Indignant And Arrogant

And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 

                                                                               (Mark 14:3-10 KJV)

Indignant and I'd say a bit arrogant were some of the disciples. Why should this woman waste money on such an extravagant gift for Jesus?

Was Judas, the disciple in charge of their money, upset to see such waste? Or, was he upset because he thought Jesus was making excuses for this mere woman who was being so forward? Maybe, he felt offended because Jesus reminded them that they could help the poor whenever they wished. Maybe Judas felt that Jesus was hinting that they themselves, including Judas, could do much more to help the poor.

Apparently Judas' feelings were hurt. He was one of the indignant. So indignant that he wanted to get even with Jesus so he betrayed him and handed him over to be tried.

Judas isn't the only one. Humankind has a habit of striking back when things don't go exactly their way. Humankind also has a habit of pointing fingers at others and blaming these others for the poor in the world. They could help so much more if they were only willing! But, here Jesus reminds us "For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good."

Do good to one another. Help those in need. It is not just the government's job to do that. It is ours. It is up to each of us as individuals and as members of the Body of Christ to help those in need. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Pride and Humility

Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

(Prov 16:18 NRSV)

Pretty much most Christians understand how destructive pride can be. Christians strive to avoid it or at least strive to cover their pride with a sort of humility. But, that humility in itself often belies our pride. False humility can be pretty transparent. When a person is consistently bowing to others and sweet talking them it can be pretty nauseating. When a person is constantly apologizing and begging forgiveness without ever changing the way that they say things; the way that they do things; or the way that they treat others, it is usually pretty apparent that they are only apologizing to feign humility in order to appear innocent of being arrogant. Humility is sometimes feigned to cover the fact that what a person does is actually to serve themselves and not others. Humility is sometimes feigned in order to cover one's pride.

Be careful, for this pride; this feigned humility; this haughtiness, may be hidden from our brothers and sisters in Christ for awhile; but, it cannot be hidden from the Lord. Pride will be the wall that we build between ourselves and the Lord. Pride will be our destruction. It will cause us to fall.

May God help us all to recognize what is genuine humility and what is pride within ourselves. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Love Is Patient, Kind, And Honest!

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:5-7 NRSV)

Jesus commanded his followers to love one another. Yet, how often does that happen today? How often do Christians actually put the love of self before the love of others? How often are we willing to speak the truth in love for the sake of others; for the sake of the whole community? 

This command to love others is often misconstrued to mean that if you are going to love others you must never correct anyone because it might hurt their egos. Sometimes egos have to be bruised a bit for the long term good of the whole community. It is not loving to encourage someone to continue to damage themselves or others. Being quiet about harmful actions or lifestyles not only harms the community; but, it keeps the one who is harming others and themselves from growing in the love of Christ.

Love does not say things that are mean or spiteful; but, sometimes love does mean speaking a truth that will not make others feel comfortably for their sake and for the sake of others in the Body of Christ. 

In Hans Christian Anderson's the short story "The Emperor's New Clothes" The reality was that there were no new clothes. Everyone perpetrated the lie that the emperor's new clothes were awesome just to be nice or maybe we could say they were trying to be politically correct. In the meantime, the emperor paraded around showing his backside. The loving thing is to not encourage our families, friends, or neighbors to walk around showing their backsides; but, to speak the truth in love. 

Love is patient and kind. But, love does not lie.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Love Is...

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:5-7 NRSV)

These verses from Corinthians are a favorite among those who are about to be married. They are about relationships. However, they are not specific to marital relationships. They apply to us all.

The Youth Correctional Facility, that I previously worked at, used Cognitive Behavior Therapy to try to help these young men to live fuller lives after they were released. They were called on every arrogant and rude thing that came out of their mouths and every arrogant and rude act that they committed. The hope was that they would learn to have empathy for those who they would otherwise victimize.

One of the goals we worked with the teen-agers on was to not be attempting to justify their words or actions with more words or actions. Simply put, the "blame game" was often played. It was a ruse to make themselves look better than others. Words were used to try to explain why they were right in what they said or did because someone else was wrong. Of course, when someone employed the "blame game," they were not totally direct about it. They often insinuated things in hopes that they would not be called on trying to justify their own harmful words or actions.

Unfortunately, it is not only those who are incarcerated who attempt to justify their sinful actions. Many Christians also have a tendency to try to justify their words or actions by pointing their fingers at someone else. They sometimes try to manipulate people into believing that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Often, they are arrogant enough to think that everyone around them is buying their stories.

There is one who will never buy the lie. That is God. He knows our heart's intentions. He knows every one of our thoughts. We are very fortunate that He is a loving God and gives us many opportunities to turn around and follow in the Way that He would have us go. 

These verses in First Corinthians about love are about relationships. They remind us that we are to love God and one another even as He loves us. That means that we ought not be rude or arrogant to the people around us and we definitely should not be blaming others for our rudeness or our arrogance.

May God help each of us to love and respect one another and to not be attempting to justify our own sins. Jesus is our only justification. He bore the penalty for our sins so that we could live new lives in Him. Let us live those new lives!

God's Peace - Pr. J

All Things

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."  Rom 12:3 NIV

Have you ever been around someone who is always right?  Yes, I know you have. It can be a terribly tiring ordeal to always be wrong because someone else is always right. Those who think that they are always right and since they are everything must be done according to the way they say it must be done. That causes just a bit of conflict and discord. Generally, others like to stay away from those who are so arrogant that they think they are so perfect.

Prayerfully you are not one of those who correct everything that everyone one else says and does. Prayerfully we should all take the time to listen to others opinions and ideas and plans and dreams for the greater good. Prayerfully, one day we will all learn to listen and to lean on one another not thinking so highly of ourselves that we think we can do anything and all things. 

Only God can know all things, listen to Him. Only God has accomplished all things for us through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen!

God's Peace - Pr. J