first priority

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Psalm 105:23-45; Matthew 10:34-42


"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."
(Matthew 10:34)

When Jesus comes first in our hearts and lives there comes upset to priorities and particularly to relationships. To be his disciple means just this - he is first. Period. First in affection and love; first in honor and obedience; first in allocation of resources; first in where one spends his time and energy, indeed one's life.

The "Sar Shalom" (the Prince of Peace) does come to bring peace, but not in the realm where he is not recognized as Master and Lord. This seems to be an explanation for the previous sections where Jesus is readying the disciples for the difficulties they will experience in bringing "good news" to people.

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (v. 37)

So the relationship building and blessing with peace (vs. 5-15, from Monday) and the remembrance of our value (vs. 16-33, from Tuesday) are all in the context of following Jesus Christ as Master and Lord, of valuing him above all, of trusting God and serving God before self and before any other important person in our lives. We will know peace that surpasses understanding if the most important person who ever lived is indeed the most important person in our hearts and lives.

So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,
that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD!
(Psalm 105:44-45)

you are valuable

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Psalm 105:1-22; Matthew 10:16-33


"I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves... when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next..."
(Matthew 10:16, 23)

As Jesus continues his instructions for the disciples' mission, he moves to a sober reality check. "It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher..." (v. 25), basically, he says "what they do to me they'll do to you." You too will be delivered over, brought to trial, flogged and hated and persecuted. But do not fear, do not be anxious; you are valued by the Father, and the Spirit of your Father will speak through you. He who endures to the end will be saved.

In the midst of these warnings and promises, Jesus tells them to be wise and innocent as sheep amidst wolves (wow, four animal images mixed together!) and to flee persecution. In other words, while he says to endure to the end, he doesn't say to be a martyr if you don't have to! In fact, because we are valuable to God and to God's world (to whom we're sent in mission with good news) we are to seek to appropriately preserve our lives.

Of course, this is in tension with Jesus' commands:
> it does not mean to deny him in order to save one's life (v. 33).
> "whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (v.39).
> to not seek to save your life but rather to lose it for him and his gospel (16:24-27).

The apostle Paul himself, time and again, was secreted out of cities and guarded with hundreds of soldiers in order to save his life, as well as being beaten, whipped, and imprisoned. Even Jesus, after his first sermon in Luke, slipped away in the crowd away from those who wanted to throw him off the cliff.

You are valuable. Your life here and now matters to God and to God's world. This, I suppose, is one way we love ourselves appropriately (that we might love our neighbor as well). We honor and love God by faithfully pursuing this mission on which we are sent into an often hostile world, this mission of the gospel of his beloved Son. Honoring and loving God also includes honoring and loving something else that he values: you.

let your peace come upon it

Monday, January 7, 2008

Psalm 104; Matthew 10:5-15

"Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food... As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it..."
(Matthew 10:10, 12-13)


Jesus sends out his disciples to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," proclaiming "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" while healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and casting out demons. So while the mission is a grand one, beyond their powers to accomplish, those they were to go to -at least at this point - were their own people.

What strikes me in this first section is the dependent relationship they were to cultivate with those they would visit and minister to. Take no money, no bag, one undergarment, no sandals or staff... stay at whatever house receives you, blessing it with your peace.

We are on mission. How are we to relate to the world around us? To our culture? To the people on our way every day - in our family, at work, in our neighborhood? This passage instructs us to build basic human relationships with the people we meet in our daily sojourn. Recognize that just as they may need our message of the kingdom, we need them in some fundamental ways also.

Too often Christians act like they have already fully entered some other realm of existence that the bad, unholy people around us cannot be a part of and in fact if we do rub shoulders with them and express any kind of humility or dependence on them that our purity and holiness will be jeopardized. Or we just act like most everyone else in our culture, and have superficial relationships but never share what's most important to us. Yes, there comes a time to "shake the dust off" our feet and move on to other relationships - but not until we greet and bless those around us with the peace of the Lord. Too often we only act like disciples on mission when we're with other Christians, at church or in a small group.

This dependent relationship can take may forms. I think of Jesus sitting by a well in Samaria and asking a woman for a drink (John 4); he initiated relationship with her by asking for her help. It might be asking for help or directions or to be shown how to do something. It might be in truly honoring someone for how well they do their job, or care for their children, or play an instrument. It really is mostly an attitude of humility, and love, and respect that recognizes that I've not arrived in heaven yet, that I'm not perfect or self-contained and am still part of the human family. People are so much more open when they feel honored and respected and blessed.

Of course, we are to depend on the Lord alone for our provision and the power to minister. But this text teaches us that one way the Lord provides for us, including a context in which to share the good news of the kingdom, is through our relationships with those around us.

Week of January 6

Prayer for Epiphany, January 6
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Readings for week of January 6, 2008

6 Isaiah 60:1-6,9; Ps 72; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12
7 Psalm 104; Matthew 10:5-15
8 Psalm 105:1-22; Matthew 10:16-33
9 Psalm 105:23-45; Matthew 10:34-42
10 Psalm 106:1-18; Matthew 11:1-19
11 Psalm 106:19-48; Matthew 11:20-30
12 Psalm 107:1-32; Ephesians 3:14-21; Matthew 12:1-8

His harvest

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Psalm 103; Ephesians 3:1-13; Matthew 9:35-10:4

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
(Matthew 9:35)

Our reading today seems to be a summary and transition - a summary of the narrative in chapters 8 and 9, and a transition to the discourse of chapter 10. Again, the narrative is the story of what Jesus was doing and saying, the discourse is an extended teaching to his disciples.

Jesus was teaching, proclaiming, and healing as he went throughout all the cities and villages. This summarizes the last two chapters.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (9:36)

What crowds? Presumably, like those of 7:28 and 8:16 and 9:8, all those gathering around him as his reputation grew and the word spread of all he was saying and doing. He had compassion for them, they needed the intervention of the word of God, the kingdom of God, and the power of God, because they were afflicted, lost, and powerless to help themselves. He came to be their great shepherd, to lead and guide and care for them; his compassion moves him to do something.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (9:37-38)

His compassion does not move him to double his efforts or prolong his evangelistic or healing crusade longer in any given city. Matthew mixes his metaphors, he transitions here from sheep to harvest. The consistent factor is the "crowds" like sheep and the "plentiful" harvest, and sheep "without" a shepherd and a harvest with "few" laborers. So his compassion moves him to enlist his disciples in the restoration project by calling them to pray for laborers for the harvest; actually to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

This indeed is God's Restoration Project. Jesus has come for the Lord's harvest. God will have a harvest, he has sent Jesus for it, and Jesus will send his disciples for it. And that harvest is people who are called into the kingdom, taught and healed; it is harassed and helpless people floundering (another mixed metaphor, do sheep flounder?) around; it is mature fruit, like grain in the field just waiting to be gathered into the barn.

And we find ourselves on both sides of the story today. Those being called in, and those being sent out. Those who are hurting and helpless, and those who are to pray. Those being taught and those who are to teach. Those needing healing, and who are to heal. Those coming into the kingdom, and those sharing its good news.

Faith as connector

Friday, January 4, 2008

Psalm 102; Matthew 9:27-34


Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
They said to him, "Yes, Lord."
Then he touched their eyes saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened.
(Matthew 9:28-29)

This story is reminiscent of the first account in this narrative section, that of the leper who says to Jesus, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean" (8:1f). He was saying what Jesus is asking these blind men, something like, "Lord, I believe that you are able to heal me if now is the time for your will to be done in this way."

It also reminds us of the account of the woman with the issue of blood which precedes this one, "Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well." In this account, faith was demonstrated by an act of reaching out and touching the fringe of Jesus' clothes - the tassels commanded by God in Numbers 15:37-41 (Deuteronomy 22:12) that they might remember the holiness of the Lord and his commandments and not go their own way.

Though these blind men couldn't see Jesus, they had heard of him and his compassion and power to heal. They reached out to connect with him, not through a physical touch, but by crying out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." [Also, they sought Jesus together; there is encouragement and mutual strengthening through being together and together making their petition to the Lord. They didn't just have a pity party, complaining and playing the victim; they reached out together and their faith connected them to Jesus.]

Faith, as we discussed some in the Fall "Restoration" class, has an intellectual component and a heart component, if you will. What we believe, that is, whether it is true is extremely important; but there is more to it than intellectual assent. There is a trusting, even risking, heart. [It also has a "strength" or body / action component - we love and trust the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength...]

I'm still back on the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus garment saying to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well" (8:22). She not only believed that Jesus could do it, but she trusted and and was willing to risk, and so reached out and touched his clothes. Even the blind men crying out for mercy was a risk, as was a non-Jew asking Jesus to heal his slave. The risk is in the possibility of rejection, both by Jesus and by the community; of being left out there exposed, vulnerable, more broken and more in pain than before.

The risk lies in the mysterious place in-between where Jesus is and I am, between his power and my powerlessness, his perfection and my weakness, between heaven and earth, between where God's will is always done and the kingdom has come in fullness and where we are still waiting... It is that space into which our hand is reaching out for him, where our cry for mercy lingers in a silence, an empty void in which we feel isolated from God and others.

Sometimes it is in this space that Jesus speaks to us and reaches out and touches us. What connects us to his word and his touch is trust. Trust is what God is looking for, it's what delights him and causes him to marvel. That is not to say that God meets us half-way. But it is to say that in many cases this faith/trust/belief is the connector to what God is doing and saying. It is the receptor that enables one to receive what is being offered.

"According to your faith be it done to you."
(Matthew 9:29)

Take heart

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Psalm 101; Matthew 9:18-26

"Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well."
(Matthew 9:22)

[We arrived home yesterday, with our luggage. We had a great time in Massachusetts. The first few days were with my family, first on Cape Cod at my parents, then in Acton at my brother John's for a family gathering which was capped off by the Patriots' exciting win over the Giants to be the first team ever to go 16-0 in the regular season. We watched it in HD which my brother gets over the air with a special antenna (he does not have cable or satellite) - it was amazing. Then we dropped the boys and Monica off at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston while Brooke and I drove over to Logan to find our luggage (yes, this was Sunday afternoon after arriving on Thursday night). From there we drove to Andover for a few days with Brooke's family including spending the nights with her 92 year old "Aunt" Gini Andrews in Ipswich (Ipswich claims to have more houses built in the 1600's than any other town in America). Gini spent five years serving the Lord at L'Abri in Switzerland, with Francis Schaeffer and Os Guinness, and is the reason that Brooke and her brother came to Christ. Brooke's brother Roger has five children all around our boys' ages and they love hanging out together. It was great to be with family. If you're reading this, I miss you.]

*******

I have to say that I've been sporadic this past week in my Bible reading, missed several days. In reading today's passage, and reading over chapters 8 & 9, I was struck by how often in these 10 miracle accounts, these signs demonstrating his authority (cf. 7:29; 8:27), Matthew refers to faith as the trigger or connector that brought about salvation and wholeness, or it's absence causing fear.

It's specifically referenced in about every other story:
the centurion (for his slave),
the calming of the storm ("O you of little faith"),
the paralytic (Jesus saw the faith of those who brought this man to him),
the woman with the issue of blood, and
the 2 blind men (tomorrow's reading).

The healing stories where faith is not mentioned are:
the leper ("If you will, you can make me clean"),
Peter's mother-in-law and the multitudes oppressed by demons,
the 2 demonized men living among the tombs,
the dead girl,
a man unable to speak (caused by a demon - 9:32f).

This is worth more in-depth consideration than I will give it here, but let me make a few observations:

(1) While faith is very important and moves Jesus on a number of occasions, there is not one pattern to follow to get healed or relieve your life of pain (ie. if you have enough faith...).

(2) in four of them other people are central to the healing: the faith of others twice is a determining factor, in a third people brought to Jesus many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word, and in a fourth a father kneels before him expressing his faith that if Jesus would lay his hand of her she will live.

(3) three of them record Jesus casting our demons (with no mention of faith). In two of these people are brought to Jesus (the "many" of 8:16, and the mute of 9:32). In the other Jesus encounters the two demonized men (it does say they met him, but then they cried out "what have you to do with us, O Son of God?"). In all of these it seems people struggling with significant demonic influence don't come on their own to Jesus to be delivered, at least not while "under the influence."

(4) In summary, we hear of all of the following factors in healing / wholeness / salvation:
- faith of the sick person, or of people seeking Jesus on that person's behalf
- the will of Jesus ("if you will, you can make me clean")
- the compassion of Jesus (touching the unclean, affirming outcasts, etc.)
- the power of Jesus (to cast out demons, to still wind and waves, over death itself)
- the priority of forgiveness over physical healing, but also its connectedness (9:1-8)

I'll reflect a little bit more on this over the next couple of days, but for today let us be faithful to seek Jesus' healing word or touch for those we know who are hurting, and let us take heart, fear not, and trust in him and his compassion, his power, his will, his timing, and his forgiveness.