Advent - "Meanwhile..."

Shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem

There were shepherds in that region, out in the open, keeping a night watch around their flock. An angel of the Lord stood in front of them. The glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ the angel said to them. ‘Look: I’ve got good news for you, news which will make everybody very happy. Today a savior has been born for you – the Messiah, the Lord! – in David’s town. This will be the sign for you: you’ll find the baby wrapped up, and lying in a feeding-trough.’

Suddenly, with the angel, there was a crowd of the heavenly armies. They were praising God, saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest,
     and peace upon earth among those in his favour.’

Gospel of Luke, chapter 2 verses 8 - 14, New Testament for Everyone (NTE)

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If you've ever listened to one of those old radio programs, the ones your grandparents tuned in every night when they were kids, you'll know what I'm talking about. The hero is crushed with problems, the background music is somber, things are looking bleak. But then the narrator intones, "Meanwhile, on the other side of town...!" And the entire scene changes.

That happens in this scripture.

True, Mary and Joseph had both seen angels nine months ago, and great things were foretold about this child Mary carried. They were told that this was the prophesied one, the Messiah, the hope of all Israel. But since then, nothing much had happened. They remained poor peasants. No other angelic visitations occurred. They eked by on Joseph's job, for which there was precious little demand in a tiny backwater village like Nazareth. The holy infant grew in Mary's womb, but she still had to fetch water, bake bread, fix holes in Joseph's sweaty clothes. Life just went on, like it always did.

And God didn't even do something about that census; the increasingly pregnant teenage girl and her husband still had to make the dangerous, arduous, dusty 90 mile journey to Bethlehem. Why would God allow the woman who carried the "Son of the Most High" to risk having a miscarriage?

Now here they are in a feculent stable -- not even a house! -- while the mother of the Messiah writhes through her birth throes in a pile of bloody, insect infested straw. Look where they would, there was nothing to validate that this was the Messiah being born. For such an event shouldn't there be at least something slightly glorious? It was all so dirty, so pedestrian, so ordinary.

But meanwhile, on the other side of town...

Light

It was ordinary there too. Ordinary shepherds (not an occupation with the best reputation) watching their ordinary sheep, as they always did. And then -- then for a very brief time the curtain between Heaven and Earth parted.

The renowned Angel of the Lord, mentioned throughout their sacred scriptures, stood before these ordinary shepherds, and shafts of indescribably bright, glorious light flooded and transformed the hills. And the Angel proclaimed in heart shaking tones that this ordinary night was not ordinary at all, that in reality the most important event in the history of the universe was happening right here, right now -- right among the filth and the sheep and the bloody straw and the pains of an exhausted young woman in labor. The choir of "heavenly forces" that joined the Lord's Angel sang a hymn that linked these two realities: "Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors."

Where the angelic host lived every being was alive and electric with the overwhelming magnitude of what was taking place in tiny Bethlehem; where Mary and Joseph and the shepherds lived it looked for all the world like business as usual.

As it can for us -- but it's not. As followers of Jesus we serve the High King of the universe, and we are called to perform an all-important mission: To build his Kingdom through self-sacrificing love and the power of the Gospel. We don't have the chance too often to be encouraged by angels and we may get caught up in the sheer ordinariness of our lives, or in our sufferings, or our grief. Is there any significance to my life at all? Do I make any difference?

But there is another reality, the ultimate reality. Meanwhile, on the other side of that curtain is a world that is quite sure of the extraordinary nature of our ordinary lives.

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Prayer: Lord of all realities, please give us the miraculous gift of Faith so we can see our ordinary existence through your eyes.  In the name of our King, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Advent - A Tale of Two Messiahs

How messiahs are supposed to be

As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
     seemingly insignificant among the clans of Judah—
from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, 
    one whose origins are in the distant past. 
So the Lord will hand the people of Israel over to their enemies until the time when 
     the woman in labor gives birth. 
Then the rest of the king’s countrymen will return 
     to be reunited with the people of Israel. 
He will assume his post and shepherd the people by the Lord’s strength, 
     by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. 
They will live securely, for at that time he will be honored 
     even in the distant regions of the earth.


Micah, 5.2 - 4

Christmas marks the point at which God invaded his wayward world. It won't be long now before the invasion takes place, when the True King makes his move and lands on the beaches of our world, armed to the teeth. The Messiah is coming, but when he does he will confound all but a handful of followers. For his battles and weaponry will not be what we expect at all.

When Mary and Joseph made their trek to Bethlehem there was no single, universally accepted idea of what the Messiah would be like. Some people, mostly the monied interests, didn't believe there would be a Messiah at all. Of those that did believe, there were some that thought he would be a supernatural being like an angel, while others said he would just be a mighty warrior, like King David.  This is probably why Herod called for the experts in such things: To cut through the morass of ideas and get some dependable advice. The experts famously replied with today's scripture.

Despite all the squabbling, there were certain things any real Messiah was expected to do. He must ride into Jerusalem, sword drawn, armor gleaming in the sun David-like, and fight the final, bloody, climactic battle against the forces of evil, understood by one and all to be Rome. Once he utterly defeated the pagans, Messiah would restore the glory of Israel and rule over it in peace and security. The gentiles would be forced to admit that Israel was God's chosen people and they would stream to Jerusalem, hoping to enjoy some of Israel's blessings.

This is wildly different from what Mary's child actually did when he grew up, so much so that no one got it at first. Sure he rode into Jerusalem -- though brandishing no razor-sharp sword. But he didn't defeat the Romans; they defeated him. He didn't usher in peace and security: Israel was still in captivity.  Most of the nation rejected him outright. Even his closest followers were completely at a loss how this man who seemed in so many ways to fulfill the Messiah's role utterly failed (they thought) in his mission. Remember those plaintive words in the Gospel of Luke? "But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel!"

Action Figure

The ultimate victory

The Jewish people so dearly yearned for that powerful, action-figure Messiah that they would or could abide no other.  And today many good Christian people pine -- sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously -- for his Second Advent when it is eagerly expected that something much more exciting and bloody will occur. Something more like what the first century Jews hoped would happen, perhaps.

Because the second coming is when evil will really be defeated, the Messiah will finally rule, and then the world will be forced to admit that we were God's chosen people. Right?  

But no. Jesus' Second Coming, for all it's importance is, in the words of the scholar Leon Morris, a mere "mopping up operation." The cosmic, messianic victory that "destroyed the devil's work" was won in the 1st century with the invasion of a baby and the execution of a criminal and we celebrate the start of that victory now.

Make no mistake: Jesus Christ will return on the clouds of Heaven, establish his eternal Kingdom, right all wrongs, and judge the living and the dead.  But also make no mistake that the prophesied King has already come, "whose origins are in the distant past," the child of "the woman in labor who gives birth," as our scripture says.

He did reunite his countrymen in the Israel of God, he did take his post and has shepherded his people for the past 2000 years. He is honored in the distant regions of the Earth, is he not? Peace and security? He gave those to us as well (see the Gospel of John 14.27 and 10.28 - 29).

Most important of all, Jesus did ride triumphantly into Jerusalem where he fought the climactic last battle with the true Enemy, and from that battle he did emerge victorious. Counterintuitive as it is, the true Messiah was the one who invaded quietly as the baby of Bethlehem, won his greatest victory nailed to a cross, and inaugurated his Kingdom by emerging from a tomb.

*          *          *

Our Lord and our God, thank you for invading our world by stealth as a small infant so that you could rise up from among your people and take down the forces of evil. Until you return, help us to be faithful in carrying out our own mopping up operations. In Jesus Christ's name we pray this. Amen

Advent - First Move

Jesus chose to live here

Photo credit: Jonathan McIntosh

How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains    the feet of a messenger who announces       peace, a messenger who brings good news,      who announces deliverance,      who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen, your watchmen shout;   in unison they shout for joy, for they see with their very own eyes    the Lord’s return to Zion. In unison give a joyful shout,     ruins of Jerusalem! 
For the Lord consoles his people;    he protects Jerusalem. The Lord reveals his royal power     in the sight of all the nations; the entire earth sees    our God deliver.

Isaiah 52.7 - 10

Advent, as we noted in the introduction to this series, originally referred to a state visit by the Roman Emperor. For him, messengers would have been sent out far and wide, preparations would have been going on for months, and everyone would know that Caesar Augustus was coming.

For the official state visit of the High King of the Universe there had indeed been an announcement -- but it was made to unknown peasant women.  And preparations were certainly being made, but they were being made in the womb of an unmarried teenage girl.

Make no mistake: The Lord was certainly "returning to Zion" and he would "reveal his royal power" in ways that still reverberate today.  The announcement found in today's scripture would come true; everyone who cared to look would know that God reigns. But the way the Messiah went about mounting his revolution was totally unexpected in almost every respect.

We're all familiar with how this plays out: Mary and Joseph, because of Caesar's orders, must travel 90 miles to an unfamiliar town, live with the work animals, and as a result the transcendent God who normally lives in unapproachable glory is born in a mule's feed box. Then they return to the minuscule, hardscrabble village of Nazareth where Jesus grows up among a few hundred people, most of them barely able to scrape together enough of a living to survive day by day.

But wait a minute. This is the Son of the all-powerful God we're talking about. This was not by chance. His birth could have occurred under any circumstances he desired -- in a palace, in a room at the temple, in the home of a prosperous merchant. Even an ordinary, fairly comfortable home would have been a step up. Perhaps Joseph could have worked a choice carpentry job for a wealthy client before leaving for Bethlehem so he and Mary could have a few hundred denarii in their pockets. With the wave of his hand God could easily have made this story much different.

But that is not how the Messiah wanted to come into this world. Instead he thought it was of supreme importance to be incarnated among the poor and the powerless.

Think about that. What does this say about the kind of God we Christians worship?

All throughout the Hebrew scriptures God had shown intense concern with the weakest members of society. "Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor..." his prophets had cried.  Now, in his inaugural act as Messiah (an unborn act, no less), he freely chooses to become one of them.

Yes, this is God's strategy for invading the world and fomenting revolution, for founding the Kingdom of God. This King has chosen to stand up from among the weak and helpless of the world whose ranks he purposefully joined and, "announce peace... announce deliverance... and say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"

*          *          *

Father of the Fatherless, Advocate of the poor, thank you for becoming one of us at our most abject. In all we do enable us to proclaim peace, deliverance, and Jesus' reign.  It is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

The Gospel of Invasion

Jesus Preaching, by Tissot

It might be held... that the ethics of Confucianism have an independent value quite apart from the story of the life of Confucius himself, just as the philosophy of Plato must be considered on its own merits, quite apart from the traditions that have come down to us about the life of Plato and the question of the extent of his indebtedness to Socrates.

But the argument can be applied to the New Testament only if we ignore the real essence of Christianity. For the Christian gospel is not primarily a code of ethics or a metaphysical system; it is first and foremost good news, and as such it was proclaimed by its earliest preachers.

True, they called Christianity 'The Way' and 'The Life'; but Christianity as a way of life depends upon the acceptance of Christianity as good news. And this good news is intimately bound up with the historical order, for it tells how for the world's redemption God entered into history, the eternal came into time, the kingdom of heaven invaded the realm of earth, in the great events of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. The first recorded words of our Lord's public preaching in Galilee are: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent and believe the good news."

F. F. Bruce
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?



(This is a reprint of an earlier post by one of my all-time favorite Bible scholars.)

Advent - The Revolutionary

Jesus and his comrade in arms

Photo credit: Susan WD

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
     For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
     and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
     from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
     he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
     he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
     and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
     and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
     in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
     to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Gospel of Luke 1.46-55, ERV

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As the birth of the Messiah draws nearer, let's pause for a moment and notice the young peasant girl chosen to be his mother.

According to some historians she may have been as young as 12. Nazareth, where she lived, had only a few hundred inhabitants at the most. Everybody there would know in short order that Mary was unmarried and pregnant -- an enormous stigma in 1st century Galilee, worthy of stoning under Jewish law. In movies and art she is almost always portrayed as calm, serene, perhaps a bit shy and submissive. If we are not careful our cultural assumptions may cause us to take it for granted that she just assented meekly to the Angel Gabriel's request, a mere passive, resigned "bondservant" of the Lord.

But this song of Mary's shows her to be nothing of the sort...

Far from being the plaintive melody of a serene, submissive maiden, this is the battle hymn of a rebel! Quite aware of her "low status" as an unwed, teenage pregnant nobody in grungy little Nazareth she shakes her fist in the faces of the powers that be. "Watch out," she cries, "the true King is coming and he is going to turn things upside down!" The days of the "proud", the "rulers", the "rich" are numbered; the revolution has begun.

Mary meets her cousin Elizabeth

Painting by Claire Joy

Mary knew her Bible. Her song echos the one sung by Hannah, the mother of the Prophet Samuel, also miraculously born a thousand years before. They both sang of a revolution: Samuel's would be one that overturned the oppressive Philistines, who ground his people's faces into the dust. The revolution of Mary's coming child would be one that overturned the cosmic powers of sin and evil -- the powers that oppress and crush all humanity. 

Mary locked arms with Hannah, and with Sarah, and Rachel, and Samson's unnamed mother, and with her own cousin Elizabeth, with all the mothers of miracle babies that made up the the backbone of Israel's history, and sang of the great revolution that they had all been promised and eagerly looked for. Now her own child would finally fulfill that promise.

The early Christian movement never got over this young girl. They groped about for words sufficient to describe it. She was "sordid humanity's solitary boast," as Augustine said. The essence of a Saint is willingness to do what God asks; she was the greatest of all Saints, the church fathers said. Before her messianic son was even conceived and began to do his holy work, this girl firmly planted the flag of The Resistance against the forces of evil and declared in effect, "This is where it stops. This is where God finally finds someone who will do his will whatever it takes, and act as his instrument to turn this whole thing around."

"“Yes, I am a servant of the Lord," Mary proclaimed. "Let this happen to me according to your word." And to Jesus' early followers this one act -- Mary's bold, "Yes!" -- began the process of reversing Eve's "No." She brought the King into the world, gave him his first lessons (somewhat radical ones, no doubt!) and set him on the road to his final victory at Golgotha Hill.

Admittedly, she did not always understand him.  He was not the King anyone expected, after all, nor did he fight his battles as the Messiah was supposed to. But even though she knew that by doing so a sword would pierce her very soul, she followed him right down to the cross and beyond.

No, Mary was far from a passive womb or a meek bystander to the drama of her son's mission. She was a comrade in arms, a fellow revolutionary. She was a worthy mother of the Messiah.

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Prayer: Lord of The Revolution, thank you for this young woman whose dauntless courage helped make our faith possible. As the day on which we celebrate the coming of the King draws near, help us to have the courage always to say, "Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let it happen to me just as you have said." In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Advent - The Approaching King

Caesar comes for a visit

Photo by NoJin

This year Advent begins today, November 27th. Every Sunday and Thursday until Christmas, I'll be posting a series of short essays to help us listen for the approaching footsteps of the True King.


"Listen, I am coming soon!"
(Revelation 22.12, ERV)

Advent has been celebrated by Jesus' followers for millennia but these days it tends to get short shrift. In today's society it's been largely replaced by that hectic period of shopping, card writing, and drunken partying between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But at one time this was perhaps the most seditious season of all. And all because a peasant girl was in her last trimester.

Advent is an old Roman word that means, "the arrival of someone or something important." We use it today when we wonder how anyone managed to live "before the advent of the Internet," for instance.  For the ancient Romans though, an advent was the arrival of the Emperor himself on an official state visit. Heralds were sent out months ahead of time to announce the coming visit.  Buildings would be spruced up, the best food and entertainment would be arranged, and the richest family in the region would open up their estate to Caesar's use.


 We Christians announce the ultimate state visit: The arrival of the Christ, the King of the Universe. As Jesus' early followers understood (and as we still do today if the US President visits us in Montana or Morocco), a time of preparation is the appropriate response to a visit of this magnitude. And that is what the celebration called Advent is: A time of happy preparation for our King's imminent arrival.  As he draws ever nearer, we prepare ourselves for the moment when God invades history in the form of a poor family's baby.

Advent Gospel

It is this arrival of the Universal King that the Gospel -- the "Great Announcement" -- proclaims. The  Christian Movement announces a rival King, not just a sweet little baby in a manger or a man with nice ideas. As we have said elsewhere on this site, if Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not.  That is why authority figures tended to be rather hostile toward us for the first 300 years of our existence (and sporadically since -- when they aren't trying to co-opt us!). The peasant girl's baby that Advent warns of and Christmas extols has been in head-to-head conflict with the powers of this world for the last 2000 years.



You've no doubt been aware of this since you first heard the Christmas story, though it may not have fully registered. But what after all were the "Wise Men" looking for when they arrived in Jerusalem and asked, "'Where is the one who is born king of the Jews?'" (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2). Or as the old carols proclaim: "Joy to the world... let Earth receive her King."

Christianity is, in the final analysis, a subversive little religion.

Are We Doing it Right?

Jesus of Nazareth came as the long expected warrior-Messiah, as I wrote Thursday, but his weapons, his enemy, his battlefield, his strategy, and the final, climactic battle he fought were entirely unexpected. And the same is true for us. We humans really have a thing for violent, bloody, wars, and that even goes for some of us in the Christian movement. But we're not doing it right, not following the king we've pledged to follow, unless we're fighting the same foe with the same weapons he used. Paul the Apostle and Jerome the scholar explain...


Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground against the stratagems of the Devil. For ours is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but against all the various Powers of Evil that hold sway in the Darkness around us, against the Spirits of Wickedness on high.

(Letter to the Ephesians 6.11-12, TCNT

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The battle is not against flesh and blood or ordinary temptations. The scene is the war of flesh against spirit. We are being incited to become entrapped in the works of the flesh... But this is not merely a physical temptation. It is not merely the inward struggle against flesh and blood as such. Rather Satan has cleverly transformed himself into an angel of light. He is striving to persuade us to regard him as a messenger of goodness. This is how he throws his full might into the struggle. He employs deceptive signs and lying omens. He sets before us every possible ruse of evil. Then, when he has so ensnared us that we trust him, he says to us, “Thus says the Lord.” This is not flesh and blood deceiving us. It is not a typical human temptation. It is the work of principalities and powers, the ruler of darkness and spiritual wickedness.

Jerome (AD 347 - 420)
Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians 3.6.11

Weapons of Redemption

Deep in the bloody four-year american civil war Abraham Lincoln was already contemplating the task of putting the country back together once it was over.

One congressman with whom he was discussing his plans for a merciful reconstruction was incensed. "Mr.  President," he exclaimed, "how can you speak of extending mercy towards the south? They our enemies! We must destroy them and treat them as conquered territories when this war is ended!"

To which Lincoln is supposed to have replied, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

Jesus of Nazareth of course called on his followers to live in just this way:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who treat you badly. If you do this, you will be children who are truly like your Father in heaven. He lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad. He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong. 

If you love only those who love you, why should you get a reward for that? Even the tax collectors do that. And if you are nice only to your friends, you are no better than anyone else. Even the people who don’t know God are nice to their friends.

What I am saying is that you must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

(Gospel of Matthew 5.43 - 48, ERV)

Jesus himself lived this out all the way the end. Hanging from nails that had just been hammered through his hands and feet by hardened Roman soldiers, he famously prayed, "Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing," (Gospel of Luke 23.34, ERV).

At this far a remove from the events of Jesus' execution we 21st century people tend to think of forgiveness in abstract terms, as an admirable ethical principal that we ought to apply in our lives. But for Jesus on his cross that day it was also something else.

Love -- praying for the Romans and extending forgiveness to them -- was more than a noble principle.

Love was a weapon.

Forgiveness as a Weapon

Jesus was not a philosopher, social gadfly, violent revolutionary or most of the other interesting but historically groundless things he has been described as. As his student Simon Peter recognized, he was the Messiah and he fulfilled the role of the Messiah (read a little more about that here and here). When he crisscrossed Galilee and Judah inviting everyone into the Kingdom of God,  rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, and cleansed the Temple, he was doing what most Jewish people expected the Messiah to do. And they knew that the next step would be destroying the enemies of Israel -- the Romans, of course. Who else could it be but the Romans?

But that's where the paths diverged. All the other "Messiahs" battled Rome (or before that the Seleucid

Triumphant Christ by Melozzo da Forli (1483)

Empire), the "obvious" enemy of Israel. Jesus saw a greater enemy though. Yes, it's true, we must face facts: Jesus was a firm believer in "he who must not be named" (because it's so unenlightened, you know): Satan the devil. As the focus of evil in the world Satan was the power behind the throne of Rome and the other nations. He was the true enemy of Israel and the Messiah was duty bound to attack and tear down his kingdom. "The Son of God came for this: to destroy the devil’s work," (1st Letter of John 3.8, ERV)

This cosmic battle took place not on the Plains of Esdraelon or the Kidron Valley but on Jesus' cross and his weapons were self-sacrificial love, trust in God's justice, the words of Scripture, prayer, and forgiveness.  Forgiveness even for a man who maybe a few days ago had been living as a criminal (Gospel of Luke 23.29-43). The triumph of love over the worst possible hatred, the nullification of the horrific disease of sin, and the forgiveness of all people conquered the devil and smashed to shivers his kingdom in the deep mystery of God's atonement for his children.

It's the same for us today. We in the Christian Movement fight the same battle against evil and to extend God's reign. Praying for your enemies, living out God's love in realtime, and making the Great Announcement of forgiveness to people still has the power to destroy the devil's work.

"I will let everyone who wins the victory sit with me on my throne. It was the same with me. I won the victory and sat down with my Father on his throne," (Book of Revelation 3.21, ERV).


Note: FYI, this is a re-write of an earlier article

The Great Announcement - Part 3

Jesus Before Pilate

Painting by James Tissot

The story so far: In the first two parts of this series (part 1, part 2) we've seen that, despite the widespread idea that the Gospel is mainly a message of God's love and forgiveness (although it is that), Jesus of Nazareth repeatedly defined it differently -- as an announcement of the impending establishment of the Kingdom of God. As we read through the accounts of Jesus' life, this kingdom gets closer and closer until he occasionally speaks of it as actually having arrived.

So now we come to the part of the story everyone knows: Jesus' capture, execution, and return to life. This brief installment will focus on that supreme crisis moment and what Jesus' final words were about the Kingdom of God he'd been proclaiming for so long. Then, in part 4, we'll look at the very different way the resurrected Jesus -- later followed by his students -- began to talk about himself and his kingdom.

The universe changed during these few days, and his Gospel and the kingdom it announced changed too: It changed in the way that something being announced changes when it finally arrives.

Rome

Just before his crucifixion, Jesus is recorded as having made two important statements about the kingdom he's been proclaiming and his position in it, one to the roman authority in Palestine and one to the Jewish authority there.

His discussion with the roman prefect Pontius Pilate is especially interesting as we watch Jesus try to explain to a non-Jewish mind what kind of Messiah he is. Remember, the title "Messiah" carried very militaristic connotations to the average 1st century Jew or roman occupier, connotations Jesus had no use for. This is likely one of the reasons Jesus preferred to call himself "Son of Man," a more vague prophetic term that he could fill with his own meaning. But Pilate shows no sign of being familiar with that concept. So Jesus had to use another approach.

Pilate went back into the palace and called Jesus. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.

Jesus answered, “Does this question come from you or have others told you about me?”

Pilate replied, “Do you think I am a Jew? It was your own people and the chief priests who handed you over to me. What have you done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world; if my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. No, my kingdom does not belong here!”

So Pilate asked him, “Are you a king, then?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me.”

“And what is truth?” Pilate asked.

(John 18.33-38, GNB)

Jesus confesses that he has a kingdom, but not the kind Pilate means, not a kingdom that "belongs to this world" and deals in battles and bloodshed. But when asked directly (for the second time) if he is in fact a king, Jesus prefers to define for himself what being king of a kingdom that doesn't belong to the world means.

Israel

To the Jewish authorities however Jesus was rather blunt:

Again the high priest questioned him: ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?’

‘I am,’ said Jesus; ‘and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right side of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven.’

(Mark 14.61-62, GNB, and also Matthew 26.63-64)

Jesus blatantly called forth the image of the famous prophetic passage in Daniel 7 that the term "Son of Man" comes from:

I saw in the night visions,
     and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
     and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
     And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
     that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
     his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
     and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

(Daniel 7.13-14, ESV)

Yes, he affirms, he definitely is the expected Messiah, the apocalyptic "Son of Man," on familiar terms with the "Ancient of Days" and inheritor of a kingdom that encompasses all the earth and will never pass away. The Jewish authorities were familiar with these terms, and knew precisely what he was claiming.

Dregs

Jesus has one more brief discussion about his kingdom, this time not with leaders and scholars but, appropriately enough for Jesus, with the dregs of society -- a crucified criminal. “Jesus," he says, "remember me when you come in your kingdom.”

And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

(Luke 23.42-43)

One does not enter paradise with the Messiah without being a citizen of the Messiah's kingdom. Just to draw the meaning of these pregnant words out a bit, Jesus is saying, "That day when I come in my kingdom? That day is today, and you will be there with me. The kingdom starts now."

Things Jesus Called Himself

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” 

Painting by Tissot

Here's another Quora question I answered. There are all sorts of interesting but unsupportable ideas floating around about what Jesus was really like, and they pop up constantly there, especially the ones that insist Jesus was just a friendly teacher (the more like the Buddha the better), but surely not a Messiah.


Q: Why did Jesus never refer to himself as the Christ, Messiah, son of God, but as son of man, teacher, rabbi?

A: He did refer to himself that way when asked point blank: “The high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus,” (Mark 14.61–62 NRSV).

Another instance: “[Jesus] asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is?… “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16.13 - 20 NRSV), which Jesus accepted, blessed Peter for his insight, and then told his students not to spread it around.

Some translations say "Christ" in these 2 passages but “Christ” is just the Greek translation of “Messiah.”

“Son of Man” originally meant “a person,” but by Jesus’ time it had taken on messianic connotations because of the episode in the 7th chapter of Daniel where “one like a son of man” presents himself to “the Ancient of Days” (i.e., God) and is “given authority, glory, sovereign power” and is “worshiped.” In fact, Jesus alludes to this scene right after confessing to being the Messiah in the Mark passage I quoted above.

“Son of Man” also had other advantages. For instance, it let Jesus refer to his messiahship indirectly so as to maintain a measure of modesty. Plus, “Messiah” had a lot of militaristic baggage to it. The common people expected a warrior like the ancient King David when they used the term. But “Son of Man” was a more mysterious figure from prophecy and less commonly used. This gave Jesus the opportunity to define the kind of Messiah he was instead of having current assumptions forced on him.

And of course, part of his idea of a Messiah involved being a teacher and a rabbi to his people.

Why Do Christians Do Lent?

So here we are in the middle of the 40 days of self-denial members of the Christian Movement call "Lent." During this time we re-enact in a small way the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness at the start of his mission. But why did Jesus fast 40 days? Why are imitating him? Here's one reason.

Only three people in the entire Bible are recorded as fasting for 40 days: Moses (Book of Exodus, chapter 34 verse 28, Good News Bible), Elijah (First Book of Kings, chapter 19 verse 8, GNB), and Jesus. These three men marked the most important epochs in the history of the people of God. Even Abraham was never called upon to fast 40 days, important as he was.

The Lineage

The traditional mountain in Palestine where
Jesus fasted 40 days

Moses instituted the "Old Covenant" between God and his nation and gave the Law to the children of Israel. This was the pattern of life God wanted them to follow and, we find out later, a pointer to virtually every aspect of Jesus' later work. Moses' fast occurred right at this crucial point in the story.

Elijah was seen as the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. The main job of Israel's prophets, incidentally, was to call the people back to the Law God had given them through Moses. His fast came at Israel's lowest point up to that time, when it appeared (to him) that he was the last believer in Yahweh the God of Israel -- and he was about to be killed too! At Sinai, when his fast was done, God renewed and recommissioned Elijah.

As Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth was the culmination of God's plan and superseded everything Moses and Elijah had done. He pointed this out as bluntly and plainly as possible: "The Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces their way in," (Gospel of Luke, chapter 16 verse 16).

Moses and the Law

Jesus fasted the same length of time as Moses and Elijah to show he stood in their spiritual lineage, which he was destined to transcend. Not destroy it; there is a continuity in God's ways. But to "fulfill" it, to make it all come true (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5 verse 17, GNB). From here on out the Kingdom of God was present in the person of its King and all the things Moses and Elijah -- "The Law and the Prophets" -- stood for were subsumed and fulfilled in the Messiah: " And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets," (Gospel of Luke, chapter 24 verse 27, GNB).

We see this pictured in a single image during Jesus' transfiguration: Moses, giver of the Law, and Elijah, the master prophet of Israel, stand in glory with their Messiah and speak of his upcoming supreme victory over evil on the cross in Jerusalem. One of them, Moses perhaps, calls it Jesus' "exodus," fulfilling the one Moses had led:

"Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. They were clothed with heavenly splendor and spoke about Jesus' departure (in Greek, "exodon"), which he would achieve in Jerusalem," (Gospel of Luke, chapter 9 verses 30-31).

What About Us?

But what about us? Why do we ordinary, everyday Christians fast (in a much less agonizing way) for 40 days like Moses, Elijah, and Jesus did? Lots of reasons, but one of the most important is this: Because we are not ordinary and everyday. The Messiah has inducted us into his Movement and we have sworn allegiance to him, which means we are now part of that same spiritual lineage as he (and they) are. He is our head and we are his body (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1 verses 22-23, GNB). We are the Kingdom here and now, just as he was.

We don't merely act on Christ's behalf, we act as Christ -- as his personal way to permeate, transform, and eventually conquer the world. We are him to this world. Over the millennia Christ's Movement has found one of the most useful ways to become more like Jesus is to live our way through the events of his life each year, as we discussed in this post from 2011.

By imitating Jesus' 40 day fast we stand in the same line as Jesus, Elijah, and Moses did. We fast 40 days because Jesus fasted 40 days and we are his body. Doing this year by year melds the body ever closer to the head. Or, to reverse the image, keeping lent each year enables the world to see the head more clearly through the body.

Frankly, if we take it seriously, the 40 days fast prods us to stand up and openly state that, "Why yes, as a matter of fact I am part of Christ's body in this world!" With Jesus there was never any doubt what he was up to. We, on the other hand, can fit in a little too well and all unawares sink into a gentle anonymity. But when we come into work with a big smudgy ash cross on your forehead, or have to fumble for an explanation at lunch as to why we're not eating meat right now or must let all our friends know we won't be on Facebook for over a month, that can prompt awkward questions.

But that's ok because, after all, we're just the latest generation of that famous spiritual lineage.

The Great Announcement - Part 2

Hi, I'm still on vacation but as promised on Tuesday here is the 2nd installment of our series on what the Gospel truly is, The Great Announcement. On Sunday there will be the usual mini-sermon from a past champion of the Christian Movement, then next week, heaven willing, I hope to post part 3.

Jesus announces God's Kingdom

In our first installment we found that, as Messiah, Jesus himself preached the gospel (or 'Good News.' On this blog it's usually called 'the Great Announcement'). Its subject was that, "The right time is now here. God's kingdom is very near. Change your hearts and lives, and believe the Good News," (Gospel of Mark chapter 1 verses 14-15 and Gospel of Matthew chapter 4 verse 17, Easy-to-Read Version. ). 

Now, we as get into the Gospel accounts, Jesus continues spreading this message about God's Kingdom and how close it is. Please remember that, as we learned last time, the gospel we usually hear today doesn't have much about a kingdom in it.  In fact one respected site defines it this way: "There is a God, he loves you, and you can know him personally." 

Jesus announces this Kingdom in the towns and synagogues of his home district of Galilee, (Matthew chapter 9 verse 35 ERV), eventually moving into the southern Judean synagogues near Jerusalem as well, (Gospel of Luke chapter 4 verse 44 ERV). Later, he sends out his Apostles (Luke chapter 9 verses 1-2 ERV) and then a larger group (Luke chapter 10 verse 1-10 ERV) to spread the same message: "God’s kingdom is now very near you!"  (Luke chapter 10 verse 9 ERV).

And one must admit, if the Messiah were to canvas Palestine with an important message, God's Kingdom would be the most logical subject. After all, he's supposed to set it up. 

Closer

Continuing through the Gospels, we start to see the time until this Kingdom comes shrinking! Now instead of being "very near you," Jesus begins to announce that it is here. Once, after performing an exorcism, he makes this startling claim: "But I use the power of God (literally, "the finger of God") to force out demons. This shows that God’s kingdom has now come to you," (Luke chapter 11 verse 20 and Matthew chapter12 verse 28 ERV). A few chapters later a group of Pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom he talks about will come. Instead of giving them a timetable or list of signs to look for, he tells them this:

“God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you can see it. People will not say, ‘Look, God’s kingdom is here!’ or ‘There it is!’ No, God’s kingdom is here with you."

 (Luke chapter 17 verse 21 ERV)

In Luke's Gospel Jesus sums it up this way:

Before John the Baptizer came, people were taught the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But since the time of John, the Good News about God’s kingdom is being told.

  (Luke chapter 16 verse 16 ERV)

Last Days

During his last few days teaching in the Jerusalem temple, his constant theme is God's Kingdom (read Matthew chapters 21 through 24 ).  The last time Jesus mentions the gospel before he is executed is to remind his students one more time what to teach: "The Good News I have shared about God’s kingdom will be told throughout the world. It will be spread to every nation. Then the end will come," (Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 ERV).

(Well, not exactly the last time. Being Jesus of Nazareth, friend of babies and fishermen, he made sure that Mary of Bethany's loving and possibly prophetic act would be remembered forever whenever the Great Announcement is made. And it has been, hasn't it. Another prophecy of his come true.)

My main point this time was to show that when Jesus said "gospel" he meant "Kingdom," and that this is rather different from what we mean when we say "gospel" today. In part 3 we'll cross through the Messiah's execution and resurrection to see how that pivot of history affected -- and did not affect -- the message Jesus proclaimed.

The Great Announcement - Part 1

(I'm on vacation this week.  Since I've almost finished the 3rd installment of my series The Great Announcement (about what the gospel really is) I thought it might be helpful if I reprint parts 1 and 2 while I'm gone. Here is the first; Part 2 will follow on Thursday.)

(Photo courtesy of Hannahmw)

God has a message for us, one that is so important and powerful that accepting it can transform the very nature of your existence -- not just in a nice metaphorical way, but a real, actual change. The Christian Movement was founded in large part to spread this message. I'm talking about the Gospel, of course. Anyone who's ever taken a cursory glance at Christianity knows it teaches that to "be saved" (whatever that means) you have to believe "the Gospel."

So what is the message? What does it say? That's what this occasional series will be about: What the Gospel is.

Probably the most common answer to the question runs something like this (which I'm taking from a site that named itself after this message): "So what is it? Here it is: There is a God, he loves you, and you can know him personally. That's it."

But, not to be a spoil sport or anything, that's not really it. 'It' is in there, it's part of the gospel and it's wonderful, but wonderful as it is it's almost a side issue to the main thing God wants said. It's not the "point" of the Gospel "spear."

Just as a side point think about this: Has it ever struck you as odd that the Gospel message we usually hear is, well, rather self-centered? I mean, stripped down to its bare bones, the Gospel is often presented as, "Avoid Hell. Believe this so you can go to Heaven when you die." Jesus and his greatest champions down through history did not do self-centered. His followers do self-sacrifice.  Does it make sense then that the main point of God's message would be about getting something?

So let's take a look through Christianity's founding documents and see what Christ and his messengers said this "Gospel" (a.k.a. "Good News") was really about.

Where Are We?

How Messiahs are supposed to look (Judas
Maccabeus,  a Messiah from a century and a
half before Jesus)

First a bit of background.

The nation of Israel was set up by God so that, "All the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants," (Genesis chapter 22 verse 18 CEB). But by the time Jesus showed up, they had fallen far from the heady days of of David and Solomon. For the last approximately 600 years they had been subject to other nations, the current one being Rome. Although the nation technically had some liberty the Romans kept them them on a very short leash and soldiers were everywhere.

But many Jews believed that their prophetic books promised them a "Messiah" to deliver them from their oppressors and make them an independent kingdom once again. There were a plethora of views on what exactly this Messiah would be like and do, but mainstream opinion included at least this much: That he would be a mighty warrior who would march into town, cleanse the Temple of pagan influences, defeat Israel's enemies, and set up the "Kingdom of God" (or "of Heaven," which was a respectful way to refer to God).

Meet Jesus

So now we encounter Jesus of Nazareth for the first time. He is proclaiming a message that he calls "The Gospel." How does it go? "After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” (Gospel of Mark chapter 1 verses 14-15, Common English Version).

Interesting. Not much like the Gospel I quoted at the beginning. I used the Common English Version instead of my usual translation so we could feel a little of the impact this would have had on the average oppressed 1st century Jew. It would have been rather incendiary!  Matthew's Gospel tells us that, "Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, (Gospel of Matthew chapter 4 verse 23).

In our next installment we'll follow this gospel message through Christ's resurrection, into the early Christian Movement and see where it takes us.

Independence Day

If you live in the United States, like the bulk of this blog's readers do, you'll probably spend today celebrating Independence Day. This is where we band together and enjoy the fact that, despite it's many, many problems, flaws, and disagreements, we have a pretty good country here. Personally, I'm a big fan of the US and proud to be a citizen of this country.

Most people have probably felt the same way about their homelands down through the ages. Mongols were proud to be mongols, serfs were proud of their lords, and romans thought it was an illustrious thing to be a roman. Even St. Paul would pull out his roman citizenship on occasion:

Paul (loud enough that the police can hear):  Just a minute. This is unjust. We’ve been stripped naked, beaten in public, and thrown into jail, all without a trial of any kind. Now they want to release us secretly as if nothing happened? No way: we’re Roman citizens—we shouldn’t be treated like this! If the city officials want to release us, then they can come and tell us to our faces [that we're free].

(Book of Acts 16.37, Voice)

Where Paul claimed his rights as a Roman

Real Country

Interestingly enough, a few years later Paul wrote a letter to the group of Jesus' followers in Philippi, the city where this happened. In it he makes a point that we 21st century US citizens would do well to keep in mind as we celebrate our country.

To the very people who had witnessed the Apostle forcefully insist on his citizenship in the only superpower of his time, Paul reminds them what country they really belong to.

 We are citizens of heaven, exiles on earth waiting eagerly for a Liberator, our Lord Jesus the Anointed, to come and transform these humble, earthly bodies into the form of His glorious body by the same power that brings all things under His control. 

(Philippians 3.20-21, Voice)

No matter what nation we live in or how much we may love it, members of the Christian Movement have given their allegiance to another country and another ruler.

Paul had just finished writing this:

So God raised Him up to the highest place
     and gave Him the name above all.
So when His name is called,
     every knee will bow,
     in heaven, on earth, and below.
And every tongue will confess
     “Jesus, the Anointed One, is Lord,”
      to the glory of God our Father!

(Philippians 2.9-11, Voice)

I'm particularly fond of N.T. Wright's little quote, "If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not." Jesus of Nazareth is our true King now, and eventually "every knee will bow" to him.  Our knees -- the knees of the Christian Movement -- have already had the privilege of bowing to him. We have independence from every 'Caesar' that rules anywhere.

Today amidst our fireworks and barbeque and current geopolitical dominance, remember who you really are and where you really live.

The Gospel of Invasion

Jesus Preaching, by Tissot

It might be held... that the ethics of Confucianism have an independent value quite apart from the story of the life of Confucius himself, just as the philosophy of Plato must be considered on its own merits, quite apart from the traditions that have come down to us about the life of Plato and the question of the extent of his indebtedness to Socrates.

But the argument can be applied to the New Testament only if we ignore the real essence of Christianity. For the Christian gospel is not primarily a code of ethics or a metaphysical system; it is first and foremost good news, and as such it was proclaimed by its earliest preachers.

True, they called Christianity 'The Way' and 'The Life'; but Christianity as a way of life depends upon the acceptance of Christianity as good news. And this good news is intimately bound up with the historical order, for it tells how for the world's redemption God entered into history, the eternal came into time, the kingdom of heaven invaded the realm of earth, in the great events of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. The first recorded words of our Lord's public preaching in Galilee are: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent and believe the good news."

F. F. Bruce
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?