Day 123: Spiritual Awakening

"But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich."  Luke 18:23

I read something recently that said, "The truth hurts a lot before it feels better."  That's how I feel about this verse.

Jesus speaks to us all through a Gospel of truth that seeks to save us out of pure love for us.  Of course, the truth is the first part that is going to hurt.  It's going to hurt because it's getting us out of our comfort zone.  It's the thing that will call you out of your bed and into the streets.  It's what will reveal all the imperfections in your life that you have grown to become quite used to.  Jesus wakes us up.

I'm writing this from a hospital bed, where I have come to after quite a number of rounds of tests in order to find what's causing my stomach to feel bad.  I find that the Gospel works in the same way.  It puts us into sometimes seemingly uncomfortable situations in order for our doctor, Jesus Christ, to let us know what we need to do to improve.  Do we need to eat less of the gluttony that exists in our lives in the form of spending money and eating unreasonably exorbitant food?  Do we need to exercise more in our lives as spiritual beings, with prayer and reading?  Do we need to calm down from the stresses of life?  Jesus is there to tell us what to do and how to do it.

In this reading, we find that there is a rich man who is sorrowful after hearing that in order to attain ultimate spiritual greatness, he needs to give up his money.  I interpret this not so much as a condemnation of money, but as a condemnation of the care of money.  This man has defined himself by his money.  How many of us are guilty of similar things?  Do we like to show off our worth with our clothes, shoes, cars?  Do we like to flaunt our degrees with high language and off-putting, vacuous philosophical discussions?

Jesus is calling us to remember to care for all those around us.  We need to give our time, talent, and treasures to all of those around us in order to continue the work of the Kingdom of God.  We need to get up out of our comfort zones so that those who live in discomfort can have a breath of relief.  In fact, we might even find new relief when we find ourselves out in the world doing the work we are called to do.

Day 122: Welcoming Others

"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  Luke 18:14

Perhaps something that I come across quite frequently is this: I'm too messed up for church.

As I read the bible, I learn that this is never a valid excuse.  All throughout the bible, there are countless stories of people whose names get to be associated with holiness who lived lives that are quite far from being perfect, let alone "holy" in our eyes.  In fact, you can look at all your church leaders who stand up before you, but you may forget that they are all humans.  Every single one of them.  I have to say that I am quite blessed to be part of a family that has two priests in it because I have been able to understand that God calls any kind of person to the ministry.

However, the excuse of being to messed up for church has one other factor that is not quite as easy to debunk.  That factor lies in the congregation.  We have done a pretty decent job as Christians at bringing the message of Jesus to many people, even if it doesn't seem like it.  The bible is easy to publish and distribute.  So many verses have come into common parlance in the West, and some have even made their way outside of the Western world.  There are churches on every inhabited continent, and there are Christians proclaiming the Gospel through countless media.  But, to be frank, we have also done a good job at bringing the same issues that were plaguing the communities in Jesus' time.  I have heard way too many times from many of my friends that they were turned off by church because of how one person spoke.  People try to spread their gospel by invoking hatred and fear from the start.  Yet, that's not what Jesus did.

Jesus never missed an opportunity to remind people where they belonged.  He even told his disciples whenever they thought that they were doing everything perfectly that they had it all wrong.  Jesus reminded all of his followers about the same message, that God has come into the world in order to gather all the people in a warm embrace of unconditional love.  Anything outside of that message was not right.

Think about a rose.  We think of that flower as being one of the prettiest flowers in existence, and we produce so many of them that they are commonplace.  Two days ago was Mother's Day in the USA, and, of course, there were many roses.  When you look at a bouquet or even a rosebush, the first thing you'll probably notice is the actual rose.  It's not until you try to pick it up or look much closer that you'll find the thorns.  I find that many Christians out there today are doing the exact opposite.  We have people showing off their own thorns rather than the beauty of the flower.  What's worse is that in reality, there are no thorns in the Gospel.  Jesus took care of the thorns of sin and death with his crucifixion.  Now he just calls us, with a flower of love, to come closer.  Rather than project our own internalized hate towards all those around us, how about we learn to project our love to everyone? 

Day 121: Building up with Love

"nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  Luke 17:21

If there isn't any other reason to come together as one church, this is the one.

Jesus says this in response to the Pharisees, who were people who did a pretty good job at isolating themselves from everybody else.  They considered themselves the purest of Jews, alienating the rest of the ethnically Jewish people who were in the area.  They came up with so many different interpretations of the law so that only a select group of people would be able to become true Jews.

I don't have to say much else in order to bring this same issue up to today's world.  At the highest levels, we have many bishops, pastors, and other major leaders calling for discrimination of anybody they feel should be taken out: women, the ill, any LGBT person, single parents, orphans, people of different races, non-English speakers.  If we delve even deeper into supposedly united denominations, we can see issues that break communities apart.  Even at the parish/mission/church level, there will be people who want to tear the congregations up.  The worst is that now, with the availability of social media, everybody has a platform they can stand upon to shout and make their points, bringing out their own poison and breeding weeds among the wheat fields.  They will all spread their hate with the same conclusion: See here! This is how the Kingdom of God will be, once we clean it up.

But that's not what Jesus preached.  Jesus made the image plain and simple: the kingdom of God is within you (or y'all, the Greek is plural).  I'm sure we all know what happens whenever teams break up, or when people decide to go their own way, deviating from a great team project - failure.  When we decide to take on the role of a schismatic in a community, we cannot lie that it will be a way to build up a community.  If we are going to maim the body of Christ, that's exactly what we will do.  Rather than build up the Kingdom of God by uniting all the many residents, we will be taking it apart, brick by brick, and, ultimately, execution by execution.  There will be no kingdom to speak of when we finish up our goal of dividing people up.

We are called to learn how to live with each other.  And why is that, exactly?  The Kingdom of God relies on one thing: the abundance of love.  If we do not have love, we cannot be builders of the Kingdom.  Before we start to take construction into our own hands, we have to take a moment and think, are we acting with love?  If not, then reevaluate what you're doing.  God has worked through all of our lives, showing us what the miracles of love are.  How about we start bringing love into our communities to build them up?

Day 120: Guidance

"But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"  Luke 16:31

This is something that relates to parenting.

Jesus reprimands those who are listening to him, for he wants them all to become followers by word and deed.  Yet, he knew that there would be some who wouldn't listen or take his words to heart.  In the same way, I see that this is the role of a good parent.

Growing up, and even to this day, my mom disciplines me whenever I do not listen.  I don't like it many times, but after I get over the shock, I realize that she only wants the best for me.  She wants me to grow and to live a fulfilling life.  I see that Jesus was the same.  If we as children don't learn how to listen to our parents, then how will we listen to anybody else around us?  How will we listen to others who don't provide us with food, nor converse with us, let alone even know our name?

To take these questions even further, how will we know what to listen for in the end times?  How will we know what direction to walk in?  We are very fortunate to have something as concrete as the bible.  In the bible we have many different stories telling us how to live a good life.  We have advice readily available to us.  And, above all, we have the Gospel of love being relayed to us throughout many lives, particularly that of Jesus, the ultimate sign of love.

I know that I have been blessed with a parent who shows me unconditional love and who leads me to God.  However, I do know that others are not blessed in that exact same way, sometimes even lacking a parental figure entirely.  The good news, though, is that we have the parental words of Jesus ready for us to receive.  Sometimes they are fatherly, and other times they are motherly.  We need to listen to these words and take them to heart, for Jesus wants us to come back home, and we will only be able to do that if we grow up at home.

Day 119: Standing Up

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."  Luke 16:10

This is a harsh call for all of us to remember where we belong.

We all live in this world where there are lots of jet streams that are beating against our heads every day.  Those winds consist of discrimination, disrespect, and pure hate.  However, we cannot let those things bring us down.

I thank God that I am living in a time when the American people are getting over their fear of non-heterosexual relationships.  Sure, there are still many challenges, and I do receive a curse from time to time, but I do have quite a bit of support, not the least of which comes from my very family.  At the same time, though, I know of countless people living in this same country, and even in my same city, who face discrimination from their own families for various reasons.  Traditions can be harmful, just as they can be comforting.  I have friends whom I talk through these situations they face.  I can usually come away from these conversations with a praise to God for helping me have an easier time than others.

And that's where this verse comes in.  Many times, when we see everything going quite well for us, we start to lose sight of what actually is going on around us.  There are wars going on in different countries, and there are terrors being made both abroad and in our backyard.  There are governments sanctioning the murder of countless people for being who they are, and there are mobs of people who want to make sure that things won't get better around here.  There are many poor people wandering the streets, unable to afford any sort of healthcare for some seemingly simple diseases, and there are yet even more people who won't have a roof over their head when it rains.

I have to remember to show the same love that God has shown me.  God has reached down to my level to hold me, and I need to do the same for everybody who is around me.  The Gospel calls all of us to reach out and spread the Kingdom of Heaven.  And what exactly is that Kingdom?  It's a kingdom of love.  It's something that we haven't ever seen here on earth, what with all the corruption, money, and greed that has existed in every single government known to history.  The Heavenly Kingdom is the realm of love that exists between gays and straights, cisgendered people and transgendered, colored and not, the rich and the poor.  If God can reach for each one of us, who waver in our faith and abandon God entirely from time to time, so too can we reach out to all those who live in our same world breathing our same air.

Day 118: Ultimate Authority

"For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.  For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God."  Hebrews 3:3-4

Here's an important message pointing us towards the source.

There are many things out there in the world today that look very good.  We can even talk about the different buildings that house churches, some that are quite detailed and marvelous to look at.  We can talk about the many different ministries that are out there, doing so much good in the world.  We can refer to different people who are making a difference out there.  All of this, though, can cause us to stray from the source of all the good things in our lives.

Jesus even took time to point this out quite directly.  He pointed to different structures and said that they will all disappear in the end.  In the same way, we can see that all of these different things around us will have their end.  I remember Boston, which had many large church buildings all over, but after the congregations had died out, there were buildings left over.  Many were converted into apartment complexes, rendering the old presence of a once thriving congregation completely dead and out of memory.  We can look at history to find many other stories of great wonders being destroyed.  Talk about the World Wars, when we have lost many great structures in many different places because of conflict.

However, when we see these great successes around us, we need to remember that they all stem from the same source, God.  God is the one who has made all these things great, and God will continue to work.  That will involve a cycle of life and death with buildings, ministries, churches, families, friendships, and many other things.  The most important things, though, is to remember to praise God in every moment.  God has everything under control.  Let's praise God for that! 

 

Day 117: The Example

"For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."  Hebrews 2:18

This is one of the greatest reasons for which I follow Jesus.

We, as humans, like to find things in common with one another.  When we need to speak to large crowds of people, one of the things people recommend is that we find something in common with all those people.  Even more poignant, how many times have you immediately responded to news with something that makes the news about you or connected in some way to you?  When somebody says, "My friend is not doing so well right now," you immediately reply with, "Oh yeah, I've had something myself."  We always want there to be a connection.

Not surprisingly, we want for the same connection to exist between us and our God.  If I may be brash, take a look at what so many artists interpret how Jesus looks.  Look at all the many depictions of Jesus in our movie screens, TV screens, pictures, ads, paintings.  Jesus was a brunette, white man, with long hair and a not too long beard!  Now, if we look to scientific evidence, there is almost no way Jesus could have looked like that.  Yet, that Jesus that shows up in our English-speaking, America-centric because he looks like your run of the mill American man, with one or two distinguishing features.  That depiction of Jesus connects us as Americans with him (although I don't quite identify, with me not being of directly European descent, but hear me out).

Depictions aside, though, we do have something universal about Jesus that transcends his Middle Eastern heritage or Hellenistic Gospel or any of the countless traditions that have risen from his ascension.  Jesus lived as a human.  Jesus felt the everyday pains that we do, the hunger, the heat, the struggle of working for long periods of time, the frustrations with friends, the human desire to survive.  On top of all that, Jesus shows us so many ways we can overcome the temptations that face us everyday.  We are not alone in our struggle, and we are being offered a helping hand.  Reach out and take it.