What Made Them So.....ANGRY?

 

Friday, May 13, 2022

As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him.  His rule is eternal—it will never end.  His kingdom will never be destroyed.  Daniel 7:13-14

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges?  What do you have to say for yourself?”  But Jesus remained silent.  Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”  Jesus replied, “You have said it.  And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy!  Why do we need other witnesses?  You have all heard his blasphemy.  What is your verdict?”  “Guilty!” they shouted.  “He deserves to die!”  Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah!  Who hit you that time?”  Matthew 26:62-68

These two texts, Daniel’s vision of the Messiah of the future, and the answers Jesus gave the High Priest at his trial, seemed the cause for the religious leaders rushing to their guilty verdict.  But this was just the dog-and-pony show, a pseudo-righteous legal stunt upon which to lay their cold, calculating, almost sociopathic extermination of (what they saw as) another pretend Messiah.

The High Priest wasn’t leaping to any sudden judgment; they’d been planning this for months on end.[1] 

But the question remains, WHY?  Why were the High Priest and the Sanhedrin Council so angry?  It seems the only answer that fits from any angle is, simply, what Jesus was claiming was true!  And, if that is the simplicity of the matter, there are only two possible outcomes in the case of the religious leaders seeing truth standing before them: 

#1.  According to Jesus, the truth will set you free – and it is unquestionably so that did not happen here; anger definitely does not free the human soul.  Just the opposite, anger enslaves and shrivels the human soul.

Which leaves only the alternative:

#2.  The unvarnished truth scared them stupid! 

When humans allow anger to rule them it leads to outcomes of violence, such as what we have witnessed in 21^st Century culture with alarming regularity, and increasing brutality…from video games to Olympic games, the nightly news is overwhelmingly filled with blood and mayhem.

Being scared-stupid never has a pretty outcome.  In this case the outcome was jaw-dropping, as it always is when human despises the Divine; it never gets uglier than that.

For You Today

James Russell Lowell penned the words that define what the High Priest and Sanhedrin were about that day:

Truth forever on the scaffold, 

wrong forever on the throne.

Make certain your life is surrendered to turning that around.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Matthew 26:4, Mark 11:18, 14:1, Luke 19:47, John 5:18

Entitlement Mythology 101

 

Thursday, February 24, 2022

“Listen, O Israel!  Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you.  They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky!  The people are strong and tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants.  You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’  But recognize today that the Lord your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them.  He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the Lord has promised.  “After the Lord your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The Lord has given us this land because we are such good people!’  No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way.  It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The Lord your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Deuteronomy 9:1-5

Perched on the eve of conquering Palestine, the fledgling Israelite nation was warned by God to keep perspective on the source of the greatness they were about to experience.  God told them to not get puffed-up like a proud peacock over their supposed goodness, or integrity; their victory was a gift.

Many nations and many people have written their own brand of history.  It is said the winners of wars will tell the story of their own greatness, while truth goes begging.  Whether we like it or not, truth writes its own story, without regard to any other version. 

Scripture warns in many ways against pride.  Solomon’s words tell it plainly: 

Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.  Proverbs 16:18

Claiming personal greatness is a symptom of the pride that goes before a fall.  Pride is a bulldozer paving the way down the slope of disaster.  The history of God’s special people is written over and again, with alarmingly similar results:

·       First stamp:  God’s great hand of favor clears the path for their success.

·       Second stamp:  Within a few generations (sometimes less), the truth is forgotten, and God’s greatness is claimed for the pride of a new leader. 

·       Third stamp:  God takes Israel to the woodshed (captivity, plagues, etc.).

·       Fourth stamp:  Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3.

American history bears unmistakeable parallels to Israel, of the way God blesses a nation.  That much is hardly questioned to my mind.  The troubling part of that statement, is, that we also bear the marks of the rubber stamp history of Israel. 

There is a sense of entitlement in the land today which smacks of the pride of privilege.  It’s not just white privilege that plagues, it is the endemic arrogance of any privilege.  Ethnic privilege, perceived greatness, dominant history, and any other sense of entitled platform is a house of cards awaiting collapse.  To borrow from James Russell Lowell’s thinking about truth ever being led to the scaffold, and wrong enthroned, in America, it seems, humility has been beaten with the shame brush, and pride lifted to the throne.  We are living in a false myth!

For You Today

Matthew Henry wrote a commentary on the entire Bible.  When it came to the Proverbs’ warning about pride, he gave us a Humility-101 kind of last word in this simple sentence:

Therefore let us not fear the pride of others, but greatly fear pride in ourselves.[1]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] Matthew Henry Commentary on Proverbs 16:18

Legacy of Lies

[1]

Friday, November 3, 2017

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them.  In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality.  And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.  In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money.  But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.  2 Peter 2:1-3^(NLT)

I’ve got to confess this text has always worried me.  As one who is a pastor, under-shepherd to God’s flock, and stands behind the sacred desk each week teaching and preaching God’s Word, the weight of truth-telling is sometimes excruciating.  To be sure, I’m not worried about God’s Word being true; that’s been settled in my soul for many years.  I worry about me; I’m always concerned about my ability to not mix-in anything that will turn the truth into fable, and in so-doing, slander the Gospel. 

I have a good friend to whom I confided this irksome fear; he told me that he would be worried about me if I wasn’t concerned about that.  He said:  The Gospel is too important to take lightly.  Always check your motive for what you preach.

On the other side of this thought lurk two other types of teachers, both false.  There are those who teach from ignorance, not understanding the truth, perhaps because of naivety or lack of giftedness.  But the worst kind of false teacher is intentional; truth is known, but replaced with whatever lie will bring the highest payoff.

What’s odd about our culture is that false teachers hyping the biggest lies are the ones we seem to elevate the most.  The fame and fortune which false teachers have as their target rolls-in like ants sticking to an anteater’s tongue.  It’s just wrong, but it’s also understandable, considering the way success is idolized and worshipped in American life.  We want our leaders slick, smiling and smoothly telling us the lies we want to hear.

Peter said the legacy of such liars is destruction.  We may not see it, but it is happening!  James Russell Lowell wrote:

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—       

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,           

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.[2]          

Behind the dim unknown cloud of lies permeating culture, relationships, and even the church, there is JHWH, Jehovah-God, the One who is everlasting, all-knowing, and everywhere moving the events of history and human beings towards His will and purpose.  In the end God’s watch over his own will produce justice.  The legacy of lies is death…and that in God’s own timing.

For You Today

Moving into the light of God’s life means turning your back on a legacy filled with lies, and beginning a life-long love affair with truth.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] James Russell Lowell, The Present Crisis