Truth is Reality, Part II

 Several months ago I preached a short, simple sermon based on one simple idea: "Truth is Reality." Perhaps you remember it. The sermon included twelve places from Sacred Scripture in which rech' shla [we were talking] about truth. I adduced these twelve places to illustrate that, in each instance, the word "truth" could be taken as referring to reality, i.e., to the order of things, to the way things really are. I was trying to emphasize the fact that when we talk about "truth," and when in fact God's Word talks about "truth," ne imeetsa v vidu [we don't mean] simply some kind of religious idea or point of view, ne imeetsa v vidu simply our Christian doctrines or rules. No. Having been summoned into new life in Christ, we have entered into reality, we have been reconciled with the actual order of God's creation. God has extracted us out of illusion and self-deception and transferred us into healing and healthy reality. 

And at such a price! This of course talks about God's love! I will say more about this today, because, really, this sermon is the second part of that sermon. A second part was very necessary. Why? Because that sermon was only one side of the medal. Why only one side of the medal? 

Here's why: having said that "Truth equals Reality," we could content ourselves with the thought, "Oh! Well, that makes everything easier. Truth is simply reality, that which is real. And I understand reality wonderfully well, therefore 'Truth' is, for me, an elementary thing!" 

No. Otnyud' net. [No way!]

Having said that "Truth equals reality", we must assert the other, vitally important, side of the medal: "Reality immeasurably transcends your comprehension." 

To know that God's Truth is perfect reality does not, by far, mean that you and I have wholly penetrated and grasped that reality--no, not even after we have entered into that truth. Yes, we can be certain that, in Christ, we are "home," where we are ultimately safe, where we are reconciled to the reality, to the life and to the love for which our Creator created us. But this does not mean that we have already ispytali dlya sebya ves' dom [experience the whole house], that we know to the end all of its rooms and corridors and windows and stairs. In other words, we are only beginning, and the path ahead of us is unending. To say that "Truth equals Reality"--this is not a recipe for complacency--"Oh good, now I know Truth." No, it is, rather, a challenge to go forward, with confidence and courage in our Savior, trusting Him to keep on unfolding us how a life reconciled to the truth must look, must develop, must reflect the heavenly Father. 

Very simply, this means that to follow Christ means constantly to follow Him into places that you didn't know about yet. There is the paradox; when we come into life in Christ, we come into the truth about which we know almost nothing. We are in the truth, in Christ, yet we are finding out about the truth, in Christ, forever! 

The rest of our life is a constant process of discovery. This is called our "walk in Christ." Yes, in Christ we are on the true path:  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life."   But the path inevitably leads us ahead into unknown territory. That's what it means to walk by faith (i.e., in Him), not by sight (i.e., on our own understanding). 

Recently I was having an online conversation with our friend Chip Heim, and we were talking about these things. He raised many examples from the life of Christ, in particular how Christ showed love, examining how the path of love in Christ will contain much variety and many surprising and unexpected manifestations. 

That same evening, when Jesus told his disciples "I am the way, the truth and the life," he also told them,  "Love one another as I have loved you." 

Which raises the question: How did Jesus love? When we trace those many ways in which Jesus demonstrated love, we begin to understand that to walk with Christ means to constantly discover more and more reality about which we understood little before. And it is precisely this that makes life rich and deep. 

Let's look at some of the demonstrations of love by Jesus: 

unpredictable: he touched a leper (Matthew 8:1)

shocking: he washed feet (John 13:1-17) 

brave: he healed on the Sabbath in front of the powerful critics (Mark 3:1-6)

patient: "Have I been so long with you, Philip?" (John 14:9)

non-standard: dinner with Zaccheus, the calling of Levi (Luke 19:1-10; Mark 2:13-17)

violated socio-religious prejudices: talking with the Samaritan woman; praising the Roman centurion (John 4, Matthew 8)

puzzling: "Get behind me, Satan!", "Whoever would follow me must hate...." (Matt. 16:23; Luke 14:26)

humble: on the cross, "behold your mother" (John 19:27)

uncompromising: Matthew 23

observant and sensitive: the widow and her mite (Mark 12:41 ff.)

welcoming: "Come to me, all who are weary....", "Whoever comes to me I will not reject" (Matt. 11:28; John 6:37)

Such was the behavior of Him who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life" and also said, "Love one another as I have loved you." His behavior corresponded to the highest reality and the purest holiness, but all the same to many his behavior was inscrutable, shocking, disturbing, non-standard, even offensive. Why? Because of their limitations. Because of their prejudices. Because of their closed hearts. 

Yet, when the Lord asked them,   "Which of you will convict me of sin?", no one could. They couldn't because, finally, everything that Christ did was true. But who could have predicted such a life, such a truth, such a way? No one. 

And so, now I have said a few words about "the other side of the medal." It was necessary to say it. Truth is reality, and glory to God that, now, in Christ, we have been reconciled with reality, our true home. But as said the apostle Paul, "I do not consider myself to have attained it all," likewise we must always recognize our walk with Christ is a walk of discovery, of challenges, of learning and revelation, of continually unfolding reality, of constant, brave striving forward, by faith and not by sight. He is our Reality, and we will forever be uznavat' [finding out] about Him and posnavat' [personally knowing] Him. 

Несколько месяцев назад я прочитал короткую простую проповедь, основанную на одной простой идее: «Истина есть реальность». Возможно, вы это помните. Проповедь включала двенадцать мест из Священного Писания, в которых речь шла об истине. Я привел эти двенадцать мест, чтобы проиллюстрировать, что в каждом случае слово «истина» может быть воспринято как относящееся к реальности, то есть к порядку вещей, к тому, как вещи есть на самом деле. Я пытался подчеркнуть тот факт, что когда мы говорим об «истине» и когда на самом деле Слово Божье говорит об «истине», не имеетса в виду просто какая-то религиозная идея или точка зрения, не имеетса в виду просто наш христианин. доктрины или правила. Нет. Призванные к новой жизни во Христе, мы вошли в реальность, мы примирились с действительным порядком Божьего творения. Бог извлек нас из иллюзий и самообмана и перенес в исцеляющую и здоровую реальность. И такой ценой! Это, конечно, говорит о любви Бога! Я скажу об этом больше сегодня, потому что, на самом деле, эта проповедь является второй частью той проповеди. Вторая часть была очень нужна. Зачем? Потому что эта проповедь была только одной стороной медали. Почему только одна сторона медали? Вот почему: сказав, что «Истина равна Реальности», мы могли бы удовлетвориться мыслью «О! Что ж, это все упрощает. Истина - это просто реальность, то, что реально. И я прекрасно понимаю реальность, поэтому« Истина » 'для меня элементарная вещь! " Нет. Отнюдь нет. Сказав, что «Истина равна реальности», мы должны заявить о другой, жизненно важной стороне медали: «Реальность неизмеримо превосходит ваше понимание». Знание того, что Истина Бога - это совершенная реальность, далеко не означает, что мы с вами полностью проникли и постигли эту реальность - нет, даже после того, как мы вошли в эту истину. Да, мы можем быть уверены, что во Христе мы «дом», где мы в конечном счете в безопасности, где мы примирились с реальностью, с жизнью и любовью, ради которых наш Создатель создал нас. Но это не значит, что мы уже испытали для себя весь дом, что мы знаем до конца все его комнаты и коридоры, окна и лестницы. Другими словами, мы только начинаем, и путь впереди бесконечен. Сказать, что «Истина равна Реальности» - это не рецепт для самоуспокоения - «О, хорошо, теперь я знаю Истину». Нет, это, скорее, вызов - идти вперед с уверенностью и мужеством в нашем Спасителе, доверяя Ему продолжать раскрывать нам, как должна выглядеть жизнь, примиренная с истиной, должна развиваться, должна отражать Небесного Отца. Проще говоря, это означает, что следовать за Христом означает постоянно следовать за Ним в места, о которых вы еще не знали. Это парадокс; когда мы приходим к жизни во Христе, мы приходим к истине, о которой почти ничего не знаем. Мы находимся в истине, во Христе, но мы узнаем истину во Христе навсегда!

Остальная часть нашей жизни - это постоянный процесс открытий. Это называется нашим «хождением во Христе». Да, во Христе мы находимся на истинном пути: Иисус сказал: «Я есмь путь, истина и жизнь». Но путь неизбежно ведет нас на неизведанную территорию. Вот что значит ходить верой (то есть в Него), а не видением (то есть согласно нашему собственному пониманию). Недавно у меня был онлайн-разговор с нашим другом Чипом Хеймом, и мы говорили об этих вещах. Он привел много примеров из жизни Христа, в частности, как Христос проявлял любовь, исследуя, как путь любви во Христе будет содержать много разнообразия и много удивительных и неожиданных проявлений. В тот же вечер, когда Иисус сказал своим ученикам: «Я есмь путь, истина и жизнь», он также сказал им: «Любите друг друга, как Я любил вас». Возникает вопрос: как любил Иисус? Когда мы прослеживаем те многочисленные способы, которыми Иисус проявлял любовь, мы начинаем понимать, что ходить со Христом означает постоянно открывать все больше и больше реальности, о которой мы мало что понимали раньше. И именно это делает жизнь насыщенной и глубокой. Давайте посмотрим на некоторые проявления любви со стороны Иисуса: непредсказуемо: он прикоснулся к прокаженному (Матфея 8: 1) шокирует: омыл ноги (Иоанна 13: 1-17) храбрый: он исцелял в субботу на глазах у могущественных критиков (Марка 3: 1-6) Пациент: "Я так долго был с тобой, Филипп?" (Иоанна 14: 9) нестандартный: ужин с Закхеем, призвание Левия (Луки 19: 1-10; Марка 2: 13-17) нарушаются социально-религиозные предрассудки: разговаривают с самаритянкой; восхваляя римского центуриона (Иоанна 4, Матфея 8) озадачивающие: «Отойди от меня, сатана!», «Кто бы ни пошел за мной, тот ненавидит ...» (Матф. 16:23; Луки 14:26) смиренный: на кресте «се матерь твоя» (Иоанна 19:27) бескомпромиссность: от Матфея 23 наблюдательны и чутки: вдова и ее лепта (Марка 12:41 и сл.) приветствие: «Придите ко мне все утомленные…», «Кто придет ко мне, не отвергну» (Мф. 11:28; Иоанна 6:37) Таким было поведение Того, Кто сказал: «Я есмь путь, истина и жизнь», а также сказал: «Любите друг друга, как Я любил вас». Его поведение соответствовало высшей реальности и чистейшей святости, но все же для многих его поведение было непостижимым, шокирующим, тревожным, нестандартным, даже оскорбительным. Зачем? Из-за их ограничений. Из-за своих предрассудков. Из-за их закрытых сердец. Однако когда Господь спросил их: «Кто из вас обличит меня в грехе?», Никто не смог. Они не могли, потому что, в конце концов, все, что делал Христос, было правдой. Но кто мог предсказать такую ​​жизнь, такую ​​правду, такой путь? Ни один. Никто. Итак, теперь я сказал несколько слов о «обратной стороне медали». Это нужно было сказать. Истина - это реальность, и слава Богу, что теперь, во Христе, мы примирились с реальностью, нашим истинным домом. Но, как сказал апостол Павел: «Я не считаю себя достигшим всего этого», точно так же мы должны всегда осознавать, что наше хождение со Христом - это хождение открытий, испытаний, обучения и откровений, постоянно раскрывающейся реальности, постоянной , мужественно устремляясь вперед верою, а не видением. Он наша Реальность, и мы всегда будем узнавать о Нем и познавать Его.

Milkshakes, McLaren, and the Blood of the Better Covenant

 I have no patience left with this...what can I call it...with this fad, this craze, this rather preening pseudo-sophistication in certain Christian circles that rushes to parade how much more expansive, magnanimous, inclusive, humane and pluralist it is than God Himself. 

What am I referring to? I am referring to our take on biblical teaching concerning two things: the atonement and the "old covenant."

These "takes" go more or less like this: regarding the atonement, it is barbaric, unenlightened, outrageous to teach that God required the sacrifice of a human being in order to forgive sin—the Cross was not God's will and the death of Jesus is no magic pill concocted by God to seal the deal; regarding what we call the Old Testament, i.e., the old covenant (in contrast to the "new covenant" that, for instance, Jesus directly names at the Last Supper), it was not replaced or transcended or in any way invalidated or superceded by anything Jesus did and to suggest that it was is to be an antisemite. 

What these two takes have in common are: 1) that they are driven by unadulterated fear, the fear of looking somehow....let's say, "incorrect," the fear of being labeled with precisely the labels (antisemite, racist, bloodthirsty, pagan...) with which they implicity label anyone who fails to nod in unison; 2) their willful ignorance, their obtusely blind eye to the plain teaching of Scripture. 

What else these two takes have in common is an insistent, knee-jerk offense, call it a horror, of plain, unadorned proclamation of central Gospel truths. Especially when it comes to the Blood ("this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, given for the remission of sins"), and especially when it comes to the supreme, all-transcending, all-superceding  Lordship of Christ. 

It's what the apostle Paul called "the offense of the cross." It's the same horror of the Gospel's stark assertions drove his opponents (interestingly, both within and without the Church) so mad they hounded and vilified him into pariah status. There is nothing new under the sun.

"Not my will but yours be done," Christ prayed to the Father, and that prayer was surely granted. Jesus lived his entire life yearning for and straining after the fulfillment of the Father's will. And Jesus' final verdict on the unfolding of that holy will was, "It is finished." No, God does not do evil. But to suggest that that means death was not a requirement for atonement is to (besides simply ignoring Scripture) reduce the goodness and love of God to a two-dimensional Disney cartoon. (Not to mention it being unfathomably dim theological question-begging.) 

It is to content oneself, in a back-patting way, with one's capacity to make God better than awkwardly disturbing biblical teachings seem to make Him. It is a very gratifying approach indeed if one's notion of theology is something akin to applying makeup as one stares into the mirror. One wouldn't want anything too strange or terrible to show up in the mirror, after all....

"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." "This is my blood of the new covenant...." "Accordingly Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant." "He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured the punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed." "Indeed, the time is coming...when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the old covenant...." 

You know, when you make a milkshake, you gather the ingredients, like milk, ice cream, a banana, chocolate syrup, and you toss them in the blender, blend them together, pour it into a glass and enjoy it. Is the milkshake "better" than the ingredients were separately? Well, if your goal was a MILKSHAKE then the milkshake is inarguably, incontrovertibly BETTER. (The writer of Hebrews seems to agree, though I don't know whether he ever had a milkshake.) The ingredients separately weren't a milkshake, they weren't what you were aiming at. Were they therefore "bad"? Well, that's a stupid question hardly worth dignifiying with a response. They were what they were, and for what they were they were excellent ("the law is holy," quoth the apostle Paul). But since our aim was a milkshake, it is absurdly obvious that the milkshake is "better," that it supercedes the ingredients that went into it...even as we recognize there could have been no milkshake without those ingredients. The milkshake is, in a sense, forever indebted to its constituent elements, but, that said, there is also NO GOING BACK (apart from the illusion of running a video backwards) and the constituent elements cannot possibly compete with the milkshake on the level of "milkshake-ness." To assert this is not to be anti-banana.... 

Dear reader, I will not insult your intelligence by spelling out the point of my analogy. You get it. 

As for the blood, the cross, the suffering, the "ransom," the propitiation, the sacrifice, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," what can I say more than "Amen"? Yet I will say more. 

It was the Father's will that Jesus die. It was Jesus' will that Jesus die. I'm not even talking about the cross yet. I'm just talking about death. It was GOD'S will (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) that God the Son DIE. Had it not been, God the Son would never have become mortal Man. Period. Death entered the world through sin. Becoming a child of Adam, the Son of God sentenced himself, redemptively, to that very death, the..."sin-death." That death, whether by crucifixion or otherwise, was bound to be the act of atonement, the bearing of our sins. precisely because of the One dying. Only His death--the Sinless One dying the "sin-death"--was the..."vacuum" through which all our guilt and offense could be expelled. Redemption IS His suffering in our place. Not because God is a sadist. Please. Just stop with that, okay? It's idiotic. Worse, you mock holy things you are therefore in danger of never entering into. No, it's because what He's taking in our place is something awful. You don't take it and not suffer. That's not God's fault. It's ours. Which is rather the whole point, isn't it.... Try reading Isaiah again. 

These are my weak, frail scrabblings after understanding what is absolutely so. That it is absolutely so, Scripture leaves no doubt. My efforts to peer into it and make out its contours, its implications, its ramifications, a bit of its infinite depths, well.... My efforts, your efforts, are not in vain, with God's help. And there is certainty in what He has declared. And there is also, wonderfully, an eternity of understanding yet to discover. 

Probably the most ignorant critique of the atonement I have ever heard, particularly so in that it came from someone who ought to have known better, someone I once credited with better insight, came from Brian McLaren on a radio show one day when he chortlingly parodied the propitiatory death of Christ by comparing it to an office manager forgiving a colleague's error at work but coming home and kicking the dog to vent his anger. So that crude, warped, insidious caricature--disastrously wrong verging on theologically malevolent--seems to be the best McLaren can make out of "the blood of the new covenant, given for the remission of sins." The parody earned sycophantic giggles from McLaren's interviewer. They were partners in idiocy. 

By the way, the deity of Christ is COMPLETELY missing from McLaren's office-manager "parable." I'll leave that to you to extrapolate out theologically, only adding my view that it's KEY, the key to everything. McLaren seems utterly blind to it. It's what's all wrong, worse than wrong, in his preening chortles....

Only the One sinned against can take, absorb, the full brunt of the wrong done Him and expel it (and He goes through "hell," take that however you want, in the process). Which is why the blood of bulls and lambs could only ever have been a foreshadowing, not the Event itself. The New Covenant is better than the Old because the New one is...it. We're there. And once you're there, there's no going back. Especially when there's nowhere to go back to...which is the whole point of Hebrews.

God Is On Our Side

(A sermon written in English but delivered in Russian. Note that "obscheniye" means something like communion, fellowship, interrelationship. This text is written in sparse style, designed for spontaneous elaboration in the act of preaching.) 

GOD IS ON OUR SIDE

Luke 18:9-14 Parable of Pharisee and Tax Collector

Was the Pharisee right? I mean, right in his facts? Yes, he was right. He stated concrete facts.It was true that he... (list his boasts). It was even true that he was glad not to be a tax collector. I probably am also glad that I was not a tax collector of that time and that place. I am thankful to God for whom He has made me, to what He has called me, when, where and why. It's good to be grateful to God for who we are.

The Pharisee was right in his facts. But to be right is not the same as to be righteous.

"Right" is a term of comparison. "Right" means "not wrong." "Right" is a cold, dry position, it is not a quality of the soul.

But righteousness is a striving. It is the striving of love forward, it's the desire to heal, reconcile, restore, renew, show mercy, do good, become more and more expert in the manifestation of love. Righteousness is the heart's soglasiye with the priorities of God, and not only with His priorities but also with His motivations, it is joining up with His strivings.

Goal of the Pharisee consisted in being right. His prayer praised himself; his gratefulness consisted in what he did, and not in Who He belonged to or in that unfathomable mercy that God was always opening to him, as He always opens it up to you and me. In short, the prayer of the Pharisee was not a prayer that needed God. Really, think about it. In the prayer there was no request, no need, no resort for answers, understanding, help, guidance, wisdom, forgiveness, mercy. How can God answer a prayer that expects, needs no answer?

We know, in human interrelations, that the crucial element is obscheniye, and obscheniye is much more than the assertion of facts. The assertion of facts, this is a report and not live interrelations. The Pharisee gave a report, the conclusion of which was "I'm right." Well, good for you, but what do you want?

The tax collector was not reading a report. He came to the temple with trembling, hoping to find the mercy of God, hoping to find restoration, reconciliation with the love and purposes of God. In short, the tax collector desired CHANGE. That's the key moment.

2 Chronicles 16:9 The eyes of God roam the earth....

Not seeking those who will read Him a report, but....

The Epistle to the Hebrews expresses the only fitting attitude in which we must turn to God:

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

Yes, confidence, but confidence in God's mercy and grace, not confidence that we can impress Him with our report.

Certainly, yes, there is a place for confidence in the Christian life. Why, confidence is the essence of our faith, our upovaniye upon Jesus Christ. But this is not the kind of self-confidence that the Pharisee demonstrated in the temple. Such a kind of confidence is false, only prepares the soil to a fall.

The confidence which must abide in our hearts transcends self-confidence, it is rooted in the measureless mercy of God and his conquering love.

Because of the unfathomable mercy of God, we can say that God is on our side.

Story about Abraham Lincoln, journalist asking him, "Mr. President, is God on our side?", Lincoln responding, "I hope we are on God's side."

There is wisdom in the answer of Lincoln to the question. And in the light of that wisdom, many consider that it is incorrect, inappropriate to suggest that God is on our side.

On whose side? On the side of the Protestants against the Catholics? On the side of the Democrats against the Republicans? On the side of the Ukrainians against the Russians?

No, no, NO.

God is on the side of the human soul against sin and death. THAT'S what the mercy of God means.

God is even on the side of His enemies against everything that MAKES them His enemies. THAT is what the love of God means.

God is on our side, not because we're right, but because we're wrong. He is on our side because we need Him, and because He made us for love.

Romans 5:8-10

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

God is on our side, not with respect to any human conflicts or divisions or political or social questions. God is on the side of the descendants of Adam desperately needing reconciliation with the heavenly Father. And when we have come to know Him, He continues to be on our side, striving forward with us, and in us, to reach tovo sokrovennovo zamysla Yevo kasatel'no nas s vami [to reach that cherished design of His concerning you and me]. I am certain that such a vision inspired the apostle Paul to write these words:

Philippians 1:6

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

That is why the tax collector went away justified, because he was a soul in which God was doing, and advancing a good work, striving toward the achievement of His holy design. The Pharisee nikuda dal'she ne khotel, po nemu on priyekhal, kuda dal'she? [Note to English-speakers: the Pharisee wasn't looking to go on; in his opinion he'd "arrived"--where else was there to go?]

The difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector:

When pride comes, then comes disgrace,

but with humility comes wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2

The humility of the tax collector drove him into the presence of God with trembling and sorrow. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. The tax collector, leaving the temple "justified" represents the living picture of this beatitude.

Romans 8:31-32

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Here, today, as we prepare to participate in the Lord's Supper, we come in spirit to the Throne of Mercy, where the blood of the Lamb has made propitiation for God's enemies. If God was, out of mercy, "for" His enemies, then how much more will He be for His beloved, reconciled children? God is for you, not against you. This table (trapeza), left to us by the Lord Himself in remembrance, testifies: "God is for us, not against." We have a Father, caring, understanding, condescending [NOTE TO ENGLISH-SPEAKERS: "condescending" has a good connotation in Russian, as in "coming down to your level to help you bear your burdens"], but also driving us forward to the fulfillment of His joy and ours.

Walking on the Water: WHAT Didn't the Disciples Understand?

Read Mark 6:45-52

"They did not understand about the loaves...."

What is Luke talking about? What didn't they understand about the loaves and in what sense were their hearts hardened? Hardened against what? And why did the Lord perform precisely this miracle, that is, walking on the water, right now? I.e., after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes? 

And why did the Lord give them the impression that He was walking by them, as if He wasn't even interested in their presence, until they cried out in fear? 

There are many mysteries in this event, and not only the very fact that Jesus walked on the water--which is already amazing--and perhaps precisely because of this we don't pay attention to the other deep questions that this event contains. 

So let's briefly meditate together over these questions. 

(Read 6:45)

Do you think Jesus knew, having sent the disciples across the lake, having stayed behind to disperse the crowds, that He would do this miracle? I think so. And I think that the Lord knew the disciples had need of this stunning manifestation of the power He possessed.  It must be that, for some reason, the disciples, having seen the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, remained strangely unimpressed--unimpressed by the significance of the miracle and the magnitude of what it said about the One who performed it. 

So in what sense were their hearts hardened? After all, they were following Jesus, they loved Him, in some sense they believed in Him! Certainly we could call them, in comparison with everybody else, the outstanding believers in Jesus of their day. So in what sense were their hearts hardened? 

I think it was in this sense: they underestimated the monumental, actually terrifying power radiating through not only every miracle but every act and word of Jesus. It's delightful, of course, when the Lord gently reaches down and raises Peter's mother-in-law back to health, or says, "Let the children come to Me." But this Lamb NEVER quits being the Lion of Judah. The glory of His tenderness lies precisely in the fact that He can dematerialize the whole universe with one word.  The very fact that we never read of Jesus' chosen inner circle reduced to trembling shock when Jesus heals the sick or even raises the dead suggests the way in which their hearts were hardened. Jesus' power wasn't simply about doing what people might consider "swell stuff," making it holiday time for all. No. The warped, bent human soul that doesn't register the danger in Jesus has no hope of rescue, for if Jesus represents no danger to our worst disease, then what salvation is there? 

Intrinsically linked to this is the very simple fact that the disciples urgently needed to understand that they didn't understand Jesus. In His rebuke it seems to me the Lord is saying between the lines, "Don't you understand yet that you don't  understand? Where is your awe? Where is the awareness of your own poverty of soul?" 

I think that this is the way the hearts of these disciples, whom Jesus loved in the perfect, passionate, self-giving love of God, were still unacceptably numb and unresponsive. They needed a lesson, to be shaken up. They needed to learn not only to rejoice but to tremble, not only to feel justified in their "choice" of Jesus (though the choice was really His), but to reach utter disillusionment toward all their previous, comfortable assumptions. They needed to know that no matter how much they grew to know Jesus, they were knowing Him Who was unfathomable, Who infinitely transcended their grasp. And they needed to know that before this Majesty, the one state the human soul is duty-bound to inhabit is...AWE. 

It is what the Old Testament calls "the fear of the Lord." A mere miracle-worker might impress you, but in the presence of God you fall speechless in adoration. 

And so, the Lord sent the disciples on in the boat, without accompanying them, while he went to the mountain to pray. What do you think? Did the Lord's talk with His Father in heaven, this most holy fellowship within the very being of God, touch upon the miracle Jesus was about to perform? I would guess, yes. 

Why? Because it strikes me that in this act, walking on the water, we encounter SUCH a sacred disclosure by the Lord to His most intimate circle, a disclosure of His unspeakable, transcendent glory, that, yes, the Lord must have talked, prayed, communed with the Father over it, the gravity of it, the meaning of it, the sublime, divine revelation of it in the dimension of time and space. 

We cannot know what words, if we may even call them words, were spoken in that prayer. But apart from words I imagine that found in that prayer were both joy and pain, holy passion surging after redemption's achievement, beginning with the redemptive work Jesus was patiently performing on those twelve unlikely disciples laboring against the wind in the boat even as Jesus prepared to step out on the water. 

And there can be no error in the disciples' clear impression that Jesus was about to walk right by them, until they grabbed his attention with a certain amount of terrified shrieking. I believe that is a critical part of this lesson: "I am walking on, in the power you don't understand, and accomplishing the Father's sacred will, whether you go with me or not. You need to UNDERSTAND: the waves, the wind, the very laws of the creation itself, will not stop me. I am heading ON. I want you with Me, but you will never get there on your own strength or understanding." 

But the disciples did cry out in fear, they didn't tell the "ghost" to go away, but recognized their Divine Master, and begged Him to come into the boat, to make it HIS boat. They were shaken, terrified, yet surely closer in faith and love to this incomprehensible Lord, even in their awe and fear, than they had ever yet been. For, by terrifying them, Jesus also exposed to them something of Himself He had never yet shown anyone else. That is...sacred, exquisitely sacred. At such a sacred moment you can only whisper in awe: "Who is this?" 

I think we all know what it is to want something so badly it hurts. Christ so loved the disciples, as He loves you and me, that He could not possibly be satisfied at their merest reception, certainly not on their comfortable terms. Their lives could not be changed as imperative as long as they failed to grasp that, before Him, they were in the presence of the Most High, before Whom all creation bows. I believe the sufferings of Christ in this world were not only, or perhaps not even mostly, from outright rejection and hostility. I think the Lord's deepest sufferings rose up from the intenstity and passion of His love for those He came to save. I hear that pain in His words, "Do you still not understand?" 

There must be untold layers of meaning in this event, including the fact that that the disciples saw Jesus "passing by" them on the water, in this stunning revelation of power and glory. It reminds me of the glimpse of glory given to Moses on the mountaintop when God "passed by" him. It is in moments like these that the glory spoken of by the apostle John must, to put it conversationally, have completely bowled the disciples over, shattering all their mental categories. "Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We SAW his glory, the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.... No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known" (John 1: 14, 18, NET Bible).

Yes, Jesus is "walking past," unstoppable, on the way to the Cross and beyond, with or without the disciples. Yet He is "walking past" also because God must always "pass by," allowing a glimpse, that's all, of ineffable, infinite glory. Our Lord and Savior will always go past our grasp, beyond our understanding, exceeding our vision; this is His glory and our joy. Yet, when we call out, He will come and enter into the boat with us, as well, and tell the very forces of creation itself to be quiet, because Jesus is with His friends. Both are true, the "walking past" and "entering in." It ought not to surprise us that this is hard to...understand. It is perhaps the whole point: to understand that we don't understand, exult, believe, and worship. 

Baptism of Christ, Death to Rebellion

 "Baptism unto Repentance, Death unto Rebellion"

Read Matthew 3:11-17

Read Romans 6:3-4

Paul says we are baptized into death, also that we are baptized into Christ! That's a strange symmetry, almost making "death" equivalent with "Christ"! 

To make it more complicated, John the Baptist identifies the act of baptism as an "immersion into repentance." 

So what is it: repentance? death? Christ? 

And the reality is, of course, that it's all of these. 

"Into death" and "into repentance." The symmetry testifies that repentance is a kind of death. It is a necessary death to our own rebellion against God. 

That's what baptism proclaims, even the baptism to which Jesus submitted Himself in order "to fulfill all righteousness." Without this death to rebellion against God, there is no righteousness. 

Even the Sinless One submitted himself to the Act of Repentance, which is absolutely what that Baptism was, on behalf of sinners who were utterly incapable of opening that door, blazing that trail, launching that spiritual trajectory, themselves. No wonder Jesus announced He was the "Door" and the "Way"! 

As C.S. Lewis very insightfully pointed out, only the Perfect One Who was in no need of repentance at all could perfectly commit the perfect repentance (return to God) that those who desperately needed to commit it...couldn't.  

I hope it gives us all extra insight into just why Jesus said this Baptism was indispensable to the "fullfillment", i.e., the bringing about, the materialization, the realization, "of all righteousness." 

It was imperative. It was imperative for Jesus to materialize, for us, in our place, on our behalf, for our sake--whatever phrase you can possibly think of that indicates the connection to us!--imperative for Jesus to materialize this "death to rebellion against God." It was imperative, so He did. Love made it imperative. 

Such are the measureless depths of His love. 

Death to rebellion against God is the beginning of the way to God, the beginning of Return to God. 

The Hebrew word signifying repentance is literally their word "return." When the Hebrew prophets preached "Repent!", they were actually saying "Return! Return to God!" The baptism John proclaimed was a Baptism of Return. And Jesus in His love submitted, to take that Way of Return and, by so doing, become that Way for us. 

This is why I am saying that without death to rebellion there is no possibility of righteousness--because without this death there is no way back, no way of return to God. 

But, hallelujah, there IS a way back. 

"I am the way," says our Savior. That's the sense of it, that's why the Lord Jesus is the sole Way to the Father. Because it is He alone and exclusively Who materialized in His Own Self the way of return to the Father. He became the Way in the flesh. 

Only He accomplished the ultimate death to rebellion against God--by perfectly rejecting it in life and extinguishing its power in death. Let me repeat that: by perfectly rejecting it in life and extinguishing its power in death! 

That's why the Lord so adamantly dismissed John's adamant plea that He not do this. There was never the least shred of a possibility that Jesus would concede to John's plea. It simply was not going to happen! Jesus HAD to do this, it was a non-negotiable imperative: "to fulfill ALL righteousness." 

All righteousness or no righteousness. 

There's a frightful thought, isn't it: to fulfill NO righteousness and, so, leave you and me high and dry? 

We would have ended up how, who and where without the Lord's adamant, unswerving, non-negotiable feat of love? 

The Living Way, the Lamb of God, Christ, right here and now at this moment by the Jordan River, is launching the redemptive feat, the way of return, for you and me. There is no other way. It's...IMPERATIVE. 

That's love. 

God is love. 

And so, Jesus is GOING to DO this, no matter what. Nothing and nobody, not even John the Baptist, is going to stop Him. It's...

IMPERATIVE.

In His unconditional dedication there is a lesson for us, but, praise God, so much more than a lesson. 

Christ always gives us more than just a lesson, or an example. 

We are incapable in our flesh of reproducing His "example" or "lessons." If all we had from the Lord were His examples and lessons then we would be "most of all people to be pitied." 

No. 

Christ always gives us more. He gives us His very life, His grace, His Spirit. The Risen Lord inhabits us. 

Therefore, from the unconditional dedication of the Living Way, who materialized everything imperative for return to God, we take, yes, a lesson, yes, an example, but more than that we receive the interior power and life by which alone such dedication can manifest in us, in unity with Him. 

That is the  key and whole secret to the Christian life: "Christ in you." 

That's why it was imperative. For "Christ in you" to ever happen. 

That's why Jesus' submission to this baptism fulfills all righteousness--because every step of the Redemptive Way materialized by Him fulfills all righteousness, the righteousness that saves us and transfigures us into Christlikeness. 

For my conclusion, I'd like to repeat the conclusion of another sermon I once preached on the Baptism. I think it is perfectly fitting here, too: 

"In light of everything we've said, and knowing what events are going to follow Christ's baptism, I think we can see in the very act of the baptism a prefiguration of the entire Redemptive Feat that will be realized by God in Christ. 

"Look for instance, with the eyes of your imagination, at Christ as He humbly, identifying as one of so many gathered there to repent, presents Himself to John for baptism, to take the way of return to God, through death to sin. In the same way God's Son will bear the sins of the world on the Cross, the Sinless Lamb identifying to the bitter end with us to make our way back to the Father possible.

"And then, Jesus goes down into the water, just as one day He will go down into the waters of death and the grave after passing through the righteous wrath of a holy God for the sin of the world.

"And then, Jesus emerges from the water, as one day He will rise, resurrected, victorious, from the grave, having overcome and crushed the powers of evil, shattered the authority of sin and death.

"And then, the heavens open above Him, as one day they will open up to receive the Risen Son back again, redemption won, salvation made real.

"And then, God's Spirit descends upon Christ, just as one day the Holy Spirit will again descend on the Body of Christ, His Church, to indwell Her and fulfill the Father's will through Her.

"And then, the voice of the Father emanates from heaven in supreme commendation of the Son: in the Son dwells all the Father's joy; wherever the Son is, there the Father's sacred will and love are manifested. Just as one day the Father will again exalt His Son before all creation and unfold in the Son His sublime purpose to dwell forever with His redeemed people, as King of kings and Lord of lords. 

"And in that day, as God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, 'before Me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear by Me.'

"And the apostle Paul, led by the same Holy Spirit, in the light of Christ, further unfolded the ultimate meaning of Isaiah's words: 

"'As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow--in heaven and on earth and under the earth--and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."