The Man in the Iron Mask

The movie The Man in the Iron Mask is a favorite of mine. I find myself watching it annually. The 1998 adventure film is loosely based on the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas. You might recall a couple other works of Dumas – The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. 

The movie is set in 17th-century France and revolves around the aging Musketeers – Athos, Porthos, and Aramis – during the reign of the cruel and self-indulgent ruler, King Louis XIV (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio). The plot centers on a secret twin brother of Louis XIV, Philippe, who is kept hidden in an iron mask to conceal his identity.

The Musketeers become aware of the King’s tyranny and decide to overthrow him. They uncover the existence of Philippe, the rightful heir to the throne, and plan to replace the draconian king with his benevolent twin. The Musketeers execute their plan to dethrone King Louis XIV and restore Philippe to his rightful position. Themes of loyalty, justice, and the abuse of power take center stage as the story unfolds with political suspense and the exploration of sacrifice and redemption.

A specific scene from the movie comes to my mind often: after Philippe had been restored to the throne, a royal ball was initiated in the king’s honor, something consistent with King Louis XIV’s demeanor. Unbeknownst to all except the Musketeers, it was Philippe, not King Louis XIV, sitting on the throne as the master of the ball. At one point a young woman stumbled and fell onto the bottom of the royal steps leading to the throne. The empathetic and kind-hearted Philippe left his throne to assist the young woman.

Kings don’t leave their thrones to assist others!

Pillipe’s action did not go unnoticed, by the Musketeers nor Louis XIV’s loyalists. So the plot quickly thickened. (No spoiler alert here – you’ll have to watch for yourself to see how things played out but you can assume a fair amount of swashbuckling.)

Kings don’t leave their thrones to serve their subjects. The recent post, Pocket Gophers – a Parable, certainly comes to mind, but it’s not what made me think of The Man in the Iron Mask. Rather a recent read of John 13, Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet, is what triggered the memory of Philippe’s inadvertent gaffe.

It was the night before the Festival of Passover. Jesus and his followers were gathered together in the “upper room” to celebrate the Passover meal. From John 13…

Jesus knew that his time had come, the time for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved his own people in the world; now he loved them right through to the end. It was suppertime. The devil had already put the idea of betraying him into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God. So he got up from the supper-table, took off his clothes, and wrapped a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel he was wrapped in. (John 13:1-5, KNT)

We love this story because Jesus of Nazareth washed his followers’ feet, taking on the role typical of a servant. We love this (and we should) because our Lord and Savior got up from the supper table and washed his followers’ feet. What a model of humility and servanthood for them and us. But Jesus wasn’t their Lord and Savior yet. He was “just” a rabbi that they were following and suspecting could be the Messiah. What Jesus did that night surpassed mere modeling. I suspect what Jesus did shook them to the core. Rabbis didn’t wash their disciples’ feet. They had and could afford servants to do that. If Rabbis didn’t wash their followers’ feet, certainly Messiah’s didn’t. Peter didn’t seem to understand Jesus’ actions. I suspect he wasn’t the only one.

Think about the significance of Jesus’ actions that surpassed mere modeling of servanthood. Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God. So he got up from the supper-table… and began to wash the disciples’ feet.

I don’t know when Jesus fully understood his vocation, but it’s clear that here he knew full well who he was as God incarnate. Not only was he the Messiah, but King of the Universe. And knowing full well who he was, he washed his followers’ feet. 

Contemplate the practicality involved in the act of washing someone’s feet. To do so requires taking a knee. Think about that. Subjects approach Kings on bended knee, not the other way around. This King, our king, not only stepped off the throne but proceeded to take a knee in the presence of his subjects. To wash their feet. To serve and honor them!

Who does that?

Parables

My wife and I have been reading Eugene Peterson’s Living the Message together to begin our day. On the day that the previous post (Pocket Gophers – a Parable), was published, Peterson provided us with a wonderful treatise on parables and the value they bring to readers/hearers. I thought, “There’s the next blog post!” So, I have captured that excerpt below for your reading pleasure…

Jesus was a master at subversion. Until the very end, everyone, including his disciples, called him Rabbi. Rabbis were important, but they didn’t make anything happen. On the occasions when suspicions were aroused that there might be more to him than title accounted for, Jesus tried to keep it quiet –”tell no one.”

Jesus’ favorite speech form, the parable, was subversive. Parables sounded absolutely ordinary: casual stories about soil and seed, meals and coins and sheep, bandits and victims, farmers, and merchants. And they are wholly secular: of his forty or so parables recorded in the Gospels, only one has its setting in the church, and only a couple mentioned the name of God.

As people heard Jesus tell these stories, they saw at once that they weren’t about God, so there was nothing in them, threatening their own sovereignty. They relax their defenses. They walked away perplexed, wondering what they meant, the stories lodged in their imagination. And then, like a time bomb, they would explode in their unprotected hearts. An abyss opened up at their very feet. He was talking about God; they had been invaded! 

Parables were “thrown alongside” what Jesus was doing – explaining his actions and God’s kingdom

Jesus continually threw odd stories down alongside ordinary lives (para, “alongside “, bole, “thrown “) and walked away without explanation or alter call. Then listeners started seeing connections: God connections, life, connections, eternity, connections. The very lack of obviousness, the unlikeness, was the stimulus to perceiving likeness: God, likeness, life, likeness, eternity, likeness.

But the parable didn’t do the work – it put the listener’s imagination to work. Parables aren’t illustrations that make things easier; they make things harder by requiring the exercise of our imagination, which, if we aren’t careful becomes the exercise of our faith.

The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?” Jesus replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight.” Matthew 13:10-13 (MSG)

Pocket Gophers – a Parable

As you might well know, I grew up on a dairy farm northwest of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN). The farm’s acreage was just enough to sustain the needs of a dairy herd of 100 animals. A 1600-pound cow in full milking production can put away a LOT of roughage (hay and corn silage). Therefore crop husbandry was as important as animal husbandry. High-quality alfalfa crops were essential. 

Alfalfa fields are a favorite of pocket gophers. 

Pocket gophers are small rodents that live underground in burrows they dig. The burrows can be quite elaborate, with tunnels and chambers. Their favorite habitat is grasslands, thus their attraction to hayfields. They’re not very big – about 6ish inches long with brownish/gray fur. Their cheeks have special “pockets” or pouches where they can store food for transporting to storage chambers in their burrows.

As herbivores, pocket gophers thrive on roots, especially the substantial roots of legumes like alfalfa. Rarely do they surface. One of the most distinctive features of pocket gophers is their burrowing lifestyle. They are excellent diggers and create an intricate network of underground tunnels and chambers. These burrows serve as their homes, providing protection from predators and a controlled environment for raising their young. The mounds they create are depositories resulting from their underground feats of engineering.

A typical alfalfa field’s life expectancy is 6-7 years. Once the alfalfa plant population is significantly diminished, a hayfield is plowed up and rotated with crops like corn that thrive on the residual nitrogen produced by the alfalfa.

Though the gopher’s main chambers are several feet below the surface, when plowing an old hayfield, the plow would invariably cut across the more shallow tunnels. Every once in a while, a gopher would tumble out of its tunnel into the furrow created by the plow, unable to see (bright light!), and find its way back to the tunnel.

One time I was plowing and looked back to see one such gopher frantically trying to find its way back to safety. Having a big heart that day, I decided to stop the tractor and walk back to see if I couldn’t help the gopher find its way, to rescue it. First I provided protection from the sun which I thought would be helpful, but it was not. As my shadow cast over the little guy revealing my relatively immense stature, he became increasingly frantic.

So I tried to explain that I was there to save him and (pointing) could show him the way back to his tunnel. Apparently, he didn’t understand English and instead, he ran in the opposite direction. To no avail, I called out to him that he needed to turn around, that he was going the wrong way.

Recently I was reading the Apostle Paul’s letter to the early Church in Philippi. He was admonishing them to live in humble unity and to do that they might want to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…

Let your attitude to life be that of Christ Jesus himself.  For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his privileges as God’s equal, but stripped himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a [human being]. 

(Philippians 2:5-7, JB Phillips New Testament)

What were Jesus’ privileges as God’s equal to which he did not cling in becoming a human being? For starters, he was omnipresent. He could be anywhere, anytime, all the time. He gave up his privileges as God’s equal, confined himself to the womb of one of his creation, birthed through a tiny canal into an environment that was 50ish degrees colder than the womb. Like every other human being, he needed to have his diaper changed, cried when it wasn’t, learned to feed himself, learned to walk, etc., etc. As an adult, he was limited to walking everywhere he went – at 3 miles/hour. 

As God’s equal, Jesus was omnipotent. Relegated to a human body, he was susceptible to disease just like any other human, far from omnipotence. He needed nourishment and rest, just like any of us. He was at times exhausted and emotionally stretched. Though he healed many, he couldn’t heal everyone. What was it like for him to have to walk away from people in need?

And, of course, as God’s equal he was omniscient. He gave that up, for sure. His baby brain contained the same amount of knowledge as any other baby. He likely went to Torah school, learning the story of God along with his playmates. His brain became filled with the wonders of God (Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man – Luke 2:52). Jesus was in constant contact with God (think prayer) learning and discovering the vocation to which he was called.  

What’s this got to do with a gopher? If I really cared enough about that gopher to rescue him and show him the way, I would have needed to give up my privileges as a human being and become a gopher. I would have relegated myself to living underground on a diet of alfalfa roots, risking getting plowed up every once in a while. But I like pizza and sunlight. I wasn’t at all willing to give up my privileges as a human being for the sake of a gopher.

When it comes to gophers, I apparently don’t have the same attitude as Jesus!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

In honor and memory of the life of Timothy Keller, I publish some of my favorite quotes from his prolific writings (see Tim Keller, Author). Since the last post focused on Dietrich Bonhoeffer (A New Year’s Hymn) and he was referenced in the advent post, Mary’s Poem, I thought it fitting to create a list of some well-known and valuable quotes from his writings.

As was the case with the Tim Keller post, this exercise is intended for my own edification as much as for those reading this. So here they are, along with their sources. Enjoy!

“Jesus calls us not to a new religion but to life.”  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bethge)

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.”  (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community)

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  (Though this is often attributed to Bonhoeffer, the exact source is disputed as it doesn’t appear in any of his writings)

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”  (Life Together)

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”  (Life Together)

“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” (Ethics)

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.” (The Cost of Discipleship)

“God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.”  (God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas)

“Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of anxiety.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.”  (Life Together)

“Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, and more in light of what they suffer.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.”  (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Metaxas)

    A New Year’s Hymn

    I have been intrigued by Dietrich Bonhoeffer for most of my adult life, having read several biographies and a couple of the major works credited to him, beginning with Life Together (1938).  In Life Together Bonhoeffer reflected on the importance of Christian community and the challenges and joys of living in community with other believers, especially during tumultuous times. 

    The Cost of Discipleship (1937) is perhaps Bonhoeffer’s most famous work, in which he explored the concept of costly grace and the true meaning of discipleship. Both Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship were directly related to his resistance to the rise of the Nazi regime and to the capitulation of the state Church’s clergy to the dictates of Adolph Hitler. 

    His resistance led to the Gestapo, in 1941, forbidding Bonhoeffer to teach, write, or publish. He was required to report his whereabouts and activities to the Gestapo every month. His resistance coupled with his knowledge of plots to assassinate Hitler led to his imprisonment in April 1943. He remained in custody until his execution on April 9, 1945, at the Flossenbürg concentration camp just two weeks before it was liberated by the Allies.

    Bonhoeffer had become engaged to Maria von Wedemeyer on January 13, 1943. While in prison, he was allowed to write letters to Maria. His December 19, 1944 letter (written from the Gestapo prison in Berlin during heavy Allied air raids) included a poem he wrote that started with “Von guten Mächten” (English: “By Gracious Powers”). With an eternal perspective, the poem is laced with peace, hope, and confidence in God – evidence of an unwavering faith amid his dire circumstances. 

    Letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Maria von Wedemeyer, December 19, 1944. Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Ger 161 (43).

    The poem was published posthumously in The Cost of Discipleship under the title “New Year 1945.” Set to music in the 1950s, Von guten Mächten has become a widely sung hymn in German-speaking lands at the turn of the year. I share it with you as we enter into a new year. Bonhoeffer’s deep faith, hope, and trust in God in the face of adversity are worthy of consideration at the inception of any new year!

    Von guten Mächten (By Gracious Powers)

    Words by: Dietrich Bonhoeffer;
    trans. by Fred Pratt Green 

    Postscript: You might be interested in diving deeper into Bonhoeffer’s life. In addition to his writings listed above here are some more resources:

    • Ethics, (completed in 1943, published posthumously). This work represents Bonhoeffer’s reflections on Christian ethics and the responsibilities of Christians in the face of moral and political challenges.
    • Letters and Papers from Prison (1951) – Compiled posthumously, this collection includes Bonhoeffer’s letters and reflections written while he was imprisoned by the Nazis.
    • Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas. A really good and easy to read biography.
    • The 2000 film, Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (I’m watching in the background as I write this 🙂)

    Note: I credit our pastor, Bjorn (fluent in German), for his enlightenment regarding this hymn, unbeknownst to most American Christians. It certainly was to me!

    Mary’s Poem

    I absolutely love poetry – when I hear it read. I remember attending a Cursillo weekend event in the mid-1980s where one of the spiritual directors read poems from his favorite author. The words leaped off the page and drew me in, so much so that I went out and bought the book for myself. To my disappointment, as I read from the book, the poems did nothing for me. I think we engineering-types struggle to read poetic literature. I know I do. To my dismay, the richness of so much poetry just never seems to leave the pages.

    I’ve heard many people say they struggle reading Hebrew poetry, like the Psalms, as did I for about the first 45 years of my life. Then something changed. I took a seminary course in Psalms through the Reformed Theological Seminary in the mid-1990s. I remember asking the professor which English translation of the Bible gives us the best sense of the meter and intent of these great Hebrew poems and songs. He suggested reading from the New American Standard Bible. Thus began a new appreciation of Hebrew poetry.

    Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) is certainly in the genre of Hebrew poetry. It reads like many of the Psalms, laced with thanksgiving and admiration of God along with declarations of his redemptive and loyal characteristics. We should keep in mind that Mary would have been quite familiar with Hebrew poetry, especially the Psalms. She might likely have sung some of the Psalms during her week-long journey to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.

    It was at Elizabeth’s home that Mary mouthed the Magnificat. Magnificat is the title attributed to her poem/song of praise which was a response to Elizabeth’s reception and words of blessing of Mary and her unborn baby, Jesus. The term Magnificat comes from the opening line of the poem in the Latin Vulgate Bible – Magnificat anima mea Dominum, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” 

    Though Mary’s poem appears to have been spontaneous, one could/should assume the contents could have resulted from things she would have been pondering since the visit from the angel, Gabriel, and most likely during her long trip to visit Elizabeth. I think of a couple different times in the Gospels that speak of Mary’s treasuring and pondering of events unfolding in her life:  Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19, after the visit from the shepherds the night of Jesus’ birth) and his [Jesus’] mother treasured up all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51, after the young lad went missing and was found discussing theology with the teachers in the Temple). 

    And certainly, a visit from an angel declaring that she would birth the Messiah would be cause for much pondering!

    If you recall, when Mary reached Elizabeth’s home and greeted her, Elizabeth’s baby John leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:39-45). Elizabeth commended Mary for her faith and confirmed the angel Gabriel’s proclamation that she would indeed carry the Messiah in her womb. No wonder Mary broke into song (though scripture doesn’t indicate that she sang) and said…

    “My soul magnifies the Lord,
    47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
        For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
    49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
        and holy is his name.
    50 And his mercy* is for those who fear him
        from generation to generation.
    51 He has shown strength with his arm;
        he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
    52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
        and exalted those of humble estate;
    53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
        and the rich he has sent away empty.
    54 He has helped his servant Israel,
        in remembrance of his mercy,
    55 as he spoke to our fathers,
        to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” (ESV)

    Read the Magnificat again and you will see the gospel, the good news that accompanies the arrival of a king.  This King will be different than all other kings of the earth. Most kings, upon arrival, exalt those with wealth, position, and power. Most kings, upon arrival, throw celebrations and feasts for those of wealth, position, and power – celebrations and feasts catered by servants of humble estate.  This King arrived through a servant of humble estate.  This King would reverse the order, exalting the humble and humbling the exalted. 

    No wonder the late pastor and author, Eugene Peterson, referred to this good news as the great reversal. No wonder Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian who was executed by the Nazis, called the Magnificat “the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary hymn ever sung.”

    * Mercy is that rich Hebrew word, hesed, that we have previously discussed.

    Advent 2023

    As I write this, we of Western Christian tradition are mid-way through the season of advent.* My personal experience with the observation of the tradition of observing Advent is limited to more recent years through worship at churches with “mainline” denominational influence. Friends who worship in non-denominational traditions may not observe Advent as formally. 

    No matter our traditions, as a minimum most of us understand Advent to be a time of looking forward to and anticipating the birth of Christ. But how do we anticipate something that took place a couple thousand years ago? This is the type of question typical of people, young and old, who wrestle to reconcile tradition and present reality. Therefore, it might be helpful to examine Advent to gain a better understanding of the tradition and its value.

    The dictionary defines “advent” as the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event (as in “the advent of cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies?”). The “Advent” of the Christian calendar is derived from the Latin word adventus which means “coming, arrival, or visit.” Scholars think adventus is a translation of the Greek word parousia.  Parousia is a word that is usually connected to the second coming of Christ. When my mom resided in a Care Center I would often join her for weekly chapel services. The Eucharist we celebrated during the services was administered by an Anglican chaplin. The Anglican words of institution are, “Christ has died, Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”  Parousia. 

    But this is the 21st century. How was parousia used a couple thousand years ago in the days leading up to Jesus’ birth? The Jewish historian, Josephus, sometime used parousia when speaking of Yahweh coming to rescue Israel. For many years before Jesus’ birth, the Israelites had been longing for Yaweh’s intervention as they suffered under the domination of other empires, at the time of Jesus’ birth under Roman control. He was their hope. The Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) were laced with longing and hope (cf. Psalm 25, Psalm 42, Psalm 130, Isaiah 40, Lamentations 3).

    Josephus wrote his Jewish history in Greek and thus the usage of parousia. Since Josephus incorporated parousia one could assume that the first-century non-Jewish, non-religious readers understood its meaning. The term was used when a high-ranking official made a visit to a subject state. If King Charles III were to visit the Falkland Islands, a British territory, the Falkland inhabitants would experience royal presence. The ancient Greek word for royal presence is parousia. 

    God must be frustrated with Christmas songs that sanitize and domesticate Jesus’ birth. I think of Away in the Manger, depicting a cute little, perfect baby who doesn’t even cry. What the shepherds witnessed that night in the manger was a royal presence, parousia. And to be sure parousia had political implications! Emperors are usually not open to sharing their kingdom with others. The significance of parousia was not lost on the puppet king, Herod. When he discovered the possible whereabouts of the baby Jesus, he dispatched troops to slaughter baby boys, hoping to snuff out a potential rival.

    We must remember that Christ has died and Christ has risen. And though we certainly look forward to a second coming, we don’t want to forget that he is alive and well on planet earth. The message of the early believers was that Jesus is King and Caesar is not. The message today is that Jesus is King and _________ is not (you can fill in the blank). We are blessed with royal presence. May we not take for granted parousia. May we learn to live as people in the presence of royalty! **

    * The tradition of Eastern Orthodox Christians is the celebration of a 40-day Nativity Fast as they prepare for Christmas. 

    ** Old Christmas hymn writers understood this. We can see references to the birth of a king in many of the familiar carols (e.g., Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear).

    JFK, Mr. Zabee, and Mr. Briggs

    November 22, 2023

    Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated in Dallas, TX. I am in that category of people who remember the event well, who can say, “I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news.”

    I was in Mr. Brigg’s fifth-hour, eighth-grade woodshop at Elk River Junior High School. It was the end of the class period. We were cleaning up the shop. I was about to put away the “showman’s box” that I designed and was building for use in storing gear for showing dairy cattle at fairs. As we were cleaning up the shop our principal, George Zabee, made the announcement that JFK had been shot and later died in the hospital. I remember that his voice cracked a bit as he made the announcement. I could tell he was audibly shaken (similar to Walter Cronkite’s visible reaction on TV that day).

    As I pondered the events of 60 years ago, experiences with Mr. Briggs and Mr. Zabee came flooding back. Both played significant roles in my early teen development…

    Mr. Briggs was my math and shop teacher that year. He made the beginnings of algebra and geometry fun, leaving us wanting more. He taught inductively (though I had no idea what that meant as an eighth-grader!). He took us on field trips to watch the progress he was making on the house he was building down by the river. I remember estimating the height of a flagpole, and discovering how to use trigonometry before we even knew what trigonometry was. He always had a puzzle of the week written on the board which taught us to work together and think critically.

    Looking back, I think Mr. Briggs may have played a significant role in my interest in becoming a structural engineer. I also suspect he played a major role in the way I have been able to tutor high school students over the years, employing an inductive approach unbeknownst. As a shop teacher he steathfully integrated what we were learning in math. He piqued my interest in woodworking which is my occupation of leisure these days.

    I am grateful for Mr. Briggs and the significant role he played in my life.

    As I thought about Mr. Zabee this morning, similar feelings of gratitude surfaced. Mr. Zabee was my principal for six years – he followed my class to the high school when the incumbent principal retired. He was a big man – his very presence commanded respect. He grew up on a farm and took an interest in my farm experiences. Though one who wielded authority, we all knew that he cared about us and our well-being. So I wasn’t overly surprised to hear his voice tremble as he announced JFK’s assassination. (Something that occurred to me this morning: Mr Zabee was Catholic as was JFK. I remember that it was a big deal that the United States elected a Catholic, so Mr. Zabee might have been mourning more than the loss of his president).

    I have so many stories I could share about Mr. Zabee, but this is the one that stood out the most to me as I pondered about November 22, 1963: Mr. Zabee met with a group of about 15 of us eighth graders weekly for 6-8 weeks. It was a “learning how to learn” experiment. I remember us doing exercises in observation and learning to “read between the lines.” Looking back I realize he was teaching us critical thinking skills. I suspect he played a major role in helping me become a more critical thinker. I suspect he also played a major role in the way I get to help young people today learn to think critically. I also suspect he played a major role in my becoming a life-long learner.

    I am grateful for Mr. Zabee and the significant role he played in my life.

    Several years ago at the suggestion of our pastor (based on Romans 16:3-15), I created a list of 26 people for whom I had an affinity, people who significantly impacted my life and faith. You can read about it in the post My 26. After the “My 26” exercise two years ago, I continued an ongoing list of people for whom I am grateful. That list continues to grow as God brings people to mind.

    Mr. Zabee and Mr. Briggs made my list this morning.

    This is Thanksgiving week in the United States. In keeping with the sentiment of Thanksgiving, it would be fitting to ponder and cherish the memories of those from our past who played caring and impactful roles in our lives. And maybe even start a “Gratitude List” and watch it grow over the years.

    Chasing after… Justice

    A continuation of my experience chasing after high school track and cross country kids….

    Circa mid-1980s. I was in my mid-30s, volunteering with the track team at a high school where I was also a Young Life leader. A couple times a week I was available to run with the team. I showed up for the first spring practice anticipating running with guys I already knew. There was a plethora of freshmen distance runners that year and the coach asked if I would take them out for a run. Since there was still snow on the track, the workout was road running.

    When we got out on the road they all took off like jackrabbits, leaving me to chase after them at a pace faster than my normal (I think they thought I was a coach and wanted to impress me). About halfway through the run, I had chased down half of the group, much to their surprise. What I knew that they didn’t know was that the workout finished up a steep hill where I caught the rest of the group and passed them. Justice!

    In the last blog post, we looked at the Apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy to run away from the things that tend to entrap Christ-followers and…

    Instead, chase after justice, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11, NTFE)

    What does it mean to chase after justice? Instead of justice, most translations use a religious term we are quite familiar with but probably unable to describe or define – righteousness. It is one of those biblical terms we often read without thinking about its meaning. What is righteousness? And how is it related to justice?

    (I know there are people reading this who will immediately think of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the reference to Ferris as a “righteous dude.”)

    The Greek word Paul used for righteousness is dikaiosynē. According to Bill Mounce it occurs 92 times in the New Testament, 10 times attributed to something Jesus said (e.g. the well-known Matthew 6:33 passage: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness [dikaiosynē]…). This is not going to be an exhaustive study of dikaiosynē – books have been written on this one word alone. But I do want to provide us (me included) a better understanding of the elusive term righteousness and get a glimpse as to why it can be translated as justice.

    Mounce’s basic explanation of dikaiosynē using English words: righteousness, what is right, justice, the act of doing what is in agreement with God’s standards, the state of being in proper relationship with God. As typical, it takes a lot of English words to capture the essence of a single Greek word.

    In Greek philosophy and ethics (think Aristotle and Plato), dikaiosynē is closely related to the idea of moral virtue and the proper conduct of individuals within a society. Dikaiosynē is often associated with the idea of treating others fairly, acting justly, and upholding moral integrity. In a broader sense, it encompasses the concept of moral rightness and adherence to ethical principles.

    Since righteous is one of those biblical terms we often read without thinking about its meaning, I suspect we tend to default to Merriam-Webster’s definition that points to a connection with morality which in our minds translates into “right living,” something we must do or work at. Our individualistic Western faith can easily hear it this way – it’s about me living the right life. But it appears that dikaiosynē is much more than that.

    When the OT was translated from Hebrew to Greek (the Septuagint), the translators used dikaiosynē to describe both righteousness and justice. Psalm 33:5 is a good example:

    • Hebrew: “He loves righteousness (tsedeq) and justice (mishpat); the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.”
    • Greek (Septuagint): “He loves mercy and justice (dikaiosynē); the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.”

    The well-known passage, What does the Lord require of you? To act justly [mishpat] and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8, NIV), the Septuagint translates as to practice justice [dikaiosynē], and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. We can see that dikaiosynē is not limited to individual righteousness but extends to the idea of social justice. All scripture calls for believers to act justly, show mercy, and advocate for the well-being of others, reflecting God’s righteous character in their interactions with the world.

    It’s something worth chasing after.

    Dikaiosynē is frequently used to describe the righteousness of God. It emphasizes God’s moral perfection, justice, and faithfulness to His covenant promises. The root Hebrew word for righteous/righteousness is tsedeq which speaks of God’s loyalty and reliability and his covenant (commitment) to humanity. Psalm 50:6 is a good example: And the heavens proclaim his righteousness [Hebrew: tsedeq; Greek: dikaiosynē,] for he is a God of justice.

    For humans, tsedeq is a term of relationship describing a desire to live a life pleasing to a righteous God and a desire to live a life fitting to the members of God’s family.  Simply stated, God is the righteous one and human righteousness is therefore a desire, a willingness to behave toward God and his people with the same care, compassion, and integrity that the righteous God has shown us.

    It’s something worth chasing after.

    Martin Luther, commenting on Galatians 2:20, wrote: Paul explains what constitutes true Christian righteousness. True Christian righteousness is the righteousness of Christ who lives in us. We must look away from our own person. Christ and my conscience must become one, so that I can see nothing else but Christ crucified and raised from the dead for me. If I keep on looking at myself I am gone. If we lose sight of Christ and begin to consider our past we simply go to pieces. We must turn our eyes to… Christ crucified, and believe with all our heart that he is our righteousness and our life. For Christ, on whom our eyes are fixed, in whom we live, who lives in us, is Lord over the law, sin, death, and all evil.

    Chasing after righteousness isn’t about just living rightly, but chasing after the One who will transform us, becoming like him. As we become more like Him we will live more rightly which naturally includes living justly.

    It’s certainly something worth chasing after.


    .  

    Chasing after…

    My first 25ish years of ministering to high school students via Young Life found me running with cross country (XC) and track teams. It was an effective means of developing relationships with kids and coaches. While running with kids, I was “Jesus with skin on,” becoming part of the fabric of their world, as we like to say in Young Life. An example…

    One time after we had moved to a new community, I started attending some XC meets, just showing up. Kids and coaches notice when non-parents show up at XC meets. While attending my second meet at this new school, the coach asked me who I was and what I did. I told him I had just moved to town after accepting an engineering position at a local manufacturing facility. He was a geometry teacher.

    He invited me to run across the course with him to a mile marker where he could observe the runners’ times. As we ran, I asked if there was a need for geometry tutoring and if I could possibly play a role. He stopped dead in his tracks (keep in mind how busy a head coach might be during an XC meet) and said, “Yes! Let’s talk!” Long story short, I soon found myself tutoring in the school two times a week during my lunchtime. I had the privilege of being “Jesus with skin on” and becoming part of the fabric of the school. And I started running with the XC guys a couple times a week.

    Watching XC meets over the years, I discovered that the lead runner often did not win the race. The trophy more often than not went to one that chased after and ran down the lead runner(s). It was especially hard to watch when the one that got chased down was a young man or woman that I knew.

    Running with youngsters many years my junior was great for my own development as a runner. I began running road races. I wasn’t a great runner, but above average, even winning a trophy once in a while. I wasn’t a fast runner, but could plug along at a consistent pace. My sense of achievement was often tied to the number of runners I could pass during the course of the race, chasing down the next runner ahead of me. Chasing, not looking back – it served me well.

    I was recently reading the apostle Paul’s first pastoral letter to his friend and apprentice, Timothy. Timothy had been left to shepherd the Church of Ephesus in Paul’s absence. As he closed the letter to Timothy, Paul underscored the significance of using wisdom when: appointing people into leadership positions; speaking against false teachings; challenging the piety of the self-righteous; considering the role of and focusing on money (thus the well-known, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”), etc.

    In his final charge to Timothy, Paul encouraged him to flee from the things that easily entrap Christians whose focus was other than Jesus and instead fight a better fight, saying…

    Chase after justice, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness.

    Many translations read to “pursue” these virtues. N.T. Wright translated “pursue” as “chase after” (see 1 Timothy 6:11, Kingdom New Testament). The English transliteration of the Greek word Paul used is diOke, which means “be-chasing” or “be-pursuing.” DiOke is a present imperative verb signifying a continuous chasing after the listed virtues (e.g., “chase and keep on chasing”). We discussed the present imperative tense in a previous blog post.

    As I mentioned, Paul had cautioned Timothy to run from the things that entrap and take one’s focus from Jesus. Instead, Paul encouraged him to focus on (chase after) the virtues that are congruent with Christ-likeness.

    To what end?

    Paul was reminding Timothy to fight this better fight while focused on King Jesus who made the noble profession before Pontius Pilate (1 Timothy 6:13, NTFE). What was that noble profession? Pilate asked Jesus if he was king of the Jews. Jesus’ response was a definitive “Yes” (cf. Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 18). King implies nobility. A noble profession indeed.

    Paul was telling Timothy to chase and keep on chasing after Christlikeness until the royal appearance* of our Lord King Jesus, the only Sovereign One, the King of kings and Lord of Lords (1 Timothy 6:14-15, NTFE).

    What do we chase after these days?

    I wonder what we chase after these days. Just like 2000 years ago, I suspect many of us get caught up chasing after money and the happiness it might bring. In the United States, we are heading toward another Presidential election. Do we get caught up chasing after politicians and political pundits that we hope will bring good news to our divided country? Do we get caught up in the culture wars, chasing down those we disagree with? Do we find ourselves chasing after stuff that would pale at the royal presence of the King of kings and Lord of Lords? Paul:

    You must run away from all this. Instead, chase after justice, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness.

    * Interestingly, the Greek word for “royal appearance” is epiphaneia, the word from which we get the Christian term “Epiphany.”