Love and Freedom

S

(John 13:34-35) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are My disciples.

O

The "this" that Jesus referred to was His people's assimilation of God's love: (1) Receive it for yourself, (2) Give it away to everyone, (3) Own up to the new identity as being both a disciple of Jesus and a crazy-lover of people, like He is. What's even more surprising about this commandment is its context. What prompted Jesus to say that was the events that immediately preceded that command: He served the final Passover meal to his disciples (including Judas), He washed His disciples' feet (including Judas's), and He released Judas to actively betray both Him and his fellow disciples. Jesus' love included serving His betrayer, without betraying or exposing or hindering him. Respecting people's freedom to be idiots is part of agape love.

A (Personal)

I've learned long ago that God's love is to be received, experienced and enjoyed, and given away--and in that process, to discover that the more it's given it away, the more deeply and tangibly it's experienced and recognized by a watching, awestruck world. What I don't understand is how to balance that with this granting freedom to be foolish or destructive. Isn't my will ... my good intentions ... my better understanding sufficient to override your choice if mine is better?

When zealous, well-meaning crowds tried to forcibly make Jesus king--at the wrong time, with the wrong method, for the wrong purpose--Jesus foiled their plans. When jealous, malevolent crowds (perhaps some of the same people) wanted to toss Jesus over a cliff or later to stone Him--a premature murder attempt--Jesus quietly foiled their plans again. Jesus doesn't participate in evil or even foolishness, but He discerns when it's best to give us freedom to act out our idiocies. Sometimes He saves us from ourselves, but always whatever He does is love.

A (Psychological)

Preventing suicide ... preventing abuse ... preventing divorce. How much freedom do we have to impose my (our) will on someone else? How much power or control do we have against such things? How much moral authority do we have? Does the possibility of success have anything to do with whether we should attempt interventions? People who are among the few professions or individuals who have struggled to organize these ethical burdens have some idea how difficult these decisions can be in real circumstances. Like other professions, psychology is just beginning to labor through and unravel these issues, and (forgive the triteness) those who have started this struggle have equipped themselves better than those of us who haven't engaged in this struggle.

Prayer

Lord, Your love is so much greater than anything I can comprehend. Your care for Your betrayers is shocking. I want to both receive and give away Your love. I know--speaking as one of Your betrayers--I am eternally grateful for Your mercy. Without the freedom You gave me to sin, I would have never realized how dark and corrupt my heart is without Your transforming love. O Lord, teach me all over again how to love people with Your love.

Tale of Two Families

S

(Acts 18:9,10) And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city who are my people."

O

Paul--with Aquila and Priscilla, and with Silas, and with Timothy--had a fruitful ministry with the Gentiles there in Corinth. The threats from the Jews had frightened Paul enough for him to consider retiring in silence. It would have been catastrophic for the world if the Corinthian Church had not struggled through--and Paul, specifically, would have suffered great and unnecessary disappointment. So he stayed there for his full 18-month, Holy Spirit appointment.

A (Personal)

In shocking honesty, the Holy Spirit recorded a subsequent attack made against Paul. It turned out that Paul (unlike Sothenes) was not physically harmed, but this close call very nearly contradicted the Holy Spirit's earlier promise, quoted above. The closeness of this attack must had been confusing, theologically and relationally disconcerting. From this multi-layered crisis, it is apparent that the development and maturation of our faith--will I trust God in either pain or suffering?--is more precious than our accumulation of wealth, our comfort, or even our security (1 Peter 1:6,7). Jesus is our only reliable wealth, comfort, or security even if He calls us into a season of sharing His suffering. He remains our all-in-all even if He calls us into circumstances that risk us perceiving Him as being indifferent or unreliable. He eventually proves Himself to be right and trustworthy.

A (Historical)

Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, is an important part of this prophetic message. (He is the magistrate that Paul was brought to.) When the Romans sent a governor into that country, Adam Clarke researched, they called him the "Governor of Achaia" not the Governor of Greece, because when the Romans conquered the Greeks, the Achaians were the leaders of all Greek affairs--they were the leaders of leaders. Gallio was born Marcus Annaeus Novantus, but after being adopted into the Gallio family, he took the name Lucius Junius Gallio. History also tells us that Gallio was the elder brother of the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca and the brother of Annaeus (who was the father of the still-revered poet Lucan).

This family got along well apparently. Seneca described Gallio as a man of "most amiable mind and manners, of the sweetest disposition, affable to all, and beloved of every man." Yet, despite his charm and winsomeness among his peers, he turned a deaf ear toward Paul's defense and a blind eye toward the social injustice that we brought before his area of leadership and responsibility. These Gallio brothers were well positioned in power and popularity. Seneca was also Nero's preceptor (the headmaster overseeing the young Caesar's tutelage). Gallio, with all his worldly power and privilege, chose to find his security in the power of Rome and the affections of people instead of being open to God's grace. In time, all three brothers--Gallio, Annaeus, and Seneca--were put to death by Nero.

A (Psychological)

Griffin and Tyrrell (Family Therapy Magazine, Nov-Dec 2008, pp. 26-30) describe our need for meaning. Our healthy sense that life has meaning and purpose comes from our motivation to actively engage with the world. Only when we lose the motivational energy that promotes social engagement does the sense that life is meaningful drain away. We experience this innate life-has-meaning sense as emotional needs, which include the following needs:

1. Security—safe territory in the home and outside where we can live without experiencing excessive fear and anxiety.
2. Volition—a sense of autonomy and control over what is happening around and to us
3. Attention—receiving it, abut also giving it
4. Emotional connection with other people—both individually (friendship, love, intimacy) and communally (respect, status)
5. Privacy—time to reflect and consolidate our experiences
6. Value—a sense of competence and achievement
7. Meaning and Purpose—this comes from being stretched mentally or physically (or both)

They cite three ways to achieve meaning: (1) Serving—and being responsible for other people, (2) Learning and doing more—pushing oneself to develop new skills, and (3) Belief framework (religious, spiritual, political, or philosophical)—these help us focus our fragmented consciousness on a bigger picture.

So another fundamental law: If our innate needs are met well, we are mentally healthy—we cannot be otherwise. When they are not being met, however, our anxiety levels rise and we start to worry. This is the beginning, not only of depression, but of all mental illness. It follows that from what Griffin and Tyrrell have outlined that the only answer there ever will be to mental distress is to create a culture where as many people as possible get their innate needs met on an ongoing basis. That sounds like a normal Church--a reason for Paul to not retire in silence ... or us either.

P

Lord, because there is always much more going on, much more at stake than I can ever perceive or understand, help me to remain available to Your leadership. In all my decisions, I choose to be a simple, loving and faithful servant of Yours. Help me to remember my place in Your grace--never deserving it, but always ready to humbly receive it and generously share its bounty.

Under Golden (Heavy) Yokes

S

(Matthew 11:6) And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.

O

That statement concluded Jesus' reply to John the Baptist's inquiry. John was in Herod's prison and sinking, suffocating below the weight of his doubts. In context, Jesus' reply is rich in confounding mystery: If Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited Christ, then no wonder the blind came to see, the lame walked, lepers were cleansed, and the deaf heard. But why did Jesus also leave John--His own cousin--in Herod's custody, only to be later executed as a drunken party favor (14:19)? In Jesus' supreme confidence, He praised John's wisdom and works (11:19). With even more shocking confidence, Jesus called Jehovah His Father and said that God gave Him all things--and that if anyone (like John) who follows Him will carry light yokes and find rest for their souls (11:25-30). Jesus' words are more world-spinning than alcohol.

A (Personal)

Does Jesus offend me? Do His words "throw me and my schemes into ruin"? That is the Greek meaning of offense--skandalizo. If His words don't wholly disrupt and ruin my ambitions, then I've not yet heard Him. If I've learned to wholly receive His words so I take His yoke and learn from Him (11:29), then I am truly blessed ... I'll find rest for my soul. Why? Because His ambitions for my life are always infinitely better than my ambitions, even if--in confounding mystery--He leaves me in jail.

A (Psychological)

In the world of Batterer Interventions, where perpetrators of domestic and intimate-partner violence receive therapy, some clinicians teach the "Platinum Rule." It's a twist of Jesus' words (often called Golden Rule): "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" (7:12). The Platinum Rule (often cited as though they'd created a better, more valuable rule than what Jesus said) is "Do for others what they would like you to do for them." It's a good intervention, but unfortunately it demonstrates being offended by Jesus. Trying to improve Jesus' words this way only betrays an ignorance of the biblical context--the platinum concept is included in the context of Jesus' words. This serves as a good reminder of the care we need when Jesus speaks: because of His over-arching goodness and greatness of who He is, He always owns the last words of any issue. Blessed are those who are not offended by His words.

P

Lord, I choose that word deliberately. I choose to call upon You for who You are--the Lord of all things, the Good Master, whose intentions toward me are gentle, whose kindness toward me is shockingly lowly of heart. You are truly mysterious in Your greatness and safe in Your closeness. Help me to more fully hear You and know You today ... even when I don't see the purpose behind Your provisions.

Unending Departures

S (Scripture)

(Jeremiah 52;10,11) The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

O (Observation)

The last thing Zedekiah saw was the slaughter of his family and the "exceedingly unfaithful" officials of Judah. Then, in chains and in prison, he survived physically so his brain could continue to suffer by "digesting" the memories of what his decisions produced. Previously (which only increased his suffering), God had warned him and offered him a very different future (Jeremiah 38). For the rest of his life, he ate the fruit of having rejected God's infinitely better option.

A (Application, Psychological)

Psychiatrist Gerald May, found psychological help by studying the Christian classic, The Dark Night of the Soul. In his words, that study helped him explore the connection between darkness and spiritual growth. As Zedekiah's and Judah's stories eventually demonstrated, divine good was being recreated through the Hell that they had loosed into their world. May describes the process of God's healing this way: "Our individual stories are colored and textured by who we are as individuals and by God's unique ways of loving us--ways that can never be prescribed, only discovered" (p. 168). Not everyone chooses to remain in their darkness.

May provides hope for people in their own dark nights of the soul: "just as experiences of the night are dark because of their obscurity, experiences of the dawn are times of light, of seeing things more clearly." He noted that John (the 16th century priest who wrote the Dark Night) was quick to add that "[this] light, although divine, is not like the light of early morning or rising dawn. It continues to partake of some of the night's mystery" (p. 181). Nonetheless, "one of the developments that the morning light reveals is growing freedom, experienced as the energy of desire is liberated from the attachments that have kept it restrained. A second change is the classical transition from meditation to contemplation in prayer and the equivalent movement in the rest of life: a metamorphosis of the soul from autonomous self-determination to self-giving willingness to be led. A third change is the awakening itself: the dawning realization of our essential union with God and all creation" pp. 183-184). God made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before Him, His thick clouds passed (Psalm 18:11,12).

A (Application, Personal)

Even poor parents (unless they're true psychopaths) suffer when their children suffer. Hell knows the depth of pain that toxic memories cause, and Hell then exploits that for our sustained misery. What were the Zedekiah's kids' final visions or memories? After death, what would they eternally recall of earth's justice and beauty and hope? Hell is determined to keep my eyes and heart blackened by the outlook of a godless future. How eternally shameful it would be for me to be complicit with that goal, to not challenge that perspective wherever I find it.

P (Prayer)

Jesus, You know this pain Yourself. Preceding Your murder, Your final sights of Your beloved creation were our sneers. Your final sounds of your creation were our murderous, contemptuous mockeries. Father, You will suffer the eternal goodbyes, the unending departures of souls that reject Your patience and grace. I cant comprehend Your pain. I want to deny it. I want to flee from it. Tell me, on this Good Friday, how should respond? May people's most recent memories of me be helpful to them.

Wild Love, Prepped for Cultivation

S

(Jeremiah 2:2) Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown . . . "

O

God remembers with deep and tender delight Israel's respondent love with Him as they discovered the joys of His presence and the depths of His goodness. He compared their 40 years of separation from the world (chronicled in Exodus) to that of an excellent honeymoon of lovers. He designed that experience so that all distractions were removed: "they followed Him into a land unsown and uncultivated." It was a latently rich land.

A (Psychological)

In studying the effects of trauma, scientists have discovered two of our memory storage systems: Narrative and Implicit. Narrative is a language-based, highly structured storage and retrieval system. Implicit (even located separately in the brain) is a non-language-based storage system where highly charge emotional memories--primarily of the senses--are stored. PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is largely a breakdown between these memory systems. In peaceful, safe relationships healing and reorganization of these memories can occur. It involves using language to sort and provide meaning to these powerful, survival-charged memories. That describes, too, the value of wilderness times with the Lord. In the peacefulness of His presence, His Word brings meaning and value and right-thinking. He heals our brains as He sets us up to become better equipped for life back in the noisy, distracting world.

A (Personal)

I, too, remember my "honeymoon" with the Lord. Primarily, in college, late at night I'd walk a path into a nearby forested, overgrown creek bank. It was isolated behind offices that were used during the day. There, kneeling or sitting on a fallen log, I'd cry out to God, offering myself wholly to Him. There I practiced repentance and intercession. There, with my whole adult life, latent and uncultivated ahead of me, I discovered spiritual waiting, longing, yielding, and resolving. There I took my first baby steps in becoming known with a spiritual identity and purpose.

P

Master, Savior, Lord ... This day, too, is full of unseen possibilities. May the good seeds sown by Your Word then and newly sown today to bear fruit in the fullness of Your calendar. Help my devotion to remain alive and without disease and without me becoming a dead artifact of history. I am ready to follow You again today--even into a barren wilderness because even there You're ready to create a rich garden.