Monthly Archives: April 2020

Judged by the King

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Matthew 23:1-12

1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; 3therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. 6They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi. 8But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. 9And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

My foray this week into Matthew’s account of Jesus’ final days has had an unintended side effect— I see the same shortcomings in myself which Jesus saw in the Jewish leaders.  Not good!

Like the leaders who had fallen prey to corruption, whom we read about on Monday, I can see myself falling prey to the same temptations, if given a chance. Help me, Lord, help me!

Like the leaders who were not bearing fruit, whom we read about yesterday, I have lived too many of my days bearing no fruit. Lord, forgive me! Have mercy on me!

And, like the leaders we read about today, I fall far short of consistently living either humbly or with a servant’s heart. Change me, Lord, change me!

In these verses today, Jesus is not directly addressing any of the leaders. Instead, he is talking to the “crowds” and his disciples about the leaders. He has a good reason to do so—he is telling them what their relationship with the leaders should be.

Surprisingly, he begins with a compliment.

He says, “[D]o whatever they teach you and follow it.”

In other words, “Do as they say.”

Here was something which Jesus had in common with most of the Jewish leaders—they were dedicated to fully, thoroughly and accurately teaching Jewish law.

However, he quickly added, “[B]ut do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.”

Instead of following their own teachings, Jesus said, these leaders mostly loved to posture, preen and be seen in public.

More bluntly, he said that they were “hypocrites.”

Even worse, Jesus said that the leaders were neither true servants nor humble people, which all of God’s people are called to be.

He said, “The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

And I wonder, “Do I say one thing and do another? Am I a hypocrite?”

Sometimes. May God forgive me.

And, what about having a servant’s heart, giving to others, putting their needs over mine, living humbly?

Well, I surely fall short here. May God forgive me.

What about you? How are you living your life? Is today the day you need to rededicate yourself to following Christ and his ways?

Prayer: Holy and Almighty God, forgive us for those times we fall short. The times we fail to love our neighbor, turn away from you or exalt ourselves over others. Put in us new and clean hearts, hearts of servants, hearts always seeking to be true to you. Amen.

A Divine Judgment . . . and Call

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Matthew 21:33-46

33 ‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34When the harvest time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ 41They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’

42 Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
   and it is amazing in our eyes”?

43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’ 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Matthew tells us that after the confrontation in the Temple courtyard, Jesus left the city and spent the night in the neighboring village of Bethany.

He returned to Jerusalem in the morning. On his way to the Temple, he saw a fig tree on the side of the road. He was hungry and went to pick figs for breakfast. Seeing nothing on it but leaves, he cursed the tree for not bearing fruit. It was not fig season, but that did not matter on that day. This may sound odd or harsh to us, but we need to understand that part of Holy Week was about God’s people being fruitful. Jesus was in Jerusalem, in part, to announce God’s judgment upon the Jewish leaders. And, this fig tree was a symbol of Israel’s leaders falling away from God and failing to produce fruit for God’s kingdom.

The next events of the day bear this out.

When he arrived at the Temple, the chief priests and elders were waiting for him, seething with anger.

They demanded to know, “By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?”

Jesus refused to answer, but proceeded to tell them three parables, including the one quoted above. Each of the three have something to tell us, but it is this second parable that drew my attention, because it also contains a challenge for us.

The parable’s point is easy to grasp. Some tenants are working land for a landowner. Come harvest time, the landowner sends some of his servants to collect his share. The tenants, though, beat one, kill another and stoned another.

Then, the landowner sent another group of servants, but the same thing happened.

Then, the landowner sent his son. The tenants killed him, too.

It is clear to see what is happening. God is the landowner. The tenants are the religious leaders, those responsible for stewarding the people of Israel and ensuring that they live their lives faithfully and fruitfully. The servants and the son are the early Jewish prophets and Jesus himself, who are calling the religious leaders to be faithful to God. And, the tenants (or leaders) fall woefully short, abusing or killing any who call them to account.

Just to make sure they get the point—and understand God’s divine judgment upon them—Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22-23 about the rejected building stone that becomes the cornerstone, a cornerstone “that will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

Jesus also pointedly tells the chief priests and Pharisees of God’s fierce judgment upon them, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

The chief priests and Pharisees wanted to arrest him but bided their time until a more opportune moment.

I have always thought this story stopped there, but our Savior is a brilliant man, because I realized this week that this parable also applies to his church, to us. We are now the tenants. We are called to bear fruit for God’s kingdom. We are responsible to God for the harvest.

Are we, or will we be, such a people? Are you, or will you be, such a person?

Prayer: Good and Gracious God, you who call us to be your people and to bear fruit fitting for your kingdom, equip us and enable us to bear fruit each day. You know that we grow weary, though, so grant us passion and energy. You know we become selfish, so grant us selflessness. You know we sometimes turn away from you, so always, always turn us back to you, that we might be your gracious servants, always intent upon glorifying you and being part of your kingdom. Amen.

Making a House of Prayer

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Matthew 21:12-17

12Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
   but you are making it a den of robbers.’

14The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry 16and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,
“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
   you have prepared praise for yourself”?’
17He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

It is humbling to try to describe that last week in Jerusalem, the final days of Jesus’ mortal life. Things of far greater import occurred than I can understand. However, perhaps two of the most important things for us to know are that God’s radical grace was always at work and that His Son was resolute and courageous throughout, unwavering in living out his call.

It was a week when the powers of heaven and earth engaged in a great cosmic war. Roman forces and Jewish leaders were battling against the Forces of Heaven in trying to kill the Son of God. For a few days or weeks, they may have thought that they did. But Jesus was alive. He had risen. And, in not too many years, the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish leaders killed or scattered. Later still, Jesus came to conquer the Roman Empire around 325 A.D. when the Emperor Constantine came to call him “Lord.” God’s radical grace had triumphed.

Matthew tells us that Jesus went to the Temple immediately after entering Jerusalem that week. The Temple was the center of action for most of the week, but what unfolded that day is one of the better-known gospel stories. Jesus entered the Temple courtyard and immediately drove out all the money-changers and all who were buying and selling there. At the same time, he overturned their tables and chairs. It was quite a scene, with Jesus knocking over furniture and scattering the offenders!

Thousands of pages of sermons and commentaries have been written about on this drama. But, if we read on, we discover that more was at stake than the buying and selling of money and doves. The Temple’s very purpose was at stake. This also meant that the doing of God’s will on earth was at stake.

Turn your eyes to what happened following the courtyard drama: the blind and lame came into the Temple and Jesus cured them. Then, little children cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” They were shouting out to the Messiah, saying that the One who was supposed to come had come.

Did you notice that it was at this point that the chief priests and scribes became angry and the tension between them and Jesus increased? They did not like what he was doing or the recognition he was given. He was threatening their standing in the culture.

Jesus had his reasons. You see, about twenty years earlier, the sole function of the Temple was to be the center of Jewish worship, as it had been for centuries. However, Rome then ordered the chief priests to make the Temple the center and collection place of all taxes, both Roman and local. Soon, the chief priest compounded the problem by setting up shop in the Temple courtyard, exchanging foreign currency and also selling animals for Temple sacrifices. This, in turn, undercut businesses on the Mount of Olives that had been doing the same thing for years. With all that money sloshing about the Temple, corruption followed. The Temple became a place not of worship, but a “den of thieves.”

The Temple’s very purpose had been perverted. God’s will had been denied. Jesus had come to restore the Temple’s purpose and do God’s will.

Moreover, there is evidence that the blind and lame—and other disabled, unwanted or rejected Jews—were not welcome in the Temple. Now, Jesus not only welcomed them but also healed them. At the same time, children were of little value back then. Now, they were both welcome and were praising Christ.

Yes, Jesus had come to restore the Temple to be a “house of prayer for all peoples” and a place not only of prayer but of grace and healing and, dare we say, love for all humankind. And, also a place where great truths, divine truths were declared by the innocent and uncorrupted, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

Prayer: Holy and Almighty God, we are awed by your sacred purpose and your relentless power. Just as Jesus was true to his calling, help us be true to our calling. May our churches—and our individual bodies, souls, hearts and minds—be places where your will is done, your people are loved and valued and your great and eternal truths are declared and cherished, all to the glory of your name. Amen.

Swamped at Night

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Mark 4:35-5:1

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?  1They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 

Last night, my eyes popped open sometime around 2 or 3 a.m., and I found myself wide awake, anxious and worried about the virus and its effects. Questions and uncertainty echoed and re-echoed in my mind: How long will it last? Whom will it affect? How many will die? Will I be one? Maurie? Our children or grandchildren? It didn’t take long before I was quite worked up.

Then, these verses came to mind.

In Jesus’ day, bodies of water were considered to be places of danger. People were afraid of them because demons and evil spirits were believed to dwell in the depths. Even worse, on that night, Jesus and his disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, which was famous for sudden, intense storms that swamped boats and drowned their occupants. Jesus’ disciples, most of whom were fishermen, were keenly aware of the threat.

Sure enough, a sudden storm whipped up while they were still at sea, and winds and waves began swamping the boat as Jesus slept peacefully in its stern. The disciples, gripped by fear, cried out, “Don’t you care that we’re dying?”

We are living in a time like that stormy night on the Sea of Galilee. Christians are not exempt from the winds and waves of the times. And, it is quite human for us to be afraid and anxious about it. After all, the coronavirus has changed most of our daily and weekly routines, the news is rife with tales of life-and-death, and an invisible threat is on the loose. We are well outside of our comfort zones. In these uncertain times, it is almost natural to worry about ourselves, our family and friends, our country and our future.

But, as I soon remembered early this morning, now is also the exact time to claim our faith.  Indeed, if we find ourselves frightened enough, it is even a good time to cry out in our fear, “Jesus, don’t you care?!”

So, I did, and I began to pray. Soon, peace came to me and I drifted back to sleep.

Mind you, I don’t claim here that Jesus takes away all fear. That night on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples’ fear did end as Jesus calmed the storm. However, our storm still rages. The winds and waves of the time still threaten us. But my point is that claiming our faith does take the edge off and allows us to face the night and the day. As I found out last night, that is more than good enough. Amen.