…Who in our lives do we see as “less than” in some way? Who do we instinctively turn away from? Who do we assume are the people furthest away from God?
Might it be that those are the very ones God has placed in our path to wake us up to our own prejudice and self-righteousness? Might it be that the very people we assume have no faith at all are the ones who might remind us what faith is really all about?
…Peter walks on the water. Surely he didn’t do that on his own. This has to be the work of Jesus and nobody else.
Well, yes… and no.
You see, if the miracle was only dependent on Jesus, then why would Peter sink? There is no evidence that Jesus was holding him up with some kind of Star-Wars like force and then simply lets go to teach Peter a lesson. Jesus didn’t make Peter sink because Jesus wasn’t actually holding him up to start with. Peter was able to walk on water not because Jesus gave him some magical power, but because he had the faith that Jesus was greater than the wind and the waves around him. Peter always gets a bad wrap for his lack of faith, but remember, Peter is the one who had the faith to step out of the boat in the first place when none of the others even considered the possibility…
…We often look at this miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and celebrate how he saved the day. So long as Jesus is around, we have nothing to worry about. He’ll fix it. He’ll take care of it. If he won’t send them away, he can feed all the people.
The only trouble is that’s not exactly what happens in the text. Jesus doesn’t send them away and Jesus doesn’t technically feed all those people.
Instead, we read in verse 16, “Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’”
“Whoa. Hold up now preacher. What do you mean telling us to do it. That’s what we pay you for?”
“We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish,” they reply. “What do you expect us to do?”…
… God saw you and me and every person who ever lived scraping our way through this sin ridden life and believed we were valuable enough to sacrifice his only Son just to dwell with us as it was in Eden. Do we value God and the Kingdom of Heaven as much as God values us? As one of my former pastors used to ask every Sunday, “Will you say yes to the one who said yes to the cross for you?”
… Odds are the enemy has sown a few weeds in the soil of our hearts. Instead of being so anxious to clear every weed from our sight, maybe we need to pause and give thanks to God for granting us mercy and allowing the good wheat to grow in fullness rather than cutting us off with those weeds before we ever have a chance to bloom.
Jesus said many things in parables. Most of these parables speak to the nature of the Kingdom of God, the very Kingdom Jesus taught us to pray for to “come on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). The problem, if we’re honest, is that while these parables may make perfect sense in God’s Kingdom, many of them do not make sense in our earthly kingdoms. Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17). If it was at hand over 2,000 years ago, surely it is at hand now. The Kingdom of God is not some far away reality beyond the crystal sea. Perhaps what Jesus is offering us is not a “how-to manual” in building the Kingdom, but rather a new set of lenses through which to see God’s presence in our midst, here and now.
Let’s consider first this “Parable of the Soils,” as it is commonly called…
The next day, which was the day after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate. They said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will arise.’ Therefore, order the grave to be sealed until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people, ‘He’s been raised from the dead.’ This last deception will be worse than the first.”
Matthew 27:62-64
If the authorities were terrified of a dead savior, who they were convinced could not truly have risen from the grave, how is it that a living savior who we believe is alive in us be so easily ignored by the world? Could it be that a dead Savior held more power over them than a living savior holds over us? …
You now rejoice in this hope, even if it’s necessary for you to be distressed for a short time by various trials. This is necessary so that your faith may be found genuine.
- 1 Peter 1:6-7a
I find it interesting that the one who writes so boldly about faith, especially in the midst of trials, is the very one who denied even knowing Jesus when the trials came his way.
"What are you talking about, Peter?" we might ask. "If what you're saying is true, your faith wasn't very genuine all those times you challenged Jesus? Where was your faith when he was arrested and needed you the most?" And of course we would not be wrong in such a challenge. We might even begin to feel a bit self-righteous if we have not personally denied Jesus in such a public way…
It's in our nature as human beings to solve problems. We are rational and critical thinkers. We always want to fix or improve things... even other people. We also have a million competing ideas of how to fix the problems of our world. We don't agree on who might best lead us toward those solutions or on how to divide our limited resources for the greatest outcome.
Unlike us, Jesus actually had the resources to fix everyone's problems. He could have walked through town waving his hands like a magic wand taking away every sickness and infirmity before people even realized what was happening. But he didn't. Every healing Jesus performed involved a one on one personal encounter. Their "problems" were not "fixed" from a distance. Maybe their problems were not "fixed" at all. In some cases, being healed created a whole new set of problems…
….We thank God for our blessings, recognizing that they are entirely undeserved. "But by the grace of God," we say when we see someone less fortunate, and yet even this statement of praise and thanksgiving exposes our pride. Are we more fortunate because God gave us more grace than the person who finds themselves in a worse situation? You see the dilemma. Even in our gratitude we somehow start to feel like God's favorites.
It is said that even those who learn to be humble will become proud of their humility. How do we get out of this trap?…
