David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

Respectfully Repentant

Matthew 21:28-32

[Jesus says,] “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Sunset on the Pacific
Sunset on the Pacific – If you look very closely you can see the light of a lighthouse on the finger of land in the center of this photo.

I’d like to think that I’m more like the first son than the second in Jesus’ brief parable. But even so, when push comes to shove there are two other kinds of people in these few verses. Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and elders of the people. He speaks to them about tax collectors and prostitutes. The former have no need in their own minds for repentance. The tax collectors and prostitutes, Jesus says, will enter the kingdom of God ahead of the religiously respectable because they repented of their sins.

It is easy to identify the pharisees, chief priests, and elders of the people in Jesus’ day as the bad guys. They constantly seek to discredit Jesus. They bring him down. And we know that Jesus hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. But honestly, isn’t it just a little bit uncomfortable to embrace even a repentant prostitute as an example of true faith? Wouldn’t we really rather be respectfully repentant?

True repentance requires acknowledgment that we are deeply in need of God’s mercy. It calls for humility that places us next to real sinners at the foot of the cross. But true repentance ushers us into the kingdom of God. That’s where Jesus is. That’s where abundant eternal life is to be found.

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