The Blessedness of the Unknown Future

When I was six years old, my family moved to Boulder, Colorado. My dad was a young Christian, and he believed that God was calling him to pull up stakes and move. While we were living there, my parents helped plant a church that began in our home. I remember sitting in the living room with a group  of people and singing praise songs in my pajamas.
  My dad was a contractor, and during the time we lived in Colorado he built a house for us to live in. I remember the first night we spent in it when it was all completed – I liked my room because it had a really cool walk-in closet. But during that winter, two events occurred that were catastrophic for my family: the  first was it was 1977 and the prime interest rate went through the roof, so house payments became almost impossible; the second was a particularly harsh Colorado winter in which our pipes froze and the basement filled up with water. It wasn’t long after that we moved back to California. These events continue to  have a tremendous impact on my dad’s perspective on life, and I suspect that, had he known ahead of time what was going to happen, he would have gone out of his way to avoid it.

    Hebrews 3:1 "Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, 3:2 who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s house. 3:3 For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. 3:6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. We are of his house, if in fact we
hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in. 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,  “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! 3:8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness. 3:9 “There your fathers tested me and tried me, and they saw my works for forty years. 3:10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering and they have not known my ways.’3:11 “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” 3:12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living  God. 3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 3:14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. 3:15 As it says, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 3:16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership? 3:17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 3:18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 3:19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief."


We are the house of God. In former times, the house of God was an actual building called the Temple, and before that, the Tabernacle. There was nothing wrong with either of these two arrangements, in fact, God had commanded that they be built. But they were not meant to last forever – they were a foreshadow of the final dwelling place of God within us.

Moses was possibly the greatest servant of God – he was even called “the friend of God.” But for all that Moses did for the children of Israel, it was still only a temporary thing. Because of Jesus, our eternal high priest and apostle, a new era has dawned. No longer is God considered to be in a particular location,He inhabits the soul of every soft-hearted believer in the world – from Portland to Pakistan. God has written His word on our hearts, instead of on stone, and we are One in Him. But just like in Moses’ day,rebellion enters easily into the human heart, and rebellion can corrupt the beautiful house of God. I see rebellion in the hearts of people when they value comfort over reaching the lost – an entrenched, almost invisible rebellion. I do not think people intend to place their priorities over God’s, but over time it just
happens, until they are trapped.

 God told Moses to lead the children of Israel out from Egypt, through the desert of the Sinai peninsula, and into the land He had promised to give them. But along the way, the people rebelled, and a journey that was only supposed to take a few weeks lasted forty years, until everyone but a tiny few died. It was the next generation, the children of the slaves in Egypt, born in the desert, who entered the Promised Land. Even Moses, God’s friend, was denied entrance in the end, because of his own rebellion. I  seriously doubt the children of Israel would have ever left Egypt if they knew what lay ahead of them. But through them, even though they were rebellious and generation after generation of them continued to be rebellious, God was laying the foundation for Jesus to inaugurate a new way of living. Of all those people who dropped dead in the desert, I wonder if at least one of them glimpsed this future in their dying moments.

The Sin Eater

There is an ancient custom among the peoples of northern Europe and the British Isles. Every village had a person who was designated a “sin-eater.” The custom dictated that when a person died, bread and salt were placed on the chest of the corpse. The sin-eater would be called, and he or she would come and eat the bread and salt. The belief was that the sin-eater would take on the sins of the dead person, absorbed into the bread and salt, and the deceased person would be absolved of their sins. This custom still survives in some areas, but is considered a cardinal sin by the Roman Catholic Church, and a person involved in sin-eating will be excommunicated, since the practice involves absolving a person’s sins outside the purview of the Church.

Since I am neither European nor Catholic, I don’t run into sin-eaters too often. But, on occasion, it seems that people treat me like one. Being a pastor, some people think, includes some mystical ability to change people’s hearts and even absolve them of sin. Every now and then I am asked by someone, with all sincerity, to visit with some neighbor or family member of theirs that doesn’t know the Lord, in the hopes that something I say or do in that one encounter will convert them. While I don’t doubt their good intentions, I am usually reluctant to do this very often because it makes everyone involved very uncomfortable and rarely achieves anything. One woman I knew a while back set me up to meet with her son at his apartment, but when he found out about it he invited a whole bunch of people over for a barbeque at the same time. He then spent the rest of the evening avoiding me.

Hebrews 2:1 "Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2:2 For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 2:4 while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 2:5 For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. 2:6 Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him? 2:7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor. 2:8 You put all things under his control.” For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not
yet see all things under his control, 2:9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone. 2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.2:11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 2:12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” 2:13 Again he says, “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, with the children God has given me.” 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 2:15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 2:16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. 2:18 For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted."

Jesus is our only Sin-Eater. He is a plurality of necessary roles for us: God, the Son of Man, our High Priest, and our sacrifice. He is the only one who can absolve people of their sins, and he is the only one who can change hearts and minds toward him. Because he has tasted death for everyone, no one need die, if they choose. The Sin-Eater has taken their sins into himself and carried them into the grave, where he left them when he rose again. Because of this, Jesus has become our way into eternal life with God, not as mourners watching a dearly departed one buried into the ground, but looking up, seeing him become hidden in the clouds as he ascends into the heavens.

As for me, I am merely a witness of these things. Jesus came upon my dead rotten corpse, and ate my sin from off my chest. But I was not then put into a coffin and buried, I was resurrected too. I rose up and went ahead, announcing the arrival of the Sin-Eater in every village I entered.

The Sun and the Son's rays.

The sun is constantly bombarding us with stuff. As the sun spins,  fumes, and explodes, it sprays its own mass  out over the solar system, much like a lawn sprinkler. The stuff is magnetic, electrically charged, radioactive, and mostly invisible. In addition to visible light, this stuff includes ultra-violet light, infra-red light, gamma radiation, hydrogen and helium particles, and other chemical  elements. This constant pulse of sprayed material is called the solar wind.  While much has been studied about the sun, it being our closest star, there are mysteries yet remaining. The outer atmosphere of the sun is  about one million degrees Celsius, while the visible surface is only  about 6,000 degrees Celsius. No one knows why it is cooler near the  source of the sun’s power than farther away.

    Hebrews 1:1 "After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 1:4 Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.     1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.” 1:6 But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” 1:7 And he says of the angels,  “He makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire,” 1:8 but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.    1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.  So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.”  1:10 And,  “You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands.  1:11 They will perish, but you continue. And they will all grow old like a garment,  1:12 and like a robe you will fold them up and like a garment they will be changed,  but you are the same and your years will never run out.” 1:13 But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

The book of Hebrews is all about how Jesus is better, better than all other religious figures, better than the Jewish Law, better than the angels. The author states that Jesus is better because he is the “radiance  of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (NIV). In the same way that the sun sends the  solar wind shooting out over the solar system, carrying the same ingredients that make up the sun, Jesus was sent to us. And he is better than anything that has come before, or will come in the future. Jesus is  superior because of his superior nature, he is exactly God, but a sent God, the original Apostle.

The old Joni Mitchell song “Woodstock” has an interesting line in it: “we are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” It is true that we are stardust, the sun is covering the  earth with it all the time, and in that Garden long ago, God scooped up some of that stardust and we were indeed golden. Can we get ourselves back to that Garden? No, but the Solar Wind, the Sent One, can,  and he can make us golden again.

Who killed Jesus?

One of the last things Johnny Cash did before he died was put out a video for his cover of the song “Hurt.” The video is powerful, as we look at an aged Cash at the end of his life. He is sitting at a table full of delicacies. As the song progresses, images flash across the screen from his often turbulent life. But mixed in with these are other images, an empty and closed Johnny Cash museum, his beloved wife June, who died shortly before, and the opulent but empty house in which the “hurt” Johnny Cash now sits, alone. As the song nears its crescendo, something else appears in the rapid progression of images, Jesus being beaten and crucified, and the video ends with Johnny himself hammering in the nails.

Mark 15:1-32 “Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. 2 "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate. "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. 3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of." 5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. 6 Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. 9 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. 12 "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them. 13 "Crucify him!" they shouted. 14 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" 15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. 16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. 21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.   29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!"   31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! 32 Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.” 

Who killed Jesus? The answer is, everyone and no one. While it was the Jewish leaders who convicted him in a secret, illegal joke of a trial, Jesus came and stood willingly before them, answering their accusations only when they asked if he was the Messiah. The Romans were only interested in avoiding a public disturbance, and in so doing allowed an innocent man to die in one of the most agonizing ways possible. Jesus accepted their pronouncement that he was the King of the Jews, but said nothing more. Despite what might appear on the surface, in reality Jesus was in total control of the situation from start to finish. In that respect, he went willingly to the cross to die, so no one killed Jesus. But on the other hand, it was for sins of humanity that he did so. It was the only way to cure the terminal disease that infects every man, woman, and child. Jesus died for us, so we are responsible for his death. Each of us has taken a turn hammering in the nails.

I'm your biggest fan!

I have been a fan of the Beatles for a long time. Their influence on music is unquestioned. But I have never envied their lives. Imagine if the only thing anyone ever wanted to talk with you about was a 7-year period that occurred 40+ years ago. Imagine what it would be like to have people come up to you constantly and speak with you like you know each other intimately, each one with a different version of who you are in their heads.

People have done so many things with Jesus in the two millennia since he was crucified. In that time, Jesus has been portrayed as a Rabbi, a King, a Monk, the Bridegroom, the Universal Man, the Teacher, a Poet, a Liberator, a Revolutionary, and an anti-religious radical. People take their own version of Jesus and paint him large. The great irony is that the portrait of Jesus they paint tends to look a lot like themselves (cf. Albert Schwietzer). Books are published every day that dissect the written records of Jesus and postulate who he really was, but the fact is, we know very little about him. The New Testament records only three years of Jesus’ life with any detail, and half of that time was in obscurity in Galilee.

Mark 14:53-15:1 “They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. 54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire. 55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56 Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. 57 Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.'" 59 Yet even then their testimony did not agree. 60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."  63 The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64 "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65 Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him. 66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said. 68 But he denied it. "I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway.   69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." 70 Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean." 71 He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about." 72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.”

In his denials, Peter was much closer to the truth than anyone has ever come. Within his fear of being discovered, Peter spoke what was in his heart – "I don't know this man you're talking about."  And he really didn’t. His version of Jesus, the version that up until that point had been Peter’s handle on the situation, had been revealed as mistaken. And because his world was falling apart, Peter reverts back to his former self – impetuous, angry, and afraid. Jesus was the only one in the story that got it right: “You will deny me three times.”

The apostle Paul came closer than anyone in identifying Jesus when he described Jesus as, “the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians  2:2-3). Jesus is indeed a mystery, his revelations always shocking and disturbing our pat explanations and assumptions, and he will disrupt and overturn our definitions of him as easily as the marketplace in the Temple.

Schizophrenic disciples.

I have done a lot of stupid things in my life. Things that could’ve gotten me killed, like diving under a closing garage door, crossing a train trestle (and yes, a train did go by while we were on it!), driving drunk as a teenager, and throwing snowballs at rednecks in Tennessee. The reason? I think it is the same reason everyone gives when they do something stupid, I just wasn’t thinking about the consequences. For the most part, we don’t take our frail mortality seriously, and many people pay the price for it. I was spared a stupid death, but others are not.

We do stupid things, trivial and serious, because at some level we believe we will get away with it. We believe that we will get another chance. We deny the reality that life is a pretty sober matter, and we pretend that nothing bad could ever happen.

Mark 14:27-52
"You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'   28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."  29 Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not." 30 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today-yes, tonight-before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times."  31 But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same. 32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."  35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."  37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."  39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. 41 Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"  43 Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. 44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard." 45 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. 46 The men seized Jesus and arrested him. 47 Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 48 "Am I leading a rebellion," said Jesus, "that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled."  50 Then everyone deserted him and fled. 51 A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, 52 he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” 

One of the characteristics of the gospel narratives in the New Testament that prove they are historical accounts is the inclusion of errors in judgement on the part of the disciples. A propaganda piece, written much later by people seeking to make the Church look good, would never have included such material. The disciples, and particularly Peter, James, and John, said and did all kinds of stupid things before Jesus was crucified. They did these things because they simply denied what Jesus had been telling them all along – that he was not leading an uprising against the Roman Empire, nor grasping for power in the Temple, nor establishing a peasant utopia. He told them plainly that he was going to Jerusalem, where he would be arrested and crucified. And while he foretold they would all abandon him in the end, they denied this as well.

The same is true with Jesus’s disciples here in the present day. We acknowledge Jesus as Savior easily enough, but we have an exceedingly difficult time submitting to him as Lord. We consider the claims and demands of the Master on us as mere enthusiasm, that he can’t really mean exactly what he said. We live schizophrenic lives, believing in the reality of the Cross, but at the same time pretending we don’t have a cross of our own to carry.

Disappointment.

I’ve had my share of disappointments. I am an idealist, a dreamer who envisions what could be. Dreamers are very prone to disappointment, because so much of their focus is bent toward a future that may not occur exactly as they pictured. My wife is the opposite, she is a pragmatist. We make a good team, but sometimes it takes work to communicate well. When we debate something, I nearly always speak in generalities, patterns, and principles. My wife, on the other hand, tends to focus on a particular event, issue, or goal. She doesn’t tend to be disappointed to the degree that I experience, for which I am envious.

Mark 14:1-26
“Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. 2 "But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot." 3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. 6 "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."  10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. 12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" 13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 15 He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."  16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. 17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me-one who is eating with me."  19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?" 20 "It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."  22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."  23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25 "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."  26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

Jesus knew when and from where His disappointments would come. While it was Judas who would betray Him, Jesus experienced people’s abandonment and fickleness throughout his ministry, and at the end, everyone left Him all alone with his accusers. It deeply wounded Him. The Gospel of John reports in chapter six that as the crowds abandoned Him for more lively entertainment, He turned to his disciples and asked, “Are you also going to leave me?” While they protested that they would never leave Him, He already knew they would. He knew what was in the heart of the human being, and that the desire for personal freedom and comfort is very difficult to master.

The fact is, people in general are very disappointing, and will remain so as long as you look to them for your strength. But when you look to God for your calling and your guidance, He will never disappoint you. He has vowed to never leave or forsake you, regardless of how many times others do. I must confess, at times, this knowledge has been the only thing that has kept me going.

The Lie in the Shadows

There is a famous allegory from the great philosopher Plato called “The Allegory of the Cave.” Imagine a beautiful meadow, filled with brilliant sunlight and flowers. At one end of this meadow is a cave. Inside the cave is a fire, and beyond the fire is a bench where people are chained facing the far wall of the cave. Their vision is limited to the shadows dancing on the wall in front of them. This is all they have ever known, and, for all intents and purposes, their entire world. Now imagine that one of the people chained to the bench is able to escape his or her bonds. This person gets up, turns around, and seeing the entrance to the cave beyond the firelight, bursts out into the blinding light of the meadow, where he or she is overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smells of the outside world. When this person had spent some time out in the meadow, drinking it in, he or she decides to go back into the cave and help the others escape. But to this person’s dismay, no one believes him or her. They think this person is insane to be describing such a place as the meadow, and because they cannot conceive of anything except what is right before their eyes, they refuse to leave and remain chained to the bench for the rest of their lives.

Mark 13
“As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" 2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."  3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" 5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9 "You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 "When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong-let the reader understand-then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now-and never to be equaled again. 20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect-if that were possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. 24 "But in those days, following that distress, "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'   26 "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. 28 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 32 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'" 

As disciples of the Anointed One, we know two worlds: the world before our eyes and the kingdom of God. However, most people around us do not know there are two worlds, and they scoff at the idea that there is more to our existence than this shadowy world of shifting images. We have been sent back from the meadow to those in the cave, to persuade them that there is more out there. What’s more, we also know that this world will not last forever, but at the end of this age, it will be destroyed. The friction between the this world and the kingdom of God will finally erupt into a blast furnace where even the very elements of this world will be burnt away. Only the kingdom of God will be left, and as His ambassadors, we must find ways to communicate the truth of that kingdom in ways that cavedwellers understand.

Fishing or Keeping the Aquarium.

Sometimes I am still surprised at how easily we accept the status quo. Take evangelistic desire for example. When a new church movement is formed, there is great excitement and energy. People want to be part of this new movement that is reaching people all over. But inevitably, over time, that church movement will begin to solidify, and the people involved turn from fishers of men into keepers of the aquarium. Take, for example, the Methodists. Back in the early years of this country, Methodism was one of the fastest growing church movements, with hundreds of converts each year. Now fast forward to today, and the Methodist church has solidified and decayed to the point that people are leaving at rates of up to 1000 a year. What happened? While there are still many, many wonderful Christians in the Methodist church, the goals of the church changed from evangelism and changing lives to maintenance and the parish church model. Soon, the goal was to simply survive, rather than thrive.

Mark 12:1-12
“He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven't you read this scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"  12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.” 

The chiefs priests and teachers of the law had become keepers of the aquarium, more interested in maintaining the status quo and their own places of authority than changing lives for God. God sent his prophets and preachers, but they continued their hold, until God sent his son Jesus, and they killed him.

In order to continue to be effective for the Kingdom, the purposes of the Kingdom must remain the top priorities for the church. We must change lives for God. If we are not reaching out and drawing in, we are no better than the chief priests. As the saying goes, “if the business of the Church is bringing people to Jesus, how’s business?”

The New Kingdom doesn't use floppy disks.

We live in a time of great change and transition. In the future, historians will look back on this time and see it as the end of one era and the beginning of another. In many ways it is an exciting time to be alive, so many new things, but it is also a challenging time for those of us trying to bridge the gap. One of the most obvious ways to mark this gap in eras is with computers. I can easily tell how old a person is just by looking at their computer. Someone who started using computers when they first came out in the early 1980's (so, people 40 and older) will nearly always have a ton of icons on their desktop, in fact, it is very common for them to cover the entire desktop. Why? Because people raised on DOS, before the use of graphics interface (ie Windows), have never been able to fully trust that they will be able to find their stuff again if they don’t have a shortcut for it on their desktop. Younger people, raised on graphics interface computers, nearly always have a nice and neat desktop, with just a few important icons on it. They trust the operating system to keep track of their stuff and so let them hide in the Programs tree.

Mark 12:35-44 “While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." '  37 David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight. 38 As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."  41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.   43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on."  

God is always doing new things, its just that most of us miss out on them because we are too busy looking at our feet. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day failed to recognize the new thing God was doing, and they missed the boat by a mile. The new Kingdom was running on a completely different operating system, and it was time to recognize that the old Commodore 64 wasn’t going to be able to run Windows 7. In fact, the priorities of the new Kingdom were so radically different, they render the old system obsolete.

Every Christian should develop the ability to upgrade his or her operating system every time the culture shifts and God opens new opportunities. The biggest challenge for American churches right now is that most of them are still in the 1950's and 1960's. The majority of these churches will eventually die out, because they will be unable or unwilling to make the missional changes necessary to reach the culture. The good news is that new churches are forming out of their ashes, most of the church growth right now in the country is due to church planting. These plants by their very nature are missional in approach, reading the culture and finding ways to connect and build bridges with non-Christians. Established churches are doing this as well, but it requires a continuous drive toward change. The more established the church, the more effort it takes to help it evolve, but with God on our side, it can be done!

God is not a pigeon.

I like to have things figured out, in fact, I think we all do. We like to clear the air and put away all the issues once we think they are resolved, never to be examined again. While we are young, its fun to try on different points of view and ways of approaching things, but the older we get, the more solidified we get. We don’t really want to revisit things to see if there is something new we could learn, because that might involve having to change our outlook or opinion on something, and that requires a lot of time and energy, so we think.

Mark 12:28-34
“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.   30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'   31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."  32 "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.”

The greatest hurdle the Jews had before them at this time was that God was doing a new thing. For centuries, the blood of sacrifices had covered the sins of the people, but now that era was drawing to a close and Jesus would supercede all other sacrifices forever. Even though this transition was prophesied about in multiple places, people had great difficulty letting go of the sacrificial system and, later, the kosherim – the Jewish purity laws. Even within the Church, as Acts and early Church history tells us, this revolution was a big issue. There was even a branch of the Church, called the  Ebionites, who just couldn’t make the jump, and broke off from the mainstream Church. They lasted a few centuries, but eventually dwindled away.

We forget that God does new things. We like to think that once we reach a certain maturity level in our faith, we’ve got God figured out. Wrong. God can and will do new things, use surprising people to do it, or just out and out break into the world in a supernatural way. God is the ultimate Artist, we are the ones who want to pigeonhole His work.

Feasting when you are already full.

We Americans really do have it made. Nearly all of us have access to food, clean water, shelter, and clothing. In addition to that, most of us have quite a bit beyond that, i.e. a house, furniture, comfortable bed, household appliances, etc. But then, even beyond that, a good portion of us also have access to a variety of entertainments, education, the ability to travel, and regular medical care. And for some, beyond these things there is a little left over.

I do not think we should apologize for what we have as Americans. In most circumstances, we have what we have because we work hard for it. Americans may have access to more resources than 95% of the world, but we pay for it. Americans work harder and longer than nearly any other nationality. Most parents at least try to instill in their children that money does not grow on trees, and they have to work hard to earn it. But I wonder sometimes what we are missing, living the “American dream.”  Since 1950, the typical American’s level of happiness has steadily declined. At the same time, the Christian world view has also declined in America. A slowly growing feeling of unease has taken its place.

Mark 12:13-27
“Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it."  16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him. 18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?" 24 Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising-have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” 

In both instances here, the religious leaders try to trap Jesus with questions. To render unto Caesar meant acknowledging his authority, in a way, endorsing and accepting the domination of Israel by Rome, known as the Pax Romana or Peace of Rome.  To resist paying the required tax risked charges of treason, but it was also considered patriotic for Jews. The poor hypothetical woman who was married to seven brothers was put to Jesus to try to show the fallacy of belief in the resurrection. In both cases, Jesus shows how the Kingdom of God operates on completely different principles than that of the world. Its goals are entirely God-centered, whereas the world system is tilted in favor of the powerful.

In the same way, as Americans we must not apologize for who we are, but we must acknowledge that we are who we are and we have what we have because of the world system. American has only 5% of the world’s population but we use around 75% of the world’s resources. We live the way we live because the world system is tilted in favor of the powerful, and we live in the most powerful country in the world. But what do we do about it? How do we render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, when Caesar keeps us comfortable and devotion to God is fading? At what point do even the Christians forget there is an alternative to the Pax Americana?

The Abandoned Beggar's Bowl

I want to be successful. And let’s be honest, not only in spiritual way. I want to know that my work counts for something. I want our church to grow, by numbers, so that I can feel successful. I want to be a big shot, someone who gets calls from other pastors seeking advice. I want to be asked to speak at conferences attended by large audiences. I want to see my picture in the slick advertising. I want my name to be at the bottom of a book endorsement from a big-time author. I want to be successful, in every worldly way I can imagine.

Mark 10:32-52 “They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise."  35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"  39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."  41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." 52 "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”

The problem is: if I was successful, I wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t be able to spend time with my suddenly larger family the way I do now. I would be too busy speaking at large conferences. If I was successful, I wouldn’t have my cherished study time every week – instead, I would be in meetings all day.    If I was successful, I would have to interact with large numbers of people for days at a time, and anyone who knows me understands how much of a strain that would be for me. I honestly want to be successful, in all the worldly ways, but, in equal honesty, I really don’t think that is where God is going to take me. I don’t have the skillset to be successful. I don’t have that CEO/workaholic  personality that seems to be the basic requirement for the major leagues of ministry fame and fortune. I may want success, but I don’t think I am going to get it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ bids someone to follow Him, He bids him to come and die.” On the road to torture and death, two of Jesus’ closest friends are asking for success in the new kingdom. They don’t comprehend yet what is the cost of success. Authentic success in the new kingdom means suffering torture and death like the King Himself. James and John later learned what Jesus meant in response to their desire for fame and fortune. James was an early martyr of the church, while John was boiled in oil, and having survived, cast away in exile on Patmos. He must have been frightening to look at, with all those scars. They wanted to sit at Jesus’ right and left in the new kingdom, but instead they followed Jesus into pain and death.

Perhaps it is the poor and wretched Bartimaeus that sits at the King’s right or left. Maybe it is Bartimaeus that endorses newly written books, speaks at large conferences, and is consulted by others in the new kingdom. He deserves it more than I. I am the true beggar, and my only job is to show other beggars where they can find bread. In that, I will be truly successful. :)

And you thought you were all put-together.

It is really amazing what having children does to you. Most of these things are wonderful, like when feeding your baby and she reaches out and grabs your hand while she’s sucking on the bottle. Or when your little boy begins to walk wobbily all over the house, a look of sheer delight on his face. Or when your son gives you a hug and kiss every time you leave the house. These are the thing for which people become parents.
But, at least with me, being a parent also opens up vaults in your soul you thought were closed for good. Places where dark emotions pour out into your veins and you feel like exploding. You feel impatience and irritation and anger at such deep levels, it frightens you. You haven’t felt so enslaved by your emotions since adolescence.

Mark 11:12-11:33
“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. 15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"  18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19 When evening came, they went out of the city. 20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." 

Fig trees are supposed to bear fruit at the same time as their leaves. So when Jesus saw the fig tree in leaf, He assumed there would be figs as well. It had the appearance of production, but nothing to show for it. The cleansing of the Temple was really the same issue – the appearance of religious life, but without real substance. People had set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles, the only place non-Jews could worship in the Temple, preventing people from coming to God. God does not like it when people get in the way of those who seek Him. As people mature, they learn through experience that their emotions can be controlled. But when they become parents, they are forced to deal with a whole range of emotions that come flooding in. Caring for children requires you to put aside your own climate-controlled environment and take on the emotional chaos of childhood. You realize you are not as put-together as you thought. Think of it as an opportunity to really get a handle on your emotions, to mature and grow in a way you would never do if you didn’t have kids. Instead of putting on a display of maturity, now you can truly produce the fruit of maturity as well, tested and approved.

The Expectations of Others

When I was in college and graduate school, I often used to imagine what I would be doing ten years in the future. I would try to guess at where I would be working, what my family would look like, and what I would be like. I am now living in that future, and my life is nothing like I imagined it. I would never have predicted that I would be the pastor of a church in Roseburg, Oregon,  with one son from Russia and a son and two daughters from Ethiopia.

Mark 11:1-11
“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'"  4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"   10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve."

The people recognized that a prophecy was being fulfilled here. Zechariah 9:9-10
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim  and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

Why did Jesus ride a colt into Jerusalem, only to look around at the Temple and leave? It must have been somewhat disappointing to his disciples, and certainly to the crowds of people that had just cheered Him into the city. No doubt they expected Him to take charge of the Temple, rallying the people to revolt, and close the gates of the city so that traitors to Israel could not escape. They assumed He would continue the trajectory they saw Him taking as He traveled over palm branches.

But instead, He jumps down from the colt, looks around, and leaves. What kind of rallying cry is that? The people had to have been confused. “What was that all about?” “Why didn’t He kick down the door to the Roman garrison, or swing open the gates of the Temple, or make a speech?” “This guy isn’t who we thought He was.”

I don’t think Jesus was misleading anyone, I think people imagined a Messiah that fit their own expectations and hopes. They couldn’t dream of what was going through Jesus’ head as He looks around a city so recently in love with Him, and already in His mind hear the taunts, the insults, the loud ringing cries of “Crucify!  Crucify!”

When you are engulfed in flames.

People interpret salvation in different ways. Most people I know think of salvation as an event, as in “When I got saved....” Most of these same people also do not believe they can lose that salvation once they have acquired it. This perspective has merit, and does have Scriptural backing, but in my opinion represents only a partial view of biblical salvation.  To be sure, salvation is an event, just as the crucifixion was an event, but isn’t salvation also a process as well?

Mark 9:36-50 “He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." 38 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." 39 "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. 42 "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.   45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.   47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where "'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'   49 Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

As humans with rational, finite minds, we like ideas to be nice and tidy. We live in an era of the sound bite, the bumpersticker, and the media spin. We are uncomfortable with tension and live in denial of grey areas. Our need to get a handle on things is embedded deep in our psyche. God knows this, and that is precisely why the Christian faith as revealed by Him is defined as mystery, not doctrine, as recorded in the Scriptures.

Our need for faith to be neat and tidy spills over into our opinion of others as well. The disciples, still in self-absorbed mode here, find out that someone else is cashing in on the Jesus phenomenon. Someone else is handing out business cards that read, “Jim, son of Lance, representative of Jesus Messiah.” This information finds the disciples already riled up about positions of control and power.  They don’t like it, and they want this imposter dealt with by the Master Himself. They cannot conceive that someone outside their elite group could be a genuine exorcist.

But Jesus is always smashing in the cubbyholes. He is always throwing the file cabinet on the trash heap. With Jesus, very little is defined, except submission and discipleship. Everything else is under those two requirements.

Faith and salvation are best defined by fire. Fire is basically a chemical reaction: the rapid oxidizing of organic material. Fire is also hard to control. It hypnotizes you with its constant movement. In the Scriptures, fire is used to illustrate two key concepts – destruction of the rebellious and purification of the devoted. Both undergo a passage through fire. Here Jesus refers to both groups, and how it is better to sacrifice and be scorched by the Holy Spirit than to go whole into the fire of Hell.

The Ruined Snail

My parents divorced when I was 34. I was not surprised. Things had been extraordinarily dysfunctional for a long time. I tried to help for years, but unless people want to change, they just won’t. I have had to figure out how to interact with them as separate individuals. Things have normalized to some degree, but it will always be a little weird. My mother has since remarried and is very happy. Her husband is a good man who treats her very well. My father is in a better place in his life now, after six years. He talks about getting remarried some day.

Mark 10:1-16
"Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6 "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'   7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,   8 and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."  10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."  13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." 

When I was a kid, I played in my backyard a lot, especially with bugs and other creatures I would find. One time I came upon two snails in the process of mating. Snails are hermaphroditic, they have both male and female sexual organs. When they mate, snails put out these long tendrils that look a lot like tiny roots and literally lace themselves together. In my sadistic boyhood manner, I pulled them apart. I tore them from each other, breaking  the bonds they had so intricately woven. In doing so, I destroyed them both.

God hates divorce, he says so in Malachi 2. God hates division, he hates separation, walls, and exclusion, and therefore he hates divorce as the pinnacle of division. It was not his intention for man and woman, once joined, to be ripped apart. It destroys them both. Divorce also has a tremendous impact on children. The damage done depends on the age of the child and the circumstances involved, both before and after. Adolescence is the worst possible time for parents to divorce. The broad consensus is that adolescent children will be irrevocably altered, in mostly negative ways, by divorce.  Children derive a good deal of their worldview and identity from their parents, and divorce disrupts these things in a massive way.

Jesus didn’t like the disciples acting like his minders and gatekeepers. It says he was indignant, but the Greek word means a combination of anger and grief. He was angry and grieved because the disciples weren’t letting those kids through. I like to think it was because the disciples still weren’t getting the idea, but I think Jesus was also angry and grieved because no one, then or today, takes kids and their feelings very seriously. Even parents, sometimes.

The Holy Spirit is in Your Genes

I have often wondered at the path the Lord has led me on. I did not end up anywhere near where I initially set out from. For most of my childhood and adolescence, I wanted to be a genetic engineer. I wanted to help decipher the codes that make up who we are as human beings. I love science, particularly biology.

But halfway through an undergraduate program in biology, God changed the direction in which I was heading. I did not end up being a genetic engineer, I ended up being a pastor, something I had not even conceived of when I started college.

Mark 9:30-37
“They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."  32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. 33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?"  34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."  36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."  

Now, its not like I received a vision or anything like that, although sometimes I wish I would. I started out with a certain set of assumptions about who I was and where I was going, but as my life cohabitated with the Holy Spirit, those assumptions began to transform. I began to realize that what God had in store for me was so much more than my little plans could contain. Slowly, I began to understand the path He wanted me to take. My assumptions began to totally recede into the background, until for the most part I let God guide me into where He wanted me to be.

The disciples had a certain set of assumptions as well. Every student of ancient history knows that the Jews were waiting for a political savior to throw off the iron yoke of the Romans. But while this may have been in the background, I really doubt the disciples were focused on Jesus as the next President of Palestine. It becomes clear in this passage that their ambitions and desires were much smaller, much more embarrassingly self-centered. They were each vying for position as favored one in the New Regime. And, typically for us humans, it was poorly timed, since Jesus had just told them He was going to be killed. Jesus had revealed much bigger plans for the human race, but their grasping, miserly little minds couldn’t handle it.

The Sugary-Coated Truth

I sometimes wonder if I am too blunt with people. I was raised in a family that spoke what they were thinking, a lot of the time to their detriment. As I have matured I have been able to reign in that impulse to a pretty great degree, but there are times when I wonder if I said something a little too soon or a little too harshly. Because compassion is not at the top of my list of spiritual gifts, I have a tendency to only go so far with people before I cut to the chase.

Mark 6:12-29
“They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. 14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying,"John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." 15 Others said, "He is Elijah." And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." 16 But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!" 17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. 21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." 23 And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." 24 She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist," she answered. 25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.” 

John the Baptist had a bluntness issue as well. As the last of the “old school” prophets, John was not one to beat around the bush. Everything he said was right to the point. Perhaps this is why Herod kept him around so long, as it says “he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.” But John’s role was to speak the truth, and it got him killed. People don’t like to hear the truth in undiluted form. People like to hear the truth padded with niceties and flattering words so it is easier to swallow. John the Baptist is one of the most interesting people in the Bible. His prophetic career as it is recorded was short, perhaps even shorter than Jesus’. But his fiery words and unforgettable persona reach out and grab you by both ears and pull you in close. He spoke the truth, it would be nice if we could too, but it might get us killed.

Wear some heavy boots this time

I believe, as Friedrich Nietzsche shrewdly pointed out, that humanity’s primal sin is the lust for power. The Garden of Eden story tells us the real temptation for Adam and Eve was not that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil looked just so yummy they couldn’t resist, rather it was what the serpent said eating the fruit would allow them to do. "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5. 
And so begins millennia of humans’ attempts at domination.

Mark 6:6-13
“Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. 8 These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."  12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” 

But we have been deluded and deceived by the serpent ever since as well. Most of us quickly forget that Jesus is the only authentic source of power in the universe. And that power can be given to us, but never taken by us. He remains in control even as we become mighty in the Spirit. We become like rays of the sun, shooting across the darkness of space.

And our mission? It is serious business: to destroy the strongholds of the serpent, to release the slaves he has captured, to proclaim a message that hope remains firmly within our grasp, and to grind under millions of faithful heels the head of that ancient snake. Eat dust, serpent!

Your hometown is only a memory

When I was sixteen, our family moved from southern California to southern Oregon. This was good and bad. The good part was I wasn’t happy with who I was in California and needed a way to reinvent myself. The bad part was the person I became was even worse. Let’s just say you wouldn’t have wanted to know me back then, and leave it at that, ok?

Pretty soon I had burned what few bridges I had and was a loner, this time of my own doing. In my adolescent brain I became convinced that my entire town hated me. This, I felt, was deserved. It took several years of not living there to realize that most people neither knew nor cared about me or my lack of moral fiber. Even today, when I return home, I still have lingering fears of meeting someone who knew the Ryan of the past.

Mark 6:1-6
“Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor."  5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” 

I recently heard someone speak who grew up in a town of 98 people, most of them related to him somehow. My own hometown runs around 3,000. Nazareth was probably similar in size. Small towns, like mine and maybe Jesus’, are often touted in nostalgic terms. People remember the close-knit community of their childhood, where everyone had time to sit out on the front porch and lean over backyard fences to chat with the neighbors. I imagine Nazareth being this way.

Unfortunately, that kind of town only exists in memories whitewashed with time. While there are undoubtedly many good things about living in a small town, there are many problems too. One of these problems is that a person can never really escape their past in a small town. No matter how many years go by or whether you stay or move away, you remain to a large degree who you were before. This is exactly what Jesus is facing here. The Greek word for the townspeople’s reaction to Jesus the Messiah is the same word we use for scandal. They considered it a scandal that this carpenter’s son comes home all high and mighty with notions of being One with authority. They found it offensive to their definition of who Jesus was.

The text says Jesus was unable to perform many miracles there, outside of a few healings. He was amazed at their lack of faith. He didn’t come back very often after that. I suspect that is one reason so many today don’t either.