Luke 4:16-21

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 These were some of the first proclamations that Jesus made when he started his three year ministry.
Isn’t it interesting that the first group he targets are the poor and those with disabilities. It is actions like these that make it hard for some of us to try and live our lives in a Christ like way. We, especially in the United States, have completely marginalized these two groups of people and here Jesus is telling us to put them “front and center”.

The words to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor have pretty much lost their meaning nowadays. But in Jesus’ day that meant Jubilee and that was a time for the rich to forgive the debts of the poor. Can we even imagine that happening in today’s world. Living as a disciple of Jesus Christ means more than just saying the words. We have to, as they say, “walk the walk”. If you are a complete novice at showing your compassion for the poor then seek out a local Christian homeless shelter or soup kitchen and do some volunteer work. It will change your life forever. And, given the circumstances today there are many opportunities about.

As you can see from the last few posts I have been somewhat down the last few weeks.

I have always found that reading Beatitudes is able to pull me up when I am down. I prefer Luke’s version to that Matthew’s. So, here goes:

Luke 6:20-22

Looking at his disciples, he said:

Here is another impromptu post related to a discussion I recently had with another Christian. First of all I am a regular supporter, both with my time and money, of a local Christian shelter and soup kitchen. During my discussions with my Christian friend I mentioned that the support of our church to this mission has almost dried up in the recent months. I have tried numerous way to spur support but to no avail. My friend made the statement that maybe we should not ask people to support things like this during these tough times. My friend said many families are struggling with bills and our congregation needs more money to pay higher utility bills and other unexpected expenses.

This got me to thinking, does Jesus give us a pass for being our brother’s keeper when we hit a rough patch in the road? The more I think about this the more upset I seem to get. In my mind it is exactly in these type of times when our brothers need us the most. I don’t know anyone in my church who is homeless or in deep financial distress. Yes, many probably have cut back on some unnecessary items but is that enough of a reason to step back from giving to the least of these?

Is it ok to be a fair weather Christian? Did Jesus draw a line in the sand as to when personal needs outweigh Christian giving? As usual I am full of questions about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

I imagine everyone has heard the term “you reap what you sow”. There is a lot of reaping and sowing going on in the Bible but I have not been able to find this reference in any of them. Are some of the bad things that happen in our lives a result of our unchristian behavior? Some of the red letters around this theme are:

 John 9:2-5

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

Jesus clearly says that at least this person’s misfortunes are not a result of sin. He seems to be saying that God made this person blind so that what he does in the name of God will be displayed in his life for others to notice. So, does God make people blind, deaf, paraplegics, or other seemingly random disabilities in order for them to show God’s love or does he sometimes do it to punish people, or is it just that “stuff” (I would use another “s” word here in private company) happens? I don’t know? Another example would be that some people die quickly and go to meet their maker and some linger for years and years in nursing homes or with Alzheimer’s before they reach their next chapter. What is the story behind that? For personal reasons I have been thinking about this lately.

 I don’t know how many of you have read President Obama’s talk at the National Prayer Breakfast a few weeks ago. In that talk he told us how he came to faith in spite of not being raised in the active Christian household. And , no he was never a Muslim. Yes, his estranged father was at one time a Muslim before he became an atheist. Here is his account of why he came to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

 I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

 I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.

 I don’t believe that his conversion was anything out of the ordinary for many of his generation. They grew up with people who they perceived as trying to shove Jesus down their throats. So many of them had become numb to the old style of outreach by these shallow encounters. It was only by Christians acts of kindness over an extended period of time that made them understand the true love or our Lord. I don’t have any statistics but I believe that is probably how most conversions happen today. In other words they are most affected by Christians who show the Lord’s love in their lives in very practical ways and do so on a day-by-day basis. Christianity is not a spectator religion but is instead an action filled call to follow the paths of Jesus Christ. So, lets all get off the couch and start living our faith.

Since I have been doing book reviews for a while I wanted to break it up with something I have been pondering lately. Is there such a thing as a “couch potato Christians”? Of course there are, so maybe I should say “should there be such a thing? A verse from Ephesians is used frequently by many denominations to show us our salvation is a total gift and has nothing to do with what we do.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph 2:8-9

While I 100% agree with Paul’s statement I take exception to those who think that therefore we have nothing to do but wait to die and then proceed to heaven. As I have said before I think Christianity is a call to action, not a sit back and wait religion. As the Lord said when you come to faith you throw off your old life to take on a completely new and radically different one. That is hard to do when your butt is glued to a sofa!

I think the “do nothing” attitude is one of the stumbling blocks to many who seek God. They see some Christians saying “all you have to do is accept Jesus as your savior and nothing else matters”. Of course we have all grown up with the sayings “you get what you pay for” and “nothing is free”. So they carry that thought to those Christians words. Then they look as Judaism and Islam with all their rules and daily requirements and think which one is real. The something for nothing religion or the work your butt off religion? If only we Christians could make it clear that becoming a true believer in Jesus Christ CHANGES EVERYTHING!! Jesus tells us to completely, and he means completely, throw off our old life of selfishness and greed and take on a new one of humility and servitude. If we could only get this point across we would do better at making disciples for Christ. It is hard to explain that no we don’t earn our salvation through these actions but they are just a much a part of our conversion as eating and breathing. We need to figure out how to do a better job of that. Our friends, neighbors, and even some family members eternity depends on it! But then we have to face the controversy over “works” which so many evangelicals stumble on.

This is a follow up of a recent post about eliminating hunger in the world. I’m sure there are some, and probably many, Christian organizations who say “No, no, we must spend our money preaching the Word and not ministering to physical needs. After all our spiritual life is for eternity and hunger is only of this earth”. While I don’t totally disagree with the intent of this, I believe it is very wrong headed and off the mark. There are well known basic human needs that must be met before higher level needs can occur. For instance, if a person is spending 15 hours a day trying to scavenge enough food for his family to exist he will not spend much time thinking about spiritual matters. We must feed the body before we can nourish the soul. Most Christian organizations are attuned to this since they have “feed the poor” missions throughout the world. Although funding for these organization is a challenge within the individual congregations who many times are fixated on their own needs (a bigger church, paving the parking lot, giving the staff a raise). Even Jesus made sure that people had enough to eat when they came in mass to him. Unfortunately we cannot feed thousands with a few fish and a couple loaves of bread so we need to work much harder at it. The very sad thing about the starvation in the world today is that it is totally preventable. We have the resources to eliminate it. It is just selfishness and politics that get in the way!