Entries For: October 2008

Well, I must admit the subject of the Pharisees always makes me uncomfortable.  Unfortunately, I can often see “their side” of the story and find myself making excuses for them.  I honestly, HATE, the parable of the prodigal son.  I am a first born, I feel his pain, why couldn’t the father just say “glad you are back go help your big brother?”  However, I am always grateful for the reminder that there are so many things in our world that are not black and white, and are not about me.  I think that we tend to think that we, in today’s society, have the market cornered on learning how to deal with issues that fall in “gray areas,” but in reality Jesus is telling the Pharisees that life is in the gray areas and they need to learn to find a balance. 

The Pharisees are not all wrong, there are many rules we all must follow.  The Bible is explicit that there is only one way to the Father, this is a rule we cannot get around.  As parents we teach our kids rules for their safety, I feel that God the Father created many rules for our safety.  There are other rules we create to help keep our family healthy and our lives running smoothly, and I feel we learned this from God doing the same.  So, it is not following rules that causes the Pharisees need a little redirection.  In my opinion, the Pharisees are in error when they allow the rules themselves to become the ruler.  We have to maintain perspective of what the rules are created for and the bigger purpose behind them.  Also, as people who are “good” at following the rules we need to not get prideful and think that we are better than everyone else.  The one and only way to the father fails to mention having been the best type A Christian around.

So, at this point I start to feel a little guilty thinking I definitely have a lot to work on, since my fabulous rule following will not get me to heaven.  Thank goodness for grace.  Luke reminds us that Jesus was there for all sinners, and that includes me.  The one way to the Father is through HIM.  No one is outside the scope of that grace.  Some days, I will admit that is hard for me as I think how deserving I am.  Other days it is hard because I am overwhelmed by how undeserving I am, and how much forgiveness I don’t deserve.  Luke gives examples of all kinds of people who received God’s grace and forgiveness to remind us we can all have it!  I really appreciated that the “sinful woman” in Luke 7 was forgiven much, because she loved much.  I am going to strive to be a woman who loves much and I challenge you to do the same. 

One final thought, the Pharisees were wrong but, not all wrong.  Rules are not all made to be broken, contrary to cool kid, non first born belief.  Many rules need to be challenged and reevaluated so that we can continue to grow and change.  However, to disregard all rules would lead to chaos.  It is just as wrong to swing to the opposite extreme and allow anything.  My favorite part of my least favorite parable is that the Prodigal son does tell his father how sorry he is and how miserable his life of lawlessness was.  He was wrong and he did have to eat pig slop.  So, let’s find a middle ground.  My sister doesn’t want to eat pig slop, and I don’t want to be a Pharisee.  Let’s evaluate why we do the things that we do and the spirit in which they are done.  Truly following the Lord and seeking His will leads us to a middle ground we can agree on with guidelines to make our lives better.  And no matter what we get the gift of grace, hallelujah!

It is no surprise that many of us get nervous when conversations about the Holy Spirit come up.  We come from a movement that focuses on the rational and our silence regarding the Holy Spirit is deafening. After reading through so many of the passages about the HS, it makes me pause and think how heretical our tradition may have been to be so silent about it.  This is a huge omission on our part.

Often we think of experiences with the HS as out-of-body-like.  Some one speaks in a language that is unrecognizable to anyone around them.  Or maybe you have experienced someone abuse (in my opinion) the HS by naming what it told them to do and ironically it is in their own personal interest and not in the interest of others.

Luke and Acts have a very different picture of the HS.  The HS is its own character in the story. Luke and Acts paint a picture of the HS as the power that fuels the breaking in of the kingdom of God and the spreading of the gospel.  I don’t get the impression that the HS shows up and people start going into trances.  But what seems to happen in a variety of ways that people have the ability to see and act on behalf of the gospel in the face of great challenge.  Because of the HS people speak in different tongues (languages) and now numerous people are able to hear the gospel that wouldn’t have been able otherwise.  The HS comes upon unlikely people like Mary (teenage peasant girl), Elizabeth (barren woman), Zechariah (Levite with no heir), Samaritans (traitors who married the oppressors), Philip (eunuch which is a person with crushed testicles or was castrated at a young age, resulting in hormonal consequences), and the list could go on.  The HS comes upon unlikely people from unlikely backgrounds and this tells me that the kingdom of God is breaking in, welcomed, and accessible to all people, places, and circumstances.  The HS seeks to break down the barriers and empower all people to experience the gospel.  Nothing should hinder the gospel from reaching to the ends of the earth.  Not language, gender, social standing, economics, nationality, religious tradition, social function, NOTHING should stand in the way. 

So in a way, yes, by the power of the HS people will do things they wouldn’t do before.  They will speak in ways and with people they didn’t before.  They will go to the abandoned people and places in society (like the desert and Samaria).  They will be moved to sell property for the sake of the community.  They may give up positions of power from before and face danger, imprisonment, and persecution.  But all of this is for the sake of the gospel so that the kingdom of God may reach to the ends of the earth. 

So what about us.  The HS does not tend to mobilize people upward in positional power by society’s standards.  “My things” are now “God’s” and are offered to be used for the sake of the kingdom.  I have to be willing to cross social barriers and endure the social consequences for the sake of the gospel.  Do I even recognize social barriers at work?  Will I go to the abandoned places and people in our society?  Do I know where the abandoned places of society are?   These questions come to mind as I consider the implications of living our lives empowered by the HS.