Daily Readings, August 8, 2004

Today's Readings

I am not educated in doing this, so when I get to readings like todays', I am reluctant, because I may do harm with them rather than good.

Today's readings are a call to a radical change and to a potentially difficult and unrewarding life. Abraham trusted in God and spent the vast majority of his life thirsting for a child. He got one in the end, and then was told by God to kill him. (It should be noted that child sacrifice was a pretty common thing in those days and the real message of the sacrifice of Isaac was to not sacrifice your children.)

Both the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews and the Gospel offer a hard message, as well. Sell all your belongings, the Gospel says. I wonder why, if the Gospel is to be believed as literal truth, why certain types of believers do not take that literally.

Are we supposed to literally do that? Or is their a figurative meaning here? The reading is pretty clear about what is expected, but again, it must be taken into context. If you have children, it is not appropriate for you to sell all your goods and be destitute. For the Bible also says that someone who believes and does not provide for his family is worse than a non-believer.

But the meaning of this Gospel reading cannot be dismissed. It's kind of like Survivor. We have certain gifts and things that we are given and it is up to use to make good use of them. Sure, we can build a giant mansion and a big fence and have parties and invite all of our friends and have fun. But what is left after that? Will the Master be happy when He comes back and finds that's what we've done?

Or, we could be like Mother Theresa and denounce our worldly possessions and move to the poorest part of the poorest city and minister to the poor by being one of them. So is that what we are all supposed to do?

The easy answer would be 'Yes!', but if we did that, who would produce the goods that are used to minister with? Who would provide the jobs to help the poor not to be poor again? Who would develop the medicines that help us prevent poverty by striking down so many of the diseases that formerly caused pandemics? Who would teach our children and protect us from those who wish to do us harm?

Again, the Bible must be taken into context. In other places, it speaks of the Christian community as the body of Christ and says that the body cannot all the be same part, or it stops being the body and starts being a six-foot tall, 240 pound armpit.

Each person is born into a different situation with different gifts. We have different experiences and different approaches. And when the day of judgement comes for us, the key will be how effective a steward we have been with that situation, those gifts, those experiences, and that approach. And not all of us are expected to be Mother Theresa.

Instead, we are expected to love God and our neighbors, do our best with what we have, and try again tomorrow.

But, there is a very clear warning to put our hearts in the right places. All too often, particularly in this country, our hearts become distracted. We hunger for things. I have done so myself. I hungered for a better car, one with air conditioning, one that was not leaky around the roof...both important things in Florida. It was reasonable for me to want those things.

But, my focus should not have been on trying to figure out how I could afford them, but on the One who provides without fail. He provided without fail for 19 months of my unemployment. And within a few months of our being employed again, he provided a way for us to replace my car.

But, if our hearts are in heaven, we will remember that the car is maybe not the primary thing. Helping others through the travails is more important.

A few weeks ago, Martha was getting upset because she was doing the work while Mary was sitting with Jesus. Jesus told her that Mary had chosen the more important thing, and it would not be taken from her.

Choosing the more important thing might be hard. It takes perserverence and discipline, and above all, a lot of prayer. I haven't mastered it yet.