Gospeling Your Life ~ Jesus out of the box

 

Read Luke 7-9.  Chapter 7 is complex and convoluted and causes conflict in my soul.  First, the whole premise of the centurion (who is part of the Roman military industrial complex machine) having a slave who needs healing sets my teeth on edge and makes my soul queasy with too many emotions.  And even more flummoxing and frustrating is that the centurion (this outsider) is said to have more faith than those in Israel, which feels like we are rating and ranking faith.  And this would have been offensive to any Jewish person and can still be offensive for us inside the church.  At this point my mind is twisting and turning like Simeon Biles doing her gravity-defying summersaults.  Then, Jesus goes and heals the widow’s son, which seems a bit more in line with the ways I like to define (or should I say, confine?) Jesus.  Like John’s disciples, I come to Jesus asking, “Who are you?”  I have questions about Jesus, who I seek to apprentice under.   Why can’t there be an employee manual for being a Christian that is clear, concise and to the point?  (Steve Cuss likes to say that we are not God’s employees, we are God’s beloved.  Just like I didn’t give my kids a manual for being part of the family, neither does God).  Chapter 7 wraps up and winds down with a woman being forgiven for her past while the Pharisee (one who polishes his halo every day) misses the point ~ which is sort of where I feel I am at when I read this chapter.  I am not convinced I understand what Jesus is teaching and telling.  Perhaps it is to receive the person in front of me ~ whether I fully agree with them, whether my heart breaks for them, whether they are questioning and confronting me, whether they have a past that has some baggage ~ to see and receive the person as beloved.  This is a practice that I will never get “right”, because featherless bipeds (that is humans) are wonderfully creative at causing all kinds of frustration to each other.  I don’t know if squirrels gossip.  I don’t know if trees hide knives in their words with the sugary sweetness of a pecan pie and end by saying, “bless his heart”.  I don’t know if creation causes the amount of emotional and spiritual pain that humans cause each other.  The truth creation tells us that there are predators and prey in the wilderness.  Life is complex and scripture doesn’t frost over the burnt cakes of life saying, “It’s all going be alright”.  When you read these chapters, what is provoked or evoked for you?  What stirs and swirls?  What parts feel like sandpaper to your soul?  Continue to notice and name what stirs to your faith, what stretches your faith (perhaps in directions you don’t want to go), and what is downright offensive to your faith.  May your insights and questions continue to bless you as you seek with Luke to live your faith in service to others amid the mountains and storms of life.  Amen.