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The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007 Ordination of Louise Christensen
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
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The 5th Sunday in Lent (C) There is a timeless song which played over the airways sometime in the 1970s (I think), a song that represents a common human condition. Perhaps you will recognize these lyrics from the song by The Boss—Bruce Springsteen.
I had a friend was a big baseball player
My old man worked 20 years on the line This song reminds us of a familiar phenomenon…the somewhat pitiful human predicament of wanting to hold onto something called glory; having reached our goals; of having accomplished some great life-accomplishment; of being finished running our race…before we are done running the race that God has set before us. After crossing the finish line of some great feat, being forced to ask the dreaded question…”Now what?” Paul, writing from prison in his letter to Philippi, is a man who achieved everything he had set out to achieve, only to discover it wasn’t what it seemed. It had all looked so promising, but there was no real promise. Paul writes, “If anyone else has reason to be confident…I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law…blameless.” Paul is a man who climbed to the top of his mountain. The highest achievement a man in his circle could achieve…but there is a problem…two little words…”Now what?” Brothers and sisters, listen to this. Here we have a man who reached the pinnacle of success, and he is writing a letter to the people he sees climbing the same mountains (mountains of success, money, wanting recognition) people he has grown to love, and what he says is not what the world would expect him to say—and perhaps not what we would hope he would say. You see, I think we too are climbing life’s mountain…and Paul has reached the top ahead of us and is yelling down to us, hoping w might hear him…”Hey, it’s not what you think…there’s nothing up here.” All of this work to get ahead in the world—to set ourselves apart—trophies for the mantle, and yet there is something still missing. This is a reoccurring biblical theme as well, most notably from the book of Ecclesiastes, whose author speaks the truth from the human perspective, “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity…” All this work and toil in life is really done in vain. We all end up in the same place. We all end up dying. It is in with this perspective, that in his next breath (or pen swipe) Paul, after listing all of his credentials, his glory days, the things that set him apart from other people, denounces it all as being without value… “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss…” In fact, Paul seems to be saying that everything he once held deer…everything he had at one time, in his younger days, prided himself on…he now sees no value in whatsoever. I have been contemplating this all week. What happened…what happened to change this once proud, accomplished man—and caused him to denounce all that set him apart in life? The answer to this question, I realized, is actually found earlier in this same letter to the Philippians…Paul writes, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. (That is) let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, (rather) he emptied himself taking the form of a servant, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” So, what really happened to Paul is that he experienced God in Jesus Christ and it changed him forever. This can also be true for us. It turned his whole world upside down. For seeing that Jesus Christ was equal to God—he was the chosen one, the messiah—yet wasn’t motivated to elevate himself above others was something that didn’t make sense. Rather than playing king of the mountain, Christ was motivated simply, purely and totally by love. He takes all that God has given him (everything) and rather than hording it for himself he shares it with those who have less. This is the power that Christ gives to us! This is what Paul has discovered. Jesus alone has the power to take our lives—lives that would be otherwise meaningless—where we find ourselves sitting pointlessly alone at the top of the mountains we have so striven to climb, and he makes something special through the power of his love. Christ alone has the power to give our lives real meaning. So, what about us? What glory are we trying to hold on to? Are we striving after…success, money, wanting personal recognition? Jesus Christ is the one who takes our gifts / our offerings, defines what it is in his kingdom and makes it something special. His is the power to bring to life something that is dead. His is the power of resurrection: Taking our pitiful efforts, that we can only make in the now-moment and he takes them and blesses them, and makes them into something new. Something that will last. Who of us, after all, can really understand which of our efforts will take on life and which will not? It is in this train of thought that Paul says, everything I have striven for in the past, I count as loss because I have discovered the true giver of life…the one who can not be defeated by death…Jesus Christ. Phil 3:12 “…because Christ has made me his own.” Remember that, bros and sisters, you belong to Christ, because Christ has made you his own…he is the one who brings us and our pitiful glory days to life. So, let us not set ourselves apart, or try to set each other apart. This is the meaning and the blessing of Christ: that we are in this together. Our legacy, as Christians, does not have your name and our name on it, but the name of the one we proclaim as Lord…Jesus Christ. We are in this together. And may the love of Christ unite us…forever. -------------------- Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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