Tag: christianity

Beware of Your Fear (Mark 13:1-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” 

Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs. (New Revised Standard Version)

In my undergraduate college days, decades ago, springtime brought a regular staple of sidewalk preachers calling for people to repent, because the end of the world is imminent.

That was in the days of the Cold War; the specter of a nuclear holocaust was a real fear among many. The outdoor preachers got a serious hearing with some.

Although religious end times preaching gets little attention anymore, the idea of a cataclysmic apocalypse is still very much a part of the culture. Dystopian novels are widely read; and stockpiling for a zombie apocalypse is a real thing.

End of the world stuff is, at the least, interesting and/or fascinating to many; and, at the most, there are folks fully prepared for an apocalypse of the world to happen in their lifetime.

Christ’s disciples asked him a question. And Jesus went directly to talking apocalypse.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus takes on demons and all sorts of other-worldly opposition. Christ is certainly presented by Mark as one who discerns there is much more going on – and will go on – in this world than what it may seem on the surface of things.

Jerusalem and Herod’s Temple, by James Tissot, c.1890

The disciples saw large and wonderful stones which were part of the temple. They marveled at what their physical eyes perceived. But Jesus saw further, into the future, and was not at all impressed; he saw a time of apocalypse. All of those stones in a heap. No one marveling over the temple.

Christ’s disciples wanted to know when such a time would happen. As was often the case with Jesus, he didn’t answer their question, at least not directly. He used it as an opportunity to teach about things to come.

The gist of Christ’s words to his disciples was to communicate that things are going to get worse than what they already are. The Roman occupation they were experiencing is nothing compared to what’s coming.

The apocalyptic language had been around in ancient Judea for a long time. There had been centuries of people talking about the world’s end.

Apocalyptic stuff is nothing new to contemporary folk, as well. Just mention the Book of Revelation and heads pop up, eyebrows raise, and imagination goes to seed.

We as biblical readers, however, need to observe that Jesus didn’t answer the question of his disciples. Which is perhaps something we must become more alert to.

Nobody knows when the end of the world will come. Not even Jesus. But that doesn’t seem to stop folks from asking anyway. Perhaps we need to ask a different question. Instead of asking “When will these things happen?” maybe we ought to ask, “What must I watch out for?”

The change of question orients us in a different way. Rather than end times speculation, we begin watching for things which are dangerous to humanity, things that bring upheaval to our world.

We start valuing awareness and observance, listening and contemplating. We learn to place our energies wisely into the things we believe truly matter in this life for the common good of all.

God is up to all sorts of kingdom business that is beyond our purview, and frankly, even beyond our ability to perceive or understand.

When we accept the exhortation of Jesus to “beware,” then we watch and look for things that are already here among us, and not get lost in a future we cannot predict. That type of future orientation only produces the kind of worry and anxiety that leads to fear.

And when fear takes root, it spawns the evils of hate and injustice. We become vulnerable to selfish incompetent leaders who make promises to take our fears away. We end up doing terrible acts against others, like imprisoning political opponents, denaturalizing and deporting citizens we don’t like, and creating fascist states that oppress others.

Fallen stones from the destruction of the Temple

But if we will wake up, hear the call of Jesus to beware, and awaken to our true commitment to the kingdom of God, we will then forsake fear-based tactics, and courageously help others in both body and soul.

It also means that, at times, we are off somewhere in centering and contemplative prayer, just like our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing that the real source of power and authority is outside of us.

A true biblical view of the end times is about God working out divine purpose on behalf of all humanity. It isn’t about us and all of our fears and anxieties getting worked out in harmful ways.

The realization of a coming apocalypse must lead us toward faith and trust in the God who holds justice, righteousness, and mercy in good divine hands.

God has no limitations because of our questions. God will be God. God is who God is. Our task is to watch, remain faithful, and persevere until Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.

May it be so, to the glory of God.

Filled with Divine Fullness (Colossians 2:6-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Resurrection, by Oliver Pfaff

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by the removal of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 

And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. (New Revised Standard Version)

On the television gameshow “Let’s Make a Deal,” selected members of the studio audience are offered something of value, and then given a choice of whether to keep it or exchange it for a different item.

The game’s drama is that the other item is hidden from the person until that choice is made. The participant does not know if the alternative item is of equal or greater value; or an item purposely chosen to be of little or no value.

The “deal” with Christianity is that Christians already have something of significant value. But they often lose it by going after something they aren’t even sure they actually want, or not.

Followers of Jesus have been given a valuable gift. And the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to the Church at Colossae was to go ahead and keep going with the prize you already possess.

Believers in Jesus have received him. Therefore, the believer is not to trade the words and ways of Jesus, and the redemption secured in Christ, for something else.

Instead, the Christian is to do their best to live into those words and ways, right now in daily life. Christians are invited to explore the vast spiritual resources of their gifted redemption.

Having been redeemed by the Cross of Christ, believers are deeply rooted in Jesus. They are on a firm foundation of faith. Christians possess a faith full of hope and love.

So then, believers are encouraged by the Apostle Paul to take everything they have been taught, and everything they have received, and run with it.

It doesn’t matter what is behind another door, or what is on the other side of the curtain; grab ahold of what you possess in Jesus Christ. Stop considering a better way to live, and start living the life that’s been given to you.

Allow gratitude and thanksgiving to arise within you, and to come forth out of you. Quit looking how much greener the grass is on the other side of the fence. That pasture isn’t really greener; and there is not really a better way.

Many people have become disillusioned with institutional religion. They’ve had it with church. So, some of them end up throwing out the baby with the bath water, entertaining all sorts of ideas and approaches other than the grace-filled Christianity they once received.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of spiritual charlatans who seek to bedazzle people with fine sounding words. But it’s all nothing but a bunch of pseudo-intellectual philosophical babble.

Yet, because the messenger appears confident and makes grand pronouncements, they let themselves be captured, and go with it. And there are others who become enamored with endless theological talk, that has neither any real effect on one’s daily life, nor eternal life.

The Apostle was warning the Colossian believers about getting lost in the myriad traditions and superstitions that have an absence of Christ in the middle of them.

The way of Jesus has Christ directly and purposefully at the core of one’s life. Anything less is to make a deal and see what is behind another door.

The way of Jesus has very little to do with a particular theological tradition about the end times, or a certain literal interpretive stance, or a liturgical or non-liturgical approach to the Christian life.

Everything of God is right, just, and good. And according to Christianity, it comes through the person and work of Jesus, through Christ’s words and ways as expressed in the New Testament Gospels.

It seems to me that the Apostle Paul would be aghast today at how many supposed Christian believers worship him and his epistles! Instead of giving their full adoration to Christ.

The last word doesn’t come from Paul, but from Jesus. Keep in mind that Paul worshiped Christ, and did not point people to himself as the be-all-end-all of any philosophical approach.

Jesus the Dancer, by Jyoti Sahi

Everything the Christian needs is within the fullness of Jesus Christ.

All things are empty without Christ, including the vast universe. The power and authority of Christ extends over all things and all people everywhere. Paul was insistent on this in all of the churches he established.

Thus, Christians must enter into the fullness of their Lord Jesus.

You can spend a lifetime, even an eternity after death, trying to figure out how God works, but you will never get to the end of it. God’s arm has that long of a reach. The fullness of Jesus is that big and filling. The strength of the Spirit is that powerful.

The heart and center of Christianity has nothing to do with circumcision, modes of baptism, keeping long lists of laws, or maintaining multiple spiritual practices. Because the Christian is already in, and already united with Christ.

This is why Paul prayed for believers to explore and realize what they already have in Christ, so that, with the eyes of their heart enlightened, they may perceive what is the hope to which God has called them, the riches of God’s glorious inheritance among the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of divine power for those who believe. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

The Christian has been spiritually raised from the dead, just as Christ was physically raised from death to life. And believers will also be physically raised, as Jesus was, if they have the spiritual eyes to see it.

Think of all those times in the past when you were stuck, and living a dead-end existence. Remember how God made you alive in Christ. All of your guilt and shame forgiven. All the stuff that kept you down and out, all that kept you from God, was nailed to the Cross of Christ.

The malevolent forces of this world have been stripped of their power, and can be seen as the sham they actually are.

The Christian is delivered from sin, death, and hell. There is, therefore, no need for the believer to trade what they already have for whatever the heck is behind door number two.

It will not be nearly as valuable nor practical – not even close.

Being grounded in the person and work of Christ is where it’s at, my friend.

Watch out that nobody comes along and tries to sway you from Jesus. Don’t make any deals. You and I have Jesus. He is all we need.

Lord Jesus, you are worthy of our adoration, affection, and allegiance. Because of you, we don’t have to guess what God is like; there is no need to create our own image of God. Everything we need to know about God is revealed in and through you. Along with the Father and the Spirit, you have always existed in perfect relationship and unimaginable wonder.

Blessed Holy Trinity, the God whom I serve, may your divine dance of Father, Son, and Spirit pulsate within me, and flow out of me in a trust that you are enough. Then I will know that I, too, am enough as I avoid the false philosophies and promises of this world.

Almighty God, you fill the center of my being, so that I can let You be You, and so, be content and at peace, despite the alternative voices that chatter constantly around me. May your will be done, today and every day, to the glory of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Rejected (Luke 4:16-30)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Orthodox depiction of Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 

He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” 

And he said, “Truly I tell you; no prophet is accepted in his hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the middle of them and went on his way. (New Revised Standard Version)

Reject:

  1. to refuse to have, take, recognize, etc.; to deny
  2. to refuse to grant (a request, a demand, etc.)
  3. to refuse to accept (someone or something); to rebuff, renounce, or repel
  4. to discard as useless or unsatisfactory; to jettison or eliminate
  5. to cast out or eject; vomit
  6. to cast out or off

Rejection can be mutual, and cut both ways. This appears to have been the case with Jesus and the synagogue goers in his hometown of Nazareth.

The townsfolk rejection of Jesus went far enough to want to throw him off a cliff. They were enraged with anger. Christ recognized the people’s rejection of him, long before they realized it themselves. Christ’s rejection of unjust and unbiblical ideas and practices went far enough to rebuke the congregation from the scriptures.

The difference in the two rejections was that the synagogue attenders were denying Jesus himself; whereas Jesus was refusing to accept a longstanding tradition of hate toward a certain group of people.

The nub of the rejection, which went both ways, had to do with non-Jewish persons, that is, Gentiles.

If you think this to be a silly sort of thing, especially of getting so worked up as to try and kill someone, then consider how frothed-up people get concerning contemporary political elections.

Jesus being pro-Gentile was not only unpopular; it was unheard of. So, the people rejected him.

The synagogue being anti-Christ meant that they were anti-Gentile and anti-God, as far as Jesus was concerned. And he wasn’t about to put up with it. So, he rejected not the people, but their entrenched hatred and unscriptural stance.

Jesus took the prophecy of Isaiah about proclaiming liberty to captives, and freedom for the oppressed, and then applied it, not to his fellow Jews who were present, but to, of all people, Gentiles.

Christ pointed out that in the days of Elijah, the prophet was sent to a Gentile woman. In addition, he let everyone know that the prophet Elisha cleansed a Gentile. 

The gathered synagogue worshipers understood exactly what Jesus was saying and doing – he was claiming to be the ultimate prophet, sent for those despised people. 

It was too much for the gathered folk to take. So all hell broke loose as the “worshipers” became so angry and insolent that they drove Jesus out of town and tried to chuck him off a cliff to his death.

Jesus had that kind of effect throughout his earthly ministry by saying and doing the unexpected, and the unwanted.

The people of Nazareth seemed to have always interpreted the message of Isaiah and the prophets as being for themselves, not others. 

This is a probing story for today’s Christian Church. Whenever we lose sight of a biblical message and re-interpret it as being for only us, then we end up like the Nazarenes of old who did not recognize Jesus for who he really is and what he really came to do. 

Perhaps the burning question from today’s Gospel lesson for individual Christians and all churches is this: Are you ready to throw Jesus off a cliff?

Spend some time alone with God today. Consider whether you have made Jesus into the image of what you want him to be, or whether you accept him as he is. 

One clue to this is if you believe some person or people group should not have Jesus – he belongs to people like us. This, by the way, is the very definition of “rejection.”

It could be that some soul-searching repentance is in order, so that Christians will be true worshipers of Jesus, and not just spectator fans of him.

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Real Thing (Hebrews 9:24-28)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Strange Shadows (Shadows and Substance), by Gertrude Abercrombie, 1950

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 

Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (New Revised Standard Version)

I admit that the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament is one of my favorite books of the Bible. I also recognize that Hebrews is one of the most difficult books to deal with. And specifically, chapter 9 can be quite mind-boggling.

The author of Hebrews, whoever he was actually was, did the intellectually and theologically staggering job of establishing continuity between the two testaments of the Bible.

He compared and contrasted the old (or first) covenant with the new (or second) covenant, examining the Levitical priesthood and its sacrificial system, with Christ as the high priest whose singular sacrifice ended all sacrifices.

The old sacrificial system began on Mount Sinai. Moses sprinkled the sacrificial blood of bulls and goats on both the people and the tabernacle. He was consecrating them, and the sacrificial implements, so that everyone could participate in the worship of Yahweh.

In the new covenantal system, blood is also used to purify. Yet, the heavenly tabernacle could not be cleansed with the blood of animals. It required a better and superior sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:23)

The Sacrifice of Christ, by Elizabeth Wang, 2002

That sacrifice is Jesus. He was both the high priest officiating the ritual, and the actual sacrificial offering. It is the life of Jesus, given in self-sacrificial death, which enables worshipers to come to God without any obstruction whatsoever.

Jesus does not have to keep offering himself. It was a one and done affair. One sacrifice on behalf of everyone. Once for all.

This is, of course, a distinctively Christian view and approach to the problem of guilt, shame, disobedience, and death. It has been a very compelling view for millions of people over the past two millennia.

In whatever way one seeks to understand and make sense of the author’s line of reasoning concerning a Christian approach to sacrifice and dealing with sin, what is apparent to me is that the author talked of a reality that we do not presently see.

The author of Hebrews was lifting up something important that he wanted us to notice. He was pointing out the reality of spiritual forces that have the power to both destroy and give life.

The earthly objects that we can see, touch, feel, hear, and smell are mere representations or shadows of heavenly things.

Many people, if not most people, today would say that invisible things such as our ideas and philosophies of religion are mere mental ways of understanding the objective reality in front of us that we can use our five senses to detect.

But the author of Hebrews insists – and I believe rightly so – that it’s the other way around. Everything we are presently experiencing with our objective senses is a projection of the ultimate invisible reality.

In other words, this entire world will pass away, because it is but a shadow in the history of eternity. The invisible God is the real deal. The heavenly sanctuary is reality. Love is the permanent operating system of eternity, and not your 401(k) or the next political election.

Jesus the Christ has offered himself once for all time, and for all sins. And he did it because the triune God – Father, Son, and Spirit – is a community of unitive love. That is, God is Love. So therefore, God can only do that which is love.

The end of time is not yet here. This present world with all of its inconsistent ways of doing both good and bad is still with us. But Jesus will come again.

The sin issue has been dealt with, once and for all. Christ did that. Jesus will return in order to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

If we must wait, let us do it patiently, with all of the faith and endurance it requires. Yet, this is not a passive waiting. We are to be busy proclaiming the good news of God’s invisible realm with both words and sacraments – with the signs and shadows and representations we have that point to the reality of God.

Everything visible and tangible on this earth is mirroring a greater, better, and superior reality which we cannot see with our eyes or touch with our hands.

Christianity is unabashed that all things point to Christ, who is the first and the last, the alpha and omega, the be all and end all of everything.

Come, Lord Jesus, Son of God, Son of Humanity. We long for you to return in glory and set us and this entire sinful world aright with your divine justice.

Be our guest, Lord Jesus, our Savior and Friend. We receive in faith your salvation. We trust that both the physical food and spiritual food you give will sustain us for our work and worship in this world.

May it be so, to the glory of God, and through the enablement of the Holy Spirit. You are one God – Father, Son, and Spirit – in one holy community of Love, now and forevermore. Amen.