The Message of Jesus Christ Blog

Is it me or have you noticed that compassion is currently "out of style?"

We do not begin to understand Jesus unless we understand compassion. Jesus clearly taught that compassion trumped even Sabbath observance! Healing on the Sabbath! Plucking grain by hungry disciples justified! Scandal to the pious Pharisees for who worship of God was the pinnacle of response to the divine!

"When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

'Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smoldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope" (Matthew 12:15-21)
 
What they, and we, fail to realize is that the God we worship as presented to us by Jesus is the God who is Compassion. Love rules.
 
When Jesus became aware that the pious and religious Pharisees sought to destroy him, he departed. Sometimes compassion withdraws from conflict. Compassion certainly never seeks conflict.
 
He continued his healing work. Essentially, he walked away from his enemies to continue the calling of Compassion.
 
Matthew makes it abundantly clear: The Spirit of God was upon him. He was God's servant who represented the God who is Compassion to everyone. Even to the Gentiles!
 
He wouldn't harm anyone. In fact, he had the greatest compassion upon those who were hurt, broken, and weak. He would not "break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick."
 
It seems to me that if we follow the teaching of Jesus we must claim that the ultimate good is compassion.
 
Fred Craddock puts it in focus for us: "As you know, to be a Christian is to believe in God. Not just any God ....but the God we have come to understand in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the one who came to reveal God. ....He was a blessing to everybody he met, regardless of who they were. So we can say to ourselves, 'This is the way God is; not cruel or judging and harsh and mean, but caring and lifting and loving.' It is a beautiful thing to believe in God."
 
The writer of I John reminds us: "you cannot love God whom you have not seen if you do not love the people you have seen. God is love."
 
Is it me or have you noticed that compassion is currently "out of style?"

Not with Jesus.

Miss that and you won't understand Jesus at all.
                   
            Rev. Richard Lancaster

Some people are so heavenly that they're no earthly good

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

                                                                                                (Matthew 12:1-9)

A woman said to me, "Some people are so heavenly that they're no earthly good."

 I know what she meant. One of the perpetual criticisms of the church is that Christians are caught up in esoteric and meaningless religious ritual. It is a ritual that does not relate to real human need.

It is a criticism that Jesus shares. The Pharisees are more concerned about ritual purity than hungry people. Jesus tells them there is something more important that the rituals of the law.

I think everyone has a response to this. Either they say "dump the church," or they want to defend it in some moralistic way, implying that truly good people will show up at church.

It is tempting to simply say, "I don't need organized religion! After all, it is mostly empty ritual and Jesus himself was a critic! I don't go to church because of the hypocrites (Pharisees) there."

That's a reverse self-righteousness, though. It says, "I am too pure to relate to those sinners (hypocrites and Pharisees) up at the church".

It should be noted: Jesus does not diminish or attack Sabbath itself. He does not say Sabbath observance is wrong.  Rather, he re-orders the priorities of Sabbath.

    * It's not about church anymore; but the Kingdom.
    * It's not about ritual anymore; but about those things that would bring us closer to God.
    * It's not about sacrificing our needs anymore; but about fulfilling them in the deepest ways.

Non-religious people cast away any value in religious observances. Religious folks tend to get caught up in debates about worship styles, practices, doctrines.

Jesus points to a different path. Seek first the Kingdom.  Everything flows from that. Church, and our involvement in it, serves that purpose only. Ritual for the sake of ritual is deadly. But, a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the Kingdom he came to establish is life.         

He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

   -- Rev. Richard Lancaster

"Ouch!"

"Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. 'Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes...'" (Matthew 11:20-21)

To be engaged on the path of faith, to take the path seriously, is to open ourselves to judgment. And, nobody likes to be judged!

We want to read past the places where Jesus judged. The harsh words do not fit the "gentle Jesus meek and mild" that brings us so much comfort.

As Reinhold Niebuhr said, we want "a God without wrath bringing people without sin into a kingdom without judgment through a Christ without a cross!"

Christians are often seen as condemning and judgmental. Yet, the record is clear: Jesus spoke harsh words of judgment! (see above!).

Is the Christian life defined by narrow, judgmental attitudes? Many would think so.

I once saw a "Far Side" cartoon that sums up a lot of folks' approach to the religious life: It showed a dog in the pulpit addressing a congregation of dogs. The dog in the pulpit speaks. "Bad dog! Bad dog! No! No! No!" he says. This is an image prevalent both in church and outside the church!

Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you!  Who wants that?  Yet, how do you take Jesus seriously unless you deal with judgment?

Some thoughts:

    * Jesus never engaged in judgment for the sake of judgment, but rather for the sake of transformation. That is the meaning of repentance. It means change. The woe is in the fact that even with the powerful deeds he performed, people seemed to be immune to the need to change!
    * Jesus never asked us to confess the sins of others. Rather, he asked us to look to our own fallings and failings. The log is in our eye. The speck in the eye of the other. How often we reverse that! We think the great fault lies in the other and the small fault with us!
    * We are caught up in the blame game. We are so intent upon our own innocence that we are quick to make sure the blame for life is well lodged and located...in someone else! No need to deal with judgment for ourselves because we're so busy finding things to judge in others! "If THEY would just do differently," we think.
    * I cannot walk the path of a disciple unless I am willing to take stock of my own need for correction. I have to be open to judgment to be open to change. "THEY " has to become "ME." Why shy away from correction? Often it is the path to growth.

I think there's an "ouch" when we begin to apply the message of Jesus Christ to ourselves. We have to admit that it's us - not others - who are in need. "Ouch!"  That "ouch" may be the first indication that we're actually entering the Kingdom.
 
     -  Rev. Richard Lancaster

How Do We Know God?

"When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?' Jesus answered them, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.'" (Matthew 10:34-39)
 
Sometimes I hear folks talk about God in a way that assumes God cannot be known. It seems that God is relegated to some zone beyond the present time and place and is thought to be some ethereal entity. Or, that God is a fantasy of an over-active imagination. This is hardly the picture of God who is revealed in the Bible. There, God is known.
 
How do we know God? What evidence is there for believing in God? Is faith just an irrational stab in the dark? Oh, the "modern" questions of our "sophisticated" minds! How do we know anything?
 
John the Baptizer is in jail. We get the story of his arrest in Matthew 14:3-12.  John smuggles word out to his followers to inquire, "Are you the one who is to come (i.e. the Messiah) or should we expect someone else?"  How do we know? Jesus' answer is revealing: "Go tell John what you hear and see!"
 
Often the evidence is as close as our senses! Are the blind seeing? Are the lame walking? Are the lepers made well? Are the deaf now hearing? Are the poor bathed in hope?  When the Kingdom breaks in - there is physical evidence!!
 
Some of you may be fans of such shows as CSI, a drama about interpreting the evidence of crime scenes. It takes a little work to piece the evidence together in a rational and coherent solution. But, the evidence is there to be explored and interpreted.
 
Jesus says, what do you hear? What do you see?
 
God leaves physical evidence. Can you put it together in your life and experience the moment of discovery in the same way the detectives do in their analysis? They bring all the tools of knowledge at their disposal to the task of discovery.
          
Some people feel you must possess all the answers. Some say it is enough to get the questions right. Jesus seems to say, "open your ears and your eyes!" Trust your senses. We know God in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in the same way we know anything else. The truth of the message of Jesus Christ should be judged in the same way we decide about the truth of everything else!

The Most Important Gift That You Give to Your Family

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39)

      How does one live these words? If these words were not in the Bible, from the lips of Jesus, wouldn’t they be scorned? Our families are sacred. Ask any normal decent parent and they will tell you the most important thing in the world is their children. Even abused children, when given the choice, want to go home to their parents! These words would seem abhorrent!

      Jesus’ teaching about family conflict seems totally wrong. In a world abounding with child abuse, child pornography, spouse violence and plenty of dysfunctional family dynamics, shouldn’t we desire less conflict within families rather than more?

      “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother….!” Jesus is not talking about World Peace here! He’s talking family dynamics!

      How does one live these words? Surely, not by picking up a weapon against a family member!

      Here are some thoughts:

    * Jesus intentionally exaggerates to make a point. He knows that the most important thing for most of us are our families. So, one’s loyalty as a disciple has to be greater than the greatest loyalty we know – even greater than we have to our closest loved ones!
    * Ultimate loyalty should be to God alone. We can make a ‘god’ even of our family! Our God is whoever or whatever demands our ultimate and final love and loyalty. Even family can become idolatrous!
    * We can be selfish even with our families. Me, My, Mine can apply. We can become so centered on our family lives that we are not engaged in the greater good. And, this is a detriment to a family! It teaches self-centeredness rather than self-giving. Christ calls us to live beyond ourselves.

      Was Jesus anti-family? I don’t think so! He wanted to strengthen the family!

      The parents said, “We would do anything for our children.” The counselor said, “Take care of your marriage. That’s the most important gift you can give your children.”

      Likewise, take care of your relationship with Christ. This is the most important gift that you give to your family.

      Live these words by loving God first. That’s the best way to love your family!

The Antidote to Fear

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:28-31)

Fear is immobilizing. It halts the freedom march of really living. “What will happen to me if …..” becomes a stop sign. Fear make us victims of our own minds. 

I’m not talking just about the ultimate fear of dying, although fear of dying is the ground of all our fears.  

I’m am also talking about the everyday way that fear dictates our lives – and robs us of joy! 

Fred Craddock gave a powerful sermon once on fear. You can read the whole thing in his book, The Cherry Log Sermons. Read it and you will be glad that you did. 

Here is an excerpt. The sermon is called, “Faith and Fear:” 

“I know where the fears are,” he writes. “You don’t believe in demons? Why the fear? You know what jealousy is, don’t you? It is fear of the loss of love. Why are people greedy and just get as much as they can? It is a fear, a fear of insecurity. Why do children cheat in school? A fear of failure. Why does anybody tell a lie? A fear of punishment. Fear, fear, fear.” 

It is amazing how much we are motivated by fear! 

Jesus advises his disciples not to fear those who will harm them, punish them, reject them. Save your fear for what robs your soul.  

Faith is the antidote to fear. Certainly, courage can help us overcome our fears and that’s a good thing. But, faith is even stronger.” Faith places a positive trust in a God who prevails.  

Martin Luther, who faced the Emperor in 1521 at the Diet of Worms, understood that faith works to negate fear. He wrote the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:”  

      “the Spirit and the gifts are ours, thru him who with us sideth

       Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

       The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still;

       His kingdom is forever.” 

Can a person deal with their fears without faith? I suppose so. But, why would you want to? One can drive a nail with the fist. But, why do so if a hammer is available? 

Jesus tells his disciples to use faith to deal with fear.  

And the result? The more leave the anxieties of life in the hand of God, the more the fear mysteriously slips away. And we are free

Joy!

Live With Courage!

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:16-23)

Jesus calls disciples.

Then Jesus sends disciples.

He gives them instruction.

The first instruction is this: Don’t go to foreign places! 

The second is this: Don’t take anything with you!

The third is a dire warning: There will be real risks! He says, “Don’t be naïve. There are ravenous wolves. Just because you are innocent doesn’t mean that you will not be hated, persecuted, betrayed and even given to death.”

Often we fail to recognize the realism in the teachings of Jesus. Faith means living with courage!

It is quite likely that Matthew was writing his Gospel in a time when Christians were being persecuted and that the conditions Jesus spoke about were anything but hypothetical! “There are real risks in being Kingdom people,” Jesus says.

Often we believe that if we “mean well,” others will respond to us in the same spirit. In reality, there are times when our naïve actions are met with misunderstanding, rejection and hostility. At least in America, rejection does not usually include death! In other places the risks of being a Christian still carry dangerous consequences.

Jesus prepares his disciples:

• To be realistic in expectations. Even best intentions will not always be well received
• To understand that the gospel does not travel the wide highway of success. In fact, the opposite may be true. Faithfulness can increase risks and difficulties
• To claim that external circumstances don’t dictate the appropriate response. Faith perseveres through bad time
• To know that bad times don’t imply the rejection of God. Rather, bad times offer opportunities to witness to the Good News: “..and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them…”
• To be authentic even when not everyone will like it
• To put troubles into faith perspective.

 
“Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented - …Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely. And let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…. (Hebrews 11:36 – 12:1)

Live with courage!

Don't Leave Home Without It?

As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. (Matthew 10:7-11)
 

Jesus calls disciples.

Then Jesus sends disciples.

He gives them instruction.

The first instruction is this: Don’t go to foreign places. 

The second is this: Don’t take anything with you!

I don’t know about you, but I pack for a trip! The saying, “Don’t leave home without it” can mean more than the slogan of the credit card company.

There is one question we ought always to ask what Jesus has to say:  “Why?”

Why would he tell them to leave virtually empty-handed. Why would anyone want to take such a trip? No cash? No change of clothes? What? Really?

Why?

One answer is this: the message is not just an idea but something to be lived. The Kingdom is built upon the conviction that God is a benevolent provider. Remember the earlier statement of Jesus? “Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mt. 6:25-26). It is easy to get agreement on such an affirmation of faith.

But, do the messengers, believe that enough to practice it?

This is the test. ‘Take nothing with you,’ he says. Go without the usual stuff that they depend upon in your daily lives. The disciples are about to find out that they can make it! And, they are about to learn out how to be more dependent upon God.

All across the economic landscape people are discovering that a lot of things they formerly thought of us “necessities” have moved to the “luxury” category. There are a lot of things we thought we “just couldn’t live without.” Discovering that life goes on fine without them can lead to the discovery that God provides. For real! 

The seduction of materialism is this: we soon become dependent upon our stuff! The promise of faith is that we can depend on God. Really.

Close To Home

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10:5-6)

Jesus calls disciples.

Then Jesus sends disciples.

He gives them instruction.

The first instruction is this: Don’t go to foreign places. How odd. You might think that Jesus would want to send out his disciples “to all nations” as he instructs at the end of the Gospel of Matthew.

There he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:19-20).

But, in Matthew 10 it’s, “Don’t go there!”

The natural question is, “Why?” And, reasons abound:

• It is before the Resurrection
• Jesus wanted to start out locally, then branch out
• Jesus was mostly concerned about the salvation of his own people, etc.
  

There may be a simpler reason. The mission field may be a lot closer to home than we think! Someone once said that we are called “to confess our sins, not the sins of our neighbors.

“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye while there is a log in your own eye?” Jesus asks. I guess we would answer: “Because the fault in others is so obvious!”

Reformers want to change society mostly by changing what other people do and how other people live. Jesus asks us to look close to home. At ourselves. At our families. At our neighborhoods. At our churches. At our people.  

Drats!! I would rather rant against someone. Or, something. I would rather disparage the Muslims, or Jews, or Liberals, or Conservatives, or the Whites, or the Blacks, or the Gays, or the __________. You can fill in the blank.   

But, being against something is not the same as being for the Kingdom.

Jesus sends his disciples out among their own because the Kingdom always begins close to home. In fact, it begins with nobody else except us.

The start of the Kingdom is awfully close to home.

Consumers and Providers

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. The Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles…..” (Matthew 9:35-10:2a) 

      In the economy there are consumers and there are providers. All of us play both of these roles at one time or another. We go to the store and buy products to consume.

      At the same time we all provide goods and/or services for which they are paid. That way, we can go to the store where we consume goods and services for which someone else is getting paid.

      We all participate in the cycle of consumer/provider. 

      Even in religion.

      Most folks are consumers. They go to their place of worship to receive. They join a church because it provides what they want or need through a youth program, children’s program or some other attraction. They go for what they can receive. Many will say, “that’s where I get my battery charged.” 

  Nothing wrong with that, of course. We are all consumers and certainly every church wants to provide what people need.

      But, the message of Jesus Christ does not allow for anyone to be exclusively a consumer! Jesus clearly sends out disciples to be providers also!

      Why is this so?

      Well, in the first place, there is a great need to provide. Jesus sees the need. The crowds are plentiful and he has compassion. They are harassed and helpless. The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. There are lots of consumers. Not many providers.

      But, there is a second reason: the Kingdom requires disciples to be providers. Ironically, Jesus knows and teaches that people who provide the goods and services of the Kingdom of God are the ones who will be the most satisfied!

      Most folks will tell you that when they become a provider they receive far more than they thought they were giving! What a strange thing the Kingdom economy is! In giving (being a provider) we receive. That’s why Jesus taught that it is “more blessed to give than receive”! The Kingdom may be the only place where the distinction between consumer and provider collapses.

      Now, in a culture that desperately wants us to remain consumers, Jesus’ formula for life doesn’t make much sense. Our culture says we should find happiness in acquiring goods and services, not in giving them.

      Nevertheless, Jesus sends his disciples out to be providers. In his Gospel Matthew names them for the first time. “These are the names of those he sent,” he says. And then, he starts naming names.

I believe your name should be on the list!