Saints and Demons

Did you know people talked trash about Jesus?

Until I read a devotional email from Pastor Mark Driscoll https://markdriscoll.org/ I was only vaguely aware of the kind of pressure Jesus faced. Mark puts it quite plainly. He says.

Jesus had some very real enemies. They had a constant public plan to ruin His reputation. They said He was a drunk, a glutton with no self-control, and a demon-possessed party animal who spent a lot of time with the kind of folks who like to wear underwear as outer wear while breaking the commandments with full zeal. That’s a rough public relations nightmare for a single, homeless guy trying to launch a brand-new ministry from scratch.

Mark goes onto say:

This Jesus who never sinned called these enemies “hypocrites, white-washed tombs, serpents, and blind guides, and said that their daddy was the devil—all of which probably got pretty emotional.”

Personally, I think Christians are confused about what sin is and who Jesus was and is. The Gospel calls people to love their enemies and their neighbours. Calling people hypocrites, white-washed tombs, serpents, and blind guides and then calling their father the devil exacerbates hurt feelings and makes enemies.

What is going on? Who is this Jesus? Why would this Jesus incite such emotion? Why is Jesus focusing on emotion?

This Jesus asks:

Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? (John 8:46).

Saint Paul points out that the Law reveals people as sinners and makes people slaves of sin (Romans 7: 7-25). In Luke’s Gospel Jesus demonstrates the importance of forgiveness and love (Luke 7: 36-50). In Mark’s Gospel, when asked what commandments people should keep, Jesus reminds people that loving God with one’s whole heart, body and soul and one’s neighbour as one’s self supersedes the other commandments (Mark 12: 30-31).

Who do you say Jesus is?

I say Jesus is three people tied together as one by their passion—their emotion. This emotion matures into full on passionate love for God, neighbour and self. In the Gospel, Israel is divided into three parts. Israel, Samaria and Judea. The chief priests and their followers furthered this divide by trash talk, and by calling their opponent’s chosen messiah names such as Satan, Sinner or Adulterer.

During a great feast, Jesus challenged people by saying. If anyone is thirsty, let him/[her] come to Me and drink. He/[she] who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘From his[her] innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’  Scripture says, this caused mixed emotion. Some saw Jesus as a prophet and others the Christ and caused the chief priests and temple police to question the validity of this Jesus. Nicodemus, Israel’s Teacher, defends this Jesus saying: “Does our Law convict a [person] without first hearing from [her] what [she] has done?”

The next morning, the chief priests and the temple police bring Jesus, Israel’s Teacher and Jesus the Woman in for questioning.  They claim they have caught her in the very act of adultery. Neither Jesus condemn the other. However, Jesus Israel’s Teacher tells her Jesus to go and sin no more (John 8:11) as if she is guilty and he knows it because he alone can prove it. He is the man caught with her.

Jesus’ opponents continue their campaign to stone Jesus. They are sure Jesus is guilty of sin. But they cannot prove it. Jesus uses Scripture to claim that God the Father has sanctified Jesus as the Son of God, and implies that this Father is the rock who leads the united house of Israel out of slavery and death into the promised land (John 10:36; John 11;1 Corinthians 10:4).

I see this Father as the Rock the chief builders rejected as just a poor fisherman who was feeling the pressure…to be the Gardener and Bridegroom who gets hooked up to Jesus the Fish who people were saying was demon-possessed and not worthy of life.

This Rock is Jesus of Nazareth and Simon the Cyrene and Simon the Pharisee and Simon Peter and Simon the Magus. He is the Father, of Jesus Israel’s Teacher and Rufus, the Father’s red-haired Bride—Jesus the Woman (Mark 15:21). He is not the biological Father of Alexander and Rufus. He is the Father, the Pharisee, the Esteemed Elder of the Law and Oral Teachings of the Bible and as such he is their Esteemed Elder, their Esteemed Father and Don, their Lord.

Imagine what would happen today if a red-haired woman in love with a singer and prophetic entertainer bearing the name of Don, told everyone she met she had an affair with a guy named Alexander?

In Vancouver Canada this actually happened last Easter. As the story goes, some people woke up Easter Sunday to rumours saying that their friend and neighbour Don had died on Friday. When he appeared alive and well on Easter Sunday…People fanned the flames of gossip.

The Day Don Died || Trailer (Widescreen) from Nootka St. on Vimeo.

People start talking trash about him…because prior to this Don guy’s death and mysterious resurrection people saw him hanging out in bars and romancing all the women who came out to hear him sing… who in turn bought him gifts, arranged to get him subsidized rent and found him tax breaks.

As Scripture implies, Jesus the Fish was also feeling the pressure. She was in the water doing what fish do…surfing. She was thinking this single homeless guy resting in the back seat of the boat was Jesus of Nazareth one moment and Satan or Simon the Sorcerer the next (Acts 8). She was not sure she should trust him to be her ROCK. She knew she was the FISH, the very womb of life. The 153! She was the living icon of the Madonna. Of that she was sure. But his nets were cast on the left side of the boat excluding the people on the right who were conservative and orthodox in their thinking. She couldn’t imagine how he was ever going to catch her and bring her and her orthodox brothers and sisters safely to shore.

So, when I opened my mouth and took a gulp of devotional water, I swallowed a pastoral letter from a guy named Mark. As this letter began to work its way into my digestive system it got me to thinking. I then heard myself asking: Who ever heard of a rock catching fish? So, I searched the online net. There, on the net I found a video clip of a young fisher making a rock lure.  As I watched the young fisher catch three fish, the Truth sunk in…I could trust the Rock to catch me, my orthodox brothers and sisters, and the next generation to preserve the art of fishing with a rock.  So that all would remember and know. Love turns demons into saints.  More importantly, it is Love that turns enemies hurling rocks, trashy talk and insults into welcoming friends and passionate lovers.  https://youtu.be/9stu2p6hF2U