SOAP on Matthew 18:15-17 – The Rule of Christ

Scripture: Jesus said, "If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him–work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love” (Matthew 18:15-17, The MESSAGE).

Observe the Context: This lesson occurs in a series of teachings about how Christians are to live together in community. It is helpful from time to time to stop and review our Lord’s teaching on community. Why? Because, “Where two or three are gathered together, there is Eris” (the
Greek goddess of discord). The early church lived out these lessons when Antioch and Corinth did not get along, when Paul and Peter were at odds, and when Paul and Barnabas later parted ways.

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Accepting the Embrace of God – The Process of Lectio Divina

In this season of Lent we are paying attention to the spiritual practices that help us center our lives around the Living God made know in Jesus of Nazareth. Today I want to introduce us to the habit of Lectio Divina, a spiritual way of ruminating with scripture so that we can live into God’s will for our lives. Listen to the following introduction:

A very ancient art, practiced at one time by all Christians, is the technique known as lectio divina – a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the Bible, the Word of God, to become a means of union with God. This ancient practice has been kept alive in the Christian monastic tradition, and is one of the precious treasures of Benedictine monastics and oblates. Together with the Liturgy and daily manual labor, time set aside in a special way for lectio divina enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm. Within this rhythm we discover an increasing ability to offer more of ourselves and our relationships to the Father, and to accept the embrace that God is continuously extending to us in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. (This is the introduction to Accepting the Embrace of God: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB).

The following are my reflections on a portion of our reading for today’s devotion:

"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone (Matthew 17:1-8, NRSV).

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SOAP on Matthew 13:52 – What’ the Right Price?

Scripture: Jesus said, "Then you see how every student well-trained in
God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his
hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it"
(Matthew 13:52, The MESSAGE).

Observe the Context:
This word from Jesus is offered in the midst of a sermon series of
parables on the kingdom of heaven. Among these parables are the
following:

Parable of the Sower – Matthew 13:1-9
Parable of the Weeds – Matthew 13:24-30
Parable of the Mustard Seed – Matthew 13:31-32
Parable of the Yeast – Matthew 13:33
Parable of the Hidden Treasure – Matthew 13:44
Parable of the Pearl – Matthew 13:45-56
Parable of the Net – Matthew 13:47-50

At
least one of the dominant threads in the warp and woof of the kingdom
of heaven is extravagance. A sower sows more seeds than makes sense,
wheat and weeds grow together, a tiny seed becomes a mighty tree, a
woman prepares biscuits for hundreds, a tremendous price is paid for a
treasure in a field or a pearl of great price, and many are the fish
caught in the kingdom net … even if some are discarded. Did the
crowds get it? Do we get it? We know the disciples did not get it.

The
disciple ask Jesus why he always teaches in parables and he begins his
answer with these words, "To you it has been given to know the secrets
[or mysteries] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been
given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an
abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be
taken away" (Matthew 13:11-12, NRSV).

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Marc Gellman on The Ten Commandments

Link: MSNBC – ‘We Hold These Truths to Be Sacred’.

"What Thomas Jefferson would say about the Ten Commandments today"

Web-Exclusive Commentary @ NEWSWEEK by Marc Gellman

March 2 – The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week about whether public displays of the Ten Commandments violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the American Constitution. I wish Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the amendment, were able to testify from Heaven or Boca Raton, whichever happens to be our appointed destination after death. (I’m betting on Boca.) I think he would have a few things to say.

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Go to Your Room – Why Solitude?

Just a word of relief as we begin today’s devotions. Father Killian McDonnell, a monk of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville (MN), offers the following on the notion of perfection:

Perfection, Perfection
I have had it with perfection. I have packed my bags,
I am out of here. Gone.
As certain as rain will make you wet, perfection will do you in.
It droppeth not as dew upon the summer grass
to give liberty and green joy.
Perfection straineth out the quality of mercy,
withers rapture at its birth.
Before the battle is half begun,
cold probity thinks it can’t be won, concedes the war.
I’ve handed in my notice, give back my keys,
signed my severance check, I quit.
Hints I could have taken:
Even the perfect chiseled form
of Michelangelo’s radiant David squints,
the Venus de Milo has no arms,
the Liberty Bell is cracked.

Last week we talked about Sabbath … wasting time with God. We are products of the Protestant Reformation and its accompanying "work ethic" so we find it hard to waste time. I suggest that today’s lesson will be even harder as I suggest that we need to be alone with God.

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SOAP on Matthew 10:8b – Love Held Hostage

Scripture: "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8b, NIV).

Observing the Context: In the tenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel we find Jesus sending his disciples out on their first mission. He charges them "to cure the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers" while receiving no payment, carrying no bag for the journey (no change of clothes) and trusting in "the kindness of strangers" (see Matthew chapter 10). This seems like a huge charge to the neophyte followers of Jesus who have only recently come down from the Sermon on the Mount. Buried in the middle of Jesus’ charge is the motto of my Seminary (Drew University School of Theology) the Greek phrase: "dorean elabote, dorean dote." This translates literally as "freely received, freely give," but more accurately is translated "given gifts, give gifts" according to then Dean of the Theological School, Thomas W. Ogletree (1981-1990). One of my mentors, Robert Jehu Bull, translated this little piece as "those to whom much is given, much is expected." As I heard these words I was sitting in a class of high-powered Greek and Latin graduate students who were being challenged to read Tertullian in the original languages. Since I was the lone student from the seminary I just whispered "thank you Jesus" that I was allowed to read this church father in English and I plunged into the semester.

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Stop and Go – What Is a Sabbath Anyway?

During Lent I am returning to a quote from John Ortberg in The Christian Century: "The true indicator of spiritual well-being is growth in the ability to love God and people. If we can do this without the practice of any particular spiritual disciplines, then we should by all means skip them" (as quoted in Scot McKnight, "Jesus Creed: What Is the Focus of Spiritual Life?" in The Christian Century, September 7, 2004, page 24).

Today I am asking us to pay attention to the Sabbath. Please note that I will not ask us to consider the notion of a community Sabbath or call us to re-invoke the Sunday "Blue Laws" of my childhood. Rather, I will point us to the need for each of us to find Sabbath, whether or not our culture dictates it!

Let’s turn to Matthew’s Gospel and read the following:

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath" (Matthew 12:1-8, NRSV).

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Ron Sider on The State of the Union on Poverty

Link: The State of the Union on Poverty by Ron Sider– Beliefnet.com.

Ron Sider is calling evangelicals to action. I posted his article "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience" which called Christians to reexamine their attraction / addiction to the values of the world in general and to USAmerican culture in particular. In this article he continues to challenge us to live into being fully devoted followers of Jesus … being "little Christs" in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther. Read on …

The State of the Union on Poverty: What would an honest evaluation of President Bush’s impact on domestic poverty look like? By Ronald J. Sider

I was one of about twenty-five religious leaders President-elect George W. Bush invited to talk with him about his faith-based initiative in December, 2000, right after the election was decided. I had been intrigued by his call for compassionate conservatism. That day, he told us there is a poverty of the soul and a poverty of the wallet. I agreed with him that faith-based groups are much better at correcting the first. But government, he said, can help with the poverty of the wallet. I was cautiously hopeful.

What happened? Vastly less than he promised, as David Kuo has recently pointed out.

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SOAP on Matthew 5:7 – What’s Love Got to Do with It?

Scripture: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy" (Matthew 5:7, NRSV).

Observe the Context: This is the fifth of eight beatitudes (see Matthew 5:1-12) and reflects a portion of the spiritual journey when one learns to love others as Christ first loved us (Len Sweet calls this the Titanium Rule). The spiritual journey laid out in the Beatitudes looks something like the following:

Blessed are the poor in spirit … those who know their lives are messed up.
Blessed are those who mourn … because they know there has to be a better way to live.
Blessed are the meek … because they seek for the real thing — God!
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … who after encountering the Living God for a moment continue in their quest to follow the One Who Is!
Blessed are the merciful … because in response to the great love shown to them they love others as God loves them.
Blessed are the pure in heart … for as they draw close to their neighbor in love they are also drawn closer to the giver of life.
Blessed are the peacemakers … who understand that one day we shall be called to account and they therefore desire to help us learn the way of Love made known not through aggression, but in persistent peace.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake … because no good deed ever goes unpunished by those who live by the world’s standards.

John Wesley expounded on the Beatitudes in the first three of thirteen sermons on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7 (See Wesley’s Standard Sermons: Discourse 1 – Sermon 21, Discourse 2 – Sermon 22, and Discourse 2 – Sermon 23).

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2.2 Fill My Cup, Lord

Read Matthew chapter 6. Someone once approached a teacher and asked her
how to cultivate a deeper life of prayer. The teacher’s response was quite simple, “Say the Lord’s Prayer, but take an hour to say it.” Today might be a hard day to take an hour to pray the Lord’s Prayer, but consider repeating it several times throughout your day. Records your thoughts at the end of this day … where was God made known to you in a special way?