Shifting emphasis -- Matt. 17

It seems that as we get further along in Matt, and in Jesus minsitry more themes arise about his death. Vs. 9 Don't tell any one about (the transfiguration) until I raise from the dead. The also says the son of man must suffer. again in verse 22, it says that "They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life."

There are several references in this chapter as well about him being God's son. It is as if he is saying, "Things are about to come that will make you doubt if the kindgom is really here, and if I am the messiah, and the King. he is saying, I am the Son of God, I am the Messiah, and this is the way that things are going to happen. I will die and rise again. The disciples are of course grieved, but they still don't get it.

Organic

So I made a decision today. Not a big one, not a decision that will change the world, but a decision which at best might have the slightest impact on my life, and at worst will at least be an excuse to blog today.

I have decided that I do not like personality test (such as meiers-briggs and the like). Though I use to like them (probably for the very reasons I dislike them today), I now think that they are the ultimate example of modernistic reductionism on truly the most beautiful of all God's creations (humanity). Starting with the assumption that people can be reduced to one of 16 different categories by which we can bring labels to them, and know what they are like seems to be at best pretty off base, and at worst a slap in God's face.

I just think I am changing. Where I use to like to have a label for a person, I now would rather understand them more organically . . . through life. Through having coffee together, and ministering together, reading the bible together, hiking, driving, talking, sharing . . . you get the point.

So let's put our tests away, and if we want to know each other let's spend time together.

Enjoy your Friday, I am off to see James Taylor tonight.

Sign of Jonah -- Matt 16

This is the second time in Matthew Jesus is pointing to the sign of Jonah, or in otherwords we will know that he is the Messiah by his death, burrial, and ressurection.

Later Peter calls him the Christ, the Son of the living God (recongizing he is the messiah). Peter gets the keys to the Kingdom of heaven . . . meaning whatever he binds or looses on earth will be done in heaven. I don't really understand that all the implications of that, but I guess we can take it at face value for Peter.

One last thing in this chapter. The last verse says, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Does this refer to the transfiguration (of the next chapter), or the triumphal entery, or his resurrection and appearing? Not really sure, but it points to the fact that the Kingdom is here . . . at least in part.

Matt 14, 15

Though there are no specific references to the Kingdom or the Gospel in these chapters, what we do is more important than what we say. And here Jesus is feeding people (Thousands of people), healing the sick, spending time alone, and standing up against the pharasees.

There is much to learn here about Jesus priorities in the Kingdom. We are to do good, to help the needy, feed the hungry, care for the sick, and stand up against religious who oppress them.

Matt. 13

So I am back in my blogging through the gospel's. Paying special attention to try to answer the questions, what is the Kingdom of Heaven/God, and what is the Gospel? We come to chapter 13 where there is a ton of teaching on the Kingdom through parable's I will try to summerize the main points as I see them.

Parable of the Sower -- In the Kingdom the good news comes to many people: with some it bears much fruit with others for a variety of reasons it doesn't. (I am inspired to be a person whose harvest yeild a hundred, sixty, or thrity times what is sown. We all know people that only yeild a small percentage of what is sown.)

Parable of the Weeds (which is sown into the wheat) -- In the Kingdom at the end of the age God will judge, and make all things right, there will be a separation, so don't try to play God now by judging and separating. God will take care of that later.

Parable of the Mustard Seed and Yeast -- The Kingdom starts small, but will spread and grow quickly.

Parable of the Treasure and the Pearl -- The Kingdom is worth everything, some discover this and forsake all for there new found joy: The Kingdom.

Parable of the net -- In the kingdom at the end of the age there will be a separation. between the righteous and the wicked. Righteousness and wickedness are not defined here, but we might think of Luke 18 where the tax collector hung his head, pleading for mercy unsure if he would get it . . . unsure of salvation . . . he was justified. The Pharisees sure of his salvation, went home wicked. I am intriged that we see in this chapter it says, "Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable."

I read an article today by Brian McLaren, http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0509&article=050910
You might want to read it, but in it he talks about the need to speak in stories, and not answering questions that are framed badly, but instead asking a question. Reading Matthew 13, McLaren, and talking with Aaron, made me think of a question I would like to answer with a question. So here goes.

To the question "Is the there such a thing as eternal security?" I would like to respond by asking, "Is there more to salvation, than what lies beyond the grave?"

Creation . . . from the crater to the Washougal

So this last week Lynsey and I spent some time down at Crater Lake (Oregon's only nation park, which happen's to be the deepest lake in the US--6th deepest in the world--and the clearest lake in the world). There are so many things that are truly breath taking about it. It is a must see if you are looking for a little vacation spot.

As I hiked the trails, and gazed memorized by the blueness of the lake and the surroundings I felt loved. Not only by my wife, but by God. I think God took great delight in not only creating, but recreating the world (in this case about 8,000 years ago). Years go by after creation, and God thinks "I want to create something new, something that will show humanity my love for them, and that will take their breath away." There are so many different places like this around the world. Crater Lake is one, and it had that effect on me.

Some thoughts on Creation . . .
God created us in is image, so it is only natural that we have the desire to create things within us. But there is a cycle to this. When we create we are recreated by our creation. Let me rephase that--the things we create recreate us. This was evident to me when Lynsey and I were on the washougal river with some of my favorite people, the Prutsmans.

There are two properties side by side on the Washougal, one belongs to John and Evelyn, and one belongs to their neighbors, lovely people, John and Evelyn have spoken nothing but the best of them. Though the two properties are very much the same, they are also very much different. Both have a beautiful view of the river, both have trees, ferns, happy owners, but there differences rest on what the two owners have choosen to create on their properties, and how their creations shape their experiences and life. For John's neighbors, it was a big beautiful house, with bedrooms, kitchen, very much like what I live in, only theirs was much nicers. For the prustmans they chose to create a campfire area, a solar shower, a shed to store things, and an very humble trailer. They cook over their fire in a dutch oven, or reflector oven, or maybe a grill on the fire.

Where am I going? We create, and our creations recreate us. Once we mold, or purchase something, and it interns redefines us. Based on the prustsmans creations, it formed the experience we would have that day, being outdoors, looking at God's creation, cooking over a fire, as we experienced community. We had one room, God's river. It was the kitchen, the family room, was almost the bedroom, etc.

I don't know what their neighbors did that night, but it was inside. Our houses isolate us from the world, our separate rooms isolate us from our families. Maybe it is not so much in terms of good and bad, right and wrong, but it made me realize that what we choose to make (or purchase) forms us to who we are going to be.

So I went out and bought a dutch oven, and want to make a fire pit in my back yard, so that we can have people over, cook with them, eat with them, do it outside in God's creation, and dutch oven cooking is the best! It might take longer, but if you do it together, slowing down is a good thing.

So visit the Washougal River, go see Crater Lake, remember God, be intentional about what you crate (purchase) because it will recreate you. Spend some time thinking about what you have bought, and how that has formed who you are, then go buy a dutch oven. =)

Blessings.

Away

Well, I am heading off on vacation, so I may not post for a while . . . but I thought I would leave you with a question . . . one that I saw on a bumper sticker Friday at the beach. It said.

What would Scooby do?

Be back soon . . .

Mercy -- Matt.12

It is interesting, this is the second time in Matthew that he say "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." It kind of makes me think, anytime we can find ways to be merciful, not judging, we are pleasing God, and giving Him what he desires.

vs. 28 Jesus says the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

And this chapter is the first where we see a foreshadowing of Jesus death. He talks about it as a sign. This is the sign that He is from God, it is the sign of Jonah . . . three days in the belly . . . Jesus will spend 3 days in the grave (dead) and rise again. By His death, burrial, and ressurection, we will know that he was sent from God, to bring God's kingdom.

Kingdom of Heaven -- Matt. 11

The more you read the more you see that the kingdom of heaven isn't just a side theme in Jesus life, it is his theme. Jesus came to spread the Kingdom of Heaven. Every chapter there is something significant to blog about the kindgom of God/Heaven.

Jesus talks here about John the Baptist, that he was Elijah, and he was preparing the way for the Messiah, the King. Jesus says among all humans none is Greater than John the Baptist. But he also says this . . . (astounding) . . . In the kingdom of heaven the least is greater than John. It's like Jesus is coming to set things right . . . to bring justice . . . where the great become least and the least become great, so that justice is brought to the earth. We here this theme several times. So again, the "the least of these" we value most in the Kingdom.

As Jesus continues he talks about how God has consealed these things from the learned and let the children understand. The "wise" miss it, but the least understand. I wonder if that is still the case today, or if that was just a first century thing?

BTW, so far it seems to me that the gospel is the Kingdom, or to say it another way, the good news is that the Kingdom is upon you. I have always thought of them as two separate things, but at this point, they are connected and can't be separated . . . maybe that changes . . . Just an observation at this point.

Go -- Matt 10

"Go . . . as you go, preach this message: 'The Kingdom of heaven is near.'"

Jesus sends out the disciples with a mission. To preach that the Kingdom of heaven is near. There is so much in this chapter that would be great to blog about. But I was just thinking about God's command to "go." This command is all over the bible to God's people.

Abraham, "go to a land I will show you"
Jonah, "go to the great city of ninevah"
Isaiah, "who will go for me?"

One of my personal favorites (makes me smile). At the burning bush God says to Moses. "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to resucue them . . . [ready to hear what God is going to do] So now go, I am sending you . . . "

God is concerned with suffering . . . he came down to do something . . . This is God . . . what he is going to do is to send Moses to do something? Of course Moses is like who am I, you are God, but who am I, what could I do. And God says I will go with you. I find this passage facinating, and a bit humorous.

Anyway, I would love to do a study of all the "go" passages in the bible. There seems to be a lot, and we begin to see that God is very concerned about mission. About having his people do his work on the earth. There are so many prayers that God hears, so many cries of suffering, so many people that need hope, and God wants to send us to do his work. He wants us to "go" for Him. This is how the Kingdom is to spread.

Presence/prayer Matt 9

Two things come to me as I read the chapter.
1) The question is asked, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus responds it is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. Then he says, "I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners." Jesus had a mission to give hope to people without hope, to reconcile them back to God. This mission consumed his life. It influenced who he hung out with, who his friends were, etc. When Jesus was here on earth, his physical presence was not with the religious, but the hurting/sinners. When Jesus left, he told his disciples to go, to find like people, and reconcile them back to God. To be His presence in the world.

2) I think the progression here is great. At the end of the chapter Jesus tells his disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field (the harvest, and fields, of course are symbolic of people who need to hear the good news of the Kingdom.) Right after that we are told that Jesus sent out the 12 disciples. Almost like the disciples got suckerd. Here, pray, and then I am going to have you be the answer to the prayer. It makes me smile as it seems as though that is often how God likes to work.