Are we prepared to let God be God?
One of the problems with religion in Jesus' day is that it squeezed the life out of people. Judging, fault-finding, hypocrisy, rule-keeping, self-righteousness...all of these were in full swing.
His critics either don't notice or don't care that Jesus has just miraculously healed a man and released him from a 38 year-old infirmity. All they see is someone breaking the Sabbath rules by carrying a mat. "Aha! Caught a lawbreaker!" The man - definitely not one of the most gracious souls you will meet - wastes no time in pointing the finger of blame at his healer. (What a nice way to say thanks.)
Jesus may have been humble of heart, but he never backed down from a fight. When the religious authorities get on his case about working on the Sabbath, Jesus ups the ante: "My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working." Now they are upset not only because Jesus is working (like God) on the Sabbath, but also because He refers to God as His own Father.
The Jews understood the implications of this better than we do today who have had 2000 years to get accustomed to portrayals of Jesus as the Son of God. In fact, Christians are conditioned to view everyone as "children of God" and to look to God as our "heavenly Father." Not so in Jesus' day! The Jews perceived that talk like this was revolutionary. Jesus was making Himself out to be someone in special relationship to God, staking a claim for divinity Himself. It's only chapter 5, and His enemies are already seeking to kill Him. In their minds, Jesus is out of control, crossing boundaries, and challenging the establishment. He is out of "the box."
How about us? Do we allow that God may be much bigger than the box that we put Him in? Do we understand that God made the rules and He has the freedom to defy our expectations? Our religion shouldn't be hard and calcified, but life-giving and full of love!
Also, Jesus sure makes it clear in this chapter who he is and from whom he came. Whew!
ReplyDeleteVerses 28-29 have always puzzled me because it sounds like our ancestors' dead souls are still in their buried bodies and when He comes He will call them out and they will be judged.
ReplyDeleteI think Jesus is referring to the resurrection of the dead at the last day which will lead into the final judgment. Mainstream Christian thought is that while our spirits go to be with Christ after our death, we will be given new resurrection bodies at some point in the future. What puzzles me in these specific verses is the emphasis on works vs. faith (those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.) There is no mention of a relationship with Christ or grace or forgiveness here, which is why it is helpful to not take verses in isolation. I believe that may be because Jesus' point here in these verses isn't to talk about salvation, but to talk about his role as Judge and power of life within Him. His teaching about salvation and the role of faith in Him can be found in vs. 24 and 25.
DeleteI think maybe we make our own boxes with good intentions, but it ends up doing more of a disservice than good. We want to understand God to the best of our ability. We so badly want to know what God is like and how God thinks and how God acts. We read books about it, listen to sermons, do studies, etc. It's not that this is bad at all. It's just that it will fall short. Sure, we may learn patterns in how God had moved in the past. But that can blind us to the new and exciting ways that God is moving now and in the future.
ReplyDelete...we cannot "do good " in God's eyes unless we are washed in the blood of Christ. And Ephesians 2 tells us that we were created to do the good God planned in advance for us to do. Kind of hard to find a box big enough for the true God!
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