Demythologizing “Radical” Christianity (2)

By Chaplain Mike

I remember meeting with a friend over lunch one day. We had been in Bible college together. I had gone on into the ministry in a small church in the Vermont mountains. He never was able to find his way into “full-time ministry.” And he felt terrible about it. One of the things that was driving him crazy was reading biographies of “great Christians” that others had recommended to help him discover his calling.

He did not feel like he could relate to any of them. These Christian “superstars” all had dynamic personalities. They were pioneers. They seemed to have no trouble stepping into the unknown with courage and reckless abandon. Their charisma drew people to them like a can of soda pop attracts bees at a summer picnic. They not only had “successful” ministries, they started entire movements and organizations, and, at least according to the books, God did magnificent works through their lives. But these hagiographies that had been urged upon my friend did little to encourage him; indeed, just the opposite.

My former college mate simply did not have the kind of personality these Christian “heroes” had. He was quieter, more thoughtful, less visionary and activist in his orientation. He lacked self-confidence and was not driven to achieve lofty goals. My friend admitted to having lots of doubts and questions. If the Christian leaders in the books likewise had them, their biographers certainly didn’t highlight that fact, and it made him wonder.

If this was the model, the template for being a “man of God,” my friend was realizing that he had been formed from a different mold. He felt like a player on the field in a game he’d never practiced, trying to compete against a bunch of pros. He wondered if he lacked commitment, or faith. He questioned whether God had a place for him to serve.

In the second part of his articles at Out of Ur on “Redefining Radical,” Skye Jethani asks us to think about who we set up as examples and models of the Christian faith in our churches.

Consider who is celebrated in most churches. Typically it is the person who is engaged in “full time Christian work”–the pastor or missionary, or people who pursue social causes that result in a big and measurable impact. (Who isn’t talking about William Wilberforce these days?) Similarly, those who behave like pastors or missionaries periodically in their workplace, neighborhood, or perhaps on a short-term trip overseas are praised for these actions. But a church will rarely, if ever, celebrate a person’s “ordinary” life and work.

Evangelicalism’s definition of “radical” does not seem to include ordinary people living quiet, faithful lives, fulfilling their God-given vocations in the normal course of daily life. I think that’s a big problem.

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The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies On The Cross

Scripture

From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”

But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.

At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)

The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:45-54, The Message. See also Mark 15: 33-39, Luke 23: 44-49, John 19: 28-30, John 6: 41-58, Matthew 7: 12.)

Meditation

Dead. He is dead. He has taken his last breath into his lungs. His heart no longer beats. His body is dead. His life is over.

The Jewish religious leaders who have gathered at the cross are satisfied that finally this rebel, this man who refused to follow the laws and traditions that have held the people in check for centuries, is no more. His words are silenced. He won’t be performing any more tricks the people took as “miracles.” He won’t be calling into question the faith of the Pharisees. He is dead. Good ridance.

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Demythologizing “Radical” Christianity (1)

By Chaplain Mike

As genuine Christianity diminishes, the adjectives we require in our attempt prop it up get more and more outlandish.

One such example is the word, “radical.” It’s not enough to be a Christian, one must identify as a “radical” Christian to show that one is really, really serious about Jesus and “the Christian life” (whatever that is).

The word suggests getting down to the root of something, recovering the fundamental meaning or origin of a concept, cutting something back to its essentials. It has come to be used more and more to signify extreme commitment, drastic reform, immoderate zeal for principles or a cause. In our efforts to describe people who are willing to go to any length to live out their convictions, no matter how crazy they may seem in the eyes of the world, we even speak of “radical extremists,” adding redundancy to the equation.

In a couple of articles at Out of Ur, one of my favorite authors, Skye Jethani, has questioned our need for the increasingly “adjectivized” life of faith, especially as it is being promoted today in terms of “radical Christianity.”

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The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Scripture

“They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him …” (Mark 15:22-24, with references in Meditation to Genesis 22:1-18, Zechariah 13:1, Matthew 27:33-44, Mark 15:22-32, Luke 23:32-43, John 19:18-24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 2:20.)

Meditation

Abraham stood looking down into the face of his beloved son lashed to the altar on top of the mountain. His hand, stretched to heaven, held the knife intended for Isaac’s bloodletting. He stood frozen in that terrible moment. A voice deep inside stopped him. It was the same voice that three days prior commanded him to commit this unbearable act. Now, in the thicket behind him, he heard the bleating of the caught ram.

Had he not reassured his son that God himself would provide the lamb for their burnt offering? Yet sickness of soul overtook him as it came time for him to tie Isaac there on the altar. Desolation wrenched his heart as he prepared the wood for the destruction of the precious body whose blood would soon be poured out. Isaac, God’s promise to Abraham, the only one an old man and old woman would ever have, was about to die. With one last look into his son’s eyes, he raised his arm.

“Abraham!”

“Here I am.”

“Do not lay a hand on the boy.”

Could it possibly be true? Oh, it was indeed true. God was providing the lamb.

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Tenth Station: Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments

Scripture

And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. (Matthew 27: 35, NIV. See also Genesis 3: 7 and Matthew 21:18.)

Meditation

Jesus is at the top Skull Hill where his life will end in just a few hours. In preparation for his crucifixion, the soldiers have stripped him of his garments. This is not just for the soldiers’ benefit in being able to take his clothes for themselves. This is part of the execution. The Romans crucify criminals naked to add to their humiliation.

And so Jesus is now on display with no clothing. His raw and battered body is fully exposed to the crowd. The mocking and jeering increase as the last shred of cloth is taken from him. Not only is he bearing our sin, but he is now bearing our shame.

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Show Me the Way to Go Home

By Chaplain Mike

Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!

– Galatians 3:2-4, MSG

One day Dorothy and Toto found themselves in a wondrous world — not in Kansas anymore! for sure. You might say they arrived there by grace alone. In the midst of their mostly tranquil but unsatisfying life, a life that had prompted Dorothy to dream of a better world “over the rainbow,” they found that land through a power greater than themselves. A twister blew off the plains, picked them up and twirled them ’round, and set them done in a new realm. Sepia tones turned to technicolor, drab became dynamic: everything was new.

For the first time in her life, Dorothy felt alive. However, also for the first time, she knew that her ultimate dream was to find home. How could she find her way home?

Dorothy received a simple answer: “Follow the yellow brick road.” And, looking up, she beheld a clear path of golden bricks winding around and leading off into the distance. This road, she was promised, would take her to the city of Oz, where she would meet the powerful Wizard. He would give her the answer. He would show her the way to go home.

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Liturgy of the Palms

Entry into Jerusalem, Fra Angelico

By Chaplain Mike

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11 (see Psalm 118)

hymn for palm sunday

color, color everywhere
greets the king on donkey’s foal
crowds are gath’ring! now, come quickly!
bless the lord with heart and soul!

pathway lined by royal sage
zion’s skies are dazzling blue
hail messiah! sing hosanna!
bless the lord who visits you!

wave green branches of the palms
shed bright cloaks and cast them down
run beside him! raise your voices!
bless the lord, sing his renown!

gleaming marble temple walls
magnify the glad refrain
onward, to the altar, singing!
bless the lord who comes to reign!

The Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time

Scripture

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3 NIV).

“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10).

(With references in the Meditation to Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 23:2-4, Matthew 26:36-44, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10, Philippians 2:5-11, Hebrews 4:14-16.)

Meditation

Jesus is reeling in the street, struggling through the gauntlet of human flesh and sweat and dust and hurled abuse. Simon is there, carrying the cross for him to Golgotha just ahead. Yet, it hardly matters. Jesus can no longer walk – no longer feel his feet touch the stones of the street. Weakness so pervades his body that even his agony is blurred by numbness. He is nearly empty of everything – of blood, of pain and of his whole being.

The clamor of the crowd stills for a moment as Jesus stops moving and the procession halts. Those near hear the rasp of his ragged breath, watching him sway in slow motion and collapse. Impact forces the air from his body in a sharp groan. Then it is quiet.

The crowd peers at him with a low buzz of speculation starting to rise. Is he already dead? The rabbi’s chest heaves and the people start shouting again.

While the cacophony gains momentum, Jesus opens his eyes and studies them, the heat from the street renewing his consciousness of pain. He has been pressed to the ground by their guilt and staggered under their load of suffering. Now he is with them in profound weakness, pierced by the paradox of the circumstance. Burdened beyond bearing on the one hand and left void on the other, he is both filled up with sorrows and empty of strength, inadequate for further existence.

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Jesus and the Temple

By Chaplain Mike

“Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple…” (Mark 11:11)

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the day we commemorate the Triumphal Entry of Messiah Jesus into Jerusalem. In the Christian Year, this marks the beginning of Holy Week. Much that happened during that week took place in and around the Temple.

In the following video clip, N.T. Wright explains some of the ways that Jesus’ ministry was intentionally designed to counteract “Temple” theology and point to his own work as that which would supercede the “signpost” of the Temple and bring the reality to which it pointed to pass.

The Eighth Station: Jesus Meets The Women Of Jerusalem

Scripture

A huge crowd of people followed, along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they’ll say, ‘Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!’ Then they’ll start calling to the mountains, ‘Fall down on us!’ calling to the hills, ‘Cover us up!’ If people do these things to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they’ll do with deadwood?” (Luke 23:27-31, The Message. See also Luke 8:40-56.)

Meditation

Among the crowd lining the road to Golgotha is a knot of women who weep loudly. Very loudly. It’s their job to weep loudly. They are professional criers. Jesus encountered these women—or women just like them—when he went to the home of Jarius. Jarius, the leader of the local synagogue, had set aside his religious duties to find Jesus when his daughter had died. Jesus arrived at the home of Jarius to be greeted by a chorus of weeping and wailing. But Jesus was not fooled by the plastic tears shed by those women. And he is not moved by the women crying for the condemned men about to be crucified.

“Don’t cry for me,” he gasps. “Cry for yourselves. Cry for your children.” The woman don’t understand. They think they are doing God a favor by showing pity to those about to die. They know how to put on a good show. But Jesus is having none of it. He sees through their insincere emotion.

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