The Moment of Truth

Reality TV is once again in full-swing, but I am particularly intrigued as to how this new show, "The Moment of Truth," will take off with the TV viewers of America. You've probably seen the trailor/commerical (if you watch as much TV as my housemates and I), but if you haven't, let me brief you.

The question is, what questions will you answer, what secrets will you reveal, for $500,000? If you're a contestant, you're hooked up to a lie-detector machine, and asked 21 questions that grow increasingly harder. Questions like, "Do fat people repulse you," "do you still think you'll be married to your husband in 5 years," and "do you really care about the starving children in Africa," just give you a glimpse. People will watch this show and gawk at the responses. People will say, "that is horrible! I can't believe the contestant responded that way!" But what you and I often fail to remember is that you and I are that person in that chair.

So check it out: Jesus had a similar thing happen. There were a lot of religious people in Jesus' day, much like ours. And these people, just like today, cared about their appearance to others. They wanted to make sure they looked religious. And this made them feel superior, better, than others. One particular thing they did, which was very much a cultural thing at the time, was that they washed their hands before they ate. You and I see this as a sanitary thing, but for them, it was much more. They were so concerned about washing their hands before they ate that when Jesus did not, they couldn't understand it.

Then the Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, "Why do Your disciples (and you) break the tradition of the elders? For they (and you) don't wash their hands when they eat!" (Matthew 15:1-2)

So Jesus exposes their hypocrisy, their caring so much about their own appearance. A lot of times, it seems Jesus deals most harshly, not with the nonreligious people of His day, but those who were religious. He is caught addressing them by saying, "You stiff-necked people!" in some of his encounters. He's caught, in this passage, saying, "Hypocrites!"

But check out what Jesus says (Matthew 15:19-20):

"For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man."

He says, you guys care so much about your appearance to others, but you are just as wicked, as messed up, as everyone else. The religious people took offense (honestly, its kinda funny to see religious people get offended), and got mad at Jesus, but He was right.

And I say, you and I, though we are not in that chair hooked up to a polygraph test and being asked tough questions, are the same as those that are. Those same questions would provoke us to respond the same if we were in their shoes.

My point is, we're all in this mess. Christian theology uses the word "depravity," which means we are fallen, we are bent to do the wrong things, think the wrong thoughts, and because of this, we cannot be in communion with God, even if we desire to. So God, because of His love for us, reached down to us through Jesus, because no matter the circumstance, because of our depravity, even if we tried, we could not reach Him. And because our depravity, our bad thoughts, our bad thoughts sometimes turned to actions, our mistakes - these things have offended God, and because God is good, He has to be just. The punishment had to fit the crime, and offending Him is punishable with separation from Him. But Jesus, who never thought a bad thought, who was without sin, died to take the punishment for our offenses on Himself. He was a substitute. We deserved what He got. But Jesus defeated that punishment in His resurrection, and THIS is God reaching down to earth to save sinners, those who have offended a perfect God, you and me. And because of Jesus, right relationship with God has been restored for those who live in the truth they are no good, they deserved punishment, but Jesus was a substitute for them and defeated the punishment for their offenses, their sins. And I can say there is no better way to live.

Religion is trying to earn God's favor by the things we do. What's taught in scripture, Christian spirituality, is that there was nothing we could do, but through Jesus we are made right in the eyes of God the Father. Thank you Jesus for saving a sinner like me. Help me to live in such a way that this impacts everything I do.