Tag: faith

Christ’s Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Wheat Fields with Stacks, by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

“‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn….’”

Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.

“Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! (New Living Translation)

As you have likely noticed, not everyone in this world is supportive of you and what you’re doing.

The good work we do – no matter how competently and expertly done – will be undermined by others. There will be people with selfish and sinister agendas who put roadblocks in our way to frustrate our ongoing work. They don’t like what we are doing and what we’re trying to accomplish.

Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is. So then, one of the big questions for all of us is this: How do we live with others trying to subvert the good work we are doing for the Kingdom of Heaven?

One of the most popular responses is to strike the enemy on their cheek just as hard or harder in the way they slapped you. It is responding to evil in kind.

But if we will ponder for a moment, we shall realize that is makes no sense to repay evil with evil. Why? Because then the Kingdom of Hell has just snagged this one with doing evil in order to defend good work – which ends-up ruining the whole enterprise.

No, instead let’s heed the words of Christ to turn the other cheek and not retaliate; and live the words of the Apostle Paul who reminded us to overcome evil by doing good. (Matthew 5:38-42; Romans 12:14-21)

Yes, all judgment belongs to the Lord, and not us. In today’s Gospel lesson the reasoning Jesus provides for non-retaliation and non-violence is both reasonable and practical.

Field with Stacks of Wheat, by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890

Christ told his disciples that the enemy’s efforts at thwarting our good works are sinister enough to bring about a situation where evil is so close to the good that to eradicate the evil is to therefore also do away with the good.

If you have weeds in your field or your garden, you know that some of those nasty weeds cannot be pulled out of the ground without yanking-up the good plant along with it. Instead, you’ll have to wait until you can harvest the plant, and then you can safely get rid of the offending weed.

Let’s think, then, about our own situations right now in this world. For myself, it seems that every single day I am upset and angered over decisions made by those in political power, because they almost always involve oppressing and/or harming powerless people.

Yet, to immediately stop the offending persons and organizations would involve some wicked methods. Instead, if I want to maintain doing good, I will have my time to unseat them through the vote, or writing my Senators, or directly contacting the offices of the institutions, etc.

Some of our responses may seem tepid in comparison to the evil being perpetrated, yet we can be sure that there is a time coming in which the reality of divine judgment will handle the wicked once and for all. At the proper time, heaven’s angels will do their own good work of removing evil and eradicating it forever.

We need to put our efforts into doing the very best at living in harmony with one another, promoting peace, and being peacemakers – using our greatest and most effective tools of humility, gentleness, grace, and love. These are the proper fertilizers which will keep the plants of righteousness and justice growing and thriving, even though they are surrounded by a bunch of close weeds.

As maddening as it is to see those weeds grow up alongside the plants, nowhere in Holy Scripture are we called or encouraged to become judge, jury, and executioner to the wicked.

Furthermore, Christians are nowhere called to force onto others Jesus as King through a theocratic nation, using authoritarian means. We are called, rather, to put our faith where our fear is and exercise a faith that does good work through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Equipped by the Spirit, we urge oppressors, tyrants, and egotists to turn from their selfishness and amend their evil ways. And we are not called to force the Kingdom of Heaven on others by trying to ensconce a form of Christian nationalism. For Americans, many of our ancestors came to the New World in order to flee their home Christian nationalist countries who persecuted them and did evil to them.

“To identify any particular form of government with Christianity is a dangerous error, for it confounds the permanent with the transitory, the absolute with the contingent.” T.S. Eliot

It takes very little prodding for Christians with political power to move into glorifying violence and ignoring biblical injunctions to love enemies, seek peace, and grant grace.

God puts a high premium of looking after the poor and needy, and rescuing them from oppression and violence. The last thing we ought to be doing is becoming the violent oppressors ourselves!

Giving ourselves as ambassadors of reconciliation, speaking truth to power, and doing the work of peacemaking is a narrow and hard road to hoe. The easy way is typically the road of destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14)

As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are to labor toward the things Jesus himself did: Challenge the arrogant religious types; offer mercy to the lowly and forgotten ones; warn of judgment; encourage faith; forgive generously; and speak words of truth in all places, including the halls of political power.

It is perfectly legitimate to disagree with others, but only if we ourselves are willing to defend their equally legitimate right to be disagreeable.

So, instead of always trying to snuff-out and vanquish our opponents with overt tools of evil, let us do the good work of winning their respect, living in peace with them, and affirming our shared humanity together.

We all have the right to be different; we don’t have the right to do evil and reprise evil with evil. The organizations, institutions, faith communities, corporations, and governments of this world are only as good as the people guarding that goodness through their good work, utilizing good means toward good ends.

Anyone with ears ought to listen and understand.

God of steadfast love and grace: Teach us your way and your truth. Root us in you alone, and help us to grow in grace and love, so that we may fulfill our role and our work in the reign of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Severe Mercy of the Easy Yoke (Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Burden of Christ, a sculpture of Jesus Christ, in the Oratoire Saint-Joseph, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds….”

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exchanging one yoke for another is really a rather radical act. It is akin to dying to self, so that there can be new life in Christ.

In our anxiety-laden society, filled with multiple fears, worries, and frustrations, we are being invited by Jesus to lay it all down. In other words, every one of us must unequivocably die to self.

Perhaps this might best be illustrated by expressing my own struggle with the pharisaical yoke and the Jesus yoke:

A year-and-a-half ago, I abruptly had to leave my job as a hospital chaplain due to deteriorating health. I am now retired, not because I chose retirement, but because retirement chose me.

So, for the past eighteen months, I have struggled with this reality of no longer being a Chaplain. As hard as I thought and pondered, I’ve gained no understanding as to why I am no longer serving patients, their families, and hospital staff.

What’s more, I have no insight as to why – during my tenure as Chaplain – I experienced an awful time with a gaslighting boss for three of those years. This boss continually made nonsensical decisions, and defied any understanding, even though I sought it out. (I might add that it is super-creepy that the current U.S. President is so eerily like the former boss, as if I’m still under the abuse!).

If I was a good Chaplain doing good work (which I believe I was) then why was I treated so oppressively? Why did my employer turn a blind-eye to it all? Why would God almighty sideline me in such a loathsome health situation. Why must I keep experiencing the awful effects of incompetent political leadership? Why all of the nonsense? It is a terrible yoke for me to carry.

Likely, none of this has to do with me needing to understand any of it. It could be that it is more akin to Abraham being told to sacrifice the son of the promise, Isaac.

It was a completely nonsensical command from God. It defied any sort of understanding on Abraham’s part. And yet he quietly obeyed, with the text of Genesis 22 telling us nothing about any talk-back nor questioning from Abraham. Only obedience. It appears that Abraham was able to exchange yokes, from the oppressive one to the easy one.

In telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, the real death taking place was Abraham’s, not Isaac’s. Abraham was to die to anything that may compete or be likened to some sort of idolatry before God. For even the very good things, like families and jobs, can become idolatrous to us.

I don’t know about your situation, but maybe for me the point is that I must allow the old life to die, and to let a new life grow out of it. Maybe it’s time for a change of yokes. After all, one cannot have a new resurrected life without first experiencing a crucifying death to the old life.

Death is an integral part of life. To exchange yokes is to experience a death. I’ve wanted badly to return to chaplaincy in the hospital. But I am being commanded to sacrifice it on the altar of God. I am being told to die to myself, so that I may live a new life to God.

Any sort of mere earthly hope must die within us, that an unselfish and godly hope may arise anew. And that happens when we deliberately switch-out one yoke for another.

Chaplain Tim, in a way, is dead. I now accept that which is already true of me. It is a death to self. And I am now patiently awaiting my resurrection.

I do not understand this weird liminal space I’m inhabiting; and I need not understand it. I’m deprived of the object of my former job. And so, I let go of it. I will cling no longer to the old life.

What I seem to be currently experiencing is a severe mercy – the mercy from God to not make Christianity wholly understandable, nor boil it down to pharisaical laws of which I can clearly either follow, or not.

Instead, I allow following Christ and taking up his easy yoke to maintain it’s true mystery and grace. If I have died with Christ, I shall also live with him.

Only in hopelessness can we entertain hope. God loves me enough to let me feel the awful severity of Divine nonsense, so that I may experience the real nature of Christ.

I suppose, then, that I am really dead to having to understand everything, and am instead alive to hope. And hope will not disappoint me.

Through dreams and visions, O God, you broaden the horizon and hope of your people, so that they may discover the meaning of your covenant, even in the midst of trial and exile. Increase the number of those who believe in your word so that all people may joyfully respond to your call and share in your promises. Amen.

Already Justified and Accepted (Romans 5:1-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Crucifixion, by Natalya Rusetska

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Perhaps we have so many people filled with shame and regret today over their past poor decisions and the trajectory their lives, because there is such a profound lack of hope in the world.

Becoming confident in both the unseen realities and the stated promises of God can melt away both personal and corporate shame.

Long ago, the Apostle Paul reminded the Roman Church of their true standing before the God of all. Paul knew that if the people were secure in their identity, then resilience would arise; and if resilience rises, then a robust Christian character and identity will take root. Hope then becomes a central part of life.

Notice that the Apostle made it clear what is true of believers: They are justified, possessing the justification of God. In other words, the Christians have no reason to try and justify themselves to others (or to God) because they already have been justified by God.

There is great freedom in feeling no compunction whatsoever to prove oneself. Followers of Jesus Christ need not prove themselves, spending all sorts of social capital attempting to please others, out of some perceived need to demonstrate who they are.

If you want others to know who you are and what kind of God you serve, then know thyself, instead of constantly putting your finger to the wind in order to gauge which way the prevailing winds of society are blowing so that you can follow it.

In truth, all you need is the wind of the Spirit to carry you on into doing God’s will from a merciful, pure, and peaceful heart.

Since we are already justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Things are good between us and God. Not only do we have no need to prove ourselves to the world, but we especially have also absolutely no reason to try and prove ourselves to God.

The Lord already knows the score of everyone’s life. It is a silly venture to put on airs before the Sovereign of the universe, as if God must be convinced to love us and have our backs.

The grace of God is abundant and ever-present; grace is continually available. And there are no exceptions to this. One is never too far from God or too estranged from the good in order to receive the mercy of God.

God’s love has been already poured into our hearts. God is with us; divine love is intimately close to us. Rather than wondering or vacillating between whether God loves me or God loves me not, the objective spiritual reality of the moment is that you and I are surrounded by the God who rejoices over us.

The Lord your God is with you.
He is a hero who saves you.
He happily rejoices over you,
renews you with his love,
and celebrates over you with shouts of joy. (Zechariah 3:17, GW)

What’s more, God does not wait for anyone to get their lives straightened out before paying gracious attention to them. No, while we were still stuck in the darkness of our bad and misguided ways, Christ died for us. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly while they were still going on in their own selfish and oppressive way.

That, my friend, is the extent to which God’s love reaches. There is no pit too deep, no meanness too great, nor any unrighteous life too bad that God cannot reach the long divine arm of mercy and love into the muck, and snatch us out of a depressing existence.

And the world is not too filthy rotten that God is unable to cut through the filth. As far as the Lord is concerned, the earth is presently just a compost pile that will eventually become transformed from garbage to fertilizer for new life, in which love can grow, thrive, and flourish across this world.

Unhindered access to God has been granted to us.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16, NIV)

We now have the hope and the freedom to be active spiritual farmers who carefully and pastorally care for all creation by spreading the seeds of God’s love to the world.

Everything we have and all that we are, comes from the grace, mercy, and love of God. Therefore, we have no reason to boast in and of ourselves, but to boast extravagantly in what Christ has done for us. He has bought and brought  deliverance from all which hindered us from living a loving and hopeful life.

So then, the path to true self-acceptance comes from knowing that we are already accepted by God.

The very core of our identity is in the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer. Since we possess God’s love and acceptance, there is never a need for subjective feelings of trying to gin-up a sense of self-acceptance. You and I already have it. You are profoundly loved.

This, then, is the basis for peace and rest. Please understand that it is quite possible that later today or tomorrow or next week you will again feel unworthy of God’s love, unaccepted by God and others, and nervous to the point of peace becoming a bygone wish.

None of this, however, erases what is already real and true of you, or changes your identity in any way. You are still in the hollow of God’s hand; still the apple of God’s eye; and still in a place where there is no need to justify yourself. What there is, however, is abundant grace.

No matter how we are doing, feeling, or believing, there is always open access to God because of Jesus Christ.

The ground of our confidence allows us to view tribulations as opportunities for spiritual growth; and patient waiting as the privilege to hope in what is yet to come. I will yet see the glory of God face to face.

God in Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. The Lord has granted us faith, and gifted us with a fresh new allegiance. Through recognition of our helpless state, and our distance from God (including a nasty tendency to ignore God) we discover that the love of God is with us. So, we may rely completely on the divine initiative of the love which never wavers.

In this state, guilt, shame, and regret is left in the dust – replaced by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Loving God, open our ears to hear your Word, and draw us closer to You, so that the whole world may be one with you as you are one with us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Protest As Faith

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment

But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!” (Acts 18:6)

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28)

Deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13, NIV)

If it looks like terrorism, talks like terrorism, and acts like terrorism, it’s probably terrorism.

I have become exasperated in numerous ways in the past few days – not only from the federally-sponsored terrorism which is presently oppressing and abusing the Twin Cities of Minnesota, but also from some “Christians” who say ungracious and unfeeling statements concerning what is happening in where I presently live.

The greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area is now my home, so that my dear wife and I can be near our middle daughter and her family who reside in south Minneapolis.

At the least, it isn’t helpful to make comments, such as the following, which I have heard multiple times from some “Christians:” “Well, if the leaders and people of Minnesota would just give a little cooperation, then everything would be okay,” and “Don’t you think Minnesota leadership is creating this protest scene to hide fraud investigations?”

At worst, those comments are a projection that put the deportations and deaths of Americans squarely on the actual victims, instead of the real perpetrators. I, for one, will not stand for that sort of attitude and rhetoric, and as it turns out, neither will my fellow Minnesota residents.

Because even the “unbeliever” knows right from wrong and the face of evil when they see it up close and personal.

When I hear blatant lies from federal officials which contradict my own eyes, ears, and experience; and see it coming from persons with a cross dangling from their neck, I begin to better understand the biblical stories of defiant faith in the midst of this present darkness (e.g. Luke 18:1-8).

Maybe such “Christians” would like to explain to my grandchildren why they shouldn’t be afraid when I.C.E. helicopters hover over their home…

Perhaps such professing “believers” would like to try and reassure my 36-year-old Christian white daughter of three children that she is safe and has nothing to worry about…

Maybe such church folk would like to try and console the hundreds of grieving families who lament the injustice done to their loved ones…

Just once, I wish these “Christians” would take seriously the Gospel admonitions to love neighbor, welcome the stranger, and provide for the needy who are near them, no matter who they are and without prejudice. (Matthew 22:39; 25:31-46)

The experience of faux faith from others is what creates the conditions for protest. And I strongly argue that there is such a thing as biblical protest. It can take many forms.

I find myself giving protest to God. Yes, the Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. And I do so because I believe this is what I am called to do for this time and for this place.

The biblical characters of Job, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, along with the psalmists and the prophets, all protested God to make things right in the middle of unjust circumstances and victimization.

They all struggled and wrestled with God concerning their respective situations. Yet, they never let go of the Lord and their own faith, holding fast to God’s justice, God’s goodness, and God’s righteousness – trusting God when they don’t understand why and what the heck is going on.

The Lord responded to those struggling believers’ uppity protests in a favorable way (Genesis 18:26-32; Exodus 32:14; Job 42:7). Pleading to God when unjust evil is running amok is to rectify injustice. Keeping silent is to passively accept evil, making one complicit to the injustice.

Believe it or not, God is perfectly fine, and actually likes it, when humans remind God of who God is in God’s very character. Because God is just, right, good, holy, and loving all the time, God’s people fully expect these inherent character qualities of God to work themselves out in practical ways on this earth.

We express the depth of our faith by tenaciously clinging to what we know about God, instead of running from God, or simply relying upon ourselves, doing whatever the heck we want to do, and putting a spiritual veneer over the lies, as if we are really pleasing God.

Furthermore, Christian history is replete with godly protest. For example, Black spirituals, sung by enslaved African-Americans, such as “Wrestle On, Jacob” and “I Will Not Let You Go, My Lord” were forms of pious irreverence against the entire slave system through complaints to God.

For decades I have found the psalms to be my best expression of defiant faith. Along with the psalmist I pray with fervor and flavor:

Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
    Awake, do not cast us off forever!
Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
For we sink down to the dust;
    our bodies cling to the ground.
Rise up, come to our help.
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. (Psalm 44:23-26, NRSV)

I looked for pity, but there was none;
    and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Let their table be a trap for them,
    a snare for their allies.
Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
    and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation;
    let no one live in their tents.
For they persecute those whom you have struck down,
    and those whom you have wounded they attack still more.
Add guilt to their guilt;
    may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
But I am lowly and in pain;
    let your salvation, O God, protect me.

I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox
    or a bull with horns and hoofs.
Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the Lord hears the needy
    and does not despise his own who are in bonds. (Psalm 69:20-33, NRSV)

May the Lord take notice of defiant faith, and bring justice to the nations. Amen.