WORSHIP, PEACE, AND A PURPOSEFUL LIFE

The peace we experience in life is dependent upon what we worship; and, we are always worshiping something.  The origin of the English word “worship” goes back to concept of attributing worth to something.  It is used to translate various biblical Hebrew and Greek words which have different meanings, but which perhaps ultimately capture the same disposition of the heart.  For example, the Hebrew word chavah is about bowing down to something.  It is sometimes found in parallel to the Hebrew kabad, which means “to honor.”  That to which we give honor and to which we figuratively bow down is that to which we attribute worth.  That is the problem.

Many of my students say they are lonely and anxious.  I do not minimize what they feel, and I do not want to oversimplify their situation.  I think, though, that those feelings may be symptomatic of a deeper issue.  Many of my students do not have, or cannot articulate, what would make life purposeful and meaningful for them.  Taking a step further for them, myself, and all of us, I believe that what we worship is directly related to where we seek to find meaning and peace.  All of us are constantly engaged in worshiping.

I know it is cliché to speak about the problem of striving for power, fame, wealth, etc., but what is commonplace is often true.  Innately, I need some sense of security, a sense of peace and rest; and I strive to find that in something about myself or in what I can do.  That is worship, attributing worth to myself and/or what I seek.  It is also idolatrous worship.  One biblical image for idolatry is seeking to find a secure footing in life on that which is ephemeral, fleeting, vaporous.  All but One is ephemeral.

Note this, Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone.  You must love Yahweh your God with your whole inner being, and with all your vitality, and with all your strength. (Deut. 6:4-5)

When I worship (bow to, honor, serve, etc.) God, I rest my life on the One secure foundation.  The result is a purposeful and meaningful life accompanied by a sense of peace.

Lord, may I only worship you.  Amen

JESUS IS NOT THE SOLUTION -- THE SCANDAL OF THE INCARNATION

I dislike billboard slogans like, “Jesus is the solution” of “God will fix your problems.”  What sorry, cheap theology!  As we are coming up to Advent in a little over a week, I am thinking about the scandal of the Incarnation.

“…who being the expression of God’ essence… emptied himself and took expression as a slave, becoming in appearance human… humiliated himself, being obedient up through death, the death of a cross” (Phil 2:6-8)

No one in their imagination creates a suffering, humiliated god who makes himself a slave.  Particularly charlatan Christians and prosperity preachers want nothing to do with a god who willfully puts himself at the bottom of human ranking.  They preach a god who makes people (themselves) rich and makes all one’s problems magically vanish.

That is not Jesus.  Jesus understands suffering and humiliation.  Jesus entered the chaos of human existence.  He does not remove it.  However, he still enters it.  As the Risen-Incarnate Jesus, he embraces us and walks with us through the brutal side life.  In creation, God breathed order into the midst of chaos and brought about life that exists within chaos (Gen 1).  In the same way Jesus breathes order and Life into the midst of the chaos of our lives.

I need to clarify that I need no sympathy.  My life has been easier than over 99% of the world’s population.  Still, I know that at those times of chaos, Jesus was there.  Also, I tend to believe beneath our active imaginations that would create a god who is above it all, we essentially long for One who comes down to us.  I do.

The Incarnation is a glorious scandal!

Lord, help me this coming Advent season to evermore appreciate your Incarnation.  Amen.

FAVORITE JESUS STORY: A WOMAN OUT-ARGUES JESUS

 When you are asked about your favorite Jesus story, what is it?  I have an answer that most people do not expect.  It is the only time a person tops Jesus in an encounter: the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7:24 – 30.

Background:
First, this story seems deliberately juxtaposed to the proceeding story of 7:1 – 23 and invites a comparison.  The two stories share: the motif of that which is “inside” a person, a comprehension (or lack) of understanding Jesus rabbinic style of teaching through analogies, a disposition of reception (or lack) of Jesus person and authority, and the apposition of male, Jewish, Israelite teachers and disciples versus an unclean, non-Jewish, woman from outside Israel whose daughter is possessed.  Note that in the first story not even Jesus’ disciples understand his point about that which is within a people makes them “unclean.”
Second, I see Jesus’ encounters with people as often demonstrating what what would be God “testing” his people in the OT.  Such a test is not for a grade or condemnation.  Rather, it brings the heart of the person out in the open, as in the story about the rich young man (Mark 10:17 – 22).  In the first story, the hearts of the pharisees, the crowd, and his disciples are “without understanding” (18).

Our text:
When this woman, who is the antithesis of Jesus’ audience in the first story asks for help, Jesus responds with an analogy,

“Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the house dogs” (27).

Whew!  Jesus not only rejected her plea, he also called the woman a dog!  However, she does not walk away in anger and shame.  The text says she “answered” Jesus.  She accepts the slur with humility and comes back with a rabbinic-type argument that not only works with Jesus’ analogy and counters his argument, but also recognizes Jesus’ identity,

“Lord (kurios), even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” (28)
[Note: In Mark, "Lord"/kurios is used of God/Yahweh and of Jesus.*]

Wow.  I can think of no other encounter that Jesus has in the Gospels in which a person defeats his argument.  And Jesus loves it, “Because of this reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”^  I am pretty sure that Jesus said that with a big grin.  Jesus’ sharp reply tested her.  It brought to the surface what I believe Jesus knew was there: humility and faith in him.

Application:
A couple of points strike home to me.  The first is the rather dreadful recognition that Jesus absolutely knows my heart.  I cannot project, deflect, dissemble, or any way escape his penetrating gaze.  I think the woman recognized that gaze, such that she humbled herself and accepted being called a dog.  The second point is also troubling, but good.  I should welcome the “tests” that reveal my heart.  They are not there for Jesus’ sake.  He already knows.  They are there for my sake, so that I might more fully embrace him as Lord.
May it be so, Lord, Amen.

*There are two apparent exceptions to this point.  “Lord” can be used of a master like a landowner.  Jesus uses the term twice this way in two parables (12:9 and 13:35) but makes it clear in the contexts that the master is used as an analogy to God (12:10 – 11 and 13:32 – 37).

^NET commentary notes: “This is the only miracle mentioned in Mark that Jesus performed at a distance without ever having seen the afflicted person, or issuing some sort of audible command.”

THERE IS ONE WHO IS GOOD: COMPARING MYSELF TO OTHERS

A thought from Richard Rohr caught my attention today, “We stop seeking our own worthiness and we begin to know the gift of God.”¹  Rohr, here, was reflecting on the solution to the problem that first must be identified.

I have been thinking about how I judge others in order to make myself feel more important.  It is easy.  For example, I consider myself a considerate driver.  I signal and stop at stop signs, etc.  However, I do not ignore others who do not.  Rather, I feel riled up and consider them bums.  Why do I do that?  Paul brings me a step closer to understanding why.  In a context about sin, not being tempted, and carrying the burden of others, he says (loosely translated):

“If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Let each one evaluate his own actions.  Only then, regarding himself alone and not regarding another person, can he have a ground for satisfaction” (Gal 6:3-4).

Another text comes to mind.  When a person came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he was asking how he could merit being in the Presence of God (see Mark 10:17 – 22).²  Jesus destroys that way of thinking by replying, “No one is good, except God alone” (v. 18).  In a following discussion with his disciples, Jesus shocked them by telling them that being saved is humanly impossible (10:24-27).  I am like that person.  Why?

The Problem: First, it seems to me that innately all people at the very least conceive of some “Ideal” and realize we do not measure up it.  As Jesus implied, there is only One who is good, and that is not me.  I find myself floundering in life on that inadequacy.  As Paul implied, we cannot consider ourselves something when we are really nothing.  Being “a nothing” is my innate human condition.  I try to self-measure up.  Like the man with Jesus, I look at what I think my merits are.  Like Paul’s point, I try to self-measure up by comparing myself to others.  It can be rather ridiculous.  For example, if I am overweight but do not smoke, I can take pride in myself and judge my neighbor for being a smoker.  At the time, she may be pleased about herself and judging me for being overweight.  This ingrained insecurity of our own unworthiness manifests itself as a threat to those around us.  We seek self-worth” in various earthly ways: popularity, power, wealth, sexual conquests, etc.  It is the foundation for our tribalism by which exclude the worth of others.  It is the foundation of the evil we perpetuate on others.  That is the problem behind Rohr’s above solution.

The Solution: When I entrust myself to the divine gift of a relationship with God in Jesus, I can stop seeking my own worthiness.  After all, it is a futile pursuit.  When I fully realize and accept that there is One who is Good, and unaccountably that One accepts me as worthy of a relationship, then the motivation for striving for self-worth is removed.  The compulsion to compare myself with others favorably or unfavorably has no basis to exist.

Lord, in my head I know that the foundation of my life is the relationship with you that you have graciously granted.  In practice, though, my life is still full of insecurity and the desire for self-worth that are destructive impulses.  Empower me by your Presence through the Holy Spirit to “put to death” that “old man” and to live in the “new person” I am in relationship with you.³

1) Richard Rohn Daily Meditation from 11/6/23, of which I saw a summary.

2) There is more to notice about how Jesus deals with this person.  In brief, Jesus knows that the man sees himself as righteous.  Jesus cleverly lists only part of the 10 Commandments and the man insists he has kept them.  But the commands that Jesus had left out, the commands about putting God first, Jesus implicitly brings into play by asking the man to give up all he has and to follow him.  The man cannot do so; he does not put God first.

3) I am combining phrases from concepts of Paul from Romans 8:9 – 17 and Colossians 3:5 – 14 about living a new life in Christ.

SALVATION: THE FUTURE AND PERSONAL CHANGE IS NOW

Yesterday, I read a Richard Rohr “Daily Meditation” that had a devotional thought by Diana Butler Ross, who gave a reflection on the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1 – 10).  She observed that if Zacchaeus had invited Jesus to his house, then a tax collector would have been honoring Jesus.  Instead, Jesus turned customs upside down and honored Zacchaeus when he invited himself to abide/remain in Zacchaeus’s house.  Of course, even associating himself with Zacchaeus caused the crowd to complain (see Lk 5:30; 15:2).  What struck me, though, was some of the repeated words/threads in this episode, particularly in Jesus’ words.

Here are the threads:  First, Zacchaeus was “seeking” (zateo) to see Jesus.  That seems innocuous enough, except that “seeking” God is a loaded theological motif in the OT and, for example, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Then Jesus told Zacchaeus to come down quickly, because: “today (sameron) it is necessary (dei) for me to abide in your house (oikos).”  What exactly was Jesus saying?  Dei can be used with a range of nuances for urgency, necessity, internal or external compulsion, appropriateness, etc.  We know that Zacchaeus became a changed man, but what was Jesus’ compulsion?  The episode ends with Jesus repeating some of these terms, saying, “Today (sameron) salvation has come to this house (oikos), since he too is son of Abraham, because the Son of Man came to seek (zateo) and to save the one perishing.”

Pulling the threads together:  “Today” (sameron) may be used in a general way, but there are places in Luke where it has theological weight (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; maybe 13:32 – 33: 23:43).  For example, the angels announce to the shepherds, “Today (sameron) a Savior has been born” (2:11); and, when Jesus inaugurated his preaching ministry, he read from a messianic text in Isaiah (61:1 – 2) and said, “Today (sameron) this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21).  The significance of “today” in these texts and Luke 19:5 and 9 is that it is eschatological (about the end time): the end of time has irrupted into the present time.  That is to say, the future era of God’s salvation engulfs the present time in the Person of Jesus.  As a result, the Zacchaeus story illustrates salvation history.  Jesus has come with the “compulsion”/mission to bring future salvation into a present reality in the lives of people as he did in the radical, life-changing experience of Zacchaeus.

Back to Zacchaeus:  Zacchaeus was a despised tax collector, and that is a key part of the story.  In this very social-stratified, honor-shame culture, Jesus gave equal offense to everyone; that is, Jesus associated himself not just with a tax collector, but with every people group that some other group detested.  It seems to me that this, too, is what it means to live in the eschatological age today – to cross all dividing lines as Jesus did.

Lord, help me, like Zacchaeus, to seek to see you so that today, and each and every day, I might participate in your time-collapsing salvation and live today as in the age to come; and help me, like Jesus, that I might be willing to cross all human barriers to reach out to others.  Amen.

PANENTHISM, MYSTICS, AND PRAYER

There is an aspect of panentheism that is appealing and satisfying to me.  It harmonizes with the experience of Christian “mystics” throughout the centuries.

Definitions: Panentheism is not pantheism.  Pantheism, of which there are varieties, basically sees the whole of the universe monistically as “God,” all is One.  At the other end, so-called “classical theism” makes a sharp dualistic separation between God and the world – and, for that matter, between mind/soul and the body.  This leads, for example, to a child’s straightforward question, which generally receives simplistic answers, “How can God be everywhere and have come as Jesus?”  Or to an adult’s question, “Why, when my Christian mentor’s brain because diseased, did his mind/soul allow him to commit suicide?”
Christian panentheism rides between these two polaristic views.  Since it is the Breath/Spirit of that creatively brings order into chaos and maintains our cosmos (creation theology of Genesis 1), then somehow the universe is “of God” but not the whole of God.  The cosmos may be temporal, but God eternal.  God may know all, but the course of life may be open and not deterministically closed.  My existence is physically embodied in various ways within this cosmos – we are quite literally star dust -- but I can still have communion with God who is beyond that physicality.  Etc.  Important reflections abound, but I want to get back to prayer/communion with God.

Prayer:  Christian mystics seem intuitively to understand this kind of panentheism.  They close their eyes and are aware of the Presence of God.  They open their eyes and aware of the Presence of God.  They see the beauty of the natural world and of the people around them and they rejoice in the Presence of their Creator.  They see the ugliness of natural disasters and bitter people, and they rest in the Presence of the brokenness of Jesus.  This panentheistic vision of God allows them to serve and minister in all situations.  I am reminded of a devotional reading from last week that quoted a Christian “mystic” Mechthild of Magdeburg.  As she was dying, blind, physically helpless, and no longer feeling the Presence of God, she (dictating prayers) thanks God for her powerlessness and closes with a dialogue between soul and body:

Then we shall no longer complain.
Then everything that God has done with us
Will suit us just fine,
If you will now only stand fast
And keep hold of sweet hope.*

Lord, help me to grow in total communion with you, seeing your Presence within all things and all people so that I grow in thankfulness to you and service to all.  Amen.

*Mechthild, The Flowing Light of the Godhead 7.65, trans. Frank Tobin (New York: Paulist Press, 1998), 336.  Taken from Richard Rohr Daily Meditation, 10/27/23.