City Church of Christ

The Magnetic Cross

2009-12-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32)

The magnetic cross of Jesus Christ!!! For Paul, this was the true mystery, the wisdom of God, the only thing we could glory in. And what is so magnetic about the cross of Christ? In being obedient unto death, Jesus expressed his solidarity with sinners and mortals. All of us sin, and all of us die. What other God has come down to earth, walked among us, shared our poverty, suffering and sorrow, our joys, riches, and expectations, but most of all, our journey towards the ultimate shadow, only to conquer that shadow and give the gifts of eternal forgiveness, resurrection, eternal life and glory in heaven? Those who come to the cross make the final admission that this world can give us nothing, has given us nothing, and will continue to give us nothing. In the Cross, we recognize the gift of everything, the gift of God himself for humanity. Through the Cross God inverts death and makes his own self-sacrifice a symbol of hope and love for all people.

Jesus said that when he was lifted up--crucified on a cross--he would draw all people to himself. Through his death and resurrection, we have salvation. This is the revelation he gave to Nicodemus: "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:13-16). There are indeed many myths about gods and goddesses dying and coming back to life: Osiris, Adonis, Ishtar, Tammuz, Quetzalcoatl, Orpheus, Balder, Mithras, Dionysius. And yet, none of these deities existed in real history or created communities that would draw all peoples to themselves, the way Jesus of Nazareth really existed in history, and lives today; his teachings, which we call Christianity, have drawn men and women of every social class, race, language, lifestyle, or trade. At the foot of his very Cross, an unlikely mingling of Jewish women and Roman soldiers gazed in wonder and devotion at this Son of God on the Cross: "And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'" (Mark 15:39); "Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene" (John 19:25). In what other circumstances could we see such diametrically different gender roles, races, cultures, and language groups joined in a common wonder, a common participation in an otherworldly event? Already, Christ's prophecy was becoming fulfilled. Paul would remind the Christians in the early Church of the cosmopolitan and universal nature of Christ's mission, saying: "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11).

Today we look at globalization as a largely negative thing. It has had damaging effects on local economies, it has elevated mass production to the level of religion, it has made a god of the market and has exploited and enslaved millions. Many of these things are true in some way. And yet, there is a great benefit to this globalization. Now we cannot live comfortably ignorant of our human brothers and sisters on the far sides of the globe. Christ is always embracing our world, always calling out to the lost and drawing them to his cross. And he makes us a part of this calling out to one another, serving one another, sharing with one another, for he recreates us in his image and pours the love of God into our hearts. The evils of globalization have now become our spiritual workplaces, challenging us, stimulating faith, making highways and byways for expressing love to the orphaned, unloved, the ugly and the sick, the downtrodden and the shamed, the dirty and the betrayed. And now we can come together, in the shadow of his cross, washed in baptism and renewed by his Holy Spirit, brought together into his one body to live by love. You would think that nobody in his or her right mind would shun world peace if it were offered to him or her, and yet we shun it every day when we reject the global savior, Christ who died for the sins of the world: "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the savior of the world" (1 John 4:14). Would you like a better world? Believe on Jesus today, and then go invite your friends to believe on him, for Jesus is wisdom, Jesus is peace, Jesus is love, and Jesus is salvation.

The Road to Salvation

2006-03-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

"Follow me" (Matthew 4:19)

The road to salvation is sometimes explained as a number of steps. This helps those who are new to Christianity or to the Scriptures better understand what the Lord requires of them. For some, this seems to reduce the deep mystery and intimacy of conversion into a mechanical process. For others, it seems to stress salvation by works rather than by faith. When those who love Christ meditate on the stations in His life as narrated in the Gospels, certainly they are not merely concerning themselves with something mechanical--rather, through Scripture, they are seeking a closer relationship with Him, by dwelling upon each significant detail that led to his crowning with thorns and triumphant resurrection. When we look at the "steps" to salvation in this manner, it is possible to consider the different steps without suggesting in any way that conversion is a simplistic, mechanical and unspiritual process. On the contrary, an examination of these steps allows us to see that the road to salvation is not a set of rituals, but the Way, which is Christ. Moreover, those who are still unfamiliar with the New Testament may benefit by having an overview to what the apostles taught concerning conversion and salvation.

No. I Hear the Gospel

The Gospel is the story of the life of Jesus. It is through the four accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that we come to know that God loved the world and sent his Son (John 3:16). Jesus, His Son, came to preach repentance and the advent of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 3:2), to teach us the way to God (John 14) and how to live (Matthew 5, 6, 7), to proclaim forgiveness of sins (Luke 15:11-32), to give His life as a sacrifice for sin through His death on the Cross (Mark 14:22-24; Mark 15), to conquer death by rising again on the third day, and to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him (Luke 24:36-49; Matthew 28; John 14:15-). Even after conversion, the believer continues to hear the Gospel, because it contains the words of life (John 6:66-69).

No. II Believe the Gospel; Believe in Jesus

When he was about to hand Jesus over to be crucified, Pontius Pilate asked the question: "What is truth?" (John 18:38). The New Testament teaches that we can only know truth through faith in God's revelation (Romans 1:16-27; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Hebrews 11:1-3). Nevertheless, the New Testament does not teach unreasoned faith or superstition. Time and again, the inspired writers of the New Testament appeal to their roles as eyewitnesses (John 21:24-25; 1 John 1), to their unique role as apostles confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit and its miraculous gifts (Acts 2, Acts 4:1-5), to the readiness of early Christians to die for their beliefs (Acts 8:54-60), to the significance of Paul's conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a champion of the faith (Acts 9; Acts 22; Acts 26), and to many other noteworthy things. The New Testament abounds in references to well-known historical characters: Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1), Tiberias(Luke 3), Pontius Pilate (Luke 3; Matthew 27), Gamaliel (Acts 5, Acts 22), Gallio, brother to the Roman writer Seneca (Acts 18:12-17), to name a few. Lastly, the New Testament also includes philosophical discourse, as noted in Paul's speech at the Areopagus, when he addressed the Stoics and Epicureans (Acts 17), and as seen in Romans 1, where he shows that without faith, there is no reason, but a darkening of the mind instead.

More than anything, the New Testament asks us an important question about whether we will believe the One that God has sent. Will you follow Jesus? Jesus promises resurrection, eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, a home in heaven, and the great blessing of one day seeing God face to face, if we believe. Believing, then, is an important part of knowing and following Jesus (John 7:37-38; Mark 1:14-15; Acts 16:30-33; John 20:24-29). Without belief, we can never know God or have any part in Him. Thus, just as hearing the Gospel is a step that continues throughout the walk of Christian life, believing is another step that, once we take it, continues as long as we are in this world.

No. III Repent

The New Testament teaches us that "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23), that humanity rejected God's purpose (Romans 1), seeking after selfish desires rather than what God ordained for humankind. Foremost among our sins is our failure to acknowledge that there is a God and that He wishes to have a close relationship with us, as He did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2) before they fell from grace. Jesus began His ministry by teaching us to repent of our sins (Matthew 3). In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7; Luke 6:17-), we come to learn that repentance is not merely contrition, or feeling sorry for what we have done, but also striving to live by God's Word and to imitate the God Who is Love (1 John 4:8) by loving others, even our enemies. As Jesus teaches, the greatest commandments are that we love God and love each other (Mark 12:28-34). Without love, we cannot truly repent, because we can only change through our love for God, Who loved us first (1 John 3:19-24; 1 John 4:7-21). Those who repent need live no longer in fear or misery--Jesus forgives, because Jesus loves us (cf. Luke 7:36-; Luke 15:11-32). This is the message of hope that we have from the Gospel. Moreoever, should we fall into sin even after conversion, we know that repentance will always lead us back to a forgiving and loving God (1 John 1:5-10). Repentance is a key part of Christian life, as we strive to be changed by the Word.

No. IV Confess

When one returns to God, having repented of sin, one confesses belief in Christ as the only Savior, as the means by which we have redemption and eternal life. Confessing not only means "confessing your sins"--though this is certainly important and demonstrated repeatedly in the New Testament--but it also means confessing Jesus before others, and bearing witness to the great things He has done in our lives. In modern times, with the increasing secularization of society, it has become uncomfortable for many to confess that they belong to Jesus. Jesus, however, teaches us that confessing Him before others is very important: "Every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God." (Matthew 10:32). Later, he says: "He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:38). Jesus warns Peter of falling into the sin of denial on the night He is betrayed (Mark 14:37-39; Luke 22:31-34). Confessing that Jesus is Lord is a significant part of our walk with Him. Before his ascension, Jesus told his disciples the following: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19); and the early Christians prayed for boldness and strength to declare Jesus before others (Acts 4:23-31). In the last book of the Bible, Jesus again emphasizes the importance of confessing His Name: "And yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name...Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial...I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name" (Revelation 3:8-). Our journey in Christ is a continuous confessing of His Name before the world. That is why we are called "Christians" (which originally meant "little Christs"), because we carry the name of Christ to the world. It is only in His Name that salvation may be found (Acts 4:12).

V. Baptism

The New Testament explicitly shows that once we have believed in the name of Jesus, we become a part of his Kingdom and attain salvation through baptism. Baptism is never shown as an option, a mere ritual, or just an act of devotion, but as a commandment and the natural consequence of belief. Thus, Jesus says: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20). When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:5-6). On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the crowds: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). When Phillip converts the Ethiopian, the Ethiopian is baptized immediately (Acts 8:26-40). Likewise, when a jailer asks Paul what he must do to be saved, Paul tells him to believe in Jesus, and then baptizes him (Acts 16:19-34). Belief and baptism go together. Moreover, since we know that without the Holy Spirit, we cannot be raised to eternal life (John 3; 1 Corinthians 15:20-58; Romans 8:1-17), and since we cannot receive the Holy Spirit without baptism, then we know that baptism is an important part in beginning our everlasting walk with Jesus Christ. Baptism does not mean we are saved by works; because it is not a human work. Many "works" can be done without love or without any relation to salvation (1 Corinthians 13). It is Jesus who first instituted baptism into the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11-17; Mark 1:4-11; John 1:19-34), and preached its necessity for rebirth and salvation (John 3). Baptism is His gift to us, a means by which we are transformed and welcomed into His eternal Kingdom. Unlike the other steps mentioned, however, it is not something we repeat again and again. As Paul writes: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:4-5).

VI. Other Steps?

Are there other steps on the road to salvation? After baptism, our road to salvation becomes the road of salvation, or to use the original terminology of the early Church, the "Way" (Acts 9:2; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14). There are an infinite number of steps now, because baptized believers dwell in eternity, secure in their salvation. The remaining steps are merely the steps you take to draw ever closer to God, becoming more like Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), and continuing to fight the good fight of faith (2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Ephesians 6:10-20; Phillipians 2:1-18; Colossians 3:1-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11; 1 Timothy 3:16-; 4:1-16; 2 Timothy 2:19-23; 2 Timothy 4; Hebrews 12 & 13). As it says in Revelation: "To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7). Christ calls you to be a life-long conqueror and a life-long traveler of the Way. As John writes: "Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth." (1 John 5:1-7).

May the Lord Jesus bless you on your road to salvation! Follow Jesus, who is the Way.

Life In Christ

2009-11-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, 'The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.' For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragment grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I telly ou that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." (Romans 15:1-8)

In his instructions to the First Century Christians, Paul made some powerful statements about ethics and holy living. The ethics of Paul is deeply christological--that is, it is not based merely on reasoned arguments or quarrels about logic, nor is it merely a list of rules. Human reason has failed ethically for milennia. And time and again, Jesus showed the Pharisees how they had manipulated holy rules in unholy ways. This does not mean that Christ wanted us to abandon reason or God's commandments for living, either. Paul says here that we need instruction in what was written in the former days--that is, the Biblical writings available to the early church. It is these Scriptures that give us encouragement and hope. What does he mean?

What was the ethical landscape like in the Roman Empire of the 1st Century? Not terribly different from what we have today. Life was cheap, people bought and sold each other on slave markets, tax farmers--or publicani--exploited the populace in much the same way that banks and creditors exploit people today, powerful families called negotii bid for government and military contracts to increase their capital and overseas holdings, the Roman Army opened up new markets and made more countries dependent on the imperium, local leaders competed for power in political blood sport, revolutionaries died by the hundreds in failed attempts to glorify themselves or replace Roman imperium with their own tyranny. War, romanized urbanization and other causes wrecked the environment in some places. Abortion, murder, theft, wrongful lawsuits, adultery, infanticide, forced prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse, arms dealing--all of these existed in supreme degree in the empire that crucified our Lord Jesus. In other words, the situation seemed as hopeless then as it does today. The Roman writers Juvenal, Petronius, Martial, Catullus, and Ovid give quite a lurid picture of Roman life. And despite certain historical differences, it can be like looking into a mirror of our times.

Despite the seemingly hopeless situation, however, Paul writes that through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Why? Is Paul merely talking about the family values, virtues, or social teachings in the Gospels that give us our ethics? I do not think so. I think that the Scriptures have rich wisdom in terms of ethics, but trying to read Scripture as a textbook on ethics won't help us at all. Paul is hinting at something much more scary, something much more challenging. Paul says that Christ is our ethics, because Christ became a servant to humanity, to take away our reproaches, to show God's truthfulness, and to teach us to be servants, too. When we are clothed in Christ, we are clothed as servants--all of our ethics must be about the Cross and cross-bearing. Since Christ did not live to please himself, but to please others, we too are called to live in a same manner of self-sacrifice and love of others.

What will be the benefits of such an ethics? What are we actually doing? It means to build our neighbors up, whoever they are; to show God's truthfulness, to live by drawing hope from the Scripture, to have one voice, and to welcome each other into the glory of God that Christ has welcomed us into. Paul's ethics is thus not merely a christology that leads us into glorification, but it is one that is unmistakably about relinquishing self and power, taking on the role of servants and carrying our crosses in love for God and for all people that God created.

As the Morning

2009-10-08T17:49:00.001-07:00

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then thou shalt call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am." Isaiah 58:6-8

Sometimes we feel the absence of God, a sense of desolation. Where is God? Why is he not listening to us? All we see around us are signs of trouble, a physical and spiritual famine eating away at the world. Our despair and sinfulness blind us to His presence in the world. Isaiah makes a most provocative statement in the 58th chapter: by doing the things God does, we will know His presence. The passage above bears close similarities with the Messianic prophecy in chapter 61: "The Spirit of the LORD GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD" (Isaiah 61:1-2). This is the very passage Jesus claimed as his own, saying: "This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21) after reading the very same scroll (Luke 4:18-20). James, the Lord's brother, reminds us of this duty, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27).

To know God is to know Jesus (John 14:1-11). And if we are to know Jesus, to be in Jesus and have his Spirit in us, we must do the works he does: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:12). What were Jesus works and what were they for? We know that He came to teach, to show the Way, to give us faith, forgiveness, and the hope of resurrection, to destroy the distance between God and us through his being as Immanuel, but we so often forget that Jesus came to heal, to free, to take care of, to show solidarity, to feed and to love the unloveable. Isn't His grace the fact that we are able to do his works? The works of Jesus are signs to the world of what is concretely meant by "faith, hope, and love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Unless we clothe the naked and feed the hungry, unless we listen to the lonely and share with strangers, unless we lovingly meet the Other, how will the world know what faith is, what hope is, what love is? Jesus calls us to show the world who He is.

Isaiah says that the proper "fast" or religious observance that God will accept is to live the life of love, to look after the hungry and naked. When we do this, our light will break forth as the morning, and when we pray God will say: "Here I am". And the very glory of God will be our rearguard (rereward in the old King James English). Wouldn't it be lovely to live in the glory of the Lord, to live in Jesus by accepting his invitation to follow Him and do the works that He did? Wouldn't it be lovely to show the world that we need no longer suffer the absence of God, that we can know God here and now through our lives of loving each other and loving God? Let us pray together:

Our Father in Heaven,
May all nations come to know you and praise your holy name,
May your kingdom come into the hearts and lives of individuals and communities throughout this fractured globe,
May your will be done on this earth, as it is done in heaven, that we work the works of Your Son, that we live peacefully, cooperatively, lovingly, sharing and looking after each other, forgiving each other and striving to live by your gracious commandments which reveal You to us, that we no longer treat your earth as a garbage can or an unmarked grave for the dead we have tried to ignore or forget, that we no longer treat the world as the arena of our prideful competition or the stage of our lustful and suicidal dramas, but as the fields for sowing your Word and harvesting souls to eternal bliss,
May we receive our daily bread from You Lord, so that we can share it with others, and not just the physical bread that feeds our frail bodies, but also your spiritual bread, Jesus, who came down from heaven to give us light and life.
May we receive forgiveness of our sins, Lord, as we forgive others, may we never dare to stop forgiving others and trying our utmost to remember that all of us haven fallen short of Your glory so that the Son of God died for our sins that we might be united in Him into his Body,
May we be protected from every kind of evil--from the evil desires in our hearts that defraud and do violence to our neighbors, from the greed, oppression, rapaciousness, hypocrisy and lying of corporations, governments, and tyrannical individuals who follow the first tyrant, the Devil, from all those evils that thwart the glorious radiance of your Light and the spread of the Gospel,
For the glory and the kingdom and the power are Yours, Lord, always and forever,
And where you are, there is hope for us in this world and in the world hereafter.
Amen

The Very Form of the Cross

2009-09-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

"The very form of the cross, extending out into the four winds, always told the ancient Church that the Cross means solidarity: its outstretched arms would gladly embrace the universe" (Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Heart of the World 13)

Without a cross you cannot design a compass to orient yourself and direct your navigation. Without a cross, you could not build a structure of many stories. Building and navigating are pivotal to the mission of Jesus when we consider what He accomplished through his death and resurrection. There is nothing more global than the passion of Jesus our Lord. As Paul writes: "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, growns into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:12-22).

What is wrong with the world? Paul speaks of two major problems. Man is estranged from man, and more importantly, man is estranged from God. Through Jesus Christ, man may now rejoice with man, and find love in God. Jesus Christ builds us into a temple, makes us into one united kingdom of holy citizens, triumphing over the death of this world, over the running down of the universe! Sometimes people ask me, "Are there extra-terrestrials? If there are, would Jesus have to die on every planet?" I have even heard a similar comment made in a recent film or television program, the exact name of which escapes me at the moment. I do not know if there are extra-terrestrials other than angels and demons, "cosmic powers" and "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12), but I do know that if there are, they are subjected to Christ, and that Christ's one redeeming death conquered the entire universe. Christ embraces the universe, because it is to save the universe that He died and rose from death.

There is no other story known to man as powerful as the Good News. The Good News is a story about the Son of God, who lived a perfect life, helped people, and taught us the meaning of life and the truth about our being. Though he was murdered unjustly, he then conquered death through resurrection. Just as an electrical cord will only fit into its proper socket, so the Good News is the one story that fits our cosmic and personal problems. Jesus Christ is not an answer to life; Jesus Christ is life (John 14:6) and the only answer to life. He is embracing you whether you know it or not, and wants you to open the door and invite him into your life. Again, it may sound minimalistic, and it may sound childlike, but make no mistake: the New Testament teaches us that Jesus Christ is the answer to all global problems, all natural problems, all existential problems, all personal problems: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Let us draw near to God through our Lord Jesus that we might be transformed, that our thoughts might take on the very form of the cross, that we too might reach out to embrace the world in love, faith and hope and thus be the true children of God.

Do Not Be Silent

2009-08-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

"O God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, O God, do not be still" (Psalm 83)

Many theologians, mystics and spiritual writers speak of silence as an essential part of spiritual formation. One of the prophets says: "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him" (Habakkuk 2:20). There is a time to be silent and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Sometimes we need to just be still and know that our God is Lord (Psalm 46:10). In this vast silence, when we have hushed the clamoring of our cluttered brains, when we have drowned out the noise of chaotic modern living, or when we have taken time to be alone and remember who we are and what we were created for, we can begin to feel God's presence and appreciate his love. We are ready to pray. And yet, sometimes we pray and all we receive for an answer is silence.

There are times when God is silent, to teach us deep truths. God's name, for example, is never mentioned in the Book of Esther, and yet what a spiritual treasure that book is. God works through words of life (John 6:68) and through silence--sometimes lasting some 400 years, as during the inter-testamental period. Perhaps God speaks to us with silence when we have belabored Him with our vain words: "You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, 'How have we wearied Him?' In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,' or 'Where is the God of justice?'" (Malachi 2:17); "Your words have been arrogant against Me,' says the LORD." (Malachi 3:13). Sometimes, after reading of the visions and experiences of the prophets and apostles, it is easy to feel that we have lived in a long period of silence--a period without miracles, visions, and direct communication with God that has lasted since about 100 AD. And yet, this is the era of the Scriptures, the era when God has spoken the most. Every day new Bibles roll of the press in newer translations, in newer languages. God is speaking--but have we entered into our own silence to listen to Him?

I wonder if we do. There are more scholarly journals, reference books, professional associations, debates, radio shows, televisions shows, documentaries, online resources, bookstores, libraries and conferences dedicated to Christianity than at any other point in our 2000 years of history. Trying to research a religious topic can be overwhelming from the sheer volume of materials available. Can we hear God speak through all this print? As Solomon once said, "The writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:12). And John wrote, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25). This was no exaggeration. This was a well-thought out, calculated and prophetic statement. Of books, we have no shortage, but we hunger for God more than ever before. We can surgically analyze and comment on the texts of the Bible, but we cannot hear the Word speak. The cacophony of theological literature has brought us a different kind of silence from God.

I do not think God wishes to always be silent with us. The way he conversed with Adam (Genesis 2) and the way Jesus conversed with his followers amply shows the desire of God for conversation (Isaiah 1). This conversation happens not just through the reading of the Scripture, but also through humble prayer. And there are many ways to pray. Abraham respectfully argued with God (Genesis 18:22-33), Jacob wrestled with an angel (Genesis 32:24-32), Hannah cried and prayed silently (1 Samuel 1:12-18), Paul and Silas sang hymns in prison (Acts 16:22-40). And how did Jesus pray? With joy and confidence (John 17), with tears and sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44), with an agonizing cry in the midst of crucifixion: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). In various ways, people of faith have lifted up their voices to heaven for one thing, and one thing only: to hear and know the Word (John 1).

Our God speaks to us through Jesus, and it is through Jesus that God will not remain silent and will not be still, but will stretch forth His hand to touch your life and change you forever. Jesus will be there with you when you cry, because he cried. Jesus will be there when you bleed, because he bled and died for you. Jesus will laugh and rejoice when you are happy, because he knew that God works good for those that love Him. And Jesus will teach you how to pray and how to come to the Father.

Our world needs two things: Christianity that is actually interested in Christ and his teachings and a Christianity that respects the Word of God. Our world needs Jesus: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world" (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The photograph above is by Kuwabara Shisei, and depicts someone suffering from Minamata disease. Sometimes when we have time to pray, we think we do not know what to pray for. If you ever have this experience, pray for any number of the people suffering in this world, such as the person in that photograph; you will never run out of things to say to God, and He is waiting for you to speak to Him so that He may in turn speak to you.

A Glass of Water

2009-07-19T09:55:00.001-07:00

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)

The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman began with a simple request. Our Lord wanted to drink some water. If there had not been any cultural tensions between the Jews and Samaritans, she probably would have complied immediately, hospitality being an important part of the ancient way of life (Genesis 24:10-33). Even today, most citizens we meet are helpful with our simple requests, when we ask for directions, when we ask to borrow a telephone, or when we need a glass of water or some small favour from a neighbour or friend. We think nothing of asking, and hopefully we think little of granting these requests made of us. Common courtesy is expected in the Bible to such an extent that Jesus warns us not think of good deeds as being merely a matter of manners: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:46-48). As Christians, we have learned that granting requests is an important part of our walk of faith. Or have we? We are good at granting human requests, it seems, but what about the requests of our Lord?

The disciples, who became the Lord’s apostles, were only too happy to do as their Master bid them, whether it was finding the donkey for the triumphal entry (Mark 11:2-6) or making preparations for the Last Supper (Mark 14:13-16). If they were willing to follow Him in such little things, how much more were they willing to obey when it came to deep spiritual matters (Luke 9:17)! And yet, today, there are many who find a commanding Jesus offensive to their taste, impossible to reconcile to their preconceived image of a suffering servant (Isaiah 53). This is nonsense! Jesus clearly suffered and came as a lowly servant for our sake—but that does not mean He invites us to be His master! On the contrary, He invites us to be servants, too, to follow His example. How can a servant learn to serve without following the commands of the Master? We are willing in our daily lives to comply with so many requests from the world, can we not also comply with the commands of our loving Saviour? Jesus makes this request to us every day: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). This is not law—this grace! It is through his commandments that we know Him more and experience His freedom more each day.

To understand the request Jesus makes to the Samaritan woman, we need to read the text more closely. Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God...you would have asked him”. Our loving Jesus is the gift of God, and when we do not wish to respond to Him, whether it be in prayer, in service, or in keeping his commands, then we show that we do not know Him, or do not understand His gift. Since He is the gift, His requests and commands are also gifts by which we drink more deeply of the living water. He commands in order that we may have life and light. He requests in order that we may drink and be refreshed: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Tomorrow's History

2009-05-31T23:16:00.001-07:00

"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

2009-05-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

"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).

The Man Who Thought

2009-04-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

One day a man stops to think about the various ideas that are floating around him. He hears that it is unreasonable to believe in God. There is no possible evidence for God. Most phenomena are explicable through scientific inquiry. In fact, the tendency to have religious belief is most likely a sensitivity in the temporal lobe, perhaps a genetic predisposition. Not to mention the fact that museums are overflowing with fossils that reinforce the doctrine of evolution. Moreover, any ethical teachings associated with a notion of God are quite contrary to contemporary ideas about what is wrong and right that he encounters in newspapers, television programs, internet media and in the lifestyles of most people around him. The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that the very existence of the idea of God is quite miraculous. How was God ever dreamed up in the first place? It’s true, the people at the dawn of time did not have modern science to provide these answers he so conveniently has. Perhaps our early ancestors can be forgiven for their superstition. When they saw lightning—they saw a godlike force. Here is the problem, though. If God had not existed in their minds prior to their fear of lightning, how did they come to personalize this utterly impersonal, inhuman force? Where did the idea come from? What is divinity, and how did it acquire such a tremendous lock on human consciousness? Was it loneliness that made the first men and women anthropomorphize their environments at the dawn of time? It is true that anthropologists probably have answers to these questions—but at best, they are only theories, since none of us were eye-witnesses to these prehistorical events and we have no reliable recorded data or experiments from this time period that can be verified or reproduced. All we have are interpretations. None of us truly understand all the workings of consciousness today; we cannot rationally presume to even begin to understand the consciousness of a hominid some millions of years ago. There is no way we will ever really know.

The man continues to think. He daydreams of the time before evolution began, when Earth was just matter, lifeless matter. In this lifeless matter, random events occurred without any preordained plan. Through a series of chemical accidents too complex and too numerous to define in a short space, a plan was being formed. The code for all life—not just human life—was being written on the surface of the planet. Over a course of millions of years this took effect. And yet, logic tells him that there was a decisive moment, a moment every scientist would give anything to see, especially Theodor Schwann, who stated that “All living things are composed of cells and cell products.” Or Louis Pasteur, that scientific giant, who said: “Spontaneous generation is a dream.” Here, they would confront their own axioms being disproved. Truly an exciting time in the history of the universe! The moment between lifelessness and life. The moment between chaos and a code that would eventually lead to the production of rationality. The moment between irrationality and rationality might thus romantically be linked to this moment between non-life and life, even if the two moments did not coincide chronologically. It is a thought-provoking threshold between worlds. One second changed everything. Another truly miraculous thing, as miraculous as that sudden appearance of God in the consciousness of the early human beings.

The man thinks about the lifeless planet of primordial time, of all planets, stars, the sun and the moon, the countless galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, black holes, comets and meteors, the whole myriad of phenomena that he can only dream about, being earth-bound and only able to see what he sees in the night sky. What a vast universe filled with darkness, light, motion, beauty, boundlessness. In comparison to this seemingly infinite space of planets and stars and dark emptiness, he is less than a piece of straw or gravel. He is atomized. He must conclude that he is a lucky cosmic by-product, a fleck of stardust from the almost endless galaxies that began billions of years ago, most likely as a result of the Big Bang or some comparable cosmological event. It is likely that prior to this, there was no matter, no time, no energy. At best there was nothing. There was not even chance. Not even randomness. There were no numbers, no formulae, no plans. There was nothing observable or measurable. In short, there was nothing that the rules of logic or the scientific method could grasp, being utterly useless in a zone when (or where? did such words mean anything?) their apparatus could not exist.

It is at this point that the man begins to feel the vertigo of existence. Looking back as far as he can, he has imagined a place that is not a place, a time that is not a time, a possibility that is not a possibility. He has come to nothingness. This nothingness, he realizes, has produced all that thrives, pulses, shines, lives, laughs, thinks, burns, and deteriorates today. This lack of rationality, possibility, of intelligence or chance, of life and death, of patterns, forms, shapes, sounds, colors, light, dark, high, low, great and small—this nothingness is responsible for existence.

Something in him breaks down. Perhaps it is the abuse his logic has suffered. Perhaps it is the deception of emotion. Quoting King Lear, he says to himself: “Nothing can be made out of nothing.” And here is a quandary and a conundrum. Is it irrational to waste another thought on this? Or is it irrational to persist in believing that his intelligence, which he now uses to struggle towards understanding, is really built on and out of nothing? Which is it? A moment passes, and he recalls that Buddha once taught in India long ago that all existence is an illusion. This is only a temporary solution, though, tempting as it is. Because right now, the universe is really starting to look like one. An illusion, though, like a symbol, needs a referent or origin. Basically, the man is stuck with the irritating fact that nothing has produced everything, but without reason. In other words, for no apparent reason, nothing made everything in which reason exists.

Have I gone mad? the man asks himself. Or is it mad to worry about this? Rational people don’t try to solve these insoluble problems, but our man feels drawn into the depths of this intellectual whirlpool. It is enough to make one frantic, but he is not frantic, because he believes reason will get him through this one way or another. Perhaps this is one of his character flaws—he does have faith in something; he has faith in his reason. Nevertheless, this reason he trusts so much in has produced something of a nightmare. It is true that he can dismiss it all as a trick of his brain, his faulty logic, his sensitivity, his emotions, the Zeitgeist, cultural indoctrination, or the incomplete nature of human learning and discovery, but at the heart of it all, he returns again and again to the same devastating question: Why did nothing, for no apparent reason, make everything, including reason? The man thought some more, and recalled the first five verses from the Gospel of John, which say: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The man remembers that “Word” in the Greek New Testament can also be translated as “reason”. In short, in the beginning, there was a reason for existence, and this reason was God, and this reason was life, this reason was the reason for the man’s reasoning today.

The man thought some more. In his historical time period, which is to say ours, it is considered irrational to believe that in the beginning there was a reason for all existence, and that this reason is God. Instead, it is more rational to accept that in the beginning, there was no reason. All life came from non-life, all reason came from non-reason, all matter came from nothing. The man has changed his mind about many things. Though he risks being told that he is deluded, intellectually limited, possesses junk genes, or is too much of an idiot to find the right answer, he has followed the advice of King Lear and believes what the apostle John wrote. This has not stopped him from continuing to think deeply about things. On the contrary, he is thinking more than ever before, but as an individual with a unique mission in this strange, strange universe.

Of Arms And The Man

2009-03-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Arma virumque cano--"Of arms and the man I sing"--thus begins Virgil's classic Latin epic, The Aeneid. Some have said that by "arms" Virgil pays homage to the Iliad and by "man" he refers to the Odyssey. Naturally, we could also take it to mean the two halves of the long poem. The first six books seem to deal with the interior life of Aeneas the "man"--whereas the last six books deal with the wars that would settle the surviving Trojans in Italy to found the race of the Romans--thus the "arms". Throughout the epic, we come to know Aeneas the man, with all of his faults, and Aeneas the armed hero, who prevails and fulfills what Jove has planned for him.

The first line of the epic is therefore a convenient way of summarizing the whole epic. How would we summarize the Gospel? In this age of disputes, numerous factions, denominations, ideologies, and changing values, how would you summarize your faith? What is the heart of your spirituality?

Paul the apostle summarized Christianity quite beautifully when writing to a new congregation he had himself planted: "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). It is as if Paul were saying: "Of the cross and the Son of Man I sing". The heart of all of our faith, all of our teaching, all of our practice, all of our worship, all of our tradition, and all of our evangelism must be the Cross and the One and Only who died on it to be resurrected on the third day. This is the true power of our spirituality. The moment we look away from the Cross, none of the New Testament teachings make any sense. The instant we forget who Jesus is, we lose our faith and our wisdom. Moreover, we forget what love is. Rene Girard once remarked that what was missing from Christianity today was the Imitatio Christi--the Imitation of Christ. Having forgotten who our model is, we turn to worthless models for our behavior and our ideas, or we merely stumble through the darkness. What is more, we forget that the Good News is precisely that--good news, the goodness being the personality, the very life, the words of life, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:18-20); "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:13-15).

Our epic is the Gospel. Our hero is Christ who died for our sins to give us eternal life through his resurrection. Our "arms" are the words of life; our "man" is Jesus, who wore a crown of thorns and preached words of reconciliation, hope, and love. Our heart is his glorified life.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

"Beloved let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so love us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:7-12)

In the late 3rd Century, a priest or bishop of Rome named Valentine was martyred by the authorities of the Roman Empire. Next to nothing is known about him. Many legends sprang up about him. It was said that he tried to convert the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius, also known as Claudius Gothicus or Claudius II, who responded by having him executed. In the early middle ages, Valentine became associated with love. While we know very little about the historical Valentine, we know that martyrs for the early church followed one of Jesus' most noble teachings: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). One unique and deeply mysterious aspect of Christianity is its teaching on love. While many religions teach love, there is no religion which is founded solely on love like Christianity. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus said: "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:29-30). Our Scriptures begin with the love story of God for Adam and Eve, and end in the Revelation of God's love for the resurrected Christians. Our Scriptures include the great romances between Abraham and Sarah, Rebekah and Isaac, Ruth and Boaz, David and Abigail, the bride and the groom in the Song of Solomon, and are crowned with the wonderful love of Jesus for his followers, the poor, the afflicted, the sinners, the lost, and even his enemies and executioners. In the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles, we read of the early Christians' love for each other, of Paul's love for the churches he planted, of the Holy Spirit's work of love through the hearts of men and women called to the Good News. To know love one must know the God of Scripture, for nowhere else is true love shown in all its many manifestations. Jesus taught us to love the way God loves all things, and it is through love that we come into salvation and eternal felicity.

To learn more about God's love, you may want to read Ruth, The Song of Solomon, The Gospel of John and 1 John in the Bible. You may also want to read On Loving God by Bernard of Clairvaux.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecy, it will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13)

Sentences

2009-02-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

"See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not the prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:15-23)

Throughout the Middle Ages one of the most important theological texts studied in every university was the Sentences of Peter Lombard. While not exactly a commentary, the four books that made up this magnum opus consisted of opinions, judgments and comments by various scholars on passages of Scripture or ideas of church doctrine. At the end of Thessalonians, Paul gives us a different kind of sentence in the list of short, powerful exhortations with which he closes the epistle. Each of these sentences deserves as much close study and thought as Lombard gives to medieval doctrine, though perhaps not as much ink. Each sentence gives us a practical direction in which to strike out in our walk of faith, as we seek a closer union with God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rejoice evermore (v.16): Evermore means from now on into eternity. The darkness of sin and death are behind us as Christians. Only joy remains, if our faith is right, and we walk with our eyes on the cross of Christ. Rejoice in the first breath you draw when you get out bed. Rejoice in the sorrows you suffer for Jesus during the day. Rejoice in the faces of your family and friends. Rejoice in the coffee you drink, the trees and flowers you pass by on the street, rejoice in the architecture of your workplace, rejoice in the grace God is giving you moment by moment. Just rejoice for the joy of rejoicing.

Pray without ceasing (v.17): A whole book--The Pilgrim's Tale--has been devoted to this one line. What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Some, like the pilgrim of the eponymous book, believe it means reciting the Jesus Prayer constantly: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner". That is indeed a beautiful prayer that echoes Scripture (Luke 17:13, Luke 18:38), and a useful one as an introduction to deeper prayer and meditation. More likely, Paul just meant that we should stay in constant dialogue with God, and any prayer with any kind of words would suffice. Prayer is the most beautiful thing we give God, for we open up our hearts to him, and acknowledge Him as Abba, our heavenly Father, the One who drew us into his kingdom and sacred family, the fellowship of saints buried in Jesus Christ.

In everything give thanks (v. 18): It stands to reason that the more thankful we are, the less discontent we will feel. The more thankful we are, the more we will praise God, as we were designed to do, and the more we will grow as Christians. Flowers draw on the sunlight and air to produce their own food, and then radiate their glory in their colorful petals. Likewise Christians rely on Christ and His words to sustain themselves, and the result is the immaculate lives we lead as a testimony to the world.

Quench not the Spirit (v. 19): Our baptism grants to us that the Holy Spirit, the most sacred entity in the universe, dwells in our hearts. This is a great mystery and a great miracle that God performs. You do not have to perform signs, speak in tongues, or have any special power to possess the Holy Spirit. History shows that those gifts passed away before the time of Irenaeus. The Holy Spirit is the free gift of God when you believe that Jesus Christ is your Risen Savior, and it does much more than the gifts--though the gifts were certainly wonderful in their time and places. Let us not look to the Holy Spirit as a source for magic or spectacle, as Simon mistakenly did (Acts 8:13-24). We often focus on Simon's sin as one involving money--hence the word simony. The story goes beyond verse 20, though. Simon still thought that the work of the Holy Spirit was like sorcery or illusionism--material manifestations. The work of the Holy Spirit may involve the material world, and in the past it has had tangible manifestations, but there is much more to the Spirit than that! Let us not make an idol of the Spirit, thereby depriving It of Its due reverence. The Holy Spirit interprets our prayres for us and seals us for resurrection to eternal felicity. Because God's Spirit lives in our hearts, we experience spiritual transformation, being formed more and more into the likeness of Christ. The more we pray and rejoice in God, the more the Spirit will work in shaping us. Let us not do the things that the Spirit hates, indulding in worldly pursuits or vain pleasures. These do not keep us on the path of righteousness, but lead us astray and grieve the Holy Spirit.

Despise not the prophesyings (v. 20): I have often heard people say that they want more spirituality, more spiritual instruction, or a closer relationship with God--that they do not want just another Bible study. While it is true that many Bible studies can ossify into academic, legalistic, or simply dry and unethusiastic readings that seem to lead nowhere, the fact is that without the Word you cannot become more spiritual. To think that you can be spiritual without listening to preaching, to religious conversation, or to the very words of Scripture is madness. When the Word is approached with love, humility, faith, joy and thanksgiving, and accompanied by unceasing prayer, then you will be overwhelmed at the effects. The Word is very powerful, and not to be despied but cherished and loved.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (v.21): This is probably often misunderstood to mean that we are to constantly test eachother's faith, or legalistically demand evidence for every opinion, thought, or action from our fellow Christians. That is not the case at all! Paul is speaking to very new Christians who had just recently "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Paul wanted them to develop some critical thinking skills, guided by their faith and their possession of the Spirit. They suddenly had to learn how to live as Christians in the pagan world they had hitherto taken for granted as normal, but which was alien to righteous or holy living. In short, it was full of darkness. These Thessalonians did not have the advantage of growing up in churches or near believers. There were many things they did not know yet. There were many things Peter did not know yet--years into his apostolic ministry, even though he grew up with the word of God (Acts 10). How much more, then, did these new Christians have to learn! Thus, this sentence seems to me to be a methodology by which Christians can navigate the complex territory of a secular world, forming opinions on what is right or wrong by comparing them with what is known from Scripture. What God requires is that in our daily lives we ourselves test and prove what things in the world meet the Scriptural criteria for goodness, acting according to our consciences and the direction of the Holy Spirit (Romans 14). While obvious matters can be clearly seen and agreed upon by members of a community or a church, there are many things that may not be so clear. You cannot live your Christian life relying on what family values organizations or Christian political lobbies say. You read the Scriptures, think critically, and search your heart. Stop replacing the Holy Spirit with the latest announcement on a Christian television program, and live as one who has been charged to think critically yourself! It is your faith, your walk with Jesus, and you cannot truly be one (Ephesians 4:4-7) with other believers, if you have not comprehended your own individual spirituality, responsibility and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ did not call us to be mass-produced, nondescript, identically similar robots singing a pre-programmed hallelujah. That is what Satan wants. Mindlessness leads to carnal living, no matter how many authoritative and seemingly holy names we give it. The Lord calls us to be true individuals harmonized by the Holy Spirit and transformed into the likeness of Christ.

Abstain from all appearance of evil (v. 22): Our reputations as Christians is of paramount importance. We claim to have the only truth and righteousness in the world (John 14:6), Jesus. If our lives do not conform to Jesus' teaching and way of living, then we are liars and the truth is not in us (1 John 1, 1 John 2), and we are truly a laughing stock for the world to point at and ridicule. Moreover, our actions teach as much if not more than our words. The Proverbs say: "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17). The way we live and act influences those around us, whether we are aware of it or not. The more we curse, the more likely those around us will curse. The more we bless and give thanks and praise, the more likely others around us will give thanks and praise. The more we express our gratitude and love for our own spouses and children, rather than constantly mentioning or praising others' spouses or children, the more our neighbors will see the sanctity of marriage and the family. Instead of complaining about how secular, pagan, hedonistic, dark, or plain screwed up this world is, let us give thanks that God has given us the power to overcome all of it. When people start seeing that we truly have hope, purity, and righteousness through Jesus Christ in our actions and speech, maybe they will want to know this Jesus better.

The Scripture is full of practical advice on becoming more Spiritual for those who are willing to love and cherish the words of Christ and the prophets who came before Him. All Scripture is inspired, and comes from God, and the Bible abounds in sentences just like these that can help you start your day or week on the right footing, marching with confidence in "your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

The Flowers of the Field

2009-01-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious" (Matthew 6:28-31)

In times of sorrow or distress, we often read from the Sermon on the Mount, and try to console and remind ourselves that we are to be otherworldly, laying up our treasures in heaven and not on earth (Matthew 6:19-20). It is striking how Jesus draws our attention to the effortlessness of God's creation, how perfectly he forms flowers, archetypes of transience, which quickly dissolve back into the elements. Since he has such power and artistry for temporary things, how much more should we trust his power to shape us eternally and prepare us for unending bliss in His perfection.

Flowers are humble things to most people--but Jesus says that Solomon's wardrobe could not compete. Just how great was Solomon's glory? In terms of territorial conquests, not great--just a thin slice of the eastern Mediterranean. In terms of wealth, however, he had no rival. To pay for the building of his palaces and the temple, Solomon paid Hiram in twenty cities, although Hiram did not like the cities. Twenty cities! ( 1 Kings 9:10-11). Every year, Solomon received 666 talents of gold besides what came from "explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land" (1 Kings 10:15). At current gold prices, this would be close to $630,812,456.10 USD. The richest man in the world today only makes a salary of $100,000. And this was only part of Solomon's yearly income. Solomon also had 12,000 horsemen. The current cost of keeping a horse ranges from $2000 to $10,000 a year, depending on circumstances. Since Solomon was probably not cheap with his horses, let us take the higher figure, and say that he spent 120 million dollars a year just on his horses. Solomon also had 1400 chariots, for which he paid 600 shekels of silver a piece. At the current price of silver, the chariots cost him $3,406,695.60. It is no wonder, then, that when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she said: "The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard." (1 Kings 10:6-7). And then she gave him $113,659,902 worth of gold, not to mention costly gems and spices. Astronomical figures in terms of worldly wealth, but nothing in comparison to God's grace and the riches that he gives to us.

Jesus said that a simple flower was much more beautiful than anything Solomon had, and that we Christians are infinitely more valuable to God than can be figured in sums, dollars, weights and measures. The year of our Lord 2009 begins with the black cloud of financial disaster looming over the Earth, but Jesus says that we should not worry: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:20-21); "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself" (Matthew 6:33-34). Do not worry what awaits you this year, for you have a year of incalculable riches to win from the benevolent and glorious Father in Heaven, whose Son Jesus died for your sins, and wishes to give you a home in his eternal city.

The Star and the Gifts

2008-12-21T19:53:00.001-08:00

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, "In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel." Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also." When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." (Matthew 2:1-11)

The story of the wise men is fascinating, because it is the story of a mysterious caravan, not a trading caravan, not a caravan of spies or diplomats, but a caravan of astronomers in search of God. They crossed mountains and deserts; they probably spent months on the road, making a pilgrimage to meet the Savior of the human race face to face. They rejoiced when they met him, even though he was still a baby. They gave him the best they could offer--gold, frankincense and myrrh--the costliest things of the ancient world. The search for God ends in just this way. Through all the obstacles to faith, we travel and seek out the Way, Truth and Life of Jesus Christ (John 14:6), and find salvation and the promise of someday seeing God face to face. In the joy of possessing eternal salvation, we strive to give the best that we have. And what is the costliest thing we have? The thing that God wants more than any other gift? Our souls, our very lives, to love and be loved in eternal union with Him. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord that we can make the same journey as the wise men, guided by the bright Morning Star of Christ, to find a home within the sacred family of His church, and to meet salvation face to face (1 Corinthians 13). May we all open up our treasures this season and give all that we have.

City Church of Christ wishes you a Merry Christmas, Peace on earth and good will toward all. Amen.

The Annunciation

2006-12-16T21:53:00.000-08:00

“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:30-35).

In his excellent book The Cities of St. Paul, William Ramsay upholds the idea that Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue refers to the birth of Christ, albeit indirectly, stating that, due to the unusual meter and parallelism, Virgil very likely borrowed the idea of a divine child, and the manner of its presentation, from translations of Hebrew “poetry” (Isaiah), applying them to expectations of a golden age for his own country (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1967. 48-70). The lines referred to read: “Ours is the crowning era foretold in prophecy: Born of Time, a great new cycle of centuries begins. Justice returns to earth, the Golden Age returns, and its first-born comes down from heaven above…You at our head, mankind shall be freed from its age-long fear, all stains of our past wickedness being cleansed away…” (Trans. C. Day Lewis. Eclogues/ Georgics of Virgil. Oxford: Oxford World Classics, 1983. 18-19). Perhaps the Lord allowed His birth to be announced through a pagan poet, as it had already been foretold by the Hebrew prophets, for Christ was born to bring hope to the entire world. The world that Christ brings us is one of looking forward to good things; that is why even today, more than two thousand years later, there is nothing anachronistic about proclaiming the good news. Christians live in hope, and look forward to the eternal city (Hebrews 11) ruled by the King of Kings. Our advantages are infinite, because we have forsaken the impoverished and collapsing cities of man for one that has eternal foundations.

The Annunciation is striking because it already proclaims the working of the impossible. Jesus told his followers: “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Mary, the young virgin, was told that she would conceive and bear a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. The same God who created the world and life out of nothing thus caused something incredible to take place. Even the Quran, which denies the deity of Christ, describes the Annunciation, and speaks of the virgin birth of Jesus (3:45-51 and 19:16-26). The logical explanation, however, is that unless Jesus were the Son of God, there would be no compelling reason for the virgin to conceive and give birth in such a miraculous way. Jesus was fully man and fully God; thus, He had a natural human mother and the Lord God as His all-powerful and eternal Father. Therefore, Jesus is called “Immanuel”, or “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14) for he partook of our humanity, though He was divine.

One striking thing about the Annunciation, however, is the tone of comfort. In the midst of a world-changing proclamation, the angel tells the young, confused girl, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.” This is what God speaks to those who belong to him. The Lord calls us by name and tells us, even at the dawn of new and strange times, not to fear, for we are important to the One who created us, who gives us hope and good news.

The Ancient of Days

2007-01-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

"I kept looking until the thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him" (Daniel 7:9-10)

Once again, a new year has begun. It is not uncommon at this time of year to look towards the future, to sense the passage and elusive nature of time, to wonder where time is taking us. Our lives are regulated by time, even when we find it difficult to define what it is that measures out our days and weeks. Since the dawn of history, human beings have experimented with a variety of chronometric mechanisms. Besides the minimalist sun-dial, early versions of the water clock existed as early as 3000 BC. In 80 BC, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an expert on architecture, wrote about the construction and use of water clocks. By the 10th Century, mechanical clocks had appeared. In 1475, a man known to history as Brother Paul recorded the existence of a clock with a minute hand. One of the Fremersdorf clocks of 1560 had a second hand. In 1656 Christiaan Huygens, drawing on the work of Galileo Galilei, built a pendulum clock. In 1840, Alexander Bain patented the first electric clock. The 20th Century saw the emergence of new theories of time and more sophisticated means for measuring it. Analog clocks were replaced by digital clocks. The atomic clock was born. Time has never ceased to fascinate humans--the ancient writings of Heraclitus and Zeno, the medieval books of hours, the Time Machine by H.G. Wells, the Four Quartets of T.S. Eliot, the "New Refutation of Time" by Jorge Luis Borges, and Martin Heidegger's mammoth Being and Time are some noteworthy testaments to this obsession, along with the surrealist paintings of melting clocks by Salvador Dali. During the Russian Revolution, the eccentric and gifted poet Velimir Khlebnikov formed a "government of time" (Stray Dog Cabaret Trans. Paul Schmidt. New York: New York Review Books, 2007. 132). Whether we comprehend it or not, whether it is abstract or concrete, illusion or real, time flows through our lives, or we flow through it.

In the Scriptures, there are many references to time, some clearer than others. What is always important in the Scriptures, however, is the message that the Almighty God is Lord of time--not just time in an astronomical, abstract sense, but also in the very mundane, everyday sense of your time and my time as we plan our schedules. In the Ten Commandments, the Lord proclaims Himself the ruler of time by establishing the week and its sacred seventh day, the Sabbath: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, yuor male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11). This recalls His glory as the Creator, who made the golden sun, the moon and the stars to regulate time for us (Genesis 1:14-19), "for signs and for seasons and for days and years." Time is not just experienced metrologically, however. Our lives are successions of events; there is a phenomenological aspect to time. When we look back on our lives, we often think, not of exact dates or durations of hours, but of landmark incidents that shaped who we are, such as graduations, marriages, funerals, and births. God addresses this aspect of time as well. When the children of Israel journeyed through the deserts towards the Promised Land, their daily journey was regulated by the presence of the Lord: "The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel" (Exodus 40:34-38). Every stop and every departure was directed by the Lord for them, a testament to how we should live.

Christians should be aware of time, and how they employ the time God has given them. There are approximately 8760 hours in the year. Those who are fortunate enough to sleep well spend about 2920 hours of the year in sleep, or about 33% of the year. Another 1095 hours are consumed in eating, if you take your time when eating, which amounts to about 13% of the year. The average person probably works somewhere in the vicinity of 2000 hours per year, if they are lucky, or 23% of the year. Thus, close to 70% of your year is consumed in the very mundane activities of eating, sleeping and working. Where does the remaining 30% go? Many Christians content themselves with going to church every Sunday, believing that this gives the Lord a fair portion of their time. Assuming that the congregation meets for two hours, that still only amounts to 104 hours a year--if no Sunday was missed, or about 1% of the year's time. Naturally, the counter-argument would be that 100% of our time as Christians is dedicated to God, whether we are eating, sleeping, working or worshipping--but this often becomes a convenient excuse. The fact remains that those who neglect the gathering of the Lord's saints every week, and who resent being encouraged to return to worship or congregational activities, seeing such encouragement as aggressive or invasive on the part of the congregation or its leadership, are spending less than 1% of the year with other Christians in communal worship. The Lord, who has the right to all of our time, only asked the children of Israel for 1248 hours of Sabbaths a year, or 14%, which is a lot more than 1%!

Naturally, spiritual matters are not about mere numbers, but numbers tell us things we often have failed to see or forget to think about, they especially tell us of the contrast between the finite and infinite, the mortal and immortal. Our lives are fading fast, and when death comes, what will we look back on? Will there be many blank spaces or numerous landmark events dedicated to our Lord? There are strict warnings in the Scriptures about what time is for--it is for work, especially the Lord's work: "He who gathers in the summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully" (Proverbs 10:5); "The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, so he begs during the harvest and has nothing" (Proverbs 20:4). One of the human conditions that Jesus submitted to was temporality. Though infinite and eternal on the one hand, He also lived a mortal, measured life--thus, the paradox of such statements as: "My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4). This shows that Jesus experienced what we experience, being subjected to time and its passage. Nevertheless, He taught us how to live in time: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal" (John 4:34-36). Later on, He said: "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work" (John 9:4).

Night is coming, and our time is not our own. The more we pour ourselves out for the Lord, the richer our time becomes. The more the saints gather together in Jesus, the stronger and more radiant they become to the darkness of the world's night. It is more than probable that theories of time will come and go until the last day, that nobody will ever understand what time really is, much less travel backwards and forwards through it. What is clear to the Christian, however, is that there is one Lord of all time, and this Lord will call in the harvest when all seasons come to their end, for our Lord Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Ancient of Days.

"Then I looked and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, 'Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.' Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped" (Revelation 14:14-16).

Mist

2007-02-03T00:50:00.000-08:00

"You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14)

Though James wrote of the transience of life, I believe his words have a deeper meaning. Mists and vapours are obstacles to sight. They represent mystery, ambiguity, even the malady of despair. Sometimes it seems that our lives are shrouded in just this kind of mist. The very air around us becomes heavy. It is harder to breathe, it is hard to see. Lost, we chase phantoms and shadows, not knowing where we should go. The Gospel tells the story of a blind man healed by Jesus. Certain authorities who doubted the divinity of Christ attempted to make this man's new found vision something criminal or suspicious. They interrogated him, and he was confused by many of their questions. There were still many things that the healed man did not know. Then the man said: "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). Later on, Jesus told the man: "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see" (John 9:39). In other words, even if one experiences the absence of God, or feels blind in a dark, misted world, there is hope. Even if you do not know all the answers, there is something that you can know. Jesus will open your eyes and fill your world with light.

It is true that we may not see everything, there will always be some things we do not know and strive, seemingly in vain, to understand in our mortal life, but the promise of salvation also comes with the promise of full revelation. Thus, Paul wrote: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). When one is lost in darkness, it is imperative that one finds a true source of light. Jose Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998, wrote a novel titled Blindness, which tells the story of a plague of blindness that strikes an entire nation, resulting in forced quarantines, chaos, anarchy and unimaginable atrocities. In a sense, it is a picture of the world that we live in--a world stricken blind by its sins and shortcomings, a world that sinks deeper and deeper into darkness and depression. The urgent need for light causes many to grab anything that they can get a hold of--even if it is not going to save their souls or lives from meaningless disintegration. The world is full of illusions and false sources of light, of which the Scriptures say: "They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit" (Matthew 15:14).

Sentence after sentence, page after page, the Scriptures radiate the sacred light of truth, the life-ring that all of us who are drowning in darkness need. Not only are the stories beautiful, but they also explain the human condition and make known to us why we were in darkness in the first place, and how we can find light. Moreover, they teach us how to live active, productive lives in a community of other light-seekers, sharing together in the brilliance of the Spirit. Of Christians, Jesus said: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16). Light is precious and we should not take it for granted. Our ability to have any light in this world came at great cost--the body of Christ crucified on a cross. When we treat the fellowship of Christians contemptuously, or fail to hold sacred what has been entrusted to us, then we risk losing the light altogether. As Christ says to the church of Ephesus: "You have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent" (Revelation 2:4-5).

To summarize--those who are in darkness and have never known Christ need to come to Him to find out for themselves what it means to live in light and joy, with the promises of revelation (seeing the Lord in heaven), resurrection (rising from death) and eternal salvation (the forgiveness of sins and eternal communion with Christ in heaven). Those who know Christ and treat His rich gifts cheaply need to remember why they loved the light in the first place, and why they came out of the darkness. They should radiate their light to others, by respecting the Lord's Day (Sunday) and bearing witness of their faith to those who do not know Christ.

The source of light is God, not the dark world. You can have that light in your life, and no longer sink into the mist.

"In Him was the life, and the life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness" (John 1:5)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light. God saw the light was good" (Genesis 1:1-4)

The Sacred Family

2007-03-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

When the Lord Jesus declared the Kingdom of Heaven, He taught humankind to live together in a sacred family. When told that His mother and brothers were looking for Him, Jesus gave a striking response: "But he replied to the man who told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'" (Matthew 12:48-50). It is through this sacred family, the church, that our living Jesus continues to radiate His presence in the world to this day: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them" (Matthew 18:20).

Those who belong to the sacred family are the saints who are gathered around the throne of God, who will not perish but live forever in heaven: "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10). This sacred family, though composed of many diverse individuals with various talents, forms one body in Christ: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:12-13); "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it" (1 Corinthians 12:27).

In this sacred family, this body of our Savior, strangers are made known to one another, enemies are reconciled, antagonism is changed into love, and all are empowered for service through humility and love: "For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:18-22). The sacred family is thus oneness, completion, and eternity, an abundant life in peace, sanctity and purity through Jesus.

On the night before He gave His own life on the cross for this household, Jesus prayed the following prayer, which is a beautiful testament of His love for you, for all people everywhere, for those who do not even know Him yet, but who--if they follow Him--will find the peace and truth that they have been looking for:

"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

"'I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

"'They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

"'I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.'" John 17

The Lord Jesus be with you. Amen.

The Lord's Prayer for Our City

2007-04-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

Girolamo Savonarola delivered this prayer following a sermon he gave on January 11, 1495, only three years before he was tortured and executed for his convictions, following in the footsteps of the apostles, early Christians and Christ, who also suffered and died for the sake of righteousness. Modeled on the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father, it is a prayer on behalf of his city. Our city also needs prayer; let us kneel together each day and pray for our city.

OUR FATHER O Lord, our Creator, who loves us not only as a master loves his servants, but as a father his children.

WHO ART IN HEAVEN Who is said to live in heaven because from there your omnipotence shines forth the more; and now governs and rules all the earth; we recommend to you this city and these people, asking you to help them and convert them to your will.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME Give us grace, Lord, that we may always sanctify and bless your name and praise You; and grant that those who have spoken ill of You in the past, may in the future praise and bless You, Lord, and your name.

THY KINGDOM COME Grant, Lord, that these people may come to your reign; convert them to your life and lift them to the glory of your reign.

THY WILL BE DONE Grant, O Lord, that this people may do your will. Give them grace that every work of theirs and every act of government be ordained according to your Will.

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN Lord, we thank you for giving your grace to this city, Which serves, obeys, and loves you with the fervor, love, and charity with which you are loved and obeyed in heaven.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD Give us, Lord, the celestial bread of your Son, that He may be with us today and always, and that His help may never leave us.

AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US Forgive this people, Lord, the sins which have offended you. Lord, Lord, forgive them, You who forgave the thief on the Cross. Grant grace to those who have given up their rancors and who have forgiven their enemies; by your grace all their faults will be remitted.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION Lord, I pray you, take away every temptation, and every evil instigation of the devil, who tries to destroy the common good.

And deliver us, O Lord, from the sorrow and tribulation that this city and this people would merit. This I ask of you, my Lord, and my God, who live and reign forever and ever. AMEN.

Source: Dominican Central http://www.domcentral.org/study/ashley/ourfather.htm

The Life of Prayer

2007-05-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

"And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone" (Matthew 14:22-23)

One of the seldom discussed ministries of the Lord Jesus was his ministry of prayer. Not only did he often seek solitude to pray, he taught his disciples to do the same: "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6); "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). In the life of prayer, we have a tremendous hope that the Lord will work all things on our behalf: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:26-28). The apostles of the early church devoted themselves to constant prayer as one of their foremost ministries (Acts 6:4). For prayer is the earliest mode of communication; it was for prayer that God gave us language, which only human beings possess. It is the mark of our unique place in creation, evidence of our being made in God's own image. Through prayer we speak to the most powerful Being in the universe, through prayer we are touched by His almighty power and love. Our prayers are precious in the sight of God, and they are poured out like incense before the throne of the Lamb (Revelation 8:8).

Psalm 63

O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisifed as with marrow and fatness; and
My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings Will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

The Cloud

2007-06-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

"The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:17-20)

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:1-2)

To truly live in Christ is to live, as Paul writes, knowing that your body is the temple of the Lord and that your lifestyle is the worship you perform for the living God. The Kingdom of Heaven was first declared in such words: "The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:14). Repentance calls us out of the worldly way of thinking and living. Our bodies and our minds should be like the inner sanctum of a temple, cordoned off, separated from every unholy thing, and consecrated to the Lord. When the temple was completed in Solomon's time, after many rites of dedication and purification, the Lord came to dwell in it with a great display of His glory: "It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:10-11). Later in history, when the kingdom of Judah rebelled against God's laws, the glory of the Lord departed from the temple, because it had been defiled by the immorality and lawlessness of the priests and the people: "Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim" (Ezekiel 10:18).

The cloud of the glory of God is the same presence Moses saw come down onto Mt. Horeb: "So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled" (Exodus 19:16-17). Moreover, it is the same wonderful cloud that came down during the transfiguration of Jesus Christ in the Gospels: "Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them...Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, 'This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!'" (Mark 9:2-7). It is a wondeful mystery that God loved humanity so much that He allowed Christ to die, so that God might dwell in the hearts of men: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). And if we are truly temples, we must be sure that our hearts are right, that our lives reflect that bright radiance that is Jesus our Lord. As Paul writes: "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:1-4).

Godliness

2007-07-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

"For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this" (Psalm 92:4-6)

In 1911, Wassily Kandinsky published a treatise titled Concerning the Spiritual in Art, a landmark work that not only set forth a theory for abstract composition, but also indicted his contemporary world for its godlessness, hypocrisy and materialism. In the chapter titled "Spiritual Revolution," he remarks: "The spiritual triangle moves slowly onwards and upwards. Today one of the largest of the lowest segments has reached the point of using the first battle cry of the materialist creed. The dwellers in this segment group themselves round various banners in religion. They call themselves Jews, Catholics, Protestants, etc. But they are really atheists, and this a few either of the boldest or the narrowest openly avow. 'Heaven is empty,' 'God is dead.' In politics these people are democrats and republicans. The fear, horror, and hatred which yesterday they felt for these political creeds they now direct against anarchism, of which they know nothing but its much dreaded name...Because the inhabitants of this great segment of the triangle have never solved any problem independently, but are dragged as it were in a cart by those the noblest of their fellowmen who have sacrificed themselves, they know nothing of the vital impulse of life which they regard always vaguely from a great distance. They rate this impulse lightly, putting their trust in purposeless theory and in the working of some logical method...The higher segments are not only blind atheists but can justify their godlessness with strange words; for example, those of Virchow--so unworthy of a learned man--'I have dissected many corpses, but never yet discovered a soul in any of them.' " (Trans. M.T.H. Sadler. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1977. 10-11). Kandinsky hints at an idea which would be very unpopular today--that godliness and belief in God are virtues, and that without these virtues, our artistic endeavors, our social and practical endeavours, are all empty. Without the spiritual, we are nothing, and denying the spiritual is unworthy of learned people. Moreover, without God, a person cannot taste life and know what life means.

I believe Wassily Kandinsky was right, and I believe that he himself was one of the solitary, unheeded artists he describes (6-9). In a godless generation, the godly person can only look like a madman, whereas the Scripture says that it is the godless man or woman who lacks wisdom: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good" (Psalm 14:1).

Godliness, on some level, means being like God. In other words, imitating God. And how can we know God that we may follow Him and strive to be like Him? The answer is found in the Gospels: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." (John 14:6-7).

Bread and Wine

2007-08-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

"Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. " (John 6:53-55)

Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, bread and wine signify sustenance and communion with the Lord. Melchizedek, the high priest of Salem, brought bread and wine to Abraham when he blessed him (Genesis 14:18), and Isaac, when blessing his son Jacob said: "May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine" (Genesis 27:28). After the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem, King David sent the people of Israel home with portions of bread and wine as part of the celebration (2 Samuel 6:19). The presence of God was felt, and the people were happy. Moreover, this was yet another instance where the Lord foreshadowed the communion with Christ through the Lord's Supper, during which Christians drink wine and eat bread to remember the Crucifixion of their Savior, to remember that He gave his flesh and blood as a sacrifice so that we might have eternal life.

Nevertheless, the world offers false bread and false wine. In Proverbs, it says that the wicked "eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence" (Proverbs 4:17). When the Rabshakeh attempted to talk the citizens of Judah into surrendering to the Assyrian army and allowing themselves to be taken into captivity, he used the very same imagery in a subtle way: "Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards" (Isaiah 36:16-17). The Rabshakeh is the voice of the world, giving false utopian hopes, seducing us with bread that is not bread and wine that is not wine, trying to take us into spiritual captivity away from the promises and blessings of the one true God. The world offers many things, but none of those things can sustain life or give enlightenment.

In Proverbs, it is written that Wisdom has built her house upon seven pillars, and that she invites us into a banquet: "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight" (Proverbs 9:5). Whenever humans turn to the bread and wine given by God, they find light and joy, strength for their limbs and fullness in their heart. They feel that God is close by, because they have received of His goodness. As Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser...As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit" (John 15:1-5); "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever." (John 6:51).

Words of Life

2007-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs" (Hebrews 1:1-4)

The Good News is light for a darkened world, brighter than all of the stars, and brighter than the sun. Its light is the light of Christ, in whom there is life, grace and truth (John 1:1-18). Christ came into the world to show us that God is, and that there is a good life that we can live, if we follow Christ and receive the rich grace from on high. Darkness consists of those things that bind and imprison humanity—weakness, sinfulness, immorality, degradation, captivity, suffering, and death. God draws us out of this darkness toward the empowering light through the "words of life" (John 6:68) that Jesus spoke to us in the Gospels and through his apostles in the New Testament writings—the writings which testify to the fulfillment of those things promised in the Old Testament time and again for thousands of years. And though the New Testament was completed in the 1st Century AD, almost two thousand years ago, the words of Jesus continue to live, as Jesus Himself still lives and abides on earth, since He has given us His Spirit through our baptism into Him: "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (John 9:5). The light of the Good News is freedom for every person who believes: "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31).

The world is not a hopeless place, for there is a God who is watching over it, there are men and women who bear the Words of Christ, who bear Christ Himself in their hearts, and who strive to practice the virtues taught in the Scriptures.

And Virtue is more than a mere empty sound,
His practice through life man may make it;
And though oft, ere he yet the divine one has found,
He may stumble, he still may o'ertake it.
And that which the wise in his wisdom ne'er knew
Can be done by the mind that is childlike and true.

And a God, too, there is, with a purpose sublime,
Though frail may be reason's dominion;
High over the regions of space and time
The noblest of thoughts waves its pinion;
And tho' all things in ceaseless succession may roll,
Yet constant forever remains a calm soul.

—"Words of Faith" by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)