Mis-Interpreting Doctrine ...

Start with a bad premise, and you will end in a bad place.  There are many books, authors, and scriptures in our collection of both Old and New Testaments.  But both the Old and the New “Testaments” are supposed to be testaments of the love of our God who is bent on our redemption and reconciliation with Himself.  If you remove that guiding principle of a loving God whose entire mission is to redeem you; the lack of love you apply when reading and interpreting scripture can be used to form some very hateful doctrines that focus more on punishment than they ever will upon reconciliation with our God.  That focus on punishment is a very human thing to do, a very human perspective.  You could go so far as calling it a natural one.  We are content when the wicked are punished for what they did to us, or to those we love.  But the evil in the heart of the wicked is not changed or removed from the hate they earn from us; no, if anything that mutual hatred is only amplified by more hate.  Evil is removed when it is confronted with the love of Jesus Christ that has the power to change how we think, how we love, and why we do what we do.  It is not hell that changes the wicked, it is surrender to the love of Jesus that does.  Hell can put an end to the life of one bathed in wickedness.  But Jesus can take that same life, end the evil in it, and show that person what it truly means to live once freed from the evil that is like a cancer upon our souls.

Throughout history, many have opened scriptures who did not understand who our God is, and what redemption is all about.  They have a notion of it, but no personal encounter with it.  So the doctrines they create; they reason are based upon texts in the Bible, sometimes a collection of them, where the conclusion seems reasonable, logical, and Biblically based.  Yet those conclusions should, and could have been denounced by pure common sense – if not by examining them through the lens of a loving Jesus Christ bent on our redemption.  We could begin for example with how women are depicted in doctrine.  The fact that Eve sinned first, and as a result, was asked to take a secondary role in the support of her marriage with Adam.  Not fighting with him, but choosing to defer to him, reminding him of the love of God, to help build him up and keep relations in the family harmonious through self-less service, this was a sampling of what was asked of her.  Men degenerate how women are treated throughout history until during the time of Moses they are completely secondary citizens.  Women could not hold property, without a male heir, or husband to affirm their ownership.  Was this what God intended?  NO.  The entire life of Jesus affirms this in how “He” treats women.  But in the minds of men, who lack the perspective of a loving God who would have sent His Messiah for Eve alone if it were Eve alone who sinned, it is now how scripture came to be interpreted.

Even to our day, the roles of women in the church are still debated.  Even though there have clearly been women who were prophets.  Women who first encountered Jesus even before He had ascended to His Father.  Women who first carried the gospel to the disciples who were still cowering in fear.  Women who headed the charitable services in the Early Church.  And women in our day who have clearly been given the gift of preaching and teaching.  Yet somehow, despite all the evidence of the Holy Spirit on these topics, some continue to believe “scripture” is very limiting on the roles of women in the church.  Not surprisingly those men who choose to continue to believe the roles of women are “limited” in the church, also have very definitive notions about the roles of women in a marriage.  These men preferring subservience by edict, rather than a woman choosing to serve her husband and family by becoming the chief support person of both.  A choice she makes only because her God asked her to, and in His wisdom, she finds a fulfillment no other choice could offer.

But a wife choosing to live in service is not about power or dictatorships, it is about redemption and reconciliation – the absence of self-love, and the embrace of the love of Jesus – through a choice.  When a man dictates this role, the marriage is doomed at the outset.  Treating women like property, and denying them property rights, is more akin to treating women like animals, not like people.  Even if culture develops traditions of these types, that does not mean scripture agrees, or that God wishes this.  It is the evil in the hearts of men looking for a doctrinal basis to remain evil.  Choosing to serve is a reflection of the love of Jesus.  Demanding what is due, is not the way of Jesus, nor should scripture be used to try to justify a “do it or else” mandate.  So the farther back in history we go, the more oppressive men are related to the roles, and rights, of women.  How marriage is seen then, in the days of Moses, is a reflection of how oppressive society was against women in general.  A bad premise, ending in a bad place.

Enter Matthew writing his gospel to his fellow Hebrews; it was the Sadducees turn at attempting to trap Jesus.  The Pharisees had failed.  They were up.  They determined to attack Jesus on two fronts; first on how a woman (treated no better than property) would wind up in heaven.  And of course implicit in that, a denial the resurrection could exist because of the kinds of problems it would create in perfection.  The Sadducees had come to the conclusion that life itself was a one-and-done proposition.  Doing good then, was a way to keep God from torturing or killing you early.  This is a punishment centric view of the Old Testament, and surprisingly similar to what some evangelists teach today.  But it is based on a bad premise, and it leads to a bad place.  Matthew picks up this story in chapter twenty two of his gospel.

Beginning in verse 23 it states … “The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, [verse 24] Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. [verse 25] Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: [verse 26] Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. [verse 27] And last of all the woman died also. [verse 28] Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.”  So many things to unpack here.  To begin, the laws of Moses, written in Deuteronomy to which the Sadducees refer should be understood in context.  The children of Israel were former slaves.  Their every movement was dictated by the will of the Pharaoh as carried out by their taskmasters.  They did not understand freedom, or what it meant to be able to do anything without anyone telling them “no”.  So the precepts Moses outlined in that book (of duties) were designed to put some practical limits around their societal behavior.

In those days, women were hardly treated better than cattle.  They could not hold property without a male heir, or husband to validate the claim.  That was NOT what God intended, but this was such a cultural norm, the people were nowhere near ready to abandon this kind of practice.  So the scenario outlined above by the Sadducees in such a callous way, was actually intended to benefit the woman in question – allowing her to raise up an heir to hold her property and namesake in Israel.  It was targeted at keeping her in the family (as a recent widow) rather than turning her out into the streets to find a stranger somewhere who might be willing to take her in.  In fact, as this duty or precept is written, should one of those brother’s refuse to marry her – he would be publicly ridiculed in Israel for failing to protect her rights through this arcane practice.  Was it ideal?  No.  Was it what God intended, or wanted for His precious daughters? No.  But it was a safeguard to keep them from having a tragedy of losing a husband become an even greater tragedy of losing everything they knew.

Ignoring the fact that Moses was actually trying to protect widows (for which he writes quite a bit more in Deuteronomy), the Sadducees present this as a resurrection dilemma.  The Sadducees are fairly certain there is no good answer to this riddle, and that they will humiliate Jesus while getting Him to acknowledge there is no resurrection at all.  But they would be disappointed.  Jesus responds in verse 29 saying … “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”  Those words are haunting and they echo through time, all the way into the sanctuaries we visit each week while we worship God, and cling to premises that end up in bad places.  “YE DO ERR”.  Let that sink in for a minute.  These men were SURE of their doctrines.  They did not just casually read the scriptures, they lived in them.  They read every day.  They debated every day.  They honored the scholars among them who made new discoveries and debated the merits of each one.  They did not just stumble on their beliefs, their beliefs were the results of generations of scholars who reached the same conclusions.  ALL of them wrong.

Are we any different?  Do we become so comfortable resting on the work of our church forefathers, and the conclusions they reached, that no message from outside our walls can ever penetrate our thinking?  Are we so sure we are right about everything, we have no more room to learn, only room to recite.  But the words of Jesus to these church leaders echo down to us.  Ye Do Err!  We look at scriptures with the lens of punishment and an angry God, and therefore come to conclusions He never intended us to reach.  Just like they did.  What is more, just like them – we deny the POWER of GOD!  We do not account for it in our thinking, or in our doctrines.  Some would like to say that this is a specific example of Jesus telling the Sadducees that they are mistaken about the resurrection.  But they were also mistaken about marriage, the roles of women, divorce, the value of women, and what love looks like in heaven.  Worst of all they underestimated the power of God.  Perhaps we are all just as guilty on all of the above topics.

Jesus continues in verse 30 saying … “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”  First, there WILL BE a resurrection.  News I am certain they did not want to hear or accept.  Second, in the “resurrection”, not in all eternity, or the earth made new, or a hundred other points or descriptions we have about heaven, but at least during the resurrection and perhaps for a while thereafter – there will not be people getting married and more importantly nobody getting divorced.  Keep in mind how we think of this institution has degenerated a long ways since Eden.  And our notions of forever need quite a bit of adjustment where it comes to a single partner throughout eternity.  Being like the “angels” – can anyone tell me if angels have a special partner or not, like something we would refer to as marriage on earth?  Show me the scripture please that explains this, outside of this reference right here. 

What I do believe is meant by being like the angels is an understanding of perfect love we have no idea about today.  Perfect love you could think of in a number of examples.  Imagine every person in heaven looking at every child in heaven (babies, kids, rugrats, you know the younglings) and loving each one as much as you would have loved your own child.  Imagine every man loving every other man as much as you would your own father, son, or brother.  Imagine every man loving every other woman as much as you would your own mother, daughter, or sister.  Only the love of a special intimacy remains untapped in the scenario of perfect love, and the power of God might account for that quite nicely, as it is God who picked Eve for Adam in the first place.  But perfect love decimates the ideas of treating any woman as a second class anything.  Instead perfect love treats everyone else as the greatest person ever.

But Jesus was not content to leave the Sadducees in their error on their main topic of descension with the Pharisees and with the entire purpose of redemption and reconciliation in the first place.  So He continues in verse 31 saying … “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, [verse 32] I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. [verse 33] And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.”  Jesus points out, that without a resurrection, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be dead forever.  God is not the God of the past alone, He is the God of the present, and of the future.  There will be a future for them as when the resurrection comes, they will be redeemed and reconciled to the side of Jesus Himself.  Just as all the other children who sleep in the hope of our God will see.

The crowds were amazed at this.  Are you?  A bad premise leads to a bad place, but a premise based on His love can lead to an astounding place.  As a woman and wife, are you ready to make service to your husband and family the choice that brings you fulfillment every day.  Never seeking for what you deserve, or what you have earned, but only for what you can offer.  Separately, and having nothing to do with how your wife has chosen to live -  husbands, are you ready to choose to love your wife and family so much, that you would literally lay down your life for them, and while you draw breath find ways to demonstrate that love for them so that they never doubt your heart on any day they draw breath.  No wife should wait for her husband to live this way, before she reciprocates.  And no husband should demand anything from his wife, before he is willing to show her the full measure of his heart and dedication to her own.  It is a different way of thinking to decide “how” you are going to love regardless of what others do.  If this seems foreign to you, take your life to Jesus, surrender to His love, and watch what happens to you.  It is breathtaking.  And it is beautiful.

But the traps for Jesus had one more shot …

Trapping Jesus ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

A Crazy Big Wedding ...

A romance is a small and very intimate thing (or at least that is what women are constantly attempting to explain to their daft-thinking men 😊).  Moments spent alone.  Moments that wind up burning into our memories.  A level of intimacy that leads one to think; gee, I would like to do that over and over and over again.  If you gave men a big red button that if pushed would bring happiness, we would stand there for a 100-years pushing that thing over and over and over again.  But it is that mutual recognition that my life was just not complete until I met … [fill in the blank here].  That recognition inspires us to get married and put a lock on the big red happiness button forever.  And so it begins.  What was once a small intimate romance built for two, must now become a “wedding” that is the LAST thing from small and intimate.  The families must be notified (and included).  Unable to choose our blood-relatives there are sure to be hurt feelings (that could spit in our food) if we omit someone from the long list of guests if not participants in our “wedding”.

And where it comes to weddings, everyone (short the groom, who is still scratching his head) has ideas.  It is the bride’s day, so in theory, she should get to decide everything.  But those pesky relatives are sure to insert their “brilliant suggestions” at every turn.  It then requires the diplomatic skills of Henry Kissinger, to navigate potential conflicts, hurt feelings, family traditions, and of course what the bride wants.  No man is equipped for this level of diplomacy so most grooms simply surrender within the first day or two.  Good to have hubby out of the way, but that still requires fiancée to have the patience of a saint, and the ability to compromise for the sake of family unity … all of which drives a significant cottage industry in Vegas for weddings when both bride and groom just cannot take it anymore (or anticipate that early).  The simple truth is, where romance is by definition an intimate thing between two people; Weddings are a public event designed to include everyone in the celebration of a union intended to last forever.  While they are linked, they are rarely described the same way.

Enter God.  Silly us.  We thought a romance was only between two.  It is.  But God wants one too.  He wants His romance with just you.  He loves (for purposes of this example), just you.  He is “in love” with you.  It all started when you were an imagining in His head, so He made you.  He made you with certain skills, abilities, and interests … and then he brought you into existence and set you free to use what He gave you and grow into an even more unique person.  He watches you grow, like an excited parent, always pinning your refrigerator drawings up for all the universe to see.  He cries when you do.  He weeps when you get hurt, and weeps harder when you do the hurting to someone else.  He gets so happy He could dance when you look back home, and seek to build a relationship with Him, attempting to get to know Him, like He already knows you.  So the intimacy of our Creator God, is a level of romance, that would top any known to man.  His love for you was there first, and He hopes it will lure you to His side.  He hopes you will see His big red button of happiness, and decide you want to push it (even if only once in a while), just something to get your end of the romance going.

Silly us.  And we thought all we were ever going to have with our God was a romance built for two.  And no, I am not referring to how God would love to be at the center of your earthly marriage to do things you cannot even imagine getting done.  (Like changing hearts, habits, and minds).  No, I am talking about what God wants to culminate His romance with you.  He wants a wedding.  He wants a crazy big wedding.  He wants something that is a public event that expresses to the entire universe, that you and God, have decided to make a permanent relationship forever and ever.  It is going to be a party.  And yes, while you will not be the “only” bride in this equation, all of mankind in total, will make up the “bride” He has been romancing for so long, it seems like forever already.  He wants cake.  He wants grape juice.  He wants fruit with names we have yet to pronounce.  He plans to pick steak off the steak-growing-tree (why not, He is God after all), and cook it on a grill with mesquite charcoal that would make a Texan green with envy.  (and you “have” to try God’s spicy BBQ sauce, it is the stuff of legend).  He wants witnesses.  He wants a massive affair.  Everyone is invited.

Now enter Matthew recording a parable just like this imaginative story that Jesus first told so long ago.  He starts out his twenty-second chapter in verse one, with the third parable Jesus has been telling church leadership to get them to come back to the source of their religion (instead of replacing Jesus, with doctrine, that the Pharisees preferred and sometimes so do we).  The romance between Jesus and the church leadership is hot on the Jesus side; and ice cold on the leadership side.  It has been a one-way thing for a long time.  Jesus wants to change that (with them, and with you).  So he tries again in story form.  Beginning in verse 1 it says … “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, [verse 2] The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,”

First let’s get the players and the context.  Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is a like a marriage that God has prepared for His only son.  God the Father is the King, who prepares this public event (of reconciliation for us) for His Son Jesus, who has long awaited this event.  The excitement is so thick you could cut it with a knife.  It continues in verse 3 saying … “And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.”  His church is His bride.  God sends His angels, and His servants (prophets, preachers, lay workers, anyone willing to work in His vineyard); the job of these servants was to tell the bride; it is time.  It is time for the bride to come to the wedding.  And “WE” would NOT come!!  Let that sink in for a minute.  The servants when to those who were supposed to be preparing, to those who were supposed to be in a romance with Jesus, but when the time finally comes, WE refuse to come.  This cannot be.  This is unfathomable.  But it is what happens.

The story continues in verse 4 saying … “Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.”  God decides to sweeten the deal.  He knows perhaps some brides get cold feet.  So he tries again, and this time reminds us, of the feast that will be coming.  Sacrifices have already been made.  Meat is ready to eat.  It has already been on the altar and is ready for eating now.  Perhaps the bride didn’t hear the first message, and anyone who loves a fiancée would not just throw in the towel because they have one bad day prior to the wedding.  Someone who loves like God loves, would try again, and intensify the beauty of the invitation, to cut through our blindness, get our attention, and remind us, “this” is what we have all been waiting for. 

Our response continues in verse 5 saying … “But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: [verse 6] And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.”  Aaarg!  WE made “light of it”.  Who cares.  It is only salvation, why bother with perfection anyway, how good could it really be?  So instead of embracing it, they leave to pursue their own interests, one to a farm to work on creating his own perfection.  Another went to his business commerce to see if he could purchase his own perfection.  Those without jobs, or means, don’t want to hear that the gift of perfection or salvation is really ready for us – so they did what everyone always does – they beat the servants who brought this message.  And when they just would not shut-up (amazed we would so carelessly throw away a thing of such value) – WE killed the messengers.  The church did this.  The old one did it.  The new one did it.  And the one we are in, … is still doing it.  We spit on a gift we should have treasured, then we treat it far worse.

The story continues in verse 7 saying … “But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”  And a holocaust ensues targeting millions who claim the lineage or membership in the first church carried out by racist hate.  And an entire age is characterized as “dark” when the second church moves from Apostolic to death on horseback, killing all who would reform it, or bring light into it.  And today, we sit on the precipice of global environmental destruction as we still claim to be a bride, but have no idea who our groom truly is, or what it means to love anyone other than ourselves.  It is a dark picture that is painted when man rejects God thinking there are no final consequences to that choice.  Satan’s greatest lie is that we would not suffer for our sins, that we have “all the time in the world” to commit them, until all of the sudden, we don’t.  Evil will one day meet its end.  The only question, will you be consumed by evil when time is run out, or been made free from it so long ago.

But the story is not about rejection, it is about a crazy big wedding, and the wedding must go on.  So on to plan B.  It continues in verse 8 saying … “Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. [verse 9] Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.”  It is so easy to think of this as only applying to the Jewish faith.  They rejected Christ, therefore the church of God was taken from them and given to others.  That’s easy.  But that is not the whole story.  The first Christian church devolved from purity to death, and it was taken from them and spread throughout Protestantism.  And here near the end of times, it may move again from organized denominations to individual believers in Jesus, who are taken out of where they reside today, to follow an end-times calling.  Our organized structures seem to resemble walking a path that does not end well.  They could change.  But it would take change.  And no matter what the church leadership thought, the invitation went out, either with their help, or without it.

The story continues in verse 10 saying … “So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.”  Several things to take note of here.  The invitation is universal.  The attendees were a mix of “good” and “bad”.  Some people destined for the crazy big wedding with God are not perfected yet; they are still on the journey.  And what does every bride need most of all?  A wedding gown.  Usually white.  Usually provided to her by someone else (most often her father).  And what does Jesus offer each of those who choose to become part of His Kingdom, and trust Him to save them … a white robe of righteousness.  That white robe is a gift.  You cannot make it.  You cannot buy it.  You have to humble yourself and realize you need it, to take it when it is offered.  If you keep trying to make one yourself, you are destined for failure.  You don’t beat sin, because you want to, or you choose to, or you kept fighting it.  You don’t beat sin.  Jesus does.  Jesus recreates inside of you, something else to want, something else to do, another way to think, another way to love.  He gives you your white robe of perfection, you don’t do anything, but take it (and maybe say thank you).

The story continues in verse 11 saying … “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: [verse 12] And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.”  So if you are the only one in a room full of people wearing white robes as bright as the sun; and you are not, you will stick out like a sore thumb.  But there is always one person in church, who is sure, that going to church will save them.  Or another who believes if you pray 4 hours a day, that should do it.  Or another who believes if you memorize the entire Bible, you get a pass to get in.  But they are wrong.  There is no list of things you can do, that will earn you a white robe.  It remains a simple gift, for those humble enough to realize they cannot do it themselves.  Jesus makes you into who He wanted you to be, instead of the mess you made or make.  It is that re-creation, that restores you into harmony with the law.  Without it, going through motions, and abiding by the letter of what is written, is just not enough.  For it never touches your heart.

When confronted with the simple question, why didn’t you take the free white robe?  The man is speechless.  There is no answer to that very basic question.  It is the mystery of iniquity, why would we choose it, over God.  The story concludes in verse 13 saying … “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [verse 14] For many are called, but few are chosen.”  The man with the beige wedding gown finds himself thrown out, away from the presence of Jesus, into the utter darkness that exists when you choose not to keep your eyes upon Jesus.  Weeping and gnashing of teeth is to be expected.  When romance ends from rejection you decided, and then you realize what a mistake you have made, it is often too late to do anything but nurse your self-broken heart.  In love there is light.  Without love, or bathed only in self-love, there is only darkness and failure.

But so as not to bury the lead, consider the 14^th verse … “for many are called; but few are chosen.”  This is not a disclaimer about the love of God being limited.  Keep in mind, His invitation went out first to His church, the people who claimed to know Him, and were supposed to be waiting for Him to come and set them free.  But in this story, they rejected Him.  A pattern we see across time.  The invitation then went out to the entire world (no shortage of love there); and both bad and good were invited to the wedding event.  It was understood that some were not at the end of their journey to perfection, they were still on it.  But again, the invitation was universal.  Many were called.  You could say all of us were called.  The question is what we do with our own unique invitation.  For our invitation comes amidst the romance our God continues to want to have with each of us.  He longs for our hearts, and just a little of our time and attention.  He puts aside one day every week for a special romance time, where we could come, hang out with our Dad, and play.  He is always there with us.

But do we make light of it?  Do we tend to our farms, and our commerce, trusting to our wealth to save us, or at least make our lives better?  Do we look away from Jesus into the utter darkness that exists everywhere Jesus is not?  Do we get so tired of hearing His servants invite us to perfection that we begin to ignore them, beat them, or kill them altogether?  Do we repeat the sins of the church leaders who walked before us, refusing new light, and the love of Jesus that might make white robes of righteousness to surround us, robes we could never make on our own.  All these warning are given so we avoid these mistakes not repeat them.  The goal of this story was to insure we are at the wedding, dressed in the robes He provides, enjoying the feast and the spectacle.

And it feels like this is the piece we are the quickest to forget.  A wedding is AWESOME!!  We are enjoying the culmination of our relationship with Jesus – entry into forever.  No more pain.  No more death.  Not just physical pain, or emotional pain, but every kind of pain you have ever had the misfortune of coming to know.  NONE of it, was supposed to be something you got to know, none of it.  Sin was the ugly cause behind every effect; and sin will be forever removed.  Not just from what you do, but from what you think, what you want, and even how you reason.  That sacrifice is already made.  And you don’t need to do it.  It wasn’t about you.  It was done for you.  Instead of you.  All that is left now for you, is a life without pain.  Loving like Jesus loves, sets you free inside yourself.  It keeps you from causing pain to yourself, and to those you love.  It alters your thinking, even how you read scripture.  And it is free.  The message remains “the time is now”; are you ready to join the wedding?  Could there really be any other choice that seems valid to you over that?

Three stories were told to our church leadership forefathers.  How they responded would unfold next …

 

Using Cash as Kindling ...

Building a fire has always been a bit of an art.  Before the invention of accelerants like gasoline (highly dangerous), and even when you have matches to get it started; you still need to use something to allow the fire to catch.  Small sticks, or dried out shrubbery, or paper – the stuff commonly referred to as kindling.  The idea is that once enough of the kindling catches fire, it will begin to catch the bigger stuff on fire, and so on, until it is burning the big logs in your fire place.  The goal is not to make a “huge” fire, but a controlled fire.  You want something that will safely burn for hours without too much tending to.  And most of the time, if you do it right, you only need the use of matches, and kindling, once; at the beginning of the fire when you are just trying to get it started – not constantly while you are trying to keep it going.

For those that prefer paper as their kindling, magazines, or old news papers work just fine.  But could you ever imagine using cash money instead?  Besides being illegal to destroy US currency (through any means), it would represent the epitome of waste, to literally burn money, for no other reason than to attempt to get a fire going.  A billionaire may not feel the loss as much, but it is a loss none-the-less.  And for most of us, who are far from being billionaires, we would feel the loss quite keenly.  Ask the person you just happen to be close to any moment in time if they have “enough” money, and the answer is nearly always a resounding “no”.  No matter how much money we have, we could always benefit from more.  If we had more, we could give more to the church (a common refrain).  If we had more, we could get out of the debt we are in (though there is even less evidence to support this; the same financial decisions that got us in debt, are the same ones we make when presented with more opportunity to do so).  And for the slightly more honest among us, more money would allow us to get that “thing” we reason we cannot do without.  Few people would refuse more money.  And only a crazy person would burn it, for the sake of starting a fire.

But there are more gifts we are given, some of them directly from God, that we treat like burning cash in response.  It is easy to say our health falls into this category.  We are given health, then we eat things that over time will ruin it.  We take drugs (prescribed or not) that over time do us harm we cannot predict.  We have to breathe the air we have, and drink the water we have; but our choices to protect these resources are less than our greed very often, so our environment becomes toxic, while our wallets get a little fatter.  We are slow to exercise, and quick to sit around.  And then to top it all off, we still do the crazy things from time-to-time that risk our life and limb.  No, I am not talking about rollercoasters, or theme park rides that make you think you are near death.  I am talking more about the stupid decisions one makes when driving their cars, because they “have” to turn left or right, even though they are three lanes away from their destination.  Going another block or two just seems intolerable.  So the crazy driver decides to make that turn, or run that light, or speed up to 20 mph past the speed limit, for whatever reason, and they in turn risk their own lives, as well as yours and mine.  Though most of us are guilty of this at some point or another in our own driving histories.  Causing angels to work overtime.

There is something else our God has given us besides our health.  A gift beyond salvation, and even our health, and ironically just as precious.  He has given us His church.  To be a part of His body, is meant to be a gift to be treasured.  To serve that church, to uphold that body, is akin to a sacred trust.  Yes it is serving others, but what that services does to you, when you love, like He loves, is life transforming.  It brings you a joy, that words are hardly adequate to enumerate.  To be blessed enough, to be able to participate in the redemption of another, has eternal consequences.  Imagine being the little light (where Jesus shines His love through your demonstration), enough to spark an interest in one who knows not the love of Jesus, but because of what they see in you, determine themselves to know more.  Pointing a person to the transforming powerful love of Jesus that changes lives, is the highest pinnacle of service you can perform.  When that person walks the golden streets of our Lord’s city called Heaven with you, they may realize their journey all started because you were able to demonstrate real love, in the face of their real rebellion of it.  And for an infinite number of years, you will both be able to glorify God, for He led you both because you let love flow through you.

That is worth more than cash.  That is the most precious treasure our God has to offer, the lives of you, and those you love, even of those you dislike and the ones that hate you completely.  It is human treasure our God measures, counts, and gave His life for.  It is human treasure that matters most in His kingdom.  His church then, is the place where the human treasure is cultivated.  His church is the organization where the body chooses to cling together, to uphold each other, to share love where it is easiest.  His church is meant to be the place where those with little knowledge can be brought to learn more.  We are to experience more of His love within His church.  Turning that institution, into a weigh station on the highway to hell, is more than burning cash, it is burning lives; God’s treasures.  And it only takes the lack of love to see it done.  When gossip is juicier than consolation, when back-biting more natural than tolerance, and accusation a normal part of combating sin – we make His house a place of burning treasures instead of polishing them.

This is not new to us.  It is one of the devil’s oldest tricks.  But he has not let up on it, since the days of the first church, until the days of our own.  Tempting us, with feelings of righteousness, that we are “better” than our brothers, or even our leaders, and therefore entitled to call a spade a spade, sin by its right name, and take over as judge, instead of allowing God to keep His role.  In our arrogance we take over the mantle of Pharisee and increase the destruction tenfold; for we have both the Old and New Testaments and still we misuse what scripture we have to judge and destroy the treasures of God, instead of loving them out of their current conditions (without judgment ever falling from our lips or eyes).  And in our destructive course, we burn the cash of heaven itself, and position ourselves for an even greater burning realization – instead of a little light of Jesus shining through us – we have become the stumbling block that keeps people from seeing the love of God.  We claim the name, and have no concept of who He is, or what love means.  And this did not start with us, but could it finally end here?

Jesus longs for us still.  He told the first story to us and our Pharisee forefathers in our previous study.  But in case one story was not enough, He will offer another.  In case we could not discern His clear truth to the leadership of His church (and any of us who know Him, and wish to work in His vineyard, are leaders by default), He will tell another of redemption and possibility.  So Matthew in his gospel in chapter twenty-one picks up again with the words of Jesus Himself in verse 33 saying … “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:”  Here Jesus tells us in story form, in parable that is, of how we are where we are.  It is God (the householder) who plants the vineyard (His church) and puts up a protective hedge of love around it so nothing from the world can get in.  He puts a winepress in it, so what grows inside the church, can continue to grow and serve an even greater purpose.  And finally, He puts a watch tower in it, so we can see beyond our walls, and provide a beacon of example for those looking who may have lost their way.  This is how His church begins.  The vineyard (or church) is then let-out, or entrusted with, a husbandman, or set of church leaders.  Then our God focuses His attention far away, perhaps looking to build other such vineyards across the world, like ours.

He continues in verse 34 saying … “And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. [verse 35] And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.”  Here is where we go so horribly wrong.  It is time for the harvest.  The grapes can be pressed into wine, growing in their usefulness, their experience, and perhaps ready to travel to where the owner of this vineyard is now.  So servants of our God are sent back to His vineyard (His church), to gather up the fruit (us, the ones ready from the harvest), to be sent back to our God.  But the husbandmen (or group of church leaders) do not readily receive the servants of our God.  Instead they beat one of them, kill another, and stone another.  This is what happens when power, does not like the truth told to it.  The husbandmen is more interested in keeping absolute control over what happens in the vineyard, than to part with any of the fruit that should have been made ready within it.  Control does not breed growth, it inhibits it.

So to keep control, the servants of God who bring news of the harvest, and of the work beyond the walls we erect, are beaten for their truth.  Killed when they will not shut up.  And finally stoned or killed as heretics to the faith.  The husbandmen proclaim to what they believe is “their” church, that “outside” influences must be kept out of the church to keep it pure.  In so doing they reject the servants of God, and the truth those servants are sent to proclaim, to the church which God established.  This was the history of the Israelites to the prophets sent by God to the Kings and church of older days.  And it is the history of the Catholic church to the reformers sent by God to the leadership of that church.  And it is the present-day message of current church leaders to their flocks to avoid the lies of “other” denominations even today.  Death, and hate, espoused to heretics, even till today.  That response so categorically different than love which would rather die in the effort to redeem and reconcile.

Jesus continues in verse 36 saying … “Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.”  This was not just a single occurrence that happens only once in the life of God’s church.  It happens over and over again.  Because the mission of our God is to redeem, even the misguided, or wicked church leaders that have arisen in His body; He longs to restore them still.  But the response continues to be the same; a message of hate and death to those outside of the click, to those beyond the walls.  Control over what is inside must be maintained by those who believe they have it.  And messages beyond the borders of what we believe must be kept outside so they never permeate the thinking of the members within.  And history repeats itself, again, and again, until blood is more our record, than love could ever be.

Jesus continues in verse 37 saying … “But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. [verse 38] But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. [verse 39] And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.”  This is of course a direct reference to Jesus Christ Himself.  God sent His only Son to us.  And we cast Him out of our church, and slew Him, thinking to take all that was His.  And before you cast the blame of this backwards to those Pharisees who accomplished these feats, take a hard look in the mirror of our modern Christian churches today, who would rather legislate their own ideas of morality than to love like He loves.  Still we seek our power, only now we cloak it in political aspirations, and disguise the message as having the church under attack.  In our defensive postures we take up arms.  We “fight” back, not in submissive messages of Christ like love, but in messages of strength bathed in political affirmation, just like our Pharisee forefathers, and our Catholic forefathers after them.  We seek to unite church with state to take on the power of the state, when power is not what we need, or should want. 

It is only His love than can transform our hearts, but that message is beyond the walls of separation we have erected.  We praise doctrine over tolerance (sound familiar), and we tread the same roads the Pharisees paved, and the Catholics walked for nearly 1200 years.  And somehow we think the current course is different?  It is not.  The true Church of Jesus understands that His church belongs only to Him, not to us.  It is for Him to defend.  It is for Him to judge or not judge.  Our work is one thing alone, to love each other as He loves.  In that we would be known as His.  Not in the vastness of our structures, or collections of our art.  Not in our gospels of wealth and ease, but in our gospels of absolute love, even for those who are still trapped in their sins with no desire to get out.  It is in our embrace of sinners, our love of sinners, that may ever cause in them the notion of escaping their sins.  We need not join them in their behaviors to reach them.  But in loving them, while living in the way Jesus teaches us to live, that His love might one day reach them.  Pursuing a course of political power, so that we might instead legislate what we think He wants, is not a pathway to redemption, it is a cement highway of rebellion away from Christ.  It slays Him once again, this time in reputation, name, and purpose, thinking to take what is His.

Jesus continues in verse 40 saying … “When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? [verse 41] They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.”  Jesus asks what is to be done with His church leadership.  And while Jesus would still redeem us.  We in our human response, in our response that has no thought of redemption, turn our hate upon ourselves, answering we should be destroyed, slain, killed.  And the vineyard handed over to other more worthy husbandmen who would be obedient to their Lord.  The Pharisees are quick to answer this, taking no thought they condemn themselves.  We are no less judgmental even today.  But death is not the way of redemption, it is the result of refusing it, time after time after time.  The mission of Jesus was not to come and kill us all for what we deserved, but instead to redeem us all from what we deserved, and transform us from the slavery-of-self, to the freedom-of-serving-others.

Jesus then recites scripture to these leaders to bring home His point saying in verse 42 … “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?  [verse 43] Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. [verse 44] And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”  The church must be taken away from the Pharisees.  The leadership must be taken away from those who prefer power and control over absolute love.  It was taken from the Catholics and spread throughout Protestantism.  And it will be taken from us once again, if we cannot let go of our desires of power in any form, and instead seek love above all.  The cycle of repetition can end here in the last times, if we but heed the call of His redemption.  We must fall upon this rock, and be broken by it.  It is Ok to be broken.  It is OK to become someone else, to let His salvation remake us from who we are today, into who He intends us to be.  We will not be the same.  And this is OK,  It is more than OK, it is what it is needed

But to reject that process, to cling to pride, to the notions that we are already “good” enough.  Will find the weight of perfection grinding us into power.  There can be no true obedience outside of “being” in harmony with the laws and character of God.  That harmony is not self-made.  It is created only by the power of the Creator.  We cannot and will not achieve it, yet it can be achieved by Jesus within you, re-creating how you think, how you love, and what you decide.  The response of willingness to allow it, is perhaps humiliating, but also perfect in its wisdom and love.  The response to reject it leads to the only place it can inevitably wind up leading.  To death.  The desired death of the Creator, and the actual death of ourselves.  The final escape, and the solution least desired by our God.

Matthew concludes this story by recording the responses picking up in verse 45 saying … “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. [verse 46] But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”  The church leaders sought to kill Jesus in response to His Truth.  Are you certain we are not doing the same?  Ask yourself how passionate you are to see Christian politicians in power and Christian judges on the Supreme Court.  To what end?  To have living witnesses of the love of Jesus by example to all the nation and the world.  Or to have legal protections enacted that further the Christian ideals, and protect His church, making your particular ideas of morality become the law of the land; instead of the law of our hearts.  When transformation is our goal, we will be broken, but we will be remade.  When we believe we need the power of the state to protect us, we have already lost the battle.  For the power of the state has never been able to change the hearts of men, or improve their motivations of anything other than fear.

But the efforts of Jesus to redeem us in story were not over yet …