disruptive grace

Following on from the last post…

“He told them still another parable: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable…”
[Matthew 13:33-34]

If Jesus is the exemplar of the reign of God, then he not only lived and spoke the truth of the kingdom, but he did so in the way and manner of the kingdom. His parables worked like small seeds, like yeast in dough: small and apparently inconsequential, unassuming, nonthreatening, unnoticed; and yet, as the reprocusions of them are worked out, as they find good soil, they grow, they grow in us and in our communities. This is the way of subversion, bottom up. Working inside out.

The invitation is there for us to be likewise subversive, still small voices in our communities, performing signs and telling stories, which work like yeast in dough, like mustard seeds in a garden.

The advantage of parables is that they allow us to think a-critically about the message conveyed. Parables by-pass our critical thinking, which tends to fight ideas head on. Critical thinking tend to assume only one idea can win, and so it fights for victory. Parables, however, invite us into their world and then leave us to explore the implications.

“Tell stories Christian” [Satine in 'Moulin Rouge']

When we come to understand the reign of God as both “gift and promise, present and future, celebration and anticipation” (D. Bosh) how then do we proceed? Peterson uses the word subversive and attaches it to the word Kingdom (and also pastor). I think this is helpful. I particularly like the prefix “sub-” meaning: from the bottom up, or: from a lower level.

“… there is another world aborning that is livable. Its reality is no chimera. It is in existence, though not visible. It’s character is known. The subversive does not does not operate out of a utopian dream but out of conviction of the nature of the real world”
[from ‘The Contemplative Pastor’ Eugene Peterson

The Kingdom of God is planted in us like a small seed. This is good because if we were confronted with it full on we would resist it tooth and nail. Never the less, it is planted in us and often lies dormant until the conditions are right for it to grow. We unwittingly resist it’s growth, unaware that’s what we are doing. We are active in creating spaces that are not condusive for growth: we worry, we clamour for attention, we habour resentment, we refuse to forgive, we play games of one-up-manship, we take objects and ideas and endow them with divine qualities of our own making. Yet, amongst this we find time to be still, to give, to worship, to study, to a live lived in community, and slowly the seed begins to grow. And, though we still continue to hamper its growth with our games of self-seeking action, we find moments where we tend to the environment in which the seed was planted. Slowly we who are: selfish, self seeking, escapist, unjust and unmerciful; become, by the grace sown in us, oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord.

Keep on, keeping on.

The wasp on my window,
Knowing the sky is there,
Though seen, not experienced.
Small sharp stabs of flight.
He could settle for this,
Call this reality, climbing
Up and down the pane,
A two dimensional life.

Near the top, a two inch bar
Of PVC between him
And the great wide open spaces
of the world. “Keep going”,
I whisper. A moments hesitation,
The option of risk then taken,
To leave his 2-D world, traveling
Over a PVC no-mans-land,
Then out — to freedom.

If I asked you: “what do you want?” – how would you answer? How would I answer?

To get to know someone we will assume we need to know various things , “what do you know?”, “what do you believe?”, “what’s your job?”. We do this to investigate and evaluate people, socially, religiously and morally. But, what if the key question is “what do you want?” James K A Smith elaborates here:

James K.A. Smith – Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation from Calvin College on Vimeo.

Thanks to my brother Paul for the head up on this (again).

Thanks to my brother, I found this interview with the theologian Stanley Hauerwas. in this video he talks about his upbringing as a bricklayers son, his journey into theology, following Jesus and non-violence, the radical nature of having children, where are we ‘at home’, consumerism, life as gift, Christian-sentimental-”bullshit” [his words] and much more. It’s worth making time for.

‘She’s got her keys, money and fags’ ['Line Up' - Elastica]

[Note: for American readers 'fags' is British slang for cigarettes]

In my late teens a favorite group of mine sang of a girl ‘groupie’ going out on the town making sure she had her ‘keys, money and fags’ . “Keys, money, fags” became a personal catchphrase of mine at the time. Whenever I left the house, and particularly in the evenings, I would recite the motto, “keys, money, fags”, the list of essential items to have on my person outside the home, with these items I would be ok. The only flaw in the phrase being, I didn’t smoke, and didn’t carry any cigarettes. So in fact the phrase became, something like, “keys, money, fags… oh yeah I don’t smoke.” This mantra of sorts was complimented by a rhythmic patting on the various areas of my person which these items were located. Left pocket, right pocket, hands down and relax. “Keys, money, fags”.

During my mid-twenties a new object was added to the list of essential items, and so the motto became, “keys, money, phone” with corresponding body patting, — now more like a popular dance. A macarena. A modern man’s “spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch.” The later, of course, being a comical way of signing the points of the cross. Catholic school boy humour. Despite the irreverence, this gag marks our body with the way of Jesus, the way of self sacrifice, love, obedience, trust, and abandonment on God. A sharp contrast to my: “breast pocket, right pocket, left pocket, down”, the signing of the individual, marking the objects of self reliance. Keys, money, phone.

Habits and rituals shape us. The Jews place a ‘mezuzah’ on the door post of their house, a case containing the ‘Shema’. At each coming and going, they touch the ‘mezuzah’ expressing their love and respect for G-d. This not only helps define them as Jewish but also transforms them into people who are constantly aware of God. Every day I leave the front door and I mold myself a little more in the way of self. What person would I become if instead I marked myself with the way of Christ at each coming and going. What if I could risk forgetting my objects of self reliance? There but for the grace of God go I. Now there’s a good mantra.

What if we got a parable the wrong way round, what if we got the point wrong – what would be the consequences? What we got so used to reading parables starting “the Kingdom of God is like…”, that we start to project that phase on to every parable. What if the parable actually was preceded by a comment like this:

“he [Jesus] went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.”

This is from Luke 19 – verse 11. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, and hes gathering lots of interest people are getting excited because they are convinced that the Kingdom will come in a cataclysmic way. Already the dead are being raised (Lazarus) and more recently, wealth is being redistributed by the exploiters (Zacchaeus). Jesus has already explained to his disciples that whats coming up won’t be what they expect, in fact he is going to die, but they don’t understand it.

The Zacchaeus passage immediately before verse 11 is pertinent. Zacchaeus is redistributing wealth as his response to Jesus, and living out the justice expressed by the Hebrew prophets of the past. People are excited – surely this is the Kingdom come! In fact his parable is being told in Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus is par of the corrupt system, if he’s bailing out there will be consequences. Jesus tells them a parable – and it has resonances with the 1st century event (documented by the 1st Century historian Josephus) of Herod, “a man of noble birth”, traveling to Rome (“a distant country”) to “have himself appointed king”. Just in case there’s any doubt Herod isn’t a good guy, ad the local Jews didn’t like him and didn’t ‘want this man to be our king.’ … So lets hear the parable:

“A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

“He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

” ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

“His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

“His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

“Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

” ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.”

Here’s some further thoughts:

First, remember the noble man, who wants to be king is Herod (he’s a bad man getting riches and power at others expense)

Second, you don’t make returns like that on money with out some sort of exploitation.

Third, “the cloth” that the last servant uses is, in the original language, a sort of “snot rag”. Could it be that this servant is saying – ‘this is dirty money and dirty work, I’m not having anything to do with it, I won’t play in this system’?

Fourth, what happens to those who won’t play in this harsh unjust economic system? They’ll be killed. Be careful Zacchaeus, you can give away the tax money and that will make you great in terms of the Kingdom of God, but the current ruling powers won’t like it.

Bang!

What if our alternative reading of this parable, popularized in the era of western capitalism – in fact exposes our very un-righteousness?

Ouch!

[note]
N.T.Wrights response is, if this is the case then the story ceases to be a parable, and takes on more of the form of a moral tale. Perhaps, says Wright, Luke does work this way, but we need more work on this. It will be interesting to see how investigation of this text continues.

If you want a provocative talk about justice and here where I got these thoughts from, check out:

Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat ‘Outside of a Small Circle of Friends’: Jesus and the Justice of God
view Flash video | download MP3 audio | download MP4 video

The mind mapping software on my phone now has PDF export – so I thought I’d post these thoughts I’ve been playing with.

creation-ethics-kingdom [PDF]

I wrote this poem as I reflected on Clint Eastwood’s excellent film ‘Grand Torino’. To those of you who’ve seen it this will hopefully make a lot of sense, to those of you who haven’t, I think its poetic enough to give no plot spoilers away.

Just Like Clint (after Grand Torino)

I have no classic car, no Grand Torino,
But a dented, T-reg, Ford Mondeo.
I have no war wounds, I’ve killed no man,
But, still a past, a master plan.
No obvious prejudice so to speak,
‘Though malice lurks deep and renders me weak.

Pointed a finger, never a gun.
Raised a fist, but hit no one.
Seen the evil, done nothing about it.
Took a few words but never a bullet.
Knowledge of joy, but rarely known mourning,
A little of life, but nothing of dying.

[J_Norridge 2010]

I just discovered this in the archives of my old blog, the original post was dated September 2006. It seems worth while to post it again here (with typos and grammar corrected):

One idea which as captured my imagination in recent years, is the idea of seeing time as us being drawn into God’s future. This thinking moves away from the idea of “God as first cause” or a God who creates a clockwork universe and simply sets it going. Rather, it maybe more helpful to imagine God at the end of time (as we know it), beckoning creation on into His future, like the father of a toddler encouraging his child to walk across the room to him. Following this line of thought leads us to completely re-think about many concepts including what it means for God to be in control or even what it means for God to know all things. In fact those categories seem completely in appropriate, they are not big enough to hold the reality of God’s being.

Thinking through this reminds me of an interview with Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Concerning where we are in today’s culture, Sacks spoke about how he was struck by the analogy of a car sat-nav [satellite navigation system]. If you driving to a place you know well and the sat-nav suggests you go right, you may think, “well actually I think its best to go left”. Once you have done this the sat-nav will pause and then offer new direction as if say, “well in that case you need to now go straight on”. Sacks spoke of how this reminded him of the story of the Exodus and Children of Isreal’s time in the wilderness. And perhaps this is how God calls us on today with the unique circumstances of our time.

As we look around the world we see beauty but we also see nature and nations in turmoil. Earthquakes and economic collapses destroying families, cultures and individuals. We still long for a better future, the future God beckons creation into. For like us he sees the goodness of creation but also its pain. Perhaps the universe was created good, but not complete. Perhaps it was meant to change and evolve until it reaches its fullness in God. Lead us on into your future, may your kingdom become our present.