The Threat of Jesus

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: Jesus delivered a man from a demon that had kept him speechless. The demon gone, the man started talking a blue streak, taking the crowd by complete surprise. But some from the crowd were cynical. “Black magic,” they said. “Some devil trick he’s pulled from his sleeve.” Others were skeptical, waiting around for him to prove himself with a spectacular miracle.
Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Any country in civil war for very long is wasted. A constantly squabbling family falls to pieces. If Satan cancels Satan, is there any Satan left? You accuse me of ganging up with the Devil, the prince of demons, to cast out demons, but if you’re slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil who kicks out devils, doesn’t the same mud stick to your own exorcists? But if it’s God’s finger I’m pointing that sends the demons on their way, then God’s kingdom is here for sure. Luke 11:14-20

CONSIDER:  One third of the Gospel texts are devoting to telling us of Jesus healing people. From paralysis to leprosy, from mental illness to death itself, Jesus touched bodies and minds and gave new life. In Jesus's time, it was thought that if you were sick or afflicted with some disease, you must have a demon inside you. The enemies of Jesus thought that he was in cahoots with the devil to cast out demons. They were really just trying to discredit the goodness that was in Christ that challenged a deep-seated envy and hatred of Jesus. But the reality was that Jesus wanted to do good for others and release them from bondage, whether that was from illness, demons or the exploitative requirements of the religious establishment.

SO WHAT:   Jesus was seen as a threat to the Priests and Pharisees whose opposition was motivated not by promoting the welfare of others but by making Jesus look bad.  Jesus was doing something good. . . something that the Priests and Pharisees were unwilling or unable to do. But how about us? 

• How often do we find fault with others who are doing the good that we claim to support but we ourselves do not carry out?
• Do we try to keep others from doing good because it wasn't OUR idea or because we don't want to do it? 
• If others are burdened with sickness or addiction, how often do WE pray for them or help them if we can?

Today. . . be aware of how you respond to others who are doing good.  Cheer them on and don't feel threatened by them or resent them.  How might you JOIN them or follow their example?

PRAY: Dear God, help my heart and mind to be like yours.  Open my eyes to see the good that others are doing around me and help me to be an encourager of that good. Help me to not feel threatened by the good they are doing and lead me to join them in following your example. Amen

Do Not Despair

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN:  The Sower and the Seed. . . "As they went from town to town, a lot of people joined in and traveled along. He addressed them, using this story: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop." (Luke 8:4-8)

CONSIDER:  The scripture continues with His disciples asking, “Why did you tell this story?”  He said, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories some of them aren’t going to get it: Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,  Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing."
It has been suggested that this parable is really about Jesus teaching about despair. Jesus has already been kicked out of the synagogues. All the religious leaders are against him. And he knew that eventually the Disciples would be disheartened. Jesus goes on to tell them, "Every farmer knows that some of his seed will be lost; it cannot all grow. But that doesn't discourage him or make him stop sowing, because he knows that in despite of it all, the harvest is sure." 

SO WHAT:  We all have our setbacks and our discouragements; we all have our enemies and our opponents; but never despair, in the end. . . when it's all been said and done. . . the harvest is sure. In the end, God will triumph over all the setbacks and discouragements that we encounter in our lives. Sometimes we think that we are the only ones to experience discouragement in our lives, but Jesus knew that there would be times when things would not go our way. . . when our life faces the bumps and bruises that come with living. . . Jesus knew discouragement. . . Jesus knew what it was like to have people against you. . .Jesus knew and wanted to not only prepare the disciples, but prepare us as well. We need to be like the farmer, knowing that we are going to keep sowing our seeds even if some fall on thorny, hard or shallow ground. . .despite it all, nothing can defeat the ultimate harvest of our God!

PRAYER: Loving and gracious God, help me to not despair when I encounter setbacks. Teach me to be like the farmer and never let me stop sowing seeds of faith. Help me to see your glory. Amen.

 

 

Forgiven to Forgive

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
 “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
“The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
“The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’
"The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
“The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy." Mt. 18:21-35

CONSIDER:  While Jesus was on the cross, he revealed the inner heart of God's forgiveness when he said "Father, forgive them; for they do no know what they are doing" Lk. 23:24 We barely know ourselves and our own motivations. Are we really doing the best we can, or are we doing the best that we know how to do here and now?   If you are reluctant to forgive someone yet again for the same offense, think of this:  They may not know how they are to live without their sin. You see, deep down in our hearts and minds, our sin is the despair of someone trapped in darkness, not knowing how to become free, loved and happy.

SO WHAT:  Compassion is the touchstone of being human.  We care for our own.  We feel their pain. Yet, we find it difficult to forgive. . . we find it tough to "walk a mile in another's shoes". . . we would rather make them pay for their sin. Somehow or another, that makes us feel more powerful, after all, we rarely see the log in our own eye. . .Christ has forgiven us, should we not forgive anyone who asks for mercy?  Who do you need to forgive today?

PRAYER:  Loving and forgiving God, help me to forgive as you forgive. Help me to not delight in my "unforgiveness". May I always feel the pain of others so that it will be easier to forgive. Lord, in your mercy, forgive me as I forgive others. Amen.

The Messengers

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN:  "He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”
That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way. (Luke 4:24-30) The Message

CONSIDER:  Prophets are resented. They frequently tell an "inconvenient truth".  If the prophet happens to be local, they are resented even more.  They're just like us, no better.  And then . . .they show up and tell us what's wrong with us. . . what we should be doing (or not doing).  This scripture tells us that no prophet is accepted in his or her own town and maybe not even in his or her own family.  When Jesus showed up in his home town, his family came to see him because according to the Gospel of Mark, they wanted to take him home because they thought he must be out of his mind! As Jesus spoke in his hometown, the people "were filled with fury". 

SO WHAT:  We resent the truth. Sometimes we are slow learners, especially when it comes to our spiritual life. We have to have patience with ourselves before God; we have to have patience with our friends and our families.  We need to give others trying to speak truth to us the benefit of the doubt. We need to listen. Who has God put in your path to speak the truth to you? Is it a friend? A Pastor? One of your children? Or maybe the person you find it hardest to listen to.  Today. . . open your ears and your heart to listen to who God has sent to speak to you. And maybe. . . maybe God is sending you to be a messenger to someone else. . .

Take a minute and watch this video by Lecrae
http://youtu.be/AO9YGqVKj0E
PRAYER:  Dear God, help me to be open to the "prophets" you  send to me. Help me to not resent the "messenger" just because it's someone I know. May I listen today. And use me Lord to be your messenger today, even if those you send me to don't want to listen.  Amen

The Cross

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: "The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,

I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots.

So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

 While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.” 1Cor. 1:18-25 The Message

CONSIDER:  Symbols are physical items to which we assign some kind of meaning. If we've used the symbol for a long time. . . the actual meaning of that symbol sometimes gets lost. It becomes something used as a decoration of a ritual.  Take a Christmas tree as an example. A majority of people have Christmas trees at Christmas but probably very few people can explain the symbolism behind it. The cross is a symbol, and because it has been included in home and church décor and as a clothing accessory, the symbolic meaning of it is often lost. To non-Christians, it may seem weird to use an execution method as a symbol of love.  Some people don't like seeing an instrument of torture worn around people necks.  The meaning and value of the cross has perished when symbol gets appropriated or interpreted differently.

SO WHAT:  For those to whom the message and meaning of the cross is retained. . . it's strength is still powerful.  The message of the cross is that "heaven and earth are brought and held together". As we look at the cross, the vertical axis points to heaven, while the horizontal axis points to the earthly horizons. It is a symbol of God's investment and covenantal trust in the human family. 

• The cross is the sign of the "New Covenant"
• The cross is the symbol of God's power
• The cross is a reminder that we are loved. . . even when life gets messy and tragic. . . even when that tragedy is our doing and God is on the receiving end of it.

Yes, the cross is foolishness for those to whom the meaning has disappeared or been lost. . . but it is a powerful assurance for those who do remember it's meaning. We are loved by a God who did not even spare God's own Son for our sakes. . .

PRAYER:  Loving God, help me to see the cross as a symbol of your love for all of humanity. Keep me always focused on the cross that I may never forget it's meaning for me. AMEN

No Matter Who You Are. . .

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: "By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Jesus then goes on to tell this story Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
“That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
“All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
“The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

CONSIDER: I think this is one of the greatest short stories in the Bible, maybe even in world literature.  It's because we are all in this story, whoever we are. It is our human story. We've left our home with God to do it ourselves, and now we're trying to get back home to God. As you read this story, try to discover who you are in the story. I'm going to guess we are all of the characters at one time or another in our life.

Neither son understood their loving father. The older one thought that he had earned his father's love by being an obedient son; doing the work of the family farm.  Then there's the younger son who thought he had forever lost the love of his father by abandoning the family farm and living a different lifestyle. However. . . both sons are wrong.

SO WHAT: Neither one of the sons is loved because of what they do or don't do.  They are both loved because they are the father's sons and ALWAYS will be.  Whether we are sinners or saints, WE ARE LOVED BECAUSE WE ARE GOD'S CHILDREN. God loves us with an unconditional love.  No matter who we are. No matter what we have done. We are loved. It's just the way God is. . . unconditional love. . . please hear this. . . there is NOTHING you can do to make God love you more and there is NOTHING you can do to make God love you less.  No matter what the world tries to tell  you. . . no matter what some other Christians may try to tell you. . . YOU are a beloved child of God, come home and celebrate!

PRAYER:  Dear God, help me to read this wonderful story and to ask myself "who am I in this story?"  And then help me to accept the unconditional love that can only come from God. Help me to know that I will always be welcome to come home to my God who loves me unconditionally, no matter who I am or what I've done, AMEN

You Don't Know What You Got. . .

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN:  "Jesus said, 'have you ever read the Scriptures?
You can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:

The stone the masons threw out
    is now the cornerstone.
This is God’s work;
    we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!

“This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed.” Matthew 21:42-43

 

CONSIDER:  Our text today is from the Parable of the Tenants (Mt. 21:33-43) The landowner who plants a vineyard. He rents it and then moves to another place. At harvest time he sends his servants to collect his fruit. The farmers beat and kill the servants. He sends more servants with the same results and then decides to send his son thinking that they would respect him. But when they see it is the son, the heir, they kill him too.

We often don't appreciate what we have until we don't have it anymore. Just think of the persons in your life who you wanted to know and love better. . . but never got around to doing anything about it before they died. . . maybe we wanted to forgive or to be forgiven. . .We may have wanted to promote a good cause, to donate our time or money to make a difference. And now, we regret that such opportunities and people are gone from us.  We may not appreciate or eyesight or hearing until they are compromised by illness or age.

SO WHAT:  We are like the vineyard keepers (the renters) in this Gospel.  We have been blessed with faith in the way of life that Jesus brought the world.  We have been given resources and blessings.  The grace of God has prompted us, opened our minds and kindled a spark in our hearts. However, we have been so slow to cultivate what we have been given, we get to a point where we have no more chance in this world to bear the fruit that is God's love in Jesus Christ in this world. In other words, what are we doing with the gift of Christ in our lives today? Are we taking for granted that we have endless time to do something on earth?

• We don't have forever on earth. What are you doing with the time, resources and blessings you have?
• Who needs to hear from you today the words of forgiveness?
• If you don't make time now, when?

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to realize the resources and blessings I have from you. Help me to understand that I don't have forever to share your love and to act on all those promptings you whisper in my ear. May I not take for granted the time I do have to do something. Amen