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Monday, May 14, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Parenting angst commissioned by God
I read through Judges today and felt a pang for Manoah, father of Samson. When his wife informed him that a man told her she would become pregnant and not to partake of anything grapey, he thought as any man would, "Who's this guy talking to my wife? Is this legit, or is he just trying to cuckold me?"
Actually, the text tells us that Manoah prayed, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” I hear a little bit of Gideon lurking just beneath the surface: "Can I really be sure . . .?" But I love that this is Manoah's prayer. My biggest issue with becoming a parent (now times two) is that I may not tell the story of God well. I could really use some help in communicating a big-read, nonversejack, here's-the-big-story-that-makes-little-to-no-sense-in-America story. But I digress.
Manoah obviously takes his job seriously. He wants to be sure how to bring up a Nazirite, and perhaps more simply, any child, in such a rotten society. And if we think parenting is about us or making sure our kids turn out well, this event from later in the story will shatter that expectation:
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from YHWH, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
First, how does a parent argue with "She's the right one for me"? If they do, the reply will be "You don't know me! You don't own me!" And there will be instant alienation, if that hadn't happened already.
And does God really answer the prayers of some parents who are desperate to raise good kids with a rebellious teen? Like specifically answer with that? I'm starting to think that's possible, more often than we think. The God of Israel that we claim to love and serve isn't capricious like other gods, but he sure has his own ideas.
Actually, the text tells us that Manoah prayed, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” I hear a little bit of Gideon lurking just beneath the surface: "Can I really be sure . . .?" But I love that this is Manoah's prayer. My biggest issue with becoming a parent (now times two) is that I may not tell the story of God well. I could really use some help in communicating a big-read, nonversejack, here's-the-big-story-that-makes-little-to-no-sense-in-America story. But I digress.
Manoah obviously takes his job seriously. He wants to be sure how to bring up a Nazirite, and perhaps more simply, any child, in such a rotten society. And if we think parenting is about us or making sure our kids turn out well, this event from later in the story will shatter that expectation:
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from YHWH, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
First, how does a parent argue with "She's the right one for me"? If they do, the reply will be "You don't know me! You don't own me!" And there will be instant alienation, if that hadn't happened already.
And does God really answer the prayers of some parents who are desperate to raise good kids with a rebellious teen? Like specifically answer with that? I'm starting to think that's possible, more often than we think. The God of Israel that we claim to love and serve isn't capricious like other gods, but he sure has his own ideas.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Apostle Paul bore the curse
I'm reading through Deuteronomy, and I ran across a little series of items that rang a bell. If the Hebrews did not obey YHWH's commands and decrees:
"All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey YHWH your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve YHWH your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies YHWH sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you" (all Scripture NIV).
"In hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty" sounds an awful lot like a portion of Paul's litany of woe in his second letter to the Corinthians: "I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked." Before reading Deuteronomy, I assumed that Paul was reluctantly (or not) showing some marginally okay spiritual pride in order to shore his position against the "super-apostles." But after seeing this association, I think Paul actually puts himself in line right behind Jesus.
Jesus was the true Israelite who bore curses and shame on the cross, despite showing YHWH's extravagant graciousness to the poor and outcast in direct accordance with the Law. And Jesus was raised from death, showing that even all the curses of the Law could not overpower a righteous man. (Read a handful of psalms, and this theme will emerge.)
Paul wrote to the Galatians, "From now on, let no one [specifically those "super-apostle" types] cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." He also was bearing the curse of the Law along with Jesus. In line behind the true Israelite, Paul also was a righteous man who unjustly suffered. He was living the new creation brought about by Jesus. Note at the end of Galatians just before his comment about the marks of Jesus: "Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation."
In 2 Corinthians, Paul is confronting the same type of people who want to compel others to follow the Law, even though they can't themselves. In his teaching, Paul says he is following Jesus, who filled all possibilities in keeping the Law. He also claims to the Philippians to have kept the Law better than any of the Pharisees: "If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless."
Why then suffer the curses? Israel couldn't follow the Law, and even suffering the curses didn't compel them to return to YHWH. So Israelites who truly obeyed the covenant (that is, were righteous) had to continue doing so yet bear the shame of the curses on behalf of the unrighteous. Deuteronomy itself says, "Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there YHWH your God will gather you and bring you back. . . . YHWH your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. YHWH your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey YHWH and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then YHWH your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land." The bringing back to ridiculous prosperity signifies the restoration of creation. Physical circumcision no longer marks one as an Israelite; it's the newly created, circumcised heart. And yet the plan of God in this passage shifted so that it is the obedient ones who suffer the curses of the Law on behalf of those who can't obey. This was the only way to empty sin, death, and the curse of its power.
Suffering the curses of Deuteronomy is exactly the idea of persecution in Paul's letters. The enemies of God's people pour out their worst on the righteous (as opposed to chastising God's unrighteous people in Deuteronomy). God's people are formed more in his image, our hearts are circumcised, and we bear the shame of the decay of all creation. Then the enemies are invited to join God's people and suffer (precisely Paul's life story) until all suffering is abolished and all things are new.
"All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey YHWH your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve YHWH your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies YHWH sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you" (all Scripture NIV).
"In hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty" sounds an awful lot like a portion of Paul's litany of woe in his second letter to the Corinthians: "I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked." Before reading Deuteronomy, I assumed that Paul was reluctantly (or not) showing some marginally okay spiritual pride in order to shore his position against the "super-apostles." But after seeing this association, I think Paul actually puts himself in line right behind Jesus.
Jesus was the true Israelite who bore curses and shame on the cross, despite showing YHWH's extravagant graciousness to the poor and outcast in direct accordance with the Law. And Jesus was raised from death, showing that even all the curses of the Law could not overpower a righteous man. (Read a handful of psalms, and this theme will emerge.)
Paul wrote to the Galatians, "From now on, let no one [specifically those "super-apostle" types] cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." He also was bearing the curse of the Law along with Jesus. In line behind the true Israelite, Paul also was a righteous man who unjustly suffered. He was living the new creation brought about by Jesus. Note at the end of Galatians just before his comment about the marks of Jesus: "Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation."
In 2 Corinthians, Paul is confronting the same type of people who want to compel others to follow the Law, even though they can't themselves. In his teaching, Paul says he is following Jesus, who filled all possibilities in keeping the Law. He also claims to the Philippians to have kept the Law better than any of the Pharisees: "If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless."
Why then suffer the curses? Israel couldn't follow the Law, and even suffering the curses didn't compel them to return to YHWH. So Israelites who truly obeyed the covenant (that is, were righteous) had to continue doing so yet bear the shame of the curses on behalf of the unrighteous. Deuteronomy itself says, "Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there YHWH your God will gather you and bring you back. . . . YHWH your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. YHWH your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey YHWH and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then YHWH your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land." The bringing back to ridiculous prosperity signifies the restoration of creation. Physical circumcision no longer marks one as an Israelite; it's the newly created, circumcised heart. And yet the plan of God in this passage shifted so that it is the obedient ones who suffer the curses of the Law on behalf of those who can't obey. This was the only way to empty sin, death, and the curse of its power.
Suffering the curses of Deuteronomy is exactly the idea of persecution in Paul's letters. The enemies of God's people pour out their worst on the righteous (as opposed to chastising God's unrighteous people in Deuteronomy). God's people are formed more in his image, our hearts are circumcised, and we bear the shame of the decay of all creation. Then the enemies are invited to join God's people and suffer (precisely Paul's life story) until all suffering is abolished and all things are new.
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