"That's not a knife..."

As I read the Bible this morning I was constantly blown away at the big picture God operates in. I think about my 2-year old son and how he goes about his day. Whatever goes on in his little head lacks the foresight and bigger picture that I possess. When we put him in the carseat to go somewhere, he often fights it; he doesn’t want to get in that seat and ride in the car. But he has no idea how long the ride will be or where we’re going, how long we plan to stay at our destination, how much fun it’ll be, how much money it’ll cost (well, for him it’s free...lucky), and how happy and fulfilled he’ll be when it’s time to get back in the carseat and head home. I operate on a much bigger picture than my 2-year old son does.

The same is true with God, but he has THE big picture, times infinity. Look at Numbers, chapter 33, where Moses recounts every single place Israel camped after they set out from Egypt, following the ten plagues and the first Passover.
“They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. On their gods also the LORD executed judgments” (v.3-4).

I think while the people of Israel are leaving Egypt, they’re feeling pretty victorious. It’s probably easy for them to feel like the center of the universe, since their God, on their behalf, has been pwning Egypt and Pharaoh (who himself was supposed to be considered divine). But here in Numbers, Moses adds this little flavor: God also executed judgments on the gods of Egypt. Israel was probably more focused on their freedom from slavery and the saving grace of their God; which is good, but God was concerned with more than just Israel. True, he loved Israel and chose the people as his “bride,” his peasant princess, but he was also concerned with displaying his glory in an earthly and heavenly way. The ten plagues showed Egypt and the divine Pharaoh that they were weak sauce standing before the Lord of all things.

It reminds me of that timeless American classic film, “Crocodile Dundee.” Mick Dundee is a weathered Aussie Outback-ian, he’s like a Horse Whisperer + Rambo fusion. The movie shows his survival skills in the Outback, and then moves over to New York where “fish out of water” antics ensue. A famous scene from that movie involves Mick and his lady friend Sue walking in New York and a street punk (plus 2 others) who looks like Billy Dee Williams going through puberty and wearing Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” jacket approaches the two asking for a light and then pulls out a switchblade, ordering Mick to hand over his wallet. The rest of it goes like this:
Sue: “Mick, give him your wallet.”
Mick: “Why?”
Sue: “He’s got a knife.”
Mick: (chuckles) “That’s not a knife...”
(Mick pulls out much larger, much more intimidating Bowie knife)
Mick: “That’s a knife.”

Then he cuts Billy Dee Jackson’s sleeves and the street punks run away.
Hopefully, this journaling time will end up being more about God than pop culture, but we’ll see.
If for some outlandish reason you have no idea what I’m talking about, watch the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01NHcTM5IA4&NR=1

This is also a good version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqghpm4gXf4&feature=watch_response (it might be in 3D; don’t know what that’s all about)

The point is, Israel probably thought they had a great understanding of what was going on (they have the little switchblade), and God reveals that he’s got the biggest picture possible and it will blow your mind when he reveals the grand scheme that you failed to recognize (the huge Bowie knife).
So we all read the Bible, learn the Bible, memorize the Bible and think we really know what it’s about; but God steps in and reminds us, “you have some of the picture, but you certainly do not have ALL the picture.”

Another thing to pull from this significantly insightful illustration is our reaction to God’s big picture. We have to remember that when we face God’s majesty and the breadth of his power we’re “Sue” and not the “street punks.” I mean, if you love God and know you have this relationship with the king of all creation through the Son, Jesus, then you and I are “Sue” and not the “street punks” (what a weird thing to say).
Anyway, the street punks run away in fear because Dundee’s power is greater than theirs. This is the common reaction when we realize we are enemies of God; we run from him because we don’t want him to stab us or cut our jacket, and we never want to see him again because we’re just too afraid of him. But after the punks run away Dundee asks Sue, “Are you alright?” To which she replies, “I’m always alright when I’m with you, Dundee.”
(It’s totally cheesy, I know, but c’mon! It was 1986!)

The point is, if you love God and know you are right with him and on his side, you have that experience of seeing his power and big picture first-hand and not being overcome with fear to the point of fleeing his presence. If you know and love him, you feel safe and protected, knowing that he is with you. There’s a sense of fear and awe and safety, rather than fear and danger and a weak bladder.

There’s another good incident of God’s big picture when I was reading the book of Mark, chapter 10. The Pharisees approach Jesus and ask him a question about divorce under the Law of Moses. They’re trying to test him. They ask him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (v.2). Jesus answers, “What did Moses command you?” (v.3). He’s playing their game, for now. They’re asking him about a lawful regulation under the Law of Moses, so he points them to Moses. The Pharisees are feeling comfortable with this, since they’re experts in the Law they know all the answers and are ready to launch a retort that will surely get Jesus scratching his head and sweating with uncertainty. So they answer, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away” (v.4). They then wait for Jesus to say something liberal. They want to expose him as a Rabbi who is opposed to the Law, discrediting his teaching ministry and making him an enemy of the Jews. So this is basically the Pharisees pulling out their New York switchblade.

Then Jesus says, “Because of your hardness of heart he (Moses) wrote you this commandment” (v.5); and then Jesus pulls out his proverbial Bowie knife and says, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’” (v.6). He takes them back to Moses, which is where they’re expecting to go. And then in Jesus saying, “But from the beginning of creation” he takes them where they never expected to go but should have known that’s where they should have looked. The Pharisees are looking at this small picture of “Jesus is a hater of the Law” but Jesus steps out and says something like, “The Law was not a part of God’s original intent in creating the world and mankind; it’s a small, necessary part in the history of the world, but why are you focusing on such a small point of view when there is a much bigger, much older intention that God wants you to see? Moses gave that commandment about divorce not because that’s God’s will, but because you people have hard, rebellious hearts and don’t want to follow God’s heart. To you, the Law is everything, but is the Law greater than the Kingdom of God?” (my words).

Jesus almost always answers a challenge by opening his opponents eyes to a bigger reality than the one they are currently living by. This type of mind-blowing continues throughout Mark 10.

People are bringing children to Jesus so he can touch them and heal them and bless them. His disciples are rebuking them and trying to turn them away, as if it’s bothersome to Jesus. Then Jesus gets “indignant” and rebukes his disciples, telling them that the kingdom of God belongs to children, because if you do not receive the kingdom like a child, you will not enter it (v.13-16).

A young rich man asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life and Jesus pulls out the latter end of the Ten Commandments. The young man says that he has kept all these commandments since his youth. And even though this young, rich man has a shallow, small perspective it says that Jesus looked at him and “loved him” (contrasted to being indignant with his disciples) before he spoke to him, telling him that he lacks one thing: to go, sell his possessions and then follow Christ (v.17-21). Jesus essentially tells this young man that he lacks the “childlike faith” required to inherit the kingdom; because he’s replaced a trust in God and treasure in heaven with earthly possessions and riches. The rich man is under the assumption that if you do well and live a good life, you will inherit the kingdom. Jesus flips it on him and says that the kingdom is something that is given if you are willing to receive it and lose everything for it, because it doesn’t matter how good you are; the Ten Commandments shed light on the fact that human righteousness is a cover-up for every person’s rebellion against God.

Two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, two of his “inner three,” his closest disciples, come up to him and ask him that both of them can sit at his right and left when he victoriously inaugurates his kingdom in glory. He asks them if they can also “drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (v.38). They assume that they can, that they’re ready for it, that they can handle whatever Jesus can handle. They want to be great and they think that being favored by Jesus and being hand-selected by him will ensure a high position in his kingdom. They had a narrow view and misguided understanding of Jesus’ kingdom. They assumed it would be an earthly kingdom, like in the days of David, but Jesus later tells a Roman official that his kingdom, God’s kingdom, is “not of this world” (John 18:36). Jesus tells his disciples that if they want to be great in his kingdom, it won’t be anything like how they hope to attain it. If they want to be the greatest, they need to become the least; they need to be the slave of all if they expect to be great in God’s kingdom. And no one will be greater than the one who is able to humble himself the most, he who has the highest rank yet stoops the lowest--the Son of Man who comes to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (v.35-45).

We all think we get it at some point, and Jesus chuckles and says, “That’s not a knife...THAT’s a knife.”

My hope for today is that I can live in a way that is open to having my mind shattered and changed by God because I don’t have it all figured out. My hope is that I live lovingly toward all and seek to correct my errors to the bigger picture of God. In addition, that I rest in the manifold wisdom of God in joy and safety. Knowing the love of Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings that I may experience his kingdom life.