King's Ransom

If you found out that you only had six more months to live, what would you do? A movie came out a few years back, called The Bucket List, in which two friends, Carter and Edward—both terminally ill—set out on a mission to accomplish certain tasks before they “kicked the bucket”. The list included items such as: visiting the pyramids, skydiving, kissing the most beautiful woman in the world, and laughing until you cry. Each man, on the verge of death, checked off every item, one by one as the list was completed. You see, in the face of death Carter and Edward were forced to look inward in order to find exactly what they were living for. Reflection of this type is common, I think. The Apostle Paul had similar thoughts in Philippians 1:21-25.

Paul, imprisoned in Rome, is writing to the Philippian church as his future hangs in limbo; like a car dangling on the edge of a cliff. Paul, in this passage, is uncertain of his future: Is his death Imminent? or will he continue to live on in the flesh? Starting at verse 21, Paul states:

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better, yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/billboard-depicts-virgin-mary-holding-pregnancy-test-150612060.html

According to Yahoo News,  the billboard, called “Mary is in the pink,” was purchased by the St. Matthews-in-the-City Church in Auckland, New Zealand. The church says the billboard featuring the revered religious figure holding a pregnancy test aimed to “avoid the sentimental trite” and “spark thought and conversation.”

Spark thought and conversation? I think they’ve succeeded! The reaction, however, has been mixed. The responses to the billboard have ranged from, “It’s disrespectful” to “It’s gentle and sweet. I really feel for the girl that she was”.  Surely the look on Mary’s face in the picture brings out the realism of the situation: A young girl, unmarried, pregnant. She looks scared. She looks desperate. She looks unhappy.

While I respect the realism of the picture and its desire to illustrate Mary’s humanity, I feel that the look on Mary’s face portrays a reaction from Mary that is not found anywhere in scripture. Any attempt to find this reaction from Mary, within scripture, must rely, entirely on an argument from silence.

What, then, was Mary’s reaction if not despair?

The simple answer is joy.

Mary’s response is recorded in Luke 1:46-56. Her song begins,

My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.”

This response is one of praise, not one of despair. Mary considered herself blessed that God would use her to bring about the salvation of His people. I’m not trying to say that Mary did not feel scared, or confused, or even desperate, for, indeed, she was human. However, I am saying that to view these responses as absolute fact means that we are making a claim about which the scriptural evidence states the exact opposite.

Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham”… do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld you son, your only son, from me.” (Genesis 22:10-12)

Wait a minute… Did God just say, “Now I know”? The text of Genesis seems to imply that God was, by commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, performing a test. God was testing Abraham to see if he would be faithful to His commandments. This test, if taken at face value, implies that God did not know what Abraham was going to do.

This simple reading of the text goes against the classical view of divine foreknowledge. That is, according to the traditional understanding of foreknowledge, God already knew what Abraham was going to do, therefore the binding of Isaac could not have actually been a test. Is there another view of foreknowledge that could allow for a reading in which Abraham was actually being tested by God?

John Sanders, in his book The God Who Risks, defines foreknowledge, or as he prefers to call it “dynamic omniscience”, as God’s ability to know everything which is logically possible to know. God knows all things as they are; that is, God knows the past as past, the present as present, and future as future. The past and present are realities, the future is not. Therefore, God does not know the future as reality but as possibility. Indeed, for open theists, God knows every future possibility in its entirety and he eagerly waits to see which one will become a reality.

Open Theism does not have a problem with God actually testing Abraham to see if he was going to be faithful. According to open theists, God knew all the possible outcomes of the test and he waited in anticipation to see which one Abraham would choose.

Jesus vs. Jehovah (Greg Boyd at The Meeting House | 5-16-10) from WHChurch on Vimeo.

Dr. Greg Boyd sharing his thoughts on Jesus’ teaching of Nonviolence and the violent acts of God in the Old Testament. If you have a few extra minutes check it out.

– Brandin

I recently finished reading Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright and, although the entire book was good, one particular paragraph caught my attention. In speaking of Jesus, Dr. Wright states:

Perhaps, indeed, it has been the same in our own day. Perhaps even “his own people” – this time not the Jewish people of the first century, but the would-be Christian people of the Western world – have not been ready to recognize Jesus himself. We want a “religious” leader, not a king! We want someone to save our souls, not rule our world! Or, if we want a king, someone to take charge of our world, what we want is someone to implement the policies we already embrace, just as Jesus’s contemporaries did. But if Christian don’t get Jesus right, what chance is there that other people will bother much with him?

On this point I am in absolute agreement with Wright. Often we emphasize the truth that salvation is a free gift, which it is, and we  neglect Jesus’ words, “no one can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33 NASB). If, as Christians, we claim that we follow Jesus, then we must give ourselves completely to him. We can hold nothing back.

For Christians Jesus must be both Savior and King. You cannot have one without the other. Jesus cannot be your savior if he is not your king. I’ll repeat that. Jesus cannot be your savior if he is not your king!

In light of this we must ask ourselves, “with whom does our allegiance lie?” That is, are we submitting to the lordship of Jesus or to the lordship of sin? These are good questions to ask ourselves daily.

God Bless,

B. Francabandera