mercy

Citizenship

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 63; 149, Hosea 5:1-7, Acts 22:17-29, Luke 6:27-38

Despite Paul’s efforts to convince the Jews of Jerusalem that he too was a faithful Jew, many refused to believe him. The crowd was willing to listen as he told them the story of his conversion and encounter with Jesus, but as soon as he mentioned the Gentiles, they turned on him. Facts were irrelevant: his association with false accusations and foreigners fed the prejudices against him. Before the crowd could hurt him, Roman officials dragged him away to be interrogated by flogging. They abandoned that plan immediately when Paul revealed he was a Roman citizen by birth: flogging an uncondemned Roman carried serious penalties.

Paul’s persecution was unjust, regardless of his citizenship. We are sympathetic because we know his story, but do we understand what it says to us today? Citizenship – Roman or otherwise – is a human distinction, not a divine one. Christians are subject to nations which get to decide the civil rights of their citizens, but how we treat people – and how we advocate for the treatment of people – is not dictated by human law. We don’t abandon Christian principles about decency just because a government tells us we can – or must. To the contrary, the message of the gospel is incompatible with torture, discrimination, and other evils committed in the cause of nationalism. Mercy is not only for citizens. This is not a statement about immigration policy, but about our fundamental understanding of what it means when Jesus tells us to love our enemies.

“Enemies” aren’t simply people we fight in war; they are everyone we don’t especially want to love. Christ tells us loving those we like is nothing special – even sinners do that. We don’t have to like them, but he does instruct us to pray, feed, forgive, clothe, lend, and do good for them even when they hate and mistreat us … all the while expecting nothing in return. Difficult as it sounds, how we treat our enemies should look a lot like how we treat our friends. Citizenship in the Kingdom of God frees us from borders and obliges us to love.

Comfort: Loving our enemies gets easier with practice.

Challenge: Practice.

Prayer: Teach me, Lord, to love my enemies as Christ loves me. Amen.

Discussion: Whom do you find it difficult to love?

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Shaking the Dust

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 5; 145,Job 32:1-10, 32:19-33:1, 33:19-28, Acts 13:44-52, John 10:19-30

One of the toughest parts of being a Christian is knowing when to quit. Not quitting Christianity of course, but quitting the things we think Good Christians™ are supposed to do.

Christ teaches us to turn the other cheek, forgive someone seventy-times-seven times, loan money without expectation of repayment, and give away our extra coat to someone in need. How tempting it is to rationalize away these instructions, and quit them too soon for “her own good” or “holding him accountable.” This attitude puts a burden of worthiness on the recipient of our mercies, and mercies that cost us nothing – neither pride nor wealth – are no real mercy.

Or we can become Good Christian™ doormats and allow others to exploit our intention to follow Christ. We quit too late, and what we thought was mercy is revealed to be enabling behavior, or perhaps someone’s insistence we be kind (“I thought you were a Christian”) shames us into being dupes.

Being “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” is a difficult balancing act.

Paul and Barnabas provide a solid example of establishing proper boundaries. When the Jews in Antioch rejected them, the Apostles left town and shook the dust from their shoes – a symbolic gesture for giving up on a place and its people. They’d done as Christ asked, but weren’t about to waste time banging their heads (or feet) against a wall.

We are called to be servants to one another, but not the kind of servants who hand the master a glass of milk they know has gone sour just because he insists on it. Rather, we are called to be servants who know when to tell the truth even if it’s difficult, and when to put the needs of others ahead of our own. Sacrificial love is not self-destructive love: we give away the extra coat no matter how much we want it, but Christ did not ask us to give away our only coat and freeze to death. When we lay down our lives for our friends, we do not die for them, but live for them.

Comfort: Do what you can, not what you can’t.

Challenge: Few of us are social workers, so it can sometimes be hard to determine how much help is the right amount. Develop a list of trusted people you can call on to help you through such times.

Prayer: God of mercy, may my heart and actions be a reflection of your love. Amen.

Discussion: When have you felt good about serving someone?

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Burning Love

/ JJS / 1 Comment

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 51; 148, Joshua 4:19-5:1, 10-15, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 26:17-25

Who are your enemies and what are you doing about it?

According to Saint Paul, you should be stepping up to meet their needs. In Romans 12 he says “bless those who persecute you” and “do not repay anyone evil for evil” and goes on to quote Proverbs: “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Paul tells us: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

In the middle of all this he says: “never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God.” Think about that for a moment: when we avenge ourselves on our enemies, we crowd out God.

Do we really live as if we believe, as Paul teaches, evil will be overcome by good? Not in the sense of the good guys outgunning, outlawyering, or outthinking the bad guys, but in the sense of good showing mercy to evil? Whether we are advocating for public policy, going about the business of the church, or conducting our personal lives, Christians can’t – with any integrity – cry for punishment of wrongdoing without equal enthusiasm for doing good to those who wrong us. We’re not talking about giving aid and comfort to enemy forces so they can destroy us, but leaving room for God to mete out any wrath on His own terms and timeline. Does that sound potentially dangerous? Well, Christ doesn’t command us to be safe; he commands us to love.

Do we fear our enemy’s repentance? Jonah (of “and the whale” fame) didn’t want to offer mercy to the people of Nineveh because they were his enemies and he was invested in hating them. He was miserable when they repented. Shouldn’t our Christian desire be that even our enemies find salvation? When our vengeance preempts the Lord’s wrath, it also preempts His mercy. Woe to anyone who has to own up to either of those.

Who are your enemies?

Are they next door? Overseas? Thirsty? Hungry?

And what are you doing about it?

Comfort: Foregoing revenge does not make you weak; it makes you faithful.

Challenge: In the news an social media, watch for examples of either/or, us/them thinking and talk with friends about how to overcome such thinking.

Prayer: Gracious and Merciful God, grant me the patience to put aside my ego and self-righteousness so I may do good to those who persecute me. Amen.

Discussion: What wrongdoing, personally or generally, do you have trouble forgiving?

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Whatsoever

/ JJS / 1 Comment

WhatsoeverYouDo

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 89:1-18; 147:1-11, Joshua 3:1-13, Romans 11:25-36, Matthew 25:31-46

In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, a king judges and divides all the nations of the world – blessed sheep on his right hand and accursed goats on his left. To the sheep he says: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” The sheep ask when they did these things for him, and he explains whenever they did it for the least of his brothers, they did it for him. How we understand this message hinges on how we understand Jesus’s use of “brothers.”

Many hear a call to social justice, to consider all who are in need the brothers (and sisters) of Christ. Scripture – in both Old and New Testament passages – certainly calls us to show mercy and hospitality to the poor and marginalized, so this reading seems in character. Others focus on how “brother” is used elsewhere in Matthew, and associate it with “follower.” Under this interpretation, the story is about the consequences of how people receive specifically the disciples and – by extension – preachers of the Gospel. The second camp is concerned the first camp promotes a social gospel reducing salvation to a list of specific good works. The first camp calls this an oversimplification of their position and claims those who truly receive Christ respond to those in need.

Between these camps lies the beauty of parables, which are open to interpretation. Not to say we can impose whatever meaning suits our current whim, or that Jesus’s intent is unimportant, but that more than one aspect of the truth can be revealed. Is it not vital to welcome the Gospel and aid its bearers? And once we do so, will we not view our relationship to “the least” in a new light that inspires us to serve them? Our relationship to the Gospel is inseparable from our relationship to the world.

Comfort: You can’t go wrong welcoming the Gospel and serving the needy.

Challenge: Our fellow Christians, who have different understandings of the Gospel than we do, can be the hardest not to judge. Make it a point this week to engage such people in conversation, with the intent only of understanding, not persuading.

Prayer: Gracious and Merciful God, grant me the patience and humility to understand the lessons of scripture. Amen.

Discussion: Is there one interpretation of this parable you prefer over the other? Is it the same one you feel is more “authentic?”

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Come to the Banquet

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 143; 147:12-20, Numbers 23:11-26, Romans 8:1-11, Matthew 22:1-14

After the Parable of the Husbandmen, Matthew presents us the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. In the first parable, a landowner hired tenants to farm his vineyard. When he sent his servants and son to collect, the tenants killed them. The landowner killed the tenants and replaced them with more suitable staff.

In the second parable, a king prepares a wedding banquet for his son. He sends servants to gather the invited guests, but the guests refuse to come. He sends more servants, who share details about the sumptuous feast, but the guests seize, mistreat, and kill them. After the king’s army destroys those who rejected him, he sends more servants to invite anyone they can find, until the wedding hall is filled. One guest is inexplicably without wedding clothes, and the king throws him out.

We could interpret these parables as lessons about a harsh God, but these stories – especially read back-to-back without the artificial separation of chapters – say something more poignant. In both parables, the God figure generously invites people to participate in his abundance. The people not only repeatedly reject his offers, they kill his true servants. More than simple disobedience, or even indifference, the rejection is a deep betrayal. These lessons say God’s default attitude toward us is one of eager welcome, and that trying his patience to the breaking point takes some serious effort.

When the king invites the second group of guests to the banquet, he makes no distinction between good and bad. The guest who rejects the wedding clothes (which would have been provided by the king) has already been forgiven, and still chooses to dishonor his benefactor. When we accept the invitation to God’s banquet, Christ has already wiped the slate for us prior to our arrival, but we would be foolish to take it for granted.

No matter what harsh teachings you may hear, remember God does not eagerly pounce on your failure, but desires you to enjoy life in his abundance. It is not something we can win or that God capriciously takes from us, but it is ours to lose.

Comfort: God is rooting for you to accept Him.

Challenge: Some people are determined to reject God. We are still to love them.

Prayer: Generous God, thank your for the life of abundance you freely offer. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever felt like rejecting God? What did you do?

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