Luke 10:1-9 Clearing The Way

Luke 10:1-9  Clearing The Way

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The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.  He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

He was driving home from a football game.  His team had lost (like always) and he was in a bad mood.  Instead of taking the normal (safe) route home, he decided to take a different route.  It was late at night when he noticed a woman on side of the road.  She was waiting.  She was a prostitute. 

This young man, a senior in high school, lived under very strict rules at home.  Although he never complained, he was a bit resentful of his life.  As he was speaking to me, he reminded me of the eldest son in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Yes, he was a solid Christian man.  He went to church on Sunday.  He prayed before meals.  He was respectful to his elders.  He kept his virginity.  But he wasn’t happy.  He felt like his family was keeping him from the best things in life!

He decided to turn into an abandoned lot.  He stopped the car.  She walked up to it.  He rolled down the window.  He looked at her.  She looked at him.  But when she looked at him, he felt as though she looked right through him.  She smiled at him, shook her head and said to him, “No.  You shouldn’t be here.  This is not for you.  Go home.”

He took off, ashamed of himself and crying as he had never cried before.  A prostitute had saved his soul.

Maybe she was an undercover cop.  Maybe she was a real-life prostitute.  But no matter what, this young man will never forget what happened to him that night. 

Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom (cf. Psalm 145:12).  Paradoxically, morals, values and principles are black and white.  People are not.  What is right or wrong is clear.  That people are good or bad is not. 

Of course, much of who we are is connected to what we do.  But instead of focusing on what we do, the Lord focused on who we are.  This is why the Lord was so successful in converting the sinner.  He was able to look beyond the sin and see the broken heart behind every “Sinner”.  By healing the heart, he eliminated the bleeding, the sinning. 

I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last.  No matter what state of life I am in, I can give glory to God.  No matter what I have done, I can give glory to God.  No matter what work I do, I can give glory to God.  No matter what I have or where I am, I can give glory to God.  No matter how sinful I am, I can give glory to God.  For God chose the weak to make the strong look weak. 

He chose us (the weak) to carry his work along.    

So what do you work for?  Who do you work for? Who’s your boss?  Do you work for heaven and earth or just for earth?  Do you work for God and man or just for man?  When was the last time you invited someone to go to Church with you?  Never??? 

“Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.”  Leave behind your pride (money = security), your vanity (sandals = image), and your sensuality (greetings = seeking approval).

What I must do is pretty clear.  Who I am is not so clear.  Let’s make it all a lot clearer by clearing the Way of the Lord. 

Lk 6:12-19 People and Things

Lk 6:12-19  People and Things

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Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.  When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.

Right now I can’t think of a single list I ever made when I was in school.  I know I made honor roll a few times.  I made the soccer team too, but that’s only because there were so few kids that signed up for it.

It seems as though success is measured by having your name added on some kind of list.  And we’ve got plenty of lists.  Top ten artists, Fortune 500, etc… There are lists for all sorts of people.  There’s even a death row list available on the Internet.

Yesterday, I read in the newspaper that for the first time in almost fifteen years - and the third time ever- a Christian artist, TobyMac, made it to the top of the mainstream music list.  Wow!  What took so long?  Maybe the question should really be, “Why aren’t inspirational songs the “mainstream”, the norm?  Why isn’t the Good News more appealing than all the depressing bad news? 

TobyMac’s success really rests in his unrelenting determination to be the best Christian witness he can be.  He attributes his success more to his prayer life and faith in God, rather than in the sudden acceptance of the Good News or good taste.

The reason why Christian music is not as popular as it should be lies more in the lyrics than in the music, and in our general and childish attitude towards people and things. 

Little girls used to tell their father’s that they wanted to marry them.  Little boys used to tell their mom’s that they wanted to marry them.  Now, we have little boys and little girls telling their parents that they want to marry their dog.  Thus the beginning of the fall of the next taboo!  [Just kidding…I hope!].      

We honestly think we should have people like we have things:  as our possession and at our disposal. 

There’s a song that I really enjoyed listening to called Pay Phone.  I liked it for the same reason so many young people like it:  for the rhythm.  But then I read the lyrics.  They’re as explicit as they’re desperate, the typical symptoms of childish hysteria.  You see, when we think we can have people like we have things and can’t have people like we have our things, we become explicit towards them as well as desperate; Oh how we become desperate for their attention!  We write countless e-mails, send countless texts, leave gifts and notes all the time; we look for them, we wait for them, etc…

The group (Maroon) must have recorded two separate versions of it:  one for the radio and one for the iPod.  But both versions transmit a sense of despair in the lack luster response of people.

Now, what is even more interesting than theory is actual human behavior.  I’m sure that in their oversold concerts they do not resort to the toned down version of their song, but rather use the explicit one.  I am also sure that when the song approaches the explicit part, the young crowd bursts in, louder than at any other moment of the song. 

Why?  Because we are the most spoiled children E-V-E-R!  We live in a nation where we have so much and yet, we have the audacity to think that life rots!  Only a child who thought they could have it all, without working hard at all, would believe "that fairytales are full of sh*t".  Only a child who thought they could buy it all, consume it all, inhale it all, would get "f’ing sick by another love song!"  [N.B.  These are not my words].    

These pitiful and superficial sentiments of anger and disgust with people and the world are simply the resurgence of a childish act of a spontaneous outburst from a spoiled rotten childhood whose delusional dream of having it all, including a world that revolved around them, led to a feeling of nausea. Just like what happens when a merry-go-round goes a bit too fast.

Most love songs and fairy-tales are as honest as life.  That Cinderella has a deadline is no different than many of us who live by deadlines! Fairy-tales remind us that there are limits in life and with people; but if we do things well, from the very beginning, we might just finish well at the very end.  But we have to do things right, which is almost never my way of doing things.

Judas was living a fairy-tale-come-true.  Judas was immersed in love.  But if love doesn’t change you and a fairy tale doesn’t inspire you, then boy are you going to be in trouble!  And when we find ourselves in trouble, in a broken relationship, we can become very explicit and desperate.

Fairy tales and loves songs are not full of it.  We are.

Mt 14:22-36 Walking On Water

Mt 14:22-36  Walking On Water
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When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea they were terrified.  “It is a ghost”, they said, and they cried out in fear.  At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.”

These past few days I’ve been on vacation in New York and have had the opportunity to watch some of the Olympics.  I love the sportsmanship, competition and of course, the victories.  What I don’t enjoy are the commentators.  They can be very annoying, especially when they give their opinions.  I’ve noticed a pattern in their comments:  that if a team is winning it’s because they are very confident in themselves, and if they are losing it’s because they’ve lost all their confidence.  God forbid they are losing because they didn’t work as hard as the other team.  God forbid it’s because they never expected a challenge. 

I don’t know about you, but I remember busting my behind in College to get good grades.  I didn’t bust it because I was confident in myself; I busted it because I lacked confidence in myself.  Thank God!    I also remember some students waiting till the last minute to study for a test because they thought it would be easy.  I began to see a pattern:  those who thought the test would be easy scored low; those who thought it would be difficult, scored high.

Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on water.  His problems began when he had far more confidence in the power of the storms (and wind) than in the power of the Son of God.  There are two correct ways to read this Gospel:  either Peter sank because he had more confidence in himself than in God or because he had more confidence in what others were saying and doing and less confidence in what God says and does.

It’s bad enough if we only listen to ourselves.  It’s worse when we only listen to what others have to say.  What we need is balance and order:  first God and everything else will fall into place.  We need to place much more confidence in God, our Creator and redeemer; the One who has proven, time and time again, the love He has for us.

I love myself because the Lord first loved me.  I believe in myself, because I believe in God.  I trust in myself, because I first trust in the Lord.  If I can do some good, it’s because the Lord taught me what is good. 

In 2007, over 90,000 young girls and boys underwent plastic surgery.  They did it not to correct any life threatening problem or an objective defect.  They did it because they were being bullied by classmates.  Just recently, one young lady has been appearing on TV over and over again, giving free advertisement to an organization that does such deeds.  Her mother defended her daughter’s decision because she was being bullied in school.  Kids would often make fun of her ears, calling her “Dumbo”.  When a reporter asked the young girl how she looked (after her surgery), she said she had no regrets:  “I look beautiful, this is exactly what I wanted, I love it.”   

I thought she wanted the bullying to stop. 

Hm…I have a feeling this young girl will learn a very hard lesson.  In our world full of sinners (bullies), the only way to stop a sinner is not by believing them, appeasing them or seeking their approval, but by converting them by showing them who you will believe. 

I fear for this young girl.  Her classmates may stop calling her “Dumbo”, but what will stop them from calling her “Plastic face”?  And then…what will she do?  What will her mother do?

In my opinion, this was a great victory for the bullies; and a tremendous defeat for common sense.

My fear is that this is the beginning of a new market.  Already so many of our elementary school kids get their teeth whitened, false nails fastened, and hair colored.  Why?  Because someone in their class did it first.  Actually, some parent, in their class, allowed it first.   Slowly, but gradually, these common procedures will expand to different areas of the body and become less expensive, more attractive and a nightmare for good parents and children and a victory for business and overly confident parents that see what bullies see:  “imagined defects” in their children. 

The day will come when a child is bullied for not having had plastic surgery!   Children will demand to have the “perfect” ears, “perfect” nose, “perfect” skin tone, “perfect” chin, “perfect” chest, etc…

I am not exaggerating; this is our pagan history.  A new emerging market is just waiting to win acceptance and it will.  A new business, based on a false sense of compassion, will emerge from all this publicity, forcing younger and young girls and boys to submit to the driving winds of false “perfection” and a false sense of confidence.

The “cover girl” for this organization has another thing coming if she thought that the bullying would come to an end.  Bullies will come to an end, when we come to our senses and faith.

I could wear contacts.  I refuse to do so.  I consider wearing glasses as a great way to showcase something no one likes to show:  my weaknesses and failings.

This is what we need to see.  This is what the Lord wants us to see.  This is the beginning step towards walking on water.