#20 Less is More – Parables About the Father (3)

[Luke 11:5] Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, [6] a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ [7] And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked and my children and I are already in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ [8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you want you want because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you what you need.” [9] "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (See also Matt 7:7-8)

Again, Jesus puts us in the parable. Instead of being the father (Blog #15), we are now on the other end – asking rather than giving, as in Blog #19.
Jesus paints for us a plaintive picture of distress, one that would surely warm and melt our hearts. You would expect that the friend in the house would leap out of bed go help his friend in need.

Notice that there are three friends involved here – a community of friendship. You would imagine that friendship and importunity would win the day for this asking friend. BUT
   He would not open the door
   He did not feel sorry for the plight of the out-of-town visitors at this time
   He doesn’t even volunteer to escort his friend back home.

Instead he says:
   Buzz off!
   I’ve got my own problems!
   Why weren’t you prepared?

Jesus describes human nature as it really is, as we have experienced it; as it has come to us. Jesus not only describes the rose, but the thorns of our human condition as well. There is an ugly side, defiant side to our human nature.
 
Results: But the friend will give whatever is needed. So again, the listener is placed in a parable by Jesus, as needy people to learn about receiving from the Father. Notice that the neighbor asks, even pleads, but he does not demand. How many times have even our “best” friends, Christian friends, refused us initially? Yet, even when our friend is mad or upset, our persistence wins the day. We don’t give in necessarily because we love them, but in spite of it, even when it is inconvenient!

What do we learn about the Father from this parable? We learn from life that no matter how obnoxious we are, we get what we need (not what we want) by being persistent rather than receive a punch in the mouth. We have learned from life that we can “push” pretty far.

Since we may be unable to believe that God the Father would really give from a pure motive of self-less love, unconditional love., Jesus therefore says to believe that God is just like any other person you know – He will surely give because of your boldness and persistence. Jesus is sure enough of the Father’s character to have us think less of Him than he really is, knowing that eventually we will think more of Him.

#19 God is More than an Unjust Judge - Father Parables (2)

[1]Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. [2]He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared for what people thought. [3]And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with a plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ [4]For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, [5]yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me.’” [6]And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. [7]And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night. Will He keep putting them off? [8]I tell you, He will see that they will get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  [Luke 18:1-8]

We must set something straight right away. The judge is not unrighteous in his judgments. It is not a question of him giving a fair verdict; the issue is when? He will hold court when he feels like it and in this, he is unrighteous. The question is not whether we will get our income tax rebate, but when. The only unrighteous thing the IRS could do would be holding our money too long. Parkinson’s Law of Delay[1]: The boss never says “No” but he won’t say “Yes.” If someone sees another person drowning, the one on the shore has a lot more time than the one in the water. It would be unrighteous not to spring into action.

And this is precisely the point. Here we imagine an old widow (are there any young ones in our imagination?) who needs help NOW, not eventually. It seems from this brief story that she has no other family to help or take care of her, and a woman alone in that society is truly helpless. This widow in the story has no other resources, and neither do the poor, the starving, the orphans or the elderly in this present world. Our indignation is aroused and we wonder if there is any God at all, why does He allow/permit this to happen?

So Jesus tells the story of a judge who is beleaguered into giving this lady a hearing. Even though there is nothing men or God could do to make him! He is as safe as a Supreme Court Justice! The judge is anonymous, indifferent; he holds court when he feels like it, yet because of the constant pleading of this widow, he gives in – not from pity, compassion or sympathy but from just being worn down.

Thus even if we believe that God doesn’t care, we can see He can be moved to action! If we plead our case (a just one!) long enough, He will hear us. And Jesus’ last statement puts us right into the parable as the pleading, praying widow. He can even take our bad image of a good God and tell us that God will hear us.

[1] “Delay is the deadliest form of denial”, The Law of Delay (1970), C. Northcott Parkinson, Wikipedia

#18 Two Angry Responses

[Mark 3:2] Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath. [3] Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’ [4] Then Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent. [5] He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. [6] Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

From almost the very beginning of Mark’s gospel, Jesus was followed by crowds for His miracles and teaching, while the religious elite and politicians viewed Him with suspicion. Jesus asks the crowd and Pharisees if the Sabbath was ordained by God as a day to do good, which is to heal or save a life, or to do evil, which in this case is plotting to kill Him? This pre-empted the public objection that the Pharisees were sure to raise.

Two points come to mind as I reflect on this passage in Mark:

·        I’ve always thought that Jesus asks the man to do two very different things:

1.      What he can do, which is stand up. He is not lame, he just has a withered hand. But he must stand in front of everyone, with all eyes on him, to perhaps suffer public embarrassment. But the man might also be standing for the hope that Jesus will heal him, although Mark does not tell us of a request.

2.      What he can’t do, which is to stretch out his hand to Jesus. Although there is no mention of “faith,” it took faith for this man to try to stretch out that withered hand towards Jesus. Now the healing can be done, because Jesus told him to stand up and he obeyed. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that “only those who believe, obey, … and only those who obey, believe.”[1] Following Jesus is obeying Him, even (especially) when it seems difficult.

·          I also see two interesting contrasting points about anger:

1.      The anger of God heals. When Jesus gets angry, He is healing (the lame, the sick, the lepers), or cleansing (the temple for worship), or grieving over the sinfulness of people.

2.      The anger of humanity kills. Mark tells us that the Pharisees (who don’t want to lose their religious power) team up with the Herodians (who don’t want to lose their political power) to plot to kill Jesus. The human response is the same as Cain’s when his offering to God was not acceptable[2].

If you have any thoughts or response, please use the comment section at the end of this blog on the Internet.

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[1] Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Revised Edition, MacMillan Publishing, New York, pg 74

[2] Genesis 4:6