The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 14  Read: Joel 1 Listen: (2:59) Read: Matthew 18 Listen: (4:25)

Scripture Focus: Matthew 18:6–9

6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

From John: We return to this 2021 post today, at a time when the Epstein files and other scandals have revealed many who may need millstones, if we interpreted this passage literally. It is also a time in which we need to remember again that “these little ones” is not solely about age or the abuse of children, but the deception of those who believe in Jesus. Many today, old and young, are being led to stumble by algorithms (which is to say by the profit-motivated creators of those algorithms), by politicians, and by Christian influencers who spread cultural ideology and call it “biblical.” It’s easy and quick to focus outward and point fingers of blame. It’s better to focus inward and take responsibility for our own actions. Be wary. Devote yourselves to the scriptures. Watch out for the “little ones” around you.

Reflection: Misleading the Least

By John Tillman

The gospels record many times that people asked Jesus about “the greatest.”

There are religious debates about the greatest commandments and, multiple times, in many different settings, the disciples approach Jesus about, or are caught by Jesus arguing about, “the greatest.” (Matthew 18.1-3; 23.11; Luke 9.46; Mark 9.34)

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven…
Can my two sons sit in the greatest seats…
Which of us is the greatest…

We want to know, don’t we?

Jesus definitively stated that the greatest in the kingdom should be the least, the lowest, the small, the “little ones.” Jesus used a child in this example, but did not use the Greek word referring to age. The word Jesus chose, translated little, implies low status or being unimportant. 

The unimportant, Jesus says, are of the greatest importance, but we, like the disciples, don’t quite believe it. We want to be important, big, mature, strong, and dominant. We want to win. In pursuit of importance and status we grasp at power. We grasp at fame. We grasp at wealth. All the grasping we engage in to be the greatest is meaningless—chasing after wind.

This is challenging enough to our sinful nature, but what comes next is more chilling. Jesus has a stark warning for the leaders of the little. To those leaders and influencers who, through actions or words, may cause “little ones” to stumble comes one of the most graphic pictures of punishment to cross the lips of Jesus. If Christ’s metaphor about millstones had been carried out literally through history, there might not be room in the oceans for the millstones and the irresponsible leaders tied to them by the neck.

Woe to leaders who mislead. Woe to influencers who cause others to stumble. Woe when we manipulate rather than educate. Woe when we foment sin rather than form spiritual morality. Woe when we lie and deceive rather than unfailingly cling to the truth.

Have we caused others to stumble? If so, how?

By being an example of greed or any other sin? By spreading a lie? By keeping silent in the face of injustice? By sharing an inflammatory post? By provoking others? By being purposely insensitive? By manipulating people?

May we repent of any of our actions or words that may have caused others to stumble. It is better for us to cut those actions out of our lives than to cause harm to others.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Unprecedented

Not every crisis is a judgment. But we would be wise to look first to our own hearts and our own sins rather than blaming outside forces or the sins of unbelievers.

Read more: Lament the Fall of Leaders (Even Bad Ones)

The removal of a bad leader is often like the lancing of a boil or a surgery to remove cancer.

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 10 Read:  Hosea 11 Listen: (1:53) Read:  Matthew 14 Listen: (4:14)
Apr 11 Read:  Hosea 12 Listen: (1:51) Read:  Matthew 15 Listen: (4:23)
Apr 12 Read:  Hosea 13 Listen: (2:26) Read:  Matthew 16 Listen: (3:43)

Scripture Focus: Matthew 14.25-33

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Reflection: Into Winds, Onto Waves

By John Tillman

The disciples tried to do what Jesus said. They couldn’t. Then Jesus stepped in.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe Jesus calming a storm (Matt 8.23-27; Mark 4.35-41; Luke 8.22-25). Jesus walking on the water is a separate event recorded in Matthew, Mark, and John (Matt 14.22-33; Mark 6.45-52; John 6.16-21). 

When Jesus walks on the water, there is no “storm,” but there is a strong wind. The wind, and the waves it kicks up, oppose the disciples’ progress. They are stuck.

From the mountain where he was praying, Jesus saw them struggling. He presumably prayed for them. He came to them. Then, he enabled them, especially Peter, to do things beyond their capacity. He stopped the wind. He helped Peter walk on the water. John’s account tells us that Jesus miraculously transported the boat from the middle of the lake to the shore.

Like the disciples, we have been sent to do what we can’t do. The prevailing winds of culture are against us. Our best efforts cannot gain any ground.

Also like the disciples, Jesus sees us, he prays for us, he comes to us, and he enables us to exceed our capacity.

It seems strange to tell someone to do something they can’t do. You wouldn’t tell a young child to fix a leak under the sink or change the timing belt under the hood of a car. However, you can tell a child, “Come help me fix the sink,” or “Come help me fix the car.” Doing something with someone, forms something in you.

When a child holds the flashlight for a parent working under the sink or under the hood, they are participating and (hopefully) learning. The child might come back to the living room and report to their other parent, “I fixed it!” In a way, they did. Even if they didn’t technically do any of the work themselves.

We are formed by participating with God in what he commissions us to do. We cannot do it. Jesus does it for us, through us, and with us. He turns the wrenches on nuts too tight for us to budge. We hold the flashlight. He stops the winds too strong for us to overcome. We step out of the boat. He helps us walk where we would normally sink. He catches us when we fall.

We merely obey and follow him. Even if that means walking into the winds and onto the waves.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Everyone will stand in awe and declare God’s deeds; they will recognize his works. — Psalm 64.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Cultivation Must Be Learned

Spiritual wisdom and knowledge, like agricultural knowledge, must be passed on, with its seeds, from one generation to the next.

Read more: Clumsy Doves

Pain tends to heighten our spiritual sensitivities. Some of us stumble into the presence of God after the long dark night of the soul.

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 9  Read: Hosea 10 Listen: (2:47) Read: Matthew 13 Listen: (7:23)

Scripture Focus: Matthew 13.53-58

53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Reflection: Cheering Jesus’ Parade

By John Tillman

We expect hometown heroes to get warm receptions.

Wally Funk, of Grapevine, Texas, was one of the Mercury 13 women who took the same training as the Mercury 7 astronauts. In 2021, 60 years after her Mercury training, at the age of 82, she made it to the edge of space on a Blue Origin flight. After riding the rocket, the hometown hero rode in a parade right down Main Street. Many, like me, came from around the DFW metroplex to celebrate “our” hometown astronaut.

After leaving Nazareth, Jesus rocketed to fame. Crowds followed him, hanging on his every word. He left Nazareth a nobody and came home famous. Nazareth was impressed with his words, miracles, and fame but they didn’t exactly cheer.

On one visit, instead of a parade down Nazareth’s main street, they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff to kill him. (Luke 4.22-30) Matthew records a different visit where, instead of facing open aggression and violence, Jesus faced the contempt of familiarity. They responded with dismissive comments like “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?”

Nazareth’s familiarity with Jesus ended in soft contempt and faithlessness. They saw part of Jesus’ life and thought they knew the whole. We face this danger too when we are so overwhelmed with cultural depictions of Jesus that we fail to see him fully and truly. We forget who he really is.

We can also fail to see fellow humans fully and truly. Contempt often begins with assumption. We see part of someone and think we know the whole. This contempt is a faithless denial of the work Jesus wants to do in every person. In The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis reminded us that Jesus desires to make every human glorious. He said, “The dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”

What assumptions are you prone to? Who are you tempted to dismiss or reject? Is it the addict? The CEO? The immigrant? The jobless? The protestor? The struggling mother? The political operative?

Every person you see is someone Jesus desires to welcome home in a procession of glorious, freed captives. (Eph 4.7-10; 2 Cor 2.14) They may reject Jesus, but we are not free to reject them. Let compassion, not contempt, make us ready to cheer Jesus’ parade, not boo it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Truly his salvation is very near to those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. — Psalm 85.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Confessing Idolatry—Guided Prayer 2 

Israel sought success and security by any means necessary while giving lip service to you, Lord. Help us see and confess our sins, so similar.

Read more: Tares Will Burn

There have always been tares among the wheat, false gospels among the true, and false Christs posing as “saviors” of the church or Christianity.