Vain Obedience ...

How can you obey a command you do not understand?  Your boss hands you a stack of papers 18 inches thick, the type font is small, they are single spaced and double-sided type, and they are written in a combination of Cyrillic, Kanji, and ancient Babylonian.  He says simply to you, do what this says and walks away.  You stare blankly at the papers, not even knowing where to begin.  The task is overwhelming.  But it is not just the magnitude of a challenge that can make it difficult.  Different scenario.  Your boss walks up to you and says … be ready for this afternoon’s meeting.  The command is simple.  The expectation at least superficially understood.  But then, what all might that simple command imply?  Is there some material you are supposed to memorize?  Are you supposed to be ready to present?  Are you just supposed to be ready to get there on time, maybe 15 minutes early?  While the command is very simple in language, duration, and seemingly in intent.  It could mean a hundred different things.  How could you possibly be “ready” for every scenario this might imply?  How could anyone?

To begin to know what to do, could start with a knowledge of your boss.  If your boss is a mystery to you, and does things nearly always in a random manner, you are up a creek.  But if your boss is fairly consistent, and has given you similar guidance in the past, with perhaps more context in those times.  Maybe you could extrapolate your history of life with your boss, to this particular event.  At least your odds of pleasing your boss go up, based on following the pattern your boss may have laid out up to now.  Even then, sometimes it is not just the “what” that we do, it is the “how” that we do it.  When my boss gives me a command it is “understood” by him (and should be by me), that whatever he asks me to do, he intends for me to accomplish it in an ethical and legal manner.  Meeting a sales quota by sniping customers from a team mate is unacceptable.  Goal achieved, but method of achievement negates the accomplishment.  It gets even worse if you resort to fraud, or theft, or some other nefarious means to attempt to meet the assigned objective.

So when God tells us to do something, do we find ourselves in the same boat as when the boss gives us a simple edict without nearly enough context to know what we are supposed to do?  Take the Sabbath as an example.  We are supposed to “remember it”.  Easy enough.  We are not likely to “forget” a day of the week.  But then the remembering was in the context of “to keep it Holy”.  Ut-oh.  Here is where we rapidly go downhill.  Humans are really bad at understanding anything about Holiness.  We are sort of the living embodiment of the opposite of Holiness.  So how do we keep something Holy when we do not understand almost anything about Holy in the first place?  More context is offered.  We are advised not to work on this day.  But not just us.  Not our servants either.  In fact, no one who is within our gates, will be required to work on this day.  This is great context.  It helps us get a better idea of what is being requested here.  But is that it?  Then comes the inevitable question, how exactly do you define “work”? 

Is work something I do for money, perhaps only what I do for money?  Then the husband puts his feet up, and the wife continues to “work” all throughout the day?  That does not seem like the ask.  So then the definition of work must extend past just activities I do for money.  How do I know?  Well, the example of manna that fell in the wilderness over 40 years to feed the Israelites gives us a good indication.  Manna was only good for a single day, until Friday when a double portion fell, and it did not spoil over Sabbath.  That meant on Sabbath no gathering, and no prep.  You could simply enjoy the food made the day before.  Presumably this means mom gets a break too.  Presumably this means the servants can take the day off.  Presumably God wants to relate to everyone on Sabbath, not just those of advantage.  And it would appear God defines work with a broader brush than just what I do for money.  And of course, God defined His own rest, as being a rest from the work of creation He had done the previous six days.  His creation looks more like art to me, though perhaps it is science, or perhaps just genius – but He rested from it and the universe kept spinning.

Enter the Pharisees and Sadducees, both had a keen interest in “keeping” the law.  Israel had suffered war, famine, and slavery for ignoring the law over their history.  Though a closer examination of God’s patience running out usually corresponded to Israel worshipping other gods that required them to throw babies (mostly male) into the fires, while preserving female babies to become temple prostitutes.  The ruining of young lives just seemed to be the straw that broke the back of God’s patience with the people who claim His name.  Consider that as you examine the state of how we treat young lives in our own country and churches.  So the modern church leadership in the days of Christ, had a very keen intent to keep the law so as never to see the wars and slavery they had experienced in the past.  They developed then, an extensive additional set of context around what it means to “keep” the Sabbath.  Their list of rules, eventually devolved into walking only a certain number of steps.  Food preparation must be done the day before, or you went hungry.  And yet despite all these precautions, Rome was still in power, and Jews were still slaves.  However since the Sanhedrin still existed, they reasoned, they had to be doing something right.

Then along comes Jesus.  Matthew begins chapter twelve of his gospel touching on the most important commandment, the primary one that sets the people of God apart from every other religion on planet earth.  Outside of circumcision, and kosher diets, what makes a Jew a Jew is the keeping of the Sabbath.  The Sanhedrin had become confident in “how” they did what they did.  They became confident that they were “obeying” the law, to the extent that the law required, and a good measure further just in case.  So does the modern Christian.  While not obsessed with the law, we are equally as certain, that we obey our Lord, to the extent that He has asked, and a little extra just in case.  But perhaps in our certainty of obedience is nothing more than vanity.

Matthew begins in verse 1 saying … “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. [verse 2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.”  A lot to unpack here.  First, Jesus and crew were walking through a corn field, this act by itself would negate the idea of how many steps one could take before it crossed the line into work which was precluded to do on the Sabbath.  Strike One.  Then, his disciples get hungry, likely from seeing and smelling all the ripe corn right in front of their faces.  It is kind of like sitting in front of the TV watching your favorite show, and after a few advertisements for pizza, you begin to crave pizza.  But no matter, the disciples begin to pick and shuck the corn in preparation of eating it.  This was food preparation, for which there were specific examples in earlier scripture of why this should be prohibited.  Also note, Jesus Himself, was not actually doing this, He elected to go hungry.  But for His disciples, Strike Two.  Then the disciples proceeded to eat the corn (apparently none of them offered ears to Jesus, their Master, clearly an oversight driven by bodily needs).  But legally, eating fruit of the poisoned preparation tree results in, you guessed it, Strike Three.

The Sanhedrin knew the law on this matter.  So the leadership brings this horrible infraction of the law to Jesus’ attention, giving Jesus no credit for refraining from it Himself.  The disciples (people who they did not appreciate) were breaking it.  The patriarchs of the faith however, were people the leadership venerated.  Long dead, Moses, Joshua, Samson, and David, could do no wrong.  They had become Jewish saints if there could ever be such a thing.  So Jesus chooses to use that in His response to them.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; [verse 4] How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?”

In our day we call this “what-about-ism”.  Jesus does not actually say that what the disciples did is OK against the letter of the law.  But He does make a comparison of people the Pharisees besmirch with the honorable can-do-no-wrong, compared-with-the-heart-of-God David and his crew.  The Jewish saint they venerate, and his men (who in actuality, were all incredibly efficient killers on the battlefield, none other of their skills preserved in Jewish scrolls), went into the Temple.  This was a huge no-no, only the priests are even allowed in there.  Then they ate the shewbread, which is an offering to God, that ONLY the priests were allowed to eat under specific conditions.  Another huge no-no.  Those infractions are also clearly a part of the known Jewish law, at the time of David, until this time.  And scripture records no prayer of David begging forgiveness for what he and his men did.  They just did it.  Net result.  How can the leadership there in attendance criticize the disciples of Jesus for doing something far less an infraction, than the historical leader David did (who they publicly venerate as some sort of saint)?  It would be hypocritical, or rather, it would point out the hypocrisy of valuing people in any sort of caste system, putting them on a level playing field with the very men they “knew” they were above.

Next Jesus really twists their thinking as He continues in verse 5 saying … “Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?”  This one is a true mindbender.  On Sabbath, priests (and in our day preachers) “work”.  They do the “work” of the Lord, but it is still “work”.  Back then, that “work” involved killing innocent lambs as a symbolism foretelling the killing of Jesus Himself.  It was and is shedding innocent blood, for the remission of sins.  Killing too, was prohibited in the law.  The shedding of blood in the Temple was highly controlled, and on Sabbath, would have been considered work.  They “profane” the Temple by continuing a practice driven by the evil in men’s hearts.  But the priests are held blameless.  Working to bring men to God is not considered “work” by the God on the end of that equation.  Even though we pay preachers and priests to do it, and even though “most” of their work is conducted on the very day we are commanded to rest.

Now Jesus has pointed out publicly that the priests who are so critical, have a profession where they work on the Sabbath with regularity despite the incongruence with the law.  The anger brews in the mind of the rebuked Pharisee, for they remain certain in their vain obedience, that correction even from the mouth of God is not met with acceptance, but with hatred.  Jesus continues in verse 6 saying … “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.”  Now Jesus has gone too far, now He has crossed a line He will never be able to uncross.  The Temple was “the” place where God Himself sat upon the Mercy seat.  It was His holy presence behind that curtain that made all of Israel fear and tremble daring not to peek behind it even for a second, lest the contrast between true Holiness and our state, cause us to die.  Only once a year did the High Priest, after much consecration and prayer, dare to go behind the curtain for a prescribed practice.  Even then, he wore bells on the hems of his garment and a rope around his ankle, so that if the bells went silent, the attendants could pull him out knowing he was dead, and being unable to retrieve his body any other way lest they themselves die in the process.

That was the definition of Holiness to a Jew, it is irony we have so casual a view of it.  And here stood Jesus, claiming to be One greater than the Temple (upon whose seat it was He who sat).  Jesus was now making a clear statement that the buildings dedicated to His service, are NOT as important as the God they purport to serve.  Jesus was saying He can be found outside of Temple walls.  Jesus was saying that being close to His people was and is the most important thing to Him, even when that is in the middle of a corn field on some random Sabbath.  Proximity to Jesus is not about buildings, it is about a desire to be close.  Here was the God they worshipped standing right in front of them, but they failed to see, all the while believing they were in perfect obedience to the law.  And their certainty resulted in the idea that God Himself did not understand or obey His own law.  Literally the definition of error, or hypocrisy, or vanity, all stemming from the certainty of human “wisdom”.

When met with correction, they responded in hatred, for vanity has no room for correction.  And are we even the slightest tittle different than they?  We create “standards” of Sabbath keeping in our minds, and then judge all others by them, while refusing to see the God who so longs to stand right in front of us.  Because we believe in the sanctity of the law of God, and in the continuing proscriptions of Sabbath keeping that started in the Garden of Eden, was given to Moses in the law, and is prophesied to continue in Heaven after this world has passed – we translate our “belief” into our obedience to keep this day.  Yet we know nothing of “how” to truly obey, we have only lists we construct of do’s and don’ts ignoring the God who could put us in harmony with His law.  We take our eyes off of God and put them on what we do against His request.  And irony of ironies, we are rather loose with His direct context of the cessation of work, either working ourselves “for the benefit of our families”, or causing others to serve us “because they were going to be at work anyway”.

But Jesus then cuts to the heart of the matter as He continues in verse 7 (no pun intended) saying … “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. [verse 8] For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”  The Sabbath is not about what, it is about Who.  The Sabbath is not even about how, it is about Who.  It was Jesus who “made” a block of time Holy.  Only His proximity to it could accomplish that, the same way His proximity to our earth on Mt. Sinai made a block of ground Holy, that Moses was asked to remove his shoes before he walked on it.  Without Jesus involved, the day is just time, and the earth is just earth.  It was about Jesus who “hallowed” it.  He set aside His time to be with us, in a special way, for an entire day, at the end of every week.  He asked us to put aside our other distractions in order to have time to be with Him.  He asked us to be unselfish and not keep others from having time to be with Him as well.  Being close to Jesus, putting away other priorities is what Sabbath is all about.  Hanging out with Dad.  Playtime with Dad.  That is what the Sabbath is all about.  And because the disciples with Him are doing just that, they were in fact guiltless.  It is up to Jesus to decide what is “keeping” the Sabbath with Him, it is not up to us.  Our ideas do not count, only His.

That is how the incongruent actions of priests back then and preachers in our day on Sabbath still make sense.  They are about bringing people to the Lord of the Sabbath.  That is why the disciples choosing to eat with Jesus on their way to demonstrate the gospel to people in need make sense.  They were already with the Lord of the Sabbath, escorting Him to people in such desperate need of hearing a word from Jesus, the Son of God.  It was more important for them to be with Jesus, than to be in the Temple on this day.  That is why we put away our amusements that take us away from Christ, why we cease working, but also cease thinking about working, it is all to have unrestricted playtime with the same Jesus.  You cannot contain that in a list of do’s and don’ts, no matter how long or how thorough you think it is.  You can only begin to see that in a set of principles.  Where I bring others to God, it is a good thing.  Where I do good unto them, it is a good thing.  Where I ask others to serve me, I cause them to lose time with God on my behalf.  It is mercy, I am to be showing.  It is mercy for others, love for others, that if it was my first motivation, would bring me in better harmony with the entirety of the law, not only the Sabbath, but not forgetting it either.

When Jesus saves us, from us, from our self-love and addiction of the same; He creates in us a love for others, that changes the nature of how we think about Sabbath.  The context changes.  The requirement does not, but the vanity begins to slip away.  A knowledge or belief that we are supposed to keep Sabbath is not the same thing as actually doing it.  Repeating the traditions of our forefathers; going to church, singing, praying and coming home again does not equal Sabbath observance as God defines it in a field of corn on a mission to actually spread His word to those who have never heard it.  The gospel does not only look inward, it looks outward where its mercy is so desperately needed.  

Only the unchanged heart is content to experience the praise of God, holding those good feelings inward, and sharing them only with those who also already understand them.  The changed heart is driven to the dirty, to the sick, to the hungry, to the least of these – because they have the greatest need.  Until we are led to discover what keeping anything Holy really means, we do not understand what was asked of us.  And we must be led to discover it, for Holiness does not originate in us.  Following God, leads us there.  Attempting to blaze the trail based on our accumulated wisdom leads to the path of the Pharisee, to the path of vain obedience based upon certainty and trust in “our wisdom”, that when confronted with what God thinks, responds in hatred and desire to kill God and anyone who truly follows His lead …

And the dispute over this was not over yet …

 

The Ivy League of Illiteracy ...

Imagine what happens to the quality of education at Harvard, if the minimum requirements for entry were reduced to a third-grade literacy standard.  The teachers do not change.  The exorbitant price does not change.  But the quality of the students drops from “the perceived best-of-the-best” to nearly illiterate students.  How could a class progress without at least some semblance of a baseline education?  Imagine Oxford trying this out.  Would parents who fund a “prestigious” education continue to be willing to fund one at Oxford if the caliber of the people went from blue-blood to blue-collar?  If Yale did this, could even the sports or music programs survive?  While there are many talented people who can run or sing without the benefit of “much” education; lowering that bar all the way down to third-grade, are they still teachable or coachable at that level?  The reason why the ivy league remains the ivy league (apart from the small fortune it takes to attend them weeding out those ‘less desirables’) is the purported high academic and social activity bar they all set.  Being exclusive tends to foster exclusivity in us all, and so the economics of exclusivity remain largely untarnished.

But the economics of brilliance are not truly confined to the halls of ivy league institutions.  Many a man or woman who has yet to step upon an ivy league campus will find themselves having accomplished so much, or innovated so much, or inspired so much; that the first time they step on campus at Harvard will be as a guest lecturer.  And while ivy league engineers (or drops out of) continue to produce technology that enables entire populations to advance, the economics of those made rich by technology advances are not constricted only to the ivy league alumni.  They extend into the populous of “regular” people who come up with “good” ideas.  The good idea that pans out in the realm of technology can produce a level of wealth the inventor hardly imagined.  Is he solely dependent on his own prowess to achieve this, perhaps not.  But if the wealth created is possible without benefit of the ivy league student debt (or absent parents of sufficient means), then is the need for these vaunted institutions still as high?

Yet the common perception remains, the person with the highest formal education is most likely to succeed.  People who have attended an ivy league institution for that education are even more likely to succeed.  Statistics bear that out.  At least the statistics of common intuition, or perception by those who are not as high on the social or educational rung.  And let’s face it, it is hard for someone who did graduate from Harvard not to think of themselves as having achieved something the “common man” will never be able to do.  This self-perception will only be enforced by their peers who are forced to admit it is probably true.  So when you go to the doctor, and you see the certifications from Harvard on his/her wall; don’t you feel just a little bit better?  Oh sure, other doctors can achieve brilliance in any field, and not all of them are ivy leaguer’s – but if you don’t know them that well, an ivy league diploma does inspire a little more confidence than a night-school equivalent.

And where we understand this phenomena in our social world, we seem to have taken it into our spiritual one.  The “masters of divinity” educational title, as taught by institutions of higher learning, that enforce rigorous educational standards like an understanding of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.  Deep intensive studies of the Torah, or prophetic interpretation are standard fare.  The life of Christ is a big topic.  And most institutions that are affiliated with a particular denomination, teach that denomination’s doctrinal interpretations on many matters, expecting a deep level of understanding of these interpretations before graduation is possible.  Ministers, evangelists, or workers in the gospel who have graduated with these types of degrees and diploma’s are thought to be well prepared, and perhaps so they are.  It is as if, our Pharisee and Sadducee forefathers were still writing the scripts and setting the social expectations of our day.  And the same self-perceptions of arrogance that are easily adopted from colleagues in our ivy league institutions in the secular world, give way to our colleagues in the spiritual world who complete their education in this manner.  And in the spiritual realm, there is deference by the “common” man, to the well-educated one.

But is this how it was meant to be?  This is how traditional Jews expected it in the days of Christ, and perhaps how we continue to expect it now.  As Matthew continues to write his gospel to his fellow Hebrews he knows what they will expect.  It has been the societal norm for generations.  And what he is about to recall is going to upend it.  Picking up in his gospel in the last part of chapter eleven, Matthew begins to relay a message to his fellow Jews they may not enjoy, and neither will we by the look of it. Beginning in verse 25 he continues saying … “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”  Yikes!  This is earth shattering.

The most brilliant religious truths that will ever be understood are “hidden” from the wise and prudent.  No amount of preparation will make them ready to receive or understand this Truth.  In fact, it has worked to keep them from understanding.  Think of it.  All that education.  All those hours studying the Torah, and reviewing the scrolls of the minor and major prophets.  All that time debating with peers about the meaning of scripture.  The right scripture by the way, not something from a different god’s agenda.  But it did not matter.  When the time came to see the Truth, the wise and the prudent, the best prepared of Jewish society, the most likely to succeed, saw nothing.  The Truth was hidden from them.  But not as punishment, as cause and effect.  When my education leads me to believe I “know” what is true, instead of forever being dependent upon God to show me what is True; I block myself from the Truth.  This is the danger in thinking that permeates our society and our church to this day.

The people who should know the Truth, do not.  And how do you know?  The measure of the yardstick is love.  How much a person loves, is an indicator of how much they know the Truth.  It is not the depth of the doctrinal understanding, but the depth of the love that bubbles over in them.  For it is the second part of what Jesus says that confirms it.  What was hidden from those who believed they had no need, was revealed unto babes.  Babies have no doubt of their need.  They respond to love and offer love in the only ways they know how to do.  They are not deep in other knowledge, but essentially empty vessels, who know nothing, and are ready to learn everything.  They do not teach anything but learn everything.  They observe everything.  They notice everything.  And they are so dependent, they would die without being taken care of.  This is the state of people God the Father chooses to work with, because this is the only state of people ready to hear what God has to say.  It is as if the “common” illiterate man, is capable of learning more from the mouth of God, than is the doctoral candidate.  Let that sink in for a while.  The Jewish community to which Matthew was writing was sure to have a field day over it.  But these were the words of Jesus, who was in fact the Truth.

Jesus then continues in verse 26 saying … “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. [verse 27] All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”  This was even more mind boggling.  The Jews had made a lifetime of knowing the Father God through the scriptures.  They simply presumed that is who scripture revealed.  The Messiah was somewhat of a mystery to them.  They had little expectations of really getting to know the Messiah, He was simply supposed to come in and overthrow the Romans, and usher in an era of Jewish supremacy for all time.  This Jesus was clearly NOT doing that.  Ep-so-facto this Jesus could not be the waited for Messiah.  But in addition, the Jews felt like they knew God the Father already, Jesus had nothing to teach them on that score.  They simply did not need Jesus, they already had a direct connection to the Father by birthright and by study.

What they missed in their “infinite wisdom”, was that scripture revealed Jesus, was inspired by Jesus, and it was Jesus who had the direct connection to mankind all throughout scripture.  Jesus in the Garden of Eden walking with Adam and Eve in the evenings.  Jesus walking to Sodom before it would be judged, sitting with Abraham and having a meal, telling Sarah she would give birth at 90+ years old even while she giggled at the thought of the shear mechanics.  Jesus wrestling with Jacob at night.  Jesus revealing his back to Moses on Mt Sinai, and His finger writing out the Ten Commandments.  Jesus in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrews who would not bow.  Jesus throughout all the stories, and now here in the flesh.  Jesus the embodiment of God’s love for His people.  Later Jesus who stopped Saul and made him Paul.  And Jesus who would be revealed in prophecy through the remainder of time by John at Patmos.  Scripture does offer us insight as to who God the Father is, but only through the lens of Jesus Christ. 

The learned Jews felt no need of Jesus to see God, so they did not see Him.  And the learned Christians in our day seldom recognize how much baby they are, and so see the Truth very little.  We have supplanted birth right with self-awareness.  We are now self-sufficient in our salvation, and therefore have little need of Jesus to save us, trusting to our knowledge to take care of that.  And so we see little of the Truth.  We have replaced the Truth with our collective wisdom.  And what happens in the modern secular economy of brilliance happens in the sacred one as well.  Men and women arise, who have very little formal education, and wind up accomplishing so much, inspiring so much, innovating so much – that we admire them long after they leave the world stage.  The 12 disciples carried with them the Holy Spirit, their lack of education was no impediment to creating the first church.  Obscure heroes since like a teenage girl who carried the gift of prophecy and penned so many books and testimonies they can hardly be counted.  The babes see, where the prepared of us, do not.

Then as if with laser vision, Jesus looks right at the Pharisee and Sadducee who can hear Him speak.  He speaks to their greatest need, and to ours.  He continues in verse 28 saying … “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [verse 29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [verse 30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  This message may apply to the common man, but the common man Jesus was just speaking about is already being given the revelation of who Jesus really is.  The message is spoken to the church leadership who needs it the most.  Stop trying.  Stop taking the burden of your salvation and your education upon yourself.  Bring it to Me instead.  The greatest promise in nearly all of scripture was not meant in a physical context, but in a spiritual growth one instead.  See the baby you are, and find rest letting Jesus be the Parent He is.  Letting Jesus teach you is easy, and light.  Letting Jesus be your tutor will bring rest unto your soul.

It does not take your self-dependence and self-reliance to achieve greatness and see truth in the spiritual context.  It takes your recognition of your complete baby-hood.  No matter how far you think you have come.  No matter what you think you have learned or wisdom you have amassed.  You know nothing.  You have no wisdom.  You have only the loving eyes of a very small child that Jesus longs to pick up, cradle, hold, feed, and protect from the world around you.  Your every care is in the hands of an unfailing parent who loves you more than His own life, something He proved.  Think not to teach, but to learn.  Think not to speak but to listen to the still small voice yearning to share with you Truth beyond your wildest imagination.  The vehicle for learning is not an institution of higher learning, governed by a bunch of other babies.  It is the source of education in the Truth, who alone can reveal what you need to know, in the only way you would understand it.

There is rest in this approach.  There is peace in this approach.  It is promised by Jesus Himself.  And it is waiting for you, in the dependence you have only to recognize, discover, and embrace …

 

Despite a Mountain of Evidence ...

The standard in the American Courtroom is simply … “beyond a reasonable doubt”.  But doubt is a tricky thing.  It is tough to shake in general.  But it is nearly impossible to shake if it comes from a pre-determined position.  If a juror or judge decides their opinion before they ever enter the courtroom, before any facts or context have been presented, before the first words are uttered; it is unlikely their mind will change throughout the trial, because they do not wish it to change.  This is why jurors are questioned before they are permitted to serve.  The ones with preconceived notions of their own must be eliminated so that a fair evaluation of the evidence can proceed.  To the extent that is possible, an open mind, is the asset both sides of any legal dispute are looking for.  It gives them both a chance.  It gives them both a shot to tell their story, present their evidence, and hope the weight of that evidence (or lack of it) will determine the outcome.

So, if the value of an open mind is well understood in a legal context, how could it be any less so in a spiritual one?  Our God did not create robots, or “yes” men.  He created us all with freedom to choose.  It is because love cannot be truly called love, unless it is a choice to love.  Instinct and hormones may give a mother an initial push to care for her child, but it will be her unfailing choice to love that child that is demonstrated time-after-time throughout that child’s life.  It will become so natural, that the expression “a mother’s love” becomes something all of us understand.  Nature may prompt, but ultimately it is mom who decides to love, often without regard to how a child responds to that love.  It is our choice to love our God then, that makes how we interact with him real love on our part, or the programmed response of a robot who ultimately does not know what love is.  Free will allows us to love freely.

And love is a two-way street.  As we have the choice to love our God, He has the choice to love us.  He does not have to love us, He chooses to love us.  And how do we know that He does?  This is the question that Satan has been whispering in the ears of mankind since He first insinuated it in the Garden of Eden to Eve.  If you eat this fruit you will become like God having the knowledge of good and of evil.  Implying that God does not want you to become like Him.  Implying that God does not love you enough to treat you like a peer.  Implying the love of God is selfish.  But the truth was that God loved us so much, He wanted to shield us from the firsthand knowledge of what evil was, how addictive it is, how unable would we be to break from its path of doom if ever we embraced it.  It was the love of God for us that governed in that situation, though Satan presented it as a question of God’s love.  And the whispering of this insinuation has not dimmed.

Within the church of our God, the question of God’s love arises in hardened preconceptions about things we know.  Conservatives for example, do not find the love of God in musical styles that do not agree with their tastes or offend them.  Messengers who dress poorly do represent God well in the mind of the conservative, instead they present a slovenly, lazy, or “dirty” image of our God.  Their words are drowned out by their image in the mind of the true conservative.  Likewise, the minds of our youth are not penetrated by the monotone voices of conservative preachers who drone on about the do’s and don’ts of obedience to God, and the importance of it.  Messengers dressed in the three-piece suits are sinners in nothing more than a façade.  Hymns and classical aria’s do nothing to inspire the youth.  They consider them boring and pretentious.  Youth prefer repetitive beats and simple lyrics.  Thus, the elders and the next generation clash over worship style, the relevance of dress, and the music that lifts them up to God.  Neither can give an inch, because both are set in their ways, age having inspired those ways, but age no barrier to them.

You may think I describe the 20^th century Christian Church in America.  But the condition did not arise here, it only remains here.  Matthew in his gospel chapter eleven, records the words of Jesus outlining the same problems back then in the church He created with Abraham and then with Moses in the deserts of the Sinai.  Matthew records the words of Jesus picking up in verse 16 saying … “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, [verse 17] And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.”  There was a group in the church Jesus tried to reach out to by identifying with them, by joining with them in celebration, looking to dance when the happy songs are played.  But this group was unresponsive to the outreach.  There was also a group in the church that was very formal, very sullen; a group who praised the near funeral like atmosphere that lamented sin, and longed for a return to the righteousness of the olden days.  To this group as well, our God made outreach.  But to no avail.

Jesus outlines their responses in verse 18 saying … “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. [verse 19] The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”  The simple fact is, that while our ideas of worship may be distorted by our age, our preferences, and our ideas of superiority over other groups – our God’s love for us remains.  So our God reaches out to us in any form He hopes will work.  John the Baptist was the traditionalist’s traditionalist.  He was a Nazarite.  He did not cut his hair.  He ate super kosher.  He kept the Sabbath in the traditional way.  He went to Passover.  He did what any good traditional Jew was supposed to do.  And on top of all of that He preached of repentance, prophesied of the Messiah, and offered Baptism in the river Jordan to the people.  What more could he have done.  How more could he have honored the traditions of the church?  And still those with preconceived notions about who was in control of the church (or should be), and what holiness is (or should be) rejected John and his piercing call to repent for the sins they knew they committed.

Jesus, was the opposite.  Jesus ate the foods offered to Him.  He went to wedding feasts.  He celebrated.  He ate and drank with the sinners He came to save, not making a distinction between holy and unholy, welcoming all men and women into His presence.  Jesus proved that God loved more than the traditionalists, He loves all of us.  His behavior stands as a mountain of evidence of the love of God for all of mankind, not just to those who think they have earned it by the manner and method of their particular church attendance.  Yet despite the celebrations of Jesus with the common people.  He found rejection there as well.  Once again, the preconceived ideas of the jurors not to believe, swayed the outcome of their verdicts before the trial was far from over.  The old ideas of worship shut out the Messiah, claiming they originated from the devil.  And the new ideas of worship did also shut out the Messiah, equally convinced Jesus was too good to be true.  Despite a mountain of evidence of the love of God, that God would ignore neither branch of His church, but try so hard to reach both of them – the jurors had already decided the fate of this question, and wrote the love of God off, discarded His outreach, as the work of the devil.  And how often do we still hear that result pronounced in our churches today?

But for those of an open mind, the results would be different.  Jesus begins then to teach BOTH segments of His church, what others would have done when presented with the same set of facts they had witnessed in their lifetimes.  Jesus continues in verse 20 saying … “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: [verse 21] Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”  This one will stick in the craw of any good Jew.  Two Samaritan cities in the north of the ten tribes, located in Lebanon today, would have repented in sackcloth and ashes; as opposed to two Jewish cities located in the heart of the nation, constantly exposed to Jesus as He travels, who continue in their living as if the Son of God had never graced their borders, taught in their synagogues, healed their entire population of sick and diseased people, and fed their residents through miraculous means.  What the heathen or the gentile or the dreaded Samaritan would do with this evidence is so much more responsive than what the Jew will do with it.  That stings.

And has anything changed in Christianity today some 2000 years later.  Lives that are truly changed by Jesus are the ones we, the church, ridicule most fervently.  The prostitute who finds Jesus and begins a ministry for other prostitutes, we condemn as being some sort of sham.  The drug addict on the verge of suicide, with the needle still hanging from his arm of collapsed veins and track marks too numerous to count; when he finds Jesus, gets clean, and opens a ministry for those desperate in the streets – our only response is to give a meager offering, never to commit our time because it is dangerous down there.  The music either of them prefer, though performed by Christians with their own ministry, dare not degrade our churches by entering their doors.  That music is “of the devil”.  And we repent not.  And we echo the church of the day of Christ, right down to an echo of the exact same thing they said in His day.

And what does Jesus say to the offended Jew, or you and I, He continues in verse 22 saying … “But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.”  OUCH!  For those of you church members obsessed with a coming judgment by an angry God – there will be more tolerance for Tyre and Sidon than for 2 cities tucked right in to the heart of the nation.  For in the heart of the church, was found unrepentant hearts, blaming everything on having devils, and doing nothing to actually repent and love.  This rebuke stands today against those in our day still obsessed with judgment, instead of melted with repentance, and given to love of others (even when it offends your sense of style, or sits outside the genre of music you prefer).  Ascribing everything you do not like as being of the devil, even though those who are blessed by it are clearly searching for Christ, should have been your first clue you were wrong and echoing the critique of those who rejected our Messiah some 2000 years ago.

Jesus continues and ups the ante in verse 23 saying … “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. [verse 24] But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”  Yikes!  Capernaum was not just a random Jewish city, it was where Peter lived, and sort of a base of operations when Jesus was in the region.  Many miracles of God’s love were performed there.  The mountain of evidence was overwhelming.  No stone had been left unturned.  No outreach that could have been offered, remained unoffered.  As for evangelism, there was no greater benefactor than Capernaum – thus exalted unto heaven itself.  But all the outreach in the world cannot force the human heart to love.  For if it was forced it would not be considered love at all.

And who do we compare the city who is exalted unto heaven with; Jesus compares it with Sodom.  The city where anal sex established its name sake – sodomy or the sodomite.  But it was for far more than its proclivity for gay sex that Sodom was judged.  The city was full of rape, of murder, of robbery, of injustice.  Sodom saw no Jesus in it’s walls.  It saw no healings of the body or of the soul.  It had become a city of evil people so steeped in the evil they embraced that only death would be a kind release.  But if Sodom had borne witness to the Messiah who was speaking these words; that city would have been released from the evil that held it prisoner.  That city would have repented down to every single resident.  That city would have embraced the hope of the Messiah who was still speaking, and held tightly to the hope He offers us all.  And that city would have stood from the days of Abraham to the days of the Lord who reveals this truth.  For those obsessed with judgment the unrepentant Sodom will be shown more tolerance, than the unrepentant Jew who can see Jesus, who can talk to Him, and still rejects the Truth standing right in front of them.

The modern Christian remains not too happy with this comparison.  The modern Christian who remains obsessed with judgment generally grows a hatred of all things gay, and a speech to match that hatred.  They are quick to condemn a sin that afflicts only a minority of people, something they do not understand, something they are ill equipped to minister to; and then develop a sense of superiority because they do not suffer from it.  All the while, their own heart remains un-repentant for the sins they do suffer from.  Instead of putting all in need of Christ on a level playing field, a pecking order is setup in the sinner’s heart whereby his own sins are never as bad as his neighbor’s sins.  It is relative salvation-ism.  It is based on a lie whose first priority is to avoid embracing repentance for all sin.  And in irony of ironies, Jesus expressly states that the judgment of the city of gay sex will be more tolerable than the judgment of those who should know, but refuse to know, the freedom that comes from repentance.  The freedom that comes from embrace the Messiah, in the form of Jesus Christ.  This stinging rebuke is aimed squarely at the Church of Christ in our day, not just the listeners back then.

But the question remains, how can we know that God loves us?  The answer is the life of Jesus Christ.  Read the stories of Jesus, recall the words of Jesus, review the deeds of Jesus.  Without regard to person, or wealth, or status, or nationality, or sexual preference, or incorrect belief system; Jesus heals all, loves all, and calls all to Him to find the freedom only He can re-create within you.  It is a mountain of evidence as tall as Everest or as historic as Sinai.  For you to disregard it, or ignore it, or doubt it; reflects a choice you have already made to do so.  But if you will open your mind and heart just a little; if you will but entertain the possibility of God’s love just a little – you will be overwhelmed with what you find.  For there is no limit to the love of God, not just generically, but specifically for you.  The love God carries for you is so great, that even if the entire rest of the world rejected Him, He would have come and died to save you.  How do I know?  The entire world rejected God in the time of the Flood, but Noah did not, and Noah was saved (and Noah was no perfect man).  The entire city of Sodom rejected God in the time of Abraham, but Lot did not, and Lot was saved (and Lot was no perfect man).  The Bible is full of examples of those who embraced God and were saved because of it.  God loves you just as much.  God wants to save you just as much.  Open the mind just a little to that possibility, and that mountain of evidence will come pouring in over you in ways you cannot imagine.