The Final Criterion ...

Who you are matters.  Not who you know.  Not what you know.  But who you are in the core of your character, does matter.  Modern Christian churches tend to get this entirely wrong.  They focus on what they can teach you.  The idea is that if you find out enough knowledge, some of it is bound to rub off on you, and perhaps you might become a better person than when you started.  That idea may even have some merit.  But what if who you are is essentially the same as who you were; only after all this education, you have a better understanding of doctrines.  If you think it has never happened before, just spend some time reading about the Pharisees in the time of Christ.  They had immense knowledge of the scriptures, spent nearly every day debating and trying to increase that knowledge.  But it did not change “who” they were.  And when Christ came, they refused to recognize Him.  Why?  Because Jesus was obsessed with loving others, especially those in need.  The Pharisees were more comfortable with a “caste” system where the people in great need were largely ostracized (you know, in order to keep the church pure).

And speaking of the “church”, it can’t save you either.  The Pharisees went to church obsessively.  They had a special temple building that was specifically authorized for this purpose.  They had many rituals designed to point them to the Messiah, ALL of which they followed for public viewing.  They sang all the hymns.  They wrote a few new ones.  They washed themselves up and were “clean” all the time.  Their clothing was “temple proscribed”.  It was conservative (as nearly as conservative as clothing gets).  Their family lives were very regimented with each member of the family knowing their “place”.  Wives and daughters did household chores and only those.  Sons were meant to carry on tradition and were educated thoroughly from an early age.  For our conservative brothers and sisters who think that modern society has gone down hill because we let our standards erode – the Pharisees had the best lock on standards there will ever be, and yet – they missed the Messiah entirely.  Rather, they chose to kill the Messiah rather than adopt another way of doing things.

So what about doctrine?  True doctrine is supposed to point you to Jesus.  If it works, that should lead you to submission and transformation of who you are.  But how many doctrines are really setup for that purpose?  Instead doctrines have become the central pillars that divide one church from another based on what is now called “belief”.  All modern Christian churches believe in Jesus, and yet every distinct denomination is somehow divided over the doctrines they teach.  Again noting the irony of doctrines being supposed to point you to Jesus, yet churches divide over them incessantly.  But let’s assume for the moment that your brand of Christianity (that is your particular denomination or unique set of beliefs) is 100% right, and everyone else is 100% wrong.  What then?  Does holding all the right doctrines to be true, make you a different person on the inside?  To the point, does it change who you are so completely, that you become just like Jesus (hard to tell you apart)?  If not, why?  All that truth must be good for something right.  But then, knowing “about” Jesus, and knowing “about” the Bible, only makes you a good student – not a different person.  To “be” a different person all you need is Jesus (and nothing else will do).

So what kind of person are you supposed to be?  That would be the $64,000 question.  And of course, Jesus left us the answer.  Matthew in his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries records the words of Jesus Himself on this topic in chapter 25.  Jesus once again transitions the context from prior scriptures, beginning with the signs and wonders, moving to the conditions, moving again to the work or mission, and now to a final judgment scene that most conservative Christians love the idea of.  The last topic Jesus will address is what happens at His second coming (whether at the outset of it, or at the end of it – time is a little fuzzy in this one).  But there is very clear a division of people into two camps.  The saved, and the not saved.  This makes all of us nervous.  And it should.  The selfishness in the roots of who we are, dictates a lot of bad outcomes.  But this story has a twist, in fact a number of them.

It begins with Jesus speaking in verse 31 saying … “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:”  This is the second coming of Jesus.  No longer a humble baby laying in a manger for Herod to plot to destroy.  He is now beyond the reach of plotting Pharisees who want to see Him dead because He will simply not accept their version of the doctrines of truth they believe are beyond dispute.  This is a different picture of the same Jesus, and He is back.  This is not the sign for the atheists to finally accept the ridiculous ideas of a spaghetti monster as opposed to a tangible Son of God who is now here in front of them with all His holy angels (a number likely too large for us to guess at now).  And He brings with Him a throne, that is meant only for Him to sit upon.  This is the revelation of Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He does not bow to our money or wealth.  He does not humble Himself to our leaders, for He is the ultimate leader of all time.  The glory of this is beyond our imagination today.  Yet Jesus gives us this small glimpse to get our heads in the right train of thought.

He continues in verse 32 saying … “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: [verse 33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”  Our ultimate shepherd dividing His flocks is something we can kind of understand.  But does He mean His right, or our right?  And does He mean His left hand, or does He me the hand we see on the left from our perspective?  But that’s the thing about sheep, they just do what they are told.  They do not need to understand it.  They just do it.  This is a subtlety we sometimes miss.  Everyone here in this crowd thinks they are the same.  We ALL believe Jesus has come to take US home.  We ALL believe we are His sheep.  Nobody is looking around making accusations.  We’re just ALL happy.  But despite what we think of ourselves, there is a division going on, none the less. And we the sheep and goats are more or less oblivious to it.  Keep in mind two ambitious disciples had asked that when Jesus came into His kingdom that one might be placed at the right hand of Jesus, and one at the left.

Jesus continues in verse 34 saying … “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: [verse 35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: [verse 36] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”  The group on the right has made it in to the Kingdom.  Why?  Keep in mind the above set of activities is NOT a definitive list, it is a set of examples.  What drives the behavior above is a core love of others that has become a part of “who” we are.  There is no check list of this stuff.  There is a driving motivation that pushes always into these kinds of behaviors for others, because we genuinely love them.  This set of examples is evidence of a full transformation of the heart and mind.  You leave behind the person you are today (one obsessed with self), and you are re-created into the very image of Jesus Christ by the power of His transformative love you choose to submit to.  The Holy Spirit acts as the mechanism.  And the result is a different kind of sheep.

Now again, I must call attention to the obvious (sorry).  Where is doctrine listed in the above set of final criterion?  Where is our understand of scripture cited, or our perfect knowledge of prophecy tested?  For that matter, where is something as basic as the Ten Commandments examined?  The above set of actions are examples of you loving others (which should be an embodiment of both doctrine and the Ten Commandments) – because it brings you into harmony with God.  But the goal post Jesus lays out is not whether you have kept all ten or any one of the Commandments properly, or whether you broke one tenant of the Law.  He does not have to.  Perfect love of others brings you into perfect harmony with the Law, until the Law is not something you even think about anymore, it is just a basic proscription for how to love others, that you would not think of badly.  You already love God, because loving Jesus is how your transformation began, continued, and finally concluded.  You already love others, so what “not” to do is only a beginning for you.  You have been spending your thoughts on what “to do”.  The above list Christ cited are examples of that thinking.

For some traditionalists, they believe you would gain entry into heaven or not, based on how perfectly “you” kept each commandment.  Sorry guys, that is not enough.  Jesus does not divide sheep from goats based on how many people learned not to steal, or lust, or covet, or commit adultery.  Jesus does not even look at His flock and divide it based on how many people broke the Sabbath, treated it badly, wasted their special day with Him, or worse yet; refused to worship on His day made holy at creation, choosing rather to worship on their own day.  THAT is not the criterion by which Jesus divides the flock.  Treating the time with Jesus how it deserves, cannot be accomplished, until we are brought into harmony with His Laws.  While His Laws are a burden to us, our hearts reflect our lack of transformation.  Once we allow Him to change “who” we are, how we see His special time with us changes, and only then can perfect obedience be found in us.  The Law never goes away.  Our perspective of the Law changes from burden to automatic as we are transformed into harmony with it.  Attempting to keep the Law, without transformation is nothing more than vanity.

Lastly, again notice it is not the brand of sheep that gets you into His Kingdom.  It is not “your” particular brand of Christian that is the final criterion.  Catholics are going to have to share the Kingdom with Protestants, and Mormons, and people of no brand at all.  The criterion laid out appears to be acts of loving Jesus Himself, not of belonging to a particular sect of Christianity.  It is not that only white sheep made it in (representing your faith), and reluctantly spotted sheep (people near your ideas), and from a state of grace black sheep (ones who were complete rebels, but somehow found His grace).  Color or sect or creed was not the deciding factors.  Loving Jesus was (and is).  A tangible demonstration of the first four Commandments, or a tangible demonstration of a relationship with Jesus Himself.  Either or both are true.  Loving Jesus, it would appear, is found in how we love – period.  And it is not found in turning that love inward, but in turning that love outwards to those in need (as this list would imply).

Jesus continues in verse 37 saying … “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? [verse 38] When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? [verse 39] Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? [verse 40] And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  And here is another evidence of transformation – it is something you do not focus on – it is something happening to you without your knowledge, but within your motives.  The transformed sheep are simply different.  They love others because it is “who” they have been made to become.  As they look at the face of Jesus, they do not remember ever providing such loving acts to Him personally.  Yet Jesus says to them, when you did it “unto the least of these”.  Not to popes or presidents, or Bill Gates.  Not when your actions were designed for credit, or check marks in heaven.  But when your acts of charity and love were done because your heart bubbles over with charity and love.  Notice too, the “least of these” are also in the flock now, perhaps in part, because of your tangible love for them.

The sheep who gain entry into His Kingdom are like two-year-olds, unaware of their state of being, unaware they are the saved of this flock.  They do for others, without the knowledge of being saved, but because it is who they have become.  Think of that.  If it were possible these sheep could be lost (it’s not), they would be going to hell with kindness and love for others as their primary driving motivation.  They lived the way they do, because Jesus re-made them this way.  It is not something they did for themselves, or in partnership with God.  It is something Jesus does for us all, as we submit who we are to Him in the here and now.  He remakes us in the here and now.  And before long, a passion for others begins to develop in you, you cannot explain.  It brings tears to your eyes unexpectedly.  It brings joy to your heart from things you would not even have noticed before.  It is the new you, beginning to learn how to love like God loves, shedding the scales of your self-love behind.  It starts now, and going to heaven merely extends it.

Jesus continues in verse 41 saying … “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: [verse 42] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: [verse 43] I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.”  Pay careful attention to the reasons Jesus cites for this group NOT getting into heaven.  Examples of NOT loving others, therefore of being untransformed.  It is NO particular sin that keeps them out.  They are forgiven too, of the bad things they have done.  It is NOT the breaking of the law, or the misinterpretation of scripture that is keeping them out.  It is because they are NOT different people, they are the same at the core of who they are.  Forgiven, but not different inside.  And it shows.

The untransformed heart is all too happy to shower itself with the love of God, never thinking for a moment to share that love with others (perhaps outside of the inner circle of people we say we care about).  We care about very few, and are blindingly apathetic to those outside of our circles.  Even within our circle of people we are supposed to love, our love for them is far from perfect.  Often we choose what is convenient or easy for us, less so for them.  Sacrifice for others is seen as sacrifice (not as joy).  Giving to others is done in moderation (never completely, that would not make sense).  We strive to be “good” Christians (or worse), good people.  We tell ourselves we have achieved our goal of being a “basically” good person.  We tell ourselves that our sins do not matter, because they have been forgiven.  We treat His grace like a diaper we can relieve ourselves upon.  Never looking for an escape from our sins, only an excuse to remain in them.  Our thoughts are filled continually with a reflection of our motives, chief among them is love of self.

And it gets worse.  We too are unaware of our state of being.  Those goats, or active Christians involved in the church, hide our true condition by “working” in the ministry.  We may be the ones preaching, or planning, or helping out in church.  We make a fuss about attending events where the homeless are helped, or houses are built.  We consider these “events” as proof of our love of others (after all, we can point to a dozen of our neighbors who make no such attempt).  We give our means to ministry and again use this as proof of our love of others (pointing to others who make no such gifts, or who are unable to give as much as we).  And all of our “proof”, is proof of something else – an untransformed heart that looks for credit and reputation, not for anonymity.  When confronted with those in need, we pass by, because there is no “event” in it.  We do not make a habit of helping, only special events of helping.  We are quite comfortable leaving the least of these right where they are.  And there is no guilt in us, because who we are, is not someone who burns with the love of Jesus in us, only the love of self.  Our “good” hearts have never tasted of His transformation.  And so our lack of love for Jesus shows.  It is evident.

Jesus continues in verse 44 saying … “Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? [verse 45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. [verse 46] And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”  These goats are unaware they are goats.  And they too looking at the face of Jesus for the first time, realize they have never met Him before.  So they offer in their own defense, not repentance, but a statement of facts.  We never saw you, so how could we ever help you?  But the “least of these” who are in the flock today are present.  And they were ignored here by the goats who had no time for them outside of scheduled events or charitable donation.  The evidence is in front of them even if now it has been cleaned up significantly at this event.

What cannot be cleaned is the hearts still inside the goats.  It is too late for that.  They have steadfastly rejected transformation when it was offered.  They believed salvation was something “they” could achieve by their own good works, or asking for forgiveness (never a real change), or helping out in church.  They believed themselves “good” when Jesus looks at them they are far from the “good” the universe demands going forward.  Lucifer thought himself good too.  And while he loved others in harmony with the Law he was.  It was when he started loving self that is when Satan emerged.  These goats have known not much more than loving self in their own lives.  They have long evidence of it.  And the irony is that they may have perfect understanding of doctrine.  They may be able to recite a perfect understanding of all prophecy ever recorded.  They may be pastors, or ministers, or elders, or deaconesses.  They may go to church regularly.  They may do everything they thought they were supposed to do.  But they do not really love Jesus.  They mostly love themselves and bringing pleasure to themselves.

It is only in our submission that we find His ability to transform who we are into who He envisions we can become.  That means we turn over to Him our decisions (large and small).  That means we turn over our hearts and passions (for Him to remake, revise, or amplify as He sees fit).  Submission is about wanting to get rid of “who” we are, and trusting that what He will re-create us into, is the best thing we would ever really want.  It is a radical change of who we are.  It will radically disrupt everything about us.  And it will always be the best thing for us.  The evidence of this transformation will be found in the passion we have for loving others.  When we cannot keep still, when we cannot sleep away our time, when we must help that person in need – we are beginning to see them like God sees them.  That is what sheep look like.  You probably already know what goats look like (I do anyway).  But I continue to try to learn what submission means, and how much more of it I can learn to adopt.  Join me in that quest, and learn what Jesus has in store for you.

This concluded the answers of Jesus as to what to look for before the destruction of the Temple, and His second coming from signs, to conditions, to mission, to the final criterion.

 

The Wolves of Racism [part two] ...

So how do we rid ourselves of the wolves who would gladly destroy the flock?  The first step, is to look in the mirror, pick up the wool overcoat, and make sure “we” are not actually the wolves we are talking about.  Hatred, and its little brother - a lack of forgiveness, come in a variety of packages disguised as only “fair”; but the net result is the consumption of sheep, with only the remains of a wolf left in its place.  And the damage left behind does not only hit us, but has the ripple effects of every sin, extending outwards from us, first hitting those we love.  Then those same ripples of pain, begin to hit our church, our community, our country.  We may wonder how racism, bigotry, prejudice, or baggage could negatively impact our nation; but it can and it does.  Imagine the pain and damage done when hiring decisions are made purely from a point of prejudice of any kind.  Perhaps I don’t like bankers, or even former bankers, so I don’t offer this job to that candidate simply because he/she worked in an industry I have bad feelings about since the fall of that sector.  And because of my feelings, an otherwise fully qualified candidate is discarded because of what I feel about it. 

The same thing can happen when I let beliefs about age result in similar decisions.  In this age of technical proficiency how easy it is to decline the application of the clearly older candidate in favor of the young and up-and-coming because I believe inherently the young will adapt much faster than the old to change.  Of course this perspective usually occurs more often in the young, who have not yet experienced change the way the older folks have.  Just as hiring a former banker might give a qualified candidate a chance at something new, without the baggage of the past.  Prejudice can be subtle, it does not always have to be overt, and about black / white race relations.  Underlying it all is the fear, that at some point in the future, damage will happen to us (again) based on our past experiences, how we were raised, and what we choose to focus on in our news venues.  This fear begins to drive hate in us.  And instead of adopting a spirit of forgiveness, we adopt a spirit of what we call “justice”.  We begin to seek fairness above all things.  But fairness, justice, and equality sound objective, when in reality are anything but.  They are based on the perspectives we hold.  Ask yourself, is it “fair” for you to be rejected for a job opportunity, when another person of another race gets the job, particularly if race was the main reason they did?  Nearly ALL of us would say that it is not fair, unless “we” got it, then maybe we justify it as fair somehow (even if done for the same reasons).

Ironically, it is this spirit of justice, that makes us wolf, not sheep.  The sheep realizes they themselves are far from perfect, have done many wrongs to others, and thus crave forgiveness above all else.  And if we crave forgiveness, then we must be willing to offer it as well.  The world is unjust.  You can survive in it as wolf, or as sheep.  Case in point.  Matthew resumes the stories of Jesus in chapter eighteen of his gospel to the Hebrews.  He resumes picking up in verse 21 saying … “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”  This was Peter attempting to blend justice with forgiveness.  Most people, whether they know it or not, tend to have a three strikes rule.  You wrong me, and ask forgiveness, and I grant it – especially the first time.  The second time, I am a little more reluctant or cautious, but I still try to grant it.  By the third time, I pretty much no longer believe you mean what you say.  At this point, it is really hard to convince me you want genuine forgiveness.  It looks more to me like you are establishing a pattern of causing me harm, and then attempting to white wash yourself, so that you can simply do it again. (Imagine how God feels).

Peter however, was trying to be more generous than this, and was going the extra mile of offering 7 full times at forgiveness (despite how hard it would be to do this following the third declining shot).  Now translate that to us and the prejudice we develop over time regarding nearly anything.  Where prejudice remains, forgiveness is by definition, pushed out.  We fear damage more than we embrace a spirit of forgiveness.  This is how prejudice is fed, off our fears.  Lose the fear, it is then possible to lose a state of constantly prejudging what others will do, and why they would do those things.  Then people become just a series of one-on-one individual encounters.  I do not tally the sins of the last person (based on some characteristic I fear), with the new person who may also commit similar wrongdoings to me.  Instead the new person starts with a clean slate, because fear does not keep me holding on to a tally, that forgiveness would have otherwise reset.

But Jesus has a startling response picking up in verse 22 saying … “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”  It might as well be infinity.  Imagine being slapped in the face by someone who then asks forgiveness.  You grant it.  Then they find occasion to slap you in the face once again.  For 490 times?  If you can get past the third time, you are doing better than me.  If you can get past the seventh time you are doing better than our generous Peter proposed.  And when this pattern repeats for the 146^th time, and you are still able to grant genuine forgiveness on your part.  A few things will emerge.  Your concrete ability to share the forgiveness your God has granted you (monkey see, monkey do, in a great way).  It likely means your ideas about how to love, have become fully in harmony with your God’s ideas.  And I expect that at occasion #491, your mercy will not cut off, it will probably be there forever (as your God’s is).  The infectious, liberating nature of forgiveness will have taken over completely.  The sad part of this scenario however, is on the part of the wrongdoer.  It also likely means they are doomed to a life of inflicting pain, unable to stop, unable to control themselves, unwilling to allow Jesus to transform this behavior, ending it, so that no more forgiveness from you is needed.  Their path is the one of far greater sadness, even if yours must endure the pain in your cheeks on multiple occasions.

Forgiveness is supposed to be contagious.  Jesus then continues picking up with a story in verse 23 saying … “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. [verse 24] And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”  The story opens with the authority of a king, something the folks in His day and age, would have appreciated.  Everyone knew if Caesar decreed it, it was going to happen, whether for mercy, or for great evil.  It moves forward with a reckoning of the king’s servants (not strangers mind you, but folks assigned to serve the king, likely in a financial capacity (perhaps tax collectors)).  And one of the servants is discovered to owe the king 10-thousand talents.  This debt might as well have been infinity.  A single talent was a thing of great wealth.  With ten thousand of them, you could fund your own kingdom.  And no servant would ever “make” that much money on their own.

Jesus continues in verse 25 saying … “But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. [verse 26] The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  Here is where we must read carefully.  Because the servant could not pay, his life, was the thing he would have to offer of value.  Because he was the head of his home, what he did, would also cause great impact on the life of his wife, and his children as well.  What we do is never in a vacuum, it has repercussions.  And beyond the most precious things he had (the lives of his family), everything else he may have accumulated he was going to lose.  So he begs.  But for the wrong thing.  He begs for an extension of time, in order to pay back everything that is owed.  This was an exercise in futility.  If he lost this kind of sum of money, he could never pay it back (or he already would have).  How often do we line up beside this man, and ask God for a little more time and patience with us, so that we can conquer our sin?  We will stop swearing, or stealing, or lusting – if we just have a little more time to get it done.  But we fail, because we rely upon our own strength to succeed.

Jesus continues in verse 27 saying … “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”  Again pay close attention.  What the servant asked for was an extension of time to pay back what was owed.  What God offers him, is simply to forgive his debt completely.  God is looking to transform the life of the servant.  To take the pressure and the fear off of him, from spending every moment looking for a penny he can add to pay back to the debt.  And instead to enjoy his life (have a real one), and impact the lives of his wife, and his children in a positive way.  To use his belongings with a sense of gratitude, for they all belonged to the king.  But the king has returned them, given them back, given them in the first place, to the man in this story.  How often do we line up beside this man, and treat our families, and our goods as if they belong to us – not as though they were ALL gifts from our King, who has erased a debt of ours we could never pay back.

This was all designed to change the heart of the servant.  To change how he lives, how he loves, and make the rest of his life so much better.  But alas, one must be willing to have a heart changed.  Jesus continues in verse 28 saying … “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. [verse 29] And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  Instead of love and forgiveness, the man given so much of these, holds none of them in his heart.  He turns around and immediately seeks out a fellow servant who owes him only 100 pennies (less than one talent).  He does not mercifully ask or remind him of the small debt, but instead grabs the fellow servant by the throat.  There is violence in this.  For without love in a heart, violence has much room to grow.  What his fellow servant does, is the same thing he did only moments ago.  His fellow servant uses the same words.  And while it would have been impossible to pay back 10 thousand talents with time, paying back 100 pennies is actually plausible.  This debt was a much smaller thing.

Jesus continues in verse 30 saying … “And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. [verse 31] So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.”  Despite the dejavu, the man forgiven everything, the man offered a new life by the king, does not have the mercy in him to show even the smallest mercy to the man who owed him so little.  Debtors prison is the fate for the one who owes only 100 pennies.  His wife and his children must now find a way to pay back this small debt, but without their primary bread winner.  This may will be a degenerating condition, that impacts the fellow servant, and his family, and his possessions in a way he never recovers from.  No mercy.  No forgiveness.  No change of heart.  Only an expression of that heart, that impacts the witnesses and breaks their hearts when they see it.  They take it to the king, so that perhaps the one in prison might be released, but there is greater justice to be outlayed if justice is the course we choose for our lives.

Jesus continues in verse 32 saying … “Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: [verse 33] Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?”  Pay close attention once again; Jesus says “O thou wicked servant”.  He speaks not in parable anymore, but in plain English to us, to you, to me.  We have been forgiven everything.  Yet we would cling to our fear, and drive out the freedom embracing forgiveness might offer us.  For the brother who has wronged us, who refused to hear us, whether in private, in the company of witnesses, or even as a matter of prayer for the church – is it not possible to forgive that man?  Why do we make it a matter of attempting to punish a wrong doer, rather than a matter of forgiveness between family under the same church umbrella?  Why would I look at groups of people who share some characteristic, and develop baggage, or prejudice, or racist hate – expelling all the forgiveness I have been offered; and instead of being changed by that gift, harbor all the hatred that dwarfed my heart and ability to love by clinging to it.  Wolves hunt for justice.  Sheep rely on the mercy of the Shepherd to keep them alive, they rely on the closeness of the flock, not on subdividing it along every line of prejudice they can imagine.

Jesus concludes the story picking up in verse 34 saying … “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. [verse 35] So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”  If we are determined to be wolves, determined to reject the forgiveness of our king, determined not to let it change us, and how we love.  We are wolves, left to no other fate, than the hunger of wolves for a justice they will never believe is fully satisfied.  Instead of being made free, we hold to the bondage of what we call justice and fairness.  We are left to the tormentors, others like us, who also seek justice and fairness.  But whose ideas of that justice and fairness conflict with our own.  Their justice steps upon our justice.  Their fairness does not line up with our fairness.  So we call them wrong, as they call us the same.  And we torment each other, each believing we are right.  And the tormenting of sin will not let us go, because we will not let it go.

Forgiveness is designed to free us from the burden, and the torment, of holding on to pain.  While the “fact” that we were wronged may never be in question.  Justice and further pain do not release us from our own, they remind us of it.  But forgiveness frees us from it.  We release our pain to the wind, think of it no more, and are free to cherish the one who may have hurt us.  To seek out the love that is possible between us.  Imagine if our Father God, who has a perfect memory, were to remember our slights, and our wrongdoings, that must have hurt Him deeply.  How could He love us, holding on to that pain.  Forgiveness is a part of love we required Him to invent, if He were to choose to love us still.  Forgiveness does not need a measure of justice first, it needs only a matter of choice to love first.  Forgiveness does not set all our wrongdoings right – we still did them.  But genuine forgiveness sets the tally to zero once again, and lets our relationship continue and grow.  The goal is not to use this mechanism as a means to continue inflicting pain, but rather as a means to change how we love, and over time need it less, until through Christ we need it no more.  Transformation will see to that.

Let us then, become sheep, blissfully absorbed in the love of our shepherd, looking to hunt no more in packs for a justice that can never be, but wander in flocks behind a Shepherd whose love transforms our ideas, and our actions on that very topic …

The Wolves of Racism [part one] ...

Prejudice begins at home.  A young mind witnesses what its role-model is willing to embrace, and imperceptibly opens to the same ideas, both for good, and for evil.  And the influence of the home, is not engrained only in a moment, but over long periods of time, where infectious ideas work there way deeper and deeper into the psyche of developing minds until the acorn and the tree are hard to tell apart.  While this may be the main way it happens; it is not the only way.  What happens “to” us; can also have profound impacts “on” us, in terms of our prejudices.  We “pre-judge” the motives of others, and predict their actions based on our assumed judgment of their motives; perhaps in part, because we have seen these scenarios before.  This is not just a white / black thing; this is a rich / poor thing, a cop / criminal thing, even a doctor / patient thing.  Anywhere there are relationships between people, it is possible for us to pre-judge and predict outcomes based on the accumulated experiences of our past (or the short word for it, baggage).  We carry our emotional or mental baggage with us into new relationships, and sometimes poison them with things that never belonged there in the first place.  But hurt a person a few times in the same way, by the same type of experience, and baggage is nearly certain to develop out of fear if nothing else.

The problem with our prejudices, and even our baggage, is that if left unchecked, it becomes a hatred in us against things or people we believe will in some way cause damage to us.  We begin to categorize individuals into groups of like characteristics, no longer seeing the person, only seeing the “type” of personage they belong to.  Our judgments begin to extend not just to those we have great knowledge of personally, but to those we hardly know, then finally to those we do not know at all.  All of this because they belong to a group with a characteristic, we know to have hurt us in the past, and now we fear will hurt us in the future.  Over time, individuals lumped in to the groups we define as threats, can rarely if ever “work” their way out of these mental classifications, into a “normal” relationship with us.  They start at the deficit of their group, and must exert proof positive to exit it.  Keep in mind these negative connotations to groups can happen based merely on their occupations, or religions, having nothing to do with race. 

Take a look at your feelings about bankers for a moment; it is no longer just their cushy jobs of 9 to 5 that click in your mind.  After the big collapse, where many Americans lost everything they had, can you still “trust” these people with your money.  You may keep your money in a bank (because the mattress theory is nearly a certainty of greater loss), but do you feel good about it, or not.  Examine how you feel about Catholics for a moment.  The people now are great folks, but the church persecuted those who felt differently for nearly 1200 years.  For a long time in this country there was bigotry against Catholics or having Catholics ever sit in any governmental seats of power, because of what their church did, without apology, for centuries when they had influence in the past.  Take a look at cops.  Are they your public defenders or does that word conjure up fear of over-reaction where you might wind up dead in some mistaken exchange gone awry? 

Lastly, take a look at the “undocumented” in our country.  How they came here was a crime, no two ways about it.  That makes them criminals, at least originally.  But not all criminals are created equally.  Those who hid Jews in German controlled territories were once guilty of a “capital” offense, not just a passport infraction.  Today we would call those “criminals” of WW2 heroes for what they did.  Seeking hope, pursuing a dream, and doing something illegal to get it, either for you, or for your kids, hardly seems like the worst criminal activity one could embrace.  And does only that singular crime, truly label you a criminal forever?  But the fear does not end because the border was porous.  Now the fear extends to those who may lose jobs to those who will work for less (many abused in the process).  And the fear continues that “legal” tax payers will be paying for public services for those here illegally, in terms of education, medical help, and drivers licenses.  If your mind conjures up many negative things associated with the “undocumented”, ask yourself how deep your fear runs, or how dispassionate you truly are.

At the end of these things, the common denominator of our prejudice, our racism, even our baggage is fear of what damage may come to us.  That fear then drives us to hate.  And in that hatred, forgiveness is nearly completely lost sight of.  This is the polar opposite of how heaven works.  Take a case in point found in the gospel of Matthew to the Hebrews chapter eighteen.  Matthew records the words of Jesus as Jesus begins to address these topics from the view of heaven itself.  It picks up in verse 12 saying … “How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?”  To begin, nearly every Christian who reads this passage, in the back of their minds, believes “they” would have been part of the ninety-nine.  Oh sure at one point we were the lost sheep, but now … not us.  Though a closer examination of any one of our lives, might reveal we have still found a way to get outside the sheep fold, and right back into the danger we were saved from yesterday.

But a second look at that same story’s beginning, might offer a different point of view.  Looking at this story through the lens of heaven, earth itself may have been the “one” sheep who “went astray” while all the other created worlds and beings in the kingdom of God’s universe did not.  Satan tempted all of them, tried to get all of them to fall, but none did.  All chose to keep trust with God.  All that is, except our world.  From this point of view, each and every one of us is the sheep who “went astray”.  And while our current condition is lost.  We did not get there by accident.  There was some “going” involved in why we are now where we are.  We are, to be exact, “gone astray”.  It was our choice to go.  It was our feet that carried us away.  And as a result, we are now lost, with no idea how to get home.

Jesus continues in verse 13 saying … “And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”  Pay close attention to the wording at the start of this verse.  Jesus begins with “and if so be that he find it”.  This represents risk.  There is a risk that the shepherd may not find the sheep.  After all, there are wolves in the world.  Wolves that consume a sheep before he even knows he has been hunted and eaten.  There is a risk that the sheep does not want to be found.  Our heavenly Shepherd recognizes the risk involved with the pursuit of the lost.  It is perhaps the overcoming of this risk, that is the reason why there is so much joy.  For the sheep must lose his fear of the Shepherd for this to work.  The sheep, namely us, must allow the Shepherd to do with us what He wills.  We may think we want nice long wool, a coat of wool we have spent what seems like a lifetime growing and nurturing.  Then along comes our Shepherd with a set of shears and trims us down to nearly naked.  That looks daunting at first, but feels absolutely liberating once we let Him do it to us.  And it is much better than allowing our fears, to become the wolves, that consume us, and keep us long, woolly, and lost.

Jesus continues in verse 14 saying … “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”  Jesus reminds us of many things in this story.  Even though it is we who have chosen to go astray, it is our Shepherd (Him), who chases after us to find us.  And this is not just the “Jesus Act”, this is the will of the Father who is in heaven.  We were created with freedom of choice, in order that we might love freely, and choose to love freely.  We chose badly, but were created even with God knowing we would make an initial bad choice.  That choice need not label us criminals forever, as our Shepherd would do what it takes to bring us home.  We could simply not accomplish that, sheep are great at getting lost, or going astray, worthless at finding home.  Jesus refers back to the 2-year-old He has put in front of Him to teach the disciples an object lesson about greatness, and heaven.  And He reminds them, that the Father is not willing to lose even one of these little ones.

We are that little one.  Our heavenly Father, and in His home, is no embrace of fear, or hatred – but instead a fervent embrace of forgiveness that will forget what we did to Him, and allow Him to love us in spite of what we did to Him.  We ask, He forgives.  No more holding it against us.  No more putting it in our faces.  Jesus continues this theme in verse 15 saying … “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”  Jesus here provides a way for us to address the injustices that happen in our world.  He begins with calling our attention to the fact that one who has done us harm, is no stranger in the Kingdom of heaven.  He is our brother.  He is family.  Before you pursue enumerating the long list of slights you believe have been done to you, consider “who” you are talking to, is family, your family.  You should be loving them that way, like Jesus loves you.  Once you love that way, then perhaps you will be ready to speak to your brother.  And your goal, is not the destruction of your brother, but the reclamation of your brother.  All you are looking for here, is for your brother to hear you.  The Holy Spirit will do whatever conviction of wrongdoing is needed, both on the side of your brother, or on yours. 

If you are not there to reclaim your brother, don’t go.  If your words of confrontation will not have the effect of reclaiming your brother, don’t say them.  You will ultimately hold yourself more accountable in this interchange than will the brother who may have offended you.  Jesus continues in verse 16 saying … “But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.”  The goal remains to have your brother “hear” you, nothing more.  The witnesses you bring, are only there to “establish” what is said – that is, they listen to you, and record what it is you said, and how you said it.  The goal remains to have your brother hear you.  If you are there to teach your brother a lesson, don’t go, don’t bring anybody.  Lessons in pain, are very rarely the lessons you or anyone else will learn from.  The idea that you still care about your brother, to try to reach him, and now you are bringing help to do so, is supposed to be the motive behind why you bring others to his doorstep once again.  You are doing the pursuing in this scenario, not like the wolf, but like the Shepherd.  To destroy the sheep and make him your prey, is clearly not the goal.

Jesus continues in verse 17 saying … “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. [verse 18] Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Here is where an even closer second look is warranted.  The next step in trying to reach a family member (your brother) who may have wronged you, is to take the matter to the church.  Why?  So you can light up torches, gather pitchforks, and go burn down his house?  No!!  So that as a matter of prayer, and awareness, the entire church can attempt to bring your brother before the Lord, to have the Lord find a way to reclaim him.  Keep in mind the earlier text right above us, it is the Father’s will that not one of these little ones should be lost.  Jesus came here to save that which was lost.  Those texts did not go away in this context.  They are amplified here.  What you bind or loose on earth or have it echoed in heaven, is not the giving up on your brother, it is the continuation of working for your brother.

What your brother may have done to wrong you, may give you the occasion to talk to him.  But the reclamation of him continually remains your goal.  Jesus says if he refuses to hear even the entire church, then to treat him like a heathen or a publican.  HOW DID JESUS TREAT THEM?  He dined in the home of publicans and sinners and drove church leadership crazy over it.  He turned none of them away.  Cast none of them out based on any kind of judgment, for while the second coming has not yet happened, there is still time enough for reclamation, and even more time to love.  For the need of our love is greatest now, while so much pain exists.  We are not to fear our brother, even if he has slid all the way down to equality with heathens and publicans.  We are to love our brother still.  That is not a statement about our brother, it is a definition of how we love, and a witness to why we love.  Then comes the home run.

Jesus continues in verse 19 saying … “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. [verse 20] For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  Church is now something totally different than it has been up to now.  Church happens when two of us agree on earth as touching any thing – say perhaps the reclamation of our stubborn brother who refuses to hear us on a matter we hoped would reclaim him.  There need not be a formal building we enter, even on the special day He set aside to hang out with us on.  We need not call ONLY that church.  Church is made up of us coming together, even in small flocks, flocks as small as two, to unite in the reclamation of our brother who we sincerely love.  We love our brother like Jesus does, and because Jesus does.  And while our efforts are far from what is needed, our Father God will do what we have asked of Him, for the salvation of another.  That my friends is a powerful prayer.  It superseded prayers for wealth, or power, or even health, or spiritual understanding.  Prayers for the salvation of another are the greatest of all prayers.  They are stronger still when asked not in isolation, but asked as the flock of Jesus, where at least a few sheep are present.

But the lesson was not over yet, there was still the pesky matter of what to do with wolves …

 

Fields of Perfection [part two] ...

Why not simply “arrive” where it comes to spiritual growth?  Why take a journey that we know it is possible to complete in the twinkling of an eye?  It is easy to blame God for the delay, or perhaps develop doubt there is a God, because of the delay.  One of the effective arguments atheists and nominal Christians make, is that people have been talking about the “soon coming return” of Jesus Christ since the days of the disciples and over 2000 years have passed in that time.  Oh sure, if you stack that against time in Universal measurements or against the stars it is short, but against human life spans, it is well beyond any of them.  A belief in “soon” that does not come true, can sometimes equate to a belief that transformation just takes too long, and there are too many failures that keep occurring along the way.  Perhaps transformation too is just one of those “soon coming” things that for me will never seem to arrive; always to be lost in the journey.  There comes a time when even progress is not enough, the destination is just too much what we long for.  Not the destination of heaven, so much as the destination of perfection, even in the here and the now.

And if our “standard” is no less than perfection, we cannot just shrug it off, and act as though it is “OK” that we are imperfect.  It is never “OK” with God that we carry the cancer of sin, that we suffer from the pain and death it brings and causes.  God longs to give us the cure.  So when our failures teach us we are obviously not cured yet, we return to the question of why, or as with His long awaited return; how long?  And if knowing it must be a journey is not hard enough, it turns out the other complicating factor is … us.  What we believe, and how certain we are of our beliefs, can delay the journey entirely.  Even the beliefs that we are taught from the church, or from spiritual leaders we trust, or things we seem to have discovered on our own.  It is not even the incorrect beliefs that are our problem nearly as much as the certainty to which we cling to them.  We hold the mind of the unconverted even while we occupy the pews of the church we call home.  And because of it, our journey takes even longer.

This is not new.  There was an example provided in the gospel of Matthew in the thirteenth chapter.  Right in the middle of telling parables about the Kingdom of God, and salvation, and heaven; the reason why stories are being used is provided.  And those reasons are just as applicable today as they ever were, so much to sorrow over it.  Matthew picks up in verse 10 with the most obvious question … “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?”  This is the gospel after all.  We are not just trying to explain how to build a kite; we are trying to save lost souls here, trying to provide the roadmap to doing it right.  But instead of providing direct, frank, and explanative words; Jesus chooses to tell stories to get the point across.  And it looks as though no one is getting it, sometimes even the disciples are having a hard time admitting they too, are not getting it.

Ever ask the question, if Jesus wanted us to know what to do about [insert some modern problem here] why didn’t He just say that in the New Testament?  The question about Sabbath observance is sometimes put in this category.  What you can do or not do.  Or which day is the right one.  There is a lot of other scripture to answer these questions, but it might have been nice since Jesus knowing what would happen later, if He would have just given some direct counsel on the matter in question – rather than bury it among tons of other texts that must be read in context to even get close to answering it right?  Homosexuality is another idea floated this way.  While the Bible is full of condemnation for it, Jesus never said one word in first person against it.  If Jesus is our final authority why not just state what His position is?  Instead we have stories, historical events, and societal prejudices that influence our ideas on any given topic we research in the Bible.  Seems like the lead is buried.

But Jesus answers this question picking up in verse 11 saying … “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. [verse 12] For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. [verse 13] Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.”  So a little flattering that the disciples are going to be the privileged few who get to understand the mysteries.  We take that by extension to mean “us” as well since we get to read the written works of those disciples where it comes to the gospel.  The idea that to those to whom it is given, will be given even more in abundance sounds really good to us.  We think that must mean - to church folk, to folks who are searching, or are already in the aisles and pews.  But we missed one subtle word printed plainly there that perhaps our brains just wanted to miss.  To him shall be “given” more abundance.

The remainder of the answer of Jesus applies to those who believe they already know what they need to know.  They have learned it through joining a church, or having conducted years of study on their own.  They might have learned it by going to a Christian school system, or Christian University.  They are not newbies, but people long-in-the-tooth where it comes to spiritual matters.  They are not the nominal believers who never “do” anything, but they are the people who act on their faith and make it a point to get out there and serve in the plain light of day.  These are the people who hath … not.  Their eyes work or function, but they see not.  Their ears can hear just fine, but they hear not.  And worst of all, they, or rather “our” comprehension and understanding is poo-poo.  To “us?” shall be taken away even what little even what we have.

That reads like a punishment.  It reads like a punishment for well-meaning folks.  But again, this is actually about salvation, and what is needed here for “us” is exactly that.  We need a reset of what we are so certain about.  We need a reset of what University, or our local church has been pushing into our heads for so long we can nearly rote repeat it.  We must unlearn what we have learned, and be taught what we should know through a mechanism we have least tried out (becoming a direct student of Jesus).  Matthew reminds his audience this entire scenario was predicted long in advance by the prophet Isaiah, lest we think this only applied in the days of Christ, or will never be relevant again.  He continues in verse 14 saying … “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:”  The prophet Isaiah had a relevant message to his people in his day of the same phenomenon that Jesus fulfilled in His own.  And that prophecy had no time stamp on it.  The same plague moves forward through time through the same people even within the true churches of God.

The reason is heartbreaking to hear continuing in verse 15 saying … “For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”  Queue the weeping and gnashing of teeth please.  We are “tired” of hearing.  We have closed our eyes to “The Truth”.  And perhaps worst of all, and the most telling sign, our hearts have waxed gross, we love very little anything that does not resemble ourselves.  And it appears that understanding will only come through the heart, which in this case has grown cold.  All of the signs of people or believers who would have made excellent members of the Sanhedrin in the days of Jesus.  People certain of their spiritual knowledge and completely unwilling and not inclined to submit that “knowledge” to the higher power of Jesus Christ.  Our journey is stunted because we refuse connection with Jesus that could have resulted in our conversion, and our healing.  Could sadder words ever be uttered, particularly when they are squarely directed at “you?” or “me?”.

So what made the disciples different? … They were stupid.  And they knew it.  And they depended on Jesus for their wisdom, looking to learn anything HE had to teach them, never even daring to teach Him anything.  The only beliefs they brought with them from before Jesus and they ever clung to, were WRONG!!  And those beliefs were taught to them by the church.  Freedom from Rome was not in the cards from a Messiah bent on freeing them from sin, freedom from sin was more important.  But the church disagreed.  And it still does.  So many churches continue to teach that freedom from sin is nothing more than forgiveness bundled with a license to continue sinning.  Dangerous doctrines that equate infinite forgiveness with the ability to infinitely keep sinning with nothing but a little guilt.  Or worse, they teach us that freedom from sin comes only when “we” try hard enough.  Neither is true.  But we cling to error in our beliefs about salvation that stunt our journey and prevent us from a connection with Jesus that would in fact actually save us, from us.  We don’t need a partnership with Jesus, we need a hostile take-over by Him (us out, Him in).  We do not have permission to sin because God “understands” our weakness.  We need a cure from God as we direct our weakness and everything else about us to Him in full surrender of what “we” think needs to be done about it.

Recognizing one’s own stupidity has an upside.  Seeing our true need has benefits we cannot imagine as Matthew continues the words of Jesus picking up in verse 16 saying … “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. [verse 17] For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”  Being willing to be taught by Jesus begins by recognizing we have nothing to offer Him, and everything to gain by listening and being taught by Him.  And on that score, “church” is not the same as personal submission and surrender to Jesus Christ.  Before accepting what others say about scripture (including this author), pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the leadership of Jesus Christ.  Otherwise, group think, or who you think may have a point, may not.  Jesus does not want to leave you blind to His word.  Nor is His word dangerous to you.  But your pride in your learning is dangerous to you.  Being unwilling to expand, alter, or change your mind about what you know when something new is brought to you by Jesus is very dangerous to your journey.  It can stunt it badly.

We have the wealth of scripture, not only of the New Testament, but of the Old Testament as well.  BOTH are views of our God’s intense love for us, and His work to redeem us.  If the OT does not read that way to you yet, you need to view it more through the lens of Jesus Christ.  If what you get out of the OT is a vengeful God who wipes people out because He feels like it, you have entirely missed the lens of Jesus Christ.  For the life of Christ was in full submission to His Father’s will from day-one to day-last.  He never did His own thing, and what is more, all those acts of love were His Father’s thing for you.  That intense love for you is not only from Jesus but from the Father as well.  That means when people die in the OT, it was not a time for joy, but a time for GREAT sorrow.  If the embrace of sin had to be cleansed; you should know that it made God sorry His efforts to redeem were so soundly rejected.  It did not give Him glee.  Jesus was saddened at the hearts of the Sanhedrin who would rather have killed Him, than learn from Him.  Have you joined those Sanhedrin ranks some 2000 years after they fizzled out?

Or, are you ready to see the stupid in you, you call certainty of knowledge.  Are you ready to be taught, that is to be the perpetual student ever willing to give up an incorrect belief for the right one as Jesus reveals them to you?  Pay no attention to the vehicle for The Truth, only insure it is Jesus you follow, even if the messenger is flawed or not what you would expect, or through a means you otherwise never thought possible.  Or has your heart waxed gross, have you decided you have enough love for your lifetime and could not possibly need more.  Have you grown ambivalent to need, particularly the need of others you hardly know.  Have you closed your eyes to the new, believing the old will save you?  Have you shut off listening because you do not like the method or messenger the sound comes from, an imperfect vessel like yourself.  And we wonder why we need a journey, and why it takes so so long for us to learn to trust and fully surrender our own will.  Because what we “know” is likely the thing we need to relearn.  How desperately we need that connection to Jesus.

And the parables were not over yet …