God's Good Life

 

God’s Good Life  This article begins a series that will take us into the story of the Good Samaritan. The drama has given the world several well-known and well-loved phrases and people. The larger context is a conversation between  Jesus and a lawyer. In that we will see how the story brings a path to God’s Good Life.   The lawyer, a learned teacher of the Jewish religion, went to Jesus, carrying within him an uneasy inner life. He raised two questions. The first was to test Jesus. Who was he, and could he be trustworthy in essential matters of faith? The second asked for a check on his own status with God. Was his life secure and favored in the eyes of God?    We know those questions. We’ve been there, asked them, and hoped for good guidance. In the weeks ahead as we explore these questions, we will recognize the challenges that Jesus brought to the lawyer and all who would live closer to God. Turning to the parable, we will see how the Lord’s intention is always to lead to the goodness of God.   The first person in the parable holds center stage throughout. “There was a man who journeyed from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among thieves who beat him, stripped him, and went off leaving him half-dead.” The story revolves around what this man saw and how he was treated. We must ask who today fits the somber description of “stripped, abandoned, and left half-dead?”    The priest and the Levite saw him and “went by on the other side.” How do they respond to the half-dead man? These are the leaders who misdiagnosed the man’s dire condition. They gave the public ways to deal with him that seem plausible but were woefully inadequate. We will see these in today’s guise.   Then there is the Samaritan. He “came to the man, saw him, and had compassion.” This man and his response show the missing piece to the lawyer. Since this is a Samaritan, he blasts our boundaries of racism, prejudice, and hatred.   With refection, we see how the lawyer had no experience of mercy, consequently he had no vision of a God of mercy. His God kept score, tracking good and bad deeds. The lawyer could no more conjure a God of forgiving mercy than he could have a God who would love a Samaritan.    As the dialogue continued, it became clear that Jesus wanted this man to see mercy, his own need for mercy, the mercy of God in the cross, and then the brilliance and the joy of God’s Good Life.    In the weeks ahead we will pause at every step of this drama, expanding each to see the contemporary challenges, the failures, and the steps that lead to the hope that the lawyer finally experienced.    But that’s getting ahead of myself. All of that will come later. For now, we are about to plunge into a major season of the year. The mail-order catalogues, the music in the stores, hangings from doors and streetlamps --- all tell us this is the season of Christmas. In deference to the inevitable and deafening messages coming our way, I will only post two more articles in early December and then pause until 2024.    For now, let me give observations on two people – the most overlooked person of the season and the season’s Poster Person. I dare say that if these two could see their reputation in today’s world, they would be most puzzled. Puzzled and saddened.    The most overlooked man is the one whose face should be on the cover of every advertisement and every price tag. That would be Jesus Christ. After all it is his birth that marks the time when businesses cash in, when non-profits gain 75% of income, when online sales set records.    And yet… And yet… A bit hard to catch the connection, is it not? Whose birthday is it that has become the world’s most successful cash cow? What is so significant? The birth of a poor itinerant Jewish carpenter. Yes, it was truly an extraordinary birth. After all, cows and chickens shared the crib where he first lay, and then foreign kings brought him gifts. The highest echelon of angels sang for him, and bottom dweller shepherds visited him. The mother was a virgin and the Father divine. The family was homeless, but everyone could call him a friend. Yes, it is easy to miss the connection from the manger to the cash register, but why bother?   Forbes Magazine predicts a bonanza year for sales. It’s Christmas!   The Poster Person is the Samaritan, but again the main point is omitted in the poster. His message for the season seems to be: Find your man in the ditch and take care of him. The lawyer certainly had his list and wanted to make sure he satisfied the requirement. But there was a missing piece in his figuring. Mercy is where we find the heart of God. God turns “Who is my neighbor?” into “Who was neighbor?” He turned the answer from a noun to a verb. If a noun, then we have something to do -- check it off. If a verb, then we find eyes and hearts of compassion -- always looking, always caring.   With that insight the lawyer would step forward to acknowledge his coldness, to confess at the foot of the cross, to find forgiveness and a new heart, and then a life in the green pastures and still waters of God’s Good Life.    Next week we will test Jesus, as the lawyer did. Then the following week we will see the wisdom and the love of Jesus for all who go to him with questions.

The Virtues of the Poor

 Like the others in this series, the poor come to us through the attention of Jesus Christ. In the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, he identifies himself with the hungry, the slaves, the poor, and the refugees. “Like as you did it unto one of the least of these, you did it unto me.” He elevates them to his own family. I have gratuitously moved them to “God’s Other Children.” 

When I consider the poor and their virtues, let me disclaim the notion of romanticizing them. Such would quickly appear as the foolishness that it is. There is little about their life that they wish for others.  Likewise, ascribing guilt to all who have much is equally foolish. 

Through their unrelenting poverty, God enshrines certain qualities upon them that have roots in his grace. These are what I present as their virtues. To be sure, few of the poor will embrace all of these qualities, but some will take most.

The guiding motif will be the Lord’s Prayer. Moving through each petition, I will show the virtues that God offers.

Our Father. This brings the assurance of a God who looks favorably upon them. God claims the role of their Father and Protector. They know that he cares for them and watches over every day and every event in their lives. 

Upon arrival in heaven, while we may be utterly enthralled at the kindness of God, the poor will be less amazed, less surprised. They have lived with close awareness of this fatherly care for years.

Who art in heaven. The horrors and the evils that have scorched them have given birth to the vision of a better world. Again, their hope for heaven may be more vivid and highly anticipated than ours.

In heaven, the stereotypes will cease. There they will not be known as stupid or lazy. There they will find respect and dignity, so gleefully denied here. For those who follow Jesus to heaven, their beauty will be like him.

Thy kingdom come. What is the antidote to the fear they live with? The perfect love of the Savior. What will replace the violence that steals their peace? The security of righteousness and justice under the Prince of Peace.

Where they have been degraded and stepped on, there they will be lifted up into the presence of the apostles, the twenty-four elders, the angels and archangels, as well as Amos and Jeremiah and all who boldly stood for them in their prophesies.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Justice in this world has not been their companion. They have seen rapists taken into custody and released without arrest. They have known sheiks and village chiefs who have stolen their food and their children. They have believed promises that have later imprisoned them in slavery. No, they have not expected justice in their lifetime. 

That will not be the way of life in heaven. The will of God is the way of justice, of vengeance on evildoers, of recompense and restoration of family. Tears and terror will be replaced by joy. Their voices can be heard praising God in the choirs of heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. That is all they have. In fact, they have become accustomed to living from his hand to their mouth. No long trip to the 2-acre grocery stores, no filled-up cart with the day’s food. For them, resilience and resourcefulness take the place of our plastic cards.

We open our refrigerators and see the week’s meals. The Lord opens his hand and daily fills the hungry with good things. Many of them know who brings their daily bread.

Forgive us as we forgive others. They have known the suffering from their predators, vile and debasing suffering.  They are the world’s vulnerable, so they bear the world’s trampling. The charge to forgive may not sit easily, but some find forbearance in the path they take. A rocky path, littered with broken glass and errant turns. But as God has provided food, no doubt he has brought the Holy Spirit’s touch to many, making room in their hearts to forgive.

Lead us not into temptation. Their temptations? Anger—anger at God, at the systems that oppress them, at the powerful who do not see or care, at the ramshackle hut and empty shelves, at faces of skinny children. Temptations to steal; to curse God; to blast those who facilely offer hope; to just die and get shed of life’s misery. Those are temptations they do not wish to face.

Deliver us from evil. God promises to deliver, to save, to protect, to be their shield. He promises to restore, to deliver, to rescue, to reward. When these his children pray, the Lord bends down and listens. 

 

 

Our recurring question is—what lessons can we take from God’s care of the poor?

To love mercy: letting our freezer and our savings be generous sources of assistance for others;

To do justice: doing for the poor as we expect others to do for us;

To walk humbly with our God: seeing our abundance as from him, with thanksgiving.

God's Judgment

 

God's Other Children Concluding Reflections: 1. God's Judgment View this email in your browser

I close this series of articles with reflections on two topics interwoven in the stories— God’s judgment and the church. In this article, with help from the prophet Habakkuk, I will address the question of justice. “Predators” appear throughout, whether it be the persecution of Christians, selling people into slavery, or denying food to the starving. And they seem to get away with it. The question of judgment demands our attention. Will there be justice? When will it come? And how will God execute it? The prophet Habakkuk raises these very questions. He will help our understanding as we follow the prophet’s penetrating pursuit of answers.        I. The Wicked…“Violence, destruction, wickedness, and perversion of justice” (1:1-4). Grim was his world and grim is ours. These words describe what today’s predators have done.  In Mauritania they have kept the oil riches and enslaved others; in India they sell street children into sexual exploitation; in Tigray and Mariupol they block caravans of food.  The Psalmists knew them well: “They lie awake at night hatching sinful plots; they make no attempt to turn from evil” (Psalm 36:4).  “They brag about their evil desires and praise the greedy and curse God” (10:3) They sense no restraint from God: “They seem to think God is dead. He is not watching us. He has closed his eyes and will never see what they do” (10:4, 11). Yet they flourish:  “They seem to live such painless lives, not having troubles like other people. These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for” (73:4,7). This hurts. This sense of injustice troubles a faithful heart. The resolve to do the right thing weakens in the face of abusive powers and corrupt courts. Our sacrifices, our truth-telling, our efforts to aid the needy—all are flaunted or undone, contradicted and even ridiculed. Truly we live in the heart of darkness. Joseph Conrad saw it and said it, “The horror, the horror!”       II. The Cry for justice…“How long, O Lord, must I call for help and you not listen? Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?” (1:1. 2:13) That is the cry for justice from the prophet. How can God let this happen?  The Psalmist expresses our outrage: “O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?” (10:1) Why is it that the poor get more diseases and abuse and less food and medical care? How can children be used for slave labor in kilns? Why is it that women bear the shame of rape, with the pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases? If God is a God of love, if he is a God of power — well, are you?  And Christ’s temptations, how perplexing. He let pass the opportunity to bring bread to the world, food to the hungry millions in Chad; to perform miraculous healings, for the crippled and the maimed from war; and to bring down the evil regimes, for protecting Ukraine. Is this world his territory or not? These are not academic puzzles. Behind each question is pain, disappointment, doubt, and anger. “Deep cries out to deep” (44:7). It could be so different. And it should be.        III. The Day of Judgment…“Write this in bold, block letters. The day of judgment will surely come. If it seems slow in coming, wait” (2:3).     How could it be otherwise? If integrity characterizes the Almighty, if his holiness means that he is “so pure that he cannot stand the sight of evil” (2:13), if he watches over the poor and vulnerable, then would we not expect righteous anger against those who brutalize his children?  Of course “the wrath of God erupts against the ungodliness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). Of course, because “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountain, your justice like the ocean depth” (Psalm 36:6). John the Baptist stated the obvious when he asked, “Who told you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Luke 3:7)  How could it be otherwise? The Psalmist Asaph told the whole story. In the 73rd Psalm he described how “his foot almost slipped.” He doesn’t specify what was the cause, and that is just as well. It could have been the early death of a loved one, or someone who destroyed his family and got away with it, or simply hearing so much grim news of the world. Whatever, it nearly caused him to give up on God. For what, Asaph asks? “Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I could not understand why evil people prosper.” Then came the realization of God’s judgment: “It was when I went into the sanctuary of God that I saw the destiny of the wicked. You put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction” (13,18).         IV. Seeing the Day…“The righteous people shall live by faith” (2:4).  God’s righteous judgment hasn’t come yet, but the bold writing chiseled in stone says that it will. Some day in the future. Make no mistake about that. But in the meantime…  In the meantime, yes, God’s other children live with the horror, but Habakkuk has told us of the longer perspective, one that sees into eternity. The eyes of the righteous see by faith. That vision lets them behold the outlines of another day. The memories will be removed, the wounds healed, and their days spent in the enjoyment of the loving embrace of their Savior.   Habakkuk’s closing words describe the gift of hope and joy that is coming soon:   “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no fruit, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on high places” (3:17, 18, 19).

Closing Reflection: The Church

 In this final article I give the inspiration and intention of the series. 

It began in June of last year when I read Stephen Ambrose’s book, The Victors. Ambrose laid out the seeds of democracy that fed the determination and initiative of the soldiers. He vividly showed how democracy prepared the forces of the West for the destruction of the Third Reich. 

The parallel for me was the power embedded in the church. Against the Body of Christ the gates of hell cannot stand. That power, that divinely established presence of God’s kingdom, could take down the worst evils of the world.  While I was ruminating on this, the lectionary brought the first chapter of Ephesians. There, Paul makes clear that the church reflects the glory of God and the counsel of his will. 

My Premise:

That became my premise: As the church contains the power of the Holy Spirit and displays God’s will, the church confronts the evils of the world and overwhelms them. 

I located the evils of the world in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. The sheep cared for the needy of the world. The needy and their oppressors were those I wanted to address: the hungry, the poor, refugees, and slaves. To them I added three more: children, the persecuted followers, and those who had not yet heard the gospel. 

God’s Other Children: 

Jesus called these sheep “my brothers,” or in the wider context of the word, “my family.” I refer to them as “God’s Other Children,” a term that sees them en masse. As with any family, some would claim kinship while others depart the fold.

The Least:

Jesus gave a further clarification of the needy. He referred to them as “the least of these.” That meant ones who are too unimportant to make the news, unknown to most. That rationale took me to refugees from South Sudan, the hungry in Chad, slaves from Ghana, and the persecuted in North Korea. 

My model for “the least” has been the Musahar people of the Chitra of Nepal. They are ostracized and mostly ignored—by neighbors, the government, and the church. As a consequence, they have little education, poor health, bad jobs. They offer no advantage to any who help them, they bring no benefit to society, and they live with under the cloud that tells them they are unworthy and undeserving. 

That is what it is to be among “the least.”

The Sheep and the elect: 

There is another image for the sheep, for followers of Christ. This definition describes them by evangelical statement of their beliefs. They have repented of their sins and are saved by the blood of the Savior. But when Paul speaks of these as the elect, the saved, he is talking about the very same believers whom Jesus called the sheep. They are not a separate category of Christians. They are one and the same.

The Sheep are the elect, and the elect are the Sheep.

Christ’s expectation:

This parable is the last one Jesus gave before he left the world.  He impressed these memorable images on his followers to show his favor. What is noteworthy is what he described. There was no message, no admonition, no illustration. Simply this:  He observed that the sheep were feeding, were freeing, were welcoming. That is what drew his attention and favor to the sheep. That was what Jesus expected of his followers.

When we translate this into the present tense, Jesus is stating: “I see you, my people, feeding, freeing, welcoming.” And that is what he expects the church to be doing. He is not haranguing, not advocating, not commending—just telling us what he expects to see in the life of the church.

In the words and images of Ephesians, Paul encourages the church to do the same: “We live to praise of the glory of God. What we accomplish is the counsel of his will. Through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be displayed” (Ephesians 1:6, 11; 310). The images are not of sheep and goats, but the truth is the same.

So, unless we remove abused children and slaves to outside of the glory, will, and purposes of God, then the church is expected to defend these, the least of the world. 

The Warning of Shiloh:

If we do not walk in paths of justice, God may walk away from us. “Pruning” is the operative word here. If there is no fruit, then the gardener removes the dead branches.

Consider the crowd who heard John the Baptist. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Many who heard repented and wanted to receive forgiveness and grace. They asked John what they were to do, what signs of repentance for them. And John listed ways “to do justice and love mercy” (Micah 6:8).

Or Jeremiah’s Temple sermon in the 7th chapter. He was simple and direct: “Treat your neighbors with love, stop murdering innocent people, welcome the refugee, don’t exploit widows and orphans. If you don’t, God will do to you what he did to his people at Shiloh” (7: 5,6,12).

The story of Shiloh comes from I Samuel 4. God saw how his people turned from him and did evil. So he responded: the Philistines defeated the Israelites, captured the ark, and killed the sons of Eli. When a baby was born to one of Eli’s sons, the name reflected the life of God’s people, “The glory has departed from Israel” (I Sam. 4:22). 

That, too, translates into the present tense.

The Church, Alive and Splendid:

God constantly revives his people, the church. We are the divinely empowered agency of God’s kingdom and the carrier of the wisdom of God. With all our flaws and failures, when we set to get it right, he restores in us the brightness of his glory. 

Isaiah captured this eloquently. Here, he tells the nature of the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-              hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners; They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory."

(Isa.61:1-3)

And so the church ash the high honor and calling to reflect the Savior's love. We rise humbly, stand boldly, and make war on his enemies:

"Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darknes shall cove the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but on you the light of the Lord will shine, and the brightness of his presence will be upon you."

(Isa. 60:1-3)