Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: Luke 18:9
Probably most of you are familiar with this story Jesus told about the Pharisee who prayed on the street corner to hear himself talk about a litany of righteous things he did while judging the wicked tax collector who embraced his sin and humbly called out for God’s mercy. Jesus concluded that it was the tax collector who went home justified.
I realize I am risking overstating the case for Vietnam Veterans, but I just can’t leave this story alone. I am catching up with too much I missed and thinking there must be others like me who might benefit from what I am learning. I’m not sure why this has such a hold on me, but let me try a few reasons.
These last two weeks have been quite a learning process for me about Vietnam Veterans. Two weeks ago if you’d asked me what I thought about Vietnam Veterans, I would have said, ‘Who?” Now I have a huge sense of appreciation and compassion for them. Most of what I know has come through getting to hear, all these years later, from my high school youth group buddy, Lieutenant Tim Lickness, an infantry platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division, who in 1968 was jumping out of helicopters in the jungles of Vietnam, leading troops on patrols — one as long as 42 days — engaging in fierce fighting, with death all around him, never dry in the rainy season and never enough water to drink in the dry, and watching his men get killed over and over again in his nightmares to this day.
Undoubtedly one of the most conflicting events in the early lives those over 65 was the Vietnam War. We were either for it or against it or we were ambivalent to the whole thing. The majority of the college student population was against the war and the most tragic thing about that was the fact that those who fought in Vietnam were treated like villains when they came home even thought they had no choice about going, in that they were drafted. Among most of their peers there was no sense of compassion for them. There was death and carnage all around them, if they escaped with their lives they were extremely lucky (even guilty as to why they were spared and their buddies were not) yet they came home the bad guys. And they’ve lived with this ever since, and while much of the world has forgotten, they have not. They will not. Adjustment to normal life was difficult — even impossible for some who took their lives or ended up mentally ill.
Here at the Catch I want to make sure we don’t forget. That’s why we are welcoming back BlogTalkRadio today with a live interview at 3pm Pacific Daylight time with a special guest, Tim Lickness. Tim was an infantry platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division, putting him at the very center of some the most intense fighting of the campaign.
Tune into our conversation by clicking here. If you would like to call in during our live event from 3:00 – 3:30 PDT you may do so by using the following number (319) 527-6764. If you miss us live, you can listen anytime after by using the same link.
And if you ever encounter a Vietnam vet, welcome them home. They’ll get it.
Once every day I shall stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are.
Clyde Kilby, professor of English at Wheaton College
We have had so much rain in California and snow in the mountains that the flooding has caused great damage to low-lying areas and trapped others in mountainous areas, collapsing roofs under piles of snow and trapping people so that emergency workers have to get them food, water and their medications. But the other side of this is that we’ve been in a severe drought for over seven years where lakes and reservoirs have been only a third full and dropping. Water was getting scarce. With all this water that has been falling from the sky, it has caused damage for some, but overall, the lakes and rivers are teaming again. It’s hard to see some people suffer, except that the need for water is so great. Severe weather causes hardship, but it also brings relief. And in some cases, it can bring great beauty.
I want it to always be Easter. I want to stay focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I want to keep having the Lord’s Supper every night so we can remember Christ’s death until He comes back. I want to hang around the empty tomb for as long as possible, and remember the new covenant in His blood that has not only forgiven us, but empowers us daily with His Holy Spirit.
“It was a very difficult time for veterans. There were no parades or parties to welcome you home. There were no services to help you deal with what you saw, what you’d been through or to help you find out something to do next.”
Today, Chandler and I attended an event that is so appropriate to this holy week when we focus on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. We visited the moving wall — The Wall That Heals — a traveling replica of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C.. (See the Catch for March 30.) I wanted to see it and I wanted Chandler to see it too. Not that he could understand it all, but I wanted him to experience it through me.
As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53:7
In reflecting on yesterday’s Catch about Jesus praying in the garden, Toni, one of our MemberPartners commented, “Jesus had more courage than any of us could possibly imagine.”
Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
As followers of Christ and representatives of the Gospel of Welcome — Grace Turned Outward — to Everyone Everywhere, we must be constantly on our guard. Ever since the Christian subculture became political, there have been huge errors that Christian leaders have stepped into perhaps without knowing it.
Breathing the thin air of political power and influence has led Christians way off the mark to where we have become influenced more by culture than by the word of God, and more importantly the example of Jesus.
Last night in the Church at the Catch, in anticipation of holy week, we looked at Mark 10, where Jesus and His disciples are heading to Jerusalem and Jesus pulls them aside and tells them again what is about too happen — that He is to be betrayed and handed over to the religious authorities who will condemn Him to death and then turn Him over to the Romans to be mocked, whipped and crucified. Upon hearing this, James and John show their stupidity by asking if they could rule on either side of Jesus when they come into His kingdom. (Not good timing for such a question.) Jesus then tells them what it means to “rule” in His kingdom versus ruling in the world.
“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.” (Mark 10: 42-44)
There it is in black and white. Leadership in the kingdom of God is different than leadership in the world. In the world the power comes from the top down. In the kingdom of God, the power is from the bottom up. We don’t press people from above, or push them down, we come underneath them and lift them up. We come from the lowest place where we are the slave of everyone. Show me where you see that kind of leadership in the world. You will not find it anywhere except for that which is influenced by Christ.
We are seeing in America a trend towards authoritarianism from militaristic, even violent, white, racist leaders “laying down the law,” and we have seen these same trends echoed, believe it or not, in the Christian community as a kind of leadership to be emulated. From what we have seen here in the words of Jesus, there could be nothing farther from the truth. Just think about what happens to Jesus the rest of this week in Jerusalem and you find out how Jesus plans to change the world — through His suffering, death and resurrection.
We will not have any part in this kind of worldly, top-down leadership. Because “among you it will be different.” So be it.
John Fischer The Catch 