As Jesus brought his ministry to Jerusalem, the tensions mounted
After his confrontation with the money changers
After the heated discussions with Sadducees and Pharisees
After the dramatic entrance into the capital city of Jerusalem
What did people want to know?
Who was getting into the Kingdom which Jesus was proclaiming, was claiming to be at hand
It’s a question we might still ask ourselves.
13th- 17th Century, critical issue for folks was the eternal condition of their soul…
How they lived
How they governed their societies
Had a consequence on their “life beyond life”
Consequently they fought wars, agrued, betrayed and murdered their way toward kingdoms earthy and other wise
It doesn’t seem to be so today
I told my democracy class (as we are approaching the 17th cent) that we don’t try to motivate people so much…by telling them they’ll be damned
General believe in a General atonement
Or secularized to the point that it really just doesn’t matter
But this issue for our post-modern, contemporary moment is still a critical one
What is Kingdom of God
And how do we “go into it”?
This small parable and its contextual follow up is maybe all we need
The key is in Jesus question: Which son “did the will of the father?”
Even after the first son refused his father’s wish to work in the vineyard, he “changed his mind”
And he went
This is the doorway to the kingdom
Walking through a change of mind
Doing what the Father wills
This is so obvious and profoundly simple
We pray each week as we articulate the words of the Lord’s prayer: Thy will be done…on earth as it is in heaven
What is the kingdom: Doing what God wills: where ever, when ever, what ever it is that God wills…
And of course, the follow up is: Well, what is it that God wills….?
This answer too is simple to fill in:
From the prophets: do justice, practice kindness, and walk humbly with your God
From the NT, from Jesus himself after the young lawyer pressed him: “Love God with all your self, and your neighbor as yourself”
Easy to answer, harder to live…!
The kingdom, we begin to see here, is a matter of the inclination of one’s heart
When the will of the creature is aligned with the will of the Creator: kingdom happens
In that place for that issue, in that moment
This would suggest that every decision we make, should be processed and aligned with God’s ultimate purposes of justice, peace, eternal shalom!
All our behavior is evaluated by the one critieria: is this what God wants us to do?
Are my intentions the same as God’s intentions?
My guess is that we seldom make this a part of that internal dialogue that goes on in our heads when we buy food, drive our car, make plans for the weekend, or vote
But this parable suggests that the internal process of aligning our wills with God’s is an essential part of our response to God’s Grace
It seems too, that we must make the kingdom something that we
Believe in
And consciously Enter into
…and it seems from our text this morning that tax collectors and prostitutes can do this…
If they could do it a long time ago…
…we should be able to get ourselves in.
Do we really “believe” in the kingdom of God?
“believe” is a ambiguous word
It is not simply a matter of possessing the data, the sensory input that allows us to identify an event or deed or even an idea
It pushes us to the connection between the ideas and values in our minds/hearts and the behavior that we publically manifest
It goes to the heart of the matter
If we do not believe that God’s kingdom is the central political structure for our lives…we’ll spend a lot more time thinking about how we can please those other “wills” that complicate our lives
…the wishes, intentions and agendas that are put upon us by bosses, teachers, politicians, doctors, bankers, parents, children and friends…
…it would be a situatioin where even our own inclinations, wants and desires, our private and personal ambitions are in conflict with God’s will and God’s sovereignty
We must value as central in our response to Jesus presence and preaching: the nearness of God’s kingdom, a kingdom into which we purport to want to go
Is it still possible for us to live in God’s kingdom?
In Jesus’ day, the worst of the worst were the ones who responded most dramatically to Jesus’ invitation
The hookers and the frauds, the sex trade and the political crooks heard the Good News and CHANGED THEIR MINDS (metanoia!)
They begin to rethink their values, restructure their economics, and display a profoundly different set of behaviors
The moved to from self serving, selfishness
To beging compassionate, serving others
They regarded their own needs less and the needs of others more
They “believed” that Jesus’ message was the way to life abundant, life rich and meaningful, life transcendent: they believed it and did things differently
Jesus detractors heard the same message and didn’t change their minds…
Today, in our time, the questions of God’s kingdom are still before us
We would like to believe that God approves of our behavior
That God’s kingdom is mystical and mysterious and something of which we hopefully are a part
But…if the lesson here is clear, we must not be like the 2nd brother
Oh, sure father, I’ll get right on over to the vineyard
I know there is work to be done…
…but oh, I’m tired, my friends are coming over, my boss called me in today, the kids’ soccer team is playing in the championship, …oh that’s a rough part of town, …(you can add to a first bro’s excuse with any that might be familiar…)
…if the lesson today is clear, we should emulate the 1st bro,
“What dad? Go work in the vineyard? No way!”
…but after the initial, honest response, we think it over, and think it more clearly, and think it more deeply
…change our mind…
and go into the Kingdom.
March 13
Luke 13:23-30
This lesson is set just before Jesus turns toward Jerusalem, it is set as he moves through the villages, sharing parable of the Kingdom of God…the central point of his preaching/proclaimation
And there he is with the interested folks following, listening, curious…
23Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, 24“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
Well, I’m sure that if I had been the one to ask…
I wouldn’t be satisfied with the answer because I wouldn’t be sure if I was among the ones to be “saved”
…and, while it was my expectation that “saved” meant to be a part of the political structure that Jesus was most likely to set up when he won the battle/fight in Jerusalem as he takes over as messiah…does the simple fact of his winning…put me in the “saved” category?
The question about “being saved” is fundamental to the human condition
Becomes, for us this year, the theme for Lent and Easter…
Here, with Jesus resolved and people uncertain
The journey toward Jerusalem is illustrated with scenarios of salvation, scenes in which the critical question is
What does it mean to be SAVED?
I was reminded of the enormity of the question while I was reading background for the course…
By the end of the ancient period of history…~410, life after death became a primary concern for people…
People were beginning to tire of wars
Philosophies (like neo platonism and Gnosticism) and religion were in the ascendency
It was an era of competing and synthetic religions (polytheistic Greco/Roman, mystery religions from the east like Mithraism
It was the time when Xnty emerged from an obscure sect of Judaism, which was in itself a profoundly old and unique faith that had fractured into many dynamic parts…
And again , it was again a primary issue at the beginning of the 17th century…
That is the time when we as Baptists joined those who looked to the past, to the primitive church, to reclaim our radical rootage
It is to say that concern for one’s immortal soul was a concious concern, of immense consequence
So important that it determined the course of one’s earthly life and could prompt one’s early earthly demise!
Im not sure the same could be said of today
Certainly for some…probably those with whom we are gathered today
But as we observe the world about us any language, any indication that the salvation of an immortal soul drives forward our culture…is noticeably difficult to discern
Definitions for the competition
I posit two reasons for the absence of this concern in our society
First, since the enlightenment, religious solutions to life’s problems have been denigrated as “superstition”
The increased reliance on a scientific world view leads to a secularization of thought and behavior
What we can see and touch and taste those are the realities that determine our behavior
Having material abundance and political security are the general descriptors of secular salvation
(crudely represented by the bumper stickere: “He who dies with the most toys, wins”)
Second, in our current moment, the church itself, in its diversity of opinion and expression has left us with an ambigous sense of salvation
On one side, there are those who image “salvation” simply as a post-existence life in a dimension often called “heaven”
On the other there are the Xn existentialists (esp. in the 20th century) who believe salvation has something to do with how we live and how we relate to folks here upon this “earthly coil” and that post- life experience is secondary in our concerns
This ambiguity allows a more comfortable view to be established:
That God is so good and loving (the good news!)
That God will forgive us all the screw ups we accomplish and save us ultimately, for all time…
Yea!
In our Lenten series we are going to explore a variety of images/scenes that suggest that the Bible can help us clarify the ambiguity we may feel!
We turn to the lesson
We remind ourselves of the context of expectation so prevelant in Jesus’ time
Those who followed Jesus hoped that he was indeed the messiah, a political figure, a warrior like David the legendary King
In following him they wanted to be liberated from the rule of the Romans and the Kingdom of Israel, a theocracy, restored to prominence
If there was a religious strain to the expectation it was that the Kingdom of David/Israel, would be concurrant with the Kingdom of God: spiritual and political
But what was Jesus trying to teach here?
He wasn’t saying do this or that or follow these rules or make this sacrific and you’re in!
That was the previously accepted plan! (see Pharisees and Sadducees!)
He was saying that many folks wanted to be in the kingdom, many wanted to be saved…
But unless there were ready to go beyond the old understandings…to enter through a very narrow door
unless they were ready to strive and struggle and refocus their lives on this particular and challenging goal…that lies beyond a constricted point of access
They would not make it in
The exclusion clause…
This cuts right across any cultural assumption about everyone making it to salvation!
There will be some left out? In fact “many” who didn’t get it!
“Salvation” (as theological concept) raises similar issues to KoG…
in fact in many ways they are two different ways to give expression to the same reality
And as difficult as it was to describe the KoG, where and who and how…so it is difficult, without striving, to complete our understanding of “salvation”
But Jesus doesn’t finish simply by warning the many
He finishes this little lesson with prod to the complacency of his congregation:
Yet for some…in the north and south etc…will sit to a feast in the Kingdom…
The first (the expectant jews?) will be last…and the last (his scurvy friends, tax collectors and prostitutes) will be first
This is a radically open access that is contradictory to the suggestion of a operationally closed portal!
At the end of the lesson, we are challenged, like all of Jesus’ audiences, to ask ourselves: Am I going to be saved? Am I one of the successful few from all over or the many that will be unsuccessful?
With this question in our minds/hearts, we look toward Praxis : to the Striving which Jesus advocates!
We want to move towards the narrow door
And we begin to understand that it is narrow because it requires
Our honest effort and clear intention
Such movement requires us to focus on what God wills and not on our wants (even if our want is to be saved!)
As we move toward the narrow entry way, we clearly understand that we must learn to make difficult decisions about hard issues
That sacrifice is often necessary
Risk is invovled
Other people’s lives are a part of our concerns…
In the path to that narrow door, we are asked to bring value of life and hope into daily practice
That we may give witness to our struggle and our hope
That we may extend an invitation to journey with and struggle together toward a “salvation” that is more than personal but is corporate and social
For me we can talk about salvation without a sense that we should be devoted to healthiness (for that is the root meaning of the word!)
Spiritual, socially, emotionally/intellectually, and physically
spiritually
naturally and intentionally open to mystery
connectedness to larger…
compelled by unseen (Wm James)
to be able to integrate the paradoxes of life experience…deal with death (here we confront that eternity question!!!)
socially
living in healthy community
practicing kindness and justice
emotionally/intellectually
self esteem and actualization
reasonable
physically
exercise and diet (for everyone!)
health care strategy
food, clothing and shelter
political security
All of these are for me a part of the “big picture” of salvation toward which we strive
Yet in our exploration of the topic this morning we have yet to clearly answer…who and how many?
Many anticipate it yet are excluded…
All we can do is, as Jesus suggests, strive make every effort
To find the narrow door…
Want it…seek it…
Step through and explore it…
March 20, 2011
Matthew 10:16-23
It is a cliché now, that faith is not a destination but a journey
That the real stuff of our religious behavior is experienced in an ongoing, continuous input, process
That constantly requires checking and processing and readjusting the outcomes
As a journey the scene changes, become more or less dynamic and offers surprising opportunities as well as unforeseen challenges
I want to suggest that “salvation” is a quality as well as an outcome of this journey
Jesus called his disciples to an overwhelming task:
After they had accepted his authority
After they began to change
After they had been intrigued by the possibilities of God’s rule upon the earth
After they practiced sharing the good news they had heard in Jesus’ preaching
They went out
…amongst the towns and villages, the dusty roads and busy market places
the traveled through familiar and unfamiliar territory, gaurded by the Romans and inhabited by people expecting God to do something
If they expected their work to be easy…they soon discovered that it wasn’t!
People saw them as a threat to political security and turned them into the authorities
People heard their message as heresy and argued against them
As many people found them alarming and dangerous as found them hopeful and safe
In this scene, of the early mission and its particular challenges
Salvation is not simply for those who do the proclaiming, but for those who also reject it
Salvation is sought by persistent proclamation and courageous endurance
We live in an instant results culture!
Our computers go faster all the time, the boss wants the project finished three days ago and we connect in real time to people all over the world
Waiting is so analogue…and so last century!
Endurance is for marathon runners…and we know how few there are!
A marathon requires long training, the increasing ability to endure the pounding of the feet on pavement
And miles and miles of runnning, knee pains, sore muscles and recurrent fatigue
Jesus disciples may have thought that their work would be easy and quick but it proved more a marathon, than a sprint
Suffering…persecution…resistance…conflict: how can Jesus be so divisive?
Jesus’ followers quickly learned…and still followed
But this is not our church or our times
We live in a the fast times, not the slow
We live in the connected culture of the 24/7 data barrage and nano second results
And if you go to church or not…nobody but God cares (maybe your grandmother…?)
You can proclaim Jesus and people (at least in our country) will either go “That’s nice” or just walk away
Salvation as a subject gets little discussion
In our lesson today though, it is clear…you must endure until the end
That a necessary quality to achieve “saved” status is the ability to persist through challenges, risks, successes and failure until “the end”
Jesus uses very clear images to describe what he means:
As wolves were a present danger
and sheep were a common commodity, they became
the metaphor for this risky adventure…
that the mission of proclaiming God’s kingdom could be hazardous to your health
Jesus suggested response to the risk he knew was there,
be wise as serpents
(here wisdom is the cunning or clever part)
use of stealth and discernment and a sense of being able to “slip away”
Although snakes might be seen as “evil” they are very successful at surviving!
and as innocent as doves…
innocent means remaining clear and unsullied in one’s purpose
It means being honest (about chances and risks) and forthright, clear in message and un coercive in manner
To be seen simply as another “conquering hero” would create a flawed foundation
In Jesus time, his mission, his preaching and proclaimation began to be successful
Successful enough to create a powerfully motivated following
People empowered by God’s inbreaking kingdom
People who discovered the power of God’s love in their relationship to Jesus
People who were willing to follow him into risky places
As Jesus’ mission became the church’s mission the faith flourished
…and soon across the Mediterranean world, a world filled with people concerned with the salvation of their eternal souls
The church became a political as well as religious force…
And eventually, Xnty became the dominant Western European mode of being religious
But we can still ask: What does “saved” mean…when you have not achieved your goal?
For not only are their other religions (some faster growing than Xnty) and the world is still at war
There is still poverty and injustice, illness and mental suffering
There are still people lost in the moral morass of consummerism
Families still split over religious values and practices…
And we have yet to figure out how to live on the planet without befouling it!
Salvation?
If we can still posit that holistic understanding of “salvation” has something to do with the healthiness, not only of our soul/spirits but also of our minds, bodies, social constructs and environments
We see that salvation is more than an individual persons expereience
Its more than a group victory
Its more than an advantage for any particular nation
It is an end, a purpose that we must still seek, for we have not yet as a church nor as a communion of humans brought salvation to the world
We must endure, and persist and strive and struggle until the end…!
The salvation we seek transcends person and group to extend globally and eternally, that is w/o constraints time or place
It seems to me that the salvation that we sense in Jesus presence and proclamation is one of encompassing, trans-natural engagment
It is when “every knee bows, and every tongue” sings praise to the transcendent and very present creator God, the God that was present in Jesus, that is present to us in the Spirit, that is both beginning and end
We are called until God’s end is achieved!
Key…endurance!
Used 34 times in NT
A common theme: endurance to the end…
to the completion of purpose, to the summary event
What gives us endurance:
Faith in Jesus…
in his historical witness, life and death
in his trans-historical spirit that transforms us into followers
hope…
a motivating sense that our efforts substantiated by God’s presence moves us toward a better world
that every effort is a success
and that we have sufficient resource to complete our journey
we have grace and guts…
God’s gifts of energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration
That we have the full courage to face whatever risks might still be a part of our contemporary context
That we still own Jesus orders to go out like sheep amidst the wolfy world
We still have a purpose
We still have the story to tell…
a good news about what God has done
and about what God has yet to do
So part of being “saved” is being able to deal with enduring conflict in an effective and enduring manner
There are political tasks to be done to secure rights and resources for all
There are familial tasks to be done, to get our kids tuned to faith, to care for each other compassionately
There is rejection to be experienced…
The skepticism and/or apathy out there is strong
There are many other voices calling louder and more seductively than ours
There are our own doubts that weaken or mislead us in our intentions
But the one certain thing
Jesus knew the mission he began was a long term engagement
He would fall, to be raised up
So that we could keep our eyes on him…toward the completion of his work in this world
And those of us that maintain the journey of faith…that travel the pathways of Xn practice…will be be saved…if…we endure to the end.
So with Paul we say…
Col. 1: 11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
March 27 A sermonic dialogue
(this is the study sheet and discussion questions that the congregations used that Sunday...)
Background: (CFD Moule: Mark)
Context: Our lesson begins right after Jesus has asked his disciple “Who am I?” After a variety of answers, Peter confesses: You are the messiah. After requesting the disciples to keep the messianic conversation secret, he begins teaching openly about his expectation of being killed…
The audience changes to include “the crowd.” Here Jesus is very open in his expectation that to follow his teaching will lead certainly to suffering for the disciples as well as for him.
Here Jesus teaches the mystery of salvation with a paradoxical maxim.
There are two ways of “seeing” Jesus here: as Messiah (rebel, annointed, soldier/theocrat) or Son of Man (from Daniel’s dream, a suffering example of humanity with an absolute sense of God’s sovereignty, willing to become martyrs, faithful to death in order bring achieve God’s will.
Vs. 9:1 is a difficult verse…if it is taken to literally mean that Jesus expected the full arrival of the Kingdom in his followers life time (see 13:30). Or is Mark making reference to the “transfiguration” in the next passage…or did Mark include this to point to the Resurrection and the rise of the Church? Or does it simply refer to those who have been confronted by the Kingdom in Jesus’ message & ministry?
The text ~ Mark 8:31-9:1 (NRSV)
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9:1And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
The points for reflection: Responses to the text, questions, feelings, words/images
So far… “saved” is through a narrow door…requires endurance until the end…
Who is in this scene? Do they want to “be saved”?
According to today’s lesson, when does salvation occur?
How might this paradox help us understand “salvation”?
If being a follower of Jesus, meant literal death for each, how many would choose to follow?
In our historic moment, would today’s lesson make being a part of the church more or less attractive? Why?
What does it mean “to loose one’s life” in this context? How might we live out a life we choose to loose?
Does this passage from Paul help…?
“22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” 1 Cor. (:22-23)
How might “saved through faith” help us untangle the paradox?
“8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Eph. 2:8-10 (See M. Luther quote…)
If we disconnect “works” from “faith” can we see “grace” more clearly?
Is “saved” an overarching purpose (telos) of God? Is it for now? …or then?
In Titus, “saved” seems past tense…is there a future “saved”?
“4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7
What is “eternal life”? Can we “sense” it? Is it part of a “lost life”?
How might we design a congregational program that helps people get over “wanting to save their life”? Can we “challenge” secular priorities?
If the church is an agency of “salvation” what relationship must it create with the “world” around it in order to bring “salvation” into the present with hope for the future?