A Different Reaction ...

Have you ever noticed how the same written content will often inspire a completely different reaction across a group of readers?  The words on the paper (or in the email) do not change an inch.  But the tone of how it is read, and the agenda behind how we perceive what was written between the lines, changes to nearly every reader who takes the time to read it.  Some folks might have a relationship with you already, and when an email or a post is made, they interpret those writings based on that pre-existing relationship.  Where it comes to matters of religion, specifically Christianity, entire denominations have arisen purportedly because each group of folks reads the same words in the Bible just a little bit differently.  Then those differences became matters of doctrine.  That doctrine then becomes a test of faith.  And before you know it, we are ready to condemn each other for not teaching truth, because of the differences in how we perceive scripture – even though we are not actually arguing about the words themselves – those words do not change.  But how we read them does.

Sadly, in matters of religion, those who are quick to condemn and use the Bible to do so, share another characteristic they are probably not even aware they have.  It is not so much having a “bad” thing, as it is a lack of an “awesome” thing.  Sin is sin.  And sin is never good, should never be endorsed, and frankly is something all of us struggle with, and something all of us want real relief from.  But when we focus on the sin itself, we become people who are quick to condemn.  When we focus on the redemption from sin, on the cure for sin, we become people who realize only love will ever get us to that cure.  It is the love of Jesus Christ, that moves Him to want to cure us.  It is our love for Him, that moves us to want to be cured.  Love then, underlies everything in our own salvation.  And when we are people of love; we start to care about others, in effect, Jesus alters our hearts in the process of salvation to begin to see the treasure of others.  When that overtakes us, we are no longer people who focus on condemnation, we are people who focus on re-creation and redemption in the here and now.  Same words.  Same Jesus.  But a different us.

In our last study, Luke tells us the back story to the gospel of Jesus Christ, by focusing on Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, or rather soon-to-be father.  Zacharias is confronted by the angel Gabriel who “stands in the presence of God”.  Zacharias is given an awesome revelation of what is to come.  But he is old, his wife is too, and they have been barren all their lives.  So Zacharias looks at his humanity, and doubts he could ever accomplish such a thing.  Zacharias was a good man, a blameless man, but he looked in the wrong place for the miraculous.  He looked to human strengths and abilities (namely his own).  Instead He should have looked to God to accomplish what no man (or science, keep in mind Luke is a physician), could ever accomplish.  When God predicts the impossible, He performs the impossible.  He does not ask you to do it.  The same is true of how you will be saved from you.  It is impossible for you to ever reach perfection, so you are not asked to do that work, you are asked to let Jesus do it in you, and for you.  You are not asked to stay in your sins but allow Jesus to lift you out of your sins entirely.  As you submit yourself, your human ideas, strengths, desires, and weaknesses to Jesus – He does exactly that, He does the impossible in you.  The question becomes, how will you respond.  Zacharias was a believer, a priest by trade, and he practiced what he preached every day.  But when Gabriel himself came to him with great tidings, Zacharias doubted. 

Time to change the scene.  Luke will tell the story of another angelic revelation with a very different outcome.  Luke picks up in his letter (chapter one) of our gospel, in verse 26 continuing … “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, [verse 27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. [verse 28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”  We move from a focus on the men in this story, to a focus on the women.  And Luke starts not with the birth of Jesus, or even the conception of Jesus, but with an angelic revelation of Jesus to a simple virgin girl named Mary.  Now Mary herself was no different then or now, than any other virgin girl engaged to be married.  She was excited about spending her life with Joseph as her husband.  She loved him, and he loved her.  The engagement process was just like a time delay for Joseph to prepare to marry her with a place to live and ability to take care of her.  The engagement delay also allowed for them to be sure of their feelings, and not make mistakes they might regret later in life.  So Mary was like any other girl no real difference there.

Mary might have been pretty, but likely no super model.  The conditions of life back then required outdoor physical labor to survive.  Preparing food took effort (harvesting, washing, cutting, cooking over open fires, and cleaning in a nearby stream).  There were no microwaves, and prepared meals in plastic containers we simply “throw away” when we are done.  Keeping clothes clean took effort (carrying them to an outdoor water source, hand washing them over grates, using soap if you could afford it, drying them on lines or tree branches, then carrying them home again).  There were no machines that do all the work for you except folding them.  You get the idea, life was much more difficult.  And should bad weather appear, it might change everything for you from what you could do, to what you could eat.  So there were no pampered super models who survived by the publicity of their looks, untouched by the outdoor rigors of life back then.  In this Mary was no different than any other girl in her town, her region, or her age.

Luke continues in verse 29 saying … “And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.”  Notice, Mary is not afraid per se, but troubled at this greeting, because from her point of view, she is far from highly favored and blessed among women.  That pronouncement does not fit with a simple, humble girl, who lives life, like any other simple woman might.  And to keep us men humble – while Joseph may be the love of her life – he is no Brad Pitt such that every other woman in her hometown would recognize her luck by marrying him.  He is just another simple humble man, likely a virgin himself, who is excitedly waiting to marry the love of his life.  And perhaps that love between them might be enough to warrant the angels pronouncement in our day, or any day come to think of it.  But Joseph, while faithful and nice, has nothing to do with this.

Luke continues in verse 30 saying … “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. [verse 31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. [verse 32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: [verse 33] And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”  There is immediacy in what the angel proclaims.  This does not sound like a future someday proclamation to her it sounds like a right now kind of thing.  She gets that.  But then, same words different reaction.  We know, because of hindsight, that the angel was describing the Messiah, and the references to a kingdom without end, does not mean the removal and overthrow of the Roman empire, it means a spiritual kingdom where evil is defeated once and for all time.  But she hears these words and can easily associate them with every commonly held belief about the Messiah at that time, meaning He was to ascend to David’s throne, and establish a kingdom (earthly) without end as He grows up.  The words of the angel did not change, but perception, and preconceived ideas about belief would have colored them greatly.

Luke continues in verse  34 saying … “Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? [verse 35] And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. [verse 36] And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. [verse 37] For with God nothing shall be impossible.”  Mary responds by asking the most obvious simple logistical question – how will this be considering she is still a virgin.  Mary knows how it is supposed to work, and this has never happened.  The angel responds by telling her that the Holy Ghost will come upon her, and beyond that, that the power of the Highest will overshadow her.  That could be a reference to God the Father (particularly as she would have understood it).  And all of this to insure there is no doubt as to who the Father of Jesus would truly be – it would not be human – it would be divine.  Jesus would rightly be called the Son of God.

Notice too, Mary does not ask for a sign.  She only asks how it is possible, given how it is supposed to work.  But Mary is given a sign anyway.  The angel refers her to her cousin Elisabeth (perhaps obedience runs in the family) as being already 6 months pregnant.  Elisabeth who is known to her family and around the region as barren.  Elisabeth who is old, WAY too old to be even thinking about being pregnant.  But all of this is to prove, that with God, NOTHING is impossible.  And the parallels to our salvation remain just as pertinent, what we are unable to do to save ourselves, we were never meant to do – but with God nothing is impossible including changing you from who you are, to who He intended you to be.  You cannot cure your sin problem.  But God can.  Not just forgive mind you, but cure.  Not just overlook your past, but make for you a new future, absent of sin altogether.  [Take in that oil of the wise virgins while there is yet time.]  Mary is not meant to solve this problem herself, she is meant to witness the power of the Lord in solving it.

And so Mary responds as Luke continues in verse 38 saying … “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”  Mary does not argue.  Mary does not debate.  She accepts.  And irony of ironies, she accepts no matter the cost to her personally.  For what the angel has said, is how history will view her from those who believe.  But it is NOT how she will be viewed in her own time and age.  Not even the love of her life Joseph will believe her at first (it will take an angelic visit of his own before he is willing to accept the impossible).  And so beyond Joseph, the virgin mother of Jesus will be called an adulterous whore by those who will not believe, and by those who employ common sense to guide their thinking, not faith in an impossible God who routinely does do the impossible.  At best, she will be condemned as breaking her engagement with Joseph to make him the Father earlier than when they were to be formally married.  At worst, she will be no better than a whore that deserved to be stoned for betrayal in which she was caught.  But no personal cost to her or her reputation would be considered.  Instead just a simple yes.

It is particularly interesting to me, the contrast in response of Zacharias and of Mary.  Zacharias was a good man, there is no condemnation here of him by me, nor should there be.  Yet even a priest was prone to human doubt.  The simple virgin bride to be, made no request for a sign, and simply submitted even when she did not have to, and even when it will cost her reputation forever.  Even though it might even cost her, her pending marriage.  She responded with a simple yes.  For the Bible being a book that is supposed to be hard on women, that is not what I read.  I read women who keep defining themselves of those with cast iron faith, while the men around them do far less, in the same circumstances at the same time and age.  I see women who follow God without question, while men seem to have so much harder a time trying to do the same.  Mary will have a normal life after the birth of Jesus.  She will be wife and mother of several more children.  She will go on to be nothing more extraordinary than any other woman of her age, but in this single act of submission and faith, she will carry the honor of having been mother to Love incarnate.

Perhaps it was the love within her, that made all the difference.  Perhaps it is the love in you and I, that can still make all the difference.  For we serve a God where nothing is still impossible, no matter what it looks like in our age.  I pray our responses are different when we are yet called …

 

The Preamble ...

Most of our New Testament is made up of letters to fellow believers, and in general to encourage them to hang on to what they have been taught.  Even the Gospel of Luke itself begins in letter form to a believer called Theophilus.  It reminds me of some of our reality TV programs, where contestants may be separated from their families in order to participate.  Often the TV show allows letters from home to be handed out, as a form of reward, and generally only on rare occasions.  But each recipient that gets that letter from home, treasures it.  I can imagine that in these early days of the Christian church it is much the same.  The postal service was not as developed back then.  To transport a letter was dicey thing.  They could have been intercepted and destroyed by enemies of the faith, if they had been able.  Satan was no fan of the church or of believers, so you can bet his full attention was on doing just that.  To see that any of these letters survived his onslaught, and remain part of our gospel in the Bible, is already a testament to the miraculous power of our God.  For our God wants us to know His love, and every written volume that remains for us, is intended to reveal just that.  These letters then, are for us to treasure, for they were bought at great price and great consequence.

Luke himself, was known as a physician, a doctor.  Those healing skills in the early church would have been a tremendous help, but the power of healing was not confined to the limits of science, then or now.  Even though he was a doctor, Luke was not limited to being just that.  Luke emplored the Holy Spirit to do a healing work that was well beyond the limits of any science, except a re-creative one.  So Luke does not just examine Jesus from a scientific point of view, He examines Jesus from the power of the Holy Spirit point of view as well.  It seems sad, that so many of the excellent doctors we have in our world today, who also claim to be Christians, have allowed their scientific training to put limits on the power of God in their own lives.  Miracles (if they will even allow for the possibility of such a thing), are brought about by the power of prayer of others, who when confronted with the impossible, choose to look to Jesus rather than accept their scientifically proscribed fate.  Doing our best to heal, was never a prerequisite to seeing a miracle take place.  Instead trusting fully to God was, and remains the way to open that door.  This is not a contest between how to medically treat, it is an expansion of how to do it.  If you wish to employ the best of our knowledge to date, have at it.  And so you should.  But do not think the end of that road, is the end of all roads, it is not – as Luke can provide first-hand testimony to.

Luke was an educated Gentile.  Writing this letter, this gospel, was not denied to him by right of his birth.  It was opened to him by his choice to embrace the faith, and the power behind it.  Luke was converted and wanted to serve, and so his chance to serve was put in front of him.  Further proof, that God did not want an exclusively “Jewish” church, but a church of any who would choose to believe in it.  Luke’s upbringing was not in synagogue per se (such as would have been a Pharisee).  The Sanhedrin would not have accepted Luke in their upper ranks because of Luke’s gentile birth.  The Old church had become a social-status factory where the service of Luke would have been politely denied.  Have our churches become just like this as well?  Would we deny the service of one we believe to be caught up in too much sin (as we define it)?  Or because the doctrinal understanding is just not deep enough yet (when is it ever)?  Those facts did not deter Jesus.  Jesus accepted Luke and the Holy Spirit inspired him to write, and then preserved his writings for now nearly 2000 years.  There is a lesson here for us.

Luke opens his gospel in chapter one, in verse 1 saying … “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, [verse 2] Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;”  You will note the motivation of Luke as he sets down to write out this good news letter.  This is a declaration of the things which are surely believed among us.  This is an affirmation letter.  This is a letter of encouragement.  It is not meant to dispute other versions of the gospel but to add a different perspective and result in achieving the goal of encouraging the faith.  Luke also here testifies that this account will be aided by first-hand eye-witnesses, as well as ministers of the word.  He likely is pointing out the original 11 disciples (without calling any by name).  He may also be referring to folks like Nicodemus, or the woman of Samaria at the well, who also encountered Jesus.  Is it any wonder this will be a letter to treasure?

Luke continues in verse 3 saying … “It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, [verse 4] That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”  And there it is, the first reference to the effects of what salvation is able to do to you.  To be saved from oneself by the power of Jesus Christ (that is through submission to Him in full, our desires, our thoughts, our motives, etc.) – has the power to “perfect” our understanding of our beliefs.  We let Jesus lead, we find a whole new trail of love through the letters written and preserved for our benefit.  Scripture is no longer a means to condemn sin, it is a means to find redemption from our all-so-evident condemnation of self.  We already know we are lost.  We do not need the Bible to make that any clearer.  Just look at the pain we cause ourselves and others as evidence.  Look at the death we bring to ourselves.  It is in our real world; we are living it.  We desperately need the Bible to throw us a life-line.  We need scripture to point us to the way away from our pain and death.  To the source of love meant to redeem even the worst of us.  A perfect understanding is not a tolerance for sin and pain, but instead a direct path away from both.  Luke wishes for his friend Theophilus to see this, to not let go of it, and to cling to it forever. 

Those with a perfect understanding of how to condemn do the work of another player in the battle for our salvation, namely that of Satan.  Satan is forever condemning the world, and the believers who reside in it.  Satan condemns both those who sin and do not care, as much as he condemns those who sin and know better.  His entire role is one of prosecutor.  He condemns without ceasing.  No, a perfect understanding of our beliefs, points one to Jesus Christ, to find relief.  Not just relief from accusation, but relief by a change in our motives, in our behavior, in how we love each other.  That is true relief.  We do not need an excuse to keep sinning and causing ourselves and each other more pain.  We need a way of escape from who we are, and from our desires to sin in the first place.  That kind of relief brings a perfect understanding of what we have been taught.  Perfection is not a pipe-dream.  It is a miraculous gift we can begin to experience in the here and now.  Let us give doctor Luke’s gospel letter a second look and begin to see how this perfection can begin to be established in each of us, and in our real lives now …

 

One For The Road ...

There comes that time, when something appears bound to end, that we begin to crave just one more of it, before it is completely gone.  For some, this happens in a bar at closing time.  For others, this happens near the end of a relationship that for some unexplainable reason is about to end.  For a lucky few, it happens in my daughter’s Bible school class, where the participants wish we just had ten more minutes to keep talking and learning any fine Sabbath morning.  But whatever context you are most familiar with, the sentiment, the feeling is the same.  We look back at something, and begin to relish it, cherish it, perhaps more at the end of it, than when it was just “there” and we took it for granted.  At that moment of realization, we desperately reach out to cling to it, even if just for one moment more.  If your most familiar context for this happens in a bar, there is a place that can offer so much more happiness, and that can last so much longer.  And if you find the context that serves you best is in the form of romantic relationships, there is a way to base them in the cement of faith, rather that the shifting sands of human interests.  And for those unlucky few, who search for this in church, but rather than wanting to stay longer, are burning up the aisles to get out faster – there is a way to “do church” that is so much better than perhaps you do it today.

The short answer to all of this, is Jesus.  The gospel of Matthew concludes by making this point very well in chapter 28 in the last few verses, picking up in verse 16 saying … “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. [verse 17] And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.”  Talk about a one-for-the-road situation.  Matthew makes the point that Judas is gone, by subtling stating the number of the remaining disciples.  But what Matthew omits, is the number of women disciples who were likely there at this same mountain as well.  Jesus had summoned all of them there to say His temporary goodbyes.  This was about 40 days after His resurrection.  And if you believe the risen saints who were the first fruits of His Kingdom walked the earth for 40 days and not 3 days, they would have been gathered there as well.  The point is that this was not just an isolated event for only the eleven main disciples to share, but for all those who deeply loved and believed in our Savior to share.  Keep in mind it was the women who FIRST received this very invitational message.

But then, as often happens in matters of religion, particularly before the entrance of the Holy Spirit, the devil tempts us to doubt.  This is another one of those situations, it is hard for those of us, who have never even seen the beautiful face, hands, and feet of Jesus to understand.  Despite all the evidence, the personal and up-close evidence, doubt reared its head in not just one disciple, but in “some”.  How does this happen in those who knew Him best, and knew Him longest?  How are we able to sit at the feet of Jesus (in our day at church, or perhaps at a parent’s knee) and still come to doubt, what we have always known was the truth of our beliefs?  They had Jesus in person.  We have Him enumerated throughout an entire collection of works we call the Bible.  And yet both of us are subject to the weakness of doubt.  We look at them in no small amount of contempt, and ask, how is that possible, given where you were, and what you witnessed first-hand?  These disciples saw the miracles we wish we could see.  They experienced first-hand what it was like to move through time and space across the Sea of Galilee after Jesus calmed the storm.  Those were first-hand accounts.  As were the healings, and casting out of demons, they had first-hand exposure to doing themselves.  They even saw the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

But now, in the final moments they would ever spend in the physical presence of Jesus who was leaving for heaven.  Knowing He was crucified.  And seeing Him risen.  Some doubted.  Is it any different with us?  Do we spend precious moments we have on earth, taking a “for granted” stance about them?  Instead of appreciating the brevity of our lives, and therefore taking the most care to enjoy our moments in the love of Jesus – we doubt where Jesus has brought us.  We let doubt seep in, and start raising the banner of circumstances for our victories, or worse claiming self-made victories in our past.  Our journey with Jesus is not about what “we” have done or not done.  It is about allowing Him to guide us, remake us, and lead us to where we are.  That journey happens outside of the written Word, and inside of the reformation of our particular hearts.  It is a real-life thing for each of us.  And that real-life experience then amplifies what we read of the stories of others who have encountered Jesus in the written Word.  One does not contradict the other, but both amplify the impact of Jesus in our lives.  If the Bible is still just a story book for you, and Jesus is still someone you have never met; there is still time to correct those positions.  Meet the One, then see the other go from story book, to His Word in printed form.

Jesus does not immediately address the doubt of His own disciples.  But He does communicate what He must.  Matthew picks back up in verse 18 saying … “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”  There has been a change of ownership of our world.  Adam was its caretaker, until he surrendered it to Satan, when he broke trust with God.  Satan made the argument that it was impossible for man to keep God’s Laws.  But Jesus came, lived, died, and was ressurected in perfect harmony with God’s Law of love.  As such, because Jesus surrendered His own will to the will of His Father – His Father “gave” Jesus “All” power in both heaven and in earth.  There will still be opposition to the will of God in our world.  But that opposition will come from an angry tenant, not from the landlord.  The landlord of our world is now Jesus, whether we like that or not.  This new fact, of which Satan is well aware, makes that angry tenent even more angry.  Satan looks now to shred this planet, and shred as many of us as he can, before the landlord (Jesus) throws him out, and remakes the place all over again.  Satan knows his time is short, he knows he is on a clock.  And each second that ticks by is one more second closer to his demise.  So each passing second only serves to increase his desperation at shredding us all.  Ironic, that Satan sees time more acutely, than we do, when our life expectancy is far more brief.

Jesus continues in verse 19 saying … “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [verse 20] Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”  These are the last two verses in the book of Matthew to his contemporaries, to his Jewish counterparts.  That was the focus of the ministry of Matthew, and of the audience of this book.  Jews would understand perfectly the concept of baptism.  Matthew takes this concept and enumerates through the words of Jesus an alteration to its historical context.  Instead of baptizing for repentance only, they would add, doing it as a public sign of accepting not only Jesus, but God the Father, and the Holy Spirit as well.  Our God, better described as three-in-one – three entities in perfect harmony, with unique roles, unique personalities, but perfectly aligned in goal and practice to redeem we who were lost.  That was something new to the Jews who would read this.  Using baptism as a public statement of accepting the role of Jesus in this trio of God was something new.  Even the introduction or better stated re-introduction of the Holy Spirit as part of the baptism statement was something new.

But Jews who understood the need for baptism understood why this might make sense.  And while Matthew was targeting his Jewish contemporaries, he was not ONLY targeting them.  For us Gentiles, the right of baptism would be equally valid and equally meaningful as our next author of study Luke, would begin to chronicle.  Matthew also knew his Jewish contemporaries would easily understand the next words of Jesus as well.  “Teaching them to observe”, was a concept deeply rooted in Jewish tradition.  The Jewish mind at that time and place would easily grasp this idea because it was one they were intimately familiar with.  The “art” of study of all things religious made sense to the Jewish mind.  Switching from naked tradition as taught by the Pharisees, to Jesus who rooted His teachings in the same scriptures, but from a motivation of love for others – was a radical change, but still a familiar idea to the people of God at this time and place.  Most Christians seem to forget that Christianity itself started as a Jewish religion, founded by Jews, whose leader was and is still a Jew, and whose first practioners were ALL Jewish.  It was only later that this new Jewish faith, became inundated with Gentiles from around the then known world.

“Things whatsoever that I have commanded you”.  This phrase in other gospels might find its closest expression in “Love one another, as I have loved you”.  We will be known as followers of Jesus, as Christians, by how we love one another.  When asked which commandment of the Law was greatest, Jesus summarized saying Love God first with all your heart, then love each other as you would love yourself.  That is to say, love the life of others so much you would lay down your own life for them.  That kind of love, that kind of self-sacrificing love.  It starts with loving God.  We know from practical experience that by allowing God to remake us, He puts His love inside of us for others.  Only then are we able to love them, to the extent that Christ would have us love them.  But in all these references whether by example of Jesus Himself, or by His teachings, we find that love itself is at the center of everything.  Love to God.  Love to others.  In that is the fulfillment of ALL of the Law, and of the prophets.  These were the teachings of Jesus we are commanded to observe. 

What we were NOT commanded to observe, are the unique interpretations of scripture that each denomination currently holds.  Those interpretations are meant to bring you closer to God.  But they are decidedly NOT on the Jesus-said-so list.  Love is.  Love is the only thing that is.  This is why it is so unfortunate when entire groups of Christians, decide that other groups of Christians are both wrong and evil, because they hold different interpretations of the same scriptures we all read.  Who is wrong, and who is not, is not important – if you believe we all seek the same Jesus, who alone is responsible for saving us, and leading us, into His truth, in His way, in His time, and in a manner that each one of us can comprehend and over time assimilate.  If you trust Jesus with your own salvation, then you must trust Jesus with mine.  We do not need to educate each other.  We need to love each other, and let our combined education flow from Jesus and the Holy Spirit as they see fit.  We are to be led by God, not to try to do the leading.  It is the interjection of unique doctrines, and interpretations into these verses than begin to make them of none effect.  If we boiled our teachings down to the same Love that Jesus asked of us, our differences would become meaningless.  For our journeys lead to the same place.

And what we seem most to forget about these words of Jesus written down by Matthew is the last phrases.  “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”  We are NOT alone.  We never have been.  We are not just accompanied by our guardian angels who keep us safe from the unseen war that rages around us.  But we are accompanied by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit who is everywhere at once, and with each of us, as we have permitted Him to be.  The eye of God Himself is on each of us.  He does not watch with pen in one hand, and tablet in the other, recording each and every wrong doing we embrace, by choice or by accident.  That list only has meaning if we reject His love.  It would serve as evidence to other humans who will one day ask “why is so-and-so not with us here in heaven”.  Then the list will be produced that shows an entire life of rejected love, the rejection of God’s love.  But for those who embrace God, that list has ALREADY been wiped clean by the blood of Christ and tossed into the deepest recesses of black holes the universe has to offer.  So when God Himself looks at us, he does not see the plethora of what is wrong with His child – He sees the infinite potential He could do and will do for that same child.

That kind of parental love is something we should understand.  When my parents looked at me at 2 years old sitting in the kitchen with gold paint everywhere.  They were surely not happy about my artistic skills.  But they did not love me any the less.  They cleaned me up (that was pretty rough).  They cleaned up what I had done (again no easy feat).  And they loved me each and every day after that.  Neither wanted a repeat of my golden paint fiasco, so paint cans were sealed tight, and moved beyond my reach.  They gave me a set of finger paints that were safer for me to use, and caused much less permanent damage.  This is the love of a parent.  Encourage the art, remove the danger, love the effort.  Would God look at us, at you, any different?  Would He not act as much as He could to take you out of the danger of your life.  Remove the desire to injest that which you should not injest.  Remove the desire to engage in what you should not engage.  He cannot prevent you from running away from Him or His wisdom.  But He can and does clean up your mess, clean you up, and love you everyday.  His efforts with you are the efforts of a parent who deeply loves their 2yr old.  And He looks to make the life of that toddler better every day.

This is what Jesus being with us, is like.  A Friend to talk to.  A Savior who cleans the mess.  A Creator who re-creates who we are, so that the future messes seem to just disappear.  And through all of it, love is at the center of it all.  We don’t need to know everything.  But if we are to have just one more for the road, let that one thing, be more of His love …

 

Point / Counter-Point ...

In the old days of Saturday Night Live (SNL), they used to run a skit entitled Point / CounterPoint during their weekend update news segment.  The humor came not from the topics they discussed, but from the incredibly rude and horribly anti-politically correct language they used to discuss them.  The name calling was most of the fun for viewers, and generally so distracting, that it was hard to pay attention to any real debate or substantive statements made during the verbal brawl.  Humor aside, for any point-of-view, you can bet there is a different point-of-view, a competing point-of-view.  And in the decades that have passed since this skit was in its prime, the name calling and personal attacks, have moved from a clear attempt to illicit laughter, to mean-spirited attacks meant to illicit tears, and break any thought of self-esteem in the other party.  What has changed is how we see each other, and worse, what motives we ascribe to each other.  And when one side believes it has the only truth, it is easy to see any other side as not only wrong, but evil.

This phenomenon did not start with us.  It began in heaven of all places.  God was truth, He is still is.  He has a way of doing things that works, it is also the best way.  It turns out, His ways, are the only ways, that can avoid pain, and even death.  These ways of God were not developed to be punitive.  They were developed because He loves us, He loves the entire universe.  And who would not want more joy, instead of more death?  It is rather a silly comparison.  But Lucifer did just that.  For every way God naturally followed, Lucifer looked closely and set up an alternative way of doing things.  Most of them involved loving self, instead of loving others.

As an example, God creates monogamy to foster intimacy, so that 2 people can come to know and love each other in a way so strong, no one else could come close to understanding it.  Within the bounds of this kind of intimacy and vulnerability and trust, procreation becomes a by-product.  Satan looks at all of this and offers instead his alternative, his counterfeit.  He offers the momentary high of biology.  Reducing others to meat sacks of mutual consent.  Not pursuing intimacy but destroying it altogether, until people mean nothing, and are only objects that can provide a moment’s pleasure.  To have children in this venue, is a risk to be avoided.  A punishment for not thinking ahead and being careful, while you pursue an endless line of self-worth-destruction in the form of others for a moment’s pleasure.  It turns out the “alternative” is not just “different”, it sucks.  It is not happiness packaged in a different way, it is pain, wrapped up to look like happiness, but with no fulfilling characteristics at all.  In short, it is a lie.  But then, when you choose to deviate from truth, where else would you expect to wind up, but in a lie.

And so what started in heaven, by no means ended there.  Satan has been creating counterfeits, and telling lies about God since the very beginning, with no intention of ever stopping, until he is stopped once and for all at the end of all things.  Satan ascribes his own motives on to God, hoping you will believe the worst about God, and nothing about the devil.  Where it comes to the Word of God, Satan has been lying about that since Moses first picked up a quill and parchment to begin writing it down.  Matthew, in his gospel to his contemporaries, in chapter 28 records one really significant case of “point / counterpoint”.  And honestly if I had been Matthew, I might have seen the wisdom of opening by talking to Satan, and saying something like the old SNL skits started … “Satan, you ignorant slut”.  Might still be good for a laugh, but in this case, it is also true.  Instead Matthew takes us back, picking up in verse 1 saying … “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”

The women of cast-iron-faith, are again first to go to Jesus, even though He is dead.  They have no reason to do this, at least no logical reason.  Dead is dead.  When a Messiah is killed, that is pretty much the end of it, at least it has always been so.  But for these women where love drives their faith, something naws at them.  They remember His words.  He predicted that He would rise again on the third day.  There is a nagging hope within them that defies logic, and will not go away, and will not be silent.  So women do what men continue to be too afraid to do.  They travel to his burial site, in spite of the fact they are sure to encounter the 100 Roman soldiers, and who knows how many temple guards sent as well.  These women of cast-iron-faith are sure to be surrounded by the enemy, and make no mistake, the enemy sure looks to be in charge.  They have the swords.  They have the spears.  And they have the anger that will not go away.

Matthew continues in verse 2 saying … “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. [verse 3] His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: [verse 4] And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.”  Here is where a hundred Roman killers are made as scared as a flock of sheep.  All their spears and swords, and pent up cruelty, are worth nothing against a single angel of the Lord.  The stone which took several men to put in place, is rolled away like so many paper towels in a kitchen.  The seal is broken without so much as effort.  But this angel is not there to kill lost souls the Lord was sent to redeem.  The Romans keep their lives.  And the angel takes no threatening posture with his own sword drawn and ready.  Instead he hops up on the stone he rolled away and sits down like a teenager might do.  From here he casually begins talking to the women.

Matthew continues in verse 5 saying … “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. [verse 6] He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. [verse 7] And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.”  The first evangelists of the Christian faith are commissioned.  The first preachers of the gospel are commissioned.  And they are ALL women.  This had nothing to do with a preference by God, for one sex or the other.  But it had a great deal to do with who faced their fears and went to seek Jesus, despite it not making sense or being logical.  When loves drives the motives, miracles happen.  When love is not in the motives, miracles are prevented.  Women were here.  So women were commissioned.  God works with whoever comes to Him.  He makes no distinction of the sex, or age, or color.  He loves us all.  He will work with us all.  Who of us, will come to work with Him?

The entire gospel message is summed up in what the angel has said.  Jesus is risen.  Go and tell, in this case his disciples.  These women must preach to the future preachers, because the future preachers are hiding allowing their fear to overcome their faith.  They heard the same words of Jesus regarding his resurrection at the same time the women heard them.  But nothing was nawing against the hearts of the disciples except the fear of self-preservation.  Fear can be drowned-out by love, and it cannot be drowned out without it.  When love is an after thought, fear can hold sway.  And so it did.  Love, as what men think of love, was in the hearts of the disciples.  But the Love of Jesus was not there just yet.  Later when that love of Jesus did enter the disciples, they feared nothing, and endured everything for the cause of Christ.  But now, the early adopters, were the women of cast-iron-faith, tempered by the furnaces of love.

Matthew continues in verse 8 saying … “And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. [verse 9] And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. [verse 10] Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.”  And just in case you could doubt the word of an angel of God, we have his words reaffirmed by the Jesus they all knew, up close, and in person.  This was the point of the gospel.  This was the love of the gospel made manifest.  Jesus takes the time to personally greet His new evangelists, to appear FIRST to the women.  This was I believe a reward for their faith.  Faith that drove them to move, even when it made no logical sense at all.  Faith that drove them to hope, because they remembered the words of their Lord and trusted in His Truth.  The “Point” goes to God.

Now for the counterpoint.  Time for the ignorant slut to spin his lie.  Matthew continues in verse 11 saying … “Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. [verse 12] And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, [verse 13] Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. [verse 14] And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. [verse 15] So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.”  The lie has teeth.  It spreads.  It makes common sense.  It is more logical, and therefore more believable, than say a miracle.  Occam's Razor would side in favor of the lie.  The soldiers risked their lives to spread it, for sleeping on duty, would get them placed on crosses of their own.  The priests vouching for them with Pilate, would be the only way, they “might” escape that fate.  Counterpoint goes to Satan.

And in this situation, ascribing evil motives to the alternative story to the resurrection is understandable.  After all, Satan is evil.  And he has nothing but evil intent.  God’s story is the story of your redemption, and re-creation.  It is the story of your personal reconciliation with God.  You get to go home.  You get to hang out with God, eat dinner with Him, listen to Him, talk to Him, laugh with Him.  God is not just about sitting on a distant throne in heaven, you are a thousand miles away from.  He is about getting close and personal with you, being with you.  God being God, He can do that with you, at the same time He does it with me, and so on, and so on.  Everywhere at once.  This is not a “thousand mile away” proposition.  It is about going home, to be “with” God.  Never parted again.

And what does the counterpoint offer?  Meaninglessness.  Your life is a random accumulation of circumstances that mean nothing.  You mean nothing.  You are all alone.  You will die alone.  And no one will care.  In a thousand years, or ten thousand, you will be a speck in a memory long forgotten.  Your pain, your joy, are all random, and mean nothing.  Your suffering means nothing.  In short, in the counterpoint proposal, you have no meaning to anyone, so … why live?  Take the yoke of morality off of you and swing for the rafters.  Be Hitler if it pleases you.  Or be Gandhi.  But no matter.  Both are dead now.  So what difference do either make?  Counterpoint has NOTHING to offer you, it is based on lies, that would rob you of infinite joy, and infinite life.  It is meant to deceive you, and distract you, to keep you from a faith that overcomes fear, because it is driven by love.  And love does matter.  In the here and now, and throughout the eons of time, love will always matter.  Do not let the lie, rob you of your meaning.  Do not let logic, rob you of the love you have coming, and the love you are capable of sharing.  There is no alternative to truth, only lies that lead to pain.

The gospel allows us to see each other, past the struggles with evil, and to what potential He would bring in our lives.  Instead of ascribing any motives to our brothers and sisters, what if we just loved them unconditionally instead.  What if our love for them, looked like God’s love for them?  Might that offer a reason to seek Jesus in the first place?  The Truth is revealed when Love is revealed.  The Truth is not revealed by debate, by words, but by love in action.  Because of Love, I care more about you than I do about convincing you of anything I believe – except to seek Jesus in everything.  My doctrines can wait.  If my doctrines are truth, then I can trust Jesus to reveal them to you in His time, in His manner, and in the way in which you will come to need to hear them.  That is a wildly different approach, than me trying to cram what I believe down your throat, all the while showing as little concern for you as I do the mosquito biting my arm.  And becoming frustrated if not angry with you, when you refuse to see things the way I do.  That kind of doctrine-based approach to evangelizing should go the way of the dodo-bird.  It does not work, and it does not last.  My beliefs are not as important as my love.  And how I can benefit you will be more determined by how much I love you, than what I esoterically believe about anything.

God has the point.  Satan has nothing.  You can see the truth of it, when you look at the life of Jesus Christ.

 

Radical Transformation ...

If you knew the end from the beginning, you wouldn’t choose it any other way.  This assertion will be verified in heaven (look me up, if it turns out I was wrong 😊).  But because we don’t know: it feels much more like a rollercoaster doing 90mph and its just certain there is some track missing up ahead.  Roller coasters at high speed are dangerous enough when guided by the flimsy track we all realize was built by a team earning minimum wage dying to get home for the weekend.  But if track is actually missing, if the ride itself is frankly incomplete: then the ride is not only dangerous, it is certain death.  And nobody here is looking for that outcome.  After all we signed up for this, we bought tickets, we chose to be here, wait in line, do whatever it takes to ride.  If you told me however, that the “surprise” of this ride, was missing track, I would tell you – thanks, but no thanks.  That kind of “radical” is just way out of my league.  And yet here I sit waiting in line, really close to my turn to ride.

The basic problem with transformation of any kind, is that the future me, is just not going to look anything like the current me.  No, I am not talking about physical body alteration of any kind.  I am talking generally about what it means to have character or personality “one” today – and through a series of events I cannot predict, anticipate, or sometimes even understand – finding myself down the road with personality “two” instead of who I am today.  The promise of God, is that what He will remake me into, will be something I would love to be.  But what is that?  He offers no road map.  He does not set any time limits on all this.  It could take minutes, or it could take decades.  Perhaps the timing is something I directly influence.  He does not even tell me what “I” will look like in that future model.  I have no idea what features, strengths, or weaknesses I will have.  It may even be possible weaknesses will have left my vocabulary.  God tells me He will put His love inside of me.  Just like He does for literally everyone else.  So while some of the outcomes are known, the parts that make me unique from everybody else are not known.  Will I still be able to play the violin (goes the old joke)?

And more to the point, will the parts of me I lose in this process, be parts of me I will miss in the future?  That is kind of the most burning question that crosses my mind when I ponder transformation of any kind, let alone radical transformation.  I am kind of fond of some of who I am today.  Even if those parts are perhaps not the best things for me, or anybody else really.  Then comes the scariest part of all.  When you read scriptures about radical transformation, it tends to use language like “having to die” to achieve it.  I foresee the missing track right there on this roller coaster.  “Death” words are never very comforting for any mortal.  Even if they only refer to my personality or character, they are still very frightening.  And for a marketing campaign, this is probably the worst one I have ever heard.  Who cares if it is truth in advertising, it is not a truth most of us want to hear.  You start telling me that the end of the rainbow lies behind the death-door number one, and I start wondering if there is a door number two, or three to choose from.  That’s just human nature.  And it is human nature God intends to redefine in me, even if some sort of death is required to do it.

So my first response is … you first.  Ego crazed, selfish creature that I am, choosing to be blind to the infinite glory God is offering – and in this state, I demand He does it first – to prove that it works.  You would think a Santa Clause version of God who doles out rewards and punishments (emphasis on punishments) would just strike me down in my arrogance.  But our God is NOT any version of Santa Clause.  He is a saving God.  And instead of debating with me, He leads me to scriptures to show me where He ALREADY has gone first.  Talk about missing tracks on the Roller Coaster.  Matthew chronicles how real radical transformation begins, not just ours, but our God’s.  He writes of experiences the author of Life should have never known.  But to save us our God did way more than He would ever ask of any of us, in order to see what future me could see.

Matthew picks up in chapter 27 in verse 45 saying … “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. [verse 46] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  There will be pain in our transformation.  Pain brought on by sin, and its consequences, and the choices others continue to make while bound to sin like the strongest cocaine addiction the world has ever known.  How do I know radical transformation is not a recipe for a pain-free-life – look what sin did to God.  Jesus sits atop a Roman cross, and for three hours He writhes in agony, nearly deprived of all His blood.  The Creator is to experience death first.  The Author of life is to experience its ultimate opposite, in order to save us.  And for those three hours, nature refuses to look upon what is happening.  An eery darkness covers the land.  This is no normal thunderstorm, no normal cloudy day.  This is a thick blackness like the plague that once covered Egypt.

The Romans assigned to this detatchment must light torches to see; when usually the sun is high in the sky.  No stars can be seen.  No moon.  No Sun.  No reflections of light anywhere but from the torches the soldiers must light in order to see.  And humanity is now terrified.  Radical Transformation is anything but predictable.  How could anyone have prepared for this?  But what Jesus says reveals a pain infinitely greater than the pain His body suffers from.  He has never known a millisecond without absolute unity with His Father.  It is the light of the Father, that has sustained Jesus throughout this ministerial tour through torture-ville.  It is that harmony, that unity, that keeps Him submitting to God, deferring His own will, in order to show us what we need to do.  Jesus is to be our living example.  But now, near the moments of His death, He can feel no Father God.  He is now truly alone.  He is now experiencing what separation from the Father feels like.  And folks – that is the very definition of HELL.  Hell is NOT about the flames.  Hell is not even about the eternal consequences.  Hell is the infinite torture of being separated from the source of all life and love even if only for a moment.  To endure that separation, is to endure HELL, and Jesus has been dealing with it for a while now.

I am sure in His darkness, Jesus must be asking Himself, what good can come from this?  Is it possible that having carried the weight of the sins of this world upon Him, He will forever be stained with it?  If so, might He ever have to endure separation from His Father?  Jesus is walking through the doors of Hell, with zero exit strategy.  Even after He is resurrected, He might still be stained, and forever driven from the presence of His Father.  Our sin could easily be that great.  Mine alone perhaps that great.  Talk about death wording.  Jesus is going to die.  But perhaps Jesus will endure a fate worse than death.  And from this side of the cross, He cannot see past it.  The risk is real.  The risk is overwhelming.  And so He cries out in agony, to mark this extreme pain.

Matthew continues in verse 47 saying … “Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. [verse 48] And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. [verse 49] The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.”  The priests have fled the darkness back to Jerusalem.  Only the soldiers, the curious, and the faithful remain here.  Those listening misunderstand Him, how typical.  They prepare a pain dulling sponge for Him, to see if Elijah will come to save Him.  Another sign that could not happen, perhaps no matter how bad Elijah wanted it to.  For Elijah, Moses, Enoch, and any other human translated into heaven, must now sit in silence witnessing the price of God’s love for us.  There was no adequate road map for any of this.  When Father and Son, plan all of this out in heaven 4000+ years ago, it is different knowing it will come, than being now in the middle of it, unable to see past the fog of our sins, to know if redemption is even still possible.

We complain about what might be required of us during a radical transformation.  But we have endured nothing next to our God, who did go first.  We may even lose the life we have in this world of sin, but like the theif on the cross, we will surely see our loving God in the next one when it comes.  What Jesus did was risk both lives.  The human one on the cross.  The divine one from being stained with our great sins.  It might have been planned.  But it was here, and unexpected.  All radical transformations are unexpected.  If we knew about them.  We would defer them.  They happen to us, in spite of us.  And Jesus will die with those in attendance still not understanding what He was doing for them.  Those onlookers meant no sympathy with the vinegar to dull the pain.  They meant to extend His life by dulling the pain long enough to see if Elijah would descend out of the darkness all around them.  Radical Transformation often happens to us alone.  When comfort does not come from those around us.  It is just between us and our God.  Here Jesus must endure it, even without the comfort of His Father God.

Matthew continues in verse 50 saying … “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. [verse 51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”  The agony is too great.  The separation too intense.  Jesus cries out in a blood-chilling cry of a heart physically rending in His own chest.  And He dies.  No escape.  No alternative pathway for our salvation.  He does what must be done.  His death not only before our own, but in place of our own.  Our transformation will now be possible because Jesus did what He must do to save us.  Even if He does not know it yet.  His sleep begins.  He knows nothing for now. 

But radical transformation is not just meant for people.  It can and just did happen to a belief system.  The most holy place was where the mercy seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant.  This most holy chamber was hidden in the Temple at Jerusalem behind a 20ft curtain insolated with three different kinds of heavy materials & colors sown together, and embroidered with gold angels throughout.  The curtain weighed several hundred pounds and took many men to hang it.  It was not intended to be moved offering only a slight possible opening at the center base where a man could pass from one chamber to the other once a year.  To look upon the most holy artifacts, was to see the presence of God, and be struck dead from the intensity of our sin, and purity of His love by contrast.  No Jew ever dared to do it.  They knew the consequences.  They tied bells on the hem of the High Priest, and a rope around his ankles, when he entered this sanctum only once per year, in case the bells went silent and he died, they pulled him out by that rope, never daring to look in. 

And now on the day of atonement, with hundreds of worshippers packing the Temple site, and the high priest making ready to go in – the curtain is torn by an unseen angelic hand from top to bottom.  It falls away revealing not only a small passageway, but the entire Most Holy place sanctum, Ark of the Covenant and all.  The mercy seat is empty; the One who normally occupies it just gave up His Ghost over on Calvary at that moment.  The entire crowd stares in to the most Holy place in terror and amazement.  They are all still alive.  And their faith has just undergone a radical transformation.  No longer will Jerusalem be its center.  No longer will any Temple building be where God is found.  He will be found with each of us who seek Him, where we happen to be.  And the cornerstone of the faith, Jesus Christ, who was cast aside by the priests charged with building the base of believers, will become the very foundation of the new faith that emerges from the Old faith that has met its fulfillment at the cross, on the Day of Atonement.  It is also the year of Jubiliee, all the slaves are to be set free.  A symbolic representation of what Jesus will do for us if redemption worked.  The timing of everything is perfect.

But this is not just a silent event.  At the death of her Maker, the earth trembles as you would expect it to, when the Creator God is put to death.  The earthquake is felt here and hundreds of miles away.  It tears rocks into pebbles.  It rips great holes in the earth, though preserving Jerusalem, and the cross site where He has laid down His life.  But there is purpose in this quake.  It tears deep into the earth, to reveal graves that have been covered over by ages of shifting sands and sediments.  Matthew continues in verse 52 saying … “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, [verse 53] And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”  The graves of many sleeping saints were exposed by the quake.  When Jesus would come forth, they would arise as well, a first fruits offering for what was to come.  In addition to the sightings of Jesus after His own resurrection, would be sightings and encounters of saints long asleep in the earth, who would come forth and testify in full body form about their risen Lord.

Radical Transformation, that follows death.  Radical Transformation none can deny, and none would oppose.  Those sleeping saints were not disembodied spirits wandering the halls of a heaven forced to see their loved ones continue on in their absence in a world of sin.  They were instead asleep as scriptures describe, knowing nothing, not the passage of time, not the decay of their bodies, nor the conditions that occurred after their sleep began.  Until now.  They arose in full body form, not as spirits.  They emerged from death, as we all will also emerge from death.  Radically transformed into new creations, even if that process began before our sleep did.  Future them, is radically better than past versions of them.  Their characters are not burdened with the addiction to sin, but are completely free of it.  They are made pure by our Savior, and are now able to ascend with Him when He ascends into heaven.  But whether their influence was witnessed for three days, or for forty days, it was undeniable, profound, and radically different than what ANYBODY expected, including them.

The reaction to all of this by those who least believed, and were most responsible for the cruelty of all of this was the admission believers seem so reluctant to admit.  Matthew continues in verse 54 saying … “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”  You will note these pagan men made no reference to pagan deities.  They proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, the Jewish version of who the Messiah would be.  This statement affirms the Jewish version of who God is, and does nothing to support any kind of previous pagan belief.  And it comes from the most cruel, military men, who are bound by orders to witness all of it.  But then, Radical Transformation was meant to occur in the Roman soul, as easily as it occurs in the Hebrew one.  It does not matter who you are now, who you can be is so infinitely better.  You do not need to worry.  Even if death comes, so what.  Death comes to us all.  But real change to so few.  Real change, from real love, makes real life so much better.  Future you will never dispute this.  But to encounter future you, you must be willing to let current you, go.  It might sound radical, but some missing track is just what this ride was supposed to have.