That Which Burns

For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?  -- Luke 23:31

As Jesus was led to the Place of the Skull not all cried out for His death.  Some followed weeping and mourning.  It was to these that Jesus spoke telling them they should mourn for themselves and foreshadowing the great tribulation that came during the siege and fall of Jerusalem.  The Lord Jesus is the “green wood”, the Tree of Life in which hope always flows.  As to the dry wood, Luke reflects on this image in two other passages. 

In Luke 3:9, John the Baptist says, Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Similarly, in Luke 13:6-9, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree:

 And he told this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?   And he answered him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.  Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.

We note that the ministry of Jesus is usually seen as covering a three or three and a half year period of time.  The coming of the Messiah to His people was a final effort to bring forth the fruit of the kingdom.  When that generation, as a whole, rejected Jesus, they doomed themselves to great suffering and destruction.

In commentary on this passage, the focus tends to be on the injustice done to the innocent Lamb of God versus righteous judgment upon the guilty.  Green wood is hard to burn and symbolizes innocence while dry kindling fires easily, representing the guilt of those who live according to the flesh.  As Jesus said the devil had no hold on Him, no place to catch (John 14:30). 

We also see that there are two kinds of suffering:  the suffering of deliverance and the suffering of destruction.  While we do not look forward to or invite either, the one is hopeful while the other is hopeless.  You can cut a limb off some varieties of trees such as willow and get a whole new tree out of it, but if you let the limb dry out, it’s just as lifeless as any other. 

Consider Daniel 9:26 -- And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

Messiah, of course, means “anointed one”.  Jesus was indeed “cut off”, but He rose for He was that “green wood”.  His life has given life to countless millions in the intervening centuries and will give life to millions more in the future.  His suffering delivered humanity from the bondage of sin and certain destruction.  Untold numbers of Christians since that time and right up to this very hour have borne witness to the truth through persecution, tribulation, and death.  These have been counted worthy to “share in His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10) and have brought, thereby, that same deliverance to others. 

On the other hand, there is the suffering of destruction.  All our works will be tried as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13).  All of us must pass through the flames.  If we have lost hope, if we have been cut off from the Vine for unfruitfulness, all will be consumed.  This is the suffering of which Jesus warned those who mourned as He passed through the streets of Jerusalem that day.  The people who turned their backs on Him would pass through the fire and lose their temple, their holy city, and the land of their inheritance.  Everything in which they hoped would turn to dry wood and be reduced to dead ashes. 

It does not matter how close the Vine we branches are pruned.  So long as we remain in Christ, we have the hope of fruitfulness.  So long as the life of Christ flows through us, though we pass through difficulties and loss, though flames leap around us, we may be at peace for we will be delivered. 

No Room for the Reaper

But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason?  Because there is in him no place of death. – Lao Tzu

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. --James 1:15

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me -- John 14:30  [KJV -- the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me]

… to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace … Roman 8:6

Lao Tzu wasn’t talking about physical death.  Neither is James.  The body will wear out.  People can eat right, exercise, wear sunscreen, get injections, tucks, and lifts, replace knees and hips; they will die.  Years, miles, wear and tear, rust – it doesn’t matter.  We get about a billion heart beats and we are done. 

No, the life we can't lose is the God kind of life, eternal, abundant, overflowing, everlasting.  When, from the cross in that last moment of agony, Jesus cried out, "Tetelestai!", our debt was paid in full, finished.  Any hold the enemy could have gotten on us, any claim he could have made against us was voided, nullified.  

Have faith.  Set your mind on the Spirit.  Live skillfully.  Live without fear.

Fedora, Five O'clock Shadows, Tyranny and Slavery

Jesus said, “I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me” (John 14:30).

(KJV – “for the prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me”).

MizzE, the QP, said, “Biggest lesson I learned for myself: Saying ‘NO’ to tyrants in a straight forward manner and walking away, if necessary, in order to preserve your own sanity and soul, is OK.”

A lonely figure wanders homeless and hungry for weeks. By rights he should be back in the city running things, but his father has other plans. The son is on a mission that no one recognizes or understands. The head of the syndicate, Snake, I think they call him, finds the son out in the wasteland. Snake makes the kid a very reasonable offer of some easy dough. The son refuses. Snake smiles. He understands negotiations. The kid isn’t as naïve as he figured, but that’s OK. He ups the ante. How about worldwide fame for very little risk? Again the son refuses. Snake nods, no longer smiling, and then makes the offer he knows the son can’t refuse. “I know why you’re here, kid,” he says. “You’ve come to take over, so let’s do it. I’ll cut you in – give you all my turf. You just give me my due and keep me on as a silent partner.”*

“Get thee behind Me, Satan.”

Jesus says “NO” to the devil, walks away and takes the long, hard path to Golgotha. He embraces the freedom of obedience to the Spirit. As a result, His defeat is eternal victory and His death is life everlasting.

No one knows temptation the way Jesus does because He alone never yielded.

The hook in a thousand plots is that, for love or loyalty, the hero compromised and now he is an outcast in a shabby office on the seedy side of town doing dirty jobs dirt cheap because that’s the only option left. Somebody has the hooks in him, and the plot turns on his one chance for redemption, though it will cost him everything. The difference between the Gospel and the film noir is that Jesus makes the choice up front and sticks with it all the way through to the tomb.

It’s important to appreciate the subtlety of the devil’s offer in that he seems to say Jesus could save the world without that ugly scene on the cross. Mankind needed Jesus as king. Can you imagine the glorious reign Jesus could have established on earth? He could have called in many promises and prophecies to be fulfilled in the restoration of David’s throne. Further, the Disciples themselves had come to depend on their Lord. They believed, and so stated repeatedly, that they expected Him to restore the kingdom. That was Messiah’s mission. What was the point of all this talk about death and loss?

The devil tempts us to skip the bad parts in God’s path and zoom straight to the end of the road – to what we are (or think we are) supposed to possess anyway. However, as any hardboiled detective can tell you, the mob will only give you what you want so they can have what they want. The devil will demand his due. There will come a day when Faust gets the bill. God’s way, though hidden and hard to understand, is the way of freedom and peace.

We know that being in bondage is a bad thing. It does not matter what my outward status may be, what’s in my bank account, what I drive or with whom I sleep. Forge my chains of gold and wrap them in silk, and I am still in bondage. Freedom and sanity are more important than material wealth and ease, or the transient approval or even adoration of the fickle. It occurs to me, though, that if I am in a relationship with someone who is a tyrant, I may be keeping both of us in bondage.

As the man in Jerry Clowers’ story says, “Just shoot up in here amongst us. One of us got to have some relief.”

Somebody has to come to their senses and put an end to what’s going on. By saying ‘NO’ in the straightforward manner that QP suggests, I can potentially set both of us free. Without an enabling slave, a tyrant is powerless. The tyrant can find freedom if she chooses. As for me, I choose the Lord’s way to peace, sanity and freedom right now.




*Thanks to Ben for his recent noirspirations.