*artwork by: Barna da Siena, 1330-1350
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” - The words of Jesus
“What Jesus calls us to in the Kingdom of God is not a religiously modified version of the self-preservation and self-promotion value systems which govern the empires of men.” - The words of Brian Zahnd
Brian Zahnd sealed the deal for me in one minute of his fourth sermon on the subject of forgiveness. It was one of those moments when you stop whatever you are doing – in this case, running on the treadmill - and try to find the closest item to either write with or record with. Time will tell, but Zahnd’s words were like the brush stroke that only the artist would know is necessary to bring depth and dimension to a working canvas.
The past month or so, I have been coming to an entirely new understanding of the reality of the cross. Through the historical teachings of N.T Wright and the reading of Scripture, I am blown away at the potency of Jesus’ words and the political and theological statement He made when we willingly died on the cross of Caesar.
In short, the realization is this: the Gospel – the announcement that Jesus is Lord – is first a message that is counter-imperial, before it is counter-cultural.
I find it hard to process the thought of any group of people being truly counter- to a system that they obviously try to imitate, in style and in some cases in substance. I’m as guilty of this as any number us, thus, my deep conviction and enthusiasm to write these words.
“Counter-cultural” is as much a buzzword in Christian groups as it is in non-Christian groups. Which begs the question: how can Christians be counter-cultural when we seem to adopt the same practices as the culture we claim to be counter- to?
I think we’ve put the cart before the horse.
Christians – meaning, specifically, those who profess by word and deed that Jesus is Lord – must renew their minds to the 1st century reality of the cross. At that time, the cross represented the power of Caesar and his government. Caesar was called ‘lord’ or ‘kyrios’. Because the past Caesar’s of Rome were deified after their death – meaning they were given the status of god – the new Caesar was then consider the ‘son of god’ and entitled lord. Rome was considered THE world power, thus, Caesar was considered the lord of the world.
When the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Christians in Rome, he knew what he was announcing. He knew that Caesar was called lord. He knew that Caesar promised salvation, justice and freedom to the citizens of Rome. He knew that the message of Jesus dying on the cross, resurrecting from the dead and now sitting at the right hand of God, the Father – meaning Jesus is Lord – were words that flew right in the face of the Caesar and the Roman Empire.
Paul’s words were counter-Caesar, counter-Rome and thus, counter-imperial.
Because
Paul was counter-imperial first, he then was able to be
counter-cultural. In other words, Paul could not be purchased by the
value system of self-preservation and self-promotion. The empires (the
kingdoms) of men could not purchase Paul, because Paul lived in and for
an entirely different reality: the Kingdom of God, our Father, who’s
Son, Jesus, is Lord.If
we begin to see the cross as the power of Caesar, meaning: the power
of this world, the power of this age, the value system of
self-preservation and self-promotion, then Jesus’ words to ‘take up our
cross daily’ will have entirely different application to our daily
lives as His followers. We must forsake ourselves - refuse ourselves;
we must take up our cross daily and die with Jesus; we must put our
life on the line like Paul and state once again that Jesus is Lord and
the value system of self-preservation and self-promotion is not!
We
are not counter- to anything unless we are FIRST counter- to our very
nature as human beings: to preserve (maintain) our lives and to promote
(support) ourselves. Jesus is Lord or He is not. If we, on a daily
basis, do not live in this reality - that Jesus is Lord - by pursuing
in word and deed with the hope of building for the Kingdom of God on
earth as it is in heaven, then we, by default, build another kingdom,
which is the empire of men. We are not counter- to culture because we
are, by default, fueling more of the same culture we currently have.
Here is my plea.
For the sake of your own life and the lives of those given to you, take upon yourselves the value system of self-preservation and self-promotion – the empires of men - and follow the way of Jesus by putting this empire to death. Do this with true power - the power of faith, hope and love given to us by the Holy Spirit. Then, we will breath in the fresh oxygen of resurrection, like our Lord, and exhale new life that will not just counter- culture, but it will encounter culture and shape culture now and for ‘the life of the world to come’.
I pray these words to benefit the equipping of the Saints, Amen.
2:1 + 1 [the Cross ... follow-up]
This morning while reading a book by Joseph Ratzinger entitled “The Apostles”, I happened upon what I would consider an appropriate follow up to my journal entry yesterday. Rarely do I submit a journal on my website two days in a row (mostly because of lack of time not lack of interest), but an exception needed to be made.
From the book “The Apostles” by Joseph Ratzinger:
A later tradition...tells of Andrew’s death at Patras, where he too suffered the torture of crucifixion. At that supreme moment, however, like his brother Peter, he asked to be nailed to a cross different from the Cross of Jesus. In this case it was a diagonal or X-shaped cross, which has thus come to be know as “St. Andrew’s cross”.
This is what the Apostle is claimed to have said on that occasion, according to an ancient story (which dates back to the beginning of the sixth century), entitled The Passion of Andrew:
Hail, O Cross, inaugurated by the Body of Christ and adorned with his limbs as though they were precious pearls. Before the Lord mounted you, you inspired an earthly fear. Now, instead, endowed with heavenly love, you are accepted as a gift.
Believers know of the great joy that you possess, and of the multitude of gifts you have prepared. I come to you, therefore, confident and joyful, so that you too may receive me exultant as a disciple of the One who was hung upon you...O blessed Cross, clothed in the majesty and beauty of the Lord’s limbs!...Take me, carry me far from men, and restore me to my Teacher, so that, through you, the one who redeemed me by you, may receive me. Hail, O Cross; yes, hail indeed!
Here, as can be seen, is a very profound Christian spirituality. It does not view the Cross as an instrument of torture but rather as the incomparable means for perfect configuration to the Redeemer, to the grain of wheat that fell into the earth.
Here we have a very important lesson to learn: our own crosses acquire value if we consider them and accept them as a part of the Cross of Christ, if a reflection of his light illuminates them.
It is by that Cross alone that our sufferings too are ennobled and acquire their true meaning.
Al Sergel is traveling with singer/songwriter Jason Upton and is the ministry director for Key of David Ministries. You can subscribe to his blog at www.alsergel.com under the "writing" tab.
I was reminded of an excerpt from Margaret Atwood's novel, "The Robber Bride," in which a Canadian character, Charis (sort of a granola girl) is reflecting on her draft-dodging boyfriend, Billy:
He'd thought it was going to be more or less the same on this side of the border as on the other side, only safer, and when it turned out that it wasn't either one of those things he was confused and upset. He realized he'd done something monumental, something he couldn't reverse; that he'd landed himself in exile, perhaps forever. He'd made life hard for his family--they'd supported his decision about the draft but not about the other stuff, the explosives, and they were getting what he called "a lot of flak." Also, he'd deserted his country, a notion that has a good deal more meaning for him than it does for Charis, because in Billy's schools they started the day with their hands over their hearts, saluting their flag, instead of praying to God as they did at Charis's schools. For Billy his country WAS a kind of God, an idea that Charis found idolatrous and even barbaric. She finds the standard God with his white beard and anger and lamb sacrifices and death angels barbaric too, of course. She has gone beyond all that. Her God is oval.
Posted by: Brad | August 01, 2008 at 06:34 PM
it seems to me that for years and years we have been living alongside a forgotten truth.
and now the full word, the alpha word, is coming to light.
the first truth and intention is resurfacing.
"the potency of Jesus words" revealed.
O blessed cross... restore me to my Teacher.
Al - thank you, this is rich.
Posted by: anonymous | July 31, 2008 at 10:35 PM