Tag: liberation

His Resurrection Is Ours

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Pastor Tim's PonderingsLeave a comment
The Resurrection, by Andrea Mantegna, c.1458 C.E.

The story of Christianity, the very heart and essence of the religion, is a tale of transformation from all the obstacles, impediments, and barriers which confine or cripple. The person and work of Jesus accomplished this. In his earthly ministry, Christ continually called people to transformative change into the reality of God’s gracious and benevolent realm.

“I have come to give the good life, a life that overflows with beauty and harmony.”

Jesus (John 10:10, First Nations Version)

Christ’s resurrection made possible our own transformative new life. This is both exciting and scary. Resurrection is frightening because it’s a call to live a life without any of the walls which have defined us and/or imprisoned us.

The massive stone covering the tomb of Jesus Christ was rolled away. He walked out of the grave by the power of resurrection. The cave of death was changed into the place of liberation.

That place is a powerful image of moving aside any and all obstacles to our own faith and freedom. The prison doors have been opened. Our self-contrived inner prisons, as well as the unjust shackles placed upon us, have dropped away.

As a result, those who have been exiled, excommunicated, and treated as expendable are visited by the luminous healing presence of God’s great liberating force: resurrection.

I want to fully know the Chosen One [Jesus] and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to know what it means to participate in his sufferings and to become like him in his death, living in the hope that, like the Chosen One, I will also rise from death to life. (Philippians 3:10-11, First Nations Version)

All of these words may either seem strange and/or compelling. If this is the case, it is a sad situation. Because it’s quite necessary that we become familiar with such language. Unfortunately, the gap between the world we are presently living in, and the world our hearts yearn to know, is quickly coming to an unsustainable place of high stress.

There is now a profound disconnect between the love deep inside us, and the way in which we are living our day-to-day lives on this earth. The issue has become so great as to warrant the need for resurrection.

And I am not simply addressing Christians. In his earthly ministry, Jesus was not only talking to his own Jewish people; he came for the whole world. Jesus is for everyone – whether we acknowledge him according to Christian dogma and doctrine, or not.

The evil gaslighting sort of person wants you to believe that you are alone, bereft of any help – that somehow you need to assert yourself aggressively into the dog-eat-dog world. Wickedness always looks to chaos and war as the path to gaining the life one wants.

But Jesus is the bridge to another kind of thinking, another sort of life. He is the guide to the greatest power which exists in the world: Love. And Love is why resurrection is a reality.

Although we suffer from systemic evil and all kinds of structural “ism’s” in this world, our shackles and chains have been largely forged by ourselves, through spiritual ignorance and misunderstandings of who we are and why we are here.

Resurrection opens us to new life. It provides identity, purpose, and passion to live the good life. Even though we live in this world below, our answers to living in the here-and-now are found in the world above.

Since you have been raised up to a new life with the Chosen One [Jesus] then keep looking upward toward him into the spirit-world above, where he sits in the place of greatest honor at Creator’s right hand. Keep your thoughts and desires centered on the spirit-world above, not on the things from the earth below. (Colossians 3:1-2, First Nations Version)

All of us have experienced walking a dark path in life. But now it is high time to walk away from uncontrolled emotions and evil ways. There are plenty of lying spirits who intend on deceiving you and I for their own selfish purposes. Instead, we can refuse and resist such evil.

We can live in ways that represent the good, the right, and the just. We can experience living a resurrected life. Let us choose the pure path of the new person in Christ, the person you and I were created to be.

The telltale signs of the person living into resurrection are a deep feeling for the pain of others, kindness, humility of heart, a gentle spirit, and long-suffering patience with others. Such persons wear forgiveness like a well-worn pair of jeans.

This is the path of resurrection, the way of unity, peace, and harmony. And these qualities will always guide us and inform us in helpful and sacred ways.

Our current global decline comes from an accumulation of greed and sheer lovelessness. But the possibility of rebirth, of resurrection, rises from our deep universal yearning for the good and the true. It comes from our radical willingness to change and live a different counter-cultural life.

Resurrection does not occur because of lofty thoughts; it comes from a humble, and contrite heart which yearns for a better and more sacred existence.

Only until we find our present life on this world as intolerable with its injustice and persistent carelessness, will we see that we must put love where love is not.

The great lesson of resurrection is that Love makes all things right.

Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. (1 John 4:7-9, Common English Bible)

May resurrection move from being merely a theological concept, to a powerful reality that permeates and fills your life with meaning, power, and love. Amen.

Developing the Skill of Wisdom (Colossians 1:9-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Colossians 1:9-10, by Bible Art

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (New International Version)

When I was younger, I played a lot of ping-pong. And I got good at it. In fact, during a several months stretch, back-in-the-day, I had a record of 156-2. Not bad.

That kind of record was only possible because of the two reasons that make any skill an accomplishment:

  1. Knowledge. I learned the game of ping-pong and eventually knew it inside and out.
  2. Experience. I practiced for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in developing my technique.

The sort of knowledge that Paul was talking about was more than information and intellectual understanding; he used a specific word (in the Greek language – ἐπιγινώσκω, pronounced “EPee-gi-NOS-ko) which refers to knowledge gained by experience.

In English, we need to put two words together in order to communicate Paul’s concept: experiential knowledge – an understanding which is gained by continual repetition and practice until there is proficiency.

There are just some things that can only be learned and integrated into life through constant use and development over time. And this is precisely how a person becomes mature in life:

Growth + Time = Maturity.

And with maturity comes the wisdom to live life as it meant to be lived. This means that wisdom doesn’t come overnight or quickly; to be wise requires a great deal of learning, effort, experience, and time.

The wisdom and understanding Paul refers to is not some sort of secret information which has to be accessed through careful initiation into a group of people who have the inside knowledge. No, this is wisdom which can be gained by anyone who embraces a life of faith and spiritual discipline.

The highest form of knowledge for the Apostle Paul is knowing God in Christ.

This sort of knowledge is an understanding of salvation, and experiencing deliverance from guilt, shame, and the false self. Such knowledge is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in living a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Colossians 1:11, by Bible Art

From the outside of Christianity looking in, it may appear that this is all a grand achievement of the human will. But it isn’t. On the inside, the Christian life is thoroughly a work of God’s glorious power, bringing new life, and effecting spiritual growth and maturity into a wise and good way of life.

We did not deliver ourselves. God did. The Lord transferred our membership from the realm of darkness to the empire of light. Christians are simply people who have been redeemed by God in Christ. Our liberation is because of God’s gracious forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness, however, is not the end game. Forgiveness frees us to pursue the spiritual life without guilt and shame hindering us and weighing us down all the time. Forgiveness opens us to the possibilities of positive and life-giving relational connections with God and other people.

In our relationship with God, prayer becomes the conduit of divine/human conversation. That connection, in the past, had blockage because of our unhealthy lifestyles. But it is now unobstructed because of God’s gracious intervention by Jesus, in the Spirit.

So, when it comes to our interactions in prayer, there’s no need to invent a new game; we just need to learn the one we’ve got, and put in the hours of work necessary to become accomplished at it. 

Today’s New Testament lesson is a prayer from the Apostle Paul to the Colossian Church. His prayer for them was singular: To have wise minds and spirits, that is, to have knowledge of God – an understanding of who God is and how God operates.

To learn divine ways is to acquire the skill of wisdom.

Paul prayed for a reason: so that we might live our lives in a way which pleases God and enables us to sustain a lifetime of spiritual growth. 

As people created in God’s image and likeness, we are hard-wired with a spirit which needs strengthening and exercise. That happens as we put in the constant repetitions of connecting with the divine and putting in the time on our knees – praying daily for ourselves and others to mature in faith so that we might all together act wisely and justly in this world, for the life of the world.

A good place to start is to use Paul’s prayer as our own. Never has there been such a need than now for us to know how to apply wisdom in the places and in the circumstances we’ve never been in before. 

For wisdom to happen, we must grow in our knowledge by putting in the hours of prayer.

The skill of wisdom doesn’t magically happen. Wisdom is the culmination of acquired understanding; a lot of practice exercising love in the places where love is not; and engaging in a lifetime project of becoming knowledgeable through constant learning, struggling, and growing.

Direct me, O Lord, in all my doings with your most gracious will and wisdom. Further in me your continual help – that in all my work and in all I do and say, I may glorify your holy name; and, by your mercy, obtain the life that is truly life; through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  Amen.

Victory Over the Power of Evil (Luke 4:31-37)

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

He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to.

In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, “Stop! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to. You’re the Holy One of God and you’ve come to destroy us!”

Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of them all and left. The demon didn’t hurt him.

That knocked the wind out of everyone and got them whispering and wondering, “What’s going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone who orders demonic spirits to get out and they go?” Jesus was the talk of the town. (The Message)

During his earthly life and ministry, Jesus was a Deliverer and a Liberator; he came to save people from their guilt and shame, and to free the world from the clutches of evil.

And so, it was inevitable that Jesus would come into conflict with the forces of darkness.

In today’s story, Jesus had a confrontation with an unclean spirit, that is, a demon who is an ally of the devil. The particular demon was not only speaking for himself, but also for his fellow band of wicked spirits.

Christ’s ministry put him in direct opposition to the hosts of Satan. The nub of the issue for the demon was whether Jesus had come for their immediate destruction. Jesus, however, wasn’t in the habit of answering questions from demons.

So, Christ rebuked the demon, told him to get out of the person he was influencing. And that is exactly what happened. The writer, Luke, pointed out that this demonstrated Christ’s authority, that it even includes the power to command unclean spirits, and out they go.

And that is how the liberating and saving ministry of Jesus began.

In the Gospel of Luke, this account of Jesus being confronted by a demon happens just after Christ’s 40 days of being tempted in the desert, even by Satan himself. So, the entire demonic realm was alert to beginning ministry of Christ. They went after Jesus right away, perhaps trying to trip him up before he could get any ministerial momentum.

Jesus was teaching on the Sabbath in the town of Capernaum. We ought not to be surprised that a demonized man was among those observing the Sabbath. The wise believer will be savvy to this reality.

Furthermore, we aren’t told who the man was or of any symptoms he may have had. Apparently, he presented himself as a normal Jewish villager. So, we ought not to think that anyone being demonized will necessarily demonstrate madness or illness of some sort.

The demon was perhaps more aware of who Jesus was than anyone else there on that Sabbath Day in Capernaum. He acknowledged Christ’s power and mission. Jesus indeed came to destroy the power and influence of evil in the world.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James 2:19, NIV

Since Jesus Christ is the rightful authority over all, that means Satan and his wicked spirits are not; and they must submit to that true and real power.

Truth and doctrine are not only about objective facts and right belief. Even though our thinking is important and critical, there is more to it than that: Orthodoxy (right belief) requires orthopraxy (right actions).

A right truth that is only described is not the whole truth. In reality, a false witness and a liar may state the truth, but not entirely, withholding important information; thus, impairing any sort of right action from taking place.

Gaslighting relatives, oppressive bosses, and tyrannical rulers who tell some truth, and even support some good things, are still gaslighting and oppressing others with their narcissistic brand of leadership.

Truly, believers in and followers of Jesus can sometimes be duped into supporting evil leaders who use all sorts of unjust tactics, just because that leader tells the part of truth I want upheld.

Jesus saves; he is Savior of the world – but that is only part of the truth. We must also ask: What has Christ come to save us from? Not just our mistakes, mess-ups, and sins. Christ came to deliver us from the very power of evil that supports injustice and unrighteous behavior to begin with.

If we merely view Jesus as our personal Savior from hell after we die, then we will likely focus almost exclusively on heaven. But if we see all the freedom we need from unhealthy behaviors and unjust ways, then we view Christ as so much more than a fire insurance policy.

We need a more expansive understanding of Christ’s cross. Yes, Jesus died for our sins. Yet, he also died to conquer evil; Christ made it possible for us to become liberated from the shackles of systemic sin and structural evil, as well as personal guilt. In other words, Christ came to topple all evil, and not just human foibles.

And this was why the dark powers of Satan, and his demons, were so afraid of Jesus. They knew their time was short. There is yet another power that has a hold on us today – and that is the reality that many people no longer believe in demons and devils and dark forces.

Since we are a technically advanced people with great understanding of medical science, we now know all sorts of things which cause physical and mental illness. Ancient people did not know about human hormones and chemicals, and the impact of genetic codes on our health. They had no idea about bacteria and viruses, microbes and hygiene.

Therefore, we can jettison all this mumbo-jumbo about demons, right?… Not so much.

Even with all of our modern (and postmodern) explanations for the body and brain, we are still finding ourselves having to contend with the mystery of evil, and the malevolent suffering it causes us.

We modern folk can certainly provide a lot of insight into the cause and effect of particular symptoms a person has according to their biology. And yet, that doesn’t take away the presence of malevolent forces on this earth.

Even with all of our understanding, evil still resides within organizations, institutions, and even faith communities. The meanness and malevolence, the injustice and the ingratitude, and the profound violence (both verbal and physical) which one human being can exact on another is still here – and some would argue that it’s worse than ever.

Knowing something isn’t the same as doing it. If that were true, then education ought to deliver us from evil. Even some intelligent and objective people, who are fluent in facts and figures, still use their calculations for evil.

No matter our creeds or convictions, whether we are religious or not, all of us seem to have a collective sense that this old world of ours is profoundly broken.

All the research dollars in the world has not produced a solution to fix evil. And even if we could completely understand evil, that isn’t the same as ridding ourselves of it.

What’s more, those who put all their trust in changing things through modern means (which means without God) have been some of the worst offenders of producing wars, political tyranny, and gross injustice.

To put all of this perhaps more succinctly in the form of question: We know and understand a lot in combating disease, disaster, and death; but does all of that insight do away with the evil of it? Are things less tragic now?

I argue that is has not. Evil is still evil. Chronic pain, homelessness, poverty, injustice, and health inequities are still wreaking their evil on people.

I believe that evil really does exist, even if it has different language today than it did in the ancient world.

There is real opposition, conflict, and confrontation from evil today. The victory Christ has achieved over the forces of evil has a 2,000 year track record of helping people experience renewed lives, even when their bodies are wasting away.

In the end, the victory of Jesus Christ shall become evident to all the world. Overcoming evil doesn’t come from us, but from God. We can and we must deal with evil in this world. But we are not the Savior or the Liberator.

We need faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. Amen.

Matthew 12:15-21 – The Servant of the Lord

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

Jesus the Liberator
Jesus the Liberator by Argentine artist Adolfo Perez Esquivel

Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about him. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.
    In his name the nations will put their hope.” (NIV)

It is important to say the words, “I love you.” It is also significant how we say it. If our tone of voice is monotone and our affect flat, then the incongruent words of love will go unrequited. If, however, our tone is soothing and excited and our face beaming as if starstruck, then the love expressed will likely be received and stick.

Christians have a message of love to the world; it is a message of Jesus Christ and his love for humanity. Both the content of our message and the way we communicate it are vitally significant. For if the words we speak are grotesquely mismatched with our tone of voice and affect, then love is not what we convey. Yet, if we have been profoundly and meaningfully touched by the love of God in Christ, then that love cannot be constrained and will find a way to express itself with appropriate mannerisms.

Both the message of Jesus, and the way he proclaimed it, testified that he was, indeed, the promised Savior and the rightful King for God’s world.

The message of Jesus was to proclaim justice to the nations. The disciple Matthew used a quote from the prophet Isaiah to explain the reason why Jesus withdrew, and told people not to make him known.  This was a curious act for a Messiah, to say the least.  After all, we might believe Jesus should loudly proclaim who he is and what he is doing. Human ingenuity might say he should be advancing, not retreating – getting his name out with some notoriety in a slick marketing message so people will come running into the kingdom of God!

Nope, Jesus goes a different direction. Matthew quoted the prophet Isaiah to make it clear who Jesus is and what he is all about. Jesus is God’s servant. Jesus is God’s beloved Son with whom he is well-pleased. The Holy Spirit came on him in his baptism. Jesus became a teacher of justice to the nations, that is, to all kinds of people – even the ones we do not like.

I personally find it strange that there are folks who seem to think justice is something which is not part of the Gospel, as if it were nice, but optional.  However much they believe it is important to engage in some sort of social justice toward the downtrodden, some believers want to put it on a secondary shelf that bends to the primary initiative of speaking, as if we could or should separate the message from the messenger. However, we can no more divide the good news of forgiveness in Christ from social justice any more than can neatly separate the cross and resurrection. It is all redeeming work, and it all goes together.

Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus Christ emphasizes the kingdom of God. The Sovereign of the universe desires all things and all people to be redeemed and come under the Lordship of Christ with the practice of justice as central to making redemption a reality for humanity.

“And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV)

Mercy and justice go together like corn on the cob and butter, and like pork ribs with barbeque sauce (okay, so I’m from Iowa).  Mercy is God’s unconditional grace and compassion.  Justice is treating all people with equality without favoritism. Biblical justice is not primarily punishment for wrongdoing; it is to give people their rights – and this concept is overwhelmingly taught in the Scriptures, over 200 times in the Old Testament alone. Christ’s back to the Bible movement rightly emphasized justice.

God loves and defends the weak, the poor, and the powerless:

He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
The Lord loves the godly.
The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. (Psalm 146:7-9, NLT)

We, as God’s people, are to share his passion for justice:

Speak out on behalf of the voiceless,
and for the rights of all who are vulnerable. (Proverbs 31:8, CEB)

“Cursed is anyone who obstructs the legal rights of immigrants, orphans, or widows.”  All the people will reply: “We agree!” (Deuteronomy 27:19, CEB)

Since believers are justified by faith in Christ, we must in both word and deed bring justice to our communities by advocating for the least, the lost, the last, and anyone else without social or economic power in this world.

If we have a voice, we must use it both for ourselves and for those who have no voice.  The voice of justice is the voice of action.  To be concerned for the justice of God is to actively work for the kingdom of God to enter every inch of this world, and every nook and cranny of our homes, neighborhoods, and schools.

The Christian life is much more than avoiding sin; it is about actively pursuing God’s will through words and acts of justice on behalf of the needy.  Jesus came to this earth to proclaim justice, and, as his followers, he expects us to do it, too. For this to happen we must overcome our own prejudices toward anybody unlike us so that we will stand with the weak, the poor, the oppressed, the lowly, and the hurting among us.

The probing question for all of us is: Am I able to see the image of God in someone different from me?

Jesus did. The quote referencing that Jesus “will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice” is referring to the way of Christ – gentle, humble, and meek.  Jesus did not look for dramatic confrontations with others but instead went quietly about his Father’s business.  Jesus was not bullhorn guy, who loudly proclaimed his message on the street corner.  He interacted with and ministered to the lowliest people of society who had no power and nothing to give in return. Jesus did everything to connect with them and not avoid them.

Along the Jordan River in Israel, reeds grew by the millions in Jesus’ day.  They were of little value because there were so many.  Reeds were used to make baskets, pens, flutes, and a variety of other things.  A perfect reed is fragile, and a bruised one is useless.  When the text says that God’s servant will not break a bruised reed, it means that he will treat the weak with sensitivity.  A smoldering wick is also not worth much; if it is damaged, we would just get another one.  A contemporary example might be a paper clip; it is not worth much to us, and a damaged one we would just discard and get another.  The point is that Jesus handles hurting people with care. Society’s poor, disadvantaged, and struggling will not be callously overlooked and tossed aside by Jesus.

Jesus Christ discovered his own island of misfit toys and demonstrated to the world that they were a needed part of society. Small wonder, then, that droves of the lowliest people throughout history have come to Jesus, placing their hope in him.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV)

My hope is in the name of Lord who made heaven and earth. May you also find Christ as your anchor and hope in the world.

Holy Father, you have given all peoples one common origin. It is your will that they be gathered as one family in yourself. Fill the hearts of humanity with the fire of your love and the desire to ensure justice for all. Through sharing your goodness, may we secure equality for all our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May there be an end to division, hatred, and war. May there be a dawning of a truly human society built on love and peace. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.