Even the king needs Jesus ...

Do you imagine Donald Trump is a Christian, that is, a follower of Christ?  How about George Bush (jr)?  How about Bill Clinton or Barak Obama?  I cannot remember a President of the United States who did not also claim to be a Christian.   Most all of our elected leadership makes this same claim.  I should imagine even the kings and queens of Europe would follow suit.  But then, do we remember these heads of state for their terms in office, or for the lives of Christianity they have lived in front and behind the camera’s lens.  Scrutiny may well be the enemy of Christianity.  Examine the life of anyone, and you are sure to find sin as much or a bit less than you find grace.  We try to be quiet about our sin, but it plagues us nonetheless.  And when our sin hits the public’s eye, we are often remembered more for our errors than our love.  To be honest, sometimes those errors are awfully large.

It would seem that while people rule, their lives are defined more by what they do to/for/against their nation, than what they do in the name of love.  We don’t elect them to love.  We elect them to lead.  So perhaps they are only doing what we expect them to do, at least if they ever want our votes again.  It seems to be different once a President has left office.  When Jimmy Carter was in office, I believed our nation had never seen such an ineffective President to that day, nor would I ever see one after that.  Boy was I wrong.  I had no idea what would come.  Or how bad, bad could be.  But as Jimmy Carter has left office, I find he has defined the meaning of Christian in actions and deeds.  Jesus may have no better representative in the “ruling class” than Jimmy Carter has been for now decades.  And the best news, is that both George Bush and Bill Clinton appear to be following in Jimmy Carter’s footsteps.  Though they may not have done as much yet, they were able to put aside deep political differences and still begin important works of charity throughout the world.  It gives me hope that maybe someday Barak and Donald might even join this trend. 

It strikes me that Americans complain a lot about rich people.  We, the poor, and middle class, are not happy that those with great wealth (or fame), seem to live by a different set of rules than we do.  We debate constantly how much tax the rich should pay.  But our complaints deepen even more when we see justice applied between rich and poor.  Money buys lawyers, influences legislation, and failing both purchases jets to fly to non-extradition countries where great mansions can still be procured as if putting coins in a vending machine.  It just does not seem fair.  Why should so few people have so much influence where it comes to how we live, how we are entertained, and what we consume.   We, the consuming public, made up of mostly the poor and few middle class, are bombarded routinely by an advertising methodology designed to tell us what we want, where we can go to get it, and why getting it is a good decision.  Seldom will what we consume in entertainment ask us to ponder the differences between rich and poor, and whether this is fair or not, just keep consuming no matter what.  The ruling class then, has much influence over not only how they live, but how we think about it.  But sometimes, what the masses think on their own, has the reverse effect.

When even though no marketing campaign was ever developed, and no edict was ever issued, the great masses begin to develop similar thinking on any topic; the rich will stop to take notice.  How the world of believers thinks about Jesus Christ is just such a topic.  I have no idea if the we the collective body of Christ had any influence on Jimmy Carter, or George Bush and Bill Clinton – but it is possible.  It is possible that people who have long professed Christianity begin to take notice of their own lives, compared with Jesus, and how wide that difference is, particularly when you are rich, or in charge.  Nobody wants to be left out of heaven, even less enjoy the idea of hell of any kind.  So perhaps for fear, if nothing else, what a great mass of people believe might be enough to crack the ivory tower of power and penetrate how even the most “elite” begin to think as well.  And in those rare moments of self-reflection, sometimes even the king realizes he needs Jesus perhaps most of all.

Luke relays this phenomenon of reverse influence on one of the most powerful characters who lived in the time of Christ.  Herod the tetrarch of the Galilean area had already been influenced by the popularity of John the Baptist, and in general by the Jewish faith.  He had not performed well from either perspective.   His great sin in killing John haunted him.  And he was not at all popular with Jewish leaders, living in the shadow of his father who killed all the young male children in Bethlehem just to keep away any Messianic challengers to his own authority.  After Herod the Great had died his kingdom was split three ways for each of his sons, but none of them were able to control the people as well as their father who built great temples for them.  Each of the sons were too greedy for those kind of expenditures.  They lived lavishly and under far more Roman scrutiny which invited far more Roman troops into the province to savagely put down even the notions of rebellion by blood and crosses.  This made the puppet leaders even less popular with the people.  But while the best Herod (the son) might have mustered was infamy.  The fame of Jesus was growing wildly, with no support from the Temple leadership.  It was a grass roots movement that had a life of its own in spite of the Temple.

Luke picks up in chapter nine of his gospel letter to Theophilus beginning in verse 1 saying … “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. [verse 2]  And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”  The fame of Jesus was already widespread, but by gathering His disciples and sending them out with the same kind of power to heal across entirely different areas of the countryside, the fame of Jesus exploded.  By giving his disciples power over demonic possession, not even Satan could stand against the progress of the gospel message of Jesus.  This was unheard of.  No prophet before in Jewish history had ever been able to deputize disciples with the same relationship with God they had.  That generally took a lifetime to accomplish like Elijah and Elisha.  Not ten minutes like Jesus and His disciples.  The difference was the Jesus was way more than any mere prophet or good man, he was the Son of the Most High God, as even the demons recognized.

Luke continues in verse 3 saying … “And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. [verse 4]  And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart.”  Jesus again enforces the ideas of total dependence upon God for everything.  The disciples were to take nothing with them on their journeys.  No supplies of any kind, not even extra clothing or walking staffs.  No money at all.  No food at all.  They were to get what they needed from the charity of others.  The very roof over their heads was to be provided by the charity of others.  People open to hearing the message of Jesus Christ and his gospel would be moved by a spirit of Love the likes of which had never been seen in Israel up to that point.  Keep in mind these were the worst living conditions the Jewish nation had ever faced under Roman oppression.  They were poor, dirt poor.  Yet they shared what they had to give to the apostles of Jesus, to enable them to share the messages of Jesus with them while they tarried in any given town or village.

But the name of Jesus Christ was not popular with everyone.  And decidedly not popular with Jewish religious leadership.  The Sadducees hated Jesus because their own ideas of no resurrection were blown away in the examples Jesus had already conducted of them with those He raised from the dead.  The Pharisees and Scribes hated Jesus because He knew the scriptures better than they did, and understood them far better.  They were jealous and wanted a control over the people that only Jesus was ever intended to have within church walls.  Jesus knew that sewing the seed of the gospel was not always to be in fertile loving ground, some would encounter stone like resistance, with hearts to match.  So Jesus offered counsel on what to do when the disciples encountered such resistance as Luke continues in verse 5 saying … “And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. [verse 6]  And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.”

You will notice that even in the most extreme resistance to His disciples, Jesus offers a symbolic gesture intended to prick the conscience of the wicked long after they have left the town.  Shaking the dust off their feet when they leave was meant to show these resisters that what they did was significant and needed to be undone.  It was NOT a permanent condemnation.  It was a PRESENT gesture to show the seriousness of rejecting Jesus at any time in our lives.  It could be undone by simply pursuing the gospel, seeking it out, to find it, and accept it back into our hearts.  But when we reject what the Lord sends, we sometimes need to seek for it later to find it ourselves.  Not every opportunity may pass by again after it departs.  And letting an opportunity depart is not trivial, it is serious.  But notice too the back half of those texts, the disciples went out across the countryside and had great success in their mission to point others to Jesus Christ the true Messiah, and our true savior.

Herod could no longer sit in his palace and avoid the news of Jesus Christ.  It was everywhere.  Along with the stories of great miracles up to the resurrection of the dead.  Herod was no Sadducee.  He believed the dead could come back, and perhaps this was exactly that, perhaps this was Elijah.  Or worse, perhaps this was John the Baptist back to haunt him in person.  Herod had never met Jesus, and his fear would drive him to know what kind of supernatural phenomenon he was facing.  Luke continues in verse 7 saying … “Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead; [verse 8]  And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. [verse 9] And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.”  If this was John back from the dead, the terror in Herod would know no end.  Herod had never repented fully, nor had he changed how he was living with his brother’s wife.

So the king decided he needed to see and meet Jesus for himself.  And that is how it begins.  No matter the reason behind it, no matter how misplaced his thinking, the first step in our salvation always begins by deciding we need to meet Jesus for ourselves.  For even the king needs Jesus.  You will note our doctrines are often completely wrong when our journey begins, as you might expect “before” we really meet Jesus.  The heart of Herod the king was not full of love yet.  A heart full of love would not even be possible until after you met Jesus, not before it.  Being in harmony with the Law of God does not happen because we will it to be so.  We do not even understand obedience properly without the transformation Jesus brings to our hearts of stone, turning them into hearts of flesh, moved by the plight and needs of others.  But an encounter with Jesus does start the process for those who are willing.  And a second step cannot happen until a first step is taken. 

I do not know what first moved the heart of Jimmy Carter after his presidency.  His wife was long rumored to have engaged a Satanist witch for advice even in the Whitehouse (though this was only rumor, never proven).  But despite his surroundings and perhaps history, his life of service began.  It has been a life of inconvenience to wealth and ease, but a life of giving to those who needed his gift.  Carter is no saint, far from it.  But the king decided he needed Jesus and what transpires next could easily look like this.  I don’t know if the charitable acts of George Bush and Bill Clinton stem from guilty conscious’ over what transpired during their elected rule - or whether each of them independently encountered Jesus and have been moved to give because they could do no other.  And I do not know if the hearts of Obama and Trump will ever walk this same road at some later date.  What I am certain of, is that Jesus loves each of them like His very sons they all are.  To that end, the salvation of even kings and presidents, is as high on the mind of Christ, as it is for each person torn down and lost in the gutter of our cities this morning.  His love for us is equal no matter who we are. 

I would hope our churches as the body of Christ can develop ministries for the rich and powerful just as we develop ministries for those in greatest need on the streets.  Ministries not intended to extract money from those who have it; but to insert love into all who need it.  Those on the street can easily see their needs.  But those in the ivory tower have even greater needs, and see that need far less often.  Let us bring the kings and presidents our love, as we would the one in the gutter who needs us now.  If we are to love like Jesus, we must see all mankind as Jesus does, and let our preconceptions of social standing go extinct in our hearts forever.  Our homeless need us, and so do our leaders.

 

What it Takes to Believe ...

It is so much easier to go along with the crowd, than to stand out alone.  When a group of your friends or co-workers all share the same opinions, it is easier to share them, than to oppose them.  Opposing, or just holding a different view, can get you ostracized or worse.  People can start referring to you as “that guy”, the one who just can’t get along, or is not a team-player.  You may find yourself out on your own, excluded from gatherings or meetings, because your contemporaries are not eager to entertain the different views you hold.  All of this is understandable if the different thing you cling to is based in some level of hate, or prejudice against others.  But it is weirdly less understandable when what you cling to is a firm love for others, even when they are your “enemies”.  You would think people would welcome a loving person into their midst, even if that loving stuff, was not normal or part of the standard group think.  They don’t.  When a group of folks don’t like something, or someone, they are not eager to entertain someone sympathetic to the thing they don’t like either.  The force of the group is supposed to dictate the thinking.  When it conflicts, the offender is just thrown out of the group, rather than change the course of the group thinking.

It gets even harder to understand when this phenomenon is examined within church walls.  Imagine being the only one in your church who holds to some particular view or interpretation of scripture that conflicts with all the other members (or the proscribed set of doctrines of your denomination).  You will be confronted with your differences, asked to set them aside.  Failing that you will be thrown out of the body of Christ because you do not conform.  Again, this is easier to understand when what you cling to winds up reflecting some level of hate or prejudice against others.  But even more weird when what you cling to is an intense love for others.  Harder still to imagine Christians casting out one of their own because they love too much.  But they do.  There are some doctrines that groups of Christians prefer to cling to rather than be swayed in any new point of faith that some rando comes up with on his/her own.  Doctrine often builds the walls of the church; and lovers like Jesus find themselves on the outside of them.

And this dates back a very long time.  Even when the history of it shows, that very often that “rando” guy was right, and the group think was in error.  In the time of Christ, the entire church leadership (short a very few number of folks) believed Jesus was NOT the Messiah.  And they were willing to cast folks out of the church, if they disagreed.  During the long dark ages, the Catholic church believed people were not qualified to read the Bible on their own, and fought hard to keep the scriptures written only in Latin, and distributed only to the clergy.  When Luther and other reformers began to translate scriptures into common understandable languages the church went nuts.  They cast them out, and did far worse, claiming many were heretics and burning them at the stake.  Imagine, being called a heretic and risk burning alive for the belief that people should be able to read the word of God for themselves.  Today that would be unthinkable, but not so long ago, it was the norm.

So perhaps you can imagine what it would have been like for a church leader, to not only disagree with the standard thinking in the time of Christ, but to place great faith in Jesus to heal what could not otherwise be healed.  That kind of display of faith was bound to get you in trouble, big trouble.  It would be like being the first person in your Christian church to stand up and announce we need to love our Muslim brothers, and do good to our Homosexual and Atheist friends.  Most Christians are fine with loving others at a distance, but to make loving others personal and tangible, would be about as popular as what Nicodemus or Jairus would go through in their day.  You would be lucky to be thrown out without further damage done to your person.  Today’s Christians demand change before love can be shown, instead of offering love freely first whether change ever comes around or not.  Sometimes it is not only hard to believe, or be the first to believe, but it may take everything the world values to do so.

This was a struggle Luke was familiar with.  As he pens his gospel letter to his friend Theophilus, Luke recounts two examples of what it took to believe so greatly no matter the cost, or be the first to believe something that no one else ever did (until that point).  Faith, in the love of Jesus, may not sound so unusual today – until you suggest we apply it to enemies we care so little for.  But in the time of Christ, to have faith in Jesus, was to buck the traditions and edicts of a church and bloodline that dated back nearly 2000 years.  For you to think you knew something that the church did not, was just crazy.  Who are you to think you know better than rabbis schooled since birth to know the very heart of the scriptures?  Who are you to cast aside the Torah and the Laws in favor of some upstart who seems to believe He wrote the Laws in the first place?  And to fast-forward to our day; who are you to believe sinners need your love in spite of their sin, even while they are yet sinning, even when they do not seem to ever want to give it up and believe like you do.  In today’s vernacular we call those folks a lost cause, and do not waste any time on them.  But Jesus does, and He still loves them.  And perhaps most discomforting of all, if you really thought about it, you might find Jesus numbers you in that group of sinners as well; yet refuses to give up loving you too.  It may not be popular to love today either, but so great is the need even now.

Luke begins his recollection in the eighth chapter in verse 40 saying … “And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him. [verse 41] And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: [verse 42] For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.”  The evangelism of the former demoniac who had a Legion of demons in him until he encountered Jesus had worked.  When Jesus returned to this region, He was no longer feared, but desired and accepted by the people.  So much so, that Jairus who was a ruler of the synagogue in this area had become a convert sight unseen.  When Jesus returns, Jairus remembers the testimony of the demoniac and how Jesus was able to heal him despite the power of evil.  And Jairus like any good father loves his daughter above all else.  Jairus loves her more than any censure he may endure for his faith in Jesus.  No matter what the church leadership may do to him for this, Jairus is determined to believe, and to seek help where help can only be found.

Luke knows the heart of Jesus so loves all of us, that he does not even take the time to recount the answer of Jesus to this plea directly.  We find it out in a few verses down.  But Jesus determines to go to the home of Jairus and heal his daughter (though Jesus knows there will be more to His answer, than even Jairus has asked for).  When we reach out to Jesus in need, our God answers in love.  Sometimes in ways we could have never imagined, but always with our eternal best interests in mind.  For Jairus to believe and express his faith, was certain to cost him.  But this story was more than just about being part of a group that believes.  It was also about being the first to believe something no-one else ever had.

Luke continues in verse 43 saying … “And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, [verse 44] Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.”  This was the first person to ever do this in His day.  This poor woman not only had faith in Jesus to heal her, she may not have felt worthy of distracting the attention of Jesus to take the time to deal with her.  So she reasoned she would but touch the hem of His garment and it would get done.  This was original thinking.  If she announced this idea in today’s church we would have laughed her out in scorn.  Back then it would have been no different.  Just because her idea was new, did not mean it was wrong.  This was her faith in action, and who are we to question it just because it was different.  There was no hate in her new idea.  There was rather a faith in the Love of Jesus to heal her, even if a poor idea of her own unworthiness.  And for all the nay-sayers, it worked.

Luke continues in verse 45 saying … “And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? [verse 46] And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.”  This woman’s idea worked, but it was not perfect.  A part of it needed correction.  Her faith would heal her, but her idea that she was unworthy, or that Jesus should not take the time to love her, was in error.  So Jesus was going to address that.  He asks in a crowd full of people pressing Him from every side and angle – who touched me?  At this I am certain everyone immediately backs off and says “not me”, when it is certain it was them only seconds before.  Then Peter figures it out in his head that this question just does not make sense, a ton of people were pressing in on Jesus, what kind of a question was that.  So he asks Jesus what He meant.

Luke continues in verse 47 saying … “And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. [verse 48] And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”  The woman planned to be anonymous, but it did not work.  Jesus was calling her out in front of an entire crowd of people.  She was worthy of His love.  She was important to Jesus as we all are, each of us, all of us, enemies and heretics included.  She comes forward now trembling in fear at having been caught by God.  But Jesus was not interested in humiliating her, He was interested in loving her like the Father He is.  His words to her, were “Daughter”, be of good comfort, thy faith has made you whole, go in peace.  She was whole and healed.  But she needed to know she was loved as well.  The healing without the loving was not the lesson Jesus needed her to learn.  Health without love is never worth as much.  This was the part of her original thinking that needed correction.  But it still worked.  And from then on, the copy-catters would be repeating this wherever Jesus went.  All of the sick reaching out to simply touch the hem of His garment as He walked by.  And it still worked.

Being the first to believe is not a bad thing.  When your belief is centered in faith in Jesus, and faith in His love, it is a tremendous thing.  But Luke quickly returns to the story of Jairus for as Jesus was still addressing the poor woman a servant from the household of Jairus appeared.  Luke continues in verse 49 saying … “While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. [verse 50] But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.”  Now this was the acid test of faith in Jesus.  To heal was one thing, but the dead were dead.  Dead was a permanent thing.  No prophet could fix that, at least not without a special connection to God.  But in spite of the circumstances Jesus asks us to fear not, only to believe, and we will be made whole.  Is this any different than how our salvation works?

We are effectively dead in our sins, bound to them, chained to them, unable to free ourselves from them.  And our sins choke the life out of us, at least any kind of life worth having.  Our sins do more than separate us from our God, they inflict real pain on us, and on those we claim to love, right here and right now.  We do not need to wait to be punished for our sins, for our sin are indeed already our punishment.  And it is in this completely helpless dead state, that Jesus promises to make us whole, if we only believe.  Imagine that, Jesus will free us from our sins, if we only believe.  He does not say we need to go take care of it ourselves first before He will love us.  He knows that is impossible.  He asks only for us to believe, to believe in His love.  For all my contemporaries who are reluctant to show the love of Christ to those still steeped in sin, I ask, how will sinners ever come to see Jesus, if not through the love you show them.  How will we ever effectively point them to Christ, if we are unwilling to love them first.

Notice too, Jesus does not offer any doctrinal condition, or state of beliefs before He intends to do what He intends.  Jairus, nor his daughter, nor his wife – needed to recite the Torah, or explain Isaiah, or determine if the book of Enoch was legit or not first.  The particulars of the Bible were not the pre-requisite.  But believing in Jesus was.  If we believe Jesus can save us, He will save us.  Not because we can explain the Bible backwards and forwards first, but because we only believe with the faith of a small child in Jesus first.  The rest of it.  The doctrines.  All that other stuff that comes from the study of the word is supposed to increase our faith, and our belief, and most importantly our love for others.  If it does not accomplish that, we are doing it wrong.  Jairus’ daughter was dead.  That was a fact.  So are you.  So am I.  If not today, then someday soon.  But life after death is also not only possible in Jesus, it is a fact in Jesus.

Luke continues in verse 51 saying … “And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. [verse 52] And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. [verse 53] And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.”  Given the status and position of Jairus, there are professional mourners in the home, weeping over the daughter’s death.  Jesus takes only 3 disciples with Him, and the parents and enters the home, telling the mourners she is only sleeping.  Here is where it gets interesting.  Was Jesus lying?  Has He ever?  Now was she dead or not?  If Luke’s account is to be believed she was both dead and “sleeping”.  That is to say, she was sleeping the sleep of death.  In that state we know nothing.  Time passes with no concept of time.  We have no memory.  We are just gone, not transformed into some out-of-body ghost still roaming around with full consciousness.  But instead asleep.  She was also neither in heaven (yet) or in hell, just because she died.  She was only asleep.  And when Jesus returns her to life in this early resurrection, He neither pulls her out of the flames, or rips her out of eternal bliss, but simply wakes her up from her sleep.  The mourners are put out of the house, so things can progress.

Luke continues in verse 54 saying … “And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. [verse 55] And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. [verse 56] And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.”  The breath of life that belongs only to God, is returned to the body of the girl, and she is called back to life.  Jesus asks for her to eat meat, so that everyone knows she is not some sort of ghost, but a real person, a real girl.  Then He tells the parents not to publicize this to anyone.  Several probable reasons here; the enemies of Jesus might seek to kill the girl once again to prevent living proof of Jesus being the literal resurrection and the life.  In addition, having undisputed proof that Jesus can raise the dead would have cut short his ministry by a church leadership already bent on killing Him.  Jesus wanted as much time as He could get to love us, before we killed Him.  And finally once Jesus was raised from the dead, the story would serve as additional proof this resurrection was indeed possible.

Jairus was willing to believe no matter what the cost, and life was returned to his daughter as a result.  Are we willing to believe this intently today?  When our co-workers question the very existence of any God, or they claim any deity will do, are we willing to stand out and stand alone if need-be for a faith in the love of Jesus alone despite any surrounding group think?  If nothing else, Jesus wants so badly to return life to us today, in the here and now.  He wants to take the sin, pain, and death out of our lives and show us what life is really supposed to look like.  Are we willing to take Him up on it?  And while the interpretation of scripture has become so fragmented across so many denominations; the application of love for others is just as simple as it has always been.  To be first in the belief we need to love, might make you the first in your church to really believe that.  It might get you kicked out, or worse.  But that does not make you wrong, it just makes you a believer in His love.  There is wisdom in the body of Christ, but not so much wisdom it should choke out the love for others.  When it goes that far it is has gone too far.  What are you willing to believe?

 

Can't Shut Up ...

My silence is more terrifying to me, than my words.  I know there are times when we are supposed to be quiet, or reverent (whatever that is), and I am not talking about those times.  I am talking about those times when the touch of the Savior is kept locked up behind my tongue like the gold at Fort Knox.  This world aches for an end to pain, an end to suffering.  Yet for fear, for embarrassment, or perhaps worse, because we do not really know the touch of the Savior personally; when the opportunity presents itself to share our testimony – we keep silent.  It is then that our silence speaks volumes.  Who is Jesus anyway?  How real is Jesus anyway, at least how real is He to you?  My mom would have plenty to say.  She has her entire life.  It’s like you can’t shut her up.  Is she right all the time, no, far from it.  But if you even show the slightest hint you want to talk about Jesus; you might as well sit back, put your seatbelt on, and prepare for a long flight; because she has no intention of letting you out of this conversation, until she has shared just what Jesus has done for her.  The answer, to how real Jesus is for her, will be definitively answered.

A lot of our parents feel this way and talk this way.  And we know they are not always right.  But mistaken words can be corrected.  We can be taught over time by Jesus if we just let Him.  So even when the words come out wrong in our earlier life and seem to get better over time: it is not an excuse, not to speak at all.  It is just a little humiliating that our earlier certainties, were so wholly undone, by the Lord of Love over time.  What I say then might be wrong.  This is perhaps particularly true when I try to tell you about the Bible.  But where it comes to what Jesus has done for me personally, that is another matter.  Because it is truly personal.  It happened to me.  Jesus did what He did, for me.  After those kinds of encounters, it is hard not to share them.  Even when the “before” picture looks so horrible to me, as compared with the “after” picture my Lord has created for me.  When that touch becomes real to you, when it becomes personal to you – it will break you.  It will break the pride in you, the apathy.  It will turn you into my mom who just can’t shut up.  It will make us all simply too eager to share what is real to us.  This does not negate the power of the Word.  But it does amplify it through the lens of Jesus Christ when He touches your life and makes it so wonderfully better.

This leads me to wonder, does the cat have my tongue?  It’s a silly expression I know, but the sentiment is just as silly.  What on earth could keep me from talking, from sharing, when the opportunity presents itself?  You don’t need to be some sort of angry Christian, carrying an angry placard, marching at a mall and pushing your views into someone else’s face, in order to really share your testimony.  If that is your testimony, it is a poor one.  Demanding the reform of others while you still sit comfortably in your own sins, is not the mark of a true Christian, it is the slogan of the enemy of Christ.  Transformation of the heart does not happen on the demands of others.  It only happens as we submit ourselves to Jesus and allow Him to remake who we are from the inside out.  That pathway to transformation leads to personal testimony, a method I have personal experience with, though have not perfected yet.  But it takes me back to the “cat / tongue” question.  Perhaps better stated by Luke, the “pig / tongue” question.  For there is another reason one might keep silent, that is far more terrifying than kitties with tongues, more akin to pork over tongues.

Luke writes to his friend Theophilus of a certain man unable to speak his testimony.  Not because he was mute, or physically disabled, but because he was possessed of demons and no longer in control of his tongue or his faculties.  And this poor man was not afflicted of only one demon but of many.  I begin to wonder did this poor man even know this process was taking place?  Did it begin with silence in the face of opportunity?  Did one particular sin drive him down this path, perhaps serially addicted to it, like so many men of our generation as they face the proliferation of porn over the internet.  Did the repeated indulgence of this one pet sin, refusing to yield it to God to transform and take away, lead to the introduction of a demon in the body of the man.  This would only compound the problem, and perhaps lead to the introduction of other demons looking for a human host home.  Was he aware, and chose to be powerless to it?  Or was it a gradual surprise, that robbed him of control, long before he knew it was missing.  In either case, silence was one terrifying outcome of these events.  No more could this man express his own belief in God, as now hope was gone as well.

Luke picks up the story in chapter eight of his letter, beginning in verse 26 saying … “And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. [verse 27] And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.”  Here is the picture of depravity that Satan and his hoard would lead us all to.  This man was naked, the remnants of broken chains still mark his hands and feet.  He lives in no home, for his demonic fury and depravity has driven him to live only in the tombs awaiting the dead and graveyards where they are found.  The human mind fears the dead, so finding a monster near where the dead are gathered is a no-brainer for Satan.  Any person passing this sight would quickly find themselves the victim of a naked man bent on doing perversions upon them.  A demonically strengthened man able to break the chains the entire nearby townsmen set upon him.  After their failure to restrain this monster, the townspeople simply gave up, and kept away from where he resides.  But for some unexplainable reason this man seeks out Jesus, the demons were unable to prevent that.

Luke continues in verse 28 saying … “When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. [verse 29] (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)”  The demons knew immediately who this was.  They recognized Jesus as the Son of the Most High God.  Jesus was real to them.  In addition, this was not to be a fight between themselves and Jesus.  If they for a minute thought they had a chance against Jesus, they would have immediately ganged up on Jesus and tried to overpower Him with their numbers and with all their satanic fury.  But demons are only fallen angels that chose to listen to Lucifer instead of to trust God.  And all creation knows its Creator.  It would have been as if ants try to overpower the elephant’s foot.  No contest.  With a mere thought, Jesus could have wiped out all of them.  They lived in terror of that kind of power.

But it was worse for them.  Jesus is also the personification of Love itself.  For a creature so consumed by evil to stand so close to the source of all love, was itself a level of torture the demons could not stand a minute against.  This too, is where the path of Satan leads.  To the total absence of love of any kind (other than for self, if you can call that love).  To see the True Love of the universe, and remind them of their years standing in bliss, in His presence, eager to serve, and made fulfilled by that service, was overwhelming the demon’s minds.  They begged not to have to be there, or be tortured by their own memories of a perfect love they now despised.  They knew their time with this human host was at an end.  They had no idea where they might be sent.  And they did not want to come out of this man and be forced to lay dormant, perhaps for years, before the next willing participant would cross their paths.

Luke continues in verse 30 saying … “And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. [verse 31] And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. [verse 32] And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. [verse 33] Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.”  Legion for they were many.  Yet many demons had no power in the slightest against Jesus.  They did not want to be sent to the deep, perhaps the bottom of the ocean six or seven miles down.  Instead they preferred to go into the a herd of many swine feeding nearby.  Pigs will eat pretty much anything.  They are unclean as meat goes.  So it is interesting that in the heart of a Jewish nation, a herd of many swine would be found nearby.  Traditionally Jewish believers would not so much as touch a pig, let alone tend to them, and keep them.  But Jesus suffered these demons to go to the pigs, and they took the silence of this poor man’s tongue with them when they went.  But all of these events did not go unnoticed.

Luke continues in verse 34 saying … “When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. [verse 35] Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.”  The keepers of the pigs freaked out, and went and told the entire town and nearby countryside what they saw.  This man was a monster who had plagued their area for a long time, so everyone had heard of him, and knew which area to avoid him.  But they all come to see if what the pig keepers had said was true.  And it was.  Jesus was real.  He was really there.  And this now former demoniac was sitting clothed mind you, at the feet of Jesus, and in his right mind.  No chains needed.  What kind of power over a legion of demons could do this?

Luke continues in verse 36 saying … “They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. [verse 37] Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.”  The people knew Jesus was real, but then took Jesus for something worse than a legion of demons, they took him for Satan.  The people of this town had priests.  Their priests of God had failed where it came to this man.  So the people figured God would not help the man.  That only leaves one power sufficient enough to order around a legion of demons.  Jesus was real.  But perhaps Jesus was a dark power none of these people ever wanted to be in contact with.  So in great fear, they beg Jesus to leave and sail away.  Jesus does not go where He is forbidden to go with respect to human hearts, so he prepares to leave.

Luke continues in verse 38 saying … “Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, [verse 39] Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.”  The now former demoniac wanted above all else to be the next disciple of Christ.  He would have followed Jesus anywhere, with a faith forged in the freedom from horror no human hand could ever have freed him from.  Jesus was real.  This poor man knew that above anyone else.  This poor man saw what it was like to have your mind made free from the devil and his overwhelming control of who you are.  What was torture for demons, was life and light itself to this man.  He wanted nothing more than to be with Jesus and follow Him anywhere.  But Jesus had something greater in mind for the newly minted disciple.  Jesus wanted him to evangelize the entire area with … a great doctorial thesis on the interpretation of Old Testament scriptures … no … how about an angry placard that reads “this could have been you” … no … instead with the personal testimony of what Jesus did for him personally.  It would be the personal testimony that would work.  A lecture on Old Testament scriptures, this man was likely unqualified to give.  Nor would that have made the impact of what his own personal testimony did instead.  This did nothing to negate the word.  It simply amplified it through the lens of Jesus Christ.

Think about it.  How does salvation work?  That is, how are you to be made free from your sins?  Not just forgiven mind you, but made free from ever being controlled by them again.  That is something this now former demoniac had personal experience with.  He came to Jesus.  Jesus drove the sin out of his mind and body and heart.  Jesus freed him from his sins, otherwise he would still be naked, and out of control.  He had no power to free himself.  Nor did any of the local priests and rabbis.  But one encounter with Jesus, and demons go running to the pigs, and then to their doom.  This man was made free from Satan himself, from the very hoards of Satan, by simple words from the mouth of Jesus Christ; who the demons recognized as the Son of the Most High God.  If Jesus were just a “good” man, or a mere prophet as Islam would allege, that demon army would have torn him up.  If Jesus were just another angel like themselves, they would have taken the odds and let the warring commence.  But against God?  There was no contest to be made.  The demons were defeated.  This is how salvation works.  By turning to Jesus and submitting the whole of who we are to Him to be remade by Him however he sees fit.

And after this; the pigs no longer held this man’s tongue.  You could not shut him up.  Jesus was real, He still is.  This encounter was real.  His testimony was real.  And so he went around the entire region testifying as to the power of God, and the Love of the Son of the Most High God.  Can’t shut him up.  No one could.  No one tried.  His testimony was personal, powerful, and blessed by the Holy Spirit.  And his evangelism was very effective, so that the next time Jesus would pass this way, things would be different for his reception in the region.  My silence offers little.  My preaching may offer even less.  But I hope my testimony carries with it, the power of Jesus Christ made real to me.  In this I hope my words carry His love, even if I sometimes jumble them up, or state them poorly.  Each day, I find some new aspect of His love for me.  That is something I believe is quickly turning me into my mother, becoming harder and harder to shut me up.  And maybe that is a good thing.

 

Of Bloodlines and Hurricanes ...

In the mind of a toddler, what his/her daddy does for a living defines how secure the toddler feels when confronted with the inherent dangers of life.  Imagine the toddler who belongs to Hulk Hogan, when faced with a threat, that toddler is going to be pretty sure Hulk can crush it, no matter what it is.  Strength is something a toddler understands pretty easily (it is what they have a very small amount of, and what dad demonstrates on a much larger scale).  Dad opens bottles and doors and can lift me way over his head without breaking a sweat.  The same may hold true for mom, or rather supermom, from a different perspective.  The toddler who belongs to supermom, may have a harder time figuring out just how smart she really is.  After all when someone is smarter than you (at any age) it is impossible to tell just how much smarter, they really are.  But what a toddler can understand is how no matter what the challenge, supermom is always there and able to meet it, no matter how hard or even impossible that challenge might seem.  From the toddler’s point of view; I am always fed, clothed, played with, able to sleep, and taken all over the world on any given day of the week.  This toddler is sure if there is ever a problem, just throw it at mom, she can do anything.  And if dad is able to crush any threat, and mom able to overcome any threat, I will be having the cushy life a snowflake like me deserves.  Or at least a life without nearly the fear my fellows all seem to carry.  Any wonder why I might think my bloodline is a ticket to where I will wind up in life?

In the mind of a growing child, dad and mom appear to “belong” to me.  Beyond having my needs provided for, their love becomes the only thing I crave.  They appear to enjoy giving it, and I can hardly ever get enough of it, so there is a win-win situation.  It is hard to imagine life like this being any other way.  It is hard to think of “my” parents and “my” family as being any other way than that.  Sharing their time with other priorities (or worse their affection) is chief on my naughty list.  Seems to me work can handle itself.  And groceries are always right where we need them, if not in our cupboards, then on the shelf at the market only minutes from where we live.  Time with me should be more important, and most of the time it is.  Is it any wonder why my ideas of bloodlines simply become more entrenched as I grow and they deepen in demonstration?  Funny thing is that while I always belonged to them, as I grow, their fondest wish is that they will always belong to me.  An adult child who still calls mom, and talks to dad, long past when needs arise is precious in the hearts of their parents more than they can know, until it one day happens to them.  And from the parent’s perspective, my bloodline is to tie the legacy of my past and its love, to the future in ties that only deepen over time.  And “family” comes to mean something more.

I cannot say myself whether this phenomenon deepens in harder times, or in times of plenty.  As a child I never knew we experienced harder times, it was just my life.  As a parent I did everything I could to insure the same experience for my own children.  But I also came to know “harder” is a relative description and I am certain my parents knew them on a scale I hope never to know, and hope they never see again.  And over time the sacrifice in a bloodline is revealed, going back up the tree farther than the eye can see.  For myself, even though they split up later, my mom was supermom, and my dad was a Los Angeles policeman (now retired) who carried a gun and a badge in addition to what looked to a toddler as infinite strength.  So lest injustice dare to raise its ugly head, the refrain of this toddler was to look it straight in the eye and warn; that my dad was a policeman and the perpetrator was going to be taken straight to prison should it persist.  (The entire court system was lost on toddler me, it was simply, you do something bad, my dad escorts you to prison in handcuffs, forever, or when I told him it was OK to let you out).  This was a weapon I was never in short supply of wielding.  And in my mind, it kept everyone largely in line when I was young.  A bloodline my children would have to step back one generation to use, “grandpa” could still carry out this threat, dad worked in “IT” whatever that was, so proved no use on the playground when things started to get out of hand.

And you can imagine, the heart of any parent takes pride, when their children at any age acknowledge them, and increase that sense of belonging (both ways).  But where it comes to our God, we sometimes get too wrapped up in the analogy of “our” families to understand what “His” family actually looks like.  In the time of Luke this was true as well.  Jewish sense of bloodline was more than just tradition, and perhaps a father-to-son set of skills training that kept up survival of the clan.  Jesus was a carpenter, because that is what Joseph could teach him to be.  Bloodline however was a tracing of ancestors all the way back to Abraham and the promise of a unique relationship between forefather and God Himself.  Indeed bloodline had come to supplant personal responsibility or opportunity in the participation of a relationship with God.  Since dad knew God, I don’t have to.  Since grandpa knew God even better, my bloodline will carry me over the finish line (even if what I do may not be all that kosher).  A bloodline then of more than 2000 years in the faith becomes something more solid than concrete where it came to salvation, or the need to embrace the word of God in my particular heart.

Can you imagine then, how much more the brothers and sisters of Jesus might have felt, knowing who He was and how close they had been with Him their entire lives?  Or the parents of Jesus?  Mary and Joseph literally spent their entire lives serving, training, and caring for the Son of God.  This should have earned them some sort of special status right?  Luke knew it was time to dispel these ideas, and he wanted to insure his friend Theophilus would not rely on them either.  So picking up in the eighth chapter in verse 19 the short lesson reads … “Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. [verse 20] And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. [verse 21] And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.”  Yikes!  All that service to Jesus from baby to now, and He seems to cast it aside as being no less important to Him, than the common stranger who is willing to sit at His feet, listen, and then embrace the word of God in action.

But then, the “family” of God from the perspective of God, is every living man or woman ever created by His finger since the dawn of time to long past its end.  The spark of life still finds its source in our Creator God, who then is our true Father, no matter who dad was.  Each of us is brother or sister, nothing more, but nothing less.  So the blood-relatives of Jesus who thought they were special, were special, but no more special than those sitting at the feet of Jesus that day.  Bloodline however would not save any of them.  Listening, accepting, and doing the word of God would.  Doing being rapped up in coming to Jesus for the re-creation we all need, to be remade in harmony with His Law of Love and His Father, our Father.  That distinction defines the difference between erring child choosing to live in pain, and penitent child who chooses for Jesus to take them out of their pain, here and now, and for all time.  And upon accepting this as nothing more than a toddler, we finally find the door to the Kingdom of God in the here and now.

Imagine the lack of fear that might bring your toddler mind, to KNOW beyond all shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is your true Father, no matter who your dad is/was.  Toddlers who have little fear are comfortable anywhere.  When they get tired, they sleep.  When I was that age, sleep was not a problem for me.  No matter where the locale or conditions.  My mother used to tell me that when she and my dad went to dinner parties with friends in their homes, I would find her chair, curl up underneath it, and fall asleep no matter what the commotion was that carried on round about.  When I was a little older, my mother and I lived in Loma Linda California, which even then was subject to more than a few earthquakes.  Not that they bothered me.  I slept right through all of them.  Earthquakes strong enough to tear up streets and flip refrigerators upside down, and me sleeping like a baby without a care in the world.  This held true when we moved to Kentucky and went through Tornado’s.  For me it was just another night to sleep through.  Jesus would handle all those problems, and Jesus did.  Massive destruction all around, but none of it seemed to find me or my family.  His love, not my deservedness.  But what was consistent was a total lack of fear in me, even when my mother could not hide her own nerves.

But perhaps the difference between toddler and adult is that adult has been educated to know just how dangerous life can be, while toddler is able to remain blissfully unaware of that danger.  Now imagine what it was like for Jesus who knew His Father is The Father God.  Makes Hulk Hogan and supermom, look like a novice.  Imagine what the protective instinct of Father God must be for His own child, and then perhaps by extension you can imagine how He feels about you.  What is certain is that hurricanes will blow.  The devil has always made sure of that.  But when they blow, where will your mind be?  If what you ponder is the very real danger you are in, your mind leans to that of adult, educated to fear.  But if despite your hurricane you are able to be at peace, your mind leans to that of toddler, certain in His love despite what fury nature or Satan can muster up.  It takes trust to function like the toddler.  It takes an abandon of the logical, in favor of the miraculous.  And to pull it off, it takes certainty.  For just a show of words leaves you claiming peace, while the ulcer grows within you from the fear you try to hide.

Luke continues His lesson in verse 22 saying … “Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. [verse 23] But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.”  Experienced fishermen knew about storms, and microbursts, and this looked to their minds like any hurricane you will ever face.  The boat was taking on water, and the fury of the storm told them they were about to die.  And so where was Jesus?  Jesus was sound asleep with no fear at all, for He went to sleep KNOWING His Father was in charge of His life or death or whatever may come.  Fear would not make any of that any different.  And frankly fear was not needed when your Father is that Father.  But Peter and the others did not think of the family of God in this respect.  They knew their own fathers, and none of them could conquer nature.  So they finally turned to Jesus when they figured out their own efforts had left them facing a collective doom.

Luke continues in verse 24 saying … “And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. [verse 25] And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.”  The storm or hurricane or microburst was real.  It needed attention.  Jesus simply calms it, like wiping off a raindrop from your forehead.  Then He asks the profound question of His disciples, where is your faith?  The disciples did not need faith in Jesus to solve this problem, they could have simply asked the Father of Jesus to handle it.  But they did not believe that Father would hear them, or would do anything about it.  They believed that Father did not really care about them, or value them as any kind of sons.  They were wrong.  Jesus was here to prove just how wrong they were.  The God who is our Father does love us more than any earthly version of a Father ever could.  This test was easily solved by asking it of the God who loves us.  Yes, Jesus was in the boat.  But God His Father and our Father was looking on just as intently from Heaven.  That Father permits storms like these to blow, in order to teach us trust, to teach us to rely upon Him no matter the outcome.  He lets it happen to teach us to ask for help instead of relying upon ourselves to save ourselves; when it is in fact impossible to do that for humans.

The disciples were more freaked out about Jesus commanding nature, and nature listening, than they were about His Father being our Father as well.  Jesus just proved what God had in mind to do.  Why fear?  Jesus did not.  And Jesus was meant to die for us at the end of this mission, so it is not as if danger to His life was not real.  Jesus simply trusted His Dad with both His life and His death.  After you trust like that, fear will leave the building.  Then too look at what God did.  He fixed it.  You cannot.  But for Him, no big deal.  So why spend so much effort and fear trying to fix what you cannot, and instead just trust in that Love to fix what it obviously wants to fix.  If we could count the number of prayers that WERE answered, we might be ashamed of ourselves for not remembering them when the next hurricane blows.  Add to that number, the number of times our Father God saved us, when we did not even know we were on death’s pathway.  Our very lives are the miracle.  Yet one little real danger and we behave as if this is the first time we pray for safety with a God who has some sort of spotty record.  His record is pure, even if our accounting or our memory are shabby.  I think it is time for us to let fear leave, and let trust in Dad takes it place.

And as for bloodlines; ours should be amended to include Jesus as our Father and Creator in a one to one relationship that works.  He allows me to be a toddler.  I get to be toddler in return.  It is not the bloodline then of my earthly family that warrants me anything in His Kingdom.  But it is my bloodline with Jesus and His Father God that offers certainty in words like eternal, and joy, and bliss-from-service I have yet to fully understand.  It is the bloodline of Christ that describes life beyond the pain and death of this world and my enemy.  An end to evil.  An end to the evil in me.  That is what my bloodline offers, for it was the very blood of Jesus that flowed to keep eternal hurricanes from ever touching me again.  He took my fate, to offer me a new one, the one He had in mind.  Let us find ways to teach our children of this bloodline connection, so that they become toddlers once again, and together we see fear depart from us forevermore.  Our Dad is His Dad.