Speck and Plank Removal

Today's Text: Luke 6:37-42

This parable offers worthy advice even when taken literally.  Of course, most of us would have no trouble following this advice in a literal situation.

Thinking literally we identify the parable's "surprise" easily.  Someone moving through their day with a plank extending from their eye defies our concepts of normal pain tolerance, physics, and even social safety.  A basketball player with a small cut over the eye has to leave the court until the bleeding stops.  We certainly wouldn't allow a player on the court with a plank swinging around them every time they turned their head.

But Jesus prioritizes the individual's responsibility to improve themselves over their desire to improve their neighbor.  He discourages us from raising an army of one-eyed speck removal agents.  Rather, he encourages us to examine and improve our own selves for the benefit of the community.  We neither judge nor condemn.  Instead we give liberally.  And, we train under our Master Teacher in order to become a leader by example.

Lenten self-examination opens the door to personal healing and preparation for leading.  The remaining universal question: "Why do we find it so easy to ignore the planks in our own eyes?"

Buying Friends & Influencing Heaven

Friday's Text: Luke 16:1-9

The Prairie Home Companion radio show did a comedy bit called The World's Oldest Jokesters.  They told jokes from pre-history and early history and (sounding like New England Jews) included several jokes tied to Bible stories.  They claimed they'd even heard Solomon, the first comedian to write down his material.  The theater audience chuckled as they quoted dire verses from Ecclesiastes and explained they were hilarious as Solomon said them.  They just lose something in the translation.

Today's parable may lose something when it's stuck in print. It can be funny if we hear the punch line delivered through laughter.  "The Master commended the dishonest manager... ppphaw-haw-huh... because he acted shrewdly." Ok, maybe something is still lost in translation.  But how else do we explain the crazy circumstances of this story.  The manager wastes the master's money.  He's given a pink slip.  The manager cooks the books, robbing the master of still more in order to buy his way into people's homes.  The master, impressed with the dishonest manager's creativity, gives his approval. In our culture the punch line might sound more like, "DOH! Why'd I fire him? That crook knows how to take care of business!"  Wait... does Jesus want us to be dishonest?

No.  He wants us to be creative.  He wants us to figure out how to use money (actually mammon which means wealth and includes our possessions) to build friendships rather than buy them.  He wants us to stop and think.  Some of us are tempted to make money the goal.  Jesus wants us to use money and love people and not the other way around.  When we understand that, the "Welcome" sign lights up in Heaven.

Are You Ready?

Today's Text: Luke 12:41-46

Without Lent or something like it, our attraction to happy, uplifting passages of Scripture distracts us from sober reflection.  Many Christians today find themselves far removed from the regular practice of self-examination, confession and repentance.  Such a process seems medieval and dark or depressing.  "What's the point in beating yourself up?" they ask.  "We should walk in victory and joy?"

What do those folks do with parables like this one?

Let's be honest.  Jesus gives an example that rings true even in today's work environment.  As one wise business leader said recently, "Excellence on the job comes from work that is inspected, not work that is expected." And, in our personal lives this principle proves true. Too many of us wait for a heart attack to alter our fat intake and start walking regularly.  When we evaluate ourselves, talk to others who want us to do well or be well, and make the necessary changes, we put ourselves in a better place.

In the bigger context of Luke 12:35-48, three parables warn us to ready for the master's return.  After the first one, Peter questions whether Jesus broadly warns everyone or aims specifically at the apostles.  In our text and the parable that follows, Jesus explains that both the manager (a servant with recognized authority, vis a vis the apostles) and the servant (everyone else?) must be ready for the return of the master.  Peter, everyone includes you.

So, can we accept the warning?  Can we admit our human tendency toward letting things slide?  And more importantly, will we expose ourselves to the Holy Spirit's mirror, admit our shortfalls, and repent?

unworthy servants

Today's Text: Luke 17:7-10

Unworthy servants?  Did Jesus really ask us to call ourselves unworthy servants when we've been fully obedient and done our duty? Was he having a bad day?  Did Peter make him mad?  Some Christians around us today might respond, "I struggle with feeling unworthy already.  And I don't do everything I've been asked.  How am I supposed to handle this?  What happened to grace?"  That last question might surprise us.

Go back and read this parable in context. Luke 7:1-10.

Jesus gives the parable as part of a response to a request from the disciples.  They want Jesus to increase their faith.  Notice that Luke specifies the area of faith growth: the Disciples want faith to forgive.  They express their honest view of forgiveness.  It scandalizes them.  How can one forgive someone over and over and over; even seven times?  How can one uproot and send flying a mulberry tree over 30 miles into the Great Sea?  Faith?  Help us out Jesus.

Listen to this simple story.  Servants serve their masters.  They plow fields.  They shepherd sheep.  They wait on tables.  They don't expect masters to be pleasantly surprised they obeyed. 

Consider the implications. 
God is our Master. Forgiveness plows hearts for God's mercy.  Forgiveness shepherds people in God's care. Forgiveness serves basic human needs. And, only forgiving those who come back and repent, seems unworthy of the gracious Master we serve. 

Now, what happened to grace?

A Most Agreeable Child

Today's Text: Matthew 21:28-32

Profound. With crystal clear simplicity Jesus brings truth up from the bottom of the pile of human deception. Lent asks for careful self-examination.  This parable functions like a long needle piercing us to take a biopsy of our motivations.

Eddie Haskell developed the vocabulary and manners to manipulate the adults in his world.  His friends saw through the lies.  The adult egos stroked and soothed by his compliments preferred to believe in the facade.  But enter Eddie's head.  What did Eddie think about himself?  What if we find Eddie tendencies influencing our relationships?

The parable centers on the question of obedience.  Many times in Christian conversation we hear someone ask something like, "...but doesn't God look at our hearts and care more about whether we love him than how perfectly we obey him?"  It depends.

The Father may not be concerned with how perfectly the sons pruned the vines. However, the parable implies that the Father prefers rebellious words and grudging obedience to agreeable words and rebellious actions.  In Isaiah, God says "the people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me."  James asks us what good it is to just "claim" faith without obedient deeds to back our claim.

In relationships with God and people each one of us must ask, "In what ways do I try to maintain favor with affectionate words and hope to avoid the consequences of disobedience?"

Falling Towers and Felling Trees

Today's Text: Luke 13:1-9

How do you respond when Jesus speaks harshly?

Stand in the crowd gathered around Jesus to hear him teach. Gasp out loud as some interrupt Jesus with news that Pilate has executed faithful Galileans in the very act of sacrificing.  Join every eye fixed on Jesus but ask yourself what you expect him to say.

"Enough injustice!  Rome's rule must end!"
"Pilate stands in authority.  They shouldn't have defied him, but sacrificed only with his approval."
"The whole Temple system oozes corruption.  Come away with me to build a holy community that God will approve and deliver."

No, Jesus responds more like this, "Tyrants are killing and towers are falling. People are dying, but none of you are innocent.  Repent."  It seems the tragedy is not in their death, but in their unrepentant life.

The parable teaches us to repent.  The prophets use the barren fig tree to symbolize God's judgment on Israel  (Joel 1, 2; Habakkuk 3; Haggai 2). And the fruitful fig tree symbolizes God's delight in and restoration of Israel (Hosea 9; Micah 4; Zechariah 3).  The care given by the vineyard worker symbolizes the repentance that will move us from being barren to being fruitful.

Lent focuses on these metaphors of repentance.  Remove the plants and weeds that steal spiritual nutrition from the base of your life .  Feed the soil of your heart with spiritually rich nutrients.  Then you will bear fruit and be pleasing to the master.  We exist to produce good fruit for the master, not to stand as ornamental shrubs in his garden.

Why do we often think of repentance as an act of contrition for being caught in sin, as opposed to regularly needed spiritual maintenance?

wink, wink

Today's Text: Mark 4:30-32

If you have to explain a joke it isn't funny.  It takes more than the right combination of words to create humor.  Physical movement, facial expression, voice inflection, all contribute to humor.  Some jokes, if only read from a page, simply miss the mark. This parable suffers that fate.

This parable will teach a lesson in a Bible class.  The analogy clearly transfers.  Jesus, the small seed, begins a Kingdom movement that grows to fill the whole earth.  The idea isn't new.  Many Kingdom builders began with a small militia, grew an army and established empires.  Mark wants us to understand Jesus' Kingdom differs from those empires.

Do the research.  The mustard plant grows large enough for a small bird to perch on, but you would not find a flock of crows enjoying its shade.  Jesus certainly knew of smaller seeds.  When we just read the parable, we miss the wink, wink . We miss the exaggerated inflection.  "Smallest seed," said Jesus with a high pitched voice and his thumb and forefinger held close to his eye.  Then with his arms spread over his head in a deep voice he said, "the LARGEST of all garden plants."

The Kingdom of Heaven grows contrary to the natural order.  It surprises you.  We repeat the story about our little league team that won the championship against all odds.  An Olympic skater amazes us when she gives a medal winning performance through overwhelming grief.  The room falls silent when a child offers a simple but profound answer to a question the adults have been discussing at length.  The Kingdom of Heaven grows like this.

You may write something in response to this blog, that dramatically changes the course of someone's life.  The Kingdom of Heaven grows like this.

4 Soils, Big Questions

Today's Text: Mark 4:1-9

Jesus never suggests a proper response to this parable.

One can read all three synoptic versions of this parable and still come away wondering. (Mt. 13:1-23; Lk 8:4-15)  Jesus just seems to state the facts.  People respond to the gospel in one of four ways:
1. with indifference;
2. with short lived enthusiasm;
3. with half-hearted allegiance choked
    by distraction and worry;
4. with full surrender that produces
    surprising amounts of fruit.

We read the parable and, like the disciples, begin asking what it means.  Yet, that question actually wonders,

"What do we do with this information?"

Do we encourage each other to break-up the worn paths and try to make them fertile gardens?  Do we stress and strain to sink our roots deeper so we will endure the heat of persecution?  Do we weed our hearts and seek counsel for removing worry and lust?  Do we check our fruit production as a sign of whether we are good soil or not?

Or do we assume Jesus is teaching us to be liberal sowers, not concerning ourselves with the harvest only the planting?  Do we settle on this parable as some sort of Biblical support for predestination and God's sovereignty?

Or perhaps, Jesus exercises great wisdom by opening our hearts to these and many more questions with one simple farming story.
Enjoy your Lent reflection.  Share your thoughts.

Treasures New and Old

Today's Text: Matthew 13:51-52
(The bookmark transposed 51 to 15)

This is the last of what some scholars call the "loss for the Kingdom" parables in Matthew 13.  Let me summarize the 23 page article I just read on this parable into a few bullet points.

• "brings out" in verse 52 offers an ancient and persistent mistranslation of the Greek ekballei which is overwhelmingly translated through out the Bible with words generally meaning  expulsion.  It literally means, throws out.
• in verse 44 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure someone sells all they own to obtain
• in verse 45 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant searching
• in verse 52 "every scribe (teacher) trained for the Kingdom" is like a head-of-household throwing out new and old treasure, presumably to make room for something of greater value, the Kingdom.

Does that change how you read this?
Remember, Lent can be for you a time of cleaning out the accumulated "treasure" that divides our allegiance to Christ.

Great Value

Today's Text: Matthew 13:44-46

Back in the 80's a hands-on museum on the Oklahoma Christian College campus taught the principles of the Free Enterprise system to visitors.  Lesson One at Enterprise Square, USA introduced the basic principle that two factors determine the value of something: utility and scarcity.  If people need it or think they need it, they will pay for it.  If what they need or want diminishes in supply, they will pay more to get it for themselves before someone else gets it.  Recognizing the value of something motivates us to behave in ways, even extreme ways, that will accomplish our goal of owning that thing.

The desire to acquire a Tickle Me Elmo will make some people pay ten times retail for one. Famine will make people trade their land and its resources for temporary food sustenance.

These short parables teach us about the Kingdom from two distinct angles.  The similarity of the Kingdom with a hidden treasure illustrates its often overlooked value as a potential possession. A person would trade everything they own for it. In the simile of the Kingdom as a merchant Jesus emphasizes the behavior of looking.

Consider this paraphrase:
 Are you looking for citizenship in a new kingdom?  
 Find one for which its citizens pledged their allegiance 
   by willingly giving up everything in their former lives.  
 In fact, the King counts your search to belong to his 
   kingdom as your first act of citizenship.

Lent began as time  for new converts to give up their past lives to gain citizenship in the Kingdom. How would you describe your transfer of citizenship?

Out of Place

Please read today's parable slowly.  Matthew 22:1-14

This whole story jars American sensibilities regarding weddings.  In fact, this parable may provoke so many questions that we get lost trying to decipher all the details.  We may read a commentator's explanation that the parable delivers a stern judgment on the stiff-necked Jews who rejected Jesus. While true, such a simple explanation tempts us to dismiss the message Matthew intends for his Christian readers. 

Let's focus on the most out of place part of the whole story, the man without wedding clothes.  Only at a wedding or funeral do many men ever wear a suit and tie anymore.  But most of us still disapprove of the third cousin or good-friend's-boyfriend who shows up in ratty jeans and a Metallica t-shirt.  Perhaps to us arrest and torture seem extreme punishment for the crime.  Yet, we understand that some sacrifice of time and comfort are necessary to be part of the celebration.

The hosts have gone to considerable expense and effort to prepare for this event.  They bestow an honor on everyone invited.  In the first part of the parable the indifferent are treated likewise.  The king executes the violent. Here, the man expresses indifference and contempt in the face of the king.  "Speechless" in the text actually means he stared at the king in "silence." 

As difficult as it may be to wrap our minds around, we live in the Kingdom Banquet every day.  Compare Lent to the full length mirror you use to dress for the wedding.  Check yourself.  How can we know if we're well dressed or something is out of place?

Things Hidden

Today's Text: Matthew 13:33-35

When we read parables we should look for Jesus to surprise us.  If your first reading elicits only a little "hmmm," investigate deeper. In the case of today's parable one surprise is relatively obvious.  The second is... well... hidden.

Jesus grabs our attention with 60 pounds of flour!  Maybe we expect that of the king's baker.  But Jesus doesn't say a baker, he says a woman.  How many women have bowls big enough to mix 60 pounds of flour?  That's 12 five pound bags!  How long would it take to bake that many loaves in a large modern oven?  And the women of Jesus' day had no bread machines.  But point of the parable is not the flour, it's the tiny bit of yeast that works its way through, transforming 60 pounds of flour!

Then Jesus says the woman mixed the yeast into the dough. For "mixed" he uses a form of the Greek word  krupto which means "hide inside."  That hidden yeast works its way unnoticed through the dough.  In verse 35, Matthew adds that Jesus opens his mouth in parables to speak things that have been hidden since the creation of the world.  Matthew uses another form of the same word.

Lent is about the invisible work of God in our lives.  Why should we practice such spiritual disciplines, even if we don't "see" the immediate effects?

A Sour Chord

Today's Text: Matthew 23:37-39

Brenda and I sang Happy Birthday my step-mom on Sunday.  During the last phrase we both decided to sing harmony.  Brenda stayed on key.  I tried to adjust my key to fit hers not noticing she had switched to harmony.  The sound resembled a cat fight.  I'm not good with dissonance.

The Wikipedia article on dissonance quotes Roger Kamien as writing, "An unstable tone combination is a dissonance; its tension demands an onward motion to a stable chord."  Less eloquently we might say, "Hearing bad harmony makes us want to get on past the sour chord."  The idea of dissonance motivating forward movement fits interestingly with today's parable.  

Our concept of chicks under wing strikes a chord of comfort and peace.  "Your house is left to you desolate." Not so comforting.  This note sounds more like Isaiah warning the Israelites that their "great houses" and "fine mansions" will be left desolate. (Isaiah 5:8-9)  Jesus motivates those who will listen to avoid repeating their history.  Sadly, few in Isaiah's day or in Jesus' day moved from their stubborn positions. 

During Lent we remind ourselves to surrender, to come home to Jesus.  How does this dissonant parable motivate you to move?

1st Sunday of Lent

I heard a "first Lent" story recently from another Church of Christ preacher.  Imagine a southern preacher giving up coffee for Lent.  Determined to "do Lent right" (some of our Church of Christ attitudes carry over into our most non-traditional practices) he steeled his will and resisted all the way through.  For 40 days he kept his teeth white.  Then a member of his church with a more liturgical upbringing told him you get to skip Sundays!  Ugh!

You will not find a parable to read each Sunday on our book mark.  Gathering with the believers on the Lord's day, we celebrate life in the mercy and grace of our Lord.  We read the Scriptures.  We sing.  We pray. Please, will you add a comment about your experience in the Body of Christ today?

Housing Crashes

Today's Text: Matthew 7:24-27
What's your emotional reaction to the parable's word picture? Did you think of this parable when the earthquake hit Haiti last month?

We have a visceral reaction to ruined homes.  Whether as a city boy rummaging through a dilapidated barn on his grandparent's farm or an archeologist just granted oversight of her first dig in the Holy Land, we ask similar questions.  What was life like for the people who lived here? Were they similar to us in any way?

Jesus stands at the other end of the time-line.  He says people decide from the beginning whether the "house of life" will remain standing or fall into ruin.  Like the teacher in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes he says the houses of the wise remain and the houses of the foolish disintegrate.

Lent is about checking how our construction is going.  Are we building wisely?  Have apathy or unhealthy habits settled in since our last check?  Use the comment section to make a community list.  What are the subtle weaknesses that work into our lives and cause us to build poorly?

Sleeping Disciple and the Seven Demons

Today's Text: Matthew 12:43-45

One of the difficulties we have with parables is deciding just how far to take the application. We know this parable is not literal.  One does not take a broom to sweep out one's insides. It certainly does not seem likely that a person would intentionally clean up one's "inner life" for the expressed purpose of welcoming an evil spirit back. So it seems more likely that the clean up occurs with a sense of relief and an effort to "get things back to normal."

Jesus focuses the parable on "this wicked generation." So we should be careful about understanding this in a singular sense.  Jesus may be warning the House of Israel not to expect that just "getting back to normal" will prevent the return of destructive evil spirits.  Think about Oak Ridge.

What are the evil spirits that tear churches apart?  And if they leave us for a time, what can we do besides tidy up the place in order to prevent them from taking up residence again?

New Wine, New Wineskins

Today's Text: Matthew 9:14-17

Easy on the analysis.   No rush to figuring out what the wine and wineskins represent. What's the story? John's disciples want to know why they fast and the pharisees fast, but Jesus' pharisees don't.  Classic triangulation.

Maybe John's disciples thought Jesus and his guys were on the same side.  Because Jesus and his guys don't fast it looks like they aren't even playing the same game.  "The truly righteous fast don't they? Jesus?  Don't they?"

Groomsmen party with the bridegroom. Winemakers know new wine expands. Perhaps the Groom is making new wine?

Seems interesting that we would read this parable at the beginning of Lent, a time of fasting and self-denial. How do you think this parable fits into Lent?

Why does Oak Ridge practice Lent?

The motivation behind our initial experiment with Ash Wednesday and Lent grew from a collision of spiritual disciplines study and post-Christmas conversations about our consumption driven culture. The spiritual discipline of fasting seemed a healthy option for balancing thoughtless consumption and Lent seemed to be about fasting. We had no idea where this exploration would take us. Our first Ash Wednesday experience came to life at the confluence of three important streams. First, through study we learned that the season of Lent itself pre-dates Roman Catholicism. In fact, though the days leading to Easter were not always 40 in length, from a very early time the ancient churches did practice a time of fasting and repentance in preparation for baptism of new Christians on Easter. It didn't take the church long to realize that personal repentance and reflection on the blessings of salvation, combined with prayer and fasting, strengthened the spiritual walk of novice and experienced believers alike. Emphasizing the Biblical symbolism related to the number 40 (especially the 40 day fast of Jesus) the church soon began to participate in what we call Lent (from an Old English word for Spring) as a faith community event. The second stream we discovered flowing into our experience was a surprising number of Oak Ridge members who desired just such a spiritual experience to connect them to the broader Christian experience through the Centuries. That first Wednesday night, over 75 of us gathered for an experience that though new for most of us, would deeply shape us. We repeatedly heard comments about how the experience openned doors to both spiritual meaning and tangible worship. Though few of us at the time were tech savvy enough to comment on the blog, many deeply moving posts let us know families were making time to do Lent guided devotionals and were often surprised at the spiritual insights of their children. And that leads us to the third stream. Both Ash Wednesday and the 40 days of Lent have proven to be effectively inter-generational. Believers of all ages have interacted with stories and insights and viewpoints that have blessed each other. This may add more strength to our reasons for practicing Lent than anything else. We want our children to hear our adults talk about their faith and confess their need for forgiveness and appreciation for God's guidance. Likewise, what adult hasn't been moved by the simply expressed faith of a child. This year will be our best one yet. We've learned a few things the last two. Come. Bring family and friends. Stay away from any Mardis Gras celebrations the day before. Then join us Wednesday night to celebrate the Grace and Mercy of our Lord!