Category: Faith

The first reading today is from Numbers 21:4-9.

So does God send snakes to punish the people for complaining?

Our title for this book, “Numbers,” comes from a census that is taken at the start of the book (Chapters 1, 3, & 4), but the Hebrew title is a better description on what this book is about. The book is bemidbar, “In the Wilderness.” The story is about Israel’s journey from Mt. Sinai to the Promise Land, and that’s where this bronze serpent appears, in the middle of the wilderness.

The people are impatient and cranky. They’re not sure if they can trust that God knows what God is doing. They complain about having no food (even though there is plenty of ‘manna’ available) and that the food they have is awful. And after the complaint comes snakes. The text doesn’t explicitly say that God sends the snakes because of their complaining but the people believe as much. They ask Moses to bring their prayer and sorrow to God. Moses does and God responds in a very odd way. Rather than taking the snakes away, Moses is instructed to make a bronze serpent that, when looked at, will heal and keep them safe. The snakes are in the grass and the threat of their attack is all around. Yet, by looking at an image of their problems, the people will live.

We tend to not see God as dangerous but, in our text and throughout Scripture, God is very dangerous indeed. God is completely free to do what God wants. And, in that freedom, God is dangerous. A God that we have figured out is a God that is domesticated, comfortable, and controllable. But that isn’t a God who will bring people out of slavery, lead people through the wilderness, and drag people, kicking and screaming, into the promised land. A dangerous God is a God who moves and loves. A dangerous God is willing to send Jesus into the world to die on a Cross. A dangerous God is a God who brings salvation, love, and mercy in unexpected ways. The serpents in our lives, swirling at our feet and in our souls, are never far from us. But God is with us, standing in the middle of our serpents, and, in a completely free and dangerous way, offering us a way to new life.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 3/15/2015.

The first reading today is from Exodus 20:1-17.

A few months ago, I brought this text to our Confirmands, asking them what they think when they hear the word “commandment.” And they said what is usually said: commandments sound a lot like laws or rules. The Ten Commandments sound like a short list of can’ts. Now we can agree that these can’ts are pretty solid and are actions we shouldn’t take. But by seeing the commandments as can’ts, we lose sight of God’s “can.” God feels like a god who cares only about rules and maybe keeping a detailed record of our behavior on some giant spreadsheet, adding up our failures and mistakes. A God who is only about can’ts is going to be a God that keeps us from doing anything because we’re afraid of what rule we might be breaking.

But I believe that verse 2 is really the point of the Ten Commandments. God reminds Moses and the people of Israel that God brought them out of Egypt, freeing them from slavery. Their prior existence was constrained. They were the property of others, with no opportunities to live in free and full relationships with each other and with God. God is reminding the people of Israel that they’re now starting on a new chapter in their lives. No longer are they people held captive by others; they are now embarking on a new journey of being God’s people. They’re building from scratch a new community and a new life. God isn’t giving the people of Israel rules just to tell them what they’re not to do. God is giving these commandments to the people of Israel to tell us this is how you live a free life. These commandments are about living in community with others. Their prior lives were lives that were limited. Now, opportunities abound. God is calling them into a new community knowing that their lives will be full when they are helping others thrive.

Jesus famously summed up the commandments in this way: they’re about loving God and loving our neighbors. Jesus didn’t see the commandments as can’ts; he saw them as what they bring forth—love. Jesus knew that when his friends, family, and neighbors thrived, he himself thrived as well. The commandments are an invitation to help us find ways to help our neighbors thrive because it’s through our relation with each other that God’s love is seen, felt, and made known.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 3/8/2015.

Two folks at CLC recently asked about “the good thief” in Luke 23:39-43. Jesus, on the cross, is surrounded by two crucified criminals (or thieves). One joins with the Roman soldiers, mocking Jesus. The good thief does the opposite. He recognizes Jesus’ innocence and asks for Jesus to remember him when “you come into your kingdom.” Jesus tells this criminal that, today, he will join Jesus in Paradise.

But did Jesus really mean “today?” And how does that work when we assert in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus will return “to judge the living and the dead?” Did the thief go to heaven or is he somewhere else, waiting to be judged? And hidden under this question is another one: when we die, do we go to heaven right away or will we wait for some judgment in the future?

One way to think about this conversation between Luke and the Creed is about the experience of time. We tend to experience time in a very linear way. Friday is followed by Saturday, our 20th year is followed by our 21st, and grade 11 is followed by grade 12. Much of our lives follow a step-by-step process and we experience time in that way. We live a linear experience of history.

The episode with the good thief expresses is an event caught in history. Jesus and the thief are at the end of their lives. This conversation is the last one that Jesus will have with another person before his resurrection. The good thief expresses a sudden understanding that Jesus is innocent and that he has a kingdom in heaven. He asks to be remembered by this king when Jesus dies and Jesus’s promises even more. Jesus promises this thief a relationship with Jesus in the fullest expression of heaven that there can possibly be: complete communion with God forever. The Creed also asserts this experience of time for Jesus is described as returning, in the future, to cast some final judgment, and unite earth and heaven forever.

So we can see that Luke knows that we live lives caught in linear history. But he also asserts that God doesn’t because, for Luke, everything after Jesus’ death is a unified and timeless event. It’s important to know that Acts is part 2 of the Luke story as was written by the same author. We see in both texts Jesus ascending multiple times and he’s continually interacting with the apostles’ at different places at almost the exact same time. Jesus and God are not bounded by time or our experiences of time. We are still living life in a linear way but God and Jesus are not. Jesus, instead, is interrupting our linear experience of time by proclaiming promises that invert our step-by-step experience of life. When we are claimed in our baptism, God isn’t waiting for us to take a few steps before claiming us as God’s own. No, God interrupts and intervenes immediately and asserts God’s love and grace for us. God’s grace isn’t something we work for; it’s something that is given. And this grace, and love, is timeless.

I believe the Creed asserts this as well. Although we can read that line about future judgment in a linear way, I hear a promise for today. Like Luke, we’re in the time after Jesus’ death. We’re in this wild time where Jesus’ promises, rather than our experiences of time, are absolute. Our life is no longer defined by the steps we take or the ladder we try to take to God. Instead, our life is defined by the promises God makes through Jesus. Jesus told that thief that today, he will experience paradise, because Jesus’s journey through the Cross is a victory offered to all. The Creed promises that God is in control. By asserting that Jesus will return, we trust that we are not journeying through our lives alone or in isolation. We are, instead, wrapped up in a journey where God’s love and grace will finally win. The Creed isn’t contradicting Jesus’s words. It is, instead, supporting them. It is confessing that we place our ultimate trust in God through Jesus. What Jesus says, goes. Jesus promised that thief paradise and relationship with him on that literal day. Jesus promises us paradise and relationship today as well. Jesus’ authority and mercy is the timeless truth that we are caught up in. The good thief story isn’t really about this criminal’s sudden change of heart. It is, instead, a story about Jesus’ goodness and love. Jesus came to set free the oppressed and he does that for all of us – including that thief.

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*The background for this comes from Raymond Brown’s wonderful two volume work: The Death of the Messiah. It’s a great overview of Jesus’ death and a great introduction to a massive amount of scholarly research. I recommend it if you’re looking for something really meaty and academic to start your deep journey into the passion narrative of Jesus.

The first reading today is from Genesis 17:1-7,15-16.

Our first reading continues our look at God’s covenants. Last week, we saw the covenant God made with Noah and all creation. Today, we witness the covenant God makes with Abram and Sarai. Plucked by God from their native land in what is now Iraq, Abram and Sarai made their home in the land around Israel. After faithfully living where God sent them, Abram and Sarai again meet with God. And here, God makes a covenant not only with Abram and Sarai but with their descendants. God’s promises aren’t limited in scope. They carry with them this timeless and eternal quality that transcends our very individual, and limited, experience of history.

The covenant we see today also expands on what I’m calling God’s invitation. The covenant God made after Noah’s Flood is a promise that God will never destroy the earth again. God, in a sense, limits God’s ability to respond to injustice. God will have to handle our acts of injustice and sin in a new way. And one way God does this is through expanding our part of that handling of injustice by expanding our sense of relationships. The covenant God establishes with Abram and Sarai is giant. Like an exponential explosion, each generation creates an ever-growing number of relationships. Not only are more and more people created but the sheer number of relationships formed by these people also grows. God’s covenant impacts not only people but the relationships people form through conversation, communication, and interaction. The wideness of God’s promise impacts even our most mundane interactions with each other.

Last Sunday, the students in Confirmation Class wanted to clarify who exactly do we mean when we say “neighbor?” Are we really only thinking about the people immediately next door to where we live or just the people sitting next to us in the pews? The scope of God’s covenant with Abram and Sarai shows that our neighbors are numerous. God doesn’t only care about a few of our relationships; God cares about all of them. It’s through relationships that God deals with the problem of our sin, including Jesus’ relationship with us through the Cross.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 3/1/2015.

The first reading is Deuteronomy 18:15-20.

Have you ever met a prophet?

I’ll admit that in our tradition, prophet is a scary word. We tend to not see them or identify them as people living among us. Other Christian denominations and traditions embrace the prophet identity but we don’t. They can make Lutherans in Europe and the United States uneasy since prophets, by definition, are an odd bunch. We tend to “other” them, see them as outsiders that belong to the past. Even people we might identify as prophets, say The Rev. Dr. Martin Lutheran King, Jr., we hesitate to label them fully. There is something about prophets that make us uncomfortable.

In our Deuteronomy text today, the people of Israel are asking Moses a very serious question. They want to know who they should listen to once Moses dies. Moses, the prophet that all other prophets are based on, speaks for God. He has met God, talked to God, and even debated with God. When Moses dies, then, who should the people listen to? How can the community know that there is someone in their community who is truly connected with God? The people of Israel are concerned about what to do when guidance from God is needed. They want to know who they can turn to when they need help.

This text offers some advice but this isn’t an easy question. Even in our own personal lives, it can be difficult to hear when God is speaking to us. We might look around at the person who obviously seems to be speaking for God. But there’s no guarantee that they are serving God. In our everyday lives, when we’re seeking counsel, help, and hope, just who do we turn to?

We turn to Jesus. The prophets in our midst are always prodding us, poking us, and directing us to Jesus. They do not ask for rewards nor do they only speak comforting words that make us feel better about ourselves. The prophets are always bringing us to the foot of the Cross, to witness to our crucified savior, whose arms are open to all. Prophets bring people to Jesus and push them away from themselves. They are outsiders because God has called them to push others into the arms of God. That’s where God wants us. That’s where we belong. And prophets exist to steer us into God’s love.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/1/2015.