Let No Christian Be as Judas

To be the church of Jesus Christ in relationship to the State, any state, anywhere, requires any number of things, and especially so the ability and the willingness to critique the state at one important point: that souls, people, and their destinies and needs, are always more important than the civilization represented by the state.

To put the civilization of the state, as good as it may be, ahead of people and their dignity, their rights and needs, is blasphemy.

That the Church should sometimes forget this central truth, and align itself with the State ought not to surprise us.

History is replete with an abundance of illustrations. Of a more recent time, we need look no further than the church's support of Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy, and Hitler in Germany. 

I dare say the drift of some churches here in the States, aligning themselves with the current administration and its willingness to write off the death of tens of thousands of people in service of the economy, is blasphemy.

It's the abomination in the Temple (Matthew 24.15) and the idolatry of power (Revelation 13.11ff) ... 

The Mammon God has made promises such that some Christians are willing to trade away the Gospel for the fulfillment of their political ambitions. Their desire for righteousness has made them susceptible to the smooth words of those who would use them to further the economic interests of the few, and thus has rendered their righteousness as so many "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64.6)

The Mammon God cares not one whit about life; all that matters is gold and silver, cattle and sheep, chariots and horses, "and human lives" (Revelation 18.13) all to be used for its own advancement and glory, its investments and its profits.

Let no Christian be as Judas - willing to trade away the Christ of God for 30 pieces of silver.

Dangerous Holy Week

Holy Week is filled with uncertainty and danger, peopled with all sorts of characters:

~ the rich and the powerful determined to bring an end to the Jesus thing ... 

~ a man willing to betray himself for 30 pieces of silver ... 

~ another man with a hair-trigger denial when asked if knows the man from Galilee ... 

~ the Procurator Pilate, more than likely frightened of making the wrong decision, and wondering what this all means for his career ... 

~ soldiers doing their job ... 

~ merchants and mendicants ...

~ bystanders and tourists ... 

~ travelers from afar ... 

~ disciples on the verge of panic ... 

~ crowds eager to spill some blood and welcome back a champion by the name of Barabbas ...

~ and Jesus who broke bread with his friends, who knew all too well how it was ending, who choose the power of silence when confronted by his accusers, and then beaten to within an inch of his life, needing help to carry the cross ... dying between two revolutionaries who likely had blood on their hands ... he utters words of forgiveness, laments his abandonment, then cries out in loud voice and is dead!

In a world such as ours, with turmoil and trouble on every hand, politicians run amok, violent men and women eager for blood ... children suffering ... fear running high.

I find some strange assurance in Holy Week ... such is life, such is the world into which the Son of Man comes ... the cross he bears is the cross of every moment ... the death he dies is humanity's death ... 

He stayed the course and didn't relent ... the original temptation in the wilderness was defied to the end, and then some.

He's worthy of my love.

In his life, and in his death

And some say, the tomb couldn’t hold him.