Life in the Ghetto

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Meditations from the Classics

Life in the Ghetto
Ancient Rome
Juvenal, Roman, AD 55-138
Satires III

subura-rome-illustration

Subura–A neighborhood in first century Rome.

 Juvenal, a first-century Roman poet who relished satire and found delight in mocking the Roman customs, described one of the blue collar neighborhoods just outside of downtown ancient Rome. Called Subura, he lived there for a while and hated it. Julius Caesar had a little house in Subura before becoming famous. Nobody lingered here longer than he had too. But alas many of the working poor had no escape.

Juvenal described it as a busy, crowded, noisy, dirty area brimming with crime, prostitution and endless trades such as shoemakers, iron-mongers, wool merchants, cobblers, etc.

One thing he particularly despised were the wave, of Greek immigrants that flooded this neighborhood seeking a new life.

“What I cannot endure, my countrymen, is Rome turned Greek!”

Juvenal looked down on these aliens. He said they couldn’t be trusted. They would do anything to please their masters in hopes of gaining power and possibly inherited wealth. They’re sneaky, and they like to become all things to all people just to reach their goals, he said.

            “He is anything and everything you please, all in one. Grammar, rhetoric, geometry, painting, or wrestling, prophesying, rope-dancing, medicine, and magic—he is master of them all. Give the word, and your hungry Greekling will climb the clouds.”[1]

As I read these lines over a few times, I thought I could hear a faint Pauline sentiment in the back of my mind. I thought a little more and then I pegged it: Paul said:

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more…I have become all things to all men,[2] that I may by all means save some” (1 cor. 9:19, 22).

Say what you will but it sounds like the Greeks of ancient Rome were pretty versatile and ingenious. Paul seems to have done something pretty similar–blending into his surroundings to be more effective as a messenger of the Gospel.

Maybe we should all break out of our limitations and find more common ground with the world about us.

David R. Denny Ph.D.
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[1]http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0093%3Abook%3D1%3Apoem%3D3
[2] τοῖς  πᾶσιν  γέγονα  πάντα…

Runaway

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Waywords

Runaway
Philemon 1:10:  “…that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus,b who became my son while I was in chains.”

runawayOnesimus was a man in flight.  A runaway.  He felt caged at Colossae where he had lived as a slave in a Roman world.  Though he wore no chains, life’s limitations smothered him.  Considered nothing more than chattel, he served solely at the master’s whims and commands.  Life was a brutal monotony of ‘do this, do that’, bowing and scraping, honoring the fateful code of a sycophant, smothering beneath life’s limitations.

For weeks Onesimus lay awake at night scheming, thinking escape.  He knew the risks.  Punishments were severe for runaways. The slave hunters (Fugitivarii) would be searching for him.  If found, they would brand him on the forehead with the letters (FUG), an abbreviation for “fugitivus” meaning “runaway.”  His bones would be broken to prevent any future attempts at escape.  (http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-life/slave-punishment.htm).  None of this stopped him.  Freedom called.  Its voice was sweet.  The temptation to discover a personal liberty, a future with options, was too strong.

So he fled.  He stole some money from Philemon and ran toward Ephesus 100 miles away.  Each mile was a milestone.  Past, Laodicea.  Past Hieropolis.  He followed the Meander River as it rolled through the Lycus Valley seaward to Ephesus.  After days of overland struggle, he arrived and caught a ship for Rome, the furthest place on his map.  No one would find him there.

Onesimus ran from life’s tortuous ignominy.  But somehow in a  city of nearly a million residents, he met Paul, the slave of Christ, the prisoner of Rome and in this serendipitous encounter found his ultimate freedom.  He and Paul become best friends united in Christ.  Paul considered him a unique son (ὃν  ἐγέννησα  ἐν  τοῖς  δεσμοῖς, –birthed while he was in chains).

If your life is tough and you can’t breathe and you’re thinking about running remember the story of Onesimus and draw comfort. Somewhere out there is a Paul, a friend who understands your grief and who wants to help you.  And in your lowest moment when all hope is gone, turn your heart to Jesus who knows the meaning of pain and isolation and who longs to be  your friend and Savior.

David R. Denny  Ph.D

 

 

 

 

 

Singing the Blues

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Meditations from the Classics

Singing the Blues
Aristophanes, Knights

aristophanes

Aristophanes

(Greek comedy, 424 BC)
Acts 16:22-30

Demos, an elderly Athenian master, enraged by the gossip of a new slave he had recently purchased, turned his wrath on two veteran slaves, Nicias and Demosthenes. He beat them furiously. The new slave in the house, Cleon, had gained favor with the boss and told him a bunch of lies about the old-timers. Listen to them gripe and whine as they run from their most recent beating by the master:

Demosthenes:

“Ouch! How I hurt! …Oh, Lord! Goodness me!
That Cleon our master lately bought…
Confound him anyway, and all his tricks!
For, since the day he got into this house,
There’s been a perfect itch of beatings here…
How do you feel, my boy?”

Nicias:

“No worse than you, I’m sure.”

Demosthenes:

Let’s sing a sob duet to Olympus’s tune.”

 Both:

“Boohoo, boohoo, boohoo.”
(μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ.)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0033

 Poor fellows. Two Athenian slaves who had it bad. The best they could summon within them was to break down and sob in perfect harmony with their pain. They remind me of two other men, slaves to a higher master as well, who likewise were rudely and improperly beaten. They too sang their pain away. But when Paul and Silas sang, it was a joyful duet about the majesty of God. Listen in—

     “And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God…”(Acts 16:25).

What’s the name of your tune? “Sobbing the Blues” or “Praising the Lord.”

David R. Denny  Ph.D

Blue Light Special

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Drummondtown Baptist ChurchBlue Light
May 29, 2016
Ephesians 5:16
The Blue Light Special

Introduction:

Come with me to Delphi, high atop Mt Parnassus overlooking the Corinthian

Gulf not far from ancient Corinth. I stood here many years ago before the grand Temple of Apollo that still stands on the top of Delphi.

There is an ancient story about a man who once came here for a message from the mysterious Sibyl who was a wild-eyed priestess of the temple who hair scattered in the mountain breeze. He paced restlessly before the temple doors waiting desperately for an answer to some life predicament.

He heard her wild incantation behind the doors and wondered what she would tell him. Finally, the creak of door hinges signaled the Sybil’s appearance. He stood transfixed below the portico and watched as she silently laid out a row of delicate leaves on the ground each leaf containing a word scrawled with a prophet’s pen.

He was excited. This is my answer, he thought. Then without a word or a blessing the Sybil slid back into the darkness of her sacred retreat slamming the door behind her. The man stood alarmed yet hopeful. But before he could scoop up the leaves and read the words, a breeze blew across the mountain top scattering the leaves, lifting them, sifting them, stealing them in a small delicate swirl of wind that devoured the prophecy.

*I see our text here in this great tragedy: The leaves are like Time—fragile, demanding immediate attention—easily blown away and lost forever.

 

Blue Light Special

            Paul tells us to walk into the marketplace and look for a bargain on Time ( ἐξαγοραζόμενοι  τὸν  καιρόν,).

*Once long ago I went to Kmart. Saw a flashing blue light. Asked about it. Everybody rushing to the light. I followed. Get real bargains they said if you act quickly. Candy bars. The last one was taken just as the light went dead. My hand was outstretched—too late!

Paul says walk with the utmost of care into the market and buy up Time before it slips away.

Three Blue Light Specials to consider. Act quickly. They will not last long. The blue light is spinning.

  1. Make time to help someone in need. Had the Good Samaritan not acted quickly to offer his help the poor man would have died on the lonely byway where he had been robbed and left for dead. —-All about us in today’s evil world there are people in desperate need. Find someone to help before it is too late.

            *Ta’nyla—Tough kid. Attitude. Barked back at me. –Mentor program—mocked it at first—Then I chose here—One day we sat and talked—she told me of her mother in jail. How shoe stated boxing.—Then we played a game of corn hole tossing and a strange little-unexpected bond formed. —A month ago—she got in a fight with a huge black girl twice her size. David and Goliath—Expelled. Sad email from her.   “I need your help. Could you write me a letter on behalf? They’re going to put in a reform school.” —My reply—Never saw her again but heard she got home schooling instead of reform school.

Find someone to help before the chance is blown away like leaves on the Delphic porch.

2.  Make time to forgive somebody. Life is too fragile to hold grudges. The Grace of God within us compels us to forgive others.

*I’m reading a fascinating book: Thomas Carlyle’s The French Revolution. A brilliant writer. He spent s summer writing what would be book one long multi-volume set on the French Revolution. He was proud of his effort. —Friend to read—left it at his fireplace. Maid tossed it into the fire. But Carlyle forgave the man and rewrote it from memory.

*1 John 1:9—If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

*Onesimus–a slave of Philemon from Colossae. Stole from his master–ran away. Found Paul in jail in Rome. Saved. Sent home with a letter. “Please forgive him. He’s a new man.

   3.  Make time to love someone deeply. (The blue light is spinning. You must act. Find someone to love.

My wedding anniversary was Thursday.   43 years! Math is difficult here since I’ve been telling everyone I’m 29 for so long I actually believe it.

*(My students can’t figure ages out. I tell them I’m 29 and they look at me after hesitating seem to accept it).

*I met my wife on Treasure Island in Lynchburg. First year of Lynchburg Baptist College. Liberty University.   Bonfire–Long hair. I ditched the girl I was with and walked with her to the fire and that was 43 years ago.

Find someone to love. When you learn to love someone deeply you begin to fathom the deeper love God has for you. John 3:16.

Loving others is the heart of the Christian faith. We see Jesus toiling beneath the burden of the cross as he carries down the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha. His love for us is why we are here today. His love changed our lives. And we are to pass on that love to others. Find someone to love.

Love thy neighbor as thyself, said Jesus. Find someone to love.

Love the lost. It’s the core of the Great Commission.

*My dad loved the Japanese. He was saved in Billy Graham crusade and when he was shipped off to Tokyo, the first thing he did was start a home Bible study for the Japanese. …He loved them. I went to sleep each night he held a study to the sounds of What a Friend we have in Jesus.

Conclusion:

These Blue Light Specials are like the leaves blowing away in the breeze. They won’t last long. Paul tells us to go into the marketplace and buy up Time. It doesn’t linger long. So make the most of your time and help someone in need—forgive someone–love someone in the name of God.

Obstacles

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Waywords

Obstacles

Acts 13:6  “They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,…”

Every Christian journey has its share of obstacles. When Paul set out on his first missionary adventure, it wasn’t long before he stood face to face with an obstinate official named Bar-Jesus (Elymas).

obstacles

This reminds me of my old grandma’s outhouse in Georgia. When I was a kid, my family would visit Essie and I would have to get use

d to old time country ways, including the use of the outhouse. During the day it wasn’t so bad, but at night, without lights, the trip to the twilight zone was quite treacherous.

First, I had to step onto the back porch in the pitch black. With rotten boards and rickety steps, I took a real chance of falling through to the wet worm-patch below the porch. In the yard, there was a low-hanging clothesline

just waiting to hang any cavalier nightwalker out for a lark. There were holes in the dirt yard, big wood chips, and ax handles, and chickens to step over or around. And when I did get to the ramshackle outhouse, I ran the risk of snakes, or spiders, or worse–no paper.

Obstacles. That’s what these were. And in a way, that’s how it is for all who journey for the Lord today. Paul overcame this obstruction in Acts 13 by having the courage to face Elymas with faith and reliance in God. You can do the same things.

Happy journeys (and safe back-porch excursions).

David R. Denny  Ph.D.

The Second Touch

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The Second Touch

Mark 8:22-26touch.jpg
July 17, 2016
Drummondtown Baptist Church

This morning we will meet an unusual man who will teach us a simple but profound truth about God. The man is unnamed, but we will get to know him a little by the few clues we see in the story. The profound truth is this: sometimes God intentionally slows His interventions in our lives for mysterious reasons.

This man was touched twice by Jesus before his healing was complete. Why not a complete healing on the first encounter? I don’t know, but it’s worth contemplating because often I feel like God hasn’t fully answered my prayer. It’s like God sometimes strings me along and then when I am about to give up He touches me again—the second touch and the miracle is complete for me.

We like to see things done instantly.   It’s the American nature. Get it done now. **I went to Food Lion the other day and bought a few things, and as I was getting ready to step away with my groceries, the cashier stopped me. “Hey. You forgot your tickets,” she said. She handed me 26 instant scratch tickets. I started to tell her I was a Baptist, and we didn’t scratch—but I didn’t have time. A Methodist man behind me was buying beer and getting anxious. So I went home and sat down and read the instruction on how to scratch and I did. I scratched the first ticket and got nothing. That just got me fired up, and so I dug in a scratched the second one. Nothing. I scratched a third—nothing. But when I scratched the 21st ticket I won $10!

Now I learned a lot of lessons about Food Lion tickets and scratching. But the main thing was that sometimes a delay could be beneficial. It doesn’t have to mean anything bad. I didn’t get my $10 bucks on the first scratch. And God doesn’t always complete His work on the first touch.

Our friend in the Bible story today is going to find his perfected miracle not in the first touch but the second touch of Jesus. It is that delayed response that we will reflect on this morning.

Our nameless man is largely an enigma. I don’t know how long he sat on the streets of Bethsaida. I don’t know his background, but tradition suggests that he was not born blind. He had seen the world about him when he was little. He remembered the shape of a tree. But some tragedy had struck him in life, and he had spent many years in blindness.

 

I can only imagine that his life was difficult and filled with regret and perhaps bitterness. His life lacked the vitality of those around him. Any dreams of social success he once had were gone. He could no longer join the men on the fishing boats.

Bethsaida was the hometown of Peter, the great fisherman. Ancient historians tell of the bounty of the sea that lapped up on the shores of Bethsaida. But he could not fish. He could not navigate the tempestuous waters of the Sea of Galilee. He could not do the meticulous work of mending nets. He was blind, and society could only push him to the edge of the village and pity him.

But then news came of Jesus and His gift of healing. Latent aspirations suddenly flickered again.  Maybe Jesus could help him.  Maybe my life could flourish, he thought  Maybe this could be a new beginning for me. His friends thought the same thing, and so they went and lifted the blind man on a litter and brought him to Jesus.

When they laid him at the feet of the Savior their first requests were direct. Jesus—please touch him.   The Greek text suggests there was great intensity here and that they kept on begging and pleading for Jesus to touch him.

Now wait a minute. Listen carefully to the voices calling out for Jesus’ intervention. Listen. Out of all the chaos of the crowds and this man’s friends whose voice do you not hear? (This takes a greater listening skill—to sense silent aspirations, silent fears).  Our protagonist is lost oin a maze of uncertainty and introspection.  He fights an inner conflcit anly the trained helaer can find this faint pulse.  (Listen–) I don’t hear him. He’s silent. Why? Why is the man whose life is dead, whose dreams are buried alive, whose future is dark and smothered—why is this voice silent? Maybe overwhelmed. Maybe too afraid to dream. So many disappointments before.

**I watched two NFL rookies, trying out for the team, giving it their all—I watched them after the hard grueling summer camp get called into the coaches office. The coach was direct, brutally honest. Jim, Bob, I’m cutting both of you. Sorry. Turn your books in today. Good luck. The disappointment was etched in screaming silence upon their faces. They didn’t make it! They didn’t make it! What would tell their family and friends? They left with their heads down.

Maybe our blind friend was afraid of another disappointment. But the intervention of his friends worked. The begged and pleaded and shouted for him. Jesus heard and responded AND TURNED TOWARD HIM.

What an exhilarating moment it is for any of us when we are in prayer and we sense the full attention of the Almighty turn toward us. Now the throne looms before us and now anything is possible. It is the power of prayer. You and God– face to face.

*Moses was not allowed this privilege. He could only see the back of the Lord as he passed by. But today we are invited to come boldly into the throne room of God Himself. READ TEXT (Heb 4:16).   And we see the eyes meet—the eyes of the Almighty and the disillusioned eyes of the beggar.

Jesus leads him out of the village and then touches him the first time. He does this by spitting on his eyes and laying His hands upon him. Then Jesus asks him the obvious. Does he see anything? And finally, we hear the man’s voice. He FINALLY SPEAKS! What does he say? He says “I see a little. It’s all a bit blurry. Looks like trees walking about.”

Oh now, wait a minute. Surely that’s a disappointment. Blurry?! That can’t be. Jesus just touched him. His vision can’t be blurry. Now here is the mystery of the story. Why didn’t the miracle work the first time? Why is everything blurry? Was this a mistake on Jesus’ part?

Put yourself in his shoes. You’ve been blind most of your life. The world no longer sees you. Your dreams are gone. You have no future but the begging cup. And then Jesus comes and touches you and you, can see a little better, but everything is blurry. It’s not right. Better but a disappointment.

**You know the story that comes to my mind when I think of intentional divine delays? Lazarus. Lazarus got sick slowly. There was plenty of time for Jesus to come. Sicker and sicker. Plenty of time. But then he died. And now Jesus comes. And Mary is angry.   Mary was so disappointed in Jesus. She let him know too. “Oh Jesus,” she said with tears of betrayal in her swollen eyes. “if you had just come earlier.”

So why does God sometimes delay His full response to us? Don’t you deserve an instant answer? Don’t you deserve a complete miracle in one touch?

Intentional delays can be good for us:

  1. They drive us closer to the Lord as we seek the completion of the miracle.

The first touch is not easily forgotten. When Jesus makes that initial entry into your problems you know things will never be the same. The first touch gives you the confidence to persevere. It builds confidence in the Divine.  It binds you ever closer to the throne of God.

This man didn’t turn and leave after the first touch. He didn’t demand to be carried home when he felt a flawed miracle descend upon him. No. He stepped a bit closer to Jesus and began a conversation. That’s a good thing. That’s what you can do after your first prayer seems to have faltered somehow.

  1. First touches keep hope alive.  Perhaps the man felt an initial disappointment. Maybe his spirit sank a bit. But he never gave up hope in Jesus. First touches have a way of deepening our faith. He touched me once. I know He has not forgotten me. Soon. Sometime. In His time. I believe He will whisper His intentions again. First touches breed hope. You tasted the first miracle and you are hungry for the second.

And in the case of our blind man Jesus sensed his rising faith and continued the miracle in His own time. He once again put his hands upon the man’s eyes, and suddenly the veil dropped, the glaze that had encrusted his vision for a year was suddenly clear. The miracle was complete. The second touch did its work.

Conclusion:

Your second touch is coming. It might be delayed. You might not understand why. But God knows. He has a reason. He touched you once and gave you hope. And will complete you prayer request soon. Don’t give up hope.

**Story in the Saturday paper. A couple went canoeing. They took their little dog. It jumped out of the car as they were leaving. It didn’t come back. They called and called. They filed a report. They left so sadly. But four years later a stranger saw a little dog on the edge of the forest. They set a trap, caught him and something seemed familiar to the warden. After looking through the filing cabinet, the missing dog report was pulled out. Four years earlier. A great reunion.

Never give up on you miracle. The second touch is on the way.

 

 

 

Tangles

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Tangles
Hebrews 12:1

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset[1] us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,…”

tangles

I transferred a little glob of glue from my finger to my hair the other day by accident. Boy, what a mess! I couldn’t comb through it. I couldn’t untangle it. I couldn’t ignore it. So I took drastic action. I cut it out.

The word beset (KJV) in Hebrews 12:1 brings a similar image to mind. In this passage, the writer encourages us to run the Christian race without any weights, encumbrances or sin since these things tend to tangle us up. Just substitute the word tangle for beset and the intent of the writer becomes clearer.

If you have ever tried to run in your bathrobe, you know how difficult it can be. So an ancient runner with a long garment on would find his legs helplessly tangled and thus would never win a race.

Funny thing about spiritual entanglement: it happens all too easily and often. That’s why the effective Christian journey eludes so many. Just when a full stride begins, it falters unexpectantly, the victim of some new Satanic conspiracy. The dark world knows our foibles all too well, and only the disciplined saint knows how to react, how to counter and conquer.

And it’s not only individuals who get tripped up. Churches can have the same problem. A church can find itself tangled in all kinds of avoidable sins that cause anger and hard feelings among its members and its community. Pride, selfishness, power struggles, avoidance of newcomers, etc., are all tangles that can keep a church from running an efficient race.

Well, I looked a little funny for a week or two after I cut out my glue glob. My hair wouldn’t comb right. But the entanglement was gone. Sometimes you just have to pick up the scissors and cut. Entanglements can ruin a race.

Go ahead. Get the scissors. I’ll wait.

[1] εὐπερίστατον

Crisis

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CRISIS           

       Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead (Acts 20:9).crisis

Acts 20:7-12 is the context. Eutychus is dead on the church floor. So unexpected. So sudden. One minute he’s squeezed into a tiny window seal on the third floor listening to Paul drone on and one; the next minute he’s fallen asleep and tumbled to the ground. The church is in crisis. Who will tell his wife? What about his children? Quick. Call 911. Panic. Run!

So many crises seem to come out of nowhere. We don’t expect them, so we have no plan in place. Sometimes when disasters strike, the gut reaction is just to run. Bolt for the door. Leave it all behind somehow.

There are dangers, of course, to hasty getaways. When I was younger, I went to pick up my third-grade daughter from school. The rain had been falling all day, and the ground was soaked. Huge puddles were everywhere. Jessie came flying out of the school’s main entranceway so delighted to be through with the nasty process of learning. She was free! School was out. She leaped off the stairs at the front of the school and sailed gloriously face first into a monster puddle that was a good ten feet square and bottomless. I lost her for a second or two. I wasn’t worried. The unbroken principle of childhood is that all kids float in deep puddles. Sure enough. She bobbed up and learned a lesson, I think, about quick escapes.

Sometimes church problems can be overwhelming as well. There certainly was potential for hard feelings here in this congregation. It’s not fair to blame to Paul, but he was the one who called the meeting, and he was the one who spoke so long.

Well, go ahead and blame him or just run for the door. No one will stop you. It’s an easy way out. The air is cleaner in the streets. No decisions to make there. No Eutychian corpses on the quaint cobblestones outside. Dash for the door and leave the entanglements of friends and co-workers behind. Don’t worry about the damage to spiritual intimacy among your church family inside. Just run.

But wait. Paul’s not running for the door. He exudes spiritual strength. He picks the young man up and embracing him, infuses him with heaven’s breath. And within minutes Eutychus is sitting up embarrassed, apologizing, wondering about it all.

Next time a crisis strikes, remember Paul’s reaction of calm faith. It might be just the inspiration you need to survive.

David R. Denny
Waywords

 

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