Emails to God

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

¹⁵ Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. ¹⁸ Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. ¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

²⁰ Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matthew 16:13-20

Dear God, I just had this thought while reading this passage this morning. According to our modern-day mission philosophy, we should be working every moment of every day to “save” every person on this planet that we can, yet Jesus seemingly spent his first 30 years on earth not really reaching out to anyone, and then he spent most of his public ministry obscuring the fact that he was the Messiah. Now, I understand that he couldn’t be completely inflammatory about himself being the Messiah or it would get the Pharisees to kill him sooner than he planned, but it’s still interesting that there was something of a cloak of secrecy about this.

I got to be with a group of eight men last night who have graduated (or are about to graduate) from the Christian Men’s Life Skills class. It was a lot of fun. Eleven weeks ago, we started with 24 men. Two have been re-arrested (I don’t know if they are out), two more left after the eight-week minimum, and a couple couldn’t come last night, but let’s say we are moving forward with 10 who intend to do this, and six end up walking this path together long-term. The men last night were talking about their changed lives. They were talking about their wives seeing the changes in them. They talked about the changes they see in each other and even a couple of guys who weren’t there. It was cool. But it reminds me that the path is narrow and difficult to walk and few will find it (Matthew 7:13-14).

Father, help me to continue to find the narrow path today. Help me to walk with these men on this path. And I’ll admit I’ve been feeling very selfish lately. Yes, I need a vacation, which I’ll get next week, but it feels beyond that. It feels like I’ve picked my ways to serve, but I’ve picked some pretty comfortable ways. I’ve thought of needs that I’ve ignored. They sounded too hard to help. So, Holy Spirit, move me and convict me when I need to be convicted. Show me what you would have me to do today.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

Parable of the Mustard Seed

²⁴ Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. ²⁵ But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. ²⁶ When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

²⁷ “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

²⁹ “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹ Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. ³² It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”

Parable of the Yeast

³³ Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”

³⁴ Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. ³⁵ This fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet:

“I will speak to you in parables.
    I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.”

Parable of the Wheat and Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. ³⁹ The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.

⁴⁰ “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

Matthew 13:24-43

Dear God, I’m so grateful Jesus gave us this parable of the wheat and the weeds. It low-key explains so much about how you call the church to work. It would have been so easy for this parable to not be there and then for Christians to justify going around and “getting rid of” (whatever that might mean, up to and including death) people who weren’t righteous enough for our standard. For example, the Spanish Inquisition, which ran almost 400 years. But Jesus was clear about this. Tearing out the weeds now while we are on this side of life could destroy us as well. In fact, who’s to say I wouldn’t be on the other side of someon else’s cut line? Who’s to say that I am not holy enough and don’t live up to the standard someone decides to set? What if my life it too weedy?

That’s the part that people (including me) miss when they try to set a standard for others to live up to? What if I am on the wrong side of the cut line I have laid out? I remember years ago when a donor didn’t think they were getting enough preferential treatment from our organization because they gave a certain amount of money each year. They gave about $3,000. I never told them this, but I wondered at the time, “What if your $3,000 isn’t considered to be a large gift here? What if I set the standard for preferential treatment at $5,000?” At the same time, there was a couple who would send $7 as a memorial donation every time a friend would die. It was the sweetest thing. I imagined the wife sitting down and writing her $7 check to mail in. I imagined them balancing the checkbook and seeing they had made two $7 donations that month for $14. How big of a percentage was that? Was that a moderen-day example of the widow’s mite? (Mark 12:41-44)

Father, I still have a lot to learn. I have parts of my life that are weedy. In the grand scheme of your world church and body, I could be so much better and holy. I almost skipped church this morning because I don’t want to go. Then I was lying in bed and I wondered if I wasn’t just incredibly ungrateful for a couple of the amazing things you’ve done for me lately. And that you’ve done for our community? Why am I not wanting to get there and really worship you? Because I’m selfish. Because I’m ungrateful. That’s why. I’m sorry, Father. I’m about to leave now to join my wife and a few hundred other people to worship you. I give you my heart, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

12 At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. ² But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”

³ Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. ⁵ And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? ⁶ I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! ⁷ But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

⁹ Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, ¹⁰ where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?” (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)

¹¹ And he answered, “If you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to pull it out? Of course you would. ¹² And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one! ¹⁴ Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

¹⁵ But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, ¹⁶ but he warned them not to reveal who he was. ¹⁷ This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:

¹⁸ “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.
    He is my Beloved, who pleases me.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
¹⁹ He will not fight or shout
    or raise his voice in public.
²⁰ He will not crush the weakest reed
    or put out a flickering candle.
    Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.
²¹ And his name will be the hope
    of all the world.”

Matthew 12:1-21

Dear God, I’m trying to understand having so much rage toward Jesus that I not only want to kill him but that it causes me to willfully ignore that fact that he just performed an amazing miracle. I want to believe that if I had been there I would have interjected to the Pharisees, “Did you not just see that he healed this man’s hand?!?”

I’ll be frank. Right now, I see national Christian leaders doing things that seem so foolish. I see what Al Mohler has been saying and proposing to Baptists (and the world) about women not just being pastors in the church but having the right to teach a group of people at all and I shake my head. Has he not seen how you have used women throughout history (including biblical history) to teach and lead? I see how church leaders bend over backwards and contort themselves into different positions to justify bad behavior by the politician they favor simply because of the letter (D or R) that is in front of their name (this one is on both sides of the aisle). It feels like Christians have lost the faith that the Sermon on the Mount still counts for today’s age and instead of loving our neighbors as ourselves and working to persuade them to worship the Jesus we know, they are grabbing for power to ensure that the ideals (not Jesus) get forced on everyone. I had lunch with a pastor a couple of years ago, and I complained about gerrymandering, and he countered with, “What that’s what [the other side] does too.” I told him that doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

I heard a man say a few years ago that Jesus used four tools to impact the world around him and four tools only. And that is all he left us: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering (PSPS). That’s it. But I see the church now, much like the Pharisees 2,000 years ago, feeling threatened and instead of leaning into Jesus and praying, serving, persuading, and willingly suffering, it is trying to cling to power so that we can impose our will on our neighbors from the top down. Not much love in that.

This passage is from Matthew 12. In Matthew 11:20-24, Jesus said:

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God. ²¹ “What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. ²² I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.

²³ “And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. ²⁴ I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”

He spoke truth to them because they hadn’t repented of their sins, but he also let them be. He knew he couldn’t make them repent and follow him. When I fail to get people to really follow after you in discipleship, I’m reminded of the part of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:13-14 when Jesus says, ¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Somehow we’ve forgotten this and we think we can force the entire country onto the narrow path when I don’t think they realize they are drifting from the narrow path itself and everything Jesus spends the previous three chapters teaching by trying to do this.

Father, I have a funeral to go to this morning. It’s going to be sad. It’s for a young woman who died much to young and needlessly. I am sorry for her. I am sorry for her family. I haven’t seen her in almost three years. I didn’t know her the last three years, but I know the road was hard for her. I also know that she was never quite the same after her mother’s death maybe six or seven years ago. I pray for mercy over her soul. If Jesus can pray for you to forgive the people crucifying him even when they didn’t ask for the forgiveness, I ask that you will forgive her. She was in pain. I don’t know if that caused her to walk the path she chose or if she willfully rebelled against you. I suspect is was the pain that drove her in a direction. Please have mercy on her. Have mercy on her soul. And help her family to find you, find the narrow path, and make this pain count.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen