character: the essence of being significantly different from others, often implying that one is above them
ethics: an academic discipline dealing with what is good and bad, and with moral duty and obligation
ethical: often used as an adverb to describe the habit of mind that obligates one to good moral behavior, especially when it is unlikely to be observed
honor: when used as a verb, describes giving all due respect to someone or something, implying that such respect is merited on some grounds; as a noun, often used to express a sense of privilege gained from others
noble: archaically, one born to high political power; modern use implies one is endowed with a distinct superiority of mind and character, one who serves as an example for others to follow
The tension was so thick, Peter could have cut it with his favorite old "fish knife" -- a knife big enough to qualify as a sword under Roman law. Despite all the clear denials from The Rabbi, he wondered how this could possibly go on any longer without some sort of violent revolt. So he kept his big knife close at hand, always under his outer garments. It was there when needed, but invisible to the world. No sense making things any worse than they were.
Jesus had launched into another tirade against the Pharisees. Their party was by far the most popular with the people, but they were seldom in actual positions of power. Nonetheless, their clout could not be ignored by the elites, the Temple bureaucracy, traditionally ruled by Sadducees. Not that Jesus favored the Sadducees any. He often backed up the popular contempt for them. And the Scribes -- lawyers who gained their status by laboriously copying the Torah for years, with all the precise counting of words and letters, and basically memorizing much of it -- were supposedly neutral, but always sided with the Pharisees in their literal application of the Law of Moses.
Peter had heard most of it before, but it somehow remained fresh in the mouth of Jesus. This in spite of the constant refrain: "Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Peter kept his hand close to the knife hilt, expecting any moment for them to declare they'd had enough and arrest Him. Were it not for the crowd of admiring listeners, who enjoyed every second of this tongue-lashing for the arrogant "experts" in the Law of Moses, there was no doubt the Temple Guard would have grabbed Jesus already.
He was using verbal stones from their own intellectual fortress walls to bash them. Their patently idiotic rules about whether swearing by the altar, or by the offering on the altar, is more legally binding had been long used as a sly way of avoiding honoring their promises. Thus, they had carefully constructed a mechanism for lying and defrauding others. They had long ago departed from stictly Mosaic Law, adding tons of silly interpretations. Their Rabbinic expansions formed its own corpus of material several times the size of the Torah. Then He brought another charge that caused some raucous laughter from the crowd.
"You tithe from your potted plants and your window flower boxes, but you have neglected the whole point of the Law! You dodge justice, mercy and faith at every opportunity. If you can't grasp the heart of God, Who gave that Law, you can hardly please Him by your nit-picking obedience in the Tithe. It's like sifting a whole barrel of flour to remove one gnat that might have fallen in, then turning around and swallowing a whole camel, without so much as chewing!"
It was all the more hillarious because the words for "gnat" and "camel" sounded very much alike in their elitist urban dialect of the Aramaic language. Jesus, from Galilean parents, briefly switched from His normal country boy sound to mock them.
Have we yet tired of the hackneyed phrase: "Stupid is as stupid does"? Or the corollary, "Actions speak louder than words." How about the state motto of those from Missouri, "Show me!" Honorable people do honorable things. More than that, they are known for honorable living in general.
We note in the Book of Acts that, very early on, Peter burst on the scene as the defacto leader of the Christians in Jerusalem. Not a flawless man, but far above what he had been when he first met Jesus, who changed his name. Born Simon, Jesus said "I'll call you Peter," meaning "a stone." How this must have caused a chuckle in those listening! Yet after the Resurrection, he was indeed solid as a rock.
But it was his very effective leadership that landed him in hot water with the Jewish Sanhedrin. After at least one arrest in preparation for a certain execution, and his miraculous escape, Peter yielded to the pressure from those he lead to spare himself an early martyrdom and stay out of town. His place at the head of the Jerusalem church was taken by none other than one of Jesus' own brothers, James.
James' one letter preserved from that period was a dressing down to Christian Jews scattered by the fierce persecution in Judea that nearly took Peter's life. As pastor of the Jerusalem Church Underground, if I may, James addressed a characteristic weakness of Jewish culture. They were phony and hypocritical as ever. They associated mere appearances with reality, taking no time at all to examine the evidence. If someone richly dressed entered the church, he was treated as a VIP. Anyone casually dressed was treated with contempt. Never mind that the latter may have been the visiting apostle.
The content of his letter made it clear that this was, plain and simple, sin. It was evil. Give someone honor when they are proven honorable. Stop fishing for big donations so you can pad the pews, or carpet the floor.
For all Christians, we can refer to Galatians 5:16-26. The Fruit of the Spirit is the starting point. Get that down, then let's talk about leadership. Leaders should expect to add more. We cannot list all the proper traits, any more than Paul could in his letter to the Galatians, but these should be obvious. Some of them have been mentioned before. Leaders must be consistent in these things:
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Ed Hurst
02 October 2002
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).