Category: sacrifice

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Blast From the Past: The Prodigal Son: Becoming the Father

This is the fourth post in the series I wrote a few years ago. In The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen writes that the challenge for him is to become the father. It is a challenge that is full of difficulties. When we look again at the Father in our own stories, we can see how daunting it is.

Our Father is gracious and loving without condition. He gives us many good gifts, but the most important gift he gives is himself. The Father is reckless in giving himself to us. Jesus, who is the image of the Father, gave his very life for us, pouring out his blood for our salvation. We are granted grace and mercy without measure from an eternal, inexhaustible love. There is nothing our Father wouldn’t do for our good.

As children of God, we are called to be like him. When I look in a mirror, I see my dad. The eyes, the facial features, the hair (or lack thereof), the voice, all show whose son I am. The same is to be true of those who are children of the heavenly Father. As God is loving and compassionate, so we are to be loving and compassionate. As God is gracious and merciful, so we are to be gracious and merciful. As God gives himself, so we are to give ourselves. You get the idea.

In my late twenties my life changed as I became a father. Even though I was still a son, I was now a person with a child. That brought a change in responsibilities, and a change in perspective. As we mature in Christ, we are to leave both the prodigal and the elder son behind. We are still in need of fathering from God, but our vocation changes. We are now called to be the father. As I look at the father in the story, I see some things that will be true as we become the father. Nouwen states that the three ways to compassionate fatherhood are grief, forgiveness, and generosity.

We grieve over those who have left home, we grieve over the injustice and abuse in the world, and we grieve over our own weakness. One aspect of grieving is realizing that we cannot save the one who has wandered away. The father in the story didn’t go after his son, but he watched and waited for him to return. So it is with us. Many times, all we can do is pray that God will turn the prodigal around. We can not go into the far country and drag them back. All we can do is wait and be ready to welcome them home.

This grieving makes us sensitive to others who are hurting, and the sensitivity leads us to forgive those who wrong us. As the father did, we forgive without question any and all who return. As Jesus said, we forgive, and forgive, and forgive, and forgive, and so on. True forgiveness also reconciles. The father didn’t say to the prodigal, “I forgive you, but I think I’ll just keep you on as a servant.” He accepted him back as his beloved son. No strings attached.

The third way to compassionate fatherhood is generosity. The father spared nothing to celebrate his son’s return. He gave the best of everything, including himself. We are called to give ourselves to others in the same way. Yes, we may get hurt. I’m sure the father was hurt when the elder son refused to join the party, and I would guess the younger son wasn’t perfect after he was restored. He may well have cause his father more pain. We are to remember the hurt we have caused our Father and the grace he gives us regardless, and do the same for others.

May the Father enable us to be as gracious, loving, and compassionate to others as he is to us.

 

 

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Serving by Washing

It was just before Passover. Jesus and his disciples were in an upstairs room eating the Passover meal together. Jesus knew that his time to leave this world was near. I don’t know about you, but I probably would have been thinking about myself, and trying to maneuver the conversation around so I would be encouraged, and would know that I was loved. Jesus however, showed his followers his love for them, and left an example of that love for us to follow.

He got up from the table, took his outer garment off and wrapped a towel around himself. He then took a basin with water and proceeded to go to his disciples and wash their feet. I have read that this was a common practice for hosts to have their guests’ feet washed as they entered. This foot washing was done by the lowest of the household servants. Now don’t get the idea that this was a simple thing. Back in those days, people walked around barefoot, or with sandals on their feet. The roads and streets were dirt, and the people shared them with donkeys, cattle, and other animals. There also were no street cleaners around, so you can imagine what would have to be cleaned from a person’s feet. Not a job that is going to have applicants out the door.

So, here we have the King, who knew what faced him, taking the job of a bottom tier servant to show his love to his followers. Not just that, he also left them, and us with a lesson. They rightly called Jesus, “Teacher” and “Lord.” If the Lord stooped to wash his disciples feet, to do the dirtiest job, how much more should his followers be willing to stoop to serve their fellow disciples. Later, Jesus gives a new command. He tells his followers that they are to love one another as he loved them, by laying down their lives for each other. He says that there is no greater love. We are told in other passages that if we love God with all of our being and love others as ourselves we fulfill all of the Law.

Why does the world today reject Christ? There are any number of reasons you could state. I believe that one of the primary reasons the world rejects Jesus is that they don’t see him in those who claim to follow him. Ask people what they think of Christians, and you might hear such things as hypocrites, controlling, political. You might even hear loving, peaceful, or like Jesus. It depends on who you are talking to.

If you asked a person in the first century what they thought of this strange new sect that proclaimed Jesus as the True King, you might hear some of the rumors. However, you were more likely to hear that they shared what they had with each other, and with their neighbors. You might hear that they went out and rescued babies left by the road to die. At one point you might hear that they were quite willing to give up everything, including their lives.

Our King didn’t come on a war horse to conquer and set up a “Christian nation.” He didn’t come to kill his enemies. The King we follow came riding a donkey, performed the job of a lowly slave, and gave his life for us. As we remember the night that Jesus washed feet, and maybe wash feet ourselves, let us remember what it is to we are called to.

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Palm Sunday: The Coming of the King

On Palm Sunday, Christians commemorate Jesus’ entry into the city of Jerusalem. It was just before the Passover celebration and the city was full of pilgrims who had traveled many miles to participate. The city was also full of Roman soldiers who were brought in to keep the peace. Tensions ran high, as many of the Jews were hoping that this year would be the year that the Messiah would come and lift the boot of Rome off their necks.

As Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, the crowd hailed him as the King who was prophesied.  They thought he would call all Israel to himself and send the Romans back to where they came from, restoring the glory that Israel had back in the days of David. After all, it was prophesied that a descendant of David would come and take the throne.

The people were correct. Jesus was the King that they had been waiting for. What they didn’t understand was the kind of King he was. They were looking for a King who would drive out the oppressors, who would rule a kingdom where everyone kept Torah, who would make Israel great again. Their focus was on an earthly king and an earthly kingdom. Pilate misunderstood too. He put a notice at the top of the cross proclaiming that this man being crucified was “Jesus, the King of the Jews,” in effect telling all who saw that Rome was powerful enough to do this to any would be king who challenged their authority.

I fear that many Christians in the West suffer from the same misunderstanding of Jesus. Yes, he is King. Yes, he is going to return and set everything right. But, his kingdom is still not a kingdom of this world, and it does not come by earthly means. We can not bring in the kingdom at the ballot box or in the halls of government. No government or nation can lay claim to being a “Christian” government or nation. No matter how good a nation may be, it is still a kingdom of this world. Babylon still exists in different forms around the world, and those who follow the True King are not to put their hopes in, or give their allegiance to Babylon. Our allegiance is only to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Followers of Jesus realize that when he returns, it will be on his timetable. We can not work to arrange things in order to speed his return. None of that is in our hands. It’s a good thing, because we would royally screw it up.

Involvement in government is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it does not take the place of doing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly with God, loving God with all our being, and loving others as ourselves. These days, that may be the most subversive, revolutionary thing we can do. It may get us in trouble in some circles, but we are called to follow our King wherever he leads, just as the early Christians did.

How many of us are willing to do that?

 

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Blast From the Past: Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given Part 3

This is part three of a four part series.

As we are able to claim our blessedness, we can then, “face our own and others’ brokenness with open eyes.” Henri Nouwen ends his chapter on blessedness with these words. The next chapter is on the third word that Nouwen found useful in identifying the movements of the Spirit in our lives. That word is broken.

“Broken” is a term that most of us in the church don’t like to hear or think about. We do love hearing about the “broken body of Christ,” because it speaks to us of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We love to hear about the power of sin being broken, even though we sometimes live as if we were still under its sway. What we don’t like to think about is the idea that we have been, are, and will be broken. But, it is true.

We live in a broken world. All anyone needs to do is look around them or watch the evening news. The creation is broken. It is being restored, but it is still broken. Take a look at the folks around us. They are broken people, and much of the heartache and misery in the world is caused by broken people breaking other people. No one escapes being broken. Nouwen puts it this way,

“Instinctively we know that the joy of life comes from the ways in which we live together and that the pain of life comes from the many ways we fail to do that well.”  

I think Nouwen is correct when he states that, just as we claim our chosenness and blessedness, we must claim our brokenness. We must own up the fact that we have been hurt in the past, may be hurt in the present, and will be hurt in the future. That’s part of the job description. After owning up to our brokenness, we then can respond to it. We do that in two ways, by befriending it and by bringing it under the  blessing.

Our first response to our brokenness is to befriend it. That seems counterintuitive to us. Our first, and sometimes only response is usually to run away, to avoid that which is causing us pain and convince ourselves that if we ignore it it will go away. The problem with that approach is that it doesn’t bring healing. I believe that our tendency to run from pain is a contributing factor to some of the mental health problems in society, and to many, if not most of our relationship problems. We are afraid of pain, of heartbreak, of suffering. If we do find the courage to embrace our pain we then find that we have started down the road of healing. Nouwen writes,

“The deep truth is that our human suffering need not be an obstacle to the joy and peace we so desire, but can become, instead, the means to it.”

Everything in our lives, good or bad, joyful or painful, can be part of the path we take to being fully human. This is a hard concept to grasp. We can easily see how the good in our lives brings us to glory, but it’s another thing entirely to see our suffering in the same light.

The second response to suffering is to put it under the blessing. Like the first century disciples who asked Jesus if the man’s blindness was a result of his sin or his parents’, we usually look at suffering as an indication that we’re bad people. There are many voices out there that tell us that if we just do things the right way, or  if we are really God’s child, then we won’t have to suffer. I wonder what the apostle Paul, or the Christians being martyred for their faith today would say to that. Suffering does not necessarily mean that we are bad people. It does not mean that the negative voices in our lives are right. We must listen the voice that calls us beloved children, the voice of our Father. Our brokenness does not cause God to love us any less, it does not cause him to see us in a negative light.

As we live in our blessedness and take our brokenness there and put it in the proper perspective, we find that the burden becomes lighter and the way becomes clearer. We can then see the suffering as a means of  purifying us. Ask a grape vine if pruning is something it enjoys. If the vine could feel and talk, it would tell you that pruning is painful. I mean, how would you like to have a limb hacked off? The vine would also tell you that the suffering of pruning is worth it because it produces the abundant harvest of grapes that allows us to share wine with our friends. Sometimes there are things in our lives that need to be pruned away. While it is a painful process, it is also an indication that our Abba loves us, and is forming us into the people he wants us to be.

As the bread in the Communion, we are taken in order to be blessed. We are blessed so that we can be broken. As the bread cannot be distributed unless it is broken, so with us. We are broken so that we might be given.

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Blast From the Past: Problems and Opportunities

This was first published back in 2011. In some ways, I think it’s still timely.

The stock market is on a roller coaster ride. Some economists say the United States is headed for another recession. European nations are in crisis. The U.S. credit rating has been downgraded. Unemployment continues to be a major problem.   Some say the United States is being punished for “turning away from God.” Others say that this is a sure sign of the end. These things may be true or they may not.

I wonder if maybe God is finished with this country as far as blessing it and using it to bless the world. Many see these things as serious problems, and there are some who are even reacting in the same manner as those who put their trust in material things rather than God.   I do believe we may be in for some rough times in this country. What that will mean is left up to far wiser folks than me to figure out. What I do know is that the coming bad times, if they come, will present those who claim to follow Jesus the opportunity to put their money (or their houses, cars, or other possessions) where their mouth is.  

One of the primary things said about about the early church was that there were no poor persons among them. If you remember, this was at a time when there were a whole lot of poor people around the Empire. The followers of Jesus, because they were devoted to Jesus Christ and to each other, were willing to go so far as selling their possessions in order to help those who were in need.

How far are we willing to go?   Are we willing to sell something to give to a fellow Christian who has lost employment? Are we willing to change our routine and patronize a business on order to help a brother or sister in Christ? Are we willing to provide living space for someone who has lost their home? Are we willing to share possessions (clothes, yard tools, cooking utensils, etc.) in order to ease someone’s burden? In short, are we willing to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters?  

A friend said to me that she believed God was telling her that the time was short. While this could refer to the end times, I think that maybe it’s our time as prosperous “American Christians” that is short. I believe that it may not be very long before those of us who claim to follow Jesus will have to put up or shut up. God help us to be found faithful.

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After 20 Years

September 11, 2001. Some three thousand people awoke that morning, went about their routine, and headed off for their day. None of them had any idea that this day would be their last in this life. I was a teacher and athletic director in a small Christian school , and was in my office listening to the radio. A report broke in to the programming. Evidently, a plane had flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. At the time, no one knew if this was an accident, or deliberate. A short time later news came in of a second plane flying into the second tower. The word “attack” was being uttered. Then the third plane flew into the Pentagon and the unthinkable began to become very real. The United States was under attack. Shortly thereafter, we learned that a fourth plane had been hijacked and that the South Tower had collapsed. At the same time, plans were in motion to take down the fourth plane if it approached Washington, D.C. This proved to be unnecessary because some of the passengers on that flight attacked the hijackers, and the plane ended up crashing into a field in Pennsylvania. Shortly after the fourth plane crashed, the North Tower collapsed. While all this was happening, flights all over the country were grounded in an attempt to prevent future attacks.

I was in a state of shock, as was the nation. All of our might, our prosperity, our sense of safety, seemed to be an illusion. For many days there was concern that something else might happen. There was grief for those who had perished, and for those who had been left behind. There was also a determination to help those who had been injured, and those whose loved ones had been torn from them. In the days to come, the nation was unified as it had been in the last world war. It seemed that there was no longer division between groups or parties. We were all Americans. The nation had been shaken to its core, and as a result turned to God. It seemed as if America might come out of this stronger and better.

Twenty years have passed. I believe that, while we were stronger, better, and more unified at the beginning, America has let all of that slip away. We may be more divided now than at any time in our history. There are groups and individuals who believe, and proclaim that anyone who doesn’t believe the way they do is not a real American. The spirit of helping others and sacrificing for their good has been replaced with a spirit of me first, my rights, my desires. There are those that call for open rebellion, and some even call for a civil war. Some of these folks even call themselves followers of the Prince of Peace!

Many in the church have confused being a Christian with adhering to a particular political viewpoint. The idea of being a citizen of the kingdom of God is forgotten by many, or is pushed to something in the far-off future. Twenty years ago, America had a common enemy from the outside. Today, it seems that the common enemy is each other. If we continue to fight and seek to destroy that enemy, we will destroy ourselves. I hope we can wake up and look for the common ground that helped us through those days after 9/11/2001.