![]() “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Two statements of Jesus should bring clarity to how much this focus on externals is antithetical to God’s purposes. The focus on external coherence may well lead to a life that looks holy and gains the respect of others but it will lack the joy and vitality that comes from living out of relationship with the Father. What is seen by others might not always make sense but the person living out of this center will be at peace. Internal coherence allows the outside to change freely in respect to what God is doing. You see Jesus had an inner coherence that can be summed up in this one statement “I only do what I see the Father doing.” Our incessant focus on externals, seeking some coherence that can be seen and appreciated by others, prevents us from moving into the inner coherence that comes from “seeing what the Father is doing”. But Jesus didn’t care what they thought He was looking at what the Father was doing in this woman’s heart. Simon only understood the surface, “this doesn’t look good” part of the scenario. The Pharisee wonders that Jesus would allow this, given the woman’s sordid reputation. Then she breaks open an alabaster bottle of perfume and anoints His feet. She washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair. We see a similar scenario when the “sinful” woman in Luke 7 comes to the house of Simon the Pharisee. We look at this as a nice Bible story but I think it’s hard for us to imagine how outrageous and scandalous this would have seemed to onlookers. I’m sure some in the crowd were horrified, but Jesus wasn’t looking at what they were concerned about, He was looking at what the Father was doing in Zacchaeus. When Jesus comes along He looks up, sees Zacchaeus and says, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” (Luke 19:5) Given Zacchaeus’ reputation, he was the last person Jesus should have identified with. Zacchaeus was short and couldn’t see over the crowd so he climbed a tree to see Jesus. So Jesus comes to Jericho, Zacchaeus’ town, and the roads are lined with people who want to see Him. Certainly not the guy you want to hang out with if you’re looking for popularity. On top of that he was rich, a wealth often gained by tax collectors through extortion. In the minds of the Jews he was a traitor, a turncoat. Why, because he was a tax collector for the Romans. In Luke 19 we see the story of this little man, hated by all his peers. Let’s take one story for example, the story of Zacchaeus. You could say that there was an external incoherence to his actions as viewed by other people. He moved from place to place among the people not doing the expected thing that one might do if they were trying to build a following. He was so counter to the norm that some people thought he was crazy and others thought he was demon possessed. Jesus did not seem to care at all what other people thought. ![]() One of the great hindrances to both our individual spiritual growth and the effectiveness of the body of Christ is our great desire to be understood and accepted by others. ![]() This very need of ours will get in the way of our maturing in God and our ability to touch others with His love. Often, there is an underlying concern about what others will think and a great need to have people think well of us. I once saw a refrigerator magnet, you know the kind that you use to put the pictures of the kids on the fridge it said “I finally got it all together but now I don’t know where I put it.” Sometimes I think that’s the way many of us see our lives, a constant rush to get everything together.
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