Disturbed, Weeping and Deeply Hopeful

New Testament scholar, Scot McKnight, tells the following story: “A parishioner once informed me that if he had been in Jerusalem when Jesus was put to death, he would have been crucified along with him because, as he trumpeted, ‘I would never have allowed my Lord to be even arrested without fighting for him! Nope, not me. I’m not like the rest of these faint-hearted Christians!’ The claim astounded me. His self-promotion was masked as self-perception. Here was a 60-year-old who hadn’t looked in a mirror for a long time."

In the same article entitled Spiritual Snobs, Scot argues, “If we judge the children of Israel, whom the psalmist says had hard hearts, we also must judge the apostles. After watching Jesus feed a village of people, the disciples are challenged to think through what Jesus should do -- he’s afraid to send the crowd home lest they collapse on the way. But Mark says the apostles had hard hearts (Mark 8), so we condemn them for their faithlessness. But should we?” McKnight thinks not. “When we look within ourselves or at others, we are prone to self-promotion or blame or judgment. When we see who we really are, we see hearts struggling and minds fighting and souls doubting. And then we are like both the children of Israel and the apostles.”

Lent has been a time when the readings from Scripture have invited us to take a long, hard look at ourselves and the fallen world in which we live. We have considered the faithlessness of God’s people, particularly the wilderness generation and we have been reminded of the steadfast faithfulness of God in spite of their hard hearts. In terms of our spiritual formation it is very important for us to look at our failures and the failures of others in the light of the gospel in order to avoid the temptation to spiritual snobbery that McKnight warns against above. It is all too easy to look at our failures and the failures of others and react in self-righteousness and anger, or in self-loathing and despair (particularly in the case of our own failures). I wonder how different things might be if our emotional energies and passions towards God, each other, and ourselves, became mainly thoughts and passions about God’s power to forgive, and power to make us new, rather than thoughts and passions of self-condemnation and harsh judgment of others....?

Also, it is tempting to imagine God as a spiteful adversary when our sin and lack of repentance is leading us away from human flourishing; instead the gospel reminds us that he opposes us because of his great love for us. The discipline of God never comes from anger and is always for the purpose of reminding us of his love for us

* “The Lord disciplines those whom he loves (Hebrews 11:6)”
* “if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13)”

Now, at the end of Lent, the readings of the common lectionary invite us to set our gaze upon the promise of God to deliver. In Ezekiel we meet dry bones that are given new bodies and new life. In the Gospel of John we meet Lazarus and are given a foretaste of the promised resurrection. These readings remind us that our faith grows stronger not when we try harder but when we put our hope in God’s power and resources and not in our own. This comes from our new birth in the spirit and we grow in our new birth when we turn daily from our own resources and learn to rely on God’s power and not our own. In response to Lazarus’ death, Jesus was disturbed, he wept, and he was deeply hopeful. He knew he could raise the dead. May this be our response to our sin, or any tragedy - to be disturbed, saddened and deeply hopeful, for the God who raised Jesus from the dead has bound himself to us in unconditional love.

This is familiar territory for those of us who have been versed in Christian teaching for a while but our hearts are prone to wander and so every once in a while it is good to remind each other of the basics.

Discussion Questions:

1. When we sin or when those around us sin it is hard to respond in a way that is shaped and informed by the Gospel. Can you offer three practical approaches you might take with yourself that will lead you to a place where you are more likely to have a gospel shaped response to your failures and the failures of others?

2. Is it easy for you to think of God disciplining you with a 100% loving and well-intended purpose in mind? For many of us this is a tough concept. If it is tough for you, does anything leap to your mind as to a reason for why it is a hard concept? For those of you who don’t have a hard time with this, share a story or two that will help us understand how you have been able to grasp God’s goodness in this way.

3. What role does Christian community play in the way you think of God’s discipline?