OUT OF FOCUS (Matthew 23)

Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons? 23-24

This verse struck me as a writer. It's in the middle of Jesus's diatribe against the Pharisees and other religious leaders.

I have a friend who says her critique group will argue over the placement of a comma for hours. I just don't get it.

Don't misunderstand me. Grammar is important, and I'm blessed to have a pretty good handle on the rules of the English language.

But when would-be writers tell me they don't dare try because they don't use good grammar, I want to shake sense into their heads. Yes, editors want to see "clean" manuscripts, ones without mistakes that would force spell-check to bury the page in a flood of red blood.

Are there not computer programs to check grammar? Are there not critique partners to point out what the computer misses? Are there not classes and books to study until at last you master the language?

A writer must have a story, one that forces her to write. He can gain grammar skills. She can improve her story-telling gift. But not everyone who understands grammar can write.

Jesus accuses the religious leaders of the same mistake. They understood commas and semi-colons to the nth degree. They taught every one around them the laws. But they ignored the story--God's story for them, the Chosen People, and the rest of the world. 

How can someone write a story with conflict, beginning, middle and end, if all they do is tear about each sentence apart without looking at its place in the story?

How can God write our life stories if we focus solely on what is spelled out as right and wrong, and don't ask God to light the path ahead?  

Know the rules--and move forward. God is the ultimate editor. He will publish each author who signs the contract with the blood of Christ. 

Of course He doesn't ignore those mistakes, but that's a lesson for another day.

WEDDING INVITATION (Matthew 22)

“That’s what I mean when I say, ‘Many get invited; only a few make it.’” (Matthew 22:14, Message)

Escalating tension is a plot device writers learn. Something bad happens to start the story. More and even more bad things fill the story until the final “black moment,” when the hero wins the day.

Jesus’s parable reminds me of the escalation factor. First the King invites the lords and ladies of the kingdom to his son’s wedding.  They all reject the invitation.

The king invited them a second time. They gave lame excuses. Instead of sitting inside Westrminster Abbey with William and Kate, they weeded their gardens and worked in their shops. A few of them killed the messengers.

The king leveled that city, but he still had a problem: he wanted guests at his son’s wedding.  He sent his servants to the busiest marketplace in town. Like barkers at a carnival, they caught everyone passing by, handing them a golden ticket to the most important event of their lives.

These people knew the value of the golden ticket. They went home, scrubbed their skin clean, laundered their best clothes, and prepared for the wedding.

All except one. He showed up at the wedding in the same clothes he was wearing when he received the invitation. He got tossed into hell.

It’s not enough to belong to the family. The upper echelon of the kingdom was invited, and they refused. It’s not enough if your parent believe if you don’t.

It’s not enough to receive the invitation but ignore the steps. The one man didn’t exchange his dirty old clothes for the ones provided for him. We can’t get in the kingdom unless we are clothed in Christ.

We’re all invited.

But hdo we R.S.V.P.?

ROCKY ROAD (Matthew 21)

ROCKY ROAD

Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed. (Matthew 21:44 Message)

Rocks: Good or bad?

It depends. Maybe you ran into a rock with a bicycle and fell. Maybe a rock hit your windshield and it cracked. For thousands of year, people have used rocks as murder weapons and catapulted them in times of war. Stoning was the official manner of capital punishment in ancient Israel.

No wonder Jesus speaks of Himself as shattering and smashing those who don’t believe in Him.

But, wait a minute. Isn’t God described as the Rock who shelters believers? David used that image a lot, like this one: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2, NIV)

The definitions of rock and rocky suggest a similar dichotomy: A rock may cause you to shake violently or to be upset. It may also mean moving forward at a steady pace or to be extremely effective.

Think about figures of speech:

·         Rock the boat

·         Rock-and-roll

·         Rocky road

·         Rock solid

·         Rock bottom

·         Rock hard

·         Rock climbing

·         Stone cold

·         A “rock,” referring to the size of a diamond in a ring

Maybe when we stand on the rock, we feel invincible. Underneath the rock, we are hopelessly crushed.

Last summer, I got caught up in the TV program, “The Hero,” hosted by the actor known as (what else?) the Rock. After an exercise that tested physical strength, I almost turned it off. There’s more to being a hero than having John Elway’s physique.

I’m glad I didn’t. That same episode, a middle-aged house mom walked stairs without rails at the top of a skyscraper. Earlier in the episode we had learned she was afraid of heights.

But the Rock had called her, and she would answer. She took a step. “I won’t let fear defeat me.” She took a second step, repeated her affirmation, and continued until she reached the top step.

I fell in love with her, and so did America. The show later went on to test other hero attributes such as mental alertness, problem solving, team work, honesty, and communication.

Someone you could trust. A rock.

God is that kind of Rock times a thousand.

Is God the Rock on which we stand—or are you in the path of His rockslide?

ALL CHRISTIANS ARE CREATED EQUAL (Matthew 20)

Are you going to get stingy because I am generous? (20:15, Message)

            In these latter chapters of Matthew, the Pharisees keep goading Jesus. At the same time, the disciples display an unseemly jostling for position within the Kingdom.

            Jesus drops a pointed parable into the mix. A farmer hired workers throughout the day, at dawn, nine, noon, three and five. To each group he offered the same wage: a dollar for their work the day.

Perhaps group number one thought they misunderstood. Perhaps Jesus offered a dollar an hour. That was only fair. Wasn’t it? As fair a manager as the farmer wouldn’t pay the first group the same as the last. Would he?

The farmer, management negotiator that he was, said “You agreed to work for a dollar for the day. Why are you complaining?”

For everyone who has hoped for a government of and by the people, where everyone is equal—that’s the kingdom Jesus represents.

We all enter the kingdom by the same method. We are adopted, names added to the book of life, Jesus’s blood the ink used.

We all receive the same inheritance—eternal life.

We all are sealed to the family with the same seal—the Holy Spirit stamped on our hearts.

We all pay the same “tax” upon coming to age, in front of Jesus’s throne—we will throw our crowns or anything we have taken pride in, at his feet.

God doesn’t want His generosity to make us stingy.

He wants to extend the grace to everyone we meet—whether or not they are worthy.

LIKE A CHILD (Matthew 18)

Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom.

(Matthew 18:2-5 Message)

Forgive me a proud Grandma moment.

My daughter-in-law’s grandmother passed away recently. Of the considerable family gathered, my little girl is the one who said, “Mimi has gone to be with God in heaven.”

Mimi died of cancer, and her final days were difficult. Jordan still had Mimi on her mind. In her night time prayer, she asked, “Please make Mimi feel better.”

Mimi was in heaven, with only God to take care of her. Jordan just wanted to talk to God about her.

My daughter Jolene had a similar kind of faith. She pictured flinging herself into Jesus’s waiting arms when she died. When she died, I’m sure He stood, arms flung open to hold her.

Right before the end, my mother developed signs of dementia. One time when I came to visit, she was sitting up in bed, speaking quietly.  She smiled brightly when I entered. “I was just talking to Jesus about you.” She knew His presence, not by faith alone but with a childlike understanding.

Church hymns touch our residents Like the people here at the nursing home who cry, sing along or cry, when visiting churches sing the songs of childhood. “Tell me the story.” “Amazing Grace.” “Jesus Loves Me.”

Confused minds. Incomplete thoughts. Irrational thinking.

But…faith that God is at the center of everything. Faith like a child.

I pray that I cling on to Jesus with that kind of faith as my time comes closer.

MOUNTAIN MOVERS

“Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”

Matthew 17:20, Message

This verse is one I struggle with. Mostly with conceiving why anyone would want to move a mountain—or maybe that’s the question. Jesus’ answer speaks to a bigger problem.

Peter had given the perfect answer when asked about “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus rewarded him, along with James and John, to the Mount of Transfiguration.

After that miraculous encounter, they must have expected to march into Jerusalem at the head of an army. Instead, three times before the end of the chapter, Jesus tells them I’m going to die. I will be raised again.

They didn’t have a clue what Jesus meant. Look at the questions they asked:

·         Wasn’t Elijah supposed to come first?

·         Why couldn’t we cast the demon out of this man? (Just a note: the nine other disciples. The big three were away with Jesus when the situation developed.)

·         When Jesus repeated His warning, they felt terrible. They didn’t ask questions.

·         When the Pharisees tested Jesus about paying the temple tax, that becomes the important question.

I wish I could say I would be different. But I’m the same way. I make an excellent ostrich. I stick my head in the sand until the last possible second of a mounting emergency.

I don’t take God seriously enough. If I fill my mind and heart with His word, His love, his will—I might stop asking stupid questions. I might join God in what He’s already doing.

The disciples wanted a kingdom. God offered them salvation.

I want fans in the tens of thousands. Instead God hands me a table with three emotionally and dementia challenged women.  No mother could feel any prouder when I see small steps of progress. I feel like my genuine love and concern helps those three women.

Forget the thousands. Them I don’t know about.

But my small community here, I do know and am known. If I take God seriously, I will work here with joy and abandon.

DON'T BE A BACK SEAT DRIVER (Matthew 16)

Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.

(Matthew 16:24-25 Message)

If you claim to be a follower of Christ, get out of the driver’s seat. We may not like it, but we understand.

The next words out of Jesus’s mouth shock us. “Don’t run from suffering. Embrace it.”

Back then, Peter said “That can never be!” and Jesus rebuked him as Satan’s messenger. “Get out of my way, Satan. . .You have no idea how God works.” The rebuke is ever weirder, following on the heels of Peter’s recognition of “You are the Son of the Living God.” God praised Peter highly, describing him as a rock, and all the affirmation that came with it.

From the highest heaven to hell itself. Peter understood God’s heart about one thing, but he was as blind as the rest of us about the other.

If Jesus meant, of course I have to suffer and die. I’m not here to restore the kingdom, the rebuke makes a little sense.

But Jesus says more than that. We will suffer, as He did. We should embrace suffering. In suffering, we find our true selves.

Perhaps those hermits who spent years on top of a platform in the desert understood something we ignore today. They sought suffering as a means to knowing God better.

Luther tried the same thing. He flailed his back. He later recognized the futility of his actions, that the just shall live by faith and not by acts of contrition.

When I am suffering, should I seek escape?

Perhaps Paul’s advice to the church at Corinth can guide our thinking: “Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it.”. (1 Corinthians 7:20-21, NIV)

Our true selves depend on the inner man, not the external shell—not even a wheel-chair bound nursing home resident.