God in Pursuit of Us

Luke 15 is probably my favorite parabolic passage.  I’ll be honest.  I’m a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to appreciating the parables of Jesus.  You know, those “earthly stories with a heavenly meaning”.  I’ve always been drawn to the doctrine of the epistles or the compassion of Jesus and His redemptive acts in the Gospels.  I love the prophets of the OT.  But those stories of Jesus?  It’s taken me awhile to really appreciate them.  But I have long been drawn to this passage.  Who could not be?  Three parables in one really.  Three stories teaching the same theme.  And the thunderous message that comes from them is that God is relentless in searching for what is lost.

Jesus’s first story is that of a shepherd.  He has 100 sheep and discovers that one is lost.  He leaves the 99 and searches for the lost one.  The second story is of a woman who has 10 silver pieces and discovers one is lost.  She searches every corner of her house until it is found.  The last story is of a Father who has two sons.  One rebels, leaves and spoils his life.  The Father waits and hopes for his son to return. 

That last story is the more famous of the three, and the one that seems to throw a monkey wrench into everything.  In the previous two, the shepherd and the woman are both active in finding what is lost.  But here, the father seems a bit passive.  I said he “seems” passive.  But it only seems so to 21^st century readers…people immersed in Amber Alerts, FBI Missing Persons Bureau, bounty hunters, credit card searches, cell phone pings, GPS, Facebook and social media.  But even then, if we’ll just pause a moment, we would realize a parent cannot force a rebellious child back home.  There is wisdom in waiting until the rebel is ready to receive reconciliation.  But that notwithstanding, in reading the passage in its 1^st century context, you will notice the father was anything BUT passive. 

But when he [the prodigal son] was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him [Luke 15:20 KJV].

This is truly the story of the Bible.  Our God is pursuing us.  His love is relentless.  It is hesed—to use the Hebrew word.  Faithful, steadfast, enduring love.  The love God spoke of in Isaiah 54:10,  “Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate LORD” (HCSB). 

Bible scholar John Oswalt remarks on such a loving, pursuing God.

The word hesed…[is] the descriptor par excellence of God in the Old Testament. The word speaks of a completely undeserved kindness and generosity done by a person who is in a position of power. This was the Israelites’ experience of God. He revealed himself to them when they were not looking for him, and he kept his covenant with them long after their persistent breaking of it had destroyed any reason for his continued keeping of it. …Unlike humans, this deity was not fickle, undependable, self-serving, and grasping. Instead he was faithful, true, upright, and generous—always.                                                                           

The Bible Among the Myths (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 71.

The Scottish bard, Thomas Carlyle is supposed to have said “God sit in Heaven and does nothing.”  But he doesn’t reflect most of humanity’s assessment.  Christians and non-believers alike have a sense of God’s tenacious love…and His unrelenting pursuit of us as objects of His love.  It is central to Christian doctrine:  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus]; that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  Long before we ever even thought about asking God for help with our alienated relationship, the Father launched a plan of love to send His Son.  So there we were.  Drowning in a quagmire of sin, when Jesus left His throne, laid aside His glory and searched for us—dead to God and all things holy—until He found us.

 

And this pursuing love is central to human experience.  For every bitter, jaded poet there are dozens of others who sense the presence of God in their lives and realites.  Robert Frost, the true bard of Scotland, would urge:

      Tend flowers that God has given
       And keep the pathway open
      That leads you on to heaven.”

But it is probably Francis Thompson’s late 19^th century poem, The Hound of Heaven, that is remembered for capturing the thought of God’s relentless search of wayward people.

       From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
       But with unhurrying chase,
      And unperturbed pace,
      Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
      They beat—and a Voice beat
      More instant than the Feet—
      “All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.”

God pursues us.  He loves you.  Will you not stop your running and let His love capture you?

 

 

A Belated Labor Day Meditation and the Parable of the Two Sons Part 2

It’s interesting that there is still another aspect of Jesus parable in Matthew 21:28-32. While the parable is about salvation (read this earlier post) and about who ultimately has changed their thoughts and their ways about honoring the Father, you still cannot help but get an understanding that Jesus wants children of the Father working.

In the parables, not everything Jesus talks about has a meaning. Some might wonder what the ‘vineyard’ is, and I can even imagine some former tea-totaling modern Baptists grasping even here for a Bible passage that smiles upon their sinful use of alcohol (would you believe I know a Baptist deacon raising a vineyard for wine production? Okay, way off point I know…maybe I’ll opine at another time). The vineyard has no secret meaning in the parable—it’s just the context in which Jesus tells His story.

But there is a side-point to this parable—that God’s children are actively involved in God’s work. It’s timely because we Americans just celebrated Labor Day. God’s children need to labor. Remember the old hymn:

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Or how about the really old hymn (from my grandparents generation):

O land of rest, for thee I sigh! When will the moment come
When I shall lay my armor by And dwell in peace at home?
We’ll work till Jesus comes, We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes, And we’ll be gathered home.

The first thought is that there is work to do and the second thought is that this work is God’s work. We modern Christians are busy, feverishly active in doing things, so few need help embrace the first thought. To be sure, there are a few lazy, slothful, passive Christians who are doing nothing while waiting for the trumpet blast to call us home. If you find yourself in that group, give some thought to this point.

But most need help embracing that the work we are doing must be God’s work. The question of our age is: is what we are engaged in the King’s business (or to use the imagery of our parable—the Father’s business)?

James Montgomery Boice puts it this way:

“That is an especially important word to our generation, for many today are working—it is an age of work, an age of sometimes feverish activity—but most of what is done is not for God. It is work in our vineyards, for our profit, the end being our ease and glory. I am convinced that in any normal gathering of contemporary Christians the majority have never done any consistent work for God and are unlikely to do so unless their present understanding of discipleship or their present life-style changes. They do not serve in church offices. They do not teach Bible classes. They do not witness. They do not bring friends or neighbors to church. If the truth be told, they do not even pray or read their Bibles much. Yet they suppose all is well with them and that God is somehow pleased with their nonperformance. They would say that they have no time for those things, being so busy elsewhere.”

Could it be that you are so exhausted doing your own work, you have no time to work for the Father?

Jesus and His Parable of Two Sons

Matthew 21:28-32

28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to Him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.

Is simply “saying” that you are loyal to God enough? Is professing some kind of attachment to God and His kingdom sufficient for holy living? The obvious answer to those who have some understanding of the Bible’s teaching is NO. We need more than talk. We need actions. Allegiance to God is more than about what you say. It’s about what you do. Jesus talks of that many times and he teaches that truth in this parable.

You’ve probably heard about the wife who complained to her husband he wasn’t showing her very much love and affection. He defensively responded that he remembered telling her that he loved her. She responded that in twenty five years of marriage he had only told her one time that he loved her—and that was at the wedding ceremony itself. He responded, “Honey, I told you then I loved you and if it ever changes, I’ll let you know.” He thought words were enough. She needed actions.

Neither of these two sons in Jesus’ parable gave an appropriate response. The first son gave a defiant response: “I will not go!” That’s hardly any way to talk to anyone with whom you have a relationship let alone one’s own father. The key to this son, though, is that later, he repented of his sharp tone and disloyal spirit and he went and did what the father asked.

The second son gave a deceptive response. He said what he thought his father wanted to hear. He gave the words of obedience, but he did not go and do what his father asked.

The essential truth of this parable is that folks who associate with Jesus and profess their devotion to him can be traitors (doing is more important than saying). We don’t hear much of that word any more. It’s also relegated to classic literature and action movies. “Traitors” aka: Benedict Arnolds, spies, haters, infiltrators, dirty scumbags, betrayers, double-crossers, renegades, mutineers, insurgents, deviants, defectors, two-timers, turncoats, and dissidents. Benedict Arnold, Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, Alger Hiss, Aldrich Ames…all synonymous with traitors. People who said one thing, but did another.

The focus of Jesus is on the second son. It was an obvious connection to the religious leaders who were seeking to entrap him. They were the ones who had pledged loyalty and affection to God, but they didn’t show it. They ignored John’s preaching and stubbornly held to only an appearance of righteousness. Open sinners, on the other hand, repented. While they at first lived lives in hostility to God and His claim on their lives, they repented and changed.

Maybe you’re like that child. Defiant, selfish, preoccupied and dishonoring of God. Maybe, you, like this son in Jesus’ story, don’t care at all about what the Father wants. But maybe you are realizing there is more to life than your schedule. Do you know God created you for His purpose, not your own? Do you realize there is forgiveness in Jesus? The good news of the Bible is that you can change. Today! With the power of Jesus, you can start serving God and honoring Him!

Maybe you feel more like the second son. You’ve always given the right answers, but you know that deep in your heart you resent it. You ignore God every chance you get. You do whatever it takes to look good on the outside to please some people in your life, but you don’t love God and you don’t do what He says to do. Could it be that you’re not really His? In an early chapter of Matthew Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord’, ‘Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father in heaven.” Doing God’s will is the best way we can know we love Him. It’s not a perfect test, because some people do the right things but for a wrong reason. Even they can be traitors to God. But it at least starts there. Are you sure you truly love God?