Someone’s Got to Do It

Mark 15:42-43

      One of the lessons of movements like the Moral Majority of the 80’s, and the Tea Party currently, is that there are often many people who share a belief system who almost never speak up about it. We will call these people silent partners. In the political arena, the secret is to get them to show up at the polls and vote. When they do, they are no longer silent. But mobilizing an informed silent partner can be difficult.

      Sometimes people remain silent because they don’t want others to know what they believe. This is especially true when the belief is the object of public ridicule. If you know you will become the object of public humiliation, you will often keep silent. Nobody really likes it when people make fun of them. None of us likes to be put down, degraded, humiliated. We all want to keep our sense of dignity.

      This guarding of our dignity started back in the Garden. Before they ate the forbidden fruit, they were naked and unashamed. After they ate, they knew they were naked. Now that is some powerful fruit! If only we could get some and offer it to the people who need to feel some shame for the way they act and the things that they do. Maybe we could use a dose of this every morning with our coffee. If we aren’t cringing at the presence of sin in our lives, we could use a dose. If we have become too comfortable with sin’s presence, shame can be a good thing. It is meant to get us back on track.

      For some reason, Joseph of Arimathea felt the compulsion to act that afternoon. He had been a faithful seeker of God’s presence in His life. He wanted His interruption to take place. He desired more of God. He sought the rule and reign of the LORD on earth. That is some of what it meant to be someone who was waiting for the kingdom of God.

      If you remember, there were several of these types of seekers around Jesus’ birth. They were in the Temple area when Jesus was taken for His ceremonial cleansing. Simeon and Anna had received confirmation of the Messiah’s arrival in their lifetimes. They were waiting for Him to show up. They recognized Jesus as Messiah, even though He was just a baby. The Holy Spirit confirmed it to their spirits.

      Joseph felt he must do something for Jesus. He couldn’t allow His body to remain on the cross into the Sabbath. It had to be taken down and buried prior to sunset. Otherwise it would certainly be defiled. Only a relative could deal with a dead body on the Sabbath. Anyone else would be doubly defiled. So urgency meant acting. He couldn’t stay silent any longer.

      Now not just anyone could approach Pilate. He was, after all, the leader of the Roman Empire in that area. He was someone of importance. So it took someone of importance to get a request granted, and Joseph had the needed clout. He was a prominent member of the Council. But his actions could have gotten him killed. He broke protocol and went boldly to ask for the body. He put himself on the line. He was, in one sense, sympathetic to Jesus’ cause. Rome wanted humiliation for its condemned prisoners. Joseph wanted to restore dignity.

      Jesus’ influence in our lives should be this kind of dignity restoring influence. Our lives as extensions of Jesus are about restoration and dignity infusion. When people realize, I mean really realize, that they are made in God’s image, in His likeness, bought and paid for by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, their heads should be held a little higher. Nothing we have done, or could do in the future, detracts from the full acceptance that Jesus made possible.

      We need to come out of the shadows, speak up like Joseph, putting it all on the line. We each have influence in areas that other people don’t. We need to use the influence for the Kingdom. We can speak for those who don’t have a voice, or whose voice is being ignored.

Bribed Again

Proverbs 17:23

       Have you ever received a bribe? I am pretty sure your quick answer was a resounding “No!” But let’s spend a little time thinking about this. A bribe is something given to change the behavior of the person who receives it. Usually it is placed in a legal context, meaning the act of giving and receiving the object and the resulting change in behavior is said to be against the law.

      We hear about people in the news almost every day getting caught taking bribes. Lobbyists make a living selling influence, getting access when others don’t, shaping opinion in a way that favors their viewpoint at the expense of another. Politicians, especially those around DC, have become drunk on their power. They will do almost anything to keep it. They even betray the interest of their constituents. The recent exemption for their staff from Obamacare is a good example. They demand we comply, but then they use their power to protect themselves. We pay for their extravagance!

      But most people who end up bribing in this legal sense don’t start their buying of influence with this illegal act. They start changing others behavior in their favor with much smaller, not illegal acts.  They learn to get what they want by manipulating other people. They might not be purposeful in their manipulation, but their small acts move other people.

      Let me give you several small examples. Have you ever brought cookies in order to butter someone up, to get on their good side? Have you ever smiled and been extra kind when you wanted something from someone? Did you ever push an argument hoping the other person would give in to your solution? I could go on, but I won’t.

      You see, most of us do small things to influence others behavior in our favor. So when does this kind of behavior become out of bounds for a Jesus-follower? Certainly when someone ends up hurt as a result of our actions it would be wrong, no matter what kind of hurt that is, moral, physical, spiritual, emotional, or resource depleting. We are supposed to prefer each other, look out for each other’s best interest, not our own. We are to be servants of all.

      I am challenging you, as I am challenging myself, to examine how we broker deals, negotiate compromise, settle arguments. Are we working toward justice for all involved? Or are we beginning the practice of manipulating that may end up someday in a bribe? Think about it.

Evil’s Influence

Proverbs 17:11

      One of these days, justice will be evident to all. Until then, our limited perspective can make it seem as if justice will never happen. We look around the world and it seems as if the wicked are getting away with their wickedness. Crimes go unsolved, and even those sitting on death row can sit there for a lifetime. Justice just seems almost like a cloud, seemingly real, but hauntingly rare. The more we grasp for it, the less it seems able to be grasped.

      Our proverb gives us a glimpse into one aspect of evil. Evil actions and attitudes are rebellion against God. They are rebellion against His authority and dominion. They say, in essence, that God doesn’t exist, or that He doesn’t have the ability to punish me. Or maybe even that His existence doesn’t matter, that He is so removed from us that I can do what I want and He won’t stop me.

      One evil person tends to collect and influence other people to follow their example. You rarely see a singular evil person. They always seem to have groupies. They cluster. Evil rarely inspires righteousness.

      Some day the reality of God’s justice will be evident, the scales of justice demonstrated to be accurate. Until then, we will continue to live in a world where justice often eludes us. And it is easy during those times of pain and sorrow to wonder if there really is such a thing a justice. Take heart. Justice is coming.

Rub Off

Proverbs 13:20

The people we hang around with will influence us. You will influence them as well. So choose your friends and companions wisely. Don’t fall into friendship, choose friends. We rub off on each other.

This is an important lesson often lost on so many people. We try to instill this lesson in our kids as they grow up, but sometimes forget that it applies to our lives as well.

Our proverb says that if we walk with the wise their wisdom will rub off on us. And the opposite is true as well. If we hang around with fools, we too will become a fool and gets a fool’s results. It works both ways. We know this instinctively, but often miss it when we live our lives.

I see it in the slow drift away from things that matter. Pastors often notice the “boat” Christians in their congregations. If the weather is nice they are on the boat rather than in church. I see it in the professional world, people picking up hobbies and attitudes in order to fit into the work culture and move up in the organization. Certain military units have attitudes and practices different than the whole. Join the unit and you become like them.

If you want to become like Christ then you must hang around with Him and with others who are on the same journey. This is one of the reasons for church. We need the influence of others in our lives who are choosing Christ.

This must be more than just sitting and staring at the back of the person in front of you for an hour. Relational connections must be made or we are participating in a spectators sport. If we don’t become involved in the life of the local church we are in danger of being influenced by other things more than Christ.

Have you found people to walk with whom you want to emulate in some positive attribute? Are you choosing what part of them you want to rub off on you?