PETER'S EGO AND THE GREAT CATCH OF FISH
Being a storyteller at heart, I am always looking for stories that slip behind our defenses and show us as we really are. I adapted this story from John Shea entitled Gone Fishing. I hope it will make you think.
Can you imagine the many evenings Jesus spent with his disciples? As they traveled from village to village, I can see them out on a hillside, sitting around a campfire. And they would talk. And Jesus would teach. And they would reflect on what was happening.
One night Peter turned to Jesus with a big smile on his face. “We’re doing real good.”
“We?” said Jesus.
It caught Peter by surprise, after all it seemed that Jesus had wanted his disciples to follow him in expanding the ministry. Jesus had sent them out two by two, and they had taught and healed. After a few moments of silence, Peter finally said, “All right, you’re doing real good.”
“Me?” said Jesus.
Peter was silent for a second time. “All right, God is doing real good,” he finally admitted.
Jesus saw how reluctant Peter was to let go of his ego and admit that what was happening was of God. He just laughed, and the laugh really irked Peter.
Peter raised his voice, “Look! I was somebody before you came along. You didn’t make me. I know that people see us, and they are saying, ‘There is Jesus and his sidekick Peter. Jesus heals them and Peter helps them up.’ That’s what they say now, but it wasn’t always that way. People knew me in my own right. I was respected and even looked up to. They would say, ‘There goes Peter, the greatest fisherman in all of Galilee.’”
Now Jesus would never put anyone down. He simply said, “Yea, I heard that you were a very good fisherman, Peter.”
“I was; I mean I am a good fisherman!” said Peter. “And tomorrow I am going to prove it. We are all going to go fishing, and you will see how all of the other fishermen respect me and look to my lead.”
“I would love to go fishing, Peter,” replied Jesus. “You know, I have never been fishing. But what will we do with all of the fish we will catch?”
“We’ll eat a few, and we’ll sell a few, and we’ll dry a few for later,” said Peter. “One day of fishing should be enough to supply us for a month. You’ll see.”
“Oh!” said Jesus with a rather puzzled look on his face. Peter wondered how someone as obviously intelligent as Jesus could be so slow in such practical matters.
The next morning at dawn Jesus and Peter were down at the shore of the Sea of Galilee readying the boat. Sure enough, it was just as Peter had said. When the other fishermen saw Peter, they all came over to greet him, “Mind if we come along?”
“Why not?” shrugged Peter, trying to hide his pride.
When they had gone back to their boats, Peter looked over at Jesus, “See, they look up to me!”
Peter’s boat led the way. Jesus was sitting in the bow of the boat, hanging on as they crossed the waves. Now Peter had a real grasp of what it took to locate fish. He tasted the water. He scanned the sky. He put his hand into the air to check the wind. He peered down into the water . . . then he pointed, “Over there.”
“Why isn’t anyone talking?” asked Jesus.
“Shhh!” Peter shook his head.
The boats formed a wide circle around the area that Peter had pointed to. Peter motioned for all of the boats to let down their nets.
“Why don’t they just toss them in?” asked Jesus, who was trying to learn about fishing.
“Shhh!” came from Peter a second time.
The fishermen let down their nets and began to pull them back in. But something was wrong. The muscles of their arms did not tighten under the weight of fish. The nets rose quickly; the arms of the men were slack. All they caught was water.
The fishermen rowed their boats over to Peter’s. There was a chorus of anger. “The greatest fisherman in all of Galilee, ha. You brought us all the way out here for nothing. We have wasted the best hours of the day, and we don’t have a single fish to show for it. Go back to preaching, Peter. Leave the fishing to us.” And they all rowed back to shore, shouting curses across the water.
Jesus said nothing. Peter checked his nets. He was not going to be stopped by one empty net. He was going to show them he was the greatest fisherman in all of Galilee. Once again, he tasted the sea, scanned the sky, checked the wind and peered into the sea. At long last, he looked at Jesus and said, “Over there!”
No sooner had he said, “Over there!” than Jesus was at the oars, rowing with all his might. His muscles were straining with each pull. Nothing! Empty nets again.
All day long under the hot sun Jesus and Peter rowed from place to place on the Sea of Galilee. And all day long under the hot sun Jesus and Peter let down the nets. And all day long under the hot sun Jesus and Peter hauled in their nets. And all day long under the hot sun Jesus and Peter caught nothing.
Evening fell and an exhausted Peter raised the sail to make for shore. The weary Jesus reclined in the bow. It was then, as the boat glided toward the shore, that it happened. It seemed as if all the fish in the Sea of Galilee came to the surface. They leaped on one side of the boat, and they leaped on the other side of the boat. They leaped at the stern, and they leaped at the bow. It was as if all of the fish were escorting the boat toward shore. Then in a mass suicide of fish, they began to leap into the boat. They landed in the lap of Jesus. They smacked Peter in the face. When the boat pulled up at the dock, it was brimming with fish, as a matter of fact, it was creaking under the weight of all the fish.
The other fishermen were waiting. They circled around Peter and slapped him on the back. “Peter, you scoundrel. You knew where the fish were all the time, and you never let on.” They hit him on the shoulder. “Peter, you rouge, you were putting us on. You surely are the greatest fisherman in all of Galilee.”
But Peter said nothing. As a matter of fact, he was uncharacteristically quiet. He only said, “Give fish to everyone in the village. Tonight, no home will go without food.” After that he said nothing.
And Jesus went up to the mountain to pray alone.
[Adapted from John Shea. Stories (Acta Publications, 2008), pp. 97-102.]
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
THE TATTOOS OF GOD
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
What is one of the hottest fashion trends? It has to be tattoos. The tattoo industry is thriving it seems. In the United States, there are roughly 20,000 tattoo parlors operating. It has also been estimated that a new tattoo studio is being added every day in this country.
Here are a few tattoo facts and statistics. A study conducted by the Journal of the “American Academy of Dermatology” in 2006, revealed that 24% of Americans from 18-25 age group sport a tattoo (1 in 4 people). Also, the survey found that nearly 36% of Americans from 18-29 age group flaunt a single tattoo at least.
In other words, what was considered ugly, when I was growing up in the 1950's, is now becoming very popular.
Why should the topic of tattoos come up in a place like this? I share it because it seems that God has tattoos. Shocking? In a very pastoral, grace-filled chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy we are told that God has names engraved on the palms of his hands. Wow! The thought of God having my name engraved, tattooed, on the palm of his hand is humbling. God remembers me because my name is on his palm.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands . . . (Isaiah 49:16, NRSV)
Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . . (Isaiah 49:16, NJB)
Even though it is a paraphrase and can often be called into question, The Living Bible says:
See, I have tattooed your name upon my palm . . . (Isaiah 49:16, Living)
If we look at the context, the nation of Israel is feeling forgotten by God. The circumstances are horrible from the perspective of the Jews. They are in exile, cutoff from their homeland. Has God abandoned them? This is what the prophecy says:
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:14-15, NRSV)
After that promise of never forgetting, God stated that their names are tattooed on the palm of his hand. We can move that promise from God into our situations. God never forgets us. Circumstances may seem terrible, and burdens may feel like they might crush us at any moment, but we are never forgotten by God. We may even feel forgotten and all alone because of what is happening in our lives, but God has our names tattooed on the palm of his hand. He will never forget us. That is his promise to each one of us.
Maybe you have a tattoo that helps you to remember . . . a religious symbol . . . a name of someone special. God also has his tattoos . . . my name and your name. He never forgets.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
What is one of the hottest fashion trends? It has to be tattoos. The tattoo industry is thriving it seems. In the United States, there are roughly 20,000 tattoo parlors operating. It has also been estimated that a new tattoo studio is being added every day in this country.
Here are a few tattoo facts and statistics. A study conducted by the Journal of the “American Academy of Dermatology” in 2006, revealed that 24% of Americans from 18-25 age group sport a tattoo (1 in 4 people). Also, the survey found that nearly 36% of Americans from 18-29 age group flaunt a single tattoo at least.
In other words, what was considered ugly, when I was growing up in the 1950's, is now becoming very popular.
Why should the topic of tattoos come up in a place like this? I share it because it seems that God has tattoos. Shocking? In a very pastoral, grace-filled chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy we are told that God has names engraved on the palms of his hands. Wow! The thought of God having my name engraved, tattooed, on the palm of his hand is humbling. God remembers me because my name is on his palm.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands . . . (Isaiah 49:16, NRSV)
Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . . (Isaiah 49:16, NJB)
Even though it is a paraphrase and can often be called into question, The Living Bible says:
See, I have tattooed your name upon my palm . . . (Isaiah 49:16, Living)
If we look at the context, the nation of Israel is feeling forgotten by God. The circumstances are horrible from the perspective of the Jews. They are in exile, cutoff from their homeland. Has God abandoned them? This is what the prophecy says:
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:14-15, NRSV)
After that promise of never forgetting, God stated that their names are tattooed on the palm of his hand. We can move that promise from God into our situations. God never forgets us. Circumstances may seem terrible, and burdens may feel like they might crush us at any moment, but we are never forgotten by God. We may even feel forgotten and all alone because of what is happening in our lives, but God has our names tattooed on the palm of his hand. He will never forget us. That is his promise to each one of us.
Maybe you have a tattoo that helps you to remember . . . a religious symbol . . . a name of someone special. God also has his tattoos . . . my name and your name. He never forgets.
Monday, June 11, 2012
The Contemplative Pastor: SOME NEW THOUGHTS ON THE TEMPTATION OF JESUSJune ...
The Contemplative Pastor: SOME NEW THOUGHTS ON THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
June ...: SOME NEW THOUGHTS ON THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS June 11, 2012 Three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have some account of Jesus being ...
June ...: SOME NEW THOUGHTS ON THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS June 11, 2012 Three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have some account of Jesus being ...
SOME NEW THOUGHTS ON THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
June 11, 2012
Three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have some account of Jesus being tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13) The accounts seem to agree that after his baptism in the Jordan River Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. There Jesus remained for forty days fasting and praying. Luke’s Gospel points out that after his baptism Jesus was full of the Spirit and was led by the Spirit. The bottom line, this was a spiritual experience, and somehow being led by the Spirit is a key in understanding this event.
For years I have read these accounts of the temptation, and I read them from a very human point of view. After all I have little experience with fasting, limited to about one day, every now and then, not more than three meals at a time. Then I read the accounts of Jesus fasting and praying forty days. In my mind he had to be hungry and tired after that length of time. Forty days seems almost impossible.
Then in his hunger the devil came and tempted him with food . . . turn stones into bread. In my mind, the devil came in his time of weakness and began to tempt Jesus. Yet even in his weakness Jesus was able to withstand the devil.
That may be true, of course, but what if something else was going on in those forty days. Remember the Spirit led him into the wilderness. Jesus has spent forty days praying and fasting. This is not a time of spiritual weakness, but a time of spiritual strength. He has spent forty days with his Father. In the spiritual discipline Jesus shows us a key to spiritual strength.
Those of us who do not fast are the ones who think that fasting brings weakness. Maybe we need to reorient our thinking to realize that fasting has the potential of bringing spiritual strength to our lives as well. The devil does not come when Jesus is spiritually weak, but the devil has come when Jesus is spiritually strong, after forty days of fasting and prayer.
Maybe one of the ways we can understand is found in Jesus’ response to his disciples in John’s Gospel. He has just had a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-42). She has gone into the city, and his disciples have brought food. This is what we find:
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.”
Jesus has a very different perspective from his disciples, and I would venture to say from us as well. When we draw close to God, we discover spiritual resources that we did not even know were available. Could it be that fasting and prayer needs to become a part of our spiritual discipline?
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
REFLECTIONS ON THE KINGDOM OF GOD
PART III
June 5, 2012
Definitions of the Kingdom of God are always inadequate, so Jesus gave us pictures of the Kingdom of God through the parables he told. Today, we look at the third, and longest parable, found in Luke 15. It is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, though the focus is really on the father and his unconditional love.
One of the families I visit in India is the Raval Family. They live in Delhi in a slum area, but being poor has nothing to do with their story. There are five daughters, one son, and the parents. The two oldest daughters are married, and now live with their husbands’ families. Last October the middle daughter, Gita, ran away from home to Mumbai to marry. This was a disgrace to the Raval family in a culture where marriages are arranged. Gita had brought shame to her family.
Being the practical American, I could see that the parents were better off with one less dowery to pay. And from Gita’s side, I could see that she may have been running away from a poor family situation and an alcoholic father. Yet in an “honor/shame” culture the important thing is that one never brings shame upon one’s family. Gita had done that.
In response the father communicated with Gita that if she ever came home, she would be killed. That would be the price for bringing shame to one’s family. In order to get married Gita had turned her back on her family forever. Again, that is something we have a hard time understanding, but much of Asia and Africa are based on this “honor/shame” thinking. Never disgrace the family or the community by your actions, or there will be consequences.
That is the kind of culture Jesus lived in, and so it sheds a different light on the parables that he told. This parable moves beyond that “honor/shame” kind of thinking and gives us a picture of unconditional love. As Jesus tells it, the younger son did not break the law, he did not bring shame to the family, he broke his father’s heart. The sheep in the first parable may have wandered away inadvertently. The coin in the second parable was inanimate, but in this third parable, the son was deliberate in his attempt to break all relationships. He did not care if he brought shame to his father. He takes what he can from the family and walks away.
What does it say to us? God grants us the freedom to reject his love. We can walk away from God. He wants us back, but he will not force us to come back.
And I don’t know if the younger son ever gets it. When he hits bottom and decides to return home, he thinks the issue is the money he has lost, but the real problem is the broken relationship with his father. How often is that us? Something weighs on our conscience, and we think we can just make amends, whatever that might be, but in reality the most important thing is always the relationships. Love is always the highest value.
The younger son wants to find a way to repay the money he has taken from his father. His solution is to work a craftsman. He would not be a slave or a servant in the home, where his pay would be room and board. No, he would work outside the home using skills to make money. He would not live in the family home, as part of the family. He wants to repay the debt, but he has the idea that he can do it himself without help by living in a servant-master relationship.
His hunger has opened his eyes, so that he wants to eat, but he has not faced his own sin. The most important thing is that he has failed to recognize his father’s love. The father’s love was always there, but the son did not perceive it.
I have a feeling that most of us believe that Jesus’ agony on the cross was the physical pain he endured. Yet the nails in his hands and feet and the pain of hanging there waiting for death were not the real agony for Jesus. The agony on the cross was not the physical torture, but the rejected love. That’s what the father in the parable feels . . . the agony of rejected love.
The Pharisees were always complaining about the people with whom Jesus associated. In their eyes these people were the outcasts and sinners. They were the ones who brought shame to the community. Jesus gives them a clear picture of God; he wants to accept these people and show them love. Jesus is like the father in the parable, he runs to restore them with open arms.
The other character in the story is the older son. The story says that he was out in the fields. Rest assured that he has not been out working in the fields, as in doing manual labor; no he has been supervising the laborers, while he sat in the shade. He has a good life, and in ways he has taken advantage of his father’s goodness just as has the younger son. The younger son is a rebel and he knows it. The older brother is a rebel and does not realize it. He says, “I have never disobeyed you.” One thing is for certain, he despises his younger brother . . . “your son”. Older son is lost as well, because he does not understand the father’s love, and that love is not really a part of his life.
God loves the best of us and the worst of us just the same. That is a love so incomprehensible that it is difficult for any of us to understand, much less live. It’s easy to be like the Pharisees and think that God loves us because we keep the rules and live respectable lives. Yet we all need God’s love and forgiveness as much as any one. Younger son and older son both need the father’s love equally.
Unconditional love is a love that just is. It is never a love that comes because of what someone can do for you, or what we can do for someone. It is love because God is love . . . pure love.
In most of our minds there are people, who because they have made certain choices that have really messed up their lives, don’t deserve God’s love. We had just as soon not deal with them. The bottom line is that God loves them, and he calls us to do the same.
[Some of the ideas on biblical culture came from Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.]
PART III
June 5, 2012
Definitions of the Kingdom of God are always inadequate, so Jesus gave us pictures of the Kingdom of God through the parables he told. Today, we look at the third, and longest parable, found in Luke 15. It is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, though the focus is really on the father and his unconditional love.
One of the families I visit in India is the Raval Family. They live in Delhi in a slum area, but being poor has nothing to do with their story. There are five daughters, one son, and the parents. The two oldest daughters are married, and now live with their husbands’ families. Last October the middle daughter, Gita, ran away from home to Mumbai to marry. This was a disgrace to the Raval family in a culture where marriages are arranged. Gita had brought shame to her family.
Being the practical American, I could see that the parents were better off with one less dowery to pay. And from Gita’s side, I could see that she may have been running away from a poor family situation and an alcoholic father. Yet in an “honor/shame” culture the important thing is that one never brings shame upon one’s family. Gita had done that.
In response the father communicated with Gita that if she ever came home, she would be killed. That would be the price for bringing shame to one’s family. In order to get married Gita had turned her back on her family forever. Again, that is something we have a hard time understanding, but much of Asia and Africa are based on this “honor/shame” thinking. Never disgrace the family or the community by your actions, or there will be consequences.
That is the kind of culture Jesus lived in, and so it sheds a different light on the parables that he told. This parable moves beyond that “honor/shame” kind of thinking and gives us a picture of unconditional love. As Jesus tells it, the younger son did not break the law, he did not bring shame to the family, he broke his father’s heart. The sheep in the first parable may have wandered away inadvertently. The coin in the second parable was inanimate, but in this third parable, the son was deliberate in his attempt to break all relationships. He did not care if he brought shame to his father. He takes what he can from the family and walks away.
What does it say to us? God grants us the freedom to reject his love. We can walk away from God. He wants us back, but he will not force us to come back.
And I don’t know if the younger son ever gets it. When he hits bottom and decides to return home, he thinks the issue is the money he has lost, but the real problem is the broken relationship with his father. How often is that us? Something weighs on our conscience, and we think we can just make amends, whatever that might be, but in reality the most important thing is always the relationships. Love is always the highest value.
The younger son wants to find a way to repay the money he has taken from his father. His solution is to work a craftsman. He would not be a slave or a servant in the home, where his pay would be room and board. No, he would work outside the home using skills to make money. He would not live in the family home, as part of the family. He wants to repay the debt, but he has the idea that he can do it himself without help by living in a servant-master relationship.
His hunger has opened his eyes, so that he wants to eat, but he has not faced his own sin. The most important thing is that he has failed to recognize his father’s love. The father’s love was always there, but the son did not perceive it.
I have a feeling that most of us believe that Jesus’ agony on the cross was the physical pain he endured. Yet the nails in his hands and feet and the pain of hanging there waiting for death were not the real agony for Jesus. The agony on the cross was not the physical torture, but the rejected love. That’s what the father in the parable feels . . . the agony of rejected love.
The Pharisees were always complaining about the people with whom Jesus associated. In their eyes these people were the outcasts and sinners. They were the ones who brought shame to the community. Jesus gives them a clear picture of God; he wants to accept these people and show them love. Jesus is like the father in the parable, he runs to restore them with open arms.
The other character in the story is the older son. The story says that he was out in the fields. Rest assured that he has not been out working in the fields, as in doing manual labor; no he has been supervising the laborers, while he sat in the shade. He has a good life, and in ways he has taken advantage of his father’s goodness just as has the younger son. The younger son is a rebel and he knows it. The older brother is a rebel and does not realize it. He says, “I have never disobeyed you.” One thing is for certain, he despises his younger brother . . . “your son”. Older son is lost as well, because he does not understand the father’s love, and that love is not really a part of his life.
God loves the best of us and the worst of us just the same. That is a love so incomprehensible that it is difficult for any of us to understand, much less live. It’s easy to be like the Pharisees and think that God loves us because we keep the rules and live respectable lives. Yet we all need God’s love and forgiveness as much as any one. Younger son and older son both need the father’s love equally.
Unconditional love is a love that just is. It is never a love that comes because of what someone can do for you, or what we can do for someone. It is love because God is love . . . pure love.
In most of our minds there are people, who because they have made certain choices that have really messed up their lives, don’t deserve God’s love. We had just as soon not deal with them. The bottom line is that God loves them, and he calls us to do the same.
[Some of the ideas on biblical culture came from Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.]
Monday, June 4, 2012
REFLECTIONS ON THE KINGDOM OF GOD
PART II
June 4, 2012
In the second picture of the kingdom of God, Jesus uses just three verses, telling the story of a poor woman:
Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:8-10, NRSV)
Ten coins, each is worth about a day’s wage. I can think about many of the day laborers I have met in India. They work hard in one hundred degree plus weather. When they stop for lunch, it is usually a piece of roti (flat bread) or two. The work day has begun at sunrise and will not end until sundown. At the end of the day, they are given fifty rupees, about a dollar. Half of that will be spent on food for the evening for the family. It will not be a fancy meal. The next day it begins all over.
As you can imagine, each coin is valuable. We loose a dollar, or waste a dollar, which would be more common, and we think nothing of it. The poor person loses a dollar, and it can mean the difference between eating and not eating that day.
The poor woman in Jesus’ parable would likely carry any money she had for daily expenses in a tightly knotted rag. It is so valuable that it would never be far from her. The ten coins would provide for her family for a couple of weeks. Somehow the knot in the rag has come untied and one coin has fallen out. The woman immediately feels a sense of shame for not tying the bag tighter. It is her fault, and her family will suffer, if the coin is not found. There is a real sense of urgency. She may have nine coins remaining, but that one is a significant loss, not just for herself, but her family.
In the Middle East it is likely that the house had a stone floor with many cracks between the stones . . . so many places where the coin could have fallen or rolled. On top of that, the houses of the poor are usually dimly lighted. Even in this day of electric lights, the homes of the poor are dim. The woman lights her oil lamp and begins to look for the coin.
Chances are that the woman knows she has lost the coin in the house, because she has not been out that morning. Think about the reality . . . this woman is even more responsible for the loss than the shepherd in the first parable. Sheep have a will of their own, and there were one hundred to look after. It is likely the lost sheep wandered away, but this woman can blame no one but herself. We see in her invitation that the woman accepts the responsibility: “Rejoice with me, I have found the coin I lost” . . . “I lost the coin.” When the coin is found, the community celebrates.
The kingdom of God is about finding the lost and restoring them. In the first parable in Luke 15 the sheep might have wandered away, but the woman lost the coin. That reality might personalize it for us. What might we have done that has caused someone to be lost? Sometimes it has been unintentional. Maybe something was taken the wrong way. Perhaps we should have done something that we did not do. Sometimes we must take responsibility.
Then at other times we have pushed people away by our attitudes. Maybe it was something we said that was hurtful. It is so easy to get caught up in trying to have our own needs met that we let the coin drop into the crack. Again, we must take responsibility.
The woman felt that sense of urgency. We should ask ourselves if we do.
Next time, the last parable . . . the parable of the lost son.
[Some of the ideas on biblical culture came from Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.]
PART II
June 4, 2012
In the second picture of the kingdom of God, Jesus uses just three verses, telling the story of a poor woman:
Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:8-10, NRSV)
Ten coins, each is worth about a day’s wage. I can think about many of the day laborers I have met in India. They work hard in one hundred degree plus weather. When they stop for lunch, it is usually a piece of roti (flat bread) or two. The work day has begun at sunrise and will not end until sundown. At the end of the day, they are given fifty rupees, about a dollar. Half of that will be spent on food for the evening for the family. It will not be a fancy meal. The next day it begins all over.
As you can imagine, each coin is valuable. We loose a dollar, or waste a dollar, which would be more common, and we think nothing of it. The poor person loses a dollar, and it can mean the difference between eating and not eating that day.
The poor woman in Jesus’ parable would likely carry any money she had for daily expenses in a tightly knotted rag. It is so valuable that it would never be far from her. The ten coins would provide for her family for a couple of weeks. Somehow the knot in the rag has come untied and one coin has fallen out. The woman immediately feels a sense of shame for not tying the bag tighter. It is her fault, and her family will suffer, if the coin is not found. There is a real sense of urgency. She may have nine coins remaining, but that one is a significant loss, not just for herself, but her family.
In the Middle East it is likely that the house had a stone floor with many cracks between the stones . . . so many places where the coin could have fallen or rolled. On top of that, the houses of the poor are usually dimly lighted. Even in this day of electric lights, the homes of the poor are dim. The woman lights her oil lamp and begins to look for the coin.
Chances are that the woman knows she has lost the coin in the house, because she has not been out that morning. Think about the reality . . . this woman is even more responsible for the loss than the shepherd in the first parable. Sheep have a will of their own, and there were one hundred to look after. It is likely the lost sheep wandered away, but this woman can blame no one but herself. We see in her invitation that the woman accepts the responsibility: “Rejoice with me, I have found the coin I lost” . . . “I lost the coin.” When the coin is found, the community celebrates.
The kingdom of God is about finding the lost and restoring them. In the first parable in Luke 15 the sheep might have wandered away, but the woman lost the coin. That reality might personalize it for us. What might we have done that has caused someone to be lost? Sometimes it has been unintentional. Maybe something was taken the wrong way. Perhaps we should have done something that we did not do. Sometimes we must take responsibility.
Then at other times we have pushed people away by our attitudes. Maybe it was something we said that was hurtful. It is so easy to get caught up in trying to have our own needs met that we let the coin drop into the crack. Again, we must take responsibility.
The woman felt that sense of urgency. We should ask ourselves if we do.
Next time, the last parable . . . the parable of the lost son.
[Some of the ideas on biblical culture came from Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.]
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Reflections on the Kingdom of God
Part I
May 27, 2012
Many of us see the Kingdom of God like Bank of America, where bigger is better and richer is the goal. For many people a bigger church is a better church, and certainly bigger churches can offer more alternatives. But church is not the same as kingdom. In to many cases American ways have become blended with Jesus’ teachings, and it has become difficult to separate the two. When that happens, it is always the teachings of Jesus that suffer.
For Jesus the Kingdom of God was about relationships . . . our relationship with God and our relationships with people. The entire concept of the kingdom revolves around those two relationships . . . that is if we do not draw the circle of our human relationships too small. When we read the gospels, we see that for Jesus the kingdom included people, who were often excluded from traditional religion . . . women . . . sinners . . . tax collectors . . . lepers . . . prostitutes . . . foreigners. In many ways, the kingdom was for those who were excluded and forgotten by the people who thought themselves holy.
In Luke 15 Jesus tells three parables about being lost. His suggestion is that the Kingdom of God is very concerned about lostness. The first story deals with animals, the second with coins or inanimate objects, and the last one with family. We will look at the first story today, and the other two on subsequent days.
Consider some background. In the previous chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the religious establishment had been grumbling about the people with whom Jesus associated, and how Jesus had failed to keep the Jewish law. In response Jesus tells these three stories.
Today’s story is about a shepherd and his sheep. Now shepherds were among those excluded from the Jewish religion. They were dirty, people of the land, common laborers. Jesus begins, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?”
The Pharisees, who were listening, might have expected Jesus to say something like this: “Which of you, owning a hundred sheep, if you received a report that one was lost, would not send a servant to the shepherd responsible and threaten him with dismissal if he didn’t find the sheep.” No Jewish leader would spend his days tramping through the wilderness to find a lost sheep.
In typical speech patterns of the Middle East, a shepherd would never blame himself . . . “The sheep which was lost” was the typical speech pattern. Jesus breaks that way of thinking and placing blame, and he places the responsibility on the shepherd . . . “Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one . . .”
That is the way the Kingdom of God works. Everyone is valuable. Everyone is worth searching for. No amount of time or energy is to be spared. What "good" religious people do or don't do, can cause people to become lost.
Remember the ninety-nine left behind while the shepherd looks? Think about how they might feel. If the shepherd is willing to go after the lost one, then it gives security to the others. If the shepherd says I don’t care . . . I have ninety-nine to look after, then each of the ninety-nine knows that if he or she becomes lost, then no one will care.
Of one thing I am certain . . . the Kingdom of God is about restoration. What about us?
[Ideas on biblical culture came from Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.]
Part I
May 27, 2012
Many of us see the Kingdom of God like Bank of America, where bigger is better and richer is the goal. For many people a bigger church is a better church, and certainly bigger churches can offer more alternatives. But church is not the same as kingdom. In to many cases American ways have become blended with Jesus’ teachings, and it has become difficult to separate the two. When that happens, it is always the teachings of Jesus that suffer.
For Jesus the Kingdom of God was about relationships . . . our relationship with God and our relationships with people. The entire concept of the kingdom revolves around those two relationships . . . that is if we do not draw the circle of our human relationships too small. When we read the gospels, we see that for Jesus the kingdom included people, who were often excluded from traditional religion . . . women . . . sinners . . . tax collectors . . . lepers . . . prostitutes . . . foreigners. In many ways, the kingdom was for those who were excluded and forgotten by the people who thought themselves holy.
In Luke 15 Jesus tells three parables about being lost. His suggestion is that the Kingdom of God is very concerned about lostness. The first story deals with animals, the second with coins or inanimate objects, and the last one with family. We will look at the first story today, and the other two on subsequent days.
Consider some background. In the previous chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the religious establishment had been grumbling about the people with whom Jesus associated, and how Jesus had failed to keep the Jewish law. In response Jesus tells these three stories.
Today’s story is about a shepherd and his sheep. Now shepherds were among those excluded from the Jewish religion. They were dirty, people of the land, common laborers. Jesus begins, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?”
The Pharisees, who were listening, might have expected Jesus to say something like this: “Which of you, owning a hundred sheep, if you received a report that one was lost, would not send a servant to the shepherd responsible and threaten him with dismissal if he didn’t find the sheep.” No Jewish leader would spend his days tramping through the wilderness to find a lost sheep.
In typical speech patterns of the Middle East, a shepherd would never blame himself . . . “The sheep which was lost” was the typical speech pattern. Jesus breaks that way of thinking and placing blame, and he places the responsibility on the shepherd . . . “Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one . . .”
That is the way the Kingdom of God works. Everyone is valuable. Everyone is worth searching for. No amount of time or energy is to be spared. What "good" religious people do or don't do, can cause people to become lost.
Remember the ninety-nine left behind while the shepherd looks? Think about how they might feel. If the shepherd is willing to go after the lost one, then it gives security to the others. If the shepherd says I don’t care . . . I have ninety-nine to look after, then each of the ninety-nine knows that if he or she becomes lost, then no one will care.
Of one thing I am certain . . . the Kingdom of God is about restoration. What about us?
[Ideas on biblical culture came from Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.]
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