Is Jesus in danger of Hellfire?
"Of course not," you say,
"What a silly thing to say!"
But listen.
Our Lord says clearly,
"whosoever shall say,
Thou fool, shall be
in danger of hell fire."
But later,
He says to the Pharisees,
"Ye fools and blind:
for whether is greater,
the gold, or the temple
that sanctifieth the gold?
Ye fools and blind:
for whether is greater,
the gift, or the altar
that sanctifieth the gift?"
Twice does He call
the Pharisees fools.
Surely, by His own words,
Jesus is in danger of Hellfire.
[PAUSE]
Of course Our Lord
sits at the right hand
of the Father in Glory.
So what's happening here.
What does Our Lord mean
by calling someone
a fool
and why are we
in danger of Hellfire
if we do?
The word for fool
that Our Lord is using
has a sense of being unable to speak.
In fact,
it might be related
to our word
"mystery".
A fool does not know
what he is talking about.
To be a fool
is not to understand anything,
and to pretend that you do.
When Our Lord calls
the Pharisees fools
He is speaking the truth
because they are blind
to the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
He knows that
they don't know
what they are talking about
but are leading the people astray
and giving them
unfair burdens to bear.
If Our Lord is justified
in calling Pharisees fools,
why can't we call people fools
if they don't know
what they are talking about?
[PAUSE]
You already know the answer.
We might be wrong.
To judge another's knowledge
as being wrong
means we have to be certain
that we are right.
We are judged
in the same way we judge others.
Our Lord judges
the Pharisees fools
not for their damnation
but their salvation.
He shakes them
in love
so that they can see the truth
and that others see the truth.
But we don't have
the same authority
because we don't have
perfect knowledge
or perfect love.
It means that
we have to examine
ourselves
to see why we think
that someone is a fool.
We also need to
examine ourselves
to ensure that
the person we think is foolish
is still someone
we love as a human being.
Our Lord makes it clear
that we are only justified
in calling someone a fool
to save them from Hellfire
out of love for them
and of God
and not for any sense
of our pride
or moral superiority.
This is why
calling someone a fool
leads into danger of Hellfire.
Hellfire can only be avoided
by Love
and by Truth.
[PAUSE]
Our Lord
is the Way out
of the pains of Hellfire.
We would be
fools
not to follow Him!
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