Reason Breeds Insanity

Jonah 3:1-10
What is amazing to me about Jonah’s work in Ninevah is the speed with which his declaration seems to overturn the exisitng sin in such a large city. There are no time markers in this text other than the one that says it was a three day walk from one side of Ninevah to the other. We also know that Jonah started preaching after his first day’s walk. I get the feeling when I read this passage that Jonah proclaimed the truth to the Ninevites and they immediately recognized the error of their ways. I think it is my hope that they immediately repented because the text simply says, “The Ninevites believed God.” It never says how long it took for them to get it. As a matter of fact there is no time frame for anything in this chapter. We do not know how long the people fasted. We do not know how long it took the message to get to the King. We do not know how long Jonah toiled and preached to entice the people to listen. But we do know that God had compassion on them when they repented and changed their lives. I like to think that like most Biblical stories everything happened within that 40 day time frame, but it seems a bit too neat and tidy.

Luke 11:29-32
My first question which seems a bit irrelevant: who is the Queen of the South? Ah, she is the Queen of Sheba, which I probably should have known. The connection between Jesus and Jonah interests me because I know that Jesus preached for somewhere around three years and he was arguably much more influential, you know being the Son of God and all, than Jonah or Solomon and people still didn’t get it. How in the world did Jonah influence those Ninevites?!? How did Solomon influence the Queen of Sheba? In verse 32, Luke writes: “The men of Ninevah will stand up at judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” On more investigation this passage seems to be an indictment on anyone who heard Jesus’ message but refused to repent. How could the people listen and be influenced by a minor prophet and a king, when they wouldn’t listen to Jesus? Even the likes of the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba repented at the words of lesser men.

Because I probably should live in the desert.

Check out this article on monasticism.

I am also practicing my mad blogging skills.
That was for you, Sarah. 😉

I am reading a book called This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley. He writes, appropriately for Lent: “When we read the stories in Acts of the first disciples, words like suffering, persecution, and martyrdom quickly come to mind. We shouldn’t be surprised. Their stories echo many of the same elements of their leader’s story, and Jesus warned that His followers could expect exclusion, rejection, and insult on His account. My story isn’t like that though. Is yours?” It isn’t that I think a Christian people should walk around with their chins on their chests, depressed all the time, but I think there is something to be said for giving up comfort for a Kingdom that is so important people have given everything for it. We think that giving up chocolate is revolutionary when so many have given up lives, both figuratively and literally.

McKinley goes on to write: “the apostles suffering was different. Stephen was stoned to death for preaching. Peter and John were jailed for healing people. The key distinctive is that these Christ followers chose to risk suffering and death rather than live in safety.” It makes our concern for the Ten Commandments Plaques pale in comparison. However, I have to hand it to the Mosaic Fanatics that while I don’t agree with them, at least they are fired up! There is something to be said for intentionality. I am in the same boat as the average Christian: I have a pretty comfortable lackadaisical faith. I haven’t put my life on the line for the Kingdom. I haven’t done anything that might even cause me a modicum of discomfort. McKinley asks: “What is the role of suffering as an intentional lifestyle in spreading the gospel of the Kingdom?”

Isaiah 55:10-11
“[My word] will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” I like to think this passage has a lot to do with Jesus being the Word, the ways in which he emptied himself on the cross, and how that emptying effected humanity by not returning void to God. I think Jesus achieved his purpose. The Word did not return empty but accomplished God’s desire—to turn [Their] people back to the spirit of the law. Even going further, Jesus is like the precipitation—through Him, the world has been fortified, fed, and nourished. All creation blooms through his presence.

Matthew 6:7-15
I am reminded of the Sacred Way by Tony Jones and the Jesus prayer: Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison imas. Praying the Lord’s prayer along with this refrain of ancient meditation changes me: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me. I am reminded through Jesus’ words that I am but one of many seeking his Kingdom on earth. I am lifting my prayer beside the prayers of other believers. This passage also forces me to think again about the communal nature of redemption. Forgive us our debts. As we forgive, forgive us. The grace we give is the grace we receive. The sins of others that we forget are the ones that are forgotten of ours. I guess I don’t mean forget, but the sins of others that we shoulder and accept the shame for are the same ones that Jesus accepts the shame for of ours. We are called to forgive. By being gracious are we, too, watering the earth so it can bloom? Is that part of the word not returning empty?

Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Leviticus is one of my favorite books. Really. This is not sarcasm. So many rules, so little time. So many rules, so twisted by humans. I love these verses because they remind me that the whole point of all of these rules, all of these regulations is to show us how to “be holy because, I the Lord your God, am holy.” I think everyone should make it a point to read Leviticus over and over until we can read past the letter of the words until the spirit of the words becomes intrinsic. Once we become intrinsic we can live them without having to rely on exploiting them.

Matthew 25: 31-46
Part of being holy is following verses 35-36. I think that is what all of the rules in Leviticus are about–showing us how to do this holiness thing while becoming closer to God. I think what interested me the most about re-reading this passage along with Leviticus is that I have recently been reading most Scripture through a social justice lens. Reading this story through the verse in Leviticus that says: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favortism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly,” makes me conscious of my own folly. I frequently give partiality to the poor. Perhaps it is perceived as pity not compassion when I favor the poor. Showing this type of grace to all people, consistently, is the trick. Without perverting justice.

We talked at church today about temptation, which has been the focus of the readings so far. One quote that Dave used in the message sticks out in my mind: “The honor of Jesus Christ is at stake in your bodily life.”–Oswald Chambers My question for myself today is: do I honor Jesus Christ with my bodily life?

I went out last night with my friends from SBUX. Sort of a small goodbye. We went to the Heorot and had cheap pizza and good beer, then Steph and I went to the Vagina Monologues (sorry Sarah, but I had already wasted the evening…I couldn’t bear to use up Sunday afternoon as well!). I am always amazed at how the monologues about abused women affect me. The actors did a couple of new ones this year that Ensler wrote in repsonse to the war in Iraq and the acid burnings of women in India and Pakistan. They were so moving. Ensler words move me, not because they are her words, but because she is writing them on behalf of women who still in 2007 have no voice. How in 2007 can women still be silenced? How can it shock people to learn how women are treated in some cultures? The largest hush came over the crowd when the statistics for rape were recited. I think most peopel were shocked at how many women are raped in the US each year. Violence against women is something we don’t discuss enough and something we definitely don’t do enough about.

I have to say my three favorite monologues are funny ones, though. The Angry Vagina, The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could, and The Woman Who Loves to Make Vagina’s Happy are all hysterically (literally) funny and poignant. Of course they are coarse and border on being crass, but what is a little lowbrow humor between friends? Besides, if you can’t laugh at the thought of a vagina being angry at a dry wad of cotton (a tampon), what can you laugh at?

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge really right next to each other in the middle of the garden? Because that would suck to have to walk right past the forbidden one to get to the one you could have. I think it would be sort of like being a child and being forced to walk past the candybars on the way out of the grocery store. Also, every time I read this passage it bugs the crap out of me that it says she gave some to her husband WHO WAS WITH HER! Why do women get the bad rap? If Adam was there, why didn’t he say stop, Eve, don’t eat it, Eve, I’m not eating it, Eve, or something!

Romans 5:12-19
Hmmm… Paul, so many words, to say so little. Adam sinned and was disobedient, so people were condemned. Jesus didn’t sin and was obedient, so people were justified. At least Paul puts some blame on Adam?!

Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus was tempted but didn’t give in. Is that the connection? That and he was hungry, too.

Obviously, I am not feeling very intelligent today. I didn’t get much sleep.