How Does He NOT Know?

Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.  The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.”  Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6:11-13 NASB)

Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.  Now on the same night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” (Judges 6:24-26 NASB)

The Angel of the Lord is Yahweh, Himself, in visible form, dressed for a visit.  He goes to a guy threshing wheat where there is no wind, a wine press.  That’s a job that will take a while, and will seem pointless through much of it.  Gideon can’t be happy.  At the point of the visit, his life is pretty much at an all-time low.  Hence his reply to his Creator.

It’s Gideon’s reply that is so incredibly ironic though.  “Why…”  It’s a good question for someone suffering wrongfully.  It’s a good question for the righteous man to ask of God, like Job, for instance.  The impression received from the question is that Gideon asks from a standpoint of innocence.

At first I thought, perhaps, it was the prophet who reminded the people about Yahweh.  Perhaps the previous generation had forgotten to pass down the stories.  Yet Gideon replies to this Yahweh that the “…miracles which our fathers told us about…” were lacking at the moment.  It seems they hadn’t forgotten to pass down the stories.

So, then I figured that Gideon didn’t know that it was wrong to serve Yahweh and Baal…and Asherah, and so on.  That’s possible.  He at least knows that the people around him won’t like being exclusive.  He immediately builds an altar to Yahweh, there at the wine press.  And he tears down his father’s Baal altar… in the dark.

But think about it.  His first task given to him by Yahweh is to tear down his father’s altar to Baal, and the Asherah pole next to it.  There is an altar to Baal and an Asherah in the front yard.  And Gideon has the audacity to ask, “Where is Yahweh, and why has He abandoned us?”  Are you kidding me?  Seriously, he doesn’t get that?

The condition of the people of God at this point in their history is shocking, or should shock us.  We should be slapping our foreheads, going, “REALLY?”.  The thing is, we’re not.  Instead, we glibly read through, barely stopping to notice the incongruity before us.  Gideon is a hero, and heroes are great people.  Keep reading, we have a lot to get through.

But when we stop and look at what is happening, it should startle us.  It was supposed to startle the author’s audience when written.  It was supposed to shock them into realizing what they were doing, how they treated Yahweh.  They were supposed to see how boneheaded ignorant they were.  And that’s what is supposed to happen to us.

Is gathering together as believers something that only happens once a week?  Does it happen in a large crowded venue?  Are you able to hide there, choose not to interact?  Does your experience as a “church-going” follower of Jesus make a minimal impact on your time during the week?  People, there is probably an altar in your yard, and you don’t even realize it’s a problem.

Is your church constantly preaching about giving, and wanting you to give more, and harping on how much it doesn’t have…are you tithing?  Is all you have, God’s, and you’re simply the steward?  Would your neighbors say you’re weird because you clearly honor God with all your stuff, money, and time?  Or do you look and act a lot like them?  There could be an altar in your yard you have learned to pretend isn’t there.

You see where this going?  Do you need another example?  Okay, what would your kids say about your devotion to God?  Would they, one, say you’re truly devoted; and, two, want that for themselves?  Or does your attitude toward, and your treatment of, your family deviate widely from what you say you believe?  Do you have an altar to yourself in the yard, one you’ve been using regularly, but pretending is something else?

Are you sufficiently depressed? Has conviction angered or saddened you to near uselessness this morning?  As my dad would say, “Have I gotten your goat?”  I still don’t know what that means, by the way.  I mean, I do, from the way he used it, but why does it mean that?  So, if you take my goat, does that mean I mow my yard myself?  Maybe that’s a good thing.  Maybe I’ll get tired of mowing around the altar, and TEAR IT DOWN!

Stay tuned.  It gets better.  God didn’t reject Gideon for being an ignorant moron.  So, we’re probably safe.  Be honest about it, though.  That’s the process of repentance, honesty about who and what we are before God.  Seeing ourselves for who we really are, and then appreciating what He does for us, is rearranging our mind to be like His.

That’s my view through the knothole this morning.  What do you see?

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Passion Week XXVII

But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.”  When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.  And when he learned that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time. (Luke 23:5-7 NASB)

Pilate is still caught between the people he doesn’t want to help, and the silent guy in front of him he wants to help.  In the end, he’s really just a person in a country of people.  It’s just that, for Pilate, this Person really does seem different.  Of all the characters involved, only Jesus is at peace.  That’s very backward from the usual drama of Jerusalem.

But among the virulent accusations flying from the gaping gnashing holes of lies before him, Pilate hears, “…from Galilee” to describe Jesus.  This is what Pilate’s been looking for, a back door off this stage, and out of this tragic comedy.  So, he sends Jesus to the “Herod” who had already killed John the Baptist out of embarrassment.  Easy-peasy, Jesus is as good as dead already.

Conveniently, Herod is actually in Jerusalem for the feast (so we think).  It doesn’t say why Herod is in Jerusalem, only that he is.  The Passover is going on, so perhaps that’s why.  In the case of Herod, it could only be a political or social excuse.  He’s the “Chief of a Fourth” so anything to get the other three-fourths is worth the effort.  And it’s unlikely this king will be a part of a traditional Passover meal.  He’s even less Jewish than his father, and never tried as hard to be accepted by the people he governed.

That being said, Pilate has found “Door Number 3”, and he’s taking it.  We already know it won’t work, but let’s stop and look at ourselves in light of Pilate’s approach to Jesus.  Pilate isn’t Jewish.  He hasn’t been steeped in their traditions and teachings.  He’s not even close to being a “believer”.  He has centurions under him who are God-fearing gentiles, respectful of the Jewish people, and many of them well-liked.  He is nothing like that.  So his approach to Jesus is as a “political animal” rather than a “believing Gentile”.

If you’re reading this, presumably you already believe, at least to a degree, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and Savior of the World.  From the outset, our approaches to Jesus differ from Pilate’s in this passage.  While that initially gives us a great advantage, the similarities in our decisions about what to do with Jesus should be extremely telling.  Think about a time, especially as a believer, you let Jesus be somebody else’s problem; you passed on the opportunity to stand for Him, you sought any other option than to endanger your position or comfort to stand for Him.

Now, that shame your feeling, (because who hasn’t done this) hold that emotion in your left hand (work with me here).  Now, think back to Jesus in the upper room with His disciples. He’s just said they will eventually sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel.  And then He leans over and says to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith will be strengthened.”  Do you remember that?  Do you also remember that Jesus, immediately after, predicts Peter’s denial of Him?  Take that shame in your left hand and hold it up to Jesus.  It’s not like He didn’t know it was coming on you.  But also hear from Him His prayer for your faith, because it’s at times like this that we need to return and strengthen others.

The thing about Pilate is that he does what Peter does, in a sense.  And in that same sense, hasn’t surprised Jesus.  So, Pilate has the same option to “return”, but in a different sense.  To our shock, so do the religious leaders.  Even Judas had the option.  It’s not about the failure, it is, once again, about the response to the failure.  Our relationship with Jesus is different than Pilate’s.  And we have the chance, the calling, to return to that relationship rather than live in the shame of the failure.

So, yes, we’ve pulled a “Pilate”, and sought convenient options other than declaring Jesus as our King.  But we also have the calling of our King to return to Him.  Think that through.  He knows we’re going to deny Him, but He calls us back anyway.  We’re stuck in mediocrity between what we know and what we do.  No shock to our Master.  We’re not what we imagine we should have been by now.  Didn’t surprise Jesus.  We missed the bar we set for ourselves among our peers.  Jesus, leaning on the fallen bar, holds out His hand to pull us to our feet.  Is it possible that we’ve been looking at this relationship all wrong?  Perhaps we should take that hand, be pulled to our feet, and listen to His explanation.  There’s something we’re missing we desperately need to know.

What do you see through your knothole this morning?

Passion Week XXIII

Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance.  After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.  And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.”  But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”  A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”  After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.”  But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.  (Luke 22:54-60 NASB)

This is perhaps one of the most striking depictions of Peter in Scripture.  It is so important to the good news of salvation through Jesus that it makes it into every Gospel record.  Each is different, but each records a version of it.  Isn’t it interesting that Peter’s denial of Jesus is given such importance?  Why would that be?  Why is Peter’s failure to follow Jesus all the way to the cross so important?  It wasn’t like he was unique among the other disciples, none of them went to the cross with Jesus either.  They all fled Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested.

But Peter is caught between what he wants to be, knows he should be, and his fears.  He’s close, but afraid to be closer.  He wants to know what’s happening, what will happen, but not willing to endanger himself.  In John the ironies are pronounced as John lets Jesus in and is there as well, but isn’t bothered.  People already know him, and seem to have no problem with him.  But Peter fears being known and associated with Jesus.

Peter finds it easier to deny his association than risk not knowing what happens to Jesus.  But then the denials become the focus, and he’s less concerned about knowing what happens.  Eventually Peter discovers he’s sold out just as predicted, and leaves, not knowing what happens to Jesus.  He fails to get what he wants by trying to protect his getting what he wants.   He wants to be that strong follower of Jesus, to be that one who goes to the very end.  But Peter discovers that he doesn’t have it in him.

How is this not a depiction of us?   Which of us has not denied our association with Jesus for far less?   When have we’ve resisted bringing up our faith in conversations with our neighbors and family, or perhaps we’ve skipped church or personal time with Jesus to be around our friends, go on a vacation, or have “family time”?  How often have we made clear our priorities, and where our relationship with Jesus falls in those priorities, when we subordinated Jesus to everyone else in our life?

Jesus loves us.  He’ll understand and forgive.  We can treat Him this way.  We somehow convince ourselves we get away with it.  Think about that.  What does that even mean?  How do we get away with it?   Can we really have convinced ourselves that we can suffer no consequences for living with Jesus as a minimal priority?  Seriously?

Peter understood and wept bitterly when he discovered what he had done.  He felt remorse.  But more, he returned to the disciples.  In the beginning of the song, What if I stumble by DC Talk, Brennan Manning can be heard saying,

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle.   That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

So, yes, Peter denies Jesus three times, just as Jesus said he would.  And so do we.  The question for Peter was what he would do with that failure.  And so it is for us.  Will we continue to live in that manner, or feel remorse but go no further than feeling?  Or will we, like Peter return to our brothers and sisters to strengthen them?  Jesus has prayed for us, and continues to pray for us, that our faith might be strengthened.

Jesus wants us to return after failure.  He doesn’t want us to remain in the failure, believing that His understanding us means there will be no consequences.  He wants us to treasure our relationship with Him so highly that everything that endangers that relationship is too much for us to bear.  Jesus wants the loss or diminishing of our relationship with Him to be consequence enough.  But in case you believe that there would be nothing beyond that, please read this:

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33 NASB)

Brennan Manning’s statement may be sobering, but please let this be terrifying.  Do we we really think risking being denied before the Father in heaven is worth whatever discomfort we avoid here?  It certainly isn’t comfortable to deny Jesus with our lives.  For a while it nags at us.  Fear the day it stops nagging at us.  Return!  If we deny Him three times, return!  If we live as if we are dead, return!  If we have chosen to drift with the current of this world, return!  Return to Him, and He will rescue us.  Return to Him and His love will extend to us.  He will restore those who return, He will certainly do it.  But we must return.  We must.

That’s my view through this knothole.  What do you learn of our Master from Peter?