students of jesus

Everyone reveres the prophet after he’s dead. But in his own day the prophet is rejected, ridiculed, scorned, misquoted, misunderstood, vilified, and in some cases shot in the head.

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. In predictable Biblical tradition we have honored the prophet after he’s gone, and in short order have reduced the honor to an innocuous three-day weekend for federal employees and school children. In honor of Dr. King retailers like WalMart, Kohls, Kmart, and Toys R Us all offer fantastic deals of up to 75% off! We honor the prophet by buying more stuff.

Jesus railed against the powerful religious tendency to ignore the word of God when it is living and active, while building cold stone monuments to the word after the voice is silent. Jesus understood this dynamic well:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!” (Matthew 23: 29-31)

Even when Dr. King’s words are Googled and repeated in civic ceremonies, we listen to them with selective hearing and digest the sound bites like hors d’oeuvres at the reception afterward. But the words of the prophets were never meant to go down easy, even for those who agree with them.

Nearly every schoolchild can tell you Dr. King “had a dream,” but perhaps only one in ten can articulate that dream.

For example when Dr. King declared on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” we rally to the idea that no one should be judged by the color of their skin, but we gloss over the part of the dream where we are all judged by the content of our character. The prophet denounced racism while reminding all of us that our character will be judged.

Perhaps we could honor Dr. King’s memory with a simple and sobering meditation today: will I hear all of God’s word–or only that portion that goes down easy? If we are willing to hear all of the word, the day will come when we can hew a stone of hope out of the mountain of despair.

Part of Genesis’ beauty and power is its narrative. Genesis tells a grand story—indeed, it actually tells only the first chapter in the grandest story ever told. It’s a narrative, inspired by the Holy Spirit, true in the truest possible way.

Sometimes one or two passages invite us to stop and reflect on what we’ve read. These verses are like Selah in the Psalms: pause, and think about that. Here are two refrains from Genesis worthy of our reflection:

Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah . . . (Genesis 25:8-9)

And:

Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him . . . (Genesis 35:28-29)

Can you think of two more unlikely combinations of men drawn together by the task of burial? The first combination, Isaac and Ishmael, shared one father and became regarded as patriarchs of the Jews and Muslims. The second combination, Jacob and Esau, were twins who each became fathers of nations: Israel and Edom.

What a vast distance between both pairs of men! Their stories couldn’t have differed more. As a child Ishmael was sent into the wilderness in order to make room for the younger half-brother Isaac. (Still, God himself promised to look over Ishmael all his days). Esau was tricked out of his birthright and inheritance by his quick-witted brother. He wanted to kill Jacob! Jacob, the trickster, lived in fear of his older twin, but somehow eventually came to see the face of God in the very man he had feared for so long (Genesis 33:10). Later they were reconciled, but both went their separate ways again.

Both sets of brothers came together one last time to bury their fathers. Whatever past they shared was well behind them—or was it?

Today’s post has no answers, only reflections. We have an opportunity to see these men anew: opportunities to ask ourselves questions, the answers to which we may not face for decades. These are Selah moments, calling for deep reflection. The sacred word invites us beyond learning. It offers us the chance to imagine our deep roots and vast future. Why do you think the Holy Spirit included the details of who buried Abraham and Isaac? Sometimes the scripture teaches not by precept, but by poignancy.

Come: imagine along with me, and ask these questions:

• Can you visualize the task of burying someone in the ancient world?
• Can you imagine these brothers, separated by miles and years, coming together over their fathers’ deaths?
• Did Isaac, Ishmael, Esau, and Jacob still carry within them any effect from their past relationships?
• After each set of brothers finished did they stay together for a night? A week? A month?
• What would their conversation be after so much separation and so much time?

And another set of questions, perhaps a little closer to home:

• From whom am I separated? How long has it been? And why?
• Whose death will pull me back into long-neglected relationships?
• Do I still carry any effects from my past?
• What will the Holy Spirit choose to highlight to my descendants when He tells my story?

 Grace and peace to you as (together) we ask, “Who will help bury our dead?”

Grace grows in community—but not just any community.

This is a difficult message for many people these days because by community I mean the church. The same Father-God who adopted us into his family intends that we should live together as family. This is a difficult message because in modern times the church of Jesus is largely out of joint. We have created a Christendom where we can choose churches the way most people choose restaurants: according to our individual tastes. By most estimates there are more than 25,000 Christian denominations worldwide. Not individual churches, denominations. How can we grow in grace when we a free to wander from one family to another?

It’s an old story. Ask nearly any Christian: you’ll hear stories of church drama, church fights, and church splits. But it doesn't have to be like this. Listen carefully the Apostle Peter:

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:8-11)

It’s easy to miss the word grace in this passage, but you’ll find it right in the middle, which is where grace always belongs. Our words and actions are the practical expressions of God’s grace. God wants to show his grace through the love, hospitality, encouragement, and service in the community of faith. We extend grace to others precisely because we’ve received grace from God. Among our families at home—and among the family of God—we are called to be caretakers of grace. Too often we have become merely consumers of grace, and it has led to a church for every taste and preference the consumers can imagine.

One church in my hometown has an interesting way to determine “membership” in the congregation. “If you’ve hung out with us long enough to have your feelings hurt by someone in the church,” says the pastor, “and then decided to forgive and stay here anyway, welcome to the family!” This pastor isn’t trying to excuse bad behavior or ignore the flaws of his church, he’s trying to playfully indicate that living within a faith community is the perfect opportunity to extend grace to others. Grace grows among family (or at least it should).

Not only does grace grow in the community we call church, it grows in the most unlikely corners of the church: among our shortcomings, our hypocrisies, and failings. If everyone in the church had his or her act together, what need would there be to extend grace? Look closely at the passage above: the Apostle Peter calls us to use our gifts in service toward one another. We steward the grace we have received by the way we speak and act toward others in the church.

Have you thought about grace as a stewardship? If not, here’s a wonderful exercise: trying reading the parable of the talents (it’s in Matthew 25 and also Luke 19) as a teaching about grace. The Master leaves something of great worth with his servants (substitute grace for gold), and when he returns, he looks to see whether we have used his gift wisely.

Best of all of all is our reward. In Matthew’s version of the parable, the Master not only praises the good stewards, he extends an invitation: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” says the Master. “Come and share your master’s happiness!” When we distribute the grace of God we will receive his praise, and something more: an invitation to enter into his joy. Through grace, joy increases for everyone.

I once attended a meeting of pastors who were planning a “city-wide revival.” The pastor of a respected and growing church opened the meeting with these words: “God is only going to ask each of us two questions when we get to heaven: ’Do you know my Son?’ and ‘How many others did you bring with you?’” It was a memorable opening because it was short, dramatic, and wrong. The record of the first century church reveals a profound concern for a spiritual transformation that flows from a decision to follow Jesus.

The Apostle Paul prayed for the spiritual transformation of people who “already knew” Jesus. Perhaps we can discover God's transformational heart, as revealed in Paul’s prayer:

Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14)

First, we need to be filled. Paul asked God to pour “the knowledge of his will” into the believers in Colossae. Apparently the next step after coming to Jesus as Lord is to be filled with the knowledge of his will. It requires something more than mere human intellect—it requires spiritual wisdom and understanding. We have a tendency to apply the old way of living life to our new life in Christ, but the problem is we were born again into a new kingdom. If we take the image of the new birth seriously we should realize there’s a new kind of life ahead, and we are mere babes. This new life ahead requires something beyond our old-life resources.

Second, we can live a life “worthy of God.” Each of us has heard the message of forgiveness so often we are tempted to think forgiveness is all there is to the gospel. Some live in a continuing cycle of sin-forgiveness-sin, and consider it normative for God’s children. Paul knew better. He understood there is a proper response to God’s initial grace. That response is a changed life—a life “worthy of the Lord.” A life in which it is possible to please God, bear fruit, and grow in new life. These first two aspects of Paul’s inspired prayer are beyond the grasp of many believers.

Finally the kingdom of God is at hand—especially for those who know him: Paul prays that we would each receive our inheritance: ”the kingdom of light.” Jesus died to pay the price for our sin, and like everyone who dies, he left an inheritance to his family: a new kind of life. This new life looks dramatically different from the old kind of life. He described this life as “righteousness, peace, and joy in he Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) Here’s a bell-weather question for each follower of Jesus—does my life differ dramatically from my old kind of life? The inbreaking of God’s kingdom floods our lives with light, and light is necessary if we are going to move through this new kind of Kingdom-life.

Paul envisioned a church filled with individuals able to receive the Kingdom-life God offers to everyone born from above. His prayer was not for the Colossians alone: can you hear him praying over you now?