love

Sep

2021

No place to lay their heads

Grateful for our homes, we will help those who are homeless

If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard. – Proverbs 21:13

I visited Portland, Oregon in mid-summer. The weather was pleasant while we were there, with daytime highs in the mid-70s, a bit below their normal average for the time of year. Prior to our visit, however, Portland had endured a record-setting heatwave with temperatures as high as 117 degrees, and thermometers climbed back into the 90s and above 100 degrees soon after our trip. During the heat of late June, the Oregon Medical Examiner’s office reported 96 deaths statewide from hyperthermia, 60 of those in Portland. Many of the deaths were older persons living alone with no air conditioning. Additionally, county leaders in the Portland metropolitan area and elsewhere in Oregon confirmed that a significant number of persons who died due to the excessive heat were homeless or inadequately housed. Portland is one of many American cities with high rates of homelessness. Globally, the United Nations estimates that “1.6 billion people worldwide live in inadequate housing conditions, with about 15 million forcefully evicted each year.”

I realize how fortunate I am to have a home. I may wish I had more equity in the house that I am slowly purchasing. I wish I could afford improvements and additions to the property which are beyond my means or would press my budget. But those are problems of privilege, not the crisis-level concerns of those at risk of losing their housing. In the United States today, an estimated 2.6 million tenants are facing eviction if they don’t receive aid. Due to the pandemic, the federal government authorized a $46.5 billion eviction prevention program, but to date (eight months after Congress approved the funds), less than 17% of the rental aid has been distributed. Congress also authorized $10 billion to help the more than 2 million homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgages, but that program also has been agonizingly slow in responding to the needs that exist. In August, the federal moratorium against evictions was ended by the Supreme Court, which means the risk of more people losing their housing has increased. A state order against evictions ends today in California, which already has more homeless persons than any other state, including nearly half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless (living in tent encampments, in cars, in abandoned buildings, on the sidewalk, etc).

We may contemplate renovating our homes, upgrading to bigger or better homes, purchasing a vacation home in addition to our homestead property. Having a sizeable amount of earthly possessions is not inherently wrong; we remember that God blessed faithful forefathers such as Job and Abraham with great wealth (cf. Job 1:3, Genesis 12:1-2). However, we do well to heed also the prophet Isaiah’s warning to God’s people, that “God expected justice” but instead heard cries of injustice (Isaiah 5:7), admonishing those “who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you” (Isaiah 5:8). We recall also Jesus’ parable of the rich man who planned to build bigger barns to store all his excess goods. God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20). Jesus reminds us, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Our days on this planet are not permanent. We are called to see ourselves as “strangers and foreigners on the earth” who are “seeking a homeland … a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:13-16). We are also called to live in community with one another as we sojourn here. In the eyes of God, an acceptable “fast” (reducing our own consumption) is “to loose the bonds of injustice … to let the oppressed go free … to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin” (Isaiah 58:6,7).

When Jesus came down and “pitched his tent among us” (John 1:14, literal translation), living our experience on this earth, he said to those who would follow him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Surely, our Savior has empathy toward those who have no home. Christ seeks to provide us all a home in his heavenly mansions. In the meantime, until we reach that heavenly home, let’s strive to help one another and all of our neighbors have a safe place to be in this world.

*****************

I’ll link here several highly-rated charitable organizations aiming to reduce homelessness. There are many more you likely can find in your own area.

Transition Projects

Over 50 years of helping deliver life-saving and life-changing assistance to some of Portland’s most vulnerable residents
100 out of 100 rating on Charity Navigator

Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV)

Mission to end veteran homelessness in Minnesota
(Across the US, veterans represent 6% of the overall population but 8% of the homeless population)
100 out of 100 rating on Charity Navigator

The People Concern

Los Angeles area organization seeking to empower homeless persons to be housed, healthy and safe and to become active participants in the community
100 out of 100 rating on Charity Navigator

HomeAid America

Operating through a network of 19 affiliates in 13 states
99.15 out of 100 rating on Charity Navigator

New Story

Seeking to create housing solutions in developing countries, particularly in Latin America
97 out of 100 rating on Charity Navigator

National Alliance to End Homelessness

A non-partisan organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the US
92.02 out of 100 rating on Charity Navigator

Religious statement: “Homelessness: A Renewal of Commitment” (ELCA, 1990)

Scripture quotations, except where indicated otherwise, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Jul

2021

Time to Have our Hearts Checked

Hearts Full of Faith Beat Boldly in Christ

Ephesians 3:14-21, with reference to 2 Kings 4:42-44 and John 6:1-21; 9th Sunday after Pentecost

by David Sellnow

Ask kids what their favorite foods are. They’ll more likely say hot dogs, candy bars, and chips than tuna, spinach, or brussels sprouts. We don’t always wise up and change our habits when we become adults. I had a roommate one summer after college who, as far as I could tell, ingested nothing all summer long except coffee and cigarettes and occasionally mooched slices of pizza. I wouldn’t say he was the picture of health, but then, with my pizza, neither was I.

Some years ago, a study was done on the blood vessels of presumably healthy young adults (between ages 15 and 34) who died from causes other than illness. Among those in their early 30s, they found that 20% of males and 8% of females already had advanced stages of plaque buildup in their arteries. The American Heart Association has recommendations on cholesterol intake, on what foods to avoid or eat only in moderation. But as a leading doctor on that research team said, “It’s a hard sell [to] teenagers …. I have a grandson who, despite all our family discussions, still orders the double cheeseburger with bacon and fries.”

As you probably can guess, this Electric Gospel post isn’t primarily about your cardiovascular health. Each of us has a spiritual heart in us also, and what goes into our spiritual heart will determine our spiritual well-being. Let’s consider how hearts full of faith beat boldly in Christ; hearts that take in the love and strength of Christ will live in love and strength.

Consider words from this day’s Epistle lesson, Ephesians 3:14-19:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

When you begin a check-up on your spiritual heart’s condition, you realize that your spiritual heartbeat itself is a gift from God. When Paul said “for this reason” he thanked the Father, the reason is a theme that runs through the whole preceding portion of his Ephesian epistle: God’s saving activity for his people. God gave Christ as the Savior of the world; God raised Christ from death to reign in glory; God brought these Ephesians to trust in Christ rather than in idols; God caused the church at Ephesus to begin and grow; God gave these people a unity of heart and mind to work together for Christ’s kingdom. For all of it, God was responsible and God was to be praised. He is the one from whom the Ephesians received their spiritual heartbeat; he is the one from whom his whole family derives its name.

The same is true for us. We were in a dead, sinful state before God brought our spirits to life in the miracle of baptism. From that moment on God has been the one to strengthen and preserve faith in our hearts. In order for us to stay healthy spiritually, we need a steady, nourishing diet provided by God’s Spirit. Soaking in all the stuff you can absorb from contemporary culture can progressively harm your soul, like junk food impacts our bodies. You can get temporary boosts to your emotions or thoughts with other things, like you can artificially stimulate your body with substances like coffee and cigarettes. But there is just “one thing needful” (Luke 10:42 KJV) that can truly keep our spiritual selves healthy: the good news of love and forgiveness in Jesus.

Admittedly though, our sinful side doesn’t want the good things God gives. When the children of Israel were fed by God with manna in the desert, suited to meet all their nutritional needs, what did they say? “We detest this miserable food” (Numbers 21:5). They wanted other things (cf. Numbers 20:5). They got tired of what the Lord was giving them. We do the same thing spiritually. We look at what God is giving us in the Bible and in church, and we say, “Too much manna all the time!” We gravitate toward video games over Bible reading. We find streaming TV more interesting than sermons. We follow sports events and statistics more diligently than we search the Scriptures.

But it is through the gospel that Christ establishes himself in our hearts. We come to see how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. We get to “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Paul knew the amazing heights and depths of Christ’s love. He once wrote, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy …. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:13-15). Christ died for every sinner, for the worst of sinners. That includes you and me.

Those who by God’s Spirit come to know this wonderful truth about Jesus’ love then overflow with that love. Hearts that are “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” will result in lives that are healthy, vibrant, and active in joyful service to others.

So, are you feeling healthy, vibrant, and full of love and joy and service? Or are you feeling a little tired, feeling worn down, feeling old? It’s not easy going through the stages of life–whether in our own individual lives or the shared life of a congregation. The Christians at Ephesus were in the first years of their church experience when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Ephesians. Paul had started the ministry in Ephesus in the late 50s. [Not the 1950s — just the 50s, the first century AD.] His letter to the Ephesians was sent back to them around the year 62. Another apostle, John, served in Ephesus later as part of his ministry. Around 95 AD, when persecution exiled John to an island off the coast from the areas he’d served, John had a different sort of letter to send to the Ephesian congregation. Jesus himself spoke these words:

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first (Revelation 2:2-5).

In our individual lives, as we get older, it can be hard to maintain the passion and energy and zest for life that we had when we were younger. We may be stable and solid, but we can also get a bit stodgy, a bit stale, a bit set in our ways. Congregations can be that way, too, as they age. We can lose the love that we had at first. We grow weary. We become more mundane than spiritual, more routine than revitalized, more dreary than dynamic.

We need a reminder of the refrain that Paul put at the end of his prayer for the Ephesian church, the final verses of today’s epistle lesson: To him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Too many times in our churches, we think small thoughts about our ministries. We want our congregation, our little corner of God’s kingdom, to do okay. We focus on scraping together what we’ll need to maintain what we’ve got, fund our budget, populate our programs and committees. Meanwhile, while we’re thinking about earthbound goals of that sort, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. God has plans for our futures that we don’t even envision. Christ says, “My power is at work within you. My gospel is like dynamite for you, exploding with love and truth and joy and will accomplish more than you’d ever think could be done.”

Consider the other experiences which were related in the Bible readings for this Sunday. People didn’t think there was enough food to go around. In Elisha’s day, there was a famine in the land (2 Kings 4:38). Yet by the Lord’s grace, one sack of bread and grain became enough to feed 100 men in ministry training (the school of the prophets). When throngs of people kept following Jesus and had no food other than one boy who had a handful of bread loaves and a couple of fish, Jesus had no difficulty in making sure all were fed (cf. John 6:1-21). Often we think like the servant of Elisha, who looked at the resources they had and the need in front of them and said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” (2 Kings 4:43). We can be like the disciple of Jesus who saw thousands of mouths to feed and said, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little” (John 6:7). When we find ourselves in situations where it seems like our cupboards are empty, or our strength is gone, or storms are swirling and raging, our tendency is to think we are sunk, we will starve, we will wither away. But when we think there are no solutions, Christ creates solutions. The Lord calls on us to start with what we have and do our best. He calls us to use every opportunity and resource and talent we’ve been given and trust Christ to make it enough, to multiply it, to expand our realities beyond anything we ever thought possible.

That’s how it has always been in the history of God’s people. When his people were held in bondage in Egypt, they didn’t imagine they could be rescued. Then plagues pressured a powerful ruler to let them go; God’s miracles enabled an exodus and a return of God’s people to their own land. When the earliest Christians were banned from the temple in Jerusalem and shunned from synagogues, when they had no church buildings of their own and were persecuted as if they were some dangerous cult, they could not have imagined that in time, the Christian faith would become predominant throughout the whole Roman Empire. When the organized church got sidetracked in the centuries that followed and became stuck in its institutionalism, in its rituals and rules, in its laws and legalism, the people didn’t dream there was much hope left in the church. Their hope grew fainter still after a horrible pandemic (the Black Death) had ravaged their communities and killed a third of the population, and the church’s highest-ranking clergy had no answers. (They were more likely to preach fire and brimstone than provide comfort or reassurance.) But then the Spirit of God raised up voices of reformation, voices such as John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Martin Luther. The good news of Jesus and the riches of his mercy were proclaimed again with eagerness and energy and grace and renewal for everyone.

You may be at a time in your life right now where you are starving for sustenance and don’t know where it will come from. You may be at a time in your congregation right now where you have mostly questions and no clear picture of what’s on the horizon for your future. But be assured of this. Our God is “able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). The love of Christ is wider and longer and higher and deeper than you could ever measure (cf. Ephesians 3:18). Keep feeding on the Bread of Life, the spiritual food that Christ gives us, the life and truth that is Christ. He will fill your heart’s need, and he will revive your strength.

Lift up your eyes on high and see: .. [God] is great in strength, mighty in power ….
Why do you say … “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:26-31).

—

Jun

2021

Treasured companions

The blessing of animals

Rabbits have taken up residence in our gardens. I don’t mind. Yes, they eat the tender tops off some of the plants … but we protect the ones we want to protect, and we can share the others. On occasions, deer have treated themselves to hostas and lilies in our yard, and that’s okay too. Visits from wildlife are joyful intrusions into our residential space. Well … not all wildlife. Even Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), famous for his warm regard for all creatures, regarded mice and vermin as “agents of the devil.”[1] I tend to agree on that point.

There are lots of tales told about Saint Francis, everything from preaching sermons to flocks of birds to calming and taming a ravenous wolf. Those stories have the ring of legend to them, fabrications to further Francis’ fame. What appears to be genuinely historical, though, is that Francis had a strong affinity with nature and animals, that seeing animals suffer upset him deeply, and that “the beauty in nature and the animal world should lead to worship and praise of God” (Samuel Gregg, Acton Institute blog, October 4, 2019).

The animals that are closest to us–as pets in our homes–especially give us reasons to thank God for their companionship. We rightly treat them “just as if they were members of the household” – so said even someone as stalwart as the moral philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).[2]

We lost a precious animal friend in our household recently. His personality was always that of a puppy, even when he was past ten years old. But then he fell ill, and it hurt to see him hurt. When all the efforts at veterinary intervention failed to remedy his ills, it hurt even more (for him and for us). We sorely miss him. We are reminded of how blessed we were to have him as a part of our family. I’m sure others of you feel the same way about your beloved pets.

Animals may not be spiritual beings in the same way we are, but as Saint Francis observed, they are “manifestations of an unforced, innate spiritual presence.”[3] God shows us aspects of his own character in the world and the creatures he made for us. We appreciate and praise the Lord for all the gifts given to us in the animal kingdom and the natural world.

Bible thoughts to consider:[4]

Praise the Lord! … Praise him, all his host! … Praise the Lord from the earth! … Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! … Praise the Lord! – Psalm 148: 1,2,7,10,14
I am God, your God. … Every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine. – Psalm 50:7,10,11
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. … These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. – Psalm 104:24,27-29
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! – Psalm 36:5-7
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. – Matthew 10:29-30

[1] Augustine Thompson, from Francis of Assisi: A New Biography (2012), quoted in Crisis Magazine, June 4, 2015.

[2] Immanuel Kant, quoted in “Hume and Kant and our Obligation to Non-human Animals,” by Christine Korsgaard, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, November 27, 2018.

[3] John L. Murphy, writing on Blogtrotter, August 12, 2013.

[4] Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

May

2021

Remembering Mom

Mother’s Day 2021

A year ago, at the beginning of May, I was talking with my mother by phone. Shelter-in-place conditions had been in effect for over a month at that time, due to the spread of a new, dangerous coronavirus. My mother was frustrated by pandemic precautions. The beautician couldn’t come into her assisted living center, and she really wanted to get her hair done. She couldn’t gather in the dining room with friends. Social distancing meant they had to stay in their own rooms.

Less than a week later, I was talking to a doctor at the hospital where my mother had been admitted. She had developed symptoms associated with COVID-19. Within a few days, the disease ravaged her circulatory system and took her out of this life. She passed away on Mother’s Day 2020. One day, being unable to sit in a salon seemed an important issue. A short time later, there were far more critical concerns.

My family’s story is not unique. Worldwide, over three million deaths have been attributed to COVID-19. In the United States alone, the number is nearing 600,000.

We’ve learned again what has always been true, what prophets and poets have said from long ago:

“All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades” (Isaiah 40:6,7).
“Our years come to an end like a sigh. The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:9,10).

Life in this world isn’t easy. We’d like it to be smoother than it is. We wish we could predict and prevent problems, but we can’t. Life’s fragility gives us all the more reason to lean on each other and stand with one another. We need each other in good times and bad.

The pandemic of this past year has taught us to value one another more deeply, to treasure times we do have together with family, with friends, with those we care about. As we celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend, many are missing their mothers and grandmothers. Families may be appreciating one another more than ever this year. Others may be feeling family strain from all the difficulties the past year has brought about. In any case, words of wisdom call us to care for one another. “Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. … Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice” (Proverbs. 23:22,25).

Time is short. Relationships are precious. Today we remember those we’ve lost, who have gone on to eternity ahead of us. And today and tomorrow and for as many days as we have, we will nurture and tend to the ties that bind us to those we love. Love is more than sentimentality expressed through cards and flowers on special days. Love is a bond. Even when separated from family by many miles or many months since last seeing each other, the bond still calls us to hold onto each other and share our hearts.

Blessings to your family this Mother’s Day.

—-

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love ...

We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear,

and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

When we are called to part, it gives us inward pain;

but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.

“Blest Be the Tie that Binds,” John Fawcett, 1782

—

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Feb

2021

God so loved the world

Valentines’ Day focuses attention on love. Traditions say that a priest named Valentine stood up for love and marriage at a time when Rome’s emperor had banned weddings, insisting men be devoted only to their military duty (History.com). Love binds us to each other.

The love we share with one another, of course, is a reflection of God’s love, “for God is love” (1 John 4:8). On this day to celebrate love, let’s look at what may be the most well-known statement about God’s love, John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Let’s ponder that passage a word or two at a time.

God – the Author of life (Acts 3:15), the originator of love. It was he who created us; it is he who sustains us. As human beings, we reach for all sorts of gods, things to believe in. We make ourselves into gods, thinking we have within us all that we need. But ultimately God is who he is, the one self-sufficient Being and source of all existence. “In him we live and move and have our being,” as Paul pointed out to an Athenian audience from their own poetry about the highest deity (Acts 17:28). The true, eternal God is not some inanimate force floating about in the universe. He is our Father who has deeply personal connections to us and concerns for us.

God loved. Love that comes from God is not merely a sentimental feeling. When we speak of love, our feelings can be short-lived, shallow, even selfish. When God speaks of love, he tells of something pure, profound, and lasting. God’s love is not swayed by our appearance or actions. God is committed to caring for us despite how we appear and how we behave.

God loved the world. Every person, every individual, rich or poor, young or old, thin or fat, wise or simple, high or low–God loves all. God doesn’t limit his love to those who look good by human standards–or by divine standards. Thank God he doesn’t, since all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are full of wrongdoing and God knows it. Yet God has loved us and has given his love to us all.

God so loved the world–so much, so greatly, so amazingly, that he gave. We tend to think of relationships as give and take. If I’m going to give to you, I expect also to receive something in exchange. But God simply gave. No strings, no conditions, no ulterior motives. He just gave. He gave lovingly of himself, ever so painfully of himself, not for his own gain but for ours. He needed nothing; he already is and has all things. We needed everything, and God gave. He gave so that we might share in what he has.

And consider the magnitude of God’s gift.

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. God did not send a servant to do his bidding. He did not send an angel or even an archangel. He sent his Son–the One and Only, the Only-Begotten, the divine Son who is eternal with Father and Spirit. God gave of himself, a gift of unfathomable love. God the Only Son took on human flesh. He lived in our place and died in our place. God “did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us” (Romans 8:32). The incarnate God in Christ “emptied himself …. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death–even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7,8). This was the awe-inspiring extent to which God gave.

And now, everyone who believes in him receives this greatest of all gifts. Again, the gift is for everyone, a benefit available to the whole world. The benefit is received by believing, not by doing, not by some act or decision or sacrifice of our own. The gift is ours simply by receiving faith from God, a faith he instills in us, bringing us to believe in what he has done. We are saved by the gift of God’s grace, through faith which is not our own doing–it too is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). From start to finish, God has embraced us by his love.

Thank God for his love–love that means we will not perish but have eternal life. Thanks to God’s love, we will not end up separated and isolated. We will not languish in loneliness and shame. We are not lost to hopelessness and futility forever. Thanks to God’s love, we have a living, vibrant, endless relationship with God as our Father and Christ as our Brother. We are encouraged daily by God’s Spirit. May we “abide in his love” so that our “joy may be complete” (John 15:10,11).

Nov

2020

The King who Inscribes his Character on Us

A message for Christ the King Sunday

Our King does not dominate or dictate
Our King invigorates us to be like him

There are a number of churches around the world named “Christ the King.” The Cathedral of Christ the King in Mullingar, Ireland, is reportedly the first church given that name. The Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta is one of the ten largest congregations in the United States. Those are just a couple of the big Christ the King churches. There are numerous smaller congregations too.

I don’t know of any churches named “Christ the Tyrant” or “Christ the Despot” or “Christ the Dictator.” I Google-searched for such names, but couldn’t find any. I did find an opinion piece arguing that Christians tend to view their Lord that way–as a benevolent dictator. But if there are people of faith who take that view, they’re mistaken. Christ the King is certainly not like some military strongman or arbitrary emperor, nor even like a benevolent dictator. Christ is not someone who looks upon us as weak subjects who do his bidding simply to suit his whims. Christ did not become our king by standing above us, pointing out what we must do from moment to moment. Christ became our king by standing with us, among us, leading us in a path we could not have followed without his leadership. Jesus said to those who followed him, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). On the night he said that, Jesus proved his point by getting down on the floor and washing his disciples’ feet (cf. John 13).

Quite clearly, Jesus is the opposite of a tyrant. He won our allegiance by going into battle against tyrants and overlords for us. The tyrant was sin. The tyrant was the devil who accuses and all the demons that torment us. Those are the sorts of rulers that dictate and demand, that control us by fear and guilt. Christ is not like that.

Jesus is also much different from even the most benevolent dictator. Such a ruler believes that he must decide all things for the people underneath him because they are underlings and he is so much above them. Now, it is true that Christ, our King, certainly does know what is best for us. Christ is “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). As high as the heavens are above the earth, so far are his thoughts higher than our thoughts (cf. Isaiah 55:9). But the fact that Christ is superior to us in all things does not mean he deals with us as inferiors. Rather, he comes alongside us and shares his life and strength with us. He invigorates us with his words, his Spirit, so that we become alive in him. We become more and more like him as we grow in our relationship with him.

I have known God-fearing people who haven’t understood this, who haven’t grasped how Christ is seeking to lead them. They trouble themselves over every detail of their lives, searching desperately for some sort of sign from God. “What is God’s will?” they’ll say; “What does God want me to do?” I knew a woman who struggled over the smallest decisions like that. She begged to know what actions God wanted her to take, almost hoping a daily to-do list would appear like handwriting on the wall, so she’d know she wasn’t making any mistakes. In her anxiousness, she once put two pens side by side on the table and asked, “Now, which pen does God want me to use? The blue one or the black one?” That’s going too far in expecting God to direct our lives. Yes, Christ is our leader by night and by day. But Jesus leads us not as though we are blindfolded and he must guide our feet for every step we take. He instills his character and his way of life in us, so that we make our own decisions as the new persons that we are in Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s an outmoded way, a childish way, to want God to dictate every direction to us, to tell us exactly what to do in every instant. It’s a new way of life, as we become mature in Christ, that we make our own decisions and take actions that flow from the mind of Christ which is in us (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:16).

Consider the Epistle assigned for this weekend for the festival of Christ the King. The prayer for the Christians at Ephesus remains an apostlic prayer for us today. Notice the emphasis on how the power of Christ works in us and inspires us as he extends his kingdom into our hearts.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you … and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion …. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:17-23).

Christ as king is head over all things for us. That’s not an image of some giant head floating in the air like the Great and Powerful Oz. There’s no false pretense of power with Christ our King. He rules in a way far better than the way any authority in this world operates. Even while Christ is seated high above in the heavenly places, he is at the same time intimately connected to us, like the head to members of the body. His thoughts pulse through us and we operate in unity with him. We are his feet to run out into the world, his hands to extend help and care to persons in his name, to put into practice his love.

Consider also the description of what Christ will find when he returns at the end of time, when he “comes in his glory, and all the angels with him” and “all the nations will be gathered before him” (Matthew 25:31-42). Who are the people he calls his own, who truly have known him?

The king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:34-36).

When Christ says this to his people, what is their reaction? “When did we do that?” They wonder what he’s talking about. Christ’s people do such actions on behalf of “the least of these” fellow members of the human family not because they’re keeping score of their good deeds, not because they’re trying to impress God by their actions. They do such things just because that’s who they are, because the spirit of Christ inhabits them and propels them into action. The people of Christ’s kingdom serve everyone they encounter without thinking, “This is something I must do because the king has issued an executive order.” Yes, the kingdom of Christ has laws, but those laws are designed by our Lord for our good and the good of our neighbors. As we grow in our understanding and relationship with our King, we embody more and more the spirit and compassion and action that he has for all who are in need. We become Christ to our neighbors.

Martin Luther famously wrote on that theme–that we become like “little Christs.” In his booklet On the Freedom of a Christian (1520), Luther wrote:

Since God has overwhelmed me with such inestimable riches, why should I not freely, cheerfully, and with my whole heart do all that I know will be pleasing to him? I will therefore give myself, as a sort of Christ, to my neighbor, as Christ has given himself to me. I will do whatever is advantageous and wholesome for my neighbor, since by faith I abound in all good things in Christ. … We each become a sort of Christ to each other, so that we may be mutually Christs, and that the same Christ may be in all of us; that is, that we may be truly Christians.

Our life as Christ’s people, in his service, is not like serving an earthly ruler who dominates and bullies to get his way, and whose subjects survive by trying to ingratiate themselves with the ruler. We serve as people whose character has been transformed by the grace and goodness of our king. We become his allies in extending the life of his kingdom into a world that has not understood him and operates by principles so often opposite to his.

Which leads to one final point that must be mentioned. We need to take notice of the other sort of approach that predominates in this world. It is an approach not only by the rich and powerful, who lord it over others in positions of power and authority. It’s also an approach adopted by people in general toward authority — including God’s authority. It may work with the powers that be in this world, but it doesn’t work with God. In the Gospel reading for today, did you notice how those who are on the wrong side of Christ respond when Christ says they did not do the things that people of his kingdom do? They say, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you” (Matthew 25:44)? And he will answer them, “Just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25:45). They thought they had done good things.They thought of themselves as good people. They expected God should be pleased with them, because they had minded their own business and stayed out of trouble. They may even think they had done great undertakings for the King, that they would have an elevated position in his kingdom because of high-powered things that they did. Jesus described such persons in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:21-23):

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

Too often people have the wrong idea, thinking Jesus owes it to everybody to be nice to them. And they also think that if they go out of their way to do things they think God wants, that then they are entitled to extra rewards, sort of like people may think their donations or efforts on behalf of some political leader entitle them to perks and privileges in that person’s administration. But Christ our King doesn’t operate by those principles. Christ calls his people to follow him, not worldly “philosophy and empty deceit” or “human tradition” (Colossians 2:9). We are called to follow the truth according to Christ, whose kingdom is not of this world (cf. John 18:36). So let’s not be confused. Let’s not slip back into worldly thinking, into tallying up our good deeds as though keeping a scoresheet will impress Christ the King, or boasting about where we think we stand with God or how right or righteous we are. Being servants of Christ’s kingdom means setting ourselves aside and simply serving others. Christ established his kingdom by laying down his life for those whom he loved and came to serve. As servants of Christ the King, we carry on in his kingdom and extend his kingdom in the same way. We deny ourselves. We take up whatever crosses we may be asked to carry, and we do all we can to help others carry their crosses too (cf. Luke 29:23-25). As the word of our King tells us, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). That’s how we serve–and whom we serve–as the people of Christ the King.

Jul

2020

Life without love = nothing

by David Sellnow

In the previous post on this blog, I mentioned Scripture’s instruction that if we do not have love, our witness will ring hollow. I’d like to expand on that thought, making further application of what the apostle Paul affirmed (1 Corinthians 13:1-3):

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Notice that the various things Paul mentioned are all good things: speaking in heavenly ways, having deep spiritual knowledge, possessing great faith, being willing to undergo poverty and suffering. Yet such things by themselves do not exhibit the heart and soul of someone who lives in Christ. If our beliefs or knowledge or speaking or acting aren’t “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17), then others are right to question whether Christ fully dwells in our hearts, whether we are indeed strengthened in our inner being with power through his Spirit (cf. Ephesians 3:16,17).

Allow me to expand on Paul’s list of examples, thinking of our lives individually and congregationally, continuing in the style of Paul’s refrain.

If we are well-dressed, well-groomed, well-behaved — but do not have love — our lives are only a show of appearances, not an embodiment of God’s grace.
If we are nice to our neighbors and active in community projects, but do not have love, we are fostering our own reputation more than serving others’ souls.
If we are good employees, good citizens, good friends, but do not have love, our goodness is an outward affair only, not an inward renewal of our hearts.
If we dig deeply into doctrine and explore every intricacy of spiritual teaching, but do not have love, we don’t draw closer to God, but fail to see his true path.
If we sing glorious songs with many voices in our choirs, but do not have love, we are making music but nothing more.
If we develop programs for youth, for seniors, for singles, for whatever group or audience, but do not have love, we are providing activities without a foundation, things to do without values that will endure.
If we create engaging church websites and social media campaigns, but do not have love, we have only a virtual presence, without really being there for others.
If we build chapels and cathedrals and schools and other edifices, but do not have love, we have nothing but shingles and stones, roofs and walls.
If we have overflowing crowds when we gather for worship, but do not have love, we gather for nothing.

Image credit: Thomas Hawk on Flickr <https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/48487781532/>

I don’t mean to demean any of the items listed in those examples. Being helpful to neighbors, dedicated on the job, dutiful in spiritual study — these are good things. Organizing church programs and activities, singing in the choir, building spaces that can be used for ministry purposes — these are worthwhile pursuits. However, for any of our endeavors to be genuine and truly alive, love must be the source that gives rise to them. Roots deep in the soil supply life to plants and the fruit the plants produce. So too with our lives as Christians. Christ is the source of our life; his love is the root of any actual good we do. If we do things that purport to be good, but the love of Christ is not in us, then it rings hollow. That expression stems from the Middle Ages, when coins filled with less-than-precious metals could be exposed as counterfeit by the dull sound they made when dropped on a stone slab. A real coin would ring true. We aspire to be real in our Christianity, followers of Christ who are filled with his love through and through.

A Christian’s life without love in it is, ultimately, nothing. “I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus said. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The disciple who perhaps knew Jesus’ love best — his dear friend John — emphasized his Lord’s point when he wrote: “Love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God” (1 John 4:7,8).

May the Lord make us “increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (1 Thessalonians 3:12). For if “we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).

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Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jul

2020

We are his witnesses

by David Sellnow

A message referencing readings for the 7^th Sunday after Pentecost: Isaiah 44:6-8, Romans 8:12-25, Matthew 13:24-30

“Do you promise that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” We would expect to be asked a question like that in a courtroom, if we were asked to give testimony. That’s probably what we picture as what it means to be a witness. We think of it as something formal, something done in an official setting. I wonder if that image of what it means to be a “witness” confuses our understanding of what Jesus meant when he said, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

I knew a church that had an evangelism committee that hadn’t yet done any evangelizing. The congregation knew they had a mission to tell God’s good news to others. So, they established an evangelism committee. That committee began meeting and studying about communicating the gospel. They continued in that study for two years and had not yet made any visits to anyone. The members of the committee were dutifully concerned that they would do everything right, say everything right. But their fear of speaking something inaccurate kept them from fulfilling their intention of giving witness to the Christian message. Do we maybe think that we must have specialized training before we can serve as witnesses?

I wonder also if we consider what we do inside the church as the primary witness of the church. Have we been depending too much on the church itself (as an institution) to be the witness, rather than we ourselves, the people of the church, as the witnesses? We’ve probably worried that the current health emergency (COVID-19) will reduce the church’s witness. We look at our church buildings, which now must limit the number of persons in attendance, as the main place of witnessing. But at the time when God spoke through Isaiah and said, “You are my witnesses” (Isaiah 44:8), there were no churches, no synagogues. For the half of history when the nation of Israel was called upon to be “a light to the nations,” and extend God’s salvation “to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6), they did not do so through local congregations. Solomon’s temple had been built as the singular place of worship. It was not until more than a century after Isaiah, after Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians (six centuries before Christ), that the Jewish people began to establish synagogues as places for religious instruction. Israel was God’s witness in the world long before they had local synagogues to spearhead that effort.

So also, when Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8), there were at that time no Christian church buildings. Christians in the first decades after Jesus’ ascension met together in people’s homes, in public spaces, in whatever meeting place they could find. The people themselves were a driving force of the spread of Christianity in those early days, along with the activity of the apostles. They were his witnesses. Even when believers in Jesus were persecuted and scattered, they continued to live their faith and speak about Christ wherever they went (cf. Acts 8:1-4).

Maybe the present difficulty for churches gathering inside our own buildings will remind us of the essential role each of us has in our everyday contacts outside with people–wherever and however those contacts can occur within a socially distanced environment. In Jesus’ parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9), we hear how God sows his word liberally everywhere–almost seeming like someone who is wasting his seed because so much falls in places where it doesn’t take root. But it isn’t a waste. It’s how God’s word works. It finds its way into hearts according to God’s timing, not ours, according to his will, not ours. As witnesses of God’s truth, we sow seed in that way. We spread our witness all around us, all the time, every day, wherever we are, in whatever we do or say. Being a witness is, in many ways, about simply exuding who we are as God’s people. Our identity as God’s people will be something others will notice.

Think of the way our daily existence was described in Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:12-16): “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh … If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Paul went on (Romans 8:18-25) to describe the constant hope in which we live as children of God, hope for the future, hope for redemption, enduring hope even in the face of whatever suffering we may suffer now. That kind of hope, that confidence that God is good and always cares for his people–that’s what we witness to others by the ongoing attitude we embody and demonstrate.

But what if the attitude evident in people who say they are Christians is not consistently illustrating God’s redeeming grace? About a dozen years ago, Barna Group president David Kinnaman, partnered with Gabe Lyons, another leader in looking at trends concerning Christianity and culture. They engaged in three years of research across the United States. They surveyed and interviewed thousands of young adults (ages 16-29) outside of the church, asking about their perceptions of Christians and Christianity from an outsider’s point of view. In the book detailing what they learned (Baker Books, 2007), Kinnamon and Lyons said: “Christianity has an image problem. … Our research shows that many of those outside of Christianity, especially younger adults, have little trust in the Christian faith, and esteem for the lifestyle of Christ followers is quickly fading among outsiders. … [Outsiders] reject Jesus because they feel rejected by Christians.” Kinnaman and Lyons titled the book unChristian because that “reflects outsiders’ most common reaction to the faith: they think Christians no longer represent what Jesus had in mind” (p. 11,15). One of the biggest perceived problems is that Christians are not, for the most part, loving people. According to the research, “nearly nine out of ten outsiders (87 percent) said that the term judgmental accurately describes present-day Christianity.” They elaborated: “To be judgmental is to point out something that is wrong in someone else’s life, making the person feel put down, excluded, and marginalized. … Being judgmental is fueled by self-righteousness, the misguided inner motivation to make our own life look better by comparing it to the lives of others” (p. 182). One of the young people interviewed summed it up this way: “Christians talk about love, but it doesn’t feel like love. I get the sense they believe they are better than me” (p. 192).

That’s a stinging indictment, and maybe we feel that’s unfair. But the impression that Christians are more judgmental than they are loving was something even young people within the church said was true. According to the research, more than half (53 percent) of 16 to 29 year-old Christians also agreed that “the label judgmental accurately fits present-day Christianity” (p. 183). And in the years since unChristian was published, those trends have continued. Between 2009 and 2019, the percentage of young adults (those in their 20s and 30s) who identify as Christians declined by 16% in America, a greater drop-off than any other age group, according to findings by the Pew Research Center.

How is it that the church’s witness is giving off such a negative impression and turning away even many of our own young people? Maybe churches too often have forgotten what Jesus taught in the parable of weeds among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). In an overzealous desire to keep the church pure of any “weeds,” churchy people point out anything they see as unrighteous in anyone else and try to rid the Lord’s harvest field of any plant that isn’t perfect. Jesus told us not to do that. “No,” he said, “for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:29,30). It will be God’s responsibility at the final judgment to separate “weeds” from “wheat,” those who are faithless from those who have trusted in him. Exercising final judgment over another human soul is not our responsibility; it is in God’s hands. Our task is to nurture and tend to every person as someone who may grow to be one of God’s children.

Our witnessing isn’t about us. It’s not about how tidy and well-groomed we can keep our little corner of the whole earthly garden where God is seeking to grow believers. It’s about extending God’s goodness to all people. It’s about God’s Spirit inspiring a spirit of mercy in us, not a judgmental spirit. As Jesus’ brother James taught us: “You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’” understanding that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:8,13). Being witnesses of the good news of our God means letting his gospel grow unimpeded, without letting ourselves and our judgmentalism get in the way.

There’s another way that we stumble over ourselves and get in our own way as witnesses. When we hear Jesus say, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) – what do we think of as the “good deeds” that people are to see in us? Do we think people are watching to see how often our cars are in the church parking lot? Do we think people are listening to make sure no foul language ever slips out of our mouths?

It’s like the church committee I mentioned before that thought they had to prepare a flawless script if they were going to do witnessing. It’s not about whether we say everything perfectly. In our own less-than-perfect ways, we just keep pointing to the one who is perfect for us. It’s not that we know all the answers. We show others the one who holds us in his mercy even when we struggle to answer life’s hardest questions. The same principle holds when it comes to our behavior as God’s witnesses in this world. It’s not about showing our neighbors how righteous we are. It’s not about how much we pray in public places. You may recall that Jesus said, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others” (Matthew 6:5). Jesus called out people who tried to look perfect in public as “whitewashed tombs — which on the outside look beautiful” but inside they are full of deadness and hypocrisy (Matthew 23:27-28). That’s not the sort of witness Jesus calls for.

What did Jesus say? “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). The witness we give to the world of who God is and what God is like is shown by the love we show to others. How much grace is in our souls, evident in the way we treat every person we meet? After all, if we could speak as perfectly as angels, but do not have love, we are like banging gongs or clanging cymbals (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1). The world doesn’t need self-congratulatory noise from Christian people. The world needs our consistent, faithful, loving witness. The world needs embodied, lived, expressed testimony of God’s grace in action through us. “God is love” (John 4:16). Living in love thus is the primary ingredient in our witness. By our love we give witness to a Father who loves the whole world so much that he gave us his Son. By our love, we give witness to Christ, who gave up his own life, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18). By our love we give witness to the Spirit of God, whose fruit–the things the Spirit produces–are “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22,23).

Isaiah’s prophecy announced the truth centuries ago. There is no other god besides “the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer” (Isaiah 44:6). There is no other rock, no other solid ground to stand on, no other source of love so strong and so deep. And the Lord, the King, our Redeemer says to us, “You are my witnesses” (Isaiah 44:8). May we, as his witnesses, live up to what we sing in a familiar song:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love;
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

– Father Peter Scholtes, “We Are One in the Spirit” (1966)

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jan

2020

Jesus turns and looks at us

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on April 14, 2019.

Luke 22:54-62:

He denied Jesus, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.” They seized him [Jesus], and led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed from a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard, and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. A certain servant girl saw him as he sat in the light, and looking intently at him, said, “This man also was with him.”

After a little while someone else saw him, and said, “You also are one of them!”

But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”

After about one hour passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean!”

But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how he said to him, “Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times.” He went out, and wept bitterly.

Jesus turns and looks at us

by David Sellnow

That look of Jesus when Peter denied him – what did that look look like? Luke only tells us that Jesus looked at Peter, he doesn’t specify how he looked at him. But from what has been revealed to us about Jesus, we can know something about that look.

It could not have been a look of shock or outrage. Jesus had known exactly what Peter was going to do that night. He had told Peter in advance about how he would deny his Lord three times. Everything was playing out just as Jesus had said it would go. So Jesus was not taken aback by what Peter was doing. His look at Peter was a reminder. His eyes said what he had already told Peter in words earlier that night: “You will deny me three times.” Jesus didn’t have to say anything further. Peter knew Jesus had spoken the truth. Peter was reminded that Jesus is the Truth.

It could not have been a look of spite or hatred. Jesus was not doing what he was doing because he hated Peter or anyone involved in what was happening. Jesus came into this world because God so loved the world. Jesus “loved his own who were in the world; he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And he demonstrated his love for us in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While Peter was sinning against him, denying him with curses, Jesus still loved Peter and was reaching out to him. When Jesus looked at Peter, it could not have been a look of indignation.

It could not have been a look of rejection or condemnation. “For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17). And specifically toward Peter, Jesus had shown his constant love and care. Earlier that night, before telling Peter the prophecy about how he would fall into denial, Jesus had said to him: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when you have turned again, establish your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus did not desire to condemn Peter. His overriding concern was to preserve Peter, to save him. Even if we are faithless in our actions, Jesus “remains faithful; for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). So says the promise of Scripture. And Jesus made good on that promise to Peter. Satan sifted him like wheat, that’s for sure. But Jesus held on to Peter. With just one look, through the doorway, out into the dim light of the outer court, Jesus grabbed hold of Peter’s eyes and his heart. And Peter ran out and wept bitterly. He was ashamed. He was acutely aware of his failure of faith. But he had hope. He had a Savior who had told him he was going to fail but that he would be brought back. He had a Savior who led him to hear the rooster’s crow as a warning. He had a Savior who in the darkest moment looked at his friend with a look that showed that he knew Peter, that he loved Peter, that he was seeking Peter’s soul.

Like Peter, we also have our failures, our cowardice, our weakness of faith. But as with Peter, our Lord does not look at us with outrage or hatred or condemnation. The look in Jesus’ eyes is the look of the eternal God who stooped down from heaven to stand trial in our place, the look of someone who was willing to suffer unimaginable pain and horror for our sake, the look of a Savior who was willing to give himself up completely in order to win us back to our Father in heaven. We have been turned back to Jesus by his redeeming look at us, again and again. So with renewed strength, we can strengthen our brothers and sisters.

All Bible quotations from the World English Bible (WEB).

Jan

2020

Jesus, our Brother

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on February 28, 2019.

Jesus, our Brother

by David Sellnow

While Jesus was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”

But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50).

Jesus made it clear that having a relationship with him is a matter of faith. Doing the will of the Father–which means believing in Jesus as the source of life (cf. John 6:29,40)–is what makes us Jesus’ brothers. Even Jesus’ own blood relatives on earth had no more special relationship with him or with God than is accessible to us through faith in Jesus.

On the night before his sacrificial death, Jesus spoke to his disciples as brothers, bracing them for what lay ahead (John 16:17-33). He emphasized that their relationship with God would not become diminished by his absence, when he returned to the Father. Rather, their relationship would be just as direct–they could go straight to the Father with any request. He assured them, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27). The same is true for us today. We may have trouble in this world, but we cling to God with confidence, knowing Jesus has overcome all things in this world on our behalf.

It is significant that in his first appearance after rising from death (John 20:10-18), Jesus emphasized to Mary Magdalene his relationship with all the believers. He said to her, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). Believers are Jesus’ sisters and brothers, and his Father is our Father. Through our living Lord Jesus, God listens to us and loves us just as he listens to and loves his One and Only Son.

The writer to the Hebrews (2:10-18) summed up what Jesus has done for us as our brother. He became like us, one of us, in order to overcome sin and death for us and bring us into eternal life with him and the Father. He is not ashamed to call us his brothers, saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise” (Hebrews 2:12). Especially significant for our prayer life is the last verse of Hebrews chapter 2: “For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). Jesus, our Brother, understands every temptation and struggle that we face. When we go to him in prayer, he is not far-removed or detached or unsympathetic. He walked a harder path on this earth than any of us will ever walk. He knows just how we hurt. We are able to confront and endure life’s trials with him at our side.

All Bible quotations from World English Bible (WEB), public domain.

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