Testing. Testing. One, Two, Three. Testing.

Reading: Deuteronomy 8:1-3

“Remember [O, Israel,] the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in
the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart.”
Deuteronomy 8:2.
This Sunday’s forty days have God (not the Tempter) doing the testing. What’s God testing for?
To know what’s in his people’s heart, the text says. But doesn’t God already know that apart
from giving us an exam? The answer, of course, is yes. So why the testing? Answer: for the
same reason that schoolteachers give tests: so that students will know the truth about themselves.
God tests Israel for forty years so that (finally!) God’s people will know what’s in their own
hearts, and that it is at best a mixed bag. Learning that is indeed humbling. But not to know is
even worse. Human hearts are unknown territory, not to God, but to humans themselves. We
need God’s X-rays to show us our own pictures. To be humbled thus is not to be put down, but
to be confronted with the truth, typically unknown, so that we might be healed. Such tests,
however, are only half of God’s testing program.
Another kind of testing God does in the Scriptures is called “testing our faith.” Here too
the test is not for God’s benefit, for God to see how strong or weak our faith is. God knows that
without tests. The beneficiary of faith-testing is the one being tested. God tests our faith so that
we can see what faith can do when we trust God’s promise. God’s faith-tests increase our faith.
As Christ’s disciples we benefit when we “take the tests” God gives us. That’s true of
both kinds: the ones that expose the defects in our own hearts and the ones that show God’s
power and call us to trust it. During Israel’s forty years these two were most often one and the
same exam. For Lenten disciples the same is true.
Lord, increase our faith. Encourage us to take the tests you place before us. Dislodge the
prideful ego that occupies our hearts. Replace it with your words of forgiveness and mercy.
Nudge us to shift our allegiances from our agendas to yours, from our self-made achievements to
the good news you offer. Let Lent’s forty days be “time enough” to get the job done in us--
again. Amen.

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Remembering How God Remembers Us

Reading: Psalm 25:1-7

According to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O Lord! Psalm 25:7
In the old church calendar the second Sunday of Lent had a Latin name, Reminiscere. On that
Sunday the liturgy called on God to reminisce, that is, to remember his people the way the
psalmist prays. It's not that God might forget his mercy and loving-kindness toward us. Isn't the
trouble rather our own amnesia, our forgetting how God remembers us?
We so easily get the wrong "mindset," as St. Paul likes to call it, not just when we think about
others, but when we think about ourselves. It regularly slips our mind just how God keeps us in
mind.
For one thing, God remembers that we are marked with the cross of Holy Baptism -- even when
we forget. God is mindful that his own Son Jesus now calls us his own brothers and sisters --
even when we forget. God remembers Jesus going around that full circle of thorns--for us.
It is not God's memory, but our own, that needs regular prompting. "Keep in mind," the canticle
sings, "that Jesus Christ has died for us." Artist Siegfried does it visually in his second word.
How does he see God remembering us? With angelic mercy, an open hand, an open door to
God's own paradise.

Prayer: Remember us, LORD, the way Jesus remembers us. When the hustle and bustle of daily
life feed our amnesia, remember us as Jesus remembers us--together with him, in his kingdom.
Amen.

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Saving Yourself

Reading: Luke 23:35-38

"If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" Luke 23:37
From the days of Israel's first great monarch, King David, the rule for the ruler -- God's rule for
the ruler -- was not to save yourself. The assignment was just the opposite. Remember how
David got into royalty?
He was last in line in Jesse's big family. When none of his big brothers passed the test, the
prophet asked if there were any more boys. "Oh, yes, there's the youngster out with the sheep.
But he's no palace material." Well, it turned out he was. His fieldwork had prepared him to be
King of Jews.
Here's how. When the wolf, the lion, the rustler zero in on the flock, it's the shepherd's job to see
to it that the sheep stay alive, even if it should mean that he does not. Jesus' own words in John's
gospel have always been the job description: "The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep." David was never quite that good. But Jesus is.
Since he really is the last in David's line, the words "save yourself" are a temptation. He must
say No. The truth is that because he is this King of the Jews, he cannot save himself. Saving us
is his calling. He cannot save himself and still be King of the Jews.
Pilate doubtless wrote "King of the Jews" and put it over him for ridicule. But he wrote the
truth. He saves others, that's why he cannot save himself.
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for saving us by sacrificing yourself. Put your shepherding spirit into
us to be your sub-shepherds with those who surround us in daily life. Nourish us by your self giving
to lose ourselves for the welfare of others. Amen.

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The Thorn of Justice

Reading: Romans 6:20-23
"And we indeed have been condemned justly; for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds."
Luke 23:41.
"The young demand justice. The old will settle for mercy." Someone coined that saying in the
sixties. Of course, everyone wants justice, wants a fair shake. But there are premises in that
demand-- that the demanders are innocent, are being gypped out of their due reward, a reward
that's good.

The old will settle for mercy. The more experience we have, the more we know how flimsy
those premises are. No one of us is all that innocent.
In Arthur Miller's play "After the Fall," we see a group of characters typical of our society. All
are demanding justice in their own lives. Yet no one is innocent. They all live "after the fall,"
the fall into sin. In the difficulties they face they are getting what they deserve. But it is not very
pleasant.
The believing criminal in our text does not demand justice. Instead he acknowledges that it is
already happening to him. But then he has the chutzpah to ask for mercy from the Man in the
Middle. Apparently he knows something, trusts something, that the other criminal doesn't. He
clearly trusts that mercy is happening on the middle cross. So he goes for it. "Jesus, remember
me--dirty hands and all." He'll settle for that. So can we.
Prayer: Strengthen our hold on your mercy, O Lord, to take our due rewards in faith. When
justice awards us good things, ignite our thankful response. When its rewards bring pain,
empower us to take them too in faith. Banish our pretended innocence. Keep us settling for
mercy--with you and with each other. Amen.

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Two Equal Sinners -- But Different as Day and Night

Reading: Luke 12:4-5.
One of the criminals...kept deriding him...but the other rebuked him, saying: "Do you not fear
God?" Luke 23:39-40.
Two equally guilty criminals, but different as day and night. What's the difference? The
believing criminal says it's "fearing God." One does, one doesn't. But what does that mean?
The un-fearing thief thinks his big problem is with the authorities who caught him and the justice
system now executing him. All he really needs is to get off that cross. Perhaps he doubts that
there is a God at all, or that God knows he's innocent. Either way: with God there's nothing to
fear. No problem.
"Not so," cries the believing thief. The "big" courtroom where nobody ever stands 100%
innocent is God's courtroom. To "fear God" is to fess up to the truth of our own lives. We do not
fear, love and trust in God above all things.
Yet fearing God is not the last word. The believing thief follows his fear word with a plea for
mercy to the innocent one on the middle cross. To this guilty God-fearer, now a Christ-truster,
Jesus offers acceptance. Remarkable!
When we are linked to the Man in the Middle, our case in God's court is already decided. Not
that we're declared innocent. No, we're guilty as charged, and nevertheless forgiven. How so?
Jesus enters our case, stands in for us before The Judge. He takes our sentence too, our place on
the cross. In Christ our court date with God -- that's judgment day -- is already behind us. Call it
Paradise. Today already! Incredible? No. It's worth believing. He said so.
Prayer: Renew our hearts, God, to redeem our fears. Nothing in the world is worth fearing, you
say, but You alone. Then in your Son you surprise us with his cheering words "Fear not." Let
faith in this surprise replace our fear of anything--even you. Amen.

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" What is Ash Wednesday ? "

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Its official name is “Day of Ashes,” so called because of the practice of rubbing ashes on one’s forehead in the sign of a cross. Since it is exactly 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Easter Sunday, it will always fall on a Wednesday—there cannot be an “Ash Thursday” or “Ash Monday.” The Bible never mentions Ash Wednesday—for that matter, it never mentions Lent.

Lent is intended to be a time of self-denial, moderation, fasting, and the forsaking of sinful activities and habits. Ash Wednesday commences this period of spiritual discipline. Ash Wednesday and Lent are observed by most Catholics and some Protestant denominations. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not observe Ash Wednesday; instead, they start Lent on “Clean Monday.”

While the Bible does not mention Ash Wednesday, it does record accounts of people in the Old Testament using dust and ashes as symbols of repentance and/or mourning (2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Daniel 9:3). The modern tradition of rubbing a cross on a person’s forehead supposedly identifies that person with Jesus Christ.

Should a Christian observe Ash Wednesday? Since the Bible nowhere explicitly commands or condemns such a practice, Christians are at liberty to prayerfully decide whether or not to observe Ash Wednesday.

If a Christian decides to observe Ash Wednesday and/or Lent, it is important to have a biblical perspective. Jesus warned us against making a show of our fasting: “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:16-18). We must not allow spiritual discipline to become spiritual pride.

It is a good thing to repent of sinful activities, but that’s something Christians should do every day, not just during Lent. It’s a good thing to clearly identify oneself as a Christian, but, again, this should be an everyday identification. And it is good to remember that no ritual can make one’s heart right with God.

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Eden Lost & Recreated

~ The Bible Begins and Ends with a Garden of Paradise ~

 

 

Eden  ~  The word “Eden” has a root meaning of “garden” and contains the thought of “delight” (which is the plural of the word). With this in mind it is easy to see how the concept of Eden is that of a “garden of delight” or simply “paradise.” Eden is clearly a symbol of beauty, fruitfulness and God’s blessing (see Isaiah 51:3).

In a very real way the Bible as a whole is the story of Eden lost and Eden regained. This becomes clear by examining the first two chapters (Genesis 1-2) and the last two chapters (Revelation 21-22) of the Bible. These last two chapters picture a “river of the water of life” and “the tree of life”—once again picturing paradise.

The Beginning  ~  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;’ and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (1:26-31).

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (2:4-7). “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (2:15).

The Conclusion  ~  “Now I [John] saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea” (Revelation 21:1). “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful’” (21:4-5). But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life”(21:27).

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him” (22:1-3). “Then he said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true.’ And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place” (22:6). Jesus Christ said, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (22:12-13). “Happy are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (22:14). “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (22:17). “He who testifies [Jesus Christ] to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:20-21—the last two verses of the Bible).

the key question:  Will you be in the future Eden?  Are you sure?  If not, you can be! 

 

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