Redemption

I stepped out of time and looked for evidence of pride.
I saw it before the days of dying man.
His name was Lucifer, and he was infectious.
And because he was infectious, pride spread.

I saw it in the early days of dying man.
His name was Cain.
I saw it in the days when the promise was made to dying man.
His name was Esau.
I saw it in the ending days of dying man.
His name was Judas.
And each of these carried his scroll that announced his act of betrayal.

First for Lucifer:
Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

and so to Cain:
Gen 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.


paid forward to Esau:
Gen 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [pottage]; for I [am] faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Gen 25:32 And Esau said, Behold, I [am] at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised [his] birthright.

and again in Judas:
Luk 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
Mar 14:10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.

So I stepped out of time and looked for evidence of the result of such offences.
I looked again at these same ones.

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

And so that divine edict--
an eternal forsaking of those who manifest pride--
It was established...
And revisited.
But man was not much like an angel in his own falling.
Forsakenness was as the balm to heal his pride.
He embraced again his frailty.

Gen 4:13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment [is] greater than I can bear.

Gen 27:34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, [even] me also, O my father.

Gen 27:37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
Gen 27:38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, [even] me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

Mat 27:3
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Mat 27:4
Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].
Mat 27:5
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

So I stepped out of time and looked for the conclusion of this
that breaks the hearts of men
when once they wake to their weakness.
And I saw its beginning:
Luk 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Luk 23:40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Luk 23:41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
Luk 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

And so on the one cross could hang
Cain and Esau...even Judas,
Numbered
as those allowed the fruit of repentance
after days forsaken.

Because on the other cross did hang
Mar 15:34 Jesus [who] cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And so God did commune with man
yet not with the martyrs and the saints alone.
But with the forsaken.
And death began to die.

So finally I stepped out of time and looked at this
that breaks the hearts of men
And I saw its end,
but I wait to see more because
I hardly understand what I see here:
Mar 3:26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

Growth...

...peculiar to man, it is part of our uniqueness in the created order of things.

It seems to me a lot like turning a bend in a woodland road. Only for a moment can you see both how far you've come and how far you have to go. With only the slightest move either way, the opposite direction becomes just the stuff of memory and planning.
And again I see the wisdom locked in the Gospels.



Growth as a response to a recognized calling:
Mat 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Growth as the result of a daily interactive walk:
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Growth in the form of spiritual awakening:
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them (Peter, James, and John): and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Yet when they arrived at this monumental place of perception, He anticipated that their next step of growth would not be easy, for He told the parable of a householder who chose to pay both those who worked all day and those who worked but an hour the same wage. But fairness and grace were not ready to co-exist at this stage of growth; even as He shared this tale defining grace, their minds swirled with thoughts over who among them would be the greatest in His kingdom of heaven.

Thus on the heels of this awakening-growth--a growth that sprang from their faith maturing, on its heels came another growth, less pleasant but necessary. It was the growth of the falling away, the sloughing off, the divorcing of those portions within that could not abide with the newness of life that invaded their souls:
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons (James and John), worshipping [him], and desiring a certain thing of him.
And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom...
...And when the ten heard [it], they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

And He asked: Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
So here is that bend in the road: Behind are the steps where we learned to accept that He is good, ahead are the steps where we will learn to accept that our own eyes are inherently evil (ambitious.) We must move forward in order to leave behind us this ambition that attempts to calculate itself into our new awareness of Him.

Look behind you, James and John, and see back to the days before you believed. Look behind you, Peter, and see back to the days before you were tempted to compare yourself to your fellow disciples. The temptations were not there because none of you really calculated Him to be your Master yet.

Now look ahead, and see the road before you, where pride is broken and humility is born and the dramatic vision is made real, but so differently than you expected...with wrenching and strain and sacrifice. But remember this one thing as you make your decision to trudge ahead...all but the one of you named Judas. Remember that once this stretch of road was not even available to your feet.
You didn't think to seek a throne
until you believed there was a kingdom.
Such is the nature of growth.

Freedom...

...is a concept that has taken on deeper meaning for me lately. Sometimes when such a thing happens, I gain a sudden insight into the placement of various stories in the Gospels. Oswald Chambers advises us to "stop listening to the tyranny of your individuality," and Matthew 19 surveys that very idea.

• The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
• Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put [his] hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
• And, behold, one (rich ruler according to Luke's Gospel) came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

Three episodes:

freedom tests about the law and the nature of relationships

freedom tests about pride and self-importance

freedom tests about wealth and burdensome responsibility

The tyranny of individuality...three not-so-dissimilar points of origin from which to define a point of central truth in a multi-dimensional spirit-universe.

Regarding laws of marriage, His answer was: consider why God made marriage a feature of human life.

Regarding time dedicated to children even when weighty matters press, His answer was: consider why God made children a feature of human life.

Regarding the relationship between temporal wealth and eternal wealth, His answer was: consider why God gave you wealth.

Everyone has a type of wealth and a type of bondage...particulars change, but the central truth of it remains. I've had a profound awakening to that fact this week. Because I rarely brush shoulders with ones who have truly deep wells in the domain of worldly wealth, I rarely consider the particular bondage that comes with that life. Nor do I often see the freedom I breathe that is suffocated there.

For instance, I could lay awake at night worrying over how to pay my bills, but the conscientious person of wealth could likewise lay awake at night worrying about the many people under the influence of his finances, who rely on him in order to pay their own bills. And the sleepless night's impact would be of little difference on one hand. While there are benefits and curses unique to each situation, there are nevertheless benefits and curses inherent in both. There is no escaping it. There is the self-deceptive lie in thinking that the other world is better, and there is the self-deceptive lie in thinking our own world is better. But the rich man can become callous and the poor man can become bitter. Or the rich man can become magnanimous and the poor man can become a bastion of strong humility.

So what is freedom? Do we really understand how to get it? Do we really know if we want it?

By definition, it is a broadly used term.

It can be a very good thing: 1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : INDEPENDENCE c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous.

But it can also be a bad thing: f : improper familiarity.

Its range of application is large: from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated.

Finally, it can imply positive change: LIBERTY suggests release from former restraint or compulsion: the released prisoner had difficulty adjusting to his new liberty

or negative potential: LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom: freedom without responsibility may degenerate into license.

So how does one embrace freedom?

It is hidden here:

24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two‑drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax*?”
25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes–from their own sons or from others?”
26 “From others,” Peter answered.
“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four‑drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” Matthew 17