Welcome the children......

They are just too precious aren't they?  Dressing up in princess dresses and pretending to rule their own little kingdoms.  

When we think of children, we have a tendency to pull up images just like this one.  The kind of pictures that lead to smiles and fond thoughts.

We don't think about this.  We don't thnk about the children who are out there on their own, without protection, without means.  Children who will be claimed by the elements of this world before too long. War orphans.  Refugee children.

I mention this only because we need to adjust our thinking before we take up any of Jesus' teachings about children.  Otherwise we will have a false picture and draw unwarranted conclusions.

Unwanted children were defenseless.  If their parents could not feed them, or found their gender inconvenient these children would be set by the side of the road - to die.  Anyone passing such a child would know that she/he wasn't there by mistake or oversight.  He was not wanted.  She was the wrong sex.  Once on the side of the road, that child was no longer the responsibility of the parents who birthed her.  He was on his own.  It usually didn't take too long to die.

Now we are ready to talk about Jesus and his love for children.  There is no sentimentality here.  There are no fluffy pink sweaters nor the sweet smell of baby powder.  The children Jesus took in his arms were always living on the edge - for at any given moment they could be counted expendible.  Who would welcome just such a burden into their own home?  Who would take on this added expense?  What kind of community would welcome one so unwanted by those who gave them life?

Jesus says, "my disciples will"  and no one was more surprised than the disciples themselves.  It was an outrageous expectation to believe that they would find space and care for such a child.  Such an outcast.  An unwanted one.  Yet Jesus said anyone who welcomes one like this, welcomes me.  

The community of the cross has a place for all the defenseless, powerless ones.  The community of the cross opens its doors to all the suffering, dieing ones.  The community of the cross is exactly the place for all those people who no one else wants.  When Jesus says all are welcome, he really means all.  

So no more fresh faced, little tikes with pixie faces and adorable outfits.  That's not who Jesus was talking about.  His good news is for the ones who know nothing but bad news.  His love is life for those whose lives are draining away.  His community isn't concerned about who is the greatest but rather who is lost.  His kingdom knows no bounds.  

It came with a cross.  It is an eternal gift to all.

Justified by grace but working like mad

It is at the cross....or it is nothing at all.  It is at the cross of Jesus that God's victory is announced.  It is the cross of Jesus that is the fulfillment of God's love for us in Jesus.  It is at the cross that all is accomplished.....or nothing is accomplished at all.

Either Jesus' life, death and resurrection opened a new fullness of life for all who are looking for this reconciliation with the Divine Creator, or it didn't.  There is no halfway or almost or Jesus plus something additional.

We believe that we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that Jesus alone brings victory and life.  Jesus is sufficient.

However, we act as if this was only true to a point.  We act as if Jesus' work was but the starting place for the transformation of this world into a kingdom of life and our own personal salvation.  We act as if living up to a particular moral code, being a 'good' person, is what makes us Christian and allows us to be claimed by Jesus.

We act as if there is a way of living that will elevate us to a higher plane and grant us special access to Jesus - the crucified one-  and therefore access to all the promises.  We act as if there is a required level of moral righteousness and, then, we are the ones who define what moral behaviors are acceptable.  We do this all in Jesus' name.

At one time it was smaller issues:  dancing, drinking, women with their hair uncovered, indecent clothing (which is almost always about women), eating pork, etc.  But there were much bigger issues as well:  no women in church leadership, people of different races are to be kept separate, human sexuality is only to be expressed one way, slavery must be done humanely, vote only for the ..... political party.  Right behavior indicated right belief which then rightly made us Christians.

In the end, the free, overwhelming, outrageous grace of Jesus is diluted, portioned, defined, and riddled with pre-requisites.....which keep it from being grace at all.

It's the cross and only the cross.  It's Jesus and only Jesus.  It's love and only love.  It's grace and always and only grace.

For us, it is standing in the light of God's love and receiving a gift beyond imagining, a gift we could never deserve that makes us so uncomfortable that we do all we can to package it in smaller chunks to be purchased by our striving.

It's not fair.  I do not understand.  I often shake my head in both wonder and dismay.  The cross of grace continues to be incomprehensible after all these years.  So I listen to the Word.  I come frequently to the sacrament.  I talk to God throughout my day.  And in the end I walk in imperfect imitation of our Lord's life. Yet, the gift of God's love is poured on me.

You too, if you can believe it.

Get behind me Satan.....

It's pretty awkward when you are witness to someone else being called out.  The more public the admonishment, the more awkward bystanders are liable to feel.

So I'd expect most folks are uncomfortable with the episode between Jesus and Peter along the way from Bethlehem to Calvary.  Peter is caught on the wrong side of God's plan for the world, and his well intentioned efforts to encourage Jesus to take up his Messiahship turns nasty when Jesus turns to Peter and says, "Get behind me Satan."  Whoa.  Not good.  Not a message I would like sent my direction.

This entire episode is challenging....and should ever remain so for us people of faith.  Peter is confronted with the divine plan for the pouring out of Jesus, the sacrifice of his life for the sake of the world, and Peter is not at all happy.  This is not the way he expected it to go.

Because, somewhere deep within the very humanness of each of us, we don't want to hear the message that there is no easy path in this life.  We seek joy, happiness, contentment and do our very best to stay ahead of the curse of suffering.  Somehow, no matter what we see around us, nor what we are taught by God's Word in Jesus, we expect that our trust in Jesus will reward us.  Our lives will even out; the suffering will be minimized.

So, although we recognize that Jesus went to the cross, we want only the eternal benefits of his sacrifice without the day to day living out of a cross shaped life. When our lives are shaped by the cross, then we walk right into the suffering of this world:  ours and others.  With eyes wide open, with hearts trembling, we face down the darkness that threatens to drain us of our faith.  We embrace the 'now' even when the 'now' is nothing but suffering.

But we do it knowing that there is no suffering the Jesus doesn't know and no sufferer whom Jesus doesn't love.  We face the brokenness of this world knowing that Jesus promises to carry us into a life unimaginable, a life victorious over death of every kind. We are able to walk into the darkness because we walk with Jesus and he will bring life into the depths of hell.  This is Jesus' promise; this, and this alone is our hope.

This is  the 'kingdom of God' that Jesus spoke of so frequently - a new way of living that is built on community, caring for one another in the reality of living each day.  Trusting in Jesus allows us to leave behind the fear that leads us  to greed and oppression.  Trusting in Jesus sets us free - not from the suffering which is everyone's portion in life, but from the fear that evil will overcome us and we will be destroyed.  We fear the cross.  Jesus will walk with us even there.  Jesus will walk with us into a new way of living.

That life begins today.  Trusting in Jesus sets us free - not down the road after we've struggled and fought our way to some prize in this world.  Trusting in Jesus sets us free today - today!

This is the story we tell, we live and we share.  Know someone who needs Jesus?  Walk with them and show them the way, just like Jesus does with us.

The old Despicable Me............

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Nobody likes the tax collector

In the modern world where we write a check (for the old fashioned among us) and put it in the mail with our quarterly estimated tax, the tax collector is just a PO Box far away.  If your income and social security taxes are taken out of your pay check each week, then you are twice removed from the tax collector....even if you gripe about the chunk that disappears from your earnings.  I expect if we had to hand over cash to someone down the street from us, we wouldn't be particularly fond of the tax collector either. In fact, it would be pretty easy to harbor nasty thoughts and attitudes towards the tax collector.

Jesus didn't mind.  Well, maybe that's not completely true.  Jesus didn't allow the man's vocation to stand between him and an experience of God's love in Jesus.  More than that, Jesus intentionally addresses....and then invites himself to dinner at the Chief Tax Collector's house.

Being a tax collector wasn't a deal breaker for Jesus. The people weren't happy that Jesus was honoring this man with his presence but Zaccheus is more than willing to make amends for any wrongful tax he has collected, repaying folk fourfold.  In the end, Jesus announces that on this day, this very tax collector comes to know salvation.   [See the story of Zaccheus, a wee little man  who had a very big job, in the gospel of Luke 19.1-10]

It is easy to focus our resentment, exhaustion and disappointment on someone else.  It is easy to make 'the other' the source and cause of the hard scrabble life we live.  It is easy to attribute all kinds of nastiness and thievery to this other one.  Some call this person a scapegoat.  In Israel that day they called him the Chief Tax Collector.  He was the guy everyone loved to hate.

Except Jesus.   There is no 'other' in the eyes of the one who created all and loves all creation.  There is no 'other' to the one who takes on the power of evil for the sake of those he loves.  There just simply is no 'other'.  We are all loved alike, loved into life.

Boy do we find it hard to simply accept this kind of radical grace.  We want to parse it and dole it out to the worthy ones, punishing the not worthy ones.  We need 'the other' to be the strawdog against which we stand and look good.

Yet when Jesus looks at us, we already look good....because he looks at us with eyes of love.

Exactly which one is 'the other'?

She fell at his feet and washed his feet with her tears and dried them with  her hair.

Pretty strange scene isn't it?  This woman, who apparently had a reputation locally, makes a scene at this private dinner where Jesus is a guest.  It would have made just about anyone uncomfortable; her actions were so outside the normal, acceptable manners of good company.

But of course she wasn't remotely concerned about the etiquette of the moment.  She was clearly overwhelmed by Jesus' presence and abased herself to show her devotion.  No one seems to argue with whether this woman was known in the village, although, at the same time, there are no details and we shouldn't go making stuff up.  But she does appear in public with her hair down and uncovered and frankly that just wasn't done.  It was intended as a sign.  She was 'that kind of woman.'

The host of the dinner party is really put out.  Perhaps it is the very intimacy of this weeping woman with flowing hair making a big deal out of the simple task of washing the feet of a guest.  This kind of intimacy in a public place makes most folks uncomfortable.  Perhaps the host was put out because she was stealing the show; it was to be his show of wealth and position.  Folks were supposed to be talking about him, not her.

So he says to himself (Jesus apparently is able to 'hear' his inner thoughts)  "If he was a prophet he would know what kind of woman this is."  But Jesus does know what kind of woman this is: a woman who is overcome and Jesus says it is because she has been forgiven much.  Forgiveness of this magnitude brought out this over-the-top response of love.

So, wealthy and important dinner host neglects and disrespects Jesus.  Jesus calls him on it and the lesson might be 'don't get too full of yourself'.

Weeping woman makes a big scene in the middle of a dinner party.  Jesus affirms her actions and announces forgiveness for her. Apparently, forgiveness is the kind of experience that engenders devotion - of the outrageous and public type.

The only question at the end is Who is 'the other'?  The dinner host who wants to stand above Jesus?  Or, the woman who is groveling at his feet?  The host who thinks he has little that needs forgiveness? Or, the woman who knows she has been forgiven much?

When it comes to Jesus, none of us are insiders.  We are all beggars seeking the grace that he offers, and I would fervently pray, overwhelmed at the sheer joy of receiving it.  

How easy it is to throw stones........

"Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery."  John 8.4

These men have won the prize - a woman, caught in the VERY ACT of committing adultery.

What a great way to perk up your week.  Nothing dull about this.  No, this is a juicy one, a ripe opportunity for gossip and speculation and, just guessing here, a little vicarious sexual satisfaction.  In the center of all their righteous indignation is a wee bit of anticipation.  This woman was their perfect opportunity to acquit themselves.  You see, next to this woman caught in the VERY ACT of adultery, they looked pretty good.

Of course she wasn't supposed to be sexually intimate with someone other than her husband.  Of course not.  Jesus doesn't want God's beloved people to so disregard one another that they would violate this most tender place.  Where is there love in that?

But Jesus seems to think that there is a little too much pleasure among her accusers, a little too much hefting of stones so they can be ready to stone her.  Jesus seems to think that they haven't thought this one all the way through.....all the way to considering whether they could be called into the center of the circle for some action.  Jesus seems to think that given a chance to think about it, they will re-consider all the places in their lives where they have fallen short and instead of stoning they will be led to repentance.

Jesus bends down and writes on the ground without answering their question.  I do so wonder what he wrote.  Perhaps he was just doodling, biding his time until the men came to their senses or he could think of an appropriate response.  Some scholars point to this connection to the dirt and are reminded of the creation story where humans were made out of dirt.  Some have speculated that he bent down so he was at the same level as the woman in the middle of the circle.  Who knows?

But most of us remember the question he posed to the accusers, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

This woman was ...'the other' ....the one we can judge, accuse, be better than; the one we can exclude from the circle.  This woman gave all present the opportunity to re-assert their own righteousness....a way of saying to God, "See?  I am worthy."

Jesus gave them no such opening.  In the righteousness game we are all losers when we stand on our own.  Without the love of God poured out in Jesus, we are beggars one and all.  Jesus is not going to hit us over the head to remind us of this, but he will ask a few very pointed questions.

Perhaps you can use your stones to build an altar to this God of love where you can mention all that makes you 'other' to the so called righteous ones in our day.

Touching the untouchable......

NO ONE wanted to touch this guy.  No. One.

Can't really blame them.  More than a ritual, religious, Torah teaching, it was the 'ick' factor and the great medical unknown of how he got the skin disease and how I might catch it from him.  So, yes, the Torah teaches that skin lesions render one 'unclean' (a term of ritual defilement, not a lack of a bath).  No one should touch such a one or the 'uncleanness' would transfer to them.  There were social (your village) and religious (your synagogue) consequences.  So No One wanted to touch this guy.

Except Jesus.

What was Jesus thinking when he reached out his hand?  Did he know that the disease wouldn't transfer to him?  Did he figure that even if he became infected he could easily be healed?  Did he think....These folks are making a big deal about nothing?

Or could Jesus have responded  - down there in the pit of his stomach - with the same 'ick' reaction, and yet overcame it in order to invite this diseased one into fellowship, into healing?

Or, is it possible that Jesus didn't really notice the scales and assorted stuff because his love for him was so great it simply faded to the background?  Is it possible that Jesus simply saw someone who needed to know the power of life and the source of that power, God?

                Can love conquer disease?

                Can love conquer rejection?

                Can love form a community?

               Can love see the heart?

Again and again Jesus reached out and touched the untouchables. Untouchable had no meaning to this one who was Life and Love in the flesh.

Of course it is not so easy for us, but it is reasonable to ask

Who are the untouchables for you?

Bread for dogs?????

Who was this woman who was begging for her child?

One of those refugees who are flooding Europe to escape war?  From Syria, maybe?  Well, yes, she was of Syrian origin but she met Jesus on her home turf, in the region of Tyre.

Enough! you say.  Who wants to know about the geography?  The geography sets the whole stage for this strange encounter between a woman and Jesus when someone is called a dog.  This woman was Syro-Phoenician, in the region of Tyre, a Gentile.  That is the author's four fold way of telling us she wasn't Jewish....at all....not a little bit.  And she wants something from Jesus.

What she wants is a healing for her daughter who waits off stage.  She wants it from Jesus - a Jew. Things get a little confusing if not truly tense because Jesus rightly points out God's promise that the gifts of God are first for the chosen people of Israel, that is, the children of Israel are to be 'fed first'.  No self-respecting Jew would give away God's healing power to outsiders willy-nilly.  Or to quote Jesus "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

It's that word 'dogs' that catches most of us unaware.  Did Jesus just call this woman a dog?  Some Bible interpreters say that the Greek word is better translated 'puppy.'  But would you rather be called a 'puppy'?  Or was Jesus just talking about her tribe in general and not her in particular?  Would that make any difference?  Some say Jesus was just testing her faith.  By calling her a dog?  Is that the Jesus we think we know?

The woman who will not be put off.  "Even the dogs under the table's eat the childrens' crumbs".  Wow!  That's humility for you.  Don't know if I could have swallowed my pride to utter that statement, although many of us begging for the life of our child might have done the same.  She gets what she wants; Jesus grants the healing of her daughter.

In that action, Jesus opens the Kingdom of God to those beyond the nation of Israel.  In this strange little story Jesus sets the Gospel Agenda:  all God's people have a place in the kingdom:  those born of Israel and all the others too.  It's this agenda that we know so well; the story we aren't so familiar with.

Jesus is, at best, inscrutable.  The woman is determined yet humble.  The girl waits unaware.  Very strange story.  Just the other day I wondered if Jesus could have been testing....not the woman....but the disciples who were nearby listening.  Did Jesus pronounce the 'dog' thing while looking sideways to gauge the disciples' reaction?  To see if they could reach out to someone so utterly 'other'?

No matter what, Jesus crosses national borders so to cross longstanding traditional boundaries so that it could be perfectly clear that the kingdom of God, the healing and life offered through Jesus, were gifts for the whole human race. That, my friends, is Good News.

It's just that dog comment.  Gets me every time.

'the other"

Once upon a time there was family with one grandma, two aunts, one uncle and two grandsons.  One aunt was called "Aunt Tate" (you know how it is when they are learning to talk) and the other was called "Not Tate" (poor Megan will never live that one down).

In every walk of life, no matter where you are or who you are there is someone who is "Not Tate".  She/he is 'the other.'  The one who is different, who is 'not you', who is a bit strange.  They talk different, dress different, eat odd foods, have odd customs.  Sometimes 'the other' is more than strange, they are unappealing, maybe a little scary.  They might smell bad or be sick or ...... well, you get the idea.  "The other" is someone who isn't like you.

"The other" is also the focus of much of Jesus' attention, miraculous healing and invitations to dinner.  "The other" ....the widow, the orphan, the stranger in your midst....has been worthy not only of your tolerance, but your hospitality and concern.  When the geneologies of the Bible are examined we see that two foreign women are ancestors of Jesus - two women who were considered 'other.'

Many of the stories within the gospels address Jesus' connection with those counted 'other' by the society of that time:  women and children, lepers, the lame, the poor, tax collectors and Gentiles, even thieves on the cross.  We might call these folks 'other' but Jesus called them beloved.

'The other' is one of the great stumbling blocks of disicpleship.  In Jesus' eyes, there are those he loved and for whom he died.....and....well, no one else.  There is no 'other.'  All are members of the family of God.  All are in need of healing; all are hurting; all are hungry and Jesus came for each one of them.  We are to do no other.

Our hospitality is not to be measured out only to those who are familiar.  Likewise our generosity, our forgiveness, our prayers and our search for justice and peace.  These are the tasks of discipleship and within them there is no 'other.'

Let's look at a couple of stories where Jesus boldly crosses the boundaries of his culture and society to express a kind of love that has room for everyone.  Keep reading this week.