Monthly Archives: February 2013

Paul’s Calling

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Acts 9:10-16

10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ He answered, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ 11The Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’ 13But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.’ 15But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’

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If you have been in church for any length of time, then you know about the Apostle Paul. In truth, you may even know about Paul without any kind of Biblical education (I use this in the broadest sense). After all, even with authorship disputations, he is the most prolific New Testament writer, thanks to his many letters or exhortation and admonition.  Paul is so central a figure to Christianity that many the faith’s critics shoot it down, calling Paul its grand manipulative architect. Undoubtedly, the Paul’s reputation precedes him, and many a Sunday School student could dispassionately recite his story.

In reading back through this account on my last time, verse 16 really stuck out to me. I knew that Paul suffered for the gospel. Indeed, it seems to be a marker of his ministry which he recounts to the Corinthians. I’ve always assumed that this was par for the course for him. Since I was so familiar with Paul’s story, it was easy to see his sufferings as a nonspecific consequential result of his actions: traveling and speaking controversially to people. But to read this verse, suffering is part of his calling? If you asked me what Paul’s calling was before I noticed this verse for the first time, I probably would have given the answer “to spread the gospel” or something similar. Never would “to suffer” have entered my mind as a possibility.

Often hear Paul’s life preached as “Saul, Jesus Christ’s chief persecutor, becomes Paul, Jesus Christ chief preacher,” but, according to these verses, that is only half the story. We should recognize also that “Saul, Jesus Christ’s chief persecutor, becomes Paul, Jesus Christ’s chief persecuted.“

This becomes strikingly clear when looking at the parallelism in the text. Ananias objects, citing “how much evil he has done to [the] saints in Jerusalem” (v.13). But Jesus counters “he is an instrument whom I have chosen…I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (vv.15-16). The “how much” used in both these objections is also the same word in Greek, ὃσος.  While Ananias points what extent Saul’s reputation is, Jesus says that he is going to take this exact reputation and turn it on its head. His reputation will no longer be Saul the persecutor, but Paul the persecuted.

In glossing over Paul’s suffering as a consequence, I trivialize the great importance of his sufferings to the very mission given to Paul and miss God’s own call on my life to suffer. Christianity is, after all, in some capacity, a call to suffer. Jesus’ earthly ministry ends in a brutal passion at the hands of the religious leaders of the day. The problem is that we point to his death, and claim that we are free from this kind of suffering. To the contrary, in John 15:20, Jesus reminds us that this is not the case because “‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” So, if I truly embrace my call as a Christian, I need to embrace not only my call to a victorious life, but also my call to suffer.

I think too often we idolize Paul, put him up on an impossibly high pedestal, so that, maybe at least subconsciously, we excuse ourselves as not being the great follower that we could be for Jesus. But the call to suffer, is a choice we can all make when it comes–it may be unpleasant, but we are able to do so. As we choose this path, though, realize that it is not futile, but will only serve to advance the Kingdom of God. Paul writes concerning his imprisonment to the Philippians:

12I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear. (1:12-14)

Come and See Part 2

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John 1:43-46

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ 46Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ 48Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ 49Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ 50Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ 51And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

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This is actually going to be the second of three posts. In the first, we discussed the idea of faith through the lens of a future hope in Jesus’ words “Come and you will see.” In this second one, I intended to go into the second “Come and see” and wrap it up, but I’ve found two different sides of the second utterance of this phrase, this time by Phillip, and they both deserve the time to unpack. This post will cover the first side of the phrase–Nathanael’s reaction to Phillip’s news that brings forth these words–and the next post will cover the second side–the meeting of Jesus and Nathanael after these words.

A little refresher on the background information about his passage before we begin will be helpful.This is the second part of the disciples’ call narrative that is recorded by John. Here we see Phillip’s call, who immediately responds to Jesus’ invitation. He then goes to recruit his brother Nathanael with the same words that were used before by Jesus before: “Come and see”.

On the front side of this phrase, what is happening in the passage is a very important interaction between the two brothers. Phillip tells Nathanael that he has found the Messiah after being chosen by Jesus by the simple words “Follow me.” In him, we see the natural response of a person who receives good news–sharing it with the someone who is close. In his excitement at his new calling, Phillip tracks down his brother and says to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote!”

Nathanael’s response to his brother, however, is lackluster.  If you’ve ever shared a meaningful moment with another person, then you know this is not an uncommon case. Oftentimes, in conveying an exciting event or piece of information to our friends or family members, they do not seem to see it in the same way. They may hear what we say, but they do not hear what we have to say.  Nathanael sees his brother approaching, animated with a message to convey and hears. “We…found…Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

He misses it. I’m sure that Nathanael heard the first clause that Phillip uttered, but he gets utterly side-tracked by one simple word: Nazareth. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” he asks. In the Greek, δύνεταί, the word here translated “can”, refers to an ability, or the power related to that ability. It is the word from which we get dynamite, dynamo, dynamic, and several others.  So, what Nathanael is asking is actually much stronger than what is said if we just “speed over” the English. In reading the story, we skip the gravity of this question because we know the answer. Of course something good can come from Nazareth because that is where Jesus is from. But Nathanael’s question is more pointed. A more literal translation of the question might be “What good is able to be out of Nazareth?” (Ἔκ Ναζαρὲτ δύναταί τι ἀγαθὸν εἶναι;)

We all, like Nathanael, can let preconceived notions get in the way of what we are really supposed to hear, see, or do.  The utter worthlessness, in his eyes, of the town of Nazareth, far outweighed any benefit that a person from there could provide. Yet, it was in fact from this very place that the Messiah came and, as we shall see in the final post about this passage, Nathanael came to that realization. The challenge that this passage gives us, the challenge to “Come and see”, is a challenge to be radically open to God intervening in our lives in ways that we once thought were impossible. This is not a new challenge, but it is definitely one that I can neglect from time to time. We must, instead, respond in faith to what God is doing, no matter how unlikely it might seem.

In the post to come, I’ll look at, not only how this is true, but we are turned in on ourselves when we allow God the freedom to work.

What to Pray For

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Acts 4: 23-31

23 After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, 25it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:
“Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples imagine vain things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand,
and the rulers have gathered together
against the Lord and against his Messiah.”
27For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ 31When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

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I came across this passage today in my daily reading.* This is the first of two confrontations that the Apostles have with the Jewish leadership before being scattered in Chapter 7. Their response to persecution struck me as very interesting. If you faced with impending conflict, what would you pray for? My immediate response would be to pray for relief from the persecution. At best, I probably would pray for endurance so that I might be able to stand the coming trial. The disciples, however, prayed for boldness, a prayer that would be the furthest from my mind. At first, you might say that praying for endurance is the same as the latter, and I admit that they share several similarities, but they are different in one key way. Their prayer is not focused on themselves, as the endurance prayer is, but on their mission. They prayed not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of the important task handed to them in Chapter 1. It is out of this clear vision of their mission that their prayer comes (I might add that it was out of their heart that their prayer comes; Matt. 15:18), and God answers it.

Their focus on the eternal mission may have come from Jesus’ own words to them in Matt. 10:16-33, specifically v. 28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” This seems kind of harsh, but its truth strikes a chord in me, encouraging me to pray for boldness as well. Hopefully, when my time comes, I’ll have the strength to say with Peter and John “19But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; 20for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ (Acts 4:19-20)”

I’ll end this with a prayer for myself that a wrote about a year back. At that time I was praying about how I would unwaveringly be able to tell a person in sin the truth of the Scripture while at the same time doing so in love. In praying for the qualities that I needed, I came to the word boldness. I guess now, in retrospect, that there was a reason that it came to me. Here is that prayer, and may I continue to ask for boldness in my mission on the Earth.

“Father, instill in me a boldness to stand for you against adversity, teach me with your wisdom to understand your ways, and, above all, channel through me love that will call others to you.”

*I use the schedule here.