Greetings everyone,
I have two pieces of news to share.
First, this will be my last post to this site. I'm moving my daily devotions blog to www.revkerry.wordpress.com Check it out. Add a bookmark to your browser or subscribe to the RSS feed for the new blog.
Second, I'm making this switch to better incorporate the daily devotions into the newly updated website for Covenant Lutheran Church. Go to covenantlutheran.org to see more about the congregation crazy enough to have called me as their pastor. You can also click on the new "media" button to hear (or subscribe to podcasts) weekly sermons by me and Pastor Brad Otto.
Thank you and I look forward to spending a little time each day with you in the days to come.
Pastor Kerry
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:1-5
“Dear Pastor, I would love to know more about how God works in this world. Why do some people lose their children in car accidents or to cancer and others ‘get miracles’ and healed or the car accidents are ‘near misses’?”
This question, the “why do bad things happen to good people?”, question, is, along with a few others, one of the universal questions of all time. If it had a simple answer, it would long ago have been answered.
People tend to answer it from two different ends of a spectrum. On the far left, people say, “Bad things happen to good people because bad things happen to all people.” And on the far right, people say, “What seems bad isn’t really bad because everything that happens is ordained by God and is part of God’s larger plan for a really good purpose.”
Neither answer is sufficient for the parent grieving the untimely death of their daughter.
Normally, when that question comes up in real life, I try to reframe it. What sounds like an intellectual question really is an emotional/spiritual question – it isn’t so much an answer the parent wants as it is their daughter back or some tiny ray of hope that will help them through the overwhelming weight of their grief.
But yesterday morning, when I was quiet in the back yard, praying about what is going on in the lives of some folks from my congregation, including my own family, I got a different answer. It was as if God said to me, “Why does everyone think I am in the prevention business? I’m in the redemption business, not the prevention business.”
And then I tried to think of Bible stories where God prevented bad things from happening…and the only ones that came to me were trivial and temporary. Most of the Bible stories are about God redeeming events, working good out of bad, transforming people and their perspectives on and purposes for living life.
I thought especially about this story from John and the disciples’ question, “Who sinned that he was born blind?” What is the cause? Who is to blame? Questions that ultimately take God off the hook by putting the responsibility elsewhere. But then Jesus goes into action, not to answer questions, but to restore a blind man to sight. Jesus redeems the moment by rescuing the man from his slavery to blindness; he doesn’t merely offer an intellectual answer. He springs into action.
I think of the millions of prayers said every single day by millions of people seeking understanding in the midst of unexplainable tragedy or imploring God to prevent bad things from happening in the first place. Clearly, there is power in such prayers. They are not a waste of our time, nor are they unwelcomed prayers to God. We can ask for anything, like children speaking to a loving parent. But few are the children who see the whole picture or the parents who can prevent every bad thing from happening to their children.
In other words, the big question remains unanswered. “Why” goes unanswered but “What can God do with it?” remains to be lived out, one day at a time.
Let us pray: Gracious Lord, you hear the prayers of people begging to be protecting from the bad things that can happen in our lives. You hear those seeking understanding in the midst of the mysteries of life. Sustain us in our prayers, work new life out of the daily deaths of tragedy and loss, and continue to do among us what we cannot do ourselves. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mark 3:28-30
“Dear Pastor, I was wondering what the unforgiveable sin is? I believe it is when you die and haven’t accepted Christ. I have read the scriptures about this, but are there any others that will back this up? I have gotten several different answers from other Ministers, but it seems to me that as long as you are alive, anything is forgiven by Christ if we ask in sincerity. But, to do without Christ would obviously not be forgiven (no 2nd chances there.)”
Thank you for asking this question. It is a popular one. Lots of people are puzzled, not to mention highly anxious, about these verses. And I know that every pastor in the world has been asked about this…several times. We all end up arriving at our same stock answers. Maybe the most common cliché response says: “If you are worries that you have committed the unforgiveable sin, you probably haven’t.”
I love that “probably” part…it is the loophole that reduces a non-answer to non-comfort.
I’ll share where I now see this issue of the “unforgiveable sin” because I have changed my mind over the years. But before I talk about this question, I want to show you how the writer of Matthew (who was fully aware of Mark’s words) dealt with these verses:
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Matthew 12:30-32
In both Matthew and Mark, Jesus has been unjustly accused by the religious leaders of being a henchman of the devil. The argument against him: Only a person working with/for the devil has the power to cast out demons. It was a classic attempt at creating guilt by association, divide and conquer. The Pharisees attack the “means” by which Jesus operates. They ignore, because they can’t do, the good that Jesus is doing.
Jesus makes broken people whole again. The Pharisees care only about themselves and their positions of power. People, for the Pharisees, are pawns for their own self advancement. People, for Jesus, are blessed children of God to be loved.
Now you can see more clearly the thrust of Jesus’ answer – in the verses immediately before those listed above, Jesus attacks the logic of the Pharisees. The “learned” ones are actually defending the power of the devil with the suggestion that the devil would go against the devil’s best interests in allowing Jesus to help people. That doesn’t make any sense.
And then in these verses, Jesus refuses to allow the “divide and conquer” tactic to work. Jesus does the will of the Father through the power of the Spirit. Later John would show Jesus attesting, “The Father and I are one.” One in person, one in purpose – and the purpose is for the good, the restoration, the re-creation of broken people like you and me.
“Blasphemy” in the Greek means to “injure the reputation of.” It means to speak with disrespect or evil intentions about God. It means using language to debase, dishonor, deny or disrespect God. However it is defined, that is exactly what the religious leaders were doing to Jesus that day – and it is exactly what the religious leaders would later accuse Jesus of doing.
So, when I put all of this together, my understanding is that Jesus said these words while engaging in an argument against the religious leaders who opposed him. He was not slipping a little legal clause into the New Testament intended to make people fearful for the rest of time. So I frankly don’t worry about the “unforgiveable sin.”
Grace is grace is grace is grace. Nothing in our human brokenness is unforgiveable. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We don’t have to understand that, explain it, or justify it – we just bear witness to it. We tell the old old story of Jesus and his love.
Let us pray: Dear Lord, many people have been very fearful through the ages that they have somehow done or said something that is outside of your loving capacity to forgive. Use us, as ambassadors and agents of your love, to hear the confession in such fears and to speak the words of forgiveness which you have given us to speak. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:31-38
“Dear Pastor, I’m embarrassed to even ask this question because I feel ignorant in not knowing, but I will ask anyway. I believe that Jesus was the Son of God. I believe that Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins. What I don’t understand is how his death saved us? Why did God require such a sacrifice? And why hasn’t humanity improved (become less sinful) because of it?”
Theologically, this question falls between Christology (the study of the person of Jesus) and soteriology (the study of salvation.) Practically, this question lies at the heart of our understanding and practice of the Christian faith.
How does the death of Jesus have anything to do with us? How is Jesus connected to our “atonement” – that is, the healing of the broken relationship between God and humanity. How is it that Jesus enables us to be “at-one-with” God?
Through the years this question has been answered in several ways. The top four answers, all of which can be supported by verses from the Bible, include:
1) “The Ransom Theory” Humanity gave itself to the devil in the fall from grace in the garden. Jesus “paid the debt” of our sins, from God to the devil, so that we could be returned to God’s ownership.
2) “The Satisfaction Theory” God’s justice demands a punishment. Jesus was punished on our behalf to satisfy this demand for justice.
3) “The Moral Theory” Jesus’ death was an act of supreme obedience. Those who come to understand that act of obedience are then morally persuaded to live out this same radical obedience to God.
4) “The Christus Victor Theory” Jesus waged war against all the forces opposed to God (the world, the devil and our sinful selves) and won victory over all of them, with us being the spoils of war.
My problem with all such “theories of the atonement” is that they are all about what happens “out there” in the realm of God…and I pretty much think that is quite beside the point. They are about changing God, changing God’s relationship with us, changing God’s attitude toward us, changing the realities of our separation and distance from God.
What I think is actually the point of the Christian faith is changing US, not changing God. The faith isn’t about buying God off, it is about how we SEE ourselves and God and our place in God’s world. Jesus was far more concerned about justice and right relationships between people than he was about effecting some cosmic marketplace transaction in the sky.
Look at Peter’s response to Jesus announcing his impending death – Peter wants nothing to do with death. Peter wants Jesus to succeed…maybe so that Peter could succeed him. But Jesus knows what Peter doesn’t know, sees what Peter doesn’t see, and the answer will feel much more like surrender than victory.
The problem is that we HAVE a problem – our separation from God and others – that we can’t solve on our own, try though we might. And the Bible’s answer to that is that we have to die. Jesus as Jesus died, so we must die. Die so that a new self can be reborn. Jesus died so that we might live, but first, as Jesus told Nicodemus, we have to die. In baptism, we are joined to that death and then, day after day, we return to that same beginning.
Which is why, for me anyway, Christian salvation looks a whole lot more like a group of alcoholics meeting together to seek God’s power in living one day at a time in recovery than it does to a country club where people gather to enjoy one another knowing that someone else paid the tab for their membership dues. People slip in recovery but are always welcomed back to the fellowship to try again. People can be kicked out of a club.
We have practiced Country Club Christianity far too long. The world is better served by those Christians seeking recovery from all that separates them from God and one another.
Let us pray: Dear Jesus, you have done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Continue to guide and inspire us to do what we can only do for you and those you love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:42-43
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
“Dear Pastor, I am a 69 year old Christian. However I still do not understand; when one dies, we pray and often say they are with God but then we say ‘he will come again to judge the living and the dead.’ It’s easy to get the living part but I don’t get the dead part. I have been bothered by this for years…”
Lots of people wrote to me with variations on this same question. What happens when we die?
The short, quick and honest answer is, “I don’t know.” No one knows absolutely for sure. But what we do know for sure is that people have been asking that question ever since people have been around to ask questions. Fundamentally, it is a mystery.
We’ve all heard and read stories about near death experiences and “90 Minutes in Heaven” and we’ve been intrigued or scared by all of them. There are those who investigate such experiences seeking to expose them as frauds or illusions and others who do the same thing seeking to add to their Christian witness. Sometimes they comfort, sometimes they confuse.
As you can see from the two Bible passages above, the Bible doesn’t give one simple answer to the question either. We can talk about death as the gateway to eternal life (as John does) and rest on Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross (as Luke does) – we die and go immediately to heaven. Or we can talk about death as “falling asleep” (as Paul does) – we die and then we wait for the final resurrection. The plain words of scripture teach two different things, what holds them together is the purposes for which they were written. They are written to bring comfort and hope.
The Christian faith in the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of eternal life with God is intended to comfort the dying AND the living. Whether we go directly to God’s presence or sleep through the waiting, the next thing a person knows after dying is being in the presence of God. That Jesus embraced a common thief on the cross is good news for all of us sinners who trust in Jesus for our hope. That Paul told the Thessalonians to “encourage one another with these words” reminds us of the power of Christian community as we comfort those who grieve.
The bottom line for our faith is ultimately not about the HOW of what happens after we die but about the WHO into whose presence we come. We rest not in empty arguments about things we do not know but in the promises of the One who has gone before us and has promised to make a place for us, to come again for us, to receive us unto himself.
Regardless of our shifting feelings about our own deaths, we know it will come someday. Until that day, we make the most of the lives we have been given. Because Jesus has secured our future, we are free to live our lives here and now.
Let us pray: Dear Lord, we have many different thoughts and feelings about death and what happens to us after we die. Help us to live with those questions but set us free from being caught in them. Set us free to live our lives fully and make the most of every moment you give to us. And at the last, bring us home. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:5-13
“Dear Pastor, “How do I get faith? This is something I constantly think about and I think my faith isn’t very strong. How can I feel the Heavenly Father’s love? God tells us of the Heavenly Father’s unending love and how much he loves me, but I struggle to feel this love….I had been praying hard to feel this love when we received a phone call that our son had died in a car accident. Now I struggle with so many emotions and my faith and feeling God’s love seem further away than ever. I hear people say that their faith had brought them through a tragedy but I’m not feeling this…”
When I first read this question I probably had the same experience as you did just now. It began with what appeared to be an intellectual question, “How do I get faith?” but then suddenly everything changed with the realization that this was a question spoken by a parent still full of grief at the untimely death of a son.
Welcome to the real world where questions of faith become something more than questions. Welcome to the place where dry and windy theology gives way to flesh and blood, to death and pain, to the battleground between hopelessness and hope.
I’m not afraid of taking faith to the real world – I’m far more afraid of those who would “protect” faith behind brick walls of dogma and decorum. In the real world, a faith which works is a faith we work at, and we can never adequately work at it alone.
Paul tells us that “faith comes by hearing” in Romans 10:17. In the verses above, leading up to that great statement, Paul says that faith is a matter of confessing with our lips and believing in our heart. That is where we get faith – we confess our brokenness and need for faith, we confess our desire for faith, and we believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord. Or, as the old hymn says, “Trust and obey, there’s no other way.”
The Holy Spirit works in us to give us faith when we confess and believe. We can do that part by ourselves – I know that is what happened to me when I finally surrendered to God – but that only happened after hearing the witness of another and then sharing my desire for faith with friends. This isn’t about “making a decision for Christ” but about surrendering to the decision that Jesus has already made for us, and doing that within a network of relationships, those who shared with me and those I shared myself with afterwards.
Here’s what I wish and here’s what I believe. I wish every Christian or every person who wanted to grow in their faith would finally quit pretending that they have it all together and find one or two other trusted friends and finally get honest about their desire to be faithful. And I believe that if that would happen, if people would finally get real about their faith lives and their faith hungers, the Holy Spirit would explode with power in their lives.
Along the way, they would know a faith that would indeed see them through heartache and suffering and anxiety and change and every other piece of brokenness a fall creation can dish out.
Let us pray: Dear Lord, there are many who follow you with their lips but their hearts are far from you – not because they don’t want to know you but because they don’t know any other way. Bring good people into lives such as these. Free lips to tell the truth. Soften hearts to be open to your power. Birth new faith which sets us free. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
