The Wheatland Mission

After an especially disappointing day of preaching, Jesus watches both detractors and disciples leave. One group is scandalized by what he said, and the other is underwhelmed by who Jesus is.

John 6 tells us that Jesus turned to his inner circle of disciples and asked,

“Are you gonna leave too?”

No doubt, Jesus wanted to invite his disciples to deeper faithfulness. He asked for their benefit, but that same question carries the strain of seeing people he loves hear his message, only to give up. Jesus’ question to his disciples is framed with the very human feelings of rejection and loss.

Peter always gets the best lines, and he doesn’t disappoint.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed, and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

I wonder if Jesus wasn’t heartened by Peter’s words? I assume he was encouraged to hear Peter speak with a sober confidence through his “non”-question. In fact, that question is a humble proclamation: You are the one. There is no other. No truth, no hope, no way forward but you. Count us in!

And now, 2000 years on, we can pray Peter’s words, ask Peter’s question, with the same resolve. Our prayer begins as a question but ends in proclamation. Thanks be to God!

(You can see this passage from John 6 woven into the Morning Prayer service of the Northumbria Community, the people behind Celtic Daily Prayer.)

John 6 is one of the most theologically rich passages in the Bible. Shortly after feeding the 5000 and walking on water, Jesus speaks about how he is the bread that “comes down from heaven.” His life is the manna given “for the life of the world.” On that day, many who followed him quit. And some rejected his message not because of its content, but because the teacher was so ordinary, so well known, and so insufferably human.

Jesus’ question to the Twelve: “Do you want to go away too?” gives his disciples the freedom to stay followers while thinking seriously about the cost of following a human Messiah. John 6 makes clear: Jesus is not ashamed of his humanity even as he redeems ours.

So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” - Gen 22:27-28

The latest installment in the Questions NOT Questions series covers the encounter that Jacob has with a mysterious “man” by the river Jabbok. After a night-long wrestling match, the “man” wounds Jacob and blesses him. He answers Jacob’s question with another question and gives him a new name. In addition to Jacob’s comments at the end of the story, these hints suggest that Jacob is dealing with God himself.

God doesn’t get to ask the first question in the Bible, but he does ask the best. One of his questions comes from Genesis 3:11: Who told you that you were naked? God’s response to the man after Adam is caught hiding reveals a little something about how God wants to work with us. Jesus is the tone of voice behind each of God’s questions.

God asks lots of questions throughout Scripture. Some questions are answered, but most hang in the air, begging for a response. His first question, “Where are you?” sets the tone for all of the ones that follow.

God doesn’t ask “Where are you?” because he has misplaced the man and the woman. More than gathering information, he is offering an invitation. God’s questions invite relationship.

FTLOL is a compendium of internet goodness that stretches from the profane to the sublime. However, this week’s is entirely sublime. RIP, Wendell.

This world lost some cultural heavyweights recently: Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem, and Wendell Berry. The first two are household names, the third should be.

Wendell Berry was a farmer, but we know him because of what he has written. He wrote poetry, novels, and essays. His novels were often set in an imaginary place called Port William. Even though imaginary, Port William comes off real in the deepest sense. He wrote poetry that was beautiful but deceptively simple. And his essays range from ecology and farming, to business and religion, to the economy and how to care for sheep. Key to each was his understanding that we are all tied together through the land as we encounter our fellow humans.

A nice personal reflection that includes WB’s poem, “The Wild Farmer Liberation Front.”

This is my favorite WB poem. — from Sabbaths 2000

This is not my favorite but it has been burned into my brain since my first reading. — the Vacation

One Substacker rightly pointed out the irony of so many people reading about Wendell Berry’s passing via social-media. I wonder what he thought of the fact that many came to know him because of the internet. Here is an old essay where he explains his reasons for rejecting ubiquitous technology. It is old, but never more timely. — Why I am not going to computer

Theologian Ben Myers talks about that one time . . . in Maryland. — On Almost Meeting Wendell Berry

A true culture warrior, WB inspires those of us who call Jesus Lord, to live what we believe. From Karen Swallow-Prior. – Wendell Berry’s Radical Lesson for Christians

Fidelity, a collection of Wendell Berry’s short stories, includes “Pray Without Ceasing.” James McMurtry has put that short story into song and it’s almost as good. (Nota bene: James McMurtry is the son of the great novelist Larry McMurtry, famous for Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show, among others.)

Wendell Berry is from Kentucky and

Malcolm Guite is from Great Britain. You’ve not heard Kentucky poetry till you’ve heard it in an English accent. Guite reads some of Berry’s “Sabbath Poems.” — Sabbath Poems as they were meant to be heard

This is a very partial list of his work, but I enthusiastically recommend them all. Share your favorites in the comments!

Jayber Crow - Is he a barber, a pastor, a prophet, a husband?

Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community - essays from the 90s that are just as prescient today. In my favorite quote from the book, WB says sarcastically , “Anything that cannot be weighed, counted, or measured does not exist.” (From “The Joy of Sales Resistance”)

Fidelity - Short stories about murder, driving old pickups, and burying a friend the way he would want.

Entries - Wendell Berry is a poet for people who love poetry and those who don’t. Entries includes “The Vacation,” as well as poetry about marriage, life in the country, and home.

The Hidden Wound - A white man from Kentucky tries, imperfectly, to address the painful reality of racism.

Kelly Chewning delivers a great message on an important part of Matthew’s Gospel. (Matt 18:15-20) As subjects of the Kingdom of God we belong to Christ, therefore, we belong to each other. Life in the Kingdom of God carries with it responsibility to those with us.

‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ - Matt 16:23

Jesus’ words must be really disorienting. He isn’t being easy on Peter. He’s not holding back. He is using the strongest of language here because Peter cannot afford to get this wrong about Jesus, and neither can we.

Jesus will suffer and die. (And be resurrected.) When Peter tells Jesus, in essence, “you can’t die, don’t go to the cross, avoid the suffering,” he is not just being compassionate toward the Lord whom he loves. He is calling into question the congruence between Jesus as the Son of God and Jesus as the one who suffers for our sake. Jesus won’t have it because it creates a division in who Jesus essentially is.

Peter didn’t tuck and run after Jesus’ harsh words because he realized that the wound of being called Satan was worth the healing that comes from knowing Jesus as he truly is, not as we want him to be.

When Jesus asks the disciples who they think he is, Peter, the one with all the good lines, says confidently, “You are the Messiah!” With that statement, Peter, and by extension all of us, receive our identities. We tell Jesus who he is; he tells us who we are. (Gratefully, Jesus is telling us who we are, “beloved,” “made in the image of God,” etc., long before we have a clue who he is.)

We believe in Jesus because he has been passed down to us through those who have gone before, not because we can historically reconstruct every detail of his life.

This passing down is the holy tradition, the living tradition of the Christian faith. Jaroslav Pelikan has said,

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.”

When Jesus goes out of Jewish territory, he has in mind the hope of reaching those whom God has not forgotten. And reading the story from Matthew parabolically, with an eye for what’s going on beyond and behind this one encounter, frees us to hear God’s word to the “Canaanite” woman and all of us.