The Backstory to Spurgeon’s "If Sinners Be Damned…"

Mike Leake

downloadYou’ve likely heard this popular quote from Spurgeon:

Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. [C. H. Spurgeon, “The Wailing of Risca,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 7 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1861), 11.]

But did you know the context of these words?

They were from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on December 9, 1860 in a sermon entitled The Wailing of Risca. Risca was a mining community in South Wales that was rocked by a devastating mine explosion on December 1, 1860.

Spurgeon was not a distant observer, using this tragedy as a way to proclaim God’s judgment against sinners. This devastating event wasn’t a mere sermon illustration. No, Spurgeon had spent much time in this location. He shared with his congregation a story of a visit to a location near the Black Vein Pit explosion:

I remember how they constrained me, and kept me well nigh to midnight, preaching three sermons, one after another, almost without rest, for they loved to listen to the gospel. God was present with us, and many a time has the baptismal pool been stirred since then by the fruit of that night’s labour. Nor shall I ever forget when standing in the open air beneath God’s blue sky, I addressed a mighty gathering within a short distance of that spot; when the Spirit of God was poured upon us, and men and women were swayed to and fro under the heavenly message, as the corn is moved in waves by the summer winds.

Spurgeon was heartbroken at this tragedy. The tragedy would claim the life 142 men and boys. Some women lost their entire family to this tragedy–father and sons. Some of the stories from the event, those which Spurgeon would have been privy to, fill out his illustration a bit more. Consider this snippet:

Another worker was down the pit with his son at the time. They were running towards the exit when the father could feel himself weakening. It is said he told his son to put his cap over his mouth and lie down with him. The father had quietly crept further back into the mine, knowing he was about to die, and his son tried to feel about for his father, but when he couldn’t find him, he managed to make it out to safety. (source)

The words from this popular Spurgeon quote take upon new meaning when we think of them in the context of a mine explosion and a community tragedy. The points in his sermon were to encourage his hearers to be certain loved ones know the Lord, to make sure they themselves know the Lord, and then (much like Christ in Luke 13) to think upon death and its reality.

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Photo is from the explosion at the Vein Colliery at Risca in 1860.

Why Did Jesus Say "Give Her Something To Eat"?

Mike Leake

maja-petric-vGQ49l9I4EE-unsplashPicture a scene with me.

Your beloved daughter has been horribly sick. It has swallowed up every bit of your time, your resources, and your mental energy. And rightly so. She’s your baby girl. She’s your world.

A couple days ago you had a glimmer of hope. You’d heard word of this new treatment that would cure her. One sip of this medicine would cause the darkness of disease to flee and vibrant life would once again course through her precious little veins.

The husband goes to procure this medicine. But it’s too late. She dies before he gets back home. When he comes back–cure in hand–sorrow piles upon sorrow. What good does this do know? It’s presence is almost an insult.

Someone suggests to try the elixir. Maybe it’ll still work…no…that’s ridiculous…that’s insulting…it’s damaging to have such a foolish hope…No tonic can raise the dead…

I’ve shared the story this way to help us enter into the emotion of the moment. It’s the story of Jairus’ little girl. And the potion isn’t some strange brew forged from some rare herb, the “fixer” is the Lord Jesus.

And what happens next in the story is astonishing. It separates him from tonic and tincture. He’s the life giver. He is the source of life itself. And he imparts this life into the little girl.

Pause for a moment.

Feel the hope captivating the room. Drink in the deep wells of joy springing up because your deepest pain encounters life instead of death. Soak up the life in this story.

Euphoria.

Floating on the clouds…dancing on mountaintops…

This is what life with Jesus is like…

Then…thud!

“Y’all should fix her some breakfast!”

Okay, that’s not his exact words. He says “give her something to eat.” But it doesn’t seem to belong here. I’m reading this story and dancing and experiencing the jubilation of life swallowing up death. Why say this?

The gospel writers have a ton of material to cover here. A lifetime of things that Jesus did and said, why do we need this little detail? They could have just left us in the elation. Why let us know that Jesus said, “give her something to eat.”

I think in part it has to do with showing that this is a real and authentic healing. We aren’t talking about ghosts or zombies. Commentaries, if they mention anything at all, tend to focus on that point as well as highlighting Jesus’ love and care for the girl. That’s all well and true, but I want to highlight something else it is doing; namely, thrusting the delightful back into the ordinary. A miraculous encounter with Jesus puts them right back into the everyday rhythms of life.

My spiritual heritage comes from those who took these words from William Carey as their mantra:

Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.

It’s beautiful and true and good. After all, we are talking about the raising of a dead girl from death to life. Ephesians 1:19 and 3:20-21 merge to form the heart of Carey’s quote. God is doing great things–and at times extraordinary things.

But they are extraordinary. Most of our life is lived around breakfast and building and braiding and bookkeeping and the occasional mouthwatering barbecue. And this little story is a reminder that Jesus lives there too.

Talitha cumi aren’t the only life giving words of Jesus.

So also is “take and eat”.

The everyday and the miraculous. The beautiful and the boring. Christ is present–and this makes all moments marked with wonder, so long as we too are present to enjoy them.

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Photo source: here

One of The Weirdest Articles I’ve Ever Written

Mike Leake

crazychartguy

Okay, this post is going to be incredibly weird for a moment. I’m warning you up front. Oh please, please, please—don’t skim this and do read all the way to the end…I’m risking a moment of sounding like a total weirdo because I believe it’s going to teach you an important principle in biblical interpretation.

Okay. Let’s just get the weird sentence out of the way first.

Did you know that Proverbs 12:10 teaches us that if you’re righteous you’ll have sexual relations with your animal?

Let me show you why I say that.

Proverbs 12:10 says this: “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” The word that is translated “regard” is the Hebrew word יָדַע yāḏaʿ. It means “to know”. Do you know where else we see that word in the Bible?

“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain…” (Genesis 4:1)

“Cain knew his wife…” (Genesis 4:17)

The same word is used in Proverbs 12:10 that is used in Genesis 4 as a euphemism for having sexual relations between a man and a woman. SAME WORD!!!!

*I’m giving you that really long charismatic preacher pause as if the Lord has just revealed some mighty insight to me…something that took years of deep study in the original languages to find…*

Of course, this is not only disgusting it’s also an example of poor biblical interpretation. Just because a word means something somewhere doesn’t mean it carries that same meaning elsewhere. The nerdy term for this is illegitimate totality transfer. I think it was first coined by James Barr, in his landmark work Semantics of Biblical Language. Illegitimate totality transfer assumes that all the uses that occur at a given time apply in any given instance.

I share this rather ridiculous example because sometimes being absolutely foolish like this can help us see the danger of something. And this is especially a danger when we’ve got access to a resource like Blue Letter Bible or a Hebrew/Greek lexicon and maybe a Strong’s resource to boot. The overzealous student finds a word in the original and does a “word study” on that word. What that means it that you find all the uses of that word and then you shove each of those passages and all of their meaning into the Scripture you’re studying.

You likely understand this concept in English. Take something as simple as the word love. If someone tells me they love pickles, I’m probably not going to be waiting for an invitation to a wedding. (Unless of course Pickles happens to be the name of his new girlfriend). I know not to load every possible meaning of “love” into their propensity for pickle consumption.

Greek and Hebrew works the same way. Many words have a broad semantic range. So, when it says Adam yada’d his wife Eve and we’re also told to yada Fido, they clearly mean two different things. That’s why it is helpful translated something like “regard”. Because the word has a broad range of meaning.

We determine that meaning based on context. And frankly, common sense. If you’re translation of a passage has you pondering bestiality, you should definitely go back to the drawing board.

I share this silly, and really rather horrible, example of biblical interpretation gone wrong to warn you against doing “word studies” without caution. I’ll close with this warning from Ryan Martin:

Resist the urge to treat words—even key words like faith or justification—as if they were variables in a math equation. Think of words in terms of their function and usage, and don’t pull a word out of its context in order to determine its meaning. Conversely, reflect on how that word is being used within its context. (source)

If you want to see Word Studies done well, consider these from The Bible Project.

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That picture is the popular meme of crazy conspiracy theory map guy. It fits. That’s often what happens with some of these word studies. And oddly enough the same thinking tends to lend itself to conspiracy theories too.

I’ve started a new project called Proverbs4Today. They are daily devotionals from the Proverbs. If you find this article helpful, you might consider checking out our newest project: Proverbs4Today. 

Vending Machine Jesus

Mike Leake

victoriano-izquierdo-JG35CpZLfVs-unsplashGod isn’t a genie. He’s not some passive deity who responds to our every whim—dispensing answers to our deepest wishes. He’s not a cosmic vending machine where we put in our quarters, hit the correct button, and then enjoy the soda or candy bar we purchased.

I carry that theology with me into Mark 5.

Jairus, he’s my dude. He does it correctly. He has a desperate need, he makes a passionate request, falling at his needs and imploring Jesus to act. That’s not treating Jesus like a vending machine. It’s treating Him like the sovereign He is.

And Jesus, no doubt impressed by this dude’s faith and respect, goes along with Jairus to provide healing for his daughter. But he’s interrupted by this great crowd.

Mark stops his story about Jairus to tell us about one of those in the crowd. It’s a woman who is as desperate as Jairus. But that’s about all they have in common. They are on different ends of the social, religious, and economic ladder. Jairus is a powerful dude. She’s simply “a woman”…a woman that is ritually unclean, filled with shame, slinking in the shadows, and flat broke with a massive pile of medical bills.

The Bleeding Woman’s Theology

What she does next shows how sharply her theology diverges from mine. Mark tells us that she comes up behind him (a sneak attack) and touched his garment. And then Mark exposes her horrible theology, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

That’s magical and superstitious thinking. Vending machine theology. She has Jesus in an entirely passive role. She doesn’t care about relationship. She isn’t even acknowledging him. Her love of Jesus seems about as profound as my love for the outlet I found when my phone’s batter is at 1%. It’s entirely transactional.

But it works. I’m not sure why Mark tells us this. It’d be much better for my theology if she’d have come up empty. “God isn’t some impersonal force you can tap into, lady! If you want help from Jesus take the path of Jairus.” But Mark doesn’t seem to care about my theological assumptions.

Jesus stops and begins this passionate pursuit for who touched Him. I’m glad that He seems a bit more concerned about my theology than sloppy Mark. He’s certainly seeking her out to rebuke her. She “stole” a blessing. She hopped the fence. She didn’t do things the right way.

Jesus doesn’t have to search for long. The woman comes up before Jesus, falls down before him, and tells the whole truth. Good for her.

I’m grabbing my popcorn now. Waiting to hear Jesus’ theology lesson. Maybe point to Jairus as an example of how we approach the living God.

*crickets*

What Are You Doing Mark?

Sometimes Scripture speaks loudly by what it doesn’t say. There is no rebuke. In fact, there is vindication. He doesn’t say to her, “My power has made you well.” What are you doing, Mark!?!?!?

Jesus’ power calms the storm.

Jesus’ power calms the ravaged mind of the Gerasene demoniac.

Jesus’ power will raise Jarius’ daughter from the dead.

Daughter’s faith makes her well.

He’s vindicating her. I appreciate these words of Charles Powell:

This is the only woman whom Jesus addressed directly as “Daughter.” This endearing address suggests that Jesus accepted her as she was, in spite of what she had done. Jesus received this impure but courageous woman and made her feel special. In the presence of the crowd He announced that it was her faith that had saved her. [Charles E. Powell, “The ‘Passivity’ of Jesus in Mark 5:25–34,” Bibliotheca Sacra 162 (2005): 74.]

Conclusion

This little story makes a wreck of my theological assumptions. Now, don’t get me wrong. They aren’t entirely wrong. Jesus’ having sought her out is significant. It shows us that He’s more concerned with relationship than a transactional healing. He’s not a distant and detached Savior. As James Edwards as said, “Discipleship is not simply getting our needs met; it is being in the presence of Jesus, being known by him, and following him.” (Edwards, Mark, 165). Daughter needed to learn this lesson, as we all do.

But there is a desperation here that we need to embrace. There is a boldness to grabbing ahold of Jesus. And there is also a beauty in the fact that Jesus doesn’t rebuke this but actually encourages it. Sure, it doesn’t fit neatly into my theological assumptions. But we absolutely must make room for this faith. We must let Mark do what he is doing here.

He is highlighting this woman’s faith, a faith that seems to edge on vending machine faith, but one that is desperate and sees in Jesus at least a possible answer for what plagues her.

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Photo source: here