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!

Learning to Swim

You give them something to eat.  

Matthew 14:16

When Jesus tells us to do something, he doesn't do it to set us up to fail; he's directing us to learn how to live from His reality - the truest reality, a reality where He is King and anything is possible.  Technically, it wasn't Jesus that fed the thousands; the disciples were the ones who kept passing out the food until everyone was fed.  What was going through their minds when they kept seeing a loaf of bread or a fish in the basket as they were walking around this flash conference?

The ways Jesus has us interacting with this world are often not as much about His reaching out to a lost and dying world.  Don't get me wrong, though!  We're in a race to raise up as many disciples as we can before the Lifeguard blows the whistle and we all have to get out of this cesspool.  But truly, He's really leading us through mind-blowing, teachable moments to learn how to swim - even walk - on the waters of faith in Him.

"Come on in boys!  The water is fine!" - Delmar O'donnel, O Brother Where art Thou.

This Scandalous Gospel

And they took offense at him.

Matthew 13:57

To think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of warm-fuzzies and world-peace is a great deception.  Very great indeed.

In this verse, the word "offense" is where we get the word "scandal". Many have been offended by His words, His actions, His silence, His abstentions and have simply walked away.  I dare say all have been offended by Jesus or rather our preconceptions of who He is, and here are just two examples: Jesus' home town filled with people who are convinced that He couldn't be anything special.  A presiding puppet of Rome who is afraid of his own shadow.

The Gospel of Christ is always offensive.  It offends our fears, our fears of the thoughts of others, our understanding of the way we think things are or should be.  Yet if we step beyond this tattered veil we find the Cross.  We find the death sentence - the wicked execution of innocence for the ransom of the guilty.  And on the other side of this, we find a place of relationship.

In this relationship we find that, though offences continue we realize it is the world that offends.  Living in this new, we are now walking it all out through the eyes of our Lion King.  We can perceive situations through His understanding.  We can remain unshaken when the world threatens our very existence.

The Natural Things Speak of the Invisible Reality

“I will open my mouth in parables,

I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

- Matthew 13:35 -

From wheat to weeds seeds to yeast to pearls to fish.  Jesus spoke to the people in parables.  Why?  Because he wants all of us to understand the revelation of His kingdom through all he has made.  Man's relationship to the created things is a veritable illustration of the mysteries of who He is and what He is about.

He wants us to be on a treasure hunt for the things that are precious to Him.  He craves for us to search out the depths of His heart - His heart for us, His heart for us to relate to the realities of what we can only experiences apart from touch, smell, sight, sound and taste.  And when we get to this place, we are increasingly undone.  We are increasingly ruined for anything else.

Yet Jesus spoke to the people the parables that have been laid before us since the beginning of time.  For it was time to point them in His direction.  It was time to encourage them to start thinking, understanding about the way He had been speaking to them for so very long.

"He who has ears let him hear," He kept saying.  I dare say I can interpret this to mean: "He who has ears, stop simply experiencing with your natural senses but go beyond the veil; comprehend what I've been speaking to you for so long.  Let it transform your soul as you explore My soul."

A Question to the Master Potter

Master Potter how You fashion my heart

do You throw as You know?

do You fire me fast or deep and slow?

do You see before the end

before it's all complete?

or is it all a mystery to You as well?

how i react to the spin

the dry the blaze the glaze the wait

the revealing at last

do You say now, or hold until then

"it is very, very good"

- revel8r 9-23-18 -

Leviathan's Vein

from leviathan's vein
came a fountain to make the foulest villain
pale in ashen dread
for the head of evil had just been severed
in one breath - three words
from one true King

sing then, ye bards
come then, and muse on this victory
to last for all eternity
for man's hopeless destiny
was suddenly rent
asunder by Passion's great Champion

and now, alive each soul can be
as Adam, as Eve again
re-united with Him again
Who fashioned our being
by His dear breath

Death, then, thou hath died
and Evil soon to follow that crypt
and ev'ry lie, ev'ry decaying sin
fall defeated as dust on ashen ground
now stamped into a pauper's grave
and forgotten so forever

for now the bands between the graven sky
shine gleaming turquoise
and ebullient blue
to burn freedom's brand
upon the soul-skin
of ev'ry new-born man

- revel8r, 9-16-2018 -