Advent may have taken a turn today. Probably just a temporary set back.
We read Jeremiah 33: 14 - 16. I like Jeremiah a lot. I mean usually I really, really like it a lot. But today I found myself pondering not the awesomeness of Jesus, but the hard-to-ignoreness of the part where he was kind of a let-down. Isaiah and Jeremiah (and probably a few others) all mention this great Saviour coming and go on and on about how awesome he's going to be and how great it's going to be for Israel or Judah or Jerusalem and how his kingdom is going to go forever.
But it didn't. It didn't even really start. And it's not really like it was ambiguous or a metaphor. The words say, "The government will be upon his shoulders" and "he will rule with righteousness and justice" or like today, "Jerusalem will live in safety". Jerusalem isn't safe. Hasn't been for years. I don't even think it was when Jesus lived, never mind when he died.
This afternoon, N. asked me to read from his kid bible, and we end up at the ascension, where Jesus says to his guys, the one he loves SO much: "Don't worry! Seriously. I'm going up to a heaven where I'm getting all the many, many rooms ready, and then I'll be RIGHT BACK!"
It's been about 2000 years.
I can't help but think somewhere in the cosmos, some version of the heavens is shaking its head and saying, "I can't believe they fell for it."
A major faith crisis is probably not really the ideal Advent outcome. I'm not really going to indulge it because I'm not-yet-but-almost-40 and who has time for that any more. But I sure wish one my pastory, learned type friends would pass on something comforting about how it is that we've gone this long believing that Jesus is the Truth when it would appear to anyone doing a very basic reading of the text, that he was kind of a liar pants.
So, fingers crossed for something catchy and faith-assuring tomorrow. Until then, I leave you with Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 33: 14 -16
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
3 comments:
I am neither pastory or learned, but I'll chime in.
This is what I know:
1. The secular world is very good at making us Christians look and feel foolish.
2. While it's tempting to question the truth of Christ, I KNOW that when I am praying and feeling close to Him, I am a light in ways that I KNOW I could never be on my own. Therefore I KNOW God must be true.
3. Since I know God is true, and since I believe God keeps His promises, I chose to believe that He will fail to keep this great promise. God has not once said, "Yeah, when I said that I would do X, I really meant . . ."
4. Being a Christian is hard work because most days, if I think about it too hard, it's just so Out There. BUT I figure that something so Out There could only be true. It's the whole "truth is stranger than fiction" thing. So I choose to believe.
5. God allows us to struggle and suffer because it is during those times of struggle and suffering that He can best help us grow. He also lets us question our faith . . . so that we can get to a stronger place in our place.
6. This explanation proves why it's a good thing that I didn't decide I should be a pastor.
XO!
So I am you second least Jesusy friend out there. We don't own any children's Bibles. Though, I was read to from one when I was young . . .that's another story.
I have given this thought, and here are a few of the ideas that pop out in response to your questions:
First of all What is 2000 years? Relatively, in the time frame of God, the father, what is 2000 years. Maybe it is just like a few minutes "up there". So if we beleive he will keep his promise, then he will. Why must it be in our generation for us to beleive? What if he did return and people thought he was a quack?
Secondly: What if we choose to beleive that he got tied up with something else and can't make it after all? it happens. We get tempted. Isn't temptation and it's consequences one of the first Stories in a Children's Bible. Hello? Eve? So we ALL have that in our DNA, including Jesus.
Thenk back to not recognising Jesus and thinking he's a quack . . . what if he came back / comes back and doesn't recognise US? What if he arrives back in Jerusalem and don't see a single landmark he recalls and is left thinking "They didn't wait for me"?
There are so very many questions. But the choice or decision is, do you beleive anyways? Who cares how out there it is. I think it's really "Out there" that people are freaking out about the mayan calendar and selling possessions and preparing for survival after the end of the world on Dec 21. But they beleive.
Ultimately; some are gonna be right, and some are gonna be wrong and there really is no grey area. And there are only two ways we on earth will EVER get to find out the truth. 1) when we die. and 2)the return of Christ.
We can't do anything to hasten the arrival of either. (Well, we could hasten the arrival of our own death . . but I think that's frowned upon upstairs and then we never would get up there and then would we ever really know? No.)
Not to mention: who knows what has gotten lost in translation along the way too . . .
So we are left with Faith, Hope and Trust. I blindly beleive. I am trying to understand and embrace better, yet in a way that feels comfortable and not too "out there". But ultimately, either I'm right or I'm wrong. Sitting on the fence won't count. Either way.
Clearly I could benfit from reading the Bible to myself if not my kids . . . but then I'd be even more confused than I am now.
So I am you second least Jesusy friend out there. We don't own any children's Bibles. Though, I was read to from one when I was young . . .that's another story.
I have given this thought, and here are a few of the ideas that pop out in response to your questions:
First of all What is 2000 years? Relatively, in the time frame of God, the father, what is 2000 years. Maybe it is just like a few minutes "up there". So if we beleive he will keep his promise, then he will. Why must it be in our generation for us to beleive? What if he did return and people thought he was a quack?
Secondly: What if we choose to beleive that he got tied up with something else and can't make it after all? it happens. We get tempted. Isn't temptation and it's consequences one of the first Stories in a Children's Bible. Hello? Eve? So we ALL have that in our DNA, including Jesus.
Thenk back to not recognising Jesus and thinking he's a quack . . . what if he came back / comes back and doesn't recognise US? What if he arrives back in Jerusalem and don't see a single landmark he recalls and is left thinking "They didn't wait for me"?
There are so very many questions. But the choice or decision is, do you beleive anyways? Who cares how out there it is. I think it's really "Out there" that people are freaking out about the mayan calendar and selling possessions and preparing for survival after the end of the world on Dec 21. But they beleive.
Ultimately; some are gonna be right, and some are gonna be wrong and there really is no grey area. And there are only two ways we on earth will EVER get to find out the truth. 1) when we die. and 2)the return of Christ.
We can't do anything to hasten the arrival of either. (Well, we could hasten the arrival of our own death . . but I think that's frowned upon upstairs and then we never would get up there and then would we ever really know? No.)
Not to mention: who knows what has gotten lost in translation along the way too . . .
So we are left with Faith, Hope and Trust. I blindly beleive. I am trying to understand and embrace better, yet in a way that feels comfortable and not too "out there". But ultimately, either I'm right or I'm wrong. Sitting on the fence won't count. Either way.
Clearly I could benfit from reading the Bible to myself if not my kids . . . but then I'd be even more confused than I am now.
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