You Were There (08/31/10)
Sitting with the disciples and hearing what Jesus says, what would I be thinking in this moment? By Matthew’s setting, Jesus has just delivered some of the most difficult lessons yet. So many warnings of difficulties and tribulations to come. “The will kill you.” “False prophets will arise.” The whole is clearly aimed at explaining His absence, and that His absence is temporary. Yet, nothing in that discourse specifically says, “I’m going.” It’s only the implication in the way that He indicates that He’ll be back. All of creation is going to be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man. All will be doom and gloom, rest assured. Like Noah’s day, there will be so few to survive, and so many taken unawares. Remain ready. Don’t lose sight of the kingdom, however hopeless it seems. The King will be coming, and looking for His faithful subjects. It is onto this sort of message, as He concludes on this theme of the return of the Son of Man, that He now says, “This Son of Man is about to be delivered up for crucifixion.”
What?? Oddly, Matthew does not stop to dwell on the reaction. But, who can really blame him? These guys had to be utterly thrown by this. Hey, Jesus, wait just a minute. I thought You were the Son of Man. But, you’re already here, so what’s with this “I’ll be back” deal? Crucified, You say? But, but, You’re the Messiah! You’re the Hero come to put Israel back on top, aren’t You? And, You’re just going to let it happen? What? I don’t get it. Why should You suffer this to be done to Yourself, You Who could call down the armies of heaven? What would be the point? Seriously, these guys have got to have been thoroughly flummoxed by this turn of their training.
Meanwhile, there’s those crowds in Jerusalem, aware of the machinations of the Sanhedrin (for the Sanhedrin was seeing to it that all were aware.) They were also well aware of Jesus, and had their suspicions and suppositions as to what He meant for Israel. They may not have grasped the Son of God deal, but they sure had laid hold of this Messiah business. Would He show?
There is a great deal to read into that question. These are, we can see, devout Jews, and not necessarily on the order of Pharisaic flash. They have come early to purify themselves, to prepare themselves as fully as they may for the coming Feast of Purification that is the Paschal week. And, they are seeking this Jesus. Maybe they’ve encountered Him in the course of His three years of ministry. Maybe they’ve only heard about Him second hand. But, they’re clear on one thing: If He is a good Jew, He must be here. If He is God’s man, He must heed God’s command, and this feast is most assuredly God’s command. Yet, there is doubt in their minds. Do you suppose He’ll skip it, given the bans put out by the council? Surely, He will preserve Himself!
Yet, if He does, will it not show Him to be ungodly? How could the man of God so directly disobey God’s decree? Unthinkable! If, then, He does brave the ban and come to the feast, there is going to be a showdown. It’s inevitable. Either this Jesus is going to come out victorious or the Sanhedrin is. Either way, we shall have our answer this week. Whether He be true or fraud shall be revealed, for events have come to a head, and it must resolve itself very soon indeed.
So, yes, there is excitement in the air. Momentous times are upon us. Is there doubt? Uncertainty? Yes, but there is hope as well. Perhaps He really is the One. The signs are all about. But, there have been others who seemed to be ready to deliver us, and we’re still here, and Rome is still here. We shall see.
It seems to me that if we recognize the sentiment underlying their curiosity as to what Jesus would do, it’s a little less surprising to discover the mercurial shift in their response to Jesus over the next few days. Seeing Him not only arrive for the Feast, but arrive in such purposefully noticeable fashion, that spark of hope would swiftly burst into flame. Hearing that He has been successfully arrested by the temple authorities, and charged with the most serious of blasphemies, how swiftly that hope will become smoldering ashes of resentment. You got our hopes up, and now we find You are but one more fake! Hell hath no fury like a believer whose belief has been crushed!
New Thoughts (09/01/10-09/03/10)
It seems that all my attention is being drawn to the crowd of which John writes. In them, I find both positive and negative lessons to consider. I find lessons both for the body at large and for myself on a personal level. Admittedly, given the finest of brush-strokes that John uses to show us this crowd, much is left to conjecture, but it is worthwhile to explore even so.
Let’s start with that brushstroke. First, John explains why these out-of-towners were already in Jerusalem with the Feast days away yet. They had come to purify themselves, to be certain that they were properly prepared for the coming Passover (v55). Now, it can only be guessed at as to what sort of purification was being pursued here. Were they merely going through the ritual motions, following some Pharisaic prescription? It’s certainly possible that this is the sense of things. On the other hand, perhaps they really took this matter seriously.
In fact, let me go out on a bit of a limb here, particularly in light of that passage from 2nd Chronicles that was in the parallel verses. Let me suppose that, whatever forms their efforts may have followed, their hearts were pure in regard to their desire. They wanted to be purified, worthy of the lamb they would partake of in this Paschal feast. That passage I mentioned noted an occasion where those who came for the Passover had not prepared themselves as they ought, and yet had partaken. Yet, Hezekiah noted this was not a matter of willful rebellion, but really a heartfelt desire to honor God. There simply had not been time, because they had come so far at such late notice. And, the record states, God honored this (2Chr 30:17-20).
Let’s understand that. God is absolutely, rigidly concerned with His honor, as He should be. But, He is not absolutely, rigidly concerned about forms. This is something we find Jesus hammering on over and over. The Sabbath isn’t about binding men up and frustrating them. It’s about meeting their needs. If circumstances demand that a man take action to save life, the fact of it being the Sabbath is no cause to refrain. That man is not less holy for having acted as the hand of God. Far from it! Likewise with this Paschal observance. Those who had failed to purify themselves did not do so in willful disobedience, but from a combination of ignorance and perceived necessity. They were anxious to honor God, and in so doing, they fell short of the full observance required by Law. But, the Law-giver did not punish them for this oversight, but rather blessed them for their desire to observe that Law in full.
So, let me accept, given lack of contrary evidence, that these of whom John speaks are here of a pure motive, whether or not their course be wholly correct. And, isn’t that the course of life for each of us? We none of us have a perfect understanding of God’s Righteousness, nor of His rule of life. Yet, we who love Him do our utmost to comply. As best we understand Him we seek to honor Him and obey Him. Oh, trust me, we fail and often fail spectacularly. Yes, the world around us may view this as hypocrisy. But, it is not. It is stumbling effort, but with an unwavering goal. Let me, then, assume that this crowd is not so very different from the crowd in my church, in your church. That is to say, let me assume that however flawed the efforts, the motivation behind them is sufficiently pure and steadfast.
They have come because they would not willingly offend the God Who commanded this feast. Face it, the whole event is intended to keep them mindful of a lengthy period of God’s immense power on display, and on display for the benefit of this people. Reminded of a God Whose presence was so awesome, in the real sense of the word, that the people would not accept His offer of national priesthood for fear, would you not tend to be careful? Reminded of He Who had split the sea for His people to pass through, He Who had rained food upon those myriad thousands sufficient to sustain them through forty years, He Who had stood over them in a pillar of fire and cloud: If you believe this is the God you have come to deal with, it’s hardly time to be flip about it, is it?
Oh! That we might recover some of that awe for the God we serve! For, He has not changed. But, we no longer even know how to feel awe, I don’t suppose. We have lost that sense of wonder, by and large. Too many technological marvels, perhaps, or a lack of real belief in miracle. We are, after all, so greatly superior in intellect to our forebears! We know better than to put stock in myths. Ah, but in reality, we have just exchanged their myths for a different set, and truly, ours our of far less value. No, we need to remember that God is not this cuddly teddy-bear of love. Oh, He is a loving Father to us, to be sure. But, He is also the Fear of Jacob, and rightly so! He is not One we can offend with impunity. He is not One before Whom we can trot up in whatever fashion we please. We shall either respect Him and honor Him, or we shall be crushed before Him. Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? But, how much better off we should be if we would recall to mind just Who it is with Whom we have to deal.
There is, however, another side to this crowd. They have come with an eye to purity, yes, but they also come with doubts. They are seeking Jesus, it’s true, but they don’t quite dare to believe He is who He is. Even in their limited idea of what Messiah was to be, they weren’t ready to believe Him the One. Why do I say this? Look at the question they are asking. “He won’t come, will He?” And, why do they assume the negative on this? Because they know full well that the council has decreed that anybody who knows where He is must report it, so they can arrest Him. They know almost as well that if they succeed, He is done for.
The overall impact of this is that they really hope He’s real, but the really don’t believe it. Many of us today find ourselves in that same place. We really hope Jesus is real, but we don’t quite believe it. We go through the motions, on the off chance that He is, but at the heart of our being, we really don’t buy it. Too many are swift with the, “if He’s God, then why He allow this?” sort of questions. Too many, honestly, have been taught a different Gospel, one that uses His name but doesn’t arise from His person.
This is also reflected in the behavior of the crowd that is wondering if He will show. Watch them as the final week unfolds. They wanted a Messiah. They are pretty sure they’ve seen Him in Jesus. But, the Messiah they want isn’t really the one that God has sent. They want Messiah the military genius, the powerful King ready to dispose of all Israel’s enemies. But, they got Jesus, the Suffering Servant, the humble One come to rescue His people, yes, but not from human chains. They see Him, and they see His miracles, and excitement begins to mount. Yet, there is conflict. They also see the resistance from the established authorities on the matter.
Looking forward just a bit, they see Him enter the city in spite of the decree against Him. The answer to the negative question posed here is that yes, He will come, and He will come quite publicly. Seeing this, they’re ready to celebrate. It’s true! And, now, He shall surely move to crush His enemies and the good times for Israel will roll! Why do you suppose they are shouting, “Hosanna!” as He comes? It’s not a simple celebratory shout. It’s not the same as hallelujah, or even, oh boy! It’s desperation. “Come save us!” It’s also a claim of allegiance to this deliverer.
But, what happens when the deliverer doesn’t deliver? What happens when the devotee of the prosperity gospel recognizes that he is no healthier or wealthier than before? What happens when the name-it-claim-it disciple names it and claims it, but finds he doesn’t have it? It’s a thoroughly worn out statement that hell has no fury like a woman scorned. But, I tell you, the greater fury lies in that believer whose belief has been crushed. It matters not that his belief was invalid. You will never convince such a one that he misunderstood the message. No! It is written thus, and thus it did not happen, and therefore the writing is worthless and the God portrayed therein is no god at all. It must be, for I once believed, but now: no! I am no fool. And thus, professing, they show themselves foolish.
If there is reason to fear for the health of the church today, this is it. So many are being taught stuff and nonsense within its walls, and they don’t recognize it. Unwilling to take to the Word of God themselves, and largely untrained in the critical thought it would take to read the text for what is in it rather than for what one wants it to mean, they are easily led by whatever sounds good. So long as a passing gesture is made to some verse somewhere that can maybe be construed as supporting the theory, it becomes accepted doctrine. The problem is, when it proves false, it is not the false teacher that takes the hit for it, it is God. The one who is destroyed by this falsehood is not the teacher, or not solely the teacher, but those students who sat under his teaching.
Now, is it impossible for God to recover such as these? No. Nothing is impossible for God. But, how many, having been crushed by the death of false hopes, find it impossible to hope again when the Truth is exposed to them? How many, having been hardened by such disappointments will never soften to the real Gospel of God? How many, in desperate need for the forgiveness God freely offers will not seek it because they have not and cannot forgive Him for something of which He stands falsely accused? Truly, hell may have no wrath greater than a woman scorned, but hell has no greater weapon against faith than the believer in false hope whose hope has been destroyed.
We might come to understand this better if we consider our own experience. We well know, for instance, the importance of integrity and character. We well know that it takes a goodly while to build up trust between two people, and it takes only a very small matter to tear it down. We know, too, that when trust has once been torn down by such a thing, it takes that much more to ever re-establish. We live by the creed of ‘once bitten, twice shy’. We fully accede to the wisdom of, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” But, somehow, we come to suppose we ought to apply these things to God. It’s not God who has fooled you, though. It’s not God who has bitten you. It’s that one who fed you a line with His name on it.
In full truth, the blame lies equally with you. Had you been serious about obeying the God Who Is, you must surely have been taking time to learn what He has commanded. If you had been serious about loving God, you must surely have put in the effort to discover Who He Is. You would not be taking some other man’s word for it. You would be exploring it for yourself. The first and greatest commandment is to love Him with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength. But, you’ve been treating Him like a casual acquaintance. And you wonder that you’ve been misled? You wish to blame Him for not being what you supposed? When did you ever really try and get to know Him? If you had, then the false teacher who spouted this garbage in your ears would never have received a hearing, and your hope would be true hope.
Honestly, if you are in such a place, know this: God is real, and He reveals Himself in truth to those who seek Him. Even if your sense of trust in Him has been crushed and broken by what you have been taught, understand that it is not He who taught you such lies, but one who sought his own gain on God’s good name. Yes, God’s name is good. God is good. And, He truly is faithful to His word. This does not require Him to honor every bit of nonsense that has been spoken as being on His authority. But, what is spoken on His authority, what is written in this Bible I seek to know better each day, this is Truth, and He will honor it absolutely. There is forgiveness in Him, if we will but come and ask. If we will but confess our errors and our failures, our sins and our doubts, He will absolutely forgive, and having forgiven, He will forget it ever happened.
Even if you feel that you can never trust again, He is there and willing that you should try. If you would know Him in truth, He is willing to reveal Himself in Truth. Come and taste of His word. See that it is good. But, come with an eye to seeing what is truly written of Him, not what some self-seeking prophet for profit has claimed to find in it.
With that in mind, I will turn once more to that crowd, and that which is said of them. They came early, with an eye to purifying themselves. They are concerned about God’s holiness, about their own propriety in coming before Him. This is something I need to recover myself, never mind the church at large. I need this.
Having just stepped out for coffee, I was thinking on this topic of purification, of preparing for entry into God’s presence, and realized that several threads I’ve been pursuing lately converge on this subject. There is this present example of the crowd, of course. There is also a text I’ve been reading off and on at night, which is concerned with explaining the unifying structures and concepts of the Old Testament. There, I was reading only last night on the Mosaic Law. The author breaks down the tables of the Law differently than I have generally seen them grouped before, arriving at three topics rather than the usual two. Yes, there is my relationship to God and my relationship to my fellow man. Those are the two we are familiar with. But, he sees a third: my relationship to worship.
Isn’t that interesting? How often have I found Table Talk addressing this issue of worship? But, put these two pictures together. The people we see here are about to enter into a weeklong worship service, if you will. And, what are they doing? They’re making certain they are presentable to God, purifying themselves that they might be ready. This book on the OT has been pointing out that much of what the Law was really attempting to do was this same thing: to make the people ready and presentable to God. He notes that the deliverance was already in the past before the Law, that God had already declared the nation holy unto Himself. The Law really served the same purpose under the Old Covenant as under the New. It’s a guide to what purity looks like. It’s the goal towards which we strive and towards which a holy God is moving us.
I find, then, a question in myself as to whether I am taking matters seriously enough in this regard. I am not so much thinking about my conscious efforts towards obeying God’s Law, as important as that is. I’m actually thinking about the attitude with which I come before Him. My first thought is for Sunday. When I come into the house of God, is it anything different to me than going somewhere else? Certainly I go with a different purpose and expectation. I do not enter His house expecting to be seated for a fine dinner or some such, nor do I expect to get some shopping done. On the other hand, there’s the social aspects of the occasion. Is going to church still more to me than a chance to catch up with some friends and acquaintances? Is it more than an entertaining way to pass an hour or two?
Part of answering that question is simply to ask, am I prepared to come before God? Truly, weeks go by when I barely consider the question. Many times, the service just seems like another job I have to go to. This is becoming less the case as I have backed out of much of my busy-ness in that regard. But, the question remains: how am I treating the fact that I am entering into God’s house, entering into God’s presence, ostensibly with a desire to commune with Him, worship Him and hear from Him? The answer, I fear, is that I treat it far more lightly than I ought.
Let me bring in a third thread of development at this point. In the back of my mind has been this talk I am supposed to give at our men’s retreat. In preparation for that, I’ve been looking at some material from earlier in this long study of the Gospels, when I had turned my attention to the idea of anointing. Looking at that, I was rather forcibly reminded of the nature of anointing being that of purification. The furniture of the temple was anointed before ever it could be used, because it needed purifying. The priests who would serve therein were likewise anointed and for the same reason. So, too, the kings and prophets that would come, and so, too, even heaven itself.
Bringing this into the mix I have here, I can see that we have a certain benefit in that we are ourselves the temple of the Living God and we have abiding therein the Holy Spirit of God. We are anointed ones, purified by His very presence within. Yet, we are fools to think this is cause to relax and let down our guard. No! Scripture everywhere, in spite of or in parallel with the strong assurances that God is doing it, God started it and God will complete it, firmly admonishes us to work at this same thing. Work out your salvation! But, Paul, if God’s doing it, what’s the point? It may be as simple as keeping yourself sharp by keeping that element of doubt active. The path to heaven does not admit of complacency. The enemy, though defeated, remains on the prowl. Your salvation, though assured, is never to be taken for granted.
In this present regard, God is indeed my Father and my Friend. Jesus is my Brother. The bonds of close and loving relationship are there. Yet, this must be balanced with the Office of the Godhead. He is Brother, Father, Husband and Friend. But, He is Lord and King. He is upon His throne, and I, though His bride, do not treat His Office lightly. Think of the example we find in Esther. No, the king she wed is no type or image of God. Yet, the concept of kingship as we see it presented there is not so very far off, either. Kings rule and rule absolutely. They are not elected nor are they subject to opinion polls. Popular or despised, they remain kings, and generally for life. God, the Eternal King of all kings, is the absolute epitome of this model. He rules absolutely even over those who rule absolutely! He is the One inescapable Power.
Esther was wife to the most powerful earthly king in the area. In matters purely temporal, this king held the power of life and death over every one of his subjects, including family – including Esther. She knew it well. She knew also that when she and her husband were alone, there were degrees of intimacy and openness available to her that did not exist whatsoever in the setting of the throne room. In the throne room there could be no appeal to her status as his wife. In the throne room, there could be no taking license with the proper approaches and civilities. In the throne room, he was not husband. He was king.
Can I take that back into the house of God? Let me go first into the physical plant, the building in which we gather together. In that place, surely, we come to see God upon His throne. We ought to, at any rate. We ought to be arriving at His house with that sense that we are entering His courts, coming into the presence of Majesty. If we know this to be so, then surely we ought to see to it that we are coming before Him in the manner He has prescribed! If we expect to please Him by our acts of worship, then it will not do to simply act however we like. To obey is better than sacrifice! The worship that pleases God is the worship He has commanded, not whatever emotional outburst happens to pop out.
I want us to consider, just for a moment, those issues that arose back toward the very beginning. The tabernacle had just recently come into being, and the priesthood was freshly established. Aaron was at the helm and his sons were in the ranks. Except, his sons were very rank indeed, and began to make it up as they went along. They did not come serve God in the fashion He had dictated with such care and detail. They came and served in whatever fashion seemed good to them. Was God pleased that at least they came? Not in the least! He was offended to the core by their insolence, by their lack of concern for His holiness. And, because they set such a horrific example for the people He had declared holy, He purified the people of their presence.
Many will look at this and say, ah! But that was the Old Covenant. We’re under grace now. Fine. So, let’s go hang with the Apostles for a bit, shall we? There, of course, we will hear about that period of elation back at the very dawn of the Church age, when all were so smitten by the Gospel’s call that they sold all their earthly possessions, bringing the proceeds into God’s house to be used as His representatives saw fit, that all might prosper. Socialists love this stuff! It’s almost like Jesus was a communist. But, of course, He was never an ist of any sort. But, we cannot look at this scene without remembering the horrible outcome for Ananias and Sophira. Were it not for their negative example, I wonder that Luke would bring up the subject at all! But, these two showed about as much regard for God’s holiness as did those sons of Aaron. They were so impressed by God that they figured they could lie in His presence and get away with it. God saw their utter disrespect for His righteousness and did away with them!
Of course, we would never suppose ourselves to be like those two, would we? Yet, every time we sin we do exactly as they did. We stand before the face of God and laugh at Him, showing Him that we can do as we please. Hah! God will never notice what I’m doing here. It’s not like I’m at church, and even if I am, there’s not another here to see me. Every little sin we allow is a thumbing of our nose at the very one we way we love so much. It’s saying by our actions that He is a liar, and we do not believe for a moment that He will repay. A concern for purification before coming into His presence of a Sunday? Honestly, for all that we jump and shout and get all excited about what God is doing, I don’t think we really believe He is present. If we did, how could we dare to do the things we do?
Now, I must press this point harder, for we know, of course, that the building is nothing. We are, by Scripture’s own declaration, the temple of the Living God in our own flesh. Paul makes much of this point. Don’t you know what you are? How could you allow yourself to put the temple to such uses! How dare you pollute such a holy place with your fornications? But, even this doesn’t press the point hard enough, for we don’t go to those places. Most of us will not enter into illicit sexual relations having come to God. Oh, our thoughts might, but not our bodies. And, who can control the thoughts? Yes, that is but an excuse, and a poor one at that.
But, the point Paul makes by this extreme example applies to every aspect of life. If you are a walking, talking temple of God, how dare you to treat others as you do? How dare you lie and cheat? How dare you insist on having your way and everybody else be damned? How dare you to give so horrifyingly little thought to Him Who sits on the throne He deigned to establish in your very heart? Yes, you bear the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Yes, you put Him to great effort in trying to clean up the mess that you continually create for yourself. How much must He pour out to keep you clean for even a moment? How hard must He labor to prepare you even for those brief times when you are consciously pursuing God, let alone the times when you forget Him entirely? For, you are ever in His presence. You are marked out every bit as much as the high priest was in times of old. You are marked out to be holy as He is holy, not as a means of pleasing Him or of placating Him. You are marked out thus because He has decreed it. You are set as an emissary, a lamp to stand out in the darkness, but what is your light showing?
Understand that all of this you is directed at me. I am measured by these questions, by these accusations, and I am found wanting. Pride? What have I to be proud of? And yet, I know I am. No, there is nothing for it but humility, true and abject shame that I have treated such great and gracious wealth as God has poured out within me so shabbily.
Lord, with all the miniscule strength I have within me, I seek to repent of this! How poorly I have treated You, even as I claim to worship You. I know full well that except You work within me, I will not even make it to the highway without abandoning this resolve I feel. Yet, with You all things are possible, for impossible loses all meaning in Your presence. I cry out, therefore that You would, in full accord with Your own word, so will and so work within me as to keep me working out my salvation with You, that I would maintain a proper sense of awe for this unimaginable privilege of serving as Your tabernacle. Let me, Lord, be mindful that You are here, and so shape my words and my actions as to show that I am mindful. This, I must commend into Your hands for, however willing my spirit in this moment, I know my flesh too well, as do You. So, Lord come! Make this house Your home. Wash me and I shall be clean, but remind me to wash my hands when they are dirty.
