Disasters and Repentance

For 3/3/2013

Major disasters, mass killings, and other seemingly inexplicable events raise so many heartfelt questions; how can this be explained, how could God let this happen, were those who died being punished by God? Think about your reactions and let us hear the question everyday people brought to Jesus after a mass killing:

Luke 13:1-5 About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”                             The Message Version             

· What is Jesus answer to people who are asking both why do bad things happen to good people and from the predominant theology of the time - were these people being punished by God? What does Jesus say about the victims?

· What does Jesus want us to learn about God as related to the tragedies? Did the events occur as a form of punishment? How do you think that the God you worship is present in such tragedies?

· Think of seemingly random bad things that occurred in your life, how was your relationship with God affected? Was it changed in any way? What spiritual insight did you receive?

· What point is Jesus making in telling of these two events,? What is he speaking of when he says that, “you, too, will die”? What must be done to avoid the type of death he is speaking of? John's Gospel has some thoughts on real life:

John 5:24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.                       The Message Version

· Jesus' point in the story is to tell us to "turn to God" or in many translations to repent, what does it mean to ‘repent’ and how do we go about it? What is changed about us when we repent?

· Do you associate repentance with Lent? What spiritual practices do we associate with Lent? Is reflection and seeking forgiveness part of your Lenten season?

There are a number of directions a discussion of this scripture could go - one of them is to look at the nature of God and the tragedies and disasters that are part of life. Job's story is famous for confronting us with this conundrum and here is another from Isaiah 55 as God speaks:

8-11 “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work"... “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.             The Message Version

· What does the Psalmist give us as God's words about the mysterious nature of life? What is the essence of the scripture? How do you react to it?

· These words are open to a wide range of interpretation - God's hand is in everything, everywhere, all the time - God chooses when to get involved - God may just let things happen. Where do you stand, how does your God touch real life?

· In the end all we may be left with is that we cannot fully understand anything about God - how do you feel about that? Does it make sense to you? Go outside and stare into infinity some night - it may help your perspective - it did the writer of Psalm 8.

We might also think about repentance which is where Jesus goes after his observation observations on disasters from Luke's gospel above:

Luke 13:6 Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’ 8-9 “The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”’                  The Message Version

· What is the owner's problem and what is his recommended solution? What is the recommendation of the gardener? What is the point of this parable? For Jesus this is about spiritual things so what might bearing fruit have to do with us? Jesus put it this way in John's Gospel:

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.New English Version

· How do you feel about Jesus’ words in the Luke parable and in John’s gospel? Does it seem that making a difference based on the presence of the Spirit in our lives is optional? Does this seem threatening, a basic truth, or something else? Do you feel empowered by your faith?

· Repentance; setting a new direction, changing our focus seems to run through Jesus' teaching and here is an homily on repentance for your consideration -at do you think:

Repentance is not a fruit problem; it is a root problem. It is the root of who we are that is a problem in God's eyes. So repentance cannot be composed of "I can" statements. "I have sinned God. I am sorry God. I can do better." Repentance, rather, must be composed of "I can't" statements. "I have sinned, God. I am sorry. God, I've tried and tried and tried but I just don't produce good fruit. I can't seem to do better. I need your Vinedresser to work on the roots of my life. Give me a new life, God. Give me your life. I can't. You can."

                                                                   Richard Jensen Preaching Luke's Gospel

Closing Prayer

We pray that we’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength You give. Strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking You who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that You have for us.  Amen.      From Colossians 1:9-10 The Message Version

 

 

Next Week’s Scriptures: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Psalm 32, Joshua 5:9-12

 

                                                                                                           

Moses and the Snakes

For March 18, 2012


All Scriptures are from The Message Version

It is helpful to use this blog as a discussion starter for two or more people but it will also stimulate lots of thoughts if used by one reader. The material is used by a Sunday Study Group at Hamilton Christian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Commentaries for these scriptures can be found on Textweek.com through this link http://www.textweek.com/pentateuch/num21.htm

Numbers is a book of the bible which many of us may seldom visit but has as the rest of scripture the potential to give us insight and raise questions. When reading you will find a well-documented story of the trials and tribulations of the Israelites as they made their way through the wilderness on the way to the Promise Land. There are many trials, many miracles, and regular and vivid reminders of God’s presence with them both to support and reprimand. Today we read of more trials, more complaining and more of God’s direct intervention into the affairs of the people with more of Moses’ acting on behalf both of the people and God. We will first look at the wilderness story itself and then at the analogy Jesus made of it and to himself that we find in John’ Gospel.

The Story begins:
Numbers 21:4-5 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. They spoke out against God and Moses: "Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water—we can't stomach this stuff any longer."

• When you think about this large mass of humanity traipsing through a unfamiliar territory and living in nomadic style (imagine a 40 year camping trip with all of your family, relatives, friends, and some people that you really didn’t care for) it is understandable that there would be unrest. What would you need/want to sustain you if you were on this journey? How would you have dealt with the seemingly endless trek with a very ill-defined destination (what exactly was the Promise Land)?
• What would you have needed from your faith life to both endure the journey and at the same time nurture your spiritual life as you traveled? What might you want to initiate for yourself or with other travelers that might help address these needs?
• Might there have been a need to support one another during those stressful times? What might some needs be and how might you want to addressed these needs?
• Fast forward to your life today, can you draw any parallels to the wandering Israelites in your life? Are there any seemingly endless burdens, any loss of purpose, difficult conditions? Reflect on your thoughts as you looked at the questions about sustaining faith and mutual support for the traveling Israelites, how do they apply to your life today? How might they apply to life in a faith community?
• Moses was the leader, how difficult was his task? This story is just one of many crisis he faced, seemingly on a daily basis, what must it have taken both on his part and in his relationship with God to sustain him and maintain him as an effective leader?
• How might the example of Moses apply to congregational leadership today? What might our leaders learn from him from both a spiritual and leadership perspective? What made him successful in the midst of almost overwhelming challenges? Some scripture which will give you an understanding of Moses includes Exodus 3-4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%203-4&version=MSGand Numbers 11 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2011&version=MSG.

Now Numbers tells us that God again loses patience with the Israelites:

6-7 So GOD sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke out against GOD and you. Pray to GOD; ask him to take these snakes from us." Moses prayed for the people.
8 GOD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live."
9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.

• We can dwell for a moment on God sending the snakes and your response to that assertion in the scripture. How do you feel about the fact that God sent the snakes to punish the Israelites? What does it say about the nature of God’s relationship with humankind if direct punishment, even death, comes to us as a result of our transgressions?
• Have you ever felt that things were happening in your life because of failings on your part? Have the snakes appeared? What do you think is the source of the bad consequences of our bad choices? Is God rewarding and punishing you regularly a part of your faith journey?
• Another story of a plague of snakes which gives this story a more contemporary flavor comes from T. E. Lawrence’s (Lawrence of Arabia) story of his adventures in WWII as recorded in Seven Pillars of Wisdom Chapter XLVII:
On my dry patience they grated a little, because the plague of snakes which had been with us since our first entry into Sirhan today rose to memorable height, and became a terror. In ordinary times, so the Arabs said, snakes were little worse here than elsewhere by water in the desert: but this year the valley seemed creeping with horned vipers and puff-adders, cobras and black snakes. By night movement was dangerous: and at last we found it necessary to walk with sticks, beating the bushes each side while we stepped warily through on bare feet.


We could not lightly draw water after dark, for there were snakes swimming in the pools or clustering in knots around their brinks. Twice puff-adders came twisting into the alert ring of our debating coffee-circle. Three of our men died of bites; four recovered after great fear and pain, and a swelling of the poisoned limb. Howeitat treatment was to bind up the part with snake-skin plaster, and read chapters of the Koran to the sufferer until he died. They also pulled thick Damascene ankle-boots, red, with blue tassels and horse-shoe heels, over their horny feet when they went late abroad.

• How are you and snakes? Can you imagine the terror on the part of the people? What about the degree of relief when Moses developed a solution? What do you think that the snake represents, what brought about the healing? Was it the snake or something else that it represented?

In a second Lectionary Scripture Jesus uses this story to make a point about his presence and purpose:

John 3:13-15 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

• What might mean when he talks of being “lifted up” as we look toward Easter Sunday? Are both the very visible nature of his death and the resurrection three days later possible interpretations? When you think of Jesus how is he made visible to you, what pictures do you carry in your mind, what captures you and makes you “trusting an expectant”?
• Why did God send Jesus to have him “lifted up”? What reasons does Jesus give us? As you travel through this Lenten season where do you pray this healing might occur in your personal life and the life of our world? What do you turn to for hope and strength as you seek this healing – both your spiritual and secular resources?
• One message for us today might be that finding God’s presence is a two way street – God is there (lifted up), it is our responsibility to respond (see and believe). What message have you heard as you have thought about these questions – feel free to leave a comment below.

Closing Prayer

Take Lord unto yourself,

My sense of self: and let it vanish utterly.

Take Lord my life,

Live your life through me.

I live no longer, Lord

But in me now you live.

Yes, between you and me, my God

There is no longer room for I and Mine.

Amen

Tukaram, Indian Mystic, Oxford Book of Prayer

Next Week’s Lectionary Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-12or Psalm 119:9-16, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33

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