The View from the West Mesa

This week’s theme is preparing the way for the king.  The text in Isaiah 40 speaks to preparing a highway in the wilderness by filling in valleys and tearing down mountains, all to make a broad, level road for the king. Our anticipation and confident hope are expressed during our waiting by preparation; by our getting ready for his coming.  We’ve all anticipated some event, whether it was hosting a large or special dinner, having a baby, graduating from school, or any number of other special times.. As we anticipated—in fact prompted by that anticipation, we took special care to get everything prepared, everything just right. And so with this second week of Advent we consider preparing for the coming of Messiah. There are a number of parables that speak to making ready. One of the most famous is the ten virgins and their oil lamps. Five of them had made proper arrangements ahead of time, but the second five had not, and they missed the coming of the bride groom. What...

The season of Advent is one of both anticipation and preparation. The anticipation is the aspect we associate with joyous celebration. Israel had a history of being oppressed by other countries and now she was under the thumb of the most powerful country in the world. Israel wanted, hoped for, release from her oppressor - and some of her own people who cooperated with  the occupiers. Israel yearned for and anticipated the day that her salvation would come; the day her God would rescue her from her torment. So Advent recalls  Israel’s anticipation of her deliverance, and through Israel, the world’s reception of her Creator. Israel’s history though, also provided the reason she was being oppressed—she was guilty of not having sufficient faith in her God; of not following him, and not embodying his character. So, Advent  includes not only anticipation of salvation, but also a realization of why she and we needed rescuing. Advent includes self reflection, or examining...

Three times in Matthew Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to Jerusalem, where he will be killed. The first, in chapter 16 is where we read of Peter's objection and Jesus' response of "get behind me Satan." The second comes in chapter 17. In this instance, the disciples, we are told, are distressed but we have none of the bravado in the earlier event. Finally, in chapter 20, we find the third declaration but absolutely no response from the disciples. Matthew places this third declaration between the parable of the early and late workers in the first part of the chapter, and the story of who will be on Jesus' right and left hands in the kingdom. A story of the generosity of God on one side, and a power grab on the other, book-ending if you will, Jesus' final declaration of his going to die at the hands of the powerful in Jerusalem. Jesus' response to the power grab is a reminder that the kingdom of God has set up leadership and priorities d...

“Go and tell John what you hear and see.” John has sent his disciples to find out if Jesus is Messiah, the one Israel has been awaiting. You see, John’s in prison and his world doesn’t seem to be working for him lately. He’s been out in the wilderness eating honey and bugs, preaching and arguing with self-righteous Jews, and pretty much getting his legs and feet water logged. More recently though, he’s been arrested and is sitting in Herod’s prison, and he won’t get out alive. Maybe he knows that, maybe he doesn’t. I suspect though, that he’d exchange the cell for water logged feet without much coercion.  Jesus doesn’t answer John’s disciples directly. Instead, he talks around the answer, expecting them to draw their own conclusion based on what has been going on. These signs, he says, that I’ve been doing – healing folks, restoring sight, raising the dead – what do they tell you?  Keep in mind that John is Jesus’ cousin, that John baptized him and presumabl...

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. This short sentence appears twice in Matthew, once in chapter 9 and again in chapter 12. In the first instance the form is “Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” and appears at the end of an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees who were complaining (read: judging) about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. Our phrase is this instance comes between two statements about those considered Less-Than: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…For I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners.” It is the mercy of God that moves him to go to those who are on the outside of proper society, to people who were routinely ostracized by the righteous ones. Jesus isn’t interested in the right sacrifices done at the Temple by people whose hearts avoid considering those on whom they look in disgust. If the Pharisees considered themselves as OK with God, why would the merciful God come t...

The leper comes to Jesus having heard of his ministry, of his having healed various people apparently without reserve. Based on what he has heard or perhaps seen, the leper approaches Jesus and kneels in front of him. His words are “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Jesus’ response is a simple and straight forward: He stretched out his hand and said “I will; be clean.” The force in these two verses is greater than “if you want to you can make me clean.” In this version, it seems as though maybe this is just a whim of Jesus’ taken on the spur of the moment. Much like you or I might pull into Dairy Queen having noticed it on our way somewhere else. Or perhaps in response to a question something like, “would you like ketchup on your hamburger?” This is no spur of the moment question or response. The force of this word here is closer to “this is what I have come to do; I will it.” Jesus willed this leper’s healing because this is what he had come to do. If we can ...

Perhaps the most famous teaching of Jesus is the Sermon on the Mount, with its Beatitudes and warning against judging. Spanning three chapters early in the Gospel, Jesus’ teaching challenges then-standard understandings of how life is supposed to work. This section includes the Lord’s Prayer, loving enemies, the Golden Rule, and the basis of the children’s song “The Wise Man Builds His House Upon the Rock.” Take a moment and read chapters 5-7, and notice what is not in this discourse. Among discussions of humility, anger, sexual purity and personal integrity, prayer, fasting, security, and following Jesus, there is no mention of things “church” – except in 5.23-24. Jesus’ interest in this section is teaching about character in the midst of real life and he challenges the popular (then and now) notion that the right way to live is to look out for Number One. Jesus clearly teaches that looking out for Number One is antithetical to life in the kingdom. The culmination of the Ser...

The gospel invitation occurs, or is alluded to several times in Matthew. One of the most complete is found in his 11 th chapter, verses 28-30, which reads: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV) I refer to this as one of the most complete invitations to salvation because it provides a more comprehensive teaching. In doing so, it leads us toward the concept that we are saved today, for transformation and changed lives. Both Jesus and John the Baptist preach messages that point to the immediacy of the kingdom of God, and the necessity of repentance in light of the coming kingdom. Salvation isn’t simply, or even predominantly a legal exchange occurring once and which is forever set. No, salvation is a change of life that must find its expression in our lives. “Come to m...

So it's Easter Monday.  After the emotional ups and downs of the past three days, we could be pretty spent today. The last three days have brought shock, fear, depression, dejection, and finally exhileration and well, some doubt that all of this could be true. Ups and downs, for sure. But today, all that is past. What do we do now? Now that Easter has passed, so what? If we are really Easter people, Monday brings the realization that we aren't dead, and that there is work to be done. Much has not changed; we are going to work or school; maybe we're going to look for work or care for kids. In any case, today is going to look much the same as last Monday. As far as our outward daily routine goes, much has not changed. And there's the rub. The world seems to go on just as it did. Eventually, we know that the exhileration and expansion of Spring will give way to the hot, dry staleness of Summer. What is there to keep that from happening? From outward f...

The women have returned. They had gone to the tomb, and have returned wide-eyed, breathless, and spitting out that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive!  Could this be? We're all exhausted and we have all seen some odd stuff that isn't there because of a couple days with little or no sleep. Did they go to the right tomb in the dark? Was the gardener really Jesus, or is this simply wishful thinking? If it was Jesus, why didn't they recognize him right off? With heads and eyes tired, their hearts now jump in their chests, their eyes become brighter, and they take a deep breath or two; they sit up straighter, trying to grasp the implications of what they're saying. And then they too go to the tomb - sprinting! Maybe more to verify that the women had actually been to the right place, and guardedly but hopefully excited as they remember some vague promise that he wouldn't be dead long. The tomb is there alright and that rock is out of place. It might be too...

Today the disciples woke - or came into the day after being awake all night with the stunning realization that their Messiah was dead. As the shock of yesterday's mob violence becomes less than full-view dominating, and the feelings turn to realizing they are alone, the haze of shock becomes the chest-crushing pain of fear. They stay in their houses or where they had retreated after his death. Not wanting to face the expected jeers of non-believers, and yet afraid of meeting each others' eyes. It is Passover week, the remembrance of being delivered from oppression for all of Israel but these cannot participate; they have been shamed. Perhaps then, it's good that today is the Sabbath; a perfect excuse to stay in, away from the glances that prompt their self-conscious guilt. On this side of Easter, we wait expectantly. On their side, they sit in quiet panic, dejection, and a sad wondering what had happened. Ours is much easier and yet we can perhaps imagine thei...