The Final Criterion ...

Who you are matters.  Not who you know.  Not what you know.  But who you are in the core of your character, does matter.  Modern Christian churches tend to get this entirely wrong.  They focus on what they can teach you.  The idea is that if you find out enough knowledge, some of it is bound to rub off on you, and perhaps you might become a better person than when you started.  That idea may even have some merit.  But what if who you are is essentially the same as who you were; only after all this education, you have a better understanding of doctrines.  If you think it has never happened before, just spend some time reading about the Pharisees in the time of Christ.  They had immense knowledge of the scriptures, spent nearly every day debating and trying to increase that knowledge.  But it did not change “who” they were.  And when Christ came, they refused to recognize Him.  Why?  Because Jesus was obsessed with loving others, especially those in need.  The Pharisees were more comfortable with a “caste” system where the people in great need were largely ostracized (you know, in order to keep the church pure).

And speaking of the “church”, it can’t save you either.  The Pharisees went to church obsessively.  They had a special temple building that was specifically authorized for this purpose.  They had many rituals designed to point them to the Messiah, ALL of which they followed for public viewing.  They sang all the hymns.  They wrote a few new ones.  They washed themselves up and were “clean” all the time.  Their clothing was “temple proscribed”.  It was conservative (as nearly as conservative as clothing gets).  Their family lives were very regimented with each member of the family knowing their “place”.  Wives and daughters did household chores and only those.  Sons were meant to carry on tradition and were educated thoroughly from an early age.  For our conservative brothers and sisters who think that modern society has gone down hill because we let our standards erode – the Pharisees had the best lock on standards there will ever be, and yet – they missed the Messiah entirely.  Rather, they chose to kill the Messiah rather than adopt another way of doing things.

So what about doctrine?  True doctrine is supposed to point you to Jesus.  If it works, that should lead you to submission and transformation of who you are.  But how many doctrines are really setup for that purpose?  Instead doctrines have become the central pillars that divide one church from another based on what is now called “belief”.  All modern Christian churches believe in Jesus, and yet every distinct denomination is somehow divided over the doctrines they teach.  Again noting the irony of doctrines being supposed to point you to Jesus, yet churches divide over them incessantly.  But let’s assume for the moment that your brand of Christianity (that is your particular denomination or unique set of beliefs) is 100% right, and everyone else is 100% wrong.  What then?  Does holding all the right doctrines to be true, make you a different person on the inside?  To the point, does it change who you are so completely, that you become just like Jesus (hard to tell you apart)?  If not, why?  All that truth must be good for something right.  But then, knowing “about” Jesus, and knowing “about” the Bible, only makes you a good student – not a different person.  To “be” a different person all you need is Jesus (and nothing else will do).

So what kind of person are you supposed to be?  That would be the $64,000 question.  And of course, Jesus left us the answer.  Matthew in his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries records the words of Jesus Himself on this topic in chapter 25.  Jesus once again transitions the context from prior scriptures, beginning with the signs and wonders, moving to the conditions, moving again to the work or mission, and now to a final judgment scene that most conservative Christians love the idea of.  The last topic Jesus will address is what happens at His second coming (whether at the outset of it, or at the end of it – time is a little fuzzy in this one).  But there is very clear a division of people into two camps.  The saved, and the not saved.  This makes all of us nervous.  And it should.  The selfishness in the roots of who we are, dictates a lot of bad outcomes.  But this story has a twist, in fact a number of them.

It begins with Jesus speaking in verse 31 saying … “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:”  This is the second coming of Jesus.  No longer a humble baby laying in a manger for Herod to plot to destroy.  He is now beyond the reach of plotting Pharisees who want to see Him dead because He will simply not accept their version of the doctrines of truth they believe are beyond dispute.  This is a different picture of the same Jesus, and He is back.  This is not the sign for the atheists to finally accept the ridiculous ideas of a spaghetti monster as opposed to a tangible Son of God who is now here in front of them with all His holy angels (a number likely too large for us to guess at now).  And He brings with Him a throne, that is meant only for Him to sit upon.  This is the revelation of Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He does not bow to our money or wealth.  He does not humble Himself to our leaders, for He is the ultimate leader of all time.  The glory of this is beyond our imagination today.  Yet Jesus gives us this small glimpse to get our heads in the right train of thought.

He continues in verse 32 saying … “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: [verse 33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”  Our ultimate shepherd dividing His flocks is something we can kind of understand.  But does He mean His right, or our right?  And does He mean His left hand, or does He me the hand we see on the left from our perspective?  But that’s the thing about sheep, they just do what they are told.  They do not need to understand it.  They just do it.  This is a subtlety we sometimes miss.  Everyone here in this crowd thinks they are the same.  We ALL believe Jesus has come to take US home.  We ALL believe we are His sheep.  Nobody is looking around making accusations.  We’re just ALL happy.  But despite what we think of ourselves, there is a division going on, none the less. And we the sheep and goats are more or less oblivious to it.  Keep in mind two ambitious disciples had asked that when Jesus came into His kingdom that one might be placed at the right hand of Jesus, and one at the left.

Jesus continues in verse 34 saying … “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: [verse 35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: [verse 36] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”  The group on the right has made it in to the Kingdom.  Why?  Keep in mind the above set of activities is NOT a definitive list, it is a set of examples.  What drives the behavior above is a core love of others that has become a part of “who” we are.  There is no check list of this stuff.  There is a driving motivation that pushes always into these kinds of behaviors for others, because we genuinely love them.  This set of examples is evidence of a full transformation of the heart and mind.  You leave behind the person you are today (one obsessed with self), and you are re-created into the very image of Jesus Christ by the power of His transformative love you choose to submit to.  The Holy Spirit acts as the mechanism.  And the result is a different kind of sheep.

Now again, I must call attention to the obvious (sorry).  Where is doctrine listed in the above set of final criterion?  Where is our understand of scripture cited, or our perfect knowledge of prophecy tested?  For that matter, where is something as basic as the Ten Commandments examined?  The above set of actions are examples of you loving others (which should be an embodiment of both doctrine and the Ten Commandments) – because it brings you into harmony with God.  But the goal post Jesus lays out is not whether you have kept all ten or any one of the Commandments properly, or whether you broke one tenant of the Law.  He does not have to.  Perfect love of others brings you into perfect harmony with the Law, until the Law is not something you even think about anymore, it is just a basic proscription for how to love others, that you would not think of badly.  You already love God, because loving Jesus is how your transformation began, continued, and finally concluded.  You already love others, so what “not” to do is only a beginning for you.  You have been spending your thoughts on what “to do”.  The above list Christ cited are examples of that thinking.

For some traditionalists, they believe you would gain entry into heaven or not, based on how perfectly “you” kept each commandment.  Sorry guys, that is not enough.  Jesus does not divide sheep from goats based on how many people learned not to steal, or lust, or covet, or commit adultery.  Jesus does not even look at His flock and divide it based on how many people broke the Sabbath, treated it badly, wasted their special day with Him, or worse yet; refused to worship on His day made holy at creation, choosing rather to worship on their own day.  THAT is not the criterion by which Jesus divides the flock.  Treating the time with Jesus how it deserves, cannot be accomplished, until we are brought into harmony with His Laws.  While His Laws are a burden to us, our hearts reflect our lack of transformation.  Once we allow Him to change “who” we are, how we see His special time with us changes, and only then can perfect obedience be found in us.  The Law never goes away.  Our perspective of the Law changes from burden to automatic as we are transformed into harmony with it.  Attempting to keep the Law, without transformation is nothing more than vanity.

Lastly, again notice it is not the brand of sheep that gets you into His Kingdom.  It is not “your” particular brand of Christian that is the final criterion.  Catholics are going to have to share the Kingdom with Protestants, and Mormons, and people of no brand at all.  The criterion laid out appears to be acts of loving Jesus Himself, not of belonging to a particular sect of Christianity.  It is not that only white sheep made it in (representing your faith), and reluctantly spotted sheep (people near your ideas), and from a state of grace black sheep (ones who were complete rebels, but somehow found His grace).  Color or sect or creed was not the deciding factors.  Loving Jesus was (and is).  A tangible demonstration of the first four Commandments, or a tangible demonstration of a relationship with Jesus Himself.  Either or both are true.  Loving Jesus, it would appear, is found in how we love – period.  And it is not found in turning that love inward, but in turning that love outwards to those in need (as this list would imply).

Jesus continues in verse 37 saying … “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? [verse 38] When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? [verse 39] Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? [verse 40] And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  And here is another evidence of transformation – it is something you do not focus on – it is something happening to you without your knowledge, but within your motives.  The transformed sheep are simply different.  They love others because it is “who” they have been made to become.  As they look at the face of Jesus, they do not remember ever providing such loving acts to Him personally.  Yet Jesus says to them, when you did it “unto the least of these”.  Not to popes or presidents, or Bill Gates.  Not when your actions were designed for credit, or check marks in heaven.  But when your acts of charity and love were done because your heart bubbles over with charity and love.  Notice too, the “least of these” are also in the flock now, perhaps in part, because of your tangible love for them.

The sheep who gain entry into His Kingdom are like two-year-olds, unaware of their state of being, unaware they are the saved of this flock.  They do for others, without the knowledge of being saved, but because it is who they have become.  Think of that.  If it were possible these sheep could be lost (it’s not), they would be going to hell with kindness and love for others as their primary driving motivation.  They lived the way they do, because Jesus re-made them this way.  It is not something they did for themselves, or in partnership with God.  It is something Jesus does for us all, as we submit who we are to Him in the here and now.  He remakes us in the here and now.  And before long, a passion for others begins to develop in you, you cannot explain.  It brings tears to your eyes unexpectedly.  It brings joy to your heart from things you would not even have noticed before.  It is the new you, beginning to learn how to love like God loves, shedding the scales of your self-love behind.  It starts now, and going to heaven merely extends it.

Jesus continues in verse 41 saying … “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: [verse 42] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: [verse 43] I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.”  Pay careful attention to the reasons Jesus cites for this group NOT getting into heaven.  Examples of NOT loving others, therefore of being untransformed.  It is NO particular sin that keeps them out.  They are forgiven too, of the bad things they have done.  It is NOT the breaking of the law, or the misinterpretation of scripture that is keeping them out.  It is because they are NOT different people, they are the same at the core of who they are.  Forgiven, but not different inside.  And it shows.

The untransformed heart is all too happy to shower itself with the love of God, never thinking for a moment to share that love with others (perhaps outside of the inner circle of people we say we care about).  We care about very few, and are blindingly apathetic to those outside of our circles.  Even within our circle of people we are supposed to love, our love for them is far from perfect.  Often we choose what is convenient or easy for us, less so for them.  Sacrifice for others is seen as sacrifice (not as joy).  Giving to others is done in moderation (never completely, that would not make sense).  We strive to be “good” Christians (or worse), good people.  We tell ourselves we have achieved our goal of being a “basically” good person.  We tell ourselves that our sins do not matter, because they have been forgiven.  We treat His grace like a diaper we can relieve ourselves upon.  Never looking for an escape from our sins, only an excuse to remain in them.  Our thoughts are filled continually with a reflection of our motives, chief among them is love of self.

And it gets worse.  We too are unaware of our state of being.  Those goats, or active Christians involved in the church, hide our true condition by “working” in the ministry.  We may be the ones preaching, or planning, or helping out in church.  We make a fuss about attending events where the homeless are helped, or houses are built.  We consider these “events” as proof of our love of others (after all, we can point to a dozen of our neighbors who make no such attempt).  We give our means to ministry and again use this as proof of our love of others (pointing to others who make no such gifts, or who are unable to give as much as we).  And all of our “proof”, is proof of something else – an untransformed heart that looks for credit and reputation, not for anonymity.  When confronted with those in need, we pass by, because there is no “event” in it.  We do not make a habit of helping, only special events of helping.  We are quite comfortable leaving the least of these right where they are.  And there is no guilt in us, because who we are, is not someone who burns with the love of Jesus in us, only the love of self.  Our “good” hearts have never tasted of His transformation.  And so our lack of love for Jesus shows.  It is evident.

Jesus continues in verse 44 saying … “Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? [verse 45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. [verse 46] And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”  These goats are unaware they are goats.  And they too looking at the face of Jesus for the first time, realize they have never met Him before.  So they offer in their own defense, not repentance, but a statement of facts.  We never saw you, so how could we ever help you?  But the “least of these” who are in the flock today are present.  And they were ignored here by the goats who had no time for them outside of scheduled events or charitable donation.  The evidence is in front of them even if now it has been cleaned up significantly at this event.

What cannot be cleaned is the hearts still inside the goats.  It is too late for that.  They have steadfastly rejected transformation when it was offered.  They believed salvation was something “they” could achieve by their own good works, or asking for forgiveness (never a real change), or helping out in church.  They believed themselves “good” when Jesus looks at them they are far from the “good” the universe demands going forward.  Lucifer thought himself good too.  And while he loved others in harmony with the Law he was.  It was when he started loving self that is when Satan emerged.  These goats have known not much more than loving self in their own lives.  They have long evidence of it.  And the irony is that they may have perfect understanding of doctrine.  They may be able to recite a perfect understanding of all prophecy ever recorded.  They may be pastors, or ministers, or elders, or deaconesses.  They may go to church regularly.  They may do everything they thought they were supposed to do.  But they do not really love Jesus.  They mostly love themselves and bringing pleasure to themselves.

It is only in our submission that we find His ability to transform who we are into who He envisions we can become.  That means we turn over to Him our decisions (large and small).  That means we turn over our hearts and passions (for Him to remake, revise, or amplify as He sees fit).  Submission is about wanting to get rid of “who” we are, and trusting that what He will re-create us into, is the best thing we would ever really want.  It is a radical change of who we are.  It will radically disrupt everything about us.  And it will always be the best thing for us.  The evidence of this transformation will be found in the passion we have for loving others.  When we cannot keep still, when we cannot sleep away our time, when we must help that person in need – we are beginning to see them like God sees them.  That is what sheep look like.  You probably already know what goats look like (I do anyway).  But I continue to try to learn what submission means, and how much more of it I can learn to adopt.  Join me in that quest, and learn what Jesus has in store for you.

This concluded the answers of Jesus as to what to look for before the destruction of the Temple, and His second coming from signs, to conditions, to mission, to the final criterion.

 

The Schindler Moment ...

If you haven’t guessed yet, one of my favorite movies of all time is Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”.  There are too many things to list that I like about it, but what sticks with me, what is stuck in my mind that lives on undimmed by failing memory, is the moment near the end of the film.  [Spoiler Alert]  Oscar, realizes that he has saved a great many Jewish people by trading money to essentially buy them from the Nazi’s.  He has spent his fortune doing it.  But at the end, he realizes that perhaps he could have done more.  All the money wasted, the gold jewelry he is still wearing, all of it, any of it, could have been used to perhaps add one more name to his list.  The people he did save try desperately to comfort him, but he breaks down weeping at the magnitude of the loss of just one more person, someone he would likely not even have known very well, if at all.  His tears jump right off the movie screen and tear through me like a blender.  I call it the Schindler moment.  And what is clear to me, starkly clear to me, is that I am bound to share in it.  Each of us bound to face that same moment.  In the light of eternal joy, where love of others finally rules who we are, we will look in our heavenly mirrors and begin to weep, that we too, could have done more.  We could have loved more.  Cared more.  Done just a little more for someone else in need who will be missing eternity, perhaps in part, because of our own inaction.

Let me be clear.  This is not about salvation.  We will be saved.  It is not about perfection.  We will have been made finally completely perfect by Jesus Christ.  But it is only in that perfection of loving others perfectly that we will see the lives we have lived in this holocaust of Satan and know in the truth of our own hearts, that we simply could have done more.  And those tears are going to tear through us like a blender.  That is the ultimate judgment day, the day we finally see inside, and judge what we know is true.  It is my belief that when scripture records our God wiping away our tears, it will be those tears that require His mercy.  And the horror of this, is that we were, and we are, warned of it.  Jesus Himself gave us a parable of it, but I think we so often miss the true point of what He was saying.  In the gospel of Matthew written to his Hebrew contemporaries, picking up in chapter 25.  Jesus shifts the perspective of His second coming from the conditions that precede it, to the mission that precedes it.  What He now outlines is not so much what to be looking for before His coming, but what to be doing.  That mission is the literal salvation … of others.

It picks up in verse 14 as Jesus says … “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.”  This will be a parable, a story, an analogy of the work.  The man is our Lord Jesus Christ.  He travels to a far country, perhaps to places that needed Jesus before western Christian society was ever able, if not inclined, to travel to find native peoples.  Where He goes we do not know, only that it was a faraway country.  But this does not mean that the work He leaves behind is unimportant.  He calls “His own servants”.  These are not random strangers folks, this is you and me, followers of Jesus Christ.  And what does He give them?  He gives them His treasures.  Now our human minds immediately assume it is money.  Money is the currency we understand.  Money is most often what we crave.  But even if this were true, beyond the illustration of the story, any money gained will NOT be for us.  It is ALL given back.  So there is no “human” profit to be gained in this story.  I believe then, that money is NOT what the Lord values.  Keep in mind, he paves the streets of heaven with pure gold, making gold nothing more than concrete up there.

What our Lord does value, what He was literally willing to give His own life for, was you and me.  It is people that are the true treasure of the Lord.  People are His currency.  Not what we think of as money.  This distinction is important to the rest of the parable.  Jesus continues in verse 15 saying … “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.”  It is our Lord Himself who decides how much of His treasure to invest with us as He leaves on His trip to a far country.  I would bet He leaves more treasure with those who understand transformation best.  With those who have learned to submit, and learned to love like He loves.  As transformation is a journey, not all of us are at the same place at the same time.  Some are farther along, some have only begun.  So I would bet treasure is apportioned out to us based on our abilities to nurture it.  Notice though, as soon as the allocations are made, He immediately leaves.  Perhaps there is an urgent need for our Lord, where we have unable or unwilling to go.

Jesus continues in verse 16 saying … “Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. [verse 17] And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. [verse 18] But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.” It is interesting how the process of growing God’s treasures works.  It begins with the word “went”.  The one entrusted with 5 talents did not stay home.  They did not stay isolated.  They went out.  They met with others.  They interacted.  They likely loved others, and the love drew them to inquire about this Lord Jesus everyone was speaking of.  Inquiry, leads to interest, leading to the lure of His love, leading the new treasure to Jesus for themselves.  What began as a small team of five with a leader, evolves to a small team of ten under that leader/servant.  Yes, the analogy is written in the financial terms that would catch our attention, but the translation into heavenly currency of value, is the translation of cash into souls.

The team leader of two, did the same thing.  He went out.  He interacted.  He loved.  And the same result occurred, just on a smaller scale.  What was intended for the man only given one, was to find only ONE more soul for the kingdom.  No need for evangelism.  No need for mission work in the fields.  Perhaps just to focus his efforts on just one soul at work, or one at home.  Just one person.  But this servant only maintained the treasure of the Lord.  Now think about that.  Jesus does NOT lose money on this person.  He just does not gain anyone else.  This Christian was content to just work on his own salvation, not try to help anyone else with theirs.  Not even one more.  Just himself.  He buries the treasure he was given in order to return it as he found it, nothing better or worse about it.

Jesus continues the story in verse 19 saying … “After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. [verse 20] And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. [verse 21] His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Here is where the rubber meets the road.  Jesus is happy with the results of the man with his initial team of five becoming now ten.  “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”.  And here is irony.  Jesus sees this as only a few things.  From our perspective this was the guy who got the most in this story.  But from the perspective of the Lord, this was only an initial test investment of a “few things”.  But, given the performance, it is time to increase the investment with this person.  More treasure will be entrusted with him. 

And then comes the key phrase we usually gloss right over – “enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”.  The servant did not make any money, all that currency, all that treasure still belongs to Jesus.  So what is the joy this servant is now going to enter into.  It is not his own salvation, that was assumed from the start.  It is not heaven, the servant was already going there.  What is different?  There will be five more people in heaven than there was before, because of the work, and the love of this faithful servant.  That addition of five more people onto the heavenly list if you will, is a joy this servant will know for all of eternity.  The presence of these new five people will be an everlasting joy.  As they marry, or have kids, or just have you over to dinner some random Sabbath in the eons of time in heaven – the joy of knowing them, of loving them will have no end to it.  Company.  Proximity.  Companionship.  People, are the infinite joy when viewed in the context of eternity.  And it is people that are the joy of our Lord, in which He now invites us to share with Him.

Jesus repeats this same outcome as He continues in verse 22 saying … “He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. [verse 23] His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Just because some other guy was entrusted with five treasures, does not make the entrusting of two of any less value.  Think about that math.  Each treasure is priceless.  Therefore, the addition of two is just as valuable as the addition of five.  And our Lord is just as happy with the servant who was given two and turned that into four, as He was with the guy with five who turned it into ten.  The same exact reward is given.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  It is the joy of the Lord that is offered.  Not heaven.  Not salvation.  Those things were already in the destiny of a servant of Jesus Christ.  What is more than that is the infinite treasure of more souls in His Kingdom we will get to spend eternity with.  Even two more is awesome!!

And so it comes back to the one guy.  Jesus continues in verse 24 saying … “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: [verse 25] And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.”  There are many important themes in this interaction.  First, the man is afraid of His Lord.  Why?  Is it possible his image of God is one of a “hard” God looking to punish us for what we do, instead of helping us to do better?  Is it possible this man believes salvation is a burden he must carry, and the work of his own salvation is so great he has no time or energy for someone else?  Or is that just how we think?  The image this servant has of his God is not a good one.  But it does imply that our God gets results from the most unlikely places (perhaps from the most unlikely people).  At the end of his excuses, he hands back over the soul he was entrusted with to his Lord.  If these talents are truly other people, the unfortunate side effect of this approach, is that he has taught the other talent/person to focus on himself as well, not to be used in the redemptive mission of our Lord.

Jesus responds in verse 26 … “His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: [verse 27] Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. [verse 28] Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.”  Ouch!  Notice the choice of reprimand Jesus has for His servant.  First, He does not disown His servant.  But He is very disappointed with the performance of His servant.  “Wicked” and “slothful” or lazy if you prefer.  Even if the servant has a poor image of what God does (reaping a harvest from the most unlikely places), the servant should have at least attempted to grow the investment incrementally.  That is to say teaching both himself, and the treasure/talent he was entrusted with, to grow a relationship or a transformation that bears some results (even if not the whole enchilada).  Because this servant failed to do this, the error in example had to be corrected.  The treasure/talent was taken from this servant and given to the man who now has ten talents/treasures under his care.  The idea here is that this talent will now learn for himself what it means to truly get out there and participate in the redemptive mission of Christ.

Any Christian who thinks working on themselves is the only part of their mission they should care about should consider the example of the last servant in this analogy.  This still is not about salvation.  This still is not about heaven.  This is about what will be missing from heaven.  Jesus continues picking up in verse 29 saying … “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. [verse 30] And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Those Christians who love like Jesus loves CANNOT ignore the needs of others.  It is hardwired into them.  It is the driving motivation in their lives.  It is not something they do part time (or never).  It is something they do incessantly, just like Jesus does.  For it is Jesus who transforms us as we submit ourselves to Him, remaking us exactly like He is.  Teaching us to love like He does.  It is in this transformation that perfect obedience can be born, in the passionate love of others.

What the fate of this last servant shows is perhaps one of two ideas.  First, either that he was mistaken entirely about how salvation works, never allowing Jesus to purge the sin in him, and teach him how to passionately love others.  Therefore, cast even out of eternity itself.  Or far more frightening.  The grace of our Lord can cover any and every sin, even selfishness (especially because selfishness is at the root of every sin).  So perhaps the servant remains in heaven, but is given a glimpse at the horror of not having just added one more soul to the ranks of eternity.  The Schindler moment in full and living color (or rather darkness in black and white).  This is the far scarier idea.  Because it forces us to see inside and realize our failure, our waste of His resources, of the time He gave us, of the love He showered upon us.  We see His perfect work and our broken tool of a response.  We see that because of what we failed to do, just one more soul may be missing from the ranks of the redeemed in heaven.  It is not that we save anyone.  But what we contribute to the redemptive mission of Jesus is real tangible love in the here and now – or a full lack of it.  It will be our apathy that brings us horror.  It will cause great weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And ultimately, I believe it will require the hand of a loving God to wipe away our tears lest we cry them forever.

This is a picture Jesus offers of the work we are to be engaged in before He comes back.  It is not about signs, or at least external signs.  It is about how we respond to His transformative love.  Do we embrace it and join Him to enter in to the joy of our Lord?  Or do we push it back, choosing to focus only on self, or even mostly on self, to the exclusion of others in great need all around us.  One thing I know, a Schindler moment is coming for all of us, for each of us.  There is no avoiding it.  And its tears are going to rip right through us like a blender.  All we can do, is not continue to waste the love He offers, but to employ it in reaching out to those in so great need.  We cannot avoid or defer our moment.  But perhaps we can build a great crowd of comforters to hold us in our day of sadness, like the Jews that Oscar saved tried so desperately to hold and comfort him.  That will have to be enough.

But Jesus had even more lessons to share regarding His second coming …

 

Trapping Jesus ...

If you accept that there is a lesser of two evils; you have already lost the war.  Throughout our lives, we are from time-to-time presented with a choice, where both outcomes are bad.  We are asked to pick the one that is the least bad, and then expected to make that choice.  To refuse to choose is often an outcome by itself that may be worse than actually doing anything.  It is called a no-win situation.  And so often it is presented, with us falling into the trap of trying to decide how to do the least damage with what we pick.  This trap is not new.  But it represents a lie told by Satan whose premise is quite insidious.  He tells us through these situations, that “you” must control your fate by making a choice where all the options are bad.  The reality is, that while every option “we” could pick is bad, “we” still have another choice … take it to God in prayer, sit back, and watch the power of God at work.  For while humans truly are limited in their choices, God is not, and what God can do can truly amaze.

None-the-less the Pharisees had been very angered by the 3 stories Jesus had told regarding the state of church leadership, and how they might still be redeemed.  The Pharisees believed they were already good enough and had no need of redemption, especially by this upstart with no formal acknowledgement by the system of religion they managed.  This message of light from the outside was not welcome in their tightly concocted inner sanctum.  So they responded by creating three traps of their own, one by each of the main groups or sects of their religion.  This would insure fairness among them, as well as diversity of thought, so that even if one line of thinking failed there would still be another to attempt to catch Jesus up in what He said.  But underlying all their attempts would be the common premise of presenting two choices where no matter what He picked, He could be embarrassed in front of the people.  Their problem was they reasoned as men, and forgot, or refused to admit, Jesus reasoned like our God does.

The first trap would come from the Pharisees who considered themselves preeminent among their peers.  These masters of the Tora would seek to catch Jesus up in a popularity dilemma.  The topic was taxes, just bringing up the very word “tax” to an Israelite at that time, was to kindle anger of the deepest variety.  They may have picked this particular topic, because Matthew, the author of this very gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries, was a former agent of Rome collecting taxes from his brethren.  Tax collectors had earned a reputation lower than harlots or sodomites in this day and age.  They were in effect traitors to their people, doing Rome’s work, and then profiting off of it besides.  If Caesar demanded a single penny from a farmer, the tax collector may very well take two, and keep one himself.  This made the process even more onerous, and the tax collector more hated, perhaps rightly so.  So the Pharisees figured there would be no way to discuss taxes with an honest Jesus and not embarrass Him immensely.

Matthew begins in chapter twenty-two picking up in verse 15 saying … “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. [verse 16] And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. [verse 17] Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”  Nothing was left to chance in setting this trap.  The Pharisees sent Herodians with their disciples to act as witnesses for the state, in the event that an otherwise honest Jesus decides to get hinky with an unpopular topic like this one.  The Pharisees feared Jesus may just bow to the will of the people on this, so they actually sent government spies to watch in case He did.  They also used a proxy, that is, they sent their disciples to execute the trap so no one could ever directly accuse them of any impropriety in trying to spring a trap like this one.  Perhaps they used disciples Jesus had never met, so He would not see any connection back to themselves.

Then to disguise the trap, the disciples use the highest form of false flattery upon Jesus, first calling Him Master.  Then proceeding to compliment Jesus again on how He ALWAYS teaches the truth.  If they really believed this, they would not be there trying to spring a trap on Him.  They would have joined His ranks and become true disciples of the Most High God.  But they did not believe this, so their words were lies as they crossed the lips of those who did not mean a word of it.  I wonder, do we do the same?  Do we compliment our God in our prayers, bragging about how good He is, and how He is good all the time; yet the minute adversity blows our way, we crumble and blame God for it.  Then our true beliefs emerge as we blame God for every horror that happens on earth, casting Him as an angry God, who is looking to punish us for our deeds, instead of redeem our hearts from them. 

Or worse, we cast Him as a God who just does not care enough to save us from the horror that has come our way.  Never once acknowledging what we do, or sin, or a devil bent on our misfortune as the cause of what we stumble into.  Cancer was not put here by God, it exists because evil exists.  No disease was ever intended to exist.  It is the very presence of evil in our world that permits diseases to become part of our knowledge of good and of evil.  We were intended to be ignorant of them.  But instead we chose to become familiar with them.  This is the knowledge our God thought it best we never understood let alone encountered.  Breaking trust with God resulted in all of this.  But this was not God’s idea, and His number one job is to redeem us from evil, and extinguish the effects of evil on a permanent basis.  Not as a punishment for those who embrace it, but as salvation for those who want no more to ever be a part of it.

Beyond the lies they believe about what Jesus’ preaching includes, the disciples also compliment Jesus on being no respecter of persons – essentially that Jesus would talk to Caesar the same way He talks to a beggar in the street.  This further false flattery is not something they believe, but they are taunting Him into staying true to this course in order for Him to answer the trap badly.  And so after meticulously laying the trap, they spring it – asking Jesus if it is lawful to pay taxes.  Notice they do not make reference to which law.  They could have been talking about the law of Moses, or of Herod, or of Rome, or of God.  They leave this reference unclear so they can combat Him no matter how He answers.  This was the best minds in the country, coming up with the best test, they could imagine.  All to trap Jesus in front of the people.

Matthew continues the story in verse 18 saying … “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?”  Yikes!  It is as if a bright light is turned on in a dirty kitchen late at night, and the cockroaches who were all to happy to feast in the darkness are now revealed by the brilliant light, their antennae darting back and forth as they scream to each other “we must hide, we must hide”.  They run for the corners looking to be rehidden by the darkness, but it will not come.  Jesus perceived their wickedness.  He knows in an instant who did this, who was responsible for this, and what they are trying to do.  He calls out their hypocrisy as He knows they do not believe a word they say to Him, about Him at least.  He knows it is false flattery.  And then in bone chilling words He once used with Satan himself, He asks these wicked men, why they are tempting Him.

And do our prayers that say one thing, and our lives that witness another, earn us a similar response?  When we treat sin like gold, and freedom from sin, like a pain we want to avoid – do we not behave the same way as our Pharisee forefathers?  We have countless requests of our God, for the millions of things we think we need.  But only routine prayers to say thank you for food, and even less so when our other requests are granted.  Our prayer life resembles a child on Santa’s lap at the mall.  Our hearts are revealed to the same God who walked among us, as He walked among these Pharisees.  They did not believe they needed to change; how many of us believe exactly the same thing.  We count ourselves “good” enough already, just like they did.

Jesus responds picking up in verse 19 saying … “Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. [verse 20] And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? [verse 21] They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”  Hold the phone!!  There is not supposed to be any “good” option in this response.  There is not supposed to be a “good” answer.  This was a trap of bad vs worse, no good option allowed or anticipated.  And this is why you lose.  You, me, the Pharisees back then, all keep looking at situations with human eyes, limited by human thinking, and ideas about what is possible and not possible.  Instead, we could be turning over our “impossible” situations and decisions to God and watch what He can do, instead of trying to dictate to Him what we want Him to do.  Our prayers “telling” God what to do, are as worthless as our trying to take things into our own hands in the first place.  We are in effect, trying to lead God.  When we should be surrendering to God and following whatever He decides – expecting what He does, to not look like anything we would have thought of, and to be a million times better than anything we could have imagined.

The conclusion of this story occurs in verse 22 saying … “When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.”  This response is so strikingly sad.  They heard Him.  They were blown away that He had figured a way out of their trap.  And then they left Him and went their way.  Notice nowhere in that response was any sort of change on their part.  They did not become disciples after that.  They did not repent of their intentions.  They scurried back like the cockroach, to plan another attack in the darkness, for darkness is what they craved.  Make no mistake, when you walk away from the light, you are headed for no other destination than the darkness. 

People who treat Jesus as some kind of option, or some kind of alternative – believing that spirituality is all that counts, and doing good all that matters – walk away from His light, into the darkness of deceit.  Jesus offers you a real change in who you are, how you think, and how you love.  You cannot fix that.  You, on your own, may not even believe that needs fixing.  But it does.  It is the self-love that cripples you, and damages others.  And because self is at the center of it, you are powerless to fix it.  But Jesus is a master at re-creating you from who you are now, into what He knows you are capable of being.  He is not looking to leave you in your misery, making excuses for your pain.  He is looking to lift you out of your misery, freeing you from your pain forever.  That is the kind of change we can all embrace.  The free kind.  The kind that comes from submission, instead of control.  Walk away from your own ideas about bad and good, possible and impossible, and turn it over to Jesus, who can do things, and show you things, and make you into something you could never have imagined.  And the word regret will have meaning to you no more.

But the traps for Jesus were not to be ended just yet …

 

Darkness Has a Plan for You ...

We talk extensively about what plans Jesus has in mind for you.  They begin with your liberation.  Your freedom from slavery to self-love, and the sin you embrace.  The plans of Jesus for you, start by breaking your chains to pain and death, and in their place granting you a new life, a real life, something way more than mere existence.  In short, what Jesus has in mind for you (and only you), is unique to you, and offers a purpose without end, an infinite place in His Kingdom that will never expire – and they begin in the here and now, as soon as you allow them to begin.  But unfortunately, these are not the only plans that exist where you are concerned.  Your life is a not a simple choice of what you want, and what Jesus wants.  That is not the two-way choice you face.  If it is not the light you choose to embrace - that will form a shield around you; the darkness is all that is left to you.  The darkness tells you, that “you” are strong and in charge of your fate.  Submission is an act of weakness, you need not submit to Jesus (though the reality is that through submission, you replace your weakness, with His strength).

The goal of the darkness is to first deceive you into believing that there is no darkness at all.  Once you accept this premise, darkness will have full sway over you, and you without the slightest recognition, that events, circumstances, and results are not “just” because of what you choose, and why you choose them; but because you are under attack by a darkness so black its malevolence cannot be fully measured.  Yet so many, even within the church, come to believe the darkness is not real, something of bed time stories, and tools to control the masses through fear.  But fear, is not a tool to escape sin, it is a reason for sin, and a symptom of sin.  Jesus does not want your fear, He wants your trust, and ultimately He hopes you will make a choice to love Him.  The devil is slick in projecting the negative aspects of who he is on to God, accusing God of the things he (the devil) is most guilty of himself.  Obfuscate, hide the idea of darkness at all, and convince you that your life is a matter of luck, and God’s punishment, that darkness plays no role in it at all.

But what happens when you begin to deviate from “normal” behavior.  What happens when you entertain thoughts of the abnormal, of the unacceptable to social norms, and find them attractive, appealing, and ultimately ideas you wish to follow and embrace?  What is perverse, becomes a part of who you are, and who you have chosen to become.  And perversity need not have only to do with sexual expression, it can exist in a number of plains.  The kleptomaniac steals, like you and I take a breath.  We look at these people and refer to their condition as a sickness, as a form of mental disorder.  But that is not how they see themselves.  What is aberrant and perverse to us, is fully normal to them; even if normal is different, just a different idea of normality.  The drug addict, and addicts of every variety, understand logically the danger of their behavior but choose it anyway to get the fix.  The child who entertains the ideas of torturing small animals, and works his way up to humans, becoming a serial killer and a sociopath – chooses not to see himself as a “problem” but as a “solution” to our society.  The perverse expanding its reach across our populous more insidious than any virus, and more effective in its spread.  Until every man looks in the mirror and determines that they are good person, despite whatever differences there might be in how they behave.

But facts remain.  The timeline for darkness is finite.  It will one day come to an end.  John wrote in revelation about the very end of evil, when Satan himself will finally be consumed in the lake of fire.  And once that is done, death itself will be consumed.  The ultimate death of evil.  The ultimate death of death.  No eternal minions to propagate the existence of evil, or torture, or dying.  Instead the absolute end of it, in thought, in motive, in deed, and in instruments of its expression.  This means Satan is on a clock.  Where once he existed from his creation, in a life not intended for an ending, now he is destined to one day be finally consumed in fire, never to exist again.  That clock ticks loudly in his ears.  Every day is a day closer to his final end.  He cannot avoid it (though he will try).  He cannot overcome it.  He is bound to his fate.  So as evil does, it looks for a way, to plot revenge.  Forgiveness does not exist in the mind of evil, any more than mercy does.  And to strike with revenge, he must strike at what God loves the most, namely at you.

So darkness formulates plans for your life, just as firmly as what Jesus does.  The darkness can hurt God, by hurting you.  They can make the pain of God greater, by having you blame God for the pain that comes your way (when in secret it was never Him).  They can make the pain of God better, when they get you to hurt yourself.  They can make this pain better when they can deceive you into believing that a “new normal” is just as good as any old normal, even if that includes being a serial killer, or an addict, or someone who thinks forced sex is better than consensual sex especially as it relates to children.  In morphing what you do, the evil spreads, and impacts itself on other children of God further increasing the pain.  And do you then have value in the dark kingdom … no.  You are nothing to them, merely a tool to spread pain, and a victim to have pain inflicted on.   Lest you believe any differently, or think it could never happen to you, or think you are too innocent (or your baby) is too innocent, to ever be caught up in this – lets take a look at a story Matthew recorded in his gospel in chapter seventeen.

Matthew picks up in verse 14 saying … “And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, [verse 15] Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.”  First note, that the victim is not the man himself, a father, and someone who believes in the power of Jesus Christ.  The victim is the son, a child, presumably an innocent child.  But his state or age in life, did not prevent his possession, by a demon of the darkness.  And what does this demon force the victim to do, to fall into fires to burn, or into waters to drown.  The darkness plagues this boy, to send pain to his father, his parents, his family.  The darkness tortures this boy to rebuke the church (whether old or new).  And the boy, or what happens to the boy is of no consequence.

Matthew continues in verse 16 saying … “And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.”  Yikes!  This father, brought the boy to the disciples of Jesus.  You know, the ones with the keys to the kingdom, who are able to bind things on earth (figuratively) and have them reflected or heard in heaven.  James the future leader of the church in Jerusalem, Peter the future evangelist to the world, and John the chief prophet of the Christian faith, as well as all the others and none could cure him.  Now everyone of us, looks at Judas and says in our hearts – figures.  But then Judas had the same gifts of demon repulsion as did any other disciple, and was no less a leader in the church, and in the faith as Peter, or as you, or as me.  So the failure of Judas was no more or less the same failure as Peter.  It was not about what Judas would ultimately do, that causes him to fail.  For Judas could have been forgiven of that future sin, just as Peter was forgiven for ones he would commit in the heat of those events.  The problem of this father, and his boy, were in the here and now, and in the here and now – not one of the disciples could overcome the darkness nestled in this boy.

Matthew continues in verse 17 saying … “Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. [verse 18] And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.”  First note, that the child is healed immediately.  There is no delay on the part of Jesus.  The misery the darkness brings to this child’s life is over for now.  But the words of Jesus look none too happy.  “O faithless” generation.  Is Jesus speaking to the dad, seems very unlikely as the dad believes, and tried the disciples of Jesus, before coming to Him personally.  And the boy may or may not even be present, and is infected with a demon, so unlikely Jesus is challenging his faith.  There will be no blaming of the victim here.

But the church?  Is Jesus challenging his own disciples?  Is He challenging the Pharisees and Sanhedrin?  Or is He challenging you and I?  Perhaps all of the above.  But it is not just our faithlessness that warrants the attention of Jesus, it is also our perversion.  Have we adopted the aberrant as normal, perhaps just a different kind of normal, but one far outside of harmony with the laws and character of a God of love?  Do we see ourselves in the mirror, and see nothing wrong.  Have we perverted the Word itself.  Have we used the Word to justify our traditions, our ideas, and our notions of separation with the brotherhood of Christ – each group claiming purity, while ostracizing any other “less informed” groups of believers.  Our perversion need not just be in our sexual expression, it can also be founded in how we read the Word, and what we do with what we find, using it as a weapon against other sinners, instead of a hospital field manual of how to love others back to the feet of Jesus, ever pointing them there for the relief they so desperately need. 

How long shall I be with you?  And more poignantly; how long shall I suffer you?  These questions of Christ imply a seeming limit to His patience.  But I believe it is more a statement of His absolute frustration with us.  He offers total healing.  He offers a path to perfection, and a life beyond our wildest dreams.  And we sit around delaying that choice, avoiding it, postponing it.  As if the pain and death we now embrace is somehow better than what He offers.  Our blindness, our stupidity, so amplified against what the alternative is.  This is the plans of darkness for you, unfolding in your real life.  To keep you from submission to Jesus.  Making up all kinds of excuses why you should ever avoid that choice.  Not yet, you need to make more money first.  Not yet, you need to have unbridled sex with as many as you can first.  Not yet … the list goes on and on … each choice a hidden pathway to pain and death and misery along the way.  The words of Jesus reflect a coming finality to making that choice for something better.  There is a clock, and it is ticking – whether for Satan, or for you with him.  This is not about fear, it is about a choice for something so much better, that could be made now, right now.

Matthew concludes this snippet picking up in verse 19 saying … “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? [verse 20] And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. [verse 21] Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”  We have our answer.  Jesus tells the disciples, that it is “their” unbelief that caused their failure.  That was not a slight against Judas alone.  It was an assessment across all of them, even the ones who will one day take a more leadership role in the faith.  And perhaps a continued assessment of you and I.  Faith as small as a grain of mustard seed is a tiny thing, and yet none of us seem to wield it.

We accept the cancer we encounter as “a fact of life”, never once considering it might be a direct result of the darkness.  We accept the need and the poor, as just another “fact of life”, again ignoring the influence and direct plans of the darkness on the lives of those impacted.  And none of us wield our grain of mustard seed to provide the fix – not a relief to suffering, only an accompaniment through it – instead of a true miraculous fix.  We just let the pain linger.  Afraid to test our mountain to be moved.  Afraid to be shown publicly, we lack the faith to even make it rumble a little.  And the plans of darkness triumph at the expense of the weak wielding of our mustard seeds of faith.  What is more, Jesus offers that this particular demon requires prayer and fasting to get it to leave.  As we try to pray with our tiny faith, perhaps our faith would be better augmented if we were willing to fast quietly, pray incessantly, and then look again to see if our mountains have been moved, and the demons of darkness vanquished against the bright light of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Your life will come down to only two paths.  It will not be a choice between good and evil.  That is too easy.  It will be a choice between submission to Jesus, and a liberation and freedom that leads to real life as it was meant to be enjoyed.  Or it will be consumed with the plans of darkness who care no more for you than does a tyrant stepping on an ant as he moves from one place to the other.  There is no middle ground.  There is no happy median.  There is life abundantly.  Or there is misery even more abundantly.  Everything else is deception.  Everything else is fear.  There really is only one way out, and His name is Jesus Christ.  And Jesus had more yet to say …