Recently in Jesus Category

When there's a war, some soldiers don't come home alive. We may use the term "hero" for many soldiers, but we especially use it for those who gave their lives in battle.We used to celebrate when soldiers return alive, but these days those celebrations are a lot smaller.

In many churches, there seems to be a lot more focus on how Jesus gave his life for us when he was crucified. Yet the big celebration is on Easter, which is about the resurrection - Jesus returning alive.

The Parable of the Prodigal is a story about a child who asks for the inheritance while the parent still lives, cashes it in, and then spends the money with prodigality. When the child has spent the last bit of money and hit rock bottom, and decides to return home as a servant. the parent throws a party because the child "was once dead, but now is alive".

I have less of a point here than some questions:

Are we a people who primarily proclaim Christ crucified and celebrate that he died for our sins, so we get a pass?

Are we a people who primarily proclaim Christ crucified and celebrate that he died, and we should similarly take up our crosses

Are we a people who primarily proclaim Christ resurrected and celebrate that he has conquered death for us?

Are we a people who primarily proclaim Christ resurrected and celebrate that he has conquered death and recognize that we also must be renewed?

Are we a people who primarily proclaim what Jesus taught and, if so, do we need to follow it? Teach it?

Are we a people who primarily proclaim how Jesus lived and, if so, do we need to live it?

I guess my question really is: are we a people of death, life, knowledge, or living?

As we move into Lent, I'm going to be meditating on Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and how that informs my life.

Yes, that Kevin Smith.

Yes, that Trinity.

One of my favorite films is Dogma. This will surely make some of you concerned for my soul, others of you happy that I thought this was a clever film, and cause yet others of you to say "what is Dogma?"

Dogma is only one of several movies where Smith wrote, directed, and played a role (others are Clerks, Mall Rats, Chasing Amy,Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II).

As the writer, Kevin Smith creates a world. Yes, you may argue that his story exists in this world, but I disagree. There may well be a Bethany Sloan in this world, but she is not the Bethany Sloan of Dogma. Likewise for Cardinal Glick. The events in the Dogma world never happened in our world.

Kevin Smith is the creator of a universe.

Not only is Smith the creator, but his timeline is independent of the Dogma timeline. Smith sees the beginning, end, and middle of Dogma universe as one whole. Smith's pen arrives at any point in the USA at any time, because the time and space of the Dogma world have no claim on Smith.

But Smith is not content to merely create a universe. No, he becomes a part of it. Smith creates a character - Silent Bob - which inhabits the created Dogma universe. And then Smith is the soul that inhabits the Silent Bob character.

To the Dogma universe, Silent Bob is Smith incarnate.

Is Silent Bob the same as Smith? Yes, and no. Yes, the soul of the creator Smith lives out the character of Silent Bob, but no, Silent Bob is not independent of the Dogma time and space. And if the creator Smith were to decide that the Silent Bob character should die, the death would only be of the Silent Bob character and only in the Dogma universe - it would have no claim on the creator Smith.

Complicated? You bet. But Smith (as well as many other writers) has done this in many films.

Yet we're not done. Smith not only creates the universe and the characters within it, not only become the incarnation of Smith call Silent Bob, but Smith wants to speak to the souls that give life to the characters.

Smith takes on the role of director in Dogma. In doing so, he lives in the space between the timeless (to the Dogma universe) creator and the temporal created beings in the film. Director Smith speaks to the souls that inhabit the characters: Linda Fiorentino as she lives out Bethany Sloan's life, George Carlin as he lives out the life of Cardinal Glick, Jason Mewes as he becomes Jay, and yes, even Smith as he lives out Silent Bob.

Smith, as director, is the spirit that speaks to the souls that help to create the lives in the universe created by creator Smith. As director, Smith even speaks to the actor Smith as he lives out Silent Bob.

For those of you who haven't already closed this window and started praying for my immortal soul, let me assure you I am not saying Kevin Smith is our God. But Smith did create several universes, spoke to the souls that inhabited the lives in those universes, and even entered those universes to live among the creations.

Genesis 2 says humans are created in the likeness of God. If we can create whole worlds, and inhabit them with the beings we create, cannot God do so on a grander scale?

What if our creator is like an author, and Jesus like a life played out within that creation by our creator, and the Holy Spirit like that same entity with a foot inside our universe and a foot outside it?

Perhaps all the world is indeed a stage.

I just read about Harold Camping's apology on Huffington Post.

Harold Camping predicted Christ's return would come on September 6, 1994, but also allowed that it might happen in 2011. When the 1994 date passed without event, he said that he had originally thought it would be 2011 but that a calculation error led him to believe it might be 1994.

Camping's new prediction was for Christ's return and the Rapture (where the saved - living and dead - are taken up to Heaven) on May 21, 2011, after which no more souls would be saved. The end of the world would be on October 21, 2011.

When May 2011 passed without an apparent rapture, Camping believed that Christ had come invisibly in judgment, and still waited for the end in October.

It's easy to make fun of these predictions, but that's not what I'm doing today. It's also easy to point out that there have been many predictions of the end, with a rash of them starting most recently with William Miller. We could even use this as a cautionary tale, which many no doubt will do.

But instead, I want to point out some very positive things about Harold Camping, Family Radio, and the people who listened to and believed his call.

Camping believed he knew when the end would come. Whatever we think about how he arrived at this conclusion, this is what he believed. He did not merely keep this to himself, but bravely proclaimed it on a radio network that years before he and several others had started. How many of us are courageous enough to proclaim what we really believe, even in the face of scorn and ridicule? How many of us instead keep our thoughts to ourselves, or restrict our words to what's acceptable in whatever social circle we find ourselves?

There were many jokes made about those who sold everything to proclaim the end - but what did Jesus call his disciples to do? How many of us would be ready to make a radical lifestyle change to carry the message we hear to others?

Finally, when the world did not end in October, Camping did something that is very difficult for a visible leader: he apologized and spoke of "learning to walk more humble before God". This ability to take one's ego down several notches is notably lacking in many, too often including this writer.

For me, Camping and his listeners represent a three-fold challenge:

1. To proclaim what I believe, in the face of those who ridicule me for believing in God as well as those who call me a heretic;
2. To walk in faith that a message of good news is more important than personal comfort and security; and
3. To have the humility to recognize that I see as through a reflecting glass, dimly. Part of this is to do more listening than proclaiming.

Thank you, Harold Camping, for your demonstration of how to live out one's beliefs. I pray that I may have even a portion of your courage, faith, and humility.

May God richly bless you.

December 28 is one of the liturgical dates for the feast day of the innocents (others are December 27 and 29). This marks the story of Herod killing infants in order to end the threat of "the newborn king" (Jesus) as told in the second chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew:

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,^* he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.^{* 17}Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
¹⁸ 'A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.' (NRSV)

Jesus escapes this slaughter because his parents had been warned:

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.' ¹⁴Then Joseph^* got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, (NRSV)

But this makes me wonder: if the point of Jesus' birth is substitutionary atonement, that is:

• God dies as an infinite payment for the sins of finite humans against an infinite God, or
  
• A perfect human (Jesus) dies as payment for the sins of a perfect human (Adam), or
• Jesus dies to trick Satan into taking a blameless person, who he can't keep, and thereby rescuing all who Satan has taken, or
• any number of other schemes in which Jesus dies for our sins

then why would a perfect infant, or God in infant form, be an insufficient substitute for humanity?

Can it be only to fulfill the prophecy?

¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, 'Out of Egypt I have called my son.'

Isn't prophecy merely to tell of the times (or sometimes the future), rather than for events to make prophecy true? Surely this could have been omitted from prophecy and Jesus killed with the rest of the children.

Don't get me wrong, I have no love for the idea of killing an infant Jesus nor any other infants who may end up as collateral damage in Herod's insecurity. But if the point of Jesus is the crucifixion, we have no need for the life of Jesus, and especially not the ministry of Jesus.

The story of the massacre of the innocents tells us that Jesus had something to do instead of, or in addition to, dying. When we focus merely on the death, or even the death and resurrection, of Jesus, we miss the point of Jesus' life.

And if there is a point to Jesus surviving to adulthood, and to His healing the sick, and his preaching justice for the poor and oppressed, then there is probably a point to our living to adulthood as well. We may not see it - sometimes we may despair that there is such a point - but I believe there is a reason why we're here.

On this day, I will mourn those who die as infants - in first century Palestine and in the entire world in the twenty first century - due to senseless violence, hunger, and neglect. I will be grateful that I have been spared, and seek out what my ministry - my reason for surviving to adulthood - may be. I will look at the example of Jesus, who was not merely faithful in dying, but was faithful in living as well. I will examine who I serve, and make corrections as best I can.

As Christmas approaches, we see images of the infant Jesus everywhere. We hear and read "Jesus is the reason for the season". And why not? Who doesn't love a cute baby who never cries:

"The little Lord Jesus no crying he makes" - Away in a Manger

"Holy Infant so tender and mild" - Silent Night

There are some, like my friends and former classmates Tom Ryberg and David Weasley, who take issue with this idea of a silent infant, but that's an argument for another time. My point here is that we like the idea of a quiet, peaceful baby, and how much better if it's the Son of God!

We also observe Good Friday, which people like my professor and friend Ted Jennings consider the most important Holy Day in the Christian Calendar. This marks the suffering and death of Jesus. I won't go so far as to say Christians like this image (although some do seem to have an affection for the sacrifice), but it's one with which we've grown somewhat comfortable.

We do celebrate Easter, although not with the commercial fervor with which we mark the traditional birthday of Jesus. And why not? A risen Son of God is something to celebrate indeed.

Most of us don't mark the ascension of Jesus. Do you know when it is? I had to look it up. It's forty days after Easter.

What do all these ideas of Jesus have in common? They're non-threatening.

Baby Jesus doesn't speak (and, to many minds, doesn't even cry) and is lying in a manger - no worries there. Dying Jesus is nailed to a cross - He can't come after you.

The Risen Jesus does walk and talk, but doesn't hang around long. He makes a brief appearance with Mary of Magdala (and various other people depending on which Gospel you're reading) in Matthew 28, Mark 16, and John 20. He shows up on the road to Emmaus in Mark 16 and Luke 24, but doesn't stay for the whole walk. And he makes a brief dinner appearance in Luke 24 and John 20. This is a Jesus who won't bother you for long

Of course, we have the ascended Jesus now, who is safely in Heaven, far away from us.

And we do sometimes talk about Jesus' ministry, but usually we talk about the miracles.

We don't, however, want to be confronted by the social activist Jesus. We certainly don't observe a holiday for social activist Jesus.

Social activist Jesus shakes up the social order. He tells a rich young man to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. That makes us anxious, because we (and I am definitely including myself here) aren't really excited about giving up our security and comfort to help others.

And when Jesus performs miracles, there's usually another aspect that's missed.

Sure, there's the turning water into wine at Cana, but that's just being a good Jewish boy and obeying his mom. And there's walking on water, and telling people where to catch fish. There's also plucking a coin out of the mouth of a fish, but that starts to look like contemporary illusionists.

But Jesus performs healing miracles, and what a lot of people miss is that these miracles usually change the status of a person in society.

Afflicted by demons? Demons driven out and person is back among society. Could we do the same for the mentally ill?

Deaf or blind? Healed and the person is back among the townspeople. Could we also remove barriers that hold back those without hearing or sight?

Unclean due to leprosy or hemorrhage? Healed and the person is touchable again. Can we reach out with human touch to people with AIDS and other diseases?

One of my favorites is the paralyzed man at Capernaum (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26). The place is so packed that no one else can get in, so the man's friends cut a hole in the roof and lower him in to Jesus. Here Jesus shows what he's up to, and it's where people really get upset: Jesus tells the man "your sins are forgiven". The religious leaders are aghast - no one can forgive sin but God.

But what are we really talking about here?

Remember that Jesus was asked, regarding the man born blind, whose sin was the cause - the man's or his parents. In first century Palestine, many believed that physical issues were due to sin. But sin also kept people out of society. When Jesus said "your sins are forgiven", he was overruling the judgment that the man must be kept out of society because he was paralyzed.

After the leaders took such offense, Jesus healed the man's paralysis - not so much so that the man could walk (which was good) or so he could reenter society (which Jesus had already conferred on him), but because society could not get the idea that a paralyzed man belonged in society.

So what is social activist Jesus about? He threatens the status quo. He works toward dismantling  the social structures that keep people in their places. He redistributes wealth and power from those who have much to those who have little.

I want a social activist Jesus holiday. Let's pick a date and start working on the celebration.