More Than a Suggestion

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17)

I don’t guess you would call be a messy person; what you would call me is a “slob.” All my life I have suffered as a “neatness-challenged” person. The biggest ongoing battle that I had with my parents was when they tried to get me to clean my room. And I would clean it, but then a few hours later it was messy again. That was a bone of contention in my marriage, and peace was not realized on that front until we moved into a house where I could have my own room that I can keep just as messy as I want. The irony is that because we bought my parent’s house when they moved back to Arkansas—the room I kept messy as a kid and the room that I keep messy now is the SAME ROOM.

I hated the idea that they expected me to make up my bunk when I went to summer camp. So my brilliant work-around was to sleep on top of my made-up bunk so I didn’t have to make it up in the morning! Just smooth out the wrinkles and I was done! I hated cleaning so much that I chose not to mess up! If my grandmother was still around, she would tell you about me stuffing my sheets and blanket under the bed and calling throwing the bedspread on top “making my bed.” I used to have a sing on my desk that read, "A Clean Desk is a Sign of a Sick Mind." At least I think it was on my desk!

The text above (our Jan 30 reading) is probably one of the most ignored in the New Testament. For some reason, we take Jesus' instructions here as mere suggestions. So when we get our feelings hurt over some big-or-small personal slight, we will sulk or talk (gossip) to other people or simply avoid the person who hurt us. We will do everything except what Jesus tells us-- to go to the person and work toward reconciliation. The reason is simple. It is HARD to confront someone who has hurt us! And it is even HARDER to do that with a humble and gentle spirit that seeks reconciliation more than "justice." Could that be part of the point?

Maybe if we were totally faithful in going to meet and reconcile with everyone who treats us badly, then maybe we would all be MORE CAREFUL with our own behavior. Face it, Jesus’ process for dealing with those who sin against us is a lot of work! If we did that every time someone offended us (or we offended someone else), we might not get much else done! So maybe we would be more careful not to allow our feelings to get hurt too easily-- or to hurt others. In other words, if we knew that we would have to clean up every mess we made in our interpersonal lives, then we would be more careful not to make a mess! It is always easier not to make a mess than it is to clean one up!

Give Us a Sign

Our reading for today (Matthew 16) begins with the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to Jesus to ask (“demand” in NLT) a “sign from heaven.” Pharisees and Sadducees were just about as opposite as they could be; normally they wouldn't cooperate on anything-- except their opposition to Jesus. Here they come to Jesus to ask to see a miraculous sign because they wanted “to test him.” That means that they were fishing for something to use against him; they were not honestly asking. I’m not just judging harshly here. If they really wanted to see a miracle, there were miracles being performed all around them. Jesus had just finished the miraculous feeding of 4000 people with nothing but single sack lunch (Matt 15:32-39). And the reason that this multitude was there to be fed was because Jesus was healing “the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others” (Matt 15:30).

Jesus did many of his miracles in private; no one would have known that the daughter of the Canaanite woman had been healed until she went home and found it to be so (Matt 15:21-28). And sometimes Jesus told people not to let anyone know that they were healed (though they usually went out and told everyone anyway). The miracles that had just been done were very public and very amazing, and the people “praised the God of Israel” (15:31). So when the Pharisees and Sadducees ask for a miraculous sign from heaven, they aren’t really asking for a miracle-- they were setting a trap.

What sign does he give? Weather. He quotes a version of the old seaman’s weather truism, “Red sky and night, sailor’s delight; red sky at dawn, sailor be warned.” OK, Jesus' version doesn't rhyme, but the point is the same. They could read signs in the sky and know what the weather would be. But they couldn't see the signs of the kingdom of God all around them. They came to Jesus with calloused hearts and cold, condemning attitudes trying to find a way to trip him up rather than praising God because His kingdom was breaking into the world of men.

The Pharisees and Sadducees weren't stupid people… just human ones. They were so sure they were right that they weren't seeing the obvious signs all around them. We continue to do the same thing, right? How can one Christian criticize, condemn, gossip, slander, and and write another Christian up and off just because they have a different view about some issue? Isn't that contrary to how Jesus tells us to treat both brothers and enemies? But once you have made up your mind that you are right, then you aren’t really open seeing such obvious truths. The Crusades and Inquisition took place because the church became so sure it was right that it wasn’t open to entertaining the possibility that its actions in the name of God were breaking the heart of God. That is also true of so many mini-Crusades and mini-Inquisitions that take place in the church all the time.

What was the difference between the way the crowds responded to Jesus (“they praised the God of Israel”) and the way that the Jewish leaders responded (“came to Jesus and tested him”)? The difference was that the Jewish leaders already had their minds made up before they came. This is a reminder to us to constantly remain open to God and His presence around us or we too may miss the very thing that He is doing!

Speaking for God

I'm sure by now you have heard Pat Robertson's wonderfully thought out and historically researched statement attributing the devastating earthquake and the suffering it cause to a pact Haiti made with the devil when it gained its independence from France in 1804. Pat doesn't name the people who made the pack, but he does quote the devil, so perhaps his source comes fromthat side of the conversation. Here's the clip--


The question is not, "Can God work through earthquakes?" In Acts 16, he used an earthquake to free Paul and Silas from prison in Philippi. The problem comes when Robertson or anyone else claims to know what God is or isn't doing in this earthquake. I can't believe that in the guise of raising money for earthquake victims, Robertson so glibly assures the people of Haiti is really their fault.

Let's continue to pray for the people of Haiti. Let's continue to give generously. That's speaking for God. Courtney Daniels and her kids spent the last several days baking cookies and then offering them door to door for donations to Haiti relief and raising $300. That's speaking for God. Some Haitians who have nothing left from the earthquake but one potato are cutting it in half to share with neighbors who have nothing at all. That's speaking for God. But making glib pronouncements of how the Haitians have brought this on themselves? That's not speaking for God at all.

On Bruised Reeds and Smoking Wicks

In our reading for today in Matthew 12, Jesus is locked into an unusually nasty debate with the Pharisees over a healing he does on the Sabbath. I say unusually nasty debate because after they lose, they decide to kill Jesus (12:14). Talk about your sore losers! Jesus withdraws, but he doesn’t exactly go low profile— He goes around healing the sick (12:15-16). Why does Jesus heal so many sick? Is he showing His power and identity as the Christ? Not this timed— he tells the people He heals to kept his identity quiet. No, Jesus often heals the sick out of compassion for the weak. That is Matthew’s point here, and he points us to a quotation from Isaiah 42 (Matthew 12:15-21)

Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.
In his name the nations will put their hope.”

The Messiah would not be a rabble-rouser in the streets who calls attention to Himself. He would rather be one who shows compassion to the broken and the weak. Matthew applies two metaphors from Isaiah to Jesus--

• “A bruised reed he will not break.” Reeds were bamboo-like plants that tall and straight enough to be used as measuring sticks and walking canes. But if one of the hollow canes became bruised or bent, then it was useless. The bruised reed here refers to weak people; Jesus was gentle in his dealings with the weak. He does not break bruised reeds.
  
  
• “A smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” Light in Bible times was provided by oil lamps, which were often little more than clay bowls filled with oil with a flax strip serving as the wick of this lamp. This kind of lamp wouldn’t hold a candle to lamps of today (sorry), but it did give off some light. If oil burned out of the bowl, the flax wick would begin to burn and smoke. It then had to be snuffed out and replaced. The Christ was gentle with broken people; rather than snuff out the smoking wick, He would endure the irritation and gently replenish the oil.

Early in the chapter, the Pharisees attacked Jesus’ disciples because they dared to pluck grain while walking through a field on the Sabbath. One doesn’t find picky technical violations like that unless one is constantly on the look for them, and the Pharisees were more than happy to point out the flaws to Jesus. They delighted in condemning the weaknesses of others… you know the type. Jesus the Messiah is tolerant of weak people. He doesn’t commend our flaws, but neither does He condemn us because of them. He came to seek and save the lost; weak and broken people are His specialty.

The church hasn’t always been so good at being gentle with weak and broken people. Someone has suggested that the church is the only army that shoots its wounded. That might be harsh; that also might be true. We need to be better at caring for the weak and broken among us because that is what Jesus did. Condemnation, gossip and accusation-- those were the specialties of the Pharisees.

Simple Faith

Pam and her husband Bob were serving as missionaries in the Philippines when she found out that she was pregnant. During the pregnancy, she contracted amoebic dysentery and became so sick that she was for a time in a coma. The drugs that were used to bring her out of a coma and to treat the dysentery were so powerful that they caused a placental abruption, a serious condition that causes developmental problems for the fetus and terminates many pregnancies. It can also be fatal to the mothers. After recovering from the dysentery, Pam’s doctors strongly urged her to have an abortion. Pam refused the abortion and trusted her baby to God. She gave birth to a normal, healthy, bouncing baby boy. Well, maybe not normal. Her son is Tim Tebow, probably the most physically dominating college quarterback the game has ever seen.

Having the abortion made sense to the doctors. They were playing the percentages and hedging their bets. Why carry a baby to term and even risk the life of the mother is you can just abort the fetus and start all over? For Pam and Bob Tebow, it wasn’t about percentages—it was about life and about God. Pam and her son Tim are scheduled to do a commercial during the Super Bowl to discuss her choice.

Faith doesn't make sense to the world. The world operates on the dual principles of science (what I see) and moral relativism (what I want). Faith drives us beyond either of those.
Sometimes faith is simply the decision to trust that God is there and will ultimately work in all things to bless those who trust Him… even when we can’t possibly understand how. That was the decision Pam Tebow made in bringing her baby to term. That is the decision that many believers are making in Haiti today in the face of unbelievably horrific suffering.

Some would see that kind of faith as childish. Maybe Jesus would agree! In our reading for today from Matthew 11:25-26, Jesus says

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

The most learned and wise in the Jewish community rejected Jesus and opposed his work. It was the simple who came to Him and were healed by Him. Sometimes faith is pretty simplistic—we decide that we will believe that God “exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb 11:6). And we live that way, trusting God to make a difference in this life and the next.

Mercy and Sacrifice

Jesus spent so much time out eating that he developed a reputation for being something of a party guy (see Matt 11:29). Obviously, Jesus was neither a glutton nor a drunk—what got him into trouble wasn’t that he was “a glutton and a drunkard” but rather that he was “a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners.’” And that what gets him in trouble in our text. Jesus calls Matthew as a disciple, and Matthew immediately has Jesus over for a meal with all his tax collector cronies.

The job that Matthew and his buddies had was to collect taxes from the merchants who brought goods to sell in the marketplace. These taxes went to Rome (as well as into Matthew’s pockets), and the cost of these taxes was passed onto the consumers (of course). The more taxes Matthew charged, the most items would cost people in the market. So Matthew and his buddies were not just seen as traitors to Rome; they were also the reason why things were so expensive at the local Wal-Mart!

Maybe we can understand why the Pharisees question Jesus’ choice of dinner companions. They were sinners responsible for driving up the cost of living and propping up the hated Roman occupation. Why would Jesus spend time with sinners? In a culture in which holy men maintained their holiness by avoiding the company of sinners, why would Jesus choose this of “sinners?” Jesus explains that he is the doctor and these are the very patients who need him. An old episode of MASH has Frank Burns going ballistic because Hawkeye is about to operate on a North Korean soldier. Burns says, “This man is the enemy!” Hawkeye says, “I’m going to operate for two reasons—this man is dying and I’m a doctor!” Jesus tells the Pharisees “I’m hanging out with these guys because they are sick and I’m the great Physician.”

But that’s not all he tells them. He also says, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices” (9:13, NLT). The Pharisees thought the whole point of their religion was religious ritual, and they were good at that. They were so good that they saw themselves as better than everyone else and more valuable to God. Jesus told them that they needed to learn mercy because that would change how they saw others. Micah long before had said that what the Lord requires is not sacrifices but “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8, NET). The way we see other people indicates whether or not we are seeing God clearly.

How good are you are showing mercy? How good are you at seeing God?

A Seat at the Table

A friend once asked a group at a preacher’s meeting, “What is the hardest material in the New Testament for you to work through?” Most, of course, said “Revelation.” I said “Romans” largely because I was preaching through Romans at the time. He said that for him, it was the gospels because it is so hard to keep them in their two contexts. Actually, the gospels have several contexts.

• First, there was the life of and times Jesus as the story unfolds.
  
  
• Second, there is the life and times of the church 30 years or so later when the gospels were being written.
  
  
• Third, there is the life and times of the person who reads and applies the gospels.

We often what to skip the first two contexts and make an application to ourselves. We can miss the power of Jesus’ message if we fail to read it through the eyes of both the first hearers (Jesus’ audience) and the first readers ( the early church).

Take our reading for today from Matthew 8. After the Sermon on the Mount is completed, Jesus hits the ground running as His ministry ramps up into full gear. He goes all over the place healing the sick and showing the power of God. He cures lepers, casts our demons and dramatically shows His power over all manner of illness. And tucked in the middle of all this activity is the dramatic healing story of the servant of a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5-13). The centurion asks for Jesus’ help and expresses faith that all Jesus must do is say the word and his servant will be healed. Jesus is astonished and says—

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:10-12)

This story may have not had much impact on people in Jesus' day. It didn't seem to take place in the middle of a mob, and the centurion refused Jesus offer to go to his house—so it is likely that few even knew about the incident as it happened. But what was the impact on the first century readers of Matthew? These were Jewish Christians in churches struggling to know what to do with Gentile believers. Here Jesus himself not only accepted a Gentile’s faith; Jesus suggests that he hadn’t come across such great faith among the Jews. He then suggests that this will be something of a pattern for the gospel—people will come from distant places to become part of the kingdom of heaven while those who thought they had a free pass would not. What a powerful message that God accepts all people who believe on his Son. What a powerful message this must have been for the Jewish church wondering whether to accept the Gentile believers among them… assuming they heard it.

And what a powerful message for us. Jesus accepts all people who believe in Him, even those who appear to be “separate and apart” from other “acceptable” believers. Christians tend to spend far too much time deciding on who is in and who is out of the kingdom of God. Churches once even voted on whether or not to accept people seeking membership among them. Members of my faith tribe have in the past been way too comfortable deciding that they are the only true citizens of the kingdom of God. Just like the Jews of Jesus’ day thought they were the only feasters at the table. Jesus wants us to know that only God makes that guest list and that all kinds of people from all kinds of places are getting their invitation. And the ones who THINK they are the most secure in their position are the very ones who will be left out! This Roman centurion put his faith in Jesus, and that’s that gets you a seat at the table.

The Prime Directive

I didn’t see the new Star Trek movie when it made its run in theaters. That is shocking given my fascination with all things Trek. I stood in line for 3 hours to make sure I was one of the first to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture when it came out in 1979. And I can say without (much) embarrassment that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is one of my favorite movies of all time. But, sigh, Lynn loathes anything science fiction, and I never got around to arranging to go with anyone else to see the Star Trek. I hope someone will take me to see Avatar before it ends its run in theaters. (Randy?)

In the Star Trek universe, the most sacred of all laws was called “The Prime Directive.” This law forbade any and all Federation interference with primitive, non-space travelling civilizations. Kirk and Picard were to boldly go where no one had gone before, but they could not interfere with the development of the beings with whom they made contact. And the plotline of many of the Star Trek episodes was Kirk or Picard bending the rules to find loopholes so they could save the Enterprise or one of its crew members without violating the Prime Directive.

Does God have a “Prime Directive” for disciples of Jesus that informs us how we are to deal with all other disciples and non-disciples? Maybe our reading from today from Matthew 7 gives us something of that prime directive. Of course, we don’t call it that; we call it “the Golden Rule.”

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12).

Jesus says that this one statement is “the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets” (NLT). Jesus tells us that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, and the Golden Rule is where that begins to happen. In his commentary on Matthew, France says—
The rule which follows presents in a nutshell the ‘greater righteousness’, the distinctive behavior and attitude expected of the disciple.

If we are going to live out the righteousness of God in our lives, then we will take serious this “simple rule-of-thumb guide” that demands that we ask of ourselves “what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them” (The Message). I wonder-- do we spend more time, like Kirk and Picard, trying to find someway around the force of our prime directive rather than looking for ways to live it out.

Getting Out of the Gunnysack

On March 22, 2006, Mary shot and killed her husband Matt. Everyone saw them as a normal and happy couple; everyone was totally shocked by the murder. Why did Mary kill her husband? She alleged that he was physically, sexually and emotionally abusive. They also struggled with constant financial difficulty. Ultimately only Mary knows why she killed her husband... and Matt is not around to tell his side of things.

How many other “perfect couples” are there like Matt and Mary? Families can look normal and happy on the surface but constantly struggle with bitterness and bickering behind closed doors. Statistics are pretty plain—if you are ever murdered, it will most likely be by someone that you love. Notice just a few statistics that I ran across on domestic violence—

• 33% of women have been abused; 30% know someone who has.
• 324,000 of women a year are abused while pregnant.
• Leading cause of death among pregnant women is homicide.
• 30-50% of all murdered women are killed by husband or ex.
• Domestic violence is a leading cause of ER visits in women.
• 50% of those who abuse a spouse also abuse their children.
• 4-10 million children will witness domestic violence this year.

We never know what people struggle with behind closed doors. You may be thinking, “But that is just people out there in the general culture and doesn’t apply to people who go to church.” Matthew Winkler was a Church of Christ preacher; his preacher-wife Mary was convicted of killing him. And no one knew that the couple had any problems. Psychologists sometimes use the term “gunnysacking” to describe the tendency we have of keeping our problems hidden from the in a metaphorical burlap bag that itself becomes an increasing burden to bear. Not only are there the problems with which we struggle, there is also burden of the need we feel to keep the problem hidden.

In our reading from Matthew 6, Jesus says, "Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them" (Matt 6:1). Saturday's reading covered two of those acts of righteousness (prayer and giving) and today's reading covers fasting. These "acts of righteousness" were ways that the hypocrites fooled people into believing that they were more spiritual than they really were. Hey, it's easier to pretend to be religious than it is to really do business with God.

It is also easier to fake people into thinking you have a great marriage and stable family than it is to have one. The problem is that the gunnysack we tie our troubles into always comes unraveled and those problems spill out and poison us further.

It's better to admit you are struggling than to pretend like your not. It is better to get help and find ways to heal than to pretend that you don't need to heal. It;s hard to admit that we need help, but we'll never get it until we do. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Pet 5:6-7)

Fools, Idiots and Beyond

Language was something that was monitored pretty closely at my house when I was growing up. Not only would we never have thought of using a 4-letters word, we also were “encouraged” not to use words like “darn” or “gosh” because these were softened forms of curses. When I got really mad at someone, I’d might call them an “idiot.” Calling someone “stupid” was a greater offense that calling them an “idiot.” And the ultimate insult was to call someone a “stupid idiot.” I don’t remember getting in big trouble for those word choices, but I do remember one time when Mom jerked me up and threatened me with her feared flyswatter (what she used for spankings). Why? I called my sister a fool. “Idiot” would have gotten mild reprimand; “fool” put me in danger of a whuppin'. Why the difference?

Well, if you have done your New Testament reading for today, then you know the reason for the difference. Jesus said that to call your brother (or in my case, sister) a fool was to place you in danger of hellfire. “Stupid” and “idiot” and even “stupid-idiot” are one thing, but calling someone a “fool” can send you to hell. That was always curious to me, but I have never since called anyone a fool! Even people who I suspected were.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is calling us to a ethic that transcends rules and exceptions to the rules. He calls us to a morality that goes beyond that of the Pharisees, the experts in splitting hairs and finding loopholes. He says, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:20). He then goes on to illustrate that ethic as He calls us to seek the heart and mind of God in doing what’s right and reflecting God glory in everything we do--

• Don’t just follow the rule of not killing someone; deal with the anger in your heart so that you will reflect the love of God.
  
  
• Don’t just follow the rule against adultery; deal with the lust in your heart so that you will reflect God’s purity.

It’s ironic that sometimes we read the Sermon on the Mount as if Jesus were giving us a new and different list of rules to follow. Jesus says “Don’t swear at all" so spend our time in Bible classes wondering if this means that we aren’t to take an oath in court. Jesus says, "Turn the other cheek" and we decide that we only have to do that once ands then we're out of cheeks.

It doesn’t matter whether you call someone a fool or an idiot. It’s not the specific word that Jesus has in mind, but the heart that gives voice to it. Listen to the “fool” passage in Matthew 5:22 in Petersen’s The Message translation--

“I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire.

This would have been terrible when I was a kid-- it takes stupid and idiot off the table too! So what are you going to call someone when you get really, really mad at someone? Well, it's the really, really mad part that is the whole point!

The First Temptation of Christ

I have mentioned Anne Rice’s novel Christ the Lord: the Road to Cana in a previous blog. The book is the second in a series of four historical novels on the life of Jesus told in the first person by Jesus Himself. Rice takes what we know about Jesus from the gospels and creates a fictional backstory that is both respectful and (usually) believable. The second novel centers on the fictional Avigail, a young woman who grows up in Nazareth… and who captures Jesus' heart. In the novel, Jesus wrestles with his desire to marry the woman he loves and raise a family. At the wedding feast of Cana, Jesus does more than just turn water into wine—he marries off Avigail and leaves with his disciples to walk the road that will lead to the cross. In the novel, Jesus handles the temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4, our reading for today) with relative ease compared his struggle over Avigail.

The temptation story in Matthew 4 is told in a very straightforward and non-dramatic way. If Jesus pauses or struggles with His choices here, Matthew doesn’t tell us. Satan presents his temptations, which seems pretty innocuous compared to some of the things that Satan tempts us with (stones into bread?). Jesus quotes scripture, flatly refuses Satan’s offer and then finally shoos him away. It’s not very dramatic.

No? Matthew says Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted.” The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation…” But here Jesus is specifically led into the desert to be tested when he is greatly weakened by a 40-day fast. I read a little too fast this morning, and it first looked like Matthew had said “he was hungry. The temper came to him…” Actually he said “tempter” as in Satan, but temper might work. I’m not at my best when I’m hungry, and neither here is Jesus. And yet He resists the onslaught of what must have been Satan’s best shot.

This temptation story should sound a little familiar. Remember the first temptation in Genesis 3? Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden that she should eat from the forbidden tree; he told Jesus in the wilderness that He should eat bread. Satan told Eve that she wouldn’t really die if she listened to him; Satan told Jesus that he wouldn’t die if he jumped off the Temple. He told Eve that she could become like God; He told Jesus He could rule over the world’s kingdoms. The temptations had to do with physical appetite, pride and power. We recognize those, right? Those are the ones Satan uses on us!

All of Satan’s temptations of Christ also had to do with Jesus’ identity. The first two actually begin with “If you are the Son of God…” Doesn’t that sound something like a taunt? Isn’t that the same thing Satan will say to Jesus on the cross through the Jewish leaders—“If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mt 27:40). Satan wants Jesus to either doubt who He is or to give in to Satan in an effort to prove who He is. But Jesus knew who He was, and that’s what allows him to overcome the temptation so powerfully. Jesus told Satan “No!” and Satan left Him.

Here’s a thought—maybe we would do better at resisting Satan’s temptations if we would at all times remember who we are!

Fruit of Repentance

“People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ” (Matthew 3:5–7, NIV)

I don’t intend to emulate the ministry strategy of John the Baptist. OK, maybe I could get a camel hair blazer, but the locust and wild honey thing isn't happening. (I just started WeightWatchers, and I have no idea how to calculate points for locusts anyway!) There was something powerful about John’s message; he didn't come charging in from the wilderness to the city like Old Testament prophets like Amos. No, people went from the cities into the wilderness to hear him preach. In fact, they flocked in droves. There was something powerful and magnetic about his message—John wasn’t just telling people what they wanted to hear. His basic message was, “Repent!” That’s never really what we want to hear, is it?

What struck me in our reading for today was John’s response to the Pharisees and Sadducees who also came out to the wilderness. John immediately condemned them as a brood of vipers? Why? Well, he was preaching a message of repentance and they needed to repent… and they weren’t there to repent. We need to understand that Pharisees and Sadducees seldom attended the same events—they were on opposite ends of Jewish culture. The Sadducees were theologically liberal and politically connected; the Pharisees were strict conservatives who stood apart (or above) from politics and culture. They did not get along, but they went along to see John. But when John saw them, he immediately attacked their hypocrisy and demanded they show fruits of repentance. Shocking? Not really—John had been demanding that everyone repent. The difference was they the religious leaders didn’t think they needed to repent.

The obvious question here is “Do were have more in common with the crowds who heard John, repented of their sins and were baptized by him or with the Pharisees and Sadducees who wrapped themselves in their own mantles of religiosity and tradition?” Are we really showing the fruits of repentance in our lives as we seek to change (that’s what “repent” means). Or do we point to our religiosity (going to church?) and righteousness (going to the right church?) as proving that we are already pretty good people already.

The message of John is summed up “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 3:1). Matthew sums up the teaching of Jesus as “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17). The challenge we face as we read this is in remembering that they are talking to us!