Helping God [part 1 of 2] ...

There are many stories in the Bible about what happens when we (man that is) decide God needs some help in fulfilling His plans, and we set about to do so.  Just because these stories are captured and printed in the Bible does NOT mean that each episode was designed as an object lesson for us to follow; rather, they are presented to show us what problems we bring about when we do this.  At the outset of any such example story, our intentions are good, our plans are solid, they make “common sense”, and they would appear to have achieved the goals God had in mind.  All of this sounds true.  But what it leaves out, is a dependent faith upon God alone to do what He has promised.  We begin to “steal” some of the responsibility from God and lay the burden upon our own shoulders, hoping to share the accomplishment of fulfilling what indeed was only supposed to be what God alone can really do.  And because we are human, we insert our humanity, our ideas, our practicality into what was supposed to be divine, beyond our abilities to accomplish (indeed beyond the capabilities of any man) – and what results is far from the plans of God, and deep into the messes we are capable of making – all of it done, in the name of God.

Now there are many things that God has asked for our help in doing.  Things like loving each other, forgiving each other, showing mercy and compassion.  The basics.  In doing these things we are not trying to “accomplish” something, rather only trying to see in ourselves, how much we need God to truly accomplish even the basics; and trying to benefit others by reflecting His love.  What I am referring to however is far beyond the basics, but promises that need a divine intervention.  When we try to help God get those done, by doing some of the work ourselves, problems ensue, and messes follow.  Take for consideration an early example committed by the “father of the Jewish faith”, namely Abraham.  Despite him seeming to singularly be seeking the true God in his time (he wasn’t, the priest Melchisidek proves that).  Abraham was promised a son, and from that son, a nation, kings, and the salvation of the earth.  But Abraham was getting old, very old.  His wife along with him.  So Sarah decides to “help” God, by handing Abraham her servant to impregnate and fulfill God’s promise.  Abraham agrees with this plan, and executes it, Ishmael is born.  But Ishmael was NOT the promise, he was the result of our mistake of thinking “we” could do what God alone could do.

Despite our mistake, it was no fault of Ishmael, and God loves Ishmael and blessed him, and his lineage survives to this day (fairly numerous themselves).  But the animosity between Ishmael and Isaac also lasts to this day (and it is unlikely we may ever see peace in the middle east because of it).  Abraham makes yet another mistake in Egypt when he lies to Pharaoh to keep Pharoah from committing murder to steal his wife.  If God had not intervened, Abraham would have lost his wife anyway.  Just because Abraham was known as the father of the Jewish faith, does not make him perfect.  And when he broke trust with God, and tried to help God himself, instead of trusting to the promise of God, that required divine intervention, things went wrong, with lasting effects wrong.  These early stories are not told for us to emulate, they are told for us to learn from and avoid repeating.  But we seem bent on ignoring the lessons of broken trust and getting out of them, what only our selfishness could derive.  In Abraham’s case for example, we justify multiple marriages (as if that is what God had in mind).  We say that because God loved Ishmael and his mother, it must be OK with God that this happened (in effect blessing the idea of multiple marriages).  It was not.  It was human weakness that did this, not the plan of God.  But it is man’s selfishness that derives only this “justification” from what should have been a cautionary story.

Fast forward to the time of Christ.  Matthew in his gospel to his contemporaries focuses hard on identifying the traitor Judas, and describing his crimes in great detail.  From reading his gospel one could easily get a sense that Matthew was not too fond of any betrayer and not very interested in “why” Judas would do this great evil, only that he did.  But motives matter.  Consider for a moment how this may have been a case of “man” trying to help God do what man believed God was supposed to do and had promised to do.  Everyone in these days believed the Messiah would come to throw off Roman oppression and build a kingdom that would never end.  The disciples believed this too, no matter how many times Jesus said otherwise.  Matthew believed it, as did Judas, and Peter.  But Jesus despite clearly being the Messiah, was failing to accomplish what God had promised He would do (according to their interpretation of scripture at the time).  Jesus had too much love in Him.  Now sometimes, only when faced with the emminent threat of death, do we do what needs to be done to survive.  Judas may have been sure that if Jesus were actually faced with death, He would rise up, and become the king and conqueror each of the disciples believed Him to be.  But they were all wrong.  Wrong about their interpretation of timing, and of scripture, and of the real role of the Messiah, which was far greater than their limited interpretations would have allowed.

When faced with death, Jesus would choose to die.  His divinity would lay down its power in order that His sacrifice would save us all.  It is the basis of our salvation, that Jesus would herein take on our punishment for us.  But even though the reward was great, the cost was great as well.  Matthew picks up the story in chapter 26 beginning in verse 36 saying … “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. [verse 37] And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. [verse 38] Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.”  Jesus knows what is coming.  But He is not happy happy joy joy, skipping down the merry road – instead He is as sad as He has ever gotten.  It is not so much the death that bothers Him.  It is the absolute dread of being separated from His Father.  He has never known that.  He is not sure He will be able to come back from that.  He may forever be marred by the stain of our sins, and unable to ever again enter in the Father’s love.  That eternal separation would be beyond words of sadness to describe.  And Jesus fears that fate more than any other, for separation from the love of God, is the literal definition of “hell”.

So to help Him in His greatest time of need He takes a few of His disciples further into the garden, and asks for prayer.  Matthew continues in verse 39 saying … “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”  Nevertheless “Not” as “I will”.  The will of Jesus was to avoid the risk of eternal separation from the Love of His Father.  That love was all He had ever known.  And Jesus did NOT want to risk ever losing it.  Even our salvation did not change the mind of Christ on this matter.  But Jesus did what we all fail to do, when our needs would turn us to a different path – He submitted His own will, to the will of the Father, trusting in God to know better than Himself.  It is here where the story of Abraham is undone.  It is here where the countless other stories in the Bible find a different ending.  Jesus does, what mankind has steadfastly refused to do – to submit Himself, and His will, to the will of the Father.  And it is in this example, how our salvation is truly born.  And in no other.  Jesus does not want to do this thing, but He trusts God to know how to proceed, according to the will of the Father.

And now shift your focus from a Jesus unwilling to proceed if left up to Him, to the heart of His Father instead.  Here Jesus presents the Father with an opportunity to call the whole thing off.  The Father must also risk eternal separation with His only Son for this plan of man’s salvation to work.  And let’s face it, we have given the Father no particular reason to “want” to save us, outside of His own inherent love for us, a mystery none of us truly understand.  If anything, we have been very bad children.  We constantly deny Him.  Spit in His face.  Tell Him He is to blame for every bad thing that ever happens to us, never taking any responsibility ourselves, or putting Satan on trial.  Nope, it is all an “act of God”.  We must be filled with poo and its stench to the top of our skies.  Jesus on the other hand is perfect, and is built of perfect love.  Jesus is His only Son, who has never done a single thing wrong ever.  It is Jesus in whom He is well pleased and very proud.  And it is this perfect Son, that God the Father must risk eternal separation from in order that we poo-poo people can be reconciled.  Those odds are a no-brainer, at least for any of us.  But God the Father must, in spite of the desires of His own Son to perhaps call this whole thing off, must continue on course – not for Jesus – but for us.  What kind of love is that?  That God the Father must push forward, when even His own Son does not have that will to move on.  How hard must this have been on God the Father, and yet He does what must be done, to see us redeemed from our poo.

Jesus needs strength and encouragement, just knowing His disciples (an example of who would be saved) would be praying for Him, might comfort Him.  But Matthew continues in verse 40 saying … “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? [verse 41] Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Instead of mankind actually helping God when He needed it the most, we went to sleep.  Then and now.  Jesus asked for just an hour of prayer from Peter if no one else, but that hour had already passed in sleep.  Notice Jesus asks that we pray to “enter not into temptation”.  It was a temptation to avoid the risk of losing the Love of God the Father forever.  The plan for man’s redemption could not be seen past these moments.  Jesus could call it quits right here and no one would blame Him.  He might have retured to heaven, and allow us to take on our own punishments.  He could have wiped out Satan, his angels, and mankind forever – and declared evil had met its just fate.  This was the temptation Jesus wanted to avoid even thinking about.  But when we might have helped offer Jesus comfort, we preferred to sleep instead.

Matthew continues in verse 42 saying … “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. [verse 43] And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.”  Jesus again submits Himself, and His own will to the greater will of His Father.  If it is possible to tempt God the Father, it is being done right here.  And yet no answer of comfort comes from God the Father to His only Son.  His Son must choose to submit His own will in darkness, in solitude, without assurance – the risk is real, and the outcome can only be had if both God the Father and His only Son are willing to risk it.  Mankind sleeps on, unable to comfort when comfort was needed most.  This is now the second time Jesus has asked for a way out, but ONLY if that is the will of His Father.  His Father provides no verbal response, but I am certain tears must be flowing from the throne in heaven, where no creation has ever witnessed the Father weep as He must be doing now.  The universe is witnessing the heart of God the Father break as it has never done, and in spite of His own pain, He pushes forward for the sake of us – we will never be worth the pain we caused on this day, except in the eyes of our God.  The universe sees now what love means, and how far it would go to redeem that which is lost.  It would break the heart of God, yet He would push on.  Satans arguments fall into dust, never to arise again in all of the rest of the universe, except earth.

Matthew continues in verse 44 saying … “And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. [verse 45] Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”  In the pinnacle of agony, Jesus asks one final time, if there is another way out of this.  And the silence in response gives Him His answer.  It is not the answer He wants.  But it is the will of His Father.  The tears begin to secede as determination must now harden in its stead.  This time, Jesus needs no further comfort from mankind.  Instead He will let them sleep, for He is certain now in what must come, no matter the risk – love is greater than the risk.  His love, and the love of His father.  They will both risk it all for us.

It is interesting that Jesus proscribes prayer to avoid temptation, and we pray so little, so lightly, and so focused on ourselves.  We pray for things.  We pray for health.  We pray (worst of all) for money.  We trust God so little, that what we truly “need” is already in our lives, or coming when and how it should.  What we miss in our prayers for ourselves, is a prayer to avoid even “temptation”.  A prayer to avoid even being presented with the possibility to sin, or the desire to sin; rather to avoid both as ONLY our God can take from us.  I wonder if our God, can still take comfort when we finally do what He asks of us in this regard.  Or if like in that night in the garden, He still finds His entire church fast asleep.  When Jesus asked His faithful for their help in the form of comfort found only in prayer – we failed Him.  Do we fail Him still?

We could have been part of a positive story of helping God, even if only once, but instead we would demonstrate what the human ideas of helping God truly look like …

 

Shame On You ...

“Knowing” but not “doing” provides an opportunity for someone (usually your mom), to utter the phrase “shame on you”.  As an example, you walk through the kitchen spotting a sink full of dishes that need to be washed.  Your mother is already busy with another chore that needs doing around the house.  You know the dishes need to be cleaned.  You know your mom is busy.  But you keep on walking, preferring to do the thing you wanted to do, rather than the thing that needs doing, that might otherwise help out your busy mother.  On Mother’s Day, your decision seems particularly heinous.  But you have faced this same decision on many days before, and made the same one, till the point now, where it hardly dawns on you what you “could” be doing to help out your mother, if you only chose to.  Shame on you comes to mind.

And while shame usually conjures up feelings of guilt, from heaven’s perspective it has another connotation.  All those opportunities you had to serve your family and your mother, where in fact, “opportunities” to serve.  In heaven that is like gold, it is like currency is here on earth.  The population of heaven is always looking for an opportunity to do something for someone else that might have meaning or impact, or make their lives just a little bit better.  In heaven, there is no greater task to do on anyone’s agenda than this.  From the heavenly perspective the “shame” on you, is your lost opportunity to serve.  They cannot fathom why anyone would simply keep on walking when they had instead the glorious opportunity to do something for someone else that could help out, or make their lives just a little bit better.  Mom understands.  Because your decision results in mom ever so quietly doing the dishes, cleaning them for her family.  She knows those dishes are bound to be dirty again, almost as fast as she can clean them.  This does not dissuade her.  Because she loves her family, and she wants them eating from clean plates, gaining the benefits of less germs, and the satisfaction in her heart, that her love translates into service almost everywhere you look.

Sometimes it is harder on mom to serve, than she might let on.  Sometimes her human frailty makes it painful for her to keep standing, to keep cleaning, to keep serving.  But she continues on to the best of her ability.  As she ages this difficulty will only increase.  Each decision you make to simply pass by those tasks you know need doing, whether she ever calls your attention to them or not, are silent echoes of “shame on you” that should be said, or at least noticed.  We accept her service.  We come to expect it.  We come to think of it, as if by magic, our homes are homes.  But it is not magic, or elves, or gremlins, that make our homes a home, it is by the demonstration of someone’s love.  Shame on us, when that demonstration lacks our participation.  We should know better.  We should do better.  But examples that reveal what we should know do not start and end in the home.

Matthew recorded one in his gospel intended for a Jewish audience.  The snippet he records cut right to the quick of a Jewish heart in his day.  It revealed no greater shame.  The contrast was so striking, many would prefer if it did not happen, but it did.  Picking up in the eighth chapter of his gospel starting in verse 5 Matthew begins telling the story of what happened saying … “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,”  Someone was denying the pecking order.  Romans did not ask Jews for anything.  If a Roman had a need, he could simply take what he wanted, and if the Jew disagreed, he could voice his dissent from a Roman cross, or behind a Roman whip.  Centurions were even higher up the food chain.  Not only could a centurion take what he wanted, he had the added benefit of 100 Roman soldiers to insure death and destruction at the whim of his command.  But not so here, this one was different.

Matthew continues in verse 6 saying … “And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.”  OK now, we have really entered weirdo-wonderland in this day-and-age.  Not only is a Roman centurion respectfully asking Jesus for something without a single hint of force or consequences (a miracle unto itself), this Roman is worried about a mere servant who is sick at his home.  Servants are nothing in this day-and-age.  They are a dime a dozen.  You can easily just pick someone and make them a servant in your home, again, if they argue about it, they can voice their dissent behind a Roman whip, or a Roman cross.  To have a Roman care enough about a servant to seek healing for him or her is beyond comprehension to the Jewish mind.  They never do this.  Well that is up to now.  It would appear that the Holy Spirit can enter Romans just as well as He enters Jews.

Jesus responds in verse 7 saying … “And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.”  The fall down the rabbit hole continues.  Here is Jesus, not only willing to heal this servant He has never met, He is willing to travel into a Roman’s home to do it.  NO other Rabbi would do this.  NO other Rabbi would even consider it.  Nearly every other Rabbi would be delighted to know the Roman is suffering, and would love for them to get to experience what it is like to see someone they care about suffer and perhaps die.  Turnabout is fair play in the Jewish mind, and in ours.  What goes around comes around.  All is fair in love and war.  Pick your expression.  They all have a basis in trying to screw the guy who is screwing you.  But not so with Jesus.  Jesus loves that servant and it is His will to heal them immediately.  But beyond a healing, Jesus is willing to enter a Roman home, bringing with Him Jewish honor and righteousness into a Roman home, without a moment’s hesitation.

The centurion responds in verse 8 saying … “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. [verse 9] For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.”  Finally!  Some level of sanity is going to return to this story.  If Jesus does not understand the social norms of having no Jew enter a Roman household, at least the Roman gets it.  But wait a minute, look closer, look at why the Roman centurion responds as he does.  He says to Jesus “I am not worthy”.  Wow!  Someone sees their need.  Someone sees their own unrighteousness, and is afraid they may dishonor the reputation of Jesus by rubbing their own misdeeds upon the righteous Christ should He enter their doors.  The Roman is concerned about Jesus, and ashamed of himself.

The Roman does not want the honor of Jesus in his home, he does not feel he deserves it.  But wait, he still has a solution.  The Roman understands chain of command, he knows when he issues an order, it will be done, even if it is not done in his presence.  The centurion does not have to be present to witness the order being carried out.  He only has to give an order, and it will be carried out, or the one who fails to do it, can ponder his failure behind a Roman whip, or upon a Roman cross.  So the centurion has a plan to figure this out.  But then too, his plan is based on the idea that Jesus is “one” under authority.  Jesus is not just some ordinary Rabbi that people can choose to listen to, or not.  Jesus is the God behind the church of all the Rabbi’s whether they choose to accept it or not.  The centurion recognizes the authority of God in the form of Jesus.  Thus the centurion knows his plan will work.  Jesus has the authority to give a command and it “will” be carried out.  Not because any sort of whips or crosses are behind it, but because the power of God Himself is behind it, which nothing can stop or delay.

Then comes the beauty of transformation compared with those who still rely upon self for salvation.  Jesus responds in verse 10 saying … “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”  Matthew says to his fellow Jews, to the bloodline of Abraham, to his fellow disciples … shame on us.  Jesus “marvels” at the faith of the Roman, at the simplicity of what he asks, and at his own recognition of his unworthiness to have God enter his home.  Jesus points out, He has not found so great a faith in all the people of Israel.  Yikes!  A Roman, just out did every other descendant of Abraham in a matter of faith.  Even of those who call themselves His disciples.  How could this be?  How could Jesus have said such a thing?  What kind of shame does this heap on the house of Israel, that a Roman has greater faith?  And the gentle rebuke does not end here for the Jews or for us.

Jesus continues in verse 11 saying … “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. [verse 12] But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  From my point of view this text is awesome!  For I am of Nordic descent, and what it means to me, is that my bloodline is not held against me, nor the pagan history of my ancestors, only that Jesus has extended to me an offer of salvation, of transformation, of a perfection He will work out within me if I will allow it.  And because of His grace, I will look one day across the table at the face of Abraham whose faith inspires my own.  I will meet David, whose heart reflected the passion of our God.  For if I meet them it will not be because I earned it, but because He earned it on my behalf, and saved me from myself.  It will be through Jesus Christ alone that this happens, or it will not happen at all.  This is simply a statement of fact, not intended as threat, but revealed as cause and effect.  Only Jesus can save me, I cannot save me at all.

Those children of bloodlines more closely linked to Abraham.  Of the seven other nations he spawned before his death.  Of Esau, and the nations that descended from his loins.  Of Israel and the continued blood line of Abraham himself.  The advantage of proximity is not a guarantee either, only submission to Jesus Christ guarantees the seat at the table.  A rejection of Jesus; defining him as a prophet, or outstanding Rabbi, but not as a personal savior, leaves one in darkness gnashing teeth for pain.  The universal commonality of false religion begins in the mirror, where one looks to be good enough to be saved.  Odin recognizes that idea.  Mohammed does as well.  Ganesh does as well.  So does Buddha.  And sadly, so do many many Christian religions, denominations, and sects.  Too many Christians have relegated Jesus to the Being who died, rose, and forgives;  but the idea of Him perfecting us from the inside out is foreign to them, and not based on any kind of real submission.  Too many Christians look to the actions of a religious nature they pursue to save themselves. 

We must attend church, read the Bible, pray daily, and be “good” people to our neighbors.  Outside of that, we can have the hearts of a raging demoniac, and crave the things that would destroy us, engaging in them, and then begging forgiveness.  Ever in a cycle of sin-and-forgive, never considering the idea of change, or re-creation; having lost faith that Jesus is a Creator in the first place.  But putting aside our denominations for a moment, putting aside our race, and our cultural heritage.  It only takes one thing to find salvation, it only takes a submission to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  A full surrender of our desires, our will, our decisions to Him, leads to a perfection we begin to slowly come to know, but are completely unable to explain.  This is the difference of Christianity against every other religion.  Because true Christianity is not based on self, it does not have the same results as others do.  It works.  It transforms.  And it leads us to become different, because He makes us different.

Jesus does not forget the Roman in front of Him, for the lesson He would teach His people then, or now, as he continues in verse 13 saying … “And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”  Imagine the impact upon the Roman’s faith from this encounter.  Imagine the impact of the servants.  Only the Holy Spirit could have inspired the Roman to so love his servant, that he would reach out to a Jew to find healing for him/her.  Only the Holy Spirit could have convicted the Roman of the surety of the authority of Jesus to carry inside of Him the voice of God Himself.  A Roman.  A centurion at that.  A person whose job would lead them to torture Israelites, or at least unfairly treat the people of God.  The persecutor was to be loved by God so much, that the Holy Spirit would interact with him as well.  If there were to ever be a dichotomy of good and bad people, the Roman would have fallen on the bad side of that equation, and yet his faith surpasses all those on the side of the good.

The lesson is clear for us.  There are no good and bad people in the world.  We are all bad.  And we are all in need of a Savior to save us from who we are.  This is the offer Jesus makes.  Jesus would take every person in the world, no matter how bad, and redeem them unto Himself.  He loves us all.  He makes no division.  And He accepts everyone, interacts with everyone, and loves everyone with a passion we will never understand.  Finally, He can save every one of us.  Each of us.  You and me.  He is the only God offering to do so, and the only God able to follow through on that promise.  By contrast, Odin expects me to earn my place in Valhalla, dying a noble death in battle, soaked in the blood of my enemies.  The version of heaven Odin understands is forevermore repeating the battles in heaven, dying each day, resurrecting for the parties each night, and repeating the process for infinity. 

Jesus offers to perfect me for His kingdom.  He soaked Himself in His own blood on behalf of His enemies (including me).  His idea of Heaven is place where the exploration of love and discovery have no end, or upper limits.  The actions of love we take in heaven are ones of service to make the lives of others just a little bit better.  There will be no “shame on me” in His kingdom, because He bore all my shame, to exchange it for infinity with me and Him together forever united.  The contrast is so striking it can barely be comprehended.  My Jesus is my God.  Odin is only myth, and sad myth at that.  Jesus is interactive, not done with me yet, but certainly working with me every day.  Jesus does that.  Odin has never lifted off the pages of history.  Jesus is here today.  But it is not Odin I fear.  It is the man in the mirror, finding a way to never truly submit to the Jesus I know can save me.  Odin is not my enemy or the enemy of my Lord, I am.  My will is opposed to His own.  So I must learn to submit my will to Jesus instead.  What I want is in opposition to Jesus, so I must learn to want to different things, by allowing Jesus to change what I want.  How I love is dwarfed against what is possible, so I must learn to reflect the love of Jesus through me, and begin to experience what love is really like.  I give Jesus me, so that He can slay me, and re-create His version of me.  That is who I wish to be, no clinging to the legacy of who I am today.  I need to be rid of this me, that is what salvation is all about … for me.

I hope to be the guy who never walks past a stack of dirty dishes again.  Not to avoid the shame of it, but to experience the joy of service in it …

 

The "A" Team ...

When a difficult task stands before you, a wise approach to accomplish it, is to select a team that is able to contribute a set of unique skills that when combined are able to meet nearly any task of any size.  In professional sports this team of athletes is referred to as “starters” or if the need is singular, then special teams.  In the military, teams are assembled like this within the special forces branches, and only elite, albeit different soldiers are used.  In the business world, the moniker the “A” team is still sometimes used.  It refers an organization’s best and brightest.  It represents the folks who are most likely to overcome any difficulty, rely upon each other’s strengths, offset each other’s weaknesses, and march on to victory.  So in the spiritual world, why would we expect to see anything different?

Imagine the magnitude of the task that stood before Jesus at the outset of His ministry.  Jesus must change the perception of God in the eyes of the people.  He has this task to do not just for Gentiles who believe in many gods, but for Israelites who believe in a vindicate, rules-obsessed God.  Jesus must change the way an entire nation views how to interpret scripture.  For even though they call themselves by His name, and the name of His Father, they have twisted scripture to fit the doctrines of debate, and in so doing have squeezed the love completely out of it.  How like us.  Jesus must demonstrate to all people the intentions of He and His Father in tangible ways, erasing the pain of sin, inside their hearts and minds, and outside in the defects sin brings by bad choices, heredity, and misfortune of Satan’s rage.  To heal a sin sick world, crying from pain of disease, deformity, and even possession will be no small task.   And while Jesus takes on this work, He must remain spotless (no shortcuts), and He must groom His followers to become a church that will stand the test of time and fury of a Roman empire, and Jewish religion, that will stand against it.

What Jesus needs is an “A” team.  Both then and now, Jesus needs a few followers that can assist Him in these tasks, and make the work of redemption easier by example, and by action, and by personal testimony.  So who should Jesus select?  From a decidedly human perspective, our minds would immediately turn to the great spiritual leaders who have lived in our past, or perhaps are still carrying on great missions today.  We think of pastors of large churches, or leaders of large conferences.  We think of singers who have international acclaim, and have toured the world over.  We think of miracle workers, who have performed great acts of healing, most of them on television. 

Our thinking is not much different, than the church leadership thought in the days of Jesus on earth.  The Sanhedrin was waiting on the call.  They expected that when the Messiah emerged, He would immediately come to them for assistance.  After all, who better than they to provide spiritual guidance in matters of doctrine.  They were the established leaders of the people in all matters of the Temple and of religion in that day.  Any doctrine outside of their blessing was heresy.  So any teacher outside of their order must by definition be a heretic.  And besides, these men, were just waiting on the call.  They had every intention of responding when it came.  But it didn’t.  At least not the way they thought it should.

Quietly, that is to say, without any formal pronouncements from the Temple order, or solicitations of the same; Jesus had come to earth.  Even the angels who burst into song at His birth because they could hold their voices no longer, found an audience of humble shepherds in the fields, not priests in the Temple.  The same star that guided men from half way across the world, went unnoticed by the Sanhedrin.  The voice of the Father Himself, and appearance of the Spirit in the form of a dove, were heard at the river Jordan, during a practice the priests discarded as unnecessary, but God obviously did not.  For all the sacrificial system of the Temple, a simple humbling of the heart, was worth more to God.  And it was that.  It was humility that all but had disappeared in the hearts of those who “knew” the word of God, and who studied it without ceasing, yet loved very little.

They, and we, have become proud of our accumulated religious knowledge.  The Sanhedrin, and the modern Christian, await the call of God as if God owes it to us.  After all, we have read so much, learned so much, done so much “mission” oriented work.  The fact that we do not know how to love, and who to love, does not even cross our minds.  We are too obsessed with a perfection we intend to achieve, either completely alone, or in some sort of “partnership” with God, where we do “our” part, and then He makes up the meager difference.  Although in truth these “partnerships” produce nothing more than excuses for our continued imperfection, and a chance to blame God because we continue to fail.  Albeit, we take pride in our rich spiritual history, and claim it as our own, though contribute very little to it.  We are spiritually wealthy in our own eyes, and now only await the official call of God, to put His seal on our life’s work.  So it was then.  So it is now.  How little has changed.

But the “A” team for Jesus was not to be found in the Temple, or ranks of the Sanhedrin, nor perhaps in the hearts of the modern Christian who yet refuses to humble himself no matter the size of his ministry.  The “A” team for Jesus was to be found in the least likely of suspects.  Jesus had already picked up the mantle of John the Baptist.  Jesus was preaching his gospel message of repentance, and was baptizing in the same river John did.  As for disciples, the “A” team so to speak, Matthew was not there when they were first picked.  He did not see it first hand, but he reported on it, from collective recollections he heard. 

His account begins in chapter four of his gospel picking up in verse 18 saying … “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. [verse 19] And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. [verse 20] And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”  The disciple John provides a better first person account, revealing more details that it was he and Andrew, who were already disciples of John the Baptist.  That when Jesus appeared, John directed them to follow Him, as Jesus was the Messiah.  It was John and Andrew who raced to their respective homes, and told their respective brothers, about the discovery of the Messiah.  And then it was Jesus who follows as Matthew records above.

Matthew continues in verse 21 saying … “And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. [verse 22] And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.”  Fishermen.  After all the preconceived ideas about who Jesus would select for His “A” team, He picks four fishermen.  He could choose to do so again today.  Though the methods have evolved, the profession remains even till our day.  Can you imagine if the fate of modern Christianity, is still resting in the hands of common, ordinary fishermen.  Not the preachers.  Not the teachers, or singers, or miracle workers.  Especially not the conference leaders, but instead the entire fate of Christianity continues to reside in the hands of fishermen along our coasts.  It is unthinkable, in every mind, but the mind of Christ.  Perhaps in our day, Jesus might expand His selections of an “A” team but limit it only to any other truly blue collar position in life.  Still unthinkable, even to them, but NOT to Jesus Christ.  He not only thought it, He picked it.

The stain on the face of the Sanhedrin could not have been brighter.  To be overlooked in favor of illiterate fishermen, who had only a baby’s view of the scriptures, was inconceivable.  This very pick, puts Jesus in the fake Messiah column.  Because surely no “real” Messiah would start out like this, and then pick these idiots as His “A” team when SO MANY better qualified candidates exist right here in the Temple, and center of the established religious leadership of the day.  It’s like trying to start a baseball team, and walking right by the Hall of Famers and picking the janitor, hot dog stand guy, and ladies working to clean the bathrooms instead.  Only an idiot would ever do that right, so if Jesus did it, that makes Him an … but hold the phone.  If Jesus is God, and we know He is, then it may be that our ideas of “qualifications” that are all twisted around, just like those of the Sanhedrin.

What Jesus needed was and is, men who are willing to admit, they do not know everything, in fact, they know very little.  Jesus needs humility in us, so that He can actually teach us, the right things, the right ways, in the right time.  He can’t do that, if we refuse to let Him, because we ALREADY know what we need to know.  Our submission to Jesus then, is the hallmark trait of an “A” team member for His purposes.  He does not need us to lead at all.  He has that covered.  Instead, He needs us to play, understanding we have NO skills, and He will provide them to us, when and how we need them.  Imagine what it takes for the janitor lady who normally cleans the bathrooms to step up to the mound against true “professionals”.  That takes faith.  That takes trust.  That does NOT take confidence, it takes dependence and humility.  It is our confidence that has been our problem all along.  We put our confidence in us, in the accumulated knowledge and work we have done for Jesus.  Instead of putting our confidence in knowing we know nothing, and he knows everything.  We can solve zero problems, but He can solve every problem.  Our lack of humility, and misplaced confidence, keeps us out of the real game entirely.

And what does Jesus do right after picking this team?  Matthew continues in verse 23 saying … “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. [verse 24] And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. [verse 25] And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.”  Jesus does what Jesus always does, and what Jesus was meant to do.  The better question is, how did this “A” team “help” Jesus do what Jesus does?  In point of fact they did not.  They were there as witnesses, not as participants, at least not yet.

It turns out the job of an “A” teamer for Jesus may also be quite a bit different than we thought as well.  Instead of jumping right in and offering their opinions to folks.  They were a bit dumb-founded as they watched God do, what God has always wanted to do for us, and through us, and sometimes in spite of us.  Watching God work is staggering, both then and now.  Same God, who wants to do the same work.  Jesus is every bit as interested in healing the sick now, as He was then.  The modern Christian is the one all twisted around, because we pray weak prayers questioning the will of God, or we take credit for what He does, as if it only happened because we prayed at all.  Neither condition was a problem in the days of Jesus.  Jesus healed, without any prompting from His disciples at all.  Jesus healed because that is what Jesus does.  He restores men to God, and to the image He intended for them to be in.  Peter did not have to pray to get Him started.  Peter just had to step aside and watch Him go.

It is we who have lost confidence in the will of our God.  We now sometimes believe it must be His will when calamity strikes (instead of most often a cause and effect relationship between choices to sin, and the results of pain that sin inevitably brings with it).  But then you ask, how else could bad things happen to the innocent?  I answer, Satan has not disappeared or gotten tired of playing.  He is every bit the unflinching animal he ever was, and will inflict as much pain as he can.  In addition, when I choose to smoke, and I get cancer, that is not God’s will for my choice or its result.  That is cause and effect.  And when my unborn child suffers because my second-hand smoke penetrates his mother and gives him grief in the womb.  That is also NOT the will of God, but the result of my choices, and their results.  Modern Christians are all too keen on passing off responsibilities we should own to our God, and then wonder why the unbeliever questions His character. 

Our environment is polluted, our air, water, and earth, because of the greed sin promotes, and the choices our forefathers, and we ourselves continue to make.  When disaster arises from environmental disturbances that come up, they too are NOT the will of God, but the results of what man has done to himself, and what Satan makes worse from his efforts.  You will notice in these texts, that Jesus does not go around creating earthquakes, and tornadoes, and otherwise judging and killing the wicked.  That is unthinkable to what we know about Jesus.  You will also note, that Jesus does not go around creating terminal diseases in the innocent, and using terminal disease to judge the wicked.  In fact that is NOT what Jesus does, or ever did.  That is what sin does, and always did.  Jesus ends the pain of those things.  Jesus restores humanity to what He intended for it.  He does not create misery in order for people to run to Him to avoid it.  That is not love.  That is fear.  And fear does not change lives or motives, it only puts things in perspective for a moment.  Then life resumes just as it was.  Love however, changes things forever.

Jesus ends suffering, He does not cause it.  The “A” team witnessed this, over and over and over again until it was drilled into their minds and hearts.  They became so confident over time, that THIS was the will of God, to end suffering.  And later they would be able to see God do it, even after Jesus had left this world.  They knew it was still Him.  They knew it had nothing to do with themselves, only everything to do with ending the suffering of the person in need.  The “A” team saw God in action.  The “A” team had their own perceptions of God changed.  The “A” team were humble enough to allow this to occur.  Are you ready to join that team?  Or do you already know, everything you need to know?

 

A Son of Abraham ...

The Messiah must be a Jew.  This was the promise given to Abraham 2000 years before it would be fulfilled.  Abram (the Canaanite) not many years after the flood (Noah was still living), would search for the true God, and would find Him.  He would have his name changed to Abraham.  He would become the father of a nation, in point of fact, of several.  But through the nation of Israel would come the hope of this world, the Messiah.  So the Messiah must be a Jew.  He must trace His bloodline back through David all the way to Abraham.  His lineage must be preserved (or the records of it anyway) through the captivity in Babylon, and the days of slavery in Egypt.  This would require meticulous record keeping.  It would take a forensic accountant to uncover it, to reveal it, to prove it to those who might bring up a question about it.  This is where the skills of a former tax collector for Rome might now come in useful for something far more important.  And so Matthew enters the scene, and he offers a proof to those he will minister to.

In chapter one, verse 1 states … “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  Matthew begins with what Jews will want to know most; is He one of us?  Is His bloodline pure?  For upstanding Jews to accept Jesus they must insure He was not part of the Samaritan ilk.  Jesus must share no gentile blood, no mix of Egypt, or Babylon.  He must be of pure blood, like themselves.  This was important to Jews.  But why?  The location of the land given to the Jewish people was central to the largest population base after the flood.  Only small numbers of native peoples migrated to the far ends of the world.  The bulk of peoples migrated much nearer and grew up as neighbors with each other.  To reach the most of them, the location of the people of Israel would play a central role.  The entire pick was designed not to seal the gospel or good news of a God who loves mankind, behind the walls of a pure bloodline religion.  It was picked in order to make sure every traveler from every land could know it.  Purity of blood was not supposed to equate with hoarding the good news of God.

But it did.  And in our day, we erect similar walls of purity for our church to hide behind.  Some erect the walls of doctrinal differences, and claim all those on the outside of what we believe, are simply not right with God.  To maintain purity, we must hide behind our walls, never venturing out to touch our brother, lest the purity of our ideas be tarnished.  In our day, some elect the walls of socio-economic status.  We fellowship only with those of like income, like interests, and like health.  We do not wish to be seen with the sick, the imprisoned or guilty, and those who cannot afford the lifestyles we have been blessed to receive.  We like our Jewish forefathers believe that poverty is a sign of God’s displeasure.  So mankind erects barriers for the gospel to hide behind, to keep it pure.

Matthew continues in verse 2 saying … “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;”  This was the holy beginnings of the Jewish people.  Isaac and Jacob are nearly always mentioned in the same breath as Abraham himself.  And Judah would be one of only two tribes who remained pure after the other ten separated past Solomon the son of David’s rule.  The other ten would become Samaritans.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; [verse 4] And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; [verse 5] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;”  From Judah, the generations are tracked through the slavery of Egypt, the Exodus, and the time of the Judges down to David’s father Jesse.  But alas, the bloodline now includes a few women of significantly less pure blood.  The harlot Rachab from the wall of Jericho is listed.  The daughter Ruth a Moabite is also included in the list.  Proof that our God includes those who seek His face, not just those who were supposed to be born to it.  Proof that starting life as a prostitute does mean one must end their life in the same condition.

 Matthew continues in verse 6 saying … “And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; [verse 7] And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; [verse 8] And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; [verse 9] And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; [verse 10] And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; [verse 11] And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:”  Matthew calls out again for us that the wife of Urias is included in the bloodline of Jesus.  Great sin does not end our life, if great redemption is sought.  He carries through the names until the time of the captivity in Babylon is reached.

Matthew continues in verse 12 stating … “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; [verse 13] And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; [verse 14] And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; [verse 15] And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; [verse 16] And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”  It is here where the fallacy in Jewish logic is revealed.  The bloodline of Joseph is traced and recorded, but Joseph will have no participation in the bloodline of Jesus, only Mary will do that.  Mary too, was from the house of David, and to be perfectly accurate it is her ancestry that should have been tracked.  But Jews will not accept the dominance of a female in the lineage.  So they accept Jesus based on the lineage of Joseph the husband of Mary, the adopted father.

Matthew then notices the symmetry of the numbers recounting the generations in verse 17 saying … “ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”  14 times 3 or 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus.  42 generations to span around 2000 years of our history.  The work of the forensic account was complete.  The purity of the bloodline of Jesus was enumerated, not just to apply a list of names of father to son; but to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, to Ruth, to David, to Solomon.  Many of the generations that precede the birth of Jesus have been promised to participate in it through their descendants.  This is not just a single generation affair, it spans the millennia.  Fulfillment has already begun.

The Messiah must be a Jew.  The Messiah is.  For any who had a question about His lineage, Matthew has singlehandedly put their fears or doubts to rest.  But why?  Does the fact that I descend from someone great make me great?  We would all like to think so.  But the deeds of David belong to David, not to his son, or to me.  The faith of Abraham belongs to Abraham not to me.  I did not offer my firstborn as a sacrifice to our Lord at His command.  I can barely get out of bed to honor the Lord I serve.  Hardly seems like the faith of Abraham in comparison.  But the comparisons hardly end there.  How many of us look back to our church fathers, the founders of our faith, at the great deeds they have done and take some sort of pride in them, as if we participated in those acts as well?  We didn’t. 

The church founders who accomplished so great deeds of faith and study belong to them not me.  Just because I subscribe to the same set of doctrines they discovered does not make me some sort of pioneer.  At best it makes me a plagiarist.  Because I hold similar beliefs does mean I have had to tread the road of faith and personal discovery with Jesus that they did.  My road is my own.  What I do, what I will be remembered for (if I am remembered at all) will be what I have offered to the world.  The purity of my heritage means nothing without an execution of greatness from me as well.  Our Jewish forefathers, who held to the right religion before we did, who held the right scriptures we still read and base our thinking upon; they had an advantage of birthright, but without action decay into history without so much as an afterthought.

We can call ourselves a son or daughter of God because of what Jesus Christ did for us.  But in so referring to ourselves, do we rightly represent the Father we claim lineage to?  Do we too, burn with a passion for loving others?  Not just the easy folks to love, like family, church members, and co-workers (and I understand easy is relative), but to love strangers, and enemies, and people with different political beliefs that horrifically conflict with our own.  Loving others gets tricky sometimes.  Am I willing to give up everything I have for someone I hardly know, or hardly like, or can’t stand?  Jesus did.  Jesus did not think twice about it.  It is not the bloodline that distinguishes the life of Christ, it is what He did with His own while He was here.  It is that He loved people who called themselves His enemies.  He loved the guy who spit in His face.  He loved the guy who put a nail through His hands and feet.  He loved the religious leader who had ALL the doctrine completely wrong and lived like a complete hypocrite.  And He loves me, even with all the crap that makes up my life.  His life is remembered, because when you think of Him, you cannot hardly stop talking about how much He loved.

When we think of ourselves as a son or daughter of God, is the first description of what that means, a passionate way of loving that takes over how we live.  If so, you are destined to be remembered.  It may be the only measurement of a life worth taking.  Matthew had a lot more to say about that …

 

One Last Passover ...

John Mark was not there.  He did not participate.  You and I were not there.  We did not participate.  All we have, is the witness recorded from those who were there.  But the testimony of those who witness a thing is often colored by the perspective of the participant.  Take for example, the most recent Republican Convention to nominate Donald Trump for President.  How you witness this event depends heavily on who you are, what your opinions were before the event, and the degree to which you personally participated in it.  Those who were on the convention floor have unique and probably more detailed perceptions of what took place.  Those of us who watched it on TV likely have a different view of it.  And then it depends on which news network we watch.  Fox has a decidedly conservative slant.  MSNBC has a decidedly liberal slant.  CNN purports to be in the middle, but depending on the particular journalist, again the bias may slant one way or the other.  Fans of the Donald, will find things in his acceptance speech that are very positive and give hope for our future.  Detractors of the Donald, will find things that are negative and would present a scary picture of the future of our nation.

The facts do not change.  The words do not change.  But how you see them changes radically based on your preconceptions, point of view, and influences of others tied more closely to these events.  Peter, one of the closer disciples of Jesus Christ, has a unique point of view, about the events that occurred at the end of Christ’s life here on earth.  John Mark was merely his transcriptionist.  The Gospel of Mark could not be told first person by Mark, because Mark was not there.  Peter was.  But the events at the end of Christ’s life being told by Peter would present a point of view, a witness testimony from only one perspective.  The perspective of Peter would also be clouded by the participation of Peter, and frankly by the failure of Peter to live up to the commitments he made to Jesus.  The facts do not change.  But Peter would only bear witness to some of them, and to some of them while under significant duress.

So we come to the last Passover, and the last Passover meal.  This was supposed to be festive.  From the perspective of the disciples, even despite having Jesus warn them several times throughout His ministry, that He would die and be resurrected, the disciples still had hope of an earthly kingdom.  From the minds of the disciples, the people were ready to make Jesus their king.  The time was right.  This was even more so as pilgrims from all over the world would be near Jerusalem traveling to it for the day of atonement traditions, and the feasts, and celebrations that surrounded it.  Jesus too, was nearby.  Jesus had been teaching in the Temple recently.  Jesus had bested the priests, the scribes, the leaders of the Sanhedrin.  Jesus had put them to silence and ended their verbal traps.  And the people loved it even more.  The Temple money changers had been driven out, commerce in the Temple had dried up, and the time to crown a righteous King could never be better.

So from the minds of the disciples, from Peter, the timing could not be better.  This celebration of Passover would be the best version of it ever.  Peter begins his personal recollection to John Mark picking up in verse 12 saying … “And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?”  We do not know exactly the timing of these events.  We do know when the Sabbath appears within them.  We do know when Jesus was raised.  We know Jesus died on Friday prior to the Sabbath, and was raised again on Sunday morning.  But relative to this, when the first day of unleavened bread would have occurred at that time, or when they “killed the Passover” is a bit foggy.  Originally the unleavened bread celebration would have been seven days before the day of atonement so … the previous Friday.  But the killing of the Passover, or more precisely the killing of the Passover lamb, might have taken place traditionally on the day of atonement itself.  So the fact that Peter is asking about where to celebrate these events, prior to the day of atonement, suggests, the schedule may be a bit different near the time of Christ.

The other significant idea that comes from this recollection, is that this meal would include eating the Passover lamb.  This lamb was traditionally roasted over a fire, not cooked any other way.  Left overs were not preserved, they were burned up.  And the lamb having been roasted was only one star of this meal.  The bread, not surprisingly, was unleavened meaning it did not rise, it was flat.  It could have had the consistency of a cracker, or of a tortilla, or pita bread.  But there was no yeast it in, by order of God.  The bread was actually to be served this way for an entire week.  Violators would be cast out of the celebrations until they concluded.  And the final stars of these feasts were the bitter herbs and wine (or pressed grape juice).  The bitter herbs reminded the participant of the bitter lives Pharoah inflicted upon them in their slavery.  To us the parallel would be the bitter lives we live while in slavery to our sins.  The wine could not have had time to ferment (nor was that ever advocated).  It was a drink of haste.  As should be our desire to escape our slavery from sin, done in haste.

What Peter was asking Jesus in this passage was where they should prepare to eat this meal?  Determining how much lamb would be needed for the 12 of them plus Jesus, determining where the bread should be prepared, and where all of this should be served, was on his and the other disciples minds.  Jesus responds in verse 13 saying … “And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. [verse 14] And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? [verse 15] And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.”  Several things are important to note in the answer of Jesus.  First, it is likely that given this is Peter’s perspective, Peter’s recollection to John Mark for his gospel, that Jesus sent Peter and one of the other disciples (my guess John).  The reason this is important is to remember that Judas had already decided to betray Jesus to death.  If Judas knew in advance where they were going, it would have been easy to take Jesus in a smaller confined space, than out in the open.  But by doing it this way, only the 2 disciples who went, would know where the room was.  Judas would not.  Perhaps Jesus was trying to give Judas more time, to regret his choice, and change his mind.

Second, dispatching two disciples, to find a man bearing a pitcher of water sounds like it would be a common place event, easy to pick, as if there would be lots of men doing this.  But there would not be.  This was a woman’s work.  Only women would be caught doing this.  The woman at the well in Samaria was a good case in point, coming alone after the others had left to avoid gossip and ridicule, and instead finding Jesus at the well.  So Jesus asking his two disciples to find a man doing a woman’s work, and then charging the disciples to follow that man (not immediately ask for a room), was breaking two boundaries. Men could be asked to do women’s work.  And disciples were not to be above following a man doing women’s work.  Since traditions abound in Jerusalem, finding such a man would have been miraculous indeed.  Even among slaves, traditional work was divided between the sexes.

Lastly, Jesus would be known to the owner of this home, and would be welcomed into it.  But not only that, the preparations were already done and waiting for the entire crew.  The owner of the home had taken it upon himself to make preparations, perhaps inspired by the Holy Spirit, before there was ever any confirmations that Jesus would be coming.  If Jesus and His disciples did not come, it would have been quite a bit of food wasted thrown into the fire.  It was a financial risk to take this preemptive action.  It was a faith of the owner to be rewarded by Jesus.  It was a series of miracles from beginning to end surrounding this selection of this home.  Jesus again demonstrates before Judas, how accurately He is able to predict the future.  He offers Judas yet another insight into who He is.  The betrayal of Judas is already known to Him, and He still wants Judas there, He still wants Judas to participate.  Peter marks the results of this mission in verse 16 saying … “And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.”  The bulk of the work was done, all that remained were the final touches.

Peter continues his recollection in verse 17 saying … “And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.”  The two disciples sent to prepare find everything as Jesus said.  The faith of the owner of the home rewarded.  They have time to complete the work, and return to Jesus rejoining everyone else.   John Mark continues in verse 18 saying … “And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. [verse 19] And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?”  The focus of this evening shifts to Judas.  Jesus says out loud what up to now He has only been thinking to Himself.  As Judas has been unwilling to change his mind, the prophecy from Christ now reveals to the others what will shortly come to pass.  The mood in the feast changes.  Joy flees from the room.  Only Judas knows it is him.  But the others begin to doubt themselves, they know Jesus does not lie, they also know Jesus is never wrong.

Each disciple begins to consider the worst of all fates, that they will be the traitor.  Each disciple begins to ponder whether their own selfishness will lead them to do this betrayal.  They must know.  Perhaps He will forgive them, and change the outcome for them.  Even if they have not sinned this sin yet, they must know if it will be something they do.  So each begins to ask Jesus … “is it I?”.  This is a level of faith we seldom demonstrate.  We think ourselves as Abraham having a faith that surely cannot and will not be shaken.  So did they.  But faced with this prophecy, each of them began to question themselves, something we rarely do.  We assume we are Peter, when perhaps we are Judas.  Have we learned to rely upon Jesus for our faith itself, for our fidelity to Him, for our salvation from who we are.  Or do we trust in our own strength to be faithful, and to save and perfect in ourselves what we could never accomplish?

Jesus must be careful how He responds, He is still looking to redeem Judas, not to push him away further.  Jesus answers picking up in verse 20 saying … “And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. [verse 21] The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.”  Jesus does not give a direct answer.  Dipping unleavened bread into olive oil is a common practice at meals in this day.  I am certain nearly all the disciples were doing this.  The fact that Judas could reach the same bowl as Jesus tells us that Jesus did not ostracize Judas, but rather still kept him close by.  The answer of Jesus likely kept all of the disciples uncomfortable as each looks at their bread and oil.  But Jesus continued stating that He was ready to go, and walk the road, scripture has predicted for Him.

Lastly, Jesus states, that “woe” or great regret, is reserved for the one who betrays Him.  It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.  This is not a curse.  This is not a condemnation to hell, notice the word hell is never used.  This is not a sin beyond forgiveness.  Each of us commit it, each time we commit sin we know must cost our Saviors blood to redeem once again.  However, the weight of the knowledge of this sin is overwhelming.  Judas would have to accept forgiveness for it.  Jesus would gladly give it.  But Judas even if he took the forgiveness of Jesus, would still bear the self condemnation of having done it.  That weight would crush him.  It would be too much for him.  Seeing what happened to Jesus was indeed too much for Judas, and eventually he hung himself during these events.  Judas did not see the resurrection.  Judas did not see Christ arisen.  The weight of his sin, crushed him first.  But the love of Christ even now for Judas would reach out to redeem him.

Peter concludes the events of this meal now briefly picking up in verse 22 saying … “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. [verse 23] And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. [verse 24] And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. [verse 25] Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. [verse 26] And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”  Peter remembers his own guilt.  He offers only 4 verses to encompass the entire last supper, or last Passover of Jesus here on earth.  Even now, as he recalls it to John Mark, Peter can remember only his own failure.  The parallels between himself and Judas are too close, are too painful.  The weight of Peters sin now crushes him and makes his memory of these events brief.

Peter omits the feet washing of Jesus.  Peter omits all the counsel of Jesus during this dinner and afterwards.  Peter records only a sequence of events that mirrors the traditions of a Passover Seder.  Prayers over the bread.  Prayers over the wine.  The singing of a hymn.  These events were all part of the original Passover feast, yet even in Peter’s brevity, Jesus is transforming the past into the future.  Out of an old tradition comes a remembrance of Him, and of His great love for us all.  Jesus Himself however, will refrain from having the grape juice, even the grape juice of heaven, until He can have it with us once again in our eternal home.  The disciples do not understand how long Jesus will be foregoing this custom, and this beverage.  It will be more than 2000 years and counting that Jesus foregoes the pressing of grapes into His cup.  Jesus longs to be with us, He does not crave the juice, but He does crave our company, our proximity, the ability to reach out and touch us personally.  This restoration He craves more than anything, more than even His own life.

We who were not there have only the memories of these recollections in print to offer us insight.  I wonder how many of us easily condemn Judas for what he did.  I wonder how many of us believe Judas is lost to that eternal home because of what he did.  How easy it is to judge.  And how little we know of the love of Jesus for each and every one of us, for Judas, and for one worse than him, for me, for you.  But I believe there is yet hope for Judas. 

There are 12 gates in heaven, with the names of 12 tribes of Israel inscribed above them, as well as 12 disciples (or apostles) of Jesus.  We like to think we know which names are there, but in truth, we only guess.  Could the name of Judas be there in bright bold letters?  Is it possible that in his last act of desperation here on earth he repented of his sin like Samson of old, yet could not imagine ever receiving forgiveness as he did not deserve it?  How close to you and I.  We do not deserve it either, and we have only faith to believe we receive it.  We have only trust in Jesus to believe He can ever change us from the people who love our sins, to the people who love the absence of our sins.  If God can love me, if He has that much love, perhaps I will one day walk under the gate inscribed with the name of Judas.  Not because Judas or I are worthy, but because the love of God is just that great.