Read Free to Live: The Utter Relief of Holiness for Free Online Page A

and start walking.’” They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd. A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.” (John 5:9–14 TM )
    It is nearly comical in its extreme juxtaposition. “I’m so glad you are well! Now stop sinning, or something really bad is going to come down on you!”
    Imagine the family gathered by grandfather’s bedside. The old man is dying. The neighborhood priest steps quietly into the room. But instead of administering last rites, he prays for grandpa—and lo and behold! The cantankerous old coot is healed! The family is stunned; then follows the rejoicing and glad tears. The priest simply smiles and slips out, leaving them to their incredulity and joy. Later that evening he comes back to the bedside; Grandfather is up and having a robust meal. He looks splendid. The priest smiles. “I’m so happy God did this for you, Roger. What a wonderful thing—you have your life back!” And then: “Now, listen, you old grouch—the heavy drinking has got to stop; so does your abusive language toward your wife; and the way you use guilt to manipulate your children. You’d better clean up your act or one morning you’ll step out of bed and drop straight into hell. Have a nice evening.”
    That’s pretty much the effect of Jesus’ warnings at the end of such marvelous stories. Actually, he does this sort of thing frequently. And yet I can’t think of anyone else remotely like this man.
    Most Christians desire very deeply to be known as gracious, kind, patient, and forgiving. We feel we “owe” it to Jesus to be seen on our best behavior. This is even truer for those of us in “the ministry,” whose lives are publicly attached to Jesus. Now, some of the motivation behind this is beautiful (we’ll look at the rest in a moment). We know how horribly religion has distorted the world’s view of God, and we want very much to gain a hearing for Jesus, so we go to great lengths to reassure the wary that those aligned with Jesus are really great people. In fact, nowadays most Christian leaders bend over backward to come across as very cool and hip and in no way whatsoever judgmental or condemning. It’s the new PR campaign for Jesus.
    The problem is, in our efforts to be good poster children for Christianity, we have sort of hidden or left off this other side of Jesus’ personality. The man is dead serious about holiness.
    “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:25–28)
    I would love to have heard his tone of voice, seen the expression on his face. I think we can be fairly confident that when Jesus thundered, “Woe to you,” everyone just about peed their pants. And what is the issue here? Shallow holiness. Faking it. Ignoring the deeper issues of the soul. As far as Jesus is concerned, holiness is a matter of the heart. “Clean the inside of the cup and dish, and the outside will be clean as well.” The model of personal transformation that Christianity offers is internal to external. It’s a transformation of the heart, the mind, the will, the soul—which then begins to express itself externally in our actions. This is absolutely critical in order to understand Jesus and his genuine goodness.
    Which, I feel I need