The Bridegroom is Coming

Jewish marriages in the first century were negotiated by the heads of the two families.  The potential groom was expected to go the bride’s home to make the formal proposal of marriage. If she accepted (she could refuse), the couple were officially betrothed and it took a divorce to break it at that point (as in the Mary and Joseph story). Once engaged, the groom-to-be would begin work on an addition onto the family home for his new bride. The wedding could not take place until the work on the new place was completed… and the the fathers decided when the work was done.

When the big day came, the wedding ceremony took place at bride’s house and there was a wedding procession to groom’s house for the wedding feast (as in the Parable of the Virgins). The groom then took his bride into the new room that he had built and the couple consummated the marriage. The wedding feast didn't begin until the new husband and wife rejoined their guests. (And you thought it was awkward standing around waiting for wedding pictures to be over so the reception could begin!)

What does this (too much) information have to do with Easter? Well, the speech that the prospective groom might give as he made his formal proposal of marriage to his prospective bride might sound something like this,

“My Father’s house has many rooms. I am going to prepare a place for you. But I will come back and take you there to be with me.” 

Does that sound familiar? That’s Jesus promise in John 14:2.  That is Christ’s wedding proposal to His bride. Our faith ultimately rests in this promise that Jesus has gone to His Father’s house to prepare a place for His bride (his church) and that He will one day return to claim to take us where He is. No wonder Paul rests everything on the truthfulness of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19,

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 

Why are we to be “pitied” if there is no end-time resurrection? Because the church then becomes the bride left at the altar with no groom and no future! The promise that our suffering and struggles in this life can be faced with hope and with expectation because “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18) is false and untrue without the resurrection.

Easter is a reminder that this story that we have committed to is true. Christ the Lord is risen! And one day, the bridegroom will come back for His bride!

Where Would Jesus Sit?

What would Jesus do? This fundamental question of discipleship became something of a fad several years ago as WWJD bracelets became a fashion accessory. If you go to www.whatwouldjesusdo.com, you can buy WWJD bracelets and T-shirts and even have them customized for your church or youth group. Unfortunately, the various WWJD fashion accessories were much more popular than actually worrying about what Jesus really would do or did do or taught. For example, I'm fairly sure that one of the things that Jesus would not do is operate a web site that sold WWJD fashion accessories. Maybe I'm wrong.

The question raised by our daily Bible reading today in Luke 14 is, "Where would Jesus sit?" Jesus is eating at the house of "a prominent Pharisee," which itself makes a point.  Sure, Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners... and took hits from the society page crowd because of that. But he also rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and he didn't care much what tax bracket they were in. As Jesus looked around the banquet table, he noticed how all the quests were scrumming and scuffling to get the best and most prestigious seat at the table. People invited quests to these affairs based on social standing; the more important your quests, the more important your party... which reflected, of course, on you.   And guests were seated at these affairs based on their relative social importance. If that sounds crass, then go you a political fundraiser, state dinner or college alumni banquet and notice how the seating is arranged! Jesus was always looking for a teachable moment, and do he gives us a lecture on where to sit at parties (Luke 14:8-10).

8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 

Jesus isn't really talking so much about party etiquette... or at least, he isn't talking ONLY about party etiquette. He is talking about life. We are not to worry about things like social status and how much we are valued by others. Rather than pushing ourselves, worrying about our standing or focusing on our egos, we are to live lives of humility before God and service to others. We are not to be concerned with the outward shows and standards of value and worth. Jesus wants us to have the heart of a servant even when it comes to choosing where to sit.

So where would Jesus sit? I will resist the temptation to take a cheap shot about people at church always choosing the best seats (the ones on the back row) rather than sitting toward the front (where holy people always sit anyway) and saving the back seats for people who really need them-- like parents with small children, latecomers and bashful guests. (OK, so I didn't completely resist taking a cheap shot). Think about it.  If something as trivial as which seat we choose can reflect our basic commitment to follow Christ, then what part of our lives fall outside the realm of discipleship?

Getting Bent Out of Shape

It seems that “The Bible” miniseries on The History Channel is generating its fair share of controversy. Of course, I have no firsthand knowledge of the miniseries because, being a Christian and all, we don’t have cable. (Actually, not having cable has more to do with being cheap than with being Christian).  But I did pre-order the DVD, but I probably won’t watch it when it comes in. Our DVD player broke last week, and who has time to go buy DVD players?

The latest controversy, according to articles in Christian Post, Breathe Cast and  others is that Nonso Anozie, the actor who plays Samson in the miniseries, is Black and wears dreadlocks. And everyone knows that this isn't biblically accurate-- there is no way Samson had dreadlocks. OK, the point of the articles is that there are evidently some people who take issue with Samson being portrayed by an African American actor. Of course, I rather dount that all the rest the actors in the miniseries are Jewish.  And is it really less likely that Samson looked like Nonso Anozie than Moses looked like Charlton Heston.  And did Mary the mother of Jesus speak with an Irish lilt (Roma Downey plays here in the miniseries). I suspect that part of the fun of watching the miniseries will be noting where it departs from the Biblical text, and I seriously doubt that one will have to quibble with casting choices to find the inaccuracies!

Today's daily Bible reading from Luke 5 has the Pharisees and teachers of the law questioning Jesus about his followers and fasting, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking” (5:33). Jesus could have said a thing or two about fasting-- after all, He once fasted for a month and a half! What Jesus does talk about here is spending time with the bridegroom (5:34-35) and sewing old patches on new garments or pouring new wine into old wineskins (Luke 5:36-38). Jesus isn't really talking so much here about fasting itself as about religious systems that judge spirituality based on outward acts of righteousness. Fasting is fine as long as you do it in a way that only God knows about it (Matt 6:16-18). Fasting is not a way that you put your piety on display so that it can be seen by others, and it is not the way to judge the religious life of others.

We probably tend to focus too much on external and visible things. That’s why some people seem to have gotten bent out of shape because a black actor played Samson on a TV miniseries. That’s why we so easily get bent out of shape if a church’s worship service or its organization or its ministries don't exactly match up with the way we think they should be. We focus on externals. Maybe we should focus more on the bridegroom Himself.

It Didn't Work?

“I tried that once and it didn't work.” That statement was made not about the latest weight loss plan or gizmo bought from a late-night infomercial. No, that statement was made about prayer. The person had evidently asked God for something important to him, and he didn't get it. So prayer obviously doesn't work. To tell you the truth, I wasn't completely sure whether this guy was being completely serious with me. But he was serious enough that I didn't quite know what to say.

What I could have said was the same thing the man said when he was interviewed at his 100-year old birthday party. He was asked, “So, what is the secret to to your advanced age.” The man replied, “Well, I worked hard. I ate well. I went to bed early.” The interviewer said, “My grandfather did all that and died at 70.” The man answered, “Well, he just didn't do it long enough!” That was the problem with the guy who tried prayer and it didn't work. He didn't do it long enough.

Consider the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth (Friday’s daily reading from Luke 1). Luke describes this couple as not only “righteous;” he also said that they followed “all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly” (Lk 1:6). These were pretty good folks! The problem was that Zechariah and Elizabeth had no children in a culture that valued children so much that being childless was a “disgrace” (1:25). This godly couple had been praying for a child (1:13), but they had grown “very old” and their prayers for children had not been answered. Yet.  God had not told them “No.” He had said, “Wait.” The problem was that God's "Wait" felt just like "No."  The birth of their baby John was such a shock and surprise to them that it is  obvious that they had not been praying this prayer for some time. God answered their prayers, but He did so in a way that fit with His plan and His purpose for them.  Their prayers were answered at the proper time… but after a long period of waiting.

 Let’s face it, it’s hard for us to wait upon the Lord (Isa 40:31). We get weary of waiting, and we see the passing of time as proof that God has forgotten all about us. His silence FEELS like He has forgotten us. His “Wait” feels to us like a “No.” We can see God’s purposes in the story Zechariah and Elizabeth because we read their story from the beginning to the end. But we live out our story from the middle— and we have to wait for God's ending. We can never tell the difference between God's "No" and God's "Wait" until we get to the end of our story.

Why do we often have to wait? Maybe God has a plan and a purpose for us like he did for Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Or maybe we aren't ready right now to receive His “Yes.” When I was 12, I asked my  Dad for a shotgun for Christmas.  I didn't get it.  When I was 16, I asked Dad for a sports car. I got the shotgun.  I wasn't ready for a shotgun at 12. And I'm evidently still not ready for the sports car!  Jesus said that God isn't the kind of Father than gives us a stone when we ask for bread or a snake when we ask for fish (Matt 7:9-11).  But sometimes we ask for what amounts to stones and snakes!

God is not a vending machine where we pop in a prayer out pops our blessing! But when we struggle with something in prayer, we needed to remember that “Wait” does not mean “No” even though they feel the same at the time. Remember the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. God works in His time, not in ours!

Remember Who You Are

Charles Paul Conn, the president of Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, tells of seeing a Yellow Pages ad for a restaurant in the Atlanta area called “The Church of God Grill.” Now, I tried to find a listing on the web for this particular restaurant, and I couldn't—though I did find about a million references to Conn’s story about the restaurant (this could be a preacher's story; do your own research before you head to Atlanta for a chicken dinner). It seems that Conn was struck by the unusual name for a chicken restaurant  (no connection to "Church's Chicken" which was named for its founder George W. Church), so he called and asked the manager for the back-story. This supposedly true story provides something of a cautionary tale for the church—

 “Well,” the man began, “We started a little church down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. People liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service. After a while we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners. We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill” 

So it would seem that this church got so busy doing something that was not really its core purpose (raising money to pay the bills) and in the process essentially forgot its identity. That is something that the both the church and individual Christians need to guard against.

That is essentially the point of the Lord’s Supper, which Jesus establishes in our reading today from Mark 14. In communion, we are to remember Jesus and His cross—the “this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19, 1 Cor 11:24) has been carved into millions of communion tables through the years. But the point isn’t that we are in danger of forgetting that Jesus died on the cross; the danger is that we will put something else other than His cross at the center of who we are as Christians and as a church. We are to be, as the titled Leonard Allen’s book of years ago suggests, a “Cruciform Church.” We are to be a people with the cross at the center, not just of our worship, but of our lives.

Once a week we come together to eat the bread and drink of the cup that reminds us that Jesus died and lives again. We also remind ourselves that in living for Him, we die to ourselves each day as we seek to be disciples who “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow” Jesus (Mark 9:34). If we don’t remind ourselves constantly of the cross at the center, then we run the risk of forgetting who we are. If that happens, we might as well close the church and open a chicken restaurant.

Getting Something Off My Chest

Excuse me while I get something off my chest. Someone recently told me that someone told them that someone who used to go to Denbigh told them that they left the church family here "because Tuck doesn't believe in baptism for the remission of sins." I know— I should probably track down whoever said that and get all this straight privately rather than in public on my blog. But I as you can tell, the documentation here is a bit shaky and I don’t want to spend the hours of private-eye time trying to tack all of this down. And besides, I’m not sure that the readership of my blog really qualifies as “public” anyway! So let me get this off my chest.

It was quite a shock for me to learn that I don’t really believe in baptism for the remission of sins. You, I always thought that I believed precisely that. That’s what I thought I thought when I wrote the following in a blog entitled “Baptism and the Sinner’s Prayer” back in 2009--

The New Testament presents baptism as the response of faith in the accepting God’s grace in salvation. Peter offers a baptism “for the remission of sins” to believers on Pentecost (Acts 2:38). And we offer believers today the same response of faith. If you have never been baptized based upon your faith in Christ, then we offer that to you. I think we are on firm Biblical ground when we offer it. 

There is a version of that blog that is posted on the “What We Believe” page of our church web site. There are a dozen or so entries on my blog on the subject of baptism. I have preached sermon series on baptism and taught 13-week class series on baptism. Every sermon that I preach ends with an invitation to people to meet Jesus at the cross in faith, repentance and baptism. (Recently I had a conversation with someone  who thought my formal invitations were unnecessary and passe ... which they are if I don't really believe in baptism for the remission of sins.  The point here is that I sure seem to spend a lot of time talking about something that I supposedly don’t believe in!

So why would someone get the idea that I don’t believe in baptism for the remission of sins? Probably because while I do believe that baptism is "for the remission of sins," I also believe that this isn't the only reason the New Testament mentions for baptism. There are several other things that baptism is “for.”

• To fulfill all righteousness (Matt 3:15) 
• To have a good conscience (1 Peter 3:21) 
• To commit to a life of discipleship (Matt 28:19) 
• To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) 
• To have sins washed away (Acts 22:16) 
• To become part of the Body (2 Cor 12:12-13) 
• To put on Christ as a garment (Gal 3:27) 
• To be saved (Mark 16:16)

So does someone have to believe everything about what the Bible says on the theology of baptism before their baptism is valid at all? If so, then why are all the passages explaining the theology of baptism (Rom 6, Gal 3, Col 2, 1 Pet 3) all written to people who had already been baptized? Didn't they already KNOW all that stuff before their baptism?  If they didn't, then did that invalidate their baptism? And if someone today is baptized based on their faith in Christ, out of a desire to please Christ, and in a commitment to live as a disciple of Christ, is their baptism invalid because they didn't articulate or understand fully the phrase “for the remission of sins?”

Please don’t tell people that I don’t believe in baptism for the remission of sins. I do.  Now, you may feel free to tell people that I don’t believe Baptists are going to hell because their baptismal theology is out of whack. You may tell people that I believe that God can save people through baptism who don't fully understand how He works in baptism.  You can tell people that I believe that God saves people through what Jesus did on the cross and not what we do in our precise theological and liturgical formulations.  But please don't tell people that I don;t believe in something that I do so obviously believe in.

Thank you.  I feel better now!