pastorjohnb

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Trustworthy and Good

Reading: Daniel 6:1-10

Daniel 6:5 – “We won’t find any fault in Daniel, unless we can find something to use against him from his religious practices.”

As our reading begins King Darius appoints three gifted men to rule over his kingdom. Daniel is one of the three who are in charge of 120 chief administrators spread throughout the kingdom. Daniel excels, soon riding above the other two. The king is ready to reorganize, making Daniel the one in charge. Jealousy and envy kick in the other two main officers. They want to maintain their power and status. But instead of working harder… they choose to try to take Daniel down. We see this kind of behavior practiced all the time in our world.

As these men begin to plot and scheme, they soon discover a problem. They can’t find any dirt on Daniel. All he does is trustworthy and good. So they turn to the thing that makes him different. They say to one another, “We won’t find any fault in Daniel, unless we can find something to use against him from his religious practices.” It’s not that Daniel’s religion is wrong or illicit or anything else bad. It’s just different. So these two men, along with the 120 administrators, go to the king and trick him into writing a law that makes Daniel’s faith practices illegal. We also see this done today. Someone or a group of someones is different than “us.” Maybe “they” work harder than we want to or maybe “they” don’t believe or live or act like “we” do. So “we” label “them” and try to find ways to be rid of or to oppress or to extradite “them” from our presence.

The law is signed by the king and Daniel knows it. Despite it now being illegal, Daniel goes to his upper room and prays, as he always did. What leads Daniel to choose to honor God over the king’s law? Daniel is trustworthy and good. His priorities match his commitment. God and his faith are the most important things in Daniel’s life. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, we can do relate to this story – maybe too often from the wrong side. We can be quick to judge and label others, leading to mistreatment, marginalization, or worse. When we are tempted to do these evils, remind us what absolute faith and trust in you looks like. Guide us to keep you on the throne of our hearts, no matter what. Lead us to live lives that are trustworthy and good. Amen.


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Very Nice Folks

Reading: Mark 2: 23-28

Verse 27: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”.

The Pharisees lived by a lot of rules. The many, many rules had become their way of life and their religion. Following the rules had even obscured their common sense. They were rule followers instead of God followers. This concept is sometimes seen in our churches today.

Jesus’ disciples are walking along and they are hungry. They pick a few heads of grain to snack on. To us this does not seem to serious, but the Pharisees asks, “Why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath”? You see, picking grain was work and work is illegal on the Sabbath. It does not matter if they were hungry. It wouldn’t even have mattered to the rule followers if the disciples were starving to death. It does not matter. They should have planned ahead – they know when the Sabbath is!

Jesus takes this in and responds thusly, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. He is saying to look beyond the rule so they can see the need. Look past being rule followers and become God followers. Have compassion. Show mercy. Extend love. But these are hard choices because this goes against the rules. Sometimes we see this in our churches too.

On Sunday mornings we are a pretty homogeneous bunch. On the last Sunday evening each month, we offer a free community meal. There is not a lot of homelessness in the community, but there is some poverty. Last night we had a struggling family come to the meal. Really nice folks – husband and wife and six young kids, plus Grandma in tow. Kids had big smiles on their faces and I had a nice chat with Mom and Dad. Very nice folks.

As I consider the Sabbath rules that caused so much tension in today’s passage, I wonder how things would go if this family showed up next Sunday morning at 9:00 for worship. Sometimes we can allow rules to get in the way of love and compassion and empathy. Sometimes we can be rule followers instead of Jesus followers. Sometimes it is hard. I hope these very nice folks come this Sunday morning. It is good for us to practice being Jesus followers. Sometimes what we practice becomes what we are. Very nice folks, hope to see you this Sunday morning!