Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: IRONY (10/26/23)
-
TITLE: Ain't That Ironic | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
11/01/23 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Such an incident is recorded in Mark 10: 17-27.
Jesus had been conversing with a rich man who claimed to have lived an overtly moral lifestyle.
However, the rich man, after seeking council, and after hearing from the Lord, went away grieving.
Jesus had revealed to him, what in his case, stood between him and his relationship with the Lord.
Jesus pointed out to His disciples the difficulty that many materially rich people can have when it comes to spiritual issues (1).
The disciples were “astonished.”
After all, here was a man who claimed to live according to the Commandments, and was divinely blessed (or so they thought) with earthly prosperity for having done so.
In the ancient world, to experience earthly prosperity was perceived to indicate divine approval of one’s lifestyle.
Furthermore, according to most religions of the world, eternal life is earned through good conduct, coupled with religious ritual.
The disciples’ inquiry raised the question that if it was hard for a man to be saved who lived in obedience to the Commandments and was divinely blessed with earthly prosperity, then who could obtain eternal life, if not him.
Their question was based on conjecture.
No one (2), other than the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ (3), has ever totally lived by all of the Commandments all of the time, and therefore are in the same James 2: 10 sinking boat.
Not all “prosperity” necessarily comes from God (4).
Jesus’ response to His disciples’ inquiry, “With people, this (being saved) is impossible... Mark NASB2020/parenthesis mine),” was even more unexpected.
Note that He did not say that salvation was impossible, but that it was impossible “With people…(Mark 10: 27 NASB3020).”
The futile “with people” approach, includes the commonly accepted notion that eternal life is secured by way of human effort, good behavior, good human deeds, and participating in the religious traditions of men.
His concluding phrase of Mark 10: 27 NASB2020, “… but WITH GOD, all things are possible,” answered their question, and opened the door to identifying the one and only means to secure salvation.
“… I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through (faith in) Me (John 14: 6 NASB2020 parenthesis mine).”
“With people” no one is saved. With God everyone (5) can be saved.
Irony catches the attention of the listeners.
It is important, when using irony as a method of teaching, that the listeners hear the entire message. If the disciples had only paid attention to the impossibility scenario communicated in the opening phrase, they would have not received the answer to their, “Who can be saved?” inquiry.
The modern-day media is infamous for taking and promoting things out of context. If such media had been available to the Pharisees, I’m sure the headlines in the newspapers or the video clip would have read, JESUS SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE SAVED.
Carefully edited cell phone videos (cutting out the concluding “all things are possible” phrase) would have been splashed all over the media. Later attempts to tell the “whole” story would be followed by accusations of tampering and promoting fake news from both sides of the aisle.
Email, social media, and the Internet has made it logistically possible and financially feasible for an individual or any ministry to bring the Gospel Message and Bible Doctrine to all the nations (6) without even leaving home.
But such means of communication are also the means for the forces of evil to promote their agenda.
It takes humility and discipline to wait to hear the entire message before deciding to accept it or to reject it, based on an Acts 17: 11 examination.
Arrogance cuts it short and renders the listeners unteachable.
The devil (7) and those who do his bidding (8), have mastered the art of accurately quoting bits and pieces of Scripture, and putting a different spin on their application.
Ironically, God’s road map (the Bible) can be made to appear to say just about anything that a clever communicator wants it to say.
Our only defense for such deception is to have developed an edified soul structure, built on accurate Bible Doctrine (9).
Otherwise, believers become easy targets in the realm of spiritual combat (10).
______
(1) Rev. 3: 17 (2) Romans 3: 23 (3) Heb. 4: 15 (4) Luke 4: 6 (5) John 3: 16 (6) Matt. 28: 19 (7) Rev. 12: 9 (8) John 8: 44 (9) Matt.7: 24 – 25 (10) Hosea 4: 6
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
God Bless~