It was the evening of December 23, 2007. Christmas day was just two more days away. We’d finished our shopping several months prior and I was privately scoffing at those who had to endure the spirit of Christmas commercialism. It was then that my wife realised she was short one art smock for child number three. Apparently this was a problem, because child number two would be smock-ing about on Christmas day and child number three would not. So having been assured by the woman of the house that the situation was indeed grave, and having not completely appreciated why, I found myself out shopping for forgotten gifts only two sleeps from Christmas.

I eventually located a manifestation of the Christmas spirit in the form of a very busy car park outside of K-Mart. Inside I found an exact duplicate of child number two’s art smock (the second last one on the shelf) and proceeded to the checkout.

“Have you finished your Christmas shopping?”, asked the friendly young girl serving me.
“Well, I thought I had,” I replied.
“Have you finished shopping for Santa?” she asked, noticing child number two with me fingering through the deviously-placed chocolate stand.
Partly distracted by child number two I asked, “Sorry, did you just ask if I’d finished shopping for Santa?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, well we don’t shop for Santa.”
“Oh no, I mean… never mind.” She now looked confused and perhaps even regretted ever bringing it up. How was she to know I was a nutter, right? I tried to put her at ease. “The truth is, my kids don’t know much about Santa. We don’t really talk about him at home.”

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Lord, Saviour, God and King … Jesus Christ. Do you know Him?

That is the question being asked in this monologue by Shadrach Meshach Lockridge (or S.M. Lockridge) – son of a preacher, do you think?

Born March 7, 1913 and died April 4, 2000, Lockridge’s short inspirational spiel is available (so I discovered) in various edited forms, one of which appears below. This is the first I have heard of him. But his passion for Jesus certainly shines through in this brief monologue.

For a more complete version of the monologue, but without the fancy backing track, see this YouTube clip. With a quick search I was also able to locate various bloggers who have published the transcript of the monologue, but cannot verify the accuracy.

[HT: Thanks to my friend Bo-Young who sent me the original email about S.M. Lockridge.]

Josephine Tovey writes in Thursday’s Sydney Morning Herald (June 3, 2010):

JESUS may have welcomed prostitutes into the kingdom of heaven, but the reception in Sydney’s ”Bible belt” is distinctly less friendly.

The Hills Shire Council, home of the Hillsong church and one of the fastest-growing regions of Sydney, is pushing for a change in state planning laws to allow it to ban brothels.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hills-folk-reject-oldest-profession-20100602-wzul.html

In typical What-Would-Jesus-Do fashion, the basic rub of her article is that although Jesus lovingly welcomes prostitutes into heaven, hypocritical unfriendly Christians (supposed followers of Christ) won’t even allow prostitutes to work in their town; trying instead to ban brothels (a safe haven for these women to practice their craft), potentially forcing them to prostitute themselves in more dangerous territory. And the standard by which Josephine measures this alleged hypocrisy… who knows? Dropping the J-bomb is about as close as she comes to providing any reason whatsoever for us to believe that her opinions are based on anything more than creative scripture twisting.

And as Josephine provides no reason for us to think that these Christians are acting against the desires of our Lord, I will not presume to respond as if she had. However, in the interest of highlighting a basic hermeneutical principle that I find helpful, I suggest that the best candidate verse is the second half of Matthew 21:31

… Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. …”

Whenever I am trying to figure out the meaning of a verse or passage, there is a principle I use which flows from good hermeneutics; something Greg Koukl calls ‘Never Read a Bible Verse’:

When I’m on the radio, I use this simple rule to help me answer the majority of Bible questions I’m asked, even when I’m totally unfamiliar with the verse. It’s an amazingly effective technique you can use, too.

I read the paragraph, not just the verse. I take stock of the relevant material above and below. Since the context frames the verse and gives it specific meaning, I let it tell me what’s going on.

This works because of a basic rule of all communication: Meaning always flows from the top down, from the larger units to the smaller units, not the other way around. The key to the meaning of any verse comes from the paragraph, not just from the individual words.

If we read on from verse 31 to verse 32, it would appear the reason “…the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God…” is not because Jesus merely tolerates and accepts prostitutes for who they are, or because he thinks brothels are such a good influence in the community and he wants to ensure there will be women willing to work the streets in the Kingdom. No, it is because they believed what John the Baptist had preached about Jesus, repented of their sin, and put their trust in Christ. “For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.” It is not that all prostitutes are entering the Kingdom with Jesus’ approval despite their way of life, but only those who heard John, believed what he said, turned from their way of life and trusted in Christ; those are the ones who are “entering the kingdom of God.” It has nothing to do with them being prostitutes and everything to do with how they responded to Jesus.

So whatever basis Josephine is using to justify her position, it can’t be Matthew 21. That passage provides no basis for believing that Christians should support or condone prostitution in their community, or that by banning brothels they are somehow being unfriendly, unloving, or acting against the desires of our Lord.

I [the LORD God] will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? ~ Hosea 13:14

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” ~ Matthew 28:5-6

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power ~ 1Cor 15:20-24

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed ~ Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)