Mark 12:32-34
And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Love for God and love for your neighbor are inseparable. This shouldn't even be a controversy, and we see here that it isn't. That why Jesus judges the heart of this scribe as "not far from the kingdom."
Jesus, the man who stood before this scribe, is a different Jesus than the Jesus who we know.
What?
Different!?
Different in the sense that he is Jesus standing on the boundary-line of two ages. Between the age of those who saw him and believed, and those who believed but did not see him. The Jesus standing between the Law and the Prophets, and the kingdom of heaven.
Here Jesus tells the scribe that the primary thing for any spiritual person is to know the living God, and to love him. And to make the connection between heaven and earth by loving your fellow man in Him. And if any man from any nation of any religious sect or faith blasphemes against the Spirit's work that inspires the heart towards this kind of love for God, then we know that there is no absolution for them.
Matthew 12:32
"And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
There are only two times available in the life of a man for the remission of sins: one here upon earth for the believers who repent and follow Jesus, and the other at the day of judgment in which God either absolves or condemns. No sin is covered that isn't covered in Jesus' blood. No man can perform his own miraculous acts of salvation. No man pardons himself in works of remission of sins in a purgatory state.
Loving God with all your heart, all you mind, all your spirit, and all your strength is something that a believer accomplishes while still living in the flesh, for it is the living sinners that God sent his Son to save.
Within the church, among the community of believers at large, there is a great hesitation to call sin what it is. In fact we'll generally go out of our way to even rename or recategorize sin as something less offensive. In the same way that prisons have changed their verbiage in regard to incarcerated people. Seeking to change the terms prisons use, words like "inmates," "criminals," "prisoners," "convicts," "delinquents," "felons," and "offenders."
In our Kairos prison ministry, we do likewise, referring to these incarcerated people as "residents" in an attempt to rehumanize those who have been dehumanized by the prison system. Not to reform the sins by reforming the words. And we do this because we know that if they are going to know God and hopefully come away loving God, they're going to need to know the love of God's people. We know that dehumanizing labels stereotypes and marginalizes people. We know they do not lift them up. We know it doesn't support them. And we know that identifying them in those ways does not reflect their true capacity to change and grow in faith. In other words, we cannot say with any confidence that change cannot happen, and therefore we should not condemn with certainty by naming and referring to them with condemning words.
Words matter. For instance, the scribe that originally came to test Jesus, saw that Jesus' words were good ones, and worthy words. He even called him "Teacher" and a right one for that matter.
"You are right, Teacher."
This is the same Jesus who very shortly will become imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and executed for word crimes. For crimes against thoughts and beliefs. Jesus never robbed, raped, murdered, or committed any violent crime of any kind. He simply offended the hearts and minds of those who held the positions of power over the powerless. Jesus spoke words that offended them. Words that this scribe deemed to be right and good are transformed into criminal actions by those who recatergorized them into offenses against the law of God. Fundamentalism will do that. And likewise liberalism will flip the script and call abuse of alcohol or drugs, sexual immorality, habitual lying, stealing, etc, as disease rather than use the term "sin". Which is kind of a misdirection. They are right, those things are manifestations of a disease, the disease of sin. And it's a fatal disease. But there is a cure for this disease, redemption and regeneration in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Kairos prison ministry, we see this healing process live and in person. We see what love, listening, and forgiveness in Christ can do. We see the work of The Holy Spirit live and in person. Often with the help of scripture (words), and thoughtful interpretation in our dialogues together as a family in Christ. And sometimes with help in testimonies from believers who know God and who love him and who are willing to share their stories. And in serving in Christ, making ourselves vulnerable serving as his hands and feet; feeding, praying, listening, serving one another in love. And in joy, in songs and skits, talks and faith filled expressions of what we've learned in Christ. All this is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. A mountain top high. A fruit that can slip away when they return to their incarceration environments. And we talk about that dynamic too, which we call obstacles to grace. And I'm afraid it's often the church that stands as one of the most challenging obstacles.
Disappointment, let downs, and seeing the hypocrisy of too many causes many to slip up and maybe even drop out. And this is why Kairos commits to being an ongoing ministry in their lives. This is why we promote continuing ministry with prayer and share gatherings and follow up sessions to build up resistance to the obstacles to grace.
Imagine trying to maintain your faith and the peace you've found in Christ while serving out decades in that dark place. Imagine turning that situation into a ministry purpose for your life. Imagine serving in Christ's love among pagan gangs, Islamic gangs, cultural and political gangs. Imagine preaching the good news among them and trying to be infectious in an environment where no one tries to be a minister of joy. Imagine the faith it takes to do that.
Well, you don't need to imagine because I'm telling you I've seen it, it happens, and it's happening because we serve a POWERFUL God! Powerful enough to break any chains!
Some inside become wonderful leaders for Christ. Some become prayer warriors. Some become silent servants and bless people everyday in the little things. And they all do it in an environment where they are tagged as "offenders". They're tagged with that by the prison system, and often they're tagged with that by their peers for their gospel message offends them.
I'll always remember one Corrections Officer in particular. She and I, in a break moment during one Kairos event, were talking about a particular resident Kairos graduate. It simply started as a conversation about how effective I thought he was at pulling together his team of servants as they served the new pilgrims who hadn't yet graduated. He was a very mild mannered and prayerful man. He led with sincerity and honesty. The man I knew loved God with all his heart, mind, spirit and strength. And I also knew he was serving a life sentence. I never asked why. We don't ask why. And I told this CO about that feature of our ministry.
Well...she thought that day that I should know his crimes. And she told me about his family. The family he murdered.
I just said, "thank you", and "isn't it amazing what God can do with that".
I didn't want to know. But I know now. And nothing has changed between me and him. This was maybe tens years ago? And to this day we write letters to each other sharing faith and hope. I've never felt the Spirit telling me to talk at all about his sins. All we ever talk about is maintaining faith. Overcoming those obstacles to faith and grace. And that's all we should be talking about in my opinion.
I see him as an honest question asker. He's never tried to pull one over me. No mental games or manipulation. Just honest questions about faith and loving God.
God is good and sinners can definitely be redeemed. I trust my powerful God to get it done. Best thing I can do is stay out of his way when his Spirit is working. If my friend in Christ has genuinely repented and received the Spirit of Truth, why should I question that? Christ forgave him, and so do I.
Amen!