It Is As You Say

Matthew 26:63-64 But Jesus remained silent.  The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."  "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”  That is a famous and often repeated line from the movie “A Few Good Men.”  The character, Colonel Nathan R. Jessep delivers that line in a heated exchange with the character Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel Kaffee.  Kaffee is trying to elicit testimony from Jessep that Jessep issued an illegal order which led to the death of a Marine.  When I look at the exchange between Jesus and the high priest, the ‘You want the truth…” fits very well into that situation.   The ruling Jewish authorities really did not want to hear the truth.  You see the truth, the whole unvarnished truth, was a major problem for them.  How inconvenient for them it would be to have “The Christ” show up in their lifetime.  The Chosen One of God would really upset their wonderful situation.  To say they had mismanaged the faithful is charitable.

In our world today, we hear stories of someone leaving a particular faith, or congregation because they are disillusioned.  The “truth” as they taught was not really the truth.  Sadly many who are in that predicament simply fall away from any belief system.   Rejecting God comes so easy given their feeling of betrayal.  And that is how Satan captures another soul.  This is truly a tragic situation that begs not only for our prayer, but our involvement to correct.

          We all know that scripture is “God breathed.”  The scriptures in the bible we hold dear have been lovingly passed down through time to be cherished and studied by each and everyone on this earth.  The truth of the Gospel, like the Christ showing up in front of the high priest, can be inconvenient and upsetting for some.  The truth in the scriptures has a way of pushing people out of their comfort zone.  The truth in the scriptures shines a very bright light into the darkest, deepest recesses of some lives.  And hiding in those recesses are aspects of lives that people want hidden.  They want to deny that the sin in their lives.  And that is how Satan continues to win souls.

The lies of false teaching are also exposed by the truth of the Gospel. But some people want to stay on the their current path because they are afraid of what change can bring.  They do not think they can handle the truth, so they hide from the truth. And again, Satan wins another soul.  Change is needed, of that there is no doubt.  Prayer for that change is needed.

Let us close with the prayer Paul offers in Philippians 1.  For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.  And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  Amen.