Luke 8:9-14 (NRSV)

March 1, 2017

Ash Wednesday

Luke 8:9-14

Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. [Jesus] said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

I am sure that the Kingdom of God contains many "secrets." Some of which I have no idea where to begin my dream. I'm wondering what Jesus means when he says, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God." I would imagine that as believers who seek to engage, study, and develop deep roots, we then are able to understand what bringing forth and bearing good fruit is all about.

Jesus uses the metaphors of the path, the rocks, and the thorns as examples of how the word of God is either ignored, forgotten, or not "cultivated" when it is shared. We need to remember that the "Word of God" that Jesus was talking about didn't necessarily refer to scripture. This was before any canonized "Bible." Jesus is the "Word." Therefore, I feel that Jesus was speaking to his disciples about sharing Jesus' message good news of the Kingdom of God. I personally feel that this can be best done if there is a certain grounded comfort-level with ones faith and belief in who God is.

We should always be disciples who seek to know Christ more and to make Christ known. This can be done by the way we live. If we seek to nurture the seeds (the message of Jesus) on good ground, ripe mature fruit will surely spring up. However, nurturing the seeds takes effort, sacrifice, and being receptive to what God desires of us. Then, and only then, will we understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God.

Blessings as we begin a Holy Lent! 

John 7:1-13 (NRSV)

Jesus went about in Galilee.  He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.  Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret.  If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’  (For not even his brothers believed in him.)  Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.  Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.’  After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret.  The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’  And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds.  While some were saying, ‘He is a good man’, others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’  Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

Jesus didn’t go to the festival with his brothers, but went in secret afterwards.  It is very easy to get frustrated with the way John deals with “the Jews” and their seemingly devious schemes to kill Jesus.  Much caution should be taken with the text in reference to “the Jews.”  We quickly forget that Jesus himself is a faithful Jew.  So, it’s not ALL Jews - just some.  I think there needs to be a distinction made between the folks that wanted to kill Jesus (who Just happened to be Jews), and the ones who were his faithful disciples (who are also Jews), lest we be guilty of lumping groups together and making assumptions based on their race or creed. 

There are folks at the festival of Booths that are asking about Jesus, and there is some complaining about his teaching.  They are all arguing over his validity as a teacher.  His real supporters are quiet because fear has the best of them.  For some reason, Jesus has chosen to be an observer.  He stands back and “in secret” looks over the sticky situation from the outside.  Maybe he is testing the waters… maybe he wants to learn how he is being received among the crowds and how his followers will react.  Whatever the case, he decides to go "in secret" after he told his brothers that he wasn’t going.

As a leader, I cannot begin to tell you how many times that I have tried to assess a situation this way - trying to quietly get a glimpse of things from another prospective or from “behind the scenes.”  It proves to be very helpful when trying to figure out strategies and how to effectively achieve goals.  What I think of immediately is the TV show Undercover Boss.  The show makes entertainment out of corporate CEOs working for their own companies in disguise, sometimes to be completely surprised or shocked by the people who work for them (good and bad).  I’m not suggesting that Jesus went undercover to spy on his followers, but what if he did? 

I often think that if Jesus were to return today and be among us “in disguise,” what would he find?  Would we be proud to show him all of the wonderful things we are doing to build up his kingdom on earth, or would we be ashamed because we weren’t bold enough to proclaim his message?  Maybe Jesus would be a homeless person or someone who you see at the soup kitchen.  Maybe he would be the one on the other end of the phone that just needs to talk, but your busy schedule is pulling you in the other direction. 

I feel that the text today is calling us to be aware…  be aware of who we are and how we are received…  be aware of how we act toward one another and how we respond to each others needs.  We are called to be self aware and look behind the scenes and from another prospective to possibly see things as Jesus would.