Upside Down

This Sunday we'll explore the well-known parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  As always in Jesus’ parables, the details matter, and here we have some interesting features. We note that the two men went up to the temple to pray, so there is a special public context. And both of them stand apart, yet for different reasons. 

Our perceptions of ourselves, our community, and God are inextricably woven together. How these perceptions are shaped is complex, depending on our relationships, our religious beliefs, our experiences, and our actions. They affect how we treat each other...and how God will treat us.  

Jesus teaches us how to experience and create “belonging” As usual, there’s a great “upside down” punchline! 

Grappling

The story of Jacob is among those that Scripture treats at length. It is a saga, but not a biography. We are treated to only certain significant events over time and often what we are told is only just enough to incite our imaginations. They are evocative, compelling accounts that require us to pay close attention to the words and to grapple with the text.  

And Jacob is the most famous grappler.  

Jacob was born grasping his twin brother's heel and would be named “Heel-Sneak” (in Everett Fox's memorable translation). And he was sneaky, tricking his brother out of his inheritance. And  in a striking image, we find Jacob standing before his blind father pretending to be his brother. If only Jacob had a therapist!

The story of Jacob winds its way through encounters with God and others that test his character and his wits. And eventually he comes to his wits' end. He grapples with a mysterious man at the edge of the river at night. And in that confrontation, his story turns and he is wounded and blessed and receives a new name.  

And that name is the name of God's people, the people who find themselves struggling with God.  

Avoidance Strategies

Way back in the day—1984 to be precise—one of our best friends was days away from presenting her master’s thesis, and she had a lot of editing work to do. So, she arranged for a full day at home, her children and husband away, ostensibly to give her undivided attention to her task.

 But how did she actually spend her day? Making eighteen elaborate napkin rings for the family’s Thanksgiving gathering.

 So, for four-and-a-half decades now, “napkin rings” has been, for Lauren and me, a code phrase for an avoidance strategy: “You’re putting off something important, but hard.”

 Many, if not most of us, when faced with something we know will be demanding and difficult, find ways of avoiding it (think about an important conversation you know will be difficult), even though we know we can’t put it off forever.

 In this week’s Epistle reading, Paul is warning his young protégé Timothy—his “true son" and “dear child”—against any such avoidance strategies when it comes to the central task of witnessing to the gospel of Jesus, even in the face of social and political stigma and danger.