One Father

One Father

Luke 7:36-8:3

The life we live is a story continually written by our decisions.  We face difficulties and challenges and we respond.  We have victories and successes and we respond.  We plod through mundane routine and we respond. All of that and so much more, from our birth to our death, is the story of our earthly life. 

This could be said of all creatures everywhere whether human or animal. 

My Bow:  Specialized to transfer as much energy from the tension of the bow to the flight of the arrow as possible.  Left handed to suit me.

My decision to nock an arrow and draw the string aim it at a deer, and let the arrow fly not only adds another event to the story of my life but possibly ends the story of that deer. 

I have never actually bow hunted.  That is an event that has never been written in the story of my life, but it could be if I choose it.

Nurturing our little ones is part of God's design.

I could choose to just use it for target shooting.  You ever see the story of Robin Hood as told by Disney?  It is animated with the characters being all sorts of different animals.  In it Robin Hood enters an archery competition where he not only gets a bull’s eye but splits the arrow of his competitor the full length of the shaft who got a bull’s eye before him.

Archery has been used as a way of describing sin.  That sin is, “missing the mark.” Sure if I were to have a target, which in this metaphor is the perfect will of God for humanity, and I turn away from that target and loose my arrow in some other direction.  That could be catastrophic.  Someone could get hurt or killed.  That would be negligent, that would be irresponsible, and we could even call it evil. 

But what if I turned 90 degrees? That is a little closer to aiming at the target, right?  It’s a little better that turning fully away from the target or God’s will.  Right? 

What if I fully face the target?  What if I try with all my effort to hit the target; to train and to practice my archery skills to be the best archer I can possibly be? Have I done all that God requires of me?

Unfortunately, no.

To live as God would have us live would require, in this metaphor, to hit the target exactly in the center of the bull’s eye with the arrow exactly perpendicular to the target and to have entered the target and just the precise depth.  Not only would we have to achieve this perfection but we would have to achieve it over and over again.  We would have to split the previous arrow every time.  If we were off even a fraction of an inch, even once, we would be missing the mark.

I was watching an episode of myth busters once.  They tried to duplicate the splitting of the arrow the full length of the shaft like in Robin Hood.  They used precise equipment and as much knowledge of physics they could muster.  And they determined that it was physically impossible to do.  Even the best earthly shot at the mark that happened to go the right depth and land perpendicular to the center dot cannot be duplicated by the second shot.

This is how it is with sin.  We cannot live in such a way that we are pleasing to God. 

That is why Christ came.  That is why Christ gave his life, so that our imperfect shot at life can be made perfect in him; So that, in him, we can live and grow in this life and enter into perfection in the next life. He died to take on all of our imperfections and failures. Every time we tried in earnest to make that perfect shot and failed, Jesus took it and made it work for him.  Every time we turned away and fired in another direction, Jesus took that and made it work for him as well. All those missed shots are still imperfections; they all still can cause harm. That all can damage. None of our shots are the perfect will of God but God uses them all and forgives us for our failure.

If hitting the mark could be gained though our own efforts, Christ died for nothing.

In The scripture today we read about a dinner party that Jesus was invited to. 

Jesus was there.  Jesus the son of God was at a dinner party with a bunch of sinners. 

Isn’t that how it always is?

Jesus was the only perfect one! Everyone else fell short of the perfection of God!

Jesus came to give his perfection.  Jesus came to take away the sin of the world.  Jesus offers forgiveness for missing the mark.  Jesus offers forgiveness of sin. 

Jesus was at a party with a bunch of sinners.  All of the sinners at that party had access to the forgiveness that Jesus was offering.  Only one accepted this great gift, in fact only one recognized the need to accept it. 

It just happens that it was a woman whose circumstances and decisions lead to a place in her life story where she was making a living as a prostitute.  In Jesus she found new life.  In Jesus she found forgiveness.  In Jesus she found the perfection of God. 

She came and found Jesus and anointed his feet. She honored Jesus while the host of the dinner party was still living in sin.  She was redeemed.  Her relationship with God had been restored while the Pharisee was still separated from God. 

To human eyes it may look like the Pharisee was in better spiritual health, being a “man of God” after all. Granted his life was stent carefully aiming and trying in earnest to hit the mark while the woman’s life appeared to be facing a different direction all together.  But in this moment of worship, this woman is in right relationship with God.  Jesus forgave and she accepted that forgiveness. The Pharisee had not.

My bow could be used for target shooting and for hunting; formerly used as a weapon of war. Not only can we turn our back on god and loose an arrow and do great damage, we can also be wounded.

When we are wounded by the actions of others, we can get caught up in the injustice of it.  We can dwell on the offence.  Here is a little parable not from the Christian tradition but a good one about life together.

This parable is from the Buddhist
tradition. 

"It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town, or city... until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow... until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated... until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a languor, or a monkey.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him."

— Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta: The Shorter Instructions to Malunkya" (MN 63), Majjhima Nikaya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_arrow

We can spend our time diagnosing our problems and lose sight of getting healthy.  Part of a healthy spiritual life is forgiving those who have wounded us.  All of our brothers and sisters, even though they may have the best of intentions will miss the mark to one degree or another.  God forgives them through Jesus Christ and we are called to do the same. 

Ahab and Jezebel were responsible for the death of Naboth. They wanted his garden. They were deceitful and Naboth was stoned to death. What they did can never be undone.  It has been written in the story of their lives and in the pages of Holy Scripture.  But Ahab later understood his sin and felt the pain of it. He was spared punishment from God, but scripture says that sin affected his sons.  His story, all of our stories have an impact on those around us, especially on our children. 

On this Father’s Day know that the greatest gift we can give our children is an example of humble acceptance of God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. When we can admit that we need forgiveness we don’t have to pretend that we are better than we are.  We won’t be blinded like the Pharisee who presumed to be better than the woman who anointed Jesus feet with perfume and washed them with her tears.  We would instead see her and the Pharisee as a sister and a brother in need of forgiveness because we have the same father. 

So how is it with you today?  Is there someone in your life who needs to hear about our loving Father who wants to perfect us in his love through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ?