What if Jesus meant what he said?
What if I actually let apocalyptic language be just that – apocalyptic language - and not literal descriptions?
What if some of the original discpliples actually saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, as promised? (Matt 16:28)
What if some in Jesus’ generation actually saw his return as promised? (Matt 24:34)
What if Jesus actually knew what he was saying when he said, “Look! I am coming soon!”? (Rev 22:12,20)
What if the world, as the Jews knew it, did come to an end in the first century?
What if I have full and total access to the kingdom now?
What if Christ has brought victory over death?
What would that victory look like?
What if all my preconceptions of what the Kingdom would be like have kept me from seeing its presence in our world today, just as the early apostles had misconceptions about the Kingdom?
What would the Kingdom look like?
What if Paul was justified in “anxiously awaiting” the Lord, expecting him during his lifetime?
What if the New Testament was in fact not a new law, but the beginning of a story, which we are a part of today?
What if I have totally missed the point of much of the Bible?
What am I supposed to do now?
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Formational Message
Formational Message Summary from Sunday, August 19, 2007
This is a summary of what I shared at our Sunday gathering. We have been sharing regarding the broad topic of “the Good News.” I prefaced this talk by saying that it was prompted by a deeper (and still developing) thought process, but that today I would present two somewhat unrelated “seeds” that I hope will germinate more later.
I recently came across a verse that, though I have read dozens of times if not more, I had never really seen. It is a statement that John makes in the middle of a totally different topic, and is found in 1 John 3:
Verse 8 states that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” What a great way of describing the work of the Christ! (I am told by Jared that the thought of atonement situated in this understanding is called the Christus Victor –Christ the Victor- understanding.) So, what are the “works of the devil?” Since John refers back to “the beginning,” it makes sense to look there too. In the Genesis account, the serpent (the Adversary, ie, the devil) is seen as the instigator or cause of at least three main consequences of Sin: 1) Death; 2) Hard labor; and 3) Broken relationships (between Man and God, and man and woman).
At different times in history, and in different locations with varying societal wealth, different parts of Christ’s victory over the works of the devil have been appealing. In our current, fragmented, yet fairly wealthy 21st Century America, many are looking to the restoration of relationships. Indeed, the restoration of relationships between ourselves and others, within ourselves, and between ourselves and God is truly Good News.
But what does that look like? Why doesn’t that seem to fit with the common picture that contemporary Christianity presents? What does it mean that Christ came to undo the works of the devil? To understand that, and be able to share it as “good news” and not just religious psycho-babble, we have to become better story tellers, story tellers that can take the stories everyone “thinks” they know from Christianity, and retell it in a different, captivating way.
In fact, this is exactly what Jesus did on the road to Emmaus. You can read the account of the interaction between Jesus, Cleopas, and another disciple (possibly his wife, Mary? See John 19:25) in Luke 24:13-35. The story that Cleopas, and really all the early disciples, had been told for generations was centered on several key prophecies, like the one of the Servant in Isaiah 42, that promised justice (read that as freedom from oppressors with punishment) for the world and that Israel would be a “light to the Gentiles.” The story of the Messiah was one of a military leader who would bring final and complete freedom from oppressors (In the days of Jesus, that was the Roman Empire) and make Israel great again, like in the days of Solomon, when the whole world came to bring tribute and seek wisdom from Israel. In the stories of right and wrong, and who was approved of God, anyone who hung on a tree was cursed; in other words, God’s favor was not with that person. The Messiah was to bring sight to the blind, proclaim freedom to the oppressed, etc. Luke’s account says that Cleopas had hoped Jesus was the Messiah, but that his cruel and final death on a cross (tree) showed God’s hand was not with him. And now there were rumors of a missing body. According to the way the stories had been told to Cleopas, there was no hope; Jesus was not the Christ. But Jesus appears to the disciples, and starts speaking to them. They were “prevented” from recognizing him. I tend to think that the stories of the Christ, as well as life and death, had prevented them from recognizing Jesus. But as they walk, Jesus starts telling the story a different way. He used the same Scripture, but told it differently, so that when Jesus was breaking bread (a symbol of the New Covenant), suddenly everything fit together, and they recognized him, and apparently began to see how it could be that he was in fact the promised Christ.
Many think that the Scriptures are “self-evident.” That there is some “obvious, objective” way to understand them. That is total non-sense. We can never divorce the Scriptures from the stories that birthed them, nor from the stories that shaped them. Sharing the Good News, like the idea that Jesus came to undo the works of the devil, can most effectively be shared when a person sees how the story has built up to that point, and that they are a part of that story.
To share the Good News of the Victory of Jesus, we need to learn other people’s stories, and tell the story of God in a way that makes them a part of it.
This is a summary of what I shared at our Sunday gathering. We have been sharing regarding the broad topic of “the Good News.” I prefaced this talk by saying that it was prompted by a deeper (and still developing) thought process, but that today I would present two somewhat unrelated “seeds” that I hope will germinate more later.
I recently came across a verse that, though I have read dozens of times if not more, I had never really seen. It is a statement that John makes in the middle of a totally different topic, and is found in 1 John 3:
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is
right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful
is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The
reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9 Those who are
born of God will not continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they
cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know
who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Those who do
not do what is right are not God's children; nor are those who do not love their
brothers and sisters. (TNIV)
Verse 8 states that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” What a great way of describing the work of the Christ! (I am told by Jared that the thought of atonement situated in this understanding is called the Christus Victor –Christ the Victor- understanding.) So, what are the “works of the devil?” Since John refers back to “the beginning,” it makes sense to look there too. In the Genesis account, the serpent (the Adversary, ie, the devil) is seen as the instigator or cause of at least three main consequences of Sin: 1) Death; 2) Hard labor; and 3) Broken relationships (between Man and God, and man and woman).
At different times in history, and in different locations with varying societal wealth, different parts of Christ’s victory over the works of the devil have been appealing. In our current, fragmented, yet fairly wealthy 21st Century America, many are looking to the restoration of relationships. Indeed, the restoration of relationships between ourselves and others, within ourselves, and between ourselves and God is truly Good News.
But what does that look like? Why doesn’t that seem to fit with the common picture that contemporary Christianity presents? What does it mean that Christ came to undo the works of the devil? To understand that, and be able to share it as “good news” and not just religious psycho-babble, we have to become better story tellers, story tellers that can take the stories everyone “thinks” they know from Christianity, and retell it in a different, captivating way.
In fact, this is exactly what Jesus did on the road to Emmaus. You can read the account of the interaction between Jesus, Cleopas, and another disciple (possibly his wife, Mary? See John 19:25) in Luke 24:13-35. The story that Cleopas, and really all the early disciples, had been told for generations was centered on several key prophecies, like the one of the Servant in Isaiah 42, that promised justice (read that as freedom from oppressors with punishment) for the world and that Israel would be a “light to the Gentiles.” The story of the Messiah was one of a military leader who would bring final and complete freedom from oppressors (In the days of Jesus, that was the Roman Empire) and make Israel great again, like in the days of Solomon, when the whole world came to bring tribute and seek wisdom from Israel. In the stories of right and wrong, and who was approved of God, anyone who hung on a tree was cursed; in other words, God’s favor was not with that person. The Messiah was to bring sight to the blind, proclaim freedom to the oppressed, etc. Luke’s account says that Cleopas had hoped Jesus was the Messiah, but that his cruel and final death on a cross (tree) showed God’s hand was not with him. And now there were rumors of a missing body. According to the way the stories had been told to Cleopas, there was no hope; Jesus was not the Christ. But Jesus appears to the disciples, and starts speaking to them. They were “prevented” from recognizing him. I tend to think that the stories of the Christ, as well as life and death, had prevented them from recognizing Jesus. But as they walk, Jesus starts telling the story a different way. He used the same Scripture, but told it differently, so that when Jesus was breaking bread (a symbol of the New Covenant), suddenly everything fit together, and they recognized him, and apparently began to see how it could be that he was in fact the promised Christ.
Many think that the Scriptures are “self-evident.” That there is some “obvious, objective” way to understand them. That is total non-sense. We can never divorce the Scriptures from the stories that birthed them, nor from the stories that shaped them. Sharing the Good News, like the idea that Jesus came to undo the works of the devil, can most effectively be shared when a person sees how the story has built up to that point, and that they are a part of that story.
To share the Good News of the Victory of Jesus, we need to learn other people’s stories, and tell the story of God in a way that makes them a part of it.
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