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.

 

Crying to be Heard ...

Imagine screaming into the abyss.  We do it all the time.  We post pictures, video’s, catch phrases, blogs [yes, I recognize the irony], music, messages, and responses on the vast domain of the internet.  The connective tissue of the internet, or its potential at least, is astounding.  We can instantly reach “all” of our friends, and past that, anyone who happens to be passing by the content we made available.  When we post, we imagine that at least those who purport to care about us, will take some marginal notice of what we have done.  We enjoy accruing “likes” or any other method of affirmation on what we post.  But what if all you get is dead air?  Did anyone hear you?  Did anyone notice you?  Could you be screaming into the abyss of the internet without so much as a “meh” in response?  I believe our human craving to be seen, and heard, has fastened itself on a megaphone into an abyss we have no control over.  Part of this evolution leaves us more alone than we were, which in turn, exacerbates the need.  And the desire is nothing new.

We are as blind men, waiting on a response to know we were heard.  Matthew tells a story of just such men in the time of Christ.  Their blindness was physical, so their abyss was the blackness of the world around them.  They must wait to hear sounds of acknowledgement to know they were heard, or noticed, or cared about.  Because they could not see, their options for employment were highly limited.  There was no tech in their day to compensate for their condition.  Most of the time, the blind became full time beggars.  It does not take poverty long to drive one into this profession.  And it is the last profession anyone would ever want or would ever choose.  But when choices are taken from you, and options with them, begging beats dying.  So two blind men, likely companions, given the empathy they would share for each other in a world of complete blackness they both understood – found themselves just outside of Jericho.  They sat on the side of the road, hoping that travelers going to or from the city, would have just an ounce of mercy, and part with something to keep them alive.

But desperation is not attractive.  Check out any “desperate” post on the internet, and the attention it gets just seems to decrease even further.  “Desperate” cries for attention are criticized for what they are, and their authors shunned and ridiculed even more for the state they have “allowed” themselves to become.  In any social situation, the boyfriend, or girlfriend who wreaks of desperation is usually avoided even more than originally planned by the other party.  To put your “need” on display, is to force others to see your humanity, your vulnerability, and your desire to be loved.  No one wants to love someone they have not chosen to love.  So the sight of your “need” only drives people away, to mask their own lack of feelings.  They wish you gone, so not to address how they truly feel, or rather how they totally do not care, about another human being.  When you go, so does the mirror your “need” holds up to another’s soul.  The begging these blinded men performed, was no exception to this phenomenon.  Those who felt less empathy, were less inclined to even tolerate their presence very long.  Get them away, and we will feel less guilty about holding on to our coin.  This was the setting of Matthew’s story in his gospel to the Hebrews in chapter 20.

He begins in verse 29 saying … “And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.”  This simple beginning hides something we must look deeper to examine.  When we see the context of this story described above, our immediate thought, is that the people who will shun the blind, shun those in need, are not Christians but people of the world.  Those who do not understand the love of Jesus, are more apt to push away those in need, than those who have tasted that Love.  But this story begins by establishing that a great multitude was following Christ.  You did not do that without a keen interest.  You did not do that and learn nothing, or see nothing.  Jesus was a 24x7 wellspring of love in action.  He could not move 2 steps without personally demonstrating a level of care and love for people they had never witnessed before.  Jesus was something different.  Not just His words, but His deeds, and His eyes.  His eyes could pierce you to your very soul.  You knew He knew, who you were, what you struggled with, and how He could free you from it.  Transformation in Judea was running rampant.  And a great multitude following Jesus was a wonderful field to develop a harvest of His love within.  This was the earliest church.

Matthew continues in verse 30 saying … “And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.”  The blind companions have heard the stories of Jesus, of His fame, of His love.  They sense He must be nearby, as this kind of a crowd traveling at this time, is just unheard of.  So their hopes begin to rise.  And they begin to cry out into the abyss, looking for One who will hear what they have posted there.  And they begin to think, it does not matter what others hear, it only matters what the One hears.  It only matters if their voices are able to reach Him, while He is near.  So instead of meekly asking for alms, they begin boldly asking for mercy.  Surely a God of mercy, will be willing to grant them Mercy.  But their cries wreak of desperation.  And the crowds are quick to respond.

Matthew continues in verse 31 saying … “And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.”  This is perhaps one of the saddest texts in all of scripture.  And perhaps the most relatable to our generation.  It is the church, the followers of Jesus, who rebuke the men for asking for mercy.  Forget what the common belief was, that if you had a physical ailment, it was because you were a sinner.  Even if that lie were true.  These men were asking for mercy.  They were declaring their intent to change, to repent, to leave behind who they were, and pursue a path of mercy granted, and transformation offered.  But the church told them in an angry voice, with an angry tone, to keep silent, to go away, to shut up.  How often do your posts on the internet that uplift our God, or requests for prayer, meet with criticism, ridicule, and demands to keep silent?  How often are affirmations on spiritual topics as dry as tumbleweeds in the desert.  No one seems to hear.  And the few that do, would rather you kept your mouth shut, and your pen still.  And sadly, often those who wish you silent, wear church robes, or carry church titles – knowing doctrine well, and love nearly not at all.

But these men were not deterred by the angry voices of the crowd.  They yelled all the louder.  They were determined to drown out the voices misguided in discouraging them.  Not with insults of equal voracity, but with deeper felt cries for mercy.  This was not hate speech vs. hate speech.  This was a request for mercy, and transformation to really see who Love is – against a crowd unwilling to see desperation, or tolerate it.  The crowd was angry, the men were not.  The crowd were mean to the men.  The men had only interest in catching the ears of Christ.  And so when you are tortured by the technical abyss you put too much faith into, do not respond with hate of your own, to equal the hate that has been shown to you.  Recognize your pleas are heard by the only One who truly matters.  You have His ear, and His gratitude for your love, for your restraint in the face of evil.  Conversion does not happen at the point of a sword, but in the arms of Love reflected through any servant of His who is willing to share.  The blind companions would not be deterred, but sought Christ all the more.  So should we.

Matthew continues in verse 32 saying … “And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?”  Jesus heard.  Jesus acted.  Jesus never misses the pleas of one who seeks Him, even if His physical presence is not there, His Spirit is.  But then Jesus asks a very poignant question.  What do you want me to do for you?  The men were blind.  It is kind of a no-brainer what they would want.  So why ask that question?  We all have needs.  Sometimes our needs are so self-evident, we think what we want God to do for them should be a no-brainer.  But what if there are greater needs that we have, that we do not see?  Our sin, can sometimes make us blind, to what we really need, masquerading some other idea as mission critical, when in reality, it is a root cause that needs to be addressed.  These men could have asked for faith, or for wisdom, or for certainty of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven.  They could have ignored their physical condition, and sought after something more spiritual.  Not long ago, Jesus asked the mother of James and John, what did she want from Him?  She squandered her request on something as trivial as power, she did not even understand.

Yes, those of us with physical ailment, and sickness, all want to be cured, to be fixed, to end our pain, and avoid our death for as long as possible.  We want that as much as the blind men crying out for mercy did.  But those men are long dead now.  Did they live transformed lives, changed by the power of the Love of Jesus?  Did the time they had after they were healed, get spent in self-sacrifice, or self-aggrandizement?  They are dead none the less.  So I ask you what is more important, the state of your faith, or the state of your health.  You are going to die.  It is only a matter of time.  What you do with that time, has more to do with your faith, than it will with your health.  Do not let your “blindness” or your health, become so overriding a concern, that you would pursue its remedy, and discard your faith instead.  Fully healthy people commit a great deal of sin, on purpose, by choice, with premeditation.  Sometimes they are able to sin greater, because their ability to sin is greater, not restricted by ailing bodies that will not cooperate.  Sometimes the sick sin as well.  But what Jesus is asking you is what do you want?  This question forces you to think about what is really most important to you.  It is a way of letting Jesus work in you what He sees fit to transform, not just what you think is a four-alarm fire.  Jesus is looking out for your eternal condition, not just the one in the here and now.

Matthew concludes the story picking up in verse 33 saying … “They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. [verse 34] So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.”  The story ends very well.  The men were heard.  And through the compassion of the Lord upon them (as He has for you as well), they were healed.  But way more important than that, was that they followed Him immediately.  They did not consider what they could now finally do.  They did not consider all the beautiful women they might see, but instead wondered after the beautiful Love they had encountered, that would hear them through the abyss, and bring love right to their doorstep.  Even if that was on some dusty road outside of Jericho.  Jesus did not push beggars away.  He stopped, and heard their cries.  He listened.  Because Jesus has no apathy for us, His creations.  He has passion for us.  The mirror of our need, finds only fulfillment the soul of Jesus.  He cares.  He hears you through any abyss you perceive.

And when the content you make available, is intended for the glory of God, then it does not matter if anyone else ever discovers it.  It only matters that you were willing to serve.  For it is God who deserves all the glory, we need none of it.  We can know that He hears, He sees, He reads, He listens, to everything we post.  And He looks with a passion to you, that even you will hardly ever understand.  He offers a transformation to you, that is meant just for you, custom tailored to what He knows you really need, not just what you think you do.  So you can trust Him.  No matter what it looks like the answers to your prayers are, know that He is answering the needs you really have.  If those things are not the same, then better He answer the ones He knows, than the ones you think you know.  For Jesus has eternal plans for you, and this short life, is only a beginning.  There will never be any abyss between you and Jesus, unless you force one there.  His goal is full reconciliation.  You are seen.  You are heard.  And you are loved.

How Lust for Power makes us Deaf to The Truth ...

Have you ever wanted something so bad you could taste it (presuming it wasn’t food of course)?  Perhaps back when you were a child just prior to Christmas, you had your heart set on something you just “had” to have or you would die.  Or maybe it was something in your career; perhaps a new job, or a promotion that comes with a substantial pay raise.  You “need” something like this, as it will benefit you, your family, even the church as offerings will likely go up, now that you could “afford” them.  Or maybe you have an active imagination, and you are the type of person who dreams of finding a genie in a bottle who would grant you three wishes of your heart.  Don’t laugh.  How many of us treat God like that mythical genie, asking Him for something we still just “have” to have, something we desperately “need”, bargaining with Him that if He gives it to us, we will take some action we should have been doing all along, but now, for real, we will do it faithfully.  If only our God ([ahem] genie), gives us the thing our hearts desire the most.

It begs the question; what do you want?  Are you sure what you want is the right thing to want?  And in a perfect world for you, could you get what you want, if you only just a little more power over someone else?  Power is something the President has.  He uses it as he sees fit.  Ideally for what is best for our country.  The President is responsible for protecting the country, and he must from time to time, exercise power over others, particularly those bent on hurting you and I.  Do you suppose then, a President wishes for more power, or less of it?  With more power, would come more control, or at least the illusion of control.  With enough power, others would be afraid to take actions against you, lest you use your power in a response to what they did.  But if behavior is only moderated by fear, it cannot represent real change, or a real difference in motives.  Even when it comes to how we respond to God.  If we only fear His power, we do not really change, we just look to avoid getting caught, or rather, getting punished.

It is Satan who looks to rule his empire by power over others, and fear of reprisal.  What Satan wanted was to be like the Most High.  It was God’s power Satan craved, not His love.  Power is a strong aphrodisiac.  It is intoxicating.  It is corrupting for those who would crave it; or use what they believe they have of it.  And most of all, it can blind you to the truth, particularly to The Truth.  Lest you think otherwise, Matthew records for us a case of blinding truth, followed by a complete deafness to the truth no one wanted to hear.  It picks up in chapter twenty of his gospel to the Hebrews.  Keep in mind the common belief about the Messiah was that He was to overthrow Roman oppression and setup a kingdom that would never end.  This was a doctrine both the Pharisees and the Disciples of Christ shared.  It was so common, it was a “known” truth, something that could not be wrong, or false.  If you spoke against this basic doctrine, you were the heretic, not what everyone else believed.

But Jesus knew a truth we did not.  The kingdom He would begin, begins in the heart.  And it will have no end, as the heart begins to transform here, and continues its journey past perfection in Heaven.  The overthrow of the Roman Oppression would end, as when all evil ends, and how it ends.  Evil ends only when we choose to submit to Jesus and allow Him to transform us, putting an end to the evil within.  So Jesus had a perspective on the common belief of His day, that would never meet the expectations of either His followers, or the Sanhedrin that rules the nation.  It turns out, it is not the exercise of Jesus’ power that ends evil, it is the outpouring of His transformative love that ends it.  Love is the kind of power our God praises.  Love that opens eyes and ears to hear and see The Truth, and learn that what we thought we “knew”, was not so common after all.  Scripture through the lens of Jesus, instead of the certainty of our own hearts and minds about our particular interpretation, is a truth we have been deaf to, for quite some time.

Case in point Matthew picks up in verse 17 saying … “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, [verse 18] Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, [verse 19] And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.”  You and I know that the plain words of Jesus, would come to pass exactly as He said they would.  We have the benefit of hindsight.  At this point in time, the disciples did not.  They were still looking forward to an earthly kingdom with Jesus as King of Kings.  But a kingdom of power that begins in the here and now.  Power that exerts control over others.  Power they believed they would share by reason of their service and closeness to Jesus.  This is what every other kingdom in history had looked like before, why not the one the Messiah was destined to setup?  Yet what Jesus just said, in plain words, without metaphor, or symbolism, just the facts – was that what they expected was not going to come to pass.  Instead something entirely different would take place.  Something that would crush their earthly hopes, and establish their eternal ones forever and ever.  But they refused to hear.  They chose to be deaf to The Truth, because power looked more enticing.

Matthew continues the story in verse 20 saying … “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. [verse 21] And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.”  James who would one day become the head of the new church in Jerusalem; and John the beloved, who would one day become the most significant prophet of any age – were looking for a different kind of power from Jesus at this moment.  They had their mom make a request of Jesus, to place one son on the right, and one on the left, the two most powerful positions in any earthly kingdom as they were the two closest to the king.  One would be considered the second most powerful person in the new kingdom.  The other would be considered the third most powerful.  Ages ago, Lucifer saw himself as equal to Christ by sitting on the other side of the Father God.  When He realized Jesus was actually second, and he would never have “that” kind of relationship with the Father, he became jealous, and over time enraged.  Why not him?  He served God since the day of his creation.  But this is what he failed to see, Lucifer despite his age, was in fact a created being.  Jesus was not – He was God – infinite and without end.  And in all likelihood, the creator of Lucifer and all the other angels.  But Lucifer hated this idea, to know that his power was not as great as Jesus, was more than he would ever want to admit.  A lust for power made him blind and deaf to the truth.  And nothing has changed.

Jesus had just told his disciples what was to come to pass.  They ignored it.  They made themselves blind to it, deaf to His words, and chose to pursue a path to power, based on a doctrine they held, that the church affirmed, that was completely wrong.  What we “know” is true, through the lens of Jesus, may not be true at all.  Scriptures were correct.  Isaiah was correct.  It was the interpretation of Isaiah, by the church of His day, that was in error.  This was not a problem in the Word, as there is no problem with the Word today.  The problem is not in Scripture.  It is in our arrogance of what we “know”, of how we interpret the Word, that so often is absent the lens of Jesus, and therefore in error now, as it was in error then.  And just like the first disciples of Christ, we pursue positions of power, even if they are in the church.  We reason that positions of great responsibility come with “power” over the church itself.  We have decision making authority having been put “in charge” of something.  Like James and John, we seek to put ourselves over our brethren, based on our proximity to Jesus.  But Jesus has other ideas about power, service, and authority.

Jesus responds to mom’s request picking back up in verse 22 saying … “But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.”  The cup Jesus refers to is not a royal goblet.  It is not a golden chalice filled with the best grape juice (wine) that could be pressed by delicate hands.  Instead it is a cup of woe, of pain, and eventually of death for a mission of redemption.  This would be forever the cause of Christ, to see the world redeemed, and evil ended because we ask Him to end it, in us.  The baptism Jesus refers to is not a simple immersion in the river Jordan as how He once began His own ministry.  It is a baptism in blood, His own.  His entire body would be drenched in His own blood.  Bathed in it from relentless torture, and sadistic cruelty.  The world has no tolerance for the Love of Jesus.  The world run by Satan hates His love.  For His love can redeem, cleanse, and remove evil from the hearts of men.  The disciples having no idea what they are agreeing to, seeing only this question as a stepping stone to the power they seek, agree to it blindly.

Jesus continues in verse 23 saying … “And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”  So Jesus tells them, they are to follow His path, though they have no understanding what that means at the moment.  In reality it is good news.  They are to join His cause, and no matter what it may cost them, or do to their bodies, or end their lives – it is worth it.  But the prize they seek, is not for Jesus to hand out.  It is for His Father to decide who is to sit closest to Jesus in the kingdom to come.  In this, as in ALL things, Jesus submits His will to that of His Father.  Jesus has learned to trust His Father in ALL things.  Even if this is a disappointment to mom and her two sons, it is a truth they must contend with.  And deafness persists, as even still they harbor hope the Father will still pick the two of them.

Now things get tense.  When a co-worker stabs you in the back, you are likely not to take too kindly to it.  The remaining disciples were not too happy either.  Matthew continues in verse 24 saying … “And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. [verse 25] But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. [verse 26] But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; [verse 27] And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: [verse 28] Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  The other ten want power too.  Having two brothers try to propel themselves to the front of the line and take power that might otherwise belong to one of them, makes them all mad.  Notice, it was not just Judas who was mad.  Nor was it Judas scheming here to be number one in the new regime.  Scripture never says Judas tries this.  This was James and John scheming.  And ALL the other ten mad about it – Peter as much as Judas.

Then Jesus begins to explain that great positions in His kingdom begin with great service.  The most important position, is a position that is able to “serve” all the others.  Jesus uses His own life, as a key example of this fact.  Nothing in His church will be built on traditional ideas of power, or authority, but on service and dependence upon Him.  That lesson lays in the same plain words Jesus has a habit of using.  And still our modern day lust for power, even in matters of religion and church authority, keeps us deaf to The Truth.  While none of us are the President of the United States, many would be content to be the President of our denomination, or conference, or group of churches, or even our local church.  Sure we may not refer to that role with the term President, instead we call it pastor, or bishop, or priest, or elder.  But at the core of our titles is an assumption of power, not power based in service to all, but power based on the prowess of our spiritual growth.  And it keeps us deaf to His truth, to The Truth.

We lust for power and shun humility and the service that might accompany it.  We find ourselves following the same path as James and John before they really understood the mission of Jesus.  But we still have the benefit of hindsight.  We already know the end of this story, the reasons for the story.  And yet still we seek the aphrodisiac of power, instead of the simple humble service we might perform upon our neighbor, our family, our co-workers, or more profoundly upon the one who would call themselves our enemy.  It begs the question; what do you want?  Do you trust what you want?  Jesus didn’t.  Jesus deferred to the will of His Father in ALL things.  The total absence of self, and the absolute ability to serve everyone else, even if it cost Him His life; in fact, knowing it would.  Let us pray for the transformation of our character’s, of who we are, of what we want, of how we think and what we believe, until we are in full harmony with our God, His laws burned into the fabric of who we are, and His love echoing through us without reservation, or limit, for the world who remain in such desperate need …