Fanfare that precedes Disappointment ...

Anticipation will rot your brain.  Anticipating something is rarely ever a reflection of the reality of something.  Perhaps this is because our imaginations are greater than our capabilities.  Think back to your wedding day as an example.  How much time goes into making preparations for that day?  The food, the music, the paper invitations, the clothing, the guests, the reception … this list is as long as your arm.  It often takes more than 2 people to get it done.  There is an entire cottage industry of wedding planning, justifiably so, to deal the immensity of having a single spectacular day.  And the expense that goes with having “the” perfect day is sizeable as well.  You can worry yourself sick about your wedding day, right up until it happens, and then in hindsight remember it only as perfect.  Or perhaps ever watch a child anticipate going to Disney World?  It is nearly the same thing reduced into an age-appropriate comparison.  The anticipation of Disney World, or Christmas, can make your kid nearly nuts.  Rare that anything can ever live up to the hype we can assign to it while in anticipation mode.  And vacations; don’t even get me started.

So you would think that kind of thing doesn’t happen in scripture right?  At least not in the time of Christ.  But, … wait for it 😊, … it does happen.  And like most things, the reason why the anticipation does not match the reality, is because what we “believe” about what will or should happen, is mistaken.  Sometimes horribly mistaken.  Other gospel authors address the “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem from a number of different perspectives.  The central theme in all of them, is great excitement about Jesus coming “home” to the capital city of the nation.  There is just a huge feeling in the air itself, that Jesus is finally going home to become King of Israel, and begin the work of pushing the Romans out of Dodge.  Honestly this idea terrified the Pharisees and Sadducees.  If Jesus did this, they lose all leverage in opposing Him.  Jesus would be King of the land, and He had already shown Himself to be king of the church, or the faith.  Arguing with Jesus about anything after that would be pointless, and likely wind you up on the point of an Israelite spear, or under a ton of nearby Israelite stones.  This lack of pushing out the Romans, was “the” only thing the Sanhedrin had to cling to, to verify that Jesus was a false Messiah.  Ironic, how a leadership united by hatred of Rome, still preferred Rome to The Truth.  Are our modern denominations too far from this today?  Are we?

But enough Debbie-downer, this story is about anticipation, and it is going to begin with a bang!  Matthew writes his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries.  In doing so, Matthew wants to correlate the Old and New Testaments where Jesus is concerned.  Matthew wants to show the fulfillment of prophecy of Isaiah and OT prophets through what Jesus actually did.  And frankly what no other human before or since has ever even come close to.  In addition to the mistaken point of view of what the mission of the Messiah was, there were also a number of other prophecies that were fulfilled exactly as specified.  One need not throw out the Word, because something they believed in, was in error.  No, a great many other things happen exactly as outlined.  And the things we were wrong about, with perhaps a second look, and through the lens of Jesus, can find a better interpretation of, than first imagined.  Matthew is attempting to encourage his contemporaries, not to discard the Old Testament, or discard Christ, but to find the true harmony in both.

He picks up in chapter twenty-one in verse 1 saying … “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, [verse 2] Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. [verse 3] And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.”  Here Jesus begins with direction, with purpose, and with prophecy.  The great multitude is still in tow.  And the direction leads towards Jerusalem.  Nearly everybody is just seething with anticipation.  They all know where this trip will end, and they are all eager to get there.  But Jesus takes a pause.  Near one of His favorite places of prayer (the mount of Olives), Jesus pauses and asks His 2 disciples (in order that there may be 2 witnesses to what will occur), to go and fetch a colt in a particular place.  If they are questioned about it, by the owner, they are to say a particular thing.  And all will be well.  This is straight up prophecy.  And as you might imagine, it happens exactly as He has just specified, including the challenge, and response by the owner.

Matthew continues in verse 4 saying … “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, [verse 5] Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”  Keep in mind Jesus did not own an ass, or a colt.  He owned nothing.  And He did not purchase one for this occasion.  For those that would argue (as the Pharisees were quick to point out), that Jesus was “making” the prophecy of Isaiah come true – they have a point.  But to extend that argument, you would have to say that Jesus also “made” an owner of an ass, who happened to have a colt recently; appear at a particular place and time, and then respond in a particular way to these events.  It would have been easier to simply buy the needed animals in advance.  But this is not what took place.  And anticipation continued to rise.  The people were not completely ignorant of the prophecies of Isaiah and the other prophets, and they began to sense their fulfillment.

Matthew continues in verse 6 saying …” And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, [verse 7] And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. [verse 8] And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. [verse 9] And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”  At this point, the crowd begins to take action as well.  Common people begin to lay down palm frawns, and spread out their over coats, and tunics, across the dirt road.  In effect the worlds’ first protracted red carpet.  The idea was to make the road smooth, and give it a royal feel.  They did this without the slightest hesitation, and with no prompting, and with no concern with whether or not the donkey, or colt, might leave behind a few “treasures” on their particular coat which might require extensive cleaning afterwards.  No one cared about that.  Everyone just wanted in on making this road look more elegant for the King of Kings to travel upon.

Then came the music.  You cannot have a processional without awesome music, well you cannot have a “good” processional without awesome music.  And so began spontaneous praise singing from the entire crowd.  Old men, women, little children, of one accord singing in one voice, in multiple part harmony saying HOSANNA.  “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord”.  HOSANNA in the Highest.  HOSANNA to the Son of David.  The entire crowd recognizes the lineage of Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus as direct descendants of the house of David himself.  They then sing praises to the Father God in the highest.  And then sing praises to Jesus their soon to be crowned King.  And with these anthems began to shake the entire Roman empire.  But beyond that, with these anthems began to shake the entire Satanic empire, and evil itself.  These musical anthems foretell the end of evil, the end of death itself.  They foretell a time beyond all of this when life is restored to what it should have been all along.  No one coerced the praise and worship, it was natural, spontaneous, and could not be contained.

Matthew omits the naysayers who attempted to stop it along the way.  The Pharisees who came and demanded that Isaiah’s prophecy dare not be fulfilled in this way.  But Jesus instructed these Pharisees, that if the people were made to be silent, the very stones would cry out in praise.  The appointed time was at hand.  The appointed activity was in full swing.  And no matter what Satan wanted, this was happening, which made all of demon empire tremble even more at the echoes of the refrains blasting above them.  I am sure the courts of heaven echoed these anthem refrains with a more elegant, and boisterous noise than what was taking place on earth.  The angels sing their praises for the same reasons we do.  Because they want to.  Because they love it.  And because they mean every word of it.  This day, the music, the self-sacrifice, and the naked anticipation of what was coming was at its zenith.  It would never get any higher than it was now.  The worship service was in full swing.

But something goes sideways.  Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? [verse 11] And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”  His entry into Jerusalem moves the entire population to take notice.  Excitement bursts from everyone.  And then … we get it wrong.  Like all good modern worship services it only takes one false idea to burst an emotional bubble and leave you with nothing more than a memory of something you no longer understand.  The people ask who this is?  Instead of saying this is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  They answer, this is Jesus, the prophet, of Nazareth, of Galilee.  Not God on earth.  Not part of three in One.  Not the savior of our sins, but instead, just Jesus.  A normal guy like you and me, who happens to have some supernatural abilities.  Let’s force Him to be our King over the Romans.  Good idea.  But wait, where is He?  Where did He go?

The good-guy-prophet, just vanished in front of them.  The crowd once again was unable to force Jesus to become the earthly King they wanted Him to be.  The crowd was unable to force a false interpretation of the prophets no matter how much they wanted it.  No matter how high their emotions were.  No matter how strongly they held their belief, it was wrong, and it was not to come to pass, and they could not make it happen.  Huge disappointment.  And just like that, the entire thing fell apart.  And we think this is merely history?  How many of us crave the emotional high that comes from inspiring music, massive production value, lights, instrumentation, talent, comfort.  Our churches are designed for the ease of attending a show once a week, that lasts a few hours.  It is like going to a movie, only with live players in 3D in front of us.  And we get to join the festivities.  In offering calls, in study, in prayer, in song.  Our worship of God, that begins to swell in us an emotional high of this event.  Follow this with a sermon, that too might be inspiring, elevating, thought provoking.  And how could it get any better?  But just wait, next week is coming and we can do it all over again.  A new Sabbath to anticipate coming once again.

But there in is the rub.  Church is not something you attend.  Church is not something you participate in.  Church is a not a place where you go.  The church of Christ, is something that becomes – who you are.  The Kingdom of Heaven is something that “lives” inside of your heart and mind.  How you love.  Who you love.  Why you love.  Questions that have different answers when you are truly transformed by your surrender to Jesus who can re-create you into what He intended you to be.  “That” is church.  Things I hear.  Things I do.  That do not change me, that do not reach the part of me that would cast aside the old, and embrace the new – are nothing more than entertainment.  I could be watching Pureflix, and get as much out of it. 

When I place the concept of His church as something outside of myself, I am left empty.  When I look at the poor, and the needy, and the ones in open sin; and believe the “church”, that is the organization of the church, should do something about that.  I am left empty.  When I make excuse, by making donation, instead of making surrender – I am left empty.  Something has gone sideways in modern Christianity.  We have trained ourselves to treat church as something we are barely a part of.  We refer to church like we refer to any corporate entity.  It could just as easily be called Exxon.  Sure we identify with the church corporate body, but we miss the entirety of the personal power of change – because we refuse to accept the method from where change springs.  We make Jesus, that good-guy God who died for our sins and will one day take us to heaven.  But we refuse to acknowledge Him as our personal Creator, capable of remaking us, if we would only but personally allow Him to do so.  No corporate body can make that happen, but it sure can distract from it. 

Corporate church tells you not to worry about your sins, because there is always forgiveness for them.  In so doing they make grace cheap, of little worth.  Or they take the other extreme where they tell you to do nothing but focus on your sins, and make a “choice” to simply stop sinning, leaving the power of perfection in your hands, and tacitly telling you, it is your fault you continue to sin – and you will never make it to heaven until you stop doing it.  But I say, your sin is an addiction to self-love, that is more powerful than any cocaine habit ever dreamed of being.  You do not control it.  You were not meant to.  You were also not meant to keep living in the pain your sin causes, both you and everyone else.  You were meant to give it to Jesus, and let Him take them from you.  Not just forgive, but reform.  To truly change how you live, because you surrender any notions of control over to Jesus, giving Him full control of how you think, of what you want, of who you love, and of how you love.  That kind of full surrender changes you, and YOU become church.  Not a church of self-worship.  But a church fully surrendered to Christ, who then becomes in harmony with His laws, because His laws of love are etched into your heart.

All that anticipation wasted, because the doctrines of man, cause you to look at Jesus for what He could do for you in this world.  Instead of looking at our God for what He could work within you, and transform you to be.  Trusting in Jesus to save you.  To do what He promised.  If you will but get out of the way.  Only after you do this, will doctrine begin to make sense to you.  Only after you do this, can obedience become something not just possible within you, but natural within you.  That is change.  That is church.  Not something outside, but something deeply personal.  No one else has a say about that.  But once it infects you, you will hardly be able to stop talking about it.  You will not understand how it happens, but you will see with your own eyes, what it does to you.  And how you begin to truly love others, and love yourself less.  This is His love you were meant to reflect.  This is living where anticipation meets reality, instead of being a shallow shadow of what was possible.  Let us not be a repeat of the history of these events, but rather let them guide us to a surrender to God we trust completely to make us His church, how He wants it to be.  His reality will always outshine our anticipation.

 

Secret Missions [part two] ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Secret Missions [part one] ...

Imagine having a true political mandate from the people.  In our day, politicians on both sides of the aisle, always like to claim to have had a political mandate that got them elected.  “The people have spoken” is an oft cited phrase, even though our country is split nearly equally down the middle with nearly as many people voting against something, as voting for it.  A true consensus that crosses ideological, religious, ethnic, and cultural boundaries is something as rare as seeing a falling star.  It is possible, but rare indeed.  But can you imagine the absolute boundless joy that would occur in the heart of Donald Trump, or Hilary Clinton, if the next polls showed literally 100% of the people favoring one of them for president?  They (like us) would be almost certain to question the validity of the poll.  It has never happened in American politics.  We have never reached a unanimous consensus on who should be our next president.  It would be unprecedented (and given current polls, impossible in this election once again).  Imagine the heart failure in the losing party headquarters if 100% of the people voted for only one candidate.  Imagine the vanity in the headquarters of the winning party.  They would eat it up.  They would long for their coronation, or rather inauguration.

Do you think the winner, in a landslide like this, might be tempted to propose amendments to our constitution in order to end term-limits?  After all, wouldn’t something like a 100% victory be the political mandate someone needs to go from a limit of 8 years, to a limit of a lifetime?  How tempting would it be, with 100% support of the common people, to become king?  What if they wanted you to be king?  What if they demanded that you become king, even if you did not really want the position?  This … was the “problem” Jesus faced.  Despite how Trump, or Clinton might react, our God, our Lord, our Savior has a different mission.  Jesus could have easily become an earthly king in Israel, in point of fact, the people were constantly trying to force Him into it.  Jesus had the biggest political mandate since creation, by the nation He had come to bear witness to of the Father’s love, to become its next king.  Everyone would have followed Him.  In the minds of the people, this was supposed to be the ultimate goal of the Messiah in the first place.  They were less interested in the Father’s love, and more interested in political dominance, and breaking the yoke of pagan Roman oppression.  It made sense religiously, to replace paganism with Judaism.  It made sense to stop human sacrifice for sport in the arenas, or on crosses along the highways to inspire fear, and only sacrifice sheep instead.

There was nothing Godly about the Roman empire, how it ruled, or how it oppressed the world.  It was a pagan empire, who worshipped sex, greed, and control.  It was the most powerful kingdom to ever rule the world, albeit not the most wealthy.  It ruled with an iron fist.  To have another David, another Joshua, another Solomon, all wrapped into a package with superhuman powers lead Israel to conquer and rule the earth, with a religious system that valued all life, made sense to everyone.  It was the dream of every Israelite.  It was the hope of a nation.  Jesus was supposed to be this hope.  Jesus was supposed to do all of this.  Or Jesus would become “just another wanna-be”.  When the people saw what Jesus could do in healing people, they did not think of the Father’s love that directed His works.  They thought only of dead Romans along the same roads they erected crosses on now.  They thought only of taking Roman gold, and melting Roman idols to make their own homes better instead.  They thought of what the power of Jesus could mean to them.  No more work.  No more sickness.  No more torture.  Only ease, comfort, and happiness forever more.

That my friends is a political mandate like we have never seen before.  Trump or Clinton would never be able to deliver it, and thus the reason why neither would ever garner 100% of anything.  Jesus however was capable of delivering it, but He chose not to.  In fact, He came to a point in His ministry, where trying to reveal the Father’s love, was getting harder because of the fame of what He was doing, and the deep desires of the people to make Him King, whether He wanted it or not.  So in order, to do the will of the Father, Jesus did what no politician has ever done in the history of campaigning in this country … He attempted to stop getting press coverage.  He attempted to continue revealing the Father’s love quietly and without any fanfare.

It is no small irony that Jesus could have been king any time He wanted, He could have done what every Israelite believed the Messiah would do.  But He did not.  He chose not to.  He chose to avoid politics and power entirely.  He did nothing to break the pagan Roman rule, instead He submitted to it, even when it killed Him without cause.  What Trump or Clinton would likely kill for, our Lord discarded with deep disdain.  Jesus had other priorities, other interests, another mission He was here to perform.  If Christians are to follow His example, perhaps they should abandon a quest for political power, and the ability to dominate the actions and conscience of others, and instead pursue the course of their Lord, revealing only the love of the Father to others.  But alas, this is something no Christian seems willing to emulate in either political party.  Instead candidates tout their faith, and demand more power for themselves.  And believers claim it is their duty to elect someone who will “protect” Christianity and legislate its values “for the benefit of others”.  It is the revelation of the Father’s love to someone in need, that would truly benefit others.  That action is devoid of politics, and mirrors the true mission of Christ.  To do this without credit or fame, is even closer to the actions of Christ.

Peter recalled what was fast degenerating into secret missions of the Father’s love to John Mark in his gospel in chapter seven, and beginning in verse 24 saying … “And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.”  Jesus was traveling far and wide in the land of Palestine.  He had gone to the very borders of the nation near Tyre and Sidon and planned to conduct some revelations of the Father’s love quietly and in secret.  But there would be no opportunity to quietly reach those in need.  The devil would see to that.  Jesus did not seek publicity at this point.  In fact He was always asking those He healed not to reveal what had been done for them now.  The crowds that would gather were no longer as needy as they were determined to make Him King whether He wanted it or not.  John’s gospel includes many references to times when Jesus had to “disappear” in a crowd in order to avoid it making Him king.  In this instance, despite the distance from Galilee and Jerusalem, there was a reason why His fame had reached this region.  It stemmed from an incident where Christ tested the faith of a supplicant.

John Mark continues recording it in verse 25 saying … “For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: [verse 26] The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.”  This incident has many interesting truths buried subtly within it.  First, the person coming to Jesus was not actually the one possessed.  So the victim appears to be unable or unwilling to seek help directly.  If ANY healing is going to come, it will be because a mother is praying for mercy for her daughter, no matter what the daughter wants.  Anyone fall into this category now?  Second, the woman was NOT a Jew, she was a Greek.  Even after Jesus ascends into heaven it takes years before the disciples of Christ are “willing” to take the gospel to people other than Jews.  Oh sure, they would travel to the far ends of the earth to find Jews to teach His message to, but spend no time attempting to share it with pagans of any kind along the way.  But this woman is a Greek.  In the Jewish mind, she is a pagan, and rightfully has earned the demon that inhabits her for worshipping demons in the first place.  It is no accident her daughter is possessed, it is simple cause and effect.

Jesus is aware of the mindset of those who follow Him, and those who are witnessing this encounter.  So He does something unusual.  He does something along the lines of how God tested Abraham of old (the first hero and father of the Jewish nation).  Mark records the response of Christ in verse 27 saying … “But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.”  This was to be a test of faith for the mother.  But it was also a test of faith for His disciples and for us.  The disciples should have had empathy for this mother.  They should have had their hearts broken for her, and joined with her in wanting her daughter’s pain removed.  But they did not.  Nor do we.  We see those who have sinned, and not only do we blame them for their sins, we judge that the punishments they are receiving are the ones they have earned.  Our hearts are unmoved.  Pagans of old earned their pain as do sinners who refuse Christianity today.  We look upon Islamic refugees of war, rape, and starvation, and judge that they worship our God yet deny His Son, therefore are worthy of the pain they endure.  If they were Christian, perhaps, they deserve aid.  But as Muslims, or atheists, or Hindu, or pagan, they deserve nothing but their pain.  They too are “dogs” in our minds.  They are not human, not worthy of our empathy, not worthy of our love.  This was the mindset of the Jews in His day, it had even infected the minds of His disciples.  It is the mindset of Christianity today, in far too wide a circle.

But the faith of a mother, can withstand the insult of being called a bitch, or a dog.  The faith of a mother who knows the love of God cannot be hardened against her, and will persevere no matter what.  The faith of a mother availeth much.  She responds in verse 28 saying … “And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.”  This woman lacks no humility, she is composed of it.  She is not looking to be made equal in the “status” of the Jews, she will satisfy herself with being a “dog” if she can but lick crumbs of love from the floor.  Her faith is unparalleled.  She does not retreat after insult.  She does not abandon her cause.  She humbles herself even more, and will beg for the mercy of a love she knows cannot resist this plea.  The heart of Christ is broken for her.  He can no longer maintain the charade of pretending to think like His companions think, or talk and treat her as they would have done.  He must reveal the truth of love to her.  So in tender love He now tells her what she had come to hear saying in verse 29 … “And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. [verse 30] And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.”

Jesus calls attention to her saying, her response.  He does this for the benefit of His disciples and for us.  Not all Greeks, pagans, and those steeped in sin, really want to remain in that condition.  Some of who we judge as unworthy are actually trying to find Jesus, but it is our judgment that gets in their way.  Despite His harsh words to her, to reveal the thinking of His companions, she does not flinch or desert her cause.  Her faith is so great she is willing to eat crumbs of love from off the floor.  His disciples are yet completely unwilling to humble themselves in this way.  They lack even the empathy for her that should have touched their hearts.  Jesus is making a comparison of the great faith of this woman who is NOT a Jew, with those who “should” have had greater faith from the scriptures they studied.  A seemingly completely uneducated woman (in Jewish scripture at least), only knows one thing, that Jesus Christ is God on earth, and can heal her daughter.  And a mother’s faith is rewarded with what she asked, no matter how her daughter felt about it.  The faith of a mother, interceding for her child, was rewarded.  Are there any mothers today, who doubt their prayers will be heard?  Look to the faith of this woman, and find hope.  What is asked in secret can be rewarded openly.

The disciples should have learned right here that pagans were worthy of the gospel.  They should have learned right here that the love of God is poured out on ALL people.  They should have been humbled by what Christ said, to echo the feelings in their own hearts.  But people see what they want to see, and their blindness was a choice.  The lesson is more than just for them.  Jesus travels with an attempt at secrecy to avoid being forced to take power.  We seek power every chance we find.  Jesus’ mission is instead to reveal the love of His Father to those in need, despite the fact that they do not worship in the right religion, understand the Bible, or continue to make decisions that lead to the conditions they are in today.  In spite of all of that, Jesus reveals the Father’s love to them.  We judge those not like us, and condemn them for the sins they commit.  We should be humbled.  We should be touched in our hearts for the pain they endure, even though they bring it upon themselves.  We should ache to see their sins removed, and pain healed.  We should long to show them how love saved us, and why we are able to love them in spite of who they are, or what they do, or what they believe.  It is love that provides the motivation to change.

We do not need to look for publicity for how we minister or love.  We do not need to seek to change the laws of our nation to reach someone in need today.  We need only to reach out, and find that His love is sufficient for their needs, even if only reflected poorly through us.  The secrecy Christ sought, and the missions of revealing His Father’s love had only just begun …

 

Is God a Dictator ...

Since the beginning of the conflict between good and evil, Satan has alleged that God is a dictator. Satan told anyone that would listen that God has His ways, and any other competing ideas are met with death. In effect, Satan alleges that it is God’s way or Non-existence – therefore He cannot be a loving God as He does not tolerate dissent. Atheists are quick to jump on this bandwagon posing the simple question – why do I have to love and worship God or find myself going to hell, is there no third alternative? Christians have often cited the Old Testament as examples of God’s justice and judgment against evil, coincidentally branding all those who refuse to accept Christian ideology as “evil” by default. The result of this conglomeration is a perception that God is a dictator, even if a benevolent one, and must be feared even if He cannot be loved. But is this correct?

Some Christians attempt to divide the Bible into the Old Testament (which becomes referred to as the old covenant), and the New Testament (which becomes the new covenant). Into these two stereo-types they label the old covenant as based on following the law. The new covenant is based on grace alone, as now we are freed from the law. But no-one ever stops to consider what “freed” from the law might actually mean. Since most Christians do not want to destroy morality all together they decide that only the Mosaic laws are no longer applicable – therefore feasting, offerings, dietary laws, etc.. must be the things that disappeared with the crucifixion of Christ. It is those laws we are freed from. What to do about keeping the Sabbath; depends on the Christian you talk to.

Atheists point to the level of blood in the Old Testament and assume that since God cannot change, this is His true nature. The loving Christ of the New Testament is ignored in favor of the blood and guts described in the Old Testament. And when faced with this argument Christians grow strangely silent; or perhaps worse, they interpret the blood shed as justification to implement their own ideas forcibly on our neighbors. There certainly is quite a bit of blood shed laid at the feet of God in the Old Testament. A quick review produces the following … the Flood (as many as 4 billion die), Sodom & Gomorrah (entire cities destroyed), the Plagues of Egypt (untold thousands dead), The Red Sea collapse (entire Egyptian army remaining dies), Earthquakes in camp Israel (those who speak against Moses slaughtered), the Assyrian army (180,000 men die), and Nineveh (entire city wiped out). And these are only the incidents where God personally and miraculously intervened with men dying. There are many other incidents where man was the instrument of God’s directions most of which center around the taking of the Promised Land.

These deaths are facts. And God is directly responsible for them. Is our God then a mass murderer? In order to address these issues one must begin at the beginning. Evil is something that has consistently been demonstrated to self-destruct over time. Therefore as God is infinite we can deduce there is NO evil in Him, anywhere. It is not that He is incapable of evil, as evil is a mere choice. It is that He would never choose to participate in evil as evil hold nothing of value to Him. Everything that is good is God. God is love, life, joy, fulfillment, happiness, etc.. Everything you understand to be desired or good, is what God is like. Therefore to deviate away from God and his plans, government, ideals, and kingdom – is to embrace the alternatives to love, life, and joy. Deviating away from the source of life leads to death. Deviating away from the source of love leads to hate. Deviating away from the source of joy leads to pain. These are simple cause and effect based facts. There is no moral judgment implied in any of them, they just are.

So it was with Lucifer who became Satan. It was not God’s fault that Lucifer chose against Him. Lucifer was created, just like all sentient beings, with the ability to choose to love or not, to trust or not, to obey or not. Lucifer deviated away from God’s perfect plan of serving others, and began exploring what serving self would be like. I am certain God warned him of what would result. But Lucifer continued in stubborn pride imagining that God may not know “everything”. Lucifer thought that different is not necessarily “bad.” But he was wrong. Different from God is bad, by default. This was an unfortunate fact Lucifer could not escape from. Nor did he wish to. Instead he tried to take as many creations with him in his destiny of self-destruction as he could. One third of the angels listened to his idea that different is “better”. And Adam and Eve broke trust with God, and listened to his now refined lies. And so evil entered our world, and our consciousness.

Ironically, Satan’s mere existence PROVES that God is not as arbitrary as he alleged. No, rather God tolerated the existence of evil until all sentient beings had enough time to make the choice to continue trusting in Him, or embracing Satan’s alternatives. No-one knew at first just how bad evil could get until Calvary showed the entire universe, that if allowed, evil would kill the creator Himself. It is only man that remains largely undecided. Once enough time has been allotted, evil itself will meet its destruction in the fires of hell. Evil and death will be forever consumed by those flames, and then the earth will be made new once again, once the flames are no more. Those who remain alive then will know for certainty that God can and should be trusted, and that deviating away from Him is never a good idea. In short, there is no alternatives to good that are worth exploring – this is the lesson of Lucifer.

Satan continues to sell his lie to mankind. He tells Atheists that there is a third alternative where they are in control of their own lives and decisions. He tells men that he does not exist, nor does God, only them – evolved after millions of years. And men eager to gain control over their own fates, believe his lie. They embrace blindly the concept that deviating from good can somehow wind up with a positive result, when in fact it simply cannot. Evil is tolerated by God as an example of His patience, and how firmly He is committed to the concept of free-will. God allows mankind a certain amount of freedom to explore the limits of his wickedness. But at times, enough becomes enough, and as a forecast of the ultimate disposition of all evil in general – a specific example of evil is terminated from the world. The Flood was perhaps the biggest example of this.

One day evil will meet its fate, that is not a threat, but a promise. One day evil will exist no more anywhere, and remain gone by choice. But the entire point of the Bible was not to condemn us with what we deserved. It was to redeem us unto what only He truly deserves. Those who divide the Old Testament from the New Testament under the idea that violence only occurred in the former make a mistake. First take a close look at each example I sited as to God personally invoking destruction in our world. In each instance, BEFORE any destruction occurred, the first priority was the REDEMPTION of mankind. Noah was identified long before the flood occurred, not because he was special, but because he was the last follower of God. God waited 120 years from His initial decision to destroy the world in order to give it time to repent and be saved. But the world would not hear of it. They continued to distrust the word of God through Noah, and so met the fate of all evil.

Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Christ himself came to see the city in person. He negotiated with Abraham to spare the city if only 10 righteous people could be found in it. And when only Lot and his family were found, they were saved BEFORE the city was destroyed. Even for the sake of Lot, for just one, God enacted a plan to save him from the destruction that would befall his neighbors – the same way He did for Noah. Lot’s wife and daughters were spared initially despite their apparent “lack of character”, another testament to the love of God for us. Egypt was warned repeatedly before the plagues. The Israelites had constant miraculous signs and the physical presence of God in the camp despite their choice to engage in wickedness. King Sennacherib of the Assyrians knew better than to attack Israel and had been warned. Jonah was sent to Nineveh and it was spared initially due to its repentance. In each account, REDEMPTION was sought FIRST. Only after being saved was no longer an option, came the inevitable destruction of evil – so it will be one more time.

Those who segregate the New Testament from the Old Testament based on violence, also forget the lessons of Ananias and Sapphira. In this case as in earlier times, both were given opportunities to repent of their evil before destruction ensued. God has not changed. He is the same in Old and New, He is completely focused on our redemption from evil. But He gives us the choice of this redemption or not. If we refuse it, we will suffer the fate of all evil, and be consumed with evil ourselves. It will not be because He did not warn us, love us, lure us, and invest great effort in our salvation – it will be because we simply kept on saying NO. This may sound like a hard truth, but it is a truth nonetheless. It does not mean God is a dictator, but rather means He will not suffer evil eternally, and will not allow evil to take all life with it, when it goes.

So then comes the question of obedience - Must we obey or die? Yes; but not because of the threat of the impending doom of evil, but because most of the natural consequences of evil itself are but pain and death. I can choose for example to obey the law and drive within the speed limits set by our government. Or I can choose to drive at twice the legal limit on the same roads. No-one can force me to do either, it is my choice to obey or drive as I choose. But when I drive 110mph in a 55mph zone and miss my left turn, rolling my vehicle into a nearby oak tree, making a pretzel out of my car and me in it – does this make it the governments fault for setting a speed limit in the first place? Or is it my fault for choosing to disobey and put myself at risk? Evil is consistently and inevitable linked with pain and death. They are one, as God is one. You cannot separate them from each other. Sometimes the pain of evil is delayed and when it is, it is usually far worse than immediate consequences. But delayed or not, they are sure to come.

There is another reason to obey besides just avoiding the natural consequences of embracing evil; it is because our God is one of infinite love, consumed with our redemption from evil. God wished only to spare us the pain and death associated with evil. He wants our happiness and hates anything that would harm us. As such, His council to us, ALL of His council to us, is designed to preserve us from evil and put us in a position to enjoy His happiness. God does not arbitrarily restrict us from things we would enjoy, but He does keep us away from things that may appear pleasing, but underneath would gladly see us hurt or killed. God is our shelter, and our protector. But He is less so, when we view His council as something we are to be made free from. We are not “freed” from good advice, and commandments, we are “freed” from the slavery of man to serve evil and himself. We are “freed” TO obey, not “freed” in order to run amuck in evil and pain.

The redemption of man from evil is the uniting principle of the God of BOTH the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is a love letter to man, and a warning cautionary certainty to evil and those that embrace it. The Bible speaks of Satan’s sure destruction as much as it does the certainty of our redemption should we choose to believe in the Savior sent to save us. The Bible judges evil and wickedness, yet does not condemn man, but rather extends to him hope no matter what level of depravity he may have sunken to. Christ is powerful enough to save anyone, anywhere, anytime. He did not design the plan of Salvation so that you could go on living a life of pain and dread, and on your death bed finally renounce the source of all your pain that plagued you every day of your life. Rather He enacted a plan to save you from evil right here and right now, so that every day of your life would be one without the pain of evil and sin. He can change you and free you from your slavery. He is the only Savior God who can.