Take It Personally!

I do a lot of apologizing.

Those who apologize have little right to criticize the person they apologize to. And they have little ground to accuse the person they have wronged of insulting them.

There are exceptions to this.

Sometimes when I apologize to people, I hear them say, "Oh, it's okay. I didn't take it personally."

You didn't? Did you take my apology personally?

Really, it's the same thing as if they had said, "Oh, it's okay. I didn't take your actions seriously."

Does God to our actions personally? Does God take our actions seriously?

But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, `Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'

And I answered, `Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, `I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'
Acts 22:6-8

Perhaps in Saul's mind he saw a difference between opposing and harming this new sect of believers and opposing and harming God's work on earth.

But whatever Saul was or was not thinking, God took the opposition against His work personally. Very personally indeed.

Not only is it easy to pretend as though our actions have no personal importance to us, it is sometimes considered to be the highest virtue.

"Don't take it personally."

But God takes our words, our thoughts, and our actions very seriously.

Just to name a few examples, Christ said that whatever we do unto the poor we are doing unto Christ himself. The Bible says that those who lend to the poor lend to God. When Annanias and Saphira kept a portion of the money after they sold their house and left another portion at the feet of Peter, he rebuked them saying, "You have not lied to men but to God."

And Christ himself has said that there will be many who will cry out to him, "Lord, Lord" -some of whom have performed miracles in Christ's name and cast out demons- who Christ will tell, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness."

And just as God warns us that he takes our actions personally, he also promises to personally recognize us for the things we have done.

And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.
Matthew 10:42

In God's economy, there is not a separation between the way we treat the least of people and the way we are treating God.

So we should remember to take our actions seriously, and personally, because God takes our wrongdoings and sins personally. And we should remember also that he takes personally the good things we do to our neighbor and to the least.

Going Beyond

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:8-9

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
1 John 2:29

Johns letters warn believers about the dangers of going "beyond" the teachings of the gospel.

In our day it is easy to see how people get caught up in the promises of going beyond Christianity. They hear about how it would be great to not only have Christianity but to also go beyond it and have a large family, or to have a career, or to have science.

Or to have good political views.

Do these pursuits which on occasion pretend to go beyond Christianity offer promises we really believe to be higher than the claims of Christ?

I wonder, if a person were to be gravely wounded in a traffic accident (to the point where someone had sent for a priest), would such a person in their final moments instead call out, "No! Send for a scientist! I want to hear about the amazing wonders of green energy!"

Perhaps we do not really believe these alternative pursuits offer us something as valuable as Christianity, but we lack the faith to believe the rewards offered to us from God are real.

In the absence of visible confirmation and esteem from our friends we turn ourselves like sheep gone astray down paths with obvious rewards and obvious comforts instead of being truly rewarded and truly comforted.

A Matter Of Want

And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
Matthew 20:32

These days the words of our Lord are rarely meditated on as they were originally intended. Instead of searching for the depth that strengthens and fulfills, people try to search out everything and instead find nothing.

However unlikely it may be to find a verse like this mentioned in a sermon today (and even less likely to be commented on), an ordinary sermon would probably be content to note that Jesus cared about the needs of others and served them for the single and solitary purpose of setting an example for us to love others.

And not ourselves.

Yes, it is true. Jesus does want us to care for those God sends to us. This is perhaps the most successful way of expressing God's kingdom on earth. More imporantly than caring for others, however, is caring for others in a particular way:

The way we want to be cared for.

And so the cursory examination of the verse -which settles for mere appearances- fails to grasp the fullness of God's message. In this way we altogether miss the assurance He provides and the audacity with which He provides it to us.

Perhaps it would be easier to understand the audacity of Christ's question by contrasting to other questions, particularly the questions we ask.

'What do you need me to do for you?'
'What do you need me to do for the poor?'
'What does the community need me to do for the uneducated?'
'What does the world need to do to reform pollution standards?'

And so we spiral farther and farther from the heart of God as our questions lose their relevance to the godly desires God has placed in the center of our hearts.

The word translated to English as "need" does not appear very often in the Gospels.

When Jesus gave the sermon on the mount he noted the pagans desperately search for physical provisions: food, clothes, and shelter. The spirit of paganism is continually focused on needs and not on wants, and Jesus rebuked this spirit when he said, "your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things".

And again there was an occasion where many followers of Christ were listening to him preach and the disciples asked Jesus to let them go find food to eat. Their thoughts were on how people need physical food more than they need Jesus. But Jesus responded saying, "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!" Again, putting the emphasis on something other than what commonly passes for "needs".

But if there was one disciple who appealed to the needs of others more than anyone else it was Judas.

When the prostitute came and emptied the pure nard -the very expensive perfume- on the feet Jesus, it was Judas who suggested the perfume should have been sold and the money given away to the poor.

By the standards of this generation, Judas was a praiseworthy fellow. If such a person lived in our day he would be cajoled into running for office and have his face put on the cover of every magazine.

Yet, the person who appealed the most to the physical needs of others failed to recognize his own inner longing. Unlike the sick who came to Jesus to be healed, Judas had no knowledge of what he wanted Christ to do for him.

Unlike the gift of the woman which the Scriptures called "pure", Judas instead gave a suggestion in thievery which was corrupt. The woman received what she wanted from Jesus, and Judas also received his cravings: money.

May the children of God reflect on the power of their Lord to richly supply them with every gift for their pleasure as they meditate on and consider how strongly their weak and passing frames wish and long to serve and be with their master forever.

Amen.

Devotional Lives

Sorry I've been away so long. School is coming to an end.

I've been making some pictures of some of my heroes.

I made them to be displayed at a smaller size, but I think they look good large also.

Hit the jump for the third picture.






They're supposed to be mother Theresa, Soren Kierkegaard, and Mr. Rogers.