Outcasts of the Synagogue

        In the 16th chapter of John Jesus gives us the purpose for the metaphor of the vine and the branch found in the preceding chapter 15.  Jesus tells His disciples, in 16:1, me skandalisthete, "do not be offended".  It is the source of the word "scandal" in English. Don't be scandalized. He goes on to tell them that  they will be cast out of their synagogues and those who kill them will, get this, "think they are doing God a service". It is clearer in the Greek. "They think they are bringing to God a offering of service"! How twisted. It reminds me of that old story by Bret Harte called "The Outcasts of Poker Flat". In it is a great line that connects me to this type of activity. The proper people of Poker Flat were casting some "improper" citizens out of their town. Harte said it this way;
      "It (PF) was experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quite as
        lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it.
                                           A secret committee had determined to rid the town of all improper persons."
        Americans love the outcasts, the underdogs, the outsiders. We are drawn to the persecuted and those that "rage against the machine." We are the "huddled masses", pilgrims from "distant shores" that the woman, the New Colossus, standing light in hand rising Lazarus like, the" Mother of Exiles",  besides the golden door, beacons us to "breathe free".   So Harte's story fills our breasts with righteous indignation as we see our outcast heroes and heroines walk to their death and away from the "storied pomp". 
        But Jesus did not want His disciples to have this romantic "I've been rejected", "I am an outsider", "I am a rebel, a pilgrim, persecuted for God" attitude, the "homeless tempest tossed" "yearning to be free". He knew freedom did not belong to a demographic or a topographic.  He knew freedom belonged to the truth. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (8:32)." So He turned His story another way. 
         His instructions were that when the disciples were casted out they were to have a different attitude. They weren't to go huddle in some lonely canyon and die or look for some "teeming shore". Their attitude came from the desire to abide with the Father's love. As the vine abides in the branch so they should abide in God's love for people.  Our father does not exclude people, he includes, even when His son is rejected and killed "outside the gate". Nothing could do greater harm than for the disciples to become conditioned to being rejected. Fear of rejection wounds the spirit. And when our spirits are wounded the first thing we do is wall off to keep from being hurt again. Christ was warning his disciples not to do this. Putting a wall up stops the flow of love. Christ put his finger on the source of the problem when He said "they will think they are doing service to God", and in a strange way the offended party blames God for the offense, first and then others. The vine is separated from the Branch and it dies. Feeling offended is one of the greatest deterents to our Father's love.
           In a sermon from  his book "This Week, Volume X" entitled The Fear of Rejection, John Stevens said it this way;
                                       "There is perhaps no greater drawback to the Body-of-Christ 
                                         ministry than the fear of rejection. When that fear becomes a
                                         conviction to us, we think that no one really cares about us. 
                                         The fear of rejection is Adamic in human nature. God does 
                                         not deal with rejection; He deals with inclusion".
        If the disciples could keep from being offended by abiding in His love, then they could be free. Christ wanted the disciples to be free from the fear of rejection from others but also from within their own group. Again Stevens said:
                                             "With this removal of fear will come a great deal of freedom.
                                              No longer will anyone say in his heart, “I must do what
                                              those in authority tell me to do, because if I don’t,
                                             I will be excluded;  I will be put out there in the outer circle someplace.        
                                             More and more we will realize that there is neither
                                             an outer circle nor an inner circle.
                                             We are all one, and that oneness will become more evident."
         It is interesting that after chapter 16 Christ's launched into his prayer to the Father for the oneness of His disciples. He prayed for their oneness with the  Father, Christ and among themselves. Just as important  he prayed for you and me (17:20). Our oneness is the key to world evangelism (17:21).  
         In our day not offending is big. People have to be Politically Correct, PC, or there is trouble because the "love of many has waxed cold". We are not victims as Christians.  We should not offend but we should never be offended. He prayed for us not to be rapture out to some safe haven (heaven) but that we should be send into the world to towns like "Poker's Flat" (17:15). The real path to the true freedom, safe harboring, abiding with our Father,  lay in the words of Christ, me skandalisthete. 


Taken from the sermon "Healing the Wounded Spirit".

Fire or Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,  
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice, 
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

      With compliments to Robert Frost, the debate over how the world will end continues. All in all it seems that we are also seeing fairly convincing arguments watching reality on television. Looking at the way the earth is pitching and rolling and the capacity for man to self destruct and take the planet with him, leaves us to "ponder a new what the Almighty can do."
     I was talking with my brother who lives on a farm in eastern Arkansas near the Mississippi River. During our conversation Steve mentioned that the waters of the mighty Miss were near the top of the nearby levi. I offered a cautionary remark about his safety,  but he laughed. He said at least I am not living with mud slides, fire, rain, tsunamis, earthquake and oh yes, where radiation can get to me. In fact, he smugly said, "All things considered I feel rather save here in Arkansas as compared with you in California."  He has a point.
     After I hung up I began to wonder just how should I think about the recent events of 2011.  Some verses from Paul's letter to the Romans came to mind along with a recent word from our pastor, Gary Hargrave, "From Hopelessness Into Hope". If we are going to read the paper or watch videos on Youtube concerning, the earthquake, tsunami, nuclear melt down, freezing snow, jet streams filled with fall out, radioactive food, and future predictions of the same, and let us not forget that the middle east is streaming news of wars and threats of war, then we need to make sure we are not wrongly influenced by it all. Otherwise, with all of this happening we might join Robert Frost in consideration of the best way to go out.

Gas Masks

     However, if we look to some other influences we might see a different picture. In Romans the eighth chapter Paul tells us that the whole earth is in travail like a woman wanting to give birth (see also, Matt. 24 & John 16). This travail is not for the destruction of the earth or of man, as it might look.  Her joy comes and the pain is forgotten because she has given birth to a man. The answer for the earth is the birthing of God's sons. The travail of the earth is actually helping to create the answer for these problems by "groaning" for our redemption (Romans 8:18-25).
     Our hope and all creation's hope is in the redemption of the sons of God. This is not just to make heaven a more heavenly place, if that is possible, but to make the earth a more heavenly place. The war is over the manifestation of God's sons, the band of brothers and sisters of Christ.
     So when all this is happening around us, the radio, the television, the computer, even friends on FB, when they start trying to fill us with fear and foreboding, we do not let them influence us. Our influence is from what the word of God is telling us. "God is for us who (or what) can be against us"(Romans 8)? When we hear or see these things happening, Christ said in Luke 21:28, "look up"(even if we have to put on masks to block the radiation as we are looking up)"your redemption is coming near."

A dialogue with Paul (Romans 8ish)

Acrylic by Nun of New Skete

A new christian and Paul are having a conversation concerning things in Christ.  (New Living Translation was used).

Paul: So, now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
New Christian: How do I know that I belong to Christ Jesus? 
Paul: Because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
New Christian: I'm set free. Certainly sin and especially death are the worst consequences of life that I know. So the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death. How does the law of the Spirit free me from sin and death? 
Paul: The Law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
New Christian: So God made us free, I thought the "law of the Spirit" did it. I am a little confused. Why did God send his son to do away with sin and death? 
Paul: He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
New Christian: Oh, wait, okay it's making a little sense. His son was given "as a sacrifice" to fulfill the requirements of the law. Hmm.... Did His son do this willingly? Just a thought, I mean that was amazing that he would or even could do such a thing for me. But, now, if He satisfied the requirements of the law for me then I am free to walk in the Spirit? Is that right? Can you explain the requirements of the law that His son had to satisfy? 
Paul: Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
NC: Right. Is that the law? Maybe,... I mean,...ah, define sin for me a little more. Why is it so wrong? 
Paul: Because letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.
NC: Oh...
Paul: But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
NC: So to get it straight, then the nature or my nature is sinful? Right? But the Spirit is peace. If I do not have peace is this a sign that my nature is sinful? How? Why? 
Paul: Because the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
NC: Stop, Stop, I think I see. It is rebellion or disobedience. Right? It does not want to "subject" or become obedient to the law of God. And you say it is not able to. That's a bummer. This must frustrate God. 
Paul: That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
NC: Yeah, I see that. I know when my kid does not do what I say, it does not make me happy either. But where does that leave us? My nature is disobedient. How can I then become "subject" to God? 
Paul: If you are not controlled by your sinful nature, you are controlled by the Spirit, if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
NC: Now wait a minute. Are you talking about the same thing? You used Spirit 3 different ways. Are these all the same? And what is the "Spirit of Christ"? It sounds really important. 
Paul: If Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.  The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
NC: That is so Cool! But a little hard to follow. It sounds like Jesus Christ living with in me is really an important step. He makes us right with God because he satisfied the law. So, God raised Jesus from the dead with His Spirit and he will do the same for me with His Spirit living in me. So the death has no power over me. I mean I am not ruled by my sinful nature which leads to death. This is starting to make sense. 
Paul: Therefore, dear brother you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
NC: Yes, that's what I meant to say.
Paul: For if you live by its dictates, you will die.
NC: Hmmm... yes practically speaking. 
Paul: But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live!
NC: Put to death. So there is a little pain involved. But I see having the Spirit living in me really helps bring life, because it has the power to overcome or break the bad nature's hold on me. 
Paul: Since all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
NC: Children of God? I become a child of God by letting the Spirit lead me? I am not quite sure how this works...tell me more. 
Paul: You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
NC:"Abba, Father", wow, Father.... So this Spirit kills the disobedient nature, then I can become pleasing to God by following the Spirit and this allows me to be adopted by God!! Wow. So God becomes my Father! Do I get papers?  JK. How do I know God is my Father? 
Paul: Because His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are co-heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
NC: Wow, this is heavy. But, well, I kinda thought when you said that the Spirit dwelling in me "would put to death deeds of the sinful nature" that it was going to involve pain. So how bad is it? Does it hurt?
Paul: What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
NC: Well, yes, I can see that the Glory of being a child of God would be amazing, life changing in fact. Life changes bring about pain in themselves. So I can see how this would change a lot of things. It would affect those around me for sure. My whole environment might change. I really don't know what it is going to be like. 
Paul: All creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
NC: All creation is waiting for my adoption? For me to become a child of God? That is humbling, but talk about an answer to Global warming! 
Paul: Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
NC: Wow, God has placed a lot of hope in this adoption plan. Our planet is more living than I at first suspected. It is waiting for the sons to come first. Man we need to get these sons going. I need to get this happening. 
Paul: We know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
NC: Really!! All creation is groaning I wonder if the moving of the earth is a sign of this "child birthing"? You know the earthquakes and tsunamis. That one in Japan was really disturbing. 
Paul: And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
NC: Yes, yes, I see this. It is our adoption, the killing of my sinful nature by the Spirit dwelling in me. I am made alive by this Spirit, and at the same time become a son to God, to save creation! Wow. What an amazing plan. I really want to see this happen. I hope this can take place soon. I need a new body!! 

Paul: (Laughing a little) We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
NC: Patiently. Patiently. That seems so hard since this is such a great promise. I don't know if I can wait. How can I? 
Paul: (Putting his hand on the back of NC in a fatherly gesture) The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
NC: That's cool. The Spirit is really helpful. I wouldn't know where to start to pray for all this. But I know I want this to happen and I want God to have his plan to work. 
Paul: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
NC: I wonder what God's purpose is for me? 
Paul: God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
NC: This is awesome! God knew in advance I would be His son! Christ was the first, thanks to Him. Now I can be His brother! 
Paul: And having chosen them (you), he called you to come to him. And having called you, he gave you right standing with himself. And having given you right standing, he gave you His glory.
NC: Stunning! God's Spirit dwelling in me has done all this! This is marvelous, wonderful, how he loved me. 
Paul: What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
NC: I know, I know that is what I'm saying. 
Paul: Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
NC: Yes that makes total since. He gave the thing he loved the most for me! Wow. I don't deserve this (looking down at the ground). 
Paul: Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
NC: Your right I should accept this. It would be wrong to think otherwise. He has done so much. 
Paul: Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
NC:I understand.
Paul: Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.)
NC: No way! 
Paul: Way, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
NC: Wow, yes what an amazing thing. It is overwhelming. 
Paul: And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NC: That is beautiful. (Pausing to let it all sink in) Beautiful.
           Now what about this Lord thing?

Judean Hills (a remix of "Hills Like White Elephants")

Judea Hills by
Ben Shemen Forest

     The Judean hills stood dry and barren against a  blue and white sky making Mary realize how much more beautiful her Galilean hills were back home in Nazareth. Looking across the table she stared at her husband Joseph. She suddenly noticed how old he was looking. They both were drinking beer they had purchased from the caravan coming up from Egypt. She sipped it. This beer was better than the old Babylonian recipe of hers, she thought to herself and then returned her thoughts to Joseph. It may be these last few months have taken their toll on Joseph.  Who would have predicted what they were to go through since last Shevat. They were seated at a way-station somewhere in Northern Judea. The caravan trains travel this route going north to Damascus in Syria and Eastward as far away as the great river of the horses. They also traveled the same route South down the Via Maris bypassing Jerusalem. But Mary and Joseph were going to Bethlehem and that led them down the Jordan Valley. It was an ancient route that has been contested by nations who would like to control the taxes and goods that the camel trains would bring. But Mary did not care about all that now, she was more concerned with what she was carrying, for Mary was with child.

      Her husband reaches across the table and says, "I know you are concerned, and so am I. I want what is best for our child."

     "Do you?"

     "Yes, of course I do.  I told you that months ago."

     "Yes you did.   And I am grateful for that. but..."

      "But what? Think about the child. How will he..."

     "My mother says it is going to be a boy. She can tell by the way I am carrying him.  And you know what the angel told me?"

     "Yes, Yes I know that. Iesou, I know that.  I believe it is a boy also. Remember an angel appeared to me too. "

     "Really?  Because sometimes I think you have forgotten all that. And Yehoshua it is! You know I like the Hebrew."

     "Are you kidding?  How can someone forget a thing like that?  But this is why it is all the more important that we think about giving him a home where he can have the best opportunities, education, temple training, connections with Priests, all that we can not possibly give him in Nazareth. And he will at least say his name right!  He has to have the right background!! Nothing important comes from Galilee."

     "You mean you want to give him to Rachel, Elizabeth’s sister."

     "Well, yes. But I know I don't want to do it if you are against it. "

     "Is this really what you want, Joseph?  Without you I would be an outcast. My parents would be ashamed. As it is, rumors still persist. You're the only one who stood by me. So, if you really want me, us, to give up the child to Rachel then..."

Camel Train  from "Pilgrimage"
by Richard Burton

    "Well... I don't want to do it if you are against it. But I have heard of others that have done it and..

     "and what?"

    "Been successful!"

    "Name one."

    "Well...there was Hannah."

    "She gave Samuel to the Lord to be a priest!"

    "Isn't that what we would be doing?"

    "No, not really, we would be giving him to Rachel ..."

    "Yes but her husband Nathaniel is a Priest! In Jerusalem at the temple!!! Wouldn't that be the same thing? Surely, the one who is going to save the world must come from Jerusalem. Have the right background, and ...

      "Oh please, please, please, please stop talking. It's driving me nuts."

        Joseph sat there in silence looking at Mary and turned his glass around on the table.

Mary stared at the Judean hills. They seemed so blank, almost white. 

      "It is easy to see how things become barren in this land." After another thoughtful moment, "This land is in need of a savior"

     Joseph relaxed on the bench and stopped playing with his drink as he realized Mary was doing it again. She would have moments where she would start talking in a certain tone and nothing could stop her. He loved it when she did it, but he didn't know why. He listened.

     "God wants to do something different, Joseph. He is starting it in me, and I feel that I, that we, are responsible to bring it to maturity. It is a deep and magnificant honor that we are to be the ground in which the vine of Israel will grow and become fruitful."

      "Well how do you know it is going to happen as you think?"

     "Because Yehoshua was given to me. And the angel came to me. And he said I would be blessed of all women."

     "So you are and you will be, because you gave birth to him...."

     "It's not the same."

     "What do you mean?"

     "If we give him away ..."  Mary's eyes begin to swell with emotion, "I won't feel blessed! I will feel jealous like Sarah did and feel my fulfillment has been stolen. This is my responsibility and my joy. I thought we were going to do this together, but if you don't want to do it Joseph," Mary hesitated, "I will not hold you to it. You may go in peace."

      "It's not about that. That's not fair. I have stood by you for all these months. I will continue to do so. I, well I just thought... I don't feel like I have anything to give him as a father. How can I teach him about the things of God? I struggle with being a good carpenter. " Joseph takes a long drink on his beer like he was trying to wash something away.

       Mary, softening toward her husband reached across the table and took his hand, "Remember Joseph God is his father. He will be taught by Him. Don't the scriptures say Your children will be taught of Yahweh?  He is the husbandman. All we have to do is trust and follow and he will do the rest."

      "You mean Adonai."

      "Yes, of course, Adonai."

      "You're right, sometimes I feel the pressure upon me and doubts rise up." Joseph downs the last of his beer, "lets get our things, the camels are standing up, the train is ready to leave. We have a destination to reach."

The Tar Pits of Los Angeles

The beautiful La Brea Tar (Asphalt) Pits

     Los Angeles is amazing. It can be a great place to live or a place where the great ones come to die. I visited the La Brea Tar Pits with students from Centers of Learning last week. Looking at those giant animals, I realized Los Angeles has always been a place where animals and people came seeking that which they thought would sustain their life, but many ended up trapped in seemingly hopeless situations. The wolves, the saber tooth cat, and the vultures gathered to feed off their dying carcasses. Talk about futility.
       The city of the angeles is one of the largest cities in the world and right in the middle of its down town section is a large ancient tar pit (actually it is asphalt). It is an asphalt pit thousands of years old and full of dead bones. Bones of animals that died trying to get out of that sticky pit. They came seeking something they thought would be nourishing and ended up dying for it. Many thought the water on top of the tar would be refreshing in an environment where water was scarce. Little did they realize the danger that lay just below the surface of that water. It looked so inviting they would often wade in to refresh themselves. To their horror they would become stuck in the La Brea (Sp. the tar). Often the animal died of starvation or lay there long enough to be eaten by wolves, sabertooth cats, or vultures because they could not free themselves from the sucking, sticky, substance of black death, a frustratingly slow way to die. Eventually they would sink.  A death that was without hope.

Singing at the "Pits"

       But do not worry, Los Angeles can make money off of anything. What is left is a museum that has bigger than life skeletons of a by gone time. Visitors from all over come and gawk at these monsters and wonder at their remains. They become the "legends of LA", along the walk of infamy.
     I am sure you get the picture. This spirit of feeling trapped and hopeless still hangs like the smog over the city of Angels and affects many who start off hoping great things for their lives. "Don't quit your day job" is more than just a cute remark around here. It really  is not funny. Like an oppression it can sit on your spirit. It might even be an elemental spirit (Col.2:20, 2:8).
     Our Christian lives can have a cloud of hopelessness about them too, as we look forward to the great promises of God on which our lives are nourished. This nourishment can be a trap, just like the asphalt pits. We can put our hope in something that is not what our Father might have for us and just like the woolly mammoth we get stuck in the sticky, sucking substance of man's ideas, dreams and deception. It become the "substance of what dreams are made of". Paul Bunyan called it the "slough of despond". The futility of our lives can begin to bog us down. "Bog us down", I like that.  But it is no laughing matter. It can be deadly serious. When we lose hope then we have succumbed to the father of lies, the devil.  That is right, lies from the liar. Romans 8 tells us that God subjected "creation to futility...in hope that the creation itself will be set free"(NASB). If we are feeling the sense of futility without hope then it is not from God!  Because our Father's futility is NOT without hope (From Hopelessness Into Hope).  Futility without hope is from the liar who can only mimic our Father but can never rise to the fullness of His love, not even close.

       If we belong to Christ then He is revealing the true Father to us. Our hope is anchored, Gk. agkoran, in Him, within the veil. The Bible says our hope is steadfast, made firm (Heb. 6:19). The Greek word for "steadfast, firm" is asphaltos!!! That is right, asphalt. The name of the substance that kills the animals and holds them tight is the same word used for the steadfast substance of what holds us within the veil! Satan can only mimic or use the principals of God against us. He is not a creator, except of lies. He has taken God's principle of "steadfast hope" and made it steadfast hopelessness. Yuck!
       Thanks to Christ we have our hope anchored steadfast within the veil. When I am feeling the strain of futility and uselessness of life, I am going to reject that lie for the true hope from our Father given to me through Christ. I don't have to be stuck. I am set free from the sin that easily besets me. I can lay off the weights (Heb.12:1) because our Father subjected all creation in hope that creation it self will be set free. I pray for myself, my family, my community and Los Angeles that we all will have our hope set like asphalt in our loving Father. This is faith, the real substance of our dreams which is what we hope for (Heb.11:1).
       And then there are Edward Mote's words, "In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil, On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."