Sunday, April 14

Three Times

John 21: 1-19 http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=232936286
 

Join us in worship today as we Hear the story of Jesus’ third appearance to his disciples after his death. Listen as the story focuses on the one who denied Jesus three times, as Jesus asks the question three times, “Do you love me?” And as Jesus gives specific instruction, three times, on what we are to do, how we are to live, as followers of Christ, as an Easter people...

 

What do we do when our world falls apart, when we lose a loved one, a relationship, a job? When the disciples' world fell apart they were not sure what to do next. Jesus had appeared to them, they knew the Resurrected Christ had changed forever the world. Yet, they struggled with what to do next.

 

It seems they returned to what they knew best...at least a few of them, they went fishing. It is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that Jesus makes things perfectly clear: "If you love me, feed my lambs. If you love me, tend my sheep. If you love me, feed my sheep."

Friday, April 5, 2013

Doubting...with Thomas
 
John 20:19-29
¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

   This week in worship, we'll be focusing on this story from John: Jesus appearing in the Upper Room (even though the doors were locked!) with the disciples.
 
   Poor Thomas! For whatever reason, he was not present on that first Easter evening. All the others disciples (except for Judas of course) got to see and experience Jesus Resurrected. But not Thomas. And so...for all these years we have branded Thomas as "Doubting" in story and reflection.
 
   I remember my Sunday School teacher telling us, "Don't be like Thomas, BELIEVE." The problem...I'm alot like Thomas! It's not that I don't believe or don't want to believe, it's just that I need to chew on things for a while before I'm willing to say, "I believe."
 
   I grew up in a church that was pretty conservative. Lots of folks said they believed. They told us we should believe, ...without questioning. So I didn't question much, at least not aloud or in public. But, I questioned, earnestly and often. Not because I wanted to, but more because it was hard not to. I knew there was more out there and my heart and soul have always longed for that more.
 
  Do you ever doubt or have doubts? Each year in confirmation classes, we begin by inviting our confirmands to ask deep and wide questions. We tell them right up front, It's okay to doubt, to not understand, to have a hard time believing this or that, even to say, "I'm just not able to say, I believe, yet." We understand confirmation to be about making the faith their own. I don't know about you, but that is not always an easy process for me.
 
   Sometimes I wonder and have doubts about the theology that has been handed down to us. Sometimes I wonder about the wisdom and motives of those who have come before us. Sometimes I have to wonder if that is what a particular Scripture really means? Sometimes I even why God does things the way God does things? 
 
   Join us for worship this Sunday as we dig into "Doubting." As methodical Methodists (ha!) I'm thinking we ought to have some rules for doubting...maybe: Doubt-Nice, Doubt-Well, Doubt-Prayerful? But doubting we should.

Lord, we give you all of ourselves...even those places where hurts, doubts and misgivings still linger. Take our doubts, we pray--bless them, break them, heal and make them...whole and holy  for you. It is in the name of the Resurrected Christ that we pray, Amen!

Blessings!

Rich Greenway   


    

Friday, April 5, 2013

AN INVITATION TO EASTER!

Yesterday's devotional was the last in the Adam Hamilton series for Lent/Easter, The Way. I hope you enjoyed and were blessed by Rev. Hamilton's insights and the wonderful way he makes the stories of Scripture come to life for us.

We will not be sharing a daily devotional through the remainder of the Easter Season. I do hope, however, to share thoughts and aha! moments several times a week. And so, I'm asking for your help.

Were there particular devotions in "The Way" series that you liked and would like to take deeper? Were there questions raised in your own heart and mind that you would like us to address together? Do you have questions about Easter, the meaning of Easter and what it means to live as an Easter people?

For the past several years, we've been using, "I wonder..." questions to help us peel back the layers of meaning and detail in stories. It's a rather easy exercise. Read a story and then just begin to ask the "I wonder" questions about the characters, the details, the truths you hear lifted in the story, the way the story might have been different if things had gone in a different direction.

On Maudy Thursday, Pastor Laura, invited us to "wonder" about those moments when Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples: I wonder how the disciples felt as Jesus kneeled before them, took their dirty feet in his hands and washed them clean? I wonder if sometimes it's easier to serve others than it is to receive the gift of service? I wonder how Judas felt as Jesus looked him in the eyes? I wonder why Judas betrayed? I wonder if he had doubts about his betrayal?  ...even, I wonder if the water was cold? (ha!)

Rev. Hamilton's devotional from a few days ago, wondered how different the story would have been if, instead of killing himself immediately in despair, Judas had waited long enough to witness the Resurrection? Now, that could have been some story of reconciliation and healing!

What has touched you during this season of Lent/Easter? What is it that you "wonder" about?

You can share your thoughts by responding on the blog or if you would prefer by emailing me at rogreen@bellsouth.net. If you do not want your thoughts/questions shared, please let me know that in your email.

I invite you to Easter!

Blessings.

Rich Greenway

Thursday, April 4, 2013

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

   Anglican scholar, pastor, and writer R. T. France, in commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, notes that its final verses, often called the Great Commission, are the climax and fulfillment of the entire Gospel.
 
   At the beginning of the Gospel Jesus is referred to as "Immanuel," God with us; at the end of the Gospel Jesus promises to be with us always, to the end of the age. At Jesus' birth the wise men, Gentiles, come to pay homage; after his resurrection Jesus sends his disciples into all the nations. During Jesus' temptation the devil offers him the kingdoms of the world--not just their wealth, but by implication their power; at the end he declares that all authority has been given to him on earth and in heaven (Matthew 28:18). At the beginning of his ministry he invites twelve disciples to follow him; now he sends them out to the whole world to invite others to follow him. Throughout the Gospel Jesus has taught his followers about the kingdom, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount; now they must teach others to obey everything he has told them.
 
   Jesus' Great Commission calls all who follow Jesus to invite others to do the same. But if we are honest, most of us are a little nervous about talking to others about Jesus. We love the quote, often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, that we should preach the gospel at all times and when necessary  use words. We're happy to show the gospel to others, but often we pray that we won't have to "use words."
 
   Yet the Kingdom of God on earth expands as people who are Christ followers--people like you and me--share their story with others.
 
   I became a Christ follower at age fourteen because a man named Harold Thorson was going door-to-door inviting people to church. I became a Christ follower, because a girl named LaVon invited me to youth group and Sunday School. I became a Christ follower, because a pastor and a youth pastor told me what Jesus had taught his disciples and invited me to obey. All these people showed me the gospel, and they knew they also had to use words.
 
   There are some people in your life who are not yet Christ followers. Some would consider the Christian faith if you were to tell them what your faith in Jesus means to you. Make a list of people God may be calling you to share your faith with. Pray for them. Invited them to worship with you. Over a cup of coffee, tell them the story of how you came to faith, or the difference Christ has made in your daily life.
 
   Last week a woman came to me after worship, saying it was her first Sunday at our church. She had felt lost for some time. Some good friends had loved her, and listened to her, and gently shared with her the difference Christ had made in their lives. The friends had described how they had found him at our church. And they had encouraged her, not just once but multiple times, to visit the church.
 
   The woman looked at me and said, "Today I feel that I've finally found what I've been looking for. I'm so grateful to my friends who encouraged me to visit the church!" Her friends were fulfilling the Great Commission, and in the process they were being used by God to change his woman's life.
 
   Who are the people God wants you to reach out to in his name?

Lord, I wish to be your disciple. Help me to follow you faithfully. Use me, I pray, to share with my friend your story, and to invite and encourage him/her to join me as I follow you. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way:40 Days of Reflection

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

Read Luke 24: 13-35  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=231935252

   It was an Easter afternoon. The disciples were still reeling, having learned that Jesus' tomb had apparently been desecrated and his body taken. There were women who had reported he had been raised from the dead, but as yet the disciples did not believe them. Two disciples, a man named Cleopas and another unnamed disciple, left Jerusalem for Emmaus, about a two-hour walk from the Holy City. William Barclay's translation of Luke 24: 17b notes that "their faces were twisted with grief." They were on a journey filled with sorrow.
 
   We've all walked on the road to Emmaus. Our road may have led to the unemployment line or to the hospital, to the courtroom or cemetery. One way or another, we've all walked on a journey where our hopes and dreams have been crushed, and sorrow seems to be our only friend.
 
   Jesus came as a stranger to Cleopas and his friend. He listened as they told him, not realizing who he was, about the events surrounding the Crucifixion. When he began to speak, he offered them a different perspective on the events that had occurred. Then that evening, as he gave thanks for their meal and broke the bread, they saw that this stranger was Jesus.
 
   Today, Jesus routinely sends us to be his representatives, as strangers on someone else's road to Emmaus. And sometimes he sends others to us on our own road to Emmaus. Whatever our role, the key is to pay attention.
 
   A man I know was checking into a hotel when a woman entered the lobby, upset and clearly struggling. She needed a place to stay for the night but had no way of paying and could only promise that she was being wired money the next day. She ran out to her car to get proof for the manager that she would be able to repay him the next day. While she was gone, my friend paid for the woman's room and quickly scratched a note to her: "I felt God wanted me to pay for your lodging tonight. I believe he wants you to know that he has not forgotten you." My friend became the woman's stranger on the road to Emmaus.
 
   A woman I know stopped in a church restroom during worship, only to find another woman there in tears. The two of them had never met before, but the other woman's face was "twisted with grief." My friend could tell that the woman needed someone to care for her, and she paused to minister to the woman. This was the road to Emmaus, and she would be the presence of Christ for this sorrowful woman.
 
   As a follower of Christ, you have the opportunity to represent him. Pay attention to the strangers you meet. It may be that the Lord wants to use you to offer comfort and hope to those in need as they travel along the road to Emmaus.

   Lord, teach me to pay attention to the strangers around me. Use me to encourage, comfort and care for the stranger in need. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

SOME DOUBTED

John 20: 24-25
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

   MICHAEL WAS A GUIDE ON MY FIRST trip to Israel. He was Jewish, but it was obvious he knew more about Jesus than the average Christian. As Michael described the various places we went, he assumed more New Testament knowledge than some of our people had, and I would have to stop and explain what he had just said. Michael was more like a professor of New Testament than a Holy Land guide.

   At one point, away from the rest of my group, I asked him, “Michael, you genuinely seem to love Jesus, yet you are not a Christian. Tell me about this.” He said, “I do love him. I love what he taught. I love what he did. I love the way he cared for the sick and the broken. I grieve the tragedy of his death and believe he gave his life to demonstrate the path of love, and to show God’s love.” I said, “Michael, it sounds like you are a Christ-follower.” He responded, “My only problem is that I can’t find the faith to believe in the Resurrection.”

   Michael was not the first to struggle with the concept of Jesus’ resurrection. In Luke’s gospel, the women were the first to meet the risen Christ, but when they told the disciples that he was risen, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24: 11 NRSV). When Jesus finally appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not with them, so he did not believe. In fact, ten disciples told him they had seen Christ risen, and still he refused to believe. His skepticism earned him the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” Matthew, in his account, depicts the disciples seeing the resurrected Christ for the first time in Galilee when he gave the great commission. Matthew notes, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28: 17 NRSV).

   I think Jesus had great empathy for doubters. He knew the Resurrection would be hard to believe, which is why, after appearing to Thomas he said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed” (John 20: 29 NIV).

   The first time I read Matthew and Mark’s Gospels I was not yet a Christian. I, too, found the Resurrection difficult to believe. Finally, as I read Luke’s account, it began to make sense. I asked myself, “What would be different if the Resurrection had not occurred?” Jesus would have died on the cross, just the same. But this death would be a defeat, not the prelude to a victory. Evil would have won. Hate, fear, and bigotry would have been the victors. The apostles would have returned to fishing. Paul would never have met the risen Christ. The Great Commission would never have been given. The great message of redemption, forgiveness, and hope would not be known throughout the world.

   It finally hit me that the story had to end with the Resurrection if in fact it was God’s story. Evil could not have the last word. Death could not have the final say. I came to trust that God, who called forth the universe through his creative power, also had the power to bring about Christ’s resurrection from the grave. Realizing this, I came to trust that the tomb was empty and that the women, the disciples, and Paul had in fact seen the risen Christ.

   God raised his son from the dead. I not only believe this, I’m counting on it. But I still have empathy for those, such as Michael, who struggle with doubt. I assured Michael that he was in good company— that the earliest disciples of Jesus struggled with the Resurrection, too. I invited him to keep following Jesus’ way and to continue pondering the meaning of the Resurrection. I suggested that one day he, too, might come to see the logic, and power, of the Resurrection.

"Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief."  Thank you for your patience with doubters such as Thomas. Help me to trust in the Easter Story and to that because you live I will live also. Amen.

Monday, April 1, 2013

THE GARDENER

John 20: 11, 14-16
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.  .  .  .   She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).

   JOHN’S EASTER STORY IS MOVING and profound. In his gospel, he intends to do more than tell us what happened. His stories and their details are meant to show us what the story means.

   Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. The stone had been rolled away. Jesus’ body was not there. She did not yet understand. To her grief had been added the painful thought that someone had taken Jesus’ body from the tomb to further humiliate him.

   Composer C. Austin Miles penned his well-loved hymn “In the Garden” after reading John’s account of the Resurrection. It is sung in Mary’s voice: “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses.” Suddenly Jesus appears next to Mary, but she doesn’t recognize him. Since the tomb was located in a garden, Mary thought at first that Jesus was the gardener.

   This mention of the garden, with Jesus seeming to be the gardener, only appears in John’s gospel. John wants the reader to connect the dots between this garden and the Garden of Eden. Remember, John begins his gospel pointing back to the Garden of Eden by echoing the opening words of Genesis: “In the beginning  .  .  .” (John 1: 1). John wants us to see that what happened in Eden— the loss of paradise— was being reversed in Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Genesis, God had said, “In the day you eat of the forbidden fruit you will die.” The archetypal story of Adam and Eve in that first garden point to the pain and death that come when we turn from God’s way. But in this garden— where Jesus is crucified, is buried, and then emerges from the tomb— he takes away the sting of our sin, and he conquers human mortality.

   When I wrote the companion book to this devotional, I described a woman named Joyce and her cancer diagnosis. In the month between the writing of that book and this one, Joyce died. A day or so before her passing, I stood by her bedside at the Hospice House. Her family was there. One of our worship leaders sang some of her favorite songs. Joyce faced her death with confidence and hope, and she instilled these in her husband, children, and grandchildren. She found hope in the story of Christ’s resurrection. And with C. Austin Miles she would sing, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, / And He tells me I am His own; / And the joy we share as we tarry there, / None other has ever known.”

Lord, help me to trust in the hope of Easter— that you live and walk with me, and that you have conquered death. I believe that because you live, I shall live also. I entrust my life to you. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter...

John 20:1-18

   Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;⁹for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes. ¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.


An Upside-Down Easter Meditation by Parker J. Palmer

Years ago, I stumbled upon a little book by Julia Esquivel-the Guatemalan poet and social justice activist-titled Threatened with Resurrection. Those few words had a huge impact on me.

I'd been taught that death is the great threat and resurrection the great hope. But at the time I found Esquivel's book, I was experiencing the death-in-life called depression. Her title jarred me into the hard realization that figurative forms of death sometimes feel comforting--while resurrection, or the hope of new life, feels threatening.

Why? Because death-in-life can bring us a perverse sense of relief. When I was depressed, nobody expected anything of me, nor did I expect anything of myself. I was exempt from life's demands and risks. But if I were to find new life, who knows what daunting tasks I might be required to take on?

Sometimes we choose dead-in-life (as in compulsive over activity, unhealthy relationships, non-stop judgmentalism aimed at self or others, work that compromises our integrity, substance abuse, pervasive cynicism, etc.), because we're afraid of the challenges that might come if we embraced resurrection-in-life.

Every religious tradition is rooted in mysteries I don't pretend to understand, including claims about what happens when we die. But this I know for sure: as long as we're alive, choosing resurrection is always worth the risk. I'm grateful for the people and experiences that continue to help me to embrace "the threat of resurrection."

My Easter wish for everyone is the ability to say "YES" to life. Even when life challenges us, it's a gift beyond all measure...

Lord, as we awaken again to find the tomb empty, may we hear the voice of the angel reminding us that Christ is risen indeed! May the gift of resurrection-in-life be born in us today. Amen.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

WHAT IF JUDAS HAD WAITED?

Matthew 27:3-5
When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.

   SEVERAL YEARS AGO I HAD THE chance to visit the place tradition says Judas hung himself. The field, known as Potter’s Field or the Field of Blood, overlooks the Valley of Hinnom— Gehenna. Gehenna served as the city trash dump in the time of Christ and, owing to the constant fires that burned the rubbish there, came to be synonymous with hell. On the site of this field are the ruins of a twelfth-century Crusader church and a host of discarded tombs in the side of the rock outcropping. And there, in the middle of the field, is a lone tree, a reminder that when Judas came to this place, overwhelmed with guilt over having betrayed Christ, he hanged himself.
 
   As I stood at the tree, a thought came to me: “What if Judas had waited three days?”
 
   Many people, at some point, think of ending their lives. For most, the thought is momentary and fleeting. For others, who are overwhelmed by guilt, depression, or pain, the thought lingers. Tragically, a few will conclude that death offers the only way out.
 
   Judas was one of these few. He had betrayed Christ. His friend would die for his betrayal. He felt there was no other way out. Yet I could not stop thinking, “If only he had waited three days.” Had he waited, he would have seen Christ risen from the grave. He would have known that even his betrayal was not the final word. He could have fallen at Jesus’ feet and cried out, “Lord, forgive me!” And what do you think Jesus would have said to Judas? Can there be any doubt that Jesus would have shown mercy to him?
 
   Imagine what would have become of Judas had he waited. His witness might have been the most powerful of all the disciples’. Can you imagine him telling his story throughout the empire? “I betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. I watched him die on the cross. But on the third day, he rose. And he forgave even me! If he forgave me, what can he do for you?”
   
   In our lives, we have moments that seem overwhelmingly bleak. We make a mess of things and see no way out. Judas felt that way. But the message of the cross and Resurrection is that God is the Lord of second chances. In even the most dire circumstances, there is always hope. After our most egregious sins, there is the offer of grace. In the darkest of times, there is an Easter yet to come.
 
   Listen carefully: there is always hope. God is able to take the pain and despair of the present and bring from it something remarkable. You can’t imagine it now, but look for someone or something that can help you find hope: a pastor, a family member, a friend, a suicide hotline. Remember Judas’s story. Think about what could have been, if only he had waited three days.

   Lord, help me to trust you in my darkest hour. Help me to remember that you can take something as ugly as a cross and turn it into an instrument of salvation. Grant me courage to keep walking when I feel like giving up. Amen. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, contact a suicide hotline in your area and contact the pastor of your local church.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus 

Friday, March 29, 2013

A MIRROR AND A SELF-PORTRAIT 

 Mark 15: 16-20, 25, 29, 31, 32

Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.  .  .  .   It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.  .  .  .   Those who passed by derided him.  .  .  .   In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him.  .  .  .   Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

   MARK’S ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION makes clear the inhumanity of those who surrounded Jesus on that first “Good” Friday. They were anything but good. An entire cohort of soldiers came together to humiliate Jesus, beating him, mocking him, spitting upon him. Jesus was crucified outside the city walls, and those who passed by hurled insults at him. (Crucifixions occurred on main roadways to act as a deterrent for others.) The religious leaders showed him no mercy, mocking him as he suffered. Mark tells us that Jesus was taunted even by those who were crucified alongside him. For all these people, it was not enough that they had successfully sentenced Jesus to die. They wanted to dehumanize him as well.
 
   If we could step back and take a cosmic view of this scene, we would see God the Son beaten, abused, spat upon, crucified, then mocked and taunted as he hung dying. And his abusers? The Romans fancied themselves the champions of justice. The chief priests and experts in Scripture believed they were the champions of God’s Law. The common Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people. The irony of the Crucifixion is overwhelming: God came to humanity, even to his own people, and they crucified him, seeking to crush his spirit as he suffered. The Crucifixion is at one and the same time a mirror held up to humanity, making plain our inhumanity; and a self-portrait of the God who willingly suffered at our hands to redeem us, change us, and save us from ourselves. We are meant to see ourselves in the crowd at Calvary. Alexander Solzhenitsyn has rightly noted, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”  But we’re also meant to see a God who suffers as a result of our sin, and who is willing to die in order to save us from ourselves.
 
   Like the crowd at Calvary, we have the capacity and propensity to rationalize the hurtful things we say and do to one another. We are experts at justifying what cannot be justified. We, too, have turned from God’s way in order to hold on to power, to pursue wealth, or to protect our wounded pride. We’ve made thousands of small turns away from God’s path, and a few really big ones. Which is why, on Good Friday, we pause to remember that the Crucifixion was for us. We see the Lord hanging there. We hear him cry out, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.” We see in the cross our need and God’s gift. We kneel before our crucified Lord and pray:

Forgive me, Lord! Heal me, Lord! Help me, Lord, that I might, from this day on, follow in your way! Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Thursday, March 28, 2013

MAUNDY THURSDAY

John 13: 34-35
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13: 4-5
Jesus  .  .  .   got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.

Luke 22: 19-20
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper.

   ON THURSDAY OF HOLY WEEK, Christians around the world gather to remember Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. The day is called Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday. It is likely that Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum, which, as you might guess, can be translated as mandate or commandment. On this night, just before his arrest, Jesus would give his disciples three mandates: love one another, serve one another, and remember him in the breaking of the bread. 
 
   Love and serve one another: Sitting at the table, Jesus said to his gathered disciples, “I give you a new commandment. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” What does it mean to love as Jesus loved? While Jesus undoubtedly felt a brotherly love for his disciples, that was not the love he demanded of his disciples here. He demanded agape— not feelings, but selfless acts done to help, benefit, or care for another. Earlier in John 13 we read, “He now showed them the full extent of his love” (John 13: 1c NIV). Then he proceeded to assume the role of the lowest household servant by washing his disciples’ feet.
    
   After washing their feet, Jesus said, “I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” Loving by serving is meant to define the Christian life. Jesus said this would be a sign to the world that we are his followers. We live selflessly and sacrificially towards others. In this we become leaven and salt. We let our light shine so that, through us, the world glimpses God’s Kingdom and what we were meant to be as human beings.
  
   Sunday a physician told me how a man had come to her office the previous week. He said he was not a patient, but his friend was. His friend needed a $ 1,700 procedure that was not covered by insurance, and the man knew his friend could not afford it. The man said, “I’m here to pay for the procedure, but you cannot tell him who did this. Please simply say that the expenses have been covered.” The physician told me, “In all my years of practice I’ve never had anyone do something like this.” In this one act, the benefactor had demonstrated both what it means to love and what it means to serve. The final command Jesus gave was to remember him through the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup. While we do this in Holy Communion, I’ve often felt Jesus intended something more. Every meal in every Jewish home included bread and wine. I wonder if he did not intend that every time his followers gave thanks at mealtime, they would remember him. This is what we do when we pause to say grace at meals. In this simple act, we remember him who gave his life for us.

Lord, help me to remember your love and sacrifice every day of my life. Give me the grace to love and serve others without a desire for recognition or repayment. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus 

Wednesday,March 26

A RECOVERING PHARISEE?

Matthew 23:1-3,5a, 11-12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach  .  .  .   They do all their deeds to be seen by others  .  .  .  [ But] the greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

   EACH DAY DURING THE FINAL WEEK of his life, Jesus was more blunt in his criticism of the religious leaders. His parables were just thinly veiled indictments of their hypocrisy. In Matthew 23, Jesus spoke in the Temple courts to a crowd of hundreds, perhaps thousands. He began with a warning to do as the scribes and Pharisees said, but not as they did. One has the impression that there were religious leaders standing in the crowd, wearing flowing robes and frowns.
 
   Jesus eventually turned to speak directly to them: “Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!” His words may seem unduly harsh and designed to provoke, until we remember that he knew already that these leaders would put him to death. He saw these leaders as betraying the very God they claimed to serve.
 
   What were the religious leaders doing wrong? They were filled with pride. They performed acts of piety in order to be noticed by others. They loved affirmation and being seen as important. They demanded that the people practice one thing, while they themselves privately lived by another standard. They developed binding rules that contradicted the spirit and intent of the Law they claimed to uphold. They tithed on every herb in their gardens, but failed to practice justice, mercy and faithfulness.
 
   In the most graphic of images, Jesus noted that the religious leaders were like “whitewashed tombs”— beautiful outside but full of decay inside (Matthew 23: 27). The leaders appeared righteous but were full of hypocrisy and wickedness. They strained gnats but swallowed camels. You get the idea. It wasn’t a flattering picture. Having said that, I now have a confession to make: I am a recovering Pharisee, and sometimes I “fall off the wagon.” I find that nearly every part of Jesus’ indictment of the Pharisees has, at one time or another, applied to me. 
 
   How easy it is to pose as something you are not, to love being called “Pastor” or “Reverend,” to stand in front of a congregation asking people to do something that you yourself are not doing. The Greek word for hypocrite meant an actor on a stage. Are you play-acting your faith, or does it permeate your entire life? Are you like a whitewashed tomb filled with unclean things? Are your motives ever less than pure? Jesus indictment of the Pharisees is an invitation to self-examination and repentance. Looking back at today’s reading from Matthew, I am reminded of the call to practice what I preach, to live my life “for an audience of One,” and to humble myself before God and others.

Lord, forgive me for those moments when I have become a Pharisee. Help me to live what I claim to believe. I long for my motives to be pure— please forgive me when they are not. And help me to humble myself before you, while seeking always to serve others. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

WHO DO YOU BELONG TO?

Luke 20:20-25
So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said.  .  .  .   So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.” He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

   SHORTLY AFTER ENTERING JERUSALEM, Jesus went to the Temple and found that the merchants and moneychangers had been filling their own pockets by forcing worshipers to exchange coins or purchase animals for sacrifice at prices well above market. Jesus drove them out, enraging both the merchants and the religious authorities, who also made money off the arrangement.

   After that, Jesus taught in the Temple courts each day, and hundreds came to hear him. But the religious leaders were determined to trap him in his words, by leading him either to say something they could claim was blasphemous, or to say something against Rome that would allow them to turn Jesus over to Pilate as a revolutionary. In today’s Scripture, the trap they set was a clever one. If Jesus suggested it was lawful to pay taxes, then he would alienate those who resented the annual tribute owed to the emperor. If he said people should not pay taxes, then he would be turned over to the Romans as a dissident.

   In response to their query, Jesus asked for a denarius, the common coin of his day. The coin represented a day’s wages for a common laborer and the annual tribute due the Emperor from every adult male in Palestine. Jesus asked whose image was on the coin. The Greek word for “image” is eikon— icon. This was also the word that was used in the Greek translation of Genesis 1: 27, where God made human beings in his image— his icon.

   The head on the coin was likely that of the reigning emperor, Tiberius, and the inscription probably read, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” So the leaders replied, “The emperor’s” (Luke 20: 24). Then came the brilliant response by Jesus: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20: 25).

   Who could argue with his logic? The coin was struck in Caesar’s image; render it unto Caesar. But you are another matter. Your heart, your mind, your soul were made in the image of God. Render unto God the things that are God’s.

   The Covenant Prayer of the early Methodists is an example of a prayer aimed at helping the one praying it to “give to God the things that are God’s.” I invite you to make this your prayer today:

I am no longer my own but thine. Put me to what you will. Rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing or put me to suffering. Let me be exalted by thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full or let me be empty. Let me have all things or let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to they pleasure and disposal. And now, most glorious and blessed God, thou art mine and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant that I have made on earth let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Monday, March 25, 2013

WHICH KING WILL YOU CHOOSE?

John 12:12-15
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

   LAST ELECTION SEASON, I RECEIVED three political phone calls in thirty minutes, hoping to persuade me to vote this way or that. Signs were in the yards of my neighbors. The airwaves were filled with commercials for each of the candidates. The presidential candidates and their supporters spent over two billion dollars trying to get elected. In the end, each voter had to make a choice as to which candidate should be leading our country going forward.

   On the first Palm Sunday, those in Jerusalem were offered a choice as well. Three “candidates” marched into Jerusalem that week, perhaps on the same day: There was Pilate, accompanied by centurions riding on their magnificent steeds, planning to keep the peace by intimidation, preparing to crucify a handful of Jews who dared rebel against Rome’s authority. There was Herod Antipas, ruler of the Galilee, who had taken his brother’s wife as his own— an incident that shortly thereafter led to Herod’s beheading of John the Baptist for speaking against that act.

   There was also a third candidate. He entered Jerusalem not on a stallion, but a donkey. He came not adorned in gold and silver and silks, but in the clothes of a carpenter. His followers were a ragtag band of misfits, tax collectors, prostitutes, common folk, and children who hailed him as a king on that Sunday as he entered Jerusalem. He spoke of loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you, and turning the other cheek when mistreated.
      
   Which person would you have chosen among these three? The powerful and the wealthy who ruled by might? Or the peasant king who called his followers to conquer by the power of sacrificial love? As I awaken each morning, I always take a moment in prayer to hail Jesus once again as my Savior and King.

Lord, help me to choose you each day and to follow in the path you’ve laid out for me. You are my King and my Lord. Teach me to demonstrate kindness in the face of unkindness and to overcome evil by the power of love. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus  
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Sunday, March 24, 2013

THE FINAL WEEK

Mark 11:7-10
Jerusalem They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

            During the final week of Jesus’ life, he demonstrated how fully present God is in all human experience. During that week, Jesus experienced betrayal, abandonment, ridicule, loneliness, excruciating physical pain, and death itself. That week clearly was important, because the gospel writers devote anywhere from a quarter to nearly a half of their respective stories to narrating the events of this one week.

            The final week started off on a celebratory note. Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey, with the crowds waving palm leaves and shouting “Hosanna,” which means “Save us.” That impromptu parade was an intentional mockery of a Roman triumph, which was a victory parade that a great general or emperor would receive after a major victory. The parody no doubt was noticed by the Romans. It also upset the religious authorities, who thought that Jesus’ stunt would invite the Romans to retaliate toward the entire population.

            Jesus further provoked those in power when he drove out the moneychangers from the Temple courts (Matthew 21:12-13), saying they had turned the place from a “house of prayer” into a “den of thieves”—not exactly the way to endear yourself to people who have friends in high places.

            The week was a flurry of activity, with Jesus telling parables, engaging in heated exchanges with religious leaders, and making cryptic predictions of events to come. Passover week culminated in the Seder meal, which Jesus celebrated with his disciples, including Judas, who would hand him over to the authorities a few hours later. The Passover meal was already loaded with spiritual significance, as Jews remembered how God delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt; Jesus added a new layer of meaning by telling his disciples that from now on the meal would be a remembrance of how God delivered us from slavery to sin and death itself. Ever since, Christians have celebrated this meal and called it Holy Communion.

            One difficult issue the early Christians had to confront was that most people found the idea of a crucified messiah nonsensical at best, and offensive at worst. Why would God let his chosen one suffer such a fate? Over the years, the church has come up with many different ways to frame the death of Jesus in terms of God’s work in redeeming creation. Some Christians talk about it in terms of a grand victory over the forces of evil and death, since in the Resurrection, Jesus breaks the ultimate power of death. Others frame it in light of the sacrificial system practiced at the Temple, where a pure, sinless offering was given to atone for people’s sins. Still others explain it in terms of the example Jesus set for us in his unlimited and sacrificial love. There are many other ways of understanding the significance of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, but whichever metaphor we prefer, they all point to this theme that runs throughout the gospels: Jesus stands in our shoes, experiences everything we experience, and demonstrates that a better way is not only possible but has already begun.

Matthew Kelley-The Way Worship Package

Saturday, March 23, 2013

WHY HE CAME

Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

   ON HIS WAY TO JERUSALEM, where crucifixion awaited him, Jesus stopped in Jericho for a divine appointment. As he walked past a sycamore tree, he looked up and saw a man named Zacchaeus in the branches, where he had climbed to catch a glimpse of Jesus. Jesus called to Zacchaeus and asked to stay at his home. The request was shocking to the townspeople, for Zacchaeus was well known in the region, not merely as a tax collector but as the chief tax collector. He was wealthy, and his wealth had come by collecting more taxes than was due. Watching Jesus, the people grumbled and said, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19: 7 NRSV).

   But notice the response of Zacchaeus. Dumfounded by Jesus’ request, he decided on the spot to give half his possessions to the poor and promised to return anything he had wrongfully taken from others. And note what Jesus said to the crowd that day: “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19: 10 NRSV).

   I have asked my congregation to memorize that verse. It captures the heart and ministry of Jesus the way few other words do. He said that the reason he came— his purpose— was to look for and offer deliverance to people who have strayed from God’s path.

   We in the church sometimes forget this. If the church is the body of Christ, as Paul taught, then its primary purpose must be to “seek out and to save the lost.” Jesus didn’t do that by preaching at Zacchaeus. He didn’t share a gospel tract. Instead Jesus asked Zacchaeus if he could have supper at his house. He befriended Zacchaeus, in spite of knowing that the townsfolk would consider it a scandal.

   How would your church do things differently if its primary mission was to “seek out and to save the lost?” Who are the people you are building friendships with who are non-Christian or nominally Christian? Is there anyone you believe God wishes you to invite for worship in the next few weeks?

Lord, help me find ways to befriend and share my faith with people like Zacchaeus, and to be used by you to help others see your light and love. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus .

Friday, March 22, 2013

Where are the other nine?

Luke17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

  IN TODAY’S SCRIPTURE, JESUS WAS ON his way to Jerusalem, where he knew that a cross awaited him. Yet, even as he drew near to his own suffering, he was mindful of the suffering of others. Perhaps it was this awareness that kept him from being overwhelmed by his approaching fate.

  As Jesus entered a village, ten lepers approached him. The lepers were both Jew and Samaritan, bound together by their common affliction. Leprosy (which included a variety of skin disorders) was the most socially isolating disease of ancient times. Fear of contracting the disease kept people away from lepers.

   Lepers were the untouchables of Jesus’ day. The Law of Moses required them to keep their distance from others and to declare, “Unclean!” when others approached (Leviticus 13: 45). Seeing the ten lepers and knowing the isolation they experienced, Jesus showed them mercy, telling them to go to the priests, as the Law of Moses commanded, and they would be made whole. (The story is reminiscent of the story about the healing of Naaman, in 2 Kings 5.)

  To visit the priests, the lepers had to make a seven- or eight-day trek to Jerusalem. Just as they set out, the lepers discovered that they were healed. This, it seems, was because they had demonstrated a measure of trust in Jesus’ words. However, only one of the ten returned to him to give thanks, and this was the primary point of the story. The leper was a Samaritan, an outsider, who came back to thank the Lord.

   Expressing thanks is important, and yet often we fail to do it. Worship on Sundays is about pausing to count our blessings and give thanks to God. Daily prayer is an opportunity to pause and to give thanks. Cultivate the practice of giving thanks, and you will find a greater sense of well being in life. That’s what researchers Michael McCullough and Robert Emmons learned in their well-known study on gratitude. They found that people who regularly give thanks are as much as 25 percent happier than people who do not.

   John gave thanks. He suffered from a blood disorder that meant having regular transfusions, as well as a host of unpleasant symptoms. Every time I saw him, however, he would tell me he was blessed and was grateful for every day of his life. John lived far longer than the doctors had expected, and I am convinced it was because he sincerely and persistently gave thanks. Ten lepers were healed, but only one returned to give thanks. Which leper are you?

Lord, thank you for the blessings in my life. I specifically want to thank you today for.  .  .  .  ( Name five things you are grateful for today.)

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Thursday, March 21, 2013

THE WOMEN IN JESUS’ MINISTRY


Luke 8:1-3
Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

   WE TYPICALLY THINK OF JESUS traveling with his twelve disciples as he “went through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8: 1 NRSV), but Luke tells us that women traveled with him, too. So many of the Gospel stories involve Jesus’ ministry with women. It is clear that he valued women, had compassion for them, saw them as beloved children of God, and, by his interest in them, demonstrated the value God places on women.
 
   Jesus’ attitudes toward women stood in contrast to the cultural and religious traditions of the period. Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian wrote: “The woman, says the Law, is in all things inferior to the man.” 4 Women were treated as the property of their husbands and fathers. Yet Jesus treated women with value and respect.
 
   Notice the kinds of women who were following Jesus. Luke tells us they had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities. What kind of infirmities had they suffered from? The Gospels report that these included internal bleeding, fevers, and maladies then thought to be caused by demons, though now these are often associated with mental illness. We also know that Jesus offered grace to prostitutes, women caught in the act of adultery, and a woman divorced five times and living with a man who was not her husband. We also know that Jesus was concerned not only for Jewish women, but also for Samaritan and Gentile women as well.
 
   The women Luke describes were more than followers. They provided support for Jesus and the twelve out of their own means. We learn in the Gospels that it was the women who stood at the foot of the cross while the male disciples, with the exception of John, were in hiding. It was the women who went to the tomb while the men continued to hide. And it was to Mary Magdalene that Jesus first appeared after the Resurrection. She became the first person to proclaim the resurrection of Christ.
 
   I don’t know where I would be without the female disciples who have entered my life. My grandmother was the first to share Christ with me. My mom took me to church. Two women encouraged me to consider being a pastor. My wife has been my partner in ministry, and most of the best ideas I ever had were really hers. In the church I serve, half of our leaders— lay, staff, and clergy— are women. Our aim for equality is not an effort at political correctness but at congregational effectiveness. Women made possible the ministry of Jesus in the first century, and they make his ministry possible today.  

Lord, thank you for those women who have come into my life. Thank you for demonstrating the value of women in your ministry and, through them, teaching us how you value women today. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

THE INVALIDS


Matthew 15:30-31

Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

   THERE ARE PASSAGES IN THE Bible that seem utterly out of character with God. One of them is Leviticus 21: 17-23, in which God commands that no one who “has a blemish” or “who is blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a blemish in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles” shall come near the altar of the Tabernacle. (The Tabernacle, representing God’s earthly tent or dwelling place, was the predecessor to the Temple.) To do so would be to “profane my sanctuaries.” This passage prohibited anyone with a disability from serving as a priest, because it would in some way offend God. Such persons could eat the holy bread but were not to set foot near the altar. Jesus, by contrast, offered a very different picture of God, and Christians believe that Jesus’ picture is the clearest and truest image of God. This was in part the reason for his coming: he would be the “Word made flesh,” God’s Word incarnate.
 
   Jesus said, “When you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” Among those with whom Jesus spent his time with were the lame, the blemished, the blind— the very people Leviticus had excluded from approaching God’s holy place.
 
   Invalid was once a common term for people who had disabilities or persistent illness. They were “in-valid”— they didn’t count. This is a term that seems to fit with the passage in Leviticus. But when we read the Gospels and see how much time Jesus spent ministering with “invalids,” it seems clear that God does not see his children with disabilities as in-valid! He is constantly reaching out with compassion towards them.
 
   This last week I stopped by a fall harvest party in the Student Center at the church I serve. The party was for our Matthew’s Ministry— our ministry for children and adults with disabilities. The party was awesome. We have 140 children and adults with special needs, and I love them all. Some were dressed in costume. Buzz Lightyear was there, as were Zorro, a host of angels, and even Uncle Sam. When I walked in, I was greeted with hugs and calls for me to “guess who I am, Pastor Adam!” Fifty volunteers made the evening happen. It was a picture of the kingdom of God.
 
   Our ministry to those with special needs started nineteen years ago with a little boy named Matthew. Today it includes one or two parties a month, a scout troop, a handbell choir, Bible studies, mission service, a bakery providing jobs for some of our adults with special needs, and more. Our Matthew’s Ministry3 participants come to the church weekly to help load 1,400 backpacks with nutritious snacks for children living in poverty to take home over the weekend so they have enough to eat. Hardly invalids!
 
   Churches and Christians who are intentional about welcoming and including persons with special needs are walking in the way of Christ and continuing his work of saying, “You matter to God.”

Lord, help me (and the church I’m part of) to see persons with disabilities the way you see them. Help us to discover the joy of welcoming all people into your church.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

FRIEND OF PROSTITUTES

 Luke 7:36-38

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

   I LOVE THIS STORY AND WHAT IT TEACHES us about Jesus and his way. It seems that he was eating in the home of a Pharisee named Simon, which tells us that he befriended Pharisees as well as ordinary sinners. As Jesus ate, a known prostitute from the town interrupted the meal and entered Simon’s house. This in itself would have seemed scandalous to Simon. Remember, the word pharisee meant “separated”— Pharisees sought to distance themselves from sin. Yet a prostitute had entered his house! She carried an alabaster jar of ointment, which likely was the most precious thing she owned. Perhaps she had been saving this scented oil for the day she would be rescued from her life of prostitution by a man who would love her, not simply use her.
 
   Had she heard Jesus preach earlier in the day? Had he healed her of some affliction or set her free from some oppressive force? Had he helped her experience hope and forgiveness and love? All we know is that Jesus’ impact upon her must have been profound: she brought her most precious gift to give him, and wept at his feet.
 
   We see in this supper scene two very different ways that religious leaders might view a prostitute. If you continue to read the story (verses 40-50) you’ll find that Simon was offended that Jesus allowed a prostitute to touch him. Jesus felt differently. He saw her anointing of him and the tears that went with it as gifts, expressions of the woman’s gratitude for the grace he offered her. Jesus asked Simon a telling question: “Do you see this woman?” Simon saw what she did for a living; he did not see her as a human being, a beloved child of God.
 
   A number of women who were drug addicts and prostitutes worship at the church I serve. Most are part of a ministry called Healing House, led by a remarkable woman named Bobbi-jo, herself a former addict and prostitute. Being around Bobbi-jo and the women of Healing House makes me more Christian. I have had the joy of baptizing some of them and their children. One of these young women came to me after church recently to tell me, with tears in her eyes, how grateful she was for the church and how God had worked through it to welcome her. Her sincerity and tears reminded me of what it means to be the church.
 
   Simon saw in the woman with the ointment a prostitute who had no business interrupting his supper and touching a fellow rabbi. Jesus saw her as a human being, loved by God, and in need of grace. Are you more like Simon or Jesus?

 Lord, it is so easy to judge others. Teach me to see people as you see them, and to love them as you loved them when you walked on this earth. Amen.

AdamHamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Monday, March 18, 2013

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES


Luke 4:18-19
 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

   JESUS’ FIRST SERMON IN HIS hometown of Nazareth was very short— only eight words. After reading the text for the day, from Isaiah 61: 1-2 (quoted in the passage above), he said, “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Isaiah’s words defined Jesus’ ministry. He was born a king, but he did not look, dress, or act like any other king the Jewish people of Palestine had ever known.
 
   Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, born in a stable, and brought up as the son of a handyman in a town that was considered “the other side of the tracks.” His father Joseph was in fact a carpenter, but in a day when homes were built of stone, a carpenter was in fact a handyman— building things, making tools and furniture, repairing farm implements. And with regard to his hometown of Nazareth, Nathaniel captured it well when, upon hearing where Jesus was from, he asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
 
   In his ministry, Jesus was most often drawn to the poor, the sick, and the sinners. He had special compassion for the nobodies, the ne’er-do-wells, and the socially unacceptable. It was this compassion that captivated my heart and led me, as a fourteen-year-old reading the Gospels for the first time, to want to be his follower.
 
   This King had “friends in low places.” He humbled the proud and lifted up the lowly. He reminded us that the truly great must play the part of the servant. He taught that when sitting as a guest at a party, we should take the least important seat. He demonstrated concern for the lost and great compassion for those who were considered lowly.
 
   Those who follow Jesus find ways to show compassion, seeing others as Jesus sees them— as dearly loved children of God. In the process of building relationships, reaching out with compassion, and demonstrating love in tangible ways; we actually become more human, more the people God intended us to be.
 
   I think about Gerry. An executive with a large telecom company, Gerry had an idea (the Bible might label it a “vision”) of starting a Bible study for men in prison. God kept putting people and events in his path that pointed in that direction and reinforced his idea. So the following year he stepped out, worked with a nearby prison, and began befriending inmates and mentoring them. Today the program has grown to include more than two hundred church members who are engaged in building relationships and mentoring and discipling men at Lansing Prison and Leavenworth Penitentiary. Lives are being changed through this ministry— not just the lives of the inmates, but also the lives of our members who have been blessed by the relationships they’ve established with the prisoners.
 
   Jesus befriended sinners and taught about a God of second chances. Have you made friends in low places? Are you learning from them and offering them hope?

 Lord, help me to see others through the lens of your grace, and to always remember that you are the God of second chances. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sinners, Outcasts, and the Poor

John 4:3-42

³He (Jesus) left Judea and started back to Galilee.⁴But he had to go through Samaria.⁵So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”²⁶Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”²⁷Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?”²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,²⁹“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”³⁰They left the city and were on their way to him.³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”³³So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?”³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.³⁵Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.³⁶The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”³⁹Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.”⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.⁴¹And many more believed because of his word.⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

            Jesus identified with and healed those who were isolated because of their sicknesses, and he sought out those who were shunned for other reasons, too.

            Zacchaeus, the tax collector, was shunned because he served the oppressive Roman regime, collecting the taxes they required. Tax collectors didn’t get a salary from the Romans, so they had to earn their income from those who owed the tax, and many tax collectors made themselves rich off this practice, rather like a mobster charging “protection money.” They were known to be a corrupt bunch, and so good, upstanding religious people wouldn’t associate with them. But Jesus invited Matthew to follow him and even ate at Matthew’s home, which had no doubt been paid for with money extorted from his neighbors (Luke 19:1-10). At the dinner party, Zacchaeus stood up and promised to turn over a new leaf and repay those he had cheated. This was all in response to Jesus’ gracious love and acceptance.

            Jesus reached out and healed those who were excluded for ethnic and religious differences. In John 4, Jesus traveled south and passed through the region of Samaria, which was something a good, religious Judean ordinarily wouldn’t do. (Samaritans were not considered “pure blooded” by their Judean neighbors, because their ancestors had intermarried with other peoples; even worse, they worshiped God on Mt. Gerazim rather than at the Temple in Jerusalem.) Later, Jesus spoke openly in public with a woman wasn’t related to, and who was known to have had “a bunch of husbands,” if you catch my meaning. Jesus asked her for a drink and offered her the “living water” of love and forgiveness. The outcast woman was much more thankful to receive this good news than the people who had shunned her.

Matthew Kelley: The Way Worship Package

Saturday, March 16, 2013

WHEN HE NOTICED THE STRONG WIND

Matthew 14: 28-33   
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
 
   HE IS EIGHTY-THREE YEARS OLD, this man I care about a great deal. He was diagnosed with cancer six months ago. The oncologist gave him little hope. His mind is sharp and his heart is strong. He lives on his own and still makes six-hour car trips to visit his children and grandchildren. He makes it to the soccer, volleyball, and basketball games of his four grand nieces and nephews. He loves life. But he lives with this news that he has cancer that can’t be treated.
 
   We prayed together last night. As we finished, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I wake up each day determined to fight this. It is hard, but I try not to think about the cancer. I keep looking to the Lord, trusting him.”
 
   Peter’s attempt to walk on the water with Jesus is a favorite story of so many people who read Matthew’s gospel. Peter, as he often did, showed a remarkable burst of initial faith and courage: “Jesus, if it really is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Matthew 14: 28 NRSV). But as soon as the strong winds came, he took his eyes off of Jesus, became frightened, and started to sink. He cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus reached out his hand, caught Peter, and helped him into the boat. Then Jesus climbed into the boat with him.
 
   For nearly 2,000 years, Christians have seen in this story the call to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus when passing through storms at sea. If we trust him and focus on him rather than on the waves, we find the ability to walk “even through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23: 4 NIV). That’s what my dear friend taught me once more last night, as he held my hand and told me his strategy for living with terminal cancer.
 
   When you find yourself walking in the darkness through the wind and waves, what’s your strategy?

 Jesus, help me when I wake each day to place my hand in your hand and keep my eyes focused, not on my circumstances, but on you. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

Friday, March 15, 2013

“IT IS I; DO NOT BE AFRAID!”

Matthew 14:22-27
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  .  .  .   When evening came  .  .  .   the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward [the disciples] on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

ONCE AGAIN WE FIND THE DISCIPLES in a boat in the midst of a storm. These storms come up with some regularity on the Sea of Galilee, as they do in life. Only this time, Jesus was not in the boat with his disciples. Staying behind on the he sent his disciples ahead to the other side of the lake. Once again it was dark, and the disciples were in the middle of the lake with the wind and waves buffeting their small boat.
 
    This is the well-known story of Jesus walking on the water. Early in the morning, from some distance away, he saw that his friends were struggling, and he went to them to make sure they were okay. Like the disciples, we have times when the wind and waves buffet us, but Christ sees us in our moment of need and comes to us.
 
   But there is more to the story. After Jesus walked on the water, the disciples looked at each other and asked the question, “Who is this man?” Matthew, whose version of the story is printed above, frequently describes Jesus as one like, but greater than, Moses. After all, Moses led the children of Israel through the Red Sea, walking through the water as though it were dry land. But Jesus walked on the water.
 
   But Matthew is also clear that Jesus is “Immanuel,” God with us. Matthew’s telling of this story, whether he intended it or not, likely conjured up Scriptures in the minds of his readers: Job 9: 8 (NRSV), which describes God himself as one who “trampled the waves of the Sea”; Psalm 77: 19 (NRSV), which notes, “Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen”; Isaiah 43: 16 (NRSV), which states that God “makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.”
 
   Who is this man who walked on the water? He is one greater than Moses. In fact, he is none other than “God with us” in the midst of our fears, our storms, and our darkest nights.
 
   I remind our congregation that the part of our church building where the congregation sits is called the “nave,” from the Latin navis, which means ship. The church has long understood itself to be a ship, an ark in which salvation is found. I love the idea that when we gather for worship we are in God’s ship. There, Jesus comes to meet us, climbs into our boat, and tells us, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
 
   The phrase “Do not be afraid” appears sixty-seven times in the Bible, most often either on the lips of God to his people or on the lips of God’s leaders, reminding people that God is with them and they don’t need to be afraid. Jesus shouted to his disciples, in the midst of the howling winds and waves, “It is I! Do not be afraid!” Whether the Lord was asleep in the boat or walking across the water, the disciples did not need to be afraid, for he would watch over them, sail with them in the storms, and somehow find a way to deliver them. He will deliver you, too.

Lord, thank you for coming to your disciples on the sea, trampling the waves. Help me to trust that you are with me and that I don’t need to be afraid. Calm my anxious heart. Amen.

Adam Hamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus