Luke 6:27-36: How to Learn Mercy?

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. - Luke 6:27-36

What does it mean to be godly? It means to have the character of God. What does the character of God look like? Merciful. What is mercy? It means giving good when what you receive time and time again is evil.  How do we learn mercy? By doing good to those don't do good to us and still loving them. "He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." 

1 John 2:1-14: What Use Is A Staking A Paper Claim

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. - 1 John 2:1-14

In the hills of El Dorado County, you could stake a claim for gold. The claim was filed with the county for up to a certain amount of land and the claim gave the miner the rights to all of the gold found in that area. Then the miner would go and drive stakes into the ground at each corner of their claim to let everyone know the boundaries of their claim: they literally "staked their claim" But the miner, all properly staked and filed, never drew any benefit from that claim until they did the hard work of actually digging for gold. They might even fight to defend their territory and exclude all others from its benefits, but the hard work of mining was required to "claim" the gold.

John was writing to people who had heard all about wispy claims of loving Jesus with their whole heard and loving their neighbor as themselves. They might even protest loudly and argue with their claims about how it was good and right and proper to do these things. But they never did the hard work of living like Jesus did and loving their brother and sister and therefore never struck gold.

And there is gold. There was forgiveness. There was knowing God. There was overcoming the devil. There was strength. But it is a only a paper claim-it is a barren, rocky soul-that will not try to get closer to the very Jesus who saved us and the very people for whom he gave his everything.

Acts 10:34-43: The Truth of God Used To Keep People Out Of The Kingdom

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” - Acts 10:34-43

It is interesting to me the way that Peter describes Jesus, not in terms of the Jewish law or prophets, but in terms of the more universal expectations about God, the enemy of God (the devil), the mediator between God and man (Jesus), God's prophets, the God's justice, and forgiveness for offenses against God. In the wider pluralistic society of the Roman empire, these were ideas that were floating around. There were lots of gods and there were lots of prophets and special holy men. Each country and ethnic group had theirs. Their own laws and rituals and divine origin story that made them and theirs special over against all other peoples. So Peter was speaking language that the religious of any Mediterranean culture would have recognized.

In Cornelius' house, Peter finally grasped something that God had been trying teach since the early chapters of Genesis: God was the god of all peoples and he showed it in Jesus. It was a revolution. God's special people came out and said that their God didn't like his "special" people over any other group. "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins." It was a lesson that Peter himself was going to have to learn multiple times during his stint as the leader of the church, because God's people have always believed that their special insight into God's character and purposes gave them the right to dictate that to others. I have often believed that, because I have tried to gain inside into God and, having found some nugget, have felt myself qualified to speak. The very truth of God is used as a barrier to keep others out. Thus, I have to learn multiple times in my time as a disciple.

Psalm 114: Can You Imagine The After?

When Israel came out of Egypt, Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains leaped like rams, the hills like lambs. Why was it, sea, that you fled? Why, Jordan, did you turn back? Why, mountains, did you leap like rams, you hills, like lambs?

Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.  - Psalm 114

Sometimes when we look at the before and after of a situation, it is hard to imagine how it ever happened. When you go to a beautiful city park, full of trees and families celebrating birthdays and baseball games and then someone tells you it was once the city dump. Or when you see the wasteland of scrub and rocks and sand and then you find out it was once an Eden-like paradise. Most of the time, we don't see the inflection point-that moment where the landscape took on new shape and new prospects. 

In this psalm, the author has the privilege of seeing both the before and after: Israel went from under the control of a foreign power to under God's control. The hillside in the desert changed from a "hard rock" into "springs of water". The point is that when looking at the before, no one could have imagined the after.

That's not to say that the transition was gentle: the sea and river, mountains and hills ran away. But God's plan was not limited by 'difficult'. If we look at the impossible in this world, the situations and people who seem never to change, our imagination can conceive of a different, better reality, if we let it not be squashed by  the thought 'it can't happen'. The only question is: is that what God will do? 

What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” —the things God has prepared for those who love him— 1 Cor. 2:9

Exodus 19:1-9: Signs to Remember

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him - Exodus 19:1-19

According to the timeline at the start of this chapter, we are only 90 days into this desert experiment and the Israelites have had doubts. When they first camped at Rephidim, there wasn't enough water for the flocks, there were dangerous people attacking them, the administration of the fledgling nation was a mess and the leadership (Moses) was having a crisis of confidence.

Now, they are preparing to head out from Rephidim toward Sinai. In many ways, the doubts that people were having were doubts in God. Grumbling was just a symptom that was given voice in their complaints. I think that it was particularly difficult because God was invisible. God talked to Moses and Moses talked to the people. But what if God wasn't really there? If it was all just a magic show and Moses was just making things up? How could the people have confidence, not just in Moses, but in God directly? 

So before this next step, God brought the people to the mountain. There they saw lightning and the clouds and the smoke and they heard the thunder and the loud trumpet blasts. And they saw Most speak and God answer. 

I think we have a similar problem with God. He is invisible. We don't talk to him like we talk to other people. We talk and then we have to read tea leaves to figure out what his answer was. How do we know that we are actually seeing God at work and not just misreading the muck at the bottom of the tea cup? How do we know that the people and circumstances that are purported to be "of God" are really "of God"? It is a tough problem. 

But maybe God listens to our complaining the way he listened to the people's complaiing, realizing that we are weak and prone to doubts and he will take a few opportuninties - not a lot, a few - to speak in such a way as to me unmistakable - the lightning and thunder and trumpets of here and Hebrews 12 - to let us know that we are believing in the right direction. And then he expects us to remember that direction and not start doubting again. Let God lead, let God show you that he's leading and then follow without looking over their shoulder. 

 

Matthew 23:1-36: The Law Is Not About Winning

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. - Matthew 23:1-36

"You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matt. 23:13b) For some of Jesus' contemporaries, the Law had nothing to do with a relationship with God. The Law was a way to exercise control by changing the game. 

What does that mean? It is like the geek in high school who finds that he cannot compete with the quarterback of the football team for physical prowess or popularity. So the geek changes the game so that it is about computers or sci-fi or the academic decathlon. If you can't win the game that they are winning, then change to a new game and heap ridicule on those who play the old game.

That's what the Pharisees were doing. They couldn't beat the Romans or their cronies, the Herodians, for power. They couldn't beat the Sadducees or the temple priests for religious legitimacy. They couldn't beat the Essenes for strictness or the Zealots for passion. But the Pharisees had the Law. They were masters of its intricacies . They delighted in tripping up the purest or holiest of people and finding clever loopholes with the rules, racking up points over the other teams, even if no one else was keeping score.

But they forgot God. The Law was never useful for showing our righteous victory over others or rising in the rankings of the saints. Twisting it like that makes God into a score-keeping goalie, intent on limiting the success to only the worthy. Instead, the Law showed a God who longed for a people whose heart beat faster for the things in which he delighted. Only God wins. We have to lose. Jesus said, "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." (Matt. 10:39)