Get Ready

The scriptures referred to are Luke 21:25-36.

One disadvantage to being a nurse is that you know enough about diseases and their symptoms that you have to guard against jumping to negative conclusions. You can't be a hypochondriac. That cough could be a warning sign of lung disease but you need to check that it isn't just a side effect of your blood pressure medicine. One advantage of being a nurse, however, is that if you suffer a fairly common injury, even if it is serious, you realize that getting better is a simply matter of obeying doctor's orders and doing your therapy. Such was my state after my accident nearly 6 years ago. Mostly what I did was break a lot of bones and tear up some internal organs. The surgeons fixed most of that in 6 operations. The rest was up to my body's ability to recover and my physical and occupational therapy. So I had hope that I would walk again, even if I didn't know precisely when.

And I knew that I would also be able to return to ministering at my churches one day. I just needed to get a doctor's permission. Again, I had hope. It was a matter of time.

Advent is about hope. Someone has called hope the future tense of faith. Faith is simply trust in someone or something in the present based on past experience. That's why people growing up in chaotic homes often have trouble trusting others. In my marriage preparation classes, I tell the couple to build up a good amount of trust by being reliable. It will help during times when things get difficult and you're going to have to trust the other person.

Hope is based on promises. Again this is rooted in one's past experience with the source of the promise. Whether it is a person or a group or a business, if they have made good on promises in the past, we can trust them to fulfill promises about the future. It's like a paycheck. Until you cash or deposit it, you don't actually have the money. It is merely a promise. But if your company has never given you a bad check, you have good reason to treat your current paycheck as fully backed by their funds and to make your plans and pay your bills accordingly.

The church year, especially from Christmas through Easter, is based on what Jesus said and did. In Advent we are largely looking at periods before certain things happened, like Jesus' birth or his baptism, or things that haven't happened yet, like Jesus' return. And the first set of promises that God delivered on secures our hope that he will fulfill the second set as well.

After my accident, I was in the hospital for 40 days. Then I had to wait for 12 weeks in the nursing home for my legs to heal enough that I could put weight on them. So I did strength and flexibility exercises to prepare for that day. And after that it was another two months before I could resume my position at the churches part-time. In all it took a full eight months to go from patient to pastor again. It took patience and preparation.

The Israelites had been promised another prophet like Moses before they actually entered the land of Canaan. (Deuteronomy 18:15) And while God did send them prophets, they were not lawgivers like Moses. Rather these prophets pointed out how people were not being faithful to the law they already had. They urged them to love God and show it by worshiping and obeying him, not just with their lips but with their lives (1 Samuel 15:22). They also reminded them to love their neighbors as they did themselves (Isaiah 1:14-19). In the meantime the people had to wait for THE Prophet Moses promised.

That prophet comes in Jesus. Why didn't he come sooner? Well, I can't speak for God on the timing but it looks like the world had to be prepared for the spread of the gospel. At the time Jesus arrived, almost the entire land around the Mediterranean was united under the Roman Empire. The Romans built roads, facilitating travel through the empire. They made the sea safe from piracy. Almost everyone spoke a common language, Greek, at least as their second language. And the Jewish diaspora meant there were synagogues in every major city, filled with Jews who were looking for the Messiah, as well as Godfearers, Gentiles attracted to features of Judaism, though they hadn't actually converted. All this meant that the teachings and the news of the death and resurrection of one man in tiny Judea could be spread throughout the empire.

By the end of the first century there were an estimated 7,500 Christians in about 40 cities in Libya, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, the capitol itself. In the second century there are around 200,000 Christians in nearly 100 cities with some now in North Africa, Mesopotamia, Gaul, and in what eventually became Germany. By the third century, there are 3 times that many churches and some were located on the Black Sea, in the Slavic countries, in Spain and in Britain. By 300 AD, there are an estimated 6 million Christians and perhaps 30 million by the middle of that century.

So two keys to Jesus' first coming were patience and preparation. The third was persistence. Christians did not keep the good news of Jesus to themselves. They went out and told others even if it could spell death. Whenever an emperor took it upon himself to persecute Christians, citizens were required to denounce Christ and make a sacrifice to the emperor. If not, they could be executed and, like Jesus, in a very public way to discourage others. In 300 AD, Christianity was still an illegal religion. And yet, as we said, around 6 million people believed in Jesus. And that was enough for Constantine to feel it politically safe to make Christianity legal shortly after he became emperor in 312 AD.

But how did the number of Christians grow so much after the death of the apostles? We no longer hear of missionaries like Paul spreading the word until after Christianity becomes legal. We must conclude it spread by word of mouth. By ordinary Christians telling others and inviting them to worship with them. And this worship would have been held in secret. During times of persecution, Christians met and worshiped in catacombs, underground tombs. Imagine inviting someone to join you for a church service held in a subterranean maze of tunnels with dead bodies all around, lying on shelves. By comparison, evangelism today is much easier.

But Christians persevered, despite the dangers and difficulties. When it became safe to be a Christian within the empire, missionaries went outside its borders bringing the gospel to warlike tribes. And the Church in the East spread through Persia into Asia. It reached India in the 6^th century and China and the Mongols by the 7^th century.

This is the result not merely of patience, preparation and perseverance, however, but of Christians responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Whereas most religions did not seek to include others, seeing as they were associated with their specific nations, Christians, out of love, preached the good news of what God has done in Jesus for the whole world, inviting people to join his kingdom. Whereas other religions tend to bless the status quo, Christianity said that this world's values were inverted, putting power, wealth and fame at the top, rather than love, justice and peace. Whereas in pagan religions the gods were cruel and capricious and had no love for humanity, Christianity proclaimed that God is just and loved all people, including slaves and women and the poor. That was a very attractive message.

But what really changed minds was that Christians acted on their beliefs, helping the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned, and outcasts. When the rich fled the cities during plagues, Christians stayed and nursed the sick and dying at the risk of their own lives. This made pagans doubt the official line that Christians hated humanity, and held cannibalistic orgies. (Which as we've seen is still the standard propaganda for demonizing a group.) It was how Christians really acted that convinced pagans to rethink what they believed about this illegal religion, and led more and more to follow Jesus.

In Advent we are waiting in a sense for both Jesus' birth and his return to earth. Today's gospel focuses on the latter. And in it, and its parallel passages in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, Jesus also urges us to be patient, to be prepared, and to persevere. And to be responsive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, especially when it comes to testifying to the good news. In Mark Jesus says, “The gospel must first be preached to all nations.” (Mark 13:10) Everyone must be given the opportunity to hear and accept God's offer of love, forgiveness, reconciliation and transformation.

I am not saying Jesus is coming tomorrow, but, like the era of his first appearance, the time is ripe to spread the word. We have communications that can be accessed by people all over the world. My blog audience, while small, is global. Our worship services likewise can be seen anywhere there is Facebook and are watched by many more people online than we have in the building. Paul would be astounded by the number of people we can reach at once.

But remember that after the apostles were martyred, the faith still spread, primarily shared by ordinary Christians. And as someone who used to write and record commercials for radio, let me tell you, the slickest ad cannot compare to word of mouth. If you lie about what a sponsor is offering, or the quality of their goods or services, or how affordable they are, the word of mouth backlash will negate the lasting impact of your ad.

And I'm afraid that slick prepackaged formulas for evangelizing people, like reading tracts to them, as well as the hard sell approached used by some denominations, have scared off mainstream Protestants from sharing the gospel with others. But it can be as simple as sharing what God has done for you personally, when the time and conversation are appropriate. People are more reluctant to reject someone's personal experience.

And we need to back up our words by showing how our experience of God's love results in loving actions. We have seen how prominent “Christians” have damaged the witness of the church by speaking and acting in ways that contradict the idea that we represent a God who loves and forgives and reconciles. Jesus said, “By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35) Not by our doctrinal purity on all matters, nor our agreement on all things, nor by whom we exclude or denounce, but by our love for one another. Yet some “Christians,” who pride themselves on knowing the Bible, seem to be unable to recall this essential verse that comes from the very lips of our Lord.

If the world needs anything, it is love. Not the narrow or toxic forms that are rampant in our society—love as possession or obsession—but God's self-sacrificial love, seen in what Jesus has done for us. We need to start putting the interests of others ahead of ourselves. (Philippians 2:4) And not in a co-dependent way but the way you would if you were climbing a mountain, tethered together with others, helping each other up. Because we really cannot get over all the obstacles of life by ourselves. We get help from parents and grandparents and friends and coworkers and folks in our church and the people who provide the basic support services that keep society going. Even survival experts admit they would have trouble surviving in the wilderness for as little as a month if they were alone. And they wouldn't even attempt it without preparation—which, of course, includes getting tools and materials made by others and bought from others.

God made us as social animals. (Genesis 2:18) Part of being made in his image is not simply existing as solitary souls. (Genesis 1:28) For God is love. (1 John 4:8) Which is why Jesus handed off his continuing mission not a single person but a body of people, the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27) Calling Christ the head of the body, Paul says, “From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.” (Ephesians 4:16)

A community that works together and grows in love is precisely what the world needs to see. It's also Jesus wants to see when he returns: his bride, the church. (Ephesians 5:25-27; Romans 7:4) This is why Jesus is called the bridegroom (John 3:29) and why his second coming is compared to a groom coming to claim his bride, as in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). So part of the preparation we are to be making is this: getting ourselves cleaned up to meet our spouse on our wedding day. In Jesus' time, the groom and his entourage would traverse all the streets of the village on his way to pick up his bride at her parents' home. That way everyone could see him and join in the procession with music and dancing. Which meant the bride had to be patient and prepared to welcome him at any time, even if he got there after dark. And then she would join him in parading back through the streets to his home (or his parents') to start the wedding feast, which would last for days. And everyone was invited.

As Jesus' first coming was promised, so is his return to us and for us. During Advent let us prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus with clean hearts, minds and souls. Let us wait patiently for him. Let us persevere in the tasks at hand. Let us be ready always to respond to the prompting of his Spirit. And let us invite everyone to join us for what will ultimately be a joyful celebration, the biggest one you could ever hope for. Jesus' wedding feast promises to be the party, not of the century, or of the millennium but of all time. And beyond.

The Good King

The scriptures referred to are Revelation 1:4b-8 and John 18:33-37.

I was at a clergy conference when our speaker started talking about how regret was a bad emotion. At the question and answer period I challenged him on that. Lack of regret is one of the hallmarks of psychopaths and sociopaths. They never regret what they've done, which is why so many powerful people do non-apologies when forced to address some egregious behavior they've engaged in. They say things like “I'm sorry if people were offended,” or similar statements that avoid saying they were wrong, but put the real blame on people who were too sensitive or who overreacted or who misinterpreted their words. I pointed out that only those without consciences or empathy have no regrets. Regrets often get people to change their behavior. What I thought the speaker was objecting to was what could be called “toxic regret.” Just like toxic masculinity is a distorted and extreme version of normal masculinity, toxic regret is when a person is torturing themselves over something that either was not that bad or not even their fault or which was but the toxic regret is actually getting in the way of the person learning and growing and dealing with it. If you drop and break a jar of jam, it is appropriate to apologize but then you clean up the glass and go and buy a replacement. If you dropped and broke something more valuable, your apology and actions of restitution should be more robust. But you shouldn't, years later, be agonizing over it. The speaker thought about what I said and at the next session, said he agreed and would thereafter talk of how toxic regret is bad. We need the word and concept of plain old regret.

Similarly some of my colleagues were bothered by the idea of celebrating Christ the King Sunday. And it really boiled down to the fact that most kings were toxic people—power-hungry, greedy and sadistic. Joseph Abraham has written an entire book arguing very persuasively that most kings and emperors were in fact psychopaths, people with no empathy, no fear and no regrets. They usually had absolute power over people and were not shy about killing large numbers of them in wars or out of paranoia or sometimes just for perverse pleasure. And here I would normally quote Lord Acton's statement that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But recently a quote has been making the rounds on Facebook, mostly because of the release of the new movie version of Dune. A lot of people think that the protagonist Paul Atreides is a hero. But in fact the author of the books, Frank Herbert, wanted to show how dangerous charismatic leaders can be. His relevant quote goes like this; “All governments suffer a recurring problem: power attracts pathological personalities. It's not that power corrupts, but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.” I still think that Lord Acton is right—few can resist the corruption power brings—but as Herbert observes, all too often the person corrupted was not an innocent to begin with, nor were they passive in the process.

The problem with viewing Jesus as King is that we tend to read into the word “king” all those flaws of earthly kings. Instead we should see Jesus as the ideal king, of which worldly rulers are badly distorted and toxic versions. It might be helpful to reflect on the ways Christ is different from the leaders we tend to see in this world.

Last week we pointed out that earthly conquerors get power over people by shedding the blood of others. Alexander the Great, the Roman Emperor Augustus, India's Ashoka, the Incan Emperor Atahualpa, and many more achieved their power by killing thousands. God even tells King David that he could not build his temple because of all the blood he had shed. (1 Chronicles 22:8; 28:3) In the case of Jesus, his kingship is founded on the fact that he let his own blood be shed. Our passage from Revelation speaks of “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom...” (emphasis mine) In direct contradiction to what General Patton said, Jesus triumphed by dying for his kingdom; he didn't make someone else do it instead.

And this points to the core difference between Christ and other kings. Jesus said, “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.” (Mark 10:45) We tend to focus on the last part of that statement, about him giving his life as a ransom, and ignore the first part: about how Jesus did not come to be served, as a traditional king would, but to serve. Jesus is the original servant-leader.

First of all, Jesus serves God. He said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) And the one who sent him is God, the Father. (John 8:16; 12:49) Paul puts it this way. “...Christ Jesus...though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be clung to, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8) Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, let all the personal advantages of that go, and took the form of a slave, obeying God even though it led to his death.

Kings and lots of other leaders claim to be appointed by God to rule; Jesus said God sent him to serve and to die to save humanity. Earthly kings rarely make personal sacrifices. For instance, Henry VIII could have been satisfied with his first wife and daughter and saved his country decades of turmoil. Richard III could have been content to remain Lord Protector of the 12 year old presumptive king Edward V, instead of having the child and his little brother moved to the Tower of London, after which they were never seen again. Richard was crowned king instead. In 2 short years he died in battle.

Kings don't even make personal sacrifices when God is involved. King Henry II could have let his former Lord Chancellor Thomas Becket do his new job as Archbishop of Canterbury as he saw fit, rather than expect him to put the king's aims before the church's. Instead, 4 knights took the king's talk about Becket being a traitor as a command to assassinate the Archbishop. Becket became a martyr and a saint. Kings tend to get where they are by being takers; Jesus, in contrast, is a giver.

Jesus not only served God; he served people as well. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, spared those condemned by others (John 8:3-11), touched the untouchable (Mark 1:40-42), and accepted those deemed unacceptable (Mark 2:15-17). Powerful people don't want to be seen as being too chummy with those who aren't respectable. Jesus not only hung around with such people but he told his self-righteous critics that “tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (Matthew 21:31) That's because they repented, unlike the folks who felt no need to repent and change. And a doctor needs to go to those who need and welcome his help. (Mark 2:17) For Jesus, being a leader is not a matter of doing what looks right but what is right.

Leaders like to say they are public servants but they tend to serve themselves and those who contribute to them. A 20 year study by professors from Princeton and Northwestern universities showed that the likelihood of legislation passing in Congress, regardless of how popular or unpopular it is, is a flat 30%. If 80% of US citizens support a law, it still only has a 30% chance of passing. If only 10% of the population likes it, it nevertheless has a 30% chance of passing. The majority of the population's support has almost no effect on something becoming law. But this is only true of the citizens who aren't in the top 10% of income earners. The people who make more money than 90% of us are much more likely to get policies they want passed into law. Depending on how popular it is among the wealthiest, it is is up to twice as likely—61%—to pass. And if they oppose it, it is much more likely to get killed regardless of how much popular support it has. For public servants, they don't listen very well to those they supposedly serve.

Jesus listened to others. A leper asked Jesus to heal him “if you are willing.” Jesus said “I am willing” and healed him. (Mark 1:40-41) When Jesus' disciples returned from a mission he had sent them on, we are told “He said to them, 'Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat). So they went away by themselves in a boat to a remote place. But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and hurried on foot from all the towns and arrived there ahead of them. As Jesus came ashore he saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things.” (Mark 6:31-34) So we see Jesus forgo a meal and time with the twelve in order to meet the needs of a large group. These are the 5000 he later feeds. We aren't told explicitly that they asked for this. Jesus was so in tune with people that he knew their needs and responded to them.

This is not to say Jesus was a pushover. When James and John asked to be seated at the right and the left of his throne, Jesus said that wasn't his decision to make. (Mark 10:35-40) When people wanted him to perform miracles just so they could see them, he refused. (Mark 8:11-12) Jesus was not a magician, performing tricks to entertain and amaze. Instead, 65% of the 35 miracles of Jesus recorded in the gospels are healings—more if we count the 3 people he raised from the dead. Another two of his miracles were feeding thousands. Jesus served people's needs; he wasn't there to satisfy folks' desires.

Some modern critics accuse Jesus of starting a cult. True, he was charismatic and attracted followers. But he didn't exploit them, physically, financially or sexually. He didn't have them build or buy him a mansion or luxuries. He had no place to lay his head. (Luke 9:58) The first suggestion that Jesus had any kind of romantic relationship came in an apocryphal gospel written 200 years after Jesus' earthly life. If Jesus was a cult leader, he wasn't nearly as successful at it as Keith Raniere or David Berg or others who got lots of money and sex out of the deal. They lived longer than he did, too. Yet even the world knows these guys were nothing like Jesus. They were out for themselves.

In Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part 1 as King Louis XVI, he says with gusto, “It's good to be king!” And though he is being satirical, people love that line because they agree. They would love having the power to do whatever they desire. But God sent Jesus with unimaginable powers and abilities to show us how we are to use them morally. On Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate Jesus as the leader who is different than others because he is not all about himself. He is about serving God his Father and the people which God made in his image and wishes to save. This is rare among leaders. And Jesus is unique in making selfless service a complete reality rather than merely an aspiration.

And as his followers, we are to be like Jesus. Which means we shall also reign with him in the new creation. (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10) But with Jesus as an example, it means we will not be like typical rulers. As Jesus said, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all.” (Mark 10:42-44) And it is in that context that he says, “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.”

Jesus shows us it is possible to have power and not be corrupted by it. But like him, we must be empowered by the Spirit of the God who is love. Jesus used his power to heal and to feed and to rescue and to make alive other people. And Jesus said we could, too. He said we could even do greater works than his. (John 14:12) And if we work together, guided by his Spirit, using our various gifts to help others as Jesus did, we will.

Predicting the Future

The scriptures referred to are Hebrews 10:11-25 and Mark 13:1-8.

When the TV series Doctor Who was created nearly 60 years ago, it was supposed to be a family show which was to educate as well as entertain. This was evident by the fact that the Doctor's first 2 human companions were a science teacher and a history teacher. And whenever they traveled into the future, the series was supposed to tell its viewers a bit about science; when it went to the past, it was supposed to reveal a bit about history. That idea didn't last very long. People preferred monsters and aliens. When the current showrunner Chris Chibnall introduces figures from the past, like Rosa Parks, or looks into a future where global warming is unchecked, people have objected to any attempt for the show to do anything but entertain them. That's weird because science fiction should introduce you to new ideas and perspectives and possibilities.

I gotta admit if I had a time machine like the TARDIS, I'd spend most of my time in the past. Half of my Great Courses are on some aspect of history, like the histories of Biblical Israel, medicine, Byzantium, forensics, the papacy, espionage, Roman emperors, the church, myths, war and how the average person lived in various periods of the past. I am fascinated by how our current world came about. What changed Benjamin Franklin's views to the point that he went from being the owner of 4 slaves to being the head of the first antislavery society in the US? Why did war come so late to Uruk, the leading city of the Sumerian civilization? Why did Cardinal Richelieu, the French First Minister, prefer to hire British spies? Wouldn't it be fun to find out?

While I like all science fiction, the futures its writers predict seldom come true. They are good at predicting technologies, like smart phones which are an awful lot like the pocket-sized voice-activated personal computer shown in the British series Star Cops. Star Trek accurately foresaw that you could bring down societies run by computers. In fact, science fiction is much better at predicting dystopias than utopias. George Orwell's 1984 and its surveillance state seems to be the template for certain present day dictatorships. And the military is a bit too fond of AI to make things like 1970's Colossus: The Forbin Project and 1983's Wargames look as outdated as the quaint 1964 movie version of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon. Maybe that's because while technology changes a lot, human nature does not. Knowledge of history teaches us that.

Skeptics feel that Mark 13, and its parallels in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, must be fiction. How could Jesus possibly predict that the temple built by Herod would be destroyed or that Jerusalem would be besieged by Rome (Luke 21:20, 24)? Uh...because it happened before, at the hands of a different empire, the Babylonians? Because his country was a hotbed of hatred for the Roman empire? Because he knew one of his own disciples, Simon, used to be a Zealot, one of the terrorists dedicated to ending the Roman occupation? Because Jesus grew up just 4 miles from Sepphoris, a city which revolted after the death of Herod the Great and was destroyed by the Romans, who crucified all the men in the city?

Jesus didn't have to be psychic to predict the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple; he'd have to be an idiot not to realize that it was both possible and, given the political climate of the time, probable. Indeed Jesus withdrew himself from the 5000 he'd fed precisely because he knew they wanted to make him king by force. (John 6:15) Despite his teachings of turning the other cheek and loving your enemies (Matthew 5:38-45), Jesus knew they would want him to lead them against the Romans because the popular idea of the Messiah was that of a holy warrior like King David.

Jesus also knew that his followers would be only too likely to see the the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple and their own persecution and slaughter as THE end of the world. So he starts out by telling them to keep calm. Yes, things will get bad. There will be wars and disasters and cults built around false messiahs. Don't be alarmed. “This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

I find Jesus' use of the term “birth pangs” interesting. First, as anyone who has given birth or was there for a loved one going through labor, you know that it usually lasts a long time. The average is 14 hours if you have given birth before. Yet I know someone who was in labor for 20 hours with each child she had. Even so, it can seem like an eternity to those undergoing it. Jesus' point is: don't act like the father in a sitcom who goes crazy when his wife begins labor. Get a grip. It's going to take a while.

But the other important thing about using the image of labor pains is that the expected result is the birth of a new person. And at the end of the birth pangs the world will suffer is a new creation. It seems like most people reading apocalyptic passages in the Bible, and especially the book of Revelation, want to stop and gawk at the train wreck of disasters mentioned. But the whole point is that the God who created the world we've wrecked will create a new heaven and earth, populated by people who are new creations in Christ. Remember, our message is not doom and gloom but ultimately good news, the gospel of what Jesus has done for us and what, through his Spirit, he is doing in us.

And he does it, as Hebrews tells us, “by the new and living way...” New in what way? We keep trying to bring about a better world the old way, the way of fighting and war and trying to impose control upon others from the outside. You couldn't find a better spokesman for this way than General George Patton, who said, “No dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country . He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Right now there are 40 wars going on around this planet, all following that logic. The old way doesn't seem to be working. We keep using force and spilling blood to get and maintain control over people as if that will miraculously not lead to more resistance and more force being used and more blood being spilled. So each side uses more and more force. And the foreseeable end result is an authoritarian state.

Contrast that with the Kingdom of God. It is established not by the old way of shedding the blood of others but “by the new and living way” of Jesus, who let his blood be shed once and for all. Nor is his kingdom imposed on anyone by conquest or by accident of where you are born. All its citizens are voluntary. And the control does not come from without but comes from within: from his Holy Spirit living in us. Quoting Jeremiah 31:33, our passage from Hebrews says, “This is my covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” The law is not arbitrary rules but the law of love, love for God and love for others. (Mark 12:29-31) More specifically, the law is Jesus' command to love each other as he loves us. (John 13:34) But we can't do that without the transforming power of the Spirit of Christ in us. (John 15:5) And if we let God's Spirit into our hearts and minds the natural result is love, along with joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Since that is what God's Spirit in us produces, when things do get bad, followers of Jesus do not become warriors. We are not to draw the sword or fight. (Matthew 26:52; John 18:36) We are not to judge or execute God's judgment on others. (Matthew 7:1) That's Jesus' job. (John 5:22, 27) Jesus calls us instead to be witnesses to him and to the gospel, and if necessary, martyrs. (Mark 13:9-11) Rather than fight, we are to treat the wounded in this world, the destitute, disabled, despised and disadvantaged, as we would Jesus. (Matthew 25:31-40) This is part of being a new creation in Christ.

There are plenty of adherents to the old way of getting people to do things by force and intimidation. This probably goes back to prehistory but by the Neolithic era we actually start finding clear depictions of war and evidence of walled cities and weapons used for war, not hunting. It is estimated that since 3500 BC there have been 14,500 wars, taking at the very least 1.2 billion lives. In over 5500 years of civilization, there have been only 300 years of peace. Maybe we need to rethink our methods.

And that's what Jesus offers. First, he heals the breech between God and us by taking on our sin and in essence letting our old sinful self be crucified and buried with him. Then by giving us new life, his life, we are able to face God and draw closer to him. (Romans 6:4-11) As our passage from Hebrews says, “...let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Being reconciled to God leads to our reconciling with other people, who were created in God's image. We do this by asking them for forgiveness for the ways we have wronged them and giving forgiveness for the ways they have wronged us. Few of the conflicts in the world are one-sided. Even if one side started it, over time retaliation and escalation result in harm being done to people on either side by both sides. And this gives everyone the excuse of trying to fix the blame, rather than trying to fix the problems.

Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry discovered that science fiction can offer insights into real world issues. And in Doctor Who, the title character, mediating a conflict between aliens and humans, utters this truth about conflict and war: “...it's always the same. When you fire the first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill...before everyone does what they were ALWAYS going to have to do from the very beginning! SIT. DOWN. AND. TALK.”

The Doctor goes on to say, “The only way anyone can live in peace is if they're prepared to forgive. Why don't you break the cycle?” That's from an episode that first aired in 2015. God has been trying to talk to us and tell us that for millennia through his Word. He says in Isaiah, “'Come, let's reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins have stained you scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'” (Isaiah 1:18) God is reasonable and willing to forgive us.

And he has taken the first step by not only communicating to us through his Living Word, Jesus Christ, but by ending the cycle of bloodshed through his Son's sacrifice. God Incarnate has taken upon himself the consequences of all our wrongdoing, ending their impact on our relationship with him. As Hebrews says, quoting Jeremiah 31:34, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” We can start with a clean slate. God has let go of the wrongs we have done. Can we do that with each other?

Our hope is founded in what Jesus has done for us and is doing in us. As Hebrews says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” We trust in the promise of God's love and forgiveness and that gives us a solid basis for our hope.

So how should we respond to this good news? By sharing it. By sharing it with a world mired in the old way of dealing with problems, through force and harming others. By sharing it in the face of those who rely on force and wish to harm us. (Mark 13:9-13)

In a world rife with hate and bad deeds, doing the opposite is an powerful witness to the God who is love. Hebrews says,“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.” And since showing how love and good deeds make things better requires other people committed to doing the same, Hebrews reminds us that this means “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” The church is not optional for Christians. It is the community of those following Jesus, the body of Christ on earth, continuing his mission. It is not perfect which is why we are to “provoke one another to love and good deeds.” Doing such things is powerful and powerful behavior is contagious. We see that when we see a powerful example of people behaving badly. Mobs of other join in. Let us be part of God's counter-movement, displaying powerful examples of Christlike love and goodness.

We are called, not to be fighting others “but encouraging one another.” This world can get discouraging and if we try to tackle it alone, we can be overwhelmed and disheartened. But working together to spread the good news of Jesus in both word and deed is encouraging. And both we and the world need the encouragement of the love and forgiveness Jesus offers. “...and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Only God knows on which day all who ever will accept his grace and love will have done so, and when it will be time for this world destroying itself by its commitment to doing things the old way to be replaced by the birth of the new heaven and earth. That's why Jesus tells us, “But as for that day or hour no one knows it—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father.” (Mark 13:32) Not even Jesus, during his time on earth, knew. So we are not to try to concoct time tables or elaborate charts of all the Bible passages about the end of the world to work out a future no one but God knows. The followers of William Miller thought they knew Jesus would return: October 22, 1844. The day after was called the Great Disappointment.

Instead of going down the rabbit hole of predicting the end of the world, Jesus tells us, “Who then is the wise and faithful servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other servants their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds at work when he comes.” (Matthew 24:45-46) We can neither discover, nor hasten, nor delay the day Jesus returns. We can carry out the mission he gave us: “...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20) And never forget that his primary command is to love one another as he loves us. (John 13:34-35) Which may sound inadequate when facing a world at war with itself, but Jesus says, “...remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So he is with us, no matter what. Jesus also said, “I have told you these things so that in me you will have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Taking comfort from his presence with us, and courage from his power in us, we can say, with Paul, “I can do all things through the one who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Farewell to Bad Love

The scriptures referred to are Mark 12:38-44.

Some passages of the Bible have tons of commentary written about them. Some, while not obscure, have very little written about them. Today's passage about the widow's mite is a familiar story but when you try to see if there are any other interesting points in it to explore, you just find things like the fact that the temple treasury, or at least the collection boxes, were adjacent to the women's court, and that the widow's coins were probably worth 1/64 of a laborer's daily wage, less than what he would make in 10 minutes. William Barclay's Daily Study Bible does tell us that the 13 collection boxes were shaped like inverted trumpets and each was designated to a particular aspect of the temple and its maintenance, like for the wood for the sacrifices, the incense, the upkeep of the golden vessels, etc. And then you get a comment to the effect that it is not the amount of money that one gives to God that counts but the proportion of one's money. The rich had enough surplus wealth that they could give large sums without depriving themselves, but the widow in giving her 2 small coins gave a larger share of what she had, in fact, everything she had to live on. That's why Jesus commends her.

What no one seems to comment on is: was this a wise thing for the widow to do? If that is literally all she had, how did she expect to eat? Somewhere, and I can't find where, I read that the widow may have been counting on the weekly collection for the poor made by her synagogue. Members who were the equivalent of our deacons went around to every other member and took donations for the poor. There wasn't enough for everyone, so they decided who needed it the most that week and gave it all to them. The 2 small coins the widow had were not nearly enough to feed her for a week. By literally giving everything she had the widow was more likely to get that week's help. But she could just as easily lose out to, say, a widow with small children. So she really was trusting God.

If this strategy factored into Jesus' commendation of her, he says nothing about it. What impresses him is her sacrificial giving.

None of the commentaries, or the chain references, connect this with another story about giving up everything: that of the rich young ruler, who wants to follow Jesus and claims he has kept all the commandments. We are told, “As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, 'You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'” (Mark 10:21) The young man turns away sadly, unable to part with his wealth. This prompts Jesus to make his famous statement: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25) Peter points out that he and the rest of the twelve disciples have left everything to follow Jesus. Jesus in turn commends their self-sacrifice and promises they will receive it back one hundred times.

Again most commentaries note that this is a specific requirement Jesus makes of this one man who cannot choose following Jesus over his wealth. They say that Jesus doesn't ask this of every Christian. Still Jesus approves of what Peter and the others have done in giving up everything. And none of the commentaries want to deal with what Jesus says about the impossibility of the rich entering God's kingdom. Some do note that by saying it is impossible for humans but possible for God, Jesus is teaching that all, rich or poor, must rely on God's grace to be saved. And I agree. I think this is Jesus' clearest teaching on everyone's need for grace. But no one wants to go into much depth on why it is particularly hard for those who have a lot. Nor on the implications of giving all for God.

One other passage this brings to mind is the story in Acts about an early form of communism among the first Christians. And, yes, that's what it was. The book of Acts says, “The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common....For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales and placing them at the apostles' feet. The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:32, 34-35)

In the next chapter we are told of a couple named Ananias and Sapphira, who sell a piece of property and keep back some of the proceeds. But when Ananias brings the money to the apostles, he doesn't disclose that. Peter says, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!” (Acts 5:3-4) Ananias drops dead on the spot. As does his wife 3 hours later after she also says the donation was the same as the price they got for the land. Then it says, “Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.” (Acts 5:11) Frankly, I would be surprised if it didn't.

Now the point seems to be not that the couple held some money back but that they lied about this and said they had given all the proceeds to the church. Peter said they could do what they wanted with the land; it belonged to them. The same goes for the money they made. Their sin was in lying and making themselves sound more generous than they were. They probably did that because others were giving everything. In other words, that seems to have been the norm in the church at this point.

The verse which seems to inspire this attitude is in Luke. After stating that “Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple,” (Luke 14:27) Jesus gives 2 examples of why it is important to count the cost before doing something. And then he says, “In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions.” (Luke 14:33) So are we Christians to give up all our possessions and wealth? Because one may be forgiven for thinking that is what is being demanded of us.

But there is an interesting word being translated “renounce” in that statement. The Greek word is apotassetai, which is usually rendered “to take leave of” or “say goodbye to.” William Barclay translates this verse, “So, therefore, everyone of you who does not bid farewell to all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” The word literately means “separate” or “set apart.” What difference does that make?

First off, we know Jesus and his disciples had possessions. It would make no sense for him to tell them, when he sent them out two by two in Galilee, not to take a bag, an extra tunic, or money, if they didn't already have them. (Mark 6:7-11) We also know they had money and could buy things to eat (John 4:8) or food for the Passover. (John 13:29)

So I think what Jesus is saying is to bid farewell to your possessions in the sense that you know they aren't really yours to hold onto. Set them aside as belonging to God. The snare for the young rich man is that what he thought he possessed actually possessed him. Mentally his possessions had their hooks in him. He could not imagine giving them up and living without them. He couldn't say goodbye to them and then trust God for his needs as he followed Jesus. And Jesus knew this. When asking the young man if he followed the commandments about how we act towards others—“Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your mother and father,”—the one Jesus omits is “Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” It's the only one of the Ten Commandments that isn't about an action but a desire. I think Jesus knew that this was the man's Achilles' heel. And that's why Jesus told him to sell all he had. But the man just couldn't do that. As it says in Ecclesiastes, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Now in the case of Zacchaeus, Jesus doesn't tell him to divest himself of everything. Jesus just invites himself to the tax collector's home. And when people grumble about the kind of person Jesus is dining with, Zacchaeus says, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household...” (Luke 19:8-9) Zacchaeus gives up a lot, more than half of his wealth, but not all. Again the important thing was not the amount but that the man was able to part with his wealth and do good with it. He was not possessed by his possessions.

We are not told to sell all we have but to say farewell to it all. Don't chase after wealth and possessions. As the book of Proverbs says, “Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off into the sky like an eagle.” (Proverbs 23:4-5) (Obviously the author has seen my bank account!) Instead we are to separate our hearts from money and our other things and set them aside for God's use. As David says to God at the dedication of the gifts for the temple, “Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.” (1 Chronicles 29:14) The attitude we should possess is that everything we have is on loan from God and is therefore to be used for his purposes.

Paul says to Timothy, “...godliness combined with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10) Notice that, like Jesus and Ecclesiastes, Paul is focusing on the desire. It is love of money, the hunger to get rich, that he condemns. Because if making money is your primary goal there are plenty of ways to go about it, provided you don't care how you do it. When the bottom line is your top priority, your value system is inverted. We see this today when hedge funds take over successful businesses, neglect the products or services they provide, extract all the cash they can any way they can and leave the hollowed-out corpse of a once viable company, like Sears, Toy R Us, Simmons Bedding, Payless, and literally dozens of others. Hedge funds and private equity firms provide no goods or services; they just suck money out of businesses that do, killing companies and millions of jobs. That's what love of money does.

Wealth is not a measure of virtue nor poverty a measure of vice. The pandemic caused a lot of people to lose businesses, jobs and money through no fault of their own, while others prospered by taking advantage of the effects of the disaster. 15 billionaires got a total of $1 trillion richer during the pandemic, a more than 60% increase in their wealth.

Though nowhere that rich, there were members of the early church who were wealthy, like Lydia and Philemon. Often the churches met in their houses. What does Paul about them? “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

Christians are not to unnecessarily impoverish themselves but to use their gifts to help those who have unmet needs. That is a very practical and visible way to show God's love to others. As James says, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,' but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16) And in 1 John it says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother or sister in need but has no compassion on them, how can the love of God reside in such a person? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18) God gives to us out of love, and out of love we should share those gifts with others.

Jesus said we cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24) We talk about money working for us, but really we work for money. Money is powerful and power is tempting. As Lord Acton said, power corrupts. The power that money bestows can tempt us to do things, not because we have to, or because we ought to, but simply because we can. Like become a faux astronaut for 10 minutes and 10 seconds at a cost of $5.5 billion. You could use that $5.5 billion to keep 37 million people from starving, or give vaccines to 2 billion people in low-income countries, or help 50 threatened communities adapt to climate change, or house nearly 430,000 people, nearly 3 quarters of the homeless in this country. But people rarely do. Yet the Bible says that helping the poor is lending to God, who will repay us. (Proverbs 19:17) Unfortunately, it is just so easy to succumb to using any money we don't need to do what we desire, rather than what God desires. And that gets in the way of entering the kingdom of the God who is love.

Jesus said, “What benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36) Like hedge funds hollow out companies, the love of money can hollow out a person, leaving a huge spiritual hole in their life. And over and over again we have seen people try to fill that spiritual emptiness with more money and the stuff money can buy. Studies have shown that once you have enough money to meet your needs now and for the foreseeable future, more money doesn't buy much more happiness. Psychologist Dr. Robert Kenny studied 165 households worth $25 million or more. He found that the rich say their money causes them anxiety about their children, uncertainty over whether people love them for themselves or for their money and brings isolation from others.

Love of money is love of something that cannot love you back. It is love of something with the power to corrupt and to enslave those who run after it. We should regard money like salt or vitamin D or calcium or potassium. You need a certain amount to be healthy but too much is unhealthy or even deadly. So if you have more than you need, you should give it to people suffering from a deficiency.

We don't have to give up all our money or possessions to follow Jesus. Zacchaeus didn't. Yet we must keep in mind that we don't actually possess anything in this world, be it money, goods, home or health. They all can be taken from us. One day they will! So we have to bid farewell to it all in our hearts. We must not love or pursue it, but set it apart for God's use, which is to help those who need it. As someone once said, money is like manure. Spread it around and things grow. Make a big pile of it and it just stinks.