When Mission Becomes An Idol

Communicating Christ's Atonement

Gay/Christian: Connecting with the Christian faith

Problematic Reading Of Scripture

I recently preached a sermon on Old Testament teaching on "murder". First, it was very difficult to reconcile passages which seem to depict God as commanding numerous acts of atrocities against foreign nations, with God's self-revelation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament who preached good news to also the enemy and subverted the powers with peace and self-sacrificial love. Jesus forgave those who were torturing and killing him at the cross, whereas many in the Old Testament were calling down God's wrath upon the enemy. I tend to not necessarily see God as having changed in the way in which he deals with humanity, but rather that humanity's way of interpreting God's ways of acting in human history changes and evolves/develops in various ways. Most Christians seem ok with this thought, unless it comes to an issue they feel very strongly about. A very good friend of mine and trusted brother in Christ helped clarify my reading of scripture by asserting a "progressive revelation" approach. The bible portrays a people who are in many ways progressing, or evolving in their knowledge and understanding of their God and how God acts. I think that this is very significant for how we read scripture in our present day culture, and our future readings will be affected as well. The words of the bible were speaking to the ancient culture in ways we can scarcely understand, and the biblical writings were very much informed by their cultural world view.

What makes us adhere to certain "laws" in the bible, and do away with others? Leviticus has many laws which the Christian world no longer holds to, but the one most keep is the condemnation of homosexual people. The New Testament has commands to silence women in church, and to force them to wear head coverings, yet many churches invite women to preach and teach, and most churches do not implement the head covering law. These are just a few examples. Should we seek to develop a more consistent way of treating scripture?

Dear Devil (Accuser): A Letter To The Prosecution

This letter grew out of a threefold meeting conducted at our church involving men who struggle with sexual lust. There was much open discussion and vulnerable sharing. Last night was our last meeting and everyone was encouraged to, "in the light of what Christ did on the cross, write a letter to the devil regarding your identity in Christ. Point out the devil's lies and address the truth about yourself in relation to God." This was my letter to the devil.

Dear Devil (Accuser),
I have been accused by you of all sorts of crimes and misdeeds that you tell me makes God hate me so much that he wants to have me tortured forever. You've been trying to state your case for many years now. I assume you are still standing in court as you read this letter, with the intention of convincing the judge of my guilt. I thought you may like to know that my case was thrown out of court over 2000 years ago and there is to be no re-trial; no further means of appeal. The highest court will no longer acknowledge your case as valid, and that is precisely why you will find the court room you are presently standing in to be utterly empty, apart from your presence. It seems you failed to take notice that you lost your case before it even began. When God sees me, he sees his son. Jesus has taken my guilt and shame so that the judge will not recognize the guilt in me and dismisses the case you bring before him.

Signed          Andy J. Funk


Co-signed     ALMIGHTY GOD

July 17 Sermon in Bagot

THE WEEDS AMONG THE WHEAT

[Matthew 13:24-30]

Preached by: Andy J. Funk

July 17/11 at Bagot Community Chapel

I am a city boy. Although I have grown up in several places where farming was quite common, I must still acknowledge that I’m a city boy. Some of you may be able to relate to this morning’s Parable more easily than I can, because of your knowledge and experience with farming. I will share my simple perceptions about weeds and plants. 

Weeds are anything that grows in the garden of the field that you didn’t plant there and don’t want there. Often weeds look just like other plants. When children are young and helping their parents with weeding the garden, the parents will carefully teach their children what to pull and what to leave undisturbed. But there are often many little sprouts that even the parents, with their expert eyes, cannot so easily identify and so those are left in order to see what they will become. You wouldn’t want to accidentally pull up a flower mistaking it for a weed… In today’s parable Jesus talks about people as fields, and plants. The parable seems to be telling people that in every field, you will not only find wheat, good plants…but you will also find weeds, bad plants. I have many great qualities…to maintain some semblance of humility, my wife is with me today so that I will not delude myself in thinking I have ONLY great qualities. Yes, I also have bad qualities. My field has weeds among the wheat. Consider also that the parable is talking about people as the plants. Sometimes a person looks like a weed; they act like someone you’d like to just pull right up out of the ground before they infect the entire garden. Jesus knows what can happen if we do that. He says it isn’t our job to pull the weeds out of the field. The farmer has planted good wheat there and we might not know what it looks like. We can’t always tell the difference, even though we think we can.

But as humans we often want to weed the human garden. We want to correct people if we think they are sinning. We get angry at people when they aren’t acting as we see fit. We want to make sure that everyone in our group looks good and acts appropriately. We don’t want too many people who dress the wrong way or who act in questionable ways, around. We don’t want anyone who will stir things up, who will mess up what we have set out for ourselves. We like to identify someone who doesn’t fit and be rid of them. But the problem is we don’t always know which of these people will turn out to be wheat.

Let me share a story which may also help us in looking at today’s parable. A woman recalls her growing up years.

“Where I grew up there is a tree that grows, ugly tree, big long coarse needles that turn brown and fall to the ground, year round, it is an evergreen so it doesn’t just lose its needles sometimes, it is in something like constant shed mode. The needles cause endless raking and serious pain to bare feet. It only has branches high up so it looks like a huge brown trunk with a really bad haircut. Not pretty at all. It is called the ponderosa pine and it is a weed of a tree if there ever was one. I grew up on a hillside just within what is called the “tree line” of eastern Washington. Just where the desert stops and the trees start growing and my home was surrounded by these trees. If it had been up to people we probably would have cut them all down, but there is something special about the scrub pine. It is what is known as a pioneer species. It makes the land liveable for other plants. It changes the eco-system little bit by little bit, shading the ground so that some of the brush dies off and new trees can take root, it creates shelter for animals so that they can move from the forest into new land where they spread seeds and eat down the foliage allowing new things to grow. Without the scrub pine the desert would stay desert but because of it, dead land is turned into fertile soil that holds great beauty and bears good fruit. So despite our suspicion that the scrub pines were weeds we were obliged to let them be. We even watered them in times of drought and protected them from disease knowing that someday because of them new, delicate things would spring up on the hillside.”

In the Parable of today’s text, the field workers want to help the farmer by separating out what they don’t think should be in the field. But the farmer says no. He had planted good wheat and they did not yet know what would bear fruit.

In the story, Jesus tells us the word that he uses for weed really refers to a plant that looks just like the wheat. Until it comes time for harvest it is almost impossible to tell them apart. So when the workers ask if they can get rid of the weeds the farmer says no. He is concerned that the wheat will be pulled along with the weeds. You’ll notice that while the plants and weeds can be separated, the roots cannot. If you pull one, you unavoidably get the other one too.

But still we want to weed the human garden to get rid of anything that springs up looking like a weed because we don’t want to be mistaken for weeds ourselves. 

Back in the days when slaves were still held in the United States, down in South Carolina lived a weed of a man. He was a slave holder and a mean one at that. He was sure everyone had their place. White men at the top descending downwards and ending with black slaves at the bottom. He had children this man. 14 children, a whole patch of weeds we might say. Amongst his children were two daughters. As these daughters grew they became strong voices against slavery. They had seen slaves whipped and mistreated while they were growing up and had decided that slavery was the worst kind of evil. Suddenly the girls who had looked like weeds to the cause of abolition were bearing great fruit in the struggle to give equal rights to all. They spoke as bricks were thrown at them. They spoke as angry mobs tried to drive them away, thirsty for their blood. They spoke and spoke until finally they outspoke slavery. Imagine if someone who thought they were doing good had decided to pull these two weeds as they were growing up in South Carolina; if someone had taken their voice away; if the people in the north had refused to talk to them knowing where they had come from.

As humans we often want to weed the human garden because we are afraid and we want to stop the evil before it starts, but thank God that job is not ours to do.

In our lives we want to help the farmer by pushing away those people who seem like they might be harmful to others, who might be a bad influence. The farmer says no, I planted good wheat; it might yet bear good fruit.

Now if the weeds in this story stand for evil they are a good analogy because heaven knows that just like we never seem to be rid of weeds the world always seems to have some evil in it. Evil that leads someone to set off a bomb on a busy subway, evil that drives a man to take a gun and try to shoot someone outside of an elementary school, hitting a young boy instead. Evil that causes loving Christian people to drive away those most in need. Evil that is sown among us as hatred causing us to turn someone away because of their beliefs, because we don’t approve of how they lead their lives.

It is the evil of arrogance, the evil of judgment which gets us into trouble. It makes us think that we know the good seed from the bad, the fruit bearing plants from the weeds. It makes us think that we don’t need to listen to the farmer that we should decide who gets equal treatment. Who gets to be taken care of by us, who gets to come through these doors. As humans we always want to weed the human garden, but Jesus says no. You might damage some of the precious wheat. Jesus tells this parable to make it clear to all who are listening that while living in this world where some days we see good and some days we see evil. Where some days we do good and some days we do evil. Where some days we are weeds and some days we are wheat, and some days we are both at the same time. We are not to judge one another on these grounds but instead, we are pushed to look within. We must look at our own lives, our own hearts.

Evil is a weed amongst the good wheat. But when we turn to pull the weeds, God the planter knows better and says you might damage some wheat. This parable in Matthew really encourages a reading from us that views ourselves as being wheat AND weeds. The message of Jesus throughout the gospels is ‘do not judge, for you will be judged’. ‘Remove the log in your own eye, before you get the spec out of your brother’s’ and ‘Love your enemies...pray for those who are mean to you; return evil with good’. There is a great tendency for us Christians to want to point out the weeds in our world, isn’t there? It is parables like this one which are in a sense designed to keep us from doing just that; to keep us humble and patient for God to do the work that only God can do. The work of distinguishing between the wheat and the weeds; the good and the bad in all of us, where the weeds are gathered, bound and burned and all that remains is the good seed in us which bears good fruit; the wheat that will be  gathered into the barn. 

There is a meadow on a family property and the meadow is full of weeds. The people thought that they would spray the weeds to kill them and then plant something else. No, that wouldn’t do the job. They thought that they would use some machine to pull them up. No that won’t do it. It turns out the only real way to get rid of these weeds is to sow good, strong seed right among them, to keep watering it and nourishing it and eventually as the good seed takes roots the weeds will disappear.

If we sow hatred because we think we see evil, hatred will grow. If we push away the people who frighten us, how will they ever understand God’s love? If we stop watering the field because the weeds never go away, the weeds might survive but the good seed will wither away for certain. But if we nourish it all, indiscriminately, zealously with the love of God, with the strong word of God the good seed just might overtake all of the weeds.

Good seed is the love that God sows in each and every one of us so for heaven’s sake, let’s not weed the garden. If you don’t like someone remember not to weed the garden, if you are worried about the effect some person might have on the community with the way she looks, don’t weed the garden. If you don’t like the words that come out of someone’s mouth, don’t weed the garden. With water and the word God planted good strong seed in this world. Because that good seed is the love that God sows in each and every one of us then thank God that we are not the ones who weed the garden. Who knows what effect that good seed might have even amidst the weeds.

“First of all, the task of pulling out the weeds isn’t man’s job. Christ specifically says that the angels of heaven will do that sad task, and of course, they will do it under God’s will and guidance. Rebels will be lost and destroyed only when God, in His wisdom gives that directive….Let’s never forget that when the weeds are bundled up and burned, this is God’s "strange act." He puts it off, like the farmer who waits.

Concluding challenge

So, rather than turning this parable outward to distinguish others from us, which goes against the very grain of the parable, we can each of us ask instead whether or not we ourselves are like Jesus? We can ask whether we ourselves turn the other cheek, whether we are agents of continual forgiveness, whether we ourselves feed the hungry, clothe the poor and care for the sick. We need not ask ‘what kind of seed are they?’, but ‘what kind of seed am I?’

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

http://www.thesimpleway.org/index.php/resources/content/esquire-magazine-what-if-jesus-meant-all-that-stuff/

God - Loving Parent and Helpless Judge?

THE RUNAWAYS AND THEIR LOVING MOM

Posted 88 days ago | 84 comments | by Florin Paladie| Link

By Jeromy Johnson

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What is the Kingdom of God like, you ask?

A woman lived in rural central California. She was known for her kindness, generosity and love, but she was also fair and just. Her five children were normal kids, but the four youngest were known around town for their rebellious streaks. As a single mom, she did the best she could to establish both love and rules in the house, but four of her kids desired freedom over relationship. So one evening, the four youngest filled their backpacks and ran away.

The mom woke up and, finding four of her children’s beds empty, began to weep. She would not rest until her children returned home or she found them. Being a farm owner, she had plenty of hired hands to help in her search. She put the farm’s business on hold and sent her workers out to search for her lost darlings. She spent every last dime printing pamphlets, recording radio spots and inundating the TV with ads exclaiming her love for her children and her pleas for them to return home into her loving arms. All that she had, was and would be theirs.

Then one day, it happened. One of her runaways returned home. Seeing and hearing her message, his heart melted and he came back. She embraced him, welcoming him home. She turned to her eldest son (the one that never ran away) and asked if he would help find and bring back the others. He set out with a mission and a message. When he found two of the three, he told them of their mom’s love for them and how badly she missed them and her relentless desire for all of them to come home. He also reminded them of the Great Rule, but they refused to come back with him. He never did find the forth lost one.

Years passed and no sign of her kids. Regardless, a great rule had been violated. So she climbed into her pickup truck with a few hired hands and set out to bring her children home. On May 17, she found them.

All three were huddled up near a dumpster, clutching a worn blanket. They saw her truck approach and, too tired to run, they just sat with terror I their eyes. See, while away, they had been told countless lies by countless people that their mom was not a kind woman, that she did not love them and that she was mad-as-hell at them. Added to this were their incredible loneliness, shame and feelings of worthlessness. Living on the street—isolated from love—can do this to anyone, and it certainly did them. Seeing her children and hearing about their condition, the mother reassured them of her love. But despite her undying, never-ending motherly love for her children, she knew that the Great Rule had been violated and she must act accordingly.

They pulled up into the driveway and the truck came to a dusty halt. The hired hands helped the kids climb out of the back of the truck. As the mom walked to the house she looked back one last time at her kids. Motioning to the hired hands, she firmly declared, “Take them away. They violated the Great Rule and did not return to me on their own.”

“But mom….!?”

“Not another word,” she interrupted. “Whether you knew it or not, The Great Rule says that my children shall not run away and that if they do, they are to return on their own within three years. If they do not, I will find them and the Great Punishment must be inflicted. I even sent my oldest son for you, but you did not believe him.”

“Mom, we are sorry. We were scared, hurting and full of shame. We did things we are not proud of and that you would not approve of. Deep inside, when the nights were the quietest, we knew you loved us but we were afraid that you would have nothing to do with us after all we had done.”

With tears in her eyes she slowly replied, “I understand, I see you are truly sorry and I love you. But there is nothing I can do; I am powerless against the Great Rule. Three years have passed, you did not return and the Rule is the Rule.” With that, she turned and walked towards the house where her returning-son stood on the porch, watching.

The hired hands, still clutching the children by the arms, took them away to the barn…even the fourth child who never heard the eldest son’s message. As directed by the Great Punishment, they entered the barn, tied the children to the posts and began beating them. Next came the kerosene.Then, in the midst of their screams and under the watchful eye of their loving mom, they and the barn were set ablaze.

The loving, kind, full-of-mercy, just and righteous mom, turning from the window overlooking the burning barn, looked at her oldest son and the child who returned to her, wiped the tear from her eye and smiled. She motioned once more to her hired hands and—with the other children still burning and screaming outside—the feast of feasts, the party of parties, began. The mom, her eldest son, her returning-on-his-own child, and even her hired hands lived, feasted, and partied…happily…ever…after.

The End.

Now go, and share this GOOD NEWS of the Kingdom. Praise be to God.

(And, if you’ll excuse me, I need to throw up and hug my kids; as a father of three kids, I feel sick and suddenly have a restless desire to love-on ‘em).

What is the connection between Evangelism and Social Justice

"An issue of social justice is not contrary to the call to share faith. It is the new context of shared values from where the sharing of faith most naturally can take place. If the church can connect with concerns that God is awakening within the hearts of broader society already, then a new platform of connectivity emerges."


What environments can/do we become immersed into, where natural conversations of faith with others can develop?

Rob Bell's "Love Wins": Is this scary Theology?

Is Heaven reserved for a select few? How does God choose who gets to go and who doesn't and does it even matter if we think we know how God does it? In the same way, one can ask the question, "Does God send some to a place called Hell to be tortured; where people burn in agony forever?" Let the video clip encourage your thoughts and may we come to such things with open mindedness.

Heaven and Hell: Alternate Realities, or Merging Realities?

There are people who believe that Heaven and Hell are real places outside of our reality and existence on earth. Some believe that there is neither a Heaven, nor a Hell.

What do we actually know about this topic, and how does our understanding of Heaven and Hell shape how we live. How does it shape the way we view people who see things differently from us?

THE END IS NEAR!

What happened to the beginning of the "rapture"? If I'm still here, and you're still here, does that say something about US? Why do people think that this "end time" can be and should be predicted? If Jesus didn't even know, what makes us think we can figure it out?

What is your view of the coming kingdom of God? Are we truly in for an "evacuation plan", or does scripture support more of a scenario which as Heaven and Earth meet?

Prayer

What do you expect when you pray? What does prayer really do? Sometimes I pray and hope that God will give me something or make something happen in my life, but when it doesn't pan out, I am somewhat disappointed. Sometimes, though, it's not really such a surprise when nothing seems to happen. When Trish and I were struggling with our daughter Morgan's brain cancer, we prayed like crazy that God would take that cancer out of her so she could live a full, long life. Morgan died of brain cancer. I remember thinking, "why do we even bother praying?!" We thought that, surely God would want us to ask for something so noble as getting rid of cancer, and therefore grant our request. How could God not care enough and just ignore our prayers of healing for our daughter?!

This is what I've been learning about prayer. When I pray, it doesn't automatically give me whatever I want. In fact, it almost NEVER gets me what I am asking for. Having a prayer life has changed ME, not so much my circumstances. Praying puts me in my proper posture of humility and reminds me of my need for God. It forms me into the person God wants me to be, not by God giving me whatever I ask for, but by shaping my scope; how I see myself, God and the world in which I live, which is filled to the brim with hurt, loss and cancer. In prayer, I acknowledge the greatness of God and the smallness of me. If we pray properly, ie: for our enemies, for the sick, for the poor, for the changing of lives; it will change the way we see and treat others. It will empower us to "be the change we want" in the world. It will make us less self-ish, less greedy and less covetous of others. Prayer reorients our lives through the renewing of our minds and the softening of our hearts.

Andy

Leadership

What are helpful ways in which men and women can be equally encouraged to use the gifts and talents God has given them in the work force as well as in their churches? What are some of the obstacles? Are there preconceptions which get in the way of us working together? How can we work at breaking some of these barriers that we create?

The Death of A "Terrorist"

We have all heard the news in some form, of the murder of Osama Bin Laden. Most people, it seems are celebrating and happy at the news of the death of another human being. In light of the events on September 11 in NYC, I can partly understand the compulsion. However, we cannot lose sight of what is going on here. Right now, people are rallying around the FLAG of America, not the community of Jesus; perhaps some are, but not the ones we see on TV.

Do you remember? What was the response of the President immediately following the tragedy at the towers in NY? It was not one of mourning the losses and identifying with the families. It was not one of spending time in contemplation of what has led to this. It was immediately followed by promise of "redemptive" violent retaliation. You remember the rhetoric surrounding the build up toward the "War on Terror", don't you? It was not a good way to seek the peace, was it?
How ought the Christian community everywhere respond to this type of behaviour? How ought we to respond when we hear news that Bin Laden has been murdered? How do you think Jesus would have responded and how he would have us respond to our world?

Should Christians vote?

I have struggled with this issue for MANY years! If we, Christians, believe that the church is the visible sign of God's Kingdom here on earth, then how does that shape our relationship with our political world? If Jesus is Lord, and if I believe that Jesus showed us God's intentions for human relationships in the social, political, economic, ecological...etc., arenas of everyday life, then how does the church live this radical life in a "set apart" society that is fundamentally different from our society. Our world's politics is fueled and guided by greed, power, wealth, coercion and violence. All of these things which are detestable in the eyes of God.

Why are we content to play this game of power politics when we have been called by Christ to be His witnesses of the Kingdom that is not of this world; that the politics of Jesus does not play by the rules of the politics of this world. Or is this a moot point? Is it somehow unrealistic to believe that we can live in THIS world guided by the principles laid out by Jesus? Principles of non-violent resistance, loving enemies, sharing wealth and forgiving each other's debts and sins. Or are those merely set aside for personal acts of piety which have become more spiritual practices or inner dispositions than guidelines which shape our character and which in turn determine the rules of engagement in our socio-political realities? Barrack Obama was quoted as saying, "This country (USA) is still the last best hope on earth". How blasphemous can we get!? This truly speaks to an urgent need in North America's churches. Namely, the need to reclaim it's place as "other" than world; the community which follows the teachings of her Lord in all matters of life, not like Israel who went to other gods for comfort and guidance. The Hebrew scriptures called Israel a whore everytime this happened. 

In the end, I tend toward the thought that, it doesn't really matter who leads the nation in which I happen to live at the moment. Afterall, are we not meant to be aliens in this world? Is that not one of the marks of the church? IN the world, not OF the world?
Andy

The Right time to receive Baptism

When is a person "ready" to be baptized? After the sunrise service on Easter morning, some of us gathered around the tables in church over coffee and muffins and engaged in some conversations like this. What is essential for a person to be ready for baptism? What were YOU taught to believe about this and what are some factors which have influenced how you view this topic?

Christ and Power

(Mark 11:1-10; Zechariah 9:9-10)

By: Andy J. Funk

April 17, 2011

This morning we have read the story about a king of sorts, who processes into the holy city of Jerusalem. For first century Jews, this city was the city of God. When king David established it as the capital, it was believed that God literally lived there in the Ark of the Covenant. God favoured Jerusalem and would save her from all her foes. Today, it is important that we get some background as to what makes the procession into Jerusalem important. What did it signify? What does it teach the church today? Most churches have become accustomed to celebrating Palm Sunday with Palm branches waving as congregations sing joyous songs. I have often wondered if I even understand the significance of what it meant to the first century listeners of the Gospel. How would their understanding of events surrounding the life of Jesus up to this point in the story differ from how we have been shaped to understand it? There is so much packed into this morning’s topic that I will not cover absolutely everything. There are many books on this subject and I’m sure even more coming. The question they all deal with is “what , if anything, did Jesus have to say regarding power structures and how faithful Christians are to relate to them?” 

Many people I have come into contact with throughout my life believe that Jesus really only spoke to personal, private faith and conversion and had nothing to say about social ethics; in other words, they believe that in order for Christians to deal with issues such as crime, finances, politics, war...we must find our guidance in places other than with Jesus, because he was more concerned with spiritual matters. What this means is that when we go somewhere else for this guidance, what we end up with are a pile of principles which are designed to bring about outcomes usually for the sake of the greater good. These outcomes and the means by which we achieve them do not nearly always align themselves with what Jesus taught. John Stewart Mill was the biggest proponent of something called Utilitarianism. He says that in every situation in a democratic government, this principle must be the guiding force. If killing one person will save thousands...then we must do that. We could take that further and say that according to this principle, if oppressing one nation means lifting oppression for ten nations, we must do it. Mill was an insanely smart man, but I don’t take my guidance from him when it comes to trying to be faithful to Jesus. Christians do not take guidance from him. We get it from Jesus. If Jesus has nothing to say about the power structures in our realities and how we ought to relate to them, then we are indeed in trouble. Then we may as well go with whatever the next smartest person says we should do. But the problem with that path of reasoning is that we end up systematically rejecting the truth of the Gospels as they were originally intended to be heard.

So many words we throw around nowadays were loaded with political meaning in Jesus’ day and his contemporaries would have interpreted what Jesus said and did in those same terms. It appears as though Jesus borrowed from the imperial lexicon and then turned those concepts and terms on their heads in beautiful political satire. Let us consider the words: Gospel, Faith, Kingdom, Throne, Saviour, Banner, Lord and Messiah. We see them as purely Christian, or Church dictionary type words. That only people who have read the Bible would even know what those terms mean. What we forget sometimes, is that Rome, in the time of Jesus, was very familiar with these words. To the people of Rome, it was Caesar who had brought order out of chaos as he established his kingdom through military might. Thus, he was hailed as a god. Jesus speaks about a kingdom as well, but that kingdom looks quite different than Caesar’s. Romans frequently heard and spoke of things like gospel, Christ, son of god, ekklesia, which has come to mean church, saviour, faith, lord, Emmanuel, worship. Believe it or not, these are not “Christian words”.  

So, when Jesus spoke about some of these concepts the way he did, they held significant political meaning. We will have great difficulty if we do not understand this properly. For instance, if we believe that when Jesus was dealing with these topics, what he was really talking about was an ideal of how he wished things could be that could only be attained in the afterlife or on some other plain of existence, then his words hold very little meaning, and his life makes even less sense. If, on the other hand, we can see that Jesus showed us an alternative way of living that is different from the options presented by Empire, or principalities and powers, then we have some hope for our life on earth. As a church, we have been remembering Biblical stories that are gradually leading us to the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is what Lent was designed to do for faithful Christians.

If we try to understand Jesus and his journey toward execution without understanding his context, it would be like trying to understand Martin Luther King without learning about the well known “bus boycott”. King tried to show his world in the US that there was a better way than man could devise. This got him in all sorts of trouble. He was arrested upwards of at least 20 times, his home was bombed, and was subjected to personal abuse several times. Many people hated Dr. King. But, there were those who heard, in him a message of hope. By the age of 35, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure. Many people also loved Dr. King. You see, the “I have a dream” speech can only have a true impact and become life transforming when we understand what came before…what led to that speech. This wisdom must be applied to Jesus as well. 

There were many groups who tried to create a better world than what the Romans had in mind. There was the Zealot movement. They were a violent revolutionary group, ready to overthrow Rome. The Sicarii (named after the curved blade of their daggers) was another extremist group. It is widely held that Judas of the Sicarii (Iscariot) was a member. This group kidnapped prominent authorities in order that they might negotiate the release of fellow rebels. They would assassinate symbols of power and any Jewish collaborators. Essenes and Qumran communities withdrew altogether from such a polluted society. They lived in the hills, caves or desert to set up little utopian villages far away from the struggles between the peasants and the powers. According to scripture, it appears that Jesus was not part of any of these groups, but some of his followers were sure different, weren’t they? The Zealots embodied in Peter, the closest one to Jesus, Judas the betrayer who was actually in charge of the purse in the Jesus movement. And oh, how they struggled with the approach Jesus took when dealing with the powers. 

Let’s think for a moment about the kinds of songs we have sung. One that comes to mind is “His banner over me is love, love, love”. The banner of Jesus, not Rome’s banner, is over me and his banner means love, love, love; not Rome’s freedom, peace and security. Do the last three sound familiar? They sound like campaign slogans used by almost every politician in North America. Was Jesus trying to wrestle Rome’s power away, or take over so Jesus could occupy Caesar’s throne? Some of his disciples surely wanted nothing more! All of Israeli tradition of the coming saviour pointed to this kind of redemption. But, the answer is NO! This answer is evident in the garden when Peter cuts off the ear of a soldier and Jesus intervenes to heal the ear…to restore it with peace. Jesus seemed to spend a lot of energy and time on teaching and urging his disciples to be the unique, peculiar and set apart people that began with Abraham in the Hebrew scripture. When Jesus prayed, he did not pray for the world in order to make governments more religious; he called Israel to be the light of the world; to abandon the way of the world and cultivate an alternative society in the shell of the old, not merely to be a better version of the kingdom of this world. This theme is seen throughout the gospels. 

The ministry of Jesus was a dangerous one. It was a real threat to Rome and to the Jewish priestly elite who acted as though they possessed infinite power and authority over the people. But, God’s Kingdom does not work as they do. There is a story of two brothers. James and John ask to sit one at Jesus’ right and the other at his left hand side. Most of you know this story. Jesus says it’s not for him to decide, but for the Father. Soon after this, we begin to grasp the meaning behind this. For Mark, Jesus becomes King precisely when he is crucified, publicly branded as “King of the Jews”. Who is on his right and on his left? There hang two brigands, two insurrectionists. Perhaps not what we would expect, is it? 

So what do we do with the powers of this world? The Bible reminds us that the “powers” were part of the good creation of God when everything else was created. Society, history, even nature would be impossible without regularity, system, order. Everything was created in an ordered form and “it was good”. In Christ, everything systematizes, is ordered properly; everything holds together. But the world’s systems and orders are fallen. Most references to the “powers” in the New Testament consider them fallen. So, although the systems were originally part of God’s good creation, they are broken. These structures like governments, were supposed to be our servants, but have become our masters and our guardians, but they still perform their function. Even Tyranny is still better than chaos and so we should be subject to it. This might be hard for some to hear, I realize that. Perhaps the claims about Jesus in the Gospels would hold more meaning to those living under such Tyranny. Perhaps the life of peaceful resistance would also make it more difficult in those circumstances. Do we think it was easy for Jesus to openly challenge the powers of his day? Was it accidental that he was executed for insurrection, treason? When people start calling you the Son of God, it becomes a direct challenge to Caesar’s title as king and also his authority as son of the gods. 

So, that was then. What about now? What claims do we make about Jesus that put us at odds with the power structures of our day? A couple of years ago I was taking a course at Red River College and was asked to write a paper that dealt with disabilities. I learned some great wisdom through that assignment. For me the issue was between Humanitarian and Christian philosophy. At first glance, the humanitarian view of supporting people living with disabilities looked quite like how Jesus treated people on the margins of society. The agency I worked for at the time was considered a Christian organization, but in reality it was a humanitarian one. Would you like to know the difference between these two? It is a very clear difference. When it comes to providing aid, the humanitarian approaches the situation with whatever it takes...almost always it comes down to money, whereas the Christian approaches with concern for being faithful. One looks for anything that will work and when that runs out, then it is abandoned. The Christian ethic is informed by a spirit of faithfulness as being the goal. That means that if the outcome is what was desired, it is added blessing, but the ultimate virtue is faithfulness. This alone drives us in very different ways than our society. Our leaders would have us believe that the only response to violence, is more violence. You just have to make sure you are bigger and stronger than the other guy...of course that only works until there is a bigger and stronger guy than YOU. Jesus taught against this way of thinking when he told us that “eye for an eye” was not what God had in mind. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, he was entering in the most non-coercive manner, in absolute peace very unlike Caesar who would have ridden a white stallion as a warrior, accompanied by soldiers all around. The symbolism of a donkey was not lost on the people of his day. Perhaps it would be like Stephen Harper coming to a major world summit, not in the usual pomp with limos and such things...but maybe driving a Chevette or K car, losing its bumper and sputtering all sorts of strange sounds and bangs. 

Jesus came as this kind of King. He showed us how to live in the world without having to be governed by all the principles our world tries to dictate to us. For us to be relevant to our world, we must understand Jesus as relevant to the needs of the world. God seeks a relationship with every person and offers salvation to all individuals, but if we think that the only thing the world needs is personal, private experiences of salvation for themselves, then we will not be preaching the whole good news. Jesus lived in an alternative community with his disciples where serving the world, peaceful living, equality, reconciliation and forgiveness of debt and sin were some of the greatest virtues. Not freedom, security, prosperity, power, status, comfort, popularity. Those are all lies fed to us by someone else. Jesus wants us to live in communities of mutual sharing and he wants us to bring his good news to ALL people. That is what bringing God’s Kingdom to earth will look like and that is why Jesus prays “your kingdom come” and “your will be done on EARTH as it is in heaven”. 

Where do we go when we need to learn how to relate to the power structures of our day? We go to Jesus because he had lots to say about it. When we face impossible questions of what to do about injustice, violence, hunger...where do we go for options? We have to go to Jesus! If what will work lines up with being faithful to Jesus, then it is a blessing, but if what will work ends up not being what is faithful, we can have no part in it. When it comes to issues of violence and injustice, the world almost never uses the means provided by Jesus to work for justice and peace; to love our neighbour and love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Our world leaders would have us believe that we must be suspicious of our neighbours and hate our enemies, in fact to strike our enemies before they do much worse to us. We cannot give in to this lie. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey to show Rome that the Kingdom of God is much bigger than the kingdom of Rome and that the Kingdom of God brings peace and not war. It brings life, not death. Life everlasting, both spiritual and physical. 

What, do you suppose, would happen if a man came into town in the middle of the campaigning season and he spoke like Jesus did. This politician proposed a system of commerce which released the poor from debt slavery; that would mean as business people, you may have to rethink how you regulate your accounts. This man proposed things like working for peace in local settings as well as internationally; this proposed government would not have a standing army. How about the basics of how we do politics. I am reminded of all the character assassinations that take place when the campaign trails are hot. This new man proposing all of these weird ideas has no smear campaign...is that even possible in politics? In essence, what I’m asking is “If Jesus rode into town running for office, would he get your vote?” Are the things he offered just for the afterlife? Most people would respond with, “is this guy for real?” The things that people think will save and free them; financial institutions, military, Church traditions, education; often are the things which enslave, deceive and destroy. The truth is, Jesus had the option to run for office, if you remember his temptation in the desert. He refused to take power from Caesar and use it to bring about the Kingdom of God. He told Pilate that His Kingdom was not of this world. The Kingdom which Jesus began to establish here on earth is made up of faithful followers of a different way. A way of humility, like Jesus riding on a donkey; a way of peace and love, not in the hippy way. The way of Jesus, is the way that let’s Empire know that God’s way is the ultimate authority. It tells the “Harper government” that his way is broken and fallen, and even though it provides order as God intended, God has something better in mind.