Stephen
Terry, Director
Jesus,
Author and Perfecter of Our Faith
Commentary
for the March 12, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things
that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot
understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." 1
Corinthians 2:14, NIV
Walking the path of Christ can be
a lonely endeavor. Sometimes we forget that in western society because we have
freedom to gather for worship and are no longer tortured or slain for our
faith. But in much of the world, that is not the case. There Christians are
often scorned, tortured, and killed, especially if their words and lifestyle
expose by example the societal moral corruption that surrounds them. Those who
feed on that corruption not only abuse those compassionate souls who expose
them, they train each succeeding generation to do the same. Children are not
born hating others. They are taught to hate them for their social caste, their skin
color, their cultural idiosyncrasies, the clothing they wear, their hair
styles, and even their religion.
Unfortunately, too many who
consider themselves Christians have learned to do this as well. They not only scorn
other faith traditions, but they also even discriminate against those Christians
who are either affiliated with a different denomination than their own or are
Christian and unaffiliated with any denomination. Though they pay lip service
to the idea that Christ died for all, the inclusiveness is very rigidly defined
to exclude those not in their social clique. But they rail against that which
is invisible to them. The foolishness they mock is based on outward observance.
Even a minor physical or mental aberration
is enough to bring either whispered or outspoken ridicule and laughter and
gestures from those wanting the tormenter's approval. Belief in God is seen as
a mental failing by many and acting upon that belief is seen as a physical
manifestation of that mental failing, "foolishness" as Paul said to the
Corinthians.
The irony is that those who
give their heart to God and seek to walk a path to develop the character of
Christ are often the most compassionate and empathetic among us. They are not
found deriding others because they do not believe or do not fit in. Instead,
they are the healers, the peacemakers, and the ones whose hearts are broken
when they see others suffer in any way. A thirst and hunger for justice and righteousness
in the world emanates from their hearts where they have been written by the
finger of God. Yet, like Christ they are scorned for giving in to the weakness
and foolishness of caring for those around them. Their motives are maligned,
and if others begin to question injustice because of their lives of compassion,
they are dealt with as inciters of rebellion, imprisoned, and too often
murdered. It has been this way for millennia, even since the beginning when
Cain murdered Abel for no other crime than simply living out his faith. So very
many times since then, the blood of others has been mingled with Abel's for
similar reasons, becoming an evil sea, and the earth cries out at the injustice,
waiting for the promised deliverance.[i]
While Abel died in his
innocence at his brother's hand and represents those who truly are sons and daughters
of God and citizens of that kingdom, Cain, even though he knew God to exist and
even communicated with him, turned away, denying God a place in his life. Continuing
a path of oppression and injustice toward others, he and his descendants
brought so much evil into the world that only annihilation could bring it to a
stop. Sadly, the handful of Diluvians who survived that cataclysm still carried
the seeds of injustice in their hearts. While the world was swallowed in water
then, humanity now has the power to engulf the world in radioactive flame, and relying on their power to rain down that flame
from the skies, they viciously impose their will on others, especially those
who do not have such power, and take what they will in property and lives,
scarring large areas of the earth with their avariciousness. Groaning under the
weight of such abuse, the earth can only wait until the point is reached where
only cleansing by fire can offer rest and the opportunity for restoration.
In another irony, after turning
from God and bringing about this result, rather than own responsibility for the
mess, humanity chooses agnosticism or atheism, claiming it is doubtful that God
exists because he didn't step in and clean our dirty diapers. So, we wail in
our mess, and like Cain, we turn and walk away, dripping, but with God as our
scapegoat, the same God whose existence we doubt or deny. Prophets tried to
point out how to change our diapers. We killed them. Jesus came to show us how
to go about without dirty diapers. We killed him, too. Over time we got better
at it. We killed hundreds, then thousands, then hundreds of thousands and now
can sweep millions into their graves with efficiency and panache, blaming it
all on an indifferent God. After all, if God does not care about human life,
why should we? But then the argument moves to its conclusion. A compassionate God
would not allow such evil, therefore God must not exist. God then simply
becomes like a zero in mathematics, a placeholder without intrinsic value,
something we can conveniently hang responsibility on for our own hard and evil
hearts.
Once we went down the path of
irresponsibility, we tried to create organizations to address injustice. We
created courts, both national and international, the League of Nations, and the
United Nations. We signed treaties and held conventions. But all we managed to
create was a system of unenforceable rules that prevent intervention to stop conflict
and injustice when it arises. For a while the idea of mutual nuclear
destruction was a deterrent to outright warfare among the major powers, but
that has morphed into nuclear blackmail that insists if anyone interferes with
an illegal aggression, they will see fire rain from the skies bringing a
nuclear holocaust. It is only natural that under such conditions, nuclear
defense will be sought after, especially by many smaller nations incapable of a
conventional defense against aggression by a larger more capable belligerent.
But we did not need to arrive here.
Like Abel, we could have all accepted the existence of God and kept faith in
his compassion. He demonstrated that compassion even with Cain, who feared
others would take his life as he had taken Abel's. He placed a mark on Cain to warn
others that God wanted his life spared. In yet another irony, the very God humanity
denies continues to demonstrate compassion and grace toward those who turn
away. As Christ said, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and
sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45, NIV) Why does
he do so? He does it to model how we should be toward one another.
Some have claimed that we do
not need God to tell us that. Our own, enlightened self-interest will cause us
to be compassionate because we want to live in a compassionate world. But if
God's compassion could not achieve that end, how will we? Even the strength of
military might seems incapable of accomplishing the
most important ingredient for change, a metamorphosis of the human heart from stone
to flesh. Over six hundred thousand died in the American Civil War that
resulted in the emancipation of the slaves. But almost two hundred years later,
some are still fighting that war in their hearts and doing all they can to oppress
those set free. Since then, we have had many wars with a similar result, the
hardening of hearts into nearly impenetrable stoniness.
God offers to change all of
that, offering to replace the stone with flesh.[ii]
But he can only make that promise real for those who choose to believe he
exists. He makes that promise while standing and knocking at our heart's door.
He does not force his way in. That is not the way of compassion and grace. Some
think that because they do not hear that knocking, he is no longer there or
never was. But as we allow our hearts to indurate over time, they may no longer
resonate to his knocking, and we lose the sense that God is seeking entrance. This
can happen even if we belong to a church. Like Martha we may be so engrossed in
perfecting everything that we lose awareness of that knocking. Her sister, Mary,
still able to hear it, was drawn instead to Jesus' feet, and her heart found
rest in the Savior's presence, a rest that Martha was unaware she was missing.[iii]
To have the experience of Mary,
we need to have faith that there is someone on the other side of that door.
Then, believing that, we can receive all he has to offer, including love,
grace, peace, and rest. That faith has changed the lives of millions over the
millennia, and it continues to do so today. Do we dare open that door despite
our unbelief?