Way of Jesus - First Steps
If we are to take the message of Jesus to be more than just a "blue print" to get to heaven, then we must begin at the beginning of his public ministry: He was baptized.
In case you are unaware:
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
AND
John the Baptist baptized people who repented.
So
The first thing Jesus did in his public ministry was repent.
"Wait! Wasn't Jesus without sin? Was he not perfect? What would he need to repent of?"
Indeed, Christians have come to understand repentance as seeking forgiveness for sin. However, it may be interesting to note a few Bible verses in which God repents in the King James Bible:
It is not outside the realm of Jewish thinking that God repents, or that God becomes sorry for doing something or that God changes God's mind about something. For God to repent is not so much seeking forgiveness (although that might be argued by some), but rather God practices "teshuvah".
"Teshuvah" in the Jewish faith means to "return". Time and time again, God returns to the promises God makes. Time and time again, God calls people to return to the covenant. Time and time again, God changes God's mind and returns to the original thought before things went sour.
So when Jesus seeks a baptism of repentance with John the Baptist, Jesus very much repents. Jesus returns to something in his life that he had gone astray from or avoided. Jesus was 30 years old before he began his ministry. Was he finding ways to avoid the call on his life for a period of time? Was Jesus sorry for scoring his mother at the wedding at Cana? For whatever the reasons, Jesus seeks a baptism of repentance because he is returning to something that he knew all along.
He would lead people to a new way of living, but it would come at the cost of his own life.
If we want to begin to walk in the steps of Jesus and discover his alternate way of living, then we must first repent - we must first return to the source of our life. We must return to God, we must return to Scripture, we must return to the community of faith.
We must stop going it alone. We must stop buying into a myth that we are loan rangers. We must return to our source and recognized that we must return to relationship with others and God.
Our way of following God begins the way it began with Jesus - repent and return.
In case you are unaware:
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
AND
John the Baptist baptized people who repented.
So
The first thing Jesus did in his public ministry was repent.
"Wait! Wasn't Jesus without sin? Was he not perfect? What would he need to repent of?"
Indeed, Christians have come to understand repentance as seeking forgiveness for sin. However, it may be interesting to note a few Bible verses in which God repents in the King James Bible:
Genesis 6:6
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Exodus 32:14
And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Deuteronomy 32:36
For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants.
1 Samuel 15:11
It repenteth me [God] that I have set up Saul to be king.
1 Samuel 15:35
The Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel
2 Samuel 24:16
The Lord repented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough: stay now thine hand.
1 Chronicles 21:15
The Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand.
Isaiah 38:1-5
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah ... said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. ... Thus saith the LORD ... I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Jeremiah 15:6
I [God] am weary of repenting.
Jeremiah 18:8
I [God] will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jeremiah 26:3
That I [God]may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them.
Jeremiah 26:13
The Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
Jeremiah 26:19
The Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them.
Jeremiah 42:10
For I [God] repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Amos 7:3, 6
The Lord repented for this.
Jonah 3:10
God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them.
It is not outside the realm of Jewish thinking that God repents, or that God becomes sorry for doing something or that God changes God's mind about something. For God to repent is not so much seeking forgiveness (although that might be argued by some), but rather God practices "teshuvah".
"Teshuvah" in the Jewish faith means to "return". Time and time again, God returns to the promises God makes. Time and time again, God calls people to return to the covenant. Time and time again, God changes God's mind and returns to the original thought before things went sour.
So when Jesus seeks a baptism of repentance with John the Baptist, Jesus very much repents. Jesus returns to something in his life that he had gone astray from or avoided. Jesus was 30 years old before he began his ministry. Was he finding ways to avoid the call on his life for a period of time? Was Jesus sorry for scoring his mother at the wedding at Cana? For whatever the reasons, Jesus seeks a baptism of repentance because he is returning to something that he knew all along.
He would lead people to a new way of living, but it would come at the cost of his own life.
If we want to begin to walk in the steps of Jesus and discover his alternate way of living, then we must first repent - we must first return to the source of our life. We must return to God, we must return to Scripture, we must return to the community of faith.
We must stop going it alone. We must stop buying into a myth that we are loan rangers. We must return to our source and recognized that we must return to relationship with others and God.
Our way of following God begins the way it began with Jesus - repent and return.
"Enemy Twins" - Individuals and Groups
James Alison has a little book that is one of my favorites entitled Faith Beyond Resentment in which he shares a bit of his story through the lens of Rene Girard (readers of this blog may recall I am a bit of a Girard fan).
In the second chapter of this book, Alison writes about how we are trapped in a pattern of creating distance between ourselves and others. There are two parts and the first part goes like this:
What he is getting at is that in a group there are things that make the collection of people a "group". For instance, religion is something that makes a group of people a "we". When a "we" encounter someone who defines themselves in a way that is even slightly different to the "we" that person becomes an "I". When there is an "I" in the middle of a "we" that means there is a threat to the status quo, the "we" deem the "I" as dangerous/rebel/heretic/conservative/liberal or some other label that makes the "I" seem like "one of them". So in religion when you hear someone talk about creationism, depending on what group you are in (that is what "we" you identify with) you may identify that creationist as part of your group (part of your "we") you will identify that creationist as "one of them" (an "I").
Part two is just the inverse of part one:
Both the group and the individual are blaming the other for the tension in the world. Alison calls this way of working in the world "enemy twins". They are twins in that they are the same cycle. They are enemies in that one is dealing with group dynamics and one is dealing with individual dynamics.
In the second chapter of this book, Alison writes about how we are trapped in a pattern of creating distance between ourselves and others. There are two parts and the first part goes like this:
The "we" deems any "I" that is a threat to the "we". The "I is turned into
"one of them" and is seen as an enemy.
Part two is just the inverse of part one:
The "I" deems the "we" as a dangerous group that destroys individuals.
The "we" is turned into a "they".
What he is getting at here is that when a person is seen as an individual that is counter and dangerous to the group, the individual will then deem the group to be counter and dangerous to individuals.
This two part way of seeing the world traps us in a pattern of behavior that leads to people being scapegoated from groups and at the same time leads to scapegoats claiming a position of a "sacred victim" in order to rally people to their cause and create a new group that is counter to the original group that deemed the individual as a danger.
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| Enemy Twins? |
Why this is important is because Christianity teaches a way of living life so that these "enemy twins" are no longer dominate in our world and in our lives. There is a way of living and being in the world that overturns these twins and offers up a new life.
This way of living life is critical to the message of Jesus. It is something that changed the world and continues to change lives. However, for a number of reasons, many of us Christians are unaware of this way of Life that Jesus teaches about and relegate the teachings of Jesus to be about "getting to heaven" seasoned with a few moral teachings.
If we begin to grasp the depth of Jesus' teachings we begin to see that the "Way" Jesus talks about is by living the way that is beyond the enemy twin. To be born again (or born from above) is to begin to see that the way of the enemy twin is not the way to salvation and wholeness. To be a Christian is to be willing to embrace a life that is no longer willing to participate in scapegoating and blaming AND is no longer willing to take up the position of a victim in order to blame another group.
The Way of Jesus is a different posture in life, and that Way indeed leads to life and life abundant.
Future posts will address this alternate way of Jesus that we ought to rediscover as Christians in order to rediscover a Jesus that revolutionized the world.
If we begin to grasp the depth of Jesus' teachings we begin to see that the "Way" Jesus talks about is by living the way that is beyond the enemy twin. To be born again (or born from above) is to begin to see that the way of the enemy twin is not the way to salvation and wholeness. To be a Christian is to be willing to embrace a life that is no longer willing to participate in scapegoating and blaming AND is no longer willing to take up the position of a victim in order to blame another group.
The Way of Jesus is a different posture in life, and that Way indeed leads to life and life abundant.
Future posts will address this alternate way of Jesus that we ought to rediscover as Christians in order to rediscover a Jesus that revolutionized the world.
Breaking Lenten Fasts
I love that people are willing to give something up for Lent. This post is not about the reasons we give things up for Lent or even if it is something we ought to do. Rather this post is about how we respond to the Sunday's in Lent.
Many people know, but in case you are unaware of it, Lent is traditionally understood as being 40 days long. The truth is that the season of Lent is 46 days long. There are 6 Sundays in Lent which are not counted in the "40 days". The reason for not counting Sundays in Lent is that every Sunday is a "little Easter", regardless of the season. As a "little Easter" it is not in the tradition of the Church that Christians fast or obtain on Sunday. And so, in Lent Christians are encouraged to fast for 40 days in Lent, but we do not teach people that Sundays are days where we break the fast and partake in what we are giving up.
Many people I have encountered this Lent season tell me they are giving up things from chocolate to junk food to alcohol. When I see some of these people on Sunday I ask how the fast is going. Usually everyone is doing well. Then I ask if they have broken the fast on Sunday as we do not fast on Easter or the little Easters each year in remembrance/celebration of Resurrection. To which I hear an odd responses.
"Oh, I know I should break my fast but if I did then I am not sure I would be able to begin the fast again on Monday." Or "It is just easer to stay with the fast than to break it in Sundays." Or "Yea, I know, but I am also giving up chocolate for Lent for God but also to loose weight."
I want to raise the question that if we are unwilling to break the fast out of fear we would not be strong enough to begin again, or out of convenience or out of a personal desire then are we fasting in Lent for ourselves of for God?
Many people know, but in case you are unaware of it, Lent is traditionally understood as being 40 days long. The truth is that the season of Lent is 46 days long. There are 6 Sundays in Lent which are not counted in the "40 days". The reason for not counting Sundays in Lent is that every Sunday is a "little Easter", regardless of the season. As a "little Easter" it is not in the tradition of the Church that Christians fast or obtain on Sunday. And so, in Lent Christians are encouraged to fast for 40 days in Lent, but we do not teach people that Sundays are days where we break the fast and partake in what we are giving up.
Many people I have encountered this Lent season tell me they are giving up things from chocolate to junk food to alcohol. When I see some of these people on Sunday I ask how the fast is going. Usually everyone is doing well. Then I ask if they have broken the fast on Sunday as we do not fast on Easter or the little Easters each year in remembrance/celebration of Resurrection. To which I hear an odd responses.
"Oh, I know I should break my fast but if I did then I am not sure I would be able to begin the fast again on Monday." Or "It is just easer to stay with the fast than to break it in Sundays." Or "Yea, I know, but I am also giving up chocolate for Lent for God but also to loose weight."
I want to raise the question that if we are unwilling to break the fast out of fear we would not be strong enough to begin again, or out of convenience or out of a personal desire then are we fasting in Lent for ourselves of for God?
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.