Stephen
Terry, Director
More
Testimonies About Jesus
Commentary
for the November 9, 2024, Sabbath School Lesson
"Truly I tell you, among
those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist;
yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Matthew 11:11, NIV
John the Baptist is an enigmatic
figure. The Bible tells us that two thousand years ago, he was the current incarnation
of Elijah the prophet. Elijah was active in Israel centuries before the
Babylonian captivity, almost a thousand years before Jesus began his ministry. John
wore a camel's hair garment and a leather belt. He had a diet of locusts and
wild honey. (Matthew
3:4) We are not troubled by what he wore. After all, prophets do not
usually wear designer labels. But we balk at the idea of eating locusts. This
hesitance is despite the Bible declaring them edible. (Leviticus
11:20-23) Our dislike is a cultural affectation. Several other cultures
consider locusts a delicacy, particularly in Asia.
When I was taking beginning Greek at Walla
Walla College, the professor, Lucille Knapp, shared with us an experience she
had with a foreign student from Asia. She had invited this young woman and
several other students for Sabbath dinner. When it was time to eat, they could
not find her. Finally, after searching high and low, they discovered her out on
the lawn. When they approached her, she apologized for being late, but she had
been catching grasshoppers to contribute to the meal.
Because of our cultural bias, we
tend to read into the biblical text things that are not there. For instance,
there are those who say with firm conviction, backed by the mistaken idea that
John was a vegetarian, the locusts were referring to bean pods from the locust
tree. But when we consider that the Old Testament approved of the practice of eating
locust insects, and the Greek text does not support the idea of bean pods, it
is more proper to accept the text as written rather than read our cultural biases
into it. There are even those who want to have Jesus making grape juice instead
of wine at the Cana wedding, something the Greek also does not support. Some of these go as far as to assert that Jesus was a vegetarian,
despite his celebrating Passover which included consuming lamb. (Luke
22:15) Even after his resurrection, he ate broiled fish. (Luke
24:41-43)
My point is this. There are things
in the Bible that call our modern, Christian understandings into question. We
focus on these trivial misinterpretations as though salvation were dependent
upon such esoterica. In the meantime, we forget compassion, empathy, kindness,
generosity, and humility, all attributes of a loving, caring heart. When we
stumble over these minor things, how shall we ever appreciate the deeper things
of Christ? We are like those whom Christ accused of straining out a gnat but
swallowing a camel. Our faith is not based on a focus on minutiae. If we are looking
to love God and love our neighbor, the minutiae will take care of themselves without
replacing the foundation of our faith. That foundation was to be love as Jesus
shared in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5:43-48), and Paul reminded us of in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. (1
Corinthians 13:13)
Having shared that, I can now
turn to some of the more challenging matters concerning Jesus and John. Jesus
revealed that heralding the Messiah, John was not part of the Kingdom of God,
even though he was the greatest born of women. He goes as far as to say that
the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. How can this be? Our
problem in understanding this may derive from our misunderstanding of Nebuchadnezzar's
vision in Daniel. (Daniel
2:44-45) Seventh-day Adventists typically equate the "stone cut out without
hands" as referring to the Parousia when Jesus will return to claim those who
are his from both the dead and the living. But a much more consistent meaning
would be that the stone that strikes Nebuchadnezzar's image in the days of the
Roman Empire was the foundation stone the builders rejected, Jesus. Jesus was
the foundation stone that the Apostle Paul built upon, and the result is that
there are those who worship God and recognize Jesus as Savior in every corner
of the globe. Despite horrific persecutions by governments and hostile,
competing religions, the blood of those martyred has been the seed that sprouted
even more Christians, as Tertullian declared. I have experienced this myself. After
facing persecution while in the army from an anti-Christian battalion
commander, I discovered my testimony under persecution led others to give their
lives to Christ. I do not know what happened to that commander, but I do know
that God used that persecution to spread the gospel far more than I might have
done alone. While it is difficult to suffer under such a threat, I can rejoice
at the fruit it produced.
The light of the gospel is more
visible in times of darkness. Like a match lit in a darkened room, it is
visible from every corner. But when the room light is on, the lit match is only seen by those nearby. It is no longer necessary to
avoid stumbling since the greater light has come. We can worry about the
darkness of our day, but the lights that yet remain shine brighter because of
that darkness. When we turn away from those lesser lights to focus on the evil
darkness in the world, fearing what might happen to us and those we love, we
can lose our way, like a lost lamb running before the thunder and lightning of
a storm. But Jesus pursues us as the loving shepherd, telling us to "Be not
afraid." He offers us peace and safety amid the storm.
Jesus does not call us to fix
this world. Instead, he predicted that evil would get so bad that love would
die out of many hearts. But those who keep on loving until the end, will find
salvation. (Matthew
24:12-13) Love and not condemnation is the foundation of the Kingdom of
God. (John
3:17) This may be why John was less than the least in the kingdom. He transitioned
from heralding the Messiah to condemning the king and paid for it with his
life. Does this mean John the Baptist will not rise in the resurrection? The Bible
says nothing about this, but it does say something about our tendency to worry too
much about others and what will happen to them. When Peter asked Jesus what
about the Apostle John, Jesus replied, "What is that to you?" (John
21:20-22) In other words, in the face of Peter denying Jesus three times,
he had more to worry about with his own life without worrying about what others
were doing in their relationship with Jesus. Would that we all learn that
lesson. The time we spend pointing out the sins of others does not compensate
for our failure to acknowledge our own failings. We should show our appreciation
to the shepherd of the flock by no longer hurting other sheep with our
accusations. Jesus is already aware of everything about the other sheep just as
he is about us. And pointing out people's sins to others who are not able to
save anyone is pointless.
I have learned by experience that
leading others to know and accept Jesus is all we need do. Everything else
falls into place after that, not according to my timetable, or the church's, or
that of those who think they are so close to sainthood that they are qualified
to judge and condemn. It all falls into place according to God's timetable.
Like a surgeon, who knows when the moment is ripe to perform needed surgery,
God, who knows the condition of every heart, knows what moment is ripe for
spiritual growth in ways we will never fully understand.
This is why obsessing about a lifestyle
that we have found helpful to the extent of equating it to salvation is misguided.
According to the Bible, a Moabite cannot be a part of the congregation of Israel
even for ten generations. (Deuteronomy
23:3) Yet, Ruth the Moabitess was the ancestor of King David in less than
ten generations and is part of the lineage of Christ. The Bible also says that
adultery is a mortal sin. (Exodus
20:14) But despite the adultery of David and Bathsheba, her child, Solomon,
out of all those of David's wives was in Christ's lineage. Rahab the harlot in
Jericho was a Canaanite, a people who were to be utterly destroyed by the
Israelites by God's command. (Deuteronomy
20:17) She, too, was a part of Christ's lineage. Given these examples, we
should not be surprised if the Holy Spirit touches the heart of a person and
they give their heart to Jesus, even when eating a ham sandwich while drinking
a beer and smoking a cigarette. Then if they survive all those who would point
fingers and judge them for things God has not yet brought to their attention, while
they cannot be Jesus' ancestors, they can become joint heirs of the kingdom,
grafted on to the true vine in an untimely but fully sufficient manner.
Having grown grapes, I know that
the vine nourishes each branch, and the branches produce clusters of grapes,
but no two clusters are identical even though they are all nourished by the same
vine. Our own understanding and example are inadequate to explain how this
happens for we only know the intimate working of the Holy Spirit in our own
lives, not the lives of others. Surely the joy we have in being a part of the
vine is felt by others as well. Let us rejoice in that wonderful gift that has
brought life to so many, even if it differs from our understanding.