The Forth Sunday in Lent

What does it mean to be lost?

03/30/2025

This week’s Gospel reading is from the Gospel of Luke chapter 15 Verses 1 - 3 and 11b - 32. This is a well known story, often referred to as the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal son is actually the third parable that Jesus told to this group of listeners. The first two parables are about something that is lost and later found. I think this causes our minds to fall into a bit of a groove about lost and found things, and when we get to the third parable, we may only see one part of the story: the young son who is lost for a time and then recovered. But the third story is not just about something lost being found, it is a story about what it means to be lost as well as what it means to be found. In the parable Jesus is talking about a family farm. What it means to be a part of the family and what it means to be separated from it. The true meaning of connected and separated is much more than just being at the farm vs benign away from it. It is the relationship to the family and the farm that is meaningful. This is a picture of what Jesus has been teaching about the kingdom of God. Jesus came to earth not simply to raise awareness of God’s kingdom but to call us to live in it.

Jesus’ ministry and message was about the kingdom of God. He spoke about it all the time. He taught about what it is. He invited his hearers to be part of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the place on earth where God’s will is done as it is in heaven. It is not a territory or a domain with borders on earth and it is not only a heavenly realm outside of earth. The kingdom of God is all around us. That is a core part of Jesus teaching throughout his ministry.  Exactly what that means or exactly where the kingdom of God “is” will be set aside for a future discussion. What is important to understand is that Jesus spoke often of the kingdom of God being here on earth. When he talks about someone being “lost”, as in this parable, he is not talking about knowing where the kingdom is, but about being in a connected relationship with it.

Verse one begins this chapter by telling us that tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus. Verse two tells us that the Pharisees and scribes are also nearby, but they are not happy about the “other group” being included. The Pharisees, we are told, are grumbling near Jesus and it is into this environment that he begins to tell his parables to the crowd.

The parable that we are going to be looking at begins in verse 11 with this phrase “there was a man who had two sons.” I have read this story many times. I am familiar with the setup: sinners gathering and Pharisees complaining. For many years I have read this parable as a story with two points. First, if I am “the lost son,” God is watching for me, and he will welcome me home. Second, if I am a Pharisee, I should keep in mind that God is watching for his lost children to return, so perhaps I should as well. The first lesson is a message of hope for the lost and the struggling.  The second message is a lesson about God’s patient love extended to his children.

This time I read it differently. This time I saw something that I had never seen, or thought about, in previous readings. The first line of the parable sets off an alarm when it says that “a man had two sons.” If this story was a lesson about the lost “sinner” son returning to the father, then why were there two sons in the story? A man with one son would have been just fine for the tale of sin, repentance and joyful reunion with the father, but the father had two sons. This parable is about two sons who are both lost, just as Jesus had two groups of listeners that had been called out to us before this parable began. The first was described as tax collectors and sinners. They are represented in the story by the younger son. Tax collectors, having good jobs with the Romans, could afford an easy life. They could indulge in wine or fine goods as they liked. The younger son came to his father and asked for what would be his and the father granted him his request. Now flush with funds, he proceeds to leave the father and seek out pleasure and fortune as seems best to him. If the father’s house and farm are the picture of the kingdom of God then the younger son is certainly lost at this point. He has left it behind to seek his own way, disregarding the customs and responsibilities that come with being a son “of the kingdom” would require.

I don’t think anyone reading this story would argue that the younger son is anything but “lost” at this point. The story goes on to relay how things go for the young son, and soon they turn bad. He is poor in a foreign land and soon finds himself feeding pigs while he goes unfed. He is lost. He has lost his access to food and shelter. He has lost his friends. He has lost the protection of his father and family. I think it is clear what it means to be lost here. Soon this young son comes to his senses and realizes that even a servant in his father's  house has food to eat and a place to sleep. He recognizes he is lost to the father, living outside the kingdom, and choses to return. He is returning in hopes of being taken in as a servant. He does not consider himself worthy to even ask to again become a son of the father. However he recognized that the position of servant inside the kingdom is far better than being a son who is outside of it.

As the younger son approaches the fathers land, the father sees him and rushes out to greet him. This is where we could talk about God’s forgiving love, which is true and important but not the main topic for today. The short version is that the younger son is welcomed home, his sonship is restored and a celebration is held to rejoice at his return. This is true for each “sinner” that returns to God’s kingdom. God is watching and inviting our return, and he does celebrate when any lost soul finds its way back to the kingdom.

At the time that the younger son is outside the kingdom, pursuing his own pleasure, the older son remains with his father. The elder son is within “the kingdom” of the family and farm. However, we have to investigate if he too is lost. Geographically he is not. He is on the farm. If the farm is the picture of the kingdom of God, then he is right in the middle of it so we can hardly say he is lost. But how is he living in the kingdom of God?

The answer can be found in verse 29 where we read “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your commands.” The elder son here states how he has lived for all these years. He is obedient.  He is dutiful. He lives as a slave to his father on his farm, inside the kingdom. But, he is lost because he has failed to know who he is. He is a son and all that the father has is his. It was given to him when the younger son went away, but he doesn’t recognize it. He has chosen to live as a slave to the father, when the father has lifted him up to own all that he has.

Here in the elder son we also find the picture of the other group speaking to Jesus before the story began. The scribes and Pharisees are invited into God’s kingdom as well. They know all the rules to be good members of the kingdom. But they see themselves as slaves to those rules. They do not understand they are invited as sons to partake of the kingdom and all that it has. They miss the fellowship with the King that has been offered, because they are devoted to his power and authority and not to his presence. 

Being lost is not about geography. It is about recognizing who we are, and what we have been invited to be in God’s kingdom. Each one of us are sons and daughters of the King. Yes, we have rules to follow and tasks to complete. We are not called to these tasks as slaves. We do what has been set before us because they are what is best for us as individuals and best for the kingdom of God. We are called, invited, to work in cooperation with God’s Spirit here on earth, as we live in the kingdom. We share in the prosperity and joy of the kingdom, and not just in the temporal pleasures that we can pursue outside of the kingdom. God is patiently calling to us and waiting for us to return to fellowship with Him, in the kingdom that has come to earth. Our reconciliation is guaranteed and the celebration is prepared. Our place is in the kingdom. To take that place, we have to look at ourselves and ask if we are lost. We must remember that we can be lost because we are outside the kingdom, but we can also be lost inside the kingdom by  not remembering who we are.

Pharisees and tax collectors are both invited by Jesus to hear the message, the good news of the Kingdom of God. How they chose to respond determined if they were inside or outside of that kingdom. The good news is we are all also still invited. It doesn’t matter if we come as a son who is confused and thinks they are a slave or a son that has run away from the kingdom entirely. Once we realize we are lost, we can return. God’s Spirit is a faithful guide to bring us back safely into the kingdom.

Thanks for reading.

David

Want to know why I am writing these articles? Look here.

You can find this week’s reading here. 

The Third Sunday in Lent

Called to Bear Fruit

03/23/2025

This week’s Gospel reading is from the Gospel of Luke chapter 13 verses 1 - 9. I am going to divide this passage into two parts. The first part is a back and forth between Jesus and some people in the crowd who ask a question. Jesus gives them an answer but not the one they are looking for. The second half of the passage Jesus tells a parable. In it he is speaking of a fig tree, and using it to help everyone who is listening, that they are called to produce fruit for the kingdom of God.  Through the parable he is reflecting back on the call to repentance in his answer and issuing a challenge to his hearers. God is patiently calling his people to review their lives and respond to his call so that they can honor Him, regardless of the circumstances they are in.

The passage opens with a group of listeners asking Jesus about a recent event in Jerusalem. The question is about the terrible death of some Galileans at the hands of Pilot as they were sacrificing at the temple. The implication is that their death was “judgment” from God because they must have been great sinners. Jesus’ response was certainly not what they expected. Jesus told them that this was not a wrathful judgement of God, but just a circumstance of living under Roman rule. He went on to mention a separate tragedy that had occurred in Jerusalem. He asks if they thought those killed in a tower collapse were worse sinners than all others in Jerusalem. He again answers his own question by saying they are not. Then Jesus turns the teaching back onto the questioners. He tells them that unless they repent they two will perish. 

This was not what the questioners wanted to hear. They wanted to live in a world where God judged. They wanted to excuse their own deeds, whatever they may be, because God had not killed them as the Galileans had been killed by Pilot. Jesus makes it plain that we are all responsible for our own sins. He wants us to understand that sinners and saints are all subject to events in the world that we do not control, but that does not mean God is the cause.

Why does Jesus tell them to repent? What does it mean to repent and what are they, and we, to repent of? Repentance is always tied to sin. What is sin? The word translated in the New Testament as sin is the Greek word hamartia. Hamartia is a term often used in archer or other sports relying on accuracy, it means “to miss the mark.” What mark are we missing when we sin? To answer that, we need to understand the “mark” that we are trying to hit, which we will talk about in a bit. Going back to “repenting” from “sin” we are talking about turning from actions or behaviors that cause us to “miss the mark.” By telling us to repent, Jesus is telling us to review our lives. He wants us to be aware of our actions, and where we have made a choice that “missed the mark,” he wants us to acknowledge that we missed the mark and to change that action in the future. Each action we take and each word we speak has the potential to honor God or to disregard Him in some way. In other words our daily lives may be filled with sin, some of which we don’t even recognize. 

Since we live here on earth, things can often be complicated. We can commit an act, perhaps at work, that dishonors God, but ends up providing us with a financial benefit. The world has been known to reward sinful acts when they suit the purposes of the group in power. On the contrary, we can act in a way that honors God and receive nothing but personal hardship in return. But this does not mean God rewards sin and punishes faithfulness. This means that God allows the world to carry on around us. We are subject to the ways of the world all the time. Not because God can’t “right the world,” but because he has chosen to use his people to do so. 

The point is, our circumstances are outside of our control. We may face a murderous Roman guard or perhaps just an audit from the IRS, but in either case it is out of our control. What is in our control is what we have done up to that point, and what we do going forward. 

So this is the reason Jesus calls his listeners to repent. It is not because the next tower may fall on them, or the next band of Roman soldiers may be at their door, it is because they have an opportunity to do better than they are, with what they have. That is what it means to “hit the mark.”  We are all given a variety of talents and treasures and then placed into some corner of the world. What we do next is what matters to God. How we choose to use our talents and treasures is what is key. What matters most is how we interact with the world, based on our talent and treasure, not on the conditions under which we live. 

Now Jesus takes his teaching in a different direction to make this point. The story is about a man who owns a vineyard. In that vineyard is a fig tree that despite being old enough to produce fruit remains bare. They man’s expectation is simple, he has invested in the tree and it should be giving figs by now. His decision is quick, and he tells the gardener to cut it down. But the gardener says to  wait. He asks for one more year to tend the tree. He will aerate the tree and provide it with fertilizer. He wants to give the tree another chance to produce. He asks for patience, but he also recognizes that time is limited. He does not suggest that the tree just be left forever because he knows that resources have limits and space is valuable.

God is that gardener. He is waiting patiently to see his children produce the fruits they were meant for. Those fruits are the outcomes of our life when we are aligned with God’s Spirit. You will note that the man in the story was not angry because the fig tree failed to produce olives. Each tree has its own fruit to produce. Each tree has its own mark to hit. We are never judged by our ability to hit a mark that God has not set before us. Oftentimes the world will set expectations that we don’t meet and we will judge ourselves. That action is something that we can learn from and correct. Our responsibility is to hit our mark. How do we know what is our mark to hit? 

I would like to make a simple example. If my brother and I are out for a fun day of shooting and we set up two targets, one at 20 yards and one at 500 yards, we have very different targets. If I pick up a bow and arrow and my brother picks up a rifle we will be assigned a target. I will be placed in front of the 20 yard target and asked to do my best. I will not be asked to hit the target at 500 yards with a bow. My circumstance, choice of tool, makes that an impossible target for me. However, my brother’s tool gives him a chance. Our tools are different and that makes the expectations different. God is not asking us to do the impossible, he is asking us to take the tools that we have and act in a way that brings fruit into the world. If I take the bow and put the arrow in at the top of the string and pull it back and shoot directly into the ground, then I have missed the mark. I had the right tool, but I used it the wrong way, and that is what sin is. Maybe I didn’t know how, or maybe I was just being lazy. That is what repentance does for us. It prompts us to evaluate what we have and what we have done and how we hit or missed the target that was set for us.

God, like the land owner, expects fruits from his children. He expects spiritual fruit to bloom out of our lives and feed the world around us. God is patiently waiting and cultivating us to be able to produce. But time is limited, not because God runs out of patience but because the world has limits. But the words of Jesus are the kind gardener. He offers us fertilizer and rain. He offers the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us every day. He encourages us not to focus on the circumstances of the world, which we can not control. He tells us to look at our tools and look at our life, then listen to the spirit and understand what mark is set for us that day, that instant, and then to act. The next minute everything may change, and that’s ok. The Spirit is still with us and we can choose how next to act. Every moment is an opportunity to choose to act in a way that honors God and produces fruit for his kingdom or not. It is the daily changes of life and our connection with the Spirit that enables us to use what we have at this moment to do what God has called us to.

We are the fig tree. We are all planted in different soil, with different environments, but we can all bare figs. It is what we are called to do. The world may make it difficult, but we have the tools we need for the soil we are planted in. God will never ask a fig tree to produce olives. God will never plant a fig tree in the desert without providing the hidden stream it needs. God’s plan is for us to produce figs. He provides everything we need and our responsibility is to look at where we are and what we have, and take the actions that produce fruit for God’s kingdom.

Thanks for reading.

David

Want to know why I am writing these articles? Look here.

You can find this week’s reading here.

The Second Sunday in Lent

 The Protection of God

03/16/2025

Today’s Gospel reading comes from Luke chapter 13 verses 31-35. If you would like to read it, and the other passages for today, you can find a link at the bottom of this article. This chapter is part of a long section of the Gospel of look where he is recounting events that took place as Jesus and his disciples moved about the region. This entire section is full of parables and instructions. Much of what Jesus said to the people was very challenging. Some of it was difficult to understand while other statements were clear but difficult for the hearers to accept and put into action. The crowds often included people both interested in and hostile towards Jesus’ teaching. In today’s passage Jesus is confronted with news of a physical threat from Herod. Jesus’ response showed that he had little concern at that time of threats from Herod. Instead, Jesus expresses his love and grief for the City of Jerusalem, and for all the children of Israel. Jesus goes on to express God’s true feelings. God’s desire, then and always, is to offer a covering of protection for his children.

The warning comes from a group of Pharisees. This group was often made up of people who were interested in Jesus as well as those looking to condemn him. We are not given any indication where the majority of this group fell, but we do know that they did not bring a hostile message from themselves. They came with a word of warning about a threat from Herod that they must have felt was serious and imminent. Herod is coming and you must flee, because he wants to kill you. A hostile group of Pharisees may have said “Herod is on his way, and he is going to take care of you”. But I read this as a warning in earnest, not a second hand threat.

Jesus responds by talking about his mission. He tells them to report back to Herod that “I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow and on the third day I finish my work.” His plan is to continue with his missions without regard to the threats of Herod. He then tells them that he must be on his way to Jerusalem, not because they also need to hear his message, but because that is where prophets are killed. So in the face of a threat he says he will continue his work, but soon will go to the city where prophets are put to death. This was not an idle statement, but a historic one. Jerusalem has a history of killing God’s prophets when they preach a message they can’t accept. 

Now Jesus’ focus takes a turn. He is no longer thinking about Herod or any other threat against his life. He is thinking of Jerusalem, the great city of David. God anointed his King to rule in Jerusalem. God directed Solomon to construct the temple so that all of Israel could worship in Jerusalem. While Jerusalem is one of many cities occupied by God’s people, it was the center of the Israelite world. This is what Jesus has to say about Jerusalem in verse 34. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.” Strong words, but not spoken in condemnation, but in sadness. The second half of the same verse says “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under wings, and you were not willing.” That is a statement of love.

That is the good news for today. God is always looking for a relationship with humanity that protects them. That relationship is not just for the Israelites, but for all of humanity. We are all his creation and he seeks to draw us in as his beloved children. Several of the morning readings in the daily office came from the book of Deuteronomy. Each of these passages began with Moses calling the people in to hear what God had to say to them. In passage after passage Moses would remind the people what God had already done for them, and then give some instructions on how they were to live. These instructions were not given in order to control or condemn the people, but to guide them. God knows the world is a difficult and dangerous place. We are surrounded by threats and temptations from all sides. He has directed Moses to give his teaching to the people to empower them to live differently. We can live a life of higher purpose than just controlling the land and filling our bellies. God has given the land to us as a gift, just as he gives many gifts, but not for us to use for ourselves. God has given us rules and guidance so that we can be safe and successful for all our lives and not just when our bellies are full.

Jesus is reminding us of that love from God and that purpose for our lives. He is not wishing to gather us in a chicks who are defenseless forever, but as children who need protection and direction as we grow. He expects us to grow in our understanding of who he is and in our relationship to God, through him. In verse 35 he is trying to help the listeners how they must change. He says “See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” What house? The houses that Moses helped to bring them into. The protection and blessing of God generations ago to the Israelites. They are living in those houses and holding on to their security, but have lost sight of the God who provided them. Jesus says that when they are able to recognize him that they will again be in relationship with God.

Our opportunity and challenge is to look beyond the provisions of our own hands. So often, we consider ourselves to be the provider of our safety. We work our jobs and buy our houses. We heat them and fill them with food from the fruits of our labor. But our houses and our food are only the temporal provisions of daily life. Jesus is inviting us into a relationship that offers provision beyond our basic needs. Needs that we may not even realize we have as we focus on the day to day living. But Jesus is not just talking about eternity. He is offering a relationship, a way of living, that provides for both our daily needs and our eternal protections.

Can we hear the call of Jesus to look beyond what we think we have control over, and seek his face? He is waiting and watching and working all around us, inviting us into his protection like a parent watches over a child, even like a hen gathers in her brood. We need only to enter into and hold fast to the offer of relationship that he has made to us. 

Thanks for reading.

David

Want to know why I am writing these articles? Look here.

You can find this week’s reading here.

The First Sunday of Lent

 Temptation

03/09/2025

This week marks the first Sunday in the season of Lent. The Gospel reading for today comes from Luke chapter 4 verses 1 - 13. In today’s reading, we see the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In the Gospel of Luke, this event follows directly after Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan river. The event at the river was the initial launch of Jesus’ ministry. Some who stood by heard the words of John, as well as the words from God, and took notice of Jesus. His first disciples came as a result of his baptism.

Immediately after this event and the gathering of his first disciples, we see Jesus leave the crowd, and the new disciples to go into the wilderness. The time in the wilderness was likely a time of preparation. However, it was also a time of temptation. Jesus was on the brink of beginning the work that he had come to do. Jesus, fully man, was seeing the power and his influence was having on the people around him. He was not at a point of decision. He knew who had sent him, and that he came with the mission of teaching God’s kingdom. But now for the first time he was seeing the effect that his words and actions had on the people. While it may seem that Jesus would not be impacted by these events, we have to remember that he was a man. As a man, he was subject to all the same influences and pitfalls that we face in our human lives. His trip to the forest was a time of centering and preparation for what was to come. It was also, I believe, a time to make firm his commitment to the mission. In facing the temptations of the devil he faced the same kinds of questions that we face in our lives. Questions like, will we act to our own self interest or for the interest of our family, community and world. The greatest temptations in our lives do not come from external, supernatural forces but from within our own humanity. 

By saying this I am not denying that there are powers in the world beyond our human understanding. Just as God exists, so do forces of evil that reside outside of the world that we can comprehend. What I am saying is that for most of our lives it will be basic human needs and emotions that challenge us the most. If we make a decision that we wish to live in God’s kingdom the daily challenges we face will most often be rooted in our own lives. Daily life is filled with opportunities that will make us decide if we putting God’s priorities or our own first

Small subtle decisions will ask us to compromise God’s principles in order to gain a little more for ourselves. They may not be bad things, they are often good things that God has created for us and wishes for us to have. However, in our desire to acquire or achieve these good things there are often many choices available. The choices that honor God will never be the ones that hold others back or push others down. In every situation, if we look, we can find choices that lift us and others up as well as choices that help us while hurting others. These are the life temptations that I am talking about.

Jesus came to be the savior of the world, and as that he came with power and dominion over the world. However, to show the kingdom of God as he wished the disciples and others to see it, he had to live in a way that exemplified God’s love. The first thing that the devil offers Jesus is a simple thing. God does not want anyone, including Jesus to starve, or even to suffer with hunger. The devil’s first offer is just a bit of bread. He says to Jesus, “Command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” We know Jesus can do this; we see this exact thing later in the Gospel. However, this is a tricky request from the devil. He is telling Jesus that his power is available to him to use as he likes. He is telling Jesus to use what has been given to him to serve his own needs. Jesus sees this slippery slope for what it is. Knowing he has all the power and authority of God on earth, he replies that bread is not what is needed to sustain a man. To place his needs in front of God’s mission was not even a temptation to Jesus. How do we find and live with that kind of kingdom focused in our own life?

The next temptation is the one I want to focus on. Verses 5 and 6 state:

5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.

First off, we need to recognize this was a mystical, supernatural experience. It tells us “in an instant” the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. He didn’t take out his phone and flip through a PowerPoint of major cities or scroll through google earth. We have no idea what this experience was like, or how it took place, but Luke tells us this was his experience. For today I don’t want to think about what this was like for Jesus. I am not even going to focus much on how he responded. Like the invitation to create bread, Jesus passed on the devil’s offer to turn his back on God and pursue earthy power.

When I read this passage the thing I wanted to learn about most, to talk about most was this character, the devil, and how the passage describes him. Who is this character that the passage refers to as the devil? Where did he get the authority over the world that he is showing Jesus? How can he give this authority to someone else? These two versus prompt many questions, so I set about thinking about them. To try and answer them, I had to think about and try to answer other questions. I had to think about scripture and what it tells us about God and the world and who or what has authority over it.

If we start by thinking only about Jesus’ people, the Israelites, we see God gave authority over them to Moses. Moses was to lead them, free them, protect them and teach them. But this is not Moses talking to Jesus. Later God gives authority to Saul to be king over his people. However before Saul even died God had already anointed a new King. Next, I realized that those men were not even “big” enough to be the one speaking to Jesus on this day. The devil had shown Jesus “all the Kingdom’s of the world.” Never did even Moses or David have authority over all the world, only over God’s people.

So I had to look for something bigger, a time when God granted authority over not just his chosen people, but over all people, over all creation. This took me back to the beginning. In Genesis we are told that God created Adam and gave him dominion over all the world. He was to oversee all of creation, on land, in the sea, and under the sea. So, is this devil a representation of Adam, the man. No, that does not seem right. Adam has died and with him his dominion on the earth. What did Adam represent? Adam, the first man, represented humanity. It was humanity that God, through Adam, empowered with all authority over creation.

The devil, I believe, represents the humanity that we all share as we walk out our daily lives. That humanity can show love and care for creation but it can also bring great harm. The spirit of humanity, serving its own interest, has come to offer Jesus all power and authority, if only he will shift his allegiance from God to himself. If Jesus is willing to put his human wants ahead of God, then the spirit of humanity, and not the Spirit of God, will reign over creation.

This is the temptation that we face. The human spirit, full of good and bad desires, is alive in us, just as it lived in Jesus. The human spirit, left to its own design, is easily corrupted to seek and to serve only itself. The temptations are many. We are rarely satisfied with enough bread; we want to be full. We can become discontent with our lives in numerous ways, and rarely is enough ever all that we desire. Food, entertainment, money, power, and attention all call out to us. They promise to make us more than we are, and they remind us that we are not yet “enough.” Jesus says we are enough. After 40 days without eating, Jesus knew that a loaf of bread would not sustain him; he also knew that something far greater than bread was already doing the job.

We, like Jesus, are challenged to be aware of what really sustains us. We are told that after we drink we will be thirsty again. Our nature, our humanity, will always want more. But, just like Jesus, we can recognize that God’s Spirit is enough. To be filled with that spirit is available to each person who chooses to live in the kingdom of God. Each decision that we make, big or small, is a step. Each step is taking us somewhere. In the world as Jesus explained it, there are two places to be. We can be in the kingdom of God, or in the kingdom of the world. Each step, each choice, each action determines where we are going to be next. The kingdom of God is ruled by His Holy Spirit, and the kingdom of man is ruled by the spirit of humanity. We have access to both. The spirit of man seems to speak loudly and to drive us to live in the human kingdom, but the Spirit of God is a still small voice. We have to choose which we believe is more powerful, more truthful as we go through our lives. It can be hard to choose the still small voice when the voice of the world is always pulling at us. That is a mission. We, like Jesus, will face the devil over and over because life is full of “opportune times” for us to be tempted. Like Jesus, our responsibility is to choose to walk in the kingdom of God.

Thanks for reading.

David

Want to know why I am writing these articles? Look here.

You can find this week’s reading here.

The last Sunday after Epiphany

 The Glory of God

03/02/25

This is the Final week after Epiphany. Today I will be reflecting on multiple passages from the reading. I will be looking at the Transfiguration of Jesus before three of his disciples. Through these passages I will be investigating how our Christian experience with the direct glory of God, through Christ, is different from the experience of Jewish believers. Christian believers are invited into direct relationship with Christ, through the Holy Spirit, and are given an unveiled view of God’s glory.

The Old Testament passage for today, Exodus 34:29-35, is about Moses. It is a piece of the story of his direct interaction with God on Mt. Sinai. In the passage we are told that God’s glory caused Moses’ face to glow. The people were afraid at the sight of God’s glory through Moses. They were not ready to be presented with such a direct effect of God’s glory. As a result, Moses made a  practice to cover his face when he spoke to the people, but to remove the veil from his face when standing in the presence of God.

This veiling of God’s presence carried on for generations. When the temple of the Lord was finally built, the sanctuary was divided. The holy place was visited by the priests in view of all the people. However, the Holy of Holies was separated by a veil. This place that represented the very presence of God was not even visible to the people. The priests who entered the Holy of Holies took great care to prepare themselves before being exposed to this holiest of places. 

It is no surprise that generations later in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3:12 - 4:2, he is reminding them that the Jewish believers still covered their faces when the words of Moses were read. Years of conditioning had taught them that the holiness of God could not even be looked upon by ordinary believers. The ancient Israelites, and even modern day Jewish believers, maintain a veil between themselves and the glory of God. Paul goes on to tell them that they are not bound under those same practices. Through Christ, they are invited into a direct relationship with God. That relationship includes direct exposure to the power and glory of God’s Spirit.  

In the Gospel reading for today, Luke 928-43a, we have Jesus taking Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. While they are praying, Jesus’ face and clothes undergo a transformation. They become dazzling white. The disciples are exposed to God’s glory without a veil. As this takes place Jesus is joined by two people, equally dazzling in appearance, and he speaks with them. The disciples realize it is Moses and Elijah that have joined Jesus on the mountain. They have come in a glorious state of being and are speaking with Jesus about what was about to take place in Jerusalem. This adds to the effect on the disciples. They are not told to look away, and Jesus makes no effort to conceal the glory from them. The disciples are overwhelmed. They are not sure what they should do, or how they should act. They are overcome with the glorious display of Jesus with the prophets from the past.

Not knowing what else to do, Peter tells Jesus that he and the others would be happy to build them a small dwelling on the mountain. I think this is his reaction because his instincts tell him that the glory he is witnessing is too much for him. He is offering to build them a dwell to create a place to contain the glory on display. Peter, like the others, does not yet understand that Jesus has come in his glory for the purpose of shining on all of mankind. Moses and Elijah depart and in their place come a cloud that overshadows the scene. The voice from the cloud speaks directly to the three disciples. He declares Jesus to be his son and directs them to listen to him. 

If the dazzling transformation of Jesus along with the appearance of the prophets was too much for the three disciples, how much more overwhelmed were they now? They had witnessed the appearance of the Lord in a cloud directing over them. They hear the voice of the Lord speak directly to them. Their response was silence. They had no words, nothing to offer in the face of the glory of God. Jesus leads them down from the mountain and they never speak of what they had seen until after Christ has been crucified and resurrected. However we can be sure that they had been transformed on the inside, much like Jesus was transformed visually to them on the outside.

Next is the passage, Luke tells us that the next day Jesus encountered a man with a child who is possessed by an unclean spirit. The man tells Jesus that his disciples have already attempted to heal the boy but that they were unable to help. Jesus is confronted with the fact that his disciples are still not understanding the power that he has given to them. Jesus’s response is anger towards the disciples. He asks how much longer do they expect to rely on him. How long will they go on doubting and questioning the power that he has placed in them and being dependent on his physical presence in the world? Jesus knows that he has come for a time, and that the time will come to an end. Jesus also knows that he has shared his glory with his disciples. We have already been told that they have made trips without Jesus and been able to heal. However, today their faith has been limited, and the result is their inability to do the work that God has empowered them to do, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus acts, and the boy is healed. The passage for today ends with the astonishment of the crowd at the greatness of god. We are not told how this impacted the disciples, but we can be sure that it did.

We, as Christians, are called to live face to face with Christ. We are not called to build a booth for him in our church, or even in our own home, that we visit. Having a holy place is important, but we are not called to visit it and then leave God safely stored away. We are called to be in fellowship with God’s glory and to live a life that reflects it to the world. Jesus has made the gift of the Spirit available to each one of us, directly and individually. We are to exist in his glory and as a result of that we are to reflect his glory onto those that we encounter.

Thanks for reading.

David

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You can find this week’s reading here.