Christians and Halloween

In a couple hours the sun will go down and the streets will be filled with children of all ages going from house to house trick-or-treating. When I was a kid, Halloween was one of my favorite days of the year. The neighborhood we lived in was just the perfect size to fill up a pillow case, and there were kids everywhere. Every house had their porch light on and enjoyed the night.

18 months ago my wife and I moved to a new home and a new neighborhood. I was very excited for our first Halloween; I went to the local grocery store and bought a ton of full size candy bars to give out. I’ll never forget the joy seeing a full size candy bar drop into my pillow case when I was a kid… and I’ll never forget the disappointment of seeing an Almond Joy.

One year ago tonight I was ready to meet my neighbors and fill up some pillow cases or plastic pumpkins. I turned on my porch light and waited… and waited… and waited. In the first hour we only saw a handful of kids. I walked outside and it was like any other night, there were no kids on the sidewalk and very few houses had their porch light on.

I learned that most churches in the area have special events on Halloween night, such as trunk-or-treat. Many people either go to their church or just sit inside their home and ignore the holiday. I was very disappointed, but it reflected a greater reality about our culture.

America is more and more becoming a back-porch society. Most new houses have huge decks and patios and very small front porches. So we hang out in our backyard instead of our front. We don’t know our neighbors very well, and if we do, it’s just the ones right next door. I don’t know the first name of my neighbor two houses down in either direction.

I have heard Christians say that Halloween is an evil holiday because it romanticizes the occult… Like our kids will think that it’s cool to practice witchcraft if they dress up like a witch or skeleton once a year. I think that’s just hogwash.

I think Halloween is the best day of the year to get to know our neighbors, to be community. I think Christians could be a greater witness to the world by staying home and passing out candy.  Maybe put a sticker on the candy that says “Jesus Loves You.” You can even make big stickers, but you’ll have to get a candy bar big enough for it to fit on.

I’m pretty sure Jesus said something about loving our neighbors… Getting to know them is a good start.

John 13

Jesus has been on the run for a few chapters now. The Jewish leaders have tried to arrest him a number of times, but he has been able to escape and flee to safety. In the meantime, he had become Jerusalem’s Most Wanted.

The creator of the world came to live among the created, and we turned him into a fugitive because he healed people on the Sabbath, preached love and actually claimed to be the son of God! Jesus knew that he couldn’t keep running; that’s not why he came. He was prepared to be arrested and he was ready for whatever sentence was to come.

The Jewish leaders were ready too. It was the time of the Passover Feast, a time where millions of people came to Jerusalem. If the authorities were going to find Jesus they were going to need help. It would be like finding a needle in a stack of a million other needles. So they pulled Judas aside and worked out a deal.

In verse 27 Jesus whispered to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” Then Judas left and set the wheels in motion.

I’m not sure what I think about Judas. I feel a little bad for him. If the story was going to play out the way it did, somebody needed to be the bad guy. John tells us that Satan entered Judas, but did Judas choose Satan? Did Judas know Jesus would be killed?

I can’t help but wonder what was going through Judas’ mind. Did he realize that Jesus would be dead in a week and think the last three years of his life were a total waste? Maybe he thought that he was on a sinking ship and was looking for a life preserver.  Was he looking for a way to get in the good graces of the religious elite? He might have joined Jesus because he thought he would be friends with a powerful person, and now he was looking for new powerful friends. Was he just greedy, and wanted the reward money? Money can make people do crazy things.

It’s easy to make Judas out to be the bad guy because we need someone to blame. Judas is guilty of being a bad friend, but he didn’t make Jesus a fugitive, the Jewish leaders did.  Judas didn’t crucify Jesus either, the Romans did.

Jesus didn’t die because of Judas. Jesus died because I’m a sinner.

I wish I could blame Judas, but if I'm going to blame anyone, I need to start with the guy in the mirror.   

John 12

The first eleven verses of John 12 tell the story of Mary taking a pint of perfume, pouring it on Jesus’ feet, and wiping his feet with her hair. It is a crazy story.

John states that the perfume itself was worth a year’s wages! In 2011 the median household income in the US was a little over $50,000… That’s a lot of perfume! Those watching, especially Judas, think this is excessive and wonders why the perfume wasn’t sold and the money given to the poor. That sounds like something Jesus would be all about, but no, he enjoys the moment.

First of all, I don’t like people touching my feet, so this would be weird. But I especially wouldn’t want someone spending $50,000 to massage or anoint my feet… I’d rather have a new car, take a trip, buy my wife something or pay off some student loans… Either way, stay away from my feet!

What would cause someone to do something so reckless, something so crazy?

Love is the only answer I can come up with.

Mary must have known that Jesus was not going to be around much longer and she wanted to express her love. There are some things that we only get one chance to do, and if we pass, then the opportunity never returns. It is a tragic thing to come upon an opportunity to show love, and do not do it.

Now that I think about it, I’d pay $50,000 to spend one more day with my grandparents. I’d go fishing with my grandpa in the morning, then we’d all go to Belle Isle for the afternoon and my grandma would tell me the bunny story before bed. That would be worth $50,000, actually that would be worth $500,000. I don’t have $500,000, but I’d spend the rest of my life paying it back.

It would be a reckless decision, but I’d do it.

Love made Jesus make a reckless decision; he gave his life for those he loved.

I will see my grandparents again, and it won’t cost me anything.  

Jesus already paid the price… which is why I am going to spend the rest of my life paying him back.

John 11

In chapter 10 Jesus was almost captured and killed. He escaped and fled to the other side of the Jordan River, where he was safe.

In chapter 11 Jesus gets word that his friend Lazarus is sick... Lazarus lives on the other side of the river, where Jesus' enemies live.

Jesus has to make a decision. Does he stay where he is safe or does he risk his life and go visit his friend?

Of course he goes to visit Lazarus. By the time he arrives Lazarus has been dead for four days and his sisters, Mary and Martha, are stricken with grief. Jesus weeps with them.

If the story stopped here we would still think that Jesus was a good guy and a great friend. He risked his life to see his friend, but was too late, so he comforted his friend's sisters.

Up until this point in the story, Jesus has not drawn much attention to himself. He is just another visitor coming to pay his respects. Jesus could have spent a few hours with Mary and Martha, and then headed back to the safe side of the river.

But our God is bigger than just a good guy and a great friend.

Jesus walks to the tomb where Lazarus' body was lying. The stone was taken away and Jesus said in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" (v.43) Lazarus, still wrapped in linen, walked out of the tomb, alive.

Immediately word spread about what Jesus had done, and again the Jewish leaders tried to arrest him and kill him. From that time on, Jesus had to be careful where he went.

Jesus risked his life to save his friend. Jesus gave his life to save you.

It's never too late to be saved.
 

John 10

Jesus is talking to his Jewish opponents once again, this time at the Festival of Dedication. They ask him if he is the Messiah, so he tells them that he and the father are one, which is basically saying, "yes, I am."

So what do they do? Do they drop to their knees and worship Jesus because he is God? That would make sense.

No, they do what they do best, they start picking up rocks so that they can stone him. They tell Jesus that he is being stoned for blasphemy, "because you, a mere man, claim to be God." (Verse 33)

It's hard to blame them for not believing Jesus, I'm not sure what I would say if some guy told me he was God. I don't think I'd stone him, but I'd probably laugh at him or think he was crazy.

Truth is, if you read the gospels and the things Jesus said, he has to be one of two things... Totally crazy or the Messiah. Jesus is either just a mere man that claimed to be God, or he is God, who chose to became a mere man.

Why would God choose to become a mere man? Why would the creator enter creation?

The first chapter of John tells us that Jesus and the Father created the world together. They made the earth what it is, they made animals and then they made humans in their own image. These humans were the pinnacle of creation, they were created with the capacity to love and be loved. They were created to be in relationship with each other, and with God.

But humans decided that they wanted to be like God, they wanted to know what God knows and they wanted to make the rules, so they sinned. The creation that God made perfect was now full of suffering and pain... It still is.

So God came to re-create it through love. To do that, God had to know our suffering and pain, so he became one of us and suffered the ultimate pain. Every day since then people have been re-created, one person at a time, one heart at a time.

It doesn't mean we won't feel suffering and pain in this life, it just means that the suffering and pain doesn't win... love does.        

John 9

Jesus and his disciples come across a man that was born blind. The disciples ask Jesus, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned: he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." (Verses 2-3)

Jesus goes on to heal the man of his blindness.

Back in the day, people really believed that if you were disabled in any way, it was because you or your parents had committed a terrible sin. God punished them by making their children blind or deaf or any other ailment for which there was no cure.

What bothers me about this text is that Jesus doesn't disagree with their assumption, instead he says "no, this man has been blind his whole life so that God can show off how great He is."

Really? God does that? This a troubling story because it depicts a God that punishes the innocent for His own glory. That is not a loving God, that is oppression.

Well... Jesus never actually said that God made the man blind, he just said he was born blind and God used his imperfection to reveal Himself to others. I like that better.

Truth is, we are all born with a defect, with an imperfection... We are all humans and we are all sinners. God didn't create us that way, it's the way that we chose... And it's the way we continue to choose.

God took away our imperfections when Jesus died on the cross, and Jesus died so that God's glory might be revealed to the world.

As humans, we can read that last statement as, God killed his son to show off how great He is... But we don't understand what Jesus means when he says 'glory.'

God's glory is not shown in overwhelming power, it is shown in suffering love. Which means God's glory is our glory, because in love, Jesus suffered for us.

In the end, the cross IS God showing off how great He is... Because we need to see it.

John 8

The Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus that they caught committing adultery. They are going to throw rocks at her until she is dead because of her sin. They also want to test Jesus because the law of Moses states that the penalty for this crime is death. Either Jesus agrees to her death and is with Moses, or he is against Moses, which means he is against God.

Jesus says "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (Verse 7)

Jesus then looks to the ground while the Pharisees drop their rocks, one by one, and walk away. When he looked up the woman was the only one standing there. I could only imagine what she was feeling at this point; she was seconds away from being killed by a mob of Pharisees and now she is standing in front of Jesus, the man that saved her life. Well, actually he gave permission for them to kill her, if they were without sin.

What is Jesus going to say to her? He is without sin and has the right to start throwing rocks, it was the lawful thing for him to do. Instead he says "Has no one condemnded you? I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more." (Verses 10-11)

I think we all have been in her place. We have all done wrong and have gotten caught. We have broken hearts and broken rules. Maybe we have never done something worthy of death, but we have all done something that deserved punishment. I'll never forget what it felt like to wait in my room while my parents decided my fate. Would I be yelled at, grounded, or spanked... Or would it be the worst of all, the sad look that came when I let my parents down. The waiting was torture.

Just like her, we are all going to stand in front of Jesus.

You could spend the rest of your life afraid of what might happen on that day. Maybe the fear of being cast in to hell will motivate you to be a better person. Maybe you feel like it doesn't matter what you do because you've been told you're going to hell anyway.

Or maybe the bible is right, and Jesus will see you just the way you are and say, "I don't condemn you either."