How Is The Word To Be Heard and Shared and Acted Upon?
Good Morning Friends,
Well I am back from vacation and it was wonderful being with family enjoying a Wisconsin Lake House and camping and hiking on the serene coast of Maine near the halfway point between the Equator and the North Pole. The experience had many serendipitous moments such as reaching the scenic peak of a mountain walk only to see an eagle fly by chased by a much smaller bird. And on a walk around a lake hearing the call of the lune then seeing a pair in the water with young on their back. I enjoyed the cheery chirping of a wood thrush along pine and balsam trails and eating wild blueberries in bogs at Reversing Falls. At Quoddy Bay near the Bay of Fundy, with its 45 foot tidal swings, we listened to harbor seals perched on the rocks sing as whales and porpoise headed with the strong outgoing tide to the open ocean. Early in the morning birds would announce a new day just before the 5:00 a.m. sunrise as clam diggers and lobstermen headed to the work of gathering food. We hiked around 40 miles of trails and drove several hundred miles and saw amazing tidal swings that sustained a resonance that pushed them dramatically higher and higher much like the perfectly timed push of a playground swing that would add momentum to the experience. Still there was a relaxing rhythm to the trip despite all the loose parts. And that brings us to today’s devotional for it has a lot of loose parts for us to put together in creative ways to prompt learning about God and life and love. It is about helping us to see in new ways and more vividly so we might learn why Jesus taught with parables. How Is The Word To Be Heard and Shared and Acted Upon?
Scripture: On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.” When Moses had told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses: “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b (NRSV)
Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: ‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
Matthew 13:10-17 (NRSV)
Message: As I was reading today’s lectionary passages it came to me that the journey of our collective and individual experiences of God creates in us a resonance that either moves us to action and understanding or does not. Different people respond differently to the experience of God but God is faithful to keep sowing seeds everywhere and so should we. Here the functions of parables and the experiences of our lives converge in a way that have implications. Jesus, in his teaching was constantly comparing the Kingdom of God to all sorts of common experiences. And it is nice to know what is behind the parables in the Bible, but it is important also to see what lesson there is for us related to the experiences in our lives. You see, the Holy Spirit has something to share. Parables as well as life’s experiences, and the reactions of people to those experiences serve to teach us lessons that are sometimes not openly expressed. Jesus used parables with comparisons to help people relate to what he was saying. He used something from the everyday life of the people. Things like weeds, wheat, and yeast – things that were familiar to everyone who heard Him speak. Jesus knew that if you communicate using the experiences, context, and vocabulary of the people you are trying to reach, it goes a whole lot better. But there are other reasons Jesus gives. You see parables, as our experiences in life, serve to reveal truth. And sometimes it is an inconvenient truth like the decline in the Atlantic Salmon or toxins killing off clams that relate to our own behaviors. Jesus is saying that some people will get the parables and learn from them, and they would catch and understand the truth. And one might think that this truth is for everyone, but here in the context of scripture it appears to be reserved for those committed to have a close walk with God and to live for God. Understanding is reserved for those who are serious about living for Christ. In other words, truth is for the followers of Jesus, but not for those who will not follow Him. Now this is one of the harder things to swallow for many people. Jesus talked a lot about God’s love for everybody, and God does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to be saved. So how do we reconcile this and it comes down to the reality that if a person is not really interested in following Christ then they will not understand the message and will not grasp the truth they contain. It seems that some will be ever hearing but never understanding… some will be ever seeing but never perceiving. Thankfully Jesus want us to open our hearts to see the blue in the sky and for us to see that we must have a desire to see it.
Pray we engage a creative energy in us that can nudge us with a power that leads people to recognize the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer in the parables of our lives. Pray we are listening. Pray we are committed. Pray we submit to the teacher of life. Pray we not kill off the very source of life from our existence. Pray we see in the parables of life lessons that serve to reveal truth that God wants us to act on, but also realize that sadly this truth will be hidden from others. Pray we realize that we can trust God that somehow our lives can fulfill what God had planned for them to be if we keep following Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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