A Biased Media ...

What happens when the messenger wants something to be true?  Is the message corrupted by desire, or is the audience simply more skeptical of the messenger?  How could desire not impact what is said.  In this election cycle, there are strong opinions on either side.  But then, listening to those with strong opinions is not quite the same as listening to the source.  Once upon a time, our country had a news media not obsessed with corporate profit.  News organizations were largely loss-leaders for the entertainment divisions.  The news was considered a public service, mandated by the FCC to serve that interest.  To do news properly, one had to be extremely vigilant not to insert opinion, or preference, but to be devoid of it.  News was supposed to be a recitation of facts in order that an informed public could create its own opinions.  But today, news has become a corporate machine designed to create our opinions, providing only enough select information to do so.

Media itself has changed as well.  The internet has offered an explosion of personal opinion, bias, and anonymity.  Being responsible for the words you say in a face-to-face conversation, is a far cry from what is typed on a screen in absolute solitude.  Electronic friends are not the same thing as ones who could reach out and touch us in person.  Electronic friends are those of like mind, like preference, like bias on a particular topic.  Those of like mind congregate together reinforcing each other’s opinions but considering no new information that might alter them.  It would seem in our age, the only delivery system capable of offering information in a format we might consider when different than our own, are the comedy shows that focus on news related topics, despite the bias.  If we can laugh at reality, perhaps we can accept reality may not be exactly as we imagine it.

The world faced no such dangers in the time of Christ.  For news to travel it had to be face-to-face, or carrier pigeon mail to its recipient.  There was heavy responsibility for what words you said, for the person you said them to, knew it was you, and remembered what you said.  Bias still existed.  Preference still existed.  But friends in that day, had the luxury of knowing each other, understanding the history, putting the bias in context.  And so, news, while not centrally distributed, was still effective face-to-face despite the bias.  But stories of the impossible are still harder to believe, even when you know the source of the story.  To overcome common sense, takes great faith.  To believe what history, logic, and common sense say is impossible takes greater faith.  This is what our God asks.  He asks it still.  His messengers face this résistance still, because in addition, they want what they say to be true.

Good news, may represent the only time, when bias and truth align.  When something we have waited for, longed for, and hoped for becomes our reality; this is when bias and truth align without negative side effects or consequences.  A Father and a mother wants to see their children live, not just exist, but live.  Our Father wants this for us.  Our parents want it too.  To offer news in this regard is a great story, a happy story.  Peter recalls one to John Mark that formed the basis for the gospel story.  While Peter and John Mark wanted it to be true, it was true, bias and truth aligned.  The story begins in the Gospel of Mark in chapter sixteen, picking up in verse 1 saying … “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.”

Peter opens with a declarative whose significance cannot be overstated … and when the Sabbath was past.  Christ has finished resting from the work of our redemption, to now begin the work of our re-creation.  Without having paid this price, we could never be reconciled to God.  But a new day has dawned.  The first day of the week has arrived.  The first day of a new week, of a new phase of our reconciliation process.  The week is not at an end, but at its beginning.  And what happens now, is about what happens when something new has started.  Women of extreme courage are present once again.  The first ministers in the new covenant, in the new testament, in the new gospel, are to be women.  A hooker (now former), a mother, and a sister of Jesus with a famous name, have all come to anoint a dead body, which will never be found dead again; for death will hold no sway ever again.

Mark continues in verse 2 saying … “And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.”  Before the sun has arisen to start the day, the Son of God has arisen to start the new day of our reconciliation.  Those pagan cultures that worship the sun in our solar system, will have no event to further commemorate their misguided beliefs.  For while it was still dark outside, in the dark of morning between midnight and before the crack of dawn; something wonderful has already occurred.  The tomb was enlightened with the light of many suns, the entire Roman garrison was laid back in the dirt at the brilliance of God emerging from this tomb.  All of these events having already transpired before the dawn.  This sunrise will not light the events of the resurrection, they have already occurred.

John Mark continues in verse 3 saying … “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? [verse 4] And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.”  Upon arriving at the tomb, the Roman garrison has fled.  They are alone at this site, no soldier stretched out to meet them or offer assistance to them.  They begin to ask how three women will be able to move a stone at the entry of the tomb that it took nearly a dozen soldiers to place there?  If they cannot move the door, they will not be able to get to His body.  They persist in their mission, not realizing there is no need for it anymore.  And as they arrive, the stone is already moved.  This makes no sense.  The Romans have no interest in this Jew.  They resent guarding Him, and surely would have not wanted anything more to do with a rotting corpse.  Something is wrong, wonderfully wrong.

Peter continues the recollection to John Mark in verse 5 saying … “And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.”  Entering the tomb they encounter an angel, who remained for just this mission.  Humanity fears the divine when it is encountered.  It could be the sin in us.  It could be the realization of what true purity is when it touches the likes of us.  We recoil.  We wonder if judgment is upon us now, without further time for repentance, or reformation.  Our fear is instinctive as it comes from the deceiver of souls who also fears what true purity looks like now.  We are too akin to darkness than to light.

Mark continues in verse 6 saying … “And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. [verse 7] But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.”  Before the gospel can be heard, or understood, we must lose our fear.  We must put aside our instinctive fear, and pay attention to something greater than our fear.  The first message of the gospel is herein defined.  The angel said it directly to these women.  The angel spoke the words of the gospel, the hope of the gospel to these women of extreme courage.  You seek Jesus.  He is NOT here.  He is arisen.  That is the gospel.  That is the good news, the great news.  It is both what we long for, what we want, and it is the truth.  Bias and truth aligned, as it can, ONLY when good news is spoken.

But beyond the angel’s declaration of the gospel itself.  He gives a command, a commission … to these three women.  They are to go to His disciples (and Peter) and tell them Jesus plans to meet them in Galilee as He had said to them before His death.  This is a specific message to be delivered to the people of God.  This is the first sermon to be spoken on earth.  It is to be short.  It is to be directly to the point.  It is to be directed at those who claim to follow Jesus the Christ, those who say they are His followers.  The first sermon is to be preached by women, by these three women of extreme courage.  The spices for this body will never be needed, but the message about a resurrection will never stop being needed.  It is not His death on the cross that is to be celebrated, but it is His resurrection from that death which is.  Those who wish to honor Jesus would do better to wear a stone rolled away from a tomb around their necks, than a wooden cross that commemorates only His death, not His victory over it.

And still the stubbornness of the men in our age is willing to proclaim that women should not preach.  Yet our God plainly thinks differently.  The prologue also being less than ideal as Mark concludes these thoughts in verse 8 saying … “And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulcher; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.”  The word of an angel was enough to make them tremble and fear.  But in these women of extreme courage, this was enough fear to make it fail.  Fear overcame commission.  Fear has always overcome our ability to spread the gospel.  Fear of our reputations being held in even less regard.  Fear that our sanity may not actually be quite intact.  Fear that our fondest hope is nothing more than self-hallucinations.  So these women believe what they have been told, but are unable to speak about it for fear.  Imagine how disappointed all of heaven must have been.

But where the words of an angel were not enough to conquer fear, this was a gospel that must get out.  The message could not be left unsaid.  The fear of messengers could not stand in its way.  The bias of believers could not stand in its way.  The limitations of the media could not stand in its way.  The gospel must be preached.  It must be heard.  It must have its chance to get right to the heart of one in need, right to you, right to me …

 

Ordaining Women ...

Separate but equal?  How can we divide people based on an arbitrary criterion and simultaneously expect equality post division?  The Supreme Court of the United States finally came to see the wisdom of eliminating arbitrary divisions in order to affect equality.  But the church seems reluctant to do the same.  The church seems content to segregate based on sex, and sometimes even on race, or age, yet continue to expect equality in the work of Christ.  After all, the Bible does seem to identify certain roles for men that it does not seem to state women should perform.  This has led some modern folks to decry the scriptures as based in the prejudice of the day, and the prevailing sexism in Middle Eastern cultures.  But if we are to accept the Bible as our cornerstone of faith, unaltered, and speaking only truth, what should be our position on equality in the church.  Is it OK then to ordain women to the ministry of Christ?

To begin I think it important to understand how the word of God comes to mankind.  In the beginning, God Himself walked in the Garden of Eden with both Adam and Eve.  He spoke to them both.  He treated them both as His children.  He did not choose to speak alone, and only with Adam, trusting Adam to relay His messages of love to Eve.  Instead He showed Eve the same respect He showed Adam, and the same love.  Later, God spoke through Miriam, the sister of Moses, as His prophetess.  Moses already had direct communication with God.  Aaron, his brother, was already God’s high priest in the Sanctuary services.  Yet despite both of these men in elevated positions, God still spoke His prophecies through the mouth of their sister Miriam.  One could argue that Moses was the leader of the people, and Aaron the leader of the ministry, yet Miriam’s role was no less important to the people of the Lord.  And Miriam was not the last woman to serve the Lord in the role of prophet to His people.  Others would follow.

In the days of Christ, there is much focus on His disciples and work they performed.  But when the friends of Christ are mentioned there were at least three – Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.  Two of the closest friends of Christ were women.  He counted them as His friends.  In addition to saving Mary Magdalene from stoning, He also accepted her gift in washing His feet, and seemed to take a genuine interest in her life.  Christ speaks openly to the woman at the well.  He rewards the sickly woman who touches merely the hem of His garment.  He compliments and blesses the widow who gives her last two mites into the offering – elevating her sacrifice ABOVE all the rich Pharisees who gave much money into the coffers.  Christ heals the daughter of the Roman Centurion and holds out this Gentile’s faith as an example for the Israelites to aspire to.  Christ showed through His own life and ministry that the lives of women were as important to Him as the lives of men.  He spoke with women directly, not through their husbands or other intermediaries.  He held direct conversations with women.

The counsel given to men regarding their wives, was to love their own wives more than they love themselves.  Were men to honor this counsel, the problems in marriages would all but disappear.  Women are NO less important to God, or to His work, than are men.  So assuming that God values each of us the same, does not mean He intends each of us to be exactly alike.  There are some men who are excellent speakers, and could make excellent evangelists.  Other men, not so much.  We tend to gravitate towards those who appear endowed with the gift of evangelism, and away from those who are not so blessed.  It is the gift of God’s Spirit that determines our ability to fill a role in His church, not our age, not our sex, not our race, nor our education and seemingly natural abilities.

“And a little child shall lead them.”  How often have we quoted the words of Christ, and ascribed them to some cute thing done by one of our kids.  But to consider that a little child would lead us full time appears to stretch our credibility.  Yet Samuel was called to God at the age of seven.  Christ taught the most learned men of His time, at the young age of 12.  Ellen White began a course to God that started in her teens.  All of these past servants of God were not called in their old age, but in their youth, even when youth was not such a prized commodity.  Being 12 years old would not afford Christ much respect in a community of older learned Rabbis who spent lifetimes acquiring wisdom – yet they were so intent to hear His words they stayed for 3 days listening to Him teach.  What was surely a baby in their eyes, had such a clear understanding the love behind their scriptures, that ALL were captivated by His teachings.  A 12 year old.

We ignore our youth as being too inexperienced to really lead us on a sustained basis.  We cynically disregard their idealism as being not based in the real world.  Similarly we set aside the wisdom of our much older folks as being “dated” and based on a life in the past that no longer represents reality.  We look at the differences of people from other races and cultures and decide it is better to “allow” them to meet and group together and worship however they like, rather than attempt to integrate “how” they worship into our own services.  Then we attempt to develop ministries to meet the unique needs of groups of people based on age, or sex, or race – thinking that meeting unique needs can only be done through segregation.  But this was not the approach Christ took.

Christ so valued children, He stopped what He was doing and took time to minister to them first.  Christ so valued women, He spoke directly with them, and was found in their company – even the ones whose reputations were not so stellar.  Christ so valued those of different races and cultures that He personally took time to heal the daughter of the Roman oppressor, and accepted help from the Foreigner who bore His cross.  Christ instructed Peter through a dream that Peter would understand. that the Gospel was meant for all, not for just the Jewish people.  Age was not a barrier to Christ.  Sex was not something to be segregated against.  Race was no obstacle.  Culture was no wall to Him.  Literally ALL were included in His work, His love, and His ministry.

“Where two or three are gathered together” – note He did not specify two or three men, or two or three people of certain ages, cultures, races, or even doctrinal persuasions.  He said two or three who gather in the name of Christ.  Our church was to include all.  The gifts of the Spirit were to include all.  The Holy Spirit was not confined to merely men of a certain age, and a certain race.  Instead the Holy Spirit was poured out on ANY who would accept the gospel and this gift.  Any who were willing to serve the cause of Christ were eligible for this outpouring.  And ALL were blessed as the Spirit saw fit, and the church had need.  Not everyone was called to be a preacher, or teacher, or evangelist – but it did not matter who was called to these tasks.  Whether young or old, men or women, Jew or Gentile – all served, and many died martyrs of persecution for their faith.  The enemies of God did not spare women, children, or foreigners – they killed any who claimed the name of Jesus.

In our day, we limit God, by limiting through our own expectations “how” and to “whom” His gifts should be poured out.  Instead of accepting whoever He chooses, we disregard those who do not come in the appropriate packages; according to the standards we have setup.  The Pharisees missed the Messiah in doing a similar approach.  Our church should cast down the barriers of prejudice based in human tradition and human wisdom, and allow the Spirit to determine where and to whom He will pour out His blessings upon.  If a woman is called to preach, teach, or evangelize – then praise God she is willing to serve, and He is willing to reveal Himself to us through her.  She should not be denied ordination based on our collective “wisdom”.  It is our job, our duty, to accept the will of the Spirit, not to try to define it.  It is our job to accept the wisdom of Christ, not to try to override it based on our own ideas.  If God calls a seven year old girl, from an Inuit culture in northern Alaska, with different traditions and cultures than our own, to be our next evangelist – are we to supersede the ideas of God in this regard?  God forbid we refuse His guidance.

And while we should not deny God His ability to pour out the gifts our church needs on whomever He sees fit, we should also avoid conferring roles to those who are clearly NOT called to serve in the capacity they desire.  We may think ourselves fit to serve in a particular capacity, but if the Holy Spirit does not bless our efforts in this regard, it may be that we deceive ourselves as to where we are actually supposed to serve.  We should not ordain a woman simply because she is a woman, no more than we ordain a man simply because he is a man.  We should instead look for the influences of the Spirit, and the lives and skills that have been clearly touched by God and seek to honor His will in so doing.  We should include everyone in our desire to serve God, disallowing no one based on our preconceptions, nor forcing anyone into a role they are not fit to hold.  We should in a word – follow the will of God, not attempt to define it.  Were the church to do this, the questions of women and ordination would completely disappear.  Children would lead more often than they do.  The aged and elders would carry the respect they deserve.  And the cultural diversity found in the world, would be reflected in our worship services and ALL would benefit as a result.  In short, the church would become UNITED under the banner of Christ, without any form of segregation based on any criterion.  This is what Christ intended for His church; perhaps we could forsake our own wisdom and get back to His plans.