Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

• John 3:1-16

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• John 14:6

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

• John 8:42-44

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

• 1 John 1:5-10

“ ‘JULIUS: Unless you’re just plain blind, l trust you recognize this key. in case you don’t know the golden oak [Julius’s family crest]. And you do see the [papal] triple crown.as well as this robe shining all over with jewels and gold.
“PETER: l recognize the silver key, more or less — although there is just the one, and that quite unlike the ones that the true shepherd of the church, Christ, once entrusted to me. But that arrogant crown you have, how, pray, would I be able to recognize that? Not even a barbarian tyrant has ever ventured to flaunt such a thing as that — still less anyone who expects to be admitted here. As for the robe, that impresses me not at all, since l have always trampled upon and despised jewels and gold as if they were rubbish…
“JULIUS: Why don’t you cut out the nonsense and open the door — unless you would rather have it battered down? In a word — do you see what a retinue l have?
“PETER: To be sure, l see thoroughly hardened brigands. But in case you don’t know it, these doors you must storm with other weapons.
“JULIUS: Enough talk I say! Unless you obey right away, l shall hurl — even against you – the thunderbolt of excommunication, with which l once terrified the mightiest of kings, or for that matter whole kingdoms. You see the Bull already prepared for this purpose?
“PETER: What damned thunderbolt, what thunder, what Bulls, what bombast are you talking to me about, pray? We never heard anything about these matters from Christ.
“JULIUS: Well you’ll feel them if you don’t obey.
“PETER: Maybe you terrified some people with that hot air before, but it means nothing here. Here you have to operate with the truth. This citadel is won by good deeds, not by evil words.’ (Julius Excluded from Heaven)”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

Before we get started, the title is one of Tim Hawkins Christian Cusswords.

Desiderius Erasmus, or Erasmus of Rotterdam, (1466-1536), was a student of the Brethren of the Common that influenced Thomas à Kempis.  He was a scholarly man who became familiar with the rich and famous, but he was not a fan of the papacy.  He approved of Luther’s reform, but he wished Luther had remained within the church to reform the church rather than start a splinter religion.  While his heart was with the Reformation, he stayed true to the Catholic church.  Yet, he continued to be friends with many of the reformers.  There was a common adage of the time that “Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.”

The quote above is attributed to Erasmus, but it was published anonymously.  Erasmus never took credit for it, but it is thought that Erasmus wrote this little conversation between Pope Julius II and Saint Peter, who refuses to open the gates of Heaven to him.  Erasmus is supposed to have shared it with some friends, not for publication, but since his friends were the rich and famous types, they were able to hand the conversation over to a publisher, and before the pope or Erasmus knew what happened, it was a best seller, that is if they had best seller lists in those days.

Of course, Erasmus would deny he wrote it.  The Pope would have had him excommunicated or even killed for saying that the pope was destined for Hell.

But does being a great church leader make you a dead-certain lock for getting into Heaven?  Absolutely not.  Some people are impressed with the number of college degrees that you have.  Others are impressed by emotional, moving sermons that you give.  But God is not impressed by any of that.

Note that Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council.  He was not just a Pharisee and teacher of the Law, he was a noted person of that type.  Yet, he was perplexed by the teaching Jesus gave to him.  Since he was with Joseph of Arimathea, providing the myrrh, it seems Nicodemus figured it out.  But all the teaching Nicodemus had did not get him into Heaven.  It was Jesus, whom Nicodemus eventually knew that got him there.

No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.

But in the times of Erasmus and Martin Luther, there were popes that took advantage of the people.  They ignored the poor.  They stripped the wealthy of their money with their indulgences.  As Peter says in the conversation quoted above, nothing that I see here is what Jesus taught or would have even thought.

One of the last conversations that my wife and I had was that we went to our present church with the thought that we would fight rather than leave, as Erasmus had done.  But then my wife asked if the denomination was apostate, too corrupt to be redeemed.  Was there nothing left in which to fight for?

My reply was that I loved those who came to the Sunday school class where I taught.  They were family and worth fighting for.  The church’s prayer warriors were worth fighting for.  And a few others.  My wife shook her head.  She agreed with me, but she wondered if that was enough.  A couple of weeks later, my wife was gone.  She did not have to continue the fight.

I had heard the name “Erasmus” but never knew how he fit into the Reformation picture until a couple of years ago until I picked up a biography, Erasmus of Christendom, by Roland H. Bainton.  One of those books that you just did not want to put down.  In Eric Metaxas’ biography, Martin Luther, I learned more about the arguments between Erasmus and Luther.  I recommend both books, but I would have loved to have more Erasmus quotes in his biography.  Not greedy, just eager to learn.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.