Category: kingdom

Posted on

Blast From the Past: The Prodigal Son: The Father

The story in Luke 15 is popularly named for the prodigal son, but it could be titled, “The Story of the Prodigal Father.” Prodigal means recklessly extravagant, and I think that describes the actions of the father in the story. Jesus told this story in response to the criticism that he ate and drank with sinners. It is a picture of God’s extravagant love toward repentant sinners.

The father granted the younger son’s request, even though it was a slap in the face. As a father, I can begin to imagine the grief he felt as his son rejected him and everything he stood for. Rather than writing the son off as a lost cause, the story seems to indicate that the father was constantly looking for him to return. In spite of his grief he kept hoping. When the prodigal returned, the father saw him coming in the distance and ran to meet him. Imagine this dignified man running out to greet his son. In those days, one who did what the son had done would be met by the village elders if he returned and officially banished. The father was not only overjoyed to see his son, he was also protecting him.

Before the son could get his speech out, his father told the servants to prepare for a huge blowout party. He covered the son’s rag’s with a luxurious robe, put good sandals on his feet, and a ring on his finger. All of these were things a beloved son would wear, not a servant. There were no words of disapproval or recrimination, only grace and compassion. When the elder brother acted like a jerk and refused to join the party, the father went to him with grace, reminding him that he was also a beloved son. Again, there were no harsh words from the father.

We have the same kind of Father. When we wander away from him, forgetting who we are, he is waiting patiently for us to return. He knows we will return because his Spirit draws us. We are told in Scripture that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. He doesn’t force us back and hold us against our will. It’s grace and love that brings us to him, and it’s grace and love that keeps us home. In the same way, when we think we somehow have to perform to cause the Father to love us more, or think our good deeds mean we are better than our brothers, the Father calls us to remember that he loves us because he loves us. He doesn’t love us any less when we screw up, and he doesn’t love us any more when we do good things.

Sometimes we forget who our Father is, and who we are as his children. God calls us back to him, not as a servant. He calls us back, not as someone who has earned his love. No, the Father calls us to return home, remembering that we are his beloved children. He is ready to welcome us with open arms and celebrate our return.

 

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Little Shop of Horrors?

Earlier this week, I drove a busload to a local high school to see a performance of “Little Shop of Horrors.”  It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and it even provoked some thoughts. Disclaimer: my thoughts are not always normal.

The play is set in a failing flower shop on Skid Row. One of the employees, a young man named Seymour, comes into possession of an unusual plant that looks somewhat like a Venus Flytrap. The plant appeared mysteriously after a total eclipse. After the plant is displayed, the shop begins to do a booming business. Seymour soon realizes that keeping the plant alive and growing requires human blood.

As time goes on, the shop begins to prosper more and more, and Seymour himself begins to be famous. He is in high demand, and begins to fall into the “end justifies the means” trap. After a couple people end up dead and eaten, Seymour realizes that things are beginning to get out of control. However, he doesn’t know how to get himself out of this mess that he is in. After losing the woman he loves to the plant, he tries to  kill it and ends up being eaten himself. Because of an earlier deal Seymour had made with a grower, the plants are propagated and end up taking over the world.

As I watched the performance, I began to think about the Church, and its relationship to politics. Those of us who claim to follow the King of Kings are subjects of a Kingdom that transcends earthly kingdoms. The problems come when the Church, like Seymour, latch on to things that we think will bring power and prestige and allow us to influence others. We think, like Seymour, “What’s a little blood? It doesn’t take much, and it’s helping the cause so much!” We don’t realize that, like the plant, the systems of this world will not be satisfied with just a little blood. They continually cry, “Feed me!,” and demand greater and greater allegiance.

Look at the times when the Church has mixed with the state, from Constantine through the religious wars of Europe, through Germany in the 1930s and on into today’s struggles in Europe and the United States. The Church (Seymour) has enjoyed some brief periods of power and influence, but ultimately it’s been the state (the plant) that has come out the winner. The lure of using the power of the state to promote the Church is seductive, and it does make things better for some, for awhile. But the cost is far greater than we realize.

We are called to proclaim that Jesus is the True King, that he calls us to follow and obey him, and that he will return some day to consummate his Kingdom and set everything right. As part of that, we are called to speak the truth, whether that is to our neighbors, or to those in positions of power. We cannot speak truth to those in power if we are tangled up with them. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Never wrestle with a pig because you’ll both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

Since our allegiance is to be given to the King of Kings, we should stay away from entangling ourselves with the powers of this world. It may be satisfying for awhile, but eventually they will eat us.