This is a place where we can read, reflect and respond to the traditional scriptures of Lent. Lent is the time where we are made low so that we can appreciate the height of the risen Christ.
Joseph, Jesus. I think there is something familiar about their stories: “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
I just want to say something about Joseph. Is it really so bad to be a dreamer? I mean I know that his dreams foretold things that other people, especially his brothers, didn’t want to hear, but Albert Einstein was a dreamer, Thomas Edison was a dreamer, Eleanor Roosevelt was a dreamer, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Jane Addams, and the list goes on. Each of them had a dream that no one else wanted to hear, or no one thought would work. People literally thought they were crazy, and if they didn’t think they were crazy, they hated them for what they envisioned the future to be. I am sure that at least one of us has a dream that we think people would view as crazy, but maybe that dream is the one the world needs to hear. Maybe it is the one we can’t live without.
Jesus? Really. I mean if you saw a guy, who had just been out in the desert for forty days, fasting and being tempted, and he was walking through your town saying, "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" wouldn’t you be a little suspicious? I went on a trip to Washington, DC once, when Clinton was still president, and there was a guy in a toga and leather sandals standing outside the White House playing a four string hand-held harp. Pling! Pling! “The end is near.” Pling! “The time has come.” Pling! “Repent and be saved.” Pling! Pling! “God’s reign is at hand.” I will never forget about him, because I thought he was the biggest kook I’d ever seen!
Even though I believe that Jesus is the Messiah, I wonder sometimes if those people in Galilee weren’t just a bit freaked out, embarrassed, or bewildered by Jesus and John’s behavior. I think news travels fast, when someone is considered a freak show: “News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.” Think about how quickly we all know every bit of celebrity gossip, and put yourself in 2000 year old shoes. What would you do if this camel hair covered, locusts and honey eating, desert dwelling, baptizing, crazy and his cousin, who is God’s “beloved son” were telling you to repent? Pling!
So I guess the question is what does all of this mean for me? Here and now this Lent. I feel like I am being challenged to dream and to figure out as David posted how to live in the already but not yet of Jesus. I think that might look a bit outrageous and news should travel fast.
This idea of God as a grassroots/underdog deity keeps popping up to me as I read these Lenten verses. I know he's more powerful than that, but he's definitely set things up to show his power dramatically by taking the least likely person and making him the hero of the story. That's probably why we use that same story in so much of our literature.
Anyway, I think it's hard not to find encouragement in light of this. We're all struggling against something, sometimes against very long odds. But we know that God delights in displaying his power in uplifting these unlikely figures. Like us.
I think that God as an underground power makes a lot of sense. I tend to think of christianity as the force of change from the outside in as opposed to the force of change from the center out. I think that history and the spread of Christianity bears that out as well. Most empires that institutionalize Christianity tend to wind up blowing up pretty quickly afterwards. What do you think? Is Christianity possible from the inside out? If so how?
So, Dave, culturally Christianity is an inward progression moving from the outside, not bound by institutional walls, but what about personally? Do you think Christianity for the individual is the same type of progression? I don't think Christianity can really be personal in many ways, I see it as more corporate than most people do, but I just wondered what you thought...
When reading the Mark section of today's reading, I couldn't quite get this idea out of my head: "Jesus is going to die." And then, "Why is he making such an investment in us?"
For probably many reasons, it seems like we read the Gospel accounts and separate Jesus life from his impending death. I wonder if Jesus could separate the two. Then, if he couldn't -- I am really impressed!
If I knew the manner and way and time of my death, I would want to selfishly be building up a crew that could either support me as I endure or help keep it from happening. Jesus did neither of these either by the binding nature of OT prophecy or through immense personal commitment to the Father's will.
Either way, it was just remarkable to me as I pondered. To know so fully the grisly nature of your death and yet have the courage and love that Jesus had for us. So much so, that we see Him calling us to repent! He's choosing disciples! He's casting out demons!
I could imagine myself looking at the task ahead and the unpleasant road to the inevitable end, and wondering "why bother?"
As people that cannot know the future, we can always choose to delude ourselves into thinking the future will just keep on getting better and brighter and survive on a hope and prayer. Jesus didn't have this luxury.
Thanks, Jesus, for persevering and doing the job of today (the Father's will) even while knowing the horrible and painful road ahead of you.
5 comments:
Sorry for the long comment:
Joseph, Jesus. I think there is something familiar about their stories: “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
I just want to say something about Joseph. Is it really so bad to be a dreamer? I mean I know that his dreams foretold things that other people, especially his brothers, didn’t want to hear, but Albert Einstein was a dreamer, Thomas Edison was a dreamer, Eleanor Roosevelt was a dreamer, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Jane Addams, and the list goes on. Each of them had a dream that no one else wanted to hear, or no one thought would work. People literally thought they were crazy, and if they didn’t think they were crazy, they hated them for what they envisioned the future to be. I am sure that at least one of us has a dream that we think people would view as crazy, but maybe that dream is the one the world needs to hear. Maybe it is the one we can’t live without.
Jesus? Really. I mean if you saw a guy, who had just been out in the desert for forty days, fasting and being tempted, and he was walking through your town saying, "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" wouldn’t you be a little suspicious? I went on a trip to Washington, DC once, when Clinton was still president, and there was a guy in a toga and leather sandals standing outside the White House playing a four string hand-held harp. Pling! Pling! “The end is near.” Pling! “The time has come.” Pling! “Repent and be saved.” Pling! Pling! “God’s reign is at hand.” I will never forget about him, because I thought he was the biggest kook I’d ever seen!
Even though I believe that Jesus is the Messiah, I wonder sometimes if those people in Galilee weren’t just a bit freaked out, embarrassed, or bewildered by Jesus and John’s behavior. I think news travels fast, when someone is considered a freak show: “News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.” Think about how quickly we all know every bit of celebrity gossip, and put yourself in 2000 year old shoes. What would you do if this camel hair covered, locusts and honey eating, desert dwelling, baptizing, crazy and his cousin, who is God’s “beloved son” were telling you to repent? Pling!
So I guess the question is what does all of this mean for me? Here and now this Lent. I feel like I am being challenged to dream and to figure out as David posted how to live in the already but not yet of Jesus. I think that might look a bit outrageous and news should travel fast.
This idea of God as a grassroots/underdog deity keeps popping up to me as I read these Lenten verses. I know he's more powerful than that, but he's definitely set things up to show his power dramatically by taking the least likely person and making him the hero of the story. That's probably why we use that same story in so much of our literature.
Anyway, I think it's hard not to find encouragement in light of this. We're all struggling against something, sometimes against very long odds. But we know that God delights in displaying his power in uplifting these unlikely figures. Like us.
I think that God as an underground power makes a lot of sense. I tend to think of christianity as the force of change from the outside in as opposed to the force of change from the center out. I think that history and the spread of Christianity bears that out as well. Most empires that institutionalize Christianity tend to wind up blowing up pretty quickly afterwards. What do you think? Is Christianity possible from the inside out? If so how?
So, Dave, culturally Christianity is an inward progression moving from the outside, not bound by institutional walls, but what about personally? Do you think Christianity for the individual is the same type of progression? I don't think Christianity can really be personal in many ways, I see it as more corporate than most people do, but I just wondered what you thought...
When reading the Mark section of today's reading, I couldn't quite get this idea out of my head:
"Jesus is going to die." And then, "Why is he making such an investment in us?"
For probably many reasons, it seems like we read the Gospel accounts and separate Jesus life from his impending death. I wonder if Jesus could separate the two. Then, if he couldn't -- I am really impressed!
If I knew the manner and way and time of my death, I would want to selfishly be building up a crew that could either support me as I endure or help keep it from happening. Jesus did neither of these either by the binding nature of OT prophecy or through immense personal commitment to the Father's will.
Either way, it was just remarkable to me as I pondered. To know so fully the grisly nature of your death and yet have the courage and love that Jesus had for us. So much so, that we see Him calling us to repent! He's choosing disciples! He's casting out demons!
I could imagine myself looking at the task ahead and the unpleasant road to the inevitable end, and wondering "why bother?"
As people that cannot know the future, we can always choose to delude ourselves into thinking the future will just keep on getting better and brighter and survive on a hope and prayer. Jesus didn't have this luxury.
Thanks, Jesus, for persevering and doing the job of today (the Father's will) even while knowing the horrible and painful road ahead of you.
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