Torn Between

Nearly seven years ago I began writing this blog.  This is only my 160th post (a little over 20 posts a year), but it's been enjoyable to occasionally share my thoughts with those who have taken the time to read them.  There's so many great blogs and other content to absorb on the internet, so I am thankful that a few people are willing to give my voice a listen.  I began this blog a couple of months after we had moved to Dublin.  I called the blog "Near St. Anne's and the Sea", because when we first moved to Ireland, we lived right across the street from the amazing St. Anne's Park.  And just down the road from our apartment was Dublin Bay and the Irish Sea. 

After over two years, Juli and Ashlyn will get to visit both the park, the beaches on North Bull Island, and all of the other places they miss so much.  I've already had the chance to visit Dublin twice this year.  So, though I'm genuinely stoked to be able to be back on the little island I lovingly refer to as the "Garden of Eden of the North Atlantic", I don't think my anticipation can compare to theirs'.  But, I am thankful that this time around I'll be able to experience our home away from home with my family.

As I've mentioned in another blog post or two, in this life, we're often torn.  We are torn between places and people.  We are torn between the here and now and the eternity still to come.  We are thankful for what we have, where we're at, and the people we get to experience life with, but we also long for that which we are missing, the places we cannot be, and the people we are absent from.  I believe that somehow and someway, this dilemma will be resolved in the age to come.  In the meantime, we make the most of where we're at, while we're here (or there). 

For the next week or so, we'll be reconnecting with those people and places we presently long for.  And then, when we get back home, we'll be thankful to be back home.  The good news is that Jesus will journey with us the entire way.  "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20). - Shay  

The Slippery Slope of Succession

One of the most famous English monarchs to ever sit on the throne must be Elizabeth I.  Elizabeth reigned from 1558 to 1603, but how she finally came to the throne is anything but simple and smooth.  Her father, Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon and had one daughter with her – Mary.  But of course, Henry desperately wanted a male heir and he believed that Catherine could not produce one.  So he decided to get rid of Catherine, but the Pope wouldn’t allow it.  And so the King who had once been proclaimed the “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope, due to his opposition to the Protestant Reformation on the European continent, took control of the English churches and created the Church of England, with the English monarch as the head.  This allowed Henry to divorce Catherine. 

In all, Henry went through six wives in his lifetime.  Their fate can be summarized with the following pneumonic phrase – divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.  His six wives produced for him a total of three legitimate heirs, but only one son, the sickly Edward.  Before his death, Henry established a throne succession plan whereby Edward would assume the throne upon his death and if Edward failed to produce an heir, then Henry’s oldest daughter Mary would then inherit the crown.  Finally, if both Edward and Mary were to pass without legitimate heirs, Elizabeth would become Queen.

After Henry’s death, his son Edward, the sickly boy, reigned for only six years and then died at the age of 15 without an heir.  Edward was a fanatical Protestant and had tried to create a plan that would prevent Mary from inheriting the throne, but his plan ultimately failed, as his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, was unable to prevent Mary from taking control (Lady Jane Grey joined two of Henry’s wives with the distinction of having her head removed from her shoulders).  Mary then assumed the throne, but she only reigned for five years, and she too failed to produce an heir.  She did, however restore the Catholic faith to England and had at least 280 Protestant dissenters burned at the stake in the process.  You can toast that the next time you have a Bloody Mary!  Throughout Bloody Mary’s reign, Elizabeth wisely kept a low profile when she wasn’t locked up in the Tower of London or under house arrest.  Finally, at the end of her life, Mary acknowledged that her half-sister was to inherit the English throne.  And so began one of the longest and most successful reigns of an English monarch.  The story of Elizabeth’s succession is nasty.  And history is full of many stories like this.

Biblical history is no different.  It emerges out of real life and so, it too is full of nasty stories.  Solomon’s rise to the throne is just as bloody as Elizabeth’s.  We find the throne succession narratives at the end of 2 Samuel and the beginning of 1 Kings.  1 Kings chapters 1-2 are especially grimy – full of double-dealing and political maneuvering.  If we fail to notice the details of the text, we might assume that Solomon’s succession is inevitable – but a closer reading reveals that it is anything but inevitable.  We forget that Solomon is at least ten sons back in the line of succession.  The only thing Solomon has going for him is that his mother (another messy story) has become David’s favorite wife.  Without the quick wit and aggressive action of Nathan the prophet, Solomon and his mother Bathsheba might experience the same fate as Lady Jane Grey. 

What sets this whole process in motion is the fact that David has multiple sons and daughters by multiple wives over his lifetime.  If you want to make an argument against polygamy, read the stories from the time of Abraham through the Judean monarchy and you’ll soon discover that one wife for life is the way to go!  But back to David’s story.  Because David has produced so many potential heirs through a variety of mothers, a jockeying for position ensues as David’s life winds down.  We see this clearly in 2 Samuel in the stories of Absalom and Amnon.  And by the time we get to the very end of David’s life, as the weak and impotent King lies on the bosom of his beautiful Shunammite nurse, Abishag - Adonijah, the eldest remaining of David’s sons begins to make his move.  And he has a little help from his friends – powerful friends.  Joab, David’s ruthless military commander, and Abiathar, a priest and one of David’s trusted friends, have sided with Adonijah.  They proclaim a feast and invite all of those in their camp to celebrate Adonijah’s inevitable succession to the throne. 

But others are also making plans.  The initial conversations are not recorded for us, but presumably because she was David’s favorite, Bathsheba is promised that her son Solomon will be King.  But as Adonijah begins to press his claim, Nathan realizes that he and Bathsheba need to act fast!  They assemble their own powerful allies, including Zadok the priest, Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men, and Rei and Shimei, two of David’s closest confidants.  Most importantly, David’s inner circle of warriors supports Solomon. 

Nathan and Bathsheba hatch a plot to ensure that Solomon, and not Adonijah, becomes king.  If their plan succeeds, the power in Israel will be theirs.  If it fails, Solomon and Bathsheba will almost certainly be killed.  So Bathsheba goes before David and reminds him of his previous promise.  Then, Nathan comes in and confirms Bathsheba’s position and reiterates the fact that Adonijah is aiming for the throne behind the king’s back.  Their plan succeeds and David publicly endorses Solomon as his successor.  Most of Adonijah’s supporters realize they’ve been outflanked and so quickly move to Solomon’s side.  And Adonijah himself realizes that his life is now in danger and so he begs his brother for mercy.  Solomon tentatively grants him a reprieve from any physical harm, but he warns him that he’s keeping an eye on him. 

But all is not yet well.  Even David sees that Solomon’s throne is not yet secure.  David gives his son some spiritual advice in 1 Kings 2:1-4, but if you read further, David’s words of wisdom become much more political, if not ruthless in nature.  David tells Solomon that Joab is a threat to his throne, so the prudent thing to do is to take him out.  Not only that, but Saul still has some distant relatives that may be gunning for the throne, so Solomon must deal wisely with them.  Shimei (not to be confused with David’s confidant) is a threat from Saul’s tribe and must be killed.  It’s good to be king, but it’s far from easy.  A king must be shrewd and decisive if they wish to remain on the throne. 

After David’s death, Adonijah unwisely continues to scheme behind Solomon’s back.  He goes to Bathsheba and requests that David’s nurse, Abishag, be given to him as a wife.  This isn’t an innocent request.  Just as Absalom’s sexual union on the rooftop of the palace with David’s concubines demonstrated his power and authority to the tribes of Israel, so Adonijah’s request for David’s Shunammite nurse was a politically calculated move towards stealing the throne.  Solomon immediately sniffs this plot out and has his brother Adonijah killed.  In addition to this, Solomon follows his father’s advice and has Joab killed and forces Abiathar the priest into exile.  Eventually, Solomon finds a legitimate excuse to have Shimei, Saul’s distant cousin executed.  We then read in 1 Kings 2:46, “…the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”  So much for a smooth and simple succession. 

The throne succession narratives at the end of 2 Samuel and at the beginning of 1 Kings are not unlike the kinds of stories we read in history.  Much of what occurred is pretty icky and very political.  These stories are full of power plays, murder, intrigue, double-dealing, and back-stabbing.  And most of this behavior occurred amongst David’s own family.  These aren’t the nice and neat “flannel graph” stories that we learned from the sweet little grannies who taught us in Sunday school.  But this shouldn’t surprise us.  Biblical history is still history.  These are true stories of real people living in the real world.  The Bible is full of the stories of flawed people living in a broken society. 

And you know, my life mirrors some of this too.  I’ve never murdered anyone, but there’s a lot in my past that I’m embarrassed about.  My life is filled with mistakes.  I wish I could go back and erase some of my history.  I’ve done some pretty dumb things through the years.  I’ve not always treated other people the way I want to be treated.  And I’ve not always loved God with my whole heart. I bet your life is a lot like this too.  In fact, I know it is, because if you’re reading this, then you’re a human.  And we’re all flawed and we live our lives in a world full of other flawed people.  Our histories are not always as neat and tidy as we’d like them to be.

But you know what else – God didn’t quit working because the material he was working with was flawed.  He continued to work through broken human beings, because the last I checked, that’s all he has to work with.  David was a horrible father and much of the messiness in the throne succession narratives are down to David being a lousy dad.  But, nevertheless, David was also a man after God’s own heart and he was the greatest king in Israel’s history!  God worked in and through David and Solomon despite their flaws.  And God is at work in the midst of our broken lives too!  God meets us in the mess of our lives – he works through the broken pieces of our stories – but he’s not content to simply leave us there.  So, he sent his one and only Son to become one of us, to live amongst us, and to finally be the King that all the kings had been called to be, but failed to be.  In fact, Jesus was and is everything that all the rest of us have failed to be too.

So, it’s worth reflecting on the kind of kingdom that Jesus came to establish.  In John 18, the Roman Governor, Pilate, asks Jesus a crucial question.  “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Pilate wants to know if Jesus really is a threat to Rome and their control of Palestine.  Jesus responds affirmatively, but with a clear caveat.  He says, “My kingdom is not from this world.  If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.  But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”  (John 18:36).  Jesus’ kingdom is very much for this world, but it’s not of this world.  It operates by a different set of rules and its values contrast with those of the ordinary kingdoms of this present age. 

I believe this is one of the reasons that Jesus’ contemporaries had such a hard time accepting him as the Messiah.  Jesus didn’t fit the mold of what they were looking for in a coming king.  They still envisioned the kind of kingdom that David and Solomon ruled over.  Instead of driving out the Romans, like many of Jesus’ fellow Jews would have hoped and prayed for, Jesus surrendered to them and was crucified by them.  In his most famous sermon, The Sermon on the Mount, he said things like, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth… Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God…If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also…If anyone forces you to go one mile (in other words, if a Roman soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile), go also the second mile…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  These were not the words of a messianic figure in most 1^st century Jews’ minds.  And these words are still hard for many of us to swallow.

The Kingdom of God that Jesus brought and is still bringing is not like the kingdoms of this world.  But it’s very much for people like us who are citizens of this present world.  God meets us in the busyness, the messiness, and most importantly, even the very ordinariness of our lives and brings us to a point where eventually his will is done in our hearts and our lives as it is in heaven.  We start out as ordinary people with all the weaknesses and flaws that you find in anyone’s story.  But through Jesus and through the Spirit’s work in our lives, we are in a state of becoming.  We are becoming poor in spirit (we realize we are spiritually bankrupt).  We are becoming meek.  We are learning to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  We are becoming pure in heart.  We are gradually learning to show mercy, instead of justice (or injustice).  We are becoming peacemakers.  In short, we are becoming more and more like Jesus himself.  “Eventually, he who began a good work among us, will bring it to completion and our love will have overflowed more and more with knowledge and full insight so that we will have produced a harvest of righteousness, being pure and blameless on the day that Jesus returns!”  That's my tight paraphrase of what the apostle Paul says is our destiny (Philippians chapter 1). 

We all start out living lives in the old creation, but that’s our history, that's not our future.  Our future is life in the new creation.  We’re in the process of realizing that life, even now.  The writer of our story specializes in happy endings.  But in reality, they aren’t endings, they’re new beginnings.  The kingdoms of the Bible and the kingdoms of the history books will one day become the Kingdom of God.  We hear a description of what that day will be like in Revelation 11:15-17.  “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.’  Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, singing, ‘We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.’”  May God hasten the day.  Come, Lord Jesus! – Shay

Who Else, but God?!!!

We live in an age of unprecedented wealth, knowledge, scientific discovery, and technological advancements.  Our world is often one of rationalism and reason, where the mysteries of the universe are simply there for us to unravel.  We observe the seasons and the weather, and do our best to predict the patterns of nature.  It’s not only possible to circumvent the globe in less than 36 hours, we’ve even landed on the moon!  The people at the Tower of Babel would envy us – we’ve actually made it to the heavens and we’ve learned how to translate almost any language in the world.

          The fact is, we live in a world that can be broken down into countless ologies.  If we want to understand the earth, we dig into geology.  If we are interested in how our bodies function, we slice into biology.  If we have trouble understanding why people behave the way they do, we define their actions through sociology.  And people who are obsessed with the future, sadly, sometimes gaze into astrology.  But in all of our studies, if we aren’t careful, we might ignore the ultimate source behind all that we witness in our world.  To answer the truly important – the really big questions in life – we need to wade into the waters of theology.  In other words, we need to engage in the study of God.

          Sometimes, when people begin to recount the numerous ways that God has been active in their lives, I get just a little uneasy.  If someone is convinced that God led them to the perfect parking space at the store, I begin to question if they really understand God’s overarching purposes for the universe.  But I must be careful not to become too cynical or jaded when people genuinely notice God’s hand at work in their lives.  I need to make sure that I don’t become so accustomed to the rational world in which we live, that I wind up leaving very little room for the divine presence to be seen and felt.  God is at work in our world, just as he has been at work in the history of humankind from the beginning of creation.  I need my eyes to be open to what God is doing all around me. 

          It was obvious that God was at work in the lives of the people of Israel in the book of Exodus.  But though his signs and wonders were so very clear, Pharaoh consistently hardened his heart to what YHWH was doing in the plagues and through the ministries of Moses and Aaron.  In fact, it was this hardness to God’s presence that eventually led Pharaoh and his army to a premature death in the waters of chaos.

          It’s interesting to look at this story in retrospect.  If you move from the earlier parts of Exodus to the middle, you come to a transitional passage in the 18^th chapter of the book.  Here, the people are finally camped at the Mountain of God, Sinai, and Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, has journeyed to this spot because he has heard about what God has done for Moses and Israel.  Though Pharaoh was blind to the maneuvers of YHWH, Jethro is not.  He sees that something special is at work, and who else could it be, but God? 

“Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had beset them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.  Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in delivering them from the Egyptians.  Jethro said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh.  Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them.’  And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.” (Exodus 18:8-12, NRSV).

          Scripture doesn’t tell us very much about exactly who Moses’ father-in-law is, or when he becomes a believer in YHWH.  What we do know is that he is a priest in Midian.  Recent discoveries have shown that shepherds who lived in Midian around the time of the Exodus worshipped a God they called YHWH.  So, it could be that Jethro is already familiar with the God of Israel.  At any rate, Jethro sees that Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and their safe passage through the wilderness could not be accounted for by anything but God’s grace and providence.  Who else, but God!

          Who else but God could lead Israel to Egypt in the first place?  It was God’s divine providence that saved the sons of Jacob so many years before.  Who else but God could save the life of the baby Moses through a reed basket and eventually lead him into the wilderness of Midian where he met his destiny at the burning bush?  Who else but God could deal plague after plague on the false gods of Egypt and Pharaoh, while still protecting his own people?  Who else but God could strike the first-born sons?  Who else but God could save the people through the chaos waters of the sea?  Who else but God could provide the people with something to drink when they were thirsty, not once, but twice?  And when they were hungry and longing for the pots of meat back in Egypt, who else but God could provide manna to eat?  When the Amalekites came out to battle Israel in the desert, who else but God could deliver them to victory?  If not God, then who else? 

          Jethro has heard of all that God has done for Moses and for Israel.  He has seen the Almighty at work.  He cannot help but proclaim that God is both sovereign and gracious!

          Jethro doesn’t seek a naturalistic explanation for the miracle of the sea.  And according to Jethro, it’s not just by coincidence that YHWH has led his people to the Mountain of God.  There is a deeper, far reaching, theological purpose for God’s actions on behalf Israel.  (This is another step in God’s eventual reclamation of the entire universe.)  God’s wonders are plain to see, and Jethro is willing to gaze in astonishment upon them.  And with his mouth, and with his life, he offers up praises to this God!  His God!

          God’s wonders in our world are also plain to see, but are we willing to see them?  If we’re not careful, we might find ourselves more in tune with the surrounding culture, than with what God is doing around us.  Through the good and the bad, God is at work, and yet, we might sometimes fail to give him thanks for what he is doing.  When we narrowly escape an accident on the highway, do we think, “Weren’t we lucky!”?  Or, when God uses one of our friends to encourage us and to give us advice, we might be quick to thank our friend, but slow to remember the God who gave that friend to us.  When we pray to God to deliver us from some difficult circumstance, and he does deliver us, do we chalk it up to our faithfulness in prayer, or do we give glory to the God who faithfully answers our prayers?  God is working wonders all around us, but we must have eyes that are open to see all that God is doing. 

          A Scottish man named Billy Wilson penned a song in 2000 which really resonates in our age of human self-sufficiency.  The song is titled, Father I Believe and the words make a powerful point.

Who says miracles don’t happen anymore?

And who says God can only do what we afford?

Why so many spend so long trying to ignore,

Every sign of life, every sign of hope, everything before.

Such a sad affair when living to deny.

Where every work of wonderful is written off in time.

The God of old responds to faith, but now he doesn’t try.

Isn’t that absurd?  Isn’t that a joke?  Isn’t that a crime?

Father, I believe!  Help my unbelief!

And if you tell me mountains will move, then I will walk as I believe.

A Syro-Phoenician lady, wasn’t due a thing.

She came for the crumbs from the table, but she left with everything.

Lowered into Jesus’ presence, lifted out of sin.

The hearts around him needed proof, so he left with everything.

Father, I believe!  Help my unbelief!

And if you tell me mountains will move, then I will walk as I believe.

I will walk as I believe.

          Wilson’s words especially hit home with the line, “Father, I believe, help my unbelief!”  Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation?  You have a little bit of faith, but you long to believe more.  We see God’s work all around us and we want to be like Jethro and let everyone know what God is doing in our lives and in the church, but we sometimes falter in our boldness.  Or, sometimes, when things don’t go as we would like them to go, we may find it hard to believe that God is still active and working.  But we need to trust that he is still working – even when we don’t see it, or when we don’t understand what he’s up to.  In these moments, we would do well to pray, “Father, I believe, help my unbelief!”

          And there are some things by God’s grace that we can do to more clearly see God’s work in our lives.  We must acknowledge that God is both sovereign and gracious.  First, by acknowledging God’s sovereignty we will be more open to let his kingdom reign into every facet of our existence.  There should be no areas of our lives that are not touched by God’s presence.  From the moment we rise in the morning, until the moment we drop our heads on our pillows, Christ’s presence should be evident in all that we say and in all that we do.  Secondly, by acknowledging God’s graciousness through our thankfulness to him and in our worship of him, we become more aware of what God is doing around us.  We should not relegate these times of thanksgiving and praise only to prayers before meals, devotionals, Bible classes, or church services.  They should be a part of every daily activity in which we participate.  Through this and the encouragement we receive from one another, we will be better able to see God and his actions in our lives and in this world.  Someone is at work in us – someone is at work in you – someone is at work in me.  And who else could that be, but God?!!! - Shay

A Musical Journey

We were on our way back from a High School mission trip to Montana when I bought my first U2 album.  The year was 1992 and I was 15 years old.  The record was Achtung Baby (actually it was a cassette tape).  Our youth group had stopped in Colorado Springs for the night, and to kill a little time before bed, our sponsors dropped us off at one of the local malls.  Most shops in malls don't interest me much, but record stores always have grabbed my attention.  I remember looking in the rock section and narrowing down my focus to one band, U2.  Having never listened to much of their music, I had become intrigued by this foreign group when some of my friends at Camp Blue Haven had played some of their songs that summer.  When I was younger, I remember seeing older teens wearing Rattle & Hum t-shirts at camp.  I had also heard people say that U2 was a Christian band. 

All of that combined to make me curious.  I really liked the sound of a couple of the songs I had heard earlier in the summer from Achtung Baby, namely The Fly and Mysterious Ways.  But having also seen the Rattle & Hum t-shirts a few years back, I was torn.  Should it be Rattle & Hum or Achtung Baby?  Going for the more recent release, I grabbed the Achtung Baby cassette and bought the first of many U2 albums.

The rest of that summer and into the autumn, Achtung Baby was on heavy rotation in my Walkman.  And over the next couple of years, I began to expand my U2 collection.  I worked my way backwards, skipping Rattle & Hum and going straight to The Joshua Tree (I bought Rattle & Hum a few months later).  As much as I loved Achtung Baby, the songs on The Joshua Tree were what I would describe as epic and cinematic.  They were the kinds of songs that could transport you to another time and place.  One of the first few times I listened to The Joshua Tree, I was riding in a car amongst the mountainous landscapes of northern New Mexico.  Later on, I remember how well the songs fit with the desert topography of my grandparents' place out in Far West Texas.  Achtung Baby introduced me to U2, but The Joshua Tree sold me on them.  It wasn't long until I had a copy of every U2 record and a couple VHS concert tapes to go with them. 

I'm not exactly sure why I grew to love U2 so much.  I've had various musical phases that have come and gone, but I've always stuck with U2.  I think it's partly down to the fact that they've always been about so much more than simply making music.  They're activists as well as artists.  And they are a Christian band, though they can't be put in a box like much contemporary Christian music.  In other words, they are a rock 'n roll band who happen to have a committed Christian faith, but they aren't what most people would call a "Christian band".  They're comfortable exploring some of the darker subjects, as well as the loftier and more uplifting motifs.  Faith must always be lived out in the real world and the vibe I get from Bono is that his faith is genuine and real.  So, I connect to U2 on multiple levels and I just really love the music they play and the songs they write.  So once I became a fan, I became a fan for life.

But it wasn't until the spring of 1997, after the release of the Pop album that I finally had the chance to see U2 live.  A friend and I travelled to Dallas, TX and caught the Popmart show at the Cotton Bowl.  I saw another show (with 3 of my cousins) on that tour in San Antonio later that year.  And then, in 2001, my cousin Brent and I drove down to Houston and saw Bono and the boys play on the Elevation tour in what used to be called the Compaq Center (this is now the home of Joel Osteen and his megachurch - Bono broke it in for Joel!).  A few months later, I introduced Juli to the U2 live experience at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.  She was impressed.

We had tickets to the Houston show in 2005, but I sold them and made a handsome profit in the process.  I still kind of regret doing that, but it was probably the smart thing to do at the time.  I was already in trouble for buying Longhorn season tickets that year!  Then on October 12, 2009, my cousin Brent and I got right up close to the stage for the 360 show in what is now called AT & T Stadium in Arlington.  Juli would have joined us that evening, but she was only 8 days away from giving birth to Ashlyn! 

So I've had the privilege of attending 5 U2 concerts on 3 different tours over the past 20 years.  This Friday, Lord willing, I'll attend my 6th.  And with this being the 30 year anniversary tour of The Joshua Tree, I'm especially excited to see and hear the sights and sounds as U2 play their most ambitious record live in its entirety.  The show will be in Louisville, KY, so it will also afford me the chance to go on a road trip, or one might say, a pilgrimage of sorts.  As Larry Mullen Jr. remarked in the film, Rattle & Hum, "It's a musical journey."  So it is! - Shay

The Epic Narrative of New Creation

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.  Then God said, ‘Let there be light; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Gen 1:1-4)

Thus, the epic narrative of creation begins.  The story of creation will twist and turn, with ups and downs, highs and lows, and a good few diversions and dead ends along the way.  In fact, just a few verses after the journey begins, we read the first account of the fall.  And then the next, and the next, and the next.  From Genesis chapters 3-11, humanity – all human beings - not just one couple in a garden, fall by taking their eyes off of their good creator and fixing them on themselves and the rest of creation.  This idolatry leads to more and more de-relational and de-creational sin. 

Though sinful humanity rebels against him, God doesn’t give up on mankind or his creation.  He sets in motion a rescue operation, whereby humankind and the creation will be set free from sin and decay.  Beginning with the call of Abraham, the Lord creates a people for himself, a people through whom all of the nations of the earth will find blessing.  But the story of Israel is itself fraught with sin and rebellion.  Kings and prophets are sent, without much long-term impact, and as time goes by, it becomes obvious that God will have to act in a new and dramatic way to reverse the curse of sin and destruction unleashed upon his wonderful world. 

The writings found in the prophet Isaiah look forward to a time when things will begin to work right again.  This new age is described in a variety of ways.  In Isaiah 11, we read,  “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots…He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth…The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid…and a little child shall lead them…They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:1-9). 

Later on, Isaiah goes onto say in chapters 25 & 26, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.  And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.  Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth…Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.  O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!  For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead.”  (Isaiah 25:6-8 & 26:19).

About ten chapters later, Isaiah says this, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God.  He will come with a vengeance, with terrible recompense.  He will come and save you.’  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:3-6). 

Eventually, in Isaiah 65 and 66, this transformed reality is described as new heavens and a new earth.  “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind…for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people with delight…no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress…They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit…The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox…They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.  Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool…They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord…and I will take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the Lord.  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord; so shall your descendants and your name remain.  From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:17-25, 66:1, & 66:20-23).

There are other Old Testament passages that say similar kinds of things, but

Isaiah gives us a pretty good idea of what many Jews of the 1^st Century were expecting when the Kingdom of God would finally come and God’s will would finally be done on earth, as in heaven. 

The writer of the gospel of John paints a portrait of new creation for us through his seven signs.  The seven signs demonstrate that what Isaiah’s prophesy anticipated, was beginning to take place through the life and ministry of Jesus.  The abundant wine of Isaiah 25 is alluded to in John 2 when Jesus turns water to wine.  The healing of the official’s son in John 4, the healing of the lame man in John 5, and the healing of the blind man in John 9 remind us of the restoration to health that Isaiah 35 anticipates.  The feeding of the five thousand in John 6 points to God’s feast described in Isaiah 25.  When Jesus comes to his disciples, walking on the water in John 6, echoes of Isaiah 35’s description of God coming to save his people reverberates in one’s mind.  And just as Isaiah 25 and 26 look forward to a time when death is swallowed up forever and the earth gives birth to those long dead, so Lazarus’ resurrection in John 11 points to a day when the dead in Christ will rise to eternal life. 

The fact that seven signs are selected to awaken faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, looks back to the Genesis story of the seven days of creation.  But the gospel of John retells this story with a twist.  This isn’t just the old creation story, this is the story of new creation – the new heavens and the new earth that Isaiah 65 and 66 point us to.  We discover in John 1:51 that Jesus is the ladder, the bridge between heaven and earth.  Just as the temple had been the place where heaven and earth came together in Israel’s history, now Jesus is the place where heaven and earth unite.  In 1:46, the writer of John’s gospel invites us to come and see…come and see this story of new creation.   

One can’t escape the clear echo of Genesis chapter 1 in John 1:1-5.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

Just as the Spirit hovered over the primeval waters of chaos in Genesis 1, so the Spirit descends upon the baptismal waters of Jesus in John 1:32-34. 

After passing through the seven signs mentioned earlier, we arrive at the climax of the gospel in chapter 19.  On the sixth day of Jesus’ Passover week, his dead body is taken down from the cross, and he rests on the Sabbath, the seventh day, in a garden tomb.  So, it’s no surprise that after Jesus rises from the dead on the eighth day, the first day of the new creation, Mary confuses Jesus for the gardener.  In John 20, we find ourselves back in the garden, back in Genesis, but this is a new genesis story, a story of regeneration.  As God breathed the breath of life into the man in Genesis 2, so Jesus breathes on his disciples and they receive the Holy Spirit in John 20:21-22.  The writer of the fourth gospel wants us to see that in the person of Jesus - through his life, death, and resurrection - God’s new creation has been launched.  The new creation has broken in, but it has yet to come to completion. 

We are living between the times, in the already, but not yet.  We live in the overlap of two ages – the present evil age, and the age to come, when God will renew, restore, and recreate all things.  Another John, John the prophet caught a glimpse of what that day will be like in the writing that we call Revelation.  He describes what he saw in Revelation 21. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them; and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’  And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’  Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’  Then he said to me, ‘It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.  Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” (Revelation 21:1-7).

When God’s recreation of the cosmos is complete, he will dwell with us and we will be his people – living, worshiping, reigning and serving in his presence forever.  But, for those of us in Christ, God’s Spirit already dwells within us.  As the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is in Christ, there is new creation.  We don’t have to wait until Jesus returns to live meaningful, worthwhile lives.  There’s no reason for us to live our lives bound by the death and decay of the old creation - we don’t have to live lives of sin and slavery - we are free to live lives rooted in the new creation - now.  Eternal life, abundant life, begins when we rise from the waters of baptism and will continue when we rise from the dead in the age to come.  And it won’t be long until our King returns and the new creation is finally brought to completion.  John’s revelation ends like this... “The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.”  (Revelation 22:20-21). - Shay

The Gateway Into the Age to Come

One of the most personal and moving stories in the gospels is that of Lazarus and his resurrection in John 11.  In this short narrative we see the fully human Jesus and his intimate relationship with the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  Jesus learns of Lazarus' illness and eventual death, but chooses to remain distant, rather than rush to Bethany.  When he finally does arrive, Lazarus has already been dead for four days and his stinking flesh is rotting in a tomb.

As Jesus approaches those mourning, Lazarus' sister, Martha, comes out to meet Jesus and says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."  Martha's sister, Mary, repeats this phrase to Jesus a few moments later, though, from a much more deferential posture.  "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."  Whole sermons have been and should continue to be preached on John 11:35 - "Jesus wept" - but it's also interesting to note the response of the other Jews near the scene in verses 36-37 of the text.  "So the Jews said, 'See how he loved him!'  But some of them said, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?'" 

This is a universal question.  We all have or will ask this question at some point.  "Why couldn't the Lord have prevented _________ from dying?"  Why my grandmother or my grandfather?  Why my friend?  Why my mother, my father, my brother or my sister?  Why my wife, my husband, my son or my daughter?  Why them?  And more pointedly, why now?  We can identify with Martha and Mary.  "Lord, if you had been here, ________ would not have died!"

Death is inevitable for all of us.  It's not a matter of if, but when.  But the writer of the gospel of John wants to share an antidote for death with his readers.  That antidote is resurrection, and resurrection is one of the major themes in his gospel. 

The mainstream Jewish view of the eschaton (end times) featured the bodily resurrection of God's people.  John's gospel is in step with this theology as he records Jesus' affirmation of the resurrection as the gateway into the age to come.  Jesus even affirms that his own voice will signal the final resurrection of the dead.  Let's read together John 5:25-29, "Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.  Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

The writer of John's gospel presents much of his teaching on the meaning of Jesus through 7 signs.  The sign of the resurrection of Lazarus is the 7th, and most significant of the signs, but the 1st sign is also important as it relates to resurrection.  Have you ever noticed how the 1st sign, the sign of Jesus turning water to wine begins?  John 2:1 says this.  "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee..."  I believe something else of significance happened on the third day!  This is no accident.  If you read further in John 2, after Jesus turns the water to wine, you will notice that John tells the story of Jesus cleansing the temple much earlier than the 3 synoptic gospels.  In John's gospel, Jesus cleanses the temple near the beginning of his ministry, whereas in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus doesn't perform this act until the last week of his life.  Jesus did not cleanse the temple twice.  John has simply rearranged the chronology for theological purposes, namely to link the cleansing of the temple to this 1st sign.  Notice the interaction between Jesus and his opponents after he shuts down the temple operations.

"The Jews then said to him, 'What sign can you show us for doing this?'  Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'  The Jews then said, 'This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?'  But he was speaking of the temple of his body.  After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.'" (John 2:18-22).

By linking the 1st sign of turning water to wine with the cleansing of the temple, and with Jesus then linking the cleansing of the temple with his own resurrection, the writer of John's gospel is alerting the reader to one of his major themes.  He wants us to see that the story he is telling is the story of resurrection. 

As one continues through the gospel and the other signs, eventually one is brought to the 7th sign and the story of the resurrection of Lazarus.  The 7th sign points to where this story has been going from the beginning, to the ultimate resurrection - Jesus' own eternal resurrection from the dead. 

But let's leave Lazarus in the tomb for a little while so that we can overhear an important conversation between Jesus and Lazarus' sister Martha.  This conversation points even beyond Jesus' resurrection to the bodily resurrection of all who will put their faith in him.

"When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.  Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.'  Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'  Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.'  Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me, will never die.  Do you believe this? '  She said to him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'"

Of course, Jesus does call Lazarus out from the tomb, still wrapped in the burial cloths.  He was raised from the dead, but his death was not an eternal resurrection.  The body which came out of the tomb on that day eventually died again.  Nevertheless, his resurrection is the gospel of John's second most important sign and points to Jesus' own resurrection, the ultimate sign of who Jesus is.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life - no one comes to the Father but through him.

Lazarus' resurrection not only points to Jesus' resurrection, but it also points to our future hope of resurrection.  And just as springtime and Easter reminds us of the resurrection of the Son of God, it should also remind us that one day, God will give eternal life to all who have put their trust in Jesus.  That eternal life will begin with the bodily resurrection from the dead.  Resurrection is the gateway into eternal life in the age to come in the renewed creation. 

G.K. Chesterton's poem The Convert captures some of these ideas well.

After one moment when I bowed my head
And the whole world turned over and came upright,
And I came out where the old road shone white.
I walked the ways and heard what all men said,
Forests of tongues, like autumn leaves unshed,
Being not unlovable but strange and light;
Old riddles and new creeds, not in despite
But softly, as men smile about the dead

The sages have a hundred maps to give

That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,

They rattle reason out through many a sieve

That stores the sand and lets the gold go free;

And all these things are less than dust to me

Because my name is Lazarus and I live.

For those of us who have placed our lives in the hands of the one who died and rose again, may we never lose heart, because our future is bright.  Our hope - through Jesus - is resurrection. - Shay

Intimately Involved

Many are unaware of this, but the book of Genesis actually provides us with two different creation accounts.  In the first story (Gen 1:1-2:3), we catch a glimpse of the all-powerful, transcendent God of creation.  He's the God who speaks everything into existence.  Even humanity is spoken into existence by his powerful word.  God speaks, and creation is.

Then, if we read on, we discover a different perspective on creation.  In the second account, we see a different side to this God.  Whereas the first creation narrative stresses God's transcendence, the second story emphasizes his immanence.  In Genesis 2:4 and following we see a God who is near.  This God is the God who gets his hands dirty.  He forms the man out of the dust and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life.  The Genesis 2 creation story provides us with a much more intimate portrait of God. 

We need both perspectives to truly understand the God that we serve.  We need to know that he is all powerful and that he is the creator of everything, but we also need to see that he desires to be intimately involved with his creation.  We especially need to see that God desires to be intimately involved with the crowning achievement of his creation - human beings.  God not only created everything, he created humanity to live in relationship with him.

This God is my God and he created me, individually.  Though our modern world tends to focus too much on the individual, there is a Biblical basis for highlighting the importance of each human being.  God not only desires a relationship with all of his people collectively, he also desires a relationship with all of us individually.  In fact, God was intimately involved in our very formation.  He "knit us together in our mother's womb." 

I remember, nearly 8 years ago, standing in the doctor's office and staring up at a TV screen during Juli's sonogram.  I remember seeing our daughter Ashlyn's black and white form on the screen as she grew and developed within the security of her mother's womb.  A line from Psalm 139 was stuck on a repeat loop in my mind, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  The Psalmist writes this line because he's aware that God knows him far better than he even knows himself. 

"For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
That I know very well. 
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them - they are more than the sand;
I come to the end - I am still with you." (Psalm 139:13-18, NRSV).

The God who created all of the amazing landscapes - from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast...the God who created the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains...the God who created the lush landscapes of Ireland and Scotland, as well as the deserts of the Sahara and Arabia...the God who created the rainforests in Asia and South America, is the same all powerful and amazing artist who breathed the breath of life into our nostrils.  He's intimately involved in all of our lives.  He has a plan for his creation and he has a plan for each one of us within his creation.  God is not only the creator of the cosmos, he's also the sustainer of the world.  And he's providentially involved in each one of our lives.  Psalm 139 helps us to know our God.  But even more so, Psalm 139 reminds us that our God intimately knows us!  We can say the amen with the Psalmist - we are indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made. - Shay