Today is a look at the third temptation and how it is another way to show how Jesus, like Israel, is called into a contrary witness and life. From The Peaceable Kingdom by Stanley Hauerwas.
Finally, Jesus is tempted to act as the priest of priests, to force God's hand by being the sacrifice that God cannot refuse. In short, Jesus is tempted to play the hero, to take his life in his hands, to be in control of his destiny, and thus to force God's kingdom to be present because of his sacrifice. But such a heroic role contrasts starkly with the man who died on the cross, subject to others' wills. For by being so subject we see that finally it is not his will but God's that is worked out through his life and death. The resurrection, therefore, is not an extra-ordinary event added to this man's life, but a confirmation by God that the character of Jesus' life prior to the resurrection is perfectly faithful to his vocation to proclaim and make present God's kingdom. Without the resurrection our concentration on Jesus would be idolatry, but without Jesus' life we would not know what kind of God it is who has raised him from the dead.
It is so important to remember that Jesus is not the sacrifice that moves God's hand. Rather, the whole life of Jesus is the vocation of the Reign of God. This is how life in the Reign of God is. This is the life of the Son of God. This is, you could say, the life of faithful Israel. There is a day in that day out way of being known to the world. In the resurrection God says "Yes" to this life that has been Jesus...a life that breaks the bounds of death so that all of us can walk in that way. The God of Israel is not a "gotcha" God. That is how the idols of the world work. Our God is one whose compassion and love is embodies on behalf of others because that is the life of God's beloved in the Reign of God. There is no religious game playing - there is only a radical life that gives a face to God's in breaking Reign.
Connection: There is a life that God marks as the life within God's Reign. We are urged to look to that life that is affirmed in the Resurrection - the life of Jesus. It is, in some ways, a reminder of the life that is handed to us a followers of Jesus within this ordinary kind of Friday.
We are brought into the day, O God, with the vital and strong voice of the resurrection saying "Yes" to the life of Jesus and the life of freedom and hopefulness that is ours even as we face the powers of fear and brutality and anxiety within this day. Keep us mindful of this gracious "yes" that sustains and encourages. Amen.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday 28 August 2008
Yesterday I sent too many...today it is late. We continue with Stanley Hauerwas and the connection he makes between the temptation of Jesus and Israel...and the Reign of God (temptation #2).
Again the devil tempts him, this time with dominion, with kingship even greater than that of the great David. It is a dominion that can bring peace to the nations, since one powerful king can force all to his will. But again Jesus rejects such dominion. God's kingdom it seems, will not have peace through coercion. Peace will come only through the worship of the one God who chooses to rule the world through the power of love, which the world can only perceive as weakness. Jesus thus decisively rejects Israel's temptation to an idolatry that necessarily results in violence between peoples and nations. For our violence is correlative to the falseness of the objects we worship, and the more false they are, the greater our stake in maintaining loyalty to them and protecting them through coercion. Only the one true God can take the risk of ruling by relying entirely on the power of humility and love.
"Our violence is correlative to the falseness of the objects we worship." I suppose we could direct this comment to the religious extremist that have turned to acts of terror in our day. Then again, we could also turn this comment and direct it at ourselves. The ways of war - no matter how we choose to wage war - reflect the objects we worship...and as Hauerwas notes - their falseness. When we are hungry for the wealth and power of petroleum, we will do anything to keep it as a vital part of our lives...anything. How do we worship the Prince of Peace when we pledge allegiance to false gods that demand that we sustain them so that they can survive. Isn't odd how we build up objects of worship. They are supposed to be a force greater than us...and yet, they demand that our blood be spilled and that we sacrifice the welfare and the shalom of the world for the sake of propping up what we think is so vital to our lives. The one true God does indeed risk being something new among humanity. We are invited to be a part of that new age and new way - shalom.
Connection: It is not easy to come to grips with the things and forces of our lives that we have turned into gods for which we are willing to kill and go to war. Every day it is good for us to look again at all that attempts to rule us.
Come, O Lord of Peace, and teach us again the ways of your loving power so that we do not fall for the games of war anymore. Amen.
Again the devil tempts him, this time with dominion, with kingship even greater than that of the great David. It is a dominion that can bring peace to the nations, since one powerful king can force all to his will. But again Jesus rejects such dominion. God's kingdom it seems, will not have peace through coercion. Peace will come only through the worship of the one God who chooses to rule the world through the power of love, which the world can only perceive as weakness. Jesus thus decisively rejects Israel's temptation to an idolatry that necessarily results in violence between peoples and nations. For our violence is correlative to the falseness of the objects we worship, and the more false they are, the greater our stake in maintaining loyalty to them and protecting them through coercion. Only the one true God can take the risk of ruling by relying entirely on the power of humility and love.
"Our violence is correlative to the falseness of the objects we worship." I suppose we could direct this comment to the religious extremist that have turned to acts of terror in our day. Then again, we could also turn this comment and direct it at ourselves. The ways of war - no matter how we choose to wage war - reflect the objects we worship...and as Hauerwas notes - their falseness. When we are hungry for the wealth and power of petroleum, we will do anything to keep it as a vital part of our lives...anything. How do we worship the Prince of Peace when we pledge allegiance to false gods that demand that we sustain them so that they can survive. Isn't odd how we build up objects of worship. They are supposed to be a force greater than us...and yet, they demand that our blood be spilled and that we sacrifice the welfare and the shalom of the world for the sake of propping up what we think is so vital to our lives. The one true God does indeed risk being something new among humanity. We are invited to be a part of that new age and new way - shalom.
Connection: It is not easy to come to grips with the things and forces of our lives that we have turned into gods for which we are willing to kill and go to war. Every day it is good for us to look again at all that attempts to rule us.
Come, O Lord of Peace, and teach us again the ways of your loving power so that we do not fall for the games of war anymore. Amen.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday 27 August 2008
The next three days will deal with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and how it is a way to view the tie between Israel and Jesus as imitating God's way. How Jesus' life was seen as the recapitulation of God's way with Israel is perhaps nowhere better presented than in the temptation narratives.
For in the wilderness Jesus, like Israel, discovers his vocation through being tempted to pervert God's gift to Israel. In the first temptation we see Jesus so identified with Israel that he experiences Israel's perennial desire for certainty of her own choosing. Is he to be like Moses and turn stone to bread? Surely it would be a good thing to turn stone into bread, to be a ready resource to feed the hungry and the poor. But Jesus rejects that means of proving how God reigns with his people knowing that the life offered Israel is more than bread can supply (Luke 4:4).
Isn't that so much within all of our minds and hearts - the certainty of our own choosing. Whatever that may be, it is often the power that turns us away from the call to live within God's Reign. Rather, we take off and attempt to be a part of a reign we have in our mind...a reign that we may be able to control and direct and make a life for ourselves. I just realized how funny "make a life for ourselves" sounds. That is part of the idolatry out in the wilderness...part of the temptation that confronts our Lord and one that is pecking at us each day. We forget that "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." We all have plans for how we will make it. How we will turn stones into bread. How we will somehow be the power that can turn us into somebody. So Jesus moves through the temptation that is so much a part of us and Jesus is not moved by its power to persuade. Rather, he holds to the promise and renounces the power within the day that attempts to turn us into something we are not.
Connection: Watching the political conventions and listening to pundits do their thing reminds me of the importance of being watchful in regard to how we want the world to move. So much "buzz" it is enough to turn a promise into just a self-indulgent day.
Come, Lord God, Come and lead us through the wilderness and feed us with your grace. Too often we turn from you and attempt to be our source of life. It never works. Empower us to trust in you alone. Amen.
For in the wilderness Jesus, like Israel, discovers his vocation through being tempted to pervert God's gift to Israel. In the first temptation we see Jesus so identified with Israel that he experiences Israel's perennial desire for certainty of her own choosing. Is he to be like Moses and turn stone to bread? Surely it would be a good thing to turn stone into bread, to be a ready resource to feed the hungry and the poor. But Jesus rejects that means of proving how God reigns with his people knowing that the life offered Israel is more than bread can supply (Luke 4:4).
Isn't that so much within all of our minds and hearts - the certainty of our own choosing. Whatever that may be, it is often the power that turns us away from the call to live within God's Reign. Rather, we take off and attempt to be a part of a reign we have in our mind...a reign that we may be able to control and direct and make a life for ourselves. I just realized how funny "make a life for ourselves" sounds. That is part of the idolatry out in the wilderness...part of the temptation that confronts our Lord and one that is pecking at us each day. We forget that "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." We all have plans for how we will make it. How we will turn stones into bread. How we will somehow be the power that can turn us into somebody. So Jesus moves through the temptation that is so much a part of us and Jesus is not moved by its power to persuade. Rather, he holds to the promise and renounces the power within the day that attempts to turn us into something we are not.
Connection: Watching the political conventions and listening to pundits do their thing reminds me of the importance of being watchful in regard to how we want the world to move. So much "buzz" it is enough to turn a promise into just a self-indulgent day.
Come, Lord God, Come and lead us through the wilderness and feed us with your grace. Too often we turn from you and attempt to be our source of life. It never works. Empower us to trust in you alone. Amen.
Wednesday 27 August 2008
The next three days will deal with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and how it is a way to view the tie between Israel and Jesus as imitating God's way.
How Jesus' life was seen as the recapitulation of God's way with Israel is perhaps nowhere better presented than in the temptation narratives. For in the wilderness Jesus, like Israel, discovers his vocation through being tempted to pervert God's gift to Israel. In the first temptation we see Jesus so identified with Israel that he experiences Israel's perennial desire for certainty of her own choosing. Is he to be like Moses and turn stone to bread? Surely it would be a good thing to turn stone into bread, to be a ready resource to feed the hungry and the poor. But Jesus rejects that means of proving how God reigns with his people knowing that the life offered Israel is more than bread can supply (Luke 4:4).
Isn't that so much within all of our minds and hearts - the certainty of our own choosing. Whatever that may be, it is often the power that turns us away from the call to live within God's Reign. Rather, we take off and attempt to be a part of a reign we have in our mind...a reign that we may be able to control and direct and make a life for ourselves. I just realized how funny "make a life for ourselves" sounds. That is part of the idolatry out in the wilderness...part of the temptation that confronts our Lord and one that is pecking at us each day. We forget that "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." We all have plans for how we will make it. How we will turn stones into bread. How we will somehow be the power that can turn us into somebody. So Jesus moves through the temptation that is so much a part of us and Jesus is not moved by its power to persuade. Rather, he holds to the promise and renounces the power within the day that attempts to turn us into something we are not.
Connection: Watching the political conventions and listening to pundits do their thing reminds me of the importance of being watchful in regard to how we want the world to move. So much "buzz" it is enough to turn a promise into just a self-indulgent day.
Come, Lord God, Come and lead us through the wilderness and feed us with your grace. Too often we turn from you and attempt to be our source of life. It never works. Empower us to trust in you alone. Amen.
How Jesus' life was seen as the recapitulation of God's way with Israel is perhaps nowhere better presented than in the temptation narratives. For in the wilderness Jesus, like Israel, discovers his vocation through being tempted to pervert God's gift to Israel. In the first temptation we see Jesus so identified with Israel that he experiences Israel's perennial desire for certainty of her own choosing. Is he to be like Moses and turn stone to bread? Surely it would be a good thing to turn stone into bread, to be a ready resource to feed the hungry and the poor. But Jesus rejects that means of proving how God reigns with his people knowing that the life offered Israel is more than bread can supply (Luke 4:4).
Isn't that so much within all of our minds and hearts - the certainty of our own choosing. Whatever that may be, it is often the power that turns us away from the call to live within God's Reign. Rather, we take off and attempt to be a part of a reign we have in our mind...a reign that we may be able to control and direct and make a life for ourselves. I just realized how funny "make a life for ourselves" sounds. That is part of the idolatry out in the wilderness...part of the temptation that confronts our Lord and one that is pecking at us each day. We forget that "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." We all have plans for how we will make it. How we will turn stones into bread. How we will somehow be the power that can turn us into somebody. So Jesus moves through the temptation that is so much a part of us and Jesus is not moved by its power to persuade. Rather, he holds to the promise and renounces the power within the day that attempts to turn us into something we are not.
Connection: Watching the political conventions and listening to pundits do their thing reminds me of the importance of being watchful in regard to how we want the world to move. So much "buzz" it is enough to turn a promise into just a self-indulgent day.
Come, Lord God, Come and lead us through the wilderness and feed us with your grace. Too often we turn from you and attempt to be our source of life. It never works. Empower us to trust in you alone. Amen.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Today the quote from Stanley Hauerwas is repeated with the material that follows.
Israel is Israel, therefore, just to the extent that she "remembers" the "way of the Lord," for by that remembering she in fact imitates God. Such a remembering was no simple mental recollection, rather, the image remembered formed the soul and determined future direction. "To remember the works of Yahweh and to seek him, i.e., to let one's acts be determined by his will, is in reality the same. Consequently, to 'remember' the 'Way' from the Reed Sea onwards is to act now on the basis of the relationship between God and Israel there revealed, and in so doing to appropriate it, and know it to be most real."
Thus the call of the prophets to Israel was always a summons to return to the vocation of an imitator Dei: God "asks of people that they shall reflect his own character, so far as it can be reflected within the limitations of human life.... When the prophets denounced harshness and oppression and called for compassion for the unfortunate, they were calling people to reflect the character which was uniquely expressed in God's deliverance of God's people." For Israel, therefore, to love God meant to learn to love as God loved and loves.
We must remember that this "imitation" takes place because we are brought into the Reign of God by the action of our God. It is an imitation in response to the God who invites us to live as though the Reign is here. We see what that life is as we look at Jesus. His life, lived with and on behalf of the least and outcast was a life rejected by the powers of the world and yet, it was the life that was raised up by our God as the way God's Reign is to be. This affirmation of Jesus life give us a view of life that is within the vision of our own lives. The foundation is laid. The ground is already beneath our feet. We are invited to live as though God's action of raising Jesus is the power that moves us to live within the vision that was already present among Israel.
Connection: It is not easy to remember that we are a part of this Reign of God that awaits our coming to life within it...as though this is who we are and will be.
Take us by your hand, O God, and lead us into the character of your Reign so that the world may experience through us the bold and gracious presence of what you have called all of us to be as you are present with us. Amen.
Israel is Israel, therefore, just to the extent that she "remembers" the "way of the Lord," for by that remembering she in fact imitates God. Such a remembering was no simple mental recollection, rather, the image remembered formed the soul and determined future direction. "To remember the works of Yahweh and to seek him, i.e., to let one's acts be determined by his will, is in reality the same. Consequently, to 'remember' the 'Way' from the Reed Sea onwards is to act now on the basis of the relationship between God and Israel there revealed, and in so doing to appropriate it, and know it to be most real."
Thus the call of the prophets to Israel was always a summons to return to the vocation of an imitator Dei: God "asks of people that they shall reflect his own character, so far as it can be reflected within the limitations of human life.... When the prophets denounced harshness and oppression and called for compassion for the unfortunate, they were calling people to reflect the character which was uniquely expressed in God's deliverance of God's people." For Israel, therefore, to love God meant to learn to love as God loved and loves.
We must remember that this "imitation" takes place because we are brought into the Reign of God by the action of our God. It is an imitation in response to the God who invites us to live as though the Reign is here. We see what that life is as we look at Jesus. His life, lived with and on behalf of the least and outcast was a life rejected by the powers of the world and yet, it was the life that was raised up by our God as the way God's Reign is to be. This affirmation of Jesus life give us a view of life that is within the vision of our own lives. The foundation is laid. The ground is already beneath our feet. We are invited to live as though God's action of raising Jesus is the power that moves us to live within the vision that was already present among Israel.
Connection: It is not easy to remember that we are a part of this Reign of God that awaits our coming to life within it...as though this is who we are and will be.
Take us by your hand, O God, and lead us into the character of your Reign so that the world may experience through us the bold and gracious presence of what you have called all of us to be as you are present with us. Amen.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday 25 August 2008
Here we hear a bit of that importance of the remembering of Israel - Stanley Hauerwas.
Israel is Israel, therefore, just to the extent that she "remembers" the "way of the Lord," for by that remembering she in fact imitates God. Such a remembering was no simple mental recollection, rather, the image remembered formed the soul and determined future direction. "To remember the works of Yahweh and to seek him, i.e., to let one's acts be determined by his will, is in reality the same. Consequently, to 'remember' the 'Way' from the Reed Sea onwards is to act now on the basis of the relationship between God and Israel there revealed, and in so doing to appropriate it, and know it to be most real"
I find this to sound like our remembering at the Lord's Table. When the story is told and we participate in that Meal, our character for life is being shaped again. The notion of our Lord being "really present" is a reality that is pulling at us and moving us out into the world from our places of worship as a people who are ready to walk in Jesus' way. A people is being shaped - both as individuals and as a body. We move from worship after the meal connected to and a part of the story that we have been hearing. The break of bread the drinking of wine is the life that is ours. In a world that is afraid of being broken for the well being of others, this is a vital story that gives us a life that is quite distinct and radically new in any age. We are remembering into the future.
Connection: I think worship is meant to send us into the stories we hear as the community gathers. The next time we hear the stories...remember that we are there and it surrounds us with life.
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and take us into this day as your followers who long to be alive within your gracious Reign. Amen.
Israel is Israel, therefore, just to the extent that she "remembers" the "way of the Lord," for by that remembering she in fact imitates God. Such a remembering was no simple mental recollection, rather, the image remembered formed the soul and determined future direction. "To remember the works of Yahweh and to seek him, i.e., to let one's acts be determined by his will, is in reality the same. Consequently, to 'remember' the 'Way' from the Reed Sea onwards is to act now on the basis of the relationship between God and Israel there revealed, and in so doing to appropriate it, and know it to be most real"
I find this to sound like our remembering at the Lord's Table. When the story is told and we participate in that Meal, our character for life is being shaped again. The notion of our Lord being "really present" is a reality that is pulling at us and moving us out into the world from our places of worship as a people who are ready to walk in Jesus' way. A people is being shaped - both as individuals and as a body. We move from worship after the meal connected to and a part of the story that we have been hearing. The break of bread the drinking of wine is the life that is ours. In a world that is afraid of being broken for the well being of others, this is a vital story that gives us a life that is quite distinct and radically new in any age. We are remembering into the future.
Connection: I think worship is meant to send us into the stories we hear as the community gathers. The next time we hear the stories...remember that we are there and it surrounds us with life.
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and take us into this day as your followers who long to be alive within your gracious Reign. Amen.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday 22 August 2008
This is a wonderful way to look at the relationship between Israel and God and through that...a look at all of us who follow Jesus - again Stanley Hauerwas.
...the task for Israel, indeed the very thing that makes Israel Israel, is to walk in the way of the Lord, that is, to imitate God through the means of the prophet (Torah), the king (Sonship), and the priest (Knowledge). To walk in the way of God meant that Israel must be obedient to the commands (Duet.8:6); to fear the Lord (Deut.10:12); to love the Lord (Deut.11:22); and thus to be perfect in the way (Gen.17:1). But the way of obedience is also the way of intimacy, for Israel is nothing less than God's "first-born son" (Ex.4:22). Moreover Israel has the knowledge of the Lord as a just and compassionate God and so Israel too must act justly and with compassion. (Jer.22:16).
I like the reminder that it is a people who are called into this journey - this life - this way of imitation. We are all drawn into this life that comes as the Reign of God becomes visible. In fact, that is what is called for...the whole of the people becoming the image of God's Reign. This is not individualize "faith." This is about life...community life that enlightens the world and calls all people to look again at the fullness of what God is doing among us with power and mercy, grace and forgiveness so that all things will be transformed into a new age.
Connection: Keep in mind the "we" as we live into the faith we carry with us.
When you call us, O God, you call all of us. At times, it is so easy to think of our journey as merely one we take on by ourselves. And yet, it is as individuals that we are called to join others as part of the life within your Reign. Encourage us to move out from our own world and enter the world of your blessed and living promise. Amen.
...the task for Israel, indeed the very thing that makes Israel Israel, is to walk in the way of the Lord, that is, to imitate God through the means of the prophet (Torah), the king (Sonship), and the priest (Knowledge). To walk in the way of God meant that Israel must be obedient to the commands (Duet.8:6); to fear the Lord (Deut.10:12); to love the Lord (Deut.11:22); and thus to be perfect in the way (Gen.17:1). But the way of obedience is also the way of intimacy, for Israel is nothing less than God's "first-born son" (Ex.4:22). Moreover Israel has the knowledge of the Lord as a just and compassionate God and so Israel too must act justly and with compassion. (Jer.22:16).
I like the reminder that it is a people who are called into this journey - this life - this way of imitation. We are all drawn into this life that comes as the Reign of God becomes visible. In fact, that is what is called for...the whole of the people becoming the image of God's Reign. This is not individualize "faith." This is about life...community life that enlightens the world and calls all people to look again at the fullness of what God is doing among us with power and mercy, grace and forgiveness so that all things will be transformed into a new age.
Connection: Keep in mind the "we" as we live into the faith we carry with us.
When you call us, O God, you call all of us. At times, it is so easy to think of our journey as merely one we take on by ourselves. And yet, it is as individuals that we are called to join others as part of the life within your Reign. Encourage us to move out from our own world and enter the world of your blessed and living promise. Amen.
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