The Village That Wouldn't Listen

 

Once there was a village of very good people. They worshipped their God every day at established times. They rested on the Sabbath. They proudly kept the Commandments of their God and made certain that all who would move to their village understood the laws and rules. They lovingly chastised those who claimed different beliefs from theirs and separated themselves from those others. It was a pleasant and prosperous village, as the people who lived there fervently believed. They knew that they had nothing to fear for their God was watching over them and would not allow harm to come, unless to teach them and show how loving their God was. They were happy.

One day, news reached the village that a terrible disease was quickly spreading throughout the land. Ah, but they had no fear, for God was watching over them and would save them, if they continued to believe and live as their ancestors had lived. Soon, as scientist came to their town and asked to talk with their medical people. “We have no need of medical people! God will care for us, as long as we keep the rules and believe!” The scientist persisted saying, “You do not understand. This disease is terrible. It moves and changes quickly. It brings with it disability and death. Please, let me talk to those who care for you.” But the people were not moved by the words of the scientist and refused to hear of special cleaning needs and preventive equipment. They knew that they were all well and were safe as their records showed they had always been.

The scientist left the masks, and the antiseptics, and the cautions of distance between them; then sadly walked away. That night the people burned those items for surely, they were of Satan, to trick them into denying their God.

Soon, medical personnel began to appear in the village. They went door to door, inviting the villagers to come and receive the new vaccines that would protect them from the worst of the disease as it continued to adapt and kill. Each villager thanked them for their concern and told them that they knew that disease was not fatal to anyone. Their leaders had assured them that all was well, and they were protected. The holiest among them, who had been blessed by God with great riches and possessions, told them to pray and they too would receive everything they might need to be faithful and healthy amid the disease.

The medical personnel shook their heads and walked away, leaving flyers to tell the villagers where to go to receive the vaccine and who among them should be the first. That very night the people burned those flyers, for surely they were of Satan, and they would not dishonor their God.

Police and firefighters from the neighboring villages came and begged them to get the vaccines. They brought with them those medical providers who were skilled at giving injections and offering words of help and care. Gifts were offered to convince the people to be vaccinated. The villagers asked the safety and medical folks to please leave the village for they were fine. God was in control, and they were not at risk, as long as they followed the rules of God and continued to believe.

And so, the visitors left the town, sadly sharing cards with information as to contacts for rides or help with vaccines and the disease itself. That night, the people burned those cards, for they knew that God was protecting them, and all would be well.  Satan would not prevail.

Then came the day when one by one the villagers became ill. They knew it was the influenza, or a bad cold, for that is what their leaders had told them. They prayed over one another. They anointed the sick and their holy people continued to encourage them to gather for worship and share their offerings so that the work of their God could continue. Ambulances began to appear as the villagers became more and more weak and ill. A makeshift hospital was set up outside the village. The people mourned for those who chose to go to those facilities and rejoiced at those who continued to stay in their homes, following the instructions of the holy people and refusing treatment.

Some of their holy people seemed to disappear! Their assistants told the people that those leaders had followed the call of their God and gone out into the fields to save those people that would trust in their God and follow the rules. More people were taken to that hospital outside of town, and fewer and fewer returned to the village. Finally, the day came when only a few villagers remained.

Those who had left and never returned found themselves gathered at the Throne of their God. “God!” they cried. “We trusted you to save us! We prayed, we anointed one another in your name, we followed your commandments – your rules for living. We did not allow Satan into our midst. Why did you not save us?”

God looked upon them with great Love and Pity. “Ah, my dear ones! I sent you brilliant scientists who used the gifts of study and research I gave them. I sent you caring medical personnel, who wanted to use the healing gifts that I gave them in order that you might be healed and safe. I sent safety personnel with medical workers who I had gifted with the ability to care for you and keep you safe as the disease ravaged village after village around the world. I even sent you people gifted with the ability to build safe places to treat and care for those among you who became so very ill. I sent you brilliant engineers who designed equipment that would aid you as you fought to breathe and improve! What more do you believe that I could have done?”

“You could have come among us with the message of healing and how deadly the disease is! You could have told us what to do and covered us while the disease continued around us! We were faithful to you!”  After a moment God responded, “Ah, my dear ones. Certainly, I did come there! I came in the scientists, the medical experts, the builders, the safety personnel, the medical teams, the workers who came among you and begged you to listen and be vaccinated. You have Free Will, my children. I must respect that ability that I gave to you.”

Surrounding the Holy Throne was absolute silence. One by one, the people broke the silence with their wailing and pleas. “Oh God, we are so filled with sorrow and remorse at what has happened. Many, many of us have family and friends who are yet alive. Please, will you send one of us to tell them the truth that their lives may be spared?”  God sighed and began to weep. “Ah, my dear ones. You would not listen. Even now, should someone return from the dead to warn them, neither will they listen.” And the people fell down as one and wept.

Take Care

   And Jesus said to the crowd, "Take care! Be on guard against all kinds of greed for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do for I have no place to store my crops?' The the man said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." Luke 12.15-21

This man worked hard to accumulate the contents of his barn. He has assured himself a future of ease and delight. He's earned it! He simply wants to be certain that he has enough, that he will be able to enjoy life to the fullest because of his hard work. That's the way it works, right? Also, what does "rich toward God" mean? I'm pretty sure he was paying his Temple tax, his tithe. Doubtless he was paying his workers something, maybe not too much, but hey, a guy has to take care of himself and his future. After all, what did those workers do except plant, water, and harvest the crops? That all happened on his land, with seeds he bought. He earned those crops and the life they would support, didn't he? Never needing to worry about where the next meal was, having more than enough to take care of his family and some extra to sell if it was necessary; those things were important, weren't they? After all, a person has to take care of themselves first.

Except that Jesus is not talking about "security" here, or even "enough". The truth is that "enough" doesn't exist for many people, because no matter what we have, it is never enough. We want more, and we mask that greed as fear of not having enough. It is an endless pattern of circular thinking that damages us, and damages all those who come in contact with us.

Too many of us believe that we will live forever. We fear death, and so we choose to deny its inevitability. The man in this Jesus story believes that as well. He has amassed great wealth and possessions. He can relax now and enjoy the fruits of his labor. However, God tells the man that his death is imminent and despite his obsession with stocking up he will not be able to "enjoy" the fruits of his hoarding. If not, then who will? The answer to this question illustrates another phenomena in the world today. The benefactors will be the offspring, the kinsfolk of that wealthy man. They will be the ones to "eat, drink, and be merry". As we clearly see today, those offspring will never need to work, to labor, to struggle. Oh, they may choose to continue whatever brought so much wealth to the family, because they want more and, after all, they don't yet have enough. More likely the scenario will be one of continuing to privilege their own offspring eventually at the expense of the family empire.

Because those offspring never learned what it is to work hard, to forego their greed, to invest wisely, to continually improve and innovate the infrastructure and the livelihood of their workers; they instead rely on the reserves and relax into their wealth. Oh, they may dabble in businesses themselves, riding the coattails of the family name; yet the success or failure of those businesses will be blunted by the money they already have.The next generation will do even more to party and refuse to invest with "sound" business practices. That third generation out, unless those prior have been wise instead of indulgent, the business will be destroyed and the workers, not the owners, will suffer.

No one lives forever; no one gets out of this life alive. However, the truth of Jesus' words didn't sit so well with the early Church "Fathers". In order to make the narrative more palatable to hearers, subsequent writings translated and taught something different so that Christianity would be attractive to wealth. The difficult Jesus stories were either glossed over or creatively reinterpreted to mean something very different.

The word that Jesus used, "sozo" was translated as "salvation" or "saved" instead of its true definition of "made whole" or "made well". Jesus was teaching that those who followed what he taught, what God truly had intended, would be healed of the human sickness of selfishness and greed, hatred and deliberate evil. The truth of "eternal life" in Jesus' teachings was not "never die" or even "live forever". The term originally meant "live fully, completely in the presence of God, always". It meant that those who followed Jesus' teachings would live without fear of not enough, or consequences for practicing injustice or other evil behaviors. Yet a case could well be made that by the end of the first century the narrative needed to adjust in order for the Church to attract wealth and status. In so doing, the Church might be able to protect itself from persecution and continue to exist. That same narrative also kept, and still keeps, the "not wealthy" believing that we struggle in this life with nothing so that we may be rewarded in heaven. Or just as damaging, that we are rewarded, that we are blessed, with wealth if we are good people; and receive nothing if we aren't good enough.

The "King James' Version" of the Bible, in 1611, codified those adjustments through translation into English. Today we have the reality of so many people quoting Scripture without ever having read it. We have people stating things that are not found in Scripture, because they believe that those statements are accurate. We have congregations of individuals who believe that Jesus wants us to be kind and that God will bless us with everything if we simply behave ourselves and give some money to the Church, or the congregation where we might worship. We have individuals who attend Church occasionally, because isn't that what we are supposed to do? We have people self-identifying as "Christian" who don't know any Jesus stories, beyond the "Christmas" and "Easter" ones. We have individuals who focus more effort on fear, hatred, and vengeance stories that they don't understand. Too many people are more certain those stories mean than they will be blessed if they recite a formula, or strictly follow some set of "rules".

Media people will tell you that "sex" and "fear" sell. People will vote, purchase and live against their own best interests when motivated by either of those emotions. Despite the presence of egregious wealth and heart-wrenching poverty, people will continue to support individuals and systems that actually perpetrate that dichotomy. As the cost of education rises, so too does the derision surrounding the need for that education. The consequence of that derision is ignorance and increasing confirmation bias. Sadly we are experiencing those consequences right now. The wealthiest among us, like the man in Jesus' story, as well as those in their next generations are invested in supporting and encouraging that ignorance.

The Church of the second century and beyond, began to experience clergy and congregational systems that depend on biblical illiteracy to enrich their own coffers. The legacy of this biblical illiteracy is a systemic evil that widens the financial gap as it destroys the fabric of humanity. Legacy. What will you leave when you leave this world? A quote attributed to actor Denzel Washington says, "At the end of the day, it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It's about what you've given back."

That's the message of Jesus in this story. What did you do with your life, with what you have? The stories of Jesus illustrate and emphasize the need for His followers to make a difference, for good, in the life of other human beings and the world. This story begins with Jesus admonishing listeners, including us, "Take care! Be on guard against all kinds of greed for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Each day, every person who claims the name "Christian" will need to ask themselves these questions. What have you done in your life? What will be your legacy?

When we truly follow Jesus' teachings, our legacy will not be how much we have amassed in our lifetime. In her poem, "The Summer Day", Mary Oliver (1935-2019) ends the poem with this question: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Will you work to give others a better life, or will you continue to build bigger barns in order to store your treasures that you may never get an opportunity to use for yourself? Will we decide to stop kneeling the altar of "money and possessions"? Or will we ignore the words of Jesus; will we ignore the desire of God toward all of humanity; or will we silence the words of God's Spirit urging us to share generously so that all may have what is truly "enough" and no one will be found struggling to survive. 

     The Left and Right Side of Jesus

 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”  But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”  He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”     Matthew 20.20-28

In Matthew 20.20-28, we find a most interesting story about Jesus and the disciples. The mother of James and John comes forward and asks Jesus to give her boys honored seats at the Heavenly Table. She would like them seated at his right and at his left, thank you very much. This is truly an absurd request, and I imagine that Jesus even chuckled a bit. He then addresses the sons and asks if they are ready for what those seats require. "Sure!" they answer with some bravado in their voices. I think Jesus might have smiled at that bravado before he responded. He tells them that they will indeed have to do what's necessary, yet God alone decides who gets preferred seating. 

                Here's where the story gets interesting. The other disciples get wind of what has happened, and they are none too pleased. Jesus hears all the grumbling and calls all of them together. He reminds them that the Gentile rulers get puffed up with a little power and like to make certain that the regular folks know how important they are. Jesus uses this "who's the favorite" crankiness of the disciples to illustrate a truth that they didn't fully understand then, and we don't fully understand yet today.

Jesus tells them that the only way to be "first" is to live one's life as "last". If they truly want to be at the head of the line for the Kingdom, they need to learn how to be servants of everyone else. Being the "greatest", being "number one", requires the sacrifice found only in serving others. Ah, but then Jesus gives them a twist. Jesus tells them they need to be like Him, the One who didn't come to be served but to be a servant and to be the payment, the ransom for those bound by Evil. 

Woah. The twelve may have nodded their heads, thinking or even saying, "Sure! We can be like you! We can certainly spend our lives walking in your footsteps doing miracles and giving up the "good life" for your mission!"  Of course, he had already told them what was going to happen to him, but they either didn't hear or didn't think it would end the way he said. Even when it all happens, some are willing to go TO the cross with Him, but not ONto the cross. Others of them just panic and run away. Before we scold these poor disciples, we must stop and examine ourselves. Jesus is also speaking to us, through his words to them. We are okay with going to the cross, standing at the foot of the cross, shaking our heads in sorrow and amazement at the sacrifice. Yet, most of us are unwilling to go "all the way"; unwilling to climb onto that cross and surrender our lives for the sake of others. When the going gets rough, we want to get away.

Surrendering our lives may take many different guises. Are you an athlete set to win the race and see another runner fall? Do you continue to win? Or do you go back, help the other runner to stand and together finish the race? That is surrendering your life. How about that expensive car you just "have" to buy because it will proclaim your status? Would you be willing to surrender your life, "your status" in order to help someone else? Are we willing to give up what we want so that others may have what they need? Are we willing to become volunteers in our community and surrender our lives to service? Are we willing to stand firm in the face of Evil and demand what is Good? That may mean climbing onto that cross. There are so many ways to surrender our lives to God, all understood through the practice of serving others and knowing that the service requires surrender of ourselves. Are we truly ready, asks Jesus, to follow wherever Jesus leads us?

Somehow, Christianity took a wrong turn along the way. We began to believe and to teach that claiming Jesus the Christ as our Lord and Savior is all that is necessary for our ticket to heaven. That is not, however, what Jesus taught. We are to love God, first and foremost. We are to love one another (Church, the Body of Christ). We are to love our neighbor (humanity) as we love ourselves. How we treat others is the key to our eternal life. Did we let folks go hungry and thirsty or did we feed them? Did we make sure everyone had a safe place to live? Did we make certain that folks had clothes to wear? Did we tend to them when they were sick or in prison? Did we give scraps and leftovers, or did we see ourselves in others and treat them as we treated ourselves? Were we willing not only to carry the cross, but also allow ourselves to die for the love of humanity, as Jesus did? That’s what Jesus’ teachings are telling us. How much are we willing to surrender out of love for God and humanity? That is the test of discipleship.  

Many years ago, I served on staff at an inner-city church. Each week the loving people in that congregation served lunch to anyone who would come. No eligibility tests were administered. Simply come and eat a meal together. The best dishes were used, no paper plates or plastic utensils; a wonderful meal was prepared with fresh food just as you might have gotten at home. No reservations were necessary. I watched as mix of business people, street people, elderly people, and parishioners sat together at round tables and talked. Staff members like me would sit and listen as we ate, to hear concerns or needs and see if there were ways to help meet them. Tables were filled with clothes, shoes, toiletries, and other items that might be needed by folks who couldn’t afford them. Abundance was prepared and many folks left with extra for another meal. At other times, and in other places, I observed “feeding the needy” or “feeding the homeless” in a very different manner. Paper plates. Plastic utensils, if necessary. Limits on servings, few if, any leftovers, eligibility checks, and signage that had long since lost its meaning in a community. The first example, for me, is what “doing for the least of these” – those who are in need. The second examples, for me, are what “doing the least for others” looks like. One is sacrificial living; the others require little sacrifice at all. One is following the teachings of Jesus; the others are the result of fearful and corrupted teachings that cause the Holy One to weep.

There is no preferred seating at the Heavenly Banquet. When a banquet is served, the very best of everything is used and served. Those first disciples didn’t fully understand, at the beginning, what it truly means to follow Jesus. They had no previous examples of discipleship with Jesus. We do not have that excuse. We have the evidences of 2,000 years as to how to follow or not follow Jesus, and the lessons he taught.

Jesus is emphatic that when we see others in need, we are really seeing Him. We must learn how to serve, we must be servants, we must learn to serve Jesus in others. It's not about winners or losers. It's not about part of us. Heaven is not a competition. The Kingdom of God is already here and not yet fully visible. Bringing the Kingdom requires all of us to live, to love and to serve one another, because we understand that Kingdom life, eternal life, is about sacrifice and service. The Kingdom of God is very near to us and we glimpse that Glory whenever we practice what Jesus taught. There is a world deeply in need of what we have in abundance. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us. We are the partners who allow it to be fully visible. Repeatedly, Jesus told the disciples these truths, and they – like we – didn’t understand. Once we “get” it, and then we live it, the Kingdom will at last be made manifest. We will all be seated together at the Heavenly Banquet Table and each of us will be seated next to Jesus. No one will have preferred seating, because every seat is important in the Kingdom of God. Together we will see God as God truly is. At last, as Jesus prayed, we will all be one. 

 Stars on Thars

 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”   Luke 18.9-14

                One of my favorite Dr. Seuss books is "The Sneetches". It's such a fun book to read aloud. Like many of the Seuss books, the hearers begin to laugh at the silliness and then at the end they are hit head on by the truth of the tale. I have used this story in sermons and teaching all ages as well. Those exalted Sneetches with stars on their bellies, believing themselves to be so superior to those who have no star on "thars". The class distinction is so evident, thanks to that physical marking. One day a man comes to town with a machine. He tells the starless Sneetches that he is able to put stars on their bellies so that they will be just like the snooty Sneetches who already have them. Those starless Sneetches line up, hand him their money, climb on a conveyor belt, go through the machine and come out with stars on their bellies!!! Now they look just like the other Sneetches and they can be special, too. This doesn't sit well with the original starred Sneetches. The man tells them that if they pay his fee he can remove the stars from their bellies and they will once again be special. They line up, hand him their money, climb on the conveyor belt, go through the machine, and come out with no stars! Now the dynamic changes once again and the snooty Sneetches are the ones without stars. Ah, but the newly starred ones decide to approach the man who tells them he can remove those new stars, if they will pay him. They line up, hand him their money, and, well you know the rest. Chaos breaks loose as Sneetches line up, pay their money, climb on the conveyor belt and get stars removed or added, all in an attempt to make themselves special. At last, completely broke, bellies looking like war zones with stars, no stars, two stars, parts of stars; they fall down and try to remember who was who when the whole mess began. The man takes the bags of money along with his machine, and happily heads out of town.

                We are owned by our possessions. We define ourselves by what we have, who we know, and how we are able to live. Yet, no matter what some of us have, it is never enough. We want more. We want more than anyone else, and we want more because we want that shiny star on our bellies. The latest figures I saw evaluated wealth in this way: the wealthiest 2,153 people in the world own more wealth than the poorest 4.6 billion people in the world. In the USA alone, 1 in 7 children goes hungry every day. Millions of families are one paycheck, one disaster from bankruptcy. This economic nightmare has led to an outrageous rise in homelessness, hunger, and death due to lack of healthcare. Each day more people find themselves with cardboard signs on their bellies asking for help. Right now, Yemeni children and adults look as skeletons from starvation because Saudi Arabian leaders want what Yemen has. Because the USA leaders want the money that Saudi Arabia has, we are helping them to starve and commit genocide in Yemen. The same story is true with Palestine and Israel. Israel wants what Palestine has, even as it was given to Palestine in 1948 as compensation for taking a huge part of their land to create a new home for Israel, with the hope that all the Jewish people would go there to live and stop bothering other nations. We are helping in the death and destruction there as well.

                Every week, “pastors” step into pulpits and preach that wealth comes to those who pray for it and willingly give that congregation as well as that pastor, their money. For an “offering” sent to a tv “preacher”, one can purchase miracles of healing and wealth. Those charlatans then return to their multi-million-dollar estates, drive their usuriously expense cars, or get into their private jet and travel. Meanwhile, the people who are enabling it climb into their used cars, go home to their old homes, and travel by bus or economy class on a plane. Misquoting Luke 6.38, these preying preachers tell their flock that Jesus says by giving they will receive wealth. That is not the meaning of that passage at all. Firstly, Jesus is teaching about forgiveness and our need to forgive others without judgement. He is telling the disciples that in forgiving others, we too will be forgiven. The measure of forgiveness we offer is the measure of forgiveness we will receive. We are to be generous in our forgiving, and in return God will bless us with forgiveness. Those we forgive, and those who see our practice of forgiveness, will be more ready to offer forgiveness to us when we need it. Jesus often used hyperbole when teaching. By exaggerating, he was able to make the point that others would hear and smile.

            Our love of money, and our greed, have turned us into selfish humans who place a dollar value on everything and are reluctant to share anything. We want to take Jesus literally, except when we don’t. Taking Jesus literally generally happens when it benefits us. Ignoring Jesus’ teachings generally happens when the benefit might be for someone else, or when that ignoring allows us to feel superior to others. Greed will breed anger and hostility, because it grows inequality. Inequality doesn’t mean no one has more than anyone else. Equality means that every human being is seen as important and valued. Every human being is worth a good life. “Enough” happens when we willingly set aside our own greed, our fear, and share with others. Jesus teaches that what we truly need is love, patience, compassion, sharing.

Are we ever going to reach the place where we will give all that we have for the benefit of all of us? Therein lies one of the ways that the Kingdom of God will truly be made manifest in this world. Jesus taught that the Kingdom is among us, the Kingdom is near to us, the Kingdom is at hand. When will we trust that those words are true? Or will we, like those Sneetches, continue to chase the right of power and position?  May listen, and learn, before we destroy this world and one another.

The Tower

"In the Spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabah. But David remained in Jerusalem." II Samuel 11.1

I saw an interesting cartoon not long ago. The image was a tower with a few people standing on the parapet, wine glasses in hand, looking down on the crowd below. The onlookers were obviously wealthy and peaceful as they watched and appeared to chat.

                Below them, at the bottom of the tower, was a crowd of people who were fighting and beating one another. Protest signs with opposing viewpoints were "flying" in the image. The scene was no less than utter chaos and in my mind I could "hear" the screaming, the anger, and the violence. These folks were clearly angry with one another and oblivious to their surroundings as they fought. Not one of them was looking upward, but instead they were focused on beating and destroying one another. The caption startled me. It read, "Just the way we like it!"

                Imagine with me for a moment what the people below, obviously not well dressed and certainly not sipping from lovely wine glasses, are seeing. They are focused on one another. They may not even be aware of the fact that they are the entertainment for those few on the parapet. Many of those people fighting below believe that winning will move them from the crowd to the parapet of the tower. There is a minuscule possibility that any of them will achieve that dream; yet as long as they continue to believe that the people and circumstances keeping them down are those they are battling? The fighting and bickering will not cease.             

                 King David was a poor boy who rose to power, not on his own merits, but according to the story, it was because of God's agency and Israel's delusion of conquest and might. The story tells us that David did many good things as the people's king; yet he forgot the work of a servant king and instead was blinded by power and privilege. He, too, stood on a parapet, surveying the people below. He chose to send people to fight battles, while he stayed behind to enjoy the good life. He took what wasn't his, because he had the power to do as he pleased. Lives were changed and lives were lost because of David’s selfish choices.

Promising the many what only the already few have is the perfect way to keep the many fighting on behalf of the wealth of those few. Couching that fighting in love of country allows the war machines to profit while the disadvantaged die.  The fact is that no one wins in a war, or a fight. The common belief that one side is victorious and the other vanquished is simply not true. We believe the fallacy that leaving one "side" dead or bloodied and maimed, means that we won. No one wins. The "prevailing" side gleefully writes the narrative while the "vanquished" ones take their anger and turn it to revenge. All too soon the simmering revenge boils over and another war, another fight begins. Without a thought, we accept the lie that billions of dollars spent on a plane, or a bomb, or a tank, will protect our troops and bring home victory. Those billions fill the pockets of the CEOs and their investors while those troops pay, literally and figuratively, for their own protective gear. Innocent people die from war and famine every day. Soldiers come home broken, some beyond repair, or in body bags that leave loved ones to mourn and suffer the consequences of actions by those they do not know. Those CEO's, the wealthy, the investors, these are people who do not go into battle. Their children, their loved ones, may never see an actual conflict except from afar. They do, however, benefit greatly from the fighting and anger of those “below” them. None of this bickering and fighting has anything to do with the teachings or the life of Jesus. Some people call this "American Christianity". However, when we examine the world, we see that it's not only here in the USA. This dis-ease is found all over the world. Those individuals who benefit most will claim it is "(insert your favorite religious practice to hate) Terrorism."  The truth, however, is greed and the love of power are the driving forces.  You see, power over others allows us to see and judge the world in terms of winners or losers. Powerlessness allows us to practice jealousy and hatred without perhaps being aware that we are the powerless ones in the story. However, power or not, the truth is that we are all sinning.    

Jesus had quite a lot to say about this subject. More of the stories he told were about wealth and power than we want to admit. In fact, Jesus was fairly tough on those in power and those who saw themselves as better because of the wealth and perceived status they claimed, regardless where they were in the social system. I find it most interesting that so many who claim the name of "Christian" want to ignore these teachings. They are difficult teachings, yes, yet far truer to the Gospel found in Scripture than the Gospel as proclaimed in many places. Instead of the truth of those teachings that make us uncomfortable, many of us choose to focus time and energy on things that Jesus never said. If we pray differently, speak formulaic words, and get our sins "washed away"; if we give more to our congregation and pastor; we will be "blessed" with abundant money and power for ourselves. Admonishing the poor; creating a culture of guilt and blame; making an impossible list of things we can never accomplish; denying our common humanity; judging one another by "sins" that we have defined yet Jesus never spoke; these are all ways to keep God's children arguing and powerless in the presence of Evil.

  In Luke 21.1-4 Jesus has just been talking about the consequences of arrogance and unjust behaviors of the rich and powerful. One small incident during this conversation Luke tells us is said in front of everyone - yet cleverly directed to the disciples. Jesus looks up and sees wealthy people giving their offering at the Temple. A widow approaches the Temple and places "two small copper coins" into the offering box.  Jesus turns to his disciples and says, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them (the wealthy) have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on." (Luke 21.1-4)   

                Walter Brueggemann, in his book "Money and Possessions", says that the Scriptures are all a cautionary evaluation of money and power. That is a way to understand this story. I also see the story as a metaphor about power, money, and the have/have not consequences. Those who have the power share some of their money in order to highlight their "generosity".  Jesus commends the woman because, although it would cost her dearly, she has given all that she has. The incredibly wealthy few people tend to give in order to receive deference and good press. They may "contribute" to the business of war; yet they do so in anticipation that there will be a huge return on their investment. They may establish funds and foundations to aid others. Yet those funds and foundations are carefully calculated to minimize the impact on the wealth they have, while causing the rest of the people to genuflect at that purported generosity. These billionaires lose little or nothing as they gain accolades and more power.

                The poor, however, are forced to give whatever they have, even their lives, each day. Ironically, both the monied and the poor have bought the same life narrative. Anyone can be a billionaire, it is said. Truthfully, that is a lie. You see, there truly is a finite supply of wealth in this world, and in order for some to have more, others must have less.  That narrative has allowed CEO's to receive upwards of 900x what their employees earn. It allows for dismissal of the fact that the CEO would have nothing, were it not for the actual work that employees do. Think about it for a moment. How much money would a corporation, its CEO, or its investors really have if it were not for the people maintaining the equipment, running the machines, and so on? When do you suppose was the last time that a member of the Walton family, or the Gates family, or the Buffet family rang a cash register, stocked a shelf, or delivered goods to a store? It is the work of the people who will never live in gated communities, or mansions, dine at exclusive restaurants, travel the world, own multiple homes or vehicles that affords those billionaires to be able to enjoy all of those amenities.

In 1920 songwriters Raymond Egan, Gus Kahn, and Richard Whiting gave us the song, "Ain't We Got Fun?"  A commentary on the growing income and life disparity in the USA, the song brought the phrase "...the rich get rich and the poor get poorer" into the US catchphrase lexicon. It was sadly accurate in its description of what came to be known as "The Roaring Twenties" in the USA. By the end of that decade the rich were truly richer and the poor were definitely poorer. The stock market couldn't sustain the disparity and crashed. Wealthy folks suffered, yes, however the poor suffered most of all. The Roaring Twenties ended with the Great Depression. It nearly happened again at the beginning of the 21st century.

On September 11, 2001, the tower(s) came down and the people who could least afford it, began paying for another war. In 2001, the USA invaded Afghanistan, "to fight terrorism" and to "seek justice for 9/11". That became a quagmire much like the VietNam war had proven to be in the 1960's. Yet, that nightmare wasn't enough for the war profit machine. In 2003, despite what many suspected and most came to realize, a false narrative  plunged the USA into another unwinnable war, this time with Iraq.  Military "support" corporations saw profits sky-rocket, wealth increased for some people, and the rest of the people paid through taxes, their health, their wages, and their lives. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, the nation that had enabled the destruction of those towers, yet was a wealthy benefactor for the few in the USA, was left unscathed to continue its terror campaign of beheadings, and subjugation of women, the poor, and those who did not adhere to the state religion. As the wealthy and powerful continued to genuflect before Saudi Arabia, their patience with those who suffered the most in the aftermath of 9/11 ebbed and funds to aid those public servants and their families began to see cuts and cessation. By 2007 the perilous economy could no longer be ignored. So Congress, whose members had joined the lofty wealthy thanks in no small part to their wealthy benefactors, decided to "bail out" the systems of wealth that had produced the problem. Wall Street received a huge gift from the federal government, under the guise of "trickle-down economics", an already proven disaster. Money, and its benefits, never trickles down. It evaporates upward and is vacuumed into the already wealthy pockets. Economic logic would have dictated those "bailout" funds be dispersed to the people who were suffering. That money would have evaporated upward.  However, that is not how greed and power operate.  As long as those of us not on the parapet continue to believe it is those we see ironically as “beneath” us, nothing will change. It isn’t the poorest of us that continue to drain the money from government, or the people on the parapet. It is those very folks we want to emulate who are destroying the rest of us, in the name of greed and power.

In 1929, the Great Depression saw huge soup kitchens, people dying from diseases that they couldn’t afford to treat, and a market so gutted that it took many years for change to be apparent. Change came in the way of increased wages, social services, healthcare for the most vulnerable, and protected retirement funds. The 1980’s saw the decline of those protections and the 2007 was the danger signal. Yet, this time those elected to represent and legislate for the health and welfare of all citizens chose not to fulfill their responsibility. Money is a seductive lover. The warning was not heeded, and we may be at the point of no return.  Free meal sponsors are struggling with funding to feed those in need. Community clinics are struggling to care for increasing health concerns. Each day, it seems, more good people fall off the grid and into the abyss. Do we truly believe that we are living as God intends? We hear and say a great deal about being Christian. What about the words of the One we claim to follow? Do they even matter anymore? Jesus stands at the edge of the world, and weeps.

The Gospel of Birds and Humans

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”    Matthew 6.26
“And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”       Matthew 8.20

    We left our window air conditioners in the windows all Winter. Covered with batting and plastic, they were just fine and so were we. This past Spring when we removed the coverings from the windows, we discovered that the two a/c’s on the second floor – including the one in our bedroom – now had bird nests tucked into the corner of the window ledge and the a/c!  Closing the curtain, we left the nest as it was and continued with our lives.
     One beautiful, sunny Spring morning, I was awakened at 6:30am by the sound of birds. Not lovely, melodious songs, but irritating, scratchy peeps. Those peeps were incessant! I realized that the eggs had hatched, and momma had very hungry offspring. From that day onward, every time the sun came up, the peeping started. I could hear the flapping of momma’s wings as she rushed back and forth getting food for her littles. Eventually the peeps became more melodic, and then diminished as one by one the littles grew and began to fly. Peeps gave way to morning songs, perhaps in gratitude for the food they have received, or the food that they will be able to find. Perhaps they are calling out to others, seeking companionship for the morning breakfast or flying adventure. Perhaps they are even calling out with news of predator locations so that others will be safe.
   We didn’t always have such a wealth of birdsongs around our home and at our windows. Many years ago, our children gifted us with two beautiful trees that sit majestically in our front yard. One is a red maple tree and the other is a Japanese maple tree. Planted when not much more than twigs, they are now huge! I look forward to spring each year because they bloom and cover the entire front of our house. They provide shade, and privacy, to our front porch and second floor rooms. They keep much of the rains out of the second-floor windows, so that we can enjoy the sounds of rainfall. And, best of all, they have become a haven for birds! We have an amazing array and variety of birds now. Robins, blue jays, sparrows, ravens, crows, pigeons (of course!), and my favorite bird, cardinals!
    Because of those trees, the birds get bold and whoosh through our front porch. The cardinals especially like to perch on the back of a rocking chair and peer in the front window. The dog has finally learned to live with that occurrence.  There are days when I simply sit and marvel at the symbiosis of creation. Each part of creation has a need and a use for other parts. Each part of creation has something to offer the other parts. We, as humans, are privileged to enjoy the show in wonder. 
      This chapter in the Jesus stories is quite telling in that so many “preachers” and “teachers” don’t even mention it. Jesus assures the first listeners – and now the readers – that God cares deeply for all creation, not just some humans. We are asked to take notice that birds don’t seem to worry about their next meal. What they need is provided for them in Creation. By extrapolation, all that we need is provided as well. The Genesis story tells us that we are caretakers of all that God has brought into existence. Not dominators, but we are to be stewards and generators of peace and plenty; yet in our sinfulness we prefer to be in control and demand others to obey and be grateful for whatever we “give” them.
        Experts tell us that there is more than enough of everything that Creation needs to survive, and thrive, in the world today. Yet we operate from what Walter Brueggemann calls a “theology of scarcity”. We are a species of hoarders, never believing we have enough, living in fear that we will have less. Ask yourself this question, “How much money is necessary to live a decent life?” Now, answer this question, “why is it necessary to have billions of dollars and yet continue to live as though those billions are not enough?” You see, God has kept God’s part of the promise. There is more than enough for all of us. No one should go hungry, or homeless, or without the medical care necessary to live a good life. Yet that is exactly the scenario that too many of us live today and too many more of us are just one rough life experience from falling into as well. We have the means. It has been amply provided for us. What we do not have is the will to live the promise God has made to us.
       Our greed and our unwillingness to live as community are two behaviors that are literally killing humanity and creation every day. The so-called “prosperity gospel” is a lie. It is perpetrated by greedy people who rely on the innocence and ignorance of others. We are blessed so that we might share, not so that we might get more. 1 Timothy 6.10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Oddly, that passage is rarely, if ever, heard from the pulpits of pastors who live in $10 million dollar homes and fly in private $20 million dollar jets. I have learned through reading, listening, experiencing, and watching, that the most generous people are not those at the top of the finance pyramid. It’s those with little who are the most generous and willing to share with others. They know what it’s like to go without basic needs. Because they know what it is to be in need, they will give everything they have so that others don’t experience unmet need.
  Those who have more will say that they are being blessed by God. What they don’t accept is that blessings are meant to be shared, to be passed along to bless others. That action is God’s intent and design because that action creates community. It is only when anger, hatred, jealousy, and greed cease that we will finally see the Kingdom of God clearly among us. It has never been God’s desire that one of God’s children go hungry, or naked, or homeless, or die from preventable illnesses. The birds of the air have no worry, for God provides. Humans also receive God’s provision. Will we ever understand that we are to feed one another, care for one another, and love as God has loved us? The Greek word that is translated as “salvation”, actually means “healed, made whole, made well”. Our salvation lies in Jesus the Christ, who taught us that in the giving we receive, and our salvation requires all of us. No one is to be excluded in the Kingdom. “The last shall be first, and the first shall be last”, according to Jesus. How great the delight of the Author of the Universe would be, if all of us tried to be first, by being last?

First and Last

                    "..whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be                         first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many."  Matthew 20.26b-28

In Matthew 20.20-28, we find a most interesting story about Jesus and the disciples. The mother of James and John comes forward and asks Jesus to give her boys honored seats at the Heavenly Table. She would like them seated at his right and at his left, thank you very much. This is truly an absurd request, and I imagine Jesus even chuckled a bit. He then addresses the sons and asks if they are ready for what those seats require. "Sure!" they answer with some bravado in their voices. I think Jesus might have smiled at that bravado before he responded. He tells them that they will indeed have to do what's necessary, yet God alone decides who gets preferred seating. 

                Here's where the story gets interesting. The other disciples get wind of what has happened, and they are none too pleased. Jesus hears all the grumbling and calls all of them together. He reminds them that the Gentile rulers get puffed up with a little power and like to make certain that the regular folks know how important they are. Jesus uses this "who's the favorite" crankiness of the disciples to illustrate a truth that they didn't fully understand then, and we don't fully understand yet today.

Jesus tells them that the only way to be "first" is to live one's life as "last". If they truly want to be at the head of the line for the Kingdom, they need to learn how to be servants of everyone else. Being the "greatest", being "number one", requires the sacrifice found only in serving others. Ah, but then Jesus gives them a twist. Jesus tells them they need to be like Him, the One who didn't come to be served but to be a servant and to be the payment, the ransom for those bound by Evil. 

Woah. The twelve may have nodded their heads, thinking or even saying, "Sure! We can be like you! We can certainly spend our lives walking in your footsteps doing miracles and giving up the "good life" for your mission!"  Of course, he had already told them what was going to happen to him, but they either didn't hear or didn't think it would end the way he said. Even when it all happens, some are willing to go TO the cross with Him, but not ONto the cross. Others of them just panic and run away. Before we scold these poor disciples, we must stop and examine ourselves. Jesus is also speaking to us, through his words to them. We are okay with going to the cross, standing at the foot of the cross, shaking our heads in sorrow and amazement at the sacrifice. Yet, most of us are unwilling to go "all the way"; unwilling to climb onto that cross and surrender our lives for the sake of others. When the going gets rough, we want to get away.

Surrendering our lives may take many different guises. Are you an athlete set to win the race and see another runner fall? Do you continue to win? Or do you go back, help the other runner to stand and together finish the race? That is surrendering your life. How about that expensive car you just "have" to buy because it will proclaim your status? Would you be willing to surrender your life, "your status" in order to help someone else? Are we willing to give up what we want so that others may have what they need? Are we willing to become volunteers in our community and surrender our lives to service? Are we willing to stand firm in the face of Evil and demand what is Good? That may mean climbing onto that cross. There are so many ways to surrender our lives to God, all understood through the practice of serving others and knowing that the service requires surrender of ourselves. Are we truly ready, asks Jesus, to follow wherever Jesus leads us?

Somehow, Christianity took a wrong turn along the way. We began to believe and to teach that claiming Jesus the Christ as our Lord and Savior is all that is necessary for our ticket to heaven. That is not, however, what Jesus taught. We are to love God, first and foremost. We are to love one another (Church, the Body of Christ). We are to love our neighbor (humanity) as we love ourselves. How we treat others is the key to our eternal life. Did we let folks go hungry and thirsty or did we feed them? Did we make sure everyone had a safe place to live? Did we make certain that folks had clothes to wear? Did we tend to them when they were sick or in prison? Did we give scraps and leftovers, or did we see ourselves in others and treat them as we treated ourselves? Were we willing to not only carry the cross, but also allow ourselves to die for the love of humanity, as Jesus did? That’s what Jesus’ teachings are telling us. How much are we willing to surrender out of love for God and humanity? That is the test of discipleship. There is no preferred seating at the Heavenly Banquet. Those first disciples didn’t fully understand, at the beginning, what it truly means to follow Jesus. They had no previous examples of discipleship with Jesus. We do no have that excuse. We have the evidences of 2,000 years as to how to follow, or not follow, Jesus and the lessons he taught.

Jesus is emphatic that when we see others in need, we are really seeing Him. We must learn how to serve, we must be servants, we must learn to serve Jesus in others. It's not about winners or losers. It's not about part of us. Heaven is not a competition. The Kingdom of God is already here and not yet fully visible. Bringing the Kingdom requires all of us to live, to love and to serve one another, because we understand that Kingdom life, eternal life, is about sacrifice and service. The Kingdom of God is very near to us and we glimpse that Glory whenever we practice what Jesus taught. There is a world deeply in need of what we have in abundance. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us. We are the partners who allow it to be fully visible. Repeatedly, Jesus told the disciples these truths, and they – like we – didn’t understand. Once we “get” it, and then we live it, the Kingdom will at last be made manifest. We will all be seated together at the Heavenly Banquet Table and each of us will be seated next to Jesus. No one will have preferred seating. Every seat is important to God. Together we will see God as God truly is. At last, as Jesus prayed, we will all be one.