Monday, August 10, 2009

4 Bums and a Rich Man

I was reading a friend's blog the other day and I was struck by the discussion that was going on there. I felt like my response was going to be longer than a typical comment should be, so I decided to put my response here.

The discussion is the age-old faith vs. works debate. Someone made a comment that (and I'm paraphrasing), in effect, faith and works are the same thing, it's just that the word "works" could refer to the work of God in our life.

I disagree. While I agree that God can and will work in our lives, trying to redefine the word "works" just confuses the argument. It's almost universally understood that "works" refers to the good things that people do, for one reason or another, in response to the invitation of God to join him in Heaven. It's always about what people do, not God. When God works, we almost always use the word "miracle" to describe it.

But that's not really what prompted me to write this. I really want to respond to the two opposing viewpoints mentioned in the post. Both of these statements really get under my skin.

"Protestants claim that Catholics are not really Christians because they are trying to earn their salvation."

"Catholics think that Protestants believe they can say a 2 line prayer, live however they want, change nothing, and still get into heaven."

I think the best way to describe how I look at these statements is to start with a parable. Here goes:

The 4 Bums and the Rich Man


Once there were 4 bums, living in a back alley of a large city. Broke and destitute, they lived in their cardboard boxes, living off whatever clothes and food they could find in the nearby dumpsters.

One day, a very wealthy man happened by. He glanced down the alleyway, saw these four wretched men, and their condition broke his heart. Determined to make a difference, he picked his way through the trash and squalor in their alley and called them together. "Hey there you four, listen to me a moment", he said, "Outside the city, I own a very large mansion. The thing about this mansion is that it has so many rooms that most of them are empty all the time. Now, I worked hard to build this mansion, and I don't like to see these rooms empty, so I have a proposition for you. I'm a busy man and I'm leaving today on a business trip, but if you will show up at my mansion in a week, you may pick a room and live there. I will have my staff get you some clothes and see that you get meals 3 times a day. This is my gift to you. But right now I have to get going; See you in a week." Having said this, the wealthy man left the 4 bums, who stood there looking after him in amazement.

A week later, the wealthy man returned to his mansion and strolled down to his front gates to meet the men he had invited.

When he reached the gates, he was dismayed to find that only 3 men were standing there waiting for him. "Where is the fourth one? Why did he not come?" the wealthy man said. One of the bums stepped forward and said, "He didn't believe that you really meant what you said. He thought you were just lying to us, like so many other people have. He just decided to stick to what he knew."

"But doesn't he live in a cardboard box?" asked the wealthy man, "Wouldn't a room in a mansion be worth the risk?" The 3 bums shrugged. "Can't speak for him, but that's why we're here," said one.

"You're right," said the wealthy man, "so you are. But, before we head up into the mansion, I'm curious; how did you spend your last week in the alley?"

The first bum of the three shambled up, smelling of alcohol and smoke. "Shhir," he slurred, "I was shho happy that I wash getting out of that alley, that me and my other friendsh, we broke into a local convenience shtore and shtole some beer and cigarrettesh, so that we could throw a proper party to celebrate my good fortune. I'm ssho excited that you're doing this for us! Woooooo!"

The wealthy man's face clouded as he pondered this news for a moment, "Hmmm. Well. That's not at all what I had in mind." Then he sighed and said, "But, I suppose, I did make a promise. And you did show up. Go on then, I guess, my people will get you cleaned up."

Suddenly, the second bum shouted. "What!? That's not fair!," he screamed, incredulously.

The wealthy man turned to look at the second bum. "Oh? Why is that?"

"You mean to say that he can do all that horrible stuff and still get in!?" said the second bum, "but I worked so hard!"

"Oh?" said the wealthy man, "What did you do?"

"Sir," began the second bum, "I knew that no opportunity like this is ever free. So I started working the moment you left us. I looked through every trash can in the city for pop cans I could turn in. I checked the change slots of vending machines. I washed car windshields for people. I..."

"Well, color me impressed," said the wealthy man, "that's the kind of initiative I like to see. How much did you earn?"

The bum held out his dirty hand and proudly deposited a handful of grimy bills and change into the wealthy man's hand. The wealthy man spent a moment counting the money. "$6.85. Not bad. Now, if you follow my butler, here, he can get you situated..."

"So we're even, right?," interrupted the second bum.

"Umm, what?" replied the wealthy man.

"We're even. Square. I figure that should cover my stay here. I earned it, right?" the bum said matter-of-factly, and then added under his breath, "unlike that other guy."

The wealthy man looked sadly down at the small lump of cash and then back at the bum, "Do you really think this is enough to buy you a room in my mansion?" The bum nodded enthusiastically. The wealthy man shook his head slowly. "No, unfortunately, while I appreciate your contributions, this falls far short of the value of the room that I'm giving you. If you'll remember what I said to you back in that alley, this is a gift. All I asked was that you show up. And since you did, please accept my gift and follow this man here and he will get you cleaned up."

Finally, the wealthy man turned to the last bum, "Tell me, what did you do on your last week in the alley?"

"Sir," began the last bum slowly, "to be honest, I didn't have any parties or bring any money with me like they did. When you came to us in that alley, it overwhelmed me so much that I could only weep for the first couple days. The next day, I started imagining what it would be like to live in such a wonderful place. But then I looked down at my hands and they were so dirty. All of me was so dirty. I was so worried that I would get your house dirty, that I did the only thing I could think of."

"And what was that?" asked the wealthy man.

"I took a bath." replied the bum, "I'm sorry, I couldn't clean it all off in the fountain in the park, but I did the best I could."

"That's alright" said the wealthy man warmly, as he put his arm around the man's shoulders, "Come inside and I'll help you get clean."



The question is, can you say a 2 line prayer, live however you want, change nothing, and still get into heaven?

Yes.

Don't believe me? Check out Luke 23:40-43. This is part of the crucifixion where Jesus is speaking to the criminal next to him. The criminal freely and openly admits that he is getting what he deserved for the life he lived. I don't know exactly what he did, but it has to be pretty bad for the guy, hanging there dying on a cross, to look back at his life and say, "Yep, I deserve to die." I think we can safely assume the guy didn't live a life filled with prayer and fasting, and being all holy and stuff.

He then literally says one line to Jesus, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom" and boom, he's got himself a ticket to heaven. In Jesus' own words, not John's, not Paul's, but Jesus himself.

Does this seem somehow not fair?

Ah, now see here's the heart of the matter. This will seem unfair and wrong to you if you somehow believe you are better, or more deserving of salvation than that guy.

The thing is, we all did the exact same thing as he did to gain salvation. We simply and sincerely accepted the gift that was given to us. No more, no less.

I don't care if you spend your life preaching the gospel, caring for the sick, feeding the poor, or whatever list of good deeds you want to come up with; It doesn't make you any better than the rest of us in the eyes of God. You may be a bum with $6.85, but you're still a dirty bum. We all don't deserve salvation, but he's going to give that gift to us anyway, because that's just how he does things.

So, does that mean you can go off and live your life however you you want and do whatever you please, without regard for any good deed whatsoever?

Maybe. But I'd personally advise against it.

See, we as fellow believers can't see your heart, we can't determine your innermost thoughts. All we have to go by is the stuff you do. So, if we see you doing stuff contrary to what God has asked you to, then we begin to assume that you didn't really mean it when you said it.

Unfortunately, the story of the criminal next to Jesus ends right there. Think about it, wouldn't it be a lot easier to accept if it had continued on? Imagine if it had gone this way: Jesus dies, and while the sky is black and the earth is shaking and rumbling, somehow the nails come loose on the criminal's cross. He falls off his cross, right behind the Roman soldiers who are busy peeing their pants in fear at the terrifying natural events. He's able to slip away from them and he spends the next few months in hiding, recovering from being almost crucified. Then, suddenly, he appears back on the scene and he's a changed man; no longer is he a despicable criminal, he's now spending his time leading people to Christ.

Wouldn't that seem much more "right"? We'd be able to point at him and say "See, you can tell he really put his faith in Jesus, look at all the good he's done."

Conversely, if it had happened the other way around and, right after Jesus breathes his last, the one criminal looks over at the other criminal and says, "Haha, can you believe he bought it!" we'd all be expecting the guy to show up at the pearly gates and have his ticket denied.

But that's not the way it happens. There's no more said about the criminal. I assume that a few minutes or hours later, he was most likely stone cold dead and it's up to God to determine whether his "death bed confession" is true or not.

The whole point is that there are only two key ingredients to salvation. A) God's amazing gift to us, and B) our sincere acceptance of it. Anything else is a nice gesture, but has nothing to do with our salvation.


Ephesians 2:8-9
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.