1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 4; Matthew 14, 15

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 26

When a drought caused Elijah's brook to dry up and he had to move on from where ravens fed him, the Lord sent him to the house of a widow in Zarephath and her son. God provided for them through containers of flour and oil that were always, miraculously, full. When the boy died, Elijah's prayer restored his life (1 Kings 17). Similarly, following Elisha's instructions, a prophet's widow and two sons found relief from debt through a vessel of oil that did not cease pouring until there were no more vessels to pour into. And Elisha was hosted in Shunem by a woman whose husband was old - yet Elisha's prophecy of a baby in her arms came true. And when the boy later died, Elisha did as his master had done with the widow's son - and the child revived. Not much later, he fed a hundred with a mere twenty loaves of barley bread (2 Kings 4).

Jesus, known as a prophet during His incarnation, also fed bread to five thousand (Matthew 14) and four thousand (15) and, shortly after healing the illness of a centurion's servant, raised a widow's son to life (Luke 7) as well as His dear friend Lazarus (John 11). In the end, His compassion led to His demise, for there John records: "Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. 'What are we accomplishing?' they asked. 'Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.' " Then, he adds: "So from that day on they plotted to take his life."

Undiminishable Father God, we praise You because Your mercy toward us has no end, pouring forth like the oil and flour that made bread for Elijah, the widow and her son. In our spiritual poverty, You have provided Your Son through Your limitless compassion, to let Him be consumed like bread. Through Him, You give us the strength of His righteousness and we are filled. Bless now this bread we pray in the name of Jesus: Amen.

Holy, Unchanging One, there is perhaps no miracle more powerful than the way the blood of Your Son changes us; transforms us into Your likeness with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Through Him, we cross over from death to life (John 5:24). For this incomparable miracle - the ongoing resurrection of our lives from dead pursuits to eternal glory; for this incomparable blood and the cup it fills, we thank in Jesus' name: Amen.

2 Kings 2; John 21

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 25

When King Solomon passed away, Judah had been separated from the rest of Israel by their sin. It is a sorry succession of kings which follows the reign of Solomon - who himself had fallen prey to the temptations of wealth and wives, and had fallen into idolatry. Among these kings the Lord sent prophets and men of God (some good; some poor in character) to set them aright or just tell them of the doom they have earned. Elijah outshone them all, even though he, too, had moments of fear and doubt. At the close of his ministry, when the Lord was calling him home, he three times told his protege Elisha that he should stay while his master went on. Three times, the answer of the apprentice was "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." When just before it came time to part - one on foot; one by fiery chariot in a whirlwind - the younger asked the elder to petition God for a double portion of His Spirit, and his request was granted. He took up the mantle of his master, and the ministry continued in power. (2 Kings 2)

At the end of Jesus' recorded visits to his closest followers, He went to them in His resurrected body and met them fishing. Having already promised them His Spirit (John 16), His question of the one who had denied Him three times was also asked thrice: "Simon Peter, do you love me more than these [fish]?" Peter's answer each time was essentially the same: "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." And Jesus told him to quit fishing and begin shepherding. It was not an assignment filled with promise, except for the promise of suffering as his Savior had suffered: "... when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." (John 21:15-23) Yet in just a few days, upon Peter and the other ten descended the Holy Spirit like a mantle of comfort and responsibility, and they took it up and continued Jesus' ministry in renewed power. (Acts 2)

Heavenly Father of Elijah and Elisha, we pause at this table of our Master to give You thanksgiving and honor and praise for what You have promised and what You have given through Your Son. This bread, His body, reminds us of His devotion to us, and compels our devotion in return. We, like His closest ones, would rather that He had stayed - but know that it was for our good that He went away, leaving us His Spirit; empowering us to perpetuate His ministry; inspiring us to give glory to Your name. So in Jesus' name we ask your blessing: Amen.

God of Israel and Judah; of Jesus and Peter, we ask your blessing on this cup, the blood of Your Christ. Through it we are given redemption and unity; because of it poured out we receive Your Spirit. Give us the power to eschew the idols in our lives: the gratification of self through power and wealth and pleasure. Give us the power of Your Spirit to enthrone You, the living God, and serve Him only. Like Peter, we would always confess our love for our Master. Like Elisha, we would insist on staying with Him, to whatever end. For He met the end that should have been ours, that we might see no end to life. So in Jesus' name we make this request: Amen.

The Most Important Thing

I spend way too much time reading blogs.

One of the themes that keeps recurring as I spend way too much time reading blogs is some variation of the question, "What's the most important thing?"

While discussions that follow in the posts and the comments are interesting - usually spawning a variety of answers and logic and texts to support them - I always come away with a nagging feeling of discontent. The issue of "the most important thing" is hardly ever resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

It makes me wonder if there is no single "most important thing."

What is most important for me may be of little importance to you. That may be true because of our heritage, our opinions, our outlook on life, our way of viewing scripture, our perception of God, our age, our maturity, our circumstances in life and blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. (That is an obscure term, probably Yiddish in origin, used by scholars to denote a precise and genuine meaning of which no one is exactly certain.)

Maybe what's most important for Mike Cope is to reach the difficult-to-reach through a really challenging new ministry. Maybe what's most important for Larry James is to help marginalized people help themselves. Maybe what's most important for Charles Kiser is to teach a variety of people about God's love from a tiny but growing church plant.

Maybe God has given us all different gifts - and different blends of gifts - through the same Spirit for the common good of the body. (1 Corinthians 12)

For the folks in Corinth, "Keeping God's commands is what counts." (1 Corinthians 7:19)

For the folks spread across Galatia, "... what counts is a new creation." (Galatians 6:15)

In both cases, circumcision or uncircumcision counts for nothing.

For the folks Paul wrote in Rome, Abraham was justified by faith not works - because they were struggling with the idea that they had to earn justification (Romans 4).

For the folks James wrote, Abraham was justified by faith through works - because they were struggling with indolence and a misconception that mental assent justified them (James 2).

In both cases, active acceptance of God's work in one's life is absolutely crucial.

So for some, the most important thing is to call on God once they've heard; for others, it's to preach; for still others, it's to send those who will preach (Romans 10:14-15). And perhaps, as time goes on, those priorities will change according to the blend of gifts God sends them.

For the rich young ruler, the most important thing was to sell all his stuff so he could follow Jesus. (Matthew 19:21)

For one disciple, it was to follow right then without burying his father first. (Matthew 8:21)

I think, down deep, each one of us has a solid, reliable intuition about what is most important in this life. So perhaps when we ask the question, it should be "What's the most important thing for me right now within God's will?"

Maybe I'm just rationalizing in frustration. I gotta tell you, though ...

This possibility that "the most important thing may be different for people that God made different" is of some comfort to me.

Except for the overwhelming conviction that I spend way too much mind-preoccupying, opportunity-squandering, butt-numbing time reading and writing blogs about the most important thing.

... when I should be out, going and preaching and baptizing and making disciples and teaching and doing good like Jesus did.

Hey!

Maybe that's the most ....

Nah.

Proverbs 4:14-19; John 13:30

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 24

Solomon's wisdom came at his request; but he was wise enough to ask for it - and wise enough to listen to his father David when the king advised him to seek it (Proverbs 4:1-13). The words of wisdom that he recalls from his father are not to follow evil people because they cannot sleep until they have caused someone else to fall into their darkness. In a poetic - and prophetic - phrase, he is taught: "They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence."

Jesus was betrayed by a follower who shared His bread of unity and His cup of blessing. John's gospel (13:30) says it briefly: "As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night." At His abduction, Luke (22:53) quotes Jesus noting ruefully "Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour — when darkness reigns."

Forgiving God, we remember with this bread of unity Your Son's body, pummeled and beaten when He was taken in the garden, perhaps not even an hour after the Passover meal. We remember the Light of the World snuffed out, and a darkness that enveloped the earth. We know that there is no intrinsic power in these emblems that prevent us from sinning; no magic in this matzoh; no wizardry in the wine, for we've read that as soon as Judas had taken it, he went out and betrayed his Lord. Forgiving God, bring us together in the sharing of this bread, that Your Spirit and the brotherhood we find in it will help keep us accountable and keep us from falling into darkness. Through Christ we ask: Amen.

Lord of mercy, giving rest to the weary, we approach You weary of sin and stumbling under its heavy guilt. May this cup of blessing refresh us, purging from us a thirst for self and for violence to others and for the cover of darkness - because it is to us the blood of Your Son Jesus, washing the burden of it all from our hearts. Father, give us the light of His wisdom always through His Spirit, guiding us into all truth. We beg this in the name of Jesus: Amen.

2 Chronicles 1, 2; John 4

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 23

The where of worship. There was something of a choice when Solomon began to reign. His father David had brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem to reside in a tent ... but it seemed to be more of a good-luck charm or trophy or sign of God's power than a place of worship. So Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice a thousand bulls on the altar before Moses' ancient tabernacle, which had been moved there - closer to Jerusalem - after its sojourn at Shiloh of Samaria. His sacrifices so pleased God that He told Solomon to ask whatever he wanted. Solomon had the wisdom to ask for more wisdom, and God gave it to him in abundance. And more. Because Solomon had asked for wisdom to rule Israel well, rather than wealth or power or the death of his enemies or long life, God gave him much more.

Then Solomon found in his heart his father's dream to build a temple for the Name of the Lord in Jerusalem. He hired the best foreign skill he could find, and as payment, offered Hiram, the King of Tyre, tens of thousands of gallons of wine and tens of thousands of bushels of wheat for bread.

Hundreds of years later, the mid-day meal for Jesus and His followers was not intended to be bread and wine, but meat and water. The disciples had gone into town at Sychar of Samaria - practically on top of the old tabernacle's site - to buy food, and Jesus asked a woman at a well if she would draw Him the water. They spoke of prejudice, of sin, of water He could provide from an inexhaustible source toward inextinguishable life. And they spoke of where to worship, a quarrel between their two cultures. Jesus told her it was no longer a question of where, but of how.

Provident Father, when we reflect on the hundreds of years during which fellow believers have consumed these emblems of Your Son's body and blood, we think also of the millions of bushels and gallons You have supplied simply that we might not forget Your most precious Gift of all. May we share this bread now with a faith than spans generations, encompasses multitudes of souls, and reaches toward Your eternity purchased by Jesus for His body; His church. Amen.

Holy One of Eternity, You are wherever we go and Your presence makes that ground holy. You have freed us to worship wherever we might be and in whatever moment, asking only that our hearts and minds be attuned to Your truth through Your Spirit. May each moment and each place of our lives be filled with worship for Your promise of endless life, bought by Christ's blood, revered in this cup. Amen.

2 Samuel 16:1-13; Matthew 26:23-25

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 22

It was a particularly low point in the life of King David when he and his small entourage left Jerusalem to the onslaught of his estranged son Absalom. Not far out of the gates, they were met by Ziba, who brought bread, cakes, fruit and wine to refresh the king. Ziba, who had many sons, was awarded the property of Saul's heir Mephibosheth by David, in gratitude for his kindness - yet one must wonder if David sensed a disingenuous tone in Ziba's offer.

Not long after, a man named Shimei cursed the Lord's anointed, throwing rocks and dirt at him - yet David, in his humility, would not order his death. Blessings and cursings.

Then, three chapters later, with Jerusalem reoccupied, we find Ziba accused by Mephibosheth of abandoning him. Perhaps unable to determine the truth, David ordered the property of Saul divided between them. And Shimei, confronted by the king, showed abject penitence, and was shown mercy yet again.

Blessings and cursings. At the last meal Jesus hosts, He serves a cup of blessing ... yet there is no question that He senses the disingenuous tone of Judas, and pronounces a curse of woe on the betrayer - confirming exactly who it was. For Judas had already negotiated the price, and was watching for the place and time.

Betrayal over a meal with bread and wine.

Our God, this meal draws us to remember not only who You are, who Your Son is - but also who we are. We have no deep intention to betray You, but when we leave this table, we do forget. We remember only ourselves, and what we desire. May this bread remind us not to offer our gifts to the King out of the desire to receive something for ourselves - like Ziba - but to give selflessly to You and to others, as Jesus gave all for us. Amen.

Holy, Righteous One, please accept our praise for Your forgiving nature. In our rebellion and sin, we have sometimes tossed rocks at Your righteousness and thrown dirt on Your Name. Yet in this moment we see You enthroned, and we are humbled to obeisance. May this cup remind us of the price of our utter disrespect - Your Son's blood - and may it draw us to the penitence of Shimei each time we share it. Amen.

Psalm 72:16; John 12:23-26

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 21

This last psalm in the cycle of David begins with a petition for God to endow His Son, the King, with His own righteousness, so that the Son might defend the afflicted and crush the oppressor. Even so, Jesus begins His ministry by declaring that Isaiah's prophetic recounting of God's promise has come to pass: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed ..." (Luke 4:18). David speaks of this King's longevity and realm extending beyond measurable time and space. He predicts the gifts of lesser, obeisant kings - not unlike those of visiting magi from the east. Then, in verse 16, his petition seems to suddenly turn to an ordinary plea for agrarian blessing:
"Let grain abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway.
Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon;
let it thrive like the grass of the field."

Perhaps it is. Yet it is also a metaphor Jesus uses (Mark 4:26-29) to describe the Kingdom of God: grain which grows seemingly "all by itself," though the man who scattered the seed knows not how. And while sometimes He uses the metaphor of harvest to describe His return, in this instance it seems to indicate the collecting of fruit to be used for productive purposes. He repeats it, perhaps only hours after entering Jerusalem to a royal reception (John 12:23-26), saying that the seed must die in order to bear fruit and produce more seeds. Paul the apostle echoes the simile again and again (1 Corinthians 3:6; 9:11; 15:36-38), urging followers to live and grow and flourish in Christ - to God's glory.

God of creation and Giver of life, You cause the grain and the fruit to grow, though we know not how. You designed them for food to nourish the bodies You gave man. You gave man the intelligence to create bread and wine from them. Then gave Your Son, Jesus, whose body and blood we remember through them. May this grain abound throughout the land. May our souls be sustained, growing and thriving through the grace of this bread and this cup; through the grace of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Holy and merciful God, You have endowed Your Son with Your righteousness to defeat the oppressor and defend us, the afflicted and poor. Through His body and blood we are delivered. As your Seed, He died and was buried to take up life again and share it with us. So also we die to self and live in Him that this seed, this Word of God, might grow and find root among many, many others. May this fruit flourish and thrive like the grass of the field. Amen.

Psalm 2; Matthew 3:16-17

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 20

The second Psalm (a numbering that goes back to biblical times, for so Paul describes it in his sermon to Pisidian Antioch, Acts 13:33) is not credited specifically to David. Yet it clearly foreshadows David's descendent and forebearer (Revelation 22:16). Its declaration in the seventh verse - "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD : He said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father' " - expresses the words from heaven at Jesus' baptism (Matthew 3:16-17) and Jesus' own intent on beginning His ministry (Luke 4:14-20) while reading the prophet Isaiah. To no angel had God ever bestowed the blessing of His Fatherhood (Hebrews 1:5).

This psalm's twelfth verse also foretells an aspect of the Son's nature we shudder to acknowledge: "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." For by the end of His ministry, He showed His anger toward those who had no respect for His Father or His Father's house; tables were overturned, animals driven out. Their rejection of the Son then culminated in a kiss of betrayal. Those whom He would have gathered under His wings for refuge - but they would not (Matthew 23:37) - put Him to death on a cross. In about forty years, as He predicted, Rome laid waste all of Jerusalem - dashed to pieces like pottery.

And the Son of God lived to prepare a place for His followers - a refuge for the nations, His inheritance.

Lord God, we give you praise and honor; we give you our thanks for this bread, You Son's body. We remember how You expressed Your pleasure at His baptism. We remember how He was rejected and despised, betrayed and killed. Most of all, we remember Your desire to give Jesus an inheritance of the faithful among the nations. As we share these morsels of bread, we remember Jesus. Amen.

This cup, our God, we realize could just as easily represented your wrath to be poured out on us in our disbelief and sin. But You sent us Your Son, who reflected Your displeasure at sin but personified Your joy in and love for Your people. So we drink a cup, not of wrath - which He drank for us - but a cup of blessing. May we always be grateful for this cup: His blood, and our salvation. Amen.

The Jesus Hermeneutic

I'm adapting and expanding below a comment that I made in response to a post at Jay Guin's insightful blog post: CENI: A Better Way - The Gospels because, on reflection, I didn't say all that I wanted to say:

Are all of the imperatives in the New Testament to be interpreted as commands? instructions? suggestions? Which ones are which? Just the ones from Jesus? Just the ones from Paul? Peter? John?

The basic premise of conservative thought, I believe, is “We don’t know (but we don’t want to admit it), so to be safe, let’s just say that all of them are commands.” I can kind of respect that as a “safe” proposition, but the underlying assumption seems to be that God will always incinerate us with fire from above like Nadab and Abihu for any supposed infraction of unexpressed commands. I can’t buy that. That’s not consistent with the nature of the God who gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sins and is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9.

Are we really called to try to be safe sinners in the hands of an always-angry God? Or to be, at least in some measure, risk-takers with our hearts filled with His instructions (which speak of His love for us and His desire for us to have the best kind of lives)?

The old law said stone the Sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:32-36).

Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not vice-versa (Mark 2:27) and He was Lord of it (v. 28). That’s not stated as law (though it certainly put Him at risk!).

To me, the question is: Do we have be on the edge of our seats in such fear of God’s wrath that we must regard every imperative, every example in New Testament scripture as (potential? binding?) command … or should we trust God and trust also in Jesus? Did He come to make it more difficult to have a relationship with God (Matthew 5:48) or to point out that no one can be perfect, so He served as our atonement to establish that relationship (Romans 3:21-26)?

I tend toward the latter – and I know that makes me a damnable heretic to a good number of my brothers and sisters in Christ – but my sense of His teaching is that we’re here to trust the Master, take some risks in order to do His will and help earn Him some results , and if we don’t do that, we are indeed in danger of being cast into the outer darkness.

"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" ~ Matthew 25:14-30

Please body-block me if I'm wrong about this. But isn't Jesus, in this story, condemning the cowardly servant because he only feared and distrusted his master, leading to his very fiscally conservative - but unproductive - actions?

In fact, if there was ever a more clear story in scripture about violating God's unexpressed expectations, isn't this it - far beyond the story of Nadab and Abihu? I realize that this story is not expressly about gathered worship and therefore does not serve the purpose of some who would otherwise cite it to prove their point, but in this story the master never once tells the servants to invest his money. He entrusts it to them according to their ability, but never says, "Make it grow!"

Sandwiched right there between the parable of the unprepared and prepared virgins and the metaphor of the sheep and the goats, here is this convicting parable that essentially says, What do you not understand about why God has entrusted you with all the good things in your life - especially the Story of His Son, Jesus? Do you think it's all just for YOU?

The servants who had worked for the master in the parable knew he wanted results (just look at the lazy servant's estimation of him). And it's the same with us; we know from Jesus' ministry, His message, the sending of twelve and seventy(-two), the Great Commission ... we know He wants results! He doesn't have to tell us in this story - He's emphasizing it by its conspicuous absence, just as the story of Esther emphasizes God's care and intervention only implicitly.

I asked some questions in the first couple of paragraphs about which imperatives should be regarded as commands. This story is not an imperative. It is not strictly an example. It's really stretching the definition to call this an inference, necessary or not. It's a parable. It's the way Jesus chose to teach a good part of the time, for His own reasons (Matthew 13:10-17). Yet, I consider it just as binding on us any other teaching Jesus shared. The tone of His words is teaching, instruction - though this is deep and profound and hard teaching, near the close of His mortal days and ministry in His own flesh. And so were the instructions of the Holy Spirit through Paul, Peter, John and the other writers of New Testament scripture. If we can't see the epistles through the lens of the gospels rather than the telescope of the old law, our focus is off and our hermeneutic is fatally flawed.

God did the "law" covenant with a maturing human race. It served its purpose as tutor, instructor, guardian. At the fullness of time, we needed a new and better covenant (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6; 12:24): not a law that no one could keep, but an agreement of grace offered and accepted; a contract of debt paid in full; a perfect Example and Pattern of self-sacrifice that would tug our hearts outward toward Him and others, rather than inward and self-ward; a teaching so full of abundant life that it was spoken and lived and murdered and yet could not be kept dead.

This is the Jesus hermeneutic.

It's seeing scripture pointing forward to, directly at, or back toward Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Savior, Redeemer, Master, Teacher.

I said a few paragraphs ago that the parable of the talents is not about gathered worship, and strictly speaking, it isn't. But it is about worship, the life of worship (Romans 12:1) to which God calls us, and wants for us to have, and wants to use in order to work His will through us and yield a great return: more souls who know Him, more souls who love Him, more souls who will share His love and His Story.