Our Journey to the Cross Begins

Lent is an important part of our journey. Each step we take has been walked at one time in the gospels. We know that this our spiritual journey begins in the desert and leads us to the cross and to a tomb and “ends” with Easter, where our journey to God begins again. In our readings for next Sunday, (Matthew 4:1-11), the first Sunday in Lent, we are told that “Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” What do these temptations or tests mean to us in our lives today? There are questions we answer with our lips, and those we answer with our lives.

I have been fortunate to have travelled fairly extensively in my life, both for business and pleasure. Admittedly travelling is one of my passions, although in recent years I am more selective about my destination with regard to the risk to benefit associated with where and why I am travelling. Is the payoff worth the sacrifice?

Over the years I have observed that there are two types of journeymen. I would categorize these as being either tourists or travelers. The tourist travels through his journey in comfort, ensuring that his experiences are familiar and safe. He makes sure that he takes “his stuff” from back home with him. There are many vendors along the way who, for a price, would be willing to accommodate the tourist’s expectations and satisfy his needs, most of which are likely superficial and soon forgotten when he returns home armed with photos, souvenirs, and pleasant memories.

On the other hand, a traveler is one whose goal is to enjoy the journey as part of a total experience in which the destination is just a part of a continuum. He travels to open his mind and spirit to new experiences and perhaps delve into the unknown in the hope that something new will learned and be revealed. The difference between the traveler and the tourist is that the traveler becomes the experience while the tourist rides on the outside and looks in.

A few months ago, we decided to take a trip to the Galapagos Islands; our primary goal was to savor the new learning experience as an expedition and be as totally involved as circumstances would permit. This required us to push our bodies safely beyond their accustomed limits, and leave our “comfort zones.” There were no cell phones, internet or TV and while our accommodations were relatively sparse, they were satisfactory. This was a far cry from the way we usually travelled, and yet…it was one of the most exhilarating trips I’ve ever taken as we were living in the experience, absorbed by the journey… as an expedition, completely focused on the experience and unencumbered by distractions. The trip was one of personal transformation in which new perspectives on life and interests were born and still linger not just as memories but as building blocks for what might lie ahead.

Jesus’ time in the desert somehow relates to our journey as travelers, not just tourists. He leaves his comfort zone to prepare himself for what would was to come, while totally immersed and resisting anything that get in the way of his quest. So, as we begin Lent this Wednesday and follow Jesus into the desert, we are reminded that the purpose of our existence is to walk with Jesus on his journey and live in his experience and know the presence of God in our lives. There is a seed of desire in each of us, a fundamental motivation, a basic longing for the fulfillment of that purpose. Augustine tells us that ‘Thou has made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.’ Accordingly, we are not only born with God at our center, but we are born with a heart full desire of for God. This yearning is our fundamental motive force; it is the human spirit. It is the energy behind everything we seek and aspire to. And if indeed we are in intimate union with God in the center, then the soul’s desire is God’s desire. The soul’s love for God is God’s love for the soul. (Gerald May, Dark Night of the Soul)

Are you not more important than they?

 

 

In reading Jesus’ reference to “serving two masters” in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 6: 24-34), I am reminded that we can only live in the present, that’s all we are given, and that when we tend to dwell on the past, for all it was, and perhaps never was, we live in a world of “if only” and are often depressed. We don’t live there anymore. Likewise, when we live in the future of what might be, will be, never be, we find ourselves in a perpetual state of apprehension and “anxiety.” We don’t live in the future. We only live in the present, this very moment. 

It seems to me that “anxiety” and “serving two masters” are the same in that they create the same inner turmoil characterized by being divided within oneself. An anxious person is often tossed to and fro and paralyzed by indecision. Fear of some bad outcome that likely will never occur can virtually paralyze those who are anxious. 

Who is the master of our life? Our “master” is that which governs our thoughts; controls desires of the heart, and shapes the values we choose to live by. We can be ruled by many different material things…the love of money or possessions; the lure of status; the glamor of wealth and prestige…all of which can be an unhealthy driving forces of unruly passion and attachments. 

Jesus tells us that we have a choice, either God or “mammon,” defined as greed and excessive materialism…and cites a beautiful image in nature to make his point: Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? 

Jesus admonishes us to put away anxiety and preoccupation with material things and put God first in our lives. God knows our needs even before we do or even ask, and he gives generously to those who trust in him.

Co-creating life’s purpose means being guided by your heart, noticing, listening and making it up as you go, all the while trusting the universe, having faith in God. In the days, weeks, years ahead, you will know when adjustments need to be made. The important thing is to begin. Trust that by saying yes to the invitation to participate, doors will open and signs will guide your way. (Michael Dowd, Thank God for Evolution)

When we live God-centered lives in the way of Jesus we come to know the peace that defies all understanding

Love Your Enemies

The teachings of Jesus and the example set by Mahatma Gandhi were the models that inspired Martin Luther King Jr.'s practice of non-violence as a means of effective protest.  Just as Jesus reinterpreted the biblical laws for the audience and culture of his day, King implemented modern practice their relevance for him and his contemporary audience. For King and others, Jesus' words were not meant to be taken literally as he understood their intent, and while not all Christians have followed his example, King replaced a natural inclination to retaliate with temperance and love.

Jesus’s intent in his own words were not to abandon God's Law handed down to Moses, but rather re-interpret them in light of contemporary realities. This did not lessen the challenge of ancient biblical texts for modern society as Jesus' own life was their incarnate fulfillment made relevant by his words and his behavior. (Matthew 5:38-48)

It was common practice to retaliate for harm done whether intentional and unintentional. This was supported by Old Testament readings and by the ancient Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, "an eye for an eye."  But Jesus admonishes followers not to oppose the evil doer violently but resist and “turn the other cheek.” Jesus alternative strategy was intended to overcome evil with good which had a paradoxical effect in that what was perceived as weakness, humiliated and shamed those in power. Many of us old enough to remember the reaction to Dr. King’s behavior by those “in power” who violently opposed him, recall how the oppressor who embodied the love of power was overcome by the power of love.

Loving unconditionally and forgiving one's enemy are not just models for our behavior but on a broader scale, representative of the perfection of God and his divine love.  As such, Jesus provides an intriguing image to capture the meaning of this quality of God and one that God's followers should strive to emulate. As a tree provides shade for all who sit below, God provides for the just and the unjust, and so we must treat others without bias whether "good" or "evil.

 

The Power of Love vs. the Love of Power

 

In the Bible, God’s grace, God’s gift of life and love and mercy, always precede any demands. This is true from the Ten Commandments to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to the Apostles’ teachings. Grace always precedes demand. The point is that we who have experienced amazing grace in the gifts of love and new life and community are to reflect that grace in the way we relate to others. The whole point of God’s outpouring of grace in the first place is to shape us into the people we we’re meant to be from the beginning. In the words of the pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “when we ignore the demand for heartfelt obedience to God’s commands, we turn all that God has done for us into ‘cheap grace.’” (Matthew 5:13-37) 

We’re told that Martin Luther originally had a hard time trying to live up to the demands of the God of the Old Testament—even literally beating himself at times. Finally he discovered that salvation was by grace alone, by faith alone. Through the lens of that discovery, he began to view the New Testament as “gospel” and the demands of the Hebrew Bible as “law.” For Luther, it was crucial that Jesus had come to set us free from the “law.” And he “wrote” this perspective into his translation of the Bible by placing books he didn’t care for at the end. But Luther wasn’t the first or the last to try to “edit” the Bible. I think the real problem for us is that what they did on paper, we do in fact. We simply omit those portions of the Bible from actual use. I think this tends to apply especially to the “law” with its demands. 

Jesus opens the “Sermon on the Mount” with the beatitudes, which while not really instructions for living, are a declaration of the grace that God is pouring out on all people through Jesus Christ. They are a more detailed announcement of the heart of Jesus’ message: the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If you wonder what the kingdom of heaven is about, look at the beatitudes. It means blessing and peace and comfort for those who have been trampled on in our world. Right from the start of this “sermon,” Jesus makes an elaborate statement about the grace that God gives to all people who will open their hearts to it. 

While the Jewish religious leaders had sought to fulfill God’s demands by specifying the precise actions one could or could not do, Jesus called his disciples to obey the commands from the heart. That would mean that it’s not just killing as an egregious offense, it also means avoiding the anger and hatred that leads us to devalue the life of another enough to justify killing. In reality, Jesus didn’t make it easier to obey God’s commands, he made it harder. He went back to the original intention of the commands--to produce a people who would practice God’s justice, compassion, and mercy toward one another. And they would do so not for fear of punishment or in order to gain some reward. They would practice this kind of life because God’s grace had changed their hearts, and they could do no less. In other words, for Jesus, obeying God is not just a matter of what we do, it’s something that comes from the heart. And when we have that kind of relationship that comes from the heart, we can do no less than make every effort to practice the way of life defined in Scripture as “walking in God’s ways.”

(Adapted from The Waking Dreamer, Alan Brehm, “Light for the World,” February 12, 2014)