Dear Father God, we ask that you would feed Your children. We ask not
for tater tots, but that you would give us meat right off the bones. We
pray it would be so succulent that juices would run down our chins.
Help us to taste and see you and that you’re good – deliciously good.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you were asked to choose one animal to
describe who God was, which animal reveals something about His nature?
– there would be many different directions you could go. A Lion would
be a likely response – majestic, powerful, gorgoeus, terrifying. And we
see God using Lion as an image of himself to.
Rev. 5 5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to
open the scroll and its seven seals." 6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if
it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by
the four living creatures and the elders.
He reveals himself as both lion and lamb. Majestic, powerful, meek,
wounded. In Matthew and Luke we see him using a simile of a mother hen
to describe his feelings – an image loving, protective. Each animal he
likens Himself to tells us something more about who He is. Each is just
a piece but nonetheless a piece of the whole.
A. W. Tozer wrote "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."
Each of us would sees God differently, but our ideas of him often tend
to be colored one way. Some see him mostly as "Judge." Heaven itself
will be good BUT, there’s a certain dread about dying because there
will be this terrible judge and this terrible ordeal of examining our
whole lives. That’s how some people primarily see him. Others maybe see
him as "Friend." A God who is so close, so near. A God who hears the
little prayers of "Help me to get my house clean before all the company
arrives." Some see him as lawmaker. Some see him as Cheerleader.
Sometimes once we think we know who He is, we have a tendency to filter
all our ideas through it. We lock into anything that re-enforces the
image and we rationalize away the verses and the experiences that
don’t. Before long we can get stuck with a very rigid of idea of who
God is and what He would or would not do. We make Him monochromatic.
IMAGES OF GOD
He is not one colour or one note. Each note, each image, each color may
contain pieces of truth as to who He is but He is not reducable to one.
And sometimes our image of who He is contains lies, as well as truth.
Scripture gives us MANY, MANY, images of who He is and each of them
help us to understand a part of Him, though none contain Him completely.
A BABY. Who is God? He gives us an image of himself lying in a manger
every Christmas. Look, there God is. That little one who can’t feed
himself, or carry his own weight. Helpless. Tiny. Absolute perfection.
God incarnate. Red as a beet. Holy. Divine. Lovely. That little one
soiling the straw. That’s how he first appeared among us as a man. That
was Him kicking Mary’s tummy in the womb. Did He give Himself to us
this way? Is this how the shepherds saw Him? This image of God? You
bet. They worshipped the baby. He wanted us to see Him that way. He
wanted us to know that was a part of who He is just as it is a part of
who you are. This raises questions. Would we be comfortable worshipping
the infant God? Kneeling at the baby’s feet? We pray to Christ our
Saviour, we pray to Christ our Crucified One, could we pray to Christ
our Baby? What does it mean that this image contains Him? How does it
affect our other images of Him?
A ROCK. "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 3 my God is
my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior- from violent men you save
me." We see an image of God as a rock. Not a slippery step that we
slide off. Not a rotting wood floor that could cave in on us. He’s
sure. He’s true. He trustworthy. Strong. Stable. Solid.
DEAD. One of the ancient heresies was that Jesus never really died. He
rolled the stone away and was seen again because He stayed alive. Even
though it’s extremely important to our faith that He was dead, it’s an
image we seem to avoid. We don’t like to think that the fully God part,
along with the fully man part died there on the cross. We don’t like to
think that the only part of him that could rise from the dead, the only
part of him who conquered death, was that part of him that was dead.
Usually we say he was crucified rather than saying he was dead. But
really it would seem to be the same thing. Our unease may be that we
have such a limited understanding of death. We only see it from this
side. But what does it mean that He gives us an image of himself dying?
dead? what does it mean when we see people we have loved dying? dead?
What does it mean to know – He came back. He came back from real death.
As we think of who God is, this is one of the colors.
We could go on peeking at different images of Him, different notes He
sounds, contemplating what they mean. Lover. Shepherd. Risen One.
Creator. Ancient of Days.
But today we look at one image – not the whole of God story – just a piece, that He wants us to see.
It is another colour shimmering through, showing our hearts a new way of seeing Him. It is the idea of God as a Hunter.
LUKE 15
11Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to
hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,
"This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So, we have these devout, frustrated religious leaders and teachers. I
actually suspect that a part of them wants to believe Jesus and accept
His teachings as making sense with their Scripture. We do know, that
they wanted more than anything, for their Messiah to come. We do know
that all their hopes were pinned on God returning to vindicate His
people – a conquering king was actually the image they were looking for
from the Old Testament. However, Jesus continual actions, His
persistence in going against what they knew to be true like welcoming
sinners and eating with them was a barrier they couldn’t overcome. Also
present are these "men and women of doubtful reputation" (The Message)
who were gathering around to hear him. There’s an irony, there’s a
peculiarity in how all the bad people were so hungry for Jesus words.
You would think they would avoid Him. But again and again they crowd
Him. It’s almost as if God really, actually is as truly good and truly
loving as what we say He is. He was saying something to their hearts
that made them love Him. Conversely, He was saying something to the
hearts of the religious people that made them hate Him, and eventually
seek to destroy Him. But we’re not quite there yet. So, Jesus is
looking at these strange bedfellows – the sinners and the righteous and
He can choose any nouns, any verbs, any images to teach them. To help
them to understand the heart of God. And so He tells them these
stories…
43Then Jesus told them this parable: 4"Suppose one of you has a hundred
sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the
open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when
he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then
he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me;
I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you that in the same way there
will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
He’s saying to the pharisees, do you not understand why God is doing
what He’s doing? You would hunt for your lost sheep. You would. You
really, really would. He is hunting for His lost lamb. And when He
finds it He stops looking and celebrates. And I imagine everyone
present knew that the little lost lamb was the tax collector, the
sinner. What would they have felt in their hearts? He wants them. He
leaves everyone else just for them. He leaves everyone just for you.
8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not
light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together
and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10In the same
way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner who repents."
He’s saying to the pharisees, do you not understand why God is doing what He’s doing? He’s hunting for His lost coin.
He gives us these two images of God hunting for the one who is precious
to Him. We see a God on a careful search. A God on the prowl. A God who
hunts. God the Hunter.
THE CHARACTERS
Before we look at the last story, we need to ask, why this story? why
this moment? why now? why reveal this aspect of Himself? Perhaps, an
image of who these characters are – the pharisees and the tax
collectors might help us.
I lived in Vancouver for 3 years and spent one year in the downtown
eastside working as a Women’s Community Worker. I had, in fact I still
have, a deep love for the women of that community – it’s the poorest
community in Canada. Many of the women I worked with were involved in
prostitution, many were involved in drugs. These were not escort girls,
they were women who were destitute, their skin covered in sores that
never healed, their hair often matted, their makeup smears. They were
beautiful… and so completely vulnerable and desperate. When I walked
down Hastings I would glare at all the ones who I thought preyed upon
them – the pimps, the drug dealers, the slumlords. They all exploited
my women for their own profits and it made me so mad. They made money
off of exploiting other people’s misery. I really hated them. Then one
day I was reading in Scripture – in fact, Luke 7 where Jesus was
accused of being a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax
collectors and sinners. Now being the Bible College graduate that I was
I knew, the tax collectors had a special kind of freedom. The Romans
expected a certain amount of money from each citizen, but the tax
collectors were free to collect any sum they wanted as long as they
passed the correct amount up the chain. So, if Jesse owed 10 dollars,
the tax collector could say, "Jesse you owe 15 dollars" and Jesse would
have to pay the 15. 10 would go up the chain and the drug dealer – I
mean – the tax collector would keep the difference. Jesse had no
options and no choice in the deal. So, the tax collectors were the
exploiters of the poor, back when Jesus walked the earth. And they got
rich. And they were hated by the poor, the religious, everyone. I was
struck, thunderstruck, by how that was kind of like, actually REALLY
LIKE the pimps, drug dealers and slumlords in my neighborhood. The
crucial difference being, Jesus was a friend to the exploiters in his
locale, and I was an enemy. He was the one eating with the slumlord and
as I glared at them, I was the muttering pharisee. I wanted to be Jesus
to the prostitutes, but not those other jerks. I didn’t want to have
mercy for them.
It really was the classic moment we see again and again in the Gospels
where the religious leader (i.e. me) CANNOT MAKE SENSE of what God
does. We’re the ones who study Him! Why do we have this re-occuring
problem of not getting His ways? In those moments, it’s tempting to be
disappointed by God – why do you love these mean, trouble-causing
people? Why? But I found I wasn’t. Instead I was disappointed in me.
You know, I thought I was doing good. I thought I was loving the
sinners. I thought I had some understanding of what God was like. He’s
so much better than what I thought He was like. He’s so different.
I mean, He really does love the pimps. And I saw that.
Oh, you infuriating Jesus, welcoming the tax collectors that have torn our families apart!!!
We expect Satan to welcome them, not you! You are ours!! Aren’t you?
So, to this audience, the Bible college profs, elders, ministers, drug dealers, slumlords, prostitutes –
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one
said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he
divided his property between them.
13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set
off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild
living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in
that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired
himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to
feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs
were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired
men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set
out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called
your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went
to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was
filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms
around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22"But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and
put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and
celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was
lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
THE YOUNGEST SON
If we look at this youngest son monochromatically we would probably see
him as weak, irresponsible, wild. He’s the one who misses all the
family functions. Money appears to mean nothing to him. He’s the
unemployed one. The one who never amounted to anything. And he’s picked
up a few diseases along the way. I wonder if Jesus is painting the
younger son maybe as the son the sinners were to their parents. What
picture does He show, what image does He give of God to them?
The shepherd hunted for the lost sheep.
The old lady hunted for the lost coin.
Does the father hunt?
THE HUNTER WAITS
He hunts by waiting. Waiting is an important part of hunting. There are
times in our lives when we feel that God is doing nothing. That we
can’t see Him anywhere. If God hunts us – if he searches for us like
these stories seem to suggest, then wouldn’t there be times when he was
waiting out of sight? To us it would seem He had forgotten or abandoned
us. To us it would seem like He was doing nothing. However, when a
hunter lies on his belly in the thick grass, completely hidden and
holds still for hours, we don’t look upon those hours as time spent
doing nothing – we look upon those hours as time spent hunting. Maybe
you think He’s forgotten you but really He is on the prowl just where
you can’t quite see Him. He’s after you. Right there, beyond your line
of sight. And when He finds you, the Lost Child, He’s going to
celebrate. He really does love. He really is kind.
If the drug dealers had only me to represent God they would not have
known how welcomed and loved they were. And I have a feeling that if
the eldest son had been the Father, the younger son might not have
bothered coming home. You see, the eldest son is quite different from
the Father. Don’t imagine the Father to be like the eldest sons you
know. I suspect, the eldest son was actually a little glad when you
left, but the Father is only glad when you come home.
He’s not like them.
THE ELDEST SON
Well, it’s almost over. The pattern in the first two stories is that
the celebration is the end of the story for God the Hunter. The feast.
The banquet. The BBQ. The party. The hunt is over and God invites the
friends and neighbors in for the celebration. There was a clear message
to the religious leaders as to why God welcomes the sinner, but until
this point the stories have only been about God and the lost. However,
in this final story, God the Hunter goes out one last time. There is
one last child (baby) to bring home.
25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the
house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants
and asked him what was going on. 27’Your brother has come,’ he replied,
‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back
safe and sound.’
28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father
went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All
these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my
friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property
with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
If we looked at him monochromatically (the way we saw the younger son
as "partier" or "irresponsible") we would label him "dutiful." He
actually is the epitome of duty. Other labels "hard-working,"
"responsible," – in fact all those particularly evangelical virtues, he
exemplifies. And I suspect the pharisees felt that way too – after all
Jesus’ is clearly communicating that they are the eldest son. And he
paints the eldest son as the son they would be proud to have of their
own. Or perhaps Jesus describes him as the sons they were to their
fathers.
There is a rock some of us stumble on as we try to understand this
mysterious God of ours. Jesus most gracious, loving, merciful words are
often spoken to – the nonreligious people. The ones the pharisees don’t
want included. His most piercing words are 99% of the time to the
religious. And the most unflattering characters in His stories are the
ones that represent them. It’s easy to develop a sense of uneasiness
that you can be religious all you want, but it still isn’t enough.
Which can be exaspirating as well as exhausting because – let me tell
you – the life of the eldest son isn’t easy. Or fun. And the religious
have more fear of God then anyone else because – in their monochromatic
picture of Him – He’s always angry. He’s the judge. And they live with
the sense that He knows every move they execute could have been
cleaner, faster, higher. They should have been smarter, better, harder.
Though they are often unaware of it, their failures are failures of
love, failures of forgiveness, failures of kindness, failures of
compassion.
And always failures of mercy.
That’s our eldest boy right here – 10.0’s in the field, 10.0s in
morality, propriety, reputability – but the big "2.1, 0.5, 3.2, 1.4…"
in all those other areas, the ones of the heart.
Not the best.
Not the gold medalist.
Not even a contender.
So, what does the dear Hunter say to this dutiful, bitter boy? He
doesn’t say to him smart’en up. He doesn’t condemn or judge or rebuke.
He speaks more words of grace.
"My son" the Father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours."
Or perhaps….
"My hardworking, responsible child, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours."
"My driven, dutiful child, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours."
"My careful, cautious child, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours."
Reading on…
32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ "
And that is where Jesus ends the story. He stops there. That’s it.
The men and women of doubtful reputation, the Pharisees and religious
scholars – God wanted them all in His backyard. He loves them all – He
hunts to bring us all home. He’s our dear hunter.
Our Dear Hunter… thank you for seeking us all with such mercy. God,
some of us try so hard to be so good and we know we’re the eldest son.
We know the sinner really frustrates and angers us. However, we have
hope that the spirit of Christ, who once spoke these words, is ALIVE
NOW in our hearts and He wants to speak these words again through us.
We surrender our thirsts and desires to Him and we thank you for
assuring us that we are yours. We ask that you would help us to become
more like you, the Father, by your mercy and grace. We ask that in
becoming more like you we would find more peace and joy in our hearts.
And God, some of us are lost. We know we are far from you. We thank you
that you are not going to stop hunting us. We thank you that you’re
still coming. We thank you that you want us to be yours. Help us to
have the courage to start walking home, knowing that we will only find
Love when we arrive. And God, some of us, are hunting at your side.
Some of us are feasting with you and the tax collectors. Thank you for
encouraging us to keep hunting and celebrating. Thank you for letting
us enter into your beautiful, holy work. Thank you for coming to us all
with your grace. We pray all these things in the name of your son,
Christ Jesus, who is alive in this world, and alive in our hearts, in
His name, Amen.