Shotgun and Jesus

Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the Sons of Thunder ask Jesus if they can have the spots of glory sitting at his right and left. This reminds me of a game some of us play called shotgun. It is the right of the first person who thinks of it to call shotgun - that person then gets to sit in the front seat of the car with the driver instead of in the back. The rules of shotgun are interesting and they vary depending on the relational hierarchy of a given group. I have known groups who rotate the shotgun privilege and I know groups where one person always gets shotgun.

James and John are looking to Jesus and calling shotgun! They want to sit on his right and left in the seats of glory. Who wouldn’t, right? Well, unfortunately, as with many things shotgun does not apply to Jesus. In fact, Jesus says that he is not the one who determines who sits in the seats of glory and continues by saying that we do things differently around here.

The comedian Brian Regan tells a story about being the youngest child and always relegated to the middle of the back seat with his feet on the hump. Knowing that he would be forced to sit there, he begins to call shotgun to sit in the middle of the backseat. This is what Jesus is telling his disciples. If you really want to be a great disciple, you have to call the hump, not the front seat. You have to be willing to serve others first. Jesus came down to call the hump, to sit in the uncomfortable seat, to take one for the team, not to call shotgun so that he could be seen by other cars with his hand out the window and his sunglasses on. “The son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We are called by Jesus to recognize that it is more important for us to call the hump and let someone else sit up front than to rush to be the first to call shotgun.

Thirst for Righteousness

Jeremiah 2:4-13   God, the Living Water

John 7:14-31, 37-39   Drink of Jesus, the Messiah

I was watching the film “There Will Be Blood” and the main character is concerned with one thing:  Oil.  Finding it.  Retrieving it.  Beating other “oilmen” to it.  He adopts a son, the son goes deaf and he sends him away.  He struggles throughout his life to  deny all things but the search for oil importance.  And he succeeds.  He succeeds so fully that there is no question in anyone’s mind - including his son’s - that he is concerned with only that one aspect of life.

This is how we live without God.  Our spirits are left unfulfilled and thirst, as the beatitude says, for righteousness.  Jesus calls us to drink of God’s righteousness, to have our souls drink of the love and grace of God and to thirst no more.

Okay great, what does that mean?  How do we do that?

Perhaps we don’t focus solely on ourselves?  Perhaps we get together with people and share stories and have a meal together?  Perhaps we help people who can’t help themselves?  Perhaps we pray?  Perhaps we think introspectively about our spiritual well-being?  Perhaps we try to be better people every day in every way that we can?

Which sin is the worst?

What is it about sinning that so polarizes us?  It seems that in our churches today we argue over what is a sin and then we argue over which sin is worse?

In our scripture today from John 7:53-8:11 we read the familiar story of the woman who is caught in adultery.  In this story, Jesus is being set up by the religious leaders of the community to say something wrong so that they can put him on trial but instead of responding to their harsh and hasty questioning, Jesus stalls by bending down and writing in the dirt.

To me, this is genius.  This is what the great coaches do when being interviewed about controversial subjects, they deflect; this is what the press secretary for the white house does when dealing with tough foreign policy questions, he/she dances around the subject.

But Jesus takes it a step further, he stoops down to the dirt, but not down to their level - their level of pettiness and distrust of him and his teachings.  He writes in the dirt, then  he raises his head to say these simple, yet biting words:  “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Immediately after saying this, he stoops down again until they all leave and then he addresses the woman.

What does it take for us to stop with the accusations and polarizations.  It seems to me (and to most biblical scholars) that a few major themes run throughout the bible and one of them happens to be portrayed here–that every human is a sinner, and our only help is God.

It drives me crazy when people are ostracized for any reason, but when we ostracize people because of what we consider to be sinful in our own lofty sense of right and wrong it goes against everything the Christian religion teaches.

Basically, what I’m doing here is taking a very simple and very powerful teaching of Jesus, and making it more complicated.

I hope to live in a world that doesn’t hate based on any one religion - that means other faiths, sexual orientation, skin color, country of origin, other genders, etc…

These simple words mean a lot to me:  “Let anyone among you who is without sin cast the first stone.”   Amen!

TRC mess cont.

    So, I found out that Arlen Specter is one of the representatives from Pennsylvania, the state from which the Philadelphia Eagles hail.  The Eagles were beaten in the Super Bowl a few years ago by the NE Patriots.  Specter said in a CNN interview that the potential cheating of his favorite team was the reason his interest was sparked by the ’spygate’ controversy.

So, basically, his worries over cheating NFL teams had nothing to do with morality, or how cheating is wrong, or sets a bad example for young fans.  No, his interest stemmed from the potential forfeited Super Bowl title that would be awarded to the Philadelphia Eagles.  It sickens me.

Hopefully back to scripture tomorrow.

This Roger Clemens mess

    I have tried to resist watching any news concerning Roger Clemens, much less write about it.  But it seems like Capitol Hill might have more important things to do than to have a congressional hearing on whether or not a baseball player ever cheated.

On the same day - today, Congressman Specter is meeting with Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL to ask him about the New England Patriots cheating.  These hearings seem awfully strange.  Aren’t there more important things for congress to do besides policing of self-policing agencies such as the MLB or the NFL?

I was hoping to post something that dealt with our scripture passages for today, but my mind is on the ineptitude of A) leagues of professional athletes that cheat to win who think that we’re dumb enough to believe that Roger Clemens wife ever took HGH and that we need justice for an NFL team who cheated, but then lost anyway and the ineptitude of B) a government who feels the need in the midst of an election year and on the brink of a recession to meet with sports professionals.

Anyway, our scriptures for today are Exodus 34:1-9, 27-28 and Matthew 18:10-14.

Deadwood’s own Cain and Abel

    I was watching Deadwood last night.  Deadwood is an HBO series that tells the story of Deadwood, a frontier camp that hopes to get annexed to the United States during the age of the gold rush.  The show contains nudity, coarse language and very adult themes, so be cautious if you choose to watch.  But the reason I mention the show - the episode I watched featured two brothers who owned a gold claim together arguing about whether they should sell it or not.  The one man decided that selling was the more profitable venture and so shot his brother and kept all the money himself.

However, the story doesn’t end with the live brother taking his money and living happily ever after, instead we watch as the murderer goes through a range of emotions dealing with what he has just done.  He first becomes resolute, accepts the money and his actions, he then gets frustrated at all types of people and events that don’t warrant his frustration, and finally decides to threaten some very deadly people in an attempt to perhaps get himself killed.

In true Biblical fashion, the man is shot, but does not die.  He suffers for many days, but the doctor is able to help him and his chances to recover are good, however painful.

In the story of Cain and Abel, Cain kills his brother out of jealousy at Abel’s favor with God.  God punishes Cain, not by killing him back, but by forcing him to live with what he has done - in fact going so far as to make it impossible for Cain to be killed save by his own hand.

The interesting parallel made by our bible story and a very violent television show seems to be how a person might deal with such a terrible act.  As the snow falls peacefully outside of my window here in Jefferson City, MO I am reminded that our world is not as peaceful as many of us would hope.  That all over the world, arguments blossom into wars that pit families and friends against each other.  Right now, we fight a war based if not directly, then indirectly on the way we think things ought to be - whether those things be whose religion is best, the price of oil in the U.S. or which kind of government is best democracy or theocracy.

I don’t pretend to have any answers and perhaps people who do or pretend to are the reasons some wars are fought.  What I do know, is we can learn alot about what murder does to a person’s soul.  Cain was almost hoping someone would kill him after he realized what he did.  The murderer from Deadwood went looking for a reason to be shot.  No answers, only more questions.  How does one reconcile one’s extreme actions?

I could end this by looking at ways to reduce murder rates and giving spiritual direction for dealing with terrible things like murder in our world, but I’m more interested in the discussion this open ending might generate.  So what can we do to change the way people seem to act?  Can we do anything?  What do you think?

Hoops and Holy days

    Today is Wednesday, February 6th.  It is important for Christians because today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the season of Lent.  It is also important to people from North Carolina because today is yet another round in the epic saga of Duke vs. UNC (or at least, we fans think it is an epic saga).

I find myself quite torn between thinking like an aspiring Presbyterian minister who should remember that Ash Wednesday service is much more important than watching a college basketball game and thinking like a college basketball fan who drools at the excuse to stay home and eat nachos instead of celebrating communion with fellow Christians.

As I read the texts for today, especially 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 and Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, I am urged by the text to “return to God” and that “today is the day of salvation.”  Returning to God seems like a strange concept, have I really left God?  And thinking of today as the day of salvation…what does that even mean?  Then I remember that this morning I was worried that our Lenten service might not end in time for me to get home and see the tip-off.

Perhaps this is what is meant by returning to God.  Perhaps we are too occupied with our earthly concerns and not oriented enough toward God and God’s concerns?  Whatever the case, I will be hard pressed not to speed home as soon as the benediction is given.  But perhaps, between now and then, I can take some extra time to put aside in remembrance of this holy day.

Despite our basketball games, our homework, our friends and families pulling us in different directions, despite our own fleeting needs and wants, we can take a bit of time today to reflect on spiritual matters.  Perhaps we can even do as the prophet Joel says and “return to God” - at least until the basketball game comes on?

Opening Blog…who’s exicted?

Recently, my wife was in an accident and I was reminded of how fragile life can be. She’s fine today and will take 2 or 3 weeks to be back at 100%, but when someone you love gets hurt in any way, you are forced to take a step back and reevaluate what’s important in life.

So what is important in life? Ha! You’re crazy if you think I’m going to begin to tell anyone what is important in their lives. For everyone it is different, although most would agree that loved ones - whether they be family or friends or pets come pretty close to the top. See, I’m more interested in what is not important. The list of what isn’t important is going to be a lot more comprehensive and might give us a better idea of the way we tend to think.

So, when things are tough for us - when we have cause to question God’s presence in our lives, we need to remind ourselves what is and - more importantly, what isn’t important to us. It is important to remember we are loved, it isn’t important to stress over how popular we are.

This might be what Paul was referring to in Romans 11:1-6 when he discusses God’s grace for the nation of Israel. What are the people of God stressing over? Will we make it into heaven? Does God still love us? How can we know, and if we don’t, then what is the point? So Paul answers that in the past when things haven’t gone so great, God still loved and saved God’s people - at least the ones who still cared about what God thought - and God will continue to love God’s people forever and ever.

You are God’s person. Don’t forget that. There is nothing you can do to stop being God’s person. God has already begun to love you and there is nothing you can do to prevent that love. God has shown that God’s love doesn’t fail and that is one of the most important things in life. We love each other because God first loved us. We know how to love, because we are taught by God, by our parents, by our friends, by our pets even.

We need not worry about the love in our lives - at least not by God. God loves us no matter what, even when we get angry at God and don’t understand why your wife was in an accident. I know that God loves my wife, and didn’t cause her accident. I also know that when she was by herself in the hospital, before our friends and family arrived, and before I got there, God was with her. God is always with us and that is important to know.