David Bahn – Reflections

Pastor Keith Aschenbeck made a presentation about intercessory prayer at a recent gathering of pastors of circuit 31 of the Texas District LCMS. His doctoral work centered around this issue and as he shared his discoveries we were all engaged. Some had challenging questions. Is prayer a means of grace? Does prayer have power? Do we change God’s will by our prayers? Can we simply pray for someone’s forgiveness without praying that they repent? 

That last question got the most conversation. Pastor Aschenbeck’s conviction is that intercessory prayer is much about praying for someone’s forgiveness. His biblical examples were telling.

• Job praying for his family – interceding for them for forgiveness.
• Jesus praying from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
• Jesus telling the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.”

His personal examples of people’s practice of intercessory prayer were compelling.

• I notice how I look at people…you see it, the spiritual struggle and try to be in tune with that but also try to be more open to people.
• How can I show these people…how can I try to see people like God would see them, as Jesus would see these people? He died for them too. How can I be that person that brings God to them?

But the breakthrough came for me when we prayed an intercessory prayer for a specific person. The idea of this prayer was not to be a “fix this person” kind of prayer, but rather a prayer for that person’s forgiveness and all that entails.

Here is the prayer. Pray it, filling in the blank with the name of a person. See what happens is you.

An Intercessory Prayer

Based on Paul’s words from Ephesians 3:14-21

Holy and Almighty God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are slow to anger and abound in love and mercy.

For this reason, I kneel before you Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of your glorious riches you may strengthen __name__ with power through your Spirit in his/her inner being, so that Christ may dwell in his/her heart through faith.

Grant, O Lord, forgiveness to ___name___. Wash him/her with the blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Cover him/her with the robe of my Lord’s holiness. Fill his/her heart with the refreshing water of life that he/she would no longer thirst for righteousness. Overflow his/her cup with joy that he/she would know the peace that passes all understanding. 

And I pray that ___name____, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that he/she may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within me, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

When I prayed that prayer, I realized it was praying that he/she was somehow fixed by that prayer, rather than that the one for whom I was praying would simply experience forgiveness. That prayer changed me. I pray that God will forgive the one for whom I prayed. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation.

Victory’s Feast. That was our theme for Easter and the following Sundays many years ago. We had a beautiful banner, emblazoned with a golden crown on a deep purple background. And we had the Good News: The victory has been won. The feast is prepared. Come to the Feast!

We were speaking of the victory of Jesus over death and the grave. Life reigns in Jesus. But more than just “life.” Resurrection life. The body of Jesus is no longer in the grave. As he has risen so we will rise. And then will come the feast, the feast of victory, Victory’s Feast!

But first we must go to the upper room and hear Jesus as he institutes a foretaste of this feast yet to come. He is with his disciples as they are celebrating Passover. This was the meal commemorating the dramatic rescue of God’s people from slavery in Egypt. This was the Great Old Testament Salvation Event. And Jesus uses that celebration to say, “This is my body. This is my blood of the covenant.”

He is the fulfillment of this salvation celebration. His body and blood redeems and saves. And then he says, “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” There will be a grand celebration, and Jesus will join us in the heavenly toast to the glory of God and the praise of all the redeemed.

For some reason I really zoned in on this phrase of Jesus, anticipating the coming kingdom of God. Jesus was going to be betrayed. He will be crucified, dying for the sins of the world – yours and mine. He will rise again. But the true culmination of Jesus’ redemption is yet to come. And when it comes, what a day. What a feast it will be!

I don’t understand why people would criticize an action such as the woman here, pouring out the jar of ointment, and anointing Jesus’ head as he reclined at table. At least I don’t understand why anyone would say something outloud. I might silently wonder and question in my mind what was going on. I might even be put off by her bold action. He and the disciples are eating after all. Do this later. Do it in a more secluded place and at a more appropriate time.

I must admit, however, to my own pet targets of wastefulness. Why spend money on exorbitant clothes and sculptures? And do you really need a $3,000,000.00 yacht? Wouldn’t a $2.5Million vessel be sufficient?  Do your hands get any more clean if you wish them with water from gold-plated bathroom fixtures?

It’s not only Judas who is upset at this waste. Matthew fingers all of the disciples. They are all distressed at this waste. This is unseemly they suppose.

But Jesus is about to die. And this woman knows it. John identifies her as Mary, Martha’s and Lazarus’ sister. She’s the one who sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha prepared the meal for Jesus and his disciples. Then as now she will be praised for her choice by none other than the Son of God.

So Mary pours out the ointment, anointing Jesus for his burial. She is overcome with love. And love is extravagant.

“The people there had lived their little passage of time in this world, had become what they became, and now could be changed only by forgiveness and mercy. The misled, the disappointed, the sinners of all the sins, the hopeful, the faithful, the loving, the doubtful, the desperate, the grieved and the comforted, the young and the old, the bad and the good—all, sufferers unto death, had lain down there together. Some were there who had served the community better by dying than by living. Why I should have felt tender toward them all was not clear to me, but I did.” – Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

I just finished listening to Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry, and that last line from the above quote reflects my heart – especially in light of Jesus’ teachings about the Final Judgment. Sheep and goats. Heaven and hell. Good done or not done. Failures and faithfulness. The finality and summery nature of Jesus’ teaching here arrests me.

In fact we all can face the final judgment only by forgiveness and mercy. I know of no one who has never done an act of kindness. Even my worst enemy has surely offered a cup of water or given a morsel of food to a hungry child. And the most godly people I know will admit it; they’ve failed to do the good things they know they should have done. Who has not passed by a hungry beggar panhandling on the street corner?

Only by forgiveness and mercy may we face the judgment of God. Only by forgiveness and mercy may we truly live and move and breath in community, school, neighborhood, or home.

Jesus elevates the kind and small things we can do for each other to judgment – worthy status. So while we may hope only in forgiveness and mercy, we can still offer the drink of water, the blessing of hospitality, and the ministry of presence in our day to day lives. This honors God and reflects the mercy of God toward us all.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the word. It appears in the psalms. Selah. There is no certain translation for the Hebrew word. There are some theories though. One is that is an annotation for a musical interlude. Many of the psalms are sung, “to the tune of, ‘Do Not Destroy,’ or ‘Doe of the Morning,’” are two examples. “Selah” appears 71 times in the Psalms (and 3 times in Habakkuk), and while its precise meaning is uncertain, it is widely understood to be a musical or liturgical pause, possibly signaling a break for reflection or a musical interlude. When I read the Psalms, I most often do not read outloud the word, “Selah.” If selah is a signal for a time of reflection, then the redaction in Mark 10:14 is a sort of New Testament selah. It certainly arrests me when I read “let the reader understand.” Understand what? First of all, I see that Mark inserted that comment in the middle of Jesus’ words. There was something that caught Mark’s attention as he wrote those words of Jesus: “When you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be.”  Second – and thanks to the Bible Challenge readings today, I see the connection with today’s reading from Daniel 9. Jesus repeats a prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:27 about the desecration of the temple under the Seleucids (1 Macc 1:54–59). Jesus announces a new desolation and destruction of the Jerusalem temple, which will be carried out by the Romans in AD 70. This event will end all temple worship and sacrifice.* I’m thinking Mark was trying to imagine the cataclysmic events that would have to happen when these words became reality. He wants the readers (you and me included) to recognize that this turn of events was like no other. And yet the end of all things will be far more catastrophic. Look today at the temple site in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock sits there now. A monumental and impressive Muslim mosque stands where the very presence of God had been. Some may wish to replace that structure with a Jewish temple. Still others with a Christian church building. But the presence of God is in the hearts of his people. Kingdoms will rise and fall. Religious wars will be fought, lost, and won. False christs will arise. But we must not be deceived. We have been warned. We must indeed think about it, and recall that Mark wrote this after Jesus’ death and resurrection (let the reader understand: Selah!). * Italicized portion above is an excerpt from The Lutheran Study Bible © 2009 Concordia Publishing House Scripture text © ESV Available in the App Store

Maybe you’ve experienced a bait-and-switch. It was once common in car dealership ads. The ad would show a very nice car with lots of options and in tiny print would be the disclaimer, “As long as inventory lasts.” And it didn’t. Poof! No more luxury car at economy prices. And what about the prices for flights these days? Basic Economy?!? I do know some people who travel that way. But I at least want an assigned seat. Not quite a bait-and-switch, but very similar.

Sadly, some do the same with invitations to the Christian faith. If you believe in Jesus, all will go well with you. You’ll succeed at life, have all your needs met. You will have no financial troubles. Life will be as good as it gets (this side of heaven, of course). Think most televangelists, many cult leaders, and not a few religious hucksters.

If most people knew going in what the LDS church actually teaches, they might quickly check out: a divine couple, spirit children, and the idea of men becoming gods of their own planets. And then there’s the teaching that women must be brought through the veil by their husband to participate in that eternal destiny.

Jesus doesn’t operate that way. His yes is yes, and his no is no. He warns people that they must take up their cross to follow him. He tells some that they must sell all to be in his kingdom. Others he sends with no provision for a mission trip to who-knows-where.

Truly, others he comforts, heals, encourages, and blesses. His is not all gloom and doom. But there is plenty of reality in Jesus’ teachings so that we do not get discouraged when things do not go quite as hoped-for.

In fact the reality he lays out is daunting. Wars and rumors of war. Famine, and pestilences, terrors and persecutions loom in the future. This is no ad campaign. This is Jesus telling the truth about life in this world. And few would argue that it is so.

But Jesus is not only the Lord of Truth. He is the God of Grace as well. And these warnings are just that: warnings intended to prepare us for the challenges we will all face. But more than a warning, Jesus offers true hope. He says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

I need that hope – and so does the world.

You get to the gate for your flight and discover that you’ve been upgraded to first class!

You order your favorite meal and it is delivered by the most courtious server you’ve ever experienced, steaming hot and prepared to perfection.

You get up and find that your automatic coffeemaker has done its job. Coffee is well-brewed, hot and ready to drink.

You get to the store and discover that your favorite brand of coffee is on sale.

Oh, that it was that way when God looks at his people – his nation, the Jewish nation. He had done it all. Set things up for their unique identity as his special people, and a light to the nations. Done everything possible to provide the best environment for the nation of Israel to be all that they were intended to be. In particular, all that God had desired, deserved, and – frankly – demanded. He is the One to whom we will all one day answer.

But God is not like the despots in Egypt who demanded more and more bricks without the necessary resources to make them. He is truly good, merciful, gracious, and kind. But make no mistake, God is no wimp. He will demand an accounting.

I wonder if the people of Jesus’ day thought that God’s judgment of Israel, recorded in Isaiah 5, was only of that generation. I wonder whether they thought they were giving God all that he required. And I suspect they did. Sadly, however, and in more one way, they were not.

I have no illusions as to whether or not we today – the New Israel, the Church – meet all of God’s expectations. That by itself would leave us in a hopeless state. But there is One – the Christ – who does meet all of God’s expectations, and who is our righteousness, hope, and peace. May we who bear the name Jesus seek in every way possible to bear the fruit that he desires of us: faith, justice, mercy, and love.