New Thoughts (01/12/09-01/15/09)
The difficulty in ascertaining a precise translation for this verse is great. That it is to be construed as connecting to the preceding conversation seems reasonable enough. Jesus has introduced this thought with that ‘for’ which suggests just such a connection. So, there is good reason to look backward a verse or two. There, we are reminded that this one John had tried to stop was not opposing their work, but for it. He is helping. That is the sense that carries forward. He is doing what he can. So, Jesus commends to them this idea that even that one who does nothing more than give one of them a drink – if that is done for the right reasons – is earning a heavenly reward.
Now, it strikes me that the Message goes a bit wide in trying to establish this connection. “Anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side.” No. I’m afraid that conveys something far beyond what Jesus is saying here, at least it does so for me. But, before I can really pursue that further, there are these matters of translation that must be clarified as best they can be. Let me start with a painfully literal, not reordered for English approach:
Who For might give to drink you a cup of water in [my?] name because Christ [is | you belong to] amen I tell you not shall lose reward his. Well, that’s pretty painful, isn’t it? One can see why the translations vary so much on this. In the NASB, it is “because of your name as followers of Christ”, which NKJV follows pretty closely. The NIV seems to shift the focus a bit, “gives you a cup in my name because you belong to Christ”. Now, it is generally accepted that the former two translations are particularly trustworthy, especially in parsing the New Testament. Yet, there is something in that literal construction which would seem to support what the NIV has provided.
Further, in opening the focus a bit, it does seem to offer a more complete picture of the Truth being spoken here. You see, there are two facets of this situation that are prerequisites for the reward indicated. Both are concerned with motivation, and both are firmly focused on Christ Jesus. In the first case, it is the question of the object chosen for your service. It is good to serve the poor, the widow, the downcast. But, look at the objects Jesus has set before you for this particular service: “Because you belong to Christ”. This distinguishes the reason for service from any other you might perform. It is not because you are a good man, or because you are a hero of the faith. It is simply because you belong to Christ. That is the mark of your worth, and there really is no need for any other.
It is important to recognize, however, that His mark upon the recipient of your service is not in itself the reason for reward. No, there is the matter of motive. Why did you do it? Why did you provide that water? Here, the critical point is contained in that most misunderstood phrase “in My name”. So, let’s take a few minutes to really understand what that means. Now, it is only fair of me to note that the ‘My’ in this case is not provided by the text. So, we find the varying translation, whether it be ‘My name’, or ‘your name’. I come down in support of ‘my’, on the simple basis that every reference to ‘you’ in this passage is plural, whereas ‘name’ is singular. It may not be the most unassailable evidence, but it will suffice for me. Besides, this formulation of ‘in your name’ runs counter to the whole focus of what Jesus has been saying throughout. To propose that your name is significant to the worth of the act is to give you reason for pride, and throughout this, he has been eliminating every cause for pride in His disciples. No, it is not because of you that this act has worth. It is because of Him!
This holds true both for the subject and the object. It is true of the giver and it is true of the recipient. The recipient has worth because he belongs to Christ. The giver has worth because he is moved by Christ, as we shall see.
This morning [1/13/09] I am brought back to the NET, which is a fine place to consider some of these issues of translation, as their footnotes are pretty thorough in that regard. That translation manages a wording that shows the name of Christ is critical both to the giver and the receiver: The rewarded one gives “because you bear Christ’s name”. But, what is striking is the more literal treatment they have in the footnotes, “in the name that of Christ you are.” Combine this with a subsequent footnote in that same translation, and you arrive at, “in the name that you bear Christ’s name.”
Do you see the import of this? You and I, as servants of Christ have a name! No, I’m not talking about the one your parents gave you, and it matters little if you’ve since gone and obtained a legal change to that one. It’s not a name in that sense. It’s so much more than that. The name you and I have is a reputation. We are reputed to be His! His name also has a reputation, and however great the attempts to malign that reputation, they have failed because the Truth stands firm and clear to see. Apart from Him, we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). We understand this. But, let it expand in us! Apart from Him, we are nothing. You know that apart from Him nothing came into being of all that which has come into being (Jn 1:3). It is of a piece: apart from Him, I am nothing. I have no reputation of any worth. I have no character but bad character. I have no authority, whatever false front I may put up. I am nothing. What gives me worth, what makes me something, is that I have a name – His name. It is known that I am His, and His name is known.
His position is known, that He is truly King of all kings. They may not like it, but they know it! His authority is known. He is Sovereign over all of Creation, being its Creator. He has but to say so and it is. His Word never fails of accomplishing His purpose (Isa 55:11). He is never surprised by any turn of events, never thwarted by any rebellion of man. He is Absolute. His character is known, that He is good. Even those who try to deny His Godhood are forced to acknowledge that He was a good man, even a great man. Why? Because the record of His consistent character is irreproachable. And we are known to be His – His students, His servants, His family.
That is powerful in its implications for our own worth. It is equally powerful in its implications for our responsibility. We are known to represent Him to a world that has for the most part never known Him. We are in a place not unlike the situation Scripture speaks of, when Israel had been around long enough that there was no longer anyone living who remembered what God had done because they had seen it themselves. The miracles had faded to fable in the minds of the moderns of that day. Fine stories, Grandpa, but I have to live in the real world. Indeed, look about the world of our own day and we must recognize that some things never change!
But, let us recognize the danger! Let us refuse to become a people who have not personally experienced the majestic and miraculous presence of God in our own midst! There is no need for us to be starved of His ministrations. He has never ceased being the God Who Provides. He has never ceased being our Sanctuary, our Shield, our Strength. He has never ceased being every last bit of Who He Is, nor has His love and compassion for His own ever waned in the least. We have just lowered our expectations. We have just allowed this world order around us to shape our opinions and expectations of a God which that order cannot begin to comprehend.
We are called to be better than that! Not in the strength of our will, no, but in the willing of our strength, weak though it is. We are known as His. So, act like it! It is a responsibility of the Christian to seek ever and always to act in as Christ-like a manner as can be managed. Of course we will make our mistakes, we are His, not Him. We remain fleshy and prone to sin and error. But, we are His. It’s not the mistakes we make, it’s what we do with them. It’s not the things we get right, even, it’s maybe that we care at all, one way or the other. It’s not us. It’s Him. It’s all Him. It’s a life lived in recognition that however much we may get right, it’s still all Him. That doesn’t prevent us from giving our best effort to walking worthy of Him. It does prevent us from being puffed up in the pride of thinking we’ve arrived.
But, let me consider more fully this phrasing “in My name”. It is so important for us to lay hold of in as great a degree as we are able. Therefore, I pick it apart word by word. That little, insignificant ‘in’ is powerful indeed! It indicates for us a fixed, intimate connection with that which we are in. It points to a relationship wholly joined to our object, and thoroughly influenced by the same. It is the very essence of that sort of subjection to Him we are called to. It is not servile, although it is a servant we are called to be. No! It’s a relationship! It’s a relationship that has willingly sought out the opportunity to be thoroughly influenced by all that Jesus is. It is a relationship that is determined, in as much as it is able to determine anything, to be wholly joined with Christ, intimate with Christ. It is a relationship that knows that it need never fear those awful words, “I never knew you” when the last day is come.
As for ‘My’, there is not a great deal to say, other than to recognize once for all that it is not ‘our’. The good we do, if indeed we do it, is not ‘our’ good, it’s ‘My’ good. If there is anything in us that is found worthy it is His. If we have anything to claim when we stand before the court of heaven, it shall be His – His righteousness, His adoption of us, His redeeming power. I dare say that in that time and place, the very thought of proposing anything in ourselves as worthy of consideration will have been vaporized from our minds. In the face of perfect Goodness, perfect Righteousness, how could we possibly think to compare?
Now, we come to ‘Name’. As I have already intimated, we are not just talking about the word which is itself the name. Jesus, or even the more accurate Joshua, is not the point. We can find any number of folks named Joshua, of varying reputation. We can find any number of folks named Jesus, and it is still no guarantee of character. That’s not the point. Indeed, if that Jesus who maybe lives down the street from me is the only one I have ever known by that name, then hearing that name will only ever remind me of him. Maybe we were friends, and there will be a somewhat wistful, reminiscent mood brought on in hearing his name again. Maybe we were at odds, and all the old strife between us will come roaring back to mind.
Just think of the impact of even recalling an old schoolmate’s name. All those experiences you shared with that other one come back to mind, the good, the bad. Indeed, it may bring on a veritable flood of memories of our youth, because our youth is so closely identified with those friends we had at the time. The friendships we have established since pale in comparison, and we are sadly aware of that truth.
With the Christ, with Messiah God, these aspects of name are only magnified and compounded. If, as with these old friends of ours, the name brings to mind all that we experienced with those friends, it is even more with the Christ. His character, yes! That comes to mind, absolutely! All the marvel of His goodness and mercy, all His grace and concern for us, all His patience in the face of sorrows beyond comprehension, all the vast magnitude of that final act of His on our behalf: All of this is there at the mention of His name. But, also, His power! The marvel of every miracle about which we have heard comes back to us. We hear the name of Jesus and we can almost see those loaves of bread being meted out to the five thousand. We speak His name, and we can almost sense the restoration of sight, hearing, sanity, health in all those He encountered.
Then, there is His authority! This may be the hardest for us because we have become terribly unused to authority. But, slowly we come to know it in Him. Sovereign. Beyond challenge. His very word Law. But, no tyrant that we might find our little rebellions justifiable. No! Wholly Just, wholly Righteous in His every exercise of His absolute Authority!
All of this is wrapped up in the name of Jesus. It is so much more than some incantation we feel a need to add to the recipe of our prayer. It is a reality. Listen! When we claim to pray ‘in the name of Jesus’ it had better be more than us thinking that somehow stamping His name on our petty wish list will force Him to comply! No! When we pray ‘in the name of Jesus’, whether we attach that phrase or not, it is a matter of praying in one accord with His command, in pursuit of His purposes, as those to whom He has delegated His own authority. But, if our prayers, or our actions, are not of one accord with His own, He is in no wise obligated to honor or abet us. No way! To pray in His name is to pray in His purpose, according to His will, for the end of furthering His kingdom.
To serve in His name is no different! This is the failure of the goats. “Many will come saying they did all these marvelous works in My name.” The claim is not the same as the reality. Yes, they may have attached that magic word, “Jesus” to their deeds. They may have been ever so cautious to point to Him at the conclusion of each action. But, they had never been authorized by Him to act in the first place! They had never asked for direction, they had just moved.
What sort of military would accept such behavior from its lower ranks? What corporation would long survive if the workers summarily ignored the leadership and just did whatever seemed right to them? What family will know peace when the children are thus with their parents? Indeed, what family in such a situation will be family in anything other than label? Sure, they remain physically related by genetics. The chain of progenitor and progeny is not changed. But, that which makes the physical family a real, meaningful family is destroyed by these things.
Yet, here we are, Christians in the Church of God, the Family of God, and we have such a terrible tendency to do just that. We take off without ever having asked if we should. We go about our plans without bothering to check His plans. We start doing, doing, doing, and maybe after awhile we’ll think to ask that maybe He would bless what we were doing. What’s up with that? This is not the way of a bondservant! This is not the path for a disciple. How can we follow Him when we insist on leading the way? NO! We are called to pray, to act, to serve in His name! We are called to do this things in accord with His plan and purpose, upon His sovereign command. Our authority is only authority so long as it submits to His authority. Our character is only of any value or benefit so long as it is conformed to His character. The minute we, as appointed representatives of His Name fail to honor His name, we have failed to be His representatives.
So, here we are, a people whose name and reputation is that we are in His name. We are wholly joined to His plan, intimately connected with Him even as He sits upon His heavenly throne. We are appointed delegates of His kingdom, known for our devotion to furthering the purposes of His kingdom.
It is for this reason that the giver of that cup of water has done anything of weight in the kingdom. It is not the act, it’s the motivation. Without that ‘because of’ which led them to act, the giving is valueless to the giver. They gave because of Him. They gave to you because they clearly recognize you as His. Since they could not give to Him in person, the next best thing was giving to His appointed representative.
Well, then, how did they know? Was it because you loudly proclaimed your faith? That has its part to play, but really, it’s not enough. Unbelievers and false prophets are just as capable of loudly proclaiming that they have a faith in Christ when in reality they do not. It is not, in the end, our words that inform the world around us that we belong to Him. It is character. Two verses in particular speak to the character that clearly declares that we not only have a confession of faith, but a reality of faith. They point to those characteristics that make the fact of our belonging to Him truly evident.
The first of these verses is 1Jn 3:14. We know that we have truly moved from death into life because we love the brethren. Love is, of course, the constant undercurrent of John’s letters: love of God, love of His adopted family, love of His truth. It is a love which must necessarily exceed mere emotion. It is a love that is active, demonstrative not just in those tender looks, tender touches and tender words that might pass between husband and wife, parent and child, but love that cannot help but do what is in the lover’s power when needs are seen. It is a love that cannot help but meet the demands of compassion when it sees the misery of the lost, the suffering of the sinner still devoid of God’s forgiveness. It is a love that cannot look upon a fellow believer who is stuck at some point in his walk, or worse yet, falling back into old, fleshly patterns, without doing all in the lover’s power to help that one reverse course and progress in the Way of Christ once more.
The second verse is Philippians 4:5. Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men, for the Lord is near. You see, in a world where every man is focused on promoting his own interests, the one who puts the greater matter of the kingdom before his own interests stands out. Look at any organization out there, however benevolent, however humanitarian, or, for that matter, however purely capitalistic in nature. Whatever the organizational focus, the average member of that organization proves to be more interested in his or her own position in that organization, in preserving what he has and gaining what is more personally beneficial, than with selflessly pursuing the goals of the organization.
We see it over and over again. Government employees prove to be most concerned with keeping their employment when push comes to shove. Our representatives to government are clearly most deeply interested in making certain of the next election, and not nearly so concerned with doing what is right for the country. Even in the corporate world, the head of the corporation will almost without exception look to his own interests first, and the company’s second. In many cases, the interests of the company may even be a distant third to that of the stockholders.
But, in the church it is not to be so. In the family of God it is not to be so. What marks the Christian in his Christian vocation particularly is this forbearing spirit. It’s not about being the man with the plan. It’s not about winning any debates that might come up as to what is the best way to proceed. It is about proceeding. It is about seeing the kingdom of God furthered. It is about giving Christ the foremost, indeed the only say in how His plan proceeds. Forbearance. The house of God is not the place for heated arguments, and demands of ‘my way or the highway.’ No! It is the place for an absolute devotion to doing only as God would have it done, pursuit of the truly high way.
Measure this against what Jesus is saying in this moment, and you know it is truly the key. The one He now commends is that one who does for His followers on the grounds that they know these followers truly are His followers. They know you are mine. It is not that they have heard rumors to that effect. It is that they can see it in you. They have taken your measure. They have been watching you. And, what they have seen is that you are not one of those social Christians, baptized into the church at an early age and satisfied to leave it at that. No! They have seen enough to realize that you are the real deal. Your heart really does belong to Christ. Oh, they have not put you on a pedestal. No, they have seen you make mistakes. How could they not? But, they have seen the contrition that followed. They have seen the constant course corrections you have made in response to those failures. They have seen an overwhelming trend in your behavior. Whatever lapses there have been, the trend has shown itself clearly to be one of doing your utmost to be like the One you proclaim. They have witnessed your constant efforts to seek His plan and His direction before you move. They have seen you set aside your agenda for His. The proof has been received, and it is to the proven character of a Christian that they are responding.
They are not impressed by your position, nor should they be. They are impressed by your willingness to treat whatever position you may have as nothing in comparison to seeing the work of Christ accomplished. Humility, forbearance, love – these mark the mature Christian. And, these things will lead those of softened heart, whether believers themselves or not, to respond. And such as these shall not lose their reward!
Do you see how tenderly Jesus has now balanced out the devastating impact of His correction? Here were His disciples, debating primacy in their ranks, and Jesus has soundly rebuked them for being concerned with such inconsequential matters. No! He has said, it is the servant among you who is marked for greatness, not because he seeks greatness by serving, but because he serves out of a true devotion to the kingdom he serves. But, this serving isn’t going unnoticed. It may feel that way. It may seem, in your darker moments, like your talents are being wasted, like you should be doing greater things for Him, but you are doing what has been given you to do, and you are doing it faithfully, and however small it may seem in your own eyes, it is beautiful in His. You need not fear that all this unseen, unappreciated effort is going to be to no reward. Inasmuch as you have not done it for the reward, but for the sake of His name, in response to His name, for love of Him overflowing in love for His, your reward has been written in the records of the King and it shall not be forgotten. The treasures you are storing up in heaven by these loving acts are insured by the one plan that does not insure restoration of losses, but insures the prevention of losses.
Isn’t it interesting, this kingdom economy! The reward is not for the star player, but for the servant. Indeed, if we have been following the line of Jesus’ discourse, the servant is the true star player. What makes him so? He is the star player because he has not served for pay. He has not served in the interest of gaining some reward. He has served for the honor of serving. He has served, more accurately, because his serving honors the One whose servants he serves.
For, to honor the servant in the church is to honor the pastor of that church. To honor the pastor is to honor the Christ He preaches. To honor the Christ is to honor the Father. Though they be One, yet, in this chain of Authority, the statement stands. Honor proceeds back up the line of delegated authority. Recall that Jesus Himself declares that all authority is given to Him by the Father. They are one being, yet in their particular offices, in their distinct persons (in this philosophical sense), there is order, there is rank, if you will. So, the Father, chief among the Trinity, has set the full authority which is His by essential definition upon His Son, the Christ. The Christ, in turn, has delegated portions of His authority first to the Apostles through whom He established His Church, and subsequently to the pastors through whom He shepherds the established Church. Pastors, in turn, delegate portions of their authority to whatever organizational structures are extent in the church, first to the heads of those organizations, and downward through such assistance and coworkers as may be involved. These, again in turn, impart a portion of that heavenly authority to each and every believer, inasmuch as they teach the believer the true Gospel of God which is, in the end, neither Paul’s nor Peter’s nor John’s nor any man’s. It is the immutable, unchangeable Gospel of God in which this authority breathes, and no other. If any in this chain of delegation has altered that Gospel then he has removed himself from the chain, and no longer wields any authority at all.
Last, but in no wise least, this delegating of authority comes to the least worker in God’s kingdom. Even there, there is a portion of heavenly authority. But, now, as we turn around and perceive the kingdom economy from this vantage point, we see nothing but what is honorable. Each step from heaven’s throne to this one who simply and quietly serves in his humble way is honorable because it has been imbued with the Authority of heaven, imbued with heavenly order and heavenly purpose. Each step from heaven’s throne yet represents the preceding steps. And so, at the end of the day, even this one looking up from the lowest ranks represents the Highest. He has no reason for shame or embarrassment. He is every bit as honorable as any other in that long line. Neither is his attention upon anything more than doing his utmost to represent that Highest King honorably. I tell you, his reward is assured!
Finally, as we ought always to turn to Scripture as being the best commentary upon itself, let me take a few moments and consider how this passage plays with Matthew 10:42. There, we read that whoever gives even a cup of water to a child to drink ‘in the name of a disciple’ will not lose his reward. Here, we are told that whoever gives a drink to a disciple, because of his ‘name as belonging to Christ’ will likewise be assured of reward. I believe I have already touched on this point, but the common factor between these two statements is, of course, that matter of ‘in the name of’. The one who serves the disciple does so, because they are known to be functioning ‘in the name of’ Christ. The disciple who serves the child does so because he knows himself to be so functioning. In other words, it is not the disciple who is, in the end, important to the value of the deed. It is that One whose disciple he is. In Matthew, he acts because to act so is part of the office, the authority and the duty, he bears as Christ’s disciple. In Mark, the servant acts because this one he is able to serve both represents and serves Christ. Either way, it is Christ Who is honored, Christ Who is recognized, Christ Who is worthy.
May we who serve never lose sight of this great Truth.
