On Getting Even

Matthew 7:1-12

Jesus said, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Simple. Straight forward. To the point. Act towards others the way you would like them to act towards you. The problem is that too often we turn Jesus’ words completely around. Too often we prefer to “do to others as they have already done to us.”

Notice how Jesus made no allowances for past actions? Jesus does not promises us the opportunity to “get even.” Indeed, Jesus’ words at the beginning of the passage are just as clear. “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” (v. 1). Why is this so difficult? Why do we work so hard to get around it? Judgment belongs to God, and we are called to live by a higher standard regardless of how we have been treated. Even if the other person started it, even if the other person doesn’t follow the same rules, even if we don’t like it. “This is the law and the prophets,” Jesus tells us. This isn’t new it’s what God has been saying all along.

Is it realistic to treat others better than they treat us? Maybe not in human terms. But if we intend to live as disciples of Jesus Christ we had better take these words seriously and had better pay attention to what we are doing. Jesus is pretty clear.

Prayer: Lord, sometimes it is so difficult to live according to your word. Give us the strength to hear and to follow you in faithful obedience. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pot Roast and Clean Hands

Nancy Taylor

Mark 7: 1-4

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)

Washing our hands is important today. As pastors, we are instructed to wash our hands, or use the antibacterial gel every time we enter a patient’s room and especially when we hold hands with them to pray. I know a nurse who insists that the doctors, nurses, etc. who care for her or her loved ones always wash their hands in her presence. She knows how easily disease can spread.

Washing hands was important in the Jewish tradition in Jesus’ time, too. Perhaps it is possible that leaders knew intuitively that somehow washing their hands and striving for cleanliness was valuable in the preservation of their people. The only problem is that tradition became concrete irrefutable law.

You might have heard the story of the granddaughter who wanted to cook her grandma’s famous pot roast. When she asked her mom how to make it, her mom replied that the first thing she must do is cut 2” off both ends of the roast. The granddaughter asked her mom why she must do that and the mom replied that she didn’t know why, it was just the way grandma, and grandma’s mother before her had done it. It was the way it was supposed to be done. A few weeks later she was talking to her grandma and asked her why she always cut the 2” off. And grandma said, no reason, except that she inherited her mom’s roasting pot and since it is small, she always cut off about 2” of the roast to make it fit. A good idea had become concrete irrefutable law.

I have a hunch that Jesus wasn’t about wasting 2” of a perfectly good roast. After all, he wasn’t about washing hands if it was just to abide by an ancient ritual that had become law. Jesus wanted us to think about our spiritual lives. He wanted us to clean up our insides; that part of us that hates, gets angry, is unforgiving, petty, greedy and disrespectful. If we don’t get rid of the bad stuff, there won’t be room for the good stuff.

Now, there are lots of corporate types who may think that the bad stuff isn’t so bad. But you and I know better. You and I know that when we are clean on the inside, something is right that isn’t right when we have dark, dirty thoughts and actions invading our soul. The Lenten season gives us an opportunity to cleanse our lives of the things that clog and keep us separated for God. A colleague of mine tells this story: “I ran across a friend at church who asked me how I was doing and I said, ‘Actually, pretty good.’ And he said, ‘I know, I can tell by your bright eyes. You have clean windows!’”

This spring, clean your windows, you will see so much better!

Prayer: Dear God, cleanse my spirit that I might draw ever closer to you. Amen.

Nancy Taylor is a Presbyterian minister in northern Arkansas. You can follow her delightful blog “Hmmmm…” here.

Which Law Are We Talking About?

HK Stewart

Mark 2:23-3:6

This passage in Mark comes after Jesus has been talking about new wineskins for new wine. With old wineskins -- old ways of thinking, old ways of seeing -- the skins will fail, and the wine will be lost. In today’s passage, Jesus is showing his listeners how to think differently about the law. New wineskins for a new way of thinking and behaving. He reminds them -- and us -- that the law is a blueprint for living a blessed life. It is not a tool for one group to use to condemn another.

For Jesus, the law is a way of seeing the Divine in all creation. “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath” (Mark 3:27). He understood how fruitful the law can be when it guides us deeper into God. He also understood how frightful the law can be when it drives us deeper into fear. By the end, Jesus may get credit for restoring a man’s hand, but he also feels grieved at the narrow-mindedness of those in fearful control.

How many times do we not feel grieved at our own narrow-mindedness when the law drives us deeper into fear? How many times do we not feel restored when the law guides us deeper into God?

Prayer: Lord, free us from the fear that divides and guide us toward the joy of knowing you more fully. Amen.

HK Stewart is a Presbyterian elder and member of Westover Hills Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has a BA in English and journalism and an MFA in creative writing. HK writes a daily spiritual blog entitled “Christian Taoism” and has recently begun conducting retreats on creative spirituality. You may find out more about HK and his work at:

Christian Taoism and Gift Spiritual Retreat.

The Don'ts and Dos

Colossians 2:8-23

Think back to the story of Peter in Joppa, sitting on a rooftop one day, waiting for lunch. As he waited he experienced a vision in which he was offered all sorts of animals to “kill and eat.” As a devout Jew he declined; to have killed and eaten these animals would have violated the law. But God spoke to him saying, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” (Acts 10:9-16).

Now listen to a portion of our reading from Colossians for this morning. “Why do you submit to regulations,” it asks, “‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’? All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence” (Colossians 2:20-23). It would appear that Peter and the author of Colossians have been led to a similar conclusion, that it is quite possible to get lost in a profusion of legalities which serves, not to enable our faith, but to obscure it. Devotion to Jesus Christ is not about checking requirements off a list, it is about accepting Jesus as Lord and allowing him to work through us.

Ever notice how young children will make up games as they go along? If we are not careful we may do the same thing, making up “requirements of faith” to meet our opinions and not as a response to God’s will. God calls us to love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:25-28) which is all very straight forward if not particularly easy. So maybe we would prefer a lot of rules that we can accomplish on our way to salvation, but that is certainly not what we find in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord, help us to love you with everything we are and to regard those around us with love as well so that we do not get lost in a maze of pointless rules but instead live as your people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.