Family serves many purposes. One of them is a form of external memory much like many organisms use. There is a story I have heard so many times I think I can remember it. I was sleeping over my grandfather's house and asked a fateful question, "when am I gonna be boss?" It was in response to his statement that he was the boss. As the story goes i was promptly picked up. That part of the story always seemed odd as I was rarely promptly picked up in my memory as a child in the 70s.
Something foreign to me now. I'm not much to boss people around. Most people don't really listen. I feel like I'm a follower, which is why I feel comfortable with Jesus. My standards certainly raised it is a difficult thing in life to find people worthy of following.
There is a certain truth to the fact that most people are lost in life. I would argue much of what we do almost performance art. I certainly feel that way in our garden. Yesterday I picked up bags of trash down on the beach with my daughter. The garbage in the dumpster not as important as the pictures of people involved inspiring more people to be involved.
We should be further along in taking care of our environment. Maybe the end of the beginning, but not much further along.
"EDUCATION - When a man teaches something he does not know to somebody else who has no aptitude for it, and gives him a certificate of proficiency, the latter has completed the education of a gentleman. A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education. The best brought-up children are those who have seen their parents as they are. Hypocrisy is not the parent’s first duty. The vilest abortionist is he who attempts to mould a child’s character. At the University every great treatise is postponed until its author attains impartial judgment and perfect knowledge. If a horse could wait as long for its shoes and would pay for them in advance, our blacksmiths would all be college dons. He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches."
Amplified Bible
34 Now when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced (muzzled) the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 One of them, a lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law], asked Jesus a question, to test Him: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Here we find Jesus continuing to be tested by these religious authorities. Last week we spoke about giving unto Caesar what has Caesar's mark. We were beautifully reminded by Pastor Wilma that we all have been made in the image of God, have the mark of God, and need to give unto God what has God's mark.
Jesus is in many ways most himself in these passages and time in his ministry. The Sadducees were stumped by this concept that the God of Abraham has meaning in the past and the present and the future tense. A God of the living. The Pharisees must have been much like me laughing at their closed minded political opponents. They thought they would show everyone. The progressives in this story. The Pharisees were the most like Jesus — believing in resurrection, angels, and spreading their message among the common people
37 And Jesus replied to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].’ 40 The whole Law and the [writings of the] Prophets depend on these two commandments.
He had given them their answer but then Jesus did something unexpected. Which is his thing. He had a question for them. Now we know they liked his answer. In Mark we surprisingly find more detail to this story:
Mark12 32-34:32 The scribe said to Him, “Admirably answered, Teacher; You truthfully stated that He is One, and there is no other but Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to [unselfishly] love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully and intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.
Jesus had answered all the questions asked. The different authorities had more questions I am sure, but my impression is they really didn't want to risk hearing his answers. They were holding onto something fleeting. Jesus offered something eternal. This stumbles us as well. Jesus has questions for us as well.
41 Now while the Pharisees were [still] gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: 42 “What do you [Pharisees] think of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “[a]The son of David.” 43 Jesus asked them, “How is it then that David by the inspiration of the Spirit, calls Him ‘Lord,’ saying,
44
‘The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (the Son, the Messiah),
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies under Your feet”’?
45 So then, if David calls Him (the Son, the Messiah) ‘Lord,’ [b]how is He David’s son?” 46 No one was able to say a word to Him in answer, nor from that day on did anyone dare to question Him again.
44
‘The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (the Son, the Messiah),
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies under Your feet”’?
45 So then, if David calls Him (the Son, the Messiah) ‘Lord,’ [b]how is He David’s son?” 46 No one was able to say a word to Him in answer, nor from that day on did anyone dare to question Him again.
The Pharisees like Don Juan in Man and Superman:
"If the really impressive books and other art-works of the world were produced by ordinary men, they would express more fear of women's pursuit than love of their illusory beauty. But ordinary men cannot produce really impressive art-works. Those who can are men of genius: that is, men selected by Nature to carry on the work of building up an intellectual consciousness of her own instinctive purpose. Accordingly, we observe in the man of genius all the unscrupulousness and all the "self-sacrifice" (the two things are the same) of Woman. He will risk the stake and the cross; starve, when necessary, in a garret all his life; study women and live on their work and care as Darwin studied worms and lived upon sheep; work his nerves into rags without payment, a sublime altruist in his disregard of himself, an atrocious egotist in his disregard of others. Here Woman meets a purpose as impersonal, as irresistible as her own; and the clash is sometimes tragic."
For one the female form for the other the law, the old news.
all the unscrupulousness and all the "self-sacrifice"...sounds something like David to me. No one is able to say a word to him in answer. I don't have an answer, but we can dare ask questions because we want answers..
Too often people see Jesus and religion as a dead end. Here we find eternity. The sound of one hand clapping. Grace is the answer to the question. Grace is the question of the answer. This is not jeopardy.
We live our lives with stories, but mostly partial ones..."He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." In a certain way we hold this truth to be self evident. I sure did and until recently I didn't even know where it came from.
God helps those who helps themselves is something I had assumed was somewhere in the bible. It's not. That probably from the ancient Greeks and more the Gods help those who help themselves. Neither here nor there. We at once see teachers as less, but the most common thing our savior is called is teacher.
We need to finish our stories and we do this with questions. Why didn't people ask more questions: they didn't dare to. Was this the intent of our lord? I don't know, but I believe Jesus would stay and answer questions with more questions and we would be led were we are being led.
There is one destination if many different ways to travel.
In Luke 20 45-47 we have this bit added to the end of the story:
45 And with all the people listening, He said to His disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes [displaying their prominence], and love respectful greetings in the [crowded] market places, and [b]chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. 47 These [men] who confiscate and devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense [to appear devout] offer long prayers. These [men] will receive the greater [sentence of] condemnation.”
Today we might look in the luxury boxes of our otherwise emptied stadiums with questions.
And in Mathew 23 we continue with the 8 woes where Jesus continues to let them have it. We find ourselves in the end of the beginning of Jesus' ministry. We are heading to the stories we are most familiar with. Here we are with an unfamiliar savior.
Often we wonder what it might have been like to be able to ask Jesus questions. What we find is people given the opportunity quickly found they didn't want the answers. Certainly those in authority quickly didn't want to hear those things they knew.
“Sir, [b]You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Are You greater than our father [c]Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?”
“Sir, I see that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].”
“I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].”
Back to school impressions? Good kids have all this pent up good. Bad kids don't know what to do. Now there are no good kids or bad kids, but teachers seemed to revel in letting the good roll. Usually in school you have to force greater participation. After seven months, for a bit anyways, you don't.
Not good kids or bad kids. We often take shortcuts with our language. There are kids who ask questions and kids who don't have any questions. This is what I am talking about with these words. Children should be curious. Kids who ask questions are easier to teach. Rare genius perhaps, but really more security. Authority should welcome questions as Jesus did.
The authorities of various stripes had real issues with what Jesus was saying because it undermined their security. In the retelling of this story in several gospels we get these nuisances and this real excitement of those around.
People actually understood much better what Jesus was talking about then. Not two thousand years old but as new as a bolt of lighting to their world. We are left to take this good news not as old news but alive. A God of the living. We need to study really to understand the joy of the gospels in their context. We are lucky if we find joy from these stories, but we are making ourselves even more secure to understand the context and the viral nature of Jesus' message.
In our modern world we think we are so connected. Things have always went viral. For the same reasons they do today. A guy having a tough moment with his ocean spray on tik tok spikes the sales of fleetwood mac in Australia.
You say, you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully, to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat, drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost
And what you had
And what you lost
Oh, thunder, only happens when it's raining
Players, only love you when they're playing
They say women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You'll know
On Friday I worked with a fifth grader who I remember her first day of kindergarten. About my third class since this change in life that brings us here to zoom today. It was hard for me to leave with no warning in March and it is hard for me to return in October with no real assurance from my employer of the future. In that moment though I knew I was in the right place and right time. I knew it was harder for her. As I thought of what I brought that young child I realized she brought it for me too: normalcy. Just a taste. We were supposed to do twenty minutes we did forty good minutes.
We read about sword masters in Japan. This father told his son he had no skill to be a sword master like him. The son wanted nothing more than to be a sword master like his father. He found his way and returned to his father as a sword master. His father was again disappointed. First that his son had no talent. Then that he did not see his sons talent. What did it mean? Can't make people happy. Maybe.
But the real reason for sharing the moment is to say I didn't have a question for a moment. I was secure.. Seven months had swirled around and I found myself in familiar place and I was doing.
Let us Pray
Marquette.edu
PRAYER FOR EDUCATORS
Jesus Christ, Lord of all learning, You sat in the midst
of the teachers and doctors, hearing their words and
questioning their conclusions.
Encourage all of us who teach Your people.
Help us to understand our place as mentors and figures
of authority. May we stand tall as teachers of human
dignity and purpose.
Give us grace to fill the emptiness we often experience
and the endurance to serve what may seem to be futile.
Let us enjoy with You the reward of a person made
whole, made wise through Your lasting intercession and
love. Amen.
17. 2 Th. 2:16-17 - Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Nottingham 10.25.20
