Category Archives: Bible

My Philadelphia Story

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Jesus’ parable on the farmer and the seed in Mark 4 evoked my own story about finding good soil and the mystery of growing seeds of faith.

Between my sophomore and junior year in college, I had a summer internship at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Havertown, an older suburb of Philadelphia, PA.  My mentor and friend, Stan Wood, was a pastor there and he asked me to work the summer with the junior high youth. I had spent my previous summers as a counselor at Lutheran Bible Camps in Washington State.

During that hot and humid summer, I missed the outdoors of Washington, but tried my best to relate to the youth of Bethany. Unlike Bible Camp, where I had different youth every week, we saw the same youth each Sunday for Bible Study and for special events. I tried my best to spread the seed of God’s Word. It didn’t seem to work. I kept missing the mark. I was the outsider, the stranger, and nothing seemed to work.

When that summer was over, I was glad to get back to college, and though Stan asked me to return to Bethany the next summer, I declined I decided my place was back in the good soil of Washington State. Philadelphia seemed a bit too rocky from my perspective.

Six years later, I was back in Pennsylvania, visiting my wife’s sister, Elizabeth, at her college in Suburban Philadelphia, not far from Bethany Presbyterian. As I was walking through her dorm, I heard a voice call my name, “John Keller, is that you?” I turned to see a tall young man who looked vaguely familiar. He introduced himself and said, “I am a member of Bethany Presbyterian and I remember when you were a summer intern.” I then recognized him though he had grown at least a foot. He went on to say, “You know, that summer really made a difference in my faith. I remember that you and the other interns expressed your relationship with Jesus as something real and vital. That stuck with me. I just want to thank you.” I thanked him and we parted.

I never forgot his expression of thanks. What I had determined to be a complete failure, turned out to bear fruit. Good soil can be found almost anywhere by the power of God.

Lord Jesus, continue to cast your Word into the good soil.

New Wineskins

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C. S. Lewis wrote an excellent book on literary criticism, An Experiment in Criticism, that is applicable to how one reads scripture. Lewis argues that a critic should not take preconceived opinions into the reading of a book, but remain open to receive what the writer brings. Our culture too quickly labels a book as good or bad and that judgment is often based on some arbitrary taste. Lewis argues that a book would be better judged by what kind of response it elicits from the reader. Does the reader cherish the book and want to read it over and over, reflecting on its meaning, prose and insights?

An open stance towards the reading of scripture is even more important. We need to allow our mind to hear the text. We cannot simply make our own quick evaluation of it nor rely on the comments of a biblical commentary. We need to read Luke as Luke and distinguish it from the perspective of Matthew, Mark and John. We need to keep our own evaluation process out of the reading and allow the text to speak to us, on its own terms. In other words, let the text shape and critique me and not the other way around.

This can be challenging since so much of my reading of scripture has been shaped by what others may have taught or preached. I bring my biases and cultural norms that are hard to place aside so that the text can speak. I struggle to be quiet and receptive to what God may say through the Word. Yet as I open myself, trusting the Holy Spirit to work through the text, I discover the life giving Word.

It sort of like Jesus’ teaching that one put new wine into new wineskins, so that as the wine ferments and expands, the wineskin has the flexibility to expand and adapt (Mark 2:22). Old wineskins lack the flexibility to expand and instead burst.  My openness to God’s Spirit allows the wine of the Spirit to expand and shape my wineskin of thought and action. I want to be a new wineskin, receptive to the transforming power of God’s Word. And I pray that my congregation and national church would be new wineskins as well.

How do you stay open and receptive to God’s Word?

Lord Jesus, fill me again with your new wine.

Authority to Forgive

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Though most of us spent decades in classrooms, rarely do we remember a specific class. Each hour of instruction tends to blend with the others to build a cumulative base of knowledge. Occasionally one hour of instruction will stand out among all the others. One such hour for me was my first year at Luther Seminary in 1977. The class was being taught by Dr. Warren Quanbeck, a renown Lutheran theologian.

One monring he was leading us through a story in the Gospel of Mark, the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-13). He pointed out the controversy surrounding Jesus’ announcement that the man’s sins were forgiven. The religious scribes thought it was blasphemy for Jesus to claim such authority. Then Dr. Quanbeck asked a question that rocked my understanding of Jesus and forgiveness.

“If Jesus died in order to forgive us our sin, how could he forgive the sins of the man prior to his crucifixion?”

Like many Christians, I had grown up with a rather simplistic idea that Jesus “paid” the penalty for my sins by being a sacrifice to the righteousness of God. Often this line of reasoning turns God into a “mean vindictive judge” who demands the death of his only son. Dr.Quanbeck challenged that understanding by pointing out that Jesus was forgiving sin prior to his death just as God had been doing in the Old Testament. God’s business is forgiveness.

What put Jesus on the cross was the human inability to accept such gracious mercy and love. Throughout the Gospel of Mark we witness this tension with the religious official over Jesus’ authority. Ultimately they crucify Jesus precisely because he claimed the divine power to forgive sins. It was humanity’s ultimate rejection of God’s grace. But God would not be denied. To demonstrate Jesus’ authority, God raised him from the dead and turn the crucifixion into the very path to eternal life.

Dr. Quanbeck died less than two years after that class. But his instruction guided me into a deeper understanding of God’s grace and mercy. Thanks be to God.

Do you remember a class, teacher, or moment that rocked your understanding of God?

Lord Jesus, thank you for being so gracious towards me.

Go Home

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What path are you following?

When I read the Gospel of Mark, I am struck by how quickly certain people left everything to follow Jesus. Peter, Andrew, James and John immediately left their fishing nets to follow Jesus (Mark 1:18). Levi left his tax booth and followed him (Mark 2:14). I think to myself, “I could never make such a radical, instantaneous decision like them.” The text helps me examine the depth of my conviction to follow Jesus.

Today I was reading the story of the paralytic in Mark 2. Four friends stopped at nothing to place the paralytic in the sight of Jesus. Their plan was that he would be healed. But Jesus’ home was so filled that they could not enter. They still made a way. Jesus then made the controversial move of saying, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The religious hierarchy had a fit because they did think Jesus had the authority to forgive sins. Jesus could see their skeptical thoughts so he said something even more troublesome, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk?’”

That is a question that continues to challenge all who read it. Which would you say is easier to say?

Jesus continued, “I will now demonstrate that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He turned to the paralytic, “Stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” Those last words caught my attention. I expected Jesus to say, “And follow me.” After all, here is an ideal candidate to follow Jesus. The healed paralytic could bear witness to what Jesus had done for him. He could be living proof of Jesus authority and healing power.

But Jesus sent him home.

I don’t know why Jesus would call fisherman and tax collectors to follow him, and not the healed paralytic. (It could have something to do with whether miraculous healing was to be the primary focus of his ministry.)  Still, there are at least two lessons that we need to hear.

First, our sins are forgiven. Our broken relationship with God is restored by Jesus’ authority.

Second, we need to listen carefully as to where and how we serve. Not all of us are called to serve Jesus in the same way, to walk the same path. Yet I think we all are called to listen to his voice, a voice that speaks forgiveness and direction.

Lord Jesus, open my heart, mind and will to hear your promise and command.

Christmas Light

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Christmas Eve may not be cute, but it certainly can be magical. One of my deepest memories of Christmas Eve was driving to candlelight worship while listening to the Apollo 8 astronauts, who were circling the moon, read from the first chapter of Genesis: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  I remember looking up an the moon and thinking of the light of God coming for us.  The mystery and wonder of that night changed how I look at the world.

And God said,” Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good: and God separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-4)

This evening at Resurrection Lutheran Church we had candle light at worship as we sang “Silent Night, Holy Night.” And once again in the golden glow of awed faces, the Christ child was born into our lives. He brings the magic of hope, the promise that he will rescue us from sin, Satan and death. Thanks be to God.

Lord Jesus, be the light of my life once again.

Christmas Cute?

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“It is indeed annoying to our nature to see God Himself take on this poor, feeble, and corrupt human nature, and disdain the holy, glorious, angelic nature.” – Martin Luther

Sometime we push the cute button of Christmas. We think it’s cute that God would want to become a human baby like us. And since babies are always so cute, then the idea that God became a baby must be cute. We paint Christmas in a wondrous glow of beauty.

We forget that God was already beyond any description of cute, beautiful or wondrous. God chose to sink down into our corrupt nature and experience the wretched brokenness of our human nature. We might like to think that we climb up the moral ladder of human achievement to meet our God. Nothing is further from the truth. God came all the way down the cosmic ladder to meet us in our poverty and desperate need, in the darkness of night.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Jesus birth is more than cute. It shatters the heavens and bridges the gap between God and humanity. Prepared to be awed by God’s dramatic entrance into the story of our rescue.

Lord Jesus, come.

Christmas Is Natural

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During the season of Advent, I have been using Luther Seminary’s God Pause devotional. This morning Dr. Fred Gaiser reflected on Psalm 98, a favorite of mine, to help us see how the whole creation participates in Christmas.

O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm have gained him victory.
The Lord has made known his victory;
He has remembered his steadfast love
and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy at the presence of the Lord,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

Dr. Gaiser wrote,

Advent means coming. God is coming to judge the earth, sings the psalmist. But will we survive this? Will we like it? The creation seems to—the floods clap, the sea roars and the hills sing because they know something we might not: that God’s judgment is always just, that this Judge is always good. But we humans are not as innocent as the creation.

Can we sing as quickly as the creatures? There is evil around us and within us that needs to be cleansed, removed, cut out. God knows this to be true—so do the hills and so do we. But even as we fear God’s coming, we look forward to it because it will make us new. Come, God. Come, Lord Jesus. Make all things new—me too.

All I can write is AMEN!  As the Christmas carol Joy to the World declares, “Let heaven and nature sing!”

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Make your world shine as on the day of creation’s dawn. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

From the Old to the New

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After four months of studying and preaching on the Old Testament story, I confess I am ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth and to refocus on Jesus’ story of  life, death and resurrection.  Though I greatly appreciate the marvelous stories and themes of the Old Testament, I remain a devoted Christian who reads the Bible with Jesus-tinted glasses.  I strongly believe that Christians need to have a basic understanding of the Old Testament story to fully understand who Jesus is.  The God of the Old Testament is the God of Jesus.

Yet Jesus reinterprets some of the Old Testament teachings in a radical new way.  For example: the Old Testament has many stories of violence and ethnic warfare.   From Moses attack on the Midianites in Numbers 31 to Elijah’s slaughter of the 450  priests of Baal in I Kings 18, violence is often condoned by the Old Testament.

But in Matthew 5, Jesus reinterprets the whole “love your neighbor” to include my enemies.  Here is how Eugene Peterson interprets Jesus’ words,

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’  I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer,  for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best – the sun to warm and the rain to nourish – to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.  If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that.  If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.  (Matt 5:43-47, the Message)

Jesus’ words certainly make more sense to me, but they are so a greater challenge by which to trust, live, and serve.  I recognize my need for a saviour, a deliverer, one who can transform my heart, mind and life.  I am sure glad God sent one 2000 years ago.

Lord Jesus, save us from ourselves.

Looking Backward and Forward

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The last verses of the Old Testament have both a backward and forward orientation. Malachi instructs the reader to Remember the past and to Anticipate the future.

Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. (Malachi 4:4)

Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents. (Malachi 4:5-6)

Malachi reminds us that God has worked in Israel’s past. Look back and remember how God worked at Mt. Horeb (Sinai). It calls us to remember how God has worked in our own past, to instruct and teach us.

I remember making a pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Port Angeles, Washington, to remember the place where I first learned the Bible stories, acted in Christmas plays and sang the familiar carols. Christmas has so many specific memories for many of us. It can be simple nostalgia, but it can also become a deep spring of joy, light and love that calls us back to our spiritual roots. Where and when do you remember hearing the story of God’s statutes?

Yet Malachi also pushes into the future, that God is not simply an ancient figure of distant history, but a God who will act in our future. The prophet Malachi recycles the ancient prophet, Elijah, to describe the messenger who is coming. (Elijah had not “died” but was taken up into heaven on a chariot of fire, 2 Kings 2:11). The future return of Elijah will cause our hearts to turn to one another, to bring peace and harmony to God’s family. And God’s family is much larger than our own households; Jesus redefines family in the New Testament.

Looking at those who sat around him, Jesus said, “Here are my mother and brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister and mother.”

Further, Jesus, the Son of God, turns the hearts of God’s children to their heavenly Papa. The future is so much brighter than our present reality. To what do you look forward in God’s glorious kingdom?

As we read scripture, we need to be mindful of how the past, the present and the future all intertwine.

Lord Jesus, be thou my vision, backwards and forwards.

See, the Day is Coming

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Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible yet it points beyond itself.  It is not the final chapter in God’s dealing with Israel, but rather points to something yet to come.

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. (Malachi 4:1-2)

Malachi assumes two things.  First, the future day of God’s judgment has not come yet.  God is not finished with God’s creation.  The second assumption is that you and I, the readers of this text, will receive mercy and healing, not burning judgment.  There is hope for you in this world.

As Charles Welsey wrote in  the third stanza of the Christmas carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, quoting Malachi 4:2.

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and Life to all he brings,
ris’n with healing in his wings.

God’s day will come with Jesus Christ.  He is the true climax to the story of the Old Testament as well as our human story. Are you ready to leap?

Lord Jesus, come quickly so I can leap with joy and justice.