Faith and Imagination

The other day I was giving a climate scientist a ride to the airport where she was to catch a plane to attend a conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Over the half-hour journey, I quizzed my passenger about the impact of climate change, possible solutions for the future, and both the benefits and limitations to the scientific endeavor.  As our conversation meandered here and there, we eventually stumbled upon the topic of faith.  I explained that I am 100% open to what science may teach us, but that I also hold to a faith in a creator God.  Theology and science both ask and seek to answer important questions, but they are not necessarily asking the same questions, nor are they seeking to answer them in the same way.  She agreed with this general statement, though it became obvious to me that we were not singing from the same hymn sheet and probably not even humming the same tune.  I love these kinds of conversations.   I learn so much and I also hope to plant a few seeds along the way.  

As we neared the terminal, I explained how the central tenet of my faith is not something that can be verified by science, or even standard historical analysis, though I do believe that history as we know it would not have unfolded the way it did, if this event had not taken place.  The central tenet of my faith is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  I believe that the creator of the universe entered into our time and space in the person of Jesus and that on the third day after dying on a Roman execution instrument, he was raised from the dead and was thus proclaimed to be the Son of God and the Lord of all.  But this is not simply a one-off event.  The resurrection of Jesus is the first fruits of God's plan for all humanity.  What happened to Jesus on that first Easter morning will one day happen to all the faithful departed.  The Christian hope for eternal life is not rooted in some ethereal, non-physical, non-bodily existence in heaven, but is eternal life lived in a resurrection body in this present creation renewed.  Sadly, many modern followers of Jesus are ignorant of this hope.  I guess that shouldn't surprise us.  Though resurrection of the dead into God's new heavens and new earth was the standard, mainstream eschatological belief for many, if not most 1st Century Jews, not all Jews believed.  The Sadducees were one such sect who denied the resurrection (as well as any kind of "after-life").  Jesus confronted their unbelief in Mark 12:18-27 (NRSV).

"Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, 'Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; and the second married the widow and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children.  Last of all the woman herself died.  In the resurrection whose wife will she be?  For the seven had married her.'

"Jesus said to them, 'Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?  For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.'" 

The Sadducees were the religious conservatives of their day.  They only acknowledged the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures as divinely authoritative, and in those five books, known as the books of Moses, there is not one mention of the resurrection of the dead.  In fact, there are very few mentions of resurrection in the whole of the Hebrew scriptures, namely Daniel 12, Isaiah 25-26, Ezekiel 37 (metaphorically speaking), and a few other scattered indirect references in some of the other writings.  To embrace the theology of resurrection, one would have needed to not only have scoured the entirety of what Christians call the Old Testament, but one would also have needed to open oneself up to the possibility that the God of the patriarchs was not only still involved in his creation but would continue to be so in the future.  It would require not only faith, but maybe just a little bit of imagination too.

In this conversation with Jesus, the Sadducees believed that their invented scenario pointed out the absurdity of the concept of resurrection.  If the same woman had married seven different brothers in this life, who gets to be her husband in the age to come?  Good question.  And Jesus had the answer.  The Sadducees had failed to understand that though there would be continuity in the age to come, there would also be discontinuity.  In the resurrection, some of the relationships that we enjoy in this life, will be transformed.  The "institution" of marriage, that is the bedrock of human community in the present world, will no longer hold the same function in that society of the future.  Jesus does not go into all the details of why this is or what that future will exactly look like, but he acknowledges that there will be changes.  

But more than anything else, he calls out the Sadducees for their lack of imagination.  He criticizes them for their lack of faith in the power of God!  If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is in fact the creator of all that we see and enjoy in this life, then why is it hard to imagine that he might extend that life - even to the dead?  If the living God is also the giving God, then one day, life will conquer death!  Blaise Pascal put it this way.  "Which is more difficult, to be born or to rise again; that what has never been should be, or that what has been should be again?"  

There has been no figure in all of human history who has impacted our world as much as Jesus of Nazareth.  And I believe that if he had not been raised from the dead, then most, if not all of us would never have even heard his name.  He would have been nothing more than a buried footnote in the forgotten annals of history.  But he is not buried in history because he is no longer buried in his tomb - the tomb is empty!  And I believe with all my heart that what is true of Jesus will one day be true of all God's people.  The gospel of John says it like this.  "Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."  Imagine that! - Shay   

For All the Nations

When I lived in Dublin, Ireland, I found myself eating at Subway almost every week.  Sometimes I would eat there two or three times a week.  It wasn't so much that I loved Subway, though I didn't mind it, but it was a fairly inexpensive meal that sustained me as I taught immigrants English, as I led Bible studies, as I went for occasional walks, and as I facilitated "Theology on Tap."  I ate Subway so often in Ireland that I eventually got to the point where I could no longer stand it.  I very rarely would eat there after returning to the States.  I've only recently begun to eat there again.  A sandwich isn't my favorite food, but it gets the job done, packing meat, cheese, and vegetables in between two slices of bread.  

In Mark's gospel, sandwiches also get the job done.  What job, might you ask?  The job of allowing a narrative to teach important truths, without having to blatantly spell the message out.  What literary critics call interpolations, is a technique whereby an author inserts one story into the middle of another one.  The two stories then mutually interpret one another, and usually the story in the middle illuminates the most important aspects of the narrative.  You can call it a literary sandwich.  

In Mark 11:12-26, we clearly see this technique at work.  "On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he (Jesus) was hungry.  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it.  When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.'  And his disciples heard it.

"Then they came to Jerusalem.  And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, 'Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'?  But you have made it a den of robbers.'  And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.  And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.  

"In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.  Then Peter remembered and said to him, 'Rabbi, look!  The fig tree that you cursed has withered.'  Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God.  Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea', and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.  So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.'" (NRSV).

To quote Nacho Libre, let's get down to the nitty gritty.  We'll start in the middle of Mark's sandwich.  For many people, Jesus' "cleansing" of the temple seems out of character.  For others, their focus seems to be on the "market" or "trade" aspect of this demonstration.  But these actions are neither out of character, nor do they have anything to do with religion and commerce.  What Jesus is doing is brought to light when we consider the larger context of the scripture he quotes.  After kicking butt and taking names, Jesus references the prophet Isaiah.  About 500 years earlier, a writing that scholars sometimes refer to as Trito or Third Isaiah, foresaw a time when God's love and promises would be extended to not only foreigners (Gentiles), but even to those who were physically maimed and excluded from temple worship (Isaiah 56:1-8).  God's heart had always been for the outsider, and Jesus' quotation of Isaiah 56:7 reminds his audience, and the later readers of Mark's gospel, many of whom were Gentiles, that the gospel is for everyone.  

So, what was Jesus actually doing when he disrupted the buying and selling of animals for sacrifice?  Well, he wasn't making a statement about the practice of buying and selling animals for sacrifice.  This was an important and necessary service provided to diaspora Jews who would have been unable to bring their own animals from great distances.  What Jesus was doing was to judge the place that this exchange occurred.  The buying and selling took place in the court of the Gentiles, which was the only place a non-Jew could worship at the temple.  Imagine making a pilgrimage to worship the God of Israel, the God of the Jews in the temple on Mount Zion, only to arrive at the court of the Gentiles and be forced to pray and worship in the midst of the distraction of all the buying and selling.  Many of the Jews had forgotten that they were to serve as a light to the nations.  But their selfish and inconsiderate actions were obscuring the glory of the God of Israel.  

Now, then what does the "cleansing" of the temple have to do with the cursing and withering of the fig tree?  Just as a fig tree in leaf, but out of season might appear to be fruitful and yet barren, so God's people had become good at producing a lot of religious activity, while failing to produce the kinds of fruit that God desired.  On the surface, things looked good, but when one dug deeper, the religious activity was rotten to its core.  Israel had been warned time and time again by God's prophets but had failed to heed those warnings.  They had been called to be a light to the nations but had become completely insular in their religious devotion.  So, the only thing left to do was to curse the tree and let it wither to its roots.  In fact, as Jesus established his kingdom, it wasn't the religious leaders in Jerusalem who would be called to lead, but Jesus' disciples, like Peter, James, and John.  That's what Jesus' statement about "casting this mountain into the sea" is about.  This mountain is none other than Mount Zion and if Jesus' disciples have faith, they will be at the center of God's kingdom coming on earth as in heaven, not the Jerusalem establishment.    

Jesus' final words also offer food for thought.  The disciples, and the later readers of Mark's gospel (including us) were not to react to the religious leader's rejection of Jesus with a vindictive spirit, but rather in humility and grace.  We only stand before the Father through his mercy and so we must extend that forgiveness to others too - even those who reject God's kingdom.  

And that's really what this story is all about.  God offers grace, mercy, and forgiveness freely, but he does not tolerate it when others would obscure that grace.  As Jesus had said earlier (Mark 4:22), the secret of the gospel isn't to remain a secret for long.  Like a lamp, it is to be brought into the center of everything to give light to all, including those of the house of Israel, and even Gentiles like me (Isaiah 56:7-8). - Shay   

Visionary

We've heard of visionary leaders, but what is meant by this description of a person?  What do visionaries see that others miss, either due to inattention or "blindness"?  Why are some people's intuitions more intuitive than others?  How is it that some people proactively anticipate, while others simply react?   In short, visionaries see not what has been or what is, but what is possible and maybe inevitable.  But they don't ignore the past and the present, rather they are those who have a gift of analyzing the past, of understanding the present, and then put that knowledge to work as they plan their future.  Visionaries see in three dimensions - the dimensions of the past, the present, and the future.

But visionaries are often not the smartest people in the room.  They don't necessarily possess the most dynamic gifts.  They might even lack some of the most basic of skills.  Though they are well aware of their limitations, they don't allow those limitations to limit their dreams.  Because, at their heart, visionaries are dreamers.  But they don't live in fantasyland.  Their visions are the kinds of dreams that sometimes come true.  And even when their dreams do not pan out the way they had envisioned, they file those unrealized dreams away and utilize the information for another day.  

Who might we label a visionary in Mark's gospel?  Of all the characters who come and go, of all the actors who grace Mark's stage, who sees clearly, where others see with less than 20/20 accuracy?  Who has perfect vision, where others fail to see at all?  

"They came to Jericho.  As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.  When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'  Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'  Jesus stood still and said, 'Call him here.'  And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take heart; get up, he is calling you.'  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  Then Jesus said to him, 'What do you want for me to do for you?'  The blind man said to him, 'My teacher, let me see again.'  Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has made you well.'  Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way." (Mark 10:46-52, NRSV).

Though his 12 disciples had been hand-picked and had followed him for most of Mark's gospel, they often misunderstood Jesus.  They failed to grasp the nuances of Jesus' kingdom mission and though they had physical sight, they usually failed to see clearly.  Their vision was blurry.  They were not what we would call visionaries.  

Mark 8 makes this clear in narrative form.  While sailing across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus scolds his followers for failing to understand that the political and religious leaders in Israel had it all wrong.  After disembarking from the boat, Jesus then heals a blind man, but he seemingly gets the healing all wrong.  The blind man regains his sight, but all that he sees are globs and blotches, instead of the finely contoured lines of people and objects.  The blind man requires a second touch to see clearly.  Instead of speaking in parables, in this instance Jesus enacts a parable.  The blind man represents the disciples.  They are blind but are slowly gaining at least limited vision.  But they require Jesus' continual presence and touch if they are to see clearly.  

Then, in Mark 10 as Jesus approaches Jericho, the blind beggar Bartimaeus sees what the sighted disciples have failed to see.  Though living his life in darkness, ironically, he sees the light of Jesus' ministry and mission.  He has the foresight to see where Jesus' path is taking him and what the kingdom of God is all about.  He has faith that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah - that's why he calls him the 'Son of David'.  He believes that Jesus has the power to heal him, because from the time of Isaiah, God's people had been promised that when God came back to them, he would do a new thing.  And that new thing would include not only the lame walking, the deaf hearing, the mute speaking, but also the blind seeing.  And Bartimaeus could also see that Jesus' healing touch required a response.  It was the beginning of a journey - a journey to Jerusalem where God's kingdom would be established (Isaiah 35:5-10).  This journey later became known as The Way.  It was the way of discipleship and it always included following Jesus, but it did not necessarily have Jerusalem as its destination.  Sometimes following Jesus along The Way meant following Jesus all the way to Rome (as in the Apostle Paul's case) or maybe to the ends of the earth (Matt 28:19-20).  Wherever the destination, it always included moving through death, before discovering life (Mark 8:34-35).  In a sense, to truly see, one first had to become "blind".  Blind Bartimaeus was the true visionary in Mark's gospel!

What prevents us from seeing clearly in our world?  What blinds us from the truth that Jesus wants us to see?  How do we become a visionary like Bartimaeus?  

I don't know the specifics in any person's story, but I think there are a few general things that hinder us.  Chief among them is a lack of perspective.  Like walking through a canyon with steep walls on all sides, a lack of perspective limits our ability to see beyond our present circumstances.  We might require a rope to pull us out of that steep canyon so that we might see further.  But once we're at the top of the canyon, where should we look first?  I suggest backwards.

Despite all of today's modern advancements, we are not the first humans to have ever lived and we are not the smartest people to have walked the face of the earth.  All of our modern achievements have been built on the accomplishments of those who have come before us. Christians have a canon of scripture that dates back thousands of years to the ancient Israelites, was compiled by and contributed to by the Jews of the second temple period, and was brought to canonical completion by the early disciples of Jesus.  We also have hundreds of years of church history and theology from which to learn.  I believe that we better glimpse our present, when we have gazed upon the past.   

But we cannot exclusively fixate on the past.  We also have to take time to reflect upon the present.  As T.S. Eliot so prophetically wrote in the early 20th century; it is easy to be "distracted from distraction by distraction."  Eliot went onto write in Burnt Norton that we are "filled with fancies and empty of meaning - tumid apathy with no concentration...in this twittering world."  It may feel like we are fully engaged in the present when we jump from texting to Twitter (or X) to Facebook to Instagram to TikTok to whatever the next thing will be.  But while we are busy taking selfies - we are missing the others, both things and people.  As we fixate on our devices - we miss the larger world outside just waiting to be discovered.  To more clearly see the present - we must be present.

With an appreciation of the past and a depth of understanding in the present, we gain a platform to dream our way into the future.  We learn to see not only what has been and what is, but what might be possible.  For the visionary, the future isn't predetermined, its waiting to be written.  The "seer" sees with creativity.  She is both realistic and idealistic.  He is not bound by limitations, but rather motivated and inspired by challenges.  The visionary dreams of what could be, what might be, and what surely must be.  To quote one such "seer", the visionary "dreams of the world he wants to live in - he dreams out loud." - Shay 

God's Not a Control Freak!

Have you ever heard the phrase, "God is in control."?  I believe these words with all of my heart.  But have you ever thought about this?  Though God is in control, he's not a control freak.  God's in control - but he's not a control freak!  

Whether you agree with this second statement or not, sit with this idea for a moment or two.  We've all probably seen people who exercise control in some sphere of life.  People's leadership styles vary from person to person and there is no uniform way to exercise control.  We've all probably witnessed individuals who we would label "control freaks".  And normally, we don't consider the label of "control freak" to be a compliment.  Usually, a control freak either grasps for more power than is warranted or exercises their power in an unhealthy or unethical way.  Sometimes control freaks don't even have much control or power, they just obsessively pine for it.  

There is probably nothing more corrosive than unchecked power and control.  And where complete control is made manifest, ego and pride are soon to be corrupted and distorted.  But where power is displayed humbly and for the benefit of others, humility and gratitude are normally present.  Let's consider an anecdote from Mark's gospel.

"And they came to Capernaum.  And when he (Jesus) was in the house he asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'  But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.  And he sat down and called the twelve.  And he said to them, 'If any would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.'  And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him into his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me, but him who sent me.'  

"John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.'  But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterword to speak evil of me.  For the one not against us is for us.  For truly, I say to you whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.'" - Mark 9:33-41 (ESV).

At the root of this story are the sins of unchecked pride and ego, resulting in an unhealthy desire for power and control.  Jesus' disciples still believe that his mission entails storming into Jerusalem at the head of an army, driving the Romans from the land, and establishing the long-awaited messianic kingdom.  When the kingdom is established, there will be differing levels of power and some roles will offer more control than others.  There will undoubtedly be a pecking order, and so Jesus' followers are trying to solidify their place in that order.   The disciples still cannot fathom that the Messiah will achieve his victory through service and submission, rather than revolt and the subjugation of others.  As the rest of Mark's narrative will demonstrate, Jesus is in control, but he's not a control freak.  But the disciples aren't on the same page!

Jesus' character is in keeping with his Father's.  From the beginning, God has been in control, but he's never been a control freak.  He created humanity in his image, not to live as automatons (robots), but as flesh and blood individuals with the capacity to love and to hate, and the freedom to choose.  We were made for relationship with God, and as all of us know the healthiest and best relationships are not rooted in coercion and control, but in freedom, love, and trust.  God desired a genuine relationship with humanity so much so that he became one of us in the person of Jesus.  He opened himself up to the possibility of rejection and scorn.  He chose us, but he didn't force us to choose him.  In humility, he became the least, and in the process showed us what love and relationship really look like.

Jesus explains to his disciples that rather than mimicking the Roman Empire or even the Jewish civic and religious leaders, his kingdom is one where the least becomes the greatest and the master is the one who serves.  Greatness isn't to be found in pomp and circumstance, but in the openness and innocence of a child.  

And Jesus' kingdom isn't based on control, but freedom.  John is concerned that some of the acts of healing in Jesus' name are potentially being performed by individuals with less than kosher credentials.  But, like his Father, Jesus emphasizes relationship over rules.  If someone is connected to Jesus and is acting in his name, the good wrought from those actions won't be overcome by any unorthodox dispositions.

I have much to learn from this story.  Like the disciples, I have sometimes sought to be the greatest.  At other times, I have tried to control situations and even people.  Rather than trusting the Spirit's work in other people's lives, I have in the past tried to police the beliefs and actions of those who were following Jesus on a slightly different path than the one I traversed.  But more and more as I mature in my faith, I have discovered that the path of discipleship looks quite different for each and every individual.  My job isn't to judge or control, but rather to love, to learn, and to serve.  If in humility, I not only serve my sister, but celebrate God's work in her life, no matter what stage of the journey she finds herself on, I will discover far more joy and freedom in the process.  And when in the name of Jesus, communities of people further Christ's kingdom in ways that are different than my own tribe of disciples, I won't feel threatened, but empowered.  If God's not a control freak, then maybe I shouldn't be either. - Shay 

I'm All In

 As the gospel of Mark reaches its halfway point, Jesus is surrounded by a committed bunch of followers, who are, if nothing else, confused.  Their lack of understanding does not disqualify them from following him, but Jesus knows that they do not fully know what they are getting into.  In fact, it won't be until after the resurrection that Jesus' disciples will truly understand what his kingdom is all about (and even then, in a still limited fashion).  Peter confesses Jesus to be the Messiah at this middle point of the story, but it is clear that Peter does not fully comprehend what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah.  Let's jump into the story in Mark 8:31-38 (ESV).

"And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And he said this plainly.  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But turning to Peter and seeing his disciples he rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels.'" 

Though the disciples, including Peter didn't know it, their commitment to Jesus would cost them their lives.  It would cost them every single thing that they considered precious.  It would cost some of them friends, family, and their standing in their communities.  It would cost others of them their vocations.  But it would cost all of them their lives - their souls - their very selves!  The decision to follow Jesus is an "all-in" move.  There's no going back, there's no hedging bets, it's his way or the highway.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it like this, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him, 'Come and die!'."  

Peter and many of the earliest followers of Jesus did suffer death for their faith.  But even the disciples who did not die for their commitment to Jesus, were still required to alter their whole way of living.  Each morning when they woke up, the question that would have (or at least should have) come to their mind was not, "What's this day have in store for me?", but rather, "Where is Jesus and his Spirit leading me this day?".  

Please don't misunderstand me.  I am not saying that the earliest disciples always understood what Jesus and his Spirit was doing in their lives.  Nor am I suggesting that they always followed Jesus in complete fidelity or perfection.  One only needs to read the previous thirty verses in Mark 8 to see this.  One only needs to read the rest of the New Testament to grasp this.  And one only needs to look at his or her own life to be made painfully aware of this.  But what I am suggesting is that when one decides to follow Jesus, this cannot be a half-hearted endeavor.  We may not get it right all the time, but if we get it at all, we will not get it by only going half-way.  

According to Jesus, our decision to follow him is a life and death decision.  It is the life and death decision.  If we bet on Jesus - if we are willing to go all in with the belief that he is the Messiah, the King, the Son of God, then we will suffer loss and defeat according to how the world keeps score.  But we will win the ultimate prize in the end.  We'll enjoy eternal life under his rule and reign in the age to come.  But if we hedge our bets, or if we simply deny that Jesus is Lord, though we might win our fair share in this life, we'll miss out on eternal life in the world to come.  

Jesus doesn't require us to get it right all the time.  Discipleship is a journey and a process with a fair amount of stumbles and false steps along the way.  And following Jesus does not depend on us fully understanding everything now - or ever.  But the decision to follow Jesus is not one to be taken lightly.  Either, we are in, or we are out.  I'm all in! - Shay 

Tradition?

In religious circles, it seems "tradition" has fallen on hard times.  And this makes sense.  Throughout his ministry, Jesus consistently called out the religious leaders of his day for their reliance on human teaching or tradition at the expense of God's larger re-creational intention for people and society.  It seems they had missed the forest for the trees.  

Mark 7 gives us some insight into Jesus' battle with the Pharisees.  "Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is without washing them.  (For Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)  So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, 'Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?'  He said to them, 'Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'  You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.'" (Mark 7:1-8).

The rest of Mark 7 deals with the issue of human tradition vs. God's commands and what it actually means to be "unclean".  Later in the chapter, after Jesus journeys north to Gentile territory, he encounters a Syrophoenician woman whose daughter is possessed by an unclean spirit.  Being a Gentile, many Jews would have considered the woman to be unclean as well.  Jesus hits this issue head-on, even using a common "racial" slur that Jews would throw around regarding Gentiles (dogs).  Jesus' tactic really brought the message home!  He points his disciples ahead to a time when the global reign of the kingdom of God will extend far beyond the borders of Israel.  God's kingdom will be for male and female, slave and free, Jew and Gentile.  His disciples needed to know that it wasn't just the religious leaders who had held onto some cherished traditions that Jesus was more than happy to dismantle.

And that brings us back to the value, or lack-there-of, of tradition.  Are traditions valuable?  Do they play an important role in society and church?  Or are they "merely" human teachings that must be discarded at the first opportunity?  It depends.

It's been said that "tradition" is the living faith of dead people and that "traditionalism" is the dead faith of living people.  In other words, if we hold to tradition, simply for the sake of the tradition itself, we've probably missed the point.  But if we utilize the tradition to either remind us of the main point, or to use the tradition to aid us in achieving the main point, then the tradition is probably worthwhile and a benefit to us and our communities.

I've also heard tradition being described as a vessel.  Let's imagine that you have some very valuable cargo that you want to get from one side of the river to the other.  The water is deep, and the current is fast and there's no way you can get these valuable goods across without some reliable boat.  So, you use the barge as long as it's in good condition.  If it springs a leak, you fix the leak.  But if it gets to a point where the boat is no longer river-worthy, then it might be time to get a new vessel - a new tradition.  You see, what's most valuable is the cargo that you are transporting across the river, not the vessel.  The vessel is valuable, because of the purpose it serves, but it isn't valuable in and of itself.  It exists for the sake of the cargo, not vice versa.

The Pharisees that Jesus confronted in Mark 7 had flipped the script.  They had made the "tradition" the main thing.  They believed the cargo existed in order to facilitate the use of the vessel.  But their boat had sprung an unfixable leak, and it was time to get a new watercraft that might better handle the loads of the coming kingdom of God. 

So, what about us?  How do we discern the value of our traditions?  How do we know when it's time to fix a leaking vessel and when it might be time to get a brand-new boat?  How do we avoid making the tradition "the thing" - in other words, how do we continue to see the forest for the trees?  I think it takes three things.  Study, reflection, and prayer (in the context of community).

To understand what we believe and what we do, we need to understand why we believe it and why we do it.  It is unwise to simply discard traditions that have served God's people well simply for the sake of novelty.  So, we need to dig down to the roots under the tree, before we uproot the tree.  To mix metaphors, we need to uncover and test the foundation, before we demolish the building.

And then we need to reflect on what we've learned.  We need to consider God's larger purposes and how our past traditions may have faithfully served those purposes.  And then we would want to critically examine our current world and context, to see if those past traditions are capable of continuing to serve their older purposes.  It may be that we need to uproot an old plant, it may be that we need to bulldoze a dilapidated structure, and it may be that we need a brand-new boat.  Or maybe the tree just needs to be groomed a little.  It may be that we should restore the old building - renovate it.  Our old barge might simply need some TLC.  

As we reflect, we must commit ourselves to prayer, individually, and even more importantly, collectively.  We must never forget that traditions serve whole communities, not just us as individuals.  Any changes we make affect more than ourselves, and so we must be wise in making those changes.  Some of those changes will happen swiftly, while others may take more time.  No two situations are exactly alike, so we must consistently study, reflect, and pray as our communities evolve.

And at the end of the day, we are not involved in building our own personal, or even our own collective kingdoms.  For followers of Jesus, it's all about him and his Father.  It's God's kingdom, not ours.  That's why we pray, "Your kingdom come and your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."  That's a tradition we should definitely hold onto! - Shay 

More Than We Think We Are

 

Are people capable of changing?  Is it possible to understand the inner workings of another's thoughts and motivations?  Do we really know other people like we think we do?  Do we even know ourselves?

There's an idea in Ireland (and probably other places around the world as well) that you shouldn't put yourself too far out in front of the pack.  You should be satisfied with your place in life and not aspire to greatness.  Self-confidence is only one step removed from hubris.  The tallest poppy is the first to get cut down.  

If you combine the ideas from these two paragraphs together (that we sometimes don't even fully understand ourselves, let alone others, that we as well as others are capable of change, and that there is a human tendency to want to pull others back to the pack when they venture too far out in front), then we might have a pretty good idea of what was going on in the minds of Jesus' neighbors from his hometown of Nazareth in Mark 6:1-6a (NRSV).

"He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.  On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded.  They said, 'Where did this man get all this?  What is this wisdom that has been given him?  What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?'  And they took offense at him.  Then Jesus said to them, 'Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.'  And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And he was amazed at their unbelief."

I didn't grow up around anyone who has "hit the big time!"  No one from my hometown or the schools I attended has become famous.  I can imagine that though there would be great pride held by others on behalf of a local guy or gal done well, there might also be some level of envy directed towards them.  I played basketball my senior year in High School with a teammate who excelled in baseball and who pitched in college, the minors, in the Chinese league, had a brief stint in the majors.  Successful, yes, but a household name, no.  I should also mention that he's one of the most likeable and humble people I've ever met.  So, I don't personally know what it would be like to have grown up around someone who became renowned or acclaimed, but it must illicit mixed feelings on behalf of those who knew, or at least thought they knew them well.

Humans sometimes struggle with envy, but we also tend to put others in boxes.  We categorize people.  Someone is either introverted or extroverted.  They are either logical or creative.  They are a jock or a nerd.  Rather than acknowledging that most people reside somewhere on a spectrum in all of these categories (and that it is possible that these categories can be blended together), it's tidier to keep others safely behind the lock and key of our own, often imagined cages of categorization.  It might be hard to believe that the shy kid in the far corner, might have people skills just waiting to be unlocked at the right time and in the right situation.  It's easier to assume that the star football player, probably can't play an instrument, would never be an avid reader, or isn't possibly a gifted actor.  It's also easy to assume that what we see now, is what we'll get forever.  We often forget that people can and do change.  We are all capable of evolving and becoming more tomorrow, than what we are today.

So, for the people of Nazareth, it was hard to believe that Jesus, the local carpenter, had not only become a famous rabbi, but that his powerful teaching and his powerful acts of healing were legitimate.  They had seen this young man when he was but a toddler.  They had witnessed him, and his younger siblings attend synagogue and other local events with their parents through the years.  He might have been an awkward adolescent, as many precocious young people are.  Like every human being who has ever lived, it would have taken time for Jesus to develop and to slowly figure out this complex world and his place within it.  As the people of Nazareth attested, Jesus' upbringing was not extraordinary - probably no more extraordinary than most of ours.  Like all of us, Jesus could and did change.  He wasn't exactly the same person at the age of 30, as he had been at the age of 12, much less at those younger ages.  He was not one who fit easily into a box.

This story reminds us that it's probably unwise to try to fit anyone neatly into a box.  People are complex.  People are diverse.  People have the ability to change.  And people are also capable of achieving great things, even unexpected things if given the opportunity.  Who knows what might be possible if a person is in the right place at the right time under the right circumstances!!? 

This story also alerts us to the danger of envy and incredulity.  In Jesus' case, these two reactions went hand in hand.  The fact that the local carpenter's son was capable of far more than his friends, neighbors, and even family members were willing to give him credit for, reminds us that seeing isn't always believing.  They heard with their own ears his eloquent and wise teaching.  Some of them saw with their own eyes his ability to lay hands on people and cure them of their illnesses.  But their jealousy prevented them from even considering that God might actually be at work in the ministry of this young local upstart.  Rather than being amazed at what God was doing through Jesus, Jesus was amazed at their almost supernatural ability not to believe.

So, if you have put your faith in this humble, regular guy from Nazareth.  If you have imagined that it might be possible for the creator of everything, in the person of his Son, to incarnate himself and live a most ordinary, and yet extraordinary life.  If you believe that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God, then you owe your brother and your sister, your friend and your neighbor an open mind.  Not only should you not chain them to a real or imagined past, but you should also allow them the freedom to become more than you or even they might imagine they can be.  God is at work in our world, and he usually does his most important work through people.  Many times, it's those we least expect through whom God does his greatest work.  As we interact with those whom God places in our path, may we be open enough to avoid placing people in a box, may we be humble enough to celebrate his work through the unexpected, and may we be hopeful enough to embrace our own possibilities for the future. - Shay