Being Offended vs. Casting Judgement

This article is about a subject that is very real for me and I’m guessing to some extent will be very real for many who read it.  Too often, we as Christians are extremely quick to cast judgment on people based on what WE believe to be truth and holiness.  We forget that many people out there do not believe what we believe.  Many people out there have not accepted that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of the world and so what they see as good and acceptable is not the same as what we (Christians) see as good and acceptable. 

Though we often forget or don’t realize that we are doing this, I do believe this is where the problem starts concerning the topic of “being offended verses casting judgment.”  When we go from being offended (which is not a bad thing on its own) to casting judgment on the offender (which is not our job) we have now placed ourselves on the throne of God, because only he has the right to judge all humanity. 

A few recent events have really spurred me to write this; specifically and most recently the Grammy’s.  As I set there watching the popular award’s show I could not help but get upset, angry, even disgusted at many of the things I saw.  I felt like my personal belief system was being publicly trashed and insulted by people who didn’t even know me.  So, the next thing that happened was I started mentally cutting the people on the T.V. down.  I mentally started judging them, calling them sinners, heathens; the list could go on.  As I set there silently getting more and more angry, and honestly more and more ugly towards them with my thoughts and inner monologue; it occurred to me that I should not be thinking this way.  It occurred to me that it wasn’t my place to cast judgment on these people; partly because I don’t know them and can’t confront them about their actions, but the main reason is because the majority of them do not hold to the same beliefs that I do. 

The Apostle Paul talks in Romans and other places about loving instead of judging; specifically, when those you feel like judging have not chosen to follow Jesus.  The only one who has the right to judge is the one who has been sinned against, namely GOD.  As a follower, I can be offended and I think I have the right to be offended at the actions of the world and those who do not follow my King, BUT I DO NOT have the right to cast judgment on those who don’t claim my King as their own.

Now on the other hand, if I see or hear about a fellow Christian doing things or saying things that are sinful, that are outside the lifestyle of a follower of Jesus, then Biblically it is my duty to confront, rebuke, disciple, and redeem my brother or possibly find someone who can do so more appropriately than I…and do it all “IN LOVE.”  Now even then, even with our brothers and sisters in Christ, I think we should refrain from passing judgment upon them, because we do not hold that power, but confronting and redeeming is commanded of us by Jesus. 

In conclusion I’ll say this: We cannot expect those who do not follow Jesus to act the way we think they should and we cannot hold them accountable to a standard they have not accepted as truth, BUT we can be offended and with love pray for them and try to be Christ to them.  We can seek to be agents of reconciliation as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5.  We are ambassadors of Love for the name and glory of Jesus Christ and so we should try to think, speak, and act with love as the driver.   Fellow Christians, do not Judge; rather, let the offense you feel be healed by love through the Holy Spirit. Forgive the offense, because it was your offenses that were forgiven first by Jesus on the Cross.  Then be compelled by that same love to be Christ to the one who offended you.

Day 4: John 4 - Jesus, healer to all people

Please forgive me for my hiatus over the last week.  There have been some things happen that didn't really permit me the time I need to write these daily blogs for study.  So, for the current time being I will do my best to catch us up and do as many of these studies as I can per day till we are back on track.  Hopefully you have been reading as planned (1 chapter in John per day) and you can simply read these studies and review what you've read as I write and post them.  Once again I'm sorry for getting so behind.  

JOHN 4: (read the chapter here)
 This is a long chapter, 54 verses in all, and as is with most chapters in John it is loaded.  I will try and keep the content of this post as short and to the point as possible so it isn't a massive undertaking to read. 

The Samaritan Woman (verses 1-26, 39-42):
     Jesus was creating quite a stir in Judea and not wanting to do this yet, he and his apostles left the area and headed back to Galilee.  To do this from Judea they had to go through Samaria which is where the Samaritans lived.  Samaritans where like the Jew's reject cousins.  They were all related way back in the family tree, but they hated each other.  And this point is important to remember going forward.  Jesus stops at a well in Sychar (a town in Samaria) at about the 6th hour (that would be Noon/12pm) and a woman comes to the well while he is there.  This is BIG...woman in this day typically went to the wells for water in the morning; partially because it was cool, but it was also like their social hour.  It was a time for the woman of the town to meet, chat, gossip, etc.  This woman apparently was not welcome at the well in the morning, we'll find out why in the next few verses.  
     Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water...STOP...a big deal here; Jesus, a JEW, asks a SAMARITAN (most Jews hate Samaritans)...WOMAN (men did not chat with woman they weren't married to, it was even considered by some to be stooping below yourself to look a woman in the eye that wasn't your wife)...for a drink of water.  This was a massive NO-NO for a Jewish man, and the woman knows it and calls him out on it in verse 9.  But Jesus had a reason (as he always does), he tells here she should actually be the one asking him for a drink, because the water he has gives everlasting life and she will never go thirsty again.  She thinks he is still actually talking about literal water and asks him for this water so she'll never be thirsty again and have to come to the well everyday.
     Before "giving her" this water; Jesus needs to address a problem, rather a sin in her life.  So he tells her to go get her husband, which he knows she has none.  He tells her she has in fact had five husbands and currently is living with a man who is not her husband (now we see why she isn't welcome at the well in the mornings).  She is shocked at his knowledge and understanding he is someone who is very close to God (she says a "prophet") she asks him a religious question about the appropriate places to worship God.  Jesus' response is that soon there will not be a need for a place to worship properly, because true worship will take place through the Spirit (referring to the Holy Spirit).  The woman responds, acknowledging that she knows about the coming Messiah and that when he comes he will make all things clear and understandable to all people; Jesus says: "he's here, and I am he!!"  
     In verse 27-30 Jesus' Disciples return and the woman runs off and tells everyone she knows about Jesus; then jumping ahead to verse 39-42 we see that because of the woman's testimony about Jesus many people come to meet him, hear him speak and believe in his teachings and who he says he is.  In fact, they ask him to stay as their guests for more time and he stays for 2 more days.  

   
Teaching the Disciples (verses 27-38):
     Back to verses 27-38; Jesus' disciples return and the woman runs off to tell everyone about her encounter with Jesus.  The disciples are somewhat stunned at Jesus for having this private conversation with a Woman...a Samaritan Woman (as we often are today, the disciples were often caught up in keeping a certain public profile and reputation that they thought would appeal to "everyone").  Despite their surprise no one dare call Jesus out on this because they knew better.  
     After the woman ran off the disciples tried to get Jesus to eat and he says, I don't need food because I have food that you know nothing about.  Jesus says, I survive on the nourishment of doing the will of my father who sent me.  Then in verse 35-38 he says something that has puzzled me as to what he is actually talking about.  1) On one level I think he is trying to get it through his followers heads that now, here, in Samaria is a time to love people and bring them to my father, because he wants all people to be his followers, not just Jews.  Jesus is showing his followers that he is not here just for Jews, he is here to bring salvation to the entire world.  2) But on another level, I think he may simply be trying to tell them that many people participate in the work of God.  Some people do the sewing of the gospel seed into the hearts of the world and other people do the watering and still others  may actually get to see the fruit of all that work come to bear.  3) But he also makes it pretty clear in verse 38 that the hard work is done for us...the hard work of the teaching the Law (Moses and the Rabbis), preaching repentance (the Prophets of the OT and John the Baptist), and even more so the hard work of Jesus dying on the Cross and Rising from the dead wiping all sins of the earth away.

***Like I said, this chapter is loaded***  

 Healing an Official's Son (verses 43-54)
      Here Jesus returns to his home region of Galilee, specifically Cana (which was basically home, very near Nazareth).  While there an Official, a royal official (meaning, again probably not a JEW), comes to Jesus and asks him, in fact begs him to come heal his son in Capernum (a major city in Galilee).  Something of note to mention here, this royal official heard Jesus was in Cana, and came out from the big city to find him in the country region of Cana to BEG him to come heal his son.  Jesus tells the people near him, I think maybe with some frustration in his heart, that unless they see him do miracles they will not believe.
      So what does Jesus do...he tells the guy go home your son will be healed and on the way home a servant meets the official to tell him his son is well and they discover that it was actually at the same time Jesus told him his son would be healed that was healed all the way over in Capernum.  This healing is interesting to because Jesus tells the people that they need to see miracles in order to believe in him, but the then he does a miracle they can't see, so they and the official have to take him at his word that he does what he says he is doing.  

Jesus cares for, has compassion on, heals, and saves those that we (his followers) think he should have no business even talking to.  This is the "upside-down Gospel", Jesus upside-down way of doing things.  It's upside-down to us, but we are actually the ones who need to change our point of view. 

"Give me you eyes for just one second; Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I've keep missing. Give me your LOVE for Humanity."  -Brandon Heath-  
 

The Kingdom of Heaven

“The Kingdom of Heaven” starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson and a few more that I can’t remember is one of my favorite movies.  As the title implies it is loosely referring to the ancient city of Jerusalem.  The movie is set during the time of the Crusades when there was constant warring over who had control of the Holy City of David.  The sad thing is that all the fighting, battles, blood shed, and lives lost were for control of LAND.  It was the ground, the walls, and the literal location that the city existed upon that was important to the warring parties.  But it was Orlando Bloom’s character, Balian, who was one of the few who understood that it wasn’t the City, the walls, or the dirt that was important; rather it was the lives...the souls...the people that lived within the city that were of most importance.  In the end Balian surrenders Jerusalem to the invading Muslim army with the promise of sparing every single life contained within the city walls.

In the movie, the real “Kingdom of Heaven” was an idea of existence in peace, protecting the lives of those who couldn’t protect themselves.  Loving and caring for all people no matter their race, creed, orientation, social status, or economic status.  And there were but a few who actually understood this passion, one of whom being Balian.  It’s interesting to me how similar this idea sounds to the teachings of one Jesus Christ.  If you notice in the Bible, Jesus’ love showed ZERO preference no matter who he was around.  But, when his actions seemed to show preference, it was usually towards the down and out, the rejected by Jewish society.  Throughout the Bible we see a prominent theme and that is to love those who are unloved, to have compassion on the persecuted, to care for the sick and undeserving, to LOVE ALL especially the least of all.

Jesus’ followers believed that he came to establish a new Kingdom on earth where he would reign as King, “the New David”, and that this kingdom (“The Kingdom of Heaven”) of which Jesus talked about so often would last forever here on earth.  The problem was that Jesus’ followers assumed he was here to establish an earthly Kingdom, but ALL earthly Kingdoms have expiration dates.  Rather, Jesus came to establish an eternal Kingdom one that wasn’t about land, territory, cities, walls, power, or any of the other highly esteemed values of Kings and nobles. Jesus’ Kingdom of Heaven is focused on the people.  Jesus said things like: “the Kingdom of God belongs to [the children]” Mark 10; “the last shall be first” Mark 10; “Love your enemies and pray for them” Matthew 5; “Love your neighbor (meaning ‘all others’) as yourself” Matthew 19; “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” John 15.  Jesus’ focus was on people; Jesus came for the lives, for the souls, and for the eternity of God’s creation.  On our own, because of our sin, we were the enemies of God, but God sent Jesus to die for the sins of HIS enemies.  That has nothing to do with the pleasures and pursuits of the world and everything to do with LOVE.  The Kingdom of Heaven is about lives, not land; people, not power; eternity, not empires.  And because this is what the King is about, it is what we, his people should be about.