Freedom in the Spirit

The scriptures referred to are Galatians 5:1, 13-25.

There is a weird contradiction in the way movies see freedom and self-control. On the one hand, there are tons of comedies where an uptight person is encouraged by a more carefree person to break the rules and have fun. And this usually leads to them getting drunk or high, having sex with someone they just met, finding themselves in car chases, breaking the law and getting into hilarious trouble. Because these are comedies they never lead to the person having their life ruined or going to prison. In fact, they often come out of it a “better” person. It's the basis for most screwball comedies and especially teen comedies about a good kid who does their homework and is self-discipled. Think Risky Business or The To Do List or What's Up, Doc?

And then there are serious movies about people whose same bad decisions do ruin their lives and yet they just keep making the same mistakes. They have trouble with alcohol, drugs, relationships and the law. These movies about self-destructive characters get praise from critics and garner awards but obviously these dramas aren't as popular as the comedies. Probably because in these films lack of control has consequences. Think Leaving Las Vegas or Requiem for a Dream or Thirteen.

And then, ever so often, you get a movie about someone who is focused and very much in control of him or herself and triumphs because of that. Think Sense and Sensibility or The Pursuit of Happyness or Brittany Runs a Marathon. Or just about any sports film.

The first category of movies tells you to use your freedom to do whatever gives you pleasure. The second category warns you that doing things that way can cost you a lot, including your freedom because you can become a slave to your habits. The third category tells you to use what freedom and abilities you have to do the right thing and pursue a worthy goal. And the last two are closer to what Paul is saying in today's passage from Galatians.

Paul writes, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery....For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence...” There have always been those people who root for Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. They don't see how this relates to a world in which people do whatever they please. Want to ingest something that make you feel good for a short time despite doing lasting damage to your brain and body? Go ahead. Want to have sex with someone you know you shouldn't? Why not? Want to use your business acumen, not to create and sell something useful, but to take over a successful business and extract all the money you can out of it until it's unsustainable, like hedge fund managers have done to Payless, Toys R Us, Sears and K-Mart? It's a free country. Want to take over another country, despite miring yourself in an unwinnable conflict and possibly triggering World War 3? Take your shot.

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum's character in the first Jurassic Park movie, we get so preoccupied with whether or not we can do something, we don't stop to ask if we should do it. Not thinking things through and considering the consequences is what the Bible calls folly. Today we might call it stupidity. And it has nothing to do with knowledge or intelligence. You don't have to have a college degree to be wise. And lots of smart people do stupid things, things that when they come to light, as they always do, prompt us to ask “What were they thinking?” The answer is “They weren't.”

People do what's wrong—things that harm themselves or others and consequently harm their relationships, including their relationship with God—for one of three reasons. If they truly didn't know any better, we call that ignorance. And the solution is for them to simply learn. All children start out ignorant and that's why they go to school and, one hopes, Sunday school.

If the person should have known better than to do something harmful—because they are not a child and ought to understand how things work—that's stupidity. Hopefully they will realize their error and learn to think first and consider the damage they can do before acting again.

If someone does know better, if they know they will cause harm by what they do, but do it anyway, that's just evil. It's also evil if they see a situation that is bad or going bad but refuse to help. Jesus condemns both sins of commission and sins of omission. So does human law in many cases. If a doctor or nurse sees evidence of child abuse or elder abuse and doesn't report it, that is also a crime. As someone pointed out, one way evil triumphs is when good people do nothing to stop it. When Hitler began his policy of killing the physically and mentally handicapped, the outcry of the German people caused him to stop. Imagine what might have happened if they had protested as vigorously at the killing of Jews, Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, gays, Poles, and Catholic and Protestant clergy who could not reconcile Christianity and Nazism! But they didn't. And 6 million Jews and 5 to 7 million non-Jews were exterminated in the camps.

One of the most chaotic periods in the history of Israel was the the time of the judges. Twice we are told “In those days Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 21:25) In other words, nobody was following God's law, just what they considered right. As Paul points out, in God's law, specifically in Leviticus 19:18, God's people were commanded to love their neighbors as they did themselves. In fact, in that one chapter from Leviticus alone, they were told to make sure the poor could eat, told not to steal or defraud each other, not to mistreat the disabled or the elderly, not to pervert justice in the courts, not to do anything that endangers others, not to take revenge and they are told to love the immigrant as themselves. (Leviticus 19:9-18, 32-35) These seem like common sense but if people weren't doing otherwise, God wouldn't have made these laws. The chapter before it was devoted to prohibiting incest and spelling out precisely what constituted it, including variations. There are also ritual laws and unfortunately some people put more weight on those matters than the other laws. It's much easier to fuss about diet and dress than to treat others lovingly. Jesus excoriated the Pharisees for being so concerned with such minutiae. He said, “...you neglect what is more important in the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness!” (Matthew 23:23)

Paul looks at what happens when people merely follow the flesh, ie, unredeemed human nature. “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, brutal lack of restraint, idolatry, drug-induced spells, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, divisions, factions, instances of envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (my translation) We see these things today and we even see them justified. Folks excuse them in celebrities, They excuse them in leaders, both religious and political. And so people think that sexual immorality, lack of restraint, outbursts of anger, drug use, magical thinking and factionalism are all right for them too. Everyone does what seems right in their own eyes. Which does not lead to the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is key. In Judges, we are told there was no king in Israel and so there was lawlessness in the land. But Paul, a zealous Pharisee, knows that the law is not sufficient. It can tell you what's wrong but it can't make you do what's right. But in Greek the word for kingdom means not merely a physical place where a king is but the reign or rule of a king. Unlike where humans reign, God's reign is internal. In Jeremiah God says of his new covenant, “I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) In Ezekiel he says, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:27) As Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) God is to reign in our lives. If he is truly rules our hearts and minds, the things Paul warns us of will not come to dominate us.

That's why Paul says we are to live by the Spirit. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home in him.” (John 14:23) This takes place in the form of the Holy Spirit. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus said of the Spirit, “you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17) At Pentecost, the Spirit entered all who follow Jesus as king.

And just as the reign of someone ruled by his fallen human nature produces bad qualities, the reign of the Spirit of Christ within us produces a different set of qualities. You've heard the list of the fruit of the Spirit many times. But according to the NET Bible there are 2 ways of punctuating this sentence. The Greek has no punctuation. So when you translate verses 22 and 23, you can either put a comma after the word “love” making it the first in a list of qualities. Or you can put a colon. In other words the fruit of the Spirit is love. The words that follow describe that divine love. And that makes sense. When you love someone, you find joy in them. You wish them peace, which in the Bible means not just the absence of conflict but total well-being. You are patient when dealing with them. You treat them with kindness. You are generous with them. You are faithful and reliable. You are gentle with them. You exhibit self-control for their sake as well as yours.

Now some of these qualities might come easily to you but not all. For these qualities to take root and grow in us and in our lives we need God's Spirit reigning in our heart. That's why Paul contrasts it with those who let their own fallen human nature rule their lives. Paul says, “...those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” By this he doesn't mean that we are no longer ourselves. He's talking about that part of ourselves that was slave to the strong emotions and cravings which drive us away from spiritually healthy living. It is the person whom God created us to be who is raised with Jesus.

You'll notice that Paul uses the term slavery and he uses it in a paradoxical way. He begins by telling us not to submit to the yoke of slavery but then says “through love become slaves to one another.” What does he mean?

Elsewhere Paul says we were redeemed by Christ. (Galatians 3:13) “Redeem” literally means to “buy back.” It was used of a person who would buy back a kinsman sold into debt slavery. (Leviticus 25:25) God uses it to describe what he did when he liberated the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 6:6) The Israelites now belonged to God. And with his blood, Jesus redeemed us. (Revelations 5:9) We now belong to him.

Some people don't like using the word or the idea of slavery today. But in a world where slaves made up as much as 20% of the population, and up to 40% of those living in Rome and in Greece, it was a familiar part of life. And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34) How else do we explain people who keep doing the same harmful things over and over again? No one who gives into an impulse intends to become a slave to a destructive habit. On the other hand, there are good habits one should develop. I know people who were raised by parents who were focused on their children having regular routines and chores. At the time their kids thought their folks were too strict, especially compared to the laid-back parents of their friends. But these habit became part of them. Later, as adults, they were grateful for the self-discipline that was instilled in them and which helped lead them to success in life.

We often define freedom as freedom from things we don't like, such as being told what to do. That's every kid's complaint. Still we tell our children to brush their teeth, wash their hands, share, not fight with other kids, do their homework and all manner of onerous tasks. But we do it so that they will be free to do good things. Not brushing your teeth leads to tooth loss and gum disease, which can lead to heart disease. Not washing your hands can lead to the spread of disease. People with compromised health miss out on things healthy people are free to do. In the same way, not learning to share or get along with others will limit your chances of a happy life. Not learning to do things that are necessary but which you'd rather not do, like homework, will limit your ability to be a success in any field of endeavor.

True freedom is being free to do things that you couldn't otherwise. When Jesus healed people, he not only freed them from disease and disability, he freed them to live happier and better lives and to be able to participate in the life of the community.

But freedom without a guiding principle is chaos. Put a toddler in a room full of every kind of toy and the room will end up a mess as they first pull out one toy and then another and then get distracted by a third. Some people approach life that way. But not everything out there is good for you (1 Corinthians 6:12) and without a guide and a purpose, people pick up all kinds of unhealthy things, and drift into unhealthy habits of thinking and acting. They eventually accomplish nothing more than accumulated regrets over wasted opportunities and grief over the suffering they've caused themselves and others. They often say, “I wish someone had told me to do this or not to do that.” It seems we do need to be told, after all.

As Bob Dylan sang, you gotta serve somebody. It can be the self-destructive appetites and passions within us that can come to rule our lives. Or it can be the life-giving and healing Spirit of God, available to us when we put all our trust in Jesus. We can live for ourselves, only caring about others insofar as they delight us or benefit us, or we can live for Jesus, serving him by serving others, all of whom are either our brothers and sisters in Christ or our potential brothers and sisters in Christ.

Living in the Spirit can free you from something else: being in a rut. Because following the Spirit of Jesus is an adventure. The world becomes a series of opportunities to serve Jesus. Does someone need help? What kind? Do they need food or shelter or therapy or just someone to listen? Does their need fall within my gifts and abilities to fulfill or should I connect them with someone who is better able to help? We all have gifts: creating art or building or writing or singing or organizing or healing or generating ideas or analyzing and solving problems or encouraging people. If we let Jesus rule our hearts and minds, we will find ways to use them. The world will be full of opportunities to do good, to plant seeds in people's minds and hearts, to expand the kingdom of the God who is love, and all the joy, peace, and goodness that goes with serving his Spirit. 

Minds and Brains

The scriptures referred to are 1 Kings 19:1-15a, Psalms 42-43, and Luke 8:26-39.

Terry Bisson wrote a short story in which 2 aliens discuss the amazing findings of their UFO abductions and probes of human beings. As one alien puts it, “They're made out of meat!” The other alien simply cannot understand how meat made machines and the radio signals they've picked up. He doubts we have brains. The first says, “Oh, there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat.”

The other alien says, “So...what does the thinking?”

“You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat.”

“Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!”

“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal!”

The idea so disturbs them that they decide to not answer the radio signals from earth and to let the humans think that the rest of the universe is devoid of life.

It's hilarious and not very long. I reposted it to my Facebook page. And while it is a gross simplification, even from an anatomical standpoint—hello, we have bones, too—it does have a point. While we are more than just meat, we are not merely minds. We have physical bodies and physical brains. People may argue over whether our minds are merely the byproduct of our brains or inhabitants of them, but it is undeniable that each affects the other. Damage to or diseases of the brain can affect our thinking and moods. Psychoactive drugs physically affect the brain and change the way a person thinks and feels. But so do immaterial things like thoughts and feelings. If I tell you something you didn't previously know, without physically touching your head, I will cause neurons in your brain to make a connection. If it is vivid or surprising enough, I will have caused your brain to physically encode it as a strong memory. And if I tell you someone you loved died, even over a phone, I will nevertheless have activated the limbic system deep within your brain, which controls your emotions and behavior. In our brain the physical and the nonphysical meet and interact with each other.

And they can make lasting changes. As I said a few weeks ago the death of his first wife changed George Carlin's comedy and made it very dark and pessimistic. I think it was only the fact that he married again a year later that kept him alive. When a person has been married for decades and their spouse dies, the survivor has a 66% increased risk of death in the first 3 months. After that he still has a 15% increased chance of dying. By all accounts Carlin's second marriage was very happy. But when he stepped onstage to make people laugh, his mind still went to very dark places.

In our passage from 1 Kings we can see that the prophet Elijah was very depressed. He asked God to let him die. And while the death threat he got from Queen Jezebel might have factored into that, he had just triumphed over the prophets of Baal and announced the end of the drought in the land. He should feel exhilarated. But he is not. Perhaps he is exhausted. In response to Jezebel having the Lord's prophets killed, Elijah just had the prophets of Baal executed in accordance with the laws of Moses. (Deuteronomy 17:2-7) But it was a bloody business. It had to have affected him. He also felt isolated. He said he was the only prophet of Yahweh left. Had he forgotten that Obadiah told him he had hidden 100 other prophets in caves? (1 Kings 18:13) Clearly, his perceptions and memory were affected.

Depression can interfere with memory and thinking. And research has revealed a connection between systemic inflammation and depression. While depression is not merely an inflammatory disease, inflammation is a factor and doctors have found giving anti-inflammatory drugs alongside antidepressants can lead to better outcomes. Among the causes of inflammation is emotional trauma. Stress causes a physical response in the body. Short-term stress can be helpful but long-term stress can cause damage to the brain. It can even trigger a chronic reaction from the immune system.

Why am I going on about this? Because many people still have erroneous and even harmful ideas about mental health issues. They say they are all in your head. And they are right, but not in the way they think they are. Thanks to fMRIs and PET scans, we can see how the brain is physically changed. There are visible differences in the brains of people with major depression or with PTSD or with bipolar disease or with anorexia or with schizophrenia. If the brain has functional or structural problems, it can't operate as it ought. Indeed it looks like mental disorders are brain disorders. What we think of as a mental illness might just be the symptoms of a brain that isn't functioning normally.

But as we said, nonphysical things can affect the brain. You pile enough problems on someone and they can get depressed. Carlin lost his wife and had a history of at least 3 major heart attacks and continuing heart disease. That would depress anyone. Research has found that people who had 4 or more major adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were at a higher risk of both mental and physical health issues, as well as addiction and risky behaviors. Psychological trauma and stress affect the developing brains of children. Again the physical and nonphysical are intertwined in their effects on people.

All of which means that even believers in God can have mental health issues. It is not a sin to feel depressed nor is it necessarily the result of sin. Besides the experience of Elijah, we can look at the 2 psalms we read. Psalms 42 and 43 seem to be part of the same poem. The psalmist describes how he keeps crying, how his soul feels heavy, how his strength is gone and how he wonders where God is. He understands that this will pass and that he will be able to give thanks to God and worship him again some day. But this is not that day. And so he keeps reminding himself to put his trust in God.

It's almost as if he is doing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on himself. He is acknowledging and naming his feelings but he is not falling into the trap of thinking they are absolute or will last forever. Instead he is countering them by reminding himself that the Lord is forever and that he is good and just.

Elijah, however, was magnifying his awful feelings. His situation was not hopeless, nor was he alone in his stand for the true God. Were our lectionary passage not inexplicably cut short, we would read that God revealed to Elijah that he was far from alone: there were 7000 people left in Israel who had not worshiped Baal. (1 Kings 19:18)

Often we let our negative mood exaggerate the extent of our situation. It's not true that everyone hates us; it's just that one person has a problem with us and it may be that he really has a problem with himself. We are not totally worthless; we may have trouble with one issue but we have other skills and strengths; no one is perfect. Things are not hopeless; they may be bad at present but they need not stay that way forever. Everything is not ruined; one or two things might have gone wrong but they may very well be correctable. We need to do a reality check and not view everything as a catastrophe.

If you close one eye and hold a quarter close enough to the other you can block out your ability to see the rest of the world. Pull back from the problem, open both eyes and get a sense of perspective and proportion. Don't assume that obstacles are permanent or immovable. Don't assume there is only one path to your goal. Don't assume that because you can't accomplish something the exact way you wish to do it that it can't be done at all. All things change and there are some things you can change including your mind.

In Elijah's case, he needed basics like food and drink and a good sleep. Then he needed something to do. So he climbed the mountain of God and took up residence in a cave. God showed him a great wind and an earthquake and a fire. And while God caused them, they are not him. But they gave Elijah a demonstration of God's power and a sense of proportion. Are his problems greater than God's power to deal with them?

Then there follows the sound of a soft whisper (a better translation of the Hebrew). When he hears it, Elijah moves to the mouth of the cave. God asks him what he is doing here and Elijah tells him what is on his mind and on his heart. Then, in addition to the news of the 7000 Israelites still loyal to God, the Lord gives Elijah some tasks to do. One of his tasks is to find and anoint Elisha who will be his successor. Elijah's term as God's chief prophet in Israel is almost over. God is letting Elijah retire from his labors for him.

Sometimes a mental illness can't be dealt with so easily. In our gospel Jesus encounters a man who is living in the local graveyard, naked. His people cannot control him. When he has an episode, he can break his bonds and run off into the wild. Mark's account tells us that the man would cry out night and day and cut himself with stones. (Mark 5:5) He is literally battling his demons. When he sees Jesus, he knows who he is and asks that Jesus not torment him. Exorcising the man feels like torture to the entity within him. Jesus asks the man his name and the identity in control answers “Legion.” A legion was a division of the Roman army consisting of 6000 infantry plus cavalry. This man has been overwhelmed by the large number of evil voices at war within him.

He is beyond any talking cure. His problem is not a matter of shifting his perspective because the instrument through which he perceives the world and himself is totally compromised. Today we might classify him as psychotic. So Jesus throws out the identities that are tormenting the man. And when people from the city and countryside come, they find the man, “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”

And they are freaked out—by the cure, not the disease. It may be that they think the cure was too costly to their local economy. Mark tells us the number of pigs drowned was about 2000. (Mark 5:13) That's a lot of pork. The question is whether saving a person is more important than pigs. We know what the answer is for many people. One reason we don't have adequate mental health care today is this swinish inversion of priorities, valuing wealth more than health. Jesus puts the man before money.

In Matthew 4:23 we read, “Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.” It gets repeated in practically the same words in Matthew 9:35. Because it is an excellent summary of Jesus' ministry: teaching, preaching and healing. Why have we largely dropped one third of Christ's mission? Why do people, including Christians, not show as much compassion for those whose physical illnesses are manifested in mental symptoms as they do for those whose afflictions are more obviously physical? And why would we ever equate any kind of illness with sin or a lack of faith? When his disciples saw a disabled man they asked, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused this man to be born blind, this man or his parents?” Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.” (John 9:2-3) Jesus' response to people suffering was not to assign blame but to help the person. And so should we.

According to the World Health Organization, there has been a 13% increase in mental health conditions all over the globe. Just under 20% of Americans have experienced a mental illness, around 50 million people. More than half do not receive treatment. The percentage of adults expressing serious thoughts of suicide has increased every year since 2012. It now stands at 4.5% of adults. 2/3s of those who die by suicide are men, with the highest rate among middle-aged white men. More than half are by firearms and 1/3 are found to have alcohol in their system. Triggers to suicide tend to be stressful life events, especially rejection, divorce, a financial crisis or another life transition or loss.

According to the American Association for Suicide Prevention, there are 5 main factors that can protect people from killing themselves. They are: access to mental health care and being proactive about mental health; feeling connected to family and community support; problem-solving and coping skills; limited access to lethal means; and cultural and religious beliefs that encourage connecting and help-seeking, that discourage suicidal behavior, and create a strong sense of purpose or self-esteem.

We Christians can help. We can be aware of when people are facing extremely stressful times in their lives. We can give support, both practical and emotional. We can listen. We can encourage the person to seek help by calling the new national suicide helpline, which is 988. We can remove lethal means from their home, keeping them or giving them to a friend for safekeeping until the suicidal person is healthy. And we can remind the person that they are inherently valuable, because they are created in God's image, loved by God, and redeemed by Jesus. We can help them find a purpose in life using the gifts and skills God has given them. Often people find helping others helps them.

Health is never a permanent state. We all get sick or injured from time to time. Sometimes the injury or illness is not visible. That doesn't make it less real. And people cannot just snap out of it anymore than they can snap out of a broken leg. Healing takes treatment and time. And just as I have a permanent limp from my physical trauma, people can retain scars and vulnerabilities from psychological trauma. Paul prayed 3 times for God to remove what he called his “thorn in the flesh.” But he learned to accept it humbly, realizing God could work through him nevertheless. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Jesus made people better, not just spiritually but physically and psychologically. By healing lepers, the physically handicapped, and those possessed, he also overcame the barriers that kept them from being accepted as part of the community. We, like he, must act to overcome the stigma that attaches to the mentally ill and which often keeps people from seeking help. I think it helps to understand that the root of the problem may not be with a person's mind—the software—so much as their brain—the hardware running it. We all have our health issues. So like Paul, let us be humble and like Jesus, let us be compassionate towards all who suffer. And like the psalmist, let's put our trust in God. For one day we will receive the ultimate update—our software debugged and in very best hardware—when Jesus raises us up whole and healthy, with a head full of his wisdom and a heart full of his love. In that promise we find our hope.

Incomprehensible

The scriptures referred to are Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5, and John 16:12-15.

Do you understand quantum physics? I am fascinated by the subject and I've read many articles about it but I cannot say I comprehend it. What about calculus? While I did really well in algebra and especially geometry, when I got to calculus I almost flunked. There is something humbling about knowing that your understanding has limits. And there are scientists who point out that we might never understand some things about the universe. That is, we might get to a point where we discover things that our brains simply cannot comprehend. For scientists, the explanation is that our brains did not evolve to do science. Our brains are designed to help us survive. So they help us determine whether or not we should eat something, or whether we should fight or flee or befriend or mate with someone. They help us with finding or making shelter, making tools, keeping our offspring alive, and cooperating with others in a group. The fact that we can also analyze stars and subatomic particles is remarkable. But we are finite and scientists think there will come a point at which we will encounter things that our brains cannot process. On top of that, mathematician Kurt Godel proved that all mathematical systems are incomplete, and that means so are the hard sciences that depend on them. Thus science can never discover all truths.

And yet when it comes to God, many people think the creator of this complex reality should be easy to grasp. In particular, I have met people who not only have problems understanding the Trinity but seem to be offended by the doctrine. They regard it as an unnecessary complication invented by theologians. But really the Trinity is not so much an explanation of God's nature as a name for the paradox we encounter in God.

The earliest Christians were all monotheistic Jews. Unlike the Greeks, Romans and just about every other culture, they believed in one God, full stop. He created the world and everything in it; he made the covenant with Abraham; he liberated the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; he gave them the law, he gave them a land and he gave them a kingdom under David and his descendants. God alone was to be worshiped.

But then the disciples spent 3 ½ years living with, traveling with, working with, listening to and observing Jesus. They concluded rightly that he was the Messiah, God's anointed prophet, priest and king. But then he got executed. In the words of the two disciples going to Emmaus, “...we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21) Notice that they use the past tense. They never anticipated that God would allow his Messiah to die at the hands of his enemies, especially when he hadn't even established a kingdom of God.

But then Jesus rose from the dead. Before his crucifixion, Jesus had demonstrated mastery over weather, water, wine, demons, disease, and disability. But now he showed himself to be triumphant over death as well. The disciples had to rethink who Jesus was: not just a man used by God but God become man.

Among the things that influenced this were passages in the Hebrew Bible such as today's reading from Proverbs. Wisdom is personified and depicted as acting alongside God in creating the world. (Proverbs 8:30) The passage is poetic but it is the Word of God and there is truth in its concept of an aspect of God existing with God and working with God. And indeed Paul writes, “But to those who are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24, emphasis mine) In the same vein, John uses the Greek and Jewish philosophical concept of the logos, the reason that underpins all creation, to start his gospel. “In the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word was with God and the Word was God...Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.” (John 1:1, 14) John ties the Genesis account of God creating the world by simply speaking with the idea that Jesus is the Word or expression of God. And Hebrews puts it this way: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:1-3) Just as an honest person's word reveals who he is, so Jesus Christ, God's Incarnate Word, reveals who God is.

OK, but how did Jews go from believing in God and the Son of God to adding the Holy Spirit to the Godhead? The Spirit of God is spoken of in the very first chapter of the first book in the Bible. Genesis starts with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2) So the Spirit is also shown as participating in creation. In fact the Spirit can be seen as God's power in action.

The Spirit also empowers people to do what God wants. The first individual of whom this is said is Joseph. Pharaoh describes him as “one in whom the Spirit of God is present.” (Genesis 41:38) Joseph's spiritually granted gift is interpreting dreams. In Exodus God fills the artisans, the men who are to build the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant, with his Spirit. (Exodus 31:1-11) When Moses chooses 70 elders to shoulder the burden of administration with him, we are told, “And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.” (Numbers 11:25) This starts the tradition of the Spirit anointing leaders and kings of God's people as well as prophets. The Holy Spirit is not a mindless force but acts for God and speaks for God through those whom he calls.

And this brings us to the early church. As we read last week in Acts, what was remarkable was the Spirit being poured out on, not just the apostles, but all the believers. In the previous chapter we are told that the body of believers at that time included not just the Twelve but also “the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers...a gathering of about 120 people...” (Acts 1:14-15) Which makes sense since there is a list of more than 16 groups of people hearing the gospel in their own language. (Acts 2:8-11) Were the Spirit only given to the Twelve they'd have to speak two languages at once. But there were ten dozen Christians preaching the gospel in ways that everyone present could understand.

The point is that the Spirit is no longer given just to leaders but to all who come to Jesus. In fact we see a phenomenon in Acts where when a new group accepts Jesus they speak in tongues. We see it when Peter is sent to preach to a family of Gentiles (Acts 10:46) and when Paul baptizes a group in Ephesus who had previously only received the baptism of John. (Acts 19:6) These may have been one-time manifestations, as with the 70 elders, because the only place where we hear of people continuing to speak in tongues is in 1 Corinthians.

But the Spirit does not just produce miraculous signs. In the lives of those who are in Christ the Spirit produces qualities Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) Because what the Spirit is ultimately doing is making us more Christlike. The 8^th chapter of Romans is devoted to all the ways in which the Spirit works in Christians to conform them to the image of the Son of God.

And so that was the third way that the early Christians experienced God: as the Holy Spirit, God within us. So they knew God as creator, and as the crucified and risen Jesus, and as the Spirit who was transforming them and equipping them to become the children of God. And yet they remained monotheists. They affirmed that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God, but there is only one God. How does that work?

For the first three hundred years Christians tried to come up with ways to explain it. Some of these ideas were rejected but what the church decided on was not really an explanation of how God is three persons and yet one God. What they decided on was to preserve the paradox of the reality they experienced. And they called this paradox the Trinity: one God in three persons acting always in total unity of thought, will and love.

Science occasionally has to accept paradoxes, especially in quantum physics, which concerns the basic building blocks of reality. For instance, physicists could not decide if light was a particle or a wave. When they did experiments to determine if light was a particle, it indeed functioned like a particle. But when they did experiments to see if light was a wave, it functioned like a wave. It defied their neat categories and labels. So they finally accepted that it was both. What was pertinent was how you approached it.

And we can do the same with the Triune God. We can approach God as the Creator who made everything and is ultimately in charge. We can approach God as Jesus, the one who understands what it is to live and die as one of us but who also triumphs over sin and the sorrows that afflict us, including death. We can approach God as the Spirit within us who gives us spiritual gifts and strength and encouragement and leads us to the truth.

You don't need to understand the internal combustion engine to drive a car. You don't need to understand your smartphone to use its many functions. Heck, scientists don't even understand what consciousness is. How do 3 pounds of gelatinous fat, firing sparks of low level electricity, give rise to intelligence and personality and a sense of being an individual self? We don't know. But we use our brains nevertheless. So why do we feel we must or even can understand the exact nature of God? As someone said, a god small enough for your brain to fully comprehend would not be big enough to handle your problems.

I experience God the Creator every time I look at the night sky, or read about the human body, or watch a documentary on the marvelous ways nature works. I experience God the Son when I face problems in my life, knowing Jesus did as well, or when I am on the verge of losing hope, knowing he had a moment when he felt abandoned by God, or when I again fail to live up to his commandments, knowing he forgave the sins of all who came and asked for healing and help, or when I remember how dark it was in his tomb before the stone was rolled away and he came out into the light of Easter morning bringing his eternal life to all who believe. I experience God the Spirit when a thought or insight comes to me from I know not where, or when I suddenly find the words to defend the faith, or to impart a word of comfort or wisdom to someone who comes to me for help, or when I am at my lowest and find a strength that was not there before.

The real mystery is, as the Psalmist asks, “What is mankind, that you should notice them? What is humanity, that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:4) Why does the God who is greater than our grandest conceptions of him spare any thought for us? Why did he reveal his Word to us? Why did he send his Son to save us? Why does he send his Spirit to transform us? The answer to all these puzzling questions is the biggest mystery of all: his divine love. And the only proper response to God's incomprehensible and gracious love is “Thank you!”

Seen and Unseen

The scriptures referred to are Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:4-17, and John 14:8-27.

Humans have always believed in spirit. We have always believed in the reality of the unseen. We have always known there is more to this world than that which can be detected by our senses alone. Neanderthals did not just leave their dead behind but buried them with local flowers and flint tools that represented hours of hard work, things that were not only unnecessary to the corpse but which were resources the tribe could have used. Why? To accompany the unseen part of the dead person—his intelligence, wisdom, and personality, that which made him an individual—into an unseen habitat.

Some people have extended the idea of spirit to everything, some have limited it to every living thing, and some have limited it to humans. The idea that we and the people we interact with are merely bodies, the idea that we are nothing more than our sex, hair color, skin color, body shape, organs, and chemicals, is foreign to us. Tell an atheist his arguments against the existence of God are just the side effects of having a complex brain and do not represent anything more valid about reality than his dreams and he will suddenly make a case for the existence of an infallible superior intelligence: his. We all believe there is more to humans than meets the eye. And that affects what we do.

Other animals are motivated by their needs and fears. We are, too, but in addition we are motivated by the unseen. Like the desire not merely to belong but to be acknowledged as valuable. Or the desire to learn about things and create things, like art, that have no apparent survival value. Stephen Fry pointed out that we are the only animals who display more than a passing curiosity about other animals. A gorilla doesn't care if the world contains kangaroos. We send film crews and David Attenborough at great expense to Australia to study and video everything about them and report back to us on PBS.

We also love to communicate. Other animals may sing mating songs and make warning cries and purr with pleasure. We communicate stories and ideas. We teach, not merely by doing, but explaining in great detail things that, again, have no immediate survival value. We tell jokes that depend on mentally shifting another person's perspective on something just to make them laugh. Some people make their living doing this.

We preach. Not merely in churches but in editorials and in articles and in books and in You Tube videos. We tell people they need to improve how they think, speak and act in accordance with whatever our ideology is, whether spiritual or secular. We seek to motivate people to do things that do not always benefit them personally but are for the good of humanity or of other species or of the ecosystem. In certain circumstances, we feel an idea, an immaterial thought, is worth losing your physical life for.

The first followers of Jesus, all Jews, believed in God, of course. It is safe to say that they initially believed Jesus was a human being who was anointed by God's Spirit to act as the promised Messiah. After he rose from the dead, they had to rethink who Jesus was. They concluded he not only spoke for and acted for God but that he was in some sense God in the flesh. When he ascended, they began to experience God in yet another way as God's Holy Spirit within them. They found themselves saying and doing things they would never have believed they could. Jesus had promised them the Spirit but they did not expect what happened on Pentecost.

In our passage from Acts, the main thing the Spirit does is communicate. He communicates to everyone within earshot of the disciples, and in the language of everyone who can hear them. And the Spirit communicates not merely facts but a different interpretation of them. Peter ties the manifestation of the Spirit to a prophesy in the Old Testament. Then he goes on to offer a radically different interpretation of the ministry and recent execution of Jesus. This is the gospel, the idea that what God has done in Jesus and is doing with his Spirit is good news for those who hear and respond.

Though not a joke, the Spirit causes a shift in how things are perceived. Jesus was a popular preacher and healer who was executed by the Romans at the behest of the religious establishment. And that ended the popular idea that he was the Messiah. His death ended it for the disciples too...until his resurrection, which brought the idea that he was the Messiah back to life as well. But the crowd at Pentecost probably did not hear about it. They were Jews from the Diaspora, the ones living outside of Judea from all over the Roman Empire. Some have heard about Jesus, as Peter indicates, (Acts: 2:22) and they may have heard of his death. But Peter tells them that Jesus has risen, and he and the others are witnesses to that. Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God and has poured out the Spirit on the believers. The evidence of the disciples speaking in various tongues convinces 3000 of the listeners to get baptized.

You may remember that Michael Grant said that as a historian he can't attest to the reality of the resurrection but without it he can't explain the persistence and spread of Christianity after Jesus' death. Certainly that affected the first Christians, who actually interacted with the risen Jesus. But it is the Spirit who worked in the hearts of those hearing the gospel and convinced them of the disciples' testimony.

In his long address on the night he was betrayed, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth” 3 times. Because, he says, “he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) But, if we may quote Pilate's cynical reply to Jesus, “What is truth?”

A strictly scientific look at truth is one that deals only with what can be observed, measured and quantified. That's why, when studying the effects of religion on people, scientists go by how often one attends worship. They can't measure one's faith but they can measure attendance. And that's why, when they find that people who attend worship weekly have lower blood pressure, lower mortality rates, a reduced risk of diabetes and infectious disease, a lower risk of depression and suicide, a greater sense of hope and of a purpose in life, they tend to attribute it to the social support of the church, not to God. Because they can't observe the Spirit of God or quantify his power.

But is the only truth in life that which can be measured? You can look at some couples and tell they are in love. Can you reduce it to data and a spreadsheet? You can tell a really funny comedian from one who is not. But how do you quantify that? You can agree that we should treat others the same way we wish to be treated. But can you test that in an objective, measurable experiment? Here's another truth: science can tell you that some animals eat their young. It cannot tell you why humans shouldn't. That falls outside its domain.

You can't measure all truths, especially spiritual and ethical ones, using the scientific method any more than you can evaluate the truth of a love poem using a microscope. Shakespeare once did a sonnet tongue in cheek, making fun of the poetic language of love. Being as objective as possible, he wrote, “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;/Coral is far more red, than her lips red:/If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;/If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head./I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,/But no such roses see I in her cheeks;/And in some perfumes is there more delight/Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks./I love to hear her speak, yet well I know/That music hath a far more pleasing sound:/I grant I never saw a goddess go,—/My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:/And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,/As any she belied with false compare.” Everything he says in the first dozen lines is factually true, but doesn't capture the truth of his love. And if all his sonnets were written in this manner, they would not have been treasured for 400 years.

By the same token, people need to stop treating the Bible as a science textbook. It was not written to reveal the physical workings of creation but the inner workings of the human heart, especially in relationship with our Creator. It is not interested in questions of “how” when it comes to creation but questions of why we are here and who we are and in which direction should we be going. It's not focused on achieving worldly success but on getting closer to God. It's not about scientific knowledge but spiritual wisdom.

The Holy Spirit is given to us to guide us into the truth of the God who is love and who is revealed in the teachings, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But that is not all the Spirit does. He makes us children of God, as our passage from Romans says.

And in our gospel passage Jesus gives the Spirit another title, which packs a lot into one word. The Greek word is parakletos, which is translated in the NRSV as “Advocate.” It has also been translated “comforter,” “counselor,” “intercessor” and “helper.” That's because it encapsulates all of those functions. It literally means “one who is called in” with the understanding that the person was called in to give aid or assistance. Thus it could be used in the legal world of someone who is called in as a character or defense witness or to plead one's case before another. This is why it is often rendered “advocate” or “intercessor.” And an attorney is still addressed as “counselor.”

But the verb form of the word was used to mean “to exhort or to urge” others. This was used of someone who rallied the troops about to go into battle. This person was to instill courage into them and that was the sense of the word “comforter” at the time of the King James translation. It comes from com fortis, the Latin for “with courage.” A modern form would be “encourager.”

All of this explains why some translations simply go with “helper.” The Spirit is called in by God to assist us with whatever help we need—with the truth, with a defense, with advocacy, with encouragement. The Spirit stands by us.

There is more that the Spirit does and we will touch on that next week. But here I want to emphasize the Spirit's role in giving people the words they need to communicate the spiritual truths that otherwise one might never guess about our existence. This revealed truth is essential because the hand of God in our lives is not always obvious. As we said last week, if you assume there is no God, then there is no hope. There are only animals, humans being the most arrogant and clever, fighting over resources and power, with those who grab the most offering scraps and privileges to those who support them. Morality and rights are just myths we have made up to console ourselves in a ruthless dog-eat-dog world. If our existence is only physical, there is no guarantee of moral progress when it comes to people or society. As we've seen, those rights that have been given to us can be denied and taken away. Ultimately the strongest get their way. And looking at things that way leaves us literally dispirited.

But when you believe that there is more to this world than what can be seen, that things like freedom and justice and grace and redemption are real, and that they can be given form in this world just as God took the form of a man in Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of God is at work in this world, and that we can have access to him, and he can work through us and produce in us love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and generosity and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control, and that we can plant the seeds of the kingdom of God in this world, and that what was and what is are not the limits of what can be, then there is hope. Open yourself to the Spirit of the God who is love, who made all things, seen and unseen, and let him lead you to the way, the truth and the life revealed in Jesus, who is God's love incarnate and who makes all things, including you, new. 

What Helps Hope

The scriptures referred to are Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17,20-21 and John 17:20-26.

I watched the recent HBO documentary on George Carlin and I noticed that he was the kind of atheist C.S. Lewis had been before his conversion. Lewis said he didn't believe that God existed and he was angry with God about that! Carlin, raised an Irish Catholic, seems to have been the same—not just an atheist but an anti-theist. He was not indifferent to the God he didn't think existed but hostile to him. And I noticed that his final, really dark comedy phase came after his first wife died of cancer and his own health was worsening due to heart disease. That's when he started saying not merely that humanity was doomed (he actually used a word you can't say on television) but he said that he loved hearing about deadly disasters. He said, “For centuries now, man has done everything he can to destroy, defile and interfere with nature: clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains, poisoning the atmosphere, over-fishing the oceans, polluting the rivers and lakes, destroying the wetlands and aquifers...so when nature strikes back, and smacks him on the head and kicks him...I enjoy that. I have absolutely no sympathy for human beings whatsoever. None. And no matter what kind of problem humans are facing, whether it's natural or man-made, I always hope it gets worse.” He also said, “Somehow I enjoy watching people suffer.” Some of his fellow comics said that was just a comedy bit but he said the same stuff in supposedly serious interviews. Though he had married again, it really does seem he lost hope, at least for the human race.

And maybe that's why Carlin, though he died in 2008, still seems relevant when things are so bad. His observations on humanity's stupidity, on the abuse of power by everyone in power, and on our ability to get outraged by trivial stuff but not what is truly outrageous still resonate. Carlin said, when problems arise in our country we ignore them and when they are overseas, we bomb them. We do seem to be reluctant to tackle big problems, like climate change, mass shootings, income inequality, racism, drug abuse and overdose deaths, at least with the same fervor and massive effort we are willing to put into war. And in many cases it's not that a solution to these problems, or at least effective ways to reduce them, don't exist. We just lack the will to do what needs to be done. Let's face it, if Carlin was right that there is no God, there is no hope.

In Jesus' day it was popularly believed that when the Messiah came, he would end the present evil age and start the Messianic age, setting up a physical kingdom of God on earth. That's one reason why some doubted Jesus was the Messiah. He didn't come as a holy warrior or claim the throne of his ancestor David or drive the Romans out of the land God had given his people. And we can understand their feelings. We Christians do believe Jesus is God's anointed prophet, priest and king who came to earth—and still the world is full of evil. Why didn't Jesus set it right?

Operation Mincemeat was a British intelligence operation that was to set up the Allies invasion of Europe from the south. The problem was that the Nazis rightly anticipated that Sicily was the most logical place for the Allies to land. So a special group of intelligence officers, including Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, came up with a scheme to get the Nazis to move their troops. They selected the corpse of a recently dead man, dressed him up as a major, gave him a common English name, put personal items in his uniform and secret papers in an attache case handcuffed to his wrist and dropped him in the water off Spain, making it look as if the plane carrying him had crashed into the ocean. Though neutral, Spain was crawling with spies. And sure enough, the Nazis got hold of and made copies of the papers, sent them to Berlin, and moved their troops to Greece, where the fake documents said the Allies were to invade. Originally the British expected that 10,000 of their men would be killed or wounded taking Sicily; the actual casualties were a seventh of that. They expected to lose 300 ships: only 12 were lost. They expected to take Sicily in 90 days; it took 38. Thus a dead man saved the lives of thousands and this operation, which took place a year before D-Day and the Normandy landings, is considered a vital first step in the war against the Nazis.

But the war wasn't over, of course. They still had to push the Nazis out of every part of Europe they occupied. Even when it was obvious the Axis troops could not win, they still fought the Allies. Operation Mincemeat was not the end of the war in Europe but the beginning of the end.

And Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection was the beginning of the end of the present evil age. In a sense, the present evil age and the Messianic age overlap somewhat. Just as the Allied troops had to finish up what was started in Sicily, so too the church is expected to take up and continue what Jesus started. But instead of killing and wounding the enemy, Jesus sent us out to teach and show the love of God.

On the night he was betrayed Jesus prayed for the church. As we read in our passage from John, he said, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

A lot of people, including some Christians, think our primary duty is to make others into Christians by spreading the gospel verbally. But as we see here, the word is to be backed up by a unity that mirrors the unity of the Father and the Son. It is a unity of being in complete harmony with not only each other but with God. And it is a unity that comes primarily from sharing the love of God. As Paul said, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophesy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (I Corinthians 13:1-2) God's word is not like a magical incantation. If we speak God's word but do not back it up with love, it will have zero effect. Or it can have the opposite effect of what is intended. George Carlin went to church and Catholic school as a child. Atheist comedians Bill Maher and Ricky Gervais were both raised as Christians. They all claim to have abandoned their faith as kids for intellectual reasons but if you listen carefully, you'll learn that their real beef is with not so much with Christ as with Christians.

And the sad thing is just as Jesus was originally betrayed by someone who was supposed to be his follower, we have seen so-called Christians sell out Jesus, not for 30 pieces of silver, but for millions of dollars and for power and for sex. We see evangelists who have sold out the one who had “no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20) so they can live like kings with huge mansions. We see church leaders who have sold out the one who said his “kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) so they can have political power regardless of whom they have to get into bed with. Speaking of which, we see pastors who have sold out the one who condemned adultery and said the person who harms a little one would be better off at the bottom of the sea “with a millstone around his neck” (Matthew 18:6) so they can abuse members of their flock including children. The sex scandals that started with revelations about the Catholic church have now come to the megachurches, like Hillsong and others, and to the Jehovah's Witnesses, and now to the Southern Baptists. A report just released reveals that for 15 years the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention kept silent about a secret list of more than 700 abusive pastors, moving them quietly from church to church rather than protecting the people under them. They kept mum about this, listening to their lawyers rather than to Jesus who said, “Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known. So then, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms will be proclaimed from the rooftops.” (Luke 12:2-3) But they were not quiet when it came to the abused, whom they maligned to keep the blame from falling on fallen preachers. Where is the Christlike love in that?

One purpose of us regularly confessing our sins to God is to keep such things from continuing and from growing to nightmare proportions. Yes, God is forgiving but God is not fooled by empty words. In Isaiah we read, “The Lord says, 'These people come near me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.'” (Isaiah 29:13) Or as the villain of Hamlet says about his insincere prayers, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

In Jesus' speech to his disciples before his arrest, he says, “If you love me, you will obey my commands.” (John 14:15) And what does he command? That we love one another. He says this 3 times in this speech. 16 times in the New Testament alone, we are told to love one another in those very words. And that doesn't include all the variations such as in Galatians where Paul says, “...through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13) Or in Ephesians where he talks about “...bearing with one another in love...” (Ephesians 4:2) Or when he commends the Christians in Thessalonica for their “brotherly love.” (1 Thessalonians 4:9) Or in Colossians where he says, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:14) Or where the author of Hebrews says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24)

That last part is important because this love is not to be a mere feeling but something that manifests itself in concrete ways in a Christian's life. Paul said, “Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) The law he is talking about is Jesus' command to love one another. If you love someone you help them. We see this in loving families, where spouses help one another with chores or problems, parents help their children with schoolwork and personal difficulties and children help their aged parents with illness and disability. And if we love our neighbor, which Jesus cited as one of the 2 greatest commandments, we help them.

We see this after sudden and devastating natural disasters: hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods and so on. Everyone pitches in to help those affected get back on their feet. After hurricane Irma, various groups from the Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians came to help. But we don't see this quite as much when it comes to ongoing problems that don't have simple solutions involving hammers and nails and bottles of water and mosquito repellent—like racism, mental health, gun violence, and poverty. I'm not saying that there aren't ministries addressing these things—there are—but they don't seem to attract as much enthusiastic support from Christians.

Jesus said the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another. (John 13:35) But does it? When the world thinks of Christians, is the first word that pops up “love”? Or is it “judgment”? Or “anger”? Or even “hatred”?

Even atheist George Carlin understood the gist of Jesus' message. In pointing out that the persons who say we should love one another often get assassinated, among people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Carlin listed Jesus. So why did he abandon the teachings he was raised in? Because he did not see them practiced by Christians. When atheists claim they don't see proof for the existence of God, though they say that lack is found in the intellectual arguments for God, they often reveal that where they really they don't see it is in the lives of those who supposedly believe but don't act like it.

Jesus told us to go out into all the world and make disciples and teach them to obverse all he commanded. The best way to teach is to show something in action. If we don't show Christ's love in all we think, say and do, how are we to convince anyone?

Mr. Rogers said when he was a child, watching the news of disasters upset him. And his mother told him to look for the helpers. That changed his perspective. Instead of despair at what was happening, the helpers gave him hope. He became a Presbyterian minister. And in an unique ministry, he helped children through puppets and songs and by not being afraid to discuss real problems. I think we Christians, instead of crosses, should wear name tags that say, “Hi! I'm _____, a follower of Jesus. I'm here to help!”

Jesus said as much. He said we are to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, visit the imprisoned and welcome the alien. We are to treat them as if they were Jesus because that is how he sees our actions. (Matthew 25:40) After all, how did Jesus show his love for others? By healing and feeding and helping them. We are Jesus' representatives. (2 Corinthians 5:20) If we are to get people to trust him, we have to get them to trust us. And the best way to do that is to help them. Helping builds trust. And knowing there are people who will help gives hope.

Ultimately our hope is in Jesus, who promised to return in the end and set things right. We cannot put the world completely right by ourselves. Only he can. But that doesn't excuse us from doing what we can. And we can do a lot more than we have been doing. For one thing, we can stop getting in the way of efforts to help those who are suffering. One of the things that causes despair is the fact that there are people who, in the face of undeniable problems, choose to do nothing. Some, because we don't have perfect solutions, don't want to do things that will at least make things better than they are. And some, not content with stopping solutions from being implemented, want to make matters worse. And it doesn't help when some Christians are against any solution not found in the Bible. The Bible is not a master “how-to” book, especially when it comes to problems that didn't exist 2000 years ago. It's about the ageless problems of the human heart, one of which is not helping others. Leviticus says, “You must not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is at stake.” (Leviticus 19:16) The Bible condemns not only doing wrong but not doing what's right. As Jesus said, what we do not to others in need we are not doing to him. Standing around when others are suffering is just plain wrong.

Christians are supposed to be helpers. We are supposed to be like Jesus. We are supposed to demonstrate his self-sacrificial love to the world, as did the early Christians. That's what spread the faith. Of course we cannot do that under our own power. Which is why, before ascending, Jesus said, “I am sending you what my Father promised...power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) In other words, the Holy Spirit of God in us. Whom we'll look at next week on Pentecost.

Whom Would Jesus Shoot?

The scriptures referred to are Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5.

A week ago Saturday at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, an 18-year old white supremacist shot 15 people, 11 of them black, killing 10 people. That Sunday a 68 year old Chinese immigrant drove from his home in Las Vegas to shoot 6 people, killing one, at a Taiwanese Presbyterian church picnic in Laguna Woods, California. That Monday I attended a webinar about Christian Nationalism for which I had registered long before these 2 men committed hate crimes on opposite coasts of our country. The speakers at the webinar, both sociologists of religion, mentioned the 180 page screed the Buffalo shooter had posted to rationalize his deeply irrational act. They did so because, while the shooter said he was not a Christian, in describing white culture he said its religion is Christianity. There is a huge overlap of White Nationalism and Christian Nationalism, because both are about maintaining purity. The speakers said the trinity of these “us against them” ideologies are personal freedom, order and violence. They see no contradiction in supporting both order and violence, nor in being concerned only for their freedom and not for that of others. Nor in killing people in the name of Christianity.

Last week we said that one way to define evil is as the misuse, abuse or neglect of what is good. Another definition of evil is the intentional infliction of harm on others. The Buffalo shooter included in his long racist rant a hand-drawn map of the store he targeted as well as instructions on how to arm oneself and do the same. There is no other word for that but evil. But today I want to look at yet another definition of evil. Evil can be seen as having a narrow definition of goodness. It's easy to spot it when you encounter a person who defines goodness as what's good for him or her alone and to hell with everyone else. That is pure selfishness and one hallmark of a psychopath, displaying a lack of empathy for others. But there are less narrow definitions of good that are still evil. The Buffalo shooter restricts goodness to what is good for his race and to hell with everyone else. The California shooter confines goodness to what is good for the nation of his birth and to hell with others, in particular the breakaway nation of Taiwan. When you narrow the scope of goodness, you can easily justify evil.

In the case of Christian Nationalism, the irony is that it totally misses a key part of the very Bible which it purports to revere: the all-encompassing nature of God's love. While God chooses a specific people, he tells Abraham right at the outset that the purpose of this blessing is that “all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3) The blessing is to be shared with everyone. That was God's intention from the very beginning. And so while we initially see the focus of the story of the Bible seem to narrow from Abraham to his son Isaac and to his son Jacob and from his 12 sons, to Judah, and from Judah to his descendant David, when it reaches Jesus, who brings us every spiritual blessing, the focus quickly expands to his disciples and to Jews of the Diaspora and to the Samaritans and to the Gentiles and to the world. Similarly, the Bible begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth and ends with the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. What ties both together is the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven, as we see in our passage from Revelation. There “the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.” No nation or people is barred from it for “Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.” Earlier in Revelation the elders around the throne of God sing to the Lamb, “...at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) Not from some of those groups but from every one of them. Later we read “Then I saw an angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” (Revelation 14:6) The gospel, the good news of what God has done and is doing in Christ, is for everyone. Christian Nationalism is a contradiction in terms—and a heresy.

When Jesus affirms that the second of the two great commandments is to love your neighbor, an expert in the law asks, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) Because if you take the word “neighbor” literally, you could restrict it to someone who lives nearby. That's what the Greek word means. The Hebrew word means “friend or companion.” In other words, someone you know or have a relationship with. This is probably what the expert in the law is going for because Luke tells us he wanted to justify himself. But in response to the question, Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan. In it, the man beaten and left for dead is not helped by a priest or a Levite, the holiest of his fellow Jews, but by a Samaritan, someone Jesus' audience would not consider to be either racially or religiously pure. To Jesus, the traditional definition of neighbor was too narrow. He expanded it to include anyone you might encounter.

And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “You have heard it said, 'Love your neighbor' and 'hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even tax collectors do the same, don't they? And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don't they? So then, be prefect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48) The Greek word for “perfect” also means “complete.” Loving only those with whom you have a good relationship is spiritually incomplete. Only by loving all are you truly like God, in whose image you were created.

As is everyone else in the world. The idea that some people were not created in God's image came out of the Enlightenment! This 17^th and 18^th century intellectual movement not only gave rise to ideals such as liberty and progress and the use of reason and constitutional government but also the idea of racism. Scientists thought humans could be separated into races which had different abilities and dispositions. They classified some races as inferior, therefore “scientifically” justifying treating them differently and restricting what rights and privileges they were given. Some Christians even proposed that darker races belonged to a different act of creation by God and thus were not fully human. Others justified enslaving other races by linking it to Noah cursing his son Canaan, saying he would be a slave to his brothers. (Genesis 9:24-27)

But if all are created in the image of God, then all persons have inherent worth. Killing human beings is prohibited by God because he created us in his image. (Genesis 9:6; cf. Genesis 1:27) In Leviticus, just a few verses after God tells gives the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) he says, “When a foreigner resides with you in your land you must not oppress him. The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so you must love him as yourself...” (Leviticus 19:33-34) You are to love your neighbor as yourself; you are to love the foreigner as yourself; you are to love your enemy. Biblically there is no one you can hate.

Not only can't you hate anyone, you can't even neglect them. In his parable of the last judgment Jesus says that he considers what we do or don't do for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned and the foreigner as being done or not done for him. (Matthew 25:31-46) First, because he is God and we are created in the image of God. But more than that, Jesus died to save the world. (John 3:17) Everyone you encounter is someone whom God created in his image and for whom the Son of God died, whether they know it or not. God knows it, however, and holds us accountable.

So these mass murderers, and those like them, do not uphold the values of Christianity, whatever they say. Quite the contrary. I entitled this sermon “Whom Would Jesus Shoot?” and I hope people will instantly see the internal contradiction there. But you know who more closely upheld the values of Jesus? Aaron Salter Jr., the security guard and retired police officer who tried to stop the gunman in Buffalo. And John Cheng, the doctor who tried to disarm the shooter in Laguna Woods. Both gave their lives to save the lives of others. As Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Aaron Salter Jr. and John Cheng showed that love.

So rather than add to the long list of people who have become famous for killing others, let us instead remember officer Aaron Salter Jr. and Dr. John Cheng, who died to save others. If more of us were willing to live and die as they did, then maybe—just maybe—we would become a Christian nation, one that follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ who gave up his rights and privileges as God and took up his cross and sacrificed his life to give us undeserving sinners eternal life in the kingdom of the God who is love. 

Is Christianity a Cult?

The scriptures referred to are Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31-35.

Religious scholars are reluctant to use the word “cult” these days. It's pejorative. And every current religion started as a small group that managed to survive and grow. Scholars joke that the formula for a religion is to take a cult and simply add time. So the preferred term is “new religious movement.” My problem is then how do we refer to such movements when they exhibit the destructive behavior that marks what is commonly called a cult?

People not squeamish about the term define a cult as group following a charismatic leader who speaks with absolute authority and who exercises extreme control over its members' lives and who exploits them. Which means even non-religious groups like NEXIVM and many multi-level marketing companies can be cults. A secular cult's leader portrays himself as a genius who has worked out the secrets of success. In religious cults, the leader has absolute authority because he speaks for God or says he is God. And that gives him the right to exert control over everything in his followers' lives.

Steve Hassan, an ex-cult member who became a clinical psychologist and is an expert on cults, says what makes some cults destructive are the mind control techniques they use. He articulated the BITE model to describe this. The leader and those under him control members' Behavior, and their access to Information, and teach them to control their own Thoughts and Emotions. The behavioral control will be seen in the amount of sleep members are allowed, the amount and types of food they can eat, whether they can marry or have sex and with whom. They may have to work long hours for the cult for little or no pay. The members' access to information about or from the outside world is controlled not only by cutting them off from the media but also from their family and friends if those are outside the group. Only information from the leader or the cult is allowed to be consumed. When members have doubts or troubling questions or negative emotions about the leader or the cult, they are trained to suppress them. Eventually this self-censorship becomes second nature. It helps the members deal with the cognitive dissonance that naturally arises when they perceive that reality is at odds with what they are taught or when they detect hypocrisy in their leader.

Some feel this describes all religions, especially Christianity. So is Christianity a cult?

First off, let's acknowledge that cults have arisen from Christian movements. But let's not confuse them with denominations. These come about when some Christians feel the predominant church is corrupt and/or in error on a matter they feel is crucial to faith or practice. Luther, Calvin and other reformers broke away from the Roman Catholic church over such issues. But though they started new church movements and were considered great theologians, they were never regarded as being on the same level as Moses or Jesus. Nor did they see themselves that way. They were simply preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the early church when factions attached themselves to certain preachers, Paul condemned it: “...each of you is saying, 'I am with Paul,' or 'I am with Apollos,' or 'I am with Cephas,' or 'I am with Christ.' Is Christ divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?'” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13) As we said last week, what's essential is Jesus. Accept no substitutes.

A group that splits off from the church becomes a cult when the leader claims authority to depart from the teachings and morals of Jesus. In fact cult leaders invariably introduce novel and unbiblical doctrines and unethical rules of behavior. They often do so because they say they are on the same level with Jesus or God, although they usually begin by just saying they speak for God. The revelation of the leader's divine status is usually not disclosed until members are fully incorporated into the group. The leader's special status allows him to break rules that apply to mere mortals.

Well, Jesus did claim to be God. In last week's reading from John, Jesus says, “The Father and I are one.” This does give him absolute authority. And he does make changes in some of the laws of the Old Testament, like those about the Sabbath, and touching lepers, menstruating women and the dead. (Exodus 23:12; Leviticus 13:45-46 and 15:19-27; Numbers 19:14, 16) But he doesn't do this for selfish reasons; he does it so that people can be healed. Cult leaders tend to change moral laws to benefit themselves. Jesus did not use his authority for his own privilege. He did not enrich himself or exploit his followers.

One prerequisite for being a cult leader seems to be having sex with any member you fancy, as was the case with David Koresh, Jim Jones, Keith Raniere, Yogi Bhajan, Serge Benhayon and so on: the list is endless. But there was never a hint of this with Jesus, not even from his detractors. In fact Jesus was apparently celibate. The so-called “Gospel of Jesus' Wife” that made news in 2012 has been shown to be a modern forgery. And then there's that odd saying of Jesus that “there are eunuchs who were that way from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:12) This may have something to do with the fact that, unlike the typical rabbi, Jesus was unmarried, as well as the fact that nowhere in the Bible is there a word for bachelor. Also when Paul, who was celibate, says he could have a wife if he chose, he cites Peter and Jesus' brothers who were married. If Jesus were married, why not point to him as the perfect example? (1 Corinthians 9:5)

And yet neither Jesus nor Paul demand celibacy of Christians, as do some cult leaders. Regarding that saying about eunuchs, Jesus says, “Not everyone can accept this statement, except those to whom it has been given.” (Matthew 19:11) Paul says, “I wish that everyone was as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that.” (1 Corinthians 7:7) Unlike a cult, in Christianity people have a choice when it comes to whom they marry or whether they marry.

Cults don't let people have choices because (A) choices go against the absolute control a cult leader demands and (B) choices can lead to unforeseen situations, which again can be hard to control. But in the early church we see that its unity in Christ did not mean uniformity in all things. As we see in today's reading from Acts, they realized not all Christians had to be Jews or circumcised. Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6) Christians also had the freedom to choose to eat meat that could only be purchased from shops attached to pagan temples and which had previously been offered to idols or they could refuse on the grounds of their conscience. Paul said, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon or Sabbath days—these are only the shadow of things to come, but the reality is Christ!” (Colossians 2:16-17) In other words, don't let these other things distract you from the central reality of the faith: Jesus.

Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourself be subject again to the yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) No cult allows people any latitude or freedom in how they do things. Small infractions are usually severely punished, often physically, and no one is free to just leave. People leaving Scientology get harassed. That's a written policy coming from founder L. Ron Hubbard himself. People who left the Nation of Yahweh in Miami were murdered. In fact their leader, who tellingly called himself Yahweh ben Yahweh, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to the deaths of 14 people as well as 2 attempted murders.

In contrast Jesus said, “...love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45) Sun and rain are both good things in an agricultural society. Most cult leaders think being like God means having the power of life and death over others. Jesus says being like God is showing love and mercy to all.

As we've said, cult leaders are intolerant of those who are not part of their group. But when some of his disciples went to Jesus and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not a disciple along with us,” Jesus replied, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.” (Luke 9:49-50) Unlike cult leaders, Jesus wasn't jealous of others helping people in his name and he didn't promote rivalry with similar or split-off groups.

Cult leaders separate people from family members outside the group. And cult leaders will use the threat of cutting off those who leave from family members who stay in the group. Some justify the practice by referring to the passage where Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have come not to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:34-37) Taken out of context it seems to justify splitting up families in the name of religion. But the context is Jesus sending out the disciples into Galilee and warning them how people will react to their kin becoming his followers. The part of about division is descriptive, not prescriptive. He is saying this will just happen naturally; he is not telling his disciples to make this happen intentionally. Jesus lived in a society in which his fellow Jews were divided into rival groups like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Essenes and the Zealots. Jesus is not naive. He knew that, people being what they are, they would not tolerate another Jewish movement, unlike the way Jesus tolerated the man outside his group doing healings in his name.

As for the second part of this passage, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, Jesus is not saying we should love our family members less. He is saying we should love Jesus more. It's a matter of priorities. But surely nothing is more important than family? In our Revolutionary War and in our Civil War, families were divided on the issues of independence and slavery. Were those issues not as important as keeping the peace in the family? Ben Franklin's son, the royal governor of New Jersey, after being removed from office, worked with a group that tracked down and killed patriots during the Revolutionary War. Father and son never reconciled after that. The same thing no doubt happened in Germany in World War 2. If your brother was a Nazi, would that be less important than having argument-free Sunday dinners? Ma Barker loved her sons more than the lives of those they killed. David Kaczynski loved his brother Ted but when he realized he was the Unibomber he turned him in. At times, loyalty to what is right is more important than loyalty to family.

Cult leaders usually try to isolate their followers from the rest of the world, supposedly to keep them pure, but really to keep control of them and of the information they receive. But Jesus when praying for the church said, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.” (John 17:15) And of course, in the Great Commission, he sends us out into the world to teach and make disciples and baptize others. So should we separate ourselves from the world or not?

The safest place for a boat is on one of those racks on land in a boat yard. But that's not what a boat is for. It's made to go out into the water. The trick is to get the boat into the water but not get the water into the boat. For instance, Corinth was the Sin City of the ancient world, even in the eyes of pagans. On the hilltop above this port city was a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And every day the temple prostitutes would come down the hillside looking for “worshipers.” Being a follower of Jesus was hard in that environment. Paul said to the church there, “I wrote in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone calling himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11) Imagine how many scandals the church would have avoided if it had followed his advice when it came to predatory priests or greedy pastors or con artist evangelists or bullying leaders? We should not be covering up for the same kind of people bringing notoriety to Hollywood and corporations and governments. Again, we are to be in the world but not of the world.

Christianity, as exemplified by Jesus and practiced by Paul, is not a cult. The fact that such groups exist in the church reveals a deficiency in following our ideals. But that doesn't mean we should throw out Biblical Christianity any more than abuses in our government would mean throwing out our Constitution. One way to define evil is as a misuse, abuse or neglect of what is good. Cults arise when charismatic leaders alternately distort and discard the good things found in Christianity for their own selfish ends. They claim to be all about purifying, or restoring the church. They use the urgency of apocalyptic revelations to justify their extremism. They love talking about the imminent end of the world, ignoring Jesus' words that wars and disasters are no reason to panic. He said, “All these things are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)

Another thing Jesus said is, “Watch out that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ.'...Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe him. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Remember, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:4-5, 23-25) Cults do not just happen. They are deliberately started by would-be messiahs, usually narcissistic psychopaths. And cults reflect the personality of their leader. They are manipulative, duplicitous, self-serving, and hypocritical.

Real Christianity reflects Jesus Christ, who lived a self-sacrificial life, healing and helping and forgiving and welcoming others. He didn't ask anything of his disciples he was not willing to do himself. He didn't exploit them sexually or financially. When his enemies came for him, he did not throw his followers under the bus. (John 18:8) He didn't tell them to fight for him nor to kill themselves. (Matthew 26:51-52) Instead he told them to love each other as he loved them. And he said the world would know that they really were his disciples by their Christlike love.