Category: Christian living

Christian living, religion, World Religions

Christian Reflections on Muslim Hospitality

Posted on by Jay Givens

Whenever I have been in an Muslim country, I have always noticed the hospitality offered to me as a traveler.  When I visited Turkey, I assumed it was because I was with a tour group.  In Palestine, it was more obvious. As I entered homes with my Palestinian Baptist friends, we were always greeted by the host (whether Muslim or Christian) with whatever food and drink they had readily available.  This summer, my wife and I were completely unprepared for the generosity we experienced in Morocco visiting one of our former exchange daughters.  Her family was so gracious that we hardly spent any money during our ten day visit as they provided food, accommodations, and entertainment!

Hospitality is an ancient concept.  Both the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an describe it in the positive, when Abraham welcomed travelers, unaware they were angels (Ge 18:1-8; Qur’an 11:69) and in the negative, when the men of Sodom wished to abuse these same angels disguised as travelers (Ge 19:4-10; Qur’an 11:78-79). It is no wonder, then, that the call to hospitality is found in Jewish, Christian, and Muslims scriptures.  So what can a Christian learn from the Muslim understanding of hospitality? (Ali Zohery’s “Prophet Muhammad: the Hospitable” helped me find the stories of Muhammad in the Hadith.)

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Al-Bukhari tells us that Muhammad taught that one should give “a superior type of food” to a guest (traveler) for a night and a day, then continue to host them for three days with food.  This is the duty of every person.  Beyond that, any continuation of hospitality is an offering, an act of charity, not a duty.  Muhammad also warned it was not permissible for a guest to stay to the point of critically impacting their host’s resources.

Notice how Muhammad emphasized the need to give the best (the “superior”) first.  This is significant, as you are making a good first impression.  His emphasis is not the same as the master of ceremonies at the wedding in Cana, who said people give the best wine first so their guests will not notice when the cheap stuff is served later—after they are inebriated (Jn 2:7-10).  No, Muhammad is saying we give more than expected as a way to honor our guest.  Whether given as charity or as hospitality due a visitor, you are to give your best—not “worthless things . . . you yourselves would only accept with closed eyes” (Qur’an 2:267). It is God’s gift to you, not your possession, so share it freely.

A second thing to notice is that Muhammad viewed going beyond the requirements of the culture or law as a voluntary act of charity.  This charity reflected the mercy and grace of God, but it was not compulsory to do so.  Jesus, however, made going above and beyond compulsory for his followers.  “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Mt 5:40-42).  This was not just to the traveler, but even to the “evil person!” (Mt 5:39) It was a way to “love your enemies” (Mt 5:44) rather than to treat them as they were treating you (“eye for eye”—Mt 5:38).

According to Al-Bukhari, some of Muhammad’s followers once said to him that when they were traveling and entered a home, the hosts did not provide hospitality to them.  They asked him, how should we handle this situation?  If they show you hospitality as a guest should be treated, Muhammad said, accept it.  If they do not provide for your needs, however, you should take “the right of the guest” from them.  (You could forcibly demand hospitality, in other words.) This is a very different response from what Jesus instructed his disciples when he sent them out to the villages of the Galilee.  “As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town” (Mt 10:12-15).  Even before you receive any hospitality, Jesus tells his followers, speak a blessing of peace upon the house.  Then, if hospitality is shown, let the blessing remain.  But if hospitality is not shown, Jesus’ disciples are not to demand it as a right.  Instead, they are to simply to revoke the blessing pronounced on the home, shake the dust from their sandals, and trust God to judge the injustice in his own time.

Finally, Tirmidhi tells us someone asked Muhammad, “If I come to a man who gives me no entertainment or hospitality and he afterwards comes to me, shall I give him entertainment or treat him as he treated me?” Muhammad replied, “No, give him entertainment.” In other words, do not repay evil with evil but honor your duty as a representative of God.  Similarly, Jesus said to do to others as we would want them to do to us (Mt 7:12).  Not only is it the right way to treat those created in the Image of God, but Proverbs tells us, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you” (Pr 25:21-22). For Paul tells us we can never defeat evil with evil, but evil can only be conquered by good (Rom 12:9-21).  Hospitality can turn an enemy into a friend.

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Bible, Christian living, current-events

Whose Land Is It, Anyway?

Posted on by Jay Givens

I recently saw a meme floating around social media: “Israel doesn’t occupy the land.  They OWN it. Gen 15:18-21.” There were multiple amens attached.  Certainly, the intent was to show support for Israel in response to the horrific attack on civilians by Hamas last October.  While there is a promise made in Genesis 15, it is curious that a verse referencing “everlasting” was not used, such as Genesis 13:15.  “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”  This promise to Abraham was restated to him (Gen 17:8), then confirmed to Isaac (Gen 26:3) and Jacob (Gen 35:12). 

The main problem with the meme, however, is that it assumes God’s promise was without condition.  That’s certainly the response of many to the meme: “God does not break his covenants;” “Truth!” “Of course!” “I stand with Israel.”  Yet the Bible itself does not support the idea that God gifted the land to Abraham’s descendants in perpetuity without condition.

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Before we consider these conditions, however, we must first address the wording of the meme.  God’s promises to the Patriarchs does not mean Israel “owns” the land.  God explicitly rejects such a concept in Leviticus 25:23.  “The land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.”  God is the only owner of the land.

God set conditions that the people must not sin but obey his commands in order to remain in the land (Deut 4:1; 5:33; 11:8-9; Josh 23:16; 2Chr 7:19-22; 33:7-9; Jer 11:5; 32:21-23).  Abraham, though a foreigner at the time, was told by God that the land was an everlasting possession for him and his descendants, and they must keep God’s covenant (Gen 17:8-9).  As Abraham was a foreigner in the land he possessed, so his later descendants were also foreigners.  Before entering the land, God warned Israel that if they did not keep his commands, the land would vomit them out as it did the Canaanites (Lev 18:25-28; 20:22).  By the monarchy’s end, God tells them, “You came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable” (Jer 2:7).  These detestable acts included idolatry (Deut 4:25-27; 11:16-17; 30:17-18, Josh 23:16; 1Ki 14:15-16; Jer 16:13-15) and unethical treatment of their fellow human beings.

If Israel wanted to remain in the land, they were to follow the way of justice, treating people fairly and without partiality (Deut 16:18-20).  They were not to mistreat the foreigner living among them, but were to treat them as native-born.  “Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt,” God commands (Lev 19:33-34).  Israel was driven from the land because of violence and bloodshed (Ezek 7:23-25), because they did not care for the orphan and the poor (Jer 5:28). 

Many American Christians think they are called to unwavering support of Israel, regardless of the civilian casualty count.  Some even believe Israel is entitled to the whole land, to expel the Palestinians.  This, however, contradicts the statements above (love the foreigner, care for the orphan and poor).  I believe it also misreads the biblical story, as the New Testament authors continuously spiritualized the return to the land and the restoration of Israel, reading these as the gathering of Jews and Gentiles in Christ.  For instance, the writer to the Hebrews says we don’t look toward the earthly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22; 13:11-14), but join with the Hebrew faithful, who lived as foreigners and strangers on the earth . . . longing for a better country to come (Heb 11:13-16).  Remember, he’s writing to Hebraic Jews, saying the land and temple are no longer important.

Now God can give the land to whomever he wants, whether Israeli or Palestinian.  That is up to God.  But as Christians, we should not turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians—both Christian and Muslim—who did not take part in nor condone October 7.  We should not encourage Israel to violate the command of God, to limit retribution to no more than an eye for an eye (Exod 21:23-25).  1,200 died in Israel that day; why is it okay for 35,000 civilians to die in Gaza? (Even if these deaths have been overreported by 90%, that is still 3 “eyes” to 1!)

Even if the restoration texts apply to the modern state of Israel, they are not living by these texts.  The return described by the prophets were of a people with the law written on their hearts (Jer 31:31-34) of flesh, filled with God’s Spirit to obey the commands (Ezek 11:14-21; 36:22-32), and wholeheartedly fearing the Lord (Jer 32:36-41).  Isaiah says, strangers would be united to those returning (Isa 14:1-2).  Ezekiel adds that they would treat the foreigner residing in the land as a native-born and give them an inheritance in the land in whatever tribe they resided (Ezek 47:21-23).  God the shepherd would gathers his lost sheep, caring for the weak and injured but destroying the sleek and strong (Ezek 34:15-16).  It would seem Israel should strive to find a way to leave in peace with their Palestinian neighbors, not take their land nor prosper at their expense, lest they themselves be destroyed. 

The modern secular state of Israel does not live the righteous life described within the Hebrew Bible.  In many ways, their response is far more like the people of Ezekiel’s own day than his vision of the future people of God.  Just after Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon, the attacked people say to themselves: “Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land.  But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our possession” (Ezek 33:24).  Yet God tells them they violated his commands, worshiped idols, shed the blood of the innocent, defiled their neighbor’s wives, and relied on their own sword rather than on him.  “Should you then possess the land?” (Ezek 33:25-26) asks the God who was, and is, and is to come (Rev 1:8).

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Bible, Christian living, Jesus

When the Prodigal Son Met Esau and Cain

Posted on by Jay Givens

Luke 15; Genesis 4:1-16; 32:3-33:17

In Luke 15, Jesus tells a parable to the Pharisees and scribes, who were complaining that he hung out too much with tax collectors and sinners. Although many modern translations add subtitles to imply this chapter contains three distinct parables, Jesus really tells a single parable composed of three stanzas—a parable that ends without resolution. Jesus stops short of telling us the older son’s response to his father’s admonition, forcing the hearer/reader to reflect on what his or her own response would be in similar circumstances.

The repetitive framing of the parable suggests what the proper response should be.  A shepherd, who loses one sheep, will leave the ninety-nine until he finds that one, after which he throws a party to celebrate with friends.  A woman who loses one of ten valuable coins searches for it until she finds it, after which she throws a party to celebrate with friends.  Jesus ends both stories by comparing these earthly celebrations with the rejoicing of the angels in heaven when one sinner returns to God.

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In the final story of the parable, however, Jesus adds a sudden twist, breaking this frame of reference. Instead of ending with heaven rejoicing, Jesus creates a new scenario: “meanwhile, the other son . . .” The older brother represents Jesus’ critics, who have a choice. Will they be an older son like Adam’s older son Cain or like Isaac’s older son Esau? You see, Jesus embedded allusions to these two stories about rival siblings, which his religious critics would surely have noticed.

The younger son demands his inheritance and leaves for a far country, echoing the story of Jacob. Jacob stole his brother’s birthright and blessing, making Esau so angry with Jacob that the younger sibling had to flee for his mother’s homeland to avoid death. Jacob prospered in that foreign land, not (as he supposed) because of his many schemes, but because of God’s grace. In contrast to Jacob’s prospering, the prodigal threw wild parties until he sunk into abject poverty. When his hunger became so great he thought of eating with the unclean pigs he was tending, the prodigal suddenly realized his father’s servants were well fed and cared for, without having to do such humiliating work. When the prodigal left home, he had arrogantly demanded his rights as a son. Perhaps if he returned home renouncing those “rights,” his father would accept him as a servant. Knowing he deserved nothing, he humbly returned home with the hope his father would show mercy.

Jacob, on the other hand, returned home content with his wealth and family . . . until he heard his older brother Esau was coming with a large force of men. In terror, Jacob prayed, acknowledging for the first time that he was nothing more than God’s servant, unworthy of all the blessings he had received. The next day, when he went to face Esau, he fearfully and humbly bowed to the ground seven times as he approached. Fear motivated Jacob’s approach. Hope motivated the prodigal. As he journeyed, he rehearsed a speech over and over to himself: I am not worthy to be called a son. No doubt there was a little fear that his father would not accept him, but the prodigal’s hope persisted. We are told that, while the prodigal was still a long way off, the father responded to him just like Esau responded to his younger brother Jacob. Both ran to the one who had formerly affronted them. Both threw their arms around the returning wanderer and kissed them. Both rejoiced because, at last, they were reconciled. We are not told the father wept as Esau did, but likely this was part of the compassion that filled him upon seeing his son returning to him on that dusty road.

And then there is the older son in the prodigal story. When Jesus introduces him, he says that he was “in the field.”  Jesus wants us to think immediately of Cain, who took his younger brother out into the field in order to murder him.  Both Cain and the prodigal’s older brother lose face in relationship to their younger brothers.  For Cain, it was when God looked favorably on Abel’s sacrifice of the fat portions of the firstborn of his flock, but did not look favorably on his own offering of some of his produce.  In Jesus’ parable, instead of the younger son offering his heavenly father the fattened animal, Jesus says the prodigal’s father ordered the fatted calf to be killed so everyone could celebrate the younger son’s safe return.  The older son believed the father was dishonoring him through this misplaced celebration. Like the Pharisees and scribes, who thought Jesus was squandering his time with the riffraff, Cain wanted God’s attention and did not think his younger brother deserved what should rightly go to the older son.

Just as Cain became very angry over God’s response to Abel, the prodigal’s older brother became angry and refused to enter the house to attend the party.  Yet the older son is not exiled like Cain.  Instead, the father “exiles” himself from the party in order to plead with the older son to come into the house. He is like the shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine to find the one.  The older son refers to his daily duties at his father’s home as “slavery.”  Where are the blessings of sonship he deserves? Where is the party thrown in his honor for “never disobeying” the father’s “orders!”  The older son’s insistence on his right to be honored as a (slaving!) son is the opposite attitude of his younger brother, who wanted to be accepted only as a servant because he believed he no longer deserved to be called “son.”  The older son was like the servants in a later teaching of Jesus. He wanted to be praised, rather than saying what Jesus told us all to say: “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Lk 17:7-10).  Like Abel, the younger brother was honored because he came with a better gift.

So the question for the Pharisees and scribes was what type of older brother would they be to these tax collectors and sinners?  Would they be like the father, who followed the example of older brother Esau?  Both lost material wealth to the younger son, but ultimately both valued restoration of relationship far more than earthly treasures.  Neither accepted the returning one’s offer to become a servant; both restored the returning brother’s status as sons and heirs.  Or would the Pharisees and scribes be like the older brother, who patterned his response after Cain?  Both felt God/the father didn’t honor their firstborn status.  Both thought their service deserved more praise than it received.  The question Jesus leaves hanging is whether we (not just the Pharisees and scribes long ago) will respond like Esau—rejoicing that the lost one has been found and restored—or like Cain—angry at the other and prideful about our own self-worth.  Even if we don’t murder these younger brothers and sisters, do we sin against them in our heart (Mt 5:21-24)?

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Painting: The Return of the Prodigal by Pompeo Batoni (1773), public domain, accessed 4 January 2024 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Prodigal_Son#/media/File:Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg

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Bible, Christian living, creation care

Wildflowers in the Field (Earth Day 2023)

Posted on by Jay Givens

Originally written as a devotional for Creation Care Week 2023 at Wayland Baptist University.

Jesus said . . . “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. . . .  Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!”

Luke 12:22, 27-28, NIV

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Easter weekend, as I drove through Central Texas, I marveled at the fields of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush.  I took some time to stop and photograph along the drive. The experience reminded me of this passage in Luke. 

Jesus taught his disciples to trust God and not worry about the needs of life.  If God is a gracious and good Father, why would he not care for his children?  God cares for all of his creation.  Just look out in the fields, Jesus said.  God lovingly decorates the grasses of the fields with wildflowers, so that they are more wondrous than a king’s finest robes.  God does this even though the grass and wildflowers are only here a short time.  The grass is “here today and tomorrow is thrown into the clibanos,” an earthen vessel used for baking bread (translated as “fire” in NIV).  God cares for the most commonplace elements of his creation, something so mundane that humans gather it as fuel to make their bread.  Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread.  Here we learn that God royally clothes the very things we take for granted while cooking that bread.  If today he clothes the grass that is gone tomorrow, how much more will he care for our needs?

Just as God cares for his creation, he calls us to join him in caring for creation and for one another.  This is part of what it means to be created in his image.  Lady Bird Johnson heard this call in the 1965.  Inspired by the wildflower seeding program of the Texas Highway Department, she convinced her husband to push for the Highway Beautification Act.  Known as “Lady Bird’s Bill,” it included a provision to plant wildflowers across the nation’s Interstate highways.  Lee Clippard, director of communications at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, described her care for creation.  “People wanted to see beautiful flowers and beautiful landscapes, but she saw it as a way to heal the land.  She knew it was a way to improve the lives of people.  She always saw landscapes and people together.” (Texas Highways, 7 April 2019).

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Bible, Christian living, Jesus

Reflections on a Donkey, Crying Stones, and Jesus’ Tears

Posted on by Jay Givens

A Rebuke of Culture Wars and Religious Nationalism

Each year, Christians celebrate Palm Sunday, Jesus’ so-called “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem.  The gospels do depict the crowds celebrating triumphantly, but what if Jesus himself was rebuking his own followers? What if he did not agree with their hopes for the Messiah? What do Jesus’ actions and words really say in Luke 19:28-44, if we have ears to hear?

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A Donkey

Jesus excited his disciples’ imagination by taking the route of Joshua toward Jerusalem (crossing the Jordan into Jericho).  Then he sent two disciples on a secret mission. Was this not the same number of spies Joshua sent to prepare the Conquest? Maybe they were scouting out Jerusalem’s defenses! Instead, they return with a donkey. Readers have wondered how Jesus knew this donkey would be tied up. Some think the owner has great faith to surrender his animal to unknown people simply because, “the Lord needs it!” Yet it is far more likely Jesus pre-arranged this with the owner.  He would tie up his donkey on this day and recognize Jesus’ men if they used the correct passphrase. Perhaps this is why John abbreviates the entire story: “Jesus found a young donkey.” John and Matthew quote this event as a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, but they do not mean it was a series of divine coincidences. Jesus intentional acted out this prophecy as a proclamation he was Messiah, and what he understood this to mean.

Many Jews believed Zech 9:9 was part of a prophecy that Messiah would bring peace for the Jews through a war against the nations.  Their response to Jesus riding a donkey fits this common Jewish hope.  People threw cloaks down before Jesus’ path, just like Jehu’s men when Elisha anointed him to become King of Israel.  Interestingly, there was already a King of Israel! Jehu became Messiah to assassinate King Joram. People also waved palm branches and threw them down before Jesus, just as Jews did a century earlier during the Maccabean Revolt. Simon was greeted by cheering crowds and palm branches after his army liberated Jerusalem from Syrian occupation and cleansed the temple. Finally, Matthew, Mark, and John tell us the crowds shouted out Hosanna! Save us! The people had nationalistic dreams Jesus would successfully lead a rebellion against the Romans.

Crying Stones

Luke makes it clear this is how the Pharisees interpreted these events since they tell Jesus to quiet his disciples. No doubt they were eyeing the Roman soldiers standing watch on Jerusalem’s walls, fearing they might become agitated and move to put down this apparent protest movement calling for rebellion. Instead of quieting his disciples, however, Jesus replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Perhaps Jesus’ disciples thought he was referencing Habakkuk 2:10, where the stones of the walls would cry out against the injustices they bore witness to within the city. After all, Luke emphasizes the crowd is descending into the Kidron Valley.  Across the valley, they could all see the massive stones of Jerusalem’s walls.

Jesus’ Tears

Then, Jesus wept as he looked across at Jerusalem. He mourned that the people did not grasp the true meaning of peace. He wept because his people’s desire to defeat the cultural intrusion of Rome through physical force would result in the loss of all the institutions they held dear. He shed tears because his beloved people loved the power and glory of Jerusalem, the temple, and the land of Israel. They hoped Jesus was the strong man they needed to make Israel great once again through a violent expulsion of the Romans.

The Rebuke of a Prophetic Act

Jesus, however, had a very different vision for the Kingdom and his role as Messiah. Riding a donkey was not a message of conquest. The “triumphal entry” surrounding him was just Satan’s latest temptation to lure Jesus to desire the very power structures he had rejected since the voice from heaven told him his role as Messiah was to be a suffering servant.  Jesus intentionally acted out Zechariah 9:9 rather than some other messianic prophecy precisely because of his rejection of Messiah as conquering king. Zechariah was the only Israelite prophet who emphasized another aside from the king who was also anointed with oil—the chief priest. Jesus riding a donkey was pointing us to reflect on the entire book of Zechariah.  Zechariah 4 speaks of two trees pouring out oil into a single lampstand.  They are called two Messiahs (king and priest). Zechariah 6 then orders a crown to be placed on the chief priest, who will rule from his throne and bring “harmony between the two” (king and priest). Zechariah shifts the focus from the king to the priest.  Jesus proclaimed himself to be a priest-king.  He would serve his people’s spiritual needs rather than rule with might to enforce his people’s desire for power and prestige. John understood Jesus to be priest-king.  John has Jesus quote Zech 6:13 (rebuild the temple) as justification for cleansing the temple (John 2:19) and Pilate quote Zech 6:12 (here is the man) as he presents Jesus before the crowd in purple robe and crown of thorns (John 19:7).

Not only was the donkey Jesus’ rebuke of violent revolution, but his statement that the stones would cry out was not about the stones of Jerusalem’s walls. As noted before, Luke emphasizes the crowd was going down the Mount of Olives into the Kidron Valley. This area, both then and now, was a vast Jewish graveyard. There were stones everywhere: in front of tombs as well as atop crypts. The stones themselves would not be crying out, Hosanna! Save us! Rather, it would be the dead behind those stones shouting out for Jesus to remember them when he came into his Kingdom. In Zechariah, there is a promise from God attached to the one who rides the donkey: “because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit” (9:11). Jesus’ decision to be a priest-king, to sacrifice his life, would result in the salvation of those who were in the grave (the waterless pit) as well as those of us who have yet to die. This Prophet like Moses would not liberate the people from slavery to an occupying force.  His exodus would lead people out of the grave!  This Messiah had not come to defeat the Romans.  He would destroy the common enemy of all people (whether Jew or Roman): death itself.

Jesus wept because he knew many there that day rejoicing in his enactment of a messianic claim would ultimately reject his servant priest-king conception of what it meant to be Messiah. They would instead follow after various revolutionaries who rose up before and after him, until the Romans eventually had enough and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70.  As with this “triumphal entry,” Jesus’ whole life was a repudiation of power politics and cultural wars. Jesus foresaw the exaltation of religious nationalism as the destruction of his people . . . and he wept. When will American Christians put off the power dynamics of Cain and put on the servant righteousness of Jesus the Messiah?

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Reflections on a Donkey, Crying Stones, and Jesus’ Tears

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Advent, Christian living, Jesus

The Peace of Divine Purpose (Advent 2022)

Posted on by Jay Givens

Matthew 1:18-21; Matthew 2:1-15; 2 Timothy 1:7; Hebrews 2:17-18

Paul told his young assistant Timothy that God’s Spirit does not make us timid.  Instead, it emboldens us to live a life of love and self-discipline.  Paul wrote this from prison awaiting execution.  Clearly, there is a peace about living in God’s will, even when the way is unclear or involves suffering.

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In the Christmas story, we find many people who discovered peace in the midst of suffering and confusing situations because they placed their faith in God.  They believed he had a plan and trusted him to guide them through the darkness into light.  Mary had an unplanned pregnancy.  Joseph was confused how his girl could cheat on him and what to do about it.  The magi thought they knew where God was taking them, yet they ended up in the wrong city!  They almost became political pawns in the process.  Joseph, Mary, and Jesus found themselves on the run from authorities.  Eventually, they became political refugees living as immigrants in Egypt, wondering when they could return home.  They had to live in a culture not their own, learn a new language that was foreign to them.  Many they encountered day after day probably hated them because of their foreignness! 

This was just in the first few years of Jesus’ life!  No wonder the writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus was made like us.  He was human in every way.  He understands our needs because he has suffered as we have.  Jesus came into our Egypt, our captivity, our exile.  He did not break sins’ shackles from the comfort of heaven.  He was “born into shit and straw” (to quote the ever-colorful Bono from U2).  This helpless babe had to trust not only his heavenly Father, but also his parents to protect him and love him.  Jesus suffered as we suffer.  He was tempted as we are tempted.  Through it all, he trusted his Father’s plan and walked in accordance with the Spirit of God.  This is what made him the Prince of Peace.  This is how he was able to save us from our sins.

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Christian living, Jesus, World Religions

Christian Reflections on the Taoist Way of Water

Posted on by Jay Givens

Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water;
But, for attacking the hard and strong, there is nothing like it!
For nothing can take its place.
That the weak overcomes the strong, and the soft overcomes the hard,
This is something known by all, but practiced by none.

Tao Te Ching 78, Lao Tzu, translated by John Wu, 1961

When I lived in Hawaii, I used to walk along a beach that had beautiful beige sand interspersed with the occasional outcropping of black lava rock.  As I would walk, I would hear the soothing sound of the crashing waves and watch the waters wash in and out on the shoreline.  The water was constantly giving way to the hard shore, crashing down on the beach before yielding and retreating.  Or so it appeared to me in the moment.  If I had a longer perspective, however, and could stand at that location for several millennia, I would see the shoreline slowly erode and dissolve into the unrelenting sea.  In fact, the sandy beach on which I loved to walk was actually created by the unrelenting waves pounding the lava rocks, coral reefs, and shells.  Ultimately, I would watch the island disappear entirely under the ocean’s constant advance and retreat, yet the sea itself would remain.  The soft overcomes the hard.  The rigid falls to the yielding.

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As the Tao Te Ching says, everyone knows water gains its power from its yielding nature.  We wash food off pots and pans with water.  We spray down homes or cars to remove dirt and grime.  We should know the way of yielding is powerful, that the weak eventually overcomes the strong.  So why do we seek “power” in the rigid, in the uncompromising, in the illusory “solid”?  Why are we so quick to fight for our “rights” or our vision of how the world should be?  Worse still, why do we double down when others make it clear that our view of reality is askew or our accusations against others are false rather than confess or mistake?  It is so hard for us to yield, much less to deny ourselves.  Speaking of sand, the Tao’s thrust can also be seen in the truth that you can hold more sand in an open hand than in a clenched fist.  The harder you try to cling to a loved one, the more you push them away.  The open hand is the beneficial way of truth, fairness, and goodwill that builds better friendships and achieves more through love and trust than the clenched fist ever will through control.

The only clenching of the fist, for a Christian, should be to grasp firmly onto your cross as you follow after Jesus.  The Taoist statement fits well with Jesus’ emphasis on dying to self, turning the cheek, going the extra mile, and loving your enemies.  We are called to be the yielding yet unrelenting presence of love.  This is the way ultimately to achieve justice in the world.  Consider Martin Luther King’s open handed work in the Civil Rights Movement.  He learned it from the Gospels and from Mohandas Gandhi’s open handed work to liberate India from British rule.  Gandhi learned this from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as well as the Jain concept of Ahimsa.  Interestingly, the Jain symbol of Ahimsa is the open palm!

The prophet Amos used this imagery of water overcoming rocks to communicate what God desires from us.  Amos says worshiping God isn’t through sacrifice or beautiful music.  True worship is when we let “justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (5:24, NIV)

When someone makes false accusations against us, we instinctually respond with fight or flight.  But we need to engage them in love, quietly endure the accusations, and trust others to defend you.  Too many Christians are hardening themselves into culture warriors, yet Jesus wept for Jerusalem for just that issue.  He knew his fellow Jews wanted to overthrow the Romans through force and foresaw that this would destroy their city, their witness, and many of their lives.  

It will be interesting to see what happens in Iran.  The government is approaching the people’s outcries with hardened clenched fists.  Will the peaceful protests overcome?  Will they devolve into hardened tactics?  Likewise, Putin keeps hardening his position against Ukraine.  Putin sees himself as a defender of Orthodox Christianity against a corrupt West, but does he walk the way of Jesus, denying himself and taking up his cross?  The same chapter of the Tao Te Ching tells us the way of water for politics.  “To bear the calamities of a country is to be the prince of the world.”  This sounds more like Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime leadership to date.  Yet can he practice true weakness or will the Ukrainians eventually harden in their fight with Russia and commit the same types of atrocities inflicted upon them?  The way of water is “known by all but practiced by none.”  None, perhaps, but Jesus, who took the calamities of his people upon himself and has become the King of Kings.

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Christian living

Marking the Trail

Posted on by Jay Givens

I recently hiked a mountain before sunrise.  In the pitch-black night, it was very hard to see the little blue spray paint strips that marked the trail.  A few times, I had to stop and search for several minutes before I could find that I was still on the path.  (Or at least once, how to return to the path!)  I was very thankful that frequently there was a much more visible marker to guide me—the Bates cairns, like the one in the photo.  These rocks are intentionally stacked in a pattern to be easily recognizable as well as directional. (The top rock points out the direction of the trail.)

These rocks remind me of our calling as followers of Jesus.  If Jesus is the Way (Jn 14:6), then we are to point others toward this Way.  We have this high calling.  Peter tells us that we are to be holy as God himself is holy (1Pt 1:16).  Holy is actually a good way to describe the cairn.  The rocks that make it up are holy rocks.  They have been set apart (the literal meaning of the word “holy”).  These rocks are set apart for a special purpose.  They are not like the common rocks lying around in the foreground of the photo.  Instead, the cairn rocks are living stones built by a Master Craftsman (1Pt 2:4-5), “living” because they guide people each and every day. 

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We should be like these living stones.  We should live up to our special calling, pointing others toward the Way, guiding them upward along the path.  Our purpose is to serve–guiding those on the path, helping them succeed in their journey.  We accomplish this by the way we live our lives each day.  Our good deeds should lead others to glorify God (1Pt 2:12).  We are to be a witness to the Way. This witness must be consistent, even when others mistreat us.  Some hikers intentionally deface the cairns.  Others build their own cairns, imitating what they do not understand.  Both actions create problems for later hikers, who are impacted by such destructive tendencies (intentional or not).  In a similar way, there are times when we will be abused or maligned.  Some will see our good deeds but will assume evil intentions or ascribe false motives.  When this happens, we are called to honor those who mistreat us and not to seek retaliation.  Jesus himself gave us this example when he endured the cross (1Pt 2:15-17, 23).  Let us follow his lead as we point the way toward him.

1 Peter 1:13-2:25

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Bible, Christian living, creation care

Creation Cries Out

Posted on by Jay Givens

A devotional written for Creation Care Week at Wayland Baptist University. Published on Earth Day 2022.

If you missed it somehow, a war is raging in Ukraine the past two months.  While stories of the war seem ever-present in our newscasts and newsfeeds, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is by no means the only war presently occurring in the world.  What, you might ask, does war have to do with Creation Care?

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War does not only have a heavy human toll through death, dismemberment, and mental trauma.  Nor is it limited to the destruction of cities and infrastructure necessary for civilization and human thriving.  War also affects the environment.  One study of greenhouse gas emissions released by weapons of war discovered 1.2 million metric tons of gases were released during the twenty year global War on Terror—an annual emissions rate more than double that generated by all U.S. automobiles.  Wildfires from incendiary bombs or simply human negligence is another threat.  In 2008, a wildfire destroyed large portions of the forests of Borjomi and Khagarauli national parks during Russia’s war with Georgia.  During the battles around the port city of Kherson, fires erupted in the Black Sea Biosphere Refuge, fires severe enough to be seen from space.  The biosphere was the winter home for many migratory birds and an important breeding habitat.  Even when habitats aren’t destroyed, the frequent movement of troops and equipment and the constant noise of war leads to disruption of the animal population.  According to a Georgian environmentalist, there was a noticeable migration of animals fleeing over the Caucasus Mountains from Chechnya to Georgia during the Chechen insurrection against the Russian Federation in the 1990s.

War also creates ecological damage when human industry is targeted.  Intentional damage to oil export equipment along the Black Sea has destroyed marine habitat.  The sudden closures of mines in the Donbas region as civilians flee the current Russian assault may result in toxins seeping into aquifers as no one is at the mines to ensure proper pumping operations.  Chemical plants and nuclear power plants could being hit, releasing toxins or radioactive material into the atmosphere, land, and watershed.  And the ecological impact of this war isn’t limited to Europe.  Ukraine and Russia account for a third of grain exports worldwide.  Between the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and Western sanctions against Russian exports, the United Nations warns a food crisis will likely impact Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. 

Creation is in distress because of human actions.  As Paul puts it, “creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it” yet there is still “hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into . . . freedom and glory.”  This hope is rooted in creation’s “eager expectation” for the disclosure (apokalupsin) of the “Sons of God.”  Creation waits for this hope, groaning in its suffering and crying out in its anticipation of this apocalyptic moment when the Sons of God reveal themselves as healers, redeemers, and liberators (Rom 8:18-22).  Now, your English translation might have “children of God” (as the NIV does) instead of the literal “Sons of God.”  “Children” certainly is a more inclusive term and does fit Paul’s overall meaning, but “children” loses the symbolic nuance of what Paul is asserting. 

The term “Son of God” was a term for the kings of ancient Israel.  When Jesus was called “Son of God” during his earthly life, those who used the title meant the human king who would restore David’s kingdom.  (Only after the resurrection does the title begin to develop divine signification.)  Paul says Christians are kings (and queens).  We are part of Christ’s mission.  We are to work to establish the Kingdom of God.  Paul tells us we are adopted as sons (and daughters) by God to be “co-heirs” with Christ, sharing both in his suffering and in his glory (Rom 8:15-17).  Jesus himself referred to believers as Sons of God.  “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. . . .  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Sons of God” (Matt 5:5, 9).  Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has argued that Vladimir Putin is the Defender of the Russian Orthodox faith on a divine mission to reclaim the sacred lands of Holy Rus (a land that includes Ukraine).  Yet Jesus says the true Sons of God are not warmongers or authoritarian strongmen, whether Tiberius Caesar or Vladimir Putin, but are instead meek peacemakers.

As we strive to see the Lord’s Prayer realized, working with the Father to bring earth into alignment with his will just as heaven already is (Matt 6:10), we should be reconcilers, peacemakers, and healers—not just for humans, not only for societies, but for creation itself.  While we will not fully realize our potential until Jesus returns and the Kingdom comes in its fullness, we are called today to live in the Spirit and to strive to live up to our calling as kings and queens (i.e., Sons of God) co-reigning with Jesus.  Can you hear creation?  It cries out with Jesus, “Blessed are the meek!  Blessed are the peacemakers!”

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References

Image by Anastasia Vlasova from Getty Images as used in the ABC News story below. “A rocket sits in a field near grazing cows on April 10, 2022 in Lukashivka village, Ukraine.”

The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011 (with clarifying modification).

Anthes, Emily. “A ‘Silent Victim’: How Nature Becomes a Casualty of War.” The New York Times, April 20, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/13/science/war-environmental-impact-ukraine.html

Jacobo, Julia. “Experts Predict Lasting Environmental Damage from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.” ABC News, April 20, 2022. https://abcnews.go.com/International/experts-lasting-environmental-damage-russias-invasion-ukraine/story?id=83347671

Kekenadze, Davit. “The Environment: The Silent Causualty of the Ukraine War.” Euronews, April 17, 2022. https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/17/the-environment-the-silent-casualty-of-the-ukraine-war

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Bible, Christian living

When Life Comes Crashing Down

Posted on by Jay Givens

How do we respond to life crashing down around us? The prophet Jeremiah understood this question all too well. He was called to be God’s servant in Jerusalem during the final decades of the Hebrew monarchy. Jeremiah had to help his countrymen wrestle with trusting God while the Babylonian army laid siege to their city on multiple occasions. He wrote to the first wave of exiles to Babylon, encouraging them to make sense of the radical changes in their life. He attempted to help those left behind to understand how God could possibly be in control of all the chaos surrounding them. He himself felt the weight of years of seemingly fruitless ministry and cried out to God: How long did he have to keep doing this? What was the value of his existence? Ultimately, Jeremiah wasn’t even able to remain in the land of his birth. He was kidnapped by Jews fleeing to Egypt–Jews who subsequently refused to listen to his encouragement to rebuild their relationship with God.

Within the book of Jeremiah, there are two stories placed back to back to emphasize the two different responses we can have whenever the very foundations of our life is shaken to the core. These stories appear in Jeremiah 18:1-12 and 19:1-15. Whether it was the nation of Judah in the sixth century B.C., America in the twenty-first, our community, our church, or our individual lives–these two stories show us the right and wrong way to respond to crisis.

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In the first story, God tells Jeremiah to go and watch a potter at work on his potter’s wheel. Jeremiah sees a clay pot being made by the potter, but as he watches the pot becomes imperfect. The potter then smashes down the clay pot and begins his work all over again. Soon, a new pot rose up out of the clay that once had been the first pot. The new pot did not retain the imperfections of the first pot. It was new . . . yet it originated from the same old lump of clay. God spoke to Jeremiah in that moment. God asked Jeremiah if he could not do the same thing to the nation if they would turn to him and trust him. God told Jeremiah that even though life as the Judahites had known it was going to be completely upended by the terrible destruction that was coming, he could use this troubling time to rebuild the nation into something better . . . if the people would trust him through the chaos. Isaiah, at a different point in time, used the same imagery to emphasize that we are nothing more than clay; God alone is the potter. We cannot reform ourselves or work away the flaws within us. We must trust him with our lives–flaws and all–and believe that he can rework us into something beautiful and useful to his service. And so we pray not only that God will remake us but will not remember our sins forever (Is 64:7-9).

In the second story, God told Jeremiah to purchase a finished pot from the potter’s home and take it, along with the elders, to the valley of Ben Hinnom, a place containing shrines to various foreign gods. Jeremiah told the people judgment was coming to the nation and it would be as destructive as what was about to happen to the pot in his hands. Jeremiah then threw the pot down to the ground and it shattered into irreparable pieces.

What was the difference between these two pots? Why did one shatter so it could never be put back together while the other could be remolded and reformed? The answer is in the character of the pots themselves. The pot in the first story was still made of soft clay while the pot in the second story had been hardened in a kiln’s fire. Jeremiah was telling the people that the life-shattering events coming to Jerusalem could not be stopped. The city would fall. The temple would be destroyed. Many would be killed and others taken into exile. Only a few would remain in the land, but life as everyone knew it was coming to an end. Life was going to crash down around them. That was inevitable. But how it would impact them wasn’t? If their hearts were still soft, if they trusted God and held on to the steadfast hope that the potter was compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness (Ps 86:15), God could reform them into something new. This did not have to be the end, even though the smashing was coming. God could work even that destruction for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes (Rom 8:28). If they resisted, however, if their hearts were hardened to his work and his call, if they loved the other gods more than him, then the very same smashing would destroy their lives and leave them irreparably damaged.

You can see these two responses play out in life-shattering events all the time. The same situation can hit two families or two individuals. While both have their lives upended, one family comes closer together through the experience while the other is ripped apart; one individual finds new life and new purpose even in the midst of heartache while the other turns to drugs or alcohol to numb the pain, or even to suicide in hopes of escape.

In all of our lives, there are times when the world crashes down upon us. When those times come, some of us cry out to God in the midst of our brokenness while others try to rebuild our lives on our own. Peter and Judas both experienced the sorrow of Jesus not starting the revolution they hoped he came to lead. Both saw Jesus sentenced to crucifixion. Judas let it destroy his life. He only saw the crucifixion but didn’t wait to see what lay beyond. He only focused on his role in bringing it to pass. On the other hand, Peter, even though he ran away instead of defending Jesus and denied knowing him in order to avoid his own death, discovered hope on the other side of the sorrow. He experienced the resurrected Jesus. Both these men’s stories revolve around the story of Jesus, who himself experienced the crashing down of life in his betrayal, suffering, and agonizing death. Yet in the midst of the darkness, Jesus entrusted himself to his Father, who proved himself faithful by raising Jesus from the dead. So when life crashes down, be like Jesus and trust God all the way through to the end. Keep your heart soft and attentive to God in the midst of the chaos. Avoid the temptation to harden your heart and reject the help of God and others. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living and active today in the midst of your chaos.

newborn – we are tender and weak
in death – we are rigid and stiff

living plants are supple and yielding
dead branches are dry and brittle

so the hard and unyielding belong to death
and the soft and pliant belong to life

an inflexible army does not triumph
an unbending tree breaks in the wind

thus the rigid and inflexible will surely fail
while the soft and flowing will prevail

Tao Te Ching 76
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