Friday, April 22, 2011

'Behold, I make all things new.' A reflection on "The Passion of the Christ"

Ever since I was young, Holy Week was characterized by presentations of the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. From Fr. Patrick Peyton's Family Rosary Crusade productions (the one where Christ's face was always turned from the audience) to Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth to the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, my Holy Weeks throughout the years were saturated with opportunities to watch and reflect upon the life of Christ.

When I committed my life to follow Christ and trusted Him as my absolute savior in the early 1990s, I gained a greater appreciation for the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord, building upon the foundation that was built by those years of exposure to Passion presentations. Ironically, going into the twenty-first century, such Passion presentations have become scarce, if not totally dispensed with, on Philippine national TV. Going through the local channels this Good Friday morning in the hope of finding a Passion story, I was disappointed to find telenovela rerun marathons and Dragonball being played. Thank God for DVDs. I pulled out my copy of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and watched it, continuing my personal tradition of mass media reflection. I do this to bring my faith to a more tangible, even visceral, level. I don't want to just know in my head; I want to know in my heart.

Watching the film (albeit interrupted by technical problems where my player jumped several chapters forward) made me relive the horror of what Christ went through to save sinners like me. It was terrible, and brought back my old childhood fear of detailed crucifixes. But the horror of it made me realize the awfulness of my sinfulness, that the Son of God had to go through such an ordeal to pay for my sins, and the sins of the whole world. Thus I am all the more grateful and all the more compelled to extend grace to those around me.

But something of bigger significance came to the fore. During the scene where Jesus was carrying His cross and His mother Mary came to Him, Gibson took some artistic license by putting to Jesus' lips words that can be found much later in Scripture:

"Behold, I make all things new."

This quote from Christ can be found in Revelation 21:5 (the above wording is from the King James Version). Watching the accompanying features of the DVD revealed that the producers intended this line to be the theological backbone of the entire production. And it was fitting, because "in [Christ] the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through [Christ] to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:19-20 ESV). Romans 8:19-21 (ESV) says "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. . . in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

This is a big departure from the soul-centered salvation that many churches preach today, both Catholic and Protestant/ Evangelical. Yes, Christ died to pay the penalty of sin that those who believe in Him would have eternal life. Yes, souls of those who believe in Him are saved from eternal damnation as per John 3:16. But the salvation that Christ purchased with His blood did not stop there. As the passages from Romans 8 and Colossians 1 attest, the salvation of souls, of human beings is just the beginning of a cosmic plan to redeem and restore all of fallen creation. God wants His world back, the world that was cursed because of Adam's disobedience and rebellion (Genesis 3:17). He wants to purify it from all corruption and detestable thing so that He might live in it with His people and be truly God and Lord over all (Revelation 21:3). And such cosmic scale redemption and renewal began advancing in earnest at the beachhead that is the Cross.

The Gospel as given in the Passion presentations reflect the Gospel as it is preached throughout the centuries: "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV). This is to fulfill Christ's message that "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15 ESV). Putting these together, Philip Yancey quotes John Howard Yoder as saying "The cross is not a detour or a hurdle on the way to the kingdom, nor is it even the way to the kingdom; it is the kingdom come."*

Whenever I see a depiction of Christ being raised up on the cross, I now hear those reassuring words, "Behold, I make all things new!"

May it be so soon, Lord!


*Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Mandaluyong City: OMF Literature, Inc., 1998), 196. Emphases mine.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

When Unity Goes Bad

Every time there is a crisis or calamity, people often unite to help those in need or to make a strong stand against evil in our society. When the earthquakes occurred in New Zealand and Japan, people from all over the world united to help those affected. Even during our own crises like Ondoy, people united to bring relief to the victims. United peoples toppled repressive governments in Egypt, Eastern Europe and our very own country the Philippines. But unity can also be a bad thing. A united people, if not under God, will only be successful in bringing destruction upon themselves. Let us look at what happens to a people if they are united in rebelling against God.

The Story of Babel: Why did God Scatter Them?

The descendants of Noah began to move out into the new world. When they found a good land, they decided to settle there. Having one language, they came to an agreement to build a city where they will live and a tower to make themselves great. Then God saw what they were doing and said that in their unity they are able to do this, then nothing will be impossible for them. So He confused their languages and they scattered all over the world.

For the longest time this story troubled me. Why did God confuse the people when they were on the verge of doing something great? Was God insecure? Was God being a bossy lord where He is forcing people to follow Him or else? The people were not hurting anyone! They were just making life easier for themselves; is that sinful? The key is in what they built and what they built it for.

The tower is like a huge pyramid and is meant to be their stairway to heaven.

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Ziggurat of Ur photo from http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/759360

But this is not a stairway to reach God. No, this stairway was for something else entirely. The best description for their motive of building the tower can be found in Isaiah 14:13–14. This motivation to reach heaven is born out of the root of the very first sin (Genesis 3:5). They were not trying to reach God; they were trying to become God. They want to have dominion over the earth by means of this tower. They want to rule over the earth apart from God. And if they succeed in building this tower, God saw that whatever they plan to do they can accomplish. And since every inclination of their hearts is evil, even after the flood (Genesis 8:21), the “great things” that they are able to accomplish will also be corrupt. And by these accomplishments, they may very well destroy themselves and the rest of the world with them. And God, in His goodness, will not allow that to happen.

Modern-day Towers of Babel

Yet Man still continues to build his tower that reaches up to heaven, even to this very day. We see nations united in their production of oil which gives them control over such resources. Oil production brings fuels to power our generators and fuel our vehicles, but also pollute our air to the point of creating global warming, disrupting our weather patterns and bringing about floods and droughts in various parts of the world. Scientists united to create energy by splitting atoms and thus nuclear power is generated. From there, electricity is produced in many developed countries, but at the same time provided the material for weapons that could destroy the world many times over. Academics and philosophers united to push the idea that there is no God and there is no absolute moral truth, and thus we see our world steadily sliding into chaos. Government officials united to create a culture of corruption in government designed to enrich those in power, but plunged the nation into widespread poverty and social injustice. This is what happens when people are united in their pursuit to become gods themselves.

But what of we who profess to know the Truth? We ourselves have built our own cities and erected our own towers. Just like those people who, by staying in one place, went against God’s purpose for people to fill the earth, we too have become comfortable in our own “saved” place and will not move from where we sit. Just like Peter who, upon seeing Christ in all His glory wanted to stay where he was to enjoy that glory for himself (Matthew 17:4), we are content to keep our Christianity within the walls of our churches instead of incarnating Christ to the unbelieving world. We are only Christians among Christians in church, but outside we are no different from everybody else. We who are meant to be the salt of the earth would rather stay inside the saltshaker. Even in our prayers, more often than not we seek to make God conform to our will instead of seeking His will and asking for whatever we need to fulfill that will. And often, we mistakenly claim His promise that “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” (Matthew 18:20) without first seeking His will and thus be truly coming together in His name. Otherwise, in coming together with our own agendas, we are building our own spiritual tower reaching up to heaven with the express purpose of bending God’s will to conform to ours. Even if we are united in our fellowship and in our prayers, it is still God’s will that will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Challenge: The Example of Christ

Christ, who could have just stayed in heaven, came to earth and became like us in every way except sin. He showed us how it is to be like God by walking with God. And He who was without sin died on the cross so that we who sin could have life where we need not sin anymore. We need not build towers to reach the heavens because heaven came down when Christ was lifted up on that cross, suspended between heaven and earth. If Christ is truly in us, we need not build cities for us to be united, for Christ Himself is our unity. And wherever we go we will never be alone for Christ is ever with us (Matthew 28:20). And wherever there are fellow believers, we can find a home. Let us then stop building towers that reach up to heaven, but instead build our houses upon the Rock who is Christ, and be united that we might be a temple where dwells the Living God.

(Message given at Jesus Christ Our Hope and Redeemer Church, San Mateo, Rizal, 3 April 2011)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Stewardship: The First Command

What is the first command given by God to human beings? We can find this in Genesis 1:28 where God commands humans upon being created:

1. Be fruitful
2. Increase in number
3. Fill the earth
4. Subdue it
5. Rule over all other creatures

These commands can be encapsuled into two general commands:

1. Be fruitful
2. Be in control

The role of humans is repeated in Psalm 8:4-8. Humans are meant to be stewards — lord-servants — of creation, rulers and managers of the whole created order as representative of God, the image of God. The invisible God is visible in His physical creation through His image. God rules over the earth through Man.

Fall of Man brought mismanagement

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they did not lose their being as the image of God, that is, the mandate to be fruitful and rule; but they do so now under Satan, and thus the whole of creation was cursed. They were called to be fruitful, but they are now unable to be because they now have a corrupt sense of what being fruitful means. They are called to be in control, but they are now unable to control because they have a corrupt sense of what being in control means.

And as they were, so are we.

We are called to be fruitful, but we are unable to be because they now have a corrupt sense of what being fruitful means. We usually think of fruitfulness in terms of numbers: How much money we have, how many people have we shared the Gospel with, how many friends we have on FB, how many church members we have, how many gadgets we have, how many…, how much…. Thus we think we are being fruitful, but we produce no fruit in the things that really matter: good relationships with others, an unblemished name, changing of lives, a preserved ecosystem, justice, mercy, the things that God values.

We are called to be in control, we are unable to control because we have a corrupt sense of what being in control means. We usually think that being in control means the freedom to do what we want, when we want, how we want. So we indulge. And then we find that what we want has enslaved us to the point that we can no longer do anything other than “what we want,” as any addict will attest.

In addition, we often sacrifice one for the other. In our desire for more fruit, we sacrifice control, like the student who spends long hours studying to graduate with honors only to later find that she is getting sick from over-fatigue, alienated from her friends and family because of her withdrawn and irritable disposition, and depressed because of lack of sleep. Or the control freak team leader who wants to do everything himself, only to find himself hated by his team and their project in ruins.

Redemption of Man and Man’s original purpose

The good news is God the Son came and became the Son of Man that He might reclaim for the rest of humanity the purpose that was lost at the Fall. When Christ was crucified, our greed for false fruit and our lust for control was crucified with Him. And when He rose from the dead, these stayed dead. So if we choose to follow Him, we are free to be fruitful and rule over creation in His name, as we are designed to be. For if we died with Him, we will rise with Him and reign with Him who is the Son of Man (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

Christian Stewardship: fulfilling the first command by obeying the first commandment

But the full redemption of creation is still yet to come, and perverted fruitfulness and dominion still plague this world. How then can we be good stewards of everything that God has given us? First, we have to know Whose stewards we are. We have to acknowledge that it was God who gave us authority over everything, but our management has to be according to His will and to fulfill His purpose: the redemption of all creation. But to manage and bear fruit according to His will, we must know what His will is. And to know what His will is, we have to know who He is and for what His heart beats. And the only way to know this is to love Him. Thus the first greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and have no other.

But how does loving God make us better stewards? One of God’s favorite images for His desired relationship with His people is that of a groom with his bride. Anyone who has loved can tell you that it is a pleasure and a privilege to seek knowing what would make the beloved happy, and do those things, just to see that happiness. In the same way, loving God creates in us a desire to make Him happy, to do things His way, to be more like Him. Our view of time, money, resources, and people will shift closer to how He views them. Our sense of fruitfulness will conform to His purposes, and we will see our authority over creation as a trust that He has given to us.

But how can we love Him? If we are honest, we are like Theresa of Avila who prayed, “I don’t love You. I don’t even want to love You. But I want to want to love You.” If we want to want to love God, we have to acknowledge that we can’t do it. But if we really want to, God Himself provides the way: “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) We are to receive His love, feel His love and let it overwhelm us. Look to the Cross and feel the love that would and did give all. Only then are we able to know Him, love Him, love others and this world as He does, and thus be the stewards that He intended us to be. Only then can it be said that we are made in the image of God.


Note: This message was given at the 6th College Summer Break Camp held by Passionate Community for Christ, Inc. (PCCI) last April, 2011 at Ifugao academy, Kiangan, Ifugao Province. I got some of the insights from Dr. Melba Maggay's talk on "Christian Writers as Channels of Social Transformation." during the Christian Writers' Fellowship last Feb. 25, 2011.