Category Archives: kingdom

Elevator speech

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“The son of man has come to seek and save the lost.”

That was how Jesus summarized his work one day shortly before he was murdered.  He was sitting in the house of a rich man. He had invited himself over. The rich man had just committed half of his resourced to the poor. He had just pledged to return any money he had overcharged people. But he was giving back not just the overcharge but four times that amount.

It was a moment of extravagance that would benefit the whole community. Anyone who had paid taxes was starting to do the math in their heads. Anyone who was depending on the community food bank, especially widows and orphans, was feeling a glimmer of hope.

But Jesus wasn’t concerned with the community benefits. He was looking right at the rich man. And cheering. This rich man was turning his life around.

And it was an about face. Zacchaeus was a tax-collector. His riches came because he was a sinner. At least that’s what everyone in the town said when they fussed about Jesus going to his house.

I wonder whether Jesus was thinking about another rich man he had talked to just a page before. That man had come to Jesus wondering how to find life. He professed to having lived a completely obedient life. And Jesus told him to give everything he had to the poor. And the man walked away.

I think it wasn’t about the money. I mean, Zacchaeus wasn’t giving his all away. But he had come looking for Jesus. He had just wanted a glimpse. He climbed a tree to see.

It looks to me like if you are feeling lost, if nothing is working – even what works – and you look for him, Jesus finds you.

go ahead. be a sheep.

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As much as I would like to believe that I am not a sheep, I am one.

Not, I suppose, a blind follower of a random mindless herd. (Unless that’s what all followers of Christ are). I like to believe that I have the capacity to think with some originality. I like to believe that I have some passion to do things that matter. In fact, I even have a passion statement.

But every time I hear conversations about not being sheep, about being original, about being independent and trailblazing and leaving cubicles, I struggle a bit.

Because I ache. Because no matter how hard I try I still find myself walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Because no matter how hard I try, I am in the presence of the enemy of my soul. Because I need, oh, I so desperately need still water. Because my soul needs restoration.

And you do too. Right? I mean there are moments when you cannot help but be a sheep. Not the conformist image we fight, but the somewhat fragile being that everyone  - everyone – wants a piece of.

I guess I’m not talking about jobs, about careers, about status and success. I’m talking about what’s behind all that, the gaping hole in your chest behind the facade of the press release. The dull ache the next morning when the sun comes up and everything you thought would work didn’t.

That’s when it’s worth understanding what it means to be a sheep. And what it means to have a shepherd who is willing to lead and feed and heal and restore. And in the middle of the valley, be present. And in the front of the enemies, serve a feast.

It is David’s favorite lyric:  ”The Lord is my shepherd.”

It’s not perfect

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(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday.)

Life down on this planet can be frustrating. Nearly everything we deal with has its problems. Even when we relax with a cool drink and look out at the perfect sunset, a mosquito is probably buzzing around our ankles, ready to bite.

Paul wrote about some of the frustration we feel (whether knowing the source or not) in Romans 8. He says all creation has been groaning. Part of the groaning is to make us long for the day when our frustrations will be over. We need to be in God’s presence. Verse 18 says that God’s glory will be revealed in us. I’m not sure what that means, but the implication is that it’s not there yet.

That is a complicated chapter of the Bible. I don’t fully understand it. But I know that Martin Luther King understood some of this when he gave his  ”I have a dream” speech. God’s love shines when Dr. King’s dream of people caring for each other happens.

It’s perfectly normal when we long for what we don’t have. “If I just had a bigger salary and could pay all my bills, life would be perfect.” “It would be amazing if I had a romance like couples in the movies do.” “If I didn’t live in this town, so many things would be easier.” But we forget that people with huge salaries aren’t always happy. (Some are the most miserable you’ll find anywhere.) Those movie couples? Not real. (In my marriage, some of our sweetest times have been after our most difficult conflicts.) Where we live? There are mosquitoes in Aspen too.

So give yourself a break. Relax and know that life down here does not have to be perfect. And go out to enjoy that lovely sunset while swatting those pesky mosquitoes.

Waiting for mansions

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In the King James version of John 14, Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” Many people have read that and thought, “Sweet. I’m gonna get me a mansion. I’ll be living good then, after I’m dead, in heaven.”

Somehow, I’m thinking that Jesus wasn’t thinking about heaven being a place where everyone gets their own mansion. In fact, the word probably should have been translated as dwelling place or room. As I read through these sentences about Jesus going and Jesus coming, there are a couple images that come to mind, neither of which has much to do with getting a mansion.

The first is this: the idea of going to prepare a place is exactly what happened before supper that night. A couple guys went and prepared the place. There was going to be a special, intimate, between friends dinner and someone had to get it ready. When it was ready, they went. And then the host played servant.

The second is this: There is a story that in first-century Jewish culture, after the couple was engaged (betrothed), the guy went home and started working on a room, an addition to the family home. He did his best work. He was making a place for his bride. When it was ready – when his dad said it was ready – he went to get her, with great fanfare, sometimes in the middle of the night.

The heart of the story wasn’t the cool room. The heart of the story was the caring groom.

Jesus wasn’t talking about some abstract distant place. He was looking his closest friends in the eye and saying. “I’m leaving, I’ll get things ready, I’ll come back.”

When people get all excited about how heaven will be, they miss thinking about who heaven will be.

do why I do.

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We look for punishment.  We want to know what the penalty will be if we don’t do something. We want to know where the boundaries are, how far we can go before we get hurt or scolded or destroyed.

I understand that feeling. I get a phone call and think, “Oh no, what did I do now.” Someone says, “Can I talk to you for a minute tomorrow?” and I think, “I wonder what the problem is going to be.”

We look at the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and think, “This is going to be another one of those guilt things, isn’t it. I bet Jesus is going to make us miserable if we don’t do this thing, too.” That’s often how we do church. We look for the rules, the limits, the expectations, the penalties. Because it is easy. Because it comes naturally.

But look more closely at what Jesus says to the disciples after he finishes washing their feetand gets dressed. He starts with a should, just like we expect:  “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”

He piles it on: I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Now the kicker:  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Wait, what? Not “you will be cursed if you don’t?” Not, “I did this to make you feel guilty?”

Nope. Jesus said that serving blesses the servant. But that shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, he’s not doing it out of guilt-avoidance. He’s doing it for love.