Tag: faith

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, sermon, Uncategorized

Nunc Coepi (Now I Begin!)

Posted on by Jay Givens

Judges 13-16

Philip Rivers was an eight-time Pro Bowl Quarterback who primarily played for the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers. A Roman Catholic, Rivers frequently referenced a phrase he attributed to a nineteenth century priest: Nunc Coepi, which roughly translates as, “Now, I begin.” Rivers said this phrase helped him do his best. Whether he had a bad play or a good play, he would say, “Nunc Coepi!” (I must begin again.) Whether he threw a touchdown or an interception, he had to begin again. Nunc Coepi! He applied this to his work, to his faith, to his relationships, and to his life. So can we.

In the book of Judges, Samson is the person most discussed—four chapters. Jdg 13:2-5 begins with a great promise. Though his mother was barren and childless, the angel told her she would have a son. Nunc Coepi–she must begin again! This child was to be set apart as a Nazirite from birth. If a Hebrew took a Nazirite vow, they set themselves apart until the vow was fulfilled. Samson, however, was to be a Nazirite even from his mother’s womb. This meant he was never to drink wine or any fermented drink; he was never to touch anything dead; and he was never to cut his hair. (Normally, Hebrews would cut their hair at the fulfilment of their vow.) Samson had a divine call on his life. He was set apart to deliver the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines.

Yet throughout the chapters detailing the events of his life, we find that Samson denied his divine call. Instead of leading the fight against the Philistines, we always read about him being with the Philistines, especially Philistine women (his wife, a prostitute, Delilah). Slowly through the story, he violated his set apart status, cavalierly flaunting the rules given to him from birth. Though we are not explicitly told he drinks wine, the town of the woman he fell in love with is specifically said to have vineyards (Jdg 14:5). A few verses later, we read about what sounds like a bachelor party for his impending wedding (Jdg 14:10-11). In many other places in the Bible, we are told that feasting included drinking. It is hard to imagine this feast didn’t also include Samson drinking.

He joked and even bragged about touching dead things! He found bees making honey in the mouth of a lion carcass he had killed earlier. He ate some without telling his parents (obviously knowing they would rebuke him), thus touching an unclean dead body. But then he joked about it during the wedding feast in the form of a riddle to outwit his Philistine companions. Later, when the Philistines were attempting to kill him, he picked up a fresh donkey jawbone and used it as a club to kill a thousand Philistines. He then bragged about this feat by composing a verse and naming the place Jawbone Hill (Jdg 15:15-17)!

Finally, to get Delilah to quit nagging him, he told her the truth about his hair, the one remaining thing that set him apart as a Nazirite. If his hair was cut, he would be like any other man (Jdg 16:16-20). Sometimes, people think his hair was the key to his great strength, but it was only the final surrender of the things that set him apart to the Lord. His strength was from Lord (Jdg 16:20) through the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Jdg 13:25).

And so, Samson squandered his great promise. The Lord left him. The Philistines subdued him and gouged out his eyes. They turned him into a blind slave who worked for them. They would bring him out for entertainment in order to mock and insult him.

Samson’s story was intended by the author of Judges as a cautionary tale for the Israelites. Like Samson, they were born of great promise. The opening of Sarah’s womb was like the opening of Samson’s mother’s womb. The Exodus story was about the sudden birth of a new people of God who would enter a land promised to their ancestors. The Israelites were also set apart. Samson was to be a Nazirite. The Hebrews were rescued by God from slavery to be his treasured possession. As the Nazirite vow had rules to obey, so the Israelites were to obey the covenant to show their thankfulness to God for redeeming them from slavery (Exod 19:4-6). Like Samson, they violated the covenant (eventually losing their set apart status in the exile). They also had a divine calling. They were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy (set apart) nation. Through their communal life, they were to bless all the nations of the earth (Gen 22:18). Yet over and again, they wanted to be like all the other nations (1Sa 8:19-20).

Samson’s story is also a warning to the church! We were birthed in great promise through Christ Jesus’ defeat of death in his crucifixion and resurrection and his outpouring of life through the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:22-24; Rom 8:9-11). We are set apart through the filling of his Holy Spirit to love one another and to live as one body (2Cor 5:5; 1Jn 3:23-24; Eph 3:6). We have a divine calling to be his witnesses, to make disciples, and to labor for his kingdom (Acts 1:8; Mt 28:18-20; 1Tim 4:10). We must remember the great promise, maintain our set apart status, and live into our divine calling.

But even if we fail, hope remains. We are told in Judges 16:22 that Samson’s hair began to grow again. The hair is not magical or embued with power. It is simply a sign that he can reclaim his Nazirite status. Finally, at the end of his life, we read that Samson for the first time prays to God! It is never too late to turn back to God or call out to him (Jdg 16:28)! “Nunc Coepi!,” Samson thought. “Now I begin!” He placed his hands on the pillars of the temple filled with mocking Philistine crowds, pushed with all the might God bestowed upon him, and we are told his attempt to fulfill God’s call was greater in his death than it had been throughout his life (Jdg 16:29-30). So his tragic life ended in a tragic, though victorious, death.

But turning to God or rededicating yourself to him doesn’t have to have a tragic end. King Josiah found a scroll announcing the destruction of his nation. He was told by a prophetess that what was written there would only happen after his death, because he had repented on hearing the words. Did Josiah say (like King Hezekiah before him), “at least it won’t happen in my day!”? No. He said, “Nunc Coepi! Now I begin!” and started a massive reform movement throughout the land, attempting to change God’s mind! Though he wasn’t successful in stopping God’s destruction of Judah, he did delay it. And we are told that there was never a king before or after him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength (2Ki 23:25)! In the New Testament, Saul persecuted the early Christians, arresting many and standing in support of their death. One day, Jesus called him. Saul could have followed Jesus in a quiet manner but allowing his past actions to hold him back from service. But Paul instead said, “Nunc Coepi! Now I begin!” He became the most influential of the apostles, writing thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament.

In church history, just two examples more will suffice. Ignatius of Loyola was a military soldier known for womanizing and living a worldly life. A cannonball shattered his leg during one campaign. While convalescing, he began to read the lives of the saints and to reflect on the image of Jesus on the crucifix hanging on his bedroom wall. Suddenly, he said, “Nunc Coepi! Now I begin!” He not only became a committed follower of Christ but young men began to gather around him to learn from him of his way of devotion. This group eventually became the Society of Jesus (aka, Jesuits), which launched the first truly global missionary movement. John Newton was an English slave trader. After many years, he became a Christian. He said, “Nunc Coepi! Now I begin!” and studied to become an Anglican priest. He also an active abolitionist, helping to end the slavery in England. He is probably best known for writing the words to the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

Whether in your own life, your relationships with family or friends, your church, or your community, it is never too late to start something new. The venerable Bruno Lateri was the nineteeth century Roman Catholic priest Philip Rivers so often quoted. His full statement was, “If I should fall even a thousand times a day, I will with peace in my heart turn to God, ask his forgiveness, and begin again.”

Nunc Coepi! Now I begin!

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Advent

Surrender to the God of the Possible

Posted on by Jay Givens

Tim Allen starred in two very different Christmas movies.  In The Santa Clause, he plays Scott Calvin.  A messenger tells Scott he must become the new Santa Claus.  Scott has 11 months to get his affairs in order before reporting for duty to the North Pole.  During this time, he comes to terms with the responsibility thrust upon him, ultimately surrendering—even embracing!—the call.  Ten years later, Allen starred in Christmas with the Kranks.  Luther Krank spends most of the movie resisting cultural expectations for the Christmas season, enduring the gossip and scorn of his neighbors because of his choices.

These two characters relate in different ways to the story of Mary.  She is called in Luke 1:26-38 to surrender to a life that will be filled with limitless love, wonder, and grace (like Scott Calvin), yet also darkened by rumors, gossip, and misunderstandings (like Luther Krank).  Mary asks the question the gossips will ask throughout her life: how can a virgin bear a child?  Do not be afraid, is Gabriel’s encouragement.  You have found the Lord’s favor.  With God, nothing is impossible.

In the presence of God there is always an element of danger, like being in the middle of a violent thunderstorm.  Out in the bare elements, the raw energy and power of the storm can be fearful, even deadly.  From the safety of our home, however, that same raw power fills us not with fear but with awe at the beauty of the lightening and roar of the thunder.  In the same way, those who abide in God’s grace are safe within the dangerous presence of the living God.  Mary humbly accepts the call to serve God, even though she cannot imagine the path it will take.  Will you?

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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, 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, Jesus, sermon

When All Is Lost, Look to the Cross!

Posted on by Jay Givens

There is perhaps no better known verse in all the Bible than John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV).  Tim Tebow wore this scripture reference on his eye black during the 2009 National Championship.  During the game, Google reported over 90 million searches for the verse!  Even though the verse is well-known even by non-Christians, however, many Christians read the verse in isolation and do not consider its context within John’s gospel.  In particular, the two verses that precede it state, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14-15, NIV).

The story of the snake Moses lifted in the wilderness is in Numbers 21:4-9.  Jesus says that he himself must be lifted up as the snake, so it is important to understand what this snake was and how it functioned in the story of Moses to understand better the love of God for the world and why he would send his Son.

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The Snake Lifted Up in the Wilderness

First, we find that the people rebelled against God.  They grew impatient and questioned God’s ways.  They said he brought them to the desert to die, when in reality he was leading them through the desert to a land promised to their ancestors.  They complained there was no water, even though, by this point in the narrative, God had provided water on two occasions when it was desperately needed.  The people even asserted there was no bread, even though each morning they found a miraculous substance on the ground, a gift from God, which they could harvest, grind, and bake into bread.  But instead of being thankful for this bread from heaven, they despised it and called it “miserable” and “detestable.” 

What the people don’t seem to understand is that God was providing the best for them in the midst of a very bad situation.  They began to romanticize their old life in Egypt.  It isn’t stated in this story, but we read elsewhere how they reminisced about the diversity of food back in Egypt—forgetting they had been suffered as slaves there.  They also ignore the reality that the only reason they are even in the wilderness at this point was their lack of faith.  God had taken them rather quickly to the very edge of the Promised Land of Canaan, but instead of trusting God would help them conquer the land, they rebelled in their fear, so God cursed them to wander for forty years in the wilderness.  Yet despite their complaints and rebellion, God remained with them, guiding them and providing for them daily.

Even today we often think we know better than God and so we go our own way.  Sometimes we make destructive decisions for short-term moments of pleasure.  Other times, we act on what we think is a great opportunity only to discover many hidden traps.  Perhaps worst of all are the times we act like the these Israelites, following God half-heartedly but grumbling the entire time.  We neglect to see how our choices lead to slavery, lifelong consequences, hardened and embittered hearts, and/or even death.  This, however, is what the Israelites soon discovered.

Second, God judges the people’s sin.  Snakes came among the people and began to bite them.  Many of the affected people died.  If they thought God’s gift of Manna was miserable, just imagine how they felt now!  While some see the story as the act of a vengeful or vindictive God, the bigger picture emphasizes God is with the people through both good and bad times.  He is judging them not to punish so much as to discipline them.  Like a parent, he sees the direction their immediate choices will have on their future and the future of their children.  God hopes to correct them now so that they will mature in their faith and enjoy a better in the future.  He want to make them aware of their sinful state and its impact on their relationship with him and with each other.

Third, the people repent of their sins.  They agree with God that their actions are wrong (“we sinned against God”) and they ask Moses to pray for them.  Asking Moses to pray doesn’t mean they need a “professional” to whom they confess their sins.  Rather, it is a recognition that their sin wasn’t just against God but also against Moses’ leadership (“and we sinned against you”).  Asking Moses to pray for them was an act of repentance and reconciliation, acknowledging him as their appointed leader.  What is far more significant than who should pray, however, is what they ask him to pray: “take the snakes away”!

Finally, the Lord provided deliverance.  Moses is told to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole.  What God does is take the object of their suffering and affliction—the snakes—and turn it into the source of their healing and deliverance.  Death, in the shadow of the bronze snake, is transformed into life.  Chaos is given order.  Despair gives way to hope as one looks in faith upon the very image of despair.

Notice God says anyone “can look.”  When someone was bitten, they didn’t have to look.  If they did so, it was an act of trusting God, an act of faith. . . . but they didn’t have to.  In fact, what sense did it make?  There was a far more obvious solution: kill the snakes!  Don’t wait to get bitten.  But if you were bitten, there was a a more sensible action: take steps to remove the poison before it filtered through your body!  Imagine if a man showed up in Mariupol, Ukraine holding a staff with a bronze artillery shell on it.  If he told the people there, whenever you hear the whistle of an incoming shell, you’ll be fine if you just look at this bronze shell and trust God, they would think he was mad!  There are far better options!  Find an evacuation route to get out of the city.  Why stay in harm’s way?  Flee to a bunker to ride out the shelling.  Why remain in the open?  But this is just how ludicrous Moses probably sounded to the people back then.  Yet salvation doesn’t come through our own actions.  It comes from God and we need to trust him to provide for us in our times of need.

Also notice that God didn’t take the snakes away as the people requested.  Instead, God gave the people a bronze snake.  We are told that “when anyone was bitten,” if they looked at the symbol, they lived.  But God didn’t remove the snakes, at least not right away.  He provided a way through the situation, a way to bear up under it.  When someone becomes a Christian, they aren’t immediately translated into the Kingdom of God.  Rather, they remain here in this world of suffering, pain, and death.  But now they have been reconciled to God and he promises to provide them a way through the suffering, a way that leads towards healing and hope.  For the Israelites, they endured the snakes for a time.  They endured the wilderness for even longer.  But their story didn’t end there.  The goal was the Promised Land, the Land of Canaan that became the Land of Israel.  So we look to a future full of healing, joy, and life in the Kingdom of God, a hope made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Son of Man Lifted Up on Calvary

Here is the meaning of John 3.  Just as the snake was lifted up, so the Son of Man would be hung on a cross.  In the first century world, the cross was the most humiliating form of execution.  It was purposefully torturous to emphasize why no one should consider rebelling against the Roman Empire.  It was a symbol of rebellion, futility, and death.  Yet today, Christians see the cross as a symbol of forgiveness, hope, and life.  Many wear it as jewelry or hang it as art in their homes.  The snake and the cross were both objects of suffering and death that were transformed by the creative work of God into sources of healing and life.  Both were means of his salvation.  Christians hope for new life because the cross wasn’t the final word.  The cross was followed by the empty tomb, Jesus raised from the dead now seated in heaven.  Jesus suffered and died for us that we might live for him as we look to him in faith.

Just as in the wilderness, God doesn’t want to condemn the world.  He sent his Son to be lifted up so he could draw all people to himself.  But we have a choice, just as the dying Israelites did when bitten by the snakes.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (Jn 3:17-18).  Just as the snakes were already destroying the people because of their rebellion, so we are already separated from God and dying on account of our own sinful actions and choices.  There is only one choice that can heal.  When all is lost, look to the cross!

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Father Brian Jordan ministered to the workers at Ground Zero during the months of cleanup after September 11, 2001.  One day after mass, one of the construction workers, Frank Silecchia, approached him and asked, “Do you want to see God’s house?”  Soon, Father Jordan found himself descending with Mr. Silecchia into the rubble of the fallen towers.  After a while, they reached the lowest-most level where the foundation had been lain.  Eventually, they stood in front of a steel column that had survived the destruction.  Attached to the column that rose from the ground was a steel girder, a crossbeam, which held fast despite the weight of the building’s collapse.  As the priest looked into the eyes of the workers there, he saw hope rising within them from this remnant.  In the midst of the rubble and chaos of death and destruction all around them, these two steel beams stood in the shape of a cross.  These beams weren’t not simply part of the wreckage.  They were something far more significant.  These beams were a symbol of hope and endurance.  All was not lost in the shadow of the cross.

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When All Is Lost, Look to the Cross!
John 3:14-18 / Numbers 21:4-9

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sermon, Stories That Shape Our Life

Called to a Journey of Faith and Blessing

Posted on by Jay Givens

The Bible talks about the calling of Abraham and the subsequent people of God as “called” or “chosen.” Sometimes we see the Israelites and later Jews misunderstand this idea of “chosenness” and Christians sometimes struggle with the same misunderstanding. Being chosen does not mean that you are better than another. It doesn’t mean that you are God’s child and that God doesn’t care about those who are not called by the same name as you. To be called is to follow after God and to trust in him even when the way seems dark or obscure. To be chosen is to be a servant to live your life to bless God and to bless others. God sometimes calls us to a new occupation, a new city in which to live and minister. Genesis 12:1-8 tells us about the calling of Abraham. Much like Abraham, we must must decide if we will accept the call. Will we live the journey God choses for us or chose our own way and reject his call.

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Called to Journey with God

Abraham was invited by God to go into the unknown, learning only later that the land of Canaan is the land promised to him by God. Through the Abraham narrative, we travel to the Western Highlands of Canaan, the Negev of Southern Canaan, down to Egypt, back to the Negev and Western Highlands, throughout the region in a war narrative before settling back into the Negev. Along the way, Abraham built altars to God and prayed to God, he dug wells and planted trees, he worked with his neighbors, and he even fled from famine and set out in war. When he returned to the region after his journey into Egypt, God again told him that Canaan would be his home (Ge 13:14-17). All the way through the story, we see that Abraham was not alone. God was always with him on the journey, through the good decisions and the bad one.

We are journeying through an unknown time right now. It is a time of pandemic and a time of economic uncertainty, a time of political unrest and social upheaval. In your own journey, there may be a path through unplanned cancer or the death of a family member. You may be called to a new job or blessed with a new child. Through whatever situation you face, you are called to journey with God and to trust him along the way, no matter how dark the path or foggy and unclear the future.

Called to Walk by Faith

Abraham had to trust God in order to leave his home land and his family. Because of Abraham’s belief in God, he is considered righteous by God (Ge 15:1-6). The story makes clear that belief is not some sort of checklist of ideas to understand. Abraham is told he will have a son. We read soon after that he and Sarah totally misunderstand this and he has a son through her maid-servant Hagar. We also see that Abraham’s righteousness is not based on any action on his part at the time he is called righteous. If Abraham did anything, he walked out of his tent when instructed and looked up at the stars when instructed. The emphasis of the text is that he saw the stars, heard God’s promise that his descendants would be as numerous, and he put his faith in God that God was trustworthy to keep such a promise. We do find that such faith is later demonstrated by action, but Abraham’s righteousness is not based on action.

When the child of promise is finally born to he and his wife Sarah, Abraham must make a painful decision. He must sacrifice his son and through away the promises that were to flow through this child or he must disobey God’s call to sacrifice his son and thereby break covenant with the one who would provide the covenant promises through this son (Ge 22). He was between the proverbial rock and hard place. Abraham chooses allegiance to God over the hope of the promise, but God stays his hand and his son is spared. God then swears by himself that the promises made to Abraham through Isaac would certainly come to be (Ge 22:16-18).

In the New Testament, we are told that we are children of Abraham if we live by faith (Ga 3:7) and so are part of the stars and sand too numerous to count (He 11:12). The journey we are called to is the same type of journey as Abraham. We are called to journey by faith through this land. We are not to be loyal to our land for it is not our own. We, like Abraham, remain exiles longing for a heavenly city (He 11:13-16). Like Abraham living as a nomad in the land promised to him, we live in this fallen world awaiting the day God will resurrect it along with our bodies into the Kingdom of God. It is this but not now. It is here but not yet. We are foreigners and strangers living by faith in the one who calls us. When God calls us to a new city, a new profession, a new marriage, our allegiance is first to God over any personal preferences we might have. Abraham, when told that God’s way was a child of promise to be born of barren Sarah and not the “natural” child born of Sarah’s maid-servant, Abraham questions this and asks, why cannot Ishmael live under the covenant blessings (Ge 17:17-18)? What we want is not necessarily what we need. God is the one we trust.

Called to Be a Blessing

God’s calling to Abraham included a promise that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him (Ge 12:2-3). Throughout his life, we find him blessing others. He was a blessing to Lot, giving him his choice of the land (Ge 13:8-11), rescuing him from captivity (Ge 14:12-16), rescuing him in his prayers for Sodom and Gomorrah (Ge 19:29). He was a blessing to the cities who lost loved ones as war captives (Ge 14:16). He sought to be a blessing to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, asking if God would destroy the city if righteous remained in their walls (Ge 18:23-33). He was a blessing to the Philistines at Beersheba, creating peace between his people and them (Ge 21:22-34).

Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, says the promise to Abraham that his offspring would bless all nations (Ge 22:18) was fulfilled in Jesus. If we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise alongside Jesus, whether we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free (Ga 3:8-9, 14, 28-29). Today, Paul would have added “Democrat or Republican,” for we need to be more committed to King Jesus than to the USA or to any party that seeks to divide the body of Christ. (As Hebrews said above, we seek a better country and should have no ultimate allegiance to our current land.)

We see the promise of Abraham’s seed blessing others lived out in the story of Zacchaeus. When he announces that he will give half his wealth to the poor and repay fourfold anyone he has cheated, Jesus replies, “This man also is a son of Abraham” (Lk 19:9). That is, he is a blessing to others. We are called to bless others by being a servant to them. We have lots of opportunities that present themselves each and every day to be a son or a daughter of Abraham. Just a little thing we can do in the pandemic is to wear a mask in order to protect those more vulnerable than ourselves.

Have you ever pulled up to a drive-thru window and found out that the car in front of you paid for your food? Did you feel blessed? Did it make you want to pay for the person behind you so that they could share in the blessing you had experienced? Recently, a man ate at a Colorado restaurant for breakfast. His bill was $20.04. He asked his waitress how many employees were working that day. Seven, she replied. He asked her to make sure that every employee received the same amount of his tip. He wrote on the receipt, “COVID sucks! $200.00 for each employee today!” and tipped $1,400.00. That man was on a journey when he stopped by the restaurant. He saw others struggling through their own journeys. He chose to be a blessing that day. He trusted in something other than his personal resources that day. He trusted in community and enacted Jesus’ teaching that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Called to a Journey of Faith and Blessing (Ge 12:1-8)

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Jesus, sermon

Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord

Posted on by Jay Givens

As Jesus entered Jesusalem the Sunday before Passover, the people are said to shout part of Psalm 118, “Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord!”  While the people understood this to mean Jesus was coming as a conquering king, the psalm as a whole is more focused on the role of faith as trust in God through suffering, which Jesus lived out in that week leading up to his death.  The psalm also helps us think through our own response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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