God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from the book of Acts we discussed pride vs. humility in communication. And we saw how the tribune Lysias overstated his role in rescuing Paul. If you’re interested you can read more here: “Pride, Communication, and Humility–Acts 23:25-30“. In today’s post we’ll see the motivations behind governor Felix’s treatment of his prisoner, Paul. And we’ll learn about Felix’s consequentialism. And, in contrast, we’ll look at a beautiful example of virtue.

Read Acts 23:31-35 and Acts 24

Acts 23:31-35 and Acts 24

After the ruckus in Jerusalem, and the subsequent plot to murder Paul, a large contingent of Roman soldiers delivered Paul to Caesarea where he was to be tried by Felix the governor. Ananias the high priest and some Jewish elders came before Felix with a professional spokesperson named Tertullus. And they presented their case against Paul, accusing him of being a ring leader of the Christian religion and someone who stirs up riots throughout the world.

Paul offers his defense, pointing out that he was peacefully fulfilling his vow in the temple when certain Jews found him, and, he wasn’t stirring up anybody. But he also confessed that he was a follower of the Way of Jesus.

After hearing the accusations and Paul’s defense, Paul did not receive a speedy trial. But rather, for a long time, Felix sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And Paul reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment. Which caused Felix to become alarmed, because, Felix wasn’t a person who practiced righteousness and self control. And he wasn’t a person who lived with the coming judgment in mind.

Felix held Paul prisoner for two years, and he did so for two reasons.

One: He was hoping to enrich himself from a bribe by Paul.

Two: He held Paul prisoner for political reasons, he was currying the favor of the Jewish leadership.

Felix was a consequentialist.

Consequentialism (and the Dark Places it Leads to)

So a consequentialist is someone who believes the ends justify the means. In Felix’s case, while it was wrong to hold Paul prisoner unjustly, Felix did it anyway in the hope that he would realize his desired consequences: Money from Paul and political favor with the Jews.

A famous example of consequentialism is the English criminal case, R v Dudley and Stephens (1884). A four-man crew of a ship wreck were adrift in a lifeboat for three weeks with little food and no fresh water. In order to survive, two of the crew decided they would need to take the life of one of their number: a seventeen year old cabin boy named Richard Parker. Ten days after their last morsel of food, they stabbed Richard Parker in his jugular vein and killed him. Then they drank his blood, and ate his body. At the time they saw only two choices: become someone who would murder another human being for the sake of their own survival, or, remain of virtuous character and perish. They chose the former. Four days later they were rescued by a ship that happened by.

They were tried in an English court and found guilty. And the case established a precedent that necessity is not a valid defense in the case of murder.

Virtuism and Maximilian Kolbe

In contrast to the consequentialists, Felix and the sailors who resorted to cannibalism, I offer the example of a virtuist named Maximilian Kolbe. I transcribed this account from Dr. Christopher Cloos’s reading on his YouTube channel from the book How Should We Live?: An Introduction to Ethics, by Louis P. Pojman.

Father Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Friar from Warsaw. And he was arrested for publishing anti-Nazi pamphlets, and he was sentenced to Auschwitz. There he was beaten kicked and whipped by the prison guards. After one prisoner successfully escaped (Or he was thought to have escaped. Later he was found drowned in a latrine.), the prescribed punishment for the remaining people was to select ten other prisoners, who were to die by starvation. As ten prisoners were pulled out of the line, one by one, Father Kolbe broke from the ranks, pleading with the commandant to be allowed to take the place of one of the prisoners. “I’m an old man, sir, and good for nothing. My life will serve no purpose,” the forty-five year old priest pleaded. He was taken, thrown down the stairs into a dank, dark basement with the other nine prisoners, left to starve. Usually, prisoners who were punished like this spent their last days howling, attacking each other, and clawing the walls in a frenzy of despair. But this time, a seeming miracle was heard coming from the death chamber. “Those outside heard the faint sound of singing. For this time, the prisoners had a shepherd to gently lead them through the shadows of the valley of death, pointing them to the Great Shepherd.”

The Nazi guards were utterly astounded to hear men they were killing by starvation at peace with themselves. Quietly singing hymns just before they died. To keep one’s heart and head in love and courage in the midst of horror and degradation, not letting oneself become degraded, but answering hate with love, that is a miracle of moral heroism.

A few weeks later several SS troopers, along with a doctor and a prisoner who survived to report the incident, entered the basement to remove the bodies. In the light of their flashlight they saw Father Kolbe, a living skeleton, propped up against the wall. His head was inclined a bit to the left. He had a smile on his lips, and his eyes were wide open with a faraway gaze, as if seeing something invisible to the SS troopers. A needle injected poison into Father Kolbe’s arm, and in a moment he was dead.

The Nazi’s starved him to death, but not before he had aided the other starving prisoners in facing their own deaths.

And, I would add, not before laying his life down for another. (John 15:13)

Virtuism and Jesus

Benedict Groeschel said this of Jesus and virtue:

When we call Jesus, the “Example of Virtue” we mean that He was more than just a supremely virtuous man or a holy prophet. Nor is He the one who has so much virtue that He parcels it out to His saints. This term means that He is Virtue itself. All virtue flows from Him and finds maximum expression in Him. He is the source of every possible goodness in heaven and on earth and the standard by which all virtue can be judged.

Groeschel goes on to say,

If staying close to truly virtuous people makes us want to be more virtuous, then closeness to Jesus makes us want to be Christ-like in virtue. That is the comprehensive meaning of His title, “Example of Virtue.”

Virtuism and You

So for you, a Jesus follower, and for me a Jesus follower, there’s no other way we can live our lives other than pursuing the virtue of Christ. Even as virtue flows from Jesus because of his character, you and I, as those who belong to Jesus, must grow in character until we’re as close to the same as we can be.

Sometimes at the fire department we practice donning our turnouts and self contained breathing apparatus. We do that so it becomes automatic. So when the adrenaline is flowing as we pull up to a burning building in the middle of the night, in the face of the fire before us, it’s natural to put on our protective gear. It flows. It’s automatic. We’re not even thinking about it.

Father Gregory Pine likens virtue in the Jesus follower to a virtuoso musician. He’s practiced his craft so often that he can’t help but play beautifully.

I remember reading John Scalzi’s book on writing and he offered some of the best advice I’ve ever heard. He recommends that anyone interested in writing must write well every time he writes at all: even if it’s just a text, or an email, or a hand written note. Write as well as you can, every time you write.

That’s how it is for the Christian concerning virtue.

Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man who Maximilian Kolbe saved, said of Kolbe, “For a long time, I felt remorse when I thought of Maximilian. By allowing myself to be saved, I had signed his death warrant. But now, on reflection, I understood that a man like him could not have done otherwise.”

Kolbe “could not have done otherwise.” Kolbe practiced the virtue of Jesus his whole life, right up to the point where he lay down his life for Franciszek Gajowniczek.

And when he faced the flames, trading his life for a stranger was automatic, in fact: he could not have done otherwise.

The virtuous act just flowed from his character.

“Father, have mercy on us, and keep us away from consequentialism and the dark places it leads to. Bless us with the virtue of Jesus. Help us to grow in the character of Jesus. Fill us with the Spirit of Jesus.

“We’ll all face flames in this life, Lord. Have mercy on us and help us to prepare ourselves to respond to those flames the way Jesus responded to the cross, the way Maximillian Kolbe responded.

“In Jesus name, help us.

“Amen.”

Notes:

Her Majesty The Queen v Tom Dudley and Edwin Stephens, December 9, 1884, Wikipedia

Pojman, Louis P., How Should We Live?: An Introduction to Ethics: 1st (first) Edition

Dr. Christopher Cloos, What is Virtue Ethics, YouTube

Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, “Jesus, Example of Virtue“

7 Definitions of Virtue + Q&A w/ Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

What it Means to Give Our Lives to Christ w/ Fr. Gregory Pine, OP

Scalzi, John, You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing, Subterranean Press, May 10, 2011

Janet Meyer, “A Soldier’s Heart: St. Maximilian Kolbe, Prisoner #16670“, August 14, 2019

Image of St. Maximilian Kolbe via Jude Tarrant on Flickr — Creative Commons

Available on Google Play Books and on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)