[I try to keep a quiet time with God five days every week. Below is my journal entry for today. Here. I explain how I approach my quiet time with God.]
Look: “When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him [Joseph] from their hands. ‘Let’s not take his life,’ he said. ‘Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.’ Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.” (Genesis 37:21-22)
Reuben is a man in the uncomfortable middle. Nine of his brothers are intent on murdering their step-brother Joseph.
In these circumstances, nine people constitute a mob and Reuben is afraid to stand up to them. They want Joseph, the kid brother preferred by their dad in their dysfunctional extended family, gone. (This rings true: Extended families often behave exactly like willful, controlling mobs, anxious to keep its members in line.)
The nine want to murder Joseph. Reuben wants to rescue Joseph and take him back to their father. But, fearful of his brothers’ rage, sure that he can rescue Joseph later, he suggests that the mob simply throw Joseph into a cistern. Then he, Reuben, would go back, free Joseph, and return the kid to Jacob.
Compromise and calm can be good things. Shrewdness can be too. Jesus says that believers are to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). But when our shrewd acts are rooted in our own analysis and not in the mind and plans of God, they can backfire. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25).
Later, when Reuben returns to the cistern to rescue Joseph, he finds that his brothers have sold the younger brother to passing slave traders. He goes to his brothers and says: “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
Reuben then acquiesces to the brothers’ plan of lying to their father about what had happened to Joseph. Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal, they intimate. Reuben may have rationalized being a party to this lie. “After all,” he may have thought, “better for my father to think that Joseph is dead than to learn he’s still alive and set us off to search for a brat nobody liked.”
Besides, the lie was now being enforced by the conspiracy that had been hatched at Dothan. The mob (the family) had proven ruthless enough to dispose of those who stood in their way; who was to say that they wouldn’t go after Reuben if he showed any inclination to break from the conspiracy?
Reuben had reason to feel guilty on multiple counts: (1) for not standing up to his brothers in the first place; (2) for hatching his own plan, relying on his own resources; (3) for not trying to find Joseph after he had been sold into slavery.
Listen: Peer pressure can a be a horrible thing, especially when the peers in question are one’s own family members. Families can have a brutal way of pigeonholing and suppressing their members.
This happens a lot when there are dysfunctionality and favoritism from parents. These spawn a kind of dog-eat-dog nastiness among siblings that remains into adulthood. I’ve observed this many times, making the story of Joseph and his brothers accessible and believable.
The basic problem, of course, is disconnectedness from God. When we remain connected to the God now revealed to everyone in Jesus, in faith buttessed by worship, prayer, receiving Holy Communion, and remaining in fellowship with God's people, the Church, God gives us the capacity to deal with things like family dysfunctionality, fear of the crowd, and our own limited thinking. As we pray to God in Jesus’ name, He supplies the Holy Spirit to give us faith, authentic repentance, guidance, a desire to do what God wills, love for God and for others, and courage.
These are all assets that Reuben could have used at Dothan and beyond.
Even his fear of death at the hands of his brothers in revenge for his helping Joseph would have been overcome. When we cultivate a close relationship with the God we know in Jesus, we know that death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to us.
In fact, there is a kind of living death that Reuben must have endured all of those years.
Not all things that people know need to be revealed, of course. The Hebrew midwives were right to conceal the birth of Hebrew boys from the murderous Pharaoh (Exodus 1:19). Corrie ten Boom and her family were right to conceal the Jews they attempted to save from the murderous Nazis.
Sometimes, I think, it’s also best to conceal facts that would only hurt, disrupt, or kill relationships. Much of the Oprah-zation of America, our practice of spilling all of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, is predicated on the idea that this is healthy for the one doing the revealing. But how healthy, how helpful, is it for the one to whom sinful thoughts and actions of which they had no knowledge of them are revealed? Jesus says that one day, all of our secret thoughts will be revealed, of course (Luke 8:17).
But God’s Word also tells us to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Some people speak the truth but without a hint of love, making others miserable. They speak it in order to shock, to elevate themselves, to bring others down. This is weaponizing truth, a bit like what the serpent did in the garden when he told Eve that if they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree, they wouldn't die. That was a true statement, in a way: Eve and Adam didn't die immediately after eating the fruit. But what the serpent concealed with his artful truth-telling was that because they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve would die, just not right away.
We should always, I think, prayerfully examine our motives before speaking truth to someone else. God, in fact, may sometimes call us to keep our traps shut and keep the misery to ourselves rather than unnecessarily spreading it to others.
This, in fact, maybe what Reuben thought he was doing by not telling his father all those years what had really happened to Joseph. On that then, we might want to give Reuben a pass and spare him our judgment. (This is an example of why I'm so happy not to be God!)
But since Reuben was complicit in so many ways with what happened to Joseph and he failed to do the right thing because he relied on himself rather than on God, it’s hard not to see him as a morally compromised person.
The question that remains, of course: Is God showing me some of myself in Reuben? Is there something in Reuben story indicating that God wants me to see or change my own behaviors?
I have to say yes. Like Reuben, I’m prone to stand down when I should stand up. Like Reuben, I can be fearful of what others might say or think of me rather than heeding God’s will. Like Reuben, I often busy myself with my own plans when I should be consulting with God regarding His plans for me.
Respond: Help me, Lord, in a tangible way, to stand with You today. And help me today to make plans in consultation with you and not with my own heart, mind, or preferences. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Showing posts with label Matthew 10:16. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew 10:16. Show all posts
Monday, January 15, 2018
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Be Shrewd; Follow Christ
[This is the sermon prepared for delivery during Sunday worship with the people and guests of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, on September 22, 2013.]
Luke 16:1-13
Today’s Gospel lesson is one of the most confusing passages of Scripture. Christians often read it and wonder, “Is Jesus telling us to be dishonest?” From the witness of the rest of the Bible, we know the answer to that question is, “No.”
So, the parable told here by Jesus and its attendant teaching, require us to think and to studiously delve into the text.
The Gospel message, of course, is simple: Unwilling to see human beings, the only of His creatures made in His image, go to hell for eternity without fighting for us, God took on human flesh in Jesus Christ. He bore the weight of our sins on the cross. He took onto Himself the punishment for sin you and I deserve. Then He rose from the dead to make it possible for those who repent and believe in Christ as their only God and Lord, to have new and everlasting life with God. That is a simple message.
But the living of our faith in that simple, life-giving Gospel in a fallen, sinful world, is not simple. And so, Jesus shares complicated parables like the one in our lesson for today. He gives complicated teaching we also find there. He wants to help us live out the faith of the simple Gospel message in a world complicated by the sin of the world, the sin inside of us, and the sin of our common enemy, the devil.
So, please go to today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 16:1-13. Verse 1 says: “He [Jesus] also said to His disciples: ‘There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.’”
Agricultural life in the first century when Jesus taught this parable was governed by a sort of a feudal system. A wealthy man owned vast quantities of land. There were tenants or sharecroppers on the land. They could farm the land and have a place to live. In exchange, the tenants were bound to give a share of their crops and earnings to the rich man. To oversee their holdings, it was common for rich men to have stewards, household managers.
In Jesus‘ parable, someone tells the rich man that his household manager is “wasting” or squandering the rich man’s money. The word translated as “wasting,” in the original Greek in which Luke wrote his Gospel, is the same word used of the prodigal son who traveled to a faraway land with the money his rich father had given to him and squandered it, wasted it all, on sinful living.
There are two passages in the New Testament I’d like to ask you to look at right now because I think they will help make the message Jesus shares today clearer.
The first is 2 Corinthians 8:9 (page 668 in the pew Bibles): “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
Both Paul, the writer of this verse, and Luke, the author of our Gospel lesson, understood the God we know in Jesus Christ to be wealthy, rich. Psalm 95 in the Old Testament conveys the same idea, when it says of God:
But in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, God stepped out of heaven and, though sinless Himself, though immortal, took on the poverty of sin and death for us. Through His death and resurrection, God donates the infinite wealth of His goodness and His infinite life, to cover our sins and buy us out of our slavery to sin and death.
This rich man in Jesus‘ parable, in some way, represents God, rich in power, possessions, holiness, and love. Now, be careful! This is a parable. A parable is not the same as a metaphor. Jesus isn’t saying, “This rich man is God.” He’s saying, instead, “This rich man, in his richness and dominion is sort of a stand-in for God.” There are, obviously, differences between this rich man and God Himself.
The second passage is 1 Corinthians 4:1 (page 658 in the pew Bibles). It says: “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
The word for stewards used here is the same one used in our Gospel lesson. Every Christian has been blessed with new life when they believe in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. But they are also called to be good stewards, good managers, of the new life God has given to them.
Part of what that means is that God tells us not to squander His blessings on us--our money, our time, our health, our friendships, our relationships--on ourselves in selfish pursuits. We are to use all of God’s blessings like good stewards, using our money, our time, our health, our brain power, our muscle to give God glory in how we live from day to day and to share the Gospel message with others. So, the steward in Jesus‘ parable, in some ways, represents all of us who are disciples--followers--of Jesus. The parable asks us, “How are you using your life? Are you investing in eternity? Or are you squandering it on the things of this world?”
Back to our Gospel lesson, starting at verse 2. It says: “So he [the rich man] called him [the household steward] and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'”
When the rich man in Jesus‘ parable demands an accounting for how the steward has been spending his fortunes, the steward panics. Fearful of losing his job, he considers his options. He’s too weak to dig ditches. He’s too proud to beg. So he decides to devise his own golden parachute. That way, when he’s been turned out of his master’s home, there will be people willing to let him live with them.
This may be the most important part of the parable. The steward is afraid of not having a home. He realizes that the way he’s been squandering, wasting, his life on selfish things has put having a home at risk.
In John 14:2, Jesus says, “In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus poured out His body and blood to give us places to live, eternal homes with God.
Many people know that; far fewer trust that. They recite the creeds on Sunday mornings. But on Monday through Saturday, they put their trust in other things, not in the God Who died and rose for them.
Here’s a truth I have learned, more from getting it wrong than from getting it right: The more I trust Jesus, the more reasons I find for trusting in Him; the more I do things my own way, the less reason I find for trusting Jesus.
It’s the people who trust in Jesus, no matter how weak their trust may be at any given moment, who are assured of a place to live with God. Truly, we are saved by our trust--our faith--in Jesus Christ.
Next in Jesus‘ parable, He talks about how the steward reduced the debts owed by the tenants, winning their goodwill while, at the same time, bringing some wealth into his master’s coffers. What Jesus says next troubles us. Starting at verse 8: “So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.”
Note, please: The rich master does not commend the steward for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness. Jesus delivers a similar message in Matthew 10:16, where He tells Christians: “...be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
Christians understand that, ultimately, money has no value because money can’t be spent in eternity. Money, along with homes, farms, cars, and tractors, will one day be destroyed with the rest of this earth.
But, like our non-Christian neighbors, God calls each of us to earn a living and manage His gifts to us. The difference is this: We Christians are called to use the sinful world’s material goods not to feather earthly nests or promote ourselves at the expense of others. We’re to use our money--along with our time and smarts, our friendships and knowledge, and all the blessings God has given to us--to help others know Christ, through our giving, serving, witnessing, listening, and loving in the Name of Jesus, so that in eternity, they, like us, will have one of those mansions Jesus promises to all who believe in Him. When we trust Jesus, putting Him first in our lives, we can live in the certainty that we will have a place to live with God eternally.
And this, I believe, is why Jesus ends His teaching as He does today. Verse 13: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [or material wealth, money]."
You know, God’s Word never says that money is the root of all evil. Instead, 1 Timothy 6:10, tells us: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Money in itself is morally neutral, neither bad nor good. Whether money is a force for good in people’s lives or a root of all kinds of evil depends on how we view it. If money is an end for people, a goal, a means for keeping score, of being able to buy whatever they want, or of measuring their value as human beings, then money is the master of their lives. Money is their god, the place in which they place their ultimate hope.
Money can’t buy eternity. Money is a lifeless deity that will, in the end, leave all who serve it cold and lifeless in the grave.
But when the God we know in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is our God, when we put our lives and our paychecks at His disposal, providing for our families while also helping to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, and spread the good news of new life through faith in Christ--the things we do together as a congregation here at Saint Matthew, we invest in eternal things.
We know that when we invest in eternity, trusting Christ with our whole selves, including our money, God will raise us from our graves and we will live with Him for eternity.
Will you bet your life on the dead things of this dying world?
Or will you bet it all on the God Who, in Jesus, has conquered sin and death?
Following Jesus, believing the Gospel message, isn’t simple. But it is shrewd.
New life and an eternal home with God for all who turn from sin and simply trust in Christ is what Christ offers.
It’s a great deal. It’s a shrewd deal. Be shrewd; follow Christ. Amen
Luke 16:1-13
Today’s Gospel lesson is one of the most confusing passages of Scripture. Christians often read it and wonder, “Is Jesus telling us to be dishonest?” From the witness of the rest of the Bible, we know the answer to that question is, “No.”
So, the parable told here by Jesus and its attendant teaching, require us to think and to studiously delve into the text.
The Gospel message, of course, is simple: Unwilling to see human beings, the only of His creatures made in His image, go to hell for eternity without fighting for us, God took on human flesh in Jesus Christ. He bore the weight of our sins on the cross. He took onto Himself the punishment for sin you and I deserve. Then He rose from the dead to make it possible for those who repent and believe in Christ as their only God and Lord, to have new and everlasting life with God. That is a simple message.
But the living of our faith in that simple, life-giving Gospel in a fallen, sinful world, is not simple. And so, Jesus shares complicated parables like the one in our lesson for today. He gives complicated teaching we also find there. He wants to help us live out the faith of the simple Gospel message in a world complicated by the sin of the world, the sin inside of us, and the sin of our common enemy, the devil.
So, please go to today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 16:1-13. Verse 1 says: “He [Jesus] also said to His disciples: ‘There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.’”
Agricultural life in the first century when Jesus taught this parable was governed by a sort of a feudal system. A wealthy man owned vast quantities of land. There were tenants or sharecroppers on the land. They could farm the land and have a place to live. In exchange, the tenants were bound to give a share of their crops and earnings to the rich man. To oversee their holdings, it was common for rich men to have stewards, household managers.
In Jesus‘ parable, someone tells the rich man that his household manager is “wasting” or squandering the rich man’s money. The word translated as “wasting,” in the original Greek in which Luke wrote his Gospel, is the same word used of the prodigal son who traveled to a faraway land with the money his rich father had given to him and squandered it, wasted it all, on sinful living.
There are two passages in the New Testament I’d like to ask you to look at right now because I think they will help make the message Jesus shares today clearer.
The first is 2 Corinthians 8:9 (page 668 in the pew Bibles): “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
Both Paul, the writer of this verse, and Luke, the author of our Gospel lesson, understood the God we know in Jesus Christ to be wealthy, rich. Psalm 95 in the Old Testament conveys the same idea, when it says of God:
In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land.The universe belongs to God; God is rich.
But in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, God stepped out of heaven and, though sinless Himself, though immortal, took on the poverty of sin and death for us. Through His death and resurrection, God donates the infinite wealth of His goodness and His infinite life, to cover our sins and buy us out of our slavery to sin and death.
This rich man in Jesus‘ parable, in some way, represents God, rich in power, possessions, holiness, and love. Now, be careful! This is a parable. A parable is not the same as a metaphor. Jesus isn’t saying, “This rich man is God.” He’s saying, instead, “This rich man, in his richness and dominion is sort of a stand-in for God.” There are, obviously, differences between this rich man and God Himself.
The second passage is 1 Corinthians 4:1 (page 658 in the pew Bibles). It says: “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
The word for stewards used here is the same one used in our Gospel lesson. Every Christian has been blessed with new life when they believe in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. But they are also called to be good stewards, good managers, of the new life God has given to them.
Part of what that means is that God tells us not to squander His blessings on us--our money, our time, our health, our friendships, our relationships--on ourselves in selfish pursuits. We are to use all of God’s blessings like good stewards, using our money, our time, our health, our brain power, our muscle to give God glory in how we live from day to day and to share the Gospel message with others. So, the steward in Jesus‘ parable, in some ways, represents all of us who are disciples--followers--of Jesus. The parable asks us, “How are you using your life? Are you investing in eternity? Or are you squandering it on the things of this world?”
Back to our Gospel lesson, starting at verse 2. It says: “So he [the rich man] called him [the household steward] and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'”
When the rich man in Jesus‘ parable demands an accounting for how the steward has been spending his fortunes, the steward panics. Fearful of losing his job, he considers his options. He’s too weak to dig ditches. He’s too proud to beg. So he decides to devise his own golden parachute. That way, when he’s been turned out of his master’s home, there will be people willing to let him live with them.
This may be the most important part of the parable. The steward is afraid of not having a home. He realizes that the way he’s been squandering, wasting, his life on selfish things has put having a home at risk.
In John 14:2, Jesus says, “In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus poured out His body and blood to give us places to live, eternal homes with God.
Many people know that; far fewer trust that. They recite the creeds on Sunday mornings. But on Monday through Saturday, they put their trust in other things, not in the God Who died and rose for them.
Here’s a truth I have learned, more from getting it wrong than from getting it right: The more I trust Jesus, the more reasons I find for trusting in Him; the more I do things my own way, the less reason I find for trusting Jesus.
It’s the people who trust in Jesus, no matter how weak their trust may be at any given moment, who are assured of a place to live with God. Truly, we are saved by our trust--our faith--in Jesus Christ.
Next in Jesus‘ parable, He talks about how the steward reduced the debts owed by the tenants, winning their goodwill while, at the same time, bringing some wealth into his master’s coffers. What Jesus says next troubles us. Starting at verse 8: “So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.”
Note, please: The rich master does not commend the steward for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness. Jesus delivers a similar message in Matthew 10:16, where He tells Christians: “...be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
Christians understand that, ultimately, money has no value because money can’t be spent in eternity. Money, along with homes, farms, cars, and tractors, will one day be destroyed with the rest of this earth.
But, like our non-Christian neighbors, God calls each of us to earn a living and manage His gifts to us. The difference is this: We Christians are called to use the sinful world’s material goods not to feather earthly nests or promote ourselves at the expense of others. We’re to use our money--along with our time and smarts, our friendships and knowledge, and all the blessings God has given to us--to help others know Christ, through our giving, serving, witnessing, listening, and loving in the Name of Jesus, so that in eternity, they, like us, will have one of those mansions Jesus promises to all who believe in Him. When we trust Jesus, putting Him first in our lives, we can live in the certainty that we will have a place to live with God eternally.
And this, I believe, is why Jesus ends His teaching as He does today. Verse 13: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [or material wealth, money]."
You know, God’s Word never says that money is the root of all evil. Instead, 1 Timothy 6:10, tells us: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Money in itself is morally neutral, neither bad nor good. Whether money is a force for good in people’s lives or a root of all kinds of evil depends on how we view it. If money is an end for people, a goal, a means for keeping score, of being able to buy whatever they want, or of measuring their value as human beings, then money is the master of their lives. Money is their god, the place in which they place their ultimate hope.
Money can’t buy eternity. Money is a lifeless deity that will, in the end, leave all who serve it cold and lifeless in the grave.
But when the God we know in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is our God, when we put our lives and our paychecks at His disposal, providing for our families while also helping to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, and spread the good news of new life through faith in Christ--the things we do together as a congregation here at Saint Matthew, we invest in eternal things.
We know that when we invest in eternity, trusting Christ with our whole selves, including our money, God will raise us from our graves and we will live with Him for eternity.
Will you bet your life on the dead things of this dying world?
Or will you bet it all on the God Who, in Jesus, has conquered sin and death?
Following Jesus, believing the Gospel message, isn’t simple. But it is shrewd.
New life and an eternal home with God for all who turn from sin and simply trust in Christ is what Christ offers.
It’s a great deal. It’s a shrewd deal. Be shrewd; follow Christ. Amen
Friday, July 26, 2013
Today's Chesterton: So Much for Naive Christian Clergy
"Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith) (2011-03-30). The Innocence of Father Brown (p. 15). . Kindle Edition.
The question is posed by Chesterton's fictional Father Brown, whose straightforward understanding of the depravity of the human heart and his nearly prescient observational skills allow him to solve crimes.
In some ways, no group of people is more likely to view the actions and motives of people with less naivete than Christian clergy.
Why is that?
First, because the Bible teaches us, as it does to all Christians, that human beings are born in sin. (Explaining why God had to become a human being, albeit one without sins, offer Himself in sacrifice for our sin so that all who turn from the sin and trust in Christ to forgive their sin with His grace gain forgiveness and new life with God.)
Second, we clergy, by doing our daily work in the light of the Bible's testimony about God and humanity, become witnesses to the full range of sin's effects and sin's manifestations in human beings. They come in the form of the person in the mirror who so often disappoints us, in the parishioner or local community member not associated with your church who figures their secret is safe with you, and even in the Christian completely oblivious to his own shocking sin and of his need of the grace of Christ.
That's why I find Chesterton's fictional detective Father Brown so plausible. Though society deems we clergy types as naive--and we may be deliberately so at times--remember that Christians have been told by Jesus to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. Father Brown clearly takes Jesus' words seriously.
By the way, the abrupt and simple ways in which Chesterton's stories end, without fanfare, is fun.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
The Grams Scam
Someone tried pulling this scam on my mother-in-law a few years ago. She didn't fall for it. But in this era when grandchildren are often raised in distant states and voices aren't so familiar, it's understandable how some grandparents might be victimized.
A few weeks ago, I got an message through the email account of a member of a former parish. It included her name and that of her husband in the body. It said that they were in England, where all their credit cards and cash had been stolen. The email went on to say that in order to get home, I needed to let them tap into my credit card to the tune of $6500.
The whole thing was absurd; there's no way this couple would have contacted me for money. Besides, I knew from Facebook that they had been in the US at the same time the bogus email claimed they were in England.
But I can see how this scam could be as convincing to some people as the grandson-on-the-telephone scam.
Like many other Christians, we Lutherans often confess to God that "we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves." Christ does free repentant sinners of their slavery to sin, of course. But sin--the inborn impulse to treat God and others with contempt--is a strong force in the world. (To confirm, look at the home page of any online news source.) The Bible teaches this. So, honestly, I am never surprised by the wrong that people do.
But it does underscore the wisdom Jesus gives to those who follow Him: "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16).
A few weeks ago, I got an message through the email account of a member of a former parish. It included her name and that of her husband in the body. It said that they were in England, where all their credit cards and cash had been stolen. The email went on to say that in order to get home, I needed to let them tap into my credit card to the tune of $6500.
The whole thing was absurd; there's no way this couple would have contacted me for money. Besides, I knew from Facebook that they had been in the US at the same time the bogus email claimed they were in England.
But I can see how this scam could be as convincing to some people as the grandson-on-the-telephone scam.
Like many other Christians, we Lutherans often confess to God that "we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves." Christ does free repentant sinners of their slavery to sin, of course. But sin--the inborn impulse to treat God and others with contempt--is a strong force in the world. (To confirm, look at the home page of any online news source.) The Bible teaches this. So, honestly, I am never surprised by the wrong that people do.
But it does underscore the wisdom Jesus gives to those who follow Him: "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16).
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Faith Tidbit #4
We don't know the actual date of Jesus' birth. Centuries ago, Christians decided to hold the festival of Jesus' birth at roughly the same time as the Roman festival dedicated to Saturnalia, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." This is one of many examples of how Christians have, through the centuries, shrewdly adapted what already existed in order to point to and worship Jesus Christ, God-enfleshed. Jesus commends shrewdness to His followers.
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