PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Character

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the fourth week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Kerry Eastridge is the Team Leader for our ICM team at Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, FL. Kerry is one of our longest-serving campus ministers and has proven throughout the years his commitment to integrity as a minister, mentor, and leader. His quiet, non-assuming demeanor often hides a deep well of wisdom that resides inside of him. If you were to ask other members of the ICM family, they would tell you that there aren't too many other folks that serve as a model for CHARACTER like Kerry.

Sew a thought, reap an action.

Sew an action, reap a habit.

Sew a habit, reap a character.

Sew a character, reap a legacy.

In my opinion, character and integrity are the embodiment of who we are in regard to what we think about and how we act toward God, others, and ourselves. Christian character would include the relational attitudes and actions of Christ. There are two character qualities I believe encompass many of the others and are important for us as campus ministers to pursue, model, and teach: humility and truth. As qualities, they are nouns, but in life we practice them in more of an active verbal manner.

Think about one of the messages social media, mass media, Hollywood, music stars, and professional sports figures all promote; “It’s all about you, so grab your moment of fame while you can.” Today’s college students have grown up with this message of self-promotion pounded into their psyche. It is all too evident in their Snapchats, selfies, and posts.

Humility dares to defy this self-absorptive form of pride. I’m told C.S. Lewis wrote that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. If that is true, then pride is the obsession with self—thinking of oneself too much. Obsession with self is found in two opposite extremes. The person who is overly self-confident, arrogant, and self-promoting is obsessed with self. However, the person who is consumed with his insecurities, fears, inhibitions, and inabilities is also obsessed with self.

One of the challenges we have with today’s students is to simply get them to greet and talk with other students. Perhaps a true test of humility and getting over one’s insecurities is the practice of “tabling.” Tabling is representing the organization and engaging people at a display table. Spend an hour or two tabling and trying to connect with students walking by, and you will get your share of rejection.

Sometimes practicing humility can feel like walking a tight rope between prideful arrogance and self-deprecation. It is helpful to identify what one does well, but not to dwell on it too long. It is helpful to examine one’s life for areas that need improvement, but not to be overly critical.

Toward the end of the sermon on the mount, Matthew records Jesus warning His listeners, “Watch out for false prophets. … By their fruit you will recognize them.” False prophets pretend to speak truth, but they actually do the opposite. False prophets usually have hidden or ulterior motives. Jesus says they are going to bear fruit that will expose their falsehood.

In contrast, people of Christ-like character are people of the truth, for Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Being a person of the truth includes, but is not limited to, telling the truth. Our students need to have campus ministers who will tell them the truth. This includes the truth found in Scripture, the whole counsel of God. It also includes, however being honest in our conversations and relationships with one another. College students have grown up in a culture where lying is the norm. Christian leaders ought to be the antithesis to this norm. We should be champions of speaking the truth in love. When they ask us a tough question, they need to know we will give them a truthful answer.

People who are of the truth are real, genuine, and sincere. College students are good at detecting phoniness. They may not know how to verbalize it, or they may not be willing to confront you about it, but you won’t see them around for long if they pick up you are not genuine or sincere.

Here at Impact we talk a lot about modeling. Most of the time it is in the context of intentionally modeling our pursuit of Christ in front of others. But as leaders we are always modeling, because our character is always on display. Who we are cannot escape where we are. Our character accompanies our presence.

As a staff member with Impact, one of the things I truly treasure is that our directors strive to live out the mission and vision, and in this case the values of character and integrity. Character and integrity are not just spoken about but are modeled from the top down.

Over the years I have heard our leaders confess weaknesses, mistakes, and struggles in their lives and ministries. They admit through their own transparency that life is a journey where mistakes are made. They practice and model grace and encouragement as they accept our failures and weaknesses and encourage us to take the next positive, God-directed step. We pass that down to our student leaders by encouraging them to step out in faith with the assurance they are “free to fail.” We want them to try things and stretch themselves, knowing that if something doesn’t go so well, we will absorb the hit together without casting blame or shame.

We had a student leader some time ago fail morally. It changed the trajectory of her life tremendously. It also served as a test to our character. How would we react when one of our own didn’t live up to the character standards we and she held dear? Would our reactions be true to our message? Would we help her get up and keep moving forward, or would we do our part to keep her down?

I heard Carey Nieuwhof, Pastor, Author, and Leadership Podcaster on the radio recently talking about character. He pointed out our character is the only thing people will remember when we are gone. Soon after we’re gone, people will encapsulate our whole life with one-word descriptions. What will be the word people use to describe you and me?

MAKING AN IMPACT: Character

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the third week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

The next value we will talk about with our MAKING AN IMPACT series is one that is stated in almost every organization, is incredibly important, and is yet a struggle for so many churches, organizations, and fellowships. This is the value of CHARACTER.

Why is this such a struggle for the Christian world? I think the short answer is that we are just a bunch of people who are screwed up. That is true, but how many of us are tired of reading what feels like a continuous news feed of Christian organizations that harbor abusers, struggle with sexual conduct, mistreat women, and succumb to other “moral failures”? It’s exhausting.

I think the answer is that theology matters. I won’t be taking this time and space to pull apart the pieces of theology I think are most responsible for these stories, but I will say that our theology is often the bedrock we build our culture on. The way we understand the nature of who God is and what He is doing in the world, the way we understand the nature of humanity, and the way we define the gospel, breeds a particular culture in the missional communities we belong to. If we foster a theology that believes God is looking for the unflinching devotion to a moral code, we will simultaneously breed a culture that puts on a show, afraid to be vulnerable to the struggle we all experience to become the kinds of whole people God has designed us to be.

So what do we do? Impact Campus Ministries has said — like so many others — that we want to be people of integrity and great character. How will we succeed where so many others seem to fail?

A large part of this will reside in our commitment to community and each other (more on this value in another post). The greatest form of accountability will be the fact that we don’t do life (or ministry) alone. Of course, this commitment is only powerful if we trust each other enough to be vulnerable. We have to work hard to build a culture of openness and honesty from the top of our organization all the way down to the bottom. We don’t want to be people who fight for privacy, but fight for each other.

This isn’t to say that privacy is not important or that wisdom would dictate open vulnerability with all people in all circumstances — it would not. But within our family at ICM, we need to learn how to trust each other with our struggles and our failures. This means we can’t be quick to punish others when they slip up, but we also need to be resolute in our commitment to each other, to help each other become the people God is inviting us to become.

Hopefully you can see how well our value of character works alongside the tension of excellence and compassion. We have to have a commitment to excellence in our integrity, but that will only be achieved if we can be gracious in our failures. I really believe that the destructive and harmful failures in character come as the byproduct of a culture that doesn’t foster healthy growth and compassionate belonging. When those things don’t exist, we begin to hide. When we begin to hide, our lack of character begins to fester until it erupts in something horribly destructive.

Unfortunately, this culture of hiding is often cultivated in our faith communities.

We want to be better than this. We want to be the kind of family — brothers and sisters — who make sure we all have a place to belong and that the space can be trusted. We want to build a culture that says, “I am FOR you!” — and doesn’t doubt the sincerity of that stance. Only then can we be honest about who we truly are and who we are trying to become. And only when we are honest can we find family who help us strive to develop as we pursue character in our organization.

This will be an ongoing struggle. We are far from perfect.

But may God bless ICM’s efforts to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly [together] with our God.

PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Pursue

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the fourth week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Lowell Kosak is the Director of Staff Development for Impact Campus Ministries; he lives in South Bend, IN with his wife Katie and two sons who are grown and on their own. Besides being a great personal friend, Lowell has a tremendous heart for spiritual health and our personal pursuits of God. His voice rings with passion for God and a care for His heart. I could think of nobody better to share stories about our discussion last week than Lowell.

I am inspired by Henri Nouwen. He compared his yearning to become more intimate with the Father to a trapeze performance. There is a special relationship between the flyer and the catcher. The daredevil flyer swinging high above the crowd lets go of the trapeze and simply stretches out his arms, waiting to feel the strong hands of the catcher pluck him out of the air. The flyer must never catch the catcher; he must wait in absolute trust. For Henri, and for me, there is a yearning to fly in the spiritual life, but only within relationship and yielding more and more into the loving hands of the Eternal Catcher.

More often than not, I am that flyer who is reaching out to try to catch.

God has recently been teaching me a lesson about my intimate pursuit of Him. Just one week before Christmas, my dear Katie suffered a mild stroke. We are so very thankful for God’s gift of grace that we were able to get to the hospital right away and that she suffered no brain bleeding or significant damage. While she is making a complete recovery, the time and extent of her therapy has been slower and more difficult than either of us had anticipated; not because it was medically unexpected—she is making great progress—but that we were not ready for the time, the slow down, and need to wait and be patient.

In just a short amount of time, I was ready to get back to it, to travel, to work, and to achieve. While I teach differently, that our identity does not flow from our accomplishments and production, I certainly was not living out my words. I was proceeding as if I was indispensable. May I confess to you that I like to think that I’m one step ahead of the game and close to arrival. But in reality, in reaching out to catch the Catcher, I’m not trusting God’s story for me. 

Of the importance of the pursuit for the spiritual leader, the vocational pastor… How can I announce joy, peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation unless they are part of my own flesh and blood?

How can I do this?

How can I know this?

I must have need of them and humbly admit my utter emptiness without them. I must surrender my life story to the Gospel, the story of God, and there he meets me.

So joy is birthed from the agony, disappointment, and sorrow that I feel.

True peace only comes when I am honest with myself and the rage and anxiety that comes from deep inside.

As I allow the Holy Spirit to open me up and expose my wretchedness, I also know Jesus’s forgiveness that he freely gives.

While I am so inadequate to take on the mantle of leadership, God reconciles me to Himself and sends me on a mission of bringing His peace and love into the world.

This prayer of Charles de Foucauld has become a prayer for me this year.

Father,I abandon myself into your hands;do with me what you will.Whatever you may do, I thank you:I am ready for all, I accept all.Let only your will be done in me,and in all your creatures –I wish no more than this, O Lord.Into your hands I commend my soul:I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,and with boundless confidence,for you are my Father.

I am learning to accept being expendable. I have to become not so important in my eyes that I can and will stop and rest. Sometimes we can’t help but stop in times of crisis, and in that, we have to be ok with the time to just release control and stop. But in day-to-day, week-to-week living, I must also learn to have regular rhythms of work and rest.

In Sabbath, I am letting go, I am waiting and trusting God to do the catching. As I stop, I only hear His voice that calls me His beloved and His son. Paul’s words in Romans ring in my ears:

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” (Romans 8:15–17 NLT)

1 CORINTHIANS: Broken Body (part one)

It was necessary to go verse by verse through Galatians (since I believe it is crucial to understanding the world of the New Testament), Romans (since everyone who will argue with my theology will do so from Romans), and eventually Hebrews (since it will help us understand atonement). I wanted to present my perspectives on those books without dodging passages or leaving anything out. But now, I’d like to pick up the pace as I survey the rest of Paul’s letters. Again, ignoring chronology, I’ll turn my sights next to the letters to the Corinthians.

A brief note on context would be wise. Corinth found itself as a major port city to the world of Greco-Asia. This centralized port location made Corinth a melting pot of culture. It was one of the most eclectic cities in the Roman empire. While this diversity makes it difficult to pin down absolute statements about Corinthian culture, we do know it was diverse in its people and its idolatry. While ancient Corinth appears to have chosen Poseidon as their god of choice, later Roman Corinth is much more complicated, which most would think was done to “meet the needs” of its diverse demographics.

We do know that Aphrodite rose to immense popularity in Corinth during the first century, along with many other goddesses (Hera, Athena, Artemis, and Demeter, to name a few). Corinth had quickly become one of the centers for goddess worship; with Aphrodite being chief among these, you can imagine how this led to rampant sexual immorality (picture the stereotype of Las Vegas, multiply that a few times over, and we’re getting close).

Needless to say, the main characteristic of the city of Corinth will be its diversity. This will show up all throughout the first letter to the Corinthians and it’s helpful to know where that’s rooted in historical context. Whether it’s the ethnic and racial diversity, the many different idolatrous practices and sexual immorality, or even just the immense variety of vocational pursuits, this will create a culture that is searching for identity and using their identity to be distinct. This will become a massive challenge to a group of believers who are trying to show the world a “blended family” built on unity and acceptance.

This is the first thing I would point out about the first letter to Corinth. They are struggling with unity; they want to define themselves by what makes them unique, not by what holds them together. Consider some of these passages, beginning in chapter 1:

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

This conversation continues for a couple more chapters, where Paul will write this in chapter 3:

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Consider then, if this is the theme of conversation, how this affects one of the very next things Paul says:

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

I can’t tell you how many times that passage has been used to hound the youth-group version of myself about the dangers of smoking, drinking, and sex. Didn’t I know that my body — Marty’s body — was a temple for the Holy Spirit? While the point may or may not be valid, let’s take time to correct this faulty exegesis. Paul says that they — and in this case, they is plural — are a temple for God’s Spirit. If they can’t find unity, they destroy the temple of God! They — plural — have to be unified so God can live in their community and work through them.

Imagine the scenario described in chapter 6 (I say “imagine” tongue-in-cheek):

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This disunity is ruining their body, their reputation, and the mission of God through them in Corinth. I find this message to be incredibly timely for our culture, as well, although when I read these words from Paul, I feel like the concept is so straightforward that if I try to elaborate on it, I ruin it. We ought to come to grips with the truth, but we just don’t want to follow these commands. This leads me to one other observation I will make about this disunity: it’s getting in the way of how they are able to receive instruction — even from the Apostles of Christ.

See chapter 4:

I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?

In a theme that will come up again in 2 Corinthians, Paul addresses their arrogance and the disrespect they have for the work of the Apostles. They presume themselves to be teachers and apostles, and rather than receiving the instruction of Paul (and others), they go their own way.

Which is where this hits home for me. And not just for me, but for all of us.

It’s no secret to us that we have the “Corinthian Plague.” We find ourselves in a culture of immense diversity and we seek an identity of our own. This seeking of identity drives us to preserve that which makes us distinct from others, rather than drawing us together toward the same grace that should unite us. We have an immense disunity problem, whether it be in the form of trends, theological categories, denominational belief statements, genders, political parties…

We have a problem.

We cheat each other, take advantage of our brothers, and seek to hurt those who have hurt us — even within our own family of God! I have sat through far too many courtroom battles where both plaintiff and defendant claim to be a follower of Jesus. Even as I write that last statement, I have to read it again as I am incredulous to the fact that it would be true! And there are far too many times when we are shameless in this disheartening truth, plastering it on Facebook and announcing our self-righteous “identities” for all to see.

We’re ready to pick a fight with anybody who dares.

And for all of our love for Paul and all the ways we worship the parts of Pauline literature that fuel our systematic theologies, we sure don’t have a hard time kicking Paul’s imperative teachings to the curb on this one. And do we all know why? Because we are arrogant. We have no respect for the teachings of the Apostles except when it suits our doctrinal codes. We don’t actually want to love. We don’t actually want to listen to Paul. And we sure aren’t going to do what he says if we don’t like it — we’re Americans, after all. We don’t answer to anybody.

Which is something I can hear the Corinthians saying.

ROMANS: Therefore

Paul has spent the last eleven chapters of Romans arguing for unity in this blended family struggling with the full and free inclusion of the Gentiles. He opened with a theological treatise which explained that all of humanity struggles with the same essential condition. The good news (pun intended) is that this means it is the same faith that justifies us all. If we are all justified, by the same faith and the same gift of grace, then there is no reason for division or exclusion of any group.

Although this is hard to swallow when you are a part of the group on the “inside,” Paul reminds his Jewish readers that God is the potter and He gets to decide what He does with His vessels. So if He decides He wants to shower grace on ‘vessels prepared for destruction,’ He gets to. Paul moved on to explain this is all part of God’s plan and always has been; they’ve made their share of mistakes in the past and learned this lesson before. We Jews need to seize our calling to be a light to the Gentiles and welcome them in the family of faith — the children of Abraham.

But it’s not all fun and games for those Gentiles, either. They have to guard themselves against conceit and arrogance, reminding themselves of the kindness and sternness of God. They must remember that — if not for the grace of God — they are a wild olive tree which doesn’t belong.

In light of this larger argument, Paul turns his attention to the application of this truth. With a great “Therefore” statement to begin Romans 12, Paul calls God’s people to love:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

In view of this incredible mercy we described in the paragraphs above, the only logical response would be to let ourselves be shaped by this Potter. How would God shape these new vessels for His divine use?

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

If this is what God is up to in the world, neither one of these groups must think of themselves as better than any other group. (That should remind you of the opening chapters to the letter, right?) Instead, we ought to realize God designed each of us — Jew and Gentile alike — to serve others in the world. We all have something to give. Some of us are teachers and others are administrators. Some of us are prophets, while others encourage. We ought to offer our bodies as living sacrifices and lay ourselves down as an act of service to others around us.

The great Potter is shaping His vessels to be instruments of love.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is what it means to partner with God in His project of redemption. We become His instruments of love and hospitality. We give ourselves as living sacrifices to bless others. Whether these “others” are fellow believers in the Body of Christ or our very enemies matters not. We love and we serve. We bless and we do not curse.

NOTE: While it is a tangential thought and outside the scope of this thematic study of Romans, many people have been confused by the “burning coals on his head” reference. Needless to say, as we’ve learned time and time before, the answer is in the Text. Our initial observation is that this line comes from Proverbs 25. What is often harder to see is that the reference to “burning coals” in the Hebrew is always connected to the presence of God. In Tanakh, whenever you see burning coals, you will also find God nearby. As a quick side note (far too quick), this reference in Romans is not inviting us to “torture our enemies with good deeds,” as if we are taking our vengeance on them in some passive-aggressive form of righteousness. Instead, the author is inviting us to bring the presence of God into their lives by not returning evil for evil. Respond to evil with good — and God will show up.

Might we all be inspired to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. May we offer ourselves to others in love and hospitality. Might we lay our lives down in acts of service, doing the very things God designed us to do for the good of others. May we not shrink back at the sight of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Six or Seven?

It seems that while the Pharisees are taking this information about Jesus’s yoke, Jesus doesn’t even give them time to set up a trap. Suddenly going on the offensive against the Pharisees now (it was the Sadducees earlier), Jesus gives them a real brain-teaser that apparently stumps the teachers so much that “no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

But Jesus isn’t about to let them off the hook. Having just made a minor public spectacle of some highly trained teachers, Jesus turns to the crowds and his disciples saying:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

It should be noted that Jesus does affirm the place of these teachers within Jewish society. He affirms their devotion to obedience and the soundness of their teaching, along with their commitment to the Text. The thing that Jesus appears to have a problem with is their interaction, expectation, and dealings with other people. He doesn’t like how they tie up expectations and load up the guilt without doing anything to help relieve people of their burdens. He also isn’t a fan of how they seem to put their righteousness on display in order to receive the approval of men. Instead, he’s wanting to call people to serve one another, not impress them.

However, Jesus has some tough things to say to the Pharisees in the crowd that day:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.”

Now, for the Jewish listener, the moment you heard a teacher prophetically give a list of woes, you are going to think of Isaiah immediately. In chapter 5, Isaiah gives his own list of woes.

Woe to those who join house to house,    who add field to field,until there is no more room,    and you are made to dwell alone    in the midst of the land.The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:“Surely many houses shall be desolate,    large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,    and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”

Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
    that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
    as wine inflames them!
They have lyre and harp,
    tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD,
    or see the work of his hands.

Therefore my people go into exile
    for lack of knowledge;
their honored men go hungry,
    and their multitude is parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
    and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
    her revelers and he who exults in her.
Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
    and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice,
    and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
    and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
    who draw sin as with cart ropes,
who say: “Let him be quick,
    let him speed his work
    that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
    and let it come, that we may know it!”

Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
    and shrewd in their own sight!

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
    and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    and deprive the innocent of his right!

If one were to compare these two lists of denouncements, they would notice the kind of person described is quite different. Go ahead, take a second to look at Isaiah 5 and ask the question, “What kind of person is being condemned?” Then, ask the same question of Matthew 23.

What did you find?

I do this exercise with my students and they never fail to articulate the same thing. Isaiah’s woes describe a person who is wrapped up in selfishness and greed. It’s a disgusting picture of a person who has completely lost the plot of God’s story. They oppress others, serve self, and live for injustice. The woes of Matthew 23 describe a person who is self-righteous.

But did you notice? Extra credit to anyone who counted the woes.

In Isaiah, there are six woes; an appropriate number for woes that are denouncing sin, right? But in Jesus’s denouncement, there are seven.

Jesus’s point: “You have perfected the art of evil and sin.”

Do you know what’s even worse than a greedy person? A self-righteous person.

How can you possibly take sin and greed and take it to the next level? You can become a cold, self-righteous “know-it-all” who actually destroys the work of God. This is why self-righteousness is so significant. These people claim to speak for God, yet they put a completely counterfeit version of God on display to the world around them. It’s even worse than the sin of greed, because at least people know greed when they see it.

By inserting a seventh woe, Jesus says they have completed the sin of their forefathers. This is evidenced further by reading Jesus’s closing to this denouncement:

“Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

Jesus says, “Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.” 

In the NIV, Jesus says,”Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started.”

It’s a striking warning that I try to be reminded of frequently. I belong to a generation bent on restoring justice to the world we live in. We cringe at the idea of greed and the oppression of the weak. Yet, if we are not careful, we can be in danger of an even greater sin. We have been repentant of the greed and waste and destruction of our forefathers. We have seen the abuse of the earth, the abuse of aliens and slaves, the abuse of resources, the abuse of power. We must be very careful not to miss the pride that lurks under the surface of our self-righteousness. We must work to hear the words of Jesus warning us to make sure we see ALL people, help and serve ALL people, and pursue humility in our walk after God.

Let’s not perfect the art of sin.

Let’s not complete what our fathers started.

Are You Talking to Me?

Jesus enters Jerusalem and immediately begins a long week of confronting a corrupt religious leadership. Jesus clears the temple, chasing out the money changers and those selling on the Temple Mount. (It would probably be worth it to go back and review the conversation surrounding the Sadducees and the corrupt priesthood.) The next morning, as Jesus reentered the city, he curses a fig tree and illustratively portrays the condemnation of religious leadership (despite what you may have been told, a fig tree never symbolizes the people of Israel; it is always used to speak specifically of leadership).

This gets Jesus in quite a bit of trouble, as he is publicly confronting and condemning a corrupt system of religious power that has its own mafia to carry out executions of its opponents. This is what will eventually get Jesus crucified; while the priesthood has to do a political dance because of the favor that Jesus carries with the people, it will eventually result in his politically forced execution.

This priesthood immediately confronts Jesus publicly about his authority, calling into question his training, rabbinical rights, and ultimately the source of his s’micha. Not that this priesthood cares about rabbinical authority, but they may be trying to sway public opinion about his credibility, as well as find out who else is behind this young upstart’s ministry.

After confounding them with his response, which shows them to be trapped in a political corner, Jesus goes on the offensive (a seemingly rare move) and begins serenading the priests with parables. Jesus starts with a parable about two sons — the point of which will be to address their claim to have rights as sons of Zadok, confronting their disobedience. They are like the son who says, “I will,” but then does nothing.

But then Jesus tells a parable about a vineyard and the owner’s tenants:

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.”

Undoubtedly, the priests hear this parable completely differently than most of our New Testament readers do. The image, of course, is pulled right out of Isaiah 5 and the vineyard is representative of God’s people. When the priests hear this version of the story, they immediately assume that the “tenants” spoken of would be the Romans. In other words, God planted His vineyard and leased it to the Romans while He is away.

“When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

Again, the setting of this parable fits perfectly with the Romans. God is coming back to receive His fruit and the Romans have mistreated His people. When the rightful “heir” — who would be, in their mind, the priesthood — arrives, they threw them out and killed them.

“When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 

The priests are tracking with Jesus’s teaching completely. But then Jesus springs the surprise on them; he’s not talking about the Romans:

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Jesus essentially says, “Forget about the Romans; you are the tenants! You’re hoarding the fruit for yourselves and not giving God what is rightfully His!”

And while all of this is a brilliant teaching on a p’shat level, I think Jesus could also be planting a remez that leads us back to Isaiah 61. This would be the second time in two chapters Jesus would reference this teaching in light of the vineyard of God being tended by strangers and foreigners. The drash would be a distinct forecast of the fall of the Sadducees and the priesthood.

Jesus tells them this parable and it says they got upset and began conspiring against Jesus. But Jesus is still talking. He isn’t done yet…