holy week: the intentionality of Christ prophesying about the temple

 it is now day three of holy week.  a full day has passed since the triumphal entry.  the crowd has not yet turned on Jesus.  we know this, because mark mentions that the people were "delighted at his teaching."  the chief priests and elders and scribes have been unsuccessful at finding fault with Jesus and his teaching.  oh, they were plenty mad because they knew that the parables He was teaching were all about them, but there was nothing they could do.  they feared the people, which is another reason we know that the crowd had not yet turned on Jesus.

we know that He was teaching in the temple, which was a common theme in His ministry, because this was the social center of the city.  you would commonly find crowds in the temple, and even more so now during the week of the passover, as worshippers were making preparations for the big day.  in Jesus' day, passover week would be akin to our CHRISTmas week in the western world.  the city, and consequently the temple, would have a significant increase in visitors.  this was why Jesus would spend this week in jerusalem.  due to the large crowds of people, we also see Him teaching on the side of the mount of olives, which was a short distance from the eastern gate and the temple, as mentioned earlier.  there were many lessons that He taught these few days, but one in particular is mentioned in all of the gospels:  the destruction of the temple.  most of His messages this week were on the kingdom of God, and the last days, including the signs to look for.  but then, as the disciples were leaving the temple, they made a point to comment on the beauty of the temple.  Jesus responds, not by agreeing with them, but by saying that the temple would be destroyed so thoroughly that not one stone would be left upon the other.  while the disciples thought that Jesus was referencing last days' events, He was actually commenting on the idolatry of the temple itself.

in order to understand how the temple had become an idol, you have to have a brief understanding of the history of the temple.  prior to having a temple, which was the housing for the ark of the covenant, a tent tabernacle was set up and moved around with the ark during the israelites' wandering in the wilderness.  king david acquired the land where abraham took his son isaac to be sacrificed for the purpose of building a permanent temple to house the ark of the covenant, but due to his many sins, God took this task from him and it was passed down to his son, solomon.  solomon, during his building campaign, took david's vision for a temple and upscaled it, building a lavish temple complex that was considered a marvel of the time.  this was done in the 10th century b.c.  in 586 b.c, the temple was destroyed during the sack of jerusalem by the babylonians, and the jews were sent into exile.  the ark of the covenant disappeared, and much debate has occurred as to its whereabouts, whether it was captured by the babylonians, destroyed, or hidden by secret societies before it could be captured.  in 513 b.c., after the jews were allowed to return to israel, a new temple was rebuilt, though not to the scale of solomon's temple.  this would be rectified in 20 b.c. by herod the great.  herod was considered a half-breed jew, due to his edumean heritage, and was also seen as a roman sympathizer.  he was put into power by the romans, and in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the jews, he decided to rebuild and greatly expand the new temple.  herod spared no expense in building the temple, having the walls covered in gold and jewels.  it was the pride of the jewish world.  this is the temple that Jesus taught in, and that the disciples were commenting on that third day of holy week.

so why was this included in the gospels?  Jesus was making a statement about the temple, but it was not meant to be in passing, nor simply a prophecy of the last days, which was what the disciples initially thought.  He had already made statements about His body being a temple, and being destroyed and rebuilt in three days, to which the jews replied that it took 46 years to build.  the problem with the temple, was that it had become an idol to the jews.  they began to see the temple as a sort of "good luck charm," and because God's presence dwelt in the temple, it gave them special protection.  it was said that jerusalem could never fall as long as the temple was there.  as mentioned in the previous entry, the jews placed more importance on the temple building itself, and the rituals that took place inside, than they did the God that the temple was built for.  Jesus was again reminding the disciples that He had come to fulfill the law, and the need for the temple was to be no more.  this was made evident during his death when the thick veil to the holy of holies was ripped into, allowing all men direct access to God the Father through Christ.  it is important to note that the prophecy came true in 70 a.d., when the romans sacked jerusalem during titus' reign.  the romans not only destroyed the temple as a message to the jews, but they also took every stone from the temple with them for the gold and jewels that were in the walls.  this made the prophecy come true down to the detail about stones not being left on top of each other.  the only thing left is the retaining wall for the temple mound, which is now what we call the western wall, or the wailing wall.  

for us today in the western world, it can be argued that the same attitude exists as did in the jews, with the church building becoming almost an idol to itself.  we have forgotten that the Church proper is not a building, but the collective body of believers.  we have relegated worship of God to one day a week, in multi-million dollar buildings adorned with lavish accoutrements, much in the same way as the temple during Christ's time.  during covid, we saw a shift in attitudes towards the church building, but unfortunately that attitude also shifted towards the Church body.  people not only abandoned the building, but the gathering of believers as well.  this misguided belief that the church building and the Church body was the same thing has caused a drastic decline in church attendance.  meanwhile, in countries like ukraine, we see believers gathering together in underground bunkers to worship.  in closed countries like china and iran, we see believers gathering together in secret to worship.  however, in the western world, we have the errant belief that worship somehow consists of a style, a ritual, or a building, or that worship is entirely a personal endeavor.  we have placed our own personal preferences above the commands of God, thereby making an idol of a building, a style, a preference.  anytime we place any thing above God and His commands, we have created an idol.  we would all do well to remember Jesus' teaching on true worship and the temporal nature of a building, and instead choose to worship Him in spirit and in truth, as part of a daily practice, as well as a regular corporate gathering of believers.

  

The western wall of the old temple foundation, now called the wailing wall.

  

In this picture you can see the dome of the rock, sitting on top of the temple mound.  

holy week: the intentionality of Christ in the fig tree and the temple

as we look at the intentionality of Jesus in His last days, we have to look at the actions He took, and the places He visited.  remember, as i said before, if something is included in Scripture, it is worth studying to figure out why it is included.  for instance, there are two important actions that Jesus did on the monday of holy week:  the cursing of the fig tree, and the cleansing of the temple.  at first glance, these two events seem to be unrelated to each other, but when you take a moment to look at the historical significance of them, you see that they are in direct correlation with each other.  they also have direct application to our lives as followers of Christ.

the first action Jesus takes is on His way into jerusalem.  we learn the events from the day before with the triumphal entry had occurred late in the day, so when Jesus got to the temple, it was largely deserted, and therefore not the time to teach the lesson that needed to be taught.  so He took the 12 disciples and went back to bethany and came back the next day.  on the way into the city, He saw a fig tree with early leaves on it, and went to see if it had any fruit.  when the tree was found to not have fruit, He cursed it and said that it would never produce fruit again, and the tree consequently withers.  this seems like a petty and insignificant, and almost unfair action.  after all, mark said that it was not the season for figs, so why would Jesus curse a tree for not having figs, if it wasn’t even fig season?  was it because He was “hangry” because Scripture mentions He was hungry and went to the tree, and when there was no fruit, He basically threw a temper tantrum and cursed it out of spite?  at a face-value reading, it would sure seem that way, and definitely not becoming of the Messiah.  however, like many treasures in Scripture, in order to find it you have to dig.  whenever approaching Scripture, especially the New Testament, it is important to remember that these were jews living in a jewish culture occupied by the romans.  so when reading the Gospels, you have to have at least an entry-level working knowledge of judaism, a basic knowledge of history of the area, as well as knowledge of old testament prophecy, if you are to properly understand it.  the disciples would have well understood the significance of the fig tree.  there is a reason it is a fig tree, and not a pomegranate tree, or olive tree, or any of the other fruit-bearing trees of the region.  to understand why it is a fig tree, you have to look back at the Old Testament, and the history of israel.  God routinely uses the fig tree as a metaphor for israel in the Old Testament, and being an agrarian society, many such metaphors were used (ie., Jesus using vineyards in His parables).  God repeatedly refers to fruitfulness as a sign of a healthy relationship with Him throughout both the Old and New Testaments.  in the Old Testament, the prophets describe God as inspecting israel for “early figs”.  those familiar with fig trees would tell you that whenever a fig tree starts producing leaves early, it will also produce early figs.  so mark stating that it was not the season for figs, but referencing that the tree had leaves, was an indicator that the tree should have had early figs.  Jesus not finding any and cursing the tree would have conveyed a meaning that was very apparent to the disciples, who had spent three years with Him learning about prophecy and the Scriptures.  the meaning would have been a word picture of the Old Testament’s referencing israel as barren and a rotten fig which occurred during their exile to babylon and assyria, and a recalling of the promise that God would one day replant israel and produce “healthy figs” from her again.  however, just like we are about to see in the temple, the jewish people are celebrating the passover, making a big show of the ritual, but like the fig tree, it is still just a show of leaves, with no fruit.

transition to the temple.  Jesus enters the temple and once again sees the money changers, those that were taking the jews’ roman currency, which was the common currency of the region, and converting it to jewish currency so that they could purchase their sacrificial animals for the passover.  the passover was one of the busiest times of the year for the city, and people would travel from miles around to celebrate and offer sacrifices on behalf of their families, which prevented most from bringing animals with them.  so the temple officials, seeing a financial opportunity, would charge them to exchange their roman currency for temple currency.  Jesus clearly takes great offense with this, and proceeds to overturn their tables, which would have the effect of causing chaos as people scrambled to pick up the flying coinage for themselves.  Scripture then goes on to mention that He also overturned the chairs of the dove merchants.  to understand this, you have to look at the requirements of the law for sacrifices.  those who were able, were required to bring the best of their herd for sacrifice.  the poor, however, who could not afford livestock, were to offer a turtle dove as sacrifice.  again, the temple officials seizing on a money-making opportunity, sold the cheapest of animals to the travelers, with which they could make the most profit.  they couldn't care less whether or not it met the requirements of the law, but rather were the equivalent of umbrella salesmen on rainy days.  therefore, like the fig tree, there was a lot of show in the "worship" taking place in the temple, but there was no fruit behind it.  as long as the temple elite made their money, and the people did the minimal sacrifice, all was good.  Jesus came in, and knew that in order to effectively teach in the temple about proper worship, and reestablish God as the focus of that worship, as He would in the coming days, He would have to remove all of these distractions in order for people to hear His message.  He also knew that by doing so, He would anger the temple officials, which would result in their plotting for His death, yet He did it anyway.

He is intentional in removing those distractions from our lives as well.  many of us are like the fig tree, with a lot of show in our faith, but no fruit present.  we get caught up in the mechanics of church, and relegate our spiritual lives to one day a week on sunday, neglecting Him the rest of the week.  meanwhile, the church has become a consumer culture, with her members gathering for themselves preachers and leaders who will tickle their ears.  the focus gets placed on the music, the comfort level, the style of seating, what the pastor wears, all materialistic things, with the church feeding into that.  the church has become a business, with preachers hawking their latest books, and worship teams selling their latest CDs, complete with marketing teams and celebrity-leaders.  i have a friend who was the pastor of a mega-church in texas, and he left the pastorate because he was getting invited to conferences on “how to get your book onto the new york times bestseller list” and “how to use your church budget to amplify your brand”.  it made him sick to his stomach to see what the church he was pastoring was turning into, so he left to become a chaplain and get back to what he started out to do:  minister to people and share the gospel. 

Scripture warns us as to what will happen to those who do not bear fruit.  John speaks of the pruning of those who do not bear fruit.  it also warns us about the dangers of the church taking her focus off of Christ.  Revelation speaks of the church at laodicea, and how Christ stands at the door of the church and knocks, because the church has become wealthy and carried on like it no longer needed Him and kicked Him out.  may we take this week as an invitation to be intentional in our repentance and to reexamine our faith.  is it self-centered, focusing on our preferences instead of Christ?  or is it ritualistic, having an appearance of godliness, but denying its power?  the people were unaware of their own shortcomings, and the temple was feeding into that ignorance.  Jesus had to cleanse the temple and get it back to its original state in order to teach the people of their need for repentance.  perhaps we need Jesus to come in and strip away all of the consumerism and materialism that has infected and tainted our faith, and clean house and get us back to true faith that is focused on Him.

 

One of the walls surrounding the current city   Underneath those walls are the original walls  

One of the current 8 gates that are open. 

 

You can see the eastern gate in this picture with the cemetery directly in front of it   A large mosque now stands where the temple would have stood.

holy week: the intentionality of Christ in the triumphal entry

 i’ve been thinking a lot about holy week, and i wanted to dust off the blog that i’ve neglected for a while and share over the next week some observations that i’ve had on the days leading up to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  i will make two posts today, because i missed yesterday due to travel, and you can’t start a series on the holy week without referencing the triumphal entry of Christ into jerusalem.  the coming posts will have pictures from my trip to the holy land, as visual guides, and will even likely have some videos.  so i will be changing up the format a bit, but these are necessary changes to fully convey the message contained within the posts. 

as we look at the holy week, i would like for you to take a moment and think with me about your own life.  what if you knew that this was your last week on earth?  perhaps you were given a glimpse into the future and you knew that at the end of the week, you would be killed in a horrific manner, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.  how would you react?  would you go into hiding, hoping it would somehow protect you from the calamity to come?  what if you knew that no matter what you did, you could not avoid the end that awaited you in a few short days?  what then?  i would like to be so bold as to postulate that you would become very intentional in your last days.  you would likely get your affairs in order, ensuring that your loved ones were taken care of, and you would make a point to spend time with those you loved.  Jesus was no different.  so as we go through the next few days, i want to start looking at the intentionality in each of Jesus’ actions in His final days on earth before, and after, His crucifixion, and that starts with the triumphal entry.

when we look at Scripture, we tend to want to focus on the big picture, and miss out on the minute details.  perhaps because it’s easier to do so, and doesn’t require as much work on our part.  humans, after all, have a tendency to be lazy, especially with things that we are not passionate about.  but just as Christ was intentional in His final week, He is intentional in the details that are in Scripture.  if God felt it was important to say, then it’s important for us to pay attention to it.  when we look at the triumphal entry, there is a detail that is mentioned right at the beginning of all four accounts of the triumphal entry, that unless we are paying attention, we dismiss it as a minor detail and then gloss past it to the entry itself.  all four accounts of the triumphal entry mentions two places:  bethphage and bethany.  these were two small communities on the eastern side of jerusalem, both along the same road.  we know that Jesus was staying in bethany in the days leading up to His entry into jerusalem, as this is where He was anointed at mary and martha’s house, which was in bethany.  from bethany, He would have traveled through bethphage, which was on the western side of the mount of olives.  why is this detail important?  it told the direction which Jesus was traveling, and therefore would result in His entering into jerusalem on the eastern side through the eastern gate.  jerusalem, like most cities in the time of Christ, was a walled city to protect it from invaders, and the only way to enter the city was through one of the eleven gates.  on the eastern side, the eastern gate, also known as the lion’s gate, or the beautiful gate, was the only gate, which meant that this is the gate He would have entered.

you may ask, why is the eastern gate an important detail?  there are a few reasons.  first, it was the gate that led directly into the temple complex.  this was to be Jesus’ first destination when He entered the city, because He had business there.  we will get to that detail in the next post, but for now, just know that the temple was a very central point to Jesus’ ministry.  He frequently taught there, already had cleansed it once, and made prophecies concerning the temple.  so the eastern gate was important because it was central to His next task.  from the mount of olives, you would have been able to see directly into the temple.  one of the most striking things i learned in my visit to the holy land, was how close in proximity everything was.  when we read Scripture, we tend to think of the holy land as being very spread out, but many places were only a few hundred yards away from each other.  this is the case with the mount of olives.  as you can see from the picture below, which was taken from the western side of the mount of olives, jerusalem was only a short walk from the mount.  and the eastern gate (now sealed) is directly in view.

the second reason the eastern gate is important, is its significance to the temple operations.  the eastern gate was the gate that the sacrificial lamb would be brought through.  therefore, as in many other details in His life, this pointed to His reason for coming.  even though the crowd outside the gates cried, “hosanna!” meaning “save us!”, expecting Him to liberate them from the roman occupation, He was there for a different salvation.  He was to be the sacrificial lamb that was sufficient for not only the sins of the year, which was the case with the lamb sacrificed each year on yom kippur, but was to be sufficient for all mankind for all time. 

the third reason the eastern gate is important, is its significance in prophecy.  in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 43 speaks of the return of the glory of God to the temple, which would return through the gate facing east, meaning the eastern gate.  in Ezekiel 10, we read about God leaving the temple because His people had turned away from Him, and took for granted His presence in the temple as something that would always be there and as a result jerusalem would be protected.  but a prophecy was made that His glory would return through the eastern gate.  Jesus’ first triumphal entry was the first part of that prophecy.  the second part will happen when He returns for His second coming.  when Christ ascended at the mount of olives, and angel said He would return in the same way, which many scholars interpreted that He would return at the mount of olives.  this meant He would again enter into the temple through the eastern gate.  after jerusalem was destroyed in 70 a.d., the walls and gates, along with the temple, were all destroyed along with it.  in 1538, a muslim ruler from the ottoman empire named suleiman the magnificent had the walls rebuilt on top of the old one, as well as nine of the gates.  for three years after the wall was completed, excitement began to brew among the christian world since the eastern gate was now rebuilt, with talks of Christ’s second coming being imminent.  suleiman feared this so greatly, that he had the gate sealed, and it has remained that way ever since.  he also installed a large cemetery in front of the gate, thinking that a jewish messiah would never defile Himself by passing through a graveyard.  by doing so, he unwittingly fulfilled another prophecy from Ezekiel 44, which states that the gate is to be sealed and remain shut, and no man is to enter through it.  we know the efforts of man to stop God are futile, just as now there is a large mosque called the “dome of the rock” sitting atop the temple mound, but when the day comes, the temple will be rebuilt, and no sealed gate or cemetery will stop the Messiah from reentering it.

as you see, even the gate that Christ chose to enter was intentional.  after all, there were 10 other gates at the time that He could have entered, but He specifically chose this one, and made sure to place that detail in His Word so that those willing to dig and study would find it.  just as He is intentional in these little details, we can apply that to our lives.  there are many times when we feel that things are happenstance, and that perhaps God has forgotten about us.  we take the attitudes of the deists, which believe that God is not involved in our world, that He simply created everything, gave the globe a spin, and then sat back to watch.  this is not the case at all.  God is involved in the seemingly most minute details of our lives.  we just have to learn to trust Him, and to ask Him for eyes to see where He is at work.  i don’t know about you, but this is a tremendous comfort to me, especially in the time in which we live, where people are trying to “fix” God’s supposed “mistakes.”  rest assured in this fact, God does not make mistakes, and if He can be intentional in a small detail such as which gate He enters a city, He is intentional in the same way in our lives. 

as we go through the final week of Christ, i encourage you to look for His intentionality, not only in His final tasks on earth, but also in your life.  as Scripture tells us, “He who began a good work in you, will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus.”    

jerusalem from the mount of olives.  notice the eastern gate that is sealed.

characters of CHRISTmas revisited: a Father's love

after writing the post yesterday, i was lying in bed thinking about my family (i am currently six hours away from them) as i was looking at the CHRISTmas tree on my little table.  i began to think about CHRISTmas, and why i love it as much as i do, and also about how much it’s changed for me personally over the years, and it got me to thinking about another overlooked character at CHRISTmas:  God the Father.  i want to tread very lightly for this post, because i would never want to be construed as speaking for God, or anything like that.  there are enough charlatans out there doing that already.  but i want to look at what we know from Scripture about the nature of God the Father, and look at it through the filter of the CHRISTmas story.

growing up, CHRISTmas was always an exciting time in my life, as my parents always made sure to make the day special for us.  my wife’s dad also did the same thing for them, with little traditions that he observed every year.  many families have their own unique CHRISTmas traditions that add to the holiday spirit, and build the excitement for the kids.  i can remember the excitement that would start after thanksgiving when the CHRISTmas commercials would start on tv, and the sears wish book would arrive in the mail.  back then, it was about the magic of the season, and somehow all seemed right with the world on that one day of the year.  even as a kid i felt that.  when the presents were opened, and the wrapping paper discarded, and the tree was once again empty of its treasures, the day still seemed special.  as i got older, things shifted, and CHRISTmas was a time to look forward to because it was a time all the family came together.  and when i became a father, it shifted in a way that can never be accurately described in words, but it was now different.

i was now a dad, entrusted with raising a son, which soon became two more sons.  as a father, i became their provider, and i would sacrifice anything i had to make sure my sons were taken care of.  i became their protector, and was prepared to rain down the wrath upon anyone or anything that hurt my sons.   when it came to CHRISTmas, i wanted my boys to remember CHRISTmas the same way i did, and to have that magic.  my wife and i took those traditions that meant so much to us from our childhoods and wove them together to create our own unique traditions that would instill that magic in our boys, and hopefully they can pass down to their kids one day.  

so last night, as i was thinking about all of these things, i started thinking about God the Father, and how He must have felt that first CHRISTmas.  i can never imagine the depths of love He must have for us to sacrifice what He did in sending His Son down to earth for us.  He was born in a stable, where animals were kept, and was laid in a feeding trough for those animals.  for those of you that have kids, imagine allowing your infant son to be born in the most squalid hospital in a third world country.  i wanted my sons to have the best, and i don’t have the love He has for us to the degree that i would allow my son to be born in those conditions.  

but God the Father did, and He did that for us.  

yet that first CHRISTmas was only to be the start of a very tough and challenging life for Jesus.  He would have a ruthless power hungry king try to kill Him within the first years of His life.  and it would cause his family to pack up everything in a hurry and flee to a foreign country.  

do you have enough love for others that you would allow your son to be born in an area where you knew his life would be threatened?  i don’t.  but God the Father did.  

Jesus would grow up in a meager home, what we would consider lower blue collar today.  this is someone whose rightful home was Heaven in all its splendor, and He would grow up learning to use His hands to work hard to scrape by a living.  

do you have enough love for others that you would send your son to be raised in such a meager way, when He deserved all the riches and glory of a king?  i don’t.  but God the Father did.

He would grow up and would be ridiculed and be the topic of gossip in the area.  Scripture tells us that people referred to Him as mary’s son.  in that society, that was a slight.  males were always referred to by their father’s name, yet they didn’t call Him joseph’s son.  so they were in essence calling him a bastard, implying that they didn’t believe mary’s story of the virgin birth and that joseph wasn’t His real dad; rather, He was conceived out of wedlock by mary’s indiscretions, and that joseph fell for it.

do you have enough love for others that you would send your son to be raised among people who would ridicule him and mock him?  i don’t.  but God the Father did.

the last time we see joseph mentioned in Scripture is when Jesus is 12, and is at the temple discussing Scripture with the rabbis.  many scholars believe that joseph likely died shortly after that time, because he is never mentioned again, even though mary and His brothers were.  in that society, there were many things that could kill a man, and for someone that worked with their hands, simple wounds from a wayward saw blade or smashed finger could turn gangrenous and quickly take a life.  this is likely why Jesus was never married, at least on a practical level, because the father was in charge of securing a bride for their sons.  so Jesus would have spent those difficult teenage years without a father, and would have been thrust into having to be the provider for the home at a very young age, since it was the male’s responsibility to provide for the home.

do you have enough love for others that you would send your son to a family, knowing that he would experience a heart-breaking loss, and would have to be responsible for providing for a family and never enjoy the bonds of marriage?  i don’t.  but God the Father did.   

He would grow up, and we know the story of His ministry, and the hardships He faced.  we know the abandonment He faced by those He came to save, who called for His death.  we know the betrayal He felt by those He called friends.  we know the horror of the cross and the cruelty of the romans who would torture Him in the hours leading up to His death.  

do you have enough love for others that you would send your son to be subjected to the emotional, mental, and physical anguish that would be forced on Jesus?  i don’t.  but God the Father did.

so that first CHRISTmas, i wonder how God the Father must have felt?  because i know how i would have felt.  it pains me to see my sons hurting, and i would have stepped in many times throughout their lives if they went through what Jesus did, but God didn’t.  i love people, but there is no one i love enough to sacrifice my family for.  sure, as a pious CHRIST-follower i’m supposed to say i would, but in being honest, i admit that i wouldn’t.  the song, “how deep the Father’s love for us,” is playing through my head right now.  as a dad, CHRISTmas has taken on a new meaning, a deeper meaning, a “peek behind the curtain and seeing the reality behind the magic” meaning.  so when you think about God the Father at CHRISTmas, remember that He is a dad, and Jesus called Him “Abba,” meaning “daddy.”  most importantly, remember the sacrifice He made in sending His Son for us, His “only begotten Son,” because He loved us so much, something unfathomable to me as a dad.  

CHRISTmas is about God the Father’s sacrifice. 

“for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

are you a “whosoever”?  

characters of CHRISTmas revisited: is this one of those "scary ghost stories"?

a few years back, (well, actually eight years!  wow!) i wrote a series of posts on the characters in the CHRISTmas story from the bible.  the major characters of mary, joseph, shepherds, wise men, and caesar augustus were all discussed, as were minor or implied characters such as zechariah, anna, simeon, herod, and even the innkeeper.  i thought i had covered everyone, but as i was reading through the CHRISTmas story in matthew today, one stuck out to me that i had never noticed before, enough that it caused me to want to get back on here and write about it, because odds are, you missed them, too!

i want to take you back, just for a moment, and have you revisit a scene from the CHRISTmas story.  this is not a character people like to focus on in the story, because it doesn’t fit their idyllic version of CHRISTmas, but it is one that is important to not miss.  imagine, for a moment, that you are a mother or a father in the region of bethlehem, an area approximately 16 square miles just south of jerusalem.  you have a toddler, a boy under two years old, that is playing in the floor of your house, when there is a knock at your door.  you answer the door and there are a half dozen soldiers at your door.  they push past you, and walk over to the toddler playing on the floor, and run him through with a sword, killing him, and then they walk out.  this is how you will forever remember this day.  not happy memories.  not peace on earth. it’s a memory that you would like to forever remove from your mind, but won’t be able to.  you may not have even been aware of the birth of a special baby boy within the last two years.  all you know is that your world has just been shattered and you are left to pick up the pieces, perhaps not even knowing why.

this is the reality of the CHRISTmas story.  it’s the reality of the world Jesus was born into.  it’s a reality of the world we live in today, a world marred by sin that Jesus came into in order to redeem.  while many of us have nice memories of CHRISTmases past, others are not so fortunate.  their memories of CHRISTmas are ones of nightmares. of abuse, of violence, of poverty, of drunken relatives, of absent fathers or mothers, of screaming, of trauma, of prison, of war.  they did not ask for these memories, they may not have a discernible source of blame for these memories, other than the ones that forced them on them, but they are stuck with them all the same.  they dread the holidays coming up, because of the memories they bring, or perhaps because they know what awaits them during the holidays.  the cycle may still be continuing, and their CHRISTmas will be filled with those same things that they grew up with.  as a chaplain, i hear it all the time, of how the sailor or marine will be staying on base for CHRISTmas because it’s better than going home.  i have known friends who hated CHRISTmas and did everything they could to avoid acknowledging the holiday.  they suffered with those memories that they could not/can not erase from their minds.  throughout our world, CHRIST-followers are forced to celebrate CHRIST and CHRISTmas in secret, for fear of tyrannical governments that would jail or kill them.  CHRISTmas day atrocities are committed around the world against CHRIST-followers, with increasing frequency.

so how does this line up with the story of CHRISTmas?  the story of CHRISTmas is there, in all it’s exposed truthfulness, as a story of peace in the midst of a broken and violent world.  not the peace that men envision, but peace between God and man.  Jesus repeatedly talks about this broken world, and how His coming would have far-reaching effects for the rest of history.  He reminds us that His peace is not peace as the world sees it, and also warned us that as far as His purpose, He came not to bring peace, but a sword.  that is because this world is the enemy’s territory, and satan hates the gospel, and will do everything within his power, including using people and their propensity for conflict and violence, to stop it, but ultimately will fail.  the Sword of the Spirit is the sword Jesus brought, which was the Word of God fulfilled in Him.  that is why john says, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  did you catch that? the Word is Jesus, the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us.  why did He do this, knowing the calamity that His coming would bring?  He did it because there was no other way for the gap between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness to be bridged.  He did it because the eternal is far greater than the temporal.

so while the CHRISTmas season may not be joyful for many people, that is all the more reason for us to tell them the real meaning of CHRISTmas.  the peace of God surpasses all understanding, and can not only redeem the holiday for those who dread it, but it can redeem their very souls.  Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble, not we might, but we will, but He has left us His peace.  and the only way that peace can be received is through the saving work of His death and resurrection.  because that is why He came, for the violence that His birth wrought would be the violence that He would surrender to in order to free us from the nightmare of sin and this broken world, and all of the horrible memories it contains.

my question to you this CHRISTmas is do you have that peace?  did you grow up knowing the meaning of CHRISTmas, or just saw it as a holiday with presents and a nice story juxtaposed over the trauma as the stresses of the commercial holiday resulted in conflict, oblivious to the coming of the CHRIST?  is the CHRISTmas season a time of rejoicing at the arrival of Emmanuel, God with us, or a time of getting bogged down in the tragic memories of the past, of failed examples of what CHRISTmas should have been?  if it’s the latter, i pray that you will seek CHRIST and His face, and you will truly find His peace.

the most valuable of virtues

albert einstein once said, "the day you stop learning is the day you start dying."  one of the dangers of education is that you can sometimes get to the point to where you think you know more than you do.  that is why socrates said, "the greatest wisdom consists of knowing that you know nothing."  last week was one of those weeks when my glaring ignorance upon the subject of success was brought to light.  the times we learn most are in times of failure; at least that has been my experience, because it causes you to have to go back and reexamine yourself.

in the military, we have a system to determine promotions called promotion boards.  in these boards, a group of officers who have likely never seen you or met you in person have about two minutes to look at your record and give you a score which is used to determine whether you promote to the next rank.  in a breakdown of numbers, the odds are against you (the navy likes to use what i call fuzzy math and say that it's 70%, but in actuality, it's only about 25% of those eligible that get selected), so to not get promoted doesn't necessarily mean that you are not good at your job, but that others were seen as having something that you didn't, depending upon what the people in that particular board found valuable.  well, long story short, i was not selected for promotion this time, making it my second time to not get selected.  while there are a lot of people that end up in this same position, and the navy will continue to allow me to serve until i hit 20 years and can retire, being passed over for promotion for the second time was quite a blow.  the first time was a shock, but the second time really hurt and affected me in a way that i was not expecting.  the overwhelming emotion that kept creeping up was failure: to myself, to my family, to my career.  it was one thing to be passed over the first time, because you realize the numbers game and statistical chances, but the second time is more personal, and the prevalent, persistent thought was, "i thought i was at least good enough to not get passed over twice!"  this led to my learning experience, where i was taken to school on the virtues that we develop.  i read an article that jumped out at me in the days after the board results were released, and the article talked about how we all spend our lives developing virtues, and it broke those virtues down into "resume' virtues" and "eulogy virtues."  the short of it is resume' virtues are those virtues that we build in our professional lives that would be put down on a resume', and are meant to communicate the things we have accomplished in our lives that would be found valuable in the job market.  these are typically measurable, and are captured using numbers and concrete data.  the other type of virtues that we develop are eulogy virtues, and are things that we do that leave a lasting impact on the people we come in contact with.  these are typically not measurable in the physical sense, although sometimes can be partially captured with numbers, nevertheless have far reaching ripple effects.  these are the virtues that cause people to show up at your funeral and are spoken about when you are remembered.

as a CHRIST-follower, my experience of failing to select for promotion was the school teacher that caused me to realize that a more appropriate breakdown of these virtues would be temporal virtues versus kingdom virtues.  paul talks about this in his letter to timothy where he said that some deserted him, having loved this present life more than the next, in other words, their focus was on those temporal virtues.  in the u.s., we are so inundated with wealth and creature comforts that we have confused our affluence and influence with blessing, and have become the embodiment of the church in laodicaea, arrogant and thinking we are in need of nothing.  how many people do you know that attribute their financial or positional gain to God's blessing?  you've probably heard them, "God blessed me with this nice house," or "God has seen fit to bless him/her with a job position," or any other sort of temporal affluence that we can attribute to God.  i have seen a number of cars that say "blessed" on the tag, but do you know what i noticed?  it's never a piece of junk car; on the contrary, it's always a really nice car.  people would probably call it an oxymoron to see an 84 mercury sable, with rust all over it, mismatched rims and tires, blowing smoke out the tailpipe, and a tag that says "blessed!"  our attitude almost becomes one of entitlement, "well, i have done x, y, and z, so God should bless me with nice stuff."  and that is because we have confused affluence and influence with blessing, which is antithetical to what Scripture teaches.  satan even offered both of these to CHRIST in his temptations to Him, which CHRIST rejected.  it is not a coincidence, that it is also what the real experience of humanity teaches.  some of the most miserable people are the most wealthy, and some of the happiest people i have met have been the poorest.  in reality, most will tell you that wealth and position only bring more burdens than blessing.  because of this misnomer of equating affluence and influence with blessing, we end up placing priority and importance upon the temporal to the neglect of the eternal, and then when we find ourselves suffering loss in the temporal, we begin to wrongly think that God must be punishing us for taking away our "blessings."  the disciples even thought like this, as is evident when they asked Jesus if the blind man was born blind because of the parents' sin, and even more so when they were defeated on the road to emmaus when Jesus didn't turn out to be the conquering king they expected Him to be. 

that being said, it is not wrong to work hard to achieve success in the temporal realm, just so long as that is not your priority.  for me, personally, the promotion was not as much about the rank increase, or even the pay increase, because those things are not that important to me; they are mere tools to use.  it was more about recognition for the hard work and accomplishments i've achieved, as well as the sacrifices made to get to where i am, and when it didn't happen, it was as if those things didn't mean anything.  that was because the focus for me was on the temporal, the praise of men, when it should have been on the eternal.  in reality, the immeasurable impacts to His kingdom that God has allowed me to be a part of were not affected.  i began to realize that God did not call me to be a navy chaplain to become a commander or captain, or even to be a great staff officer.  he called me to minister to the sailors and marines and coast guardsmen who were in need of the love of CHRIST, and to share that love, and the gospel that embodies that love, to those who were in need of a Saviour.  you know what i realized?  that sailor who i spent time with and shared CHRIST's love with is still a CHRIST-follower today because of His call to this ministry.  that marine who was suicidal is still alive today because of His call to this ministry.  the spouse that lost her husband was able to get connected to other gold star spouses because of His call to this ministry.  there are brand new chaplains with fresh fervor and preparedness ministering to people because of His call to this ministry.  i could write a book with all of the people that God has put in my path that i've been blessed to be able to share His love with, and that is a blessing that will not go away.  the true meaning of blessings from God are those treasures in heaven that do not rot, and rust does not destroy, and the thief can never steal.

my encouragement to you, and my request for your prayer for me, is that we never lose sight of what virtues are the important ones to develop, and that we never choose to chase the temporal in neglect of the eternal.  the eternal destinies of people who are precious to Him are on the line, and you may be the one person God is preparing to minister to one of the "least of these," and you can then let your affluence and influence be converted into a blessing when you choose to be a good and faithful steward of what God has allowed you to have, and use it to share CHRIST's love with all of those in this world that desperately need it.  remember, satan would have you defeated in order to remove the threat to his kingdom, and he uses the temporal to do that, but CHRIST would would have you victorious in His name, and to be the church, and His hands and feet.  CHRIST said that he who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven, so the goal now is to look forward, and not dwell on the past, but build those kingdom virtues to secure more victories for the kingdom!

not ashamed

this post is one of self-disclosure, in hopes that what i have experienced will help others.  i especially hope that my fellow CHRISTian chaplains will read this, as it directly applies to some of them.  i had a bit of a revelation that hit me the other day that i wanted to share with you.  first, for those who are not chaplains, i feel the need to explain a bit of what we do.  one of our key roles is ensuring the free exercise of religion for all.  part of that is advising the command on issues related to religious expression, especially when it comes to proselytizing.  to clarify, despite what you see on the news, our service men and women are allowed to share their faith, just so long as they are not forcing it on people.  that includes all faiths, and is true regardless of rank, so if you have a senior officer that is using mandatory functions as a platform to subject people to their particular faith view, then we as chaplains have a responsibility to go to that officer and let them know they cannot do that.  and if you have a junior person that is going around preaching to people, we talk to them as well and inform them of the rules. 


so why do i mention all of that?  well, as chaplains, our motto is "cooperation without compromise," and we are expected to assist all in the expression of their faith, whether through provision (ministering our faith to those of like faith) or through facilitation (putting a person in contact with clergy of their own faith so that they can practice their faith).  but sometimes, the institution gets so ingrained into your being that it starts to creep in and change you for the worst if you are not careful.  the realization that the change was happening in me came on friday at a promotion ceremony for one of the officers at my command.  it was held in the chapel (per his request), and invitations were sent out, meaning that it was voluntary, and during the ceremony, he got up and he thanked God and his "Lord and Savior Jesus CHRIST," and then his wife got up and sang a beautiful rendition of "how great Thou art," all verses.  this is where the revelation hit me.  instead of sitting there and being thankful that this man was being faithful and using the blessing of promotion God had given him to advance the gospel and the cause of CHRIST, i was looking around and worried about people being offended out in the audience.  i caught myself doing it, and immediately the Spirit convicted me and my eyes filled with tears as i found myself in the same shoes as the disciples, trying to silence the Saviour and His message.  i had become what i railed against, those who worry more about the world than what Christ commands.  i stopped and asked forgiveness right then and there, and resolved to change and not let the institution assimilate me into the world of political correctness.


in the book of daniel, we see the story of daniel and three israelites that were taken captive by the babylonians.  it says that they became wise in the knowledge and culture of the babylonians, but they never forsook their sacred identity.  as chaplains, and as CHRISTians in enemy occupied territory, we must ensure that we are, as Scripture teaches, "wise as serpents and gentle as doves," becoming versed in the knowledge and culture around us, so that we can adequately speak to its adherents, but never forsaking our true citizenship in CHRIST, much like we see in the book of Acts, when paul speaks to those at mars hill, using their culture to open doors to witness to them.  however, we can easily find ourselves venturing too far to one side or another, either becoming so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good, or vice versa.  i see too many CHRISTians in the name of separatism becoming like the levite and the priest, choosing to pass by on the other side of the road of the man in need of assistance because he was "unclean," instead of getting our hands dirty, and choosing, like Jesus, to spend time with sinners.  but, we have to be careful that in spending time with the world to show them Jesus, that we do not allow the world to infect us and skew our allegiance to our Savior.  otherwise we become like demas, leaving our first love for "this present world."  so let your light shine among men, and never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ!


i ask for your prayers, on behalf of not only myself, but all of our fellow chaplains and co-laborers with CHRIST, that we will stay true to our calling, and that we will be strengthened by His Holy Spirit when we begin to falter, and that our Saviour will continually draw us to Him in His grace.  we have the hope this world needs, and God help us should we choose to hide that lamp under a bushel out of fear of compromising our position!  what we do is important, and the eternity of the people we meet depends upon our boldness!
for my chaplain friends, find a chaplain mentor/accountability partner within your faith tradition to help keep you grounded.  as you minister, remember that we have two sides to our collars, and both are important.  we talk about the importance of balancing them, but many times we tend to see it as being a minister and an officer, when in actuality, it should be being a disciple of CHRIST, and that influencing how we carry out our officer duties.  the two are not independent of each other, but rather the right is dependent upon the left.  we lose the left, and we might as well become a line officer.  it is an honor to serve with you and alongside you, and i will be praying for you as you pray for me!