A Lesson in Least-ness

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” – Mark 9:30-37 ESV

For a brief period of time, Jesus tried to maintain some sense of secrecy concerning His whereabouts so that He might spend more time instructing His disciples. This would not have been easy because Jesus attracted large crowds wherever He went. But Jesus did what He could to remain incognito as He passed through the region of Galilee. It was essential that He prepare His disciples for what was to come, and the information He was going to share with them was for their ears only. It was not intended for mass distribution.

These men, who had confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, needed to come to grips with the reality of His earthly mission. Jesus was fully aware that they had drawn wrong conclusions about His role as the Messiah and were still expecting Him to set up His earthly Kingdom. To them, all the miracles and messages were simply the opening acts of what was supposed to be the main event: Jesus establishing Himself as the next king of Israel. And because they were His faithful followers, they believed they were destined to play significant roles in His royal administration.

So, for the second time, Jesus attempted to realign their expectations by revealing the facts concerning His coming death in Jerusalem. The first time Jesus had broached this uncomfortable subject, it had earned Him a stern rebuke from Peter. This outspoken and overly impulsive member of Jesus’ inner circle had found the news disconcerting and unacceptable and had told Jesus so. And a closer look at what Jesus told them makes Peter’s reaction somewhat understandable.

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again. – Mark 8:31 NLT

For Peter and his companions, this information seemed outside the realm of possibility. If Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah for whom they had long been waiting, how could His life end in death? What possible good could come from a dead Messiah? How was He supposed to rescue His people from their enslavement to Rome if He was dead?

Jesus had spoken plainly and quite bluntly. He had not sugarcoated the news or presented it in terms the disciples might find more palatable. But at the same time, He did not provide much in the way of further explanation. Yes, He mentioned His resurrection, but in such a cursory way that the disciples failed to grasp what He was talking about.

So, Jesus revisits the topic one more time. Bit it’s important to recall the event that is sandwiched in between these two disclosures. The transfiguration of Jesus was intended to give the three disciples who witnessed it a glimpse into the future. They were given the privilege of seeing Jesus in His glorified state, discussing His coming departure from this earth with Elijah and Moses.

That remarkable experience must have sealed the deal for Peter, James, and John. The vision of Jesus in His glory, the presence of the two prophets of Israel, and the audible voice of God declaring Jesus to be His Son, all provided incontrovertible evidence that Jesus was the Messiah.  And yet, as they came down the mountain, they could only think about one thing: What Jesus had meant by “rising from the dead” (Mark 9:10).

It’s likely that the transfiguration had only made Jesus’ comments about His death and rising again all the more confusing to the disciples. They were having a difficult time reconciling what they had seen on the mountain top with what Jesus had described as His future fate. And Jesus, fully aware of their lingering inability to process His words, simply repeated them.

“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” – Mark 9:31 ESV

And Mark indicates that they remained just as confused as before.

…they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. – Mark 9:32 ESV

These men weren’t afraid to ask Jesus questions. They did so all the time. But they were afraid of knowing the truth, so they kept their mouths shut. As the old saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss.” Little did they know that they were on their way to Jerusalem, where everything was going to take place, just as Jesus had predicted. They could ignore the topic, but it was not going away.

When they arrived back in Capernaum, their unofficial headquarters, Jesus asked the disciples what they had been discussing along the way. But, once again, they chose to remain silent. And rightfully so, because to admit the topic of their conversation would have been embarrassing. But Mark spills the beans, revealing that “they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest” (Mark 9:34 NLT).

Now, before we paint the disciples as egotistical and self-centered powermongers, let’s look at the facts. They had been handpicked by Jesus. They were His chosen followers and had been given authority by Jesus to cast out demons. When Peter had confessed that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus had said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19 ESV). And Peter, James, and John had been chosen by Jesus to witness His transfiguration. So, these men were somewhat justified in thinking that they would play important roles in Jesus’ coming kingdom.

The problem was that they were arguing over which one of them was the greatest. They had taken their eyes off of Jesus and had begun to focus on their own self-worth. And there is little doubt that Peter, James, and John were justifying their superiority with tales of their experience at the transfiguration. Rather than discussing the death of Jesus and what His reference to rising again might mean, they were busy debating their own value to the kingdom. This jockeying for position will continue on into the next chapter, where Mark reveals that James and John come to Jesus and make a bold request: “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left” (Mark 10:37 NLT).

These men were operating from a purely secular and temporal perspective. They saw Jesus as the coming King of Israel and they were hoping to garner key posts in His administration. While Jesus was talking about self-sacrifice, they were busy arguing over their own self-worth and qualifications for leadership roles in the new kingdom.

But Jesus gathered the 12 together and gave them a much-needed lesson on spiritual leadership.

“Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” – Mark 9:35 NLT

This comment must have caught the disciples by surprise. First of all, it revealed that Jesus knew the topic of their conversation, and that must have been embarrassing for them. But secondly, His words were incongruent. They didn’t add up. In their culture, servants were considered the least of the least. And last place was no place for a leader. The thought of willingly subjugating yourself in order to serve someone else would have made no sense to these men.

So, to drive home His point, Jesus gave them an object lesson. Picking up a small child in His arms, He said, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (Mark 9:37 ESV).

In their culture, children were considered the least of the least. They had no rights or privileges. They were powerless and helpless. And yet, Jesus stood before the disciples, holding one of these seemingly insignificant and unimportant children in His arms. And four different times, Jesus used the word dechomai, which can be translated as “receives” but carries a much fuller meaning: “to embrace, make one’s own, approve, not to reject.” In their society, children tended to be ignored. But by holding this child in His arms, Jesus was placing the least in a position of highest honor.

Jesus’ words should have had an air of familiarity to them. The disciples had heard Him say something similar. Just prior to Him sending out the 12 on their first missionary journey, He had told them:

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” – Matthew 10:40 ESV

He used the very same formula:

To receive the least ------- is to receive Jesus --------is to receive God

The disciples were to be the least. They were to be the servants of all. In other words, their role was going to be that of the lowest, not the highest. Their status was to be measured by humility, not glory. The child Jesus held in His arms had no inherent worth or value – from a worldly perspective. He had yet to accomplish anything with his life. He could not boast about his education or business accomplishments. But Jesus had chosen to use this insignificant child to convey a deep spiritual truth. And Jesus was going to use the insignificant disciples to take the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Not because they were great, but because they were the least. And all those who received the disciples and their message would receive Christ. And to receive Christ would be to receive a restored relationship with God.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

A Costly Calling

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” –  Matthew 16:21-28 ESV

In response to Jesus’ question, “But who do you say that I am?,” Peter had been the first of the 12 to speak up.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” – Matthew 16:16 ESV

And Jesus had commended Peter for his answer, acknowledging that it had been revealed to him by God. Peter’s awareness of who Jesus was had come as a direct result of God’s revelation, not human intelligence or the teachings of men.

This common fisherman had been able to see something to which the learned scribes and Pharisees remained oblivious. They were experts in the Mosaic law and students of the Hebrew Scriptures but had failed to see what Peter had seen. They had accused Jesus of operating under the power and influence of Satan. To them, He was little more than a heretic and a man who willingly associated with prostitutes and sinners. They were spiritually blind and unable to see what Peter saw.

Peter was blessed for having been given the capacity to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, but he was about to find out that the privilege of divinely-inspired insight came at a cost. The disciples were able to see Jesus for who He was – their Messiah and Savior – but now they were going to find out exactly what that meant. Their preconceived notions of the Messiah’s role were about to be rocked. Any hopes they had of watching Jesus set up His kingdom on earth and placing them in positions of power and authority were going to be shattered.

Following Peter’s confession came Jesus’ revelation.

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. – Matthew 16:16 ESV

And we don’t have to wonder how this pronouncement impacted the disciples, because Matthew makes it quite clear.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” – Matthew 16:22 ESV

Once again, Peter was the first to speak up. But this time, his words would reward him with a rebuke from Jesus, not a blessing. In the Greek, Peter’s response was essentially, “God have mercy on you!”

He was expressing his deep-felt desire that God would not allow the words of Jesus to come to fruition. Peter was speaking from his heart. He was appalled by what he had heard. The thought of Jesus suffering and dying was not something he could get his head around. It made no sense. It didn’t fit into his expectations concerning the Messiah. And he couldn’t imagine that God would allow something like this to happen.

While Peter had been shocked at Jesus’ announcement, he was about to be rocked by Jesus’ response to him.

“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” – Matthew 16:23 NLT

Ouch! That had to have stung. Peter had just been pronounced as blessed because of his confession that Jesus was the Messiah. Now, Jesus was calling him “Satan.” What a dramatic turn of events. What an amazing fall from grace. Peter had gone from the teacher’s pet to a spiritual adversary.

But why did Jesus respond so harshly? Peter had meant well. He simply couldn’t imagine Jesus having to go through the things He had described. But Jesus saw Peter’s response for what it was: Satanically inspired.

Just as God had revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Messiah, Satan was attempting to influence Peter’s perception of what that meant. Satan wasn’t trying to dissuade Peter from believing Jesus was the Messiah. He simply wanted to confuse his understanding of the Messiah’s role. Like any good Jew, Peter’s view of the Messiah was somewhat self-centered and self-serving. He was interpreting his God-given awareness of Jesus as the Messiah through a man-made set of expectations. Notice what Jesus accused him of.

Peter was setting his mind on man’s interests, not God’s. He was thinking about what he wanted from the Messiah, not God’s purpose for the Messiah.

Peter was displaying a what’s-in-it-for-me mindset that viewed the Messiah as the answer to all of his personal problems. To Peter’s way of thinking, Jesus was no good to him dead. But what Peter failed to understand was that Jesus would not be the Messiah or Savior unless He died. Jesus had not come to fulfill the will of men, but the will of His Father in heaven. And Peter was going to have to learn that his personal expectations of the Messiah were going to have to take a backseat to God’s will concerning the Messiah.

This is why Jesus turned to all the disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). All of these men had experienced the call of Jesus, inviting them to follow Him. Now, Jesus was letting them know the cost of that calling. Their original motivation to follow Jesus had been self-serving. They had seen something in it for them. But now, Jesus was telling them that their calling came with a cost: Self-denial.

Jesus had just revealed that the role of Messiah came with a tremendous cost. He would suffer and die. In the same way, the role of disciple came with a cost. Just as Jesus would have to die to Himself, they would be required to die to their own self-interests. Jesus would go on to tell His disciples, “whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28 NLT).

Peter had simply wanted to save the life of Jesus. But Jesus told him, “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25 NLT). The model for true discipleship was that of self-sacrifice and selfless service, not self-centeredness. Jesus was attempting to focus the attention of His disciples on the eternal rather than the temporal. He wanted them to think about the kingdom to come, not their own kingdom on earth. Peter wanted it all here and now. But Jesus warned that getting all you desire in this life was worthless if you ended up losing your soul. Temporal treasures and earthly kingdoms will all pass away. But those who focus their eyes on the eternal will discover that their future reward far outweighs any pleasure they find in the present.

Jesus ends His address to His disciples with a somewhat confusing statement:

“Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” – Matthew 16:28 ESV

These words must have left the disciples scratching their heads. They would have wondered what He meant. They would have wanted to know which of them He was referencing. And if we stop here, this verse will leave us just as confused as the disciples must have been. But we have the next chapter of Matthew’s gospel account to provide us with insight.

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. – Matthew 17:1-12 ESV

The disciples would have to go six days without a clue as to what Jesus had meant. Fortunately, we’re given an immediate understanding of just what Jesus had been talking about. But more about that tomorrow.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Knowing (Loving) God.

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. – John 17:25-26 ESV John 17:1-26

Jesus ended His prayer with an acknowledgement that the world into which He had come had, for the most part, refused to accept Him for who he was. The majority of the Jews had rejected Him as the Messiah. “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11 ESV). And because they had failed to know or recognize Him as Messiah, it had left them ignorant of who God really way. Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had said, “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27 ESV). With His coming to earth, Jesus had made God known. He had made the invisible, visible and the unknowable, known. When Jesus said He had made to His disciples the name of God, He was saying that He had made known to them the very nature and character of God. Jesus' very presence on earth was an expression of the love of God. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV). “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

Jesus was the revelation of God's love. But He was also the revelation of God's righteousness. Jesus lived a perfectly sinless and righteous life. He demonstrated in a real and tangible way exactly what God expected from men. His life of sinless perfection was a demonstration of God's righteousness “fleshed out.” Sinful man was only capable of living up to God's standard of righteousness with God's help. Not only that, Jesus revealed God's righteousness by becoming the very demonstration of God's holiness and love lived out. God always does what is right. He never does anything that would contradict His own character. In sending His own Son, God was able to satisfy His own sense of justice against sin, while providing a conduit for His love at the same time. Paul puts it this way: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23-26 ESV). Jesus' death on the cross was a visible reminder of God's hatred of sin. The sins of mankind could only be atoned or paid for by the death of a sinless man. Since no human existed who could measure up to that standard, His sent His own Son. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT).

Jesus made God known. He made known His holiness by living it out for all to see. The holiness of God is not ethereal and invisible, but highly practical and tangible. Jesus demonstrated it in the way He lives His life. He showed that the holiness of God was achievable in the life of any man or woman who recognized their own sinfulness and accepted God's free gift of righteousness made available through His Son's death and resurrection. Jesus also made known God's love. He showed us that God's love is so great that He sent His own Son to die for us – even while we were mired in our sinfulness with no hope of ever changing our ways. God loved us so much that He did for us what we could never have done for ourselves. And Jesus was the demonstration of that love.

In His prayer, Jesus promised to continue to reveal the love of God to His followers. He would do so in His coming death on the cross. But the resurrection of Jesus would also reveal God's love for His Son. God would raise Jesus from the dead and restore Him to His rightful place of prominence and power at His side. And it is the full scope of that amazing love that Jesus wants His followers to know and experience. To know God is experience and understand the full scope of the love of God. It is also to love God in return. When we begin to grasp just how loving our God really is, we can't help but return our gratitude in the form of love for Him. Our growing comprehension of the love of God produces in us a love for God. And that is exactly what Jesus prayed for – “that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Consider the Source.

Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. – John 17:7-8 ESV John 17:1-26

In His prayer, Jesus claimed that His disciples had come to know and understand that everything He had – His power, miracles, position, words, insights, mission, and message – were from God. Jesus had spent three years of His life giving them the message He had received from God. It was a message concerning repentance. God was calling them to turn, not only from sin, but from their old thinking regarding God and how to be made right with Him. No longer would strict adherence to the law be the way in which men attempted to earn favor with God. Animal sacrifices, always an incomplete and temporary solution to man's sin problem, would no longer be the preferred method for finding forgiveness of sins. God had sent His Son to be the permanent, once-for-all remedy for the death sentence that hung over mankind as a result of the fall. Jesus came preaching, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17 NLT). “Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. ‘The time promised by God has come at last!’ he announced. ‘The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!’” (Mark 1:14-15 NLT). Jesus came bringing a new message of hope and restoration. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17 NLT). Rather than salvation based on outward performance and an unachievable adherence to a set of moral and ethical standards, Jesus came offering salvation by faith alone in Him alone. He taught that there was only way in which might be made right with God and it was Him. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT). 

And Jesus said that His disciples had received these words and come to believe that He had been sent by God. He was, as Peter confessed, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16 ESV). He was the Son of God just as the voice of God had said at both His baptism and His transfiguration. Jesus was not just a man, a prophet, rabbi, teacher, or miracle worker. He wasn't just a good man, He was the God-man. He was God in human flesh, God incarnate. He was Immanuel, God with us. He was divine and divinely sent to bring the salvation of God to a lost and dying world. He was the fulfillment of the promises of God made hundreds of years earlier by the prophets of God. He was the long-awaited-for Messiah. He was the promised descendant of David who would sit on his throne in Jerusalem and whose kingdom would have no end. Jesus was sent by God to pay for the sins of the world. He took on human flesh, lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death on behalf of mankind, in order to satisfy the just demands of a holy and righteous God. The wages of sin is death. Rebellion against God results in a death sentence. But God provided His own Son as the substitute for every person who has ever lived. His death, as the sacrificial Passover Lamb, propitiated or satisfied the wrath of God. His shed blood was necessary, because God had said, “for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible” (Leviticus 17:11 NLT). The writer of Hebrews tells us, “according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NLT). God sent His Son to die. He had to be the sinless, spotless sacrifice for the sins of mankind. And the disciples, when they heard the words of God spoken by the Son of God, received and believed them. 

As implausible as it all sounded, they believed. As radically different and paradigm shifting as the message of Jesus was to their Jewish sensibilities, they believed. There was much that the disciples did not understand. They didn't always comprehend everything that Jesus said. They didn't always like what they heard coming out of His mouth, especially His admission that He was going to have to go to Jerusalem and die. But they believed that He had come from God. They believed Him to be the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus had made God known and knowable to man. “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us” (John 1:18 NLT). Jesus pointed men to God. He was the very manifestation of God in human flesh. “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son” (John 1:14 NLT). And the disciples believed. Belief in the words of God concerning His Son are still the basis for salvation today. “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:35-36 ESV). We must consider the source – Jesus Christ has been sent by God to be the means by which men might be made right with God. He was the God-provided sin substitute and spotless sacrifice who made our reconciliation to God possible. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV).

Mission Accomplished.

Deuteronomy 19-20, John 19

So you shall purge the evil from your midst. ­– Deuteronomy 19:19 ESV

Sin within the community of God's people is like a cancer in the human body that, if left unchecked, will rapidly metastasize, infecting the entire organism and resulting in destruction. Oftentimes, the removal of cancer from the human body requires drastic measures. It can require invasive and seemingly destructive measures to preserve life. But the longer the disease is left unattended, the more radical the cure will need to become. When we see the commands of God concerning the destruction of the nations occupying the Promised Land, we can sometimes become appalled at the radical nature of the genocide He seems to be commanding and condoning. But God's intentions are clear, if not always understood. “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,  but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 20:16-18 ESV). The reality we often lose sight of when studying the history recorded for us in the Old Testament is that the entire human race was destined for destruction because of sin. Ever since the fall or man, recorded in the opening chapters of Genesis, sin had separated mankind from God, and left them condemned to the penalty of death. But God had not left mankind without hope. He had a plan for dealing with the effects of sin. In Genesis 3, in God's pronouncement of His curses on Satan, the woman and the man, He gave us a glimpse of what He had planned. “I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15 ESV). This is the protevangelium or first gospel. It is a prophetic picture of God's plan to destroy the enemy and his hold on mankind through the death of His own Son. Eve's eventual offspring, Jesus, would ultimately bruise or crush the head of Satan by conquering sin and death through His own sacrificial death on the cross.

What does this passage reveal about God?

God had chosen the people of Israel as His possession and commissioned them to live according to His law. They were to be radically different from the other nations. They were to remain set apart and pure, uninfected by the other nations around them. God had wanted the nation of Israel to be a living, breathing example of what men and women who lived in obedience to the will of Almighty God would look like. But to be effective witnesses of God's glory and power, they needed to remain holy, distinct and pure. So God, knowing the power of sin and its infectious characteristics, demanded the complete destruction of those nations occupying the land He had promised to the descendants of Abraham. Why? So that they would not cause the Israelites to sin against God by tempting them to worship false gods or mimic their immoral behavior. Purging was necessary. The infection had to be removed. It appears radical and harsh, but it provides us a picture of just how dangerous and destructive sin can be. It is not to be taken lightly, either in the life of an individual or a nation. God had demanded that the Israelites put to death any prophets who claimed to be speaking for God, but who sanctioned the worship of false gods. If a man or woman was caught worshiping false gods, they were to be stoned to death. “So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 17:7 ESV). If an individual refused to obey the decision of the priest or judge who was ordained by God to render judgment regarding disputes, they were to be put to death. “So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 17:12 ESV). God gave this instruction over and over again. Evil was to be removed. The cancer was to be eradicated from the body.

What does this passage reveal about man?

It is fascinating to read the gospel record of John and his first-hand account of the death of Jesus. Standing on this side of the events of that day, we know that Jesus' death was intended by God to solve man's sin problem. He was the cure for the cancer that had infected mankind. His death was intended to provide payment for the sins of man. And yet, the people of Jesus' day saw Him as the problem, not the cure. Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest had said of Jesus, “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” (John 11:48 ESV). In his mind, Jesus was a problem that needed to be removed. He had to be purged from their midst or He would bring destruction to the nation of Israel. He went on to say to his colleagues, “You know nothing at all, Not do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:49-50 ESV). John tells us that from that moment on, the Jewish religious leaders sought to put Jesus to death. They wanted the cancer in their midst removed. At His trials, Jesus was accused of everything from insurrection to blasphemy. He was labeled as a troublemaker and rebel against the rule of Rome. When Pilate asked the Jewish leadership, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”, they simply replied, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you” (John 19:29-30 ESV). In their eyes, Jesus was evil and needed to be purged from the midst. He was a threat to their way of life. The sad irony of this event is that Jesus was actually the cure for what ailed them. He was the solution to their sin problem. But they simply saw Him as a threat. And while they believed that if they could have Jesus put to death, their troubles would be over, they failed to understand that they were sealing their own death warrants. They were rejecting the very One who could have saved them. When Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?”, they vehemently responded, “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:15 ESV). They were the infected ones. They were the diseased and dangerous ones. Jesus had warned the disciples about these men. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1 ESV). The religious leaders, thinking themselves to be doing the people of God a favor by eliminating Jesus, were actually sealing their own fate and condemning the people of God to destruction.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

Because Jesus was the cure for the sin of mankind, I have been given a chance to receive healing from sin's infection and release from my death sentence. I have been cured and made whole. And I have been given the power to continue to process of removing sin from my midst. I have the Holy Spirit within me who provides me with the power I need to extricate any remaining sinful behavior from my midst. It is a lifelong process that will require constant vigilance on my part. God's Word exposes the sin in my life. God's Spirit convicts me of residual sin and empowers me to remove or purge it from my life. But I must take sin seriously. I must understand that Jesus' death was required because of the devastating and destructive qualities of sin. Peter reminds me, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV). I have been healed, but I must live in constant awareness of the power and presence of sin in my midst. Not only in my own life, but in the life of the body of Christ. Together, we must purge sin from our midst. If left unnoticed and unchecked, it can become invasive and pervasive, spreading like a cancer in the body of Christ. The sins of one can affect all. We must care about the spiritual well being of one another. We must be concerned about the spiritual state of our brothers and sisters in Christ and not tolerate sin in our midst. We have been called to live lives that are set apart and distinctively different than the rest of the world. We have received the cure and we must do all we can to remain spiritually healthy and whole, with the help of the Holy Spirit and through a mutual concern for one another.

Father, thank You for providing the cure for what ailed me. Your Son healed me from the devastating and deadly effects of sin. He provided salvation when I was in a hopeless and helpless condition. Now give me the strength and motivation to remain pure and whole. Help me listen to the promptings of Your Spirit and confess the sins of which He convicts me. Give me a growing concern for the spiritual health of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't allow us to tolerate sin in the body of Christ, but do all we can to purge it from our midst. Amen