The Preamble ...

Most of our New Testament is made up of letters to fellow believers, and in general to encourage them to hang on to what they have been taught.  Even the Gospel of Luke itself begins in letter form to a believer called Theophilus.  It reminds me of some of our reality TV programs, where contestants may be separated from their families in order to participate.  Often the TV show allows letters from home to be handed out, as a form of reward, and generally only on rare occasions.  But each recipient that gets that letter from home, treasures it.  I can imagine that in these early days of the Christian church it is much the same.  The postal service was not as developed back then.  To transport a letter was dicey thing.  They could have been intercepted and destroyed by enemies of the faith, if they had been able.  Satan was no fan of the church or of believers, so you can bet his full attention was on doing just that.  To see that any of these letters survived his onslaught, and remain part of our gospel in the Bible, is already a testament to the miraculous power of our God.  For our God wants us to know His love, and every written volume that remains for us, is intended to reveal just that.  These letters then, are for us to treasure, for they were bought at great price and great consequence.

Luke himself, was known as a physician, a doctor.  Those healing skills in the early church would have been a tremendous help, but the power of healing was not confined to the limits of science, then or now.  Even though he was a doctor, Luke was not limited to being just that.  Luke emplored the Holy Spirit to do a healing work that was well beyond the limits of any science, except a re-creative one.  So Luke does not just examine Jesus from a scientific point of view, He examines Jesus from the power of the Holy Spirit point of view as well.  It seems sad, that so many of the excellent doctors we have in our world today, who also claim to be Christians, have allowed their scientific training to put limits on the power of God in their own lives.  Miracles (if they will even allow for the possibility of such a thing), are brought about by the power of prayer of others, who when confronted with the impossible, choose to look to Jesus rather than accept their scientifically proscribed fate.  Doing our best to heal, was never a prerequisite to seeing a miracle take place.  Instead trusting fully to God was, and remains the way to open that door.  This is not a contest between how to medically treat, it is an expansion of how to do it.  If you wish to employ the best of our knowledge to date, have at it.  And so you should.  But do not think the end of that road, is the end of all roads, it is not – as Luke can provide first-hand testimony to.

Luke was an educated Gentile.  Writing this letter, this gospel, was not denied to him by right of his birth.  It was opened to him by his choice to embrace the faith, and the power behind it.  Luke was converted and wanted to serve, and so his chance to serve was put in front of him.  Further proof, that God did not want an exclusively “Jewish” church, but a church of any who would choose to believe in it.  Luke’s upbringing was not in synagogue per se (such as would have been a Pharisee).  The Sanhedrin would not have accepted Luke in their upper ranks because of Luke’s gentile birth.  The Old church had become a social-status factory where the service of Luke would have been politely denied.  Have our churches become just like this as well?  Would we deny the service of one we believe to be caught up in too much sin (as we define it)?  Or because the doctrinal understanding is just not deep enough yet (when is it ever)?  Those facts did not deter Jesus.  Jesus accepted Luke and the Holy Spirit inspired him to write, and then preserved his writings for now nearly 2000 years.  There is a lesson here for us.

Luke opens his gospel in chapter one, in verse 1 saying … “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, [verse 2] Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;”  You will note the motivation of Luke as he sets down to write out this good news letter.  This is a declaration of the things which are surely believed among us.  This is an affirmation letter.  This is a letter of encouragement.  It is not meant to dispute other versions of the gospel but to add a different perspective and result in achieving the goal of encouraging the faith.  Luke also here testifies that this account will be aided by first-hand eye-witnesses, as well as ministers of the word.  He likely is pointing out the original 11 disciples (without calling any by name).  He may also be referring to folks like Nicodemus, or the woman of Samaria at the well, who also encountered Jesus.  Is it any wonder this will be a letter to treasure?

Luke continues in verse 3 saying … “It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, [verse 4] That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”  And there it is, the first reference to the effects of what salvation is able to do to you.  To be saved from oneself by the power of Jesus Christ (that is through submission to Him in full, our desires, our thoughts, our motives, etc.) – has the power to “perfect” our understanding of our beliefs.  We let Jesus lead, we find a whole new trail of love through the letters written and preserved for our benefit.  Scripture is no longer a means to condemn sin, it is a means to find redemption from our all-so-evident condemnation of self.  We already know we are lost.  We do not need the Bible to make that any clearer.  Just look at the pain we cause ourselves and others as evidence.  Look at the death we bring to ourselves.  It is in our real world; we are living it.  We desperately need the Bible to throw us a life-line.  We need scripture to point us to the way away from our pain and death.  To the source of love meant to redeem even the worst of us.  A perfect understanding is not a tolerance for sin and pain, but instead a direct path away from both.  Luke wishes for his friend Theophilus to see this, to not let go of it, and to cling to it forever. 

Those with a perfect understanding of how to condemn do the work of another player in the battle for our salvation, namely that of Satan.  Satan is forever condemning the world, and the believers who reside in it.  Satan condemns both those who sin and do not care, as much as he condemns those who sin and know better.  His entire role is one of prosecutor.  He condemns without ceasing.  No, a perfect understanding of our beliefs, points one to Jesus Christ, to find relief.  Not just relief from accusation, but relief by a change in our motives, in our behavior, in how we love each other.  That is true relief.  We do not need an excuse to keep sinning and causing ourselves and each other more pain.  We need a way of escape from who we are, and from our desires to sin in the first place.  That kind of relief brings a perfect understanding of what we have been taught.  Perfection is not a pipe-dream.  It is a miraculous gift we can begin to experience in the here and now.  Let us give doctor Luke’s gospel letter a second look and begin to see how this perfection can begin to be established in each of us, and in our real lives now …

 

An Atheist's Anthem ...

 “If I only saw a sign, I would believe.”  This is a familiar chorus I have heard from nearly every non-believer I have encountered.  Sadly, it is also a familiar refrain I have heard from many Christians.  We look for the impossible to validate a faith that does not make any sense.  We ask to see the impossible for ourselves, unwilling to take the words or testimony of others on this account.  It needs to be personal.  It needs to be tangible.  Or else, how could I believe?  And in this we destroy our journey-of-faith and wish for certainty in its place.  But be honest, how could you ever be certain, of the impossible?  Even if you witness a single incident of it, will one witness be enough to believe in all the others, and for the rest of your life?  So if you must witness more than one incident, how many will be enough?  All of them?  Would it really take time travel to finally make us believe that what is recorded in scripture was real?  If you are looking here, you are cheating yourself.  There is another venue, and something a lot more personal for each of us.

To begin, certainty is not the goal.  If I asked you to trust me, how would you go about it?  You might evaluate our interactions, our history together.  You might conclude that if my behavior was always in line with your expectations, that you could extend trust to me, and then see what happens.  But therein lies the catch.  No matter how I have behaved with you in the past, no matter how consistent our history may be, each time you extend trust to me, you take a risk.  If past is prologue, then you may believe the risk to be low.  But that “belief” is still a “belief” you hold about my trustworthiness, based on a myriad of factors, but none the less a “belief” that I will not let you down.  This is how trust works. 

You may trust your mom for example, because your mom has demonstrated that she loves you.  Even if she screws up, she still loves you, though her mistake proves her human.  You may even elect to extend trust to her again after a huge mistake, because there has been only one (or few you know about), and generally she does not make them.  But even with mom (mistakes or no), every time you extend trust, you hold a “belief” that it is worth it, to trust her.  Certainty is impossible.  Because you cannot absolutely predict what anyone else (including God) may do, or why they do it.  In the end, you have ideas about it, guesses about it, even educated guesses about it.  But behavior is a tricky thing to absolutely predict, and so people surprise us sometimes (for better or for worse).  To trust anyone, is to embrace “belief”, at the exclusion of absolute certainty.

But where God is concerned, it is more blame that goes around, than trust.  That has directly to do with our picture of “who or what” God is.  The media, our parents, our church, our friends, our professors, may have all played a role in forming an image in your mind about who God is.  Suffice it to say, it boils down to one of 2 main images.  Most folks think God is a version of Santa Clause.  We go to Him to ask for stuff.  We are happy when we get it.  Mad when we don’t.  But are generally quick to ruthlessly blame God for anything bad that happens, under the logic that Santa should have been watching and been able to prevent the bad stuff before it ever happened.  After all, He has done it for others, why not me?  Way too many Christians have this exact image of God, despite all the scriptures.  Most Atheists just don’t believe in any kind of Santa Clause, or any god, but if there were a God, He would be to blame for everything.

In the Santa Clause picture of God, no trust is required.  Neither is certainty.  If you get the stuff you asked for, hallelujah.  If not, it must not be in God’s time yet.  So Santa has a slot machine sort of response to what you ask for, the odds are low, but you never know.  How could faith ever grow in you, if this is the image of God you believe in, or have the most experience with?  And believe me, Satan is WAY too happy to keep this image of God in your mind.  Perhaps enough to grant you some of those wishes himself, in order for you to never shed this image of the God you pray to.  But our real God, needs us to trust Him.  That trust is a critical component of His ability to save us – from us.  Denying yourself to let some random God you don’t really know remake who you are, is just not likely.  Better to keep the Santa image, and just hope for the best.

So God’s problem is getting you to stop thinking of Him in terms of doling out rewards and punishments, and start thinking of Him for the Being He truly is.  The other image of God (a saving God).  God wants to save you, from you.  He loves you (being the primary and singular motive of His).  God sees sin as the punishment and the addictive disease.  And He has only one way to rid you of it.  But for that to work, you have to trust Him enough to let Him do it, in spite of how it looks.  Trust, in spite of common sense.  Trust, in spite of what everyone else tells you.  Trust, that He is able to do the impossible in you, where history demonstrates, you are clearly unable to do it.  So if that is His mission, and trust is what He needs from you.  Offering you certainty does nothing to accomplish it.  If you witness a 1,000 different acts of the impossible, all you will have learned is that it is possible for God to do the impossible.  You might have already imagined that.  But you will still have no reason to let Him reconstruct who you are.  A thousand elements of certainty do not build trust, they build resentment.  Back to the Santa Clause image – now that I have seen 1,000 impossible things – I intend to open complaints about why I did not benefit from any of them.  A thousand acts of love and impossibility for others, does me not one bit of good.  So now I am mad at Santa, because there was only coal in my stocking, while my neighbor got Barbie’s playhouse.

The first problem with asking for signs, is that it does not bring trust.  The second, is that it will only make you mad they were not for you, or selfish if they were (who does not want more miracles in their own lives).  And lastly they are usually requested as a condition of belief (instead of a result of it) doing nothing to foster trust, so there will never be enough of them, to really make a believer out of you.  You will either find a way to let your skepticism reduce the impossible, to a scientifically explainable trick (or perhaps a random set of circumstances that worked out just right despite the incredible odds, like say the hypothesis of evolution) - or you will find you have an insatiable appetite for more signs, at the cost of what you profess is a belief.  In any case, the mission God has to save you, from you, by remaking you fails because He grants your wishes for signs as a condition of belief.  A change in thinking, on the other hand, will pull back the veil that has blinded your eyes to the impossible.  What you witness after a change in how you perceive life, is going to be mind blowing.  Sounds crazy right now, but that’s the point.  It is crazy.  But it is also real.  And it will be a lot more personal to you than you could possibly imagine now.

Take as a case in point the story of two types of people in the gospel of Matthew the 27^th chapter.  Picking up in verse 38 it reads … “Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.”  You could argue these men might have been believers in the Jewish faith (though obviously not perfect observers of the Law).  It is not known exactly what they believed at least from Matthew’s account.  However we know from other versions of the good news, that one repented before he died, the other did not.  Dieing in the company of known criminals tends to make one look like a criminal even if this is not true.  This death will do nothing to uplift the reputation of Christ.  But Jesus does not care about His reputation.  In His trial all manner of lies were told about Him, and His response was perfect silence.  No condemnation, no calling people out on their sins, only silence.  But Jesus was eager to speak to anyone who seeks salvation.  When the dying theif seeks Jesus, Jesus responds, no matter what kind of physical pain He was in.  When that same theif was hurling insults at Him, Jesus remained silent.

Matthew continues in verse 39 saying … “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, [verse 40] And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  Dying in the company of thieves, and up on a Roman cross, was decidedly NOT the sign the Jewish people were looking for where it comes to proving Jesus was God.  These were believers.  These were those who studied scriptures.  And yet their ideas about what God was supposed to do – that is, to throw off Roman oppression and setup a Kingdom that would last forever – overpowered all the other texts and prophecies that predicted exactly this part of the mission of God to save us.  “Believers” who desired something else of God, and refused to accept what God was actually doing to truly answer their prayers.  When Santa does not behave how we want Him to, what good is Santa right?  And so in this case, the very fact Jesus was actually fulfilling prophecy, was the very fact that disqualified Him as being the Messiah in their minds.  Sound familiar?

How often do we ask God for a thing, and threaten Him that if He does not do it, we will believe no longer?  Save me.  Save my child.  Save my spouse.  From the disease and death that stalk them.  If the results are not what we expect – we become angry and decide there cannot be a God – or else why did He not answer my prayer.  But perhaps He did, just not in the way you expected.  Perhaps from Gods point of view, saving you, your child, your spouse, for eternity is most important to all of you.  Should earthly life end today, and infinite life begin tomorrow, reunited, with infinite love in all of your hearts – is this not the preferred outcome all of you would want, even if it comes at the price of shortening how long you live in this world today?  Let’s say instead of focusing on the eternal, that God allowed you the answer to your prayers, and saved that life in the here and now.  As time passes, you, or your child, or your spouse, begin to change (not for the better).  Perhaps over time, one of you decides there is no God at all, and if there is, He is not worth following.  Sin is more “fun”, instead of the disease it truly is.  If that is how you meet your end in this world, and the eternal world is sacrificed in the process.  Did God really do what was in your best interest all those years ago when He saved you only to meet this new end?  And God knows what you will choose long before it happens.  Santa might let this play out.  But God would rather it didn’t.  God would prefer to cherish you while your free will choice reciprocates that love, rather than let you exist long enough to discard it under the weight of sin’s embrace.

So because God does not do what we want or expect, does not make Him any less trustworthy.  Keep in mind Jesus was doing what ALL of us need for salvation.  Not trying to prove Himself to nay-sayers at the time and place of His death.  Matthew continues in verse 41 saying … “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, [verse 42] He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.”  And there we have it, the Athiest’s Anthem coming right out of the mouths of the very top leadership of the church at that time.  What image of God do you suppose they had, the one of a saving God who would die in our place, and fulfill prophecy – or the one of Santa who doles out punishment and reward emphasis on punishment.  And had Jesus descended off that cross in front of their eyes, gliding right down in front of them fully healed, what do you suppose their response would have been?  They would have hated Him all the more, because now Roman oppression still abounded, and Jesus would be impossible to kill after all.  Think about it, they already had ALL the previous miracles Jesus did to consider in weighing whether or not He was the Messiah, and NONE of them changed their course of action or belief.  They chose to dismiss every previous sign and still pursue killing Him.

And should Jesus have chosen to assuage His own ego, by proving to these priests He truly did have this power, what kind of God does that truly make Him?  A God of ego?  Who would gladly sacrifice our eternal considerations for those of the moment?  How could we be saved then?  It is often our expectations of what God should do, that could never be met anyway.  Because we come from a place of ego and selfishness, where God comes from a totally opposite perspective.  Jesus believes it is better to die to save all of us, than to do anything shortsighted, and gain nothing.  Jesus never used any of His power to benefit Himself.  Instead He used it unceasingly on us, the objects of His love, restoring us, removing the pain of sin and death from us.  Our restoration tops the mind of a saving God.  Not just getting rid our physical diseases, but getting rid of the way more deadly sinful disease of bad motives driving bad choices we continue to embrace.  Curing us of our desire to sin, is way more important.  Saving us from an eternal perspective way more important than saving us in the moment.

The ridicule continues as Matthew writes picking up in verse 43 saying … “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. [verse 44] The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.”  Matthew hears the mockery of the thieves, but misses the repentance of the one.  Here we have an example of Jesus suffering the same fate as we do from time to time.  Jesus trusted in His Father.  And yet, He was dying, very painfully in this world.  The Father had NO interest in seeing His Son be tortured and die.  But the Father had a GREAT interest in seeing all of humanity be saved and reconciled unto Himself.  The death of His Son was that price.  In order that the need for Justice be satisfied.  So Jesus dies, in extreme pain we inflicted.  And the Father must sit there in silence and watch.  The eternal salvation outweighing the salvation of the moment.  This is how great our God desires to save us in the eternal realm, not just the here and now.  It is a different way of thinking.

So the repentant thief represents one kind of person, the mocking priests another.  For those mocking priests, no sign would ever be enough.  And frankly the next section of texts are going to have some doozies.  For the repentant thief however, for those of us who seek salvation from Jesus, what will happen in us is a change.  You will note that repentant theif was NOT saved from the cross.  He died in this world, but with certainty about his own place in the next one.  And change began to occur even in the worst dying circumstances any of us can imagine.  We too will become different than we are today.  Not because we work for it.  But because we begin to choose to trust Him, and allow Him to remake us however He sees fit.  Then change is surely on its way in us.  We read scripture differently.  We begin to see love as the primary motivation, instead of some wild afterthought.  We begin to reason differently.  And over time, the blinders of bad choices, the blinders of doubt, fall away – and what is revealed is a regular diatribe of the impossible happening all the time.  For example, the changing of hearts.  Not just of others, but of my own.  Learning how to love differently, and more deeply, than you had ever imagined.  No seminar could ever get this done.  But allowing Jesus full access sure does.  Without Jesus, things tend to degenerate.  But with Jesus, things tend to improve, especially in areas where it matters the most.

That sign, that impossibility, is very personal, very tangible, and you will live with its benefit every day of your life.  Does it cure your cancer?  No.  It could.  But it does not have to.  It fixes something more important.  The quality of your days expands exponentially, whether you are beset by physical pain and disease, or whether you are healed from them.  Keep in mind, disease does not exist in heaven.  So whether here or there, you are destined to see disease, pain and death no more.  And what happens to the desire to see a sign now?  You lose the selfishness part of that.  Instead of asking for goodies for yourself, you have no thought of yourself.  But you are swamped with thoughts of others.  You want to BE a sign for someone else, help them, meet their need if you can, no matter how you are feeling at the time.  And where you are powerless to meet their need, you do ask God for the impossible.  Not as a condition of belief, but because you are SURE He can, and will do what is right for that person’s eternal interest.  Where it comes to the removal of sin, 100% guarantee He wants that.  Where it comes to all the other worldly stuff, His gifts must fall in line with our salvation.  Knowing He longs to give them, and knowing He must hold them back, if they would add to our downfall.

Life, instead of existence, is a very tangible, and personal thing.  No one else can define it for you.  No one else can deny the impossible you are witness to in your heart and life.  For you know what is true for you.  You see what God does in your life.  What you suffer from in the eyes of others matters not.  Whether you are burdened with wealth, sickness, persecution – those do not represent the favor or curse of God.  They represent the danger of evil in this world, and are used by Satan to try to get people to believe in a Santa Clause image of God doling out rewards and punishments.  But for the one who truly believes, and chooses to truly trust, the curtain is pulled back – and the impossible is revealed every day no matter what our circumstances or positions may be.  Certainty has never been the goal.  Trust in spite of not knowing has always been it.  That kind of trust prevents the next Satan in the world to come.  And creates a new creature of you in the world we live in today.

 

Mis-Spent Power ...

We surround our ideas with the vacuum of space itself.  We insolate our opinions with a thick bubble of like-minded friends & followers and create distance between ourselves and those who may disagree.  There is no room for “different” to seep through.  In politics we think ourselves open-minded, but others see us a part of the fringe whether left or right.  Once viewed long enough this way, our gestures are anomalies that convince no one that we are as we view ourselves.  In our families, we are that “crazy uncle, or aunt” that everyone talks about but no one sees in the mirror.  No matter who we are, there is always a family member crazier than me.  And in church we have become the Pharisee or Sadducee we ridicule when we read their stories in the Bible.  We ask ourselves how they could have been so stupid, so stubborn, so wrong – and not have caught it.  We ask ourselves this, close the book, and fail to see us as we really are, through a different set of lenses, through a different perspective – because different has no entry door into who we are.

Case in point.  Matthew records a story of de-ja-vu.  It was only a few chapters ago in chapter twelve where the Pharisees and Sadducees (and us) came looking for Jesus to provide a sign to validate “who” He was and is.  The response offered was only the sign of Jonah.  The rebuke was that only an evil and adulterous generation goes looking for signs.  Ouch.  This was not a rebuke directed at the atheists or pagans of His day (though the logic still holds).  This was a rebuke directed at the church leadership of His day.  They, like us, had insolated their own opinions so well, that no sign of Jesus would have ever penetrated it to the point of a change of beliefs.  Now before you recoil at the idea of “us” being that stubborn, consider for a moment the denominational boundaries we embrace, and the wall it creates between ourselves and our fellow followers of Jesus Christ.  Name tags do more than differentiate us.  They create a “we are right” / “you are wrong” set of ideas where it comes to interpreting the Bible.  We all have the same set of facts, and same scriptural writings, but widely different views of what it means.

It is no different in life.  MSNBC, CNN, and Fox all report the same stories, but from widely different vantage points because they fundamentally hold widely different opinions about them.  An apple may be an apple, but it can be red or green, it can be small or large, it can be rotten full or worms and unfit to eat, or it can be a gorgeous work of perfection fit for baking in a pie like mom makes.  All of this, still looking at an apple, just from different viewpoints.  In church, we have decided exactly what the apple looks like.  Others of like mind join our spiritual social circle, and voila, a Christian church is born.  But Christian churches are not defined by their beliefs as much as they are by their differences of beliefs with other Christian churches.  Think about that.  Where we could have the Love of Christ so defining our lives, our actions, our responses, and our relationships that ALL our other beliefs are hardly even known – the opposite is true.  Our beliefs are known, our love isn’t.

Adventists are defined by their belief in keeping the Saturday Sabbath, the state of the dead, prophecy, and a trend towards vegetarianism if not an avoidance of unclean meats.  Mormons, who do believe strongly in our savior Jesus Christ, are defined by a history of multiple partner marriages, an entire world of beliefs about Jesus in the USA, and a widely different picture of the end of all things in heaven.  Catholics are defined by their Pope, by a history of persecution, by rituals of confession and communion and a preponderance of tradition still embracing Latin in traditional churches.  Baptists are defined by immersion of baptism, by traditions of hell and brim fire sermons, by forgiveness but in equal measures of condemnation for those who refuse to repent.  Here are four simple examples of large bodies of believers of Jesus Christ.  And instead of being known for the overpowering Love of Jesus Christ, in how we live, how we act, how we hold our familial relationships – we are known instead for the differences of our doctrines.  Would it not be better for others to see no distinguishable differences between us, because of the transformative power of Jesus in our lives, making us who He intended us to be, rather than clinging to the ideas we think important.

Instead what we do share, is a look towards heaven in our prayers, for God to take action, to solve problems … for ourselves and our families and those we love.  There is nothing wrong with praying for mom with the passionate love of her child.  It is simply where it comes to our enemies, or to those we hardly know, that passion nearly completely disappears.  We are lucky to “remember” to mention the prayer requests we hear in church, or are asked for on Facebook, or are asked for by friends at work.  We repeat the words, we might even muster a bit of concern, but then it’s done.  If it were us, or mom, or our child, our repetition would be often, and our passion high.  But for others, we are no stranger to “casual” in how we ask what we ask.  It is hard to manufacture feelings that simply are not there.  So in our private talks with God, we ask for a sign, for Him to validate “who” He is, by pouring out what we want in the lives of us and our families.  And if He has time left over, or blessing left over, perhaps He could answer some of these other requests we hear about as well.

The evil, and the adulterous, of our generation, are to be found in our mirrors – and this is not from a lack of belief in God (though some struggle).  It is not just from the sexual sins we wrestle with.  It is not just from our greed.  But it is instead a focus of our God’s attention forever on me first, then those I love, then those I can remember to ask for, then perhaps in a brief mention – my enemies.  We would mis-spend the power of our God, by reinforcing our own selfishness.  Something Jesus carefully avoided in the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness.  He would not spend His power on Himself.  He would not offer a sign to “prove” who He was.  He is God.  He does not need to prove it to anyone.  Pay better attention, and you will know exactly who He is.  For His love for you is hard to miss.  Back to the Case in Point from Matthew.

Matthew opens chapter sixteen of his gospel to the Hebrews in verse 1 saying … “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.”  When you see the word Pharisee or Sadducee, put your own name there.  Don’t read scripture as a history lesson, read it as an object lesson, not meant for your crazy uncle, or “other” people you know, but for you and only you.  Notice the word “tempting” Him.  This was not an earnest prayer spent on the behalf of someone else.  It was a temptation from Satan’s mouth, directed right out of the mouth of the church leadership of His day.  These were the folks who studied scripture night and day, who debated it, formed theories about it, and knew it better than anyone else.  They believed the Messiah would come to establish His Kingdom to reign forever and ever – the right belief, simply the wrong timing, the wrong visit.  Before that could happen, we would all need the blood of Lamb, to take away the sins of the world.  They knew those scriptures as well, and never believed for a minute they were becoming the vehicle of their fulfillment.

The best educated minds, the most devout, the church leaders bent of making sure Israel never broke the law again – got it wrong.  Because they insolated their opinions with so much ego, nothing new, nothing different, even the entirety of the Life of Christ, and the miracles He performed could not make a dent.  Jesus responds to this temptation picking up in verse 2 saying … “He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. [verse 3] And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? [verse 4] A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”

De-ja-vu.  The same request from church leadership, gets the same response and rebuke.  Jesus does actually take the time to point out that their ability to look into the sky and generally predict or assess the weather is based on what they have seen in the past.  Jesus has already performed so many miracles – not the least of which is freeing the human character from its desire to sin.  And yet they disregard all of these signs of the times, in favor of something else, something bigger, something meant just for me and only me.  But it will not come.  Not for the Pharisees of old, or for me.  Asking God to mis-spend His power on me, would only reinforce the selfishness I already struggle with – selfishness He is trying to free me from.  He already loves me.  He is already meeting my needs.  Now a prayer with passion for the salvation of my enemies, for God to help me find a way to witness through the persecution and injustice they are happy to inflict, for a way to reach them – that is one God is happier to answer.  It helps my enemy most of all, and me incidentally in the process, teaching me where my love should be poured out - on the greatest need.

But the lesson was not over yet.  Matthew continues the story picking in verse 5 saying … “And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. [verse 6] Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”  Take heed.  Beware.  Be aware.  These are not the admonitions of something casual.  They are weather warnings to avoid the storm on the horizon.  It was not only Pharisees who in history thought it wise to “add” to the law, or introduce the traditions of men as being equal to the law.  Many a church leader has done that since and does it still.  The history of the Catholic church it littered with examples, and a belief that even changing laws is permitted by a power they alone have been granted – though no evidence in scripture exists for this.  Even in the days of Matthew writing this gospel, power struggles within the new Christian church were beginning to emerge.  Churches already taking pride in who founded them, or what human messenger they followed.  Already the leadership of the Roman church believing they had a natural right to exert leadership on a broader scale.  And where there is a struggle for power, there is introduced the same leaven the Pharisees introduced.

But the disciples took this literally as Matthew records picking up in verse 7 saying … “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. [verse 8] Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? [verse 9] Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? [verse 10] Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? [verse 11] How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? [verse 12] Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

Jesus reminds His own disciples that they just misinterpreted what He said.  They, His disciples, got it wrong.  These were not perfect men, and though they may be on a journey towards perfection, they had not arrived.  They still believed some wrong things.  Wrong like the same beliefs the Pharisees held that the Messiah would free Israel from Roman oppression.  And now wrong, that the leaven of the Pharisees somehow had anything to do with forgetting to bring bread to feed them all.  The facts you have on hand today are not always the reference point to be used in interpreting scripture.  A good deal of prophecy has been misinterpreted this way.  Sometimes there is something more in the message.  Sometimes what is meant has a more profound meaning.  The disciples finally got it that the leaven of the Pharisees was the doctrine of the Pharisees.  Church leadership got it wrong, making church leadership quite dangerous.

But here is where the vacuum of space we put around our ideas rears its ugly head once more.  The disciples never seemed to question themselves about “which” doctrines the Pharisees got wrong.  Nor did they follow up with Jesus about that topic.  They all still believed that Jesus would throw off the yoke of Roman oppression.  They believed it so strongly they were already making plans about who would do what in the next Jesus Administration.  They “wanted” to believe that.  They did not want to let that belief go, even if it was wrong.  That belief gave them hope.  But it was mis-directed hope. 

It would have been mis-spent power.  Jesus came to conquer evil, all of evil, all of sin – that victory was far more important.  For without that, I would be doomed to be who I am.  With the victory of Jesus, He is able to re-create me into who He wants me to be, freeing me from my slavery to self-love, and self-obsession.  As I surrender to His victory, I can be remade through the power of that transformative love.  And this transformation was not just reserved for me, it was intended specifically for you.  It will be a unique transformation for us both, because we are unique.  But our Jesus is the same, His love is the same, and the results of His recreation will be as He intends it to be, for each of us, and for both of us.  Why ever trade that for a simple victory over Romans in a particular time in earth’s history.

But the opinions of the disciples were insolated by a group of like-minded friends & followers (just as thick as social media offers today) and were so protected that their worlds would have to shatter to let the “new” in, the “different” in.  It would destroy what they all believed in this moment, to accept the Truth of what Jesus had to offer.  Church leadership can get it wrong.  Even when that is the Church leadership of old, or the person standing in the mirror.  How will we begin to allow the Truth to mold, reverse, and change our thinking?  Will it take a shattering of our world to accomplish this?  Are there beliefs we hold to so tightly because we do not want to let them go in favor of the Truth?  Are we so firm in our doctrines, that not even Love can break through?  It sure looks that way from an outside perspective sometimes.  To an outsider, we sure look a lot like that crazy uncle – not because we love like a banshee – but because of our crazy ideas are based in doctrines we refuse to even begin to consider could be wrong.  How sad our doctrines still out-shadow our Love instead of enhancing them.

 

Three Day Church ...

OK let’s run a little mental imagination test.  I want you to imagine one of the better experiences you may have ever had going to a church (any church) in your past.  For this test, it does not matter how old you were, why you were going, or what you did there – only that you remember the experience more fondly than harshly.  For most of us, church is a window of 2-3 hours, when that general time frame is over – so is church.  Now there may be a few old-timers like me, that remember an event we used to camp-meeting.  Camp-meeting was a kind of church that was generally held for a week, usually at a site where the outdoors was in close proximity.  Believers would bring the trailers, RV’s, or arrange lodging in nearby camp sites with tents provided in abundance for just this kind of occasion.  Camp-meeting however, was far from regular church.  There were a number of different speakers, themes, and activities.  The farther back you go in time, the more activities would leverage the outdoor aspect of the get together.  The more recent you go in time, the practice has nearly disappeared, in favor of internet broadcasts, and limited socialization.  But whether you fall into the 2-3 hour category (most of us do), or even if you can remember back to outdoor events like camp-meetings that lasted a week.  Nobody, and I mean Nobody, attempted a 72 hour back-to-back single solitary three-day church with the same speaker, no real music, and zero planning.  That is, nobody but Jesus.

This would be heresy in our time.  Imagine if you walked into your regular church you attend, and were told you were going to stay there for three days straight.  Oh, and first thing, we are going to get you into a bus and drive to the closest desert mountain we can find, climb to the top of it, and then is when the three-day clock starts.  Same clothes.  No showers.  No bathrooms close by unless you can find a semi-private place to squat.  But hey, don’t worry yet about the bathroom situation, you won’t be eating, and likely not drinking much (unless it is your regular practice to carry food and water with you when you go to church).  This experience is quickly dropping from possibly entertaining, to borderline kidnapping and torture at this point.  With desert climate, little clothing that makes sense in outdoor desert air.  And no one prepared for any of this.  It has all the makings of a disaster worthy of coverage by CNN to criticize whoever would dare to suggest this ever occur.  Someone would need to teach a lesson about this so we never do something so stupid again.

But now let’s sweeten the deal.  Imagine if the speaker you were going to hear and see was Jesus … the Jesus.  Does it matter what band He brought with Him to this anymore?  Or the lack of one?  If music is really your thing, couldn’t you just bring a guitar (ancient harp) or just sing acapella if needs be?  Imagine the thought of getting to hear and see Jesus preach.  Is Jesus worth three days of your time?  Could you take time out of work for this?  Call in sick?  Move whatever you have in your schedule that might conflict with it so you could do it.  It might be a one time only event after all.  You never know where He might go next, He may not be back in your region for quite a while.  Is there anything else in your life that could possibly be more important that this?  If so … you may have bigger problems than three days in a desert mountaintop.

Now let’s sweeten the deal again, and this time, big time.  When you get there, Jesus is going to heal you.  Jesus will heal you completely of everything you may have wrong.  Potential cancer – gone.  Heart problems – gone.  Missing an arm or leg – take off the prosthetic, and get ready for a brand new created one from Jesus that works like you were born with it, cause it will be yours after all.  If you have bad vision, toss the glasses.  If you cannot hear or speak, get ready to hear and shout for joy.  The miracles of healing will be given to every single attendee from grandpa to baby junior.  If sermons are not your thing, then would 100% pure health do it for you?  If clearing up every mystery you have never been able to understand about scripture does not grab you, would a renewed energy level and tossing the allergies do it?

Is three-day-impromptu church sounding like a dream come true about now?  It should.  And it did, for about four thousand men (plus their wives, children, parents, and servants if they had any).  Matthew tells the story in his gospel to the Hebrews.  This event was similar to one that happened before, but more intense.  This was Lola-palooza, Woodstock, campmeeting, and church with a target squarely painted on The Truth for a highly limited engagement.   Matthew picks up in chapter fifteen of his gospel to the Hebrews starting in verse 29 saying … “And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.”  This was NOT the temple in Jerusalem.  This was not even a local synagogue in the area.  This was on the top of a mountainside where Jesus often went to pray.  There was no comfortable seating nearby.  There were rocks.  This was outdoors, where it is hot, no air-conditioning even conceived of in these days – you were going sweat.  If you thought about it for a few minutes before dashing out the door before this opportunity passed you by, you might have thought to take food, but that is a maybe.

Matthew continues in verse 30 saying … “And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them: [verse 31] Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.”  Ahh, what the people did remember, were their family members in need.  And need was plentiful in Israel.  Romans were forever creating need.  The lame and maimed were probably a hefty percentage of that crowd.  Roman swords are unforgiving.  The blind were not all genetically predisposed, a good many lost eyes on the end of Roman fire brands and heated steal.  A good many lost tongues as part of Roman torture.  There was a reason why the people so desperately wanted a Messiah who would throw off the yoke of Roman rule.

But the people waited patiently to be healed and healed they were … every single one of them.  And the passion began to take hold, as this impromptu crowd began to shout and praise the God of Israel.  Not since … well not since ever, had these kinds of miracles been seen in Israel, for that matter, not seen anywhere on planet earth.  A crowd healed in their entirety.  And they sat.  And they listened to the words of love as The Truth, spoke them.  They were listening to the God of the Universe speak to them, telling them of His love for them all through the stories of the Old Testament they were vaguely familiar with.  This was not a crowd of the Pharisees and the upper educated echelon.  These were common folk.  These were wounded folk.  Likely more than few bound by demons, until then.  Likely more than a few carrying leprosy, until then.  And what they must have heard on the hillside.  Oh, that we could have gotten the transcript of that.  What a loss for us.  And this went on for three days straight.

Nobody left.  Nobody even contemplated it.  Its possible the crowd continued to grow over the three days, but not a soul left it.  Would you?  Completely regenerated by the God of the Universe, and then able to listen to The Truth He speaks – could you ever pull yourself away from that in order to resume the mundane structure of your life?  They couldn’t either.  Matthew finally reveals the span of time almost casually picking up in verse 32 saying … “Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.”  After 3 days, Jesus is ready to send this eager crowd home, even if they are not.  But like Jesus, He perceives their needs, again even if they do not.  And like Jesus, He is ahead of meeting their needs.  Jesus knows the human body can only take so much fasting, especially if this included not only food but water.  Regardless, Jesus plans to make sure everyone gets a solid meal before they leave.

Matthew continues in verse 33 saying … “And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?”  Arrgg.  It is like the disciples channel nearly every church board meeting in the last hundred years, in every church denomination that exists today.  We only have “this” much money, how could we possibly expand our ministries to meet the needs of so many people.  There will always be poor.  We need to take care of our own first, before we can look to meet so great a need.  The disciples, when they did plan, or carry provisions, carried only enough to feed themselves and Jesus.  They could have never anticipated needing to feed 4000 men plus all the other entourage that came.  And they are in the desert.  Not like you could just go glean local farmers fields and pick up more food.  From the disciples point of view, this was an unreasonable demand Jesus was making.  Unreasonable – despite everything they had seen and bore witness to.  Unreasonable – despite having encountered this exact situation before and witnessing the power of God to provide to those who step out in faith and realize God has no limitations.

I’m sure inwardly Jesus was trying to figure out how better He could say it, so they finally understand it.  How does God teach ones who seem so reluctant to learn? (them and us) Matthew continues in verse 34 saying … “And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. [verse 35] And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. [verse 36] And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. [verse 37] And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. [verse 38] And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. [verse 39] And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.”  Much to digest here (pardon the pun).

First, Jesus takes whatever is offered.  He does not complain about it, or how little it is.  He can use anything, for any purpose, and still accomplish what He wants to do with it.  Even when we cannot see how.  Second, He takes action, commanding the multitude to sit down.  He blesses His food.  And then instead of handing to the people directly, He instructs His disciples to serve.  Even after ALL the lack of faith they have shown, He STILL includes His disciples in the miracle of ministry.  Third, this hands-on involvement accomplishes more than one thing.  It burns the imagery into the minds of the disciples that it is real.  Jesus can do anything.  And it teaches them what the place of the leaders of ministry are supposed to do.  They did not lead.  They followed.  They did not command, Jesus did that.  They took what Jesus offered as gifts, and gave that to the people.  Leaders are servants most of all.

At the end of this, everyone eats, and 7 baskets of fish are gathered to send out to the poor.  He sends away the crowd after this glorious meal.  And he takes a ship to the far coasts of Magdala.  In this section of the story Jesus has moved from the far northern coasts of Tyre and Sidon back down to Galilee and now across the sea to Magdala.  None of this travel happens in an instant.  It is likely uncomfortable.  But Jesus moves wherever his Father sends Him.  Jesus is not driving per se, His Father is.  And someone needs Him where He is going.  Mind you, we do not read about Jesus resting anywhere in these texts, and we know He loves to climb the mountains at night to pray.  Three-day church did not slow Jesus down one iota.  Even the thought cripples us.  But someday, we will have more than three days to sit at the feet of Truth.  Someday we will have forever, that will be a “church” experience that bests our current memories by quite a long ways.

A Human Pillar of Fire ...

How could you miss that?  The signs were all around you.  Everything was right there in front of your eyes.  And still you missed it.  It would seem humanity has perhaps the unique ability to ignore everything and proceed on a course of doomed destination.  Ask anyone who has ever been in a car accident and they can affirm it for you.  The driver at fault, had to have seen so-and-so pulling out in front, or was making a horrible decision to do something ill-advised.  Trees suddenly appear “out of nowhere”, as do parked cars.  And in general, the first response of the driver at fault in an accident is to attempt to find blame elsewhere.  It is almost like clock-work.  And for all the drivers who were victims, not accomplices, or perpetrators, having to argue blame that is clearly assigned in the wrong direction is never fun.  And in the few instances where the victim becomes the perpetrator through mechanisms of faulty insurance investigation, or lying participants, it can get expensive too.  You are left wondering, how could they have missed all those signs and warnings, and proceeded on a course of doom?

At least in a car accident, if no injuries result, you can get on with your life.  Cars can be fixed or replaced.  License points removed through Drivers-Ed, or new insurance rates paid from an ever-shrinking budget.  But imagine when the problem is not tied to an incident that you may be lucky enough to eventually forget.  Imagine if the incident impacted your spiritual life.  Imagine coming face-to-face with God, and then arguing about His existence.  Or worse, rebelling against His directions WHILE you remain in His presence.  Modern Christians have the “luxury” of not sitting in front of Jesus, while they do the stupid things they do – or at least not in His tangible physical presence anyway.  But this was not always so.  And when the people who preceded us, did the stupid things they did, they did them right in the face of God.  It was like shooting the finger at God, while God is there staring at you to see what you did.

It started back in the days of the Israelites.  When the people of Israel went through the plagues of Egypt, they were untouched.  Now get that idea into your head for a minute.  Imagine any one of them.  Imagine having frogs so thick they were everywhere, in everything.  You could not move without stepping on them, even inside your home.  They were in your water (what was left of it).  They were in your food supplies.  Frogs stacked up feet thick on every surface you encounter.  A plague brought by the God of the Universe on Egyptians, but not a frog to be found on anything where Israelites lived, farmed, or ate.  Israelites were free from work during the plague, because the bricks could not be made, no Egyptian could hardly move during them.  And this did not just happen with frogs, it happened with flies, and locusts too.  But you being Israelite, suffered nothing.  Egypt decimated, you untouched.

Now Moses marches you through a Red Sea with water shooting up on both sides of the pathway hundreds of feet into the air.  But the pathway is dry as the desert normally is.  It is dry enough to move cattle, donkeys, wagons, and the old and young.  No mud at all, dry as if it was always that way.  You can touch the water in the sides, but no water spills into the pathway you walk.  You are walking in the breath of the Lord’s nostrils.  You begin to move through the desert, and here is the piece-de-resistance.  By day a cloud covers Israelites so the desert is cool, mild, and not a single scorpion or snake emerges from its hole.  By night, a pillar of fire stands over the camp providing ample light, and warmth against the cold the desert will naturally offer.  Again no scorpions, spiders, snakes, or other bothersome creatures emerge while Israelite feet are nearby.  God has radically altered the word “desert” where you are walking, camping, and taking meals.  You might dismiss the cloud as something nature provided (through willful ignorance).  But there is no way to write-off the pillar of fire at night as anything other than God.  And even with that pillar in full view, the Israelites found a way to disobey God entirely.

Fast forward 1600 years and Jesus is here.  Now “who” Jesus was might have been up for a measure of debate, but Matthew in his gospel to the Hebrews, was about to put a nail in that coffin so to speak.  Matthew was about to identify a Human form of the pillar of fire that would light the way of Israel forever more.  It begins in his gospel in chapter fourteen picking up in verse 13 saying … “When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. [verse 14] And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.”  The news of John the Baptist’s death was spreading far and wide across the nation.  The people were sad.  They needed a beacon of hope.  They needed a light.  They were desperate.  Jesus takes a ship across the Sea of Galilee, a distance away from civilization, and the people don’t care, they follow Him there in great numbers.

The pillar lights up.  Imagine this crowd, it contains 5000 men, PLUS women, and children.  So if the average man over 16 was married, and had 2.5 kids per family (remember no birth control, and marriage happened young).  The math on this works out easily to 15-20k people.  But here is the pillar on fire part – Jesus heals their sick.  Not just some of them.  Not just a few of them.  All of them throughout the entire crowd from babies to old men barely able to move.  From diseases none of us can see, to amputee’s with restored limbs everyone can see now.  The blind see.  The deaf hear.  It is the prophecies fulfilled in their entirety.  A day of preaching and healing such as has never been before.  The words preached on that day were not recorded for us – Oh what a loss!!  We know what He did, but nothing about what He said.  None the less the pillar was lit up.  NO ONE ever healed like He healed, or preached the way He preached, or loved the way He did.  No one, ever. 

The day could have ended right there, and definitive proof of His identity had been offered in what He had just done.  But not yet.  Matthew continues in verse 15 saying … “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.”  And here is where loopy logic sets in.  If it is a desert (check); and there is no food nearby naturally (check); then where will the stores be for this size crowd to shop at, and how will these imaginary stores be stocked or prepared for this size of demand?  There are no stores for this.  Sending the people away, means sending them home hungry.  Now the crowd could have taken it.  They were all just restored to perfect health that day, so a little hunger is not going to kill anyone.  But let’s be honest, there are no stores for food.  The disciples were looking to pass the responsibility for feeding this crowd back to the people themselves.  Jesus sees through that right away.

Jesus responds in verse 16 saying … “But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.”  Hey guys, you can do this.  This is the God of the Universe, stating what is possible, and giving direction to them to get it done.  The pillar is burning brightly, and the chief servants of the pillar say in verse 17 … “And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.”  No can do boss.  Math says 15k to 20k people, our inventory says five loaves and two fishes (which they borrowed from one of the children whose mother packed him a lunch before he went to see Jesus – yay mom!).  But the kicker is not what Jesus does next, it is what the disciples failed to do first.  Jesus was offering to spread out His power through them, and their miniscule faith.  Jesus had said – feed this crowd, do not sent them away.  The pillar is burning as brightly as it can – every single person healed that day.  Their response, was no can do.  This is all we have.  Epic fail – right in the face of the human pillar of fire.  And how many times do we give Jesus the exact same answer to His calls for us to minister – no can do boss, this is all we have and it is not enough – math says no.

Jesus had to have sighed.  I would have given the eye-roll.  But then, He is way more patient than me.  So Jesus answers and says in verse 18 … “He said, Bring them hither to me. [verse 19] And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.”  This is a miracle tutorial 101 for those not paying attention.  He told the disciples to get this done.  And He had them serve the entire crowd, from the inventory they offered.  The strength of Christ is not to be underestimated.  The pillar burns brighter still.  And perhaps this provided more tangible proof as to who He was as math and physics could not get this done.  But a crowd of restored 20k fully healed folks should have already known that.  This event is recorded like a big deal, but the big deal were the words we missed out on.

Matthew records the epilogue in verse 20 saying … “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. [verse 21] And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”  Everyone ate, not just a little, not a ration, but a belly full.  And beyond that, 12 baskets of food left over were collected and likely sent home with the crowd to feed the poor in the cities they came from – evidence of the human pillar of fire in Jesus, who was in fact, the light of all Israel.  I ask you, who in that crowd of attendance that day, who came sick, and left healthy and fully restored; who came depressed of soul, and left restored of soul; who could argue this was not the Christ, long foretold of the prophets?  To argue against this God, was to argue in the time of Moses against the pillar of Christ that stood over them at nightfall.  It was the same God.  Matthew’s crowd saw in human form, what that pillar really looks like.  And Jesus warmed that camp for 40 years plus night after night never missing a night, never taking a vacation, never forgetting His people even when they forgot He was there right in front of them.

And what is it like in your life today?  I know that Jesus has already been a part of it, even when He is uninvited (by you), He is often invited through the prayers of others on your behalf.  Are you seriously able to tell me that you have seen no sign of Jesus in your life?  Or more likely, you have many stories in your testimony you cannot explain.  Things you have witnessed that math and physics could not have gotten done.  The pillar of fire may not hang over your home at night warming the night air for you, but the pillar of fire still looks to enter your heart, and bring you a life you can scarcely imagine.  He is just as real as the God who kept feet-thick frogs from covering your home.  He is just as real as the Jesus who cared too much to see a great crowd go home hungry, after a day of awesome ministry.  He is the Jesus who longs to see your life, become something you would want to live.  Can you ignore the signs?  Can you look away from His flame?  Call it luck, call it coincidence, call it “blessed” without any understanding of that word.  It is more.  It is a Jesus on fire for you, to see you reconciled to Himself.  Never let those signs go unnoticed, or unembraced.  That fire is coming straight for you, and it is going to light up your life in ways beyond all comprehension.  Same Jesus, different “you”.