Sunshine & Rainbows: Luke #3

Life with God isn't all sunshine and rainbows. The silver lining we are blessed with, often comes with rain clouds. Take for instance the experience of Mary.

Mary's first knowledge that she will bear a son comes from the angel Gabriel, who informs her that she will be having a son, who not only will be king, but as the "Son of the Most High," will be divine as well (1.31ff). Gabriel further explains that the Holy Spirit will bring about the conception by "overshadowing" her (Gk. episkiazo), thus making the child holy.

Mary responds to all this by saying, "Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (1.38). Her faith is incredible and as we will see, she is overwhelmed with excitement (1.46ff). Overwhelmed with excitement is how we often feel when we are being blessed by God. 

But the story of Mary and Jesus continues. While at the beginning Mary is filled with tremendous joy, it won't be long until she experiences tremendous pain. Her eldest son will reject her (Mk 3.33) and she will have to bear the burden of watching his enemies plot against him and eventually succeed at taking his life. We often feel God is absent during these times.   

But the story doesn't end there. Mary experiences the resurrection - the new life made available to the whole world. And through her flesh and God's unending grace we all are able to experience new life.

Our adventure with God may follow a similar plot - we experience the monumental highs and the devastating lows. But through all of it we have a promise: that no matter what this life throws at us, we hope in the resurrection. 

Just Getting Started: Luke #2

We are only a couple verses into Luke when we run into our first problem. There is this religious couple, who follow all the rules, yet don't get what they really want - children.

Jewish culture regarded this as a sign of divine disfavor (cf. Gen 30.23; 1 Sam 1), often as punishment for sin. But this is not the case with this couple; they were "righteous" (1.6); some- thing is going to happen. 

Sure enough an angel appears to the husband and tells him that his wife is going to have a son. He asks, "How is this possible!? We are too old to have children" (1.19).

To which the angel responds, "I stand in the very presence of God and have been sent specifically to tell you this - you think I'm kidding? On that note, how about you don't talk for the entire duration of the pregnancy" (1.20).

The woman ends up conceiving, releasing her from the disgrace that had plagued her for so many years. God set something amazing in motion, and even the disbelief of those involved could not stop it.

The Gospel of Luke has just begun, and already barrenness is turned to fertility, disgrace to favor, and hope is brought to circumstances that seemed hopeless. This is the gospel in its purest form and we are just getting started!

Why It's Written: Luke #1

Why are there four gospels? Why are three of them (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) very similar while the fourth (John) is quite different?

Over the next few months I am going to tackle these questions by examining The Gospel According to Luke.

Luke was written around 85 CE, and while church history identifies Luke as the author (cf. Col 4.14), the gospel itself is anonymous. In fact, not one of the gospels identify their author.

This is noteworthy because of the strong statement it makes: it was the subject of the gospel that was important and not the author. What better way to highlight Jesus than to present his story anonymously.

Luke also composed the book of Acts, which comes after John, in between the gospels and the rest of the NT letters.

So why did Luke write his version? He tells us, in very polished Greek, "I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth about which you have been instructed" (1.3-4).

So Luke researched, talked to eyewitnesses, gathered data, and in the end, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wrote the third gospel.

As we journey through this book, may we come to better know the truth of the most important story ever told.

Dwelling In Perplexities

God has moved out of the fortress of pedestrian certainties and is dwelling in perplexities. 

He has abandoned our complacencies and has entered our spiritual agony, upsetting dogmas, discrediting articulations. 

Beyond all doctrines and greater than human faith stands God…

Deeper than all our understanding is our bold certainty that God is with us in distress, hiding in the scandal of our ambiguities. 

And now God may send those whom we have expected least to do his deed—strange is His deed; to carry out his work—alien is His work” (Isaiah 28.21).*

*Entire post is an excerpt from Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity by A.J. Heschel; S. Heschel ed., p. 293.

Love Wins

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete...but when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Christus Victor

Fundamental to the Christian faith is the idea that Jesus died for sins (1 Cor 15.3). But what does that mean?

We have looked at the Ransom, Substitution and Moral Influence models and finally we will present the Christus Victor Theory (CV).

CV (Christ victorious) states that Christ's death and resurrection victoriously overcame the hostile powers that held humanity in subjection. Those powers are understood as the devil, sin, the law, and death.

The name CV was coined by Gustaf Aulen in 1931. He argued that it was actually the oldest theory on the atonement, noting that almost every Church Father supported it including Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine.

Aulen posited that theologians have misunderstood the view of the early Church Fathers, noting that they were less concerned with the actual payment of ransom to the devil (Ransom Theory), and more with the theme of our liberation from sin and death.

What CV does especially well is reject the legal nature of the other models, especially the Substitutionary model (PS) and the problems inherent with them. In PS God is seen (wrongly) as an angry judge and Jesus is our attorney who works out a deal to get us off the hook and out of hell.

All we have to do is believe that the legal transaction has occurred with Jesus as our substitute and we are freed. Because how we live is not key to the legal arrangement it is easy to separate one's belief from one's actions.

In CV, however, what Christ accomplishes for us cannot be divorced from what he then accomplishes in us, namely our participation in the way of life and his cosmic victory over all things that stop us from living as he desires us to live. 

Through Christ, God revealed himself (Rom 5.8, cf. Jn 14.7-10); he reconciled all things, including humans, to himself (2 Cor 5.18-19; Col 1.20-22), he forgave our sins (Ac 13.38; Eph 1.7); gave his Spirit to us allowing us to faithfully represent him (Rom 8.2-16 ); but he also was victorious over the hostile powers of evil, death, and destruction (Jn 12.31; 1 Jn 3.8; 1 Cor 15.25).

Of the four main views, CV is the most comprehensive and seems most able to incorporate all of the positive qualities of the other views, while maintaining Biblical as well as intellectual credibility.

Genomic Revolution

I have long thought that our ethics need to catch up to our medicine. If what this video presents is true, we really need to start having some conversations, lest we find ourselves in an actual Brave New World.



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