Matthew 12:1-21

12  At that ^[a]time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. ² But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” ³ But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and they ate the ^[b]consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? ⁵ Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ^[c]break the Sabbath and are innocent? ⁶ But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ But if you had known what this ^[d]means, ‘ I desire ^[e]compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹  Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰ And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned ^[f]Jesus, asking, “ Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. ¹¹ And He said to them, “ What man ^[g]is there among you who ^[h]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²  How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do ^[i]good on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to ^[j]normal, like the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and ^[k] conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

¹⁵ But Jesus, ^[l]aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, ¹⁶ and warned them not to ^[m]tell who He was. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

¹⁸ “ Behold, My ^[n]Servant whom I ^[o]have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul ^[p]is well-pleased;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He shall proclaim ^[q]justice to the ^[r]Gentiles.
¹⁹ “ He will not quarrel, nor cry out;
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
²⁰ “ A battered reed He will not break off,
And a smoldering wick He will not put out,
Until He ^[s]leads ^[t]justice to victory.
²¹ “ And in His name the ^[u]Gentiles will hope.”

We are given two examples today of men putting their religion above human needs and compassion.

In the first example, Jesus and his disciples are travelling. We’re not told where they’re travelling to, or how long they have journeyed. The disciples were hungry, so they began to pick some heads of grain as they travelled to eat. This was ordinarily permissible. The Leviticus 19 commanded land owners not to harvest the edges of their fields or to pick up any of the crops that fell to the ground. They were to be left for the poor and strangers travelling through the nation.

But it happened to be the Sabbath, a holy day of rest. And some Pharisees happened to spot them taking wheat and eating it and confronted Jesus.

To the Pharisees this was work. The disciples were harvesting the grain, notwithstanding the fact that they were just passing through and happened to take some as they travelled. They considered it work.

Christ counters first by citing David and the priests who aided him by giving him bread that had been consecrated to God.  David and his men were fleeing King Saul at the time who wanted to kill him. They were hungry. David came to the priests for aid. He took the sword of Goliath and asked for food. The priests had none but that which was dedicated to God. David asked for that and the priests gave it to him freely.

Christ secondly points out to them that the priests who serve in the temple are technically working too, but are innocent.

So in the first example, the priests and David actually did break the law to meet human needs. In the second, the priests work despite it being the Sabbath so they can serve and meet the people’s need to commune with God and make a sacrifice to atone for their sins. Jesus again quotes Hosea to them:

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

God wants love for my neighbors to trump my religion. Being “good” isn’t good at all if it means that I lack love, mercy, and compassion for people. Keeping myself from sin profits me nothing if it means I turn into a judgmental person who hates ‘sinners’ and would rather see a person go hungry than see my religious principles get broken to meet that need. If my religious principles would require me to ignore human need or human suffering, then my principles are wrong. Love is the law that Christ calls me to, and all other traditions and laws should be interpreted in the context of the highest laws: Love God and love your neighbor.

Jesus then tells them that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Calling back to the previous chapter, Jesus said that all things have been given to Him by the Father. Jesus is Lord of it all. He is the One they were, in theory, supposed to be worshipping. He is the One who is the giver of the Law.

He leaves them with that bombshell and He goes into the local synagogue to teach. A man with a paralyzed or withered hand was sitting in the congregation.

Perhaps the Pharisees brought the man there specifically to offer them a second chance to discredit Jesus, this time in front of an audience, hoping to show the crowd that Jesus was a lawbreaker. So one of them gestures to the man and asks Jesus if He thinks it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

Jesus tells them again that simple human compassion trumps their ideas about religion and points out that even they would help an animal that was in distress on the Sabbath. How much more should they help another human being created in the image of God? He answers their question authoritatively: It is always lawful to do good.

So He heals the man. And the Pharisees, the religious men, the learned men, the wise men hate Him for it. They’re angry.

They’ve seen another miracle. Another act of compassion for a human being, but they don’t see it at all. They see someone denigrating their religious ideas. All they could focus on was that Jesus refused to validate their beliefs and traditions. And given the choice between seeing the love of God poured out on people and maintaining their religious beliefs, the chose the latter. They would rather hold to a formal, strict adherence to their beliefs than entertain the idea that they might have gotten it wrong. That God cared more for people than for following the rules laid down by men.

Jesus left. He wasn’t going to  stay here and continue to challenge them. Their minds and hearts were closed. But people followed Him out of town and He took the time to make sure that all of their needs were met. Another picture of the mercy of God towards us. While He wouldn’t continue to try and reach those who would not be reached, He wasn’t going to let them stop Him from attending to those who were open to Him. He was leaving, but not until everyone was taken care of.

Matthew quotes Isaiah to close this section. Letting us know that Jesus, by being merciful, was fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah about the Messiah.

Matthew 3 saw the Father validate Jesus as His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased and saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ. This section I think fulfills this part:

“A battered reed He will not break off, And a smoldering wick He will not put out…”

The way I interpret this is that we’re the battered reed. We’re the smoldering wick. Humans. We’re beaten down by life, by each other, by our own ideas about God sometimes, and we’re hanging on by a thread. Or we’re almost burned out. We tried to burn bright and do what was right, but our own nature, our weaknesses, or again other people, have done everything that they can to put us out, to make us as dark and miserable as they are or as we think we deserve to be.

Jesus sees us in this condition: broken and burned out, and He has compassion. He doesn’t judge us and crush us. He heals us. He puts the fire back into our lives. He loves on us. That’s who God is. That’s who the Messiah is. He’s not going to ignore us. He’s not going to continue the job that we or the world have started to tear ourselves down. He wants to heal us. If we’re willing to be healed by Him. If we’re willing to be encouraged and loved by Him.

Practical application:

First and foremost, I need to be aware of human need. If there is a question between trying to alleviate human suffering and my religious beliefs or perceptions, then my religious beliefs are in error. “

²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained ^[b]by the world.”

The scriptures put meeting the needs of the distressed first when defining what our ‘religion’ should be. I need to learn that and act.

Be aware that if I am struggling. If I feel beaten down and burned out, God is not in the business of finishing me off. He wants to heal. He wants to restore. Have I fallen? Have I wandered far from God? The Shepherd just wants me back. The Father just wants his wayward son back. Come to Me all those who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest…

May I be mindful of the love of God towards me. May I be mindful of God’s love towards others. May I do nothing that would break another human being or cause their light to be extinguished, but rather may I be an encouragement to them. May I share that love from God to them and be a person and instrument that brings good and healing to others.

1. To sum up, I need to see the needs of others today, and meet them.

Depressing story of the week

This is about as thoroughly depressing as it gets.

We’ve lost our government. We should probably just start phasing it out now and let Wall St. start appointing their officers to run the country. It would be cheaper for them in the long run and they might just pass that savings on to us.

Language warning.

Our democracy in action…

Wow. Simply wow.

Republican super PACs and other outside groups shaped by a loose network of prominent conservatives – including Karl Rove, the Koch brothers and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – plan to spend roughly $1 billion on November’s elections for the White House and control of Congress, according to officials familiar with the groups’ internal operations.

That total includes previously undisclosed plans for newly aggressive spending by the Koch brothers, who are steering funding to build sophisticated, county-by-county operations in key states. POLITICO has learned that Koch-related organizations plan to spend about $400 million ahead of the 2012 elections – twice what they had been expected to commit.

Now, I don’t particularly make any secret of where my own political sympathies lie, and I’m aware that this isn’t a phenomena that is unique to one party. But the question remains when you have this much money going into any election, isn’t this a bit troubling?

If someone is throwing in millions into the coffers for Obama, Romney, or any other pol running for office, it makes you wonder what they expect to get in return from that investment and exactly how much that return will cost the rest of us who can’t chip in a million or 40 to buy our own politician.

That is, it sort of removes confidence in our political system as being actually representative of the people as a whole and not just the people who can afford to donate a lot of money.

I don’t know what the solution to this is.

Matthew 11:25-30

²⁵  At that ^[y]time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

Holy God, grant me the wisdom to understand your scriptures. Give me understanding. Spirit of God, please enlighten my dark mind and grant me understanding of the mysteries of God. Amen.

After his pronouncement of judgment on those who persist in dishonest unbelief and doubt despite the evidence He has shown them, Jesus gives glory to God for those who do and will believe. He gives glory to God for hiding these things from the wise, but revealing them to little children, as it pleased God to do so.

When it comes to the truth, we are often our own worst enemies. The wise and learned man may be so content in what he knows that he may reject evidence or knowledge that contradicts that which he has learned.

Jesus has been trying to show the people that their traditions and teachings might have been trying to keep the letter of the law, but were missing the spirit of the law. Their traditions were task oriented. In their view, they had to do and not do certain things to try and maintain a right relationship with God. The most learned among them were convinced that this was what God wanted from them.

But they were so focused on the tasks that they missed out on what God was really calling them to: communion with Him and a right relationship with their fellow man. God loves people. He wants us to love them too. But being weighted down with the task of trying to keep every commandment, tradition, and rule that had come along since the giving of the law resulted in a group of learned, outwardly pious people who lacked compassion, mercy, and love; and instead they focused on how others perceived them and how much more righteous they were than their fellow man.

Some examples:

Matthew 9:34 and 12:24: When confronted by Jesus providing healing and love towards the sick, the mentally ill, and those possessed or afflicted by demons, the Pharisees present do not rejoice in the healing of their fellow man, but condemn Christ as being controlled by demons Himself.

Matthew 15: The Pharisees had apparently constructed a tradition that allowed someone to get out of caring for their parents by declaring property or money as devoted to God. The practical effect being that one could keep their wealth or property, not aid their parents, and still be in ‘good’ standing as having not broken the command to honor their father and mother.

Matthew 23 is a homily against the Pharisees and lists out several  of the flaws in their religious practices: their concern with appearance before men, their failure to practice what they preached,  their focus on religious minutia rather than on the important foundations that undergirded their faith or on the justice, mercy and faithfulness due God and their fellow man.

I don’t think we’re that different sometimes. It’s pretty easy to be ‘wise’. I’ve been in a church most of my life. I know most of the doctrines and traditions I was taught, and I could probably stand up and regurgitate a sermon that would pass muster in any evangelical church anywhere in the United States. I know how to act in front of church folks. I know the language we use. I know it forwards and backwards.

It’s pretty easy to be wise.

It’s more difficult to come to the realization that you know nothing. I know nothing. I don’t say that in a denigrating way. I say that honestly. We don’t know anything. We’re all little children. Stumbling around like toddlers. Falling down. Knocking our heads against a chair or table when we do sometimes. God wants to reveal the truth to us. All of us. We just have to drop the pretense that we know it all. We have to drop the pride. We have to let it go.

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father

This is the foundation for the following statements that Jesus makes. Do I believe this? Do I believe that this same Jesus. The one who loves people. The one who reaches out and touches the outcasts. The one who sees us all as sheep without a shepherd, as little children unsteadily trying to walk and more often than not falling on our faces. Do I believe that He is the one who is sovereign and in control over all things?

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Jesus lets the crowd know that they don’t truly see Him for who He is yet. They don’t know Him yet. His disciples will get to know Him over the course of His ministry, but for now, only the Father truly sees Jesus for who He is.

Likewise, Jesus was the only one in perfect communion with the Father. But He would reveal who God was to those whom He chose. To the little children who recognized themselves for what they were and humbly followed Him. Jesus would later tell His disciples that because they had seen Him, they had seen the Father.

And that is a comfort. God is not angry. God is not distant. God is here. God loves us. God loves me. God sees our suffering. God knows our infirmities. God wants to touch our lives and comfort us. God is in control over all things.

²⁸ “ Come to Me, all ^[z]who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is ^[aa]easy and My burden is light.”

If God is in control over all things and He invites me to come to Him, to accept that fact and to accept my own place as a child knowing very little about what the world is really like, then I would be a fool to turn down his invitation.

I am tired. I feel burdened. I have spent decades now mucking about in church confident in my own knowledge and dismissive of it at the same time. I have come to realize my own struggles and flaws in a very real way in recent months. We can try to practice our religion. We can try to act in our knowledge. We can try to drag ourselves kicking and screaming into a place where we act like we think we should act, as we’ve been taught a Christian should act. We can keep our sets of dos and don’t dos. We can tithe. We can show up every Sunday. We can smile. Say hi. Be nice.  Not drink. Not curse. Not watch inappropriate content on TV or the internet. We can dress right. We can say the right things “Hallelujah and Amen!” We can nod along in church. We can correct others’ doctrine. We can spew the arguments for why other denominations or religions are wrong. We can drag ourselves up the ladder one rung at a time. We can be so focused on being a better Christian.

Or we can admit who we really are and rest.

I want rest.

I want to learn. I want to learn how to love people the way Jesus loves them. I want to learn about who Jesus is. I want to know and fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus doesn’t chastise us when we come. He doesn’t get angry. We’re children, after all. We don’t know any better. Come and learn, for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls.

What He asks from us is easy. He asks me to let go. He asks me to be honest with myself and with Him. He asks me to admit that I don’t know anything, but I’m willing to learn from Him. And He promises rest.

The practical application is to admit this to myself and to act on it.

Rank cynicism

Sigh…

This kind of nonsense is why I left the Republican party.

With a Supreme Court decision looming next month, House Republicans are privately weighing a plan to reinstate three popular elements of the law if it’s struck down — guaranteeing coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, allowing young adults up to 26 years old to remain on a parent’s insurance policy, and closing the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole.”

Whether coverage of pre-existing conditions is economically viable for insurers without an individual mandate is a dubious proposition, but practical realities are taking a back seat to election year imperatives. It’s not a hard sell to voters: you can have all the popular provisions of health care reform without the unpopular ones.

So the Affordable Care Act was all socialism and government overreach, except for the really popular parts that might hurt the GOP’s electoral chances should they be repealed or overturned, but we’re going to leave the question of how insurers will pay for these provisions without having a bunch of healthy people also added to the risk pool, because we’re smart, free-market, fiscally responsible types.

The ACA was essentially the Republican alternative to HillaryCare back in the 90’s. It tried to increase coverage to all Americans by balancing out the insurer’s requirement to carry sick people and cover pre-existing conditions with a mandate that everyone had to contribute to the risk pool. Getting rid of the mandate, but keeping the pre-existing conditions requirement will either mean:

1. Direct Federal subsidies to insurers to keep them in business.
2. Driving insurers bankrupt and replacing that system with Medicare for all or Single Payer (nationalized) health care.
3. That insurers will simply accept the government mandate, and raise premiums to unaffordable levels for most Americans, increasing the number of uninsured.
4. They’re just going to kick the can down the road for as long as possible and hope voters won’t notice when they eliminate the provisions later.

I’ll take 3 and 4 as the most likely outcome.

Matthew 11:1-24

11  When Jesus had finished ^[a]giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and ^[b]preach in their cities.

²  Now when John, ^[c]while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to Him, “Are You the ^[d]Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” ⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵  the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the ^[e]gospel preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he ^[f]who does not ^[g]take offense at Me.”

After giving the disciples the message to take to the people and providing them with both warnings and encouragement in their work, the Lord sends them out and leaves this place to continue His ministry to the region of Galilee. Instead of one reaching out to the people, there are now thirteen.

John the Baptist, meanwhile, hears about the work of Jesus and he sends out a few of his own disciples to meet with Jesus and ask him if Jesus was really the Messiah or if they should start looking for someone else.

Matthew 14 and Mark 6 have the details on the circumstances surrounding John’s imprisonment. John had spent his ministry preparing people for the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. He recognized Jesus when they met and Christ requested to be baptized. John 1 shows that he believed Jesus to be the Christ and told his disciples of this. But now there were doubts in his mind. John had been doing the work God called him to do. He confronted the people about their sins and urged them to repent. He didn’t shy away from rich or poor, religious or sinner, plebian or King. And it had landed him in the jail of King Herod who took offense to John pointing out Herod’s sins. What Jesus had warned the disciples was coming was something John was already experiencing. Soon, John would die for his faithfulness to God.

So after the Lord finishes encouraging His disciples to hold fast despite the persecution, Jesus now takes time to encourage John to hold fast even in the midst of persecution. Jesus doesn’t rebuke John. He doesn’t chide him for his honest doubts or his discouragement and frustration with his circumstances. Jesus doesn’t give any word of correction. He gives him a word of encouragement.

Jesus doesn’t mind honest questions. I think Jesus prefers it. He knows me. He knows my weaknesses. He knows everything about me. He knows if I’m angry or frustrated or doubtful about what’s going on. He knows if I’m struggling with questions about Him or His word or what’s going on in my life. Jesus knows.

Hiding my doubts or questions or frustration does more damage to me. Jesus wants me to talk to him and express these feelings and thoughts. He can handle honesty. He’s not going to get angry. He’s not going to stop loving me. He is our Friend as well as our Lord.

So John had doubts. And he needed to hear a word from Jesus that his work wasn’t in vain.

So Jesus encourages John. He points to the miracles He’s been doing. He tells John that yes, He is the Christ. And to hold on. That a blessing and reward wait for those who hold fast to their faith in Christ.

John’s response isn’t recorded, but I think it was positive. Sometimes that’s all we need from Jesus. Just a reminder that He’s there. That He is who we believe He is. And to hold on.

I used to be part of a church culture where questions and doubts and dissents were not tolerated. It’s refreshing to me to see that God isn’t afraid or angry about such things when they come from a place of honesty. I know Jesus later takes the time to gently correct one disciple who wouldn’t believe in His resurrection. Jesus loves us, doubts, questions, and all.

⁷ As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^8 [h]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ ^[i]palaces! ^9 [j]But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it ^[k]is written,

‘ Behold, I send My messenger ^[l]ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’

¹¹ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is ^[m]least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²  From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven ^[n]suffers violence, and violent men ^[o]take it by force. ¹³ For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who ^[p]was to come. ¹⁵  He who has ears to hear, ^[q]let him hear.

After John’s disciples leave, Jesus addresses the crowds that were following Him and starts talking about John the Baptist. Reading some commentaries on this, He appears to be deliberately both honoring John before the people and reminding them of his ministry and the foundation he laid for Christ.

He asks the crowd why they went out to see John. What there motives were. What their intention was.

Did they go to see a spectacle? Did they go to see a man easily swayed by culture, by the crowds, or by circumstances? Did they go to see a man adorned with the glories of the world? No, they went out to see a prophet. They went to hear the Word of God.

No doubt, some hearing John’s questions might have had the same reaction that some in the church do when confronted by a questioning, doubting, or struggling believer. Some might have been inclined to think poorly of John, but Jesus’ speech cuts off that line of thought immediately. He not only validates John as a prophet, but calls him the greatest of the prophets. To put him above Moses was high praise indeed to the mind of the crowd.

But there is something greater than being the greatest here on Earth. There is a greater glory, joy, and fulfillment waiting for all who follow Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven, both in heaven and its Earthly manifestation. When the Holy Spirit would come, He would dwell in the hearts of every believer, helping us, instructing us, teaching us, and calling to remembrance what we have learned about Jesus. He would give us words to say when we needed them to glorify God.

Basically, I don’t think Jesus is saying that there are two classes of believers: pre-redemption and post-redemption. I think He is saying that there is a greater fulfillment coming soon that will enable even the least of us to have a deeper, fuller relationship with God and to walk closely with Him. It was not something John would experience in his life here on Earth. He would die before he saw the final fulfillment of Christ’s mission and the first of the redeemed to walk on Earth below. He would go to be one of the redeemed in Heaven.

Jesus states next that the Kingdom of Heaven is assailed by violence and violent men take it by force. His kingdom is always under assault here on Earth. Violent men resist His message, His person, and His followers. And violent men appropriate or try to use the church or Christian imagery in the service of their own ends. It’s another warning to the crowds following Him that if they continue to follow Him, they could very well end up just like John.

Finally, Jesus validates that, yes, John was the forerunner promised in Malachi. He was Elijah. Now was he literally Elijah back from the dead? John the Baptist answers that question in John 1:25, when he says, “No.” Luke 1:17 says that John went in the spirit and power of Elijah. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it seems to indicate that John the Baptist took up the office and ministry that Elijah had previously filled. So he was a successor of Elijah’s ministry, but not literally the man. Given the passages in Luke and John, I think Jesus was speaking figuratively in this sense, and was not talking about a case of reincarnation or resurrection.

It’s interesting to note the parallels. In 1 Kings 19, when faced with the threat of persecution, Elijah becomes discouraged to the point of asking God to take his life because he believes he was the only righteous man left alive. John when faced with actual and prolonged persecution begins to be discouraged. In both cases, the Lord takes the time to encourage them. Again, I’m presented a picture of God who is okay with questions that come from a place of honesty.

¹⁶ “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, ¹⁷ and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not ^[r]mourn.’ ¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘ He has a demon!’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[s]drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ^[t]sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

As opposed to dishonest questions and doubt. Jesus takes the time to rebuke the fickle nature of the crowds who despite the word of God and the miracles shown to them refuse to believe. In John’s case, they saw a man living a monastic life of austerity and total devotion to God and dismissed him as crazy or demon possessed. With Jesus, they saw a Man who spent all of his time ministering to people, eating with them, drinking with them, and reaching out to the outcasts and healing them, and they dismissed Him as a glutton, drunk, and a friend of sinners.

²⁰ Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His ^[u] miracles were done, because they did not repent. ²¹ “ Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the ^[v]miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in ^[w] sackcloth and ashes. ²² Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the ^[x]miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

There doubts and unbelief were not coming from a place of honesty. They were faced with both the Word of God, Christ’s ministry to the people, and the miracles that He (and now His disciples) did, and they refused to belief. They didn’t even bother expressing their doubts to Him. The Pharisees eventually would ask for a sign as proof of His claims, but they had had years to observe His good works and hear His word and had yet to believe, and Jesus does dismiss their request. They were presented with the grace of God and refused it.

Jesus simply states that they would be worse off in the day of judgment than these Gentile cities that were examples of vile and evil societies. Those who have more knowledge and have seen the grace of God and still continuously refuse it will be judged more harshly than those who have less revelation. Some time, I’m going to have to do a study of the judgment and the idea of hell, but I think that’s probably something for another day.

Practical applications:

1. God is okay with honest questions and doubts. Don’t fear expressing them to Him. He wants to hear from us. He wants us to trust Him with our doubts and questions. He can handle it. We’re not going to be condemned for them. He will help us and encourage us.
2. God will honor those who honor Him. John the Baptist spent his life devoted to God and in humility he stepped aside in place of Jesus who he knew had to increase. John’s humility and service were rewarded by God who praised his life and honored him.
3. God is not okay with dishonest doubt and unbelief. There’s a difference between sincere, honest doubt and dishonest doubt. The former comes from a place of trying to understand God in the light of circumstances, questions about His nature, and questions about His word or His church. The latter comes from a place of trying to find a way to dismiss, ridicule, or demean God, or justify a decision already made to reject the grace of God.  In short, if I’m a believer, and I express doubts to God, He will listen to me and encourage me as His child. If I were a non-believer honestly seeking the truth and willing to change my belief in the face of arguments, answers, or evidence, He will lead me to the truth (Seek and you will find…) If my questions were simply a way for me to avoid God or ridicule God or to try and avoid a task God has set before me and my mind is already made up against God, then I am not being honest.

 

The invisible hand works in mysterious ways

If you haven’t seen this story in the Los Angeles Times, please take the time to check it out. It’s a remarkable piece, both because it’s a rare example of actual journalism, and because of the topic of pricing in health care.

A Long Beach hospital charged Jo Ann Snyder $6,707 for a CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis after colon surgery. But because she had health insurance with Blue Shield of California, her share was much less: $2,336.

Then Snyder tripped across one of the little-known secrets of healthcare: If she hadn’t used her insurance, her bill would have been even lower, just $1,054…

…The difference in price can be stunning. Los Alamitos Medical Center, for instance, lists a CT scan of the abdomen on a state website for $4,423. Blue Shield says its negotiated rate at the hospital is about $2,400.

When The Times called for a cash price, the hospital said it was $250.

So the cost to the hospital is less than $250, and $250 would give them enough to cover the cost with a bit of profit. But because they know they can get more from an insurance company, they inflate the price to $4,423. The insurance company knows that they’re inflating the price, so it only covers about half that amount, leaving you billable for the rest, plus whatever monthly payments you make to have health insurance.

It’s a huge scam, both the hospital and insurer are in on it and making an obscene profit off of it, and it would seem to be least one factor as to why health care costs keep rising. I’d like to think that this would drive folks to either demand more visibility and regulation to protect consumers and lower health care costs. The idealist in me would really like to think that this would help drive us towards single payer care.

But the realist in me knows that this will never happen.

So next time you see the doctor, ask about cash pricing for the office visit and any treatments he prescribed and talk to your insurance company about your policy and what it covers and what you’re responsible for. It might mean a significantly lower bill.