Treasure Hunter ...

Every so often a story will come out in the news about a Treasure Hunter who has made some marvelous discovery.  Most of it is cleaning up after pirates, or chasing down some nefarious Hitler lead.  But in the end the idea of finding some long-lost treasure has an appeal to most all of us.  Kids get inspired and begin to dig holes in the backyard, hoping to hit oil like the Clampets (of Beverly Hills), or find pirate booty.  Going to the beach, we see the periodic eternal optimists holding one of those metal detection devices, scanning the sands looking for some hunk of gold that washed up since the day before, but is now buried just a few inches down, right there for the taking.  Free stuff sounds good.  Valuable free stuff sounds better.  Something for nothing even better than that.  But for every kid with an intense imagination, there is a zoning law that would prevent them from drilling oil wells in the backyard.  For every treasure hunter there are international laws that attempt to return lost or stolen items to their historical owner (or historical governments failing that).  Actually finding treasure, and keeping it, is perhaps the rarest of all stories.

So why did Jesus say it is something we could all be?  Oh Jesus had a different name for it, but the meaning was clear as crystal in comparing it to treasure hunting in our day.  Perhaps a little back story is warranted.  Jesus has been telling parables (stories) about the nature of growth in spiritual things.  His allegories are about a Farmer planting seeds, and what happens in that process all around.  But now Jesus begins to shift gears.  He begins to start telling more parables, but this time focused more from the perspective of the seed, that is us, instead from the process overall.  The first one emerges in the gospel of Matthew picking up in verse 44 saying … “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”  Treasure hunter.

In this case, there is some form of ancient pirate booty (had to have been Assyrian, Philistine, Babylonian, or Egyptian pirates to have historical accuracy in those days), that is buried in some random piece of land.  Our hero had to have been searching for something, or perhaps he was just one of the luckiest guys around, and has stumbled upon the buried treasure.  But instead of just taking it with him, perhaps it was more than he thought he would be able to carry, or perhaps he wanted clear title of ownership to the treasure – he goes and sells everything else he owns, to buy the field where this thing is, and have ownership of the treasure he has discovered.  Voila!  He is now the best treasure hunter of ancient days.  But what is the point of this spiritually?  Now comes the real treasure hunting, for us.

While you consider what the meaning of that parable might be in terms of salvation (keep in mind this is Jesus telling them).  Lets take a look at a second story similar in nature that follows it in verse 45 where Jesus continues saying … “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: [verse 46] Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”  Business Treasure Hunter.  This guy is a merchant by trade, a jeweler to be specific, a specialist in pearls to be more specific than that.  This guy is far from just some hapless schmoe who stumbles across buried treasure in a random field.  This second hero is a merchant looking for something very specific, and he finds it.  After much searching, perhaps searching for his entire life to that point, he comes across a single pearl that he believes is worth more than every other pearl on planet earth.  The current owner must be aware of its value to at least some extent, because while it is for sale, it is also a something that costs “a great price”.

But the merchant is undeterred by the high asking price.  He goes and sells everything else he has to buy this single pearl.  In this sense he is exactly like the hero from the first story, they both are gladly willing to sell everything else they have to get the treasure they have discovered.  They both hold nothing back.  Neither of them seem to haggle over price, they both think they are getting the far better end of their respective deals.  So I ask again, what is the importance of these stories where it comes to our spiritual understanding.  First, good thing these are parables.  We all know the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be bought by our wealth.  But we also know the model for the early Christian church was for a new member to go and sell everything they had, bringing the wealth of the sales back to the church and giving it everything they owned.  Then the church took care of their needs as they arose.  Continued labors were also deposited into church coffers (not just 10 percent tithe), but 100% of whatever was earned.

But I do not think these stories were told, just to get Christians to begin thinking differently about how to operate Jesus’ church once He left planet earth.  Something deeper was meant for us.  Perhaps that something was in how “we” would feel about the discovery of the Kingdom of Heaven.  That discovery happens here and now, not just after death.  The benefits we derive happen here and now, just as soon as we obtain the treasure of great price – not just later in our estate handed down to our children.  There is an immediacy to the benefit of our transformation.  Living without the pain sin causes, is living in a much better way.  Comparatively, this is living with buried treasure, or perfected treasure, like none other the world has to offer.  This is not about living a dull, boring, downtrodden life – where everything fun has been taken away.  This is about living a vibrant life.  This is about having a treasure you can find now, that is truly a treasure, something worth more than anything else – and YOU are the one who feels that way.

But not every great feeling, comes from a great place.  While these stories reveal how wonderful we feel about the discovery of the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven – those feelings of transformation away from sin are in fact the treasure.  The short term high of engaging in sin is by far not the same thing.  But some folks ignore the pain of sin, and just keep engaging in it more, hoping things will get better.  They don’t.  Jesus addressed this kind of discernment about the good from the bad picking up in verse 47 with another parable saying … “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: [verse 48] Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.”  Forgiveness is not a license to sin.  Forgiveness is meant to heal, not to continue the disease, even unto death.  Instead of treating forgiveness like a baseline to restore us back to God, some of us treat it like a get-out-of-jail-free card that will allow us to sin without worrying about ever paying the cost of our sins.  In so doing we mask the pain of sin, instead of uncovering it.  We ignore what sin does to others, keeping ourselves blind to the pain of others, in order to try to keep ourselves happy.

This kind of attempt to feel good about the Kingdom of Heaven, to use forgiveness as a weapon to do bad, winds up leaving us un-transformed, and not in harmony with the Law or will of God.  And if this condition is not changed, it will put us on the bad side of the evaluation at the end of all things. As Jesus continues picking up in verse 49 saying … “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, [verse 50] And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”  The wicked, believe themselves to be within the Kingdom of Heaven, after all they were scooped up in the net just like the righteous were.  The difference between the two, is that the righteous do not want to “do” good, they want to “be” good.”  The wicked want to do only that which makes them happy.  When the wicked do good, it is for points, for credit, for appreciation.  The wicked do good, in order to satisfy the list Jesus created – visit the poor, sick, imprisoned.  Once the wicked check these things off their list, they go back to the lives they want to live.

It is the heart of the righteous that breaks when they suffer with the poor, relate to those imprisoned, feel the tragedy of the sick in our world.  The righteous shed tears they cannot control, because they know whatever they have done to alleviate suffering is so little compared to the need.  The righteous ache to see those in need, have their needs met, on whatever level it is.  They love like the heart of Christ loves.  It is not fake.  It is genuine, because the transformation of their lives is genuine.  The wailing and gnashing of teeth is done by the righteous in this world because of the heartbreak that sin causes.  The wailing and gnashing of teeth is done by the wicked at the end of this world, because they have finally gotten caught, and can see their time to please self is at an end.

Jesus continues in verse 51 saying … “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.”  Jesus asks the disciples do you understand, as He asks that question to us today.  The disciples answered yes.  I am not as confident.  While taking a second look at these simple parables might reveal a point from a different perspective, that is hardly the end of truth, or the complete picture of it.  It is the luckiest hapless hero on earth scenario, stumbling across the treasure of so great a value and a price.  It will cost all of me, that is, the entirety of who I am.  I will be someone different when my transformation is done at the hand of my Creator, in the here and now, and after death if I taste it.  But the value of my transformation will be worth more than any pearl, or any pirate booty.  This is the Truth of what Jesus Christ offers.  But then Jesus makes a promise that gives me hope.

Jesus continues in verse 52 saying … “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”  Treasure Hunter.  You and I, the modern scribes who are instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven are householders (i.e. Treasure Hunters).  We bring forth treasure, things old and new, from our search of the scriptures and the Word and will of God.  Different perspectives bring forth additional context, additional insights, additional understanding.  No one of us has it all.  Each of us has something to add.  Treasure Hunters.  As we all submit to Jesus before asking to be led in His words, we find more to know, more to share, and insight from each other as we get insight directly from Him.  In this, if it costs us all, it is worth it.  In this, if it totally changes who we are, and how we love, it is worth it.  Anything Jesus offers us is worth it.  Nothing else, is worth holding on to.  Sin is the disease we so long to see cured, in the world, and in our own hearts.  We are getting the better end of this arrangement by far, it is worth more than anything else we will ever own or aspire to own.  This is treasure we get to keep, and transformation that turns us into treasure for others.

 

A Biased Media ...

What happens when the messenger wants something to be true?  Is the message corrupted by desire, or is the audience simply more skeptical of the messenger?  How could desire not impact what is said.  In this election cycle, there are strong opinions on either side.  But then, listening to those with strong opinions is not quite the same as listening to the source.  Once upon a time, our country had a news media not obsessed with corporate profit.  News organizations were largely loss-leaders for the entertainment divisions.  The news was considered a public service, mandated by the FCC to serve that interest.  To do news properly, one had to be extremely vigilant not to insert opinion, or preference, but to be devoid of it.  News was supposed to be a recitation of facts in order that an informed public could create its own opinions.  But today, news has become a corporate machine designed to create our opinions, providing only enough select information to do so.

Media itself has changed as well.  The internet has offered an explosion of personal opinion, bias, and anonymity.  Being responsible for the words you say in a face-to-face conversation, is a far cry from what is typed on a screen in absolute solitude.  Electronic friends are not the same thing as ones who could reach out and touch us in person.  Electronic friends are those of like mind, like preference, like bias on a particular topic.  Those of like mind congregate together reinforcing each other’s opinions but considering no new information that might alter them.  It would seem in our age, the only delivery system capable of offering information in a format we might consider when different than our own, are the comedy shows that focus on news related topics, despite the bias.  If we can laugh at reality, perhaps we can accept reality may not be exactly as we imagine it.

The world faced no such dangers in the time of Christ.  For news to travel it had to be face-to-face, or carrier pigeon mail to its recipient.  There was heavy responsibility for what words you said, for the person you said them to, knew it was you, and remembered what you said.  Bias still existed.  Preference still existed.  But friends in that day, had the luxury of knowing each other, understanding the history, putting the bias in context.  And so, news, while not centrally distributed, was still effective face-to-face despite the bias.  But stories of the impossible are still harder to believe, even when you know the source of the story.  To overcome common sense, takes great faith.  To believe what history, logic, and common sense say is impossible takes greater faith.  This is what our God asks.  He asks it still.  His messengers face this résistance still, because in addition, they want what they say to be true.

Good news, may represent the only time, when bias and truth align.  When something we have waited for, longed for, and hoped for becomes our reality; this is when bias and truth align without negative side effects or consequences.  A Father and a mother wants to see their children live, not just exist, but live.  Our Father wants this for us.  Our parents want it too.  To offer news in this regard is a great story, a happy story.  Peter recalls one to John Mark that formed the basis for the gospel story.  While Peter and John Mark wanted it to be true, it was true, bias and truth aligned.  The story begins in the Gospel of Mark in chapter sixteen, picking up in verse 1 saying … “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.”

Peter opens with a declarative whose significance cannot be overstated … and when the Sabbath was past.  Christ has finished resting from the work of our redemption, to now begin the work of our re-creation.  Without having paid this price, we could never be reconciled to God.  But a new day has dawned.  The first day of the week has arrived.  The first day of a new week, of a new phase of our reconciliation process.  The week is not at an end, but at its beginning.  And what happens now, is about what happens when something new has started.  Women of extreme courage are present once again.  The first ministers in the new covenant, in the new testament, in the new gospel, are to be women.  A hooker (now former), a mother, and a sister of Jesus with a famous name, have all come to anoint a dead body, which will never be found dead again; for death will hold no sway ever again.

Mark continues in verse 2 saying … “And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.”  Before the sun has arisen to start the day, the Son of God has arisen to start the new day of our reconciliation.  Those pagan cultures that worship the sun in our solar system, will have no event to further commemorate their misguided beliefs.  For while it was still dark outside, in the dark of morning between midnight and before the crack of dawn; something wonderful has already occurred.  The tomb was enlightened with the light of many suns, the entire Roman garrison was laid back in the dirt at the brilliance of God emerging from this tomb.  All of these events having already transpired before the dawn.  This sunrise will not light the events of the resurrection, they have already occurred.

John Mark continues in verse 3 saying … “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? [verse 4] And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.”  Upon arriving at the tomb, the Roman garrison has fled.  They are alone at this site, no soldier stretched out to meet them or offer assistance to them.  They begin to ask how three women will be able to move a stone at the entry of the tomb that it took nearly a dozen soldiers to place there?  If they cannot move the door, they will not be able to get to His body.  They persist in their mission, not realizing there is no need for it anymore.  And as they arrive, the stone is already moved.  This makes no sense.  The Romans have no interest in this Jew.  They resent guarding Him, and surely would have not wanted anything more to do with a rotting corpse.  Something is wrong, wonderfully wrong.

Peter continues the recollection to John Mark in verse 5 saying … “And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.”  Entering the tomb they encounter an angel, who remained for just this mission.  Humanity fears the divine when it is encountered.  It could be the sin in us.  It could be the realization of what true purity is when it touches the likes of us.  We recoil.  We wonder if judgment is upon us now, without further time for repentance, or reformation.  Our fear is instinctive as it comes from the deceiver of souls who also fears what true purity looks like now.  We are too akin to darkness than to light.

Mark continues in verse 6 saying … “And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. [verse 7] But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.”  Before the gospel can be heard, or understood, we must lose our fear.  We must put aside our instinctive fear, and pay attention to something greater than our fear.  The first message of the gospel is herein defined.  The angel said it directly to these women.  The angel spoke the words of the gospel, the hope of the gospel to these women of extreme courage.  You seek Jesus.  He is NOT here.  He is arisen.  That is the gospel.  That is the good news, the great news.  It is both what we long for, what we want, and it is the truth.  Bias and truth aligned, as it can, ONLY when good news is spoken.

But beyond the angel’s declaration of the gospel itself.  He gives a command, a commission … to these three women.  They are to go to His disciples (and Peter) and tell them Jesus plans to meet them in Galilee as He had said to them before His death.  This is a specific message to be delivered to the people of God.  This is the first sermon to be spoken on earth.  It is to be short.  It is to be directly to the point.  It is to be directed at those who claim to follow Jesus the Christ, those who say they are His followers.  The first sermon is to be preached by women, by these three women of extreme courage.  The spices for this body will never be needed, but the message about a resurrection will never stop being needed.  It is not His death on the cross that is to be celebrated, but it is His resurrection from that death which is.  Those who wish to honor Jesus would do better to wear a stone rolled away from a tomb around their necks, than a wooden cross that commemorates only His death, not His victory over it.

And still the stubbornness of the men in our age is willing to proclaim that women should not preach.  Yet our God plainly thinks differently.  The prologue also being less than ideal as Mark concludes these thoughts in verse 8 saying … “And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulcher; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.”  The word of an angel was enough to make them tremble and fear.  But in these women of extreme courage, this was enough fear to make it fail.  Fear overcame commission.  Fear has always overcome our ability to spread the gospel.  Fear of our reputations being held in even less regard.  Fear that our sanity may not actually be quite intact.  Fear that our fondest hope is nothing more than self-hallucinations.  So these women believe what they have been told, but are unable to speak about it for fear.  Imagine how disappointed all of heaven must have been.

But where the words of an angel were not enough to conquer fear, this was a gospel that must get out.  The message could not be left unsaid.  The fear of messengers could not stand in its way.  The bias of believers could not stand in its way.  The limitations of the media could not stand in its way.  The gospel must be preached.  It must be heard.  It must have its chance to get right to the heart of one in need, right to you, right to me …

 

Mystery of Reclamation ...

Not many of us prefer to ponder the idea that our tap water may well have gone through our sewer system at one point or another.  It is a difficult concept to grasp that water that was once filthy and unfit to drink could somehow be chemically “cleaned” to the point where we would not hesitate to fill our ice trays and drinks with it.  Perhaps it is equally ironic, if not disturbing, that the quality of our soil can be richly enhanced by adding fertilizer to it.  The chief ingredient of fertilizer being excrement.  Yet after adding perhaps the most disgusting substance on planet earth, which itself is composed of nothing but “waste” materials fit for no other purpose, our farm lands or gardens produce much better crops than if we had simply left the soil without this “precious” resource.  When we look at a bright fresh bowl of fruit on our kitchen table, and enjoy digging in to a fresh cold sweet harvest of berries, or citrus, we really have no idea “how” an infant seed, exposed to disgusting ingredients, in a generally polluted world, through a process of growth we did not witness, nor cause … results in such a delicious treat our bodies long for and enjoy.  We have a notional idea of how crops grow, and how resources can be reclaimed, but the details remain mostly a mystery.

The composition of the human mind and heart are infinitely more complex than the simple seed which will one day become a sweet berry, or an ear of corn, or an herb we season our food with.  The mind, like our soil and untreated water, can become a place of great pollution, waste, and darkness.  It is the inevitable result of having embraced the addiction of self-love and sin we are covered with.  It is a degenerative process, which would have us slide deeper and deeper into a muck fit to grow nothing, add no value, and become something only bent on taking, and “offering” little & only when there is a chance at greater rewards for doing so.  Our minds of greed, and our hearts of stone, are hardly the right place for any seed to grow.  To plant a seed of Love here, could only be done by a Farmer we would call “insane”.  We, are not good ground in which to grow anything.  We, are a toxic un-reclaimed section of scorched earth, with a history of destroying everything we touched.  We, are known for causing pain, not for relieving it.  Yet somehow, our Father God, chooses to do the unthinkable.  He comes to plant seed here, in us, and on purpose.  Why?  What does He know that we do not?

The mystery of how a corrupted mind and heart can be reclaimed is unknown by us.  And this is not a new phenomenon.  Peter recalls to John Mark in his gospel in chapter 4 the continuation of this theme and analogy that Christ used to teach us about salvation.  He begins in verse 26 recalling the words of Christ saying … “And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; [verse 27] And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.”  We do not see the seed opening up underground.  We do not see it take root.  We only see it when it emerges from the earth and begins to grow.  “Why” a seed grows is not just a metaphysical question, particularly when considering why “this” seed grows, but that one does not.  The farmer in this analogy plants a seed and time passes, and it grows.  But the “why” it grows remains a mystery to the farmer.  The “process of growth” is NOT up to the farmer.  The human farmer in this analogy is a “witness” to the growth, not the cause of it.

Understood in the context of spreading the gospel … “we” do not “save” others.  We may have the joy of spreading the “seed” of the gospel.  We may introduce people to Christ.  But that is where our part of the story ends.  The “process of growth” is NOT up to us.  We do not get to rush it, and should not slow it down.  This is true in ourselves, and in others.  The “process of growth” is contained WITHIN the seed itself.  In this instance, the “Seed” can overcome the pollution it comes in contact with.  The “Seed” is capable to reclaiming the excrement and untreated water of our lives, and purify it, for the purposes of making something wonderful grow within us.  The Love that grows within us, is the love of Christ for others; as it grows it will become evident to the world around us.  We begin to treat other people differently.  This is the key evidence to us, and to those around us, that the seed is taking root and springing forth.  All of the sudden, the focus is no longer on the earth, it is on the plant.  All of the sudden, the pollution and muck of our lives, is no longer the focus, it is the plant of love that is springing forth from our muck, despite all the odds against it.

“How” this occurs is a mystery to us.  Peter continues recalling the words of Christ in verse 28 saying … “For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. [verse 29] But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”  The growth that takes place is not immediate, or completed in an instant.  It takes time to transition from seed, to blade, to ear, to corn.  Trust takes time.  Full submission takes time to achieve.  We must come to realize that what we “give up” to Christ, are not things we wanted or needed in the first place.  What we “treasure” today about ourselves, are things we come to despise later when we see them for what they truly were.  The things about us that we take pride in, are the very things we would be better off without.  In short, when diseased soil looks at itself, it does not think badly about what it sees.  But when pure water sees what untreated water looks like, it cannot imagine ever “wanting” to be that dirty.  As we learn to trust God, we come to see He does actually save us in spite of ourselves.  As we see Him tenderly pick us back up after we have thrown away His victories, and continue to tend to us, despite our lack of response, we come to “know” that He is bent on saving us.

It is unfortunate that we are such slow learners, but the level of our disease is great.  Despite the process of growth taking time however, it does continue to occur.  And at every point in time, there is an evidence of how mature His Love in us actually is.  We can measure our progress by how deeply we care about others, and how little we care about ourselves.  If those scales do not tilt the way we wish they would, perhaps we are not as mature as we would like to think ourselves as being in the Christian journey of transformation.  Again this is not a measurement of how complete our doctrinal understanding is, it is a measurement of how deep our passion for others is.  What is planted within us is a seed of Love, not a seed of mere wisdom.  We can already be “smart”, or “wise”, but lack all notion of what it means to love another.  A brilliant Christian can expound on the meaning of scripture, and the interpretation of prophecy, and still have NO concept of who Jesus is, and how He loves others.  It is Love that saves us.  His love for us, and His love for others reflected through us.

What is most evident to the Farmer … this time the heavenly Farmer … is when the growth process has been completed and when the harvest is ready.  It is the sickle that is used to gather the ripe ears of corn to feed those in need.  We are cut off from the lives we once knew.  We are taken away from our past, though the seed of the corn remains with the Harvest.  The self-perpetuating seeds of Christ, are still found in the berries, the corn, or the herbs.  Even when the fruit is cut off from the plants, the seed remains.  Without Christ we could never be saved.  If we were to be cut off from Christ, we would wither and die, and our love for others would die as well.  It is His undying love for others, which can remain ever green within us.  It is His strength to love the unlovable that can inspire us to do the same.  We do not need to rely upon our own strength to “be good people” and to love others.  Instead we can “reflect” His love for them, and His passion for them, through us.  We can simply get out of His way, and not limit Him, but provide Him unlimited access to strengthen our Love for others, and renew our physical being when we would otherwise be exhausted by human weakness.  Instead of attempting to be good, we can simply let go control to Christ, and watch Him actually make us into something we never thought possible.

The Harvest can feed the world.  It is not the process of growth that saves others.  It is the offering of fruit, the offering of Love for them, of meeting their needs, that awakens them to how much God loves them, which begins the process of saving them.  We do not offer the world in need a green leaf from the corn plant, something that is not ready yet to love, and cannot offer sustenance of love the hungry needs.  We offer them fully ripe, and ready harvest, the fruit that is laden with the Seeds of Christ and His love for others; offered in a tangible way.  It is not the idea of Love the world needs, it is the tangible meaningful example of Love it needs.  Speaking words is not enough, the fruit is driven to do something.  The fruit is so driven, because it is no longer just holding a single seed.  The seeds within the fruit have multiplied such that the fruit can hardly contain them all.  The Love of Christ for others reaches such a growth point within us, that we are literally driven to DO SOMETHING for others.  We do not sit still and remain steeped in our apathy, because our apathy has been driven from us.  We have so much passion, we MUST do, we have to do, we will not … just sit.

What was once a plot of muck and mire, a mix of untreated sewer water and excrement, has become a fruit of brilliant color and excellent taste.  The focus is no longer on the dirt from which we emerged, or the sins that once dominated our existence, but it is on the Love of Christ we are now so fully reflecting to those in the most desperate need of it.  We have become a delicious berry, or a wholesome ear of corn, or a seasoning herb that enriches the meals of others.  Our purpose is no longer to simply grow, it is to feed others.  This was the mission all along.  The growth was only the journey that would lead us to become something that would feed the world.  Our goal was not simply to produce a leaf, or get a little taller.  It was to reach maturity in the reflection of His Love to the world, as demonstrated within us. 

The magnitude of what we can become in this theme needed further clarification, and so Jesus continued to teach Peter and the others, as John Mark records in verse 30 saying … “And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? [verse 31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: [verse 32] But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”  A grain of a mustard seed is indeed a very small herb in its seedling state.  When looking at how small a thing it is, one could hardly imagine how large it can grow.  Well beyond a bowl of berries, or even a dozen ears of corn, the mustard seed will grow until it is a large tree with great branches shooting out in space.  It will offer the world shade, and become a place where even birds can make their nests.  Not only can our love for others become nearly infinite, as we begin to reflect the infinite love of Christ, our love can reach out to our physical world and the animals He created in it.  A tree does more than just feed humans, it offers other benefits that nature enjoys.  While providing shade, and bird lodging are hardly its first priority, they are certainly not omitted from the list of benefits it provides.

Think of the literally millions of seeds a single mustard seed tree can provide.  Think of how the time of harvest comes year after year from the plants God sees fit to save and grow, and reclaim.  There is a reason why God prefers the math of multiplication where it comes to spreading the gospel.  While He is fully focused on the single seed planted in you, He fully intends to see a harvest grow that will multiply exponentially the love for you He has, into love for others that was there all along.  The point was to save more than just one seed, but in so doing, to multiply the harvest in others.  Your reclamation project was not about changing the soil composition, or purification of the water in the mud of your life.  It was and is, about changing the focus from the ground, to the plant, to the fruit.  It was about altering who you are, to a point where you can hardly recognize who you were.  The goal of your reclamation, was not to teach you “how” the transition takes place.  God knows the “how”.  The goal of your reclamation was to be re-claimed, and re-created.  Attempting to control the “how” only slows down the process.  Submitting and trusting in God, speeds it up.

Mark concludes in verse 33 writing … “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. [verse 34] But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.”  Christ chose to speak to His followers, both then and now through scripture, in the form of parables of storytelling because it was effective.  It gives us a chance to learn truth, every time we reopen the word.  These themes and analogies have much to offer, as long as we continue to view them through the lens of Jesus Christ, and His ultimate mission to see mankind redeemed, reclaimed, and reconciled to God.  Like any story, not everything is literal, and not every analogy holds up in every single point of detail; but the themes of salvation and redemption can be easily seen, if one chooses to look.  While we may never understand “how” Christ saves us, what is clear from these stories, and the example of His life, is “why” He chose to save you and I … He loves us.  It was Love that motivated God to reach out and save us, even when we were not certain that is what we wanted.  It is Love that can awaken the heart of the unbeliever to the knowledge that there is something more out there, and something better, and they too can experience it.  It is Love that is the Seed of Christ, planted in a human heart. 

I would pray to become the fruit, driven to feed others; and not remain the dirt mired in a focus of only our pain and past.  I would see my apathy, replaced with passion that cannot sit still.  There is so much more than we have hardly imagined … and Peter’s gospel through Mark was still in its infancy.

 

Parables and Stories ...

When does an analogy end and reality begin? Grimm’s fairytales are designed to pass along a moral to each story for children to absorb. Of course the stories are based largely in fantasy and usually only a single point emerges. The Bible is also full of stories, some intended to be real such as Creation, or the flood of Noah’s time; and some intended to be parables like the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, or the King who forgives those who owe him. The New Testament clearly identifies when a parable or story or allegory is being told to make a point. But are the points always singular in nature or should we try to take more from the stories and the symbolism?

I sometimes wonder if we allow our perceptions about the character of God to be colored more by parables in the Bible, than by facts. For instance, the story of the King who forgives a man who owes him much money, and then the man turns around and is harsh with someone who owes him very little. This parable is designed to illustrate how many Christians miss the point of forgiveness and redemption. They eagerly accept mercy for themselves, yet withhold it from those in need. Once saved, the Christian begins looking down on those who are not so blessed, forgetting their own recent condition. The point of the parable was to illustrate that those who have been forgiven much, should be the most willing to forgive, instead of the least willing.

But this is not always the point well-meaning Christians walk away with. They examine the same story and determine that God will NOT forgive those who do NOT forgive others. In this way, they make our forgiveness “conditional” based on our subsequent behavior. This puts our ability to get a pardon back in our own hands again – we must earn it – based on how we treat others. They further reinforce this position using the phrase Christ spoke in the Lord’s prayer … “forgive us as we forgive our debtors.” This phrase too was designed to remind us of the gift of our forgiveness, the humility in which we are to receive it, and the mission to redeem those who continue in wrong doing through forgiveness. But instead the phrase and the story are used to create an atmosphere that forgiveness is based on our actions, not a gift given of God for our salvation.

This idea that salvation or forgiveness can be earned in any way denies the fundamental teachings of the entire message of the Bible. It reduces God’s unconditional love for us, by making it conditional. It says He really does not forgive, UNTIL He sees what we do with it. All of these ideas are perversions of scripture by the evil one. And all share a common theme, they tear down the character of God, making Him arbitrary and not nearly the definition of love that Truth would have us believe. But when someone uses a parable incorrectly, they can easily bring ideas into the story that were not intended by its author to make points that are not based in intentions of the author.

When being led by the Holy Spirit, these kinds of mistakes are all but non-existent. But ironically, those who misinterpret the story of forgiveness are the very ones for whom it was intended. Those with a personal experience with the Lord, those who have experienced the deep forgiveness of the Lord and therefore know His love firsthand, get the point. Those who know about God, and about forgiveness, but have never really taken it to heart – seem to miss the point. The least point of the story one could make centers around the punishment for our evil behavior. As God knows our evil is already our punishment. Forgiveness then is a tangible example of redeeming grace. Forgiveness is not something we deserve, but something we are given freely by our loving King. Forgiveness even though we may owe our lives as collateral for our debt is the point. We are all doomed to die, but forgiveness is designed to relieve our ultimate punishment. This is the point of the Bible and the story of the King.

Other stories are used in an incorrect way to color our perceptions of God’s character. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus found in Luke 16 starting in verse 19 comes to mind. The rich man who lived a life of opulence and indulgence while here on earth dies and finds himself in hell. By contrast, Lazarus who lives a life of relative poverty and sickness dies and finds himself in heaven. The rich man pleads for relief, but is given none. Then the rich man pleads for his family that is still alive on earth, and the answer that comes is that the truth has already been revealed and it is enough for those who choose to believe. If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets they will not believe one who rose from the dead.

The central point of this story was about faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of God, according to all the writings of Moses and the Prophets. There are in fact several hundred prophesies about the Messiah that Jesus Christ filled in every detail. Yet the stubborn religious leadership of the day, rather than give up power to the true spiritual leader, determined not to believe in Jesus. They held to their beliefs, even though Christ had actually raised Lazarus (brother of Mary and Martha) from the dead. This resurrection was conclusive proof of His divinity, that even the priests could not deny. So rather than accept Him, they determined to kill Him.

Christ, in trying to reach the Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests was reminding them of the testimony of all their scriptures to date, and the actual resurrection of one Lazarus He had performed. The leadership was richly blessed with education, the scrolls, and easy access to the word of God. The poor had no such easy access. Yet the poor found in Christ, the redeemer He was. He was extending redemption to the leaders yet another time. He was reminding them that refusal to accept Him as their Messiah would leave them to the hell of separation from God. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is another attempt to reach a stubborn crowd of religious leaders who thought they knew better than Christ, the mind and intentions of God His Father.

But modern Christians lose this point completely. Like with the story of forgiveness, they focus on the idea of eternal punishment instead of redemption. They conclude that there is a hell of torturing flames that exists for people after they die. All of this without examining why the rich man went to hell in the first place. Which deducting from the story alone was because he was rich. And the poor man went to heaven because he was poor. Neither makes sense with what we know of Salvation. We are not saved by our poverty, or doomed by our affluence. We are saved by grace which is enough to cover the rich and the poor. So determining judgment and punishment could NOT have been the point of the story. Yet we assume it to be so.

In addition, the concept of an eternally burning hell, does not reconcile with the character of a just and loving God. But it did fit well with the Pharisees idea of God’s character. The religious leadership did not follow or preach about a God of infinite love. Rather they followed God in fear, developing lists of things that God would approve and disapprove of. They were devout legalists. They believed that the law was sacred and could save them from evil if they followed it exactly. They understood nothing of forgiveness or repentance and were mystified by the preaching of John the Baptist. Corruption had taken hold of their hearts and much evil was done in the temple of God that profited them personally. They presented themselves as publically holy, and when inwardly they were completely evil. The Pharisees believed firmly in punishment, even the eternal kind, as they could not comprehend grace. So this analogy designed for their redemption would be effective for them.

Yet modern Christians cling to the idea of eternally burning flames, rather than a punishment with eternal consequences. Those who embrace evil and refuse to accept grace, will like the priests who rejected Christ in His day, will find themselves in the lake of fire talked about in Revelations. However, after the appointed amount of punishment, evil will finally be consumed forever. Burnt up, not still burning. And then the world will be made new once again as also prophesied in Revelations. Evil eternally extinguished, and love eternally established. This is the reality of our God. But Christians hold to an idea of eternal flames over eternal sleep, and in so doing make God once again arbitrary and unjust. For at some point even the most evil of us, will have paid in punishment for our crimes. To continue to burn us beyond that point is not an act of love, but one of cruelty that cannot be denied. This false idea taken from a parable destroys the character of God, rather than proves His attempts at redemption of a stubborn few once again.

When we look at scripture to prove our guilt and determine our punishment, we look for the wrong things. Our guilt is easy to establish. What we deserve is easy to determine. The reason why we have a Bible is due to a loving God that is looking to redeem His fallen creation. The point of scripture is not to condemn us, but to offer us hope in Christ, salvation from our evil, and heaven in our future. When we remember that our God is one of infinite love, we can begin to interpret parables as they were intended. We must not let our perceptions of God be colored by ideas that denigrate his love, grace, and efforts to redeem us. Redemption is the goal of our entire communications with our God. Let us look at all the symbolism, analogies, parables, and texts in the light of this truth.