Tag Archives: Religion

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

Jews and Romans

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Jews and Romans (CaD Acts 13) – Wayfarer

But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
Acts 13:50 (NIV)

I once spent three years living in a small town of just over 300 people. It was a great experience, and it inspired a play I wrote many years later called Ham Buns and Potato Salad. One of the things I learned living in such a small town was how the community operates, unofficially. Sure, there was an official mayor and city council, but that doesn’t mean they actually ran things. There were individuals who held sway behind the scenes if they felt strongly enough about a matter. It’s the way the world works.

In today’s chapter, Luke records the events of the first missionary journey taken by Saul and Barnabas. Luke has just spent the previous few chapters explaining how the Holy Spirit led the Jewish leaders of the Jesus Movement to understand that Jesus’ Message was for all people, both Jews and non-Jews (Gentiles). Today’s chapter provides a great example of how Saul and Barnabas operated in taking Jesus’ Message to places that had never heard that message.

The first stop they made upon entering a town was the local Jewish synagogue. Saul and Barnabas started with the Jewish locals. Luke records the message Saul gave in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch proclaiming Jesus was the resurrected Messiah. This created quite a stir and people crowded to hear more, but it angered the local Jewish leaders, so they “incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.”

The Jewish leaders knew the individuals in their community who held sway. Paul and Barnabas quickly went from being popular visitors to having the welcome mat yanked out from underneath them. Their response to this persecution was right out of Jesus’ playbook. They shook the dust off their feet and switched focus from the Jews to Gentiles in the area.

One of the Gentiles who became converts on this journey was a man named Sergius Paulus. He was the Roman proconsul on the island of Cyprus. He was a documented historical figure. To have a Roman official of such a high level become a believer would have been a huge deal. He wasn’t big fish in a small pond like the “women of high standing” in Pisidian Antioch. He was a big fish in a big pond. Sergius Paulus was a powerful man within the Roman Empire. As a believer, he could influence all sorts of people throughout the Empire itself. Some have argued that it was this high-profile conversion that led to Saul taking on the name Paul. He’s first called Paul in today’s chapter and will be referred to as Paul by Luke from this point on.

In the quiet this morning, I meditated on the contrasting experiences that Paul and Barnabas had with the small-town power brokers of Pisidian Antioch and the Roman Governor of Cyprus. It’s the beginning of a major shift in the Jesus Movement. It will not be long before the burgeoning number of non-Jewish Greek and Roman believers outnumber the original core of Jewish believers in the leadership of the Movement. There’s a storm on the horizon.

As a disciple of Jesus, I’ve had to understand that things change and the spiritual journey is one of constantly managing those changes. I’ve observed that organized religion, on the other hand, loves tradition and will often shun change at all costs to avoid the discomfort of change. I find this to be a tragic mistake, and one I want to avoid for the rest of my earthly journey.

Featured image is Sergius Paulus by Raphael

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

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Empire v. Kingdom

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Empire v. Kingdom (CaD Jhn 18) – Wayfarer

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
John 18:36

Along my life journey, I’ve personally observed corruption at different times and in different venues of various organizations. When money, power, and status are added to the mix of any human system, humans act to control and wield that money, power, and status. It’s easy to quickly think of government and business as cradles of corruption, but it happens all the time in religious systems, as well.

As John recounts the story of Jesus’ arrest and trials, he carefully sets up some of the interesting contrasts. First, there is the plot line of Peter, whom Jesus prophesied would deny he knew Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. At the arrest, John mentions Jesus’ stating “I am He” three times, then recounts Peter’s three denials, two of which are direct opposites of Jesus’ admission as Peter says, “I am not.” John is also careful to state that Peter drew a sword to protect Jesus and even cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Jesus then states to Pilate that if His kingdom were of this world “my servants would fight to prevent my arrest.” However, Peter did just that. I find Jesus making two points in his statement to the Roman Governor:

First, Peter still does not understand that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. Coupled with Peter’s denials, Peter has dug a pretty deep hole for himself. Jesus is also making the point that He has freely and willingly submitted to a set of trials that are both illegal and illicit. He has submitted precisely because His kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world, especially the human empires that are currently judging Him.

The religious ruling council is one of those kingdoms. They wield power and control over the people of their nation. Through the temple’s sacrificial and financial systems, they generate tremendous wealth, and they enjoy the status of being on the highest rungs of status on their socio-economic ladder. Back in chapter 11, John quotes the high priest regarding their desire to get rid of Jesus: “If we let [Jesus] go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away our temple and our nation.” The high priest and his cronies didn’t care about Jesus’ teaching or miracles. They cared about their hold on status, power, and money.

This brings us to the Roman Empire, arguably the greatest and longest-lasting human empire in history. They were an occupying force and ultimately held sway. In order to execute Jesus, the religious council needed the Roman Governor to make it happen.

Corrupt human empire vs. the eternal Kingdom of God.

What a contrast.

And in the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that all along this is what Jesus has been teaching and exemplifying to His disciples and followers. At some level, we have all observed and/or experienced corruption, scandal, power games, and the game of thrones. When Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” I believe He was praying for me and every other believer to live our lives as Kingdom people in a world of human empires both small and large.

Like Peter, I don’t think I truly got this for many years. The further I get on this earthly journey, the more I see it and understand it. Like Peter, I’ve made my own mistakes and have failed miserably as a disciple. But, Peter’s journey isn’t over in John’s account, and neither is my earthly journey. I woke up this morning, so I at least have this day to live like a citizen of God’s Kingdom in a world of human empires. The Serenity Prayer is rising in my spirit as I write this:

God, grant me
the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Amen.

I’m back on Facebook for those who liked to read my chapter-a-day posts there! Facebook refuses to give me access to my old, hacked account, but I have started a new account. Please feel free to search for me on Facebook and friend me. If Facebook won’t let you friend me, please go to my Facebook profile and “Message” me on Facebook Messenger, which should then allow me to friend you. Cheers! -Tom

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

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Showdown

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Showdown (CaD Jhn 8) – Wayfarer

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
John 8:44 (NIV)

A few weeks ago I watched an HBO Documentary entitled Let Us Prey. It tells the stories of three women who grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist denomination and were sexually abused by men in authority within the church. Echoing the same scandal within the Roman Catholic church, the church hushed up, shuffled perpetrators to other locations, and stonewalled attempts to hold those involved criminally responsible. It is difficult to watch.

Along my spiritual journey, I have observed that any human religious institution can become a perpetrator of evil.

This is precisely the heart of today’s chapter. John established from the beginning of his account that there was a conflict between Jesus and the institutional leaders of the Jewish religious council. Today’s chapter is set in the council’s backyard, the Temple courts at the Feast of Tabernacles. Today’s chapter is a continuation of the previous chapter. The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders comes to a head and becomes a public showdown.

At the center of Jesus’ argument is truth and lies. While I mentioned it in yesterday’s chapter, it is in the showdown with the religious leaders that Jesus famously says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus then contrasts the truth and freedom He offers with the actions and motivations of the religious leaders. The religious leaders are trying to have Jesus killed, they are trying to hold on to their earthly power and the wealth, status, and control it affords them. Jesus then points to the evil one and makes a case that it is the evil one that the religious leaders are following.

Across the Great Story, the evil one is always anti-God. God is for life so the evil one rejoices in death. God is for truth so the evil one uses lies and deceptions. In Jesus, God shows that His way is one of love, truth, humility, selflessness, service, and sacrifice. As the “Prince of this world” the evil one and the kingdoms of this world are about hatred, lies, pride, selfishness, power, and control. Jesus simply points out that the religious council needs only to see their own actions and attitudes toward Him to see who they are really following.

As a disciple of Jesus, I can’t help but think about current events through the lens of Jesus’ own words, teachings, and example. I find it fascinating the extent to which truth is ignored today to perpetuate false realities. Women, with whom God said there would be special enmity from the evil one, are once again being subjugated. This time it is from those who are biological males simply claiming to be women. From a spiritual perspective, I observe this to be simply a new form of the same old misogyny that the evil one has perpetuated from the beginning.

Of course, I can’t point the finger without three fingers pointing back at me. In the quiet this morning, I am equally reminded by Jesus’ showdown with the religious leaders of His people that any religious system can be corrupted, even the ones with which I am involved. This reminds me of Jesus’ admonition to His followers: “Be as shrewd as serpents and as gentle as doves.” This is not only true as I walk in this world but also in the human institutions that wear the label of my own faith.

I’m back on Facebook for those who liked to read my chapter-a-day posts there! Facebook refuses to give me access to my old, hacked account, but I have started a new account. Please search for me on Facebook and friend me. If Facebook won’t let you friend me, please go to my Facebook profile and “Message” me, which should then allow me to friend you. Cheers! -Tom

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

Chapter-a-Day

Division

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Division (CaD Jhn7) – Wayfarer

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.
John 7:43 (NIV)

Here in America, the news is filled with talk about the deep political divisions that seem to have only widened in the past decade. Both sides of the political aisle have their version of extremists to which the other side can point and stoke up fear and loathing that politicians have proven motivates crowds to action like nothing else. Both sides ignore the worst and most obvious flaws in their own presumed candidates while believing the worst accusations and exaggerations of the candidate on the opposite side. Meanwhile, the media giants (who are equally divided among political lines) in their insatiable need for clicks, likes, shares, and revenue relentlessly exploit the worst of the opposition while ignoring the glaring newsworthy problems on their own preferred side of the political narrative. It’s not a great situation.

This came to mind in the quiet this morning simply because in today’s chapter John focuses on how incredibly divisive Jesus was at the peak of His public ministry. The scene is an annual seven-day Jewish harvest festival called the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. Jewish pilgrims from all over flocked to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest at the Temple.

John begins by simply stating the fact that the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem were looking for a way to kill Jesus. Obviously, tensions are high. John spends the rest of the chapter focusing on three distinct groups of people and their opinions about Jesus.

First, there is Jesus’ own younger brothers. The younger sibs are currently of the opinion that their eldest sibling is whacked. They (and presumably the rest of the family) are headed to Jerusalem for the feast. When Jesus begs off, they sarcastically tease him in true sibling fashion that if He wants to stay at the top of the #trending charts He shouldn’t pass up going to the feast where He can have maximum public exposure.

The “crowds” of everyday people on pilgrimage are the second group John mentions. The Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem are the third. The distinction between these groups falls along eerily familiar socio-political lines. The Jewish religious leaders are the educated, wealthy “elites” who view the crowd of pilgrims as uneducated deplorables from fly-over country.

John reveals that among both of these groups, there was tremendous division over who Jesus was. Some believed that Jesus was the Messiah, a prophet, or at least a good man and teacher. Others saw Jesus as a deceiver or an agent of the devil. Among the elite religious leaders, the die has already been cast and they secretly have put a price on Jesus’ head. They are even spinning the narrative that Jesus can’t be a prophet or the Messiah because He comes from Galilee and “no prophet comes from Galilee.” Their spin was absolutely wrong. Jonah came from Galilee, and God can raise up a prophet from wherever He chooses. But the elite are used to being able to say whatever they want and the system will obediently line up behind them. John is careful to note, however, that Nicodemus (who made a clandestine visit to Jesus back in chapter 3) was willing to call his colleagues on their own self-deception. There was at least some quiet opposition among them.

The entire book of John is about John presenting his primary source account of Jesus to readers. At the time of his writing, the question about who Jesus was was no less divisive, perhaps only more so. John clearly embraces this fact, acknowledging that those reading his account could be anywhere on the spectrum between believer and antagonistic rejector. His job, which he states up front in the prologue, is to share what he saw, heard, and experienced being one of Jesus’ most intimate followers. John is silently begging the question: “Who do you believe Jesus is?”

So in the quiet this morning, I can’t help but ponder this question anew. Jesus famously shared that “the truth will set you free,” but He equally shared that the truth will also sharply divide. Today’s chapter is John’s testimony as to the latter. As a disciple of Jesus, among the exhibits of this divide is the reality that Jesus’ famous quote “the truth will set you free” has a caveat that literally no one includes with the famous quote:

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (emphasis added)

My observation is that everyone wants “truth” and its promised “freedom” without Jesus, His teaching, or the need to hold to that teaching. As a disciple of Jesus, I can’t expect the latter without submitting to the former.

So, once again I enter another day on the journey endeavoring to hold to Jesus’ teaching, believing that He is who He said He was, and trusting that I will continue to find both truth and freedom as I make the trek.

I’m back on Facebook for those who liked to read my chapter-a-day posts there! Facebook refuses to give me access to my old, hacked account, but I have started a new account. Please search for me on Facebook and friend me. If Facebook won’t let you friend me, please go to my Facebook profile and “Message” me, which should then allow me to friend you. Cheers! -Tom

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

Lost

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Lost (CaD Lk 15) – Wayfarer

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke 15:2 (NIV)

I woke up on Christmas morning before the rest of the household. Historically, this is a usual daily occurrence. As I mentioned in my last post, however, our kids and grandkids moved back from Scotland and in with us for the foreseeable future. They are still trying to adjust their biological clocks to Central Daylight Time. So, after a week of waking to grandkids fully awake and ready to party, a little quiet before the Christmas chaos was a welcome treat.

I unexpectedly found myself reading an article by a gentleman named Paul Kingsnorth published in The Free Press. An Irishman, Kingsnorth tells his story of growing up an avowed atheist and environmentalist whose path led him to Buddhism before becoming immersed in a Wiccan coven. Eventually, Kingsnorth found himself in the last place he ever thought he’d be: following Jesus in an Orthodox tradition. From the editor’s introduction:

“Here is how Paul describes himself: ‘I am an animist in an age of machines; a poet-of-sorts in a dictatorship of merchants; a believer in a culture of cynics. Either I’m mad, or the world is.’ He continues: ‘My most strongly-held belief is this: that our modern crisis is not economic, political, scientific or technological, and that no ‘answers’ to it will be found in those spheres. I believe that we are living through a deep spiritual crisis; perhaps even a spiritual war. My interest these days is what this means.’”

Kingsnorth’s story was an unexpected and meaningful start to my Christmas Day. This morning, I returned to the quiet (Keep sleeping, kiddos!) and today’s chapter. Dr. Luke begins by describing how Jesus made it a regular habit to hang out with “tax collectors and sinners.” He regularly accepted invitations to dine with wealthy tax collectors. I can’t help but think Matthew was well-networked in that particular community and helped make the introductions. This earned Jesus the judgemental critique of the good religious who self-righteously treated these “sinners” as social lepers who might sully their well-manicured and whitewashed religious facades.

Luke then records Jesus telling a trifecta of parables. The parables tell of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The common theme of these three parables reveals the heart of God contrasted against the attitudes of the institutions of religion represented by Jesus’ most vehement critics. Christianity is routinely criticized, satirized, and dismissed for its judgemental, often hypocritical, condemnation of both sin and sinners. In many cases, I find it well deserved.

All the way back at the beginning of the Great Story, God creates the universe and everything in it. He looks at His creation and calls it “good.” Then God caps creation off with his most beloved and intimately crafted work, Adam and Eve. He looks at His creation including humanity and calls it “very good.”

Both Jesus’ words and actions reveal the heart of the Creator. The tax collectors and sinners He dined with were the very work of His hands, beautifully and wonderfully crafted. Jesus looks at the sinners, prostitutes, and greedy tax collectors sitting around the table with Him and His heart finds that His most beloved and intimately crafted works are spiritually lost.

As Jesus tells his trinity of lost parables, He repeatedly says that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one “lost” person who is “found” than in a whole church full of faithful followers who are already in the fold.

In the quiet, my mind wanders back to Paul Kingsnorth’s story. I wander back to my own story. One of the things you’ll commonly hear in the stories of those who find Jesus is that we know it was Jesus who found us. It was Jesus who sought and doggedly pursued our lost souls.

As a disciple of Jesus, I find in His stories and actions the example He wants me to follow. It lies at the foundation of Jesus’ teaching about loving my enemies and blessing those who hate me. If they are simply condemned sinners going to hell then I will find in them what I believe to be an exemption to Jesus’ command. I will believe that I have found a loophole in Jesus’ law of love. If, however, I see those condemned sinners as Jesus sees them, as His own lost creations whom He lovingly and intimately crafted, then I will see them, think of them, speak to them, and treat them differently. I must see them as my Master sees them. I must see them as I see my former self…

“I once was lost, but now I’m found,
was blind, but now I see.”

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

Chapter-a-Day

Walking the Talk

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Walking the Talk (CaD Lk 13) – Wayfarer

“In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”
Luke 13:33 (NIV)

I’m excited this Christmas to see the movie Freud’s Last Session with Anthony Hopkins. It’s an adaptation of an amazing little one-act play that imagines a conversation between a dying Sigmund Freud and a young Oxford professor named C.S. Lewis in 1939 London. Sadly, my friend Kevin and I were preparing to produce the show in conjunction with a college theatre department a few years ago until an individual got us cancelled. It remains a huge disappointment we never got to do the show.

There are several scripts and books that have been written over the years imagining conversations between different historical figures or imagined events around historical characters. I’ve always found the genre fascinating. When I was just a kid, the youth of our local church performed a play in which Pontius Pilate is placed on trial for Jesus’ murder. Members of the audience acted as the jury. If I remember correctly, my father was the Jury foreman. They acquitted Pilate.

Sadly, the death of Jesus was historically used as a reason for antisemitism. In our current wave of public and institutional antisemitism, I feel it important to acknowledge this sad historical fact. It is rooted in the Roman Emporer Constantine’s decision to make Christianity the official religion of Rome in the early fourth century. It was one of many bad things that happened after the organic Jesus Movement became the Holy Roman Empire. Constantine planted the seeds of antisemitism that would lead to centuries of Jewish persecution by the institutional church.

As I have studied the final days of Jesus for many years, I’ve concluded that the death of Jesus was the result of a perfect storm of antagonist power brokers representing the earthly kingdoms of politics, commerce, and religion. (A few years ago I presented my review of Jesus’ arrest and trials in a Good Friday message, FWIW)

A few chapters ago, Luke records that Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Jesus has been traveling toward Jerusalem and is getting close to His destination. In today’s chapter, Luke foreshadows the three key players who will have Jesus crucified.

It begins in the first verse of today’s chapter as Jesus hears news of the Roman governor’s cruelty. Pontius Pilate represents the Empire, and in the political powder keg of Jerusalem, Pilate is not afraid to use force and violence to quell issues. There was a group of people from Galilee who ended up creating trouble. Their offense is not known, but Pilate had them slaughtered and their blood was mixed with their sacrifices. It was a highly blasphemous act of imperial power, intended to send a message to the many zealots who sought to defy Rome.

The next episode Luke records is the religious leaders who continue to antagonize and oppose Jesus. He heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath day of rest, and the religious leaders call Him out for it. Jesus turns the tables on them and Luke records that Jesus’ “opponents were humiliated.” As Jesus continues to humiliate and threaten the power and wealth of the religious establishment, those religious leaders with the most to lose are motivated to have Jesus eliminated.

But Luke also records that “the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.” Even some of the religious establishment became fans and followers, and Jesus was drawing crowds that numbered in the thousands. The crowds alone were a threat.

At the end of Today’s chapter, Luke mentions the third piece of the unholy trinity of power brokers who will have Jesus’ killed. Some Pharisees who were fans and followers of Jesus told Him to change course and avoid Jerusalem because Herod had already put a price on Jesus’ head. Herod was the regional ruler who had John the Baptist murdered because John had antagonized Herod and turned the crowds against him. Herod had heard the rumors that Jesus might just be John the Baptist risen from the dead. Herod had learned from his father, Herod the Great, that remaining in power means the swift and violent elimination of potential threats, like having all the baby boys two years or younger slaughtered because of rumors the messiah had been born in Bethlehem.

Jesus, however, remains “resolute” in His trek to Jerusalem. He has no illusions about what is going to happen. In fact, everything that He does and says in public only pushes the hands of these political, religious, and commercial power brokers. Jesus states that He must press on to Jerusalem “for surely no prophet can die outside of Jerusalem.”

Jesus knows He is going to Jerusalem to be killed.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about my post yesterday in which Jesus implores me and all of His followers to approach our earthly realities in context to the larger eternal realities of God’s Kingdom. Jesus is walking the talk.

How can I follow in His footsteps today?

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