This was a wholly moment for me to say the least. Wholly in the sense of entirely – as in my heart was now complete and full. But it was also a holy moment as in it felt like God had something to do with bringing us together. Kathleen is an answered prayer for sure.
When two people come together in love, it truly is a holy and sacred moment. If you ask me, that’s the whole point of life – to be both whole and holy in mind, heart, and soul; including with God and with each other. According to scripture, it’s the way we are to live into our truest self to be who God truly made us to be. And what did God make us to be?
Leviticus is the book in the Torah that is filled with life’s little do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts). It includes things like purity laws, types of sacrifices, and moral holiness. Which is why most people avoid this book like the plague, which Leviticus covers as well.
One of the central themes of the book (as it is throughout the entire bible) is holiness. It talks about holy priest, holy places, holy clothes, holy objects and holy utensils, holy holidays, and of course, holy laws. And it all can be summed up in one sentence: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Is it me, or does that feel like God is setting us up to failure? Perhaps the best way to think of this passage is to recognize that “God is holy. And this holy God is intent on making a holy people to live forever in a holy heaven.” (DeYoung) We tend to think that holiness is something for the cloistered halls of a monastery. Something that’s impossible to obtain in a sinful and corrupt world. But I think that’s just an excuse not to try our best to be our best. While the Hebrew word “Kodesh” does refer to moral purity, the basic meaning of holy or holiness is to be "set apart for a specific purpose.” For example, in his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln declared the infamous battlefield as “hallowed ground.” In doing so, he set it aside and dedicated it to be place of special significance; consecrated to commemorate the lives of the soldiers sacrificed in the battle. Having been made in God’s image means God’s holiness is a part of our DNA. We’ve been consecrated and set apart by God’s Spirit to bear the good fruit of God’s glory which “consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.” What does God think? What does God will? Well, that too can be summed up in one sentence – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Which is exactly how Jesus set himself apart.
As I've pointed out before, Matthew 22 is filled with numerous challenges from all sorts of people trying to stop Jesus’ influence from spreading. Although today’s question doesn’t seem to be that challenging to him. They want him to pick the greatest commandment.
On a good day, most of us could recite the 10 great commandments. But I doubt any one of us knows all 613 found in the Torah, including the 365 laws that tell us what not to do, and the 248 laws that tell us what to faithfully do? As Jesus has clearly demonstrated time and again, he’s pretty smart when it comes to this kind of stuff. He honors their question by reciting two passages from the law. The first being the “shema” found in Deuteronomy 6:5 which states: “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” The second one is from our passage today, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But then Jesus flexes his muscles a little by making the two verses one when he declares, “On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets.” If you’re a regular at Anamesa it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that our holiness comes down to this basic principle: love God, and love others. Like Kathleen and I, these two actions are intertwined; one in the same. Love is the way to live a faithful and holy life in the eyes of God. And it’s expressed in the way we faithfully demonstrate that love to one another. Of course, this is no ordinary love Jesus speaks of. It’s not puppy love like we have as teenagers. It’s not emotional affection, which we have with family and friends. And although there are plenty of passages in scripture that describe it as such, it’s not romantic love like that share between two people. However, it is the kind of love that makes me deliriously happy. Matthew uses the Greek word “agape,” which is a self-giving, sacrificial love. The kind that is more concerned about the other person’s needs and wants than fulfilling one’s own. Agape is a love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. The Apostle John describes agape with this charge: “Love one another because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7-8) Having been made in the image of God, means we are made with love, for the purpose of love…to be holy as God is holy. But here’s the thing, “agape” is a conscious decision one makes to see others as God sees them. And to intentionally love all things the way God loves them – wholly and infinitely. It’s the holiness of love that enables us to be inclusive, forgiving, honest, charitable, and healing. It encourages us to tear down the barriers and walls of division, and frees us to love our neighbors without fear, jealousy, or anger. For Jesus, this is simple math. The love of God equals the love of neighbor. The two are not mutually exclusive as if one could love God but hate another. Again, John declares, “Those who say they love God and hate a brother or sister is a liar. If you do not love a brother or sister whom you see, you cannot love God whom you do not see.” (1 John 4:20) Wendy Farley writes, “Compassionate action reflects and mirrors the divine image. Love is not an emotion or obligation but is God present in the soul.” One thing we ought to be striving to do is to see others through the eyes of God the way Jesus did. To be holy as God is holy begins by looking through that divine lens, and choosing to love what you see in the same way as God loves you. It’s through acts of self-giving charity, kindness and generosity that God’s holiness becomes visible and tangible in us and through us, just as it was in and through Christ Jesus. You see being holy isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being like Christ - God’s perfect love made manifest in human form. It’s about mirroring your life with Jesus, reflecting his way of being one with God and one with creation. It’s about putting flesh on God’s presence like Jesus did. And making love the first and only priority until the world is deliriously happy. It’s about letting go of yourself and “thinking as God thinks, willing as God wills”…loving as God loves. Instead of trying to convince yourself that this impossible…simply ask yourself “What can I do with what I have right now in front of me to make God’s love come alive in me?” John of Kronstadt was a Russian Orthodox priest who lived in a neighborhood rampant with alcohol abuse. Compelled by love, John would go out into the streets where “he’d lift the hungover, foul-smelling people from the gutter, cradle them in his arms and say to them, ‘This is beneath your dignity. You were meant to house the fullness of God.’” (Smith) Mother Theresa did something similar with those where were left to die on the streets of Calcutta. She took them into her home, not to heal them or prolong their suffering, but to simply be the visible presence of God’s love and compassion as they pass on. Fr. Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries, used agape to transform the lives of thousands of violent gang members in Los Angeles. It’s not impossible at all. There are so many ways you can make love grow in Anamesa…in that space between our God and our neighbor. There are Food Pantries who need volunteers to pack and handout meals for people who are suffering from food insecurity. There are men and women living on our streets who need basic items like clean socks and fresh water. There are teenagers in foster care who could use a mentor. Elderly neighbors who could use some companionship. Co-workers who need a compassionate friend to trust. Simple acts like these make love whole and holy. It can make us deliriously happy. And like Jesus said, it’s these type of things that will set us apart in the kingdom of heaven. “For what you do to the least of these, you do also to me.” Kathy Walker reminds us that “God is challenging us to see the face of God in our neighbors and then love them as we love ourselves. We should focus our energy and attention on the things that we must do every day…as a recognition that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our being, with all our mind.” It’s only when we truly understand what God’s love means to us that we are truly able to understand who we are. God’s very own beloved children. From love we were made, and for love we are sent out into the world to be holy like God is holy. Work Cited: Bartlett, David, Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011). DeYoung, Kevin. The Hole in Our Holiness. Wheaton, IL: Good News Publishing, 2012). Farley, Wendy. The Thirst of God (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2015). Smith, James. The Good And Beautiful God. (Dower Grove, IL: IVP, 2009) Walker, Kathy. Stumped. October 23, 2023 (accessed on October 27, 2023).
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Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. - Matthew 22:15-22 -
In 1773, the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny” was first coined. Three years later America became an independent nation. And guess what we’re still arguing over? Taxes!
It’s an issue as old as time. Matthew gives us a taste of what it was like in first century Palestine, one of many territories who were required to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. Just as America had loyalists to the English crown, the Emperor had the Herodians, a secular group of Jewish supporters of the puppet king Herod Antipas, who most-likely skimmed from the revenue meant for Rome. The Herodians colluded with the uber religious Pharisees who weren’t keen on paying Caesar anything. The Pharisees saw how the suffocating tax rate smothered their people and enslaved them in revolving debt. It kept them under the thumb and at the mercy of their conqueror. Still this very strange alliance wasn’t put together to debate tax-reform. They came together to stymie Jesus’ growing influence and power. You got to hand it to them. It was a very clever trap, a political conundrum designed to be that “gotcha!” moment to get Jesus in trouble. But leave it up to Jesus to find a loophole. Before he answers their question, he asks to see the coin used to pay the tax. It is a denarius, a familiar silver coin that equaled a day’s wage for the average laborer. It wasn’t a Jewish coin. It was Roman. Which meant it had an image of Tiberius Caesar, the reigning emperor, stamped on it. The coins also had the words ‘Long live the Son of God,’…a title reserved only for Caesars. To a good and faithful Jew, the Roman coins broke a number of commandments - no graven images comes to mind. (Notice who didn’t have one in his purse.) When they show Jesus the coin, he asks a basic, simple question that he knew they couldn’t get wrong. “Whose image is on this coin?” When they answer correctly, Jesus tells them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” It's like he just leaves it up to them to decide who gets what. Writing in the 3rd Century, Tertullian translated Jesus’ response to say, “Give to Caesar… Caesar’s image, which is on the coin and to God … God’s image, which is on mankind.” His translation was based on the idea from Genesis 1, that everything created by God bears the image of God. The one definitive, universal characteristic of every human being is that we all have God’s divine inscription etched within us. Worth more than silver or gold, this inscription gives us our worth and purpose. Like Phil Hooper wrote, “God is not interested in your coins but in your conscience, in your compassion and your complicity with the empires of this world.” We belong to God. And yet, we continue to chase after that which is Caesar’s. We strive to make gods out of coins, but struggle to allow God to be made fully manifest in us. Jesus knew that a royal coin, crown, or robe that bear Caesar’s image are merely material things; objects that thieves can steal, rust can destroy, and moths can eat. You and I do not belong to Caesar. We belong to God whose dwells within each one of us. To quote Thomas Merton, “There is that in you that no one can destroy or diminish because it belongs completely to God.” Jesus knew Caesar is finite and life taking. But God is infinite and life giving. Same is true of God’s Son. Rulers don’t want us to be like them. They want us to be in fear of them so we will serve them. God actually wants us to be the living manifestation of God’s image, like Jesus was, so others can discover the divine indwelling of love within themselves. Jesus wants us to receive and enjoy the love he offers. Love that was given to him by God, he gives to us - not because we earned it, but because he chose to love us independently of any effort on our part. (Nouwen) That God-given love we receive from him, should be the same love that flows through us to each other. “Jesus was one human person among many, just as the Church is one organization among many. But Jesus is the Christ; he is Emmanuel, “God with us,” revealing God's love to us.” Just as Jesus came to us, he sends us to go to others. Our job as his sacred body is to go out into Anamesa, that space between everything, to continue what he started: ushering in the kingdom of heaven by being and sharing God’s love in the world. This is a kingdom that runs on God’s economy, not Caesar’s. Again…Caesar wants to take from us. God wants to give, give, give to us. There is no limit to God’s generosity. “What God wants is nothing less than to come and abide in your heart Jesus did not care about the tax. His real concern was that you live in the image and likeness of God, who lovingly created you.” (Lague) The way we begin to live into the image and likeness of God is to shape and form your life to be more like Jesus, and less like Caesar. We were very intentional when we set our mission for the church. To follow Christ Jesus, which means to love God, love others, and serve both. The Herodians and Pharisees couldn’t have been any more different, same could be said about Jesus and Caesar, or you and me. Yet, we have all been minted and stamped with God’s imprint. We are all sons and daughters of God. And thus we were all made to love all…even if it means sacrificing ourselves to do so. So here’s what I hope you remember from today. Do not let Caesar’s world define you. Instead allow God’s universal love to come alive in you. Let the peace of God shape you, and allow God’s joy to embrace you and lead you to be who you were made to be: One with God. One with Christ. One with Spirit. Because you possess that sacred, indwelling divine image, you are worth what God is worth. You are precious as Christ is precious. And as powerful as the Spirit is powerful. So give Caesar his damn coins. And give God everything else. Your flesh and blood has a value that cannot be calculated by human means. Work Cited Bartlett, David, Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox) 2011. pp. 188-193. Claiborne, Shane. Jesus for President. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan) 2008. pp.116-17. Hoffacker, Charles. The Coin That God Wants. October 16, 2005. (Accessed on October 20, 2023). Hooper, Phil. Games. October 22, 2023 (Accessed on October 20, 2023). Logue, Frank S. Render Unto God What Is God’s. October 19, 2014. (Accessed on October 20, 2023) Thomas Merton quote is from a devotional by Richard Rohr, October 2017.
Until there is peace in the world, I will continue to preach it; even if it means sounding like a broken record. This is hard to do especially when I myself feel the weight of hopelessness upon my heart.
In those times I think of Jesus standing in a synagogue filled with people whose knew a thing or two about oppression and the hopeless it brings. In that sacred space, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah reminding all who were listening that hope comes from the One God sent “to bring good news to the poor, deliver the captives, give sight to the blind, and free the oppressed” (Luke 4:17-21). As war and violence continue to plague our world, the prophetic words of Isaiah still echo throughout all time and space witnessing to God’s hope and salvation for all. Read: Isaiah 25:1-9
Isaiah knows this, and writes: "Lord, you are our God; we will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago." (Isaiah 25:1).
Isaiah, who has witnessed the carnage of God’s people firsthand, chooses not to stand in fear but to lift up his heart in praise, exalting God. Isaiah knew what God had done. And he knows what God can do. (In the present situation, Isaiah looks at the past to see the future. It’s all interconnected because all life is interconnected to God.) When the overwhelming sense of hopelessness weighs on our heart, Isaiah reminds us that this is not the end. Evil and injustice does not have the final word. God does. So let us remember that our first inclination must be to see and exalt God’s glory in all things, because God has always been faithful to a fault. God was, is, and always will be the hope we can rely on, anytime and every time. I have a dear friend who lives outside of Tel Aviv. She, like so many others, has found herself in the space between bullets and bombs. She is restless, sleepless, and with each passing day of war has become a little more hopeless. A long time ago an ancient poet stood on the same bloodstain soil, and wrote: “I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2). Despite how bleak a situation might seem, what God has set in motion, continues to remain in motion. We always have hope because God always remains faithful - not just to Israel but to all of God’s creation. And what does that hope look like? The prophet describes it like this, “the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines." (Isaiah 25:6)
Scripturally, a great feast is most often used as a metaphor to describe God’s promise. And the table is symbol of reconciliation and unity among all peoples.
The promise of hope that is given to Israel is paradoxically the same hope given to the Palestinians, and to all who call upon the name of the Lord. The revelation Isaiah gives us makes it very clear that God’s vision for creation isn’t war and bloodshed, but one of abundance and unity. While giving a message on hope and inclusion, Archbishop Desmond Tutu turned to Isaiah and envisioned a dream God had for the world. He wrote, “I have a dream,” God says. “Please help Me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts, when there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, that My children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, My family.” Standing in the shadows of apartheid, Tutu reminds the world that “In God’s family, there are no outsiders.”
This is what our salvation looks like. It’s both personal and communal. For what God put in motion remains in motion.
The banquet table of Zion extends from the past through the present, and into the promised future. Which tells me hope is not something we have to wait for, it’s right here, in that space between what was and what will be. Just as God has always been involved in human history, Richard Rohr reminds us that “The one who can see the presence of God in each moment is never hopeless.” Today’s passage ends with a simple affirmation of trust and salvation. “This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). So, here’s the thing. Whatever situation you find yourself in be it terror attacks or personal attacks on your character God is there to meet you always ready to welcome and love you. I believe that wherever God’s love is present, so too is hope, peace, and salvation. And so, let love be the hope we cling to. Let love be the energy that binds us together. For Love is the power of God that redeems us back to God making all things new again. “Without love,” wrote Paul, “I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2) We are called to love God, love others, and serve both. Which means we must welcome God’s love into our heart. And spread God’s love all around in all that we do - bearing the fruit of hope and peace and unity until there is war no more. This was the way of Jesus, the Christ, the manifestation of God’s love in the flesh. Out of great love for us, Jesus gave himself for us, making himself a sacrifice with his own body and blood to bring good news to the poor and oppressed, to open the eyes of the blind and to free the captives. If you want to see what God’s love looks like, you need to look no further than Christ who is in you and in all things. Believing this to be true, the Apostle John wrote, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:7-12). In the face of the Israel-Hamas war, and every war from Gaza to Ukraine to your own inner turmoil, let us always hold on to the hope found in God's deep and abiding love. If we are true to this love, I believe we can become agents of change in this war-weary world, carrying the good news, and being the good news, of God’s eternal and glorious salvation throughout Anamesa. For what God has set in motion, remains in motion, in us and through us, now and forever. Work Cited Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A Vol 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
If any brought charges against me in a court of law, I’m sure you’d hear a quite of few of these statements being entered into the records:
“He was very giving, especially with the things he wanted.” “He was faithful, but only to himself.” “He was caring to a fault, but his fault was always being at fault.” I bring this up because today we’re going to look at two very similar passages from the Old and New Testaments. One reads like a letter written to an unfaithful lover. And the other is like a mirror that reveals the results of infidelity to the one caught cheating.
There aren’t many passages in Scripture as heartbreaking as these two which expose God’s wounded heart.
In Isaiah, God laments over creation wondering “What more could I have done.” And in Matthew God bemoans, “Surely, they will respect my son.” The takeaway in both passages seems simple: the Kingdom of God will be given only to those who bear God’s good fruit. But as we know, that’s not always as simple as it sounds. For what are the grapes Isaiah speaks of? What is the harvest the son comes to collect? Justice and righteousness. This is what God expects. How we define that is left up to us. That’s when it gets messy. You may have noticed both passages begin with a sense of hopefulness and promise. But they quickly turn into having charges brought against people for not producing these fruits. If we’re being honest, this indictment could be handed down to any one of us. I think it’s safe to say we’re pretty good at producing wild grapes. We might look good and delicious on the outside. But inside, we are sour, bitter, and good for nothing. God has expectations for creation, especially for those put in charge of its care. I just read a story about a woman who rented a guesthouse through Airbnb back in 2021. She’s been there now for nearly 550 days…and hasn’t paid a single penny of rent. I don’t know her story. Or what her intentions were when she moved in. What I do know is when we enter an agreement like renting an apartment, or ordering a meal at a restaurant, there are certain expectations put in place. Payment is usually one of them. Although God is not demanding rent, the life we have receive from God comes with certain expectations. Like Isaiah pointed out, God has cultivated a perfect garden to grow amazing and faithful fruit. What God expects from us isn’t mere faith but a bountiful harvest of faithfulness. If we’re not growing God’s righteousness and justice in us, then we’re not living into God’s expectations for this world. When we live by our own set of rules instead of God’s, we’re no longer living in sync with God’s power. And as a result, we are no longer a part of God’s providence. “Justice and righteousness are not things we practice for extra credit,” writes James Burns, “they are the main point. God is not content until the blessings we receive are shared fairly with all. If this fruit is not produced, the consequences may be that God allows us to have our own way and leaves us to our own devices.” This is what Paul describes as the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18). That is, God gives you up to your sin. You don’t have to be a religious scholar to know receiving God’s wrath is never a good thing.
As we can see from his parable, Jesus knows what humans are capable of doing when God is absent from our lives. Although Jesus doesn’t issue judgment in this story, he does execute justice.
When he asked his listeners about what the vineyard owner should do with those vicious tenants who killed the Son, the Pharisees answered, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to someone who will give him what is due.” If Jesus were to give you an opportunity to rule on your own behalf, how would you judge yourself? Would your first thought be with violence and vengeance? Or would it be righteousness and justice? Here’s the thing. What we want from God, and dare I say, what we expect from God…is exactly what God wants and expects from us. When we ask God for forgiveness, mercy and grace, God expects us to be forgiving, merciful, and gracious too. When given the chance, the chief priest and the Pharisees indict themselves. Realizing what Jesus did, they runaway in fear, plotting to kill him as a means to shut Jesus up. Again, we should not be so quick to judge their actions. We may not have killed Jesus, but we are guilty of rejecting him in many ways. How many times have we ignored the plea of someone in need, looking at their situation with harsh judgement, or worse with apathy and indifference? We hear the cries and see the bloodshed but do nothing to remedy and redeem the situation. We see this at our borders. We see this in our inner cities and schools. We see it in our churches. Let’s face it, we’ve all been negligent at heeding God’s voice just as we have neglected to care for the ones whose faith or social status or skin color isn’t like ours. We’ve all been guilty of breaking God’s heart every time we ignore the heart of one another. The worst part about all this isn’t that we’re hurting God’s feelings or condemning ourselves, but instead we’re stopping God’s love from growing in us. We’re allowing it, along with our faith, to wither and die on the vine. Now we can look at today’s passages and feel ashamed of what we have done. Or we can look at them as inspiration to awaken our hearts; an invitation to reclaim our faith and redeem ourselves with God.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…” He then tells his disciples, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:4-5, 8-10).
When we abide in Christ, we abide in God. And with God abiding love in us we are able to cultivate, nurture and grow the fruit of God’s love within us. The prophet Micah reminds us of what the Lord expects from us “but to do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously” (Micah 6:8 MSG). The Apostle James sums it up by encouraging us to, “be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:19-22). Paul was a little more profound when he wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2) According to Jesus the metrics by which our faithfulness to God is measured are found in our everyday acts of tending to the needs of the least of these our brothers and sisters (Matthew 25:31-46). I say all this, so that you will go out in the world, as sons and daughters of God; planting, and nurturing and growing God’s righteous and just love throughout Anamesa. In the space between yourself and everything else, God has prepared an amazing vineyard called life. God has chosen for you a very fertile hill. The soil has been tilled, the rocks removed, and the very best vines have been planted. God performed all this careful attention with one hope, that you and I will tend to this land and produce the most excellent grapes. God gives us the freedom to cultivate and nurture this greatness. But if we ignore what God expects, replacing God’s vines with violence, then we will only produce more violence. The same is true when we plant racism, ignorance, and division. When we cultivate God’s love, we grow and reap more of the same. Righteousness begets more righteousness. Justice begets justice. And so, if we plant Christ within us, then what will grow in us but the very fruits of God’s glory. Work Cited Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word Year A Vol 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
For only having three letters, it is a really big word. It’s the one emotion that drives us to work harder, encourages us to love better, and motivates us to look beyond ourselves. Because there are just as many ways to find joy as there are ways to lose it, how we understand it and embrace it is critical to our spiritual growth and transformation. No one knew this better than Paul, in whose letter to the church in Philippi we get this perspective from Philippians 2:1-11
It's a bit ironic that of all the books of the Bible, the most joyful among are the “prison epistles.” Most of them are letters written by Paul while imprisoned in Rome - including this one written to the Philippians.
Now, I have watched enough episodes of Orange Is the New Black to know how difficult it is to find joy behind bars. Yet, while facing death, Paul is able to rejoice because he knows he is connected and united with God and the good people of Philippi. Philippi is a wealthy and influential Roman territory. The folks there are considered Roman citizens, and they enjoy all that comes with this privilege. For example, they don’t pay taxes! And for some reason, they are lacking in joy which causes Paul to send them a letter of encouragement. He writes, if you have learned anything by following Christ, if his love has made a difference in your life then change your mindset, and live accordingly to his way and you will have a reason to rejoice. Everything with Paul hinges on his interconnectedness with Christ. I think the vast majority of Christ followers hold to this truth that through our faith we are united to Jesus. Because of that connection, we also believe we are united with his love, his hope, his salvation, and Spirit. If that is true, then would not the same notion apply to his joy? Whatever prison cell of despair we find ourselves in, be it real or metaphorical, we have a reason to rejoice like Paul. We have a reason to rejoice always because we have the fullness of Christ dwelling within us. Yet, knowing this…I still felt completely joyless after dropping my daughter off at college. I spent roughly 800 miles trying to figure out why. Part of this void was merely the sadness of letting go of someone I loved. The emptiness of the passenger seat was my constant reminder of that. But as I drove on, I remembered sadness is not the opposite of joy. It is the opposite of happiness. I think we often confuse joy with happiness. According to Charles Schultz, the beloved creator of Peanuts, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” In all the different translations of this passage, Paul never describes joy as something that chews up your favorite pair of shoes. Or digs holes in your backyard. Joy is more than happiness, just as happiness is more than pleasure. Pleasure is in the body. Happiness is in the mind. But joy is deep within our soul, in the very essence of our being. It always makes me happy to hear my kids laughing together … or whenever I get to enjoy a delicious curry. But eventually the meal comes to an end. And my kids find something to argue over. Joy isn’t rooted in fleeting happiness. It’s rooted in Christ Jesus. God’s greatest joy made manifest for us. If Easter taught us anything it’s that nothing can kill God’s joy. It is eternal. And the resurrected Christ is our proof. Our external circumstances come and go, so Paul encourages us to look within ourselves where we are eternally united to Christ. By this faithful unity to him, we are also united with each other through him. If our faith is tied to God, then we must have faith in one another as well. Joy is not only personal, it’s also relational. The Spirit of Christ’s joy empowers us to love one another like he loves us, to forgive each other like he forgave showing the same humility, compassion, and sympathy for others like he did. In other letter’s Paul calls this being in imitation of Christ. Allowing the divine manifestation of God’s glory move through us towards others. I like how Eugene Peterson translated Paul’s words in The Message. He wrote, “Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourself the way Christ Jesus thought of himself” (Phil. 2:4-5 MSG). In the gospel according to John, Jesus said, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commandments and remain in his love. I tell you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:10-11). As followers of Christ, we must remain both faithful and obedient to our call to love God, love others, and serve both. This was Jesus’ mission. And it is ours as well. So we can rejoice always – in good times as well as bad times – knowing that whenever we seek justice, promote peace, walk humbly with God and others, God rejoices with us and through us. By living in the likeness of Christ, we become something greater than the problems we are facing. We become the face of hope, the heart of love, and the hands of generosity. We become the true Spirit of God’s grace bringing tenderness, compassion, and sympathy to others in the world. By being like Christ, God’s greatest joy, we too can become the physical manifestation of God’s glory in every space we enter. Therefore, let us enter Anamesa rejoicing, knowing we are all one body - sharing one heart and one mind with Christ and with each other. Works Cited Driscoll, Mark. Preach it, Teach it. Nov. 4, 2007. (accessed April 6, 2016). Holladay, Tom. Philippians: The Eight Places Joy Is Won or Lost. El Toro: Saddleback Church, 2014. |
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