No “Third” Repentance

A few weeks ago, I wrote an entry from Hebrews 3 in which I claimed that the writer held the possibility that salvation could be rejected after being accepted. I said some things in that entry that one visitor took issue with, and we had a lengthy discussion among the comments. Neither convinced the other, but it was interesting to me because his support he used was unexpected. You can read the entry and the comments on that entry, “Falling Away“

One of the things I said there is that I don’t really fit into either camp on the discussion of apostasy (the technical term for “falling away”). And that may sound weird, but the common term is “loose salvation”, and I very strongly disagree with the term “loose” used with this topic. I loose my keys, my phone, my wallet, and so on. I don’t “loose” my salvation. The problem of apostasy Scripture speaks of is not that simple.

One of the several issues I rarely hear those in the camp of “transitory salvation” is that there is only one chance at it. I said in my entries on Hebrews that the writer seems to support both sides of the issue of salvation loss. Here’s one of the reasons I say that:

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

Hebrews 6:4-6 NASB (emphasis mine)

What this clearly says is that, if someone has a relationship with their Savior, and then rejects it (looses it), there’s no coming back. “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance”. Repentance, the change of mind, heart, and then behavior, which indicates a state of being in relationship with our Savior, is impossible if we “repent” from it back to where we were before.

Said another way, people say (not me, but others) that repentance is a 180-degree turn away from what we were, how we thought, and how we lived, and toward our Savior, His ways, and His thoughts. If so, then the loss of salvation represents a “repentance” away from our Savior, a 180-degree turn away from His ways and His thoughts, and toward what we were, how we thought, and how we lived. And once that “second repentance” happens, there’s no hope of coming back again to our Savior.

Did anyone experience a “chill” reading that? I felt one writing it. It’s frightening, and it’s supposed to be. Salvation, our relationship with our Savior is serious. And it’s so serious, it isn’t something that can be left on the subway by accident. It’s not something buried under your jacket around the house. You can’t leave it in the last place you remember having it. You can’t loose it. It’s life and death, not a ticket to heaven!

It’s like being married, being in the military, or being employed by large company: you don’t forget those things, you consciously choose to break with those things. And for that there are, or can be, serious consequences. “Saved” means you are a disciple of Jesus, and that is an expensive commitment to make. It’s not something you take lightly, nor do you live it out lightly.

In fact, one of the claims of those in the eternal security camp is that anyone who “falls away” was never actually saved in the first place. That, while wrong and missing the point, is closer to the truth than the other side. The danger of that position is that it holds the hope of being saved eventually. Sorry, there’s no pass to get around this inspired claim of the writer of Hebrews. Our Savior, the Spirit of Jesus, inspired this passage to deliver a message to us: DON’T GIVE UP! It comes with the associated warning that, if we do, we’ve made an eternal choice from which it is impossible to come back.

But there’s no reason to fear. The point isn’t to be afraid that you might “fall away” by accident or unknowingly. The point is that we don’t out and out reject the “Way” of Jesus for another path. If you question your commitment, you are probably good to go. You show interest in your relationship with Jesus. You may not be a great disciple, but you’re in the fray. And being in the fray means there’s hope you will be an even more faithful servant of Jesus.

See, it’s not the husbands who wonder if they’re good husbands that are the “looser husbands”. It’s not the wives who wonder if they’re good wives that the “worst wives”. It’s the spouse who doesn’t care about the other, the ones who think only of themselves, what they want, their desires and their feelings. When there’s no regard for the other spouse, then the marriage is basically a paper certificate filed in some county records holding area. But when there is some regard, some thought for the other, spouse, then there’s hope. They may not be a great spouse, but there’s hope for improvement.

In the same way, if there is some regard for our Savior, even misguided, there’s hope. There are exceptions, such deep deceptions that the regard isn’t for anything even close to Jesus, but in general, those are rare. I’m not a perfect disciple of Jesus. Sometimes, I’m not even a good disciple, and at other times, I’m a down right bad disciple. But I have regard for my Savior, I seek to please Him, I’m concerned about how I treat Him, and it wounds my heart to be that bad disciple, and even missing the mark of “good disciple”. I want to be a great disciple. But one thing I don’t fear is forgetting where I put my faith.

Where is your faith, your hope in eternity? If you have never had hope, then I recommend Jesus. If your faith is in Jesus already, live it out, follow His pattern of living. If it used to be Jesus, but you’ve woken up and realized it’s been years since you were living as a disciple, is this a wake up call? See, if you’re looking at Him again, I believe it’s possible you didn’t actually “reject” Him, or it’s possible you never really had faith in the Savior revealed through Scripture (see how close I am to the “eternal security camp”?).

In any case, where are you now, and what will you choose today? I’m choosing to be a disciple, and I am going to work on being a great one, even though the prospect terrifies me. I may only end up being a good one. Okay, as long as I’m a disciple, I can’t let go of that.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation

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I Am “These People”

I’m spending time in prayer while reviewing Judges 10, and I stopped thinking about “them”, and started confessing from my own life, and, WHAM!  There was this collision of my life and “these people” that shook me up…

Senseless Senselessness

Sometimes, looking at the world around us, stuff just seems senseless.  Warlords finance a purposeless war machine through an illegal ivory smuggling ring, so an up-and-coming Chinese wealthy class can have ivory chopsticks.  Human trafficking is actually on the rise in the United States, which is probably the only area in which we compete with Sudan and Ethiopia in an industry.  So, people will wipe out elephants in their continent so they can kill more people.  And we are loosing more of our children to slavery because we can’t figure out how families are supposed to work.  It’s ridiculous.  But it’s not new.

Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. (Judges 10:6 NASB)

One of the ironies of humanity is the characteristic that probably best describes the “fallen nature”.  We love to repeat mistakes.  Oh, we say we don’t, but our actions never bear that out.  We have a World War I and II.  How many empires fell before Europe was plunged into the “Dark Ages”?  And, we do remember that was regional, right?  We remember that the rest of the world was doing just fine, and only Europe “went dark”?  Probably not.

When “our world becomes about us”, we have lost the mooring to a fundamental truth about “the world”.  This has never been “our world”.  Scripture doesn’t tell us that God gave us the world, it teaches us that He made the world, and placed us in it.  Yes, we are to exercise dominion over the land, but only in the sense that we manage it, not own it.  I think for many, renting, instead of mortgaging, might be the perfect spiritual discipline.

Has the implication that our economy is based on ownership caused anyone else to be “unsettled”?  Do you realize that this economic principle puts us at odds with our Creator?  The spiritual challenge, then, is to live within an economic system, but think within a relationship with God.  This is the same challenge, and point of failure, for the people of Israel.

Everyone around the Sons of Israel worshiped a pantheon of gods.  These gods were responsible for various functions of the world, spheres of existence, or spiritual realms.  They had responsibilities, and internal relational struggles.  The myths of these gods made up the lessons for humanity, and so on, and so on…

Yet the Sons of Israel had this national self-identity of being chosen by a Supreme God.  That’s already a mark to make them odd.  But then that this Supreme God also demands exclusive worship was just down right crazy.  No one supernatural being, regardless of how supreme they claim to be, can manage this entire mess in which we live. The only way to get along in this chaotic mess of a life is to work within the system that is, not some fantasy propagated by whacky religious nuts claiming a “special relationship” with some “unknown” deity.  There’s a danger in being too counter culture…

You see what I did there?  In one paragraph, we traveled 4,000 years into the future.  We began with describing the cultural situation of the Sons of Israel, and ended describing the cultural tension between belief in Jesus and “science”.  People are still crazy.  People still cling to the irrational insistence of spontaneous generation instead of accepting the truth of the One True Creator-God.  Afterall, if God exists, then all this ignorant crap about gender confusion is no longer allowed.  And we can’t have that, now can we?

Animals have become more important than people, at least until we need to destroy an entire species so we can kill more of the annoying people.  How many infants are still being murdered in the name of convenience disguised as “rights of the mother”?  Yes, Jesus is the answer, but we’re still so confused about the question.  We were confused in the days of the Judges, and we are still confused in the days of the church.  We’re afraid to be different, much like they were.

So, like they did then, we need to do today.  We, as a people, need to return to Yahweh, and “put away our foreign gods”.  We need to become solely God’s people, and less like the world in which we live.  The call to be holy is nothing new.  It’s the timeless call to “repent, for the Kingdom of God is near!”  It’s sill near, in many ways, nearer.  Let’s become disciples living out repentance.  In that way we will become holy, sort of by association, and sort of by a natural development from within.

So, what’s your view through the knothole this morning?

Literary or Legacy?

To this point in Judges, the people have not been repentant, only whiny. They complain about the oppression, but seem unconcerned about their iniquity and rebellion toward Yahweh. They had no idea up to this point. But now…

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”  And the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?  The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand.  Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.  Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”  And the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.”  So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel. (Judges 10:10 — 16 ESV)

The question I have here is whether this change is literary device, or a legacy from past judges. Are the people finally getting the point? Or, have they all along, and the author is including the detail here, he omitted before? This is a serious question for me, because Yahweh seems unimpressed with any evident progress made here. So, have they been aware all along, and confessed in this way in the past?

On the other hand, is confession repantance? Or, does confession progress toward repentance only when the words accompany a change of mind and heart, and then result in action? When is repentance authentic? Or, is that even the point? The people clearly weren’t authentic in Gideon’s day, and Yahweh delivered them.

But, here, Yahweh has had it. He’s no longer interested in delivering them, only to have them betray Him again. So, whether the change is only in that the detail was included here, or, this is truly a new development for them, it doesn’t impress Yahweh. He refers them to the gods with whom they have “cheated” on Him.

This concerns me. Can I exhaust the mercies of my Master? This isn’t simply an “Old Testament problem” either. Read the first three chapters of Revelations, and see how similar is my Master’s view there to Yahweh’s here. 

So, if the people have been “putting away the foreign gods from among them” before, Yahweh knows this won’t last. But if, as I fear, this marks a new development for the people, that Tola and Jair have left a 50 year legacy of faithfulness imprinted on the people, then development isn’t what gets my Master’s attention. I can’t claim “improvement” to win His favor in the face of continual failure.

On the other hand, His mercy eventually overcomes His pain of rejection. He becomes impatient over the misery of Israel. Literally, “His soul was shortened in the misery of Israel.” Yahweh felt the misery of His people in His soul. We don’t think of our Master having one of those, but it seems He does. The misery of those He loves hurt Him more deeply than the hurt of their betrayal. 

How can we not weep for our Master? How can we be so callous as to turn a blind eye to His pain, and harden our heart toward the hurt we cause Him; He who loves us without limits? We don’t expect our human friends to put up with what we put our Creator and Savior through. We know the standards of our human relationships, but we flagrantly disregard the standards of our spiritual relationship. And which is more important? Our actions say something other than our bumper stickers.

Perhaps weeping over our misery is the wrong response. Maybe weeping over the pain we have caused our Master is a better response. Perhaps when we acknowledge the relational pain we cause Him, then we truly repent. When we mourn plight of our Master, then we join Him in the amazing relationship He wants with us.

Those are my questions as I peek through this knothole at His work and play. What do you see of our Savior through your knothole in the fence?

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?

What’s the Problem?

So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the LORD.  Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian, that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery.  ‘I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, and I said to you, “I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me.”‘” (Judges 6:6-10 NASB)

Before we even get to the discussion between Yahweh and Gideon, we have this setup by the author of Judges.  It’s important to know, not only what God does for His people, but the condition they are in before He helps them.  It’s a big part of the author’s point to his audience.

So, what is the condition of God’s people?  They cry out to Yahweh because of the oppression of the nomads, and He sends a prophet with a scathing message.  The word from Yahweh to His people that He has kept His side of the covenant by bringing them out of Egypt and into the land, but they have not kept their part of the covenant by not fearing the local deities.  That wasn’t the only part of the covenant, but it was a key, repeated, element of it.

So, you would expect repentance.  You would think at this point, if they’re crying out to Yahweh, they would also put away the other gods, idols, altars, practices, and what not?  You would think they would change their minds and hearts to agree with God’s mind, search out His heart.  And yet, no.  In fact, they seem confused by the prophet.  Yahweh has done all this stuff, and told them to not fear the gods of the Amorites.  But they did.

See, you’d think the prophet would even wake them up, wouldn’t you?  Sure they cry out, but don’t get exactly what they’re doing wrong.  In that case they wouldn’t know how to repent.  But when the prophet delivers his message, they still seem baffled.  If you keep this part in your mind as you read the rest of the chapter, the heart condition of these people is nearly unfathomable.  It’s so wrong it’s baffling, it can’t possibly be that bad.

This setting for the rest of Gideon’s story is critical to the author’s point.  After all, if you’re going to make a point that God is, and has always been, gracious, wouldn’t a drastic contrast between His goodness and the people’s rebellion be a good illustration?  The author doesn’t use the term “grace”.  Instead, he shows Yahweh, the God of the Sons of Israel, being gracious.

This chapter especially, is the Creator of the universe rescuing this ridiculous people of His in spite of themselves.  They are so far gone, they don’t even know they’re gone.  They have no concept of their wayward, rebellious, and adulterous ways.  They are confused by why Yahweh would be upset with them in the first place.  They are blind to their sin, completely ignorant of the problem.

And, so are we.  We don’t really believe that the Bible should be taken seriously.  We don’t.  Don’t even try to act innocent.  I spend hours weekly sifting minutia in the original texts, and I don’t really take it seriously.  It’s not about how much we know or don’t know.  It’s not about what church we attend or translation of the Bible we use.

It’s about, when we read the Beatitudes, whether we truly put such attitudes ahead of our cultural attitudes Monday through Saturday.  It’s about whether, when we read about the cost of discipleship, whether we pay it or not.  It’s about whether we truly love God, the One having already sacrificed His only Son for us, with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  We don’t.  I know I don’t.  My behavior is evidence enough of that.

So, before we characterize these unfathomable clueless people as aberrant, perhaps we should stop, and see where we stand.  Let’s ask ourselves some tough questions, like, “Do I really believe the Bible?”, “Do I live like Jesus is first in my life?”, and perhaps ask our Master for that prophet to point out in us that blind spot in our relationship with Him.

Because here’s the thing, we will always have one more thing to work on in our relationship with Him.  But, His grace to us is evidenced in that, while we wander cluelessly, He preserves our relationship with Him.  This isn’t about being good enough for Him, it’s about clinging to the One having already loved us unfathomably.

How ridiculously obtuse is it of us to consider anything of the stuff of this earth to be of any value compared to our relationship with Him?  And yet we let our relationship with Him languish, while we pursue one more thing of this world.  Silly people, let’s put things back in proper order.  Let’s do it, not because He will punish us if we don’t, but because He has already rescued us from punishment.

That’s my view through this knothole this morning.  What do you see of our Master through yours?

Great Commissions

“And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”  And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.  While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.  (Luke 24:49-53 NASB)

When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.  And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:17-20 NASB)

Have you ever been bored?  When we consider that we’ve got all the people-groups of the world in whom to make disciples, how could we be bored.  And yet, I’m bored more often than I care to admit.  How can that be?

The “Great Commission” of Matthew 28 has a counterpart in Luke24.  While the one in Matthew is familiar, we often miss some important elements.  For instance, we’re supposed to go and make disciples.  If you would like some clarity on what that means, check out my blog entry on the topic of disciples here.  It’s not as nice and easy as it might sound.

In Luke 24, the commission sounds slightly different.  In verses 47 through 48, the commission is to proclaim repentance into forgiveness of sins to all nations in His name.  The concept of “disciples” isn’t mentioned.  That the proclamation goes into all nations is consistent.  In reality, though, repentance is what disciples do, and do for the rest of their time here on earth.  So, actually, the two commissions have more in common than appears on the surface.

All this to come back around to my original question.  Have you ever been bored?  As I mentioned, I am bored in a shameful frequency.  The sad truth is that those living close to me are probably not disciples, nor have they had “repentance into forgiveness” proclaimed to them.  At least they haven’t heard this from me.

I’m simply thinking that I can’t be bored while my neighbors haven’t heard.  If they’ve heard and reject, that’s one thing.  But if I haven’t even tried, then why would I be bored? If I really believe Jesus is all I teach in this blog, then I should be busier telling others about repentance into forgiveness.

What’s your view through your knothole this morning?

A Walk Through Scripture

One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?”  And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.  But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.  Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.”  And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”  Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.  (Luke 24:18-27 NASB)

What if the worst of all possible outcomes, actually wasn’t all that bad?  What if what you thought was the end, wasn’t?  Do you still hope?  Can you?  Should you?  You could be disappointed again.  Do you really want to come crashing down again?  Hope is one of the more dangerous of emotional states.  And yet, for followers of Jesus, absolutely necessary to follow Him.

This challenge to have courage enough to hope once more is what Jesus addresses on the road to Emmaus.  It isn’t that they don’t get it, or weren’t told.  It’s not a problem solved by explaining.  They still didn’t get it after Jesus explained it.  They didn’t lack information, they lacked hope.  And without hope, there can be no faith.

Surely you’ve been there; that place where everything seems to have gone so wrong, here there is no possibility of restoration.  Perhaps in a marriage, a friendship, in another sort of relationship.  Maybe with your job, or church, or among fellow believers.  You look at it, and it’s hopeless.  There are no more good outcomes possible.  Those options have passed, and nothing more remains but to mourn what could have been.

It’s into that dark place this account of Jesus shines.  These guys had an opportunity to claim the hope back.  They opted not to.  It was too much, too expensive emotionally.  It was too crazy to hope in the face of such utter defeat, such crushing disappointment and disillusionment.  Ironically, it is their illusions that obscure the hope.

In your times of dark hopelessness, as you walk along in your life, a stranger walks up and asks, “What’s up?”  Your vision is obscured by hopelessness, and you’re prevented from recognizing the stranger.  And as you explain your hopeless situation, the stranger chuckles, and shakes his head.  And then, with gentleness, as you walk along together, he begins to re-frame your hopeless situation with the framework of your Creator.

Hope, illusive and dangerous, ignites in your soul.  You’re not sure, you’re not comfortable, and you hesitate to embrace it.  As you walk, as he speaks more about the power of God at work all around you.  As you nod, and things in your mind shift, memories rearrange, another picture emerges from the puzzle pieces.  You begin to grasp that you had them in the wrong place and intended picture was lost.

And then you’re at your destination, and the stranger continues, but you must hear more.  The picture still isn’t complete enough to calm your fears.  And he stays!  Hope flares more brightly!  He comes in and eats with you, and you suddenly realize Who has walked with you is He in Whom you lost hope.  The hope wakens fully to fill your soul with the warmth of light and life.  He disappears from your sight, but remains burned into your mind.  You must share, for others have lost hope as well.  So, you rise up, and run home.

Have you been on the Road to Emmaus, thinking you were headed into an episode of the Twilight Zone?  That sign post up ahead probably doesn’t say what you think it does.  As you go your way, remember to talk to strangers.  They often have something hopeful to share.

What’s your view through your knothole this morning?

Passion Week XXXII

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”  But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”  And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43 NASB)

One of the most poignant accounts of the crucifixion is the repentant thief on the cross.  But the thief is also one of the strangest characters in the Gospel account as well.  Keep in mind that we no nothing of why either criminal is being crucified, nor any other information about them.  Only Luke has this account of the repentant criminal.

The crucifixion crowd seems to be focusing their abuse on Jesus.  The chief priests are in attendance challenging Him to come down since He’s the “chosen one”.  The people claim He’s saved others but cannot save Himself.  The soldiers mock Him, now that they’ve finished divvying up His clothes.  And now one of the criminals joins in the mocking, “save Yourself, and us.”  Matthew and Mark mention the abuse Jesus receives from the criminals as well (Matt. 27:44, Mark 15:32), but they say both criminals abused Jesus.

In Luke only we have this lone criminal who, apart from everyone else, seems to actually understand what Jesus is doing.  Imagine the scene, crowds watching the tortuous death of three men, hear the shouted insults, taunts, the soldiers mocking, and the mocking criminal.  Then, the other criminal calls to the other, “Do you not even fear God?”  He continues by confessing that they belong there but Jesus does not.  This is a sharp deviation from the rest of the scene.

The criminal calling out his fellow and confessing his sin, then turns his attention to Jesus, and he says one of the most startling things in Scripture, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.”  To really get how strange this is, keep imagining the scene.  The painful death, the jeering crowds and soldiers all point to the immanent death of this same Jesus.  And the criminal says, “…when You come into Your Kingdom.”  How does this guy know the Kingdom follows after the cross?  Not even Jesus’ disciples seemed to know that.

The theological genius hanging on his own cross next to Jesus knows that there is more to follow this horrific death.  But He also knows to ask to be a part of it.  No one else asked for that.  The crowds, the soldiers, the priests, they all jeer the Savior.  But this guy wants in Jesus’ Kingdom.  This guy, probably as beaten and shredded as Jesus, doesn’t see the death of hope or of a problematic teacher.  He sees one in Whom he hopes anyway, regardless of the impending death, in spite of the jeers and derision he hears.  Who does that?

And Jesus replies even here, to this confession of faith, with a promise of paradise.  Up to this point, that term hasn’t been used by Jesus.  He’s used other terms for heaven, including “heaven”.  And there are various teachings or understandings about this term, both from rabbinic teaching and early church fathers.  Whatever it means technically, this criminal will be there with Jesus before the day is out.  That much is certain.

I learn some really important lessons here.  This criminal repented from his mindset to Jesus’ mindset at some point along the way.  Defending Jesus, confessing his own just death sentence, he then seeks to be accepted by Jesus Himself.  And, of course, he is accepted.  Can I, at the darkest point of my life, when the horrible end is obvious, and hope is really gone; can I, then, believe in Jesus’ Kingdom?  Let’s say it’s not actually that bad.  Can I, then, believe in Jesus’ Kingdom?

These are fairly meaningless contingencies for me.  I’m already in the Kingdom.  The real lesson for me is how I behave toward those seeking entrance.  Because people in those contingencies aren’t pretty, they aren’t typically “nice”, and they don’t “behave”.  Life, for them, is scarce and hard.  So, if they seek entrance, “Jesus, remember me…” then the plan is how to respond.

It doesn’t seem very wise, but Jesus makes His disciples “gatekeepers” of His Kingdom.  If it weren’t for the fact we’re kind of stupid, we’d be a fine choice.  Yet, in spite of our foolishness, Jesus uses us in this way.  And those outside seeking to enter see the fools at the gate.  And the challenge is to seek to be included among the fools, or seek another kingdom.  The criminal sees the impossibility of what was happening, and sought to be included in the foolishness.  Why not, he’s about to die anyway.  What does he have to lose?  Those closest to Jesus left Him.  The ones you would expect to be there seeking entrance to the Kingdom are hiding or looking on from a distance.  It’s the guy being tortured to death with Jesus who fearlessly asks for entrance.

So here’s to the fellow fools at the gate.  Doff the funny hat as the riffraff enter our Master’s Kingdom.  Smile and welcome them into the life of misfits where the fools are wise, and the wise foolish.  Welcome to the happy village of idiots.

What’s your view through your knothole this morning?

Passion Week XXX

And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.  But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’  Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’  For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:27-31 NASB)

My dad had a saying, probably shared by thousands of other followers of Jesus, “It’s not the things I don’t understand in the Bible that bother me, it’s the things I do understand.”  This passage really fits into one of those “don’t understand” categories, but it does bother me.

Mourner was an actually profession in first century Judea.  So, as someone approaches their death, people mourning them was not unusual, some were even paid for it.  It was not necessarily typical for those going to their execution.  Considering that the crowds of Jerusalem have more or less turned against Jesus, this isn’t expected.  And Luke is the only Gospel writer who preserves this detail.

Even more surprising than the mourners is the response of Jesus.  By all accounts (except for Luke) He has been scourged, and even in Luke, He can’t carry His own cross.  In this weakened state, He still takes a moment to have this lengthy discourse with these women?  It just seems out of place.  Although it wouldn’t fit somewhere else either.

The mourners are surprising.  That Jesus takes the time for this discourse is surprising.  And then what He says is, well it’s at least confusing, if not surprising.  Jesus tells the mourners to wail for themselves and their children.  The days are coming when those with children will be considered cursed, rather than the barren women considered cursed.  The barren won’t have to see the end of their own children.

If you look at a reference Bible, you may be sent to Isaiah 2, or Hosea 10, or both.  In Isaiah, Jerusalem (daughters of Jerusalem are the ones mourning) is prophesied against.  But the rocks and hills aren’t falling on them.  In Hosea, the Northern 10 Tribes of Israel (Samaria) are being prophesied against, and here the people want the rocks and hills to fall on them to hide them from God.

Jesus’ reference could simply be a commonly phrased prophecy which He is pronouncing on Jerusalem.  Or He could be using a phrase understood as pertaining to Samaria on Jerusalem to make clear He means the whole country, not just the city of Jerusalem.  Because He refers to the women as “daughters of Jerusalem”, it’s most likely the first option.  Either way, a bad day is approaching.  So, once again, we have a prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction in Luke.  That makes three (19:41-44; 21:5,6,20-24; 23:28-31).  For some commentators, this indicates to them that Luke was written after AD 70, and he is partially explaining why it happened to the Jews.  I’m not convinced, even with the detail Luke includes.

Jesus then completes His discourse with the cryptic, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it’s dry?”  Who is “they”? The “things” are probably His crucifixion, or at least His rejection by the religious leaders.  When is the “tree green”, and when is the “tree dry”?  The time of the “green tree” is while Jesus is among them, available as a tangible object of faith.  After His resurrection and ascension, would then be the “dry” time.  But that’s not necessarily the best option.  If the ‘things’ are what’s happening then, then the tree is green right then.  So, if it has to do with Jesus’ presence, what about His presence makes the tree green?

Green trees are alive, or at least not dormant for winter.  Dry trees could be either dead or dormant.  Green trees will produce fruit, while dry trees won’t.  Perhaps the timing is defined by the availability of fruit?  In any case, whichever option is used to define the “green” versus “dry” time, Jesus says the time is coming on them.  If He is referring to the destruction in AD 70, then the “green” time is when He is physically among them, and the “dry” time is after He ascends to the Father.

Having said all that, notice that the blame for what comes is left on the “they”.  “If they do this when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”  What will happen logically follows what they are doing now.  Luke is saying that the destruction of Jerusalem is judgement for Jerusalem’s rejection of Jesus.  He is crucified for the sins of the world, and the city responsible for carrying that out is judged by God and destroyed.

If Jesus is referring to Hosea earlier, then also tucked away in that chapter is this statement “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Yahweh, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.” (Hos. 10:12)  Even in the midst of a judgement prophecy, there is a call to repent, there is another option than being destroyed.

That’s my “partial” view through the knothole this morning.  What’s yours?