Skeletons in the Family Closet

What do a prostitute, an adulterer, a foreigner, and a woman who slept with her father-in-law to keep the family lineage, all have in common? No. This is not the start of a joke, though one might think so with such descriptions.

These four women are contained within the genealogy of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 1. This concept alone is startling, as none of us like to think about the “black sheep” in our family (especially if we are the black sheep). Yet this concept is even more startling when we consider that it wasn’t common practice at this time in history, 2,000 years ago, to include women in a genealogy. Even today, we usually follow the male name when tracing our ancestry because of the tradition with taking the male surname.

Additionally, both Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ family history, with Luke’s account going back to Adam, and Matthew’s account going back to Abraham. Both accounts intended to show that Jesus was indeed part of the kingly line of David, that he was a son of Abraham, and that he was connected even to Adam.

Yet Matthew’s account deviates from the norm with his inclusion of these four women: Rahab-a prostitute, Ruth-a Moabite or foreigner, Bathsheba-an adulterer, and Tamar-who slept with her father-in-law Judah to keep the line of Judah going; talk about a colorful family history!

So why does Matthew include these infamous women? Especially when we consider that he is providing this genealogy to prove that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, from the royal line of David; why would he include such a checkered history in his account?

I think he does so to illustrate that God uses imperfect humanity to bring about His perfect will. That God does not see our past and hold it against us, but instead chooses to use us anyway. As the scripture says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions [sins] from us” (Ps. 103:12, NIV).

If God could use these four women to bring about the coming of the Messiah, what can He do in our lives today? Our imperfections, our mistakes, and our weaknesses do not have to hold us back from what God wants to do in our lives today….

Calling All Doubters

Poor Thomas. Throughout the past 2,000 years, Doubting Thomas has received such a bad rap, which might be understandable, with a moniker such as “Doubting Thomas.”

For many years, we have chastised the apostle Thomas and his lack of faith, with his need to see Jesus for himself and touch him to believe that he was actually alive. After all, Jesus did tell him to “stop doubting and believe” (Jn. 20:27, NIV).

Yet, as with all Biblical stories, I believe there is more to this story, and specifically more than an illustration of a lack of faith. In fact, I don’t think this story is about Thomas’ lack of faith at all, but rather an illustration of belief and the different ways we come to believe.

In order to see the progression of belief, we have to go back to the beginning of this chapter and the empty tomb.

John Gets It

Upon hearing from Mary Magdalene that Jesus’ tomb was empty, Peter and John race to the tomb, with Peter rushing past John who had stopped at the opening of the tomb. When John finally enters the tomb with Peter, the Bible says that John “saw and believed” (20:8). All that John needed to believe was to see the empty tomb.

Mary Gets It

However, the story continues with Mary hanging around the tomb crying, because she doesn’t understand what has happened. She doesn’t realize yet that Jesus is risen, and thinks instead that people have stolen his body. Mary begins to interact with someone whom she assumes is a gardener, but who is really Jesus, and she doesn’t realize that it is Jesus until he calls her by name: “Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out…Rabboni!” (20:16). All that Mary needed to believe was for Jesus to call her by name.

Thomas Gets It (Finally)

And then the story comes to Thomas, who for some reason was absent the first time Jesus appears to his disciples behind locked doors. He indicates that he will not (or cannot) believe until he can both see and touch Jesus. And when he does? He responds by uttering something no one else had declared and maybe understood up to this point, he declares Jesus’ divinity and his humanity by saying, “My Lord and my God!” (20:28). What Thomas needed to believe was Jesus standing in front of him.

It may have taken Thomas much longer to get it, but when he got it, he really got it. Thomas may have needed something more to believe, but his belief transforms his understanding of Jesus.

There are times when we may struggle with doubt, needing a little something extra to get us through a difficulty or a trial, yet our connections and stories to God are all unique and individual just as much as we are unique and individual. In all of the examples, God meets us where we are, with what we need to believe, and hopefully, when we get it, we really get it….

Miracles Take Time

Wrestling with Time…

Time is something that we all wrestle with, and it seems as if time is the enemy in our lives. We have deadlines, time constraints, and we are constantly racing against time so we can feel like we are living our lives and not "wasting time." We live our lives by watches, clocks, and timers.

Our world is marked by time, but God is not. God does not rush around making sure all His miracles and plans happen.

Consider this thought…

From the time of Adam and Eve, it was anywhere from 4-6 thousand years for Jesus to be born, and we have been waiting almost 2000 years for Jesus to return.

Consider this passage in Luke 8:40-56…

Both of these stories have to do with time:

1. The woman had been bleeding for 12 years.
2. The girl was 12 years old.
3. When the woman touched Jesus in verse 44, it says “immediately” her bleeding stopped.

Jesus took the Time…

Notice what Jesus does in this story with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. After the woman touched him, she was healed; there was nothing more that was needed. The woman was healed, everybody could have gone on their own way, because Jesus after all was in a hurry to go and heal the little girl.

Yet he stopped, and asked “who touched me?” The woman was already healed, Jesus knew who touched him, so why would Jesus take the time to do this?

Jesus needed to make a connection with this woman, for him to tell her that her faith had healed her, for him to recognize her public healing, and that she was no longer an outcast because of her illness. Jesus needed to acknowledge her and her faith. Jesus took the time to minister to this woman fully, and not just heal her physically, but heal her emotionally.

Timing for the Girl’s Miracle…

However, in the space of time that it took for the woman to be healed, another person who was supposed to be healed, died. Someone else seemed to get in the way of the Synagogue ruler’s miracle.

I wonder if he thought, “Why is Jesus stopping to ask who touched him, when there is a crowd of people around him? Everybody is touching him. Doesn’t he know that my daughter is dying.

And then the blow: a servant comes out to tell them that the daughter is dead.

Yet that’s not the end of the story. What looked to be a hopeless situation, God miraculously restored.

12 Years…

·         There is a reason why Luke indicates the girl’s age as being the same length of time that the woman had been sick

·         There is a reason why Jesus was delayed in getting to the sick little girl.

·         There is a reason why the thing that delayed Jesus from coming was a miracle 12 years in the making for somebody else.

We often look at the things that seem to prevent our miracle from happening rather than see what God is trying to do in our lives. Yet God moves in ways that go against our concept of time; God has a time schedule that transcends ours.

Miracles always take time. While miracles may seem to be instantaneous, they may have been days, weeks, months, or even years in process, and it is in the process that God changes our lives inwardly while we wait for the outward miracle….

God's Pursuit

The story of Jonah has been a great children’s story, told and re-told so many times that as with some familiar stories, it can lose its impact over time.

It is the story of one man running from a mission from God he did not want to do. Jonah's attempt to flee from God reminds me of the poem by Francis Thompson, titled "The Hound of Heaven."

"I FLED Him, down the nights and down the days; 

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways    

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.        

Up vistaed hopes I sped;      

And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears, 

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after [italics added] [sic]" (para. 1).

This dynamic story of Jonah and God illustrates an unusual aspect of God not often seen in scripture. Can you think of any other story in the Bible, where God pursued someone who was running from a task to which God called them?  Was God chasing Jonah to show him who was boss? Or is it possible that the mission to which God called Jonah was important, and therefore, why was Jonah's mission so important?

Is it possible that this story isn’t about Jonah but about the group of people God was trying to save? 

Consider the last verse of the book:

“But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city [italics added]” (Jonah 4:11, NIV).

Consider also His response to the city’s repentance: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened [italics added]” (Jonah 3:10).

Could it be that God’s pursuit of Jonah in this story is not about Jonah, though Jonah certainly thought it was (Jonah 4:1-9), but about His pursuit of the nation of Assyria? The over-arching theme in this story shows God’s love for everyone, even a despised Gentile nation who were not the chosen ones of Israel. This story reflects God's love, His compassion, and His love for a despised people. This story is about God, not Jonah, and His pursuit of a group of people upon whom He wanted to show compassion.

This story, as are all Biblical stories, are about God and how His story connects to humanity’s story….

References

Thompson, F. (2000). The Hound of Heaven. In D.H.S. Nicholson and A.H.E. Lee (Eds.), The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse (239.). New York: Bartleby.com.

Fruit & Growth

Acting as if We Cared is Not Enough

We are all familiar with Paul’s words in Galatians 5:22-23, where he discusses the fruit of the spirit. We might even be able to list all eight of the fruits.  Yet I think very few of us, myself including, understand Paul’s tree and fruit analogy.

I used to think that all one needed to do was to simply act loving, kind, gentle, etc., and I would then bear the fruit of the spirit. Yet this belief does not square with Paul’s use of the tree analogy.

Trees & Growth

The tree analogy illustrates that only a healthy tree can produce good fruit, in the right season, and as a result of proper amounts of sunshine, water/rain, and pruning. A tree does not simply decide to bear fruit because it thinks it should or whenever it wants to. It bears fruit as a result of something happening within, without, and with the help of nature.

Comparing the spiritual walk with trees is common throughout scripture. Psalm 1:3 describes the person who is “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season” (NIV). This person yields fruit because he or she first delights in God’s word, and meditates on it day and night (Psalm 1:2). Additionally John 15 contains the famous “I am the vine, you are the branches” metaphor. Jesus indicates that “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit….”

As Jesus, the writer of Psalm 1, and Paul describe it, fruit is born out of a relationship with the Spirit, a relationship to God’s Word, and a relationship that remains in Jesus. In other words, those who remain intimately connected to Jesus, those who meditate and absorb God’s word, and those who live by the Spirit, bear fruit as a result.

Actions Only = No Growth

Paul goes on tells us in verses 24-25 of this same passage in Galatians that, “Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

What does the law have to do with bearing fruit? Merely following the law-doing good works, obeying rules, and performing certain religious practices-will not cause you to bear spiritual fruit. Following the law as the priority focuses on outward actions or behaviors, and does not necessarily cause a person to examine the condition of the heart or spirit. Yet bearing the fruit of the Spirit involves living by the Spirit, the term “living” implying not just actions, but also a lifestyle of abiding in the Spirit (John 15:5).  

Therefore, while action is important in our walk with the Spirit, acting in a certain way alone does not cause a person’s spirit to bear fruit. Bearing the fruit of the Spirit comes as a result of intentionally remaining in Jesus and being connected to the vine, purposefully living by the Spirit, and meditating upon God’s Words.

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Picked Last

If you ever had the experience as a child of being picked last while the playground sports teams were being divided up, you might resonate with this story that Jesus tells in Matthew 20.

Growing up, I never really understood this parable. It is the story of the generous landowner, or the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, but being the person who followed the rules and worked hard, I never thought this story was fair. How was it fair to give the same amount of money to those workers who were hired last as those who were hired first? Was Jesus really saying that it did not matter how hard a person worked, that their reward would be the same?

After spending some time on this parable, I realized that I immediately identified with those workers who had been working all day, and who were incensed that the landowner would give the same amount of wages to everyone, despite what time they were hired.

I then decided I would put myself in the position of those workers who were hired last, and I then began to ask, why were these workers hired last? I began to examine the landowner’s interaction with the workers in verses 6-7: "About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 7 " 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard [italics added]" (NRSV).

It was the end of the day, but no one had hired them; why? Everyone else had been hired, but they had not.

If we were hiring people to do manual labor for us, we would want the strongest, possibly the youngest, or the most able people we could find. (I have moved quite a few times in the last few years, seeking assistance from many teenagers and college students, and I can attest to the need for strong and able helpers!)

Therefore, is it possible that these “eleventh hour” workers were not the strongest, youngest, or most able? Had they been rejected by other landowners? Moreover, would these workers have had families to feed, mortgages, and bills to pay? How would these workers have felt to be hired at the end of the day, when no one else would hire them? What would their response have been to the landowner’s generosity when he paid them the same amount as the others?

When we look at it from the “picked last” group’s perspective, we see another side to this parable. This parable illustrates how far-reaching God's love is. This parable tells us that the Kingdom of God is for everyone, that despite your background, your intelligence, or your socioeconomic status, you are welcome in God's Kingdom.

For those of us who have ever felt not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not talented enough, God still chooses us! God chooses us even when everyone else has passed us by or rejected us. We may be picked last, but as Jesus says in the verse preceding this parable in 19:30, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first" (NIV).

Perfection: An Impossible Standard?

Being the perfectionist that I am, I have always struggled with this verse from Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (NIV). 

Definition of Perfection

In order to understand and apply this concept, we have usually said that though we cannot be perfect in actuality, we still need to strive for perfection because God looks at our effort and that is all that matters. However, this borders a little on legalism, trying to earn our salvation through our own effort (Rom. 3:20). Moreover, as a self-proclaimed "perfectionaholic," I can testify to the trap this type of legalism offers.

Unfortunately, our Americanized understanding of the word "perfect" has imposed an impossible standard upon this verse. We view the concept of being perfect as without any imperfections or problems, cracks, errors, mistakes, etc. Yet this modern connotation strips the depth, growth, and maturity denotations from the original Greek word teleios, which means "complete, perfect, whole," in addition to "full-grown," and "mature" (The Greek New Testament, p. 180).

Additionally, notice that the verses preceding this one in Matthew talk about loving our enemies, which is by itself an incredibly hard task.

John Wesley on Perfection

John Wesley, the originator of the concept of "Christian Perfection" had a different type of perfection in mind. According to Lawrence W. Wood (1988), "For Wesley, holiness is a process of becoming in reality what already is ours in Christ through the new birth. Holiness is the dialectic moment in which Christ's pure love becomes an inner reality for the believer. This dialectic moment is a becoming, a process" (p. 96). Elsewhere Wood, continuing to comment on Wesley's theology, says, "Sanctification [the process of being holy/perfect] is love for God and others" (p. 115).

Loving Perfection

Therefore, what Jesus is telling us in this passage of Matthew is to strive for wholeness, completeness, and maturity as he is whole, complete, and our "perfect" example of maturity. To be perfect, and to be like God in completeness and perfection, we are to love in a way that stretches us at the core of our being, which is the act of loving those who do not deserve it. To be perfect, is to be whole and to be whole is to love like God loves. Without this type of wholeness or growth in wholeness, we cannot love effectively,  not to mention even attempt to love our enemies. Out of our growth in God and growth toward maturity, we become able to love and thus more like.

References:

Aland, B., Aland, K., Karavidopoulos, J., Martini, C.M., & Metzger, B.M. (Eds). (2001). The Greek New Testament. Fourth Revised Edition ed. Germany: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, United Bible Societies.

W

Wood, L.W. (1988). The Wesleyan View. In Alexander, D. L., (ed.), Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Wrestling

None of us like pain. The old adage that once you put your hand on a hot stove, you learn not to put your hand there again is true. Unfortunately, our body's natural reaction to pain is also what hinders us from growth; as another old adage says, "No pain, no gain."

Jacob’s Wrestling

In Genesis 32 Jacob experienced this concept of no gain without pain firsthand. Jacob is worriedly awaiting his brother Esau's impending arrival and having sent his family and possessions ahead of him, he stops for the night by the river Jabbok and prays; it is here that he experiences pain with incredible gain.

There by the river Jacob encounters a mysterious person with no introduction, no name, yet somehow Jacob knows that this person is important. We find out later in the story and in Hosea 12 that this person was God. In a curious manner, Jacob wrestles with this "man" all night. As a way to free himself, the man wrenches Jacob's hip from its socket, an incredibly painful thing for anyone who has experienced a joint out of socket. Yet Jacob still refuses to let the man go until he receives a blessing from him.

Jacob’s Transformation

Finally, the man asks for Jacob's name. Names were attached to a person’s identity in that time in history, and they declared a person’s character. Your name defined you as a person and had significance. Yet what was Jacob's name? It meant "deceiver," or literally, "he grasps the heel." Jacob, with one utterance of his name, defined himself as a deceiver, which is what he had been all his life. He exposed his character to this "man," yet in so doing receives more than he could have imagined. He receives not just a blessing, but also a transformation; his name is changed to Israel, which means "he struggles with God." His name and therefore his character is changed in that instant.

Jacob wrestled because he was in desperate need. His brother was heading towards him, and Jacob had no way of knowing how everything would turn out. Jacob was in need of a blessing, and in turn, he receives a transformation. His wrestling with God changed his life forever. (Notice though, that he is forever reminded of the event with a limp.)

Our Transformation

Too often, we are guilty of not "wrestling" with God to a place of transformation. We give up, we avoid the pain, or we simply lose hope. Yet our understanding of God cannot grow and our relationship with Him cannot mature unless we wrestle. Our theology is shallow until it becomes deeply rooted in the process of wrestling with God. Our character is not fully developed until we have learned to wrestle and struggle with God. Otherwise, our theology or our understanding and study of God, if not rooted deeply, will in times of crisis become uprooted quickly.

No pain, no gain.