A PhD in Cruelty ...

How hard is it for you to be “nice”?  Does your significant other (or perhaps a close family member) seem to enjoy sharing “painful” truth about you, to you?  Or is it you, who cloaks pain with truth, when you speak to others.  Often folks who do this, are not even aware they do it.  But the ones on the receiving end are acutely aware.  Everyone wants the truth.  And nobody wants pain.  So how you reconcile those two things may be a matter of sensitivity if you care about how someone else feels.  Blatant truth, that is, truth told without the slightest regard for how it will be received, or how much pain it can cause – is the mark of a student aiming for their PhD in Cruelty, whether they know it or not.  And for those who enjoy cruelty; to see tears well up, to see dreams dashed with reality, to break the spirit of the young.  For these folks, cruelty is something beyond the boundaries of education, it is a high art form.  But for Christians, the only blanket for truth is love.  You can share painful truth with me, when I know it breaks your heart harder than it breaks mine.  When your tears flow faster than my own, then whatever pain there is in my truth is couched in a love that cannot be denied.  At that point, painful truth, is constructive at best, and commiserated at least.

Cruelty however, is something that can be taught.  Victims become proficient perpetrators.  And long-time exposure to inflicting cruelty causes dullness in recognizing it, and lack of motivation to treat it.  It is a tool of Satan to stamp out the love-response-mechanism in us all.  And what you do for a living can greatly impact how much cruelty you learn to tolerate, and perhaps inflict.  For example, its harder for a cop.  Imagine how much horror and cruelty a policeman is exposed to over the years of their career.  Their job is to jump right in to man-hurting-man and try to stop it.  They see us at our worst.  Either inflicting great pain on others, or falling victim to the pain another inflicts.  Most of us don’t seek out cops to form friendships, have dinner parties, and generally be a support system for them.  Instead we sit behind our televisions or computer screens quick to judge the failures of a few; attributing those failures to everyone; and all the while decry racisms of all “other” forms as being rampant in those who chose to protect and serve us.  None-the-less they continue to serve.  Everyday a battle to remain human, while exposed to the worst of humanity seen in crisis nearly all the time.  But at least cops understand the hope to make society better.

Try being a front-line soldier for a living.  That career requires you to kill others.  Kill, or be killed.  It is hard to kill others without finding a reason to dislike them, perhaps to hate them.  So we try to walk the tight rope of teaching our soldiers to protect each other, while hating the enemy, enough to kill the enemy, but not enough to become barbarians in the process.  Let’s face it, America rarely enters a war with another nation, unless the deeds of that nation rank in our barbarism scale.  Then we fight back.  But history has a long habit of pointing out that war makes barbarians of us all, blurring the lines between the good side and the bad side if all we do is examine the worst of what each of us has done.  My grandfather was a full-bird colonel coming out of World War Two, I believe he served in the army aircorp at that time.  He is buried in Arlington National cemetery with his wife now.  He saw combat in the Pacific.  Survived an enemy bomb that killed every other officer in the tent, was promoted, and continued to fight.  My grandfather was a gentle man, at least what I knew of him.  But he brought home a visceral hatred for anything Japanese.  And he did not want to talk about it.  He saw something.  Something so horrible, he could not get it out of his mind.  Even decades later it was just as raw as ever.  The cruelty he witnessed was so bad he could never forget it, or ever stop blaming for it.  But he was blessed enough not to let it completely take him over.

The military has always had it hard, trying to walk that balancing act between horrifically efficient killer, and common man able to enter a peace-loving society when hostilities come to a close.  Now we have a myriad of psychological conditions we diagnose our vets with, and think because we have cute names and accurate symptoms, we have solved the problem.  But the problem is a fundamental one.  We train our men to kill, proficiently kill, then at some point, tell them killing is done.  And today’s suicide rates of our vets are way too high.  It is hard to take life, then deal with it.  Some men just never try to come back from it.  Look back through history, this is not a new problem, and its hard to say whether it is better now, or worse now.  We kill from farther away, but we kill many more people with our advanced weapons.  In Roman times, you killed pretty much only people you could reach at arms length.  Archery may give you distance but lowers the body count surety.  A sword in the chest, pretty much guarantees the job is done.  Is it any wonder the soldiers in the days of Christ seem so proficient in cruelty?

The Executive of the state washed his hands and passed the buck as much as he could.  But he still ordered Jesus to be crucified.  Jesus would hardly be unique in that death.  Rows of crosses lined the roads throughout all of Israel.  Where we have light posts, they had crosses.  It was designed as a warning to rebellious thinking people.  Act out, find yourself decorating the highways of Judea in blood, your blood.  It was abomination to have this much death, or partial death, going on all the time, nearly everywhere.  But there were many would-be Messiah’s who promised freedom from Rome, only to find themselves, and their followers, and their follower’s families, up on Roman crosses, marking the roads in and out of every city.  Hatred of Rome was visual, and earned, and mutual.  Soldiers did all the dirty work.  Pilate was not going to do “anything” to Jesus himself, he would order the military to do it.  Men bathed in cruelty, who were taught hatred of the enemy is the only thing that kept them alive.  Doctrines of Satan spread then and now, in furrows of the blood of our enemies, that we feel OK about shedding.

Mercy, while steeped in the heart of Jesus for his Roman military escort, was totally void in their hearts for Him.  Matthew picks up the story in chapter 27 of his gospel to his contemporaries, beginning in verse 27 it says … “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. [verse 28] And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.”  Modesty has left the building.  The circumcision of Jesus is now clearly visible to all.  What is left of his back is bare, but blood falls from its 39 chuncks of missing meat, taken by the shards of glass tied in to the tips of the whip (cat of nine-tails) used in his flogging.  He drops blood fast enough to bleed out, but no one tends to His already horrific wounds.  Jesus was a Jew.  He was bound to die.  The people hated Him (or so it looked).  So anything these Romans did to Jesus, would bring with it, not even a shred of accountability.  The only anger they would inspire in the priests, is from making them wait longer for the inevitable death of Jesus.  And let’s face it, that was part of the Roman “fun” of any crucifixion.

Once naked, they find likely in the dirty clothes hamper of Pilate, a scarlet purple robe of royalty.  How much fun it might be to put this robe on Jesus (dirty as it was) to make fun of Him.  The maids will wash the blood out of it before Pilate gets it back anyway, so why not.  Matthew continues in verse 29 saying … “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!”  And Satan grants each of them an honorary PhD in Cruetly for following his lead in this matter.  What is a king without a crown.  So they make one, weaving together a thorn bush with 2 inch long thorns, long enough to push deep into the head of Jesus, causing new rivers of blood to emerge.  At this rate Jesus may not survive even the walk to the cross.  They give him a scepter made of a reed.  Then they mock Him, kneeling and hailing Him as the King of the Jews.  And this is where they believed anyone who dared to take that name belonged.  Here, bleeding out, being mocked.  Hate has no bounds, nor has it a high threshold.  Like love, when you think you have discovered all there is, more will be found in you.  Satan tries through all this cruelty to convince Jesus, that we, humanity, are not worth it.  He is right.  This is the painful truth, though it causes Satan no pain, only glee.

None of us are worth this.  At least none of us, would go through this for each other, yet Jesus is undeterred.  Now it is time to get physical.  Matthew continues in verse 30 saying … “And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.”  None of us are too crazy about the idea of having someone else hawk-a-loogie right in our face.  To have the indignity of a spit bukaki in the face of your precious Savior should cause you to cringe in horror.  But it occurred.  Jesus did not react.  Not just because His arms were so tired He would not be able to lift them to wipe away the indignity.  But He just kept looking at these men as if He loved each of them, and knew each of them personally.  This was making it lose the buzz.  So they up’ed the game.  They take back the reed, and begin to beat Him on the head, pushing the crown of thorns even deeper into his flesh every time they made contact.  Producing a new squirt of blood as if from the pump of an artery every time they made contact.  They are laughing at Him.  He is crying for them.  They are why He is here.  To save each of them.

The fun is wearing off.  Cruelty cannot sustain a high, only get one started.  To sustain the high, one must find new ways to raise the game, make it worse.  There is never enough cruelty, to keep a high going.  Besides, Jesus has dumped so much blood on the ground in front of them, they are beginning to slip.  If they stay He will bleed out, avoid a crucifixion, and get them in trouble for not following orders.  Matthew continues in verse 31 saying … “And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.”  They put His own homespun on Him again.  But they leave the crown of thorns on Him, if they pulled it out surely He would have died from blood loss.  The clothing, such as it is, is now holding His back together after the flogging.  Not much skin left, so His clothing acts as a large sack holding His body together soaking with blood throughout.  But in this condition, He is completely unable to carry the cross as was the custom.  You can bet these cruel men had ZERO intentions of helping this Jew out, or any after Him.

Matthew continues in verse 32 saying … “And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.  [verse 33] And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,  [verse 34] They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.”  They made it to the place designated for this execution.  Lucky them.  Had Jesus died en route there would have been no end to the anger.  The Romans could care less who they made help them out.  When they get there, they offered Jesus a pain-dulling stimulant, to give Him some chance to live longer.  This was not a mercy.  It was a continued act of cruelty.  The point was to see Jesus suffer as long as humanly possible.  If Jesus died right away, it kills the fun of it.  But when Jesus tasted what it was, He refused to drink.  In his depleted condition, you could not force Him, or you may just kill Him on the spot. 

Matthew continues in verse 35 saying … “And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. [verse 36] And sitting down they watched him there; [verse 37] And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”  The doctors of cruelty who have no idea about ancient Jewish prophecies now fulfill another of them without the slightest knowledge they do so.  They threw dice for the homespun of Jesus.  Once you wash His robes, they might be awefully nice to add to a wardrobe.  Further cruelty, He will die naked and exposed now for all the world to see.  What would be our shame is now His shame.  No modesty, no compassion, only cruelty.  They choose to nail His hands and feet to the cross.  They could have tied Him up there with ropes, but ropes are less painful.  Nails, or rather spikes, will pearce Him clean through and increase the pain by an order of magnitude.

But while the sound of spike through bone is heard by all, what is not heard, is even a whisper of condemnation for those who are in the middle of inflicting all this cruelty upon Him.  Jesus had to die.  But this level of cruelty was our choice, not His will.  Yet still he does not call out any who sin against Him personally, to condemn them for what they do, even though their cruelty would have surely gotten any one of us to hate them in response.  The horror of sledge hammer through bone is heard.  Continual planking and squirting of blood, yet not a word of condemnation.  This was the most evident public sin of all time, yet nothing from Jesus who knew their every thought.  And somehow still, modern Christians believe it is “their job” to point out sin.  Leave the sin diagnosis with Jesus, and frankly focus on getting the repair there as well.    The sign they erect over His head proclaims Him King.  None of these men probably read; they are not even sure what they posted.  But orders from Pilate so, so be it.

It is convenient for us to think we would never stoop to this level of cruelty to anyone, especially to Jesus.  So instead of pounding in a crown of thorns, or planking spikes through bone, we offer death by a thousand cuts instead.  We speak our blatant truth with no regard, and let the chips fall where they may.  But they are not our chips.  They are the pieces of hope and faith we shatter in another because we demonstrate to them that our version of what love means, is devoid of any caring for what another thinks and feels.  We believe it is “our duty” to call sin by its name, and speak the “will of God” as if “we” knew that will.  Our Pharisee forefathers had equal arrogance.  They too recited scripture and clung to their singular interpretations and were now killing Jesus because they too believed they knew the will of God. 

We call ourselves Christian, and then proceed to dismember others with our speech, ironically thinking we do them a favor.  We do not.  If we loved them, so much that it broke our hearts to even consider sharing with them a truth that might hurt them as well, we would find another way to say it.  We might even follow the example of Jesus during this entire event and keep our peace, keep silent.  Or we would stand there with our brothers & sisters sheltering them throughout, so that they knew we were with them forever.  If tears are to flow, let them be our tears first.  Love that cares, cares.  It is not blind to the heart of others, even in matters of truth.  Let us burn our degrees in cruelty, and study love in its place.  Let us wrap truth in a hand-stitched blanket of love, never more in a platted crown-of-thorns, before we even consider delivering it.  Let us elevate love to a high art form, ever pursuing a mastery we may never fully attain.  And in so doing, speak or see cruelty never again.

 

When the Executive Looks the Other Way ...

We rely on our President to take action, set policy, and improve the state of our country.  But what happens when things go from bad to worse to even worse still?  Most folks in our country think of themselves as either Republicans or Democrats.  Even those who consider themselves Independents usually have a leaning one way or the other with the major two parties (on policy if nothing else).  So it is not surprising that when a Republican President is in office, whatever policies are being followed are considered the “correct” ones by Republican voters.  The same is true of Democrats when a Democratic President is in office.  You could call that bias one way or the other.  The more interesting phenomenon is when one policy is followed and advocated by one side – then carried on or adopted by the other side during a different administration – that both sides switch their perspectives on the same policy.  The former advocates now become the nay-sayers.  And the former nay-sayers now see the light and become advocates.  The policy is the same.  But whether or not you support it, may have more to do with who is in the White House, and what team you align with, than with the policy itself.

Case in point; George W. Bush (Republican) started a policy of using drone strikes internationally to take out “terrorist” targets.  It was a response to 9/11 in our nation.  Americans embraced this policy because it looked like the only way we could reach people that were “guilty” with minimal risk to our own troops.  But therein lies the problem, how do we truly “know” who is “guilty” with so little human intelligence on the ground.  In truth it has to be our best guess, with a best guess level of certainty.  The actions of the drone however are unmistakable.  People die.  Not just the target but anyone in the near vicinity, drones use bombs not bullets.  So then that begs the question, is it “worth” killing the target, even if you have to kill other presumably innocent people to get him?  The decision was yes.  Even at a wedding? Yes.  Anywhere?  Yes.  So while the policy was clearly not a good thing, Americans accepted it as the price of war.  Hoping that one day it would end.

President Obama (Democrat) is elected 8 years later.  Democrats who generally did not favor blatant use (or indiscriminate use) of the drones breathed a sigh of relief, expecting this practice to be reduced or disappear.  It did not.  It got worse.  Much worse.  But Republicans did not champion Obama because of it.  Nor did Democrats criticize Obama because of it.  Both just stayed quiet, and looked the other way.  Enter President Trump (Republican) 8 years later.  Nobody even knows the state of this policy today; but given everything we have seen and heard about Trump’s feelings, you can bet this policy is still alive and well and probably even worse that it has been up to now.  The morality of it is just not examined.  The Christianity of it, by supposedly three Christian President’s on both sides of the aisle is just not examined.  It is just American vengeance we visit on those we presume guilty whether they are or not, and whether we knowingly kill innocents with the “guilty” or not.  A terrible price of war that gets worse no matter who is in charge.

You could argue this is a military decision and bad things happen in war.  Ok, then take a look at deportations of illegals across our southern borders.  George W. Bush did plenty.  Obama did more, way more.  Trump does many, does them with cages and family separations, and reduces the incoming out of fear (which worked, but at a horrible moral cost to families).  Deportations increasing from Bush to Obama did nothing to garner praise from Republicans or criticism from Democrats.  Both just stayed silent and looked the other way.  Because Trump still does them, and added new levels of pain in the mix, it has only been seeing the children in cages that finally stoked criticism; nothing about our broken legal immigration system, insecure borders, and the fact the by far, most illegals come thru visa overstays at US airports and are not Mexicans or South Americans that focuses our attention.  Just two examples of steady policies that survive and thrive across three different administrations (18+ years now) where allegiance to them, is determined at the moment and based on who is President at the time.  Better to have an Executive that “does the right thing” no matter how it has been done in the past.  But what Executive has the courage to do this, and face the criticism of the crowd?

A problem that has existed since the formation of governments themselves, and has a particular example on display in the life of Christ, or rather, the death of Christ.  George W. Bush, Barrack Obama, and Donald Trump could take a lesson from Pontius Pilate.  And the American People (us voters) could take a lesson from the crowd and the religious leadership at the time.  Matthew relays the account of what happens when religious fervor is brought to gain an alliance with the power of the State in chapter 27 of his gospel.  Religion, the common man, governmental leaders, even the military all have different primary motives and desired outcomes. 

If left to the Religious leadership of the day, everyone would have submitted to their authority.  Control was of paramount importance.  But it was under the masquerade of serving the one true God.  The common man had little time for religion (of any kind), they were more interested in eating, living, loving, and repeating these things until a ripe old age.  No gods ever did much to help them with that before.  The leader of the Government wanted peace above all.  Not for the sake of peace, but for the sake of a continual consistent flow of taxes back to Rome.  In this, promotion was to be had, and a much more pleasant venue would be sought.  And the military, they just would have preferred slaughtering everyone of Jewish descent and be done with it.  This way, they could go home, and pursue the life of common men.  While stuck putting down constant insurrections, they would never reach home, and could die in the process.  Stir this mix with demons bent on finally killing Christ, and you get a perfect storm.

Matthew begins the account picking up in verse 11 saying … “And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.”  Pilate gets right the heart of the matter as far as Rome is concerned.  Is this person, going to be another threat, like all the other would-be Messiahs had been, and would be going forward.  Pilate could care less about the question of Jesus being divine, Pilate did not believe that divinity was contained in a single one true God.  It was spread out across the entire pantheon of Greek gods, adopted and renamed into Roman ones.  The concept of a demi-god (half god, half man) was a common idea in Roman culture and so Pilate could have accepted this about Christ without even a second thought.  But man, God, or demi-God, the question Pilate cared about was … are you a threat to the peace, or a threat to Rome.  So he poses the question to Jesus about being a “new” King of the Jews.  The response and manner of Jesus quickly answer this question for him.  He isn’t.

Matthew continues in verse 12 saying … “And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. [verse 13] Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? [verse 14] And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.”  Next, Pilate would care about whether Jesus was actually guilty of some crime that would spark the need to kill Him, and have one less Jew to contend with.  So the Religious leadership present a myriad of accusations and false witnesses and Pilate sees right through their fiasco, identifying it for what it is.  But what is new, is the idea that a man on trial for His own life, would say nothing throughout all the horrible accusations they made about Him.  Most men, would be crying out to be heard, denying everything that was said, whether it was true, and especially if it was false.  But not Jesus.  He stood there already beaten and bound.  But was as quiet as a lamb.  Offering no defense.  Saying nothing.  And Pilate quickly surmised this farse for what it was – this was the problem of Pharisees wanting a popularity that Jesus had, and they did not.  Jesus was only a threat to their control over religion and worship, nothing else.  At this Pilate was stunned and amazed.

So Pilate determined to let Jesus go.  To that end, he needed a mechanism that would justify it to the people so that no one could question it.  Instead of taking the power of the Executive to do it, worry has already caused him to compromise what he knows the right thing to do is.  Matthew continues in verse 15 saying … “Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. [verse 16] And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. [verse 17] Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? [verse 18] For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.”  Pilate stacks the deck.  Barabbas was a scumbag, and his victims were not just Roman, he killed, stole, raped, murdered – because he liked it, because it pleased him.  No one was safe with Barabbas out of prison.  Little children would live in fear.  Women would live in fear.  Unarmed men would live in fear.  It was the equivalent of letting Joseph Manson out of jail, loose in a city full of potential victims and no one able to stop him.  This was a choice Pilate gave the crowd of common men, between the worst criminal they would ever fear, and Jesus who presented no threat at all, loving everyone including the Romans who He considered no enemy at all.

Pilate thought for sure this would solve the problem.  This was a clever trick, and surely advanced intellect can solve any problem right?  But things were worse than he had imagined.  Matthew continues in verse 19 saying … “When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.”  The Holy Spirt sent to Pilate, the only real person that could ever influence him, his wife.  If Romans understood superstition, then a message they would understand would be sent.  Dreams, or rather night terrors or nightmares, were the tool of choice to brand it across the mind of Pilate’s wife that Jesus was innocent.  Pilate creating clever situations was not enough.  Looking the other way would NOT be accepted.  For Pilate to keep his hands free from the death of Jesus, he must be proactive.  The wife of Pilate understood this.  She delivered her message to protect her husband and herself.  History would have been different if this Executive had listened.  Jesus would still have died, the Jews would have seen to that.  But Pilate would have remained actually innocent of His blood.   Unfortunately that would not be how it worked out.

Enter the influencers of our lives.  Matthew continues in verse 20 saying … “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.”  The common man would have normally made a normal choice.  Keep the threat in prison (Barabbas), and let the guy who feeds me out (Jesus).  That is the sensible thing to do.  That is the thing in the interest of the common man.  So Pilate’s idea should have worked.  But the Religious leaders had other ideas.  They were bent on the destruction of Jesus, so they set about to influence the crowd (us) to do the non-sensible claiming it was actually in our better interests.  We are to defy common sense (not for God) but actually against God, as prophecy outlined so long ago.  How often is the common man convinced to do the horrific because we ignore our conscience and listen to our leaders?  God says “thou shalt not kill”.  It is so important it is listed as one of the Ten Commandments.  It is a basic tenant of how to love.  Yet Christians have found a way to create a list of exemptions to that fundamental rule to justify an extraordinary level of killing without the slightest conscience prick at all.

We ignore our common sense about the simplicity of “not killing”, and complicate it with scenarios where killing seems like the best choice to do (usually for the greater good).  But what if we extended love into those very same scenarios?  Instead of killing Hitler when he was a baby, what if we surrounded Hitler with loving parents, loving friends, true Christians, and an environment that would bring out the best in any of us.  Doesn’t that solution stop the holocaust just as effectively as murder, perhaps more so.  And if we injected more love into our world today, would it not improve as well?  Preventing the next Hitler, or Isis, or whatever evil we contend with today because we meet hate with greater hate.  Our Religious leaders do not always advocate love (as they should).  They sometimes advocate expedience, or limited death, to solve bigger death problems.  The chief priests in the time of Christ made just such an argument.  To be fair, they had the assistance of Satan, and his demonic hoard as well.  We fight supernatural influence in these matters today too.  It just seems sad that Satan is found to keep lining up with Religious leadership when hate is advocated, and love ignored.

Matthew continues in verse 21 saying … “The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. [verse 22] Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. [verse 23] And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.”  Pilate does not just accept their answer.  He makes a last stand for common sense and decency.  Imagine that, it is the Roman fighting for decency.  It is the pagan believer fighting to the life of the only Son of the One True God.  The state wants no part in this murder.  But religion is not leaving it a choice.  In a last gasp of frustration, Pilate asks the cutting question “Why? – what evil has He done?”.    There is no answer given.  Only more screaming for the blood of Jesus.  Again to be fair, it is the sound of demons Pilate hears mixed with those of men in this answer.  But the voices of men are there as well.  

It is now, that Pilate will join the ranks of George W. Bush, Barrack Obama, and Donald Trump – he must make a decision that is right but will be hugely unpopular with his constituents.  If Pilate arbitrarily releases Jesus (no matter what he does with Barabbas), the people may riot, perhaps even revolt – all of it on the watch of Pilate.  All Pilate has to do to appease this crowd is look the other way on what is right, and let the crowd do what they intend to do with or without his blessing.  All leaders face this decision every day on a host of issues you and I may never fully understand.  But to be fair, this quandary is not reserved for Pilate and Presidents alone; it is something you and I face all the time.  You can choose to ignore someone in need.  You can choose to judge someone in need (deciding they earned their misfortune and justifiably walking away).  We have all earned our misfortune.  But love overlooks what we deserve, and grants grace in spite of what we earned.  Or if you lack love – it doesn’t.  It is easy to “keep going” and pass by distress and need.  It is much harder to stop, scrap what you in mind to do today, and do something that is needed instead.  A quandary for us all.  Do we look the other way, or do we look to meet the need?  The measure of love in our hearts will answer that question one way or the other.

Matthew continues in verse 24 saying … “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”  Notice Pilate calls Jesus just, or in other words innocent.  Pilate makes a public symbolic gesture to note this is NOT what he wants to do.  But the executive who has the power to do something else, will not do it, will not do what is right.  He plans to look the other way and allow these murderers to have their vengeance.  Whether Jesus deserves this or not, and plainly He does not.  Matthew records the chilling response in verse 25 saying … “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”  His blood be on us.  As American Christians we like to read this text and attribute it to someone else, frankly anyone else.  Some have speculated this is the reason why people of the Jewish faith have been persecuted world wide for only being a member of a faith and a blood line.  But they are WRONG.

To believe persecution is an act of a vengeful God, is to ignore the entire life and example of Jesus Christ.  Jesus did not come to punish anyone, but to save everyone.  “Sin” is the punishment.  Salvation is the only relief from the punishment.  Jesus came to offer us all that.  The blood line of Abraham was offered it first, but that offer has not expired, nor will it ever.  It was sin that caused the holocaust.  The sin of hate of Hitler, that dragged an entire nation down with it.  Only few survived the disease of hate Hitler caused.  And the world suffered from it.  That was not the will of God, nor was it the punishment of God.  Hate itself was the punishment, and Jesus offers the only escape from hate.  More to the point, His blood be on us, is what we say silently, every time we fail and go back to the cross for forgiveness.  For to save us from the death we have earned, Jesus offered His own blood in our place, and we must take Him up on that offer.  We do not escape our sins, until we embrace His sacrifice in our place.  That is not a Jewish thing, that is a believer thing.  That is a love thing.  He loves us that much.

Pilate has one last trick up his sleeve.  Pilate is a former soldier and has seen blood and suffering up close.  Nobody (outside of sociopaths), enjoys watching humanity suffer.  This is the reasons Romans use crosses in the first place.  Death is prolonged.  Families are tormented by the inevitable, while victims are tormented by pain until it finally overwhelms them (much like what sin does to us).  People are repulsed by this, as they should be.  So Pilate decides to whip Jesus one lash short of death.  The agony, the blood, the horror of this will be done to drive this crowd away, satisfying their blood lust, while perhaps not quite killing an innocent man.  It does not work.  It only adds torment to the process.  The common man watches with demonic glee.  Matthew concludes this section of the story in verse 26 saying … “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”  Having already compromised doing what is right, Pilate now tries a last desperate attempt to save an innocent man through horror.  But one is not saved by hate or horror, one is only made worse by them.

We cannot change history.  We must instead confront history.  Whether Republican or Democrat or Independent; we must embrace His forgiveness, though it comes at the cost of His blood.  We must humble ourselves and realize that our lives, and our salvation, come because our God decided to take on our punishment, what we had earned, for us, instead of us.  The distinctions of party or alignment with policy tend to dwarf next to that common bond.  If we are Christian (believers/followers of Jesus) then we are bonded together by the blood of our God.  That is humbling.  That humility may allow us to love each other in spite of our politics, or any other supposed difference man can invent to divide us.  His blood covers us all, and it is upon us, and our children.  His blood is also highly infectious.  Turn to Jesus, humble who you are in front of Him, allow Him to remake you, re-create you – and that same blood will produce in you a torrent of love for others you cannot fully imagine.  It will change who you are.  And before you know it, the quandary of passing by need or not, will no longer be any kind of quandary at all – it will become a no-brainer even a 2yr-old could easily understand.  We don’t need to look to our Religious leaders, or to our Executives to see change appear – we need to look into our mirrors and see Jesus shining back.  Then the change that happens will be unstoppable starting here and now, and without end.

 

Fields of Blood ...

As crop choices go, attempting to plant blood is not going to yield much, except perhaps a harvest of horror.  So when a field anywhere in the world earns that title, it typically means something horrible must of happened there, and what is remembered most about this place, is death, and blood.  Back in Roman times blood was fairly common place.  The value of life perhaps at its lowest throughout history.  People died, so many the numbers are beyond the counting.  Not just soldiers who stood on the battle fields in opposition to the iron kingdom, but slaves because the whim of their masters took the slightest offense.  Those who did not pay the exorbitant taxes Rome demanded to fund the excess of a few, died without notation in lands far and wide, and again without the slightest hesitation.  The manner of death was as varied as Roman imaginations could invent in those times.  Death was never a mercy.  It was a final punishment meant to inflict pain on the dieing, and terror on those who were left behind and forced to witness it.  In this context, for a field to stand out above the others, and still earn the title to be known as “the field of blood”, something extreme must have occurred.  It did.

The story of this field begins with dark notarity.  The prophet Jeremiah foretells the tale of woe many centuries before it will come to pass exactly as he predicts.  In its own time, the field is seeded with silver.  It is silver steeped in betrayal, not just of one man to another, but of one species to the God who created them.  Blood money gives way to buy a field to be used as a cemetery.  And none of us will ever know just how much that cost took from the universe to purchase.  We caused God the Father, to watch us murder His Only Son, to shed not just innocent blood, but divine innocent blood, a thing no being ever thought possible.  This field would truly be a place where people would go to rest in death.  There would be no hope in this place.  And its title would stick with it for centuries, even in a Roman time, when that name might have been at best redundant.  Still it stood out.  For it is where our actions to kill God were noted.

Matthew penned his gospel to his contemporaries.  His goal was to meticulously outline to any believing, studying Jew, how all the prophecies of the Old Testament met their fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ.  Even when those foretellings were dark, steeped in blood and betrayal, and would appear to condemn us all.  Jeremiah was not a light-hearted comedian of his day.  He was a gloom-and-doom, truth-to-power teller of his day.  And let’s face it, nobody likes gloom-and-doom on any day.  Matthew continues detailing the story of the betrayal of our God, of his murder, and of our weakness and horror on display throughout the process.  He picks up in chapter twenty-seven in verse one, continuing from where the church leadership has taken the story to this point.

In verse 1 it continues … “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: [verse 2] And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”  Irony of ironies.  The church decides to hide all of the other Jews who had visited violence on their Roman oppressors.  But to the One who loves His enemies, they bind Him, beat Him, and take Him to Roman authorities in order to have Him executed by the power of the state; thus attempting to hide who was truly responsible.  But in truth this was Jews, killing the God of the Jews, because He loved too much, and hated not at all.  It is not how bitter you are, that puts you at odds with the world around you, the world is used to bitter.  It is not how much you hate, that puts you out of tune with society.  Society has more than enough hidden hatred to go around to consider any one hater a particular problem.  But love like Jesus, and you will be too much of an odd ball to ignore.  The world cannot understand that kind of love, and frankly would prefer to kill it, than have to accept it.  A pattern that dates back to before the beginning of our world in the first war ever in heaven; and now finds it ultimate fulfillment in the death of Jesus.

But Jesus did not just get here by accident.  A man put Him here.  Not just any man, but the most respected man of His fellow followers.  The disciple all the others wanted to be more like.  The popular, natural leader, the good-looking guy it would be easy for any of us to follow – all things being equal.  But Judas did not just put Jesus here by accident.  He did it on purpose.  He sealed it with a kiss.  He took money for his deed of betrayal.  Even if his motive was to force Jesus to become the King He was supposed to be, that did not work.  Judas saw all of this up close and personally.  Judas was allowed in to the trial by the High Priest because he was on “their” side.  He watched them put a bag of sorts over the head of Jesus, then hit Him, and ask Him to prophecy as to who did it.  Jesus knew who did it.  But despite their crimes, He still does not offer any of them condemnation.  For those who believe it is our job to point out the sins of others, they miss the example of Jesus who was silent while being sinned against.

Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, [verse 4] Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.”  Now Judas does one last act to see if he can undo what he has done.  He comes and makes a public confession of his sin.  He reminds these men, that Jesus is innocent blood.  By telling them Jesus is innocent, Judas hopes that those who live by the law, will be constrained by the law, to release the innocent and punish Him no further.  But these religious leaders who claim to live by the Law, in no way understand the Law, or the Law Giver.  The use manipulation of the Law, to accomplish what they already set about to do.  They do not wish to be led in their interpretations, they wish to be the sole authority by which men understand any interpretation.  They want control.  And they will kill to get it.  There can be no opposition.

This is human nature on display – even inside the church of God.  And it is no different for the centuries to come even inside of Christianity, nor of the churches who evolve from the reformation.  Men still kill, punish, and excommunicate, any who stand in opposition to their control.  It is a contest of man vs. God that began long ago and will see no end, until God Himself ends it at the end of all things.  The priests acknowledge the words of Judas, and respond in a chilling voice, “what is that to us?”.  The leadership does not care what Judas has done.  Nor do they care that Jesus is innocent.  Jesus is marked for death.  Judas helped get Him there.  If Judas is having second thoughts, that is his problem, not theirs.  They remain committed to seeing Jesus die.  Who cares what Judas thinks?  But Judas has now pushed himself over the edge of brokenness.  His plans have failed.  His last ditch effort to stop this farce has failed.  Jesus will die, and history will record the name of Judas as His betrayer, even though Jesus still called him friend when he was in the middle of betraying Him.  It is too much to take.

Matthew continues in verse 5 saying … “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”  Judas sees no way out.  How could anyone forgive this level of greed and betrayal?  How could anyone love him after what he has done?  He deserves death, plain and simple.  So Judas does to himself, what all of us are equally deserving of.  He kills himself.  And there is a critical lesson to be learned here.  Judas, still in isolation from any that might have comforted him, or reminded him how much Jesus loves, even murderers, or betrayers (like Peter); makes a rash decision he cannot undo.  While there is life there is hope.  When life is gone, there is only the waiting.  Judas lost faith in the power of salvation, and the power of re-creation of Jesus Christ.  If he had held on to that faith, that hope, Jesus would have done for Judas, what He does for you and I every single day. 

Suicide is not a shortcut to the heavenly gates.  It is a statement that no one else in the world matters more than me.  It happens in loneliness, when faith and hope are lost, and isolation keeps you from getting the comfort you need.  It happens because the victim decides he is of no value to anyone else, and does not test this theory by serving others and letting history decide his value.  It is usually not born of sacrifice (like Samson), but of a break in trust (like Judas); with the God who longs to give you a better life if you would just let Him.  If we are ALL not careful, we may find ourselves on the same road as Judas, sprinting to the same destination.  Not because God will’s it, or is trying to punish us, but because we believe in God’s vengeance more than His mercy; and see ourselves of no value to a Savior who would sacrifice EVERYTHING to save just you, or just me.  This is why loving each other is SO important.  Your tangible demonstration of love might be just the thing, that keeps a suffering one from losing all hope.  And you may never know it throughout your life.  It is not important for you to know it, only to show that tangible love.  When you love like this, you demonstrate to the world, what the real character of God looks like, not what they have been taught to believe.  Anyone can condemn.  Jesus could have condemned Judas, but He did not.  He longed to save him.  But Judas refused to be saved.  Instead he fell to common sense, not divine power.

Meanwhile, the priests who care nothing for Judas, cannot leave money lying around.  Matthew continues in verse 6 saying … “And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.”  Does the irony meter have a ceiling?  The priests were the ones who just paid Judas (a detail they seem in a hurry to forget).  But they recognize this is still blood money.  And “according to the Law” they are not allowed to put the money into the treasury (where it belongs to them once again).  A wonderfully strange interpretation of the goings on of this evening.  They are driven to use the money in some other way.  But hmmm … how to spend 30 pieces of silver paid to kill innocent blood?  In this case, the innocent blood of God Himself, by the murderers who intend to kill Him.

Matthew continues in verse 7 saying … “And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. [verse 8] Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.”  How incredibly random.  First, that a potter’s field would be for sale at just that time in history.  Second, that the price of the potter’s field would be exactly 30 pieces of silver, just the exact amount of money they had, forced to use for some purpose, they interpreted.  And then, to use this field to bury strangers in.  A usage that would immediately associate death with the field.  And because of how it was purchased (the blood money that is), that it would be called and known for many centuries later as … wait for it … “the field of blood”.  Now to the non-believer, this is nothing more than series of coincidental events with no major significance by a group of people who hated Jesus so much they wanted Him dead, enough to make this price in the first place.  But Matthew has a different take on these events.

Matthew continues in verse 9 saying … “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; [verse 10] And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.”  This was the prophecy of Jeremiah.  This was the dark foretelling, of betrayal of our Lord, and how the money used in that betrayal would come to its final disposition.  And the priests (who did nothing but study scripture) walked right down the list of things required to fulfill this prophecy – something they would have NEVER done because they hated Jesus so much.  If they had remembered these words.  If they had thought about it.  They would have paid hookers rather than use the money this way just to avoid fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah about the One they were in the process of killing.  This field of blood existed because of the actions of the priests who hated Christ.  Those very priests insured the prophecy was fulfilled.

And they could not undo what they had done.  They did not even think to.  Instead the field of blood was born not because the potter came up with this idea, but because the priests did.  There was nothing random about it.  This was orchestrated.  This was the foreknowledge of God, NOT because He forced anyone to do anything.  Only because He knew what each of them would do, before they chose to do it.  It was not pre-destination, it was free will.  But those free-will choices were known by God, centuries before they were made.  Jeremiah notes it.  Jeremiah may not have even understood fully what he was writing.  But his words came true, to the letter – made so by the very ones who hated Jesus the most.  These priests were already sensitive about allowing prophecy to be fulfilled by Jesus.  When he rode on a colt into Jerusalem (fulfilling yet another prophecy), the priests complained, trying to shut the whole thing down.  Jesus told them if they did, the stones would cry out in praise instead of the people they were trying to shew away.  And those priests knew He was telling the truth.  So they left them in peace, and only broiled more in anger.  Yet despite this, here they were acting out their part to fulfill the dark words of Jeremiah.

In the world to come, there will be no more fields of blood.  Blood will be something no longer shed or lost.  Blood will stay inside of you where it belongs, where God made it to be.  Blood, like everything else God touches will be perfect.  But its price will never be forgotten.  That we made our God the Father, sit still, having all the power of the universe, and watch while we did, what we did to His only Son.  This price is beyond reckoning.  A single tear from the Father’s face is worth more than I will ever be.  A torrent of tears from the Father’s heart, is a thought that would crush me forever.  But He did it.  He allowed it.  Because God the Father loves you, loves me, and yes even loves Judas and those priests, SO MUCH; He wants only to see each and all of us reconciled to His throne.  His love is greater than our blood.  His love is greater than our worst deeds, and not a single one of us, is beyond His ability to save.  The dark words of Jeremiah bad as they are, should cement our faith in Jesus, because they happened.  Every detail that was supposed to happen, happened.  If God promises to save you.  You have only to let Him, and He will do it, just like every other prophecy He makes, or promise He offers.  And for you, fields of blood, will be no more …

 

On the Edge of Brokenness ...

How many in a crowd go unnoticed?  Who might you know, that carries the crushing weight of loneliness?  It is our isolation to blame, some we have chosen, some beyond our control.  But when we feel separated, and alone, the weight begins to mount until it is so great it is beyond our words to describe.  TV is only distraction from it.  The internet makes it worse.  Our smart phones do nothing to alleviate it.  People behind electronic screens are the not the same as people who can offer a hug when a you might trade your entire world for a hug.  Tactile contact is so precious infants will die without it, and perhaps this need never goes away.  So it must not surprise you, that your enemy looks to segregate you from all human contact if he can.  And then feed you only poisoned human contact if he must.  To destroy someone, you must begin by isolating them away from any source of love.  Distract them if you can.  Cause them to become someone hard to love if you are able.  Turn our “needs” into expressions of selfishness that make it impossible for others to break through in exactly the right way.  Make us the thorns on the rose bush instead of the flowers.  All a part of an insidious plan to break what was never intended to be broken.  Which begs the question, how do we undo it?

At creation, it was not good for humanity to be alone.  And because of the dangers of Satan, it was not ever good for man to separate and face him alone.  Alone we would be vulnerable, together we could draw some limited strength from each other, perhaps if only, to remind each other to seek the protection of God.  To focus our mind’s eye on the source of love that never runs dry, and shares an intimacy with us on a level so deep we can scarcely fathom it.  Perhaps the greatest reason why “church” should remain important to us, is this one.  In the body collective, we socialize with those who have varying degrees of knowledge of, and experience with, the love of God.  We can through that socialization encourage each other, provide love to each other, and refocus attention back to the source of all love.  We are never too far from Him, who loves us so much.  We are in fact, not alone.  Church provides us a venue to witness this.  Not through what we can gain from the going, but from what we can give in the serving.  It is by reaching out, by serving, that we are reminded of the needs of others – and taught we may be able to reflect His love in tactile form to meet those needs.

But for my conservative friends who believe “church” is the answer, rather than the opportunity to shower love at the church venue, I offer the continuing account of Matthew in his gospel to his contemporaries’ chapter 26.  So many of us lie on the edge of brokenness.  What we need are not just words of love, but deeds and demonstrations of love.  We need to share these with others.  We need to see them shared in our own lives.  Church should be a venue for this.  But if church has become ceremony, then that opportunity goes away.  Worse, if church has become only celebration events, we are distracted to forget the purpose of sharing love altogether.  And worse still, if church has become a mirror to reflect an unforgiving law, largely made up of the interpretations of man, love has left the building entirely.  Jesus found himself alone, in a church of the latter, though this was never his desire or intent.  Jesus created a religion designed to understand the price of forgiveness, to drive our hearts to love and thus the diminishing need for continued forgiveness.  But ceremony had replaced transformation of hearts.  And church had degenerated until the misuse of the Law was now on display for all to see.

This lesson of church evolution in the time of Christ, was meant to help us avoid its reptition in our own day; but that lesson seems to be lost on us.  Judas and Peter, founding members of the next, new church, had found themselves both in isolation by choice.  They needed each other, both for different reasons, but both in need of love and comfort they might have offered each other if they had remained together.  Instead Judas found himself totally alone unable to humble himself to admit his mistakes and seek the comfort of church, the collection of the body.  Peter chose to be alone, hoping to lose the disguise of church, and be only one man in the crowds of the world.  Peter wanted to blend in and be unnoticed.  From this position he could watch, and see what he dreaded to see, but needed to see for the sake of closure if nothing else.  If his faith in the Messiah was misplaced, he needed to know it.  If Jesus was to die like every other would-be Messiah died, he needed to see it.  This way he could look for another.  In his isolation his faith was wounded greatly, and no one was there to offer comfort, or encouragement.  Church we hold at fixed times, in fixed venues, does nothing to solve this problem even today.  We would need to think of church differently and more fluidly today if a solution is to be found that meets needs of the struggling in real time.

Matthew continues with the story, of the results of betrayal – not just of Judas at this point – but of a church that has forgotten its only real purpose; to show the love of God to all.  Matthew now recounts what his church had devolved to in the last days of the ministry of Jesus before He dies.  It begins in verse 57 saying … “And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. [verse 58] But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.”  Jesus is not just being taken to some random local church on a bender from what the establishment dictates.  He is being taken to the home of the establishment, to the pinnacle of church leadership, where only the top people in the nation will decide his fate.  Popes, archbishops, priests, pastors, elders; pick your title of church leadership in today’s vernacular – it is these people that will decide the fate of our God, if he is to live or die.  But ALL of them are already bent on his death.  They are now only looking for an excuse, ahem, that is to say, a legal justification to see that outcome.  Mercy is unknown to them.  Love a mystery they may only claim to shower on their families, but for “heretics”, it is wholly absent.

Peter goes into the palace of the high priest.  Note that even back in the days of Jesus, the church leadership does not seem to want for a place to live, nor for servants, or food.  Being paid to lead the church of God has transcended being sustained, into being well-to-do, and all of it, in the name of a God who desires mercy more than all else.  Still today, so many church leaders, have made this compromise with themselves never remembering for a moment what the privilege and wealth of Caiaphas might have done to influence his thinking in these proceedings.  But Peter has not gone to his house to bring the good news of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Savior of us all.  Instead Peter hopes to slip in un-noticed.  Peter does not want to preach there, he wants to participate through witness of what takes place there.  He will do nothing to call attention to himself as he is “undercover” in the world.  How many of us are no different?  We choose isolation from the church, and then go undercover into the world.  We wish no one to know of our Christianity, because we do not want the burden of having to love others, and treat them kindly.  If no one knows we are a Christian, then how we treat others is up to us, with no stain on religion … only a stain on our hearts and souls.  But as we remain undercover from the source of love, we also embrace isolation from it, and further segregate ourselves from any source of comfort.

Matthew continues the story in verse 59 saying … “Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; [verse 60] But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, [verse 61] And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.”  In Jewish law, it took at least two witnesses to establish the truth of a thing.  So in theory, a person, particularly a preacher, who teaches heresy should easily have had more than two witnesses to their crimes.  But instead of finding actual witnesses.  The church leadership looked for, (and paid) false witnesses, to make stuff up.  This is the prosecution (who also happen to be the judges), paying for purgered testimony to fix the trial.  And STILL it does not work.  Mosty because what one witness lies about, another undoes with his own lies.  And at the end of it all, they have nothing, despite the rather large cash payments lost for another result.  And they are livid.  The church has chosen to kill God, rather than listen, and they are now ready to break the Law to get there to accomplish it.

Any defense attorney could easily have wiped the floor with these witnesses, and consequently with this mock trial.  Any defense attorney could have gotten the whole thing dismissed.  And where was Judas, watching silently from the audience hoping still that Jesus would rise up call down those 12 legions of angels and kill these fools?  And where was Peter, not breaking cover to step forward and offer his services as the defense attorney for Christ.  In fact, none was provided.  Peter could have stepped in, and at least tried to defend Jesus when it counted.  But fear kept Peter silent and alone.  Does fear of rejection still keep you silent and alone?  Does fear of having odds stacked against you, by powerful people, keep you silent when if nothing else you could at least offer words of encouragement to one in need.  It would not have changed the outcome of that trial, but Peter attempting to defend Jesus would have greatly mended the heart of Christ.  But Jesus already knew what Peter was going to do, or rather not do.  Even when Peter had pledged his life in opposition to his real actions, or rather lack of action.  Instead Jesus stood alone without representation.  At last 2 people agreed about the statements of Jesus in regards to the Temple.

Matthew continues the account in verse 62 saying … “And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? [verse 63] But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”  Throughout this farse of a church trial, conducted by church leadership, and without any notion of what church is about – Jesus remained silent.  Is it still so today?  When our church has become ceremony, or celebration, or an in-depth analysis of the interpretation of the Law, might Jesus still remain silent?  Or are we so noisy with our opinions at our events, we are simply unable to hear Him.  Perhaps so busy “praising” Him in song, we have mezmorized ourselves into such a hypnotic state we have forgotten that trying to hear Him was even an option.  We tell ourselves these are our ideas of church; yet are mystified when Jesus appears silent throughout our farse.  But He was there, waiting and hoping that just one soul might break with tradition and reach out to one other soul in need, offering to be a reflection of His love.  When that occurs, the voice of Jesus can be heard, in the tears of gratitude of one who was being crushed by loneliness, and now can see relief.  Judas could have given this to Jesus, but remained silent in church.  Peter could have done the same, but chose to remain silent as well.

The High priest is desperate.  He knows the words of Jesus regarding the destruction of the Temple, while not popular, are also not a crime.  So he has only one option left, to get Jesus to publicly state His identity.  For a man to claim to be God is blasphemy.  It still is.  The only time this is untrue, is when God claims to be God.  The High Priest knows Jesus is God, but also knows He can use the law to get him stoned or killed for this offense.  Knowing the truth hardly stops a determined church leadership from doing what it wants to do, even if that is killing God.  The silence has been deafening up to now from Jesus.  So the High Priest demands by the living God to answer his question.  There is no choice now.  When compelled under these terms Satan must answer, demons must answer, angels must answer.  It is a way to sort out who is who.  If the desperation of your loneliness has driven you to seek out souls who have departed from this world for comfort, ask them using these same words who they truly are – but be prepared for an answer you will not enjoy.  Yet it is not God’s intent for you to find comfort from demons in masquerade, but from imperfect living humans who are willing to share His heart and reflect His love.

Jesus is compelled to answer picking up in verse 64 saying … “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”  Jesus is God.  He sits at the right hand of the Father.  And when He returns it will be in power, coming in the clouds of heaven for the entire world to see.  But in this case, Jesus tells the High Priest he will see Him come in this way.  Now we have the benefit of hindsight.  We know that the persecution of Jesus did not end at the cross by the Jewish leadership.  They sought to detroy the faith after Jesus was resurrected and returned to heaven.  They killed believers, chased them, followed them, and attempted to kill any who would not conform.  Jews killing Jews.  So modern Christians interpret this promise as a threat by Jesus.  We believe it will require a “special resurrection” of this High Priest and perhaps those at that trial, in order to see Jesus second coming – even though none of them will be going to heaven with Jesus at that time.  This is certainly one possibility.

But I would offer for consideration one other possibility with even more hope in it.  Murders do go to heaven (forgiven ones that is).  Betrayers of our Lord go to heaven (witness Peter who we all believe fell into this category).  And yes, the only requirement is a change of heart to seek the forgiveness of our Lord to see this happen.  It can even happen in the last moments of a criminal’s life (like the theif Jesus will be meeting and dieing next to in only a little while).  While the life of this High Priest and the Jewish church leadership in this time is horrific, it is not beyond redemption.  It is possible that forgiveness could have been sought without the pages of scripture to document it, perhaps even to know of it.  If that forgiveness was finally sought, then this High Priest would be joining the resurrection of the righteous like any other forgiven murderer and betrayer of our Lord.  In this scenario Caiaphas could be your next-door neighbor in heaven, having both of you witness the second coming of Jesus in power and glory.  For Caiaphas sake, I hope this is what Jesus meant.  What I have come to know, is that it is not my place to judge, or to invent interpretations of scripture to fit what is commonly believed.  Instead it is to long for the soul of Caiaphas as I would long for the soul of my own son; to love this criminal of history as much as I would love my only son.  For that is the love of Jesus for Caiaphas, for me, and for my son.

But at this time in his life Caiaphas was not of a forgiving or merciful spirit, he was running the footsteps of Satan and fully doing Satanic will.  All it takes for any of us to be found this way, is to abandon mercy and love, and pick up the banner of a demand for justice against those in the wrong.  Satan does that every day.  Matthew continues in verse 65 saying … “Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. [verse 66] What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.  [verse 67] Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, [verse 68] Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?”  Caiaphas is more alone now than perhaps he will ever be, even if he is in church, and surrounded by those of like belief.  But absent service, absent mercy, and absent love – this church is nothing but the playyard of Satan himself.

But Caiaphas is not the only one there is who is totally alone regardless of the crowd size.  Judas hears this verdict and finally realizes there will be no coming back from this.  Peter hears it outside, but it is during the proceedings that Peter chooses to embrace isolation through denial.  Of him Matthew tells the story picking up in verse 69 saying … “Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. [verse 70] But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.”  Peter has been recognized as a companion of Jesus by the damsel.  Having been caught, he could have now gone inside and tried to be the defense attorney of Jesus, or at least stood by Him during this trial.  He does not.  He lies in order to stay isolated (and safe).  Peter walks down the razor’s edge of brokenness, and instead of giving up isolation and running to Jesus; he lies and embraces further solitude.

Matthew continues in verse 71 saying … “And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. [verse 72] And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.”  Peter is recognized again by another maid (no shortage of servants in the home of High Priest, wealth buys many of them).  Peter had changed location in the mansion, but still with no luck.  He is found out again.  There is still time to comfort Jesus is His isolation.  But rather than accept the inevitable and offer service to Someone else in the greatest of need, Peter doubles down on the lie, this time making a solemn oath of his denial.  Vows like this were said to be irrevocable and unbreakable to the point of death.  Essentially the man who said he was willing to die to remain by Jesus only a few hundred feet away, was now pledging to die rather than ever having known Jesus at all.   Both were the promises of men.  Both were lies under pressure.  Both should tell us what our promises are worth today.

Matthew continues in verse 73 saying … “And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. [verse 74] Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. [verse 75] And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.”  Now to further affirm his isolation, Peter adds swearing to his list of crimes to prove he is not a Christian.  The sons of thunder earned their name from language like this.  When the rooster begins to crow, the words of prophecy of Jesus have been fulfilled.  The rooster affirms the isolation Peter has chosen for himself, cutting himself off from the source of all love. 

And are we any different?  We walk on a path at the edge of brokenness, and when confronted we deny any connection to Jesus, and further deepen our isolation.  For we have developed a great need to be served and abandoned all ideas of service ourselves.  We wish church to be a “place” where we go to fill our needs; not a concept of brotherhood that never turns off, demanding mercy and love from us even for those that are hard to love.  We look to end our isolation in front of screens that put no real demands upon us, and are surprised when this is not enough.  The weight of loneliness is real.  Its ability to crush our spirit is real.  The remedy is real as well.  But is not found in what we discover that meets our needs, but in the discovery when we meet the needs of others. 

In meeting the needs of others, we lose the needs we thought we had for ourselves.  Other priorities combined with the love of God, begin to open up the very words of Jesus in our ears, and make them real as if spoken in audible form.  The selfish heart is not too keen on this answer.  The untransformed heart will find it does not have the strength to grasp it.  But the heart that is willing to submit itself before Jesus to be remade, and re-created, will find it comes naturally.  And loneliness will become a thing of the past, and a burden no more.  Many solutions to loneliness present themselves, but only one is permanent.  Because only one changes who you are, puts you in harmony with God, and teaches you to see the infinite value of God’s treasure – namely others - for what and who they are.