Assessment

So get this right, for one of my assignments i have to do a presentation on a Gospel passage.

Before i presented it, though, i had to exegete the passage to find out the context and stuff behind it, which i have now done. It took forever too. I have read soooo many comentaries over the past few hours lol. 

But anyways, for the presentation i can either do a slideshow, a letter, an email, a blog entry, a web page, a song or poem, a short video, an animation or a drama. Guess which one i chose? How convenient that i already had a blog with so many people reading it who would just love to join in on my assessment tasks :)

Let the presentation begin...

So lets talk about Pharisees. We all hate them right? I mean they were rule freaks and had a big role to play in Jesus' crucifixion. They totally missed what God had been trying to tell them. I mean sure, they were part of Gods chosen people, but if i remember correctly, didn't Gods promise to Abraham go something like this... 

I will make you into a great nation,
   and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
   and you will be a blessing.
 I will bless those who bless you,
   and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
   will be blessed through you.

 (yes i may have just copied that off biblegateway)

Note that God ends his promise with "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you". Ah, doesn't this mean that through Israel all nations should be blessed? Somehow i think most of Israel missed that point. I'm pretty sure they swung the other way, holding all other nations in total contempt and saw them all as sinners. 

Another we all know the Pharisees managed to miss... its not about following laws. These guys were the biggest goodie-two-shoes law-keepers ever. They made laws about laws to stop them breaking the original laws. They had reason to be afraid of breaking Gods laws, they broke them time after time and got punished over and over after all. But they managed to miss the heart of it...

Ok. Now that we have established that the Pharisees were mostly lame lets talk about one of Jesus' most famous parables. At the time he told it the Pharisees had been complaining amongst themselves about how Jesus hung out with all the tax collectors and "sinners". His story went something like this... (please excuse the copy and pasting from biblegateway... )

“There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

    “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

   “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.

   “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

   “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

   “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

   “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

   “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

   “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Wow. You guys are all thinking "Wow" right now arent ya. Wow is right! lol. This is for definitely my favourite parable ever. It's full of so much, and studying it has been absolutely amazing. But, for now lets just zone in on a bit of it, more specifically, the bit about the older son.
The older son (a.k.a. Pharisees) was always always with the father, a.k.a God. He never left home, never "rebelled" and always followed the rules of what he thought was expected of him. But he missed the point! He made rules where there were no rules and followed expectations, not out of love, but out of a self proclaimed righteousness that would allow him to get the prize he deserved. The father says "...you are always with me, and everything I have is yours..." and he meant it. Quite literally in fact. He gave half of everything to the youngest son, which leaves the rest belonging to the oldest. The older son literally had everything that the father had.
The older son missed it.
Like the Pharisees.
Like us?

How about an example of two different types of Christians. We will call them Will and Jake...
Will has a quiet time for half an hour in the mornings. He says grace before meals. He prays before going on long car trips for safety. He tries to never miss church. He supports a World Vision child. He gives a tenth of his earnings on Sunday. He invites workmates to church. He provides for his wife and children and sent his children to a Christian School. He prays before bed. He shakes his head when he hears stories about the lives of other church members or at their ragged clothes. He goes to the occasional hyped church service and leaves feeling alive, ready to take on life. He does everything right. He wonders sometimes, though, when he says he loves Jesus all he really feels is duty...
Jake goes to church when he can too, wearing his ragged cool jeans and singlet shirt. He saw a sunset the other day and ended up spending 10minutes taking pictures and marveling at how amazing God is. He gets in a quiet time when he can, loving the time he spends alone with God. He talks to God idly through the day when something catches his notice. At work he loves sharing with his mates about what God has been teaching him lately or about how he has been blessed. His job is mediocre but does his best anyways. He sometimes feels guilty or shame at the sin in his life, but he always reminds himself of Gods truth and his promises. He is overwhelmed by the fact God wants a relationship with him. He wants a relationship too. He is loving learning how to live in a loving relationship with God.


When we think about what living a Christian life is like do we think more of what a Christian does or what they believe? Have we made laws without realizing it? Which man do you identify more with? Which do you want to identify more with? Why?

I was a Pharisee. I once followed because of duty, because i was doing what was right. Now i follow Jesus because i know that he loves me. Anyone who loves me that much and wants a relationship that badly i love too. At the beginning of the year i was talking to a very wise man about following out of duty and wondering why i didn't feel anything towards God really except obedience. He told me that i should try to live loved. I had to live like i believed God loved me and that i loved him back. He suggested that maybe, just maybe, the feelings would follow. And they did.
Another piece of advice i heard once was that i should pray that the reality of Gods love will be shown to me each day and that when i'm finding it hard to trust God or i feel distant from him to ask God "What don't i know about you yet? Teach me what i still don't know about you and your love." So i've been doing these things. Nothing happens straight away, its not a magic formula to have a perfect relationship with God, but slowly the reality of Gods love is changing me...
I'm learning to live loved.

How do you live?