And Lead Us Not Into Temptation ...

Gold tried in a fire is said to become pure, and even more brilliant in shine than it was before.  But from the perspective of the gold, not such a thrilling prospect.  The reward may be worth the upheaval of the journey, but that is hard to see at the beginning, and nearly impossible to see in the midst.  Gold, and humans, often see themselves as “good enough” in whatever condition they find themselves.  To enter the furnace in order to emerge finer still, is something almost none of us would choose to do.  So most often, the choice is made by fate, or by a design beyond our sight and imagination.  It makes logical sense to us that faith that has never been tested, is at best an unknown quantity.  Faith that has been through the crucible and emerged on the other side even more brilliant than before, is a faith that can be relied upon more than the untested one. 

Faith that is untested could prove fatal when it matters the most.  Faith that is untested could be discarded without formal notice; but by the aggregation of competing philosophies and theories that require no “constriction” of our desires and lives.  Discarded faith is often cast aside because the gold of our characters believes it is simply good enough.  Atheists are quick to tell you that “good” behavior requires no God to see it in action.  Good people are everywhere, and none require God to instantiate that good behavior.  In the world of the Atheist, there is no understanding of “temptation”.  There is only choice to do one thing or another.  Morality absent in the decision, or subjective in the decision.  Faith discarded.  Faith killed upon an altar of self-reliance.  Untested.  And finally un-needed.

But those Christians who examine this rarely think of themselves as candidates for a discarded faith.  And simultaneously we desire a life of ease, and free from the burdens that conflict with the world must inevitably bring.  So for us temptation continues to exist.  Temptation for those of faith represents decisions where the morality is known, one for service, one for selfish.  But despite our knowledge of which is which, our desire, long crafted in this world, longs for the selfish, despite knowing better.  We continue to want the wrong things.  So the hold they have on us is deep and abiding.  Chains of slavery masquerading as simple desires for little white elements of destruction.  They look innocuous.  But the tentacles of these desires that would lead us on the wrong path seem to reach as deep in us as our DNA.  Heredity or environment, matters not if the result is to find ourselves on the wrong side of temptation.  The pain we cause is real, remains, and spreads like a virus.

For the Savior of our world, without the repetition of failure, temptation was to be something epic and singular.  Unlike us, He was to face something we could not face.  Matthew begins his account in chapter four of his gospel picking up in verse 1 saying … “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”  Context matters here.  Jesus has just been baptized.  His formal ministry has just begun.  It has been proclaimed by John the Baptist, and by the voice of the Father God Himself, and the Spirit in the form of a dove.  No greater public spectacle has been witnessed.  Jesus has just symbolically laid down His life in the waters and emerged purified before God ready to start a ministry.  And literally seconds later the first thing He must face is direction by the Spirit of God Himself to travel into the wilderness, away from the people, away from anything that could sustain a man, and prepare for temptation of the devil himself.

And silly Christians; we somehow think that emerging from the baptismal waters will insulate us from the devil’s temptations.  If anything, it intensifies the devils attempts to bring us back into the creatures who needed the baptismal waters in the first place.  Baptism is not the sealing of our faith, it is only a step in the journey of our faith.  Baptism does not keep temptation away from us, it invites the fury of Satan to see us returned to our former condition.  But the devil need not win.  Yet Jesus did not just stumble into temptation.  He was led to it.  He did not just decide to go face off with the devil and see who wins.  The Spirit of God literally drove Him into the desert to face His (or ours) worst fears.  Failure here would not result in a quick forgiveness.  Jesus was to be the instrument of forgiveness.  If Jesus messed up, there might not ever be forgiveness.  The pressure was to be enormous.

Matthew continues in verse 2 … “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.”  The deck was to be stacked in Satan’s favor.  Starvation would drive the body of Jesus to a barely alive condition.  Hallucinations could be only the beginning.  To say he was hungry was the understatement of the millennia.  Most men would give anything they had to eat.  Esau’s test in a similar vein had come and gone with an entire birthright given away.  But the birthright here was the entire human race. 

Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”  The argument of the Atheist is born.  This temptation was not about bread or hunger, this was about one thing … prove it.  “If”, notice the pronounced use of the word “if”; if you are the Son of God.  It does not even matter what follows next.  In the day of Jesus it was a temptation to use divine power on Himself, which Jesus never did throughout His life.  But in our day, it is to “fill in the blank”.  Atheists always promise reform of their beliefs and positions if our God just proves that He exists, in physical terms, in literal terms, in any kind of manner that requires zero faith.  Let faith remain dead, and furnish only a tangible means of proof that God is God.  For untested faith, discarded faith, it would lead only to the result it sees today.  Should any proof actually be provided, it would be discarded as “not enough”.  The lack of faith can always find an excuse NOT to believe.

Matthew continues in verse 4 saying … “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  Let us not lose sight of the subtlety of this challenge to His identity.  Jesus does not directly argue with the chief of all Atheists.  Instead He turns to scripture, to the Word of God, to answer.  Jesus recites scripture to Satan.  Our response to our Atheist friends should not be a direct argument with their logic and assumptions.  It should be to put the salvation of our friends squarely into the mouth of God.  We should call out to our God to save our friends, lift them up before the throne of God, that He may save them.  We in effect give God permission to answer our prayers even if the Atheists would never reach out on his own.  This mechanism may be responsible for more converted souls into His kingdom than we will ever know.

Matthew continues in verse 5 saying … “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,”  In this gesture the devil reveals he is a creature beyond the limits of humanity.  The devil has supernatural abilities, from the perspective of men.  Perhaps Satan hoped that this gesture might affirm his disguise of being cloaked in light, trying to impersonate a heavenly angel and servant of God.  As he still comes to us.  Satan does not appear to the believer as a cloven hoofed, red painted, forked tail creature with horns.  That imagery might work in a renaissance painting, but in modern society this image provides him with nothing but cover to appear as a creature of light.  Satan is not interested in clarity, he is the master of obfuscation.  He tells you to do what you want to do, and then tells you it is the right thing to do, that God wants you to do it.  Just like he is doing to Jesus so many years ago.

Matthew continues in verse 6 saying … “And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. [verse 7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”  This is a second challenge to the identity of God.  The word “if” prominently used.  This time Satan challenges Jesus as the Son of God, but also challenges that God will uphold the promises He has offered in scripture.  It is a double insult.  But it remains so terribly effective in our day.  We pursue a course we know we should not.  Then once down the evil path, we call on God to save us from the consequences of our actions, and expect Him to do it, and blame Him if He does not.

While God has promised to protect us from forces beyond our sight, and dangers that Satan would otherwise pose to us.  God has not promised to protect us from our own stupidity.  When we disregard common sense, the laws of physics, and the word of God … we put ourselves in a place where we should expect normal results, not ones influenced by the power of God.  It is not that God cannot protect us, but it is that “we” are “tempting” God to save us.  Mercy, is not the same thing as expectation.  Pity, is not the same thing as expectation.  God is not to blame for the stupidity of our choices, though often His love for us finds a way to save us in spite of ourselves.

Matthew continues in verse 8 saying … “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; [verse 9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”  Satan no longer care to challenge the identity of Jesus, now all he cares about is “who” we worship.  Turn your eyes away from God.  Worship self.  Just once.  How bad could it be?  One time for all this.  He offers the Atheist freedom from the restraints that religion imposes.  He offers the Christian a fulfillment of the texts that imply they must “do” something to be saved beyond accept the gift of God.  He offers Jesus an easy way out.  No pain, no death, just compliance and all this is yours.  But his offer was a lie.  And his offers are still a lie.

Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. [verse 11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”  We would like to picture a victorious Christ, full of strength and vigor telling Satan off, driving him away, and hiking back down the mountain to begin picking up disciples.  But this is not how it was.  Human frailty insured it.  An emaciated, starving, to the point of death, Jesus uses His last ounce of strength to resist for the final time the temptations of Satan.  Satan does not leave Him because he was driven away.  He leaves Jesus because there are no more temptations left to offer.  Nothing left to say.  Jesus will not be defeated by the temptations man succumbed to.

After these words, Jesus collapses.  And now the promises of God are fulfilled in the heart break of heaven.  Angels who were veiled from Him, now appear in full glory bringing food, water, and love to the Savior who without their aid might have died on the spot.  They revive the broken body of man, ever compliant with the direction of the Spirit.  Jesus has not run from temptation as Jonah might have done.  He has not lost trust in God as Adam did.  He offers Himself here, even to the point of His life as few others did.  Whatever the challenge He has neither shrunk from it, or been defeated by it.  It is the gold tried in the fire.  He was in all pointed tempted as we are.  But without our failures.  Jesus wanted different things.  We need different wants as well.

Temptations remain effective against us, because we still want the wrong things.  We need different desires.  We need ones put within us by Jesus Christ.  Not ones we think up ourselves, but one’s placed within us by a divine hand.  This can only happen when we let go of our desires to Jesus Christ.  When we surrender what we “want” to Jesus, He can take them from us.  He breaks our chains of slavery, and in their place puts desires we “should” have, and come to appreciate very much.  Over time, we come to learn that what He puts in us to want, are the best things to want.  We cannot trust ourselves, or our desires.  But we can trust Him fully with our salvation, and our characters.  We can trust Him to save our Atheist friends and family we lift up to Him in prayer, as we trust Him to save us, and our Christian brothers and sisters who we also lift up to Him in prayer.

This was a crucible for Jesus.  This was a fire experience.  It was not a casual Sunday drive through the park (or the desert).  It was a life threatening, dangerous fire, that could have consumed the hope of the human race.  It was a fire no one would choose to go through.  And it carved a memory in Him He could not forget.  When asked later by His disciples to teach them how to pray, the words … and lead us not into temptation … are included.  These words were not just part of some formula.  They were a reflection of these 40 days of hunger and temptation in the desert of His ministry.  No one would choose to be led there.  And so He reminds us to ask God, please not to be led into this kind of fire. 

Our faith will be tested.  But as our desires change, perhaps temptation will no longer be the mechanism of test.  Perhaps then only trust will remain the trying fire.  Do we trust that our God strong enough to save this Atheist who wants nothing to do with Him?  Do I trust God completely with my own salvation?  After all my track record is not that good.  Nevertheless; Lead us not …

 

Salvation Tutorial 101 ...

New Year’s is a perfect time to consider the basics of how salvation works.  New Year’s Resolutions in particular are a perfect target for consideration in how salvation works.  Each new year typically on January first, we announce to our family and friends, a set of goals or ideals we wish to accomplish in the new year.  It is completely arbitrary why the ticking of the clock from one second to another, and the movement of the calendar from one year to another should provide “the motivation” we need to accomplish these goals but so be it.  But no matter what we announce, or what we set out to accomplish, it just does not seem to get done.  Logic dictates that if we were actually going to reach these goals, they would already be done and historical.  The fact that they remain open is a pretty good revelation they are going to stay that way.  But none the less, many Americans repeat this tradition year after year never seeming to account for an audit of how good they did against previous goals, nor coming up with a new way of attacking the new ones that might lead to a more successful outcome.  The problem in a nut-shell … is you and me.

Call it higher priorities, insufficient funding, circumstantial prohibitions, or just good old “lack of will power”, it is nearly certain that all the declarations we set for the new year are likely to come up short.  The one constant in any new year’s resolution … you and me.  At the base of every declarative, is the person who declares it.  That person cannot control fate, cannot control his environment, ultimately has little control over his or her own health (given the pollution we are all subject to).  So given a complete lack of control over all the factors one would need in order to accomplish a particular goal, how could we possibly think we would do it?  Shifting priorities might be a kind way of saying our species shares the attention span and discipline of a nat.  We move from one obsession to another with the frivolity of ancient Romans (and with the same destiny as well).  Even if control over environment and circumstance could be fully achieved, control over the discipline-of-self is an even greater mountain to climb.  So why bother?  The best resolution I ever made, was to quit making them.  It seems that one, I have had the “discipline” to maintain.

But where it comes to salvation, often the same approach is taken, with ultimately the same result ensuing.  We pursue a path to perfection powered by our own declarations.  When reality sets in, and we realize how far from perfect we are, we determine “perfection” is not worth pursuing, and resign that however, and whoever we are today is simply “good enough”.  We rationalize that perfection must not be required by God, and that the love He extends for us in our sinful condition is big enough to leave us there.  The problem at the base of this form of salvation is no different than the culprit at the base of our New Year’s Resolutions … it is you and me.  Declaring we are perfect is not the same as actually being so.  And performing the actions of a perfect person without the underlying motivation of a perfect person is not really any better.  If you don’t sin, but you want to sin, you lose.  But people who are truly free from sin, are hard to find, and the path to get there must be to quote Oliver Stone … “a mystery, wrapped in an enigma”.  If it were easy, seems to me everyone would be perfect already, so since there are few, it must be hard.  This is sound logic, but wrong logic all the same.

It really only took Christ 5 verses in the whole Bible to explain the entire process.  But like dolts with the IQ and attention span of Homer Simpson, we skim over these passages and write them off as being “too hard”.  But perhaps you and me could take just one more look, and find it might be easier than we thought.  The revelation is mostly quoted directly from Jesus Christ, as remembered by Peter, and transcribed by John Mark in the gospel with Mark’s name, chapter eight, and picking up near the end of the chapter in verse 34 saying … “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”  Spoiler Alert … everything you really need to know is completely contained in this verse alone, the remaining four verses are only added for further clarification of what He said right here.

Let’s begin by looking at the context.  Jesus calls the people to Him as well as His disciples also.  What Jesus plans to reveal is the most important thing we could ever know and so He wants as wide an audience as possible for this one.  He opens with the declarative, then with the goal … “Whosoever will come after me”.  Whosoever might be the most hopeful word ever uttered because it lacks any kind of qualifications.  In essence, this offer is open to everyone, to anyone.  It does not matter what state of sin you find yourself in when you hear it, you can come too.  It does not matter how old you are from as young as it gets to hear Him, or so old you can barely still hear Him.  There are no boundaries around race or skin color.  It does not matter what culture you come from.  It does not matter what sex you are, or for that matter what sex you prefer; in fact it covers single people, married people, or divorced people (good thing for all us heterosexuals).  Jesus could have qualified His offer.  He could have said, everybody but these kinds of people.  He could have said, that you had to believe these particular doctrines first, but you will note, he does not.  This offer is for everyone, and it is not pre-qualified by any condition at all.

Next, is the goal … to come after Him.  If we would like to be like Him, live like Him, serve like Him, go where He goes, do what He does, be like He is.  That is the goal.  To be a different person, that is more like Jesus, than the person we are right now.  If that sounds appealing, it should.  Imagine having no addictions to pleasing self, and in its place, having a burning passion for loving others, and a sense of fulfillment and purpose that no one else can barely understand let alone attempt to take away from you.  Imagine having a relationship so close with God the Father, that health concerns are gone cause you simply heal everything (no exceptions).  Imagine hearing God the Father’s voice audibly in your ears, and knowing His will, and being overwhelmed in how pleased you are to carry it out, finding that one person in need, and meeting that need.  Imagine having no desire to sin anymore, and so spending no time thinking about sin anymore, instead free to think about things you never had time to consider before.  This is the goal Jesus is laying out without a single precondition, doctrinal study, conversion kit, or monetary donation in order to achieve.

Next Jesus lays out the mechanism for how to get this goal … now careful cause this is the part we usually get wrong.  Jesus says … “let him (or her) deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”  So there are three parts to this, and everybody zooms in on #2, but slow the train down, and let’s look at #1 first.  The way this offer is achieved BEGINs by denying that “you” can give it to “you”.  So instead of every tradition in the world you know about; Jesus.  Instead of studying the Bible till you memorize it, and can quote it backwards; Jesus.  Instead of adhering to a particular set of doctrines, in a particular denomination, and in a particular local church; Jesus.  Instead of being celibate, single, married, divorced, or just confused; Jesus.  The problem with every competing religion is that they ALL teach you that salvation, or nirvana, or enlightenment, or perfection, are achieved by what “you” do or don’t do.  The problem with most Christians, is that they take this philosophy and bring it right into our churches and believe that “you” are responsible for your salvation.  Whether in partnership with Christ, or in full on your own, either way does not “deny” yourself, and instead look ONLY to Jesus.

If your perfection relies upon you to achieve it, it might as well be one of those New Year’s Resolutions that you will never achieve.  The only way your motives will ever match your actions, and be in complete harmony with God the Father, is if Jesus MAKES you that way.  If He recreates and restores in you, a new creation He intended you to be.  It will be Jesus that MAKES you free from sin, not you who finds some way of doing it on your own.  If you do not understand the #1 thing Jesus says must be done to obtain His free offer, nothing else is going to make sense either.  But if you understand that you submitting your will, your desires, your actions, and your decisions to Jesus Christ is going to result in Him making you a new creation, then what follows makes much more sense as well.

Once the process of salvation begins (that is, Jesus saving “you” from “you”) you will quickly realize that the life you were living before is not the one you want.  “Who” you are today, is nothing next to “who” you can be after Jesus makes you a new person.  What you want today, will change completely after Jesus gets a hold of your life.  How you love will change, who you love will change from only you loving you, to you loving others completely.  You will love more passionately after Jesus.  You will sympathize and love more people than you ever thought possible after Jesus.  Your desires to sin will fade away, until you cannot believe you ever had them at all.  In short, the life you have today, will come to be a life you no longer want, or could ever imagine wanting again.  The new life Jesus creates for you will be the one you want.  At that point, only after that realization, will you be able to “take up your cross”.  The cross is the symbol of death, in this case, the death of who you were.  We take it up freely, because we no longer want the old life, but the new one.  That becomes our testimony, our witness.  This is not some sort of death cult, but it is a gospel of new birth, of re-birth, of recreation. 

Once we realize that Jesus alone saves us, and we are letting Him do that replacing our life with His new one, we begin to follow Him as the easiest road we ever walked.  Sure sin, and Satan are going to try to bring us pain while we remain on this side of heaven, but the intimacy with God the Father, can overcome anything this world can throw at us.  Following Jesus, is easy once the process He laid out is the one we are following.  Trying to follow Jesus, or pick up your own cross, without denying yourself; is the hardest thing a man or woman could ever attempt to do, and is doomed to failure.  What Jesus says beginning in verse 35 is … “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. [verse 36] For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? [verse 37] Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  These verses are meant for someone who still thinks that his current life is better than something Jesus could give him.

For the sinner who is still firmly in the grasp of Satan, he is not so sure he wants to be a different person altogether.  He might have to leave his significant other, or stop having that affair, or quit cheating and becoming rich by it.  The temporary “pleasures” of this world might have a hold on the heart deceived by Satan.  Everything he invested in his current life looks like a lot, and the rewards might actually be significant; but Jesus is saying its entire value is nothing next to what He is offering.  Losing someone we “love” might be the result of submitting fully to Christ.  But learning how to really love others, will make the right union be all the richer in the future.  Losing the wealth of this world will cause hardship here, but abject poverty here for a short time is nothing next to the ability to give everything to others and find purpose and fulfillment we have never known before.  The cement is gold in heaven for a reason, it is worthless.  The people on the other hand are priceless.

Some sinners have a hard time when they consider what their “friends” and family might think of them if they pursue this course.  Jesus has council for them as well in verse 38 saying … “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”  Those sinners who remains ashamed of changing into who Jesus would make them, will embarrass Jesus when He returns, for He will be unable to take them home with Him.  Jesus does not force you to accept Him.  He does not take control over you, unless you give it to Him.  Jesus can take you from whatever state of sin you are in today, and make you an entirely different person.  But if you choose to stay where you are, He cannot make you change.  Love does not force its will on another.

In these texts are the secret to perfection.  Where you have always failed at changing yourself, Jesus can change everything about you that needs it.  Where you might define yourself as the chief among sinners today, Jesus can turn your life around so you do not even recognize who you used to be.  This is why doctrine does not matter.  This is why sexual orientation does not matter.  Because Jesus will fix, what needs to be fixed, in His time, and in His manner, and no one else has the right to judge.  It is not who you are today that matters at all, only that you are willing to let Jesus’s love fully transform your life.  When He is done with you, you will not regret it, you will dive into it, embrace it, and be so thankful for it.  The process might be long.  The people who are supposed to be supporting you along the way, may throw rocks instead.  But the end product is so worth the journey.  To have your motives and actions aligned with God the Father is the ultimate prize for humanity, and that is what is offered freely, and is achievable in our reality.  This is way different than every New Year’s Resolution you have ever heard about, and way better, cause it works.  What do you want?  Who do you want to be?

 

A Bigger God ...

Ever had a project at work that was important to you, that you wanted to not only do well, but to do better than anyone, maybe even yourself, thought possible?  Or perhaps you wanted to make Christmas for your child, an event they could not even begin to estimate, something beyond their wildest expectations.  There are times when the efforts we take on, we take on with an internal passion, a drive to make the results something spectacular, something epic.  Our measuring stick is not one imposed on us by other people, or even by convention.  Instead we plan to far exceed anything “normal” convention may have imposed and attempt to pull off something singular.  If we were to do this regularly, it might have the effect of raising the expectations of others that this is “just what we do”.  Doing something spectacular might get lost in the perceptions of others because we do it so often.  But what happens when exceeding expectations is not just a periodic goal we undertake, but a core part of who we are?  Jesus faced this.

But Jesus faced perhaps a bigger dilemma, how to contain the infinite in the limited package of humanity, and effectively teach us who God is, and how much God loves.  The people in the days of Christ had preconceived ideas about who the Messiah was, and what the Messiah was supposed to do.  The most important role the Messiah was supposed to play was that of liberator-in-chief.  The Messiah was supposed to throw off the yoke of Roman oppression and establish Israel as the eternal kingdom, based in Jerusalem forever more.  This goal pleased the hearts of the people.  It had a very direct and personal impact on all of them.  No more taxes.  No more unjust torture and crucifixion.  No more influence of pagan gods, and idols strewn throughout the land.  Getting rid of the Romans would help “purify” the Temple, and allow the people to lead better lives, where they were independent, and in need of nothing.  This view was scripturally based.  It was in error, but it originated from reading and interpreting their existing Bible, the same one we use today.  They had simply misread the texts having to do with the “second” coming of Christ, with those having to do with the “first” coming.  Because this interpretation was pleasing to them, they stuck with it, ignoring all the other texts that seemed to be in conflict with it.  Are we any different today?

So Jesus had a compounded problem.  He would NOT be filling the role of conqueror at this time, and establishing His final kingdom forever and ever.  In this, the people were going to be inclined to completely reject Him as the Messiah, indeed the religious leadership already had.  But Jesus was going to show us the role of Physician-in-Chief.  There was not a single malady, a single illness or condition, that Christ would not heal and restore to perfection.  Even death was not an obstacle to Christ where it came to restoring us and removing our pain.  But our God is bigger than just the ultimate doctor who knows our bodies and minds better than anyone who ever lived.  Jesus would also take on the role of Teacher-in-Chief.  In this Jesus would teach the scriptures as they were meant to be taught, in perfection, with clarity and authority, as it was He who had inspired them in the first place.  Then there was the challenge of revealing to us the love of the Father, of revealing to us His motives, and His love.  Living a life of perfect love for others, never once prioritizing love for self in any way, in fact, He seemed totally devoid of it.  This contrast between sin (the love of self), and perfection (the love of others), was so deep, our diseased souls could hardly grasp it.

Jesus would not be doing what the people expected, and they were sure to be disappointed.  But He would be doing so much else, exceeding so many expectations, that trying to “understand” who He was, was sure to be tough.  Then the tougher conundrum; Jesus was our Messiah, but He was also God, a much bigger God than man could ever understand.  Jesus was our Creator.  That was a role, that would boggle the minds of the people in His own day, and now in ours.  The Bible begins with Moses attempting to quantify in human words, our origin founded in the act of Creation performed by Christ.  In seven days, Moses takes us from the abyss, to a fully formed planet teeming with life, including the first man fashioned in the image of God.  None of the people in the days of Jesus had any notion of the Messiah being the Creator.  They had lost sight of that.  They forgot that the original promise was made in the garden of Eden to Adam and Eve.  It was “that God” who was coming to save them.  It was “that Creator” who was destined to finally put Satan out of his place in this world.  This role was not one the people would expect or understand.

At some point our minds just cannot absorb any more.  It would take faith to believe in a virgin birth, in the ability for our God to be big enough to create Himself in the womb of Mary without the aid of man.  It would take faith to believe that our God could be both man and God at one time.  It would take further faith to accept that our God was big enough to heal anything wrong with us, including our desire to sin.  It would take further faith to accept He was going to be killed, and then be resurrected as our Savior.  In the days of Christ, having just this much faith and understanding was enough to contend with it.  Adding to that, the rest of who Jesus is, our Creator, and an Infinite God was simply too much for the people of His day.  So frequently, Jesus revealed this part of Himself, but asked those who saw it, to keep it secret, and keep it to themselves.  The last thing He needed, was a distracting debate about the power and role of our Creator in the guise of the Messiah.

Peter recalls some of this dilemma to John Mark in his gospel in chapter eight.  Peter further sets an interesting context.  Jesus has just rebuked the Pharisees who wanted a display of His power, before they would believe.  Christ had told them there would be no sign given, but in the very next verses we see here, yet another miracle is performed.  Perhaps this miracle illustrates a union of the roles Jesus had within Him.  Mark chronicles the events picking up in verse 22 saying … “And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. [verse 23] And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.”  Having Jesus perform a miracle to heal someone was common place by now, the spectacular had become normal.  So why was this healing called out by Peter as worthy to be in the gospels?  What was it so special here?  Perhaps the first clue is in the sequence of events, the first thing Jesus does is lead this blind man by the hand until they are out of town (away from the people).

The healing for this man is somewhat unique in that Jesus is looking to do it away from the crowds.  This will be a personal interaction between our Creator and the created.  The second clue is that in the mechanics of healing this man, He does not simply speak the words, or drag His garments over the man.  He takes the very personal action of putting spit into the eyes of this man.  I believe the difference between this blind man, and perhaps others He opened the eyes of (and there were many); is that this man perhaps had no eyes to start with.  Either from birth defect, or accident, or Roman torture, I believe this man’s eyes had been removed.  So Jesus takes him completely away from everyone, and only then puts spit into his eyes and asks if he can see yet.  The man replies in verse 24 saying … “And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. [verse 25] After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.”  Complete healing does not come at once in this case.  It took 2 actions.  I believe the first was restoring or re-creating eyes that had been lost or removed.  The second action by Christ was fine-tuning the vision and nerves to give him 20:20 sight.  The role Jesus was playing here was bigger than Messiah, bigger than Doctor, or Teacher, or Revealer of the Father.  Jesus was enacting His role as our Creator, fulfilling a promise given directly to Adam and Eve way back in the garden.  What happened next was a further clue in this regard.

John Mark continues in verse 26 saying … “And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”  Jesus wanted this re-creation kept completely secret by the man.  In fact, by the next few verses it would seem Jesus left the city and the area immediately following this event.  The Pharisees had demanded a sign of Jesus as if He was some circus performer doing tricks for the crowd for the compensation of acceptance.  But Jesus was our Creator, who had given His promise to Adam and Eve in a very personal way all the way back in the garden.  He was here not performing tricks, but doing the work of creation, making something out of nothing once again.  Not all of His healings required privacy and secrecy, but some did.  Jesus may not have asked His followers in His day to accept Him in the role of Creator as well as that of Messiah, but it did not prevent Him from being both of those things.  Our God is far bigger than how we like to picture Him.  To be God, is to be something the created will perhaps never fully comprehend, as only the Creator has that knowledge.

In our day, many Christians have come to accept that perhaps our world was never “created” at all, let alone within seven days.  They believe that science is at odds with the notion of a fully functioning, fully aged universe that comes into being in 7 days, by a power that is infinite.  Instead, they substitute trillions of years or “time” to replace what Moses said our God did in a week.  Time allows natural evolution to occur that follows a big bang that no scientist can fully explain the origins of either.  While single cells of a living organism can divide and grow into virtually anything, the combination of periodic elements generated from a big bang has yet to produce even one of them.  If we have life, we can reproduce life, but getting life in the first place seems to be elusive.  Then comes our aging cycle, or “why we die” is another mystery outside of a Biblical explanation, for if life could evolve, why should it decay at all?  But no matter the questions or information we do not know; it all boils down to a decision one makes about what to believe.  When Christians discard the role of Jesus as our Creator, they discard the original promise He made in the garden to Adam and Eve.  By denying God the ability to create, we deny Him the ability to re-create, or restore His creation.  Once we embark on denying how big our God is, we eventually make Him no more than equal with ourselves, in fact elevating ourselves to be God.

I believe Peter included this story to show us that Jesus was more than just Messiah; that our God is bigger than the capacity of our mind’s limitations.  I believe stories like this one were in effect, a nod to Adam and Eve that the promise made to them was kept by the Creator who made it.  Because we have such a hard time wrapping our minds around these ideas, says more about us, than it does about our God.  No matter how great we think our God is; He is bigger than that …

 

Secret Missions [part two] ...

Peter recites to John Mark in his gospel chapter seven two stories of where Jesus was attempting to reveal the Father’s love in secret, attempting to avoid publicity in His mission.  In our previous study, we examined the first incident which was designed to test the faith of a mother, and reveal the character of the companions of Christ.  In examining the second story here, Peter is significantly more detailed about the mechanics of the healing, than in the other miracles Christ performed.  Peter goes into the details.  The question is why?  Ultimately the publicity of the mission of the Messiah cannot be controlled or subdued.  Whether by excited recipients who simply cannot keep silent about what Christ has done for them (oh, that we had such people in our day), or by demons who work in concert to drive the people to make Him king whether He wants it or not; the missions of Christ are widely known, and widely publicized.  So Peter does not seem to need to correlate secrecy with how this sick man was healed, yet he spends time talking about both.  Perhaps it is the details themselves that warrant deeper attention.

The story begins in no special way picking up in verse 31 saying … “And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.”  Jesus is traveling again.  He moves another significant distance.  Was this perhaps to avoid publicity by moving away from a region that seemed inundated with stories of Him, or was this perhaps to find the one who would be brought to Him in so desperate a need.  It is hard to say.  The story continues in verse 32 saying … “And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.”  Here is where a few details appear.  First, the person afflicted has more than one health problem.  He is deaf, and subsequently has a speech impediment.  Now, most people that cannot hear, also have a strange, or impacted way of speaking.  But the attention Peter pays to this condition, and the subsequent healing Christ does specifically for this man’s ability to talk, tells us this was not just a simple cause and effect from the deafness.  It was something more.

Next, the request of the people to heal this man, included the clause “put His hand upon him”.  The people in this story either have not heard of Christ healing simply by dragging His garments over someone, like the woman who started this trend some time ago across the Sea of Galilee.  Or they are unfamiliar with Christ simply speaking the words of assurance like He did to the last mother, who found her daughter healed even though the daughter never was actually in the presence of Christ.  These people bent on helping this man, wanted a personal touch by Christ.  Perhaps this was the most common way people were aware of Jesus’ healing powers, and they were simply requesting He do it for their friend.  No matter, Jesus did not refuse them.

The story continues in verse 33 saying … “And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; [verse 34] And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. [verse 35] And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.”  More interesting correlations arise in these verses.  You will note first, Jesus takes the impacted man away from the multitude.  Jesus wants a more private, perhaps a more personal interaction with this man.  Jesus is not looking for publicity; He is searching for more privacy.  If He had wanted the crowds to see it, He could have made a spectacle of this man’s healing, but He did not.  Next, the touch requested is granted in probably a more personal way, than Jews who had been told they must obsess about ceremonial cleanings would like.  Jesus did not reach out and shake hands with this sick man, He put His fingers right into the guy’s ears.  Further, He spit on His own fingers, and then He touched the man’s very tongue, where most of the taste buds, and sensitivity is in your mouth I might add.

If we correlate what is happening here with the Gospel of John regarding the lame man, we might reach a conclusion, that Christ is literally creating flesh, and organs, where they are missing either partially or in whole.  This particular healing is not about lowering a fever, or putting strength into existing organs and tissue, I believe it is about creating some, where they did not exist before.  Remembering that we are created from dirt, and are composed of mostly water, Christ our Creator, may be doing what He did back in Eden, albeit on a much more limited scale.  In this instance, our Creator is restoring something that has been messed up or is partially missing.  Not only does Jesus take these very personal touching actions with the impacted sick man, He then follows all of this with a prayer to His Father.  He looks up to heaven before speaking Himself.  This is to acknowledge that His Father is the source of all love, and all restorative power.  Then before speaking Peter says that Jesus sighed.  Perhaps Jesus too is frustrated that sin, and Satan have so corrupted our world, and our bodies, that this man suffers from more from what has been done.  Perhaps Jesus too, would have us ALL restored, both physically and spiritually, but no one in the crowd is asking for spiritual restoration, which arguably is more important. 

He then speaks in front of the man, a sort of command, the word “Ephphatha” which is immediately interpreted as “be opened”.  The command is not directly to the man to speak and hear properly.  It is instead to the impacted organs to be capable of perfect hearing, and perfect speech.  The organs are no longer to be an impediment to the man’s ability to hear and speak.  And the man immediately tested his new abilities and spoke plainly.  Sometimes we miss the subtlety of God providing us gifts, and then watching what we do with them.  The organs were restored, they were re-created by Christ, but the man was not commanded to pray, or give thanks, or say “I love you” to his family.  In point of fact, he could have used foul language, and swore at his enemies, now knowing they would understand him perfectly.  Our senses are a gift to us from our creator.  How we choose to employ them is not commanded by Christ, but is witnessed by Christ.  How we use our senses reveals our hearts, to have our hearts restored and re-created by Christ is the bigger accomplishment, and the one we are each in most need of.

Then Peter resumes the recollection, for the need for secrecy, as the story continues in verse 36 saying … “And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;” Christ tells the friends of the man, and man himself, not to publicize what He has done for them.  The first directive, the first commandment given to this grateful man, is to keep silent about who healed him, and how He did it.  The recreation of missing tissue, above all other types of healing, reveals Jesus as our Creator.  This revelation was too controversial in Israel.  People who might otherwise listen to the life-giving words of Jesus, would tune Him out, if the Creator title were associated with His name and ministry.  The people needed not to know everything plainly yet, because they were not ready to know it yet.  Even the disciples of Christ were not completely ready yet.  Knowing Jesus was our creator was just too much.  But the one thing Jesus asked of them, was the one thing they completely disobeyed Him about.

Christ had a larger goal of ministry in mind, that these men, in their gratitude, were messing up.  Jesus does not curse them for this.  Jesus does not take back His healing.  He knew beforehand that this man would not keep his mouth shut, yet He heals him anyway.  Would you have done it.?  This is part of the mystery of our salvation.  We are created by God, uniquely, even though He ultimately knows whether we will decide for Him, or against Him.  We are given free will to choose, even when the choice is a bad one.  Jesus did not restrict His love from this man, even though the man would mess up the plans of Jesus.  Jesus does not restrict giving us gifts, from our senses, to the money in our wallets, even though we often choose to mess up what we do with them.  The love of our Lord is consistent, even though ours is not. 

It is a mistake to think that the gifts our Lord gives to us are an indication of us being saved.  He gives to those who are saved, and those who are unsaved.  He loves both camps of people.  He does not love one more than the other, loving both perpetrator and victim equally.  His heart breaks because of the pain the perpetrator causes himself and his victim, and His heart breaks for what pain the sin of the perpetrator has caused to the victim, for what the victim must now go through.  We will never know the depth of pain we cause our God, who has perfect love for us, by what we choose to do, and how we choose not to love others when we could.   But perhaps, we could lift the sigh of our Lord, if we were to seek spiritual restoration, and re-creation, by asking for this kind of healing for ourselves.  Perhaps we could make His heart leap for joy, as we submit to Him, our actions, our desires, and the core of who we are to be remade by Him as He sees fit.  No matter what healing God does for our bodies, it is the healing of our souls that He most wants us to publicize.

People will inevitably seek Jesus for healing, for primarily selfish reasons where it comes to our bodies.  We want full functionality, and long life, where our physical bodies are concerned.  But to crave perfection, to crave a life with a complete lack of sin, these are the cravings that change the world, and reflect salvation rooted in Christ.  Publicizing what Jesus can do for the spiritually sick, is what it is all about.  The selfish do not run to Christ to fix that, they only run to Him for other reasons.  But if we would dare to offer the core of who we are, and what we want, to Jesus, we would find a restoration that is far more important than the state of our bodies, and one that lasts far longer.  The people could not understand this deeper mission of Christ, they saw only its physical manifestations as the story concludes in verse 37 saying … “And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”

People, then and now, are “beyond measure astonished” to find out that our Lord is also our Creator.  Those who would replace Genesis with a more scientific origin, are in addition, removing the creating power from Jesus.  They strip Jesus of His ability to re-create, as they strip Him of His original creation.  Where science appears to conflict with the Bible, it is science that remains incomplete in our understanding.  Because compared with the miraculous transformation of the human heart, there is no scientific, or evolutionary counterpart that can sufficiently explain the phenomenon.  To be saved by Jesus Christ, is an experience that cannot be denigrated by equations and probabilities.  To have the core of who we are, altered to be in harmony with Him, and with His laws of love, is a singular experience, and the one He was trying to reveal to the people in His age, and in ours.

 

Sabbath Wars [part two] ...

How do you win a war, when you love the other side so much, you would rather die than see them experience this fate?  To win a war, you must exterminate the other side.  But what if the other side is “evil” itself?  How do you exterminate “evil”?  If it could be done by force, wouldn’t the collateral damage be freedom of choice, therefore “love” would die as well?  And how do you extract the terminal addiction of evil from its host, and spare the host?  The goal after all, is the elimination of evil, not the elimination of those who suffer from the choice to embrace evil.  This was the quandary of our God, when He went forward with His plans to create us in His image.  We were created with freedom of choice, but exercised that freedom badly.  We chose to embrace evil, and have been captive in slavery to loving self ever since.  We suffer from it, and in our suffering, we blame God for allowing us to choose it in the first place; never considering that if He forced us away from evil, He would be forcing us away from our ability to choose to love as well.

In our history, in our stories, and in our media, we approach war the same way every time.  We seek the destruction of the other side.  We label the other side as “evil”, in order to think of ourselves as being the side of God, and the side of “right”.  We go about seeking to destroy those who in our eyes are evil, or associated with evil.  Our strategy has never been to eliminate evil, and leave the person intact.  As we have been unable to rid evil from ourselves, we believe it is impossible to eliminate in others as well; therefore leaving us “no choice” but to exterminate the host of evil, in order to see the evil die as well.  In our quest to eliminate the evil other side, we kill, but we do far more than that.  We seek intelligence about how best to kill the enemy.  In so doing we lie, or cheat, or steal, reasoning that we must do what we “must”, in order to defeat the enemy.  We will torture our enemy if we deem it necessary (the Jack Bauer scenario).  In point of fact, we will become the epitome of evil, for sake of “defeating” evil.  But I ask, how can evil be defeated if the side of “right”, and the side of God, have chosen to embrace evil as well?

The goal of our God was ever to see us redeemed of evil without our permanent extermination.  The plan of “redemption” was to see us returned to the side of love, by our free choice to do so.  The power to return and be reconciled was something no evil person would ever have within them to do; so the journey home would have to be powered by God.  But the choice to turn away from evil would have to begin with us, if “evil” itself would ever be truly eradicated from the universe, with the ability to love still intact.  God allows us to see the nature of evil, the depths to which evil will sink, and then He contrasts it with the heights of love, and the limitless potential loving others can offer us to make an existence worth living.  But in the end, He is presenting only the facts about both Good and Evil.  If we are to choose to side with Good, we must allow Him to eliminate the evil that is within us.  We must humble ourselves to realize our journey home to reconciliation is one of fully trusting in Him to do the work of eliminating evil within us, knowing that job is truly beyond our control.  We “choose” to allow Him to free us from evil, but then He does all the work to see this task accomplished.  The perspective of God on the war against evil, is a distinction between the evil itself, and the person who has chosen to embrace evil.  God will do anything and everything to save the person.  But in the end, evil must be eliminated lest the disease go on forever.

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Romans in the time of Christ were amazingly similar to ourselves.  They did not share the perspective of God on wars and conflicts.  If a person refused to share (or submit) to their ideology, they would become an enemy.  If the threat of the enemy caused fear in them, they would seek to eliminate the enemy.  They would wage a war the same way we wage one, through deceit, murder, and using any means necessary to defeat the “evil” of the other side.  In the ultimate irony, the leaders of the church Christ Himself established in the desert sands with Moses having only recently freed His people from the slavery of Egypt, would now seek to begin a war against the Author of their own religion and freedom.  The stewards of the faith would begin this war and see it waged.  Christ did not present a threat to the common sinners, He presented a threat to the power, greed, and control of the religious leaders of His day.  How like us. 

The lack of hierarchy with each man submitting to God alone, combined with the full socialist or communist ideas of giving literally everything to those in need with “no thought” about tomorrow, flies in the face of “church leadership” today.  Our churches teach pragmatism in our charity, and personal responsibility to keep incomes flowing.  Indeed, every organized Christian faith would quickly disintegrate if both power were diverted to Christ alone, and finances were diverted to the masses in need directly without a centralized hierarchy to manage it.  I wonder if general conference executives, papal archbishops, guru’s, or ayatollah’s would stand for seeing their memberships leave them and flock to the side of Christ without likewise beginning a war?  And if their memberships took their finances with them, would not the war come with swift ferocity; for to lose our “funding” is perhaps the greatest threat to any church in any day, from the time of Christ to now.  Yet we think ourselves different.

Peter recalled to John Mark, how the war began between the religious leaders of his day and Christ.  The war started over the fourth commandment.  The war was started by those who believed they alone “knew” how to keep something holy.  The war’s real motivation was the threat of a loss of control, but its outward mantra was one of keeping the church pure.  Sound familiar?  The Enemy of the church leaders would be labeled as “evil”, while the church leaders themselves would consider themselves as doing what was right, and for the sake of God.  They would conspire to kill God, in the name of God, becoming the epitome of evil, in order to defeat evil.  Their strategy would be doomed before it began.  But such is the self-deception of evil, both then and now.  When conflict arises within us between what we believe, and what God offers, it is we who are in the wrong, not God.

The story begins in verse 1 saying … “And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. [verse 2] And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.”  Jesus, as is His custom, is going to the synagogue in Jerusalem this time, on the Sabbath day.  Our Lord enjoys hanging out with His people in a special way, on a special day.  The Sabbath is not some drudgery for Christ, it is the highlight of His week.  He looks forward to sharing with us in a special way, His time and attention.  He puts aside other concerns just to be with us.  This is going to be an awesome day, a high-Sabbath, a monster-sized phenomenal-spiritual-experience, for those lucky enough to spend Sabbath with Jesus.  The people are hoping to hear Him speak.  This is the only day some of these people can take time away from their farms, or trade crafts, or other duties to come and worship.  So the crowds in the temple will be higher than on other days.

The man with the withered hand is there.  Maybe he is a regular.  The leaders seem to know him, in fact, they are intently watching to “see” if Christ will heal this man on the Sabbath day.  They have predetermined that an act of healing and love or concern for this man is “work”.  They are just waiting for Christ to “mess up” so they will have a means of accusing Him before the people.  This act of healing and restoration will be a means for the religious leaders to “prove” to the people that Christ disobeys the Law and therefore is “evil”.  Witness how far the disease of evil has taken root in the leaders of His church, both then and now.  The first concern of those leaders “should” have been the restoration of the man with the withered hand.  If their love for that man trumped every other concern, and given their strongly held beliefs about “work” done on Sabbath, they could have brought this man to Christ on another day to see him healed.  An inventive church leadership, despite not getting everything right, could have still been a useful tool in the restoration of this man, “if”, that was their first concern.  It was not.

The religious leaders reveal their motivation, as this man is ONLY useful to them as a trap to ensnare Christ.  They had no alternate means of restoration in mind for this man.  Instead they intended to use his inevitable miraculous restoration as the means to bring down God.  After the man was restored, they would cast him aside, in the quest to kill the bigger fish.  The entire incident “could” have been avoided if they simply took the man to Christ at a different time, with the goal of seeing him restored.  But they did not really care about the man who needed restoration (both then and now).  Instead they allowed their positions as religious leaders to entice them into the belief (and self-deception) that the church depended on “them” to keep it pure.  In a quest for doctrinal purity, they were willing to sacrifice the man in need of restoration, in order to accuse the God who longed to restore him.  If a few sinners perish in the cause of eliminating “evil”, that is just acceptable collateral damage in a war with greater purpose.  They have become evil to eliminate evil.

John Mark continues transcribing events in verse 3 … “And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.”  Jesus is still here, not to start a fight, but to enjoy an awesome Sabbath day.  He is still here to teach, guide, and reset our mistaken expectations of how great a Sabbath day can really be.  But how can the ultimate God of Love enjoy His own Sabbath with us, when someone is in pain?  Before He can begin teaching us, and guiding us, and resetting our doctrinal ideas – He must meet the needs of the man requiring restoration.  How like us.  Before we can truly understand the Word, He must restore in us, what is broken.  Trying to keep the Sabbath holy, before we have the slightest idea what that means is useless.  We must understand what it means to love others first; only then can we begin to understand what it means to enjoy Sabbath with our Lord.  So instead of shying away in secret, Jesus as much as announces His intent to heal this man and see him restored to everyone in attendance.  From the perspective of God, Christ would rather die for these men intent on murdering Him, than see them suffer this fate.

Jesus has the foreknowledge of what His “faithful” leaders have in mind for Him.  Had Jesus the same philosophy on war as we do, He could have easily taken up arms, and slain every conspirator in that crowd on that day and been “done with it”.  In that case, He would have truly been eliminating evil.  But He would have been killing those He longed to redeem as well.  Jesus cares as much for the man in need of physical restoration, as the leaders who are in such desperate need of spiritual restoration.  To kill them pre-emptively does nothing to see them redeemed.  To attempt to exert force, will not cause them to choose differently.  Using force on them will only harden their position.  It will not be through threats, or violence that the cause of God will be advanced, only through consistent acts of unselfish love that demonstrate what it means to be on the side of “right”, and the side of God.

John Mark continues in verse 4 saying … “And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.”  Jesus is now reaching out to those who intend to murder Him.  He is attempting to reset their expectations as religious leaders entirely.  The goal of a religion of love, is to love.  This is not something reserved only for Sabbath, but it is something that should reach its zenith on Sabbath.  Sabbath does not diminish our opportunity to love others on the other days of the week; but it presents a unique opportunity to put aside our other “normal” concerns and focus exclusively on loving others on this singular day of rest from our normal distractions.  We should not be murdering on any day of the week, but on a day where intimacy between our God and ourselves is offered, how could we possibly even think of murdering then?  The only way to consider murder on Sabbath is to totally abandon intimacy with God, and focus only on self.

Peter continues his recollection in verse 5 … “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”  Christ was so angry, and so frustrated with how corrupted we become when we embrace evil and refuse to be restored.  These conspirators were not simply common men with no understanding of the Word, or the Law.  These were supposed to be His finest representatives on planet earth.  These were supposed to be His living emissaries of the gospel of Love.  These men spent their entire lives debating the meaning of scripture, yet they were content to overlook the suffering of this man in need of restoration, and use his healing as a means to conspire to kill and accuse Christ of evil.  It was not as much their hatred and fear of Christ that upset Him, it was their willingness to see this man continue to suffer when he did not need to, when healing and restoration were there for the taking.

How many of our church leaders are likewise inclined?  How many of us are?  How many look at those in plain need of restoration, and instead of loving them to the feet of Jesus, we are content to use their misery to make us feel better about ourselves.  Obviously, “we” are not as big a sinner as “them”.  By comparison, we are on the side of the righteous, they are not.  We feel it our duty, to oppress those who would deny the plain Word of God, and disobey His Law.  Because they are unrepentant, they must die for the lack of interest in what we offer.  But it is “we” who are unrepentant.  It is “we” who refuse to love others, or see that our mission “should be” one bent on their restoration, not their continued condemnation.  It is “we” who Christ is reaching out to, to get us to see that loving others is MORE important than our doctrinal purity, and vain efforts at maintaining church standards.  If we are to truly keep Sabbath holy, it must begin with an interest in the restoration of those in need, not in ostracizing them from our company in order to remain pure.  We cannot remain content while there is even one in need.  God was not content to permit even one to suffer.  Before Jesus could enjoy His Sabbath day, He longed to meet the needs of man requiring restoration.

And restoration was performed in FULL.  His withered hand was restored as the other one, as normal as normal could be.  Imagine the joy of this man on this Sabbath day.  His entire life altered by this singular act of restoration.  He could gain employment again.  He could provide for those he loved.  He could give back to his church.  He could hold his family.  He too was to be made free to love others.  And it happens because Jesus Christ was so interested in his restoration that He was willing to endure the criticism of the church leaders to see it done.  Jesus was willing to be put to death to see this man restored.  This man may have sensed what the Pharisees and Sadducees were up to.  He may have known this was a trap designed to kill Christ, and may have feared for the safety of Jesus.  But when he hears the tender words of Christ, and sees that Jesus is reaching out to even those intent on murdering Him, the man knows the plans of the leaders are doomed to failure.  He has a firsthand witness to the love of God that will not pass him by, no matter the danger or risks to the God bent on his restoration.  Jesus will risk everything to save this man, everything.  Jesus will endure the censure and false condemnation of the priests, in order that one poor man be restored.  This man knows with certainty how much Jesus loves and cares about him, and this knowledge stands in stark contrast to the concern the priests have for him.

With deep sadness Peter recounts to John Mark, how the leaders responded to this attempt to redeem them, believing themselves to be in no need of restoration in verse 6 saying … “And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.”  Immediately the church sought a unification with the state, in order to destroy the love of God.  It was the church leaders who went to unite with the power of the state, even when they knew the state itself was corrupt.  The religious leaders had no love of Herod or his sons.  Herod and his offspring were put in place by Rome to keep the people subdued.  They were foreigners, not of Jewish descent.  They indulged all manner of lascivious lifestyle and were no strict keepers of the law.  But they had military power, weapons, and might.  They could take Jesus Christ by force, and kill any followers who got in the way.  So the church did, what the church ALWAYS does, when it is clearly wrong, and in opposition to the love of God, it sought to wage war against that love by uniting with the power of the state.

In our day, American Christians seek the power of the state, to enforce what they believe as the law of the land.  Fundamentalists seek to end abortion, oppress those whose sexual identity is considered aberrant, and keep a watchful eye (if not a restrictive one) on Islamists or other false religions.  We believe ourselves to be the “persecuted”, by an atheistic state government who wishes to keep us from the true expression of our faith.  So we seek to balance this injustice by voting into power, those who are meant to tip the scales in the other direction.  Our plan is to right the wrongs of evil through power and control.  We consider our duty to “fight” evil by every legal means at our disposal, and to create laws that will aide us in this fight if none exist.  The other side is plainly “evil” and we are “clearly” on the side of “right”, and the side of God.  BUT, if we are to follow the example of how our Lord wages war against evil, we will find we are doing it all wrong.

Christ did not raise arms against those who sought to persecute and kill Him, He sought to redeem them through acts of unselfish love.  He never pursued the power of the state, or wished to unite with it in any form.  He chose rather to demonstrate what it means to love others constantly, and never used power for His own gains.  The man with the withered hand was in need of restoration, NOT just physical but spiritual.  Jesus did not ask him to confess his sins and be made pure before He would be willing to heal his needs.  Christ met the needs of this sinner unconditionally.  He showed this man that He loved him so much, He would do anything to help him, save him, and see him restored.  It did not matter what the doctrinal understanding of this man was prior to his encounter with Christ.  A true encounter with Jesus, was going to result in changing the mind and heart of this man anyway.  But without any encounter, no change would be possible.  The point was not to keep this man away, it was to bring him to Christ.  Only after an encounter with Jesus, could this man find hope for a spiritual restoration as well.

If we are to join with Christ in a mission to rid the universe with evil, we must start with recognizing there is a distinction between the terminal disease of evil and the host that has embraced it.  We must recognize that we too, suffer from this disease and are in equal need of healing from it.  We must learn that loving others first, takes precedence over what church leaders say or think.  We must be willing to endure false criticism for our desire to love others above all else.  We must be willing to die ourselves rather than see others suffer this fate; our own salvation is certain in the power and restoration of Jesus Christ.  We have no fear of resurrection, because His love will see us rise in the one to bring us home, not in the one to gather with Satan for a short season.  Knowing that our ultimate end is secure, we can afford to take risks in loving others now.  If our lives are cut short in this war, and another is saved, then so be it.  Better to bring one treasure to heaven with us, than to bring only ourselves.  It is not the intent of our Lord, that all of us should suffer the martyr’s fate, but it is His universal intent that all of us should value the lives of even our enemies, that we would join Him in willingness to love this much, and go this far.

If Christians want to wage war on evil in our nation, we should begin with raging it on ourselves.  We should spend our energy on learning to submit everything to Christ, allowing Him to remake us in mind and heart.  If we do this, we can learn to truly assist in the war against evil, focusing on the redemption of those in need of restoration, instead of attempting to eliminate them from the planet.  We are to wage war on evil, not on people.  To appreciate his distinction, we must follow the example of Christ, not pursue the traditional strategies of our ideas of war.  If we become evil to defeat evil, we have already lost.  If we willingly choose to unite with the power of the state, which has always been corrupt, how can we hope to “win”?  Even the successful exertion of control is not winning.  Compulsion of conscience is only a greater form of losing the war on evil.

The fourth commandment was used as a pretense to war against God by the leaders of his own church.  God did not start this war over Sabbath, men did.  Religious men determined that their edicts and interpretations of scripture must be obeyed and the opposition should face death.  This has always been the way of Satan, to delude men into thinking that God wishes us to kill in His name, rather than to redeem in it.  Satan has always sought control, God has always sought our free-will choice to love.  Which side of this conflict you will find yourself in, will not be determined on your belief in the validity of fourth commandment; it will be determined in “how” you keep Sabbath holy.  If you are willing to kill men in order to see evil die, you have become evil to defeat evil, and have already lost.  If you are willing to love even those who are unrepentantly your enemies, you have been blessed to follow the tactics of Jesus, and have joined with Him in a mission of redemption.  The Sabbath Wars did not end in the days of Christ, they will play out, until He returns to take us home.  Men will forever seek to impose their own morale ideas on the conscience of others, both inside and outside the church.  Will you be found in the camp of the “pure” church leaders, or in the camp of those who love others above all else?