Paying Taxes to Caesar

Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him (Mark 12:13-17).

The Pharisees and Herodians are hoping to catch Jesus in a misstatement. They were afraid of the reaction of the crowds if they should come out against Jesus overtly and imprison or murder Him[1]. They figured that the only way for them to get rid of Jesus without causing a riot would be for Him to incriminate Himself. Their question is designed to put Jesus between a rock, and a hard place. If He answers that they shouldn't pay taxes to Rome, He is a subversive, a threat to Rome, and subject to it’s punishment. If He advocates paying taxes, then the Pharisees can say that He is a traitor to His people and the people would then call for His head. They open with a bit of flattery. We know you are true, they say; we know you care about no one, that is, Jesus is no respecter of persons. He’s not diplomatic and will speak what He thinks regardless of who is listening. These statements are made to soften Jesus up. If they thought, as they said, that Jesus taught the way of God in truth, why did the Pharisees and Herodians not simply accept what Jesus was teaching, rather than questioning Him?

These men, who knew what God’s Word said to look for, saw what Jesus did, and they knew what it meant. They saw Him heal the sick, restore the sight of the blind, make the lame to walk, and they understood that these were signs that pointed to the coming Messiah[2]. But they weren’t looking for the right kind of Messiah. They were looking for a political savior rather than a spiritual one. They were looking for a messiah who would save them from their bondage to Rome, not from their bondage to sin. Rather than embrace His coming, rather than repent and believe, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians were more concerned with holding on to their political power and religious authority[3].

Jesus would not assent to the faulty premise of their question. He uses the chance to show the true relationship between temporal and spiritual things. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Jesus tells us that, while our first allegiance is to God and His kingdom, we are bound to obey all legitimate civil authority[4]. He has instituted government for good order and our protection. Where the two come into conflict, we must obey God rather than men, as the Apostles showed us when they were imprisoned for preaching the Gospel after being ordered by the authorities to stop.[5] But, concerning earthly matters we are to obey the government which has authority over us.[6] Jesus tells us bluntly to keep our priorities straight. May we be careful to always render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s.

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[1] Matthew 21:45-46

[2] Luke 7:22; Luke 4:16-21

[3] John 11:48-53; 18:13-14

[4] Romans 13:1-8

[5] Acts 5:22-32

[6] Kretzmann, P. E. (1921). Popular Commentary of the Bible (Vol. I). St. Louis, MO, USA: Concordia Publishing House.

Satan Tempts Jesus; Jesus Begins His Ministry

Temptation of Christ on the Mountain - Duccio

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:12-14).

The way has been prepared by John the Baptist. The one who has come in the spirit and power of Elijah[1] has preached and baptized repentance in the wilderness. The message has been sent and received. All the land, Mark writes, went out to him, confessing their sins and being baptized. Jesus comes to be baptized. But why? John hesitates; Jesus reassures. It is to fulfill all righteousness.[2] John obeys. Jesus, the sinless one, God in human flesh, is baptized by John. He who has no sin identifies with sinful mankind and becomes sin.[3] The Father sends His Spirit to Jesus in the form of a dove. The Father claims and acknowledges His Son, putting His stamp of approval on the work Jesus is doing. The Father is well pleased.

Into the wilderness now; Jesus is driven by the Spirit. Forty days Jesus wanders in the wilderness, fasting and praying. He is in the desolate places among the wild beasts. Satan, the accuser, comes to tempt Him. Jesus is walking the path of God’s people. He is Israel. Jesus is putting right what God’s people have gotten so wrong since that business so long ago in the garden with the forbidden fruit. Jesus wanders but is not lost. He is tempted but does not sin. He rebukes the Devil with the words of Holy Scripture. Satan is driven back by God’s Word; the angels minister to Jesus.[4]

Jesus is God’s people, Israel, reduced down to one. He is the promised Seed over whom Abraham rejoiced.[5] Jesus has entered the covenant through circumcision.[6] He has identified with God’s people and assumed the responsibility for their sins in John’s baptism. He has corrected Israel’s sinful missteps through His own exodus. And, He begins His proclamation of the Good News, a ministry which will ultimately end with Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil, by His perfect sacrifice for sin - His crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension. We who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death, and we will also, therefore, take part in His resurrection.[7] Through baptism, we take part in Christ, and are thus made part of Israel. Wild olive shoots, we are grafted into the True Vine by the grace of God, through the gift of faith, created in us through the Word.[8] There is room enough for all in Christ. The time is fulfilled! The Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe the Gospel!

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[1] Luke 1:17

[2] Matthew 3:13-15

[3] 2 Corinthians 5:21

[4] Matthew 4:1-11

[5] Galatians 3:16; John 8:58

[6] Genesis 17:10-14; Luke 2:21

[7] Romans 6:1-11

[8] John 15:1-8; Ephesians 2:1-10

God Made Them Male and Female

And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment [regarding divorce]. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:5-9).

Supporters of same-sex marriage took quite the arrogant victory lap on social media last month when the Supreme Court handed down their decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Two major focuses of the assault seemed to be 1) Christians shouldn’t judge homosexuals because their holy book tells them not to judge, and 2) Christians are just haters and homophobes, because Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. In a previous article I examined one of the memes prevalent in my Facebook news feed, which I referred to collectively as the “Judge not…” meme. This article will focus on a rather irritating, though clever, little meme featuring Stephen Colbert, which asserts that Jesus never had anything to say about homosexuality.

Fellow Christians, I hate to admit it, but Jesus never said the word, “Homosexual.” He never explicitly said anywhere in the New Testament, “Don’t go around having sexual intercourse with other people who are the same sex as you.” I’ve searched the New Testament front to back and still can’t find a passage where Jesus denounces legislation legalizing gay marriage. I guess that the “marriage equality” crowd has got us on this one, and we need to fall into line with the rest of main-line liberal Protestantism, and a big chunk of American Evangelicalism.

Before we go painting #LoveWins on our LCMS churches in rainbow colors and ordaining transgender pastors, perhaps we should go back and take one last look at the things Jesus did say regarding marriage, men, and women. After all, just because the word “homosexual” wasn’t uttered by Jesus, doesn’t necessarily mean that he condones the lifestyle. If that were the proper method for interpreting the Scriptures, we could do away with the doctrine of the Trinity, as that word is also MIA from the pages of the Bible.

When asked by the Pharisees about divorce, Jesus appeals to the beginning of creation. He points out to them that, “God made them male and female,” a fact which was obvious to his audience. Jesus is saying here, however, that the estate of marriage was intended by God from the beginning to be comprised of a man and a woman. It is the natural created order. Or, if you are a Darwinian Naturalist, it is the natural law produced through “millions” of years of “evolution.”

In this passage, Jesus defines what marriage is, and his definition makes it clear that gender is essential to it. He doesn’t have to continue on and say, “But God did not make them male and male; neither did He make them female and female, nor male and female and female, or…” All other combinations are excluded by the example which Jesus gives. Societies can pass laws legalizing whatever type of relationships they wish, but no human law can negate the natural law God has built into his creation. God made them male and female and, for this reason a man leaves his father and his mother and becomes “one flesh” with his wife.

But what about polygamy in the Bible? What about adultery? Jesus can’t mean that marriage is supposed to be exclusively between one man and one woman, because the Bible is full of polygamy, adultery, and all other manner of what up-tight confessional types call “sin.” Yes, the Bible does record many instances of polygamy. I am well aware of Abraham and Solomon. The Bible also records many murders, thefts, and other felonies, but this does not mean that God is giving mankind Carte Blanche to commit these acts. The Bible records that Cain murdered Abel, yet we don’t call for the legalization of murder because it’s “in the Bible.” The Bible records David’s adultery with Bathsheba, yet we do not claim that it is sanctioning such behavior by us in the present day. The Bible isn’t even sanctioning such behavior by the people about whom it reports, contrary to what the liberal Bible scholars and social activists would have people believe. God specifically judges the actions of David, Solomon, and many others by commanding, “You shall not murder,” and “You shall not commit adultery.” Likewise, the Bible records at least one instance of homosexual behavior in the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 18 and 19 recounts the destruction of Sodom because of its wickedness:

Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know,” (Genesis 18:20-21).

What was the sin of Sodom? Homosexual lust.

But before they [the two angels] lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them,” (Genesis 19:4-5).

Lot’s plan to avert the assault of the townspeople on his angelic visitors was less than noble. He offers his daughters to the crowd as a substitute, perhaps rationalizing that heterosexual rape of his virgin daughters would be less wicked than the homosexual rape of guests under the protection of his roof. Yet, no one in their right mind would suggest that the Bible condones fathers handing their daughters over to be raped. Nevertheless it’s recorded in the Bible. 

Those passages about Sodom and Gomorrah are from the Old Testament though! They don’t apply, and that still doesn’t negate the fact that Jesus never said anything condemning homosexuality. Checkmate! Well, not so fast…

In the passage cited above Jesus quotes the Old Testament, specifically Genesis 2:24, by which he calls to mind the passage read at many a Lutheran wedding:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:18-25).

Jesus Christ is Immanuel – God, with us, God incarnate. He is the image of the invisible God, by whom all things were created.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:15-20).

Jesus is the very God who created and sustains the world. He told the Jews this and, when they heard him assert that he was the great I AM who had told Moses his name through the burning bush, the God who spoke to Abraham, they were ready to stone him for blasphemy. The Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in Mark 10:7 is the same person speaking the words recorded in Genesis two. 

That also makes him the God who spoke the words recorded in Leviticus 20:

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them (Leviticus 20:13).

While Jesus in the Gospels does not use the word homosexual, the Apostle Paul does, offering the negative argument concerning the practice. St. Paul explicitly states that men who practice homosexuality with not inherit the kingdom of God.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Did you also notice how St. Paul singled out homosexuality? Quite to the contrary, St. Paul records a list of sinful behaviors, including homosexuality, which does not leave out one person. It’s like a buffet of sinfulness – everyone can find something that they like. St. Paul continues, however, reminding the Corinthians that, despite having once been sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, etc., they have been redeemed by Christ.

St. Paul also takes Jesus’ thread from Mark 10:7 regarding the one-flesh union and explains it further, calling the Corinthians – and us today – to repent of our sins, flee from sexual immorality of all kinds, and glorify God in our bodies:

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” – and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:12-20).

It is clear, even to someone who is not a Christian, that the male body was not designed (or did not “evolve,” if you want to appeal to the secular Darwinist) to mate with another male body; Likewise with two female bodies. The fact that people crave such relationships proves that something has gone terribly wrong with creation (Engelbrecht 2009). That thing is sin, and no human being since The Fall has been immune to it. In fact, we have all been utterly corrupted by sin from the time of our conception. That corruption may not manifest itself as a desire to fornicate with people of the same gender in some, but it does in many. And, those who do not struggle with homosexual desire most certainly struggle with something else. We are all in the same boat when it comes to sin, and our complete inability to overcome it.

The problem is that liberal Bible “scholars” and social activists don’t believe that Jesus is God. They don’t believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired, inerrant Word of God. They don’t believe that St. Paul is an Apostle. They believe in moral relativism because that gratifies their flesh. Nothing, short of God changing their hearts, will change their darkened minds.

As Christians we are called, as St. Paul called the Corinthians, to abhor the sin of homosexuality – and all sin – and to flee from it. We must also bear in mind that Christ shed his blood and died for all men – for the homosexual, the idolater, the adulterer, the thief, the hypocrite, the murderer, the liar – no matter in what particular ugliness their sin might manifest. A homosexual, like any other sinner, needs to hear God’s word of Law and Gospel applied to their life with the goal of repentance and faith (Engelbrecht 2009).

Works Cited

Engelbrecht, Rev. Edward A., ed. The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009.

The Destruction of Marriage

Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” “What did Moses command you?” he replied. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery” (Mark 10:1-10).

Christian advocates for the protection of marriage (marriage between a man and a woman – what the media has dubbed “traditional” marriage) have said for years that the true purpose of the fight for gay marriage was the destruction of the institution of marriage itself. People holding this opinion were, and continue to be, derided as sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and reactionary. Over the last several years, however, in the wake of unprecedented success in the battle to legalize gay marriage, leaders and militant activists associated with the movement have begun to speak more candidly regarding the marriage fight. It turns out, the sexist, misogynistic, reactionary homophobes on the lunatic right fringe (read “Christians”) may have been right all along, regarding the motives of those fighting for “marriage equality”.

Gay rights activists (or should it be “marriage equality activists”) are fond of saying that they aren’t the ones who are destroying the institution of marriage, but rather straight people are. They cite the 50% divorce rate statistic which is thrown about with reckless abandon by experts. They point to prostitution, rampant infidelity among married couples, spousal abuse, and “loveless” marriages.

While the average supporter of the marriage equality movement may believe they are fighting for the civil rights of homosexuals to marry, those who organize and shape the direction of this movement have been exposing their true agenda as of late. This agenda, surprisingly enough, is the disillusion of marriage as an institution. These radical leftists view marriage as a misogynistic institution developed to oppress women and to facilitate the transfer of property from one male to another. Carina Kolodny, writing for the Huffington Post in February 2014 wrote proudly of the duplicity, and shamed advocates of traditional marriage as the real liars:

I definitely never lied. I am much smarter than that. I didn't perpetuate a fallacy; I just continually failed to correct it. When your chest inflated and your eyes grew wider and you declared that "gay marriage is a threat to traditional marriage," I let somebody else tell you that you were wrong. And when that somebody else -- exhausted from having to defend their very personhood, tired from battling for their constitutional right to equality, drained from being persecuted by small men inflating their arrogant chests -- said to you, "No, marriage equality will not change traditional marriage," I didn't have the heart to correct them. For years and years I've strategically bit my tongue (Kolodny).

She goes on to make the case that, because of same-sex marriage, everyone will be forced to re-imagine the tenets of traditional marriage. This will lead to freedom for women, who are oppressed by men through marriage:

As questions continually arise, heterosexual couples will take notice – and be forced to address how much “traditional marriage” is built on gender roles and perpetuates a nauseating inequality that has no place in 2014…I believe that marriage equality will stomp out the remaining misogyny that you call “tradition.” That’s a win, not just for the LGBTQ community but for heterosexual women and the heterosexual men who see them as equals (Kolodny).

I must say, they do have a point. Certainly not about the tired radical feminist rhetoric that has been vomited by those on the left since the beginning of the sexual revolution. I suppose, however, it is not surprising that Ms. Kolodny wouldn’t take us Christians at our word when we support marriage as instituted by God, and deny that it is our intention to use marriage to enslave womyn. I guess if they’re willing to lie about what they believe, they probably figure we are as well.

They are right that the proponents of “traditional marriage” are responsible for the erosion of marriage as an institution. We should take just as much blame for what has happened to the institution of marriage as the leftist social activists, because we are just as human as they are. While Christians are certainly correct to worry about the erosion of marriage as a social institution, the worrying should be applied retroactively by a period of at least 45 years. And, considering that prostitution has been dubbed the world’s oldest profession, perhaps we should dial that back even a little further.

1969, however, is when California became the first state to enact no-fault divorce. It was at this point, at the height of the sexual revolution, it seems to me, that the Christian church began to seriously flirt with the idea of conforming more closely to the secular world’s view of marriage and sexuality, so as to be more tolerant and loving. Certainly, the other eroding factors mentioned above existed long before liberal wack-a-doo legislators on the left-coast decided that it was ok to dissolve a marriage for any reason, without having to prove wrong-doing on the part of the spouse. I seem to recall a story about an English king and a parade of headless ex-wives. The difference between good ol’ Henry VIII and the 40-year sonic dive into nationwide same-sex marriage in which our society is currently involved, is really one of acceptance of attitude.

Christian society, relying on God’s Law as a curb, refused to accept those things such as infidelity and divorce, even though sinful human beings engaged in those behaviors. What I’m getting at is the difference between living and sinning, and “living in sin”. Or, to put it in the words of St. Paul, it is the difference between walking according to the flesh, and walking according to the spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8: 5-14).

People get all hacked-off when Christians call homosexual behavior sin. Even Christians feel uncomfortable affirming this biblical teaching. This is because, for at least a generation, it has been taught as undeniable truth that sexual orientation is determined by genitics and homosexuals simply "are what they are". Science is even confident, the media tells us, that they have identified a strong genetic component to homosexuality[1]. This argument is somehow supposed to shame the Christian into silence by painting him as a bigot and a bully for picking on a group of people who can't help what they are.

Well, science also says that alcoholism is genetically determined, and alcoholics also can't help what they are[2]. Yet, society recognizes that alcoholism is unnatural and destructive, and supports groups with tax money and tax breaks which council them not to engage in such behavior. Is this cruel and bigoted? Hardly. What the secular world cannot acknowledge is that all of humanity is predisposed toward sinful behaviors. This is because we are all sinners, with a broken and corrupt nature. It doesn't matter in what form your sin manifests - gluttony, greed, sexual immorality, lying, covetousness etc - take your pick. All sin condemns and separates us from God.

The answer to sin is not acceptance, but repentance. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But, if we confess our sin God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness[3]. There is forgiveness for the world in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Law and Gospel faithfully proclaimed, the waters of Holy Baptism, and the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine of the supper, coupled with God’s promises of redemption, create and sustain faith in us. They kill our corrupt sinful nature – our Old Adam – and make of us a new creation by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All of the sinful sexual perversion (along with the dissolution of marriage) that we deal with today was dealt with in ancient times as well; It isn’t as though human beings have changed since the Fall. Israelite husbands were divorcing their wives during the leadership of Moses long before Henry VIII got axe-happy. Jesus tells us, however, that this wasn’t meant to be. He teaches that divorce was only given to the people by Moses because of their stubbornness[4]. To put it another way, they allowed the dissolution of marriage because of sin – their sin. Because our nature is corrupt and sinful, we human beings sin. That doesn’t mean, however, we should accept it and live according to it.

…Jesus allows divorce for one reason only – “immorality,” or illicit sexual intercourse. His thought is plainly that a person dissolves his marriage by creating a sexual union with someone other than the marriage partner…the decree of divorce simply reflects that the marriage has already been broken (Packer and Tenney).

Just because people are sinful doesn’t mean society in general, but the Christian church in particular, should accept and celebrate sinful behavior. That isn’t being inclusive or loving. To hold that attitude is to reject Christ and embrace the world. It is truly loving to tell your neighbor the good news that, while they were dead in trespass and sin, God sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross in payment for that sin – whatever particular perversion they may struggle with (or, as is more often the case, be fond of) – and to call them to repent and to believe that this is most certainly true. All of the things St. Paul describes as works of the flesh that we commit are the sins for which Christ died as the atoning sacrifice. And, though Christians will inevitably fall into sin, that does not mean they should give in and gratify the desires of their sinful nature and flesh on purpose – that would be to make sin their way of life. In short, simply because some people will divorce, commit acts of infidelity, or are same-sex attracted does not mean that we should accept those things as a normal, healthy part of human behavior. Having a standard and failing to live up to it is quite a different thing than living as if there was no standard at all.

So, ultimately, the issue regarding the deterioration of marriage and sexuality has nothing to do with marriage equality being a civil right or whether or not “being gay” equates to a separate gender and needs to be a federally-protected group. It is even irrelevant to the discussion whether or not homosexuality is genetic, because all mankind is already predisposed toward evil and away from God. It’s not same-sex marriage that is destroying marriage; it isn’t divorce, or infidelity that is destroying marriage. The sinfulness of mankind is at the root of the deterioration of marriage. All of these things – homosexuality, adultery, divorce etc – are different manifestations of sin. The issue is, as always, Christ and him crucified. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The Father gave the Son to ransom mankind from sin – all sin. Repent, and believe the Gospel. Marriage will then take care of itself.

Works Cited

Davis, Jeanie Lerche. "Alcohol Addiction, High Anxiety Linked to Same Gene." 26 05 2004. WebMD. 12 06 2014. <http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20040526/researchers-identify-alcoholism-gene>.

Knapton, Sarah. "Being homosexual is only partly due to gay gene, research finds." 13 02 2014. The Telegraph. 12 06 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10637532/Being-homosexual-is-only-partly-due-to-gay-gene-research-finds.html>.

Kolodny, Carina. "Marriage Equality Is Destroying 'Traditional Marriage,' and Why That's a Good Thing (An Open Letter)." 20 02 2014. The Huffington Post. 12 06 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carina-kolodny/marriage-equality-is-dest_b_4823812.html?view=print&comm_ref=false>.

Packer, J. I. and M. C. Tenney, Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980.

End Notes

[1] A study found that, while gay men shared similar genetic make-up, it only accounted for 40 per cent of the chance of a man being homosexual. But scientists say it could still be possible to develop a test to find out if a baby was more likely to be gay (Knapton).

[2] Both the CREB gene and the central amygdala have been linked with withdrawal and anxiety. When there is less CREB in the central amygdala, rats show increased anxiety-like behaviors and preference for alcohol. Pandey's newest study puts it all together: It is "the first direct evidence that a deficiency in the CREB gene is associated with anxiety and alcohol-drinking behavior," Pandey writes (Davis).

[3] 1 John 1: 8-10

[4] Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-10

Listen to lesbian activist Masha Gessen talk about the "lie of gay marriage" at the Sidney Writer's Festival.

Jesus Calms a Storm

Jesus Calms the Storm - Rembrant 1633

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:35-41).

Jesus had been “teaching by the sea” all day[1]. Immediately prior to his teaching session by the sea, Jesus had argued with, and been rejected by, the Pharisees, whom he decried as the evil and adulterous generation[2]. Jesus had healed a demon-possessed man, and the common people began to wonder if Jesus might be the Messiah[3]. The Pharisees accused him of being possessed himself rather than acknowledging the messianic claims of his followers, and demanded from Jesus a sign proving that he was the Messiah. As a side note, this is ironic, as Jesus’ healing of the demon-possessed man was recognized by the common people and the Jewish religious establishment of the day as sign pointing to the Messiah (Fruchtenbaum). The rabbis of Jesus’ time taught that, when Messiah came, he would cast out mute demons from those people possessed by them.

There was one kind of demon against which [Judaism’s methodology] was powerless, and that was the kind of demon who caused the controlled person to be dumb or mute. And, because he could not speak, there was no way of establishing communication with this kind of demon; no way of finding out this demon’s name. So…it was impossible to cast out a dumb demon. The rabbis had taught, however that when the Messiah came, he would be able to cast out this type of demon. This was the second of the three messianic miracles: the casting out of a dumb or mute demon (Fruchtenbaum).

Jesus, however, told the Pharisees that there would be no further signs given to them, the evil and adulterous generation, except for the “sign of Jonah”, thereby alluding to his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

Jesus and his disciples were in Galilee, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. They would be traveling to the region of the Gerasenes (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). This region was part of the Decapolis[4] and was more Gentile in culture. Consequently, the Jewish people living there had probably adopted some Gentile customs in violation of the Law of Moses[5] (Mark 5:11). This is the region where Jesus will meet and exorcize “Legion” from a man and send him into a herd of pigs.

The "Jesus Boat" on display at the Yigal Allon Museum in Israel.

If they were in a typical Galilean fishing boat of the day, it would have been approximately 25½ feet long, 7½ feet wide, and just over 4 feet high. An excellent example of this type of fishing boat is on display at the Yigal Allon Museum in Israel. The “Jesus” or “Sea of Galilee” boat, as it is known, was discovered in 1986 on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Galilee Boat, 2012). The remains of the boat first appeared during a drought when the waters of the sea receded. The boat is made of 12 different types of wood and measures 25.5 ft. (8.2 m) long, 7.5 ft. wide, and 4.1 ft high. It would have had a crew of five (four rowers and a helmsman) and could carry about 15 additional persons (Jesus Boat Museum, 2012).

Unless a person has ever been in the position of similar life threatening danger, I don’t think they can really know just exactly what the disciples were feeling as they battled the storm. They would have been literally terrified to death. They had experienced that chilling moment when the idea of losing their lives had ceased to be an abstract idea, as it is to most people for much of the time, and become a looming possibility that had to be considered. As they struggled fruitlessly to keep their boat from sinking, it became apparent to them that something more than their efforts would be required if they were to make it through the situation. They would have to be rescued; their situation was hopeless. In exasperation they wake Jesus and ask him if he does not care about their fate. At this point they do not realize just who Jesus really was.

The disciples believed, or at least confessed, that Jesus was the Son of David, just as some of the people who saw him cast out the mute demon did. Probably, like most of the average people, though, they understood the Son of David – the Messiah – to be a political savior rather than a spiritual one. In fact, this view would not be totally eradicated from the minds of the disciples until after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even the disciples to whom Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus talked to him about how they had hoped that the murdered Jesus might have been the one to “save Israel”, the implication being that he must not have been the one, since he was killed by the Romans at the urging of the Jews.

Jesus was indeed the savior of Israel, but certainly not in the way that the Jewish religious establishment, or the Disciples (at this point in their story) expected. Jesus also certainly cared for the disciples’ well-being, but he, unlike we sinful human beings, totally trusted that care into God the Father’s hands[6]. He also understood that man’s physical needs were secondary to man’s spiritual needs. That is why he can sleep on a cushion, on a boat, in the middle of a raging storm – this situation, like all others, is in the Father’s hands. In a sense, you could say that, no Jesus didn’t care that the Disciples were “perishing”, at least in the manner about which they were concerned. He didn’t have to care about that physical situation because it was already in the care of God the Father. No one in the history of human kind, however, cared more than Jesus about how the disciples were truly perishing – spiritually and for eternity. The spiritual situation of mankind is that of the disciples rowing and bailing their boat against the storm. Those efforts will prove fruitless, the proverbial boat of our soul will sink into the sea of sin and death, and our efforts to keep it from doing so are woefully insufficient. We need to be rescued from slipping into the abyss. Jesus cared so much about this that he came to earth a human being in order to atone for the disciples’ sin – and the sin of all mankind – to save them from eternal destruction. Jesus tells the disciples, in fact, that these are the things – those things which pertain to our eternal destiny – to which we should devote our time and attention[7].

Verses 38-39 illustrate for us the dual nature of Jesus. He is truly a human being as evidenced by his physical needs; he was exhausted after a long day of “teaching by the sea” and contending with the Pharisees, and he needed to sleep. He is also divine because, as the disciples point out, “…the wind and the sea obey him.” Jesus is, in addition to being a man, the King of Creation, the one through whom all things were made[8]. When he came to earth, Jesus did not cease to be God; Jesus became Immanuel, “God with us”. He emptied himself of his divine power and took on the form of a servant. He did this so that he could live the sinless life we were incapable of living, and then he paid the debt of guilt that we, mankind, owed to God because of sin[9] by dying on the cross, for, as St. Paul writes, the wages of sin is death[10]. Jesus is the Son, the God-man, second person of the Holy Trinity. Kretzmann observes:

The evangelist here pictures Jesus, the Lord of the universe, who commands the sea, and it gives Him unquestioning obedience. The man Jesus is the almighty God (Kretzmann, 1921).

If the disciples believed what Jesus was teaching about who he was, why he was on the earth, and what was really important (spiritual things rather than physical things), they wouldn’t have been afraid of the storm. They would trust in God in all situations, even the ones which potentially lead to death. Jesus knows, however that they do not yet understand the things he is teaching them properly. They will eventually, though, properly hail him as Messiah. They will also, much later, exhibit the same type of trust in God that Jesus exemplifies in the boat as he slept when they all are, with the exception of St. John, martyred for their faith.

Jesus’ miracle of calming the sea shows that Jesus possesses divine power and authority over creation. It confronts the disciples with the actual Word of God manifested in the flesh, through whom creation itself was brought into existence. Jesus is the Creator of Genesis, and the Designer who spoke to Job[11]. This miracle should also give us, who are also his disciples, comfort. We can look at Jesus the man, sleeping on a cushion in the boat amongst the raging tempest, and know that Jesus the Divine Son of God is aware, and in control of all things. Kretzmann explains:

From that little nutshell of a boat, even while He was asleep, He governed heaven and earth, land and sea. Only His divine majesty was covered by the form of a servant. And as He did then, so He does now: He uses His divine power, His omnipotence, in the interest, in the service of men, especially of His disciples, of His believers. That is the comfort of this story (Kretzmann, 1921).

Therefore, in the mist of tribulations, we know that all things work to the good of them who love Him, who are called according to his purpose[12]. We know that Jesus will calm the storm which threatens the passage of our spiritual ship, and he will pilot it safely into the peaceful rest of eternal life with him, where we will be once and for all free of the stain of sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Works Cited

Decapolis. (2012, June 28). Retrieved June 28, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapolis

Engelbrecht, E. A., Deterding, P. E., Ehlke, R. C., Joersz, J. C., Love, M. W., Mueller, S. P., et al. (Eds.). (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House.

Fruchtenbaum, A. (n.d.). The Three Messianic Miracles. Retrieved June 28, 2012, from Ariel Ministries: www.arielministries.us/archive-files/mbs-masters/mbs/mbs035m.pdf

Jesus Boat Museum. (2012, December 28). Retrieved June 27, 2012, from Sacred Destinations: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jesus-boat

Kretzmann, P. E. (1921). Popular Commentary of the Bible (Vol. 1). St. Louis, MO, USA: Concordia Publishing House.

Sea of Galilee Boat. (2012, June 27). Retrieved June 27, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee_Boat

End Notes

[1] Matthew 13; Mark 4:1

[2] Matthew 12:38-42

[3] Matthew 12:22-23

[4] The Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Judea and Syria. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status. The Decapolis cities were centers of Greek and Roman culture in a region that was otherwise Semitic. With the exception of Damascus, the "Region of the Decapolis" was located in modern-day Jordan, one of them located west of the Jordan River in Israel. Each city had a certain degree of autonomy and self-rule (Decapolis, 2012).

[5] Leviticus 11:7-8; Mark 5:11

[6] Matthew 6:25-34

[7] Matthew 6:25-34; 13-44

[8] John 1:3

[9] Philippians 2:5-11

[10] Romans 6:23

[11] Job 38:1-11

[12] Romans 8:28