In what I think is my favorite story in all the gospels, Luke tells us about an invitation to dinner Jesus received and accepted. The story is found in Luke 7, beginning with verse 36 and I never read it without marveling at the power of Jesus to turn everything on its head and remind us of why He came.
The invitation itself was from Simon, most often I refer to him as Sanctimonious Simon. He was a Pharisee, which among other things meant that he was fairly confident that he never messed up, was even more confident that He and God were best friends, and that this want-to-be rabbi from Nazareth was little more than we might describe as “poor white trash.”
So Simon invites Jesus to dinner – not so much to befriend Him as to test Him; not so much because he was impressed with Jesus, but because He wanted to make Him look foolish. It appears that Simon had a few of his friends with him and Jesus brought along His disciples. It was quite a gathering for this dinner.
Out of nowhere it seems, Luke says “an immoral woman” came into the dining room. In his ever astute sense of appropriateness, Luke doesn’t tell us who the woman was – just that she had a reputation. My guess is that everyone in town – including Sanctimonious Simon – knew this woman and knew how she made a living.
She comes to Jesus and begins to wash His feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints Him with an alabaster jar of perfume – perhaps the only thing she has as a possession that connects her to her family – who surely are depressed and disappointed about how her life has turned out.
In the kingdom of the world we are prone to wish we were like Simon – apparently rich, living in a nice house, respected, and uber-religious. In the kingdom of the world we are prone to dismiss this rather slutty woman with an attitude of “it is what it is.”
But not so in the kingdom of God. Jesus seems to always turn things upside down in ways that shock us. The real hero of this story is this “immoral woman.” She is a hero not because of who she is, but because of who she wants to become. Simon isn’t the hero at all – he is so impressed with himself and his self-perceptions about his righteousness, that all he can see is “who he is,” with no idea that there is a different Simon that he could become, and who would be a welcome guest at the banquet table of God.
Jesus is simply never content to leave people as they are! For Simon, that means he can’t find contentment in his overly religious approach to life. For the immoral woman, that means she can find hope in a new life – one in which she is empowered through her faith and love to walk away from the sin that has so easily and seemingly completely entangled her.
All year we have been talking about “the way things ought to be.” As one of our chapel speakers earlier this semester noted, it is a challenging thing to think in terms of “ought” instead of “are.” What I know about myself better than anyone is that there is some room in my life to make things more “how they ought to be,” and that the temptation to say “it is what it is” is an alluring and powerful force.
When you leave today, you are going to be given a little silicon bracelet with the phrase “How Things Ought to Be” imprinted on it. I plan to identify one of those areas in my life where I haven’t reached “ought to be status” yet and focus on that for these days of the season of Lent. It may require that I give up some things – but it may not. The key is that I want to identify an area – and commitment myself to working on that for Lent.
I’ve been praying for administrators, faculty, staff, and students since early January that you will join with me in that adventure. Think of the impact on this campus community if we all simply worked on one thing and managed to bring it closer to “how things ought to be” than it is right now.
One thing is for sure – this story from Sanctimonious Simon bears it out – Jesus is never comfortable with “it is what it is.” I want that idea to be in the category of “no more” for me. I hope you do as well.
22 February 2012
Ashes
Today is Ash Wednesday, an important day in the Christian Calendar and one that we who come from more informal fellowships ought to note. It is easy to note that Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent aren’t mentioned in the New Testament – but then neither are church buildings, but most of us find that acceptable!
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent – a forty day period (not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter. In most traditions, Lent is a time of repenting and fasting. It is an attempt on the part of those participating to recognize both our unworthiness before God, except for His grace; and a time of reminding ourselves that we truly can learn to control our physical bodies. Lent focuses on moderation and can be an extraordinarily important part of our spiritual discipline.
While Ash Wednesday is not mentioned in Scripture, the use of ashes as a sign of repentance is found. I 2 Samuel 13:19, Tamar, having been violated by Amnon, “put ashes on her head.” In Esther 4:1, Mordecai, learning all that was being done around him, “put on sackcloth and ashes.” After Satan “smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head,” (2:7) the righteous man Job was found “sitting among the ashes.” (2:8) The prophet Daniel gave his “attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.” (Daniel 9:3)
When our Lord denounces cities where He had performed miracles but there was no repentance, He declares that even Tyre and Sidon, had they seen what these cities had seen, “would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matthew 11:21)
Whether or not we choose to note Ash Wednesday as an important day in our own personal Christian Calendars, the simple truth remains that the idea of repentance, prayer, and fasting is an important part of any person’s desire to be more like Christ. Who among us can look in the mirror of our own hearts and not think, “I need to do better”?
Few passages of Scripture are more compelling when it comes to the biblical idea of repentance and cleansing than the words of King David in Psalm 51. Here is a portion of what he said:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak
and upright in your judgment. (Psalm 51:1-5)
It’s true that ashes on our forehead once a year are but a symbol. Of course it is true that sometimes symbols are just that – symbols, but not the real thing. But it doesn’t have to be that way – that symbol can become the reminder that we all need that we are called to be the holy people of God.
I don’t know about you – but I have some work to do in order to live up to the grace that has called me to be a child of God. Ash Wednesday can be a step in the right direction!
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent – a forty day period (not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter. In most traditions, Lent is a time of repenting and fasting. It is an attempt on the part of those participating to recognize both our unworthiness before God, except for His grace; and a time of reminding ourselves that we truly can learn to control our physical bodies. Lent focuses on moderation and can be an extraordinarily important part of our spiritual discipline.
While Ash Wednesday is not mentioned in Scripture, the use of ashes as a sign of repentance is found. I 2 Samuel 13:19, Tamar, having been violated by Amnon, “put ashes on her head.” In Esther 4:1, Mordecai, learning all that was being done around him, “put on sackcloth and ashes.” After Satan “smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head,” (2:7) the righteous man Job was found “sitting among the ashes.” (2:8) The prophet Daniel gave his “attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.” (Daniel 9:3)
When our Lord denounces cities where He had performed miracles but there was no repentance, He declares that even Tyre and Sidon, had they seen what these cities had seen, “would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matthew 11:21)
Whether or not we choose to note Ash Wednesday as an important day in our own personal Christian Calendars, the simple truth remains that the idea of repentance, prayer, and fasting is an important part of any person’s desire to be more like Christ. Who among us can look in the mirror of our own hearts and not think, “I need to do better”?
Few passages of Scripture are more compelling when it comes to the biblical idea of repentance and cleansing than the words of King David in Psalm 51. Here is a portion of what he said:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak
and upright in your judgment. (Psalm 51:1-5)
It’s true that ashes on our forehead once a year are but a symbol. Of course it is true that sometimes symbols are just that – symbols, but not the real thing. But it doesn’t have to be that way – that symbol can become the reminder that we all need that we are called to be the holy people of God.
I don’t know about you – but I have some work to do in order to live up to the grace that has called me to be a child of God. Ash Wednesday can be a step in the right direction!
08 February 2012
Boxing the Air
The epistles text in the lectionary for this coming Sunday is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. That brief little paragraph seems to summarize much of what Paul has been saying since the beginning of chapter eight and sets up what he will say in chapter ten. When one reads through 1 Corinthians 8-10, he or she is nearly, if not completely, overwhelmed with some of the implications of declaring Christ as Lord.
In the summary found at the end of chapter nine, Paul is focused on making it clear why it matters about meet sacrificed to idols (chapter 8), the danger of abusing our freedom in Christ (chapter 9), and finally the danger of spiritual arrogance (chapter 10). What makes those kinds of issues important is not so much the issue itself, but the “imperishable prize” that is before us – and potentially before those with whom we have the opportunity to exercise influence.
At the heart of keeping that prize before us is Paul’s exhortation that we “run in such a way that you may win.” (9:24) The present imperative form of “run” would suggest that Paul is urging the Corinthians believers with the idea that they need to continue to run. He has affirmed that they are “on the foundation” (3:10-15) and to be on that foundation means that it is imperative that we “run.”
But much of Corinthians digs down into the nitty-gritty of how pagans are transformed into the body of Christ. Sometimes that can be a bit ugly. I often wonder how welcome members of the church at Corinth would be in many “conservative, Bible-believing churches” in our own neighborhoods. Paul certainly is not condoning their way of dealing with some of the “ugliness” of transformation, but he clearly hasn’t written them off as a lost cause.
Thus it isn’t just an imperative to run, but “run to obtain the imperishable prize,” and that caveat is applied to his own sense of running when he says, “so that after preaching to others, I (emphatic) will not become disqualified.” (9:27) One of Paul’s great “lessons in preaching” is certainly on exhibit here – it never seems to be “one thing for others” and “something different for me, the apostle.”
Self-control seems to be the key term to describe how we run this race called the Christian life. That principle seems to be on display throughout 1 Corinthians 8-10. Self-control means that you and I will be sensitive to the weaknesses of our fellow believers (chapter eight), that we will sacrifice our freedom and be slaves in order that others can come to Christ (chapter nine), and that we will seek the good of our neighbor, not ourselves (chapter ten).
None of that is particularly the norm for us when our lives have not been given to Christ. Our unredeemed nature would suggest that we need not care about the weak among us; that we get more freedom, not less; and that our own good is always the first priority. Only self-control can possibly create an approach to running that stands in contrast to what seems to be the prevalent approach to living in our own culture.
All one needs to do is visit the magazine section of a modern bookstore. See if you can find a cover story on a magazine that suggests that we really ought to be willing to sacrifice our own rights in the name of a weaker brother, or that we really ought to be willing to even become a slave so that others can know Christ, or that we ought to always be more concerned about the good our neighbor needs than we are our own.
Paul might suggest that there is a whole lot of “boxing in the air” these days among believers. His reminder to the believers at Corinth, troubled folks that they were, is a good reminder to us as well – run with self-control, there is way too much at stake.
In the summary found at the end of chapter nine, Paul is focused on making it clear why it matters about meet sacrificed to idols (chapter 8), the danger of abusing our freedom in Christ (chapter 9), and finally the danger of spiritual arrogance (chapter 10). What makes those kinds of issues important is not so much the issue itself, but the “imperishable prize” that is before us – and potentially before those with whom we have the opportunity to exercise influence.
At the heart of keeping that prize before us is Paul’s exhortation that we “run in such a way that you may win.” (9:24) The present imperative form of “run” would suggest that Paul is urging the Corinthians believers with the idea that they need to continue to run. He has affirmed that they are “on the foundation” (3:10-15) and to be on that foundation means that it is imperative that we “run.”
But much of Corinthians digs down into the nitty-gritty of how pagans are transformed into the body of Christ. Sometimes that can be a bit ugly. I often wonder how welcome members of the church at Corinth would be in many “conservative, Bible-believing churches” in our own neighborhoods. Paul certainly is not condoning their way of dealing with some of the “ugliness” of transformation, but he clearly hasn’t written them off as a lost cause.
Thus it isn’t just an imperative to run, but “run to obtain the imperishable prize,” and that caveat is applied to his own sense of running when he says, “so that after preaching to others, I (emphatic) will not become disqualified.” (9:27) One of Paul’s great “lessons in preaching” is certainly on exhibit here – it never seems to be “one thing for others” and “something different for me, the apostle.”
Self-control seems to be the key term to describe how we run this race called the Christian life. That principle seems to be on display throughout 1 Corinthians 8-10. Self-control means that you and I will be sensitive to the weaknesses of our fellow believers (chapter eight), that we will sacrifice our freedom and be slaves in order that others can come to Christ (chapter nine), and that we will seek the good of our neighbor, not ourselves (chapter ten).
None of that is particularly the norm for us when our lives have not been given to Christ. Our unredeemed nature would suggest that we need not care about the weak among us; that we get more freedom, not less; and that our own good is always the first priority. Only self-control can possibly create an approach to running that stands in contrast to what seems to be the prevalent approach to living in our own culture.
All one needs to do is visit the magazine section of a modern bookstore. See if you can find a cover story on a magazine that suggests that we really ought to be willing to sacrifice our own rights in the name of a weaker brother, or that we really ought to be willing to even become a slave so that others can know Christ, or that we ought to always be more concerned about the good our neighbor needs than we are our own.
Paul might suggest that there is a whole lot of “boxing in the air” these days among believers. His reminder to the believers at Corinth, troubled folks that they were, is a good reminder to us as well – run with self-control, there is way too much at stake.
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