Did Jesus Really Sweat Blood?

By Pastor Kenny Burchard   email me here

Luke 22:43-44
43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (ESV)

This past Sunday at The Oasis Church, after I explained what I believe this text actually says, there were no less than six people who approached me to tell me that they always believed (and had always been taught) that on the night Jesus was betrayed, while he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, he “sweat blood.”  I have heard these verses taught that way in the past myself.  Three other people told me that my idea (that Jesus did NOT sweat blood) had intrigued them, and that they would be looking into it more during the week.

Regardless of your conviction here, it seemed like something worth digging into a bit more via the blog so that you can see why I land where I land, and make up your own mind as you look into it yourself.  Here are some things to think about.

Original Language

I don’t really want to bore you with a bunch of Greek, so… oh, never mind – let me bore you with some Greek! (Koine Greek, by the way, is the language that all the New Testament documents were originally written in).  Here are all the words as they appear in v.44 in the Greek New Testament, along with my basic translation under each one:

καὶ	ἐγένετο⸅	ὁ	ἱδρὼς	αὐτοῦ	ὡσεὶ	θρόμβοι	αἵματος
kai	enegeto	ho	hydros	autou	hosei	thromboi	Aimatos
and	it became	the	sweat	of him/his	like	drops	of blood

καταβαίνοντες	ἐπὶ	τὴν	γῆν
katabainontes	epi	teyn	geyn
falling	upon	the	ground

Hey! Hosei!

One of the keys to understanding what is happening in the text is the little word “hosei” (ὡσεὶ), which is the sixth word in the sentence.  In my translation above, it’s the word “like.”  So what do we do with this?  Before I suggest an answer, let’s look at the word “hosei” in another text.  Wait! What do you know? It actually appears a bit earlier in this exact chapter in the very story we’re reading now.  Here it is (Lk. 22:41)…

καὶ	αὐτὸς	ἀπεσπάσθη	ἀπʼ	αὐτῶν	ὡσεὶ	λίθου	Βολήν
kai	autos	apespasthay	ap	autown	hosei	lithou	Bolayn
and	he	was withdrawn	from	them	like	a stone’s	throw

How far away from the disciples was Jesus praying?  Well, it was “like” or “about like” or “seemed about” a stone’s throw away.  In the earlier text, the word “hosei” indicates a comparison between two things: (1) The distance between Jesus and his disciples, and (2) the distance that the average person can throw a rock. Jesus was what “seemed like” or “about” or “kind of like” a stone’s throw away.

In the same way, when Luke wants us to know how profusely Jesus was sweating – especially with reference to how the sweat was pooling around him while he was kneeling, he tells us that it was “like big drops of blood hitting the ground.”  That is very different from something like:  “His sweat became actual blood falling to the ground” or “Jesus began to sweat blood, which fell to the ground,” or  “his sweat turned to blood which fell to the ground.”  No, Jesus is simply sweating so profusely and heavily that his sweat becomes thick and falls to the ground around him “like” blood when it also hits the ground.

It was, you know, like…

We use symbolic and idiomatic terminology all the time in English.

-       It’s raining like Noah’s flood out there!
-       He runs as fast as lightning.
-       She was squealing like a stuck pig.

When we use idiomatic or symbolic language like this, no one thinks that Noah’s flood is actually happening all over again, or the running person has actually become lightning, or the screaming girl has turned into a pig, and can now make pig sounds.  No, we’re using a comparison between two things (such as in the comparison between the distance between where Jesus is from his disciples, and throwing a stone).  A has become LIKE B in some way.  A has not BECOME B in every way.  In Greek, this is called a comparative adverb.  One thing is being compared with another.

The word “like/as” (ὡσεὶ) is actually used quite a bit in the New Testament.  For instance:

Mark 3:16 – He saw the spirit of God descend ὡσεὶ a dove.  But did the Holy Spirit become a dove?  No!  This is about the way in which the Holy Spirit came to rest upon Jesus.  The Spirit of God is not a dove, and did not become one.

Mat. 9:26 – And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was ὡσεὶ a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”  Did the boy become a corpse and die? No! The way in which he appeared (after the deliverance from demons) was “as still as a corpse.”  It’s a comparison, not a substantive transformation from one thing into another thing.

1 Thes. 5:2 – For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come ὡσεὶ a thief in the night.  The day of the Lord will not become, or turn into an actual thief in the night.  No!  When the Lord comes it will be like a thief in that no one will expect it to happen when it happens.  That’s it.

In the same way, Jesus’ sweat was not blood.  No.  It (the sweat) was falling to the ground “like big drops of blood fall to the ground.”  This is not about what the sweat actually was.  This is about what the sweat was “like.”  More specifically, it was about how much sweat there was, and what was happening to the sweat as it fell from the body of Jesus.  That’s it.  No blood.  Only “sweat like blood” and ONLY in the sense that it was falling to the ground the same way blood falls to the ground.

Lukan scholar and commentator Joel Green says this about the linguistic structure of Luke 22:44…

“The image Luke employs is of sweat dripping so profusely that it was like (ὡσεὶ) drops of blood, not that Jesus was actually “sweating blood. ” Luke’s portrait thus gives no basis for interpretations that focus on the blood of Jesus on the mount of olives.”[1] (p. 780)

If what was falling from Jesus was blood then it was not like blood.  It was blood.  But if it was “falling to the ground” like blood falls to the ground when someone is bleeding profusely, then what the verse says makes perfect sense.  Jesus was sweating so profusely that the sweat was falling to the ground like blood falls to the ground when someone is bleeding.  There was no blood.  Not until the scourging of Jesus.

What’s the point of this look at the linguistic structure of Luke 22:44?  The point is…    ”MAN! Jesus was really sweating as he was praying!! That’s a LOT of sweat!”

But what about Hemohidrosis, Kenny!?? Huh? What about that?!

Listen, you can go online and google “Jesus sweat blood” and find all of the authors who cite Greek scholars and medical “evidence” (noting, of course, that Luke was a doctor) who will tell you that Jesus sweat blood because it is possible to sweat blood.  You can find just as many bloggers and authors who disagree completely, and who tell you that Jesus didn’t sweat blood at all (also citing their scholars and sources just as carefully).

For me, the main issue is that the text simply doesn’t say that Jesus “sweat blood.” It says that his sweat was falling to the ground like blood falls to the ground.  Yet, one Greek scholar who advocated (139 years ago, who seems to be the most quoted guy out there) the “Jesus sweat blood” position wrote:

“To suppose that it only fell like drops of blood (why not drops of any thing else? And drops of blood from what, and where?) is to nullify the force of the sentence, and make the insertion of haimatos not only superfluous but absurd.”[2]

Well, Mr. Alford (who lived in the late 1800s and who was probably not a blood-spatter analyst), actually it’s not absurd at all.  When you’re comparing how one liquid profusely falling from a body compares to another liquid profusely falling from a body, it’s quite reasonable to compare blood to sweat.

No doubt, Luke’s readers would have seen profuse bleeding in their world, and would have known what that looked like, so the comparison is pretty sensible and would have been quite a powerful image of intense struggle.

You can also find authors and bloggers who will tell you that ὡσεὶ notes a “condition and not a comparison,” but that is just not true. In this sentence, ὡσεὶ is a comparative clause or adverb. That’s just what it is here.  The more you look at the word ὡσεὶ when it is used like it is here in Luke, the more you will find over and over and over again that it is used to compare one thing to another in some way (not in every way) so as to create a word-picture that illustrates some point in the narrative (cf. Acts 6:15, Luke 10:18, Mat. 9:36, etc.).

As Louw and Nida put it in their Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament, the word indicates “…markers of a relationship between events or states.”[3]  In other words, the word is used to compare various aspects of two different things, and to show what they have in common.

What did Jesus’ sweat have in common with blood?  Well, it was coming out of his body profusely, and it was falling to the ground  (<– click the link for an example) the way blood falls to the ground when it is coming out of the body profusely.  That’s it.  That’s all the text says; nothing more, nothing less.

So… Should we fight about it?

Now, if you decide to take my word for all this (and the word of guys like Joel Green, etc.), then you may feel like fighting with people about this if they use this text in a sermon or Bible study, noting how “Jesus sweat blood.”  You may feel indignant and defensive, believing (as you may now believe) that Jesus didn’t sweat blood at all.  But it’s not worth fighting about.

You may conclude, however, that you think I have it totally wrong, and you’ll want to fight with me about it.  You may conclude that now you know that I don’t know anything about the Bible because, after all, look what I did with this verse!!

Here’s my suggestion no matter where you land.  It is worth studying because we want to understand the Bible as best as we can.  It is worth accepting the reality that there is idiomatic language in the Bible just like there is in our contemporary language.  It is worthy becoming better at interpreting scripture, but at the end of the day, it’s not worth fighting about.

People who believe that Jesus sweat blood, and people who believe that Jesus’ sweat was as profuse as a massively bleeding person both believe in Jesus. Both see his prayer in the garden as an intense battle against temptation.  Both believe that Jesus is Lord, and both believe that he died and rose again!

I bring interpretive issues to the surface because I want to teach the people who I pastor to slow down, be more circumspect, and read the Bible more carefully.  The best students of scripture still find ways to see things differently in this or that area.  That’s the challenge (and for me, the joy) of being life-long student of the Bible.  I want to hear both (or all) sides of the issue, study the text myself, and carefully consider what seems like the best way to interpret.  One is not a heretic or an enemy of the faith who does not land where I land (or where you land) on Luke 22:44.

Let’s keep following Jesus together, studying his word, talking about what we see, and even if we disagree about a verse here or there, let’s not disagree about one thing.  Jesus is our King who loves us and gave himself up for us!

Peace,

Pastor Kenny

 

 

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[1] Green, J.  (1997)  The Gospel of Luke, Eerdmans; Grand Rapids.

[2] Alford, Henry (1874), Alford’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980 reprint).

[3] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Vol. 1: Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (617). New York: United Bible Societies.

Your Home – A Biblical Seminary

Part Three in the Mini-Series “Following Jesus Together in Community”

by Pastor Kenny Burchard                  email me here

IT STARTS WITH AN INVITATION

“I meant to txt u earlier… Monday nights at my house @ 630 pm we have a men’s bible study… as a friend (not cuz ur our pastor) and fellow man who needs encouragement, fellowship with brothers in discussion of God’s word in open forum, I invite you to come when ur able.”

The above quoted text (in phone-­‐text-­‐speak) is from Rich Hudson, and was sent to me recently on a Monday night – just one hour before I was getting ready to walk into a Seminary Class in Fresno where we are studying through the Gospel of Mark.

What was Rich getting ready to do? He was getting ready to study the book of Hebrews in community with a small group of men right here in Hanford in his living room.

Two days later Rich came by the office to talk with me about his journey through Hebrews with the brothers, and we talked about a few interesting and important facets of that book of the Bible, and ways in which he and his friends might get more out of their time together.

It was an important and helpful conversation – and he’ll take those insights back to the group, work through more Bible with them, and those men will grow in their understanding of God’s word in powerful ways. That is exactly what I am doing in seminary every Monday morning and Monday night.

DOING THEOLOGY IN COMMUNITY

Over the past few weeks I have been stressing the importance of community at The Oasis Church. One of the primary facets of our life together is to open the Scriptures, read them, discuss them, meditate on them, ask question about them, and ultimately – learn to live what they say.

For the first 5 months of our Study in Luke’s Gospel, I gathered with 5-­‐6 people every month just to get a sense of how to work through the book while simultaneously taking a Seminary Class on Luke. The result, for me, has been life-­‐changing because I see studying the Bible in community as an integral part of how we grow.

CAN THE GOSPEL SPREAD THIS WAY? APPARENTLY!

Early Christians did not have “individual bible devotions” by themselves where they read the Bible silently, then prayed. Why? Well for starters, no one had his own Bible!! NO! They read and studied the Bible in community – and that made all the difference.

YOUR HOME, A SEMINARY?

Is it possible that you could open your home, or go to an open home and open a book of the Bible with some of your fellow Christians and learn with them? Take my (and Rich’s) word for it… It will enrich your life in ways you can’t imagine.

Now – let’s go to seminary (in your house)…

Pastor Kenny

Your Home – A Place for Relational Fun!

Part Two in the Series – “Following Jesus Together in Community”

by Pastor Kenny Burchard     email me here

Community should be fun!

A few years ago, I was introduced to the game “Rumi-Kub” by one of the families in our church.  They invited my family over for a great dinner.  We ate, we sat around and looked at photos of their family and got to know them better, then they asked us if we had ever heard of this game.  I had not – so they challenged us to a few rounds.

For the next 2 hours we played, laughed, and got to know each other more.  The next day, I ran out to target to get my own game, and began keeping it in my car so that I could bust it out if I was visiting with friends.  Some of you reading this will know what I mean – and you will also know that I love to cheat and trash-talk during board games.  Jesus is working on me.

Rich times of fellowship happen when we’re enjoying one another’s company

Over the years at The Oasis, some of our most edifying and bonding times of fellowship were not during intense Bible Studies and prayer meetings, but over ice cream and board games and swim-parties.  This is not to say that the church should simply be a social club.  But it should be a family that enjoys spending time together, and including new people in the mix as well.  My family LOVES The Oasis because we have fun with our church family.  We don’t just go to church services.  We go into one another’s homes and have enjoyable times of eating, playing, laughing, and bonding.

Consider opening your home for times of fun with fellow believers…

As you can tell, I am taking a lot of time and space to encourage you to either open your home to the church, or GO to an already-open home to be in community with God’s people.  It may be that you want to try this, but you don’t know how to begin.  Here’s a suggestion:

(1) Create an invite list comprised of 50% people you already know, and 50% people you don’t know in the church who may not get invited to stuff very much,

(2) invite them to a game-night at your house,

(3) encourage everyone to bring something to eat and to share with the group,

(4) before jumping into games, spend a little time just getting to know your guests,

(5) pray for your evening together, and

(6) have fun with the people in your home.  Build memories and build friendships.

Your home could be the place!

Some of you have great homes, and could really put something together that would bless a pretty good-sized crowd. There are lots of new faces in our fellowship – and they would LOVE to hang out with you and your “already-friends” group too. Make room. Have fun. Get connected.

Let’s follow Jesus together IN COMMUNITY

Pastor Kenny

Why you should START or JOIN a Community Group

By Pastor Kenny Burchard         email me

PART ONE in the Series “Following Jesus Together in Community”

I want to challenge every person who is part of The Oasis Church to embrace our value for being in community with other believers on a consistent basis.

The way we do this is not only by attending Sunday services, but by also being part of a community group during the month.

What is it? What’s it for?

Community groups are small gatherings of believers that meet in homes for the purpose of  GLORIFYING GOD through (1) discipleship, (2) building Christian friendships, (3) caring for one another, and (4) even reaching people who have questions about Jesus.

There are lots of different kinds of groups, but they all have the same objective… RELATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP.

What kind of Community Group?
There are lots of options here.

• A family-group that re­‐focuses on the Sunday teaching (This is our preferred group-type)
• A topical theological study group (Such as the “Truth Project” group)
• A women’s bible study (These are offered seasonally)
• A men’s discipleship group or bible‐book study
• A financial training group (Such as Financial Peace University)
• A group that is working together to process freedom from long­‐standing habits or addiction (we’ll call these “Redemption Groups”).

Regardless of the type of group, everyone at The Oasis Church should be involved in community groups in one way or another. Can I challenge you to embrace the call to ministry and either start a group, or join an existing group?

What if I don’t like that group?

You might need to try a few different groups (or start your own) to find a group that fits with what Jesus is doing in your life.

How do I start one?

1. Decide on a place to meet, and make sure it’s clean, comfortable, and accessible to people. Invite a bunch of people, and meet at least two times every month on a regularly-­‐scheduled day and time (like every other Sunday or Wednesday night).

2. When your group gets together start by enjoying something to eat together. Everyone in the group can bring something to share. It could be dessert and coffee, or your group can actually eat a meal together twice a month. The whole group should participate in this.

3. After you eat, sit down and study the Bible together in an open discussion (no preaching). You can use the discussion guide on the community group website. The easiest way to do this is to use the Sunday teaching as your starting‐place, and re­‐discuss it as a group.

4. Let the group share what is going on in their lives, and pray for everyone who has a need.

5. Hang out together and have fun with one another. Become friends. Follow Jesus together and enjoy your relationships.

Okay, I’ll do it! Now what?

If you want help starting, leading, or joining a group let us know!!!!  You can email Pastor Zack, or call him at the Church Office (587-1141) to learn more.

Following Jesus Together – CONNECTING…
Pastor Kenny

Seeing & Savoring Jesus Christ – Chapter 3

Reflections on the 3rd chapter entitled
The Lion and the Lamb – The Excellence of Jesus Christ

by Pastor Kenny Burchard             email me here

When we think of an “Ideal Human”

We all have our ideals when it comes to what we expect from others, and what we wish we could see in ourselves.  Our failure to be what we wish we were, and our disappointment when others don’t live up to our expectations of them accounts for a lot of the brokenness we see in human relationships.  We just can’t seem to blend the ideals in a way that is consistent, harmonious, or excellent (as Piper describes Jesus).

Two ideals that many people gravitate toward are (1) Strength, and (2) Gentleness. Piper’s emphasis on Jesus as a “lamb-like-lion” and a “lion-like-lamb” with all the symbolism and real-life attributes of lions and lambs is helpful.  Especially since the combination of strength and gentleness tend to get warped in the fallen human identity.

It’s not unusual for the “strong” among us to be come oppressors who use their might to trample others under foot.  And it’s not unusual for the gentle to succumb to cowardice or moral weakness in the face of pressure.  To have strength and gentleness, power and humility, or even anger and forbearance harmonized in one human personality is difficult to find.  But not in Jesus.

Jesus is the King (lion) who gives himself (lamb) on behalf of the subjects of his kingdom.  He is the merciful one who offers forgiveness to the repentant (lamb), but who will purge the universe of all evil with fierce resolve (lion).  He is justice (lion) and mercy (lamb) in one perfect man.  The trouble for us is failing to let these two realities about Jesus co-exist in him without trampling, ignoring, or dismissing one over and against the other.

Some applications and insights

I found a section of Piper’s prayer at the end of this chapter particularly helpful, convicting, and comforting when he writes (prays…):

Oh how we need the whole Christ
Open our eyes to see the fulness of His excellence
Remove the lopsided distorted images of your son - 
That weaken our worship and lame our obedience

As I said – it is this troubling tendency we have not to accept ALL of Jesus – all that he is, has, and does that gets us into trouble.  This week I will be meditating on, and following Jesus as (both) LION and LAMB.  But not only that, as Piper has helpfully hyphenated these co-existing, completely harmonized realities within the person of Jesus… the “Lamb-Like-Lion,” and the “Lion-Like-Lamb.”

May we serve him with joy at his generous grace (lamb), and with reverence and obedience to his Kingly-rule over our lives (lion).

Your reflections

1.  What stuck out to you at your reading of this chapter?

2.  What do you make of our tendency to develop a lop-sided image of Jesus?  Why do we do this?

3.  What other reflections, insights, or perspectives can you share with our group.

I enjoy reading with you, and learning to see more Jesus, and as we are learning in this chapter ALL OF JESUS leaving nothing out.

Peace,

Pastor Kenny

Did Jesus Teach Socialism? – Part 2

An imaginary (and a bit over-the-top) dialogue between Jesus and His disciples through the lens of “Jesus believed in socialism.”

by Pastor Kenny Burchard                  email me here

In a previous post 2 years ago, I tried to push back agains the increasingly popular idea that “Jesus was a socialist.”  The original article has had thousands of hits, is #2 on the google-search results for the question “Did Jesus teach Socialism,” is read by an average of two people every day on the daily-stats page of my blog, and has been referenced in the work of others as they have tried to deal with the issue as well.

I was thinking last night that it might be helpful to try to put socialism “into the mouth” of Jesus (since advocates of the idea that Jesus was a socialist can imagine him talking like one), and get him to talk like a socialist in a mock-dialogue with his disciples to see if socialistic ideas fit what we know about Jesus in the gospels.

In my previous post about this, I differentiated between generosity, benevolence, charity and Socialism.  I concluded that Jesus never taught that the primary way to care for the poor was through confiscatory taxation and arbitrary wealth re-distribution by a secular government bureaucracy.  But, what if he had taught that? What if that really was how Jesus believed?  What if Jesus really was a socialist?  What kinds of statements would we hear him making in the gospels?

Some will say… “This is a losing battle, Kenny.  Jesus said we should feed the poor, and care for the sick. That’s socialism.”  But wait, that is not all socialism says.  There is a fundamental WAY of caring for the poor and caring for the sick in socialism.  Our question is – did Jesus embrace the same way in his teaching, or was it different? If Jesus really was a socialist, we wouldn’t just hear Jesus talking about caring for people. He would also provide the mechanics for doing that, as Socialism does.  In other words, Jesus would not only say “Feed the hungry, care for the sick,” but he would also say… “And here’s how you do that.”  This post imagines Jesus giving some of the socialist mechanics as the means by which we do what he commands us to do.

Beginning with Scripture

Of course, we need to find Jesus having a value for caring for others, and hear his heart of compassion for the poor and marginalized before we insert our own words into Jesus’ mouth.  So let’s do that first.

The Gospel of Luke is probably the most vivid window into the heart of Jesus for hurting people.  In that Gospel, there are more recorded healings than in any of the other gospels, and there seems to be an intentional effort on Luke’s part to give us an image of Jesus as a compassionate savior who cares for the marginalized, lifts up the lowly, feeds the hungry, touches the leper and the “unclean” in society, and confronts selfishness in those who will not share their food and their money with people who have nothing. Are these the core-values of socialism?  Is this where socialism comes from?  When we see what is happening (or what has happened) in entire nations that embraced socialism, do we see a repeat of the ministry of Jesus happening in the lives of people under those systems?

In Luke 9:10-18, one of the greatest miracles in the ministry of Jesus takes place when he supernaturally feeds a crowd of 5,000 men (some believe that by only counting the men, there may have been as many as 10 or even 20 thousand people in the crowd when factoring in women and children).  Here’s where the narrative begins and scripture ends…

Disciples: Jesus, look at all these people.  We need to send them into town for the night so they can rest and get some food.

Jesus: Why don’t you feed them yourselves?

Disciples: What, you want us to go buy food for thousands and thousands of people?  Or maybe we could give them our food.  Let’s see, what do we have here… 2 fish and 5 pieces of bread… Do you think that’ll be enough, Jesus?

Jesus:  You’re right.  It’s not enough.  Okay.  Here’s the plan.  Instead of sending them into town, or me praying over your food to multiply it we’re going to do something radical.  Stick with me now…

First we will need to build the loyalty of the people so that we can amass an army of the people, head to Rome, and take over the current government system and set up our own. We’ll call it a “Socialist Republic.”  I will use my miracle power and my capacity to captivate the masses to sway the people to be loyal to our cause, and allay their fears of a push-back from Rome.  With my power, no one will be able to stand against us.

Disciples: We knew it!  You ARE here to set up an earthly governmental system where we are in charge!  Awesome!  So, who among we twelve will get the best positions in the new government you’re setting up?

Jesus:  We’ll have to work on that as we go.  In the meantime, let’s talk about the structure of my new Socialist government. It has been given to you to know the mysteries of my plan to install an earthly governmental structure called socialism into the fabric of all humanity.  In fact, in 2000 years, people will actually call me a socialist because of what we are about to do.  They will look at what I started, and they will exclaim… “Why, that is pure socialism.  Jesus was a socialist!”

Disciples:  Great!  We’re in, Jesus. It’s all that we ever hoped for, and more! We are willing to go all the way with you. We completely understand why you have come.  That’s why we decided to follow you in the first place.

Jesus:  Good.  Now… Let these words sink into your ears.  The son of Man has come to take over every earthly government system with socialism. It most reflects my view of how things should work.

Disciples:  What do we after we amass the army of the people, march on Rome, and wrest the power of the government from their hands by force?

Jesus: Well, once the people see that we are working for their good,  and they see us take, by manipulation, by law, and even by force, all of the resources of the wealthy and distribute them amongst the people, they will be fiercely loyal to us.

Disciples: Where will we find the wealthy people?

Jesus:  Easy.  Start with the people who have used wealth to create more wealth.  Look for people who have started their own companies, corporations, and businesses.  That is where all the money really is.  Those people use money to make more money.  They use capital to create whole industries.  But they don’t share it like they should, so we have to take it from them by force. There is no money without these people, but since we disagree with how they use it – we will force them to give it to us.  We will distribute it as we see fit.

Disciples:  Ah. So, we take the money from the money-makers, and we give it out as we see fit?

Jesus: Yes. In essence, we will only be able to control the money by taking it away from the people who have it now, and giving it out as we see fit.  We will re-distribute what we confiscate from actual wealth-generators, and when people find out that by following us, they will receive free things that they never have to pay for, they will fight to the death to ensure that we never lose our power.  If we allow them some kind of election process, they would never vote for anyone who would threaten this new way of life for them. How else will they eat?  How else will some of them have a place to live?  How else will they get the medical care they need?  We will take over in the most basic ways.  Food, Housing, Healthcare, Spending Money, Education, Industry.  We will control all of it, and we will give it to whomever we wish by the ratios that we determine are necessary.  The people will learn to depend on us for everything.  We will crush their desire to do anything else by taking away all of their incentive to do anything but work for the collective. No more inequality.  We’ll make it the law of the land!

Disciples:  We agree completely.  What will we call our leadership-base in the new system?

Jesus: Initially, we will call ourselves the “Vanguard Revolutionaries.”  We will organize everything, inspire the people, and lead the way.  We will organize the armies, and rally the people.  We will sharpen our swords, and if necessary, we will overthrow Rome by force and return the power to the people of the world.  Of course, we’ll be in charge of ensuring that things are run well. We are wise.  We understand what really needs to happen, and how things really should be done for everyone else.  AAAAAaand, of course, since we have the police and military power, the people will not rise up against us either.  Why would they?  We’ll feed them their daily bread, and give them a job that seems to fit best with what they are good at… or… what we need them to do.  We’ll give them a nice place to live with just enough to care for the number of children we allow them to have.

Disciples:  How will the people think of themselves?

Jesus:   The people will see themselves as a collective.  They will not work for themselves or their families. Personal initiative needs to diminish. They will work for the common good.  They will not be concerned with earning enough money, because we will determine an adequate standard of living for each person, and ensure that everyone has what they need based on our projections.  So, when a person goes to work – doing the job we have given him to do, he will simply do so to ensure that everyone has enough – including himself of course.  But this desire to earn more, achieve more, or get more will be destroyed for once and for all.  No longer will they work to earn, grow, transition, or progress. No, in our system, they will work to “use” and not to “profit.”  Only to use.  That should be the only purpose for working and building and creating anything.  And they will use only what we know they need to use.  Anything more than that would be selfish.

Disciples:  Master, will we need to use the sword much?  Some will go along, won’t they? Do you think there will be a huge resistance?

Jesus:  I see resistance on three levels.  First, I see moral resistance.  Some people think that it is right to decide what to do for a living, then keep what you earn and use it as you wish.  Some people think that they should control their own benevolence to their fellow-man through free-will giving and generosity.  But it just won’t work.  We have to enforce it.  With the moral resistance, we will tell them over and over and over again how selfish they are.  We will call them names for earning a good wage, creating lots of wealth, and starting wealth-generating enterprises.  We will turn the lower class against them through envy.  We will point out how much they have and how it is not fair, and they should be forced to give it up until we feel they have given enough.  Many of them will turn to our way because they hate being thought of as selfish.  They think they’re generous for starting companies, using their wealth to create jobs, and paying a percentage of what they earn to the government for infrastructure.  But they are wrong.

Disciples:  So, to turn this group to our way, we will pit the lower class against them by calling them names and creating and envious lower class.  That’s brilliant, Jesus.  What about the second group.

Jesus:  The second group will not be as easy.  They will use the law to their favor, and will not give up on the basis of our new version of equality.  So, we will have to change the laws about how much money a person can make. As people find ways to create more money, we will need to find ways to take it away from them and give it to those whom we deem worthy of it.  We will create a tax-system that essentially drains the upper crust through steep taxes, and funnels that money into our government.  We will use the tax revenue to build our governmental infrastructure, create lots of government jobs, build huge government buildings, and pay the salaries of all the people working in our system.  SO, in short… we’ll do it through taxation.  It will be the law of the land.

Disciples:  What kind of government jobs are we talking about here?

Jesus:  Well, let’s start with this crowd, for instance.  They’re hungry, right?  In our new system, here’s what we will do to feed them.  First, we’ll confiscate the wealth of the wealth-creators.  Then, in every city we will build a large office building with part of that money.  We’ll fully furnish it with the latest technology and office equipment.  We’ll air-condition it, carpet it, and make it a nice place to work.  Then we’ll create an army of workers who interview everyone in the crowd here and create an entire filing system for each one of them.  Once we have a file, then we’ll send them to a case-worker who keeps track of them.  Of course, these people will need direction, so we’ll have varying levels of managers and directors to make sure it all gets done.  The workers will need health benefits and retirement too, after 20 years or so, and so another portion of the money will go for that.  Then, once we have these buildings and these armies of well-paid, insured, and vested workers – we’ll take what is left over and give it to the poor.  Great, huh?  That, my friends, is how we’ll feed the poor in my kingdom.  And if we run out of money to give the poor because we pay our people so much, we’ll find some more capitalists to shake down, and get more.  The poor need to be fed, and it’s up to us to see that it gets done.  It’s the right thing to do.

Disciples:  So, to feed the poor, we won’t just have people decide what to do on their own?

Jesus:  That’s right.  They might not give enough, and we’ll need to get more from them.  When you leave it up to people to give freely, and without compulsion, it can’t work.  You have to force the issue.  The poor need to be fed.

Disciples: So, to feed this multitude of around 5000 men, plus all the women and children, you’re saying we should create a huge and mammoth system filled with government employees who make more money than the average person who does not have a government job, as well as ensuring that they have good healthcare and retirement too, and then – once we’ve taken care of our employees, we have them give what’s left over to the poor?

Jesus:  That’s it.  I’m a socialist.  That’s how you do it my kingdom.

Disciples: And you’re saying if there is still not enough – because it might be expensive to have so many employees who don’t actually create more wealth, we will just get more from the people who actually do create wealth?

Jesus:  Right.  Our people are not going to be generating wealth.  They will be receiving wealth through their paychecks, and paying taxes too – but without the wealth-generators, we would run out.  Our jobs don’t actually make things.  We just process the function of our system.  That’s it.

Disciples: And you’re saying that we’ll make it both immoral and illegal not to pay our government the amount that we see fit?

Jesus:  You guys are really catching on.  This is why the son of Man has come into the world.  To be a socialist.  Everyone will know that I am a socialist. In fact, if people don’t see that, they are blind.  Clearly, what I have just laid out is my plan for world-wide socialism.  It’s the “Jesus way.”  History will show that this why I have come.

Disciples:  It is amazing, Jesus.  Now. What will we do if they refuse to contribute based on class-warfare and taxation?  What if they simply don’t pay their taxes? What if they revolt?  What if they turn against us for trying to take all that they have built and worked for so that we can turn it over to whomever we see fit?

Jesus: (brandishing a sword) – We will use the full power of our authority to compel them.  We will send in our paid government officials and soldiers to take their property by force.  We will raid their bank accounts, and we will send them to jail if they fail to comply. Yes! We will manipulate them through class warfare.  Yes! We will legislate taxation to confiscate their wealth through a tax system.  And, yes! We will forcibly extract their money from them if the first two don’t work.  For this reason was the son of Man born into the world.  I, Jesus, am a socialist, and this is how things should be done.

The End

This could go on and on, and we could cover a lot more ground, but you get the idea.

Socialism is not about feeding the hungry and caring for the poor.  It is a fundamental way of enforcing through (1) manipulation (class warfare), (2) law (confiscatory taxation), and (3) force (confiscation by force) the flow of power and money in a society.  Saying “Jesus cared for the poor, so Jesus was a socialist” cannot work.  There is a WAY to make socialism work, and this WAY (i.e., the actual mechanics of how to create a socialist government where one does not currently exist) cannot be found in the teaching of Jesus.

Again, if this is what you believe Jesus did during his earthly ministry, and if this is what you believe his teachings inspire, I would like to have your verses.  It’s one thing to say that Jesus taught and modeled generosity, care for the poor and the sick, and love for one another.  It’s another thing to say that what he really advocated was an earthly governmental system that would force this upon the human race in what we would now call “socialism.”

The socialist Jesus is not the Jesus of the New Testament.

Peace,

Pastor Kenny

Seeing & Savoring Jesus Christ – Chapter 2

Reflections on the second chapter entitled…
“Jesus is the Glory of God – The Deity of Jesus Christ.”

By Pastor Kenny Burchard       email me here

Is it “up” or is it “down”?

Have you seen Raphael’s painting of the “school of Athens?” It is an immense  painting in the Vatican in Rome.  In the center of the Painting, we can see a depiction of Plato center-Left, and his student Aristotle center-right.  Raphael surrounds these two mega-minds with other philosophers, but uses the centrality of Plato and Aristotle to depict two ways of approaching “knowledge.”

Plato is pointing UP and away from himself. Aristotle is motioning downward with his palm opened in front of him.  It is as if Plato is saying, “Knowledge is up there, and out there, and above us,  and if we can get out there, we can know things as they really are.”  Plato tried to look for the “deeper meaning” in things. He tried to look “behind” physical forms and visible realities to “big ideas.” But, since he was bound in a physical world, he could never verify his ideas or his conclusions. He thought there was a “logos” – or a “big idea” that was behind everything, but he could not get to it.  He “knew” it must be out there, but he could not see it.

Aristotle, on the other hand, seems to be disagreeing with his teacher, and saying…  ”NO, sir, we live down here, and down here is all we can know, so we have to base our concept of reality on only what we can observe in the natural world.” Aristotle was thought to be one of the world’s first scientists, and was incredible at making accurate observations about the visible world, but he could never tell anyone what they actually meant.

A little “Greek” for the Greek Philosophers

In John 1:1 & 14, we have these words… 1 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God… 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

In Greek, the first part of v. 14 looks like this… “Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν”

One way of reading this is… “That which was above – the big idea, the “word” which was God, took on a body and entered our world to live with us.”

What would John say to Plato and Aristotle?  To Plato, he would say… “The logos is God.”  There really is a reality that exists outside of creation.  To Aristotle, he would say… “The logos came into the visible world so that we could observe him, and we have seen him.”  Or, in another way – “That which was outside has come inside, and that which was above and far away, has come down and near.”  They might both ask… “How is this?”  John’s answer… “Through incarnation! God has come in the person, Jesus Christ, the God-man.”

Jesus is God

In this chapter, Piper affirms the Christian belief that Jesus is not merely “from God,” but that he is in fact GOD himself – incarnated and living in the very world that he has made.  That “big idea” and that “outside reality” that is self-existent as Plato saw it has actually come into the visible world of men to be known by him (as Aristotle would like it to be).  So, our Christian understanding of God is neither Platonist nor Aristetilian.  Our view of the world is instead “christ-centered.” God (logos) has become flesh (sarx). Heaven has come to earth.  ”Outside” has come “inside.”  ”Up” has come “down.”  God is with humanity again, in the person of  Jesus (i.e. IN HIMSELF!!).

Jesus is BOTH “heavenly” and “man.” He both “logos” and “sarx.” In fact, that is what Paul the Apostle calls him in 1 Cor. 15:48.  He is the “man from/of heaven.”

Some applications and insights…

My response to this chapter is… “Amazing Love, how can it be, that you my King would die for me.”

God has come to be FOR us what we cannot be in our fallen place.  He has become what he wants us to be.  He is “God with us” and he is “God for us.”

In this, I see Piper’s words as an encouragement that relationship with God is not initiated by people.  God has “come down” and “dwelt among us” and “we beheld him.”  God loves us.  God is, in Jesus, reaching out to the human race with a human hand, and the heart of God.  It makes me love God more.  We love him, for he first loved us.

It takes a long time to think the right way, and talk the right way about Jesus and who he is. We need to do it more.  I pray that the pieces we see can be put together in our hearts and minds, and that we could SEE and SAVOR MORE JESUS!

How about you? What did you gather from your reading of Chapter 2?  What insights and illustrations could you share with the group?  What prayer – praise – perspective is filling your mind and heart?

Pastor Kenny