Self-centric | Wayfarer

“Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron.”
Jeremiah 28:13 (NIV)

I heard it said recently that “humans like to make God in their image.” It’s one of those phrases that just sort of sticks with me and I find myself contemplating and mulling over for a while. As I’ve been trekking through the anthology of messages by the prophet Jeremiah, it certainly appears that he was a lone voice saying the thing that no one wanted to hear. Meanwhile, the rest of the prophets were actively predicting the things that everyone hoped to be true, assuring them that what they wanted to happen would happen.

Along my life journey I’ve observed that the culture I grew up with painted a rosy picture of success. If one went to college, worked hard, and did the right things, then a life of success was pretty much guaranteed. Preachers and self-help gurus have become successful and famous by reinforcing versions of this formulaic optimism.

I love optimism, too. In fact, I need regular positive affirmation to balance my traditionally pessimistic nature. But I have come to believe that “balance” is the key. Here are a couple of thoughts that rise in my heart in the quiet as I meditate on today’s chapter:

I’ve observed that it’s easy for people to make the outcome of optimistic formulas into kind of personal god. Success, fame, influence, popularity, status, or financial security become the god, rather than a blessing. When the formula doesn’t work, when the outcome doesn’t match the personal desire, or when life doesn’t turn out as expected, then it creates a crisis of faith. Yet, when this happens I have to ask myself what the object of my faith really is.

When I step back and look at the overarching Great Story, the final chapters are a climactic conflict between the Prince of this World and the nations and kingdoms of this world under his dominion lined up against God. If that is where things are going in the long run, then maybe I should reframe my expectations from how I want life to happen and embrace where God had revealed that things are ultimately headed.

But these thoughts really lead me to what being a follower of Jesus is really all about. Jesus wants His disciples to be individual lights in a world filled with all kinds of darkness. He wants His disciples to bring peace in conflict and chaos. He asks me to love others in a world that can be tragically hateful. He wants me to have grace in a world that tells me to get even. He wants me to live with hope even in seemingly hopeless circumstances.

When the prophet Hannaniah prophesies Babylon’s downfall, the return of the captives, and the return of treasures stolen from the Temple, Jeremiah’s response is quite gracious. He gives Hannaniah an “Amen” and states that he hopes that all his wishes come true. After all, Hannaniah has made god in his own image, the one who does exactly what we want him to do in order to make my life turn out the way I desire. Jeremiah then has the task of delivering a message that neither Hannaniah nor anyone else wanted to hear. I paraphrase:

Difficult times are ahead. You can embrace this pending reality, place your faith in God, and trust the Story God is authoring in these events. You can alternatively continue to place your faith in the god of your own image who tells you what you want to hear and promises to deliver the outcomes you expect. If you choose the former, you’ll live, even though it will be a tough life. If you choose the latter, get ready for a fatal crisis of faith when things don’t turn out as you have prophesied out of your own self-centric desires.

For Hannaniah, the fatal crisis of faith would happen long before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. His fatal crisis of faith took place a few months later when death came knocking at his door.

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

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
Mark 10:35 (NIV)

Every parent knows a set-up question when they hear it.

“Dad? I’m going to ask you something and you have to answer ‘yes.'”

“Mom? Haven’t I been really, really good this week?”

The set-up question is intended to get the desired answer from the real question. I remember being a young boy playing this game in my prayers with God. If I wanted the Vikings to win the game or my older brothers girlfriends to simply “stop by” our house (they always doted on me, and I loved it), then I would barter with the Almighty to get my wish. I might make the case for my good behavior to have been good enough to “earn” what it is I wanted. I might have promised all sorts of obedient services I could render on the back-end of my fulfilled wish should my Genie-God grant my self-centered request.

Obviously, as a young boy, I had a lot to learn about God, prayer, the Great Story, and my role in it. I’m grateful that God is eternally patient and faithful.

In today’s chapter, I found my lesson wrapped in the layout of events that Mark includes as Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem for the climactic week of His earthly sojourn.

First, Jesus sends a rich, young man away sad because the man was unwilling to do the one thing that stood between him and God: sell everything he owned and give it to the poor. In the post-event discussion with His followers, Jesus reminds them that in the economy of God’s Kingdom (the real one, not the false one that the institutional church created for 1700 years) “the first will be last and the last will be first.”

The very next thing, Jesus tells #TheTwelve for the third time exactly what’s going to happen:

“We are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

Sometimes I’ve noticed that the chapter breaks and headings that modern scholars have introduced into the text keep me from seeing the flow and connections between pieces of the story. Today was a great example. Jesus reminds the disciples that the first will be last, and then He gives them the ultimate example: I, the miracle-working Son of God who heals, frees, feeds, and raises people from the dead, am going to submit myself to suffer and die in order to redeem all things.

What happens next?

James and John come to Jesus with a “set-up question!”

“Um, Jesus? We want you to promise to do whatever it is we’re about to ask you.”

What was the question? They were looking out for numero uno. If Jesus was going to die, then the brothers Zebedee just wanted to tie up some loose ends. They wanted to make sure that their eternal future was secure. They wanted to ink the deal with Jesus, once and for all, to make sure they ended up “Top Dog” on the heavenly food chain.

I can hear the echo of Jesus’ words from what seems like every single chapter I’ve read the past two weeks: “Do you still not understand?”

For the record, James and John got about as far as I did with the Vikings winning the Super Bowl.

In the quiet, on this Good Friday morning, I am reminded of all the ways I have cast myself in the role of James and John. It might have been cloaked in religious set-up questions, bartered goodness, and the economics of a worldly institutional kingdom dressed in religious robes. The truth is what I’ve been quietly contemplating this week. In so many ways, I know that I still don’t completely get it.

Good Friday. The secret trials. The kangaroo court. The beatings. The mocking. The jeering. The crowd screaming for blood. The scourging. The nails driven into wrists and feet. The hanging naked on a cross as public spectacle; Naked, bleeding and losing control of his bodily functions in front of His own mother. And, as He hangs there between heaven and earth on the cusp of death…

Making sure his mother will be cared for.

Forgiving His executioners.

Extending grace to a confessed and convicted thief.

“The first shall be last. If you want to be the greatest, you must become the servant of all.”

A good day to open my head and heart to continue understanding, to continue getting it, and continuing to let it change me.