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Breathing and Forgiving part 2

forgiveIf you haven’t already read part 1 of this article from yesterday, check it out here.

Hopefully Jesus’ breathing on the disciples now makes a little more sense. This is an act of recreation. But I also wrote that it was an act of equipping the disciples as Jesus was sending them out. For what are they being equipped? First, I want to quickly flash back to the creation narratives again. Remember that humans were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and also we were given the responsibility to be stewards over creation. God put Adam in the garden to till and keep it (Genesis 2:15). It would make sense then, that this new creation that God has brought forth through Jesus Christ, that Christ has breathed life into, would also have some vocation in living out the image of God. I bring that up, because I believe that is what is going on in the forgiveness of sins that Jesus is passing on. Continue reading “Breathing and Forgiving part 2”

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Breathing and Forgiving?

breatheThis past Sunday I preached from John 20:19-31, and one of the things that often happens is the passage contains several powerful points that cannot all be included in a single sermon. So I thought I’d blog about one aspect that went a different direction than the sermon did this week. When Jesus first encounters the disciples in John 20, he breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” John 20:21-23

Within these three verses we have some strange things going on: Jesus breathing on the disciples and then Jesus telling them they have authority over forgiveness of sins. The first part about breathing on the disciples is weird and the second part suggesting that the disciples (and church?) have any say in forgiveness is offensive to our sensibilities. What is going on here?
Continue reading “Breathing and Forgiving?”

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Childs on Isaiah 40

In studying Isaiah 40 for this week’s message, I found this brilliant passage in one of my commentaries on Isaiah. In this section, Dr. Child’s goes to great lengths to show the profound connections between what is known as first Isaiah (ch. 1-39) and second Isaiah (ch. 40-55). In doing so, he also picks up themes that find their fulfillment in Christ. I always find this sort of thing fascinating as I live in a society that does not seem to know what to do with the Old Testament and what it says about God.

When John the Baptist linked the appearance of Jesus with the prophet’s call to ‘prepare the way of the Lord,’ he was not making a mechanical connection with an ancient prediction of Isaiah. Rather, the reality of God’s salvation was manifest in Jesus Christ in such a way that his advent provided a perfect morphological fit according to its redemptive substance with the Old Testament promise. In a word, the salvific significance of Jesus Christ was understood in the light of the Old Testament prophecy, while, conversely, the Old Testament promise gained its true meaning from the revelation of the Christ in the fullness of God’s time.

Brevard Childs commentary on Isaiah in the Old Testament Library series (p.303)

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Hauerwas on Matthew 13

I’m studying Matthew 13 for the sermon tomorrow, and in doing so I am reading through Stanley Hauerwas’ commentary on Matthew and it has some interesting and insightful quotes that were too large to tweet, so I thought I’d throw up a quick post.

In reference to the parable of the sower, where seed was scattered on four types of soil, Hauerwas states that this parable provides a commentary on the issue of the shrinking church in North America and Europe. He says the reason provided in scripture for this is, “It is hard to be a disciple and be rich.” (p.129) We are tempted to think that the issue is more complex than that, but Hauerwas argues that the concern for wealth and the things of this world simply choke out our imaginations. As a result

“…the church falls prey to the deepest enemy of the gospel – sentementality. The gospel has become a formula for ‘giving our lives meaning’ without judgement.” (p.129)

Continue reading “Hauerwas on Matthew 13”

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Contentment and miracles

Contentment

During my prayer time today I was contemplating contentment. What would it mean to be truly and totally content in the Lord? I’m not sure what exactly spurred this (besides the Holy Spirit working in my mind), but I think there was something in the Psalm reading from the morning office that got me thinking. The Psalm was 45:1-8 and it is a song of praise for the Lord as King and warrior. It’s a stirring image. I reread it and it struck me on how the hopes of the Psalmist were totally upon this King, the Lord. From that, I think, comes contentment. From there I thought of Paul’s writing about contentment, so after prayer, I looked it up. Philippians 4:11b, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.”

Contentment can be a tricky thing to pin down. There’s always “more,” and there is usually something we “used to have.” Focusing on the “used to” and the “more out there,” seems to keep our attention on either the past or the future, but definitely not on the present. How are we content with the present? Perhaps other people have an easier time with contentment. I don’t think I’m one of those people, so contentment in all things strikes me as miraculous.

It would be helpful at this point to look at the whole paragraph from Philippians in which this verse is found. Continue reading “Contentment and miracles”

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In the Midst of the Storm

Here is a piece I wrote for our newsletter for October.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
John 6:16-20

Just the other night a group of pretty intense thunderstorms passed through the area. They knocked down trees in town and the church was without half of its power the next day. School was canceled in Carson City due to power outages from the storm. The storms had high winds, constant flashes of lightning followed by rumbles of thunder, and plenty of rain.

Our kids were in bed when the storms picked up intensity, and they were both awake. Elijah, who is almost 4 now, has become convinced that he enjoys thunderstorms, even if they do get a bit scary, so he was doing pretty good that night. Alexandra, on the other hand, just turned 2 and did not care for the noise and flashes of lightning at all. Continue reading “In the Midst of the Storm”