Archive for June, 2007
What If There’s No Reason?
This is part of our e-journey through the gospel of John. Today is from John 9:1-41.
I used to think “why” was such a great question. I used to be impressed with people who could answer “why” questions. I used to want to be someone who could answer “why” questions.
Now I’m realizing a couple of things. Most of the people I would classify as great hardly ever answered the “why” question. Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, St. Francis of Assisi, Jesus – not a lot of “why” answers. Plenty of “how” and “why not.” The other thing is that if we really looked hard at some of the answers we’ve been given – there….inadequate.
Why do bad things happen to people?
Why are some people mean?
Why are some people never happy?
Why do some people love hurting other people?
What if there are no real reasons? At least ones that make sense on this side of the equation. That’s the overall angst I felt as I read John 9 this week.
The disciples are having one of these “why” conversations about a man born blind and Jesus’ answer is “Neither. He’s blind so that God’s glory can be shown by me healing him with mud balls made with my spit.”
First of all, the guy is blind. He can still hear, right? He can hear Jesus hawkin’ up some spit, packing it in some dirt, then can feel the stuff on his face. How in the world can that be glorious? How does that display the glory of God? How does Jesus getting dirty display the glory of God?
More disturbing than that is how outright pithy the whole thing sounds. What about all the other people born blind that didn’t get to hear Jesus spit? Were they blind so that God’s glory could be revealed too?
I’m not really paying attention to the rest of the story. Oh, I read it. Over and over again. But Jesus’ answer at the beginning of the chapter – the more I think about it…the more it bothers me. In fact, it bothers so much I start having this week long discussion/argument with God.
I tell him I don’t like His answer. I don’t think it’s good enough. I think it’s pithy and shallow. I ask whether his answer only applied to that particular blind guy or all blind people? What about people with cancer? What of all the stories of those that don’t get healed?
This goes on all week. No answers. I realize I’m a hypocrite in all of this as I’m approaching the whole conversation much like the disciples – detached, surgical, no real vested interest in the answer. I think that might be part of my problem.
I think the larger part of the problem I finally noticed yesterday. What if physical blindness isn’t as big of a deal in the grand eternal scheme as I think it is? What if there is something worse but less evasive to my life? What if some things were never meant to make sense this side of life?
What if the real people to be pitied in John 9 isn’t the blind man or the countless others that Jesus chose NOT to heal? What if the real tragic character were the people who thought they knew God but they really didn’t? What if the real tragedy in the story is the one who misses the work of God due to his arrogance? What if by being physically blind was better than being spiritually blind?
More questions that I’m not sure I’ll like the answers to as well.
Stood Up
This morning, I roll out of bed, get a shower…or take a shower? Most of us say “take” but honestly you are “getting” a shower.
Anyway, make my mocha and blueberry bagel, glance at the clock – 7.32.
Then my stomach hits the floor. I stood up one of our elders this morning. We’ve been meeting on Wednesday mornings and I completely utterly forgot it.
Looks like I’m buying breakfast next week.
Sorry, Dave. It’s VBS and a I’m a youth pastor.
VBS Week
This is the week where we have close to a hundred kids invade our building and laugh and giggle and get loud and hopefully encounter Jesus along the way.
I’m the music/entertainment package. (Hey, you get what you pay for.)
So I really haven’t had a ton of time to blog or anything but last night was one of those “My daughter is too young to be saying this” moments.
Mom: Camber, what’d you think about VBS?
Cam: I loved it. I liked the music but Dad…do you have to be so…..
Dad: Funny? Brilliant?
Cam: Goofy. Everybody likes you and thinks your funny but …..
Dad: I’m not their dad, right?
Cam: Right.
Dad: Okay, if anybody needs me I’ll be in my room crying.
There’s a Darwin Award in this Somewhere
2 teens jump on oil tanker, tank explodes sending the teens 150 feet away.
A dog was also killed in the explosion.
Wouldn’t you love to know the whole story?
Camber’s New Life
I’m conflicted.
Camber’s new haircut…do I like it? Yes, it looks awesome but where has my little girl gone? Where is she? I can still see her but is that just “Daddy-vision”? Does a dad ever NOT see his “little girl” no matter age she gets?
Cayden is not far behind her either.
Of course there is Camber’s love affair with horses. She wants one. Yeah, and I want world peace. Fortunately for me, we have a church full of horse owners that are generous with their time and experience. Camber’s learning how to care and ride a horse. She’s one brave woman. She just walks right up and throws the saddle up there with all she’s got.
Sigh.
Living in Finland, Pakistan, and Iran
This is hilarious and proof that somebody has a ton of time on their hands…but are using it for good. Click on the pic for the full meal deal but this changes the states name to the country with the similar GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Couple of highlights for me – Arkansas was Pakistan, Alabama was Iran. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure that Wyoming being on par with Uzbekistan is NOT a good thing. Oh well…find your favorite state.
h/t to Jerry.
Summer Film Festival
I’ve had a few of you guys bug…er, I mean ask me about my summer film festival. So out of sheer laziness – this post is for you. I’ll try to run individual posts for each of the movies…but hey – no promises.
The general idea is this – get students together, watch a movie, talk about movie.
That’s it.
Of course it helps to “frame” the movie before watching. Like telling the students to pay attention to a certain theme or idea that runs through out the movie. In terms of prep for me what this means is that I’ll have to watch the movie at least twice before the students see it. One of those will be with the Director’s Commentary on. (They are not all boring.) Out of those two screenings, I’ll have about 6 or 7 questions I want to talk about and perhaps the inside scoop from the director himself (or herself) as to what they wanted the audience to walk away from the film with.
Then right before we show the movie, we give the audience a filter through which to watch the movie. For example, we watched Count of Monte Cristo 2 weeks ago. I asked the students to pay careful attention to theme of compromise and how every character interacted with this theme. Was it always bad? Was it always good?
We look for “holy moments” as well as dumb ones to make fun of and critique. Makes for a great night but more importantly it shows how to watch a movie, what to look for, what questions to ask. At the end of the summer, we’ll all go the movies together, grab a coffee afterwards and practice what we learned.
Words of Warning
If you decide to do this, exercise some wisdom.
First, know the kind of culture you are ministering in and the limits therein. I’m in the west, part of major metropolitan area. It’s a little different here than when I was in Little Rock.
Second, pick movies worth watching. I think Tommy Boy is the funniest movie on the planet. Caddyshack is up there as well. Is there enough deep material there to talk about afterwards? Debatable. (Although I love the “Brothers gotta hug” moment.) We picked movies that allow us to probe into some deeper arenas of discussion.
Third, WE picked the movies. I had an elder, a pastor, and a key ministry volunteer help me with the choices of movies. Part of the reason is that they are also parents. Part of the reason is allowing volunteers have authority in decisions, not just responsibility. The biggest reason though is that 4 sets of eyes and ears are better than one.
Here are the movies we are digging into this summer:
High School Film Festival
The Count of Monte Cristo, 131 min, PG-13
Les Miserables, 131 min, PG-13
Eragon, 104 min, PG
I, Robot, 115 min, PG-13
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, 157 min, PG-13
The Pursuit of Happyness, 117 min, PG-13
Middle School Film Festival
Joshua, 91 min, G
The Count of Monte Cristo, 131 min, PG-13
Eragon, 104 min, PG
Bridge To Terabithia, 95 min, PG
Facing The Giants, 111 min, PG
Secondhand Lions, 111 min, PG
Ray’s Gone…What should we do to his office?
I’m taking suggestions…
Packing Peanuts to the rim?
Move all his books around?
Something nice like hide a gift card in it?
What do you think?
Son of Satan
This is part of our e-journey through the gospel of John. Today is from John 8:12-46.
Interesting timing of this passage seeing how last Sunday was Father’s Day. Not only am I a dad but I’ve got three myself – father-in-law, biological dad and step-dad. To further confuse matters, I call all three of men “Dad” and am always introduced by the three men as “my son.” If we ever have dinner all together, it’s going to be a bit confusing.
Yet the really cool thing about this – besides all the warm fuzzy feelings that goes in Hallmark cards – is the sense of belonging. But the belonging doesn’t come without strings. Let me see if I can explain.
Growing up in the South I constantly answered the questions “Who’s your dad?” and “Who’s your grandfather?” I realize that part of the reason was to make sure that the family tree properly forked…(you can insert your favorite Alabama joke here) but something deeper was going on as well. I was being sized up to the kind of person I was based on my family tree.
The highest compliment you could receive was “Yes sir, that sure is English’s boy.” The lowest insult would be “You’re no son of English.”
(Stay with me…I know it feels like I’m rambling but this really does tie in to what Jesus is talking about here.)
The Hebrew culture is just like this except worse…on steroids. Remember reading all those lists – Joshua, son of Nun…everyone is known as someone else’s son. It’s not just to show identity but character and belonging as well.
So in walks Jesus talking to “the Jews”, the religious leaders and elite, where this is even more important. He claims to be the “Light of the World” and the only argument back from the Pharisees is this – who’s your daddy? They can’t question his character because it’s impeccable. They can’t argue the Scriptures with Him because Jesus has beat them at that game as well. They question his lineage and in response Jesus shares not just some of the most profound statements in Scripture but also some of his harshest insults.
“You are from below, I am from above.”“When you have lifted the Son of Man, you will know that I am the one…”
“I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
“If you hold to my teachings…you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
“Why is my language not clear to you? You belong to your father, the devil and you want to carry out your father’s desire.”
“The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Great quotes, explain to me again how this all relates????
Jesus says it’s your actions and attitude that reveals your true heritage, not your heritage that justifies your actions. The Jews thought – since I’m a Jew, a son of Abraham, what I do is right. What I think is right.
Jesus says no – your faith is in your heritage, not in the person of God. And when you have faith in anything but God – you are a son of Satan, bent on perpetuating lies and unable to hear God. You can claim to hear God but your life shows differently.
My two take aways from this are painful. First, I often wonder if Christianity in America is guilty of the same thing. We have God on our money in word, in deed we behave very differently. Many of us who grew up in religious homes rely on that as opposed to a personal, dynamic relationship with Jesus.
Secondly, as a son of the Father the true result of listening to Him is freedom. Still figuring out how that fleshes out.
Bailiwick
Ever heard this word before?
“This is right up your bailiwick!”
Due to context, I could figure it out but honestly – I had no clue what it meant. Ray uses this word a lot and Rowland has started using it as well. We’re in staff meeting and they keep using the word and I finally say – “What the heck is a bailiwick anyway?”
No one answered.
Either I was too stupid for words or they didn’t know either.
I finally learned – a bailiwick was used to refer to a bailiff’s jurisdiction. So it has the same connotation as “in your wheelhouse” or “right up your alley.”
Just thought you’d like to know.
Castlewood Part 2
We hit the East side on Saturday. Gotta tell you…it was hot…it was still…it was not as much fun as the West side, but still got some cool pics. Particularly of the Dam Ruins…which is not only cool to look at – but fun to say.
“We’re hiking to the Dam Ruins.”
In 1934 the Dam broke and put 15 feet of water in Denver – which is a good 30 miles away. Cherry Creek runs through the canyon. In fact, at one time the meadow behind Cayden and me was a lake. Great day but as you can see – the kids were done and ready to go home when it was all over.
This is Pikes Peak in the background. I love this picture.
Castlewood Canyon with Singletons
The cool part about having people visit is that it gives you an excuse to do cool stuff. Castlewood Canyon is our latest example. The kids were dreading going at first but once there, we had to drag them home.
First stop – Patrick Lucas homestead, built in 1894. The Lucas family had 160 acres – most of which is now Castlewood Canyon State Park – and raised 8 kids in this home.
On the hike up to the caves, we came across a beehive. There were hundreds of bees swarming and you can barely see the honey in this picture. The hive was just right inside the canyon wall.
Here’s Bruce before we go up inside the sliver of the cave. It was about 15 degrees inside the cave. After some initial tears because the dark (yes, it was me), everyone piled in.
Other views – on top of canyon with a turkey vulture, the falls, kids cooling off in Cherry Creek, a minor scrape, and the overall kid rating of the day.
Museum of Nature and Science
I love going to this place. It helps that the kids love it as well and love all the hands on stuff. For me it’s the wonder of creation and discovery.
Yes, there is a 3 minute video in the dinosaur hall preaching the “we all came from goo” message but honestly everything else in the museum speaks of a Creator and how much we don’t know.
One gripe – a Titanic Exhibit starts June 22nd. Normally, these are free. Pay the admission – get the showcase. Not this one. It’s another $9 a pop if you want to go through it. That’s disappointing and means I’m probably not going. Not interested enough in the remains of a sunken ship to do that.
Today: Lunch at Castlewood Canyon…maybe.
Coop’s New Specs
Check out the new specs!! Great look being thrown down by the Coopster. Now he looks as smart as he really is. I just can’t get over the fact that this must be exactly what Adam Savage looked like when he was growing up.
It’s Not Because of the Food
With kids, Casa Bonita is always good fun. The diving show, the incredible acting of Black Bart, the arcade, and of course you have to drive by Mile High to get there.
We will not discuss the food. Food is never a reason to go to Casa Bonita. Singletons in tow – fun night!
Tomorrow – who knows what we’ll do. Perhaps the Museum.
Crazy Times
Great weekend of garage sales…NOT!!! But this week is redeemed by the fact the Singletons are here!!
So there’ll be pictures of kids playing and us hanging out and eating all week.
Thought I’d give you the boring week of posts alert in advance.
Often Preached, Seldom Done
This is part of our e-journey through the gospel of John. Today is from John 8:1-11.
There is an annoying little note in my bible that says this section of scripture isn’t in the earliest manuscripts. I used to avoid teaching or preaching this section of scripture because of that. And partly because the implications of the story made me incredibly uncomfortable. I even had someone challenge me that if it wasn’t in the earliest manuscript, it should NOT be in the Bible.
So I started researching the issue. I discovered that if you took out all the sections in the New Testament that weren’t in the earliest manuscripts, we’d lose .5% of the New Testament. Not 5. but POINT FIVE. None of it having anything to do with theology.
Then after reading the gospels for years, this story so fits what Jesus would do.
Then I finally got to the point of understanding just because it wasn’t in the earliest manuscripts doesn’t make it didn’t happen.
Of course after going full circle I’ve still yet to wrestle with the real implications of the passage. A naked woman caught in the middle of having sex with a man that is not her husband is drug out into the streets and thrown in front of a religious man she doesn’t know for judgment with the whole neighborhood watching.
It’s humiliating. It’s demeaning. It’s demonic. Both the adultery and the kind of self-righteousness that would drag someone else’s struggles into broad daylight.
Do we need to hide sin? No. But dragging it out in front of everybody is equally demonic and hate-filled. That doesn’t lead to wholeness and repentance either.
Jesus never shied away from confronting sin in direct and disruptive ways. He just did it for the point of repentance and redemption. We see him giving them the opportunity to “surrender with honor” if you will.
This situation had none of those marks. It was done to be hurtful, to be damning. And Jesus rebukes that more than the adultery.
I love the fact that Jesus only confronts the woman AFTER everyone else leaves. “Where are your accusers?”
“They are all gone.”
“Neither then do I accuse you. Go AND SIN NO MORE.”
He still reminds her – what you did was wrong. Don’t do it again. But how they treated you was wrong as well.
How we handle brokenness tells more about our theology than any document we could ever write. How we treat other image-bearers of God truly reveals our heart position with Christ.
That is the true litmus test of all congregations – how they treat brokenness.
A Boy With A Wii
Got a visit today from Morgan Tedder. She’s famous for a couple of things. First, talking in third person.
Morgan can get away with it for some reason. Anyone else you’d just want to…well, leave. Not Morgan. Part of the reason is she’s so stinking funny. The other part is she is nice. It’s the nice part that often gets her into funny/embarrassing situations.
Like today. She’s working up in Breckenridge this summer for StuMo. She’s got some weekends free so she’s coming down to hang with us when she can. Today we got her for like an hour because she was with her D-group…the gals she’s working with this summer.
We were discussing the various merits of different gaming systems.
The 4 girls were determine to persuade me that the Wii was superior to Xbox.
I commented that the Wii was a girl toy, not for a man.
Morgan replied…
“I know a boy with a wii!!!”
It’s in these moments that I realize that I’ve been in youth ministry too long. My immediate response was “That was more than I wanted to know but I’m glad your parents had that talk with you.”
I’m so glad we got to see Morgan today. Looking forward to more comic relief.
Donovan’s Waffle
Rough life to have to choose between two organizations that are going to pay you millions of dollars to coach basketball. So Billy leaves Florida, goes to NBA Magic for 48 hours only to try to get his old job back. He’s probably going to get a lot of grief for changing his mind, but honestly – he did the hardest thing in the world to do…admit a mistake and try to immediately correct it instead of acting like nothing was wrong.
With the kind of money getting thrown around, it obviously wasn’t about the money. Kudos to Billy Donovan for figure out early that he wasn’t going to work in Orlando and doing something about it. For the opposite of this situation, see the New York Knicks hiring of Isaiah Thomas.
[tags]Billy Donovan, Orlando Magic, Florida Gators, NBA[/tags]
Draggin’
My grandfather – the author of many colorful sayings…most of which I still can’t repeat – would often tell me to quit draggin’ arse. (No, he didn’t use the word arse but you get the picture.) Normally because it was 0:darkthirty in the morning and we were going fishing. From age 7 on to 13, he’d use this phrase on me.
I’ve never been a morning person in the first place. I can remember asking Pawpaw why the heck do we get up so early to fish?
“That’s when the fish are up.”
Pawpaw was full of wisdom like that. His favorite bait of choice was chicken hearts. Combine the smell of chicken hearts with fish at 0:darkthirty on the Coosa River and you’ve got a great recipe for vomit. For some reason, none of that bothered me – just the getting up early. I didn’t even mind the cleaning of catfish afterwards.
Lately though – this is exactly what I feel like – draggin’. Haven’t really slept well lately and I’ve really got no real reason as to why.
Today – things should change. Meeting a guy for lunch today that I hope to disciple plus we’ll have teenagers over tonight to start our Summer Film Festival.
And of course blogging about absolutely ridiculously pointless stuff like this helps….sort of.
Gimples
This man was responsible for giving me my first full-time youth pastor job. So it’s all his fault!
That would be Dick and Joanne Gimple. Dick first met me Super Bowl Weekend 1997. (The year before the Broncos won their first Super Bowl.) He got to watch me grow up and even entrusted one of his daughters into my care.
In fact, the whole family was in town on their way to vacate in the Rocky Mountains. This is Carrie and Drew. I never had Carrie in my youth group – she had already graduated. She was however part of one of the greatest pranks I’ve ever had done to me. She snuck in my office and changed all the book covers. Not SOME. Not MANY. But every one. It took me months to straighten it out. Now she’s a Vice-Principal, I only hope her students have the opportunity to show her the same kind of love.
This is the “other” daughter Kim and her husband Greg. Kim was in the youth group. In fact, we’ve known her since her sophomore year in high school. Greg’s a seminary student and both spent two years as missionaries in a closed country. That’s how they met.
Great night of memories, laughter, and community. For me it was bitter-sweet. We only had one night with them and I’m thankful for that…but I wanted more.
It’s an interesting benefit of student ministry…years later you get to see and reap the investment. And it’s worth it. They are no longer students but friends, co-workers in the Kingdom, family. That’s the sweet part of it. The bitter part – not enough time to reconnect.
The Real Secret
This is part of our weekly e-journey through the gospel of John. Today is from John 7.
I’m always amused at pseudo-Christianity ideas like “The Secret” or “God Wants You Rich” movements. The idea that if you pray a certain way that somehow manipulates God into a position where he HAS to “bless” you is mildly entertaining but that’s about it. Forget the fact that it doesn’t hold up philosophically – could a being that can be manipulated really be “God”? It completely ignores how the Bible speaks of Jesus.
The other funny/sad idea is that Jesus was a man of peace.
Jesus did not lead a military revolt. That part is true. Instead, he brought nothing but bitter divisiveness to every culture he interacted with and got everyone of his followers killed. The Jews were divided as to who he was. The Gentiles couldn’t figure it out. Jesus was purposely disruptive in his teachings to the point it got him killed.
His own family didn’t like him.
John 7 shoves us in the middle of this cultural crisis – some say he’s the Prophet, other’s say he’s the Christ, still others claimed he was from Satan. Jesus completely disrupts this festival – and every other one he ever attended. It was crisis enough for the Jews that some of them wanted Jesus dead.
Which begs the question – why? If he was just some crazy Jew spouting off his mouth, why kill that? If he was threat and had some authority – I understand. If he had validity to his message – then I get the intense hatred towards him. He was demanding a complete change of my way of life.
But to say Jesus was a good, peaceful teacher just seems to ignore the facts of the situation. People wanted him dead. He brought controversy and division where ever he taught. He trashed religious traditions, called into question the motives of Israel’s leaders, and demanded things of his followers that were impossible to do.
I think that’s the real secret of Jesus. He didn’t necessarily come for our benefit, comfort, or peace.
Best Co-op Games for the Xbox
With no more new games coming out for the Xbox, it’s time to do a post on the best co-op games for the Xbox. I’m not going to include any games on the 360 platform mainly because I don’t have one and I’m jealous.
But playing co-op is THE reason I switched from a PS2. Getting a bunch of guys together and saving the universe is not just great fun but it is the greatest perk of being a youth pastor. Especially when you have 16 guys on 4 boxes in your house.
So before I post my favorite co-op games, a couple of disclaimers.
DISCLAIMER 1: Xbox Live and System Link are awesome but not everyone has the opportunity to use them. So for the purposes of this list, I’m only talking about games that you can play co-op on the same box.
DISCLAIMER 2: Just because it’s on my list, doesn’t mean it’s kid friendly. You can read more about my opinion on game ratings and the like on the post The Halo Rants.
DISCLAIMER 3: This is my list. These are the games I like to play. I’m not getting any endorsement money for this. Wanna add a game – go ahead. Wanna critique my pics – I’ll let you speak with my rocket launcher (or lightsaber).
6. Lego Star Wars 2 – Yes, there are two of them. And this one is cool because it deals with the original trilogy but it’s not as intuitive as the first one. Still worth picking up if you have kids that love Star Wars and love Legos.
5. Return to Castle Wolfenstein – Great use of WWII weaponry, the “demonic part” of the game is a bit creepy. The major bad side of the game is that you can’t save co-op missions. The cool thing about it is that it names your xbox after the first profile you put in on it. So when you hook to do system link, instead of one of those lame names like “Wilshire”, your box is “G Luv”….or whatever your profile name is.
4. Lego Star Wars – When it first came out, I laughed thinking there is no way this is going to work. Then I rented it and immediately went out and bought it. What an awesome game to play with your kids. Funny and intuitive. We still play this game.
3. Halo 2 – graphics and music and story just all one upped the first one. Double welding weapons and using the sword…SWEEEEEEET. The couple of critiques I have is that the shotgun is not as powerful as in Halo 1.
2. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – This is just a kickin’ game but the co-op is stunning. The bad news – it’s only got 6 levels of co-op. The good news – they are hard enough that you’ll have to play them multiple times to get a 100% rating. Never gets boring.
1. Halo – It has to be first because for years it was THE REASON to own an Xbox. Long levels, entire game can be play co-op. Best co-op weaponry: P1 – rockets and pistol, P2 – sniper and shotgun and stick together.
Love to hear your additions…
[tags]Halo, Halo 2, Lego Star Wars, Lego Star Wars 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Xbox Co-op Games[/tags]
An Inconvenient Truth
This is part of our weekly e-journey through the gospel of John. Today is from John 6.
Can you remember a time you got duped? Blindsided? Surprised? Remember a time where you thought you had it all figured out only to realize you were hopelessly wrong? I am re-watching the original Star Wars trilogy with Cooper. I remember his reaction the first time he watched Empire. “WHAT THE HECK, DAD????? HOW CAN DARTH VADER BE LUKE’S FATHER????!!!!!!!! THIS CAN’T BE!! WE’VE GOT TO WATCH THE NEXT ONE NOW!!!!”
“HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT AS A 9 YEAR OLD BOY HAVING TO WAIT ANOTHER 3 YEARS TO FIND OUT?????????? YOU THINK YOU HAVE ISSUES????? SUCK IT UP AND BE THANKFUL FOR THE DVD’S, YOU LITTLE WHINING BRAT!” 
Watching Empire now, I can pick up on the nuances in the dialogue. The myopic focus of Vader trying to find Skywalker, not just the rebel base. The Emperor fear of “the Son of Skywalker” becoming a Jedi. Vader suggestion to turn Skywalker to the Dark Side instead of killing him. Vader offering Skywalker the opportunity to rule the galaxy with him, removing the Emperor from the picture. Were these glimpses of paternal love? Glimpses of the good still left in Vader? Pictures of redemption coming through the son?
The first time through I was so distracted by the special effects and light sabers that I missed all of that. I wanted my first car to be the Millenium Falcon. I thought Leia was the most wonderful woman in the galaxy (and she proved that with the opening scenes of Return of the Jedi). Every woman in my life afterwards would unfairly be compared to her. I was so caught up in the other stuff, I missed the hints of the major story line – the redemption of Darth Vader.
What in the world does this have to do with the 6th chapter of John? Actually, quite a lot.
The disciples are in the middle of seeing Jesus heal the sick, cure the blind, raise the dead, feed over 5,000 in the middle of nowhere, and walk on water. The special effects are stunning. The disciples think they get it, they think they have the inside scoop – this is God showing off. This is the coming of the ONE who will free us all.
It’s human nature to reduce the work of Jesus for one purpose. It’s human nature to simplify things to the lowest denominator so that it’s easy to swallow and understand. It’s not God’s nature though.
He tells his disciples – you feed the hungry. He puts his disciples in harms way. He tells them you can’t follow me unless you “eat my flesh.” In other words – you have to consume me and I then will consume you. Then Jesus really jacks them up by affirming both sides of the Calvinist/Openness Debate.
“It’s God’s will that all will be saved.”
“Only those that the Father draws will be saved.”
And that was it. No further explanation. And many “disciples” left Jesus. Maybe the didn’t understand him, maybe they did and it was just too hard. At any rate, the inconvenient truth was this – to follow Jesus meant being consumed by him. Nothing else mattered. If you follow Jesus, eventually he will put you in a no-win situation. You can’t feed the multitudes. You can’t stop storms, heal the sick, or even begin to understand the theological truths of God. Jesus knows this….yet the answer he’s looking for in these situations is not our knowledge or resourcefulness but rather our faithfulness.
Is Jesus our “bread” of life? Is he our staple? Is he the center or just the convenient cause of the time? The more we know Jesus, the harder it gets…not easier. Yet…the more rewarding. Something Jesus will flesh out over the next few chapters.
[tags]John 6[/tags]