But what happens when our “personal” choices are more subtle
than cigarettes? Not everything in life
is guaranteed to kill you, or harm you outright, some things are far more
insidious than that. Take a quick look
at the Taliban on that score. The
Taliban seems bent on becoming like Hezbollah at the moment. They want to appear more “centrist”, more
rational, the better of a series of bad choices. They would like nothing more than to be
recognized on the world stage as a party who is legitimately in charge, and can
be negotiated with. They want to build,
become stronger, and then what? To seed control
to them in Afghanistan is no great choice.
But if the American regime folds in a day without an American military
to back it up, what other choice is there; Al-Qaeda, or Isis, or traditional
warlords, mostly members of one of the other more organized groups? If the Taliban claims they will do better; what
if they do better. We may not see the
damage of these choices for years to come, but when we see that damage who
knows what form it will come in. What we
do now, we may regret deeply later. But
it leads us back to the idea of what other choices are there, to stay forever
and make Afghanistan a defacto US province forever? An eternal war, and over what, desert? None of the choices are good, and we just
don’t know what will come of all this, it just sets off all the spidy-senses of
alarm.
So for those US citizens that blame Biden for the disaster
that is, next election they will look for an alternative. Enter Trump?
He is decidedly an alternative to every Democratic nominee, and most
republicans too. His character and
misdeeds, or treatment of women, should set off all the spidy-senses of every
conservative Christian in the party but somehow they don’t. His crimes are overlooked, rationalized, and
set aside – i.e. forgiven (without that ask, I would add). How does that mystery work? It is a personal freedom who you vote
for. You are allowed to vote for who you
want. But what motivates folks to vote
for Biden or for Trump. Biden seems
rational. He may not be, but he seems
that way. Trump is a known quantity, a
whole lot like Barabbas was. The people back
in the days of Jesus knew what they were getting in Barabbas, just like we know
what we get in Trump. I am sure Barabbas
was not “all bad” either. When Barabbas
murdered Romans for example, most Jews thought he was doing the right
thing. Imagine the contrast with Jesus
who murdered no one, and instead said we should love everyone (including
enemies like the Romans).
Barabbas stood for something. So does Trump. Naked self interest maybe, under the disguise
of patriotism maybe? How was Barabbas
any different back in his day. And the
contrast back then was one of ideas and ideals, just like it is today. Barabbas stood for doing it yourself, for
taking control, for taking charge – Trump echoes a number of those themes. Barabbas stood for lifting the poor man up,
by putting a knife in his hand, and asking him to join the merry gang of
thieves. Trump gives us examples of same
exact behavior. Take charge, take
control, be loyal to yourself, expect help from no one. But Jesus offers a completely different
model. Jesus teaches there is no control,
only God has that. Jesus teaches
absolute dependence on God for everything, we earn nothing, but are given
everything. Jesus teaches us to love
each other so much, we would live serving each other, and if came down to it,
to offer even our lives for each other because we love that much. Hold nothing back. Give everything. Keep nothing.
That contrast of ideas and ideals is stunning, and lives on even today
in our world, in our personal choices.
And the people chose back then. Luke recounts the case study for us in his
gospel letter to his friend about what we believe and why. In chapter 23 it picks up in verse 13 saying
… “And
Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the
people, [verse 14] Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one
that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you,
have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: [verse
15] No,
nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done
unto him. [verse 16] I will therefore chastise him, and release him. [verse
17] (For
of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)” Pilate knows Jesus is innocent. Herod knows it. Neither of them wanted to kill Jesus. So tradition allows for a single pardon
during the annual feast and Pilate offers to beat Jesus (nearly to death), and
then release Him back to the crowd. The
crowd knows what a beating looks like, and what it feels like, so they should
have been satisfied with this. But in
the war of ideas and ideals, this is not enough. Reason is not enough. Logic is not enough. Personal freedom demands its due.
Luke continues in verse 18 saying … “And they cried out all at
once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: [verse 19] (Who for a
certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)” Barabbas was a known quantity. He was a murderer, as bad as bad gets. But at least he killed “the right people”
some of the time. He was in prison for
just cause, and the people were better with him in exile. But the people wanted him back. Not far off from what I see regarding Trump
these days. All sins of the past
forgiven (without the repentance), and all crimes committed which may have
impacted us rationalized until they are not crimes at all. This was the attitude towards Barabbas. The difference between Barabbas and Trump, is
that Trump expects this warm welcome back, Barabbas would be immeasurably
stunned by it. For it makes no
sense. Why welcome back the thing that
might actually kill you? It is like
putting the Taliban in charge and hoping they will do better this time. It is like turning the medicine designed to
save us from the pestilence of Covid into some sort of warped religious test,
or political test, and refusing to live to make a statement about our personal
freedoms. But none of these choices are
truly personal are they? What we choose
across all of these choices will impact more than just me, or you, they impact
everyone. And the people want their own ideas,
not necessarily the ones for the common good.
Luke continues in verse 20 saying … “Pilate therefore, willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them. [verse 21] But they cried, saying, Crucify
him, crucify him.” When it comes
down to it, people would rather crucify Jesus, than listen to Him. They don’t want to hear the message of Jesus,
they want a perverted view of the message in the Old Testament (not seeing that
the real message there was not actually different than the message of
Jesus). People want vengeance
masquerading as justice. People want
self-control, not submission to God. We
would rather have Barabbas than Christ, Trump than an alternative, the risk of
Covid (until we get it) than a simple shot or two. None of those choices are actually in our
best interest. But our personal freedom
guarantees us the right to make them, to pick the stupid, to do the stupid, to
remain stubborn in our feelings and our choices – until God is dead, and our
chance at redemption killed by the very freedoms we hold so dear. We cling to personal freedoms until all they
are is our epitaph, buried in the sins we too refused to repent of. How sad.
Pilate tries for the third and final time again to reason
with this crowd as Luke picks back up in verse 22 saying … “And he said
unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have
found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. [verse
23] And
they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And
the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. [verse 24] And Pilate
gave sentence that it should be as they required. [verse 25] And he
released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom
they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.” Pilate sees what we all refuse to see. Jesus is innocent. His teachings would change the world for the
better. There is no evil in the
teachings of Christ, even if they ask you to surrender your personal freedoms
to find the salvation we should all be seeking.
This is what it means to give ourselves over to God. It means we give away what we want, how we
think, how we love. And Jesus transforms
us from the inside out, from the core of who we are. We surrender our personal freedoms, our
personal choices to Jesus because He knows better than we, what we really need,
and what we should want, even if that is not something we want today.
But when we remain steadfast to our own ideas, they do on
occasion win out – much to our shame, and regret. In the war of ideas and ideals, Jesus was
killed to stomp them out. It did not
work, but it does reveal how far our personal freedoms can take us, and frankly
will take us, if we are unable to surrender them to the God we would otherwise
try so hard to put to death within us. The
future victims of Barabbas were probably none too happy with having seen him be
let go, or worse being a part of that.
The future dead from Covid who clung so hard to avoiding the vaccination
will suffer from that decision and pay the ultimate price, save for those they
leave behind. We may come to regret
leaving the Taliban in charge. But if we
ever put Trump in charge again, our regret will be swift, and well deserved. But there will always be some of us who
freely choose these outcomes. In the
immortal words of Pilate – “Why?” There
are alternatives, even if not easy, even if not perfect, there are
alternatives. Why pick the known
outcome, when what is known is straight evil?
Why not pick the known outcome of Jesus instead?
We were created with personal freedoms, not to choose to use
them to make ourselves feel better, but to choose to use them to make the lives
of others better. That is what loving
others is all about. But it cannot be
love unless it is freely chosen. Being
forced to do the right thing does not make us love, it makes us robots. And that is not what God wants. But God also knows that since Adam and Eve
chose badly, our propensity to choose evil is greater than our ability to
choose rightly. So to return to
righteousness we must choose to surrender our natural propensities, our will,
our freedoms back to God so that He can remake us to what He intended us to be
– free from the chains of evil, and free to love as He loves.
Being free to love others is to be truly free. It does not come naturally anymore. It comes only from our Savior who died to
make sure we could experience it, if we chose to, through Him, and only through
that mechanism. On the other side of
transformation, making bad choices that we used to want, will become even more
of mystery to us than we can imagine.
When asked why, on the other side of transformation, we will have no
good answer, because there is no good answer.
God forbid we find ourselves locked in our personal freedoms, and
therefore locked in the sins we refuse to remit. Time is short. Why waste another second walking a road you
don’t want to go down. Make a gift of
yourself to Jesus, and watch what Jesus does with the gift of your life in
return. That is a decision you will
never regret.
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