Matthew 23:39 “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Every time I read Matthew 23 now, that scene from The Visual Bible comes to mind. The script was the NIV translation, period, with I think just a little embellishment at the very beginning, but maybe not even there. The actor playing Jesus was (and I presume still is) a Spirit-filled Christian, and he really agonized over how he was going to present the long diatribe against the Pharisees that is in chapter 23. When it came time to shoot the scene it was at the end of the shooting day. Since the passage is so long they didn’t think they could get through it, but thought they’d give it a go, for rehearsal if nothing else. As it turned out, the Holy Spirit came on the actor and he went through the whole thing without the slightest miss, not as a diatribe but as an agonized cry of love, essentially begging the Pharisees to wake up and repent. When he finished, he fell to his knees on the stone pavement of the set, collapsing from the exhaustion of all the emotion expended. At that point the actor playing Peter, completely unscripted, rushed to him to comfort him and help him up, and it was all caught on camera. I feel it was an amazingly accurate, not to mention moving, depiction of how it actually was. This verse is of course the last in that scene, and it points out that Christ has to be welcomed to be received. Another way to say that would be that the Gospel has to be recognized as good news before it is effective. We can talk until we are blue in the face, but if our hearers don’t acknowledge that they need what we are saying, it does no good. That doesn’t affect our responsibility to be witnesses, but it removes the “pressure to perform” that so many feel. We are to be as skillful as possible, but the results are between our hearers and God.

Of course this is the story of my life. I am frequently reminded that “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That in turn brings to mind the statement by Francis of Assisi: “Preach constantly. When necessary, use words.” I am to live the Gospel as well as proclaim it, so that people’s hearts may be prepared and drawn before they even process any actual words. The Gospel really is “an offense to Jews and foolishness to Greeks,” as Paul said, (1 Corinthians 1:18-25) so it must be received by faith, and that is a gift of God. (Ephesians 2:9) As someone with Teacher gifting, it can be hard to remember that just stating truth often isn’t enough. My priorities need to be: love God, love people, pray for people with the love of God, speak. Any time I get that backward I really mess up.

Father, thank You for this clear reminder. Thank You for all You did at the Thanksgiving dinner last night. It really was beautiful. I pray that everything You said and did through various people would be sealed by Your Spirit to produce rich fruit. Thank You for carrying Cathy and me through it. I ask Your healing for our physical discomforts, and I thank You for the awareness that those are really of minor importance, when You are touching people through us. Praise God!