Lenten Devotion – Day 17

Monday, March 9, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 19:16-26

“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.… But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’" (Matt. 19:24, 26)

“One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give, and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at every moment totally dependent on God. Now, quite plainly natural gifts carry with them a similar danger. If you have sound nerves and intelligence and health and popularity and a good upbringing, you are likely to be quite satisfied with your character as it is. “Why drag God into it?” you may ask. A certain level of good conduct comes fairly easily to you. You are not one of those wretched creatures who are always being tripped up by sex or dipsomania or nervousness or bad temper. Everyone says you are a nice chap, and between ourselves, you agree with them. You are quite likely to believe that all this niceness is your own doing, and you may easily not feel the need for any better kind of goodness. Often people who have all these natural kinds of goodness cannot be brought to recognize their need for Christ at all until one day, the natural goodness lets them down, and their self-satisfaction is shattered. In other words, it is hard for those who are rich in this sense to enter the kingdom.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

  When we think about Jesus' teachings, parables, sermons and prayers, we hazily assume that Jesus spent most of his time talking about God, love and salvation. Two subjects dominated Jesus’ teachings most often; the kingdom of God and money.

  In His preaching, Jesus regularly invited people to receive and enter the kingdom of God, he asked them to open their lives to the ruling and reign of God. It is important to notice whom He invited, Jesus invited everyone. He did not restrict the invitation to the respectable people, or the religious, or the wealthy or powerful. In Jesus’ day, as well as with many today, wealth and power were often thought to be signs of God’s blessing. Jesus invited everyone without distinction, but he also knew that many would allow other distractions, wealth, attachments, addictions, power, and etc. prevent them from accepting the invitation.

  Jesus revealed to the rich young man the heart of his distractions. His "possessions" blocked his entry into the kingdom and blocked his way to genuine discipleship. After the rich young man left the scene, Jesus told his disciples, “that it is more difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” (Matt. 19:24). Jesus did not say it would be impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom, only that their attachment to their wealth would increase the difficulty. Instead of relying upon their own efforts and their stuff to make good things happen in their lives, they needed to trust in what God could do, “because nothing was impossible for God.” He said that the tax-collectors and prostitutes would go into the kingdom before the moral and religious people (Matt. 21:31). The reason was that the least in the world had less to give up and more to gain, by trusting in God’s invitation and they recognized how God’s grace would make what seemed impossible possible. In brief, God is very gracious and loving toward all people, and His kingdom is offered to everyone.

  When I was in college in 1972, I had the opportunity to spend a week with Millard Fuller before he founded Habitat for Humanity. Fuller was a living example of the rich young man who responded positively to Jesus’ invitation. I heard him share this story personally, which was later written about in Christianity Today. Millard Fuller was a successful lawyer and businessman, but his life was falling apart and his wife had left him. Fuller followed his estranged wife Linda to New York to try to convince her to come back to him. She was not easily convinced that he could turn back from his headlong rush for material wealth.

Lenten Devotion – Day 16

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Luke 13:22-30

"Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able…. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:24, 29)

“Listen carefully: Recognizing God is not the same as coming to Him. Hearing God in your heart is not the same as answering. Working for the kingdom of God does not mean living in the kingdom of God. Christianity is not believing the truths of the Bible; it's acting upon them and allowing God control of your life. You must respond to God and make the choice to interact personally with Him.” ― Henry T. Blackaby, Experiencing the Spirit: The Power of Pentecost Every Day

  Despite the way many Christians portray it, Christianity is a very difficult faith to live on a daily basis. Many believe if they simply belong to the right denomination or follow the correct faith traditions, doctrines or spiritual practices they will certainly become citizens of the kingdom.

  The effect of all this leaves Christians wondering what is the true way to God. Many people wonder do these Christians have it all worked out, at least, they claim they do. Some Christians are absolutely certain that they know the path that leads to God, they are absolutely certain they are on that path, and they are absolutely certain everyone else is wrong.

  The problem lies in the fact that we human beings are always seeking and believing that there must be a clear and certain way. We desire clarity about life. We want to know, what is the right way and what is the wrong way, because we are extremely uncomfortable living the ambiguous, uncertain, and hazy lives we all live. We want to find the perspective that clears up all the murky spaces and tells us what to do without our needing to struggle or think for ourselves.

  When it come to our faith and following Jesus there is a severe problem because Jesus’ way does not necessarily lead to clarity and certainty. Jesus tells us to “strive to enter through the narrow door.” Jesus declared that entry to the kingdom can never be automatic, but is the result of a struggle and striving first for the kingdom. Jesus tells us, “Keep on striving to enter.” The word for striving is the word from which the English word agony is derived. The struggle to enter in must be so intense that it can be described as an agony of soul and spirit.

  We run the danger, that, once we have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, we have reached the end of the road and can as it were, set back and relax, as if we had achieved the kingdom. There is no such finality in the Christian life. We must always either be going forward or necessarily we start to slip backward. For the life of a disciple of Jesus is ever an upward and onward way.

The narrow path we are invited to enter and walk is both an individual and a communal one. The decision to enter the door and walk the path is ultimately ours to make, but at the same time it must be shared with others. We need others to help us stay on our path. While, at the same time ours is a path that requires us to struggle with our own particular torments and desires. We need the wisdom and support of others who are also walking their narrow paths, but at the same time our particular and unique path winds in different directions.

Lenten Devotion - Day 15

Friday, March 6, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 13:36-53 (same scripture from past two days)

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.” (Matt. 13:47-48)

“You will not find Jesus in heaven, reclining on a cloud. He isn’t in church on Sunday morning, sitting in the pews. He isn’t locked away in the Vatican or held hostage by a denominational seminary. Rather, Jesus is sitting in the Emergency Room, an uninsured, undocumented immigrant needing healing. He is behind bars, so far from his parole date he can’t think that far into the future. He is homeless, evicted from his apartment, waiting in line at the shelter for a bed and a cup of soup. He is the poor child living in government housing with lice in his hair, the stripes of abuse on his body and a growl in his stomach. He is an old forgotten woman in a roach infested apartment who no one thinks of anymore. He is a refugee in Sudan, living in squalor. He is the abused and molested child who falsely feels responsible for the evil that is perpetrated against her. He is the young woman who hates herself for the decisions she has made, decisions that have imperiled her life, but did the best she could, torn between impossible choices. Jesus is anyone without power, ability or the means to help themselves, and he beckons us to come to him; not on a do- gooding crusade, but in solidarity and embrace.” ― Ronnie McBrayer, How Far Is Heaven?: Rediscovering the Kingdom of God in the Here and Now

  In chapter 13, Matthew continues to tell another short parable about the net thrown into the sea which follows the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl. In each parable, Jesus identifies how we can compare or understand the kingdom of Heaven. Each can be understood separately to teach us about the kingdom, but Matthew clustered these three them together for a reason followed by asking the disciples if they understood and telling about the scribe who brought out treasures both old and new, covered in a devotion on Feb. 21.

  John tells a story about the disciples responding to Jesus’ request to cast a net on the other side of the boat in chapter 21. Though not a parable but a story after the resurrection, it was a similar meaning related to where he is calling them to share the good news of the kingdom.

  Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is like a net." And he wasn't talking about just any old fishing net; he named a very specific kind of net. In fact, this is the only place in the entire New Testament that this particular word for “net” is used. The net depicted in the parable seems to be a unique large dragnet, which was usually about six feet deep and several hundred feet wide, requiring a number of people to maneuver it.

  As is the case with dragnet fishing, the net catches all kinds of fish both good and bad, which are then sorted out with the good being kept and the bad thrown out. Matthew uses the word “rotten” to refer to the “bad” fish and also occurs in other places in the gospel to describe the bad fruit of Christians, “In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matt. 7:17-18) and "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” (Matt. 12:33)

Lenten Devotional – Day 14

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 13:36-53 (same scripture as yesterday)

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt. 13:45-46)

“The spiritual life is a gift. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who lifts us up into the kingdom of God's love. But to say that being lifted up into the kingdom of love is a divine gift does not mean that we wait passively until the gift is offered to us.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

  A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In a room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands started going up.

  He said, “I am going to give this to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the bill up. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, “What if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground, and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Still hands went into the air.

  No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth 20 dollars. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel that we are worthless, but no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or whom we know, but by who we are.

  Over the years as I have read this parable, I generally thought it referred only to pearls, diamonds or other precious stones which Jesus said had great value and told us about the great value of the kingdom of God. At some point, I did not just see this parable as referring to something materially precious, but about the precious nature of discovering the unique individuals among God’s people who add value to our lives by their mere presence. People of God who are of great value and beauty, which we would invest all we have, in order, to spend more time with them and hang with them for a while.

  I have come to understand that the kingdom of God is most often discovered in the midst of others, within the church, in acts of service, giving care, compassion and concern for others, and discovering people who are precious ones we are glad to spend ever a short time. We too frequently give value to those things with monetary value. Poverty in life is not the lack of money, it is the lack of relationships. We are poor, if we lack nurturing, loving, compassionate, relationships with other children of God.

Lenten Devotion – Day 13

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 13:36-53

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matt. 13:44)

“Consider these questions: Did Jesus ever suggest by word of example that we should aspire to acquire, let alone take over, the power of Caesar? Did Jesus spend any time and energy trying to improve, let alone dominate, the reigning government of his day? Did he ever work to pass laws against the sinners he hunted for and ministered to? Did he worry at all about ensuring that his rights and the religious rights of his followers were protected? Does any author in the New Testament remotely hint that engaging in this sort of activity has anything to do with the kingdom of God? The answer to all these questions is, of course, no.” ― Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church

  We have all at one time or the other heard stories of people who have been cleaning and sorting through possessions of the home of some relative who had recently died. During the process of cleaning closets, they discover in one or many places where their relative had hidden small or large amounts of money. Some of these discoveries have included millions of dollars. These relatives generally were individuals who did not trust banks, so they hid their money, “under their mattress”. Jesus uses a setting similar to this example to tell this short parable.

  Individuals in Jesus time did not have secure places to protect their treasures so they buried their treasures. They buried their treasures to protect them from thieves or from invading armies. The setting here presupposes that someone has buried a treasure and later died. The current owner of the field is unaware of its existence. The finder, perhaps a farm laborer, is entitled to it, but is unable to conveniently extract it unless he buys the field. For a peasant, such a discovery of treasure represented the "ultimate dream."

  Jesus in this parable is illustrating the great value of the Kingdom and is similar in theme to the parable of the pearl. The good fortune of the finder of the treasure reflects a special privilege and a source of joy, but also reflects a challenge, just as the man in the parable gives up all that he has, in order to lay claim to the greater treasure he has found.

  The hidden nature of the treasure may indicate that the Kingdom of Heaven is not yet revealed to everyone. Jesus is all about the joy that comes from discovering something priceless while perusing the ordinary. In fact, for Jesus, the greatest of such joys is the discovery of something unexpected. We might find the most magnificent treasure at a flea market, a yard sale, or browsing through eBay items. Treasure we can take to PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow” and discover we have a treasure worth thousands.

Lenten Devotions – Day 12

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Today’s Scriptures: Matthew 13:31-35 and Luke 13:20-21

“He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened." (Matt. 13:33)

“The Kingdom of God works into us like yeast, and it grows like a seed in good soil. It enters quietly, holistically, radically, joyfully subversive, right into the core of our humanity, unfurling, renewing, and giving work to our hands. It shows up when we live loved and where we love each other well. And the Kingdom of God lasts.” ― Sarah Bessey, Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women

  In Matthew, chapter 13 there is a set of parables where Jesus helps the crowd understand the nature of the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus proceeds to tell the “great crowd,” around him many things in parables. He begins with the parable of the sower, then explains to his disciples the purpose of the parables and explains the parable of the sower. He follows with the parable of the wheat and the weeds (13:24-30, which we covered on Feb. 26 in our devotions). Then he tells two short parables about the mustard seed (we used Mark’s version on Feb. 18) and then today’s parable of the yeast. Later, Jesus tells a cluster of four short parables, which we will cover later. Each parable addresses some aspect of the kingdom and though some are short, each tells us something about the nature and purpose of the God’s kingdom and keeping in mind this whole cluster of parables can help us best in understanding the kingdom.

  This parable is part of a pair, and shares the meaning of the preceding Parable of the Mustard Seed, namely the powerful growth of the Kingdom of God from small beginnings. As with the Parable of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin in Luke 15, this parable is part of a pair, (mustard seed and Leaven) in which the first parable describes Jesus' work in terms of a man's agricultural activities, and the second in terms of a woman's domestic activities. Jesus is asking the crowd whether male or female, privileged or peasant, it does not matter to enter the domain of a first-century woman and household cook in order to gain perspective on God’s kingdom.

  Although typically leaven symbolized evil influences elsewhere in the New Testament (as in Luke 12:1). The use of leaven as a positive symbol for the kingdom of heaven is that it was widely regarded as an agent of corruption (fermentation) in the ancient world. A strange aspect of parables is their often paradoxical nature. They present as good something commonly regarded as bad (leaven as metaphor for kingdom of God, a "Good" Samaritan) or they present as bad something we regard as good.

  What would have strike Jesus’ listeners as odd was Jesus' comparison of the kingdom of heaven to something from the sphere of women's work. The kingdom comparable to something as mundane and menial as making the dough for the daily baking! Bread baking was not only woman's work, it was servant's work - a daily drudgery necessary to keep the most basic dietary staple on the table.

  The parable describes what happens when a woman adds leaven (old, fermented dough usually containing lactobacillus and yeast) to a large quantity of flour, enough flour to feed about 100 people. The living organisms in the leaven grow overnight, so that by morning the entire quantity of dough has been affected.

Lenten Devotion – Day 11

Monday, March 2, 2015

Today’ Scripture: Mark 10:13-16 and Mark 9:33-37

"Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." (Mark 10:14-15)

“Real success in the kingdom of God is not about being strong and looking good and knowing all the right answers. It's about continually yielding oneself to Jesus and determining to take purposeful little steps of obedience, and the ragged reality that it's all about God and His grace at work in us.” ― Mary Beth Chapman, Choosing to SEE

  When we read scripture passages about the Kingdom of God, we often see the words, “belong,” “receive,” and “enter.” In the scripture reading for today, we see the use of all three of these words as Jesus compares, belong, receive and enter the kingdom with the attributes of a child, least in the society, obedient, playfulness, and trusting behavior.

  Rabbis of Jesus time used the expression, “to take upon oneself the Kingdom of God” which they meant the scrupulous observance of the Torah. Jesus was comparing this expression, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it," (10:15) that to enter the kingdom of God is something other than scrupulous observance of the Torah.

  Jesus announced God’s kingdom coming as a gift and as an experience into which, if they have the receptiveness of a child, individuals may enter here and now. The comparison is not so much the innocence, humility or obedience of children; it is rather the fact that children are at ease, receptive, and content to be dependent upon others’ care and bounty. Though this is not the only comparison which can be understood in this passage about children and the kingdom. In Mark, this is the first time Jesus directly associates the kingdom of God with little children.

  Mark 10:13-16 must be seen in light of Mark 9:33-37 and that both of these references to a child build not primarily on assumed characteristics of children but rather on their social status in the first-century world. Using children as a comparison to the kingdom because the disciples attempt to chase the children away, Jesus is speaking of those marginalized and dominated in society, like women, the poor, the unclean and children. The child was the “least” in familial and societal structures. Jesus was inviting his disciples into a new reality of community and family, where the “least” becomes the model for discipleship where the disciple takes up the powerlessness and vulnerability of the child.

  The kingdom of God is something that has been given. While God’s kingdom can “belong” to the children as something already possessed, it is also described as a gift that awaits our possessing. It will be inherited. The meek, Jesus said, “will inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Paul in turn speaks of those who “will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:50; Gal. 5:20; Eph. 5:5)

  In addition to being a gift, the kingdom of God is equally a realm one enters. Here the imagery is quite different, for the kingdom of God is cast as a domain into which one moves. It meets everyone with God’s welcome in Jesus’ invitation.