Standing with the "Broken Hearted"

 

            “Lawlessness and rioting” will not be tolerated we are told definitively and authoritatively.  This declaration from national leaders comes as federal troops are readied to deploy oversea?  No!  Federal troops are set to mobilized right here in the United States, on the verge of descending upon Kenosha, Wisconsin to disrupt peaceful protests (and not-so-peaceful gatherings). 

            Why are people protesting?  Another unarmed black man, Jacob Black, was shot by police officers sworn to protect the public.  He was shot seven times in the back!  Black civilians don’t feel protected by law enforcement.  I wonder why?  Could it be because of the strangling of George Floyd?  Or Breonna Taylor, killed in the sanctity of her own home without even a knock on the door?  Those are just the highly publicized cases, and just from 2020. 

            Why aren’t we hearing national leaders say, “The killing of black people by the police won’t be tolerated!”  Is it because certain national leaders have no problem tolerating the killing of unarmed black people? 

            I am the pastor of a multiethnic but majority white church, asking these questions in a church newsletter column.  It makes readers uncomfortable.  It makes white people uneasy.  Uncomfortable and uneasy, people will say, “Don’t bring politics into the church!”  People will tell me, “Support the police!” 

I do support the police, but I also support my black brothers and sister.  I am a white male.  The continued unjust way black people are targeted by law enforcement upsets me so much, I want to protest the established order.  I am upset.  The “law and order” touted by national leaders isn’t working for a lot of Americans. 

            Consider this.  Followers of Jesus don’t consider this issue or the circumstances of our times as Americans. We see the world as Christians. We are, first and foremost, subject to the ways of Christ, baptized of the Holy Spirit, people of the book.  We pray for police officers.  In earnest, we pray for law enforcement officials, presidents, governors, and mayors.  With genuine, Christ-inspired love, we pray.

            But we renounce the strident “lawlessness won’t be tolerated” pronouncement because it drowns out the bigger question, the one we must ask.  How long, O Lord?  How long, in our land, will black and brown people continue to receive such dispassionate, cold treatment from those sworn to protect and care?  That’s what we must ask and keep asking until things change.  In solidarity with people who feel dehumanized by the government and institutions of power, opposing injustice is an expression of our discipleship.

            “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1).  Read Luke 4.  Jesus declared that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  If we are the body of Christ at work in the world, then we must work to make this promise from scripture a lived reality for victims of injustice. 

            When mothers and fathers of black young people continue to have to fear that encounters with the police could lead to their child’s death, black people are the ‘broken hearted’ this Bible verse means.  We have to hold, comfort, and fight for the broken hearted among us.  We have to oppose and dismantle systems that break their hearts. 

            Protest!  Write or call your congressman/woman & senators (both at the state and national level)!   Vote with justice for the broken hearted on your mind!  I won’t demonize the police.  I know too many good ones whose hearts are on serving and protecting.  I admire someone who is in law enforcement in order to serve.  But followers of Jesus as Christians have to stand up and acknowledge that the systemic forces controlling our nation are still favorable to white people and dangerous for black and brown people.  We have to oppose this unjust reality and work for equity and justice for all.

            Yes, there are some bad actors among the nationwide protests. There are also people who hurt, ‘the broken hearted.’  We stand with them.  Our hearts break with them. We realize from the prophet Isaiah, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that God stands with the broken hearted and weeps with them.  We want to stand where God stands and love as God loves.   

“Focused on God” (2 Kings 2)

 

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLC9zRg1-Vo&t=711s 

            What do we see when we look around?  Driving through your neighborhood, do you see signs supporting one candidate or another?  It’s an election year!  Do you see signs promoting a movement?  At the grocery story, the doctor’s office and in church and everywhere else, we see people wearing masks.  What word describes th times we are living?  Pandemic; social unrest; racial strife; polarized politics; selfishness regarding good pandemic behavior; what words fit best?

            How about this?  God is on the move in the world, working for our good and for the salvation of humankind.  If you looked out your window, or opened a new window and surfed the internet, is this what you see?  God on the move?  No?  What if we looked differently?

            We’re spending five weeks in 2 Kings, walking through the story of the prophet Elisha.  He stands at the center of the story, but he’s not the story.  He is the vehicle.  God on the move at work in the world; that’s the story. 

            Elisha has to fill some big sandals as the heir to Elijah.  He is right there with the greatest Old Testament figures, Abraham, Moses, and David.  Elijah is the paradigm of the Old Testament prophet.  New Testament believers insisted the Messiah could not come until Elijah returned.  When John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, they knew the promise had been fulfilled.  He was, symbolically speaking, the return of Elijah.

            Elijah served God during troubling of times.  The people split into two kingdoms, Israel in the North, and Judah in the South.  God never intended this, but it came about because of human selfishness.  Elijah opposed Ahab, king of Israel, and his pagan wife Jezebel.  She was determined to lead all Israel to worship the idol, Baal.  Opposing her, Elijah’s life was constantly threatened.  The magnificent stories of his struggle with these evil monarchs are told in 1 Kings.

            As we turn to second Kings, we pick up the action with a new king, Ahaziah.  Injured in a fall, the king knows his life is in peril so he calls on the god of Ekron, Baal-zebub for healing.  Elijah tells him that because he called on a foreign god, he will surely die (2 Kings 1:4).  Enraged by the prophet’s words, King Ahaziah three times sends a company of 50 soldiers to bring Elijah into custody. 

The first time, the captain approaches, Elijah call down fire from Heaven, killing all 50 men.  When the second group of 50 approaches, the same thing happens.  King Ahaziah commissions a third group, but this company’s captain knows the fate of his predecessors.  When he gets to Elijah, he falls on his knees and pleads for his life. 

Elijah is ready to bring the same fire on this group as on the first two, but God stops him (2 Kings 1:15).  Why is this important?  We focus on the names, Moses, Abraham, Elijah, but they are vehicles.  Elijah didn’t make the decision to spare this third group, God did.  God is bigger than kings of Israel or emperors of Rome or presidents of America.  We see the world in turmoil, and it is in turmoil.  But there’s more going on that what we see at first glance.  God is on the move, working to save humanity.  It was true when God spared those 50 soldiers and it is true today. 

King Ahaziah, who ignored the God of Moses and turn to Baal-zebub died, just as God, through Elijah, said he would.  In chapter 2, we turn to the wilderness. It might seem like the royal court is where the action is, but that’s a human perspective.  In God’s eyes, the real action was with his prophets, out in the wilderness. 

Elijah and his protégé Elisha were on the move, walking out of Gigal, with a company of prophets following them.  Think of a school of prophets, learning to discern the word of God and speak it, especially to those in power, especially when God’s word would not be welcomed by those in power.  These individuals followed Elijah and knew that when Elijah’s time was up, they would be following Elisha. 

Elijah comes across as a disinterested mentor.  Three times, he tells Elisha he must remain behind as he, Elijah, moves on.  Three times, Elisha says, “As the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will not leave you (vs.2, 4, 6).  It calls to mind the loyalty the woman from Moab, Ruth, showed to Naomi, her Jewish mother-in-law.  She said similar things, and like her, Elisha knows that no matter what happens, his place is at Elijah’s side.  The company of prophets following the pair say to him, “Do you know, today the Lord will take your master away from you?” 

“Yes,” Elisha said.  He knew.  The nation – God’s chosen people – had lived through generations of unfaithful kings worshiping foreign idols instead of the one true God.  Elisha knew that God in heaven had imposed drought on the people for their apostasy.  Elisha knew things in the world were not good and it was entirely likely that the next king would be as destructive as his predecessors.  He knew not to put his trust in human leaders but rather to rely on God. 

In our country, election day is coming, in the middle of a pandemic, racial strife, and the worst economy since the depression.  Election day means millions of people, supporters of whomever loses, will be frustrated; distraught.  Our hope is not in the identity of the occupant of the White House.  You can be politically active, at the local, state, and national levels.  Vote.  Campaign.  Pray about the election.  Do all of it, but remember, our hope is  not dependent upon the winner on November 3. 

If your brother or sister in Christ in our church family holds a different political view than you, don’t despise him or her.  I say this with as much pastoral authority as God has granted me and you have granted me.  We are united in the crucified, resurrected Jesus Christ.  How we feel about what happens on November 3 must not disrupt our unity and our love for one another. 

Elisha knew his mentor Elijah was soon to depart.  But he would hold onto him as long as he could.  He knew the real action wasn’t in the king’s court.  It was in the wilderness.  Out in the world, God is on the move, working for good.  Elisha knew his part in that.  When the company of prophets raised the issue of Elijah’s departure, Elisha commanded them to keep silent about it. 

He followed Elijah from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho, which is right next to Gilgal.  They weren’t going anywhere.  That did not matter.  Elisha knew that where Elijah was, God was at work and that’s where he needed to be. 

Finally, at the Jorden, Elijah struck the water with his mantel, it stopped flowing, and they walked across.  “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken up,” he said to Elisha. 

“Let me inherit a double share of your spirit” Elisha responded.  Understand, Elisha’s request was not selfish.  Things would not get easy for him.  Elijah had been hunted by kings.  Starving in the wilderness, he was fed by ravens.  God turned down his request to die.  Instead he had to run for miles and miles to continue his work of confronting the powers in God’s name.  Nothing about that life was inviting, yet, Elijah could do no other.  It was God’s call on him.

Now, Elisha asks for that life because he knows it is God’s call on him, and he wants to be ready.  As important as Elijah was, he could not grant Elisha’s request.  It wasn’t up to him.  Instead, he gave test.  “If you see me as I am taken,” he said, “It will be granted you” (v.10).  A chariot of fire, pulled along by flaming horses came and took Elijah into the sky.  The company of prophets, watching from across the river, saw none of it. Elisha did. 

In sorrow at saying farewell, Elisha ripped his own garment.  Then, with a heavy heart and determined mind, he took Elijah’s mantel and stepped into his calling.  The company of prophets saw him cross the river and immediately recognized two things.  The spirit that had rested on Elijah now rested on Elisha, and Elisha was alone.  They who had warned that Elijah would be taken now offered to search the land for him.  They loved Elijah too.  They too grieved his absence. 

Elisha told them not to bother, but they insisted and came back empty handed as he said they would.  Elijah went to Heaven without even having to experience death – the death he had earlier requested.  Prophets carry heavy burdens as we see in Jeremiah’s torment.  Like Elijah, Jonah asked God to let him die.  Moses felt the pressure.    Elisha knew it as well.  Each lived the prophet’s life because God called them to it.  God would speak His word through them.

We do not identify with Elisha or Elijah.  We don’t have that unique anointing.  We are like the company of prophets.  We are called the observe what God is doing in the world.  We are to be diligent, faithful observers.  Second, we tell what we have seen.  We testify.  In spite of how bad things are, we let the world know that God is all-powerful, all-loving, and is doing new things in the lives of those who turn to Him.  Hurting, lost people can turn to Jesus and be comforted and saved.  The church does many things.  This morning’s focus is on the call to observe and tell.  We are witnesses who testify. 

There’s a pandemic.  We see stress between protestors and law enforcement.  People are out of work.  Racial strife and injustice continue to plague America.  All these statements are important and true, and with the love of Jesus we address these realities.  But, we will not allow these truths to take our focus off the bigger truth.  Though it looks different than it did in the days of Elisha, it is just as true now. God is on the move in the world, working to bring about salvation for all who turn to Him.  He calls us to be his witnesses.  The big story is not happening in the royal courts or the in the halls of government.  The big story is here, in the wilderness where people meet God in Jesus and discover new life in his name.  No matter what else is happening, that’s the story we tell.

AMEN

"What the Lord Says, I Say" (Numbers 22-24)

 

Watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cWC5629aSU&t=2s

Sunday, August 2, 2020

 

            A friend telephoned to ask if I could throw up a prayer.  His dog was dying and he knew it.  Those with beloved pets, understand where he was coming from.  He knew his dog was going to die whether I prayed or not.  Of course, God could have healed the dog.  God could heal any dog, goldfish, or person, for that matter. 

We have lifespans.  My friend knew that.  He was sad, so what did he do?  He called his best childhood bud who grown up to become a pastor and asked, “Could you throw up a prayer?”  It was his way of saying, I feel really sad and I need you to be sad with me. Shying away from such raw emotion, we couch our needs in manageable terms.  Rob is a pastor?  I’ll ask him to pray. 

The idea of what is manageable is in the story we read in Numbers, chapters 22-24.   This story is very important to Israel, but Israel is a silent, absent player.  At Center stage, is  Balak, king of Moab.  He thinks he can manage what God will do. 

Let that soak in.  Are we guilty?  Do you or I try to control God?  The phrase “God is in control,” is often heard in church.  Do we, though, fall into the trap of thinking, if I pray hard enough, and tithe faithfully, and attend every worship service, God will have to answer all my prayers with “Yes’s?” 

God hears us.  God is affected when we pray.  I don’t think getting “yes’s” is tied to how hard we pray or how long we pray or how faithfully we believe.  Prayer is relating to God, seeing who God is.  As we see more of God and drink in more of God’s love, we are able to hear God’s voice.  We get the desires of our hearts because our hearts are transformed.  We bear the image of God, grow in Christ, and what God desires becomes what we desire. 

Instead of thinking about prayer as a transaction, we realize it is conversation with the one who loves us.  In a transaction, we try to be as good we can to get God to give us what we want.  This fails because as sinners, we can’t be good enough to influence God’s wisdom.  We aren’t going to convince God to do something.  However, when we throw the idea of a transaction out, and instead see God as the one who loves us and whose wisdom is perfect, then we accept what God gives.  We know, as it says in Ephesians 3, He will do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine (v.20).  In prayer we talk with the one who loves us.  Ask for whatever you want.  Trust God to give what’s best.

For King Balak, it was a transaction.  After years of desert wandering Israel has arrived in Moab, just across the river from Jericho and the Promised Land.  They crushed the Ammonites in battle.  Balak, King of Moab, figures it could happen to his people too.  The ancients thought that, when nations when to war, the nation with the stronger god won.  Balak saw what Israel had done to Ammon, so he assumed their god was pretty tough.

He needed a tougher god to protect him.  Where do you find a tough god who will help you win the battle?  Enter Balaam, a professional seer, a conjurer, a prophet for hire.  He lived at Pethor, which the Jewish Study Bible notes say was 400 miles from Moab. Neither distance nor price was of any concern to Balak.  He sent his emissaries with a bag full of money.  They were to bring Balaam back so he could curse Israel and Moab would win the battle. 

When the Moabites appeared at his door, Balaam welcomed them, took their money, and told them to wait.  Paying for a favorable prophecy was normal in that part of the world at that time in history.  But things go sideways for the Moabites.

“Who are those men with you?” God asked.  Balaam doesn’t seem the least bit surprised to hear God speak.  He answered and God told him not to go with the men.  Balaam didn’t know anything about Egypt or Israel. That wasn’t his story.  He was an outside.  God is as powerful outside the Biblical community as in it. God told him the Israelites were blessed and he, Balaam, needed to send these guys back empty handed.  So he did. 

Perturbed, Balak would not take “no” for an answer.  So, he sent more distinguished representatives.  Price is no object!  They needed to come back with a curse on the Israelites. This time, God, told Balaam to go with them. 

God isn’t happy about it.  God is Lord of the universe.  God is almighty.  God was not some genie who had to come out if Balaam rubbed a lamp. 

As Balaam rode his donkey the 400 miles toward Moab, an angel of Lord holding a flaming sword blocked the road.  Balaam couldn’t see it.  The donkey could and he wanted to part of this angel, so he turned into a field.  Now Balaam wasn’t at all bothered when God spoke to him in conversations, but he falls to pieces when his faithful donkey stops heeding his commands.  Balaam hit the donkey.

They made their way to a narrow path by a vineyard.  The angel of the Lord appeared, blocking the way.  The donkey saw the angel and veered to avoid it, scraping Balaam’s foot on the wall.  Enraged, he beat the donkey again. 

On they traveled until they came to a narrow spot with no space to veer or turn off.  The angel blocked the way.  The donkey knew what was coming and did not care.  He could handle Balaam’s rod.  He was not confronting that angel of God, so he just stopped.  Still unable to see the angel, Balaam once more belted the donkey.  The donkey turned around and said, “Knock it off.”

Balaam, without missing a beat said the donkey made a fool out of him and if he had had a sword, he would have killed the donkey.  To this the donkey replied, haven’t your ridden me all your life?  Have I ever treated you this way?  No, Balaam had to admit.  His donkey had been a faithful beast of burden. 

So many things wrong here!  First, what is going in Balaam’s head that he doesn’t think twice about extended conversations with God?  He isn’t at all surprised when his donkey just starts talking?  Yet, he loses his composure when the donkey doesn’t obey his commands.  Second, why would he travel without a sword?  Did he not pack for the 400-mile donkey ride?  Third, why was the only one in the story aware of God’s presence a donkey??

God used this weird episode to reiterate to Balaam that he may be headed to see Balak, but it doesn’t matter how much Balak offers.  Balaam is only to say what God tells him to say.  Balaam follows through on the command perfectly.

Balak, irritated that he had to send two teams of recruiters, asked for the curse he paid to receive.  Balaam tells him how to prepare the ritual and Balak complies.  But when the message comes, it’s not what Balak had in mind.  “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?”  Balaam says (23:8). 

Balak, furious, demands that Balaam go back to God.  Maybe Balaam didn’t deliver the right message, or didn’t hear God’s response properly.  They go through the entire routine again, and again, God says through Balaam, “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob; no divination against Israel” (23:23).  Exasperated and desperate, Balak told Balaam, fine don’t curse them.  But don’t bless them.  Balaam’s answer?  What the Lord says, I say.

Balak wants Balaam to try it one more time.  Each attempt is in a different location.  Maybe God couldn’t be reached from this mountain, only that one?  What kind of god did Balak think he was seeking, who could only answer from certain places and who had to do what Balaam asked?  The Bible says, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Balaam.  Again, he blessed Israel and did not curse them.

Balak was done.  “Go home!” He barked.  He had promised to make Balaam rich, but now, he told Balaam to ride his talking donkey back the 400 miles he had come.  Balaam retorted he didn’t care if Balak gave him all the silver and gold he possessed.  Balaam had to speak God’s word, whatever it was.  As he left, he gave a final prophecy, letting Balak know Moab would be crushed by Israel. 

Israel is talked about in this story, but is not active participant.  We see God acting in those nations Israel will fight.  God went ahead of Israel, preparing the way.  Moses had no idea God was talking through a donkey to a medium.  Consulting soothsayers was forbidden, but God is not confined even by his own law.

In our lives, when we pray as if we’re talking with a Father who loves us, not an impersonal deity who makes deals, we are drawn into God’s heart.  We begin to desire what God desires, and God includes us in what God is doing in the world.  Unbeknownst to us, God is out there in the world, preparing the way in places we can’t see right now and in ways we can’t imagine.  God is clearing out the obstacles, so we can walk the path He’s set before us.

We can pray, God I want that job; God I want that car; God I want that girlfriend; God heal my mother; God save my daughter’s failing marriage; God help our church grow.  These prayers are fine.  We bring these requests to our Heavenly Father who loves us.  We trust our Father’s response.  As Jesus said, “How much will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask” (Matthew 7:11)?  God knows what we need more than we do. 

If we pray for a loved one to be healed, but the loved one dies, it doesn’t mean God failed or our prayer failed or God abandoned us.  I don’t know what it means.  God loves us and loves those we pray for.  We can yell at God, cry to God, rage against God, and sit silently in God’s presence.  God receives us.  God sees us.  God helps us find our way to healing. God invites us to walk in his purposes and be a part of what He’s about in the world. 

Decide then, what you’re looking for, a God with whom you make deals, or a God you trust to love you.  Once you decide, pray to that God.  Live based on the way you pray and based on you understanding of the God who hears your prayers.

AMEN