From the blog: “You can get garden variety health advice from the daily newspaper, the “health” section of most book stores, and of course thousands of web sites. I’m hoping to present thought provoking and maybe change provoking thoughts about individual and community health. This blog is not just what to do about health, but how to think about it. I’m looking forward to an exchange of ideas with readers.”

About Richard: “I’ve been a professor of public health for many years, with positions at five different institutions. Currently I’m Professor and Chair of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville”.

I hope you’ll take the time to browse the Health Promotion Exchange, perhaps lingering long enough to offer a comment or two of your own. I doubt you’ll be disappointed even if from time to time you take a different view. 

I have some new books I’ll be reading along the way, one, The Lost Meaning of the Sabbath, the other, Knocking on Heavens Door (a New Testament theology of prayer). Perhaps both of these books will draw me into prayer. 

I’ve decided to spend more time in the book of Genesis as well, in preparation for preaching through the book when I return, but also out of a feeling that I need a deeper understanding of and communion with my Creator. 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

~ Philippians 2.5-11

The attitude or “mind” of Christ was not one that coveted his prerogatives of divinity when he thought of his incarnation. Rather, when the Son of God took human flesh to live among us and for us, he traded his form of God for the form of a servant, willingly, lovingly, without regard to the immense suffering this would bring him. He counted the joy of saved souls of greater value than the joy’s of his divine glory.

Jesus remained fully God in taking human flesh, but he laid aside his right to use his divine attributes in living life as a man. He emptied himself, willing, of his own volition. He became God “in the likeness of sinful flesh” yet without sin. This likeness was not sameness. He took our flesh, including the infirmities of a humanity that had degenerated through four thousand years of sin, but he remained the spotless, holy, undefiled son of man in character. He was man in human frailty yet sinless in nature.

Jesus himself could not and did not need a Savior from a sinful human nature, not as we do. And as the record of his life unfolds to us in the Gospels we see he neither sinned in thought, word, or action. The least taint of sin in him would disqualify him as sacrifice for the sin of man. There could be only One.

However, Jesus was tempted “in all points as we are yet without sin”. There is not a test or temptation known to man that Christ did not suffer. As he suffered, being tempted, so do we. In the flesh he identified with the terrible accusations and deceptions Satan uses against us.

In the wilderness he overcame our temptations to appetite, doubt, and presumption. Where the first Adam failed in Eden the second Adam achieved victory in a barren wilderness. Under a deeper duress than anyone has every faced, culminating on the cross humanity gave him, Jesus overcame sin for us. Therefore, as our High Priest he is able to sympathize with us in our weakness and provide us the help we need when we supplicate his throne of grace.

Jesus embraced the form of a servant, meaning he lived subservient, subordinate, and surrendered to his Father’s will. The life of the Suffering Servant was a life of faith. He performed no miracle nor lived in any other way by the benefits of his divinity. No sin of self-protection marred the work of Christ in redeeming us. His one thought from early morning to evening sunset was the will of his Father. Jesus lived by faith, with no advantage over us in his walk on this earth. Divinity was veiled in humanity, fully able as God but fully submitted to live as man.

Being fully God and fully man in one person, Jesus lived with a human consciousness, with one mind as a man fully dependent day by day on his Father. His will was one with God’s through faith, therefore, he is the One true human, the One true example of what it mean’s to live out the image of God in a world in rebellion against God. Such a condition meant he must pray unceasingly for his Father’s wisdom and strength to be his own. All that he had below he received from above. He did not create from his own divine nature a life apart from our own.

Paul says this is the mind or attitude we must have as professed followers of Jesus Christ. “Let this mind be in you”. We are called to a service, an obedience that does not covet what belongs to God alone. We are called to a service defined by the cross of Christ, an obedience “unto death”. For us this means the daily death of self as we receive his Spirit of service. Love is our motive as love was his. We are not performers to entertain but servants to minister to the necessities of others in the sufficiency of God.

Christ in his incarnation defines the Christian life. Christ also defines the Christians reward as he shows how the first is to become last and the last to become first. Our exaltation at his right hand in eternity depends on acceptance of his character here on earth. It is in living by faith in his righteousness that we are given the reward of the righteous. It will be said of us who follow him what was said of him, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master”.

Remember, it is in the “weakness of God” and “the foolishness of God” that we have our strength and wisdom. “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1.30-31). 

What Christ worked out in his incarnate life is given to us as a gift of God’s grace, a grace he earned for us, and it is to be received by faith in his work as the Suffering Servant of God. Are work as servants, our righteousness as servants of God, is to receive him as our servant. Our salvation is in his work of service for the salvation of our sins.

Jesus served his way to the cross where he turned the common water of humanity into the wine of heavenly righteousness. We are the jars that hold this thirst quenching treasure. As his servants we are to offer the drink of salvation to thirsty souls like ourselves. This is our “acceptable service”.

It is Christ incarnate, Christ in the flesh, Christ alone who is able to bring divinity to humanity without coveting the place of God. Unlike Satan who lusts to rule the kingdom of God, we see the true divine nature in one who would sacrifice all for the sake of redeeming sinful men and women who had defiled his very image.

Only in Christ are we in good form, in the form of a servant, in the cruciform image of God.

Absorbing our minds, concentrating our thoughts. This is the secret of evangelistic power because it is the “secret” of Christian spiritual life. 

As Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me”. 

Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. Deuteronomy 29.18b-20

God delivered Jacob from abject slavery. He brought him out of Egypt, confirming his covenant with his forefathers, Adam, Able, Seth, Noah, Abraham, and Isaac. Not because of his righteousness (Deut. 8-9) but because God is faithful to his promise Jacob was redeemed with the Passover Lamb, the power of God’s right arm.  

Now he is cautioned, beware should you imagine you can bless yourself with security and meaning. 

We might mediate on these words lest Jacob’s history be ours. Only a remnant of Israel would be saved. Do we have a circumcised heart of flesh or does our fruit come from the poisonous heart of proud unbelief?

When I say it may not turn out well, me writing in the middle of the night, I was thinking of other times when I later felt embarrassed by my illusion of midnight honesty. There is a certain clarity that comes my way from time to time, a reminder that I’m at my best, that I’m most human and trustworthy when I see myself as I really am, which is actually less human and less trustworthy than I want to be. A paradox, I know. 

Living in the light is much harder than many day-creatures suppose. I mean living when and where others can see us as we are, not as we desperately want to be. Strange how I can feel more significant in being a sinner than a saint. 

It’s just a matter of being what I am, a sinner, and not pretending to be a saint. That’s all a saint is, a repentant sinner who is so sinful they cry out to God for mercy. But of course, as soon as one begins to talk of one’s own repentance, one’s own turning away from sin, then “one” falls from grace again. The sinner turned saint sins again. Pride is the real darkness. 

I cannot keep myself where I want to be. I am not a master of time and space. The best I can do is admit my lostness and wait for help to arrive. Wandering around in the dark will only make me harder to find. 

I thought of deleting my Facebook account not long ago when I began seeing people from my friends list on large websites like CNN. Instead I’ve changed some more privacy settings for my account. That takes a little time, a little searching. Facebook, as some charge, could make it easier. Still, I’m not that worried. 

I’ll take the chance and stay on Facebook. It’s about as safe as me sitting here at my desk amid all the other viruses of life, as safe as walking down the street or in the mall, as safe as driving my car, as safe as eating out. If I demand being safe all the time, I’m living on the wrong planet. 

I do have my fears, more worries, my concerns for a few private areas of my life. I live now, as often as my faith allows, by talking with God about the things that matter. I’ve come to realize I am part of what makes this world unsafe. Others can feel vulnerable around me. Without God I am as liable to hurt as to be hurt. 

I suppose I’m saying the privacy issues on Facebook are not my greater concerns. 

If your worried about your privacy on Facebook then this link from the Telegraph (U.K) might help. It will tell you how to delete your account or how to adjust 5 primary privacy settings.

This was something I promised when I began my ministry at Middletown last August. Some of you recently reminded me of that. God willing, I’ll be able to keep to these plans. 

I believe a more consistent study and meditation on the cross of Christ will meet our needs. I’ll soon have more to say on this, as well as more on the Gospel of John (our current study for mid-week church meetings).

The Nature of Church, Unity, and Spiritual Gifts have also been themes that I’m connecting in my mind through a focus on Calvary. I want a better understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work in relation to the cross, in how he makes the connection between the cross of Christ and our own. I want to understand his working for us and in us as the spiritual body of Christ, especially in the context of these last days before his return. 

I am sure there themes and such a study are also at the heart of our motivation and planning for organized witness and personal ministry. A continual vision of Calvary is our greatest need. The practical results of such a communion with God will surprise and refresh us. I hope to be a better example of this wonderful truth. 

The depression I’ve experienced over the past few weeks seems to be lifting. The grace of God is working for me through the prayers of those who know my needs. I appreciate your loving concern and helpfulness. 

The week ahead looks full of promise, full of opportunities in the work of Christ. I cannot imagine, do not want to imagine, what it would be like to return to the darkness I have known in the past. I cannot live this life without Christ, the Light of Life. 

I’m expecting the usual problems of daily life to continue, in fact, I expect significant changes as I reconcile with middle-age. However, I hope to use the problems of life as a means of knowing God rather than using God to deny reality or run from my responsibilities. 

I still believe in the necessary pain of life, of the need to be faithful through the problems of living until this life is swallowed up in the eternal life promised to me in Christ. Soon enough I’ll see Christ if I continue “abiding” in him. Just a short time now. It won’t be long. 

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1.1

If you read very far at all past these opening lines of the Gospel of John you soon discover that Jesus Christ is the “Word” who has been with God from the beginning. And you very quickly will have to engage the same questions Jesus’ contemporaries faced: Who is this man and what is his relation to God?

Without preliminaries John leads us to contemplate the very Triune nature of God, that Jesus, the Word, is both with God and is God. More than this, as if we can handle more, it is the Word who is made flesh and comes to dwell with us. God, in the flesh, has come to earth and he is both speaking the Word and being the living Word of God among us. How can these things be? What is God asking us to believe? How will believing in this Jesus change our lives? Can we accept the changes believing the Word will bring?

In sending his Son to us, we are asked to receive and believe in the Word that has been with God from the beginning. Jesus is “God’s thought made audible” (White) to human ears, to human hearts. But more than this, in Jesus we have God himself speaking to us. Throughout the rest of this gospel we see how these truths confront human beings, the people John said were Jesus’ “own”, and what effect the Word has on everyone around him.

Heaven has come down to earth in the incarnate person of the Son of God. The eternal Son is speaking to sinful man; coming from his Father, he speaks of his Father. What he has to say and what we have to do with his words will decide the destiny of us all. 

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he [Jesus] said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:38-39

 “When the Spirit of truth comes….He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-14

The Spirit of God was in the world from the time of creation (Gen. 1.2), moving over the earth as well as abiding in the hearts of those who put their faith in God (Gen. 41.38; Ex. 31.3; Num. 27.18; Jdg.6.34; Isa. 59.21; 1 Pet. 1.11). 

When Jesus said the Spirit “had not been given”, he was referring to the work of the Spirit as a witness to his own work of redemption after his resurrection and ascension to his Father (Acts 1.8; 2.17,18, 33).  The Father would send the Spirit to fill the hearts of believers, giving them the power over evil that was manifested in the life and work of Christ. Filled with the Spirit of Christ, their Lord, (Rom. 8.9; Acts 8.39; 2 Cor. 3.17), they would witness to him as he had witnessed to his Father (Luke 24.48,49; John 15.26,27;17.6,18; 18.37).

The Spirit’s work is to glorify Christ and the glory of Christ was most dynamically manifested at Calvary. Jesus prayed that his Father would glorify him as he gave his life as a sacrifice for sin (John 17.1). It is the work of the “Spirit of Truth” (John 16.13) to bring to our remembrance the living truths of the One who referred to himself as, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14.6). 

To be filled with Spirit of Christ means to be filled with the Word of God, that same word that was “made flesh” and “dwelt among us” more than two-thousand years ago. If we want to know what such a life looks like, what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, we simply have to look at the life of Jesus as revealed in the gospel record. 

His life is the perfect example of how one lives when the Spirit of God abides in their heart. The Spirit filled life is one of conformity to “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. Christian spirituality is conformity to the moral law of God, fulfilling his command to love God with all we are and our neighbor as ourself. Any teaching about the Spirit that denies the holiness of God and his power over sin is false. 

Just as Christ on the cross died to sin (Rom. 6.10), so the believer full of his Lord’s Spirit, will be led in a death to sin. Sin will no longer have dominion over us (Rom. 6.14). He will live a life, empowered by grace, in obedience to the will of God. Anything less than this is not spiritual, but carnal, “of the flesh” (Rom. 8.5; 1 Cor. 3.1-3). 

The “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1.5;15.18;16.26; Acts 6.7), not ecstasy of feeling, is the seal of those living in the power of God. It is this power over sin in their lives that gives power to their witness as they proclaim the victory of Christ over sin and death. 

The church lives or dies spiritually on these truths. Her commission by Christ to be a witness unto all nations, teaching and baptizing in his name, can only be accomplished when the individual members are united in the same Spirit of obedience that dwelt in their Lord. The unity of such love, for that is what obedience is, will be the sure sign of God’s kingdom to come (John 17.21-23). 

God’s Word, written and incarnate, agrees in every respect with God’s Spirit. Being filled with his Spirit equates to being filled with his Word, living not by “bread alone” but by every word that comes from God’s mouth (Deut. 8.3; Matt. 4.4). Would we be Spirit-filled men and women, would we testify with power to the death and resurrection of Christ, would we be believable as we offer the forgiveness of sins and power to live righteously in this world? 

If so, we must be filled with the Spirit of the cross, willing to give our lives in loving sacrifice for the service of those around us. We will take up our cross daily in self-denial, bearing with the sin of our enemies, loving them more than ourselves, giving ourselves to Christ as servants to their Master. Our one consuming passion will be to glorify Christ in our loving service to him and those for whom he died. 

As the soldiers thrust their spear into the side of Christ, causing a stream of blood and water to flow from his body, so the Christian filled with his Spirit will be a spring of water gushing into a thirsty, dying world. When we are pierced by the sins of the world we are, through the Spirit of the living Christ, to be a witness to his death and resurrection, saying to all who hear, “this man forgives the sins of the world, he holds the keys of death and Hades, he once was dead but is now alive forever more”. Surely, this must be the Son of God. “Look and live!”. 

“…always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” II Cor. 4.10-12

Only one true human being has ever lived on earth and we crucified him. Not until the meaning of that man and that event lead us into a crushing despair for what we have done can we even begin to live as children of God. 

Would you know what it means to live on this earth, to live a life for God in this world? Study the cross of Christ. We are to live by dying. That is the cost of love, the price of being human in a inhumane world. The spiritual meaning, peace, joy, hope, and power we crave do not come in any other way; they must be defined by the cross and received by faith. We only have them as we are conformed to his death, when self is offered up in love for others, making their sin our own without regret, self-pity, or hope of some reward in return. 

Christ did not die to keep us from suffering; he died to enable us to suffer. For suffering comes to all who would love their enemies in this frightening world of hate. Embracing his cross we take up our own. Embracing his cross as his reconciled enemies, we receive the grace we must have to love as he has loved us. What was once impossible becomes the ordinary, everyday life of serious joy. 

The cross is everything for those who would live by dying. There is no other way that can be called true, no other way to be human and humane in this world, for Christ crucified is the very image of God. There is no other door to eternal life, no other way of lasting, eternal change. If you would be a Christian in more than words alone, you must take up your cross daily and follow him. 

Ruth’s latest post: Catholic Church ‘knew’ paedophiles were recidivist as far back as 1963

 “The cross of Calvary is to be lifted high above the people, absorbing their minds and concentrating their thoughts. Then all the spiritual faculties will be charged with divine power direct from God. Then there will be a concentration of the energies in genuine work for the Master. The workers will send forth to the world beams of light, as living agencies to enlighten the earth.”  Ellen White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessings, p. 44 

 “If those who today are teaching the word of God, would uplift the cross of Christ higher and still higher, their ministry would be far more successful. If sinners can be led to give one earnest look at the cross, if they can obtain a full view of the crucified Saviour, they will realize the depth of God’s compassion and the sinfulness of sin.  

    

Christ’s death proves God’s great love for man. It is our pledge of salvation. To remove the cross from the Christian would be like blotting the sun from the sky. The cross brings us near to God, reconciling us to Him. With the relenting compassion of a father’s love, Jehovah looks upon the suffering that His Son endured in order to save the race from eternal death, and accepts us in the Beloved.

Without the cross, man could have no union with the Father. On it depends our every hope. From it shines the light of the Saviour’s love, and when at the foot of the cross the sinner looks up to the One who died to save him, he may rejoice with fullness of joy, for his sins are pardoned. Kneeling in faith at the cross, he has reached the highest place to which man can attain.”  ~ Ellen White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 209-10

 

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24.37-39

The surest sign of Christ’ soon return is that the Church, not the world, fulfills the description of Jesus. It is the Church that is unprepared, unaware, unconcerned with the soon return of Christ. Potlucks, picnics, dinners, games, movies, plays, and sports draw us like flies to dung. What? Isn’t social life a powerful “witnessing tool”? Yes, when done as Jesus directed:

“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14.12b-14

Jesus did not forbid the fellowship of Christians, not at all. However, today we have gone far beyond that, preferring our own safe, clean, well-behaved company. The counsel of Jesus is nearly unheard of today accept at Christmas or when a disaster strikes. The rest of the time the sick and poor be damned, especially if it means entertaining them in our own homes. 

Who is ready to sacrifice their personal pleasures to carry the good news of Christ’ death and resurrection to the lost? Who is telling their neighbors of the soon return of Jesus? Who is carrying the message of a judgment that has already begun in heaven and is about to close (Rev. 14.6-13)? Who is willing to sacrifice themselves to save a lost soul? Who are the real sheep and goats Jesus spoke of in Matthew 25?

“Then he will say to those on his left [the goats], ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25.41-46

Just as it was in the days of Jesus, when he “came to his own people and his own people did not receive him” (John 1.11), so it will be at his second coming. The Church is no more ready for the return of Jesus than was the nation of Israel for his first Advent. Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you (Matthew 21.31).

Repeatedly Jesus warned his disciples of this danger, in the parable of the Wise Servant (Matthew 24.45-51), of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25.1-13), in the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25.14-30). But as often happens, these always apply to other people, never ourselves. Hell is always where other people go. 

Jesus was surely right when he said love would grow cold because of our lawlessness (Matthew 24.12). The faith that reveals itself in loving service to a lost world is nearly extinguished. Laodicea has not repented and been healed (Rev. 3.14-22). She remains self-satisfied, feeling “in need of nothing”. She eats, wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong” (Proverbs 30.20). 

Is this the best service we can offer Christ after he gave so much for us? Is this what he called us to when he said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”? With so little fishing, so small a catch, it can only mean so few are truly followers of Christ. 

For preacher and people alike, no truer description was ever given of Christianity today:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,  and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah,  whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Matthew 23.1-39

“Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Matthew 13.10-13

Jesus did not teach smug, self-righteous, complacent hypocrites in the same way he taught his disciples. To the rough, simple Galilean fishermen he could be open and direct. But to the religious Judeans of southern Israel, who considered themselves better than others and took every opportunity to prove it, Jesus spoke in parables. 

He did this for two reasons. One, because those centered around Jerusalem were so self-assured in the knowledge of the truth, because they were so convinced they were the ones full of love and grace, their hearts were very dark with prejudice. They prejudged everyone in every situation. They were sure they had the answer before one was ever offered. To reach them, Jesus must seem as if he were teaching others instead of them. Slowly, if at all, a few came to see the deeper, convicting truths of his parables. A few of the self-righteous were converted.

Secondly, these complacent, God-fearing worshippers were a dangerous lot. Should Jesus openly confront their hypocrisy in the beginning his ministry would not have lasted the mere three and half years that it did. Nothing is so full of fury as wounded pride. You’ll notice as you read the gospels that his direct denunciation of their behavior came very late in his ministry. (Matt. 23). Once they understood his message, they turned very political, first conspiring how they could undermine his work, then finally seeing that nothing but his death would keep their identity as the people of God secure, they crucified Jesus. 

Thankfully, things have changed. Christ has risen from the dead. All we need to do is be ourselves.