Extending Mercy

Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not. And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. (Luke 11:44-48 ASV)

Jesus spoke to the lawyers concerning their failings, as well as to the Pharisees. Remember that "woe" basically means "you should be ashamed of yourself". The "lawyers" were the scribes. They studied the law in depth and taught it to the people The problem for which Jesus reproved them was that they added man's tradition to God's law and made following the law more burdensome than God intended. 

What they taught the people was "grievous to be borne" but the lawyers (or scribes) didn't bother to follow it. They had an appearance of piety, but, in private, they did whatever they wanted. They were not only false teachers but also hypocrites, for they tried to hold people to a standard they could not attain. They didn't even attempt to rise to the standard they had set. 

My grandmother used to say, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." She had a variety of uses for that phrase, but she mostly used it to indicate that, if others should do a thing, so should I. Good for one, good for all. 

So it is with discipleship. Right is always right. If Jesus says we are to live a certain way, then we all are supposed to live that way. The life of a disciple is, in some ways, much easier than we have been led to believe. If we choose our actions based on the Golden Rule, we have a good start on acting like Jesus. Treat others as you want them to treat you. 

One of the problems we have is that we only want to treat certain people as we want them to treat us. If I want mercy but try to administer justice to those around me instead, I have failed to love my neighbor as myself. 

Recently, I spoke to a young man who was paying a ticket for a seat belt violation. "He could have got me bad," he told me of the policeman who had stopped him. The policeman had seen the other violations but had chosen to mention them instead of pile up fines for the young man. When he realized the seat belt ticket would not go on his record, he was thrilled. "I'd have had to go to the big house (prison) if it did." Then, he told me what I didn't expect, "You don't have to worry about me any more. I never want to go to that big house ever again. I've learned my lesson. I'm not taking any more chances." He turned to his friend, who was with him. "Even my friends are buckling their seat belts when they ride with me now." His friend confirmed it.

The young man had been given mercy when a more severe citation would have been justified. It was the kind of grace I'd like to receive. The policeman had acted with mercy, and that's how I want to be, too. Will the seat belt offender break the law again? Maybe, but maybe not. I'm not called to predict the future, but to respond in the present. 

We have the opportunity to extend either mercy or judgment to all those we encounter. Let's choose mercy, every time. After all, if the choice is between justice or mercy, mercy is what I want given to me.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)

Hey, He's talking about me!

Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not. And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. (Luke 11:44-48 ASV)

I know that Jesus was as serious as He could be. He had come to save us from our sin and He was heading to the cross to do it. There was nothing funny about it, but sometimes His interactions with people make me laugh. This is one of those times. 

Here's the Leanna Paraphrase: Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You should be ashamed of yourselves. You're like dead men walking. You look great on the outside. All your good deeds and church attendance make people think you're alive, but you are dead on the inside. You're contaminating everyone you come in contact with." One of the lawyers who was there said, "Hey, Jesus. Watch it. You're reproaching us lawyers, too. You're talking about me!" 

Even if I thought I was as bad as the Pharisee's (which I am), I'd never have admitted it in that company, never have risked Jesus shining His spotlight on my life. Of course, Jesus turned to the lawyer and said, "You're right. You lawyers should be ashamed of yourselves, too." 

I laugh, and then I realize that I should be the one saying, "Hey, wait a minute, Jesus. You're talking about me!" It makes me want to cry, not laugh, because it's true.

I want to be the one that is most like Jesus. I want to clearly represent Christ to a lost and perishing world, yet I fail Him on a daily basis. Literally, I fail Jesus every day. Maybe you're saying, "Hey, wait a minute. Now you're talking about me!" That would be true. There is no one among us who is righteous. (Romans 6:23) All of us fail God on a regular basis. All of us sin.

Some of us are murderers with guns and knives. Some of us are murderers with our mouths. Some of us commit sexual sin with our bodies. Some of us commit sexual sin with our eyes and our minds. Whether our sin is overt or covert, it is still sin. Christ still died for it.

Jesus wasn't talking to the people in the jails or the nightclubs. He was talking to the "church people" when He said, "You should be ashamed of yourselves." He was talking about the people at my church. He was talking about me. 

I find it easier to keep my sinful heart hidden rather than confess it and allow Him to make me clean. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Pharisees did, and, as I suspected, I am just like a Pharisee. 

We will see in the next chapter of Luke that everything hidden will be revealed and it makes my heart sink. Is He saying that all the sin I have carefully hidden where no one can see, my critical, judgmental spirit, my pride and arrogance, my greed, covetousness, etc will be revealed? Yes, He is. If that is true (and it is) I would do well to leave no sin hidden. Then, there will be nothing to reveal.

Does that mean I might as well flaunt my sin for all to see? No. It means I can repent of my sin and relinquish it. That doesn't sound like fun, but a wonderful thing happens when we confess. 1 John 1:9 tells us that, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Whew! If I will confess it, He will clean every bit of my sin out of my life and forgive it all.

Why, then, do we continue to hang on to our sin? We like darkness more than light. We like sin more than righteousness. Crazy, but true, until I remember the great joy in having a heart that is clean and pure before God. In His presence is joy and I want it.

In the interest of a clean heart and the joy that comes from it, I confess my sins and repent. It's what we all must do if we don't want to be like the Pharisees. I'm like Paul - the worst of sinners, and you are, too, but there's good news. 

I was shown mercy and, in the mercy shown to me, Christ has displayed His immense patience as an example to all. He was talking about me when He said, "She's the worst sinner of all, and I have forgiven her." He was talking about you and me.

So let's live our lives in such a way that the world will say, "Look how much He forgave. Look what God did in her, in him. I want that, too." It's amazing that, even in failure, our lives can be used to bring others to Christ.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15-16 NIV)

Dead Men Walking

Cemetery outside Jerusalem

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it. " (Luke 11:42-44 NASB)

In Israel, the "graves" are above-ground boxes in which the bodies are laid. Instead of flowers at the gravesite, visitors leave stones atop the boxes. Visiting a cemetery outside the city walls of Jerusalem, I was surprised to see thousands of bleached-white stone boxes; I was amazed to see hundreds of stones atop many of the boxes. It was jarring evidence of death and loss, in stark contrast to the tree-shaded, grass-covered graves in this country. Their graves were clearly visible. Death in boxes.

We continue the "woes" today. "Woe", we learned earlier, is a word of denunciation meaning "you should be ashamed of yourself". Jesus said that the Pharisees, religious leaders and experts in Jewish law, were like "concealed tombs". A concealed tomb contains death, but the people who walk over it don't realize it contains a dead person. They don't know they have been "contaminated by touching death." 

The Pharisees, He said, were full of death, not life. Everyone who came in contact with the Pharisees became, in a way, ceremonially unclean because of their brush with the putrefaction within. The death in them was so well-concealed by their good deeds and religious language that most people couldn't recognize it. It looked like life to them. 

Therein is a major problem in the church, even today. Spiritual death can be so well concealed by good deeds, large donations, regular church attendance, and religious language that the death within is misinterpreted as life. It's a tragedy for all of us. First, for the people who "fake" life in Christ. Second, those who view these fakers and believe that they are seeing the life of a disciple are sadly deceived.

Life in Christ is not about saying a few words of a prayer to obtain fire insurance for the hereafter. Life in Christ is about discipleship, following His leading and not our own. Following Him means loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves. 

When seekers view the lives of what Jesus might have called "dead men walking", they are apt to misunderstand faith. It is no wonder when they turn away.

Our cemeteries are filled with concealed graves. The grass, flowers, and trees are beautiful trappings that help conceal them, but there is still death within. When we are like concealed graves, it is nothing short of tragedy. 

I want to be filled with life, I want my deeds to accurately reflect the Christ within, don't you? Today, let's make sure that there is life within us because of our relationship with the One who IS life.  

The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. (John 10:10 ASV)

Idolatrous Love

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it. " (Luke 11:42-44 NASB)

Jesus delivered a series of "woe's" to those in attendance at the luncheon. "Woe" is a word of denunciation and similar to our saying, "You should be ashamed of yourself". Jesus pointed out several things about which the men should be ashamed. First, they were diligent about tithing but they did it without justice or mercy. Love was not their motivation.

In the next woe, He revealed their motivation. Their love was for the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings they received in the market places. These religious leaders did not simply enjoy the chief seats and the respectful greetings. The word Jesus used for their affection was agapaō. They loved the trappings of honor with the love that should be reserved for God alone. 

What the Pharisees felt for the adulation they received was a form of idolatry. They loved the rewards of their righteous behavior more than the One for whom they were supposed to be doing their acts of righteousness. They were not serving God by their good deeds. They were serving themselves. The good deeds and obedience to a list of rules were done simply for the rewards they brought, not because they pleased God.

The question of motivation is one that must be answered. For the Pharisees, the answer was nothing more than self-serving pride. They loved what right living bought them, not the God they supposedly served.

Theirs was an easy mistake to make. When we are "raised in the church", involved in "church work" most of our lives, it is easy for right living to become a matter of rote. Instead of works that are motivated by a heart filled with love for God, our good choices can become simply habit.

When that happens, it is a very small step to enjoying the benefits of right living more than the relationship that should motivate it. Rules are often easier than relationships, especially if maintaining the relationship requires change in us, and our relationship with God always requires us to change.

We must be constantly on guard against the Pharisaical error of misplaced agapaō. Our love must be focused on God and not the blessings He gives. For today, let's spend a few minutes evaluating our own hearts. Are we more focused on rules than on relationship? On what or whom do we lavish our agapaō? Let's be sure our love is for the One who loved us first.

We love because He first loved us. 

                                                                                        1 John 4:19 NASB

Washing inside and out

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? (Luke 11:37-40 NASB)

One of the distinguishing factors of the Pharisees was their strict observance to purity laws. Intended for purification before worship at the temple, the Pharisees extended the observance of temple purity laws to life outside the temple, as well. Ritual cleansing was not only for coming before God. The Pharisees had decreed that it was for every day.

When Jesus visited the Pharisee's house, He did a surprising thing. He skipped the ritual cleansing and went straight to the table and sat down, instead. The Pharisee was surprised, but Jesus responded to the man's surprise by using it as a teachable moment. The Pharisees, he said, were diligent to clean the "outside", pouring water over their hands in ritual cleansing, while their "inside" was full of sin. Jesus called them foolish and reminded them that God made the outside and the inside. 

Washing their hands for ceremonial cleansing was supposed to be an outward symbol of an inward transformation, not a substitute for transformation. The Pharisees had turned the symbol into their objective, completely abandoning the important cleansing of their hearts. They were full of "robbery and wickedness" and had no intention of changing. They would much rather have their hands cleansed than their hearts.

What they didn't seem to understand was that the purpose of the rituals involved in worship was to demonstrate the price of sin, the payment for sin, and the need for cleansing from sin. The experts in the law had missed the meaning and interpretation of the law completely. 

Being cleansed from sin before God is vital in our relationship with Him, but that will never come by washing our hands or our bodies. Being cleansed of sin begins with a repentant heart and the blood of Christ. 

The problem comes when we like our sin and want to keep it. It is much easier to wash our hands than to allow cleansing from sin for which we are not repentant. 

Alas, if we understood how God views our sin, we might feel differently. Therein lies much of our problem. God hates the sin we love, and it is His opinion that matters most of all. He hates our sin because it hurts us and separates us from Him. It costs us more than we can imagine. 

If we could see our sin the way God sees it, perhaps we would be less eager to retain it. For today, let's ask God to show us our hearts and the sin that offends Him, but let's not stop there. Let's ask God to wash our hearts clean, too. 

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus...

The Friend of Broken People

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. (Luke 11:37 NASB)

Jesus and the Pharisees sparred constantly. The Pharisees had reduced faith to a series of rules so stringent no one could follow them. They had reduced repentance to a monetary exchange of payoffs and reduced forgiveness to a marketplace transaction. Experts in Mosaic law, they were, for the most part, steadily leading their fellow Jews away from a relationship with God. 

If any group was an outright enemy of Christ, it was the Pharisees. They were the ones that would eventually push for His arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion. At this point in Jesus' ministry, the conflict between Him and the Pharisees was beginning to escalate. Then, a surprising thing happened. 

Jesus had been speaking to a crowd about prayer, casting out demons, and the Sign of Jonah. A Pharisee was among the people gathered that day. After Jesus finished speaking, the Pharisee approached Him and invited Him to eat lunch. In my mind's eye, I can see Jesus smile, nod His head, and tell the man, "Sure, I'd be glad to have lunch with you." That may not be how it happened, but Jesus agreed to the man's invitation.

He did not call the Pharisee names. He did not condemn the Pharisee for his sin. He did not publicly shame the Pharisee. He did not attempt to abolish all Pharisees. 

What Jesus did instead was to love the Pharisee. He spent time with the Pharisee. He honored the Pharisee by His presence. He was kind to the Pharisee, but His kindness did not extend to agreeing with his sin. When the Pharisees and his friends questioned Jesus, He spoke truth, but He spoke it with love. It is important to note that Jesus spoke the hard truth after He had spent time with the Pharisee and shared a meal together. (The Pharisees were angered by the truth but that's a topic for a different day.)

This particular Pharisee may not have embraced Christ's teachings and may not have become a believer, but some of the Pharisees did. They watched Jesus love everyone, listened to His truth, and followed Him. 

When our beliefs differ from those of others around us, we must follow the example of Christ. He loved everyone, especially sinners. His greatest condemnation was not for lost people but for people who claimed to be "God's people" yet were far from Him.

Jesus' life was filled with broken people looking for a way to be made whole, and mine  should be, too. If my life is not inhabited by broken people who see something whole in me, I need to ask myself why not. 

How do we respond to people who disagree with us? To people considered "sinners" by the religious establishment? With whom do we spend our time?

If we are to be like Jesus, we need to love the lost and broken as much as He does. It's the best way to bring them to the One who can make them whole. 

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (1 John 4:19-21 NASB)