Extravagant Servanthood

John 12:1-8

“So, if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”  --John 13:14

On Maundy Thursday, some congregations follow Jesus’ example from his last night with his disciples and wash each other’s feet.   Some people find this whole foot washing thing to be awkward.  Perhaps it is having someone kneel before you and serve you that makes some uneasy. Perhaps it is allowing someone who you might not know well touch you.  Perhaps you just find feet icky.  But maybe that’s the point.  Serving others is not about making yourself feel good.  It is about showing your care and compassion for another person. It is about loving in the way that Jesus loved – by humbling himself and taking on the form of a servant, even to the point of giving his life on a cross, as Paul writes to the Philippians (2:6-8).

In John 12, Mary demonstrates that she already understands what Jesus will have to teach his other disciples in John 13.   Mary already understands the need to be a loving servant and compassionate caregiver and she does it in an extravagant way. Mary gets what it means to be a disciple.

Judas, clearly, does not. The picture John paints of the betrayer is one of selfishness and greed.  He is called a “thief” like the one who Jesus says breaks into the sheepfold to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10).  While Mary spends a year’s salary to anoint Jesus, Judas sells Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver.  He twists Jesus’ teaching about loving the “least of these” to criticize one who loves extravagantly.

Jesus teaches that the two great commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor.  In contrast, Judas tries to  paint a picture that pits loving Jesus and loving the poor against one another.  As if loving one means not loving the other. It’s a false dichotomy.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  We love God BY loving our neighbors.  As we love our neighbors, we learn how to love God more deeply.  

I have heard congregations try to pit caring for the gathered community of faith against caring for the world outside their doors, as if doing one somehow diminishes doing the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. We worship so that we might serve. We serve so that we might come to know more deeply the Servant who loves us all.  As our extravagant Lord gave his life for us, we, like his extravagant disciple, Mary, give our lives for the sake of others.  

When we begin to understand that the walls of the church, like our very lives, are meant to be porous – so that God’s love for us and for the world might flow in and out – then the rich fragrance of God’s mercy, forgiveness, compassion and justice will fill both the house and the whole neighborhood.

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Thanks for reading.  Look for ways to wash some feet (that is, love God and your neighbor) this week!

In the Company of the Lost

Luke 15:1-32

And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”--Luke 15:2

A lost sheep.

A lost coin.

A lost son.

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus responds to some scribes and Pharisees who were grumbling about his habit of welcoming sinners and eating with them by telling three parables about finding what has been lost.

A shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to go after one who has wandered off.  

A woman turns the house upside down to find a single coin that has disappeared.

A father runs down the lane to welcome home a son who had left the family and squandered his inheritance.

All three, the shepherd, the woman and the father rejoice when the lost has been found.

Jesus, I think, tells these parables to teach the scribes, the Pharisees and us something about the depth of God’s love for those who might be considered “lost.”

And, ultimately, that would be all of us.

But, here’s the thing.  I don’t think the father in this week’s parable only started loving his prodigal son afterhe decided to come home.  After he “came to himself.”  I think the father loved him before he asked for his portion of the inheritance and after he gave it to him.  I think the father loved him and missed him every day he was gone.  He loved him before he knew the boy had squandered his inheritance, and after he learned what happened.  Otherwise, why would he have been so joyful when he saw the young man walking down the lane?  Why else would he have killed the fatted calf and thrown a party?

And that’s the way God is with us too.

Paul says in Romans that God loved us while we were still sinners, and that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  Just like this father’s love for his wayward son.

Knowing that should, I think, impact the way we treat each other.  Wouldn’t you agree?

In his explanation to the 8^thCommandment in the Small Catechism, Luther says that not bearing false witness against a neighbor means that we are to “come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.”  

The Pharisees and the scribes didn’t do that. They looked at Jesus’ meal companions and saw tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus looked across the table and saw beloved children created in the image of God.

The elder son didn’t either.  He looked at his brother and only saw someone who burned through his inheritance with prostitutes. But, the father saw a beloved son returned home. 

What do we see when we look at the people around us? Too often, I think, we stake out our own claim to righteousness over and against those we think of as sinners rather than run down the lane to welcome them or sit at table with them.

Not always easy.

But, if we started where Jesus starts – seeing the other not as other, but as a child created in the image of God just like us, as a sheep, coin and prodigal in need of finding just like us, as one we rejoice in because God rejoices in us – then maybe the world would be able to celebrate a bit more, and fight a whole lot less.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thank-you for reading.  Rather than praying for the prodigals of our world, maybe we should try praying with them.  

If You're Not Careful...

Luke 13:1-9

 “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”  --Luke 13:5

The car lay on its side in the snowy median, it’s flashers going, the dazed young driver standing next to it, his cell phone pressed to his ear.  I instinctively took my foot from the gas and felt the car slow as I moved carefully into the right lane.

It was slippery.

Even as I slowed, I told myself that kind of thing happens to others, not to me!  I’m a good driver!  I tried to explain away the car in the ditch. The driver was young. He must have been texting.  His car wasn’t reliable.  Worn tires. Maybe he’d been cut off.  But then, somewhere, in the deep recesses of my prideful mind, I heard my mother’s words, “If you’re not careful, the same thing could happen to you!”  

Jesus’ warning words in this week’s lesson tend to make me cringe.  They sound harsh to my ears.  While he separates the human and natural evil we endure from the belief that the terrible things we experience are punishment or retribution from God he also calls us to repentance – to turn back to God – and warns that, if we don’t, we will suffer a similar fate.  I hear my mother’s words echoing in Jesus’ words (or is it the other way around), “If you’re not careful, the same thing could happen to you!” 

Like my mother’s words, Jesus words are not a threat, but a sign of concern and love.  To turn away from  God is to turn toward death as certainly as speeding on icy roads is to court a trip to the ditch.  And God, as Jesus shows us time and again, does not desire the death of sinners.  When evil befalls us, (for whatever reason) God’s heart is the first to break.

If we have any doubt about that, Jesus tells us a parable about a fig tree and a gardener who is willing to give it some manure and one more year to bear fruit.  After three unproductive years, that’s undeserved patience!  If we have any doubt, we simply need to look to the cross where Jesus took on all the hatred and violence of humankind, overcame evil, and defeated death for you and me and the whole world.  That’s undeserved grace!  

In a world where a white supremacist guns down fifty people at worship, where cyclones kill hundreds and even thousands, where families flee their homelands in the face of violence and warfare, and people’s livelihoods are swept away by springtime floods, what more can we do than to turn toward God with our hands stretched out for mercy?  What more can we do than cry out with the Psalmist, “O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water?” (Psalm 63:1) and lean forward, listening intently for the Good News of the Easter angels, “Why do you look for the living among the dead, he is not here, but has risen!” (Luke 24:5)

And then, be moved, not only to take our foot off the gas and slow down, but even more to pull over and care for our brothers and sisters in the ditch.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thank-you for reading.  Please pray with me for the people of Christchurch, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, Africa, Nebraska, Western Iowa and the Midwestern United States, and all the people in our world whose lives have been torn apart by tragedy, violence, bloodshed and war.  

Resistance

Luke 13:31-35

How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! -Luke 13:34

The Gospel is not always comfortable.  It can challenge us.  Convict us. It can clash with “conventional wisdom” and the “accepted ways of doing things.”  Not everyone in the first century welcomed Jesus’ ministry.  Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Elders, Politicians, and others pushed back against Jesus’ teaching, his healing and casting out of demons. He was derided because he dared to dine with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners (and ate with his detractors too).  He was criticized for reaching out to those other people rejected.

The resistance to Jesus’ message and ministry that has been building throughout Luke’s Gospel seethes through this week’s lesson.  But, Jesus does not respond with anger.  He responds with deep sadness.  He laments that the leaders of God’s people just don’t get it.  He yearns to gather them under his wing like a protective hen, but they won’t allow it.  He longs for all people to experience and share the Reign of the God of love, and to turn back to the One who offers forgiveness, life , and healing.  Yes, even the likes of the Pharisees.  But he knew that wasn’t going to happen.  He knew he was going to Jerusalem to die.

The Gospel is not always comfortable.  It can challenge us.  Convict us. It can clash with our own “conventional wisdom” and “accepted ways of doing things.”  Like the people of the first century, we can resist Jesus’ message and ministry, rationalize our way around it, reject its implications and sow division rather than the kind of love, forgiveness, life and healing Jesus teaches.

Though all too frequently we wind up having to live in the damaged houses we build, Jesus never abandons us.  (Am I glad about that!)  Jesus continues yearning to gather us like a hen gathers her brood. And that is grace. Jesus goes to the cross at the hands of our all too common human propensity to hate and divide, and on the third day finishes his work by leaving the grave alive.

Today, we are all invited to confess our brokenness.  We are called upon to admit our shortcomings, bad choices and horrible decisions.  We acknowledge our harsh words and inability to really listen to one another.  And then we are drawn again into the arms of our loving mother hen, who breathes life into us and opens our eyes so that we might truly see Jesus’ compassion and mercy for us and for the whole world.   And then, filled with this gift of new life, we can proclaim with joy,

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thank-you for reading. I invite you to join me in praying  for the reconciliation of Christ to heal all the broken places in our lives. 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.  –Luke 4:1

I am cursed by indecisiveness.  I have the unenviable gift of being able to see all the various sides of most issues, and the merits of the variety of options possible when a decision needs to be made. It can be paralyzing.  I have been told that this gift is valuable for mediation, and I suppose it probably is.  Maybe. Over the years, I have learned how to be more decisive.  But, it is not a natural skill, and I don’t find it easy.  

The thing about making decisions is that rarely, if ever, are things crystal clear.  There is a lot of cloudiness in life.  It’s impossible to anticipate all the consequences of any choice.

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is faced with three decisions put to him by the devil.  Three temptations.  The devil doesn’t make it easy for him.  No surprise there!  Who could fault him if he used his power to whip himself up some bread?  He was hungry after all!  We all agree that self-care is important, don’t we?  Who could blame him if he exercised his authority to rule? Wouldn’t he rule with justice and love, compassion and mercy?  Wouldn’t it have been easier for people to believe in him if he provided some clear demonstration that he was God’s son?  And yet, he rejects the devil’s temptations to use his power in selfish, self-serving and self-aggrandizing ways.  

Jesus, fresh from the waters of baptism, is filled with the Holy Spirit.  He has spent forty days in prayer.  In the face of the devil’s temptations, Jesus anchors himself in scripture and its witness to God’s will for God’s people.  Jesus makes his decisions based on these cornerstones of faith and faithfulness.  

The power of the Spirit, the centering of prayer and wisdom of scripture can guide us when we are faced with difficult decisions too. They can help us face the temptations that inevitably come our way.  And, for imperfect people like us, who sometimes (often) make the wrong decisions, they also remind us that our God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  I, for one, am grateful that we have a forgiving God. Trusting in that promise helps me dare to decide, even on those days when I am feeling indecisive.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.  Today, I invite you to join me in praying this line from the Lord’s Prayer, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”   

The Challenge of Love

Luke 6:27-38

[Jesus said:] “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…” --Luke 6:27

Jesus commands us to love.  To love God with all our hearts, minds, soul and strength.  To love one another as Jesus loves us.  To love our neighbors as ourselves.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul teaches us that love is patient and kind. The Gospel of John declares that the heart of the Gospel is God’s love for the world embodied in Jesus.  We talk about “love” in the church all the time.  But, do we really know what we are getting into to when commit ourselves to loving in the Way of Jesus?

Jesus’ way of loving is not sentimental, sweet romanticism.  It can be hard work.  The challenge of this way of loving is illustrated in boldface in this week’s lesson.  Here, Jesus tells us to love our enemies!  Worse, he goes on to give specific and difficult examples of what that way of loving might look like.  His list is cringe worthy.  In a divisive age where demonizing our enemies (or even those who just disagree with us) seems more the norm, Jesus words can seem impossible, or worse, destructive.  It seems like Jesus is suggesting we just let people get way with hurtful and unjust behaviors.  It seems like Jesus is telling us just to look the other way.

But, if that is the case, it seems that Jesus himself didn’t always follow his own advice.  He regularly challenges the scribes and the Pharisees and their treatment of others.  Paul’s description of love says that love “does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.”  Through the prophets, the God of steadfast love condemns those who oppress the poor and the powerless.  

I think that Jesus’ way of engaging his enemies charts a path between hating those opposed to us and ignoring the abuse and hurt and suffering of the world. Jesus’ command to love our enemies calls us to the tough work of mercy, healing and reconciliation which led Jesus to the cross.  The kind of love Jesus teaches and embodies calls us to confront the brokenness in the world and also the brokenness in ourselves, not with violence (because violence begets violence) but with compassion.  The love of Jesus calls us to seek and build upon common ground where it can be found, (because judgement leads to judgment), with humility. The love of Jesus calls us to give of ourselves (because the measure we give is the measure we get back), even when that self-giving feels risky and challenging.  

The love of Jesus took him to the cross, but the power of that love also defeated death.  As followers of Jesus Christ, we draw our strength and hope from the promise of the Resurrection as we face the reality of abuse, pain and suffering in our world, work for reconciliation in a broken world and do the hard work of loving… even our enemies.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thank-you for reading.  Pray that God would help you to love your enemies and those who see the world differently than you do.

The Promise of Life

Luke 6:17-26

…for power came out from[Jesus] and healed all of them.  –Luke 6:19

American mainstream culture is a death defying culture.

I say “defying” rather than “denying” because we seem to do everything we can to stop it from coming. Death is seen as an affront to life, as an enemy to be beaten, as something we delude ourselves into thinking we can overcome.  We are always trying to find ways to fend off death.  Eat right.  Exercise.  Get more sleep. Take this pill or that supplement.  Meditate. Buy this product.  Adopt this lifestyle.  And on and on.  The ads promise us eternal life: “Reduce your chances of death by 100%!”  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I watch my diet, exercise (though probably not enough), meditate and do other things to stay healthy.  But defy death?  I doubt it. One day, I will die and so will you. 

The reality of our mortality causes Paul to write, 

“For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  (1 Corinthians 15:12-50)

Christianity does not defy death, it posits that death does not have the last word.  That, in Christ, the promise of life follows the reality of death.  Easter follows Good Friday.  This is amazingly good news for a culture that spends millions trying to defy the inevitable.

In this week’s text, the crowds are pressing in on Jesus, hoping to tap into his healing power. They understand both their urgent need for healing and his ability to meet that need.  And, Luke tells us, Jesus healed them all.

Luke follows this scene with his form of the beatitudes.  In Luke’s version, unlikely candidates receive blessing while those who the world would call blessed receive woes.  For Luke, Jesus is the one who turns the world upside down. 

Our culture, while very different from First Century Galilee, bears some similarities.  Like that ancient time, we often covet riches, fullness, laughter and people speaking well of us.  And we often benevolently pity those who are poor, or hungry, or mourning. So, why then would Jesus say those who are suffering and struggling are blessed, while those who are well-off are not? Perhaps, it is because those who suffer and struggle in life know their need for God, while those who have the world’s blessings delude themselves into thinking they can take care of themselves. I can just see a small group of rich folks, having just come from a good lunch, surrounded by their adoring friends, looking down on the melee on the plain, shaking their heads at those trying to touch Jesus and saying dismissively, “how sad.”  When, in fact, they are just as mortal as every single member of the multitude.  

When we think we can “fix” the problem  of death by ourselves, we too can miss our need for Jesus’ healing touch, and miss out on the abundant life he offers.  On those days when I get caught up in my own death defying delusions, I am grateful that, like the crowds that day in Galilee, Jesus’ powerful life is enough to heal us all.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike  

Thank-you for reading.  I pray that those who are in any need will experience God’s healing presence and power in their lives.