Tag Archives: Religion

Chapter-a-Day

What They Fear the Most

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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)

Over the years, as Wendy and I scan current events in the morning—and as I continue my lifelong study of history—I’ve noticed patterns.

Kingdoms of this world—especially dictatorships, tyrannies, and tightly controlled religious systems—tend to operate the same way:

Power concentrated in the hands of a few
Control over nearly every aspect of life
Rules for the masses
Severe consequences for questioning authority

And beneath it all…

Fear.

The thing these systems fear most is the people.

Rebellion.
Uprising.
Revolution.

Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem. It is the final week of His earthly life.

This is a showdown.

God’s Son steps into the epicenter of power to confront the kingdoms of this world—

Human empire.
Human religion.
Human pride.

If you read this chapter closely, it’s dripping with the tension of a political thriller:

Corrupt system.
A lone truth-teller.
Traps. Spies. Hidden agendas.
The pressure building.

As the chapter opens, the chief priests, elders, and their legal experts approach Jesus.

This is a show of force.

These are the elites who run the Temple… the religion… the system.

And Jesus?

He’s a problem.

He speaks with authority—but not theirs.
He operates outside their control.
And the people love Him… a little too much.

That’s dangerous.

Because the thing these systems fear most… is the people.

So they ask the question that always protects power:

“By whose authority are you doing these things?”

They are the authority.

And in their world, authority is never questioned.

Over time, what began as something established by God has been twisted by sin and pride into just another human system—one clinging tightly to control.

And now Jesus stands in their midst… a threat they cannot control.

Jesus responds with brilliance.

He brings up John the Baptist.

Another maverick.
Another prophet the people loved.
Another voice who challenged their corruption.

So Jesus asks:

Was John’s authority from God… or from man?

If they say “from God”—they condemn themselves for rejecting him.

If they say “from man”—they risk the people’s anger.

They are trapped.

Rock? Meet Hard Place.

So they refuse to answer.
And Jesus, in turn, refuses to answer them directly.

Instead, He tells a story.

A vineyard owner (God).
Tenant farmers (the religious leaders).
Servants sent to collect what is due (the prophets).
Beaten. Rejected. Killed.
Finally, the owner sends his son.
They kill him too.
Because if the son is gone… they believe the vineyard will finally be theirs.

And just like that, Jesus names the reality standing right in front of them.

This isn’t just a disagreement.

It’s a collision between kingdoms.

The rest of the chapter unfolds more of the same:

Spies planted.
Traps laid.
Political factions taking their turn.
Loaded questions meant to entangle.

But beneath it all is an ancient root:

The pride of life.
The human desire to control.
To define truth.
To hold authority.
To be… God.

The same whisper from the Garden still echoes here.

And maybe more uncomfortably…

It still echoes now.
These kingdoms are still clashing if I have the eyes to see it.

In the quiet this morning, I sense the Holy Spirit whispering a simple reminder into my soul.

In a few minutes, Wendy and I will sit down together and scroll through the day’s headlines.

Wars and rumors of war.
Cultural tensions.
Political division.
Religious infighting.
Economic anxiety.
Voices shouting.
People grasping.
Systems straining to hold control.

If I look at the world through a worldly lens…

I will have worldly reactions.
I will think worldly thoughts.
I will feel anger, fear, anxiety.

And that’s perfectly natural—

if this world is all I see.

But if I look through the lens Jesus offers…

Everything changes.

I begin to recognize these systems for what they are.
Temporary. Fragile. Grasping for control.

And I remember who I am.

An ambassador of a different Kingdom.
Living in contested territory.
Trusting eternal promises over temporary fears.

Called—not to react—but to respond.

With love.
With clarity.
With courage.

Now if you’ll excuse me…

I have a breakfast date with Wendy—

to read the news…

through a Kingdom lens.

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

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

The Question Beneath the Ash

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But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)

Most people know that Vincent Van Gogh had his own share of mental struggles. What many don’t know is that Van Gogh began as a preacher. Convinced that he was to spend his life in vocational ministry, the young dutchman spent time serving among a desperately poor population of miners as a missionary evangelist.

Van Gogh took Jesus’ teaching seriously.

Jesus told the rich, young ruler, “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor.”

Vincent took Jesus’ words at face value.

He gave away his clothes.
He slept on straw.
He lived in the same conditions as the miners.
He gave his food and income to those poorer than himself.

He didn’t just “minister to” the poor.
He became one of them.

Van Gogh embraced the kind of radical, living incarnation of God’s Message that history records in the lives of the ancient prophets, the desert fathers, and saints like Francis of Assisi.

Van Gogh’s superiors were embarrassed. They didn’t want a modern day prophet who gave away his shoes to the poor and walked barefoot (like Isaiah). As good Dutch Reformers, they valued dignity and respectability. Van Gogh chose identity with those to whom he ministered. In Vincent’s mind, he was walking in Jesus’ footsteps, who left the comforts of heaven to become poor and live among us.

So the church leaders rejected Vincent as unfit for ministry.

God had other plans for Vincent. He would preach with a paintbrush.

Peter would have recognized the tension immediately.

In today’s chapter, he does not mince words as he addresses the problem of false teachers. He is not subtle. He points out that false teachers have always been present throughout history and the Great Story. He points out the consistent thread of their heresy:

Moral compromise
Institutional greed
Cultural accommodation

They deny the Master, exploit others, and are driven by their personal indulgences of appetite. A veneer of godliness cloaks their greed. They observe the sacraments even as they feast on sensuality. They don’t worry about truth, preferring to embrace beliefs that justifies their self-centered desires, even if they have to make a few things up along the way. They appear to embrace God, but they are simply leveraging religion to feed personal extravagance and fleshly pursuits.

Peter quotes an ancient proverb about washing a pig only to watch it return to wallowing in the mud.

God’s word has not penetrated. Jesus’ teaching has not transformed. The fruit of God’s Spirit is not increasing in “greater measure” which Peter described as evidence of “participating in the divine nature” in yesterday’s chapter.

Jesus came to teach a righteousness that comes from simplicity, surrendering, and sacrificial love.

False teachers use religion to self-righteously feed the appetites of self at the expense of others.

In the quiet this morning, my mind wanders back to poor Vincent rattling the sensibilities of his institutional religious superiors. They didn’t know what to do with one who embraced simplicity, surrender, and sacrificial love to excess, and found divine beauty in earthly poverty.

False teachers exploit the poor.
Van Gogh emptied himself among them.

False leaders use position to elevate themselves.
Vincent stripped himself of position.

I think Peter would have preferred Vincent to those who use religion to line their pockets, who wash their guilt in the baptismal fountain only to return to wallowing in the mud, and who partake of the Communion cup even as they intoxicate themselves on self-indulgence.

The question for me in the quiet this morning — is this:

Am I using faith to climb?
Or am I letting it keep me on my knees?

Along my spiritual journey, Jesus has continuously asked me to set fire to my personal ladders.

Thus, I find that question an apt one to ponder on this Ash Wednesday as I begin my annual 40-day pilgrimage to the Cross.

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

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Controlled Burns

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If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 22:22 (NIV)

It’s a chilly winter morning in Iowa. The rolling fields lie barren — a mosaic of brown and gray, flecked with snow like the scattered brushstrokes of an Impressionist. When spring and summer return, new life will repaint the land in vivid color.

This past year I had the joy of accompanying a friend on a plane ride. It’s a beautiful way to gain a gorgeous perspective on the patchwork quilt that is the Iowa landscape from above. As we soared around the state I was struck by pillars of black smoke that rose from the green fields like little black threads emerging from the quilt.

Controlled burns.

Controlled burns are a part of the stewardship and management of the land. It’s not scorched earth. It’s agricultural surgery — burning away what would otherwise become terminal. It ensures that healthy new life can emerge and flourish from the land.

There is a repeated phrase God through Moses uses to address His Hebrew children as they prepare to enter the Promised Land:

“Purge the evil from among you.”

It clanks on the table every time God drops it into the text. It’s like cold iron. It sometimes feels like shackles of condemnation that don’t fit with the God who loosened the shackles of slavery and is all about freedom and life. I’ve been on this trek through the Great Story long enough to know that when the text chafes, it’s often not the original message, but the English translation. So, I went down the rabbit hole this morning to study the original Hebrew.

What I discovered is that what sounds like a scorched earth of condemnation in the English language is really God’s design for controlled burns that stem chaos and perpetuate Life.

The word for purge is actually more of an agricultural word used for burning chaff, removing what chokes growth, and clearing that which corrupts the whole.

The word for evil is not what is easily interpreted as “badness” (echoes of Santa’s naughty list) but in Hebrew is about that which breaks “shalom” within the whole. Less personal “naughty acts” (think a cancer cell) and more “that which leads to corruption” (think Stage 4 cancer spread).

The word for among you is equally as telling. It’s intimately internal. It’s womb-space where Life emerges. God is calling His people not to “destroy what’s out there” but to “address what’s inside me – that which will destroy from the inside out.”

  • Purge → controlled removal
  • Evil → that which fractures shalom
  • Among you → the inner, generative space

If I read today’s entire chapter through the lens of considering those attitudes and actions within me that can have devastating ripple effects in the lives around me and spread to the larger community, I begin to see it in a while new light.

I couldn’t help but notice that this phrase was directly linked to the sin of adultery. Both the man and the woman caught in the act of adultery were to be held accountable. Adultery tears at the fabric of relationships and trust. It tears souls apart. It tears lives and families apart. It consumes shalom in the backdraft of its blaze of unrestrained passion.

This thought immediately transported me to John 8. In front of Jesus is a naked, crying, humiliated woman. She was dragged from her adulterous bed by an angry mob and dragged before the Son of God. The mob of angry, self-righteous religious men have rocks in hand ready to carry out Deuteronomy 22:22 to the black-and-white letter of the law. They are ready to purge the evil of this wicked woman from among them.

But, where is the man who was in the adulterous bed with her?

The law demanded accountability from both. The mob delivered shame to one.

Jesus was facing what corrupted humanity does with God’s design. It rigs the system. The powerful get a pass. The despised are be self-righteously condemned and rejected. Hatred, prejudice, and injustice, masquerading as religion, flourish and cauterize the souls of those building their personal spiritual empires in God’s name. The men were following the letter of the God’s Law that served their self-righteous interests, but they completely ignored the heart of God’s Law with their actions. In so doing, they ensured the perpetual slow death of shalom among them.

This same religious mob would soon repeat the pattern. They will self-righteously proclaim to be keeping God’s Law as they ignore the very heart of it as they condemn the Son of God to die on a cross.

In the quiet this morning, God’s Spirit whispers for me to consider the direction of my gaze. Today’s chapter is not calling me to gaze “out there” for the evil around me to condemn and burn in my own version of a scorched earth inquisition. God in today’s chapter is calling me to gaze inside my inner place, into the very womb of my soul from which God wants to perpetuate radiating, freedom-producing, shalom-filled Life.

What spiritual cancer cells threaten to infect my soul?

Anger?
Hatred?
Selfishness?
Indifference?
Bitterness?
Scarcity?

It starts with me. If I want new Life to flourish in and around me like the gorgeous ocean of bumper crops in a late Iowa summer, then I have to consider the controlled burns required. I have to address that which threatens shalom in my own field; Those unhealthy attitudes and motives which, unaddressed, radiate out into my thoughts, words, and actions to infect my relationships and all of my circles of influence.

As I lace ‘em up for this another day on this earthly journey, I’m not so much thinking about what’s out there. I’m thinking about what’s in me. If I don’t take responsibility for what’s in me, I can’t pretend to be a solution for what’s out there.

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

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Not History – A Moment Relived

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Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
Deuteronomy 16:16-17 (NIV)

Last week we enjoyed our Christmas celebration with family. I enjoyed going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service and marking the climactic end of the Advent season and welcoming the Christ-child, God-with-us.

There is definitely a connection between the annual celebration of the Advent season and Christmas and today’s chapter. God through Moses reminds His people that when they settle in the Promised Land they are to have three great pilgrimage festivals. Everyone makes a pilgrimage to “the place God will choose” at three different times of year for three different purposes:

  1. Passover / Feast of Unleavened Bread – a remembering of liberation.
  2. Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) – a remembering of provision.
  3. Feast of Booths (Sukkot) – a remembering of dependence.

These festivals provided structure, not only for the calendar, but also for the soul.

My meditation on today’s chapter led me to a Hebrew word: Z’manim.

In its simple definition z’manim means “times” or “appointed moments.” But God’s base language is metaphor, and metaphors are layered with meaning. I’ve learned that this is especially true with the Hebrew language.

Z’manim gives breath to time.

Appointment (something set, not random)

Readiness (a moment that has ripened)

Intended timing (not just when, but why now)

This is not clock time. This is meaningful time. It is time with purpose stitched into it. Time that has been noticed. Claimed. Set apart.

God does not dwell just in places. He inhabits moments.

Which brings me back to Christmas Eve and the end of the Advent Season. Why do this every year? Why did God prescribe three festivals every year? The intention was never a rote, prescribed, go-through-the-motions religious activity. That’s dead religion not a Living God. Annual seasons and festivals were moments in time in which I commune with the divine and together we embrace a moment new and afresh.

Freedom from chains that bind me.
Gratitude for the abundance of my blessings.
Reminder that security is always borrowed.
The birth of God who became flesh and pitched His tent among us.

Along my spiritual journey I have been largely naive and ignorant of the ways God has historically revealed Himself in fullness. I understand more than ever how easy it is for institutional religion to become rote and repeated motions that are Spiritually empty and void of meaning. But from ancient days through this current day, God has invited me to meet him in z’manim – moments of time filled with His presence and a banquet of meaning on which my soul can feast and be satisfied.

On Christmas Eve, bathed in candlelight and singing Silent Night with loved ones, we welcomed a newborn baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It wasn’t just a commemoration. It was not dusting off history. It was, once again, the event relived – together with God and with loved ones.

It was z’manim.

And in the next few days the z’manim shifts. Old things pass away with 2025. New things come with 2026.

In the quiet I am reminded that I dare not ponder what that means for me apart from the reality of “God with us.”

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

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Decapitated Religion

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See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

The early years of the Jesus Movement were messy. You have to think about it. All of the scripture we trek through on this chapter-a-day journey, the texts on which Christian theology has been established for 2,000 years hadn’t yet been written. They were being written as handwritten letters by Paul and the other apostles, delivered by personal carrier, distributed to each local gathering of Jesus’ followers, and read to the believers.

The first century world in which the Jesus Movement emerged was filled with religions. There was certainly the Jewish religion from which Jesus and His followers emerged. There was a pantheon of Roman gods and Greek gods that each had their own temple, cult, worship, and traditions. There was a cult worshipping Caesar as god. There were also Greek philosophies that had all the hallmarks of being religions in-and-of themselves. As local gatherings of new believers in Jesus met on a regular basis to worship, learn Jesus’ teachings, and encourage one another to live their lives daily as His disciples, they were confronted from within and without with other religious and philosophical thoughts that some individuals wanted to connect to and with Jesus.

Reading between the lines of Paul’s letter to the believers in Colossae, it is obvious that he is addressing this very reality. Others were introducing religious thoughts, traditions, and philosophies into the local gathering that had nothing to do with Jesus. Over the centuries, scholars have argued about what competing religion or philosophy Paul is addressing. I don’t think it’s one. I think he’s addressing all of it: Jewish legalism, pagan rituals and traditions, Greek philosophy, and even the worship of angels are all described by Paul’s words.

What I have found fascinating while meditating on the letter yesterday and today is to circle and count the number of times Paul uses the word “Christ.” Ten times he uses it in today’s chapter. He’ll use it 30 times total in this brief letter. So, I took some time to consider what Paul is saying about Christ:

Christ is the mystery of God.
All creation was created in Christ, through Christ, for Christ.
In Christ, all of creation holds together.
Christ is the fullness of God in bodily form.
In Christ we are brought into that fullness.
Once dead in our sin, we are made alive in Christ.
Christ is the reality of God.
Christ is the head of all power and authority.
Christ is supreme.

I then listed and compared the adjectives Paul uses in describing these competing religious and philosophical thoughts that others are trying to introduce and merge into Jesus’ teaching:

fine-sounding arguments
hollow
deceptive philosophy
human tradition
elemental spiritual forces of this world
shadow
false humility
idle notions
rules of this world destined to perish
merely human commands and teachings
mere appearance of wisdom
lacking any value in restraining sensual indulgence

Wow, what a contrast. Paul then makes a point that all of these religious and philosophical notions have “lost connection with the head” and he had just identified “the head” a few paragraphs earlier as Christ. We all know of what worth the body is once it’s been decapitated.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on Jesus who is the Christ. Paul will make this point 30 times in this letter. He will make it 50 times in his letter to the believers in Ephesus. The point he is making is that the crucified and resurrected Jesus is the “anointed one,” the “messiah,” the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Reality of God, Mystery of God and Supreme Head over everything.

As a disciple of Jesus, I believe that if I diminish Jesus the Christ in any way, I’ve lost connection to the head and have become decapitated from the Truth.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Guilt of Innocent Blood

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“I have sinned,” [Judas] said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” [the chief priests and elders] replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
Matthew 27:4 (NIV)

I made a decision years ago not to be affiliated with any political party. A few years ago I changed my non-affiliated status to vote for an individual whom I believe in during the primaries, but then I switched back to being non-affiliated. I know people on the right who think I’m too far left and people on the left who think I’m too far right. There are individuals on both sides of the aisle who lump me in with “those people” in the opposite party. It is what it is. I know, love, and respect people across the political spectrum who have very diverse views and opinions.

When Jesus sent The Twelve out two-by-two to share His message in towns and villages around the Sea of Galilee, He told them to be “shrewd as serpents and gentle as doves.” I have found that advice sage whenever I am navigating the world, whether that’s reading the news, operating in the business world, or doing my civic duty by participating in elections.

Along my life journey, I’ve observed that both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of looking the other way and justifying it when someone on their team is guilty of corruption, but then scream for blood and justice when one of “those people” on the other side do the same thing. I get it. This is just how the world works.

As a disciple of Jesus, I’ve been tasked with being “in the world, but not of it.” So, along the way I personally chose out of both sides. I know fellow disciples who feel called to serve in one of both major parties. That’s cool, too. The Great Story is filled with examples of God using different people in different political contexts. Jeremiah was a prophet inside the (corrupt) political system of his day. Elijah was a political outsider and voice in the wilderness. Among The Twelve Jesus chose a far-right zealot named Simon and a far-left Roman collaborator named Matthew. I have learned along the way that God leads different people on different paths for different reasons yet does so for His same eternal purposes.

I find that the Great Story is, at its foundation, a conflict between good and evil; A war between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. Nowhere is this more abundantly clear than in the events of Jesus arrest, trials, and execution.

In today’s chapter, Judas feels remorse for his betrayal and returns the 30 pieces of silver to the religious leaders at the Temple. He tells them that Jesus is innocent and that “innocent blood” is on his hands.

“What is that to us?” they ask Judas in excusing their actions.

In asking this question, they expose tremendous hypocrisy. It should mean everything to them. They are leaders of the Hebrew people. They are “experts” in God’s Law. They are the authorities over God’s given system of justice. They know that in Deuteronomy God established that entire system of justice and explained the reason saying:

“Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed...You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.”
Deuteronomy 19:10 (NIV) [emphasis added]

Ironically, the same legal section of God’s Law gives specific instructions about false witnesses like Judas and the others they put forth at Jesus’ trial:

“If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you.”
Deuteronomy 19:16-19 (NIV)

The Chief Priests and Elders knew that they were breaking many laws in their railroading of Jesus. To ask, “What is that to us?” was a mockery of God’s entire purpose for the Law. God was establishing a system of justice that would protect the innocent and poor and hold the rich and powerful accountable. The Chief Priests and Elders used this system to become rich and powerful. They are now using the Law to protect that wealth and power while they ignore the laws that call on them to free Jesus and hold Judas accountable for his false testimony (though they broke that same Law in paying Judas for that false testimony).

Judas throws the silver from his betrayal at their feet and flees.

To make their hypocrisy even more blatant, these men who are supposed to be the keepers of the Law but have flaunted the most basic of God’s Laws regarding justice now look at the blood money and say, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

This is how the world works. Left and Right. Conservative and Liberal. Fox and CNN. Catholics and Evangelicals. Fundamentalist and Frozen Chosen. Choose the rules you want to follow and those you want to ignore depending on how and when it suits your personal benefit and political purposes.

“Rules for thee but not for me.”

The irony continues later in the chapter as the Chief Priest and Elders “persuade” the crowd (I assume there was more silver involved) to call on Pilate to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Pilate, the non-Hebrew Roman, knows that Jesus is “innocent blood” and wants nothing to do with this injustice. The Hebrew Chief Priests, Elders, and their good Hebrew mob-for-hire then scream to, Pilate:

“His blood is on us and on our children!”

I couldn’t help but remember Jesus words to these same Chief Priests and Elders just a few days before:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”
Matthew 23:29-32 (NIV)

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded that as Jesus’ disciple I am both a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore an ambassador of that Kingdom here among the kingdoms of this world. The more I’ve taken this spiritual reality seriously, the more I’ve discovered how it requires me to be shrewd as a serpent and gentle as a dove. Nevertheless, in my thoughts, words, actions, and relationships I don’t want to mindlessly be another example of how the world works. I want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, even if I’m crucified for it.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Microscope & the Wide-Angle Lens

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“He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”
Matthew 22:3 (NIV)

Along my journey, I have experienced many meetings in which what is really going on is not apparent to the casual observer or to those who might read a transcript of the meeting. What is really going on is happening in the sub-text of the words and the passive aggressive interplay between conflicting participants within the meeting. It happens in business. It happens in family. It happens in church. It happens in politics. It happens in community organizations. It’s part of any human system.

In Jerusalem, it is the biggest week of the year. It’s Passover week. The city is packed with Jewish pilgrims from all over the world who have come to celebrate the biggest festival of the year at the Temple, the epicenter of Judaism. Every day the courts of the Temple are packed with crowds. This year, everyone is buzzing about this preacher from the sticks, up north in Galilee. There was a big parade on Sunday when He came to town. Some say He’s the Messiah. He raised a guy from the dead just a week before in Bethany, just a few miles away.

This is the scene of today’s chapter and tomorrow’s. This is the final week of Jesus’ ministry. We’re in the home stretch and everything in these final chapters leads to the cross and the empty tomb. It’s important that I ponder all of the words and events of these next few chapters in this context to get at what is really going on. There is a conflict brewing between Jesus and the religious, political, and commercial power brokers in the Temple.

In today’s chapter, Matthew shares five episodes:

Jesus tells a parable that points a finger at the religious leaders and their ecclesiastical forebears throughout history. The parable is fascinating because it sums up the relationship between God and His people through the entire Great Story to this point, and it foreshadows what is about to happen as Jesus’ Message expands beyond the boundaries of Judaism and to all peoples and nations. What His enemies hear is Jesus’ sharp criticism. It is truth, but it is offensive. Jesus takes the opening round. His opponents are 0 and 1 and it prompts them to counter.

The next three episodes Matthew shares are different constituencies of Jesus’ enemies coming to debate Jesus and trap Him into saying something they can use to dismiss Him, criticize Him, and tell the crowds why He is wrong. Matthew is careful to point out that these constituencies, though rivals within the religious power structure, are working together behind the scenes against Jesus.

First, it’s the most popular and powerful political party within the religious power structure: the Pharisees. They try to play on people’s hatred of Rome and Roman taxes. They ask Jesus about paying taxes. Jesus famously asks whose head is on the coin and then says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Ouch 0-2.

Next, it’s the rival political party in the religious power structure: the Sadducees. They are a smaller faction, but the High Priest is from this faction. It’s the old guard, the conservatives, who wield power and hang their hats on a religious belief that there is no life after death. They try to trap Jesus in a doctrinal debate about resurrection. Jesus responds with a scriptural argument for which they have no answers. His rivals are now 0-3.

Finally, they send a hot-shot lawyer to argue a legal matter of religious Law. Jesus handles the question easily.

Jesus deftly navigates every one of the their three (there’s that number again) argumentative mine fields. Adding on Jesus initial critical parable, His enemies are 0-4. They’re humiliated in front of the biggest crowds the Temple will see all year on their home court. They’re pissed off.

The chapter then ends with Jesus going back on the offensive. He refuses to let His enemies lick their wounds. He throws out a debate question of His own to which they have no good answer. They finish today’s chapter 0-5.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reminded of my observation that most people take the episodes in any given chapter and focus on them individually. Even teachers and preachers do this regularly in messages. Just yesterday I gave the first of three weekly messages that I was assigned. Each week I’m assigned one episode from Luke’s version of Jesus’ story. It’s like looking at one of the five episodes in today’s chapter under a microscope to find the lesson within. There is a lesson there, of course. Metaphor is layered with meaning. For me, however, the most powerful spiritual lesson in today’s chapter is not under the microscope but in the wide-angle lens.

Jesus is touching on historic themes and realities that are rooted in Genesis, present in God’s relationship with the Hebrew people from Exodus through Malachi, and are foundational to the very conflict in which He’s engaged. The humiliating defeat is going to ramp up His opponent’s hatred of Jesus. Jesus is pushing all of their buttons.

Let me clue you in on tomorrow’s chapter. Jesus is not going to relent. He’s going to double-down.

He’s going to seal His own fate.

But there is something larger going on in today’s chapter that did begin in Genesis and will end with a new beginning at the end of Revelation. If I miss this, then I’m missing a major spiritual lesson. It is the spiritual lesson I find that I perpetually need on a Monday morning as I look at the task list for the coming week on my earthly journey. I can focus my spiritual microscope in on this week, this life, these current circumstances as if it’s the most important thing or the only thing. Or, I can look at this week with a wide-angle lens and understand that this week is part of a larger story of what God is doing in me in my life, and my story’s role in the larger story of what God is doing in the Great Story.

Suddenly, I see my week with a renewed perspective.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Recitation and Relationships

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Recitation and Relationships (CaD Matt 18) – Wayfarer

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:35 (NIV)

Every week our local gathering of Jesus’ followers says The Lord’s Prayer together. As we do, Wendy and I tend to paraphrase the traditional language a bit on our own. I think it’s funny and fascinating that the institutional church chooses to update the wording of certain things (music, translation of the Bible, the wording of the Apostle’s Creed, and etc.) but not others. Please don’t read what I’m not writing. I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong or right. It’s the kind of ecclesiastical hair-splitting that have, for too long, gotten people’s undies in a bunch and caused more harm than good.

I see both sides of traditional words and phrasing for well-worn passages. Sometimes the traditional, yet out-of-date, wording is like a comfy old sweatshirt that wraps you in the warmth and comfort of something familiar which has been with you and seen you through long stretches of life’s journey. On the other hand, I have often found that as I press into new and unfamiliar stretches of life’s journey, I am challenged to address new and extraordinary circumstances that require me to find new layers of wisdom in traditional thoughts and meditations.

And, as the Bard famously said, “there’s the rub.”

I know, personally, that when I recite the same words over and over and over again, they begin to lose their potency. I’m just going through the motions. So, I tend to do what I was taught as I studied acting. You take the memorized line of a script and play with it, emphasizing a different word or phrase with increased inflection with each subsequent recitation. As I am fond of saying, metaphors are layered with meaning, and often as I emphasize and change my inflection with different words in the oft repeated sentence, it makes me consider different ways of considering the same words or phrases.

One of the phrases of The Lord’s Prayer that has taken on increased meaning for me as I have practiced this is: “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” This is a request with a stated acknowledgement of reciprocal relational responsibility. I’m asking God to forgive my sins, while acknowledging that I can only expect to be forgiven to the degree I am willing to forgive those who have wronged me.

In today’s chapter, Jesus unpacks this uncomfortable spiritual principle in a parable. A king has a servant who owes him a thousand dollars he has never been able to pay. Upon the pleading of the indebted servant, the king mercifully forgives the debt. This same man exits the kings chamber and runs into a fellow servant who owes him ten bucks. He goes postal on the dude, demanding the ten-spot without even considering the weight of debt from which he’d just been graciously and mercifully freed. The king finds out about the hypocrisy, hauls the ungrateful servant into his court and had him tortured until he paid every cent he was owed.

Now comes the intense and uncomfortable part. Jesus follows up this parable by stating quite directly: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, Tom, unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Ouch. Hello, sobering Monday morning meditation. When I recited those famous words with my fellow followers yesterday, there’s potent spiritual punch lurking behind the well-worn words. Forgive me God, just as I have forgiven those who’ve sinned against me. Wait a minute. Maybe there are some heart and relationship matters I should have addressed before I showed up in my Sunday best to go through the religious motions.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself entering another work week thinking about my relational realities in light of my religious recitations. If there’s a disconnect between the two, then the latter was an impotent ritual. That’s the thing about a cozy old sweatshirt. If it becomes threadbare and filled with holes, it has lost its ability to accomplish the original purpose.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Inclusive vs. Exclusive

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Exclusive vs. Inclusive (CaD Matt 9) – Wayfarer

But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”
Matthew 9: 34 (NIV)

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the spiritual revival that broke out while I was in high school. I wrote about the fact that I was merely an observer of the revival because I had insulated myself inside of my fellow holy huddle with other believers.

I’d like to unpack that experience a bit further as I meditate on today’s chapter. In it, Jesus begins to experience opposition from the institutional religious leaders of His day. They have their own holy huddle going.

I have observed along my spiritual journey the difference between an inclusive spirit and an exclusive spirit.

An inclusive spirit is one that is outreaching, arms wide open in anticipation of God who can do exceeding, abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine. An inclusive spirit fully embraces the Apostles Creed when it says “I believe in the holy catholic church,” which means the expansive true church made up of all believers of every nation, tribe, language, race, people, and denomination of which God alone truly knows the number and the full membership. An inclusive spirit sees God working in His enemies like Nebuchadnezzar, the Roman Centurion in yesterday’s chapter, and Saul of Tarsus, and drawing them to Himself. An inclusive spirit understands that Jesus is not slow in returning, but rather patient wanting everyone (including my personal enemies) to repent and believe.

An exclusive spirit, on the other hand, is one that feels that it is right and only those who agree are acceptable. An exclusive spirit has arms extended in a defensive and warning posture. Only those who pass the litmus test, are pure in their doctrinal agreement, and visibly shun unacceptable actions, words, beliefs, and political/social affiliations are accepted in. Most people are excluded, and exclusive thinkers are convinced that God thinks and acts in lock-step with them.

Jesus was being inclusive when, in yesterday’s chapter, He healed the Roman Centurion’s servant and handed His enemy an invitation to the feast of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in God’s Kingdom. Jesus was being inclusive when He and His disciples feasted at Matthew’s house with unacceptable tax collectors (e.g. politically incorrect Roman collaborators) and their sinful social circle. He was certainly being inclusive when He called Matthew to become one of The Twelve.

His political and religious opponents were exclusive in their thinking. They alone were exclusively “God’s people,” “Children of Abraham,” and anyone who disagreed or believed differently was obviously not “of God.” Jesus refused to walk, speak, act, and believe in lock-step with their exclusive religious world-view. Therefore He could not be of God despite the miracles He performed. If He is not of God, then He must be of Satan.

So, in the quiet this morning, I look back at that revival in high school. It taught me another important spiritual lesson. Yes, I missed out on being a part of it because I was too busy in the exclusivity of my holy huddle. At the same time, me thinking that I needed to be a part of it is a different brand of exclusive thinking. God was doing something amazing and He didn’t need me to be involved. He was working through others whom He had prepared, raised up, and through whom He was flowing. I could be envious, jealous, and think (exclusively) that anything I wasn’t a part of doesn’t count. I could also open my arms, rejoice, and embrace that God was at such powerful work in others all around me. I chose the latter.

The further I get in my journey, the more open my spirit has become to God doing whatever He wants to do in whomever He wants to do it in order for all things to work together for good and accomplish His ultimate purposes in this Great Story. I long ago took off my Junior Holy Spirit badge pretending that I had exclusive rights, insight, or editorial control of that Story for myself or anyone else. The result is that I approach each day of this journey with a sense of awe and wonder.

God, what are you going to do today?

I’m open.

Surprise me.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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An Awkward Moment at the Pub

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An Awkward Moment at the Pub (CaD 1 Cor 5) – Wayfarer

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NIV)

A number of years ago, I was running some errands in town one gorgeous spring afternoon. It was one of those amazing first warm days of spring here in the midwest when everyone opens windows and doors to air out the house after a long winter, and everyone gets outside to take a walk and enjoy warm weather.

With a little extra time on my hands, I decided to pop into the local pub for a pint before heading home. The pub had its front door propped open and I was sitting at the bar with my pint checking email, when I heard someone call my name.

I turned to find a Christian couple I know who had been passing by and saw me sitting there. I smiled, waved, and greeted them. Then it became clear that they wanted to have a conversation because they started right in making casual small talk, but it got really weird. They refused to step inside the pub. My friends even looked down a few times at their feet to make sure he hadn’t crossed the threshold. I was sitting twenty-five feet away. They were blocking the door and talking to me as if we were having an intimate conversation while semi-shouting so that the whole pub could hear. Eventually, they continued on their way, having successfully remained pure by not entering a sinful place. I finished my pint and went home.

As awkward and silly as the episode was, I knew exactly where my friends were coming from. I spent much of the early years of my spiritual journey being taught similar behavioral legalities. Avoid such sinful places or the sinful people inside might lead you astray. Don’t associate. Stay away.

Yet, in today’s chapter, Paul provides a command to the followers of Jesus in Corinth that I’ve never heard addressed among the legalistic circles who teach such things. Paul clarifies that when he told the Corinthian believers not to associate with immoral people, he was talking about immoral people inside the church, not outside. If I refuse to associate with immoral people outside the church then how will I ever be the light of the world, or the salt of the earth? Paul’s teaching is clear. He’s talking about those inside the church who claim to be disciples of Jesus but they live lives that are the obvious antithesis of Jesus’ teaching.

In my associations out in the world, I know exactly what I’m dealing with. These are people who don’t know Christ, who have no reason to act like they do. They’re the people Jesus associated with when the good religious leaders complained that He ate and drank with sinners.

“Yes!” Jesus answered his legalistic, religious critics unequivocally. “These are the people who need what I have to give! These are the people I came for!”

The people I’m really supposed to avoid are the hypocrites inside the church who faithfully go through the religious motions and put on its outward appearances, but whose daily lives and relationships are void of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, or patience. In fact, that accurately describes the good legalistic religious people who were criticizing Jesus. Jesus told His followers to avoid them. And that’s the very point that Paul is making to the Corinthian believers. I don’t need to worry about an immoral person I meet in the pub. They’re lives are an honest reflection of their current world view and spiritual reality. I need to worry about the hypocrites in my pew on Sunday. They’re the ones whose lives are dishonest at the core. I need to avoid them like the plague if I want to be spiritually healthy.

At least, that’s what Jesus taught, and Paul. Though, you probably won’t learn that in a lot of churches.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself looking back at the years I led a very sequestered life. I, too, would have avoided crossing the threshold of a pub. And, I spent a lot of time hanging out with some really awful people, but they claimed to be Christians, so they were on the approved list. I am once again reminded that this life is a journey. Healthy things grow, and growing things change. I’m not in the same place I once was, nor should I be. If you’re ever in town, feel free to meet me at the pub. I’ll buy you a pint and introduce you to some friends.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!