The Bible Challenge: Day 365

The scriptures read are Malachi 4, Psalms 149-150 and Luke 9.

Malachi 4. One last repetition that the Day of Judgment will be bad for the arrogant and evil and good for the good. An admonition to follow the law of Moses and a prediction that Elijah will precede the day of the Lord.

Psalm 149. Lots of good versions of this psalm, like this and this and this.

Psalm 150. Lots of version of this the final psalm as well. I'm torn between this more conventional classical version and this loose rap paraphrase with great dancing. But then here's an real exciting contemporary version which captures the whole praise aspect.

Luke 9. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE READ THE ENTIRE BIBLE! ONLY 20% OF CHRISTIANS HAVE DONE THAT!

But, of course, there is a lot more to learn about God's word. I suggest you go back and find books that you really want to understand in depth and get a good commentary and just take as long as you want to exploring them. I like The New Bible Commentary and IVP Bible Background Commentaries (there's an Old Testament volume and a New Testament volume.) You can access them through the free Logos Bible app. Another great commentary is the Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary which you can get for your Kindle. If you want a commentary done by a Bible scholar who can explain things to laymen, get the Daily Study Bible series by William Barclay (great for a better understanding of the cultural and theological background as well as the Greek words) or the [Bible Book Name] for Everyone series by N. T. Wright. These come in separate paperback volumes for each book (Wright's are available on Kindle) and only cover the New Testament, however. You also want a good Bible dictionary (Holman's is excellent). And there are tons of good dictionaries on that free Logos Bible app.Oh, and explore the resources on biblehub.com and biblegateway.com.

I appreciate all of you who have followed my blog during this yearlong venture. I apologize for the occasional irregular posting schedule. It especially got difficult during Advent and Christmas. Thanks for sticking with me.

I do have an idea for something along these lines for 2014. More on that later. Happy New Year!

Don't Use Donuts

Not everyone I follow on Twitter or Facebook is a Christian. I follow certain comedians, science fiction websites and friends with various points of view. So sometimes I come across anti-religion posts. My policy is not to engage if the post merely doesn't like Christianity or religion. You are entitled to your own opinion. I may engage if the post asserts something that is not true, such as the idea that Jesus never existed, or that everything about him was plagiarized from other mythologies or that religion is the cause of most wars. You are not entitled to you own facts. The internet is already rife with a lot of false information and you can't intelligently discuss matters like religion if you are wildly misinformed. Oddly enough, virulent anti-theists, who generally put so much stock in facts, especially scientific facts, are often very wrong about the facts of religion, theology and even science itself. They are perfect illustrations of the scientifically-recognized phenomenon of reacting emotionally first and only then using the rational part of our brains to construct justifications for our gut feelings. Anti-theists are also adept at showing confirmation bias, which is where a person, confronted with facts that challenge his worldview, will nitpick it and, finding some minor discrepancy, reject the whole framework. They also operate from a seemingly standard set of stereotypes which leaves them unprepared to debate a Christian who does understand science, at least as much as an well-read layman can.

Recently a person who I otherwise respect posted the equivalent of an atheist Hallmark sentiment. It was in the form of a comic book page, in which a big sister (or possibly mother; the drawing is not very detailed) is explaining to a little boy that there is no life after death. And she uses the analogy of a donut. We don't break down in tears because we know that we shall finish the donut and there will be no more of it. We savor the donut. And so we should do the same with life. It is all the sweeter for being finite.

Generally, this is the kind of post that, having read, I scroll past without comment. No scientifically or historically verifiable fact is being asserted. But, as a writer, I also have problems with terrible metaphors. While all comparisons between categorically different things break down eventually, some metaphors have at their very heart a false equivalency that makes all but the most superficial of the similarities cited useless. And I think comparing life to a donut is a pretty facile exercise.

So I wrote in the comments, “To stay true to the metaphor, the boy should never be given another donut.” I mean, after all, that is the whole thrust of the comic strip: once life is over, there is no sequel. But you can always eat another donut. And we usually do. Heck, the things are sold in dozens! A better analogy would be the extinct Hostess Twinkie that Woody Harrelson's character is seeking in the movie Zombieland. Except the very presence of zombies messes with the “nothing follows death” moral of the strip.

There are other ways in which we could critique the donut/life metaphor. I presume the strip is written from an affluent first world perspective. What about those for whom life is not predominantly pleasant, like a donut? Those who are born under brutal dictatorships, for instance. Countries where warlords turn children into soldiers. Places where a rigid class system prevents those born in a lower caste from rising in society. Kids born into brothels with little chance of bettering themselves. Children sold into slavery, to work in fields or factories. People born with severe physical or mental handicaps that will limit their life choices. Life to these people is not at all like a “good to the last bite” donut. It is a barely tolerable gruel.

Even those who are given a donut can have it snatched from them by a bully. A murderer can take away the only life that atheists say that you get and, by their philosophy, you have no hope of meaningful justice. Even if your killer is imprisoned or executed, you would never know, let alone be able to take any pleasure from it.

Or what if someone knocks your donut out of your hand and it hits the ground so that to finish it means eating dirt? In other words, what if you are not killed but left horribly injured by an accident or an assault? What if an identity thief or a slanderer ruins your life? It's hard to savor that ruined donut.

Of course, as we said, the donut analogy, when properly thought through, actually allows for you to get another donut, a better one to replace the original one. Worse, it implies there is a donut maker! So I wonder how long this meme will circulate before some more objective atheist points out what a terrible parable it makes for their philosophy.

I have read other atheists opining that if we realized that this was the only life one gets that people would be nicer. Really? The only officially atheist countries in the world, the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union and its satellite countries, have never been accused of being hotbeds of sweetness and light and the observance of human rights. In fact, if religion is the root of all evil, it is hard to explain why these countries in 1 century killed tens of millions more people than were killed in 20 centuries of Christianity. Granted, that's still not a great record for Christianity, whose founder explicitly told us to “turn the other cheek,” “put up the sword,” and “love your enemy,” but by comparison, it does seem to have drastically reduced the bloodshed that non-religious states otherwise display.

Atheists have objected to my using these verifiable facts but they have no compunction against comparing, say, the crime rates of the most religious Western country, the U.S., to those of other Western countries with lower proportions of religious observance. They particularly like Sweden, with 85% of the population claiming to be unbelievers. They have a very low homicide rate and closed 4 prisons this year due to lack of enough inmates. Admirers do not cite the 2009 European Union study that Sweden has one of the highest rates of reported rape in Europe, 4 times that of neighboring Denmark or Finland.

In fact, all the Scandinavian countries rank among the least religious countries in the world. They are also, along with all the 10 least religious countries, among the 40 countries in the world with the highest suicide rates. (Except for Vietnam, for which I could find no suicide rate.) A recent study found that while richer countries may report a greater amount of life satisfaction, they also have less religiosity and less sense of a meaningful life, which the researchers see as contributing to higher suicide rates. And these are people who think you only get one life, one donut, so to speak, and of the better-tasting First World kind. Yet they are willing to throw it away without finishing it.

The Gospel of John starts with “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people.” 

The term John uses, “logos,” meant a lot more to his original audience than the usual translation of "Word.".

To the Jews, Word in this context would mean the Word of God. But since “logos” also meant “reason,” it could mean God's Wisdom, by which he created the world and which is personified in Proverbs 8. Word and wisdom were equated 100 years before Jesus in the popular book the Wisdom of Solomon. In chapter 9, verse 2 of this apocryphal book, it reads, “O God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who has made all things by your word, and ordained man through your wisdom.” So God's Word by which he called the heavens and earth into existence and his Wisdom by which he shaped creation were seen as one and the same.

In 560 BC, a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus used the word “logos” to mean God's pattern, purpose and plan that gave order to the world. The Stoics took up this idea, that the Logos controlled everything. A Jewish philosopher, Philo, used the concept of the Logos to reconcile the wisdom of the Greeks with that of the Jews. The Logos was God's instrument in making the world and put his stamp on creation. The Logos gave men reason. The Logos served as intermediary between God and his creation.

So when John used the term in his gospel both Jews and Gentiles could understand what he was getting at. The Word, God's Wisdom, the pattern and purpose, the rhyme and reason for everything, was there in the beginning, was there with God and is in fact God. So far, nothing John has written would be controversial.

But then in verse 14, John writes, “And the Word became flesh.” What? God's Word, his Wisdom, the reason behind our creation, became one of us, a human being? How? And why? The how, John, last of the gospel writers, leaves to the synoptics, the earlier gospels. The why is what John is really interested in.

Of course, Jesus came to die for our sins. John covers that later in his gospel. But here, in the first chapter of his gospel, he says that, to all who received Jesus, “he gave power to become children of God.” Not just creatures, like the plants or animals, but his children. John will get to a fuller explanation of this later, when Jesus talks of being born again or anew. John would agree with those who say that "the Son of God became a man so that men could become sons of God." He became human so we human beings could be transformed into children of God and have the same intimate loving relationship with God that Jesus does. In atheist-speak, that's like being adopted by the donut maker! The enjoyment never has to end.

Another reason for Christ's incarnation is to make God known. If you want to know what God is really like, you only have to look at Jesus. In him we see “his glory, the glory of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” Glory was an important value in the ancient world. The Hebrew term for “glory” came from a word meaning “heavy” or “having weight” or “worthiness.” The Greek word for “glory” means “reputation.” Jesus shows the worthiness of God. He restores his reputation as not only a just God but a loving and merciful and gracious God. If you read enough of the Old Testament, God often comes off as very angry. It's kind of like seeing a friend on a day when her two-year-olds are being very disobedient and destructive. Of course, seeing her in that context gives you a different opinion of her than you would have seeing her tending her child's skinned knee or comforting a frightened child. A lot of the Old Testament shows God on a bad day when his people are fighting and bullying each other and not listening to his authority.

The two qualities that John focuses on in particular are truth and grace. The truth is reality, both the good and the bad. We don't always want to hear the truth but you need to if you want to know how things really stand and what you're up against. I have seen patient's families lie to their sick relative because they didn't want to upset them. But the patient knows things are not all right. Not knowing what is wrong or precisely how serious it is causes uncertainty and anxiety. The patient cannot make good decisions if he doesn't know the truth. Jesus, like any wise physician, tells us what's wrong with us and what we need to undergo in order to be healed.

Grace is God's unreserved, undeserved goodness toward us. That's part of the truth as well. God is on our side. He loves and forgives us. He wants to heal us. Why does God bother with us when we are so rebellious and reject his ways? Because of he is gracious.

Another thing Jesus brings is life. And not just the temporary variety of life we already have but eternal life. Life of the same kind God has. And he gives us this life so we can live with him and enjoy him, the source of all goodness, forever.

So how does this relate to the atheist point of view—that life is, at best, a donut, a sweet to be savored precisely because its existence is so limited?

It means we needn't be afraid to enjoy the donut because there is more where that came from. Life is not a one-time brief treat. You are not limited to just one. And if it is a crappy donut, or if it has gotten ruined, you can get another and better one.

But let's switch the metaphor somewhat. One donut is nice occasionally but it isn't a full meal and too many donuts are not only cloying but leave you malnourished. Jesus gives you a full meal for a life. He gives you what you need to grow and become healthy. 

If this is the only life we get, then small wonder there are people who snatch all they want and bully others, ruining theirs simply to make the grabber's life better. Without another life, there is no justice in this world. Without a creator of this life and the next, there really isn't any objective right or wrong either. I might not like what you do or the conditions the bullies have set in place, but if there's no one else, no one with authority over all humans to set the rules, right and wrong are just what we like or don't like. You can play nice if you like; you can also play dirty if you can get away with it. Hitler was a winner at the game, doing whatever he wanted and leaving the game via a bullet before he could be made to suffer the consequences of his acts. If there is only one life.

But if this isn't the only life, if there is another in which injustice will be redressed and the bullies will get their just desserts, then it makes sense not to be greedy and not to steal or hoard, not to harm or neglect others but to make sure everyone gets their fair share. It makes sense to delay gratification and say no to certain temptations. If there is a rulemaker, then it makes sense to follow the rules. And if there is a judge, who is gracious and merciful, it means you can go to him and admit your faults and get forgiven and not be banned from the game but get a clean slate for the next game. Without God, there is no forgiveness for some things. You cannot be forgiven by people whom you've hurt or harmed who are no longer part of this life. There is no one who can really forgive you in their stead.

And if this is the only life we have, it ultimately has no lasting meaning. We are but mayflies compared to the life of the universe. You mean nothing; the lives of those you love mean nothing; your accomplishments mean nothing. Is it any wonder suicide rates are high in countries with a large number of atheists? They don't see themselves as created in God's image, as precious enough for God to come and die for, as his children who will enter into the eternal life of the God who is love and enjoy that love forever. If the pain of life is too much, they can end it. Oddly enough, in countries that are highly religious, though they be poor and their lives be hard, suicide rates are low. A difficult life lived in God's hope is more tolerable to an easy life lived without that hope.

Life is not a donut. Nor is it the sole brief pleasure we will ever experience. And what follows is not just another donut. It is a feast, the wedding banquet of the Lamb, Jesus' favorite picture of the kingdom of God. There the first to grab stuff in their earthly life will be the last and the last to get good things now will be the first in line. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. And for those whose life was not always something to be savored, God will wipe away all their tears. And their new life will not be finite, not be something to ration, not be something to try to desperately squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from. Because it will be eternal life, from him who gives life and is life, now and evermore.

The Bible Challenge: Day 363

The scriptures read are Malachi 3, Psalms 147-148 and Luke 8.

Malachi 3. Remember that Malachi means "my messenger." Yet the messenger predicted seems much more formidable. From verses 2-6 it sounds like the Lord. He will purify some people and judge others. The gospels say verse 1 refers to John the Baptist. Do we have 2 or 3 messengers here?

Then we have the defective and skimpy offerings brought up, mirroring 1:6-2:9. And mirroring the first part of chapter 1, the argument that following God doesn't pay because the rule-breakers seem to get ahead. In the short term. When God comes to judge, things will change.

Psalm 147. Close acapella harmony from the Scottish psalter makes this a treat.

Psalm 148. You can't argue with this version of the psalm by Gustav Holst sung by the Mormon Tabernacle.

Luke 8. To read my reflection on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 362

The scriptures read are Malachi 2, Psalm 145 and Luke 7. 

Malachi 2. God first goes after the priests, who are not doing their job, sharing their knowledge of God and instructing the people. God also comes out strongly against adultery and divorce. And violence. And people who think he will tolerate sin and not mete out justice.

Psalm 145. A softer rendition of what I think is a pretty celebratory psalm but this guy's guitar work and voice are so good!

Luke 7. If you want to read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 361

The scriptures read are Malachi 1, Psalm 144 and Luke 6.

Malachi 1. One book to go! Malachi was written after the exile but exactly when is not certain. And we are not sure if Malachi is the prophet's name since Malachi means "my messenger." His book is made up of 6 "debates" between God and his people, that mirror each other: A B C C B A.

We start with God declaring his love for Jacob in contrast to his treatment of Esau. Yet Jacob's descendants, while they have finally given up idolatry, are caught up in what the New Bible Commentary calls "dead orthodoxy." Their worship is pro forma, the priests aren't taking it seriously and the people are offering to God defective animals, animals they would have gotten rid of anyway.

Psalm 144. Here's what you can do with just a guitar and drums and a driving tune. The version of the psalm in this video comes with lyrics divided into parts and everything.

Luke 6. If you want to read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 360

The scriptures read are Zechariah 14, Psalm 143 and Luke 5.

Zechariah 14. The Day of Judgment is both terrifying and glorious--glorious for God's people, terrifying for those besieging Jerusalem. The survivors will come to Jerusalem annually to worship God the King.

Psalm 143. Hear this psalm in Hebrew, phonetically spelled with English translation.

Luke 5. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 359

The scriptures read are Zechariah 13, Psalm 142 and Luke 4.

Zechariah 13. The family of David and the leaders will be purified. False prophets, however, will not fare so well. People will lose their tolerance for hypocritical religious leaders. The people's shepherd will be struck and the people will scatter. Another Messianic echo of the future, though it will have a different meaning in its new context.

Psalm 142. Here is an art song version of this psalm sung by a mighty tenor.

Luke 4. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 358

The scriptures read are Zechariah 12, and Psalm 141 and Luke 3.

Zechariah 12. I hope you're picking up on the Messianic imagery in Zechariah. In the last chapter we had the 30 pieces of silver. (Judas' price for betrayal, remember?) In this we have the famous "they will look to me, the one they have pierced." That's God talking. And seeing what happened to Jesus, eerily appropriate.

Otherwise this chapter is about the Day of the Lord and God protecting and restoring his people. Underlined is his concern for the little people.

Psalm 141. An interesting and dramatic choral setting of this psalm.

Luke 3. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

Peacemaker Messiah

Like all little boys, I loved superheroes. The idea of being super-strong, or super-fast, or invisible, or being able to fly, or climb walls, or bust through walls, or shoot rays from your eyes or webs from your hands was exciting. Early on, though, I started to gravitate towards heroes without superpowers, like Batman or Captain America, people who were at peak human condition and smart to boot. But I did go to the new Superman movie. And I was surprised when they reinterpreted the big red “S” on his chest. But then, why would a Kryptonian battle suit have an English letter on it? Superman explains that on Krypton, it wasn't an “S”; it was a symbol of hope. Nevertheless this living symbol of hope destroys a good deal of Smallville and Metropolis fighting the bad guys.

I still like superheroes but as you get older you realize that most of the world's problems would not be solved merely by putting criminals in jail or even by destroying doomsday weapons. You realize that the major problems we face are not external. They are self-generated. They come from within—from jealousy and greed and rage and lust and shortsightedness and arrogance and selfishness and laziness. We are not as rational as we like to believe. We are not as benign as we like to believe. We are not as decent as we like to believe.

Sunday we examined the conditions of Jesus' world and times that led his people to hope for a warrior messiah, a second King David to rout the Romans and establish a physical, political Kingdom of God on earth. They were an occupied country, under the thumb of the mightiest military the world had known to that point, the Imperial Roman army. It responded to opposition without mercy. When the capital of Galilee, not far from Nazareth, revolted after the death of Herod the Great, the Romans destroyed that city, enslaved all the women and children and crucified all 2000 men. Jesus would have heard the stories as a child. The crosses might have still been there, a warning to anyone who dared stand up to Rome. Jesus literally grew up in the shadow of the cross.

And you can see why the Jews wanted someone like a superhero—a strong good guy to defeat the bad guys. But just as Superman could not end all human conflict or solve income inequality or destroy all dishonesty, neither would such a warrior messiah. You can conquer people's lands but not touch their hearts. You can impose order over how people act publicly but you can't eliminate chaos from their thoughts or personal lives. For one thing, people do not like being told what to do. They do not cease to do things that harm themselves or others simply because they are told not to. Laws don't make people good. As Paul points out so brilliantly in Romans, even God's law doesn't magically make people good.

I'm not arguing here for the abolition of laws. Imagine just the chaos into which driving would devolve were we to do away with traffic laws. Traffic laws give us basic rules which, when observed by the majority of people most of the time, make our roads safer. But they can't make them 100% safe. Because traffic laws cannot make someone refrain from texting while driving or driving while drunk or passing when it doesn't make good sense or speeding. Laws tell us what we should or should not do; they can't determine what we actually will do.

The Bible acknowledges this. Even after giving the law, in Deuteronomy, God foresees the straying of the Israelites and thus their exile. And through Jeremiah, a prophet during the exile, God speaks of a new covenant in which “I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33) And in Ezekiel, God says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you....I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26, 27)

We have a heart problem. Jesus says, “What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men's hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” (Mark 7:20-23) If that is our real problem, that evil originates in our heart, then the solution cannot merely be external. No set of laws, no change of government, even the physical establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, will solve that.

This is also why posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms or in government buildings will not change society. It's not like the massacre at Columbine would have been prevented if Dylan and Klebold had seen the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” Their problem wasn't a deficit in knowing right from wrong; they knew they were causing harm to others. They even said in a video made beforehand that while they knew they couldn't kill all the kids in their school, they also knew that they would psychologically scar the survivors. They knew their plan was evil. They didn't care.

Neither laws nor raw force will solve the problems that arise from the evil that is in the hearts of humanity. So what will?

On a recent This American Life, I listened to the story of Heidi and Rick Solomon, who adopted a boy from an orphanage in Romania. Daniel had lived and slept upright in a crib with another child till age 7. While his physical needs were taken care of, no staff member ever showed Daniel affection. He did not know what having a family was like. And after a few idyllic months with his adoptive parents, a resentment of his earlier life welled up into an irrational hatred towards them. Daniel began to act up and left his new mother and father scratched up and bruised. As he entered his teens, at times someone large and male would have to be hired to be around when Heidi and her son were together alone in the house.

Heidi and Rick sought help and what eventually worked was attachment therapy, where Heidi and Daniel spent every waking moment together, never more than 3 feet apart. They spent 20 minutes at a time looking into each other's faces. Daniel would lie on his parents' laps and they would feed him ice cream. They sought to give him the experience of being held and adored that he never had as an infant or toddler. And after years the therapy worked. The irrational hatred left and at his bar mitzvah Daniel expressed his love and gratitude towards his long-suffering parents.

Love can do what external measures cannot. But that love must be tough. It must be willing to suffer even at the hands of those it loves and seeks to save.

Jesus knew that what the world needed wasn't another holy warrior; it needed love and healing. It needed someone to take the brunt of all the evil that the world can muster and not react with anger or even justice but with love and mercy.

This is also found in various Messianic prophesies. One obvious verse is Isaiah 9:6 where he is called the Prince of Peace. The mother lode, however, is Isaiah 53 where the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, is pictured as anything but a triumphant warrior king. He is seen rather as someone who would take on the punishment for the people's sins. In verse 5 it says, “He was pierced because of our transgression, crushed because of our iniquities, the punishment for our peace was upon him, and we are healed by his wounds.” This suffering servant is the true picture of the kind of Messiah Jesus is.

People did not see that at first. Isaiah says they wouldn't. Jesus wasn't the Messiah they wanted. He was the Messiah they needed.

And we do, too. Our external problems and conflicts largely arise from our internal war between who we are and who we were created to be. We were created in the image of the God who is love, and we are to live and act like him. But we don't. We don't behave lovingly toward God, nor towards our fellow human beings, and not even toward ourselves. We sabotage our lives, our communities, our world by our inability to love. We find forgiveness difficult if not impossible. We see the gifts of God in creation as things to accumulate and fight over rather than to share. We see our talents not as gifts from God but as personal attributes about which we can be proud and which entitle us to special treatment. And we alternately envy those who have what we want and fear that others might get some of what we have.

It sounds pretty bleak. I don't start my day anymore listening to the news because it's hard to face the day when, while you are brushing your teeth and getting dressed, you are being told about war and abuse and drugs and hunger and racism and ignorance and murder and hatred and human trafficking and all the rest of the ways we have taken the paradise God has given us and turned it into hell on earth.

How do we fix that? If might and laws can't change people, what can? We all need new hearts, as Ezekiel said. And we can only get that if we open our hearts to the healing power of God's Spirit, the same Spirit that empowered Jesus. We know we can trust him because Jesus was willing to stand up to those who used external physical force and external religious rules to try to remake the world in their image. He did not fight as they did. He let evil do its worst to him. And he forgave those who did it—as they were nailing him to the cross. He invited an executed criminal to join him in paradise. He arranged for his mother's care.

If he had only done those things, he would be a great martyr. But Jesus didn't stay dead. He came back. And did he go all Dirty Harry on the bad guys then? No. He reassured the doubting. He reconciled with the denier. He filled them with his Spirit and sent them to all the corners of the world with the good news of God's love and forgiveness and life-changing power. Jesus didn't get rid of bad guys the way they do in the superhero and action movies, and as we think we can do with might—by killing them. Jesus got rid of the bad guys by transforming them into good guys. And he's doing it still.

In my work at the jail, I don't so much see crises of faith as crises of hope. I see young men and women who think they have totally screwed up the rest of their lives. I see older men and women who have been in and out of jail for years and who think they are destined to follow that pattern for the last part of their lives. And I tell them how Paul was changed. And how Peter was changed. And how Matthew was changed. Because of Jesus, your past need not determine your future. As Oscar Wilde said, every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. As Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I still like superheroes. But I know that they are not what the world needs. We don't need more power to defeat and dominate our enemies. We need a different power--the power to heal and reconcile and forgive. We need the power to share and to collaborate. We need the power to pay back evil with good and so rob it of its power to reproduce by provoking a reaction. We need the power to transform lives. We need the power of love, love which “knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope...” * We need love that never quits, no matter what you throw at it; love that never gives up, no matter what the odds are; love that is still standing when everything else collapses. We don't need another warrior. We don't need a man who flies; we need the man who dies...for our sake. We need the man who rises again because he is life and gives life. We need Jesus, God's love Incarnate. We need to let him into our hearts to end the war within, to bring us peace and healing, to help us grow into what we were created to be: images of God, reflections of his love, God's children, called to be peacemakers and to follow in the footsteps of the Prince of Peace.

*(1 Corinthians 13:7, 8; J. B. Phillips)

Which Messiah?

Right now I am really looking forward to something that will happen in 3 days: the Doctor Who Christmas special. I know what you thought but bear with me. Like Whovians all over the world, I have been scouring the internet, looking for interviews with the writer and the stars. I have been watching the various trailers and gleaning clues from the snippets of dialogue and video clips. I know some things for sure, such as the fact that the 11^th Doctor will regenerate into the 12^th. But exactly how, I'm not quite sure. The show's writer, Steven Moffat, promises that he will wrap up certain mysteries that date all the way back to the 11^th Doctor's first episode. The internet is abuzz with speculation and a plethora of theories, from the plausible to the outlandish. But we won't really know the answers until we see the episode on Christmas.

And that is analogous to the situation we find the Jewish people in the days before Jesus. They were looking for a Messiah. And they combed the Hebrew scriptures for clues about what he would be like and they tried to tease out the implications of prophesies to see what he would do. But what you see in those passages is largely influenced by your perspective. And your perspective is largely influenced by your experience. Looking backward we Christians see very clearly how the prophesies were fulfilled. But before his coming the picture was fuzzier. There were rival constructions of who the Messiah would be. But from the point of view of the Jews of the 1^st century, it was clear that what they wanted was a military Messiah.

One summer in college I went on a study trip to Rome, Greece and Israel. I would love to return some day. But one of the things that made us American students uncomfortable while in the Holy Land was the presence of armed Israeli troops at any large gathering of people. When approaching the Wailing Wall or going to a movie theatre, you had to go through security similar to what we now have at American airports. And on Fridays, which is the Muslim holy day, and from Friday at sunset through Saturday at sunset, the Jewish Sabbath, it seemed like there was a soldier on every street corner, at least in the Old City. It was a constant reminder that violence could break out at any time in any place. Scary.

I think one of the problems we Americans have in understanding the time of Jesus is that we do not have any idea of what it is like to live under occupation. While the Israeli soldiers were there to keep the peace in their own country, their presence let you know you were not free to go everywhere nor to do anything you liked.

So imagine if that was your own country and the troops were foreign conquerors. Imagine them having the right to grab you and make you carry their pack for a mile. Imagine not having a right to trial before punishment unless you were a Roman citizen. Imagine approaching a city and seeing naked men nailed to uprights all along the side of the road. Imagine not feeling free to express your opinions about this occupation for fear of being arrested, imprisoned, flogged or worse. Imagine these invaders routinely doing things that offended your religion. And imagine having to pay heavy taxes to the foreign empire that kept the troops in your country. Is it any wonder that the people fervently hoped for God to raise up a holy warrior to throw these interlopers out and re-establish their country's independence and even ascendance over these violent pagan aggressors?

That was the atmosphere in which Jesus lived. You never felt really free. You always had to walk on eggshells whenever an armed and armored Roman soldier was within sight or earshot. And you had to worry about your fellow countrymen rebelling and the bloody aftermath that would surely follow. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, just 4 miles from Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee. When Herod the Great died, the people of Sepphoris revolted. Rome destroyed the city, enslaved all the surviving women and children and crucified all the men, 2000 of them, along the roads to the ruins. When one of Herod's sons, Herod Antipas, was made Tetrarch, or governor of the region, he decide to rename and rebuild the city and make it, as historian Josephus called it, the “Ornament of the Galilee.” He named it Autocratoris, which is Greek for Emperor. It is quite possible that Joseph got work there during the reconstruction. And Jesus would have functioned as his apprentice. He would have heard tales of the revolt. Some of the uprights for the crosses might have still been in place and would still have been used for executing criminals and slaves. The carpenter and his apprentice would have passed by them every day when going to and leaving work. Jesus would have literally grown up in the shadow of the cross.

This is where the Messiah comes in. The word means literally “smeared” or “anointed” with oil. Kings were anointed by prophets to symbolize their anointing with God's Spirit in order to fulfill the duties of their office. Priests were also anointed as were prophets. But most of the time when people spoke of the Messiah, they were thinking of a king, anointed by God to free his people from their oppression and slavery. The model of the Messiah everyone wanted was someone like David, a holy warrior-king.

And that derives from certain passages in the Old Testament. The Messiah seems to be a fighter as far back as Genesis 3:15, in which God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head and you will strike his heel.” In Numbers 24:17, it says, “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab, and the skull of all the Shethites.” In Psalm 2:7-9, it reads, “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: he said to me, 'You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'”

And given the situation in 1^st century Judea and Galilee, you can see the appeal of this kind of Messiah, a judge, jury and executioner. When you are living under injustice, you want someone who metes out strict justice with no mercy. Of course, this assumes that this standard will not be applied to you. As we see in the prophets, God will not merely apply his standards of justice to other people; his own people will be judged as well. Indeed, at times God says his people are worse than the Gentiles. In Ezekiel 16:46-48, Judah is said to be worse than Sodom!

This is the dilemma that faced Jesus' fellow citizens, though most did not think it through. If God were to send the kind of Messiah they wanted, a strictly just and militant Messiah, a kind of divinely anointed Dirty Harry, they would have been his target as well. God has never one to look the other way when his own people were unjust. In that vein, consider Jehu. In 2 Kings 9, Elisha has Jehu anointed king of Israel and he is to eliminate all of the male successors of corrupt king Ahab. But he goes on to kill idolatrous King Ahaziah of Judah, a descendant of Ahab, and all of his relatives as well, leaving Judah without a king. Jehu knows no mercy and lets on one get away with anything.

That is the problem with absolute justice, where everyone gets what they deserve. We cannot say, “God, punish the wicked—but not me, or my family or my friends.” That is not justice. In World War 2, the Nazis were exterminating all the Jews. And we now know that our government knew that as early as 1942, less than a year into our involvement. Our allies the British knew by September of 1941, before we declared war on Germany. Some thought the only way to stop it was simply to win the war. But had the death camps been publicized worldwide, Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe might have stopped cooperating with their conquerors, might have stopped docilely getting on the trains to the so-called “work camps,” might have run off and hid in greater numbers. It would have made it much more difficult for the Nazis to carry out their final solution. Who knows how many of the 6 million they did kill might have escaped. Were the Allies complicit in the deaths of the Jews?

By the standards of Ezekiel 33, if you know someone is doing wrong and don't warn them, then, yes, you are responsible. So an intervention by God to punish one kind of evil, the commission of certain sinful acts, would also have to punish the other kind of evil, the omission of certain good acts.

John the Baptist is very much a part of the Old Testament approach to sin. He denounces it in the most fiery of terms. Perhaps this is why, while in prison, he sends some of his disciples to Jesus to ask if he really is the Messiah. Jesus was not raising an army, nor stirring up the people to revolt against brutal, pagan Rome, nor condemning first and asking questions later. John did tell people to repent; that is also a part of what the prophets of old did. It was always understood that God would stay his judgment if the people repented and changed their ways. John demanded to see the fruits of repentance. Jesus was more likely to forgive based on the sinner's seeking him out. He forgives the man confined to his mat based on the faith of his friends. He invites Zaccheus to dine with him before the rich tax collector decides to reimburse those he cheated. Only after he has stopped the stoning of the woman taken in adultery does he say that he doesn't condemn her and tell her to sin no more. Jesus leads with grace, not judgment. He is obviously not the kind of Messiah everyone was expecting.

So what kind of Messiah was Jesus? And is that to be found in the Messianic prophesies as well? That's what our Christmas Eve message will cover.

The Bible Challenge: Day 356

The scriptures read are Zechariah 11, Psalm 140 and Luke 2.

Zechariah 11. Bad shepherding makes God take over. But the sheep won't listen so he leaves them to their devices. They don't hold up their end of the covenant so he dissolves it and lets a useless shepherd take over.

Psalm 140. Love this version of this psalm in Russian!

Luke 2. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 355

The scriptures read are Zechariah 10, Psalm 139 and Luke 1.

Zechariah 10. Because false gods are rubbish and religious experts talk rubbish, God will step in and be his people's shepherd. And he will bring them back from the far corners of the world.

Psalm 139. It's hard to find a song that covers the whole psalm. This comes closest.

Luke 1. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 354

The scriptures read are Zechariah 9, Psalm 138 and Mark 16.

Zechariah 9. The first part is a nightmare to translate because of the very obscure words. But the gist is this: judgment is coming upon the cities of the Philistines.

Another oracle ("burden" in Hebrew) is that of a peaceful king riding a donkey's colt. Jesus appropriates this to make a subtle statement of his Messianic status.

Hope to the prisoners. God will rescue his people.

Psalm 138. A contemporary jazz-inflection version of this psalm.

Mark 16. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 353

The scriptures read are Zechariah 7-8, Psalm 137 and Mark 15.

Zechariah 7. The leaders are planning to hold a day of mourning on the 70th anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem. The 5th month is Av and traditionally the temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av, commemorated today by Jews as Tisha B'Av, a day of fasting. God asks if they are merely being nostalgic for when Jerusalem was large and prosperous. Where does God come into this?

God's message through the prophets hasn't changed. We get a wonderful summary of it in verses 9 and 10.

The people haven't changed either. They still don't listen to God. Fine, he won't listen to them, either.

Zechariah 8. God cares passionately about Jerusalem. He is returning. and it will flourish. The whole world will come because of God.

Psalm 137. You may have heard this Jamaican version of this psalm before. If not, you're welcome.

Mark 15. If you wish to read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 352

The scriptures read are Zechariah 5-6, Psalm 136 and Mark 14.

Zechariah 5. The 6th of Zechariah's 8 visions is about a huge flying book (lit. scroll) that destroys thieves and liars. Wall Street and Washington, beware!

Not sure what to make of the wicked woman in the basket. Maybe the fact that she represents all the sins and is being flown to Babylon represents the taking away of the sins of the people.

Zechariah 6. Another 4 horsemen, though this time they are in chariots, are sent to the 4 corners of the earth. Everything is clear of danger to the north.

BTW, the last 4 of the 8 visions inversely recapitulate the first 4. Visions 1 and 8: horses patrol the world. Visions 2 and 7: removal of threats. Visions 3 and 6: the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the tearing down of the houses that protect the wicked. Visions 4 and 5: Each about 2 leaders--Joshua in both and the mysterious Branch in 4 and Zerubabel in 5. Are they one and the same?

Now we go to the crowning of Joshua the high priest and the Branch. There is also much made about a harmony between priest and king, and both (or one who is both) reigning on a throne. Is Joshua the branch? It doesn't seem so since the other crown is put in the temple as a memorial. To Zerubabel? Is he dead at this point? Is the crown for a future king/priest, the mysterious Branch?

Psalm 136. Just to change things up, here is an energetic kid-friendly version of the first couple verses of this psalm.  

Mark 14. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 351

The scriptures read are Zechariah 3-4, Psalm 135 and Mark 13.

Zechariah 3. A vision of the high priest at that time shows him dressed in filthy clothes before God and accused by the Adversary (the meaning of "Satan") of doing so. But God orders Joshua redressed in spotless clothes. He is charged to keep doing the right thing.

Not sure what the jewel represents but notice the number 7 (its eyes--facets?). The Branch is a messianic designation. Who does it refer to?

Zechariah 4. This vision is of a menorah (7 branched candelabra) and 2 olive trees. Governor Zerubbabel is rebuilding the temple and one wonders if he and the high priest Joshua aren't those referred to by the 2 olive trees.

Psalm 135. You may not understand Serbian but you should love this chant and the scenes in the video.

Mark 13. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 349

The scriptures read are Zechariah 1-2, Psalm 134 and Mark 12.

Zechariah 1. Zechariah is a contemporary of Haggai but his mission goes beyond just getting the temple rebuilt. He talks of God rebuilding his people. (BTW he may be the person referred to in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14. His grandfather is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:4. So Zechariah was both a priest and a prophet.)

His first vision has 4 riders on 4 different colored horses. But otherwise they are not like the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse of John. They check out the world and report back to God that all is well.

Not sure of which 4 nations or powers are indicated here or exactly how the craftsmen, or blacksmiths as Peterson calls them, are supposed to stop them. But the basic message is that one of judgment on those who dispersed God's people to the 4 corners of the earth.

Zechariah 2. Jerusalem has to be measured because its walls are bursting at the seams with the returning exiles. God identifies with his people, coming home to Jerusalem. God will punish the godless nations that abused his people. And yet many of these nations will come to God and become part of his family.

Psalm 134. Enjoy this rousing Gospel version of this psalm!

Mark 12. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

Full of Grace

Nadia Bolz-Weber is a 6 foot 1 inch, tattoo-covered stand up comedian turned Evangelical Lutheran pastor—or Pastrix, as she calls her recent memoir. 21 years clean and sober, she is the founding pastor of the House of All Sinners and Saints, which meets in the parish hall of an Episcopal church in Denver. This week on her blog, “Sarcastic Lutheran: The cranky spirituality of a postmodern Gal,” she wrote about Mary, Jesus' mom. She was reading the part of Luke where the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “Greetings, favored one!” And Pastrix Nadia noticed something: “...what the text seemed silent on is what exactly she did to earn God's favor.” Think about it. What do we know about Mary before this that would make her, out of all the women on earth, the perfect candidate to carry God's son in her womb. And the answer is: Nothing! We know nothing about her before this major event. The Bible does not say that she was especially religious or smart or given to good works or of a sweet disposition or righteous or compassionate or even that she had a perfect attendance pin from Sabbath School. The Bible tells us nothing—nada, zip, zilch, zero. We have absolutely no idea of God's criteria for choosing Mary.

And that bothered some early Christians. And so they reasoned that there must have been something special about Mary. Eventually this led to the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception. That is, God made sure that Mary was conceived without original sin. So, being sinless, she was fit to be the mother of Jesus. But there's nothing in the Bible to that effect. And indeed Thomas Aquinas and other notable Christian thinkers rejected the idea.

Which means Pastrix Nadia is in good company. What she says is this: “I think God looked upon her with favor because it is God's nature to look upon young peasant girls and prostitutes and tax collectors and adulterous kings and lawyers and princes and fishermen with favor. Because God's just like that. Read the book!”

In other words, God's choosing Mary wasn't about merit but about grace. It wasn't that Mary was perfect or a paragon of virtue or that she earned it in any way. The word translated “favor” is charis, the same Greek word that is translated “grace” throughout the New Testament. The source of Mary's favor is God. God graciously chose her. Mary was not chosen because she was special; she was special because God chose her.

The world tends to seek out those it considers worthy and offers them jobs and tasks. Movies are so expensive in part because the lead actors can demand $20 million to appear. Superstar CEOs are hired to save companies by offering them salaries, stock options and perks that are 380 times what their average employee makes.

It's even become part of entry level job descriptions. When I was hired as a nurse at a major hospital in St. Louis, I was given a 2 week orientation. Nowadays you're lucky if you get 2 days. Because generally speaking, previous experience doing the very same job built into most companies' job descriptions. They don't want to train anyone if they can help it. They don't want to take a chance on training anyone who might turn out to not be up to the job after all. The days where someone says, “You're a bright young thing; I bet you could learn this job” are over.

And for some jobs, even experience alone is not sufficient. It doesn't even matter if for years you filled in for your boss at times and did his job in his absence. You need a degree in that specific field to go from Acting Whatitz to Official Whatitz. I'm all for education but I have worked under people with advanced degrees who don't know how to do the basic tasks of their job. They had a lot of theoretical knowledge and had taken a lot of management classes but had absolutely no common sense or feel for the job they must actually perform. On the other hand, I have worked with sharp people who had watched and learned how to do stuff on the job and to whom, despite their lesser official status, you would go to in a heartbeat with a question before you would ask someone with an MBA. Secretaries, for instance, often know more about how their department really works than their bosses do. Nurses know more about how a patient is actually faring than many doctors. Old fashioned nursing school RNs have more practical know-how than more academically-trained BSNs. It reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when he says to the scarecrow, “I know people with no more brains than you do. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.”

But that's the problem, isn't it? God couldn't very well send Gabriel out to do interviews for the job of bearing the Son of the Most High. He couldn't advertise for girls with previous experience in caring for divine infants or with degrees in God raising. This was a unique situation.

So what criteria would God use to chose? We could speculate endlessly on this but I think Pastrix Bolz-Weber has nailed it. She said when dealing with the annunciation story, we concentrate on how Mary reacted to the angel telling her she would bear God's son. “....but this week I started to wonder, were I in her place, which would be harder for me to believe, that part or the part where the angel said I was favored? If an angel came to me and said, 'Greetings, favored one'--I'd be like, you've got the wrong girl.”

Pastrix Nadia goes on to say, “But here's where Mary has some real chops. Mary trusted this word from the angel. And maybe that is what made her favored....I cannot speak to the worthiness of Mary before that night the angel visited her. But what I know is that she is a truster of God's word. Knowing what little I do about the Bible and how God chooses to operate and who God chooses to operate through, I have to say that I think it was God's word to her that she was worthy that made her worthy. Her response to the angel was not I will do everything in my power to be who God wants me to be. It was let it be with me according to God's word. I trust that I am who God says that I am.”

But Mary is not the only person God does this to. Abraham is a nomad to whom God says, “I will make you a great nation and the world will be blessed through you.” Moses was a stuttering fugitive to whom God says, “You will lead my enslaved people out of Egypt.” David is a shepherd to whom God says, “You will be the king over my people.” Peter is a mercurial hotheaded fisherman to whom Jesus says, “You are the rock on which I will be my church.” Paul is a zealous ultra-orthodox Jew to whom God says, “You will be my apostle to the Gentiles.” None of these people had resumes that would lead you to think they were fit to do these things. God said to each, “You are the person to do this” and they were. In some cases they even tried to get out of it. Even Mary said, “How can this be?” But all of them eventually accepted what God said about them. And then succeeded at what they were told to do.

We are all in the same boat. In the Bible, Christians are called “saints.” Not just certain special, spectacular Christians. All of us. But how can that be?

Well, it's our usage that turned the word “saint” into what it means today: someone who is so good that you feel like a moral worm in comparison. But at its root the word for “saint” means anyone sanctified by God, anyone made holy by him, anyone set aside for his purposes. Think of it this way: To take communion into the jail I had to get clear plastic containers. So I went to the drug store and got a set approved by the TSA for taking on planes with your conditioner or hand lotion. I chose one to carry the wafers, one for grape juice (no wine in jail), another to use drink from and one for a swab impregnated with oil of healing for anointing the sick. The rest I can use to carry my shampoo through airport security. The containers do not chose what to carry; I choose which to use for what. Once I set a container aside as the one which will hold the consecrated host, it becomes my ciborium. It is not made any differently than the ones I use for grooming. It becomes what I choose it to become.

When God comes to us in Christ, we become what he chooses us to become. It is not because we are made from better stuff than other people. It is his choice. It is grace. When we realize that we can stop looking down on others because of what God made us

and we can stop looking up to others simply because of what he made them. We are all part of the same body of Christ. We all have our gifts and our roles to play.

They may not be the roles we thought we had been assigned. I was in a production of Fiddler on the Roof and we came to the second to last scene, the one where the Jews learn that the Russians are making them leave their little village and indeed the country. The curtain opens and the stage is empty for a second. The actors are in the wings waiting for one actor to run onstage yelling for Golde and asking if she has seen Tevye, her husband. The minute he leaves the wings, the rest of us stream in from both sides, anxious over the news. It was a small part but it was necessary to get the scene going. One night the actor who was to lead things off and say the first line wasn't there. (It turned out he was outside smoking and missed the cue.) So two groups of actors were hiding in the wings looking at each other over an empty stage and frantically wondering where that actor was. Then it occurred to me that it didn't matter which of us ran onstage first and said the line, as long as someone did and got the scene rolling. So I ran out, said the line, everyone else came out and the play went on. It wasn't my part. But it had to be done. And it seemed to me on that night, while we were all standing around asking ourselves who would start the scene, that the only reasonable answer was “anybody.” And I was as good an anybody as anyone else.

A lot of following God is just listening for him and saying “yes” to what he asks us to do. It may be to speak to someone. Or just to listen to and comfort them. It may be set up a homeless shelter. Or to work in one. It may be to go into medicine. Or into music. It may be to go into the ordained ministry. Or to be a teacher. It may be to work with the poor. Or to raise funds for charity. It may be to go into public office. Or to hold those in public office to account. God wants people to represent him and do his work everywhere in the world and at all levels of society. But we don't know until we ask him. And we won't hear his answer unless we learn how to listen.

Not all of us have angels presenting the choice to us verbally, as Mary did. It might come through something a friend says. It might come from reading something that stimulates your curiosity, or seeing something that stirs a deep desire to rectify or improve a situation. It may come from hearing about a person accomplishing things that makes you want to emulate him or her. It may come from a verse of scripture that jumps off the page at you and rings in your ears and burns in your heart.

And if it is God speaking to you, don't worry about whether you've earned it. You haven't. You can't. Don't ask why God chose you. That fact that he has means you are the person to do it. He will equip you. He will guide you. He will give you what you need to do it through his grace. All you need to do is say “I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me according to your word.”

The Bible Challenge: Day 348

The scriptures read are Haggai 1-2, Psalm 133 and Mark 11.

Haggai 1-2. Haggai's mission is pretty straightforward: get the governor and high priest to get off their duffs and get God's temple rebuilt. After all, the people are living in nice houses; why not repair God's, which has been a ruin since the fall of Jerusalem? The crops will improve then.

Psalm 133. We had to learn this song in Hebrew class in college and I still remember it.

Mark 11. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 347

The scriptures read are Zephaniah 3, Psalm 132 and Mark 10.

Zephaniah 3. The fish rots from the head. So God will decapitate the leadership of his people. The corrupt and greedy rulers, judges, priests and prophets will be removed. The humble will be the core of God's restored people. The day of Judgment will be for them a day of reunions as God's scattered people come home.

Psalm 132. A newly composed chant sung by an Anglican choir taken from this psalm.

Mark 10. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 346

The scriptures read are Zephaniah 2, Psalm 131 and Mark 9.

Zephaniah 2. Repentance will save people from God's judgment. Verse 3's assertion that the penitent will be hid from God's anger is interesting seeing that Zephaniah means "God has hidden (or protected.)."

Things will not go well for the enemies of God's people. Nineveh will be an utter ruin.

Psalm 131. This contemplative song complements the content of this psalm. Then it turns warmly joyful. Then back to quiet contentment. Lovely.

Mark 9. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 345

The scriptures read are Zephaniah 1, Psalm 130 and Mark 8.

Zephaniah 1. Zephaniah is the great grandson of King Hezekiah. And despite the reforms of current King Josiah, not everyone has abandoned their pagan ways. So Judgment Day is coming.

Psalm 130. This is based on a hymn by Marin Luther which in turn is based on Psalm 130. And it is great. Click here to hear.

Mark 8. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 344

The scriptures read are Habakkuk 3, Psalm 129 and Mark 7.

Habakkuk 3. The concluding chapter reads like a psalm, right down to a note to the musicians. The prophet ask for God to be active among his people as he was in the past. Like Abraham with Sodom and Moses with the Israelites, Habakkuk asks for God to be merciful. Habakkuk envisions God coming to punish his people's attackers. He asks if God is mad at various bodies of water. This may be harkening back to God parting the Red Sea and the Jordan, and the chaotic waters at the dawn of creation.

In the end, despite current appearances, Habakkuk is believes in the coming of God's kingdom.

Psalm 129. And now for something completely different: an experimental version of this psalm. You can feel the furrows on his back, made by whipping I'm assuming, which makes the Lord cutting his cords such good news.

Mark 7. To read my reflections on this chapter, click here.

Christmas Preparation

Once I got ordained, our yearly Christmas trips to see family in St. Louis were over, of course. I joked with my wife that we should start to celebrate Christmas according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar. Their Christmas falls on or around January 6^th. This meant we could not only still celebrate Christmas with out of town relatives (a few of whom actually are Greek Orthodox) but we could fly on the cheaper fares after the holiday and buy our gifts during the after-Christmas sales!

I was kidding, but there are times when I wish we could uncouple the religious observation of Christ's birth from the secular Bacchanalia that Christmas has become in our culture. I needn't go on and on about how hard it is to get in the proper mood for Advent when everywhere and through every form of media we are being urged to buy stuff—clothes, entertainment systems, computers, phones, cars, movie tickets to blockbusters—for family members, friends, coworkers, yourself. And every group you or your spouse belong to is having a Christmas or holiday party for you to attend. Small wonder only 3 people came to the midweek Advent service this last Wednesday.

Actually this illustrates what I think is the real problem of why church attendance is dropping off. We have a lot more competition today. When I was a kid, stores were closed on Sunday as were most bars. Sunday morning TV was boring and there were only 3 channels. And we had no video tapes or games or internet to entertain us. The main competition to worship was sleeping in.

Today nothing is closed on Sunday. In fact, my biggest problem in getting a secular job a few years ago was finding one that would let me consistently take Sunday off so I could lead worship. Heck, most jobs wouldn't even allow me to simply come in later on Sundays. The world makes you choose between working or making others work on Sunday.

Advent is a minor penitential season. We are preparing for the coming of Jesus and so we are supposed to examine ourselves and get ourselves ready spiritually to receive him. A lot people interpret this to mean you must give up things. To me it is more meaningful to take on a spiritual practice and any giving up is therefore a result of making room for that discipline. May I suggest for this Advent season getting serious about taking time to pray and read your Bible? All you need to give up is the time you would otherwise be contributing to the frenzied madness of the world.

I would suggest reading a gospel. At this point in December, you could read 1 chapter of Mark a day and be done by Christmas. Mark is the shortest and fastest moving of the gospels. If you need commentary, go to my blog. I'm going through Mark right now. Mark doesn't have any nativity scenes in it but you'll get those at the Christmas Eve service. It will get through all the major teachings of Jesus and events of his life. If you wish, you can also read the Messianic psalms (2, 8, 16, 22, 34, 35, 40, 41, 45, 68, 69, 109, 110, and 118). Add Isaiah chapters 11 and 53 and you can easily pair up these prophetic passages with the 16 chapters of Mark you'll be reading.

If you want some extra-biblical reading as well, get J.B. Phillips' book Your God is Too Small. In Part 1, Phillips, an acquaintance of C.S. Lewis, examines more than a dozen inadequate and destructive ways of looking at God. In Part 2, he goes about constructing an adequate picture of God and then sees if anyone out there is a good fit. It is a wonderful affirmation of Jesus being the best candidate for God around. You can get the book for less than $11 or for your Kindle or Kindle app for less than $9.

If you have more time, you might want to read Dorothy L. Sayers excellent play cycle, The Man Born to Be King, which she wrote as radio plays for the BBC. Not only are the plays good but her notes at the beginning of each play have a wealth of insights into Jesus and the Twelve. They also deal with how she stayed true to the Bible and what we know about the time and still created good drama. Unfortunately there is no Kindle version yet but you can find good inexpensive paperback copies.

For getting kids into an Advent mood, you could read them the Narnia Chronicles. While they are fast reads for adults, you can limit them to a chapter a night and finish the first, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by Christmas. For older children you can easily read each in two sections and get through the whole series before Christmas Eve. If you have no children, read them for yourself. As always, the books are better than the movies.

For prayers, may I suggest starting with any of the prayers found on pages 814 through 844 in the Book of Common Prayer and 72 through 87 in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book. There's a wealth of prayers for just about any situation you can think of. Then pray for a troubled nation mentioned in the news and pray for its people suffering from war, famine, or any other disaster. This is a good way to open up your awareness of the universal reach and concerns of the church. Pray for those Christians who still face persecution, prosecution, imprisonment and death for their faith.

Pray for yourself. Sometimes we are timid in asking God to help us personally. If it concerns you, it concerns God. Ask him to take away your anxiety and fear and give you the strength and clarity of mind to face the issue itself, rather than get tangled up in and paralyzed by your emotions over it. Pray for peace, which is to say, well-being for yourself and all others affected by the problem.

Thank God. Gratitude is important to physical as well as mental health. Thank God for at least 3 things in your life, including persons, every day. They can be big or small. Thank him for the challenges you face. A recent study showed that stress is most harmful if it is thought of as stress. If you see a situation as a challenge or opportunity to achieve something, it will do a lot less damage than if you concentrate on the stress it may cause. So thank God for the opportunity to exercise your faith, to truly understand what others have gone through, to trust in him fully and discover the riches of his grace and to make a really determined go at beating the odds. Thank him for the fact that his love does not depend on how well we do but upon his goodness and faithfulness.

Finish with a prayer of recommitment to following Jesus. There are several in the pages I've mentioned. My favorite is the prayer attributed to St. Francis.

So carve out a mini-Sabbath everyday. Step out of the mad pace of this world and into the timelessness of the kingdom of God. Prepare your heart and mind to receive the King, who was and who is and who is to come.     

The Bible Challenge: Day 342

The scriptures read are Habakkuk 2, Psalm 128 and Mark 6.

Habakkuk 2. The answer from God comes: Wait, judgment will come to the wicked--the greedy, those whose wealth comes from theft and extortion, the violent, those who indulge in drunkenness, orgies and idolatry and whose collateral damage includes the destruction of animals!

By contrast, the righteous live by faithfulness. In other words, trust God; the wicked (including in this case, the Babylonians) will get their comeuppance at the right time.

Psalm 128. A simple and sweet version of this psalm.

Mark 6. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 341

The scriptures read are Habakkuk 1, Psalm 127 and Mark 5.

Habakkuk 1. People who think everyone in the Bible knows only one note--"never question God"--have never read much of the Bible. Job is all about seeking a dialogue with God on why the innocent suffer. Habakkuk examines the other side of that coin: why aren't the guilty punished? He questions God on the timing and methods of his justice. He starts out asking God why he tolerates the violence and injustice the prophet sees in his nation. When God says he will use the Babylonians to carry out his judgment on his sinful people, Habakkuk essentially says, "The Babylonians?!? You're going to use those ruthless barbarians as your instrument of justice?!?"

Psalm 127. I think this is in Polish but I love the exotic version of this psalm.

Mark 5. For my  reflections on this chapter, please click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 340

The scriptures read are Nahum 3, Psalm 126 and Mark 4.

Nahum 3. A resounding end to Nineveh. More powerful images of violence, promiscuity, siege and even a swarm of locusts.

Psalm 126. There is an indie/folk feeling to this version of this psalm.

Mark 4. For my reflections on this chapter click here.

The Bible Challenge: Day 339

The scriptures read are Nahum 2, Psalm 125 and Mark 3.

Nahum 2. An evocative portrait of the fall of Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria.

Psalm 125. A contemporary take on this psalm with a great video.

Mark 3. For my reflections on this chapter, click here.

Warrior Messiah

When I went to Israel on a study trip in 1975, I found myself going through Israeli airport security. They took each person into a cubicle and a security person of your gender patted you down. In my case the officer indicated that I should removed from my front pants pocket a suspicious cylinder. It was a Binaca breath spray. It was evident he had never seen one and he looked at me inquiringly. I tried to explain what it was for and since his English seemed rudimentary, I uncapped it and was going to demonstrate it. As I prepared to spray it in my mouth, his eyes got big, he grabbed the cylinder, sprayed it on the side of the cubicle, and sniffed it. Then he left with it to consult a superior officer, I suppose. When he returned, he asked, “You have...asthma?” He thought it was an inhaler. I took it back, explained it was for fresh breath, sprayed my mouth and with one hand wafted the scent his way. He gave me a look I could never hope to duplicate as a actor. It clearly showed a kind of withering “now I've seen everything from you silly Americans with your love of unnecessary gadgets and cosmetic enhancements.” Yeah, his one look said all that. I walked out of there feeling rather deflated.

I loved my trip to Rome, Greece and Israel and would love to return. But one of the things that made us American students uncomfortable while in the Holy Land was the presence of armed Israeli troops at any large gathering of people. When approaching the Wailing Wall or going to a movie theatre, you had to go through security similar to what we now have at American airports. And on Fridays, which is the Muslim holy day, and from Friday at sunset through Saturday at sunset, the Jewish Sabbath, it seemed like there was a soldier on every street corner, at least in the Old City. It was a constant reminder that violence could break out at any time in any place. Scary.

I think one of the problems we Americans have in understanding the time of Jesus is that we do not have any idea of what it is like to live under occupation. While the Israeli soldiers were there to keep the peace in their own country, their presence let you know you were not free to go everywhere nor to do anything you liked. Imagine if that was your own country and the troops were foreign conquerors. Imagine them having the right to grab you and make you carry their pack for a mile. Imagine not having a right to trial before punishment unless you were a Roman citizen. Imagine approaching a city and seeing naked men nailed to crosses all along the side of the road. Imagine not feeling free to express your opinions about this occupation for fear of being arrested, imprisoned, flogged or worse. Imagine these invaders routinely doing things that offended your religion. And imagine having to pay heavy taxes to the foreign empire that kept the troops in your country. Is it any wonder that the people fervently hoped for God to raise up a holy warrior to throw these interlopers out and re-establish their country's independence and even ascendance over these violent pagan aggressors?

That was the atmosphere in which Jesus lived. You never felt free. You always had to walk on eggshells whenever an armed and armored Roman soldier was within sight or earshot. And you had to worry about your fellow countrymen rebelling and the bloody aftermath that would surely follow. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, just 4 miles from Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee. When Herod the Great died, the people of Sepphoris revolted. Rome destroyed the city, enslaved all the surviving women and children and crucified all the men, 2000 of them, along the roads to the ruins. When one of Herod's sons, Herod Antipas, was made Tetrarch, or governor of the region, he decide to rename and rebuild the city and make it, as historian Josephus called it, the “Ornament of the Galilee.” He named it Autocratoris, which is Greek for Emperor. It is quite possible that Joseph got work there during the reconstruction. And Jesus would have functioned as his apprentice. He would have heard tales of the revolt. Some of the uprights for the crosses might have still been in place and would still have been used for executing criminals and slaves. The carpenter and his apprentice would have passed by them every day when going to and leaving work. Jesus would have literally grown up in the shadow of the cross.

This is where the concept of the Messiah comes in. The word means literally “smeared” or “anointed” with oil. Kings were anointed by prophets to symbolize their anointing with God's Spirit in order to fulfill the duties of their office. Priests were also anointed as were prophets. But most of the time when people spoke of the Messiah, they were thinking of a king, anointed by God to free his people from their oppression and slavery. The model of the Messiah everyone wanted was someone like David, a holy warrior-king.

And that derives from certain passages in the Old Testament. The Messiah seems to be a fighter as far back as Genesis 3:15, in which God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head and you will strike his heel.” In Numbers 24:17, it says, “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab, and the skull of all the Shethites.” In Psalm 2:7-9, it reads, “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: he said to me, 'You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'”

And given the situation in 1^st century Judea and Galilee, you can see the appeal of this kind of Messiah, a judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one. When you are living under injustice, you want someone who metes out strict justice with no mercy. Of course, this assumes that this standard will not be applied to you. As we see in the prophets, God will not merely apply his standards of justice to other people; his own people will be judged as well. Indeed, at times God says his people are worse than the Gentiles. In Ezekiel 16:46-48, Judah is said to be worse than Sodom!

This is the dilemma that faced Jesus' fellow citizens, though most did not think it through. If God were to send the kind of Messiah they wanted, a strictly just and militant Messiah, a kind of divinely anointed Dirty Harry, they would have been his target as well. God was never one to look the other way when his own people were unjust. In that vein, consider Jehu. In 2 Kings 9, Elisha has Jehu anointed king of Israel and he is to eliminate all of the male successors of corrupt king Ahab. But he goes on to kill idolatrous King Ahaziah of Judah, a descendant of Ahab, and all of his relatives as well, leaving Judah without a king. Jehu knows no mercy and lets on one get away with anything.

That is the problem with absolute justice, where everyone gets what they deserve. None of us has so clean a life that we would get off scot-free. We cannot say, “God, punish the wicked—but not me, or my family or my friends.” That is not justice. In World War 2, the Nazis were trying to exterminate all the Jews. And we now know that our government knew as early as 1942, less than a year into our involvement. Our allies the British knew by September of 1941, before we declared war on Germany. Some thought the only way to stop it was simply to win the war. Revealing it would not stop the Nazis. But had the death camps been publicized worldwide, Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe might have stopped cooperating with their conquerors, might have stopped docilely getting on the trains to the so-called “work camps,” might have run off and hid in greater numbers. It would have made it much more difficult for the Nazis to carry out their final solution. Who knows how many of the 6 million they did kill might have escaped? Were the Allies complicit in the deaths of the Jews? By the standards of Ezekiel 33, if you know someone is doing wrong and don't warn them, then, yes, you are responsible. So an intervention by God to punish one kind of evil, the commission of certain sinful acts, would also have to punish the other kind of evil, the omission of certain good acts.

John the Baptist is very much a part of the Old Testament approach to sin. He denounces it in the most fiery of terms. Perhaps this is why, while in prison, he sends some of his disciples to Jesus to ask if he really is the Messiah. Jesus was not raising an army, nor stirring up the people to revolt against brutal, pagan Rome, nor condemning first and asking questions later. John did tell people to repent; that is also a part of what the prophets of old did. It was always understood that God would stay his judgment if the people repented and changed their ways. John demanded to see the fruits of repentance. Jesus was more likely to forgive based on the sinner's seeking him out. He forgives the man confined to his mat based on the faith of his friends. He invites Zaccheus to dine with him before the rich tax collector decides to reimburse those he cheated. Only after he has stopped the stoning of the woman taken in adultery does he say that he doesn't condemn her and tell her to sin no more. Jesus leads with grace, not judgment. He is obviously not the kind of Messiah everyone was expecting.

So what kind of Messiah was Jesus? And is that to be found in the Messianic prophesies as well? That's what our next midweek Advent message will cover.