Genesis and Matthew XXVIII: Rest

 First published Friday, April 29, 2011

. . . and all (Abraham's) household people, whether house-born or money-bought from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

"Put my yoke on and learn from me: I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is kindly and my load is light."

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We cannot enjoy the restful life that Christ offers, while we carry around our sack of burdens. The person with worries, or troubles, or stress, is too focused on those things to enjoy Christ. A troubled person is not a restful person. Yet we are called to rest.

Is that not what we want? We want a stress-free life! We wish we could be as care-free as we were in the days of our youth. The burdens of life, which grow heavier by the year, get in the way! But what is the source of these worries? How can we root it out?

Symbolically, a practice was in place, instituted by Abraham, under God's direction. It begins with a cutting away of the flesh, And there is no part of humanity more "fleshly" and harmful than our obsession with sex. We can live without it, yet we are prone to treat it as beasts do, as an urge that must be satisfied. A reading of all of my other posts would indicate that I consider the human male to be particularly at fault. He tends to be the aggressor, the tempter, the seducer. He does not use his mind to plan out his paths. He does not do what is right!

Circumcision cuts away at the most troublesome part of the male physique. It involves the shedding of blood. The removal of the flesh, or of sin, from our lives is not pleasant. Neither is it necessarily a clean process. It is painful, but must be done.

Our worries, our temptations, our fears, our burdens, are all the same as the sin that keeps us back.

Remove the sin in your life - a task that is not easy - and then you are free to enjoy rest,  in Christ.

Show Us

 . . . show us the Father . . . . 

 - From John 14

Thomas made the famous statement "If I see the holes in his hands, and put my hand into the wound on His side, I will believe," and throughout history he has been isolated for his "doubting" nature. As if any one of us were more purely faithful than he. 

But Philip had had an equivalent conversation with the Lord, that merits equal treatment as Thomas's dialogue with Christ.

Jesus was having a deep interaction with the Twelve, in which He was laying out the deeper things to come: the Cross, the Way to eternal life, etc. Jesus had just told Thomas "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

And then Philip, either from pure naivete, or more likely a desire to impress the Lord with his depth of inquisitiveness, says "Show us the Father."

Now, the first thing I notice is where Philip presumes to speak on behalf of the entire group. What he really means is "Show me the Father." But to give his statement credibility, he includes the entire group into his statement. (This is a minor pet peeve of mine - - - the person that speaks for everybody, without knowing what everybody really thinks. "We missed you so much." or "We really love that German chocolate cake you made.")

Jesus goes on to explain that, if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. That we should just trust Him at His word. But if that's not good enough, consider the works that He has done, that only someone in touch with the Creator could do. 

We all desperately want to see the Father. We want to see Jesus. George Harrison had a number one hit making that same sentiment: I really want to see you, but it takes so long!

There's a linkage between the Person of Christ, and His works. If we really want to see Jesus, we can bring Him into our midst, by simply following Him. Do what He would do. 

It has been hard to see Jesus, to see the Father, in the world that began in March, 2020 and continues to this day (April, 2021). We have been told there is a lot of pain and grief in the world, (that a lot of people have not actually seen for themselves). We have been told that if we follow certain dictums (like religious rites), that we will be "safe." But the dictums are the same old religious routines from antiquity: Cover your face. Go off in isolation. Be quiet.

But unlike these practices when they're combined with real faith, we're supposed to do all of these things today, because it is what a man-made government wants us to do. The requirements in 2021 don't even make any mention of caring for each other. We're supposed to shut up and shut down. 

The world needs to see the Father, and fast. We know how to answer that question, how to satisfy that prayer. Do the works of the Lord. And He never asked us to stay inside. He says "let your light shine."

Indeed. 

Genesis and Matthew XXVII: Hard Lessons

 First Published Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"Walk in my presence! And be wholehearted!"

"I assure you, among all those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist - but the lowest person in the kingdom of the skies is greater than him."

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Abraham was known for his unquestioning obedience to God. To trust God, and to do what God expects, is the very essence of faith.

John the Baptist lived a simple life marked by an almost fanatical devotion to serving God. He had no regular job, no home, no things. Yet Jesus called John the greatest in God's kingdom.

In the Easter sermon at Dexter United Methodist Church, less than a week ago, the pastor made this point - that everything we do: all our strivings, schedulings, activities, stressings, etc., really count for nothing. The only thing that matters is serving Christ. It was part of a sermon series entitled The Hard Sayings of Jesus.

How about these three things:

* Walk with God.
* Be wholehearted (sincere, pure, righteous).
* Give up everything to serve the Lord.

Abraham believed God, and followed Him. John the Baptist gave it all up. These are two very hard lessons.

Are we ready to rejoice at the wealthy guy that gives it all up to preach to the poor? How about encouraging our friends and family to drop their hobbies and busy schedules, so that they can spend reflective time in God's word and prayer? How about taking a bold stand for virtues such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, purity, charity?

These pretty much say it all. But on the other side of obedience, trust, purity, and simplicity, are land as far as we can see, a family too numerous to count, and a seat of honor in God's Kingdom.

Do we believe this? What may we conclude by our behavior?

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NOTE to the Reader: You are invited to follow my blog entitled "My Prelude to 2020", in which I share reflections of my life over the course of sixty years, and the parallels in place with world events, that seemed to make the events of 2020 inevitable. 

Genesis and Matthew XXVI: Return

 First Published Saturday, April 23, 2011

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He (Ishmael) shall be a wild-ass of a man, his hand against all, hand of all against him, yet in the presence of all his brothers shall he dwell.

What did you go out to the desert to see? . . . A prophet? Yes, I tell you, a prophet and more . . . 

There is a wild man at the beginning of each testament. In the old, it is Ishmael, first son of Abraham, father of the Arab nation. In the New Testament, it is John the Immerser, Jesus' cousin. John was a child sent from God's promise, born to a woman too old to have children, as was Ishmael's half-brother, Isaac.

Promises abound, and so often it has to do with miraculous births.

Ishmael was not a child of promise. But he grew to be a great nation. He represents the Old Testament. Clans, nations, tribes are everything in the Old Testament. Warfare was the primary mode of building kingdoms. It was, basically, the way the world did things. Yet God operated and worked His will in this context. Today, the descendants of Ishmael are still known for their adherence to this Old Testament way of doing things: rigid laws, heavily male-dominated, use of warfare and its ancient rules (you are to wipe out every trace of life of your enemies).

John comes along, in the days of Christ. Both he and Jesus were born according to a promise. John is the wild man of the New Covenant. He has cast off all worldliness. He does not seek, or need, a "job." He just proclaims the word of God. This is the most important thing. He is not worried about having a son to carry on his name. In the New Testament, to be "wild" means to have nothing to do with the world and its trappings.

Sons in the Old Testament (including Ishmael) were made holy via circumcision. But in the New, all people are made holy by way of belief, demonstrated in the act of immersion first made essential to the church, by John the Immerser.

We become part of a New Family.

Ishmael's nation was blessed, and continues to be so, today, in terms of the multiplying of its population. The messenger of God told Ishmael's mother, to return back to the tent of Abraham, to her family, regardless of how she had been treated.

He calls all of us today, to return back to our families, through Christ.

Refuses Help: Systemic Evil

How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 

 - From 1 John 3

The classic film, Steel Magnolias, portrays the ever-present strength of Southern women, in the midst of men whose courage is mostly superficial. While the men lift heavy objects and go around "solving problems" with decisiveness, we see the women showing up at life's most poignant moment of need. Where the presence of people is mandatory, the women are there. 

At the Cross of Golgotha, at history's most dire, distressed, and dangerous chapter, we see the military present, in overwhelming numbers. The political leaders are there. There's a mob nearby, that at the drop of a hat can turn violent . . . and it most recently had been stirred up in manic animus toward the Man on the center cross. 

The smart people, the courageous people, the leaders . . . the men . . . in Christ's inner circle, did the "right" thing. They used their heads. They responded with intellect and not emotion. They consulted with experts: military friends. Roman business contacts. Personal connections. Respected local celebrities. The advice of all of these highly-regarded experts was the same: stay away.

The situation is too bleak. This Jesus had been a pock on society. He was toxic. In becoming so threatening to peace and order, you might even say that He and His followers were now a public health problem. If you Apostles get involved, people will get hurt. Good people will die. So stay away. Go home. Protect yourselves and your loved ones. Go lock yourselves into that upper room. 

But the women . . . 

The women . . . plus John the Revelator - the only man present at the Cross, the Apostle that wrote John 3:16, the Apostle that focused so much on love, service, caring, and putting yourself out there for others . . . they were present. They defied the practical advice of friends. They put themselves, and others, in danger by showing up at the foot of the Cross. 

The hurting person, the ailing person, the hungry person, the needy person, the dying person . . . needs one thing above all others. 

They need the presence, and the touch, of other people. 

There are no qualifiers, no exceptions. It is cruel and inhumane to refuse to be present, in person, with your touch, when someone is dying. 

Like the men in Steel Magnolias - - - we find it far too awkward to show up in hospitals, to sit with the dying. It makes us uncomfortable. We'll just stay away. Yes, that's prudent.

When your culture makes it a systemic thing, to avoid caring for the sick and dying, it goes beyond cruelty and borders on pure evil itself. 

How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 

You . . . and Your

Surely your goodness and mercy . . .  

    From the Twenty-Third Psalm

The 23rd Psalm begins, and ends, by speaking of The LORD in the third Person. The LORD gives me life. He guides me. He protects me. He takes care of me. He makes me live forever, in peace. 

But the middle third of the Psalm, speaks of The LORD in the second Person. 

YOU are with me. 

YOUR rod and YOUR staff comfort me. 

YOU spread a table. 

YOU anoint my head with oil.

YOUR goodness and mercy follows me.

In the middle of the passage, God is present. He is right here. He touches me. He feeds me. He serves me. 

Notice the imagery of a table covered in your favorite foods. Thanksgiving on steroids. Everybody's talking and laughing. The LORD sits at the head of the table. 

No . . . that's not where He sits. He gestures for me to go to the head of the table. He is focused on me. 

The valley of the shadow of death evokes an image of walking down the cavernous streets of a city, surrounded by people that may, in an instant, become violent. If you say the wrong thing, if you're dressed the wrong way . . . if you look like the wrong type of person, or the wrong race, you could suddenly find yourself in unexpected danger. Shadows are intimidating enough, when you're already in a potentially dangerous place. Shadows of death, even more so. 

The LORD's answer to injustice, fear, danger, violence, is to go find people living in fear. He does not exact revenge upon the oppressors. He doesn't pass laws. He doesn't remove the few barriers in society, separating His people from danger. 

No. He invites His children - His flock - in, and serves them a meal. He makes them safe - not safe, via aggressive measures; but safe, via sincere love for them, and acts of service and care. 

The answer to injustice, danger, violence and systemic anything, is to take care of those around you. 

Systems are comprised of people. We always have been the answer to the problems in the world. 

Safety or Salvation?

 There is salvation in no one else . . . 

 - From Acts, Chapter 4

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Salvation: Preservation or deliverance from destruction, difficulty, or evil.

Safety: The condition of being safe; freedom from danger, risk, or injury.

Our primary objective has evolved, from salvation, to safety. At the start of my life, there was a general sense, in society, of understanding eternity. Pop culture made more references to it. The idea of Heaven, or eternal life, was readily accessible to people. Sermons, speeches, narratives, and even fables, seemed always to point back to the idea of: this life is not all there is. 

In 2021, we seem consumed with, and deferential toward, immediate needs. Or more accurately, immediate wants. Immediacy is a decidedly selfish concern. Eternity is most definitely outward-focused. In exercising our grasp of eternity, we automatically become outward focused. A person with confidence in eternity develops a growing heart and spirit. Infinity is the boundary to everything. Abundance is the paradigm. There is more than enough to go around. Therefore we become more charitable, more buoyant, more joyful. We can think beyond our own selfishness. 

Salvation denotes the pre-eminence of eternity. Salvation is a thing. A possession. It carries with it a sense of completion. If you have salvation, then you have mastery over destruction. The definition above, (From the American Heritage Dictionary) even denotes salvation is conveying supremacy over evil. "Evil" itself denotes the ultimate in harm, or danger, to humanity. 

"Safety" is different. It only refers to immediate troubles. You can go into a shelter to be safe from a tornado. But the shelter isn't permanent. You are safe from risk. Insurance policies give you safety by covering your risk. Paychecks keep you safe from want. 

Masks keep you safe from breathing infectious molecules that may have escaped through someone else's mask.

Pharmaceutical injections, sometimes called "vaccines" make you safe from developing symptoms of a specific infectious disease. 

But there are no 100% guarantees of anything that makes us safe. But safety measures are, themselves, immediate. They are here and now. We can touch them and see them. Therefore, we presume to be safe, or at least . . . safer.

Not so with salvation. But salvation is NOT something you can see or touch, at least in the present age. It takes faith to believe you have it. 

Years ago, Rev. Harry Schaefer, the rector of St James Episcopal Church in Dexter, Michigan said this, in a sermon. He was referring to the saying: "Jesus Saves." His comment was "What does He save us from?"

Indeed . . . What does He save us from? This is the problem. Our generation is so immediate, so present-tense, so focused on what it can touch, feel, see, taste, or experience, that it perceives only immediate danger. 

I can see and feel a gun. Guns kills. Therefore, I must not have any guns near me. 

I can feel pain. I can be out of breath. I can have a fever. I can be connected to a ventilator. Therefore, I must take measures to prevent me from experience all of the above. Or more accurately . . . I must decrease my risk. 

Risk is not a factor in salvation. There is no such thing as "risk" to them that have it. 

Risk is a factor in safety.

Our generation is more cognizant of safety, than it is of salvation. 

Jesus Saves. 

He saves us from every worrying, ever again, about what can harm our bodies. When we look back on these days, from Eternity, we may very well question one another: "What were we so worried about?"

Genesis and Matthew XXV

 First published Wednesday, April 13, 2011

On that day YHWH cut a covenant with Avram, saying: I give this land to your seed . . . 

Whoever prefers father or mother over me is not worthy of me . . . 

I would love to see this kind of devotion to God demonstrated. That is, a parent making it very clear that they want their children to prefer God over themselves.

It would go like this:

Teenager: Dad, I am planning to become a teacher.

Father: That's great, son. Did you pray about this?

Or . . .

Teenager: Dad, I am thinking of entering the ministry . . .

Father: Praise God!

But rather, we tend to get more like the following:

Teenager: Dad, I am planning to become a teacher.

Father: You don't want to do that.

Or . . .

Teenager: Dad, I am thinking of entering the ministry . . .

Father: Well, you've got to be realistic. How will you afford to pay for your kids' college?

Parents should be aggressively moving their children towards Christian service. Too many parents believe their calling is to raise children that go to church, that are even leaders in the church, as long as they make good money! Because, after all, somebody has got to support God's work!

We need parents who, if they see their child praying and studying Scripture, going to church regularly, that if they wind up on some mission trip to a dangerous land, or engaging in urban ministries, or pursuing a rural ministry that does not pay much; that these parents rejoice, or at least accept that God is in control (He is anyway).

I marvel at the professing Christians who still do not seem to have grasped the simple act of faith, of believing that God is in control, especially when it comes to their children!

God works his plan in families, starting with Abraham's family. We are wanderers, seeking out a homeland that has been promised to us. We have land in our name, that we will occupy. It's all about our family, and our home, and our reunion with Father Abraham and all of his descendants. Nothing else matters.

<2021 Comment: This post got a little play in the comments>

T: Sunday school teacher to parent in teacher's class: What would you do if one of your children wanted to go to the mission field?

Adult Sunday School Student: I would do all I could to talk them out of it.

<And then, I responded>: That is a failure in our Sunday school programs. It also is a failure of parenting, from the prior generation.

Additional 2021 Commentary:

Society itself is in a very tenuous spot right now, in 2021. We no longer honor a One Who Goes it Alone. We now believe that, to go against the tide is an act of folly, not of courage. "Democracy" has become an idol. "Expertise" has become more highly prized than character, honor, or dignity. The film, "The Matrix" is anathema - - - a single person with exceptional insights into the hidden world dare not say "Something's not right." This person is a pariah. 

Parents are more motivated, than ever, for their children to stay with the herd, to play it safe, to go after the money.

Ignorance

 I know that you acted in ignorance . . . 

 - From Acts 3

<A note to the reader. For the past year, I have been re-posting blog entries from ten years ago, with comments from the present time. In 2011, my format was to read through both the Old and New Testaments, in parallel, a chapter a day, and reflect on some intersecting point between the two. As of today, I am running out of items that are ten years old, and will begin writing original reflections, in the present day. So, there are two formats: 1) Straight from the Lectionary readings, as I am doing today; or 2) The parallel Old and New Testament approach, which you have seen since about the first of this year (2021). 

Please help me out. Which format do you prefer? I will continue to re-post 2011 entries when they come up. But what would you like for the new content? Thanks!>

Peter, and the other Apostles, have started to preach in Jerusalem. It has only been a few weeks since they last saw the physical, resurrected Jesus among them. The events are more recent than the last snowfall is right now, to people in Southeastern Michigan, on April 8, 2021. They are on fire with the certainty of Christ being alive. They had the evidence we crave: He actually, personally, physically, truly, did all of these things, right there before them. From now on, faith will become more and more of a driving factor in the growth of the Church. 

Why, then, was there still this crowd of people, attacking this fledgling movement, based on unconditional love, healing, and personal freedom? Why were the people, so weary of being under the heals of Rome, and before that, Greece, Persia, and Assyria, so resistant to a movement that was based on freedom?

Why do people in 2021 resist freedom?

Why do they so easily follow the latest fad, the latest crowd, the latest GroupThink, the latest trend? Why did they aggressively oppose GMOs last year, while aggressively advocating RNA-oriented injections, into humans, in 2021? 

Why has a culture, that thrived so stupendously under freedom, free inquiry, and application of the Real Scientific Method; that created so much wealth and freedom . . . and safety . . . for so many, so quickly denounced all of that, in favor of dropping everything and doing what they're told?

Why do we mock and ridicule people, simply for asking questions, in a culture that was supposed to have highly prized such practices?

Peter hit the nail on the head. 

It must be ignorance. And ignorant people . . . simply . . . cannot . . . help themselves. 

Genesis and Matthew - Vacation Version: Families

 First Published Tuesday, April 5, 2011

He brought back his nephew Lot, together with Lot's possessions and the women and everyone else who had been captured.

 ". . . because I came to divide a man against his father and a daughter against her mother . . . "

Note: The blog was written while I was at DisneyWorld with the entire extended family of my parents. My Dad had paid for all of us to go during Spring Break. 

We have a difficult time squaring the idea of building family, and the effect of Christ's work upon families, which apparently is to divide them.

We know, as we shall see later, that Paul hated divisions among people. He called them a "heresy."

So I think that we need to be aware of the natural forces among us, which drive us apart. This happens most intensely to families. When you see it happening, realize what is going on. Next, know that divisions are going to be expected, especially in families. Satan loves family quarrels.

Finally, make your work focused on building up families. Christ draws and divides people. But that can't be helped. His work is integrally to restore the lost, to reconnect families; to rescue them from slavery, as Abram did his nephew Lot.

<2021 Comment. This post even generated some chatter. Here is the first remark, by Tim>:

Genesis and Matthew XXIV: When a Blog is Prophetic

 First Published on Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pray let there be no quarreling between me and you, between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brother men!

Brothers will hand each other over to be executed, and fathers their children.

Imagine, if you can, a most despicable scene:

Great trouble comes upon the world; the enemies of God are in charge. As throughout history, their solution to the problem of God is to kill His children. Soon, to save their own lives, people begin turning in their own family members.

I have two brothers, and a sister. They each have children.

My cousins on my mother's side, are like brothers and sisters to me. Those on my father's are, with me, part of a very strong line of family closeness. The Darrs love to be together.

And now, thanks to the Internet, I am reconnecting with second and third cousins. What a wonderful thing when you can find these relations, look at them and see the family resemblance! In a world of billions of people, your third, fourth, and fifth cousins are closer to you, than you know!

One of the benefits of being in a family is the sense of security and belonging.

Bullying is a big topic these days. Everybody wants to end it. But when I was a child, nobody messed with me, even bigger kids, because I was "Little Darr." My older brother, you see, was tough, and respected by his peers. He was "Darr" and I was "Little Darr." As a result, I became a little guy that the older, tougher kids would defend, even if my brother was not around.

And when we moved to Michigan, to a different school and community, where these relationships could not be formed, I benefited by having a sister that dated a member of one of the tough, local farm families. My future brother-in-law's younger brother was my age. He was big and tough, and because of my connection to him, I was once again spared any ill treatment.

By the time I was in high school, and the bigger kids that would protect me began to graduate, I had gotten so used to not being messed with, that I simply refused to be mistreated by anybody. One time, these pot-head guys tried to toss me into a dumpster. I swung my arms, kicked, and did whatever I could, to prevent this from happening. I think that I found a reserve of fierceness that I had never revealed before. I got away from them, and they never approached me again. I was Little Darr.

Imagine the idea of family closeness, belonging, and protection dying away in an age of persecution. It is unfathomable to me. What could be more hurtful than your own brother, or parent, or cousin, saying "I never saw him before", in order to save their own skin?

Abraham and Lot rose above all this. They said, "Nothing must cause us to become enemies. We're family!"

Cultivate your family closeness. I believe it is one of the major points of God's plan, from Genesis to Revelation.

2021 Reflection: These words from 2011 no longer need to be left to the imagination.