Interesting story we find with Jesus this time around. His mission has shifted into high gear, he is followed wherever he goes, the crowds have discovered him, the authorities are watching him. In the midst of all this chaos we see the beginning of the argument against him. The religious leaders will accuse him directly, his family will hint at it. In their eyes, Jesus is clearly not managing his life well. His family claims "He is out of his mind." The teachers of the law say, "He is possessed by Beelzebul!" Jesus is not playing by the same rules as everyone else and he must be stopped.
There are at least two things that strike me here about this moment.
First of all, when someone truly embraces the leading of the Spirit, they act in ways we are not accustomed to. And it frightens us. It is easier to assign evil and mysterious motives than it is to step back and wonder if they have found a different level of understanding. In my opinion this is our primary fear of the "pentecostal" crowd. Our frame of reference is experiential, not faith. We have never had it happen to us so we don't believe it. So when we come across these events, we tend to "demonize" those who are involved. Reading this story makes me realize how dangerous that is. Jesus rightly points out that you can't accuse him of being possessed when the very evidence of his mission is the destruction of the demons in which he is supposed to in league.
Secondly, the teachers of the law react by accusing him of the greatest sin they could think of. The argument Jesus presents is indisputable. They can't have it both ways. If he is destroying demons, then he is not one of them. If he is promoting the good will of God, then he has to be a part of His plan. But isn't this just like all of us? We jump at the most contemptible accusation we can come up with, even in the face of all the evidence? Theirs was not a carefully considered accusation, it was a reaction. Haven't we all seen this?
God, help us to understand the weakness of our nature in the temptation to accuse without discernment.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
What is True Religion?
There are two stories this week that illustrate similar points about the meaning and purpose of "sabbath." Both have enormous cultural tones and both pull back the curtain on what the mission truly is for the rabbi. We catch the troupe in a breach of sabbath etiquette, and we see the rabbi having to choose tradition or mission.
This would all be a little bothersome except for the fact that it has continued to crop for all these intervening centuries.
When I was a young man in high school my dad ran the bus ministry at a church in Abilene. He recruited guys to help him find serviceable school buses, found another guy who would paint them an electric blue and stencil the name of the church on the side, and recruited high school and college kids to ride the buses and chaperon the kids through Sunday morning and Wednesday night church. He was the unstoppable force in this ministry. At one time there were more than half dozen buses, and well over 150 kids picked up every Sunday morning and Wednesday night.
These kids were from the poorest sections of Abilene. They were ragged and smelly and dirty. They cussed like sailors, they would steal whatever was not nailed down, and at some point we had real problems with riots on the buses and on the routes. Remember, this was the early 70's and racial tension was at an all-time high.
But there were victories. Some of the kids were cleaned up and had a shot at a decent life. Time and again my dad to this day will point out someone who is obviously doing fine and remark, "He rode our buses" My dad never says it with pride, just a statement that the ministry worked.
One Sunday morning there was the normal high activity around the worship service. The worship leaders and elders all wanted to stay on schedule, to get to the next thing. In the midst of this whirlwind, one of the "bus kids" wanted to be baptised. A quick decision was made to do it after the second service, so the normal flow of the different assembly times and class times would not be interrupted. My dad pinned one of the elders to the wall and told him plainly that if that had been a "member's child" they would have stopped down the service and had the baptism. They chose poorly. My dad, who is not by nature confrontational, rightly called their hand on it.
Man or Sabbath? Good or evil? Mission or maintenance?
We have a lot to talk about.
Lord, give us the ability to discern the righteous activity over the traditional activity. Give us strength to speak up when organization injures the individual. Keep us in your Word. Amen
Don
This would all be a little bothersome except for the fact that it has continued to crop for all these intervening centuries.
When I was a young man in high school my dad ran the bus ministry at a church in Abilene. He recruited guys to help him find serviceable school buses, found another guy who would paint them an electric blue and stencil the name of the church on the side, and recruited high school and college kids to ride the buses and chaperon the kids through Sunday morning and Wednesday night church. He was the unstoppable force in this ministry. At one time there were more than half dozen buses, and well over 150 kids picked up every Sunday morning and Wednesday night.
These kids were from the poorest sections of Abilene. They were ragged and smelly and dirty. They cussed like sailors, they would steal whatever was not nailed down, and at some point we had real problems with riots on the buses and on the routes. Remember, this was the early 70's and racial tension was at an all-time high.
But there were victories. Some of the kids were cleaned up and had a shot at a decent life. Time and again my dad to this day will point out someone who is obviously doing fine and remark, "He rode our buses" My dad never says it with pride, just a statement that the ministry worked.
One Sunday morning there was the normal high activity around the worship service. The worship leaders and elders all wanted to stay on schedule, to get to the next thing. In the midst of this whirlwind, one of the "bus kids" wanted to be baptised. A quick decision was made to do it after the second service, so the normal flow of the different assembly times and class times would not be interrupted. My dad pinned one of the elders to the wall and told him plainly that if that had been a "member's child" they would have stopped down the service and had the baptism. They chose poorly. My dad, who is not by nature confrontational, rightly called their hand on it.
Man or Sabbath? Good or evil? Mission or maintenance?
We have a lot to talk about.
Lord, give us the ability to discern the righteous activity over the traditional activity. Give us strength to speak up when organization injures the individual. Keep us in your Word. Amen
Don
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)