Today’s Scripture
Reading (December 25, 2017): Acts 17
Cronos was the head of the Titans and the chief of the gods. He had
defeated his own father, Uranus, and had
taken dad’s place among the gods. But legend had said that his son would do the
same to him. And so Cronos decided that he would defeat the hands of fate and
destroy every child that proceeded from the womb of his consort, Rhea, by
eating them. First was Hestia. She was followed
by her sister Demeter. The third daughter to be consumed by Cronos was Hera. And then the first male child, Hades,
was also devoured by Cronos. The second male child to be born and swallowed by
Dad was Poseidon. And later, finally, Zeus was born out of this relationship between Zeus and Rhea. But when Rhea
gave birth to Zeus, she did not give the baby to Cronos, but instead wrapped a rock in swaddling clothes and
gave Cronos the stone which he consumed.
As for Zeus, the baby was sent into
hiding – specifically; he was sent into a cave on Mount Ida. And there he
stayed until the time was right for Zeus to confront his father, and save the
lives of his siblings. He forced Cronos to disgorge, first the rock and then
his siblings in the reverse order of the way that they were swallowed. First Poseidon, and then Hades, followed by his
three sisters; Hera, Demeter, and Hestia.
These formed the first of the gods that the Greeks worshipped, and to whom they
built their altars.
As Paul walks in Athens, he sees all of the altars, and he probably is reminded of their origin stories. The gods
of the Greeks were jealously struggling for supremacy, fighting each other and
the ones who went before them. Uranus was the father of the Titans, of whom
Cronus was the “Titan of the Harvest.” Cronos deposed his father by first
castrating him with a sickle (a symbol of the harvest). Then he ate his
children so that they would not have the chance to do to him what he did to his
father. Rhea stopped that plan by hiding Zeus and giving him a rock to swallow
instead of a baby. And when the time was right, Zeus came back and defeated
Cronos and freed his siblings.
Paul was amazed at what he saw, but he knew the story of the unknown God.
And it was a very different story. Instead of a jealous battle, this God had
compassion on the earth and sent his son to save those who wandered in darkness.
There is no jealousy, just a loving Father who is proud of his son. God speaks
of his love at the Baptism of his son; “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). It is a very different story from the story of Cronos and Zeus. Oh, the
Greeks would have been very familiar with Yahweh of the Jews, but not with
Jesus, the son.
The story of Jesus shares some similarity
to that of Zeus, although the overarching story is very different. Jesus, like
Zeus, lived his early life in obscurity. He was born in a cave and hidden in
the obscurity of a poor carpenter’s
family. (Zeus was born in a palace and hidden in the obscurity
of a cave.) Both were anonymous until the moment that their mission was to be fulfilled.
But it is at this moment that their stories begin to differ. For Zeus, that
moment was the confrontation of his father; for Jesus, it was a ministry that taught of the Father’s love for
the people and ended in the Son
sacrificing his own life for the sins of the people who both he and his father
loved. And the father, in love, raised his son back to life from the grave.
This is the story of the
unknown God. And the tale begins today. Welcome to the story of Christmas, the
Beginning movement of God’s planned salvation of the world. May the Spirit of
the unknown God inhabit your celebrations on this day. And may you realize how
much you are loved by the unknown God,
and his loving father. You are loved so much that this God sent his son to be
born in a manger, live in obscurity, and die for your sins. He did it without
fanfare, and so he is indeed unknown. Yet, we reap the benefits of our relationship with
this unknown God.
And because of this story, I can wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Luke 18
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