Lent Day #34

John 12:12-16 (NET)

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. They began to shout, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!" 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 "Do not be afraid, people of Zion; look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt!" 16 (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened to him.)

THOUGHTS:
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday -- the beginning of what is known as "Holy Week" (Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday). Many congregations will begin their worship tomorrow with a procession waving palms and singing "Hosanna". We continue to play out the drama of this story some 2000 years later.

The entry into Jerusalem can be interpreted as an acted parable. There is significance in the details.

The messiah that the Jews were expecting is one type of guy who would likely come riding into town on a majestic stallion to kick the Roman occupiers out. He would come in with a royal aura all around him and kick butt. That's not what they got.

Think about this: Jesus could have just walked into the city. That's how he got most places -- even sometimes across the water. Why the young donkey?

If he had walked into town, the stories would probably an unshakable majestic quality all the same. We could get the sense that "He strode purposefully upon the palms though the gates of the city." That's not they way the story goes either.

Jesus rode in on a donkey. No matter how many times we re-tell the story ... no matter how royal and majestic we try to make it sound ... there is something humiliating and humorous about the savior of the world having a "triumphal" entry to the city seated upon a young donkey. It is OK to laugh a little at the sheer ridiculousness of the thought.

Maybe Jesus chose a donkey because it symbolized the type of messiah he was going to be. Maybe it was supposed to show that he wasn't about dealing out royal butt-kickings. The entry on a donkey's colt seems to me to be even more humble than walking into town. Maybe the statement is "I come as one of the oppressed, upon a beast of burden ... and I will carry out my mission as one of the oppressed."

Regardless, the crowds ignore the nature of the transportation and praise him like a king. Maybe the message doesn't sink in until a few days later ... until he's been hanging out in town without any change in the oppressive power structure. Maybe it is this intense disappointment that causes the same crowd that praised him on Sunday to shout "crucify him!" later in the week...

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, help us to love and worship you for who you are. Help us to sift though all the images of who we are told you are and who we want you to be. Help us to know you, to accept you, and to love you as you love us. AMEN.

Lent Day #33

Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)

1 [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." 9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

THOUGHTS:
In the Roman Empire, taxes weren't collected based on complex formulas based on income and deductions like we use today. Roman citizens didn't have to pay the taxes -- that burden fell on all the conquered nations. Tax collectors bid on the priviledge to collect the taxes in each community. Whoever bid highest would then front some portion of the money to the treasury. Then, the tax collector basically went around squeezing people to cover what they thought they could collect. Anything they raised above the pledged about was personal profit. It sounds to me like the tax system worked a lot like the mob payoffs on TV.

As you can imagine, tax collection was exceedingly profitable, and tax collectors were not popular. Zacchaeus was a "vertically challenged" tax collector, and he was stinking rich. Try to imagine his situation for a moment. He probably owned whatever he wanted, but he probably didn't have many friends. He made his riches through extortion. When he walked down the street, people might have tried not notice him. Can you imagine what they said behind his back? He may have felt like he was very important sometimes, but I bet he also had a big gaping hole inside -- I doubt his riches brought him joy.

Zacchaeus climbs a tree to see Jesus moving through the crowds. Why? Scripture says he was "seeking to see who Jesus was." Had he been up the tree to see others in the past? Was it a mere whim or was he specifically intrigued about Jesus from stories he had heard? Jesus sees him in the tree and calls him by name, asking Zacchaeus to take him home for lunch. Zacchaeus "hurried" and "received him joyfully". I wonder if the reason he was so joyful was because he felt overwhelmed by the love and compassion of Jesus. This is all we now of Zacchaeus -- we're left to assume that this one encounter -- this one shared lunch -- changed Zacchaeus' life.

He was lost and he probably knew it. He obviously knew he had treated people unfairly. He had all the money he could ask for, but he was lost. After meeting Jesus, he volunteers to give half of his good to the poor and pay back four times any unfair profits. Talk about life changing!

How has Jesus changed your life?

PRAYER:
God, thank you for coming for the lost and broken. Help us to admit that we are lost. Make us whole through Christ. AMEN.

Lent Day #32

Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." 41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

THOUGHTS (By Pastor Dan Krewson):

I enjoyed reading Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl. What a delightful collection of insights and emotions in such a dreadful time. At a young age she knew the value of what was truly needful. When she packed her back to take into hiding, the first thing she took, was her diary...she wrote:

Preoccupied by the thought of going into hiding,
I stuck the craziest things in the bag, but I'm not sorry.
Memories mean more to me than dresses.

With distractions a-plenty in this life, Anne teaches us (as does Mary) the importance finding value not in things or activity or accomplishments, but in people - or rather in-between people - in the relationships between us and others. These are the most cherished gifts life offers us.

PRAYER:

Make a list of distractions in your life which keep you from 'sitting at the feet of Jesus.' Meditate on how you can let go of one or more- even if it is for just 15 minutes. A simple breath prayer - inhale: speak to me O Lord. On exhale: your servant is listening…

Lent Day #31

Luke 13:10-17 (ESV)
10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability." 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." 15 Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" 17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

THOUGHTS (By Pastor Dan Krewson):




What beverage is poured in for the grandest of celebrations? To toast the couple? To celebrate the business venture? To congratulate the retiree? A beverage that was developed in a certain region of France, 75 miles east of Paris. Champagne is the name of the region and the beverage, but did you know that a Benedictine Monk was one who helped to develop the luxury beverage in the 17th century? He was serving the nearby abbey of Hautvillers (oat-viyaay). The name of the young monk, Dom Perignon. When he first tasted the fruitful bubbly he said, "I am drinking in the stars."





Why is it that Christians all too often are known, not for their zest for life and joyfulness, but for their narrow-mindedness or for being judgemental? Neitze once said that he would join the ranks of the redeemed when they looked more redeemed! We have been given good news of redemption! Not the dull-stale news of a bland life - but the beautiful - uplifting news of fullness of life in Christ! Live as if you have been given the good stuff - the top shelf - the cream of the crop - not the left-overs of life.

PRAYER:
Thank God for all the blessings in your life today.
Dear Lord, today I thank you for _______. Help me to appreciate all the blessings I've been given. Help me to live more fully and joyfully. AMEN.

Lent Day #30

Ephesians 4:25-32 (NRSV)
25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

THOUGHTS:
Verse 26: "Be angry but do not sin ..."
Verse 31: "Put away from you all ... anger ..."

Sometimes it seems we are given mixed messages. Yet, maybe we aren't. Jesus appears to get angry (for example with the moneychangers in the temple ... and in other passages with the Pharisees). Yet we are told he never sinned. The key may be that the feeling passes: "... do not let the sun go down on your anger ..." Is there a righteous anger?

Anger seems so negative to me. It can eat me up inside. It can lash out in damaging ways. It can certainly be a factor in my sin, but maybe it isn't the anger that is sinful, but how I deal with it. How do we find constructive and positive ways to deal with our anger?

This passage is so jam-packed. Look back at the beginning -- why do we speak truth to our neighbors (fellow humans)? Verse 25 says that "we are members of one another." Think about that. Doesn't it mean that you are part of me and I am part of you? That you are part of your enemy and your enemy is part of you?

How does that make you feel? How does it affect the way you think about your actions?

Does that allow you to follow verse 31, putting aside all anger, bitterness, and malice. Does seeing yourself in others help you to be kind and forgiving?

Verse 32 is so powerful to me. It says to forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven. We are told that God forgives in such a way that the sin is not even remembered. (Look back at to Isaiah 43:25 - discussed Lent Day #24). 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says:

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Through Christ, God reconciled the world to God -- effectively erasing all of our shortcomings from the mind and memory of God. Take a minute to let that soak in -- it still blows my mind sometimes. Now look at verse 32 again: that's the kind of forgiveness we are to practice.

Read the passage above one last time. There is more there than I touched upon. What details are still tugging at you?

PRAYER:

Dearest God, your forgiveness is so vast that we sometimes forget to acknowledge it. We struggle to accept the knowledge that your forgiveness of us is so complete. We also have trouble embracing the thought that might immerse our enemies in this same forgiveness. Help us to forgive all those around us with your kind of forgiveness. Help us to see the world through your loving eyes. In Christ. AMEN.

NOTES:

Remember that you can always find the devotions for past days at http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com/

You may even find more hyperlinks in the posts there to help you cross reference past posts or get more information on a person that gets quoted in a post.

Lent Day #29

Luke 10:29-37 (ESV)
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."

THOUGHTS:
This parable immediately follows Luke's version of the passage we looked at on Saturday. Jesus just told the lawyer that he will live if he loves God with his everything and loves his neighbor as himself. The lawyer is obviously concerned with the bit about loving his neighbor. I wonder if he is hoping Jesus will say, "those family who lives next door" or "those who look like you and think like you". Most likely, the popular answer would have been "your fellow Israelites".

Instead, Jesus basically says: "Who do you hate most? Yeah, him -- he's your neighbor."

Jews hated the Samaritans. They wouldn't use dishes that had been used by them, or socialize with them. Samaritans were certainly not considered "neighbors". The were spat upon and certainly did not look fondly upon the Jews either! It's unmistakable that Jesus advocates that we love our enemies. Look at Matthew 5:43-44 (ESV) where Jesus says:

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"

It isn't a love that equates to mere toleration either. Jesus says to love our neighbors as ourselves. This story in Luke also gives a model for what that might look like. The Samaritan tenderly bandages his wounds, picks up his enemy and transports him to a place he can recover, and pays the whole bill to achieve a full recovery. He doesn't say, "I'll pay the bill if he can't afford it" -- he offers to pay the bill unconditionally. This Samaritan gives up his own time, energy, and money to help his enemy.

Have we watered down, or ignored, the message of Jesus?

I struggle a lot with passing motorists in need along the highway. I run a tight schedule and tend to have the following choice:
1. Arrive late for a meeting (which I may be running) and help change a flat tire, jump start a battery, or push a car out of the mud, etc.
2. Arrive on time and ignore those in need along the side of the highway.

That is not even an enemy. As often as not, I choose to ignore a random stranger because I can't be late. I know that they are probably running late too -- and more so by the minute. I put my own schedule and needs above theirs -- the exact definition of loving myself more than my neighbor.

What about an actual enemy? What about:
... someone who got you unfairly fired from a job?
... a member of a rival sports team?
... a person you believe to be part of Al-Qaeda or the Taliban?
... someone who killed your friend or family member?

Would you, could you, love them as yourself?


PRAYER:
Dear Lord, help us to understand this very difficult teaching -- not just with our minds, but with our hearts. Help us to learn to truly love our neighbors as ourselves. Guide us though these challenging times. Aide us in acting for the benefit of others, rather than always for ourselves. For Jesus sake, AMEN.