The Other Option

There is a way that seems good unto man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12

I am not writing this to pick a fight. I am writing this because of some encounters I had this last week which left me disconcerted. 

There is so much twisting going on. I hear it everywhere. Twisting. Twisting. Twisting. Pundants and Preachers. Professionals and Politicians. All twisting statistics, twisting the Scriptures, and twisting their opponents’ words so they can feel some moral superiority, or some momentary popularity. They are laying sophisticated rhetoric traps, capturing the American psyche. Ugh. It can be so exhausting. 

Jesus often found Himself being challenged by the people who felt they were the most “woke” in His day. The religious and political elite of Jesus’ day also laid well-formed political traps in order to gain power, authority, and control. One of the traps they sprang on Jesus had to do with taxes: 

“Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.”

The kicker in this story is that the Pharisees and Herodians would have been very aware of the “imago dei” concept, which is held dear in Judaism. The “imago dei” concept is that God created mankind in His image, so, though the coin had Caesar’s image on it, each and every person has the image of God on them. They gave Him two bad options and Jesus pointed to a higher option. Whoop. there it is!

Another trap set for Jesus went like this. “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

The ones claiming to be standing on the high moral ground wanted to make Jesus either an enemy of God’s Law or an enemy of God’s love in the people’s eyes. But Jesus who is the high moral ground, says to these manipulative hypocrites, “The one who is without sin should cast the first stone.” Everyone went home and Jesus, who is the only one without sin, set the woman free. Again, Jesus pointed to a higher option. 

Now for the tricky part. Last summer a group claiming to have the high moral ground tried to capture power and control by laying a sophisticated trap posed by the question: Do you support Black Lives Matter or are you a racist?

Those who said yes with their words, posts, and activities found themselves pushing forward an agenda incongruent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Those who did not support BLM found themselves being marked as racists, which is also incongruent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

As in Jesus’ day, we need another option. We can call it, “The Other Option” or “Option #3” or “Option #0”. I really believe that if Jesus were here in the flesh, walking our streets as He did in first century Israel, He would not have fallen into this trap of two unrighteous options. He would point to a higher option. 

Jesus did not care for the poor and set the oppressed free by dismantling the teachings put forth by the law of God and His prophets. He fulfilled them. And Jesus did not care for the poor and set the oppressed free by being silent and ignoring those who called Him untrue things like demon-possessed, a glutton, and a sinner. Instead He disengaged from the rhetorical propaganda battle and ministered to individuals, telling those He healed to keep it a secret between them and God.

I love that. I care very deeply about justice. I know justice requires great sacrifice. I know for justice to happen in large ways it has to happen in small ways. By God’s grace and His divine working in my life, some of my most joyful discipleship moments have been with black men. We have had wonderful, mutually beneficial friendships forged by the Spirit of God made possible by the gospel of Christ. And currently, Jesus has gripped my heart to see Living Streams figure out how to engage with the legitimate pain and frustration felt by the black community in Phoenix, particularly South Phoenix. 

I disagree strongly with the sources and solutions put forth by the BLM organization. It is clear BLM does not acknowledge that broken families are one of the major sources of the pain and frustration, and at the same time, healthy families and faithful fathers are a main solution. BLM does not want to acknowledge sin as a source and the Spirit of God as solution. And until the truth wins out, no matter how unpopular, unsexy, or inconvenient it may be, we can never be set free. 

Let God be true and every man a liar. 

Sincerely, 

David