Salvation...a Cross-Eyed view

I've been asked to speak at the Peninsula Association of Churches annual Good Friday service this year...the more I think about it...I become humbled, to the point of feeling woefully inadequate to even utter a word. For far to long, I have made it just about me. But in the scale of the redemptive imagination of God, this grand plan of salvation...I am but a grain of sand in the grand scheme of things. So for a week I have prayed, meditated, reflected on God's word, and will continue to do so until the week before when hopefully the Spirit will provide inspired words which will flow to paper.

The New Testament teaches that Christ died not just to redeem humans; he died to restore the entire creation. In Col. 1:15-20 Paul says that “ So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. " (Eugene Peterson's, The Message, emphasis added).

And from Revelation 21: 1-5, " I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."

                                             ( image courtesy of Paul Mayers )

As James Kallas noted, the New Testament concept of “salvation” isn’t limited to human beings. He writes:

…. since the cosmos itself is in bondage, depressed under evil forces, the essential content of the word “salvation” is that the world itself will be rescued, or renewed, or set free. Salvation is a Cosmic event affecting the whole of creation...Salvation is not simply the overcoming of my rebellion and the forgiveness of my guilt, but salvation is the liberation of the whole world process of which I am only a small part .. (The Satanward View: A Study in Pauline Theology (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966), p.74.)

The “ Cross” is the threshold that humanity and creation must pass through to discover the coming remaking of the world, the new creation of God, the final redeemed cosmos (as in Romans 8, or Revelation 21-22) . That is to say, the Cross is the ultimate realization of God’s rule over all God’s creation. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” envisions the realization of God’s order on earth

The thing I am always conscious of is that Jesus always wants us to be aware of the story...after all he is the creative imagination behind the story, the script writer, the creator of the characters, the director...he even designed the set and stage upon which the story is played out.

I am struck by his sense of timing, was it a coincidence he was crucified on the Feast of the Passover. Did the day planner on his palm pilot, alarm and tell him it's time to head to Jerusalem. No Jesus is acutely aware of the Story, it is who He is...the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and End. He is but a glimpse of Einstein's theory of relativity...Jesus is " relative " to everything, He holds it all together.

In the upper room, Jesus goes back to the story...the Exodus of God's people out of slavery, ( Exodus 12:1-14 ). This is a people enslaved in a culture that is not theirs, a culture without hope...and there is one way out...each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it's roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don't leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

11 "And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it's the Passover to God.

As disciples recline around the table, I wonder if there is not a distant echo reverberating in their ears, the voice of John the baptist, " "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! "

As in the Exodus story, humanity is enslaved to a world which is not ours, a world destined to die without hope. The people of God in Exodus sacrificed the lamb, pouring and sprinkling the blood on the door posts and lintel of their homes. They consumed the lamb, it would be nourishment for the escape and journey into a land of promise...it would give them a new life. In this new land, god would reign supreme again...they would build his kingdom.

Faith in the story, in the mind boggling redemptive imagination of Jesus, the blood poured on the cross...is the door which we must pass through. Paul's proclaimation of " Christ in me ", is the new life now and to come. It is the reality that nourishes us, sustains us on our journey. It is living in the promise land of his Kingdom, both now and to come. It is a covenant in which we are called to play a small part in this incredible act of cosmic salvation.

The “ Cross” is the threshold that humanity and creation must pass through to discover the coming remaking of the world, the new creation of God, the final redeemed cosmos (as in Romans 8, or Revelation 21-22) . That is to say, the Cross is the ultimate realization of God’s rule over all God’s creation. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” envisions the realization of God’s order on earth.

Comments

[Chris]

I am so excited to hear of your involvement with the Peninsula Good Friday Service. What an opportunity to celebrate the glorious truth that unites us as followers of Jesus: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Keep us posted on your talk as it unfolds.
peace + Chris

[Paul]

Great post Ron. I am speaking at our good friday service and my theme is going to be about mourning/despair - we follow the church calender and good friday is one of those days of famine before the feasting and celebration of easter sunday.