Hey, Over Here!

In Luke 7, John the Baptist is in prison. His life expectancy is kind of grim. He was suffering for doing the right thing (holding his Jewish leadership to the Law). Sitting there he must have thought that the Messiah would soon establish His Kingdom and make all things right. Instead he just waited.

John was six months older than the son of his mother's cousin. It was not until he was above thirty years of age that he talked about this GREAT relative. Knowing his own miraculous origin, plus the mysterious birth of Jesus, his whole life was geared up for what he surely believed would be the restoration of the throne of David.

Something went wrong, very wrong. John minded all his P's and Q's (Aleph's and Gimmel's?). John lived a life of dedication and self-deprivation. He is recognized by Jesus Himself saying, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist". That is a resume' hard for any one to match. So, having done all things the correct way, he should have risen to position near the top, but here he is at the bottom. He must have had visitors, though apparently not from the ONE he wanted.

The book of Matthew also records this perplexing situation. John, in desperation, sends a message. Something like, "hey, over here!" thinking he had escaped the Master's vision. Just checking, "what about your faithful servant?", "did you forget or fail to notice?". John asking if he was backing the wrong guy because the right one surely would be getting the problem rectified. Maybe John goofed and the real one would be along soon.

In our own lives there are times when we might be asking along with John, are you the one or do we need to look for another? Shouldn't the creator of the universe, the Master of the elements, the bright and morning Star be fixing the broken and painful stuff in our lives? What's up with that?

John saw the world in context within his physical lifetime. The Kingdom he was looking for was to rise among the nations of men. He didn't grasp that the Kingdom was above and beyond the walk on this cursed planet. Someday time will cease to exist and this earth will be replaced with one that never knows sin. It will be a kinder home that produces bounty minus thorns and sweat. A Kingdom that is without end or comparison.

For those who name Jesus as their King, like John, have to wait. All things will be made new, be made right, but not while we journey under the sun. Jesus warned that as He was rejected, so will we. As He was afflicted, so will we. As He was hated, so will we. We are not forgotten. We have not escaped His sight. We live by Faith. That Faith anticipates what is not observable or consistent with what presently occurs to mankind. It sees something so much greater.

In Matthew 6, certain ones did some proud boasting during their "prayers". Jesus said, "They have their reward". I want more than that. I want to have the mindset that there is a reward waiting far removed from what I see. The weight of this world makes us cry out to God that this is more than we can take. The One who hears all, sees all, knows. He not only is aware, but might in fact be the cause of our trial. As seen in the book of Job, He initiates testing to bring out a greater purpose.

Knowing that hard things are for our good doesn't make them easier. They just have a glorious purpose beyond our sight, beyond our comprehension. So we wait.

Context

"Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995, he was shot down over Bosnia by an SA-6 mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile territory. After nearly a week of evading the Serbs he was eventually rescued by Marines. Previously he took part in the Banja Luka incident where he fired upon six enemy aircraft. The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines is loosely based upon his experiences." (Wikipedia)

He ate bugs, drank water that trickled off tree leaves, and only moved under cover of darkness. Like a typical guy, he did not stop and ask for directions!

Context is everything. If Scott were doing these behaviors in down-town New York, he might well have become a candidate for placement in a medical facility. On the other hand fellow New Yorkers might never notice.

Context is everything. When reading the Bible it is common for the reader to view subject matter within the framework of their own experiences. The term, "wilderness" in the Bible is not the same as the Kentucky home that Daniel Boone called, "Wilderness". Our imagination formulates more than simple geography. Our sense of morality, or honor, or "right and wrong" are defined within the limitations of what we have seen, heard, felt, possibly even told. Not knowing the context of the Biblical writer could have us bewildered over a Jewish Judge offering his daughter as a sacrifice, Jephthah in Judges 11, (OK, that is pretty weird even after a lot of education and study).

The Bible says the secret things belong to the Lord. So some subjects will remain hidden to us in this life and maybe even into the next. There are things though that we human beings can get fairly wrapped around the axle, confused as to their message when we could in fact get better knowledge.

            Colossians 2:16-19, " Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an

             holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but

             the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and

             worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his

             fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having

             nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."

There is reason to stay under the authority of a local church and it's pastor. These things beyond our selves may well have already been well hashed out or have solid information as to context.

Yes, all men are open to fallibility, even one so revered as the pope. We could be open to error, so never stop reading Scripture and seeking God's "Face" in prayer. Until such day that we stand before our Creator-God, it is our Divine duty to "search the Scriptures to see if these things be so,". (John 5:39, Acts 17:11)

What is "right"?

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What is "right"?

I was thinking about the song by the group Linkin Park called, "Castle of Glass" this morning. It was just running through my mind when a phrase got stuck in my head.

"Take me down to the river bend, Take me down to the fighting end, Wash the poison from off my skin, Show me how to be whole again".

I had heard someone asking why we had so many soldiers come back from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan struggling with mental health and suicide? Why were so many coming back with PTSD, and not so much in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam?

My first thought was this most recent generation is living in an era where EVERYTHING is in the movies, on TV, or certainly on the Internet. Maybe previous generations were not televising all the dark secrets. Maybe families found ways to hide the relative who had, "shell shock" (as it was often called back then).

My second thought was that prior to 1970's, America had a stronger Christian/Religious community. Were soldiers going off to war with stronger Faith convictions and coming home to a stronger Faith support system? We are being told that in the last 20-30 years, children becoming adults leave their faith behind as they leave their homes behind.

Going back to Linkin Park, the question is asked, "show me how to be whole again". To my knowledge, the band makes no profession of faith. Watching the official music video, the seeming central figure goes from being the child that loses his father to war, himself becomes another cog in the, "Castle of Glass". It would appear that despite best of intensions, we are all just pawns in the hands of higher powers.

I felt there was also such a hopeless situation in the movie, "The Kingdom". Here the story line revolves around American Agents trying to get "legal" revenge for some of their own getting killed in Saudi Arabia. Rumor leads to testimony of a bomb builder with three missing fingers that was central to the Americans getting killed. After a lot of gun-fire, car chases, explosions and legal wrangling, the bomber is found and killed. The story closes with a flash back to the beginning where it is revealed what one agent tells another after the first news of the Agents getting killed. The group leader whispers to an underling, something like we will kill them, we will kill them all. The movie then has the grandson of the Saudi bomb maker getting told, we will kill them, we will kill them all.

We live in a world where every man, woman, and child holds a sense of right and wrong, good and bad, even if it is built on false perception. Some say there is not honest truth but all is mere perception. From person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood, all the way up to nation against nation, all is just perception. There is nothing to, (again Linkin Park) "Wash the poison from off my skin, Show me how to be whole again".

Is the whole world just a replay of "The Hatfields and The McCoys"? Each individual convinced that there is a grievance that needs to be avenged. Some people I know believe that all the corporate heads of industry are collectively evil, robbing the working class of our country. Could it not also be possible that these executives themselves believe that some incident their life or ancestral past was justification for getting all the wealth (revenge) they can lay hands on, legal or otherwise.

I believe the Bible tells us otherwise. In it God creates man, Man rejects God's rule, Man makes his own rules. We read that, "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalm 14:3), "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12). If people are involved (even "good religious folk") they will still have evil clouding their actions.

The hope we have is that God loves us and wants to redeem us. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins," (1 John 4:10).

The problem is twofold. 1) Not every person takes hold of this gift. It is singularly through Jesus, the only name among men, the Bible tells us. 2) Even those who have called upon the name of Jesus, still have to battle with their natural tendency of rejecting the rules of God, and still treat their fellow man in evil ways. It would be nice if Faith changed all our behaviors to kindness and honesty. I can only hold to the Hope that is within the Gospel that in the life after this, all will be washed away and all will be made new, for those who die in Jesus.

For those who are hurting, confused, questioning life, the suggestion that there is hope only in the next life may seem empty. I get that, as I live with Mitochondrial disease, living in constant pain, fatigue and a brain that is foggy. I likely won't be cured in my lifetime. I can only have faith for what will be. It is faith, I can't put it in a test tube, or lay it against a ruler. It is what I hold as the truth.