There are a lot of different perspectives on truth. Truth of the way the world is. Truth of the way it should be. Gospel Truth. But this Father’s Day, I’ll focus on one particular truth:
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27
This verse tells us that God the Father has a special place for those who don’t have an earthly father. He will be Father to them. It tells us to be Jesus to the widows and orphans, showing them the Way to, and the love of, their Father. There is a reason the Lord’s Prayer starts with “Our Father” – because ultimately all depends on Him.
Many in the world reject God as Father because of the failure of fathers in the world. The Old Testament of the Bible is not full of great examples of parents, but rather shows people with all their flaws and warts, who by God’s grace became part of God’s plan to use sinners to reach sinners. To become the Father of His eternal people, despite the failure of His people to be good fathers. There are no Godly offspring without the sacrifice of Jesus. There is no human Jesus without a genealogy of sinners. There are none to inhabit heaven without the sacrifice of a human Jesus, God’s only Son, given for you.
This Father’s Day, take every opportunity to be grateful for fathers, for parents, for those who take on parenthood in other ways, but also think about those who have no earthly provision. Because those who see Jesus see the Father, help people see Jesus. God’s purpose for Godly offspring will be fulfilled and praise Him that you have the awesome responsibility and opportunity to be a part of that work.
Fathers matter. You matter. To God and to others. Whoever you are.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is well-known, even by those who aren’t Christian. Briefly, it goes like this: a man is robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of a road. First a priest, and then a Levite, passed him by. But a Samaritan, a member of a group despised by many Jews, stopped and helped the man, even bringing him to help and paying the necessary expenses.
There’s a great contrast made between these people, but another interesting question is what they have in common in the story: they are all identified by their cultural “tribe.” This brings up another interesting contrast: the man, left bloodied on the side of the road, was not identified as anything other than a “man,” or broadly, a human being. The only thing we know about this person is that “he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.”[1] What else was there to know?
By not defining this person, Jesus was not letting His audience limit their responsibility. According to the Reformation Study Bible: “First-century Jews had various ideas about who was included in the category of ‘neighbor,’ whether marking its boundaries by community or clan affinities or by religious party affiliation (a Pharisee’s neighbors would be other Pharisees). Yet at its widest extent, the circle of ‘neighbors’ was confined to Israel.” In short, the Jews were using tribalism to exclude people from the definition of neighbor, in a similar way people use concepts like intersectionality to include people over others today, but in the Good Samaritan parable, nobody is excluded.
To Jesus, the identity of the victim is not relevant – the neighborly thing to do isn’t to help because of who the person is (whether they belong to your own clan or tribe), but because they are a person – made in God’s image – who is hurt. In other words, if there’s a bloody man on the road in front of you, don’t say God didn’t require you to deal with it, because the man is not your neighbor, by some narrow definition.
Jesus was making the broadest interpretation possible. When we consider the situation of each person on Earth – damaged by sin, robbed of their dignity, and left for spiritual death – isn’t everyone like this man by the side of the road?
While we can’t expect to help every hurting person we see, the message Jesus wanted us to hear by not identifying this victim is that we shouldn’t have any pre-defined rules about who is our neighbor when obeying the command: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[2] Too often we create moral shortcuts about who to care for or not to care for, based on whatever our culture or group of friends agree on, allowing us to ignore obvious problems right in front of us.
If you find someone beat up and bloody on the side of the road, literally or metaphorically, help them if you can. No matter who they are. No shortcuts or pre-defined rules are allowed.
Anyone who has watched very young kids play soccer, or especially anyone who has coached youth soccer, knows what I mean by “Beehive Soccer”: Two lonely and bored goalkeepers stand by their goals at each end of the field, while both teams of players closely swarm around one ball. Some of the players on each team have an idea which direction to kick the ball, but others just want to kick it. Often a kicked ball ricochets around inside the swarm, unable to escape the vortex of kids. The goalkeepers might as well play with some blades of grass, or bugs if they’re lucky.
At Beehive Soccer games, parents on the sideline cheer at any progress at all, and grimace whenever some kid (perhaps theirs) nearly takes a soccer ball to the face. Coaches yell “spread out!”, then shake their heads, put their hands on their hips, then yell “spread out!” again a moment later. Coaches must let the parents know they are doing something, and it’s all in good fun – they (the kids) will grow out of it.
Often morality is pursued in the same way. In Beehive Morality, masses of people crowd around one problem, kicking aimlessly, organized by vague goals, or even just some anger and some hashtags on social media, but doomed to reach a less-than-ideal solution because their activities are not organized. Maybe they attempt to swarm around multiple goals at the same time.
In Beehive Soccer, young kids have not had time to be coached and learn coordination based on individual positions, nor are many of them mature enough to pay attention to coaching when all of the other kids are playing Beehive Soccer. It’s no fun being the only kid playing by the rules. In society, too many behave the same way, thinking the objective is just to show enthusiasm for whatever game is being played that day, but making no real progress. Many play along and keep “kicking” because it’s no fun being the only person left out of the crowd.
In economics, this is called a Coordination Problem, where multiple people aren’t aligned and cooperating toward a common goal. Unfortunately, Beehive Morality can cause a Coordination Problem in the church, but in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, the apostle Paul encourages the church in Corinth (and every church today than can read Paul’s letter) to focus on a goal, and put every effort toward it: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.” This “beating the air” reminds me of the Beehive Soccer kids, or Beehive Morality adults – there’s a lot of activity, but not a lot of coordinated work toward a real, helpful, objective.
But what are the objectives for God’s people? The two most important commandments – the instructions of our Coach – are: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[1]
Elsewhere, Paul has advice as the young Timothy’s “coach,” sharing these words of encouragement in 2 Timothy 2:3-6 – “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.”[2] The soldier and athlete look forward to victory, and the farmer looks forward to harvest, but until then must work diligently, enduring sacrifice in patience, knowing the reward is worth the temporary problems, even if sometimes it’s no fun not kicking along with the crowd and playing Beehive Soccer.
The video below is a funny illustration of Beehive Soccer (or Morality), versus coordination among well-coached players toward a common goal. The Beehive may think its winning because they having fun and doing the “popular” thing, but they’re really just “beating the air.” Remember, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Swarming around the ball labelled with the current hot hashtag topic – or many topics – is not the objective.
Have you ever wondered what life was like for Adam and Eve during Genesis 3:7? This verse, which happens between the moment they fell to temptation and the moment they next meet God, says “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” Since they were able to figure out how to make clothes for the first time, we can guess that the time frame within Genesis 3:7 was more than a few minutes.
The song “Trees” by the band twenty øne piløts may be a contemplation of that time, and if it is, the song imagines that Adam and Eve had some time to think about it. Songwriter Tyler Joseph crafts lyrics that allow for religious and secular meanings, but also that sometimes also apply to multiple audiences. In the song’s lyrics, “You” is sometimes capitalized, and sometimes not, and therefore I think the song has two intended audiences, God and the band’s fans.
Reading between the lines a bit, I’ll explain below what I get from this song, in each audience perspective.
You = the Father The lyrics are relatively compact, with the repeated verse of:
I know where You stand, silent in the trees And that’s where I am, silent in the trees Why won’t You speak where I happen to be? Silent in the trees, standing cowardly
Our first ancestors had lived a perfect life in fellowship with God in the garden of Eden, but the fall into temptation changed that relationship, and the verse imagines how.
First, the sense of togetherness was gone. They were still in the garden, but the sense that God was also there was gone.
Second, although “the eyes of both were opened,” the voice of God guiding their activities had gone silent. They had chosen to determine their own way but had not considered the consequences. Wherever they were, He used to guide them, but now they were confused.
Third, instead of being comfortable in God’s presence, they were terribly afraid of Him.
And a repeated chorus of:
I can feel Your breath I can feel my death I want to know You, I want to see I want to say Hello, hello Hello, oh, hello
In the original Hebrew Genesis was written in, the words for “breath” and “spirit” are sometimes the same word. Therefore, the first two lines of this chorus mean that our ancestors could still feel God’s presence (His breath/spirit), but instead of it being a comfort, they now felt something they never felt before – their mortality. This is a foreshadowing of their being cast away from access to the tree of life.
Also, instead of the constant conversation with God they had known their whole lives, now they wanted to speak with God and know Him again, but He was not responding. In the context of the song, maybe it was then that “they knew that they were naked.” They knew they had done wrong, were exposed, and thought judgement was what they should expect. Adam and Eve went from perfectly hearing their Father’s and Master’s voice, to feeling like orphans and castaways from His family.
What came next? Genesis 3:8 says, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”
You = The Fans The “you” in the song is also the band’s fans – and Tyler sings out to them, in the trees. Tyler says the song is also about a personal experience he had, which he doesn’t publicly explain, but He does publicly display tattoos of both the cross of Christ and of bands around his wrist, which likely represent rubber bands people wear to manage and prevent self-harm. These tattoos are like permanent memorials – or Ebenezers – from his life, and his ongoing recovery from mental illness. Many of the band’s fans are going through similar struggles and many feel left behind by the world.
Therefore, the “you” of the song is those who feel alone and silent in the trees, who feel ashamed before God, hiding themselves. They expect God to show up in judgement, as Adam and Eve expected, and hid their nakedness. Tyler could be calling out to them: God did not judge me, and neither will He judge you if you call out to Him. God will speak to them, “where they happen to be.” After all, Genesis 3:9 says: “But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” It was God who desired and initiated reconciliation with His people.
The outro of the song has Tyler screaming HELLO over and over again, before the song ends with 12 seconds of intentional silence before the track ends.
What will be the answer?
When you find someone alone and silent in the trees, remember James 1:27 – “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
If you find yourself alone and silent in the trees, tell your Heavenly Father you want to say hello. He wants to know you and He wants to see you.
Coda For many years, “Trees” has been the last song played at every twenty øne piløts concert. Why is this? On the album “Vessel”, “Trees” was the next-to-last song and other parts of the album built to it. The first song on “Vessel” describes demons and spiritual warfare, the second song is called “Holding On To You,” and the third song, “Migraine,” has the repeated line:
And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it And keep it frozen and know that life has a hopeful undertone
It seems like from the beginning of the album, that moment to hold on to when you’re battling whatever demons you have was coming. So, in each concert, the fans know that the moment to hold on to is coming. The song is a moment you can remember when you’re down and know you’re not alone. The song an Ebenezer in its own way, and a bold statement that the band is not going to ignore the problems of people left behind, the metaphorical widows and orphans of the world. Also, if they pay close attention, those fans can find the message of Christ in the lyrics. God doesn’t wait until our affliction is over and we make ourselves acceptable to come to us. He bridges the divide Himself.
Below is a video I took last year at a concert in Philadelphia. Apologies for the video quality, especially when they fired massive amounts of confetti into the air, which fans collect to remember the moment later. My phone camera just couldn’t keep up, but I offer it as a 5-minute moment you can take and hold and know that life has a hopeful undertone.
And what’s all this about widows and orphans? This post continues a series on James 1:27, which began here. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Often in the Bible, a person’s name tells us more than just what they are called – it tells us something about their character or history. Also, a name describes the authority and honor due to someone, like when we do something in someone’s name, we claim their authority to do it. There are many names for our Lord Jesus, describing His character and authority, and a great summary of these is the worship song, “Jesus, Name Above All Names.” It has two main verses, listing many of Christ’s names, as follows:
Verse 1 Jesus, name above all names Beautiful Savior glorious Lord Emmanuel God is with us Blessed Redeemer living Word
Verse 2 Jesus, loving Shepherd Vine of the branches Son of God Prince of Peace Wonderful Counselor Lord of the universe Light of the world
There are many truths about Jesus we can know, and much meaning is contained in the names from this song, but as infinite God, we cannot understand every truth about Him. A verse that reminds us of this is Revelation 19:12 – “His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.”
We know Jesus by many names, but He has at least one that only He knows. We know many of His names, but none of them can fully describe Him. Likewise, He has many crowns (“diadems”), but none of them can fully describe His power, authority, and honor.
But it was because of our Lord’s humility, taking on the form of man and voluntarily suffering death on the cross for His people, that Philippians 2:9-11 declares: “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
He alone has the name that deserves all of our devotion and respect. While we cannot fully understand Him, we can seek to fully trust Him.
