May 2015 – The Wandering Shepherd

The Gospel Applied: “The Artist” – Romans 11

Almost in the perfect center of the north end of the city of Paris, the hill of Montmartre and its grand white Cathedral of “Sacré-Cœur” (Sacred Heart) seem perched above the city. From the church you are afforded one of the most magnificent views of the “city of lights” that doesn’t require going up in a rickety elevator on an old “erector set” called the Eiffel Tower. Montmartre is noted for several things, but probably best known for the quarter’s daily working street artists. Gathered near the square due west of the church, these artists sit in front of easels painting either in oils or watercolor, while others around them are sketching, chalking and creating in a host of artistic media. Though I could not do what they do, I confess that I love to walk around and see artists at work.

One of the most fascinating parts of the experience of watching an artist develop a picture is what I would call the “layering” of the picture. For a long time, the artist of a landscape (and even many who detail the background of a portrait) may work on the background of a picture with a variety of colors and shades that have no discernible purpose at all to the lesser trained eye. Often, I cannot make “heads nor tails” of the picture as they develop it in the early stages. Yet, if I wait patiently and don’t distract them, the artist will carefully offer an amazing transformation of the canvas – and the scene will begin to assemble and make itself known…

Let’s face it: One of the best ways to describe God may well be that He is the greatest of all Artists. He is the author of art – just as He is the Author of all things. He works the background of something, sometimes for hundreds of years, before anything becomes clear at all. He works very carefully on every detail of the setting, so that His picture becomes clear. In fact, there are many words that describe God, but none sweeter than the word “patient”. If you watch Him work the canvas of history, you get the same thrill as standing over the artist’s shoulder. That is one of the things that His Word affords us – the longer view of history from the Artist’s perspective! Watching His work, it becomes readily apparent that God works through the eons of time to tell His story and is meticulous about every detail- because each layer will affect the later story – and all of it is a singular picture. I mention that truth because our lesson comes from a text that exposes this very idea… Paul’s writing in Romans 11 teaches this central truth…

Key Principle: God is working a plan to show Who He is through His historic people – and it is being artistically sculpted from materials that do not look now like they will look when He is finished.

Because that is true, we find that God’s work with the Jewish people, in spite of their rejection of Messiah’s first coming, is not finished. He wants His estranged bride to return to Him, and see the gift He has given for them. As a result, their rejection of God is…

Not total: There is a remnant!

Paul made the point that NOT ALL Jews refused to see the work God did in Messiah for them. Some believed and remained people of faith…for God was not done with the Jewish people. He wrote:

Romans 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in [the passage about] Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” 4 But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” 5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to [God’s] gracious choice. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Before we go too far into our lesson, let’s remember something: It is easy to “tune out” to passages that don’t seem immediately relevant to “us”. Don’t do it! Be patient with the Artist – He has something profound and wonderful to show us! The earliest layer to the picture was a time when Jews pointed the way to God. The atonement sacrifices brought temporary, but real peace with God. The nations made their own false gods, while the Jewish people were endowed with the revealed truths of the Creator Who had been rejected by the sons of the sons of Noah. The first layer was the layer of joy from a people of the Law, a layer with Mount Sinai in the background.

Over that was a “second layer” of the historical canvas – the layer of the Cross. The Jewish people were represented on that dark part of the canvas by some leaders who were bitter and self-interested. They rejected Jesus when He stood before them, and they had no place for the work of the people of the Way – who seemed as “upstart Jews” who were unwilling to follow Jerusalem and the Temple leadership. They sought to shut down the message of the nascent group, and they hounded the steps of Paul as he led people to Jesus’ teachings and the work of cleansing through His death. Paul opened Romans 11 with a question: “Is this the last layer of the canvas?” His answer was a loud and clear: “No!”

He made a few points:

First, God’s curtain of spiritual blindness that fell on the Jewish people as a whole did not include all of them – for he was an example of a small piece of the original cloth of the Jewish people: he and other Jewish believers were pieces of remnant fragments of the nation. That should remind us that the message of the Lord is not MORE TRUE because His Word is MORE POPULAR. As our culture moves from its Christian moorings back toward a rebirth of paganism, don’t underestimate the power of God to revive His message at any time. The Bible promises that even in the darkness of the Great Tribulation, yet there will be a remnant of witnesses that will proclaim a walk with God – even to their own peril.

Second, this wasn’t a strange work of God – but a familiar theme from the earlier canvas. God was probably NEVER held by the majority on a personal and intimate level, and at times, it seemed like believers were almost ALONE in their following of God. Elijah was provided as an example in verse two. God’s reply in verses three and four help set things in perspective: I have always had more in my fold than people could obviously tell. That is an important truth: often when it comes to the believers and their strength – things aren’t what they appear to be. Sometimes we look much weaker than we are. Remember that in the days ahead… the world will call our message as “defeated” – a relic of the time past. Yet, they will not know how many draw their personal strength from a personal and vital walk with the Lord and His Word.

The end of the short passage encouraged people who believed that there were others who also found refuge in the faith that brought life. Their belief in the sacrifice of Jesus became the basis of their walk with God, and they were now living examples of the remnant – in spite of the rejection of the majority of their people. Herein is a great lesson: The greatest “take away” to this short view of a snapshot from the history of the relationship between God and Israel is this: It doesn’t matter what you have done, if you are still alive, you can turn back to God – because of His grace.

That isn’t a lesson for someone else from some other time and place: it is a lesson for us right now. You haven’t done anything to get too far from God. He is still beckoning you to come to Him if you haven’t made that choice. He still wants you, no matter how profound your rejection has been, and no matter how deliberate you have been at defying His Word. Grace is unmerited favor. Faith is seeing it His way. Salvation is embracing His forgiveness – given in grace and accessed by faith. Here is the truth: It doesn’t matter what brought you to this point – you are still invited to have a relationship with God through the completed work of Jesus – until you breathe your last breath – and then time runs out. The people of Israel committed many heinous acts against God – but He kept coming at them. In the same way, it could be that He is coming at you right now, once again, to get you to respond. Don’t back away. Israel has been an example of God’s patience – and you can be the benefactor of responding to a patient God!

Yet, that isn’t all! God’s work in Israel is not total – there were SOME who believed even at the time of Paul (just as there are some now)! Yet, Paul offered more…God’s rejection of those who led Israel, and the dark curtain He placed over many of their hearts is not the final layer of the canvas. His veiling is…

Not final: There is a promise!

God STILL has a future for the Jewish people. Paul wrote:

Romans 11:7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” 9 And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. 10 “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.” 11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. 12 Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!

Paul returned in verse seven to a familiar theme of the past few chapters, because it was an argument being pressed by those who were drawing men and women to defect from their faith in Jesus. The argument was this: “How is it possible that the God of Abraham would draw many pagans to Himself, while those who stood in long Temple lines in Jerusalem were largely blinded from a true and vital walk with Him?” Paul’s answer was clear: God promised that would be the case in the prophets.

People are always surprised by God when He does EXACTLY what He promised for generations in the prophets. God told them that a “spirit of stupor” would overcome them spiritually. They would stop seeing, in spite of the fact they would have the Scriptures all around them. The Word would become tradition, the miracles of their dramatic rescue from Egypt would become mere relics of memory. Verse ten explained they would stop “bending their backs” – they wouldn’t worship and fall down before God. They would have all the trappings of a grand cathedral in Europe that bears nothing more than a museum of art themes of the Bible. In Christian terms – the Cross would become jewelry, the hymns a form of entertainment. Even the grandest memories of worship, the very “Hallelujah Chorus” of Handel, would become a warm memory of times with family – not a pricking memory of deep worship of God. That is what happened to the Jewish people long ago, but it has happened to my people in my lifetime – so it is not nearly so remote and strange. I understand how it happens… I have seen it happen. When people play with holy things and don’t treat them as unique and distinct – they become common. Even the very sharp and powerful Word of God can become a source book for scholarly quotation, rather than a guide for our daily walk in worship and service of God.

Yet, that isn’t the end of these verses. There is a wonderful conclusion to the ancient paragraph that reveals something of the character of God. He closed his thought with the fact that God had OTHER PROMISES as well. Not everything God promised was judgment – it was directed at warning. It was given to draw people back from their sin. God promised that a new relationship would rise from the darkness like a living Phoenix from the pile of dry ashes. Verses eleven and twelve press the case – Israel will again live. They will go through a time of jealousy, unable to understand how the God of Israel could become the God of so many others and yet feel distant from them. That nagging jealousy would eventually result in their own return! How could that be??? Here is the truth: God isn’t just about where people are, He is about where He is taking them. This is the encouragement to the parent who is sobbing at night because of the hardness in the heart of their grown child: God isn’t done with them yet!

People often don’t get to their destination by all good experiences and good feelings. Sometimes events scare them and put them back where they belong.

I am thinking of the story of the man who stumbled into an open grave when cutting across the cemetery to get home more quickly. You see, he was in a hurry, and he thought he could take a short cut. He lived nearby, and wasn’t easily spooked because he had passed through the cemetery hundreds of times. This time was different. He didn’t see it coming. An open grave came upon him and his foot fell where he thought ground would be – only to find himself stuck in a hole. Startled, but unhurt, he tried climbing out of the hole… but each time he clawed the sides to boost upward, the earth crumbled in his hands and he tumbled back into the grave. After several unsuccessful and painful attempts, he sat down in a corner and decided to wait for help to come, or the sun to rise when the workers would return to the hole. What must have been a few hours passed. Another man wandered into the cemetery, also one who had been there many time. He was a street drunk, and like a movie “on cue” he stumbled thru the cemetery and fell into the grave. After a few misguided attempts to jump and claw and climb his way out… he also concluded there was no way to get out. The first resident of the hole said nothing as he watched the drink struggle for a bit, and then quietly said to him: “You’re never going to get out of here.” Yet, in a burst of fear and energy – the old drunk DID!

Take a moment and think about the words of verse twelve: Romans 11:12 “Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!” Can you see the promise in the verse. Jews WILL again have a relationship, as a people, to the God of their past. He has affirmed they will come home to Him. Their long struggle in man-made rules and intricate laws will finally be broken by a path back to His arms – for He has declared it!

How can that be? The answer is simple. God is at work in them even when it appears He is not. Paul continued…God’s work is…

Not haphazard: There is a plan!

Romans 11:13 But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will [their] acceptance be but life from the dead?

It is hard for us to hear this truth, but it is important: Sometimes the time spent in darkness defines God’s future uses of us in the light. Sometimes the years our children spend walking in the world as though we had not taught them of Christ are exactly what God will use to shape their heart for outreach in the future. Perfect Christians cannot reach fallen neighbors. Only those who have felt the pull of temptation can help others recognize the prints of her icy fingers on their heart. I am in no way justifying some “sowing of the wild oats” theology – but am making a simple point: Our experiences, for good or bad, shape us as a tool in the hand of God. It could be that your son or your daughter today walk in defiance of the Lord – but today isn’t the last day. Ask some of the great leaders of our time if Christian kids are always examples on the way to being leaders of the faith? You know the answer!

God declared that the temporary and partial rejection of the Jewish people of Him brought benefits to the world – but it did something more. Through time it showed them graphically that there is no one like the Lord. There is no one Who would love them in spite of their sin and deliberate rebellion against Him! There is no one who would see all of the darkest and most selfish parts of them, and yet still conclude they are worth giving all to embrace. You are loved as Israel is loved – and so is your wayward child or grandchild. It hurts to see it – but remember this: God knows that hurt. He has lived with more of it than any of us can imagine!

At this point in his argument, Paul changed his tone a bit. He saw a problem emerging that has become profound in the centuries… the conceit of pagans who come to Christ in the face of kicking and rebellious Jews who await a promised return to God. Paul warned we of the church must walk…

Not with conceit: There is danger!

There is a temptation to see what God is doing in US as the APEX of what God desired to do in the ages. Every figure, when painted onto the canvas, can begin to feel as though the whole picture frames ONLY THEM. Paul made the problem clear:

Romans 11:16 If the first piece [of dough] is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, [remember that] it is not you who supports the root, but the root [supports] you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural [branches] be grafted into their own olive tree?

God delights in using broken people and broken things. All of us who have a walk with God know that we don’t deserve His love – and we can easily make as big a mess out of our lives as any of our lost neighbors are doing right now. We are not better than others. We are not more loveable. We are not more stable. We know ourselves…

Here is the truth: A walk with God brings delight – but it can also bring arrogance. We can look down on others because we feel a specialness that was designed for our encouragement, not for our hard-hearted exclusion of others. When we see ourselves as the center of God’s plan – but we must also be wary that we don’t make more of ourselves than we ought!

In this history of the church, it is obvious that those from a pagan background felt superior to the Jewish people, probably as an initial reaction to the Jewish attacks on the early faith. We must admit this history of Anti-Semitic tradition within the church and move to seeing them again as a people of future promise. That was Paul’s point.

At the same time, we must apply that principle to many others around us. God is at work in people that we may easily disdain. That philandering man at the office, now on his fourth wife and seeking yet more “action on the side” is falling through life trying to find happiness in the bedroom – but it isn’t there. That gay neighbor who believes their whole being is somehow tied to their feelings of attraction may not seem a likely candidate for a close friendship, but God is at work there. The lonely and fearful prisoner, sitting in a jail cell and surrounded by strangers may not seem the best investment of your time on earth, but if God leads – you would be wrong about that! That young hyperactive child with the frazzled and underpaid single parent may not seem like fertile ground for the Gospel – but you are wrong. God has already planned a spouse and five more children slated for a family of the future that will be an example of godliness in their future neighborhood. What is missing from the recipe? Your participation!

Let’s face it: People who are too good to get involved in the lives of other people are of little good to the Kingdom. The church of our day needs to take this to heart. People are the center of God’s outreach plan. Those of us with a walk with God are the people assets of outreach, and lost people are object of God’s affection. If we get so busy running the church programming to suit the believers, we can forget that the church wasn’t given to the believer to give him a place to feel at home – it was primarily given to the community so that a people of witness would be equipped. We are left on earth for those who do not know Him, but desperately need to know Him. He is there only hope for fulfillment now and “forever peace” in the future.

Let’s not get arrogant about God’s work in us – and become more focused on God’s work THROUGH us. The Jewish people have a future because God declared it so. Yet, so do a great many others – if we will not be TOO GOOD to reach into their lives! The tricky part about God’s work is this…It is often…

Not obvious: There is a secret!

Paul knew his people were going to be renewed to a walk with God. Yet, he knew that believers who only looked at the current attempts of Jewish leadership to discourage and dissect the early church could not see the bigger program of God. He saw it, because his view wasn’t based on the news – but on the Word of God.

Romans 11:25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery– so that you will not be wise in your own estimation– that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” 27 “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of [God’s] choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him [be] the glory forever. Amen.

A Biblical world view allowed Paul to see what others could not see – that God was at work carefully painting another layer on His picture of human history! God was working an intricate plan, and believers who took their cue from the news would not see what God was doing. That is STILL a major problem with the church of Jesus Christ.

Many in the church see Israel as replaced – but verses twenty-five to twenty-seven make no literal sense in that scenario. Others focus on current Jewish opposition to the Gospel and conclude that because they are hard to reach, the efforts would be better spent elsewhere – but that doesn’t take into account Paul’s answer in verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine.

Here is the simple truth: God doesn’t give up on His plan…He keeps steadily working it out. He works it out when even the believers don’t believe. He plods ahead, unaffected by our doubt and complaint – because He knows what He is doing. He knows where it all ends… in His glory.

Let me ask you a serious and important question before we leave this lesson: “What role to YOU play as the Artist does His work on the canvas?”

This past week I read an article by a man who was part of a team of managers tasked with revitalizing failing departments in the business world that were badly under-performing. He made a remark like:

“One of the first things we did was sit around and watch. A simple seat near the water cooler helped me understand the workers in the office. They were in every office! There was the:

· GOSSIP – Did you hear about so and so?
· WHINER – Did you know the other department got a raise? Can you believe…
· MURMURER – I can’t stand our boss. I hate this company…
· LAZY – Between the restroom and the water cooler, my morning is all booked!
· THIEF – You can go, I will clock out for you later…

He said: Every area had its GOSSIP, its WHINER, its REBEL LEADER IN THE MAKING, its HIDING LAZY PERSON… its THIEF. I was no industry genius, all I had to do was WATCH. If I paid attention – people made their own reputation, day by day.”

Let me ask you plainly again: “What is your role in God’s outreach work? Are you busy doing Kingdom work, or hiding on the golf course and whining at the political media desk? People aren’t won to Christ by outrage – but by loving engagement. Yet, it seems, many prefer to spend the time consuming the next story that will fuel their outrage rather than spending their time engaging in love the people God placed all around them.

Last week is GONE. You cannot recover it. What will this week bring? Are you walking away from this short lesson in the Word anticipating that God wants to work through YOU?

God is working a plan to show Who He is through His people – and it is being artistically sculpted from materials that do not look now like they will look when He is finished.

Isn’t that the best news you have heard in a long time? You may not look the way you will when God is done transforming you, but God is at work on you, just as He is on the whole picture He is making.

You may not know her name, but Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer with a remarkable career. Her influence on modern dance has been compared to Picasso’s on modern visual arts, Stravinsky’s on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright’s on architecture. Her career longevity was also impressive. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years! Professional dancers experience the same physical wear and tear as other professional athletes. Martha Graham surpassed every standard. Her success and acclaim extended beyond the dance world when Graham was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House and travel abroad as a cultural ambassador. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Japan’s Imperial Order of the Precious Crown, and the Key to the City of Paris. Her most famous quote was: “No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” (Adapted from a sermon by Rev. Kelly Mitchell, sermon central.com).

Would you be open to the idea that God is still at work on the canvas, because so many are still lost? So many still need to see your life, hear your story and know your God. Some of them are the Apostle Paul’s distant relatives… and a great promise awaits them someday soon!

Following His Footsteps: “That Pesky Jesus Problem” – Matthew 27:1-54

One of the traits I truly admire in great leaders is their ability to remain calm in the face of extraordinary circumstances. The “best of the best” have been able to withstand enormous pressures, often without showing much of the wear it had upon them. Whether it is a jovial smirking face of the cigar-laden Winston Churchill, or the calm but tired look of Abraham Lincoln – history sometimes yields little snapshots of great men with resolute faces of quiet confidence. Think about those two men for a moment… Can you imagine finding yourself responsible for the course of your country in such dire circumstances? Lincoln was watching the Union he loved dissolve and fragment over decades old conflicts. Churchill was watching his world renowned, well-ordered and prosperous society of England pummeled into rubble by Nazi rockets and bombs. Both were faced with enormous pressures, but both responded with confidence… At least, that is what the pictures show.

Have you ever been in a situation in which you were absolutely unprepared for what was expected of you? I admit that I am a bit of a compulsive planner, almost neurotic about being unprepared, which is probably my version of a personal nightmare. I want to be ready for what is expected – and I want to deliver MORE than was expected. That desire must be kept in check, because it can drive me if I am not careful. Over the years, I have come to realize a problem in life: the things which catch me by surprise are often some of the most critical things to get right in my first response. (Ask the Honorable Mayor of Baltimore if she would like to have had more time to prepare some of her remarks this past week!) Knowing what to do in grave circumstances and before critical people in a pressured moment is a skill that must be honed, tested and practiced. One thing is certain: From all we can tell from historical documentation, Pontius Pilate didn’t have those skills on the ready. He had a moment of his leadership remembered in history – and it is a moment where he not only failed to lead, but was completely “rattled” by the crowd. He was a man who appeared confused by the stresses of leadership.

How do I know? In the Gospel account, during the last hours of Jesus earth ministry before He was crucified, the Savior stood before that leader – Procurator Pontius Pilate. Pilate stood in the toga of an equestrian Roman, a man bred into the upper class of society, and proudly surrounded by the might of Rome’s soldiers, but he didn’t sound the part. Pilate asked a critical question to the leaders who brought Jesus before him. Matthew 27:22 recorded it this way: “Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” He was the de facto leader on the scene – but he was a man with a terrible perplexing problem, and seemed to be seeking advice from the people he was called to lead. What should he DO? …Indeed. Consider this truth for a moment…

Key Principle: What we DO with Jesus determines what we DO with our own lives and our own destiny.

Historians differ on approaches to Jesus. World historians view western history around the coming of Jesus – because more than the calendar changed. The impact of the message and people of Jesus was obvious to any who are truly open to studying western history. At the same time, much of the historical work doesn’t really expose Jesus – but rather those who followed Him. In my life, I have found…

People DO many things with Jesus:

Consider for a few moments some of the people in the narrative of the New Testament, particularly in Matthew 27, where we are treated with an interesting view of what a variety of people “DID” with Jesus. They are more than just memories. I would suggest they are almost archetypes. Let’s take a look:

Leaders bound Jesus

Matthew opens with Jesus in custody, and the rising of the sun…

Matthew 27:1 Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; 2 and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.

The Jewish leadership could tolerate no more of Jesus, nor of those who followed Him. In essence, those who could not control Him, sought to silence Him. Is that not something we have seen, over and over in history.

Think about the church’s objections to moral redefinition today. Think about the unshaken nature of the church in relationship to the unborn. We don’t seem flexible – because we follow an unchanging God when it comes to moral precepts. For generations, leaders of our country (many who can be evaluated by the works of private biographers) unashamedly quoted from the Bible, called upon people for counsel like the Reverend Billy Graham, and thought of the Biblically unmovable fences of morality as a GOOD THING. Yet, as the tide of public opinion turns – because it has been deliberately engineered by forces bent on re-shaping our moral frame – these same leaders quietly offer tacit approval to creating an environment that silences the words of the Scripture on subjects now found unpopular.

Let’s be wise: When so-called “leaders” cannot control Jesus and His message, and they cannot co-opt it for the purpose of gaining popularity – they choose the third option… to silence it by whatever means necessary.

Hollywood has tried to remake the image of Jesus and cut and paste His words to make Him inoffensive – but that hasn’t worked – because God preserved the text and its pages stubbornly reveal their antics. Educators have tunneled under the Scriptures and tried their best to offer such complex criticisms of the Holy Writ that students would be left plagued with doubts about the veracity of the narrative – but students who do the work will find that the Bible is filled with details that have been unearthed by archaeologists. Even more, those who are walking with Jesus have watched His Word take apart the strongholds of evil within and woo us to obedience. The power of the Word by those who have truly encountered it, is hard to silence in a life transformed.

Go back to Matthew 27, and look at the opening words. The men “conferred” together about what to do with Jesus. He Who sought no advice from them, was now at the mercy of committee rule. They weighed whether stoning would be an option, but with the Galileans in town for the feast – a group among whom Jesus was quite popular – they thought imprisonment or death would bring an uprising. Some suggest, from time to time, that the leaders couldn’t have killed Him without being defiled. Yet, on close inspection to the Gospels, these men seemed quite capable of ordering a death along with a lunchtime salad – and continuing through the day with punctilious religious ritual. I suspect the need to keep the crowds settled was the deciding factor – not the morality of the command to kill. They decided to trade Jesus to the Romans and seek His death through the courts. In the event all things went poorly, they could hope that only Pilate would be the loser.

Here is the truth: If leaders can’t USE Jesus for their ends – they may well move to SILENCE Jesus and His followers. We have passed through decades of attempts to align the followers of Jesus with a political party – and we are now seeing the truth. We will be discarded and silenced if we don’t bend with political winds. This isn’t the first time – it has been going on since the Gospels…

Judas betrayed Jesus

Judas also had a decision to make about what to DO with Jesus. Matthew recalled:

Matthew 27:3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See [to that] yourself!” 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. 6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7 And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. 8 For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel; 10 AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER’S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME.”

Let’s say it this way: The one who did not face the beckoning of conviction faced the dead end of the wall of guilt. Scripture defined the difference between “Godly sorrow” – what we call “conviction” and “ungodly sorrow” – what we call guilt. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote:

2 Corinthians 7:8 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it…9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to [the point of] repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to [the will of] God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to [the will] [of] God produces a repentance without regret, [leading] to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Paul had previously written to them about one who was walking in sexual sin (1 Corinthians 5) and their arrogance in boasting that they “loved the man” in spite of the sin. Paul told them to separate the man from their midst. He upset them. He may have even written them a second time (some scholars feel) with even sterner words. The words hurt their feelings and made them face the sin.

Why is that important enough to mention? We now seem to live in times when people have become convinced that preserving their feelings are of supreme importance in life. For the world, this is to be expected, but even many Christians don’t seem to recognize that obedience to God is far more important than “how I feel about an issue”. Some of us don’t seem to grasp that it is no vice to call sin what it is (God’s prophets made a living doing it) and it is not wrong to require believers to face what they are doing when it is contrary to God’s Word. That isn’t “judgy” – it is the loving work of a brother of sister who truly wants you to become all that God made you to be!

Some have forgotten that Paul made clear some sorrow is GOOD – if it leads one to conviction, and that sense in turn leads the wayward back to the arms of God in obedience. On the other hand, there is such a thing as ungodly sorrow – an insidious guilt that helps us erect a wall and block our return to God in obedience. Let me suggest that although the call to face sin can be delivered badly, it is not usually the major problem. The bigger factor seems to be the heart of the one to whom the appeal is made. If we care more about what we want than what God has directed, we rebuff conviction – we will harden and recoil. We may attempt to place the blame for a guilt wall on the messenger who called us to repentance, but the mortar of rejection was mixed in the unyielded heart of the one who cared more for their feelings than for their Lord.

In the Gospels, Judas had remorse – guilt – but did not allow that to soften him to conviction. Though he turned on Christ behind the scenes – others turned on Christ right in front of Him. Peter’s rejection led to conviction; Judas’ led to guilt. Peter found a forgiving Christ; Judas found a rope. The difference wasn’t the sin as much as the response to the prompting of God about what they did.

We must grow to understand that our feelings must be subservient to God’s Word – regardless of what the feelings are about. God didn’t give us commands to harm us, and the enemy and the fallen world don’t beckon with temptation us to truly help us. We must not blame the Scripture, nor the one who points out our error from it – we must accept the responsibility to soften to God’s inner conviction – or we will harden into sinful patterns that kill.

What we know about Judas is this:

• First, his name suggests either that he was a man from Kerioth in Judea, or that he came from the upstart political movement of the “isacarii” or “dagger people”. In either case, he was different than the average Galilean follower of Jesus. He was very likely a southerner in a group of northerners.

• Second, Judas complained about the use of funds, and was scolded by Jesus. Perhaps he was truly interested in the poor at one point, but it is clear by his interest in personal payment by the priests that he had become greedy. He was about to receive the price of a slave’s life (thirty pieces of silver, cp. Exodus 21:32) for testimony against his rabbi.

• Third, it appears that Judas struggled inside with his own chosen commitment to follow Jesus. The Master said and did things he didn’t always agree with – and he hadn’t truly surrendered to following what the Master wanted. He followed when it made sense to him – but held back his heart when it didn’t. Judas isn’t the only follower who ever reserved his heart for his own ultimate control.

Let me suggest that I am not at all certain that Judas saw any of what happened playing out the way it did. I don’t believe he saw himself on the end of a rope, until guilt and shame boxed in his life and squeezed the air from him. He had been the treasurer of the group – an insider. Now he was a disloyal and untrustworthy traitor. He couldn’t face himself, let alone the other men he had traveled with along the way. Tell me he didn’t replay that kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane a thousand times as he walked to the side of the Hinnom Valley and tied up the rope to the tree…

Judas heard the gentle voice of Jesus. He sat beside Him for several years. He knew the Master’s laugh, and even saw Him weep for people. He saw Jesus forgive a woman overtaken in adultery, a man caught up in slimy taxation and greed – yet Judas missed something. He missed Who Jesus truly was. He missed His deep desire that NO ONE would perish distant from God. He missed the grace of God – the undeserved mercy of the Holy One to the broken and dirty. He got far enough to feel conviction, but all he could do is read it as condemning guilt. He died without peace, and faced an eternity without mercy – because he turned his face from the mercy of God right in front of him!

Pilate bargained with Jesus

The Roman governor’s exchanges with Jesus highlight another way some people try to “handle” Jesus…

Matthew 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “[It is as] you say.” 12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” 14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a [single] charge, so the governor was quite amazed. 15 Now at [the] feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people [any] one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him [a message], saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21 But the governor said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” 23 And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!” 24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see [to that] yourselves.”

Let me offer a simple idea about Pilate’s exchanges: He who could not maneuver politically, surrendered immorally. We mentioned Pilate at the beginning of this lesson, but there is more here than just a question – there is a record of a man who looked like a leader, but was actually a trapped follower.

Think of the conversation recorded in Matthew’s account. We know that Pilate was a politician and a man of some significant wealth in his day. We know that he was the ranking official on the scene representing the Emperor. Yet, his maneuvering got him nowhere… In the beginning, he asked questions to Jesus. Two are recorded: “Are you the King of the Jews?” and “Can’t you hear their accusations against you?” As you keep reading, Pilate addressed the delegation that came to see him – and he also did it with questions: (twice) “Whom do you want me to release to you?” and later: “What shall I do with Jesus called the Christ?” If you look closely at the account, Pilate offers nothing to the crowd in logic or direction – but simply asks people what they want, and then gives it to them. No wonder he could claim innocence – he had done nothing to show any decision making ability!

Pilate would probably do well in a modern leadership role. In the absence of values driven men and women, we find ourselves increasingly following people who poll test their “values” and choose the path of their “leadership” based on the more popular notion of the crowd. Let’s be clear: that isn’t leadership – it is being a follower with a leader’s title. In the absence of heartfelt values, many who would lead are much more readers of polls than leaders of people…and it appears that has been true, at least in some, for many years.

Bold leaders know right from wrong, and use their place of leadership to attempt to persuade people who need to be led. Bold leaders don’t need the crowd to tell them what is moral, and what is just. They are moved, much more by needy people, then by popular opinion. Pilate was clearly NOT a bold leader. In the middle of his dealing with Jesus, Matthew included that he even got instruction from him wife to walk away from the trial. The poor man: everyone weighed in on his decisions! There was a reason. When leaders don’t show the courage of conviction, they invite an assault on them by the strong winds of opinion around them. Pilate asked questions and took advice, but he offered little more than a stuffed toga to the proceedings. In the end, his lack of conviction and leadership allowed him to both commit immoral acts (hand a man over for death he deemed innocent) and feel fine about doing so (since he was simply giving people what they asked for!)

It should come as no shock that politicians use Jesus routinely. They quote (and often misquote) Him in order to add some legitimacy to their position. They skip anything that may not be regarded as “all-loving” and “all-accepting” – and they cut and paste His words into their speeches with little regard for the context of His true ethical frame. Some people simply USE Jesus to try to get what they truly want – acceptance of a certain crowd in a certain occasion. I have seen men who mouthed Jesus words to get a woman to like them. I have seen young people mimic words of Jesus to keep parents off their back. Some people just USE Jesus.

The crowd bade for Jesus’ blood

There are others who have no problem cursing Jesus openly…

Matthew 27:25 And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

People’s sense of “justice” can easily be warped. In fact, a crowd of people who lose sensitivity to the truth become swiftly a cold and inhumane lot. We don’t have to move past the shattered streets of a fractured city that destroyed homes, cars and businesses out a sense of outrage. Many people stood up for what seems to be injustices committed against citizens. They stood with the courage of conviction in non-violent protest, and made the world hear them. On the other side of town, people took full advantage of the situation and trashed their neighbors – a scene that is becoming far too common in our time.

Go back to Matthew’s account. Can you see the crowd mentality involved in their words? They seemed to take responsibility as a group for a decision that virtually no one was going to individually accept the weight of – for they were making an immoral decision to release a known criminal while publicly condemning an innocent man. They watched as a One Who did NOTHING wrong was stripped, beaten, and tortured. What kind of people could do that? The answer is simple: people who had lost a sense of real justice, and only embraced her cousin: outrage.

The soldiers belittled Jesus

Bored Roman soldiers also weighed in to the scene…

Matthew 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole [Roman] cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and [began] to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the [scarlet] robe off Him and put His [own] garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. 32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting [it], He was unwilling to drink. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they [began] to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.“

Can we not see it? Those with an illusion of their own power find dominance something easy to play with. Roman soldiers believed themselves to be the power in the courtyard that morning – and they used their power to act out in unjust and intemperate ways. They PLAYED with Jesus –as many people do. They felt dominant. Look at them! Jesus was beaten, His head down, blood running everywhere! They stood strong, arrogant, in control of their lives. Many people do. In the end, they recognize the illusion of that control, as their physical prowess slips away, and the number of their days draws short.

When we don’t recognize the ultimate power of the Savior, we belittle Jesus. We puff ourselves up and appear strong in our own eyes – supposing God to be aloof and un-observing or disengaged. We don’t get it. We will all stand before the Judge Who created us. There is no escaping it. It is appointed for all of us to face the end of our lives, and then know God’s real view of us. Jesus came to make grace available – not to offer unending license to our selfish behavior. He came to triumph over sin, not to be belittled by convicted sinners. He allowed the mockery of these soldiers, because it served His end: to bring salvation by death on a tree – as promised by prophets long before.

The crowd berated Jesus

Along with the soldiers, the crowds mocked the Savior…

Matthew 27:38 At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who [are going to] destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking [Him] and saying, 42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 “HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE [Him] now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” 44 The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

Let’s say it plainly: Those who spend little time considering a serious matter often speak most freely about it. The people who hurled accusations were not a serious part of the discussion of “Who Jesus was” – they were “passersby”. Today, they drop into to social media and offer sniping and rude comments about Jesus. They explain how the Bible is filled with inaccurate and even immoral advice – using a metric that is made up on a napkin. They hurl about accusation on the Creator and Sustainer of the cosmos, thinking little about what they are even saying. We see it growing as the time draws later, but it was present when Jesus was walking amongst us.

The centurion believed in Jesus

In the face of all those who used Jesus and even mocked Jesus, it is worth noting that there was still a note of hope – some saw the truth…

Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” …50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!“

Some people respond only when the power of God is made plain in their eyes – but they respond. What a great sign of hope – no matter where they have been in their lives. No matter what they have said, or what they have done – when they encounter Jesus, and look at what He has done… hope remains that they will respond properly, and recognize Him for Who He is. The centurion did it… and so can you and I. It changed his life from that day forward – just as it did for many who are walking through this lesson together. Jesus changes us when we open our heart to Him! The reason what we DO with Jesus makes so much difference is because of WHO Jesus is.

He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the Privileged Son of the Creator. He is the agent of salvation. The whole picture of Who Jesus is cannot be seen in this single story from Matthew.

If Jesus had only come to earth, He would have been a mere visitor – God on a holiday, cruising about His creation. If Jesus had only died at the hands of these wicked men, He would be yet another mere religious teacher – marked by martyrdom, but little more than others who offered ethical teachings like Buddha or Mohammed. The whole story of Jesus didn’t begin at His trial, but at earth’s creation. The story of His earth walk didn’t end at His Crucifixion, but at His Resurrection. His dealings with men didn’t end at His ascension to Heaven, but in the moment they stand before Him in judgment. That is why…