Reaching Out [part one] ...

The deck is stacked against you.  When you are armed with nothing but love, and your enemy is armed with hate and violence of every kind that is difficult to even imagine, the deck is stacked against you.  Your life is in jeopardy from your enemy.  His life is not from you.  It seems ludicrous.  It seems ridiculous.  How could anyone win a war with these kinds of constraints?  Wouldn’t death just overwhelm life until all life disappeared?  But then love has always been more powerful than hate.  In the face of love, hate disappears.  The hole inside of us, cut in the image of God, is designed to know the bliss of love.  Nothing else can ever fit that shape.  Love throws water on the fire of hate, until the fire is gone.  Hate needs hate in return, in order for it to thrive.  Resistance is what hate must find fuel within.  I hit you, you hit me back, now we have the makings of a fight, perhaps to the death.  But I hit you, and you refuse to counter.  You walk away looking at me in pity, wishing something more for me than my slavery to anger and pain.  This is something hate has a hard time understanding.  Love does not destroy, it lifts up.

But for the hardened enemy of our Lord, great love must be shown, to break through the barriers hate has erected.  Jesus knew this.  Jesus let His own life go, to demonstrate how far He was willing to go to show us His love for us.  So far in fact, He would die in our place.  So far, He would die at our hands.  So far, He would forgive us for His murder, driven by our endless choice to sin and turn from love.  That kind of God-example of love, breaks the power of hate and death.  It puts an end to the cycle of it.  It is that level of love that our enemy fears.  He does not fear our feeble attempts to fight back.  He fears our divinely strengthened attempts to love in spite of his antics.  That kind of love is transformative.  It does not just transform its object, it transforms its bearer.  It is that divine love that resets evil, drives it away, heals what evil has broken, restores what used to be dead back to life.  It was not the ability of Jesus to wage traditional war that made Him so powerful.  It was His divine ability to show love in a world that wanted only the resistance of hate.

Hearts melt in the face of the love of Jesus.  Lives are transformed.  Even when the deck is stacked against the servant of the Most High, the outcome has already been determined.  Our earthly lives are but stepping stones to our eternal life, the gift of love itself.  So then, fear cannot be used against us.  Eternity has already been granted us.  We can use our earthly lives in the service of Jesus, without worrying what the outcome is in this life; only that He assures us a perfection culminating in the next one.  Whatever has not had time to be perfected here, will be completed there.  But living begins now, no matter what the conditions say against it.  Life begins now, because our Lord becomes the central part of who we are.  And all the while we are pleased to join His service.

Matthew records for us a momentous event.  Jesus has reached a point in His ministry, when it is time to increase the laborers for the harvest.  The first evangelism is commissioned.  The first community outreach is offered.  The first message is sent to the lost sheep of Israel, no matter the level of the resistance, His own church would put up against it.  For it is not the church elders who determine or dissuade the saving power of Jesus Christ on the life willing to submit.  They have no control.  So they can war against it all they like, the power of Jesus to save, will be undeterred.  Even when lives are lost.  Lives are also found.  Matthew picks up the story in chapter ten of his gospel, beginning in verse 1 saying … “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”

The first thing Jesus does, is arm His followers with His power of love, over the enemy.  The disciples needed to be able to push the supernatural away from the sufferers, before they were able to hear clearly the message of love intended for them.  Then, they were given by Jesus, the ability to channel His power to heal all manner of sicknesses or diseases.  They were to reset the deformity from which we suffer in our bodies, again to make clear the message of love Jesus came to offer.  All of this was to be done in the name of Jesus.  Not just some random religion.  Not just some eastern philosophy, or enlightenment, but in the name of Jesus alone.  This was a new gospel.  New because in part, the original religion Jesus had established with Moses at Mt. Sinai had rejected its author.  The Messiah had arrived and the Pharisees called Him the devil.  So since tradition would not accept the reality of Jesus Christ, reality had to evolve to become the new religion of Jesus Christ.  A reset of church elder thinking (in their day and in ours).

Matthew continues picking up in verse 2 identifying those who were first called saying … “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; [verse 3] Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; [verse 4] Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.”  This may not have been the exact order in which they were called.  This may not have been the exact order of prominence in the church after Jesus had long since ascended.  It was just a list.  And the most interesting name in it was that of Judas.  Judas is NOT excluded from the commission, or the power of Jesus, or the gifts Jesus had to offer.  Judas was included in everything.  The love of God was no less for the one who would betray Him, than for the one who would deny Him.  The fate of Judas would result from the choice of Judas, not the denial of God who knew in advance the crimes of Judas.

Then came the target audience they were to seek out picking up in verse 5 saying … “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: [verse 6] But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  The covenant with Abraham was not to be abandoned because his descendants made bad choices.  God honors his promises, even when we don’t.  There would be time for the Samaritans and the Gentiles (us) to hear the gospel, and come to the message later.  But the first offer would be extended to the house of Israel, the first to be honored with the good news of the Messiah would be to those who were supposed to understand it best.  God still loved a people who were attempting to love Him in return.  Even though their love was filled with error, God does not abandon them, but reaches out to them while He was even here among them, to bring them close to Him.

The message begins in verse 7 saying … “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. [verse 8] Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”  The Kingdom of Heaven is here.  Not at the end of all life, but in the here and now.  The entrance is through the door of Jesus Christ.  As we submit to Jesus, Heaven begins to dwell within us.  How we think changes.  What we value changes.  And how we love changes.  This is where mankind begins to see what the kingdom of heaven is really like.  That is a current message.  A relevant one in any age to any people.  It affects lives in the immediate, in the day to day, in the here and now.  Real change for the better right away.  Evidence of it included healing the sick, cleansing lepers.  Changing the problems of this world until the problems are no more.  His command includes asking His disciples to “raise the dead”.  Not a lot of this going on today, we could ask ourselves why.  But the barrier man thinks is so permanent is not so permanent to a God who gives us life, and can give it again.

He asked them to cast out devils, have no fear of them.  For they cannot stand against the power of Jesus.  They do just fine against an organized religion, that values its traditions more than it values love.  But against Jesus, no contest.  And Jesus tells them to hold nothing back from those in need.  Freely give, as these gifts were given to you freely.  You did NOTHING to earn them.  You have them in spite of your imperfections.  You are not 100% right on your doctrines, and you may not be for some time yet.  But the ONLY doctrine that really matters is the message of the Kingdom of Heaven brought to us by Jesus Christ, that has arrived today, back then.  It is that message that needs to be promoted.  Not what you can and cannot do, but through whom you will find harmony with God.

Then there is a matter of trust.  Matthew continues in verse 9 saying … “Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, [verse 10] Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.”  You do not need to prepare for this assignment.  Just go.  With what you are wearing, in the condition you are in.  You do not need money.  You do not need reservations, or arrangements, or an itinerary.  You just need motivation.  The “work” of spreading this message is worth what it takes to sustain you.  You are in God’s hands.  You will be in the care of others.  Generosity in the hearts of listeners will likely be in the instrument through which God sustains you.  But even if it has to be ravens carrying you bread, you do not need to worry about bringing money, or earning it, or where you will sleep.  You are in the care of God.  It takes trust to do this.  It takes commitment.

Blessings are for real.  Matthew explains this picking up in verse 11 saying … “And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. [verse 12] And when ye come into an house, salute it. [verse 13] And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.”  Anyone who provides lodging for someone carrying the message of Jesus will be blessed to do so.  Even if it is only while the messenger is in the house.  But if the host, is willing to embrace the gospel, the blessing lasts forever.  This is not about exclusion.  It is about inclusion, and what it means to embrace the gospel of peace, from the author of love.

But cause and effect remains in place as Matthew continues in verse 14 saying … “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. [verse 15] Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”  This is very strong language that Jesus uses to make a point.  Sodom and Gomorrha were destroyed for their wickedness in the days of Abraham and Lot.  Every Jew knew this story and understood how bad these cities must have been to warrant special destruction for their evil.  The tradition of this in the scripture is used to illustrate how important the message of Jesus Christ is to the people of this time.  It is no small matter.  It is everything.  To reject Jesus, is not to have some small doctrinal dispute about interpretation, it is to throw away the only means there is for salvation of any kind.

To choose to cut yourself off from the salvation Jesus Christ alone can bring, is to cement your character to the weakness of sin, the pain and death it causes, and the downward cycle from which there is no escape other than through Jesus.  Sodom was not presented with the Messiah.  Sodom was not presented with healings, with sermons from the mouth of God.  Sodom had only the witness of Lot, the contrast of one who did follow God, with the citizenry who did not.  Evil ran unchecked in Sodom as it will in us without the saving power of Jesus Christ and our submission to Him.  It was not a threat against the people of His day.  It was an illustration of how important their choice would be to them.

And the counsel for the laborers had only just begun …

 

Undoing Deformity ...

Sometimes life is cruel.  Tragedy happens.  And it leaves scars on us.  It takes what is normally formed and makes it abnormal.  The marks are visible.  The marks interfere with our normal functions, they are painful to incur, and painful to get over.  But over time we adapt to our new reality and keep moving forward, attempting to have as much life as we are able to have, given our new constraints.  Others look at this as courage, and comparatively it is.  But in truth, it is also a desire for life, showing itself without ever considering letting go.  When the marks of life and the tragedy it can bring are external, the struggle against them is obvious.  But when they occur inside of us, it is a different thing.  Disease is as cruel a master as any.  It strikes where it may not be seen, but does damage as painful to incur, and painful to get over as what might be seen on the outside.  And disease need not work alone.  Sometimes it comes in packs, or flocks, working on separate areas and functions of the body along different paths and trajectories.  In total, what looks normal on the outside, can be suffering from a whole host of problems on the inside.  To keep going in this state is private courage, or perhaps just the thirst for life once again on display, if only for the one who suffers in silence.

Then finally, there is the tragedy from which we all suffer, the tragedy within our characters.  6,000 years of bad genetics, 6,000 years of worsening environments, and our characters are not immune from the conditions that continue to degenerate.  We begin to assume what was once abnormal is now normal.  We begin to desensitize ourselves to violence, until the levels of violence we tolerate in our media, and in our watching habits would have stunned ourselves if done only 20 years ago.  Movies from decades ago seem tame, seem mild, when compared against the movies that come out today.  The same is true of our Television shows.  This phenomenon also infects our relationships, and our social thinking.  Divorce was once considered serious, tragic, and something done in only extreme cases where there was no other out.  Today, and as time moves forward, divorce is normal, natural, and done whenever two people encounter a problem they do not wish to fix.  Divorce has become so commonplace, the need for marriage and monogamy itself is questioned more and more.  What was abnormal becomes normal, until whatever lines there were, are blurred against the selfishness that lies within us all, until there are no lines.

When tragedy impacts our physiques, we see it, others see it.  But when tragedy impacts our insides, or the core of who we are, few will ever know it did, and fewer still the lasting impacts it leaves.  We choose to look in our mirrors and see ourselves as normal.  We choose to see who we are as normal, as being a good person, at least as being as good as anyone else we know.  But in truth, we are ALL deformed.  Against the ideals and vision our God has for us, we are as diseased as anyone could get, both in body, and in soul.  For some of us, the imperfections of the body are fewer.  But for all of us, the imperfections of the character are stunning.  And the imperfections of our thinking greater still.  It is as if we are all alcoholics who refuse to see the damage of our conditions.  How do we recognize good, when our idea of good today is a self-destructive thing?  How do we recognize perfect, when we are so far from perfect, we have likely never encountered it before?  Our vision must be restored, so that we can begin to see.

Matthew wrote his gospel, after he had begun to understand these things.  Matthew wanted his fellow Jews to know that there was hope and a way to reset who they were, and so in his gospel he records stories designed to perk their interest and ours.  This is not just some random set of miraculous events, it is a recollection of specific stories designed to illustrate to us … hope.  In this instance he picks up in chapter nine of his gospel beginning in verse 27 saying … “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.”  Jesus had just left the home of a dead girl He brought back to life.  What could ever be harder than that?  And what better illustration of what He longs to do for each of us.  Hearing it, hearing the conversations that take place, hearing the praising of God that results; the blind men now know, He MUST be able to help them too.  They cry unto Him, using a name that represents their belief that Jesus is not just a prophet, but the promised Messiah.  Son of David, who was to be the long-promised hope of Israel.  What was normal before Christ, is no longer normal after Christ.  Will He help them?

Matthew continues in verse 28 saying … “And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.”  Jesus waits until He has come back into the house, likely Peter’s home again.  He then questions the men to see if they flatter Him, or if they really believe the words they used.  They answer yes, we believe.  Ideas about living with our pain are being shattered.  Ideas about knowing we do not see clearly are being obliterated.  We know we are blind.  We know we must learn to see differently.  And we know only Jesus will be able to restore our vision to what it should be, instead of how we use it, or refuse to use it.  In this case, the blind men may not have just had something as simple as cataracts, but perhaps something as deformed as missing organs, or badly damaged or scarred organs.  But this does not matter, to their faith, or their need.  They are blind.  They wish to see.  We are blind too.  Do we wish to see, and do we believe?

Matthew continues in verse 29 saying … “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. [verse 30] And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. [verse 31] But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.”  Their deformity was undone.  Their blindness was obliterated.  The normality of their lives was reset from living with tragedy to living without it.  They could see.  Jesus asks them to keep this quiet.  Jesus is not looking for additional attention to the fact that He is the Messiah just yet.  He likely wants more time to teach the people, to reach them on a spiritual level.  The more He is revealed to be the Messiah, the quicker His enemies will want to kill Him.  But the blind men could not help themselves.  They spread His fame, both as healer and as Messiah, throughout the entire country.  And His enemies heard of it, and took note.

Today there are men and women aligned with the enemy of Jesus, who do not wish to have their normality reset to what it should be.  They are comfortable in their deformity, until the point where they worship it.  They would rather kill Jesus, than see Him offer hope to those who are like themselves.  They are happy when others remain as they do, and terrified and sad when others find a way to really see, what they themselves refuse to see.  These enemies of Jesus take an active stance against Him.  They work to see His followers lose hope and accept the conditions of who they are, losing hope that Jesus could ever really fix them.  They compare themselves and their own evil deeds with the past of those who seek Jesus to find a different way.  The pasts often share much in common.  But the future of those bound in Jesus look much different.  It is this future they do not wish you to see.  Misery loves company.  The enemies of Christ wish for you to be their company, now, and forever.

But once we begin to see differently, once we begin to value others how Jesus values them, what we say begins to change.  We stop playing church, and begin having a personal testimony of what Jesus has done for us.  What He has done for you and for me.  Each of us having something unique to say, while at the same time, having such a common theme.  Our words begin to soften.  Our tones begin to reflect a sensitivity to the heart of another, instead of apathy towards it.  The gruff, guttural language, that once infected our every other word, dissipates until it is gone entirely.  Instead we begin to speak in simple language, nothing flowery, but easy to understand.  And no longer peppered with swear words, and curses that added nothing to what we were trying to get across.  Our tongues are reset from something we never imagined was a problem, but was always heard in the ears of our listeners.  We never knew how badly we spoke.  We never knew how mute we really were.  How little others understood what we felt.  How little others understood the Jesus inside of us trying to get out, trying to reach them.  We were effectively mute for His kingdom, even when we spoke incessantly.

Matthew continues in verse 32 saying … “As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.”  How many of us, allow the devil to influence what we say, or feel?  How often do harsh words escape our mouth because we lose patience, or hang on to the past, to the pains someone else has caused us?  This poor man had allowed that influence to occur so often, a demon actually took up residence within the man until he could no longer speak.  The man would have no tongue to call out for God, or worship Him aloud ever again.  A new normal for that man.  A deformity of constraint he would have to contend with forever.  But not while Jesus lives.  Not in his day, or in ours.

Matthew continues in verse 33 saying … “And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. [verse 34] But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.”  Notice that it was the friends of this man who brought him to Jesus.  Notice the man was unable to ask for healing.  Jesus knew the situation.  Jesus knew what was needed, and what the man desired in his heart.  Even when we are unable to speak what needs to be said, our Lord is capable of resetting our new normal to something better.  The demon is forced to leave, and man is able to speak again.  The witnesses praise God.  The witnesses take note, that it has never been so in Israel since the birth of Jacob until this day.  It is the introduction of Jesus that has made these things so.  It is the introduction of Jesus that turns the impossible into the common place.  What we see becomes different after our eyes are opened.  What we say becomes different when our selfishness is removed and His glory is revealed across our tongues.  But for those who refuse to see, they cast doubt on the source of His power.  It is all the religious leadership has left, but to accuse the changes from the power of submission to Jesus, to something His enemy might do.  But they are wrong.

Then Matthew concludes this snippet revealing a power that should stun us all.  He concludes beginning in verse 35 saying … “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. [verse 36] But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. [verse 37] Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; [verse 38] Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” 

Jesus went about teaching in the synagogues.  Jesus remained keenly interested in the souls, in the characters of His people.  He was here, not to just reset the physical marks of life, but the invisible marks within us as well.  As evidence of this, he healed “every” sickness and “every” disease among the people.  Not just some.  Not just the easy ones.  Not just the ones where the organs were present and not functioning, but the ones where limbs were missing and had to be regenerated.  Every means every.  It is not a metaphor but a recitation of fact.  There is nothing about our abnormality that cannot be reset by the Creator who made us in the first place.  God made man on the sixth day, in a single day.  He can remake us in the time span we permit Him to do so.  If you doubt it, submit to Jesus, and watch what happens.

But the need is great.  Your need.  My need.  Our corporate need, the need of the world.  And today, as in the days of Jesus, the workers are few.  Too many modern workers have been corrupted by the introduction of self into the center of our religion.  Instead of trusting Jesus to save us from ourselves, we claim to have to do some of the work ourselves.  Then we teach others to do so too.  We ask them to drive sins out of their lives BEFORE they come to Jesus.  This is impossible.  For them, or for us, it is impossible to be rid of sin, without Jesus doing ALL the work of it.  We must see differently.  Only Jesus can open our eyes.  We must speak differently.  Only Jesus can give us something different to say, a new experience with Him we are eager to share.  On our own, our recitation of history, or how Jesus did something marvelous for someone else, is just not enough.  It is not personal enough.  For us to share a testimony of our own, we must have a testimony of our own, and only submission to Jesus will ever give us one of those.

If we are to be effective in the harvest we must have learned to ever point to the Lord of the harvest.  We must take no credit for ourselves.  We must not even be seeking credit.  We must be pointing all credit back to the Lord of the Harvest.  Fame is not our goal, anonymity is.  Spiritual leadership is not our goal, spiritual service is.  It is not power we seek, but power we avoid at all costs.  For only His power matters, and only He has it.  We may be fortunate enough to be a vessel to reflect His power, but it will never originate within us.  A prosperity gospel is not what our Lord ever offered.  What He offered was a gospel that did not concern itself with prosperity, whether we are blessed or not.  The burdens of wealth are not something that make it easier for us to be effective conduit of Jesus, they make it harder.  For us to actively seek them, is for us to ask for a more difficult burden in His service.  Jesus promises to meet the needs we have for today, and that is enough.  Learning to trust at that level, is learning to become more and more effective in His service.

Will you be a laborer in His cause?  Or are you still looking to be ministered to?  Do you have a testimony to share?  Or are you still reciting the ones of your parents or spouse or children?  Let us shed what is abnormal and embrace what Jesus calls exceptional, let us shed the meager lives we lead, and embrace lives of “life” He would provide.  Nothing is impossible, when it is Jesus who sets the new reality …

 

Saving Faith [part 3 of 3] ...

All that matters is results.  If you promise a thing, you must deliver a thing, or your promise is worth little.  With humanity, we are used to disappointment.  We promise outcomes, and make commitments, and over time we deliver almost none of it.  It jades the thinking, until the cynic expects nothing, and is usually not disappointed.  But where a matter of salvation is concerned, it is an all-or-nothing game.  Being “better” sounds good.  Being better perhaps avoids some of the pain that being worse brings with it.  But none of us are looking for a heaven filled with “better” people.  We are looking for a heaven filled with people who no longer even consider killing, or stealing, or lying about it.  We are looking for a heaven where we can have absolute trust in our neighbors, not have to lock the door, re-rig up the security system, consider moving to a better subdivision, and train the dogs for protection (again). 

A heaven where just one unapologetic sinner gets in, is a heaven where the crime rate will never be zero.  And it is not even about the apologetic aspect of sinning.  The fact that the killer feels bad about killing does not stop the pain he causes.  Heaven is not supposed to be about a criminal justice system, nor is it a place for rehabilitation.  The rehabilitation is (or should be) happening now.  Now is the time for a prep, in order to be able to re-enter that Garden of Eden without fear.  Now is the time, for us to be getting made ready for a bite from the tree of life.  If I am that sinner, that somehow slips into heaven, I will mess it up from everybody.  When I get there, it will only have been from the mercy of God.  A mercy that does not end with forgiveness but with reformation until I am something entirely different than I am today.  Something else, and something better.  But not just better, better is not enough, something perfect.  For without perfection, how will I ever be ready?

Jesus did not die, just to forgive “some” of our sins.  Nor is Jesus content to just leave us in the lives of sin we have figured out how to live.  Forgiveness is a baseline He offers, a ground zero from which to build.  But mercy cannot look at someone in pain and just leave them there.  Mercy was meant for something more.  We were meant for something more.  Not just life after death, but real “life” even when we are surrounded by death.  Perfection then is not a pre-requisite, it is the result of a continued encounter with Jesus Christ.  Perfection slips up on you unannounced while you were paying attention to Jesus.  You cannot explain how it comes.  You can explain from where and why.  It comes because Jesus wants it for you, and creates it within you.  It is Jesus who changes how you think, as soon, and as much as you let Him do it.  It is Jesus that changes how you love, and who you love.  It is Jesus who brings passion for others, and a seeming disinterest in yourself.  “You” becomes less and less of a priority to you.  “Others” become more and more of a passion for how you live.

It may not be instantaneous.  But it is certain.  And its results are demonstrable over time.  So what is the difference between stupid faith, ridiculous faith, and saving faith?  Consider the end of Matthew’s snippets in act three beginning in chapter nine picking up in verse 23 saying … “And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, [verse 24] He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.”  Jesus arrives and affirms the reason the angel had to guard the Tree of Life so many millennia ago.  The girl who is dead, is sleeping the sleep of death.  Consider for a moment that if the girl had died, and her ‘immortal’ soul simply is freed from her body, and went to heaven; then why on earth would you pull her out of perfection and back to the hell that is our world.  Her perfect character would revert to her sinful one (or at least expose her to daily risks of reversion).  Even with the love of her father, her life would be full of hardship.  The leadership of the Temple were now certainly out to get her father, for declaring for Christ, they would not simply ignore a risen example of Jesus’ authority over life itself.

If her character had been made perfect in order to enter heaven, then pulling her back would now do what, undo that reformation?  Imagine the unkindness of pulling her back.  If she died and went to a hell of fire and flame, then by Jesus offering her a chance no one else down there gets, is that not completely unfair?  In either scenario, the interests of the girl are not served, only the selfishness of the love of her father.  But, if she did sleep the sleep of death, and knows nothing; if all she does is rot in the earth unaware of time or consciousness; then pulling her back does her no detriment to her.  That act restores the love of her father without causing the girl undo harm.  The sleep of death we practice each night is the state from which we will all one day be called.

Consider too, the audience for what is about to happen.  There is a large crowd still following Jesus eager to know if this request is going to be honored.  His disciples are there every bit as curious.  But the mourning party at the home is not curious, or amused.  They are there to perform a time-honored tradition of showing proper respect for the dead (who if you are a Sadducee are not ever coming back).  History supports the side of the mourners.  Once you die, you die.  There are no second chances.  So to end this funeral tradition early is like slapping the family of this little girl in the face and stating we don’t care about your pain.  But Jesus is consumed with our pain.  He is not looking to exacerbate it, He is looking to extinguish it.  The mourners don’t see it.  So when He states she is just sleeping, they change their wailing to laughing Him to scorn.   

And here is where only results matter.  Matthew continues in verse 25 saying … “But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. [verse 26] And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.”  Jesus brought life to one who was dead.  There was certainty of her death.  The mourners knew it.  The father knew it before he left to get Jesus.  The only thing that mattered here was saving faith.  The kind of faith that saves from death, that conquers death.  It either happened or it didn’t.  Your Bible is either real or it is not.  But if Jesus is real.  And if your Bible is real.  Then what happened is real.  Death was conquered by life that ONLY Jesus could, and did bring.  This is true of our physical condition.  This is true of our spiritual condition.  We need not fear sneaking into heaven as the last sinner God pities.  We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, in a moment.  And we will enter it with no thought of sin ever again.  Our choice will be made.  The same choice we make today.  To trust Jesus Christ more than we trust ourselves.

In order to save us, only results matter.  Jesus is our results.  He brings them, or creates, or inspires them, or they simply do not occur.  We do nothing, but have faith in Him to save us, from … ourselves.  Whether that seems stupid, or ridiculous, or the sensible way that humanity will be saved, is immaterial.  It is how it happens.  Or it does not happen at all.  In a game when all that matter are results.  I know of no other way than the one Jesus offers us all, it is ALL or Nothing …