So yesterday we talked about Jesus' judgment parables having nothing to do with being left behind at the end of all times. They have much more to do with the immediate context of the people of Jerusalem. They will kill him and they will be judged for it. And of course they are, in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the temple.
So this has nothing to do with us...and everything to do with us. If the Jews of Jesus' day will be judged for rejecting their coming Messiah, so will we.
And so we still have to wrestle with the question of Jesus and judgment. How are we to read these parables of judgment and trust that God is good, gracious and loving?
I've never been there, but I've been told that the Cliffs of Dover have warning signs: if you get too close, the wind is strong enough that you can and will get blown over the edge. The signs warn you that you will plummet to your death if you're not careful.
The signs have no malicious intent. They are stating facts. They are posted out of concern for the health and well-being of all who approach. They are warnings.
And so it is with Jesus. Warnings are warnings. They are given to us to keep us away from getting blown over the edge. Certain behaviors carry with them natural consequences.
The universe is designed a certain way: fall off the edge of the Cliffs of Dover, you splat down below. Push away the God of the universe, it results in certain un-pleasant eternity alternatives.
And so Jesus warns, pleads, weeps and even warns us: "let all who will, let them come home!" This is the point of the warnings in the gospels. They are stern and harsh sometimes, like a driver's ed video, to alert you to the sober reality of what's at stake.
We must remember that Jesus' "no" is always there to serve his "yes." The parables that speak of judgment are there as an emphatic "no" to our self-absorbed or foolish or ignorant or arrogant movement away from God in order to bring us into the "yes" of a life deeply connected with his grace and love and mercy.
A life that will run in that same direction for all eternity.
Showing posts with label judgment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judgment. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Monday, August 02, 2010
What to Do with Jesus & Judgment, Part 1: It Ain't About Being Left Behind
Last week I was wrapping up my journey through Jesus' questions in the book of Matthew. As Jesus gets nearer and nearer to his death, his stories and parables get more and more jarring. Lots of people cast out, judged, and lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
These are the passages that make me look quizzically at those who proclaim to love "nice Jesus" but who despise "mean Paul." Such people haven't actually read much of what Jesus said and did, I don't think.
Ever notice Jesus never once uses the word "grace?" Everything we know about grace comes from those who wrote after the "Jesus event" and who were his primary interpreters--Paul, most of all.
But I digress. The point is if we take Jesus seriously, we will run into some hard passages. Today I want to help us navigate the judgment passages. What are we to do with all this separation of sheep and goats and people cast out?
The first rule of any Bible interpretation is this: context, context and more context. Many of Jesus' judgment parables are in Israel and are specifically about Israel. Jesus has come as the last and final prophet of whom all the prophets spoke. They treated them poorly. They will treat Jesus poorly, too--in just a few days they will call for his execution.
Many of the judgment parables Jesus tells (wicked tenants, wedding banquet, ten bridesmaids all in chapters 21-24) are all happening in Jerusalem, after the triumphal entry, and are surrounded with weeping for Jerusalem and prophecy about the destruction of the temple. Which leads us to...
The destruction of the temple. This is was a cataclysmic event in the post-Jesus early church (and obviously as well for the Jews of the time), around 70 A.D. There's a war between Rome and the Jews, the Romans come through and flatten the temple.
This is what Jesus is what Jesus is talking about in all of this prophecy. Any early Christian reading the gospels in the first and second and even third generation of Christianity would have read and understood that the judgment being doled out is specifically talking about the destruction of the temple that actually happens within a generation of Jesus death. Jesus is not talking about being "Left Behind" at the end of all times.
Jesus pronounces judgment on Jerusalem, whose people are about to judge and destroy him. That judgment comes true shortly after his death with the destruction of the temple. Jesus asserts that the temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed and that he has come to replace it.
They'll destroy the temple, but they will not be able to destroy his body. Destroy the building, it will be many years before it is raised again. Destroy his body and in three days it will be raised up again.
Jesus is now the place where God meets people and where people meet God. It is the place of sacrifice, prayer, worship. In his body all these functions of the temple are completed. The temple was only a foreshadowing of what was to come--the true Temple was now here.
And the people were about to destroy him. And there is a consequence to their rebellion--they will be judged. And so they are.
And yes, that is a warning to all of us, 2,000 years later. But that's better left for tomorrow's post.
These are the passages that make me look quizzically at those who proclaim to love "nice Jesus" but who despise "mean Paul." Such people haven't actually read much of what Jesus said and did, I don't think.
Ever notice Jesus never once uses the word "grace?" Everything we know about grace comes from those who wrote after the "Jesus event" and who were his primary interpreters--Paul, most of all.
But I digress. The point is if we take Jesus seriously, we will run into some hard passages. Today I want to help us navigate the judgment passages. What are we to do with all this separation of sheep and goats and people cast out?
The first rule of any Bible interpretation is this: context, context and more context. Many of Jesus' judgment parables are in Israel and are specifically about Israel. Jesus has come as the last and final prophet of whom all the prophets spoke. They treated them poorly. They will treat Jesus poorly, too--in just a few days they will call for his execution.
Many of the judgment parables Jesus tells (wicked tenants, wedding banquet, ten bridesmaids all in chapters 21-24) are all happening in Jerusalem, after the triumphal entry, and are surrounded with weeping for Jerusalem and prophecy about the destruction of the temple. Which leads us to...
The destruction of the temple. This is was a cataclysmic event in the post-Jesus early church (and obviously as well for the Jews of the time), around 70 A.D. There's a war between Rome and the Jews, the Romans come through and flatten the temple.
This is what Jesus is what Jesus is talking about in all of this prophecy. Any early Christian reading the gospels in the first and second and even third generation of Christianity would have read and understood that the judgment being doled out is specifically talking about the destruction of the temple that actually happens within a generation of Jesus death. Jesus is not talking about being "Left Behind" at the end of all times.
Jesus pronounces judgment on Jerusalem, whose people are about to judge and destroy him. That judgment comes true shortly after his death with the destruction of the temple. Jesus asserts that the temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed and that he has come to replace it.
They'll destroy the temple, but they will not be able to destroy his body. Destroy the building, it will be many years before it is raised again. Destroy his body and in three days it will be raised up again.
Jesus is now the place where God meets people and where people meet God. It is the place of sacrifice, prayer, worship. In his body all these functions of the temple are completed. The temple was only a foreshadowing of what was to come--the true Temple was now here.
And the people were about to destroy him. And there is a consequence to their rebellion--they will be judged. And so they are.
And yes, that is a warning to all of us, 2,000 years later. But that's better left for tomorrow's post.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Justice, Judgment, and the Good News of Intolerance
So the twin values (in rhetoric, anyway) of the university world are "tolerance" and "justice." Which is interesting, because the only way to have "justice" is to be "intolerant."
Justice says that something will no longer be tolerated. If a professor on campus was found to always fail Latino students, justice would demand that they no longer be employed by the university. That's good intolerance.
And so when we come to the difficult passages about judgment in the Scriptures, we need to hold this in view. Judgment is simply God saying "enough!" to all that ruins and destroys his creation. He is patient, and his patient kindness is intended to lead us into repentance. But eventually everything will be judged--the good intolerance of God.
That God is a good and fair judge is a matter of faith. That one day all that is wrong will be shown to be wrong is something that most sane and healthy people want.
That our own behaviors might be implicated by that revealing is something that most of us deny or would just rather not think about.
Thank goodness for hell. To have a place where once and for all the corrupt and destructive forces of the world are done away with is the deepest longing of our souls.
George MacDonald proposes that God's judgment is always against sin. In as much as someone is united with sin, have committed themselves to sin, and refuse to let go of sin, then yes, there will be people who are sent there along with the sin that must no longer be tolerated.
Sin will be destroyed. If people refuse to release that sin, they will be destroyed along with it. That is like the professor being fired for failing Latino students--it's the intolerance that justice and love demands.
The joy of this freedom will be un-paralleled. No one and no thing will be allowed to hijack the sheer delight that the saints will have in the perfect goodness of God and the release of our souls from the miserable corruptions of death and destruction and decay.
I'm grateful for the secular/university love of both justice and tolerance...to a point. And then I delight in the fact that the One who is Love dictates that all that is death will some day no longer be tolerated. And I'm grateful that there is an offer on the table to be united with the one Eternal Love and Life that will last forever.
Justice says that something will no longer be tolerated. If a professor on campus was found to always fail Latino students, justice would demand that they no longer be employed by the university. That's good intolerance.
And so when we come to the difficult passages about judgment in the Scriptures, we need to hold this in view. Judgment is simply God saying "enough!" to all that ruins and destroys his creation. He is patient, and his patient kindness is intended to lead us into repentance. But eventually everything will be judged--the good intolerance of God.
That God is a good and fair judge is a matter of faith. That one day all that is wrong will be shown to be wrong is something that most sane and healthy people want.
That our own behaviors might be implicated by that revealing is something that most of us deny or would just rather not think about.
Thank goodness for hell. To have a place where once and for all the corrupt and destructive forces of the world are done away with is the deepest longing of our souls.
George MacDonald proposes that God's judgment is always against sin. In as much as someone is united with sin, have committed themselves to sin, and refuse to let go of sin, then yes, there will be people who are sent there along with the sin that must no longer be tolerated.
Sin will be destroyed. If people refuse to release that sin, they will be destroyed along with it. That is like the professor being fired for failing Latino students--it's the intolerance that justice and love demands.
The joy of this freedom will be un-paralleled. No one and no thing will be allowed to hijack the sheer delight that the saints will have in the perfect goodness of God and the release of our souls from the miserable corruptions of death and destruction and decay.
I'm grateful for the secular/university love of both justice and tolerance...to a point. And then I delight in the fact that the One who is Love dictates that all that is death will some day no longer be tolerated. And I'm grateful that there is an offer on the table to be united with the one Eternal Love and Life that will last forever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)