sign

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed something greater than Solomon is here! (Matthew 12:38-42, NRSVue)

Give us a sign so we will believe what you say.

Why do we need a sign or a way to prove what we are told?

Yes, we should test things and wonder, but had not Jesus done enough at this point to show that God was working in and through him? How much do we really need?

May the faith that Jesus gave us be enough for us to believe in the absence of empirical proof of all the promises of God.

Belief is in the hoped-for, not in the seen.

Where?

“Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the peoples whom God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David, who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands; as the prophet says,
‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
Did not my hand make all these things?’
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.” (Acts 7:44-53, NRSVue)

Where does God dwell?

In the tent of testimony?

In the temple built by Solomon?

In our sanctuaries?

God dwells where God chooses to be, and that is everywhere.

There is no where God is not and no one place that God only is.

God is now here and everywhere.

arrogant

I am not writing this to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. (1 Corinthians 4:14-20, NRSVue)

Paul here writes to Corinth and calls them out. Some think that because Paul is not coming back, they can manipulate and use others, and have become arrogant in their ways.

We are supposed to imitate Jesus. Here, Paul tells the Corinthians to imitate him because he imitates Jesus. We need to love like Jesus and live like Jesus.

We are not to use our faith for personal gain, but to lift others up.

Do not be arrogant.

Love like Jesus.

love and assist

When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
    my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles.
He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
    nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
He will not break a bruised reed
    or quench a smoldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
    And in his name the gentiles will hope.” (Matthew 12:15-21, NRSVue)

People have a way of getting in the way of God.

This passage starts, “When Jesus became aware of this, he departed.” When Jesus became aware of what? Verse 12:14 says, “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” People in religious leadership were actively getting in the way of God and God’s plan.

How often does this happen today?

How many times have I gotten in God’s way? I would be dishonest if I said I never got in God’s way, because I’m sure I have. We all fall short and need to rely on grace.

When do we put a block before God? How can we empty ourselves so that we see God’s will and plan and follow in line and assist rather than detract?

Let us love and assist.

be free

Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by an enslaved woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the enslaved woman, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,
“Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,
    burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs,
for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
    than the children of the one who is married.”
Now you, my brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, like Isaac. But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the enslaved woman and her child, for the child of the enslaved woman will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.” So then, brothers and sisters, we are children, not of an enslaved woman but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 4:21—5:1, NRSVue)

We are called to be free.

Free to love, and help others know through Jesus they to are free.

Free to give mercy and grace, free to share love.

We are not to be tied to our past or where we are from, but freed to live out the love of God in the world.

die in the Lord

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand! Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he, too, had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for a distance of about one thousand six hundred stadia. (Revelation 14:12-20, NRSVue)

If you die, well, when you die. No one has figured out how to get out of here without dying. Well, ok, Jesus did the second time, but the first time, even he died. We will all die. It is a fact of life, and according to Revelation chapter 14, if you want to be blessed in your death, you have to die in the Lord.

You need to follow what Jesus has told us to do and be. It is not just worshipping Him, which He never asked for. It is also not about how often your butt is in a pew or chair, whatever the place you worship has; it is about living like Jesus in the world.

Showing love. Caring for others. Putting them before you.

Live like Jesus, and die in the Lord.

what is your duty?

(He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
    I will proclaim what has been hidden since the foundation.”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! (Matthew 13:24-43, NRSVue)

I listened to a podcast about how the wheat and the weeds could have looked similar and could have been indistinguishable from each other to the untrained eye. Obviously, the slaves in the household knew the difference, for they saw them, but some of us might try to pull the weeds and get the wheat, but even though, as the homeowner says, in uprooting the weeds, you could pull up some wheat.

You see, it is not our place to determine what needs to stay and what needs to go. The harvest will happen, and the owner, aka God, will then do the separation.

Our place is to nurture and love and not pull the weeds, because we could remove something that shouldn’t be removed in the process.

Let God send the harvesters to remove what doesn’t belong, and let us love and nurture along that way.

Do your duty, Love!

fruit

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, NRSVue)

God is seeking spiritual fruits, not religious nuts!

We are known to the world by what we produce, and if you are using your faith to keep others down and make gains for yourself, it’s no wonder why people are leaving the church to find faith elsewhere.

Faith should lift us and others up, not keep people in their places, so we gain more.

Be a fruit that shares love, not a nut that causes people to walk away.

I swear…

When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Humans, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute among them. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:13-20, NRSVue)

I swear by the moon and the stars in the skies, and I swear like the shadow that’s by your side.

We swear by something other than ourselves because there are things greater than us, but God swears by Themself because there is no one greater.

And as the song chorus goes:
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the skies
I’ll be there
I swear like the shadow that’s by your side
I’ll be there
For better or worse, ’til death do us part
I’ll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear

God will always be there for us, no matter what.

drift away

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message declared through angels proved valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was confirmed for us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will. Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,
“What are humans that you are mindful of them
    or mortals that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
    you have crowned them with glory and honor,
    subjecting all things under their feet.”
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:1-9, NRSVue)

We will drift away if we do not follow where God is leading us. In fact, i believe a lot have already drifted away and are not doing what God has called us to do and be.

They are following after their own interests, or the interests of those in power before them and are maintaining that power.

Humans have dominion over all of creation, but only because God has given them dominion and that is to care for and enhance creation, not use it or destroy it for their own gain.

Be love in the world for that is why God created us, to share love.

Don’t drift. Love.