« NT Wright vs. Martin Luther | Main | Prayer for the Season »
Jesus: Fighting the Real enemy
By daniel | December 12, 2005
.jpg)
There seems to be some confusion about the Messiah, His role, His mission, etc. This confusion seems to spread from even before He appeared, until even today, and probably tomorrow. What we really see is opinions on the topic that vary as much as the individuals asked. First-century Israel was certain that the goal of the Messiah was to defeat God and Israel's greatest enemy - the Roman Empire. So certain, in fact, that they simply rejected the Messiah as an imposter when He came and didn't defeat Rome through military might. Even today, people like me tend to think Jesus is asleep on the job when my car breaks, or when people don't treat me well. 'Where was He when I needed Him most?' Therefore, I tend to reject the Messiah for not meeting my (ahem, woefully inadequate) assumptions. So in both cases, really, what is happening is this: I, Israel, and others tend to reject Jesus because we don't know what He came to do, and thus when He does that, we're confused and reject it outright.
I think the solution to this is to explain the big story. Of course, I can't do that in the small space afforded by my blog page, but here's a nutshell from someone who doesn't have it all the way yet either. Jesus came to rescue the world. This implies both that He came to rescue it (and us) from something, and also to something. If the destination isn't better than where we began, it isn't really a rescue, is it?
The FROM is one place we get confused. Jesus did not come to rescue us from Rome, or from people's opinions of us, or from hard life, though these things will be dealt with in the process. Jesus saw the real enemy of mankind, of the whole world: the sin within. This enemy has been with us and in us from the very first human, down to even us and our children. This is an enemy far greater than circumstance or government, though it includes both and much more in its reach. Jesus, through His death, defeated both death and sin, "taking them down" with Him. His resurrection is where at the end of the battle, He still lives.
The TO is also a place we get confused. Jesus has set us free from exile and captivity, but not so that we can dive back into it. I don't know how I get that confused, but I seem to quite often. He has set us free into a new life. The same life that dispatched sin and death and kept on living. This is eternal life. This is Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.
Topics: Culture, Historical Jesus |
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.