We can be stubborn about receiving truth we don’t want to hear.

Doctors must tell surviving family, “Your loved one has died.”

Avoiding euphemisms is crucial because in the moment, the mind grasps at any heartbeat of hope. Presenting a vague truth is cruel and delays acceptance of what is real.

Jesus-followers must speak truth. We must not withhold it. We cannot be cruel.

We must be relentless in our commitment to truth. Even hard truth. Because people we love are at risk of dying — forever.

And they will grasp at any counterfeit hope that drops from the compartment above them to keep their vague notions of afterlife for everyone afloat, even if what is being pumped into their masks isn’t oxygen after all.

In Jesus’ final days, He spoke hard truths clearly. Time was short and He loved the people who were listening. He also loved the ones who weren’t.

If the religious leaders of His time had had Facebook, their relationship status with Jesus would have read. “It’s complicated.”

It didn’t have to be.

All their lives, they’d waited for Messiah. They studied the Torah. They lived the Torah. They taught the Torah. If only they’d believed the Torah.

Instead, the focus of all their hopes stood in front of them and they plotted ways to end His life.

Most people like to give others the benefit of the doubt. They like to believe that in troubled relationships, there are always two sides.

There are always two sides but sometimes one side is lying — or deceiving even themselves. In my experience, sometimes when there’s smoke—there’s a smoke machine.

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes—the leaders of Israel—were missing the Messiah. Not only were they missing Him, but they resented Him because He pulled back the curtain that exposed their Oz-ness as so much smoke and mirrors.

They liked looking in mirrors, but only mirrors that flattered them. Mirrors that hid their flaws, softened their lines, and reinforced how they saw themselves. Kind of like the photo enhancers on social media.

The mirror Jesus was holding didn’t flatter, it did not soften, or reinforce their comfort. It reflected the truth.

So, they refused to look any longer and decided, instead, to kill Him and bury the ugliness within the mirror in a tomb, sealed so no one would ever find it again.

We still try to do that. The Pharisees in our soul clings to the righteousness we’ve created for ourselves like Gollum’s ring, “My precious.” Not the true righteousness of Jesus.

It isn’t filthy rags, no! It can’t be. I’ve worked hard at being good. I’ll get credit for that. Why wouldn’t I? This Son of God offends me. I will stop listening and wrap my own righteousness around me like a shield against Him.

Jesus was on to them. And He is on to us. He knew (and knows) what was coming just down the road.

Even still. He knew a greater truth. One that would extend further into time than any of them (or any of us) could ever imagine. And so, He began to say things clearly.

We love studying the Sermon on the Mount. We’re happy to spend hours in those chapters of Matthew.

But then we skulk past Matthew 21-25, afraid we’ll wake the sleeping giant, or poke the bear of truth and have to decide about Jesus NOW.

He made His triumphal entry and was greeted like the king He is.
Then, He fashioned a whip and cleansed the temple.
Cursed a fig tree.
Told stories with unhappy endings and words we refuse to hear, even now.
Read the verses listed above the prayer below this post. Uncomfortable truth from Jesus.

But if we represent Him, we must represent ALL of Him.

Jesus’ Words, gentle or firm, are the overflow of a heart “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9b

Some will perish. Know this because Jesus warned us.

When we have spent all our persuasive, kind, gentle words on wandering souls. When we have exercised patience, demonstrated power, performed miraculous acts of love, and provided all they need.

When they continue to ignore our warning that they are heading into danger, we must employ plain words that speak of irreparable consequences, hoping that at last, they will listen.

There will come a day when people will be permanently excluded, uninvited, left out from everything that is loving, good, merciful, beautiful, kind, holy, refreshing, righteous, and desirable for life.

They will be shut away from God forever. Will we appeal to them by every means as Jesus did?

Or will we be standing on that day still clutching the truth to our chest so afraid to upset people that we refuse to love them like Jesus loved?

It’s not a question I want left hanging in my life, mind or heart. How about you? Adapted from Lori Roeleveld Blog

  • “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Matthew 21:43-44
  • “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:13-14
  • “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” Matthew 23:13
  • “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate.” Matthew 23:37-38
  • “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:50-51
  • “And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’” Matthew 25:10-12
  • “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41
  • “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:46

Prayer: Father in heaven, I lay at the feet of Jesus My Savior, the life, mind, heart, thoughts, lies, beliefs, and actions of the ones who need You the most. SAVE THEM (Him, Her, Them). Open up their visions and understanding of who Jesus Christ is. Show them what they need to know to avoid the coming end. Help them to accept Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, Bread of Life, Light of the World, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He was not willing that any should perish. I am not either. Lord, reinforce my armor as I continue this battle to bring my loved ones, friends, acquaintances, and strangers to You. I pray and give thanks in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, Amen.