On the Way to Wonder

I love the song at the beginning of Fiddler on the Roof when Tevya enters the barn and reflects, “If I Were a Rich Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc ),” and asks God, “So what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?”  Perhaps your thing is not wealth but maybe beauty or talent or power.  How would you like God to bless you? 

         A young rich man came to Jesus and asked him what he must do to inherit heaven.  The man approached Jesus as “good teacher,” and Jesus corrects him because only God is good and God is the one who knows the hearts of men to answer his request.  But Jesus continues and tells him to obey the commandments.  The man believes he has.  Most of us would feel that we have not committed big sins like murder and we try to lead a good life.  We are not as bad as some but we live better lives than many.  Jesus tells the man to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor and follow him.  The man left sad because he was wealthy. This is a blunt answer and the disciples are shocked (Matthew 19:16-26).

         I see two ways of understanding this.  Jesus is reminding the man that our wealth comes from God and is meant to be shared.  We are blessed to be a blessing.  Secondly, Jesus may be redirecting the young man to the first commandment that says we are to love God with our whole heart, more than our blessings.  Jesus is challenging the young man’s gratefulness to God as the provider of his blessings.

         During Lent we would be wise to check our attitude of gratitude for our many blessings.  We are to look up to God as our source and not look at the “other” and be thankful we are not as needy as them.  Comparing ourselves to others often leaves us feeling like we have drawn the short straw.  Thanking God opens our hearts and challenges us to hold our blessings in open hands.  Let us pray today, “Thank you Lord for…

         Matthew now turns to the next question.  The Pharisees come to “test” Jesus and ask him about divorce.  Ouch.  That is a topic that has touched most all of our lives.  We live in days when commitment phobia is very common.  Marriage is often seen as an unnecessary piece of paper.  Jesus points to creation and says that the original plan was that a man and woman would be united, to be a committed support team to face life.  To take something apart that has been superglued together, will leave scars on both.  We talk about “friendly divorces” where the partners work together for the sake of the children but that does not change the fact that a vow has been broken and serious discussions have occurred.  The Pharisees point to Moses who allowed divorce but Jesus says that is only because of hardness of heart and adultery.” We call it incompatibility.

         During Lent we bow our heads and admit that we have failed to live up to our commitments, our promises, our values, or our expectations.  Maybe we personally have not gone through a divorce but we have failed our important others at some point.  Interestingly Jesus does not end on a harsh condemning note.  He says that the plan is for a permanent union and “the one who can accept this should accept it. (Matthew 19:12)”

         It makes me think of the case of the little boy the disciples could not heal and then Jesus comes and says prayer can only heal it – by the power of God.  Not all of our problems can be solved by will power, by trying a new product or a different doctor.  The ideal, perfectionism, is seldom reached.  We need the cross because we fail.  In church services we kneel at the alter for communion, and we have the opportunity to sit quietly and pray, those confessional times are often followed by absolution when the pastor says,

“Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore declare unto you the total forgiveness of all your sins in the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

These are powerful words.  Because of the cross we are forgiven.  Let us spend a couple minutes this morning reflecting on ways we have not lived up to our promises and then read the absolution again.  We are forgiven all our failures – divorce, failed diets, gossip – because of Jesus.  Thank you, Lord, for your mercy.

         Matthew next highlights a question by Peter about forgiveness.  During Lent, as we travel with Jesus and the disciples to the cross and examine our own hearts, forgiveness is often a rock that needs to be dealt with.

^“21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18: 21-22)”

Jesus tells a parable to explain.  A master forgives his servant a huge debt when the servant pleads for mercy.  But then the servant leaves and goes out and harasses a fellow servant who owes him a small debt. The other servants report this to the master who is furious.  How can someone who is forgiven a huge amount turn around and be cruel?

We who have been forgiven so much and promised eternity often turn around and keep petty grudges with others.  These feuds in churches and in families ruin relationships and can cause huge rifts that never heal.  The ugly examples we have today are those who feel offended, let the issue boil within them, and then commit mass shootings. 

Lent is a time when we look for cobwebs in our souls.  Let us spend time reflecting today and asking the Holy Spirit to show us any areas where we need to forgive or seek forgiveness.  This is not to condone continual abuse but it is an attempt to not allow roots of bitterness to grow in our hearts.  God has forgiven us so let us try to be forgiving to others.  Blessings.

Matthew shifts to sharing with us some of the parables of Jesus as he heads to Jerusalem.  The first one is the story of a man who owned 100 sheep but one wandered off.  The owner left the 99 with caretakers and went in search of the lost sheep.  Jesus shares about the joy and rejoicing that results from finding the lost.

^“14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:14)”

Lent is a time when we do not focus on praise and all our blessings, but we focus on our “losses.”  A loss might be a relationship we have allowed to go by the wayside that we need to rekindle.  A loss might be realizing we have not written a friend we want to encourage, a relative or neighbor we want to visit, or a habit we have let slide.  It might be a lost opportunity that comes to mind. 

As we seek to recover those things we have allowed to wander and slip away from us, the result is joy.  Spending a couple of minutes in prayer before bedtime is relaxing.  Singing a song while driving rather than listening to the news all the time is healthy.  Hugging someone who is important to us is always rewarding.  Smiles given to someone who looks down and a word of affirmation can mean a lot. 

Jesus is going to the cross because God cares about his lost sheep.  He cares about us enough to search for us and carry us home.  He is not willing or wanting for us to wander in the wilderness, vulnerable and scared.  God does not want us to perish. The cross is about a God who does not just sit in heaven counting his assets and erasing his losses on April 15.  He actively seeks regain his creation.  Thank you, Lord.

         Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration and set his path to Jerusalem and the cross.  Matthew 18 opens with the disciples asking Jesus,

“Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  ² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. (Matthew 18:15)”

I have always heard these verses set in a discussion of the characteristics of young children.  This weekend my adult son visited for the first time in 6 months to support me and visit my husband in memory care.  My husband has dementia so I told him for several days that our son was coming.  I prepared my son that his father may not remember him or be affect-neutral.  As we walked in the room, my husband spotted our son and as we approached, he almost jumped out of his wheelchair and his face lit up with delight as he threw his arms open to hug our son. “…unless you change and become like little children,” said Jesus.

         Is it that as we age, we become more childlike?  My husband may or may not understand the events of life around him any more than a young child.  He is dependent on aides for personal care, so humbling.  He is loosing the ability to even stand up on his own two feet.  But he recognizes at some level those who love him and are kind to him. I am learning the gift of presence.  He does not spend a lot of time talking with people but we enjoy being together.

         I think that Matthew opens this phase of Jesus’ ministry with this story because as Jesus walks to the cross, he becomes more and more a person in the hands of other – not because he cannot, he is God, but because he does not.  There is a childlike quality about approaching the cross.

         As we approach our devotional time today, we might reflect on our countenance in prayer.  Are we like a child having a temper tantrum about our wants or are we more like an elder leaning out and raising our arms for a hug as we learn to trust the care of God?  Blessings.

 Wikipedia credits this hymn to Sarah Flower Adams who was inspired by the Biblical story of Jaccob’s dream recorded in Genesis 28:11-12.  Jacob was running from his twin brother Esau who wanted to kill him because Jacob had not only “stolen” Esau’s birthright as the eldest son and eldest twin but also deceived their father thus receiving the paternal blessing.  Jacob must cross the “wilderness” to his mother’s family.  He lays down to sleep and dreams of a staircase going to heaven with angels ascending and descending. 

         The hymn is well known because it is believed to be the last song play by the band on RMS Titanic played before the ship sank.  It is also credited as the song sung by the crew and passengers of the SS Valencia as it sank off the Canadian coast in 1906.  Those facts I didn’t know or had forgotten.

         I do know that we are entering the 40 days of Lent when we face our mortality and our fallibility.  We, like Jacob, are not perfect and we will die.  During Lent we look at the darker side of ourselves that we don’t want the world to see and our sins that sent Jesus to the cross.  Our prayer through this time is that as we confess and mourn for our world, we will draw nearer to God, to the God who cared enough to come to us!

         Washing and drying dishes became a game with my kids.  I had five kids and when we sat down for a meal, they would check out what was on the table and then I would hear, “I claim plates,” or “I claim forks.”  At the end of drying the dishes, they would wad up their wet dishtowels and we would play basketball trying to hit the sink.  Washing dishes was fun.  We do the laundry because we like to wear clean clothes.  We weed our gardens.  We take our cars in when they need servicing.  So WHY do we run from confession?  Why let our souls be soiled, run down, and full of weeds?

         King David was confronted by his prophet Nathan about committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hitte, one of his loyal soldiers.  He wrote Psalm 51 that has become a model for confession.  Lent is a time when we clean out the closet and deal with the crud in our souls.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.Wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me…Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  (Psalm 51: 1-3, 10-12)

         Lent is a time when we commit to spending some time in confession.  We sit quietly and allow God to show us where we have you fallen, times we have been selfish or when we have turned to the kingdom of this world for security rather than God.  We confess that we do not want to be crippled by fear, shame, greed or pride.  Let us take time now to allow the Holy Spirit to shine his flash light on us and confess any sin that comes to mind.

The Book of Common Worship has a beautiful prayer that can be a model:

“Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, Too real to hide,And too deep to undo.Forgive what our lips tremble to name, What our hearts can no longer bear,And what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment.Set us free from a past that we cannot change;Open to us a future in which we can be changed;And grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, Through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.” (From the PCUSA Book of Common Worship Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993; p. 88)

         Jesus comes down from the Mt. of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John.  A desperate father of a son whom he believes is demon possessed meets them.   Jesus heals the boy.  But Matthew then tells us that Jesus informed his disciples that he would die.

^‘22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. ²³ They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief. “ (Matthew 17: 22-23)

         Grief is like a deep darkness descending on us.  We know our loved one or we will die some day – next year please!  Death is never welcomed.  Lent, unlike Advent in December when we look forward to the birth Jesus, often feels dark and somber.  We don’t like to think about death.  Lent is not a time of happy anticipation but a dark season when we are looking forward to death.  Loss is a time of darkness.

         As we move into Lent, we ponder the areas in our lives and our world that are clouded by darkness, areas that need the light of Jesus. In Matthew 4:16 Isaiah 9:2 is quoted, “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  Matthew compares the arrival of Jesus to light arriving in this world to life in the shadow lands. 

            Let us spend a few minutes giving those dark areas of guilt, hate, regret and pain to God.  We could also spend a few minutes praying for our neighbors caught in war, hunger, drought or disease.   If that is too dark or painful, then we could focus our prayers on the gift of forgiveness our faith offers and thank God for sending us light in our darkness.  Blessings.

“Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near,” (Matthew 4:17).

         Many Christians around the world will go to church today to commemorate the beginning of the Lenten season.  We will be marked with a cross on our forehead by the pastor.  Ashes and a cross are powerful symbols.  Ashes remind us of our mortality and the cross reminds us of the God who incarnated and walked through death that we might be with him in eternity.  But there’s more to the story.

         Ash Wednesday is 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays. 40 days in the Bible is related to the period of rain for Noah, the days Moses was on Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness before the temptation.  Most agree that the number 40 is associated with a journey from struggle to redemption.  Many will do some sort of spiritual fast during this time or they may add a spiritual discipline.  That might mean not doing deserts or it might mean spending 5 minutes in focused meditation each evening before bed.  The goal is to focus on our relationship with God.

         For Palm Sunday last year many churches opened by having the congregation waves palms in commemoration of the start of Holy Week and the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem when people waved palms.  Those palms are later burnt and used this year to mark the beginning of Lent.  During Holy Week people went from greeting Jesus with “Hosanna” to yelling, “Crucify him!”  During Lent we grieve how easy it is for us to go from highs to lows in our faith journey also.  We face our humanity, our mortality, and our need for a Savior.  We lament the ways we have promised to worship and obey God but fallen far short. We contemplate, confess and acknowledge our need to turn from our own sinful ways to Jesus.

         Our readings will focus on Chapters 17 to 26 in the Gospel of Matthew as Matthew shares the events of Jesus’ life as he journey from Transfiguration to the cross.  Let’stake the next 40 days to reflect on this last year and how our own faith waxes and wanes but God’s love remains constant!  May we have the courage to “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near,” and turn to the love and grace offered by the cross.

Do you remember playing the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”?  You pound your fist three times while your friend pounds her hand and then you make the sign of a rock (a fist), paper (flat palm), or scissors (two fingers making a cutting motion).  Rocks crush scissors.  Paper wraps rocks.  Scissors cut paper.  Sometimes life feels like that game.  I question if I’m struggling with rocks in my garden of life or need to cut back thorns and hopefully is not the hard flat path.  We continue today with Jesus as he continues to tell his disciples the meaning of the parable of the sower throwing out his seed that we looked at yesterday.

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”  (Matthew 13:18-23)

Our seed can fall on hard ground.  The other just doesn’t get it.  In one ear and out the other.  Blank stare.  But the seed can fall where there is a little soil and there is some sign of growth.  Rocky soil means there is shallow dirt resulting in shallow thinking and no real roots.  Problems blow those sprouts away.  Thorny soil chokes the plant with anxiety and care.  Good soil gets a good plant.  I suspect that we all have hard places in our heart where old scars have hardened our ability to absorb truth.  Rocks like bad experiences can sour us to God’s word.  We tried to pray but God didn’t seem to be listening and so we quit.  We feel like God is too busy for me.  We do have days like that or, perhaps, we are too busy for God!  We all know about worries and anxiety that distracts us from God.  We want to be good soil but sometimes after our fist pounds three times we come up with rock, thorns or hard ground.

         Lent is a time when we examine our soil to see if rocks need to be removed, thorns pulled up, and hard places plowed.  Setting aside five minutes each evening before you go to bed or five minutes in the morning to review yesterday can be a valuable Lenten discipline.  Matthew 17-26, nine chapters are devoted to Jesus coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration and heading to Jerusalem.  Let’s read those chapters this Lent.  Blessings.