False Hope

Are you a Christian?  What makes you say so?

Many people who identify themselves as Christian say so because it’s their religious preference based mostly on their place of birth.  Born in a country where Christianity dominates the religious landscape, it’s the easiest option.  Some are born into a more religious family, and therefore simply adopt the family faith.  Others remember coming to a decision at some point when they went through some sort of a process of discovery that led them to make a profession of faith that they believe in God understood through the lens of Christianity.  Some remember choosing Christ as a personal savior.  All of these things lead people to declare themselves Christian.

When Jesus was about to make his entrance on the world with his ministry, Christianity didn’t exist.  Judaism, however, did.  Jesus was Jewish, as was his cousin, John the Baptist.  John saw himself as a precursor to Jesus, and his ministry was to prepare people for Jesus’ work to come.  Lots of people in their neck of the woods were hoping for God to send a messiah – one anointed by God – to deliver them from Roman oppression.  A few self-proclaimed messiahs popped up before and after Jesus performed his ministry in the world.  The apocalyptic hope they all had included God rewriting the script humanity had penned.  Judgment would come on those who were enemies of God, and salvation in all its fullness would come for the Jewish people.

John, in his preaching, certainly asked his audience in a variety of ways, are you Jewish?
Most would say yes.  They were born in the Jewish homeland, to Jewish parents.  They went through the paces that kids went through back then to discover the tenets of their faith.  They professed their faith.  Of course they were Jewish.  Right?

Take a moment and read Luke 3:7-17.

John obviously missed the course on speech writing, right?  Insulting your audience is generally a bad way to begin a speech…  What was John getting at?

Short and simple, John was telling his self-proclaimed Jewish audience that they weren’t as Jewish as they thought.  Their DNA, their family ties, even their childhood profession really amounted to nothing.  God was about to deliver something new and big, and those who thought they were going to be on the winning side were about to be swallowed up in a consuming fire.  Their hope based on their religious affiliation was false.  John was challenging a human tendency that we face today: is faith about having the right belief?

John was telling his listeners that they were missing the point.  The rabbis of their day would study the Law, and use it to interpret who should receive grace and mercy.  This approach lent itself to interpreting the scriptures to suit their own worldview, biases, preferences, and prejudice.  They were known for determining who was in and who was out.  This way of thinking was not really what the Jewish faith was all about, however.  What was being perpetuated was rule following as a means to keep God appeased.  It was a way of earning God’s favor.  And it was fundamentally off point.

Jesus would continue this line of thinking, turbo-charged.  It was not that the Law was wrong, but that the rabbis reversed the process, which was causing lots of problems.  The way Jesus taught was that grace and mercy were the lens through which we interpret the Law, not the other way around.  One way sees people’s neediness as a sign of their sin and justification of their plight and therefore a means of rationalizing our lack of support, stinginess, apathy, and even disgust.  The other way sees helping people in need as in sync with the heartbeat of God, which forces a different rendering of the Law.  One starts with the Law, the other starts with a merciful spirit.  The Apostle Paul would later say that the Law leads to death, while the spirit leads to life.

John was livid with some in his audience who were resting on their laurels of right belief while people around them suffered as they looked the other way.  John was basically saying that they weren’t Jewish at all – at least not the kind of Jewish that would have any saving effect on them.  If they wanted to be saved, they needed to be Jewish, not just give intellectual ascent to Jewish theology.  Furthermore, the action he called for, while at first glance seemed easy enough, actually forced a break in his audience’s belief system.  John’s demand required a level of sacrifice that forced people to come to grips with who they really were and what they were really all about.  The Jewish label was worthless.  What mattered was how Jewish they were.  For regular people, this meant that if they had an extra coat when someone around them needed a coat, they had to give it up – because that’s what being Jewish, being in sync with the heartbeat of God was all about.  For tax collectors who had purchased the right to gouge people for whatever they could get, it meant they scaled back their lifestyle to accommodate fair taxation.  For the soldiers who enforced that taxation who had been known to use their position to beat money out of people to line their own pockets well beyond the salary they agreed to. Being Jewish required them to stop such things and live with integrity.  Each and every demand required a significant level of sacrifice.  A level that challenges comfort.  A level that pushes a person toward deep thought.

I used to have a fairly callous attitude toward “idiots” who didn’t take faith at all seriously.  They were offending God, missing the point of life, and making the world a worse place, not better.  My distance from them allowed me to judge them easily.  That didn’t change until I lived enough to become an idiot myself.  After I lived like those idiots for some time, and realized that my decisions were based on my brokenness more than anything else, I didn’t see them as idiots anymore.  I saw them as people really struggling with life.  I related to them, and I began caring about them.  The longer I live, the more I relate to different kinds of people.  When I struggled years ago feeling like a failure and the depression that brings, it helped me relate to those who struggle with the same.  When I had a serious back problem a few years ago, I related to people with chronic pain in ways I never could have imagined.  All of this relating to people’s situation resulted in greater compassion.

John, and Jesus after him, were shouting as loud as they could to stop looking at people from a distance and come close, understand and relate, and respond in sync with God.  That’s being Jewish.  That kind of Jewishness offers real hope, because it is founded on relationship with God, not simply rule following.
When the fire of judgment comes, it is welcomed by those who seek to be in sync with God, for it means that all of our personal chaff – the sin that hinders and entangles us – will be burned off, making us more pure, more able to be in relationship with God.  We long to get rid of these old clothes and put on heavenly clothes, as Paul stated.  For those who don’t really want to be burdened by relationship with God – just let me follow the rules – the fire of judgment is pure hell, because all that we cling to that is not of God gets fried.  We don’t really want God or the God-honoring parts – we cherish the stuff that helps us be isolated and comfortable.  Our greed, our selfishness, our convenient worldviews that prop us up in opposition to whoever we deem our enemies – we identify ourselves with it all.  But since those things are out of sync with the heart of God, it’s toast.  In this line of thinking, judgment and grace are two sides of the same coin, both are parts of the same refiner’s fire which is here and coming.

The fire is always burning, and we feel it all the time, really.  It melts away areas we are grateful for, yet scorches where we are defiant.  We can all tell stories about this reality that has been in play throughout our lives.

So, are you a Christian?  Do you know what I am asking?  Are you truly a little Christ – the literal meaning of Christian?  Or are you banking on the false hope provided by being born in a land where Christianity is the prevailing religion, or into a religious family, or lip service uttered at some point?  Do you get that these do not deliver anything at all?  That banking on this false hope just makes the flames hotter and higher?  Are you truly born again into a new way of being in relationship with God and in a graceful relationship with the world?


Are you a Christian?  Do those in myriad form of need sharing life with you on this planet think you are a Christian?  Do your actions speak of a close relationship with God which in turn takes you into relationship with those who struggle which in turns leads you to compassion akin to that found in the very nature of God?

Prepare the Way

Advent is about preparation.  Preparing ourselves for a special Guest who is entering the world.  Our preparation is a relational thing.  When we prepare, something happens to us, something is set up in our future, and something is communicated to the one we are preparing for.  Have you considered what Guest is coming, what preparations might be helpful, and what preparing might do for you, your Guest, and your world?

What time is it in your world?  It was May 18, 1997.  Anybody excited yet?  Do you remember that day?  Tell me about your experience on May 18, 1997.  It was a life-changing day for me (and by extension, for you who read this as well).  But simply giving you the date doesn’t help you much, does it?  Let’s try again…

It was a dark and stormy night in the small town of Princeton, Illinois.  Literally.  My very pregnant wife and I were getting ready to spend a tense evening in our basement, where we would wait out the storm.  We were listening to the radio for the latest reports.  A tornado was seen touching down just West of town.  As the center of the storm approached this Normal-Rockwell-like county seat in Northern Illinois, the threatening tornado’s menacing tail in the sky hopped over town to the East.  Being so close to the eye of the storm, the entire region experienced a sudden, major drop in barometric pressure.  This drop is related to why windows blow out in times of tornadoes – the pressure inside homes literally explodes houses at their most vulnerable points.  We would not have been aware of this drop were it not for the presence of water on our floor.  Technically, it was the fluid inside my wife’s body that was serving to protect my child.  Her “water” broke.  We were only 7 ½ months into a 9 month term.  Not good.  When you hear the details of my May 18, 1997, your experience of the day changes, doesn’t it?

Luke, a medical doctor in his day, begins the story of Jesus’ adult life with enough specificity for folks a generation later (and later and later) to emotionally identify with the timing of Jesus’ entrance into his adult ministry.  It wasn’t just, for instance, April 4, 30 AD.  It was when Tiberius was emperor.  When Pontius Pilate ruled over Judea.  When Herod Antipas – that creepy snake – ruled over Jesus’ home region.  It was when Annas – or should we say Caiaphas? – was high priest, ruling over Judaism itself.  It was a time of despair.  Being oppressed by the Romans was bad enough.  Being oppressed by those who claimed to hold sway over your relationship with God was even worse.  The overwhelming majority of people were very poor, while those who held power – in politics, the military, or in the religious system – enjoyed luxury at the expense of those they ruled.  You struggle to scrape up enough food to eat in your thread-bare clothes while you hear reports of lavish parties for a very select group who are dressed really well and who are overfed.  How do you think the majority of people felt about their situation in 30 AD?

What time is it for you, today?  If you were to write autobiographically about this season in your history, what keywords would you include, and what hints would you give the reader about the state of your being?  How would you describe this time in world history that would help the future readers understand your context?  Hint: unless and until we come to grips with our “time”, we will not really appreciate what time it is, and what time may come.

Times are changing.  We humans do an interesting thing when we feel like we can’t take it anymore, especially if we’ve tried by our own power to change our situation.  We look to God to take care of business.  We pray harder.  We give of ourselves more.  We try to determine who is with God and who is not to make sure we are on the right side.  We do what we can to make room for God.  We look for those who can speak to us and for us about what we hope will come.

John the Baptist, we learn from other Gospels, was just the kind of person for the job.  The way he dressed and acted spoke to Jews and non-Jews alike.  For Jews, he resembled the prophet Elijah in his choice of clothing – camel skin, leather belt, eating whatever food he could get for free from the land (locusts and wild honey: good protein, sweet, and a nice crunchy mouth-feel…).  Looking like a prophet, Jewish people wanting more came to hear what he had to say.  For non-Jews, he looked like a Stoic – a wild man dressed to make a statement of contrast to the power structures of the day.  By choosing to look and live extremely poor, John was challenging those who claimed to be in control who ignored the plight of the masses around them.  He didn't go to the Temple (center of Jewish power) for an audience, either.  John came from the wilderness in prophetic fashion, and chose to preach where the people lived, breathed, and traveled.

Luke set the stage before he gave us John’s words by tying what was about to unfold to a prophecy (Isaiah 40) given for a similar context hundreds of years beforehand that still resonated and applied to that time: prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!  Clear the path!  Make the way easy and straight!  Then God’s glory will shine all the more brightly!  When this took place, apocalyptic hope was fever-pitch.  They were anticipating God’s coming at any moment.  Luke’s reference to Isaiah’s words were timely in their original context, in John’s and Jesus’ context, and still today.  The new day is coming, so get ready! 

The power of preparation.  The words of Isaiah and John both passionately communicated two things.  First, God was going to show up and redeem the awful situation in which people lived.  Second, that preparation was necessary in light of what was coming.  The first part is easy and wonderful news that people of all times and places like and understand (even if they don’t fully realize that implications of God’s coming).  It’s the preparation part, I think, that gets lost on us in our present time.  I think it’s hard to think about preparing when we know the story already: Jesus came.  We know way more than John’s original audience.  Why prepare?  Why not just celebrate it for a couple of months instead of waiting for Christmas Eve?  I also think it is hard for us to appreciate this aspect of the story because we don’t like waiting in our culture.  We want God to redeem everything yesterday.  But there is great power in preparation.  This is why knowing the time in which we live is so critical.  When we understand our time, we are clear on what we long for.  When we’re clear on what we long for, we gain clarity on what to prepare for.

My wife’s parents are coming for a visit in a week.  In spite of whatever in-law jokes I’ve made, their visit is always one I look forward to.  They are wonderful people who I dearly love and highly respect.  But before they get here, we have to prepare for their coming.  Of course, we will clean and clean and clean.  I also will need to change out our leaky garbage disposal before they come.  I need to finish a small drywall project with knockdown and paint.  We might even move forward on the next leg of some remodeling we’re doing at our house if we can squeeze it in.  All of this in preparation for their coming.  Stuff we would do anyway at some point, but now, because of their arrival in just a matter of days, we have urgency.

Truth be told, if we don’t get the repairs done before they arrive, they won’t really care.  They are not coming out to behold our new garbage disposal.  And, I would venture so far to say that if we chose to do absolutely nothing in terms of cleaning or getting a room ready for them, they may be surprised, but no less eager to be with us.  In light of these truths, should we bother preparing for their coming?  It's a ton of work - huge downside.  Is it worth the trouble?  What’s the upside?

Preparation saves time.  A very practical reason for moving forward with our preparations simply has to do with time.  We don’t get to see Lee and Carolyn very much.  We know we will have less than two weeks with them this visit.  We want to make the most of that time.  Spending a day when they are already here cleaning and getting a room ready would be a terrible waste of those hours we would much rather enjoy simply being together.  We prepare for the sake of the time we want to have with them.

Is it much different in terms of our looking forward to Christmas, the dawn of Jesus’ entrance into human history, or John’s time along the Jordan, heralding the coming of Christ’s work in the world?  If we hope for that dawn to come, for Christ to come visit us more powerfully, for the incarnation to be all the more significant, what preparations could we do so that we don’t have to spend those moments upon God’s arrival in our time?  Just like the list of things we need to clean and repairs that we hope to make, there are things in my life that I want to clean up.  There are roads in my life that need to be straightened out.  There are sections that need to be leveled.  Stuff I know I need to do but put off for another day because I don’t sense the urgency of Christ’s coming.  It’s not like he’s coming next week, I tell myself.  So, I will not replace childish ways of thinking with new, more adult constructs, even though my childish ways are leaking all over the place.  I will put off repairing that relationship that I’ve known has unfinished business for some time.  I will not clean up areas of my life that I know are not hospitable for Christ.  Because I can wait, right?

The reality is that I don’t want to waste time that Christ could be using to take our relationship deeper.  I don’t want to miss out on God’s insight for my life and my living because my toilet scrubbing distracted me.  I want to be ready for what God has for me.  Preparation creates that readiness, and helps my walk with God to be more efficient because we don't have to keep going over the same issues time after time.

Jesus spoke of the need to be ready in multiple parables.  The ones who were prepared enjoyed the reward it brings, while those who disregarded such things were left severely wanting.

What do you know you need to be doing right now so that you won’t waste time when Christ comes calling?

Preparation communicates respect.  My in-laws would certainly be gracious even if we didn’t prepare our home for their arrival, especially if their visit was prompted by an urgent situation.  This trip, however, has been long in the making, and we want to communicate to them love and respect.  When we make sure everything is clean and working properly to the best of our ability, when we buy special food and plan fun trips for their time with us, it communicates our love and respect to them.  We value them, which shows in our preparation for their coming.

Similarly, when we take time to prepare ourselves for God’s coming into our lives, we communicate love and respect.  When we take pause in anticipation for God’s coming and consider what needs replacing, repairing and refreshing in our lives, we are saying that we love and respect God as evidenced in our preparation.  Would God be gracious if we didn’t?  Of course.  Sometimes God comes into our lives in urgent situations when no preparation has been made, and God works hard to help replace what’s dead, repair what’s broken and refresh and restore wherever needed.  When we are looking forward to God’s moving into our lives, however, why would we want to communicate anything except that we look forward to God’s moving in our lives with great anticipation – and preparation?

As a way of communicating love and respect to God, what replacing, repairing, and refreshing do you want to pursue in anticipation of God’s visit on your life?

Preparation changes us.  Because I look forward to Lee and Carolyn’s coming, preparing for their visit may be physically taxing to a degree, but the bigger reality is that as we prepare, we simply get more excited.  As I think about our time with them, my mind begins anticipating good conversation, shared moments, new discoveries, and great memories of the visit of December 2013.  My interest and passion increases with my preparation.

So it is with my faith.  When I anticipate and prepare for God to show up in my life, I get excited about it, I think about it, and it serves only to increase my hopeful readiness all the more.  When we take time to prepare, we are changed.  Changed as we replace, repair, and refresh.  Changed as we dream about what God might do next in our lives.  Changed as we consider what we might do next with God.

In anticipation of the reality that God comes, what are you looking forward to?  How is your preparation for God’s coming affecting you?

From darkness into light.  That dark and stormy night, by the way, was followed by the dawn of a new day.  My son was born incredibly healthy as far as premature babies are measured.  Our hearts were enlarged with a new level of love we could not have anticipated – a love only a baby can bring.  We were as ready as we could be, and yet discovered quickly how truly unprepared we were as soon as we got home.  It was a new day, a new beginning, with new things to think about and new ways to live.  It was Christmas on May 19, 1997, and our lives have been better ever since.

This Week’s Prayer (Terra Pennington)

Mighty God,

Our preparer who establishes the way to come,

you have not left us hopeless.

We confess our hearts are cluttered.

We are impatient and distracted.

We fill our ears with the sounds

from a busy world.

We cannot hear you cry out to us:

“A new world is coming,

a new way is coming,

prepare your hearts,

your salvation draws near!”

Help us unclutter

our hearts and minds,

hear you in whirlwind and in whisper.

Change us into advent people,

who wait with great joy,

setting all other things aside

to welcome you into the world.

This Weeks Text | Luke 3:1-6 (New Living Translation)

It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. ² Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. ³ Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. ⁴ Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!
⁵ The valleys will be filled,
and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
and the rough places made smooth.
⁶ And then all people will see
the salvation sent from God.’”

Solomon

How did Solomon go from wise one to womanizer?

Solomon, King David’s twelfth son, succeeded him.  In a dream, God offered to grant Solomon anything he asked.  He should have asked for more wishes…  Instead, he asked for wisdom.  God was pleased, and communicated that some bonuses were coming his way as a reward: riches, success, and fame.  He was known for all of these things according to what we have in the biblical record – the only historical document recounting anything of Solomon’s reign.

Solomon is credited with writing many of the wise saying in the Bible’s book of Proverbs.  There are some great truths in those lines, and some pretty funny stuff, too.  “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.”  And some great zingers about marriage that I won’t repeat in order to safeguard peace at home…

Two things stick with me about Solomon.  First, his insight regarding what’s worth pursuing in life, and second, the irony of his foolish shortsightedness regarding what might happen if he lost track of his faith.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon laments the apparent lack of meaning in life.  Recall that Solomon had wealth, fame, power, plenty of pleasure, and a long, peaceful reign.  His incredibly ornate palace, which was as nice if not nicer than the over-the-top Temple he constructed (sparing no expense) would put him on the old show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.  Yet his advice, after thinking deeply about life and its many vain pursuits, was quite simple: eat, drink, and be merry.

His words troubled me for many years.  How shallow!  Is that all you’ve got to say, Oh Wise One?  That’s pathetic!  His advice seemed no different than what any self-serving Westerner might say.  Where’s the compassion for the downtrodden, or passionate pursuit of justice for the oppressed?  Where’s the let’s change the world kind of stuff like Jesus said?  His advice just seemed so superficial and light. 

After having lived now for a touch over 30 years, however, I agree with Solomon.

I used to be caught up in the epic battle put forth by Evangelical Christianity: we need to save souls from an eternity in hell.  Pretty compelling cause.  Lots of emotion.  Sounds biblical.  But that went away when I discovered that the depth of the salvation proclaimed by Jesus was much bigger than what Evangelicalism was peddling.  For a while, I wondered what this who faith thing is about, if not the epic struggle to get more signed up for Jesus.  But when I reflected more and more on what Solomon was getting at, the more I resonated with the depth of what he was saying.  Eat, drink, and be merry.  Hmmm.

What do you think?  Shallow?

The reason I began liking it more and more wasn’t because I was giving up.  Quite the contrary.  I find it incredibly compelling.  What Solomon is essentially saying about defining the meaning of life is this: enjoy it.  Make the most of it.  See what you can do with the years you have to really live life the way it was meant to be lived.

At first glance, this seems to give license to all manner of hedonism – live it up without a care for anyone else – the world revolves around you.  But that’s not true.  Riches really don’t bring happiness – that’s a factual statistic.  Power doesn’t, either.  Promiscuity may be a kick for a moment, but leaves a hole in its wake.  Being drunk or stoned might relieve some pain for a night, but there’s hell to pay in the morning.

The wisdom of Solomon here is found by going after a deeper question: what way of living really leads to life to the fullest, if not self-centered, hedonistic pursuits?

Looking back through the lens of Jesus, who said that following him would lead to abundant life, I got my answer, and I believe I have experienced it to some degree.  The way of Jesus is a way to life lived with God.  It is a way that is filled with deep meaning, great fulfillment, and considerable sacrifice.  The way of Jesus puts others before self, always yields to God, and is comfortable with taking a hit for the greater good.  It is about as opposite of hedonism as a way could be.  It is a completely different approach to seeking life at its best, and it works. 

That’s where Solomon’s wisdom ran short.  He was so infatuated with so many other pursuits, and so many other women, that he lost touch with the woman he raved about in his writings.  Wisdom itself was a woman to be courted, to be romanced, to be honored.  It turns out that Jesus was thinking the same thing, because the Holy Spirit that he said would guide and direct his followers was the help-mete found in the Old Testament, the same gender as Eve.  Wisdom, and the Holy Spirit herself, is a feminine presence to behold and to obey.

What kept Solomon from staying faithful to his first love?  Probably the same thing that keeps us from faithfulness, too.  We get distracted.  Blindsided.  Or maybe sometimes just apathy.  It makes sense that if we want to have a good life; we need to put ourselves first, so we do.  We listen to our instincts, to voices that affirm our egocentrism, our inalienable rights, voices that drown out calls for sacrifice.  We don’t notice it at first, but over time God’s voice seems whisper quiet.  Not because we have emulated Elijah in our quest for God’s presence, but because we have removed ourselves from the presence of God, and can scarcely recognize God’s voice anymore. 

Solomon died a wealthy man in a glorious palace.  But his lasting legacy was that his foolishness destroyed the foundation of the nation he led.  You and I don’t led nations, but we will leave a legacy.  We may die in good shape, but is that really enough?  Will those who follow us be inspired to listen more closely for God’s voice to speak?  Will those who witness us be compelled to believe that Jesus’ way works because they have seen its truth work in us?

May you eat, drink, and be merry!  May you seek the fullness of life from the giver of life!  May you seek the Holy Spirit as a the treasure she is, and find yourself enamored with her beauty, and compelled to do all you can to court her, the Breath of Life, and find yourself alive again.

David

We are uniquely made to live abundantly.  The question is, are we being ourselves, living the way we were are made to live in our pursuit of life?  Or are we trying to be someone else, playing according to how others have defined the game of life?

The story of David and Goliath is known universally (in the Western world, at least) as one of the most legendary underdog victory stories.  The story is applied to battles, politics, sports, medicine: any instance when incredible odds are overcome, the David and Goliath reference is applied.  Hearing the story inspires us to become more brave.  After all, wasn’t David’s victory secured because of his faith-based bravery?  Wasn’t it God who really won the battle for David, since the likelihood of victory was so remote?

Yes and yes.  And…  No and no.

Some say that this account is mostly legend – a tall tale that is more interested in promoting David than historical fact.  A pretty interesting case can be made for its historical merit, however.  The scene (1 Samuel 17) depicts two militaries in a stand off, each camped out above opposite sides of a valley.   As a means of limiting collateral damage, Israel’s foe offered an alternative: one warrior from each side fights to the death.  Winner takes all.  So, Goliath – an enormous man – was presented as the champion to beat from the Philistines. He stood in the valley, taunting the Israelites to engage, using all the tricks in the book: double dog daring, calling Israelites emasculating names, and even insulting Israel’s God.  Israel’s response?  Fearful silence.  Nobody wanted to engage Goliath in hand to hand combat – it was suicide.  That’s what everybody assumed.

Malcom Gladwell notes in his recent book, David and Goliath: “What many medical experts now believe, in fact, is that Goliath had a serious medical condition.  He looks and sounds like someone suffering from what is called acromegaly – a disease caused by a benign tumor of the pituitary gland.  The tumor causes an overproduction of human growth hormone, which would explain Goliath’s extraordinary size.  (The tallest person in history, Robert Wadlow, suffered from acromegaly.  At his death, he was eight foot eleven inches, and apparently still growing.  And furthermore, one of the common side effects of acromegaly is vision problems.”  Goliath’s size certainly fits, but so do other details in the story.  He had an attendant carrying a shield.  He referred to David as “sticks” and not “stick”.  Both of these details may suggest that Goliath had a vision problem.  He was known for hand-to-hand combat, but he couldn’t see the broad side of a barn.

What made David think that he could handle Goliath?  It may have had something to do with David’s size, which was probably average at best.  David had courage, for sure.  But what won the battle for him was perspective.  David knew he didn’t have a chance beating Goliath in a cage fight, which he probably never considered as an option in the first place.  David, unlike Israel’s king and the whole of the military, knew that the way he would experience victory was not by trying to be Goliath, but rather in being fully David.  Goliath drew up terms that favored his strengths.  David played the game according to his strengths: an air assault.  He shed Saul’s suit of armor, gathered stones, grabbed his sling, and ran toward Goliath.  He knew he was a good shot, and Goliath’s head was a nice big target.  Goliath’s strength was no match for a marksman.  David, like many young men of his day, knew who to use a sling.  They could take out birds in flight, kill predatory animals at a distance, and likely competed with each other like people do today with their guns.

Gladwell sought insight from Eitan Hirsch, a ballistics expert with the Israeli Defense Forces, who recently did a series of calculations showing that a typical-size stone hurled by an expert slinger at a distance of thirty-five meters would have hit Goliath’s head with a velocity of thirty-four meters per second – more than enough to penetrate his skull and render him unconscious or dead.  In terms of stopping power, that is equivalent to a fair-size modern handgun.  “We find,” Hirsch writes, “that David could have slung and hit Goliath in little more than one second – a time so brief that Goliath would not have been able to protect himself and during which he would be stationary for all practical purposes.”

David was brave, for sure.  But the reason he won the battle that day was because he lived up to who he was instead of trying to be someone he wasn’t.  He capitalized on his strengths instead of being forced to play to the strengths of his competition.  Strategy born from knowing who he was and what he could do won the battle that day.

Goliaths abound in our world.  Individuals, communities, political parties, marketing machines, schools, churches, teams, etc., all demanding to be dealt with according to a certain set of requirements and expectations.  Many of these expectations favor a select few for success, and the rest to varying levels of failure.  In order to be of value, you have to look the part, act the part, abide by the rules of engagement, etc.  If you lose, you’re a loser.  But David didn’t approach Goliath like that.  Jesus didn’t live that way, either, and called for his followers to abandon such destructive, faithless pursuits.

Jesus’ day was filled with Goliaths, just like ours.  The Roman oppressors demanded compliance with their laws.  The religious leaders within Judaism feared losing favor and power with Rome, and protected their position by demanding unrealistic allegiance to their interpretation of Jewish law.  This generally resulted in common people feeling like losers.  They just couldn’t win.  And since these were representatives of God giving direction, they assumed that God thought they were losers, too.

Jesus turned all of that on it’s head, however.  Constantly.  Repeatedly.  He affirmed people for being people, and encouraged taking an entirely different approach to life that was rooted in the confidence that God viewed them as inherently good and worthy.  He encouraged people not to play by the rules of this world that hinder life at its best.  So he told people to forgive others, to turn the other cheek, to be generous, to not be judging, to serve instead of seeking to be served, to sacrifice for the good of others instead of selfishly hoarding.  Jesus’ presence, teaching, prayers, ministry – everything about him – was love communicating value to those who would hear it.  Not performance-based value, or worth determined by anything less than God’s word at creation: you are very good.

Stuff to think about…

1. What measures of success have been held before you throughout your life?  How have they impacted you?
2. When have you discovered that you were fighting a Goliath on Goliath’s terms?  How did you respond?
3. How do you balance the tension of living in the midst of all of culture’s pressures and living in the way of Jesus?  What keeps you focused?
4. Are there any areas of your life right now that need to be recalibrated toward Jesus’ way of thinking and being?  What might that look like?
5. In light of this, what do you wish you could tell your younger self, assuming you could use a time machine to do such a thing?  Who in your sphere today needs to hear what you would tell your younger self, since time machines are only in the beta stage? 

This week’s corporate prayer:

Creator God, you made us all in your image, saying: “This is good.”  We confess we forget this, labeling ourselves and each other as: those who fail, those who succeed; those who lose, those who win; those who are moral, those who are not; those who deserve justice, those who deserve judgment.  But even still, You made us all in your image, saying: “This is good.” Help us to live as you have created us to be, not as others see us.  Because it is you, the mysterious maker of the universe, who says to us: “I made you, and you are good!” – Terra Pennington

Deborah

Surprises come unexpectedly.  Duh.

But sometimes surprises happen right before our eyes and we miss them.  The story of Deborah in the Bible’s book of Judges is a repository of surprises.  Surprised?  Surprised that there is a significant character named Deborah?  Surprised there is a book in the Bible named Judges?  Let me help you see the abundance of surprises in this story.  And keep reading, because there is a surprise at the end you won’t want to miss.

To bring you up to this point in history, Israel had moved into the Promised Land, and Joshua – their fearless leader, had died.  Judges were raised up by God to help Israel defeat her enemies.  “Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, God was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime.  For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering” (Judges 2:18).  Two judges came and went before Deborah’s story occured, and 120 years had passed.

The first surprise comes in the first verse of Judges 4: After Ehud’s death, the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight.  This should come as a surprise.  Israel had experienced peace for the last 80 years because of  Judge Ehud’s leadership.  Once he died, however, they ran amuck.  If you are familiar with the story of Israel, however, you are not surprised, because this was their pattern – faithful for awhile, then cheat on God like an adulterous spouse.  If we are honest with ourselves, we may be surprised that we follow the same pattern.  A human reality.

We are surprised to learn more details – their biggest foreign threat had 900 iron chariots, while Israel had pitchforks.  The Canaanites were the military super power, and Israel had the military strength of Aruba.  Imagine if Arubans felt threatened by the U.S.?  They’d be toast if a conflict ever broke out.  So it was with Israel.  Scared to death, they decided to call Home and ask for help…

Enter Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, who was a prophet judging Israel at that time.  SURPRISE!  Deborah was a WOMAN!  This was at a time when women were more or less property, treated more like a possession than a human being.  This is incredible.  Quick aside:  if you spend an hour reading about all the judges, you will quickly determine that Deborah was the best judge that served in that capacity – heads and shoulders above the others.  A bonus surprise that reminds us, early on, that God is not guilty of gender bias – that’s a human creation.

Next surprise: Deborah performed her role under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim.  You are shocked, right?  Of course you are, because you remember that the Ark of the Covenant that Indiana Jones found originally split its time between Bethel and Shiloh, which is where the priests were doing their thing.  The priests were failing to perform their role satsfactorily, which is in part why people were seeking Deborah’s counsel.  People began looking outside the church for help from God, because they weren’t getting it there…  Know anybody who has ever felt that way?

Deborah then got a text message from God with military instructions.  She called Barak, one of Israel’s military leaders to gather the troops to take on the Canaanites.  As a man of great courage and strength, he said yes – but only if Mama Deborah went with him.  Sigh.  Surprise.  Deborah, who would become known as the Mother of Israel,  agreed to hold Barak’s hand as they went to prepare for battle.  But – and here is another surprise – this would come with a price: Barak would not receive any honor from the victory.  In fact, a woman would be given credit.  A little self-serving for Deborah to want credit?  We’ll see.

Then, another surprise: right in the middle of the story, the writer gives us what looks to be a pointless detail about some guy who was a shirt-tail relative of Moses who left the rest of the family and raised his sheep some distance away.  Ever have a friend tell you a story, only to get sidetracked by a few details you care nothing about?  Pretty annoying – get on with the story!

Upon hearing of the Israelite theater, Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, gathered his troops and all his fighter jets (iron chariots) for battle.  No surprise, there.

Deborah encouraged Barak and Israel’s 10,000 troops by assuring them God was going to give them victory that very day.  Surprise!  The Israelites had more than their pitchforks to fight with – God was going to show up.

The next scene surprised everybody.  Barak led the 10,00 Israelites to attack the Canaanite troops, when the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots  and warriors into a panic.  Sisera leaped down from his chariot and escaped on foot.  Then Barak chased the chariots and the enemy army, killing all of Sisera’s warriors.  Not a single one was left alive.  Nobody knows exactly what happened.  Deborah wrote a song about the whole event (Judges 5), where she alluded to maybe a serious thunderstorm with hail, perhaps – whatever it was, everyone was surprised, and interpreted it as God’s activity on behalf of the Israelites.  We are also surprised to learn – those of us who live in the nation boasting the greatest military force in the history of the world – that military might is no guarantee of indefinite dominance.  We don’t really like to hear about that surprise in America, but it is true.  Always has been.  So perhaps that doesn’t qualify as a surprise.

Sisera was still on the run, however, and Barak and Deborah were in chase.  Sisera took refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because they had some sort of peace agreement worked out (this Heber dude is the guy mentioned in that apparently pointless aside earlier in the story).  There are numerous surprises in this scene.  First, wife Jael invited him into her tent.  Big no-no.  I don’t think she was offering any services that day – just refuge – but it was not her place to do so.  In ancient times, it was the husband’s duty and honor to show hospitality to strangers.  She was robbing him of his role – doing a man’s job.

Sisera was happy to find a good hiding place, went inside, and – surprise! – asked for a drink of water.  This broke another social rule: the guest doesn’t ask for anything – it is the host’s job to take care of every need.  This was a great offense that most certainly was not lost on the woman Jael.  Instead of water, she gave Sisera a glass of warm milk and then tucked him into bed under some nice warm blankets and agreed to keep watch for Barak.  What a nice surprise!  What excellent service!  Nighty night – see you in the morning.

Once Sisera was asleep Jael, the hostess with the mostess, thoughtfully grabbed a hammer and a tent post, and lovingly drove the massive nail through one of Sisera’s temples all the way through the other and into the ground, killing him instantly. 

SURPRISE!  Deborah wasn’t the one to take out Sisera after all.  Jael fulfills the prophecy to Barak’s chagrin.  Bonus surprise: I guess allies – especially those who sign under threat – may not be as friendly as we think.

Barak showed up and, much to his surprise, was taken to see Sisera by Jael.  She’s the brave one we’re talking about, not Barak. 

So what?  From this story we have the opportunity to learn some things about God, life and ourselves.  We learn that God can move anybody to action, bypassing cultural norms and limitations.  When those anybodies do what they need to do, peace happens.  I believe that is the greatest, most wonderful surprise of all.  In time, God prevails.  Life, Spirit, Shalom cannot be squashed despite our best efforts.  This doesn’t make it all better, but it sure helps when we’re facing what seem to be terrible odds against us. 

What is the final surprise?  It’s a surprise just for you.  You are made in the image of God and are, therefore, good, creative, inventive, powerful, and capable.  While it may not be a good idea to hammer a tent stake through someone’s temple (please, please don’t do that), there are actions you can take and attitudes you can adopt that will bring more and more of God’s peace, God’s Kingdom of Shalom into the land.  To do what you need to do may require doing things differently than normal.  Okay.  Or, perhaps you, like Deborah, have a clear sense of what God wants to do and say to someone around you.  Do you have the guts to speak?  Or has your gender, your level of education, your social status, your past mistakes, your skin tone, your sexual orientation, and/or the labels others have placed on you so thoroughly masked your in-the-image-of-God-ness that you can’t see yourself doing anything so bold?  Surprise!  You can!  Ask God for clear guidance, seek counsel from others if necessary, and do what you sense God calling you to do – let God be the Judge.

May you dwell on the surprises found in Deborah’s story, and may you find yourself in God’s story doing surprising things that bring more and more of God into a world hoping you will.

Joshua

Joshua was one of two people recorded in the Bible as having experienced being slaves in Egypt who also was allowed to enter the Promised Land.  Caleb was the other.  When others cowered in fear over the armies they would face in the new land, they stood faith.  They were fully confident that if God was leading them, they would prevail.  He had already experienced incredible acts of God before he became Israel’s new leader, replacing Moses.  Under his leadership, Joshua watched as God parted the waters of the Jordan River during the rainy season.  Pretty amazing.  He called for people to consecrate themselves to God before attempting to take Jericho.  That consecration was circumcision for all males in Israel.  The fact that they subjected themselves to this says a little something about their commitment to God, and also says a lot about their trust in Joshua as God’s chosen leader.  As they were sharpening their swords and working on their “shouts”, Joshua was certainly full of faith.

God was with them, for sure.

Then he had a really surprising conversation with an apparent angel – the commander of God’s army, no less!  Not realizing initially that he was addressing an angel, he asked a simple question of this stranger.  Are you friend or foe?  Read it for yourself:

When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”
“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.”
At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”
The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told. (Joshua 5:13-15)

I don’t know about you, but if I were Joshua, I wouldn’t be comfortable with the angel’s reply to my question.  Up to that point, I would have been completely confident that God was with me and my people, and therefore we would have nothing to fear.  The angel’s reply, however, would change my thinking, I think, because it has now, some 3500 years later.

Historically, we human beings have always been wanting God on our side.  Why do you think people started sacrificing stuff in the first place?  They wanted to appease the gods.  If things were going well, it was a clear indication that God was not pleased with us and needed to be won over again with more signs of our commitment.  In our history, we went so far as to sacrifice our children.  In modern times, our confidence that God is with us has provided a carte blanche pass to do whatever we think we need to do – damn the consequences.  If a few people need to be killed for their apostasy, so be it.  If a lot of people need to be killed, genocide may even be necessary.  Hitler was convinced of this.  In recent years, a well known conservative pastor, convinced that God is on the side of the United States, was suggesting to whoever was listening we should nuke Iran.  Because God is with us, and not with them.  God is on our side, not theirs.

We validate our position with the Bible itself.  God called Abram to be God’s chosen, right?  God’s “with-us-ness” was with Abraham’s line all the way through the end of Genesis.  When we meet Moses in exodus, God displays his favoritism for God’s people and for God’s leaders, too with great acts of power.  Joshua went on to defeat the enemies of Israel time and again.  To this day, especially conservative Christians and Jews are certain that the Jewish people are still God’s chosen people – mess with them and you’ll eventually be toast.  Because God is with them.  Translated into personal experience, we can get to such a place of confidence that God favors us that we can assume that our dreams are God’s dreams, our likes are God’s likes, our opinions are God’s.  Our biases,prejudices, hatred, anger, etc. – all are God’s, too, because we are God’s. 

Joshua’s exchange with angel brings us to a full stop, however, because of one word: No.  Many translations use the word “neither” as above, but the literal answer to Joshua’s friend or foe question was simply “no”.  No?  What do we do with that?  The angel doesn’t qualify it, either.  I’m not on your side any more than the other side.  Commentators quickly skip over this nonsense, pointing out that God miraculously conquered Jericho in the very next scene.

But the “no” is deafening to me, and I love it.  The angel goes on to note that the ground was holy, which required a different posture. No shoes.  Humility before God. 

I think we human beings have a very natural tendency to assume that the way we see the world is the right way, the true way.  And, since our way of seeing things is right and true, I think we naturally assume that God probably sees things the same way, since God is the source of all things right and true.  For trivial matters, this doesn’t really matter.  But for things that impact the state of our planet and the health of the people who inhabit it, it matters as much as anything can matter.  In a time when it feels like political polarities are normative, I see this as very dangerous.  Our government in recent years has sunk to a new low, where it appears that honoring party lines is more important than finding a solution.  I wonder if they are a reflection of our culture, or if they are influencing our culture to buy into their partisan ways.  We all suffer when we choose to cling to our polarized position.

I get concerned over current international affairs.  When we believe that we, the United States, are right and true, it is difficult to entertain dialogue with those who strongly oppose us.  When we urge other countries to give just one percent of GDP to combat extreme poverty, we don’t back it up with our own sacrifice, and neither do they.  People die because of our indifference, because we assume we are right, and that God is on our side.

I wonder if what God was trying to communicate to Joshua that day with his surprisingly negative response was simply that God has a much higher, more noble, and infinitely more beautiful agenda than our puny, short-sighted, usually self-indulgent dreams.  It’s not that God was reneging on God’s desire to broadcast God’s hope and grace through one particular country.  I think the angel was simply wanting to remind Joshua of a truth that was being talked about when Joshua went to press.  A truth that the prophet Isaiah penned (Is. 55:8-9):

My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

If this great insight is true – and I think it is – it requires something different of me.  It requires that I – we – take on a different posture toward God.  And life.  It requires a barefoot approach toward both.  Vulnerable. Humble.  Choosing to not be arrogant.  Intentionally wondering how limited our view might be.  Recognizing that we are inherently arrogant, which leads us to a great many mistakes.


As we who claim to follow Jesus find ourselves facing very complex problems that we can address, may we have the wherewithal to follow the advice of another prophet who would remind us to pursue justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God through the holy ground we tread.

Moses

The story of Moses and Israel’s journey together can be found in the Bible’s books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers.  Many people are familiar with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.  Not as many are familiar with the fact that, according to the story, the people who experienced all those amazing acts of God in Egypt were not allowed into the Promised Land.  this included regular, everyday Jewish folk, Levites in charge of keeping the Tabernacle operations, and even Moses himself.

We live in a time when the popular theology being communicated by some of the US’ most popular TV preachers doesn’t have much room for that part of the story.  A teaching heard recently by one such preacher promised his audience that if they did the right thing, God would get them a job promotion that would shame their critics.  He used the story of Esther to support the promise.  Of course, people want to believe this.  We want it to be that simple.  But Pastor Jolly Ovaltine, in various interviews, has made it clear that he doesn’t feel that God has called him to deal with those discrepancies – he is called only to talk about the good, fluffy stuff.  Good for him.  Really good for him, since it sells millions of books and packs stadiums with folks who want it to be just that simple.

Good news for Jolly: there’s no money-back-guarantee for his books, and if things don’t work out the way he promised, it is surely due to someone’s lack of faith somewhere.  Bad theology is never to blame for false hope.

Moses was, according to the author of Numbers, the most humble man on the planet.  And then he blew his top (Numbers 20:1-13).  he was probably over 100 years old.  He had listened to complaints from Israelites for decades.  They lamented once again, and Moses let them have a piece of his mind.  In the process, however, he also disobeyed God, and attempted to play God during his tirade.  This was enough to disqualify him from receiving the dream.  Of course, this kind of behavior doesn’t just happen – there is backstory for sure, just as there is for us when we do similarly stupid things we regret.  And, like Moses, we also realize after awhile that while God may forgive us for our poor attitude and/or behavior, the consequences still remain.  Broken relationships are the usual toll.  Some heal up pretty quickly, others never do.  This is reality.  Jolly Ovaltine’s theology doesn’t fit so well.  It’s not always going to be a happy ending in this life.  This, again, forces us to consider what we believe, what we pray for, why we continue to have faith.  These are questions the Israelites struggled with throughout their history.

What do you think?  Is God worth believing in?  Is faith worth the effort if we don’t get the promotion, or the clean bill of health, or healthy children, or…  What does God do in the midst of our struggle, pain, failure, etc.?


I believe God still enters into the human experience.  I believe God still acts.  I believe God still breaks in.  I believe with Jesus’ brother James that prayer is powerful and effective.  And I believe that failed dreams, dashed hopes, disappointment and struggle are all parts of a normal life that do not rob God of any of God’s “Godness”.  So I look for God to meet me in the midst of struggle rather than seeing the struggle as a sign of the absence of God.  I look to God for strength, healing, direction for myself and everybody else.  This makes me a better person.  It shifts my expectations.  It gives me peace when I shouldn’t be feeling peace.  It keeps God close instead of at arm’s length.

Joseph

As so often in myth and legend, the hero can achieve enlightenment only by taking an arduous path through the shadow of death. – Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning

Quick review…  Abraham sensed God calling him to leave his homeland to begin a new nation and, along with it, a new way of thinking and relating to God.  For the most part, Abraham gave a solid “Okay” to God’s invitations to step out in new directions.  One of those moments involved nearly sacrificing his only son, Isaac, which traumatized the kid for the rest of his life.  Isaac became the father of Esau and Jacob, but he made no efforts to hide the fact that he loved his hirsute son more than the future namesake of the nation of Israel.  Blind to the dynamics occurring before him, he mistakenly gave his blessing (read: estate) to his slightly younger son, Jacob,who deceived his dad to acquire a future much brighter than his brother deserved.  Jacob, harboring massive sibling rivalry issues, perpetuated his problems into his own family, creating a dysfunction that would be too much for even Dr. Phil.  He had two wives and twelve sons between them (and their maidservants), but he loved wife Rachel more than her sister Leah, and he loved Rachel’s boys more than all the rest.  The most beloved son was number 11 in the line up.  His name was Joseph.  You can read his story in Genesis’ chapters 37-50.  Grab a cup of coffee and take an hour to enjoy the story which led to a major Broadway hit, Joseph and the Amazing TechniColor Dreamcoat.

Joseph, from day one, was given the impression from his father that he was more special than his brothers.  He even had a fancy, expensive robe to prove it.  His ego was huge, which was evident in his approach to his brother on various occasions.  His holier-than-thou attitude caught up with him, though, and through his brothers’ malicious acts winded up a slave in Egypt.  He kept focused, however, and, through a crazy series of events, wound up being VP of Egypt!  Sort of.  Anyhoo, his riches to rags to riches story found him living pretty high on the hog (even though he was Jewish).  He got married, and had two sons, whose names indicated that his misery was over and done with – he had really, finally let go of the pain of his brothers’ mistreatment.

Joseph was a survivor who, unlike Noah and Lot, used his experience to find some measure of healing… But it is never safe to assume that we have wholly transcended past pain and resentment. – Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning

All that joy and peace got challenged one day when his brothers came to Egypt for help during the famine.  They, of course, did not recognize him.  But for Joseph, everything came rushing back.  And even though most tend to focus on some of his actions that gave the impression that he made amends and they all lived on as one big happy family, there are not-so-subtle words and actions that let us know Joseph hadn’t evolved as much as we would have hoped.  Like father, like son.

He gave God full credit for the entire saga – not even giving his brothers the benefit of having power enough to even do evil to Joseph. 

He used the “God’s will” card to excuse any of his own wrongdoing, too, so that he didn’t have to own any of his junk which certainly contributed to his perilous journey.

When Daddy Jacob was on his deathbed, the ten older brothers were terrified of what Joseph might do to them – does it sound like resolution happened?

After all of this, a strange twist comes at the end of the story of beginnings.  The future King of Israel – centuries from the date of Jacob’s death – would not come from Joseph’s favored lineage, but from another, surprising candidate: Judah.

Judah lived up to his family heritage.  He was not a good father, and was, indeed, a scoundrel.  His son died, leaving his daughter-in-law, Tamar, without any children (and thus without hope in her day).  According to custom, his brother was supposed to sire a child with her for his deceased brother.  But he refused.  Then he died.  Judah’s remaining son was not allowed to marry Tamar for fear that he might die as well, so Tamar was left out in the cold, so to speak.  Tamar was quite clever, however.  She put on the clothes of a prostitute and placed herself in Judah’s path, who was happy to oblige her invitation.  Unfortunately, he discovered too late that he left hi wallet at home, so he had to give her some other personal effects as collateral – a signet ring, a cord, and staff.  Jerk.

Three months later, Tamar is discovered to be with child, so naturally Judah called for her execution – what a whore!  But then Tamar produced the ring, cord and staff.  Judah could no longer deny his indiscretions.  She became Judah’s wife, and bore two sons.  This episode in Judah’s life, compounded by his role in Joseph’s trauma, radically transformed him.  The evidence of which came when he offered to give his life in exchange for Benjamin, to keep his father from experiencing the loss of a second son, which he knew all too well.  He finally had compassion for his father who probably never returned it.

Judah had been able to accept the painful truth that had torn siblings apart since the time of Cain: that love is unfair. Only when we accept this and make peace with past pain and rejection can we move positively into the future as whole human beings. Instead of allowing his own tragedies to sour and fester, Judah had used them imaginatively to heal past wounds. His own suffering enabled him to enter the inner world of the father who had wronged him. Judah had also learned from his experience with Tamar that it is only when we admit that we have been wrong that we can take full control of our lives and stop the ongoing cycle of violence, deception, and reprisal that holds us in thrall. – Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning

From Judah’s lineage with Tamar would come Perez, from whose line would eventually bring King David, and many moons later, Jesus.

Genesis is a messy story of the beginnings of the people and faith of Israel.  We are left to struggle with what we see about ourselves, and about God.  But at least in Judah’s case, the struggle yields benefits that reach far beyond our normal scope.  Sometimes it feels like we are struggling with God as an adversary.  But trusting that God has our best interests in mind, it’s more like God is struggling with us toward the same goal – shouldering some of the strain even though it may feel like God is the source.  Thanks, Anne Edmunds, for that interesting insight at our group last night.


So, how is your struggle going?

Jacob and Esau

The sense of transcendence and of the sacred dimension of life… [is] linked to the integrity of a life that has come to terms with the past and with the demands of the intractable self. – Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning

Jacob’s life would make a great movie.  Great movies are great because they connect with the human experience on some level that draws us in, shows something of ourselves to us, and leaves us having to make a decision to deal with what we’ve just experienced or continue hiding in a closet.

The Bible’s book of Genesis certainly provided ongoing fodder for discussion around the campfire for families for its original audience, and it still does.  But the conversation takes place in formal papers and presentations and academic books as well.  Jacob’s story is no exception.

The story begins in the 25th chapter of Genesis with a whopper of an allusion: Rebekah is pregnant not just with Jacob, but with Esau as well – twins – who struggled with each other in the womb, and even as they were given birth into the world.  In the ancient world, twins were a symbol of the divided self.  The rest of Jacob’s story is one episode after another of his struggle to heal the pain of his past as he did his best to forge a new reality.

Struggle he did.  Overcome – not so much.  In truth, Jacob lived up to his name, which can be translated “deceiver” much like that of the serpent in the second creation story.  The person he deceived the most, however, was himself.

Jacob felt the pain of sibling rivalry caused, in great part, by his father’s favoritism toward Esau, his hairy twin brother.  Isaac, their father, made it clear who he loved more, and it was not lost on Jacob. Jacob deceived his brother, and his father, in order to gain the blessing he longed for.  He technically got what he wanted – he was going to get the estate of his wealthy father.  But his life shows that he went to his grave with plenty of wealth, but a lack of blessing.  Unfortunately, because he didn’t really come to grips with his literal or metaphorical Esau, he – like us – perpetuated the curse of sibling rivalry to his wives and his many children.  It’s really a gut-wrenching story of painful struggle, hitting very close to home for those who read it thoughtfully.

The patriarchs had to learn that no one could move forward creatively into the future without having made peace with the past. – Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning

All Jacob wanted was the blessing.  Blessing is more than the simple legal transaction he got from his father.  Blessing is the dream every person is born to pursue.  Blessing is that sense of wholeness, peace, and integration that gives life its depth and beauty.  It really doesn’t have much to do with money or status, either.  Extreme poverty sucks, to be sure, but I know people stuck in extreme poverty a world away who are living in the blessed life Jacob sought but never attained.

How do we know if we are being plagued by our past?  How do we know if we haven’t quite received the blessing we long for?  Feel free to add to this list:

• If you have recurring problems on the same theme, you’ve probably not fully addressed your Esau.  If you haven’t dealt with your past, be sure of this: that it is dealing with you!
• If you resemble people or behaviors from your past you once swore you never would, say hello, again, to Esau.
• If you know you’re still running from your pain, thinking to yourself that avoiding it will somehow make it all better, Esau is on your shoulder.
• If you’re not in touch with your inner self, don’t worry, our body sometimes reminds us that we have unfinished business.  Stress manifests itself in myriad ways, from tight muscles to indigestion to hypertension to much worse.  This doesn’t mean that if you have heartburn, you also have Esau – blame the chili peppers! – but we would be wise to wonder if our physical ailments might just be the outworking of our inner conflicts.
• If the people we are closest to are letting us know there are serious problems, there just might be.  Don’t be too quick to kill the messenger if the messenger lives with you.
• What else?

Jacob had a moment of insight when he finally headed back home after two decades of camping out with his uncle, where he became extremely wealthy but simultaneously built a family who lived and breathed sibling rivalry’s torture.  What started out as one guy’s problems was exponentially expanded.  Denial would lead to more deception, and even death (read Dinah’s story).  But he knew he had to deal with the physical Esau even if he hadn’t grasped the importance of wrestling with his inner Esau.  He made amends, the boys lived in the same basic region for awhile.  But ultimately, Esau would find himself leaving the place of blessing – Jacob won?

The good news is that we can be reconciled with our past should we recognize an important reality.  The blessing we long for doesn’t come through escapism or denial or simply time that pretends to heal all wounds.  Blessing is the fruit of struggle.  Struggling with our Esau, coming home to our problems, facing our pain with the intent of healing – that’s the trail that leads to blessing.

How can you help me build on this list of methods to get us on the road to healing:

• Ask the tough questions about how you interpreted and integrated your upbringing.  Note: identifying is not the same as blaming.  Even if you had the worst parents in the world, it’s on you to wrestle with its implications.  Read How We Love (Yerkovich) if you need help seeing yourself.
• Ask people you trust who are close to you to help identify how your Esau manifests itself in you: anger issues, avoidance, pleaser tendencies, etc., point to stuff beneath the surface.
• Plan on a slow pace.  You might become aware that you have a mountain of stuff to address.  How do you ascend a mountain?  One step at a time.  But you can get there.  And steps forward give a lot better view than where you are right now.
• Expect sweat.  I played a lot of sports as a kid.  Soccer, football, baseball, basketball, track and field, and, for one season, wrestling.  Wrestling, by far, was the most physically taxing sport I ever attempted.  Imagine flexing every muscle in your body for several minutes straight, all while trying to pin your opponent while he is doing the same.  Jacob’s name changed and an entire people group became identified by the name Israel – struggles with God.  The struggle is what leads to the blessing.  Completely counter-intuitive, yet correct.  Expect sweat.
• What else?

May you recognize that we all have our Esau’s to deal with.  May you stop running away, pretending like denial works.  May you come home, though the journey be filled with struggle, and may you find the blessing, the peace, the wholeness and healing you’ve been looking for.