Finding the lost

Haiku for fringe dwellers

The tax collectors

and all the other ratbags

listened to Jesus.

All the good people

objected: This man hangs out

with unworthy types.

He told them stories

about things that had been lost.

Now they‘re being found!.

It doesn’t matter,

sheep, coins, car keys or people;

the lost need finding.

Grace is ev’rything,

I once was lost, now I’m found.

So the old hymn goes.

The ratbag sinners,

by definition, are lost;

they need an embrace.

They dwell on the fringe;

Jesus, offers them friendship.

No one need stay lost.

Lift up your eyes. Look,

the lost are all around us;

love them like Jesus.

© Ken Rookes 2019

A coin trick.

"Doug Adams notes that when Jesus asks the Pharisees to produce a coin, they do so...
Even though a strictly pious Jew would never carry a coin bearing the emperor's image with an inscription proclaiming him to be king and God!

These presumed righteous citizens are thus carrying around coins that break two commandments! The behaviour of the Pharisees is incriminating,
embarrassing, and amusing, to say the least.

And certainly noted by all the ordinary people who have had to 'toe the line'!
Robert Funk suggested there is no indication that Jesus returned the coin to the Pharisees. According to Funk, as Jesus proclaims the punch line -"and (pay) God what belongs to God!" he pockets the coin and has the last laugh. (i really like that image)

There is a lesson from Jesus in humour and debating skills and some deeper meaning, Perhaps it is not guidance for taxation or political authority/

But it does raise the provocative and still relevant question:
What belongs to God? What belongs to the emperor?
And what if 'the emperor' is Mugabe, or school yard bullies, or global capitalism, or al Qaeda?
The issue here is not just about money, it is about obedience to the state. Sometimes the church has chosen to disobey the law of the state for a greater law. 
In this story Jesus is anything but stupid and knows, as we do in our hearts, that there are times when there is a conflict between what the state demands and what our faith tells us to do. What would Jesus do when this happens? We need only look again to the cross to see what happens to Jesus when the state demanded worship and Jesus would only obey the law of his God.

Perhaps we still need to ponder this story some more. Perhaps another take on this story is for us to really ponder what impact it has upon us, upon our church, to really know that all/everything belongs to God."

Tell us then, what do you think?

Haiku for cutting through

Should we pay taxes

to the Emperor? they asked,

trying to catch him.

He can’t answer Yes;

but nor can he reply: No.

Both create problems.

They are hypocrites

and he tells them so. Show me

the coin for the tax.

A denarius.

Whose head is this, on the coin;

what is his title?

It’s the emperor!

Then give to Caesar those things

that belong to him.

And, while you’re at it,

give unto God all those things

that belong to God.

They make no reply.

Departing in amazement

they leave him; for now.

© Ken Rookes 2017

When the lost are found

Haiku of welcome and celebration

He welcomes sinners,

this fellow, and eats with them.

He must be a fraud.

As was Jesus' wont,

he told them all a story;

driving home his point.

Of his hundred sheep

the shepherd finds one missing,

goes to search for it.

A second story:

a woman loses a coin,

searches high and low.

When the lost are found

there is a great rejoicing;

also in heaven.

The small and the lost,

these, too, are valued by God;

and much loved also.

© Ken Rookes 2016

two realms???

"This passage has been understood by many people to say that there are two realms, those of politics and of religion. We should obey the state and obey God, and the two don’t overlap. Try telling that to Martin Luther King. Try telling that to Nelson Mandela. Try telling that to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the confessing church in Hitler’s Germany.

It has been coupled with Romans 13, which has been used for centuries to justify passive obedience to the state, even when the state has been monstrous. How could Paul be referring to the state when he said that the authorities are put there by God, and whoever resists them resists God? (Rom 13:1-2) He lived under the brutal and murderous regime of Rome!

I would suggest that we re-read Romans 13 with a completely different understanding. Perhaps the “authorities” Paul is talking about are the leaders of the church. In the surrounding chapters Paul is talking about the marks of the true church and how we ought to live together in peace and love. I can hardly imagine Paul telling us to submit to anyone other than to God and to each other as Christians. It doesn’t appear to be about obeying governments at all. And neither is Matthew 22, where Jesus’ punch line is “Give to God what belongs to God.”"

http://laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html

Once, when wandering

Once, when wandering
uncertain and without a destination,
an unexpected wind-spirit thing
claimed my attention with a whisper;
a voice that spoke of the fulfilment of divine love
but mostly spoke of home. I followed;
listening, and immersing myself
in the stories of one who found himself truly mortal;
a fellow traveller and child of dust,
like the rest of us.
My journey began anew,
with more meanderings,
an enduring share in uncertainty,
and a goal that continues to shine;
distant but defiant.
In my sometimes hesitant following
I have learned to be at peace with my need for grace.
There are stories,
more murmurings from the travelling man,
that speak of searching and of being found;
and of the surprising wind-spirit thing.
The stories give me courage to wander,
to explore and to be free;
trusting that even when I feel myself lost,
I will be found.

© Ken Rookes 2013