Tag: King Jesus

Persistence That Heals

It’s hard to stay focused. There is so much to distract our attention. Even when you set your mind to a task, there seem to be ever increasing temptations to stray. Whether with personal goals, workplace initiatives, or community aspirations, it takes enormous efforts to persist.

Sometimes what undermines our persistence is the unpreparedness for the distractions or obstacles. We knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but we weren’t ready for how hard or how long it would take. Other times our desires get diluted for the goal we had set to achieve. Or, we question the worthiness of the original goal we set.

Persistence is the secret sauce of success. Seneca defined it as “constancy of purpose.” To persist is not sexy or convenient. It often makes you unpopular because you always have to say “no” to others who mean well but would otherwise undermine your commitment. Or it wears you out, especially fighting the temptation to take the wider road more often taken. To persist is grinding it out, feet on the ground, every day showing up, resolving to stay at it.

Jesus had to persist. Sometimes we think that because Jesus was God, everything was easy for him. That somehow because God is all-powerful, Jesus effortlessly stayed the course. In the gospel according to Mark, we have a story of Jesus hiding in a house across the Israelite border in Syrian-Phoenicia. He had confronted the Pharisees and convicted the crowds and felt the need to get out of the country and let things cool off for a bit. Persisting in his mission led to conflict and the need to get away to reflect on what to do next.

Jesus came as the King of Israel with a mission to deliver his people from slavery, to proclaim forgiveness of their sins to those that would repent of their rebellion towards God. Jesus came with the power of God to bring about the salvation of God’s people, to bring healing to their broken hearts and hope to their sin-wrecked lives.

So when a Greek woman from Syrian-Phonecia discovers him hiding in her village, she seeks him out and asks him to heal her demon-possessed daughter. Jesus essentially says no. That’s not what he came to do – he came first to set Israel free from the evil one. She was asking him to deviate from his mission, and he resisted her request. But nevertheless, she persisted. She didn’t take no for an answer from the King of Israel. As a mother, she couldn’t do anything else but persist for a yes. Jesus was deeply moved by her persistence and healed her daughter.

The persistence of Jesus in his mission almost caused him to say no to a healing opportunity of a little girl from an enemy nation. The persistence of a distraught mother overcame Jesus’ resistance to deviate from his mission to Israel. Jesus didn’t heal many non-Israelites. He rarely left Israel. But to those that asked, he would say yes. Why? The mission of Jesus was to restore the mission of Israel: to be a people that leverage their power in the world for the healing of the nations. As God’s people, they were to persevere in the ways of justice and mercy, a source of light amidst the dark empires of the world.

Her persistence expanded Jesus mission of healing. Jesus persisted in his mission of healing, including women, the poor, outcasts, and outsiders. And now Jesus persists with you. There are more mothers out there pleading for their daughters to be healed due to the ravages of evil. There are more fathers begging for their sons to be rescued from death. And Jesus is calling you to leverage your power, the power of our community, the power of your workplace to persist in the healing of the wounded.

What’s your purpose in the world? What is God calling you to do? May you join in with the expanded mission of Jesus to heal what has been maimed, abused, neglected, and corrupted. The world needs more healers who persist.

Blessed Are The Religious Rule Breakers!

Religion gets a bad rap these days. Religion has a long track record of legalism, hypocrisy, and violence. Religion gets used to justify oppression of women, marginalization of minority populations, and prejudice towards outsiders. With all this going against religion, it’s no wonder that more and more people in the United States are identifying themselves as n0n-religious.

But I find it interesting that for all that is reviling about religion, more and more people around the world are becoming more religious, not less. It seems to me, upon closer inspection, that what we hate most about religion is really about humanity: people can be jerks. One could make a strong argument that all people are religious – so the problem is not religion, but how humanity embodies that religion.

Weat Field below Mount Tabor (from area of Endor)For example, in the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of Jesus “going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.” So what, you ask? The problem here is that they did this on the Sabbath! Gasp! I know, terrible right? The Pharisees see this transgression and grill Jesus: “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

It’s this kind of picky, mean-spirited, legalistic condemnation that we all despise about people. Maybe the Pharisees meant well: the Sabbath is a beautiful idea! It ensures that people get at least one day of rest each week, a way to protect them from unjust labor practices by employers, and a way to provide space for communities to relax together. But the Pharisees turn this religious day into a rule-keeping day, which sucks the life and purpose out of it.

Jesus the religious rule-breaker resists their attempts to ruin his day and condemn his disciples. He uses a story from the Old Testament about a time when King David violated the Sabbath when he was “hungry and in need.” Jesus then goes on to remind the religious rule-keepers what has always been true about the Sabbath and religion: “The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.” He then declares: “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Sabbath is about rest that connects us to God and each other, not about keeping a list of do’s and don’t’s.

Think about this: rules at their best protect the weakest among us, give direction to us, and seek to intertwine freedom and responsibility for all. But like most human rules, when religious rules become more important than flourishing, when religious rule-keeping becomes more important than justice and mercy, then it’s time to be a religious rule-breaker.

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What is it about religion that really causes a negative reaction in you?  For me, growing up as a kid, I was really bothered by hypocrisy in the adults. (Confession, now that I’m adult, I see how easy it is to be a hypocrite…). As a college student I reacted against religious people that talked a lot about right beliefs and right moral actions, but did little to relieve the suffering of the poor and abused in our communities. As an adult, I am disturbed by the religious justification of violence towards those who are feared or despised.

For all that I resist about religion, I’m still admittedly religious. Though I’ve been wounded by religious people and their rule-keeping, I’ve not given up on religion. Instead, I see what’s best in people and seek to draw that out for their flourishing and ours. And since I believe all people are religious in some way, I’m committed to being a religious-rule breaker, if that’s what it takes, to break open new realities for religion to work for our good again.

So let’s not give up on Sabbath keeping (go ahead, enjoy those weekends of rest, take the vacations, get a full night of sleep – it’s God’s will for you)! Let’s not give up on helping the hungry and needy (most non-profits that do this are religious based).

Lets reconsider the ways our church-going, praying, Bible reading, charity, serving our neighbors, work of reconciliation, being patiently present can reflect the religious rule breaking of Jesus – for the flourishing of all!

Timing Is Everything

On the drive into work this morning, I had a conversation with myself about how I wasn’t going to rush throughout the day but rather take my time to be with people and do great work. In feeling the pressure of a Monday, thinking about all that needs to get done this week, I wanted to remind myself to take the time to enjoy the work instead of being anxious about everything that’s not done.

Like you, I respect people who can get work done. Like you, I put a lot of pressure on myself to do good work and a lot of it. And probably like you, I tend to live in the future, focusing on what’s next on the to-do list instead of being present in the task now. The best work gets done while being present, because you can slow yourself down enough to pay attention to details. Details are everything, and so is timing.

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If we’re rushing about, we’ll miss details and miss opportunities. It’s ironic: we often justify being harried as our attempt to NOT miss opportunities. But that’s not usually how it works. Taking care of people takes patience and being present, it requires paying attention to details and timing. A key conversation at the wrong time, or without enough time, can undermine the relationship. Oftentimes being patient is about preparing for the right time.

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A small story in the Gospel of Mark retells of a conversation some people had with Jesus about why his disciples weren’t fasting when the disciples of the Pharisees and John the Baptist were fasting. Jesus replied to them that it wasn’t the right time yet. Timing is everything. While Jesus is present, his disciples don’t need to fast; once Jesus returns to the Father in Heaven, then his disciples can fast.

Jesus uses two simple illustrations about the proper way to repair a tear and the proper way to store wine to make a profound point in response to their inquiry on his not fasting.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.

“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, the pour new wine into new wineskins.”

With Jesus and with others, there is a right time and a right way to get things done. Like a new patch on an old garment or new wine in an old wineskin, there is a way that works in the very short-term, but will ruin your work in the end.

The proper way may take more preparation, more time, more attention to detail, but the results of the work will hold up over time. Timing is everything, and haste makes waste. Especially in marriage, in caring for your children, and honoring those you work and serve with in your community (and even when it comes to making  wineskins for new wine).

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Who are you being impatient with? With whom has your timing been off? Where in your life has haste been making waste? What details are you skimming over? What is Christ inviting you to do to be more present and pay more attention to those God has placed in your life?

There are some ways in the world that just don’t work: like storing new wine in an old wineskin. May you connect with wise friends who will help you to patiently do the next right thing in God’s eyes in the right way, in the right time.

In your work, in your home and in your community, may you be patient as an act of love.