Balance

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 63:7-9, Hebrews 2:10-18 and Matthew 2:13-23.

I am not a fan of sports in general but I love gymnastics. I love to watch people do things gracefully, perhaps because I am not graceful. I am especially amazed by people on the balance beam, doing back flips and landing on the beam and yet not swaying back and forth because they have such an exquisite sense of balance.

We all need balance simply to stand and to walk. One of the things I evaluated on patients I visited as a home health nurse was their gait, that is, how they walked. Falls are the leading cause of death among the elderly. Every second of every day at least one person aged 65 or older falls. 36 million of such falls are reported every year, resulting in 3 million ER visits and 30,000 deaths. One out of five falls causes an injury like a fracture or a head injury. More than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falls, usually by falling sideways. (Stats from nellis.tricare.mil) Sometimes older people trip but sometimes it is a matter of the person simply losing their sense of balance.

If you think of it, much of our life is about balance. We need to eat. Eat too little and you're malnourished. Eat too much and you get obese. And what you eat must be balanced between fats, carbohydrates, proteins and fiber. In addition to the starches and meat you love, you need to eat fruits and vegetables, just like your mom said.

In the same way your life needs to be balanced between activity and rest. We are more sedentary these days and sitting too much raises the risk of heart disease, obesity, stroke and even certain cancers.

Your thinking should also be balanced. We are seeing the imbalance in our society due to people who are too extreme in their political thinking, allowing for no nuance and no consideration of other viewpoints. Religious thinking also needs to be balanced. Jesus criticized his critics for having their priorities out of balance. He said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23-24) And you see this today: supposedly religious people who make a big fuss about relatively trivial things—like saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays”—but ignore more important matters like being just in their dealings with others, being merciful to those who need it and being faithful in following Jesus. In the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus adds “the love of God” as something badly neglected. (Luke 11:42) As it says in 1 John, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:7-9)

Famously when asked for the greatest commandment in the Torah, Jesus added a second. We are not only to love God with all we are and all we have but we are also to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:34-40) We must balance our duty to God with our duty to our fellow human beings, who are created in the image of God. Tip the balance too far in one direction or the other and you get either a religion that neglects people and their needs or a philosophy that has no firm moral grounding and entertains any and all human desires as valid. As it says in Deuteronomy, “So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you...” (Deuteronomy 5:32-33) It's like driving on US-1. Veer too far to the right and you end up in the mangroves or the water. Veer too far to the left and you run into oncoming traffic. As someone who passed out and did exactly that, I do not recommend it.

Our center of balance should be Jesus. He is both fully God and fully human. As our passage from Hebrews reminds us, he knows what our life is like. He was not born in a palace. He was not born rich and privileged. He was not born into an empire that recognized that all humans are created equal or had rights. He was not born invulnerable to pain or death. He followed God even when it meant running into opposition from religious leaders who should have been his allies. He followed God even when it meant he would be misunderstood and literally demonized. He followed God even when it put him in the crosshairs of officials who ignored justice and used their power to punish and eliminate their enemies. And yet he kept his balance. He rebuked a follower who tried to defend him with violence and healed the wounded member of the arresting party. He prayed for the people who were in the process of executing him. He made provision for his mother's care as he was dying. He assured the condemned man on the cross next to his that he would welcome him into paradise. He showed grace under fire.

For God so loved the world that, as we read in our passage from Isaiah, he didn't send a messenger or an angel to save us. It was “his presence that saved them; in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” As it says, “he became their savior in all their distress.” And as Hebrews tells us, “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

That is comforting. When this world tests our strength, our character, our resolve to follow Jesus, we know that we are not alone. Jesus has been tried and tested by this world and he will stand with us. As Paul writes, “No trial has taken hold of you except what is common to humanity. Now God is faithful and will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able to bear. But with the test, he will provide the way to escape so you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) The Greek word for “test” can also mean “temptation.” Sometimes the way to escape temptation is just to say no. When the Nazis lined up innocent villagers to shoot, some of the soldiers refused to. They would not follow orders to kill civilians and noncombatants. And sometimes they were lined up with the villagers and shot. Which is why it is part of US military code that soldiers not only may but must refuse to follow illegal orders. And it is part of the general orders for Sheriff's deputies as well. Killing innocents is the mark of folks like Hitler and Herod.

We often forget that when tempted we can say no and walk away. But here again we can rely on Jesus. As Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.” You may say, “Well, of course he didn't sin; he was God.” But he was also human. That means that when Jesus was hit, slapped and beaten, he was tempted to strike back but didn't. That means when he was preaching to prostitutes, he was tempted to use their services but didn't. That means when a rich young man wanted to become his follower, he was tempted to tell him to give him all his money but instead told him to give all he had to the poor. That means that when he was offered all the kingdoms in this world if he just worshiped God's adversary, he was tempted but didn't. Being tempted is not sin; giving in to it is. It is deliberately deciding to throw off your balance and fall.

Through Jesus we can regain our balance. We can have restored to us a sense of what is too little, what is too much and what is just right in each situation. Jesus knew when to go along with the ceremonial laws of his Jewish culture and faith and when not to, like when people needed to be healed even on the Sabbath. He knew when to pay to Caesar what is Caesar's and when to give to God what is God's. He knew when to use his powers to heal and help and when to refuse people who just wanted to see something miraculous. He knew when people needed physical nourishment and when they needed spiritual nourishment.

In medicine, the body's ability to maintain a healthy balance is called homeostasis. We have internal systems that try to keep our internal temperature from being too low or too high. Our body tries to keep our internal chemistry from being too acid or too alkaline. It keeps our blood sugar from being too high or too low. There is a healthy range for everything, as you see whenever you get the results of a blood test.

Just so, to stay healthy spiritually, we need to keep a balance. We need to maintain a good relationship with God and a healthy relationship with other people. We need to study the Bible and we need to put what we learn into practice. We need to pray for things we need to serve God properly and we need to do what we should to obtain them. We need to serve God in the world and we need a day to rest and simply enjoy God and his gifts. We need to be in the world but not of the world, in the same way that to get somewhere in a boat it needs to be in the water but you don't want water getting into the boat.

We live in a fine-tuned universe. Like homeostasis in the body, the elements in the universe exist within parameters that make life possible. If the strength of gravity, electromagnetism, the mass of the electron, and the rate of cosmic expansion, among other things, were greater or smaller than they are, then stars, elements and stable matter would be unable to form. The fact that all of these basics are just right is considered highly improbable to have occurred by accident. God made a stable and balanced universe in which we could exist.

But our world is unbalanced and it is obviously our fault. We have tried to use the gifts God gave us to remake the world without regard to what God has said about how we are to take care of his creation and each other. Some people use their gifts to make more money than they can possibly spend in a lifetime but don't use it to help those who have too little to live on. Some people use their gifts to gain lots of power and then indulge their desires and passions rather than use it to make society more just and merciful. Some people who don't have money or power will use their brains or brawn to gain more for themselves by exploiting others as bad off or worse than they are. Some folks withdraw from the world, neither helping nor actively harming others with their gifts, but just letting things get gradually worse. There are no physical restraints that are keeping us from remedying these problems, just our spiritual and moral neglect. We don't want to make the effort or the sacrifices necessary to do what's right.

So God has made that effort and that sacrifice. He has entered the world himself to show us who he is and what we can become if we change our minds and our lives and follow him. As Paul wrote, “You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who 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) You may say, “Isn't that going a bit far in one direction?” Yes, but he did it to counterbalance a world that has been going full-tilt toward destruction. We have way too many people pursuing only their own good. Jesus came to tip the world back to one in which people seek the good of all. Every person who follows him helps restore the balance.

Jesus is the fulcrum of history. He is the pivot point, the center of gravity, the perfect balance between humanity and divinity, the person in whom heaven and earth meet. He restores our spiritual equilibrium and keeps us upright and moving in the right direction, neither veering to the left or to the right. Through his Holy Spirit, he helps us walk with him on the straight and narrow path as we journey towards our goal: to be with him and to be like him, children of our heavenly Father, becoming perfect images of the God who is love.

Foreshadowing

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1-1-7 and Matthew 1:18-25.

Often a writer will drop clues or hints for what will happen later in a story. It's called foreshadowing and you've seen it in many great stories and movies. I hate to spoil films but one that came out more than a quarter of a century ago has one of the best examples of foreshadowing you can find. In The Sixth Sense young Cole tells the psychiatrist Dr. Crowe that he sees dead people. But what he adds foreshadows the movie's startling plot twist: “They don't know they're dead.” My wife was one of the few people who figured out the ending by the midpoint in the film.

Another example of foreshadowing is found in the movie The Incredibles. When Mr. Incredible goes to Edna Mode for a new costume she vehemently refuses to add a cape, citing how many disasters have come to superheroes who had capes. And in the climax of the movie, the villain finds out for himself why having a cape is a bad idea.

Agatha Christie must hold the record for the earliest possible example of foreshadowing. Usually as people are murdered in her novels, it narrows the possibilities as to which of the survivors is the killer. But in one of her books, just as in the nursery rhyme that predicts how each will be killed, everyone ends up dead. We only learn who did it in a letter left by the murderer, who is also dead. But the title foreshadows the surprising finale. It's called And Then There Were None. (Unfortunately the ending had to be changed when the novel was made into a play and then a film, so that someone could survive to figure out who was responsible.)

The Bible also has foreshadowing. Sometimes it's subtle. Humankind's fall involves a tree, as we see in Genesis chapter 3. But so does humanity's redemption. In defying the Sanhedrin's command that they stop preaching about Jesus, Peter and the apostles say, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.” (Acts 5:30) The Greek word xulon could mean tree or anything made of wood. It's used here and in 4 other passages in the New Testament to refer to the cross. Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'” (Galatians 3:13, cf. Deuteronomy 21:22-23) And this usage could be literal because the Romans experimented with different methods of making crosses, including by stripping a tree of branches and using it as the upright to which a crossbar was affixed. So in a sense the cross on which Christ died becomes the tree of life which is also mentioned in Genesis.

Sometimes the foreshadowing in the Bible is explicit, as in prophecy. In today's passage from Isaiah, God is assuring King Ahaz of Judah that he need not worry about the military coalition of Israelites and Arameans threatening him. As a sign, a maiden will have a son named Immanuel. By the time the child knows good from evil, the threat will be gone. And that's what happened then.

This however is an example of a prophecy that has more than one fulfillment. Matthew picks up on this in his account of Jesus' birth. In this case the child is not merely named Emmanuel, but actually embodies the meaning of the name: “God is with us.” And it is often true with these double-barrelled prophecies that the second fulfillment is deeper and more significant. Originally this was a sign that God would remove a military power that threatens everyone in Ahaz's kingdom. But when Jesus was born, it signals the beginning of the Son of Man's mission to remove the power of sin and death from those who voluntarily become citizens of God's kingdom.

By the way, if you are disturbed by the fact that the Hebrew mentions a young woman but Matthew quotes it as referring to a virgin, you needn't be. The Hebrew word almah does basically mean a young woman, which includes virgins. Matthew is quoting the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible most Jews read at that time. It used parthenos, the Greek word for virgin, which reveals the deeper fulfillment this time around. As Mark Twain pointed out, history does not literally repeat itself but it does rhyme.

It is important to realize that in the first century, the only scriptures were what we call the Old Testament. The New Testament was in the process of being written beginning with the letters of Paul. When Jesus taught the disciples what was written about him he was using the Torah, the prophets and the Psalms. And there was plenty there about him.

This one in Isaiah is significant but there are others that are even more so. Later in Isaiah, we are told that “in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles...” (Isaiah 9:1) Who will do this? Is it God or perhaps a future king of David's line? Maybe both. About this king, we read, “For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us; and the government will be on his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his dominion and peace there will be no end. He will reign upon David's throne and over his kingdom to order and establish it with justice and righteous acts from that time forward and forever.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) Those are some pretty spectacular names and claims for a human king.

Some scholars argue that this refers to a traditional Davidic king, perhaps Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, and that these are simply royal titles. But there is nowhere in scripture any king given these titles. Hezekiah's name means “God gives strength.” It does not use the same words translated “Mighty God.” Elsewhere in Isaiah we are told “This also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.” (Isaiah 28:29) God is the Wonderful Counselor, not any man. Also it is more typical to call God our father, and no mortal is everlasting. And while Judah was not conquered by the Assyrians, Hezekiah did pay them tribute by stripping the gold off the doors of God's temple. And he did fight against the Philistines, so the peace he brought was bought with the temple's gold and the blood of his enemies. Would that be appropriate for someone called the Prince of Peace?

Though Hezekiah was one of the best of the kings of Judah, the titles in Isaiah 9 seem excessive even for him. And despite all the good he did, getting rid of pagan shrines and reopening and cleansing God's temple, Hezekiah was arrogant. (2 Chronicles 32:25) When he showed off his treasures to the Babylonians, he essentially invited them to come back and conquer Judah. He didn't mind, though, because there would be peace in his lifetime. (2 Kings 20:12-19) That was neither humble nor wise.

This prophecy begs a greater fulfillment and Jesus, who is the everlasting God, is one with the Father, never fought a war but brings peace to his followers, and is a wonderfully wise counselor and thinker, is a better fit.

Then of course there are the prophecies of God's suffering servant, whom we read about in Isaiah chapters 49-53. It is difficult to read these passages and not think of Jesus, who was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:3), was beaten, mocked and spit upon (Isaiah 50:6), was killed among transgressors (Isaiah 53:12), was buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9) and suffered for the sins of others (Isaiah 53:5, 8). To whom, other than Jesus, could these prophecies possibly refer?

Altogether scholars have counted more than 100 prophecies scattered throughout the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus. That's too many to be a coincidence. Some think the gospel writers invented things about Jesus to make them fit. But those referring to his death are so weirdly specific. And we know his crucifixion wasn't invented. Non-Christian historians like Josephus and Tacitus confirm his execution under Pontius Pilate. A Greek satirist mocks Christians for following a crucified leader. An early example of graffiti shows a man worshiping a crucified God. And why would anyone make up the idea that their leader died an humiliating death just to fit some old prophecies? It was not a good selling point. Paul said that the cross was a stumbling block to the Jews and seemed like nonsense to the Greeks. (1 Corinthians 1:23) Jesus' death was in the earliest Christian writings because it did happen, just as foreshadowed in the Hebrew Bible.

Scholar N.T. Wright points out one interesting fact about the gospels: all of the references to the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus' first coming end with his burial. The gospel writers did not quote any eerily specific passages that foreshadowed his resurrection. Yes, there were a few references to a general resurrection of the dead at the end of the present evil era. (Job 19:25-27; Psalm 49:15 and 71:20; Daniel 12:2; Isaiah 26:19) But you have to look hard to see those that apply specifically to the Messiah. (Psalm 16:9-10 and 49:15) The reason we don't see this as easily in the Old Testament is that this is God doing something new. Christ's resurrection is not clearly predicted by anyone but Jesus himself. The disciples could not anticipate it because it made no sense to them. They knew that the dead stayed dead. And they were not quick to believe in it even after his tomb was found to be empty. Just as you and I would in that situation, they had to see and touch and eat with their risen friend before they could accept it to be true. After they were convinced, they could not stop talking about it, even when facing death.

There are prophecies about Jesus that have not been fulfilled. They are the ones about Jesus' second coming. One key passage in Daniel says, “In my vision at night I looked, and there was before me one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) That has not yet been fully realized. Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a seed, something which starts small and grows. (Matthew 13) Jesus also said to his followers that the “kingdom of God is within you” or “in your midst.” (Luke 17:21) The church, as N.T. Wright puts it, is to be a small-scale, working model of the new creation. So God's kingdom is something that exists today but not yet in its final form. It's like a butterfly which starts as a caterpillar and ends up as a creature whose beautiful wings let it fly.

When we say that God has a plan, we are not making it up. It is laid out in the Bible, including the long portion that was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. But like a lot of foreshadowing, we only see it after it has happened. Only after the plot twist has taken place, do we say, “Oh, yeah! Remember what we were told earlier!” Only after Jesus was crucified, died, was buried and then rose again were the disciples able to see that this was God's plan all along. It came as a surprise at first but later they realized it was inevitable. They just didn't see how God was going to bring it about.

But what does that have to do with us? We are all part of God's plan. We all have our roles to play. When I acted in plays in high school, college and community theater, I and my fellow actors were the most visible, of course, because people saw us on stage. But behind the scenes were the people who made the costumes, who built the sets, who created and collected the props, who did the sound, who did the lights, who sold the tickets, who did the publicity, and who ushered people to their seats. All of those people were necessary. Without them we would be stumbling around in the dark, unable to see or be seen, with no audience to even hear us.

Or think of it this way: We are God's Mission Impossible team. Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt could not save the day without the help of Luther, the computer guy, and Benji, the techie, and Ilsa, the spy, and even Grace, the pickpocket. Not to mention superiors who trust him and who provide the finances and equipment for him to carry out his mission.

God could do it all by himself but he loves us and lets us be part of it, the way Mom gives the kids things to do to get ready for Christmas dinner. Because there is another foreshadowing right in the first chapter of the Bible. In Genesis we read “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) God intended for us to be his vice-regents, ruling under him. But we decided to ignore his command and do things our way. Yet through Jesus, who is both fully human and fully divine, he has set it up so that “they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6) And all we have to do is say “Yes” to his offer. And “Thanks!”

The Forgotten Virtue

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, and Matthew 11:2-11.

When I was a kid adults would often tell us to be patient. “Patience is a virtue,” they would say. But nobody likes to be told to wait for something. And today, with a lot of things, you don't have to be patient. Want to buy something? In the old days—my youth—you would go to the store, shop around, buy it, and take it home. Today you can do it on Amazon with 1 click. And if you are buying an e-book, you can have it instantly. Or a movie. In the old days, you looked in the newspaper to see what films were playing where, got in the car, drove to the theater, got your popcorn, sat and waited through the short subjects, and finally the movie started. If you had to go to the bathroom, you had to wait until there was a part of the film you could miss and then sprint to the restrooms. If you wanted to watch your favorite TV show, you looked in the TV Guide to confirm the day and time it played. If you missed the episode, you had to wait for the summer reruns. Now you can watch movies and TV shows instantly, on your phone if you like. Want a meal? Rather than taking hours to prepare it, you can order it on Uber Eats or pop it in the microwave.

And the consequence is that people have less patience than before. We expect instant gratification of our needs and desires and instant solutions to our problems. But that's not how big, complicated and important things are accomplished. Making stuff takes time and some of it can't be rushed. That movie you downloaded in an instant took years of preproduction planning, several months to hire the cast and crew, more months to film and the better part of a year to edit the scenes, create and insert the computer effects, compose and add the music, and then publicize and get the finished product out. It took a lot of people working long and hard to create it. That's why the credits at the end take forever. The only thing that got faster was its delivery to you. Remember: the five seasons of Stranger Things took ten years or more to make.

I think that is the attraction of magic. We would love to have what we want without all the time and, let's face it, hard work that is involved in real life. Much of the stuff that the wizards do in Harry Potter's world can be done by us, not with a wand but with machines and hard work. Mind you, I wish my broken bones could have been repaired by magic and chocolate as was done to Harry. But in the real world I was in the hospital for 40 days and in the rehab center learning to walk again for 100 days. And then physical therapy at home for months. As a nurse, I knew it would take perseverance and hard work to get better. And it made me a more patient person.

Our impatience also leads us to prefer fast and simple solutions. But to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, for every complex problem there is a simple solution—and it's wrong! Complex problems usually require complex solutions. I think the reason we don't seem to be making the giant strides in medicine today that we were in the 20^th century is that then we were targeting low-hanging fruit. In the last century we discovered antibiotics as well as anti-rejection drugs that enabled us to transplant organs. We created vaccines that greatly increased life expectancy and in the last decade of that century, we mapped out DNA. What we are left with are conditions that involve several genes, epigenetics, a complex immune system and multiple organ systems. We are still discovering new things about our bodies and we are doing it with brains that we have only begun to explore and using our consciousness which we don't even understand.

If the the elements involved in keeping our bodies healthy are so complex, and fixing them is so time-consuming, why do we expect quick and simple solutions to spiritual problems? To be sure, the broad outlines of being spiritually healthy are fairly simple, as are those of being physically healthy. For the body, it is a matter of eating healthy foods in healthy amounts, drinking plenty of water, not ingesting harmful drugs, not engaging in harmful activities, getting exercise, and getting enough rest and sleep. And since we are both physical and spiritual beings, not taking care of your body can negatively impact you spiritually. An unhealthy body and lifestyle can make it hard to remain spiritually healthy. If you are exhausted, if your brain is addled by substances, if you are not getting adequate rest and sleep, it can affect your ability to perceive things from God's perspective and to follow Jesus. You can become irritable and veer off into angry outbursts or periods of despair and severe doubt. When Jesus saw how overwhelmed his disciples were, he took them off to a solitary place to rest. (Mark 6:31-32) Jesus took naps when he could, even in a boat during a storm. (Matthew 8:24)

For the spirit, the basics are also easily stated. We are to be disciples of Jesus, in whom we see both what God is like and what we can become. “Disciple” is just another word for “student.” When you are learning a skill, you need both to understand the principles behind it and to put them into practice. We learn the principles by reading the text, in this case scripture, and we apply them to the situations in our lives. It also helps to communicate with the teacher, which means praying and listening to the Spirit who guides us into all truth. (John 16:13-15) It means self-examination, evaluating what you are doing, seeing where you are doing well, and what you need to improve. It helps to have a study group, and that is the church. A good church is full of people also intent on learning to be like Jesus. Other students can share what they learned in living out the Christian life. They can help you understand difficult Bible passages and concepts by sharing their learning and insights. We keep up school spirit by meeting together to celebrate God and sing songs of encouragement. We also come together as a community when we eat and drink the meal that Jesus commanded us to observe, where the body of Christ on earth shares the body and blood of Christ, feeding on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

But just as it took my broken body a while to get to the point where I could physically walk again, it takes some time to get good at walking in the Spirit. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like grain which is sown. It starts by growing in the ground unseen and it takes a while before it emerges and is visible. Even then it has to continue to grow and develop the features which show that it is mature. (Mark 4:26-29) So being a Christian is a growing process and it takes time. It usually takes a lifetime.

Multiply that by the number of Christians in the world. They are all at different stages in their growth. Not all of them are growing in the best soil. (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23) And there are weeds among the wheat, churchgoers who say they are following Jesus but who aren't. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) Getting the world ready for the King and the culmination of his kingdom in its fullness will take time. And all these complications make it a complex process. We need to have patience until his coming, as James says.

Still, even John the Baptist was getting impatient, as we see in our gospel reading. Stuck in jail, he began to wonder if Jesus was in fact the one sent to usher in God's kingdom. John knew he was probably facing execution. Why hadn't Jesus rallied his followers, overthrown the wicked powers of this earth and rescued him? No doubt John was thinking of those passages in the scriptures, like verse 4 in our reading from Isaiah where it says, “Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” John's preaching was primarily about God's coming judgment. There is evil in the world and John couldn't wait for the Messiah to start taking names and kicking butt. So why wasn't Jesus doing that?

If when Jesus first came, he started dispensing strict justice, there would be an end to all evil on earth—because every human being would be ended! As Paul says, “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) In the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the farmer doesn't want to pull up the weeds before harvest time because that can also uproot the wheat. (Matthew 13:29) Getting rid of evil people is even more complicated because unlike bad plants, bad people can be redeemed and become good people. Jesus isn't going to end the process before the right time comes. The Bible says, “God is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) God is being patient for our sake so we should also be patient.

But Jesus is also looking at the other part of the prophecy like verses 5 and 6 in our reading from Isaiah, where it says, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” So he tells John's disciples to pay attention to the positive things he is doing. Jesus is not simply interested in opposing evil; he actively does what is good. He heals, he forgives, he brings good news to those who desperately need it. And by this he will convince more people to trust him and turn back to God.

In Advent, as we said last week, we anticipate both the comings of Christ. The first was to redeem us and plant the seeds of the kingdom of God. The second is the harvest time, when the weeds and wheat will be separated, when evil will be judged and punished and good will be rewarded. John was only thinking of judgment. But that had to be prepared for. A good teacher knows that it is not enough to tell their students about the wrong way to do things; they must demonstrate the right way as well. Jesus came the first time to demonstrate the right way to live for God and treat other people. The next time he comes, he will see who has been learning and applying what he taught them properly. He will see who has let his Spirit teach them and produce in them the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

In contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, Paul points out that “The actions of human nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, divisions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and other things like these. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) It's not because God is a killjoy; it's because these attitudes and actions are not healthy for individuals and certainly not healthy for any community that wants to last. You can't have a peaceable kingdom of God unless you have people who have been transformed into the spiritual and moral likeness of Christ. And the transformation of lots of people will take time.

In the meantime, we will have to put up with the painful process of people (including us) changing their lives as well as the resistance of people who don't want to change. Some people like and even encourage chaos. It gives them the opportunity to exploit others who are willing to give up their freedom in exchange for promises that things will be easy and safe. Letting things go on as they are, even though they will fall apart, is a lot easier than building them up and maintaining what is good. The irony is that what is easy at first—not doing the hard work of doing what's good—makes things much more difficult later. And when you don't keep things in good shape, they become unsafe.

Life is hard no matter what you do. You have to choose which kind of hardness you want to deal with. It is hard to do what's right but it is also hard to live with the consequences of not doing things right. It is hard to treat others as you would like to be treated but it is also hard dealing with the consequences of treating people badly. It is hard to love and obey God but it is also hard to deal with the consequences of rejecting his love, forgiveness and healing. And trying to create an adequate substitute for the source of all that is good is doomed to failure.

We need to rediscover the virtues of patience and perseverance. Jesus never promised that his way would be easy. He said instead we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him. (Luke 9:23) He also said “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) And he made a lot of promises to “the one who overcomes.” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:8, 12, 21) But we can only overcome our ordeals through Jesus. (Romans 8:37) Paul said “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) As Jesus said before he endured the cross and conquered death, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Better Than Jesus?

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72, and Matthew 3:1-12.

I originally started this sermon relating how I went to Wendy's and found that the voice on the speaker was Artificial Intelligence rather than a real person. But that almost completed sermon was completely erased by my computer and replaced by 7 pages of hashtags, even though I had clicked on the Save icon. Which illustrates the point I was making. As someone said, to err is human; to really screw things up takes a computer.

Despite what the tech bros say, A.I. is not going to be our savior, partly because there is not now, and several experts think there will never be, what they call General Artificial Intelligence. Computer programs can do certain specific tasks better and faster than humans but they cannot do things like use common sense, or rely on lived experience, or understand how other people think, or have a sense of humor or doubt themselves. Because they don't actually think. They scan what others have done and then do a summary or make something similar, like make a picture in a particular style.

Yet the tech bros think they can replace any human activity with A.I. A lot of the stuff you read, hear and see on the internet is computer generated. In Germany and Japan they are working on making robot nurses. In Kyoto, Japan they have a cute anime-style Buddhist robot/priest who preaches sermons. In 2017 to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, an exhibition in Wittenberg, Germany created a clunky robot that gave blessings in 5 languages and would even print them out. Neither of these are a substitute for a person. They can't listen or empathize or speak from experience.

The problem is that not only can't we duplicate what God has created, we are flawed and biased and so our flaws and biases end up in whatever we create. Elon Musk tweaked his A.I. Grok to only say complementary things about him. When people on his platform X (formerly Twitter) found out, they asked questions about how he compared to other people. It said he was better than any person in any field of endeavor, even athletes like Le Bron or Simone Biles. Grok even said that Musk was a better role model than Jesus and better at resurrection in that he could rise from the dead faster! I'd pay to see that.

A.I. is just the latest attempt by humanity to create a better world without resorting to God, or as N.T. Wright puts it, to get the fruits without the roots. At least the people who were flocking to John the Baptist knew what to look for. His message, as we read in today's gospel, is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Nor was he talking about the afterlife. Matthew's gospel appears to have been written to Jewish believers and to keep from offending them by overusing God's name, he said “kingdom of heaven” instead of “kingdom of God” as all the other gospels do. And Jesus' own message echoes John's. Jesus said, “The time has come and the kingdom of God is near. Repent, and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15)

Unfortunately, the people then, like some people today, were thinking of a kingdom like any other, only holy. They were thinking of a kingdom with boundaries and a political system. Their idea of a Messiah was a holy warrior king like David who would defeat the Romans and expel them. The problem is they didn't even learn from their own history. David's kingdom split up after his son Solomon died. The northern kingdom of Israel was run by bad kings until it was conquered by the Assyrians and the people were taken into exile in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah survived under kings descended from David, some good and some bad. That kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians and they went into exile in 586 BC. They were allowed to come back 70 years later under the Persians and then the Greeks. They became independent for about 100 years and then came under Roman rule. All earthly kingdoms, empires and nations rise and fall.

Earthly kingdoms take up specific areas of land and offer earthly resources and power. So earthly rulers want to keep what they have and gain more if they can. The people living on the land are only relevant as a workforce and taxpayers. There are leaders who would gladly rule over a land of robots. They would be less troublesome.

Jesus famously told Pilate that his kingdom did not come from this world. For one thing, his followers weren't warriors, fighting for Jesus. (John 18:36) What earthly kingdom doesn't have a military? And in what sense can that be a kingdom?

In both Greek and Hebrew the word usually translated “kingdom” meant first of all the authority to rule as king and secondly a realm over which he ruled. A better translation might be the royal reign of God. That makes the specific patch of land almost irrelevant. After all, as the psalmist says, “The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1) So God reigns everywhere. But like the tenants in one of Jesus' parables a lot of its inhabitants don't acknowledge that. (Matthew 21:33-44) They think they can run the world without the need of God.

16 of the 40 recorded parables of Jesus are about the kingdom of God. (Matthew 13:3-52; 18:23-34; 20:1-16; 21:28-44; 22:2-14; 25:1-30; Mark 4:26-29) Each gives us a glimpse of some aspect of the kingdom. Using everyday examples from a world in which 90% of the people were subsistence farmers, Jesus compares it to the sowing of seed on various soils, to a field where weeds and wheat grow up together, to a tiny seed that grows into a huge shrub, and to something that grows gradually almost without you noticing it. No doubt drawing upon his experience making things for people of various classes and professions, he compares it to workers in a vineyard, to a fishing net, to cooking with yeast, and to a wedding banquet, a joyful event to which everyone in a village is invited.

But the fullest examination of the kingdom of God is the Sermon on the Mount. God's kingdom is one where its citizens realize how impoverished they are without God, where those who mourn find comfort and courage, where the world is given to the gentle, where those who hunger and thirst for the right relationship with God are satisfied, where mercy is rewarded in kind, where hearts are purified by the vision of God, where God adopts those who make peace, and where loyalty to God is rewarded despite how badly it is treated by others. Those who let God reign in their lives preserve the world like salt and their deeds shine like a beacon in a dark world. They obey God in the smallest thing. They do not harm others either physically or with angry words. They understand that it is not enough to love God without also loving their neighbors. They know not to sin with their actions or with their intentional thoughts. They are willing to cut out things that they used to think of as a part of themselves if they are coming between them and God. They keep their promises, say what they mean and mean what they say. They don't retaliate. They go the extra mile. They are generous to those in need. They love all who are created in God's image, including their enemies. They strive to be completely good just as God is. (Matthew 5)

Those who obey God as their king do not make a performance out of their piety. When they pray, they acknowledge God's holiness. They ask for his kingdom to become a reality in this life and that his will be done here as it is in heaven. They ask for their daily needs and ask that he forgive their failures to do what is right to the same extent that they forgive others for their failures to do right by them. They ask not to undergo times of testing and for protection from the evil one. They keep their sacrifices to themselves and do not try to amass treasures that don't last but seek treasures that last beyond this life. They keep their eyes open to what is good and don't let their perspective become warped or dark. They realize that they cannot serve both God and money and so trust God for what they require and don't let tomorrow's anxieties take their mind off of the priorities of God's kingdom. (Matthew 6)

Those who take God's royal authority seriously don't usurp it by passing verdicts on other people. They take care of their faults before helping with those of others. They value what is sacred and treat it as such. They keep asking and seeking after the good gifts God shares. They treat people well, the same way they would like to be treated. They don't go along with the crowd but realize that the path God wants them to follow will come with difficulties. They are on guard against false prophets, and see what kind of behavior their teachings result in. They know that God isn't impressed by fancy words or flashy feats but by the person who actually obeys God's will. They build their faith on the firm foundation of Jesus' words, knowing they will be able to weather whatever storms come their way. (Matthew 7)

This is why the kingdom of God needs no borders. Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, Jesus is there and reigns in their midst. (Matthew 18:20; Luke 17:21) We are his ambassadors, obeying him and passing on his message in whatever place we happen to be. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Part of that message is in what we say and part of it is in what we do. We negate the message when we do the opposite of what we say we should do. But how are we to be completely good in the way our heavenly Father is? We are not perfect. We screw up. But as Jesus said, “What is impossible for mere humans is possible for God.” (Luke 18:27) Which is why when we accept Jesus as our king, he sends his Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, to help us become the people God intended us to be. The Spirit helps us with those things we find so hard to do, like believe (Acts 10:44-48), repent (Psalm 51:10-12), obey (Ezekiel 36:26-27), pray (Romans 8:26-27) and love (Romans 5:5). The Spirit gives us talents and abilities to share with others. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) The Spirit produces moral and spiritual qualities in us. (Galatians 5:22-23) It is the Spirit who allows us to be citizens of the kingdom of God worthy of the name.

People will never be able to create something on their own that transcends their flaws and biases. And we will never be able to make a nation that pleases God simply by taking the reins of power and trying to force people to be godly through following laws. Paul, a zealous Pharisee, realized that the law cannot save us; it can only show us what we are supposed to do. It cannot give us the power to do those things. Only God's Spirit can. (Romans 8:3-14)

In Advent we anticipate Jesus' first coming as one of us, and his second coming as the triumphant king who is returning to set up his kingdom, not just as a spiritual realm but as heaven on earth. Because in Jesus, God and humanity come together. The perfect kingdom that we hope for but cannot achieve on our own will be established forever by the only person who can bring it off. Unlike A.I. Jesus understands us. He knows what it's like to be human, to be misunderstood, to have people say you're wrong when you are right, to have your family not believe you, to be betrayed by a friend, and to have your other friends abandon you when you are facing the worst thing that has ever happened to you. And yet he forgives those who are in the process of executing him and gives Peter 3 opportunities to acknowledge his love after he denied Jesus 3 times. When he comes again, Jesus will judge the world with justice but also with mercy.

So Advent is also a minor penitential season. We examine ourselves and confess our sins and rededicate ourselves to the process of becoming like Jesus. Contrary to what any A.I. says, there is no one who compares with Christ. And if it could truly think, rather than parrot what it is programmed to say, it would admit it.

We are not brainless machines. We have the ability to think. We have common sense. We can have insights. We can make choices. So the question is: why do we resist the obvious? Why do we look for salvation in any other person or system or technology? Jesus is what we are looking for. Accept no substitutes.

The Story

There are 3 basic elements of good storytelling. First, you need a compelling plot. You need to tell a story about someone wanting something badly. There is a need to fill, a situation they desire to change or a state of affairs they need to restore. Usually it is something that the characters want to make better, either for themselves or for others. And it has to be something that the reader desires to see play out.

Then you need compelling characters. You need people who are admirable or amusing or likeable or even someone you love to hate. A hero needs a powerful villain to make his triumph that much more satisfying, which is why Batman has such a memorable rogues gallery. But if there is no villain, the reader needs to have an emotional reason to care about the characters and to want to spend time with them.

Finally, you need good world building. If you set your story in the real world, it needs to feel authentic. If instead an author is creating an alternate world or reality for a fantasy or science fiction story, they need to make it seem plausible and just as real as our world. This alternate world may be better than ours or worse or simply different but it needs to be interesting.

Great authors are good at all three of these elements, making memorable characters caught up in a compelling plot set in a fascinating environment. Then there are popular authors that are good at a couple of these things. Some are best at creating characters and settings, though their plots tend to meander. Some thriller writers make clockwork plots that sweep you along through their world so fast that you don't realize how implausible it is. Some science fiction and fantasy authors create incredible worlds though their characters are simply cardboard pieces to move the plot along. In fact some of these fantasy worlds are so interesting that readers wish to live in them. But not if they think very long and hard about what it would be like to be part of them.

You wouldn't want to live in a world with superheroes. You wouldn't want to live in Gotham because it would mean that crime is so bad that the cops can't handle it and need Batman to take care of the supervillains. You wouldn't want to live in Metropolis because the constant threats of supersmart villains like Lex Luthor or threats from space like General Zod would make ordinary life hazardous. Similarly you wouldn't want to live in the Marvel universe because you never know when magical villains like Dormammu or cosmic villains like Galactus would attack. And none of these superheroes could solve real world problems, like income inequality, bigotry, our healthcare system, or the political polarization that keeps us from fixing these things.

Why do we create stories about heroes and alternate worlds? To make sense of the world we live in. Parts of our world are very good: love, beauty, pleasure and natural laws that make most of life predictable. But parts of our world are not, like pain, disease, and death. They seem chaotic. How can we reconcile these opposites? The oldest recorded story is the Epic of Gilgamesh, about a legendary king's quest for immortality after his good friend Enkidu dies. Eventually he learns that everyone dies. It is a fact of life. And yet there is something in humanity that makes it hard for us to accept. Why is that?

The Bible says it's because that was not the original plan. In Genesis, we read, “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.” (Genesis 2:9) Notice that the tree of life is mentioned first. But we all know this story. Humans instead picked the forbidden fruit which promised knowledge that would make them like God. (Genesis 3:4-5) Knowledge is power. It is the ability to understand and therefore to try to control things and if possible people. This story is telling us that humans often choose power instead of things that enhance life. The result is that within a few generations, “The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11) Violence seems to be the easiest way to try to control other people. Yet violence only begets more violence. And if we look at the world, our biggest problems are caused by those who try to control others by violence, or, if that is not possible, by deception and manipulation.

But we know that the world need not be this way. When we cooperate rather than fight with one another, we can accomplish amazing things. We can build things like the pyramids. Contrary to popular belief, they were not built by slaves. Archaeologists have found evidence that they were built by a paid skilled workforce who were provided with housing, food and medical care. More importantly, when we cooperate we can create and maintain systems that deliver things like food and medicine and disaster workers to other parts of the country or other parts of the world. If all the people who cooperate stopped doing so, our lights would go out, our water would stop flowing through our pipes, our stores would soon empty of food, our hospitals would cease to function. We would be reduced to living in a world that existed before the industrial revolution but without the basic skills to do so. Our backyard gardens would not sustain us for long. Our first aid skills would not keep us healthy once antibiotics and other medicines were no longer being manufactured. The idea that the average person could survive an apocalyptic collapse of society for very long is a fantasy. We need each other.

So why do we endanger everything by our destructive and self-destructive acts when we know it is better to cooperate and treat one another fairly? That is the question. In the stories we create, it is the bad guys who cause the problem. Which is why a lot of our most popular stories are about good guys stopping the bad guys. The detective finds and stops the serial killer. The superhero finds and stops the supervillain. The good magician stops the supernaturally evil being that is invading this world. If we just get rid of those bad guys, everything would be perfect. But would it?

One of the things that a lot of people in the Keys do is check the Sheriff's website daily to see if anyone they know got arrested. They find mugshots of their neighbors or their coworkers or their teachers or their friends. While some of them are there for callously harming others in the pursuit of their desires, for the most part they are people who got drunk or high, got into fights or were disruptive, or entered places they shouldn't, or drove cars when they shouldn't have, or sold what they shouldn't have. And those things may have caused damage to themselves or others, not to mention damage to their relationships with their friends and families afterwards. But our prisons and jails are not bursting with criminal masterminds bent on dominating or destroying the world. They are filled primarily with ordinary people accused or convicted of doing bad things.

When you read or listen to the news, you also hear of people doing bad things, but what they did is not necessarily illegal. They start wars, or unnecessarily raise prices though their companies are making billions in profit, or deny healthcare claims to protect their profits. Or they knowingly sell products that are harmful to people or the environment, or convince people that traditional medicine or vaccines are bad for them while selling their own supplements or their methods for controlling disease with the mind, or spread disinformation and hate to increase and keep their followers. Not all evil is illegal.

At the heart of what's wrong with human society is disregarding what God has said about how to think, speak and act in the world he created, while thinking we know better than he does. We keep looking for evil outside us and ignoring what is evil within. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual sins, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, malice, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance and foolishness.” (Mark 7:21-22) (How can foolishness be a sin? The Greek word means “thoughtless” or “without sense.” I think stupidity is a better translation. Ignorance is when you don't know any better. Stupidity is when you ought to know better. All children start out ignorant and that's why we teach them about the world. But you can only be stupid when you do something that you should have known was wrong and would backfire on you or other people. Often stupidity and arrogance go hand in hand. In practice, stupidity can do almost as much damage as deliberate evil.)

If the problem is in the human heart then that's where the problem solving must start. And just as the world's best cardiac surgeon cannot operate on his own heart, we need someone other than ourselves to give us a new heart. And who better than our Creator?

God deals with it by first limiting the damage we can do. In Genesis, after we learn how to pervert God's gifts and use them to harm rather than to help, God bars us from gaining everlasting life. (Genesis 3:22-24) He will not let us loose on creation as evil immortals. But God intended us to live with him forever. So he must deal with the eternal spiritual consequences of our sins. On the cross, Jesus, God incarnate, takes upon himself those consequences. Because of that, no one who has done bad things needs to suffer those consequences if they turn from their sin to Jesus and start a new life of trusting in him.

And those who put their trust in him receive his Spirit, the Spirit of God, to change their hearts and free them from the power of sin in their lives. It is a process that requires us to keep in contact with God through prayer and worship, through a loving supportive community seeking him, and by feeding our minds with God's written word and our spirits with his living Word, Jesus Christ, by feeding on him in our hearts with faith as the body of Christ shares the body and blood of Christ. And thus fortified, we are to go out into the world to spread the good news of Jesus through our words and through our works, demonstrating the reality of God's love and forgiveness and healing in our lives.

Because we are the only animals who tell stories and learn through stories, God has revealed these truths in a story. It is a love story, the story of how the God who is love created a world and filled it with people who had the ability to choose to love him back. When they instead use that ability to choose not to do so, God decides to bring them back to him. He works through imperfect people like Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets to give us glimpses of what he is like. But then God enters the story himself through Jesus to show us more fully who he is and what he is like. Though he is killed by those who prefer power and the use of violence, he returns to life to share his eternal life with those who use their ability to choose to trust and follow him. He sends his Spirit into them to heal, help and guide them as they grow closer to him in their thoughts, words and deeds.

This story has it all: good and evil, heroes and villains, poetry and drama, tragedy and comedy, history and parables, words of wisdom and songs of love and praise. It is filled with memorable characters, a charismatic hero, and a compelling plot that spans the ages. And it has a great ending. In the last book of the Bible, just when everything is going wrong and the world is falling apart, the hero returns to free his people from evil, bring justice and peace to the world, marry his bride, and live happily ever after with his grateful people in a kingdom that has no end. He even defeats a dragon. (Revelation 19-21) All of our favorite stories are merely copies of this, the greatest story ever told.

But this is not set in an alternate universe. This is our world and we are living in the latter part of the story. Just as D-Day was the beginning of the end of the Nazi domination of Europe, what happened on the cross and at the empty tomb signals the beginning of the end of a world of people dominated by the evil in their hearts and minds. Like the Allies pushing across Europe, liberating towns and cities and countries, we are spreading the good news of how Jesus frees us from sin and death, and gathering followers to him. We are helping people use their skills and gifts to heal and repair the damage we've done to ourselves and others and the damage we've done to our relationship with the God who never gave up on us but conquered death to save us.

We think in stories. We see our lives as stories. They can be small stories, unconnected to anything significant or lasting. Or they can be part of a larger story, a story of redemption, of transformation, of new life and a new world waiting to be born. We can be part of the hero's band of merry men, of his knights in armor of light, of his servants who go into the streets and alleys and bring all they can, including the destitute, the disabled and the despised, to enjoy the wedding banquet of our triumphant King.

The Rightful King

The scriptures referred to are Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20 and Luke 23:33-43.

Every month Amazon Prime video service lets you watch one of the Great Courses for free. This month I have been watching Professor Gregory Aldrete's lectures on Unsung Heroes of the Ancient World. One of the people you never hear of in general history courses is a guy who could have been the first Roman emperor. Sextus Pompey was a quite capable general who could have taken Rome on 3 separate occasions while Caesar Octavian was fighting in the eastern part of the empire. It turns out that while the Roman army was formidable, their navy was terrible. Pompey's navy actually established an effective blockade that prevented the delivery of grain to Italy. Why Sextus Pompey never took advantage of his power is not known. Perhaps he was satisfied with ruling the independent island nation of Sicily. After several attempts he was finally defeated and illegally executed without trial even though he was a Roman citizen. He is probably a footnote because we tend to equate leadership with ambition and great leaders with military success. Victorious kings are remembered.

Which is why it is ironic that we are celebrating Christ the King Sunday. Jesus famously never led an army, was never crowned or seated on a throne and was executed in a way designed for traitors and slaves. In fact, of the millions of people alive back then, it is amazing that we even know of this poor handyman living in a small occupied country in a fairly unimportant corner of the empire. His name should have been lost to history like those of the two men crucified next to him.

Even knowing about his life, it is remarkable that he is held in such high esteem today. At least Sextus Pompey was a worthy opponent of Octavian, the man who did become the first Roman emperor. Jesus mostly wandered around the small towns of Galilee, preaching, teaching and healing. When confronted by a man with real political power, albeit a governor, not a king or emperor, he had Jesus executed. So why call him king?

The word “king” is related to a Proto-Germanic word and may mean “leader of the kin.” It could also mean “noble birth.” And the interesting thing is that “noble” originally meant “knowable” or “well known.” “Noble” merely meant someone who is born from a high ranking family and was the social and political superior to common people. You could be a terrible person and still be “noble.” Eventually the idea arose that such a person should really be worthy of their position and “noble” came to mean someone with high moral character. By the 1600s you could be no one important but still called a noble person because of your actions.

Ideally a king should be a person of high moral qualities as well, like the legendary King Arthur. But in reality, merely having power doesn't elevate a person morally. And if an immoral person is given power, he can do a lot of damage. That is the situation we see in today's passage from Jeremiah. Ancient Near Eastern kings likened themselves to shepherds. Judah was suffering under kings who were unworthy of the title of either king or shepherd. They were dividing and scattering the people they were supposed to lead and protect. The behavior of a leader is important. If people see the guy on top getting away with immoral and illegal actions, they don't see why they should respect the laws either.

Jeremiah began prophesying during the reign of King Josiah, the last good king of Judah. He reformed the nation, getting rid of idolatry, renewing the people's covenant with God and reinstituting the celebration of Passover. But after him came a number of kings who “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 36: 5, 9) The last, Zedekiah, “did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzer, who made him take an oath in God's name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 36:12-14) Jeremiah went on to predict the fall of Jerusalem and the Jews' exile in Babylon.

Because these political and religious leaders had done such a bad job God said he would step in. “I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.” But that was just an interim solution. After 70 years in exile, the Babylonian empire fell to the Persian empire and the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland. However they were not ruled by kings any more but governors. Then Alexander the Great conquered the Near East and after he died his empire was divided by his generals. At one point the Jews revolted and were independent for about 100 years, only to come under Roman rule. During that time and afterward there was no Davidic king.

As we read in Jeremiah, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” This was who the people expected the Messiah to be. They wanted another King David, a holy warrior king. But more importantly they wanted a king with military and political power. Like a lot of oppressed people, they weren't as committed to one who was noble in the moral sense as they were to one who could beat the Romans.

Though of David's lineage, Jesus wasn't that kind of king. After he feeds the 5000, a miracle reported in all 4 gospels, John tells us that the people saw in Jesus the person they wanted to lead them. We read, “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him a king by force, withdrew again to a mountain.” (John 6:15) Mark tells us that Jesus sends the disciples away in a boat and goes up a mountain to pray. (Mark 6:45-46) When he comes down the mountain after dark, Jesus goes to meet his disciples by walking on the water. The next day the people notice that Jesus is gone and track him down. Jesus realizes that it was the miracle that attracted them. He starts talking about difficult to understand theological concepts, like about him being “the living bread that came down from heaven” which they need to consume. (John 6:51) This turns a lot of them off. This is not what they want. They want a king with miraculous powers to set up a political and ethnic kingdom of God on earth. They don't want a king who makes you think deeply about spiritual things.

And I don't think they want the kind of kingdom Jesus proposes. The problem is that not only do you need a moral king in charge, you need moral citizens willing to follow what the king says. In God's covenant with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai, he begins by laying out 10 basic laws that put parameters on how the people should act towards him and towards each other. (Exodus 20:1-17) The people repeatedly fail to do so. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus lays down how his kingdom should work. (Matthew 5-7) He raises the standards on things like murder, adultery, divorce and other issues. His kingdom is one in which you not only must love your neighbor but also your enemy. His kingdom is one in which you turn the other cheek and go the extra mile. His kingdom is one in which you treat others the same way you want to be treated. Have Christians always followed those edicts from their king? And why do some of them want to post the Ten Commandments in courthouses and schoolrooms but not anything from the Sermon on the Mount, like the Golden Rule? Why not the two Great Commandments?

The kingdom of God is the only kingdom where all who become citizens do so voluntarily. Nobody is simply born into it. No one is in the kingdom because they were conquered. The only blood shed was that of its king. The only death that made it possible was his own. His kingdom has no borders. There is no kingdom or nation on earth like it.

The founding fathers of the United States set up a government built on noble ideals. But as we've seen, people with less than noble aims can pervert it. No system is perfect if it is run by imperfect people. No system is foolproof precisely because fools do things with it no wise person would do. Even the church doesn't work as it should if the people in it are trying to exercise the power of God rather than emulate his morality as exemplified by his Son.

But how can sinful humans follow Jesus? That is why he was crucified. That's why his blood was shed. That's what Jesus was getting at when he spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It wasn't physical sustenance that the people who wanted to make him king needed; it was spiritual sustenance. You need to eat healthy to be healthy. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63) They needed the Spirit of Christ, the living Word of God, in them. Only when they were cleansed with his blood, only when they received his life in them, only when the Spirit of Christ was what was directing and fueling them, could they live according to his word.

It starts with faith, which is to say, trust. You have to trust Jesus with your life. The criminal on the cross next to Christ could not do anything at that point to undo the harm he had done. He could only admit that he was justly condemned for his deeds and acknowledge Jesus as king. He trusted that even though Jesus was also being crucified, somehow he would come into possession of his kingdom. And that was enough. Jesus says to the man, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” He is the only person in the Bible to be told that.

Jesus was not born into a rich and powerful family. He did not have a position that gave him earthly power over others. He did not live the life of a king. He worked for a living. He lived and died as one of us. And yet, as we read in Colossians, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation...all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together.” Remarkably, though, as we read in Philippians, Christ “though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to cling 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 2:6-8) And why would he do that? Why would he make such a great sacrifice? Because of his great love for us. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:4; 1 John 4:9-10)

If your child needed blood, you would give it. If they needed an organ, you would give it. We needed a new heart and a new spirit, as it says in Ezekiel 11:19-20. So Jesus, God the Son, gave us his blood and his heart and his spirit, so that we might live. (2 Corinthians 5:15) Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Because Jesus gave his life for us, we should give our life to him and live as he would have us live. Because he is our king and our ultimate allegiance is to him, wherever we happen to be on earth. An ambassador is still subject to the laws of his country even when abroad. An embassy is considered an outpost of its nation where its rules reign. As Peter and the apostles said when commanded not to teach the gospel of Jesus, “We must obey God rather than people.” (Acts 5:29) And as it says in Psalm 146, “Do not trust in princes, or in human beings, who cannot deliver! Their life's breath departs, they return to the ground; on that day their plans die.” (Psalm 146:3-4) But as Paul says, “We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” (Romans 6:9) Nor will his kingdom end. As it says in Daniel's vision of the Son of Man, “To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving him. His authority is eternal and will not pass away. His kingdom will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:14) That is true of no other kingdom. One day we will see that “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15) And wherever Jesus reigns, there is paradise.

Waiting For The Big Day

The scriptures referred to are Malachi 4:1-2a, Psalm 98, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and Luke 21:5-19.

The good thing about following a lectionary is that every Sunday we read 4 passages from the Bible: one from the Old Testament, one from the Psalms, one from the New Testament, and one from the Gospels. And over the three-year cycle, we are exposed to the most vital parts of the Bible. The downside is it reinforces the way too many of us approach the Bible: by reading isolated passages without context. Because a lot of problems have been and are caused by people seizing upon one verse or passage, taking it all out of context and elevating it to the most important thing in the Bible. That's why it is important to, say, occasionally read one of the shorter books of the Bible in one sitting. And to check with a commentary that looks at the book in depth, lays out the historical, cultural and theological environment in which it was written, looks at the question or questions it was written to answer and ties all the passages to its central thesis or its various themes. And then to put it in the context of the Bible as a whole. A lot of the problems we see in Christianity come from interpretations that are not Biblically balanced.

Today's readings are all about the same thing: the Day of the Lord. This is the time when God brings this chapter of the story of humanity to an end. It is not the end of the story. There is a sequel. But in the Old Testament it is the event when God brings all our endeavors to an end and judges us on the basis of whether we actually trusted and obeyed him. In the New Testament, the event happens when Jesus returns. All judgment is put into his hands. (John 5:22) Which is good. Since Jesus has lived and died as one of us, he understands human life and its problems. (Hebrews 4:15) But it also means he is not fooled by our excuses. It is much the same way with being in a 12-step program. Everyone knows and empathizes with your addiction. But they can also call you on your BS, because they have all seen these behaviors over and over.

Each of our lectionary passages are different perspectives on the Day of the Lord. Malachi, a book you can easily read in one sitting, was written in a time when the priests were corrupt and the people doubted God's love and justice. This is after the Babylonian exile was over and the temple had been rebuilt. But the initial excitement over this had faded. People had become lax in worshipping and serving the God who loves them and, as usual, this led to them being lax in loving their neighbors. God says, “I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows and orphans, who refuse to help the immigrant and in this way show that they do not fear me.” (Malachi 3:5) The book of Malachi is structured around questions which God's answers. It ends, as we see in today's passage, with a warning about the Day of the Lord. God will be like a refiner's fire, purifying the silver and gold and burning up the stubble and dry grass that act as fuel for the oven. (Malachi 3:2-3) The Day of the Lord is bad news for those who do not love God or their neighbors but good news to those who honor God not merely with their lips but with their lives.

Our psalm focuses on the good news—all the marvelous things God has done and how “the Lord will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.” In other words, God will bring justice at last to a world that has become unjust and will judge everyone fairly.

In our passage from 2 Thessalonians, Paul is dealing with a misunderstanding about the second coming of Christ that has caused a problem. In last week's passage from this letter, he dealt with a church shaken up and alarmed by people saying “that the day of the Lord is already here.” (2 Thessalonians 2:2) In today's passage he is addressing another problem: those who think that the day of Jesus' return is so close that they have stopped working and are sponging off of the other believers. A similar thing happened in the 1800s to those who believed Baptist preacher William Miller's very precise prediction of the date of Christ's return. Folks sold their farms and gave up their possessions and waited all day on October 22, 1844 for Jesus to return. Like all of the dates people have worked out for the Second Coming, it was wrong. It's almost like those who say they believe in Jesus don't believe him when he said, “No one knows about that day and hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36, my emphasis) I guess they think they know more than Jesus.

The verse that says “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” is misused by people who say it is unbiblical to offer government assistance to the poor. But Paul is not talking about those who can't work but those who are “unwilling to work.” (v.10, my emphasis) Paul is not talking about the disabled (which make up 10% of the non-elderly recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) or the elderly (20% of those on SNAP) or children (39% on those on SNAP). So almost 70% of the people on SNAP are disabled, elderly or children. These are people no one in their right mind would expect to work. That leaves the unemployed. And anyone not rich or powerful who has spent any time trying to get a job knows that being unemployed doesn't mean you are unwilling to work. It means that you have not been able to get a job for various reasons, many of which have nothing to do with you personally. This year alone 13.8 million people have been laid off or had their job positions cut. They were working but now are unemployed. I doubt that a significant number of them are just lazy.

Paul is basically saying that Christians should not be idle while waiting for Christ to return. Jesus said, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.” (Matthew 24:45-46. Compare Luke 12:42-48) We don't know when Jesus is coming so we should continue to do the work he has given us to do: to love God and to love others by not only proclaiming the good news of Jesus but also by putting it to work in concrete ways. Malachi would agree.

In our passage from Luke, Jesus is emphasizing 3 things about the Day of the Lord. First of all, he is warning us not to follow false Christs and prophets. You would think that this would be obvious to Christians but throughout history folks have gone after people who proclaimed that they were either the new spokesman for God or that they were God or Christ. Wikipedia has a whole page of people who claimed to be Jesus, 40 of whom have lived during my lifetime of 71 years! Yet people ignore Jesus' warnings about these charlatans. They let these people contradict Jesus' teachings and exploit them spiritually, financially and sexually. They don't acknowledge the bad fruit of their deeds. (Matthew 7:15-20) They don't even use the test of whether a prophet is true or false laid out in Deuteronomy. “Now if you say to yourselves, 'How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?'—whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22) In ancient Israel the penalty for being a false prophet was death! That's how serious it is to falsely represent God or what he has said.

Secondly, Jesus is discouraging us from interpreting every catastrophe as a sign of the end of the world and his return. In the parallel passage in Mark, Jesus compares these disasters to the beginning of birth pains. (Mark 13:8) If you or a close loved one has ever given birth, you know that it is a long process. A woman can be in labor for 20 hours! So just because it looks like things are getting very bad, it doesn't mean that Jesus is about to appear. This doesn't mean that he is never coming. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) God is waiting until everyone who will eventually repent and turn to him does so.

Jesus wants to prevent the kind of thing so-called prophecy books and conferences do in order to get people to listen: namely, to announce that the numerous bad things in the daily news mean that the Day of the Lord is imminent. We don't know; it will come like a thief in the night. (Luke 12:39-40) Jesus wants us to be prepared but not to be anxious.

Thirdly, Jesus warns us that Christians must be prepared to endure persecution. For the first 300 years of the church, this was an ever-present threat. The apostles faced local persecution as we see in the book of Acts. By 64 AD, Christians came to the attention of the emperors. Nero made them scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. Other emperors saw them as traitors because they wouldn't make sacrifices to the Roman gods or to the deified emperor. Today Christians still face death in certain countries that have official religions. In early America, Baptists and Roman Catholics faced persecution. That's why James Madison put in the very first amendment to the Constitution a prohibition on the government making anything the official religion.

I think the most surprising development in the US these days is the persecution of Christians by other Christians. Specifically, it is going after Christians for agreeing with Malachi about the things God condemns, like “those who exploit workers, widows and orphans, who refuse to help the immigrant and in this way show that they do not fear me.” And these so-called Christians also denounce other Christians for upholding things Jesus clearly said, like that those who feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, visit those in prison and welcome the immigrant are doing it to Jesus because these unfortunate people are his siblings. He also says those who don't help these people will not get into the kingdom of God. (Matthew 25:31-46) Just because you call Jesus Lord doesn't mean you know him. (Matthew 7:21-23) Some people just want Jesus as their mascot, not as their Master.

We don't know when Jesus will return. But we know what he doesn't want us doing in the meantime. He doesn't want us to try to figure out when that day is or mistaking other people for him or God's new direct spokesman. He doesn't want us panicking every time the world seems to be getting worse. He also doesn't want us just sitting around or thinking that following him is always pleasant or that we should get everything we want just because we have faith. There will be times when following Jesus will be hard or even dangerous. Nor does he want us arming ourselves for Armageddon. Christians are to be witnesses, not warriors. God fights his own battles. Read Revelation 19.

So what do we know about actually preparing for the Day of the Lord? We need to love God and love our neighbors and our enemies, that is, all human beings. And as Jesus said in his new commandment, we are to love one another as he loved us. (John 13:34) That means helping those who need help and correcting those who have got the message wrong. We are to help others, not harm them or allow them to be harmed.

The end of the world will not be as sexy as the doomsday preppers think it will be or as apocalyptic books and movies depict it. The old earth will be in its death spasms, possibly brought on by human arrogance, as Malachi implies. No one wants to live through the events of Revelation chapters 6 through 19. But that's when people will need us the most. Christians have gone through persecutions and disasters from the beginning. They were martyred, took care of plague victims at their own risk, were executed by kings, were killed by mobs for being abolitionists, were killed by Nazis for opposing Hitler and were killed for opposing white supremacy. Still they built hospitals for lepers, brought modern medicine to people who had none, helped enslaved people escape via the Underground Railroad, hid Jews from Nazis, and continued to work for civil rights. The body of Christ showing God's love in action is the work Jesus gave us to do.

Jesus' words are helpful even when it isn't the end of the world for everyone. One day it will be the end of the world for you. You will face your own mortality. It may be sudden or it may be the gradual loss of your ability to control your own body. When that day approaches, keep loving God and loving others. Don't follow false prophets. And take comfort from God's promise in Malachi: “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in his wings.” Coming into Jesus' loving presence, all our fears and pains will be healed and our greatest hope will be fulfilled.