Itching For A Scratch

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:1-5

There are some things in life that never change, and one of those things is that the bearer of bad tidings too often gets the blame. I am fascinated at how some people will get mad at the weather man when he says that it is going to rain - he didn't create low pressure system centered at the intersection of a warm mass of air and a cold mass of air (never thought I'd have a use for that God-forsaken Thermodynamics class in undergrad), yet the weather man often gets the blame for delivering the message. Had he failed to do his duty and people planned picnics and parades on that day which subsequently got rained-out then he truly would have been at fault, but in delivering the news - unpleasant as it may be to picnic planners, pleasing though it may be to home-owners with parched lawns - he did his duty.

So it is with the ministry of reconciliation that God has given to everyone who calls himself or herself a Christian - we have to tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ, but that good news includes the bad news of their current state outside of Christ. Many people today take the perspective of Evillene, singing, "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News!" They have no problem with killing the messenger, keeping the messenger at an arm's length, or ostracizing the messenger when the message itself is intended to benefit those to whom the message is delivered. People act like they won't be affected by the content of the message if they just don't hear the message, so they gather around themselves people who will whisper sweet nothings in their ears, people who will affirm those things that they already believe, people who will go along to get along.

"It's a slam dunk."

"We'll be greeted as liberators."

"Mission Accomplished."

It comes as no surprise that people will seek out advisors and messengers that tell them what they want to hear, messengers who will tell them that which makes them feel good, but that which is good to them may not be good for them. It might make a person feel good to hear it said that they don't have cancer, but if it's not true then they will soon find themselves in a world of hurt as the cancer becomes inoperable due to earlier inaction. It might make a person feel good to hear it said that they will not be charged for their crimes, but if it's not true then they will indeed come face-to-face with a judge and they will indeed be called to account for their crimes. It might make people feel good to hear it said that there is no God, to hear it said that if there is a God then He's the kinder, gentler, grandfatherly kind of god that would never say a disparaging word about you, let alone sit in judgement of you, but if it's not true then there's going to be a payday someday. The messenger simply says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Don't kill the messenger.

May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
And may the LORD,
Who wants you to receive the message,
May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

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