On the Mountainside with Jesus: Lent Reflection 6

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

What does it mean to merciful in our world. Is it simply serving a meal or soothing a hurt? These are certainly merciful acts but are the reflective of our Spirit transformed core? The mercy that is blessed goes beyond compassion, it is measured by forgiveness. Forgive as you have been forgiven.

As we reflect during our observation of Lent on the mercy that has been shown to us, we are called to bring that mercy to life, to be incarnational. The news invades our meditations. A young woman in nearby Pueblo has traded her baby for the down payment on a gold Dodge Intrepid. Our mercy is gauged in our reaction to this evil act. Does our mercy extend to her, praying for her restoration and for the welfare of the family or are we quick to pass judgement? Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

No, lets just give up sugar instead. It’s easier and each cup of coffee without it will remind us with each bitter swallow of the sacrifice that we are soon to commemorate. Or, we can consider the mercy that has transformed our standing before God and pray that this same mercy can be visited on the lives of others.

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On the Mountainside with Jesus: Lent Reflection 5

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Lent, like every tradition and practice of Christianity, is meant to be practiced radically. However we observe it, the purpose of marking out this period in the Church calendar leading up to the defining moment of our faith is to enrich our spiritual lives and allow more of the Lord to inhabit our souls. Mechanically choosing a comfort, convenience, or even a particular vice and surrendering it for the 46 days does nothing unless we associate the giving up with giving in.

Glen Stassen suggests that we read this Beatitude in a corporate sense as blessing those who hunger and thirst for restorative justice. Our cultural individualism pushes us to focus on our own righteousness but Stassen believes that a better reading is offered through compassionate lenses. Are our lives marked by a hunger to see justice in the world? As we draw closer to Jesus and move with Him towards Calvary, we are drawn to practice the same forms of emancipation that he did. We too can do away with the hierarchy of Church Inc. and point people toward the true authority. We can clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, and give of our time to visit the imprisoned. Our hunger and thirst are measured in sacrifice.

Or, we can give up watching TV for 40 days. No more Friends reruns for several weeks. (They all remained self-absorbed if you missed the ending.)

 

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The Influential Real Mary

Scot McKnight turns the page on our discovery of the story of Mary. We have followed the biblical record to the foot of the cross where we find Jesus’ mother suffering the crushing realization of her fears. She is not recorded as having witnessed the resurrected Lord and the next encounter that we have is to see her huddled in an upper room with other disciples and Jesus’ brothers. Her faith in the promise of God, made so many years prior, has not been shaken by the events of the weeks prior. Mary has fully committed her life to the Way.

The question proposed in this chapter of The Real Mary is, what influence did Mary exert on the life of Jesus? Much like the divisive controversy of Mary’s perpetual virginity, there is a school of belief that gives Jesus full realization and maturity while he simply played the role of a child and adolescent in human form. The Scriptures lead us to understand kenosis, and the simpler explanation for Jesus’ development points to Mary and Joseph and the influence that they had on the boy’s life.

We must always be conservative when filling in our understanding of the ‘missing parts’ of the Lord’s life. It is safe to conclude that Mary and Joseph had at least the normal input into the boy’s life. This input would have been colored by the facts that His parents knew about but nonetheless, he grows and develops,  affected by His parents just as the majority of the people on this planet have.

This same knowledge, combined with Mary’s eyewitness memories of the Lord’s early years, point to her later influence on the life of the nascent Church. Surely she was consulted by the Apostles as they sought to fill in their own knowledge of the Savior and the fullness of His life. So, it is here gathered with the others in Jerusalem that we say goodbye to the biographical account of Mary in the Bible. Her influence does not end, however.

(See the broad international portrayals of Mary at www.biblia.com/Mary)

 

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On the Mountainside with Jesus: Lent Reflection 4

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

When Peter and the other Apostles stand before the Sanhedrin and proclaim “We must obey God rather than men!” he gives us the practical definition of meekness in the biblical sense. It is hardly the mousy, weak, and cowardly connotation that the word takes on today. Quite the opposite; the one who is fully surrendered to God’s will, despite the pressures of man, is meek. God’s will becomes their will.

The closer we become to the Source, the more that our meekness will radiate in our lives. This is a winsome power that can attract others to throne and cause still others to make that U-turn in their lives. Meekness in the face of threat is ultimately a sign of trust in God and it will be reflected as such. So much so, that the Gamaliel’s of our day will also be forced to confront the origin of our meekness saying “…if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will no be able to stop [it]…” (Acts 5:38-39)

I suppose that during Lent we can meekly sacrifice the right of way on the freeway for a few weeks. Or, we can fully surrender our wills, our rights, and our lives to the One who has paid the price for our restoration.

 

 

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Bearing All: Anna Nicole Smith

I’m glad to see that the pastoral blogosphere has been bearing up well under the pressure to comment on the sudden end to the tragic life of Miss Smith. It is with a deep love of Christ that Steve Sjogren’s comments on our proclivity for passing judgement. Only God knows the true condition of a person’s heart. Todd Rhoades summarizes this in conjunction with a video currently showing on YouTube that has Miss Smith proclaiming Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

An object lesson in slowing our judgement reflex…

 

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