Stephen
Terry, Director
The
Power of the Exalted Jesus
Commentary
for the July 15, 2023, Sabbath School Lesson
"Rejoice
always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's
will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV
This morning as I was on my customary
walk, storm clouds were gathering, and I could hear thunder in the distance. I
checked the weather report on my phone before leaving and read a severe thunderstorm
warning. Should I go, or shouldn't I? No rain was falling, and the overall
report predicted dry lightning which meant an increased chance of wildfires
from lightning strikes. However, since it said dry, meaning little to no rain, I felt I was safe from dousing. The wind gusts had picked up,
so I left my umbrella at home rather than having to deal with the wind trying
to tear it out of my hands should I open it if there was rain. I already had my
daily prayer time, but I also made a quick prayer for blessing and protection
and stepped out the door.
I had not walked a block when
droplets of rain began to fall. I reminded God of my prayer for protection, and
the drops seemed to let up while I walked the next few blocks. However, once I
reached the farthest point from home in my walk, the rain began to pour. I
again reminded God of my prayer, but I also added that if he was fine with baptizing
me by sprinkling, I was fine with it, also. (I have long believed that God
shares my sense of humor.) We both continued walking and talking together, and
while I was on the return portion of my walk, the thunder began rolling through
the clouds. I saw no lightning, but with each peal, the thunder was coming in
from the west and drawing closer. Once again, I asked God for his protection.
Still walking together, we arrived safely at our house, where he has always
been welcome. My clothes were soaked but would dry quickly, and we could laugh
together about the fun of a walk in the rain without umbrella or raincoat. Shortly
after, the sky became an expanse of blue and the sun lit up the summer flowers
in our yard, leaving little hint of the storm.
I thank God for the beauty of
such days, but as I write this commentary hours later, I see from the window of
my den that thunderclouds are again beginning to form, promising an evening of
heavenly fireworks to light up the night sky. My mother used to say that all
the noise from the thunder was just the angels bowling. As a child that made
thunderstorms seem magical, but as an adult, I know that it is simply another
aspect of the beauty of God's creation. I marvel that I can see the myriad
colors of nature, and that I can hear the pleasant sounds of birdsong as well
as the roar of thunder. Not everyone has these gifts, and others have them more
perfectly than I do, especially with my advancing age.
I wonder at those who cannot see
or hear who nonetheless make their way through life, even surpassing at times
those who have both sight and hearing. Their courage and fortitude amaze me. It
is a contrast to those who have the greater advantage with their senses yet go
through life with hardly a thought to the beauty that life brings. A profound
difference exists between the person who crushes a flower because they cannot
see it and the person who crushes it because they simply do not care. Somewhere
on the continuum between not caring and not knowing is where, if our hearts are
open, we can begin a relationship with God. Like the prodigal of scripture,[i] we
discover that an uncaring attitude really doesn't work, we admit that we don't
know everything and in that void of unknowing, instead of emptiness, we can
find the metaphorical "man behind the curtain," God, who made it all possible
and who wants more than anything to walk with us daily as he walked with Adam
and Eve in the beginning.[ii]
At this point, we might ask
about unanswered prayers. For instance, what about the person with terminal
cancer and has many people praying for their recovery,
but they still die? I admit that I do not have the answer to that question, but
I suggest we look at it from a slightly different perspective.
Instead of asking why God has not intervened, what if God were to ask the same
question of us? God may feel that he has almost eight billion answers to prayer
walking the earth right now, but many, even most,
refuse to be the answer to prayer for one another. Parents are heart broken when
their children hate and abuse one another. How must it make God feel to see his
"kids" waging war with one another across the face of the beautiful planet they
inhabit.
My first wife died after struggling
with Multiple Sclerosis for decades. Today we have treatments that target that
illness that did not exist in her day. How many more
lives could have been saved sooner with humanity cooperatively working together
to answer the prayers of the hurting instead of wasting money and resources to
increase that suffering through wars and the hoarding of resources causing
famine and disease to be widespread among those robbed of hope despite their
need. We have the privilege of being the answer to prayer of a hurting world,
but we would rather not and instead fault God for not stepping in by fiat to
solve every problem. By our behavior, we say we do not want God. We want Superman,
because Superman does his thing, saves the world, and requires nothing from us
except to stand by applauding. As a result, too many are hurting, and hurting
people tend to hurt others. The degree of that hurt is visible in the United
States by the ever-growing problem of mass violence, often in the form of
shooting several innocent bystanders who have no
connection to the perpetrator.
What does this have to do with
prayer? It has everything to do with being in a continual relationship with One
who will speak constantly to our hearts about our need to be someone's answer
to prayer. It is a whisper that speaks to us.[iii]
It is not through a long commercial on television that tugs at our heart strings.
While those organizations do good things, and God will bless them as he is able,
it is more about that whisper asking how is our neighbor doing? Do you know
what their needs are?
God does not ask us to go rebuke
them because their understanding of God is incomplete compared to what we think
we know. Besides, God has given life to almost eight billion individual, unique
answers to prayer. Unlike us at times, he is comfortable with difference, with diversity.
He had to be to create so much of it. If we are to be the answers to prayer
that God intended, then we must find a way to breech the wall of separation
between us and the diverse world we live in or those prayers we were created to
answer will never find fulfillment. Unfortunately, especially for those
professing Christianity, that failure reflects on God, and those who fail to
find the support they need will see that as part of the character of God, even
if the failing is ours and not God's. They will see God as aloof, uncaring, or
even nonexistent.
If we do a little self-examination,
we can see the truth of this. How often have we felt neglected, or that the
church did not care about us because we did not get the visits we felt we
deserved, especially pastoral visits. We may even go so a far as to sever our
connection with the church over this, feeling that such behavior is not
representative of the body of Christ. Taken to the extreme, we may even infer
that since the body of Christ is so unChristlike, the existence of Christ is
fictional as well.
Even the Bible is problematic in
this respect with so much gruesome killing even in God's name, going on for
thousands of years before Christ. Then we had a brief interlude influenced by
the teachings of Jesus where Christians would rather die as martyrs than take up arms against others. This did not sit too well with
the Jews who felt that the Christians should have taken up arms and joined them
in their ill-fated rebellion against Rome in the early second century. But
through Christ, his followers had seen a different vision, a more elevated view
of their fellow human beings. That view changed, however. Within a few centuries,
the church was willing to endorse the mass slaughter of their brothers and sisters who saw things from other perspectives,
doing so in the very name of God who sent Christ with his message of love and
compassion. That same spirit manifests itself often in the modern Christian
church in every denomination, sect, cult, and religious corporation. But that
whisper still speaks to those who would listen, even in that maelstrom of
churning hatred masquerading as love. Listen for that whisper, and you will
find God, and not only God but you will find others who have learned to become
answers to prayer as well. There is power in the teachings of Jesus to lift all
of humanity if we would only listen.