A friend handed me a book. ”You need to read this,” she said. ”In fact, it’s yours, you can have it.”
Thanks, I said. I looked at the author’s name — Mitch Albom. He’s not my favorite author, I said, but I will read it. I noticed the title, “Have a Little Faith.” My friend laughed offhandedly, remarking that she loved the little book and that it was a “quick read.”
Well, it was a quick read. I started reading it that very evening and had sixty pages read when I felt sleepy enough to turn off the bedside lamp. The next morning, I placed the book in my bathroom. I have to steal time to read! So, every time I go to the bathroom, I read a chapter while I’m there. Last night, I read the final chapter, actually the epilogue, after I climbed into bed. When the final word nestled into my brain, I turned off the lamp and leaned back against my headboard. I closed my eyes and thought about what I had read.
So you will understand my thoughts, here is a quick summary of the book. Mitch Albom is born a Jew, is raised in a traditionally Jewish family, worships at the same synagogue all his life and has the same rabbi all his life. He marries a Christian woman and the two of them make a marriage based on tolerance of each other’s faith, neither of them wishing to change. At one point in Mitch’s life, his rabbi asks him to deliver his eulogy when he passes away. Thinking the rabbi’s death may be imminent, Mitch feels that he must get to know his rabbi on a more intimate level. For the next eight years, he establishes a relationship with the rabbi that is familial, very close and loving. Also for the next eight years, he establishes a relationship with a Christian preacher who has come from a very evil lifestyle into Christianity and has determined to live his life for Jesus and to help others who are living evil lifestyles similar to what his had been. Mitch visits the Christian preacher’s church building and finds him impoverished, but giving all he has to the homeless and hurting. The journey through the book shows the power of faith in both men’s lives, the Jewish rabbi and the Christian preacher. Mitch Albom comes to the concluding revelation that faith is faith wherever it is found and that the same God rewards that faith, whether the individual knows the true God toward whom his faith is directed or not.
Since I am a Christian, I understood the journey of the Christian preacher far more easily than that of the Jewish rabbi. His reasons for becoming a Christian, for dedicating his life to serving the poor, make sense to me. The Jewish rabbi, on the other hand, spent his entire life in comfort and in the security of his synagogue. Yet, he suffered loss, loved people intensely, taught the precepts and law of God every day of his life, and came to the same conclusion that Christians do that loving God and loving people is the best way to live.
I sat in the dark for a long time. I wanted to call my friend and tell her, “Yes, but…” the primary “but” being that if a Jewish rabbi does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then his faith did not take him down the right path. I wanted to ask why the rabbi never asked himself why the promised Messiah was never sent, if in fact Jesus is not him. I thought the author should have asked the rabbi that question. Yet, the book made it so clear that the Jewish rabbi loved God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind.
I began to pray, “Heavenly Father, thank you for opening my mind to new possibilities, even possibilities that I do not want to embrace. Who am I to judge another person’s faith? Only You can do that. Your Son said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” I can see Him now, sitting at your right hand and He is the One through whom the souls who are passing from physical life into spiritual life find their way to You. What if the faithful rabbi arrives there and Jesus says to You, “Father, forgive Him, for he never knew what he was doing.” Couldn’t that be Jesus’ role? He told us that all authority had been given to Him in Heaven and on the earth. Jesus has the authority to forgive everyone. He did that on the day He was crucified. He asked You, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” That forgiveness was not only for the ones who would acknowledge him as Messiah after His resurrection. It was for all of them, every soul, whether they understood or not. Forgive me for limiting His authority to what I can understand. I pray that you will continue to open my mind and heart to the truth of your love and grace. In the blessed name of Jesus, Amen.”
As I sat there thinking about all I had read and about the thoughts that were now racing ahead of me to some conclusion that I was not prepared to accept, I wondered about how Jesus felt when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” I wondered what His perspective was. I wondered what His judgment was. What if He said that simply because it is the truth and not to pass judgment on an individual’s journey of faith? It is the TRUTH, He is the Way and we must go through Him to reach God, but what if that is NOT a condemnation of the faith of men. He sits at God’s right hand and He has all authority. He can forgive whomever He wants to forgive and He wants to forgive all of us. When the faithful rabbi appears before God, and Jesus sees his loving heart and his faithfulness, doesn’t He have the authority to say, “Father, forgive him, for he does not know what he was doing?” And, based on Jesus’ authority, won’t God forgive? And when He forgives, won’t the rabbi be safe in His presence having gone through Jesus in order to come to the Father?
I have not come to my conclusion in the matter. I have much more study and meditation to do. But, a new light has been shed on my heart and in that light, I am forced to confront my own faith and my tendency toward judgment of others based on my personal faith. I don’t know where I will be at the end of this searching, but I am eager to begin.
“Have a Little Faith” is a unique story, told with gentleness and love. But, “quick read” and “easy read” are misnomers. It has challenged me and taught me again that faith is not something we can lock inside a box and keep the same all our lives.
I’ve thought a lot about similar things over the last year. I think there’s certainly a good argument to be made that salvation & forgiveness is a lot bigger than we have traditionally understood. Based on the things we know about God’s character, his love, motivation, and stated goals (he is all powerful love who says he wants everyone to be saved at any price – will he not reach his goal?), I think things like this are certainly possible.
For now, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t know the answer to these questions. I’ll tell people what I do know (Jesus), and try to treat people that fall outside of that understanding in a way that’s consistent with the incredible mercy and love that has been shown to me.
I agree with you and what you said in the last sentence is all we can do. I have thought more about the book I read and will blog new thoughts soon. Thank you for your comments, Matt.
Powerful thoughts! I love where your mind went with this. I recently preached a sermon in which the text was showing our response should be one of deliverance rather than judgment–because this is what Jesus emphasized in His own ministry. God will take care of the judgment! My role is to point people to the deliverance. Of course, I believe that deliverance is only found in, through and because of Jesus, but you raise some wonderful points to contemplate. Thanks for inviting me into your thought process–it is beautiful! May God continue to stretch each of us to see beyond the black and white we so often settle for because it lets us hold on to some sense of control. The love of our God is amazing!
Lora,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading them. I have believed for some time that God can extend mercy to whomever he extends mercy. It is never for me to say that someone will lack the mercy of God on judgment day. Obviously, not everyone will be saved, but we should leave the sorting to God.
I think we can leave the sorting to God and still be bold in our declaration of the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ. At least, that’s what I try to do.
Lora, you are such an awesome woman, constantly looking to be changed by God. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here are my thoughts…
I, too, have the reaction you had: “YES, BUT!” I admit I’m a bit concerned where the thought process in this book leads.
I don’t really see anywhere in Scripture that suggests Jesus can and will modify the scriptural expectations to save someone AFTER they’ve died apart from Him. And if He does, then couldn’t He save ANYONE for ANY reason? Which begs the question, how could a just and holy God save one person who was loving but not covered by the blood of Christ and condemn another person who was vile and not covered by the blood of Christ? This puts the emphasis on the person’s lifestyle and deeds rather than on the blood of Christ. If Jesus makes special, extra-scriptural (meaning “outside or beyond what the Bible clearly teaches”) provision to save the rabbi who never accepted Him as the Son of God and turned to Him in faith, but He chooses not to provide the same provision for a man who was verbally abusive to his wife–note that the man’s verdict is not the natural result of his sin but of Jesus’ choice not to extend the same pardon He extends to others–does that not mean that the rabbi is saved based on his own goodness rather than on him being covered by the blood of Jesus? And if so, where is the line Jesus will draw? How bad does a non-believer have to be for Jesus to withhold His special pardon, and how good does a non-believer have to be to merit this extra-biblical gift?
Sadly, on Judgment Day, many will wish Christ would make an exception for them based on the fact that they did only a little wrong compared to sinners like me who are being welcomed into God’s Kingdom as sons. But the response from God will not be to defend our perfection contrasted with their imperfection; it will be the blood of Christ that makes us worthy and the absence of the blood that condemns them.
I believe Hebrews makes it plain that our only chance to be saved is during this life: “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment” (9:27). You pointed out that Jesus’ cry from the cross to forgive those who were crucifying Him was even extended to those who did not seek His forgiveness. However, this one-time pardon was not their salvation, and it was certainly not establishing the doctrine that salvation is provided by Christ’s death to everyone, whether they accept His specific sacrifice or not.
And it did not provide license to plead, “But God, I just didn’t know what I was doing?!” Romans 1:18-20, tells us that people suppress the truth about God’s existence and His nature, and are therefore going to receive the full weight of God’s judgment. “But what about people who just didn’t know?” we might ask. Paul states that God has revealed Himself to EVERYONE–even nature testifying that there is a God and what He is like–”so that men are without excuse.” The rabbi cannot claim, “Forgive me, Father, because I didn’t know.” Paul said plainly in one of his most famous sermons, “In the past, God overlooked such ignorance”–referring to those who accepted an altar “To The Unknown God” to be sufficient effort to secure their salvation–”but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed” (Acts 17:30-31). God has revealed Himself in various ways, especially ways that the rabbi should have been keenly aware of since the entire Old Testament points directly to Jesus as the Messiah. Thus, if anyone dies without having accepted Him, that person alone is to blame. And even more so, with Bibles being so freely available and with churches on every street corner…it’s not like God is hiding! And even though the case could be made that nature, as suggested in Romans, only testifies about GOD, which the rabbi accepted, but not Jesus, there is no way to be saved by God without Jesus: “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” Jesus said. So accepting the God of nature and of the Old Testament but rejecting His Son is to reject the only way to God.
And specific to the case of the rabbi, I would point out that the Jewish law, to which the rabbi adheres, is clearly stated in Scripture to be unable to save, particularly in the book of Romans. How, then, can we think that a person who holds to the law and either actively rejects Jesus or simply doesn’t place their faith in Him (which is rejection in and of itself) will be saved? The Bible clearly opposes that assumption.
I haven’t read Albom’s book, but it sounds like it offers a view of God filtered through OUR desire for “the most profit with the least effort” and our aversion to any kind of intolerance and absolution, even by the God who determines absolute truth and described His expectations and consequences of disobedience clearly in His word. It certainly feels very good to imagine that even a person who blatantly ignores or rejects Jesus as God’s Son his/her entire life, even dying in that condition, can be redeemed and pardoned after death based on a good and generous life. But this requires some serious twisting of Scripture, whereas seeing God as gracious but also just and resolute in judgment when our time of free will on earth is over requires simply an honest and untainted evaluation of God as the Bible itself reveals Him.
I believe you were right to be concerned at first. And I believe you DO know the truth of God more clearly than most people I know.
Of course it is not our role to make judgment calls or to condemn anyone else for their faith, but we are given Scripture as a way to measure ourselves, and yes, even others, against as a means to determine whether we are right with God and secured for eternal life or lost and awaiting eternal death.
God has stated plainly that only those who are in JESUS will be saved. This is both gracious and damning. If we cannot trust that the expectations in scripture are uncompromisable and urgent, WHY EVEN CALL PEOPLE TO REPENTANCE?! Why not close the doors of the church and invest our time in simply making people polite, kind, and generous? Why not?
…because salvation is not earned by being a polite, kind, generous person. Salvation is received by the blood of Christ. Without it, even the most saintly person is condemned, while with it, even a vile sinner like me is saved and glorified.
Hey Lora, Things get pretty deep pretty fast sometimes. I will certainly grant you that I had not approached one coming to God through Jesus in the way you have raised. I know you recognize the faith of the individual and that you are not proferring the possibility that God may just decide to save everyone in the end. Jesus did make clear that an acceptance and response to Him as the Son of God is vital. I do believe that everyone who is ever saved will be saved by faith in the Christ. It may have been the simple faith of Eve whose seed would bruise the serpent or of Abraham whose seed would bless the entire world. God has the power to acknowledge faith in ways to grand for me to comprehend. God longs to save certainly. But, He sent Jesus to explain that salvation. No other name has been given under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12) keeps coming to mind. If one sought to present Jesus as lord to the rabbi and he chose to be good but not accept the Messiah, then I believe he would be held accountable for rejecting the Son of God. If he never had opportunity to wrestle with that decision then what does that say. Should we not be missionary to those who have a profound faith that does not accept Jesus. It gets difficult to promote that idea out too far. I appreciate your spirit and your willingness to engage the ideas that come from every side. I trust God will help us navigate a way of faith that does not violate peace and love through preaching with a judgmental attitude.
Well, I must have felt really brave to have presented these late night thoughts and ideas to all the preachers I know! I thank you all for responding so quickly and also for taking me seriously and honoring me with the respect of an honest response. I enjoyed reading all of your thoughts. First, let me say that I don’t believe we will have an opportunity to make an appeal through Christ after our physical death. It was perhaps the only way I could see a person like the rabbi in the book being able to understand the reason why his lifetime law-keeping was not enough. Some of the thoughts Trane presented, while Christians understand, would have no bearing on a rabbi who would never read the New Testament or know what was said in Romans. I have had a couple of days to process some of the new ideas the book suggested and I think I see now that the author, a Jew, was making a gentle, loving argument that the faith of his rabbi was a lifetime achievement that touched hundreds of lives and deserved reward. He presented a stark contrast between the goodness of the rabbi and the sinful nature of the Christian preacher’s past. Looking at it now in the clear light of day, I see that the Jewish author most likely believes that his rabbi deserves Heaven while the Christian preacher does not since most of his life was spent in sinful living. It is clearly an appeal to our sense of fair play and we all know that the student who studies deserves an “A” while the one who doesn’t deserves to fail.
I suppose I don’t like knowing that a person with great faith in God could be condemned to Hell. But, I do understand that the builders who rejected the cornerstone were all men of great faith in God — they were the builders. They should have been the first to accept the choice cornerstone. The rabbi in Albom’s book had many opportunities throughout his life to consider Jesus and he simply never did. In some ways, I suppose that would be even more reprehensible to God — that men who claim great faith would not trust Him enough to take a look at Jesus.
So, I’m back to dry land after my swim in the deep water! Thank you all for grounding me.