What Matters: Mustard Seeds, Mulberry Bushes and Faith

"Increase our faith" the disciples cry out (Luke 17:1-7)

When we read the news, when we struggle with health diagnoses, when we worry about the next generation growing up, we feel overwhelmed and pray, like the disciples, "Increase our faith."

In our series on What Matters, we reflect on the power of faith and our culture's need for faith to confront the challenges it faces.

Unfortunately (fortunately, really) we cannot gain faith from Jesus.  Rather, we recognize that it is not about what we have or don't have, but that all Jesus has and has given to us is sufficient.  And so, we get to work, invited by Jesus, to use what little faith we have to move mulberry bushes!

The artwork is "The Mulberry Tree" by Vincent Van Gogh, currently on display at the Norton Simon Museum.

What Matters: Lazarus, Abraham and Jesus

In the middle of the Gospel of Luke (16:19-31), Jesus tells a haunting parable about a rich man, a poor man (Lazarus) and a heavenly messenger (Abraham). 

It would be easier if the parable simply spoke about ultra rich, but the more we ponder it, the more we realize it is about us, our money and the people in need around us.  The parable makes abundantly clear, that in God's eyes, Lazarus and others in need are in help and in need of care.  Which makes us wonder -- do we do enough for the Lazarus's of our lives?  Are we like Abraham (or even Jesus), who show unending compassion for those in need?

The more we ponder the parable, the more we realize that we too are in need of help, help that only Jesus can give.

The artwork is by James Tissot and is housed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

When you come to a fork in the road: Confess!

Love your neighbor.  Turn the other cheek.  Go the extra mile.  and ... when you are gonna lose your job, cheat your boss by making side deals with his clients so you can get a future job.  

What???

Jesus today tells a bizarre parable (Luke 16:1-13) that highlights the reality that this world isn't one that is full of mercy and honesty.  How do we as Christians navigate this, where we know we are supposed to live as Christians in a world that isn't very Christian?

It can be tempting to compartmentalize -- but Pastor Rob offers another way.  When we live in our daily life we inevitably have to make hard decisions.  We cannot escape real life and its problems.  Nor can we decide we don't have to be Christians with this decision.  Instead, we decide, confess the sin inevitably embedded in the decision and then trust that the Lord can make good out it.

The Lost Sheep

 

Pastor Rob acknowledges living in two worlds: "Real Life" and "Screen World," with an increasing effort to block out "Screen World."  Yet certain events from "Screen World", that is the national news cycle, enter into our "Real Life" in touching ways.  This week brought some of those events.

Into that swirling storm, we hear the beloved and familiar story of the good shepherd seeking the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-10).  Pastor Rob reflects on how we can become like sheep, eating a diet of fear, anger and affirmation of prejudices until we have wandered from the teachings of Christ.  Our society has become lost in the bramble, focusing on demonizing the other rather than seeking the lost. 

The way forward is repentance, repentance that requires humility and hope, precisely the kind of repentance made possible by God.

The image is from Artist Miki de Goodaboom.  She has an online art gallery that includes Biblical images.

Carrying Your Cross

 

Jesus is locked in!  (Luke 14:25-33).  As he turns toward Jerusalem, where he will be crucified, he is no longer interested in drawing crowds, but his interested in making disciples.  To winnow out those not focused, he challenges his disciples to pick up their cross. 

Pastor Rob reflects on what it means to pick up our cross.  This does not mean to die for the sins of the world like Jesus.

Rather, carrying our cross means doing challenging things, even sacrificial things, for others. 

But with this command also comes the pitfall of thinking that every person's suffering and challenge is ours to redeem.  It is not.  Following Jesus also means entrusting others and situations to his cross, not ours.

This is a hard thing to figure out - when to carry the burden and when to entrust it to God.  For this reason, we must follow Jesus, because working through this decision involves time with Jesus, in prayer, holding to the promise that in the cross of Christ, there is finally redemption.

Where do I sit?

"Where do I sit?"

This is the question that most students ask the first day of school, especially at lunch.  This involves more than simply convenience or even friendship, but the question of "coolness" and the reality of social status and rank.

Ultimately, this question isn't simply for first day high school students, but for all of us, as we face the lunch rooms of life, those situations where we have to figure out our social status.  

In a parable today (Luke 14:7-14), Jesus takes us the reality of social status and the question of "Where do I sit?"  He first teaches humility but then goes deeper, turning the whole status game on its head.

To be Seen

When Jesus heals a woman in today's Gospel reading (Luke 13:10-17), the first step is that he sees her.  There is something powerful in life when we are seen by another person.  In this case, "to be seen" does not mean "to be noticed" by others, but when somebody else understands what we’ve been through and where we want to go.  The other person sees in us the pain and the possibility of our lives. 

We yearn to be seen.

Yet, we often make it difficult, if not impossible for others to see us.  Shame around illness and the way in which illness becomes our identity cuts others off from seeing us.  

Jesus, as savior and Lord, does see us, and therefore can heal us.

The artwork is done by Artist Barbara Schwarz, a Dominican Sister.  Her gallery is found here.