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

A Sermon to the Stubborn

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Tuesday, May 16, 2017

“David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.  But it was Solomon who actually built it.  However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands.  As the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Could you build me a temple as good as that?’ asks the Lord.  ‘Could you build me such a resting place?  Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’  “You stubborn people!  You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.  Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?  That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!  Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute!  They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered.  You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”  The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.  Acts 7:46-54^(NLT)

Stephen is generally considered the first one chosen to be a deacon to assist the apostles in spreading the Gospel, and also the first martyr for the cause of Christ.  I’m not surprised when I read the account.  He was falsely accused of blasphemy (talking against God), and distorting the truth about Moses, as well as how Jesus wanted to destroy the Temple and change everything ^{(Acts 6:11-14)}. 

The accusations were outlandish, so as Stephen stood before the ruling elders of the Sanhedrin council, he began his defense with an excellent lesson for the scholars, recounting Israel’s history, beginning at Abraham, and rolling all the way to the cross. 

Stephen’s sermon was going just fine with the historical background, fifty verses of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the Exodus under Moses.  He could have ended it there and gotten a seminary doctoral degree, not to mention staving off execution!  Whenever I read these chapters I want to stop at the end of the history lesson, close my Bible and pretend everything ended well.  I think of what’s coming next and get that, Oh, Stephen, you were sooooo….. close!

But Stephen was a true meddling preacher!  After the historical introduction to his sermon he delivered the punch line:  looking the ruling elders in the eye he declared in no unmistakable way, that THEY, not he, were the stubborn blasphemers who had put the Son of God on a cross, just as they had done with every prophet that God, in His kindness, had ever sent to open up their blinded eyes.  And with that, the elders lost it and had Stephen stoned to death.  (More about that tomorrow).

What is it that makes a person step over the line when standing before powerful people when those very people hold your future, even your life in their hands? 

·       It’s the same force that compels a mother to block out every fear of oncoming traffic and rescue her child who has wandered into the street… 

·       It is the same overwhelming compulsion that causes a man to choose fight or flight depending on which better protects his family… 

·       It was the same driving pressure that moved Jesus to become the sacrifice for our sins…

It was love.

Stephen could no sooner have closed his mouth at that point in his sermon, just to keep breathing, because he knew without telling the truth to deluded, stubborn people, he would only be breathing; his living would have ended with his words.

It’s not love to stay silent if you’ve been charged with the responsibility to tell the truth!

For You Today

If you’ve ever gotten mad at a preacher for saying something that really ticked you off, well, this might be a good time to check the Stephen meter.  Was it the truth?  Did it tick you off because it hit too close to budging you out of your comfort zone?  Were you about to shoot the messenger?

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

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NOTES

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 ^I Title image:  Fra Angelico [Public domain], via Wjikimedia Commons