Brian McLaren on part of the reason Jesus spoke in parables

Why did Jesus speak in parables? Why was he subtle, indirect, and secretive? Because his message wasn't merely aimed at conveying information. It sought to precipitate something more important: the spiritual transformation of the hearers. The form of parable helps to shape a heart that is willing to enter an ongoing, interactive, persistent relationship of trust in the teacher. It beckons the hearer to explore new territory. It helps form a heart that is humble enough to admit it doesn't already understand and is thirsty enough to ask questions. In other words, a parable renders its hearers not as experts, not as know-it-alls, not as scholars . . . but as children.

Now do some of the most famous sayings of Jesus begin to make more sense- about the kingdom of God belonging to children, about needing to become like a little child to enter the kingdom, about needing to be born again? Children are dependent, not independent. They can't learn unless they ask questions of people they trust. Their thirst for knowledge expresses itself in an unquenchable curiosity, a passionate inquisitiveness.

Brian McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus, 46, 47.

politics and the kingdom

(I overslept for the second day in a row. This of necessity must be short, since today I barely got up in time to get around. Tomorrow we continue the book by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg.)

Was Jesus political? Yes and no. If we mean in terms of this world, coming as an alternative party to work in the system, by all means no. But if we means in terms of "the kingdom of God" come in him, into this world, and yes into the political sphere, to begin transforming all things now, and someday to do so when Jesus returns, by all means, yes.

However while this is true, I wonder if we Christians who hold to it can easily get lost in it, and end up losing our identity and being sidetracked from our calling in its pursuit. There is no doubt that the gospel of the kingdom in Jesus is bigger than I was taught to think as a boy. It encompasses the reconciliation of all things in Christ, with the call to reconciliation to be sounded from us to all others. And from that our task on earth as those under God remains the same. Just thinking, and must end now....

preoccupied

In thinking through Ecclesiastes, one of a number of things that stands out is how the one "under the sun" learned, one might say, to keep themselves preoccupied with the good things of life, even including their work. Ecclesiastes is a challenging book to figure out, and how to read it with reference to the whole, as well as its conclusion (commentators often don't see eye to eye on it). That appeals to me, because it seems to reflect life, and our experience of it. It often makes little or no sense, and is full of complexities.

When I'm troubled over life, or my experience of it, I find, evidently like the writer, or the character, Qoheleth, "the Teacher" (or "Quester"- The Message), that I do well to get to the everyday task as well as routines of what I have to do, and am working on besides. Sooner or later I find a kind of pleasure in what is at hand, and I more or less, usually more or completely, forget the troubles, or they diminish. At the same time, I am working on bringing them to God and being in the word, something I can do more or less (a favorite phrase of mine today) all day on my job.

To be preoccupied with the good things God gives us can bring joy, as we receive them as God's gifts to us. And his gift to us includes our ability to work through difficult things in the way of Jesus. And as we receive this good gift from God, we can thank him for the help he will give us to see us through any trouble. And in the end, like the book of Ecclesiastes, we'll conclude that we're called to simply fear God, and keep his commandments. Finding in Jesus and in the way of Jesus a loving and gracious Father.

Any thoughts or something you'd like to share from your life on this?

relaxing with what one can do

I have several books I want to read now, all at the same time. Some are challenging intellectually, probably all of them to some degree. And there's just no way I have time to do justice to them all, or finish them as soon as I want to, or think I need to. Add to that other responsibilities, and you get the picture.

In such places, whatever it is we may be doing we need to learn to relax with what we can do, rather than hurry and end up distraught over what we can't do. In this we have the joy of working hard, but well. When I put too much on my plate, I can eat too fast, hardly enjoying the food, or at least not enough, and I am probably eating too much, and end up uncomfortable, at least. With too much to do, I can end up the same way, really getting little out of it, and glad when it's over. Hardly what was in my mind and heart at the beginning when I was eagerly looking forward to it.

In all of this is humility as well. It is a walk with God and with others in this life, not just me individually with God. We need God and each other. We each have our part in this, and we need to simply learn to relax with what we can do, what God has called us to do. As the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, "Much study wearies the body...The end of the matter is Fear God! And keep his commandments."

And we should love to work hard, but it should be like play as well. As much as that is possible in this fallen world, where toil and difficulty are inevitable.

What would you like to add here, or any thoughts?

a powerful film: Doubt

Deb and I recently watched "Doubt" (the film's official site), one of the most powerful films we have seen, and the end was one of the most powerful endings I've seen. Left me shaken, though not shaken in my faith. It deserved, in my book, to be nominated for five academy awards. Those with a Roman Catholic background might appreciate it more, and those who have abandoned the faith, including from what I gathered the director of the film himself (on special features I caught a bit of his commentary) would identify with it.

It is set in the 1960's and involves a priest specifically with one boy, and an older and young nun. You can come up with the rest of the general storyline yourself if you've been tuned in at all to the news over the last several years.

The film powerfully draws you in, so that the audience in a sense becomes part of it. You're left wondering or seeing firsthand the ambiguity of what was experienced in similar scenarios.

For us in Jesus who are committed to God through Christ and to the orthodox Christian faith as revealed to us in Scripture, and with the Spirit's continuing help to us, this film won't shake you, even as it does challenge us to think further through certain issues. Any good story which reflects the real world is one I'm ready to see on film. Our own lives and what we see in life make us readily identify with stories like this one.

Just a word of caution. For various reasons you may dislike the film or find it offensive. Nothing graphic is seen in it. I'm sure I missed some of the connotations (literally or figuratively) or perhaps innuendos in it (it's good for me to look up these words in a dictionary, myself). But if you don't mind a difficult subject and deep human interaction over it, than give this a look.

in the midst of troubles

It is often easier to have faith for someone or something that is more or less removed from us, than it is for something or someone more or less near to us. I wonder in part why that is. We ought to be most in prayer for what is going on around us. Surely there are a number of factors at work.

We see the problems firsthand, and indeed are often part of the problem ourselves, perhaps just as often unknown to us. This is the beauty of faith and of God's working. It includes everyone. One of the reasons I love the "Our Father", "Lord's Prayer." Sometimes it takes more faith to believe God will change something we've lived with for a long time, than it does to believe God can change something else removed from us. This is why we need to be praying for others with reference to the troubles they live in, as well as persevering in our weakness to hold before God our own troubles, and not give up. We in Jesus need each other, and we need to persevere in faith ourselves in the midst of ongoing problems.

Of course there's much more to say on this, and draw out on it. What would anyone like to add here?

on the edge

We would like to be on an even keel, completely calm, with no troubles, temptations, trials, or sins. This is not life in the here and now for us in Jesus.

Yes, the kingdom of God is a matter or righteousness, peace and joy by the Holy Spirit. And this should be a part of our experience. But we live in an existence contrary to the way of life in Jesus because of the world, the flesh and the devil.

So living in Jesus in this world involves living on the edge, so to speak. What I mean is not that we can feel free to deviate a bit from the straight and narrow. Not at all! But we must get comfortable with the reality that our lives here are not about being comfortable. That the way is narrow and difficult to life, and that we go through many hardships.

So we need to accustom and harden ourselves to the fact that life won't be easy here. Grace is free but not cheap, and full commitment alone is costly in terms of what is valued by humans especially in terms of this world. We are indeed people in process, and we are in a war zone no less, in spiritual terms, so we'd best accustom ourselves to this, and just accept it as a part of our lot in this world, together, in Jesus.

What would you like to add to this?

Tomorrow chapter 3, "Stringing Pearls" in Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg.

groans in our praying

Romans 8 tells us that we don't know how we should pray, but that the Spirit helps us with groans that words cannot express. Is this our groans or the Spirit's groans? I'm not sure, though it would seem grammatically that it is the Spirit who both intercedes and groans in us. But it seems that God's work in humans often includes humans so that we take on personally and from our hearts something of what the Spirit is doing, and indeed even the mood of the Spirit. I think I agree with Ben Witherington III who writes:

...Cranfield is probably right that what is meant are utterances or groanings that are imperceptible to the believer. The Spirit groans along with the believer, just as the believer groans as part of fallen creation.

Ben Witherington III, Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, 226

N.T. Wright has noted how we as believers in Jesus groan with the rest of creation for God's full renewal of all things, which begins with the redemption of our bodies in the resurrection.

When we seek to pray, just groaning should never be despised. This can be among the most powerful kind of praying and prayers. Even though we may not be uttering a word, not knowing what to pray, just our groans to God can be taken by, and/or come from the Spirit, who intercedes in us according to the will of God.

I often feel near groaning, at least a good part of any given day. And such often is the case when I am troubled in trying to pray for someone or something. But we should turn our groans "upward" in prayers to God, seeing them as something God can take as we think of those in need of God's intervention. And for ourselves as well.

I think I've found this helpful. When my prayer life may seem dormant, groanings may end up finding their way in and out of the throne room of God for the good of others, and the world, as well as ourselves.

How do you look at groaning as potentially being a most powerful kind of prayer? Or any thoughts on this?

putting God to the test

In the wilderness Satan tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple, since God had promised that he would send his angels to rescue his servant, so that none of them would dash their foot against a stone. I know Jesus was going through the same temptations as Israel of old, but unlike them, he was succeeding as the true Israelite, the unique son of God. At the same time we in Jesus live in many ways parallel to his days then. Notice Jesus' answer: "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (from Deuteronomy 6:16)

We are all tempted, and sometimes we think it's okay to give in in little ways. We know God is a god of grace and there is always forgiveness, and that no matter what we do, God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (though we very well, in our sin, may be leaving him). And somehow we believe that we need something that God has not given us. So that in effect we are doubting God's goodness and provision for us.

But the heads up here is that we must beware of putting God to the test. We can test and try God by our sin. When we make decisions that are questionable at best we do what Jesus refused to do: we jump off the high place and think there will be little or no consequences. God may give us what we want, but send judgment or discipline on us because he wants us to repent.

In what ways might we be putting God to the test? Is it presumptive on our part to assume that God will bless our disobedience, even in little things? Do we see that when we do this we are in effect doubting God's goodness and provision to us?

life is a journey

Recently I was reminded of how life is a journey, through hearing and then reading Ed Dobson concerning his one year of living as literally as he could, like Jesus. I look at my life and I think certain things are either missing in action, or are weak. I then tend to want to withdraw and bow out, really thinking what I have to share is secondary, or at least not as full as it needs to be. And in that assessment, I am surely correct.

But then I am reminded again that our lives are a journey. We are becoming, and we are to be following Jesus in this becoming. Jesus told his disciples to follow him and he would make them, fishermen as they were, to fish for people. I too want to be used by God to help the lost, the least and the last (as I just read recently somewhere). I want to get my hands dirty working in the Lord's vineyard. Since I work around Christians in my job, I don't have much contact with those who may not be believers. I'm inclinded to try to take advantage of that when I can, trying to strike up some fellowship with them.

We are on a journey in Jesus. We can't write off where we are if we're truly seeking to follow Jesus. We are weak and often failing, but we continue on. We know this is beyond us, but given to us in Jesus. We also know that if it's in our hearts to do what is good (like David, who wanted to build the Temple but was forbidden, yet made the plan from God and gathered materials for that work) and right, God values that, and likely we'll have our place and part in the work.

What might you like to share about this?

Tomorrow we are in chapter 3, "Stringing Pearls" in Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg.

wisdom comes slowly

God has promised wisdom for those who ask him and do not doubt his goodness. But we have to wait. We can get in the way of the wisdom God wants to give us in answer to our prayer about a particular matter or trial and then miss it altogether. Wisdom comes in its own time. And wisdom comes slowly.

Of course in a certain sense wisdom takes a lifetime. Our lives in a sense are a kind of testing, though God's testing of his people is to bring them along to full maturity as again we see in James. It is more like a growth toward maturity or analogous to advancing from one grade level to another. It is interesting that even Jesus grew in wisdom, though we should expect that since he became fully human.

It takes all of Scripture and all of life to gain the wisdom God wants and has for us. We want to shun the part that is unpleasant and not deal with it. And that ends up to our loss. Ecclesiastes imparts a certain kind of wisdom that Proverbs does not, and vice versa.

Wisdom comes slowly and I don't like that. Sometimes I'm restless and want wisdom now in regard to a particular situation. God will give it, but I must wait and receive it from him. Through prayer, and maybe through a passage in Scripture, or a friend or other person. I must keep my hands and heart open so to speak, knowing I need it and don't have it on my own. Ready to receive whatever God might be wanting to give me. And I can be a slow learner, and more like a no learner indeed.

There is certainly more to be said on gaining wisdom from Scripture.

What has God shown you about gaining wisdom? If we grow, or increase in wisdom over time, what does that say about where we are at now? Does that mean we shouldn't act with what wisdom we now have?

faith and feelings

In the near future (or not too distant) we will be looking at Matthew Elliott's book, Feel: The Power of Listening to Your Heart. I have found it an interesting book and I'm not really sure if it contradicts, or refines what I believe on the subject of feelings, or not.

Feelings certainly are important. We're humans and feelings are a big part of what makes us human. Our emotions are surely a reflection of being made in God's image. God while in essence not human- though having become fully human in the Son, Jesus- still is said to have emotions. Some think that is only an accommodation by God to us. But surely it is more. God's love and anger is more than just decrees that come from a passive, unemotional being. Of course God's emotions are untainted, without sin, and God is unlimited unlike us.

I can't live on emotions and feelings. Often, being a morning person, I'm naturally more into things and "psyched" in the mornings, and especially more so than in the afternoons, during which I'd do well to take a nap. I live by faith, in spite of feelings many times. But feelings do come and we need them. I should feel love toward my wife. I should feel love toward God and toward others.

I see feelings as an important byproduct of faith. Normally they should be present in some measure, but if they're not that doesn't mean our faith is empty and void, or unreal. There is "the dark night of the soul." We need to press on in faith, and press through to the reality of God in Christ by the Spirit, and in community with others in Jesus, for the world. And we need to live this faith life out, with all that accompanies it, through everything.

Much more to explore on this, and if you're interested check out the book I refer to above.

What thought might you have on this?

is wrestling with God bad?

On Halfmom's blog, Not Ashamed!, there is an excellent post and interesting discussion about wrestling with God. We agree that Jacob's wrestling was an expression of lack of faith on his part, but I think it was also an expression of faith. For if Jacob would have had no faith, he wouldn't have bothered to wrestle with God, but would have taken matters into his own hands.

Not all wrestling in Scripture is bad. We need to want God's blessing so badly that we refuse to rest until we enter into God's rest. I believe God is pleased with any expression of faith. Though God is not satisfied unless we're growing in our faith. Jacob wrestled with God because his situation looked dire. It looked to him as if God's promise might fail. Certainly a lack of faith there. Contrast an older Abraham (than the younger one, who also failed on this score) who when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac- in whom God's promises lived- obeyed.

I wish I didn't wrestle over certain matters. But I'm not there yet, to a faith which is at rest no matter what. But I want to press into that. To make every effort to enter into God's rest in Jesus and through his promises.

What do you think? Is wrestling with God bad? Or what might be good or bad about it? And I wonder what Jewish tradition on the passage of Jacob wrestling with God, might teach us.

Tomorrow, chapter 2: "Why a Jewish Rabbi?" from Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg.

a better name for this blog?

When I first started this blog, I entitled it, "the community of Jesus." Later I changed it to "the Jesus community, " and then simply to "Jesus community." I just don't find this an apt title for this blog anymore, at least in one important way. But I just haven't come up with a name to replace it.

"Jesus community" ideally for me means that there is blog interaction in a way that shares our lives, and what God is doing in them, insofar as this media can do that. In that sense this is certainly not happening. I've been too tired to do blogging justice, and for hours during a day I have no access to a computer. Of course this involves visiting each other's blogs, not just interaction on one blog.

I still like the title in that it represents for me something of what is central to us in Jesus and in our mission in this world. It's a mission centered in Jesus and lived out in community. So with that in mind, I can still happily keep the title, while being open to a better one.

What might Jesus community mean to you? How do you live it out? Or maybe better put, how is God moving you along that path over the months and years?

As the fine, helpful poem by Marcus Goodyear, "Stumbling out of Heresy", found here, points out, God's work takes time, indeed a lifetime.

the apostolic mindset

Going through 2 Corinthians is again a fresh reminder of what life is all about for us in Jesus. Although we aren't apostles (not to say in some sense that there might be apostles today, I believe there surely are according to Ephesians 4, but none of the apostles in exactly the original sense) we follow in their train in our following of Jesus. For the Apostle Paul, this was not an easy train. And it was one beset with fears from within, as well as from circumstances. He and his companions even felt the sentence of death on themselves, but this helped them grow in their dependence on God, being cast on him.

As I noted yesterday, it seems like I've been going through a short season of fear, at least largely irrational. Usually I just press through it and more or less ignore it, and it goes away as I continue to seek to follow Jesus and simply go on with life. Though sometimes I investigate concerns I have. But no matter what I read I still have to come back to trusting God through it all.

The apostolic mindset is what we need to put on and live from. It's not about us, or about our comfort, wishes, desires, longevity, etc., etc., etc. But it's about Jesus and our witness for him, and our love for God by following Jesus, and our love for our neighbor as ourselves, for our brothers and sisters in Jesus, for our enemies, for everyone. It's about the kingdom of God come in Jesus, our participation in that, and from that to the world.

What have you found about this, or any thoughts related?

grace when needed

God is faithful and his grace to us in Jesus comes when we need it. I don't know why life can seem so hard, and why I can be so fearful. I seem to be going through a season of fear right now, and I suspect it's related in part to the fact that I am more in prayer lately for people. It is evident that when more of God's light comes into our lives, the enemy's darkness can pursue us. But that helps us to become more dependent on God, and certainly more humble. More cast on him.

I find it wonderful that in answer to prayer God gives us the grace we need when we need it. It is like Scripture says, a multifaceted grace, and applies to whatever need we have. But it's answered in accord with God's will, and not our own will, or what we think we need, though we most certainly can ask and should ask in specifics. And we can be thankful for our strong sense of need, and realization that we do need him.

What have you learned on this that you would like to share with us?

the unknown

On our journey in Jesus there is always the unknown and fear which we can wrestle with over that. It may not be over just the general unknown, since none of us know all that will happen today or tomorrow, much less the following year, or decade. But it can be over problems and trials that have come and hit us, and make us wonder what is next, imagining at times, the worst case scenario.

This is not to say that the worst case scenario such as a loss of job, or even death, will not overtake us. But it is to say that God is with us in Jesus to see us through, so that on the other side we come out looking more like Jesus.

That is so to the extent that we trust in God through Jesus, and hold on to God's promises. As God bound himself with an oath to Abraham which meant that if God didn't see his promise to Abraham through, a promise that to Abraham seemed less and less likely, then God would destroy himself. We can rely on God's trustworthiness, and that he will fulfill all his promises to us given in Scripture, through Jesus, as we simply commit ourselves to him.

Our faith may indeed be small, weak and wavering, but like a wobbly tire at the top of the hill as it begins to go down, becomes straight, steady and gains momentum, so God can help us to become strong and steady in our faith, even through the hard times. So that like Abraham of old, our faith will be a part of who we are, unshaken and unsettled by life's inevitable changes and trials.

This knowledge can help us face the unknown when we're not sure of what lies ahead. We need to put our faith in God through Christ, and commit our way to him, knowing that he is faithful and will see us through as we seek with others in Jesus to follow him.

What would you like to add to this?

knowing and doing

Leo Tolstoy is known for some of the greatest writing ever, and for his powerful words on the kingdom of God and the difference that can make on this earth, and in this life. The problem is that he didn't live it out well, by some accounts. He and his wife lived in a love-hate (and maybe hate should be put in bold, or capitalized letters) relationship. (I learned this from this book)

We in Jesus know more than we do, or practice. As we go along in our lives, hopefully the gap is narrowing. I can look at my life and see how in some ways that certainly is true. The one who built his house on the rock in Jesus' story, not only heard his teachings, but based his life on them.

But is there value in someone's words, like Tolstoy's, even though it seems he didn't come close to living up to them? I think there is. He saw something in Jesus that was beautiful and true. Something that hopefully beckoned him on, and that most certainly helped him see that the answer is not in anything this world has to offer. A part of the hope in Jesus we have, as we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

What do you think on this?

quote: William Shakespeare on what God's people do

Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray...

Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 4.4, line 75, from Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, 115

moving through life

It's good to get a little taste of heaven. I did yesterday in what turned out to be preparation for me in receiving bad news, but news we'll work through. It was one of those unusual (I wish I didn't have to say that) days for me, when God's Presence was persistent and clear.

Now to live in that Presence all the time, and be changed by God more and more into the image of Jesus. That is what I want. And in that changing is a calling that is challenging. It involves faith, hope and love to the end. And it's marked by following the way of Jesus in this life as God's resurrection people, the way of the cross. And really caring about not just our own lives with God, but for our neighbors and beyond.

I'm grateful that confession to God means forgiveness and that we can go on, cleansed with a new start. And that God will be with us in Jesus by the Spirit to the end. That we can bear witness by our lives and words of all God's faithfulness to us through Jesus.

What might you like to add to this?