Despite a Mountain of Evidence ...

The standard in the American Courtroom is simply … “beyond a reasonable doubt”.  But doubt is a tricky thing.  It is tough to shake in general.  But it is nearly impossible to shake if it comes from a pre-determined position.  If a juror or judge decides their opinion before they ever enter the courtroom, before any facts or context have been presented, before the first words are uttered; it is unlikely their mind will change throughout the trial, because they do not wish it to change.  This is why jurors are questioned before they are permitted to serve.  The ones with preconceived notions of their own must be eliminated so that a fair evaluation of the evidence can proceed.  To the extent that is possible, an open mind, is the asset both sides of any legal dispute are looking for.  It gives them both a chance.  It gives them both a shot to tell their story, present their evidence, and hope the weight of that evidence (or lack of it) will determine the outcome.

So, if the value of an open mind is well understood in a legal context, how could it be any less so in a spiritual one?  Our God did not create robots, or “yes” men.  He created us all with freedom to choose.  It is because love cannot be truly called love, unless it is a choice to love.  Instinct and hormones may give a mother an initial push to care for her child, but it will be her unfailing choice to love that child that is demonstrated time-after-time throughout that child’s life.  It will become so natural, that the expression “a mother’s love” becomes something all of us understand.  Nature may prompt, but ultimately it is mom who decides to love, often without regard to how a child responds to that love.  It is our choice to love our God then, that makes how we interact with him real love on our part, or the programmed response of a robot who ultimately does not know what love is.  Free will allows us to love freely.

And love is a two-way street.  As we have the choice to love our God, He has the choice to love us.  He does not have to love us, He chooses to love us.  And how do we know that He does?  This is the question that Satan has been whispering in the ears of mankind since He first insinuated it in the Garden of Eden to Eve.  If you eat this fruit you will become like God having the knowledge of good and of evil.  Implying that God does not want you to become like Him.  Implying that God does not love you enough to treat you like a peer.  Implying the love of God is selfish.  But the truth was that God loved us so much, He wanted to shield us from the firsthand knowledge of what evil was, how addictive it is, how unable would we be to break from its path of doom if ever we embraced it.  It was the love of God for us that governed in that situation, though Satan presented it as a question of God’s love.  And the whispering of this insinuation has not dimmed.

Within the church of our God, the question of God’s love arises in hardened preconceptions about things we know.  Conservatives for example, do not find the love of God in musical styles that do not agree with their tastes or offend them.  Messengers who dress poorly do represent God well in the mind of the conservative, instead they present a slovenly, lazy, or “dirty” image of our God.  Their words are drowned out by their image in the mind of the true conservative.  Likewise, the minds of our youth are not penetrated by the monotone voices of conservative preachers who drone on about the do’s and don’ts of obedience to God, and the importance of it.  Messengers dressed in the three-piece suits are sinners in nothing more than a façade.  Hymns and classical aria’s do nothing to inspire the youth.  They consider them boring and pretentious.  Youth prefer repetitive beats and simple lyrics.  Thus, the elders and the next generation clash over worship style, the relevance of dress, and the music that lifts them up to God.  Neither can give an inch, because both are set in their ways, age having inspired those ways, but age no barrier to them.

You may think I describe the 20^th century Christian Church in America.  But the condition did not arise here, it only remains here.  Matthew in his gospel chapter eleven, records the words of Jesus outlining the same problems back then in the church He created with Abraham and then with Moses in the deserts of the Sinai.  Matthew records the words of Jesus picking up in verse 16 saying … “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, [verse 17] And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.”  There was a group in the church Jesus tried to reach out to by identifying with them, by joining with them in celebration, looking to dance when the happy songs are played.  But this group was unresponsive to the outreach.  There was also a group in the church that was very formal, very sullen; a group who praised the near funeral like atmosphere that lamented sin, and longed for a return to the righteousness of the olden days.  To this group as well, our God made outreach.  But to no avail.

Jesus outlines their responses in verse 18 saying … “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. [verse 19] The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”  The simple fact is, that while our ideas of worship may be distorted by our age, our preferences, and our ideas of superiority over other groups – our God’s love for us remains.  So our God reaches out to us in any form He hopes will work.  John the Baptist was the traditionalist’s traditionalist.  He was a Nazarite.  He did not cut his hair.  He ate super kosher.  He kept the Sabbath in the traditional way.  He went to Passover.  He did what any good traditional Jew was supposed to do.  And on top of all of that He preached of repentance, prophesied of the Messiah, and offered Baptism in the river Jordan to the people.  What more could he have done.  How more could he have honored the traditions of the church?  And still those with preconceived notions about who was in control of the church (or should be), and what holiness is (or should be) rejected John and his piercing call to repent for the sins they knew they committed.

Jesus, was the opposite.  Jesus ate the foods offered to Him.  He went to wedding feasts.  He celebrated.  He ate and drank with the sinners He came to save, not making a distinction between holy and unholy, welcoming all men and women into His presence.  Jesus proved that God loved more than the traditionalists, He loves all of us.  His behavior stands as a mountain of evidence of the love of God for all of mankind, not just to those who think they have earned it by the manner and method of their particular church attendance.  Yet despite the celebrations of Jesus with the common people.  He found rejection there as well.  Once again, the preconceived ideas of the jurors not to believe, swayed the outcome of their verdicts before the trial was far from over.  The old ideas of worship shut out the Messiah, claiming they originated from the devil.  And the new ideas of worship did also shut out the Messiah, equally convinced Jesus was too good to be true.  Despite a mountain of evidence of the love of God, that God would ignore neither branch of His church, but try so hard to reach both of them – the jurors had already decided the fate of this question, and wrote the love of God off, discarded His outreach, as the work of the devil.  And how often do we still hear that result pronounced in our churches today?

But for those of an open mind, the results would be different.  Jesus begins then to teach BOTH segments of His church, what others would have done when presented with the same set of facts they had witnessed in their lifetimes.  Jesus continues in verse 20 saying … “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: [verse 21] Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”  This one will stick in the craw of any good Jew.  Two Samaritan cities in the north of the ten tribes, located in Lebanon today, would have repented in sackcloth and ashes; as opposed to two Jewish cities located in the heart of the nation, constantly exposed to Jesus as He travels, who continue in their living as if the Son of God had never graced their borders, taught in their synagogues, healed their entire population of sick and diseased people, and fed their residents through miraculous means.  What the heathen or the gentile or the dreaded Samaritan would do with this evidence is so much more responsive than what the Jew will do with it.  That stings.

And has anything changed in Christianity today some 2000 years later.  Lives that are truly changed by Jesus are the ones we, the church, ridicule most fervently.  The prostitute who finds Jesus and begins a ministry for other prostitutes, we condemn as being some sort of sham.  The drug addict on the verge of suicide, with the needle still hanging from his arm of collapsed veins and track marks too numerous to count; when he finds Jesus, gets clean, and opens a ministry for those desperate in the streets – our only response is to give a meager offering, never to commit our time because it is dangerous down there.  The music either of them prefer, though performed by Christians with their own ministry, dare not degrade our churches by entering their doors.  That music is “of the devil”.  And we repent not.  And we echo the church of the day of Christ, right down to an echo of the exact same thing they said in His day.

And what does Jesus say to the offended Jew, or you and I, He continues in verse 22 saying … “But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.”  OUCH!  For those of you church members obsessed with a coming judgment by an angry God – there will be more tolerance for Tyre and Sidon than for 2 cities tucked right in to the heart of the nation.  For in the heart of the church, was found unrepentant hearts, blaming everything on having devils, and doing nothing to actually repent and love.  This rebuke stands today against those in our day still obsessed with judgment, instead of melted with repentance, and given to love of others (even when it offends your sense of style, or sits outside the genre of music you prefer).  Ascribing everything you do not like as being of the devil, even though those who are blessed by it are clearly searching for Christ, should have been your first clue you were wrong and echoing the critique of those who rejected our Messiah some 2000 years ago.

Jesus continues and ups the ante in verse 23 saying … “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. [verse 24] But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”  Yikes!  Capernaum was not just a random Jewish city, it was where Peter lived, and sort of a base of operations when Jesus was in the region.  Many miracles of God’s love were performed there.  The mountain of evidence was overwhelming.  No stone had been left unturned.  No outreach that could have been offered, remained unoffered.  As for evangelism, there was no greater benefactor than Capernaum – thus exalted unto heaven itself.  But all the outreach in the world cannot force the human heart to love.  For if it was forced it would not be considered love at all.

And who do we compare the city who is exalted unto heaven with; Jesus compares it with Sodom.  The city where anal sex established its name sake – sodomy or the sodomite.  But it was for far more than its proclivity for gay sex that Sodom was judged.  The city was full of rape, of murder, of robbery, of injustice.  Sodom saw no Jesus in it’s walls.  It saw no healings of the body or of the soul.  It had become a city of evil people so steeped in the evil they embraced that only death would be a kind release.  But if Sodom had borne witness to the Messiah who was speaking these words; that city would have been released from the evil that held it prisoner.  That city would have repented down to every single resident.  That city would have embraced the hope of the Messiah who was still speaking, and held tightly to the hope He offers us all.  And that city would have stood from the days of Abraham to the days of the Lord who reveals this truth.  For those obsessed with judgment the unrepentant Sodom will be shown more tolerance, than the unrepentant Jew who can see Jesus, who can talk to Him, and still rejects the Truth standing right in front of them.

The modern Christian remains not too happy with this comparison.  The modern Christian who remains obsessed with judgment generally grows a hatred of all things gay, and a speech to match that hatred.  They are quick to condemn a sin that afflicts only a minority of people, something they do not understand, something they are ill equipped to minister to; and then develop a sense of superiority because they do not suffer from it.  All the while, their own heart remains un-repentant for the sins they do suffer from.  Instead of putting all in need of Christ on a level playing field, a pecking order is setup in the sinner’s heart whereby his own sins are never as bad as his neighbor’s sins.  It is relative salvation-ism.  It is based on a lie whose first priority is to avoid embracing repentance for all sin.  And in irony of ironies, Jesus expressly states that the judgment of the city of gay sex will be more tolerable than the judgment of those who should know, but refuse to know, the freedom that comes from repentance.  The freedom that comes from embrace the Messiah, in the form of Jesus Christ.  This stinging rebuke is aimed squarely at the Church of Christ in our day, not just the listeners back then.

But the question remains, how can we know that God loves us?  The answer is the life of Jesus Christ.  Read the stories of Jesus, recall the words of Jesus, review the deeds of Jesus.  Without regard to person, or wealth, or status, or nationality, or sexual preference, or incorrect belief system; Jesus heals all, loves all, and calls all to Him to find the freedom only He can re-create within you.  It is a mountain of evidence as tall as Everest or as historic as Sinai.  For you to disregard it, or ignore it, or doubt it; reflects a choice you have already made to do so.  But if you will open your mind and heart just a little; if you will but entertain the possibility of God’s love just a little – you will be overwhelmed with what you find.  For there is no limit to the love of God, not just generically, but specifically for you.  The love God carries for you is so great, that even if the entire rest of the world rejected Him, He would have come and died to save you.  How do I know?  The entire world rejected God in the time of the Flood, but Noah did not, and Noah was saved (and Noah was no perfect man).  The entire city of Sodom rejected God in the time of Abraham, but Lot did not, and Lot was saved (and Lot was no perfect man).  The Bible is full of examples of those who embraced God and were saved because of it.  God loves you just as much.  God wants to save you just as much.  Open the mind just a little to that possibility, and that mountain of evidence will come pouring in over you in ways you cannot imagine.

 

The Critique of God ...

How scary is that?  How scary is the idea of having God Himself give your life, your work, His critique?  Keep in mind He sees all, He knows every motive, every failure, every shortcoming.  It’s not like a human version of this where some life coach tries to give you tips on how to live better.  We are talking about an impromptu critique by God Himself.  Has that ever happened?  I mean, short of our ideas about a judgment that nearly everyone places sometime in the future, has Jesus ever offered a critique on a living person’s life (well living at the time anyway)?  The short answer is yes.  And what would you imagine that critique to be, a stinging rebuke to the leadership of the church for their hypocrisy and refusal to submit themselves to the will of God?  Yes, Jesus gave a number of those, each one designed to wake up those church leaders, and stun them into the awareness of their true condition, hidden by the masks they wore, and the self-image they had constructed for themselves.  But perhaps more surprising to us, Jesus also gave out a “glowing” review as well.  Imagine that, perhaps the best review in history, handed out by the highest authority in the Universe, the one who created it.

Think about the significance of this.  An imperfect being, with imperfect doctrine, granted a glowing review by Jesus Himself.  Let’s get it straight, it was not the imperfections that were glorified.  But it was the submission in spite of imperfections that was.  Again, this is another departure for the Jewish people in the days of Christ of what they thought about the character of God.  To them, and to us, God was always some highly critical God, just waiting to point out everything we do wrong, to the point where nobody would ever be good enough to be in His company.  How well, the devil has been able to maintain this lie about the nature of our loving God, who would die Himself, rather than be separated from we who He loved so much.  The improper view of the nature of our God, was not only held in the days of Matthew, and another reason why he penned his gospel.  It is held in our own days, because what we read, we ignore.  The words of our Bibles pass our eyes, but do not penetrate our hearts.  Because like our forefathers we do not yet read them after submitting our very thoughts for Jesus to mold and reshape.

Matthew persisted nonetheless.  He begins his revelation, his uncovering, about the real nature of our God in form of Jesus, picking up in chapter eleven beginning in verse 7 saying … “And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?”  The disciples of John were just leaving to relay to him the good news of everything they had seen and heard of Jesus Christ.  That would be a message to cheer his heart, affirm his faith, give him the strength to face death.  And the crowd who remained behind was clueless of all of this.  So Jesus calls their attention back to the ministry of John the Baptist.  He poses the question, what did you go to wilderness to see? 

Were you looking for someone who is shaken with the winds of popularity?  Were you looking for someone who preached what was popular in order to gain favor?  Mega churches have been built upon this approach.  But John did not follow it.  He was firm in his singular doctrine that burned within him with a roaring fire of the Spirit.  His doctrine was absent all hate; and constructed on redemptive love.  He did not rail at the people, accusing them of every sin.  Instead he shouted of repentance and the healing it alone can bring.  He was not shaken by criticism, nor by the threats of the organized church, nor even by the ruler who would imprison him.  He was firm in pointing the people to redemption beginning in repentance.

Jesus continues his critique of John in verse 8 saying … “But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.”  Jesus asks the multitude again, what did they travel to the wilderness to see?  Did they expect to see a prince perhaps, someone of wealth and status, someone rewarded of God with fine things, and fine clothes?  John had enough listeners to regularly pass the collection plate for tithes and offerings.  Had he done this, his wealth would have certainly amassed.  He would have been justified in doing it, as he was certainly doing God’s work, and was certainly a minister of God.  No one, including us, would have questioned it.  But John accepted NO MONEY at all.  He did not change his eating habits (the things one can find in the desert on their own).  Nor did he change out his clothing (skins he made by himself, even for the linen robes the priests wore).  He constructed no mansion either.  If ever a minister “could” have earned a living in the ministry, it was John, and he chose to accept NONE of it.

Jesus continues once again picking up in verse 9 saying … “But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.  [verse 10] For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.”  Jesus asks the multitude for the third and last time what did they travel to the wilderness to see?  Perhaps they went to see the crazy man.  Often crazy men like this were prophets who heard clearly the word of the Lord.  All through history prophets were always a little outside of normal society, maybe John was just one of them.  But Jesus says “more” than a prophet.  For while John prophesied about the coming Messiah, he also had a burning conviction inspired by the Holy Spirit.  He was God’s messenger.  He had a message of repentance, the people needed to hear, and needed to respond to.  John was making straight the way of the Lord, in the hearts of the people, by speaking the words the Holy Spirit would bless.

John had a conviction beyond the prophetic.  He had a conviction for the practical.  His message was not just to excite the people about what was coming.  It was to prepare the people in their hearts to receive what was coming.  Without repentance there is no room for submission, there is no room for the Truth, they are crowded out by self, and self-interest, and self-love.  Repentance leads to an opening, a re-beginning of the journey towards God, a reconciliation between man and God.  The message of John is one of the most important ones throughout all of history.  It was not just designed to be spoken or accepted in his day, but in every day.  Had Cain repented of killing Able, instead of lying to avoid penalty, his fate might have been different.  Were I to repent of my sin, and pain it causes others, my relationship with God might enter a new level I have not even imagined as yet, my heart beginning to become in even more harmony with His heart.  That message still works.  It still has relevance and meaning and depth.

Jesus continues his critique in verse 11 saying … “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  Imagine these words spoken of you.  Among children born of women there has not risen a greater than “you”.  The decisions of John the Baptist lead him to this great compliment.  How he lived; by choice in poverty, depending upon God every day for his food, water, clothing, and shelter.  How his mother raised him as a Nazarite from birth, honoring the traditions of the faith, to commit his body to God and offer signs in his hair and flesh that he was to be offered to God, even before he had the maturity to understands what this means.  The ministry of John, both prophetic, and practical.  Everything about John had led to this compliment by the Savior of the Universe, in spite of the fact that the organized church did not care for John, and that John was sitting in prison on death row at the time.

But, says Jesus as well.  The human greatness of John, is nothing next to the least of people within the Kingdom of Heaven.  Yes, you heard that right.  Hitler, Saddam, Al Capone, pick the greatest villain you can imagine.  Have that villain submit to Jesus right before he dies and be saved in his final thoughts.  And that forgiven villain, least in the Kingdom of Heaven, is now greater than John the Baptist.  It is hard to imagine Jesus offering a critique that could potentially place Adolph Hitler or Pol Pot (the Cambodian genocidal leader) as greater than John the Baptist.  How could this be?  Because our earthly lives will never measure up, to our eternal ones.  Submission to Jesus, and the salvation that results, puts our lives on course for a greatness that simply cannot be achieved in the world in which we live, no matter how well we think we live here.  Submission is greater than sacrifice.

Then Jesus shifts from direct critique of John, to a critique of His own church, continuing in verse 12 saying …” And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. [verse 13] For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”  The fate of nearly every prophet all the way through John was a fate of suffering, and of violence.  Satan takes advantage of the long-suffering nature of God, hurling violence against the innocent, to test the patience of God, and attempt to lure Him into retaliation and violence in return.  But Satan does not understand the nature of God.  God loves the victim, as He loves the perpetrator, longing to save both from the fates Satan would devise.  The messages of the Prophets were designed to help those trapped in error to see that error and turn from it.  The Prophets were God’s way of warning those trapped in the snares of Satan, that he had doom in mind for them.  The Prophets tried to challenge evil with the message of a loving God, not content to see those He loved, suffer the fates they had chosen.  But these same Prophets were met with violence more than listening ears.

Jesus continues His critique of John picking back up in verse 14 saying … “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. [verse 15] He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”  This is where scripture is interpreted by Jesus Christ Himself.  The prophecy of the return of Elijah before the promised Messiah, is now attributed to John the Baptist and the message and ministry he has accomplished.  The prophecy interpreted in this way, means there will be no literal return of the prophet of old for them to look for, but a literal return of the message of repentance, the only way it is possible to make straight the way of the Lord, in the heart of the people.  Jesus tweaks His audience, all of whom have perfect hearing, some likely restored of His hands to be just so; to think about what He is saying.  Jesus asks them to see the wisdom of what He is saying - about both the scriptures, and the message and ministry of John.  This is not an insult to his audience.  It is a challenge for them to think differently about what they think they know about the scriptures.  To embrace a new way of looking at old scriptures.  Outside the purview of the organized church leadership, but inside the direct teachings of Jesus Christ Himself.

Are we too ready to examine our scriptures in this way?  Or do we continue in our certainty of what we know, allowing no room to be taught, even if that teaching were to come from Jesus Christ Himself?  Our will must ever be subservient to His.  Our wealth of knowledge, and understanding, must stand the shadow of a fool, compared with the wisdom of our God.  The doctrines we cling to, enforced by years of tradition, should be pillars we gladly release, when the voice of Jesus bids us … those who have ears, let them hear.  So much of how we view our Bible’s begins first with the notion of a cruel and just God, interested more in our punishment, than in our redemption.  Our preconceptions begin that redemption is hard, and sin is easy and fun.  But in truth, our sin is the source of our pain and our punishment.  Our redemption is easy, and the only way to escape the fate we have otherwise doomed ourselves to suffer.  In the light of Jesus Christ, many of our false ideas and rigid doctrines, seem to melt away.  And this is how it was meant to be.  Jesus the Messiah, was meant to rid us of the notions of men, and the burdens of traditions, and free us to love in a way we have yet to imagine.  To love as the heart of God loves.  To value others as the heart of our God truly values others, even when they are still steeped and trapped in sins they have no way to escape on their own.

The critique of Jesus Christ of John was a glowing one.  Your critique could easily be the same.  Through the lens of Jesus Christ it already is, but it could be even better.  Through the lens of full submission of who you are to Jesus Christ, your critique becomes one infinitely better than it is today.  The true meaning of life you begin to experience.  True obedience based in harmony with the heart of God, something that naturally occurs in your fingertips and feet.  All of this is available to you, if you but ask, and submit to Jesus who longs to give it to you.

And while Jesus had so many good things to say of John, His critique of His own church was not quite so glowing …

 

Castaway's ...

Are we so dull we just don’t see it anymore?  Perhaps so over-exposed that our senses just do not even detect the warnings anymore?  For many in the world, the Bible is just anecdotes and fairytales.  For those folks, the central characters in the Bible are no more real than Mickey Mouse or the Easter Bunny.  And that is the level of comparison that is often made … something harmless compared to the Bible.  But if good comprises the descriptions of God, then evil comprises the description of His enemy.  Satan is not Mickey Mouse, nothing like what Mickey represents.  Satan earned a name change, after destroying the Lucifer he was, and becoming the evil incarnate he chose to embrace and now is powerless to be changed from.  Satan does not want a change.  Satan wants to hurt, destroy, cause death, and control everything he touches before he kills it.  Satan and his now demonic hoard were not cast out of heaven because of a few parking infractions.  They invented war there.  They invented pain there.  They invented lies there.  These castaways were forced out of perfection, away from the love of God, because their evil would have killed every living thing in proximity if it were allowed to remain.

And most modern Christians are content to ascribe red skin, a forked tail, hooves, and a pitch fork to how they consider what Satan is … this, while intently watching episodes of Lucifer on Fox.  And this is hardly a rant against a single show.  Our media is full of the fantastic, all rooted in stories of good and evil, where evil spans a gamut of things intended to scare us, or entertain us, or make us somewhat sympathetic to it.  The word castaways itself is hardly something that strikes fear into the hearts of readers, it is innocuous enough, subtle enough, but it represents a horror that is unrivaled, and a danger we have become so blunted to, that we invite it into our lives and make it dinner, as if it were just an estranged friend with a harmless agenda.  It’s not.  And demon possession is not just something that makes up good horror stories in the movies, with awesome special effects applied.  It is something intended to ruin your life, estrange those you love, disintegrate your family, and indulge lusts within you that would turn you from mild-mannered-you, into the mindset of a serial killer with no remorse or regret; not instantly, but slowly and imperceptibly over time, where there is little defense made, or request for defense.

Modern Christians hardly look for defense against it.  It is easier to comprehend why those who lack a real faith in the Bible, would pick up a Ouija board and dabble.  They are looking to experiment with the supernatural and see if something more truly exists.  Interesting to me, they do not try prayer to the God who represents love and good.  Instead they pick up the tool of evil and invite it to interact with them.  Seems like the answers of a God who loves them deeply would be better for them, than the answers of an entity who would wish to destroy them from within.  Yet Ouija boards are not burned today, they are manufactured today.  The castaways that answer are not harmless, they represent a picture of evil your mind has yet to imagine.  And instead of running from it, too often, it is opened up in the living room and treated as if it were no different than the game of Monopoly or Chess.  It is different.  It has consequence, whether you perceive it or not.  For in this method, as well as a host of others, we take down the “not welcome” signs, and invite demonic castaways to find their homes in our homes, and our hearts.  Even if the special effects we envision never actually materialize in front of us.

I imagine everyone misses those they have lost.  I imagine the idea of continuing to communicate with a dear departed one, who surely exists in heaven (no one we know ever goes to hell in our minds, that is unthinkable); would be great to talk to just one more time.  So because the devil convinces us of the immortality of the soul, that we cannot be truly killed, as he told Eve way back in the Garden of Eden.  We buy his lie.  We begin to believe we are never truly killed, that we simply pass on to the next dimension.  Hell for those other enemies we have.  Heaven for literally everyone we know (and love).  Since their disembodied souls live there, why is it so hard to believe that they may wish to travel back to earth, in some ghostly or spirit-y form to talk to us, perhaps give us advice.  King Saul of Old Testament times believed this, and consulted a witch to get his answers.  But it was not Samuel he raised, only a demon that resembled Samuel.

The departed love one you seek to converse with, may come, but in truth you are now only conversing with a demon who knew your lost one, as well as you do.  They can imitate expressions, gestures, sayings, and looks.  They understand how to mimic us down to the DNA level (why would we think we are the only ones to begin to understand DNA).  So the show is spectacular.  That is if you like watching a horror movie in 4D, that is bent on destroying you, while it portrays the villain as the hero.  And because Christians, let alone atheists, do not believe in the “sleep” of death.  They invite this horror movie into their lives, and do not even ask for a defense.  But this idea is not new.  I imagine two men of long ago, tried this same thing around the campfire.  I imagine at first it was a great experience, getting lots of advice from the long departed they admired, even perhaps loved.  But then something went sideways.  Instead of just talking to them, the demons entered them, and refused to leave.  This would make the men slaves to the will and strength of demons, that up to that point, they did nothing to deter.  And voila, demon possession of the type in the time of Christ.  While it may be more subtle in our day, it is no less effective, brought about by the same ideology, and methods.

Matthew records the story of what had happened to two men who had invited castaways to find a home within themselves, and now were powerless against that earlier decision.  Picking up in chapter eight, and verse 28 he begins … “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.”  Jesus had moved locations from Capernaum (Peters house) across the lake.  The devil had already brought out a great storm on the sea intending to kill the entourage before it could make the far shoreline.  But Jesus simply quieted it with a word, and distance was negated.  Getting out of the boats however, they had landed in demon territory.  These two men, possessed of many many demons, were so fierce, and so superhumanly strong, that no one tried to pass by this way.  Interesting that they lived in a graveyard, a foretelling of what was to become of them, and a perfect metaphor of those who stand without Christ, and in the arms of His enemy.  But what is the strength of mortal men against the fury of thousands of demons?  The word castaways now hardly does the terror justice.  Fear rules this land.  And none of the Rabbi’s or Sanhedrin rulers have any kind of solution.  It would appear the organized religion of God stood powerless against the might of the Satanic kingdom established in these two men.

Matthew continues in verse 29 saying … “And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”  The demons make the argument that they did nothing to seek out Christ.  They remained in their home territory.  So why was Jesus here?  Being next to the Son of God, the source of all love and life, now reminds them of the beings they once were, and the proximity they once held near the throne of the Father.  Their former lives and existence are now pure torture to remember.  They cannot bear to be so close.  They must get away.  They must get away from the presence of Jesus.  They ask if Jesus is here to torment them with memories of what it is to love so purely, or stand so close to love, or to be who they once were?  It is torment to them.  It is anguish to them.  There are no fires present, except the fire of love.  But the torment remains.

Matthew continues in verse 30 saying … “And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. [verse 31] So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.”  The devils, the demons, had planned to kill their hosts over time.  The hosts of this hoard would not benefit in any way.  They would be slaves, until they would be killed.  The methods are no different today, even if the fury is less evident.  Entering your home and sowing discord and fury between husband and wife, or parent and child, is no less effective at destroying relationships, and the love that would normally accompany them.  After all we invite them in.  They come through our habits, our choice of what we focus upon, our sins that we indulge over and over and over again without abandon, or remorse.  And somehow we are surprised that the enemy of the Lord still exists?  The demons knew they were to be cast away, they only wished to move from one target to another.  Have we presented them with a current one?

Matthew continues in verse 32 saying … “And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.”  What the demonic legion had in mind for their original hosts, was now accelerated in the herd of swine.  Destruction, death, frenzy.  Note, that the demons would not be destroyed in this action, only the hosts.  The demons were free to find a new host, in a new time, perhaps in every time.  Only the hosts suffer, are enslaved, and eventually die.  The demon is free to move on.  They hate the love of Christ, but crave the destruction of mankind.  The math is easy.  Since they cannot hurt God directly, they hurt what God loves, and in so doing, they torture the God of love and life.  They will do this as much as they can, until the appointed time comes, and they can do it no more.

Matthew continues in verse 33 saying … “And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. [verse 34] And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.”  Here is where the story goes sideways.  You would think that the town’s people would want a savior to cast away every demon in that area, to free them from the fear of it.  You would think the liberation would be welcomed, even if at the loss of the material possessions of the pigs.  What is the price of a herd of swine to have every demon cast away from this region?  But whether they feared an even greater loss of wealth, or whether they feared they were meeting the boss of all demons, or whether they just refused to believe the Son of God would ever come to see them because they did not deserve it.  The results were all the same, they asked Jesus to leave their region.  How do you ask the one who would liberate you to leave you alone?  How do you choose to be a castaway, or make God one?

Perhaps the same way we do it today.  Perhaps we choose to cling to our habits, our entertainment, our sins of the flesh; until we would rather have Jesus give us some space, than see these attributes about our lives change into something else.  You see only Jesus can drive away the demons of our lives, and out of our homes, and away from us.  But then, Jesus does exactly that.  When we invite Jesus into our homes, the sins we treasure tend to leave.  So the struggle in the human mind begins.  Do I really want change, or do I like my slavery to self?  Do I enjoy the sins I commit, thinking them to be the fun in my life, the spice of my life, believing self-less-love to be boring or too demanding?  And too many of us, like the people of that region, would rather have Jesus a little distant from our real lives, a little ways outside of our hearts.  We will claim to be His followers, but in real life, we only follow a little.  And the demons we entertain instead will allow us to feel as though we are doing “ a good job”.  Demons love us to think we are “good people”.  After all, none of the folks we know and love ever go to hell when they die, always only to heaven, right?  God’s mercy, and all that.  But while we live, we entertain that which would destroy us, even if we do not perceive it.

It is an old saying that “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off, was making us think he does not exist”.  There is truth to that.  Modern Christians have seemed to have all but forgotten it.  None of us even consider we face the same demonic hoards, those two men succumbed to so long ago.  None of us even consider that tinkering with Ouija board might actually have permanent consequences.  How could watching the show Lucifer ever present any real kind of problem, it is only a show right?  And for that matter, how could watching any show that presents the ideas of good vs evil, as something man gets to choose, present a risk.  It is only entertainment right?  Nobody believes it is real.  Nobody believes that what we focus on might actually change how we think, or what we believe.  Nobody that is, except a huge group of castaways that intend to dominate our lives, imperceptibly, so that we never even know they are there.  Jesus acts just like demon repellent.  But then, do you have Jesus?  Have you made Jesus a permanent part of your home, or is He just a periodic guest, from time to time, when it is “convenient”? 

Man cannot defeat these castaways.  Jesus can.  The math is simple.  What will you do about it?

 

Racial Hatred Unrestrained ...

Blue lives matter, or at least they should.  When you utter a slogan like that, you are stating that the lives of cops, our military, our first responders should matter to us all.  By stating “blue”, you reflect an absence of skin color, and a support for law-and-order regardless of which race a cop, first responder, or military member is descended from – only that they serve us all today – that they put on a uniform (often blue) each morning and go out to serve.  So why does an NFL quarterback wear socks with pictures of pigs wearing those same uniforms?  Why does he sit down during the national anthem specifically to protest “social injustice” and his own perception that blue hates black, and can kill with impunity? 

And how does his protest begin to grow in a sport of pure privilege, in a league whose first letter “N” stands for National?  The NFL exists because of our “Nation’s” interest in sport.  To show such disrespect to the Nation that affords him personally such wealth and opportunity seems the greatest of insults to us all.  Pick a different venue for protest.  Pick a different method.  Or watch as the “Nation” in the NFL begins to vote with its dollars and ratings; our interest in sport diminish, until you become just another crazy, carrying a sandwich board on a street corner bemoaning the woes of the world.  While you make exorbitant salary, and carry a ball on a field where no social inequity exists, do not insult the citizens of the Nation who afford you this opportunity.

But does this errant quarterback have a point?  Do the “mothers of the movement” have a point?  Is there social injustice in the world … seems as though there would have to be.  Does blue sometimes kill black with impunity … seems as though there are occasions of it, statistics must bear that out.  So where does the perception of oppression come from?  Do singular incidents, widely publicized of what should be private pain, exploited on our screens for ratings, create a perception of oppression?  No, it takes repetition, to create that perception.  It takes a shared or common experience to create it.  When many of us have seen something, when we have witnessed injustice, we begin to jointly conclude that oppression is real and that inspires within us a need for retribution, for revenge, for what we believe is justice for the oppressed.

When this phenomenon occurs along racial or religious lines, those lines begin to run deep.  In ancient Palestine, Jews hated Romans.  This was white on white racial hatred, but the hatred ran deep.  And there was a reason for it.  Unlike Nebuchadnezzar who did his damage in one invasion, and then left the countryside of Israel alone as long as it did not rebel, the Roman conquerors invaded and stayed put in the land.  They wanted tribute (or taxes), and they would have it, if not in coin, then in human trafficking.  The Romans had given the Jews motive to hate them.  People hate losing their things, their wealth, their family members, and their lives.  It inspires a hatred that runs deep.  Even those Romans who did nothing to the Jews, were hated because they were Romans.  And the feelings were mutual.

Romans detested Jews.  It had nothing to do with religion.  It had nothing to do with skin color.  Romans had elected themselves as the world’s policemen, the world’s first responders, and the world’s military.  Anyone standing in opposition had to be put down.  Opposition was not tolerated.  It is little different in our day; those who resist arrest risk the loss of life.  Our society demands compliance during the process of arrest; any non-compliance risks death.  And our society is OK with this loss of life under these circumstances.  Threats, even perceived threats, to those who enforce arrest can end in death for the citizen.  The Roman’s version of it was more arbitrary, more final, and not restricted to the guilty.  If the guilty got away, their families and things would surely suffer.  This happens when compliance is valued so high, when order is praised so much, that dissention means death to avoid a future recurrence.  In our day, dissent is only tolerated in the court system, under legal jurisdiction.

Romans detested Jews because Jews were constantly in a state of opposition.  Jews committed crimes to make the lives of Romans more difficult.  Jews committed murder, not just of Romans, but often of them.  When Romans witnessed crimes of opposition committed by Jews over and over again, their own racial hatred began to develop.  No other conquered people were this resistant, this disrespectful to Roman law and Roman rule.  When our blue must by necessity, encounter crimes over and over each day, it also has an impact upon them.  Blue begins to hate criminals. 

Criminals come in all shapes, sizes, races, and religions; but most often poverty drives crime.  Desperation drives it.  So our Blue begins to see those in poverty with suspicion; especially after listening to criminals lie again and again about what they have done to escape prosecution.  As the distaste for criminals develops, as cops witness other cops die from criminals who decided to shoot their way out of being caught or prosecuted, Blue begins to think differently and react quicker.  And sometimes mistakes are made.  It is better in our day, but it is not perfect in our day.  The human tragedy of fighting crime and exposure to crime, can make some Blue harder on crime, or the risk of crime, until oppression emerges, and common experience is too common.

The Romans prided themselves on their law, they had taken it to the world.  Roman justice might have been a true world wonder, if Roman power were not so absolute.  Instead, resistance became opposition at any cost; and the drive for order became indiscriminate murder, and two factions developed a racial hatred that deepened to the point of extinction.  This is the world Jesus lived within.  This is the nation Jesus came to witness to, to not only lose the hate for Romans, but to love them.  The Jews would have no part in this.  The Jews thought their birthright and proper religion gave them the favor of God, and that they needed no love for Rome to keep that favor.  Jews had gotten to a point where killing a Roman was not considered sin, it was considered heroism.  And the Romans knew this, lived with this, and detested Jews for this.

So Peter bears witness to what unrestrained racial hatred can do.  Perhaps Peter had removed himself far away from the trial proceedings to see from a distance.  Perhaps Peter was only told these things by a witness who was still there to see it.  Perhaps most striking of all possibilities, perhaps it was a Roman who did these things, and was later converted and told it to Peter.  But in any case, John Mark continues recording the story for us in his gospel in chapter fifteen, picking up in verse 16 saying … “And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.”

This facility was no accident.  The Praetor in Rome (or Consul of Rome), usually had a war room or facility in which strategy was created and battles were conceived.  It was a place of honor.  It was not the place for any simple Jew.  But for a Jew who had been labeled the King of the Jews, this would be an especially ironic place.  It would be a place for Jesus to understand as He was condemned to travel to His death, that Rome would remain in power, able to craft strategy, and develop battle plans to win any war of attrition with the Jews, Jesus would be leaving behind.

John Mark continues in verse 17 saying … “And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,”  Romans detested Jews.  Having the King of the Jews in their presence, under their control, gave them a chance to begin to express just how much Romans detested Jews.  They remove the clothing of Jesus, likely leaving Him naked.  Then they replace them with purple garments reserved for royalty (or perhaps the missing Roman Praetor at the moment).  The body of Jesus would be bleeding severely, nearly ripped apart from the lashing He had only just finished receiving at the hands of one of the Roman soldiers there in attendance.  They add to this robe, a crown, platted of thorns deep and long and place it upon his brow.

John Mark continues in verse 18 saying … “And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! [verse 19] And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.”  Let the mocking commence, let the racial hatred be completely unleashed.  It did not matter to the world’s policemen that this Jew was particularly innocent.  Others were not.  Most were guilty, at least most of the ones the Romans had to chase down for crimes against Rome.  The nation of Israel hated Rome, so why would this one single Jew be different?  But He was.  The guards did not care.  They began to strike His head with reed, in order to avoid the prick of the thorns on their own hands.  Hitting Jesus with a stick causing the thorns to bury deeper into His flesh, and the blood to rush out all the more.

But pain was not enough.  They must mock the King as a king is due.  They spit in His face, but He does not react, or change His love for any of them.  The soldiers bowed their knees and offered fake words of worship to the bleeding innocent lamb standing before them.  There is almost not enough life left in Jesus to mock.  This is just not as much fun if He should drop dead in front of them, especially if caused by their hijinks.  This Man is to be tortured on the cross for His death.  Nothing quick is allowed for Him.  So John Mark continues in verse 20 saying … “And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.”

The death Jesus had been sentenced to, was the worst one Romans could think of or devise.  Drowning or burning to death was much faster.  Beheading, or spearing to death was faster still.  A quick death was a mercy from Rome.  A slow death was much worse for the victim, and for the family of the victim.  So what they intended to do to Jesus was the worst death they could think of.  And yet, they took the time to lead Him away privately into the Praetorium, to further torture and mock the Son of God.  This was completely unnecessary.  Yet Romans did this.  The world’s policemen did this.  They were angry about opposition in their land.  They did not care if this criminal was not a criminal at all.  They were not interested in guilt or innocence, only in releasing hatred pent up inside of them.

In perhaps the last epilogue of Roman hatred, John Mark completes this section in verse 21 saying … “And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.”  Romans have no problem creating instant slaves.  Simon of Cyrene would do this act, or possibly join the procession as its next victim.  Simon would do this act, or watch his sons be murdered in the hateful rage the guards had for Jesus, or any Jew.  Simon complied.  He left the Romans no pretense of legitimacy to further injure himself or his two sons.

Compliance is not surrender, it is de-escalation.  Injustice will not be cured by compliance, but it will avoid any pretense of legitimacy for the escalation of violence.  Questions of innocence or guilt will be determined later, by people who do not carry guns, or are forced to make shoot/no shoot decisions every day.  Avoiding even the appearance of a threat, de-escalates situations with Blue, that might otherwise wind up in death we want to avoid.  It is not fair.  It is not right perhaps.  But it is common sense, and it is in the self-interest of anyone who must endure that kind of encounter.  So how do we change it?

Protests of injustice are such a weak response.  It is easier to protest than to mimic our Lord, and reach out in love to those who may mean us harm.  Satan would have us take a course of action that deepens the hatred on both sides.  Jesus would have us rethink who our enemy truly is.  In response to the Roman aggression and oppression described above Jesus makes no angry retribution.  Instead He asks His Father to forgive these men because they do not understand what they are doing.  He pleads for the redemption of these men.  He has performed miracles for men of Rome like these.  He loves them without limit, or precondition.  He does not hold their race, or choice of job, or past misdeeds against His love.  He does not even hold their actions of violence and hate against them.  He offers them love, and a better way to see the world.

And this is the real victory.  To see the world in a better light, in the light of the love that only Jesus Christ can put in our hearts and minds.  Jesus carried no sign stating … no Justice, no Peace.  The sign of Jesus says Come ALL ye that are labored and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  It is love that truly affects things, and changes things.  Everything else tends to prolong them.  Love would prevent the criminal from doing acts of crime.  Love would prevent abuse from one person to another.  If we REALLY want to change or impact the social injustice of this world, we do not need to make statements to the press, or disrespect the citizens of a Nation at NFL games.  We could instead offer quiet love, consistently, and impact the world that we interact with.  If enough of us did this, the world would truly change.

 

Union of Church and State ...

Is freedom for real, if I cannot pray, where and when I want to?  Prayer after all, is deeply personal, it is a private, often silent, conversation between myself and my God.  I do not ask others to join, and I do not compel them to.  So if I am unable to pray a blessing over my food, simply because I am in a restaurant in public, am I really still free?  There is no law preventing my expression of prayer in this public place as yet, at least here in the U.S..  Am I still free to pray in my office at work, behind a closed door, and perhaps only with others of like mind – has praying in the workplace taken a step too far?  Why then, if in my home life, at meals, and even at work, if I am free to pray; that I am restricted from praying in buildings and at events where my tax dollar is hard at work?  Why am I not free to pray in schools, or universities, particularly if I do not compel others to do so?

It is as if common sense has been a casualty of modern life.  I pray in my car all the time.  I find it actually an awesome place for prayer as I am usually alone, alert, and able to hold down a conversation (or request session as they too often are) with my God.  “How” I pray is altered, to accommodate the situation driving presents.  My eyes are wide open.  I pay attention to what I am doing.  Just as if I had a passenger sitting beside me.  I easily hold conversations with a human passenger.  I see no distinction with holding a conversation with God.  But, if using common sense, I become too distracted from talking in my car, then as the lives of others are equally at risk, I need to stop talking.  It doesn’t matter whether the person I am talking with is sitting beside me, at the other end of a cell phone, or in heaven above me.  We don’t need a law that forbids me to pray in my car.  Common sense should govern that decision.  And as it happens, very little distracts me while driving (and I drive like a typical old man, at or below the speed limit, and in no particular hurry to get anywhere).

So if we could simply rely upon common sense, I am certain there is a way to accommodate the beliefs of everyone in our schools, not forcing any participation, or denying it either.  Our freedoms should not tolerate the denial of our religious beliefs; BUT and this is a bit BUT; they should not compel them either.  My Atheist friends have just as much right to avoid participation in my prayers, as I do to offer them on their behalf.  My Muslim, Buddhist, or Jewish friends have just as much right to pray in the matter that suits them, with or without my choice to participate, as I do, to pray to Jesus Christ (again on their behalf, J and my own).  Common sense could find a way to make this work, and keep everybody happy.  But where common sense fails, is when any one group asserts dominance over another.  When followers of Jesus begin to think their prayers, and beliefs, are more important than those of other citizens, we get into all sorts of problems (and vice versa).

So instead of using common sense, and courtesy, to govern how we interact in public, we run amok in extremes.  Atheists declare no one can pray anywhere near them, in places where government tax dollars are hard at work.  This is an assertion of dominance.  But is it also an assertion of fear?  What has happened when instead of common sense, the church, that is to say the “right” church has unified with political or legal purpose?  And further what happens when that union represents the majority opinion?  You do not need to look back at the conditions that sparked religious pilgrims to run to our nation to see what religious oppression does.  Nor do you need to look at what history calls the “dark ages” when Catholicism elected to burn what it could not control.  There was a far worse time, a far worse event.  It was something Peter witnessed personally, and transcribed to John Mark in his gospel in chapter fifteen.

Picking up in verse 1 saying … “And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.”  The traditions of the feast frown on stoning this week.  And should the Sanhedrin have stoned Jesus, they would have had to take the sole responsibility for both trying Jesus in their kangaroo court, and killing Him personally with His blood on their stones.  Stoning Jesus, which was in their rights to do as permitted by the Roman Empire, might also spark an upheaval by the people at large.  Should the common people find them doing this horrific deed, the Sanhedrin itself might have gotten the stones.  So guilt, must find a way to kill Truth, and not be seen doing it. 

The Jews did then, what was unthinkable to do.  They delivered a Rabbi, The Rabbi, over to the Romans for Him to be killed.  Imagine how far their hypocrisy had taken them.  They hated Jesus because He did not conform to their authority.  Their version of scripture, demanded that the Messiah, conquer the Roman world, and setup a permanent Jewish Kingdom that would never fall again.  Jesus clearly had no intentions of doing this.  Jesus would not feed the hatred of Jews against the Romans.  Jesus never did a single act that would support rebellion, even against a pagan government, that was horrifically oppressive to His own people.  But then Jesus saw Romans with the same love He was Jews.  And this was unthinkable to the children of Abraham.  They had long lost any love for those who oppressed them, or those who did not believe like them, or those who simply had the misfortune of being born of different nations.  In short, they had universal hate, and very narrow love – but they were in the right religion, using the right Bible, and worshipping the right God (just not His Son).

Being in the right religion is no defense against a hateful heart.  Only transformation of hearts is a defense against hate, and only Jesus offers to do this work for us, for all of us, or each of us.  It is the transformed heart that loves its enemy, not seeks power over its enemy.  The Jews had decided that they must unite with Rome, even if only briefly, in order to kill Christ.  The Jews sought (and would find), the power of the Roman state, to end the life of the Messiah everyone had so long waited for.  But then, being the right religion is no defense against union with the power of the state.  Having the right Bible is no defense.  The only defense against union with the state, is a heart that loves.  This they lacked.  So history records, what it always records when Christians seek the power of politics – namely their downfall and failure.  And it begins with Jesus, and what a united Religion and State did to Him.

John Mark continues in verse 2 saying … “And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.”  Pilate begins his examination of Jesus from an entirely different angle than the religious zealots who delivered Him there.  Pilate is concerned with only one thing; will Jesus oppose the authority of the Roman Empire.  He asks Jesus about His Kingship, but how Jesus acts, how He speaks, and what He says, gives no indication that He is any kind of threat to Rome.  In point of fact, His entire ministry has never been a threat to Rome, not once, not ever.  Conversely, when Roman officers sought the miracles of Jesus for their own families, they found them.  Jesus did not restrict His love for the Roman people, He flooded them with it, even soldiers of Rome, with Jewish blood upon their hands.  And financially, Jesus did not disrupt Roman taxes, He turned crooked tax collectors into honest ones.  Jesus publicly declared that Roman silver belonged to Caesar, that the hearts of men was what He was looking for, not their wallets, or wealth, which mattered not at all.

Pilate immediately senses what this is all about.  Julius Caesar, whose namesake had been preserved in Roman culture, was also betrayed by those who were jealous of his power and popularity with the common people.  John Mark continues in verse 3 saying … “And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing. [verse 4] And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee. [verse 5] But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.”  The Sanhedrin, the chief among them, then hurl every accusation against Jesus they think will anger Pilate, complete lies designed to make Pilate want the blood of Jesus.  For the church is never honest with the state, it lies to accomplish its goals.  It exaggerates, it omits, it manipulates truth, in order to kill The Truth, and nothing has changed in 2000 years.  Those in whose hearts are found hate, still hate today, for love does not seek power.

The Truth needs no defense.  It needs no defender.  God is self-evident.  Pilate looks at what is going on, he sees through the baseless and contradictory accusations designed to make him want the blood of Christ, but no such desire is found in him.  What develops instead is a state of marveling, as Jesus remains silent at the lies told about Him.  He does not counter the arguments of those bent on His destruction.  He does not yell back at them.  He does not try to hit back at them.  He does not use His vastly superior intellect to reveal to all “who” they truly are, as opposed to who He is.  Humans invariably do this.  Humans do this particularly when their life is on the line, and Jesus’ life was in the hands of Pilate.  Jesus should have been yelling.  He was not.  He said nothing.

How often modern Christians feel the need to defend God, and their own doctrines, at the point of the sword.  They have missed the lesson of redemption, of love that would remain gentle unto death.  Instead they use every story of violence in scripture (taking them out of context), and add a phrase, an eye for an eye, and feel justified in hating or killing what must naturally hate and kill them.  Satan was never going to change; it is why he is Satan.  The world was never going to love Christians; the world by definition does not know Christ.  The defense against the world, and against Satan, is not the sword, but a heart that loves unto death.  The martyrs of the past did more to spread the gospel than the wars to defend it.  Wars and killing in the name of God, only destroy the name and image of God, giving no one a reason to serve Him.  But a God who is willing to die so that I may live, a God (and His people) who love that much, give even that hardest enemy a reason to think twice, look again, and find what those people have.  Pilate is completely convinced.

John Mark continues in verse 6 saying … “Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. [verse 7] And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. [verse 8] And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.”  Pilate has now decided to change tactics.  He is going to play some legal trickery of his own.  Pilate selects the most heinous criminal that the Jews are likely to hate.  Barabbas not only attempted insurrection against Rome, he murdered Jews in the process.  The idea of “no witnesses” is not a new one.  And what is more, the people of Jerusalem were aware of his crimes.  Pilate reasons that if Barabbas is made free his killing spree will resume.  Any witnesses against Barabbas (of which certain of the Sanhedrin were bound to be guilty) would have their own lives at risk.  Comparing Jesus, who does not kill or hate, against Barabbas who is sure to kill and hate, even Jews, perhaps particularly certain Jews who aided in his capture or trial – would be an easy choice.

Mark continues in verse 9 saying … “But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? [verse 10] For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. [verse 11] But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.”   Even at the risk of their own lives, or at the risk of the lives of their people, the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead over Barabbas.  They inspire the people to ask for Barabbas.  But they are not alone in their work.  Satan is in attendance, as he often is when hatred is triumphing over love.  Demons come as well.  They move through the crowd delighted at the spectacle of hate on display.  They revel in the irony of having Jesus, the Son of God, standing in a mob of His own creations, bent on killing Him.  They add their screams to the mix, making the noise deafening, but decided.

John Mark continues in verse 12 saying … “And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? [verse 13] And they cried out again, Crucify him. [verse 14] Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.”  Pilate offers the nation of Israel 3 chances to avoid what is done to Christ.  He offers Jesus as an alternative to Barabbas.  He asks what should be done to Jesus after that, which is an opportunity to release Him outright yet again.  He then challenges the mob asking why, what evil has He done.  Three times the right religion could have changed its mind, regarding the killing of The Truth, but it did not.  It cried for blood all the louder.  The cries for blood that come from hate only get louder, in His day, or in ours.  Yet even still Jesus makes no defense, or does not try to out yell the mob.

This section concludes in verse 15 saying … “And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.”  Pilate makes one last effort, as distasteful as it is to him.  He has Jesus scourged unto death, one lash short of death.  In this act, he hopes to inspire sympathy in the eyes of the mob, in the eyes of the Sanhedrin.  But they will not be denied.  They see the pain, the suffering, but they are un-moved.  Instead of a release from the final punishment, this calculated risk fails, and only adds to the punishment.  When later unions of church and state arise, the pain is seen by all, and ignored by all.  People of conscience who believe differently than the majority are tortured and killed in front of many witnesses, and no compassion prevents it.  Compassion becomes yet another casualty of this union, for it thrives on hate alone, hate at the darkest purposes of its heart, hate where only Satan sees.

It seems a long way from my ability to pray at a school or university event, and a driving hate that would kill my Lord.  Christians do not see the path, or connect the dots.  Instead the mantra of our day, is that Christianity is under attack.  As if Captain Obvious had nothing better to say.  Of course Christianity is under attack; it will always be under attack, but it is under attack from within more than it will ever be from outside.  The temptation to crave power, and seek it as a defense, is not a relief from attack, it is a magnification of attack.  The only true defense is love, a love without limits, or preconditions.  A love that is not an excuse for sin, but an escape from sin.  The transforming power of the Love of Jesus on the heart, is the only antidote for a world filled with hate, that would do its best to inspire the same within us.

If perhaps we can resurrect common sense, and learn the lost art of courtesy, then let our love drive us to pray when and where and how it is needed.  Perhaps our love will allow us to be more tolerant.  Perhaps our love will inspire us to look first to the redemptive needs of our neighbors, and we will find a way to be seen for what we are … the followers of Jesus, who are known for extreme love, and a constant quiet connection with Him.