But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)
Most people know that Vincent Van Gogh had his own share of mental struggles. What many don’t know is that Van Gogh began as a preacher. Convinced that he was to spend his life in vocational ministry, the young dutchman spent time serving among a desperately poor population of miners as a missionary evangelist.
Van Gogh took Jesus’ teaching seriously.
Jesus told the rich, young ruler, “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor.”
Vincent took Jesus’ words at face value.
He gave away his clothes.
He slept on straw.
He lived in the same conditions as the miners.
He gave his food and income to those poorer than himself.
He didn’t just “minister to” the poor.
He became one of them.
Van Gogh embraced the kind of radical, living incarnation of God’s Message that history records in the lives of the ancient prophets, the desert fathers, and saints like Francis of Assisi.
Van Gogh’s superiors were embarrassed. They didn’t want a modern day prophet who gave away his shoes to the poor and walked barefoot (like Isaiah). As good Dutch Reformers, they valued dignity and respectability. Van Gogh chose identity with those to whom he ministered. In Vincent’s mind, he was walking in Jesus’ footsteps, who left the comforts of heaven to become poor and live among us.
So the church leaders rejected Vincent as unfit for ministry.
God had other plans for Vincent. He would preach with a paintbrush.
Peter would have recognized the tension immediately.
In today’s chapter, he does not mince words as he addresses the problem of false teachers. He is not subtle. He points out that false teachers have always been present throughout history and the Great Story. He points out the consistent thread of their heresy:
Moral compromise
Institutional greed
Cultural accommodation
They deny the Master, exploit others, and are driven by their personal indulgences of appetite. A veneer of godliness cloaks their greed. They observe the sacraments even as they feast on sensuality. They don’t worry about truth, preferring to embrace beliefs that justifies their self-centered desires, even if they have to make a few things up along the way. They appear to embrace God, but they are simply leveraging religion to feed personal extravagance and fleshly pursuits.
Peter quotes an ancient proverb about washing a pig only to watch it return to wallowing in the mud.
God’s word has not penetrated. Jesus’ teaching has not transformed. The fruit of God’s Spirit is not increasing in “greater measure” which Peter described as evidence of “participating in the divine nature” in yesterday’s chapter.
Jesus came to teach a righteousness that comes from simplicity, surrendering, and sacrificial love.
False teachers use religion to self-righteously feed the appetites of self at the expense of others.
In the quiet this morning, my mind wanders back to poor Vincent rattling the sensibilities of his institutional religious superiors. They didn’t know what to do with one who embraced simplicity, surrender, and sacrificial love to excess, and found divine beauty in earthly poverty.
False teachers exploit the poor.
Van Gogh emptied himself among them.
False leaders use position to elevate themselves.
Vincent stripped himself of position.
I think Peter would have preferred Vincent to those who use religion to line their pockets, who wash their guilt in the baptismal fountain only to return to wallowing in the mud, and who partake of the Communion cup even as they intoxicate themselves on self-indulgence.
The question for me in the quiet this morning — is this:
Am I using faith to climb?
Or am I letting it keep me on my knees?
Along my spiritual journey, Jesus has continuously asked me to set fire to my personal ladders.
Thus, I find that question an apt one to ponder on this Ash Wednesday as I begin my annual 40-day pilgrimage to the Cross.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
