The Radical Risk of God's Trust in Humanity (Romans 4)

     The reason Abraham is considered our founding father is, he discovered a breakthrough concept of what it means to have peace with God. Although he did a ton of good deeds, just like most of us, they weren't a requirement to have a relationship with this God. If they were, then he might as well have gone on a lecturing circuit to show everyone how he figured it all out. But it turned out this God was different from all the other gods. All this God wanted was a relationship. With us. Our oral traditions support this by saying that Abraham believed that God had confidence in him. And, it's obvious to all of us that any healthy relationship requires confidence on both sides.

     When we work, our paychecks aren't a gift. We had to work for them. That's the way the system works. On the other hand, this God isn't handing out paychecks for all the work we do. This God isn't evaluating how many good deeds we do every week. This God is taking an incredible risk in placing confidence in us, and yearning for us to do the same.

     Our ancestor David also spoke of this. He asked, "Isn't it amazing when a friend forgives us when we've wronged them? Isn't it refreshing when someone our past mistakes? And so, why should it be any different with the God who wants relationship and not sacrifice?"

     Now, is this breakthrough concept just for Jews, or is it for everyone? Well, we've been saying that Abraham had confidence in God as a result of his belief that God had confidence in him. But how did that happen? Did this shared confidence pivot around whether or not Abraham followed certain rituals or not? No! God's confidence in Abraham was independent of religion or belief system he aligned with.

     The reason Abraham got circumcised was, that was the tradition he aligned with. The circumcision was merely a symbol Abraham used to make sense of the confidence he shared with this God. And so, Abraham is so meaningful to us today because he represents the vast majority of us who recognize this relationship with God, but aren't so sure about all the religious bells and whistles that people have attached to it. And, Abraham is also the father of all the folks (you know who I'm talking about) who can't seem to live without religious structure, but who know their dogmas aren't required. 

     Legend says that God promised Abraham and his children the whole earth as a gift, but it had nothing to do with how well Abraham performed or believed. In fact, Abraham was about as idolatrous as anybody. However, God was confident in Abraham solely out of God's sheer love for humanity. If God's confidence in us was connected with all sorts of strings, then both ours and God's responsibilities would be meaningless. Besides, we've all experienced how well we do when we're loaded down with rules and regulations. They end up breaking us apart and we can't ever seem to do everything right.

     So, God's trust and confidence in us is a free gift. We're all gonna wake up to it at some point, regardless of how good or bad we are. And Abraham is the founding father of what it looks like to be awake to the unconditional love God has for us. That's what one of our oral traditions alludes to: "I have made you [Abraham] the father of many nations." This story was told because it couldn't be kept silent. For the first time in history, someone woke up to the reality that there was a God who believed in him, and the dude couldn't keep quiet about it. Out of the deadness of the oppressive, cyclical sacrifice systems arose a Power that could love, and care, and trust a rag-tag group of radical nomads. In a sense, something was created out of nothing.

     Even when it seemed like hope was pointless, Abraham kept on pushing. He believed that God's confidence in him was enough to keep him going. God's faith fueled Abraham's faith, and he was rockin' and rollin' even at the age of 100!

     When Abraham had this spiritual experience of realizing how much God loved him, his faith in God only grew stronger, and the shared love between God and Abraham ignited their relationship. Abe was convinced to his innermost self that God was on his side. God's trust in Abraham was met with Abraham's trust in God, and because of that, Abraham lived a life that went down in history as one of the greatest. The story of Abraham shows us that there is a God who actually trusts us, loves us, cares about us, and wants the best for us, and it's all independent of what we do or what we believe. It's free. And when we wake up to this reality, we'll start experiencing things that we never thought were possible.

     And, I believe, that through Jesus Christ, God created a movement that helps awaken people to the reality of God's love. What Jesus did was smash the old, dead way of sacrificing to the gods, and reveal a radical, breakthrough promise of God's independent love for all of us.

Are You Awake Yet? (Romans 3)

     Here's the deal: don't think that you have an advantage over everyone else because you have a unique ritual. While it's true that you've been handed down the oral traditions of your ancestors - stories of communication and relationship with this God - realize that you're not the only ones who've experienced the Divine.

     Your faith (as well as the faith of your ancestors) doesn't (and didn't) validate or nullify the faithfulness of God. In other words, God works independently of how much or how little faith you have. The reality is that every time we think we have God figured out, we're just lying to ourselves and the world around us. The more we think we know who and what God is or how God operates, the less inspiration we have to ask more questions and seek more truth. God becomes a concept to be understood rather than the Truth to be searched for.

     I believe (as I've said before), that God doesn't operate by human standards. God doesn't judge the world the way we humans love to judge the world. God isn't Caesar. There's also this idea going around in some religious circles that doing wrong somehow leads to showing the world how right God is. Think about the logic in that. We don't live in a world where people are expectantly waiting for us to be little Jesus' with skin on. They're not waiting for us to remove the curtains. So get rid of the idea that you're so honed in to what and how God thinks, that you can rationalize your wrongdoing. I've even been accused of teaching that our wrongdoings lead to God's right doings, but whoever those rumor starters are will get what they're looking for - mainly the feeling of false power that comes from judging other people.

     So, are we Jews better than anyone else? Hell no. We're all born into this thing we call the human condition. Our history shows us that none of us are completely good. None of us completely understand. None of us completely rely on God. We've all turned away in some form or fashion. We all go through points where we're useless to mankind. We go through points where we just can't seem to do anything good. We go through seasons where our tongues are used to destroy rather than build up and our words are like poison. We curse instead of bless and hate instead of love. We go through spells where we're ready to pounce on the first person who looks at us the wrong way. If you're like me, you go through times when you're a creator of ruin and misery. We go through times when we don't know how to live in peace. We go through times in which our wonder of this loving God is hijacked by an irrational fear of a wrathful and punishing God.

     The law and all it's rules are only for those who've signed up for it. If you choose to be a Jew, you choose to live according to that law. And by choosing this route, you're stepping into a long-standing tradition of a balancing scale religion. It's not because it's bad being a follower of Judaism. It's because the message has been so distorted over the years that the law has become the gauge of God's love for humanity. Therefore, the whole of law followers are under this invisible hand that is going to eventually smash them to smitherines once judgment day comes. What was created to be a spotlight showing us what parts of us need to be worked on, has undoubtedly become this fictitious tool which will be God's primary way of punishing us for our misdoings. We've gotten so far away from what the law was created for.

     But here's the awesome news. You ready? God doesn't work within human rules and regulations. We've been shown the way to wake up to the reality that we're already made right with this God! Even our ancestors pointed us to the way but we couldn't understand it because we were so consumed with power lust and getting over on the next person. Jesus put our peace with God on display. His life was a living theater, showing everyone around him that we all are right with God. This is true for all of us because we're all the same when it comes to the human condition. We've all messed up and are gonna keep messin' up. It's hard to get close to the invisible power of God when we're all wrapped in our delusions of glory. I believe that Jesus showed us that we've been made right with God already through God's grace. It was a free gift.

    This was a breakthrough concept for everyone, even the pagans. No one before had even imagined that a relationship with God was possible outside of the mundane rituals and sacrifices needed to keep the gods happy. But Jesus brought this radical message to us that we were not only loved by God, but that we were no longer bound to this system of guilt vs. innocence. Jesus made it his mission to show us what already existed through this God - that we are free from the bogus world system of sacrifice and guilt!

     He gave us a chance to finally start imagining the possibility that God is always right and fair and just. He opened our minds to a God who's in the business of taking our broken asses and making them whole and complete.

    If you hear anyone bragging about how they've done all this great stuff in order to somehow provoke God to give them some special gift, there full of crap! The truth of the matter is - everything's been done for us when it comes to freedom. Do you believe your free? If we feel that we've done anything to "save ourselves" or "receive forgiveness" or "earn God's love" then it only means we're young in our faith. What faith does is start with ourselves and gradually move outwards. It eventually evolves into a reliance on God that removes all notions of self-sufficiency and self-pride. The evolved faith doesn't have the word "bragging" in its dictionary anymore.

    A person awakens to the reality of his/her peace with God through faith and not obeying all the rules of religion. What faith does is remove religious boundaries. It sees the connection that glosses over races and religions and colors and creeds. It constantly works on removing the ideas that we've done something or need to do something to make God love us or accept our membership into the club. We're all in the club. God isn't just the God of the Jews, but all of us.

    The person who you think is the worst person on the face of the planet has received the same gift you have via this same God. God is working on making us better every day, regardless of what tradition we come from. But here's the thing, God's not gonna force us to wake up to this reality. So, while God is making us right, we can either acknowledge it or not. We can wake up to it or stay asleep. We all get to make this decision.

     And here's where it comes full circle. Faith allows us to take part in what the law was originally created for - to wake us up. Are you awake yet?