Matthew 14:1-12
Matthew uses a flashback to inform his readers of what happened to John the Baptist. It is actually a very smooth transition: Herod hears what Jesus has been doing and thinks that John has risen from the dead. This, of course, begs the question, how did John die? Matthew takes us back to John's death.
This story contrasts the confidence and influence of Jesus Christ with the insecurity of Herod. Herod feels threatened because Jesus reminds him of John. Herod was first threatened by John because he was so adamant that Herod should not have married Herod's brother's wife while Herod's brother was still alive (which is pretty sick when you think of it). Herod wanted to kill John but was threatened by John's popularity with the common people. Herod was threatened by his guests' opinion of him and so he gave into his step-daughter's demand to bring John's head to her on a silver platter (which is another pretty sick story - unless my mind is just too depraved it would seem like Herod was so turned on by his step-daughter's dancing that he made a rash promise).
This story proves the parables of the kingdom that Jesus was sharing in the previous chapter. What started out as a mustard seed - a country preacher and his small group of unpolished disciples - has started to have influence in the throne rooms of the region. The leavened dough is starting to have an affect on society and those who currently have the power are threatened by it. The story also sets up Jesus' show down with the authourities in the region - the have been threatened by his influence.
There are a few lessons I take away from this. First, that I should have the boldness of John to speak up for what I know is right even if it means that I take on the powers of the land. Second, that the kingdom is not about seizing and holding on to power. It is about a quiet influence that shakes the very foundations of the power structures and the pyramid charts that our commerce and governments are built on. The Church has to stop trying to be a power broker and act more like a mustard seed and leavened bread.
Showing posts with label power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label power. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Touch
Matthew 9:18-22
The key idea in this passage of Scripture is touch. The synagogue leader wanted Jesus to come and touch his daughter to bring her to life. The anonymous woman just wanted to get close enough to Jesus to touch him to bring healing (which is another key word in this passage: heal). I think both people demonstrate incredible faith: Jesus had not raised anyone from the dead at this point. He had cast out demons and healed people from diseases but this was a different category entirely. Yet, the man simply asks Jesus to come and place his hand on her. The woman also showed incredible faith because I don't know of any other person who was healed this way in Jesus' ministry. Yet she believed that Jesus was powerful enough that he could heal her if only she could get close enough to touch him.
I don't think that it is by mistake that these verses occur right after Jesus' teaching about new structures and new wine. Both of these healings were new to Jesus' ministry, very rare in Israel's history and announced the new covenant that God was making with his people. It also continues to build Matthew's case that Jesus is the Promised One: he raises a child from the dead just like the prophet Elijah (or Elisha - I can never remember) and he heals people without ceremony - all you have to do is bump into him.
I need to remember two things: 1) I need to reduce my scepticism and cynicism when it comes to the miraculous. Since we still live under the new covenant and since Christ still refuses to fit into categories and structures for long, I must be willing to at least consider the miraculous. 2) I need to have the same trust that this man and woman had in Christ. Nothing was impossible for him to do. Death seems pretty final and yet Jesus is more powerful than even death. I can trust him for anything: to help us adopt another child, to provide even in the midst of economic uncertainty, to save middle and high school students in Lethbridge, even LDS ones.
The key idea in this passage of Scripture is touch. The synagogue leader wanted Jesus to come and touch his daughter to bring her to life. The anonymous woman just wanted to get close enough to Jesus to touch him to bring healing (which is another key word in this passage: heal). I think both people demonstrate incredible faith: Jesus had not raised anyone from the dead at this point. He had cast out demons and healed people from diseases but this was a different category entirely. Yet, the man simply asks Jesus to come and place his hand on her. The woman also showed incredible faith because I don't know of any other person who was healed this way in Jesus' ministry. Yet she believed that Jesus was powerful enough that he could heal her if only she could get close enough to touch him.
I don't think that it is by mistake that these verses occur right after Jesus' teaching about new structures and new wine. Both of these healings were new to Jesus' ministry, very rare in Israel's history and announced the new covenant that God was making with his people. It also continues to build Matthew's case that Jesus is the Promised One: he raises a child from the dead just like the prophet Elijah (or Elisha - I can never remember) and he heals people without ceremony - all you have to do is bump into him.
I need to remember two things: 1) I need to reduce my scepticism and cynicism when it comes to the miraculous. Since we still live under the new covenant and since Christ still refuses to fit into categories and structures for long, I must be willing to at least consider the miraculous. 2) I need to have the same trust that this man and woman had in Christ. Nothing was impossible for him to do. Death seems pretty final and yet Jesus is more powerful than even death. I can trust him for anything: to help us adopt another child, to provide even in the midst of economic uncertainty, to save middle and high school students in Lethbridge, even LDS ones.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Authourity
Matthew 7:28-29
Matthew's observation of the crowd's reaction to Jesus' sermon concludes the chapter. The key words are: amazed and authourity. The crowd was amazed at Jesus' teaching because he taught with authourity. This is contrasted to the teachers of the Law that the crowd was used to hearing.
Tony Campolo spoke about authourity in the main session of CYWC in Toronto this year. He said that power is based on coercion but authourity is based on hundreds of acts of compassion. Extrapolating Tony's thinking, the crowd's reaction is because they knew from Jesus' actions and character that he cared about them and not just about the rules. The teachers of the law tried to exercise power over the people by making rules to keep them in line, with dire consequences if they did not keep the rules. Much like the historical Catholic Church that would hold threats of excommunication and eternal punishment over the heads of kings and commoners in order to coerce them to do what the Church wanted them to do.
My desire and resolution is that the force of my teaching would be based on authourity. That my students and leaders (and others) would know that I love them, that I have compassion for them and that my integrity and love would earn the right to be heard and respected. I don't want to excercise power over my students and leaders based on guilt or shame. I hope that my students will know that I love them and will want a relationship with God and with others similar to the one I have. If they see that I love them and see something in my relationships with God and others that they would like to have, then my teaching will have authourity as well.
Matthew's observation of the crowd's reaction to Jesus' sermon concludes the chapter. The key words are: amazed and authourity. The crowd was amazed at Jesus' teaching because he taught with authourity. This is contrasted to the teachers of the Law that the crowd was used to hearing.
Tony Campolo spoke about authourity in the main session of CYWC in Toronto this year. He said that power is based on coercion but authourity is based on hundreds of acts of compassion. Extrapolating Tony's thinking, the crowd's reaction is because they knew from Jesus' actions and character that he cared about them and not just about the rules. The teachers of the law tried to exercise power over the people by making rules to keep them in line, with dire consequences if they did not keep the rules. Much like the historical Catholic Church that would hold threats of excommunication and eternal punishment over the heads of kings and commoners in order to coerce them to do what the Church wanted them to do.
My desire and resolution is that the force of my teaching would be based on authourity. That my students and leaders (and others) would know that I love them, that I have compassion for them and that my integrity and love would earn the right to be heard and respected. I don't want to excercise power over my students and leaders based on guilt or shame. I hope that my students will know that I love them and will want a relationship with God and with others similar to the one I have. If they see that I love them and see something in my relationships with God and others that they would like to have, then my teaching will have authourity as well.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
a mountain top experience
Matthew 4:8-11
This is the last of the recorded temptations that Jesus faced at the beginning of the public ministry phase of his life. In this temptation, Jesus is taken by Satan up a mountain and is shown all the kingdoms of the world. Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms if he will simply make a small compromise and bow down and worship him once.
This would have been a huge temptation for Jesus, especially if (as it seems) he was aware of God's plan to ransom the kingdom's of this world: the cross with all its pain and humiliation plus the fact that Jesus, the sinless one, would take on himself all the sin of the world. Satan was offering him a short cut.
The temptation would have been even bigger because after all Jesus would go through, people would still have a choice to submit to him. Satan's plan would not only mean that he wouldn't have to suffer physically, emotionally and spiritually but that all people would have to submit. This was a tempation to be powerful.
Man, have we fallen for this temptation! Christians through out history, right up to the present (the moral majority, anyone?) have been seduced by the possibility of power and I have yet to see where it worked out very well. I remember as a young kid I wanted to become PM of Canada and make it a truly Christian nation but forcing everyone to either submit to Christ or leave. Take it easy on me, I was young and immature and didn't see the inherent contradiction between being Christian and using force. I've matured, I hope.
But maybe we haven't. I see it in the Western Canadian Evangelical churches voting predominantly Conservative because we've been told we will have a voice at the table. I see it in the states with the promises the Bush administration sold to gain the support of the Evangelical movement (and the catering to that base with the appointment of Palin as VP candidate). Have we learned nothing from history? Do we honestly think we'd do better with our power than the State churches of the Middle Ages and earlier? Are we that arrogant?
May Jesus be our model and our example of how to speak to the culture and stand up for what is good and right and just without being sucked in by the attraction of power.
This is the last of the recorded temptations that Jesus faced at the beginning of the public ministry phase of his life. In this temptation, Jesus is taken by Satan up a mountain and is shown all the kingdoms of the world. Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms if he will simply make a small compromise and bow down and worship him once.
This would have been a huge temptation for Jesus, especially if (as it seems) he was aware of God's plan to ransom the kingdom's of this world: the cross with all its pain and humiliation plus the fact that Jesus, the sinless one, would take on himself all the sin of the world. Satan was offering him a short cut.
The temptation would have been even bigger because after all Jesus would go through, people would still have a choice to submit to him. Satan's plan would not only mean that he wouldn't have to suffer physically, emotionally and spiritually but that all people would have to submit. This was a tempation to be powerful.
Man, have we fallen for this temptation! Christians through out history, right up to the present (the moral majority, anyone?) have been seduced by the possibility of power and I have yet to see where it worked out very well. I remember as a young kid I wanted to become PM of Canada and make it a truly Christian nation but forcing everyone to either submit to Christ or leave. Take it easy on me, I was young and immature and didn't see the inherent contradiction between being Christian and using force. I've matured, I hope.
But maybe we haven't. I see it in the Western Canadian Evangelical churches voting predominantly Conservative because we've been told we will have a voice at the table. I see it in the states with the promises the Bush administration sold to gain the support of the Evangelical movement (and the catering to that base with the appointment of Palin as VP candidate). Have we learned nothing from history? Do we honestly think we'd do better with our power than the State churches of the Middle Ages and earlier? Are we that arrogant?
May Jesus be our model and our example of how to speak to the culture and stand up for what is good and right and just without being sucked in by the attraction of power.
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