Easter Week Day 5 - Jesus Screams In the Absolute Darkness

Candles, in the Church of the Nativity, Jerusalem

FRIDAY, APRIL 18

SCRIPTURE - MATTHEW 27:45-46

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THESE VERSES?

As Jesus hung suspended on a cross an unnatural darkness began in the middle of the day and continued into the natural darkness of sunset.

New Testament scholar R. T. France writes: “Given the symbolic significance of the darkness as a divine communication there is little point in speculating on its natural cause: a solar eclipse could not occur at the time of the Passover full moon though a dust storm (‘sirocco’) or heavy cloud are possible.” (France, Mark, 651)

N.T. Wright writes: “It can’t have been an eclipse, because Passover happened at full moon, so that the moon would be in the wrong part of the sky.” (Wright, Mark for Everyone, 215)

Craig Keener says that the darkness "could come from heavy cloud cover. But the Gospel writers use it to convey a more profound theological point. (Keener, Matthew, 685)

However it happened, this was a God-caused darkness. Jesus is bearing the load of the sins of all humanity. Sin causes separation; in this case, essentially from God. Sin separates us from Light. Sin and light cannot coexist.

Years ago Linda and I and our sons visited Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs. We were guided into the depths of these tunnels to a place where we were told that, when the lights in the cave were turned off, we would experience "absolute darkness." I thought, "This is cool!" 

The lights went off. We stood there, for several seconds. Our guide said, "You are now experiencing absolute darkness. Place your hand right in front of your eyes. You will not be able to see it." 

Our guide was right. It was so completely dark that I could not see what was right before me. Had the lights failed us that day, we would not be able to see each other. I imagine we would say things like, "Are you still near me?" "Are you here?" "We've got to stay close to each other!" And, "Don't abandon me while I'm in this darkness!"

On that day 2000 years ago the darkness that covered the land was not absolute. But the existential darkness was. The thickness of all this world's sin and failure and shame and guilt weighed on the heart of One Man. Out of this physical and ungodly darkness Jesus screamed. 

"Screamed?" I think so. The Greek wording here is: ἐβόησεν  ὁἸησοῦς φωνῇ μεγάλῃ. Those last two Greek words are transliterated: phone megale. A mega-phone! Jesus mega-screamed these words over and over and over again and again, since the verb indicates continuous action.

He doesn’t call God “Father” but Ὁ θεόςμου ὁ θεός μου… “My God… My God…” Jesus is in relationship with Abba Father God, but it now feels like abandonment. Six hours after he was placed on the cross, three of them being hours of darkness, Jesus feels abandoned by God. 

We don't know how long the feeling lasted. Assume three hours. Perhaps He screamed over and over for that long. And know that, for Jesus, it was utterly real and all-embracing. (Craig Keener comments that "the early church would hardly have invented Jesus’ cry of despair in uttering a complaint about alienation from God, quoting Ps. 22.” Keener, Matthew, 682)

As the weight of this world’s evil converged on Jesus He was giving his life as “a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:28). The sins of the “many,” which he is bearing, have for the first and only time in his experience caused a cloud to come between him and “Abba” – Father God. 1 Peter 2:24 explains it this way: 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. Paul, in Galatians 3:13, writes: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

The curse of sin is that it makes a great divide between us and God. Sin breaches relationship. As Jesus bears our sin He experiences the Great Separation. Listen to how N.T. Wright expresses this.

“Out of the unexplained cosmic darkness comes God’s new word of creation, as at the beginning… And it all happens because of the God-forsakenness of the son of God. The horror which overwhelmed Jesus in Gethsemane, and then seems to have retreated again for a few hours, came back in all its awfulness, a horror of drinking the cup of God’s wrath, of sharing the depth of suffering, mental and emotional as well as physical, that characterized the world in general and Israel in particular. The dark cloud of evil, Israel’s evil, the world’s evil, Evil greater than the sum of its parts, cut him off from the one he called ‘Abba’ in a way he had never known before. And welling up from his heart there came, as though by a reflex, a cry not of rebellion, but of despair and sorrow, yet still a despair that, having lost contact with God, still asks God why this should be.” (N.T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, 216-217)

REFLECTION

1. Take time today to slow down in your heart, get alone by yourself, bow before God, and think of the passion of the Christ.

2. Resolve in your heart to never again take for granted what Jesus has done for you. Consider how and what it means that He bore your sins, and by His stripes you are healed.

3. Express in your own words thanks to God for what He has accomplished on the cross, which is: your justification; your being set right with God.

Abraham and the Binding of Isaac

Here's the sermon I have two weeks ago at Redeemer about when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

You can access the Powerpoint and follow along.

Sermon for April 6th, 2014
Hebrews 11:17-19

Introduce People to the Teacher and Step Aside

Church of the Nativity in Jerusalem

⁴⁵ While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁷ They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
- Luke 20:45-47



Among things I never wanted to be when I was a child was a public speaker. I am an introvert, by personality. I didn't mind being on stage if I could hide behind my guitar. But I would feel physically sick days before having to get up in front of a class to give a book report or show-'n-tell. I would rather have a root canal than do that.

So what did God do with me? In spite of my fear and reluctance He called me to speak in front of people. If anything good comes out of my teaching and preaching I find it easy to thank God, who has made this possible.

Now I've got 44 years of public speaking and teaching behind me. Tonight I open my mouth and talk to others again. I'll teach two classes back to back - World Religions and Christianity in Redeemer Ministry School, and Intro to Logic at Monroe Community College. You would think I wouldn't feel nervous after all the teaching experience I have. But I do, and I will. 

I feel confident and nervous at the same time. I'd rather be this than arrogant and presumptuous. I'd rather be personally insecure and forced to find my security in God than be some Big Speaker who can't wait to be seen by others. In the verses above, Jesus warns the people about Big-Speaking, showy, pretentious religious preachers who love to be seen by others in all the glory of their personal abilities and religiousness.

Here is Jesus teaching in the Temple courtyards a few days before going to the cross. As He says these words it is nearly certain that "teachers of the law" are also listening. Jesus just flat-out tells His followers to stay away from such people, for they are neither servants nor humble. They have neither God's interests nor your's in mind.

In the Matthew version of this passage Jesus goes on to say: 

   ⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Professional titles, to Jesus, are irrelevant. Servanthood is what is required. In order to be a Jesus-like servant leader humility is the proper attitude. I'm still being schooled about this. 

You and I don't need to be known by others. 

Introduce people to The Teacher and step aside.


REFLECTION

1. Jesus was a Servant-Leader. How can you follow Jesus in this way and serve other people today?

2. Take some time to get alone with God today. Confess any desire to want to be applauded by people. Ask Him to create more humility in your heart. Exalt and glorify Him in prayer and song.

Another Intractable Atheistic Problem

Detroit Institute of Arts

There are so many intractable problems within the noetic framework of atheism that I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony; that is, I know what to do, I just don'r know where to begin. Here's one such problem.

On the theistic idea of a rational God the emergence of creaturely rationality makes sense. But evolution without God  is interested in survival, not truth. Theistic philosopher Paul Copan writes: "We may form many false survival-enhancing beliefs such as “humans are morally responsible” or “humans have dignity and rights”— a phenomenon that naturalists commonly acknowledge." (Copan, Ethics Needs God, Debating Christian Theism, p. 90)

Now watch this. Here are four brilliant atheists who affirm what I just wrote. I say again - these are well-known, scholarly atheists who agree. So if you disagree here, take it up with them. 

“Boiled down to its essentials, a nervous system enables the organism to succeed in the four F’s: feeding , fleeing, fighting, and reproducing … Truth , whatever that is, definitely takes the hindmost.”
- Pioneering neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland (in Ib.)

"Truth is un-Darwinian."
- Massively famous (well-deserved) philosopher Richard Rorty (in Ib.)

"Morality is a “corporate” illusion that has been “fobbed off on us by our genes to get us to cooperate.” That is, “we think it has an objective status.”"
- Well-known anti-Dawkins atheistic philosopher Michael Ruse

“Man is a moral (altruistic) being, not because he intuits the rightness of loving his neighbor, or because he responds to some noble ideal, but because his behavior is comprised of tendencies which natural selection has favoured.”
- Famous philosopher-ethicist James Rachels

Copan logically follows with this question: “Why trust our minds, whose thoughts are the result of mindless molecules affecting other mindless molecules?” (Ib.) How odd for the atheistic, on the basis of his own noetic framework, to argue for the truth of anything, much less atheism. And how irrational for any Dawkins-type atheist to refer to herself as "bright."

On theism's noetic framework the above atheistic dillemma non-occurs. Copan writes:

"If a trustworthy God has created our noetic structure (not to mention an ordered, biofriendly universe that our minds can study and understand), then we have all the more reason for generally trusting these faculties or capacities rather than constantly doubting their reliability— even if, here and there, we may get things wrong. Indeed, we have been designed to trust our faculties (moral, rational, perceptual ..." (91) 

For more see Alvin Plantinga, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism.

Prayer Can Bring About Psychological Change (PrayerLife)

Warren Dunes State Park

One thing I do when I pray is ask God for my own self. I have found that praying for myself has brought a variety of changes in my own psyche (soul).

In prayer, fear can be changed to boldness. Do I, at times, feel afraid? Of course. The person who never feels afraid is brain dead. Stanley Grenz writes:

"The psalmist reported experiencing this kind of psychological or emotional transformation: "In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free" (Ps. 118:5). The psalmist then expressed the new boldness that came in response to prayer: "The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (v. 6; see also Ps. 138:3)." (Grenz, Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom, Kindle Location 468-470)

In prayer, anxiety can be changed to peace. We see this in Philippians 4:6-7:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I have experienced this many times, so many that I'm tempted to say it's normal and to be expected; viz., that when I go alone to pray I come away less fearful and less anxious and more confident and peace-filled. 

I experience Henri Nouwen's "proof that prayer works." In his Latin American journal Gracias! Nouwen wrote that when he didn't pray or got "too busy to pray" he found himself more fearful and more agitated.

In prayer the threatening situation's power dissipates and the inner heart-agitator is shut off. 

Easter Week Day 2 - The Cursing of the Fig Tree Is Really About the End of the Temple

Jerusalem - Church of the Nativity

TUESDAY, APRIL 15

This is Easter Week - the days leading up to Good Friday and the cross .After Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of "Save us now!" ("Hosanna!"), he did some radical and revealing things in the city. One of them was His "cursing of the fig tree."

SCRIPTURE READING - MATTHEW 21:18-22

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!”Immediately the tree withered. 
²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. 
²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THESE VERSES?

Jesus and his disciples are walking up Mount Zion, upon which Jerusalem is seated. On top of the mountain is the Temple. The Temple was in full view as they ascended. It's probable that the fig tree was higher up on the road. between Jesus and the Temple. As they walk to the Temple, Jesus see the fig tree ahead.

As He points to the fig tree, he is really pointing to the Temple. The barrenness of the fig tree is a visual analogy for the barrenness of the presence of God within the Temple. God is no longer showing up in the Temple. The religious leaders, instead of welcoming God's presence and introducing people to that presence, shut the door of heaven in people's faces and themeselves do not enter in. (Matthew 23:13) Their "religion" was rule-based and filled with self-centered pride.  Nothing worse could be said of a religious leader; viz., that they do their religious thing and bar God from the activities.

In the case of the Temple, God himself exited. How sad and worthless this is, since what people need is God and His manifest "with-us" presence.

When Jesus curses the barren fig tree and talks about "this mountain" being thrown into the sea, he's referring not to just any mountain, but to Mount Zion. Some people talk about a faith that can move mountains and use this passage as an example, but Jesus was really talking about a new kind of faith that would exist without the Temple. The Temple, where God had showed up for hundreds of years, was going down, never to be inhabited by God again. The day was near when true worship will not happen on this mountain or any mountain. Thus, "this mountain" (Mt Zion) can be cast into the sea.

Later, as Jesus and his disciples are walking down Mount Zion from the Temple area, his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked.“Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2)

With the Temple now God-less, where will God manifest Himself? The answer, as the disciples will realize on the Day of Pentecost, is that the dwelling place of God will be in His people, both individually and corporately. The great, revolutionary new truth of Jesus in this story is that if you are a Jesus-follower then you are a temple of the presence of God. You are, as Richard Foster has written, a "portable sanctuary."

You host the presence of God.

REFLECTION

1. Consider ways in which you will welcome God's presence in your life today, ways in which you will welcome his presence.

Neuroethics & the Trolley Dilemma

Here's philosopher Massimo Pigliucci addressing the "trolley problem," using neuroscientist Joshua Greene's FMRI studies. I'll show this to my logic class as we discuss moral values, ethical systems, and the place of logic. Note the fallacy of appeal to emotion referenced here.

Biological Determinism and Moral Responsibility

In my MCCC logic class I'm now teaching on applying logic to moral systems. I'll give my class an introduction biological determinism and moral responsibility. It seems to me that if biological determinism is true, then persons have no moral responsibility.

Eliezer Sternberg, in My Brain Made Me Do It: The Rise of Neuroscience and the Threat to Moral Responsibility, argues that thinking (such as moral decision-making) cannot be fully reduced to biochemical constraints. But who might think such a thing?

Francis Crick did. He wrote that "'you,' your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules." (In Sternberg, 24)

Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux has said: "You are your synapses. They are who you are." (Ib.)

Regarding free will, neurologist Mark Hallett asserts that "the more you scrutinize it, the more you realize you don't have it." (Ib.)

Sternberg reasons that, if biological determinism is true and everyone's behavior is caused by neurobiological wiring, then no decision could be made freely. With this belief comes a powerful argument against moral responsibility:

1. Neurobiological interactions in my brain determined that I did X.
2. Determined actions are not free.
3. One cannot be held morally responsible for actions that are not free.
4. Therefore, I cannot be held morally responsible for doing X.

"In short," says Sternberg, "moral responsibility does not exist." (25) And this in spite of the fact that "my deepest feelings tell me that every decision I make is mine. I am a moral agent with the power to control my decisions." (Ib.)

Sternberg's book argues for a way to affirm both that the principles of neurobiology are true and that we have free will that is not fully reducible to biological constraints, hence we are morally responsible creatures.

Jesus Comes to "Hosanna" Us (Easter Week - Day 1)

MONDAY, APRIL 14

SCRIPTURE READING: Mark 11:1-11; Matthew 21:4-5

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "

[Matthew 21:4-5 adds these verses:
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
 5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion,
      'See, your king comes to you,
   gentle and riding on a donkey,
      on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' " ]

Back to Mark...

4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
   "Hosanna!"
   "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
 10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
   "Hosanna in the highest!"


WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THESE VERSES

When the people saw Jesus and began shouting “Hosanna!,” they were calling out to Jesus “Save us!” “Rescue us!” The cry of Hosanna! is a Hebrew word (hoshi`ah-na) that had become a greeting or shout of praise but that actually meant "Save!" or "Help!" Not surprisingly, this word was used to address the king with a need (cf. 2 Sam 14:4; 2 Kings 6:26). 

The palm branches the people carry are symbolic of a victorious ruler.  

“Hosanna” has the sense of immediacy. I has an urgency about it - “Please save us, and do it now!” I see desperation in the eyes of the people as they cry out "Hosanna!"

When Jesus rode in his upside-down Kingdom-way on a donkey (not a war horse) into Jerusalem there was desperation in the air. The Jewish citizens of Jerusalem were under the heavy yoke of the Roman Empire. They had heard about Jesus. The  rumor was that he claimed to be a king. Even the Messiah. So when word got out that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem  on a donkey, he was greeted as a king would be greeted.

As shouts of “Blessed is the King of Israel!” are heard, clearly the people see in Jesus the answer to their nationalistic, messianic hopes. Earlier a crowd had wanted to make Jesus king (6:15), and now this crowd is recognizing him as king in the city of the great King. Here is the great dream of a Davidic ruler who would come and liberate Israel, establishing peace and subduing the Gentiles. 

The way Jesus entered Jerusalem was a deliberate, prophetic “Zechariah 9:9 act” on his part.  Zech. 9:9 reads: Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. 

Jesus comes into Jerusalem in a kingly way, and the people respond in a kingly fashion. The imagery is regal, even messianic, though it is a humble Messiah who makes the ride. As the people spread their garments (NIV: their cloaks) on the road, a "red carpet" of sorts is produced.

He was there to rescue them. The people were about to get “hosanna-ed,” “rescued.” But it wasn’t going to look like they thought it should. Jesus is a different kind of King. He’s going to “Hosanna” the world by dying on a cross. N.T. Wright writes: “The meaning Jesus attaches to this “triumphal entry” is quite different from the meaning they are wanting to see in it. That, perhaps, is where we can learn most from this story today.”

Jesus does intend to respond to the people’s cries. He has come to seek and save the lost. He has come for people who need help, people who are sick and need a doctor. Yet he’s not coming to be all things to all people. He’s not riding into Jerusalem to conform to the expectations of the crowds of people. He is going to answer in his own way.

The people wanted a prophet. This prophet, Jesus, is going to tell the people that they are under coming judgment. They wanted a Messiah. This one is going to be enthroned on a pagan cross. The crowds wanted to be rescued from evil and oppression. This person Jesus is going to do that, but in a far, far deeper way than they were thinking.

Jesus is going beneath surface evil and in to the depths of the human heart. N.T. Wright says: “Precisely because Jesus says ‘yes’ to their desires at the deepest level, he will have to say ‘no’ or ‘wait’ to the desires they are conscious of, and expressed.” (NTW, Matt, 68)

Once you really cry out “Hosanna,” Jesus is going to “hosanna” you more thoroughly than you imagine, maybe more deeply than you wanted. The Hosanna-ing Jesus brings is not just a band-aid. This story of Jesus entering Jerusalem  is “an object lesson in the mismatch between our expectations and God’s answer.” (NTW, Matt, 69)

The bad news is that the crowds are going to be disappointed. The good news is that their disappointment is on a surface, shallow level. “Deep down, Jesus’ arrival at the great city is indeed the moment when salvation is dawning… The “Hosannas” were justified… they were correct…. but not for the reasons they supposed. To learn this lesson is to take a large step towards wisdom and humility, and towards genuine Christian faith.” (NTW, Matt, 69)

REFLECTION

1.    If you are a Jesus-follower, then you have been Hosanna-ed. You called, He answered, and He came to your rescue. Think of how God, in Christ, has been your Rescuer. Make a list of some God-redemptive things in your life.

2.    Christ has not ceased to love us as Redeemer and Rescuer. If there is an area in your life you now need rescue and deliverance from, identify it, and cry out “Hosanna, Lord!”

Want to Be Married? Prepare for Conflict!

Why aren't you normal like me? (John, to Linda and Linda, to John)

A friend of mine who was a pastor once said to me, "I never get angry." I laughed so hard I fell to the floor gasping for breath between spasms of roaring disbelief and floods of tears tsunami-ing from my blood-veined eyes.

Everyone gets angry. If you don't get angry then you don't exist. 

Descartes might say, of you:

1. He doesn't get angry.
2. Therefore he does not exist.

Agito, ergo sum.

Linda and I have had couples tell us, "We never fight." Our response is: "then you have a problem." (Denial? Repression? Fear?)

Gary Chapman writes: "Conflicts are a normal part of every marriage. There are no married couples who do not encounter conflicts, for one simple reason - we are individuals. As individuals we have different desires, different likes and dislikes, different things that irritate and please us." (Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married, K 381-91 - what a great book!) 

I am not like Linda, and Linda is not like me, in a lot of areas. What are we to do now that we are married? (40 1/2 years!)

Chapman says:

1. Accept the reality that you will have conflicts. "Conflicts are not the sign that you have married wrong person. They simply affirm that you are human."
2. Discover a healthy plan for processing your conflicts. "Such a plan begins by recognizing the need to listen." Chapman suggests three plans:
3. #1 - After you have heard and affirmed each other's ideas, you are ready to look for a solution to the conflict. "The big word in finding a solution is "compromise."" "In marriage it s never having 'my way.' It is rather discovering 'our' way."
4. #2 - If #1 does not work, try "meeting on your side." "This means that after you hear each other's ideas and feelings, one of you decides that on this occasion, it is best to do what the other has in mind. This is a total sacrifice of your original idea, choosing rather t do what your spouse desires and to do it with a positive attitude." (Linda and I have done this countless times ith one another, in both big and little things.)
5. #3 - If neither #1 nor #2 work, you may need to "meet later." This approach says, "I'm not able to conscientiously agree with your idea, and I don't see a place to meet in the middle. Can we just agree for the moment, that we disagree on this? And we will discuss it again in a week or a month, and look for a solution. In the meantime, we will love each other, enjoy each other, and support each other. This will not be a disruptive factor in our marriage."

If you are not married, don't like conflict, and are hoping for a marriage where there's no conflict, you are not ready for marriage. Want to be married someday? Prepare for conflict now. The good news is that addressing conflict in healthy and godly ways strengthens relationships and develops character.

(See Chapman's entire chapter for more explanation and practical examples, plus guiding questions to think about.)