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Emails to God – Overwhelming Situations (Matthew 27:62-66)

21 May

62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Dear God, I have two things here. First, the Pharisees seem to remember Jesus’ words about rising from the dead better than the disciples. Perhaps the disciples were just distraught out of grief and just couldn’t must the faith. It’s not like the Pharisees had faith. They just didn’t want the disciples to deceive people.

Second, I notice here that Pilate was willing to play along with the Pharisees and indulge them. Perhaps he was afraid of Jesus’ disciples deceiving people. Or maybe he just wanted to get rid of the Pharisees and giving them a couple of guards and a seal was a small price to pay for that.

I guess there’s a third thing I am noticing now that I think about it. I’m not sure if this is right, but the Pharisees were doing all of this on the Sabbath. That sure seems like a lot of work and effort for them to be doing on the Sabbath.

This must have been an overwhelming and confusing time for all of them, including the disciples. Events were happening so fast and they were trying to do as much damage control as possible. I’m sure it was something that everyone involved was only able to sort out after it was all over and they could look back on it.

Father, I have things going on in my life that are confusing to me. From things and situations at work to things and situations at home. My first inclination is to ask you to help me figure all of these things out, but my real request is that you will help me to respond to each thing that comes in front of me today with your power. Help me to hear your still small voice at each moment. Help me to “see the whole board” as much as possible. Even when I don’t realize you are doing it, guide me in each decision I make and save me from bad decisions that might negatively impact me later in life.

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Making the Big Mistake (Matthew 26:14-16)

26 Apr

14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Dear God, Matthew does a really nice job of letting this narrative flow together. Because we rarely read these passages as a whole we don’t usually see how one story leads to another. In the run-up to this betrayal Jesus had spent a couple of chapters insulting the Pharisees and chief priests and told the disciples that he was about to be crucified. Then Matthew wants to let us know that after the incident with the woman with the perfume Judas had had enough and was ready to betray Jesus. He probably thought, If he wants to be crucified I can help make that happen.

Of course, Judas had so much regret for his actions later that he killed himself. He was an angry guy who made a really bad, impulsive decision that he couldn’t take back.

Right now, I have some friends whose daughter is in a difficult spot. The girl lives with her mother in another town, and is about to graduate high school next month. I don’t know what happened, but the mother kicked her out of the house, so this friend is going to his daughter to figure out how best to take care of her. I have seen something like this happen before, and I know how anger can drive a parent to do something foolish. Then the moment of regret comes, but they have gone too far down the road. Pride, principle, or both gets in the way. Now, much like Judas, the parent and everyone else involved is left to deal with the fallout from a bad decision.

Father, I first want to pray for my friend who is going to his daughter. Be with each of them. Love them and encourage them. Be with his wife. Be with the girl’s mother and step-father. Reveal yourself to them and use this awful circumstance as an opportunity to draw them each closer to you. I also want to pray for myself. There are times when I make impulsive decisions that need to be more prayed through. I have a situation at work right now that I am facing. I don’t know how to respond, and I can see where my decision will knock over a lot of dominos in a lot of people’s lives so I need to tread carefully. Help me to do that so that your wisdom, love and mercy might completely show through this place and your glory might be magnified in ever life that comes to us.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – The Interconnectedness of our Lives (Matthew 26:6-13)

24 Apr

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Dear God, I wonder how much of the disciples’ response was indignation and how much was them responding out of the stress they were feeling over what Jesus had just told them about being crucified and all of the conflict He was stirring up with the Pharisees. That’s the interesting thing about reading this stories in order. I start to get a context for each one, and this story takes on a different view when I see that it comes immediately after Jesus tells them about being crucified.

The things going on in my life often impact other areas. Troubles with parenting can bleed over into work. Trouble at work can bleed over into my home life. I have a coworker whose husband is sick. They were supposed to hear yesterday about his prognosis. I am sure that whatever she learned yesterday will have an impact on her day today. How can it not?

Father, help me to be at peace, and help me to administer your peace to those around me. I am especially thinking about my coworkers who are facing personal trials. Love and encourage them. Give them your peace. Help everyone at work to rise up around them and be your hands and feet to them. Show us how you would have us serve them.

 
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Posted by on April 24, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Hypocrisy (Matthew 23:13-39)

13 Apr

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14]

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Dear God, wow, this is really something to read. I think it really picks up for me in verse 33. The first part of this is convicting because, as I see all of the areas in which Jesus is calling the Pharisees hypocrites, it makes me start to wonder about the areas where I am a hypocrite. Some of my most convicting moments have been when my son, in anger, has called me a hypocrite and I realized he was right.

But in verse 33 Jesus starts talking about the self-righteousness of the Pharisees and how they reject the idea of rejecting and murdering God’s prophets. But then Jesus, in verse 34, tells them that they are about to do the same thing, and I am pretty sure that verse 34 is about the apostles who will follow after him. I wonder how they felt in hearing this.

Finally, Jesus shows His love for all of us. He shows his longing for us. He shows His longing for me, a hypocrite. Well, Father, I am willing to be gathered. I am willing to repent. I am willing to rest under your wing. Forgive me for my hypocrisy. Forgive me for failing you. Forgive me for my sin and my failures. Be glorified in me and love others through me.

 
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Posted by on April 13, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Beware the Yeast of the Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-12)

12 Apr

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Dear God, I find the first words of verse three to be a little contradictory to the rest of this passage: “So you must be careful to do everything they tell you.” It makes me think that the teachings were good, but the execution and follow through was bad. I think the thing that frustrated Jesus the most about the Pharisees, from reading this passage, was how much they loved the attention of their position. They were addicted to the respect.

I happen to have a fairly visible position in a small town. I work for an organization that has a noble mission and was started by one of the Godliest people I have ever known. In some ways, I have inherited her mantle, although I have also developed my own over the last six years. The hard thing is that I know that you are the reason behind so many of the good things that happen to us here, and yet people are constantly wanting to give me the credit. Frankly, I get a lot of love from people I hardly know, and it sometimes overwhelms me.

Father, I know you call me to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees. I know that you want me to be the least among the people with whom I live and work. I know you want me to decrease as you increase. So help me to do that today. Especially today. Help me to deny the ideas of self-pity, entitlement, and deservedness. Instead, help me to offer myself to others regardless of what it costs me. Help me to love our patients and give of myself to them, serve our staff and volunteers and help them draw closer to you, parent my children and offer myself for their good, and adore and nurture my wife as she begins an exciting and possibly overwhelming trip.

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Even Jesus Needed Affirmation (Matthew 22:41-46)

11 Apr

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’

45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Dear God, I wonder how long Jesus had been waiting to ask them this question. I’m sure it was one that he wrestled with privately as he came to terms with His identity and whose son He was. After all, His blood lineage to David was through His step-father, Joseph, meaning His real blood lineage to David was through you.

It is hard to imagine what it would have been like for Jesus as He grew up and came into His own. I wonder how much of Him needed to hear your audible words at His baptism. I wonder how much He needed to visit with you, Moses, and Elijah at the Transfiguration. Were there things that confused Him? Were there times when He needed a little direction?

Father, I know there are times when I face a fork in the road and need some direction from you. Sometimes I feel your direction through intuition. Sometimes I hear your still, small voice. And sometimes I can’t hear or feel you at all and I go the wrong way. I simply pray that you will understand that my heart is to serve you and keep me from doing anything that will stray beyond your plan for me.

 
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Posted by on April 11, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:33-40)

10 Apr

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Dear God, I guess the Pharisees weren’t impressed with the chief priests and Sadducees, and their line of questions, so they decided to their hats into the ring. But beyond the testing that was going on here, I’d like to actually look at the answer Jesus gave.

What does it look like to love you with ALL of my heart, ALL of my soul, and ALL of my mind? Frankly, I don’t see a way I can sustain that. Of course, you know I can’t sustain that, and that is why you sent me a redeemer. If I could sustain it, even for a moment, then what kinds of radical changes would happen in my life? What could you do with me if I actually devoted my whole heart, soul, and mind to you? I can’t even fathom it. I’m not even sure I can love my neighbor as myself, but that is at least a little more attainable than loving you the way I should.

Father, I offer you all that I am for all that you are. It’s not much, and it’s a terrible exchange from your perspective, but you are the one who made the offer. Now I am here (as I have been for the last 33 years, since I accepted you as my savior and Lord) to take you up on that deal once again. You can touch others through me. You can reside in me and bring me peace. Take me, break me, mold me, fill me, and use me.

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Ramping up to the Crucifixion (Matthew 27:33-46)

06 Apr

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Dear God, the more I read these stories the more I think Jesus was intentionally pushing them too far. And, frankly, I think there’s one part of this parable that might not fit. Verse 37 implies that you thought that Jesus would be respected by the chief priests when he came, but you knew this is how it would turn out. You knew that they would feel threatened by him, reject him, and kill him.

I happen to be writing this on Good Friday. Good Friday is an interesting day because a lot of Christians (including me) treat it almost like we do Memorial Day—for a lot of us it is a day off from work, but we often fail to stop and ponder the significance of this day. Jesus’ earthly mission culminated on this day around 1,980 years ago. Even the parables like this one. He didn’t tell them so that they would repent and change their ways. He knew that wouldn’t happen. I am convinced that he told them so that they would hit their breaking point and kill him. He needed it to happen. Why? Because he knew that I needed it to happen. He knew that all of us needed it to happen.

As a father, I wish there was a magic button I could push to make everything alright for my children. I wish there was some way I knew to sacrifice myself for them to know that they would turn out as people who love you and are submitted to you. As I sit here now, if I knew that there was something I could do, up to and including death, that would be a guarantee for them I know I would do it. But my path isn’t quite as clear. My road is murkier as I try to navigate being a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and employee.

Father, I can’t see the road in front of me, but you don’t want me to see it. You want to keep me in the present. So please help me to be in the present. Love my children through me. Love my wife through me. Even love my enemies through me. Don’t let me do anything that might take away from your glory. Instead, bring glory to yourself through me. Help me to decrease as you increase. And thank you for what you did in this story. You knew where it would lead and you did it for me. Thank you.

 
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Posted by on April 6, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Marriage, Divorce, & Celibacy (Matthew 19:1-12)

19 Mar

1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Dear God, there is so much here. I’m not even sure where to begin. I guess I’ll just do it from my perspective which nullifies the idea that I can be alone. One, I have already married a woman (for nearly 20 years), and I know I wasn’t designed to be one “who can accept” the idea of being alone. So taking that off of the table, and the debate over whether or not priests can marry and if this is something that this passage suggests, I want to go back to the part about divorce.

I am the product of a second marriage, for which I am grateful. Frankly, I have learned something about the Catholic process of annulment, and it seems to me that my mother’s first marriage would pretty easily qualify. I know that my dad has always struggled with these verses and the idea that he married a divorced woman, but the circumstances under which my mother was divorced were unique and I think okay from that perspective (I’ll keep her personal life her own and not share any details on the blog here).

I happened to sit through a session this year on Catholic annulment, and while some Protestants might think of it as a loophole through which Catholics jump to “legalize” a divorce, I came to appreciate it as more than that. I heard the testimony of a couple of people who have been through or are going through the process, and they say that it is gut-wrenching. The Church will tell you that it is about establishing whether or not the original vows were legitimate because they were or were not fully understood by both parties taking them. My opinion came to be that if divorce is the process of man separating what you have joined together, then annulment is the process of you separating it.

Father, I have to say, I knew what my vows were and what my commitment was. I have no regrets. Is it hard? Sure. Do we disagree sometimes? Yes. But I truly love her and I want the best for her. I am committed to being your best for her regardless of what that costs me. Lately, I think we have both been frustrated over a couple of issues, and with each other in the process. But you are among us and we trust you to guide us through it. I simply pray that you will unite us together and protect us from influences that might conspire to try and tear us apart.

 
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Posted by on March 19, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Have I Allowed the Yeast of the Pharisees in My Life? (Matthew 16:5-12)

27 Feb

5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Dear God, I love how obtuse the disciples are in this story. I know that I wouldn’t have done any better than they did in these situations. When Jesus asked a question, I would likely have been the quiet one in the back.

I wonder if the disciples were already feeling bad about the bread and having left it behind when Jesus made his comment. Perhaps that is why they went there when he warned them about the yeast and the Pharisees and Sadducees. They had no idea what he was talking about so they came up with the bread issue. Maybe they thought Jesus was trying to comfort them about having left the bread behind. But that wasn’t it at all. He was trying to let them know that the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees were dangerous because they will grow into something much bigger than they start out, and, in this case, the teaching is wrong and can lead to a lot of misunderstanding of God.

Father, help me to understand when I hear bad teaching and when I hear good teaching. I am sure that I have already taken a lot of bad teaching into my heart and allowed it to grow as yeast grows dough. Help me to figure out where I am a heretic, and then help me to remove those parts of my theology and/or philosophy. Help me to be open to your guidance. Help me to repent quickly and embrace your holiness.

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2012 in Matthew

 

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