Day 6

This morning I’m reading John 11:45-57.  The Plot to kill Jesus.  It sounds so sinister and yeah, I guess it is.  

In this telling in John though, we hear that Caiaphas is prophesying and not speaking of his own accord. I find that so interesting.  Caiaphas prophesied what was to come and then was part of it coming to being.  Kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Let’s back up a bit though.  After seeing the raising of Lazarus, some of the people became believers but some went to the Pharisees and told them what they had witnessed.  Why?  

Why, after seeing something so miraculous, would they do that?

Fear.

Plain and simple, fear.  Fear is a powerful force, it can make us do crazy things while at the same time holding us back.

When we don’t understand something, sometimes it can make us very fearful.  The unknown, the unexplainable, even wonderful, beautiful things, when we don’t understand them, can cause us great fear.

This last decade or more really, we have really seen what fear can do to people.  For some it paralyzes, for some it causes paranoia, and some it creates action, sometimes that action is good and sometimes it is totally NOT.

If we let it, fear can control us in not so good ways and sometimes, a lot of times, there are people who use fear to control the masses, who take fears that already exist and use them to create even more fear.  Some people use fear tactics to force people to do or believe things they wouldn’t normally do, things completely out of character.  

I’ve seen really good, caring people become angry, selfish people because someone played on their fears and it’s heart breaking, shattering really.   I’ve watched as fear has been used to tear apart friendships, communities, and even families. 

Fear is a powerful emotion and in the wrong hands… well, it can start wars.

Fear has been used for generations to get people to believe in Jesus, in the Christian faith (and I’m sure others too, I just don’t have any experience with them) but is that true belief?   

We’ve been watching the television show 1923.  One of the storylines, follows a young Native American girl who was taken and placed in the school to “get the native” out of these children.  It’s run by the church and it is terrible.  Now, I know it’s a tv show but there has to be some truth to it.  They basically beat Christianity into them, while stripping away their heritage, their way of life. It’s gruesome.

There is one scene, after the girl escapes, where an older Native American man is helping her.  They are burning everything she brought out of the school, the last thing she brings out is a Bible, and the gentleman stops her.  He says that they read it to him over and over when he was in prison after the war and he thought it best not burn their important book, because “their God is vengeful” and they don’t want their God’s wrath upon them.  

FEAR.  It didn’t make them true believers, it made them true fearers.  They didn’t believe for the right reasons and I DO think there are right reasons to believe.

The whole time we watch any of this story line, I get angry and sad all at once.   It’s hard to watch but I think it’s important to see it and remember that this is a part of our history as Christians, so that we can be better now and in the future.  

I personally don’t think fear is the way to bring people to Christ.  Forcing our beliefs on people doesn’t further the Kin-dom of God.  Honestly, I think it shrinks it, but that’s just my opinion. 

Love is what builds and grows the Kin-dom of God.  Love.  

Okay, sorry, I got on a tangent there, but an important one, I think, as these were the thoughts that came to my mind as I a read the scripture.

But getting back to the scripture, Jesus then went out from there to spend more time with the disciples, in safety, so that he could have more time to teach them.  And, honestly, I think he was still trying to teach them LOVE and community.  But that’s just my opinion.

Until next time… ♥️