God of the Pit

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On Tuesday I told you about a blunt, obscure sentence in the Bible's most pessimistic book that speaks to me like nothing else when I'm depressed. It helps somehow that the book Jesus taught from is quite open about the fact that life stinks and seems utterly meaningless sometimes.

'Job's Despair'
by William Blake

Actually, Scripture is full of depressed and depressing people, stories, and poems. The 42nd psalm (psalms are just poems and song-lyrics) is a real downer. In the Book of Job one man's utter depression over losing everything leads into one of the world's great epic poems about why people suffer. Even God shows up at the end but gives no real answer other than, "It's way, way over your head, but ultimately I'm in control."

This could be an intensely frustrating response, but oddly many people find it comforting. Abraham Lincoln for one is known to have read Job through several times during the Civil War and somehow it strengthened him. Sometimes you're way beyond the point where an explanation would help. But knowing you're not alone, that this is in some awful way 'normal,' that God fully acknowledges what you're going through and neither condemns it nor tries to pull you out of it with platitudes and happy-talk -- you may not be beyond that.

The Depressed God

One of the most mind-blowing things about the Christian Movement, if we can disengage our minds from two millennia of fairy tales and idealized pictures that have built up around it, is that we are worshiping a man who was tortured to death. The records tell us that Jesus did it willingly, the way you might willingly die to save your child. But they also tell us that he did not do it easily.

Mark's rough-n-ready, just-the-facts-ma'am gospel says that in the hours before his arrest he, "became very troubled and distressed. He said to [Peter, James, and John] “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death." Then he proceeded to beg God not to make him do the thing preachers often say was the very reason Jesus was born -- die. The Saviour of the World did not walk evenly and impassibly to his cross. He was depressed and didn't really want to go. (What he did want to do right down to the end was to obey God, but that's another topic for another post).

Co-Sufferer

The thing about the Christian Movement, the thing about the Holy Scriptures, the thing about Jesus of Nazareth that gives me a ledge to hang onto when I'm deep down in "the hole," is their utter realism. They don't deny or demean anything I'm going through, they don't tell me to cheer up or grow up.

When I cry out, "'Futile! Futile! Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!'" (Ecclesiastes 1.2) I say it -- even when it seems for all the world that I'm alone -- to a God who's yelled something similar,  and can look me straight in the face and say, "Yeah, I know. I wrote that."

"...A place in Your Paradise..."

Meditation for a Sunday Morning



(Here are two more of the early (AD 100 - 150) Christian hymns known as the Odes of Solomon that I posted for you last Sunday. Incidentally, they probably weren't credited to Solomon when they were written. Instead, they were usually bound together with a Jewish book called Psalms of Solomon and picked up the name by association.

In the first hymn the singer spreads their arms in worship to honor Christ's cross. In the catacombs Christians are frequently shown doing precisely this. The second ode celebrates a member of the Christian Movement entering Paradise after living a holy life. I like this one especially because it gives a window into how Jesus' early followers pictured the Paradise he had promised, [Gospel of Luke 23.43 & Book of Revelation 2.7])

Ode 27 

I extended my hands and hallowed my Lord, 

For the expansion of my hands is His sign. 

And my extension is the upright cross. 

 Hallelujah.

Ode 11 

My heart was pruned and its flower appeared, then grace sprang up in it, 

And my heart produced fruits for the Lord. 

For the Most High circumcised me by His Holy Spirit, then He uncovered my inward being towards Him, And filled me with His love. 

And His circumcising became my salvation, and I ran in the Way, in His peace, in the way of truth. 

From the beginning until the end I received His knowledge. 

And I was established upon the rock of truth, where He had set me. 

And speaking waters touched my lips from the fountain of the Lord generously. 

And so I drank and became intoxicated, from the living water that does not die. 

And my intoxication did not cause ignorance, but I abandoned vanity, 

And turned toward the Most High, my God, and was enriched by His favors. 

And I rejected the folly cast upon the earth, and stripped it off and cast it from me. 

And the Lord renewed me with His garment, and possessed me by His light. 

And from above He gave me immortal rest, and I became like the land that blossoms,

And rejoices in its fruits. 

And the Lord is like the sun upon the face of the land. 

My eyes were enlightened, and my face received the dew, 

And my breath was refreshed by the pleasant fragrance of the Lord. 

And He took me to His Paradise, wherein is the wealth of the Lord's pleasure. 

I beheld blooming and fruit-bearing trees, 

And self-grown was their crown. 

Their branches were sprouting and their fruits were shining. 

 From an immortal land were their roots. 

And a river of gladness was irrigating them, 

And round about them in the land of eternal life. 

Then I worshiped the Lord because of His magnificence. 

And I said, Blessed, O Lord, are they who are planted in Your land, 

And who have a place in Your Paradise, 

And who grow in the growth of Your trees, and have passed from darkness into light. 

Behold, all Your laborers are fair, they who work good works, 

And turn from wickedness to your pleasantness. 

For the pungent odor of the trees is changed in Your land, 

And everything becomes a remnant of Yourself. 

Blessed are the workers of Your waters, 

And eternal memorials of Your faithful servants. 

Indeed, there is much room in Your Paradise! 

And there is nothing in it which is barren, but everything is filled with fruit. 

Glory be to You, O God, the delight of Paradise for ever. 

Hallelujah.

"....I believed in the Lord's Messiah..."

Peter in the Catacombs (by Styka)

Meditation for a Sunday Morning

(Other than a few snatches of song in the New Testament (like this and this), the Odes of Solomon is probably our oldest collection of ancient Christian music. These lyrics were written between A.D. 100 - 150, probably closer to 100.

A Roman bureaucrat named Pliny who met up with some Christians at about the same time tells us that, "they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god," (Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96-97, "To Emperor Hadrian"). What were Jesus' early followers singing as they furtively gathered in the pre-dawn Sunday hours to worship? Probably something a little like these two songs.)

    Ode 29

        The Lord is my hope, I shall not be ashamed of Him.

        For according to His praise He made me, and according to His grace even so He gave to me.

        And according to His mercies He exalted me, and according to His great honor He lifted me up.

        And he caused me to ascend from the depths of Sheol, and from the mouth of death He drew me.

        And I humbled my enemies, and He justified me by His grace.

        For I believed in the Lord's Messiah, and considered that He is the Lord.

        And He revealed to me His sign, and He led me by His light.

        And He gave me the scepter of His power, that I might subdue the devices of the people, and humble the power of the mighty.

        To make war by His Word, and to take victory by His power.

        And the Lord overthrew my enemy by His Word, and he became like the dust 

which a breeze carries off.

        And I gave praise to the Most High, because He has magnified His servant

 and the son of His maidservant.

        Hallelujah. 

    

Ode 30

        Fill for yourselves water from the living fountain of the Lord, because it has been opened for you.

        And come all you thirsty and take a drink, and rest beside the fountain of the Lord.

        Because it is pleasing and sparkling, and perpetually refreshes the self.

        For much sweeter is its water than honey, and the honeycomb of bees is not to be compared with it;

        Because it flowed from the lips of the Lord, and it named from the heart of the Lord.

        And it came boundless and invisible, and until it was set in the middle they knew it not.

        Blessed are they who have drunk from it, and have refreshed themselves by it.

        

Hallelujah. 

The Victory of Forgiveness

Yesterday, Anselm gave us a moving example of praying for and forgiving your enemies. Essentially he asks God to "destroy" his enemies in the same way Abraham Lincoln described: "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 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 rather abstract terms, as an admirable ethical principal that we ought to apply in our lives. And it is that. But for Jesus on his cross that day it was also something else.

Love, praying for his enemies, and forgiving them were weapons.

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, 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 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).

Good Friday: "...Our suffering he took on himself"

The Lord says, “Look, my servant will succeed in what he has to do, and he will be raised to a position of high honor. It is true that many were shocked when they saw him. He was beaten so badly that he no longer looked like a man. But it is also true that many nations will be amazed at him. Kings will look at him and be unable to speak. They will see what they had never been told. They will understand what they had never heard.”

Who really believed what we heard? Who saw in it the Lord’s great power?

He was always close to the Lord. He grew up like a young plant, like a root growing in dry ground. There was nothing special or impressive about the way he looked, nothing we could see that would cause us to like him. People made fun of him, and even his friends left him. He was a man who suffered a lot of pain and sickness. We treated him like someone of no importance, like someone people will not even look at but turn away from in disgust.

The fact is, it was our suffering he took on himself; he bore our pain. But we thought that God was punishing him, that God was beating him for something he did. But he was being punished for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment we deserved, and this brought us peace. We were healed because of his pain. We had all wandered away like sheep. We had gone our own way. And yet the Lord put all our guilt on him.

He was treated badly, but he never protested. He said nothing, like a lamb being led away to be killed. He was like a sheep that makes no sound as its wool is being cut off. He never opened his mouth to defend himself. He was taken away by force and judged unfairly. The people of his time did not even notice that he was killed. But he was put to death for the sins of his people. He had done no wrong to anyone. He had never even told a lie. But he was buried among the wicked. His tomb was with the rich.

But the Lord was pleased with this humble servant who suffered such pain. Even after giving himself as an offering for sin, he will see his descendants and enjoy a long life. He will succeed in doing what the Lord wanted. After his suffering he will see the light, and he will be satisfied with what he experienced.

The Lord says, “My servant, who always does what is right, will make his people right with me; he will take away their sins. For this reason, I will treat him as one of my great people. I will give him the rewards of one who wins in battle, and he will share them with his powerful ones. I will do this because he gave his life for the people. He was considered a criminal, but the truth is, he carried away the sins of many. Now he will stand before me and speak for those who have sinned.”


Book  of Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13 through chapter 53 verse 12, ERV

"... the only remedy..."

Second Sunday of Lent

"Then Jesus called the crowd and his followers to him. He said, 'Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me.'"

(Gospel of Mark chapter 8 verse 34 ERV)

_______________________

Lent is about humbling one's self, turning from our sin, and taking on the nature of Christ. Each Sunday during this time I'm asking wise followers of Christ speak on these subjects. Last week we heard from King David. Today's guest blogger is François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, a French Archbishop from 300 years ago who has some excellent advice on achieving our goals during this season.

A sickly self-love, full of pity for itself, cannot be touched without screaming. Touch it with the end of your finger and it thinks itself flayed alive. Then add to this sensitiveness the roughness of other people, full of imperfections unknown to themselves, their disgust at our defects (at least as great as ours toward theirs), and you find all the children of Adam tormenting one another: Half of mankind made unhappy by the other half, and rendering them miserable in their turn. 

The only remedy is to come out of one's self in order to find peace. We must renounce ourselves and lose all self-interest that we may no longer have anything to lose, to fear, or to contrive. Then we shall enjoy the true peace reserved for "men of good will," that is for those who have no longer any will but God's, which becomes theirs. Then men will not be able to harm us, they can no longer attack us through our hopes or our fears. Then we are willing to accept everything, and we refuse nothing.

(Francois Fenelon, Spiritual Letters)