Following a Road Map of Bad Assumptions ...

Back in my day, traveling across the country, required a road map, a physical one printed on paper.  I realize that today this practice has been completely outmoded by Siri and the GPS in general.  But not so long ago, paper road maps were a thing.  In fact, one of the key benefit services AAA provided for you was a spiral bound vacation map that started at your house, and ended wherever you told them was your final destination.  As you progressed across the countryside you simply flipped the pages of your map moving from one page to the next.  And the maps told you not only distance, but what cities were on the horizon and their relative size and perhaps key points of interest.  A significant undertaking for a personalized map of your particular journey.  The other approach to maps was a Rand McNally map book, which was quite large and resembled more of a magazine you would put on your coffee table than perhaps what you envisioned a map to look like.  Rand however included the entire 50 states in a single map collection, one on each page, and was updated each year to include new road changes.  Also included in the map magazine were breakout pages with large cities to give you better details should you require them.  The final map option was a simple large map you bought at a gas station or picked up in a hotel, that showed where you were and the surrounding areas.  It folded itself up nicely into about a 5x8 pamphlet for easy storage or portability.

The key thing about paper maps, is that you needed the right ones, covering the right areas you were interested in, and of course, that they were correct (at least as good as the last couple years).  Today, we trust the automated lady’s voice on our phones, or in our cars, that tells us to turn left in 500 ft, or to take a particular exit on the freeway and then bear right.  GPS and the automation that goes with it, requires more faith on our part, than traveling with old paper maps did, because we are completely unable to see the entire journey should it fail.  At that point, it is back to paper maps again, if they still exist.  But GPS rarely fails, so most younger folks have no idea what it is like to ever have need of a paper map.  And outside of the few oddities, everyone is comfortable trusting the GPS when it says to turn left, it has at least some idea of what it is doing.  But if ever there were an A.I. based GPS, that developed a “sense of humor” along the way, watching the humans do stupid things just because they told us to, might prove frustrating for the humans in the story, even if funny to the A.I..  It would be the same way for me in the back of the car, when my mother backtracked 100 miles on vacation, having misinterpreted North and South on her AAA vacation map.  Talked about wasted time, and a frustrated kid, who now spent 200 miles extra in his car just to get back to even from where the mistake occurred.  Somehow, I can envision an A.I. based GPS who will one day run me amok, just for the fun of it.

Another way to surely mess up your destinations is to make bad assumptions about what path or which road you intend to follow to get there.  Take for example, getting maps of Texas for your journey, when Texas is nowhere near where you intend to go, Montana is.  Or say, planning to depend on GPS to route you through a National park on foot only to discover your carrier has excellent city coverage, and nearly NONE when you get 20 miles off road.  Either way, you’re in a pickle.  It is not much different when we make assumptions first about what scripture should say, and then set about attempting to prove it by finding and googling the specific texts that “might” prove out what we believed before we opened the book (or the online page) to begin reading.  And sometimes bad assumptions are not just made by us.  Sometimes they are made by many of the readers of the age, or perhaps even a writer or too.  Take Luke as a case in point.  The gospel of Luke (a letter to his Greek friend), ends chapter 3 with a snippet about Jesus being baptized, and then an entire section on the “as was supposed” genealogy of Jesus.  The road map to His ancestry.

Let’s take a second look at these passages and see what else they might reveal, particularly about bad assumptions on our part.  Luke picks up in verse 21 saying … “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, [verse 22] And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”  Luke presents only 2 verses to cover a much larger event with a lot more dialog than is presented here.  First Luke omits how John the Baptist did not feel he was fit to baptize Jesus (perhaps He knew Jesus did not need baptism to begin with, as there was nothing to repent for).  Luke also omits how the first two disciples of Jesus were previously disciples of John, who John tasked to follow Jesus instead of himself.  When Jesus gets back from the wilderness it these two who go to find their brothers and bring them to Christ as well.  But enough about what Luke omits, what Luke does present is a simple clear picture of one thing – that the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Jesus as He came up from the waters of the Jordon.  And a voice from heaven itself thundered saying – Thou art my beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.

If you were a bystander on the banks of the river and saw these events you could conclude but one thing; you are watching the Son of God be recognized by the Godhead and affirmed verbally as to who He is.  Jesus is the beloved son of God, the only son as John would write of in his gospel.  Why is that important to Luke (aside from affirming it to his Greek friend)?  I believe it is because of what follows.  Luke continues in verse 23 saying … “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,”  Before we enumerate the road map, catch the subtle statement of the bad assumptions of this road map.  Who was Jesus the son of?  In the immediately preceding verses Luke states plainly that Jesus has been claimed by the Holy Spirit and by God the Father as His Son in whom He is well pleased.  So Luke states plainly the genealogy of Joseph, the road map tracing back the lines of “His” fatherhood are only a supposition.  If you really wanted to be accurate you would need to trace back the lineage of His mother Mary who was indeed human.  The Father of Jesus was God the Father.  The road map then that Luke lays out is about nothing more than the adopted father of Jesus, the man charged with raising Him, not with siring Him.

As for raising Jesus, the genealogy traces back as …

“[verse 23] the son of Joseph,                (Joseph is 41 generations from David)
which was the son of Heli,
[verse 24] Which was the son of Matthat,
which was the son of Levi,
which was the son of Melchi,
which was the son of Janna,
which was the son of Joseph,
[verse 25] Which was the son of Mattathias,
which was the son of Amos,
which was the son of Naum,
which was the son of Esli,
which was the son of Nagge,
[verse 26] Which was the son of Maath,
which was the son of Mattathias,
which was the son of Semei,
which was the son of Joseph,
which was the son of Juda,
[verse 27] Which was the son of Joanna,
which was the son of Rhesa,
which was the son of Zorobabel,
which was the son of Salathiel,
which was the son of Neri,
[verse 28] Which was the son of Melchi,
which was the son of Addi,
which was the son of Cosam,
which was the son of Elmodam,
which was the son of Er,
[verse 29] Which was the son of Jose,
which was the son of Eliezer,
which was the son of Jorim,
which was the son of Matthat,
which was the son of Levi,
[verse 30] Which was the son of Simeon,
which was the son of Juda,
which was the son of Joseph,
which was the son of Jonan,
which was the son of Eliakim,
[verse 31] Which was the son of Melea,
which was the son of Menan,
which was the son of Mattatha,
which was the son of Nathan,
which was the son of David,                  (David is thirteen generations from Abraham)
[verse 32] Which was the son of Jesse,
which was the son of Obed,
which was the son of Booz,
which was the son of Salmon,
which was the son of Naasson,
[verse 33] Which was the son of Aminadab,
which was the son of Aram,
which was the son of Esrom,
which was the son of Phares,
which was the son of Juda,
[verse 34] Which was the son of Jacob,
which was the son of Isaac,
which was the son of Abraham,             (Abraham is eleven generations from Noah)
which was the son of Thara,
which was the son of Nachor,
[verse 35] Which was the son of Saruch,
which was the son of Ragau,
which was the son of Phalec,
which was the son of Heber,
which was the son of Sala,
[verse 36] Which was the son of Cainan,
which was the son of Arphaxad,
which was the son of Sem,
which was the son of Noe,                    (Noah is ten generations from Adam)
which was the son of Lamech,
[verse 37] Which was the son of Mathusala,
which was the son of Enoch,
which was the son of Jared,
which was the son of Maleleel,
which was the son of Cainan,
[verse 38] Which was the son of Enos,
which was the son of Seth,
which was the son of Adam,                  (Jesus will be 74 generations from Adam)
which was the son of God.”

You will notice how often the names repeat the in genealogies, as tradition dictates.  You will also notice Nathan is the son of David where they trace Jesus from instead of Solomon in this map.  You will notice there is no mention of Ruth (married to Boaz) in the lineage of David.  Nor is there mention of Rahab from the wall of Jericho mentioned either.  In fact the entire road map is devoid of women entirely – and traces the wrong parentage in the first place as Luke eludes to in the “as was supposed” comment he makes before He dictates it.  How this lines up against Mary’s ancestry might be nicer to know.  And the first clue we are using the wrong road map to trace back to God is in two easy to see places – it begins with God the Father claiming Jesus at His baptism.  And it is devoid of women entirely throughout the entire map.  Jewish traditions at the time, assuming males to be the only thing that counts, results in a wrong road map that only gives us an inkling of a bloodline that is shared through adoption.

The Bible and the Gospels are full of the stories of the impacts of women.  Indeed the story of Mary and of Elizabeth begin this gospel itself.  I believe Luke knows the importance of women to the gospel story.  And perhaps has placed this genealogy here to satisfy the legalistic requirements of the Israelites of his day, who want to see a bloodline traced back to the beginning to know “where” Jesus comes from.  But Luke preceded all this by offering a direct commentary on where Jesus comes from.  For those that prefer to see a bloodline, they miss the point.  Jesus is the Son of God.  It is this position that makes Him the Messiah, it is not the road map based on bad assumptions.  Jesus is at the heart of any map of salvation.  We are not saved because of what Adam and Eve did, nor of Abraham, nor of David.  We are saved because of what God did for us.  To send us His only begotten Son, that whoever of us should believe upon Him would be saved.  That is the gospel.  That is the road map.  We do not need to believe in David, but we do need to believe in the promise of God to send us Jesus.  It is the life of Jesus that matters.  Not that failings of Abraham, Adam, or David – the perfection of Jesus is the road map we should follow.

Given this, if we could allow ourselves the freedom of abandoning preconceived ideas and assumptions, and make Jesus the heart of our Bible study – what scripture reveals could be so much more than it does today.  We have the advantage of knowing the gospel story from end-to-end.  We have the life of Jesus fully documented.  We have His words directly.  We know His admonitions, His promises, and His deeds.  We have His example of His own full submission of His will to the will of His Father.  If He needed to do that, how could we ever deny our own need to do the same exact thing.  Where we allow doctrine to separate us from our common sense, and from the example of Jesus, we allow it a disservice which makes the work of God for us ten times harder.  Where we are able to submit, to follow, and to be humble, we make it ten times easier.  Let us follow the road map of peace.  It begins with the recognition of the Father God Himself, as He tells us, “This” is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

 

The Fish Rots from the Head [part 2 of 2] ...

At some point, when the fish has died, if you are part of it, you begin to look around and realize the fish is rotting and so are you.  When our leaders fail us, but we seem to be walking in lock step with them, that leaves us failing as well.  It is not a great prospect, and not something we ever really want to think about.  Most of us fancy ourselves as independents, you know Mavericks, like John McCain used to say.  We believe that no matter what our leaders are up to, that does not mean we are doing the same things too.  And in specific examples we would be right.  But in trends, I am afraid the picture is more grim.  Take Donald Trump as an example.  There have been more accusations about our President telling us lies than any other President in history.  And with respect to Donald, most of us believe we don’t emulate that behavior.  But we do tolerate it.  Because Donald did not invent the “art of the lie”.  His predecessor was no less guilty.  As was his predecessor, and so on, and so on.  And we the public, have learned to simply tolerate lying.  When “our guy” does it, we rationalize it.  When “that guy” does it, we throw stones.  But through all the passage of time, we become more and more desensitized to it, until saying that a politician “tells lies” becomes a truism in our society that we the voters have learned to ignore while we vote for them again and again.

The fish keeps rotting, and it turns out I am the rotting tail in this catastrophe.  But lying seems harmless and “everyone” does it, so is it possible to get all worked up about lying?  Most of us do not intend to stop the practice when asked.  Just imagine those two famous questions… does this dress make me look fat?  Or, am I the best lover you ever had?  Wrong answers to either of those get you stoned much faster than telling the person what they want to hear does.  We call those “white lies” as if rendering them “white” makes them “OK” because society says so, and again “everyone” does it.  The fish of our nation just continues to rot, though all of us claim we are not on par with Donald Trump in this regard.  Perhaps we are not on par with him where it comes to lying, but we are still in the same game, just with a lower score.  And you would hope it would be different in the church right?  Our pastors know the rules.  They know the Bible.  Or at least we hope they do.  So they know that lying is a big no-no.  But do you think they answer that dress makes me look fat question with the truth (no it is not the dress, it is the daily trips to the donut counter that make you look fat dear) or with a carefully crafted answer that achieves the same effect as a lie.  For example, (no dear, I know many women that will never look as good as you do) – dodges the answer, so no lie, but leaves truth off the table as well, at least the truth she was asking about.  And in case you are wondering what I would say – honey we have different definitions about “fat” just look at me, I am not qualified to answer that question dear.

So if our pastors are not immune to this disease of the lie.  Is there any hope left?  Imagine how the children of Israel felt in the days of John the Baptist as he calls their entire church leadership a generation of vipers.  Now these are the guys, the leaders, all of Israel are supposed to look up to.  They are supposed to be the standard of righteousness to which to aspire being yourself.  And here is where we both share getting it wrong.  No human will ever be that standard.  For every human fails (see lying as an example).  If all you aim to do is be as righteous as your pastor, your bar is WAY too low.  He may be a great guy, but he is no Jesus.  And Jesus alone is the standard to which we are supposed to aspire.  Israel was taught to look at the Sanhedrin as the holy men of God.  We are taught to look at pope’s and guru’s and evangelists, and moms, or grandpa’s.  The net effect: We are taught to look too low, for our standards, at targets sure to fail us.  Israel, and us, needed to look up to God alone for their standard and ours.  And spoiler alert, God never fails us either, and is the only One capable of fixing our lying problem, as well as every other sin problem, we still contend with.

In his gospel letter, Luke continues telling the story of the world’s greatest evangelist.  And he provides an answer to the aching question the people asked when the leaders went away in shame.  What should we do?  Those people were looking for a simple definition of what right-doing looks like.  John was ready with an answer.  He provides it picking up in chapter three in verse 11 saying … “He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.”  John’s answer cuts right to the heart of the matter.  Do you trust in God to provide you with what you need?  If that answer is yes, then parting with what you have now, is really no big deal.  It was God that gave it to you in the first place.  When you have need, God will send it to you again.  “Knowing” your needs are already taken care of gives you the freedom to give. 

Then it is a matter of “seeing” the needs all around you.  But again, back to cutting right to the heart of the matter.  Seeing need requires you to be looking for it.  When all you see, or rather all you focus on, is the guy in the mirror, you are completely oblivious to the folks all around you.  Perhaps including your wife who may need a little attention from you to chase away fears and insecurities about her self-perceptions of being overweight.  Or perhaps your husband who lives in fear that he is not adequate to meet your intimate needs and perhaps you yearn for fulfillment somewhere else.  But those are the easy ones.  Family is close to you.  There with you all the time.  Easier to see when something is wrong, or perhaps when something could be made better by you with a little more love their way.  Looking for need outside your door means taking an interest in perhaps co-workers, or members of your church who sit right down the row from you.  People have needs all over the place.  It’s not that hard to find the need if you look, but it may be more “costly” to you to try to meet it than you predetermined you planned to spend.

For example, parting with half your food supply (i.e. the man that has meat shares it with someone who does not) seems a little intense for those of us who prefer to give “something” but not necessarily “everything” someone else needs.  It gets back to both beliefs.  Will God take care of you no matter what you give?  And do you care enough about someone else to part with your “stuff” in the first place?  If you lack love and trust – you tend to offer prayers and “good thoughts” instead of the tangible.  Because John did not ask you to give what you did not have at all, he only asked you to give of your extra.  And for some of us, we fear giving our extra, because we may never get it back again.  Our income changes, our location changes, the sales in the store are no more – we can think of a hundred reasons to hold on to our stuff – only one to part with it – because we see a need we can no longer ignore.  Because we care too much to ignore it any longer.  The heart of the matter.  The love that stops the rot.

Luke continues in verse 12 saying … “Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? [verse 13] And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.”  The next folks asking for the baptism of remission are tax collectors, and while they are hated, they are usually not too poor.  It would have been easy for them to part with an extra coat, or an extra steak.  They could simply ask for it back the next day from the taxpayers.  So John asks them to act rightly in their work, to effectively be honest, and take no extra tax ever again.  These tax collectors will be paid by Rome or one of the Herod’s, but that salary is nothing next to what they are used to making.  John is asking them to be honest, even if that honest, makes them poor.  John is asking them not to lie anymore, not to cheat anymore.  John is asking them to repent of what they have done, and learn to be someone else now.  If you were asked not to lie anymore, could you even try it?erods

Luke continues in verse 14 saying … “And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”  Again John asks the military men not to lie either.  He asks them not to accuse falsely, to be content with their wages and cheat no more, or lie no more.  These were hardened men of Roman descent, as well as temple guards, and Herod’s men. 

They were hired to kill or enforce the law.  Yet John tells them to do no more violence in their work.  They could be firm, and exert force, but turn from killing as the first response, or maiming as the second.  John is telling them to think differently.  John is telling them and us to divorce ourselves from the fish that rots from the head and leads the rest of it with it.  No matter what our circumstances are, we are not bound by circumstance.  No matter what our genetics are, we are not bound by genetic predisposition.  We are free to surrender to Jesus, and find a real change in the heart of who we are.  In truth, the entire fish rots, and Jesus is the only way out.

The people continued the mistake of looking down.  They misinterpreted the Holy Spirit’s power with the words of John, as perhaps being the sign of the Messiah.  John wanted no credit.  John knew his role.  And John turned their eyes to the coming Messiah, to Jesus his cousin, who would be the One.  Though they had not met yet in person, John knew He was coming.  Luke continues in verse 15 saying … “And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; [verse 16] John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: [verse 17] Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”  Jesus was so much higher than John, and John knew it.  John baptized with water, Jesus would baptize with the fire of the Holy Spirit.  The followers of Jesus would be His wheat, His church.  Those who refused to accept the love of Jesus would find themselves rotting, the chaff, the fuel for a final fire that will one day expunge evil from existence.  Without the salvation of Jesus, our decay, our rot, consumes us, long before the fires will.  It is Jesus we must seek to change this natural condition.

Luke foretells the end of John’s story concluding this snippet in verse 18 saying … “And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. [verse 19] But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, [verse 20] Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.”  The deeds of evil Herod Antipas were many, but none so bad as his treatment of John.  Though it was through this harsh treatment that God reached out to Herod to change his heart.  And while it seemed to work, it was far less successful in reaching the women who surrounded Herod and manipulated him into even greater sin.  The fish rots from the head.  But that need not be our fate.  Through Jesus, perhaps what “everyone” does can become a thing of the past for us.  Where hearts are melted and changed and focused on others, there is room for the truth, and lies would only corrupt the love that is needed.  Living love is so much better than rotting self-obsession.

 

The Fish Rots from the Head [part 1 of 2] ...

 “Self” is an enemy we should never underestimate.  To assume that “right” will always win out over “evil” is to assume that “self” will be subjugated to the will of God.  And “Self” is not inclined to be subjugated to anything.  Sometimes we think all that is needed is to “hear” the word of God, and that upon hearing it, we will be changed.  There is a temptation of those in the clergy, and of those in evangelism, that simply spreading the Word of God is what is required to change our world, to bring people to salvation.  And it is true that without hearing the Word, it is hard to imagine anyone finding out where to seek change.  But the “how” to seek change is another matter entirely.  Often the lives of those who attempt to spread His Word are no paradigm of aspiration in “how” they live their own lives.  They look just like we do.  Sometimes they get caught doing things worse than we do.  So if the lives of even the preachers and the evangelists are not much different than our own, what Word exactly are they offering us?  It would appear the Word has not been able to subjugate “self” in their own lives as yet.

Luke writes the story of one the world’s most powerful evangelists ever known.  A preacher whose life matches his oral offerings.  A servant in whom “self” and “self interests” were fully subjugated to the will of God.  A servant that clean before God is sure to have an easy life right?  Wouldn’t you expect the blessings and protections of our God to be upon one of His clearly most righteous servants; particularly when there appear to be no other alternatives to turn to, to continue preaching the message he was inspired to give?  But that is not the happy story Luke was destined to offer, nor the truth of the life of even one of the greatest evangelists this world would ever know.  Instead to us, the outsiders, the story of John the Baptist looks like a sad one, a persecuted one, that ends in losing his life, and being restrained from offering his message.  How did it get there?  More importantly “why” did it get there.

You will recall Luke spent quite a bit of time at the writing about the great joy of John the Baptist’s birth.  John was a miracle baby.  Announced by heaven itself, named by God himself, messaged by the angel Gabriel himself.  John was born of parents way too old to have a child, and who had been barren throughout their entire lives.  They were righteous, but not blessed with children of any kind, until John.  The song of Zacharias was just offered a few short verses ago upon the birth of John.  And the prophecy of the power of Elijah predicted to follow his work.  If ever there were high expectations regarding the life of a child, they were set here.  Jesus was to be greater, but that is because Jesus was God Himself in the form of the Son of God, shielded in the cloak of humanity.  John was only human.  John broke with the tradition of following his father into the formal priesthood in Jerusalem.  Instead of being educated in the finest religious schools, he was educated in solitude in the desert.  He read.  He grew.  He waited, until He was finally called.

Luke tells his story in overview beginning in chapter three of his letter of the gospel, picking up in verse 1 saying … “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, [verse 2] Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. [verse 3] And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;”  The fish rots from the head.  The Roman empire does not degrade over night, but it does degrade because it centralized its power in the form of a single ruler who pushed down the power of the senate (of democracy), and pushed up the power of a single dictator (autocracy).  Sound familiar?  How many presidents going back long before the current one, have advocated policies, and made executive decisions by fiat that in effect do the very same things.  At this point in the history of Rome it was now Tiberius Caesar in charge.

And in the land of Galilea or Judaea, things were no better.  Pilate was governor.  Herod the great was dead.  His three sons were put in charge of three different sections of the Judean kingdom.  There were no kings exactly anymore, only the word tetrarchs.  Three vicious children out to kill their siblings and take over their section of the former kingdom, but restrained by Rome in doing so.  Corruption takes root, feeding the animal of “self” who lusts for wealth and power.  People who have been subjugated by the sword offer plenty of both (whether they want to or not).  So you would think in times of such political turmoil and persecution, the people would turn to religion to offer them relief, they would turn to God right?  But alas, Annas and Caiaphas have been installed by Rome to head the priesthood as high priests.  Without Roman approval the priests would have been normally selected by God, but not now.  Since Rome was in charge, Rome wanted leverage within the religion of these combative Jews to keep them in line.  Ergo Annas and Caiaphas, to keep the lid on things under Roman scrutiny.

The fish rots from the head.  Rome disintegrates as power continues to be centralized into the corrupt form of just one man, each lessor than his predecessor.  The faith disintegrates as power is centralized into puppets of Rome.  The countryside disintegrates as each of Herod’s sons thinks not of greatness and great new construction projects, but instead of licentiousness and how they could conspire to kill their siblings without being caught and punished by Rome.  The animal of “self” is taught that quest for power and wealth are all that are important in Israel.  All of its leaders mimic these attributes.  And none of them are looking to be subjugated to anyone or anything, even if it is a God doing the asking.  And before we move on with their story – have we adopted our own nation’s mantras and religious leader’s teachings that appear very much like what Israel of old experienced?  Today’s world praises fame, power, wealth, and ease – and today’s world is less concerned about “how” you get there, only how you might behave once you do.  But the journey to these goals is itself a journey into the dark abyss of self-interest with no interest at all in subjugation of any kind.  Hearing a message like that is bound to fall on deaf ears if left to our own devices.

It is within this environment of enemies that the Word of God falls upon John the Baptist while he is in isolation in the desert.  His message is to be one of repentance for the remission of sins.  The symbol he will utilize will be baptism in the Jordan river.  Those who would hear and accept what John will offer must wade into the waters of the Jordan, ignore the cold water, or fear of not being able to swim, and be submerged under the waters completely, trusting that John will not let them go or let them perish.  They will in symbolic form die under those waters, die to their former self.  They will be for a moment unable to even breath the air of their former sins.  But through the power of God, they will be reborn, resurrected into a new life, made free from the old by God alone.  They will emerge spiritually new creatures who must depend upon God alone to keep them from the former versions of themselves.  For if God does not do this for us, who ever will.  We will not.  Our versions of “self” are all too happy to take us over.  It must be God who keeps us from self, and focuses us on others.  In our subjugation to God, we find relief from the evil self must always accompany, for self is the source of all evil.  It was so in Lucifer, who because of self, became Satan.  It is so in us.  Self must be eradicated, killed, in order that who we become will never give rise to sin again in the eons of time we are to live through.

Luke continues in verse 4 saying … “As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. [verse 5] Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; [verse 6] And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”  The prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled with the power of Elijah to all of Israel from one crying in the wilderness.  John was not acting in his own self-interest.  To do that might have been to keep silent and let the fallen remain fallen.  But John was moved by the Holy Spirit to see the fallen redeemed, and so allowed himself to be used of God regardless of what it might cost him personally.  Imagine that.  Redemption so important to an evangelist he is willing to confront the entire power of the world to see just you redeemed.  Notice the message of John, and Jesus, was not condemnation, it was redemption, that is “how” to think differently.  How to divorce yourself from the fish rotting from the head, and embrace a new way of thinking, a new way of loving, that turns wicked men into righteous men, that is men who do rightly. 

It is love for others that motivates right actions.  It is ONLY love for others that can do this.  And it is ONLY Jesus who can change your heart in order for you to see it firsthand in your own life.  As you offer Jesus your will, it is your heart that is changed first.  The message is no different today, or rather it should not be different.  Repentance does not come because you will it to be so.  Repentance comes because as you look at what you “could” have done for others, you begin to regret “not” doing it for others, because of your love for them.  While you are just fine, not doing for others, you have not found repentance at all, you have found only words without meaning.  The leadership of the church in the days of John fell into this category hard.  They knew all the words, all the texts, but little of the love for anyone other than perhaps their own families.  They had no love for those who had none, or had little.  As far as they were concerned, if you had little, that was God making a statement about your level of sin.  Poverty accompanied sinners, wealth accompanied saints.  When truth was far from this thinking in any way.  In fact, it might well be the opposite entirely.

But there was a commotion in Israel.  The power of the Holy Spirit could not be denied (He too is God after all).  And the words of John rang in the ears of those who came to hear him as nothing else and no one else had ever done before.  He spoke sermons in the wilderness you just could not shake or forget.  His words pierced your very heart and made you want to change in a way you never felt before.  For it was not just John opening the Word, it was God through John, reaching into the hearts of men as only God can do.  This power could not be denied.  It was popular beyond all measure and all reason.  The leadership of the church could not deny it either.  They must come bear witness of it, to see if John could be controlled.  John was the son of a priest after all.  Perhaps John could be made to see, how things were done in Israel at this time.

Luke continues in verse 7 saying … “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? [verse 8] Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [verse 9] And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”  This was NOT the reception men of breeding and refinement expected from this son of a priest.  This was a rebuke that stung for a reason they could none of them explain.  For the weight of these words tugged hard at the hearts of hard men.  The Holy Spirit broke through the carefully erected barriers of selfish men, to tug directly at their hearts.  They knew these sayings, just never expected to have them applied to themselves.  You see “they” were supposed to be in charge of their own spiritual lives.  And by their standard, they were doing very well at it.  Who was this hippy to cast generations of traditions into the fire and call them out for their corruption?  They were part of the rotting fish.  And they did not want to see themselves this way.  But then, who does?

They fled from that scene in haste.  They had no words for John.  Only recoil.  They sped back to the safety of their temple, to debate how to shut up this man.  But they lived in fear he was right about them.  The Holy Spirit is nothing or no one to be trifled with.  That ache in them, was an ache no human could ever console.  And it was at war with “self”.  These men were the fish that rots.  They were the self-imposed example for all of Israel to aspire being.  John had just called them vipers.  John had just enumerated their sins.  He had broken down their defense as if any could be offered.  And now John was outlining their future if this road of self was the one they chose to cling to, instead of the road God would offer in its place.  The people witnessed this tearing down of the beacons of their aspiration.  And it left the common people scratching their heads wondering, if these men who were supposed to be holy were not good enough, what on earth could they ever do?

This is a well thought out question.  Perhaps it is something we should be asking.  This study will continue in part two …

 

Lost and Found ...

At nearly every place of business there is a mechanism for lost and found items.  You go to a restaurant and misplace your phone, and you desperately hope someone else turns it in to the lost and found.  Though depending on how new and how wonderful your phone was, actually finding it in the bin is unlikely.  For this mechanism to work, you depend on the honesty of those who find your lost items, to turn them in to be found again.  Further you depend on the honesty of those working in the business to not simply rake through the lost and found and take what they want.  For a phone there is a shot.  For cash, you might as well write off the loss, cause the chances of reclaiming lost cash is nearly zero.  For that to even work, it would depend as well on the honesty of the customers, who far too often have proven themselves less than spotless (see shoplifting, dine and dash, etc.).  But have you ever lost Jesus?

For us losing Jesus consists more of us walking away from Him, turning our eyes off of Him, and persisting in ignoring His love.  It seems improbable to a Christian.  The very essence of being a believer is claiming to “follow” Jesus.  But Jesus is not a physical presence in most of our lives.  We don’t pick Him up from school, or go out to eat with Him at a restaurant.  He lives “in heaven”.  So we know where He is.  But that leaves us away from His personal touch for most of our lives.  So to ask, have you ever lost Jesus, has more to do with “if” you even look for Him at all.  When faith waivers, we begin to question the existence of things unseen, and doubt is allowed to creep in.  After all it is plausible, that if Jesus is unseen, then the probability of His existence is as likely as the spaghetti monster who lives on the far side of the moon (at least this is what every atheist I have ever met has asserted).  But if on the other hand, our God is truly love, then perhaps we look for Jesus in the wrong places.

The Bible is the first place my Christian friends cite as where to go to find Jesus.  And truly the pages of His word are filled with His story, as well as our own.  But Bible study, that does not result in change of hearts that melt with love to others, is Bible study empty of Jesus.  Doctrines are supposed to be a set of beliefs that lead us closer to Jesus, that increase our understanding of Jesus, and help us understand His love even better than before we learned them.  But how many doctrines do you know that accomplish that goal?  Oh sure they all claim to.  But the claims are secondary at best.  Deciding that smoking is a “sin” because it pollutes my body, therefore polluting the temple of God, and corrupting my ability to come to know Jesus, is at best a secondary claim.  That kind of “doctrine” focuses more on me, and my health, and less on Jesus, and His love.  And that kind of silly example is just one of hundreds of doctrines that teach us, but do not educate us, about the love of Jesus.

The simple truth is that when I take my eyes off of something I own, I tend to misplace it.  I use routines to help prevent this.  I keep my car keys and my house keys in the front right pocket of the cargo shorts I wear.  When I feel the lumps in that pocket, I know I still have them.  My wallet is always in the right rear pocket, if I shift my weight when I am sitting down, I know right where my wallet is.  However, on occasion I have to change shorts (my wife tends to mandate this), so during the change out, I place both sets of keys on my dresser, next to my wallet.  Always in the same place, and only in this place.  Another routine to keep from losing them.  Routines help, but to make them effective, I have to follow them without fail, and when new circumstances emerge that I have never encountered before (say staying in a hotel that has neither my cargo shorts, or my dresser) I have to adapt and develop a new set of routines in the foreign environment.  But do I use the same routines to keep track of Jesus?

We go to church.  We assume Jesus is there.  We pray over our meals.  We assume Jesus is listening.  But is Jesus really in our comfortable churches for 3 hours once a week, at the exclusion of love in our hearts for those who have not?  Or do we wrongly associate Jesus with a particular building we call church, while Jesus waits to be seen in the demonstration of our love for someone else?  And as we give thanks for our meals; do you think Jesus gets tired of being thanked for the excess we plan to consume while right outside someone else lacks the means to even eat a meal at McDonalds?  That kind of thanks sounds more like the prayers of the Pharisees (thank God that I am not like that guy, full of sin, and poverty).  So I ask again, do our routines really help us keep our eyes on Jesus, or do they mask a lack of deep change in our hearts, that would upset the routines of our lives, because of our love for others?

Mary and Joseph once lost Jesus.  They did, what we do.  They took their eyes off of Jesus, and assumed they knew where He was.  Every parent does this.  They “know” their child is at school, or with a relative, or at home with the sitter.  We all know what it is like to make assumptions, and 99 times out of a 100 we are completely right about them.  Jesus was 12 years old after all, the age of becoming a man in ancient Israel (generally the age when puberty would be done).  Jesus was not a toddler incapable of caring for Himself, or dependent on His parents for every need.  He was a young man.  He was capable of making His own decisions.  And therein is our worst nightmare, that Jesus might be somewhere else, somewhere other than where we assume, because that is where He wants to be, rather than where we think He should be.  Mary and Joseph lost Jesus once.  Do we lose Him quite a bit more often than that?

Luke tells us this story of the end of childhood of Jesus in his letter of the gospel in chapter two, picking up in verse 41 saying … “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. [verse 42] And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. [verse 43] And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.”  We begin with routine.  Going to Jerusalem once a year was tradition, was habit, was routine.  This was not the first trip.  And on every other prior trip, there had never been a problem like this one encountered before.  But one variable was different.  Technically on every other prior trip Jesus was still considered a child, on this one, He had become a man.  The routines established in our childhood with God may not be the same ones we can rely upon as our childhood gives way to maturity.  Our God expects more of us than to remain babies in the faith.  He looks to heal us, to remove our evil, and to change our hearts to be more in line with His own.

This story begins with assumption, the assumption’s of parents.  Jesus was a good boy.  If He was not right here where we could keep an eye on Him, He “must” be with our kinfolk elsewhere in the long procession that was leaving Jerusalem and heading back to Galilee, to Nazareth.  This trip to Jerusalem was not done like the one at His birth, where Joseph and Mary traveled alone.  It was done with nearly the entire town, anyone able to travel would.  So the dangers from thieves and criminals was less, because too many folks traveled together to make that viable.  Jesus would be safe, even if He was not right there where Mary and Joseph could reach out and touch Him.  But then, Jesus is always safe.  He is kept in the love the of the Father, His Father, and for that matter our Father.  No matter what we face, no matter what evil Satan conspires to throw on us, we are still kept in the love of the Father, your Father, my Father.  His love does not fail, no matter what the level of evil we may wind up facing.  But to assume we need to protect Jesus, is error on our part.

Luke continues in verse 44 saying … “But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. [verse 45] And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.”  So much certainty in our routines and our assumptions that we travel a full day’s journey away from Jerusalem, and Jesus nowhere in sight.  Do we share the same certainty in our current routines, of going to church, and sometimes reading the Bible, or saying a prayer?  We call this our “spiritual life”, and give it a modicum of space, but against the totality of our lives, it is small at best.  But our certainty in these routines is absolute.  And does that certainty lead us to believe that love in action is not required from those who claim to “follow” Jesus?  Instead we love our families, maybe our friends, and call it a day.  That is “plenty” of love to show.  Any more than that is left for “saints” and “holy men”, not for the average Christian, not for me.  And so we journey a full day away from Jesus, certain in our assumptions and routines, and never discern that we have indeed walked away from where Jesus has chosen to be.

But alas, Mary and Joseph realize their horrible mistake.  And the panic of a parent who has indeed misplaced their child sets in.  The million questions pop up.  What if He is hurt?  What if He has been killed or attacked?  What if He is sick and unable to move?  So many bad things can happen to any child, even in our day.  But in theirs was an additional threat, what if the Romans had enslaved Him, or crucified Him (early), or did some other horrific torture or mutilation upon Him for no reason at all.  They did that kind of thing.  And Jesus was last seen in the city where the Romans were garrisoned.   So they turned back from the company of travelers to go back to where they last left Him.  Do we?  Do we turn aside from our certainty and go back to where we last had sight of Jesus?  Are we prepared to put aside our routines, and instead embrace passion and meaning in what we do?  Passion that stems from a love of others (all other) more than a love of self.  That is change.  That kind of change happens only in submission, not in arrogance, or certainty.  It happens in dependence and humility.

Luke continues in verse 46 saying … “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. [verse 47] And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.”  Not sure of the timing here, was it three days in Jerusalem looking, or was it one day traveling back and two days looking.  But regardless, it was at least three days separated before Jesus was found.  Do we believe it will be easy for us as well?  Do we just assume we can “declare” we are abandoning our certainty, and our routines, and our traditions and will embrace an active love of others.  And then presto, it happens just like that.  No.  It usually doesn’t.  Not because God does not want it.  But because we have not learned how to depend on Him just that fast.  To leave our arrogance of declarations of our intentions, and ask in humility what Jesus would have us do, to who, when, and where?  We are too comfortable controlling our spiritual life, and nowhere near comfortable enough letting Jesus truly lead us, where He wants us to be, and when, and to share with who He puts in front of us.

But when He is found.  ALL are amazed at His doctrines.  Jesus is teaching the preachers, the priests, the scribes, the lawyers, the students of scriptures – what the scriptures truly mean.  Imagine that.  The doctrines we decide are valid, undone by a 12-year-old man, who knows with authority what they truly were meant to be, and why.  And only then is perfect Truth revealed.  Because we study the Bible without the lens of Jesus, and thus invent things never intended to be there.  When we study through the lens of the life of Christ, and in humility and submission to what Jesus will lead us to, our view of the same Bible changes radically.  His love emerges, and the doctrines that do not lead us here, are the doctrines we can leave behind as not needed anymore.  This is not an invitation to embrace sin, but a method of leaving sin behind.  This is not an invitation to avoid the judgement, but rather a recognition that you have already been found guilty just like your neighbor has and Jesus paid the price for both of you.

Luke continues in verse 48 saying … “And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”  And here is our humanity revealed, Mary and Joseph are upset with Jesus that “He” caused them all this grief.  Are we different?  When we lose sight of Jesus and bad things happen to us from the choices we make while looking away from Jesus, we then turn around and blame Jesus for all those bad outcomes.  We blame Jesus for not “forcing” our will to something better.  We get mad at Him because we leave Him and do stupid things.  We blame Him for our grief, when there is no one else to blame but the person staring back at us in our mirrors.

Luke continues in verse 49 saying … “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? [verse 50] And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. [verse 51] And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. [verse 52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”  Jesus must be about His Father’s business.  If His Father’s business is not being conducted in your church, then Jesus may not actually be there.  If His Father’s business is not being conducted in your heart, then perhaps you have not invited in Him there either.  It is easy to say the words.  It is more difficult to let go, and give control of your heart over to Him.  Mary and Joseph did not understand these words of Jesus.  Do you?  Jesus returned with His parents, because honoring them was always His plan.  But honoring them could never supersede honoring God.  Jesus served.  In doing so He increased in stature, and wisdom, and favor with God and man.

That is a road map for our success.  To serve.  To find the humility to serve.  To let go the arrogance of certainty in our routines and traditions and seek to be found of God.  This requires nothing more than the honesty of God to fulfill His promise, and He has never failed.  Be warned.  It is not Jesus that will move from where He needs to be.  It is you, He will move to join Him there.  Be warned.  What you believe may be radically altered by the embrace of a passionate love for others.  But you will be found of God.  And Jesus will be someone you may never lose again.  No lost and found bin required.  And the feeling of belonging will be one you would not trade for the world …