This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. -Ezekiel 37:5

There’s no comparison. Music through MacBook Air speakers doesn’t sound bad. But once the laptop is connected to my Edifier Audiophile Bookshelf Speakers the experience is out of this world. No, this post isn’t an adertisement for an enhanced sound system. The difference between the two speakers is a kind of metaphor for an enhanced experience available to every reader of the biblical book of Ezekiel.

Reading Ezekiel from beginning to end isn’t a bad experience. Of course, most chapters melt into a ubiquitous sense of God’s anger and destruction. A few rather disturbing images of human faithlessness also haunt our memory. The prodigal life of an orphan adopted by a compassionate Father (ch. 16) and the troubling story of two insatiable of sisters (ch. 23). Thankfully in chapter 37 we find the hope of resurrection in the valley of dry bones. When the brave soul completes the journey of 48 chapters they quickly turn to John. 3:16 in the attempt to assuage their vertigo. Reading Ezekiel in this way may be good in a spiritual sense of the word. But there is a stereophonic reading of this book that takes the prophet to another level.

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I lose track of time thumbing through my Jerusalem Bible. It isn’t the particular translation that captures my imagination. It’s the more than 30 illustrations of Salvador Dali interspersed among the Scriptures. The Spanish Surrealist painter’s interpretation of Creation, the Tower of Babel, the Beheading of John the Baptist, and the Agony of Christ move those Biblical themes from lo-fi to hi-fi in my imagination. When I compared my experience with Dali to my reading of the prophet’s words it dawned on me that I needed to approach Ezekiel as an art gallery.

I need to read each prophecy of Ezekiel as a self-contained work of art. I can, of course, walk through the gallery in chapter order. We begin with the wild painting of heaven through rended veil (ch. 1). We allow ourselves to be drawn into Ezekiel’s experience of being called to futile ministry in the dystopia created by his people’s disobedience.

Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says.” And whether they listen or fail to listen – for they are a rebellious people – they will know that a prophet has been among them. -Ezekiel 2:3b-5

I am better prepared for this content by framing Ezekiel as an art gallery. I am no longer concerned with following a story arc or understanding the chronology of the stories or the lack of character development. I turn to view chapters 4 and 5 to find Ezekiel working with mixed media; clay, everyday food like lentils, dung, a sword and hair. Ezekiel’s gallery is less like Pasadena, California’s Norton Simon with Degas, Rembrandt and Monet. It is more like the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles featuring works by Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and David Hockney.

Now I have a decision to make. I could continue to experience Ezekiel this way, artwork by artwork, through the final chapter. This isn’t the way I work through a gallery, however. If I am going to spend time in this gallery like I do other art collections I would skim the book to get a sense of all the artwork. Then I would walk past many works of art to get to the one that catches my attention. I begin to approach Ezekiel in the same way.

I take a few days to listen to the entire book read by actor David Suchet to get an overview of the book. While listening, I note the chapters that catch my attention. The familiar story of the Valley of Dry Bones (ch. 37) catches my eye. I want to dive into that story in more detail. I am less familiar with the Temple and river of life (chs. 40-48) and I want to know it better. The image of Ezekeil eating the scroll inspires me, as it did the author of the New Testament book of Revelation.

And he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. -Ezekiel 3:1-3

I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. -Revelation 10:10

I determine to follow Mary’s example as I look at each of these three works in turn. Luke describes her reaction to the nativity taking place around her:

So they [the shepherds] hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. -Luke 2:16-19

As I treasure my Ezekiel passages, Ezekiel’s prophecy to his people turns into words of Ezekiel addressed personally to me. As I peer into his world and ponder the meaning I find God revealing things about I should consider in my faith and life. Amazingly, the prophecy’s original intent reaches out to me to warn me and encourage me to live differently because of this encounter. Ezekiel in stereo!

Reading Ezekiel from beginning to end isn’t a bad experience. But there is so much more for us than a confusing story of prophetic anger, destruction, and guilt. When we approach Ezekiel as an art gallery we find the incredible treasure of God urginging us forward in our journey with Jesus, using Ezekiel to prune us so that we can makegoodhappen in our lives.

Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you.’ -Genesis 22:2

Low-hanging fruit has less to do with the way a passage is interpreted today and more with the effect it has had since it was written. While a passage may spark contention or even disdain today, what matters more is how it has shaped the way we live our lives. One of the best examples is the story found in Genesis 22.

Few passages in the Bible are more difficult or disturbing to the modern mind than Genesis 22. In episode 2 of the 2nd season of “Bones,” the two main characters, Forensic Scientist Temperance Brennan and FBI agent Seeley Booth, a practicing Catholic, have the following interaction while solving the brutal killing of a child:

BRENNAN: I thought you found answers in what you believe.

BOOTH: Well, I mean, that’s just one Bible story that I just don’t like. I mean, God commands Abraham to kill his own son, and he does.

BRENNAN: No. Abraham does not kill Isaac.

BOOTH: But old Abe, you know, he had the intention.

BRENNAN: Well, I thought what he had was faith.

BOOTH: Look, I have faith. But if God himself came down, pointed at Parker and said, “I want you to, you know” – that ain’t gonna happen.

BRENNAN: But God’s messenger stopped Abraham?

BOOTH: Yeah. Grabbed his hand at the last second right before the knife was about to go in.

BRENNAN: Okay, then the lesson I would learn from the myth –

BOOTH: Myth?

BRENNAN: Well, it fits the definition.

BOOTH: Okay, fine.

BRENNAN: That when it comes to your children your love has to be absolute. The messenger represents goodness, what you know to be right. Ergo, you have to remain open to what you know is true.

(Booth chuckles softly, smiling at Brennan)

BOOTH: Are you sure you’re not religious?

BRENNAN: (nods) Science all the way.

Once again, people miss the context and thus the low-hanging fruit of the story. However, in this case, our very objection stems from the story's massive impact on human history, rightly understood.

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We don’t think it is proper for God to ask for human, much less child, sacrifice. This assumption makes verse 2 offensive. But many of our ancestors held a different view.

• Late Shang China (around 1250–1050 BCE): Archaeology shows large, organized sacrificial rites, including many people placed in pits around elite tombs.

• The Mexica (Aztec) Empire: Documented human sacrifice was central to state religion from 1325 to 1521, and excavations in the capital have uncovered substantial physical evidence of the practice.

• Inca Empire: The capacocha ritual1 is well documented, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries. Archaeologists have found children buried at high-altitude sites with evidence of ceremonial preparation.

Other Scriptures describe such practices among the Ammonites, and even some Israelites taking part. If you search for “Molek and Sacrifice” in BibleGateway, you will find 5 references. Here are a few:

• ‘Say to the Israelites: “Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. -Leviticus 20:2

• [Josiah] desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. -2 Kings 23:10

• They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded – nor did it enter my mind – that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin. -Jeremiah 32:35

Our passage, however, comes earlier in the Biblical story. Abraham, whose wife was barren, left everything he knew for the promise of his new God. (Joshua 24:2,3)2 The promise (Genesis 12:1-4) was that he would have a child of his own, the beginning of a legacy with descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. By Genesis 22, he has faced numerous obstacles to the birth of that son, made several missteps that threatened the promise, but finally, against normal age limits, he and Sarah have Isaac, their one and only son. But as we see in our story, the challenges to his trust in God aren’t over yet. Will he obey God even to the point where Abraham himself becomes the barrier to the promise fulfilling as he sacrifices his son?

The story's frame confirms that the promise is primary and sacrifice is secondary. The frame begins with the latest challenge to the promise (Genesis 22:1-3) and ends by reaffirming the promise made in Genesis 123 (Genesis 22:15-18).

Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you.’ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. -Genesis 22:1-3

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.’ -Genesis 22:15-18

The text between these two passages heightens the first-time reader's concern, making them ask again whether God can be trusted. “How can God’s promise to Abraham possibly be fulfilled?

Abraham passes the test, as verses 15-18 confirm, and the Biblical story continues.

Over time, however, as this story of God substituting a ram for Isaac passed down through generation after generation and culture after culture, religious rituals of human sacrifice became rarer and rarer. Human sacrifice became repugnant to the human race.

The story also prepared the way for Jesus’ death on the cross. His crucifixion further developed the story of Abraham and Isaac. The God who asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, never intending him to actually do it, proved himself willing to sacrifice his only Son for the sake of humanity.

Christian singer Michael Card puts the story of Abraham and the story of Jesus together beautifully in well in his song, “God Will Provide a Lamb”:

A gleaming knife, an accepted choice

A rush of wind and an angel’s voice

A ram in the thicket caught by his horns

And a new age of trusting the Lord was born

‘Cause God has provided a lamb

He was offered up in your place

What Abraham was asked to do, He’s done

He’s offered His only son.

The story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac has had an incredibly fruitful impact. The story's effectiveness is exactly why it is now so upsetting to us. But the low-hanging fruit doesn’t stop there. Genesis 22 also prepared the human race to find the love of God in the equally disturbing story of Jesus’ death on the cross.

…the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:14b-16

When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. -Mark 12:25

One morning, Adrian opened his Bible expecting some practical wisdom for the day ahead. But his brows furrowed when he read the passage above. What is he supposed to think and do with this argument? Recognizing it as one of Scripture's “difficult” passages, he turns to a commentary for an explanation. After a few sentences, he finds himself even more mired in a centuries-old academic debate over the sentence. He needs to get to work and is nowhere near the morning boost he hoped for. With a sigh, he closes the commentary and his Bible, deciding to look into it further tonight if he has the time and energy. Pete is going away spiritually hungry because he forgot to look for the low-hanging fruit.

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Getting caught up in a subpoint and missing the passage's main point is a common mistake when we read our Bible. In this case, Adrian got caught up in the passage's “theological” issue. This blinded him to the practical wisdom right in front of him.

A regular practice can remove the scales from our eyes as we read Scripture. Begin, not with a verse, but with the wider context. For example, verse 25 is part of a wider story that begins with verse 18 and ends after verse 27. Determining the context helps us focus on the frame, that is, how the story begins and ends. More often than not, this habit will direct us to the main point of the text. In our case, we need to look at verse 18 and verse 27:

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.

-Mark 12:18

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!’

-Mark 12:27

The frame of the story makes no mention of marriage. Instead, it directs us to the theme of life after death. The gospel writer makes it clear that the Sadducees don’t believe in resurrection. Someone else must. The other big religious group in the gospels is the Pharisees. So, if we type in “Pharisees resurrection” in the BibleGateway app, we find that Acts 23:8 confirms our guess. The Pharisees and Sadducees debated whether there is life after death. In our story, then, the key question is, “What did Jesus believe?”

First up is the Sadducees’ argument against resurrection.

‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?’ -Mark 12:19-23

They cleverly appeal to the authority of Moses before launching into a strawman fallacy1 leading to a false dichotomy.2 Jesus rejects both strategies in his rebuttal and concludes by citing Moses himself.

Jesus replied, ‘Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising – have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!’ -Mark 12:24-27

Jesus is clearly siding with the Pharisees. He believes firmly in the resurrection of the dead. So the encouragement Pete needed was right in front of him. He can let the academics argue over an “eternal theology of marriage.” He can trust that whatever happens in heaven, it will be more amazing than we can imagine. For now, no matter what happens to him today, he can take joy in knowing he has eternal life.

Recognizing the low-hanging fruit, even in the “difficult passages” of the Bible, is too important a skill to leave to one post. So, next week we will look at another set of passages that trouble both professional and lay theologians. We will reinforce the lesson of looking for the low-hanging fruit in our Bible reading so we don’t fall into the same trap that Jesus, rather humorously, calls “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel,”3 as the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

“…every word we use comes to us colored from all its adventures in history…” -G.K. Chesterton1

It was quite a scrap2. It could, perhaps more appropriately, be labeled a brawl.3 Not simply because of the word's meaning, but because of each word's availability or lack thereof when the event occurred. Let me explain:

It began when a Scot, maybe a James Stewart, a Robert Campbell, or a Margaret MacDonald, deftly dodged a haymaker in a move so unexpected they needed to coin a new word to describe it.

This was around 1510, three hundred years before the word “scrap” related to a fight. “Brawl” became common as a description of a noisy disturbance a decade or two later. At the time, “haymaker” simply meant “one who cuts and dries grass.” But someone who saw the quick move that kept the punch from landing called the move a “jook.” With this, the adventure of our word of the month began. This journey would continue for 400 years. It isn’t over yet.

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We’ve forgotten something very important our ancestors valued: enjoying the sound of words. We forget to laugh at the humor inherent in words like humbug, bambosh, baloney, bunkum, hogwash, flapdoodle, hocus-pocus, flim-flam, flumadiddle, rubbish, hooey, hot air, motormouthing, poppycock, and malarkey. Our word shared the comic feel of these words at the start. A character that remained as it was shaped and molded and joined with another word over the ensuing centuries.

But back to our word. In its early years in Scotland, it grew from the nascent form “jook” into the adolescence of “joukery,” a Scottish term for trickery or underhanded dealing. There it stayed until a suitable partner was found.

About a century later, among a driggle-draggle4 consisting of far too many individuals one could describe as “huff-snuff,”5 another Steward, Campbell or MacDonald, came along who was involved in joukery, but who did so with real flair (though in that day the word “flair” meant an odor related to hunting).6 Ewan or Aileen had a quirky, artistic sort of joukery, a roughish quality a bit like the Han Solo character in Star Wars. A new word was needed. Neighbors began calling them “pawky.”

Then, in the 1680s, pawky met joukery. The rest is history.

In the 1680s, George Stuart wrote A Joco-Serious Discourse in two Dialogues, between a Northumberland-Gentleman and his Tenant, a Scotchman. He needed a word that described a kind of trickery that was almost attractive. So, he consecrated the marriage of our two words: “Deil fecht was it but Jewkrypawkry.7”

After an extended, 200-year honeymoon in their homeland of Scotland, they found employment with Sir Walter Scott. Scott was, rather unsurprisingly given his last name, a Scotsman. Yet he was widely read in England. He introduced our couple, along with many other Scottish words, to his English readers in novels like The Black Dwarf, which includes the line: “There has been some jookery-paukery of Satan’s in a’ this!”

In their new home in England, “jookery-paukery” began another transformation. An English journal first published in 18738 includes the following paragraph:

In common use amongst the lower orders, to give the idea of something not quite straightforward, e.g. a stableman giving it as his opinion when the “favourite” lost a race, that there had “been some jokery-pakery in the stable.” The words have rather an Eastern sound. Sometimes I have heard it pronounced “jiggery-pokery,” but that sounds more corrupt.

It may surprise you to know that “Jiggery-pokery” continues to exist in essays, famous children’s books, and even legal court decisions to this day.

• In a 1940 essay, George Orwell argued that forming new words is essential to accurately describing mental processes and societal changes, emphasizing that language must evolve to remain relevant and effective. He used “jiggery-pokery” while making his case.

• In 1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, first published in the UK in 1998, J.K. Rowling’s main character uses the term.

“Jiggery pokery!” said Harry in a fierce voice. “Hocus pocus — squiggly wiggly —”

“MUUUUUUM!” howled Dudley, “He’s doing you know what!”

• Our term even crossed the pond when, in 2015, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argued against his colleagues’ reasoning in a healthcare subsidy case, calling it “interpretive jiggery-pokery.”

The next step in this long-lived couple's journey is up to you. Will you have fun with them? If so, how will you use “jiggery-pokery” in your conversation today?

“Bumper stickers that drive you mad.” -Sam Phillips

Context is everything. I’ve always wanted to put a “Goat Ropers Need Love Too” sticker on the back of my car in Los Angeles, because few people in Southern California would know the requisite backstory to make sense of it. “Like the Car, Not the CEO” doesn’t provide the protection a Tesla needs unless you know the bumper sticker's context. And “Silence is Violence” is a non-sequitur unless you know something about recent politics in the United States.

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Artist Charlotte Church recently claimed that “Politics is life.” She is Welsh. The comment was made during a concert in Wales. But the story begins more than 2,000 miles away. Setting aside the possibility that she meant “Life is politics,” her comment has everything to do with that distant, yet narrow, context.

She isn’t speaking about the story of the genocide taking place in South Sudan, more than 4,000 miles away. This conflict is all but hidden to Western eyes. She isn’t talking about the twelve-year war of aggression by Russia toward Ukraine, even though it is much closer to her homeland. No, Church is concerned about a specific conflict that has become a virtue test for Westerners.

But it is narrower still. “Politics is life” isn’t about the plight of the Palestinians in general. It focuses on the conflict between celebrities over how they should use their platform. Church’s comments are an angry retort to Ed Sheeran’s response to an angry comment by Macklemore (aka Benjamin Haggerty) about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Here is what Sheeran said:

“I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division”, he continued. “But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.” -Ed Sheeran

He took a side. He took their side. He spoke against the Israeli’s and for the Palestinians. But his first sentence really ticked people off, including Charlotte Church. They swept aside the goal of music bringing people together and argued that celebrities cannot be apolitical. Their art must be political because “Life is politics.”

This seems like a niche celebrity argument. But Church’s statement made a larger splash in the social conversation because of the wider context. The United States is moving rapidly toward its midterm elections. Both the political left and the political right have co-opted her concert comments in Wales about a conflict thousands of miles away as a tool in the arsenal of Democrats and Republicans who want power over the American people for the next two years. What a crazy game! Yet “we the people” talk about this as if it is significant to our lives in Portland, Peoria, or Poughkeepsie.

Jesus followers get sucked into this game. We breathe this air and feel like we have to choose side-Church or side-Sheeran. Don’t do it! Don’t get trapped in this scheme. We serve a much greater story!

When I first heard Charlotte Church’s claim, a particular interaction between Jesus and the politics of his day came to mind. The best-known “slogan” from this story is:

So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” -Jesus

We make sense of this Scripture quote, as with Church’s quote, by knowing the story behind it.

Jesus teachings and actions brought him into conflict with corrupt religious and governmental leaders. They have tried to “deplatform” him before, but their latest strategy to rid themselves of unwanted competition was to offer him a sugar-coated catch-22.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” -Matthew 22:15-17

If politics really is life, this was Jesus’ moment. His people lived under the oppressive structures of the Roman Empire. They were taxed about 20% of their income to keep the rulers wealthy. The wealthy Jewish tax collectors who made their money by extracting those funds from their own people were hated and despised. This was Jesus’ opportunity to use his platform to denounce the unjust politics of the day and call the people to rise against this horrendous policy.

The Pharisees were counting on it. But their trap was clever. If Jesus did not speak against his people’s oppression, his silence, as Greta Thunberg recently said about Ed Sheeran, would show a lack of spine and prove his complicity with power structures. Either way, it was a win-win for them. So, how did Jesus respond to this very public question, which posed a lose-lose situation for his platform?

Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

The taxation only got worse after his death. After destroying the Jerusalem Temple in 70AD, the Romans imposed an even heavier tax on the Jewish people. Yet Jesus didn’t miss his opportunity because Jesus’ goal was about something much greater than the political agenda of Greta Thunberg, Charlotte Church, or the Pharisees. He understood life differently, and it saved him.

Jesus lived according to a different story than the social conversation of his day. This context defined his goal. His role in that story was not to increase his political power. It was quite the opposite. He would achieve his mission by dying on the cross.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. -John 19:30

It was his death, not political influence, that revealed his higher purpose, not only to the oppressed but to the oppressor Roman soldiers.

And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” -Mark 15:39

Jesus’ goal in Matthew 22 was to outfox his enemies. He needed to escape their trap and keep moving toward Golgotha. His slogan did the trick:

“So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

-Matthew 22:19-22

His enemies left, but they weren’t finished. The next opportunity presented itself quickly, and they took it. In the very next story, Jesus ticks off the Sadducees, yet another group of corrupt power players. They then join the Pharisees to create a new opportunity to knock Jesus off purpose. Jesus prevails again and continues to the cross. He was clear on his context. He knew his calling. The slogans representing others' agendas would not distract him.

All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full… - John 10:7-10

As those of us who follow Jesus have learned, he is the way, the truth, and the life.

John puts it this way:

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. -John 1:4-5

Unless people know Jerry Jeff Walker and his song “Up Against the Wall,” they don’t get the goat ropers joke. Unless you know that running an innovative electric car company and playing a key role in DOGE stirred up a spate of TESLA keying, you can’t understand why “bumper sticker protection” became a thing. Unless people understand the recent political polarization, beginning with Black Lives Matter, it is impossible to understand why people would put such a vacuous phrase as “Silence is Violence” in their front lawn. And unless people know the context behind our commitment to Christ, “Jesus is love,” sounds like another attempt to assert power over others.

When Jesus-followers get caught up in the idea that life is politics, it only confuses our message. Our commitment to Jesus has changed the context of our lives forever. We live according to Jesus' backstory. If our friends and neighbors are going to understand what we are experiencing, we have to be as clever as Jesus. We have to outfox the traps that slogans set for us in the attempt to co-opt our lives.

Take a moment to consider whether you are trapped by the gospel story of politics or the gospel story of Jesus. Only when we are clear-minded about our mission and our context can we be salt and light this election season.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. -Matthew 5:13

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” -Matthew 13:44

It’s unique. It’s difficult to describe. It is hidden to the naked eye, but no map leads us to it. It’s present in everyday life, yet the general public doesn't recognize it. Jesus tells us it is incredibly valuable and promises that when we seek it, we will find it. If we scratch below the surface, the kingdom of God is there.

The life we lead has been shaped for us. The forces that reproduce it in us are ubiquitous. Media shapes our lives, magnifying political concerns to make us afraid while warning us that our trust is the only way to feel safe again. If we can escape media messaging, marketers are ready to fill the void, promising that their products will give us their version of the good life. On those rare occasions when we live outside of their grasp, we find ourselves alone with our discontent. But our own hearts can’t be trusted to take hold of “the life that is truly life,”1 damaged as it is by broken relationships and unhealed wounds.

We do our best to make a life in this malaise. Don’t accept the life that is in front of you. Seek something greater.

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I have loved holding my breath underwater since I was a child. My worries would wash away beneath the surface as my heart reflected the calm of that underwater world. I longed for that peace to continue, but every time I sank into that water cocoon, I knew that I would have to surface again to find myself immersed in the world created for me.

But what if Jesus is right? What if something really is buried beneath the surface of our lives that changes everything; a way of life that enhances my experience underwater while on dry land? The parable above is just one of ten times Jesus set his mind to describe this other way of life.

It feels the same, he says, as the joy of finding something we have been looking for all of our lives. It is like our fiancée saying “Yes” to marriage, like landing that dream job, like learning that we are having a baby. In these situations, our joy energizes us to eagerly change our lives to receive the gift we have just been given.

Don’t settle for the life in front of you, a life promoted by those who do not have your best in mind. Keep looking for the way of life Jesus describes. Keep seeking the experience in the parable above. You will find this treasure. Jesus promises we will:

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Jesus, Luke 11:9-10

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” -John the Baptist, Matthew 3:2

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” -Jesus, Matthew 4:17

As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

-Jesus to Disciples, Matthew 10:7

What if there is a way of living that is not in vain? What if we could build a life for ourselves and our loved ones that will “shine like the sun”?1 What if that way of life is right in front of us?

This kingdom, or way of life, announced by John and Jesus is a gift.2 Jesus describes it in more detail. Rather than pointing to specific blueprints of the kingdom, he sketches different aspects of it. He tells us that some will understand it and others will not; that it grows as evil and chaos continue around us;3 that it is small and often fails to take root, so you have to look for it. But when found, it has a massive impact.

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Those who experience this way of life reject the adult approach to life and become like little children:

• Instead of meeting their own needs, they depend on God to meet their needs.4 They struggle to focus more and more of their energy, not on what they desire, but on everything that God puts in front of them to do.

• Rather than defending themselves, they seek healthy and peaceful relationships. They prioritize restoring broken relationships over protecting their own hearts. They forgive quickly,5 only too aware of their own need to be forgiven.

• They refuse to use others to meet their needs, working instead for the furtherance of others. Though they may climb the ladder of personal success, it is not their goal. They value others more than themselves and are gratified by helping their neighbors do better than themselves.

Repentance is hard work, but those already excluded by the world find it easier to do. Jesus tells us to expect to build community with the kind of people who are invited to dinner parties as an afterthought.6 We will be a ragtag bunch of people, poor in spirit, from cultures around the world. Those around us will no longer give credence to what they have accumulated. Table discussion will focus on developing habits which bear fruit for God.

This way of life has many powerful opponents. Some are willing to use violence to try and stop it.7 But those persecuted for choosing this way of life will be blessed in the kingdom. As Jesus said, the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Those who choose to live in this world by participating in the kingdom of God are called to tell others about it, just like John and Jesus did.8 They should be ready to teach those who accept the invitation, helping them live into this new way of life as well.

A good place for all of us to begin is the prayer that Jesus taught his followers to pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’

-Matthew 6:9b-13

In the end, this way of life will come in its fullness. Its leaders will be united in a commitment to lasting justice.9 This way of life will never be threatened, deconstructed, or overthrown. All those who live in the kingdom will experience the joy of knowing that the life that has so greatly benefited them will benefit their children and their children’s children as well.10

This way of life will last forever.11

“Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.”-Mark 7:18b

We know that Jesus wants us to agree with him when he speaks about what can defile a person. But to do so seems to go against everything we have learned about modern hygiene. Jesus’ casual dismissal of our purity laws makes this a difficult saying. We are very careful about what goes into our bodies because we are convinced that certain hidden agents will not depart our bodies without achieving some nefarious purpose. So, beyond ignoring this passage or rejecting modern hygiene, how do we apply it to our lives?

From our earliest days, we have been told we should wash our hands before we eat. Recent history has only reinforced this lesson. Purell hand sanitizer was introduced to the market in 1988 and became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. To this day, restaurants and families have added hand sanitizer to the list of basic items necessary for life. Not only that, but it is now good manners to sneeze (if you have to sneeze at all) in your sneezing cubital fossa.1 It isn’t a good time for Jesus to come along with such a casual dismissal of external defiling agents. Some explanation, an apologetics of Jesus and germs, seems necessary.2

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I was in the steam room the other day, contemplating Jesus’ statement and modern purity laws. It dawned on me that I was one of four bald men sweating together in a hot, wet room in a bid to rid ourselves of excess fat. Steam rooms were a part of Roman life in Jesus’ day. They are still very common today. But is this health regimen truly hygienic for us modern folk? Then it dawned on me that people in Jesus’ day were wholly unaware of our modern approach to health. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first observed bacteria in 1683, more than 1,500 years after Roman steamrooms and our quote from Scripture. However, Jesus’ people did have purity laws of their own, and Jesus’ words were offensive to them as well.

For example (warning: the following Scriptures could be disturbing to some readers):

• The priest is to examine the sore on the skin, and if the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it is a defiling skin disease. -Leviticus 13:13a

• “Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.” -Leviticus 15: 11

A clash between the hygiene laws of Jesus’ day and the practice of his disciples started the story in Mark 7:

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” -Mark 7:1-5

My predicament remained as I walked out of the steam room. Jesus’ words seemed like a computer virus to both ancient and contemporary hygene. A computer virus is a computer program usually disguised as an innocuous program or file that produces copies of itself and inserts them into other programs to corrupt the system or destroy data. Jesus’ words are threatening to us Pharisees, ancient and modern. Yet, surprising to us and our modern hygiene, Jesus is perturbed by their question:

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites…” -Mark 7:6

Then I considered another definition of a virus. It turns out that some viruses are good. Bacteriophages, for example, are viruses that target and kill harmful bacteria. More to our point, certain viruses support the microbiome, facilitating the breakdown of organic matter and enhancing digestion and immune function. Could Jesus’ virus fight off “harmful bacteria” and support good health?

This makes sense of the remainder of our passage in Mark 7. Jesus continues:

“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

-Mark 7:6-7.

So what viral problem is Jesus attacking in this story? What commands are being subverted? He doesn’t have an issue with washed hands, cups, or pitchers. His concern is the way purity laws like the washing of hands prioritize physical well-being over purity of heart. Jesus calls his followers to prioritize clean hearts.

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person. -Mark 7:14b-23

Hygiene, both ancient and modern, is a legitimate concern. But Jesus is concerned about far weightier things; the health of our hearts.

So, assuming you wash your hands before eating, how is your spiritual hygiene?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance… -Hebrews 12:1a

Many authors lead people deeper into Christianity through definitions, arguments, and testimony. The book I’m writing helps the reader delve deeper into God’s grace by another method. This approach is taking far longer than a sermon or a straightforward explanation. Yet I persevere in this somewhat unusual method because I believe it has the potential to “make good happen.”

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Perseverance is required in writing, but it is also essential for following Jesus. We need a better understanding of it so we can live it out. But how do we do that?

• We could look up all the passages in the Bible that use the word.

• We could look up the meaning in the dictionary.

• Or we could follow the method I use in my book: pursuing a profound understanding of perseverance through quotes, metaphors, and stories that encourage further exploration.

I am presently reading three authors who used a similar, contrarian method in their writing 650, 123, and 84 years ago. Like the biblical tree firmly planted in streams of water1, their stories, devotional writing, and biography bear fruit today. Three quotes in particular stimulated my twentieth-century mind. I believe they will inspire you as well.

The first one is from Charles Dickens. There are so many wonderful little nuggets of wisdom in his descriptions, and this quote, more of a passing thought in his story, jumped out at me.

“Ideas, like ghosts (according to the common notion of ghosts), must be spoken to a little before they will explain themselves…” -Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, 1848.

The Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, agrees with Dickens. Most people know him as an existentialist philosopher. Yet he was a very committed follower of Jesus who longed to help others go deeper in their faith. One of his deep devotional works has the wonderful title, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. The introductory description tells us that he wrote the book for people to take their time and slowly contemplate its questions and ideas. His goal, explained through metaphor, caught my eye:

“…Christian swimmers…long to keep one foot on the bottom. Kierkegaard sought to draw them out into water that is 70,000 fathoms deep, where life depends not upon half-measures, but upon faith.”

-Søren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, 1938, p.xiii

Allowing the tide of faith to draw me out to sea is a consistent challenge as I persevere in my journey with Jesus.

Finally, G.K. Chesterton describes the impact that the author of The Canterbury Tales (published in 1476) had on his home country, indeed on all human history.

“There was never a man who was more of a Maker (poet) than Chaucer. He made a national language; he came very near to making a nation. At least without him it would probably never have been either so fine a language or so great a nation. Shakespeare and Milton were the greatest sons of their country; but Chaucer was the Father of his Country, rather in the style of George Washington. And apart from all of that, he made something that has altered all Europe more than the Newspaper: the Novel. He was a novelist when there were no novels. I mean by the novel the narrative that is not primarily an anecdote or an allegory, but is valued because of the almost accidental variety of actual human characters.” -Chaucer by G.K. Chesterton, 1903, p.5.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his book between 1387 and 1400. It was published decades after his death. The Canterbury Tales and their impact are a case study in perseverance.

I have to add one bonus quote from Dickens. Dombey and Son beautifully describes the relationship between Florence Dombey and her sickly younger brother Paul. Paul, as the heir of the family business, is thrown into the deep end of learning. The boarding school requirements overwhelm him. So, his sister buys her own copies of his books and sets to learning them so she can help him catch up on his lessons. Dickens captures the true source of all such perseverance, whether as a pastor, an author, or a good member of your family. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

“…Florence sat down at night to track Paul’s footsteps through the thorny ways of learning, and being possessed of a naturally quick and sound capacity, and taught by that most wonderful of masters, love, it was not long before she gained upon Paul’s heels, and caught and passed him.” p.177 Dickens

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. -John Heyward, 1546.

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