Tag Archives: Fundamentalism

Chapter-a-Day

The Difference

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The Difference (CaD Gal 3) – Wayfarer

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
Galatians 3:2 (NIV)

I was a dormitory Resident Assistant (RA) through most of my college years. Being an RA came with the responsibility of checking on residents, making sure everyone was out for fire drills or fire alarms, doing room inspections, and making sure everyone was in by curfew. For these few responsibilities, I got my own room.

During my first year as an RA, I remember some stark differences in how other members of the team handled the rules. There was this one guy, in particular, who was rabid in enforcing the “letter of the law.” If a person was one second past curfew they were in trouble. He demanded that rooms be immaculate to pass inspection. He seemed to enjoy finding ways to catch rule breakers and punish them. As you can imagine, he quickly gained the reputation of being the worst RA in the dorm. No one wanted to live on his floor.

I have always generally been a rule follower, but I was a “spirit of the law” kind of guy as an RA. I figured that room inspections were intended to make sure nothing nasty was growing and no health hazards were being incubated. Likewise, when a guy came sprinting into the dorm a few minutes past curfew, I figured he was at least conscious enough of the rule to actually run back to the dorm. I let it slide.

In today’s chapter, Paul addresses the crux of a conflict that plagued the early years of the Jesus Movement. It’s about the rules God gave Moses and the Hebrew people after delivering them from Egypt. Known simply as “the Law,” there were those within the Jesus Movement who insisted that a person could not be a follower of Jesus without first being obedient to all the rules of the Law. God had already made clear to Peter, to Paul, and to the rest of the Apostles that non-Jewish Gentiles did not have to adhere to the Law to believe in Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, rabid rule-keepers like my RA friend had visited the local gatherings of Jesus’ followers in Galatia and started insisting otherwise.

Paul does not mince words. He calls his Galatian friends fools for being influenced by the rule-keeping tyrants. Salvation, Paul points out, is about simply believing. This isn’t a new concept. Paul goes all the way back to the “father” of the Jewish people, Abraham. Abraham “believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Rule-keeping doesn’t produce righteousness. In fact, rule-keeping only results in proving that I’m imperfect. When religion becomes about rule-keeping it always results in powerful hypocrites tyrannizing weak followers in keeping up appearances of rule-keeping perfection.

Father Abraham, Paul argues, was the prototype that superseded the law. Abraham simply believed God and did what God told him. Abe was credited with righteousness, not by keeping rules but by believing and responding out of that belief. Because Jesus’ died for sin and rose from the dead, the tyranny of rule-keeping and the Law is over. The Abraham paradigm has been firmly established once and for all. As Paul would write to the believers in Rome: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reflecting on some of the more fundamentalist experiences I’ve had along my spiritual journey. The tyranny of rule-keeping continues to be a pillar of fundamentalist groups and cults. You can find several documentaries about such groups streaming on your favorite platform. A form of the core issue Paul is addressing in today’s chapter is still with us. The “letter of the law” paradigm seems so simple, It’s so black-and-white, and it provides an easy-to-understand framework of behavior. And, it is typically accompanied by rabid letter-of-the-law tyrants to police the behaviors and punish the rule-breakers.

The “spirit of the law” paradigm of Abraham and Jesus gets rather messy at times. It requires me to believe. Not just a mental acknowledgment, but believing in such a way that I am motivated to think, speak, and act out of that belief. I am compelled to do so by the love of Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for my sin. It’s not about guilt but about gratitude. It’s not rule-keeping but responding to Jesus’ kindness. Righteousness isn’t earned, it’s credited.

That makes all the difference.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Paul v. The System

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Paul v. The System (CaD Acts 26) – Wayfarer

“They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee.”
Acts 26:5 (NIV)

Over the last year or two, I have been listening to podcasts and watching documentaries about religious sects and mega-churches that have ended tragically in all manner of scandals and abuses both personal and corporate. I didn’t make some kind of conscious decision to do so. Looking back, it’s sort of fascinating that I found myself intrigued by the subject. I just finished another documentary series yesterday.

I have written in these chapter-a-day posts before about the common patterns of fundamentalism that can be found in more than just religious groups. Fundamentalism can be found in businesses, social groups, political groups, and family systems.

The Jewish religious system at the time of Jesus, and the time of Paul, bore all the marks of fundamentalism. In today’s chapter, Paul’s testimony before the Roman Governor Festus and King Agrippa describes it. It was a closed system with strict in-group and out-group distinctions. Stringent rules regarding thought and behavior were strictly dictated and enforced. Refusal to conform resulted in, at best, the threat of being ostracized and, at worst, the threat of death.

I found it fascinating that Paul states “They have known me for a long time.” As Paul stands before his accusers, he’s facing men whom he’s known almost his entire life. Paul was among the elite of this Jewish ruling class. He was a student of the greatest Jewish teacher of their time. He was on the fast track to leadership in this very ruling body. He drank the Kool-aid and conformed to the strictest of their religious rules. Had he not met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul might very well have been sitting among those accusing them.

Paul likely knew many of his accusers by name. He likely had dined in their homes, knew their families, and had shared memories from long-term relationships. He had been “in” with them, now he is “out.” Fundamentalist systems always turn on those who refuse to conform and comply. They want Paul dead in the same way Paul, when he was one of them, wanted Stephen dead back in chapter seven; In the same way they wanted Jesus dead. It’s the same system, operating in the same fundamentalist paradigm. Traitors to a fundamentalist system who threaten the power (and wealth) of the leaders of that system are systemically eradicated. The exact, same pattern can be seen in each of the podcasts and documentaries I’ve consumed regarding religious sects and megachurches in our own day.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on Jesus’ words in John 8:31-32: “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Fascinating that I’ve never paid much attention to the beginning of verse 31: “To the Jews who had believed him.” The religious system had people trapped, one might even argue “enslaved,” in strict religious rule-keeping and blind obedience to leadership through the threat of top-down intimidation and social ostracism. Jesus wanted to free them.

Paul had been spiritually freed from the system. Now he wants his old friends and comrades to experience the same freedom. He wants Agrippa to experience it, too. He even tells Agrippa and the entire courtroom: “I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”

Along my life journey, I have experienced both unhealthy fundamentalist systems and the spiritual freedom of being Jesus’ disciple. I will always steer clear of the former as I daily embrace the latter.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Politics and Religion

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Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”
Acts 23:6 (NIV)

It is a major election year here in the United States, which means that politics is already at a fever pitch and it’s only going to get worse. Both the trials of a former President and a number of important appeals before the Supreme Court with regard to hot political issues and elections have put politics and the legal system on a collision course.

Another hot topic of late is a new book by Salman Rushdie regarding his miraculous survival of being attacked and stabbed 15 times. Rushdie has famously been living under the threat of a fundamentalist Islamic fatwa calling for his death for decades.

Politics and religion are both kingdoms of this world and I have long observed that they often intertwine. They came to mind this morning as I read the chapter. Paul is on trial before the religious ruling council in Jerusalem, the same body that tried Jesus and had Him executed some 20 years earlier. Now it is Paul who has threatened their power and fundamentalist religious politics.

You’ve got to hand it to Paul. He was a lawyer trained by the very system that is now trying him. He knows that system and its internal politics as well as anyone, and he makes a brilliant political move. Paul knew that the ruling council was politically divided into two major factions who hated one another. He also knew that the major divisive issue between the two factions was whether there was a resurrection and life after death. So, he loudly proclaims “I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

It was a shrewd political play. Suddenly, he shifts the focus from himself and Jesus and stirs the festering theological rancor that divides the ruling council itself. In making a stand for “resurrection,” he makes allies of every Pharisee on the ruling council while tearing off the scab of a festering conflict within the ruling body itself. The entire ruling council erupts, turns on each other, and Paul is whisked away by the Romans amidst the tumult. Paul was a Roman citizen, and he knew that the Romans would politically refuse to let the Jewish ruling council harm one of their citizens.

Paul is safely placed under the political protection of Rome, while 40 of his fundamentalist religious enemies take an oath to neither eat nor drink until they’ve murdered him. I can’t help but think that Paul and Salman Rushdie could have a fascinating conversation about living under the threat of death from fundamentalist religion.

Politics and religion. Two kingdoms of this world combine to make a combustible cocktail. It was true in the events of today’s chapter. This is true in current events. All I have to do is read the headlines.

In the quiet this morning, I am once again reminded of the contrast between the kingdoms of this world, and the Kingdom of God that Jesus brought to this world. The Kingdom of God on earth is focused on each individual disciple who is empowered and called upon to live and relate in a manner consistent with Jesus’ teaching and opposite the kingdoms of this world. If my personal faith in Jesus and my focus on daily living as His disciple transforms into being just another member of an earthly, collective religious system then my faith withers on the Vine and I become just another religious minion subject to a kingdom of this world.

Note: I will be out traveling on business for the next two days. Lord willing, I will plan on posting again on Friday, April 26.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Jesus, the Impudent Dinner Guest

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Jesus, the Impudent Dinner Guest (CaD Lk 11) – Wayfarer

When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
Luke 11:37-38 (NIV)

Along my journey, I have found that people across the spectrum, from antagonistic critics to well-intentioned church members, have an ignorant perception of Jesus based on what others have said about Him or how religious institutions have portrayed Him. It’s one of the reasons I continue on this chapter-a-day journey. As I return again and again to the primary source material, it never fails to inform me in often mind-altering ways.

For example, in today’s chapter lies an episode about Jesus that I’ve never heard directly addressed in a sermon or a book.

Jesus is making His way toward Jerusalem, stopping in towns and villages along the way to do His thing. He teaches, heals the sick, and casts out demons from the possessed. He is, however, facing increasing criticism and opposition. The greatest opposition is coming from the institutional religious authority over the very faith Jesus is from and represents.

In one town, a Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner at his house. The Pharisees were a powerful organization within the larger Hebrew authority system. Made up mostly of prominent, wealthy, and connected businessmen, the Pharisees presided over local religious matters along with lawyers who were experts in the Law of Moses. Think of a cadre of the most wealthy and influential businessmen in your town or city having authority over commerce and religion and civil affairs. Being invited to a Pharisee’s home to dine with his lot would have been a huge deal.

Jesus accepts the dinner invite and becomes arguably the most impudent and offensive dinner guest in recorded history.

First, Jesus refuses to wash before dinner. To this day, you’ll find washbasins out in the open in the restaurants of Jerusalem for the orthodox to ritually wash before eating. Jesus’ refusal is a slap in the face of his host, and He does it in order to make a point. Jesus looks at this local cabal of mucky-mucks and says:

“Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

This is rude. Jesus is insulting His host and his fellow dinner guests. In the culture of Jesus’ day, this was socially unacceptable. It’s hard to even put into today’s terms. It would be like taking your drink and throwing it into the face of your host. The Pharisee and his colleagues would have been appalled and immediately defensive, thinking “How can this country preacher from the sticks say I am not generous to the poor?! He doesn’t even know me! I always give exactly the tithe that God’s Law dictates I must give!”

Jesus raises the ante on His boorish behavior by reading their thoughts and continuing:

“Woe to you Pharisees! Yes, yes, I know you dutifully give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs to keep the letter of the law, but you neglect the heart of the law: justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.“

Jesus doesn’t wait for their reply to this before He raises the stakes even higher:

“Woe to you Pharisees! All you care about is having VIP seating in the synagogues and having people in town treat you like you’re all that and a bag of chips!”

There, dining with the Pharisee is a lawyer, who is not technically a card-carrying member of the Pharisee club, but a prominent colleague and social ally. The lawyer comes to his insulted host’s defense, calls Jesus to a social point-of-order, and informs Jesus that when He insults his Pharisee host, Jesus is insulting him as well.

Jesus quickly goes all-in to insult the lawyers as well.

“And you lawyers, woe to you! You load people down with your authoritative lists of ‘dos and don’ts’ that make their lives more difficult. You feel all powerful, telling people what to do, but then you sit there feeling smug and won’t lift one finger to help them.”

While Luke doesn’t provide the details, I don’t think Jesus got anything to eat. In fact, Luke implies that the Pharisee and his friends threw Jesus out of his house, or perhaps Jesus simply walked out, because the next thing the good doctor writes is: “When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on both the fact that Jesus acted in a rude and socially unacceptable manner and that in 2000 years since we rarely address or acknowledge this fact.

In His dinner party rant, Jesus provides a clue to both His anger and His impertinence. He states that from “Abel to Zechariah” (which is like me saying “From Genesis to Revelation”) it has been the institutional religious fundamentalism and authority thing that His host and friends represent that led to the murder of the prophets God sent to the Hebrew people throughout history. And, the handwriting is already on the wall. Jesus told His disciples in yesterday’s chapter: This same system will kill Him, as well.

I’ve observed along my life journey that the institutional religious fundamentalism and authority thing can be found amidst all of the world’s major religions. I believe that it’s what happens when sinful human beings turn religion into a kingdom of this world. I have always found it fascinating that it was the one thing that Jesus opposed so vehemently that He was willing to break every socially acceptable custom in order to call it out. Ironically, with acts like His impudent dinner behavior, Jesus pushes His opposition to call His bet, go all-in themselves, and kill Him.

The further I get in my journey, the more contrast the eyes of my heart see between the ways of God and the ways of the institutional religious fundamentalism and authority thing. And, the more my heart desires to pursue the former while joining Jesus in opposition to the latter.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Suffering Granted

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Suffering Granted (CaD Php 1) – Wayfarer

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.…
Philippians 1:29 (NIV)

There was an interesting article in the Free Press recently written by a scientist who confesses that he purposely chose not to tell the whole truth in order to get his article published in a prestigious magazine. He brazenly admits he did so for personal gain. As a scientist and an academic, getting published is crucial to his career. He goes on to explain that it is currently impossible to get published if he doesn’t stick to the narrative that the magazine editors demand.

He writes:

In theory, scientific research should prize curiosity, dispassionate objectivity, and a commitment to uncovering the truth. Surely those are the qualities that editors of scientific journals should value. 

In reality, though, the biases of the editors (and the reviewers they call upon to evaluate submissions) exert a major influence on the collective output of entire fields. They select what gets published from a large pool of entries, and in doing so, they also shape how research is conducted more broadly. Savvy researchers tailor their studies to maximize the likelihood that their work is accepted. I know this because I am one of them.

When I was a young man and a relatively new disciple of Jesus, I observed that Christian fundamentalists wanted power to control the speech and behavior of everyone. For the record, I never agreed with this tactic and I still don’t. I find it the direct opposite of what Jesus calls me to do and be. What has been fascinating is to watch the pendulum swing in my lifetime. It is another type of fundamentalism that seeks to use power and fear to control both speech and behavior in culture today. One of the things I continue to observe in many different pockets of our current culture is the refusal to say what one believes or knows out of fear of being ostracized or canceled. I see it happening in business, entertainment, politics, religion, as well as in science and education at every level.

Today I begin the short, four-chapter trek through Paul’s letter to the followers of Jesus in the Roman city of Philippi. Paul writes the letter from imprisonment in Rome. He was actually under house arrest in a dwelling he had to pay for himself. It was a time when being a follower of Jesus could get you persecuted and canceled in the Roman Empire for a number of reasons by different constituencies.

In the opening of his letter, Paul expresses contentment in his circumstances of incarceration He finds a silver lining in the fact that his Roman guards are a captive audience to hear about Paul’s faith, and while under house arrest he could receive visitors. Paul also expresses appreciation for the fact that his imprisonment has prompted others not to be so afraid of identifying themselves as followers of Jesus, even if it means being canceled.

Paul then writes something that I found extraordinary as I read it in the quiet this morning: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him….”

I read these words having just finished this chapter-a-day trek through the book of Job. The prevailing attitude in the Job story is that suffering is bad and a sure sign of God’s punishment for sin while prosperity is a sign of God’s approval and blessing. I observe that this prevailing attitude remains fairly entrenched, and this makes Paul’s statement downright counter-cultural!

Suffering for being a follower of Jesus is a privilege granted by the Almighty.

As I continue to observe and ponder the trends I see in our current culture, I also see that being a follower of Jesus seems to be increasingly out of vogue. Please don’t read what I’m not writing. I’m not trying to be hyperbolic or claim some sort of victim status. I am simply stating what I have observed as a growing trend in which, for the first time in my lifetime, it seems even possible that I could be canceled because of my faith. I hope this is not true, but just the possibility is sobering.

I head into my day reminded that Jesus told his disciples to expect suffering. As Paul writes to the disciples in Philippi, I’m to consider it a privilege if it were to happen. This is a teaching that many regular church attenders have never heard, and don’t want to hear. Even churches have their own version of cancel culture.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Was, Is, & Yet to Come

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Was, Is, & Yet to Come (CaD Jer 30) – Wayfarer

‘I am with you and will save you,’
    declares the Lord.
‘Though I completely destroy all the nations
    among which I scatter you,
    I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
    I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’
Jeremiah 30:11 (NIV)

This past Sunday, Ya-Ya Wendy received a Mother’s Day FaceTime call from our kids and grandkids in Scotland. We watched Milo working on a geometric puzzle while his little sister chewed on the puzzle pieces and banged them on the table. Milo started spouting out math equations out of the top of his head. He has suddenly developed a grasp for math that has left all of our creative right-brains a bit stunned and perplexed. I joked with our daughter Taylor, “How did a mathematician spring from a family of artists?”

Indeed, our girls were raised on dates to the Art Center, listening to music their friends had never heard of, and watching movies in order to have meaningful conversations about them. To this day, we all share notes on the movies and television series we’re watching, the books we’re reading, and all of things they are making us think about.

Along my journey, I have occasionally participated in exercises in which a group of people will stare at a work of art for a period of time, then take turns sharing what the piece led them to think about. It’s always amazing to find both the commonly shared thoughts and interpretations along with the layers of meaning that can be quite personal and unique.

Today’s chapter is the first of two unusually optimistic and redemptive works of ancient Hebrew poetry that God channels through Jeremiah, who is more typically the purveyor of doom and gloom. The prophetic words are layered with meaning for the Hebrews who would return from exile to restore Jerusalem and the temple beginning in 538 BC, for the Jewish people who returned from around the globe to establish the modern nation of Israel in the 20th century, and for those who look to what God will do in the end times as referenced by the prophets, Jesus, and the Revelations of John.

Admittedly, this is where casual readers of the Great Story often get confused, especially in our modern culture of science and reason in which we are trained to read and think literally. Prophetic literature, like all good metaphorical expressions, is layered with meaning just as a great work of art. As I always say, God’s base language is metaphor, which is so powerful simply because it is able to express so many layers of meaning in one simple word picture. How many art works, songs, books, movies, messages, and stories have sprung from their roots in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son over the centuries? This one simple story spills over with meaning for rebels, parents of rebels, sibling relationships, and parent-child relationships. Just yesterday I shared how the story had intense meaning for me in terms of certain work relationships.

This is terribly uncomfortable concept for fundamentalists and literalists who like things to fit neatly inside the cognitive box they’ve painstakingly and meticulously fashioned inside their brains. I confess that when I was a young person, I had a very small and rigid cognitive box for God. However, my entire spiritual journey as a disciple of Jesus has led me to understand that our God, whom Paul described as One who is able to do “immeasurably more than we ask or imagine” will never be easily contained in the cognitive box of any human being.

At the beginning of Jeremiah’s story, back in the first chapter, is a very personal interaction between God and the young prophet. He tells Jerry not to be afraid, that He will be with the prophet, and will rescue him even though God through him will “uproot nations and kingdoms, to destroy and overthrow, and to build and to plant.”

In today’s chapter, God speaks the same promise to all of God’s people. The uprooting, destruction, and overthrow is not done, nor is the building and planting. It will continue through decades, centuries, and millenniums to come. As I read the words of the ancient Hebrew poem in the quiet this morning, it whispers to me of what has been, what is now, and what is yet to come. How apt, since they are words given to Jeremiah by a God who was, and is, and is to come.

I am reminded this morning that being a disciple of Jesus requires of me that I learn to hold a certain tension. It is the same tension required of the first twelve disciples who at once knew Jesus intimately and personally while at the same time realized that He was immeasurably more than they could possibly understand or imagine.

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

Chapter-a-Day

The Goal

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The Goal (CaD Heb 6) – Wayfarer

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity…
Hebrews 6:1 (NIV)

Religion is relatively easy. I was raised with religion. It was simply a set of ritual tasks that was woven into. Go to Sunday School and the church service once a week. Give a few bucks. Say the Lord’s prayer before family meals along with the Dutch prayer Grandpa and Grandma Vander Well taught us. Pray when I go to bed if I think about it. Volunteer once in a while. These are the basic motions. Repeat.

When I surrendered my life to Christ and became a follower of Jesus, I remember realizing that all of my religious motions had simply that – motions. They didn’t really have any effect on the person I was. The religious rituals had no soul penetration, no life penetration. On Sunday morning in church, I’d sing the hymn Just As I Am and the rest of the week I did just that. I remained just as I had always been.

Early in my spiritual journey as a follower of Jesus, I walked among a group that appeared to be rabidly devout about their faith. What I quickly discovered is that they were simply religion on steroids. They had countless rules of appearance and behavior that were thickly layered on top of the religious rituals. I soon noticed that my peers were spiritually immature. They didn’t have to think, they just had to obey. The result was that there was no development of a person’s heart and soul. There was simply adherence to the prescribed rules so that those in authority within the system could see me toeing the line. Along my life journey, I’ve come to believe that there is a corollary relationship between religious fundamentalism and spiritual immaturity.

Reading Jesus’ teachings, this was the very thing from which Jesus came to free me. The word picture He used was that of a beautiful, ornate mausoleum in the cemetery. So pretty on the outside. Full of rotting flesh and dead bones on the inside. My zealously religious friends were concerned about my purity; The purity of my doctrine, obedience, appearance, and social behavior. From what I read in the Great Story, Jesus is most concerned about my spiritual maturity. Because the deeper my spiritual roots descend, the more living water I imbibe, the more mature my growing spirit becomes, the more spiritual fruit my life produces. The goal is not lifeless obedience to a set of rules, the goal is a life that is spilling over with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. Those aren’t fruits of religion, they are fruits of Spirit maturity.

One of the major reasons that the author of the letter to the Hebrews was writing to his fellow Jewish believers was precisely for this reason. The Hebrews were big on religion. They had an entire system of ritual tasks, rules, sacrifices, offerings, and festivals. It was so ingrained in them that it was hard for some to give it up. That’s another thing I’ve observed about religious devotion: Once a person is used to it the ritual rule-keeping feels natural and comfortable. It’s like being a spiritual couch potato.

And that’s why the author of Hebrews is urging his fellow believers toward the things Jesus taught: spiritual maturity, spiritual development, and growth of soul that leads to maturity and a life marked by increasing spiritual fruit. You know what’s funny? The more I grow spiritually, the more Life I find in some of those old religious rituals and traditions. Without the Spirit, they were just life-less motions. With the Spirit, they become a vehicle of further growth and development.

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

Chapter-a-Day

“The Weight”

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"The Weight" (CaD Matt 23) – Wayfarer

They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matthew 23:4 (NIV)

Some mornings as I read the chapter, I’ll have a thought that pops into my head and I can’t let it go. Something resonates and I’m not sure exactly why. When this happens, I’ll often sit with it to see where it leads me.

This morning, as I read Jesus describing the way the religious fundamentalists leading the Temple “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on people’s shoulders” the Band’s classic song The Weight popped into my head.

I decided to chase the rabbit and read up on the song’s origin. Robbie Robertson described it as a fairly simple parable (my word, not his). Fanny sends the person to Nazareth (not the Biblical Nazareth, but Nazareth, PA the home of the Martin guitar factory) just to say “hi” to everyone there. When the person arrives, they have a string of interactions (the verses of the song) in which people ask something of them. What started as a simple “say hi for me” turns into the burden of a host of expectations from others.

Today’s chapter is one of the most intense in the Great Story. The escalating conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders comes to a full boil and Jesus goes off on the most heated message of condemnation that is recorded. It’s always been a good thing for me to remember as a follower of Jesus: Jesus approached sinners with compassion, it was the religious fundamentalists in His own tribe that He most vociferously condemned.

And why?

Jesus’ rant begins by describing the way the religious leaders “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads” on the people. That’s where Jesus’ condemnation begins.

Along my spiritual journey, I have spent short stretches of the journey in fundamentalist groups of Jesus followers. It was simply a modern version of what Jesus experienced with the religious leaders of His day. Rules that have rules to explain the rule, along with exceptions to the rule, which have subsequent mandatory rules attached to it so that the exception does not end up breaking the original rule.

I remember realizing as I walked with one of these groups for a time, that my peers were religiously and doctrinally dutiful, but they were spiritually immature. Their faith was reduced to following rules, keeping up appearances, and pledging unwavering allegiance to every jot and tittle of their group’s doctrinal statement. I also observed how burdensome this became for the members of this group.

Just a few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend who escaped such a group. “When I applied myself to follow every rule and be the most upright person in the group, the heavier my heart became.”

I remember one dear friend who joined a similar group of Christians. He came to tell me one day that he was cutting off our relationship and that I would never hear from him again. His group was the only ones who were right and the only ones who would make it on Judgment Day. He then informed me that I stood condemned to hell and he was required to tell me of my error, my condemnation, and never speak to me again if I didn’t join his group. To this day, I wonder how many individuals he had to have that conversation with to appease his religious leaders. Poor guy. What a burden that must have been for him.

In the quiet this morning, I guess my rabbit trail has led me to remember that Jesus’ specifically said that He came to give me rest, not more burden. “My way is easy,” He said, “and my burden is light.” He said that there were only two rules for His followers and that if I apply my heart and soul to follow those two rules then everything else would fall into place.

Jesus’ rant against His religious enemies is only sealing His fate, and He knows it. They won’t stand for dissension. They must cling to their power and authority at all costs. That’s the way the system works. They now bear the burden of conspiring to commit murder to preserve that system.

Jesus will bear the burden of my sin when they execute Him…

…that through the power of His resurrection I might “take the load off.”

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

Chapter-a-Day

Jesus vs. the System

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Jesus vs. the System (CaD Matt 21) – Wayfarer

The blind and the lame came to [Jesus] at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
Matthew 21:14-15 (NIV)

I remember once, as a young believer, my friends and I decided that we wanted to organize a weekend event in our church. We wanted to bring in a guest teacher we knew, have evening services each weekend night with some music and we’d invite anyone who wanted to come. We agreed to plan the whole thing, host the event, line up volunteers, and raise the funds necessary. We were so excited to do this thing.

Our plan came to a screeching halt when we were told that our plan had been swiftly and summarily rejected by our pastor and the Director of Christian Education. They would not give their stamp of approval because our guest speaker was not in our denominational silo. We were heartbroken, but it was a good lesson for me in learning how the world works, even in religious institutions.

A few weeks ago I gave a message among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. In the message, I contrasted the major tenets of fundamentalism which are clearly seen in the words and actions of the religious leaders, teachers of the law, and Pharisees who oppose Jesus, with what Jesus was teaching and exemplifying in His ministry. Fundamentalism is not just about religion. You can find the basic tenets of fundamentalism in almost any human system including families, businesses, schools, and political groups.

In today’s chapter, Jesus enters Jerusalem and the Temple to celebrate Passover. Thousands and thousands of pilgrims were there from all over. In yesterday’s chapter, Jesus clearly stated what would happen to Him in this week:

“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Jesus has never been popular with the religious leaders, but He’s spent almost all of His ministry traveling around rural, backwater regions. Now Jesus is at the center of religious, political, and commercial power. The religious leaders Jesus has encountered up to this point were local minions and middle-management. The Temple in Jerusalem was the religious C-Suite. Jesus is walking into the seat of religious power, and the first thing He does is to piss them off by causing a riot in the Temple’s lucrative money-changing operation. If you want to make racketeers angry, threaten their cash flow.

Jesus is dealing with a fundamentalist religious system. Like all fundamentalist systems, these religious leaders have an unwavering attachment to the irreducible belief that they are God’s appointed rulers of God’s chosen people, and they have absolute, unquestionable authority over everyone and everything in their religion. So, on the heels of this act of “domestic terrorism” Jesus perpetrated against the Temple, the religious power brokers go to find Jesus who has giant crowds surrounding Him as He teaches in the Temple courts. They watch Jesus healing people. Blind people can see. Lame people walk. Deaf people hear. The crowd is going nuts.

Then the religious power brokers hear children shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” This was the chant the people were shouting when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey. At this, the religious power brokers “were indignant.”

As good religious fundamentalists, these dudes applied strict literalism to their religious dogmas and beliefs. They were more important than anything else, and the cheer “Hosanna (a form of the word “save”) to the Son of David (a moniker for the coming Messiah)” was strictly and systemically inappropriate. Only they had the power and authority to say who the Messiah was. The Messiah could only be the Messiah with their authoritative stamp of approval. Children shouting that Jesus was the Messiah threatened the entire fundamentalist system and their authoritative control.

In the quiet this morning, I just sat in the reality of that moment for a while. People are being healed. Jesus is revealing divine power no one had ever seen on Earth right in front of them. There is joy, tears of happiness, and the lives of countless individuals and families being forever changed for the good. While the religious leaders are indignant that children are shouting Jesus’ praise.

That is classic fundamentalism. “If it doesn’t exist within our established authoritative system and according to our strict, literal dogmas then it must be rejected, tossed out, and crushed as a threat.”

This brings me back to my and my friends’ hearts being crushed when the religious institution rejected and tossed out our desire to bring in a speaker for a weekend of meetings. As much as I wanted to fight the system, I learned at that moment that it was better to walk away. A fundamentalist system will go to any length necessary to protect the system. They’ll even conspire with political enemies to commit murder. Which is just what they are going to do to Jesus, and He knows it.

FWIW: Here’s the message I gave contrasting the tenets of the fundamentalist religious system of Jesus’ day with what Jesus was teaching and doing.

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

Chapter-a-Day

The Sticky Wicket

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The Sticky Wicket (CaD Matt 19) – Wayfarer

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
Matthew 19:3 (NIV)

I married as a young man with every intention of never divorcing. I was blessed growing up that I didn’t experience it in my own family. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have feelings of shame and failure when it actually happened seventeen years later.

Divorce is a sticky wicket among many Christian persuasions. Among some more Fundamentalist branches divorce is leveraged as a major litmus test to distinguish the pure and the unpure, who is “in” and who is “out,” who is “holy” and who is not. When my first wife and I were amidst our divorce I received a handwritten letter of some 8-10 pages from a “friend” who felt it important to explain to me why I was going to hell in no uncertain terms and would be forever sealed with the scarlet letter “D” for the rest of my days. According to him, divorce was an unpardonable sin. There was no grace, no redemption, and no going back. What was really interesting about it, however, was that this friend’s wife had left him many years before that, divorced him, and got remarried though he steadfastly refused to acknowledge that they were, in fact, divorced. He continued to wear his wedding ring and live in denial.

Divorce brings out all sorts of emotions in all sorts of people.

In today’s chapter, the fundamentalist religious leaders approach Jesus with the motivation of testing Him. If you want to “test” someone, just ask the person to take a stand on a controversial issue knowing that you’ll make at least half your audience angry. Politicians and journalists do it all the time. It’s a tactic from a well-worn playbook.

The test for Jesus was the sticky wicket of divorce, though modern readers may not comprehend the full context of the matter in Jesus’ day. Among the Hebrew religious lawyers at that time, there were two schools of thought when interpreting the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 in which a man who “finds something displeasing” about his wife “because he finds something indecent about her” then he can write a certificate of divorce and send her from his house. One legal camp focused on the term “finds something displeasing” and contended that any man could divorce his wife for any displeasure no matter how small or trivial. He might simply divorce her for burning his steak. The other legal camp focused on the phrase “because he finds something indecent about her” and believed that divorce was confined to some kind of indecent sexual immorality.

In Jesus’ day, divorce was a much larger social issue. Women had no rights. Women had no legal standing. Women had virtually no means or opportunity to survive and provide for themselves. Thus, a widow or a divorced woman was placed in the precarious position of having very few options available to them. They could find another husband (good luck finding a husband with that scarlet “D” on your tunic), they could live off the charity of family or friends, or they could become sex workers. A man who dismissed his wife was not only placing her in an impossible position but was also adding to a larger social problem for which there were few good answers.

Jesus, of course, pointed back to the pattern of creation as God’s intent: one man and one woman who become one flesh for life. I find it intriguing that polygamy was not a heated religious issue given this fact and its prevalence throughout history.

In the quiet this morning, I guess you could say that I’m wrestling with my demons. Shame is a constant for me. Jesus certainly pointed to the ideal as God’s desire for us, though my experience is that the ideal is rarely seen or experienced on this life journey in any context. In this fallen world, divorce is a human reality as old as humanity itself. It will never be ideal. At the same time, my personal experience is that God was never absent during the breakdown of my marriage or during the time of my divorce. And, my experience through it all was ultimately that of God’s love, grace, restoration, redemption, and the germination of new life in multiple ways. Old things passed away, and new things began.

There are so many sins and mistakes that wreak havoc on lives, families, and, society. Divorce is one of them, but certainly not the only one. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my 40 years of following Jesus, it’s that the very heart of His entire mission was to take broken things and to redeem them, to make them new. Wendy and I have seen this and experienced it in countless ways, despite the pit to hell that my “friend” dug for me in his letter all those years ago. I can’t help but remember the words of Corrie ten Boom: “This is no pit so deep that God’s grace isn’t deeper still.”

Note: I will be taking a break next week while I’m out on a business trip and focusing on my client. Feel free to use the Chapter-a-Day Index to go back and read some old posts. You can also scroll back through old episodes on any of the podcast platforms. Have a great week!

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