Tag: Matthew

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Little experience, big expectations.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This seems to be Jesus’ leadership development plan. We want more training, more time. Jesus wants us to have more faith.

Faith is more for than just things we’ve hoped for, it’s on the job training, it’s experience in action. It’s doing, not just thinking. It’s Ignatius Loyola’s mantra to “live with one foot raised.” It’s Home Depot’s slogan, “How doers get more done.” One person writes, “John’s Gospel never uses the noun (“faith, belief”) πίστις (pistis), but only the verb (“to believe; to trust”). πιστεύω (pisteuō). Faith in the gospel of John is a verb, not a noun.”

Here in Matthew, when Jesus said, “go,” no one misunderstands or confuses the word “go” with anything like, “think about going,” or “plan on going,” or “eventually, you should go.” That’s hilarious- go means go!

In Season 3 of the series, “The Chosen,” Dallas Jenkins has this scene in Episode 2, “two by two.” The episode captures the reality of this moment we read here. The disciples are all in shock, dumbfounded! Jesus gives the itinerary ToDo list, saying, “this is what you will be DOING.” Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cure those with skin diseases. And….dramatic drumroll please, CAST OUT DEMONS. Everyone has questions. In The Chosen episode, he answers them. However, here in the text he does not answer them. Matthew just dutifully writes, “Jesus sent out.”

I remind myself, Jesus fully intended his followers to completely emulate everything he did himself through the power of the Holy Spirit. I know, we are all a little rusty at some of these commands, er… opportunities. Heal. Raise, Cast out. Whew. I need more training? For what? I need more time? Why? Oh, because in my mind, in my experience, I AM THE ONE EMPOWERING these commands. That is completely ridiculous. I can’t heal, raise or cast out anything. However, Matthew told me in 10:1, “Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.” Of course I knew you and I would gravitate towards the excuse clause, “called his twelve disciples.” I am not, you are not, in the original twelve apostles group, so none of this applies to us, right? Sure, I can rest thinking that’s my out. But if I believe that as an excuse, it means all those other cool promises are only for the people Jesus originally spoke to back in ancient days. Even the blessings? Promises? Yeah, you’d have to scratch those as well.

When Jesus also said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father” John 14:12. He didn’t mean, really mean, anyone, right? Wrong. He did mean anyone who believes. Anyone who is a follower of Jesus. They have the authority of Christ, under the direction of the Holy Spirit to do the works of God here, now, on this planet. How much of the Holy Spirit do I need to be obedient? It’s not about quantity or quality of God’s presence in me. It’s about this verb, believe (pisteuō) like John wrote. It’s about the faith verb, not about faith noun! It’s about more doing, less waiting. Experience is an excellent instructor of faith. Let’s just believe and do.

Prayer

Dad,
This idea of DOING faith, verses just having faith, haunts me and excites me. I think big thoughts and sometimes even talk big faith, ah, but doing it… No wonder you sent them off in twos. I’ve been with friends when either their faith or mine is boosted when we have done things together. Alone, in doing faith, is no fun! However, if I can’t find a faith buddy, I so want to just do it on my own sometimes. I have got to quick thinking an pd writing about this and just DO IT. Help me. Thanks for your encouragement and patience.

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What God sees.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭36‬-‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Matthew gives us a front row seat to understand the character of Jesus – which IS the character of God. He writes, “when he saw the crowds.” When Jesus sees, it lets me know what God sees. When Jesus is moved with compassion, it lets me know that God is moved with compassion. Is God still moved as He sees the crowd? Matthew tells us that Jesus saw the crowds as confused and helpless.

He used a couple of Greek words that may help us understand just how Jesus/God saw their pain. He uses a word that comes from “skulló” which means to skin, or figuratively to trouble. That’s right, the root word is “skylon” which is the word for skinning an animal pelt – properly, skin alive, mangle (flay)! Figuratively, to harass, or extremely annoy. The New Living Translation couldn’t possibly capture being “skinned alive” with the word “helpless.” Life with all its turmoil of political, societal and personal struggles gets EXHAUSTING! People felt it then and we all feel it now.

Matthew also used the word, “rhiptó,” to throw or cast off. This word is often used to describe throwing something down, like Judas throwing the silver coins down at the chief priests in the temple. Or, the demon throwing the man to the ground as Christ cast it out. Jesus saw the crowd and felt the gut wrenching pain of compassion (splagchnizomai).

The crowds were made up of more than just physically sick, blind, crippled or deaf – they all had the weight of this broken world on their shoulders. Jesus says this is what the harvest field looks like! This is where the seeds of sin and selfishness, loneliness and sufferings have come to fruition and are ready to be harvested to heaven or let to rot, falling to the field of death and destruction. Jesus saw humanity’s grief as opportunity to disperse mercy and grace. But it would require more of his followers to see what he saw. And, more of his disciples to feel what he felt so that more would be saved from being flayed and tossed down. Jesus obviously wants believers, his followers, to look at crowds and see differently. To see protesters, rioters, concert-goers, stadium sports fanatics at a much deeper level. I drive my city streets and see the crazed, naked, ranting madness and feel so helpless to do anything. What would Jesus see? What would he have me do? What does sending “workers” into our modern fields of ripe-chaos look like today? I do not know, but I am curiously challenged to figure it out.

Prayer

Dad,
I feel like such a chicken when I see the overwhelming craziness of our streets, our looters, our protesters. When I saw the woman screaming and ranting while I was at lunch with a Pastor friend, I did not know what to do. She was completely out of her mind! I would like to just say she was mentally ill, but it looked and sounded so much more demonic than just being sick! I do not think you would have hesitated to go and heal her of whatever it was that caused such torment in her. I could only muster enough compassion to feel sorry for her! Why can’t I be one of those workers you look for? Fear? Not wanting to look stupid or like some kind of religious freak myself? Oh, how I need your boldness beyond my compassion! If I were you, I would not have hesitated at all. However, even though I see…I am still just me!

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A commander who knows about authority.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭5‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

First of all — SHOCKER — a military officer, a government sponsored individual is comfortable approaching Jesus and asking for help in an area of specific expertise! The unnamed centurion knows a lot about life and men, command and crowd control, war, loss and death. But one thing he is not good at… healing and miracles. Leaders know they don’t have to know everything. They just need to know one person that knows about things they don’t!

As a man who was required to track the stories and the “word on the street,” this commander had heard about Jesus and knew when he was in town. I just think it’s ironic that this centurion’s job was to know things and get things done. But, this rough, tough, seasoned soldier had something else greater than his ability to command. He had compassion. Isn’t it interesting that a Roman Centurion and Jesus could have something in common? The commander had compassion for the servant in his care. He had a heart. The officer approached Jesus not with a order, nor with power, but with a plea.

Strangely he knew his own way of life, although prestigious among his peers, was not the same quality of life as the rabbi. He told Jesus not to come because he wasn’t worthy of having him in his home. The centurion then tells Jesus, “just say the word,” and gives Jesus a quick summary on how authority works in his profession.

Ah, but isn’t something else happening at the same time? The commander knew about commands and authority, but apparently he also had something else that impressed Jesus. The Roman, the Gentile had faith! Not just a little faith – BIG faith. Jesus said, “I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” Hmmm, compassion, faith… sounds like this man was showing signs of believing that Jesus is who he said he was – God. What happened to the commander’s young servant? Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” “And the young servant was healed that same hour.”

I am also impressed with this Centurion. He understood authority, possessed compassion and exercised faith. There are so many people around us that may seem intimidating because of fame or fortune, power or prestige. Can I remind you that they could very well be on this journey of believing in Jesus. And, you may just be the one they approach with a question or a plea. Maybe it’s a need outside their ability to fix themselves? Do we have faith that God can heal, save or restore? I do. Will we be ready to believe for them?

Prayer

Dad,
You are such a big God with big power to restore human lives to yourself. Sooner or later folks will come up against something difficult that is way bigger than their ability to fix. And you will be there waiting to hear, to heal, to forgive and even to fix their lives. I just want a small piece of that action! A small bit-part that listens, has faith and helps connect them to you.

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Our behavior is our I.D. badge.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭15‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus actually tells us to be careful when we are identifying good people from bad – especially those who claim to be spokespersons for God (prophets). This is tricky because we are instructed to be fruit inspectors but leave the final call, the judgment of how to deal with fakes and falsities up to God.

First of all, badges and titles mean very little in terms of authenticity, authority and allowing someone to lead, guide or even correct us. This is our current crisis of leadership and authority figures today! The Pastor may wear a collar, a tie or a title, but if they are not acting like a good shepherd, BE CAREFUL – BE AWARE. A police officer, judge, doctor, teacher or governor may hold the title, but if their fruit, their behaviors don’t match the position – be on your guard.

How can the average person know how to tell the difference between a good, authoritative person and a bad one? Jesus told us. Check out the way they act, not their clothes, symbolic accoutrements, or titles. How do they treat you, and others? The object lesson helps all of us, even a child, identify who is not only safe, but helpful in our lives. Can you find or eat a yummy grape off a thorny bush or tumbleweed? Nope. A tree or bush only produces what it IS, not what it would wish to BE. If you are a spokesperson for God, or an authority figure, quit pushing your position and title around and start behaving like a person of good character. I’ve heard folks say this when trying to make others comply to their commands, “Do you know who I am?” When they have to use that line to convince someone to cower and obey, we know they’ve got a fruit/behavior identity problem.

By the way, Jesus did sparingly use his title with the guys who said they worked for and represented God. He told them straight out – “I AM,” using the culturally unspoken, unwritten, name of God – Yahweh. This obviously made the religious leader’s blood boil! But with most people, average outliers and sideliners, he didn’t speak his title, he spoke love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and healing! Those sound like behavioral actions to me.

How about letting our behaviors be our I.D. badge? In conversations with people I interact with, I rarely introduce myself as a Pastor. Am I ashamed to do so? Not at all. I just want to lead with behavior, not my badge. After a few moments of talking to someone, sometimes I get the common, “so what do you do?” question. Sometimes I’ll tell people, “I am a hopebroker.” That always initiates a whole new conversation! However, there are times I just tell them straight out, “I’m a Pastor.” I love the look on their face after that. Sometimes they will pay me the highest compliment ever, “well, you don’t act like one!” they’ll say. Meaning, I didn’t judge them, look down on them or start a typical controversial argument they might expect from a religious person. The only time I use the official title of Pastor (I say Minister) is when doctors or hospital personnel won’t let me visit someone who is in a health crisis 😇.

Prayer

Dad,
I want to wear grace like a nice outfit. I want mercy and patience to be my business card. I want your character attributes, the fruit of the Spirit to be what hangs on the title of my life-door. I need a lot of help to get my fruit to match my tree! Help me BE Jesus before I even start talking about my christian credentials.

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Who let the dogs out?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jesus lays down these rapid-fire sayings for a quick jab to the heart for those who are listening, having ears to hear. What starts this specific volley of pithy punches are the words “judge not.” That should stop just about any human being that lives in a family or community of any kind. A passerby might hear that and say to themselves, “what did that man say?” Is he talking to me or about me? Judge not? That’s impossible!

Both judging and being judged is a human right, even a privilege one might say. ​Jesus explained, whatever “krima” judgement or “metron” measurement you use towards others will also be used towards yourself. Well that won’t work! We judge others by their behaviors, but we judge ourselves by our motives. A wild, highway driver cuts you off, almost hitting your car. We judge – that is dangerous and they should get a ticket. However, when we cut someone off, nearly hitting them, we say, “but I was late for work.” Jesus gets inside our head and causes us to think about hard things from God’s perspective not ours.

Jesus then tells the humorous illustration of a nearly blind person trying to do ocular surgery on someone who temporarily has an eyelash stuck in their eye. Pure godly comedy, I say!

Jesus closes this particular vignette with this strange “introverted parallelism” illustration. An object lesson about wild dogs and pigs. Never mind for a moment that Jesus is speaking to Jewish listeners who hate both dogs and pigs because they were nasty, “unclean” (forbidden to eat) animals. It would be like telling a story of a pet cockroach and how you feed it prime rib from your dinner plate. Yuk.

Jesus said that there are times when it’s a complete waste of time spending words of life or even holy advice on those who are vehemently opposed to God talk. In other words, they don’t have a beef with you or your words, they have major issues with God himself. In these cases of clearly oppositional discussions, it’s your loss if you spend your words in hopes of a decent conversation. It would be like taking fine jewelry and feeding it to wild pigs. I hear pigs will eat anything! Your gems will just end up in a poop pile. Or for the Jews in this story, it would be like taking the precious sacrifice of one of your perfect animals after it has given its innocent life in symbolic substitution for your sin. Then, instead of that meat, which has been specially designated and dedicated to God, you waste it by giving it to wild dogs.

Jesus even says you’ve got to be extra cautious about that move – giving what’s dedicated to God to deeply bitter, angry people. Because they may turn on you and in anger towards God, take it out directly on you! Whoa. Who is Jesus talking about? Who are the wild pigs and dogs? The average person listening to Jesus’ sermons? Maybe. But more likely they are the angry, bitter, beyond our ability to reach, teachers and experts in the law – the Pharisees.

Are they really that vicious, that vindictive? Don’t they work for God? Yes and yes, but folks like these are dangerous and have very sharp teeth. What did Jesus know about them, that we don’t? These are the guys who would soon turn and attack God himself, framing Him, setting up a mock trial, then killing him on a criminal’s cross. Are there people still that angry, that violent today? Yes, they hate God enough to hate you as well.

Prayer

Dad,
It’s hard to imagine that there are people that hate you so much that they have no problem being violent towards those who believe in you today. I guess that rebellion against truth can do some nasty stuff to one’s soul. I see some who are that angry. My heart breaks for them as well. Yet even in all the viscous behaviors around us, my hope is that you can reach them and still save them – even from themselves.

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Do you worry?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Worrying is an interesting subject. Some worry often, others seem to not worry enough! For some, worry is debilitating, suffocating, causing a mental collapse or stall – an awful state of stuckness.

Jesus used this Greek word, anxious, merimnáō (from mérimna, “a part, as opposed to the whole”) – negatively it is “drawn in opposite directions;” “divided into parts” or figuratively “to go to pieces”. In other words, DO NOT be pulled apart or go to pieces!

Surprisingly, the word can be used positively. It is also used of effectively distributing concern, in proper relation to the whole picture. Paul uses the positive word in Philippians 2:20 speaking of Timothy, who genuinely “cares” (merimnaó – distributed concern) about your welfare. So the word anxious can pull you apart or it can get us to distribute the concern. Paul also uses this word in 1 Corinthians 12:25, saying instead of division (schisma) the body of Christ should have distributed care (merimnōsin) for one another.

I wonder what makes the difference between going to pieces verses distributing the pieces? One feels helpless, like I am so overwhelmed that I just “lose it.” I guess that’s kind of what worry feels like. My life, represented as a ceramic vase, drops to the ground shattering in a thousand pieces. It’s overwhelming! The other is more like several people cooperatively working on a 1000 piece puzzle. The solution is to distribute the FUN, the joy in working together to build and complete the puzzle. There is even an art form called Kintsugi. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. Of course the idea would be that several artists work together, ie: distributed repair verses solo repair.

One “anxiety” is a collapse the other a collaboration! Jesus wasn’t using this unique word as a Greek object lesson. He was simply stating faith-facts. Look for God today instead of looking for tribble-trouble tomorrow – “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬

Prayer

Dad,
As you know, I can receive some small bit of information that just vase-drops my life into a thousand pieces. One criticism, one loss, one negative comment – boom – and I shatter into anxieties. Your Word doesn’t just remind me to stop ruminating long enough to trust you, but also to rest in the fact that you are working in this distributed care fashion. In your Kingdom, all the pieces fit together for those who love you and are called according to your purpose! In your Kingdom, broken things have a way of becoming more beautiful, more effective in your hands. Today I don’t just hand over my worries, I hand over all the broken shards and trust that you are making something spectacular out them! I cast all my cares (merimnan) on you, because you care for me.

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Who talks like this?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I can’t imagine any babbling conversation between two people going like this, let alone a talk with God. The only people I know that babble are my grandtodds. And they are adorable, btw. Jesus says “don’t do this.” Of course, we do anyways. There lots of denominations and different sects of Christianity that teach repetitive prayers and I feel it loses the whole point of praying. Praying isn’t only one directional, again – it’s conversational.

There is praise, declaration, requests or petitions, then there is also listening and being still to receive from God. There are even plenty of persistent prayers as if we needed to remind God of our urgency, but there are ways to consistently ask even as Jesus told the stories of the persistent requests from neighbors. I don’t think God minds persistent, consistent prayers, I think He loves knowing we’re serious about things – especially when it comes to others.

My prayer life exploded with wonder and delight when I prayed like the Psalmists prayed – gutsy, angsty, even angry prayers. Prayers of deep emotions and substance. Prayers that I’ve had to work at translating feeling into words. My prayers also changed when I finally realized that I could ask God anything. I could ask Him hard questions that no one else seemed to ask and definitely no one wanted to give answer to.

I love Jesus phrase, “your Father knows exactly what you need before you ask him.” Leading some to think, “well, why should I pray then?” Maybe like any quality relationship, words and communication are critical. When there is little or none, it is a signal that something is wrong. Maybe it’s also just the fact that God loves hearing our thoughts, words, questions and long conversations. When the world began God had communion and communication with humans. I just believe that God still desires to walk and talk with us. Start with the “Lord’s prayer,” although it’s really the children’s prayer. “Our Father who is in heaven, holy is Your name!” Start there to get you going and then just keep on going after reciting this beautiful memorized prayer.

Prayer

Dad,
I love our conversations in the morning when facing a brand new day. Thankfully it begins FULL of your mercy. I even love the conversations before drifting off to sleep when I have gone total mercy-bankrupt at the end of each day. I don’t necessarily like the 1, 3 or 4 am conversations that get a little creepy or desperate while wondering why I am awake. But even then, I know you hear me and often comfort me and pour out your peace. My favorite times are the drives into work, around town or to vacation locations. I have been preferring the quiet, no music and no verbally correcting other drivers. Prayer time has become much more like breathing, a regular refreshing time in your presence. If this is what “old-er” age affords me, well, I like it.

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Shhhh – God’s working in me.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In these sets of contrarian vignettes of comparison, Jesus weighs in on the top religious behaviors of the day. Those who have, what they believe is a rich physical and spiritual life, seem to be flaunting their superiority.

It’s always a humorous expression to try to “out-god” God himself. Religious folks ought to remember, God sees all and knows all. Meaning, He sees not only the acts of “pholiness” (fake holiness), but also the heart motivations behind the scenes. No matter the grand expression, God is almost exclusively impressed with the movement of our soul.

The striking, blatant, dark comedy on the ancient streets that day was this; as the hypocrites (a theater term btw) parade their generosity with great fanfare, they do so right in front of God standing right there in the common crowd! Jesus, who would give everything, his reputation, possessions (which was minimal), and life would not be celebrated with trumpets but with a morbid mix of cheers, jeers, wailing and shrieking. Jesus good deed was indeed public, but it was not admired by others, it was despised!

Most, if not all giving of money or service or kindnesses, should be done so in secret. It’s like one hand is demonstrably waving at a friend, while the other hand is slipping some needy person a Franklin. I love Jesus’ closing remark, “and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” You see that? Is it really about a reward at all? The hired Mariachi band maybe your earthly reward when you give obviously, but what’s the heavenly reward when giving in secret? I don’t know.

Here’s what I do know. When I emulate something good I exclusively learned from my Father (God), I honor him and it’s incredibly rewarding. When I see my own adult children doing something good they learned from myself or their mother – well it’s is rapturously joyful! When I give, I am modeling my Father’s character, His will and desires. That’s plenty of reward for me because shockingly, I see that salvation and sanctification are actually working in me!

Prayer

Dad,
In so many ways, I can hardly remember the person I used to be. Sure, I see flashes of dark shadows as sin continues to try to resurrect and control me. But in so many other ways, I see the light and love of your Spirit molding a new me. In this area of generosity, it has been such a remarkable journey. It’s not super scientific, but I feel that I have proven to myself that I can’t out-give you! In so many ways beyond money, it’s been a pleasure to grow in gifts that you are so good at – grace, mercy and generosity. Thank you.

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Long-view Love.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭43‬-‭48‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus leads these discussions with, “you have heard it said.” Of course he’s referring to passed down sayings from those who have interpreted the laws of God and put their own application spin on it.

We know that “love thy neighbor” comes from Leviticus 19:18, but where does “hate thy enemy” come from? Well, it makes sense right? I mean isn’t the definition of the word enemy, have within reason, the idea of hating them? They are a hostile foe, are they not? Wouldn’t hate be helpful to stop our enemies from being so adversarial? Wouldn’t hate be the appropriate emotion to keep my family safe from their obvious oppositional acts to hurt me? Matthew wrote the greek word Jesus used for the word enemy, exthrós – someone openly hostile, animated by deep-seated hatred, implying irreconcilable hostility, proceeding out of a “personal” hatred bent on inflicting harm.

There’s an unspoken law that lives with in us as humans, it’s Newton’s Third Law of Motion. It states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When applying that to an emotional force, such as hate, we must apply an equal amount of hate to stop it! Or at least enough to deter the hater from causing real harm to someone. You haven’t just heard it said, we still live this law every day!

When someone on the freeway races up behind me, practically kissing my bumper, then suddenly jets out beside me not only to pass me, but to cut me off in the process, there’s some real hate going on IN ME! In my mind, someone has to stop this maniac, this law breaker. And since there’s no presence of the “law,” it’s up to me to save myself and others by giving her a physical token of my disapproval!

Jesus doesn’t just school us about love and hate, he condemns the sin response in us (because that’s what it is) and teaches us to model our thoughts and behaviors after God. Loving our enemies is behaving as true children of our Father in heaven. And not only love them, but pray for them as well! Jesus says PRAY for those who curse (katara) you!

Jesus then blows our Newtonian Law right out of my brain. In the Kingdom of God, LOVE is the more powerful force to stop hate! But look, we need to quit throwing the weak, watered down version of our modern interpretation of the word, “love,” and get back to the Biblical version – agapaó. Agape is the God version of love, that is self-sacrificing, putting others before our own needs, painful and beautiful expression of wanting the best for someone. It’s not a cheap, surfacey love that lies to make someone feel good, nor the one that accepts you for whoever you are, or whatever you are today. Agape is a tethered truth to the core of who God is and the extent he went through to save and restore us. Believe me, to the broken and dysfunctional, this kind of love hurts because it is true and can be trusted when all other love-lies have failed.

Jesus did a perfect job illustrating this, it’s easy to love those who love you. It’s a built in reward system. I love you BECAUSE you love me back. Or, I love you because you showed me love to begin with. Jesus then points out of the most hated people group at the time, even “tax collectors” do this. It works because you get something out of that transactional kind of love, it’s a reciprocal deal (this is the way most people love anyways).

Get this, then Jesus says to be and do “perfect” love. Jesus uses this word, teleios: having reached its end. Teleios is the mature, consummated, wait for the full completion kind of perfection. It’s the long view of completion because God’s stories are very long. Jesus says, take the long-view of love (agape) like God does with us. That kind of long-view love is powerful, unstoppable and is more than enough to stand up to the hatred, cursing and even violence of your enemy.

It reminds me of when Jesus was in the olive garden with his disciples, well before the thorns, spikes and spears tearing into his body. Peter pulled out a sword (how long had he been hiding that?) and Jesus told them, “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?” Jesus could have easily gone all Old Testament on the Roman soldiers and left the traitor Judas as a pile of smitten dust! Ah, but Jesus’ long-view love meant that he would retaliate with a much more powerful and eternal force – he would die for all of us.

Prayer

Dad,
I am beyond thankful your love is not short-sighted and only applicable in the moments when I am thinking or behaving at my WORST! Thank you for the most powerful force in the universes that saves and keeps me close to you.

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I promise on my mother’s grave.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This section in Matthew where Jesus digs into some deep Jewish history and culture is fascinating. Matthew really loves bringing out the rich, but controversial nuances of Jesus’ teachings on Old Testament values and behaviors. This one goes into the loose but socially accepted use of promises or vows.

There was a hierarchy of worthiness when one would attach a vow to a physical or conceptual object. A few are mentioned specifically in this teaching, heaven, earth, the beloved city of Jerusalem and one’s own head. At first I thought the whole “promises backed by – whatever” was kinda silly. The closer to personhood, for example my own head (hair or lack thereof), would be the least trustworthy. Moving on to the city or the earth would promise a more robust, reliable promise. Oh, but heaven, ah that was very serious, very dependable. Funny, right? You may have heard this phrase and ask why the Jewish people would never “swear to G*d?” Remember, a few years back, when that was super common to flippantly profane God’s name with such disrespect! I think the atheists and agnostics finally realized the hypocrisy in swearing to a God they didn’t believe in. The Jewish people would NEVER have gone that far. Using God’s name like that would mean instant and total judgment, you would be stoned on the spot. And if the crowd didn’t kill you for it, God would likely strike you with lightning himself – so it was thought. Even as a non believing, non church kid, I would have been smacked in the mouth if I said those words.

Years past we had similar, weird, promise-keeping associations as well, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Or, “on my mother’s grave.” Or, “on all that is holy.” So, yes, our modern culture has done similar when trying to beef up a promise to make it sound ominously secure. All of these attachments are just begging the listener to just trust us at our word.

Jesus cut through years and layers of nonsense and silly wordplay to help us understand a couple things: let your word and your behavior BE your bond! If you say you’re going to do it – then DO it. If you vow or promise you won’t do it… uh… then DON’T do it. Stacking well respected places, things or people (heaven, Mom or our own death demise) just WEAKENS our word, our promise. Keeping it simple, keeps it effective – if you follow through with it. Is it yes? – then do it. Is it no? – then don’t do it. Jesus caps the conversation with a critical reminder. Anything beyond our simple “yes” or “no” is ponéros: evil or malicious. So quit stepping on the crack and breaking your mother’s back – or using her grave to boisterously boost your credibility!

Prayer

Dad,
How did we get so weird? We were created in perfection and I completely understand that our own sin, not just broken DNA from Adam & Eve, has really messed us up. But, we are such a strange bunch! And why is it that we are so socially susceptible to each other’s absurd proclivities that we willingly adopt them and start using them in our own life. I believe that much of our bizarre beliefs and behaviors are spread to each other in some kind of social virus! I see, I hear, I do and repeat. I see one person’s behavior or strange choice and I may be shocked or offended. I may even loath the sight of it. Then I see two and I am less put off, but still bewildered. Oh, but three, four or more and suddenly I’m intrigued, curious and feel the pull of peer pressure – even if they are not my peers! Next thing you know I’ve got a piercing or pair of retro bell bottom pants. How is this even possible? Are we, as humans, bound to each other by mimicking good and bad? Is this how thought and behavior is transmitted to take over my own self will? I don’t like it. Not at all. I just want to be a cultural contrarian. Help us Jesus. Help us see and model your ways above and beyond our culture, our influences of friends or strangers.