Good Morning Friends,
While I was contemplating today’s Christmas in July passage from Colossians, the topic of racial reconciliation and Jesus crossed my mind. I began to think back to the 1960’s and what was happening in the United States and in Vietnam and in in the space race and then to that T.V. program that would boldly go where no man had gone before. And what puzzles me this morning is the merits of the Star Trek oath of noninterference in the social development of undeveloped worlds. Maybe it was a political statement on the Vietnam War and the reality of unintended consequences or respect for the autonomy of others. Still to me now, it seems that the ethics of obligations is a very tricky thing, for it is often through our inaction that we cause the most harm. Injunctions against playing God begs the question: if we don’t play God, who will? Maybe it is through our good intentions and resultant actions that we gradually become one with Christ. Maybe we need to get over our inferiority complex and our fear of making a bad situation worse. And if our actions do make things worse, then we can refine our strategies and ourselves in hopes of eventually achieving success. Identifying who we are collectively on this journey as a church is however a bit of a problem. Not being who God made us to be is an even bigger problem. Maybe that is why we all need to experience the love of God to reveal to us the necessary change. Maybe that is why the Captains of the Starship so often broke the rules. So, What Is Birthed In Our Hearts and Mouths To Carry Out Christ’s Prime Directive?
Scripture: when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
Deuteronomy 30:10-14 (NRSV)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:15-20 (NRSV)
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37 (NRSV)
Message: People have always struggled with the face of diversity and power. Jesus spoke to the subject on numerous occasions most notably with the Samaritan woman at the well, but also with the rich young ruler. And John the Baptist spoke to the subject as well in his call for repentance. It is the issue of our time too and if we are going to rally around to be one with Jesus on this, we had better be willing to do more than to go to a seminar on the subject…we had better be willing to join with one voice in service. We get a sense of it in the story of that unnamed hero we call the Good Samaritan. But it begins with having the right motivations to enable the asking of the right questions. Unfortunately, the lawyer in today’s Gospel reading asked the wrong question of Jesus. There is nothing he could do to gain eternal life. So, maybe we are asking the wrong questions too. For friends we live in a time when most everyone is doing what they think right in their own eyes. Embracing the cause of Christ in this is not for the faint of heart, it is for the anointed, so know full well that if it is God troubling us then we do not want to get between God and the distress that comes with the changes God has in mind. But if God does want us to act and I think God must, we had better figure out what God wants so we do not get in the way. Now I only have my perspective but from my vantage point, pathetic as it is, I figure that God wants us to realize that the issue of prejudice is not just an individual, family, church, or societal issue but a Gospel issue as well. This is a charge for the church to act in unity beyond denominationalism but also without compromising the truth and principles of our faith. And that is difficult. What also is difficult is figuring out how we need to think when we all fight a background we cannot change and personalities that are ingrained. Friends, when some cultures and races have had to learn the dominate culture in their interactions and the dominate culture has not had to learn … it poses a challenge for white males who can get disenfranchised in the process. Hopefully today’s scripture gives us some insight into the relevance for us today with the emotion and heart of the battle between Jesus and the Pharisees…between God and those that would control Him 2000 years ago. You see even then the Pharisees were pitting Jesus against John in a battle of baptisms. Into this setting and situation Jesus took some amazing action that opened the door for the Hebrew God to become our God. Jesus did not miss a thing. Jesus goes to a people that the Jewish religious leaders despised. They were called pretty discussing things, especially the women. They were outcasts. And to these people separated and divided from “the church,” Jesus enters a leisurely conversation that turns into an intimate personal relationship with a compassionate response… ultimately His death on the cross. Today’s scripture brings us into a conversation with Jesus where the words spoken bring dignity and gravity, where Jesus speaks a word that calls salvation and reconciliation into being. It demonstrates that God, not the church leaders are in charge. Priest and prophet, comforter and troubler of our conscience, Jesus points the way, tips the scales. Jesus helps us to experience a need in ourselves that is only filled by becoming a neighbor to someone in need. The personal becomes the corporate… the community combines with our conscience. Here we enter a world where filling a need becomes an act of worship. A worship where the sermon given is written on the hearts of the people we meet and becomes part of their voiced reality. The prayer offered becomes a request that God will bring us someone to love so we too can become loved. Here the confession of our senses becomes an act of caring. Here we sing a hymn with an engine humming, accompanied by our heart pounding, our muscles tensing, our mind mending and passion panting as we engaged in the heavenly work of being reconciled to God in Christ’s prime directive.
And So, Karl Barth reminds us, as a friend of mine reminded me, that there are only two kinds of people in the world… disturbed sinners and undisturbed sinners. The former realizes that God’s gift of life eternal calls us to a life of service to others… quite often to a service to others that we do not really know, understand, or like. The latter go blithely about their way looking for ways to make themselves feel important and justified to want what they want regardless of the consequences. The disturbed sinners realize the power of God’s love in their lives in the midst of the world’s pain, while the latter remained undisturbed about their own weakness and the misery of the world. The answer to the right question, the one that leads us to truth is in the Bible to discover. It is the truth of what is but also the truth of what might yet become. As today’s text from Deuteronomy suggests the nearness of the Word of God does not always mean that the LORD has given His people a heart to understand. There was a time when the Word of God was packed away nicely in the Ark for few to see. Yet what excuse have we in our age and generation when the Bible is still one of the bestselling volumes in the world? People may complain that they do not understand it but too few try to really comprehend. All too often the Bible is just another book on our library selves. To carry out the prime directive we need to learn what God has shared with us to guide us in the work and purpose we have been given. And that means understanding the plan of reconciliation, the means of reconciliation, the aim of reconciliation so we might present the evidence of reconciliation to others through our own lives. Asking the right questions and then knowing the truth of the right answers and sharing this truth with love is really the only way we even come close to glorifying God.
Pray we realize that God is glorious regardless of our actions. Pray we realize that is we who have a need to understand the truth but also the need to have a Spirit of obedience to respond to God’s love. Pray therefor we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. Pray we realize that God is glorious without our help. Pray this revelation nevertheless motivates us to seek to glorify God in the only way we can, by knowing God as God truly is in the essence of who we truly are. Pray therefor we have the power we have been given under control in our lives, and that it does not kill us in the process of sharing it. Pray we realize how gentle God has been with us and how many times God could have condemned us. Pray God gently leads us, so we too can be gentle with others. Pray we too begin to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Pray that in this harsh and painful world that Jesus would make a difference in our lives as He brings our tempers and perspectives, and our temperaments and our personalities under His control. Pray that when we are confronted with trials and tests that we would have faith in God’s faithfulness in our lives. Pray we allow the Spirit to work within us. Pray we have faith when going through a painful experience. Pray we keep pressing on in the face of difficulties. Pray our love hangs on to faith born of the Spirit. Pray we gather to serve with God in a way that gives us a common voice. Pray we are willing to face the scandal of the Gospel and to walk to the other side of the street to show mercy even if in doing so rejection by some is almost guaranteed. Pray we boldly go where others have not gone. Pray even in risking we live long and prosper.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 