The Rambling Disciple

This quarantine state we now find ourselves in presents most of us with an opportunity for spiritual reflection and growth. Most of us are stuck at home with a bit more time on our hands than normal. Now is an excellent time to devote ourselves to prayer, study, and overall devotion to Christ.  One of the disciplines that I think gets neglected is that of self-examination. In fact, I'd argue this is one of those disciplines that we actively try to avoid. We make our lives so busy and so full of noise that block out any chance for silence and reflection. That time of quiet where we can look squarely at ourselves makes many of us uncomfortable. Often times we don't like what we see. Self-examination forces us to confront our own sinfulness and failures. We don't like to look at that. We like to think that we are essentially good people with a couple of flaws here and there that need to be ironed out. The truth is that we are all sick, every part of us has been touched ...

Well, it's official; I've been at the Church of Christ Northwest for a grand total of five years now. Oh how I've grown to love and appreciate this congregation. It is ironically now, under quarantine and spending week upon week in complete isolation aside from some sporadic personal contact, that my appreciation for this group has been more fully realized. This church is my family, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. I regard them to be just as close to me as my father and brother and sister. It is a unity brought about not by blood or marriage, but by Christ. These people are my brothers and sisters, truly and fully. Are they perfect? Heck no! Neither am I! There have been a variety of screw ups, hurt feelings, sleepless nights, frustrating conversations, and complete misfires in terms of getting stuff done. Lots of it has even been my fault. It hasn't always been easy, smooth, or even enjoyable. Still, it has always been a blessing. So today, on the anni...

With the world being swept by the corona-virus a whole lot of people have been confined to their homes for the time being. I pray that this ends swiftly and life can continue on normally. However, this newfound solitude does give us an opportunity to slow down a bit. I've seen many say they are going to try and start reading some more during this time. To help with this I've put together a list of some books I'd recommend if you are looking to read something that will help with spiritual growth and formation (besides the Bible, of course). 1. The Confessions of St. Augustine  by St. Augustine I cannot recommend The Confessions  enough to people. St. Augustine is one of the premiere Christian thinkers in all of history, and The Confessions  are his autobiography of how he came to the faith. It is beautifully written and I think many of us are able to identify with his struggles and stark self-reflection. 2. Discipleship  by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonho...

While the Pharisees and Sadducees were generally limited to the religious class, there was another significant group within first century Judaism that wasn’t primarily theological; the Zealots. While the term “zealot” can technically be applied to anyone who is an extremist of their group, here it refers to something specific. The Zealots were the rebels of their day.              For the Zealots, the greatest enemy on the planet was the Roman Empire. Their entire life was devoted to the overthrow Roman rule and the independence of Israel, usually by any means necessary. This meant kidnappings, uprisings, murder, and more. Zealots hunted down Roman officers, politicians, and soldiers. They considered anyone who collaborated with the Romans an enemy (tax collectors, for example) and therefore fair game. In modern terms we would call them terrorists.             ...

After the Pharisees the next best-known group of the first century Jewish world is the Sadducees. While not mentioned nearly as often as the Pharisees, the Sadducees were actually more numerous in Jerusalem and Judea. The Sadducees were the upper class, the elite. They held, by far, the most seats on the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council) and were by and large the group that most of the priests were members of. To put it simply, the Temple was their domain and they ruled it with an iron fist.             The Sadducees were not like the Pharisees. If we were to call the Pharisees “legalists” the Sadducees were the opposite. They chose to acknowledge only the parts of the Old Testament they liked as Scripture. They ran the Temple. They made obscene amounts of money from running the Temple. So long as the Jews of the world kept bringing their money and sacrifices to the Temple, the Sadducees were happy. They didn’t particularl...

The best-known sect of first century Judaism today are the Pharisees. We see them frequently throughout the Gospels as they question and oppose Jesus seemingly everywhere he goes. I think we often get the impression that the Pharisees represent the entirety of first century Jewish thought and theology, but in truth they only comprised roughly 10% of the Jewish world. The Pharisees were purists above all else. They believed in a strict devotion to the Law of Moses and that all Jews should obey it to the letter. They despised what they saw as the current corruption of the Temple and the priesthood, emphasizing personal obedience to the Law above meeting the requirements of the Temple. They were looking for a Messiah who would cleanse the Temple, restore the authority of the Law of Moses, and bring about a golden age of Judah.             This purity of devotion to the Law was why the Pharisees were so against Gentiles and “s...

The first century Jewish world was just as diverse as any religious movement today is. There were theological arguments, divisions based on class, geographic differences, interpretive schools, and political squabbles. Two thousand years later and halfway around the globe we read about these things in the New Testament, especially in how they relate to Jesus. However, that difference in time and geography causes to be blind to many of the distinctions that existed within first century Judaism. One thing of particular interest to us is what the Jews of that time expected in their Messiah. We normally give a standard answer of “a military leader” and leave it at that. The truth is the expectations for the Messiah in that world were just as diverse and varied as any set of opinions on an important subject. Some Jews were looking for a military leader, as we often say, who would slaughter the Romans and establish the nation of Judah once again as a world superpower. Others were ...