Inauguration of Jesus

I came across this several months ago while reading "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw.  Since then I've read more about the idea from Ray VanderLaan (www.followtherabbi.com) and another blog (www.fishingtheabyss.com).  The Gospel of Mark is aimed at a primarily Roman audience.  The book moves along quickly but explains Jewish customs so that a Roman audience could understand.  One of beautiful parts of Mark's Gospel is his comparing the coronation of Caesar to the crucifixion of Jesus.  This happens in 9 different points:

1. The Praetorian Guard would surround Caesar in preparation for his coronation.  Mark points out that it is the Praetorian guards in Jerusalem that Jesus is handed over to.
2. A golden olive-wreath, purple robe and scepter were given to Caesar to show his authority.  The soldiers create their own crown for Jesus, place a purple robe and him, give him a scepter.
3. The Praetorian guard chanted "Hail Caesar!  Triumphe!  Show us you are god!"  and publicly proclaimed Caesar as lord.  The guards around Jesus pay "homage" to Jesus and mock him as Lord.
4. The procession would begin.  Caesar lead a sacrificial bull which would give him entrance into the pantheon of gods.  A servant would carry the axe, the instrument of sacrifice.  Simon the Cyrene is pulled from the crowd and made to carry Jesus' cross.
5. In Rome, the procession would culminate at the Capitoleum, otherwise known as "Head Hill".  Jesus is taken to Golgotha or "the Place of the Skull".
6. At the Capitoleum, Caesar was offered wine mixed with myrrh.  He would refuse and poor the bull onto the bull to symbolize his connection with the bull.  Immediately after the bull was executed.  Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh.  Immediately after refusing, Jesus is crucified.
7. Caesar would take his first and second-in-command on his right and left and ascend to the throne of the capitoleum.  Jesus has two insurrectionists nailed on his right and left.
8. The crowd would acclaim "Hail Caesar!  Show us you are god!"  The crowd mocks Jesus, "Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
9. Everyone would wait for a symbol from the gods to show their approval of Caesar.  At least once there was an eclipse on the same day.  Jesus dies, the curtain in the temple is torn, darkness covers the earth, earthquakes open the tombs of holy people who begin walking around.  And a Roman soldier declares, "Surely, this man was the Son of God."

Even in what seems to be the darkest hour Jesus is declaring his power over Caesar.  His inauguration is the beginning of a new Kingdom.  It is something radically different than Rome; something radically different than any earthly kingdom.  Later the first Christians would make a bold statement that clashed with Rome.  Instead of declaring "Caesar is lord" they proclaim "Jesus as Lord."

Perhaps its a slightly different look at Good Friday.  A day of celebrating a new kingdom and a new citizenship.

A Costly Decision

Yesterday we had the privilege of having Don Kraybill come and speak at "The Grove".  Don is a scholar from the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.  He the author of many books on the Amish and Old Mennonite communities around the country.  He also is the author of "Upside Down Kingdom" (see my review below).

Don introduced our Lenten series on Disciplines of a Disciple with a sermon called "A Costly Decision."  One of the things that he talked about that stood out was what we think of as carrying a cross.  Often we think of any bad thing that happens (illness, family relationships, etc.) as a cross we have to bear.  But, as Don pointed out, a cross is a conscious decision we make to sacrifice for Christ.  It's not something that happens to us that we have no control over.

During our Sunday school hour Don also spoke on Amish spirituality.  He talked about the roots it has along with other Anabaptist groups.  Much of what he was saying sounded just like the original Brethren.  The Amish are dedicated to the community.  They live and worship within one community and aren't able to "church-shop" the way modern Evangelical Christians do.  Instead they are forced to live and work and relate to those people.  The have a communal understanding of salvation rather than an individualized salvation you find in evangelical circles.  He explained that their shunning is to bring an individual into correction and ultimately to restore them to the community.  The Amish communities are each responsible for deciding how they feel is best to follow Christ in their individual lives.  Their decisions are seen as coming from heaven because it is the work of the Holy Spirit that helps the community come to a decision.

Obviously no one, including the Amish, are perfect.  There are certain hypocrisies.  However, I think the intentions of the Amish and their simplicity and daily living a life to honor Christ is something which should teach us modern "Inklish" (English is used for anyone not Amish by the Amish).  It made me think of a section of Shane Claiborne's book called "Amish for Homeland Security" and his call for new communities of a "neo-Amish" movement.

Any comments?
Listen to Don's sermon online  Here

Jesus Wants to Save Christians

Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is a re-read for me, but I haven't written about it.  Bell and Golden look at the Exodus story and its implications for the church, especially the American church, of today.  They focus on four key places; Egypt, Sinai, Jerusalem and Babylon.  Egypt is the place where the oppressed Israelites cry out to God and their cry is heard by God.  God responds when he hears the cry of the oppressed.  God sends Moses to lead the people to Sinai, and at Sinai God makes a covenant with his people.  He chooses them to be his people who will show the rest of the world what God is like.  He commands the people repeatedly not to forget Egypt lest they forget how they were once slaves and set free by God.  Jerusalem is where the people begin to see God's blessing.  But soon they have forgotten Egypt.  They are now the ones oppressing, hoarding and protecting that which they feel is their right.  Solomon builds large military bases to protect and defend their way of life.  They are no longer helping other oppressed people.  Now the oppressed are crying out again which results in Babylon.  In exile the prophets begin seeing a glimpse of a bigger picture.  They start talking about a new exodus, one that will be bigger and more complete.  It's one that will be for all the world and not just the Jews.

The authors equate this with the American church's blessing and now responsibility to hear the oppressed.  Thrown in are some sobering statistics of America's wealth, military spending and waste compared with the rest of the world's need.  Bell and Golden encourage the American church to be a Eucharist or "good gift" to the rest of the world.  They ask the pointed question of "Who would care if your church closed?"  Are we making a difference in the world?

The book is written in the typical Bell style if you've read any of the other books he's written.  It's an easy read, but one that will challenge and convict.  Bell and Golden take what they call a "New Exodus Perspective" as they look at the meaning of the events of Exodus.  It's not my favorite Bell book, but one that can be very convicting of us as American Christians.  Overall 4 out of 5.

Tough Questions

This past weekend I led three sessions at our Senior High Ski Retreat.  Our focus was on John 11:17-44 where Jesus comes and raises Lazarus from the dead.

At first we asked the question, "Why does God let bad stuff happen?"  If God is all-knowing, all-powerful and loving, why does he allow bad things to happen to us?  Jesus weeps for his friends.  He has compassion on them.  Maybe Jesus weeps because the people just don't get who he is and what he's capable of.  Maybe he cries because of the compassion he has for his friends who are hurting so much.  And maybe he cries because he knows humanity was never meant to experience something so painful when he created them.  But consistently throughout the Bible when people cry out to God he hears them.

In our second session we asked, "Is it okay to be angry at God?"  Martha and Mary both say to Jesus, "If you had been here our brother wouldn't have died."  They question where Jesus was when they sent for him.  Jesus intentionally comes to the scene too late.  It's tough to understand what God is doing especially when you're in the middle of a tough situation.  Others in the Bible like Job and David got mad at God and told him about it.  God wants a genuine relationship with us and sometimes that means pouring out our emotions.  He can handle it.

Lastly we looked at Martha's response.  After questioning Jesus she simply states that even now she believes Jesus can do something.  Ultimately the glory of God is displayed in the situation.  Lazarus is raised to life.  Because that's what God is about.  Bringing life to situations where all we see is death.  We have to have faith that God will show up at the right time, whether it's in our timing or not.

Asking these questions is not easy.  Many of my friends are going through really hard stuff in their lives. I don't blame them when they're upset with God.  I can't imagine what it's like to wrestle with some of the issues of broken relationships with friends and family or sickness with loved ones or even death.  But I believe God wants to display his glory through our tough times.  And I have to believe that in the end God will bring us to true life without the death that we see now.

Story

I love a good story.  When I was younger I started reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and often found myself day dreaming about life in Narnia.  I was captivated by those stories of kings and queens and talking animals and of the great lion, Aslan.  I also loved reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  These incredible stories of good triumphing over evil were captivating to me.  What is it about a good story that we just lose ourselves in?  

Recently I finished reading “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller.  In his book, Miller talks about what makes a story great.  He discusses that what makes a story great is also what makes a life great.  He talks about character development and how we deal with the problems we face.  Life isn’t easy all of the time.  In fact Miller writes that if the story doesn’t have some kind of problem to overcome it won’t be a great story.  Perhaps that’s why these stories are my favorites; because the characters face seemingly impossible situations which they overcome by the help of some good force.

My question is “What kind of story am I telling with my life?”  Is my story compelling?  Do I overcome the obstacles I face and develop my character?  Would anyone be interested in my story or is it boring?  We tell stories with our lives.  Sometimes we tell great stories and other times our stories are more of a tragedy.  Both Lewis and Tolkein knew the great Good that lies behind life and bore witness to it in their stories.  Will we bear witness in the stories that we will tell with our lives?  Will our stories be compelling to others?  Will we allow God to develop our character through His grand story?  So go read a good book and go tell a better story.

Identity

I just got back from a great weekend with our senior high youth.  Despite being the coldest weekend of the year, so far (that seems to happen a lot with this retreat) we had a blast.  Our main speaker talked about who we are in Christ with the theme of "Identity".  Our breakout sessions focused on God's dream for us, committed faith, re-envisioning what Salvation is (not just a moment, but an ongoing process) and how we define ourselves.

I think this idea of seeing ourselves as God sees us is so important especially in a youth culture that tries to define teens by what technology they have, how athletic they are, what kinds of clothes they have and numerous other factors having nothing to do with how God sees us.

Several years ago our youth put together a video about how God sees us as "holy and dearly loved" taken from Colossians 3:12.  Jesus calls us to not conform to the standards of the world, but be transformed into who Christ calls us to be (Romans 12:2).  Culture has all kinds of ways that it wants us to conform.  But Jesus calls us to follow him.

My hope for our youth and any others who read this is that we will continue to wrestle with how God is calling us to live, and how we can find our true identity in Him.

"Identity" from Mechanic Grove Youth

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream

Back in the Fall I decided I should start attending the Men's Bible Study at Mechanic Grove.  The catch was that it meets at 7:00 Saturday morning, and I struggle to operate that early on Saturday morning.  But it turned out to be an incredible blessing as I began to meet and have conversations with men of different ages.

Our focus has been guided by "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" by David Platt.  The book focuses on how we were created to proclaim the glory of God.  Platt discusses how our pursuit of the American Dream and materialism has taken us away from our goal of proclaiming God to the nations.  Platt advocates for a reduction in our pursuit of material wealth and radical devotion to God.  He shares many stories of people in his faith community who have sacrificed their own pursuit of the American Dream in order to allow themselves to better proclaim God's glory to the nations.

One story he shares that hit me was about a business man who wrestled with what Platt was saying about giving up our stuff.  The man came to the conclusion that he couldn't see God telling him when he got to heaven, "I wish you would have spent more time building wealth for yourself" (my paraphrase).

Platt discusses how millions of people are dying every day of starvation, poor water and preventable disease.  Billions more are doing so without a knowledge of Christ.  He also bears witness to millions in the underground church who have a fire for God not found in comfortable "Christian" America.

The book has some very provocative ideas.  The discussion within the Bible study has been incredible and convicting.  It has been interesting for me to read this book.  The theology used to build his case is somewhat Reformed which is very different for an Ana-baptist audience.  But the living out is very similar.  I think the discussion of how materialism is taking over in the American church is one that needs to take place and Platt's book helps to advance that conversation.

One of the men in the Bible study is fond of reminding us, "It's just like the title says.  It's radical."  But maybe that's the way a disciple is supposed to be.