Day 66: The Expansive Becomes Local

In the second half of Ephesians, Paul (or one of his disciples) writes about what this expansive vision of the grace of God means for the community life of the Ephesians (and everyone....).  "Live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called", he begins, and he goes on to paint a picture of what that will look like.  Humility and patience, compassion and truthfulness -- and most of all, striving for unity, because there is only One Lord, One Baptism, One Faith, even though it looks so much different sometimes (some things never change).  There seem to be many factions and warring sects in the church (much to our detriment, Paul understands), but in reality, there is only one Body of Christ.  Speak the truth, but speak in Love.  Work together.  Come out of the darkness and into the light.  Forgive each other.

Easy words to understand, perhaps.  Harder to do, certainly.

Especially when Paul uses the words, "Be imitators of God, as beloved children."  He just throws it out there, like a bomb, an impossible thing.  In so few words, can you imagine anything so impossible?  Whether you imagine the invisible, immortal, perfect One, or whether you imagine the humble healer, to me it still comes off as mind-blowing and impossible.  Unlike God, we need to practice daily self-examination and repentance.  When Paul speaks about "telling the truth", the first person we need to tell the truth about is ourselves.   (When we get to Philippians, tomorrow, I believe we'll get more insight into just what Paul means by imitating God; at least, that's what I think.)  For the moment, what Paul means by imitating God seems to have something to do with being a Lord who does not lord it over others, does not cling to God's own power.

So one of the exhortations here is to "be filled with the Spirit", not an elective but a required course for anyone who wants to live a life worthy of their calling.  Be filled with the Spirit, guided and directed by the Spirit, returning to the life of God's spirit within you each and every day.

As the letter winds down, Paul ticks off a list of household instructions, some of which might be hard for us to swallow these days, especially those about wives submitting to their husbands.  Paul goes on to explain that Husbands, like Christ, are supposed to be lords who do not lord it over, but still, I think cultural bells go off, that make us say, "even so...."  The advice for husbands to love their wives was radical for its day, and it's interesting that while children are to obey their parents, parents are also not to provoke their children to anger. hmmmm. Interesting.  (I wonder what this would consist of.  Anyone?)

Paul closes with an extended analogy of "the full armor of God."   It is interesting to me that all of the tools are for defense (except the Sword of the Spirit).  They are not for Offense, but for Defense.   In Paul's day, anyway, Christians were much more likely to be wounded than they were to be doing the wounding.  Unfortunately, that is not always the case today.

Day 54: Corinth is sort of like a Soap Opera

Or, at least that's what it seems like, reading Paul's next three chapters.  They've been staying up late in Corinth, and engaging in some actions that some people won't do.  And even if they aren't all behaving immorally, they are not calling into account one of their own who is (ahem) sleeping with his father's wife, for example.

The Corinthians brag that they are free -- they are free, right?  That means they can do whatever they want, right?  Paul is all for freedom, but thinks that the Corinthians might have misunderstood him.

Of course, that's not all of it.  Paul begins by calling the Corinthians on their arrogance.  They are acting as if they "know-it-all".  They don't need a teacher; they don't need instruction.  Paul sarcastically says, "We are fools for Christ, but you are wise for Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are honored, but we are dishonored.!"   The Corinthians have let some success in spiritual matters go to their heads, and it has affected their vision with regard to their behavior toward one another as well.

(This reminds me a little of the arrogance of the Enron executives right before its fall.  They were so drunk with their financial success they lost their moral compass.)

The Corinthians are wayward not only in sexual matters, but also in matters of how they treat one another.  They accuse each other and bring lawsuits against each other.  They are contentious.  They treat each other (and themselves) with disrespect.

Yes, you're free, Paul tells them, but free for what?  That's the question.

In Corinthians, Paul's ethics is defined by this axiom:  "Don't you know that your body is  temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?  Do't you know that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don't belong to yourselves?"

Honor your body.  Respect your body as given by God and a dwelling for the Holy Spirit.  And respect and honor your neighbor's body too.

It's not just your spirit that is important.  It is your beautiful, breathing body, created by God.

Day 43: Paul's Journeys, until Jerusalem....

This is where it's a good idea to start looking at a map, to keep track of the towns Paul travels through, the seas he sails through, as well as the people he meets.  At the beginning of chapter 19, Paul is traveling through Ephesus and meets some believers who have not yet received the Holy Spirit.  Not only that, they haven't even heard of the existence of the Holy Spirit.  He prays for them, and immediately they begin to speak in languages and prophecy.

Coincidentailly, there are "about" twelve of them. hmmmmm.

In the meantime, things are not going so smoothly in the synagogues.  There are people who are convinced about Paul's message, but many more who are not. One small, odd story concerns some exorcists who do not appear to believe in Jesus but who like to cast out evil spirits in his name.  At one point, the spirits ask the exorcists, "Jesus I know, and Paul I am familiar with, but who are you?"

Personally, the very small detail about people being healed by touching even small pieces of cloth that have been touched by Paul is the strangest to me.  This reminds me of the stories of medieval relics that have healing power.  What do you think about this?  In the midst of all of this trouble, the power of healing through Paul only gets stronger.

Paul decides to return to Jerusalem, which a lot of people think is a big mistake.  Many people try to talk him out of it.

At the same time, Paul is getting into trouble not just with Jews but with Gentiles who feel that he has "dissed" their goddess, Artemis.  He is a friend of no one's status quo.  His truth disturbs everyone, in some way or another.  His words and presence cause riots.

Aside:  during a theological conversation that lasts all night, a young man named Eutychus falls asleep, and falls out the window.  He is pronounced dead, but Paul raises him from death.  (possibly where the saying "bored to death" is from?)  (Just asking.)

Despite many many protests, Paul returns to Jerusalem.  Many of his friends plead with him, pray for him, beg him, but he leaves.  He arrives in Jerusalem to find it just as his friends have feared.  James tries to protect him, but Paul is the center of controversy and gossip in Jerusalem, because of what people have heard about the Gentiles, and what they claim that Paul is preaching.  Paul purifies himself to prove that he's still a good Jew, and James and other Jerusalem leaders repeat what they told the Gentile churches:  all they nee to do is abstain from eating blood, eating food sacrificed to idols, and from sexual immorality.

It does no good.  Paul is set up and arrested.  He appeals as a citizen of the Empire for the right to speak.

And speak he does.

(to be continued)

Day 39: The Circle Widens with Cornelius and his family

There's a turning point in this chapter, and it begins with two men praying and seeing angels and having visions.  First, there is Cornelius, a pious Gentile, who is praying at around three in the afternoon (one of the hours of prayer, by the way), when he sees an angel who tells him to go and summon a man named Simon (who he has never met.)  This Simon will tell him Something.

In the meantime, Peter is also praying.  It is noon (another hour of prayer) and he sees a vision while he is on the roof.  In the vision, he sees a sheet full of animals that are considered unclean by Jewish law.  The voice in the vision says to Peter, "Get up!  Kill and eat!"  Peter refuses, but the voice persists.  "Never consider unclean what God has made pure."

Peter does receive a visitor, who invites him to Cornelius' home.  He finds a surprising welcome when he gets there.  There are many people waiting for him, waiting for the word that he will give him.  Peter begins by noting that Jewish law forbids him to even be in the house with Cornelius.  But God has commanded him.

So he preaches the good news about Jesus to Cornelius and his extended family and servants.  The result?  They are all "filled with the Holy Spirit" (whatever that means); they begin to speak in tongues.  Because of what Peter witnesses, he decides that these Gentiles should be baptized and become a part of the body of believers.

No longer is the church simply a small sub-set of Judaism.  It is still small, but it is a wider circle.

The other believers have questions for Peter when he gets back to Jerusalem.  They aren't happy that he broke Jewish law, and they don't understand why he baptized Cornelius.  But he explains his encounter and the power of God he witnessed there, and the other apostles change their minds.  Perhaps even Gentiles can repent, they decide.

I know that this story is literally about the divide between Jews and Gentiles, but I can't help but wonder what unclean things God might be declaring pure even now, and in whose lives we witness the power of God, if we are given eyes to see it.

That is the criteria for Peter:  I saw the power of God in the life of Cornelius.  I saw the Holy Spirit.

What about you?  Where do you see the power of God?  Are there any  surprising places?

There's a short aside after this story about the church in Antioch, and how Antioch is where the people who believed in Jesus were first called "Christians."  As well, I can't help but notice how obviously the Spirit directed the travels, words and actions of the apostles (according to Luke.)  The Spirit tells them that there will be a famine.  The Spirit tells them to go to this city, or to send this person.

I wonder what it would be like for us to listen carefully enough to know that our actions were spirit-directed.  And what do you suspect we would be called to do?

Day 35: Ascent and Descent -- Beginning of the Acts of the Apostles

Luke and Theophilus are back for the second volume of writing, often called, simply, "Acts."  Have you ever thought about that?  But the full title is really, "The Acts of the Apostles," and this second volume written by Luke is about many of the miracles, healings, and other things the disciples did in the name of Jesus and in the power of Jesus.

But it begins with Jesus eating with his disciples, teaching his disciples, and, after 40 days, promising them that he would send them the Holy Spirit, so that they could say the things he wanted them to say and do the acts he wanted them to do.

During that ten-day waiting period, one of the tasks that the disciples face is choosing a replacement for Judas (the gory details of his demise are also included).  They have two candidates and pray and cast lots to discover the right choice.  What do you think of this means of electing an apostle?

Then, In Acts chapter 2, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down and fills the disciples.  And I'll be honest, as a pastor, I am extremely familiar with this story.  I read it and hear it every year.  But it never fails to strike me as strange, very strange, exceedingly strange.  Sort of in the way the story of Lazarus is exceedingly strange.  There are the tongues of flame and the many languages and the accusations of drunkenness.

The other thing is, no matter how many times I read this story, I never fail to find something new here.  One year it was the realization that the disciples are gathered on the day of Pentecost, which is a Jewish harvest festival, and that on that day there was a harvest of souls (3,000 people) who heard the message of the gospel and became the first congregation.  Another year I heard the story of the disciples speaking many languages and realized that the emphasis was not on the disciples speech but on what the people heard "we hear the in our own native languages."  Probably everyone there would be able to understand the message if the disciples had spoken the language of the Roman empire, which everyone had to learn.  But no, all of the people heard in their own native languages.  It is as if Jesus' incarnation has expanded even farther, into every culture and nation.

So Peter preaches his word of judgment and grace, and the people repent.

The close of Acts chapter 2 sounds like an ideal community:  sharing food, praying together, sharing all things in common.  In a way, it's a incredible and unbelievable as the tongues of fire and the mighty wind.  Perhaps more unbelievable.

Day 32: It all Comes Down to Love

These three chapters (14-16), right after Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him, are one long speech by Jesus.  Chapter 17 is included in that, but in chapter 17 Jesus prays for his followers -- we'll get to that later.

For three chapters, Jesus teaches his disciples what are the most important things for them to know and to remember when he is crucified, and after he is raised and ascends to God.  The Comforter will come to you.  The world will hate you.  Do not be troubled.   You will have trouble in the world.  I have to go, for if I don't go away, the Comforter/Advocate will not come to you.  There is room in my father's house.  These are some of the things that Jesus says.  But, if you read and re-read and re-re-read these three chapters, it's inescapable:  the one most important theme keeps coming back:  "Love one another as I have loved you."

Jesus has just washed their feet, bent down to serve them.  He is about to die for them.  He wants them to form a community where people are willing to die for each other, willing to live for each other, willing to serve one another.  And, more than anything else, this commitment will be a witness to the world.

Jesus speaks of his love for the Father, and the Father's love for him.  He speaks of abiding in his love, like branches draw life from the vine.  He speaks of his love for them "greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one's life for one's friends."

He calls them friends.  I don't know how many examples of deep friendship we have in our culture, but it's worth pondering:  Jesus is talking about friendship as a deep and chosen commitment.  He is talking about people who are willing to trust each other with secrets.  Jesus says we are his friends because he has entrusted us with "everything he has heard from his Father."

It all comes down to love.  Three chapters of instructions; he needs to say it over and over and over.

And over.