Everybody keeps Sabbath, even God ...

Jesus has just died.  The symbolic religion of the past is now over.  The penalty of the Law has been fulfilled in fresh divine blood on that splintery cross.  And the very first thing Jesus Himself does is not to resurrect Himself from a blood stained cross, but instead to rest throughout the entire Sabbath Day.  Time enough to begin His resurrection on the first day of the week after this rest, but now on the first official day of the new religion, of Christianity, Jesus will set the example by resting, even from the work of our very salvation on the Sabbath He created before sin, and intends to honor long after sin has finally and fully been consumed.  No work for Jesus on Sabbath, even the work of saving us, today He will sleep.  Not just Jesus follows this pattern, the pattern of His entire life of example in our world, but ALL of the followers of Jesus rest on this special Sabbath Day as well.  Right there in the middle of Jerusalem, with the much loved Messiah resting in a tomb Luke will describe in this section, everyone else takes time away to rest on the Sabbath.  No one anoints His body to the full extent desired because the Sabbath sunset on Friday evening comes and interrupts that action.  For the Sabbath, Jesus takes His rest, God rests, and so does every Christian alive at the time.  Work will resume after the sunset on Saturday evening in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  The work of resurrection, of the gospel, of angels, of verifying the sacrifice that will save the world.

What happens to the bodies of crucified criminals is not done with much care.  Normally thrown into a mass grave and burned for sanitary purposes.  But before the bonfire, hungry animals, dogs, etc. come and chew on the loose flesh.  It is horrific.  And that is what is expected for those who die in such a manner.  Joseph of Arimathea begins thinking about it.  He has seen the darkness.  He has felt the earthquake.  He may have even been at the Temple when the Passover lamb was set free and the curtain tore from top to bottom.  These signs can only mean one thing.  And while Joseph had longed to see the Kingdom of God enter this world through the vehicle of the Messiah, and Joseph knew in his heart that the Messiah was Jesus, Joseph was not going to let the end of the story of Jesus be one of a mass grave, dog chews, and fire.  Joseph carried the same wrong beliefs as everyone else about the role and expectations of the Messiah.  But Joseph loved Jesus, and was not there at His trial because Joseph would have never agreed with the verdict.  And now what Joseph could do, even if was only for the body of Jesus, Joseph was bound and determined to do, no matter what it might cost him personally.

Luke reminds us of these events picking up in chapter 23 of his gospel letter to his friend about what we believe and why starting in verse 50 it begins … “And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counseller; and he was a good man, and a just: [verse 51] (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. [verse 52] This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.”  It is humility that begins it all.  Joseph was an esteemed member of the Sanhedrin.  A man of rank and esteemed counsel.  Except in the matter of Jesus, for Joseph could not help loving Jesus.  The power of the love of God simply overwhelmed Joseph, and Joseph had chosen not to resist it, but to embrace it.  You could choose that too if you wanted.  Members of the Sanhedrin ruled the nation as much as Rome would allow.  They were mostly men of wealth and pride.  They never humbled themselves no matter what.  But not so for Joseph.  Joseph, an older man, prostrates himself on the marble floors before Pilate weeping and begging for the body of Jesus.  Pilate is awestruck.  He does not know how to react.  Pilate has seen many men beg before, but never one not on trial, never one who is from the Sanhedrin.  It is as if Joseph is poor.  It is as if the heart of Joseph is so broken he could care less what anyone thinks of him.  The story of Joseph in such humility before Pilate is sure to get out (Pilate will help it if he needs to).  And the whole of Jewish nation will know that even the powerful prideful Sanhedrin bows before the power and might of Rome.  What a miracle.  Jesus is dead and now this.  Who could have imagined?

Would you have done the same?  Can you do it now?  Is there someone you refuse to humiliate yourself before, in order to do for God what you alone might be able to do?  Some of us refuse to be so humbled as to wash one another’s feet during the ceremony of Communion.  Some refuse to be baptized.  Some to refuse to pray at meals.  Some refuse to ask for help, or for prayer.  All of us seem to carry some notion of pride, of a line we will not cross no matter what, no matter for who, even for God.  But Joseph obliterated all such lines on behalf of a dead Jesus who would not even know what he was doing.  Joseph sent his reputation into the shredder for a dead Lord.  He gave the wealth intended for himself to a Rabbi from Nazareth now dead on a Roman cross.  There was no reward in it.  There was no gain to be had.  There was only the sting of criticism from fellow Jews mad that he would submit himself to Rome for any reason, let alone a dead Carpenter of no account.  But that was not how Joseph loved Jesus.  Joseph loved Jesus like the Son of God He was.  Everything begins with humility.

Luke continues in verse 53 saying … “And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.”  Pilate granted Joseph’s request.  It did not cost him anything.  Joseph was covering all the costs.  What was that to Pilate?  But to Joseph this apparently meant everything, which of course did not make any sense at all.  Jesus was clearly dead.  Joseph raced to the cross now, he and the others carefully took the body of Jesus down.  They gently removed the nails and spikes from Jesus’ hands and feet.  The Roman had already removed his spear at the moment he had thrust it in, now was only the wound of it that remained.  Joseph pricks his own fingers mixing his own blood with the head of Jesus as he must remove the vicious crown of thorns.  For that crown had been driven deep into the head of Jesus by taunting guards who drove it deeper with their taunts and tortures.  But now it had to be taken out.  They were not rushing, but they were moving as carefully and swiftly as they could.  Each person taking part in this would have to keep themselves isolated from others as Jewish law was very particular about touching the dead.  Everyone knew it.  But Sabbath was coming, and even this most important work will not complete before Sabbath arrives.

Luke continues in verse 54 saying … “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. [verse 55] And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. [verse 56] And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.”  They managed to get Jesus down, get His body free of the instruments of Roman torture.  They wrapped Him in some burial linens.  And they took him to a tomb that no one had ever used before.  It was likely a tomb Joseph had prepared from himself, perhaps for his family if he had one.  But Jesus had need of something, and for Joseph only the best would do, Joseph could always have another tomb carved from the rocks later for himself.  They laid Jesus carefully in the tomb.  Meanwhile the women who had been there all along went home and started gathering and preparing spices they could anoint the body of Jesus with now that he was dead.  They had seen Jesus laid in the tomb.  And the Sabbath had arrived, so there was no time now to anoint His body.  So they went home and prepared as much as they could before the sun set.  Then like every other follower of Jesus, they rested on the Sabbath day.  Joseph would rest too.

But for those who did not follow Jesus, Sabbath rest was not to be part of the itinerary.  The priests and scribes responsible for the death of Jesus heard the stories of Joseph having obtained the body of Jesus.  They were furious.  Terror had quickly given way to anger.  Fear will never keep anyone in the kingdom nor is it a good tool to try to use to get them there.  These wicked priests would have preferred to see Jesus eaten by the dogs in a mass grave then burned.  Instead yet another prophecy was being fulfilled.  So rather than rest upon the Sabbath, they traveled to Pilate to complain and see what could be done.  Now the mind of Satan is much sharper than the human mind.  The followers of Jesus had forgotten the words of Jesus about being raised to life upon the third day.  But Satan had not forgotten, so these priests got it into their heads that they must at all costs keep the body of Jesus in that grave at least for three days.  Friday was nearly gone or gone now with sunset.  Saturday was here.  What was needed was fear at the grave site of Jesus.  An entire Roman detachment, 100 soldiers, and a centurion.  But beyond that, chains of heavy iron dragged across a huge round stone that would take many men just to move to the entrance.  And to top it off a great Roman seal that if broken represented death to any human that would dare.

And who would not keep Sabbath would be these priests and scribes who thought nothing of having someone else work for them on this holy day standing guard over Jesus.  And the Romans who had no concept of Sabbath stood watch over Jesus.  Frankly the Romans were more uncertain of the divinity of Jesus than perhaps the priests.  They had all seen the darkness, they had all been cast as dead men to the ground when the earthquake hit.  Perhaps for the first time in a long time they all knew fear.  They were all guilty.  And if guarding Jesus kept Jesus dead that would fine with them all.  And the priests were going to pay for it all, a condition Pilate was likely to require (Roman tax at its finest).  So while every member of the new religion of Jesus was quietly resting on Sabbath as their Lord was also doing.  Many leaders of the old religion who claimed to be the right one, thought nothing of committing murder, breaking the Sabbath, lying about everything, and funding anything of a criminal nature that needed to be funded.

The difference perhaps of a people who are led by Jesus and follow His example, and those who claim to be led by Jesus but do what they think is right in the name of God, just not the will of God, nor that of the example of Jesus even in these moments.  Many of us are so certain we know what we should do, and how we should do it – only to find when we examine the life of Jesus, what we are doing is far from what He did.  We worship on other days because we want to, but do not set aside the time Jesus made holy and asked us to remember, treating it like those Pharisees of old, doing what we think is needed for reasons we think are important, while Jesus rests in the tomb on the seventh day.  Many of us think nothing of employing others to do jobs we think are critical on Sabbath, and in doing thus, we deny them the blessing of Sabbath they should be enjoying with us.  Many of us watch, and fill our minds, with the same content we could consume any other day, that brings us not one inch closer to God.  We do not need to be dead to keep Sabbath holy, nor do we need to sleep from one end of it to the other.  But to love, we might want to start with humility, and ask God what He has in mind for us during His special time, and follow that leading rather than always thinking we know what is best.

I do find it interesting however, that the Christian church began with an ending of the old, and an ushering in of the new.  And the first new day, and first new action of the Christian church, was the celebration of Sabbath, which Jesus and all the followers of Jesus kept.  The work of our salvation resumed the next day on the first day of the week.  But Christianity did not begin on that day, it began on Sabbath.  That is the leading I must follow.

 

Origin Stories ...

How do you make a superhero?  I am certain D.C. and Marvel have formulas in this regard.  But then how do you make a Biblical superhero?  And is there any such thing?  The term superhero brings with it several connotations, some of which don’t seem in line with Biblical ideology.  The basic difference between fictional superheroes and a possible Biblical superhero is that the fictional ones seem to contain all that power within themselves.  Something happens “to” them that creates, or they are born with, some “ability” that from that moment on lives inside of them and can be used or controlled and directed however they like.  The focus on the average superhero then is inward for his/her power.  If we were to examine possible Biblical superhero what we quickly learn is that their power never originated in them, it was “given” to them, and it could be taken away should they misuse it, or defy the Giver.  Marvel and D.C. would have us look inward for power; the Bible would have us look upward for it.  It is a key difference.

Then consider for a moment where true power always has and always will reside.  It is not in you.  It is not in your intentions, or will, or good ideas.  Power is not yours because people give it to you.  No matter what you oversee, those “positions” of power come and go.  You may hold one now, but in time others will hold it, and in times past others held it still.  In this case again the power does not originate to you, it tags along with a given position where much is overseen.  But that is not real power.  Real power, like what God has, originates within Him.  His imagination becomes universal reality.  His ideas become the rules of physics, science, and the multiverse (should one exist).  He has no weakness.  Perhaps with the exception of His love for us.  We have made God willing to die, to take our place, our punishment, in order that we might be redeemed unto Him again.  His love for us motivated Him to this for us.  In our reality God holds all the power, we hold none.  And what “abilities” we find ourselves with, are then gifts from a loving God; not the random product of DNA propensity, environmental support systems, or even dogged determination in practice-practice-practice.

We watch the superman movies because the child in us dreams of being superman.  But given our propensities, should any one of us ever be given the superman abilities, the chances we would misuse them are nearly absolute.  The temptation to hold power over others presents a temptation no human walks away from consistently.  Imagine for a moment the things you encounter during the day that aggravate you.  Right now, not much you could do about them.  But if you were superman/woman you could do whatever you want about them, and no one would have the power to do anything about it.  That kind of power is intoxicating, and the reason our God knows better than to make us invincible supermen or women.  We are instead vulnerable by design.  This state of vulnerability was meant for a singular purpose, to keep our focus on the true source of power in our God, instead of trying to look for that power inside ourselves.

So back to our question – how do you make a Biblical superhero.  Step one, recognize any power (or gifts) you will be given come from God, they do not start or end in you.  Step two, be willing to be one.  And here is where most of us simply respond “no thanks” and walk away.  Not many of us want the responsibility of carrying great spiritual gifts within us.  I am more comfortable with my life how it is.  I am not looking to be called to the mission fields, inspired to share the Word with the Power that can only come from the Holy Spirit portion of the Godhead.  That gift could even prove dangerous to me personally.  And what if healing was your new thing?  Are you ready to give up your life from the constant and incessant demands of those in need to be healed of what makes them sick.  The sick far outnumber you.  And they are relentless, that is, their need is relentless.  Are you ready to up-end your life in order to serve in a mission that God would empower in you.  Just to “be there” for people who need you now can be taxing enough.  Having that number of people who need you multiply by thousands or tens of thousands could mean constant text messages, voice mails, emails, and letters by the bag full.  Are you ready to truly serve the world if that is what you were gifted to do?  Oh yeah?  Then try it.  You may not be able to heal, or preach, but you can love.  And there is a ton of need out there for that.  A few days of it and you will be exhausted, but then that is where the “gift” part is needed in the first place.

Ask Peter and Andrew.  They were not born disciples of Jesus.  They became that.  By luck?  By happenstance?  Right place, right time.  Or because they were looking for Him, when He sought them out.  Think about that for a moment.  How their origin story works is a little unclear, even with all of scripture.  But here are the basics.  John the Baptist was making the way clear for the Messiah in his mission.  He had disciples who were eager to help out.  When Jesus appeared John sent two of them (John and Andrew) to become disciples of Jesus.  Both men were looking.  Here was Jesus.  Both men believed and immediately ran to their respective brothers to add them to the ranks.  The other two seemed less eager at least to follow the words of their fishermen brothers.  But then Jesus came to them as well.  Luke tells the story in his version in chapter five picking up in verse one saying … “And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, [verse 2] And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.”  Luke is writing a flashback.  We know this because just earlier Jesus was going to Peter’s house, and healing his mother-in-law.  Jesus and Peter were already hanging out together in earlier verses from Luke, so this snippet is a flashback/flash sideways.

John and Andrew were fishermen too.  And as Luke sets the scene, they were their too, they were helping out washing the nets, from an unproductive night of fishing.  The two boats are empty on Lake Gennesaret in Galilee.  The crowds are pressing in on Jesus, so He steps into one of the empty boats and pushes just a little distance offshore in order to preach to the multitude and be heard.  Luke continues in verse 3 saying … “  And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.”  I imagine this was an awesome sermon.  How could it not be?  And while the crowd was listening to the Truth, so were all four of the first disciples while they tended to cleaning their nets.  By the end of this sermon, Peter knew this Rabbi was not like any other.  He understood why his brother was so convinced this was the Messiah.  But while Peter wanted the Messiah to come, he was not sure he was worthy to have anything to do with Him.  Jesus was going to fix that.

Luke continues in verse 4 saying … “Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. [verse 5] And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”  Keep in mind, this is an origin story, for a superhero of the faith, one who would one day request to die crucified upside down because he did not feel honored enough to die like his Lord did.  That takes extreme faith, to hold it unto death.  And to hold it through the torture he would endure while dying.  But this was way back at the beginning of that journey of faith.  At this point, Peter figures a lesson in practicality is what the young Rabbi needs to receive.  Never tell a fishermen how to fish.  Peter figures once this idea fails, Jesus will move on and leave him alone.  So easy enough to humor this would-be Messiah.  He pushes out offshore and lets down the net in the deep as instructed.  Cant wait to see the look on this Rabbi’s face when we come in dry as a bone and not a single fish.  Already fished these same waters last night and nada, so now should be a quick rerun of that.  Faith at an origin, is hardly the same as faith at the ending.

Luke continues in verse 6 saying … “And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. [verse 7] And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.”  Oops.  The Rabbi knows His fish.  Not only does Peter hit the motherlode, he needs a second boat to help take in the haul.  And they fill that boat and his so high, the boats are just short of sinking entirely from the weight of the fish they took in.  Ironically, this load could have fed the 5000 that would one day later require dinner before heading from a sermon of Jesus.  But alas memory is short.  Now this miracle, and it is nothing short of one, cannot be denied and is being witnessed by more than just Peter.  All four of the first disciples are there taking it in.  But Peter in his origin story, knows himself better than any of us would like to admit.

Luke continues in verse 8 saying … “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. [verse 9] For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: [verse 10] And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon …”  Depart from me, because I am a sinful man.  Have you ever been there?  Ever looked at yourself in the mirror, and known just how evil you really are, how many people you have hurt, some of them on purpose?  When we see our evil as it really is, it does not inspire us to get close to Jesus for the fear of who we are.  But Jesus is not afraid of who we are.  He does not run from us and our sin stains that will one day be covered by His very blood.  He runs towards us.  His miracles are for our benefit.  He did not come here to leave us as we are, but to start our origin story, and move us forward on a journey of faith that ends very differently than it looks today.  It is the love for us that may be the only weakness our God has.  For His love will motive Him to do anything to save us.  And He risks our rejection, but He does not live in fear of it, He tries to conquer it for us.

Luke continues picking back up in verse 10 saying … “And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. [verse 11] And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”  I am certain Peter did not fully understand what Jesus even meant by that invitation, only that it was a continued invitation in the face of his revelation of self-evil.  Jesus wanted Peter, even if Peter felt unworthy.  Jesus loved Peter right from the get-go.  Peter could sense it.  He could hear it.  He just knew it, without another word of it to be spoken.  That kind of love needs a response.  So Peter and the others determined right then to leave their entire lives behind.  The boat, the enormous catch of fish that might have made them all rich for a season, even their families.  They forsook it all and followed Jesus.  They would care for their families from the road.  But not even family could lure these men away from that pure source of love.

These men became Biblical superheroes of the faith.  And this was an origin story point for each of them.  It was not the whole origin.  But it was a point within it.  What was common among them was they were looking for the Messiah.  They recognized Jesus when He came to them.  And they left their entire lives behind them.  They literally up-ended their lives no matter what the cost, and followed Jesus, not having a clue where they were going or what it meant to follow this Jesus of Nazareth.  They would soon find out that this new Rabbi was not well liked by all the other Rabbi’s.  This one spoke differently.  This one loved differently.  And the whole world was to be changed by that love.  Each of them starting a journey of faith they would all be given.  You can begin again too.  You can look upward even for the gift of faith.  You can realize you don’t need a power in you, you only need to connect to His power, and no other need will ever cross your plate again.  God manages your needs for you.  What you want, that you don’t have, will likely turn out to be something that He knew you did not really need anyway.  In fact, it might have been that very thing, that would harm you more than help you.  I wonder, what will your origin story look like? …

 

Trapping Jesus ...

If you accept that there is a lesser of two evils; you have already lost the war.  Throughout our lives, we are from time-to-time presented with a choice, where both outcomes are bad.  We are asked to pick the one that is the least bad, and then expected to make that choice.  To refuse to choose is often an outcome by itself that may be worse than actually doing anything.  It is called a no-win situation.  And so often it is presented, with us falling into the trap of trying to decide how to do the least damage with what we pick.  This trap is not new.  But it represents a lie told by Satan whose premise is quite insidious.  He tells us through these situations, that “you” must control your fate by making a choice where all the options are bad.  The reality is, that while every option “we” could pick is bad, “we” still have another choice … take it to God in prayer, sit back, and watch the power of God at work.  For while humans truly are limited in their choices, God is not, and what God can do can truly amaze.

None-the-less the Pharisees had been very angered by the 3 stories Jesus had told regarding the state of church leadership, and how they might still be redeemed.  The Pharisees believed they were already good enough and had no need of redemption, especially by this upstart with no formal acknowledgement by the system of religion they managed.  This message of light from the outside was not welcome in their tightly concocted inner sanctum.  So they responded by creating three traps of their own, one by each of the main groups or sects of their religion.  This would insure fairness among them, as well as diversity of thought, so that even if one line of thinking failed there would still be another to attempt to catch Jesus up in what He said.  But underlying all their attempts would be the common premise of presenting two choices where no matter what He picked, He could be embarrassed in front of the people.  Their problem was they reasoned as men, and forgot, or refused to admit, Jesus reasoned like our God does.

The first trap would come from the Pharisees who considered themselves preeminent among their peers.  These masters of the Tora would seek to catch Jesus up in a popularity dilemma.  The topic was taxes, just bringing up the very word “tax” to an Israelite at that time, was to kindle anger of the deepest variety.  They may have picked this particular topic, because Matthew, the author of this very gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries, was a former agent of Rome collecting taxes from his brethren.  Tax collectors had earned a reputation lower than harlots or sodomites in this day and age.  They were in effect traitors to their people, doing Rome’s work, and then profiting off of it besides.  If Caesar demanded a single penny from a farmer, the tax collector may very well take two, and keep one himself.  This made the process even more onerous, and the tax collector more hated, perhaps rightly so.  So the Pharisees figured there would be no way to discuss taxes with an honest Jesus and not embarrass Him immensely.

Matthew begins in chapter twenty-two picking up in verse 15 saying … “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. [verse 16] And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. [verse 17] Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”  Nothing was left to chance in setting this trap.  The Pharisees sent Herodians with their disciples to act as witnesses for the state, in the event that an otherwise honest Jesus decides to get hinky with an unpopular topic like this one.  The Pharisees feared Jesus may just bow to the will of the people on this, so they actually sent government spies to watch in case He did.  They also used a proxy, that is, they sent their disciples to execute the trap so no one could ever directly accuse them of any impropriety in trying to spring a trap like this one.  Perhaps they used disciples Jesus had never met, so He would not see any connection back to themselves.

Then to disguise the trap, the disciples use the highest form of false flattery upon Jesus, first calling Him Master.  Then proceeding to compliment Jesus again on how He ALWAYS teaches the truth.  If they really believed this, they would not be there trying to spring a trap on Him.  They would have joined His ranks and become true disciples of the Most High God.  But they did not believe this, so their words were lies as they crossed the lips of those who did not mean a word of it.  I wonder, do we do the same?  Do we compliment our God in our prayers, bragging about how good He is, and how He is good all the time; yet the minute adversity blows our way, we crumble and blame God for it.  Then our true beliefs emerge as we blame God for every horror that happens on earth, casting Him as an angry God, who is looking to punish us for our deeds, instead of redeem our hearts from them. 

Or worse, we cast Him as a God who just does not care enough to save us from the horror that has come our way.  Never once acknowledging what we do, or sin, or a devil bent on our misfortune as the cause of what we stumble into.  Cancer was not put here by God, it exists because evil exists.  No disease was ever intended to exist.  It is the very presence of evil in our world that permits diseases to become part of our knowledge of good and of evil.  We were intended to be ignorant of them.  But instead we chose to become familiar with them.  This is the knowledge our God thought it best we never understood let alone encountered.  Breaking trust with God resulted in all of this.  But this was not God’s idea, and His number one job is to redeem us from evil, and extinguish the effects of evil on a permanent basis.  Not as a punishment for those who embrace it, but as salvation for those who want no more to ever be a part of it.

Beyond the lies they believe about what Jesus’ preaching includes, the disciples also compliment Jesus on being no respecter of persons – essentially that Jesus would talk to Caesar the same way He talks to a beggar in the street.  This further false flattery is not something they believe, but they are taunting Him into staying true to this course in order for Him to answer the trap badly.  And so after meticulously laying the trap, they spring it – asking Jesus if it is lawful to pay taxes.  Notice they do not make reference to which law.  They could have been talking about the law of Moses, or of Herod, or of Rome, or of God.  They leave this reference unclear so they can combat Him no matter how He answers.  This was the best minds in the country, coming up with the best test, they could imagine.  All to trap Jesus in front of the people.

Matthew continues the story in verse 18 saying … “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?”  Yikes!  It is as if a bright light is turned on in a dirty kitchen late at night, and the cockroaches who were all to happy to feast in the darkness are now revealed by the brilliant light, their antennae darting back and forth as they scream to each other “we must hide, we must hide”.  They run for the corners looking to be rehidden by the darkness, but it will not come.  Jesus perceived their wickedness.  He knows in an instant who did this, who was responsible for this, and what they are trying to do.  He calls out their hypocrisy as He knows they do not believe a word they say to Him, about Him at least.  He knows it is false flattery.  And then in bone chilling words He once used with Satan himself, He asks these wicked men, why they are tempting Him.

And do our prayers that say one thing, and our lives that witness another, earn us a similar response?  When we treat sin like gold, and freedom from sin, like a pain we want to avoid – do we not behave the same way as our Pharisee forefathers?  We have countless requests of our God, for the millions of things we think we need.  But only routine prayers to say thank you for food, and even less so when our other requests are granted.  Our prayer life resembles a child on Santa’s lap at the mall.  Our hearts are revealed to the same God who walked among us, as He walked among these Pharisees.  They did not believe they needed to change; how many of us believe exactly the same thing.  We count ourselves “good” enough already, just like they did.

Jesus responds picking up in verse 19 saying … “Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. [verse 20] And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? [verse 21] They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”  Hold the phone!!  There is not supposed to be any “good” option in this response.  There is not supposed to be a “good” answer.  This was a trap of bad vs worse, no good option allowed or anticipated.  And this is why you lose.  You, me, the Pharisees back then, all keep looking at situations with human eyes, limited by human thinking, and ideas about what is possible and not possible.  Instead, we could be turning over our “impossible” situations and decisions to God and watch what He can do, instead of trying to dictate to Him what we want Him to do.  Our prayers “telling” God what to do, are as worthless as our trying to take things into our own hands in the first place.  We are in effect, trying to lead God.  When we should be surrendering to God and following whatever He decides – expecting what He does, to not look like anything we would have thought of, and to be a million times better than anything we could have imagined.

The conclusion of this story occurs in verse 22 saying … “When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.”  This response is so strikingly sad.  They heard Him.  They were blown away that He had figured a way out of their trap.  And then they left Him and went their way.  Notice nowhere in that response was any sort of change on their part.  They did not become disciples after that.  They did not repent of their intentions.  They scurried back like the cockroach, to plan another attack in the darkness, for darkness is what they craved.  Make no mistake, when you walk away from the light, you are headed for no other destination than the darkness. 

People who treat Jesus as some kind of option, or some kind of alternative – believing that spirituality is all that counts, and doing good all that matters – walk away from His light, into the darkness of deceit.  Jesus offers you a real change in who you are, how you think, and how you love.  You cannot fix that.  You, on your own, may not even believe that needs fixing.  But it does.  It is the self-love that cripples you, and damages others.  And because self is at the center of it, you are powerless to fix it.  But Jesus is a master at re-creating you from who you are now, into what He knows you are capable of being.  He is not looking to leave you in your misery, making excuses for your pain.  He is looking to lift you out of your misery, freeing you from your pain forever.  That is the kind of change we can all embrace.  The free kind.  The kind that comes from submission, instead of control.  Walk away from your own ideas about bad and good, possible and impossible, and turn it over to Jesus, who can do things, and show you things, and make you into something you could never have imagined.  And the word regret will have meaning to you no more.

But the traps for Jesus were not to be ended just yet …

 

Family Redefined ...

Most of us hold a special place in our hearts for mom.  Mom generally earned this place because as far back as we can remember, she was there taking care of us, nurturing us, and showing a love for us we could barely understand back then.  Dad’s love was different, likely less expressive, but present.  Dad had a natural instinct to insure the family was safe, secure, and taken care of.  It meant less of his time, but always because of His desire to work for our greater good.  Our siblings are another kind of love entirely.  We grew up with them, fought with them over silly things, and were close to them when in times of need or sadness.  We share their joys and triumphs and share with them their sadness and defeats.  Underneath it all, the fights with them were more about establishing a unique identity in the family unit, than about any “real” disagreements.  And so we define our family unit by blood relations, and are often taught that blood is thicker than water, and only blood can be counted on in the world.  But our premise is mistaken at its core.  It is not just the Supreme Court of the United States that is redefining family, it is Jesus Christ.

Our core premise of family is broken from the outset.  Mom and dad are not actually related by blood (usually), unless you trace back our ancestry to Noah or Adam.  Taking history back that far makes us ALL related by blood (a concept we find Jesus endorsing).  So then mom and dad are family not by blood, but by choice, and by commitment.  In our world choices and commitments fail regularly leading to new family unit compositions, where new partners for mom or dad equate to new roles in the parental offering.  Step dads, or step moms, become part of the family unit through different choices made on the timelines of our lives.  New siblings that may have no blood relation at all enter the family unit, and if things go well, and Christian charity is employed, they can become as close to us, as any blood relation ever was.  The love between the new partner of mom or dad is different as well, and can be more or less intense than the original pairing.  And so how do we judge (perhaps not at all), about the validity of a family unit after it was broken, and now attempting to repair itself in another way?

Our core premise of family is broken in yet another way.  Sometimes children are left alone in this world, because of situations beyond their control.  They may be lucky enough to be adopted by parents who so desperately want to add another child to their family unit.  Those parents invest deeply in the lives of these adopted children, working hard to demonstrate a love that is intended to fill the gap left by the pain and loss found in this world.  No adoptive parent ever makes a distinction in how much they love their child.  While not the biological parent, they are the parent none the less.  These family units are determined by choice and commitment, not by blood.  They are as strong as any family unit, and the restorative love they put on display emulates the love of God as much as any we see here on earth.  And blood relations have little to do with the choice and commitment adoptive parents and children make to each other.

While the Supreme Court recognized that the privileges of a marital family unit are more defined by a choice and commitment than by the sexual orientation of the two individuals making that choice; they only chose to expand our legal definition of family to those who may be a bit different from ourselves.  But I submit, what they did is not new, nor did “they” actually redefine family for us or Christianity at large.  How could they?  We already had homosexuals in our family units, whether by blood, or by choice.  The orientation of a person does not determine their place within a family, it is instead only a characteristic that self-identifies with that person.  Many parents will discover that one or more of their children are in fact gay.  While this revelation may be painful at first, particularly if it is at odds with the values those parents hold to; ultimately it changes “nothing” about how much a parent continues to love that child.  Moms don’t stop nurturing, caring, and loving their child because they discover the child is gay (or they shouldn’t).  And dads don’t stop providing, seeking for safety and security of their families, because they discover a child is gay (or they shouldn’t).  So the inclusion of a gay person in a family unit was ALREADY part of our culture, and our definition of family.

It turns out, we already love people who are gay, whether as siblings, or children, or parents.  Loving someone with this characteristic is NOT against the law of God, nor is it forbidden in scripture.  There is no scripture that demands we ostracize a member of our family because they exhibit some behavior the Bible defines as sin.  If it did, every single parent, spouse, or child who has ever told a lie should be cast out (instead of forgiven).  Every single act of sexual misconduct including “lust” even if only in the mind, would be grounds for excommunication between the family unit and that person.  Under these extreme conditions there would be no family units left, only single individuals who are universally guilty of misguided sexual expression both straight and gay.  If our sin is allowed to separate us from each other and from redemptive love, there is no hope for any of us.  Instead Christians believe and need the forgiveness our Savior offers us.  It is a constant and ever present need, and it spans many more sins, than just those of a sexual nature.  At its core, a family unit is composed of choice and commitment, it is not simply a matter of blood.  But that lesson is not mine, it was Christ’s.

Peter recalls to John Mark an incident that proved just this point.  Mark wrote it down in chapter three and beginning in verse 31 saying … “There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.”  This occurs at a time when Jesus is deeply engrossed in teaching His followers about the restorative love of God.  His mission is beyond healing only our bodies, but it remains for Jesus to heal our minds, and our souls.  He is demonstrating to his listeners what freedom from sin can really mean.  And during His teachings, His blood relations, or His family come to see Him.  Keep in mind this designation includes not only His mom, but “His brethren” or His siblings.  Mary did not remain a perpetual virgin after having Jesus Christ.  Instead she was a normal wife and mother.  She had sexual intimacy with Joseph, and the brothers and possibly sisters of Christ were a result.  Mary was like any other wife and mother, she loved her children, and her husband.  She had earned a place of respect in the family unit due to her choice and her commitment.  And now she was here with her other children to see Jesus.  But the venue was packed, another standing room only event, and she could not even get close enough to her Son, to ask Him what she was there to ask.  So they had to send in word by messenger.

John Mark records how the message progressed in verse 32 saying … “And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.”  Whether it was whispered from person to person, or perhaps someone sitting there at the feet of Jesus saw His family outside waiting for Him and just assumed He needed to know, the message about His family waiting was delivered to Jesus.  Of course in so doing, the flow of His sermon was interrupted.  The train of thought had to by necessity pause, while consideration of this new situation was discussed and addressed.  Jesus, being divine, already knew they were there.  In addition, He already knew why they were there and what they wanted from Him.  He had already evaluated their needs and their request in His head before they arrived; had it been more critical to Him than what He was teaching, He would have ended His dialogue early, and met them outside, or on the road to go address what they felt was important.  But Jesus did none of this.  Instead He had remained inside, with these people in front of Him, teaching them something that outweighed the needs of His family.

Then Jesus does what the Supreme Court could not ever do as Mark continues the account in verse 33 saying … “And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?”  This is not a casual question.  The parentage of Jesus Christ was “the” pivotal question of His ministry here on earth.  Jesus had repeatedly commanded the demons who fled before Him to remain silent on identifying Him as the literal Son of God.  To be born of a virgin was a miracle ONLY God could accomplish, and since it has never been done before or since, it remained an issue of faith to accept.  You will also note in this text, He does NOT ask who His Father is.  That question was to be settled as we examine His life.  But questioning who is His mother, and who are His siblings was intended to shock His audience into thinking deeper about what it means to be in a family with the Son of God.

Then Jesus ups the stakes in the definition of family as Peter has John Mark transcribe the further words of Christ in verse 34 saying … “And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!”  Ouch.  If our traditional views of blood relations were all that defined family, Jesus Christ just blew that away.  There would be no special place of respect for His mother standing outside, or for His siblings that grew up with Him.  Mary would be no intercessor with Christ as our Catholic friends might like to believe, as here Jesus plainly equates NO special status to her as to any other person sitting on the floor in front of Him.  To be the blood brother of Christ, did not afford His siblings any more special consideration than to be a stranger sitting at the feet of Jesus.  Blood is obviously not something that defines inclusion in the family of Jesus Christ.

Perfection was not a pre-requisite either.  The crowd sitting in front of Jesus were not well educated wealthy, religious leaders who committed little if any sins.  They were common folks.  The Pharisees who were deeply religious, wealthy, and obsessed with the keeping of the Law, had largely abandoned following after Jesus to learn.   They were instead plotting how to kill Him.  The people here on the floor were common sinners of every variety.  They were not there to justify their sins, or deny them, or make false claims about having already gained perfection.  They were universally guilty of sin.  But the focus there was on restoration and redemption.  To free these listeners from even their desire to sin, was the paramount goal of Jesus Christ.  In that mission, He could not be interrupted for trivial concerns.  And just because you had a blood relation, did not make your request more important that the restoration of one who is bound in sin.

Then Jesus made a declaration that would redefine family forever as John Mark records in verse 35 saying … “For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”  It would not be about blood, it would be about choice and commitment.  Those listeners there had chosen to find Christ and learn at His feet, they had committed to being restored by Jesus Christ, and in so doing were named as part of His family.  When we choose to submit ourselves to Jesus Christ and let His will become ours, let Him remake our desires, our thinking, and ultimately our choices … we are making a choice to enter the family of the Son of God.  He considers us family as we unite with both Jesus and the Father God.  When we become in harmony with His Laws of Love, we become part of His family.  This can only happen, as our sin-sick diseased and addicted minds are remade by our Creator God.  We need re-creation, if we are to be brought into harmony with the Law of God which reflects His entry-level definition of what it means to love others. 

Being Jewish was and is not enough to be considered part of the family of Christ.  Being of the bloodline of David or Abraham was not enough.  Being Christian was and is not enough to be considered part of the family of Christ.  It is not just about making a declarative statement that we “believe” in Christ.  It is about taking that belief to Christ and surrendering “who” we are to Him to be remade.  For many a Christian does NOT do the will of the Father God, as instead they cling to the sins that define their characters.  This is not just a gay condition, it is a straight one.  It is not just about sexual expression or behavior, it is about loving self more than loving others.  We could completely abstain from sex altogether and still be found lacking in the pursuit of the will of the Father God, because we have not surrendered our desires to Him to be remade.

Those who focus on sex as the discriminator of proximity to Christ, ignore every other sin they are bound to.  Both gay and straight people lie.  Both steal.  Both love themselves more than they love others.  Both have pride, arrogance, and can reflect a coldness to those in need.  Christians are supposed to be the antithesis of these characteristics yet they are not.  It is the un-surrendered heart that keeps us at odds with the Law of God.  It is our pride in “who” we are that prevents us from being willing to put even our spouse or our sexuality on the altar of God.  We wish instead to retain the things that are important to us.  We wish to retain the things about us that define who we are.  We cherish our characters instead of looking at them with the disdain they deserve.  The only good in us, can be found as we reflect the Love of God to others.  This love does not originate in us, it is only reflected through us.  And that reflection is made dim or non-existent because we refuse to let go of who we are, choosing to try to retain ourselves and find a “partial” salvation instead of a full one.

It is as if we wish to get better from our cancer rather than find a cure for it.  It is as if we are comfortable being HIV positive as long as our condition does not evolve into full blown AIDs.  Jesus was not here to dispense so many spiritual pills to make us feel better about our diseases.  He was here to cure them all, fully.  He was here to restore us to the condition He had in mind for us.  When we are ready to put our sexuality on His altar, even if that means we live the rest of our lives in abstention, or are compelled to find another partner, or must forgive and recommit to the partner we have no matter how bad they treat us … to allow Jesus to reshape what we desire and how we love … is at the core of a full cure from our disease of sin.  Lest straight believers think I am only talking to our gay brothers and sisters, I am not.  Adam withheld Eve from the trust of the Lord to save her.  Eve was the one thing Adam was not willing to give up, and in joining her, he initiated sin into our world and our genetics from then to now.  Original sin was not found in homosexuality, it was found in the love of a husband for his wife, over that of his Creator.  That test remains for us all.  Is there anything, or any part of us, we love more than we love God?  If we hold back any part of ourselves from the restoration Christ offers, we cling to the cancer that kills us.

But, if we are willing to bring all of ourselves into surrender to Christ, then there is no difference between any of us in His eyes.  Our perfection will be the journey Christ brings us to.  It does NOT matter what sins we suffer from today, as ALL of them are to be a thing of the past as He remakes who we are, how we love, and how we think.  In this process, our sole job remains to love each other.  We are to be a family by choice and commitment, not by blood.  I am to love you, no matter what condition of sin you suffer from, or that I suffer from.  I am to love you without precondition, or demands upon you.  For it Jesus Christ who will free both you and I from our sins.  No need to judge your progress on that path, only to encourage you to remain on it, and ask that you encourage me to remain on it as well.  It is not our sins that exclude us from restoration, it is our unwillingness to see those sins disappear.  Letting go all of ourselves to Christ, frees us to love each other without condemnation or judgment.

The Supreme Court redefined legal marriage in our country this week.  But what spiritual marriage is, remains a concept no law of our land will ever fully be able to comprehend or enumerate in legal language.  The relationships that God blesses of family units begins with an entirely different understanding of what it means to love others like He loves others.  If we are not in harmony with how He loves, how we could possibly hope to understand what a true spiritual marriage is all about.  Instead we bring our selfishness into our weddings, and our lives, and look to see what marriage has to offer us; instead of holistically re-evaluating marriage through the eyes of Christ, and what it means to have intimacy between ourselves and our God as the underpinning of any choice and commitment.  The intimacy between each of us and our God must occur prior to the success of anything we call marriage.  If we are distant from the source of Love, how can we hope to truly love each other, as a spouse should be loved?

Before Christians decry the breakdown of the family unit because our country made something legal, they should take a serious look at why the concept of divorce exists, and the damage it causes to our families and our nation.  Divorce exists (and will now impact the gay community), because of the selfishness in how we love others.  It is a reflection of our addiction to loving self, and unwillingness to love another beyond the limits of our lives.  Divorce is enabled because Christians are unwilling to have their desires remade, and be taught a new way to love another.  If we were willing to submit the entirety of who we are in surrender to Jesus Christ, we would be making better decisions before marriage, and better decisions once in a marriage.  It is not the legality of our marriage license that determines the spiritual validity of marriage, it is determined in how much of ourselves we are willing to surrender to Jesus Christ to be remade by Him.  Full surrender will yield full restoration, and we can trust in Jesus to save us from ourselves.  To be part of the family of the Son of God, remains only about choice, and about commitment.  How much of who you are, are you willing to relinquish to Christ?  Or perhaps better stated … how much pain would you like to let go of as our Lord offers a full cure just for that asking?

 

The Only Thing Evil Knows - Communion (part eight) ...

When once you turn away from the light, the only alternative left to you is darkness.  When once you turn away from love, hate is the destiny you embrace.  Lucifer was created in the perfection of service and love to others.  His position was once third highest in all of creation, he stood at the left hand of the Father.  He was unaware of a distinction between himself and Christ, because the love of God towards others so was full there had never been a reason to measure it before.  But within this perfection, Lucifer reasoned that perhaps existence did not require this method to maintain perfection.  Perhaps an alternative was possible that would simply result in a “different” perfection than the one God setup.  He broke trust with God, and put his trust in the power of his own intellect and will.  He continued on his path, until the point where he could not be saved, because he would not be saved.  And there was war in heaven.  When once he knew only love and harmony, he would now be willing to introduce war and death into heaven itself.  Love had turned to hate, as trust was irrevocably broken.  Evil was born into the universe, and the opposite of love was defined for all sentient life to witness in horror; hate had come.

Lucifer became Satan.  The archangel became the devil.  A universe of perfect love to others, had been corrupted into a self-absorbed, self-focused, acquire-at-all-costs emptiness that could never be filled.  To look back at the perfect peace unfallen beings maintained, and witness the perfect love of service the unfallen beings lived, elicits only one response in the fallen – hate.  It is torture to live in self-inflicted pain while witnessing the unbridled joy of another.  Their peace only fuels the passionate hatred of the one who will not let his own misery go.  That impossible focus on self, only deepens the hatred for everything, when seen against the perfection of love and service and joy that is unavoidable from living as God ordained.  So when evil encounters love, its response must be one of two – submit to love and embrace it, or resist love and respond in hate.  As love is more powerful than hate, it requires more determination to hate, more anger to maintain, more energy to resist.  It requires an unrelenting choice to keep up the hate.  But for one who will not trust to anyone other than self, it is the only choice to be made despite its difficulty.

This was the reaction of the religious leadership of the day, to the Messiah they had waited for so long to see.  This was the response of the wicked and fallen angels to the arrival of Christ, who lived His life in perfect service and love.  The only thing evil knows to do when confronted with love, is to hate.  If one lets go of hate even momentarily one may be drawn to a love that would not let you go, one that would free you from hate, so as never to return to the power of its embrace.  That kind of redemptive love is what Christ introduced into our reality.  And the Pharisees hated Him for it.  The very redemptive love He offered to all, even to them, was refused because it required submission, it required an acceptance that indeed they did not know it all.  They were not the final arbiters of truth, they were witness to truth incarnate in the humble life of this servant of all.  This they could not, and would not accept.  So they responded to love with hate.  The learned elders of the one true religion, became the biggest proponents of hate in the very name of that religion.  The Pharisees would seek to kill the author of love, rather than be remade by that love.  Are we any different?  Do we prefer ourselves the way we are, than to be remade by Him and perhaps lose parts of ourselves we hold dear?  Do we carry placards that espouse love that transforms or hate that condemns?

John records the words of Christ now in chapter 15, as they near or perhaps enter the garden of Gethsemane.  Judas is not with them as he is already leading those who intend to kill love to their target.  Time is very short.  So Christ tries to explain the mystery of iniquity and hate to His followers so that they will not be surprised by what they encounter.  In verse 18 He explains … “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. [verse 19] If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”  Evil hates love.  When we reflect the love of Christ to others, we should not expect to see love returned as it would be in perfection.  Rather we should expect to see hatred, for evil struggles to the death to hold on and resist the love of God.  When we find ourselves in disfavor with society, when we are punished for the acts of love we do on behalf of another, when our reputations are mud for the sake of our relentless love in action – it is because evil resists the power of God who loves. 

However, when the world seems to have no problem with us; when we present no threat to it; when we are every bit as angry, and hostile, and judgmental as our accuser is; we can and will be loved by the world.  Satan has no problem with our hateful speech, couched in the name of God – that is a technique he pioneered for us.  Our Pharisee forefathers killed God in an effort to keep religion pure.  So when we hold our signs and placards that condemn the world for its sins, we join with Satan in persecuting those in the deepest need of His love; so pushing them farther from it, while carrying and maligning the name of Christ, and of Christians.  This activity brings little condemnation from the world, because the world is steeped in evil and loves the hypocrisy of accusing others while being every bit as guilty in our own hearts and desires.  But, by contrast, when we love unconditionally and without reservation, to those who no-one else would dare to love – we present a real and present threat to the kingdom of evil and hate.  It is then that we are out of harmony with the kingdom of evil and hate, and must be “dealt with”.  For if left unchecked, a love without reservation or limitation, that is only consumed with the benefit of another, has the power to change lives, hearts, minds, and wills and could make converts to the kingdom of Christ.  When these converts discover the freeing power of love, the salvation Christ does to liberate and change them from their former selves into servants equipped with the power of transformative love – the kingdom of evil loses a soul forever to the power of God’s love.  Thus when we love like Christ loved, we become hated quickly by the world.

Jesus continues in verse 20 … “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”  When we serve God we encounter those who have refused Him, and thus will refuse us as well.  Be they church leaders at the highest levels, or desperate sinners at the lowest rungs of society, those who refuse God and His love, will not accept our own any better.  But those who hear the voice of the Lord, will make themselves humble enough to hear His voice through His servants in whatever form that comes.  It is not only through a preacher that the word of God is offered.  It is offered through the mouth of the child, who can barely grasp the depth of the words they speak.  It is offered through the mouth of the downs-syndrome-afflicted who understands love so well, but intellect so little.  It is offered through the mouth of the sick and the dying as they face what we all fear, and now understand what is truly important.  If we are humble enough to hear it, we can ignore the faults and imperfections of the vessel, and instead hear only the pure word of God spoken in love regardless of its source.  It is not the denomination, or age, or gender, or sexual orientation, or known history of sin that either qualifies or disqualifies a person from speaking the truth of our God – it is instead only the content of what they say, and the love in which they say it, that either offers us the word of God, or the folly of men.  It is instead our arrogance that predetermines “who” is qualified to speak for God, and our standards lead us to miss His words, in favor of those that please our own ears.

Jesus continued in verse 21 … “But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.”  In the days of Christ as well as in ours, there will be those who refuse to accept Jesus as Lord.  To identify Christ as the Son of God, is to invite persecution – either from within the church as we transfer the attention away from traditions and self-reliance and on to Christ – or outside of the church as we identify the real meaning of love and not  the perversion of self-service the devils offers as its poor substitute.  Those who do not know God, do not know love, and evil has only one response to love.  Jesus further states in verse 22 … “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”  In the days of the Pharisees Christ had spoken in their presence, they bore witness to His love, and therefore had no excuse to cloke their sin.  In our day, the love of the Lord is no less present.  We do not casually live our lives in blissful ignorance of the love of God, instead the love of God to redeem us is constantly offered, and we must by conscious choice ignore and disregard it.  So what was true for our Pharisee forefathers will be no less true for ourselves.

Jesus states in verse 23 … “He that hateth me hateth my Father also.”  There is no subdividing God.  There are not many pathways to God.  There are not many deities that can legitimately claim to be God.  There is only one God.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – three who are united in purpose and one.  To hate one of them, is to hate all of them.  You cannot hate one third of God, but love another third.  To love God, is to accept God as He is.  We do not get the choice of picking and choosing which parts of God we think are real and worth loving or not.  For if Christ always did the will of His Father, who is it we truly hate – the God who performed the miracles, or the God who ordained them to be performed?  Those who offer Buddha, or Krishna, or Mohammed, or any other purported deity to augment the place of God, offer only false ideologies that cannot find truth in the reality of who God is.  The Father cannot be separated from the Son.  To deny the divinity of the Son, is to deny the divinity of the Father, for it was the Father’s own voice who proclaimed Christ as His own Son, and who empowered Christ to bend the rules of physics to heal and create, and restore all the countless broken ones he encountered during His life here on earth.  It is both Father AND Son who are united in the plans for our redemption and salvation.

Jesus offers evidence again in verse 24 … “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.”  The miracles of Christ should have been enough to prove His divinity.  He created food where there was none.  He healed diseases and birth defects and the demon possessed.   He woke Lazarus from the grave after 4 days of decomposition.  Every act of love for another should have been more than ample evidence of His divinity.  To require more “proof” is empty words, proof and truth were already there for those who did not refuse to see.  Jesus continues in verse 25 … “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”  The rejection of Christ had been foretold.  It was even sadder still though, that this prophecy found fulfillment in the leadership of His own religion and faith, instead of merely in the government of Rome and the world.  I wonder if our modern Christian churches are any different.  Do we too reject Christ as the author and finisher of our salvation, choosing like Lucifer to put our trust in our own wisdom, logic, interpretation, and will power to save us from our sins?

Jesus then tells His followers, that for them even more evidence will be received in verse 26 He continues … “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: [verse 27] And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”  The Holy Spirit will come to His followers and continue to declare in the Truth of the Father, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and source of our salvation.  The Holy Spirit does not disagree with the accounts of scripture, rather He verifies them.  The miracles the disciples would perform were not of their own strength, but done in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of God.  If the life of Christ were a lie, if He were not our God, His name would have no effect.  We could not break the rules of physics and modern medicine by the power of our own names, or the random name of some mere historical figure, even if that figure was a “good man” or known to be a “prophet”.  But the name of Christ, and the power of love of God that He embodies, has seen the impossible become possible.  To be made free from the addiction of sin and self is in itself a miracle we will never fully understand, for it is His work in us, and none of our own, that sees it accomplished.

Jesus continues and wraps up this part of His communion on the responses the disciples should expect in chapter 16 starting in verse one … “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. [verse 2] They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.”  The worst irony, the saddest expectation, would be that the center of persecution would not be in the world, but within the church.  It would be those who favor religious zealotry, over actual love for others, who would be most willing and eager to kill in the name of God.  The Romans would hardly care less which God you worship as long as you paid your taxes and did not attempt rebellion.  In this, Christians were wholly compliant.  But the Jews believed the introduction of the doctrine of the Messiah having been fulfilled was the destruction of their faith, traditions, and powerbase, thus to kill to end this “heresy” would become a top priority within the faith.  Christ explains all of this to his disciples in advance.  He explains why they will do this in verse 3 … “And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

Here the message of Christ is powerful both then and now.  Those who would hate or kill in the name of God DO NOT KNOW GOD at all.  They neither know God the Father, or God the Son.  Those who respond to love with evil and hate, know only evil and hate.  God does not kill those who disagree with Him.  If that were true Satan would simply have never existed.  Instead God creates all with freedom to choose to trust and love or not.  God does not change who He is, instead He attempts to lure us back to Him with the power of His so great love.  He does not kill us all because we sin, or have sinned.  Instead He looks to free us from our sin, and offer us love and joy in its place.  He takes pain and death away from us, and offers us life and love instead.  Those who offer death for disobedience follow the doctrines of Satan alone, not of our God.  It is Satan who kills those who disagree with him, or disobey him, or fall away from his cause.  God attempts to redeem the lost.  Satan would kill any who stray from his cause of evil.  The religious zealots of the time of Christ who kill in the name of God, were doing so at the express desire of Satan himself.  The religious zealots of today who espouse hate to those still caught in sin, follow the same path of Satan, and do nothing to advance the cause of God or the redemption those sin-sick souls are in such desperate need of.  Only love will ever reach them, hate and death will accomplish nothing.

Jesus concludes his predictions by stating one last time in verse 4 … “But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.”  Everything He was telling them was prophetic, and true, and would help prepare them for the future they faced.  The message is every bit as relevant for us today as it was then.  When we are transformed by the love of Christ, we will become different people than what we were.  We will value different things, love differently, want different things.  When we begin to reflect the love of Christ through us more perfectly, we will draw the ire of the world around us.  Satan will not leave us free to love as Christ loved without making every attempt to draw us away from Christ.  He will tell us that “we” have accomplished our spiritual awakening by our own great power and intellect.  He will do everything he can to convince us that even our religious life is about us, our salvation attributable to our works and will power and understanding of scripture.  He will do anything he can to keep us from focusing on Christ.  We cannot expect a life of ease as a servant of love.  Instead we can expect a life of hardship, and of perfect peace, contentment, fulfillment, and joy.  For it is not our conditions that define our responses, it is the power of His love within us.  We will find perfection from the work He does.  We will find peace in KNOWING that it is He who saves us from the people we once were.  Our salvation is His gift to us, and the way we love is also the result of His gifts.  Nothing can take that away, whether from within our churches, or outside of them.

And communion was not over yet …