Fields of Perfection [part two] ...

Why not simply “arrive” where it comes to spiritual growth?  Why take a journey that we know it is possible to complete in the twinkling of an eye?  It is easy to blame God for the delay, or perhaps develop doubt there is a God, because of the delay.  One of the effective arguments atheists and nominal Christians make, is that people have been talking about the “soon coming return” of Jesus Christ since the days of the disciples and over 2000 years have passed in that time.  Oh sure, if you stack that against time in Universal measurements or against the stars it is short, but against human life spans, it is well beyond any of them.  A belief in “soon” that does not come true, can sometimes equate to a belief that transformation just takes too long, and there are too many failures that keep occurring along the way.  Perhaps transformation too is just one of those “soon coming” things that for me will never seem to arrive; always to be lost in the journey.  There comes a time when even progress is not enough, the destination is just too much what we long for.  Not the destination of heaven, so much as the destination of perfection, even in the here and the now.

And if our “standard” is no less than perfection, we cannot just shrug it off, and act as though it is “OK” that we are imperfect.  It is never “OK” with God that we carry the cancer of sin, that we suffer from the pain and death it brings and causes.  God longs to give us the cure.  So when our failures teach us we are obviously not cured yet, we return to the question of why, or as with His long awaited return; how long?  And if knowing it must be a journey is not hard enough, it turns out the other complicating factor is … us.  What we believe, and how certain we are of our beliefs, can delay the journey entirely.  Even the beliefs that we are taught from the church, or from spiritual leaders we trust, or things we seem to have discovered on our own.  It is not even the incorrect beliefs that are our problem nearly as much as the certainty to which we cling to them.  We hold the mind of the unconverted even while we occupy the pews of the church we call home.  And because of it, our journey takes even longer.

This is not new.  There was an example provided in the gospel of Matthew in the thirteenth chapter.  Right in the middle of telling parables about the Kingdom of God, and salvation, and heaven; the reason why stories are being used is provided.  And those reasons are just as applicable today as they ever were, so much to sorrow over it.  Matthew picks up in verse 10 with the most obvious question … “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?”  This is the gospel after all.  We are not just trying to explain how to build a kite; we are trying to save lost souls here, trying to provide the roadmap to doing it right.  But instead of providing direct, frank, and explanative words; Jesus chooses to tell stories to get the point across.  And it looks as though no one is getting it, sometimes even the disciples are having a hard time admitting they too, are not getting it.

Ever ask the question, if Jesus wanted us to know what to do about [insert some modern problem here] why didn’t He just say that in the New Testament?  The question about Sabbath observance is sometimes put in this category.  What you can do or not do.  Or which day is the right one.  There is a lot of other scripture to answer these questions, but it might have been nice since Jesus knowing what would happen later, if He would have just given some direct counsel on the matter in question – rather than bury it among tons of other texts that must be read in context to even get close to answering it right?  Homosexuality is another idea floated this way.  While the Bible is full of condemnation for it, Jesus never said one word in first person against it.  If Jesus is our final authority why not just state what His position is?  Instead we have stories, historical events, and societal prejudices that influence our ideas on any given topic we research in the Bible.  Seems like the lead is buried.

But Jesus answers this question picking up in verse 11 saying … “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. [verse 12] For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. [verse 13] Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.”  So a little flattering that the disciples are going to be the privileged few who get to understand the mysteries.  We take that by extension to mean “us” as well since we get to read the written works of those disciples where it comes to the gospel.  The idea that to those to whom it is given, will be given even more in abundance sounds really good to us.  We think that must mean - to church folk, to folks who are searching, or are already in the aisles and pews.  But we missed one subtle word printed plainly there that perhaps our brains just wanted to miss.  To him shall be “given” more abundance.

The remainder of the answer of Jesus applies to those who believe they already know what they need to know.  They have learned it through joining a church, or having conducted years of study on their own.  They might have learned it by going to a Christian school system, or Christian University.  They are not newbies, but people long-in-the-tooth where it comes to spiritual matters.  They are not the nominal believers who never “do” anything, but they are the people who act on their faith and make it a point to get out there and serve in the plain light of day.  These are the people who hath … not.  Their eyes work or function, but they see not.  Their ears can hear just fine, but they hear not.  And worst of all, they, or rather “our” comprehension and understanding is poo-poo.  To “us?” shall be taken away even what little even what we have.

That reads like a punishment.  It reads like a punishment for well-meaning folks.  But again, this is actually about salvation, and what is needed here for “us” is exactly that.  We need a reset of what we are so certain about.  We need a reset of what University, or our local church has been pushing into our heads for so long we can nearly rote repeat it.  We must unlearn what we have learned, and be taught what we should know through a mechanism we have least tried out (becoming a direct student of Jesus).  Matthew reminds his audience this entire scenario was predicted long in advance by the prophet Isaiah, lest we think this only applied in the days of Christ, or will never be relevant again.  He continues in verse 14 saying … “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:”  The prophet Isaiah had a relevant message to his people in his day of the same phenomenon that Jesus fulfilled in His own.  And that prophecy had no time stamp on it.  The same plague moves forward through time through the same people even within the true churches of God.

The reason is heartbreaking to hear continuing in verse 15 saying … “For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”  Queue the weeping and gnashing of teeth please.  We are “tired” of hearing.  We have closed our eyes to “The Truth”.  And perhaps worst of all, and the most telling sign, our hearts have waxed gross, we love very little anything that does not resemble ourselves.  And it appears that understanding will only come through the heart, which in this case has grown cold.  All of the signs of people or believers who would have made excellent members of the Sanhedrin in the days of Jesus.  People certain of their spiritual knowledge and completely unwilling and not inclined to submit that “knowledge” to the higher power of Jesus Christ.  Our journey is stunted because we refuse connection with Jesus that could have resulted in our conversion, and our healing.  Could sadder words ever be uttered, particularly when they are squarely directed at “you?” or “me?”.

So what made the disciples different? … They were stupid.  And they knew it.  And they depended on Jesus for their wisdom, looking to learn anything HE had to teach them, never even daring to teach Him anything.  The only beliefs they brought with them from before Jesus and they ever clung to, were WRONG!!  And those beliefs were taught to them by the church.  Freedom from Rome was not in the cards from a Messiah bent on freeing them from sin, freedom from sin was more important.  But the church disagreed.  And it still does.  So many churches continue to teach that freedom from sin is nothing more than forgiveness bundled with a license to continue sinning.  Dangerous doctrines that equate infinite forgiveness with the ability to infinitely keep sinning with nothing but a little guilt.  Or worse, they teach us that freedom from sin comes only when “we” try hard enough.  Neither is true.  But we cling to error in our beliefs about salvation that stunt our journey and prevent us from a connection with Jesus that would in fact actually save us, from us.  We don’t need a partnership with Jesus, we need a hostile take-over by Him (us out, Him in).  We do not have permission to sin because God “understands” our weakness.  We need a cure from God as we direct our weakness and everything else about us to Him in full surrender of what “we” think needs to be done about it.

Recognizing one’s own stupidity has an upside.  Seeing our true need has benefits we cannot imagine as Matthew continues the words of Jesus picking up in verse 16 saying … “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. [verse 17] For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”  Being willing to be taught by Jesus begins by recognizing we have nothing to offer Him, and everything to gain by listening and being taught by Him.  And on that score, “church” is not the same as personal submission and surrender to Jesus Christ.  Before accepting what others say about scripture (including this author), pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the leadership of Jesus Christ.  Otherwise, group think, or who you think may have a point, may not.  Jesus does not want to leave you blind to His word.  Nor is His word dangerous to you.  But your pride in your learning is dangerous to you.  Being unwilling to expand, alter, or change your mind about what you know when something new is brought to you by Jesus is very dangerous to your journey.  It can stunt it badly.

We have the wealth of scripture, not only of the New Testament, but of the Old Testament as well.  BOTH are views of our God’s intense love for us, and His work to redeem us.  If the OT does not read that way to you yet, you need to view it more through the lens of Jesus Christ.  If what you get out of the OT is a vengeful God who wipes people out because He feels like it, you have entirely missed the lens of Jesus Christ.  For the life of Christ was in full submission to His Father’s will from day-one to day-last.  He never did His own thing, and what is more, all those acts of love were His Father’s thing for you.  That intense love for you is not only from Jesus but from the Father as well.  That means when people die in the OT, it was not a time for joy, but a time for GREAT sorrow.  If the embrace of sin had to be cleansed; you should know that it made God sorry His efforts to redeem were so soundly rejected.  It did not give Him glee.  Jesus was saddened at the hearts of the Sanhedrin who would rather have killed Him, than learn from Him.  Have you joined those Sanhedrin ranks some 2000 years after they fizzled out?

Or, are you ready to see the stupid in you, you call certainty of knowledge.  Are you ready to be taught, that is to be the perpetual student ever willing to give up an incorrect belief for the right one as Jesus reveals them to you?  Pay no attention to the vehicle for The Truth, only insure it is Jesus you follow, even if the messenger is flawed or not what you would expect, or through a means you otherwise never thought possible.  Or has your heart waxed gross, have you decided you have enough love for your lifetime and could not possibly need more.  Have you grown ambivalent to need, particularly the need of others you hardly know.  Have you closed your eyes to the new, believing the old will save you?  Have you shut off listening because you do not like the method or messenger the sound comes from, an imperfect vessel like yourself.  And we wonder why we need a journey, and why it takes so so long for us to learn to trust and fully surrender our own will.  Because what we “know” is likely the thing we need to relearn.  How desperately we need that connection to Jesus.

And the parables were not over yet …

 

 

Schindler's List and Your Own ...

In the middle of chapter 7 of his book of Revelations of Jesus Christ, John again describes another scene of the redeemed standing in front of the throne of God.  This should be a scene of worship and jubilation such as has yet to be experienced by mankind in all of history to date.  And so it begins this way, but the ending contains a twist.  We begin by setting the context, John has recently been describing a series of events that occur as each of the six seals are loosed on a book that God the Father offered only to one who was worthy to open it.  Jesus Christ the Lamb had taken this book and so far, has opened six of its seals.  Upon the sixth one, He returns to take the redeemed home.  However, John interrupts the sequence for a moment to pause, and show in the first part of this chapter, a special sealing of the people of God nearly right before He returns.  This sealing identifies 144,000 servants who will have a special role throughout the end of earth’s history and will remain especially dedicated in the kingdom of heaven.  However, John seems to want to be clear from the next section of his vision, that it is not ONLY the 144,000 that will be the redeemed who stand before the Lamb in the kingdom He prepares for us now.

So John continues in verse 9 … “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;”  Notice first, John describes seeing a great multitude which were beyond the numbering.  He could have said thousands times thousands times thousands for it is clear from later passages he understood the concept of numbers this high.  But he did not.  Instead he is clear that this throng or multitude is too great to even categorize in this limited way.  Next, John is clear to write, that these people are discernable to be from ALL nations AND kindreds AND people AND tongues.  Talk about diversity.  The salvation of God is NOT limited only to the Jewish nation descending from Abraham.  But instead it includes people like Melchizideck a priest of God alive in the time of Abraham, and the sheik of Midian who fathered Zipporah the wife of Moses and was aware of the God who sometimes seemed present on Mt Horeb, it includes the harlot of the wall of Jericho, and Ruth the Moabitess daughter-in-law of Naomi and grandmother of David.  All through Biblical history salvation was always intended and available to any who sought to find the redemption of the true God.  His hands were alive from the lives and visions of Pharaoh in the time of Joseph, to that of Nebuchadnezzar in the time of Daniel.  And since His ascension, the gospel was going to ALL nations and the harvest described here was great; people from EVERY ethnicity, group, and language.   The crowd standing before the throne had the commonality of white robes, and palms in their hands.  Despite our diverse origins, our fate of salvation has us ALL stand equally before the throne of the Father, and of His Son Jesus Christ, both discreetly identified in this passage.

John continues in verse 10 … “And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”  Notice again the shouts of praise are directed at BOTH our God upon His throne, AND unto the Lamb who is also present.  It is clear this is the shouts of praise from mankind dressed in the white robes the Lamb has provided to everyone there, His righteousness for our own.  For our chief reason for being there, is on the topic we praise Him for, our salvation.  This praise elicits a wider response as John continues in verse 11 … “And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, [verse 12] Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”  The innumerable host of the redeemed are joined by the entire throng of angels who add their own praises to ours as we all worship our God and the Lamb.  Notice too, that even when the work of our redemption has been completed, still present at the throne room of heaven, are specifically listed the 24 elders, and the 4 beasts or other life forms John has already described.

And as is the practice of those in heaven, who love to hear of the goodness and salvation of our God, one of the elders poses a somewhat rhetorical question to John as he writes in verse 13 … “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?”  The elder gives John a chance to reflect on the enormity of the harvest that the love of God has been able to redeem.  John answers in verse 14 … “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Therein is the key to our salvation.  It is not a lack of trials and tribulations that sees us made free.  It is an embrace of them.  It is for us to go through these things, and grasp to Christ, to find His righteousness instead of our own.  We are made pure through His love, imparting purity within us when none existed there before.  We wash the filth of our attempts at self-salvation in the purity of His sacrifice of blood of our behalf.  It may be our tribulation that drives us to the foot of the cross.  It may be our hardships that remind us of our so great need.  It may be the things we want and are denied that teach us to want something more, and something different, than just what would satisfy our naturally selfish desires.  It is a reform of who we are, that is what we need, and what He offers.  It is our tribulation and clinging to Christ throughout it, that sees us take our place in the vision John describes.  Perhaps he looks directly at you in this scene.  He would not know you by name, because you were born so many years after his passing.  But he may recognize you once again as we are all reunited in the scene he foretells that will come to pass here.

The elder speaking to John continues to describe what happens next in verse 15 … “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.”  The redeemed are welcomed into the very throne room of God the Father, and have the high privilege of serving him for all eternity.  The concepts of day and night become irrelevant.  Perhaps the concept of time itself is to become irrelevant as we grow tired of measuring it in the light of the infinite.  The elder continues in verse 16 … “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.”  Here the elder destroys all the priorities of our life on earth in a single sentence.  We spend the majority of our lives here on earth struggling to survive and meet our most basic needs.  We need to eat, to drink, and to find shelter to cover us from the elements.  We rationalize how much of our spiritual lives we are willing to sacrifice in order that our basic needs are met first.  In one sentence the elder speaking to John, addresses these so paltry concerns.  We shall hunger no more, nor thirst, nor are we to worry about the heat of the sun, or the cold of the night.  These so high priorities were NEVER supposed to be something we worried about.  Not in heaven, nor in this world.  For His promise was to see our needs met in this life as well as the next.  We simply do not trust Him enough to fulfill His promises here and believe we must ‘help’ Him do so.  So we offer like Cain our best efforts, and reflecting the trust of Cain in our worry and reality that they are simply not enough nor could they ever be.  Yet the promise here says plainly our needs are to be met.

The elder continues in verse 17 … “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”  Here the elder cuts to the heart of the matter.  We shall hunger no more because we are to be fed, again not of work of our own making, but by the Lamb Himself.  As He promised us here on earth and we failed to heed Him on the matter, in heaven we are to “led” unto fountains of living waters.  We do not find them on our own, or through the work of our hands.  They are a gift He leads us to find.  We cannot find them when we attempt to lead ourselves there.  Nor can we find food and water while we are too busy to allow Him to do as He promised; instead we find ourselves always distracted by the work we think we must perform in order to eat and drink.  Our American ethic lives in contrast to the word of God.  As Americans we believe it is our hard work that sees us survive and succeed.  His Word tells us that our survival is His gift to us, that He offers freely.  Should we elect to let Him lead us, we can free ourselves from the worry and stress of our survival and enter into His peace and surety that what we need will be provided in the day in which we need it, according to the mercy of His so great love.

But there is in this last text in chapter 7, a phrase which is too often overlooked.  The elder promises John that God the Father will “wipe away all tears from their eyes”.  One could apply many meanings to this text.  In a scene of such jubilation, we could assume these are tears of joy, but then, why would God feel the need to wipe away tears of gratitude and thanksgiving, for those are sure to be repeated nearly every time we ponder the enormity of His gift to us.  No, I believe the tears here described are those of a profound sadness, we have yet to ever even consider.  Despite our surroundings, perhaps even because of them, I believe a sad recognition is to come upon us.  On this day, no matter how far we progressed in the re-creation of His love in us here on earth, in heaven we will finally know the fullness of His re-creation of who we are.  We will on this day, truly know what it means to love as He loves.  We will truly know the full absence of self-centered, self-focused, self-motivated lives.  Instead we will be in perfect harmony with Him.  We will be in like-mind with Him, a pure reflection of His image without the distortion of self to cloud it.  In this setting we will at last be made perfect, and know perfect love for others.

And then it will dawn upon us.  That great and final day of judgment Christianity has long feared.  Not the scenes of courtrooms where the damned attempt to plead their case before a punishing God judge ready to pronounce sentence of eternal torture.  This is not what John just wrote.  But instead, surrounded by the perfection of heaven, standing and welcomed even in to the throne room of God the Father Himself.  Our perfection completed by the work of Christ within us, and no tempter or accuser of the brethren present to torment us.  Only us.  We will stand in perfection of love for others and come to the realization of just how little we did while still on the this earth for the millions who did not share our fate of His mercy.  We will realize like Oscar Schindler at the end of Steven Spielberg’s movie that even if he had done just a little bit more, another life could have been saved, another life could have been there enjoying protection from the chaos and destruction of evil that surrounded them.  We, like Oscar, are doomed to repeat this scene, and repeat this knowledge.  It will not be a vengeful God who stands in judgment of our pathetic earthly lives.  It will be us.  It will be our purity that remembers with infinite precision the slights we did to others on this earth.  We will remember our sins with perfect clarity and know how little we did to help others see the heaven we now reside within.  We will remember even worse the actions we took that drove others away from the source of love.

Our sins have long caused ripples of pain that resulted in the sacrifice of Christ’s blood to redeem us.  And our hearts remained unmoved.  We never fully appreciated how much our burden was upon Him until now.  And now as we share a like-mind with Him, we begin to know what it means to see love rejected.  We begin to see even worse how our own lives and actions may have driven others away from God, away from forgiveness.  We may have prompted others to do evil with us, or to do evil because of us.  In so doing, we were agents of evil, that drove others away from His redemption and to a fate we ourselves deserve.  Perfection is no barrier to memory.  This is the true judgment all Christianity should fear.  Not one of a vengeful God inflicting eternal torture by flame which is a myth of His character and in reality is scheduled to have a final end anyway.  But one of infinite remorse, and regret, for what we today refuse to do; to love others.

Our lives spent in hateful words of condemnation that bear no fruit.  That is the saddest picture of Christianity there will ever be.  Instead of working with Him in like mind to love others back to the throne of grace, we spend today finding it convenient to ignore our brother’s need, or worse, add to it. When the perfection of love finally embraces us.  It will cause us to remember a time when we refused to be so molded.  And when in our stubborn refusal, we did evil in the sight of the Lord, and caused pain to those who are not present to forgive us.   We will never know the forgiveness of those who were lost because we could not find the energy to love them in spite of what they did to us.  We, whether victim or perpetrator of evil by those who are not present in heaven, will bear the heaviest of hearts at their absence.  It will not be a thing celebrated.  It will not be a thing of threats used to condemn others and make ourselves feel better about our own inadequacies.  It will instead be a thing of great personal pain that we simply DID NOT DO MORE.   Oscar Schindler had a list that in retrospect he believed was just not long enough.  So will you.  So will you see your own list of those who you just did not love enough, or love rightly.   This list will haunt you in the halls of perfection.

It is for this reason, that God the Father MUST wipe away the tears from our eyes.  If He did not, we would spend the eternity of heaven mourning those who refused to be a part of it with us and because of us.  If He did not, we would not ever be able to forgive ourselves as He has forgiven us.  But the lesson is not only intended to show us His final infinite mercy.  It is to remind us that there is YET TIME TO LOVE.   There is yet an opportunity to show love to your spouse, or your children, or your parents, or your friends, or more important still – to those who would call you their enemy.  The distinction of enemy will no longer exist in the perfection of heaven that is to come.  There, you will only call brother, who now you would use other names to describe.   There, you will finally recognize the extreme value and importance of he or she who now you perceive to be the bane of your existence.  There is NO enemy you carry in this world, who you will not one day mourn with the heaviest of hearts for your personal part in their lack of attendance in the jubilant scenes of worship.  And there is no forgiveness you will be able to offer yourself, for the loss of someone dear to you, who also you simply did not love enough while there was yet time to do it.  We will NEED for God to once again wipe away the tears from our eyes lest we never cease for weeping.  But despite knowing our past will one day require this mercy from the Lord, there is still YET TIME TO LOVE.

No act of love you perform in this life will ever be cause for regret in the next one.  The Revelation of Jesus Christ that should be most salient to us all is His life of purest love for others while He lived it in this world.  We should take the time to submit ourselves to Christ, so that while there is yet time in this world, we can be re-created in His image, and come to know what it means to love others as He loves them and us.  As we are molded into a purer reflection of His love, we will find ourselves with renewed energy to love others and think nothing of the ‘cost’.  Those acts of selfless love, will be the acts that move others closer to the throne of grace.  They will be in our memory a stark contrast from the acts of self-love that pulled others away from the presence of Christ.  Acts of love for others will not require a wiping away of our tears, and there is yet time to see them done, and to know joy in the doing of them.

The first verse of chapter eight resumes with the opening of the final seventh seal.  John records there … “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”  The pause is over.  The sealing is completed.  The Lord has returned to claim us in the sixth seal.  The scene of praise John has just described in heaven is about to take place.  Perhaps upon the opening of the seventh seal, heaven is silent because we who have been redeemed are on our way back to it from the recently destroyed earth.  We are journeying home to the Father.  Our earthly lives completed.  The time to love here on earth at an end.  We carry now, only the list of those to who we loved, and those who we did not.  Our jubilation will yet be tempered by our tears.  But His mercy and love are greater still and will see those tears yet wiped from our eyes …

And further Revelations were still to come …

 

The Blending of Church and State (part 2 of 2) ...

This was a very unfortunate turn of events.  It made no sense to Pilate.  Why kill an innocent man, and let go a known criminal?  Pilate must resort to a plan B now in order to avoid being responsible for the shedding of innocent blood.  If there is hatred for Christ, perhaps Pilate can illicit pity for Him.  So John continues the story in chapter 19 and verse one saying … “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.”  This punishment was the worst the Roman Empire had invented short of death.  A whip was used with broken shards of glass in the tips in order to rip flesh from the body on its return.  39 lashes were given, as 40 killed a man.  Having endured this torture the victim would never be the same.  But from Pilate’s point of view, at least He would be alive.  The Jews would have sympathy and curb their anger having seen this Man so close to death, and enduring so much pain.  Pilate could emerge guilt free as he was now simply picking the best of 2 bad options.

 

But the soldiers of Pilate had no philosophical idealism regarding truth.  They were men of blood.  They fought to live, and hated their enemies.  To them, Christ must have been guilty of fomenting revolt or Pilate would have never had Him punished so violently.  So the soldiers took it upon themselves to add to the punishment of their perceived enemy.  John continues in verse 2 … “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, [verse 3] And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.”  This was not done at the direction of Pilate.  Pilate was looking for a way out of this, not to simply be cruel.  Had cruelty been his goal, he could have simply elected to see Christ die on the cross from moment number one.  Though the acts of the soldiers would only lend credence to his plans now.  He could display the broken abused body of Christ, the humiliation He had endured, and hope to gain sympathy from this accusing crowd.

John continues in verse 4 … “Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. [verse 5] Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”  Normally this sight would have been enough to turn the stomachs of the average citizen.  Only men of combat were used to seeing this much blood and pain.  This was sure to illicit sympathy, what more could anyone demand where it comes to meeting out punishment?  They responded in verse 6 … “When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.”  The response of evil to seeing that much pain and blood, was a demand for more.  Evil will never be satisfied until death is its result.  The hunger for more is ever present.  No amount of money, fame, glory, or gratification will ever satisfy the craving of evil, for evil must always demand more.  Where love would look at Christ in pity, even Pilate looked at Christ with pity.  Evil has no pity.  The demand of these men keeping themselves pure to partake of the Passover was for death.

Pilate responds in the same verse, effectively saying, “fine” go do it yourselves then, because I will not condemn him.  Pilate adds He has done nothing wrong, there is no fault in Him.  Even under the duress of the worst punishment Rome could envision before death; Christ has done nothing from which to find fault.  He has confessed no wrong doing, because He has done no wrongdoing.  He is a truly innocent man.  Pilate has never seen this before.  Most of us have done something we are not proud of.  When faced with nearly life ending torture and pain we are more likely to confess it, to get the pain to end.  But Christ had no such option, because He had done nothing wrong.  Pilate could simply not figure out why these men had it in for Christ.  But the Jews began to enlighten him when they responded in verse 7 … “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

There it is; the reason behind the hatred.  The pious Jews had found someone who they were not holier than.  They did not want to accept that “this” was the embodiment of their God on earth.  Pilate had been informed about the prophecies of the Messiah.  He understood the idea of a God walking among men.  His own Roman religions, based on those of the Greeks that preceded them, told stories of gods among men who carried with them great power.  Jesus had just told Pilate that He was a king, but not a king of this world.  Perhaps Jesus came from another world entirely.  Perhaps Jesus was from Olympus, or Jupiter, or Mars.  Now the miracles made sense.  The Jews believed in only one God and they did not want Jesus to be it.  But Pilate now saw how a diety might be a very real threat to the Jewish religion.  However the worse threat was to Pilate.  Could Pilate judge a real god?

John continues in verse 8 … “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; [verse 9] And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.”  Pilate’s wife had a dream to avoid this man before him.  In Roman culture dreams were valued.  Pilate heard about all the miracles and now feared they were not stories, but in fact were true.  What is worse, what if the Jews were essentially correct?  What if this was the actual son of the only true God?  He asks Jesus to say where He is from.  But this time Jesus is silent.  The silence is worse for Pilate.  He sees He is uncovering truth.  Jesus likely is a god, but what if He is the real God?  Pilate attempts to assert power to get Christ to answer His questions.  He already knows torture won’t work.  Jesus has already been through more of that than any other prisoner he keeps.  So He tries to use the lure of freedom to get Christ to respond saying in verse 10 … “Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”  Pilate could still kill Him, but more to the goal of he wanted to do, he wanted to release Him.

Jesus responds to Pilate in verse 11 … “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.”  He does not deny He is a God.  What if Jesus is the God of Truth?  What if that is His special power?  Jesus recognizes that power comes from God above, and so tells Pilate that he is where he is, because of the power of God.  Pilate now sees that his own life is a result of the plans of God, the blessings of God.  Now stands before him, the God of Truth.   This is an injustice.  This is no longer a question about guilt or innocence.  This has become a quest to see the injustice ended.  Truth must be set free.  Truth must be restored to the world.  Pilate has abandoned completely his role as judge and now seeks to become the advocate for Christ.  He wants to be His defense attorney.  He wants to see Christ set free.  He now seeks every political favor, he employs every ability he has, to see Christ released.  He does not want the God of Truth to be killed by his own edict.  Taxes are just not that important.  It is likely then when he sends Christ to Herod to see if perhaps Herod will free Him.  John does not record this series of events in his gospel, but the mission of Pilot to set Christ free John does record. 

John states Pilate’s intent in verse 12 … “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.”  Something was horribly wrong.  These people hated Caesar.  They constantly looked to revolt against Rome.  For them to be aligning themselves now with the very leader they hated in order to see this innocent man killed, was perhaps the best evidence that what Christ had said, was indeed the truth.  This king from another world, this God of Truth, how could he pose so great a threat to the Jewish religious leadership?  In verse 13 John continues … “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. [verse 14] And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! [verse 15] But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

The religious leadership had gone from accusing Christ to now accusing Pilate.  The reports that were sure to travel to Rome were; that Pilate had sided with a revolutionary against Rome, while the loyal priests were faithful to Caesar.  All the attempts to illicit sympathy had failed.  The crowd seemed almost more enraged.  The preparation for the Passover had already begun, yet these “pure” men continued to stay at the judgment hall in order to insure that murder took place, and Pilate did not release Christ while they attended to their religious duties.  No matter what, this Roman authority must be made to have Christ executed.  It was un-nerving to the priests to consider that in His brief time with Pilate, Christ may have made yet another convert to Himself.  If a Roman governor were susceptible to the teachings of Christ, who could possibly be safe.  The leadership had to insure the death of Christ, if that meant publicly declaring an allegiance ONLY to Caesar, then so be it.  The Jews were willing to align themselves to the thing they hated most, to see God die.  It is akin to having Jews with full knowledge of history aligning themselves to Neo-Nazi’s in order to see one of their own put to death.   The people would hate it.  The people would not understand.  But they so needed to see this threat to their control killed, they were willing to say anything, align with the devil himself, to see Christ killed once and for all.

The Jewish religious leaders would allow no compromise.  They would allow for nothing other than death.  So despite his best efforts, the only way to release Christ now, was to start a revolution of his own.  Pilate would be required to give his own life to see Christ released.  The costs were just too high.  Perhaps Pilate reasoned that the other gods might intervene on Christ’s behalf.  But no matter his thinking, whether it was weakness, or just exhaustion that led to capitulation, he finally gave in.  John records in verse 16 … “Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.”  It is the ultimate of ironies that in the union of Church and State, it became State who sought desperately to escape the union and see justice and mercy prevail.   Church was bent on murder.  Church ALWAYS is.  The compulsion of the conscience through law has no other end game than the murder of dissent.  State is merely the tool of murder, but it is Church that drives it, and allows for no other outcome.  Had Christ been arrested and tried by Roman authorities without any intervention or interest from the priests, He would have been released, likely without even the scouring.  Pilate was done with the question of His guilt in only a brief initial encounter.  State would have seen Christ set free.  It was Church that demanded He be killed.

When modern Christians seek to reunite Church and State, when they label this effort a return to family values, they put themselves on the same path that killed the Son of God.  A return to the values of God cannot be done by the pen of our lawmakers.  It can only be accomplished by our individual submission to Christ and His transformative love.  Our religious values need no “protection” the State can offer, rather they cannot be bound or benefited by anything the State purports to control.  Pilate had no authority that God had not granted him.  Our religion does not need the shackles of a partnership with the State.  It needs for us to embrace the love of Christ so fully that our very existence changes the world around us, and impacts each life we encounter.  This is the way to change the world for the better, to demonstrate love in action.  Control is not the province of our God.  It is not His way to end conflict.  Love is.  Choice is.  Freedom that results from it is.  Let us abandon the ideas of re-uniting with the power of the State, and seek instead to be re-united with the power of Love that comes from Christ alone.

 

The Blending of Church and State (part 1 of 2) ...

There are those who believe that morality should be legislated.  They are not content to simply offer laws that prevent one person from damaging another, but rather believe we should extend the laws to make religious doctrine and belief the law of the land.  In effect, they would wish to have the full power of the State, to enforce that in which they believe.  Majority fundamentalist law is not ever a good thing.  Christians despise the idea of having to live under Muslim Sharia law.  But these same Christians see their own beliefs as under attack by atheists and Islamists, and so to “protect” themselves and their way of life, would gladly vote Christian principles and beliefs into our government enforced law.  Neither Christian nor Muslim would enjoy living under the most stringent Jewish fundamentalist laws.  Going back in history when the Catholic Church held heavy influence over the governments of Europe, vast killings were done in the name of God.  Tracing back further, John records the fate of Christ, when the Religion that had its roots and establishment by God through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses joined with the State power of Rome to decide the fate of Son of God.  The results are always the same when control is attempted over the conscience.  To ever have perfect freedom, love must be a choice, not a compulsion.

When we seek to take away the choice of what to believe, by the power of the State, it only ever ends in the death of the opposition.  John records the most poignant of examples in his gospel, chapter 18, and beginning in verse 28 … “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.”  The religious leadership of God’s church delivered Christ to Rome in order to be put to death.  The governor Pilate had not asked for this, he had not sought it.  Christ was brought to him, in order to be condemned to death.  Note that even while conducting a conspiracy to commit murder, the religious leaders are careful to “follow the rules” of their traditions, attempting not to “defile” themselves in order that they may eat the Passover.  As such they do not go all the way into the judgment hall of Pilate where they intend Christ to be condemned.  Observance of the Passover has become a highly regimented event of purported great significance throughout the nation.  It offers the religious elite an opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the nation why they are holier than them.  It affirms their control over the people.

The words of Christ to the Samaritan woman that foretold the loss of significance about where people worshipped God, would completely undo the influence of the Pharisees over the people.  Without a specific temple, in a specific city, at a specific time – the individualized worship of God – would supplement all the traditions the Pharisees had established over the people to keep them under control.  Take for example the refusal to enter Pilate’s judgment hall.  Since when is entry into any building forbidden by the laws, intentions, and values of God?  The purpose for which we enter a building may run counter to the love of God, but the building itself has no moral significance.  It is merely a structure made of wood or stone.  Examine also the hypocrisy that allows money changers to literally take over the temple, cheating the worshippers and providing kick-backs to the priests during the holiest of feasts.  This practice was not prohibited it was encouraged.  Examine also the hypocrisy of a conspiracy to commit murder that is the purpose of their visit to Pilate, and yet they still believe themselves “pure” enough to partake of the Passover so long as they do not enter a particular structure while accomplishing the goal of murder of the innocent.  This is the extent to which the mind will rationalize its own evil when religion is used to kill others.

The religious leaders have convinced themselves, that as long as they do not personally kill Him, the blood of Christ will be on the hands of the Romans.  They take no personal accountability for the capture and arrest in the garden, for the mocking, insults, and beating during their examination of Him, nor for their complete inability to find one real fault in Him.  They act as if they accidently discovered Christ in the hands of Pilate about to be condemned to death, and they simply had no response to this eventuality; instead of seeing how this entire series of events could not have occurred without them.  They forget the blood money they paid to Judas to betray Him into their hands.  They forget the council meetings they have held where His death was agreed to, planned, financed, and now in the process of being carried out.  Evil does not ever recognize itself.  Evil hides, rationalizes, blames others, pretends to be righteous, and when based on religious fervor – convinces itself it is the will of God.

Pilate, who I imagine was perfectly happy with his own evening’s itinerary is disturbed by this interruption, and is forced to see what the commotion is about.  John continues in verse 29 … “Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? [verse 30] They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.”  Pilate now wants to know why Christ has been brought to him.  The answer they offer suggests that the crimes of Christ are actually against the government of Rome (otherwise why would they have brought Christ to Pilate).  Pilate, thinking that Christ must have simply been a thorn to the Pharisees, suggests the next logical course of action in verse 31 … “Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: [verse 32] That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.”  Pilate is offering the Jewish leaders autonomy to judge a trouble maker and punish Him however they like.  But the Jews are not interested in punishing Christ, they want Him dead.  And they still want to partake of Passover, so they need the Romans to do it.  The typical Roman method of execution was crucifixion and the words of Christ about being “lifted up” foretold this fate. 

Thus begins the examination of Christ by Pilate.  The fame of this miracle worker could hardly be ignored, there were political implications to what Pilate would do with Him.  The chief job of the Roman governor was to insure the smooth flow of Roman taxes back to Rome.  Insurrection posed a threat to the flow of money, and thus it would be considered a failure by Rome to have it occur, or last for any length of time.  Pilate knew the crowds of common people sought this man out.  He knew that if the followers of Christ were to become enraged, it could disrupt the flow of taxes back to Rome.  So he begins his inquiry with the most pressing political question of the day.  John records in verse 33 … “Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?”  If Christ intends to accept the coronation of the people, or perhaps if He already has, this is something Pilate must weigh when deciding His fate.  Is He a threat already?   Jesus responds in verse 34 … “Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?”  In effect, Jesus asks, did my accusers tell you this, or have you obtained this idea from the witness of the people or perhaps a personal encounter?  The subtlety here in the answer of Christ, is that He has made no such declaration, and His predicament would suggest no earthly kingship.

Pilate responds with a sarcastic comment in verse 35 … “Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?”  Pilate is NO Jew, He is a Roman governor.  Pilate will have had no personal encounter with Christ up to now.  But in any case, the Jewish people have brought one of their own to a Roman for execution.  This is not a common event.  Further the High Priest and leadership of the religion have brought Christ here.  So Pilate wonders what Jesus has done to merit such disfavor among His own people.  Jesus responds in verse 36 … “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”  Notice first, that Jesus does not see the need for a fight against Rome even if He had been the king of this people, rather His servants would have fought to keep Him from being delivered to “the Jews”.  Interesting that even if He were the King of these people He intended no threat to Rome.  So even if guilty of what His accusers said, Pilate would have no interest in the accusation as Christ posed no threat to Rome.  But what Jesus was actually saying was something a bit deeper.  He was a King, but not a King over the world of evil in which we live.  His Kingship was over our hearts in order to break our chains to evil, and restore our freedom to love.  That was the perfection He was here to accomplish.  Jesus sees Himself as a King over all people, in that as many as choose to follow Him, and choose to acknowledge Him as their King, He accepts.

Pilate continues the exchange in verse 37 … “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. [verse 38] Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.”  Pilate upon hearing the answer of Christ believes perhaps He is a King, but just not from around there.  Jesus changes the direction of the conversation and reaches out to Pilate in a way his quest for Roman justice would understand.  Jesus says He is here for this cause, that He bears witness unto the truth.  Those who seek truth, listen to His voice.  Pilate, who has sat in the judgment hall many times, and heard the voice of lawyers and witnesses, knows full well that people bend the truth to suit their own purposes.  Witnesses contradict each other without intent to lie, but offer testimony that could not possibly all be true, as they disagree about the facts.  Christian religious denominations study the same Bible, read the same texts, and come to completely different conclusions about what the “truth” is.  Each believing only its version of truth is truth.  So Pilate responds with his most perplexed evaluation of this asking “what is truth?”  The answer was literally standing in front of him.  Christ had said it before; He was the embodiment of truth.  What Pilate was sure of by now, is that there was literally no threat to Rome, nor guilt in the person brought before him.  In short, Christ was not worthy of death at all.

John records that Pilate believed he had a way out from being involved with the condemnation of an innocent man.  The Romans offered the Jews a traditional prisoner release on the occasion of the Passover.  So Pilate attempts to make the choice a simple one.  He will offer the people the most notorious criminal they know.  Pilate will offer them a known murderer, robber, and general criminal that would threaten their very lives if he escaped.  Or, they can have Christ, who from what Pilate can tell, is completely harmless.  So in verse 39 it continues … “But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? [verse 40] Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.”  The people would prefer a criminal who intended them harm, than the freedom that Christ would offer.  The choice is no different today for us.  So often we choose the tempter who means us harm, than the freedom from pain Christ longs to bring us.  We like our addictions.  We like our misery.  We revel in it.  And thus we add our voices to those who prefer Barabbas to Christ.  It looks as though Religion is determined to make the State bend to it’s will.

But the trial and the blending of Church and State was not over yet …