Numbers 6:1-6; Matthew 7:15-29

The power of faith is incredible. It doesn’t really matter what faith. Religion has the power to dominate our thinking and revolutionize our lives. An Islamic extremist will blow himself or herself up in the notion that deity’s purposes are best served by such action. Buddhist monks will exist in strict denial of physical needs due to belief that it furthers a connectedness with the divine. Christian fundamentalists will embrace bigotry, hatred, and even vengeful action in order to achieve their own ideas of biblical purpose. Once something is believed and attached to faith, it is hard to alter and nearly impossible move on from. To be open to something “other” or to admit to error is to undertake the possibility that we have been on the wrong side of God and that opens up Pandora’s Box internally. We think it is better to go on as is rather than consider the alternative. So human bombs keep detonating, nirvana continues to be sought after, and the church world continues to move merrily along with deep dark secrets. For too much of the church, it is all about heaven and how to get there while we fail to deliver authentic devotion to God as set forth in scripture. It is a vicious cycle and only we can say, “Enough!” But saying enough means an admission of being wrong with where we’ve been and a humble contrite spirit moving forward to where we are going.

I say all of that to introduce the last of the sayings of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount. As long as we doggedly and mistakenly believe that Jesus’ mission was centered on the eternal destinies of heaven and hell and equate the Kingdom of God with some other-worldly existence that is an escape from a dreadful life on earth, we are as misguided as any of the myriad of examples I could have used to begin this blog. Christianity fosters a hope in the world that follows our world but its primary focus is on life lived with God as defined by Jesus Christ. The kingdom of heaven does not refer to another world existence after death. We must see it differently. Without going into a long diatribe, just the fact that Jesus states, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” should send tremors up our spiritual spines. In one statement he wipes out “saved by grace” and sends everyone scurrying to find a silver lining in his words so as not to lose their eternal security. Only the ones who do the will of the Father will enter in heaven’s kingdom. If you want to ignore the obvious and continue to think other worldly thoughts go ahead but the simple truth here and in everything else Jesus says is about a call to a bold-in-your-face obedience to his unapologetic understanding and teaching of Torah. It is about living a life now that will serve you well in the life to come.

To seal the deal and sum up everything he taught, he provides the example of building a house as a way to encapsulate living our lives. Some build their lives by hearing and doing. Some build their lives by hearing and “Amening.” Jesus said that it is obvious which is which. One produces a life that looks an awful lot like his words say it should look and the other doesn’t. One embodies peacemaking, meekness, hunger for righteousness, purity, forgiveness, active compassion, honesty, willingness to go way beyond the ordinary, and refuses to sit in judgment of others. The other does not. It is that simple. Nothing deep or complicated…nothing overly spiritual or requiring great skill…just simple obedience that glorifies God and displays a legitimate preview of his dream for remaking all of creation. It is probably so simple that it will not jar you or get you off of the ticket to heaven mentality that has ruined our glorious faith. Just for simplicity’s sake I’ll state it again: the teaching of the kingdom of heaven is not about mansions in the sky.

The passage in Numbers instructs us on the ways of the Nazirite. It defines how those who desired to live so close to God, be so dedicated to God, and took the privilege of belonging to God so valuably that they lived a life with very strict guidelines. It was something that they normally did for a season. I was only familiar with it from my early days in the faith when a preacher used it as a proof text to show that alcohol was not an option for those who were serious about pleasing God. If I remember correctly, he then served us grape juice for communion and assured us that we were now close to God. The individual aspects of being in Nazirite relationship with God were not in and of themselves declarations that the opposite conditions were sinful. They were instead unique signs of radical devotion that God set out as holy. The words of Jesus are likewise radical markers of those who seek to live their lives in pursuit of God’s dream. As we were reminded last week, it is a hard way to live. Not deep, not overtly spiritual, not complicated in the sense that we must be well educated to comprehend it, but it is hard. It is much easier to say, “Lord, Lord” and be assured of heaven. But then again Jesus says….

Hosea 2:16-23; Matthew 7:1-14

After spending the past five weeks in the Sermon on the Mount I find myself more than ever dreaming. I have been captured by the vision of a life different from the life I am accustomed to. The passionate vision of Kingdom: that expression of God’s dream for creation that permeated both the teaching and actions of Messiah, is churning and pulsing throughout my conscious life. Once the lens that focuses the centrality of scripture’s emphasis on a heavenly, other worldly destiny is shattered, the teachings of Jesus deliver a powerful challenge to believe in something that seems unbelievable for our present world. I find myself drawn to its vision while at the same time saddened by my inability to enter into its fullness. This unbelievable vision becomes even more fantasy laced when I begin to understand that God’s dream has been squarely placed in our hands as a people and its firstfruits are to be seen in us before exploding into the rest of creation. The words of Hosea seem to capture this as he paints a picture of God’s active restoration of his people leading to abundant blessing to all of creation. “The beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground” will experience shalom along with God’s people as the Kingdom blossoms. But first, the people who are “not my people” in heart and actions must embrace the call to be the “my people” of God.

Existing at the heart of this process is a challenge to embrace the words of Jesus as a call to live differently.  Throughout the words that make up Matthew’s assembled sermon of Jesus’ teachings, we are called to see life in a new way. We are a different kind of people (5:1-12), we are the example of God’s rule to world (5:13-16), we take the Law of Moses seriously and seek to live out God’s purpose in it in a radical way (5:17-48), we live as a corporate people who embrace responsibility within piety to be generous, pray, and fast to an audience of One (6:1-18), we live out God’s dream of abundance from a desire to please him and serve others (6:19-34), and this week we take the challenge to be a proactive people who endeavor to live in a way towards others that reflects the desires that we hope for ourselves. All of these things point to a life lived on a narrow path that is accessed by a narrow gate that few desire to walk. We would rather talk about and debate what the words mean than make the decisions to actually try to walk them out.

“I can’t!” These are the words that govern so much of what we do in life. They are the convenient excuse for keeping life as it currently is and limiting how much of God’s dream ultimately becomes reality within our midst. It is only a short walk from “I can’t!” to “I won’t!” or “I don’t want to!” If we are honest with ourselves and each other, we realize that most of “I can’t!” is actually an attempt to excuse our laziness or worse, hard heartedness. We would rather blame disobedience or failure on the lack of ability instead of something deeper involving a sinful condition of the heart. It is much easier offering “I can’t!” to God than “I won’t!” or “I don’t want to!” To be honest this sense of denial didn’t work too well my parents. I’m not sure why I think God is any more gullible than they were. The call of Jesus to a different path does not go away. Like the calendar of God it comes back to remind us over and over again of God’s expectations for his people and ultimately it makes our excuses all the more lame.

“Whatever you desire people do to you, do also to them.” If we remove the most jaded from among us who live life with the mantra of “Just leave me alone!” we are faced with a radical call to proactively offer to people something that we normally reserve only as a right for ourselves. I have expectations of others…especially when it comes to how they treat me. I am scared to death to stare at this in a reciprocal way. Yet Jesus tells us that every intention of the Law of Moses and all of the passionate words of the Prophets speak to this idea. God’s dream is centered in a group of people who intuitively and actively seek to outdo one another in justice, compassion, and mercy. I find this concept put forth by John Calvin an amazingly accurate picture of what we are dealing with in this challenge of Jesus. If you can get by his archaic language, the words are rich and convicting. “Where our own advantage is concerned, there is not one of us, who cannot explain minutely and ingeniously what ought to be done. And since every man shows himself to be a skillful teacher of justice for his own advantage, how comes it, that the same knowledge does not readily occur to him, when the profit or loss of another is at stake, but because we wish to be wise for ourselves only, and no man cares about his neighbors? What is more, we maliciously and purposely shut our eyes upon the rule of justice, which shines in our hearts. Christ therefore shows, that every man may be a rule of acting properly and justly towards his neighbors, if he do to others what he requires to be done to him. He thus refutes all the vain pretenses, which men contrive for hiding or disguising their injustice. Perfect justice would undoubtedly prevail among us, if we were as faithful in learning active charity, (if we may use the expression,) as we are skillful in teaching passivecharity.” To his words, I finish with mine, “What is our response: I can’t, won’t, or simply don’t want to, or do we confess our sin and engage in a renewed practice of obedience?” It is a tough question…I hope you honestly wrestle with the answer.

Leviticus 25:1-18; Matthew 6:19-34

I would like to ask you to use your imagination this week…to join me in seeing our world as God intended. Imagine a world in which there is enough. Imagine a world in which hard labor is complimented with deep refreshing rest to bring about a rhythm of enjoyable life. Imagine a world in which no one is used or exploited for the gain of others and those who experience misfortune are generously supported because there is enough. Imagine a world in which wealth and abundance is not converted into the currency of power or privilege, but rather used to enhance life for everyone. Imagine for a moment a people so dedicated to this vision of life as it was intended that God falls all over himself in showering blessings, favor, peace, and abundance upon them. Imagine God bursting with pride and affection because his people get it and he is determined to outdo them in generosity, love, and compassion. You might say that this is a fairy tale. It is actually the reality of life under Levitical Law.

That book of the Jewish Bible that we avoid like the plague because it is full of archaic ritualistic practices and legalistic bondage that Jesus supposedly has set us free from, is actually the blueprint for the Kingdom of God that Jesus comes to establish. The Sabbaths, the Sabbath Years, the Jubilee, and the rules guiding mutual care and concern for each other are all direct contributions toward God’s vision; God’s dream for this world. God is so serious about it that he dedicates a lengthy portion of Leviticus 26 to sharing the consequences for ignoring his dream and doing life apart from his blueprint for Kingdom construction. Why is this so hard? Why is it that the dream we are asked to imagine, the dream that seems like a fairy tale because it is too wonderful, is so hard to embrace and live out? We live so far below our dignity and so far short of God’s dream. We instead settle for life as dictated by the fallen world’s dictates of looking out for number one and the endless enslavement to the mirage of “more” that comes with it.

Most of us don’t even realize the dream exists. We have abandoned any sort of pretense that God’s dream is actually for this world. Some of us try to convince ourselves that the dream is fulfilled through tithing. The rhythm of work and rest, productivity and trust, generosity and mutual care is somehow embodied in offering up ten percent. While I do acknowledge that this is actually a form of spiritual fool’s gold, it is at least a step in the right direction compared to the majority of God’s people who fail to even accomplish this. The current requirements required to maintain the level of “more” that they have or the next level of “more” that they wish to achieve leaves them with nothing to contribute to the things of God at all. Some even become enslaved to the extent that worship, fellowship, and faith are sacrificed in order to keep the deceptive dream alive. Scarcity and the system it lays out always seems to win.

In the Kingdom that Jesus represents, he takes the Levitical principles and without apology lays out the dream of God for his people in the bold call to set aside anxiety created by “more” and embrace a life dedicated to laying up treasure in heaven. This real treasure in the life to come is accumulated by participating in God’s dream of life now that is lived out through giving and trusting rather than by accumulating and controlling. Treasure in heaven is presented as the counterpart to treasure on earth. I’m not sure I know what to do with that. I think that I am like most people…I live with a desire to have both. Jesus does not seem to offer that option. Israel of old also desired to have both and they ignored the Sabbath provisions in favor of increased productivity and the illusion of wealth that promised to accompany it. They suffered greatly for their failure and endured the trials of exile because of their inability to embrace the dream. I wonder if we are in the midst of that as well.

The Sabbath Year and Jubilee Year rolled their ways onto the calendar without consideration for the state of people’s lives or regard for the stage of faith that individuals found themselves in. Each visit brought about a crisis of decision as to whether the people would heed God’s call to live within a calling to generosity and faith. Each visit was met with the typical human response…no thanks God; we are busy with life and the need to ensure that we have “more”. Our response is similar today. We are held captive to our desires fanned by the need for “more” at the expense of a life that God dreams for us. I’m not sure of the solution. It requires a level of commitment and faith that the modern Christian faith has not prepared me for. I hope you are better trained than I seem to be and that God’s dream is alive and at work in your life.

Matthew 6:1-18

My new favorite term this week is “meo-theism”. It is the label that author Jerry Goebel introduces in his examination of Christian culture as it pertains to assisting our young people navigate faith and education. He suggests that the most primary form of current Christianity seeks to be pain-free, personal, and oriented toward prosperity. It is a highly personal form of Gnosticism centered on personal peace and affluence instead of community wellbeing and sacrifice. I must admit…I like it and see its roots firmly entrenched in my own life. At the same time I see its destructive tendencies and self centered deception and seek to rid myself of it. Our text today is something that I believe speaks to the scriptural call to abandon “meo-theism” altogether.

Three of the most powerful words embodied with the prayer that Jesus commanded us to say are, “our, us, and we.” Jesus does not tell us to say “my Father, give me, forgive me as I forgive, lead me, and deliver me.” The prayer that represents the Kingdom is a “we” prayer not a “me” prayer. It embraces the idea that we as a people own an identity with, bear the consequences of, and share the rewards due to all those who claim the cause of Jesus as our own. When Pat Robertson says something stupid like “Hugo Chavez should be assassinated” on Christian television, we all share in the shame from the public outrage. When television personalities peddle the gospel and acquire wealth we all share in the consequences of distrust that it generates. When our faith gets married to politics either on the left or the right we all carry that identity and hostility it generates. We can’t run from it. Neither can we stand there and declare, “He did it not me” and expect to escape the guilt by association. On the flip side, those like Mother Teresa, who have caught the world’s attention for the better are also a part of “us” as well. (It would be great if the percentage of idiots and saints could somehow be reversed however.)

When we embrace the discipline of the Lord’s Prayer, we are accepting the mantle to be the corporate people of God. We are the conduit through which God is addressed and implored as in “hallowed be your name” and “thy Kingdom come and will be done”. We also become the conduit through which others are loved and represented as in “give us this day” and “forgive us our debts”. It is this corporate embrace regarding confession that we focus our attention on this week. In Turning to Jesus, Scot McKnight takes up this subject and writes, “Jesus calls his followers to a regular confession of sins. This confession needs to be viewed within a corporate setting not just individual. Confession holds the place of a representative prayer: the individual seeks God for the forgiveness of “us”. Just as the priest would ask God to forgive Israel, being himself a part of Israel, we are called to see God’s forgiveness on behalf of his people and ask for him to restore the fortunes of his people. Confession then is more about social issues or persistent disobedience than individual matters. Confessional prayer by nature is corporate leading to restoration and blessing.”  

What has always been a part of the worship fabric of God’s people is now foreign to most of us. The confession of sin within the Evangelical worship service is rarely enjoined and a bit awkward if it finds its way onto the menu. There is a bit of, “I’m not going to confess something I didn’t do…something written out for me by someone I don’t know!” in all of us. But even if you somehow live above what others might be guilty of, is it possible to gravitate beyond “meo-theism” just long enough to be a part of the whole community that isn’t so holy? How hard is that? How much of a sacrifice to just for a few holy moments grasp that I am part of a bigger group of people who fail to live up to the dream that is called Kingdom? I realize that it is approaching crucifixion status for some people to experience a sense of responsibility for the actions of others but we are after all called to take up our cross.

I am hopeful that we will embrace the idea of corporate confession as we continue to move forward in the evolution of the ancient faith handed down to us. When confronted with the task of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls, Nehemiah sat before God and declared, “I beseech thee O Lord God of heaven…to hear my prayer on behalf of the sons of Israel, thy servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israelwhich we have sinned against thee; I and my father’s house have sinned.” Like Nehemiah of old, we must embrace our community of faith and identify with her in all of her glory and all of her warts. He owned Israel’s failures. Can we own the church’s failures as we attempt to rebuild her walls? I certainly hope so. I also hope that in so doing, we might send “meo-theism” packing for good and actually live to see God’s Kingdom come and will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 5:21-48

Since we know so little about the Law of Moses and its intended purpose we are equally challenged when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount. We are uneasy with law and have conveniently pitted it against grace in an effort to make sense of our faith. We are relentless in blazing the easiest trail leading to spiritual freedom that we think is ours in Christ. In doing so the Law must go. Because of our fundamental discomfort with the Law of Moses we become surprisingly timid when it comes to the foundational teaching of Jesus recorded by Matthew in his three important chapters. Because it is so closely aligned with Law, we honestly don’t know what to do with it.

To help with this, I think it important to understand the sense of corporate charter that is embodied within Torah and within the teachings of Jesus. The corporate mandate of the children of Abraham was to bless the world by reversing the effects of Adam’s sin in the original creation. The laws contained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were the guidelines that defined how this reversal would unfold by revealing what a proper relationship to God looked like (reverence, holiness, and celebration) and what a proper relationship with others consisted of (respect, generosity, and love). Instead of this, we see the Law of Moses as a kind of failed attempt to legislate righteousness…a failure so dramatic that God had to resort to a Plan B in sending Jesus to redo everything under the new terms of grace and faith. What gets fascinating is the incredibly wrong idea held by many that Jesus, on his way to fixing God’s failed attempt to bring salvation through the Mosaic Law, actually takes the time to put the nails in the coffin of the Law with the Sermon on the Mount. By raising the bar so much higher than Moses Jesus ensures if we were ever tempted to see the Law as a means of pleasing God, the idea would be squashed through the new demands of his legal commentary. If the bad ole Law told us what failures we were through its plain declaration of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” of murder, adultery, etc. then Jesus shows us how bad we really are and how demanding God really is in telling us we can’t even hate someone or think “dirty” thoughts. Within this unfortunate model grace without works is the only landing point.

As a result we are left with a faith consisting of a confusing mix of some morality and a great deal of freedom to do whatever we want as long as we believe in Jesus. Outside of the basic renunciation of the sexual violations of a “Christianized” moral code involving adultery (especially among clergy), homosexuality, or pornography, the morality that we mix in is purely negotiable and peculiar to each faith group that determines the rules of conversion for its adherents. For some the morality might include a total ban on alcohol, for others it might include a particular dress code, still for others it might include severe restrictions on entertainment or recreation. The rest is as the late Al Davis would be proud to claim, “Just grace baby!” The redemptive calling that we are given to reverse the effects of Adam’s failure by living a new way gets exchanged for a high stakes run as moral policeman to our culture while we also weigh in on taxes, defense spending, and endless debate on how “Christian” our forefathers were. We must see the bigger picture.

Like the Torah and its mission to God’s people, Jesus calls us to live differently than we know how to live. Rather than individual edicts seen as impossible mandates from heaven’s God who seeks to build a case to incriminate us before relegating us to eternal damnation in hell, these are a collection of instructions on how to live the human life as God intended in relationship to him and others. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it by allowing us to see it in action through his own life and understand it properly through his teachings so that we might live the abundant life within God’s good and gracious favor. Just to make sure that we realize that this is not an anti-law diatribe, Jesus elaborates all of this teaching against a backdrop in which those who keep and teach the Law are great in the Kingdom. Are we listening?

How freeing could life be if we could live above the pain of revenge, the bondage of anger and rage, the dreadful consequences of broken marriage vows, the confusing thoughts of lust that devalue sex, the endless time we spend just trying to be trusted and convincing ourselves to trust others? That is the Kingdom picture that Jesus paints for us. The good work of Moses that brought order and meaning to the lives of Israel has now been elevated to a higher calling to the church in order to establish God’s reign throughout the whole earth. That’s how I hear it…how about you?

Exodus 14:30-15:21; Revelation 15:1-4 

Now that Lent is over and Jesus has been raised from the dead, what do we do? Our scriptures this week give us a great opportunity to focus on something called worship. You know…worship…that thing we do when we try to sing a tune to God. You know…pianos and organs and ancient hymns or contemporary pop choruses featuring rock bands and electronic gadgets. Or you know… the Genesis style of acoustic guitar led hymns and contemporary pop choruses (God’s personal favorite). Or…is there something more?

Consider some of these short snippets on worship gathered from various scholars. Worship is not about us or what we like and that in and of itself is a problem for our consumeristic culture. When we tinker with worship in order to make it more user friendly, we cheapen or trivialize it. When we make worship about me…what I like…focused on my spirituality…or my sense of God, we unknowingly transform the holy into the profane. Worship calls us to ascend toward heaven and in doing so it elicits something from us not to us. Worship is the human response to God’s revelation of himself. Worship is that emotional, volitional, physical, and spiritual reaction that emerges when we glimpse the reality of God. It is actually the unavoidable reaction…similar to a gasp at a shocking event or lump in the throat at the sappy climax of a chick flick, or the fist pump when the sports heroes succeed in the big game…when God is revealed in his acts of redemption. To fail to experience worship is to admit that we have failed to catch the reality of what God has done.

We have just spent an entire holy holiday focused on God’s greatest act of salvation ever…do we now yawn and get back to life as normal? Or do we join heaven in an ongoing display of celebration and deep reverence for the God of that salvation? If we have caught the reality of what God has done in raising Christ from the dead, even if only for a little bit, we will have to worship. But how do we do that? Unfortunately, we are part of a tradition that has emphasized only one option in accomplishing the act of worship. Sing…even if you can’t carry a tune… even if you have no affinity toward music…because worship is about singing…and it is about singing semi pop/semi rock/semi folk stuff in particular. But worship is so much more than singing. Worship is both spontaneous joyous celebration and deepest ritualistic reverence woven like fine tapestry. We don’t know how to do either very well! It is never cool…never ordinary…never casual…it is always holy.

Spontaneous, celebratory worship is everywhere in scripture. Take for instance our text in Exodus. The most powerful army in the world had just been destroyed. The mightiest ruler in the world had just sunk to the bottom of the sea. The mighty powers that threatened Israel said, “I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. I will draw my sword.” Instead they sank like lead. Why? “God blew his nostrils. God raised his right hand. God triumphed.” God’s steadfast love was displayed and his people celebrated. Miriam got her timbrel out…God’s people danced. Check out Deborah’s celebration of the defeat of Sisera in Judges 4/5. David is on full display as well…his dancing and singing while escorting the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6 and his glorious song in chapter 22 of the same as well as numerous Psalms. Mary’s Magnificat and Simeon’s spontaneous blessing in Luke testify to a worship that is God centered and focused on his marvelous acts. The scenes from heaven are no different. Once the great scroll containing God’s purposes to judge and heal the earth is opened by the One who is found worthy to make it happen, heaven is a constant chorus of celebratory praise. Our text in chapter 15 is a celebration bringing the song of Moses from Exodus 15 into duet with the song of the Lamb. Both are centered on the great and amazing acts of the Almighty God.

But ritual reverence is everywhere as well. The activities surrounding the Temple, the Feasts of Israel, and even the prayers offered to God, including the one given by our Lord, are all ritualistic exercises performed over and over again in the same manner. If worship is responding to the acts of God and involves retelling these acts back to God, then we must confess that singing only scratches the surface of its expressions. Reading scripture within our worship gatherings is an act of worship. It may not get you swaying or clapping, but to hear the story of what God has done with reverence and undivided attention is every bit as much an act of worship as singing our hearts out. Celebrating the Lord’s Meal is also an act of worship telling of God’s story; especially when it is given its proper place within prayers and accompanying prose. Most all liturgical churches set the Eucharist within a narrative of the great acts of God in something called the Great Thanksgiving. We evangelical types just get right straight to the juice and bread. Worship can be centered on silent meditation focused on God’s acts. Worship can be the corporate reciting of the Apostle’s Creed (God’s story offered up to him in unison) or the Lord’s Prayer (anticipation of God’s story continuing to unfold on earth as it is in heaven).

If worship is anything at all, it is participatory. It is not a spectator event. We resist the idea of reciting prewritten prayers and liturgies together because they are not spontaneous. Yet we sing the same contemporary choruses over and over again: choruses that are in fact prewritten and oftentimes much more repetitive than any liturgy.  We would rather have a leader saying the prayers and readers reading scripture and singers blaring in our ears than recite our prayers together, read scripture aloud as one, or participate in a spoken liturgy where we actually hear ourselves. We must be open to the various forms that it takes in allowing everyone, musically inclined or not, to declare the marvelous acts of God in worship unto him. These additional avenues may not be sexy…may not offer the opportunity to sway to the beat…may not be enhanced with laser lights and heart pounding sub woofers…may bring absolutely nothing in the way of ‘wow’ to you at all…but they are appropriate expressions of offering back to God the glory due his name. After all…it is important to remind ourselves every once in a while…it’s okay if it is not about us every now and then.

Isaiah 25:6-9; John 20:1-18

 The question I want to open with is why would a Jewish rabbi, crucified by pagan Roman leaders ever be considered Israel’s Messiah?  Being brutally mocked and then crucified by those who you as Messiah are supposed to rule over is seemingly outside the boundaries of a kosher resume for the title of Ideal King of Israel.  It seems reasonable for everyone who backed him on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem to begin backing another horse following the events of his death. That’s what they did with Simon bar Giora, whose claim to messianic fame ended after four years of promise, when Rome’s power resulted in the crushing destruction of Jerusalem in 70ad. When Rome paraded him through the streets as a brutalized humbled puppet leader and threw him to his death everyone began looking for another messianic candidate. It was also the fate that awaited Simon bar Kochba following his brief three year deliverance from Rome in 132ad. In fact the man born Simon ben Kosiba was given a new name Simon bar Kochba meaning “son of the star” (Numbers 24:17) based on his rise to messianic fame in bringing rescue from Rome’s tyranny only to have his name changed to Simon bar Kozeba, “son of deception” when his brief three year run as messiah ended with Rome’s total and complete victory over Israel. Why wasn’t Jesus immediately dismissed as well? After all he wasn’t even a victorious military leader for a day let alone the three years or so of Giora and Kochba.

The answer seems to involve the unique unfolding of the resurrection as documented in the narratives of all four gospel writers. Jesus was dead: executed by those who specialized in execution He was buried in a tomb: sealed and watched over by the authorities who envisioned some sort of funny business and took every precaution to prevent it. He then was resurrected: had his life given back to him in bodily form. Really dead…Really buried…Really risen. This is the startling claim of Christianity and the pivot point for all that follows in the way of the Christian faith. Without it, Paul aptly declares that our faith as Christians is in vain.

Somehow this magnificent event has been transformed over the years from a once in the world event of unbelievable proportions to a comforting thought of heavenly bliss. For many, the resurrection is nothing more than the idea that Jesus went to heaven after he died and since I believe he is my Lord and I know I am loved and forgiven by God, I will someday go and be with him. This idea is not that much different from Greek paganism as espoused by Plato. This is not the biblical idea of resurrection. Jesus did not go to heaven when he was resurrected. That event was saved for his ascension some forty days later.

A body without a spirit is dead. A spirit without a body is a spook. Jesus was the former but never the later. He became a fully resurrected spirit and body that could be touched (Thomas), that ate (breaking bread in Emmaus with disciples) and yet appeared at will without physical limitations. He truly was a new creation…a first of his kind resurrected human who would serve as the prototype of the entire recreation of all of heaven and earth. The implications are amazing. Paul says that “death is swallowed up” and the entire “creation longs to be set free” as a result of this powerful act of God. Resurrection is not the survival of death…it is death’s reversal. It is not the term used to describe some form of spiritual disembodied existence in the spiritual world a.k.a. heaven but rather the necessary physical equipping required for doing life on the new earth.

A purported messianic leader, who not only failed to take on Rome but was treated with contempt and humiliation in his execution by the same, was vindicated by God through his resurrection from death. The shear miraculous nature of this event sealed in the hearts of his followers, a deep devotion to his claim to be Israel’s true Messiah. The Kingdom of God that was first announced as being close at hand at the onset of Jesus’ ministry was now in full bloom. The outpouring of God’s Spirit at Pentecost was concluding evidence to all of this if any was needed. Isaiah sees the resurrection of Messiah as a rich feast hosted by God without the presence of the veil of death that had cast its shadow over all nations. Death will be swallowed up forever…tears will be wiped away from all faces…and the reproach of mankind will be removed from earth. Isaiah sure does sound a lot like the writer of Revelation (Ch. 21). Isaiah tells us that it will be declared on that day that “This is our God! This is the Lord that we have waited for! Let us rejoice in his salvation!” The early disciples got it. I hope we get it too.