Tag Archives: parable

Why the story of Samaria matters today

11 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Theology

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Last week during a bible study I lead, we talked about Acts 8:4-40.  It’s the story of Philip in Samaria.  To our modern ears, that sounds like Philip got in the car and drove down to the next city over and started preaching.  But it’s far from that.  There’s a ton of history underlying this situation – centuries of animosity and deep-seated division.

It’s this deep-seated seething that makes the parable that Jesus tells about the “good Samaritan” so shocking.  But explaining all of this takes some time.

So I’m going to offer a modern-day version of the parable so you might get the effect of what Jesus was saying.

There once was an American who traveled to the Holy Land.  He wore his American flag shirt so everyone would know he was an American.  He was traveling along and seeing all the sites in the region when he was mugged and beaten by some local thieves.  They beat him badly and left him for dead.

As he lay there, wondering if he would survive, along came a tour bus full of American tourists.  The bus driver knew that this was not a safe area that he was driving through, so he kept on going for fear of robbers jumping the bus and robbing everyone.  As they pass, the tourists snapped pictures of the poor local who benefited from American’s generosity with our clothing.

The man was distraught and was starting to give up hope when along came a pastor on a motorcycle.  He saw the man on the side of the road but kept going – he had many committee meetings to get to and had to make an important presentation about the finances of the church he served.  He reasoned that someone else would stop.  As he left, he offered a quick prayer and went on his way.

The man who was beaten lay there, dying.

A third man approached.  This man looked nothing like the people from two other groups.  He was a member of ISIS – a sworn enemy of the American.  He came across the man who was beaten badly and he was moved with compassion for him.  He took what first aid materials he had and used them on the American.  Then he lifted him up and took the man to the local emergency room and told the intake person that he would pay for the care of the man.

And Jesus asked “Which of these three was the neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

So, now do you get how radical Jesus’ parable was?  Do you get how unlikely it was that the Samaritans would have listened to Philip?  And yet, they did.  Amazing!

Fairness

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in Theology

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Fair is overrated.

Oh the horror and shock of such a statement.  Aren’t we supposed to be for fairness?  Aren’t we supposed to push for a more fair society?  Doesn’t fairness fit in with justice, relationships, and peace?

My answer to each of these questions is no. With some exceptions for the third question.

Fairness can be defined the following way – impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination.

Sounds nice on the surface right?

To help clarify this, here is a definition of “just” – based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.

Who wouldn’t be in favor of that right?

Well God for one.  In our Gospel lesson from this past Sunday we heard a parable from Matthew 20 in which the landlord hires people throughout the day and at the end of the day ends up paying people all the same wage – regardless of how long they worked.

If we are honest about this reading, our first complaint about it is that it’s not fair.  The people who worked the longest should be paid the most.  But the land owner doesn’t treat the laborers fairly.  He pays them what they agreed to – a day’s wage.  All of them, without exception.  It’s not based on merit or work.  It’s based on what the land owner wants to do with his money and property.  In this case, the land owner is often compared to God.

In a sense, God is not fair.  We aren’t treated with impartiality when it comes to God.  Instead we are treated in an unfair manner – but it is unfair in our favor.  Just like the last workers in the field who get paid way more than they deserve.  They were treated in an unfair manner – and they were thrilled by it.  The ones who worked in the field all day long, and received their reward complained because it seemed to them that they were treated unfairly compared to the late comers.  Yes, they were treated unfairly.  But God doesn’t deal with us fairly.  And we should all be grateful for that.  If God were to treat us fairly, we’d get what we deserve.  And since all of us are sinners, what we deserve isn’t to spend eternity in the presence of God, but separated from God.

Instead, I’m glad we don’t have a fair God.  But rather a God who treats us unfairly.

Trump and the Boy Scouts

26 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Politics, Society, Theology

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Do I dare?  Do I touch this?  Sure, why not.  Everyone else seems to be commenting on this, so why not me.  Maybe I can offer a different perspective.

I know it’s dangerous to talk about partisan politics – so many people have their loyalties to one party or the other and hence have a cemented opinion about political leaders, including the President. I’m just as guilty.  But I’m wondering what we can learn from this latest episode of the President speaking in front of the Boy Scouts.

Before I go on, I have to say, I haven’t seen the speech, nor read it.  There’s a pretty good chance I never will.  What I’m more interested in is the reaction to his speech.

Trump doesn’t really interest me.  I think he’s pretty predictable.  Say something outlandish in order to get a response – that way everyone is talking about him.  Whoever controls the conversation, is the one with real power.  If we have learned anything it is that he’s really good as drawing attention to himself.  And many people feel the need to be sucked into whatever the latest tweet or thing he said is.

When I contemplate this episode, I can’t help but think of this past Sunday’s Gospel lesson in Matthew 13:24-30 – the parable of the wheat and the weeds.

“He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

I’m not interesting in determining if Trump is the sower of the weeds or the seeds (depending on your political leanings), or is a weed, or something else.

What I’m interested in is this – What are we called to?  How are we to relate and react to the President or any other politician we may disagree with, or as some believe, find to be a danger?  Remember, every President, since Washington was president, had an opposition that couldn’t stand them.  Every President has faced threats of impeachment – yes, even the “universally” loved Washington.  Every President has been viewed as evil by some and as a wonderful leader who can save the nation by others.

And in each case, the faith and hope in that person is misplaced.  Or rather, too much faith and hope is placed in that person.  It doesn’t matter if that person is Trump or if it was Obama.

Christians are called to be wheat in the world of weeds.  We are called to live differently.  To, dare I say it, have different loyalties – (sounds so un-American, doesn’t it?)

So what do we do with a politician who desires to be the center of the universe?  The same thing you do when you deal with a black hole – avoid being sucked in.  You live your life.  You stay in control of your emotional state.  You realize that you aren’t going to like what the person says or tweets and you determine the best way to stay informed without being controlled by the person.  You don’t allow this person to determine what you do each day or what your emotional state will be.

Most important – you live out your calling, no matter what.  To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to visit the imprisoned, to care for the sick, to acknowledge the humanity in others, to tap into the value of those that feel valueless.

In other words, to build up the kingdom of God, regardless of what happens in DC or who sits in the Oval Office. Yes, some people make that easier and some make it harder.  You don’t have control over that.  You have control over how you react and what you do going forward.

Our hope isn’t in the person of the President – regardless of who it is.  It’s in the person of Jesus.

Our future isn’t tied to the President, our future is in Jesus.

Our loyalty, dare I say it, isn’t to the President first, but to the kingdom of God first.

Whether you are thrilled that Trump is president or dismayed, this administration isn’t permanent – nothing here is.  At some point in time, his name will be forgotten to the ashes of history.  But God, and God’s kingdom, will not.  In the end, God’s kingdom prevails.  That is where our hope is – that is where our faith lies.

Responding to a politician with anger isn’t going to change the politician or how they act.  It certainly won’t make us feel better either.  You can’t change weeds into wheat.  You can only be wheat.  We need wheat in the world of weeds.  We need to be wheat in relation to politics.  There are plenty of weeds in the world.  Plucking the weeds is a never-ending battle that is exhausting.  Being wheat though is different.  Wheat actually feeds people and gives life to those around us.  It’s time to be wheat, and plant more seeds.

Seeds

21 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by in Theology

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Last Sunday the Gospel lesson was the parable of the Sower and the Seeds.  This Sunday the lesson is about the wheat and the weeds.  Both of these are in Matthew 13 and both are rather interesting.

You can read the typical commentary on these parables, but I want to point out something a bit different.  It’s an observation about the two parables.

I argue that these two parables aren’t primarily nice stories designed to teach a lesson.   Rather, I see these stories as Jesus telling about his own life.

Take the parable of the sower and the seeds.  The sower goes around and spreads seed and the seed falls on various ground – sometimes the birds pluck it up, sometimes the seed gets trampled on, sometimes the seed shoots up quick and dies right away.  And sometime the seed falls on good soil and produces more seed.

Isn’t this exactly what Jesus did.  He went around and spread the Good News about the kingdom of God far and wide – in lots of different places.  In some cases the message was trampled by those who didn’t like it.  In other places, the message grew quickly, but died off when the person understood that Jesus wanted their entire life.  And in other cases, the message found good soil and bore fruit in that person’s life and spread to others.

In this week’s message, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the weeds and how they are allowed to grow together.  Again, I see Jesus’ story here.  Jesus doesn’t send down hellfire and condemnation to separate the weeds from the wheat – he allows both to grow together as he goes about his ministry.

And this is what we are called to also – to spread the Good News, to not be the culture police.  Our job isn’t to change the culture around us to our way of thinking and believing.  Rather it is to live differently and be an open invitation to a different way of living.

WWAPD?

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Church, Theology

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I’m not sure where I saw this article.  (Thanks to whoever either posted it or sent it to me).  It’s great and I’m sure it will cause some people to get a bit upset and say things that start with “yeah, but…”  The comments at the end of the article (on the actual page) are worth a read too – they emphasize the point.

Enjoy:

Once upon a time, a mother made her son a wristband. On it was written: WWJD? This, of course stood for: “What Would Jesus Do?” She instructed her son to look at the wristband before making decisions on how to live his Christian life.

A week later she was shocked to see that her son had become friends with prostitutes, was hanging out with ‘sinners’ — even buying people who were already drunk yet another round of beers!

Worse still, he had walked into their church the previous Sunday and tore down the book store, overturned the tables and threw the cash register through the window, he then made a whip and chased the pastor out of the building, declaring he was turning God’s house into a den of thieves.

Most shocking was what happened when his mother went to picket the local abortion clinic. To her embarrassment, her son was also there, but he was standing with the women who just had an abortion, and yelled at the protesters: “You who are without sin, throw the first stone!”

The mother was very distressed, but fortunately she found a solution to this terrible problem. She made another wristband, this time it read: WWAPD? This, she explained to her son, stood for: “What Would A Pharisee Do?” She took the old WWJD? wristband and burned it.

Since her son has been wearing the new wristband, looking at it to help him make his decisions, he has become a dedicated tither, a public prayer warrior, an active condemner of ‘sinners,’ a passionate defender of the Old Covenant law, and has a great reputation as a godly young man amongst other religious people.

Needless to say, the mother is very happy now. She only wishes Jesus would take notice and follow her son’s good example.