Bible Reading: Part Two

There is one more statement by Jesus in the story of the rich young man discussed in Part One.

Matthew 10:31:

But many who are first now will be last, and many who are last now will be first.

Jesus summarizes his discussion of what is needed to guarantee eternal life with the statement that many who are first now will be last (in achieving eternal life) and many who are last now will be the first (in achieving eternal life.) I want to bring this back to what I opened Part One with, which is the observation that liberal wishful thinking does not change the ways and means for achieving heaven. You can see in this reading that Jesus could guarantee during his lifetime eternal life in heaven to those who kept the Commandments and followed him. Jesus also made clear that riches cause difficulty not because of an inherent problem with wealth (and I remind people that many pious people work hard to provide a treasury for their family, especially in those days when it was often invested in their flocks and grains) but because wealth has such power that it can cause a person who has a guaranteed ticket to heaven offered to him by Jesus turn away. Notice that the teaching of Jesus, so succinct in a few sentences, is like an ever expanding ripple, or like the layers of an onion, or the petals of a flower, starting at the center and working outward, to go from the nub of the question to overarching principles and universal information:

1. He observes that the man is pious, so he is implicitly following the first and second commandment, though Jesus reminds him that “No one is good but only God.”
2. One must keep the Commandments, and he summarizes them in a way that makes a certain lifestyle clear: no adultery, no killing, no stealing, no false witness, honoring one’s parents, and how interesting, notice he says “thou shalt not defraud.” At the time of Moses there was not much fraud, but in these increasingly commercial times, fraud was a big concern of Jesus. So while there is no commandment against defrauding, Jesus interprets the admonitions against coveting as implicit to defrauding. The cleansing of the Temple by Jesus is a concrete example of his outrage. So it is not surprising that he highlights this when in discussion with a wealthy person.
3. For the iron clad guarantee, if all of the above is kept, then sell what one has, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Jesus as a disciple.
4. When it was not an option for the rich man, and he departs, Jesus expands the discussion from those who are alive with him at that time to all peoples who are wealthy. He points out that there is a great difficulty because of the temptation of wealth for the rich to achieve eternal life.
5. Jesus points out that it is in God’s hands for all possibilities of salvation.
6. Jesus then states that there is one “family” “house” “children” and “lands” that is the one united universal Church.
7. Jesus points out that along with this family comes persecution of this family, meaning both of individuals and of the family overall of the Church.
8. Those who make the one true Church their family (as he himself once when told his mother and brethren were waiting to see him, and replying that those who heard and believed were his family) and who cope with persecutions will achieve life everlasting.
9. And many, who think they are first in line for salvation, or first in line of power and or possessions, will find themselves last in line, and those last in line will find that they are first in line.

So I’d like to make a few points that are very important not only for personal salvation, but understanding what Jesus is explaining is God’s will. Jesus did not conclude this important discussion with the disciples by saying that anyone is not spotless cannot achieve heaven. He does this in two ways, one by reminding the rich young man that “No one is good but only God” (and this is from the one man who could accept claim to the young man’s calling him “Good Master,”) and two, by reassuring the disciples when they say among themselves, “Who then can be saved?” By reminding the young man that “No one is good but only God,” he is reassuring people and warning them at the same time. Jesus is saying that obviously, God knows that no one is good (and Jesus himself would not accept the title from the young man) because the state of being mortal man and woman negates absolute goodness. People are flawed and fallen both from their own choices, but also because the pressures of mortality and uncertainty negate one of the flesh from being “Good” with a capital “G.” So in a way, Jesus is reassuring people that God understands that people and sin cannot be totally separated, something God knows all too well. But it is also a warning, because if Jesus himself would not take the title of being “Good Master,” then whom among humans should rest on their laurels and think of themselves as “good” with satisfaction?

This then ties back to his summation, where Jesus says, “But many who are first now will be last, and many who are last now will be first.” Many people who think they are “good” and who are wealthy will fall when it comes to judgment. I can think of many examples today. Within the Catholic Church, those bishops and priests who sinned in abuse and cover up think they are “good” and are “wealthy” with the potential for grace, yet they will find themselves last in line. This is especially true if like that Australian bishop they are blaming the Holy Father and the Church itself for them not having the spine to do the right thing at the time the abuses came to light, without waiting to be told what to do. Outside the Catholic Church, those Protestants and non denominations that take glee in being separate from the Catholic Church and highly praise their own goodness ought to remember that Jesus himself would not accept “Good Master,” and so I ask, who are you to do so? Jesus made abundantly clear that he intended one Apostolic church, not a bunch of solo acts, and certainly not ones who call themselves “Good” and call the Catholic Church “wicked.” Get ready for your place in the very end of the line. Another example of those who are first who will be last are those who think that they have purchased their way into eternal life through funding or performing “good deeds,” but which very deeds are anathema to the Christian life. News flash: funding abortions for poor women, rather than funding ways for them to have and raise or adopt out their babies is not going to be a “good deed” that merits heaven, far from it. Funding ways for children to “explore their sexuality” is not going to result in finding oneself in front of the real pearly gates (not the icy ones on Mount Hood, by the way.) Funding music and film programs so that young people can trash talk and sexualize children at an earlier age is not quite the same as funding the Harlem Boys’ Choir. So there are many people who think that by giving much of their wealth to liberal programs and causes that they are offsetting their sinful lives (like it is some sort of swap and hedge fund) who are in for a very abrupt finding of themselves in a not nice place. And yes, those of you who peer and peep and condemn some young couple having extramarital sex, and glorifying in your own self proclaimed virtuous life, may find your “first place ticket” is really there at the very end. Gossipers, defrauders, bearers of false witness… Jesus took special aim because those are the “white collar” sins that even then people thought they could justify with their otherwise “good” lives.

It is incredibly easy to get into heaven, yet in these past two generations I’ve never seen more people who defy the way to heaven and will find themselves in that other place. The false and phoniness of life today, the oppression of religion, and the degradation of preborn and born children are the three main reasons for so many people who will die and go to hell, not purgatory, but hell. I do not mention drug and alcohol abuse because those are tools to those philosophies (drugs as an affectation for those who refuse to live a real life, for example.)
People on both ends of the spectrums are in real trouble. Those liberals who try to dilute the need to obey and love God, including those dictates of the Church that they find onerous, not only jeopardize their own individual salvations, but seek to be the Pied Piper of others to sin. There is a false “safety in numbers” belief that if everyone thinks a forbidden lifestyle choice is OK that somehow God is looking at election ballots, or the bully pulpit. Nothing has changed from the time that Jesus outlined what is necessary to obtain the Kingdom of God to the current deeply troubled times. The path is the same as it always was. Liberal bishops, priests, nuns and laity ought to be in horror of leading others astray, rather than wrapping themselves in a smelly and false cloak of virtue. They are in the lead of the “first now will be last” because they have responsibility for religious formation, and there is no greater responsibility on earth than that, except for parenthood.

And the fundamentalist and/ or hypocrite side of the spectrum is in equal trouble. Those who are outside of the Catholic Church and take glee in being disobedient to the intentions of Jesus, priding themselves in their selective scripture quoting like modern day scribes, are going to find themselves in the back of the line right next to the polluting liberals. Where in the Bible did Jesus say to take scriptures and full of pride, with lack of love and charity, beat down your opponents with them like lines of scriptures are nailed clubs, and hoist yourselves into holiness? I must have missed that line. Far from it, for when the disciples came to Jesus complaining that someone who was not one of them was casting out devils in the name of Jesus, Jesus said to them that he is not against them is for them. The nerve of people who are religiously self righteous amazes me. I have had personal experience with this, where every move in my “love life” and even my childhood has been examined by spiritual and physical perverts who look for evidence of the sinfulness of Catholics. Putting aside that they don’t know who they were messing with when it comes to me, how vile it is to think that you hold some special position in the “good” and “holy” line when Jesus Christ himself would not accept the title “Good Master,” which only belongs to God!

John 8:1-11

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And at daybreak he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him; and sitting down he began to teach them. [Comment: Notice that Jesus is about to teach and preach in a public place, so basically, the incident that happens next is contrived as a way to interrupt his teaching and test him. Good thing for the woman involved, but it is an important point that it was not exactly virtue that brought the group that will interrupt the teaching to Jesus.] Now the Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and setting her in the midst, said to him, “Master, this woman has just now been caught in adultery. And in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such persons. What, therefore, dost thou say? Now they were saying this to test him, in order that they might be able to accuse him. [Comment: like I said, people who tattle out others sexual sins and practices are doing so to test the faith, not from some position of great virtue.] But Jesus, stooping down, began to write with his finger on the ground. [Comment: people have speculated about this that Jesus was writing down the accusers sins, or showing his lack of interest in the subject. What this was in fact was a gesture that lifestyle sins like the woman was living, and the testing of the accusers, were like markings in the sand. They can be erased and are not indicative of inherent evilness of the person. Also Jesus was reestablishing control, because they interrupted his lesson and expected him to be trapped, flustered, and conflicted in his answer. Jesus made them wait until they asked again and he answered them in his own sweet time.] But when they continued asking him, he raised himself and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” And again stooping down, he began to write on the ground. [Comment: Again, this is both Jesus establishing who is in control, and also putting the sin in perspective, for it is a sin, but like a line in the sand, one that can be erased.] But hearing this, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest. [Comment: Notice the eldest went first. Ha ha, how true… those who have lived the longest and understand the most about human frailty and sin, remembering in themselves, are the first to recover some shame and leave off of accusing. The young are often the most judgmental and mouthy!] And Jesus remained alone, with the woman standing in the midst.

And Jesus, raising himself, said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned thee?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said, “Neither will I condemn thee. Go thy way, and from now on sin no more.”

Notice Jesus did not give her condoms for safe sex. Ha, sorry, I could not resist. He told her to stop sinning from now on, so to make the modern day parallel, it’s not like he sighed and said, “Humans will be humans, so here, have some condoms so at least you will have safe sex.” On the other hand, he also did not give a fire and brimstone sermon to her because it was not needed and also because lifestyle sins do happen and do not shock either God or Jesus. It does not make them OK, but they are not reasons to “interrupt the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Like I said, it’s a good thing for the woman that they did interrupt Jesus’ teaching, and it is a great thing for Christians, who learn so much from this encounter. But to derive fullness of understanding of this event, you must remember that the self righteous Scribes and Pharisees were using a very common sex sin to “interrupt” the teaching of Jesus Christ. This is a trick and an affectation as old as the hills, as you can see. People have sex outside of marriage, but don’t have a cow over it, you self righteous ones. And especially do not cloak yourselves in righteous indignation when your objective is simply to challenge and disrespect Jesus’ teachings and God’s mercy. People who on an individual self righteous basis are excessively nosy and self involved in other people’s sexual sins and acts are nudging very closely to one of the unforgivable sins against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit warns that it is a sin against the Holy Spirit to envy someone else’s spiritual goodness. If a person is being gossiped about or persecuted because of a sexual practice that they are keeping to themselves (that is, it is not slavery, procuring, corruption of children, etc.) by people who are attempting to make a “godly” decision about spiritual goodness, in either themselves or others, they are well on the slippery slope of acting out of envy of another person’s spiritual goodness. Either these people seek to pull down the goodness of the other person by exposing them, or they are seeking to falsely elevate their own spiritual goodness by means of “comparison.” Both are false and both are sins against the Holy Spirit, and will be very harshly judged. We know this because it is stated in this part of the gospel that the people were testing Jesus, rather than having true concern about their own or anyone else’s sin. This is a very serious warning for those who are navigating in today’s very complex problem of sexual mores. It is one thing to have a set of standards in the community, society, and to obey the Commandments of God, and the teachings of Jesus. It is another thing to persecute an individual as a way to rob the other person of some spiritual goodness, and amplify one’s own. That is a very mortal sin against the Holy Spirit, to envy another’s spiritual goodness.