Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.  - John 19.20

The City of Jerusalem has posted road signs directing travelers to the United States Embassy. The signs are in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. 

These placards, like the thing to which they point, pulse with political symbolism. In Hebrew they say, "You have a powerful friend;" in Arabic they say, "You have a powerful enemy;" in English they say, "You have power." Posted at prominent points of public traffic, they shout their message for all to see. They tell passersby not just how to get where they're going, but the directions things are going in general.

Pilate installed a sign above the head of the crucified Christ: "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." In Hebrew it said, "You have a powerful enemy;" in Latin it said, "We have power;" in Greek it said, "Crazy, huh?" Just like the embassy signs, Pilate's poster hung atop a pole on a well-traveled road where no one was likely to miss it. Just like the embassy signs, Pilate's placard meant not just to tell people which way to go, but which way things were going. It amounted to a "Do Not Enter" sign that warned would-be messiahs against taking to the freedom trail.

Modern-day Jerusalem sits at the center of controversy and refuses to be ignored. The trilingual signs throughout the city call not just citizens and tourists, but the entire world to take a stand. Skull Hill just outside first century Jerusalem occupies an even more central intersection and insists on a decision. We can adore or we can abhor, but we cannot ignore. As George MacLeod declares, Jesus died "at a crossroads of politics so cosmopolitan/that they had to write His title/in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek." 

The ultimate question is one asked by the same Pilate who composed the sign of Jesus' death-sentence: "What should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" (Mt 27.22)

Jesus, looking at him, loved him. - Mark 10.21

This passage, from Mark's account of the rich young ruler, seems straightforward enough: Jesus gazed at the youth and felt love for him; Jesus loves the little children - wonderful, but not unexpected. However, interpreters often miss a couple of factors. 

The first problem has to do with language, specifically that word looking at. The original verb can refer to an intent gaze. In the Old Testament it often carries the idea of respectful attention. But it can also describe a harsher stare. Richard Hicks of Vanguard University describes it as "a loving glare."

The second issue arises from the context. After Jesus "loves" him, the Lord unleashes a rather harsh mandate: You lack one thing; sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. Mark makes it clear that the youth himself didn't think much of it: he was shocked, and went away grieving.

So love begins with a dirty look and ends with a difficult order. 

This seeming contradiction is not so hard to reconcile if one pays attention to the pivotal word: love. It is not the term for friendship-love, the kind of love provoked by something in its object. Mark doesn't say that Jesus liked this kid. He uses the word for God's love, the love that flows out on its own accord with no thought of what comes back. Jesus stared the man down and chose to love him anyway - enough to tell him a harsh truth but the only truth that could set him free.

God is love, 1 John 4.8 assures us. Our culture often reads this with an unconscious gloss: God is love, so it's all good. But God is love does not mean that sin does not matter to God; it means that we matter more. God is love does not mean that repentance is unnecessary; it means that repentance is possible. God is love does not mean, "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff;" it means that Jesus already sweat blood over our sins, and that there are no small sins.

God is love means that God's all-seeing eye glares on us until the sinful secrets of our hearts stand revealed. God is love means that nothing God sees in us discourages God. God is love means that God offers the only possible cure: complete repentance. As Angela of Felino heard the Lord say, "I have not loved you in jest; my love for you is no trifling thing."

The question is never whether God sees me; God does. The question is never whether God still loves me; God does. The question is whether I will endure the glare of grace and go forward, or go away grieving.

If they say to us, "Wait until we come to you," then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, "Come up to us," then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us. - 1 Samuel 14.9-10

G. K. Chesterton once observed that, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried." We often fail to see that difficulty itself is often the most profound apologetic.

In planning his attack on the Philistine garrison, Jonathan proposes a series of steps designed to increase the difficulty. Instead of bringing overwhelming force to bear, he sees God's hand in attacking with inferior numbers. Instead of a guerilla assault, he finds God's approval by warning the lookouts. Instead of baiting the foe into abandoning the high ground, he discovers the heavenly green light in their very reasonable decision to remain dug in. Instead of baiting them into an exhausting and dangerous descent, he finds divine favor in his own need to make an even more exhausting and dangerous climb.

Come after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel. (v.12)

No sensible commander could expect victory under the proposed conditions but that was just the point: No sensible commander could expect victory at all: the invaders had numerical superiority, advanced weaponry, better training, and had cut off Israel's lines of supply. Standard wisdom had nothing to do with any of it, so why bother? If God was in it at all, Jonathan realized, it would be in the craziness, not the common sense.

Jesus tells us to look for God in some pretty crazy places: turned cheeks during fist-fights, second miles instead of sit-ins, parties for prodigals and math which insists that ninety-nine minus one equals zero. But the thing is, if we seek victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, we won't find it in the world's field manual, which only tells us how to win when winning is at least possible. We will find it in the craziness of the Kingdom, which, when it works, proves that God must be behind it all.

Impossibility is our most profound apologetic. Forgive lavishly; serve recklessly; die willingly - for the Lord has given them into our hand.

No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs. - 2 Timothy 2.4

Join the Army: See Your Bedroom.

While that is not the official recruiting slogan for the Belgian army, it soon could be. Belgium’s military, worried about declining recruitment and increasing age, may soon offer a daring new perq to potential soldiers: You can complete your basic training as a day-job and return to your own bed every night. The new rule would apply only on weekdays; Belgian recruits already have the weekends off.

With no mandatory military service, an average age of forty-four, and a seventy percent drop in its ranks, the Belgian military figures they have to meet young people on their own turf, even if it means surrendering the high ground of military readiness. Predictably, seasoned veterans scoff at the idea. “You don’t go to a war zone with men who miss their mama,” says former paratrooper Danny Lams.

Using a military metaphor, the Apostle Paul calls his protege Timothy to a more rigorous service. Share in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he demands (2 Tim 2.3). Jesus set the example by which training in faith trumps hanging with family (Mk 3.32-35).

You don’t train for something hard by doing something easy. You don’t make spiritual soldiers out of stay-at-home saints.

Here at SCS we offer basic training to a militia of ministers whom God has called to done their spiritual armor and fight in the front ranks. They often spend their days and nights in a classroom instead of a living room. When they do go home, they frequently neglect their beds in favor of their books. As drill sargeants in this sacred endeavor, we dare not demand a commitment that we ourselves do not model. Today, let’s renew our devotion to commitment above convenience.