Buying the Stairway to Heaven

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

There was a song in the late seventies sung by a popular band named "Led Zeppelin". The title is "Stairway to Heaven".  The song paints a picture of a woman on a fantastic voyage that ends up being a metaphor for our own journeys. It's quite deep, but also misses the mark by a fair piece.

In this scripture, Peter risks a revelation of Jesus that I think he may have been secretly keeping inside for some time.  He opens up about it at this moment for his closest friends to hear.  And Jesus' response sets the tone for the history of the Church - namely that, as long as She builds on the faith and knowledge that He is the Messiah then the proverbial sky is the limit.  Moreover, whatever we legislate on earth will be legislated in heaven.

Indeed, it hearkens back to another recorded encounter that the Patriarch Jacob had with the Father in Genesis 28:11-13.

When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.”

Here, Jacob is in a place of rest (on a rock, no less) when he dreams of a stairway to heaven.  At the top of the stairway stands the Lord who says that the land belongs to his descendants.  When we are given land, it's not just a place where we are to be "hanging out" or merely existing; it's a place over which we are to exercise authority - much as Jesus stated when he gave us legislative authority over the earth in the opening scripture above.

Indeed Jesus even states that He, Himself is the stairway in John 1:51.

“Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

So then - how is the Church to be built?  We are to be built only on the revelation that Jesus is the means to accessing heaven.  And what's more, this revelation opens up the means to exercising heaven's rule and reign on the earth.

The Cup

Breath of God, move this way

let us know Your atmosphere

bring to us the holy cup

let us drink Your passion here

for we are Yours, Your virgin bride

Your blood has bought us with this price

 - revel8r 12/30/2018 -

When Clouds Get in the Way

When it's raining, do we wonder if the sun still exists?  No, we simply go on about our business and don't give it another thought.  Sometimes we might grumble if the clouds remain for too long, but life goes on, and when the clouds finally do move on, we are delighted to see the sun again.

But when less-than-optimal circumstances arise, we doubt the Son.  We doubt His love.  We doubt His faithfulness. Sometimes we even doubt His existence.  And here is where folly is born, for "the fool says in His heart there is no God".  (Psalm 14:1)

So then, next time the clouds of life gather, let wisdom rule the day and continue on.  Embrace these clouds as a means to grow and mature as you walk through the day, trusting implicitly that He is always there.

Yeast Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 

“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 

They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

Why did the disciples assume that Jesus was talking about the bread they had forgotten? We can imagine their insecurity about having forgotten to bring food to each.  And when Jesus said something that had something to do with bread, in their insecurity they jumped to the conclusion that their oversight had been outed.

Why was Jesus so abbreviated with the Pharisees and Sadducees? Remember that he had been around this mountain before in Matthew 12:38-40.  He had been a little more explanatory and had alluded to His resurrection there.  He was not interested in repeating Himself again.

But what was this yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?  In the end the disciples understood He was speaking about their teachings.  Why should they beware of their teachings?  It was no secret that they had come to an impasse.  But what was it about their teachings that made Jesus warn the disciples?

It seems apparent that the Pharisees and Sadducees were people who were afraid of losing control.  They were under the Roman thumb, and they seemed to pay it forward by lording the Law over the people.  And the people seemed content to play that game, submitting to traditions and laws that were extra-biblical.  Indeed, it was out of fear that their teachings proceeded from their lips.

And the disciples were following suit in this modus operandi, for it was out of fear (insecurity at the least) that they missed Jesus' point when He said "beware of the yeast".  But if they were walking in a place of confidence and faith, their understanding might have been more timely.

Now and Not Yet

open these doors

into what is only Yours

something draws me more

into a life beyond, and born

i hunger to thirst

for wells and waves

and eternal stones, founded on 

my home without walls

for all is ruined

as i've tasted and seen

this earthen dream

holds naught for me now

and yet

there are islands here

in this mortal ocean

that hold me on

and so i surrender

to render eternity

into this present

and find my Current in You 

- revel8r 12/16/18 -

Who are the Lost Sheep of Israel?

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

Matthew 15:24

At this moment Jesus says something that seemed quite out of character for Him.  He had healed Gentiles before; why was He saying that He was sent only for the Jews?  Sometimes, we need to let Jesus continue to speak and reveal before we can have a chance to get His full meaning.

The disciples wanted this pesky Gentile woman to go away, and this was Jesus' response.  They must have thought He was affirming them, but He was waiting for things to set themselves into place.  The Canaanite woman begged for mercy on behalf of her daughter - Jesus again made an allusion to the idea that His message was an exclusive one for the Israelites.  But then came the moment He was waiting for - she pushed back on the Almighty Creator of the Universe, saying "even the dogs get the crumbs".  And at her persistent faith, He commended her and healed her daughter.

What?! Did He just go back on His word? No, His understanding of the lost sheep of Israel was so much broader in context than the disciples' limited, pharisaical understanding.  The Israelites were no special thing in this moment.  It had been reduced simply to an issue of genetics for them.  And in this light, as John the Baptizer had said, "out of these stones God can raise up children of Israel." (Matthew 3:9).

And as if to seal the statement with an exclamation mark, He feeds the thousands again.  It's no accident that this time the number left over (seven baskets) is akin to the number they started with (seven fish).  For the full context of the scope of the His message had been defined: He had come for all.  A number of completion.  A display of perfection.  All driven by His compassion for any who are in need of His love.

So be mindful of the entirety of His words - not just what you first hear.

When There's More to What He's Saying Than What He's Saying

Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."

Matthew 15:15

The Pharisees confronted Jesus regarding the disciples and their failure to wash their hands before meals.  In turn Jesus confronted them regarding the tradition of allowing children to fail in the honoring of their parents by signing the parents' money over to the synagogue.  Then he used a biological metaphor to highlight that the condition of the hands matters nothing when compared to the condition of the heart.  

But he didn't stop there.  He makes a reference to the parable of the wheats and tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and states that the Pharisees are a blind people leading other blind people.  In unpacking all that Jesus pronounced over the Pharisees, it's clear that He didn't just pronounce judgments over the Pharisees.  Who were the blind people that the Pharisees were leading (v14)?  Was He only referring to the Pharisees as those that the Father did not plant (v15)?

Over the ages, we've seen religious systems (not just speaking of the Christian flavor here) extort money from people in many ways and for many reasons.  From temple prostitution to buying your way into favor to buying salvation, the means of religious systems are not only varied, but creative.   But what's more, who is enabling whom?  Did the religious leaders come up with these streams of revenue, or did the people come up with the idea to escape a more difficult, transparent path to provision, resolution, legitimacy, salvation, etc (to which the leaders gladly played along)?

It's the condition of the heart that makes us blind, and in the desperate condition of our souls we willingly allow those over us to blindly lead us over the cliff and into a tragic, terrible abyss.  Even if (or when) intentions are good and fair, the hapless state is a scene straight out of a Keystone Cops show.  And it's the condition of our soul - not the cleanliness of our skin - that makes us unclean. Without a soul-transformation, we are without hope.  And so, He circles it all back around to Him and why He came.

And to think it all started with something as trivial as hand washing!