Author: eejoseph

Two mountain theology

eejoseph

“Jesus keep me near cross” may feel like emotional affect or fear, to be specific, but the words of this famous song of an extremely powerful attitude to possess. What else is there in the world of spiritual security to which we desire to be near? Obedience, loyalty, ace performances, ruthless judgment? Since the cross is the symbol of love, and knowing that love is the greatest virtue, we realize that there are options offered to us, namely, other virtues. This is where the analogy of two mountains from the book of Hebrews becomes helpful to me. The comparison between Golgotha where Christ died and Sinai where God gave the Ten Commandments confirms that there is no competition.

“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,” (Hebrews 12:18, NASB)

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,” (Hebrews 12:22, NASB)

The thing that typically eludes most readers and observers is the fact that by resorting to Sinai in search of morality, people completely ignore Calvary or Golgotha as the source of divine love, which we all have to admit is (a) God’s display of his righteousness and (b) his declaration of the highest virtue possible. Are we willing therefore to deny that God’s love, a divine dimension of love, is actually deposited in the heart of the convert? This gift of love is not merely motivation, this gift of love is empowerment. So while the cross lends itself to two mountain theology and to a scene of a criminal act by a government against an innocent man and the anguish of loved ones, near the cross means something grander than a symbol. “Near the cross” elicits something so appealing as to silence us with awe that we should be so endowed. Maybe we can say reverential fear brings us to say “Jesus keep me near the Cross” but it is more likely that it is the attractiveness of such a love that rivets us to the Lamb of God.

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.

1 John 3:1a

The nexus of idolatry and temptation

eejoseph

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

1 Corinthians 10:13-14, NASB

What does idolatry have to do with people being tempted and God’s faithful keeping power? The short answer is that people are quickly attracted to the nonsense answers of life’s most pressing problems. Adam and Eve thought that fig leaves would cover their problem. Moses allowed his anger to rise to the surface instead of being a patient father to the people. A Jewish people have tried to please God by following regulations concerning food and drink. Basically we know that idols are useless inventions by humans. Perhaps the most shocking piece of idolatry in the modern era is the application of Jesus’s blood to anything other than transgression, sin and iniquity.

The foolishness of miraculous escape from temptation

Temptations are opportunities for us to become stronger in our trust of God’s grace. Temptations are not occasions for the use of miracle power. Whether we are hungry as the Lord was during his temptation by the devil, or whether we are being challenged in our seat as heirs of God as Jesus was when he was tempted by the devil, or whether we are being invited to worship someone of your vanguard, as Jesus was when he was tempted by the devil, neither idols or miracles are of effective use. Stop deceiving yourself. Endurance is not miraculous; it is spiritual fruit, and the engagement of our minds with our faithful God.

Deck the whores with bows of folly

eejoseph

Good king Wenceslas is not my neighbour; there isn’t a good King in sight in any direction. Heaven has lots of music but, sadly, no bells. Santa may have no presents for the naughty people, but God has, and the proof is in every single day. Somebody has a truly messed up view of God, gifts and good will. The healers of the human mind would like to tell us that Christmas time is the time when there is a rise of loneliness and feelings of isolation and thoughts of suicide,. Oh that people need to feel lonely and isolated them and to be suicidal having normal losses of life. Have you read job recently? “Suffocate me” he begged (Job 7:15). Death is not even a Christmas time phenomenon and is such a long way off from the truth that lonly a precious few knew, it brings us to the large drama of Babylon and her daughters, receiving bows of folly.

A truly global agenda

Decking the halls with bows of holly and kissing under mistletoe sounds like loads of fun, but the real christmasy stuff is presents, giving and receiving; at least that’s what they say. Have you ever wondered why are people who are not Christians run around every year saying “Merry Christmas”? All the festivals are mere public service advertising. Christmas is a real holiday behind which there is no holy day. Passover, an actual holy day from Israelite antiquity, becomes a holiday in the Gentile world thousands of years after the historical exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt, and no-one dares intimate that there is an international movement towards nations becoming Mosaic. Talk about smoke and mirrors! Neither nor Moses has any reason to try to have the nations accept his teaching as a blueprint for civic life. I tell you, people are way more interested in living than in dying condemned without a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh break. How easy must it be to find one of Babylon’s many daughters, pretending to be a nation of Mosaic-based law, even if one has difficulty find the grand harlot herself.

We will not bow to the popular gods of culture

“But even if [God does not deliver us from your death sentence], let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Daniel 3:18

Three Hebrew young men in exile in Babylon watched the whole exiled nation get ready to compromise their profession of being God’s people by bowing to a image erected by the Babylonian king. The Hebrew nation was not the first or last nation to bow down and worship the foolishness of humanity. We are witnesses to wholesale bowing to the folly of proud nations who we know full well are chasing the wind and playing the harlot. Moses saw it coming (Exodus 34:15-16, Deuteronomy 31:16). Israel did it (Numbers 25:1, Judges 2:!7, 8:27, 8:33, 1 Chronicles 5:25), and the clients are practically every comer and passerby Ezekiel 16;15, 26, 28).

Bows of folly

Boughs of holly mean something significant to someone, naturally, but they are not going to rescue the human race from its death wish. We have seen the judgment of “the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” (Revelation of John 17:1-2, NASB). Her narcissistic boasting “I’ll never be a widow” and her brisk business comes to an end, because no-one buys her merchandise any more. Bows of folly, central to the popular church propaganda, continue as if people are blind to the race to the bottom by capitalist democracy in bed with the religious fascism of Protestants and Catholics, all slandering Yeshua.

Important word order mindlessly reversed

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“I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.” (Psa 101:2, NASB)

“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” (Psa 101:2, KJV)

Zooming in on the third clause (101:2c) in the Hebrew text we see that “heart integrity” comes before “within my house”

אֶתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ בְּתָם־לְ֝בָבִ֗י בְּקֶ֣רֶב בֵּיתִֽי׃

For the life of me, I cannot find a reason for anyone to put domestic movement ahead of inner integrity. Should not the manner of David’s walk come before the location of his walk? If the priority of David’s way of life is where he is (or the legacy of his family) he is at risk of not conducting a wholesome lifestyle outside his home or apart from family legacy.

I say let our location be secondary to the way we conduct our lives, so that no matter where we are wholeness of heart can be expected from us.

Impotence and the lowest common denominator

eejoseph

Over a period of two days five ballots have concluded in the election of the Speaker of the House. The GOP is a dead carcass being picked apart by vultures and the world is watching a desperate attempt by less than two dozen members-elect to create a winning horse at the Kentucky Derby. Some have failed to call the most vocal of those blocking Kevin McCarthy’s path to the Speaker’s chair as terrorists or at least hostage-takers. It is neither realistic nor democratic for representatives to vote conscientiously five times against McCarthy and then, after arm-twisting or whatever it is the GOP does behind the scenes, to change their votes and also call that vote conscientious and a reflection of their conscience and the will of their constituents. The GOP has sunk so deeply into its own latrine pit that governing is an infamous interruption of their agenda, and their impotence has no remedy beside an honest vote.

My name is “George Santos”

eejoseph

The US Representative-elect who claims to know the difference between fraud and lies deserves quote marks around his photos, quote marks around every word he utters or writes.  Seorge Gantos is an icon of the pit into which American politics and economics have fallen.  “Fell, fell” is how the certain decline and crash of mystery Babylon is. The fate of “George Santos” is equally certain. The GOP, its Catholic and Evangelical allies face another critical test, that they will most certainly fail

“…Ἔπεσεν, ⸀ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, …”. She fell, she falls, that great Babylon.

Rev 18:2

Goodbye, hello, recall the “George” and prosecute his staff

The only way “George Sanders” can escape the harsh verdict of his congressional peers, the just deserts  of the Department of Justice and the disgust of  those who elected him will be for him to say I did not write my resume, and I was not responsible for all the claims in his resume or his voters see no wrong.  His goodbye precedes his hello, and sticks to him like iron filings to a magnet. Perhaps his staff will vouch for him, that they were the ones who souped up his resume.

Erase “George” and recover a tiny bit of credibility

The only thing “George” got right was probably his name; the rest is pure junk, cooked up from a dark and unprincipled mind. His name deserves to be in quotes, considering that every claim he makes to tell people who he is turns out to be false.  Who needs a leader like “George Santos”?  That smile he sports is due for an erasing, unlike the public memory of a lying thieving coward.

Nativity Lecture 2022-3

eejoseph

Nativity hoopla is low key

The closest thing to a mall event in the Nativity story is the visit to the temple where the parents of Jesus meet a senior citizen named Simeon and an octogenarian  prophetess named Anna.  This series of events in the life of the young Christ tells us something about his relations with the law of Moses.  Judging from what he later thought about his relationship to Moses and the temple, we can see that his relationship to David was paramount, thus closing the circle of the genuine Saviour-King. It was unpopular for the king’s later interactions with the temple and the priests to be dramatic and surprising. Nativity connects us with all that really matters for all the people in the world, and yet the audiences of the Saviour-King’s passages in life are not large.

First access to Israel’s holy things

“And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord”

Luke 2:22, New American Standard Bible

Finale to Nativity

If we however keep looking at the birth stories we will not find very much, because there is little about the hospital in which he was born, the time of night he was born, the name of the physician, the hours of labor, and who actually witnessed the birth. Bringing the story along to where the “all people” are touched by the king’s arrival we look at the end of his time on earth.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;”

Luke 2:10,

From the house to the street

The usual Jerusalem crowd had  gathered to see a trio of executions by the Romans. At best, the representation may have included people from all over Israel. It was passover, and Jewish males, from all over the region were required to be in Jerusalem.  However, in AD 29, the interest in the public execution of Israelites was likely enhanced by the eagerness of the scribes, elders and priests who did not care how they achieved silencing the Nazarene.

The public execution of the Nazarene was part of the act that saved the world, though it was well attended was a private affair.  If we think that the Jewish identity we have been recognizing as exceedingly troubled and yet hopeful is not an inimitable glory we fool ourselves. Jewish identity and Jewish faith, Christian faith and Islamic faith need focusing.  They have all veered into their sectarian preferences.  They all say little about a common and uncomplicated submission of the people to a single Jewish King. 

Here’s to the few!

Nativity is the story about a king. Nativity is the story about a king who dares to show up among his own people, be one of them do the utmost to save them. People have joined that story to the seasonal Christmas and winter culture. Christ has nothing to do with any tree except the one he died on but Nativity is what Christmas is said to represent. So let’s agree that having a tree or mistletoe does nothing to unseat the simple remembrance of that great and joyous time when a handful of shepherds were told, upfront, in person, what God was doing on the planet. This exclusive club is hard to beat. You or I will never have the means to pay to get to be the first to be told where and how the incarnate God was going to make his appearance in the world.

The quiet Revolution rises

One might think that there was a case for saying that it would be well to leave it with a few, but though it is to a few that the announcement was made in the beginning, it is clear that the purpose is for the teaching of the Kingdom to spread through the world like yeast in the dough.I think it is extremely short-sighted to say that these things are not absolutely, and as soon as one finds them,  the supreme gems in our contemplation of the divine. God is love and peace and he is offering and sacrifice, of himself even.

What? No joy to the world?

Christmas time, Nativity pageants and winter activity festivals, give us hope that the Christ who came to Bethlehem as a babe did put the cherry on top of his wonderful life by becoming a lamb, as it were of the people’s exodus and sacrifice for sin as atonement, on the cross, and has sent the Holy Spirit to everyone who has trusted him completely for life and salvation. That is the Hope of the God with Us. There is no large crowd attached to our reception of the king into our hearts, as the song says ” let every heart prepare him room”. It is not some big public thing that one does in the crowd, in the theater or church.

Heavenly and earthly hoopla

We should not expect heaven and earh to have the same response to events, The residents are essentially different. The recognition and celebration of Christ coming to a single human heart has heavenly and earthly fireworks. The church gets ready for a baptism, and, we are told, “angels in heaven rejoice”

I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15:7

Nativity is about what happens in the private moments of the heavenly-earthly family.

God’s love unmeasured

eejoseph,

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:16-18, New American Standard Bible

This message is hugely savaged by commentators old and young, neophyte and expert. Many will say that this is their favorite verse because it speaks of God’s great gift and great love. However, the intent and even the speaker is not properly ascertained. “For God so loved” is often thought to be an expression of how much God loved (or loves), but the operative word “so” is properly the adverb “thus”.  The writer the is attempting to say this is how God loved the world, in that he gave his only son.

Furthermore the model or example of giving life is to be related to the bronze serpent the desert episode which appears also right here in the context of John 3:16

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;

John 3:14, NASB

Giving up a son is a powerful precedent

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn”, declares the Lord, “because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.”

Gen 22:15-17, NASB

Not only does God prefigure the giving up his son but he makes Abraham’s giving up his son to be the avenue of great blessing to Abraham’s descendants in the years to come.

Childbirth as an effective solution

The gift of a son is often momentous: Seth replacing Abel (Genesis 4:25), addressing Hagar’s affliction with the birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16:11), reversing the childlessness of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 17:16), transforming a barren womb with Samson’s birth (Judges 13:3), and the establishment of eternal government by David’s son (Isaiah 9:6-7).

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

Isaiah 9:6-7

It is without a doubt the profoundest expression of love is to give a life, and since God is love it must be obvious that he does not love the world with “part of his heart” or with less than all of his resources. The idea that God loved the lost world “so much” that he gave his son must make us inquire about how much love is directed towards the saved world. Divine love is immeasurable.