legacy

Harmony #97: His Blood Be On Us (Matthew 27:24-25)

When Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd[1] and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves! You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!”

The Jewish leaders and all the people replied, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God! Let his blood be on us and on our children!” [2]

This was not a new phrase to the Jewish people. Let’s go back to the book of Joshua. After Rahab helped the spies at Jericho, the spies promised she and her family would be spared the coming destruction if she brought them into her house. But…

“If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them.” (Joshua 2:19)

In other words, the consequences of their choices are on them. I think this is what the crowd is saying in today’s passage: “We accept the consequences for us – and not just us, but our kids also.” Sadly, that will happen within 40 years. Choosing the way of Barabbas will indeed rain blood on their heads when the Zealots poked the Roman bear one too many times, and Rome destroyed the temple and killed a million Jewish people. Josephus recorded:

Thousands died by famine; thousands by disease; thousands by the sword; and their blood ran down the streets like water, so that, Josephus says, it extinguished things that were burning in the city. Thousands were crucified suffering the same punishment that they had inflicted on the Messiah. So great was the number of those who were crucified, that, Josephus says, they were obliged to cease from it, "room being wanted for the crosses, and crosses for the men." (Barnes Notes On The Bible)

So, there was a very practical consequence of that choice against Jesus and for Barabbas that had real-world consequences for those alive at that time. The children of those in the crowd clearly had to suffer for what their parents chose.

But in a broader sense, does God condemn children for something parents did? Hmmm… Let’s start in the Old Testament. First, the Law:

“Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” Deuteronomy 24:16

Next, the Prophets.

The word of the Lord came to me:  “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel….

“Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. 

The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” (Ezekiel 18)

Alright, so in terms of who pays the consequences for sin, it’s a one and done. We are only responsible for what we do. So what do we do with passages like this?

“You shall not bow down to them or worship [idols]; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations, to those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6)

“[God] keeps lovingkindness for thousands of generations, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 34:7)

How to resolve this?

This requires linguistic context. The phrase “the third and the fourth” is a Hebrew idiom for “however many” or “whatever number it takes.” The legacy of the sins of the parents will go on until the children reverse course. Notice how Jeremiah works the idea of generational guilt in with individual responsibility in the same paragraph.

You show steadfast love to thousands [of generations], but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God… whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 32:16-19)

Jeremiah isn’t going to contradict himself in the same paragraph. He’s referencing the principle of legacies as found in Deuteronomy while insisting individuals will get the fruit of their own deeds.

One thing is clear: The power of legacies is really strong. Israel broke their covenant so many times. The parents started a legacy, and the children carried it on. Think of the family dynamics in the Old Testament, such as sibling rivalry, favoritism, and deceit in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants, or how King David’s lust for women and power showed up again in his children and grandchildren. The Bible does not shy away from showing us the ripple effect of choices, particularly bad or sinful choices.

Here’s a practical and relatively minor example. I help out at the YMCA with little kids’ basketball league. A couple weeks ago I had to intervene with one of the coaches. He was getting really upset with the referee. He was tense, critical, and very vocal about it. Guess what started to happen to the players (they were 2nd and 3rd graders) who were just having fun playing basketball? They got tense, critical and vocal about it. So I pulled the coach aside and said, “Coach, when you are tense and angry, your players get tense and angry. When you are calm, they are calm.” He calmed down, and guess what? So did the kids.

The ‘blood’ of his anger was on him and his players.

Let’s try an example that might step on our toes if we have kids. Let’s say I get up tired and cranky back when my kids were younger. Rather than pray, take a deep breath, and remind myself of how Jesus has called me to be present in the world, I just run with it.

·  My kids are way too slow getting ready for school, and I shame them into hurrying up. (“You are so slow! What is your problem?”)

·  Sheila’s alarm didn’t go off so she is later getting ready than usual, and I snap at her for being in the bathroom when I needed to be in the bathroom (“If you would just set your alarm right this wouldn’t be a problem!” And she’s like, “I am going to be late if I don’t do this now.” And I’m like, “That’s on you. Maybe tonight you’ll set your alarm properly.”).

·  As I drive through the roundabout on the way to school, someone fails to yield. I yell and lay on the horn and have a lot to say about stupid drivers. Because we are late, I tailgate people on the way to school, as if that will help.

What will Sheila’s day look like now? Well, I’ve started her day by insulting her over a simple mistake and expressing zero empathy. Different personalities will respond different ways, but there’s no way she goes to work unaffected by me.

What will my boys be like at school? Well, that lovely start to that day will impact them. I was a teacher long enough to know the ride to school matters in how kids show up.  At some point in the year, I’m going to get a call. (“Your boys keep saying, “What is your problem? Are you stupid? When people bump into them in the hallway. Also, they really beat themselves up any time it takes them longer than others to finish an assignment. They keep saying, ‘I am so slow.’”)

How might that other driver’s day have been impacted? Well, I know how I feel when I make a driving mistake and get yelled out. I feel so stupid. I beat myself up. I show up differently in my next meeting or two because I feel like such an embarrassing failure. Depending on the other driver’s personality in my story, I don’t know what kind of response that would trigger. Anger? Shame? How will that impact the next thing they do?

The ’blood’ of my anger was not just on me, it was on my wife, my children, and a random driver.

God has baked the principle of cause and effect into his universe: the Bible calls it harvesting what we planted. Jesus had just warned his disciples that if they lived by the sword they would die by the sword. The crowd chose the sword of the Zealots; it was revisited on them and their children. Actions have consequences.

I’m thinking now of how many times in the course of history there have violent feuds between nations, families or individuals in which violence begat violence. The end is often known – think “established” - from the beginning. [3] The conclusion can be known by studying the start (and the middle, of course).[4] Think of how a small seed grows into a huge tree. That was always going to be the case, because the seed had a telos – a goal, an end goal, a completion – baked into it from the very beginning.

We are going to get to the good news of how Jesus provides salvation such that history is not destiny.First, let’s look at the serious implications of this idea.

The physical impact of intergenerational sin/trauma

There is increasingly good reason to believe that what we do and what is done to us leaves a genetic footprint that we pass on to our kids.[5] In some sense, the body keeps score not only of our own experiences but of the experiences of our lineage. Our biology reveals not only our history, but our family and community history in some sense. Look up “epigenetic trauma” for more info. This isn’t my main point today.

The spiritual/emotional impact of intergenerational sin/trauma

There is another sense in which our community of origin (family, church, school, etc.) forms us - for good or bad - in ways that linger. Since today’s passage focuses on the fallout from sinful or negative choices, that’s where we will focus. I am painting with a really large brush here, so please give me some grace if you think I’m not nuanced enough. This is like a proverb: it’s generally true.

I’ve been on a personal journey in this area for the past 2 years. I have been coming to grips with how the legacy given to me – the sins of the generation older than me, and the sins of my peers when I was a child – left a profound impact on me. It turns out that one is not bullied and molested without the body, soul and spirit keeping score. I say this only to note that while I will paint with a broad brush, I speak from first-hand experience that has been addressed by my faith and some good counselors. There were people who consciously or unconsciously said, “Let the blood of consequences be on us and on our children for what I am about to do,” and I was the child.

·    If you were raised with constant criticism, with a sense of never being good enough, that leaves a mark. There will likely be a tendency to keep seeing yourself that way, and either finding that you believe it’s true and beat yourself up all the time, or finding that you are overly determined to prove them wrong, and become relentlessly focused on being perfect. If you have children, maybe they hear you beat yourself up all the time, or you pass on the criticism you received to them, or they see that you demand perfection of yourself, and you treat them the same way. There is a variety of ways in which broken legacies can be passed on.

·    If you were raised around explosive and unsafe arguers, conflict will likely bring out fight or flight in you: engage 100% and win, or do anything to avoid it. It’s likely one of those responses will be passed on to your kids.

·    If you were raised in a materialist family that prioritized money and things, that’s likely going to stick. That’s going to feel like a marker for success, maybe even of worth. It can become a way to judge the worth of others.

·    If you were raised in a bitter, envious family where nobody else deserved what they had and your family was always the victim of others, that gets ingrained. Life never seems fair; anything that goes wrong for you is not your fault.

·    If you grew up in a moral ecosystem that devalues and insults the “other” – any group of people they really look down on -  that’s going to impact how you think about and act toward that group of people.

Unless there is intervention, sin and brokenness get passed on. They leave a mark. It might be replicating those sins (“Hurt people hurt people.”); it might be overreacting and doing the extreme opposite (a boy abused by a male might become hyper masculine to combat how he was treated.) Sin and its traumatic legacy tends to get passed on.

As one hurt by the deeply traumatic sinfulness of others, I have found for myself that for many years, even when I said “I’m fine!”  what I often meant was, “I am functioning in a way that feels normal to me,” and that is…not necessarily the same as being healthy and whole. And when that’s the case, there is always the danger that broken people will break people, even without knowing it’s happening.

Here’s the good news. Here’s the gospel. “His blood be on us and on our children” might just be the most wonderfully ironic proclamation of hope in the Bible.

Thank God that the blood of Jesus will be on those who killed Jesus, and on their children.

“What was seen by many as a curse is in fact a blessing invoked unwittingly, for the Lord's blood is the source of their redemption…St. John Chrysostom teaches that even though these Jews “acted with such madness, so far from confirming a sentence on them or their children, Christ instead received those who repented and counted them worthy of good things beyond number.” (Orthodox Study Bible)[6]

Unchecked, unaddressed, the consequences of our sin may affect future generations, but God offers refuge and redemption to each generation to each person. His mercies are new every morning. God himself refuses to make us bear the guilt of the sins of those who have gone before us, and God himself refuses to make those who come after us bear the guilt of our sin.  God relentlessly offers forgiveness, healing and restoration. He has shown himself to be really good at bringing about good from even the worst circumstances.[7]

Look at the math from the verses from Deuteronomy just to get an idea: it was loving kindness to thousands of generations, compared to four generations reaping the punishment or consequences from bad decisions.

Even if we were to read that strictly literally (which I don’t think we should), the point would be the contrast: 1,000 to 4, love and restoration over judgment and punishment. God loves to multiply the ripple effect of that which is done righteously and minimize the ripple effect of that which is done sinfully. Let’s read further in Ezekiel 18:

“But if a lawless person turns away from all the lawless deeds they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does righteous justice and loves mercy, that person will surely live; they will not die.

None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. In the righteousness they have done, they will live.  Do I ever will or take pleasure in the death of the lawless?” says the Sovereign Lord, “since my will is for him to turn from his evil way and live…?”

 “Therefore, house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your ungodliness; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the ungodliness you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.

Why should you die, people of Israel? For I do not will and take no pleasure in the death of the one who dies,” declares the Sovereign Lord. “Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18)

Why should you die? Repent and live. Get a new heart and a new spirit! And how do we do that? Well, it will be a gift from God. Ezekiel again.

And I will give you ia new heart, and ia new spirit I will put within you.iAnd I will remove the  heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.( Ezekiel 36:26)

God promises to make broken things whole, even dead things come to life. With Jesus, our history is not our destiny. Neither that which we have done or that which has been done to us is stronger than the redemptive power of Jesus.

·    If you were raised with constant criticism, Jesus can show you how God thinks of you: a beloved child He is pleased to call his own; not ashamed of you; not requiring perfection; simply calling you to love God and love others from the foundation of God’s view of you, which is love.

·    If you were raised around explosive and unsafe arguers, Jesus offers a new heart  and attitude unchained to that legacy as you learn how to disagree with truth and grace.

·    If you were raised in a materialist family that prioritized money and things and maybe learned to judge your value and the value of others based on their wealth, Jesus will teach you generosity and faith in God’s provision, as well as how to value people with the heart of Jesus.

·    If you were raised in a bitter, envious family where nobody else deserved what they had and your family was always the victim of others, Jesus will show you how to celebrate blessing and abundance wherever you see it.

·    If you were raised in moral ecosystem that devalues and insults the “other,” Jesus begins a good work in you that he will continue, teaching you how to bear the burdens of others, how to empathize, how to care, how to love.

When we get to the end of Ezekiel, we find out the end game. Though this is directed toward the nation of Israel, I remain convinced that the physical realities of the Old Covenant are meant to help us understand the spiritual realities of the New Covenant. .

24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 

27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.29 I will save you from all your uncleanness… I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine….

33 “‘On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt… all who pass through it… will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.” 

36 Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’ (Ezekiel 36)


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[1]  “It was a custom among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Latins, to wash the hands in token of innocence, and to show that they were pure from any imputed guilt. In case of an undiscovered murder, the elders of that city which was nearest to the place where the dead body was found, were required by the law, Deuteronomy 21:1-10to wash their hands over the victim which was offered to expiate the crime, and thus make protestation of their own innocence.” (Adam Clarke)

[2] “His blood be on us was a common phrase accepting responsibility for someone’s death.” (ESV Study Bible)

[3] Isaiah 46:10

[4] Theologians explain that God knows what the telos - the end or end goal - of the universe is because he started it, like the seed determines the tree.

[5] See more on this idea at “Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms.”https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6127768/

[6] Think of the thousands converted in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41).

[7] https://bibleproject.com/podcast/does-god-curse-generations/

He, Too, Saved Israel (Judges 3)

We’ve been hearing in the past few weeks from Luke about how Jesus stressed the importance of valuing people who seem unimportant, unvaluable, maybe even bad. We have talked about the Great Reversal:

“Those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (Luke 13) 

“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14) 

This is kind of the flip side of the coin, but it reminds me of other places where Scripture gives a really, really low priority to seeking earthly glory. 

“Do you think I care about the approval of men or about the approval of God? Do you think I am on a mission to please people? If I am still spinning my wheels trying to please men, then there is no way I can be a servant of the Anointed One, the Liberating King.” (Galatians 1) 

“That’s why it is hard to see how true faith is even possible for you: you are consumed by the approval of other men, longing to look good in their eyes; and yet you disregard the approval of the one true God.” (John 5:44) 

I’ve been thinking about this because it’s graduation season.

When I started teaching, I realized pretty quickly that graduates were often flooded with messages about how amazing they are supposed to be now, with “amazing” typically meaning that they chase after cultural markers of glory, value and importance. “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” I actually like that Dr. Seuss’s poem acknowledges the ups and downs and life, but the ending seems inevitable: you’ll move mountains that everyone will notice and applaud you for.

I’m not sure that’s the best message. It’s rare to hear a message that one of the most important “places you’ll go” is being a good friend, or volunteering to help those in poverty, or simply being a good parent or employee, or leading a small group at church, or being part of Big Brother/Big Sister, or babysitting kids for overwhelmed parents, or offering free help in your area of expertise, or simply being kind.

And yet there are mountains that need moving in someone’s life for which those are the tools. The Empire might not think it’s important, but I promise you the Kingdom does.

One of the books of the Bible that fascinates me is the book of Judges. It shows a cycle of God’s faithfulness to his unfaithful people, but that’s not what I’m thinking of today. It gives such different coverage to the Judges in a way that I think is meant to be revelatory about how God intends for us to think about our lives. It’s Old Testament – we don’t have time to unpack how to hear these stories like the original audience would have heard them – but some day we’ll get to these. But, here’s the story as found in Judges 3. 

“Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD [they were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years), and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud… The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.  Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it.  At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king."  The king said, "Quiet!" And all his attendants left him.

Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king rose from his seat,  Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly... Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.  Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. 

While [the servants assumed Eglon was taking his good old time in the bathroom], Ehud got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them. 

"Follow me," he ordered, "for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands." So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped.  That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Y’all, give it up for Ehud. Three cheers and a whole bunch of paragraphs for Ehud!

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. He too saved Israel. (Judges 3: 15-31)

For some context:

Judges 4-5 – Deborah gets two chapters and a song (Shamgar gets, like, a ‘shout out’.)

Judges 6-8  - Gideon gets three chapters

Judges 9 - Abimelech gets a chapter (and he killed his own brothers, which seems like it should count against him)

Judges 11 and 12 – Jepthah gets two chapters (he made a terrible oath he should never have kept and ended up sacrificing his daughter)

Judges 13-16 – Samson gets 4 chapters, and he was hardly a role model.

Judges 3 - Shamgar gets one verse that almost sounds like it should be read with a yawn. 

Then we get some other references similar to the reference to Shamgar:

Judges 10: 1-5 “…a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir. He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys.”

Tola rose to save Israel (cool!) and apparently did (?) and then the next guy had a lot of donkeys. Hmmm. Keep in mind, the beginning of Judges notes this:

“Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.”

If you were a judge at all, God himself had raised you up to save His people, and He was with you as long as you lived. And some of them have their stories recorded for all the world to read, and some of them got a nod and a retirement watch.

Let’s say you’re Shamgar; you saved your nation by killing 600 enemy warriors with a big stick with a pointy end, and you basically get an “atta boy.” That’s like...

  • giving a history of the NBA, and then saying, “And Michael Jordan also played basketball.” 

  • or discussing a history of music, and saying of Beethoven, “He too wrote music.” 

  • or saying of Ohio State, “They too had a football team.”

Tola and Jair were raised up by God himself, and all they get is that they lived, they died, and their sons rode donkeys from town to town, which seems like bit of really unnecessary trivia.

Today, when people are treated like this, they go on TV and say things like, “I’m being disrespected.”  We are a culture that increasingly seems to think that we all deserve our 15 minutes of fame, and if it doesn’t happen naturally, well, there are always reality shows, and YouTube, and blogs. Ashleigh Brilliant once wrote, “All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance.”  To whatever degree that’s funny, it’s probably because it is an accurate reflection of the natural human condition.

I think the Biblical narratives of stories like these point us toward a hard reality in the Christian walk:  Sometimes, God will raise us up, and use us mightily, and it will not be noticed, and we will never get the credit we think we deserve.   

Unsung Heroes, by Riva Pomerantz 

I was delighted when my husband bought a beautiful name plaque for our front door... until I noticed the door. Years of fingerprints, remnants of gummy tape, stickers, and I don’t even want to think about what else, had etched themselves onto the once-white door. A quick glance from beautiful nameplate to horrifying door brought me to the only possible conclusion: clean the door. 

So two hours later, the door was sparkling white and the nameplate was handsomely ensconced in its center. When my kids got up in the morning and saw the complete metamorphosis of the front door, they were—of course—awed.“Look Daddy!” they told my husband. “They cleaned the door.” My husband told me of their reaction with some amusement. 

“They cleaned the door?” I practically yelled. “They is me! I cleaned the door! What do they think? Magic fairies come while we all sleep and clean the furniture, put away the toys, bake cookies...” So in the grand scheme of door-cleaning, I remain an unsung hero.

Unsung heroes. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is this role of unsung hero, because we have in us a drive to be noticed, to stand out, to be somebody in the eyes of other people.

For one, it’s hard for us to watch other people around us be ‘successful’ (by whose standard?) when we aren’t.

  • Have you ever been playing a sport, and you are really struggling, but the rest of your team isn’t, and your team is still winning, but you have a hard time being excited because you personally aren’t doing so well?

  • Have you ever gotten upset when the person who shares a testimony about God saving them from a particular sin or overcoming a tough circumstance in life, and everyone cheers and affirms them, and then invites them to speak in front of other groups, and they become a widely-known role model everyone admires, and you think, “Hey, that’s my story too, but no one knows…” 

  • Or…there is a lot to feel good about in your life, but it’s not, “I was in a gang of cannibal human traffickers,” so you never get the spotlight. It’s more like, “I have struggled most of my life with low self-esteem – maybe even self-loathing – and I think I am finally starting to see myself as Jesus sees me.” And it’s hugely important. It’s life-changing. This healing is not only changing you, it’s changing how you are a friend, a child, a parent, an, employer, a sibling.

There are two equally subtle and dangerous temptations: to think you are just not important and no one can benefit from learning what God has done in our life, or that you are super important and everyone should know about what YOU have done in your life Both thoughts are toxic.

But the Bible is clear: In the Kingdom of God, God’s validation is the only validation we need.  

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.  

I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4) 

The point is not that you should never do good deeds in public, and the point isn’t that people who do charity out of selfish ambition are going to hell. The point is that if you do good things in a really public way for the reward of the praise of people, you will get your reward. It just won’t be that great. It feels good in the moment, but it feeds an addiction for validation. Someone once said,

“None are so empty as those who are full of themselves.”

The applause of people is nothing compared to the rewards of the Father. An example from the Apostle Paul:

 “The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth.” (2 Timothy 4:17) 

If Paul were alive today, we would all clamor to read the book or see the movie about his deliverance from lions, we would ask him to be on GodTube for an interview about the lions…but I suspect Paul would quickly lose his “celebrity” status, as he would ignore the lions and talk about the Lord who gave him the strength to fully proclaim the Good News to the world.  If he ever mentioned it, there would be one small comment or one small footnote that would start off,“Around the time I was delivered from lions...”

My hunch is that Paul knew that a story about Paul being delivered from the lions was going to become a story about Paul, not about the One who delivered Paul.  And in the kingdom of heaven, if the story glorifies us, why tell the story? 

Back to Paul. When Paul does talk about himself in the Bible, it is because his audience had become so caught up in Christian Celebrity Worship that Paul basically said, “Okay, if you want to play that game, I win. Here are my credentials.  Now settle down and get back to the things that matter most.” (See 2 Corinthians 10 and 11) Here’s a practical example of something Paul wrote in Philippians 4:22.

All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.” 

Who converted a lot of Caesar’s household after Caesar threw him into jail in the Preattorian barracks attached to the palace? That would be Paul. How easily Paul could have written, “All the saints send you greetings, especially those I converted from Caesar’s household in spite of intense persecution to my personal self.”  But the story is not about Paul. There was no need for him to worry about whether or not people knew about what he did.  God knew, and that was enough.[1]

So the question today is this,

Can I live my life with no regard for the glory and recognition of others, but with complete focus on faithfulness and obedience to Christ wherever He leads me?

Are we willing to take the time to let God help us build our character –to address sin in our lives, and character flaws, and quirks that are maybe hindering our relationship with God and others – are we willing to do that when maybe no one will ever really notice?

Are we willing to work really hard to be a godly spouses and parents – setting priorities on our time, putting the needs of our spouse and kids above our wants, doing whatever we can to steward our household – are we willing to do that - and see it as part of our high calling in Jesus which has immense importance?

Can we go out of our way to volunteer – in kid’s ministry or nursery or committee work or cleaning the building or in the community - can we do that cheerfully even if nobody sees and applauds the way those moments are changing lives in ways that ripple into eternity?

Can we love the people who seem unlovable, embrace the people who seem unembraceable, forgive those around us who have done things that seem unforgivable…that’s hard enough, but can we do it knowing we might never get a pat on the back on this side of heaven?

Can we be broken, and spilled out, in the service of Christ, for our spouses, and our kids, and our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, those people who make us take up a cross…Can we do that even if the only time we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” is on the other side of the grave?

What does a life look like…what does the world look like…when we embrace this view of the kingdom of God?

Maybe your life will be written in lights. And if so, and it was God who wanted your story known, then tell your story to the glory of God.  It’s not like Deborah and Gideon were bad people because their story was told. And I’m not suggesting we don’t try to give people honest recognition for their kindness and service.

It’s just that that won’t happen to everybody, and maybe the record of your life will be of the “He too saved Israel” variety.

Maybe “She, too, wrestled with/overcame addictions,” will be the most people say about you, which will never capture why that started in the first place and how profoundly hard the struggle was .

Maybe “He, too, had a family,” is the most that will register with people, which will never capture the self-sacrificial love that was necessary to make your family a success.

Maybe “She, too, overcame a difficult past,” is the most people will know about you, which will never do justice to the pain you experienced, and the long, slow process of healing that God has taken you through.

Maybe “They, too, were in ministry,” is all that people will note about you someday, which will never reflect the years of your life spent in quietly helping those who so desperately needed Jesus.

Maybe, “She, too, got out of bed yet again and did the next thing right,” is your legacy, and it will be profound by Kingdom standards.

Maybe, “They, too, didn’t know what to do with their life, but they knew how to live the day well,” resonates with you, and you are heroic in your faithfulness.

Maybe, “He, too, was such a good friend” is the primary eulogy at the end of your life, and that short sentence will capture a lifetime of kingdom witness that the Holy Spirit used to move mountains in people’s lives. Maybe “the places you’ll go” was too the side of other people, and all of heaven rejoiced.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, we have a Heavenly Father who is waiting for the day when we will enter into His presence.  And on that day, millions of unsung heroes will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward.”

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[1] Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:5-6: “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else…”