Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
This has been an
exciting week for me.
Ever since 1979 I’ve
been a cabinet maker. But throughout all
of those years I’ve never had a real shop.
I’ve worked out
of make shift space in basements, which is a real pain in the neck when you
have to carry all the material in through the house and down the stairs.
I’ve worked in
garages. That was always a challenge for
space.
That was always a
challenge, though the one I have now is as good as any, it even has radiant heating in the floor.
But space is an issue.
Well, this last
week our new shop was constructed on my son’s property in Sagle. It’ll still be a few months until it’s
finished but it’s exciting.
We had a
wonderful crew, all of them part of one family, a father and his sons and
daughters.
The older men had
distinctive beards. The younger men were
clean shaven, and the women’s heads were always covered.
After a few
comments about our faith, I asked and found out that indeed, they had Amish
background.
They were
actually no longer part of an Amish community, but the heritage was very
evident.
I got to speaking
with Vern, the father, and he shared something about his faith.
It was actually a
criticism, at least an observation, about much of Christianity.
As best I recall,
what he said was “What happened, from the very beginning, was that Christians
became so preoccupied with Christ’s death and resurrection that they entirely
missed his reason and purpose for coming, and that was his teaching about
living in the Kingdom of God.”
Basically, what
he was saying is that we should listen more to Jesus, and less to Paul.
I’ve been
thinking about that a bit, and you know, he has a point.
One of the
interesting historical facts is that Paul had a vision of Christ on the road to
Damascus, but was not personally one of the disciples who were with Jesus
during his life and ministry.
Paul was not
present to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, or all the parables, and other
teachings.
Well, what about
Jesus?
And what would it
be like if we concerned ourselves more with Jesus’ teaching and less with Paul’s
focus on the meaning of his death and resurrection?
For starters, we
would have to learn about the Kingdom of God and the values of that Kingdom.
It would be about
living and loving as Christ lived and loved.
Like the Amish, we would devote ourselves to peace and forgiveness, and
perhaps even, learn about what it means to be “meek”.
What it means is “enduring
injury with patience and without resentment” and “not violent or strong”,
qualities that the Amish seek to live out in their lives.
Well, before we
go any further, it would be helpful to step back and think about the values and
beliefs that were present throughout the Old Testament.
Blessing and
Curses.
That is the major
theme that runs through the Old Testament.
Be faithful to
God and you will be blessed.
Unfaithfulness
will be cursed.
To be blessed
meant prosperity. Good crops, herds, and
children. Prosperity also extended to the
nation. When the nation was faithful to
the covenant good things happened. And
it was also the case that “as goes the king, so goes the nation”. If the king was righteous, so also the
nation. If the king was corrupt, so also
the nation.
Faithfulness was
always rewarded by God.
But
unfaithfulness resulted in curses.
Barreness was one
of the most dreadful curses.
For a woman to
not be able to have children was a source of great shame.
Hence the
overwhelming joy experienced by Sarah, for example, when she conceived in her
old age.
Today, civil
religion as well as preachers such as Joel Osteen, preach about this theme of
blessing and curses.
I’ll quote for
you from the Wikipedia article on Osteen:
Osteen's sermons
and writings are sometimes criticized for promoting prosperity theology, or the
prosperity gospel, a belief that the reward of material gain is the will of God
for all pious Christians. On October 14, 2007, 60 Minutes ran a twelve-minute
segment on Osteen, titled "Joel Osteen Answers his Critics", during
which Reformed theologian Michael Horton told CBS News correspondent Byron
Pitts that Osteen's message is heresy. Horton stated that the problem with
Osteen's message is that it makes religion about us instead of about God.
When asked if he
is a prosperity teacher, Osteen responded that if prosperity means God wants
people to be blessed and healthy and have good relationships, then he considers
himself a prosperity teacher, but if it is about money, he does not. He has
specifically stated that he never preaches about money because of the reputation
of televangelists.
In an interview
with The Christian Post on April 21, 2013, Osteen expressed his sentiments on
being perceived as being part of the prosperity gospel. "I get grouped
into the prosperity gospel and I never think it's fair, but it's just what it
is. I think prosperity, and I've said it 1,000 times, it's being healthy, it's having
great children, it's having peace of mind. Money is part of it; and yes, I
believe God wants us to excel ... to be blessed so we can be a bigger blessing
to others. I feel very rewarded. I wrote a book and sold millions of copies;
and Victoria and I were able to help more people than we ever dreamed of. But
when I hear the term prosperity gospel, I think people are sometimes saying,
'Well, he's just asking for money'."
Well, the basic
theme, however you state it is that if you’re faithful you will be blessed and good
things will happen to you.
Many people
believe that.
And like I said, it’s
a major theme in the Old Testament.
Now it’s true
that actions have consequences. For
example, because of my alcoholism I now have some neuropathy in my legs. I haven’t had a drink in over seven years,
but the consequences of my drinking are long lasting.
But it’s also
true that bad things happen to good people.
Well, what does
Jesus teach?
3“Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those
who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful,
for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people
revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on
my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for
in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Now some of those
whom Jesus called blessed would appear to be living a good and faithful life,
manifesting Godly virtues like being merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers.
But others that
Jesus says are blessed are actually suffering.
The poor, those
who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and those
who are reviled and persecuted.
It simply is not
true that good people will always experience good things, and bad people will
always suffer.
Sometimes it is
just the opposite.
The good die
young and the evil become rich and powerful.
Paul writes in 2
Timothy:
The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live
with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with
him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
And again in
Romans 8:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What does all
this mean for those of us who would follow Jesus?
It means that
throughout life, both in the good times and in the bad times, we will
experience the grace of God and be surrounded by his love.
In fact it is
often in the midst of life’s greatest tragedies that grace abounds beyond
measure.
This is the way
of Jesus. That whether we live or die he
is with us full of grace and truth. And
to follow Jesus is to live gracefully.
St. Francis’
prayer speaks to this.
" Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is
hatred,let me sow charity;
Where there is
injury, pardon;
Where there is
error, truth;
Where there is
doubt, faith;
Where there is
despair, hope;
Where there is
darkness, light; and Where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may
not so much seek
to be consoled,
as to console;
To be understood
as to understand; To be loved as to love;
For it is in
giving that we receive;
It is in
pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying to ourselves that we are
born to eternal life. Amen."
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