Reorienting Our Pursuit: Happiness, Success, and Faithfulness

So far, we have been introduced to a new sort of vision. Hopefully Jesus is in the process of removing some blinders and opening our eyes to God’s activity right where you are.

Last class, we entered into a sort of reorientation process, the goal of which is to begin to shape our actions and align them with God’s movements today.

Imagine somebody who wants, more than anything else in life, to be a professional athlete. If they were your age currently, what might they spend their time doing in order to achieve their goal? What about in college?

Let’s say they make it to the pros. What might they do to make sure they stay at the top of their game?

What if their game begins to suffer? If their ultimate goal is to be a professional athlete, what drastic measure might they take to make sure they get back on top of their game?

Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years? 15 years? 30 years? What might such pursuits require of you? Is it worth it?

Most people probably have, as a goal, to be successful at what they want to do. Many would like to be the best, but we at least want to be successful. This often involves making a living. This also usually involves being relatively happy while doing it. Each of these things are not bad, in and of themselves.

But in some ways we have been fed a lie or a set of lies. It goes something like this: the ultimate goal of your life is to feel happy. Happiness can come in a number of ways—much of it depends on you and your own definition. Certainly, though, happiness comes with success. Success does not have to mean making large sums of money (though that helps). Success means a sort of personal fulfillment, that we are able to accomplish what our heart desires. At the end of the day, as long as we are happy and feel good about ourselves, then life is as it should be (at least your life). It is ultimate self-fulfillment.

Just listen to the titles of these top-selling advice books:

• Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security
• Better and Faster: The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas
• Money: Master the Game
• How to Take Charge of Your Life
• Born to Win
• Think and Grow Rich
• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
• 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works

We may laugh at some of these titles and even at some of what they teach, but I bet if we looked closely at what our actions have to say about our ultimate pursuits, we might be shocked to discover just how much our lives are shaped in ways that are similar to these advice books.

Take a look at Jesus in Matthew 26:36-46.

You can tell a lot about a person when they are in the midst of hard times. This seems to be when their true colors come out, when the things they have been pursuing are brought into the light. As we see Jesus facing his own time of suffering, I think we discover something very special about God’s kingdom.

This is Jesus’ last night. He knows it. He knows what is coming the very next day. He will not simply lose his life; he will be executed in a gruesome, terrible way. As he faces physical suffering, he will also suffer under the weight of his unfaithful friends who will abandon him. He will take on the sins of the world. The suffering he will face will be even more than those who are present at the cross will witness. There will be a real internal struggle.

At the beginning of his ministry in the wilderness temptations, Satan had tried to remove the cross by offering an earthly crown. But Jesus accepted his mission—the fulfillment and climax of which had finally come.

We begin to see this struggle Jesus is undergoing as he prays in the garden. He doesn’t want to face the cross. In the first part of his prayer (“take this cup”) we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ desire. His closest friends have already started abandoning him (not physically but mentally) by not staying awake and praying, as he had asked.

The true character of Jesus, though, is revealed in the second part of his first prayer (“not my will but yours be done”). Jesus is in full submission to the will of the father. Jesus has joined the father in his work and will see it through to its completion, even unto certain death.

Now, I don’t want you to go away thinking that the father does not want great things for you in this life—that he doesn’t want you to be happy. He does. And when you grieve, the father grieves, also. But if we learn anything from Jesus’ prayer in the garden, it is that happiness is not the goal of life. Successfulness (in terms of human standards) is not the goal of life. The goal of life, life that God created and now calls us to in his kingdom, is faithfulness. Faithfulness to his mission. Faithfulness to his kingdom. And such faithfulness will only be revealed through self-giving love.

This is not an easy pursuit. It will mean a complete surrender of ourselves as we are right now in order that we may be shaped into the person we were created to be. In the end, God does not want you to be less you but more.

Let me suggest that when our pursuits gets twisted and out of balance, we actually become less human. Remember, the intent of human life in Genesis 1 is that we co-work with God in his loving dominion. When we act against that by pursuing other things, then we actually move away from true humanity. What we see in Jesus in the garden and on the cross is true humanity.

Think about it, if the pursuit of faithfulness meant a cross for Jesus, what might it mean for you?

::FOR THIS WEEK::

Below is a prayer. This week, join me in praying this each day and reflecting on these words, “If not successful, yet faithful.”

O Lord God, whose mercies are sure and full and ever new, grant us the greatest of them all, the Spirit of your dear Son—that on the day of judgment, we might be presented to you, if not blameless, yet forgiven, if not successful, yet faithful, if not holy, yet persevering, deserving nothing, but accepted in him who pleads our cause and redeemed our lives, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Small, Slow, and Steady: Alignment with Jesus’ Movements

For the next couple of lessons, we’re going to enter into a sort of reorientation process that will begin to shape how we might act in alignment with God’s movements today. Our text today is Mt. 13:31-35.

Jesus offers us two different parables, both drawing on the same point. In the first, he compares the kingdom to a mustard seed. A mustard seed, he says, is the smallest of all seeds but, among plants with such small seeds, it produces the largest shrub in the end. The shrubs can grow 10 to 12 feet in height. One early writer describes a mustard plant as growing “entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted; but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once” (Pliny, Nat. 19:170-71).

The second parable Jesus tells is of a small amount of yeast mixed in with three measures of flour. It is said that this very small amount of yeast, when worked into the dough and after much time, can cause that much flour to rise and create enough bread to feed 100 people at a meal.

The point of these two parables, I think, is clear. The work of the kingdom can be seen through your small, seemingly insignificant daily actions.

Even the work we see Jesus participating in may seem small when viewed within the grand scheme of things. Think about it:

• Jesus is just one man.
• The majority of his ministry takes place in a little area known as Capernaum around the Sea of Galilee.
• He works primarily with a small group of disciples (though he speaks to larger crowds from time to time).
• He deals with individuals and their needs as he encounters them (e.g. the woman at the well).

Yet, his small (perhaps seemingly insignificant) work will not only fulfill all that has taken place before him but will also complete God’s ultimate intentions within his creation, bringing about a new sort of creation/a new sort of existence/a new way of being and living a human life.

When we think about it, a lot of the time, God works in small, minute ways. Consider the many stories from the Bible in which God works through one person, one family, one small tribe. Even the nation of Israel was considered “the least of these.”

If we are to become Jesus’ apprentices, it is important that we learn to work as he does. This will first require a new sort of vision. When we enter into a project, many of us still like to see results, and we usually like for those results to have a significant impact on things. There is something in us that links grandiose visible results to the significance of our work.

Within God’s kingdom, we learn that this is simply not the case. Our vision must be shifted from being near-sighted, focusing only on these seemingly insignificant, small things we do every day, to focusing on what God is doing through those small daily actions –– how our small acts participate in God’s grand story. Having such a vision is our ultimate pursuit—being able to see how God is active in everyday things we’re involved in. This is, after all, where we spend most of our time, in the ‘every day.’

The next time Jesus uses the metaphor of a mustard seed, he speaks of moving a mountain with even the tiniest measure of faith. So we begin with a new sort of vision, a new set of eyes.

Secondly, this will require a different inner pace or clock. Along with having visible results, many of us like seeing these results quickly. If we do not get results in a timely manner, we often change what we are doing or re-evaluate our desired result. How many of you sit through commercials and actually pay attention to them?

We encounter this in many aspects of life. Our kind of commerce really drives this. If a company is trying to sell a product, often they are trying to sell as much of their product as possible to as many customers as possible. If they’re not having the reach and impact they want, changes will be made. This mindset, of course, has impacted churches and the way we co-work with God. Let’s face it—many churches tend to be focused on numbers. We hear questions like, “How many members do you have? How many people have you baptized? How big is your youth group? What’s your weekly contribution like?” Such questions influence evangelism, discipleship, worship practices, and so on (generally by approaching them like a marketer approaches advertising and the selling of a product).

New ministers can be the worst about this, though we’re all guilty of it. The temptation is to enter into a project and, in some way, push our agenda and push things forward quickly the way we want to see them happen.

God’s movements, though deliberate, are usually slow (at least by our standards). Again, think back to our story and how God begins his renewal project with one family, allowing time and events to take shape. All along, he is making little moves that will, ultimately, have an impact on the end result (though most of these people never actually see the end result). You might say that God moves with patience and diligence.

There are a couple of reasons for moving with patience and diligence.

1. God is working with us – God is not seeking robots. He desires for us to love. Love will require our choice. This will take time. I’m sure at times he wanted to bang his head on a wall (think of Jesus’ disciples not understanding).
2. We are working with others – People are different (and people are messy)! If we are to work together, it will take time to get to know one another, to learn how to work for a common good, to manage our differences, etc. This may make us want to bang our head on a wall!

One helpful thought in all of this is to remember our role in our earlier parables. Our role is not to create growth in the plant. Our role is not to force the spread of the yeast. Our role in this is to plant the seed and work the dough and remember that we are co-working with God, not managing or directing for God. God will do his part.

::FOR THIS WEEK::

This week, practice slowing down. Perhaps spend some time in quiet (solitude and silence), and pray that God will open your eyes to the extraordinary things he is doing through your small, daily movements and encounters.

The Smell of a Kingdom Person: Blocking Great Faith

In our last lesson, we discovered that the keys to the kingdom are quite different than maybe we expected. Forgiveness is key if we are to participate in God’s kingdom among us. I hope you’re beginning to discover a God worth falling in love with.

Today we’ll see in our story that, perhaps, forgiveness and grace have not fully seeped into the disciples. However, in the midst of their embarrassing encounter, Jesus’ method of teaching and recognition of great faith shines brilliantly.

Just prior to our text, in Mt. 15:1-20, Jesus is teaching on how humans tend to get stuck on external matters, focusing on the “outside.” This is revealed by the Pharisees’ challenge to Jesus regarding ritual washings.

We humans like to judge others by what we can see on the outside, don’t we? We tend to set up standards for what a person ought to look like. Such standards offer us profiling methods to easily determine who is a ‘good person’ versus a ‘bad person.’ This is usually done by establishing group identity markers –– if ‘so-and-so’ does not fit these particular markers, then they’re obviously not fit to be a part of us.

In Jesus’ day, the traditions of the elders (e.g. purity rituals) were the choice profiling method. We, of course, have our own methods today: economic class, clothing, grooming, and so on. You may have even experienced this in the church. We tend to have unvoiced markers to identify who is a likely candidate for God and who probably won’t work out in the end. This may involve knowing proper words or phrases, proper emotional expression, (raising hands or not), saying ‘amen’ or not, our form of worship practice, etc. And you know, of course, when you’re listening to somebody from your group, which is, of course, probably the right group.

This is important because basic to scripture is the idea that God looks on the heart, from the inside-out (indeed, this is how he seeks to reshape us). The problem is that this can be risky. In order to know what is going on inside a person, we have to get close to them. We have to enter into relationship and even become vulnerable. It’s so much easier to just profile and judge based on external and move on from there.

In our text in Mt. 15:21-28, Jesus and his disciples encounter a human being wrapped in the wrong sort of package. Jesus is outside of Jewish territory. He and his disciples have crossed a boundary, and they’re confronted by this woman who has come seeking help for her sick daughter. In this, we see two different ways of dealing with such an encounter.

The disciples, of course, read her like a book. They look at her and see two things: (1) She is a Canaanite (not like us); (2) she is a woman (not worth our energy). That’s it. Using such profiling methods, there are some things they do not notice about the woman. They don’t see:

• A woman who dearly loves her daughter. She is a beautiful image of a mother who cares for her sick child, willing to go to any lengths to find healing.
• A woman who is in deep suffering.
• A woman of courage willing to cross boundaries and risk rejection.
• A person with great faith who is able to recognize that Jesus is co-working with God and is the only one who can bring healing to her very sick daughter.

They only see on the surface (Canaanite; woman), and she must not be worth their time. “She’s an annoyance, so why don’t you just get rid of her, Jesus?” Jesus knows this. He knows what is going through their heads, so he decides to bring their sort of faith and prejudice to the surface.

15:23 – The woman has spoken to Jesus, but it says that Jesus does not speak a word to her (not yet). Why not? He knows what his disciples are thinking and sees this as a training moment, a lesson that will play a part in reshaping them for the kingdom, so he waits for their reaction.

The layout of the scene is important. The disciples respond, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after (from behind) us.” This clues us in on their location. So picture this: Jesus is walking out front with the disciples following. Behind them is the woman crying out. In v. 24, Jesus speaks, but remember, he is not, yet, speaking to the woman. He is responding to his disciples. He will speak to her, but not until v. 28 (“Then Jesus answered her…”).

So Jesus turns facing his disciples, and he says some things that may appear peculiar if we thought he was speaking to the woman. Instead, speaking to his disciples, what he does is voice the ideas that are in their heads, the things they are already thinking. The tone is ironic (‘sarcastic’). We need to hear the ironic tone in this because, if we don’t, we might mistake Jesus as one who is profiling this woman. He’s not doing that. Again, he is saying out loud the very ideas that block the disciples’ capacity to co-work with God.

So Jesus says to the disciples, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In this, I think we ought to hear is something like, “Yeah, you know, some people just don’t matter. After all, God only cares about Israel…people like us, right?” (Some have said that’s actually what Jesus meant –– that in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is only there to help out Israel ­–– but in Mt. 8, Jesus heals the Roman Centurion’s slave (a gentile). He obviously does not have any issue with helping a non-Israelite.)

Again, we need to know this: Jesus is teaching his disciples. He’s not just cranky with the interruption. Why must he bring their thoughts out in the open? When we have prejudices, often we won’t say them out loud. It might be too shocking if we do. So Jesus sheds light on their inner thoughts because when we voice such prejudices, we begin to realize just how stupid they really sound. Jesus says, “Yeah, God doesn’t care about outsiders,” knowing how stupid it will sound to them because of course God loves outsiders! He loves all –– the poor and the rich; the Jews and the Gentiles; clean people and dirty people; people who smell nice and those who smell like they haven’t showered in at least a week.

A question for us to consider in all of this – What prejudices do we need to say out loud to break the spell?

Let’s keep going because the story gets better. In vv. 25-26, the woman begins pleading. Jesus, still speaking to his disciples (but hearing her pleading), now drops a hint to the woman. He reads his disciples’ faces and, next, voices the second idea that is blocking their faith: “It’s not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little doggies.” Again, hearing it in more contemporary language, Jesus basically says, “God only has so much to go around…let’s not waste God’s power on her.”

You see, the disciples don’t want Jesus to waste his resources on this Canaanite woman, somebody not like them. He should only spend it on people like us. Jesus voices this thought but does so with a wink to the woman, as he takes the word for ‘dog’ and changes it to what is called the ‘diminutive’ form, ‘little doggies.’

The woman, we find out, is intelligent and quick witted. She picks up the hint and throws it back, changing the words ‘children’s food’ to the diminutive form: “Yes, Lord, but even the little doggies eat the little crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” Hint, hint. Wink, wink.

In her response, she does a couple of things:

1. She throws the hint back at Jesus that she understands
2. She displays great faith by voicing a truth that the disciples do not understand

What’s the truth? God is not on a tight budget. He does not run on limited resources or a power shortage. In effect, she says, “Tell you what. Just use the smallest bit of leftover power. Even that will be more than enough!” With that, Jesus finally turns to the woman and speaks directly to her: “Woman, your faith is great. May it be done as you desire.” And at once her daughter was healed.

Questions to Consider:

• Who might we be ignoring (how might our faith in action be blocked) with our prejudices?
• What might we undertake if we knew in our bones that God’s resources were sufficient to see his work to completion?

::For the week ahead::

This week, consider what prejudices you might just need to voice out loud, and pray that God will break through them. The kingdom person might just smell a little different than you expected.

Keys to the Kingdom: Forgiveness

In weeks past, we have learned that Jesus begins by reorienting us. He not only flips us right side up, but he also offers you a way to see God’s activity very close to you. As we become Jesus’ apprentices, we witness and experience a God whose presence ought to crush us but who, instead, is described as gentle and humble.

Today, Jesus is going to offer us a key. We have so often held onto various keys or an entire set of keys in order to, ourselves, enter the kingdom. Jesus, however, offers us the key, the shape of which might surprise you. Our primary text today is Matthew 16:13-20 (read).

Let’s start at the end and move backwards.

In v. 19, Jesus offers Peter the keys to the kingdom, after which he says, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

• This terminology, ‘keys to the kingdom,’ generally refers to Is. 22 in which God calls a servant to manage the king’s household. As the manager, he is said to hold the keys to the house of David. Only he has the authority and capability to unlock/open and close/lock the door of the house.
• In an ancient Jewish context, ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ referred, more specifically, to the practice of interpreting and applying commandments for the people. In other words, if a commandment was bound (like a locked door), then it was one the people were to rightly follow. If loosed (like an unlocked door), the people were freed from it.
• In Mt. 16, Jesus has just warned the disciples to beware of the infecting teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. With this, remember the 613 laws of the ‘Yoke of the Torah.’ In order to be in the right, a proper Jew would know and follow all 613 with very little wiggle room. Indeed it would seem not much is loosed.
• Jesus, in this text, offers a new set of keys to Peter. The question is “What are these keys?”

Back up, now, to vv. 13-18. Jesus comes with a question. Like with the passage on Jesus’ yoke, his question is one concerning his identity. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples offer varying accounts of Jesus’ identity. In response, Jesus gets personal and asks, “Who do you say I am?” Peter’s reply gets to the heart of discipleship, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” With Peter’s confession, Jesus blesses him saying that such knowledge of his identity can only be revealed by the father. It is apparent that Peter has, in some way, aligned himself and is now in communication with the father. Let me suggest that Peter has become Jesus’ apprentice. By doing so, Peter is given eyes to see the kingdom, which, remember, is defined as God’s activity and revelatory action here and now (what he is doing that reveals who he truly is). Now Peter can see this in Jesus.

Jesus then tells Peter, “On this rock, I will build my church (or establish my community of faithful people).” There has been much discrepancy over what ‘the rock’ is, here. The two options that receive the most votes are:

• Peter, himself – ultimately this leads to the pope being one to lead the church in the line of Peter (though this is not simply a Catholic interpretation)
• Peter’s confession of faith (consider how this has been influential in your own tradition)

I tend to think both options hold credibility. We can’t deny that Peter is the first to do this. We also need to see the importance of what Peter is doing, making a confession of faith.

Why is his confession important? It is primarily because of the verse that follows (v. 19), which we have already discussed. It seems to me that those who follow in this act of confession are those for whom the doors of the kingdom are loosed (opened) through forgiveness. What we learn about God is that he is one who is gracious and humble enough to forgive those who are humble enough to confess. In other words, as we follow Jesus in humility, we discover God’s forgiveness.

Question: What ‘keys’ have we tried to use to open the doors of the kingdom?

As Jesus forgives the confessing Peter, Jesus’ apprentices are to, in turn, forgive others. Again, forgiveness, it seems to me, is the key to the kingdom. If we wish to enter, we must not only join Jesus in humility and accept God’s gracious forgiveness, but we must also be those who forgive others.

To give this added weight, a major theme in Matthew’s gospel is forgiveness. We see this back in Mt. 6 when Jesus offers his disciples a way to pray and sums this prayer up by saying, “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive, neither will your father forgive you.” Coming up shortly in Mt. 18, Jesus will be ask, “How many times should we forgive,” to which he responds something like, “As many times as it takes.”

But think back, again, at the most basic level. If we are to forgive, we must join Jesus in humility. This is our starting point. I would venture to say that only one who can become low enough to confess and be forgiven is capable of forgiving another.

It’s interesting that ‘forgiveness’ is what it would look like for one to join in the kingdom, God’s activity here and now. It would seem more natural to think that if we are to join God, we must become strong and powerful and stand firm against those who do wrong. Remember, this is what John the Baptist expected in Mt. 11. Instead, when we look at Jesus, we see forgiveness, gentleness, and humility…three surprising qualities of God.

I ask again: Isn’t a God like this worth falling in love with? Worth offering your entire self to follow? We can trust a God like this, right?

Reflection Questions:

• In your own circles, what do you find most difficult about taking up this way of forgiveness?
• What are the alternatives to forgiveness?

::FOR THIS WEEK::

This week, continue to see ways God is gentle with you and those around you. Try this out:

• Begin each day in confession.
• When you or another is wronged, join Jesus (and Peter) in forgiveness.

God’s Gentleness in Action

How have you experienced God’s gentleness and humility? What do you see in the world around you that reveals such gentleness?