Tomorrow's History

"And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days...Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Mark 13:20-31)

General Motors, one of the greatest manufacturers of modern history, faces bankruptcy. This is a serious blow to the United States of America and Canada. Many will lose their jobs. Cities that depend on automobile plants and related industries will suffer. Our identity as North Americans will suffer, even if temporarily we spitefully think that it is about time one of the giants came tumbling down. Even the enemies of the West and its economic power will find themselves hurting if the recession continues to grow. Critics of industry should remember that it is easy to forget how in so many ways we depend on the giants. And an even more shocking thought--we often depend on our enemies. This is why Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies, and not revile them (Matthew 5:43-48). The anarchist naturalist Peter Kropotkin discovered that nature achieves far more through mutualism and interdependence than it does through adversarial competition. Times of sorrow remind us of how much we need other humans, even the ones we do not especially like.

The fall of an industrial giant seems tragic, and history often seems to wear the tragic mask. Empires rise and fall. Philosophical systems come and go. Jesus explained this to his disciples: "And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.'" (Mark 13:2). This makes many people uneasy. Is our time up? Will we make it? What is going to happen? All of these questions contain a kind of absurdity: the attempt to know the history of tomorrow. For mankind, history is not about tomorrow, though. Only the Lord may speak of the future in the past tense, as we read so often in prophets, because His will is perfect and accomplished, and He presides over the world and the entire universe in His eternity without our mortal limitations. Our Lord, however, teaches us some important things about history, even tomorrow's history, that should give us hope as Christians.

First, the most important thing in history will always be the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not only is this true for Christians--it is true for the entire human race, whether or not men acknowledge him as Lord. As John Lukacs the renowned historian has written, "And now--especially, but perhaps not exclusively for Christians--I must argue for the recognition of our central situation not only in space but also in time. In sum, that the cmoing of Christ to this earth may have been? no, that it was, the central event of the universe; that the greatest, the most consequential event in the entire universe has occurred here, on this earth. The Son of God has not visited the earth during a tour of stars or planets, making a Command Performance for us, arriving from some other place and --perhaps--going off to some other place. And: only two thousand years ago!" (At the End of the Age. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. 223). Though Jesus' mortal life ended two thousand years ago, He continues to live and advocate for the human race, especially for Christians. And because He never changes, Jesus is relevant to every age. Every generation faces the same trials and sorrows, and is bothered by the same absurdities--especially, the dark questions of sin and death. And only Jesus can give life to those who are dead. Thus, Jesus is forever relevant, because He never changes, and He always offers life. Only if life is irrelevant can He be irrelevant. As Scripture says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). As history progresses, His Cross will continue to be the sign of hope and the sign of His Lordship.

Second, history--the past that we may know to an extent through investigation as well as the unwritten history of the future that we may not know--belongs to Jesus Christ. The Cross and Resurrection placed all things under His feet: "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:8-11). The universe, and all of the time and history therein, belong to Jesus. Jesus is the meaning of history, "the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to the saints" (Colossians 2:26). We cannot understand our existence, our mystical yearnings, our clumsy attempts at religiosity, our philosophical, artistic and scientific endeavors, our wars and economic struggles, our plagues and our renaissances, without knowing who Jesus is and what He did. Without Him, history is just an absurd tragedy, and all things should be damnatio memoriae. Nevertheless, thanks be to God our Father who sent Jesus Christ to save the world and to invite us out of the death of history and into everlasting life! Only death and sin should suffer damnatio memoriae; our lives will be kept forever in His glory.

Our last thing to remember is that history, especially tomorrow's history that we face, is shaped by Christ for the sake of the Gospel. This is why Jesus said that the days of trials were shortened, "for the sake of the elect" (Mark 13:20). Jesus warned us not to speculate about apocalyptic things (Mark 13:5-8; 13:21-23), nor to live in fear. Our path is one of faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13). As Jesus told the disciples, God intervenes in historical events for the sake of the elect. Who are the elect? They are those who believe in Jesus the Son of God. It is the believers whom God chooses to be His own. Moreover, the words of Christ, the light that breathes forth from the Gospels, will endure and continue to illuminate generation after generation: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Mark 13:31). Nothing can strip the Gospels of their power to convert, transform and enlighten people. Tomorrow's history is in the work of the Gospels. After Jesus came into history, history became a part of Jesus' work (John 3). It is no longer the story of mankind alone. It is the story of the Son of Man, bringing all things into reconciliation with God (2 Corinthians 5). And where is this history going? As Paul said, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28).

Our Savior Jesus is real. The photograph above is of the gate where Pilate said Ecce homo! Behold the man! when presenting the Son of Man to the angry crowds that called out for his crucifixion.

Come and See

"The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!' The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, 'What do you seek?' And they said to him, 'Rabbi (which means Teacher), where are you staying?" He said to them, 'Come and see.' They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour." (John 1:35-39)

Who is Jesus? This is the question that drove Andrew and the other disciple--perhaps John the evangelist and apostle--to follow Jesus and spend the day with him. They had heard John the Baptist speak of him; they had seen Jesus be baptized, but they wanted to know more. That they were curious seems clear from Jesus' own question: "What do you seek?" What are we seeking as human beings? There are many questions that we can ask about the world, in our walk of faith, in the numerous issues we can struggle with, but more often than not, we will feel disappointed when our questions bring no answers, or they bring answers whose impact on our life is so small as to be disappointing. On the other hand, the question Who is Jesus? when asked by an honest heart, brings about life-changing results. Something about Jesus captivated Andrew and the other disciple. Christ is contagious. Andrew went to tell his brother Peter (John 1:40-42). When Jesus called Philip with the simple words "Follow me", Philip went and found Nathanael to tell him about Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:43-45). When Nathanael asked if anything good could come out of Nazareth, Philip repeated the Master's own words: "Come and see" (John 1:46).

And that is all Jesus is asking of you. He is asking you to come spend time with him, to come and see for yourself who he is, what he offers, and how he changes your life. Many people have come to me at various times with deep and painful questions, questions far too big for my limited experience, miniscule wisdom, and weak heart. Most of the time, the only advice that I can give them is to "Come and see" Jesus Christ--to spend time with Jesus. Most often, this advice is discarded as being too simplistic. Some Christians are surprised when their faith suffers, even though they are not spending time with Christ in prayer, searching his character in Scripture, and seeing his presence in other Christians. Why should they be surprised? It is ridiculous to suppose that one can know anything about a subject without spending time with it. My poor skills in mathematics are the result of years of neglect--starting very early in school. The less time you dedicate to knowing someone or something, the poorer your results will be. Many relationships end because friends cease to communicate, spend time with each other, or continue to explore one another's characters and virtues. Without curiosity, without a desire to dedicate time, it is very difficult to find intimacy and communion with the Lord, and it is impossible to gain any kind of knowledge, wisdom or faith without the desire for the presence of Christ.

Andrew and the other disciple wanted to see where Jesus lived. Where does Jesus live? First of all, if you are a baptized believer, Jesus lives in your heart, and you can speak to him anytime you want through praying: "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:6). Jesus said that there is a reward for praying to the Father as individuals in secret. This is the personal aspect of our relationship with Jesus, the rewarding life of communing every day with a loving Lord who gave his life for us, and wants to be with us at all times: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). When we pray to the Father, we are speaking to Jesus, because He is in the Father and the Father is in him (John 14:6-14). There is another aspect to our spirituality, and this is the corporate worship, or communal prayer, as we see in church. Jesus is present in our worship: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). More importantly, Jesus is present in the church, because the Holy Spirit is in each of us, and as we share in the Spirit, we are united into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). Moreover, by celebrating the Lord's Supper and proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus, we participate in Jesus' presence: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). Though Jesus lives in heaven at the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:11, Acts 7:56), he also lives in those who have been saved, and in the communion of the saints. Come and see where Jesus lives, spend time with Jesus, and you will know more to the question Who is Jesus? More importantly, you will want to continue to know more and more. Through fellowship with Jesus and God the Father, we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1), and come to know that God is love (1 John 4:8). And what is more important, more beautiful and more sustaining than love?

Are you an unbeliever? Is your faith weak? Have you lost your faith? Remember that faith is not just belief. It is also curiosity and desire. It begins with something small, and grows into something wonderfully expansive: "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches" (Matthew 13:31-32). Come and see Jesus of Nazareth. Commune with Jesus both privately and publicly. Following him and sharing with him is like the planting of the mustard seed. For those of you who do not know him, you will discover a man without flaws, a man like none other. For those of you who once believed, remember how loving and kind Jesus is, remember his grace and his truth, and the words of life he shared with humanity. Moreover, remember that he came to this world and died for our sins, because of his great love for us (John 3).

The photograph above is of a carpenter's shop in Capernaum, the town where Jesus lived when his ministry began (Matthew 4:13).