Ears to Hear

Matthew 13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying . . . 9 He who has ears, [7] let him hear.” 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given." . . . 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. . . .15 For this people's heart has grown dull,and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
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I think Jesus' explanation of his use of parables is extremely troublesome. If the people are not supposed to understand him, why does he persist in telling the parables? The question treads heavily in the territory of sovereignty, but without getting too wordy, this is what I think is happening - I see Jesus telling stories. Stories are like Trojan horses. Common people, without much education or experience, still love a good story. It's why we flock to the movies. It's only human, to want to hear a story about other humans, dealing with human problems and beauties. Jesus knew this about us because he helped to create us. He told stories rather than straight up teaching because he knew that the stories would penetrate to the heart, like seeds. What was he planting? The Kingdom of God! Stories bypass the mind and go straight to the heart, unless of course you are engaged in the act of "criticism". The Pharisees were into that. But for us normal people, who enjoy a good story just for the humanity of it, Jesus was right on target. He would tell these little stories and then at the end he would say this funny sentence, "for those that have ears, hear". I think this is more than just a verily, verily, or 'pay attention guys' kind of moment. I think he is doing something in the spirit. It has the ring of a prayer actually. Consider his handling of a demonized man in the book of Luke. Jesus instruction to the demon was, “Be silent and come out of him!” I detect the same tone when he says, "For those who have ears, hear!" It's as if he has planted the parable seed in their hearts, and then, like creation, he commands them to grow. I still find it incredibly mysterious.

Heman Worship

1 Chronicles 15:16 David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel;. . .[who was] to sound bronze cymbals; 20 [Some] were to play harps according to Alamoth; 21 [some] were to lead with lyres according to the Sheminith. . . . 24 [and others] should blow the trumpets before the ark of God. . . . 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres. 29 And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and rejoicing. . .
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Nehemiah 12:27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites . . . to celebrate the . . . with cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 And the sons of the singers gathered together . . . 31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south . . . 38 The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north . . . and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard. 40 So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God . . . 41 And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. 43 And they . . . rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
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I think its funny and wonderful that one of the worship leaders in David's kingdom was named Heman. The over the top masculinity of the 80's action figure is a comical, but not entirely innapropriate representative of the Old Testament singers who were warriors in their own right. For, worship is sometimes warfare. He-Man, apparently "the most powerful man in the universe" is of course a kind of archetypal hero. In the book of Nehemiah, one of my favorite stories is how they sent choirs up onto the wall to worship after they had completed contruction. The "joy of Jerusalem was heard far away". This is amazing, especially when you consider our own paradigm for worship, which is often timid and introverted. God forbid [ironically] if we should sing too loud and wake somebody up on a Sunday morning! My kids like to sing a song as prayer before meals: "Lord we thank thee, Lord we thank thee, Lord in heaven we thank thee." And then sometimes they will feel inspired to shout at the top of their lungs, "Praise Jesus!" as the grand finale. They did that in a restaurant once. It was awesome. Ransom, my son, was like He-Man on Nehemiah's wall. How's that for a strange quote!

God in a Box

I Chronicles 13:9 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. 11 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza [7] to this day. 12 And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” 13 So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 14 And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he had.
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So this God that I believe in seems completely weird to me sometimes, and I think David feels the same way here. Uzzah is walking along beside the ark. The oxen stumble. Uzzah reaches out to keep it from falling [we assume that's why he touched it]. God strikes him dead. David is angry [with God or with Ussah, I'm not sure]. And then, this dangerous God-box is brought to Obed-edom's house and he is totally blessed. - I don't get it. The irony is that you cannot put God in a box!

Heroes Unlimited

1 Chronicles 11:10 Now these are the chiefs of David's mighty men... 11 Jashobeam, a Hachmonite, ... wielded his spear against 300 whom he killed at one time....22 Benaiah ... struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. 23 And he struck down an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits [7] tall. The Egyptian had in his hand a spear like a weaver's beam, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.
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Matthew 10:1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; [12] 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
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It is interesting that David is a Christ-like messiah. His chiefs, valiant in battle are prophetic figures of Jesus' spiritual army. We read in Matthew about Jesus empowering the disciples to heal every disease and affliction and yet in the next chapter we are told that, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, [1] and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12) Why? What is it about his kingdom that would invite violence? What is the nature of this violence? Is it physical violence or a metaphor? Or both? Well David and his men certainly encountered violence in a very physical way, and so did Jesus, but the verse seems to point to a much more epic battle field. Jesus' sweat, like drops of blood, in the Garden of Gethsemane, indicate an engagement with violent forces much more powerful than our natural eyes can see. The decisive victory of that war has already been won, but we continue to ride out the final battles and rescue the prisoners of war. The healing that Jesus has commissioned us to do is not just physical either, although physical healing is an integral part of the blessing that He often imparted. There are many deep layers of the human life that are damaged and needing help. It almost seems trite to say that one can have everything healthy on the outside but still have a wounded heart, but its true. He is sending us to be heart healers. The greatest good that we can do is then to engage in the epic war as holy paramedics. The greatest violence that can be done against Satan and his crew is an act of healing.

Laborers

Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
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God, make me a laborer for Your kingdom!

A Good God & Sea Glass

Psalm 5:3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you [5] and watch. 4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
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Most of us, if asked, would say that we would prefer a good God over an evil God. Plenty of people have openly worshipped evil gods, but that is not really very practical. Logic would follow then that most of us would also prefer a God that delights in goodness rather than evil. However, most of us also do a lot of things that aren't good and hope that God will let us get away with it . So can we have it both ways? We know, deep inside, that a good God is better than a bad god, and yet we often live our lives as though ruled by a bad god. Assuming that God exists and that our desires have no control over that fact, we have to contend with the difficult reality that we are not always calibrated to worship God in his goodness. In fact, as we draw close to His goodness, we often shy away, like those attempting to look directly into the sun. His glory and righteousness are too bright... and yet... we were created in his image, from the beginning intended to shine like stars, or like lamps on a stand. How is that possible when the goodness of God terrifies me? His goodness is so good that it almost seems bad to me by comparison. And this is what one might call the fear of God which leads to wisdom. But we know that perfect love casts out fear and that God, in his goodness, is the essence of Love. His Love is able to overcome the danger of death. He has so much Love for me that His goodness can shine through my dim sea glass of a life and make it bright.
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My life is in fact like sea glass. Esther loves sea glass.

The 9 People You Meet in Heaven

Matthew 5:1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons [4] of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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I get the sense that these people are the kind of people who would be able to appreciate God's blessing, even in the midst of suffering. It almost seems as if God's Kingdom, which is really what is being described here, is open to all who would enjoy this kind of life - a life of purity, mercy, humility and of course Love. Last week I had a thought about the end times. I'm not really someone who studies apocalyptic theology much, but I was just thinking about God and what it might be like in the end. I imagined that Jesus returned and offered everyone the option of going to heaven or staying here on earth. He made it clear that He was Love and that after he left, there would be no Love left in the world. Many were incredulous about this. They assured him that they were quite capable of love without his help. He explained to them that their love was selfish and destructive and that up til this point they had survived off of the residual love of an invisible community of saints. They were still incredulous, assuring him that there was work to be done to save the earth and heal mankind of its trouble. Jesus reiterated that all creation was welcome to come with him and be made new in His kingdom of love. Finally, he gathered up the volunteers and left. The world changed immediately. There were no more acts of charity on the face of the earth. The impulse to act generously and heroically no longer existed in mankind. A few tried vainly to save the earth from its march towards global warming, but there seemed to be little in it for the individual, so no one wanted to invest time, money or effort. The downward spiral towards chaos and misery happened quickly culminating with the eventual uninhabitability of the earth. All died and then the earth was wiped out by the implosion of the sun.... Meanwhile, in heaven, all were offered luxurious accommodations in a beach side hotel, but no one wanted to take a room. They all just wanted to be together in the lobby or on the beach, and they all continued to share anything they were given with the others. The more luxury they were offered, the more they would try to give it away. Jesus played host, walking around from person to person, announcing this gift or that, and he didn't need to say what they already knew, which was that the greatest gift was living in the Kingdom of Love together with those who knew the value of Love.