Perceiving Brokenness
By: Dr. Derek Carlsen
Brokenness in this world is to be expected, but that doesn’t mean it is to be accepted as the norm. The norm is always God’s revealed will about all things—about how things ought to be. God’s servants have a responsibility to identify and expose those things that are out of synch with His revealed will/wisdom. Believers are to expect, perceive and expose brokenness.
What Ain’t Broke
The old adage says, “Don’t fix what ain’t broke,” however, it is also true that if you don’t realize that something is broke, you won’t try to fix it either.
The “Normal” Feast
The people in Jesus’ days had been going up to Jerusalem year after year for a long time and celebrating the Passover. Many traveled great distances at great expense to attend the feast and they kept doing this over and over again.
Early in Jesus’ public ministry, He went to Jerusalem to the Passover Feast where multitudes had gathered and to them, things were normal—ain’t nothing to fix here. Jesus, on the other hand, took one look and perceived how broken the setup was. He immediately made a whip and completely disrupted the “normal” proceedings (John 2:13ff). Jesus exposed extremely powerful (religious/political) people for what they were, namely, greedy, self-serving swindlers.
Not Allowed
Many say that true believers have no responsibility and therefore, no authority to expose or call out brokenness in the civil/political realm, saying what is, is and should not be challenged.
The Sanhedrin
While Judah was, in Jesus’ days, occupied by Rome, which meant that Rome claimed supreme political authority over the territory, nevertheless, Rome had granted the Sanhedrin great latitude to govern Judah’s religious and political life. The Sanhedrin was a religious/political body wielding supreme authority in the eyes of the Jews (it was not merely a religious authority).
Jesus’ Example
Jesus challenged Judah’s seriously broken religious and political establishment and to not have done this would have contradicted His claims to be truth and light (John 8:12; 14:6).
The scribes and Pharisees were highly esteemed instructors of God’s law and this law was both civil and religious, covering every aspect of life in the Jewish nation. Jesus publicly called these high-ranking officials, hypocrites, because the law they taught, they themselves, did not keep (Matthew 23). Jesus called them whitewashed sepulchers (vs.27), meaning they were pretty on the outside, but putrefying on the inside (very broken).
When Jesus was on trial before the whole Jewish council, He at first refused to answer their questions, thus resisting their authority (Matthew 26:63). Earlier, after He had been struck in the face for the way He had answered the former high priest, Annas (John 18:22), He challenged the brokenness of their proceedings saying, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?” (John 18:23). They were judging Him by the law and striking Him contrary to the law.
Paul and the High Priest
Paul also stood on trial before the Jewish council and the high priest ordered someone to hit him in the mouth, whereupon Paul said, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” (Acts 23:3). Whitewashed wall refers to a wall that has an external appearance of soundness, but it is internally broken. Paul perceived the hypocrisy of such actions.
No Retraction
When Paul was rebuked for speaking to God’s high priest like that, he said that he didn’t know that he was the high priest. Remember, Paul was intimately acquainted with such proceedings; he had stood in judgment over others in these very same proceedings prior to his conversion. Paul knew the protocol and knew exactly who he was speaking to, moreover, they also knew that Paul knew the office of the one who ordered him to be struck.
Paul quoting the Scripture about not speaking evil of one’s leaders was neither an apology nor a retraction of the “whitewashed wall” statement, rather, it supported everything he had said, including both the “wall” and “not knowing.” In essence Paul was saying, “If you were God’s high priest, I would not have said what I said, because that would have violated God’s law, however, me saying what I said, underlines the fact that you are not God’s high priest.”
The Theological Slam-Dunk
Paul refused to go along with their theological lie, namely, that he had reviled “God’s high priest.” (vs.4). Paul was defending his gospel message that said “God’s High Priest” is Jesus and that Jesus is now the only one who could be called God’s High Priest (Hebrews 4:14; 10:19ff). The implications of this were devastating for his audience because the high priest was the only one allowed to enter the holy of holies with blood to make atonement for the nation on the Day of Atonement. If the Jewish high priest’s office was defunct (which it was), then atonement could not be made and so the whole system was irreparably broken.
J.A. Alexander said that the use of the past and the present tenses in Paul’s sentence shows that his ignorance about Ananias had not been removed, thus Alexander’s translation is, “I did not know (and I do not now know) that he is the High Priest.” (Acts p.788). Paul saying that he did not know Ananias was the high priest, was another way of saying that the whole Jewish atoning system was obsolete and had been changed (Hebrews 7:12; 8:13). The so-called office of high priest that Ananias claimed for himself was illegitimate—it no longer existed and Paul exposed the brokenness of that claim by upholding God’s reality.
Salt and Light
Political leaders are God’s servants and are fully accountable to His revelation. When we challenge lawlessness (brokenness) in high places with God’s truth, we are representing God who has told us to be salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:13-16).
Examples of Challenging Brokenness
We are to perceive and also challenge the brokenness in our world—in every area. Nathan the prophet rebuked the unrighteous actions of king David (2 Samuel 12:7). Elijah rebuked king Ahab for his sin that had brought trouble upon Israel (1 Kings 18:18). Elijah also rebuked king Ahaziah and resisted his commands (2 Kings 1:9-16). John the Baptist rebuked Herod’s sinful private life (Matthew 14:1-5). Jesus called king Herod a “fox”, referring to his devious ways (Lk.13:32). Stephen publicly rebuked and exposed the sinfulness of the Sanhedrin (Acts 7:51-53). In none of the above examples did these faithful saints “speak evil” of their rulers and thus violate Ex.22:28 (you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people—Acts 23:5).
It is clear that to perceive and expose the brokenness of our leaders and institutions, in accordance with God’s truth, is a necessary part of our calling, because the earth is the Lords and everything in it (Ps.24:1), thus all things and people are accountable to Him and are meant to glorify Him by doing His will.