Nobody Took Jesus's Life.

(I'm reposting this from my Facebook status.)


Fact of the Day:

Nobody took Jesus's life.

Yesterday, the Friday before Easter, is named by the Christians, "Good Friday." It's the day that Christians have historically remembered Jesus's walk down a dusty stone road in the Middle East, sweating, stumbling under the torture device upon which he would be nailed, hung, and executed. If it had all happened in America in the 1960's, Christians would be wearing little electric chairs as jewelry. Why? Why is this "Good"?

The Christian understanding is not one of "cosmic child abuse," nor of the sad loss of a great man or prophet. Christians call this Friday "Good," because Jesus, God with us, died on that torture device intentionally.

He went in love.

He went because he knew that the only way to show love for someone was to "lay it all down" for them, and in his case it meant physical death.

He went because he knew that we've done things that we can't pay for, that we can't bear thinking about, that we hate ourselves for.

He went so that he could say, "You are loved more than you can possibly imagine, whatever you've done, whatever has been done to you. You are forgiven. You can have peace with yourself, with everyone in your life, and with the One who made you. I have finished all of the work already. Trust me."

Nobody took Jesus's life. He gave it.

Stealing from Atheism 2.0. Nicely.

I'm stealing this idea from NearEmmaus, one of my favorite blogs.

Alan de Botton, a kind atheist, presents some profound critiques of secularization in this TED Talk. As a Christian, he reminds me of some of the great benefits of Christian art, the liturgical calendar, community, etc. As a Christian, de Botton encourages me in my practices. While I disagree entirely on the superstructure of belief, and I say "Of course there is a God, look around you," I think he has some important things to say, which ought to act as excellent reminders for those of us who find ourselves swept up in the grand story of a loving Creator. Take a few minutes to watch de Botton's talk; you'll be glad you did.

John Calvin on Valentines Day

Deep humor, lighthearted wisdom:

"Always keep in mind what I seek to find in [a wife], for I am none of those insane lovers who embrace also the vices of those with whom they are in love, where they are smitten at first with a fine figure. This is the only beauty that allures me: if she is chaste, if not too fussy or fastidious, if economical, if patient, if there is hope that she will be interested in my health."

And how can you not love that flowing beard? I'm sure he was fighting women away with those waves of glory. And that hat. It looks so supple.

Beauty and God

I took this photo last weekend on an icy morning at a retreat center in New Hampshire, on Lake Winnipesaukee. 

"Even when the world is at its worst, and when life is at its worst, there is still beauty left, and we should never forget it. It is not that to look at the beauty and to think about the beauty is an escape from reality--far from it. Any such glimpse of beauty should move us to three things.  

It should move us to the memory of God, the awareness that this is God's world, and that not even the sin and thoughtlessness and the selfishness of man can entirely obliterate the beauty of God.  

It should move us to gratitude, and to the realization that there is always something left for which we ought to give thanks.

It should move us to resolution and to action, so that, as far as we can, we may increase the beauty and remove the ugliness that is within this world." ~William Barclay

A Brief Theology of the Academic Vocation

Over at Intervarsity's Emerging Scholars Network I've written an article about the purpose of academic work, and about how that work is informed and influenced by the Christian understanding of the glory of God. Check it out! http://blog.emergingscholars.org/2014/01/a-brief-theology-of-the-academic-vocation/

Isn't Feeling More Spiritual Than Reason?

Right now I'm reading After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, a book on Christian purpose and ethics by N. T. Wright. In it he stresses over and over again the need for Christians to think out what it means to be "in Christ." The following quote displays one of the central arguments of the book, and one that should be taken seriously by all of us--we who stumble along through this lovely life claiming Jesus as Lord.

"Part of the problem in contemporary Christianity, I believe, is that talk about freedom of the Spirit, about the grace which sweeps us off our feet and heals and transforms our lives, has been taken over surreptitiously by a kind of low-grade romanticism, colluding with an anti-intellectual streak in our culture, generating the assumption that the more spiritual you are, the less you need to think.

"I cannot stress too strongly that this is a mistake. The more genuinely spiritual you are, according to Romans 12 and Philippians 1, the more clearly and accurately and carefully you will think, particularly about what the completed goal of your Christian journey will be and hence what steps you should be taking, what habits you should be acquiring, as part of the journey toward that goal, right now. Thinking clearly and Christianly is thus both a key element within the total rehumanizing process (you won't be fully human if you leave your thinking and reasoning behind) and a vital part of the motor which drives the rest of that process."

The Joy of The Gospel: Pope Francis' Missionary Exhortation

I've been reading through the Pope's recent exhortation to the Church, The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium in Latin), and have been refreshed at every turn.  It's a long document (something like 250 pages), but Francis has written an exhortation that can be taken into consideration not only by Catholics, but by all who call themselves followers of Jesus.  How dangerous would it be if we refused to hear wisdom simply because of it's speaker's denomination (1 Corinthians 1:10-18)?  The exhortation is full of scripture and, as far as I've read, contains nothing that a Protestant might find unorthodox.  To be quite honest, this is, at its core, an evangelical document.  It is an exhortation to the Church to preach the Gospel to all, to do everything in love and mercy and truth for the sake of making Jesus known to all people, especially the poor. This is my favorite quote so far:

48. … We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor. May we never abandon them.
49. Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ. Here I repeat for the entire Church what I have often said to the priests and laity of Buenos Aires: I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37).

Edit: At the end of the exhortation Francis includes his prayer to Mary.  I do understand that we all have our differences, but the prayer that Francis includes goes above and beyond devotion, and elevates Mary to a recipient of the praise only due the triune God.  Especially when the New Testament is read as a Jewish document, which it certainly is (Jesus was, in fact a Jew), to praise Mary to the degree that Francis does is certainly not biblical.