Spiritual Resources

I’ve been thinking about spiritual genealogy recently. You know, all those names in Matthew 1 that most of us skim over, and we question why they are there? It wasn’t until someone suggested I could find the presence of God within these names that I actually began to seriously engage with them. I realized something that struck me deeply: they are our spiritual ancestors. As people of God, we inherit a spiritual lineage with the predecessors of our faith.

This idea of spiritual genealogy is so meaningful to me because it demonstrates God‘s grace and love. We have access to the testimonies of the people who came before us whenever we need to hear their stories and witness. We have access to the unconditional love of Jesus 24/7. Whereas our Earth families and friends may be sources of pain, estrangement, tension, or longing at times, we do not need to do anything to earn, justify, or negotiate a spot at the table with this spiritual family. There is already a place for us with our spiritual ancestors. Jesus can always be our brother. Peter can always be the cool globetrotting uncle. And Mary Magdalene is our rockstar aunt. They are the most accessible family we could have.

Ephesians 3:15 has this curious language: “the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” Every family takes its name? Obviously we do not all share a legal last name. However, we do share a spiritual name. We find our identity in God, and we take on the names “Children of God,” “Siblings in Christ,” “Jesus Follower,” and “Christian.” We share these names with believers of the past and of today – in other words, our lineage.

It is always mind-boggling to me to think about the truth that we are one in the Spirit. Despite our earthly demarcations of difference, we share unity in what we profess. Well, we strive for that unity. Like many people, I’ve struggled with holding the reality that there are many people who call themselves Christians who profess values that actively cause harm and oppression to other people. How can we be part of the same family when we have such antithetical views?

My nuanced answer to that question changes depending on the day. However, my steadfast answer will always be this: when my relationships feel rocky, I turn to my loving Mother, my loving Father, my loving Parent in Heaven to know and to trust that They’ve got me. God‘s got us. God knows our wrestling. God knows the tensions that come with relationships, and God as our loving parent is always shifting and shaping my heart and others’ in ways that I cannot even imagine. Ways that urge us forward to that unity, where peace and love may be the bedrock of our relationships. Ways that lead to greater understanding, empathy, and perspective.

As the Ephesians scripture says, we only need to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love. We are not called to understand how it works, but simply to comprehend the enormity of it and dare to believe in its power. Perhaps, when we begin to fathom the vastness of God’s love, the love (lost) here in our relationships on Earth will not seem like an insurmountable challenge to overcome. As verse 20 says, God is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine. Restoration and wholeness are within reach.

Struggling with how to be in relationships with others is not a new phenomena. We are not the first people (or the first believers!) to have family drama, and we will not be the last. The good news is, we can draw strength through the stories of those in our lives and in the Bible who have gone through the same struggles, and who have found a way out. Our forebears, with all of their flaws and mess ups and attempts at navigating life remind us of our common humanity. By no stretch of the imagination are we ever alone in our moments of pain with others. We have a cloud of witnesses present with us, while God the weaver is always working to bring about the largest family reunion ever known.

 PRAYER: Divine, bountiful, gracious God, in the words of Ephesians, may you strengthen our inner being, rooting and grounding us in love so that Christ may dwell in our hearts. With Christ’s dwelling, may we feel the fullness of God and the fullness of our spiritual family, guiding us to union with others and to the peace that passes all understanding. Amen.

What the heck does a tower falling in Siloam have to do with a fig tree, besides offering us an opportunity to wrestle with Jesus’s parables?

We’ve got a couple ideas at play here:

1) The not-so-easy matter of identifying and discerning signs: In the previous chapter, Jesus chastises his audience for being good meteorologists, predicting the weather based on what they see in the sky or feel in the temperature, but failing to see what God is doing right in front of them. Here in Luke 13, we have another moment of selective vision. Jesus’s audience tells him about the recent suffering of the Galileans harmed by Pilate. I can imagine the questions they were asking him: was this a punishment from God for something they did? Is God mad at them? And more importantly, how can I avoid God punishing me? How do I make God happy? Again, Jesus addresses their concerns: no, this blood mixing, this tower falling, has nothing to do with how God feels about them. Jesus' Good News is that God is not a God of retribution. They are invited to release an understanding of God centered around “an eye for an eye” and step into the liberation Jesus offers.

So if these tragedies are not the signs the audience should be looking for to see what God is doing, then what is? Jesus conveniently answers that for us in Luke 4:18-19 (NIV): “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” I can almost hear Jesus say, “when you do these things, when you see others do these things, that is God in the world, summoning people to repent and follow me.”

2) God does not orchestrate our death: Now, let’s get into the business of the fig tree. There is a lot of Good News waiting for us in the fig tree: First, God is a patient God who gives us the time and space we need to move in the world and find our place to come into life. As the gardener patiently, lovingly, and faithfully cares for the fig tree, so too does God care for us to grow on our journeys at a comfortable pace. Good things need time to cultivate in the right conditions, or, as the parable mentioned, the good manure.

But what happens after that year is up? What happens if even with the right conditions, the fig tree remains fruitless? What frustration, what annoyance, if after four years of time, energy, and money, there is no fruit, when something else could have been growing instead? In that moment, I think Jesus invites us to give ourselves grace and to let go of any shame or self-deprecation. If we have done all we can, and the results have not come to fruition, then it is not on us. Part of the warning of this parable is that those who choose to be stubborn and remain fruitless out of a desire to hold onto the old ways will find themselves passing away with those old ways. The new way of Jesus is coming, whether we are ready or not. Perhaps the best way forward is to repent and release the old ways of moving in the world and the old paradigms of thinking, and open ourselves up to the new world being born.

PRAYER: Tender gardener of us all, we come in gratitude knowing that you are always at work in the world, giving us signs of your peace and justice, welcoming and beckoning us to join you in the new ways of moving in the world. Cultivate a spirit within us to release what is not serving us or our communities, and call forth ideas, attitudes, and people who will allow us to grow fruit. May we remember that we do not grow alone, but we grow with the help of your Holy Spirit and our loving community on this journey. In your holy name we pray, Amen.