How to respond to the tragedy in the Boston Marathon

I have always found the stories in the beginning of Luke 13 intriguing. The 13th chapter seems to be the continuation of a long lecture to thousands of people who were following Jesus beginning in the 12th chapter. The two chapters are made up of many different lessons which generally serve to encourage Jesus' disciples or to warn those who were just coming for the ride.

Jesus was asked by someone in the crowd for his comments on likely a recent news event concerning "the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices" (verse 1). Apparently these Galileans were pilgrims whom Pilate slaughtered while they were making animal sacrifices - thus their blood was mixed with the animal blood (see Carrington's reference to Josephus' document). Jesus understood the point of his question which is "did they suffer because of their sins?". He then asked him back to comment on likely another recent tragedy event concerning "the eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them" (verse 4). These were innocent people who died in an accident. They too didn't die because of their sins. (There is a lovely write up in Wikipedia about the Tower of Siloam). Jesus used both of these stories to warn those who were present that "Unless you repent, you too will all perish" (verse 5). He then further explained that true repentance should result in bearing fruit. He illustrated this with the parable of the fig tree (verse 6). In this parable, the owner (i.e. God) of the fig tree that didn't produce any fruit after 3 years told his servant to cut it down. But the servant pleaded with the owner to wait another year. He would dig around it and fertilize it to give it another chance. I think this servant is Jesus himself. He is ever so patient with us. He nurtures us to give us an opportunity to repent and bear fruit.

We are sad about many of the world's events these days. Many innocent people are killed. The most recent famous event happened during the Boston Marathon (Boston Marathon bombings April 15, 2013). When such event happens it will generate questions, many of which are spiritual in nature. If I remember what Jesus has taught me today, as much as I too would be upset and share the sadness with all, I could use the opportunity to point others to Jesus.

2 Peter 3:9

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Paying taxes

I delayed writing this blog until after filing my income tax. I want to use the opportunity to read through the scripture passages on this subject again and to explore it further.

The subject of paying taxes to Caesar can be found in three of the Gospels:
Matthews 22:15-22
Mark 12:13-17
Luke 20:20-26


All three passages are remarkably similar:

• The Pharisees, who were teachers of the law including the chief priests, along with the Herodians (possibly a political party), were looking for ways to catch Jesus saying something they can use to accuse him of.

• They began their question by complimenting Jesus' integrity and his teaching that is in accordance to God's law.

• The question was "Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?". 

• Jesus' answer includes an object lesson: he asked them to show him a denarius. "Whose image and inscription are on it?"

• His answer on the subject of paying taxes: "give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's".

• The questioners left astonished at Jesus' answer. They were unsuccessful in finding anything to accuse him of. (Note in Luke 23:2 these same people lied and accused Jesus of teaching his disciples not to pay tax to Caesar!)

Wikipedia has a very good write up on the "Render unto Caesar" theme, including the historical context and some of the modern interpretations.

Up until a few weeks ago, my understanding of this Gospel narrative has been along these lines:

• Paying tax honestly is my duty as a Christian. God wants me to act righteously in this area, as in "Do not steal. Do not lie. Do you deceive one another" (Leviticus 19:11).

• Paying tax is my duty as a citizen of this country. It's a way for me to pay for my share to support the government infrastructure and to (indirectly) help those who are in need of public support. My wife calls it a donation to the government! I think this relates to Paul's teaching in Roman 13:1-7 where he expounded on the theme of submitting to governing authorities: "this is why you also pay taxes" (verse 6).

• I don't think this "Paying taxes to Caesar" theme speaks to the matter of generous and cheerful giving by trusting God on his rich provision, as in 2 Corinthians 9:7. 

• I also don't think it is related to the "Paying the Temple Tax" theme in Matthews 17:24-27. BibleGateway.com has a very nice commentary on this.

Recently in a sermon by Bruxy Cavey "Jesus the Teacher" he said something quite new and remarkable. He shifted my focus on this Jesus' teaching: "give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" from Caesar to God! This teaching has more to say than paying taxes. It teaches me to give my entire life to God. I belong to God. For "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20). Now that's a new perspective!


Do I still feel annoyed by how much tax I paid? Yes. Do I try every possible means to reduce my tax? Maybe a little less. I have been so richly blessed with what I have been given. I feel less compelled to keep more of it for myself. Sometimes I can be quite distracted by all the things I have to do in order to reduce my tax that I have less of myself for God. I think Jesus has and will continue to have something to say about that!

I will not sacrifice to the Lord offerings what cost me nothing

I remember this verse well and had used it to remind myself many times when I was making decisions about giving. What I didn't remember was where the verse came from. I discovered today in my scripture reading (2 Samuel 23-24 and Luke 19:1-27) that the verse came from a much bigger story (2 Samuel 24:24). The interesting thing is that the Luke reading dovetails nicely on the same "giving" theme. This is what I have learned:

From the 2 Samuel story, King David was at the end of his life. He wrote a beautiful psalm (his epitaph?) in 2 Samuel 23:1-7 where he affirmed that he belonged to the Lord of the covenant (verse 1), that the Spirit of God spoke through him (verse 2), and that his life's work was to rule (as in Genesis 1:26) in righteousness and in the fear of God (verse 3). What a way to live (verse 4)! David further affirmed that God's contraints (his laws which he laid on our hearts) would help us become a better version of ourselves (verse 5). There will be enemies to stop us but God will triumph at the end (verses 6 & 7).

Unfortunately, just when he was at the high point of his life came his fall. He decided to show off what he has done in his life. I gathered that when he decided to count the strength of his fighting forces, he was not counting the "cost" as in this parable in Luke 14:28-33. He was just showing off his accomplishment. I can easily identify with him in this. It's very easy to do that as one faces the end of his life. He starts to look at his investment portfolio, how many degrees he has earned, the success of his children etc. Let this be a lesson...

Because of his folly the Lord punished him. He graciously gave him 3 choices of which he picked the plaque which killed 70,000 people! Speaking through the prophet Gad he was told to build an alter on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (remember they were the people David drove out of Jerusalem before he named the city after his own name?). The Jebusite was in no position to refuse David's request. Indeed he wanted to give the land to David for free. This was when David said these famous words: "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

In the Luke story, Zacchaeus was not just one of the average tax collectors who were hated by most Jews for collecting taxes for their enemy, the Caesar, and who were often corrupted people who levied additional burden on the people for their own benefits. He was in fact the chief tax collector of the city of Jericho and was wealthy. He had obviously became Christ's follower in this story.  As a repentent man, he named his sacrifice which was to give away half of what he owned and to pay back 4 times to people he had cheated. Is that sacrifice good enough? You judge!

Jesus followed this story with the parable of the Ten Minas which has its own lesson which I will do on another blog.

Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.

The title of this post came from Luke 17:37. A similar passage also appeared in Matthew 24:28. I have longed been puzzled by this statement and today I decided to do a little research on it. I discovered a neat site called Biblical Hermeneutics where a number of people gave their answers to the question. This is my favorite answer:

It's an idiom perhaps familiar to the listeners of Jesus' days. It's like saying "where there's smoke, there's fire." This is in answer to his disciples' question "Where, Lord?". Jesus in essence is saying - it will be obvious.

In this passage, Jesus was once asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come. So the question was "when". But Jesus' answer was not to give a date or a time. He explained: "the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed... the kingdom of God is in your midst."

Jesus then explained further to his own disciples:

• don't follow rumours about when and where he is coming
• his coming will be quick like lightning strike, but he must first suffer and be rejected
• like people in Noah's days or the judgement day for Sodom, people will be unaware of their impending doom
• on that day, Jesus will gather those who belong to him (to keep them from the harm caused by the judgement), wherever they are going about their business
• those belonging to him must be well prepared to go with him with no unfinished earthly business ("whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.")
• sometimes only one partner within a couple or one of many colleagues at work will be taken

The disciples, like many of us, still want to know, "Where (will they be gathered to), Lord?".
Jesus' answer: that should be pretty obvious to you!

I think he meant "heaven"!!! Maybe these should have been my questions:
What is heaven like? Do I want to go there? Am I ready to go? Has Jesus died for me? Do I not spend too much of my life trying to preserve it? How do I lose my life for Jesus' sake?

When I (with many other Jesus' followers) find the answers to these questions, the kingdom of God will be in our midst!

Why did Uzzah have to die

I came across this familiar passage again this morning. In 2 Samuel 6, it is said that after David became King and had finally driven out the Jebusites who were the inhabitants in Jerusalem to turn it into the City of David (2 Samuel 5:6-7), he decided to bring back the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Abinadab. Uzzah was one of the sons of Abinadab. He and his brother Ahio were guiding the new cart which King David has made for the transport. However, the oxen that were pulling the cart stumbled and Uzzah reached out with his hand to take hold of the Ark. 2 Samuel 6:6-7 said that "the Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act" and he struck him down and killed him. Because of this King David was angry - it is not clear whether he was angry with God or he was angry with Uzzah (for his irreverent act). But he was afraid of God and was not willing to move the ark to Jerusalem. He did eventually move the ark to Jerusalem after seeing how the ark blessed the household of Obed-Edom where he temporary placed the ark.

Whenever I read this passage my instinctive reaction is to judge God - he is vindictive, severe, and not nice at all. But this is so contrary to the rest of scripture so I must check my reaction and ask God to reveal the meaning of this passage even more sincerely. When I googled "Why did Uzzah have to die" there were quite a number of responses (57,400 search results in fact). I read through a number of them and summarized here:

Danny Bagget from the YouVersion (YouVersion is a new and popular free online bible translation) explained that in order to understand this, you have to make certain assumption. The ark had sat in the house of Abinidab for many years. We must assume that the event that took place on the threshing floor of Nakon was probably the consequence of years of Uzzah taking the ark of God in an irreverent manner. The ark in those days represented God's covenant love and his presence for the people of Israel ever since he took them out of Egypt, the land of bondage. The application for me is that I must not take God's love and his salvation flippantly. I should celebrate and honour his presence every day of my life.

Carey Scott did an extensive bible study on this passage in the simplebiblestudy.com site. His explanation is that Uzzah had the good intention to stop the ark from tumbling but nonetheless violated the strict instructions that God had given to the Israelites concerning the objects of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. So the purpose of this story in the bible is to remind us (and to warn us) that we must not think that we can serve God but ignore his teaching. In Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11, it is clear that the stories in the old testament, as strange and sometimes incomprehensible as they can be, are recorded for our learning and admonition so that we may have hope and assurance for the future.

Waiting at the airport again - what went wrong with Saul

Jane and I have had a wonderful week in Yuma and San Diego. We are at least two hours from taking off in San Diego. The scriptural readings this week had been quick and "done it" type which is strange given that I was on vacation and have had plenty of time to do just about anything. But that's the way it goes.

Today's scripture was from 1 Samuel 22-24; Luke 12:1-31. The troubling reading this entire week had been about Saul - what went wrong with this man, or this very first king of Israel? He had a great start. He was "as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else". (1 Samuei 9:2). He seemed like a responsible young man as demonstrated by his obedience to his father Kish to find the lost donkey. Although he was from the tribe of Benjamin - the smallest tribe in Israel, he was chosen by God to become the first king (1 Samuel 9:16). He was to deliver Israel from the oppressive Philistines. God manifested his presence by gifting Saul his sign of prophesying (1 Samuel 10:10). He had a passion for God's people and was able to inspire the tribes to come together as one to fight against their enemies (1 Samuel 11:1-11). He was thirty years old when he became king and ruled over Israel for forty two years.

But Saul made some mistakes, the worst of which involved him offering the burnt offering in Gilgal. It showed that he was inpatient. Instead of waiting for Samuel the priest to do the offering, he took matters into his own hands. He despised the whole religious institution established by God. He didn't trust God. Instead of waiting for God to deliver the victory, he had to do it himself.

Another serious mistake Saul made happened during the war against the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15). He was disobedient in following God's instruction to completely destroy the Amalekites. He just didn't see God's logic of destroying the animals which he thought he could use to offer sacrifices to the Lord. 

Samuel told him this famous verse:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices    
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,    
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,    
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,    
he has rejected you as king.”
(1 Samuel 15:22-23)

So this is the lesson I learned:
Obedience is far more important than sacrifice. In fact, obedience is the way we show our love to God. God has already made the ultimate and the last sacrifice by sending his own son to die on the cross for us. Also be aware of arrogance. I can create my own understanding of what is and what isn't God's plan for my life. There will be God's people like Samuel in my life. I would do well to listen to him.

Waiting at the airport - the birth of Samuel and Hannah's song

Flight is leaving in about an hour to San Diego. Getting here was quite stressful. Was up 5 hours ahead. It was not bad for rush hour traffic - got cut off only a couple of times. Got through the line up for Air Canada check in pretty quickly only to discover that the American Immigration was only letting people through who were two hours before boarding time. So Jane and I did our power walk with our luggage around the airport. The rest of check in was quite uneventful. It was particularly pleasant to have met a few friendly passengers and cheerful American Immigration service staff.

This should be a very nice vacation. We made the exact trip last year - will get off in San Diego and drive down to Yuma to visit Jane's relatives for a few days then back to San Diego for a few days of R&R. We enjoyed San Diego the last time and are expecting the same this time.

Today's scripture is from 1 Samuel 1-3 and Luke 8:26-56.

The first thing that strikes me is the familiar story around the birth of Samuel. His mother Hannah was not able to produce a child for many years. Her husband Elkanah had another wife who had several children. But Elkanah loved Hannah. He gave her a double portion of meat whenever it was his turn to offer sacrifice. However, his love was not sufficient to keep Hannah happy. She was barren and she suffered humiliation from her competition. Through her prayer, God eventually gave her a son whom she named Samuel, a declaration that Samuel was the result of an answered prayer.

There are several stories in the bible that have the same theme. Sarah gave birth to Isaac in her old age as a result of God fulfilling his promise to Abraham (Genesis 21:1-3), even though Abraham's first wife Hager had already produced a son for him (Genesis 16).  Rachel was in the same situation when she could not bear any children for Jacob (Genesis 30). God eventually answered Rachel's prayer and gave her a son whom she named Joseph.

The second thing that strikes me in this reading is Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). This beautiful song reminded me of Mary's song (Luke 1:46-55) which I had written in an earlier blog. Both songs begin with an outburst of praise. Both women acknowledged their humbled state and their need for divine intervention. God was the God Almighty who had delivered them from their enemies.

The lesson I learned from this reading:

• We are constrained by our culture in various ways (similar to Hannah's need to bear children as a woman which was considered a sign of God's blessing).
• God will answer our prayers in due time according to His purpose.
• In our prayers (and our song of praise) we would do well to remember our humble state and that He is God and we are NOT! And it is only by His power that we can accomplish our purpose.