Stephen
Terry, Director
A Moment
of Destiny
Commentary
for the April 8, 2023, Sabbath School Lesson
"
But
if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this
day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15,
NIV
The essence of life is choice. For the
young, those choices mean opportunities. For the elderly, they can mean
regrets. Because we cannot see around corners, we tend to be drawn to what
appears most alluring up front. When choices appear equal, we may rely heavily
on experience, advice, and intuition, but when they differ in appearance, we
find it easier to categorize them as good and bad. We are attracted to the
choice that most reflects our own traits of character and personality. In other
words, we project onto the choices before us our innate definition of good and
bad irrespective of the true character of the choices confronting us. This is
why, once we have made a choice, it is so hard to reverse course. We are not
faced with a simple recognition of the error of our path. We feel that we are
denying our own being in doing so. What was once a generic choice between two
options has become closely tied to defining who we are in this universe. If our
choices are always good, our commitment to them can be a good thing, but this
is not always the case. When we err, a diehard commitment to that error cannot
only threaten our future, it can hurt others we encounter on our journey
forward. As they commit to our example, even if we later choose to renounce
that choice, they will be a powerful force willing to trap us in that
commitment to justify their own errant course.
This being the human condition, we can
easily become pawns in a game we barely understand. By the time we figure it
out, we may be old, licking our wounds, and feeling we lack the strength to
commit to the right choice, even if we have the desire to make it. But
nonetheless we should find the humility to do so. This is wisdom. To remain in
error in a vain attempt to save face is not. As the saying goes, there is no
fool like an old fool. So few exceptions make the case for such an aphorism.
Ironically, even as they force us to remain committed to our path as
justification for their own poor choice, we find fewer and fewer of that ilk in
our company as time goes on. The challenges created by their error, our error,
forces them to either accept the requisite untoward consequences or abandon
their choice as prudence demands, leaving us alone on the deck of the good ship
Fate to weather the storm the evolution of our poor choice created.
No more consequential choice exists than
the one presented in the Bible, to serve God or not. The metaphor for our need
to deal with that choice reveals itself in the story of Jesus' temptation in
the wilderness.[i]
Jesus chose the less desirable path. The wilderness starkly portrayed the
struggle that meant. The demands it made on his endurance, the demands it can
make on ours, can make both weak. Human flesh was not intended to suffer like
that and those offering us more desirable choices know that. In Jesus' case he
was urged to turn back from his commitment because doing so, choosing the
alternate path meant he could finally eat and sate the gnawing hunger he felt.
But he knew that what seemed good initially could end up feeling like rocks in
his stomach if he chose to abandon his path for short-term gratification. But
the metaphor did not end there.
Next, he was challenged as to whether the
path he was on would guarantee his personal safety. But knowing that his
personal safety was not the point of the choice he had made, he could turn away
from the test to determine if the Father would ensure his safety. He desired to
save the world if possible and in doing so his life would be forfeit, sealing
the opportunity to choose into his contract with humanity. Understanding the
true nature of Jesus' path, the tempter, Satan, then offered him what he most
deeply desired, the world. But Jesus was aware of several factors that Satan
was not willing to admit. When the world was created, humanity was given rule
over the earth.[ii]
Satan then usurped that rule by subverting the choice inherent in free will
just as he later unsuccessfully did with Jesus. He appealed to appetite.[iii] Humanity
succumbed to that temptation and handed over rule of earth to Satan, and it has
been an ever increasingly hellish place since. Based on his usurpation, Satan
offered the world to Jesus on the condition that he would legitimize Satan's
rule. This would accomplish two things. First it would irrevocably turn over
the earth and humanity to Satan since it would subvert God's plan for freeing
humanity from such servitude, and second, since Jesus had taken on humanity to
pursue that emancipation, he, too, would be forever servant to Satan. This is
why Satan demanded he bow down to him as a taste of what that life would be
like. But Jesus did not give in to him. He did not prevail earlier in his
attempt to seize control of heaven,[iv] and Satan
did not prevail now with the one who witnessed that earlier fall.[v] Instead,
Jesus continued on the path that eventually led to his death on a rude cross of
wood erected outside of Jerusalem on a small hill with thieves for companions
crucified with him. Jeering crowds hurled every epithet and foul gesture at him
as the life force in his body slowly ebbed. His last thoughts were that the
Father not hold the ignorance of humanity against them.[vi]
By their actions and words on that day,
the people demonstrated that they would have chosen opposite the choices Jesus
made when tempted in the wilderness. Many of those there had long ago sold
their allegiance to the highest bidder to rule over others. Centurions, priests
had both sold themselves to that siren song. But it did not grant them the
happiness they thought it would. Instead, they lived their lives in fear that
someone else could take that vestige of power from them unless they continued
to abase and compromise themselves before those who had greater power. Fear
controls everyone who chooses that kind of submission. Unfortunately, instead
of exposing that fear for what it is, a means of manipulation by the one
seeking to keep the earth in subjection to Satan's rule, too many Christians
want to use that fear to manipulate people into choosing to be Christians with
their "God is going to get you for that!" theology. Instead, they should
present God as the best choice based on love shown on the cross, love that
draws people to make a better choice. They love genocidal passages in the Old
Testament and the Noahic Flood that wiped out almost all life. They look
forward to a God who, upon Jesus' return, will create rivers of blood from the
dead as high as a horse's bridle. This sounds more like a grade B horror movie
than the act of a loving God. John called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved
and wrote more about love than any other New Testament author. It is hard to
reconcile the horrors of Revelation with John's gospel and his epistles. It is
as though two different people wrote them. Martin Luther did not even want to
include Revelation in his German Bible translation as it contradicted so much
of what John stood for.
Admittedly, if we take the Bible literally
as it reads, it is hard to find harmony between a God who is love, and one who
is willing to kill millions, even billions to achieve his ends. Paul must have
struggled with it based on his argument that a potter has the right to do
whatever he wants with the vessel he creates.[vii] The
prophet Habakkuk also questioned how God could use evil means to punish others,
but in the end he finally fell back to the understanding that God is in charge,
just trust him.[viii]
The problem with the portrayal of the
character of God in the Bible is that just like we do today, the biblical
authors projected their desires, both good and bad, onto God. The saying is
that if the ducks had a god, he would look just like a duck, only more
powerful. We are little different. When we anthropomorphize God, we make it far
easier to keep him in that box where we can claim to fully understand him, for
then he is just like us, loving whom we do and hating whom we do. Only our
hatred is frustrated by our limited power over one another. He can get revenge
that escapes us, because he is above the law that prevents us mortals, so we
project that hatred onto him. But there is a better choice.
Love does not seek revenge as so much of
the book of Revelation seems to be about. Love is Jesus on the cross with his
dying breath pleading forgiveness for those who were murdering him because they
just do not understand. Those who would have us do otherwise are not sheep of
Jesus' fold, though outwardly their wool tries to make us believe they are.[ix]