May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Lent 4
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: March 25, 2001
TEXT: Luke 15:(1-3), 11-32 –
Parable of the Prodigal Son, The Lost Son,
The Loving Father
“Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” . . . . “’Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. . . . . ‘”
ISSUE: The main issue of this parable is the incredible love of the Father for his sons. He ends up stripped naked as he gives them all he has. It tells of the incredible love and grace of God for his creation and his people. Certainly there are themes of repentance and conversion, which can only come after the recognition of the profound love of God for his people.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This fourth Sunday in Lent is often referred to as Refreshment Sunday, or in Church of England, as Mothering Sunday. It was sort of the church’s Mother’s Day in England, and the aspect of Refreshment Sunday came from the fact that this Sunday is approximately the middle of Lent, and there tended to be in the earlier church a lightening up of the Lenten Discipline on this particular Sunday. For many years the assigned Gospel reading for this Lent 4 Sunday was The Feeding of the Five Thousand in which the followers of Jesus were refreshed by this miracle. Now that we have a three year cycle of assigned lectionary readings, this year we read another rather refreshing portion of Luke’s Gospel, The Parable of the Prodigal Son, also referred to as The Parable of the Two Sons, and also known as The Parable of the Loving Father. Whatever you want to call it, it is one of Jesus’ most refreshing parables and might also be referred to as The Queen of Parables.
This parable is set in the context of sinners, tax collectors, and other outcasts coming to listen to Jesus, and the Pharisees and teachers of the Law begin grumbling that Jesus welcomes and eats with them. So Jesus tells them this parable.
Let examine some of the elements of this rich parable so that we can best understand what Jesus is saying. Admittedly it is one of the more well known of the parables of Jesus, and one that so many of us are familiar with that we might lose the impact of the story. There are several interpretations of the Parable, and there is also an inclination to take it so seriously that it loses its power and luster.
A father has two sons, and the eldest of the two goes to his father demanding his share of the inheritance. What the kid is in fact saying is that he wishes his father was dead. To ask for you inheritance before the father was deceased was insulting, crass, despicable. However, the father caves into the request and gives the brat his one-third share of the inheritance. Obviously this is a kid that you can’t do anything with. His father must sell off some of the land to pay him. Dividing up the family property was rarely done, unless it had to be done. This kid is denouncing his family, and bringing shame on it. And so he heads off to a foreign country to earn his fortune.
Leaving behind every support system of his life, he becomes most unfortunate, as would be expected at this time. He mismanages his inheritance in loose lewd debauchery, indulging all of his appetites. In addition a famine comes upon the land, likely to be Gentile territory, and he is reduced to being a swine herder. Mind you, here’s what was a fine Jewish boy, who’d had his bar mitzvah, now wallowing in the mud with pigs. He’s sunk to the lowest point; he’s hit bottom. He is totally impure. So he supposedly comes to his senses, and remembers what it was like back home. So he decides to be repentant. He sets up his story line for returning home. He’ll tell his father he is not worthy to be his son. He will work as a paid hired servant, if his father will have him. The implication here is that if he is a paid hired servant, he might consider paying his father back. He prepares a speech of repentance, “Father I have sinned against heaven - which means God, as he is unworthy to say the name – and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired hands.” He’s now ready for the journey.
The father seeing him coming down the road runs out to greet him, and begins kissing him over and over again. The father is said to greet him with great compassion, and it was also with great protection as well. If the other fathers in the community had seen him first, they would most likely have stoned him to death. He was impure, a brat, a very bad example for their own sons. Next thing you know every kid in town might want to leave the farm. So the father is protecting the boy. As the boy starts to make his repentant speech, the father sends for a fine robe, most likely his own best robe, and sandals for his feet. Hired servants and slaves would have been barefoot, so the sandals indicated a restoration to the family, not to mention the signet ring which gives the boy full family authority. He can sign and seal the checks, and transact family business. He receives full restoration via the compassionate father for his repentance. Finally, the father orders the slaughter of the fatted calf and plans a very festive party with music and dancing. The fatted calf was intended for the older brother’s marriage feast. The whole village is invited. Father and prodigal son will live happily ever after.
However, there is the other son who has born the heat of the day, and when he hears of his fathers warm cordial welcome for the prodigal he becomes incensed. When the father comes to him to encourage him to come to the party, he dishonors his father by failing to call him by his title. He refers to his brother not as his brother, but as his father’s son. He resents the killing of the fatted calf which was to be for his wedding. He’s received not so much as a goat or sheep to share with his friends, and his father has slaughtered it for this lust loving brother. He is recalcitrant.
Yet, the father pleads. “You have been with me always, everything I have is yours, but your brother was dead and has come back to life; he was lost, and has been found.” Whether or not the older brother will come in or not we do not know. We are left with that mystery.
What does it all mean? Well, many will argue that it is unfair. The father seems much too easy on the prodigal wayward son. Although we do have a way of sometimes enjoy and side with the loveable scoundrel who gets away with something, maybe betraying our own desire to get away with something. We see in the parable a theme or call to repentance and conversion. The young wayward son appears to repent, and we hope the older son will do the same, as opposed to being so rigid and bitter. He sees himself as a servant not a full member of the family. He perceives his life in the family as drudgery, and not as a contribution to the well being of the family. What you have here really are two wayward sons, one ambitious, carefree, and very self-centered and destructive. The older son is ungrateful and unappreciative of all that has been given him: the protection, education, his place in the family is unchanged. Can he repent, change in to becoming a more grateful sensitive and compassionate person; we don’t know? We may all see ourselves like both of the two brothers, depending on our fickle moods. There are things that we need to do and become as the children of God. We have all known our moments of careless, irresponsible actions and times of foolishness. We all can surely be very self-righteous and uncompassionate, and lacking in our sense of brotherly (sisterly) love.
There is something more to this parable than whether or not you and I become converted or repentant. Those things seem maybe a little too obvious, and too pious. It is thought that to just see the parable as a cause for repentance and how the bad brother comes out with a feast was not really new to Jesus’ listeners. The Hebrew Scriptures were full of stories about scoundrels and younger brothers coming out well in the end. Cain kills Abel and gets a mark of protection. Jacob steals his birthright away from his older brother Esau, and gets away with it. Joseph, a younger spoiled kid who torments his brothers with his visions of his grandeur becomes the Prime Minister of Egypt. David, son of Jesse, and last of the seven sons becomes the lustful but great King of Israel. What is at the heart of this parable is not whether you and I or anybody else repents or gets converted. It is the FATHER in the story who is the main character and is the real thrust of the parable, not the sons. Furthermore our moralizations of the parable tend to tame it. And it cannot be a parable of Jesus’ if it is tamed.
The Father in the story is surreal; in fact, the Father is almost like a burlesque figure. The whole parable if we are to understand it in its deepest meaning must been seen almost as comedians on the stage. There is this family with two lousy kids. One is always in trouble and is a spoiled brat, and the other is a righteous goodie-goodie whose going to tell on his brother. He’s do what you tell him to do, but he’ll hate every minute of it. Then there’s the father who is a pushover. He caves in to the spoiled brat and lets him go on his way. When the kid finds himself in the pigsty, he decides what he’ll do. Dad’s got plenty of stuff left, so I’ll go back and tell him (sarcastically), “Father I have sinned before heaven and you. I can’t be your son. Let me be a hired servant.” Dad’ll fall for that. This is what is often referred to as a “Soup Kitchen Conversion.” Give me something to eat, and I’ll repent. As he heads home, the Father sees him coming up the road. The Father picks up his skirts and runs down the road. Honorable, distinguished fathers did not run in these days, but this one does. The prodigal is just barely ready to make his rehearsed speech of repentance, when the Father demands that they bring him the finest robe in the house, get him shoes, get him the ring of authority, get him this, get him that, it is a great scene of abundant extravagant exaggeration of benevolence for a spoiled brat.
Is this what a Father would do? No, of course not! . . . . . . It’s what a Mother would do! Have you ever seen Rembrandts painting of the Prodigal Son? The father in the painting is embracing his son with his arms around him. One hand is a definite masculine hand, the other is the tender hand of a woman! Is God like a MOTHER? Is that what Jesus suggesting in the story? You bet that got people’s attention!
Then the Father says kill the fatted calf. Not a little sheep, lamb, or goat. But put a cow on the table! Call in the musicians and lets get the party going the son which was dead is alive, who was lost is found. Get the picture, an enormous feast is being set up whether or not any of the community comes. The father is going to sit down at the table and eat with this impure sinner and have dinner. The Father is a lunatic.
Now here’s the hooker.
Then he goes out to the older son outside, not exactly what a Father with servants would do. He tells the recalcitrant son, everything I have is yours, please come to the banquet, the festivities. Lighten up and come in; be refreshed.
Now notice this, the Father gave to his youngest son what he asked for. He offers in the end everything else to the older son. The Father in his surreal and incredible love has given everything, everything, away. He stands naked before the world. Sounds something like Jesus on the cross.
Sunday, March 25, 2001
Sunday, March 11, 2001
Lent 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Lent 2
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: March 11, 2001
TEXT: Luke 13:22-35 – At that very hour Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work . . . . How often have I desired to gather you4r children together as a hen gathers her brood under he wings, and you were not willing!’”
ISSUE: Jesus is fixed and intent on his mission, in spite of Herod the Fox. He will persist as the Mother Hen in the call and protection of her chicks. The passage calls the people of God to be repentant and focused on their mission to enter and join with Christ in the Kingdom or Realm of God. Lent calls us to renew our focus on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the cross, and keep aimed as people of God in a world of distractions.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem and his eventual crucifixion on the cross. As he makes his way toward Jerusalem he teaches and preaches in the villages along the way. A significant part of Jesus’ teaching was his belief that God sought to establish a new Kingdom of justice and love. This proclamation was good news in a world that was full of injustice, cruelty, and the degradation of so many poor people. Jesus’ movement and followers were probably few in number. The question is raised, “Will only a few be saved?” The question seems to mean will only a few be allowed to enter this Kingdom of God. Jesus’ reply is that they must struggle, strive, work at, entering through the narrow door, “Many will try, but will not make it.” So you get a picture of a large crowd of people trying to enter a house, but the owner of the house closes the door and excludes a large number of people. And those people continue to knock at the door crying, but “Lord, open to us. We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evil doers.” These lines are similar to the parable of The Wise and Foolish Virgins who arrive late at the bridegrooms wedding feast. We’ve heard them before and they’re always disturbing.
At this time, eating together had a great significance. People who ate together were considered a part of an “in-group.” Many people who had eaten with Jesus and listened to his teachings saw themselves as having a special worthiness when it came to the Kingdom of God. It is also to be noted that many Jewish people of this time believed that by virtue of their heritage, they were automatically worthy, and considered themselves ‘the chosen,’ of the Kingdom of God by their DNA. Jesus challenges that belief. You neither get into the Kingdom of God by virtue of your heritage, nor by listening and having had a casual acquaintance with Jesus. You don’t get to the Kingdom simply be virtue that your great grandfather was baptized in our font, or that he helped build the church. Privilege is not in your heritage; it is in your personal repentance, change, and commitment to the way of God.
It will be something of a shock to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and many repentant disenfranchised people and Gentiles coming from the north, east, south, and west eating in the Kingdom of God. We get the impression that a sizeable response of the unlikely folk may well inherit the Kingdom.
While Jesus is making these points, he is told by some Pharisees that Herod wants to kill him. Whether this is a fair warning on the part of some Pharisees, or whether they are trying to run him off, we can’t be sure. We do know that Herod Antipas did kill John the Baptist who taught repentance. So it is a fair warning. But Jesus’ response is interesting, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to killed outside of Jerusalem.’” A fox was considered to be sly animal, the most destructive of animals, and symbol of a worthless and insignificant man. The image of Herod the fox is contrasted with the image of Jesus as the Mother Hen who has made every effort to gather a larger community under his protective wings that would not listen and significantly embrace him. This part of the passage clearly implies that though the powers of the world seek to wipe out the ministry, healing, and graciousness of Jesus Christ, that ministry will be neither distracted, nor fearful, nor minimized, nor eradicated. Jesus Christ persists in a clear unwaivering commitment to his meaning and purposeful ministry. He will not be distracted from what must be done.
What’s all this about? Any of us who live in families know well that in spite of the fact we’d like to think life is easy, it is not. Good sound family life is hard work. It’s not just a matter of eating together, and listening to one another, as important as those two aspects are. But it is seeing one another through sickness and other bad times when there is trouble. It is hard to influence and keep our children doing their homework. There are many activities that we all are encourage to participate in: sports, music, community projects and involvements, the church. Saving for the future, and making financial ends meet isn’t always easy. Finding time for recreation and vacations, quality time together are important for the health of a family. And when I talk of family, I mean to include the extended family as well. There are many demands; and it is not always easy. It is a struggle, and that’s one of the realities of our lives. In order to keep the family strong, intact, and healthy everyone needs to stay focused and committed to doing their part.
At the same time there are many things that distract from our being healthy people in families, both within and without. If someone in the family is not pulling their weight, there’s a problem. If drugs and alcohol become a factor in a family, it becomes badly dysfunctional. There are also problems from the outside. Sometimes the demands, or at least what we see as demands become overwhelming: working too hard, loss of a job and diminished income, the demands to become over involved in so many community activities. The influences of the culture that challenge our moral standards can be a real problem. Watching TV at the so-called ‘family hours’ can at times be embarrassing even in mixed adult company. We are bombarded with anger and rage that seems to have infiltrated our way of life. Look what all this may be affecting our school children in this nation when we experience the shootings and violence.
What this passage from Luke is saying today, is that in fact. Life is a struggle. It is demanding. In order to maintain justice, love, mercy, compassion, and a meaningful purposeful life you have to keep focuses. The gateway to the world is big and wide. But the way to God’s way, to the realm of God requires keeping our spiritual lives fixed on the narrow door. You must not underestimate your need to keep focused in the present and rely on the past and your heritage. It was great if you were an acolyte where you were a kid, but what is your Christian focus today as a part of the family of God. You see Herod is all around us. The ways of the world culture that both distracts and misleads us can be devastating, not just to family life, but to our existence as worthwhile human beings as well. Civility, sense of caring for community and the common good, can be lost in a culture of violence, fear, materialism, success demands. Becoming over extended weakens our overall being of who we are and what our real skills and talents are. People eventually say, “I’m burned out.”
Jesus says to the Pharisee, “Tell Herod the Fox, [the world], that I am committed to my calling which came to me from God. I am staying focused on what God is calling me to do, until my time is finished.” At the risk of the world, and at the risk of crucifixion, Jesus remains faithful to his calling to bring the world safely to the protection and love of God. The whole idea of Jesus as a mother hen seems so very counter cultural for the time, but so vivid expresses the mother’s love of her children and the risks she takes for her children in the face of the fox.
Some may remember the time when they were in school, and how during the exam times there always seemed to be so many distractions. There was always good weather that tended to call you away from the books. There was always the guy that had finished his exams and encouraged you to go some where wonderful before you had finished yours. There was even the temptation just to give up; “I’ll never know this stuff,” or “What good will it do me anyway?” Sometimes you persisted, and sometimes you allow the distractions to overcome to the expense of a good grade.
Somehow this season of Lent seems to me to be like exam time for us Christians. It is our time to study or reflect on our relationship with God, and with our Lord. We have to ask if we just take our Christianity for granted and as something that is just a passive part of our heritage, or is it integrated into our being. We have to be aware that we can be called away and distracted, the world is very demanding. We have to examine the heart and its richness in love, its caring concern for God’s world. We all need to enter into the struggle, the narrow door, of awareness of what God’s Kingdom, or Realm really is.
Recently I read an article about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower started to lean from the time it was built. Sandy soil under its foundation very early on could not bear the weight. The workers building the tower realized it was leaning, and made compensations in order to straighten it. Had they not done that, the tower would have fallen over by now. But it still leans and is again in danger of falling. Workmen are trying again to adjust its foundations to bring the tower back in plumb to prevent its falling. The tower will never be completely perpendicular. But it can be kept from falling.
No one of us is ever completely perfect. We can only hope to become more mature. But in our humanness, we always have to recheck our foundations, and allow God to keep us as plumb as possible, and enable our foundation in the ways of Jesus Christ to be perfected. May we with Christ continue to be authentic partners in the Dominion of God.
SEASON: Lent 2
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: March 11, 2001
TEXT: Luke 13:22-35 – At that very hour Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work . . . . How often have I desired to gather you4r children together as a hen gathers her brood under he wings, and you were not willing!’”
ISSUE: Jesus is fixed and intent on his mission, in spite of Herod the Fox. He will persist as the Mother Hen in the call and protection of her chicks. The passage calls the people of God to be repentant and focused on their mission to enter and join with Christ in the Kingdom or Realm of God. Lent calls us to renew our focus on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the cross, and keep aimed as people of God in a world of distractions.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem and his eventual crucifixion on the cross. As he makes his way toward Jerusalem he teaches and preaches in the villages along the way. A significant part of Jesus’ teaching was his belief that God sought to establish a new Kingdom of justice and love. This proclamation was good news in a world that was full of injustice, cruelty, and the degradation of so many poor people. Jesus’ movement and followers were probably few in number. The question is raised, “Will only a few be saved?” The question seems to mean will only a few be allowed to enter this Kingdom of God. Jesus’ reply is that they must struggle, strive, work at, entering through the narrow door, “Many will try, but will not make it.” So you get a picture of a large crowd of people trying to enter a house, but the owner of the house closes the door and excludes a large number of people. And those people continue to knock at the door crying, but “Lord, open to us. We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evil doers.” These lines are similar to the parable of The Wise and Foolish Virgins who arrive late at the bridegrooms wedding feast. We’ve heard them before and they’re always disturbing.
At this time, eating together had a great significance. People who ate together were considered a part of an “in-group.” Many people who had eaten with Jesus and listened to his teachings saw themselves as having a special worthiness when it came to the Kingdom of God. It is also to be noted that many Jewish people of this time believed that by virtue of their heritage, they were automatically worthy, and considered themselves ‘the chosen,’ of the Kingdom of God by their DNA. Jesus challenges that belief. You neither get into the Kingdom of God by virtue of your heritage, nor by listening and having had a casual acquaintance with Jesus. You don’t get to the Kingdom simply be virtue that your great grandfather was baptized in our font, or that he helped build the church. Privilege is not in your heritage; it is in your personal repentance, change, and commitment to the way of God.
It will be something of a shock to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and many repentant disenfranchised people and Gentiles coming from the north, east, south, and west eating in the Kingdom of God. We get the impression that a sizeable response of the unlikely folk may well inherit the Kingdom.
While Jesus is making these points, he is told by some Pharisees that Herod wants to kill him. Whether this is a fair warning on the part of some Pharisees, or whether they are trying to run him off, we can’t be sure. We do know that Herod Antipas did kill John the Baptist who taught repentance. So it is a fair warning. But Jesus’ response is interesting, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to killed outside of Jerusalem.’” A fox was considered to be sly animal, the most destructive of animals, and symbol of a worthless and insignificant man. The image of Herod the fox is contrasted with the image of Jesus as the Mother Hen who has made every effort to gather a larger community under his protective wings that would not listen and significantly embrace him. This part of the passage clearly implies that though the powers of the world seek to wipe out the ministry, healing, and graciousness of Jesus Christ, that ministry will be neither distracted, nor fearful, nor minimized, nor eradicated. Jesus Christ persists in a clear unwaivering commitment to his meaning and purposeful ministry. He will not be distracted from what must be done.
What’s all this about? Any of us who live in families know well that in spite of the fact we’d like to think life is easy, it is not. Good sound family life is hard work. It’s not just a matter of eating together, and listening to one another, as important as those two aspects are. But it is seeing one another through sickness and other bad times when there is trouble. It is hard to influence and keep our children doing their homework. There are many activities that we all are encourage to participate in: sports, music, community projects and involvements, the church. Saving for the future, and making financial ends meet isn’t always easy. Finding time for recreation and vacations, quality time together are important for the health of a family. And when I talk of family, I mean to include the extended family as well. There are many demands; and it is not always easy. It is a struggle, and that’s one of the realities of our lives. In order to keep the family strong, intact, and healthy everyone needs to stay focused and committed to doing their part.
At the same time there are many things that distract from our being healthy people in families, both within and without. If someone in the family is not pulling their weight, there’s a problem. If drugs and alcohol become a factor in a family, it becomes badly dysfunctional. There are also problems from the outside. Sometimes the demands, or at least what we see as demands become overwhelming: working too hard, loss of a job and diminished income, the demands to become over involved in so many community activities. The influences of the culture that challenge our moral standards can be a real problem. Watching TV at the so-called ‘family hours’ can at times be embarrassing even in mixed adult company. We are bombarded with anger and rage that seems to have infiltrated our way of life. Look what all this may be affecting our school children in this nation when we experience the shootings and violence.
What this passage from Luke is saying today, is that in fact. Life is a struggle. It is demanding. In order to maintain justice, love, mercy, compassion, and a meaningful purposeful life you have to keep focuses. The gateway to the world is big and wide. But the way to God’s way, to the realm of God requires keeping our spiritual lives fixed on the narrow door. You must not underestimate your need to keep focused in the present and rely on the past and your heritage. It was great if you were an acolyte where you were a kid, but what is your Christian focus today as a part of the family of God. You see Herod is all around us. The ways of the world culture that both distracts and misleads us can be devastating, not just to family life, but to our existence as worthwhile human beings as well. Civility, sense of caring for community and the common good, can be lost in a culture of violence, fear, materialism, success demands. Becoming over extended weakens our overall being of who we are and what our real skills and talents are. People eventually say, “I’m burned out.”
Jesus says to the Pharisee, “Tell Herod the Fox, [the world], that I am committed to my calling which came to me from God. I am staying focused on what God is calling me to do, until my time is finished.” At the risk of the world, and at the risk of crucifixion, Jesus remains faithful to his calling to bring the world safely to the protection and love of God. The whole idea of Jesus as a mother hen seems so very counter cultural for the time, but so vivid expresses the mother’s love of her children and the risks she takes for her children in the face of the fox.
Some may remember the time when they were in school, and how during the exam times there always seemed to be so many distractions. There was always good weather that tended to call you away from the books. There was always the guy that had finished his exams and encouraged you to go some where wonderful before you had finished yours. There was even the temptation just to give up; “I’ll never know this stuff,” or “What good will it do me anyway?” Sometimes you persisted, and sometimes you allow the distractions to overcome to the expense of a good grade.
Somehow this season of Lent seems to me to be like exam time for us Christians. It is our time to study or reflect on our relationship with God, and with our Lord. We have to ask if we just take our Christianity for granted and as something that is just a passive part of our heritage, or is it integrated into our being. We have to be aware that we can be called away and distracted, the world is very demanding. We have to examine the heart and its richness in love, its caring concern for God’s world. We all need to enter into the struggle, the narrow door, of awareness of what God’s Kingdom, or Realm really is.
Recently I read an article about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower started to lean from the time it was built. Sandy soil under its foundation very early on could not bear the weight. The workers building the tower realized it was leaning, and made compensations in order to straighten it. Had they not done that, the tower would have fallen over by now. But it still leans and is again in danger of falling. Workmen are trying again to adjust its foundations to bring the tower back in plumb to prevent its falling. The tower will never be completely perpendicular. But it can be kept from falling.
No one of us is ever completely perfect. We can only hope to become more mature. But in our humanness, we always have to recheck our foundations, and allow God to keep us as plumb as possible, and enable our foundation in the ways of Jesus Christ to be perfected. May we with Christ continue to be authentic partners in the Dominion of God.
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