A
while ago, in my reading, I came across something—a
detail, but an important one, really—that
I had never noticed before.
It was something that got me thinking, and that got me praying—and
that got me pondering.
It
got me praying and then pondering because it immediately struck me as
a detail that hides an essential truth.
If
you make a daily habit of reading the Bible, then over the years you
tend to come to notice certain qualities of composition that crop up
in the efforts of the Biblical authors. One of those qualities is
that even the smallest details can be very, very important.
As
I was reading in the 11th chapter of Matthew’s account
(in the NASB) I noted a list:
The
blind receive their sight,
the
lame walk,
the
lepers are cleansed,
the
deaf hear,
the
dead are raised, and
the
poor have good news preached to them.1
Did
you notice that the first item gives us more detail than the others
do? Are you, perhaps, wondering why? I
know I was.
That’s
what got me praying—and
then pondering. Why, I wondered, is it that the writer, here, treats
sight as somehow different from the rest? Why is it that sight gets
treated as a personal possession?
I
have rarely relied on a particular translation to bring a lesson in
the Scriptures, preferring to dig into the original languages
instead, but there are times when translation can also be inspired.
In
this case, the translators had some options. They could have kept all
of the items in the same sense, bringing a consistency to the
passage, thus: the
blind look, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers cleansed, the
dead rise, the poor evangelized.1
Or
they could have put all of them in the sense of receiving. They made
a different choice, though. They chose to make one passive and
possessive, thus separating it from the rest.
I
think that was inspired translation, bringing it into accord with
John 21:22, where Jesus rebukes Peter, saying (according to the NCV),
“If I want him to remain until I come, that is not your
business. You follow me.”
Many
are those who forget to focus on the Shepherd rather than on other
sheep. This busybody attitude can leave a person feeling superior to
the others around them. And that is a danger, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.2
The
other day, in Bible study, I noted that, in the passage we were
studying, the Mosaic Law is referred to in the singular, rather than
the plural, meaning, of course, that it is all one law—not a
collection of many laws, but just one law.
In
the garden, Adam and Eve had but one law: do not eat of the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—one law. Just one. And
even though they had only one very simple law they could not even
obey that, but rebelled against God’s command. God’s Law is one
law, and if you break any one part of it, you have broken all of it.
The
details of what you did are irrelevant to the fact that you are a law
breaker. The one who thoughtlessly squashes a grape that is not
theirs to take is equivalent to the one who takes the life that is
not theirs to take. Both are law breakers.
Therefore,
the one who thinks themselves not as wicked as some other person—any
other person—is sinning by testifying falsely to themselves about
themselves. They are, in fact, lying about themselves.
The
fact that it is about themselves does not make it any less a
rebellion against God. It is, therefore, a thing of wickedness and
evil and must be confessed and repented of. God
is no less offended by your simple thoughtlessness than by
planned wickedness and evil.
Recall,
if you will, Jesus’ assessment of the second most important command
in all of Scripture. What does He say? You must love your
neighbor as yourself.3
Taking it directly from the
version of Scripture they would have had, love your
neighbor as yourself would be
αγαπησεις τον πλησιον σου ως σεαυτον.
Αγαπησεις,
being a form of the word αγαπαω,
means to sacrifice yourself
for the sake of another. Considering yourself above another is a
direct slap in the face of the command to consider that other to be
above yourself, and is, therefore, a direct slap in the face of God.
It is rebelliousness, it is
wickedness, it is evil, and it is sin.
Sin
must be repented of, or it will cast you into hell.
Do
you, now, see the abject—indeed
mortal—danger
to your eternal soul of seeing yourself as some sort of self-ordained
overseer of the Christian walk of those around you? Can you walk more
obediently to John 21:22?
The
blind receive their sight.1
They are not given the sight of others, but their own—and
they do not earn it, but it is given to them. It
is given to them by God, though they do not deserve it.
When
I took the photograph you see in the masthead4
(with the native version
below) and showed it to one
of my ministry fellows before adding the
self-silhouette and
Visions of Love that
allow it to be used in a masthead for this newsletter, their
exclamation was, “That’s a postcard!” And in a certain sense,
it is a thing of beauty, but it is also a warning.
Do
you remember the old admonition, “red
sky at morning, sailor take warning”
advising
sailors when it is not wise to sail? That
sky is nothing if not a brilliant, gaudy, indeed angry red.
Look
closely, and notice that civilization is in darkness
with the heavens on fire above. Indeed,
it looks as though angry red flames are shooting across the sky over
that place that holds itself in such high esteem over those who
struggle in their midst.
Before
I go further I must make certain that you recognize something about
me: I am not better than you. I am no paragon, and today I have been
getting reminded of that unalterable fact. There is a standard reply
that I like to use whenever anyone asks how I’m doing. Today, for
some reason, I got away from that habit. Let me, therefore, address
its logic with you.
There
are some truths about real life that even the most ardent Christians
can be loath to face and address. Rather, they prefer to skip merrily
to the cross, thumbing their nose at what is very likely the most
powerful created being that God has ever created, and giving that
being no respect whatsoever. The arrogant impudence of such behavior
should be shocking to us. Alas, it is all too common a thing.
Just
who do we think we are that we should behave toward one so powerful
as though they were nothing more than an object of derision and
laughter and scorn. When we do such things we are thinking too highly
of ourselves—far too highly.
As
I wrote earlier, the
one who thoughtlessly squashes a grape that is not theirs to take is
equivalent to the one who takes the life that is not theirs to take.
Considering yourself above another is a direct slap in the face of
the command to consider that other to be above yourself, and is,
therefore, a direct slap in the face of God. It
is rebelliousness, it is wickedness, it is evil, and it is sin.
Paul
addresses this fact when, in his letter to the Romans,
he writes,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.2
He further addresses it when he
writes, the wages of sin is death.5
We
are not better than the most fallen of the fallen.
Like
them, we, too, have rebelled against God. Far more, we are the more
responsible, for we have received grace, if indeed we have not
falsely believed.
There
are hearts that I long for—souls
that I would see—but I do
not deserve them. If I am to have them, it shall be by grace, for I
have no merit of my own.
Indeed,
“How many bridges I have burned! Oh! All the pain that I have
earned!” We are the more responsible because we know God.
Yet,
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,2
and, the wages of sin
is death.5
So, how, logically, shall we
properly respond when being
inquired with
regarding
the condition of our soul?
“Better
than I deserve!”
1Matthew
11:5
2Romans
3:23
3Leviticus
19:18
4In
the PDF tri-fold, this article has a masthead different than the one
on this web page. Download the PDF version to see that masthead.
5Romans
6:23
