Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

• Luke 10:16-21

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

• John 6:66-68

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

• Matthew 10:1-8

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

• Mark 14:32-34

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

• Acts 1:15-17

“There is hardly a more gratifying feeling than to sense that one can be something for other people. Here it is not at all a question of quantity but of quality. Ultimately, human relationships are simply the most important thing in life. Not even modern ‘achievers’ can do anything about that, nor can those who know nothing of human relationships. Even God himself lets us serve him in human ways. To be sure, an all-too-conscious cultivation of human relationships and ‘meaning something to each other’ can lead to a cult of the human being that is inappropriate to reality. By contrast, I mean here simply the fact that in life human beings are more important to us than everything else. This certainly does not mean a belittling of the world of things and material achievement. But what is the most beautiful book or picture or house or property to me compared with my wife, my parents, or my friend? Naturally, only those who have really found people in their life can speak. Yet for many people today, a human being is only a part of the world of things. That is because the experience of anything human simply does not interest them.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You (devotion for August 18, devotions compiled from his writings)

I read the part about quality and not quantity in the Bonhoeffer quote, and that gave me the Scriptures above.  Jesus sent out 72 disciples and they were all able to cast out spirits and heal people.  When Peter stood before the followers, about 120 people, he chose one to replace Judas Iscariot, someone who had been there from nearly the beginning.  I could have added a Scripture that talked about the ladies who followed them and supported them.  This was not a group of thirteen, Jesus and the Twelve, that walked around preaching and healing.

But then, with the Twelve established, although one was a ‘devil,’ Jesus took James, John, and Peter up on the Mount of Transfiguration.  And those same three were taken with Him to Gethsemane.  There were the eight, since Judas was in the act of betrayal at the time, and then the three went further where Jesus fell down and wept and cried out to God.

The difference in those numbers addresses the quality versus the quantity, and to think, it was Peter’s brother Andrew who told Peter that he had met the One they had been waiting for.

Bonhoeffer was seeing our secular world coming into crisis mode nearly one hundred years ago.  People, and sadly a lot of politicians, do not see the world of people, they see the world of “human things” that they can manipulate to their own ends.  Seeing a person as a person does not interest them, as Bonhoeffer says, but that leads to using that “human thing” as a means to an end.

The politician says the right words, usually crafted by a speech writer, but, if you dare, write down the promises that the politicians make, even those that contradict themselves, and see how few, if any, of those promises are kept.  I think what scared the media into a frenzy when Donald Trump was President of the USA is that he, a non-politician, was trying to carry out what he promised, and the fear of that sent the media into a frenzy.

Do not get me wrong.  If the primary in Pennsylvania in 2016 had not been decided before it happened, I would have probably voted for someone else.  Trump comes off as having qualities that I do not admire.  Maybe away from the cameras, he is different.  Yet, I will vote for a candidate that will work against this secular progressive madness, even if he is the only one taking that stance.

This is not a political discussion, I just tried to make a point that a politician that actually tries to fulfill a campaign promise is rare, and for many, a bit scary.

All humans have a sin nature.  We cannot fully trust another human being.  My wife and I came the closest, for me, of thinking alike and praying alike and worshipping alike, but she often told me to tone it down.  And I could never measure up to her unconditional love that she had for so many people.  We may not have ever had crossed purposes, but we often had crossed methods within that purpose.

For Jesus, He praised Peter for saying that Jesus was the Messiah, and then when Peter almost immediately disagreed with Jesus, Jesus said for Satan to get behind Him.  Peter was the proverbial “open mouth – insert foot” kind of guy, but occasionally, he said some wonderful things, especially at Pentecost, but that was when the Holy Spirit had indwelled him.  But in that brief encounter, Jesus was not calling Peter the “rock” upon which the church would be built.  Jesus was pointing out the proclamation that Jesus was the Messiah would be that rock.  Nor was Peter being called Satan.  Peter was just being Peter.

With a grandson named Peter, who, if he is breathing, he’s doing something a bit wrong, or a lot wrong.  His Dad often says, “Peter is just being Peter.”  He wants to be baptized and join the church.  They just have not picked a date yet.  But has Peter shown the fruits of the Spirit?  Oh, well.  He has that moment when you have hope and then … Peter is just being Peter.

But since we cannot choose family, maybe that is not the right way of looking at things.

My Sunday school class is my family.  I think that I can count on them. I have counted on them in the past and they have come through. After all, they choose to come to the class and listen to my weird way of approaching the Sunday school topic. I have a couple of people in the class who could teach the class when I have to be away.  I have a few that are always there.  I have a few that have other church responsibilities.  That irritates me in that someone who should be in Sunday school is scheduling conflicts with Sunday school because they think they can manipulate people, rather than seeing people as people, people who need to have a family of believers around them that open the Bible and pray and study…

I guess that brings me full circle.  I started out with a political reference, and I ended with a church politics reference.

We need each other so that we do not do as I often do when I sit in my basement and write for 10-12 days in a row without seeing another human being.  Not lately, since I have had too many doctor appointments which leads to trips to the pharmacy.  And by the time this comes out, I will be teaching Sunday school at least once each week.  At least, I think Sunday only happens once each week.

For you fellow introverts out there like me, calling someone on the phone is nice, but making eye contact and actually touching someone is so much better.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.