t speak English.” 

Amazingly, the kid replied, “That’s OK, I can speak German too,” with a perfect German accent.  The kid got the money.

Persistence.

The persistence of the kid and his linguistic abilities reminds me of the persistence of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  People from at least 15 nations had gathered in Jerusalem for the harvest festival of Pentecost, bringing gifts of the first fruits of their labor to sacrifice to God at the temple.  Little did they know that God had a gift waiting for them.

Suddenly, a great wind blew over the place.  Little flaming tongues of fire blew in with the harsh breeze and they fell upon some of the native Jews standing in the crowd. 

This was not the surprise though; this was not the amazing part of the gift from God. 

Just as that little beggar boy could talk to my seminary professor in multiple languages; those standing in the crowd were shocked to hear these native Jews with the flaming tongues speaking not in Hebrew, but in the native languages of their own countries. 

The visitors were in a foreign country to celebrate, but it was as if they were at home.  And, as anyone who has traveled to a foreign nation and tried to urgently ask for the directions to the bathroom can tell you, there is nothing better than to have someone who can speak your own language!

I think of a foreign exchange student that I became friends with in High School.  She was from Colombia, and she is now a high paid official at the World Bank, negotiating loans between nations for the building up of global economies.  This girl was (and is) no idiot.  But, while in school, she was sort of treated like one. 

Though she was a genius, she could not convey it in a way that we could understand.  Her English was not yet perfected while in High School and her limited English vocabulary hid her intelligence.  But, you should have seen her face light up when the Spanish teacher sought her out and struck up a conversation.  Having someone who can speak your language can be life changing.

I know of two flourishing and growing churches right here in Pennsylvania that specifically minister to the drug and alcohol recovery communities.  In these recovery churches, people who have struggled to find new life beyond the drugs and alcohol have found the new life that Jesus Christ can create which forgives sin and builds a new future. 

As you already know, there is a huge need throughout our entire nation to have people who can speak the language of recovery and new life after substance abuse.  This problem has only grown throughout this pandemic, but I do have to point out that not just any church or any person can take on such a ministry.  Only those who know the language of addiction, only those who have been through the struggle and have been brought by Jesus to the other side are able to speak to people in ways that give new life from God.  

Like the disciple who had been given the gift of the language spoken by the Medes, for the Medes, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has gifted these people of faith with the language of addiction and recovery.  Having this gift of language turns the worst part of these minister’s lives into their greatest gift for the kingdom of God.

So, maybe you do not speak that language, but I assure you that you too have been given the gift of a language from the Holy Spirit.  You too are a gift to someone waiting for the healing and wholeness that comes through knowing Jesus Christ.

I know of someone who had been trained as a theatrical actor who later went to seminary in order to learn more about God.  And, after her pastoral training, she took a job (not in acting, because those are difficult to come by), but in managing props at a movie studio. 

Why did someone from the theatre take the time and spend the money to go to seminary, just to return to the theatrical/movie world?  Because, acting and theatre is her language.  She understands the terminology.  She knows which direction you would need to step if asked to go “up stage left.” 

But, beyond terminology, she understands the unique culture and language of those in the creative performing arts.  And, the Spirit has led her to be a gift to those people.  She proclaims to those people in the dark corners of the stage as they try to clear their minds and enter into the minds of their characters.  She can speak in a very particular way the good news of the grace of Jesus Christ to these very particular and peculiar people.  But, they are her people.

And, just to be clear, you do not have to be seminary trained to do this stuff.  Seminary trained people are just the people I have hung around with who do not care if I share their stories.  The important part of these stories is not the seminary training, but rather the gift of a particular language that the Holy Spirit provides. 

Perhaps, you have been given the gift of knowing an actual second or third language such as Spanish or even Ukrainian and can connect in the name of Christ with those who are new to our country. 

“Tengo queso en mis pantalones.”  That means, “I have cheese in my pants.”  As you can see I remember only the most useless phrases in Spanish after two years of and straight Cs in Spanish class in High School.  But, someone who actually knows Spanish could be a gift from God, walking alongside people and sharing Christ’s love with those people!

Perhaps, your language is quilting and you can share the good news of Christ Jesus through the block patterns that you put together.  “Block patterns,” that is the extent of my knowledge about the quilting world, so barring a flaming tongue of the quilting language falling from the sky right now, I am not the choice to deliver the good news in that world.  But, you may be!

Maybe your language is dairy farming; or auto mechanics; or hunting, or motorcycle culture; or pop music enthusiast; or old guys talking at the diner for breakfast.  I do not speak any of those languages!  I certainly do not speak the language of old ladies at the hair solon, but you might!  And, if you have been given the gift of that language by the Holy Spirit, then you are sent from this church as a gift to those people. 

You are the one who knows the language you have been gifted.  You are the one who can speak of God’s grace, and God’s love for the sinner, and God’s care for the world to those particular people.  You are the one who has been given as a gift of the Holy Spirit to those people. 

Notice, that in the Pentecost story, it is not the divided tongues of fire that are the gift of the Holy Spirit, but rather the disciples themselves (who have been given those tongues and languages) who are the gift to the people at the Pentecost festival.  God provides those followers of Jesus as a gift to those at the festival that they may understand and hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

You too are a gift to someone who needs to hear about the grace of God.  You too are a gift to someone who needs their life to become new.  You too are a gift from Jesus to someone else who needs salvation.  You too are the one who knows how to share the language of God.