Month: August 2019

“But … God appointed a worm….” (Jonah 4:7) 

The word translated ‘appointed’ in the verse above comes from the Hebrew וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man). In the book of Jonah, God ‘appointed’ וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man) a fish, a vine, a worm and a wind. So what does this have to do with life in 21st century Australia?

We were each asked to share a favourite Bible verse at a gathering last week up here in Sydney. I shared ‘the worm verse’. In fact, as I write, I’m still here in Sydney, drafting this blog post on a bench by the river in Parramatta.

Jonah’s story – a prophecy

Perhaps the first ‘cross-cultural missionary’ in the Bible could be said to have been a grumpy guy named Jonah. God sent him to great metropolis of Nineveh … so he fled in the opposite direction by ship. 

God appointed [וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man)] a fish to swallow Jonah up after he was tossed overboard … there’s a backstory there (Jonah 1:17). After Jonah had seen the metaphorical though not literal light, God commanded the big fish to vomit him ashore.

In fact, this whole saga was a prophecy lived out by the reluctant missionary. Jonah’s time in the belly of the great fish and eventual resurrection, so to speak, pointed to what the coming Messiah would endure (see Matthew 12:40). Hindsight is 20/20. 

Jonah’s message taken seriously

Take two. Reluctant Jonah went to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s warning about imminent destruction, as he had been instructed. In response, the king of Nineveh and the people and all their animals (herds and flocks) fasted and put on sackcloth and cried out to God for mercy.

Can you imagine the sight and sounds of all those animals bleating or lowing in vain for food while wearing sackcloth? The people of Nineveh took God’s words seriously. In response, God turned back from his anger. 

‘I told you so’

Not so Jonah. One of the most beautiful verses in the Bible (in my humble opinion) comes in the context of a self-pitying ‘I told you so’ prayer. The middle part of the following passage would make an excellent ‘favourite verse’. It is well worth spending time contemplating and turning the middle bit into prayer as we think about cross-cultural missions. Yet, as any good Bible student knows, “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.” (Dr Don Carson’s father came up with that helpful statement.)

“But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “Oh LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home.…  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  (Jonah 4:1-3 NIV)

The pathetic prophet sat and sulked. And watched, still hoping that God would wipe out Nineveh after all. As he sat there, God appointed [וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man)] a plant to give Jonah some shade (Jonah 4:6).  Jonah was very happy about that. But then early the next morning, God appointed [וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man)] a worm to chew the plant so that it withered (Jonah 4:7).  Following that, God appointed [וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man)] a scorching wind which, along with the hot sun, made Jonah uncomfortable and unwell. 

This missionary biography ends with a confrontation between Jonah and God. Quite reasonably, God had the last word, pointing out that “… Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11)

Why is ‘But God appointed a worm’ a favourite verse of mine?

First, the concept of our Creator and Sustainer involving himself in the minuscule parts of creation, even to the point of appointing a worm to eat a vine, is mind-blowing. Our God is immense and yet intimate. 

Second, this verse reminds me that I play just a small part in God’s mission. The weight of responsibility is not mine to bear. Even worms have a part to play in God’s kingdom work. As a woman – not a worm – the Lord sees me and gently deals with me despite my grumpiness and, yes, even sin. 

Third, I appreciate the heart God has for animals in this tale. Animals are not made in God’s image, but they are living creatures and God cares about them. The fish that swallowed Jonah, the herds and flocks that the Ninevites forced to fast and wear sackcloth, the worm that chewed the vine … God knew about them and used them in revealing more of his nature. He himself stated that he was concerned not only for the people of Nineveh, but also for the cattle of Nineveh. 

Parramatta

As I walked through the streets of Parramatta (a suburb of Sydney) contemplating this passage afresh today, I was struck by three things:  street preachers, people and animals. This metropolis is vastly different to Nineveh, as you would expect. We live in a different time and place to Jonah. But our God is unchanging. 

Street preachers dotted the main thoroughfares. It seems that a local church is making a concerted effort to flood Parramatta with their people today. Just in the time I was there, I watched a man preach by the river, a woman preach under a railway bridge and a group sing Christian songs on a corner with slow-changing traffic lights. Fresh-faced Christians were everywhere, handing out flyers. They’re modern day Jonahs, only without Jonah’s reluctance or grumpiness, and presumably not so far from home.  

The people to whom they preached came from all over the world. White, yellow, brown and black, tall and short, skinny and … er … fat, and everything in-between. According to the 2016 census, over a quarter (26.9%) of people in this area are Indian, 16.3% are Chinese, 7.7% are from England (the land of my ancestors), while just 6.5% identify as being local Australians*. 

The modern-day Jonahs from a local church are doing their best to be God’s ambassadors to people from around the world right here and right now. I wish them well. Though I suspect that the responses they’re getting aren’t as positive as that of the Ninevites. I would like to be proved wrong. 

There are also plenty of animals here in Parramatta. Pets (I admired a gorgeous Dalmatian and King Charles spaniel), ducks, swans, ibises, bees and fish were evident today, and there are no doubt a good number of worms in the river bank too. God knows about these little lives and cares about their well-being. Signs alert people to the dangers of eating what they catch from the waterways though … it seems that we are poisoning the creatures in the river. We were given a mandate to care for creation but apparently we’re not doing so well with the river life, at least. The pampered pets are okay.

A prayer

Just as in Jonah’s day, God continues to reveal himself as “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love”. (That’s using the ‘nice words’ from Jonah’s ‘I told you so’ prayer.)

May the people of Parramatta hear about Jesus, the one to whom the prophecy of the man in and later out of the belly of the big fish pointed. May they respond by throwing themselves upon the Lord for mercy. As God once said of Nineveh, so I sense he says of Sydney, Melbourne, and any other city in our modern world today: “Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

And so, as our Saviour taught us, we pray, “Father, will you please send out workers into your harvest field” (Matthew 9:38, Luke 10:2). May God appoint [וַיְמַ֤ן (way·man)] people, situations, fish, plants, worms, winds or whatever he chooses to reveal himself to people from around the world who live right here in Parramatta.

Footnote:  https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC13156 accessed 24 August 2019

“Are you travelling for work or pleasure?” The explosives check lady at the airport asked me this question. (Why do I get checked so often for explosives? Do I look suspicious? Or too ordinary to be genuine?) I was travelling to Sydney a few days ago to give an update to supporters of my work and also to visit family and friends. There is a lot of overlap between those two groups. I didn’t know which option to pick – work or pleasure – so I answered, “Both.” 

“Where are you from?”  A sweet old lady at the church I visited this morning in Sydney asked this seemingly simple question. Why was it so hard to answer? If I replied, “Melbourne,” I’d be betraying my NSW roots. If I replied, “The Blue Mountains,” I’d be stuck in the past, not acknowledging my current abode down south. If only I were overseas, I could just answer “Australia” though that is not the land of my birth nor of my ancestors beyond the past couple of generations.

“Are you healthy now?” Caring people I’ve not seen for several years ask this question, and I appreciate their concern. They want to hear the answer ‘yes’, and the answer is, more or less, ‘yes.’ But there are still ongoing annoying health issues somewhat related to the medical dramas of 2015. Nobody wants to hear about those, nor do I want to dwell on them. And they really are no big deal – they just need to be managed.

Dichotomies

In the general Australian culture with which I am most familiar, as in many other Western cultures, we like things to be black or white, right or wrong, this or that. It’s a well-documented cultural preference. I am inserting a chart below, taken from a classic text used in training on such matters. (Too bad about the page break……)

So what is the point of this blog post? It’s this: I am wondering how our Western dichotomistic cultural perspective impacts our understanding of the gospel. 

A mega mystery

Don’t worry … I’m not heading towards heresy. (Though please pull me up if you see me veering that way.) I’m an evangelical Christian though and through. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the only way we can be saved.

The gospel is mysterious. Look up the word ‘mystery’ in a concordance and you will find many references. Interestingly, the Greek word ‘μυστηρίου’ used the New Testament, pronounced ‘mustérion’, is the root of the English word ‘mystery’.  

Although super deep and wonderfully mysterious, God’s great salvation plan has actually been revealed to us. The apostle Paul put it like this: “the glorious riches of this mystery … is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Glorious riches … hope of glory … wow.

As Western evangelicals, I sense that we try to be black and white, cut and dried, in or out, when it comes to gospel presentations. “Pray the sinner’s prayer,” we urge. That’s good and helpful. But I wonder if Scripture portrays the process of coming to faith in such a straightforward way? Do we lose a sense of all that glory in Paul’s explanation quoted above (Colossians 1:27)?

Tricky Questions

Baptism is a public declaration of a process that has been building for a while. But as for defining the moment in which Christ’s spirit enjoins himself to ours, that is harder to determine. I can tell you when and where I prayed ‘the sinner’s prayer’, but I already had a faith that was growing and maturing as I grew and matured. And I’m so very grateful.  

There are other tricky questions related to our faith. The relationship between grace and works is one. Predestination and free choice has been debated for generations. God’s immanence (the way the divine pervades the material) and transcendence (the way the divine is distinct from creation) are both true and yet almost opposite. The reality of God’s kingdom here and now but not yet here is another tricky matter. And then there is my current theme of Mary and Martha.  Should we be contemplative like Mary or practical and busy like Martha … or, better yet, have a Mary mindset in our busy, practical lives.

Of great significance is the question of how we share the gospel to people of other cultures. How much of what I understand as ‘gospel truth’ is indeed gospel truth, and how much is coloured by my culture? Even this very question reveals my dichotomistic mindset. 

More study needed 

I don’t have any black and white answers to questions raised in this blog post. In any case, it would take a book written by an expert to address this matter adequately – not just a simple blog post of an ordinary Australian Christian woman. It’s probably already been done, actually. If you know of good resources on culture and the gospel, do send them my way.

There is room for a great deal more study on this topic. In the Old Testament, for example, how did non-Jews declare allegiance to the God of Israel? (It was a more obvious commitment for men … ouch.) In the New Testament, Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God was near, urging people to repent and believe the good news. But what, in practical terms, did it mean to ‘repent and believe’? How did his nearest and dearest declare allegiance to him? What of the thief on the cross who was promised paradise? What of early church believers? What about us? 

All I have done in this blog post is to raise questions rather than give answers … and that’s okay. In fact, it is the point of the post. The longer I live, the more I appreciate the mysteries of God.

One thing is clear

One thing is clear:  Jesus is the only way for us to be reconciled to God. There are wise and godly people I respect greatly who suggest otherwise, saying that God has revealed different aspects of himself to different cultures in different ways. Yet the Bible teaches very clearly that Jesus is the only way to God and I cannot accept otherwise.

Even when I explain the gospel in a simple way (who God is, who we are, the problem and solution), there are many matters not addressed, some of which are important to people of other cultures. There is the dimension of the spirit world, for instance – something very relevant to people from animistic backgrounds and which was central to Jesus’ ministry too. The same facts that I interpret as matters of ‘guilt’ and ‘innocence’ can also be expressed in terms of ‘shame’ and ‘honour’ or as ‘fear’ and ‘power’ without detracting from gospel truths. (Jackson Wu’s excellent book, The 3-D Gospel, explains this well.) And no doubt there is more that I’m not even aware of.

God has the big picture

It’s a little like when I’m asked, “Are you travelling for work or pleasure?”  Or asking a modern nomad of sorts, “Where are you from?”  Or the well-meaning person full of hope for a positive answer, asking “Are you all better now?”  The answers are kind of complicated. There is a backstory.

Thankfully, we serve a mysterious Lord who does have the big picture. And so I throw myself on his mercy, trusting in him for salvation. I am reassured by my Saviour’s intervention in history. In him, I have hope for eternity.

Confused?  Me too. But the one point I’m trying to make in this blog post – to myself as well as to anybody reading along – is that life isn’t black and white in the way our culture tries to force us into understanding it. And that’s okay. Our God is great and mysterious. He lives in those of us who belong to him.

Please don’t be unsettled by this blog post. Jesus is the only way for us to be reconciled to God. Not detracting from that one iota, I am thinking through matters relating to culture and the gospel. In all these uncertainties and philosophising, may we stay focused on Jesus, ‘the author and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2).

My home is messy. My task list is a mile long, and rather than make headway with it, I just seem to keep adding to it. The books I plan to read have filled a basket, a shelf under a little table and there are piles next to my bed … and that’s before you consider the e-books on the Kindle  app. The planner for the week is too full for comfort. I’m travelling next week and still have lots to organise if I am to maximise the time away. 

But it is the beginning of the month. And my planner says that I should take a half day mini-retreat this morning. I aim to do that most months. It was a busy weekend and this coming week is already looking quite full. I really don’t have time to take a mini-retreat. But, somewhat grudgingly, I sit down with my journal and Bible. 

Martha, Mary and Me

This past weekend, I attended a day conference for evangelical women in academia. One of the workshops, one I was committed to attending because the presenter is a friend, was on the topic ‘Martha, Mary and me’.  This was the fourth time in as many weeks that the story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42) has been brought to my attention. And now, for the fourth time in as many weeks, I shall blog on the topic.

Despite having spent plenty of time in this passage recently, there were new-to-me insights to be gleaned. Many, in fact. I am not going to reproduce all that my friend had to say in this blog post. Her insights will come as part of a book made up of the papers presented that day. But it got me thinking. 

Mary – a woman in a man’s world 

I’d never thought about the social implications in first century Israel of what Mary did. Her deliberate decision to sit at Jesus’ feet, leaving her sister to do the work of hosting, was actually quite shocking. Scholar N.T. Wright puts it this way:

“… obvious to any first-century reader, and to many readers in Turkey, the Middle East and many other parts of the world to this day would be the fact that Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet within the male part of the house rather than being kept in the back rooms with the other women….”

“She is ‘sitting at his feet’; a phrase which doesn’t mean what it would mean today, the adoring student gazing up in admiration and love at the wonderful teacher. As is clear from the use of the phrase elsewhere in the NT (for instance, Paul with Gamaliel), to sit at the teacher’s feet is a way of saying you are being a student, picking up the teacher’s wisdom and learning; and in that very practical world you wouldn’t do this just for the sake of informing your own mind and heart, but in order to be a teacher, a rabbi, yourself.”

http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/womens-service-in-the-church-the-biblical-basis/ accessed 5 August 2019

Well, that changes the way I view this righteous rebel. And the application to women in academia today – the target group at the conference – is obvious. While I recognise that there are many valid reasons for men to far outnumber women in postgraduate theological study, I am personally encouraged to keep puddling away at my (very part-time) theological college student role. 

The difference, of course, is that nobody else is going to pick up the responsibility for domestic chores at home.

Distracted

Martha, as a dutiful first century Jewish woman and hostess, was distracted by all that had to be done.  I’m quite sympathetic to Martha, actually. This morning, as I surveyed my dirty kitchen and the piles of stuff on and under the living room table, I was distracted too. 

The Chinese Union Version translation of Luke’s description of Martha is even more descriptive. It says that her heart was 忙乱 (mángluàn), meaning ‘hurried and harried’ (verse 40). Jesus then says that she is 思虑烦扰 (sīlǜ fǎnrǎo), meaning that she wasn’t thinking straight (verse 41). If you look carefully, you will see that the Chinese characters contain a lot of hearts, represented by 心 and 忄. The character 烦, meaning ‘vexed’ contains the radical for a fire (火). If you type that character into a modern Chinese keyboard, it will suggest a red-faced emoji 😡. The final character, 扰, meaning ‘to agitate’, contains a radical for a hand 扌，suggesting action 👋. That’s what Martha was like that day. She was busy, busy, busy but her heart was all over the place.

Some would say that my generation is a distracted generation. Mobile phones, smart watches, devices which facilitate multi-tasking like never before … we are rarely disconnected from the myriad of things for which we have some responsibility. The very gadgets that were designed to make our lives easier often make us more distracted than ever. Our hearts are all over the place, and our hands are rarely still.

Devotion

Mary, on the other hand, sat and listened to Jesus. Yet this sitting and listening was not as passive as I had once thought. First, as mentioned earlier, Mary was defying social conventions as she sat at Jesus’ feet. And second, as our Lord Jesus pointed out, Mary had chosen to sit and listen (verse 42).  

In my current situation – working out of a home office in what was, this morning, a messy, dirty unit – it took a deliberate choice to ‘sit at Jesus’ feet’ rather than get on with all that was screaming out for attention. I know that it is even harder for friends and colleagues working in roles in which there is an expectation of high productivity and/or their presence at any and every meeting. 

Spending time in prayer and Bible study rather than making headway on the task list may be perceived as laziness, but it actually needs to be a deliberate choice for God’s people. Those whose roles are formally classed as ‘ministry’ and who influence others through their work have even more of a responsibility to keep spiritually sharp.

Spending time on social media or reading gardening magazines for leisure isn’t bad in and of itself but needs to be kept in check. Poor organisational skills are no excuse for missing important deadlines. But spending time in contemplative prayer and learning from our Master, even at the expense of some productivity, is a choice Jesus endorsed in Mary’s day. 

A walk

After taking time to prayerfully reflect on the story of Martha and Mary (yet again) this morning, I then finished my half-day retreat with a quick walk before tackling the task list this afternoon. As I returned home, I was struck by how small my unit looked compared to the broad blue sky across which grey and white clouds hung. My attention and energies were focused on such a very tiny area of God’s great creation. Why waste all that angst and emotional energy on a few disordered piles within that tiny unit. It’s all a question of perspective. 

I came home, put on some worshipful music, and slowly created some order. My unit is no longer messy, but it is still dirty. Next I sat at the computer and continued on in the same vein. I’ve only made a small dent in the task list, but it doesn’t seem to matter as much as it did just a few hours ago. 

May we each make that conscious choice, day after day, even moment by moment, to have a heart like Mary’s. Yes, we unavoidably live in a busy world, but that’s no excuse. May we defy social conventions of our day to be always available to everyone who ‘needs’ us. May we disconnect from time to time from our complicated networks of people to spend time connecting with Jesus.

Martha was never rebuked for her productivity. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was her heart. Mary had chosen the better way, and it would not be taken from her. May we, too, choose the better way … though ideally balancing that appropriately with our work.