Stephen
Terry, Director
Jesus,
Anchor of the Soul
Commentary
for the February 12, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
"It is impossible for those who have once
been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the
Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of
the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To
their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him
to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:4-6, NIV
In this commentary, we look at
the impossible. We could spend time with the dictionary parsing out different nuances
to the word "impossible." But I think for our purposes we can safely say that
something that is impossible is beyond our ability to achieve. The limits of
that have stretched far beyond what we may have once thought possible. We have
gone from the two-way communicator wristwatch as a fantasy idea in the 1940's
Dick Tracy cartoon strip to watches that not only are communication devices but
are also able to access vast amounts of information from all over the world.
Computers that once filled an entire room had only a fraction of the power modern
smart phones have. As a child growing up and seeing many of these impossibilities
become reality, I am tempted to think that all impossibilities may be overcome
given enough time and resources. But is that the case?
We are tempted to take impossibilities
for granted. Like a horse whose reins are wrapped around a twig that could be
easily broken by such a strong animal, any slight resistance felt is enough to
convince us that breaking free is impossible. The horse thinks this because it
has been tied to sturdier objects in the past, so it has become conditioned to believe
that any resistance is indicative of total resistance and remains despite its
ability to go free. We can be like that horse. Having experienced resistance against
exercising our spiritual gifts by others, we may eventually decide to sit
quietly in our pew each week, letting other more assertive individuals run the
show. From time to time, they may tie us to a tuft of grass or a twig to remind
us of the futility of thinking that the Holy Spirit has spoken to our hearts
and called us to ministry. In a perverted iteration of prosperity theology, we
acquiesce to doubts about our own salvation and calling because we are not equal
to the wealthy power brokers in the church. But God is the one who gifts his
spirit, not the church, nor the clergy. Simon the Sorcerer thought otherwise
and attempted to buy the gift by giving money to the church to purchase it.[i] This
is why the practice of purchasing power and influence in the church is named after
him, simony. While almost never addressed by modern clergy, the practice still
exists, and Peter strongly rebuked Simon for thinking that he could buy power
with God. Simon asked for forgiveness, but he does not appear again in the Bible.
So, we do not know how he fared.
The passage at the beginning of
this commentary and others like it are familiar to those seeking power through
coercion. It is often trotted out, especially in conversations over church
potlucks. The implication is always that the speaker is right with God, and the
listening target individual or audience is not. But if they follow the advice
of the speaker, they will somehow be spared certain condemnation otherwise.
Those who do so are relying on the listener to understand the word "impossible"
as meaning a complete and utter alienation from God the Father, the Holy Spirit,
and Jesus. If we accept that point, we are set up to relinquish our spiritual welfare
to the one wishing to insert themselves between us and God, as the church has often
done throughout the centuries. While more subtle in modern times, in spirit
there is little difference between such persons who
would feed on God's flock in this manner and the inquisitor who, long ago,
would burn his victims at the stake to terrorize the people to submit to his
authority instead of the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to their hearts.
Such individuals seem to always
be speaking about unity defined as uniformity. But God's unity is made perfect
in diversity, not uniformity. If God desired uniformity, he is certainly going
about it the wrong way. We often say that God calls each of us into being in
the womb, but surprise! Those people he brings to life come out of the womb in
all different shapes, sizes, and colors. They grow to speak a multitude of different
languages and are all over the spectrum in intellect and physical ability.
Diversity is not an accident. it is the purpose of God's Creation. Despite our
tendency to sit behind walls and weapons to prevent interaction with those
different than us, God knows we need interaction to realize the potential he
created us for. Jesus exemplified this. Instead of simply acting like our
modern preachers, he did not rail at his disciples. Instead, he asked questions
and encouraged dialogue. Even though he knew what was in their hearts already,
he knew that they did not know how their own thoughts would play out so he drew
them out into the open where all could grow together.
This process applies to our understanding
of the word "impossible" as well. Jesus was engaged in conversation with his
disciples about how wealth, and by implication, power, could keep a person from
entering the Kingdom of God. He described it as though a camel should pass
through the eye of a needle.[ii]
Somehow, people have come to believe that this refers to a gate into Jerusalem called
The Eye of the Needle. I suspect this is the dream of a wealthy person who did
not want to accept this parable. They may have even hoped that by giving away
their wealth at death, they would be like the camel unburdening itself to get
through the gate. But there is no such gate, nor has there been. The disciples
did not understand it in that way for they doubted anyone could be saved then.
Jesus himself said it was impossible. There is that word again. It still sounds
final, but what Jesus said next shattered that word to smithereens. "With God, all
things are possible." "All things" means there are no exceptions despite what
the writer of Hebrews might say.
We should then re-examine what
Hebrews is telling us. It is not God who condemns us for failing to toe the
line. We do it to ourselves when we refuse to even glance in his direction. He
never gives up on us. He is the true Hound of Heaven who pursues us with his
love to the end of our days. At any moment, any season, day or night if we turn
to embrace that love, no matter what we may have done, the impossible becomes
possible with God as part of the picture. But we focus on other things instead of
the love that pursues us. We stumble over miracles of Jesus and other more
contemporary ones that we cannot explain. Though we stumble repeatedly, we tell
ourselves we have the power to change our own lives. I cannot begin to count
the number of people in end-of-life hospice I have ministered to that know the futility
of that idea. Sadly, some of those are individuals who used passages like those
in Hebrews to assure others that they had their act together and should be
given power to minister to others. Had they not done so, who of those they
pushed down would have found freedom in the promises of God?
We may feel God is not
interested in what we have to say on the matter, but he is so desperate to lead
us to peace and freedom instead of allowing us to race to our own destruction
that he stopped and visited with Abraham and through dialogue allowed Abraham
to convince him to save Sodom for the sake of the righteous people living
there. Abraham was doubtless thinking about his nephew Lot and his family, but
even then, Abraham did not realize the severity of the problems in Sodom, and
despite the negotiations and how low the number was, Lot could not produce
enough people who cared about it to save the city. That city, built among tar
pits,[iii] perished
in flames with Lot and his daughters barely escaping.
No matter how desperate our
life experiences have been, no matter how evil those who craved power in church
over others may have treated us, we should never give in to the thought that we
have passed beyond the pale and there is no longer a hope that we can enter the
Kingdom of God. We are not possessed with a legion of demons as the demoniac was.[iv]
Nonetheless, Jesus restored and saved him. There is also the example of Mary,
who struggled with seven demons,[v]
and Jesus restored her. How far gone must we be to be impossible to save? If we
struggle with a habitual failing, have we committed the unpardonable sin and
are therefore impossible to save? Paul struggled with this as well. It may have
informed the struggle he portrayed in Romans, chapter 7.[vi]
But God's response to him regarding his struggle was that his grace was
sufficient for his salvation.[vii]
When we are tempted by the
accuser of the brethren, the devil,[viii]
to believe that we are beyond saving, that we are now impossible to save, we
should remember these examples. No matter where we are on the road, it always
goes in two directions right up until it reaches its end. While we live, it is
never too late to turn around and begin walking home.[ix]