desert direction

Matthew 23:23-33

On Tuesday, Jesus spent time teaching the crowds. He spoke directly to the religious and the religious leaders (which in our modern context would faithful churchgoers and leaders). It can be tempting to not identify with the Pharisees but if you’ve been to church recently, you probably fit in that camp.

So, what did He teach just a few days before the crucifixion and resurrection? One of the more notable things was his observation that the religious of Israel were “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matt 23:24) It’s a memorable line because it seems like such a strange thing to say. So, what was He actually saying? According to the Old Testament law, a faithful believer was to be careful not to eat certain things. There are myriad reasons for the intense dietary laws of the Old Testament but suffice to say that the prohibitions flowed from the good heart of God for His people. Two of the things on the list of dietary restrictions were gnats and camels. It was common in that day to strain your drink to make sure that you didn’t ingest a gnat that accidently got in the pitcher of water or wine. The gnat was just a little thing and being so careful certainly didn’t keep with the spirit of the law. While the religious folks weren’t literally swallowing camels, the imagery is powerful.

Jesus was saying that people were focusing on doing the little, easier things but not the larger, harder, and more significant things. In other words, they were taking care of the gnats but still eating camels. In the verse right before the imagery of gnats and camels, Jesus suggests that the people were making offerings of spices but were neglecting justice, mercy, and righteousness. It is easy to focus on outward things but much harder to look at the things of the heart and much more significant. 

Joan Chittister comments: “It is so easy to make cosmetic changes in the name of religion. It is so easy to make up rules and keep them so that we can feel good about doing something measurable in the spiritual life.” In the spiritual life, it is common to focus on the outward things. The outward things are visible and measurable and seemingly manageable. The things of the heart are often vague and mysterious and not controllable.

Indeed, it is in the heart where we experience a relationship with God and where we grow into all virtues that make our lives shine like Christ. That’s why Jesus will never simply let us settle for good behavior. He wants our hearts not our outward behavior. If He wanted that, He could have made us into automatons, robot like beings that simply did the right things. He desires a real relationship of love and justice and mercy.

While we might settle for the superficial, He always wants more for us. That’s why He walked with determination toward the cross … it is there that our hearts are given a second chance and the power to be transformed.

Where is your heart today? Have you spent time with Him … enjoying Him and worshipping Him and talking to Him from the heart? If not, take some time and share your heart with Him. Whatever is there, He will take it and shape it and transform it. It simply requires your time and trust.

Mark 11:15-17

On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus walked into the temple and began to clear out all the people who were selling their products and exchanging money for the pilgrims at Passover. Jesus quotes from Isaiah: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Jesus is claiming several things as he takes this action and links it to the prophet Isaiah’s words. First, the temple belongs to God. Second, its purpose is to be a place of prayer and devotion to God. Other things had become dominant in the way that temple was being used. Primarily, it was a money making machine. Third, it is for all nations. The area in which the buying and selling was occurring was in an area called the Court of the Gentiles. It was a place where seekers of God could come and seek Him, but the money making operations were precluding this purpose.

What Jesus did in the temple has significant implications for the lives of Jesus’ followers, especially when we understand that our lives are a temple of the Holy Spirit. (read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). First, we belong to Him. Our lives are His: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Second, our lives are designed to function as a temple – a place where God dwells in relationship. Third, our lives should have space for sharing this relational God with others!

Questions for reflection:

1. How do you view your life? For the religious leaders of first century Israel, they saw the temple (and by extension, their lives) in a very consumeristic way. It was a commodity that could be monetized. Do you see your life that way? Is the value of your life determined by its usefulness in a consumer society? Or, is the value of your life set by the fact that you are a dwelling place of God? Robbers (to reference Isaiah) are people who take something not belonging to them and then they use it for whatever they want. Do you allow yourself to be robbed of your intrinsic value by running after all kinds of things (what you do, what you have, what others think of you) to give you worth and value?
2. Have you created space in your life for God (“a house of prayer) and for sharing with others (“for all nations”)? Perhaps there are things in the outer courts of your life that you’ve allowed to become predominant to such an extent that the holiest part of who you are is not the focus.  

In Philippians 2:5-8, we are encouraged to follow Jesus’ example: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus did not consider His equality with God (i.e., the very essence of who He is) as something to be grasped (i.e., used to his own advantage). However, He poured Himself out by giving Himself to others. 

How does this inform the way you view your life and live your life? Spend a few minutes talking to God about where you are and where you want to be. Ask him if there are things in the outer courts of your life that He would like to clear away. Trust Him by placing those things in His hands.

Matthew 21:1-11

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, His entrance was incredibly significant in both form and substance. The form of His entrance was prophesied by Zechariah: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, andon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” (Matthew 21:5) The form, coming on a simple, lowly donkey, spoke to the substance. He was coming, not as conquering king who would have ridden in on a horse, but as a peaceful king. However, rather than being a triumphal entry, it was an ironic entry.

The irony was reflected in the growing tension between the true nature of Jesus’ kingship and what many of His followers wanted His kingship to look like. They wanted a king who would deliver them from their circumstances (an ugly Roman occupation) but He was interested in and committed to so much more. Jesus graciously and patiently refused to argue with their assumptions but quietly and persistently dropped clues about the cross as He resolutely walked toward it.

Bridging the gap between who He is and who we think we want Him to be requires a humble, listening faith. In 2 Corinthians 5:7, we are encouraged to “walk by faith, not by sight.” In the midst of life, we frequently want sight and that’s what can get us in trouble. For the crowds in Jerusalem on that first palm Sunday, they could “see” the Messiah liberating them and bringing in a new age for the nation. However, faith is what would give them an appreciation for what He was really up to. What we “see” is informed by us but walking by faith is informed by Him.

Today, take a few minutes and examine what you are seeing with your senses and abilities versus what you are trusting because of His input. Tilden Edwards comments: “We always have the choice of seeing reality as it is and being with it, or seeing reality as our fears and desires warp it. When we know this choice exists, then our real freedom is born.”

How will He enter your life today? Will you welcome Him as the One who can help you accomplish your goals (shaped by your fears and desires) or as the One who will reorient and reframe your goals? Living life as we were created to live means that we walk by faith in the One who rode into town on a donkey … humble, kind, patient, and determined to not let us settle for anything but reality … which is Him in all His glory.

Matthew 11:15

Frequently, as Jesus challenged people through His teaching, He would say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  The implication was that people often don’t hear. In the Biblical text, “hearing” does not refer to receiving sounds through the ears and recognizing the meaning of the words spoken, but “hearing” refers to responding to what is said. The idea that someone might not truly hear is similar to modern quip: “I hear you but I’m not listening.”

What was frequent in the day of Jesus is no less frequent today. Often, we hear truth but we don’t respond. Jesus intentionally spoke in parables and used figurative language because He wanted people to choose to follow and choose to trust Him. If things were made too obvious, the truth might be so inescapable that someone could argue that there were being forced to follow.

God loves us so much that He will never force us to love Him but He gives clues about His goodness and grace. We see those clues in sunsets and trees and mountains and oceans and certainly in the cross, but even there, He simply let His actions speak so that we could choose to hear.

As you enter this Holy Week, choose to take a posture of hearing. Whatever God says, do it. Trust it. Embrace it. Because … He alone is life. Is there anything in your life that is holding you back from hearing Him? If so, take a few minutes and surrender that area of your life to Him.

*Note: each evening during Holy Week – a new “Ears to Hear” Reflection will be posted.

At the heart of the prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray is a request for “daily bread.” Often, this idea of daily bread is interpreted as a simple reference to thankfulness or petition for daily physical provisions. For those in cultures or stations of life where daily food is a given, this can seem to be an irrelevant request. However, Jesus’ reference to “daily bread” is a much broader concept than simply physical sustenance. To be sure, it includes that but it is so much more.

Understanding the concept of “daily bread” is vital to living each day in a place of surrender to the Father. Daily bread is a promise that He will provide what we need to live … not just physically but with our entire being.

When Jesus talked about daily bread, those in His first century context would have immediately thought of the daily bread that was provided for the people of Israel as the journeyed from slavery in Egypt to the promised land. Miraculously, God gave the people manna which appeared every morning. It was only good for that day … it was literally a “daily bread”. God was setting up a physical tool for teaching His people to trust Him day to day. Alcoholics Anonymous famously teaches to “live one day at a time.” That wisdom is rooted deeply in Biblical history.

When Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, He was tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread. The temptation was to self-preservation … to take care of Himself on His own terms. Jesus responds by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:2-3 which says “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

God promises to give us what need to live each day … enough strength to face today’s challenges, enough wisdom to face today’s problems, enough love to face today’s hurts, and enough faith to face today’s uncertainties. The promise is that He gives Himself. He is the “bread of life” (John 6:35). Every word that comes from Him sustains us … both what we hear from the Scriptures and what we hear in prayer.

He promises to be “daily” bread and our challenge is to live day by day. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says: “do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” It is only in the present moment that we have a promise to experience Him and enjoy the gift of His presence. We might be tempted to dwell on the past or obsess about the future, but He challenges us to live with Him today. It doesn’t mean that we don’t unpack the past and learn or that we don’t plan for the future, but our lives are to be lived in the present … trusting Him as our bread.

As I pray and ask Him to give me daily bread, I am asking Him to be what I need for today. I am asking Him and then trusting that what He gives is enough to do what He has for me. And the joy is that I end up doing each day, each task with Him. And that’s the part that He loves – that I do what I do with Him.

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said that “Music is the universal language of mankind.” Others have suggested that poetry is the universal language. If you mix the two together, perhaps you have pop music. Paul Epworth, a producer who has worked with Adele, Foster the People, and U2, among others, quipped:  “Pop music has greater power to change people and to affect people because it’s a universal language. You don’t have to understand music to understand the power of a pop song.” While musical tastes vary from person to person, everyone loves a good song. A song moves us. It can be a surrogate for deep emotions we are feeling. It can elicit a new thought or perspective. The reality is that music shapes us.

It should be no surprise that when God speaks of how we interact with each other, He uses the metaphor of song. In Psalm 40:3, David says, “He put a new song in my mouth.” The result is that “many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” The response to the song that God puts in our mouth is that others are shaped. They perceive the song and it draws them to a place of awe (fear) which leads to trusting God.

All of us are given a song to sing. The only question that remains is: are we singing it? Often, we don’t sing because we haven’t allowed God to put that song in our mouths … we haven’t allowed God to love us. The song is a song of praise because we are experiencing His love in our lives. In the verses that precede having a song, David writes that he cried out the Lord to rescue Him. He shares that God drew Him up from the “miry clay” (the quicksand) and set his feet on a rock. Are you allowing God to love you? Are you depending on Him to rescue you? Are you waiting for Him? Other times, we aren’t singing because we don’t realize that we can. We forget that we have a story to tell. In a world where arguments and debates reign in everything from politics to religion, we can adopt debate as the form of interacting with others. We argue that someone should see it our way. However, this is not the model we see in the Biblical text. We are encouraged to sing our song and that’s what makes a difference in this world.

There is certainly a place for giving a reason for what someone believes (1 Peter 3:15) but it is encouraged as a response to someone asking why you have hope. What stands out in Psalm 40 is that a song, not arguments or debates, leads people to see and fear. It makes sense that it is beauty and love that will compel people. No one ever argues about the beauty of a sunset. It simply brings a sense of awe. Equally, sharing the beauty of God’s love doesn’t elicit debate, it can stir desire.

What is your song? I have a friend who always asks people, “Did you know that God is crazy about you?” That was His song. His interaction with God was such that He knew God was crazy about Him so that became his song, his way of sharing the story. Over and over, I’ve seen people sit down and have a conversation about his “song.”

God is present with us and restores us so that we can be His hands and feet in this world with a song … a song where our lives point people to Him … not to a church or a set of beliefs but to Him. Three questions to ponder … what is your song? Are you allowing Him to love you so that you have a song to sing? What might it look like to sing your song?

From the time we are born, we hear the whispers. Sometimes the sound might feel more like faint echoes from days long gone. At other times, the sense that we are a part of a story that is bigger than ourselves seems to shout from the mountain tops. 

The ancient writing of Ecclesiastes suggests that all of us hear those whispers. In fact, it is part of what it means to be human. God has “put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

So, the idea is that we have a sense that there is something more than the transitory, fleeting life that we often see played out before us day by day. Indeed, there is a bigger story being told. But, we also have the frustration of knowing there is a larger story but not really knowing exactly what it is (“we cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end”).

This “knowing” but “not knowing” puts us in a seemingly precarious situation. It makes us dependent and contingent creatures. This creates a genuine angst which is designed to plunge us deeply into a dependence which is our created design.

Many simply numb themselves to the longings of their hearts, preferring not to think about or consider these whispers of a larger story.

For others, the angst of knowing but not knowing is fought with a fierce self-determination that says “I will be somebody. I will make a name for myself. I will know the story because I will create it.” Nowhere is this better portrayed than in the masterful lyrics of Marshall Mathers (aka Eminem). From his song “Lose Yourself”:

          Stay in one spot, another day of monotony

          Has gotten me to the point, I’m like a snail I’ve got

          To formulate a plot, or end up in jail or shot

          Success is my only %&*$#&% option – failure’s not

          Mom, I love you but this trailer’s got to go

          I cannot grow old in Salem’s Lot

          So here I go it’s my shot 

          Feet fail me not

          This may be the only opportunity that I got

The idea of needing to “formulate a plot” springs from the genuine angst of desiring a larger story but not knowing what it is. However, formulating our own plots are always lesser stories than the story of eternity, the story that God is telling. So, while they might bring some satisfaction, these lesser plots never deliver the goods. The idea that “this may be the only opportunity that I got” betrays the desperation and fear of trying to write our own story.

What lesser stories have you believed will give you a taste of the transcendent? A relationship, a career, a certain lifestyle? Striving to be a “good person” can even be a plot that we formulate to satisfy our angst.

The great American poet, Walt Whitman, surveyed the desperation of the world and drew a different conclusion:

          O ME! O life!… of the questions of these recurring;

          Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;

          Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

          Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;

          Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;

          Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;

          The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

               Answer.

          That you are here—that life exists, and identity;

          That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

There is a powerful play and we get to contribute a verse! Rather than formulating a plot, we have an opportunity to contribute to the story that God is telling. What this requires is humility. We don’t create the plot … we take direction from the writer. He doesn’t tell us the whole story but asks us to trust that He is telling a good story. So, there is a “knowing” – we know that there is a great, grand, good story. But, there is a “not knowing” – we don’t know exactly how all the plot twists and turns fit together.

Author Andreas Ebert offers the following: “If we are unwilling to live askew for a while, to be set off balance, to wait on the ever spacious threshold, we remain in the same old room all our lives. If we will not balance knowing with a kind of open ended not knowing – nothing seems to happen. Thus it is called ‘faith’ and demands living with a certain degree of anxiety and holding a very real amount of tension.”

Humility is a virtue that doesn’t come easily in this technological age where we don’t believe there is much we can’t know or much we can’t do. However, it is only when we embrace humility that are we able to hold the “not knowing” and listen to the director as we play our part in the powerful play. Humility assuages the angst and ushers in a genuine freedom and rest because dependence is our created design. The beauty of humility is the recognition that we are not in control of the story. Not being “in control” at first feels like a death but it is death that leads to life. Life is relationship. Relationship with the story teller.

What does/will it look like for you to let go of needing to know and simply take His direction for your part in the story He is telling?

“let go of all things,” He said

without an intonation of demand

“let go of all things,” He said

“and you certainly get me and …”

“And!” I thought. “And … what?”

“Nothing,” He said. “And … nothing.”

“Nothing … nothing is needed.”

“For I am not nothing, but everything.”

Everything I’ve ever needed or wanted

So I let go … I relinquish

Every day … each moment

Until only Him can I distinguish.

Jesus was a master at asking questions. That might seem obvious but what might not seem obvious is why He asked questions. As God, He knew what was in the heart of man. (Luke 5:22; 9:47)

So, why did He ask questions for which He knew the answer? Put simply: although He knew what was in someone’s heart, often that “someone” wasn’t aware or at least wasn’t being honest. He asked questions so that we would be introspective and let the truth come to the surface. Knowing what is going on at the heart level is critically important in the life of faith.

In Western culture, we have tended to focus much on the intellect and our minds but it is from the heart that life proceeds. Our choices and actions flow from what we truly want and desire, not necessarily what we say we want and desire. (Proverbs 4:34) We, as humans, are able to “believe” or hold certain things to be true, but not hold them as the desires of our hearts. This is why someone can profess certain things but act in ways that are contrary.

In Mark 10, Jesus asks the same question in two different settings. In the first, it seemed to go over the heads of those questioned and in the second, it led to healing and transformation. He simply asked: “What do you want?”

Clearly, He knew what was desired in both settings but He wanted them to be clear and understand what was going on at the heart level. We don’t experience God in our minds. Clearly, we can think about someone and consider who they are, but it is from the heart that we interact and converse and commune. Sometimes we have conversations with someone and remark that they seemed to be somewhere else. In those situations, someone may be present in body and in mind but the heart is elsewhere. We can speak words but our hearts are far away. (Isaiah 29:13)

In Mark 10:35-45, a couple of Jesus’ disciples said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Jesus simply replies, “What do you want?” They respond with, “We want to sit in places of honor with you in glory.” Jesus says, “You don’t know what you are asking.” Implied in this is that He desired for them to consider what was really going on in their hearts. He goes on to challenge them that the desire for power and control was in their hearts.

In the following verses of Mark 10, a blind man asks Jesus for mercy. Again, Jesus asks, “What do you want?” (the same question he asked His disciples) The blind man responds, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” Jesus heals Him and recognizes that faith was the content of his heart.

The fact that these two scenarios are presented right next to each other should not be lost. The contrast between the blind man and the disciples is significant, and it challenges us to consider what is going on in our hearts. Is it the desperate dependence of blind man who knows Jesus is his only hope? Or, is it the desire to control found in two of the disciples?

Consider this exercise: let Jesus’ ask you that same question, “What do you want?” Be careful not to give Him the answer that you think He wants. He doesn’t want the right answer, He wants you. He wants your heart. Whatever the answer is … talk to Him about it. As you consider what you want, does it lead you to a place of desperate dependence or toward greater control? The great news is that Jesus never abandoned or shunned His disciples, even when the content of their heart was less than sparkling. We can be honest with no fear.

One of the beautiful things about Jesus is that He reveals the desires of our hearts and then graciously calls us to redirect our desires. As you consider what you want, how might that desire be redirected onto Him?

What we truly desire is Him. It’s how we were made and Jesus patiently invites us to return home.

In our culture, there is a four letter word that now rivals the nastiness and vileness of all other four letter words. When uttered, it’s a word that makes people incredibly uncomfortable and often confused. The word? “Wait.” Honestly, it’s not a word that we hear very often because, apparently, it is so vile! To suggest that we wait for something is sacrilegious and warrants angry responses. We live in an instant culture where everything is at our fingertips. If we want information during a dinner table discussion, we simply use Google from the phone in our pocket. And, if want a new phone, we simply use the credit card in our pocket. If we need a new credit card (because we just maxed out our card on the phone), some bank (somewhere) will be more than happy to oblige.

All this lack of waiting means that we lose something of ultimate value. We lose God. I don’t mean that we lose relationship with God or even that we lose belief in God, but we lose the experience of Him.  And, that’s the point, right? I might be married and even have deep beliefs about the institution of marriage, but if I’m never home and never sit down to spend time with my wife, I’ve missed the point. The point of life is to do life with God. And, life with Him is that for which our souls long.

At this time of year, we are reminded that Jesus was also called Immanuel, which means “God with us.” The word “with” is significant. He promises to do life with us, and yet, we lose out on this with our inability to wait. The song book of the Scriptures (the Psalms) contains the word “wait” over and over again. (e.g., Psalm 27:14; 62:1; 130:6) Why the call to wait? Because relationships take time. Engaging at the heart level takes time. And, frankly, God is slow. He is gentle. He doesn’t foist Himself upon us.

Brother Curtis Almquist (SSJE) notes that “What grows tall and strong must also grow slowly and deep, or it will tumble. Depth takes time. God has all the time in the world. Though we live in a culture that so highly values instant access to everything, at least in the spiritual realm, we can only bear a little at time.”

We often don’t want to wait because we have come to believe that there are quick, simple solutions to the longings we feel. Daily, we long for Him but we often misdiagnose that longing and desire. In Romans 8:22-25, Paul accurately diagnoses our situation … “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Author Paula Gooder encourages the spiritual discipline of waiting as she writes:  “Waiting draws us into a different way of being that does not rush to easy answers – that often have complex consequences – but takes account of not just our own welfare but that of all those around us. Waiting involves seeing differently and recognizing that quick answers are not always the best ones.”

The following is a great prayer for this Advent Season (a season of learning to wait):

“Loving God, I don’t like to wait. So I don’t wait to see the unfolding of your kingdom or to rejoice in the Savior you have given me, because I would have to relinquish control. Too often I end up creating my kingdom rather than turning to thy kingdom. Impatient, I stray from your presence, grasping at things and people rather than you alone to satisfy my deepest desires. You see, Lord, if I am really honest, while I believe in you, I don’t always trust that you’ll be there to pick up the pieces. This Advent, make my will one with yours so that I may put greater trust in true wealth – your saving presence.” (Andrew Carl Wisdom)