New Thoughts (07/31/10-08/06/10)
I’ve already touched on this topic briefly in preparation, but it deserves a revisit. Did Martha grant Mary the same privilege that she took to herself – that of a private moment with the Lord? Martha seems to have acted deliberately in going out to speak with Jesus before letting Mary know He had come. Yes, there is a possibility that she was innocent of any such consideration, that she assumed those who had told her He was here would tell Mary as well. But, I’m unconvinced. I think she needed that private moment and took it.
She seems to have tried to give Mary the same privacy, speaking to her in whispers. Yet, those who knew the sisters, or thought they did, saw Mary as one who would need their support as she grieved, so they followed after her. What becomes surprising is that we arrive at the tomb and Martha is once more there and taking charge. It’s easy to simply note her presence in passing and make nothing of it. After all, we can hardly think of Mary without Martha or Martha without Mary. They are a set and we expect to find them together.
But, why was Martha there? My first reaction to that question is to suppose that she had tagged along after her sister just like everybody else. In other words, my first reaction to this is to suppose that no, Martha did not accord her sister the same private moment she herself had taken. But, I’m not so sure now. The care she had taken to tell Mary privately suggests that she was at least trying to let her have that moment. Did she simply give up when all those others went after Mary? Maybe. Maybe not.
It is also entirely possible that those still at the house noted the crowd moving towards the tomb. After all, this is where they had supposed Mary to be going in the first place. How far was this from the house? Would it have been visible? That would seem a bit odd to me, but then, there is doubtless much about that time and culture that would seem a bit odd to me.
I expect I shall simply have to accept that the answer to the question of Martha’s arrival must remain a question unanswered. I will, however, shift my perspective just a bit and give Martha the benefit of the doubt. As I noted, she had tried. Perhaps that same responsible nature in her led her to keep an eye not on her sister, but on those who were tagging along. Maybe she hoped to do something by way of giving Mary more privacy by calling these mourners away. I could surely continue speculating on a dozen different lines of thought. Be that as it may, Martha is there and every bit herself, the voice of common sense and caution.
Mary, too, is present, although her presence is barely even noted in this climactic scene. She is mentioned only as the reason so many had been there to see what Jesus did. Why? Because she was the weak one, the emotional one. Those who knew the family saw her as the one who would most need their support as she worked through her grief. Isn’t that something! So many people were there and available to have their faith ignited simply because Mary was Mary and God knew it.
Here is a fine lesson for all of us. God makes use of us just as we are! He is able. If we are of an intellectual bent, there is no need for us to dumb down. If we are cut from a simpler cloth, there is no requirement for us to feign collegiate level discourse. Be who you are. It is who God made you to be. Yes, there will assuredly be changes in your character as God works His work in you. But, the fundamental you underneath will remain you, recognizably you. God did not make you who you are just so that He could come by at a later date and make you somebody completely different. No! You were fashioned with purpose. You were made to reach those God intends you to reach. You were designed to accomplish those works God established for you to do before you even came into being.
If that illness which had put Lazarus in the grave was for God’s glory (which it was), then so, too, is Martha’s busy and responsible nature. So, too, is Mary’s open emotionalism. If Martha were not Martha, then these people would have had to return home days earlier, as there was nothing prepared for them to eat, no place for them to sleep. If Mary were not Mary, she would have been alone at the gravesite apart from Jesus and His disciples. But, God ordained this day, as He ordains every day. God had specifically created these three, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, for this very moment. Unless all three had been themselves, all those who were about to witness what must surely be the greatest of the miracles Jesus performed, would have had other things to do, other places to be. Because they were who they were, the witnesses to the resurrection of Lazarus were manifold, too numerous to ignore.
As we shall see playing out, this put the Pharisees and the chief priests in rather a bind, for they could not deny the miracle and, if they could not deny the miracle they could not deny the implications. They must now move more swiftly lest the news spread any farther before they put an end to the problem of Jesus once and for all. And this, too, was in full accord with the plan and purpose of God.
When we see the way in which our Father in heaven has orchestrated this event, how can we suppose that He is unable to use us? How can we continue to feel that events have spiraled out of His control, that the devil is having his way and God is losing the hearts of a nation? Make Him relevant? Please! This is God we are talking about, and frankly, you aren’t going to make Him anything. He made everything. He is so thoroughly relevant that were He to turn His attention away for but the briefest blink of His eye, all existence would cease to be. He is so thoroughly relevant that each and every ruling authority upon the earth, whether elected or dictatorial, whether scout leader or principality, whether human or demon or any other such thing, has authority only so long as God determines he should have that authority. Man may vote, but God appoints the vote. Now, don’t get all fatalistic because of that. But, it is the truth of the matter. God reigns. Period. All others just fake it as best they can.
But, let me come back to our own parts. We are well aware that all men, though created equal, are created uniquely. I need not look beyond my family, or even my marriage, to see this most clearly. My wife and I are not alike in temperament. Yet, God has made each of us as we are, and He has not done so capriciously. He has a reason. If my beloved is more emotional, it is because that is what God has for her. If I tend to be more logical, more clinical, it is because this is what God has for me. The question, then, is not how can I make her more like me, or myself more like her. The question is how shall I best use my particulars to God’s benefit? What is the purpose behind my being? What are those good works God has laid out for me today, and how might I consciously seek to fulfill them?
This is admittedly a far different perspective than I have most days. It is, however, in keeping with what God reveals to us in Scripture. If He is purposeful, and if He has indeed prepared things for us to accomplish in life, why should we suppose we ought to be passive about the whole thing? He has given us a reason to be alive. How much more satisfying will life become if we not only accept that as fact, but seek to understand the particulars? How much more joyful will our pursuit of His kingdom be when we know that our pursuit is aligned with His plan? How much happier shall our reunion in heaven be when we are clear that we have been doing what He intended us to do?
In recent discussions amongst our men’s group leadership, one topic that has come up is the difference between the standing orders God has for us as general principles to live by and the specific orders He may have for us in a given situation on a given day. Here, I am thinking more upon that second category. Scripture, if we will but study it and meditate upon it, is more than enough to make the standing orders clear. Here’s something, though: I think we shall find that those standing orders also prepare us to be aware of the specific orders. If we have not laid the groundwork of a life lived in God’s presence, we are not likely to hear or heed that ‘still small voice’ that is intended to fine tune our actions.
So, maybe this is the right place for a bit of transparency. Truth be told, hearing that voice is something I have been better at than I am now. Oh, it’s not that I don’t hear. It’s that I don’t heed. I can recall clearly several occasions from previous years in which I heard His voice and took the warning He spoke, and knew almost immediately the benefit of having done so. Sadly, I can also count many examples from more recent times when I heard a warning from Him, but did not recognize it until after events had unfolded. The thing is that when He speaks it is not as if some other, clearly distinguishable tone of thought sets Him apart as not me. No, He speaks (at least when I have known Him to do so) in the same way I do.
I should be clear, I suppose, that I’m not talking about audible speech. I have known those who have experienced this, but I have not experienced it myself. What I have known is more of a direct injection of knowledge, wisdom, awareness, call it what you will, into my thought stream. Things of the nature of, ‘you need to get over to the shoulder of the road, there’s a car coming,’ when all that is ahead of me is the upward slope to the crest of the next hillock. Yet, sure enough, coming over that rise, there is indeed a car on the far side, and had I been further over, there would assuredly have been an accident. There have been other such occasions, a rather large portion of them on the road. Apparently, I am in need of protection there.
Yet, there have been those other times around the house. Simple things. You should pick that up. Had I not chosen to ignore the prodding of that thought, I should doubtless never even have supposed it was anything but my own stray thought. But, having ignored it, and seen what befell because I ignored it, well: hindsight is 20-20, right? Yes, Lord, You were right. I should have picked that up. Yet, even these failures, I must accept, are in His plan and purpose. While I would not have wished the outcome of my failure to act upon anybody, yet because of that outcome, good things arose.
While none of us would gladly request the hard times in life, the disappointments, the sorrows, yet God is true to His promise, and works good things out of even the most painful situations. He Who could turn this scene of mourning into a source of gladness, can assuredly work in our losses to bring about fullness of satisfaction. Am I proposing that God necessarily precedes every good thing with some particularly harsh event? Of course not. I am proposing, though, that every harsh event is, in God’s hands, producing a good that will far outbalance the harshness.
We could take Job as the obvious example. His life had become harsh in a fashion few of us will ever know. The swift and total accumulation of grief that this man endured, and endured with faith and character intact, is stupefying. Every child killed, all his wealth destroyed, his own health turned to most debilitating disease, and even his wife chiding him with miserably poor counsel; yet he holds firmly to God. Of course, we know the outcome of this. He was tested and found standing. He was blessed with an abundance far beyond even what he had known before the losses came. Did this in any way lesson the sharpness of that loss? I rather doubt it, certainly not the loss of his children. The disease, I suppose, once healing had come, would fade to insignificance. The loss of wealth, having been replaced, would fade. But, the loss of life? No. I think not. Nor was it intended to. Perhaps part of God’s purpose in allowing those things to befall Job was to keep Job clear on what matters.
Perhaps Joseph is more to your liking as an example. He, too, underwent some most egregious treatment. He, too, felt his good fortunes constantly getting stripped away, and for no good reason. Indeed, I don’t see any evidence that Joseph felt a need to go digging for the root of his problems, to seek out that hidden unconscious sin that was given the enemy a foothold. What I see plenty of evidence for, though, is that Joseph looked to God. He kept a mind set upon God, a certainty that God, not being the frivolous sort, had a reason, and that He would see to Joseph’s good. And, of course, God did exactly that.
Joseph’s prison time was no less a trial for all that came after. Yet, Joseph, as we see him reunited with his brothers and with his father, sees beyond the opportunity for vengeance. He sees what God had been setting up all along. Had he not suffered the indignities of being sold into slavery by his brothers, had he not suffered the wrongful accusations of Potiphar’s wife, had his father not been so foolishly partial in his love for Rachel’s sons; any of these ingredients, had they been missing, would have prevented Joseph being in the position to save the lives of all his family when the time came. But, God.
Now, however, let me return to the scene we have in the present passage. Once again, as John speaks of the crowd there around the entrance to the tomb, he speaks of those who had ‘come to Mary’. Why had they come? Because they thought she was going to the tomb to grieve (Jn 11:31), and they had come out to console the sisters (Jn 11:19). As noted, Mary was the more likely to need that consolation, so they more or less naturally tended to be wherever she was. Now see the marvelous good humor of God. These people, they came out to comfort Mary. Instead, as the scene reaches its climax, they find the Comforter. It is particularly fitting that it should be this way. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Mt 5:4). Has this not bee fulfilled rather there not only before their eyes, but in their own specific case?
They have come to mourn and to mourn not for their own loss, but for the loss to these two sisters. Because they were willing to share the sorrow and thereby lessen the burden upon these sisters, God saw fit to cause their presence at the sight of the tomb. God saw fit to have them witness the resurrection which would prove the precursor to the Resurrection. They believed. They not only believed, but they confessed what they had witnessed. They contributed to eliminating deniability as to what had transpired there in Bethany. Let’s see: if you believe and confess (Ro 10:9), you shall be saved. Salvation came to those who sought to comfort. The Comforter came.
Some have suggested that it was these same witnesses who later turned on Jesus. Obviously, I cannot prove it is otherwise. Yet, if they believed, if salvation had truly come to them on this day, how can I suppose that it was stripped away shortly thereafter? I cannot. God is too good to play that sort of game with people. To be sure, there were many who felt the excitement and the emotional rush that came with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem yet knew nothing of salvation. But, that’s a different crowd than we are seeing here. No, I must suppose that those who were brought to faith by what they witnessed out there in Bethany remained in faith.
Let me, then, jump ahead to a question I had thought to address later. At the close of this section, having noted how there were many who believed, John continues, saying, “but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done” (v46). Given our knowledge of how the story plays out, we are inclined to think we know who John is talking about here. We immediately conclude that there were spies in the crowd out there at Mary & Martha’s place. The eyes of the Pharisees are everywhere, right? So, there were those who saw what happened and brought word to the Pharisees so that they could take action.
But, why do we suppose any such thing? I mean, it’s possible, but why would we find it probable? This crowd had been here for several days now. Jesus had not. Wouldn’t anybody looking to find the goods on Jesus have long since decided there was nothing to see here? Would anybody really have come out to Bethany for anything other than the clear purpose of helping these ladies to grieve? Would there really be anybody in all that crowd who was not a known friend of the family? I think not.
Perhaps, then, we suppose there was a second crowd following Jesus into town. That would hardly be shocking, I guess. It certainly tended to be the case with Him as He ministered in Galilee. Of course, this is Judea. It’s rather like the difference between ministering in Texas and ministering in New England. We just don’t do those sorts of things up here. It’s not proper.
Instead, let me propose a less sinister explanation. The Pharisees were still seen as the paragons of piety. Likewise, far more than the Sadducees, they were inclined toward the Messianic perspective. They were the more spiritually minded group. Surely, if Messiah was come, they should be as excited at the prospect as these who have just seen Him in action! They would want to know the good news, and how blessed the feet that bring that good news. So, when we read, ‘but some of them’, I am inclined to think we are speaking of some of those who had believed, not some second category.
And, if you don’t think these folks were excited, then you have not even begun to consider the event that John sets out here. Can you imagine? What amazes me is not that some of those witnesses went running back to Jerusalem with the news. What amazes me is that there were any left standing at all. Folks, superstitious nature or scientific, it really doesn’t matter. When you see a dead man walking, it’s going to make an impression on you. In our own church, we have those who if not dead were near enough to it, and yet they are there with us of a Sunday, worshipping the God Who Is Life. But, even that pales compared to the sheer impact of this business.
Even if we were to discount the consideration that this man has been in the grave for four days now, even if we allow a certain cultural predilection for accepting the idea of a body returning to life like this; there is nothing to prepare one for watching it happen before one’s eyes. There is nothing to prepare one for witnessing that one, “bound hand and foot with wrappings”, making his way to the entrance of the cave in spite of the bindings. Whether he was upright or crawling, we are not told. Does it matter? Dead man moving!
Do you recall the awe that came upon the disciples when Jesus stilled the waters of Galilee? “Who IS this Man?” Well, consider that they had been with Him for some time, had been witness to some pretty amazing things already. They were at least a little prepared for what was happening. These people have not even that benefit. And, frankly, I would not be surprised to find the disciples themselves thrown back to that overawed state. OK. We thought we knew Him. We thought we had come to grips with Who He Is, but this? Whoa! This is a whole new dimension of awesome.
Really, if I had been there, and had the Holy Spirit not been working overtime to maintain the due order at the scene, I cannot but think I would have been heading for the exits before that stone had rolled. Warnings of the stench of death would not be lost on me. And, even had I stood for that much, maybe hanging a little further back in the crowd, I feel pretty certain that sight of that mummified body coming out, seemingly under its own power, would have had me searching for the limits of my own power, the power to get my hide out of there.
But, the reality is that the Holy Spirit was as much on the scene as Jesus. Those who saw did not cower in fear, did not scream in terror. They witnessed the event. In awe? Yes. Overawed? Not noticeably, no. In fairness, we are not told much about their reaction beyond the most critical information. Many believed, and some – whether of those who believed or of others who did not – went to let the Pharisees know what had happened. But, again I have to ask: who could step away from that event with nefarious intentions? It doesn’t fit with what’s been going on. It asks too much of the supposed perpetrator to think they would have hung out for the better part of a week on the off chance Jesus might show up and do something controversial.
The simple fact is that what these people have watched unfold was cause for one thing and one thing only, and that one thing is worship. That the fear that would seem so natural to such a witness does not appear to have manifested, that there appears to have been a blanket of peace upon the crowd, just increases the need for worship. When we come to that place, when we are brought to the question of, “Who IS this Man?”, we will worship, for there is no real alternative left us.
In that light, I will even move to say that those who went to tell the Pharisees of the event did so not as informants, but as worshipers. Worshiping God, after all, does not preclude us from making errors. It does not mean that we will automatically get everything right. It means simply that we do our utmost to honor Him as He deserves. It means that for a window of time we have begun to have at least an inkling of our real significance as compared to His real Significance. It means that we have been brought to an acknowledgement of very basic truths.
You can do all things and apart from You, I am nothing. Truly, even with You, I am nothing except as You give me worth. I am but a worm, and how can it be that You even pay heed to me? But, though I am so worthless in my own right, I know. I know that as You have moved upon the dead body of Lazarus, over there, You have also moved upon my equally dead spirit. I know that You have given me life – nay, Life – and that, abundantly. Awesome? You are the definition of awesome! Beyond compare? Words themselves utterly fail to offer the sketchiest of description. Whether these knees physically bend or whether I discover myself rooted to the spot on which I stand, yet my heart, my mind, my soul bow down to You, for You alone are worthy. Over and over again, You have proven it. I, for one, need no further proof. There is none like You, and to You alone shall I give my worship. To You alone shall I trust my life, the Life that You have chosen to give me. It is Yours for all that it rests upon this vessel. It is Yours and do with it, do with me as You will.
[08/03/10] There are times when a theme or a subject from one aspect of time in the Word informs or colors what I observe in another. If I might explain, at this point, I am looking at some of the overarching themes of the Old Testament in my morning devotions using R.C. Sproul’s Table Talk. On Mondays, I am with the church’s men’s group where we are currently working through the book of Romans. Then, of course, there is this pursuit of the Gospels. I do not note this to brag, but only to remind myself, should I return to this study at some point, of what activities were ongoing at this stage.
All of this is by way of introducing a thought that touched my mind in reading the passage once more this morning. I have been on the subject of those witnesses, and how it is that some of them went to inform the Pharisees. Nefarious plotting or awestruck enthusiasm? What I am recognizing this morning is that this is of a piece with Romans 10:2, which has been much on my mind of late. In that verse, Paul is describing the problem with the Jewish religious order in his time. They have a zeal for God, but without knowledge. It’s all enthusiasm, no wisdom.
This is a problem that is terrifyingly pervasive in our own time. Some might refer to it as the feminization of the Church, but I am not so sure that’s the thing. Yes, we tend to consider the tendency to lead with emotions as a feminine trait. But, men fall prey to it as well. In the setting of the Church, it seems to be one of the major symptoms of the whole Charismatic movement. I will say this in comparison to what I have experienced within the Pentecostal movement, which seems to retain rather more of the doctrinal underpinnings of a Protestant background. The Charismatic movement is, in many ways, seeking to be so led by the Spirit that they no longer concern themselves overmuch with where they are being led.
The danger of this ought to be evident to anybody with even a cursory knowledge of Scripture. Spirits are to be tested, for they are one of the easiest ways for misdirection to come into the house. There is a reason why the more traditional denominations insist on the primacy of the Word. The written, revealed Word of God is the standard. All that is contemplated in the house of God, in the worship of God must be measured against that standard. Do we really neglect to learn the lesson of strange fire? No, we don’t have any clear indication of what made that fire strange, other than that it was not in accord with God’s revealed order of worship. He went to the trouble to lay it out for His people, that they might not sin against Him in their efforts to worship Him. But, in the sons of Aaron, zeal overwhelmed wisdom and even the concern for wisdom.
That is the Charismatic story in brief. Zeal overwhelmed by wisdom. This is rather bound to become an issue when teachers so often complain of the dead legalism of doctrine, how doctrine divides but God wants relationship. When theology is seen as a word most foul, how can one expect that there will be any sure order, any certainty of Truth? So, what results? We find a house tossed by every passing wind. Are they, then, less urgent in their desire to seek and to serve God? No. Having sat in the house I am yet attending for well over a decade, I can say without reservation that these – at least most of these – people have a burning and abiding love for God. I am equally comfortable saying that God has a burning and abiding love for them. It is clear to me that this is so. Yet, like any father of an excitable youth who refuses to be serious about what is serious, I can also comfortably suppose that He is shaking His head in sorrowful concern.
It is the same disease playing out in a different set of symptoms: zeal without wisdom. Excitement without understanding. We get all fired up for the cause du jour, and we’ll pursue it until either we tire of it, for we are children with a very short attention span, or some other cause comes along and stirs us up to go after some other goal. Nothing gets done. Nothing remains constant. It’s constant change with the thought of purpose, but without the reality of purpose. So, we see the tides in attendance. Those who were behind project A depart when project A seems to be losing the interest of the leaders. But, they’ll be back when the wind blows in their direction again. But, then the folks behind project B, seeing interest in their pet project waning, will be off looking for a more receptive audience elsewhere. Why is this? It’s because there is no time being taken to test. Does this align with what God has clearly indicated as His desire for His people? Never mind do we feel some sort of emotional confirmation in prayer. Never mind this unquenchable lust for ‘revelation knowledge’. Strange fire! What has He already said? Do we know? Are we concerned enough to find out? If we will not put His confirmed revelation in the place of prominence in our thinking and in our acting, what is the point of asking for more personal tutoring?
Listen! One of the primary functions of the office of the Holy Spirit in our lives is that He is charged with bringing to memory that which we have been taught by Christ. Well, how can He bring to memory what we have never been bothered to learn? We can’t recall what we do not know. But, that’s what we seek. We want a knowledge by instant gratification. God, just tell us. Don’t make us work at it. I don’t have time to study, so just tell me. I don’t have the capacity for learning, so bypass all that and just inject me with Your wisdom. I must suppose that there are those exceptional cases where perhaps God will do just that because the standard route to godly wisdom simply isn’t available. But, it’s the exception, and we’re begging Him to make it the norm. It isn’t the norm. The norm, by God’s revealed standard, is that we work at this. We study to show ourselves approved. We practice the skills of rightly dividing the Word, in other words, the skill of applied knowledge of the Word. We are careful to take the text as it is intended, not to shape the meaning to our own purposes. We care whether the worship we offer is as He desires it to be, as He has told us to be. We work out our salvation with great effort and great humility, knowing that we shall prevail in the end because it is He who is working it. But, we don’t sit back. We don’t put our hand in the bowl of righteousness and then starve for lack of effort in bringing hand to mouth.
This is what an excessive focus on the charismata eventually leads to: spiritual sloth. The Word is set aside because it’s too much work and not near as much fun. What’s more exciting, an hour spent really seeking to understand what God has caused to be written, or that sudden flash of fuel-injected insight? The emotions will tell you it’s the latter. Instant gratification always feels better in the moment. But, it is discipline which, though painful at times and tedious often, produces the truly exciting results. That sudden flash is like an adrenaline rush to the spirit. We have a burst of energy from it, but there is such a drain later. If we will stop seeking that thrill and put our energies into a disciplined pursuit of Wisdom, though, we find our energy increases. Endurance improves. Situations which once threw us are no longer even a challenge to us, because we know what we are to do.
You seek relationship with God? Well, then, put some effort into it! “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” If you love Him, you will love His Word. If you love Him, you will be doing all you can to know Him better, that you may be certain of your love.
This may seem an odd thread to interject here, but it’s all right. There’s an old sci-fi novel, one of the few I’ve seen fit to reread, by the title of ‘Macroscope’, written by Piers Anthony. One scene in particular comes to mind often. The small group about whom this book is centered are about to undergo a form of transport which may well result in a dissolution of their being as they know it. There is to be molecular disruption for a time, although the hope is that all will be properly reconstituted at the end. But, there is uncertainty. So, just prior to the procedure’s start, one couple who will be undergoing the process spend time of intimacy together. This is not a gratuitous sex scene thrown into the text to boost sales. The time is spent in efforts to settle a physical memory of the other; to be so familiar with the feel, the form, every least nuance of the other’s body, that when the reconstitution comes, they will be able to confirm beyond doubt that this one they are with is the same one they were with before the procedure.
In many ways, this informs my sense of intimacy. I often find a desire to have that same full and complete knowledge of my own spouse, a familiarity not limited to one sense, but that will survive even in the loss of any particular sense. Were sight taken away, were I left with nothing but touch, would I still be able to recognize this woman who is flesh of my own flesh?
But, there’s a spiritual dimension in this as well. Take it back to that higher plain. Were I bereft of the Word, forced to do without it, would I still recognize God? Am I so intimate with Him that even were He to cease speaking to me for a season, I would have no doubt of His comfortable presence at my side? Am I so aware of His nature, His character, that any other voice that spoke to me, no matter how closely it sought to mimic His own, would instantly stand out as counterfeit?
Relationship is all about intimacy, isn’t it? But, that intimacy takes effort. I dare say any married soul knows that. It doesn’t come for free, and it isn’t maintained without serious work. We cannot be intimate with somebody we’ve never bothered to really know. We cannot be intimate with somebody to whom we have never really opened ourselves. Relationship takes intimacy and intimacy must have transparency, but transparency is only of value to one who is looking to see.
In truth, though, I must confess that transparency does not come naturally to me. I am a fairly private individual in many regards, tending to keep my own counsel, and holding much of my opinion close. Was it always thus? No, but it has been so for much of my life. Call it the impact of peer rejection, call it the fallout of having chosen my own course. The things I enjoyed in terms of pop culture were not those typical to my peers. The music I wanted to hear was not on the radio then and is rarely so now. My interests were not those of the average youth of my time. So it goes. But, dealing with the reactions does tend to lead one inward, does teach one to keep opinions rather to oneself.
There is such vast pressure from the world around us to just go with the flow. Don’t rock the boat. But, that sort of attitude drives hard against transparency. If we are transparent, we can’t go with the flow, because the flow is simply not us. If we are transparent, the boat’s going to rock. Waters will be roiled. Feelings will be exposed and differences will come to light. Honestly, it makes me edgy just considering such a scene. I am not a fan of conflict, even if I know it will eventually bring resolution. Not interested. Just phone me with the results when you’re done. I’ll be elsewhere, thanks. But, this stuff is going to happen if we are truly transparent with one another.
Honesty. That’s another word for it. Open and honest. You know, there’s the standard humorous observations as to how short-lived a society of telepaths would be. What would it be like if we knew what those around us were really thinking? What if the silences weren’t silent? The standard answer is that some things are best left hidden, but is that really the case?
My wife and I started listening to a conference exploring the distinct and different needs of male and female. Anybody willing to look honestly at the situation recognizes that we process things differently. We translate experiences through very different filters. You can lay the differences to many different causes, but the differences are undeniable. So, I look at us. I look at the misunderstandings that arise because the meaning behind my words are clear to me but not to her, because the feelings behind her words are lost in translation by me. What if we could hear the intended meaning along with the spoken word? What if we could clearly know the heart?
Of course, we can’t manage that with our own heart, but would the world really nosedive into oblivion were men and women truly, completely, and comprehensibly open and honest with one another? Some of us, I suspect, are destined to find out. Jesus, we are told knew what was in the hearts of men. I wonder if shall find ourselves possessed of much the same capacity in heaven. Of course, the hearts of men having been purified, this will be a far more tolerable situation than it would be in the here and now.
Yet, I return to the thought that marriage is intended by God as a model of His own relationship to His chosen. Ought we not, then, to be practicing as best we can how to hear past the words, how to see behind the imagery? Ought we not to be doing our utmost to be wholly honest and open in this most precious of relationships? Will there be rough spots? Probably. We’re not used to such things. But, will it lead to greater understanding and deeper appreciation? I suspect so.
As we were discussing in men’s group a few days ago, a large part of this Christian walk is the effort of tearing down walls we have built in the wrong places and constructing walls where they are truly needed. This is, of course, a metaphorical thing. What walls need to go? Well, there’s the obvious one that we had constructed to keep God from getting too near. But, there are those others. There are the ones we have built to defend ourselves from the hurts inflicted by those around us. There’s the tendencies we have built up over time: the tendency to be guarded in conversation, the get-along tendency, the sharp humor used to deflect potential criticisms. These have no place in us any longer, but we are so accustomed to their presence that we tend to not even notice them any longer until God begins to point them out to us and speak of their impropriety. Really, though: the materials we shall recoup from tearing down those walls will be great for putting up the new ones, the ones that ward us off from temptations to sin.
You know, the Pharisees weren’t all wrong when they began to set out borders for themselves. If this is what God wants me to stay clear of, let me set the fence back here, that I may never go there, even by accident. For I know myself, that I am forgetful and inattentive. The error was not in seeking to avoid even the appearance of sin. The error was in thinking that this was enough. The error was in forgetting the real goal in all the activity of checking the fences. The error was in thinking they had arrived at the endpoint of righteousness.
When we start to shy away from works-based conceptions of our relationship with God, as we grasp what it means to be loved unconditionally, we may trend towards overcompensating. I have a brother who likes to warn us against becoming sin-conscious. Well, I confess, I would rather that than being sin-unconscious. God has not suggested that we can now blithely go through life without the least consideration for what is holy and what is not. Far from it! Nor, I will quickly add, does this brother suppose any such thing. But, our Christianese tends to proclaim things we never intended, like pretty much every other aspect of our communications. We speak in jargon that has meaning only in our heads, and leave everybody around us to guess at the intent.
The point is this: Of course we are to be conscious of the Law God has set out. Yes, Jesus is the end of the Law, but this is not by way of saying that the Law has terminated with Him. Far from it. He Himself has told us that not the least of the Law’s requirements shall pass. No, He is the end of the Law in that He is the Purpose of the Law. The Law, we are told, was our tutor until He came. It’s primary function was to point out our need for that Other whom God had promised would come, and that we might know Him when He arrived. In that same sense, Jesus is the end of Scripture, the end of History, the end of Creation. For from Him, and through Him and to Him are all things.
So, at any rate, the definitions of holiness and the need for holiness, particularly in the child of God, have not changed in any way whatsoever in all of history. God does not change the rules, folks. There is no change in Him. He is constant. And, as He defines Truth, defines Love, defines Righteousness, defines Mercy; these things are constant as well, at least as we find them in Him. Our conceptions of them may shift with time, but the reality of them does not. So, too, sin. The definitions of sin have never been updated to match the changes in society. There is no need. There’s nothing new under the son, folks. We may dress it up differently, may call it by new terms in our post-modern jargon, but sin remains sin remains sin. Lust, however you choose to market it, remains lust. Murder is no more or less deadly now than it was in ages past.
We must remain conscious of sin. How shall we resist the devil and his schemes if we’re wandering about with our ears plugged and eyes closed? Please! You wouldn’t approach any one of your daily duties with such an attitude! How dare we think we can do so with God?
[08/05/10] Well, it seems I have wandered pretty far from my intended topics, so let me try and come back to the lessons of Lazarus. Lazarus is something of a physical parable for us. This is not to say that the events are symbolic rather than actual, but the actual plays out in a fashion that is suited to teach us of ourselves. That should hardly shock us. Jesus’ parables are most often drawn from scenes and events then visible to His students. Given the hand of God orchestrating this whole event with Lazarus, it would seem to be well within expectations that He would so orchestrate it that we might learn from it. These things were written that we might learn, yes? But, had the events not happened neither would the writing.
At any rate, this is the thought I have had in regard to the lesson of Lazarus. As he is physically raised from the grave, so each one of us is raised from our own spiritual grave. We, too, ought surely be expected to reek after the long days of our corruption. We, too, are bound in our grave clothes. Now, that’s an important detail. Being thus bound, we are as incapable of making our own way out of the grave as was Lazarus. Being dead, we would hardly have the inclination anyway. But, let me focus most fully no this part: Had Jesus not commanded Lazarus to come forth, he would never have done so. Indeed, had the power of God not physically moved him to the entrance of the cave, he would even then have remained in place, though now awake.
This is our condition prior to hearing the call of God. We are dead. We are bound hand and foot by the grave-clothes of our sin and guilt. Oh, we didn’t notice them so much. I mean, we were dead. Who wanted to be moving anyway? But, we were bound just the same. We had no choice but to continue in death. Had we not heard the call of God commanding us to wake up out of our stupor, we would be there still today. Indeed, some of the remnants of those grave clothes still cling to us, even after all these years. But, we are aware now, because He has already accomplished a spiritual resurrection in us. We have been made alive in Him!
Here, too, is an aspect of that parable: As I noted, Lazarus, though restored to life by the Word of God, would have been able to do little more than grunt on the shelf where they had laid him in that cave except God take yet another step. Except God had physically propelled him up off that shelf and over to the exit, he would be alive but helplessly bound. Here, too, we are in a similar condition. Again, the bonds we wear are those of our sins and the guilt thereof. The sins do not, in the general case, simply drop away from us in that moment of awakening. Oh, some may. But, it does not appear to be the rule. No, it takes something outside ourselves to unbind us from the grave clothes.
Now, here’s an interesting thing. God has spoken us to life. God has moved us to the place of our rescue. Perhaps, if we look back on the moment of salvation and the events surrounding it, we might recall that feeling of being impelled to be where we were, to do what we were doing. I know I can see that in my own case. Oh, I could argue my free will were I so inclined. Obviously, I wouldn’t have gone to that retreat had I not wanted to. Yet, I can also say that in many ways the decision to go, though ostensibly my own decision, was made so swiftly and so certainly that it was a foregone conclusion before ever I spoke. God had decided. I may not have known. I may not have even accepted His being. But, that hardly changed Him, did it? No, nor could anything – including myself – have changed my mind, when once He had made it up for me. He called, and I had no real choice but to answer. His hand moved me into the position He had in mind, and I moved. Irresistible force, thy name is God Almighty!
But, notice that the story doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t end with God and me. Jesus, having commanded Life, and having moved Lazarus to the point of his salvation, his rescue, then turns to those with Him and says, “you go release him. Unbind him.” Isn’t that marvelous? God does not intend nor does He allow that we should come to that place of thinking, “It’s me and Thee and I’ve no need for any other.” No! He makes clear that we are to be a community, a support network one for another.
Now, face it: the God Who just spoke Lazarus out of the grave and who just physically moved the now living Lazarus off of his final bed to be standing upright in the mouth of that cave could just as easily have caused the bindings to fall off. Why, He could have simply required them to cease their existence and they would have been less than vapor. Surely, that would also have impressed the natives, no? But, He does not do so, for He’s not really here to impress the natives. He’s here to save them as He has just saved Lazarus. And part of that whole process, friends, is discipling one another, supporting one another.
If your brother sins, and you are made aware of it, go to him. So doing, you may save the life of your brother. Be the watchman on his wall. It is your calling. In whatever way you can, acting always in a loving, compassionate fashion, help your brother to remove the bindings that have kept him in the grave. Help one another to be free of the sins that so easily entangle. You have absolutely no right to go rubbing your brother’s nose in his mistakes. But, you have a duty to help him clean up.
And you, fresh from the grave: Don’t think to go it alone. You have been brought this far by God’s power alone. Think not to lean on your own understanding now! No, nor suppose that He will simply carry you from here to eternity. He has given you these others in the family to be your help. He has blessed you with friends closer than brothers, who will not only love you for who you are, but will lovingly keep you accountable that you might become who you will be.
Oh, never doubt that it is God Who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. But, when He has so clearly pointed out what He would have you to do for His good pleasure, don’t suppose that you can just lie there and be moved by Him. No! Thou sluggard, arise! Take up the task. Face the challenge. Seek out those whom He has given you as partners in the difficulties of shaking off the old death for the new life. Work out your salvation. Listen, He did the hard part, the impossible part. He has put the spark of Life in you. He has relocated you from the place of death to the place where those who share with you in Life can help. Don’t refuse the help He has blessed you with! Don’t cut yourself off from the assembling of the saints. There are no solo flights to heaven, my friend.
As I near the end of this portion of my studies, there remains one bit of personal rebuke to be addressed. There is this remarkable comment when Jesus prays. In effect, He says, “I know You always hear Me, but I’m praying aloud so that those who hear My prayers and see the outcome might believe.” So, let’s consider that for a moment. The clear implication is that there was no need for vocalization insofar as God was concerned. He Who knows our hearts hears our thoughts. Why, He is quite aware of our concerns before we even think to bring them to Him, for He created us. He knows our needs and He sees to them perfectly well without our constant promptings. Oh, but He loves to hear from His children.
This, however, is pointing to another issue. I tend to view prayer as that private conversation time, just me and God. Nobody else needs to hear it. I don’t need to put my words out on the airwaves for Him to receive them. But, that’s not what Jesus is suggesting, is it? He’s admitting that God doesn’t need to hear it. Indeed, He’s hardly telling God anything new, here, is He? No, but for some of those listening, inclined due to the Pharisaic teaching to be loud and public in their prayers, there is a quiet, gentle rebuke here. Yes, Father, I know full well there’s no need for that (and maybe now, these will recall that to mind as well.)
But, it’s more than a word of correction. It’s part of drawing these folks up into a real faith. Father, I want them to know. I want them to know that this is all about You. I want them to be clear that I am no exorcist, no practitioner of some dark, necromantic arts. I am Yours, for You have sent Me. So, I speak to You in their hearing that they might hear. Having heard, what they see is all the more suited to stir faith rather than fear. So, in spite of knowing I had no need for this speech, I offer it in Your service.
Now, for my own part, I am much more inclined to private prayers, and brief. Oh, there are certain things over which I am more inclined to pester God for lengthier stretches, but for the most part, my sense of Who He Is tends to keep my request brief and on point. Prayer, after all, is not about speechifying. It’s about addressing the King of all kings, the Most High God. He has granted us the immeasurable privilege of coming before Him at will, of presenting our petitions to Him at will. He has also given us some marvelous advice on how to do so effectively. Pagans suppose to prod their gods to action by their many words. Don’t be like them. Understand that Father knows your need even before you ask, so pray simply (Mt 6:7-8). Honor His name which is His reputation and His character and all that He is. In other words, honor Him. Give some evidence that you have taken time to get to know Him as He is, that you’re not simply tossing words off to some imaginary friend of yours.
This is fine. It is good to realize just Who it is with Whom we have to deal. It’s good to approach Him in the manner He has told us He best appreciates. It is good to heed all that is contained in these instructions He has left with us. But, I need to be instructed by this which my Teacher has done.
He knows, and certainly far and away better than I, Who God Is. How could He not, being very God of very God? But, knowing Father, He knows this: Father is not going to be offended by being spoken to aloud by His children, particularly when doing so is not a matter of mimicking the world about us, but of better demonstrating Himself. I speak because I see that it will bolster faith. I speak not because You need to hear it, but because these around Me need to hear it.
How often does my dear wife come asking for prayer and I, stubborn in my knowledge, pray silently. How often does flesh rise up because I am praying to God, typically when blessing the meal, and she can’t hear it, wants me to speak up. How dare she? I’m not praying to you, I’m praying to God! What is it to me if you don’t quite know what I said? But, I have to ask (indeed, I know this well, but somehow manage to excuse myself each and every time): how is this prayer representative of the God to whom I say I pray? It isn’t! I must look again at my Teacher and be instructed by His model. I pray aloud because they need it. I choose to show compassion towards these weaker vessels that You, my God, may be magnified the more.
Father! How can I look upon this and not come in humble sorrow, seeking Your forgiveness? God! Such arrogance. And would I truly look about me and gripe of the pride running rampant in Your house? Speck, meet mote. Oh, Lord, how can I be thus? How can I feel perfectly free to expose these flaws to a world at large as I put these studies out on the web, and yet feel so threatened at being heard by the one I care for the most? How can I think my prayers please You when the very attitude with which they are delivered are a stench in Your nostrils? No, there is such a call for change here, such a call for change. You are bringing things to light, Holy One, for which I thank You even though it hurts to see myself as I am. I thank You the more because I know You. If, then, You are bringing these things to light in me, forcing my eyes upon the mess, then I am assured that You are turning Your own attention there as well, beginning a work in me that will establish this long-needed change. I pray, then, only this: that You would help me to remain attentive to these issues, that I might be doing my part right along side You, speeding the day when these issues in me are no more. Thank You, for I know You always hear me.
