Mitch Lewis

I first read Dietrich Bohnoeffer's writings when I was a high school student 38 years ago. My worn-out copy of Life Together (Gemeinsames Leben)  dates to 1978, my first year in seminary. Its words were foreign and almost incomprehensible to my Baptist ears, but even then I thought "wow." My appreciation of Bonhoeffer's words grows deeper every time I read this beautiful little text. Bonhoeffer's first chapter on "Community" starts with standard Reformation language regarding our righteousness in Christ. He proceeds to draw out from that, however, an understanding of the Christian life that turned my understanding of Christian piety upside down. The later chapters of Life Together describe what we might call spiritual disciplines that belong to Christian discipleship. You'll never understand what Bonhoeffer says about things like prayer, confession, communion, work and service, however, unless you first grasp the foundation that he lays in his chapter on community.

I revisited Bonhoeffer's chapter on "Community" in Life Together after writing this week's post on "Ordinary Christianity." It was obvious to me how much this little book has come to color not only my understanding of Christian community, but of Christian holiness as well.

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Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.'"" (Matthew 13:24-30)

What does the work of Christ accomplish in the life of the believer? Jesus' parable of the Wheat and the Tares provides us with a word picture that I think answers that question: God creates something genuinely real and eternal in the life of the believer. The wheat that will be gathered into the barns is already growing in the field. Until the harvest, however, God's new creation is radically (i.e. at the root) entangled with the tares of this fallen age.

Jesus' allegorical interpretation of the parable in Matthew 13:36-43 identifies the good seed as the children of the kingdom and tares as the sons of the evil one.

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then "the righteous will shine forth as the sun" in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matthew 13:36-43)

Matthew's vision is simple: God's children will live side-by-side with evil doers in the world until the end of the age. Then, the unrighteous will be destroyed; the righteous will live perfectly in God's ideal kingdom.

This view of the world is often called "dualistic"; in it, everyone ultimately belongs to one of two groups: the saved and the damned (left to natural decay, annihilated or sentenced to eternal punishment, depending on your point of view). Please note that I don't use the word "dualistic" as a pejorative as some others do. When it comes right down to it, everyone must logically fall into one of these groups at the end of the age. Universalists believe that everyone falls in the "saved" category. Folks like Carl Sagan believe we all fall in the "worm food" category. If there is a day of resurrection and judgment coming, after which life in God's eternal kingdom is possible, then you're either in it or your not. An eschatological world view like this doesn't posit the possibility of being "half saved." "Dualism" is not a dirty word.

Even this dualistic interpretation, however, contains the seed of a more complex view of life in this age. The Son of Man, Jesus says, will send the angels to gather up all "stumbling blocks" (skandalon) or "causes of sin," in addition to those individuals who commit lawlessness. There are more problems in this world than simply the existence of bad people.

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Matthew 6:1-6, Matthew 6:16-18

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. (Matthew 6:2)

If you're not Bill Gates or Bono or Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, nobody gives a fig how much money you give to charity. You could sound the trumpet all day long to announce your generosity and no one walking down the street would be impressed. They'd think you were a nut. Even if you used modern methods to publicize your kindness - a news release, a press conference, an advertisement or the like - no one would sing your praises. If your announcement garnered any public attention, it would probably be something of this sort: 'What a jerk! Does he think he's better than the rest of us?'

What is true of charity is even truer of prayer and fasting, the other two components of Jesus' trilogy of righteous deeds. Someone praying loudly on the street corner? A kook! Someone covered in dirt and wailing a dirge? An even bigger kook!

Jesus' words in Matthew 6 have lost some of their power in the public sphere, but they still carry a good bit of weight in at least two other arenas.

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Thank a Soldier

In his 2008 Thanksgiving proclamation, the President of the United States said this:

Today, as we look back on the beginnings of our democracy, Americans recall that we live in a land of many blessings where every person has the right to live, work, and worship in freedom. Our Nation is especially thankful for the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who protect these rights while setting aside their own comfort and safety. Their courage keeps us free, their sacrifice makes us grateful, and their character makes us proud. Especially during the holidays, our whole country keeps them and their families in our thoughts and prayers.

It's almost as if President Bush reads my on-line articles. I use that same "comfort and safety" line to describe the Soldier's sacrifice on behalf of others (but perhaps I didn't invent it).

In my journeys around the web looking for what people of other faiths had to say about Thanksgiving, I found this from an atheist writer:

Giving Thanks to Soldiers and Veterans - Also commonly forgotten are the sacrifices made by those in our military. Even those who never fight in any wars still sacrifice several years of their lives in order to be a part of an organization which helps keep America free. The government has too often misused the American military, but disagreements about policies should not cause people to forget what our military personnel have done for us.

Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, Sailors, Coasties - The people of the United States remember you and give thanks for your service!

Here's the logic behind that sentiment: the nation's freedoms and blessings are a partly result of sacrifices made by those in uniform. Thanks, Troops!

So pat yourselves on the back. But don't get a big head.

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As far as I am concerned, today is "Pancake Day." No more "Mardi Gras" or "Carnival" for me. These celebrations have largely become excuses for drunkenness, irreverence, sexual irresponsibility and general misbehavior throughout the world.

Brazil, for example, is distributing 19.5 million condoms and "morning after pills" for Carnival goers. If a single condom package is about 1.5 inches in width, 19.5 million of them lined up would stretch for over 460 miles. The population of Brazil is a little more than 200 million, so there is approximately one free Carnival condom for every in ten Brazilians. In reality, of course, a much smaller number of promiscuous party goers will consume the supply. The Catholic bishops of Brazil cry out that this approach "will only serve to diminish inhibitions and encourage orgiastic behavior, but no one listens. From the narrow streets of old Europe to the Rue Bourbon in New Orleans, the story is the same. Certainly, some people just like parades, costumes and a little fun. There's no harm in that. The excesses of Mardi Gras and Carnival, however, are so extreme that they are impossible to ignore. It's not that this is a new phenomenon, and it's not that the world needs an excuse for such behavior. It is ever more troubling to me, however, that such behavior is associated with the Christian observance of Lent. I work with a large number of non-liturgical Christians who have no positive experience of the Lenten season. All they know of Lent is that it begins when the orgy is over. So Mardi Gras be damned. From now on, the day before Ash Wednesday is Pancake Day.

So let's talk about Pancake Day and Lent, and let's begin with what Lent is not. Lent is not about taking a temporary break from things we ought not be doing anyway so that we can accumulate some bonus points with God.

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Matthew 3:13-17

When John objected to baptizing Jesus, Jesus said, "Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness." What does Matthew understand this enigmatic reply to mean?

I used to think Jesus was saying that his baptism wasn't really important. I thought that Jesus was saying, "It's OK. I'm just dotting the I's and crossing the T's on my way to being the perfect sinless sacrifice for all humankind."

More recently, I've looked at Matthew's gospel again, and tried to let Matthew tell me himself what he means.

I looked at three things:

1. What does Matthew mean by the word "righteousness"?
2. What did John's baptism have to do with righteousness?
3. What does Matthew say about baptism throughout his gospel?

Righteousness in Matthew

We will encounter the words righteousness (dikaiosune), righteous (or "right") (dikaios) and related words throughout Matthew's gospel. Matthew uses the word more than twice as frequently as Luke, the gospel that is most like Matthew. It is an important word for Matthew.

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