Because "The How" Matters--January 30, 2020

Because "The How" Matters--January 30, 2020

"Again, the devil took Jesus up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan! for it is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.' Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him." [Matthew 4:8-11]

It's not just the goal--it's how you get there that matters.

That shouldn't be a controversial thing to say, but sometimes it is just really helpful to see what Jesus makes so clear.  Jesus knows that the way to accomplish God's Reign is not to sell out, but to follow the path that leads to a cross.  He knows that just aiming to rule the world isn't satisfactory--he has come to bring God's reign through selfless suffering love rather than through cutting a seemingly sweet deal with Satan.

And yes, the means matters.  The "how" of accomplishing God's Reign makes a difference--if Jesus just decides it is in his self-interest to worship Satan in exchange for the rights to all the kingdoms of the world, that's not OK.  That doesn't save humanity.  That doesn't put things right in a world that has gone wrong. That doesn't bring our deathly places back to life.

In fact, I would say that the devil is clever enough to know that the most tempting, most persuasive strategy he can employ is to try and convince Jesus that it doesn't matter how he accomplishes God's Reign, as long as he gets what he's after.  As long as he gets to be king of the world, why should it matter if he has had to bow down for a moment to worship Satan?  After all, if Jesus would just play by Satan's rules, everybody would get something they want--Jesus would get to rule over the world (and without having to get killed on a cross, by the way), and God the Father would still get the long-awaited outcome of Jesus reigning over all creation, and the devil would get the ego-stroking he was after.  Win-win, right?

The key to that whole temptation is to try to convince Jesus that it doesn't matter how he accomplishes things, as long as he gets what he's after.  It's a matter of persuading Jesus that the end justifies the means, or that it doesn't matter what sort of a person he as long as he gets where he is aiming. And to be very honest, that argument--as old and seemingly tired as it is--still keeps coming back to persuade people today.

I have been truly disappointed--maybe not surprised any longer, but truly disillusioned--at how many regular, ordinary, everyday church-going folks I've heard lately parroting the train of thought that goes, "Look, it doesn't matter what sort of character a person has or what they have to do in order to get their job done--all that matters is that they reach the thing they've set their ambitions on!"  And what still is so jarring to me is that folks who talk like this seem to have no awareness at all that this is the very same logic the devil tries on Jesus.  The devil's whole strategy is to say to Jesus, "It doesn't matter if you are selling out by bowing down to worship me, or even whether you mean it in your heart or not when you bow down--just do it, so you can get the thing you want.  It doesn't matter if you sell your soul to get the thing you're after."  

Jesus' response, of course, is that it does matter.  He won't sell out.  He won't give his allegiance to anybody or anything other than the God who sent him.  And he won't take the path that is in his own personal self-interest (no crosses) if it comes at the cost of selling out.  The way Jesus lives out his role as Messiah matters.  If he had taken the devil's offer, put a crown on his own head, and said, "This is the Kingdom I've been sent to establish, and I'm the King," the world wouldn't have been saved.  The means matters, and so does the character of the one wearing the crown.  The whole Christian gospel hangs on the idea that it matters how Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah, and that it was centered in the way of selfless suffering love rather than corner-cutting, deal-making self-interest brokered by the devil.

Look, anybody can slap on a firefighter's helmet on his head, show up at a fire scene, and try to tell the local news reporters covering the story that he was the hero who saved the day so he can start charging five bucks apiece for selfies and autographs, but that doesn't make him really the hero he claims to be.  The way to actually be the hero at the scene of the burning house is to be willing to choose the path of suffering love that risks putting yourself in danger and laying down your life for the sake of the other, rather than seeking your own self-interest.  If it is that obvious to us in a simple thought experiment like this, we should be able to see the same in the story of Jesus and in our stories, too.

The bottom line for all of us who follow after Jesus is to see that the way he brings life to the world is essential to actually bringing that life for us all.  Jesus won't just slap on a fire helmet and call himself a hero--he shows up and lays his life down for this whole dumpster fire of a world.  And if we are his disciples, then we will insist, too, that it matters how we act--not just if we reach our ambitions.  We'll insist that the way we get the job done matters as much as getting to say we "got it done."  We'll see that our character counts, because it is through self-giving love that Jesus saves the world, and not without that love.

So let this be my plea for the day: please, let us not accept the diabolical logic that says, "We don't care how you get it done or what sort of a personal character you have to get it done, as long as you get results!"  Please, let us not fall for the damnable lie that says accomplishing something out of greed and self-interest is just the same as accomplishing it out of self-giving love.  And please let us not delude ourselves into trusting what the devil would have us believe--that bowing down to him to gain the world's kingdoms is an acceptable way for bringing God's Kingdom on earth.  It matters not just that we "get results," but how we get them, as well.  At least it does to Jesus.

May it matter to us as well.

Lord Jesus, let us not settle for promised shortcuts or easy deals, but give us the courage to follow you where you lead, and to be shaped in the likeness of who you are.