Judge Deborah

Scripture:

Judges 4:1-23

Quick Summary:

Israel ends up under the control of the Canaanite king. Israel’s Judge Deborah calls Commander Barak to fight him. Barak says not without her. She says, “Only if you are ok with sharing the victory with a woman.” Sure enough, a woman named Jael ends up killing the enemy commander with a tent peg through his temple.

The Point:

Barak gave up his honor and asked for help. It’s hard to ask for help, but God’s mission is more important than our pride.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Who was the judge? What did she do?

        a. Judge Deborah told Commander Barak to fight the evil king and free Israel.

2.     What did Barak do?

        a. He said ok, if you come with me. He asked for her help.

3. Why was that a big deal?

        a.   Because that  meant a woman would get the honor/credit and he wouldn’t. 

3.     Did a woman get the credit?

        a.      Yes, but not Deborah. It was Jael who killed the enemy commander with a tent peg through his temple. 

Deeper:

            Deborah is one of the first women in the Bible that God used in leadership in a world thick with patriarchy. In fact, even today with equal employment for men and women in just about every profession, the government and military still are heavily led by men and a macho-culture. It doesn’t take us much imagination to see how far out on a limb Barak was going. First, he receives his marching orders from a woman. Than he requests her presence as a leader during the battle. Deborah herself seems a little taken aback by this request. 

         She seems to say, “Are you sure you are going to be okay if I get credit for the win?” 

         Barak doesn’t back down. He knows who the leader should be. He knows he can’t do it on his own, even if he loses face. He needs help. Not just any help. He needs Deborah the Judge. 

In a wild turn, Deborah ends up right but not by the means everyone expected. It wasn’t the great leader Barak. It wasn’t the great leader Deborah. Victory would come from a quite woman without a sword or even a knife at her disposal. The only thing she had handy to slay the enemy was the very peg keeping her tent up. Jael would topple the great Commander Sisera while he slept sure he was safe in her care. 

This story, with all of its twists and turns, reminds us how important it is to receive help, even from the most unlikely of places. It doesn’t matter how grand our title, whether Commander or Judge or Housewife (Tent-wife?). God calls us to help each other and to welcome help, even when it may hurt our pride to do so. 

God wants us to use our gifts in leadership like Deborah. He wants us to ask for help like Barak. He wants us to fight his battles no matter how small we may think we are like Jael. 

Personal Reflection:

               Where in your life is pride keeping you from asking for help? Where is your humility getting in the way of you doing your part in God’s kingdom?

Ehud, the Left-handed

Scripture:

Judges 3:12-31

Quick Summary:

Israel is under the rule of the Moab king Eglon. Along comes Ehud, the Judge, who is left-handed and had a reputation of being tricky. He used those tricky skills to kill the king and free Israel from Moab.

The Point:

No matter what others think about us, God can use us to do his work.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Why did people think badly about Ehud?

a.      He was left handed, and everyone thought if you were left handed you must be bad.

2.     How did Ehud use his left handedness for God?

a.  The king didn’t think he was grabbing his sword until it was too late. He killed the evil king.

What did Ehud do?

a.     He plunged the sword into the kings belly, and the king’s guts fell out, and the sword got stuck in his fat. (Gross!)

3.     What did you learn?

a.      No matter what people say is “wrong” with me, God can use it for good!

Deeper:

            The stories of the judges are not sweet stories. They are pretty violent and pretty gross. They are some of the most exciting and vivid stories of the Bible. Even though they can be gory, at the heart, they tell us amazing truths about God and his love for his people. That’s why I am excited to tell these crazy stories to the kids. Our story for today will definitely not disappoint. Stabbing a king and watching his guts pour out. His fat wrapping around the sword. Gross.
            But the real story of God’s love comes before all that craziness when God chooses Ehud. The only thing we are told about Ehud is that he was left handed. For us, this seems a non-descriptor all together. Who cares if he is left-handed? It just means he needs a different set of scissors, right?
            For the Israelites, and the first readers of this text, left-handed meant a lot more. It meant this man was known for being a trickster. He was known for being sneaky and untrustworthy. Those left-handed people were not to be trusted. You never knew what they were up to. Being left-handed came with a bad reputation. Ehud came with a bad reputation.
            Yet, God chooses him, over all the “good boys” in Israel to free God’s people. In fact, God chooses him not despite his flaws, but it appears for his flaws. Ehud does what everyone would expect of him…he tricks the king into trusting him. The wild part of this story is that God takes this flaw, and uses it for his kingdom. He doesn’t ask Ehud to change who he is. He asks Ehud to use his flaws for God’s work.
            We often talk about giving God our gifts, but Ehud reminds us that God wants all of us, flaws included. He wants those parts of us that we are not proud of. The parts that we are made fun of for or looked down on for. He says those bits of us…the divorce, our imperfect bodies, our history of drug use, and our imperfect parenting…those things of ill repute are his tools for changing the world. And he says this for our kids too. Not good at school? God can use it. Not great at sports? God can use it. Not cool? God needs you. Can’t sit still to save your life? God wants us, flaws and all. God sees potential where we only see brokenness.

Personal Reflection:

               What do you see as your flaws? How could God use those flaws to make the world a better place?

Good News is Proclaimed to the Poor

Scripture:

Luke 6:17-23

Quick Summary:

Jesus blesses the people who thought they were cursed.

The Point:

No matter what is going wrong in your life, God still love you and is with you!

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Why did people think they were cursed by God?

a.      Bad stuff was happening to them.

2.     Like what bad stuff?

a.      They were poor and hungry. People they loved kept dying.

3.      What was the good news Jesus proclaimed?

a.        When we go through hard stuff, it’s not because we are cursed by God.

Deeper:

In the Old Testament, when the Hebrews came into the Promised Land, they were told to stop in a valley. On one side was Mount Gerizim, on the other side Mount Ebal. There in the valley, the whole Law was read to them. Every rule, every commandment was said in front of all the people. Then half of the Hebrews went and stood on one mountain the other half on the other mountain. The ones on Mount Gerizim shouted out what would happen if they followed God’s Law. They shouted The Blessings. Then, those on Mount Ebal shouted out what would happen if the law was disobeyed…the curses.

Right at the birth of the nation, the people learn that if they do right by God, they will be blessed. If they do wrong by God, they will be cursed. For thousands of years later, they held this belief that if your life appears to be cursed, like you live in poverty, or are disabled, or keep losing people you love, you must have broken God’s law to receive such a curse.

This is the world that Jesus comes into. In this world, to these people who seem to be cursed by God, Jesus comes down the mountains to the people. He proclaims good news by blessing the cursed people:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²² Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

Jesus takes the cursed and rejected and he tells them that God has not cursed them.  Instead God has blessed them. God has given his kingdom to the poor. He will feed the hungry. He will bring joy to those with sorrow. He will bless the lonely and rejected. God has an eternal home for these people.

Jesus lifts the curse that these people were carrying. When everyone around them are accusing them of sin, and telling them they must have deserved their misfortune, Jesus shows up.  Is there really any news that could have been better for them?

This is the good news He proclaims for us: No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, God loves you. Our blessings are not how well it rains, or how well the stock market does. Our blessings are not even if we are popular and well liked. Our blessings are this:

Ours is the kingdom of God!

We will be satisfied.

We will experience joy again.

God does not reject or desert us!

We have an eternity with him waiting for us.

This is the Good News! Even when the world tells us we are cursed, We know that God is for us!

Personal Reflection:

               When have you been surprisingly blessed in moments of hardship? What hardships are you facing right now? How do you see God blessing you in the midst of them?

The Easter Story

Scripture:

Matthew 28:1-10

Quick Summary:

Jesus dies on the cross for our sins. Then, on Sunday morning, a few women go to the tomb to honor him. There is an earthquake, an angel appears and the soldiers faint they are so scared. But the women or filled with so much joy that the grave couldn’t hold Jesus, that they run to tell everyone the good news. Jesus is victorious over death!

The Point:

Jesus dies for our sins and rises to new life.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Why did Jesus die?

a.     He died so our sins and mistakes.

2.     Why did he rise from death?

a.  He rose to show he had the power of God in him. Because he rose, all of us can have life forever!

3.     What did everyone feel at first?

a.      scared still

4. What did the women feel next?

a. MEGA Joy!

5. What did the women do because of their joy?  

a. Ran to tell others about Jesus.  

Deeper:

Jesus has died on the cross and been laid in the tomb. This morning, the women are going to pay their respects at the tomb. Then something crazy happens. An earthquake announces the arrival of an angel who pushes the stone away from the entrance. This event is so wild, that the trained soldiers guarding the tomb faint. Actually the Bible says they “become like dead men” because of their fear. That inability to move is everyone’s reaction in Matthew to this kind of fear. The Greek word is actually phobos as in phobia. It is a fear that paralyzes people. It stops them in their tracks. It is a crippling shock that makes us, as we say “a deer in the headlights.”

The soldiers’ reaction is completely predictable, but the women’s response is completely not predictable. Rather than being stuck, we find them running. In fact, we find them sprinting as though they were racing, running to tell the disciples that Jesus is not dead…Jesus is ALIVE.

How did the women, who should have responded with paralysis, RUN with the good news? The answer is right there in our text. They were still afraid, but they also were filled with JOY. This is the same joy that Jesus talks about over and over in his parables…the joy we experience when God’s kingdom breaks through the darkness of our world.

These women had much to fear but their joy in God’s work on earth was greater than their fear. Because of joy, they would run into a dark and broken world. Because of joy they would be the first to worship the risen Lord. Because of joy they would be the first preachers of the Resurrection. Because of joy that God will not let darkness overtake his kingdom. God has broken into the world to save it, and no one can stop him. 

Personal Reflection:

               When has fear stopped you? When has the joy of Jesus moved you forward?

Jesus Healing: Dead are Raised

Scripture:

Luke 7:1-17

Quick Summary:

Jesus brings the centurion’s servant back to life. Then, on the way to the cemetery, he brings the widow’s son back to life. 

The Point:

Jesus can restore our lives, no matter who we are or how we are different.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     What was the miracle today?

a.     Jesus raised the dead.

2.     Who was dead?

a.  The centurion’s servant and the widow’s son.

3.     How were they different?

a.      The centurion was a really good guy who was a VIP. The widow was really poor and not important in her community at all. She was going to have to be a beggar or slave if Jesus didn’t do it.

4. How were they the same?

a. They both needed Jesus help.

5. Do you think Jesus would help you?  

a. YES! Jesus would help anyone, no matter how they are different.

Deeper:

            When Jesus heard about the centurion, he came highly recommended. The chief religious leaders saw him, though he was a foreigner, as worthy of a miracle. By all measures, the widow who lost her son was in more need of a miracle that day. She lost more than a servant who could be replaced. She lost her only son. As the only male left in her immediate family all of her assets were in his name: her land, her house, and her livestock. None of them would be left in her name. Her livelihood relied on her son’s life. With him gone, she was now a ward of the state, a beggar with no resources of her own.

Yet, unlike the Centurion, even though she was Jewish, no one spoke up on her behalf.  While the Centurion may have had merit, she had need.

As I thought about how that is true for our society, I couldn’t help but think of scholarships. I have spent a lot of years filling out scholarship forms, and they basically fall in these two categories. There are scholarships based on merit: how high your grades, how many activities you are in, who you know, and how high you tested. Then there are the need based scholarships: how many resources do you have? The belief is that scholarships will give a person a better future. They aren’t like loans, which you have to pay back, but a free gift.

This man and woman were hoping for a gift too, something they knew they couldn’t pay back. The synagogue leaders put in the centurion’s name on merit. The man knew though, that based on merit, he wouldn’t make the cut. He received something he didn’t deserve, even with his glowing recommendations. And who could have been more in need than the widow? The widow was given something that she needed desperately.

Now my scholarship metaphor breaks down here because the truth about scholarships is that they are an either/or deal. There are limited numbers of scholarships and everyone competes over those scholarships. We make our merits look better, and our poverty look worse because each scholarship is a competition with losers.

But Jesus doesn’t choose the Centurion OR the widow. He doesn’t choose according to a reference letter or a bank account. He chooses BOTH of them.

He chooses to help the faithful Gentile. And he chooses to help the poor Jew. In two stories, Jesus chooses every demographic in his world. He proves what Paul will say when he write to the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

           Jesus brings life wherever he goes. He brings it regardless of our merit. He brings it regardless of our poverty. There are no limits put on his gift. We call that gift grace. So whatever you think disqualifies you from the life he offers, you are sorely mistaken. All you have to do is accept the gift.  

Personal Reflection:

               What difference have you thought keep you come from Jesus? How does this passage challenge that?

Jesus Heals: Deaf to Hear

Scripture:

Mark 7:31-37

Quick Summary:

Jesus goes to pagan territory, and heals a deaf man who cannot speak. He is careful to do it a whole different ways than the magicians who just do it for show. 

The Point:

Jesus is no magician! He doesn’t play tricks, but changes lives!

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Who did Jesus heal this week?

a.      The deaf man who could not speak

2.     Who else did healings in the man’s neighborhood?

a.      Magicians would pretend to heal people, but it wasn’t real. It was always a trick.

3.     What did Jesus diferent than the magicians?

a.      He did it in secret, without a crowd. He told the man exactly what was happening as he did it, making sure the man knew it was a healing from God. Then, he told the man not to tell anyone…a magician would NEVER do that!

4.     Did the man keep it a secret like Jesus wanted?

a.      No, he was too excited.

Deeper:

 Zeke and I were watching Arthur the other day. The episode was all about when D.W. heard a secret. It seemed like everyone else in her family had secrets, so she was really excited when she got her first secret. She had gone to the nurse to get a band aid, and one of the little boys in her class had split his pants in the back. She knew that telling his secret would most likely hurt him. But it was so juicy. She had nightmares about telling it she wanted to so bad. She had to let it out. 

Have you ever had a secret like that? Even though you knew you shouldn’t let it out, it just kind of pressed on your insides. Every conversation you have seems to connect with this little bit of information. In fact, when someone says “I have a secret” our natural instinct is not to turn away, but to lean in.

This story is all about hearing. But not just hearing. It’s a story about hearing the secret of Jesus. In this story, Jesus is far from home when some of these people bring a deaf man to Jesus, and they beg for Jesus to heal him. Jesus knows these people. He knows about how these same people crowd around magicians who put on a show for the people as they provide “cures.” How the audience loves a good show!

He looks at the deaf man and he sees not a man waiting for a performance, but a man wanting to hear. So he takes the man away from the crowd and he starts to communicate to the man. Now this was before American Sign Language, but Jesus signs to the man what is happening. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears, he spit and puts the spit on his tongue. Then to make sure the man knows where the healing is coming from, he looks up to heaven. The man hears, for the first time, at Jesus’ words, “Be opened!”

But then Jesus tells them: Keep it a secret. The scripture tells us, they couldn’t do it. The more sternly he told them to be quiet, the more people they had to tell.

Why does Jesus ask them to keep this secret? It seems like a pretty unlikely request right from the start. After all, what does he expect when he heals a mute man but that he would start talking? If he really wanted the man to be quiet, don’t fix his ability to speak!

This request to keep a secret is a pattern all the way through Mark. The word “commanded” in Greek is used more in Mark than anywhere else in the NT combined. All but once it is used as Jesus tells people not to tell. It doesn’t seem to fit. After all, we are always trying to share the Good News of Jesus. So why here does it seem that Jesus is encouraging the opposite?

I have a few guesses. Jesus did the healing in secret- just the man and him. So perhaps he was trying to separate his ministry from the magic of the day. But perhaps, there was more than that…

After all Jesus had to know what his popularity meant…He had to know that as the crowds increased, the established leaders grew more jealous of him. He had to know how indignant they must have been at the idea of him teaching in Gentile territory. He had to know it wasn’t just the Jewish Pharisees, Sadducees, and Synagogue Leaders. He had to know the pagan priests and magicians weren’t too happy about his presence either. He had to know that he was taking a risk. He had to know that with every leader he enraged, he stepped closer to his own death.

So why? Why would he not just avoid the secret all together? Why not just leave the man deaf and mute? Why bother?

Perhaps Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t start on the cross. Perhaps, Jesus sacrificed each time he healed someone. His sacrifice in this story, isn’t just for those gathered in the synagogue or the temple or those filling the established church. His sacrifice in this story is on the other side of the river. It is with those who believe in magic incantations. Who worship false gods. This sacrifice is for the outsiders, too.

       

     Maybe that is you. You believe in God, but you are not what I have heard called a “churchie.” You aren’t one of those people who gather together. You are an outsider who feels more comfortable in the magician’s crowd than in Jewish territory.

    

        Jesus sacrificed for you. His followers are those of us who have been rejected by “The Joneses.” We don’t fit in. But then, Jesus calls us together. And because of his sacrificial love, we find meaning. We find each other. We find life. And we can’t keep it to ourselves. If that is what you are looking for, I want you to find that kind of love and belonging with us. We meet after KICK in the sanctuary from 5:15-5:45 and then share a meal together. Usually we are done around 6:30, so there is still plenty of evening left to get homework and baths done before bedtime. Join Us.

Personal Reflection:

              How is Jesus different than a magician? How has the secret of Jesus sneaked out of you?