Funerals and Jesus

I read recently of a fringe group of church people, (I refuse to call them Christians), who decided to express their first amendment right and their presumed religious imperative to protest at the funeral of a local American Soldier who died in Afghanistan. They base their protests on the belief that; “These soldiers are dying for the homosexual and other sins of America. God is now America’s enemy, and God Himself is fighting against America”. Out of respect for the dead soldier’s family and friends, a second group decided to protest the protesters. Prior to the funeral, one business owner put up posters warning the first protesters, “You Have The Right To Protest A Dead Soldiers Funeral. We Have The Right To Bear Arms And We Will”. (Oh my!) For some reason the original protestors decided to stay home the day of the funeral.

A third viewpoint appeared in ‘The Buzz’, a daily column in the Charlotte Observer described as “Anonymous comments from readers on the issues of the day”. The writer asked; “What funeral would Jesus disrupt?”  They posed the question in the now popular format of WWJD, or ‘What Would Jesus Do?” Embedded in this smug comment is their criticism of the protesters based on their assumption that loving Jesus would never disrupt a funeral. "That's rude and in very bad taste”.

Bad assumption about Jesus! He did disrupt funerals, everyone he ever attended …by raising the dead!

My answer is a little smug too, but based on what we actually find in the text of the New Testament it is not an opinion but fact. Jesus not only disrupted a funeral, He interrupted one He happened to stumble upon. In actual fact there is no record of Jesus not raising from the dead whatever person He found in that condition, at least in His three plus years of earthly ministry prior to His own death.

In the situation of the protest of the dead soldier’s funeral all three attitudes are lacking. To protest the funeral of an American soldier is cruel and dishonorable. To assume that God requires such behavior reflects a dark and troubled presumption about the heart of God.

Too often Christians make assumptions about Jesus based on their own specific doctrinal/denominational/cultural bias. It is easy to do. But in the case of what Jesus would, or wouldn’t do at a funeral, can most accurately be determined by what He did at the only ones we know He attended, specifically the ones recounted in the New Testament record.

He knew what was coming in His own life, a cross but also an empty tomb. He was a terrible deterrent to death in all its forms, whenever and wherever He found it. Jesus Himself is the Resurrection and the Life.

 

Jury Duty

Last year the powers that be in York County, South Carolina deemed me worthy to be called for jury duty. As I discovered, there is a difference in being found worthy to be called to jury duty and being found worthy to serve on a jury. It was quite an enlightening experience in more ways than one. Here's the drill -a state official spends a significant amount of time explaining to the entire group of 'jury duty call-ees' why they are called, the importance of serving on a jury, what they are called to do if they do serve, and what they need to divulge in their personal short public interviews before the lawyers choosing juries. Then a S.C.Judge comes in and explains the importance of being called in, the legal implications of being on a jury, and what one must divulge to the panel of lawyers who listen to each person's short biographical speech everyone called in must stand and declare. One interesting detail the Judge mentioned to us was that in the state of S.C. if you are living with someone you are considered by the state to be married. Some people in the crowd responded to the judge that they didn't think it was anyone's business if they were living with someone that they were not married to. My sense was that the person who raised that question was living with someone they had not married and did not want to admit it to the room of 100+ total strangers, the judge, and a panel of lawyers who were there to select and reject potential jurors. The judge informed the questioner that it was an important fact that needed to be known by the lawyers who were deciding who should or should not be on a jury who would try one of their clients for one alleged infraction or another. It also sort of honed in the crowd on at least one lady who was living in 'unwedded' bliss with someone else, I would guess.

Then I overheard one man say, "Wow! Showed up for jury duty and found out I was married!" The picture attached to this blog shows you what he looked like about the time he realized he was married.

Then the personal interviews began. After your name was called you stood up, affirmed that they had gotten your name right, identified your marital status, identified your occupation, and revealed any reason you should not serve on a jury. Then the lawyers and the judge had a chance to ask you any questions if they wanted to. When my turn came I had decided I could play my interview one of two ways. I could tell the panel that I was a Pastor (relatively admirable occupation)  or I could tell them I was a Healing Evangelist (absolutely despised by most in the room occupation). I opted for door #2. From that point on I was looked upon as someone who also resembled the photo that I attached to this blog. For the rest of the time I was there the entire group pretty well put me in the human category of life known as "bottom feeder". For three days no one dared speak to me even once. Apparently being a Healing Evangelist was frowned upon in that establishment. No shock.

Why did I do that? For several reasons. Reason #1 -At that particular point I was still in ministry but not specifically a pastor. Reason #2 -I was traveling as a preacher who was evangelizing and seeing people healed. Reason #3 -I wanted to see how people would relate to someone willing to admit in public that they were a Healing Evangelist. Reason #4 -I felt like it was the most honest answer to the question. And finally, Reason #5 -I thought it would keep me off jury duty...and I was right about that.

So, what's the moral of the story? Why did I write this?

I wanted to. I thought it was worth noting that someone could actually say something so bizarre as, "Wow! Showed up for jury duty and found out I was married!" I also think it is important to live in such a way as to never be ashamed of what you do, even if you are a Healing Evangelist.

 

 

Gone Fishing?

In John 21 we find the apostle Peter floundering in his faith. No pun intended but he did return to the fishing trade he once gave up to follow Jesus. To set the stage, Jesus had died, been resurrected, but confusion and uncertainty ruled the once confident followers of the Messiah. Peter had been told that Jesus would meet them in Galilee after His resurrection, but while he was there had decided to leave the ministry and return to the boats and the nets: “Simon Peter says to them, I am going off, breaking my former connections, to my former fishing business. They say to him, As for us, we are coming also to join you. They went out and went on board the boat, and during that night they caught not even one thing" (Wuest Trans.).

Not only had Peter returned to his former occupation but he influenced several other experienced former fishermen/apostles to do so also -but caught nothing after toiling all night.

Testing times come. Few dedicated believers having walked with Jesus have avoided this experience. Peter left his calling for what he once knew, the fishing trade, what he thought he could easily succeed in once again. It didn't work out very well for any of them that night. Many have gone back to what they once left,  'gone fishing' like Simon Peter did. Things fell apart, confusion reigned, finances dried up, promises remain unfulfilled, dreams died on the vine, so they left what Jesus asked them to do.

But then a new day dawns:

"But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus" (John 21:4).

I like that phrase, 'but when the morning had now come'. It speaks of the darkness being over. It speaks of new opportunities, new possibilities, another chance. Also we read, 'Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.' There He was, as powerful and victorious as ever -having conquered death, hell and the grave, yet they did not know it was Him. Many are standing in this very place -between having gone back from the purpose of the Lord and finding Him again as all they ever needed. But find Him again they will. He will track you down.

Trust me. Its no time to sell the farm, divorce your purpose, leave what He gave you to do, doubt His promise, and give up on the release of heaven's bounty. We have entered a season where things that have been bound tightly, things that have been held up, are being released! This is a new day and although scarcely recognized, Jesus is among us ready to act.

 

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

The parable of the lost sheep is one of a trilogy of stories found in Luke 15 that Jesus used in response to the Pharisees criticism of His choices of friends and social interactions. The New Testament reveals that some called Jesus a wine bibber and a glutton, others accused Him of being the illicit child of an immoral mother. He wasn’t from the right tribe, the right town, or the right school, or had the right doctrine, as far as they were concerned. Jesus had no shortage of critics. As mentioned earlier, Pharisees criticized Jesus for both eating and receiving tax collectors and sinners. Jesus responded by telling the story of a shepherd who had 100 sheep and one of them ran off. Jesus assumed each of the Pharisees should leave the 99 for the 1 by saying, “What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?”, thereby identifying both Himself and the Pharisees as shepherds, a despised occupation in their culture.

This parable doesn’t only locate the darkness in the hearts of the Pharisees, it identifies some in my heart as well. Most business men would cut their 1% loss and rejoice over still having 99% on hand.  That would be my own business sense because that’s good business… just not love, and certainly not the heart of God!

So far, what has Jesus done in just a few short sentences: concluded that the Pharisees should identify with shepherds, revealed their self-centeredness and pride, and reframed their personal responsibility as ministers. Can anyone say ‘ouch!’?

Jesus also assumed some responsibility for the one sheep’s condition… ‘if he (the shepherd) loses one’ (Luke 15:3). That is a somewhat different approach than placing all the blame on the sheep for having run off!

Jesus said that a good shepherd would find the sheep and lay it on his shoulders, ‘rejoicing’. That’s not the normal response He knew to be present in the Hebrew culture, nor in ours today. Most complain in the face of having to help others in trouble rather than rejoice. I have heard (as others have taught) that the reason the shepherd put the sheep on his shoulders and carried him home was because the norm was for the shepherd to break the lambs leg for running off, to teach him a lesson. If we did the same with our children we would be put in jail or the Department of Social Services would come get our children! He put him on His shoulders because lost sheep are often paralyzed with fear and the only hope of getting home would be if someone picked them up and carried them. Jesus said a good shepherd would do so ‘rejoicing’!

Heaven’s joy is based on the returning of lost sheep to their true home, the shepherds house. Heaven rejoices more over one returning lamb than ninety-nine who need no repentance. Too bad there are no such ninety-nine who need no repentance. No one needs 'no repentance'. We all have needed to repent at one time or another, or maybe even more than that.

God is a good businessman. He knows the way to secure the hearts of the ninety-nine is leave them for love of the one. That one could have been you or me. In so doing He builds a house of love and honor that has the potential to shake the world and reveal the heart of God. The heart of God is thus revealed in this short four verse parable. It begins to fulfill the prayer of Jesus in a dynamic way; ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven”. That's our calling. That's our challenge. That's our joy.

( For insights and inspiration I offer much gratitude to Kenneth E. Bailey and his book: The Cross and the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle East Peasants.)