Face Your Fear of Man
Christ calls us to look to his face, to hear his word, and to listen to his people to understand who we are in him. And as we hear what he speaks over us, mere human faces lose their hold on us. We speak truthfully and love freely because we, like Christ, are not receiving glory from men.
“Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?”
Cassius, one of the villains in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is ambitious. He sees Julius Caesar ascending to power, and Cassius hates it. Yet he knows, like Scar in The Lion King, that if he wants to take down Caesar, he must gain powerful allies. Brutus, a noble war hero, is such a man.
Cassius slithers up to Brutus while Brutus is in some untold conflict with himself (perhaps fighting a similar concern with Caesar’s rise). Listen again to his question,
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?” (1.2.51)
Cassius asks Brutus if he can see himself. In other words, Cassius asks if he can properly know himself — see Brutus as Brutus is — without the help of another.
No, Cassius,” Brutus responds, “for the eye sees not itself, but by reflection, by some other things.” (1.2.52–53)
As the eye cannot see its own face, Brutus responds, neither can he know himself alone. He must see his reflection by some mirror. Cassius, to recruit this needed Knight to checkmate the potential King, offers to be that mirror for Brutus. Flatteringly, he reflects a majestic Brutus. A regal Brutus. A Brutus that is as great, if not greater, than Caesar — a Brutus the people would wish was in charge.
Who Shows You Your Face?
Shakespeare gives us the perceptive question that I turn now to you.
Tell me, good reader, can you see your face?”
Who do you look at to see yourself? Whose opinion of you forms your identity? If you have been like me, perhaps you rely on many mirrors. Does this group think I am fun to be around? Does my wife find me desirable? Does this pastor or small group respect me? Do these people think I am smart, or those people, funny? Does this group like my writing; does he think I talk too much?
I see myself, if I am not careful, reflected in a carnival of mirrors. In this one, I’m short and chubby. In that one, I am tall and skinny. In this one, I have an inflated head. In that one, massive feet. In the one over there, I am “too Christian.” In this one here, I am just right — at least for the moment. We too often live from mirror to mirror, always looking into others’ faces to see our own. We live and move and have our being looking for certain people to approve of us.
Isn’t it a wonder, then, that there was one who walked among us who cared not for human mirrors, one of whom even his enemies had to admit, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you [do not look at the faces of men]” (Matthew 22:16)?
Nothing but the Truth
The Pharisees, in the spirit of Cassius, said this to manipulate Jesus. They meant to entangle him. They wanted him out of the way, so they held a meeting to discuss how to trap him in his words. This introduction, which flattered Jesus for not regarding faces, was bait.
For their plan to work, they needed him to continue to do what he had been doing: speak truthfully regardless of the consequences. He couldn’t back down now, or the web wouldn’t stick. They need him to answer; they think they’ve asked a question Jesus cannot answer without his harm. So they say in effect,
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Heart and Mind
Written by Timothy Z. Witmer |
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
It would be a mistake to think that heart and mind are mutually exclusive or that they operate independently. The Scriptures identify the heart, the seat of affection, as the operating system for the rest. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). The orientation of the heart affects our thinking and our actions.When you first hear the terms heart and mind, perhaps you think of the Great Commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). Jesus is reminding His listeners that they should love the Lord with their whole being. While it sometimes seems as though these terms are used interchangeably, they can be distinguished from one another. The soul is often used to describe the entirety of one’s being that continues to exist eternally (16:26). The rest of this article will unpack the biblical nuances of the mind and the heart.
Most simply put, the mind concerns our thoughts. The heart reflects our affections, what we really care about. Concerning the Great Commandment to love the Lord with all our heart and mind, it is clear that we fall far short of this standard. In reality, we don’t even come close. The Scriptures teach that our hearts and our minds are corrupted by sin. Jeremiah teaches that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Concerning the mind, the Bible outlines the noetic impact of the first couple’s fall. Noetic comes from the Greek word for “mind” (nous). Speaking of fallen thinking, Paul writes, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” (Rom. 8:7).
It would be a mistake, however, to think that heart and mind are mutually exclusive or that they operate independently. The Scriptures identify the heart, the seat of affection, as the operating system for the rest. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). The orientation of the heart affects our thinking and our actions, for that matter. Notice how the two are linked in Genesis 6:5: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The heart is the source of wicked intentions and thoughts. Paul links the two in Ephesians 4:18: “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (emphasis added). The reason for their “darkened . . . understanding” and ignorance is the hardness of their hearts.
Jesus makes the same connection when challenging His enemies on being superficial and legalistic: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). The connection is extended from the heart to our words and behavior.
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Arendt, Totalitarianism, & the Gospel
The shadow of totalitarianism hangs over our country today. But how should Christians respond? In a way that is hopefully predictable. We should respond with the gospel. We should take our resolute stand upon it.
Hannah Arendt was a political philosopher. She was the author of several books and was professor at New School for Social Research and was a visiting Fellow of the committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. I have been reading her 1951 book titled, The Origins of Totalitarianism. It should be required reading for citizens of the United States. The lessons are as profound as they are simple. For instance, Arendt points up two illusions that plague democratically ruled countries. First, she contends that people believe that those actively involved in the government are in sympathy with that form of government. And second, the masses of people who are not involved are neutral and don’t really matter. These are two lessons we would have done well to learn long ago.
Now, among the many things I have learned while reading Arendt, I want to share one from which I think the church can benefit. It is the lesson on individualism. Had you asked me how totalitarianism succeeds before I read Arendt, I might have said that totalitarian governments flourish because of their use of propaganda. I was wrong. According to Arendt, totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals.[1] Earlier she wrote, “social atomization and extreme individualization preceded the mass movements.”[2] And “The truth is that the masses grew out of the fragments of a highly atomized society…”[3]
Let’s think about this for a minute. What does Arendt mean by “masses”? The term applies, says Arendt, when we deal with people “who either because of their sheer numbers, or indifference, or a combination of both, cannot be integrated into any organization based on common interest, into political parties or municipal governments or professional organizations or trade unions.”[4] These people, writes Arendt, exist in every country and are characterized by their political indifference and their scarcity at the polls.[5] Though these people are in a “group” loosely defined by their indifference they are by description self-centered. They would never lay down their life for this group. They would not suffer for this group. They are self-interested. It is not hard to see these as the lost sheep of which Jesus often spoke (Matthew 18:10-14).
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Why Do Christians Pray, “Thy Kingdom Come”?
“Thy kingdom come” is a daring prayer! We affirm that the world is not right and that we suffer under a cruel rebellion in which we are all complicit. We pray also that all people will own Jesus as King and bring their lives under his protection and rule. “Kiss the Son…blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps. 2:12). And we pray that King Jesus will hasten to return to set all things right in this broken and rebellious world.
Thy kingdom come… — Matthew 6:10 (NASB 1977)
Look on the back of any Australian coin and you will be reminded that, though we are ruled by the Federal Government, Elizabeth II is still our Head of State. She is the Queen of Australia.
Everyone knows, however, that though Elizabeth has a great title and honor, she has no actual power. For this reason, though we associate kings and queens with pomp and circumstance, we do not associate them with true power.
God owns the universe and all who live in it.
In biblical times kings wielded real power. They owned the land and the loyalty of their people, and truly ruled them. Legislative, executive, and judicial power, rather than being separated as it is in Australia, was seated in one person wearing one crown.
So, when the Bible describes God as King, it means us to understand that God owns the universe and all who live in it, and rules absolutely.
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