Tag Archives: Christianity

Chapter-a-Day

Signs

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Signs (CaD Jhn 2) – Wayfarer

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:11 (NIV)

As I read a chapter in the quiet each morning, I try very hard to approach the text without any expectations. Even when it’s a passage I have read countless times over the years, I do my best to make both my head and my heart a clean slate. The question my spirit silently begs God’s Spirit is “What have you got for me today?”

As I read, I take note of little things that capture my attention. I might catch a detail I hadn’t noticed before. Sometimes, I’ll notice repetition in the text and start circling the repeated word or phrase. This might lead me to meditate on the word or phrase, digging deeper into what the repeated use might mean.

So it was this morning as I noticed John’s repeated use of the word “sign” in reference to Jesus’ miracles:

2:11: What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

2:18: The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

2:23: Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.

As I dug deeper, I discovered the fact that John repeatedly used the word “signs” when referencing Jesus’ miracles. I think the choice of words is deliberate. Jesus’ miracles were intended as “signs” to point people to who Jesus is. There was a purpose in His performing of miracles. In addition, while the other three accounts of Jesus’ story report 18-20 miracles each, John chooses just seven miracles Jesus performed during his ministry to share with us, his readers. He then adds a bonus miracle in the epilogue after Jesus’ resurrection. This is not an accident.

Seven has significant meaning in the Great Story. It is the number that signifies “completeness” or “perfection.” As I mentioned in yesterday’s post/podcast, John writes his version of Jesus’ story, not in a journalistic reporting style, but in a thematic style. He carefully chooses seven miracles to share with us. It’s also interesting to note that five of the miraculous “signs” he shares are unique to John’s account. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not include them. John carefully chooses each “sign” to contribute to the larger understanding of Jesus to whom he is introducing us.

Two quick observations from my meditation on John’s use of signs this morning:

The first concerns Jesus’ signature miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Jesus used large ceremonial jars used in the Jewish tradition to hold water used in ritual purification to make one “clean.” Jesus will later use the metaphor describing His teaching as “new wine” and God would later work through Peter (Acts 10) and Paul (Galatians 5) to change the old ceremonial ideals of what made a person clean or unclean, acceptable or not. Jesus also regularly used the metaphor of a wedding in parables and in the eternal union of Christ and the church in Revelation. Jesus’ miracle was not only a blessing to the wedding hosts, but it also served as a “sign” to His larger eternal mission.

I also found it fascinating that there were two responses to the “signs” of Jesus’ miracles. Those listening to Jesus in the Temple became believers after seeing the miracles He was performing. The religious authorities and Temple officials, however, not only refused to ignore the “signs” that had made believers of others, but they asked for a different, bigger, better, and more definitive “sign.” I referenced Jesus’ response in yesterday’s post when Jesus told them He would destroy the Temple and raise it in three days. It seems to me that Jesus understood from the very beginning that there were those individuals who would refuse to believe no matter how big of a “sign” He performed.

John confesses in today’s chapter that it was only after Jesus’ resurrection that he and the boys realized what Jesus meant when He referenced “destroying the temple and raising it in three days.” Along my spiritual journey, I’ve observed that God often provides signs along life’s road. I may not realize it in the moment, but I will later look back and realize that the sign was there all along. It comforts me to know that the Story is already written. I can’t help but think of Jesus’ words:

“You have a saying that goes, ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.’ You find it easy enough to forecast the weather—why can’t you read the signs of the times?”

God, open the eyes of my heart to see the signs and grant me the courage to follow.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Two Points from the Prophetic

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Exile Required (CaD Mi 5) – Wayfarer

“But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.”
Micah 4:11-12 (NIV)

One of the positive spiritual by-products of this chapter-a-day journey for me is humility. This is especially true when it comes to the words of the ancient prophets which are often layered with meaning.

In today’s chapter, Micah’s words address what was in his day (vss 9-13), but this is also eerily layered in describing what is happening today (vss 11-12, see above), and then he provides a vision of yet what will be (vss. 1-8).

I sat in the quiet this morning and meditated on these 13 verses in relation to all that I’ve studied, listened to, read, and learned with regard to prophecy and eschatology (a.k.a. the study of the “end times”) for over 40 years. Without getting far deeper into the weeds than is my intention with these chapter-a-day posts/podcasts, let me just say that Micah’s message offers some challenging prophetic puzzles in light of the different major schools of thought.

Knowing, however, that I don’t really want to wade into the deep weeds, I was left mulling over another relevant question: What is a modern, everyday person supposed to get out of a passage like this, if all I want to do is find a thought for my day that I can hold onto and that will help me to live today in a way that God desires?

And this brings me back to two simple thoughts.

First, how fascinating that ancient Micah quite aptly describes what happened on October 7.

“But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!”

I find his next line even more apt in consideration of the sum of Micah’s prophetic puzzles.

“But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan.”

And, this brings me back to humility. I have, on multiple occasions, had the experience of teaching about prophecy and the “end times.” In fact, even in the past few months, I’ve had a chance to wade back in and teach on pieces of it as part of a larger team. When teaching about this genre, I typically encourage people to be wary of those who proudly proclaim they can tell you with certainty and precise detail exactly what will happen in the future based on prophetic writing like Revelation. I am constantly reminded that in Jesus’ day, there were entire schools of scholarly and well-educated thought proudly proclaiming with certainty and precise detail what the Messiah would be and do.

They were all wrong.

I try, therefore, to humbly avoid repeating that error of human hubris.

But while I don’t know with certainty and precise detail there are some big-picture things that, by faith, I do know. In John’s Revelation, Jesus tells him,“I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come.” As I find amidst Micah’s prophetic puzzles an accurate assessment of what was, and what is, and a vision of what is to come, I am led to not worry so much about the “what” and “when” but the “Who.”

And this brings me to my second simple nugget for my day. In our bizarro times of head-scratching and uncertainty, I take spiritual solace in all of the ways that the prophetic has been accurate about things that were and are. It leads me to trust that those things that Great Story says about what will be, are equally true and can be trusted even if I don’t know or understand the precise details about how it will all play out.


If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

How the Real World Works

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How the Real World Works (CaD Lk 22) – Wayfarer

“Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
Luke 22:53 (NIV)

I once knew a good man and follower of Jesus who worked for our local rural county on the road crew. As I was asking him about his job he told me hated it. I found this fascinating as it seemed like the kind of work he would enjoy. As I continued to question him, it became clear that the hatred of his job had nothing to do with the nature of the work but the nature of the workplace.

“The whole system is corrupt,” he told me. “This week I was sent out with a co-worker to fix a stretch of gravel road. It was a two-man job, however, and my co-worker refused to work. He just sat there and refused. So, I was stuck sitting there all day, too.” He went on to explain that the county government was controlled by a union that protected and perpetuated corruption and behavior like that of his co-worker. If my friend complained he would be threatened and punished. It was better to just keep your head down and your mouth shut.

Welcome to how things work in the “real world.”

A few years ago, I did a major study on the final hours of Jesus’ earthly journey. What I discovered in my study was that Jesus was tried and condemned by a fascinating combination of “real world” systems that included the earthly kingdoms of government, religion, and commerce.

The chief priests who arrested Jesus sat atop a political machine and cash cow in the Temple system. They were rich and powerful and they would not sit idly by and let anyone mess with the system that they controlled. As Luke points out again in today’s chapter, they were afraid of the crowds Jesus was drawing, and Jesus’ public criticism of them. They needed to get rid of the threat quickly and quietly.

The arrest of Jesus happens in the middle of the night in a garden on the Mount of Olives. It was illegal to hold a trial or condemn someone to death in the darkness of night. When Jesus points out that they could have arrested him any day that week as He taught in the Temple courts, He was making a legal point-of-order to the Temple officials arresting Him. This clandestine arrest and the series of kangaroo court trials they are about to put Him through are illegal. Jesus ironically points out that it is the “reign of darkness” that has arrived in the dead of night to arrest the Light of the World.

Along my earthly journey, I’ve learned from experience how things work in the “real world.” While not every system is corrupt, I’ve observed that the larger a system is, the more power it has in society, and the more money that’s involved, the more given to corruption it becomes. I’ve personally encountered corruption in the same systems of government, religion, and commerce that Jesus faced in his six trials. Like my friend who worked for the country road department, it’s easy to feel stuck in a corrupt system when there’s seemingly no way to fight it.

Luke wrote back in the fourth chapter that the evil one led Jesus up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to Jesus, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4)

Jesus passed on the offer, and now those kingdoms of this world under the evil one’s dominion have come for Jesus. Jesus finds himself stuck in a corrupt worldly system with no earthly way to fight it.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reminded that sometimes being a disciple of Jesus is very simple. I observe how the “real world” works and I choose to do the opposite.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Popes & High Priests

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Popes & High Priests (CaD Lk 20) – Wayfarer

One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
Luke 20:1-2 (NIV)

I’ve been fascinated of late reading about the intrigue at the Vatican. The Pope recently defrocked one of the powerful Vatican Cardinals of the Roman Catholic church and accused him of embezzlement. He also met with an American Cardinal and stripped him of his apartment and privileges. Just weeks ago, the Pope fired the entire leadership team of the church’s worldwide charity arm because of a toxic work environment. Sounds like the Pope has his hands full.

I’m not Roman Catholic, but as an amateur historian, I’ve always been fascinated with it. Think about it. The Roman Church is a nation. In fact, it is technically still an empire. The 177 million acres of land it owns around the globe is second only to the British Empire. The Vatican Bank has over 8 billion dollars in assets.

Today’s chapter got me thinking about the Roman Church. Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem was not unlike the Vatican for Roman Catholics. The Hebrew religious system was vast, politically powerful, and rich. Millions visited the temple each year from all over the known world to offer sacrifices and offerings. The temple had its own currency which drove the need for the money changers Jesus famously drove out. The sacrificial system was big business. And, just like the Pope and Cardinals, the temple system had a High Priest and Sanhedrin.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He has operated outside of this system. Other than making a few dutiful pilgrimages to Jerusalem in His three years of ministry, His operations were far north of Jerusalem in the region of Galilee. Jesus has no earthly authority. He has no standing. He doesn’t hold a title, sit on any committees, or wear a funny hat. And while His ministry certainly gained popularity for performing miracles no one had ever seen, He was also popular for not being what the corporate religious system of His day had become.

There are three main characters at this point in the story of Jesus’ final week. There’s Jesus, the leadership of the Hebrew political and religious system, and the crowds. Twice in today’s chapter, Luke states that the power brokers of the temple and Hebrew religious system were afraid of the crowds. Their public approval ratings weren’t high, and Jesus’ constant criticism of them was a threat to them. If Jesus incited a riot it would unleash the wrath of Rome to quell the mob and keep the peace. That would cramp both their political power and their flow of revenue. When religion becomes big business, it becomes just another kingdom of this world with all the corruption and intrigue that comes with it. Just ask the Pope.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself attracted to the way Jesus’ model of living, teaching, and loving stands in such stark contrast to the corporate religious system that killed Him to protect itself. It was small, personal, and reflected the very things He taught. That’s what attracts me just as it attracted the crowds of everyday people who followed him. As a disciple of Jesus, I have this increasing desire to mold my own faith, life, and ministry in the same model. I want to carry out His mission in small and personal ways. The further I have progressed in my spiritual journey, the more comfortable I’ve become working outside of corporate religious systems.

I enter today with a heart’s desire to love the people I will interact with today well, and a heart full of gratitude that I’m not the Pope.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Kings and Kingdoms

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Kings & Kingdoms (CaD Lk 19) – Wayfarer

As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
Luke 19:41-42 (NIV)

In yesterday’s chapter, I talked about the meaning that is hidden in plain sight, waiting to be found in the connection between the episodes in a given chapter. Once again this morning, I found spiritual treasure in connecting the dots.

Dr. Luke wrote back in chapter 9 that Jesus “resolutely” set out for Jerusalem. In today’s chapter, He finally arrives. But Dr. Luke adds two key episodes to give me, the reader, to put that arrival in context.

As He enters Jericho, Jesus sees a man who has climbed into a tree to get a better view of Him. This wasn’t just any man. His name was Zac, and he was a regional director for the Internal Revenue Service of that day. Just like every human system of government, the system in which Zac was an authority was filled with corruption. Zac profited from that corruption. He was part of the system that fed the evil Herod Administration and the occupational forces of Rome. He was ostracized and held with contempt by the fundamentalist religious system. Like Jesus’ disciple, Levi, Zac had chosen in to the corrupt system in order to get rich and live the good life. His own people despised him for it.

Jesus invites Himself to Zac’s house for dinner. In doing so, Jesus sets off a host of mean tweets from those who had chosen in to the fundamentalist religious system of that day in order to appear righteous and holier-than-thou. Ironically, Jesus found this system to be no less corrupt than the one to which Zac belonged. Jesus’ visit to Zac’s house ends with Zac repenting of his greed and making a decision to give away half his wealth while making restitution to those he wronged by paying them four times what he’d cheated out of them. Jesus celebrates this prodigal son who has found his way home to God’s kingdom affirming that Zac’s transformation is evidence of the kingdom He came to bring.

Jesus then tells a parable about a man of noble birth who goes to a distant land to be made king. The people despised and rejected this king. He leaves and puts people in charge of his wealth while he was away. Some invested the wealth, made a huge return, and were rewarded. One man did nothing and was stripped of what he’d been given and sacked.

First, Jesus goes to the house of a sinner so that he might find personal salvation that transforms his life and all those who know him. Jesus says, “This is what my kingdom is all about.”

Next, Jesus tells a parable about a king who goes to a distant land to be made king (much as He left heaven to bring His kingdom to earth) and leaves his followers in charge (much as He will, in about a week, leave His followers to care for the mission of His kingdom on earth). The king eventually returns and settles accounts (much as Jesus promises a Day that He will return to settle spiritual accounts).

Jerusalem is the epicenter of the Great Story. It is David’s capital city. It is where Solomon built the temple. It is where the prophets proclaimed God’s Message. But since banishment from the Garden in Genesis 3, the kingdoms of this world, under the dominion of the Prince of this World, always stand in opposition to the Kingdom of God. It happened in the wake of David’s kingdom, and Jesus knew it must happen again just as He had described in his parable earlier in the chapter: “his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’”

So the “King” enters Jerusalem as Jesus weeps for the larger spiritual tragedy that is unfolding, saying, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

With this statement, Jesus prophetically describes the very thing that will happen in 40 years when Rome lays siege to Jerusalem and destroys the city and the temple with it.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reminded of an observation I’ve made along my spiritual journey. I find that humans, myself included, want God to be like us and the Kingdom of God to be like the earthly kingdoms we know. This is the fatal mistake that Jesus is calling out in the saving of a major sinner named Zac, in the parable of the King whose subjects hated and rejected, and in the prophetic proclamation of the city and the earthly kingdoms who were going to execute Him in a few days time.

As a disciple of Jesus, I’ve had to learn along the way that when my thoughts, words, actions, and worldview start looking like a kingdom of this world, then I’m out of sync with the Kingdom of God that Jesus invested in me, His disciple, just like the administrators in His parable. In the parable, the King’s subjects were given money to invest. In the case of Jesus, His disciples were given love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness to invest.

So, how does my investment portfolio look? What will be the return on those investments Jesus finds on the Day when He returns to settle accounts?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Jesus’ Way

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Jesus' Way (CaD Lk 10) – Wayfarer

[Jesus] replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10:18-20 (NIV)

Not long ago, I mentioned in a post that Jesus’ teaching was directed, not at nations or human institutions, but to individuals. It was directed to me. This is just one example of God’s message through Isaiah when He says, “Your ways are not my ways.”

Human institutions from Government to businesses to universities to churches operate on a system of top-down power structure. For human beings, this can work relatively well depending on the level of corruption, pride, and greed that exists in the upper levels of the system. The messiah that those of Jesus’ day were expecting was simply another version of this top-down paradigm. They expected the messiah to show up, wipe out evil through domination, put the Hebrews in charge, and exert salvation via righteous tyranny.

But, “your ways are not my ways” God had already proclaimed.

In today’s chapter, Jesus exemplifies the paradigm of His ways both via example and via parable.

Jesus appoints 72 more disciples and sends them out by two-by-two as as advance teams to the towns where He would be visiting. Their charge is to humbly stay with whoever will put them up and eat whatever they are given. No extra clothing. No purse full of money for emergencies. They are simply to do what Jesus did. Heal the sick, drive out demons, and proclaim the same teaching they’d heard from Jesus. If they were not welcomed, they simply wiped the dust off their feet and went to the next town. No demands. No force. No threats. Act humbly, live simply, and love mercifully.

Then a teacher of the law approaches Jesus. He is part of a human religious institution that operates like all human institutions. The elite and privileged at the top institutional food chain demand submission from the masses below. They drive obedience by threat of expulsion. They squash dissension and threats to the system (especially threats to the power and authority of the elites at the top of the system) with swift retribution, violence is used if needed.

The institutional lawyer asks Jesus what the law demands. Jesus quotes the two commandments that Jesus tells the crowds sum up God’s law: 1) Love God. 2) Love your neighbor. The institutional lawyer then asks Jesus to define “neighbor.” This prompts Jesus to launch into the famous story of the Good Samaritan.

What is lost on most casual readers is that Jesus deliberately describes those who pass by the robbed, bleeding, and injured man on the road as elite members of the very religious institution the lawyer represents. They are part of the human system which had, in top-down power fashion, exempted themselves from basic human compassion by dictating and justifying who was worthy of their precious time, energy, and resources both emotional and financial. In passing by the victim of assault and robbery lying on the road, these powerful figures of the religious institution were acting as they’d been taught and conditioned to behave by that system.

Jesus then chooses to describe the man who has compassion for the needy and helpless victim as a Samaritan. Samaritans were the enemy. Samaritans were excluded from the institutional religious system. The lawyer had been taught by the system to ignore, avoid, and treat Samaritans with prejudice, judgment, and contempt.

The Good Samaritan highlights Jesus’ ways, God’s ways. An individual acts with simply humility, compassion, mercy, and extravagant generosity towards another human being in need – even a stranger. This act is a bottom-up, subversive, human religious system disruptor, and it’s how Jesus intends His followers to change the world one humble act of charity at a time.

This bottom-up disruptor paradigm of God’s kingdom versus the world’s top-down power paradigm is highlighted once more by Jesus in today’s chapter. When the 36 advance teams return to Jesus, they report that they cast out demons and exercised power and authority over the powers of hell. Jesus quickly warns them not to let it go to their heads and infect their hearts. Rather, He tells them to humbly find joy that they have received love, mercy, and grace from God to be simple citizens and participants in God’s Kingdom.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself endeavoring to be a disruptor in this world. I don’t want to be a disruptor through power, politics, and protest. I want to be a disruptor Jesus’ way. I want to disrupt through bottom-up acts of love, humility, mercy, and generosity one needy person at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Book Summary List, Chapter-a-Day

Luke (Dec-Jan 2023)

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Each photo below corresponds to a chapter-a-day post and podcast for the book of Philippians published by Tom Vander Well in Decemer 2023 and January 2024. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post or listen to the podcast.

Luke 1: Community

Luke 2: The Wait

Luke 3: Preparing the Way

Luke 4: Going Viral

Luke 5: The Deeper Need

Luke 6: Directed to Me

Luke 7: The Great Omission

Luke 8: Listen Carefully

Luke 9: Shift in the Story

Luke 10: Jesus’ Way

Luke 11: Jesus, the Impudent Dinner Guest

Luke 12: No Worries

Luke 13: Walking the Talk

Luke 14: Choosing Humility

Luke 15: Lost


Luke 16: The Earth & Eternity Connection

Luke 17: Jesus & Customer Research

Luke 18: Hidden in Plain Sight

Luke 19: Kings and Kingdoms

Luke 20: Popes & High Priests

Luke 21: Antidotes to Fear

You’re caught up. Posts in this series will be added here as they are published. Please feel free to share any post with those you think might enjoy it. Thanks!
– Tom

Chapter-a-Day

Back to Babel

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Back to Babel (CaD Gen 11) – Wayfarer

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…”
The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Genesis 11:4, 6 (NIV)

Over the past month, Wendy and I have been listening to a podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. The podcast documents the story of a small group of people in Seattle who started a church, which became a movement, and then it was gone almost overnight. It’s also the story of the pastor, a young man who became one of the most famous and influential individuals in Christian circles. Yesterday, while I spent the day driving on a business trip, I listened to a bonus episode about another young man who also became famous and influential at about the same time, and then deconstructed his faith (something of a fad at the moment, FYI) and eventually announced on social media that he no longer identifies as a Christian.

After I returned home last night, Wendy and I discussed the episode. On one hand, there’s a morality tale in the stories of these individuals about the effects of celebrity, fame, and influence. There’s also a larger societal story about our culture of celebrity itself in which an individual can be a famous celebrity without having any particular talent or having accomplished anything other than to have become a celebrity.

Today’s chapter tells the story of the Tower of Babel and is the final story in Genesis which scholars would classify as primeval. It joins the story of creation, the Garden, Cain and Abel, Noah, and the Great Flood as foundational stories of the Great Story. On the surface, the Tower of Babel is intended to describe how humanity went from one people and then was scattered into different nationalities, cultures, and languages. Under the surface, it’s about humanity’s pride nature, and its ends.

Humanity is one homogeneous people group, and they conspire to build a tower to the heavens “to make a name for ourselves.” I thought this a bit of synchronicity in the quiet this morning as my heart and mind continue to mull over the stories I heard in the podcast about two young men who “made a name for themselves” only to find their own lives and the worlds of those who followed them crumble. In the case of the intervie w I listened to yesterday, at least one of the two is still reeling, confused, and lost like humanity itself at end of the Babel story.

But there’s another aspect to the Babel story that I recognized thirty years ago. As my life journey and spiritual journey have progressed, the more important I think this lesson is. In the story, God recognizes that humanity’s capabilities coupled with sinful pride will result in “nothing being impossible for them.” It seems that the narrative of the storyline is moving too quickly for God’s design, and the scattering of the peoples and confusing of the languages appears to be God’s way of slowing the pace of the narrative back down.

My earthly journey has been a fascinating time to live. I’ve watched the dawn of the computer age, experienced the beginning of the internet, I watched it grow, and witnessed how technology has effectively united the globe. Think about the coronavirus, which originates in China where scientists and countries from around the world had invested in woring together on biomedical research in a country who is considered less than friendly. I can’t imagine this happening even a generation ago.

Never, since the Tower of Babel, has humanity been more of a global village increasingly uniting under the umbrella of technology and connected to all countries and cultures through social media. Just last week the Wall Street Journal said that Facebook will soon be the sole news source for 80-90 percent of the entire world population.

I’ve also come to recognize that perhaps, for the first time since the Tower of Babel, we’re living in a generation that can say “nothing is impossible for us.” We can genetically design babies. Scientists hope to birth a Wooly Mammoth in the lab within a few years. W illiam Shatner, at 92, will take a commercial ride in space next month. In the last month I’ve read articles about scientists who are focused on making it possible for humans live forever. Mining asteroids, life on Mars, and now Amazon announced a robot for your home that rolls around to assist you and monitor your home for threats. I can have my own personal Wall-E.

The question, of course, is where does it all lead? What fascinates me the most as I contemplate the answer to this question is that, factually, life on Earth has never been better on the whole. There’s less extreme poverty, less sickness, longer lives, better education, higher status for women, more access to information, better access to clean water supplies, and less starvation and malnutrition. This is true. It is a fact. Read Hans Rosling’s book Factfulness.

At the same time, I observe more and more confusion about who we are. Adults are asking children what gender they believe they are, then arranging to physically alter their biology. Scientifically, there are still just two genders, but philosophically we’re how told that there are endless genders to choose from based solely on my choice to identify in the moment. After centuries of progress towards ending slavery, reducing prejudice, and accepting bi-racial and cross-cultural marriages in an increasingly large global village, we’re suddenly regressing back into racial separation and segregation. What was once good is now bad. What was once bad is now good. What was once regressive is now progressive. Children now make life-altering adult decisions. Adults now chase an endless childhood. I am who I identify myself as in the moment, but that might change. What is important is what’s trending in the moment. What’s not important is anything in the past or that which is not trending.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself fascinated by the world in which I live, where increasingly “nothing is impossible.” I find myself mulling over the possibility that we are in process of building a new Tower of Babel with DNA, 5G networks, stem cells, lasers, robotics and fiber optics. I find myself marveling at a culture that appears to me to be increasingly confused despite all of our knowledge and advancement.

I find myself grateful for my simple identity…

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12 (NIV)

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Me and Babel 2.0

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Me and Babel 2.0 (CaD John 17) – Wayfarer

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
John 17:15-16 (NIV)

Earlier this year Wendy and I were on the back patio with friends late into the evening. One of the things we like to do in the dark of night is keep our eyes peeled for meteors, satellites, constellations, plants, and other interesting objects in the night sky. On that night I spotted a satellite, which basically looks like a moving star, trekking slowly from west to east. Then there was another one right behind it. I’d never seen two of them so close and moving in the same trajectory. Then came another, and another, and another, and another.

Pulling up the internet on my phone to find out what we were looking at, we learned that evening about the satellite train. The brainchild of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, it is a long string or “train” of 60 satellites that follow one another in orbit. SpaceX plan to eventually have 12,000 of them in low orbit to provide internet service everywhere from space. Fascinating.

It’s an amazing time to be alive and to make this earthly life journey. In the course of my lifetime, the world has arguably changed more rapidly and drastically than in any other time in human civilization. Advancements in technology and science are beginning to outpace our ability to comprehend the effects of all that it possible.

Along with the “progress” has come a sharp decline in the number of people who adhere to traditional Christian belief systems or attend institutional Christian churches. One of the things that I read consistently about this trend is the criticism that believers and churches in America haven’t done enough to address social justice issues and the problems of our world.

Today’s chapter is traditionally known in theological circles as “the high priestly prayer.” John records Jesus praying just before He was betrayed by Judas and arrested. In the prayer Jesus acknowledges two important things. First, that His followers are “not of this world.” In my experience, Jesus is acknowledging that those who follow Him have expanded their world-view beyond this earthly life to God’s eternal Kingdom. After acknowledging this, Jesus consciously chooses that His followers not be removed from this world, but protected from the same prince of this world that will see Jesus crucified within twelve hours of this prayer.

To quote Hamlet, “ay, there’s the rub.”

In this world, not of it. How do I, as a follower of Jesus, hold that tension?

That’s what my soul and mind are chewing on in the quiet this morning. And here are a few of my thoughts…

I confess that critics of Christianity are not wrong. Followers of Jesus and the institutional churches of history have not done enough adhere to personally fulfill Jesus’ mission of crossing social boundaries, loving the outcast, and caring for the poor. Mea culpa.

At the same time, history has taught me that revolutions and reformations typically paint complex realities with broad-brush generalizations, and then throw babies out with the bathwater. Despite the moans and wails of how awful of a state the world is in, here are a few undisputable facts:

  • In 1966 (the year I was born), 50% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. In 2017, that’s dropped to 9% despite population growth.
  • When my parents were young, average life expectancy was between 30-40 years. In two generations it’s risen to 72, and still climbing.
  • In 1975, 58% of children with cancer survived. By 2010, it was 80%.
  • In 1980, 22% of one-year-olds received at least one vaccination. In 2018 the percentage was 88%.
  • In 1970, 28% of the world’s population was undernourished. In 2015 that number had dropped to 11%.
  • In 1900, roughly 40% of children died before the age of five. By 2016 the percentage was down to 4%.
  • In 1980, 58% of the world’s population had access to a protected water source. By 2015 the number was 88% and climbing.

It’s easy to cast a stone at the institutional church, its members, and cast stones regarding all that it hasn’t done. I also know many believers in my own circles of influence who, led by their faith in Jesus and dedication to His mission, have given their lives to contribute to the numbers I’ve just quoted.

Scott and Marcia have helped mobilize native efforts in Eswatani Africa to care for unwanted babies, lower the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water, and improve agricultural yields to feed the local population.

Tim and an entire host of individuals in our local gathering of Jesus followers have done a similar work in Haiti. Learning from the mistakes of the past, they are helping native Haitians create sustainable and healthy life and community systems.

My college suitemate, Tim, has dedicated most of his career to helping care for impoverished children and single mothers around the globe. He’s now leading a non-profit to address the 12% of the world’s population that still need a protected water source.

I have long believed that with the technological age I may just be witnessing humanity’s next great attempt at building a tower of Babel. Instead of bricks and mortar, we’re using processors, fiber optics, CRISPR, and satellite trains. The goal is the same: nothing is impossible, and we ascend to be our own god. I find it fascinating to observe what I perceive to be “Babel 2.0” is that we largely still speak the same language but our transmission and translation are increasingly confused. What one intends to say, what they say, and what the other hears and interprets to have been said are incongruent. Language is hijacked and redefined in a moment by part of the population. New words are created, defined, and trend within one part of the population while everyone else in the population failed to notice. They are therefore ignorant and confused when they are discussed.

So what does this mean for me today? I don’t run an institution, nor do I want to. I am a follower of Jesus and, as such, I have a world-view that sees beyond this world and incorporates God’s Kingdom into my earthly existence. I seek to accomplish His mission of “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth” and I take that responsibility seriously. This earthly journey is not about biding my time until death and eternity, but rather trying to bring a Kingdom perspective into my every day intentions, choices, work, actions, and relationships.

I am in this world, a world which remains the dominion of the prince of this world, which is why Jesus prayed for my protection on that fateful night. Jesus asks me to affect this world with love, service, and generosity that He exemplified. He told His followers to be “shrewd as a serpent and gentle as a dove.”

And so, I enter another day of the journey with those intentions.

Note:
Three messages have been added on the Messages page. Click here

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Chapter-a-Day

The Contrast

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The Contrast (CaD Mk 7) – Wayfarer

“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.”
Mark 7:18-19 (NIV)

When I was a young man, I spent a short period of time working in a county office building where I participated in the the legal investigation and documentation of real estate transactions. I did it for less than a year, but it was an eye opening experience. I observed and learned how government worked under the control of a political machine. I observed and learned how people use the letter of the law to circumvent the spirit of the law to achieve their own selfish ends. I learned and observed how people try to use real estate to con others, and once or twice I actually caught people doing it. It was a crash-course in “how the world works.”

In yesterday’s post/podcast I mentioned that it’s easy to get stuck looking at the text with a microscope while ignoring the bigger picture. I can lose the forest in the trees, as the old saying goes. In today’s chapter, what resonated most with me was, once again, not mired in the minutia of Jesus words, but the larger context of what is happening in the story.

Jesus ministry, at this point, has taken place in the rural backwaters of Judea. If I were to use the United States for context, I would say that Jesus has been spending all of his time and energy in fly-over country while avoiding both coasts. All of the miracles, crowds, and exorcisms have Jesus trending off the charts and the establishment powers-that-be have begun to notice. Since the beginning of time, power-brokers at the top of the political, commercial, and religious establishments have known to ceaselessly look for any threat to the stability of their power and the continuity of their cashflow.

I found Mark’s observation fascinating:

“Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.”

The more they talk about it, the more of a potential threat Jesus becomes to the religious powers-that-be. In the beginning of today’s chapter, Mark notes that an entourage of political and religious leaders from Jerusalem come to see for themselves what the hub-bub is all about. They are big fish coming to the small pond of Galilee, but along the blue-collar shores of Galilee they are not in their own environment while Jesus is definitely in His.

The Jerusalem entourage are here to find ways to discredit this threat to their control on the religious institution and the lives of all who adhere to it. They quickly call Jesus out for not washing his hands before supper, which the establishment long ago elevated onto the checklist of religious rituals and behaviors they used to maintain their self-righteous judgement of who is naughty-or-nice, who is in-or-out.

Jesus response resonated with me because He calls them out on a point of legal order. Nowhere in the Ten Commandments or the laws of Moses was ritual hand washing a thing. The religious-types, over time, had created rules that were part of legal codes which codified and expanded the interpretation of the original spiritual principle. Jesus turns this into a very simple illustration that gets to the core of the difference between His teaching and that of the institutional human religious establishment.

The religious leaders made a spectacle of their ritual hand-washing before meals to show how pious and righteous they were. Jesus quickly points out that at the same time these same religious leaders had used the letter of the law to allow children to avoid the obligation of adult children to care for their elderly parents. They allowed people to bring “offerings” as a charitable donation to the religious establishment which would otherwise have been the money needed to pay for their parents needs. They then declare a form of bankruptcy as to escape their financial obligation to their elderly parents with the absolution of the religious institution who benefitted handsomely for it.

This is a version of what I observed and learned in the county office building when I was a young men. This is how the Kingdoms of this World work.

Jesus’ response was a simple word picture. Along with hand-washing, the power-brokers from Jerusalem also had many dietary restrictions which also fell into the category of religious rule-keeping. Jesus’ observation is so simple. Food, he says, goes in the mouth, through the stomach, and out the other end. Whether eaten with ritually cleansed hands or dirty hands, the food never passes through the heart.

From a spiritual perspective, the distinction is essential, Jesus says:

“It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.” Mark 7: 20-23 (MSG)

The entourage will return to Jerusalem. Their dossier on Jesus will speak of a popular teacher among the poor and simple masses who follow Him in throngs, hang on His every word, and are won-over by His miracles. He will be labeled an enemy of the institution. He threatens the stability of their power, their control over the masses, and ultimately the stream of cashflow from their religious racket. We are still a couple of years away from this religio-political machine condemning Jesus and conspiring to hang Him on a cross, but the pieces are already moving on the chess board.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself once again inspired by Jesus. The more I read the story, and read His teachings, the more I see the contrast between the heart-principles of the Kingdom of God and the religious rule keeping of the institutions of this world. I am compelled to continue following the former with all my heart while exposing the latter for what it is. In other words, I want to be more and more like Jesus while shunning the religious institutions and establishments who point to their moral codes and religious rules and say, “this is what Jesus meant.”

I believe that humans will perpetually turn eternal Truth into earthly rules and religious systems. C’est la vie. It’s part of the fabric of a fallen world in this Great Story.

Nevertheless, I get to choose every day which I follow.

“Hang on Jesus. I’m lacing up my shoes for another day. I’m right behind you. Where are we headed?”