“O Come, O Come Emanuel, and ransom captive Israel!” – Latin Carol, translated by John Mason Neale

The Captivity: Fear of Men

How was Israel captive? And practically speaking, how are you and I captives needing to be ransomed?

To be sure, when Jesus was born, the Roman occupation was uppermost in everyone’s mind, for at that time, the children of Israel were essentially slaves to the Romans. But what is more profound was Israel’s bondage to established religious sensitivities. Simply put, religious sensitivities are the outward requirements of conformity that religious leaders are quick to use to judge and condemn non-conformists. These religious sensitivities of religious leaders play heavily on members who fear their disapproval.

Fear of man is a bondage far more intrusive into the personal lives of people than any mere political bondage! The reason is that conforming to established religious sensitivities that are not grounded in Scripture requires one to surrender the autonomy of his or her conscience towards God to please men.

As in Jesus’s day, so also in our day there are heavy chains of bondage that we can call fearful conformity to established religious sensitivities.

Do you recognize those chains of bondage in your life? Much of Jesus’s ministry was accomplished under the duress of offending the religious sensitivities of the powers that be. Indeed, this fear of upsetting the self-righteous sensibilities of their religious leaders was a far more real chain of bondage for the Jewish people then their chains of political bondage from the Roman occupation! Jesus came to break them free from their sins, including their propensity to act in fear of offending others and not in faith.  
Thus, Jesus is our chain-breaking model! In Part One of this article series, we will examine how Jesus showed us how to break free from the fear of offending the religious sensitivities of others, and instead live in sensitivity to the calling of God. We will start in Matthew 14.

The Desolate Place: Preparation for Dealing with Religious Sensitivities

“For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.”

“And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. …And [John’s] disciples came and took his body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard [that] they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matt. 14:3-5, 9-10, 12-14 ESV)

In this section, my goal is to illustrate the need to deal with the religious sensitivities of an errant authority by coming apart to a quiet place to contemplate and pray, using Jesus as the example.

Authentic spiritual ministry will always offend the established religious sensitivities of those who care more for the position they hold than the care that they are charged to give. That is true of a civil magistrate (like King Herod) or an established religious leader (like the high priest Caiaphas). (See Ezekiel 34, on Shepherds).

Offending religious sensitivities is surely the starting place of most open, public spiritual warfare. Furthermore, dealing with it requires an intentional quiet pause to provide perspective through quiet consideration and prayer.  

I never noticed the correlation between the burial of John the Baptist, after he was beheaded for offending the religious sensitivities (or lack thereof!) of King Herod and his “wife,” Herodias. John had paid with his life for risking to speak truth to those whom he knew would be offended by it.  

Jesus’s ministry was intricately intertwined with his cousin John (See Luke 1 & 3). For Jesus, John’s death was a significant marker in his own ministry. Why? Because Jesus knew the end from the beginning. He knew that John would die, and he knew that his own death would be coming soon. Like John’s, Jesus’s death would also be a direct result of His own confrontation with the pretentious, white-washed religion of the local leaders. How did He prepare for this reality? He greatly desired to get away to a desolate place to pray alone to His Heavenly Father.

The Interruption: Sensitivity to Serving God’s Scattered Sheep

Jesus’s attempt to Withdraw to a Desolate Place was interrupted by the pressing needs of the scattered sheep He served! Jesus is the Good Shepherd. (See Matt 9:36, 14:14; John 10:11, 14.) His response to this interruption demonstrates that we should not condemn all sensitivities, just the inappropriate sensitivities to please men. Jesus illustrated appropriate sensitivity to the real needs of the “sheep.”

Jesus used a boat to “get away” (which was most likely faster than walking and more private), but the people followed him on foot. Consequently, it appears that he had only a very short time of quiet while on the boat – if any.  But that was all the time He had! Then, He immediately ministered to the needs of the multitude – which included feeding more than 5,000 because it was a desolate place.

Consider that! Following Jesus Christ may cause you to offend the religious sensitivities of civil magistrates or “religious leaders,” and that may lead you to seek for a quiet place for prayer and preparation for those confrontations. However, it is possible that when you are well spent from your active ministry for Jesus and are pursuing a quiet place that HE may set aside your needs and give you more busyness! – Never fear! There is a special rest in the midst of busy pressing ministry when you are sensitive to the Spirit.

The point? Yes, be aware of the opposition that comes from offended sensitivities and recognize your need for quiet solitude and prayer in order to keep the heavenly perspective when such opposition comes. However, do not allow your genuine need for solitude to obscure your spirit’s sensitivity to minister to people God has put before you! You may find adequate rest in the invigorating process of that special work, AND you will shortly be provided with a more adequate solitude for a quiet rest afterwards.

Notice how Jesus finally found that quiet place and thrived in His appointed ministry!

The Rest Accomplished: Prioritization of Time with the Father

“Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. …And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.” (Matthew 14:22-23, 25 ESV)

Jesus’s need for solitude to pray was still as real of a substantive need after feeding the 5,000 as it was before! However, He had to organize and arrange for that time by the well-crafted labor of servant leadership.

Jesus sent the disciples on ahead of him, but He himself dismissed the people, and only afterwards did he go to pray. And notice also, He prayed instead of sleeping! He prayed from evening until some time in the 4th watch of the night (between 3 & 6am).

What does that mean for us, the followers of Jesus? It means intentionally pursuing time with our Father, even if it means setting aside the usual activities or patterns of our day (or even night) to experience it. This looks different for each disciple of Jesus, but it is essential if we are to succeed in living in faith, and not in fear.

In conclusion, we must allow ourselves to be moved by the needs of the sheep, not the inappropriate approval of authorities. Jesus said, “For [the Pharisees] bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: … But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Matt 23:4-5, 11). The rest of servant leadership springs from your relationship with God, by faith.

“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it… For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said…” (Heb. 4:1, 3)

The Shepherd-Servant’s Prayer

“Lord, teach me how to rest and how to finish Your ordained, present work; and not to lose sight of my need for quiet times of prayer to keep focus on your heavenly purpose!

Help me to realize that the inward rest of my soul has an equal or greater value as the physical rest needed for my body.

You warned your disciples that if the world hated you, it would hate us, and it hated you without a cause! So, Lord, as we have been called to suffer like Jesus, we ask you to help us serve the needy happily and to pursue that needed quiet place to pray. Help us to have our own sensitivities surrendered fully to your redemptive purpose and to happily suffer with Christ in order to reach the lost we’ve been called to serve. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen!”