How Death Begins ...

Imagine Joel Osteen, Billy Graham, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Ted Wilson, the Pope, and the leader of your particular church or faith sit down to consider the state of Christianity around the world.  Such a superstar team like this one would surely represent the leadership of the faith.  Some might consider it, the authority of the faith.  And while each of them might represent subtly different doctrines or dogma’s, perhaps different traditions and interpretations, in general, ALL would still be considered the leadership of the Christian faith in our world today.  It would not stop them from arguing with each other, with disagreements over traditions and doctrines, but their collective association still represents a leadership.  These men would be the superstar team of our faith.  The right religion (or faith), the right Bible (or scriptures), and the right God to follow.  Now imagine they ALL to a man, plot to kill Christ.

Impossible you say.  It could not happen you say.  But it happened before, with a team of men equally famous in their day, equally recognized in their day, equal leaders in their day.  Our superstar team is no different than the leadership of the faith in the days of Jesus Christ (when He walked this earth).  And that superstar team decided to kill Jesus Christ.  We think ourselves immune from making the same mistakes.  We think that “our” leaders could never come to that same conclusion.  We think that “we” have moved beyond the dangers of this thinking, that in fact the entire Christian faith is prefaced on following Jesus Christ so “we” could never kill our leader … it would not make any sense.  But then, what was different in the days of Jesus than is in our day?

The superstar team of old, had the right Bible (or scriptures).  In fact, they spent their lives, dedicated their lives to the study of scriptures.  They were not part time farmers, or soldiers, or sea-fairing tradesmen, they were full time dedicated since childhood students of the right Bible, the right scriptures, and a better understanding of these texts.  The superstar team of old followed the right God.  They worshipped God the Father the creator of our world.  They did not worship idols of any kind.  No stone or wooden images stained their places of worship.  They followed an invisible God whose face they did not know.  They followed the God of their heritage, of the faith that had been passed down to them.  And the singular hope they shared was in their Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who would come and free them from their burdens, creating a new Kingdom that would never pass away.  It would not make any sense to kill the Messiah, ever, He was their great hope.  Yet they plotted to do just that, in spite of all of this.

The superstar team of old were not stupid, or ignorant, or lazy.  They were motivated, dynamic, deep thinkers who commanded the respect of a nation, and of a faith spread around the world of that day.  So even in their plans to kill Jesus, must come stealth, precision, and effectivity.  Peter records this in his recollections to John Mark in his gospel in chapter fourteen picking up in verse 1 saying … “After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. [verse 2] But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.”  Notice how the superstar team of old does not even want to corrupt their own traditions, skipping the feast day itself, in order to avoid upsetting the people and disrupting the feasting.

Notice too, it was the “chief” priests and leaders of the scribes meeting together despite any differences on doctrine or interpretations.  It did not matter if you were Pharisee or Sadducee, ALL were united in singular purpose of killing Jesus Christ, and doing it by “craft” as well.  Spy craft, trade craft, as Jason Bourne might put it.  This was to be a mission of stealth and precision.  Chop the head off the snake so to speak (but it was here that Satan plotted his own demise).  What could have motivated this superstar team to abandon the scriptures that pointed to the fulfillment of the Messiah in Jesus Christ?  What could have caused the superstar team to have ignored the miracles that Jesus Christ performed, and the voice of God Himself who confirmed Jesus as His Son and in His ministry?

I don’t know.  What causes Joel Osteen, Bishop T.D. Jakes, the Pope, and the leader of your particular faith, more importantly you and I, to continue to amass wealth rather than let it ALL go and put our trust in the God we claim to follow?  I remember the words of Jesus to the rich young ruler, to one who already had the right Bible, right religion, and claimed the right behavior; to sell everything He had, give it to the poor, and come and be a disciple of Christ.  And the rich young ruler wept, turning away, because he already had too much wealth, to give it all away, and show that much trust in Jesus to keep him and preserve him and save him.  Private planes, multiple limousine’s, multiple houses, golden watches, and art such as exists nowhere else in the world; are not examples of selling it all and trusting Jesus.  But then modest homes, with modest cars and clothes and jewelry, are still wealth of a certain kind.  Should they be any less exempt by Jesus who asks us for ALL we have, even down to the widow’s 2 mites?  And how far would we go to keep what we have “earned”, would we fight for it?  Would we kill for it?

What if the challenge of Jesus would tear away from us our means of making a living, our jobs, our careers, ended forever because of Christ?  The leaders of the superstar team of old faced losing the one thing that kept them in the positions they had become accustomed to; the people.  Jesus was not establishing a church with hierarchy, He was establishing a one-on-one relationship with each of its people.  Jesus was asking each church member to put their trust in Him alone, not in the leadership of the church, not in the faith of others, or intercession of others, but in Jesus alone.  The new church model was to be flat in management structure.  There is Jesus leading you, case closed.  No need for a preacher, or leader, those are only positions of service to others, not of vanity from others.  Prophets, apostles, and care givers, are only characteristics given by the Holy Spirit in service to the church, not designed to lift up the ego of those who serve.  In the new model of church, that Jesus proposed, there would be no people to follow you, only a vast number of people for you to serve, washing their feet, pointing them to the only leader, Jesus Christ.   This model destroys the livelihood of preachers, evangelists, conference leaders, denomination leaders, and papal powers.  It leaves each of these men having to lose all wealth, and trust Jesus alone, exactly like the believers below them now should do.

What would you do if faced with a loss of wealth, loss of career, and loss of income?  Peter continues with a further example of what the new church will look like as he recalls to John Mark in verse 3 saying … “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.”  Jesus and His disciples are in the town of Bethany, having dinner at home of Simon the leper, a character we have yet to meet in the scriptures.  We know Jesus healed many lepers, but we know few, if any, by name.  But here Simon is called out of the masses, for only His gesture of response, in desiring to feed Jesus and His disciples.

Then enters a woman (likely Mary Magdalene) though she is not called out by name here.  This could have been someone like Mary the sister of Lazarus, or a sister relation / a family member of Jesus Christ, or it could have been Martha, or the Samaritan woman who carried the gospel to her entire region and converted so many through her testimony.  Jesus had touched so many women, valued so many women.  It would appear Jesus loved women the exact same way in which He loved the souls of men.  Jesus picked Mary to be the first one to carry the gospel to the disciples after His resurrection.  Jesus had women who followed Him and ministered as they could to Him throughout His entire ministry, even following after the cross He dragged up the hill to His death.  His mother, John, and other women were there.  It would appear women were more brave than men, and thereby staying with Christ through death and resurrection, being eye witnesses to both events, and carrying the news of both to those disciples who could not bear to be at either event.  In the new church, women were to have an equal place, an equal role, but this will tear at the male dominations of tradition that lasts even into our age.

This woman has sold all she has.  She has prepared the best gift she could, given everything she has, and poured into a single bottle to be given for Him.  She holds nothing back, not a penny is left in her back accounts after this gift.  Not an ounce of dignity or pride will be held back after using her hair as a towel to dry her Lord if needed.  She will give all, for she can sense there is little time left.  But the church has other opinions about her flagrant display.  John Mark records the responses beginning in verse 4 saying … “And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? [verse 5] For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.”  The church, here represented by at least a few of the disciples, is not happy about the loss of control of this offering, or where it went, or how.  The church, wanted control over the money, over the value of this gift.  Sound familiar?  The superstar team of old wants the same control over the offerings, and the one today looks to want the same controls.  But what does Jesus say?

Mark continues in verse 6 saying … “And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. [verse 7] For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.”  Jesus challenges our greed.  Jesus challenges our desire to control where His offerings are used or expended.  Jesus should be in control of that as well.  Once we give all, we are not supposed to continue to control where it goes, we are meant to unburden ourselves, not just maintain the burden of running our own mini-foundations of charity.  Let it go means let it go.  Then Jesus reminds us, we always have an opportunity to do something for someone else.  We “could” be serving others full time.  If we choose not to, isn’t that on us? 

Jesus continues in verse 8 saying … “She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. [verse 9] Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”  This woman has broken with tradition.  She is anointing the body of Jesus before His burial instead of after it.  Like the wine at the wedding in Cana, the good wine was given after Jesus created it; here the good oil will be poured out before He is killed.  Traditions are NOT as important as hearts, and as the deeds done by those who love.  Jesus then states her charity will not sink into oblivion, it will be remembered through all of history.  Her name is not mentioned, perhaps that “she” does not receive the credit, but that her action is the thing we remember.  The new church will recognize deeds of love, more than the names of people.  The new church will remember women as much as it remembers men.

And what is the response of the leaders of the church, of the superstars of the church, of one who has been with Jesus throughout His ministry?  The pope cannot have this loss of control.  Joel Osteen cannot have this message of poverty valued over wealth.  Bishop T.D. Jakes cannot have this level of anonymity.  Ted Wilson cannot have this loss of hierarchy and embrace of women as equals.  Your leader cannot lose what neither you or I are willing to lose; namely our wealth, our careers, our all.  John Mark records as if a warning to us all beginning in verse 10 saying … “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. [verse 11] And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.”

The church does what the church always does when faced with radical change dictated by radical love, it plots to kill its creator.  Judas left this exchange with Jesus, where Jesus valued a woman, stated that a woman would be remembered throughout history, stated that the church would not have control over all the money.  Judas left that and sought to betray Jesus unto death.  This was Judas the superstar people.  This was Judas the disciple the other disciples looked up to the most, he was likely the most educated, likely the shrewdest in business dealings.  It was the leader in the church, most admired in the church, who took it upon himself to turn away from humility, and begin a cycle that would end in the death of Jesus Christ.  Judas did not even seek money at first, it was the priests that were so happy about his actions they were willing to give him money to insure he followed through with it.

The old superstar team, and the new superstar team were of one accord, of one mind, on how the church should be operated.  This Jesus character was and is a threat to that operational spec.  In short, our ideas are not His ideas, our traditions are not what He values, our exclusions are not His exclusions.  He appears not to have any exclusions, even for women, even for sinners.  This cannot be tolerated.  The church must maintain control.  The church must control the finances.  There has to be a hierarchy or how will order be maintained?  Through Jesus, how will He maintain order without a hierarchy, it’s impossible.  The arguments raised by the superstar team of old, are echoed through time, to be raised again by the superstar team of today, and by you, and by me.  It boils down to a lack of trust in Jesus, and it is reflected widely.

So many in our day decry an organized religion as being the enemy.  Perhaps it is.  But I see even fewer individuals who decry organized religions giving up ALL they have to follow Jesus Christ instead.  To me it looks only like an excuse to withhold even the little of themselves they would part with to an organized religious entity.  Instead offerings are reserved for opportunities when credit and convenience are available.  Sacrifice is a notion long since departed, and with it trust in the Jesus that said we need not worry about food, homes, or health.  But the church today, trusts in the medicines and advancements of science to heal our wounded and sick, not in the greater hand of the Holy Spirit.  The church today, trusts in the programs of our government to address the problems of the poor.  It does not wish to become the poor by losing its wealth and trusting in Jesus.  The church today trusts in its male dominated hierarchy to maintain order and control, when both belong to Jesus anyway, formed by trust in Him as a foundation.  Do we truly trust the Lord of one-on-one relationships, or must we insert ourselves to provide hierarchy for order and controls?

We think ourselves immune to the thinking that once plotted to kill Christ.  But is our thinking a great self-deception?  Would our leaders and ourselves plot to kill Jesus once again, before we give up our ideas of church operations and our all? …