Easter Perspective: The Judgment of the World

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The Judgment of the World

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers - all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:15-20 (NRSV)

Beneath the weight of all our sin

You bow to none but Heaven's will

No scheme of Hell, no scoffer's crown

No burden great can hold You down

From "Christ Is Risen" by Matt Maher

On one fateful Friday many years ago, the bloody, lifeless body of a seemingly failed Messiah was taken off of a Roman cross and placed in a tomb.  None of the ordeal that had taken place that day was necessary, for Jesus was not a violent criminal.  His revolution was a peaceful, loving revolution.  He was acquitted of all charges of sedition, but the crowds demanded that a confirmed terrorist be released in His place.  Jesus came to show humanity a better way of living, but humanity responded with a violent "No!"

On the following Sunday, some women traveled to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body for a proper burial, but, when they arrived, they found that the tomb was opened and empty.

Jesus knew that the cross awaited Him.  According to one account, Jesus predicted that His crucifixion would not be His own judgment but would instead be "the judgment of the world."  Typically, the word judgment means bad news, for it is almost always associated with condemnation.  It conjures in our minds thoughts of shame, shunning, punishment, and fiery endings.

As the Crucifixion drew near, Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."¹  According to Jesus, the judgment of the world is twofold.  First, the evil that has hijacked God's good creation will be defeated.  Second, all people will be reconciled to God and to each other in Christ.  Though we usually think of judgment from God as something that should strike fear into our hearts, the kind of judgment Jesus describes should drive away our fears and give us a reason to hope.  This kind of judgment is pure Gospel, for it is all Good News.

The judgment of the world is not condemnation, but rather salvation.  The Gospel teaches us that, though the world is not what God intended it to be, God still loves the world dearly and is fully invested in setting things right.  As Jesus said to one religious leader, God loved the world so much that God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world but to save it.²

To borrow an image from Tripp Fuller, it is as if we all find ourselves in a courtroom, expecting to stand trial for our wrongdoings.  As the Judge enters and the court is called to order, we suddenly realize that what is happening around us is not a criminal trial, but rather an adoption proceeding.³  God's interest is not in punishing us for our sins but in restoring us to our rightful places as children of God.  In our rebellion, we might have tried to emancipate ourselves from our Creator, but God wants to bring us back into the family.

When Jesus stated that He would soon be "lifted up," the people who heard Him were perplexed, because they could not understand how He could be lifted up on a cross if He was indeed their long-awaited Messiah.⁴  People tend to be a bit shortsighted, for so often we cannot see beyond the "crosses" of life.

The people expected a Messiah who would liberate them from the oppression of the Roman Empire.  Hoping that Jesus might be that Messiah, they were inevitably disappointed in Him when He surrendered to the powers that be.  Little did the crowds know that, as Jesus goaded an evil empire and a corrupt religious establishment to take action against Him, He actually had a couple of greater enemies in His sights, enemies that have been oppressing humanity much longer than any empire.

Jesus went to the cross to confront sin and death, and He defeated them both by rising from the grave.  In the words of St. John Chrysostom,
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.  He has destroyed it by enduring it.  He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.  He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.⁵
Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection show us that the evils that seem to have taken over the world are no match for the power of God and that the troubles we face in this life us do not have the power over us we think they do.

The Crucifixion of Christ reminds us that "the wages of sin is death," but the Resurrection of Christ reminds us that "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."⁶  Humanity's violent "No!" might have put Christ on the cross on Good Friday, but God responded with an infinitely louder "Yes!" on Easter Sunday.


Notes:

1. John 12:31-32 (NRSV)
2. John 3:16-17
3. Tripp Fuller.  The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic or Awesome?  2015, Fortress Press.  p. 50
4. John 12:34
5. From John Chrysostom's Easter sermon
6. Romans 6:23 (NRSV)

The stained glass window shown above can be found in Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio.  The photograph was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Nheyob and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Holy Week Perspective: He Went Too Far

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

He Went Too Far

Jesus took the Twelve aside and said, "Look, we're going up to Jerusalem, and everything written about the Human One by the prophets will be accomplished.  He will be handed over to the Gentiles.  He will be ridiculed, mistreated, and spit on.  After torturing him, they will kill him.  On the third day, he will rise up."  But the Twelve understood none of these words.  The meaning of this message was hidden from them and they didn't grasp what he was saying.

Luke 18:31-34 (CEB)

"Are ye able," said the Master

"To be crucified with Me?"

From "Are Ye Able" by Earl Marlatt

Approaching Jerusalem, Jesus ordered the Disciples to retrieve a young donkey for Him.  He told them that, if anyone objected to their taking the donkey, they should simply say that He needed it.  Once the Disciples brought the colt back to Jesus, He rode into Jerusalem like a king, and He was greeted by the accolades of His many followers.  People spread their cloaks in front of Him and shouted, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"¹

Some Pharisees who were present begged Jesus to make His followers stop, afraid of what might happen if they continued making such a ruckus.  Jesus was seemingly more concerned about what might happen if they didn't make a ruckus.²  Apparently, the statement Jesus made that day was a statement that needed to be made.

What we don't read in the Bible is that, at the same time Jesus was riding into Jerusalem from the east, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate would be riding into town with a large number of soldiers from the west.  The Jewish holy day of Passover, which would take place later that same week, had the potential to become politically charged, as it commemorates the ancient Israelites' liberation from another evil empire, namely Egypt.  The Roman military needed to be present in Jerusalem in force to keep order, just in case some patriot was inspired to attempt to become another Moses.³

According to Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, "What we often call Jesus's triumphal entry was actually an anti-imperial, anti-triumphal one, a deliberate lampoon of the conquering emperor entering a city on horseback through gates opened in abject submission."⁴  From one direction, Jesus rode into town on a donkey, in a display of peace and humility.  From the opposite direction, Pilate rode into town on a war horse, in a display of Roman military power.  Jesus' procession represents the peace of God, a true peace that transcends all understanding.  Pilate's procession represents the Pax Romana, a false kind of peace that is maintained through violence and oppression.

Is there any wonder why the Pharisees were nervous?

Soon after Jesus rode into town, He barged into the Temple of the Lord and made a scene.  He drove out the merchants and the money changers and proclaimed, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers," echoing the prophets who came before Him.⁵

This second act of protest was not necessarily against the commercialism in the Temple.  The merchants and the money changers had a legitimate function in the Temple, for they allowed people to travel long distances and still make an acceptable offering.  A "den of robbers" is not the place where robbery happens, but rather the place to which robbers flee after committing their crimes.  By comparing the Temple to a "den of robbers," Jesus was protesting the corruption of the religious institution.⁶

Jesus' actions struck a chord with the people.⁷  Apparently they were frustrated with both the Roman occupation and the religious establishment.  Nowadays, people debate about the proper relationship between "church and state."  In Jesus' day, the religious institution, which was meant to help people experience God, had become one more means by which the Roman Empire maintained control of the Jewish people.⁸  Jesus took a stand against both entities, and He would soon pay dearly for it.

Jesus had gone too far.  Not long after the scene at the Temple, the religious leaders met and conspired to have Jesus killed.  They were afraid not of what Jesus might do next, but rather what the people who believed in Jesus might do in response.⁹  According to one account of such a meeting, one person remarked, "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."  The high priest then said, "You know nothing at all!  You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed."¹⁰

Whether the religious leaders agreed or disagreed with what Jesus taught was irrelevant: they did what they did to keep order.  They knew what a volatile situation they had on their hands.¹¹  Eventually they found a co-conspirator among Jesus' closest followers, who, for a bribe, agreed to help them capture Jesus.¹²

More than once, Jesus warned the Disciples that, once they reached Jerusalem, He would be captured, beaten, and killed and that He would be raised from the dead soon afterward.¹³  We tend to think that Jesus made these statements because, as the Son of God, He had foreknowledge of future events.  I think that maybe Jesus said what He did because He was already planning to take a radical stand against both the cruel Roman Empire and the corrupt religious establishment.  I think He knew that the actions He planned to take would stir up the crowd, thereby provoking the religious leaders to take action.  He knew that the stand He needed to take would cost Him His life, but He also knew that God would vindicate Him.

Jesus' actions in Jerusalem and the consequences He was willing to face for them leave us with two questions.  First, if Jesus were to return to cry out against the injustices of our time, might we also think that He went "too far"?  Would we cheer Him on, or would we want Him silenced?  Second, are we willing to go "too far" in the same way that Jesus did?  Jesus said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."¹⁴  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, another person who paid dearly for taking a stand, wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."¹⁵  Nobody takes up a cross if he or she has no intention of dying on it, literally or figuratively.

Many of us call ourselves Christians, but are we truly willing, like the One whose name we have taken, to do what is right, no matter how much it costs us?  If you are struggling to answer that question, believe me when I say that you are not alone.


Notes:

1. Luke 19:28-38 (NRSV)
2. Luke 19:39-40
3. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem.  2006, HarperOne.  pp. 2-3
4. Borg and Crossan, p. 32
5. Luke 19:45-46 (NRSV)
6. Borg and Crossan, p. 49
7. Luke 19:47-48
8. Borg and Crossan, p. 15
9. Luke 22:2
10. John 11:45-53 (NRSV)
11. Brian Zahnd.  A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace.  2014, David C. Cook.  p. 82
12. Luke 22:3-6
13. Luke 9:21-22, Luke 18:31-34
14. Luke 9:23 (NRSV)
15. Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  The Cost of Discipleship.  ch. 4

Christ's Entry into Jerusalem was painted by Benjamin Haydon in the nineteenth century.

Lenten Perspective: Miracles of the Heart

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Miracles of the Heart

I tell you this: if you had even a faint spark of faith, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and because of your faith, the mountain would move.  If you had just a sliver of faith, you would find nothing impossible.

Matthew 17:20 (The Voice)

This world needs God

But it's easier to just stand and watch

I could say a prayer and just move on

Like nothing's wrong

From "I Refuse" by Josh Wilson

Jesus once sent the twelve Disciples out to travel from village to village, with the instructions to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God to anyone who would listen and to heal all who were suffering.  The time had come for them to do what they, as students, had been watching their Teacher do.  When they returned to Jesus to report what they had seen and done, they all withdrew to a deserted location so that they could rest from their journeys.  Inevitably, the crowds discovered where they were and came to them in search of healing.

As day became evening, the people became hungry.  The Disciples urged Jesus to send the people away so that they could find food and lodging for the night, but Jesus challenged the Disciples to take action, saying, "You give them something to eat."  There were at least five thousand people present, but the Disciples could only find five loaves of bread and two fish.¹

This story appears in each of the four Gospels.²  Some of the Gospel writers are intentional to note that there were five thousand men present, meaning that, if they brought their wives and children with them, there could have been upwards of twenty to thirty thousand people.  In some accounts, one disciple notes that more than six months' wages would be needed to buy enough bread to feed everyone.

Jesus blessed the food and began breaking it into pieces, and the Disciples began distributing the food to the people.  They may have started with five loaves of bread and two fish, but somehow, in the end, all had enough to eat until they were full.  Amazingly there were twelve baskets of leftovers, which is more food than they had when they started.

What happened that day was nothing short of a miracle, but what kind of miracle happened that day?  There are at least two ways to read the story of Jesus' feeding the multitude.³

The more popular interpretation of this story is that Jesus turned a small amount of food into an abundance of food.  A bag of groceries was miraculously transformed into a feast for thousands of people.

In an alternate interpretation of this story, the person who decided to share the five loaves and two fishes he brought with him started a trend.  Others, who had been hiding their provisions, were inspired to do likewise, and ultimately everyone had enough to eat.  People who once hoarded what they had out of fear that there would not be enough to go around would soon see that there was actually more than enough to go around, and they caught a glimpse of another way to live in the world.

The former reading describes a miracle that changed matter.
The latter reading describes a miracle that changed hearts.

The former reading shows us what Christ is capable of doing.
The latter reading shows us what the rest of us are capable of doing when we follow Christ's example of self-sacrificial love.

In either reading, in a time of perceived scarcity, there was more than enough.

One Gospel writer notes that it was a little boy who offered his provisions to Jesus and the Disciples.  I imagine that, when the boy heard the Disciples trying to figure out how to feed so many people, he piped up and said, to his parents' chagrin, "We have some food!"  Only a child would do something so foolish.  Any responsible adult would know the importance of providing for one's own before trying to take care of others.  Of course, were it not for this child's foolish innocence, the miracle might not have happened.  Jesus once said that the Kingdom of God belongs to the childlike.⁴  Perhaps only people with such naiveté can truly understand the ways of the Kingdom.

When I first learned about the less supernatural interpretation of this story, I didn't like it very much, because I didn't want to abandon everything supernatural about Jesus, as it seemed that so many people were doing.  Now, I'm starting to find this alternate reading more and more compelling.  We don't see many miracles that radically change matter nowadays, but stories of people who band together during trying times always warm my heart.  I think we need more stories like that in the world, stories that inspire us to look past our own self-interests to seek the common good.

In the 2003 film Bruce Almighty, God, as portrayed by Morgan Freeman, says,
A single mom who's working two jobs and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that's a miracle.  A teenager who says "no" to drugs and "yes" to an education, that's a miracle.  People want Me to do everything for them.  But what they don't realize is they have the power.  You want to see a miracle, son?  Be the miracle.⁵

Jesus said that, with faith the size of a mustard seed, a person can move a mountain.  A person who wants to move a mountain needs faith to grab a shovel and start digging.  Perhaps others will be so inspired by her fervor that they will bring their own shovels and pickaxes and join her in her efforts.  Perhaps people who have access to demolition machines or dynamite will take notice and offer their help.  Who knows what is possible when a person takes a step in faith?

We are nearing the end of Lent, a season of repentance.  Jesus calls us to repent as the Kingdom of God has come near.⁶  The Greek word translated as "repentance" is metanoia, which describes a change of how a person thinks.⁷  Looking toward the Kingdom of God requires us to rethink everything, including how we believe the world should work and what we believe is possible.


Notes:

1. See Luke 9:1-6,10-17.
2. See also Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, and John 6:5-15.
3. William Barclay.  The Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition.  1975, Westminster Press.  pp. 117-118
4. Luke 18:16
5. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315327/quotes
6. Mark 1:15
7. Wiktionary: Metanoia

The photograph of the mountain was taken by Habeeb Anju and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Introspection: Does Jesus Take the Wheel?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Does Jesus Take the Wheel?

So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps.  Don't run around like idiots as the rest of the world does.  Instead, walk as the wise!  Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times.  So understand and be confident in God's will, and don't live thoughtlessly.

Ephesians 5:15-17 (The Voice)

But lately I am beginning to find

That when I drive myself my light is found

From "Drive" by Incubus

Christians have a language of their own, a set of concepts, jargon, expressions, and platitudes that don't always make too much sense outside the Church.  To be honest, some of it doesn't make much sense to some of us inside the Church either.  One concept that often leaves me scratching my head is expressed in a bumper sticker that reads, "If God is your copilot, change seats."  This idea is described in a number of ways including "giving God the reins," "surrendering to God," and "giving God control."

This concept is expressed rather poignantly in a song titled "Jesus, Take the Wheel."  Made famous by country singer Carrie Underwood, this song tells the story of a young woman who has made some bad choices in life and, in a desperate moment, decides to turn to Christ.¹  I won't deny that the song is moving.  I hate to admit this, but, during a rather difficult time in my life, I heard this song on the radio and actually started crying.²  I once confessed this to a friend of mine, and he said that he would have just changed the radio station.

In my opinion, Christianese expressions about "giving God control" can potentially be confusing or even problematic at face value, so I would suggest that we consider abandoning such language and start saying what we mean by it.

I would agree with Carrie Underwood that driving is a pretty good metaphor for life in general.  There are many things on the road that we cannot control.  We cannot control how fast or how safely other people are driving.  We cannot control traffic lights.  We cannot control the conditions of the roads we take.  We cannot control whether or not there is a traffic jam on the interstate or whether or not road construction requires us to take detours.

The only thing on the road a person actually can control is his or her own car.  We can operate our cars in ways that can make driving a better experience for ourselves and for the other drivers around us.  We can follow traffic laws, and we can be considerate of other drivers.  We can be intentional about where we're going.  We can keep our cars in good working condition.  On the other hand, we can also operate our cars in ways that irritate other drivers or put ourselves and others in danger.  "A friend of mine" tends to become frustrated when other drivers unnecessarily try to pass him, so sometimes he speeds up in an attempt to put them back in their place.

In life, as in traffic, there are many things over which a person has little to no control.  Still, there is one thing over which a person always has control.  One always has control over one's own choices, including how one chooses to respond to the things one cannot control.

Regarding the matters in which we have no control, we cannot surrender control to God, because we never had any control to surrender in the first place.  What we actually can - and should - give up is the illusion of control.  We need to recognize the things over which we have no control and choose to trust in God regardless of what happens.  I once theorized that chronic worry must be a form of addiction, for I could not imagine that anyone would willingly choose to do something so unpleasant.  Nowadays I think that worry might be a withdrawal symptom associated with an addiction to control.

Regarding the matters in which we do have at least some measure of control, we would do well to remember that God did not create human beings as puppets or robots.  God created humans as free agents with minds of their own.  God has put us behind the steering wheel in our own lives, so we must never take our hands off the wheel, no matter what Ms. Underwood sings.

If you give up control of your vehicle while you're driving, your life will get really bad really quickly as your car drifts somewhere it should not go.  At best, your car will just end up in a ditch.  At worst, your car will drift into oncoming traffic or off a bridge.  Life won't be much better for you if you give up control of your decisions.  If you don't make your own decisions in life, someone else will make your decisions for you, and that "someone else" won't necessarily be God.  You will drift through life, passively accepting anything and everything that comes your way, allowing the desires and expectations of others to dictate everything you do.

God's will, as I understand it, is not something that happens to us but rather something we do.  There is a way God wants all of us to live - a life of love for God and neighbor.³  At least some of us might even have special God-given callings in life.  Doing God's will might require us to surrender some of our plans or desires, but we are always in control of what we do.  There are no strings with which God controls our arms and legs us like a puppeteer.  Following God's will is not simply going with the flow and enjoying the ride.  It requires intentionality.  In fact, it might even require us to go against the current at times.  God may have directions for our journeys, but it is always up to us to choose to follow those directions.

To summarize, I would say that what Christians call "Giving God control" actually means two things.  First, it means recognizing that some things are ultimately beyond our control and then trusting in God regardless of what happens.  Second, it means recognizing what control we actually do have and exercising that control in a godly manner.  We never really give up control of ourselves, for we are always responsible for our own choices.  On the other hand, we are invited to give up any illusion of control we don't have, to be open to God's leading, and to hold our own agendas loosely.

A certain prayer written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr can offer us some guidance as we wrestle with matters of control in our lives.  This prayer is commonly known as the Serenity Prayer.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

I like this prayer because Niebuhr recognizes that there are times when we have no control and need to trust in God and also times when we need wisdom and courage from God to exercise the control we do have.⁴

That morning when I started crying while listening to "Jesus Take the Wheel" on the radio, I was in a bad situation because I had floated my way through life and ended up somewhere I didn't need to be, like a jellyfish washed up on the beach.  If anything, God used that time in my life to teach me that I need to live with intentionality.  In other words, I learned that I actually need to take the wheel in my own life while seeking guidance from God.  Though I am still sometimes guilty of drifting in life, I find that my efforts are blessed when I actually take the wheel and steer.

So does Jesus really take the wheel?  I don't believe He does, because we are meant to drive ourselves.  I do believe that following Him will help us to drive well and keep us from getting hopelessly lost.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: Jesus, Take the Wheel
2. Believe me, it was a bad time in my life.
3. Adam Hamilton calls this God's Prescriptive Will in his book Why?: Making Sense of God's Will.  2011, Abingdon Press.
4. To learn more about this prayer and others, check out the book Three Prayers You'll Want to Pray by my friend George Hovaness Donigian.  2014, Morehouse Publishing.

The photograph of Southern California traffic was taken by Daniel R. Blume and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.