Essays and Reflections

The Third Way

By John Bobo

The place was hard to find. No listing on Google, but I saw a rumor about it on an obscure message board. That's how I ended up in China Town.  I kept asking around and getting the strangest looks. Finally, an elderly woman feeding coins into a meter pointed me to a door with a set of stairs leading into a building that still wore its original coat of paint from the days of the Eisenhower Administration.

On the third floor, I found a door with fading letters on pebbled glass and gently knocked, as I entered a room with furniture well suited any Greyhound bus terminal. Plastic chairs in front of a Formica table, and behind the table, a large man with heavy eyelids and a slight wheeze to his breathing. He ran a meaty hand through disheveled gray hair and studied the manila folder opened in front of him.

"Welcome to the Salvation Counseling Center. May I help you?" he said, never looking up from his file.

"Yes, I wanted to speak to someone about my salvation."

"Is this your first time visiting the SCC?"

"Yes, but I brought my resume."

His eyes shot up. "A resume?"

"Yes, and I think you'll find everything in order. I've listed why I'm a good person and all the good things I've done in life. And I wanted you to tell me what you thought my chances are for Salvation."

"It don't work that way, Mister." From a drawer, he pulled out a book and tossed it to me. "Read this and come back and see me."

The book was a small hardback by Timothy Keller called The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. "Sir, I've been looking for this place for months, and I've come a long way. Couldn't you just look at my resume and tell me if you think I'm good for Salvation."  I slid my resume across the table, so it was right in front of him.

"You want me to look at all the good things you've done and tell you what God owes you? Mister, this is the Salvation Counseling Center. I think you are looking for the Self-Salvation Counseling Center."

"What do you mean?"

"This is why we have you read the book first. In the book, Keller gives an amazing look at the parable Jesus told in Luke about the Prodigal son. In fact, it's an amazing lens for looking at the world. You remember the story, don't you?"

"Sure, the younger son asks his father for his inheritance, leaves home and squanders everything in a boys-gone-wild lifestyle. And after he loses everything, he returns home in hopes to work as a lowly servant for his dad. But his dad runs out to greet him, gives him his best clothes, kills the fatted calf and restores him to the family. It's a classic."

"Yeah, but you left out half the story."

"I did?"

"Yeah, the part of the story that Jesus told to really zing the Pharisees. You see, Jesus did not call this the story of the Prodigal Son. He starts the story by saying 'a man had two sons.' Do you remember the story of the older son?"

"I remember the happy ending of the prodigal’s return, but not much more. I remember his older brother is angry."

"That's right," he said. "He's furious. While his younger brother is living large, the older brother has been dutifully working for his father and living a morally upright life. And the return of his brother only means that his inheritance will shrink even more. He's totally outraged and demands his father renounce his brother. But his father only shows his first-born son love by coming out of the feast and inviting him --begging him really-- to join them inside at the feast. But there's no happy ending. The older brother stays out of the celebration and never reconciles with his father."

"Pretty understandable reaction."

"Don't forget the audience."

"You mean the Pharisees?"

"Jesus' target audience in Keller's words are, 'religious people who do everything the Bible requires. He wants to show them their blindness, narrowness and self-righteousness, and how these things are destroying both their souls and the lives of people around them'. So Jesus uses the story to describe two ways that people try to find happiness. The way of the older brother(or way of moral conformity). And, the way of the younger brother(or the way of self-discovery)."
"And that's the lens for looking at the world you were talking about?"

"That's right. You can easily see the path's people choose. Some people try both. Some pretend to be older brothers but really lead secret lives of younger brothers."

"So what am I?"

"Let me ask you a question. How many Pharisees does it take to change a light bulb?"

"No idea."

"None. They live morally perfect lives and wait for God to change the bulb because they know God owes it to them."

"That's not funny," I said.

"I know it's not," he said. "But I'm highlighting Keller's point that if you believe God should bless you because you have worked hard to be a good person, then Jesus is your helper --not your savior. In the parable, the older brother seeks to control God through obedience. Morality becomes a way to use God to get all the things in life you really want."

"Wow."

"The reason the older brother is furious because he tried to control his life through performance, and he is incapable of forgiving his younger brother because he feels superior to him. You know, you can never forgive anyone if you feel superior to them."

"Which explains why Hell (or the state of hell) is filled with people forgiven for their sins; they are trapped by their inability to forgive others."
 
"At least the younger brother knows he's in the wrong. The older brother doesn't have a clue. You really should read the book to see how Keller describes what older brothers do to our families and our churches."

I stood up from the chair started pacing.  "How do you know if you're an older brother?"

He started ticking off things with his fingers. "One, when life doesn't go your way, you just aren't disappointed; you are angry and bitter. Two, you obey God out of a joyless, fear-based compliance. Think dry prayer life. And three, you lack assurance of God's love for you. If you are controlling God through good acts, you will never be sure you are good enough for Him. To paraphrase Keller, their entire self-image is based on achievements and performance, so they have to prop up their sense of righteousness by putting others down and finding fault."

I sat numbly back down in the chair. "I...I...had no idea….So my resume, it's..."
"Classic older brother. Although from reading it, I see you you tried the younger brother path in your mid-twenties. Jesus is saying neither path leads to happiness."

"But I've worked so hard on that resume. Things that should be pleasing to God."

"I think the question becomes why you did those things. Were you serving God out of fear and anger and a way to take control of your life? Or, were you serving God out of joy, love and gratitude? And from the way you presented this resume to me...like a scorecard of good deeds entitling you to God's salvation...I think it was more the former. Listen when you first read the book, it is easy to find this lens of looking at the world (older brother vs younger brother) so startling that you may overlook the real point of the parable."

"What's that?"

"That forgiveness always has a price."

"A price?"

"For the younger brother to return to his family, his older brother had to bare the cost himself. That never happens. Instead, the younger brother gets a Pharisee for an older brother. Keller says that there is no other way for our Father to bring us home except at the expense of at an older brother that's true of heart --Jesus Christ.  And to change your heart to one of joy, love and gratitude, Keller says, 'You need to be moved by the cost of what it cost to bring you home’."

"A third way. He's showing us a third way."

"Exactly. He is showing us a third way." The man leaned over the Formica table and looked me dead in the eyes. "Question for you. Before his crucifixion, what do you think Jesus' resume looked like?"

"Excuse me?"

"He's the most powerful man that ever lived on earth. The most gifted, talented, smartest man that ever walked on dry land or on water. What did his resume look like?"

"Nothing to speak of academically, economically or politically," I said, "but some impressive miracles."

"His resume would be a potential father-in-law's worst nightmare. He traveled around with a bunch of guys with no jobs, associated with tax collectors and prostitutes, and his first miracle was changing water into wine to keep a party going. Why did such a powerful, talented person choose this path? Keller says it was because he saw us enslaved by the things that we thought would free us, so he emptied himself of glory and became a servant. He paid our debts buying us a place at the Father's feast."

"That last part sure beefs up the resume."

"I can see it now under the heading of skills, 'Total ability to trust God, Selfless love of God and all humanity.' You see, the third ways is all about trusting God. And only selfless love destroys the mistrust of God that leads to younger or older brother paths."

"But isn't selfless love really selfless acts? In the end, isn't it about the good deeds?"

The man leaned back into his chair and laughed. "I see you bring up the perennial debate of Sunday School class. The faith verses good works debate. Ultimately, the answer is faith, and I think that's why it is a debate that's so unsettling to so many people --especially older brothers. The debate should really be in what spirit do we approach good acts. Keller says if we really believe in the Gospel and receive a new identity and relationship with God that we will change how we live our lives based on Jesus' message."

"Change? Change how?"

 “How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?”

 “I bet this one’s not going to be funny either.”

 “One. And they change the bulb out of gratitude, love and joy that it may bring light to others and out of love to God.”

 “So that’s how we change?”

 “This parable captures the reoccurring theme exile and homecoming found throughout the Bible. Keller says the Bible is really in two acts and that the third and final act awaits Jesus' return where there will be a great feast. Through this parable, Jesus invites us the feast at the end of history."

 “The same feast symbolized by Eucharist?”

"The Last Supper is Jesus’ sign of a feast to come because a feast is a perfect thing to what it means to live out a life based on Jesus’ work. Keller says there are four ways to experience a feast --experiential, material, individual and communal. You should really see how he describes these in the book. But, the way to the feast is through Jesus. And what I really find interesting is Keller says that through prayer, service to others, changes in our inner nature and healed relationships that only Christ can give, we get a 'foretaste' of what is to come."

I stood up shaking my head. "This is a lot. This is a lot to take in. I'm not sure how to take this Keller book."
Now this large man was on his feet and leaning across the desk towards me. In most people, the move would have been imposing or menacing, but he had this big, wild grin on his face: "Take it like a gigantic wake-up call. A call to get off the couch and live a life that Jesus wants you to live. Not the life everyone thinks you should live. Good God, man. Don't you get it? What do you think covered Paul's eyes on the road to Damascus? It was the scales of self-righteousness borne from exemplifying the older bother’s path. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, you take this book and use it to remove the scales over your eyes and know the one essential truth about Jesus.”

 “What’s that?”

 “The essential truth of Jesus is that he is all about freedom. Freedom to no longer worry if you are good enough or have done enough or scored enough points. Freedom to not define your life by its achievements. Freedom from crippling self-judgments or the devastating criticism of others. Freedom from religious duty, church gossip and hypocrisy. Freedom from the exhausting calculus of control and manipulation. Freedom from superiority and smugness. Freedom from the false promises of the world. Freedom from the notion that you have enough will-power to create your own salvation. Freedom from you and your own special-brand of lostness. And freedom to no longer fear God but rather to love and delight in God's love for you and your love for Him."

 The man stopped to catch his breath. This seemed like more than he had said in an entire week. He sank back into his chair and gave a soft, breathy snort. "That's how you take it."

I swallowed hard and snatched my resume from the desk. My fingers ripped it into small, tiny pieces. And then wearing a big, wild grin, I threw the pieces of my resume into the air transforming them into confetti celebrating a new freedom and a new life.

#