Today’s Scripture Reading (October
26, 2013): Joel 3
Barry
Marshall, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology, makes an argument for
the positive aspects of unexpected results. He argues that what a scientist (or
any other person that is joining in the search for truth) really desires is
unexpected results. After all, if you do
something and get the results that you were expecting in the first place, then
you really haven’t learned anything - you already knew enough to make the
prediction. But, if you do something and something unexpected happens, then you
are on the cusp of a discovery. All that needs to be done is to discover the
reason for the unexpected results.
Joel
finishes off his prophecy with this statement declaring that God will avenge
the blood of the innocent – and then he adds these words – “The Lord dwells in Zion.” To the original
reader this meant that God would have his revenge on those that plotted against
him and against Israel. Proof of that action was that God dwelled in Zion.
God’s presence could never be overlooked or taken lightly. In the language of
the predominate Messiah Myth, it meant that the Messiah would come with his
sword dripping with the blood of the enemies of God. Absolute revenge would be
brought down on those who plotted against Judah and Jerusalem. The God of the
Universe had spoken.
But a closer
examination reveals something a little different. That the Lord dwells in Zion really says that God
is capable to do whatever it is that he wants to do. In theological terms, this
is the belief that God is sovereign over his own sovereignty – or that God
himself decides what it is that is right for him to do. The point is that he
defines it – not us. The predominate Messiah Myth preached about a violent
Messiah that would avenge the wrongs committed in the world. The major problem
with the myth is that we are all the perpetrators of what has gone wrong. If
the Messiah of the Messiah Myth were to come to earth, it would be the whole of
the earth that would suffer under his sword. No one would be left untouched.
But, the Lord dwells in Zion. God gets to decide
what is right and what needs to be accomplished. And so he sent the Messiah in
the form of his son to come and to die on the cross – it was a totally
unexpected result, but a result that we would learn from. Because of the cross,
the violent prophecy of Joel is rewritten into a statement of grace and mercy.
God would send the Messiah but rather than being the perpetrator of the
violence due to those that opposed the rule of God, the Messiah would receive
the violence and pay the price for us. The result of the unexpected result was
that those that were guilty could now be redeemed. And that is good news for us
all, because we all stand in need of God’s redemption.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Chronicles 23
No comments:
Post a Comment